Adventure Magazine Cover — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

The Doom Trail depict. Thad fled to the New World to im- prove my lot—and the improvement was like to consist of an early exit to another world which optimists proclaimed a better one, Somewhere in the sunshine a bird began to sing, and my captors yawned and sat up. Vhe squat chief, his fears of the night gone, kicked Ta-wan-ne-ars awake. “This is the day of the Moon Feast,” he said. ‘You will soon clamor to die.” CHAPTER XIX THE MOON FEAST WE* WERE kicked and harried through the village to the Dancing-Place; but a messenger stayed us at the last minute, and our guards flogged us back into the Council-House. We wefe fed perfunctorily and given water to drink, then left to our own devices whilst the guards played a gambling game with peach-stones. So the morning dragged by until the sun was be- ginning to decline toward the west and a second messenger disturbed the wrangling players.. We were yanked to our feet and pushed outside, Thousands of Indians lined the narrow, dirty- streets between the bark houses and lodges. They greeted us with a silence so intent that it was as arresting as a shout. Not a finger was laid upon us, not a voice was raised. Yet the fierce antici- pation which gleamed in every face was more threatening than definite’ ges- tures. The guards hustled us along; and as we passed, the hordes of savages closed in be- hind us and flowed in a mighty, barbaric stream at our heels. Ahead of us opened the flat expanse of the Dancing-Place, with the two lonely stakes, flanked by piles of freshly gathered firewood, standing like portents of evil against the dark-green background of the pines which walled the rear of the amphitheater. Ta-wan-ne-ars looked eagerly in every direction, but’ she whom he sought was not present nor were there visible any of her carrion crew of priests. Only the sinister faces of the negro, Tom, and Bolling, with his tangle of red hair, stirred recollections in that alien, hostile mass. They, too, were under the spell of the gathering, a spell which seemed to have for its object the 115 compression of the combined malevolence of the ferocious throng. Our guards bound us to the stakes as they had the day before, and Ta-wan-ne-ars, with a significant glance at me, rallied them with the searching wit of his race. “The Cahnuaga dogs are not used to taking captives,’ he commented. ‘They do not know what to do unless their white masters tell them. They are women. They should be tilling the field. They do not know how to torment real warriors.” When they were passing the thongs under his arm-pits, the Seneca bent forward and fastened his teeth in the forearm of an in- cautious guard. The blood spurted and the man yelped with pain. Ta-wan-ne- ars laughed. “Unarmed and bound, yet I can hurt you,” he cried. ‘‘Truly, you are women. The warriors of the Great League scorn you.” Strangely enough, they made no retalia- tion upon him; but, having securely fas- tened us to the stakes, withdrew and stood somewhat apart from the encompassing crowds. The silence continued for more than an hour, when a lane was opened opposite to us and Murray and de Veulle sauntered forward. 3 “T trust you have fared well, Master Juggins—I beg pardon, Master Ormerod?” remarked Murray urbanely. “No dis- comforts? Enough to eat and sufficient attention?” I profited by Ta-wan-ne-ars’ example, ant thrust for the one weak spot in the man’s armor of egotism. “You do proclaim yourself for what you are,’ I answered him steadily. ‘Sure, no man of breeding would descend to the depths you reach. I do assure you, fellow, if you ever return to civilization and at- tempt to mix with the gently bred, your plow-boy origin will out.” His face was suffused to a purple hue. ‘*Sdeath!” he rasped. “Sir, know you not I am of the Murrays of Cobbielaw? I quarter my arms with the Kieths! Ihavea right to carry the Bleeding Heart on my shield! I 4 “No, no,’ I interrupted. “’Tis easy for you to claim here in the wilderness, but the humblest cadet of the house of Douglas would disprove you. ’Tis the bleeding hearts of your enemies you bear. You COMMICOOOKS (F@)