Adventure Magazine Cover — page 118: what you’re looking at

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

ment from the men. __. frozen in horror of what must follow. e-. thee why not take her openly? Why was. 2s : the pannier fell open on its palmetto hinges. | _ There was a half-repressed chorus of amaze- Sakr-el-Bahr stood _ “What is it? What have you found?” demanded Asad. “Tn silence the men swung the bale about, and disclosed to the eyes of those upon the poop-deck the face and form of Rosamund Godolphin.. Then Sakr-el-Bahr, rousing himself from his trance of horror, reckless of all but her, flung down the gangway to assist her from the pannier, and thrusting aside those who stood about hed took his Stand at her side. CHAPTER XXIV THE DUPE ror a little while Asad stood at gaze, | speechless in his incredulity. Then to _ revive the anger that for a moment had been whelmed in astonishment came the reflec- tion that he had been duped by Sakr-el- Bahr, duped by the man he trusted gost. “He had snarled at Fenzileh and scorned Marzak when they had jointly warned him ——- against his lieutenant; if at times he had been in danger of heeding fhem, yet sooner or later he had concluded that they but spoke to vent their malice. And yet it was proven now that they had been right in their estimate of this traitor, whilst he him- self had been a poor, blind dupe, needing eyes. ‘Slowly he went down the gangway, fol- lowed by Marzak, Biskaine and the others’ ~ At the point where it joined the waist-deck _ he paused, and his dark old eyes smoldered under his beetling brows. -“So,”” he cians of price. Thou lying dog, what was thine aim in this?” _Defiantly Sakr-el-Bahr answered him: “She is my wife. It is my right to take her with me where I go.” - He turned to her, and bade her veil her face, and- she immediately obeyed him 5 es with fingers that shook a little in her agitation. “None questions thy right to that,”’ said “But being resolved to take her with she not housed in the poop-house, as_be- comes the wife of Sakr-el-Bahr? Why enemies. Marzak’s wit to tear the bandage from his “These are thy goods a eA OR Me er 3 Fie eee Be wR See nes in eng NO Re oO 4 pa he ene ol a ce) aes iS hare peers (pee nt re frat ae peas LR ON AF =e i ON Boa ne RAT Me SEs: = — ae rc ry pes - * ae " ~ “ys o ? oe Hi* * ~ a rs Se ey = eat 4 ~~ aby - Ss Py ~ * . Re ee i SP es = . % “ ~ = = - ~ Es : : ~ - ® - r16 Adventure —_—s ~ & Semugple her aboard in a pannier, and keep her there in secret?” “And why,” added Marzak, ‘‘didst thou lie to me when I questioned thee upon her whereabouts?—telling me she was left be- hind in thy house in Algiers?’ ‘ “All this I did,” replied Sakr-el-Bahr, with a lofty, almost a disdainful, dignity, “because I feared lest I should be prevented from bearing her away with me,” and his bold glance beating full upon Asad drew a wave of color into the gaunt old cheeks. ‘‘What could have caused that fear?’ he asked. ‘Shall tell thee? Because no man sailing upon such a voyage as this would have desired the company of his new-wedded wife. ‘Because no man would take a wife with him upon a raid in which there is peril of life and peril of capture.” ‘Allah has watched over me his servant in the past,” said Sakr-el-Bahr, ‘‘and I put my trust in Him.” It was a specious answer. Such words— laying stress upon the victories Allah sent him—had aforetime served to disarm his But they served not now. In- stead, they did but fan the flames of Asad’s wrath. “Blaspheme not,” he ookel. and _ his tall form quivered with rage, his sallow old face grew vulturine. “She was brought thus aboard in secret out of fear that were her presence known thy true purpose too must stand revealed.” “And whatever that true purpose may have been,” put in Marzak, “‘it was not the task entrusted thee of raiding the Spanish treasure-galley.” “°?Tis what I mean, my -son,” Asad agreed. Then witha commanding gesture— *““Wilt thou tell,me without further lies what thy purpose was?” he asked. “How?” said Sakr-el-Bahr, and he smiled never so faintly. ‘Hast thou not said that this purpose was revealed by what I did? Rather, then, I think is it for me to ask thee for some such information, I do assure thee, my lord, that it was no part of my intention to neglect the task entrusted me. But just because I feared lest knowledge of her pres- ence might lead my enemies to suppose what thou art now supposing, and perhaps | _ persuade thee to forget all that I have done for the glory of Islam, I determined to bring her secretly aboard. “My real aim, since you must know it, was to land her somewhere on the coast of JOOKS COME Eom