Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

56 Will shook his head doggedly. “By all the saints, thy words were otherwise. I mind——” “Be still!” The girl’s eyes flashed, and the work on the embroidery ceased altogether. “T sent you for tidings of the siege. Will the wall withstand assault, Sir Robert?” “We will hold it. withdraw in three days.” Will Bunsley scratched his head. “Now verily, and by thy leave, lord brother, thou didst hold forth contrariwise upon the rampart. Thou didst swear in good broad words that the Sooltan’s men were overconfident, and the Mungals—or howsomever they be called—were brewing trickery for our quaffiing zs Robert reached out his foot under the table and, finding the yeoman’s under- standing too dense to heed a kick, frowned warningly. “You have quaffed too many cups of Bokharian brewing to remember aught aright, Master Will.” “Nay, by St. Dunstan——”’ “Curb thy tongue, rogue, and cool thy head in the garden for a while.” The archer went out, muttering under his breath, and Ellen laughed merrily. “You would make light of our peril, Sir Robert. But you can not silence your eyes, and they were troubled.” She looked at him frankly. “Will hath described the barbarians, and it would seem they fight best upon their horses. If I were leader of the besiegers I would take your wall upon the flank. I have seen a point where horsemen could enter a score abreast without dismounting or unbarring a gate.” Robert did not smile. “Tf so—but where?”’ “Where you and I entered Bokhara—”’ she paused to stitch the last thread in the cross—‘‘the foe could swim their horses upon the river through the water gate.” ‘‘A chain hath been stretched across and yet the How came you to And the foe must a barrier made against boats, thought is a good one. hit upon it?” “When I was a child, messire, my father held command in the stronghold of Car- cassonne for the queen, and I remember a siege and seeing the foemen swim their chargers across the moat.” Adventure She glanced at his hand where the great sapphire of the Shah’s ring gleamed. “Ts that the talisman bestowed by the paynim king?” “Lightly given.” Robert turned it on his finger, and lifted his head with sudden purpose. ‘“‘We have shared peril, you and I, and you have a heart for true words. Our chance of winning free from Bokhara with our lives is slight.” The brown eyes searched his without a trace of fear. “Ah, let the archer attend you, messire. Ii—if harm befall you he should seek me out, for I would then have need of one ar- row from his bow.” “You would have need of it.” Robert forced himself to speak coldly. Beholding her pride and her trust in him, he clenched his hands and strode the length of the chamber, to pause beside her. “Nay, I am a wildling and worthless—as the peers of Palestine did maintain,” he- went on. “Hither came I to loot gold and gear and raise myself to a high place, and this day I plotted how to profit by the treachery of the wazir to his master. When I cast aside my spurs I put aside my vows and I have mocked the prayers of good Evagrius—thinking to drown memory of the past inasea of blood. And this thing is true.” She began to loosen the long surcoat from the embroidery frame so that he could not see her face, and she made answer softly. “Among the peers of Palestine—aye and France—who hath done the deeds of the Longsword? Is life, forsooth, such a little thing that we must spend our years in kitchen and hall, making love to some and quarreling with others?” Robert frowned down at her, wondering, for this was a maid of many surprizes. “In my father’s castle, messire, were many who painted their shields brightly and made a song of each slight dent won in the pleasant jousts. Faith, they tested their skill at romaunts and gestes in the banquet-hall, and they were bold in the hunt—and the war of words.” She smiled wistfully. “My father was otherwise, and many a time did he tell me of the brave days of Richard of England. When he died I took the cross, being heavy with grief, and now am J ina paynim hold, long leagues from Jerusalem.” CORnMICLOO SH C©