Harold Lamb (1892-1962) was a prolific pulp author whom I have heard of, but had not read yet. This is more because his main area of work, for which he is justly praised, is his extensive historical adventure fiction, much of which appeared in Adventure for almost 20 years. After this, he moved into historical biographies and non-fiction, and some fiction in the slick magazines.
In the pulps, he is probably best known for his Khlit the Cossack stories. Thanks to editor Howard Andrew Jones, who ran the sadly defunct Harold Lamb website, Bison Books has reprinted the complete Khlit stories (and other Cossack tales) in four volumes (Wolf of the Steppes, Warriors of the Steppes, Riders of the Steppes, and Swords of the Steppes), and put out four more volumes of his historical fiction from the pulps and other magazines (Swords From the West, Swords From the Desert, Swords From the East, and Swords From the Sea), each focused on a different area or theme. At some point, I’ll do a review of these.
But this posting is focused on a new volume from Steeger Books in its Argosy Library series: Marching Sands and the Caravan of Death: The Harold Lamb Omnibus. These are both lost-race stories, which Lamb rarely did. I know he did a third such work, A Garden to the Eastward (1947), that was only published in book form, which I’d like to see, but I am told it’s a little boring. Both of these two stories were serialized in Argosy in the 1920s, and both were cover-featured. The cover for “Marching Sands” is shown on the back cover, and the cover for “The Caravan of the Dead” is used as the front cover of this volume.
“Marching Sands” (Argosy, Oct. 25, and Nov. 1, 8, and 15, 1919) has a group in America mounting an expedition to the Gobi Desert to find a mythical white race that existed there. In fact, this is based on a real group of people, the Wusun, who have been found to be a Caucasian group, but probably not the tall blonde Nordic type, nor did they live in the Gobi but further west in Central Asia.
The expedition group selects a former army captain, Robert Gray, who has the necessary skills and knowledge, and pairs him with a professor with knowledge of China and the surrounding lands. But from the start, there seem to be problems. We are told the group is in competition with a similar expedition from a British organization.
Their issues seem to slowly mount as they work into the interior of China. They run afoul of a local official, Wu Fang Chien, and are attacked by robbers. At the next town, it seems the local priests are conspiring against them in a bizarre situation. An element of the story is that our lost race is not Buddhist, and that somehow, such a group in central Asia is seen as a sort of threat to their religion.
Things come to a head when Gray decides to send the professor back, and shortly after finds that the emergency supplies that the professor had obtained are nothing more than bottles of vinegar. Gray suspects the professor may have been a cause of much of their difficulties and bad luck.
Gray continues to the Gobi to find the city of Sungan with the help of a Kirghiz he had saved from execution. There he stumbles upon the rival expedition, led by a Sir Lionel and his niece Mary Hastings, and using Sikhs as their main group of servants. They had avoided the issues Gray had by coming up from India and skirting Tibet.
After some back and forth, both Sir Lionel and Gray realize they are rivals in getting to Sungan first. Sir Lionel obtains camels and heads out, leaving Gray to find a way to follow. He soon is able to, but finds Sir Lionel wandering in the desert alone. They had made it to Sungan, only to be attacked and Mary taken, the rest wiped out.
Gray makes it to Sungan, where he meets the Wusun and learns their story. They apparently are the descendants of long-lost crusaders, unlike the real Wusun. He also learns why the professor was hindering him, and what is the reason Wu Fang Chien was interfering.
Will Gray be able to rescue Mary? Do they still have to worry about Wu Fang Chien being a threat to them? And will he and Mary be able to leave? You’ll have to read and find out.
While overall the story was interesting and moved along well with great main characters, there were some issues. The main one for me was how the Chinese were handled. Overall, they were cast in a sinister light, most being shown to be a danger or hazard. I’ve read several other adventure stories set in China around the same time that had a better balance of Chinese who were both heroic and villainous; this was a bit of a turn-off for me. Others may feel the same. Once they were not around, the story was better.
“The Caravan of the Dead” (Argosy, June 12, 19, and 26, July 3, 10, and 17, 1920) was later reprinted as House of the Falcon. Similar to “Marching Sands,” we get not so much a lost race but more of a hidden land. We get similar characters. We have the heroic westerner and the western girl who must be protected. They also must contend with a villainous but courteous spy.
I also found that this one dragged a bit in the middle, taking a whole chapter when a couple of pages would do. I don’t know if this was due to it being serialized over six issues instead of the four for “Marching Sands.” But it picked up about halfway through.
The adventure starts with a strange tale of a westerner who appeared in a city in westernmost China, and is mysteriously taken by a caravan into the mountains. Among the audience being told the tale in Ottawa are Capt. Edouard Monsey and Edith Rand. Edith is about to head to India with her aunt, with her father coming later. Capt. Monsey is French, and we get hints that there is more about him.
When Edith arrives in Srinagar in Kashmir, she is surprised to encounter Monsey at the home where she is staying. She hears of a westerner known as Donovan Khan. It may be that he is the man in the tale she was told of. She also meets a Maj. Fraser-Carne, who will also play a role.
There are strange goings on. What is Monsey’s purpose? He seems to have designs on Edith, but other plans as well. Who are the strange men hanging around the house, and do they have a connection with this “Donovan Khan”? And who is Donovan Khan, and why the interest in him?
Edith is waylaid by some of the natives and carried off, almost getting sold off as a slave by Abbas Abad. But she is rescued by Iskander Khan and taken to a hidden land, the valley of the Sayak known as Yakka Arit.
She soon meets Donovan Khan, who is ill. The Sayat want her to heal him. He is greatly respected by them and has a mission to complete for them. He is also known as “The Falcon,” and thus his home is the “House of the Falcon.” But what is his mission, and how will Edith fit into them?
She soon learns more about what is going on. Yakka Arit is a sacred and hidden land. Few are allowed in, and for good reason. A Russian, known only as “The Vulture,” snuck in and took several women, selling them into slavery. This included Iskander’s wife and daughter.
Donovan Khan, who may be a British officer, helped drive away the Russians. But there is still the threat of “The Vulture.” Who is he? Can Donovan Khan, with the help of the Sayat, put an end to him? And what about Edith? Will she be allowed to leave this hidden land? Will her father and Maj. Fraser-Crane find her? What does the future hold for both Donovan and Edith?
It’s not until nearly the end of the story that we learn the meaning of the term “caravan of the dead,” and the ultimate fate of the two villains of the tale.
I enjoyed both of these stories and encourage people to check them out, but also check out the eight collections of Lamb’s works from Bison Books as well. At some point, I hope to review them here. As they are large volumes, I’ll probably do separate postings for each one. Lamb did some additional work in Argosy and All-Story, but I have no idea if Steeger Books will reprint these or not.
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