Adventure Magazine Cover — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

28 my Lord and Master stretch a miraculous rope down this bottomless pit for me, and then refuse to go down it? Ain’t that a sign my work’s down there?” The Stendill agent made a gesture of pro- test. “Our mules are dead.”’ “He slew our mules to try our faith, Brother Lassiter.” “‘A man in my business,” said the pro- moter drily, “doesn’t work by faith—he goes after what’s in sight.” The colporteur considered him. “Does that mean you are deserting God’s cause, too, Brother Lassiter?”’ The word “deserting” annoyed the New Yorker. It seemed ill-chosen and unneces- sarily harsh. “TI don’t think it wise to go on.” “The wisdom of men is foolishness with God, Brother Lassiter.”’ “TY don’t mind saying your plan looks like bally foolishness to me—relaying a lot of Bibles into Brazil— It’s mad!” The colporteur’s hard-molded face be- trayed neither pique nor regret. Lassiter felt uncomfortable under the stare of his wide-open black eyes. After a moment he arose, walked over to his clothes pack and got out a package of letters. “Let us part friends, Brother Lassiter,” he said in his perpetual even-tempered drawl. “If we part now, I don’t believe we'll ever see each other again on this earth, but I hope I'll meet you in ‘““Yes, yes,” interposed the promoter un- comfortably. “T hope you don’t mind taking these letters back to Guayquill with you, Brother Lassiter, and posting them to Mollie—” He handed over the pack. ‘‘Let’s see,-the postage will be thirty-four cents—”’ He reached in his pocket and drew out a greasy purse and started to count the exact fringe. The Stendill agent made an annoyed ges- ture. “For ’s sake, Birdsong, put up your money—lI swear, you have the least sense of proportion—I don’t want you to pay me thirty-four cents!” Birdsong handed over the bundle without further words. The letters evidently had been written at different times. The top 99 one bore the address in almost illegible pencil writing— Mrs. Mollie Birdsong (saved and sanctified) Bird- song, Ark. Adventure Birdsong shook hands with the two men in a wooden way. Then he asked Nunes to hold his feet and lower him until he could reach down.and catch the rope below the glue. The Stendill agent watched the feat. Notwithstanding all the strange things that had come up on this journey, the lowering of Birdsong over the cliff was one of the most fantastic. The colporteur was short and had to be lowered a long way. The two men worked with the nonchalance of steeple jacks. The saddle-colored Colombian, holding the heels of the Arkansan, inched him farther and farther over the brink. Birdsong’s head, shoulders, then his whole torso sank out of sight. By this time Nunes was braced heavily to prevent his man from plunging a mile straight down. “A leetle furder, Brother Nunes,”’ drawled the colporteur. “An inch more, sefior,’’ squeezed out the Colombian in a strained voice, “and you'll pull loose!”’ “An inch more, Brother Nunes. strengthen yore grip.” Lassiter stared as the yeti muleteer gave another inch. Sweat stood out on his face. down Lassiter’s back. He wondered if the glue would hold “All right, Brother Nunes,” drawl. Next moment Ezekiel Birdsong vanished head foremost over the ledge. As he went out of sight, the question formed in Lassiter’s mind, how was it possi- ble for that other man, ‘the slayer of the mules, to reach the rope in black darkness, in a moment’s time, if it required such exertions from two such athletes—it would require monkeyish activity—monkeyish— a new possibility flickered before Lassiter. Was the crater a land of great anthropoid apes—an ape on horseback—an ape that could make these strange lariats Every explanation that Lassiter could conjure up held a delirious quality. The breath of the ice fields high overhead breathed down on the brooding man. He shivered. God’ll came the mM WHEN the Bible packs had been A iy shot down to the Arkansan, Bal- thasar and Lassiter remained on the cliff, their labors at colporteurage come to anend. Neither of them peered over the MICLOOOK Prickling sensations went up and (C©