Adventure Magazine Cover — page 123: what you’re looking at

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

I22 the woman, in all her sad finery, was cast to earth under the hoofs of the beasts. The cart disappeared into the darkness but she lay where she had fallen. “You see!’ cried the Italian. “Death is upon us unless we fly. Out of my way, dogs Z Drawing back his arm, Michael struck the man, sending him headlong into the water. Heedless of the blow, the other rose and fought his way to the ropes that offered a way to safety. “Wo!” His cry came back to Michael. “Death is upon us. Fly!” “Fly!” echoed the wounded, struggling toward the ropes. “The Turks are at our heels.” Those who could not stand unsupported were thrust down into the water. Men, striking at one another’s heads and tearing at the surcoats which bore a crimson cross— the stronger among the fugitives, up to their necks in water, fought for the ropes. When Michael at last—seeing that the gal- leass was crowded to capacity—clambered up the gilded woodwork of the stern and gave the signal to get under weigh, the tu- mult on shore took on a fiercer note. Looking back, he could see the flash of simitars among the huddle of the flying. Lean, turbaned horsemen wheeled and charged through the burning houses. A shrill shout pierced the wails of the injured. “Va, Allah! Hai—Allah—hai!” Michael Bearn, hearing this familiar cry of triumph of the Moslems, saw again in his mind’s eye the ruined villages of Armenia, the tortured slaves, and—most Clearly of all —the grave in the sand before the Gate of Shadows. He looked at the two men beside him, the sleeping French knight whose valor had been fruitless, and the sullen Italian officer who regarded him askance, fingering his bruised face. The army of crusaders that he had jour- neyed for a year to join was no more. And Bayezid, angered by the'loss of so many of his men, had doomed ten thousand captives to death. Was there no power on earth that could match the Thunderbolt? “T wonder,” thought Michael. He knew that of one place Bayezid was afraid, or at least that the Thunderbolt shunned that place. : It was the Gate of Shadows. Adventure ITI THE BLOW IN THE DARK WAS an hour after vespers and the lights of Saint Mark’s were glowing softly against the vault of the sky over the great city of Venice. Along the narrow streets, however, and the winding canals the square houses with their grilled doors and carved stonework showed only slits of light from barred windows. At that hoursworthy citizens of the City of the Lagoons went abroad attended only by linkmen and with armed retainers to guard their backs. Those who were more cautious, or who had more powerful ene- mies, paid bravi to watch the retainers. A stranger wandering from the lagoons and the main canals would soon have lost his way. In the poorer quarters where the high buildings seemed to lean together against the sky men looked closely into the faces of those they met and turned the corners wide. Near the Piazza where the walled palaces of the nobles lined the canals the alleys were filled with refuse and ended more often than not in a blind wall. Servants stood whis= pering in the shadows of the postern doors and often a soft laugh came from an in- visible balcony overhead. “A pox on these castles,” said Michael Bearn heartily. “Is there never a place where a body can see before and behind him at the same time?” He glanced up, trying fruitlessly to guess his direction by the few stars visible be- tween the buildings. All that he could make out was that he seemed to be standing in a space where two alleys crossed. Lis- tening, he could hear the music of fiddles and flutes somewhere near at hand. A féte, he knew, was going on in a near-by palace and he had promised himself a sight of it. It was exasperating to hear the sound of the festivity and still be unable to reach it.. Michael laughed, realizing that he had lost his way completely. There had been no lack of offers of a guide. For only that day Michael had re- ceived a gold chain and a key of the same precious metal from the Consolt di Mercanti —the Maritime Council—as reward for his services in bringing back a galley with the ~ survivors of the army of the Count of Nevers from the ill-fated field of Nicopolis. (COMIC OOLKS5€O) oe