Adventure Magazine Cover — page 164: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

154 eyes were flaming things. He pointed toa brick bed in the corner, upon which lay, the ~ tossing body of Severn. “Glad you showed up,’ he returned. The words came from him almost mechani- cally. He spoke as a man in a dream. “You'll have to attend to Severn. Septic poisoning—take off his left arm at the elbow, I fancy.” “What had happened here? How did the Sikhs die? They appear unwounded——” “T don’t know.” The Rajput made a gesture of futility, of fearful ignorance. 9? “We came back—found things like this— _ no sleep—wounded—lost blood—took care of Severn——” He staggered, reeled slightly, recovered. “Kilgore and Day?” queried Sheng Wu. “Not here. Gone. No message. Van- ished, that’s all. Glad you showed up—in fhine——" The words died. Sir Fandi Singh jerked twice through his whole body, then col- lapsed in a limp heap. Sheng Wu examined him, then went to the brick bed and examined Severn. He had the two men carried into a clean room, | then produced a case of surgical instruments from his baggage. - These things happened in the morning. At noon Sheng Wu left the operating-room, bathed himself and spent an hour examining such of the bodies on the walls as were in condition to tell him anything. When he had finished he summoned his thirty Man- chus into the courtyard and calmly ad- dressed them. “This place is an abode of devils.” They assented in silence—it was some- thing they already knew. “These soldiers died and no shot was fired. They were suffocated or killed with gas. Two of their leaders have vanished utterly. If we remain here, the same. fate will befall us, for we know not whence it comes. Therefore, we shall not remain here.” To this the Manchus assented very eagerly. Sheng Wu lighted his tobacce- pipe and resumed, when the tiny pinch of tobacco had gone, his explanations. . “Sir Fandi Singh is wounded and _the wound is much inflamed. He has lost much blood and he will not walk or speak for many days. His friend, the strange white man, has lost an arm through poi- soned blood and is in fever. Each of these men must ride in a sling between two Adventure \ camels. Make ready the slings at once. We leave here at sunset, in order to pass through the valley by night, when there will be no whirling sands.” - “The baggage that we have saved?” questioned the Manchu officer. “Abandon what is not needed. We shall not go the way we came, but strike direct for Urga.” Thus it was done. As a matter of fact, Sheng Wu was horribly frightened. These white men, for whom he had intense respect and admiration, had succumbed to some unknown enemy. He dared not linger lest he and his men succumb also; in fact, even had he lingered, he knew that the Manchus would not have remained. Panic had them in its grip. Sheng Wu tarried only to pack up the unused machine gun and a few objects col- lected for removal by Kilgore. He found no indication of the fate met by Day and the Canadian. They had vanished, that was all—and Sheng Wu was of the opinion that they really had vanished, perhaps car- ried away by devils. education the old blood of Han still burned Under the veneer of hot and cold in him, and the man feared _ exceedingly. Three weeks later Severn sat beside a stinking fire of camel’s dung and talked with the gaunt. shadow that had been Fandi Singh the Rajput. Severn himself was little more than shadow, and his left arm was gone at the elbow; yet he lived. “Tomorrow we shall reach Urga,” he was saying hopelessly. ‘And what then?” “Faith,” said the voice of Sir Fandi. The Rajput was still a very sick man. Severn laughed bitterly. “Faith—how? Shall we g0 back to look for them?” “Tf we live.” “Then, how? We can not do it without money. I have none.’ The other did not answer for a while. When he spoke, it was of the place they had left. “Our fate was upon us, Severn. If you and I had gone to the temple, we would have perished with the others—I think they died from that accursed gas. Perhaps some of the hill people came to the temple by stealth and loosed the gas.” ~ “Vet there was no sign of Kilgore and Day.” Severn turned as, out of the sha- dows, the little figure of Sheng Wu came and (EOLPMNICG VOOKS (EC)