Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

- * ft - The Gate in the Sky No one had ever seen Maak kill one of his ~ herd. When he wanted meat he shot down other game with his bow. He wasas lean as the reindeer—with long, supple muscles that hid his strength. His slant eyes were mild. This shyness of Maak came ftom long isolation. Barely .did he remember the chants of a dead grandfather—chants of Mongol warriors who had taught the mean- ing of fear to their enemies. Traders who learned that Maak—like the other wandering ones—did not kill his rein- deer or sell them—the traders laughed, saying that he was mad, a khada-ulan- obokhod, an old man of the mountain—a -spiritless coward. 7 ‘He has turned into a deer,” they said, “with only enough wit to run away. Pah. He would not fight even for his own life!” Nevertheless the other Buriats were superstitious about khada-ulan-obokhod and did not molest them. x AS THEY came to a bend in the ca upper valley Maak’s mount, an old 3 white buck, halted with lifted muz- zle. The herd, following the example of their leader, stopped and bunched together, eyes and ears pointed in the same direction. They were in sight of a large stream that gave into the Irkut. Beside the river were three canvas tents and a knot of pack- horses. Smoke rose into the chill evening air. Three men came from the fire and looked at them. Maak would have turned when one.of the travelers, a stocky, bearded man in a fine: mink coat, waved to him. , Now Maak had been seeking that very spot to camp for the night. When the men invited him by gestures to join them he _ hesitated. Finally he edged the reindeer up to the tents and dismounted. They were traders; the bearded man a eee colonist; a handsome, brisk young ellow was Orani, a Yakut half-breed; the third a silent Mongol. “Greetings, nim tungit—tent compan- ion,’ Orani, who acted as interpreter, pro- claimed. Maak nodded and accepted their hospi- tality shyly. His herd he let to graze on the moss in a birch grove, out of sight of the tents. They gave him a erueious brick of tea, and all four quaffed numberless bowls of the potent liquid as they sat around the fire. ~ 145 “We have no meat, take the luck!” explained Orani. ‘Game is bewitched around here and our bullets all miss... Sell us one of your fine, plump beasts and we'll have a feast; eh, Maak?” The reindeer-keeper shook his head. The men exchanged glances, and the Sibe- rian, Petrovan, looked an The traders had had ill luck with more than game for the pot. .The fur they were taking back from the Syansk was a poor lot —some fair mink, but only a few ermine and no black foxes at all. The Mongol hunters . were harder than ever to deal with. Petro- van considered it a personal grievance. Until now his Summer trading had been good. “The gentleman,” informed Orani, ‘will give you a powder-flask and a handful of bullets for a brace of deer. Come, Maak; strike a bargain, man!” Absently the Buriat shook-his head. He had no musket, and he was admiring the business-like hunting-piece of the trader and Orani’s silver-mounted flintlock. He of- fered them some of his reindeer milk; they declined with a grimace, but the ever hungry Mongol emptied all portions down his Orani was surprized that Maak had se gun. How did he deal with bear and moose? “They do not trouble me,” said Maak after he had thought it over. es He was slow to think things out. “Well, you’re a fine fellow all right, “3 agreed the half-breed. “Look here, we’re on the trail to the Irkut, going to Irkutsk. Come along with your “herd: sell them in Irkutsk, and I'll -wager they fetch a good price. Then you'll be rich like this gentle- man here, and have tobacco enough to smoke every minute until you die, and a — — and sleigh.’ He gulped the heavy smoke of his pipe pee into his lungs, and glanced keenly at the Buriat The creases in Maak’s leathern face “changed as he rubbed some more tobacco — into the bowl of his pipe. His black eyes twinkled. Maak had come as near as possible to a smile. “No,” he grunted. without them?” He pointed at the white buck that lin-~ gered near his tent. When the Siberian retired to the big tent “What would I do with a rug on the earth and a cot and lan- tern, Maak examined ‘it from the opening "comicbook ts oe ee