Avon Fantasy Reader No. 14 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

But what—by Jove!” he broke off, staring at me wide-eyed as the connection struck him. “I leave it to you what the descendants of an Asia-Minor kingdom are doing in East Alrica,’ [ said, feeling for my pipe, ‘but it must be—the Sume- rians built their cities of sun-dried brick. I saw men making bricks and stack- ing them up to dry along the lake shore. The mud is remarkably like that you find in the Tigris and Euphrates valley. Likely that’s why these chaps settled here. The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets by scratching the surface with a sharp point just as the chap was doing in the throne room. ““Then look at their arms, dress and physiognomy. I’ve seen their art carved on stone and pottery and wondered if those big noses were part of their faces or part of their helmets. And look at that temple in the lake! A small counterpart of the temple reared to the god El-lil in Nippur—which probably started the myth of the Tower of Babel. “ “But the thing that clinches it is the fact that they referred to us as Ak- kadians. Their empire was conquered and subjugated by Sargon of Akkad in 2750 B.C, It these are descendants of a band who fled their conqueror, it’s natural that, pent in these hinterlands and separated from the rest of the world, they'd come to call all outlanders Akkadians, much as secluded Ori- ental nations call all Europeans Franks in memory of Martel’s warriors who scuttled them at Tours.’ “ “Why do you suppose they haven’t been discovered before now?’ “Well, if any white man’s been here before, they took good care he didn’t get out to tell his tale, I doubt if they wander much; probably think the out- side world’s ovverrun with bloodthirsty Akkadians.’ “At this moment the door of our cell opencd to admit a slim young girl, clad only in a girdle of silk and golden breastplates. She brought us food and wine, and I noted how lingeringly she gazed at Conrad. And to my surprise she spoke to us in fair Somali. ““Where «:. we?’ I asked. ‘What are they going to do? Who are you?’ “Tam Naluna, the dancer of El-lil,’ she answered—and she looked it— lithe as a she-panther she was. ‘I am sorry to see you in this place; no Ak- kadian goes forth from here alive.’ “ “Nice friendly sort of chaps, I grunted, but glad to find some one I could talk to and understand, ‘And what’s the name of the city?’ “This is Eridu,’ she said. ‘Our ancestors came here many ages ago from ancient Sumer, many moons to the East. They were driven by a great and powerful king, Sargon of the Akkadians—desert people. But our ancestors would not be slaves like their kin, so they fled, thousands of them in one great band, and traversed many strange, savage countries before they came to this land.’ “Beyond that her knowledge was very vague and mixed up with myths and improbable legends. Conrad and I discussed it afterward, wondering if the old Sumerians came down the west coast of Arabia and crossed the Red Sea about where Mocha is now, or if they went over the Isthmus of Suez and came down on the African side. I'm inclined to the last opinion. Likcly the Egyptians met them as they came out of Asta Minor and chased them south. comicbooks. con