Adventure Magazine Cover — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

46 had left would be lost to sight and soon the steppe would be closed to horses. More faithful than the Cossack’s shadow, Al-Tabir had kept close to him in the Wolky Gorlo. The interpreter of dreams looked askance at the Tatars and Omelko, but for Nada he had heartfelt admiration. Now he believed he had discovered the reason of the warrior’s brooding silence. He ven- tured closer and sighed. “T have seen! Who would not despair? A mouth like the seal of Suleiman—hair blacker than the storm wind—eyes like a gazelle—teeth like matched pearls—form like a willow! I, too, would cast the ashes of longing upon the fire of life!” Kirdy looked down at the stout little man, frowning. ‘‘What dream is this?” ‘“‘A flower of the garden of blessedness!” The Persian raised plump hands and sighed profoundly. ‘‘Why should she wear a sword? Her eyes slay without mercy and her voice binds with chains that may not be broken.” “Is it Nada?’ Kirdy contemplated the sympathetic native without favor. ‘Then bridle thy tongue, because if she hears thee she will make trial of the edge of that yataghan without fail.” ‘“‘Allah forfend! Nay, sakab—how can a man who looks upon her say otherwise?”’ In Moscow the interpreter of dreams had noticed that the wives and daughters of the boyare were kept in seclusion, and it did not occur to him that Cossack women were treated differently. But when he looked into Kirdy’s eyes he saw that he had not made amends. He had meant to condole, in a compli- mentary way, with one who—as he judged —had experienced the pangs of love for a beautiful woman. Instead, ‘although the White Falcon had not threatened him, the skin of his back felt cold. “Can’st thou truly foretell events from dreams?” Kirdy asked gravely, but Al- Tabir answered without hesitation: “That gift have I. Six hundred times have I done so, and it is all written in a book by scribes.” “Then tell me the meaning of this!’’ Kirdy repeated to the Persian the tale of Omelko’s dream and the coming of the wolves. Al-Tabir remained in thought for some time, shaking his head the while. “How can there be good in wolves?”’ he HAROLD LAMB muttered. “They who are aided by the djinn will die! Take me from this place, young Lord! Az, a fear and a foreboding comes upon me!” In truth fear grew upon the interpreter of dreams, until he would not let Kirdy out of his sight. Al-Tabir was far from being a fatalist where his life was concerned, and he was shrewd enough to understand that Kirdy could protect him from the peo- ple of the Wolky Gorlo, and that the Cos- sack had taken pity on him—as strong natures will protect weak. That night Kirdy was kept awake by his own restlessness and the Persian’s wander- ings. For Al-Tabir ceased not to peer from the windows and mutter to himself. Karai, too, kept sniffing at the door, until the Cos- sack was brought to his feet by a moan from the native. “‘Ai-1!_ Look!” Kirdy flung the door open and peered out. As his eyes adjusted themselves to the gloom, he noticed shadows passing across the snow. Here and there, for a moment, twin balls of yellow fire glowed and van- ished. “Here, Karai—zmag!” The Cossack called the wolfhound that had slipped out the instant the door was open. But the dog did not come back, and after a moment Kirdy started after him. Al-Tabir divided between dread of the wolves and unwillingness to be left alone, hung about the door until a sound within the cabin brought him around like a startled bustard. Stooping over the stove, Nada was thrust- ing a length of knotted pitch-pine into the bed of coals. Reeds had been wrapped about the stick, and when the end of the torch kindled, she waved it over her head, laughing at the Persian who saw in this some new incantation. Al-Tabir retreated to his corner and left Nada to run alone after Kirdy, the long torch swinging over her. “Tt is the great pack,” she said over her shoulder as he strode to her side and took the firebrand. ‘‘Look, there is the leader.” They advanced slowly, because the wolves, though circling back restlessly, were too numerous to be driven easily —gaunt beasts high in the shoulder, and by the look of them, more than half starved. Nada pointed to a wolf with only a remnant of a tail, and caught Kirdy’s arm. COMmMiclboook C© 5}