Adventure Magazine Cover — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

THE WOLF MASTER carefully and Yusyski, who had heard sol- diers preparing to quarter themselves in the lower floors, was inspired to fetch wax. With this Kirdy coaxed his mustache into the thin drooping lines of a Mongol. His swarthy skin, black hair and eyes all fitted into the part. He passed his hand over the muscles of his face, let his eyelids droop, and, folding his arms in his sleeves, said with the quick inflection of a Mongol: “Mai machambi yaroul Take heed, mer- chant!’’ The Jews crowded nearer to stare and chatter, and even the redoubtable Yusyski blinked. A man of stratagems himself, he could appreciate a trick. Even the sword, as Kirdy happened to know, bore a Mongol inscription, and except for the pile of wet Cossack clothing on the floor and the word of the Jews—which was of doubtful value— a Mongol prince now stood in the attic of the elders. There was Karai, to be sure, who smelled over his master’s new attire with interest. But more than one wolfhound was in the steppe, and Kirdy was quite will- ing to risk keeping him. “Fi-eil”’ grunted Yusyski. “It is like magic. But now the noble prince will give the gold and we will swear to keep his secret.” “Not now. Come to me tomorrow at high noon by the tavern gate, and I will give you ten pieces.”’ “Ten!” Yusyski raised both arms over his head, and snatched back his dirty sleeves to argue. “Enough!” Kirdy’s patience was at an end. Taking out, one after the other, ten gold ducats from the wallet Khlit had given him, he showed them to Yusyski in his palm and a portentous silence fell upon the crowd. “They are yours if you keep silence. Follow me,’’ he added on an after- thought, ‘‘or give me away to the soldiers and how many gold pieces will you have? Not one. The Muscovites will pocket them.” Yusyski’s one eye blinked rapidly, and he clutched Kirdy’s arm, leaping back in fright when Karai rose suddenly from the shadows and snarled silent menace. “O my God, illustrious sir; not a whisper will pass our lips. But how do we know the glorious knight will keep faith?” Kirdy kicked up Slieb. “You know well that a Cossack keeps faith, Jew. Here, animal, lead out of your warren.” I5 Recognizing checkmate, Yusyski aban- doned Kirdy and turned on his tribe, spit- ting and loosing a flood of jargon as he made ready to justify himself and at the same time keep the ermine svitka hidden and claim a majority of the ten ducats—a task to which, judging by appearance, he was quite equal, in spite of heavy odds against him, HE next morning a handsome young Mongol, obviously of rank, break- fasted quietly at the tavern, look- ing with well-bred curiosity at the pack of officers that filled every available seat. Here were Polish /itzars in polished and gold-plated armor and feathered helmets— stalwart Muscovite boyars in mail covered with cloth-of-gold trimmed with fur—pale Lithuanians who kept well together and were more than ready to quarrel with any one who got in their way. In fact more than one quarrel flared up, and swords were grasped angrily. Servants, seeking their masters, elbowed and snarled for precedence. Heydukes in kaftans and Persian khalats galloped up to the tavern and drained the last liquor from the barrels that had been tapped by their superiors and rolled outside to make room. In the court, within great kettles, roasted the quarters of the cows and steers Kirdy had seen in the cattle-sheds. Carts blocked the streets; peasants, driven from their cottages, stood in frightened groups, while the smoke of camp-fires rose from the plain on every side. It was a large army, made up of many factions. Tatar patrols rode in from time to time but brought no word of the Cos- sacks. The snow of last night had covered the tracks of Khlit’s squadrons and mysti- fied the boyare. Complaints, argument and advice were plentiful, but no one seemed to be in command of this army. Certainly no one gave Kirdy more than a passing glance. A colonel of one of the Vishnevetski regiments, noticing that the young Mongol’s hands were strangely mus- cular and his face lean for an Eastern prince, took the trouble to question him. Smilingly Kirdy responded in fluent Man- chu-Tatar that he had been journeying from the hordes of Central Asia to see the great Khaghan of the Muscovites in his imperial city. His followers and interpreter, he ex- plained, had been lost. DOOK C©@