Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

THE CARAVAN “ Perhaps, Jain Ali Beg.” The yellow teeth of the servant gleamed through his thin béard. In its stress of emotion, his face was even more satyrlike than usual. ‘““T have seen. What I have seen with my eyes, I know. Unholy is the caravan. My ears heard no bells as the camels went by—the time I watched in fear. Why were there no bells, Dono-van Khan? Nay, the Terskei Ala-tau is far from the routes of the trade caravans that go. from Kashgar to Samarkand, or from Khami to Khokand. I have heard much talk of the caravan, excellency, and it is an evil thing. From nowhere it comes, and it goes—no man has seen whither it goes—” The white man called Donovan by his servant smiled, but with his lips only. In his tired eyes the sullen purpose still smold- ered. A physician would have looked at him carefully, noting certain indications of nervous exhaustion, and perhaps of fever. ‘““T shall see,” he muttered. “ Before the day is ended, I shall see.”’ At this Jain Ali Beg started, his eyes narrowed, and he licked dirty lips with his tongue. Then he tore at his turban with both lean hands. ~ “© Dono-van, excellency, forbear! The Caravan is the caravan of the dead.” Donovan closed the telescope with a snap and thrust it into the servant’s grasp. “Many things, Jain Ali Beg,” he said moodily, “‘ have I seen within the last years, and you also have seen; for yeu rode bridle to bridle with me. I have seen men slain because of the faith in a god, in their hearts. Likewise, a shaman of the Kirei has plucked . forth the devil of sickness before our eyes with the sound of his voice. I—and you also—have heard the great trumpets of Yakha Arik echo from invisible mountains in the sky, so that their noise reached the swift march of a day into the hills. Yet, I have not seen the dead ride.”’ Jain Ali Beg pressed the telescope to his breast and bent his head. ‘But the white bones—these, assuredly, . you have seen.” “The skulls?” Donovan shrugged his shoulders. ‘‘ Washed, by chance from grave- yards by the melting snows.” OF THE DEAD. ‘* Nay, excellency.” Donovan seemed not to have heard. His lined, weary face was turned toward the southern mountains into which the caravan had vanished. The fog, of course, had con- cealed its departure. There had been, how- ever, something disquieting in the silence with which the moving caravan passed from sight. Donovan was smiling. ‘ After all, it’s fitting,” he muttered to himself, not altogether clearly. “At the end of my rope. And here’s that blessed caravan. Who knows—”’ He turned to his servant abruptly. All his movements were swift, even as his voice was harsh. “IT shall follow the caravan, Jain Ali Beg.” The Sart bent his head. His half-closed eyes dwelt on the detail of a crawling beetle, seeking a crack in the rocks. Curiously mismated, his amber eyes glowed on the beetle, the while a hissing breath came through his lips. “What is written is written,” he cried sonorously. ‘‘ No man may escape his fate, excellency.”’ Jain Ali Beg did not look his master in the face, because of the glow in his brown eyes. On his swarthy features there was an imprint as of unseen, demonaic fingers. Greed-was stamped upon the likeness of the Sart. Plainly, the words of Donovan had aroused a lust within him. ““No man may escape?” The white man’s brows went up quizzically. ‘ What?” He caught the shoulder of Jain Ali Beg. The wry smile was still on his lips. “ Jain Ali Beg, again I have the fever. Shall I follow the caravan?” The Sart’s look still consulted the beetle. Perhaps he did not care to meet the white man’s scrutiny. ‘“Dono-van Khan,” he said, and again his tongue touched his lips, “ always you have followed the path of your choosing. T have seen you leave a dry bed to go forth into the rain when a tribesman summoned. That is your fate, of which I spoke. I have read a wish in your spirit to uncover the veil that makes of the caravan a hidden thing. Thus, you will go—and no words of cComiclbooks.com