Adventure Magazine Cover — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

THE WOLF MASTER 55 be truth! Lo, for many days I followed the young woman. Az-ee, my body ached from the rubbing of the saddle. We went from aul to aul of the plains-dwellers, Nada show- ing them the picture of the old man and the wolf that hung at her throat.” Kirdy remembered the ikon painting of Saint Ulass and the wolf that the girl cher- ished—and the fear the Nogais had of the great wolf pack. “The plains devils became afraid when they saw the picture—being image wor- shippers, no doubt. When we reached a broad river they led us to the tents of Otri- pief on the near bank. The Muscovite lord looked twice at Nada, and laughed. It is in my mind that he knew at once she was a woman, for he pulled off her hat, and beheld her hair, like gold. The five companions of the lord who were drinking red wine, raised their cups to her, and asked of me if I had been to Péristan, that I rode thither with such a fair-faced houri at my side. They did not laugh when Nada spoke to them, naming them fools.” Al-Tabir shook his head and sighed, his hand moving out toward the leather cup. “Otri-pief said, ‘Nay, all begotten men are fools, and the wise are they that know it!’ Nada looked at him and took back her cap, pointing across the river. She declared to the Muscovites that if they rode to the Golden Horde they would never find the way across the plain; and at the end of the plain they would in any case be slain by the guardians of the Mountains of the Eagles. “Then the Lord Otri-pief questioned her as to how she knew of such matters. Where- upon Nada swore to him that once when she was a child, she had journeyed with her father as far as the Mountains of the Eagles, and there they had been obliged to turn back by the watchers who dwelt on the way to the city of the Golden Horde. “The Muscovite lord asked what manner of city this might be, and she laughed at him, saying that a leader of men should not need to ask concerning the end of his road. She said the dwellers in this city had learned the secret of riches and happiness and all delights of existence. Then did Otri-pief swear that she should lead them to the city, and he would turn back for no power of earth, though—so said he—no delight could be imagined greater than the joy her beauty yielded to his eyes. “And when the cup-companions oi this lord saw that he desired the woman above all things, they did not molest her, but en- treated her in courteous-wise, and she did in truth beguile them with song and story and quip—with the tricks of her horse, and her merry ways. “But when Otri-pief would have caressed her, she showed him the sword girdled to her waist and said that if he would take her hand in his he must first overcome her at sword-play, and one or the other might die therefrom. Now the fate of men is in the hand of Allah, and Otri-pief’s pride was a great pride. It may be he was tempted to overcome her with his sword, because he fenced with his companions before her eyes. When he did so, she made light of him, say- ing that not long since she had held fellow- ship with a warrior who was his master at sword-strokes. And it is in my mind, O White Falcon, that her thought did then dwell upon thee. ‘So the pride of Otri-pief was stirred, and he boasted, saying that he would make him- self master of the city of the Golden Horde and would rule even as a king. Then he swore he would claim her as his. And to this she made response that if in deed Otri- pief became king of the city of the Golden Horde, she would be his. ‘With that the lord was content, because he ever had a mind to mighty accomplish- ments, and Nada led him verilv across the dry lands toward the place where the sun rises. And to me she said it was a merry hunt— fools pursuing folly, and at the end of the road only God knew what. Yet I believe that she knew.”’ The fermented milk and the solace of companionship cheered Al-Tabir, and he only wished he could make out the thoughts of the brown-faced warrior who sat across the glowing bed of dung. “How came Otrépiev to hear of the Gold- en Horde?” Kirdy asked, rousing from his silence. The interpreter of dreams ceased to feel warm and comfortable. He rubbed his hands together and spread out lean fingers gracefully. “T beguiled him with the tale at the saraz of the Muscovites.”’ “Thou?” Kirdy looked up in swift sur- prize that was not reassuring and Al-Tabir made haste to justify himself. “Only hear me, prince of swordsmen. Forbear to cast the flame of wrath on the COmiclboooks.c© 5}