Adventure Magazine Cover, December 10, 1922 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

Benefit of Doubt They half-closed the door again from outside. It was impossible to see who waited. They intended to kill quickly, one by one, or else they were few out there and did not feel confident. : “We'll soon see,” said Ommony, and walked out before the others could raise a hand to prevent him. “Follow up!’ whispered Linkinyear. One of those stage whispers that can penetrate stone walls and be heard through the talki- talk of siege-guns. He led; King was next; the others herded Mrs. Wilmshurst in be- tween them; and they all surged for the door—which, however, was slammed in their faces. “When they open again let me go first,” said Mrs. Wilmshurst. ‘“They won’t dare offer violence to a woman.” “Ladies last!’ King answered over his shoulder. “Pig! Ill-mannered boor!’ she retorted, and they all laughed. When the door opened again—yjust a little —very cautiously—they rushed it in a scrum ' all together, but failed of their purpose. Some one on the far side had forestalled them by placing a beam so that the door could only open wide enough to pass one person ata time. Linkinyear disappeared through the open- ing as if sucked through by a vacuum. The door shut suddenly—opened again—and King felt his neck in a noose. He could not step back to avoid it because of Mrs. Wilms- hurst, who pressed forward from behind. He was hauled through choking, and the door was once more slammed. Young Linkinyear was already stripped to the waist and tied with his hands behind one of the fluted temple pillars. Three men were holding and tying Ommony when King was dragged in, and they tied him next. There were only nine of the enemy. “The whole of the Khalifate Committee,” said Ommony, “and only nine to our eight! If only we had known!” One of the three who were tying him struck him on the mouth. The Committee’s smallest, meanest, most self-assertive mem- ber nodded*«pleasantly at that, examined King’s thin rope and struck it a few times with the edge of his hand to make sure that it bit into the flesh, and then took charge of proceedings, giving orders without any suggestion of sharing authority with others. He was the whole noise—the works—the brains—the uptodate Napoleon. “Now there are only four and a woman in there. Draw your pistols. Stand by the door. Open it wide. Let them come through. If the soldiers make any resist- ance, shoot them, for they don’t matter much.” The first man through was one of the three privates. He charged in with his fists clenched, ready to do battle with the universe. But a Hindu tripped him as he went by. Another noosed him as he lay prone, and dragged him, strangling, to one of the pillars, where he had no difficulty in tying him single-handed—passing the rope around the pillar and kicking his victim until he stood upright—then choking him helpless with one hand while he roped the man’s arms with the other. The second soldier through was knocked more or less unconscious by a pistol-butt, so that he, too, was easily tied in place by one man. The third pulled Judge Wilms- hurst and his wife back into the room. “Come on in, ye devils, and fight like men if ye can!” he challenged, striking the Lanca- shire fighting attitude, which holds feet as well as hands ready. Instead of going in they sent a bullet. He fell forward, and his brains spread in a way that made Mrs. Wilmshurst scream. But that was the last exhibition she made of any kind of weakness. “) hand, kissed her, and they walked through together. Once through the door they were seized, dragged apart, and tied like the others, the judge at one end THE judge took his wife by the. \ and his wife at the other next to Linkinyeaf. ~ Linkinyear, with a rope cutting into his wrists, called on all that was left of his lone command to act like men, and they re- sponded by telling Mrs. “cheer up, ma’am! and not be down ‘earted!”? Whereat she laughed and called them darlings. Her own wrists were in agony, but she said nothing about that. There were twenty pillars supporting a dome. Six more were missing—had been knocked out and carried off by Moslems— and it was a marvel that the dome had not collapsed. The gap thus caused faced the> temple door, which, nevertheless, was only dimly discernible in the gloom. The prisoners had been tied to the pillars directly facing the gap, so that when the door opened the light shone directly on their faces. Wilmshurst to: On| (E(@) ecomicbooks