Adventure Magazine Cover — page 65: what you’re looking at

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

THE WOLF MASTER 59 When I have taken spoil, then I will have a gift that is fitting.” A murmur of impatience and anger arose from the listeners around the sides of the room—from the sons and grandsons of the khan, and his officers. They resented the appearance of the stranger at such a time, and more than resented his boldness. Even the quiet old man seemed surprized, but he meditated, his arms folded on his knees. “Hearken, young warrior, to my second word. ‘The lifetime of a horse before now, the Altyn Juz sought pasture in the west. We came to a river, and there found a lame man, a Kazak such as thou, whose only solace in life was a girl-child. Now this Kazak was assuredly a wizard, because the wolf packs came to his yurta of nights and he talked with them. We shared bread and salt, he and I, and our talk was as brothers and friends. That was long ago, yet I have seen no Kazak since. Abide, then, with me, but think no more of mounting for battle, lest my men slay thee, unknowing. With Ilbars Sultan is a mighty Panga, and it will go hard with us. Tidings have come—”’ With a gesture he dismissed the Cossack and turned to his household, crumpling the millet cakes in his slender fingers. Kirdy smiled as if greatly honored—though his very soul burned with impatience to be free of the tent and in the saddle—and took a seat among the sons of Tevakel Khan. UT when he heard the first of the B messengers who had been waiting at the entrance, he forgot weari- ness and disappointment in sudden interest. The Turkomans were within a day’s ride of the Tatar camp. The messengers, who were soaked and weary with riding through the night and the storm, told tales of tent-villages seized by the foe—of old people cut down, warriors burned or crucified or dragged by horses, and young women that died within an hour of capture. This was no ordinary raid on the part of Ilbars Sultan. The Turkomans, with their allies, the Uzbeks, numbered close to twenty thousand. They had followed the grass up to the north with their horse herds, and they meant to wipe out the armed men of the Golden Horde, to seize the cattle and pas- ture-land for their own, and to keep the Tatar children for slaves. In the face of calamity, the patriarch of the Golden Horde remained utterly calm. From the north and the west the Tatar clans were hastening on tired horses to the gathering of the Horde. To Kirdy, it seemed as if Tevakel Khan must give battle within the next two or three days. If he retreated into the northern steppe he would lose the bulk of his cattle, many horses and all his sheep—and these herds were the very life of the Aliyn Juz. On the other hand, if he stood his ground against the dreaded Turkomans now, he would be outnumbered. And if there was a battle, what would be- come of Otrépiev and Nada? They were not far away—a Turkoman does not yield up such captives. And, unless the Cos- sack could free himself from the watch of Tevakel Khan, this battle on the steppe would separate them again, as the black storm drives travelers asunder in the desert. ‘In the night before this last the Tourka devils did the two-sword dance in the chief- tain’s place.” A lad who had crept through the outer patrols of the invaders had just come in to report what he had seen. | ‘They have many ponies, and a great camp. While the sword dance was going on some of them made a great noise and a flash of fire with weapons they held in their hands, yet no harm came to them.”’ Tevakel Khan made a gesture of assent. Although the Altyn Juz had no firelocks, he had heard of them before. “What does the Fanga nialma of the sultan?” “He drinks fire.” ‘CA _ah!”’ A sibilant moan from the listeners greet- ed this, and the boy glanced proudly around him, to take full credit for the ominous tid- ings he brought. “The wizard drinks fire from a cup, sit- ting before Ilbars Sultan, the Leopard,” he went on. ‘“‘My eyes beheld this. He sits on a white bearskin.”’ rh abl"? “He has five lesser fanga, to wait upon him and increase his magic.” } “That is so,” put in another, a burly warrior who had carried off the first pris- oner from a Turkoman outpost. ‘‘The six magicians were found marching toward Ilbars Sultan, out in the steppe. They COmiclboooks.c©