Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

= of the ditch, as high as the wall and some twenty feet from it, the Mongols withdrew and quiet settled down. Robert left the Kankalis in charge opposite the causeway and rode to seek out Kutchluk Khan, who was camped across the city with his Turko- mans. The one-eyed chief came forward on foot, and the crusader did not dismount, for he was entitled to speak to the old warrior from the saddle. “Take half your men—ten thousand of the best armed—and clear away the stalls and sheds of the suk. (Quarter yourselves in the market-place which is in the center of the city. When a wide space is cleared, assemble your men and report tome. Can you reach any point in the wall, riding four abreast from the suk?” “Allah pity any who stand in my way,” boasted the Turkoman, grinning. ‘Are we to sally forth by the river? The Mon- gols have no more than a few riders on watch on the banks of the Syr.”’ “Who spoke first to you of a sally, O alabeg?”’ Kutchluk Khan thought for a moment. “Twas Osman, or one of the cup- companions.” “Vou have seen many battles.” “By the ninety and nine holy names, I have seen rivers run with blood and the dust of the fighting hide the sun, O ameer.”’ “Have you ever given your men an order to ride whither your foes wished them to go?” “Nay! Am I a smooth-faced boy, to listen to false talk?” “Then why incline your heart to a sally? The Mongols fight best in the saddle, and on the open plain they would be at home.” The Turkoman grunted and fingered his beard, not too well pleased at the rebuke. “Likewise,” went on Robert bluntly, ‘tell me if Osman holds me in honor or not?” “By the sword-hand of he doth not. Yah khawand,’ Kutchluk laughed, baring yellow teeth, ‘he would be content to pour molten lead in your ears and make of your skull a drinking-cup. He has sworn he will.”’ “Sworn to whom?” “To me and others, having gone among us with whispered talk. Slay him while the hour is propitious; it is all one to me, and my men would stand aside. I know not why the Shah chose you to be over me, Adventure but Osman is an adder that strikes from a hole in the wall.” Kutchluk became good-humored again as he watched the crusader ride away. To his men he observed that the dog of a Nazarene was good steel shining froma dunghill. “He knows well the worth of a mounted reserve of warriors such as we be. He hath given command for us to clear the bazaars— aye, and a way through every quarter of the city, so that we can mount and ride to his aid when he summons us. Allah send the wazir slay him not, for a feud comes to a head between them.” “Inshallah—then the door of looting is opened!” The Turkomans, sili had become quar- relsome from long idieness, waxed su- premely content and prepared to go and plunder the stalls of the merchants. And by the time they were in saddle the words of the new ameer had been repeated so often that to a man they were ready to swear they had been ordered to loot. CHAPTER XI TWO MEN AND A PLAN ‘THE sun was a brazen. ball hanging in a shroud of dust; and even the dogs of Bokhara had got up, panting, and left the alleys when Robert sought the dwelling where Ellen d’Ibelin and the blind priest were quartered. He found the narrow street filled with men who squatted where there was shade, and sweating horses. Pushing through, heedless of the scowls and imprecations that followed, he led his horse into the door of the garden that, be- hind a high clay wall, separated the house from the street. It was a rose garden, bordered with jas- mine and thyme. A. fountain splashed where the shade was coolest, and about the fountain sat Osman and Hassan and sev- eral other followers of the wazir. Robert glanced toward the entrance of the house and saw Will Bunsley seated on the thresh- old with half a dozen weapons—the archer had a way of acquiring whatever dagger or sword struck his fancy without bothering to pay the owner—spread out on the stones beside him. Father Evagrius and the girl were not to be seen. Osman had. entered and brought in his: DOO COr, S GC (C@