Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

S148 bed) A CENTAUR OF NAVARRE. Near the corner of the building next the drive a groom was holding the bridles of a sorrel war-horse and a lady’s palfrey with a cushioned saddle. So furiously had we ridden in that when I reined Fanchon on her haunches in the gravel, there was scarcely a lance’s length between me and the leveled muskets of the men-at-arms. Warned by the cries which had greeted our arrival, a group of gayly clad gentle- men issued from the hall, and completed the viscount’s battle front with a half circle of drawn rapiers before his door. At éach side of me my men filled up the open space in front of the /dtel, and formed in steady line of charge confronting the threatening muskets. The noise of tramp- ling hoofs ceased, and there came an inter- val of silence, broken only by the panting of winded horses and the ominous clicking of pistol locks. Then from within the house came a merry peal of women’s laughter. M. d’Or- sane’s fair guests knew not, or were care- Jess, that death had paused at the door. “We be ready when you are, master,” muttered Mark at my right. “Can we not parley, captain, and pre- vent bloodshed,” breathed Torinaz at my left. I had seen the priests enter the /dtel, and I was minded that my parley should be brief. “T must see M. the Viscount on the in- stant,” I said, addressing myself to the gentlemen who guarded the doorway. ‘“ Monsieur shall have that pleasure,’’ re- plied a harsh, croaking voice from the hall. “T am coming.” A broad shouldered man in complete ar- mor pushed through the swordsmen and advanced to the head of the steps. “Tam M. d’Orsang, monsieur,” he said, bowing, and to the leader of his men-at- arms: “ Thiebaud, train a brace of your surest muskets on this young man. At the first sion of disturbance, shoot him. M. the Duke d’Epernon has insolently dared to send an invasion. Very well; it shall re- turn to him peacefully, or leaderless.” With admirable coolness in the face of 10 A 305 a superior force, Thiebaud ordered two of his musketeers to give me their undivided attention, which they did at once, aiming at me between their horses’ ears. Despite the grim surveillance of those two dark muzzles, I sat easier in my saddle. It was patent that while M. the Viscount was on his front porch talking to me, he could not be in his parlor marrying Serene. No suspicion of a trick—that this might be other than he—entered my mind. “ Ugly as sin itself,” Aunt Dorothée had described him. Jon Dieu! my dear aunt had libeled sin by the comparison! There could not have been an uglier man in France. Nature had been unkind to him in the beginning. Accident and the hand of man had completed the desolation. Large as was his face, beauty had been crowded off it altogether. It was a collection of enor- mities, of which green eyes, badly mated; a mouth like a thief’s pocket, and a hor- rible scar were the most outrageous. A sword cut had deprived him of his left eyebrow, and passing downward had split his nose, divided his lips, and cleft his chin. The features thus severed had re- united unwillingly. The scene of their re- juctant agreement, poorly curtained by a tawny moustache and beard, was_hid- eous. He was tall, and his body was of un- gainly strength, his arms borrowed from a far larger man; and one of his legs had been broken and twisted so that it formed the half of a right angle at the knee. When he walked, this deformity caused his shoul- ders to swing like those of a marching ape. “ Well, monsieur, with what commission did M. the Duke d’Epernon invest you?” he inquired, having satisfied himself that his musketeers would not miss me. ‘ And why did not M. the Duke come himself?” “But I do not come from D’Epernon, monsieur,” 1 replied. “I am Hilaire Du- hamel, captain of cavalry in the army of King Henri of France. My commission is from him. It is to find Mlle. Serene de Lorme, and to escort her hence at once.” ‘““Eh, what! From the king, say you?” The viscount started, and there was a no- ticeable movement among the gentlemen (E@) (e micboo is > = = " - = ~ ~~ nx * as == —- = ~~ = er ae