Adventure Magazine Cover — page 191: what you’re looking at

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

The Camp-Fire warned for days before that the Indians were out in very great numbers, but, paying no attention to his scouts, he ordered Reno to go down the Little Big Horn a ‘ways, cross over, and, after circling around to the back of the Indians’ camp, to fire a signal shot, upon which Custer and his men were to charge upon the camp from the front. Custer, however, bull-headed as ever, never waited for Reno to get back of the camp and fire the signal shot, but dashed right in, when, as Chief Gall said when showing a party over the field in 1886, the Indians were as thick as the leaves of the forest, springing up from the ground and in lots of in- stances clubbing the cavalrymen off from their horses. USTER went into the fight with long hair, all stories to the contrary, and it is no doubt all bosh about his having committed suicide. He was certainly killed by either Rain-in-the-Face or some other Indian. It was a massacre, all rnght, for their carbines were mostly fastened to their saddles and, their horses breaking away, they were left with only a few carbines, about a half dozen sabers and their revolvers with which to defend them- selves. In the meantime Reno and his men were sur- rounded on a hill by Indians, and the 7th Infantry and a small outfit of cavalry, the 8th, if I remember right, rescued Reno and his men. Afterward the 7th Infantry and the 8th Cavalry helped to bury Custer and his men. Reno would have been wiped out with his men if they had not been rescued just in time. BUFF ALO BILL used to scout with my regiment and... I used to know Calamity Jane. Calamity Jane was ‘certainly a very noted woman. She was full of life and vigor, and when she looked at a person her eyes would almost bore holes through them.—Dr. Witiiam E. ARNoLp (formerly Musi- cian, Co. B, 7th Infantry, U. S. A.) WORD from Harold A. Lamb in con- nection with his story in this issue: New York. A few points about “Said Afzel’s Elephant.” It may seem improbable that three men could do what Abdul Dost and his friends tackled, In India at that time, however, a noble from the court trav- eled with a large following of slaves, personal attendants, eunuchs, wives, buffoons, Hafiz, or poem-readers, bearers, etc. EW of such gentry were fighting men by inclina- tion or training. And even today the hillmen of Afghanistan such as the Afridis are excellent combatants when se inclined, At that time tribal warfare. was the rule and the hillmen were skilled in weapons. They had to be. As to Said Afzel. The character of the opium- using poet is not overdrawn. Drugs of varied sort were in general use, and it was the fashion to remair? stupefied for certain lengths of time. The Rajputs were addicted to opium in very large quantities, One passage in the memoirs of Baber relates that he kept sober at a drinking party of his frienas in order to see what the bout wov!d be like. He watched them drink wine, then change to bang and distilled spirits, ending up with opium 3nd more wine until “they became senseless or began 12 177 to commit all manner of follies, whereupon I had myself carried out.” A GOOD deal has been written of the treasure of the Moghuls. This was hardly so very great in money, but consisted of enormous quan- tities of jewels, especially diamonds and rubies, horses, cloth-of-gold, etc. The amount of an amir’s treasure measured the number of fighting- men he could buy; hence the possession of a store of riches as in this story was more valuable to an ambitious noble than a small kingdom.—H. A. Lamps. opEN KS to our comrade Ira A. Thomp- son of E] Paso I have a copy of ‘“Poi- sonous Animals of the Desert,” by Charles T. Vorhies, which is Bulletin No. 83 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. The Bulletins, Timely Hints and Reports of this Statien will be sent free to all who apply. Among other things, it seems to give us a final and authoritative decision on our old, old friend, the Gila Monster. It zs poisonous, but the effects of its bite are variable and there seems to be no established case of the death of a human being from its bite. Here is Mr. Thompson’s letter: El Paso, Texas. In your issue of August 18th you list 13 kinds of rattlesnakes. As Arizona is the home of }1 kinds, I take-the liberty to send you tnis booklet issued by Arizona State University, whiczon states there are 19 known varieties of rattlesnakes, *4 of which inhabit U. S. A. and 11 of these are found in Arizona. My .45 Colt (single-action, if you please) has finished many a rattler. Re coral snake. A Mexican woman at a mine about 60 miles south of the line lived about 10 or 15 minutes after being bitten by coral snake. You will also find something about Mr. Gila Monster. Nothing like the bunk one sometimes reads in stories, nor for that matter is it much like the stuff I have handed out to entertain some of the new comers, who as a rule will believe the lies but not the truth.—Ira A. THOMPSON. And here is a quotation from the Bul- letin: Just one other poisonous reptile belongs to our fauna—the Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum,- cover cut). This and a closely related species, Heloderma horridum, found only in Mexico, are the only poisonous lizards in the world. Abso- jutely no other lizards (these including the so-called “horned toads’) are poisonous. The Gila Mon- ster has poisexi-glands, but in the lower instead oy “he upper jaw, the secretion oozing out between the teeth and the lower. lips. It has no poison fangs however, and therefore no definite mechan- ism tor worcibly injecting poison with a stroke as does the rattlesnake. It will snap and bite if Gomichbooks. co