Warriors of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures, Volume Two (v. 2)

654 Pages·2006·5.28 MB·English

by  Harold Lamb

WarriorsoftheSteppes
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ii foreword
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foreword iii
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KimE—UNLPress/Pageiii/JAN.6.2006/WarriorsoftheSteppesVol.2/Lamb
©2006
bythe
BoardofRegents
ofthe
UniversityofNebraska
Allrightsreserved
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
(cid:1)(cid:1)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lamb,Harold,1892–1962.
Warriorsofthesteppes/HaroldLamb;editedby
HowardAndrewJones;introductionbyDavidDrake.
p.cm.–(ThecompleteCossackadventures;v.2)
isbn-13:978-0-8032-8049-6(pbk.:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-8032-8049-1(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Cossacks—Fiction. 2.Steppes—Asia, [-4], (4)
Central—Fiction. 3.Asia,Central
—History—16thcentury—Fiction.
I.Jones,HowardA. II.Title.
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Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
TheLionCub 1 [-5], (5)
TheSkullofShirzadMir 78
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SaidAfzel’sElephant 105
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ProphecyoftheBlind 128 *
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AmeeroftheSea 178
LawofFire 300
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TheBrideofJagannath 360
TheMasterpieceofDeath 420
TheCurvedSword 488
Appendix 621
AbouttheAuthor 631
SourceAcknowledgments 633
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Foreword
When he began seeing print in magazines like Argosy and All- [-7], (7)
Story, Harold Lamb’s fiction was competent but unremarkable.
At first his work for Adventure was no better; Lamb wrote
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several forgettable South Sea tales and some stiff, contempo-
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rary pieces...and then suddenly he found his voice. In 1917
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HaroldLambcreatedawanderingCossacknamedKhlitandtruly
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launchedhiscareer. Normal Page
ThetalesofthewilyCossackhelpedtransformLambintoone PgEnds: TEX
of Adventure magazine’s most popular writers. Khlit traveled
through the plains of Mongolia, Tibet, China—places painted
[-7], (7)
vividlybyLamb’sprose,eachexoticanddeadlyandteemingwith
adventure.Inall,Khlitappearedinnineteenstories,andthehis-
torical accuracy of the series helped give Adventure its sterling
reputationasamagazineofquality—Newsweekonceproclaimed
itthe“dean”ofpulpmagazines.
In a little over two years Lamb had drafted ten Khlit stories,
mostofthemnovellas,buthetookvariousshortbreaksfromthe
saga to write other tales. There was such a demand for fiction
at this time that the pulp magazines were printed frequently—
Adventurewasappearingonnewsstandsatleasttwiceamonth.
Priortothefirststoryinthiscollection,LambcreatedAbdul
Dost,whonarratesfourofthetalesreprintedhereandisapivotal
player in the short novel that follows them. Like Khlit, Abdul
Dostisatalentedswordsmanandveteranwarrior,thoughheis
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viii foreword
more straightforward than the Cossack. He is a devout Muslim
andaloyalfollowerofhislord,ShirzadMir.Andthereinliesthe
trouble,forShirzadMirisoutoffavorandunjustlyimprisoned.
The new Mogul emperor, Jahangir, turns a deaf ear to Shirzad
Mir’sdefenders,andthusAbdulDostmustfindawaytofreehis
lord, avenge the wrongs done to him and his people, and clear
ShirzadMir’sname.FortunatelyforAbdulDost,hesoonmeetsa
travelerfromFrankistanwellversedinallthestratagemsAbdul
Dostisnot—andtosaymuchmorewouldspoilthetale.
Lamb had become fascinated with India, more precisely, In-
dia in the reign of Jahangir and his spectacular wife, Nur-Jahan,
aboutwhomLambwouldeventuallywriteanovel.Bothyou,the [-8], (8)
reader,andKhlitwereintroducedtoherinthefinalstoryofthe
firstvolumeofthisseries.
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While researching Khlit’s time period Lamb probably was in-
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spired to write tales set in India in which it would have been
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difficult for Khlit to play a part, and thus he developed Abdul
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Dost. Once through with Abdul Dost’s story cycle Lamb wrote Normal Page
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and then seems to have decided to throw Khlit and Abdul Dost
togethertoseewhatwouldhappen.ItmaybethatLambintended
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tounitethetwocharactersthemomenthecreatedAbdulDost—a
notebyAdventureeditorArthurSullivanHoffmanindicatesthat
Lamb was at least considering that idea from the start. I like to
thinkLambrealizedtheKhlitstoriesneededanewelement,for
thelasttwosoloKhlitadventures,“TheRideroftheGrayHorse”
and“TheLionCub,”whileenjoyable,lackedsomeofthefireand
immediacyfoundinthehighpointsoftheseries.
However Lamb came to combine the characters, the result
worked; from the climactic story of their meeting in “Law of
Fire”totheirfinalscenetogetherin“TheCurvedSword,”Lamb
is once more on his best footing. Indeed, “The Curved Sword”
isoneofthebestentriesintheentireKhlitsaga,and,strangely,
like “Law of Fire” and “Masterpiece of Death,” has not been
reprintedsinceitsappearanceinAdventuremagazinein1920.It
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foreword ix
was likely intended to bring the series to a close; there is even
a suggestion that Khlit’s curved saber has been shattered in the
battlethatconcludesthestory,andtherewouldbenothingmore
final than that, for the weapon was a touch point for many of
theCossack’sadventuresandhisconstantcompanion.Nearthe
endofthestoryLambwritesonlythatKhlitcarriedashattered
sword,butwhatotherweaponmightithavebeen?
Fortunately for himself, Lamb had not been explicit in the
matter,forcome1925hewastobeginafinalseriesofKhlitad-
venturesinwhichtheagingCossackhashandedoverhisfamed
saber to his grandson Kirdy and instructs him in the ways of
adventure, Khlit style. But those tales, and the exploits of the [-9], (9)
Cossacks Ayub and Demid, will be found within the pages of
volume3.
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Fornow,relaxwithtenswashbucklingtalesabrimwithaction
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