Adventure Magazine Cover — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

A Son of Strife gia SIR GUI started to his feet, and un- sitta@ hooked the long, double-edged war- sword which hung from the back of his chair. His guests did likewise. Squires leaped from the shadows of the hall with helm and hauberk. The doors crashed open, and in clanked Sir Antonio, the seneschal, a slender, brown, hook-nosed man, in a peaked helmet and mail shirt, at his heels. “What means the alarm, Antonio?” called Sir Gui. “Ali hath just brought news of moment, lord. I raised the garrison, sure you would be wishful to act swiftly.” “Is there a Saracen foray?’’ questioned de Chappes, struggling into the meshes of his hauberk. “Nay, lord. Fortune hath dropped a rich prize into our hands. Ali, the captain of my lord’s Turcoples, was scouting the cara- van-track and found that a host of mer- chants and travelers from Babylon were making camp by the Wells of Sanah. “Two hundred camel-loads, besides asses and horses,” affirmed the hook-nosed man, a gleam of exultation in his eyes. De Chappes cast down his sword upon the table with a mighty clangor. “This is an insult passing support!’ he rasped. ‘‘Messer John, I will ride hence.” “What!” exclaimed Sir Gui innocently. “Will you not join us, lord?” De Chappes glared impotently at him. “Nay, lord, you shall have a fair share of the plunder,” promised Sir Gui. ‘“‘Mark me, Gui de Taberie,”’ croaked the lord of Mardan. “I may wait long, but my revenge I shall have.” “Revenge?” mouthed Sir Gui. ‘Why, what now, lord? I will meet you in the lists on any terms.” “Tis not the revenge I seek,’ snapped de Chappes. ‘The only one I will accept must involve your ruin.”’ And he strode from the room, his squire at his heels. “St. Remi aid me, but ’tis a sad temper the fool possesses!’ remarked Sir Gui. ‘‘Howbeit, we have other thoughts to dwell upon. Ali Ma’akwaa, you are a man after my own heart. You shall have a knightly share of the spoils. Ha, John, what say you? Will you ride with me?” The Englishman laughed. “Gladly, Gui, although you have been un- necessarily rough with Renier de Chappes. Ah, friend, what good doth it serve to bring 93 down upon yourself the hatred of all the newcomers?” ; “I would rather have their hatred than their friendship,” retorted Sir Gui. ‘Did I not offer him a chance to share in this raid simply because he was my guest?” “You but made it worse.” ‘“‘“__—! Whatever I said would have irked him, then! Look you, John, shall I let pass such an opportunity as comes to me now? The spoils of this caravan will settle my debts with the Genoese money-lenders of Tripoli, and leave the means to secure my- self here. Art ready?” “At your orders, Gui. And prithee, for- get my errand. For after all, ’twas not mine, but the king’s.”’ Sir Gui threw a mailed arm around the Englishman’s shoulders. ‘Say no more,” he bade. “The king sent you because he knew you were the one man In the land to beard any baron in his own hold. Now, let us ride. We have wine within us, and a fair venture, and the night’s protection from the sun. What more could men ask?”’ They stood in the doorway, and surveyed the courtyard, bright with torches and crammed with men on horseback. “Antonio,” ordered Sir Gui, “you must guard Nerak. Fray Gilberto shall remain with you. Where is he?” ‘Here, lord.” A man in a black cassock, with corded waist and hempen sandals, pushed between the horsemen. He was squat and powerful in build, a soldier at need, like all the priests of the marches. “Father, you will second the seneschal. And now, Ali, what strength must we draw from the garrison?” “A score of spears, lord,” replied the Turcople without hesitation. ‘“And—a hundred of my bowmen.” “So be it,” agreed Sir Gui. ‘Forward, men! Christ and the Sepulcher!”’ “Christ and the Sepulcher!” they thun- dered back, as they clattered behind him through the gateway under Baldwin’s Tower. CHAPTER II SPOIL OF THE DESERT HE hoofs of the horses made no sound in the yielding sand. Overhead the quarter-moon had waned, and the stars twinkled dimly, aloof from the world. A hot GOMIiGooo S C@