Adventure Magazine Cover — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

14 attire taken from lords and Gipsies alike because the Jews dealt with all the world and no one escaped their clutches. So far, Kirdy saw, they were not aware that the Cossacks had abandoned the village. He made a selection of clothing with care, and then overhauled a dozen outer coats, and Yusyski groaned when he chose a dark sable with voluminous sleeves and a lining of yellow satin. Sending the old Jew before him, he entered the gallery and went to the loft of the other building which was de- serted. Here he stripped off his splendid ermine svitka, the gift of Boris Godunov, his boots, and in a moment stood utterly naked, his sword near his right hand. And as swiftly he began to dress while Yusyski watched in subdued amazement. First Kirdy slipped a white silk shirt over his long, muscular body, then wrapped him- self from ankles to neck in lengths of the same stuff; after putting on a sleeveless black tunic that reached to his knees—over wide damask trousers—he donned a short quilted vest, heavily embroidered. Finally he drew on the sable outer coat and a round velvet hat with a long peacock feather rising from its crown. “T swear,” cried Yusyski, ‘‘the noble Cos- sack has taken for himself some of the gar- ments of the Kitaian prince who was frozen to death down on the Volga. It will cost the noble lord seventy gold ducats!”’ In fact Kirdy now stood arrayed as a Cathayan or Mongol youth of high rank. He had not been able to find the proper vel- vet footgear but contented himself with a pair of Muscovite half-boots which were inconspicuous and much more serviceable. ‘““A razor and warm water, Yusyski,” he ordered. For the last moments the Jew had been using his ears to advantage. He heard horsemen in the streets—heard Muscovites shouting back and forth—the creaking of carts and the stamp and ring of armored squadrons. Lights were springing up, visible through the cracks in the loft. It was clear to Yusyski that the Cossacks were no longer in the village and the Tsar’s forces had entered. “Seventy ducats!’? he repeated more boldly. He had heard Kirdy’s wallet ring heavily when it was thrown on the floor and he had guessed very closely at the con- tents. ‘Then we will talk of a razor.” The Cossack was occupied in tearing up HAROLD LAMB his costly girdle and rolling a strip into a short sling—an act that filled Yusyski with despair—and from the sling, thrown over his left shoulder, he hung his scabbard and sword, within the ample folds of the sable where it could not be seen. “Nay, Yusyski,” he grinned, “the er- mine svitka is worth more than all this. You are paid.” But good-nature made the Jew more in- sistent. ‘“‘Fii-e1, does not the Cossack know that his enemies are all around the house? If I send for them—”’ “T know, Yusyski. Shout!” This compliance made the elder instantly suspicious. He gnawed his finger-nails, glancing from the dog to Kirdy and at the row of heads that thrust out from the pas- sage. ‘Tongues clacked in the heads, and Yusyski began to cluck back at his audience, his hands writhing to right and left and grasping at his ear-locks. His people were giving him advice, to fetch the Muscovite soldiery and have the Cossack slain, and Yusyski was cursing them for putting him at the mercy of the Cossack’s sword. “You have robbed me. I shall send for the Muscovites!”’ he cried, glaring with his one eye at Kirdy. “Good! I will send some of them to the —— and they will burn me, perhaps, but they will root out your hole, and you will see them playing with your Jewesses.”’ The wily elder had already come to that conclusion and he saw now that Kirdy was not to be intimidated. Beyond everything Yusyski feared that the soldiers would find the way up to his treasure lofts. Covertly he moved the ermine svitka out of sight of his brethren and piled saddle-cloths on it, threatening his followers with untold misery if they disobeyed him. “Give me your purse, Cossack,” he de- manded, ‘‘and you can go unharmed. Slieb will show you a way.” “First, the razor.” Yusyski prepared to argue the point, but a glance at Kirdy made him scream an order at the ragged individual who had brought the Cossack to the loft. Slieb brought a knife with a sharp edge and a basin of water. Watched intently by eyes that were covet- ous and at the same time fearful, Kirdy shaved off his scalp-lock and the middle of his mustache. He trimmed the ends Send, if you will! DOOLK C©