Adventure Magazine Cover — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

II 70 = ABOUT the time of noonday pray- | Pe ers we came to the Kirghiz’ au/— . three dome-shaped tents of willow laths covered with greased felt and hides. Over the opening of the biggest tent were yaks’ tails, also an antelope’s head. Under this sat Iskander Khan, cross-legged on the ground. He was a very old man,.bent in the back, with the broad forehead and keen eyes.of his race and a white beard that fell below his chest. His eyes were very bright and his skin had shriveled overnight. His turban was disarranged as if he had torn it in grief. He rose unsteadily to his feet when he saw Shirzad Mir. But my lord—because Iskander Khan had rendered him a great service, and because the Kirghiz was the older man—sprang down from his horse and went to meet him. Iskander-Khan touched his hand to the earth and to his forehead three times; then Shirzad Mir embraced him. “We have come for food,” I said, looking for Wind-of-the-Hills, but seeing him not. Iskander Khan lifted his hands in despair and pointed to the empty huts. “Tt is my sorrow,’ he said, ‘‘that Shirzad Mir of Badakshan should come to my aul ‘and ask meat when I have none to give. There is kumiss in the cask, and this I will bring you.” He did so, filling a bowl with the mare’s milk, which is the distilled drink of the Kirghiz. Neither Shirzad Mir nor I liked kumiss. When we saw how disappointed TIskander Khan was at our refusal, we forced ourselves to drink some. As it happened, this was well, because the strong fluid eased the pang in our insides. Shirzad Mir glanced curiously about the vacant aul. In the days when he had known Iskander Khan, the Kirghiz had many sheep and cattle. Then Iskander Khan told us what had happened. The herd and flock which his sons had driven to the gate of Khanjut had been taken by Jani Beg, who was greatly angered at the trick we had played on him. Also, the two boys and the daughter of Iskander Khan had been taken by the Uzbek horsemen. One of the youths Jani Beg had impaled on a spear which was then fastened to the Adventure gate of Khanjut. The other Kirghiz had been shot in the stomach with a matchlock ball and thrown from the walls of the citadel. The girl Jani Beg had had flayed alive. Iskander Khan had been too feeble to ride with his sons. News of what happened had been brought him by a Khirghiz sheep- boy who saw. ‘Truly, a heavy sorrow had been laid on the khan for what he had done for Shirzad Mir. My lord put his hand on the arm of Iskander Khan and spoke softly. “It is written that what evil-doers store up for themselves they shall taste. You shall have revenge for the death of your sons. By the beard of the prophet, I swear it.” He felt at the peak of his turban for the jewel he had been accustomed to wear there, intending to give it to Iskander Khan as a token. He smiled ruefully when his hand met naught but the cloth. The small turban of white cotton he wore was part of his grave clothes. “Truly, Iskander Khan,” he meditated aloud, ‘I am a beggared monarch. Ihave not even a token to give you for this service.” “T am content, Shirzad Mir.” I thought of the riches that the poet son of Jani Beg was carrying to Khanjut from the Mogul Jahangir, while Shirzad Mir had not so much as a spare horse, and I voiced this thought, being embittered by hunger and much soreness. At this the Ferang sprang to his feet so swiftly that I thought he had seen some Uzbeks approach- ing, so I did likewise. He clapped me on the back, rudely. “Ha, Abdul Dost!” he cried, “‘that is the word I have been waiting for. So the caravan of Said Afzel is now in the Shyr Pass? Here is our chance. We will attack Said Afzel!”’ ‘Ride against two score, when we are but three?” I laughed at the man. If he was mad, I must see to it that Shirzad Mir did not suffer from his folly. “I was in Kabul three days ago, and Said Afzel was just setting out. Besides his slaves and personal servants he has a bodyguard of some Pathans. They are well armed; the pass is narrow. Also they have many camels. You know not what you say!” ‘Peace, Abdul Dost!’ called my lord, whose eyes had taken on a strange sparkle. comichbooks.co