Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 2 — page 134: what you’re looking at

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

266 ing sure that all was as he wished, Monsey strode toward the door as a scattered burst of firing resounded nearer the kurgan. When he left the room his men followed. Edith, in the upper chamber, waited im-. patiently until Aravang’s shaggy head was thrust up into the opening. Behind him came Donovan, stroking the wrists that the cords had numbed. The three faced each other silently in the gloom. It was Edith who spoke first. “Come,” she said thoughtfully, “ to the tower-top.” Donovan had taken the native’s weapon and the bandolier. He jerked open the beech, made sure that a cartridge was in- serted, and ordered Aravang to surrender his revolver to Edith. “Why?” he frowned. “I rather like it here—as a base of operations.” ‘Because I want you to,” insisted the girl. Familiar by now with the damaged stair- way, she advanced up to thé open air, Donovan followed more slowly. Night had fallen. But splinters of light were thrusting into the gloom of the kurgan as the waiting men began to light the kero- - sene-soaked flares. First one and then an- other pine bundle crackled and blazed. By the growing light they coyld see dark figures running up the kurgan’s entry-way, and the line of Monsey’s men standing be- hind the parapet. These had not yet be- gun to fire. The reports Edith had heard came from the patrols as they were driven back to the moat. Near the rocks on the further plateau she thought she saw the light robes of groups of men moving. Overhead the stars had claimed the sky, and the half-moon was shedding a hazy light. : Donovan took it all in with a swift glance. ‘“‘ Monsey is no man’s fool,” he muttered. ‘He knows his men are liable to stampede under the old fear of the Sayaks, in the dark. Those flares—”’ ‘“‘ Quick!”’ cried Edith. ‘‘ We must do something before it is too late.” The man paid her a tribute of admiration in a swift glance. Then his eyes hardened with recollection .of the peril below. The _ whole vista of the courtyard was fast being THE ARGOSY. revealed by the growing flares. The door leading to the hold and the tower where they stood must be clearly outlined to any one who chanced to look that way. It would be difficult, practically impossible to escape from the door into the courtyard without being seen. Still that was their only chance of safety, Donovan reasoned. A quick sally, a rush to one of the breaks in the wall on a side away from the Sayak attack—a gauntlet of bullets— He knelt down, rested his rifle on a fallen timber, waist-high, and searched for Abbas. Edith tugged at his shoulder vigorously. ‘What, dear?” he asked, without shift- ing his’ position. : ‘Not that, Donovan Khan,” the girl ex- claimed. ‘“ That is not why I brought you here.” ‘“Right-o!” \ he murmured _cheerily. “But it will help, you know—” ‘““No—not that.” She crouched beside him, her face close to his. ‘Don’t you see? We can do more than that!” A ragged volley came out of the gloom two hundred yards across the plateau. Under cover of the swirling smoke that rose over the ground they saw groups of Sayaks advancing. Behind the parapet the wait-. ing cohorts held their fire, as Monsey, run- ning back and forth, swore at them anpri- ly. The Englishman knew that when an answering volley came from the kurgan-it must do deadly execution among the at- tackers, who beside the disadvantage of numbers and inferior arms, had the glare of the pine torches in their eyes. ‘“We must warn the Sayaks, Dono-van Khan.” His eye fixed on Monsey, he did not grasp at first the full significagce of her words. She shook him impatiently. ‘“ Call to Iskander. Or it will be too late.” _ The instant Donovan understood her purpose, its whole meaning was revealed to the mind of the soldier. Laying down his weapon, he took the girl’s hand in his and studied her anxiously. ‘“ Hurry!” she whispered. “You do not know, Edith. That might check the Sayak attack, but it would bring all these beggars of Monséy’s on us, at the COMICLO© SS C©