Adventure Magazine Cover — page 73: what you’re looking at

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

The Web of the Sun Whether the colporteur had- any in- nuendo tucked away in this invitation or not, Lassiter did not. know. But when he reached his paddlewood he found his bags had been opened. Further search showed not a match remained. The packs-of both Nunes and Birdsong revealed the same state of things. The colporteur had -cornered miracles in Motobatl. In the last light of day, the agent for the Stendill lines fumbled through his belong- ings hoping one match might have been overlooked wherewith to soothe the old ‘crone in the baobab. At last, in the bottom of his pack, his fingers stumbled over his flashlight. He picked it up and flashed it to make sure it would work.* Then he started back for the baobab with an easier heart. He had found a somewhat different sort of miracle, but he felt sure that with it he could convince old Prymoxl that her fourteen nifvias were leading blessed and profitable lives in the bright mansions of the Sun. ee reached the baobab that he was forced to use his flashlight to find his way, thus, naturally weakening the force of his miracle. He found Tilita and her mother standing outside the baobab watching the sky. He exhibited his flash- light with rather a foolish feeling, directing its ray here and there. He even made the mistake of explaining its mechanism to Tilita the best he could. Old Prymoxl said that Birdsong had acted quite differently. He had struck her tree with his hand and fire had flamed up; he had nothing to strike with except his hand and flames had leaped out; and as for Lassiter, making a light and no fire, a firefly could do that much—Here the talk drifted away from the flashlight, which got no further attention, although Lassiter eontinued snapping it on and off in an absent-minded way. Both women were in a state of perturba- tion. They had been watching a light far to the north that reddened the sky. They *This portion of Lassiter’s record explains the marvels worked by Birdsong in his evangelization of Motobatl. He is credited with striking fire from stones and trees by the simple blow of hishand. This, of course, was fathered from the Motobatl Indians who at present implicitly believe this to be a fact. Bishop Langhorn, in his ‘‘Man or Myth”’ does not seem to a epprenend Lassiter’s explanation. See ‘“‘Man or Myth’"’ Bishop Langhorne, Starnes & Sykes, Richmond, Va. XI IT WAS so dark when Lassiter 63 could see glimpses of it through the trees. Lassiter joined their observation. He found the girl’s hand m the gloom, and stood looking at the light with that sense of comfort her touch always brought. Very gradually the illumination increased and spread. The jungle became filled with a reddish glow. From here and there*came the call of a bird or the chatter of some animal at this untimely radiance. Strange delicate perfumes became sensible in the air from the burning of aromatic trees. The lovers slipped their arms about each other and speculated in whispers on the origin of the light. ‘Tilita thought it was the sun climbing down the western pali- sades to avenge Birdsong’s impiety. As they stood, something crashed into the baobab high over their,heads, followed by a falling through the leaves. An eagle, half stunned, hit the ground within twenty feet of the watchers. No doubt it had been driven from its aerie by the flames, and had blundered into the crest of the baobab. The huge bird filled the jungle with its shrieks when Lassiter turned his flashlight on it, and finally scuttled off through the underbrush like any turkey. From the lake came the distant laughter of loons. A confusion of sounds so faint as to be nameless seemed gradually to arise from all over the crater. The glow increased. Presently, at some distance away, Lassiter saw three figures hurrying through the jungle toward the feocalla. In the hope of finding some information, he ran toward them, calling and flashing his light. His answer was three shrieks, the whisper of an arrow past his head, and the fugitives vanished like partridges in a covert. The wide commotion seemed to focus on the temple of the sun, and the first real knowledge of what was taking place came to the watchers from a man _hobbling through the jungle from the west. The stranger carried a bow and arrow and featherwork shield of an Incan warrior. He had a bullet wound in his thigh. He stopped when he saw the women and old Prymoxl tied a cloth around the leg to stanch the blood. The wounded man was still dazed. He told an uncertain tale of a terrible man. who pointed his hand at him; came a flash of lightning and a terrific thunderbolt which struck him in the leg and brought him down. MICLOOOK (C@