Adventure Magazine Cover — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

The Web of the Sun The moment Lassiter hit on this theory, the various threads in this snarl of facts began to straighten. The killing of the mules, the selection of the spot, the light he had seen in the abyss, all became amenable to human motives. “Besides that,’’ drawled out Birdsong, evidently continuing some soliloquy, “‘them gauchos may have silk lassoes, I don’t know——’”’ : Lassiter was so pleased over his idea, this did not annoy him. He called back cheer- fully— eThis | isn’t silk.” “Oh, it ain’t,” drawled the colporteur calmly. “T thought you said it was.” “I did, but it isn’t.” Lassiter expected the man from Arkansas to ask its material; instead, Birdsong merely remarked— “Then you see, maybe God did send a gaucho after all.” Lassiter burst out laughing. “No, I don’t. This is a new sort of rope, unknown to commerce. I am sure because the Stendill lines handle every sort of cord- age from sisal to manilla hemp, from Egyptian Balthasar Nunes turned and was staring at the colporteur’s assistant. , “The Stendill lines, se#or—what are the Stendill lines?” Lassiter collected his wits. “It’s a rope factory in America where I used to work and—er—make lines—er— ropes and all sorts of cordage.”’ Nunes stroked his black mustache, cast an eye around at Birdsong and nodded agreeably. Birdsong pursued the topic. “Brother Lassiter, maybe the Lord pro- vided that gaucho with a miraculous rope to get me past this bottomless pit made by the devil.” ‘“‘No doubt—no doubt—” and he returned to his study of the rope. The Colombian joined Lassiter and helped him study the new find. The two men walked into the tent to sit and smoke and . talk. Birdsong continued his work outside. “This will explain Chombo Meone’s story,” began Lassiter. ‘“Take the suppo- sition of the Jivaros, a small, but highly civilized people here in the Andes. If they wished to discourage contact with less cul- tured tribes, such as the Bujeans, would they not post guards in these mountains 23 and kill the stock of travelers in an effort to frighten them?” “Why wouldn’t they kill the travelers themselves, sefor?”’ “Because they are civilized. You and I, for instance, we would avoid murder to the last extremity.” ““‘Oh—certainemente, absolutemente, ” Bal- thasar nodded, strongly, “but, sefor, why do you think the Jivaros are highly civil- ized?”’ “This cordage suggests it. I never saw anything like it in the Stendill factories——”’ The agent was rather pleased at the casual way in which he corroborated his own story. ‘““A noiseless airship would prove it; it would explain why we saw that search- light in the abyss last night; it explains why our own lives were spared— Just think, they have flying machines which they can use indifferently as a tractor to draw a dead mule, or to sail away into the void. It will be many a year before our civiliza- tion duplicates that, my dear Balthasar.” Lassiter had a tenable theory now, and he felt good. He was hitting his conversa- tional stride. “But, sevior, I thought the Jivaros were the fiends of hell.” “Natural enough, my dear Balthasar. No doubt the Jivaros have been working for years trying to inculcate exactly that belief among all the surrounding savages. It’s high time some civilized person was get- ,ting in touch with these people, negotiating trade relations— Why, great goodness, man, think of the tonnage from an entirely untouched territory—ships could sail right out of here——” “Ships! Ships sail out of here, sevorl’? cried Nunes in genuine alarm. “Surely, senor, last night’s adventure has not turned your S The Colombian paused, staring at the American. “T mean the ships of the Jivaros—the airships,’ explained the promotor, after a moment—“‘the sort we saw last night.” Nunes looked away over the chasm be- fore them, then glanced back at Lassiter, then at the chasm again. “T see,” he nodded. By this time, both men felt that the other was‘not talking frankly, and they dropped the subject of the Jivaros. turned to neutral topics. NOOK The muleteer (C@©