Written circa 1933, reading from pages 399-400, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Del Ray, 2002, NY

In a mere 300 or so words Howard sketched out for himself a straight up adventure story without a female co-adventurer. This story was in the vein of the Tower of The Elephant and The God in the Bowl. Conan is fleeing from a detachment of city guards led by a mercenary officer named Nestor. After they fall into a rockslide trap set by the barbarian, and all are killed but the officer, he and Conan fight it out and eventually decide to join forces in the plundering of the ancient ruin they had tracked Conan to.

The subtext hinted at in this synopsis is that enemies, who respect each other as men of honor serve a transcendent purpose. It is not intended as a successful treasure hunt, but as a bonding between outsiders striking out at the unjust world order that limits them both in their own way. The material quest is bound to leave them both penniless—a feature of most Conan tales—but the better for the adventure.

This piece has been done well in the 12 volume Ace series as a pastiche, by L. Sprague De Camp I think, as well as in comic form, so I won’t outline the balance. I wonder why Howard did not come back to this story and write it out. I suspect that his editor had reservations about the not very heroic manner in which Conan slaughters the guardsmen with a rockslide trap. As in a few other Conan stories, the Old West element in Howard’s fantasy fiction shows through here.

It is such a service to have his rough work available to study, making a read through the back matter of this volume a regular treasure hunt.