Talk:The Temple of the Ten
| Information about this edition | |
|---|---|
| Edition: | Extracted from Adventure magazine, 03 March 1921, pp. 134-174. |
| Source: | https://archive.org/details/AdventureV028N0519210303 |
| Contributor(s): | ragpicker |
| Notes: | Accompanying illustration may be omitted |
| Proofreaders: | ragcleaner |
A letter by the H. Bedford-Jones edit
- From the "Camp-Fire" section of the magazine, pp. 176-177.
HERE is a letter from H. Bedford-Jones concerning the story in this issue by him and Dr. Robertson. Among other things, it brings up a question of yaks versus dromedaries. Can any one contribute an argument?
In the belief that you might care to use it in connection with the “Temple of The Ten,” I am copying below, verbatim, a portion of a letter just received from Doctor Robertson:
“I hasten to condemn absolutely your delicate insinuation of perverted vision. I am a hard-headed Scot with a strong underlie of logic, and in things mechanical a trained observer. I may easily be off in ethnic theory, but when it comes to the actual form of the pillars, I take water from no man. Yaks they decidedly were not; they resembled nothing on earth as yet brought to sight but dromedaries. You and the rest of the guild can thrash the matter out. So yak me no more yaks.
“True, these pillars were badly blemished, and a fair impression of the general contour could only be got by taking them all into consideration, yet enough of their surface was left to establish an outline. The dromedary stood on a massive plinth, of which the legs formed the corners; the neck was turned back, bringing the head about the middle of the column, which rose from the back. The ten pillars had five heads to the right and five to the left, all looking inwards toward the altar.
“The temple was wrought in freestone of a dark brown color and a coarse grit. I found the same material in a bluff farther on at the entrance of the pass to the hills. Its appearance would warrant the supposition that it had been worked out considerably; to a far greater extent than the ruins we saw would warrant. In all probability there is much more to be discovered.
“My trip was made at Government instigation, and the cause thereof must remain hidden like the archives of the ancient cult of the dromedaries. This must be my excuse for not going into particulars. The location I have set down as 97-40-5 E. Long, by 47-10-12 N. Lat., which is not entirely accurate, but would be satisfactory should the ruins be unburied by the whirling sands.
“Again let me insist that they are dromedaries and not figments of a vision brought to pass by bacchanalian orgies. The gang was strictly T. T., not D. T. Furthermore, this doctor does not hold his word lightly. What in that tale is true, is very true—and what lies, are awful. Let the cognoscenti separate them, and the laymen air their erudition. One thing you can bank on—that I relate what I actually saw, or thought I saw.
“Noo, ma guid man
Caa canny wi'
Ye're dootin's of m
And dinna think
It's a lee.
A booser's beery wail.
The fact is that
I like a drap
O' whusky tinged wi' reeks.
But frae a Scot,
Freen writer chap,
Ye canna tak' the breeks.
Nor can ye drink
Unless ye've got
A drappie in the bottle.
And watter'll never
Mak' a sot
Nor lubricate his throttle.
Ye're oot yr pew—
The Temple's true
""And so's the dromedaries;
It micht be bunk
Gin I were drunk—
Or aiblins wark o' fairies!”
Which sounds like that happy phrase in one of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas—“Yes, but you don't know!” It's true, I don't. All I can say is, If they were dromedaries, then why were they? Perhaps H. A. Lamb can answer; he knows more about the Mongols than most of us, and these things are certainly Mongol rather than Chinese—H. Bedford-Jones
And here is another bit from a letter to Mr. Bedford-Jones from Dr. Robertson:
“The tale is founded on truth; that is, there is a thread of truth in it. The priests did exist and did carry off girls as said. No use my describing Gobi; no two tales of it tally, for the excellent reason that no two spots of it are alike. I have set down the main facts of the matter, without exaggeration. Melodrama was carefully excised. Were I to set down the strict truth of the matter, you would cast me out as a liar.
“The tale is not purely imagination; in fact it is not imagination at all. I can only speak of what came under my own observation. I saw several of the sand storms at the City of Whirling Sands. There would be from two or three to an incredible number of the whirling pillars. They changed the contour of the locality in half a jiffy, and a man caught in their orbit would have had less chance than the traditional snowball.
“The priests looked more like Tatars than Chinese. Slight obliquity; very high cheek-bones; clear complexion; grayish eyes. Broader in frontal measure than others I saw in that airt. Benevolent looking ducks, but the quintessence of evil. Far above the average in size; the smallest of the bunch was a large man.
“I was a young fool at the time, so things I should have noticed passed me by. Call me a liar for what I have set down, if you will; can't be helped. Nota bene—this gun is fact. I had the automatic gun with celluloid shell fired by battery, long before the invention of the automatic was on the market. Used it successfully my own self, and that knocks into a cocked hat all remarks as to its possibility. It was done.”