(

1
Strange Stories
W EIRD TALES has built its remarkable success on stories that are ut-
terly strange; stories such as are printed in no other magazine;
amazing tales that take the reader out of the humdtnm environment of
everyday life into a deathless world of the imagination; eery stories that
send shuddery chills up the spine; ghost-tales, and tales of the weird mon-
strosities of ancient legend; bizarre and fantastic tales; weird-scientific tales
of the spaces between the worlds, and fantastic dooms that menace the
earth. Among the many thrilling stories in the next few issues will be:

THE WOLF-WOMAN, by Bassett Morgan

They dug her out of a grlacier, this golden-haired vampire of the North, and
—
she called the white wolves to her side an eery, creepy story, replete with
thrills.

THE POLTERGEIST, by Seabury Quinn

The old-fashioned ghost Is a rarity in WEIRD TALES, but here is one that
satisfies all requirements a fascinating tale of Jules de Grandin.

THE MAN WITH A THOUSANDand LEGS, by Frank B. Long, Jr.

A horror-tale of the sea—a bizarre fantastic story about a strange and
terrible monster a gripping which should not be read at night.
tale,

FLY ISLAND, by B. Wallis

Gigantic insects flashed through the air and stung to death all men or
—
animals that approached their lair a tale of terrifying adventures in the
jungles of a Pacific island.

THE DEAD WAGON, by Greye La Spina

A short but powerful tale of the curse that took the first-born son in
each
horror.
—
generation of Lord Melverson’s family a ghost-tale of shuddery

THE MOON MENACE, by Edmond Hamilton

A terrifying prospect faced a darkened world — man gone forever, a lightless
earth spinning blindly through the heavens, and the moon men its masters
fi’om pole to pole.

SATAN’S FIDDLE, by George Malcolm-Smith

An unusual tale of the cataclysmic power of music —
the death chord and —
hideous dissonances that can bring a great building crashing into ruins.

T hese are but a few of the many super-excellent stories in store for
the readers of WEIRD TALES. To make sure of getting your copy each
month, and thus avoid the embarrassment of finding your favorite news stand
sold out, just fill out the coupon below and let us send it right to your home.
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BE
 Hiey Thought ITI^AWhak Sister
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 Published monthly by the Popular Fiction Publishing; Company, 2457 F. Wash-
ington Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Entered as second-class matter March 20, 1023, at
the post office at Indianapolis. Ind., under the act of March 3, 1870. Single copies, 25
cents. Subscription, $2.60 a year in the United States $3.00 a year in Canada. English
:

office: G. M. Jeffries Agency. Hopeheld House, Hanwell, London, W. 7. The publishers

are not responsible for the loss of unsolicited manuscripts, although every care will be
taken of such material while in their possession. The contents of this magazine are
fully protected by copyright and must not be reproduced either wholly or in paH without
permission from the publishers.
NOTE— All manuscripts and communications should be addressed to the publishers'
Chicago office at 450 East Ohio Street, Chicago, 111.FARNSWORTH WRIGHT, Editor.
Copyright. 1927, by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company

Contents for July, 1927

Cover Design C. C. Senf
niuslratimy a scene in "The Return of the Master”

The Return of the Master H. Warner Munn 6

The Wernrolf of Ponhert returns from the pit of Hell to thwart
the sinister Master who has wrought his downfall

Gray Ghouls Bassett Morgan 21

A creep)/ tveird tale of the South Seas, giant apes and eery
murdirs —a startling story of surgery

The Impossible Don Robert Gatlin 35

Travis so/ight out the source of the triclcs of Black Magic, and
was trailed across the teorld by a malignant Chinaman

The Unchained Devil Roscoe Gilmore Stott 42

The violinist made an evil pledge to a statue, and was redeemed
from utter ruin by the love of a girl

(Continued on Next Page)

2 COPXItICHTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

 (Continued from Preceding Page)

The Curse of Everard Maundy Seabury Quinn 49

An eldritch tale of voodoo, reanimated corpses, and the intrepid
little French ghost-breaker, Jules de (}rcmdm

Tangled Skeins Mary McEnnery Erhard 69

An utterly strange adventure was that of the Rev. Wilfred
Cumberland —a story of transposed personality

A Fable Clark Ashton Smith 76

Verse

The Ultimate Problem Victor Rousseau 77

The last of a series of stories, each complete in itself, dealing
with Dr. Ivan Brodsky, “The Bu/rgeon of Souls”

The El Dorado of Death Percy B. Prior 84

A ghost-story of the
adventure of two brothers
gold-diggings of Australia — the tragic

As Always A. Leslie 86
Verse

The Mystery of Sylmare Hugh Irish 87

strange suicides shocked the artist-colony at Sylmare — the story
of a conspiracy of plant-life against humanity

The Edge of the Shadow R. Ernest Dupuy 102

A tale of the terror that
entity, and the howling
—
hides in the night a story of an evil
of dogs in thv darkness

The Old Crow of Cairo T. Lovell Beddoes 105

Verse

The Algerian Cave Dick Heine 106

Reineamation played strange pranks in the lives of Paul
Mitrande and Louis Fanon

The Dark Chrysalis (Part 2) Eli Colter 113

with the terrible scourge of cancer
—
The epic of the microbe-hunters a three-part serial novel dealing

Weird Story Reprint

The Dragon Fang Fitz-James O’Brien 125
A bicarrv and fantastic tale of China under the emperors
story of strange magic, and love, and a phantom duck
—
The Eyrie 138
A chat with the readers

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 "The dead man clutched the wolf by the loins,
although the creature snapped fiercely at his
arms.”

Hark! In a trice they are hushed and flown, the while my fancy rebuilt old scenes
For morn is at hand, and the cock has and faces in tlje glowing embers.
crown
’Twas a gala night for the souls set free: Since the news of Pierre’s death
Then hail Death and Equality! in far-away France, which had ar-
—
Danse Macabre, rived simultaneously with the curious
Latin work, written on human skin,
1. A Voice from the Dead which I have described in the transla-

M
nier, in
any years had passed since

Disinclination,
last I had seen my old inn-
keeper friend, Pierre Gar-
far-away Prance.
perhaps bom of
tion that was made public some
months ago, I had lapsed into apathy.
Pierre had been the last of my
friends. Some correspondence had
passed between us lately, but never a
word in regard to his amazing ances-
fear, perhaps mere laziness and sloth, tor, Wladislaw Brenryk of Ponkert,
had kept me long near home. Travel the werewolf whose diluted blood
ceased to beckon, for as one grows coursed in Gamier ’s veins.
older he is ready to sit quietly by the That was one reason why I had
fireand think, dwelling more in the never returned to the inn. Where
past than either the pre.sent or the lives the man who can converse calm-
future. ly with son of warlock or vampire?
Once I was cursed with itching feet Surely I am not the man who finds
which had carried me into strange it possible, and so I closed the chap-
places, but now they seemed content ter, as I thought, and went away.
to rest easily in soft warm slippers, But still I handled with a fearful de-
6
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 7

light the thought that once a thing of My emotion was one of glad-
first
other spaces had been so close to me ness. Pierre lived, and I should see
that I had hobnobbed in ignorance him again. For the first time in
witli the descendant of a fiend, and I months I felt cheery. But on re-
surrounded myself with weird and reading the cablegram, which had
occult literature of many kinds. I been relayed by wire from the ter-
steeped myself in lycanthropical lore, minal, I was struck by the agonized
I drowned my common sense in fan- tone of the message, so foreign to
tastic legend, myth, and fable, I be- Pierre’s usually placid demeanor.
came a recluse, living alone with my Pierre was in danger, I was needed at
books and a single servant. once! Again I read, “a week’s, de-
One evening late in March, I was lay may be too late.”
speculating i^y upon the peculiar I rang for Parker, and when he
recurrence .in a ifrork on philology came in sight at the end of the hall,
that I had just finished, of the name called, “Pack my
trunks at once. I
Gamier, Grenier, or Gangere, which leave on the morning train.” With-
the writer had connected often with out waiting for a reply or question I
the loup-garou, or werewolf. shut the door, and prepar^ myself
“What a peculiar coincidence,” I for bed.
thought, “Aat Pierre’s surname
should be one of these! I could tell 2. The Man on the Train
that writer something that would
interest him much,”
for I had not T not necessary to burden this
IS

formerly revealed Pierre’s name in I narrative with minute details of

full. the journey, for it will be lengthy
While I still smiled, on the heels of enough at l3est. Suffice it then to
the furtive thought came a tapping mention only that the ride to Boston
on the door, and I heard Parker was without event, as also was the
shuffling down the hall. Soon he re- trip to Paris. I chafed and fretted,
turned, in his hand an envelope of spending most of the time as far in
yellow. the bow as I could place myself, as
“A telegram, sir,” he said, re- though I would be nearer to the jour-
spectfully. “Willie Thoms brought ney’s end than any other. I was first
it from the town, as the station agent down the gang-plank, and in an
believed it was urgent.” hour’s time was on the train, and on
“Very well,” I said, extending my the last stage toward my goal.
hand for the message. “Give the boy It is necessary to change trains
a quarter, and let me alone,” for I about ten miles out of Paris, and
disliked being disturbed and Parker although I had a whole compartment
kuv,*v this well. to myself on the first train, the sec-
As he closed the study door, I tore ond time I was not so fortunate. I
open the envelope and found that ran down the platform, but all the
which led to the most horrid adven- compartments were closed, signifying
ture I had ever yet encountered in that no space remained, and as the
fact or fiction. It began wheels commenced to turn I dis-
covered a hand that beckoned from a
Monsieur M :
door. As it reached me I flung in
You will know without names who this
isfrom. If you would aid an old friend in my grip, scrambled in myself and
the direst of peril come at once to the inn shut the door..
that you know of. I feel that only you
can save. In God’s name, old friend, come There were two occupants already
at once; a week’s delay may be too late. in the carriage, a slender woman
P. G. gowned in black, who wore a veil that
8 WEIRD TALES
concealed her featui’es, and a small per to interfere, but an imperceptible
dapper little man about whom there gesture of her hand wurned me that
waii something repellent. I sensed it was none of my affair, and I re-
animosity the moment I entered, and sumed my reading. But I kept close
felt a surge of dislike in return. But watch of his actions.
he smiled and nodded politely enough Now he attempted to seize her
in a smooth oily manner, saying hand, which she allowed him to do,
slowly as though he were choosing but as he moved nearer to her, plac-
his words, “You — —
are agile Mon- ing his knee familiarly, so that it
pressed hers, she shrank away as far
sieur.”
as she could to the end of the seat,
If his person was repugnant to me,
and I felt that circumstances called
more so was his voice. I made some for action.
conventional reply, and pretended an
I laid down my paper, rose, bowed
acute interest in my paper. Seeing
as courteously as might be in the
that I was not to be drawn into con-
swaying carriage and inquired polite-
versation, he chose other methods of
ly, “Is this man offending you, Ma-
amusement.
damef” „
Now it has always been my code to “No, Monsieur.” she said in a low
keep strictly out of others’ affairs. tone. “He is my brother.”
One can not be positive what are an-
other’s motives in performing a cer-
The little man leaped to his feet,
yellow with passion.
tain act. Hidden influences are at
work upon that person that are im- “You lie, you slut!” he cried, and
possible for us even to dream of, and stnick her in the face with his open
interference may be not only im- hand. Turning to me he began, “Sir,
pertinent and unjust, but also dan- I will thank you to mind your own
gerous to ourselves. Such it was in affairs,” but with the cowardly blow
this case, but not wholly, for although I leapt, and we rolled together on the
I might have been spared some mo- floor.

ments of mental angiush and terror, The w’oman screamed as we fought.

the end would have been much the With amazing strength he clutched
same. I did not realize the true na- my throat; my mouth opened, and
ture of my foe or I should never have my tongue protruded. Strange lights
left America. There I should have flared before my eyes, -and I Imew
been safe, for there is a great ex- that I had met a pow'er greater than
panse of moving water between that my own.
land and France. Summoning my waning strength I
As I sat reading my paper I could struck again and again, but my hard-
sec that the woman was restless. She est blow's were nothing against^ my
was continually glancing at me, as I conqueror. Finally I gained my feet,
could tell by the movement of her face black, and with a roaring as of
head, although the heavy veil hid her many waters in my ears. I staggered
face. Apparently she and the little across the eai-riage blindly, and fight-
man were companions, though I re- ing for air crashed against the side.
ceived the impression that it was not Faintly through the darkening
friendship, but another bond that haze I saw the w'oman move toward
held them together. us, felt cold air rush by my face, as
The man addressed himself to her the door’swung open, felt tugging at
in words so intentionally offensive the hands that throttled, and sudden-
that I refuse to include them in ray ly my enemy released his hold. With
narrative. I half laid down my pa- the last of my pow'er I smote at the
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 9

man,
little felt his teeth pierce my had I thought that it was not your
hand, and backward he plunged wish. Shall I stop the train, so that
through the open door, rebounded we may return and search for him?”
once and lay quiet, soon far behind. And I reached for the cord.
The woman lifted the veil, hesi- With a strength that was ferocious,
tated w’ith her face averted, then .she pulled me down into my seat
seemingly with a great effort turned again, and held me there.
toward me and boldly looked into my
“Stop the train? Rather pray that
face.
it may never stop, and pray to all the
I searched her features with great
gods you know that he may be dead
disappointment.. When one has or dying. It is not for that I weep.
plumed himself upon being gallant
Could I but know that he was mashed
and chivalrous, it is indeed sad to find
to pulp these would be tears of joy!”
that the one for whom he has fought
she cried. “No, my sorrow is from
is neither young nor beautiful. Al-
though I have long passed the prime another cause. I can see in your face
of life, still I have a keen eye for that you know me not, but I know
beauty. you well, and once I was not a
Not long could she withstand my stranger to you. Look into my face
gaze. if you will and tell me with your lips
that which your eyes already have
She expectantly eyed me for a mo-
ment as though, most strangely I told me!”
thought, I was to show some sign of Desperately she strained back the
recognition, but the face, seamed by loose skin on her temples and fore-
wrinkles, yellow and blotched, was en- head with her palms. The wrinkles
tirely imfamiliar to me. Then .she smoothed out a bit, but that was all.
turned and watched the flitting land- I was, though pitying her evident dis-
scape that passed so swiftly by. tress, compelled to say, “I do not re-
member that w'e have ever met.” ,
3. Regina's Story She beat upon the window-sill with
her gloved hand, then buried her
T WAS haunted by a vague sense of head in her arms, and burst into a
A the familiar after a bit, something storm of tears. Between her sobs
so indefinite that it seemed only a came broken words.
fancy, something that eluded me in a “Old! Old! And I was so
most aggravating fashion. young! How horrible I am! How
While I still watched the small oval changed! Only eighteen, and I look
of withered cheek that I could yet a hundred. Once you knew me well,
see, down a wrinkle, as from a dried- —
and I I worshiped you. I was very
\ip creek courses the spring floods, young, and you were kind to the little
flowed a drop of something bright girl that served you. Have you for-
and w’et, follow’ed by another and an- gotten Regina Noel that waited upon
other that glittered in the fading sun- the tables at the Blue Falcon?”
light. And I became aware that very
“Regina!” I gasped, scrutinizing
quietly she wept. that haggard face. Indeed I had
I touched her slioulder. known the little w'aiti’ess, but she had
Madame," I said, “do not cry, I been a child of thirteen when I had
beg. I meant only to preserve you last seen her, and now this hag
from annoyance. Surely this regret- claimed to be a young girl.
table occurrence was not of my mak- “Impossible,” I said. “There is
ing. Never would I have interfered no resemblance.”
10 WEIRD TALES
There was silence, and the train and waited, but you never came, and
clacked on, rail joint after joint I wished that you would return, for
speeding by beneath us. you were always so good to me. You
Up she flung her head, defiant. remember how you would not let the
“Yes, I was Regina, now I know cook beat me when I spilled the
not what I am, save that a devil has wine?”
me for its slave!’’ I nodded.
“The Devil!’’ My lips shaped the “So for three years we waited, and
words. then Pierre died. The manner of his
“That /# is! The Black One The !
passing was dreadful. It came so
Enemy! He with whom you fought slowly that before we realized that he
Whj', oh why did you stop him! was weaker the sickness had him.
Can’t you see that it was a plot to Every day he moved more feebly un-
kill you? It is a miracle that you til one night he sat in his armchair

escaped he has planned this thing for

;
by the fire and could not get up
months to bring you into his power, again. We had to carry him to bed,
and now you have defeated his plans and he never left it.
in the first struggle. But it will not “He was brave, a noble one.
be long. He has got me, and he will Although he knew what ailed him he
have you. I feel him following fast!” never told. I think he tried to
“Hush, my
child.” I soothed and shield us, and partly he succeeded.
patted the heaving shoulder in the I was the one he confided in.
“ 'Regina,’ he
traditional clumsy manner of man called, and I came.
soothing his women folk. That man ‘I am going tonight.
‘
‘
I feel it. But
is dead. He will not trouble you before I leave you, listen. In yon-
’ ’
again. der drawer is a book bring it to me.
;
’

“Oh!” she cried; “it is not the “I did so, and he said, 'Regina,
insult that troubles me I have known;
you must not read this. There is
far worse than that. It is your dread- meat in here too strong for you.
ful fate that causes me to fear. He When I am dead, send it to my friend
has dragged you to him over half a across the sea who fears a poor old
world to gain his ends, and you prate man, dying all alone. Write that I
over my troubles.” loved him, and wish him well, but
“I do not understand,” I said. “I tellhim not that I died like this. ’

came in answer to a letter from my “Then he raised his poor feeble

friend Pierre, asking for help.
’ ’
hand to his throat, and pulled a
She looked up wofidly. “I wrote bandage away.
that message,” she replied. “Can you
“ ‘Look close, girl,’
he whispered.
guess who forced me?” Another ‘What do you see!’
paroxysm of sobs racked her frail “ ‘Two small wounds,’ I said.
body. ‘Have you cut yourself?’
She did not resist when I put my “ ‘No,
dear,’ he ‘Be answered.
arm around her. brave and not afraid, for much de-
“Tell me about it, Regina,” I pends on you, and I can trust no one
begged. “I will help you.” else. I am ridden by a demon every

“Nothing can help us now,” she night, and this is the mark of the
answered in a desolate tone. “We vampire. ’
are lost, but I will tell j'ou. It was “Somehow was not afraid. Per-
I
five years ago, you went away and haps I did not understand his whole
did not come again. Pierre watched meaning, and he went on:
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 11

“ ‘Tonight I am earth to the grave again and upon

to die. I feel it it
plainly.. Do not weep for me, dear. pour boiling water and vinegar.
I am old, I have lived, I shall die, but “ If you do
‘
this, the good God will

— —
after I am dead’ his voice became bless yoii as I do, but if you fail, my
stern ‘do you follow my instruc- curse .shall be upon you! Now go,
tions without fail and do as I have said.’
“ ‘I am
the descendant of a man “I left the room, wrote the letter
who, four hundred years ago, became and mailed it to you with the book
a werewolf. While planning revolt unread. The Latin is strange to me,”
against his cruel master he was be- she admitted, with a touch of uncon-
trayed, and was forced to kill his scious humor.
own wife as a warning to the other “When I returned to report my
members of the pack. His baby mission completed, I entered the room
daughter was rescued from him, and and saw that Pierre was dead as he
later on all of the beasts were trapped
had predicted, and there was another
and killed except the leader. Down present, sitting on the bed. It was
the ages has his seed persisted,
the man you fought with, and now
always menaced by the still living
you know why I am here. I failed in
vampire, and out of each generation
my promise, I am a slave, and you
has one been taken in payment for and Pierre are lost.
the man’s treachery to his master.
“ ‘So “The monster promised me great
has been revealed to me,
it
things, saying, ‘Regina! Queen thou
and I am the last of the line. I speak art in name, queen thou shalt be over
from the grave, and in warning. Tell my loyal subjects that I shall soon
my old friend that I am dead, but tell secure.
’

him nothing else, lest he should come

hither and fall into the monster’s
“Merciful God in Heaven,” she
cried, leaping to her
feet. “Is this
power.
“ ‘I am going to ask a dreadful
the face of a queen? Am I in queen-
’
ly garb ?
thing for a girl to do, but I know you
are brave enough to obey unquestion-
I pulled her down beside me. “Go
ing, much braver than these fools
on,” I said huskily.
that work here seeing nothing but “The inn was closed after the fu-
their weekly pay.
’ neral and never opened again. The
“ ‘I am, sire,’ I said proudly. Master lives there with one other,
“ and people shun the place as haunt-
‘I knew it,’ he smiled wanly.
ed. He searched for the book, but
‘Hark! You will go now, write as I
never questioned me
you pub-till
have told you, and mail the book and
lished the story.* Why
did you do
letter at once. When you return I it? Why did you? How he
obtained
shall be dead. Go to the priest, tell a copy I have no idea, but he has
him all that I have told you under one, and in vengeance he swore your
the seal of secrecy, and unless he does death. He has sworn to start a devil
certain things I shall become a vam- pack with you, and to add to it until
pire after death, and shall live again, all Prance is humbled by him.
a monstrous thing. You and the “Sire, Hell is loose today, and
priest must open the grave after I there is no hope. I cabled you under
have been buried. Sever my head his orders, and you Icnow the rest.
from my body fill my mouth, nostrils
; Now if you can escape, do so, but
and ears with garlic. Upon each eye lay think no more of poor Regina!”
a silver cross, and ^rive a silver nail
* “The Werewolf of Ponkert,” !n Weird Taies.
through my heart. Then return the July. 1925.
12 WEIRD TALES
4. Pursuit Beneath my protecting arm her body
stiffened, and muscles set rigid.. I
Ohe was pale and bloodless. I was was no less afraid than she, but it is
^ about to speak when suddenly she the man’s part in times of stress to
whispered. “Hush, do you hear it?’’ hide fear from his women folk, so I
I listened, but heard only the
patted her shoulder reassuringly and
train noises, and so replied, but she smiled. There was no mirth in the
impatiently gestured for silence. grimace
She opened the door, and together
It was four times the size of the
we looked back. Nothing was in sight,
fox-bat, largest known of the species,
but she said, “I feel him coming.
that I have seen in Java, but in many
Monsieur, are you armed?” And
ways the two were similar. It
then, “Too late, too late,” as she
possessed the same pointed muzzle,
pointed.
instead of the fluted nose-leaf that
Far down the track behind us flut-
makes most bats hideously alien to
tered a thing monstrously formed,
one’s conception of a face’s appear-
growing yet more huge as it reeled
ance. Whiskers were present, on
down the sky after the train. In
either side of the nostrils, whose flar-
shape it resembled a bat, but one of
ing red contrasted strangely with the
such tremendous size as has surely
jet-black appendages.
not been seen before, since man first
Its six-foot body was bare in spots,
dragged himself out of the mud and
began to breathe air with lungs. otherwise covered with a mangy,
Rapidly it overhauled the rushing dirty brown hair, shading to ash-gray
train, soaring high over trees, build- along its under side. Mud caked in
ings and wires, slanting down again, the matted fur, and not yet dry,
dipping with effortless speed along made it seem more appalling.
the level lands, and gaining, always Ten-foot membranes buffeted the
gaining, asit rocketed across the air as train and terror drove on to-
fields that we were
passing. gether. The whistle screamed for a
Soon itparalleled our course, crossing, and as if startled by the
passed our coach and flapped on- sound, the thing turned its head and
ward toward the head of the train. stared at us again.
Passing around a curve, the train Imagine a bat’s head the size of
bent into a crescent, and from our a small tub, and you have its dimen-
window we could see the creature dip sions. Picture if you can a mouth
toward the windows of each coach, that mowed and gibbered at us, dis-
hold the position, and drop back to closing sharp white teeth, and above
the next, searching for something or it eyes of evil in which lurked things

somCbne, and I did not need Regina’s unutterable.

horror-stricken moan, “It is He ” to
!
Oddly there came into my mind
inform me for whom the monster that perhaps this was the very bat
searched. that had been lost in Hell, now newly
The train straightened out, and we released with something of that un-
could no longer see ahead, but down earthly horror lingering in its eyes.
the wind came shrill chirpings, almost I imagined the things it must have
too high in the scale of sound to be seen fluttering down those murky
heard. Liquidly sweet, arrowy sharp aisles, lost in the choking smoke,
and piercing, with a note of inquiry soiled and scorched by the lurid
in the pitch, the stridulation came flames until it beat with throbbing
louder and nearer, and we were wings into the free and purer air
seen. once more, with mAnories that noth-
I felt the girl cringe against me. ing coidd ever wipe away!
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 13

What curious things come into our from broken pane with dull wo
tlie
heads at the oddest times and most written on her haggard face.
peculiar places! I stared back, and far behind
Again the whistle shrieked, and bobbed a black shape like a large dog,
with it mingled a most bitter wailing running with a limp, but following
from outside. Suddenly the winged with great speed.
beast zoomed upward, overshadowing Over plowed fields he ran, dipping
us with its mighty membranes, and out of sight and reappearing again
blackness rushed to meet us. As we farther in our wake, stiU coming on
entered the tunnel I saw the creature with the speed of the swallow.
rise almost perpendicularly to sur- And the sun went down.
mount the hill that we were passing
through.
5. Surprizes
Regina shuddered as though re-
leased from a spell, and I recalled the night was creeping in upon us
power that had held the Hungarian when we left the train, for
numb in the sleigh when the were- although I knew that Pierre was
wolves pursued him along the river. truly dead I dreamed that perhaps I
With the thought came action. might avenge him. How this was to
Although I had felt nothing of this be accomplished I had no idea, but I
paralysis I knew that I might be felt certain that if the Master had
next, and it would be then too late gone to such labors to drag me across
to do what I had in mind. I opened half a world he would not allow me
my bag, garments flew over the com- to slip from him thus easily.
partment, as I searched for my auto- Still less did I know what to guard
matic which I usually carry while against, for the cunning of this be-
traveling abroad. As I closed my ing was beyond my power to compre-
hand on its chill metal we burst into
hend. So, resolving to be constantly
the twilight. The dull red sun was
cut in half by the hill we had pierced,
upon the alert, I strolled down the
road toward the village, apparently
and against its ominous glare a black
at ease, but instead a quivering
dot flickered for a second.
bundle of nerves, with every sense
We waited. Soon we saw our pur- exploring the literal and mental
suer near the carriage. One gigantic
blackness before me.
wing finger scratched the window-
pane, and while its wing was raised Regina walked at my side, her
for another stroke and its filthy body hand within the crook of my arm.
was clearly exposed I poured six bul- Although she pleaded with me to
lets into the junction of wing and hurry I knew it was useless. If I was
trunk. to tilt with the Powers of Evil that

To the music of tinkling glass and night, as well in one place as another,
eldritch squeaks of pain he danced in and I fancied myself well armed.
air, rose high, somersaulted over and So we slowly neared the village.
over, and thudded to earth in a lash- Suddenly Regina stopped and
ing huddle of leathery membrane. gripped my arm.
The train rushed on. I hugged the “Listen,” she whispered. “Do you
girl beside me in ecstasy. “He is hear it ? He is coming !
’ ’

gone! The Master is dead!” I cried. At I heard nothing, but soon

first
“No one will ever say that,” Re- came a soft pattering of feet on the
gina replied. “You can not kill him. other side of the hedge that grew at
Look!” And she drew her head back the left of the road.
14 WEIRD TALES
I could not see elearlj- in the dim Could I reach safety in time?
light, but I had the impression that As we began to near the village I
something was eyeing us through the searched busily through my memory
hedge. Watching carefully I saw a for further exorcisms, and one that
dim shape bulk out from the shrub- the books had claimed to be of great
bery, and I knew from the old manu- efficacy I determined to try.
script what it was. Again I paused, faced the hedge,
My reading had given me knowl- this time tracing the sign of the cross
edge to cope with this emergency. I in the air, and repeated in a loud
reached down and picked up two voice
sticks, while Regina cowered behind “I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in
me. Holding them crossed I ad- the name of Jesus Christ. Tremble,
vanced resolutely upon the thing. 0 Satan, enemy of the faith, thou foe"
“Oh, vampire! Werewolf!” I of mankind who has brought death
cried. “Gaze upon this and feax*. into the world, who has deprived men
Behold this cross and tremble Here
! of life, and has rebelled against
is the Lord our God who died for us justice! Thou seducer of mankind,
upon the tree! I conjure yoxi in the thou root of evil, thou source of
name of the White Christ to vanish avarice, discord and envy, disappear
and trouble no more.”
this land forever
! ’

I confess I can not understand A scream from Regina, and a dark

what followed. This incantation, so shape plunging at the hedge was the
claim the books, was a sure charm, only result of this curse, and with a
and never failed to work in many frightful horror I realized the truth.
eases in which it was used. But in The power that fought against me
this case it did fail. was so anciently evil, so horribly un-
The beast launched himself at me, natural, that only oflier magic as
but rebounded from the hedge wdth a ancient as itself could prevail against
baffled raging cry. it. Either that or the God or Gods
In that moment I knew fear. Still that rule us are indifferent to human
I was thankful for my books, for one fates.
truth was holding good. I knew he We hurried on. Along the muddy
could not pass the hedge. road we passed, slipping in the muck
But in my long absence what had of a much-traveled country highway.
befallen the hedge? My recollection 1 heard, as an undertone to our noisy
told me that it extended around the splashes, three steps and a gap, a re-
field, almost to the village, but how current rhythm that kept pace with
had he entered? Somewhere there us on the other side of the hedge.
was a gap, but if we could reach the A stifled whine of eagerness that
village before he could retrace his held a note of furious thwarted de
steps we were safe for the night, and sire now brought the girl near to
the next day I would enlist the collapse. She became a dead weight
powers of holy men against this child upon me, and I could go no farther.
of hell, and blast him back to whence Vainly I urged the danger of our
he came. position. She could not or would not
I did not doubt that the exorcism stir. The need for desperate haste
was efficient, but perhaps I had made was terrible, but she seemed very re-
some mistake. Perhaps he was ar- mote and unconscious of me or her
mored against minor spells, and if so surroundings. Finally I seized her
I was defenseless. So tliinking I hur- by the shoulders and shook her might-
ried on. Life for more than myself ily, crying I know not what, and then
was at stake if I failed. she spoke. It was a very wee, very
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 15

faint little voice, and although her slowly. I dared not turn my back,
sad, piteously marred face was only a so while I menaced with the empty
few inches from mine, I had to bend weapon I backed cautiously down the
nearer to hear at all. road. It came nearer. I shouted
She spoke, and the words were loudly for help, which seemed to
worlds away, “Don’t stay! —
Some- frighten it, but only for a moment.
—
thing I don’t know what,
”
is hap- Then I recognized my surround-
ings. I threw the heavy automatic,
pening
Then as she leaned against me I heard it thud on flesh, turned and
felther body stiffen, she leapt away ran for the building at the roadside.
from me, her fingers widely spread Behind me, racing feet that fell
faster than the throbs of my wildly
as though pushing something from
herj and Screamed, “No! No! Ah,
pounding heart. Before me, the closed
Master —not that!” And then to me, door of the deserted inn, and as I
reached the step a lurching creature
“Run!” And with the word she be-
gan tearing frantically at her charged from the side, and all three
clothing.
of us struck the door together!
It crashed in. I was thrown on the
A glimpse I caught of snow-white
floor, the beasts having struck each
shoulders that belied that aged face,
and then I turned and ran, fied other at an angle blocked the door-
stumbling through the dark, slipping way, each struggling to be first
I kicked the .swinging door fi*om
and falling in the mud, clawing my
way through the mire, praying for a where I lay. It slammed between
light ahead. For in my mind was me and those slavering jaws. I think
coursing a wild, maddening sentence that never before in all my life had
I heard such a w'elcome sound as the
of the long-dead Brenryk’s story:
clicking of that latch.
“When my body changed into a wolf
I had all the terror of a wild beast
for encumbering clothing!”
6. A Night at an Inn

Behind me —thank God it was far

S
ILENCE inside the inn, silence and
behind! —
there shrilled a long, high a haunting dread. For there w’ere
keening, a wailing shriek that held those that prowled without. I held
—
within it triumph and despair! my breath and listened. There was
I had not followed that road for that odd rhythm of the injured crea-
years. I am old, the mud was eling- ture, three steps grouped close to-
ing and heavy, and many times I fell. gether, a gap, felt rather than heard,
I heard no sounds across the hedge, and again three.
but the silence w^as more menacing Arain of light pattering footfalls
than a snarl. that passed like a wind about the
Where was the Master, and upon grounds, and like the wind there were
whal busines.s was he absent? dolorous wailing,s also.
The lights of the village began to Interwoven into the fabric of ter-
gleam through the trees and across ror these two were weaving came an-
the fields, but as I picked myself out other thread of sound. A heavy
of the muck again I knew' that I pound of unshod feet that were fall-
should never reach them, for leaping ing dull and lifeless upon the earth.
down the lane came something as My breath hissed loudly through
large as a collie, running with a my teeth, and 1 lost the newer
rabbitlike lope. sounds, but within me I knew,
I swung up my gun; it spat dryly although I could not say how or why,
once, and was silent. The beast that the being that tramped leadenly
stopped short, then came on more outside was beyond mortal passions.
16 WEIED TALES
and the weapons that men use against Are. I had forgotten the words to
one another would not prevail against this, but I lived up to the spirit of the
it. title at least.
And I suspected, nay, was almost There was no such thing in this
certain that I knew what it was that village as electricity, near though it
strode automatonlike around the inn, was to Paris, and Pierre had always
and who it once had been! depended upon oil lamps and candles.
The two that prowled were now "With the light of a match I searched
three, and as though this had given the gutted rooms, from which every-
them confidence they bunched to- thing of value had been stolen, and
gether and struck the old door, a found four stubs of candle, the long-
mass of fury. It creaked, gave, Isut est of which was well under two
held! And round again they flew. inches, and a small lamp half full of
oil. With these I hoped to bridge the
Now, curiously enough, my mind
perhaps slipping away from this peril night till dawn.
(as I have read it is like to do in I felt easier at once, such is the
times of stress, one becoming calm effect of light in dispelling the unseen
and poised, who before was frantic), terrors that haunt us all. To you
of a sudden my thought spanned that read this it will seem strange
time and space to old Hadley, far that I thought so belatedly of lights.
acro.ss the seas in Puritan New Eng- You may contend that the normal re-
land. action of a man beleaguered in such a
I remembered how in the early manner would be toward unhampered
days of that struggling colony, so be- vision. Granted, but I was not
setby foes and forces, a little maid in normal. I was no longer a reasoning
her sleep heard tramping in the snow being like yourself, but a quivering
outside the palisade, and when awake bundle of nerves, most horridly
the march did still persist. How the atremble at the sound of paws pad-
fear flew like pestilence through the ding about in the night. I could
fort, tiU all were awake and heard a hardly think two consecutive
steady tramp that passed and re- thoughts on the same subject, until
passed around the building, till welling from tlie subconscious came
women sobbed in unison with the the half-forgotten story read so long
steady thud of marching feet. How ago, witli its ciirious analogy to the
a certain holy man, the Eevcrend present.
Abner Keltoii, did order lights to be After the lights were lit I felt more
broiight, and Hadley became a blaz- secure, and examined the fastenings
ing radiance through every window of the doors and windows. The glass
and loophole. Hymns were sung and was gone, but there were heavy wood-
prayers were voiced and with the en shuttei’s barred across the spaces.
dawn came silence. The people of Two swung opQn and the floor was
Hadley saw that about the fort the covered with dry leaves that had
.snow stretched like a frozen sea to the blown in througli the openings. These
forest,* unsullied by print of foot. I secured, noticing as I did so that in
Now, I had my own opinions as to one pile there was a hollow where
the value of prayers against these something had laired.
creatures that besieged me, remem- The place reeked with a sickening,
bering well the unexpected result of musky odor, and I felt nauseuted.
my exorcism. I had never a voice for The rear door was rotten, and the
singing, and the hj’mn that seemed lock that held it was rusted.
appropriate to the oceasion was My situation was desperate, for
Brighien the Corner Where You there were no weapons, nor anything
 THE RETURN OF THE MASTER 17

that could be used as such. The house ing leap, but when entered the
it
had been systematically looted, it was circle of light, flinched and cried out •

plain, and I found myself in much throatily. Still it pressed forward,

the same plight as had been Brenryk, but I could see that every movement
—
the Hungarian defenseless. gave it pain.
But I consoled myself with the While it came, the man behind it
thought that I was much better pre- moved eyes fixed in a kind of
also,
pared to cope with my enemies than dumb upon the Master, but
a,doration
he had been. Was I not armed by as he gradually slowed and stopped,
the knowledge of the ages? What not daring to enter more fully, the
though my exorcisms had failed in newcomer halted also, and together
my most desperate need? The older they retreated into the sheltering
jajodmore potent lore had prevailed, night.
and I knew with certainty that I was I was physically and mentally sick
safe while the light lasted. It is writ- at the sight, for in that bloated evil
ten in the ancient Persian hymn to face, brutalized by the filthiest vices
Ormuzd (pure spirit of light) that and seared with the seal of corrup-
“Those that follow Ahriman tion, I recognized the dearest friend
Shall fear him! I had ever known, Pierre Gamier, a
Those who walk with me living dead man
Shall by my power conquer him!”
I stepped back beside the lights
So I waited for the dawn while the and collided with a soft warm body
candles flickered, though the air was behind me that moved.
very still. My heart almost stopped. I whirled,
There were night noises yet, some ready tofight for my life, and Regina
of portent, and others that
evil stood there bravely facing me. She
seemed innocent. The building was was swathed in a heavy portiere from
full of creaking joints, and small one of the upper rooms, and her piti-
sounds that a too eager ear might ful eyes begged dumbly for protec-
translate as creeping things almost tion. I took her hand in mine and
ready to pounce resolved themselves together we faced the foe.
into natural noises after all.
Still the pattering persisted, and 7. Shadows All!
that dreadful sodden pounding of
heavy feet came now from the rear j^ow the wind through the doorway
of the inn, and again lumbered by the flickered the candles even more,
door. Then came an ominous hush, and Life and Death played a game
and I sensed that the storm was about upon the walls" with shadows as their
to break. pawns, and the stake two human
A
’light stir overhead brought dust souls
sifting down from the decaying plas- It was a scene that pen can do no
ter. Simultaneously with the sound more than outline. A brush wielded
of someone walking in the room above by one who habitually deals with
there was a mighty ripping crash as masses of color in his art might have
the rotten door rent from its hinges captured that eery moment, but
and thundered down words are too inflexible. Black and
Over it, as it crumbled into punk, White Magic were battling. Light and
limped a slavering beast and behind
;
Shadow were at war, and the prize
it a hulking brute, human in form for which they strove awaited the
but expressionless and clumsy, moved outcome with no power either to fight
woodenly through the doorway. or flee!
The dark beast came with a lurch- Shapeless forms crawled upon the
18 WEIRD TALES
walls, darting at usbut retreating to I looked at the girl and she smiled
their corners with reluctant squirm. back at me, touching a bruise on her
Night was welling in through the cheek that was beginning to blacken.
open door. Darkness and all the evil The realization was forcibly brought
that is held within it crouched just home to me that this was the mark
inside the threshold. where the gun had struck.
The Master resumed his human I pitied her, but she misunderstood
form again, his left arm hanging my look.
limply at his side. The shoulder was “Do not fear me,” she said. “He
a mass of blood, stiffening in the cool can not change me now. I am resist-
breeze. ing his power, and he is trying hard-
As the candles flickered, horrid est to beat down your guard. Sub-
phantoms hurtled across the ceiling, mit and he will call you to him, where
and close in pursuit rippling banners he can reach you! Resist, and we
rushed. Banners of Light, fiercely may yet escape him!”
intolerant of evil, scattering that tat- I fought back the growing lassitude
tered host of Night. The little points that was overcoming me. How I
of yellow waved wildly, but the lamp, longed for rest!
protected by a glass chimney, bum^ “Sleep!” I was commanded.
steady and true. “Fool, to pit yourself against me!
As
the shadows raced upon the wall Rest and foi^et the world Come to !

those in the dark wavered, now me and I will give you rest,” the
edging toward us under the protec- wheedling voice insisted.
tion of the sable wings that were Leadenly I stepped forward. An-
spread over them, now wincing back other candle died, and my enemy
from the demon-frightening light, came to meet me.
when the wicks flared up once more. Then it seemed that invisible hands
I watched one candle-stub that was raised a barrier between us. Although
almost gone. “When that dies,” I I pressed forward, and the third
thought, “will they rush us? Will flame went out, I was firmly urged
the remaining lights be strong enough back against the wall and held there.
to defend?” Nothing could be seen, but the air
It burned lower and more fitfully. seemed palpitant with life. Life that
There was only a rim of wax like a exulted joyously in the pleasure of
ring unbumed. Then the wick fell existing, life that pulsed with a
into the melted wax, and the flame definite purpose that would not be
expired. The shadows surged in, and denied. Regina felt it, and her old-
the watchei-s took one step nearer, young face looked piteously into
that was all. mine, and with a motion of protec-
They dared not come closer while tion I placed my arm about her
the light lasted, but it was failing shoulders and drew her close to me.
fast, and the writhing coils of night Side by side we faced the end.
seemed to know, and ravened silently The thing that had been Pierre
for our lives. ran its red tongue over pointed teeth
We —
waited what else was there to and watched us. Seemingly he did
do? We
could not flee elsewhere, we not fear. His brutish face held no
could not defend oui’selves, there was gleam of intelligence. Only unspeak-
nowhere to hide that tliey could not able vice and ravenous desire were
reach iis. So while the frisking phan- written there. And this was the
toms danced stealthily about us, and friend I had loved!
the dreadful prowlers leered, as But he that had brought death and
bravely as might be we waited. destruction to so many, that dread
 THE EETURN OF THE MASTER 19

personification of loathsome evil, at “Perhaps,” I replied. “Look!

last realized what fear meant. The last candle fails.”
The oppressive feeling lessened; I The shadows rushed in again, but
felt free to move again, and once the Master and the Undead beside
more I thought coherently. A dead- him did not advance. They were
ening weight had been lifted from held in their tracks, and though they
my brain. longed to flee they stood glaring at
Corpuscles of lambent cool fiame the accusing crowd, Pierre stupidly
began to gather. Thickly clustering shaking his head at us.
in the room, they slipped through the One of this whispering company
shutters that barred the broken win- was more opaque than the others. In
dows, and through the doorway. One the throes of some gigantic struggle,
passed through the Master’s body. he sobbed and panted, his nebulous
He cringed, and it lingered as though light growing dim as he became more
inspecting him carefully before enter- visible. As his shape became more
ing farther. Even through the walls pronounced the myriad radiant cor-
they came, and watching them we puscles waned in brilliance as though
marveled at their numbers. he was draining them of force.
“What can they be?” I whispered The red of a British soldier’s uni-
to the girl., form faded to pink, the knight’s ar-
“Wait,” she said. “I think I mor, translucent at best, became
know.” gauzy, then transparent and disap-
Now about each nucleus of light a peared before my eyes. Together the
mist formed like fog around a street
green robes of the Arabs and the yel-
lamp. It thickened, coalesced, and
low of the Chinese bonze vanished,
bodies began to appear. Their gar- and in their place was empty air.
ments represented all periods and One by one the strange throng be-
countries. came invisible, but I knew that each
Side by side, near an imperious was still present, giving his all to his
comrade, who was becoming more
cavalier of Spain stood a gipsy wan-
tangible every second.
derer gay in spotted neckerchief, pol-
ished leather, and gold coin buttons. Now more than half had gone.
Farther away, I recognized a Roman The Master stood in the doorway
gladiator with his hand on the shoul- still,but there was a difference. The
der of a Persian spearman, whose hunter had become the hunted! As
harness was that of Alexandrian con- he had frozen others in their tracks
quests. An ugly crone with hooked while he worked liis will upon them,
nose and protruding teeth tottered, so he was held in a grip from which
and was supported by a Chinese there was no escaping.
bonze. Near them I saw the brown But he was not submitting weakly
of Eastern faces and the green robes to his former victims. He was flght-
held as a holy color by the Moslems. ing valiantly for his life. Great
And in the breast of each glowed beads of moisture burst out upon his
dimly the central fires. forehead as he hurled his mighty will
“It is the rising of the slaves,” at the shape that grew still more
said Regina. “Here are those that plainly human. His tremendous
have suffered from the Master’s rule. mental powers struggling against the
The spirits of the dead have come to combined strength of the now wholly
save us. Oh God, I thank Thee! invisible throng, buffeted the half-
Pray, sire, and give thanks, for we man hither and thither about the
are saved!” room.
20 WEIRD TALES
Caught first in one eddy of force Then he spoke, and one of the
and then another he hurtled like a strangest happenings of that remark-
wind-blown leaf, and when he struck able night occurred. Although he
walls or floor there was no sound. He spoke in unfamiliar language his
was not yet solid. meaning was clear to me.
It was a mighty scene, one whose “I have returned,” he said in a
like has never been seen before. The “Do you know me?”
slow, icy voice.
unbelievable and impo.ssible was The Master did not answer, but I
occurring before our eyes. It was no could see that he was shaken. His
less than revolution! Evil that had body visibly shrank, his hair grew
triumphed since unknovTi times was white, and a tottering senile old man
being overthrown, and by agencies stood in the doomay, beside the dull
that once were human. uncomprehending monster that he
I felt proud that I was man, one had made of Pierre.
of the dominant race, and in a surge “Before I died I prayed that I
of power I gave my feeble mite to the might be given you for mine. I have
struggle. Since obvioxisly it w'as the waited for many years. I bided my
Master’s desire that the stranger time where I was sent to expiate my
should not become strong, I willed sins. Others I met, more sinned
with all my force that he should. I against than sinning. Together we
like to feel that it was the added have come. Are we known, to you?”
energy I gave that tipped the scales A croak replied, “Vermin of the
so evenly balanced, and I hope that earth! Yes!”
it was.
“Then,” cried the stranger, “pre-
Siiddenly, without warning, a man pare, for now^ you die!”
as humanly solid as you or I stood in The Master stood more erect, with
the center of the room. Dressed he something of his old pride and might,
was in harsh blue cloth, about his and waited.
throat was fur, and upon his head a
high hat of the same material. 8. Vengeance at Last!
With the transformation came
'’T^hen the old formula of transmu-
vibrant joy that pulsed and throbbed
through the room, and I knew that tation was gone through again.
the invisible ones were rejoicing. The actions that I was so familiar
with from the old manuscript were
Visibly the Master aged. His power
repeated, and I saw for the first time
was ebbing from him, and the
a werewolf at the moment of change.
strength that had held back Time
He tore off his suit of blue, and
do'^m through the ages was passing.
stood a very giant before us. Then
The years were rushing in upon him.
he fell upon all fours, his limbs
Now the silence was broken for the withered and became long, lean
first time since the door had been shanks. His hands grew claws and
broken in. During the period of wait- became pads. Hair sprang out upon
ing, and through the battle of wills, his body. His head narrowed, mouth
nothing but the hoarse breathing of widening and ears becoming pointed.
the living corpse was to be heard, but His eyes were bloodshot with fury,
now the room echoed to long wild as he howled in a long dismal tone.
peals of eery laughter. He was now a beast, and as I
The stranger was giving vent to formed the words in my mind, I
merriment, and at the sound we recognized my savior.
shivered. There were revenge, and “Wladislaw Brenryk!” I gasped,
joy, and death in the cry ( Contimied on page 141)
W HEN

and undoubted
was summoned
there was a .job to be
done, especially adventurous,
entailing skilful diplomacy
peril, Tom Mansey
partly because he
in Papuasia is red hair natural to a
native. The idea of a mummied head
with ruddy locks threatened the
fragile foothold of white civilization
on those dark flanks of a land as
knew Papua as well as a white man treacherous as the panther it most
may, partly that he seemed indiffer- resembles.
ent to probable torture and death Mansey added the final note of
meted out by head-hunting savages nausea to the assemblage,
to intruders in hidden empires of the “a woman’s head, I should say.
hinterland. Whether a white woman or not I
The stout officials sat about a table don’t know. The curing might
viewing evidence which had promul- brown the skin. Tliis hair is silky,
gated fresh indignation. It had been rather fine and waved, certainly not
seized from the trophies of a globe- bleached., By the manner of lip-sew-
trotting curio-hunter who parted re- ing I should say it comes from the
luctantly, indignantly from it, and north-shore people. I never saw nicer
spouted wrath and threats of re- work.”
prisal. It was a mummied *human It was uncanny, horrid, weird, to
head no larger than a man’s doubled hear him enthuse over the craft of
fist, beautifully cured, furnished with cannibalistic savages, but his remarks
balls of cat’s-eye chalcedony in the were crisp when they asked him to
sockets, lips sewn in a kissing pout, investigate the source of supply, take
The shocking feature was its abun- feasible measures to halt barter in
dant and flaming red hair. Nowhere heads, intimate to the most indom-
f ,
22 WEIRD TALES
itable, hellishly cunning race of that locality to which Mansey was
blacks that earth endures, that selling bound. His name was Homer Mullet,
human heads to tourists was indeli- he had been a surgeon in London, got
cate, inadvisable and immoral. into disrepute and after a brief at-
“I’d suggest right here that you’d tempt to establish himself in Port
better stop tourists buying heads. So Moresby, went north, evidently had
long as they pay big money for them, luck with the natives and sent down
the heads will be forthcoming, and frequently for drugs of surgical na-
since heads with Nordic-colored hair ture and new cases of instruments.
bring fatter prices, the natives will His latest order was not more than
swoop down on the ports and clean sixmonths old. With this meager in-
out our little intrusion of white ex- formation on possible sources of red
ploiters in one whirlwind of savagery hair Tom Mansey navigated the
run amuck. However, I’m interested. treacherous tide rips and cross cur-
Using cat’s-eye quartz for eyes is a rents and after weeks of tentative
new wrinkle that shows intelligent questioning located the lagoon where
progress in art.” Homer Mullet was reported to have
Mansey crossed the room in a established himself as a sorcerer of
weighted silence and traced a fore- greater magic than any native chief-
tain.
finger on a wall-map, traversing
from the Curlews south of Sarong,
then to the great island of Papua
marked on the north New Guinea. L eaving his Tonga boys and their
proas outside, Mansey and a na-
launch man entered the reef
“Whatwhite men or women have tive
gone into here in the la^ decade and jaws of white eoral just when dawn
who’s missing?” he asked of the turned the world pearl and the sea
company’s clerk who had said least was shimmering opal. Across the
and done most to assist in the investi- lagoon were the triangular huts
gation. The clerk flipped pages of a fringed with tinkling shells, a fire
book and wrote rapidly on slips of burning on the beach, cookmg pots
paper which he gave to Mansey. steaming over it and the flower-deco-
With these data, Mansey set out rated savages who shouted yowls of
with a power launch and a flock of welcome. His launch churned bub-
Tonga boys in small outrigger proas bles in water clear as air, shining like
hollowed from hardwood in a manner green flame. Beneath were sea-gar-
that has not changed since the sea dens indescribably beautiful and
spewed forth the South Sea Islands. menacing, tinted coral, waving fern
Mansey was lightly armed. Weapons weeds, wide-open flanges of tridacnas
are small insurance against the peril that can take off a man’s foot if he
of penetrating tribal villages of steps into one, pretty little fish clus-
treacherous Papuasian black men, tering and scattering like particles
and he knew that where that ruddy- of an exploding glass ball. The air
haired head was cured and fitted with was hot and moist, perfumed by
quartz eyes, were intelligence and flowers, thick with the stench of rot-
barbed cunning. ting river swamp, pungent with sea-
He had little information on which tang, the^mingled scents of Papua’s
to base conjecture. Official files men- breasts teeming with desire, imfor-
tioned a Scotchman, Andrew Keith, gettable as the hells it transcended.
w'ho had gone native thirty years be- With a feeling of high adventure,
fore, taken to the hinterland and Mansey sent the launch close to a
never reappeared. Besides Andrew crude causeway jutting between the
Keith, one other white man was in nipa-thatched huts, knowing the
 GRAY GHOULS 23

yelps of painted, spear-pronged sav- men, and that Mullet’s abundant hair
ages might change at a breath to curled to his shoulders hut was so
cries of blood-lust and battle. His dark brown as to be almost black.
heart pounded with the spice of the Otherwise the renegade surgeon was
thing and another discovery. Sitting a giant in stature, growing too fat
in state near the tire, remaining seat- and slightly insane, which Mansey
ed while the savages danced and expected. No white man can fight
leaped in childlike frenzy, was the Papua. The land gets under iiis skull
white man he sought. and behind his eyes. It drugs and
A dozen black hands reached to stultifies his morale and finally kills
help him to the landing stage. The his soul. That had evidently hap-
center of a swarm of rowdy young pened to Mullet. But his talk was
warriors Jiideously glorious in neck- rational. Mansey saw the slender,
laces of human knuckle-bones, shark ’s tapering fingers always playing nerv-
teeth, crests of Paradise plumes, he ously with the pearl strands, and
was led to the fire and an avenue the shifting prominent eyes. He had
cleared dowm which he walked to the been a man of character and person-
white man who was distinctively un- ality, a brainy intelligence, sensual-
ornamented except by flower gar- moAithed, and his good looks spoiled
lands, a collar of many strands of by a flattened nose and indulgence
pearls, and pearl strings looped to which over-hampered his body.
his midriff.. “You’ll stay a few days?” he
“I’m Tom Mansey,” he said, “and asked.
I suppose your name is Homer Mul- “I’d like to,” Mansey told him.
let. I’ve been a month or two find- “You can have a house. Anything
ing you to have a little talk.” else?” Mullet’s smile was suggestive
“Mansey,” commented Mullet and Mansey shook his head.
without rising or offering his hand, “The fact is I came for your help
“seems to me I’ve seen your name on in halting the sale of heads to white
the company’s notations. Sit in for tourists, if possible.” Mansey told
breakfast and make yourself comfort- in detail the new menace which had
able. I’m pretty chief here, and as leaped to formidable proportions and
long as we agree you can sleep easy. of the one ruddy-haired head which
There’s turtle stewing and they’ve had started the rumpus.
learned to cook it white-man fashion. “So you, knowing something of
It’s good to hear Englisli again. You heads,” said Mullet, “recognized the
haven’t by any possibility some lip-sewing and came north. They
recent gramophone records, have' know that I’m here, and that Sandy
’ ’
you ? Keith left liis red-headed offspring
Mansey had. He breakfasted on in these hills, eh?”
scraped coconut cream and turtle “I suspected something of the sort.
.stew, a little fruit and remarkably I suspected you.”
good coffee and Avas patient while This man was clever, also friendly.
Mullet pumped and probed him for Mansey wanted that amiable feeling
world news and port gossip. to continue and he had no hope of
He and Mullet ate alone. The fooling Homer Mullet aboxTt his mis-
crowd had dispersed to a farther fire sion. Pranlcness might serve where
and cooking pot. The women were giiile would antagonize.
invisible in the huts. Mansey had “You flatter me,” said Mullet,
opportunity to observe many tilings, laughing. “I start no line of devils
a garden of sorts for that wilderness, down here, my friend. Besides, my
an almost new higi-lacii house for the hair isn’t red.”
24 WBIED TALES
“But the heads ” began Man- Mansey was relieved at the conver-
sey. Mullet silenced him. sational change, and puzzled. The
“I’ve no doubt my
fellows do trade orang-outang is a formidable simian,
heads. They cure them. I can’t stop and he knew little about them except
that, but I have managed to put the that they would clear the jungle in
fear o’ God into them enough to con- their vicinity of smaller monkeys and
fine their head-gathering to enemies birds on sight. Mullet’s laugh was
and killing them outright before they unpleasant, yet Mansey fancied it
begin. One thing I’ll admit: there sounded strange because laughter
isn’t a fresh one in the village. Look was not often loosed in that place.
at the houses.” He sensed a sinister secret behind
this bland talk of Mullet, and he
They strolled abroad and Mansey
saw that the heads on display were knew instinctively that he was being
old, rather green and misted with
entertained nicely to hide that secret,
mold. Woodenfigures carved gro- as well as Mullet’s almost pathetic
were plentiful. The village
tesquel5’^
joy in companionship of his own
was new, there was
clean, the houses
race and kind.
e^ddence of sanitation and order un-
usual to natives. Yet instinct told
Tom Mansey he was hot on the trail
of trouble.
T hat night he watched a dance at
the lagi-lagi house and the ritual
of initiation of young men ripe for
He was sure ofit when
at one hut —
manhood the ritual that would en-
there was a commotion and he saw a able them to take wives and heads. It
young girl struggling with older was not new to Mansey, but he hated
women and caught a glimpse of a the evident relish of Homer Mullet
head of glinting gold curled^ in over the stoicism of young men en-
cloudy beauty. Then amid shrieks of during greatly. He watched through
the women she was dragged inside a haze of the final orgy, until satiated
and hidden. Mullet laughed. with strong drink and blood-lust they
finally dropped inert and lay like a
“Bleaching a new queen,” he ob-
strange harvest* of death as dawn
served. “At present I am a widow-
flowed over the hills and blazed on
er after a fashion. That shock you?”
the sea.
“No.” Mansey shook his head.
“It isn’t good for man to live alone,
He went to the hut they had given
him, but did not sleep. The settle-
especially in savage lands. That new
queen is a beauty.”
ment was lifeless at that hour except
for a few older women at their house-
“Six weeks in a darkened hut keeping and cooking. He thought of
bleaches them like mellow ivory, and
the girl in the bleaching hut who
she’s been kept from betel-chewing,
would be Mullet’s queen, and was
or having her teeth filed. Making sorry for her, needlessly. He remem-
wives to order is feasible here, Man-
bered that Mullet had said he was a
sey. Old Sandy Keith knew that.
’ ’

widower at present, and during the

“He is dead?” asked Mansey dance in the lagi-lagi house he had
quickly. confided drunken details of his rule
“He is dead, and I inlierited a lot and the reign of Sandy Keith.
of his troubles along with his trained “He lorded it, Mansey. Had sev-
apes. Sandy was quite a scientist. eral wives, and I married one of his
He was bent on learning the language daughters, a red-headed she-devil.
of orang-outangs and had a flock of She had all the beauty you’d ever
them. I have them now, nicely find in a woman, but she was worse
trained. You’ll see.” than native. She tried to kill me a
 GRAY GHOULS 25

dozen times, knives, poison, sorcery, “All right, you jealous old she-
until
” monk, take a look-see from up there
Mullet had laughed horridly. Tom and you’ll see a real beauty. Bring
Mansey had no doubt in the world out the girl!” he called to the
that the red-headed wife of Homer scrawny old woman who peeped from
Mullet was killed, probably mur- the door.
dered. It was not his concern, but it On the roof, Sheba chattered
sickened him. He knew that he was angrily as Mullet repeated the com-
on the track of that forbidden traffic mand in native. To Mansey the ex-
in heads, yet no nearer a solution of periment seemed considerable of a
the puzzle would be presented if he risk. As the child appeared in the
tried to halt it. hut doorway, Sheba showed jealousy.
That day he slept fitfully and The girl was the prettiest Mansey
awoke after the noon heat to find had ever seen, her rounded body out-
Homer Mullet astir. Hearing his lined in scarlet stain, her only cover-
voice, Mansey looked from the hut ing a waist fringe of red and white
door and saw Mullet coming down blossoms.
the trail of white crushed coral fol- Homer Mullet glanced at her, then
lowed closely by a huge gray shape beckoned to the ape on the hut roof
that loped along in the way of the and commanded in lurid curses,
great apes, paws trailing at its knees, which Sheba not only ignored but
and Mullet was talking to the crea- chattered back her raging resent-
ture, which seemingly answered by ment.
uncouth guttural sounds. “Look here,” howled Mullet,
He hailed Mansey. “Going to take “you’ll come down and behave or I’ll
a look-see at my queen. Come along ?
’ ’
get the whip. This girl is your mas-
It seemed diplomatic to go along ter-lady, hear what I say? You’ll
and Mansey came down the notched treat her nicely and none of your
log a little on guard because of the triclis like last time. You had your
great ape. chance, you she-devil And you
!

“Sheba won’t bother you,” said

made hell for everybody. You know
what happened to you then, and it’ll
Homer Mullet. “She’s jealous of
be worse next time. I’ll make a croco-
women but not men. I’ve got to get
her acquainted with this girl, whom,
dile of you —
understand? You knoAv
how you hate water and the muggers.
by the way, I’ve named Cleo, short
Well, you behave or your next in-
for Cleopatra.” Mullet enjoyed the
joke loudly, and the great ape showed
carnation will be a mugger. Now
’ ’
come dovTi and kowtow.
her big teeth in a wide-mouthed grin
Mansey listened in astonishment
and an uncanny cackle.
and something of fear. The she-ape
“Shut up!” yelped Mullet. The was powerful enough to tear a man
effect was magical. The ape’s eyes limb from limb, and she was roused
showed shame, even grief, and she to fury. Her e3'es shot green fire, her
hung her head, but when Mansey teeth flashed and ground on them-
looked back he thought she was selves. The pretty little bride was
snarling. gray-skinned with terror and dropped
When they reached the hut where to the ground, her golden eyes a wild
the potential queen was being appeal. Mullet had been drinking
bleached and beautified, Sheba the heavily all night and was still drunk.
ape suddenly darted and swung to His face grew purple-red, his eyes
its roof-peak, and no commands of were bloodshot, the veins on his neck
Mullet would make her descend. stood out and throbbed. But the ape
26 WEIRD TALES
defied him and in the end he snarled Homer Mullet laughed long and
a command to take tlie girl inside, loud.
and strode offbeckoning Jlansey to “You don’t believe that, eh?. Well,
follow to a couch by a sliaded nook I don’t blame you. But didn’t you
at the jiingle edge. hear why they did for me in Lon-
There he imbibed more fermented don? No? Well, I’ll tell you. I took
coconut juice and gradually calmed the brain of a boy dying with con-
to coherency which was no less fright- sumption and transplanted it to the
ful in its revelations than his exliibi- head of a half-wit homicide. And by
tion of rage. God, I made a success of it ! And did
“That ape is near human. I’d say they hail me as the discoverer of a
she is human. Old Keith made a new trail in surgery, and see as I
study of them. I went him one bet- .saw, a way to empty our asyliims and
ter. I gave them brains. You saw make use of incurables? They did
that she was jealous, didn’t you? not. They said I was crazy, they dis-
Well, I’m afraid of her. Si.x months graced me. I barely escaped an
ago she killed my bride, another red- asyhim myself. That’s why I came
headed beauty like this one. I’ve got out here and kept my hand in. And
to prevent that, Mansey. Someliow I’ve done it time and time again.
I’ve got to keep her from this girl.” There was plenty of opportunity. The
“Why not do away with the ape?” battles gave me subjects for experi-
asked Mansey, more because some re- ment, and many a head is mummied
ply was expected than as a sug- and sold whose brain is still doing ex-
gestion. cellent service in a strange body.
That’s what I’ve done.”
“I dare not. I’ve got seven of them
trained, equipped with brains, think- Mansey was staring at IMullet the
ing brains. They’re my bodyguard. surgeon, who gloated over his own
skill. It was unbelievable, yet except
Without them I wouldn’t last here.
Oh, I know these blacks don’t love the wrath which shone in his eyes.
me! I’m not that great a fool that Mullet’s appearance was convincing.
I’d feel safe long. The she-apes are “But trying the ape business was
always near. You don’t see them, new. And possibly it was immoral.
but they don’t let me out of their Sheba tried so many times to kill me,
sight. I made a mistake with Sheba, and one night when I was sleeping
though. Sheba was the name of that she almost got me. I struck in self-
red-haired she-devil of a wife that defense, stunned her and saw- myself
tried to do me in. I remember telling as a murderer. You may think mur-
you about her last night. Well, Sheba der a small thing to a man like me.
loved her red hair and beauty. She It isn’t. I’ve never killed. I didn’t
loved me too damn well. And Ood, kill then. The .she-ape that Keith had
how she hates being a monkey! But trained and which liked me was tear-
that was no idle threat about the ing the hut to pieces when she heard
muggers. I’ve never tried that, but the row inside, and before I could get
I will. I’ll make a crocodile of a gun she had snatched the body of
Sheba, so hel]) me Clod, if she touches my insensible Sheba. You won’t care
this new girl.” for details of what happened. I
“Mullet, you’re about as drunk as hadn’t a w'eapon and I grabbed a bot-
I’ve seen a man. Better quit that tle of chloroform which Mras handy
stuff or you’ll be seeing monkeys,” and tried to brain the ape. The bot-
said Mansey. tle broke and she was deluged. It
 GRAY GHOULS 27

acts quickly on them, Mansey. And “They stole it from me. And I
something seemed to crack in my had made a job of that head, was
brain as I saw the unconscious ape rolling drunk when I did most of it.
and the dying woman. Well, the ape I put eyes ”
is Sheba. Now you know. I ’m a fool “Cat’s-eye quartz?” asked Man-
not to kill her, but it’s gone farther sey. Mullet nodded.
than that with me. I liked Sheba. “I’ve got it in the boat,” said Man-
And she eared enough for me to pre- sey. “That was the one that caused
vent my ever taking a second wife. the trouble. It was nicely finished.”
More than that, she has somehow com-
Mullet stared at him.
municated to the other orang-outangs
her jealous guardianship. “For God’s sake, hide it, Mansey.
Perhaps Sheba ”
“I can’t slaughter all the apes in
the jungle, and they haunt me. Sheba He did not finish, for swinging
has managed to people the land with down from tree branches overhead,
gray ghouls who watch me night and the great she-ape stood before them.
day. Dante never conceived the hell Mullet ripped out an oath and add-
of torture that I’m living through, ed, “You heard what I was saying,
you ”
Mansey.”
Mansey fancied he heard the sound
N THE tropic heat, Homer Mullet of a guttural word of speech and he
I shivered and sweat broke cold on leaped to his feet, ready to run for
the forehead of Tom Mansey. cover. The ape regarded him a mo-
Through terrific repulsion over- ment with her alert gaze, then
whelming him, he found himself sorry reached a paw, caught his shoulder
for the man who had made his own and flung him, as if he were a child,
hell with more ingenious cunning at Mullet’s feet.
than cannibal head-hunters could “Better behave, Mansey,” com-
have devised for him. mented Mullet. “She’s heard what I
“Mansey, you could tell me a
if said. She was old Keith’s daughter,
way out, I’d hang these pearls on remember, and he taught all of them
your arm. An emperor’s ransom, his own tongue. If you speak French
now, we might manage ”
Mansey, for a plan to rid myself of
this hell and live in peace.” He looked at Mansey enquiringly.
Mansey was silent. The avalanche Mansey shook his head..
of horror had come so suddenly he “Very little. I do comprehend
could not yet grasp the thing. He ‘sauve qxii pent,’ however, and it
assured himself it was the talk of a seems appropriate to this situation.”
maniac, wildly horrible, yet in spite “A fine chance,” snarled Mullet,
of reason he was convinced. And as he looked about him. Mansey ’s
sifting through the horror was the gaze followed that survey and again
fact of those red-haired heads drift- he felt the chill of fear. In the thick
ing down to be bartered. If what tangle of lianas and jungle growth
Mullet said should be true, he was no he caught glimpses of gray shapes
nearer accomplishing what he had watching them, swinging in gro-
come to do. The authorities would tesquely airy flight from tree to tree,
not believe this tale nor could he a company of gray apes, the for-
halt the barter and trade. midable “men of the woods” known
“What became of the — ^the head to the 'world as orang-outangs.
of Sheba?” he asked, licking dry lips “My harem,” was hissed from
with the tip of his tongue. Mullet’s lips. “Each one equipped
28 WEIRD TALES
with the brains of a woman I selected a step there was a circle of great
as a wife, sealing her doom at the apes hemming them in effectively.
liands of this she ” The epithets They made no attempt to touch either
he applied to Sheba were unspeak- man, but formed a ring and marched
ably vile. Mansey looked in appre- about the two prisoners in what
hension at Sheba, but her eyes had might have seemed a ludicrously
not changed expression. Evidently humorous array if it had not been
there were a good many curses of menacing and sinister.
port dives and docks not included in “Mansey, I’m going out with you.
her knowledge of English. In place I’ve got to go. God knows there isn’t
of anger, the eyes held something of —
any other place for me ^in white set-
the love-loyalty seen in the eyes of a
faithful dog for its master. She
—
tlements, I mean but I’ll get to an-
other island. They can’t cross water.
squatted beside Mullet, took his hand Oh, you can speak now! These are
and stroked it with her black paw, natives, not even very good at heclie
then held it to her cheek. Mullet de mer talk. It’s that devil of a
jerked it away with an expression of Sheba who understands and com-
disgust, and the great ape whimpered municates with the others. You heard
sorrowfully. her just now, calling them. Usually
“You see?” snarled Mullet. “Yet they don’t come so close, but your ar-
w’e must talk. How about those rival has made her suspicious, no
gramophone records? Start a row doubt, and she doesn’t want to lose
going ” me.”
“They’re in the launch,” said His laughter was mirthless and un-
Mansey. “I’ll get them.” But when canny, the sound of insanity cracking
he rose, the ape caught his ankle, in his voice. Mansey did not wonder.
reaching with no apparent effort, and He felt that his own reason would not
Mansey was jerked to the ground. long stand the strain of this sinister
Then, throwing back her head, Sheba surveillance. Yet what reasoning
displayed her fangs in a wide- power was still uncluttered by the
mouthed and iinmistakable grin. impasse in which he found himself,
Mansey realized that he had w'alked cautioned him against attempting to
into a trap, that only by cunning assist Miillet to escape. The great
could he escape from the dread com- ape would frustrate such an attempt,
pany of gray ghouls which Mullet the he felt sure. And there was danger
surgeon loosed in that jungle. Now for in releasing a madman like Mullet on
the first time he faced greater peril any other island, he thought. Aware
than head-hunting savages seeking that his face showed reluctance, he
trophies or glutting their unquench- was again frank in speech.
able blood-lust against white in- “Mullet, I’m of the opinion that
truders. you can’t get away, and I must. I
“Wait,” said Mullet, then ad- could bring help, perhaps. I’ll give
dressed the ape. “You savvy music you my word to do what I can, but
records?” He made a circular mo- for two of us to attempt escape,
tion with his hand and hummed a especially when you have such de-
scrap of tune. “You fetehem w’hite voted followers, is utterly futile.”
man proa ’longside. Savvy?” “Look here, don’t you fancy for a
Sheba uttered a sound from her moment you and that launch will
throat and swung in swift flight leave this lagoon without me, Man-
through the trees. Mansey immedi- sey. You can ’t, you know, unless I am
ately scrambled to his feet and Mul- willing. Even if you got to the launch,
let rose, but before they could take the blacks in their canoes would
 GRAY GHOULS 29

halt you at tho reef entrance. I’ve shambles when they leave, Mansey
had enough of this. Before you came It has one kick-back, though.” Mul-
I was making the best of it. I was let laughed again and Mansey liked
content enough, only that I wanted a his curses better than his laughter.
woman. Oh, it’s my own doings! “The natives don’t need to fight and
Don’t think I’m shifting the blame, they will in time lose their own in-
but at that it was something stronger itiative, their courage. Some day
than my will driving my hand to that this tribe won’t exist, but that won’t
delicate operation. If they’d let me come in time to save us.”
alone in London, if they’d seen the “Listen, Mullet, suppose I go out
marvel of what I’d accomplished, the and bring help, a revenue cruiser
greatest feat of surgery in this or any that will blast this village into noth-
other age, I wouldn’t be here and this ingness as has been done before now.
wouldn’t have happened. But they A few shells
”
drove me out, my own race and kind. “Shells * won’t reach the apes.
And you belong to them, Mansey. You’d merely murder the blacks who
I’ve got a grudge, not against you, aren’t to blame. Besides, I’ve no as-
but all white men. Mansey” ^his — surance that you’d come back or
voice became quieter, more confiden-
tial in tone
—
“what if we’d take
send them. Wlio’d believe your story
of human apes? And where would I
Sheba, you and I, and tour a few be when they shelled the village? If
countries exhibiting the greatest I went to the hills, the apes would go
marvel of the age? We’d need along. If I stayed here to have them
money, and we’d make it. I’ve lorded killed I’d get it. What, don’t you
it here. I couldn’t go back and see I couldn’t even kill myself if I
grub and sweat again. But we could felt like heroics to save you, because
do that ”
you’d have Sheba on your neck the
“Mullet, either you talk rational minute I croaked? Pretty little mess,
or ” eh, Mansey? And there is no escape
“What will you do? What can in the jungles or huts, none at all
you do except put a bullet through except to cross the water where the
me, and you’d loose a hell-fury that apes can’t follow, and you’re handi-
would tear you bit by bit in rags. caped there because the natives know
I’ve seen Sheba do that. Finger by justwhat would happen to them if
finger, Mansey, toe by toe, handfuls I’m not here to keep Sheba pacified.
of hair, eyelids I did try getting away with one of
“Shut up, you beast!” cried Man- my brides m
a canoe and Sheba was
sey. on watch that night. She tore a
“That gets j'ou, eh? Well, it’s true.
lagi-lagi to bits, jerked the men to the

And I’m your only protection. shore and sent them after me in
You’ve got to save me to escape
canoes. Then they gave me to under-
stand I must not try again to escape.
alive.”
Oh, it’s a beautiful entanglement!
“What about the natives?” Here’s Sheba.”
“Sheba is half native, remember,
and she likes her own kind. They’re '^HE great ape dropped from over-
safe. They’re not only safe but in- hanging tree branches and in one
vulnerable. When they go forth to arm she carried Mansey ’s gramo-
take wives and heads, the gray apes phone case, without which he never
go along and fight for them. It’s a traveled. It was further proof of the
30 WEIRD TALES
uncanny intelligence of Sheba that monkeys. Where the great apes held
she had understood Mullet’s com- court, no other jungle life lingered.
mand and brought the case. She Mansey straddled the limb and
squatted and deftly unfastened the considered in frantic dismay the sit-
buckles of leather straps binding the uation in which he was placed. Re-
oil-cloth cover, fitted the handle, luctantly, he accepted Mullet’s logic.
opened a package of records and There seemed no escape. Watching
wound the machine. In another mo- glimpses he obtained of the lagoon
ment the wail of She's My Baby Doll through swaying palms and branch
rose in the hot silence. An instant plumes, he saw a dark object floating
later Mansey shrieked laughter of and realized with his heart racing
hysteric abandon, for the great she- that it was the body of his native left
ape was swaying from one foot to an- in charge of the boat. Evidently he
other and gazing at Homer Mullet had angered Sheba and she had killed
with the amorous leer of a love-sick him without so much as an outcry.
crone. She put out a paw to take his
Mansey almost envied the dead man.
For the first time in his years of
hand, but Mullet jerked it aside, and
Papua he admitted that there were
kicked his bare foot at her chest.
worse things than murder: far worse
Lacking his hand to fondle, she seized
than the taking and curing of human
his foot, precipitated him on his back
heads as trade to tourists was the fit-
and cuddled the foot to her breast, ting of beast craniums with the brains
laying her cheek against it and fond- of thinking humans.
ling each toe as mothers the world
Mansey looked below. The gramo-
over play with toes of their babies.
phone still wailed its jazz musicand
“Laugh, damn you,” growled Mul- foolish songs. The seven great she-
let. “I’ll show you.” He spoke in apes were dancing clumsily, in con-
native to Sheba, who reluctantly re- trast to their lithe grace in the trees.
leased his foot, caught Mansey in her Mullet lay prone on the mats, his
arms and, despite his struggles, naked trunk crisscrossed by strings
swung to the tree branches. For all of pearls, his arms over his eyes.
her strength the weight of a fighting Above, Mansey racked his brain to
man cumbered her movements and think of a plan of escape. Par off, the
she halted her flight to hold him by black crouching hills quivered in the
both arms and shake him until heat, which was affecting Mansey in
his teeth rattled. Then swinging spite of a breeze at that elevation
farther aloft she flung him over which did not penetrate below. He
the crotch of a branch and dropped felt thirsty and faint and he knew if
to earth. he should lose his grip of the tree
Prom below, Mansey heard Mul- bole, he would fall to death. His
let’s shrieks of mirth. At that eleva- heart and blood began to pound, a
tion he could see the village huts, the throbbing which presently drummed
lagoon and his launch, the long reef- in his ears. Then, suddenly, Tom
jaws, and ascending far down the Mansey knew he heard drums, far off,
outer beach, the smokes of fires where faint, inaudible to Mullet because of
his Tonga boys cooked their meal. the grinding gramophone diligently
About him were the palms glittering kept going by Sheba.
like sabers in the sun, but the jungle Mansey knew the meaning of the
was silent, bereft of the gorgeous drum-song of Papua, rising, falling,
birds of Paradise, the lorries and par- sinister, maddening, the voice coaxed
rakeets, the little chattering harmless by bare hands from bladderskins
 GRAY GHOULS 31

stretched over human skulls, and a the uncanny hearing of Sheba. Mul-
new fear swooped and rode his let turned to the ape.
shoulders. That drum-song meant “Good Sheba, pretty Sheba. Go
savages on the march, and it was after the drums, Sheba. Show the
coming nearer. He looked below and Kauloo warriors they can’t fight our
saw that the she-apes had ceased fellows. Take the other girls and
dancing and stood as if listening have a good fight, old girl.” He
through the blatant jazz music to the patted her shoulder, and at that care-
voice of approaching peril. less caress the great ape fawned on
In another moment, Sheba Tiad him like a grateful cur that has
clutched Mullet and shot him to his known only kicks and abus
feet and was chattering a warning.
The gramophone record died with a
moan, and the drum-song rose insist-
ent as the drone of bees, palpitant as
T he warriors were dressing
battle in frenzied haste. They
scorned to go forth to fight or die in
for

the quivering hills. It roused sleep- aught but gorgeous array. And a
ing natives and the huts belched sav- drum-song of their own arose, one
ages. They poured from the lagi-lagi drum after another, purling the
where they had been sleeping off blood-rousing tempo that stirs the
the night potations, arranging their heart and soul of a man, tingles in
plume crests as they leaped to earth, his flesh, prickles on his scalp, the
young men greedy for battle, eager primal quickening call to war. Look-
for slaughter, grimly meticulous over ing at Mullet, Tom Mansey saw hope
their gaudy ornaments, proud of the bom in his eyes and thought he
fine blue lace of tattooing and blis- understood. They would be rid of
tered cicatrices obtained in agony. the apes for a time. His own thoughts
Mullet looked up to where Mansey darted to the launch in the lagoon,
was hidden in the tree. the Tonga flotilla on the beach out-
“Need help to get down!” he side. Then as he looked seaward
called. “Sheba will fetch you.” Mansey cursed. The Tonga boys had
Mansey yelled a refusal and began heard that drum-song and understood
to scramble down, but the great ape its meaning. They had no courage.
swung aloft before he had compassed They had launched their canoes,
which ranged like .slim dark beetles
more than a few feet of the descent.
on the sun-glitter of the sea, ready to
She caught the branch on which he
dart like arrows to safety far beyond.
was pei'ched and bent it double,
They hovered about the lagoon en-
plucked him from his vantage and let
trahee evidently waiting a hail or
the branch go. The crash as it flew
sign from Mansey, and he was power-
back proved tlie tremendous strength less to reach them.
of the beast-woman, and Mansey ’s
About the cooking fire, replenished
heart missed a beat as he was swung
by old men, began the war dance, and
in flying leaps and dropped on the
old women fetched gourds of fer-
mats, unliurt. mented coconut wine, which was
“Hear those drums?” began Mul- swigged by the warriors, who smacked
let. “That means reprisal. Now their lips loudly and leaped into new
Sheba and her sisters can help my frenzy, wild contortions, a hideous
fellows defend the village.” He Carmagnole in which the she-apes
looked at Mansey, and in the blood- joined, sometimes jumping to catch a
shot eyes of Mullet tliere was a mean- tree branch and swing madly, spin-
ing Mansey tried to read because ning in midair like gibtet-frait. Then
neither dared utter his thoughts in at a sign from the leader, the dancers
32 WEIRD TALES
«

filedinto the jungle, and the great Some minutes had elapsed in his
apes leaped to the trees. Where had cursory examination of the launch,
been a ferocious swaiin of painted but his brain was never so alert be-
savages was only the scattered fire fore. He thought he m%ht use the
embers and the women gathering the maimed oar to scull the unwieldy
empty gourds. craft, and stood up to summon the
“Now,” said Mullet, “now is our Tonga proas from beyond the reef,
chance. We’ve got the luck of fools. for the old men and women of the
Get to the launch and start it, Man- village were watching him covertly
sey, and I’ll get the girl. By God, and muttering among themselves.
I’d have given Sheba credit for more Mansey remembered they did not
brains than she showed this time, but
want Mullet to escape for fear of the
the gods are wdth us.”
great apes’ wrath. But they would
“Look here, you leave that girl be- probably not interfere with him. He
hind, Mullet.” Mansey’s voice was faced a decisipn of Saving his own life
stern.
and leaving Mullet to a hell he had
“To be killed by the she-ape? made for himself, or risking death in
What d ’you take me for ? Not much the attempt to release Mullet from
I know what’ll happen to every living
horror. The choice was wrenched
human left in this village w'hen Sheba from him when he saw Mullet leap
comes home and finds me gone.
from, the bleaching hut to the ground
There w’on’t be a village. There
with the girl on his shoulder, and
won’t be anything, Mansey, but rub-
Mullet’s free hand clutched a big
bish, blood-soaked earth and bits of
flesh. That girl comes. And there’s navy revolver.
no time to argue. .” .
Mansey saw' the reason for the gun
It w’as the one outstanding fact; at once, and his own small auto-
they must hasten and get away. matics were in his hands. For when
IVIansey turned and ran to the land- they saw their erstwhile white master
ing stage w'here he had been swung running like a deer for the shore,
from the launch yesterday. He there was a piercing scream from the
shortened her painter, dropped in natives left behind the war party,
and whirled the wheel. Then his and they rushed at Mullet and the
girl, determined to hold him on his
heart sank. The engine was dead and
a glance showed him the cunning of perilous throne.
Sheba, for she had unscrewed every Mansey heard the man’s warning
nut and bolt she could find and cry, then the crack of hisgun as he
emptied his spare gasoline. The cans cleared a path, shooting as he ran,
glittered at the bottom of the lagoon crashing through the outthrust arms
when IMansey looked overside. The that would have detained him, leav-
ape had taken time to sink them, sink ing dead and dying in his wake. He
every spare tool and all loose gear had almost gained the w'hite strip of
she could find. She had even thrust coral beach from which the landing
the oars, carried for emergency, into stage jutted over the lagoon water,
the open jaws of tridacnas, which when one courageous old man threw
closed on them. He leaned over, and himself headlong and Mullet tripped
reaching into the w'ater, wrenched on and crashed to earth, the girl flung
one, but not all his strength released from his arms and curled in a heap
it. His efforts broke the blade tip on the coral. In another moment.
and the maimed oar came up in his Mullet was the center of a heaving,
hands. The second one was beyond lunging mass of blacks who tried to
his reach. weight him to earth.
 GRAY GHOULS 33

Mansey, in the launch, heard his flowed. She was beyond pain. But
fists thud on flesh, heard the thud of Mullet was creeping soundlessly, cau-
the gun-butt used as a club, saw tiously on his belly over the coral,
black and white arms threshing like making for the landyig stage.
flails, then with a mighty heave Mul-
let was free. A triumphant yell
burst from his throat and he had
leaped toward the shining head of t^he
M ansey loosed the painter, held
the launch by his clutch of the
nearest post, kept his gun aimed at
girl who lay on the sand as she had the head of Sheba, trying in spite of
fallen, evidently knocked uncon- the red mist over his sight to point
scious. That yell died in Mullet’s for the base of her brain, afraid to
throat and Mansey ’s heart missed a risk a shot lest he should miss and she
beat, then raced painfully. For would be upon them with lightning
from the quivering plumes of trees speed.
dropped a gray ghoul shape, scream- He had time to think how marvel-
ing horribly in rage, and she flung
ously the rapid-fire passing of events
herself at the white man and sent
had shaped for this get-away. With-
him spinning wdth a sweep of her out the sudden arrival of Sheba, the
long arm. It was Sheba
natives would have prevented their
With his brain in a whirl, Mansey escape; and if Mansey had not in-
realized that if he was ever to get sisted on bringing the girl, Sheba’s
away, it was tlie crucial moment. attention would never have been dis-
Yet, loosing the launch painter, he tracted by this opportunity to glut
hesitated. Mullet lay prone on the jealous rage on her rival in the affec-
glistening coral sand, and after a tions of Mullet. The great ape was
glance at him, Sheba had turned to extremely, dreadfully engrossed.
the girl whose shining brush of curls Mansey tried not to see what she did,
turned slightly as if consciousness tried to believe it was a rag doll in
was just returning. One awful scream the hands of a mischievous pet. He
burst from her throat as the hand of was bracing himself with all his will
Sheba encircled her throat, then Man- to override the violent upheaval that
sey saw her bright hair through a swept to his eyes and brain, while
red mist, for he realized what was Mullet crept toward the launch.
going to happen, and saw from his Far off the drum-song was muffled,
eye corners that Mullet had rolled to croon of surf on coral. Be-
like the
his belly on the coral and was tak- yond thereef his Tonga boys waited.
ing aim with his gun. Mansej^’s Another two minutes and Mullet
thoughts darted in wild speculation.
would tumble into the craft. Already
Mullet would shoot Sheba, and he
Mansey had braced the broken oar-
need not aim for the girl unless Mul-
let missed the ape. —
Otherwise he
tip against the planks to shove out.
They must widen the water between
shuddered with horror of what would
themselves and Sheba. Mansey won-
happen in another moment as the
hammer of Mullet’s gun clicked use- dered, in a vague, darting thought, if
lessly, and Sheba, snarling hon-ibly,
orang-outangs could not swim, and
picked uj) the girl as if she were a rag remembered that before this trans-
doll. elementation the human body of
Mansey ’s gun cracked twice. He Sheba was probably adept and strong
felt sick, revolting with nausea, for
in the water.
the girl’s body hung limp in the ape’s Mullet was on the landing stage.
paws, and on her golden skin two Mansey heard the planks creak, but
bright soft ribbons spurted and Sheba seemed to hear nothing but her
34 WEIRD TALES
own animal snarling at the dreadful churned in foam that w-as blood-
task presented her. She was almost streaked. Mullet’s shots had hit the
finished. Her arm swept out and she-ape, but that great body had the
held aloft something pitifiil with long strength and endurance of an el-
bright hair which she played with ephant. Yet in another moment,
and stroked. Then from far out be- Mansey saw that Sheba was badly
yond the reef one of Mansey’s boys wounded, for her lips dripped redly
hailed his master. Mansey’s whole and her eyes showed glassy.
body jerked as if his jierves were Mullet was clasped in one arm and
strings of a puppet snatched by a she tried to swim with the other.
crude hand. Beside the body of Mullet trailed a
“Marster, Marster!” head with bright hair, and Mansey,
Mullet lunged as Sheba was on her helpless to avert further tragedy,
feet. The launch careened crazily sick with the shock of dread, clung to
as he plunged in and Mansey heaved the launch combing, watching Sheba
on the oar, then tried to propel the suddenly cease swimming, and sink
craft from the stern. One wild beneath the lagoon water, with Mullet
screech of baffled rage rang and in her grasp.
echoed between tlie jungle-clad reef- The ripples spread in rings, the
prongs, and swinging the head by its bubbles broke. Through water clear
long hair, Sheba sailed through the as air, Mansey saw the gray ghoul
air, flung herself- from the landing go dow^n, feet first, with the white
stage into the water and swam after man still struggling futilely. Then
the boat. as the hairy gray shape parted sea-
Mullet was yelling and chattering fern fronds until her foot touched
like a madman. His gun was gone a vantage by which she might have
and he had seized Mansey’s auto- shot her body to the surface, there
matics and sent a sharp fusillade at was a further commotion in the sea-
the swimming ape. If Sheba was hit, gardens, a violent upheaval writhing
the lead pellets did not halt her. below, a line of bubbles ascending,
Mansey, sculling frantically at the breaking soundlessly as the souls of
stern,saw her fangs bared, heard her man and she-ape escaped.
snarls, stared in horror as his muscles Mansey stared. He knew. Sheba’s
cracked with the strain of propelling foot had touched the tinted flesh
the tubby launch, at the long, gray, flanges of a giant tridacna and it had
hairy ghoul -which gained on them so closed like a steel trap. Not even in
rapidly that the boat might have been the death agony had she released her
anchored for all headway they seemed embrace of the man whom in human
to make. shape she had loved so fiercely that
A mighty lunge, and Sheba’s paw .she took him wnth her to a transele-
caught the stern, .seized the oar -with mentation far removed from reach of
which he tried to batter her off, and those bunglers who trifle writh the
wrenched it from his grasp. Then doors of life and death.
Mansey threw- himself on the comb-
ing as the ape’s weight almost
sw'amped them. Mullet was scream-
ing, fighting, kicking as the paws
T
launch
he hot sun blazed down on a man
inert, limp as a rag, lying on the
bottom, and presently the
seized him, dragged him from his
clutch of the planks and hauled him, Tonga boys who saw the launch put
out, came to investigate.
still struggling, into the sea.
For a moment there was a wild up- They were some w-eeks towing tlie
heaval, and the clear lagoon water ( Continued on page 144)
“Then came a blinding flash of
light, an odor of burning parch-
ment”

“^^ENTLEMEN, you of the

_ Wanderlust Club are my
friends. Among you are
numbered financial wizards, men of
scientific renowui. Not only because
of your worldly standing, but also
because of our mutual regard, I have years ago I left you to go on a ram-
come to you to obtain assistance in bling tour of the world. In Haiti, that
freeing the world from the grasp of breeding place of wizardry and Black
that monster-octopus, fear!” Magic, I chanced to see a little more
To say that we of the club were than an outsider usually witnesses of
startled is putting it all too mildly. the clutching grasp those necroman-
Travis, the man who had just spoken, cers have upon the fear-bound
had been absent from the country for natives. Perhaps many of you will
more than four years, and now, evi- remember that I have ever been ag-
dently laboring under a terrific nostic concerning spiritualism at any
;

strain, he had returned to startle us. rate, \ipon seeing the damnable hold
Some there were of us, I am afraid, those magi have obtained upon the
who thought our friend was unbal- throats of the ignorant natives, my
anced. But Travis waved us to seat heart was filled with a great pity for
ourselves and calmly called out to the them; and, after many days and
attendant to lock the doors securely. nights of mulling the horror of it over
“My friends,” he began, sweeping in my mind, I came to the determi-
the semicircle of faces about him with nation to throw off the yoke from the
eyes glittering strangely, “several —
necks of the ignorant if possible.
35
36 WEIRD TALES
“Some there are who believe tliat sible? Indeed yes; but rest assured
love — —
or hate is the strongest of that you shall never see them
human emotions yet I think you will
; “A man goes to a mystic; a witch;
agree with me that fear is, beyond a medium. He sees and hears things
cavil, the most soul-stirring emotion which appear to be supernatural. His
of them all. My
life was worth noth- wits are befuddled, there is an inde-
ing to anyone save myself; and I finable fear in his breast, and he
reasoned that if it were possible for imagines more than he sees or hears.
me to learn the secrets of Black Magic He credits to spirits the mystery of
and spiritualism, by broadcasting the revelations which have been made
throughout the w’orld an explanation to him. As for myself, I have seen
of how the seemingly impossible things in my search for the solution
tricks of wizardry were done I might of the riddle of the universe which
remove that fear of the unknown I would not have thought to be pos-
from the hearts of all. sible; yet I have solved the mystery,
“I remember thinking, as I started and tonight I shall show you some
upon my strange quest for knowledge of these things.
of the mysterious, that, if I were to “As children, you witnessed the
accomplish my ends, I must needs magician upon the stage as he pro-
learn to perform the impossible. But, duced rabbits and geese and eggs and
gentlemen, the impossible has never miles upon miles of ribbon from an
been done! It is quite true that we ordinary hat. And you were, indeed,
poor mortals witness some certain witnessing child’s play. The adult
thing which is beyond our compre-
mind, broadened in scope of knowl-
hension, and we dub it magic. I
edge, demands deeper mysteries. To-
might,” he added dryly, “call your
night you shall see them, gathered
attention to Noah Webster’s defini-
from Haiti, Egypt, India, and China.
tion of the word ‘impossible’.”
My reason in thus displaying these
Wliether or not the man were mad, mysteries: before proceeding farther
at least he seemed sure of himself, with my astounding revelations, I
and we of the Wanderlust Club were want each of you to see for himself,
giving him strict attention.. Striding for seeing is believing!”
through our midst, Travis went to the
window and took up a potted plant.
He placed it on the floor at his feet.
“Not with an intention of being
T ravis paused for breath, then pro-
ceeded with his novel and weird
demonstration. Trick after trick,
theatrical, gentlemen, but merely to
things which I would have staked my
show you that I am not taking up life upon as being impossible, start-
your time with a drooling bit of ling, shaking us all to the very foun--
idiocy, I shall show you a few things
dations of our souls!
sometimes performed by magi. For
instance: look carefully upon this
In the tense moments of the de-
plant. It is thoroughly healthy, and
nouement of a rather bewildering bit
its flowers very sweet ...”
of magic, Amos Green sipped- at a
glass of water the attendant had just
Our eyes fell to the thing; and, as
God is mywitness, the plant shriv-
handed him.
eled and died beneath our gaze “I am tremendously sorry,” called
Travis was smiling. “You have Travis, “for the water you are drink-
witnessed the impossible? No, no, ing, Amos, is a virulent poison!”
gentlemen; you have seen this tiling, We were all startled; but Amos,
and therefore it can not have been grinning sheepishly, in a gesture of
impossible! Are there things impos- foolishbravado drained the glass.
 THE IMPOSSIBLE 37

“Great God!” came from the lips which he had left it.. He was swal-
of the onlookers as the limp body of lowing that last sip of water
Amos Green sagged and slipped for- Broome, poor soul, felt his way to
ward on the floor with a soft thud. a chair and sank into it, consterna-
‘
‘
Broome —Broome !
’ ’

upon his features; while

tion written
But Dr. Broome was already kneel- Amos, dazed and uncomprehending,
ing beside the still, prostrate fonn. stared queerly at Travis.
“Dead!” he whispered in an “Once again,” commented the
awed voice. “Travis, you must in- wanderer, “I have proved that the
deed have eaten of the Fruit of the impossible can not be done. Oh, I
Tree of Life and Death Then, his ’
’
realize that it appeared to be such!
voice ringing with fury: “I thought
!

But consider well: Dr. Broome ^to —

at first you were joking that you — whom I now extend my apologies for
might have connived with Green my seeming discourtesy declared —
but the man is a corpse Amos to be dead. The question in
’ ’
!

A shiver, creeping flesh, sudden your minds is: Was he really dead?
chills seized upon me. I wanted to I shall permit you to answer that
rush from the room, felt an impulse question for yourselves; but, accept-
to scream, yet something seemed to ing the doctor’s statement, we shall
hold me fast in my chair and stilled assume that Green was, in fact, with-
the shriek unborn upon my cold lips. out life. I killed him; and then I

“Pardon me. Doctor,” said Travis. brought him back to life. He now
lives, none the worse for his brief so-
“Please make no mistake; you have
body for signs of life?” journ in that outer world about
tested the
which we mortals know nothing.
Broome drew himself up. “I think But the point I wish to stress is this
that there can be no reflection upon
assuming that I did kill him, and as-
my professional conduct, sir! Would
suming that' I did bring him to life
that I were mistaken! I have ap-
again, then, as you have seen this
plied every knowm means of ascer-
with your own eyes it can not have
taining life and it is an unquestion-
been an impossibility! There is no
able fact that the man is dead, a
such thing as doing the impossible!”
corpse. Tliere is no respiration; no
“Yon lie!” came a strange, small
action of the heart, lungs, or other
” voice from behind the semicircle of
organs. The man is dead !
chaiis about Travis.
‘ ‘
Please do not think that I wish to
discredit you. Doctor. But will you
stake your professional I’eputation
—
WHIRLED and saw a small,
^ ^ slender, withered, ancient-look-
upon your statement that Amos ing old Chinaman. How he had got-
Green is without life?” ten entrance to the room God alone
Unhesitatingly came Broome’s an- knows, for the doors had been locked
‘ ’ ’
swer Absolutely
:
‘
! and members of the club had been
Our attention had been centered seated in each of the large windows
upon Travis and the doctor. The which looked out upon the teeming
former pointed out, “Then may I streets below. No man had seen the
call your attention to the presumed Chinaman enter!
corjise ?
’ ’
“And I repeat,” the ancient spoke
We turned —to see Amos Green in again, “that you lie! The impossible
the act of rising to his feet ;
the —
has been done and shall be done
muscles of his throat were contract- again ’! ’

ing as though he were but taking up Senses whirling, uncomprehending,

the thread of life at the very point at I turned back to face Travis; and
38 WEIRD TALES
surely if ever one man saw another that spirits help or restrain us, for
undergo a living hell, then I wit- we are free agents.
nessed all the torture of devilish in- '‘Four years ago, I commenced a
genuity being concentrated upon the world-wide search for knowledge of
soul of the man 1 knew as Travis. — —
Black Magic supernaturalism spir-
There is a legend that, his soul hav- itualism— call it .what you will. I
ing been so great, Lincoln’s body started with the assumption that,
shrank in dimension upon that soul’s wdiile there is such a tiling as the im-
departure; and now, before my very possible, it had never been done. And,
eyes, I saw the body of my friend gentlemen, I have proved my case.
shrink, and I knew that his soul had "Call back your Bible-study days;
left him, that it had gone out into recall the days of Moses picture him
;

the ether to combat that of the China- among the priests of Egypt, before
man. Here in this room a tremen- Pharaoh. Moses sent plagues upon,
dous battle of will-power was raging. —
the Egyiitians and the magicians
saw great beads of sweet break
I duplicated his miracles! Now if, as
out on Travis’ forehead. His eyes the Bible states— andI believe it to
were wide, staring then, with a little
;
—
be true God lent power to Moses to
jerking of his flesh, he was himself perform these miracles, then who lent
again. power to the necromancers of Egypt?
''You are too much for me, I ad- There, gentlemen, is a question! My
mit,” he smiled.. —
answer and the only logical re-
The Chinaman seemed to pity him. —
joinder, so it seems to me is that
‘
Think you that the pupil may teach
'
the priests of Egypt used trickery.
the master?” he asked quietly. "I have shown you who are
Instantly I knew that it had been gathered here some few things which
from this wrinkled old Chinaman you could not understand, things
that Travis had learned a great part which bewildered you, frightened
of what he knew of magic. But why you, and yet I have devoted but four
had the Chinaman followed him so years to the study of magic. You,
mysteriously into these rooms? Had men of scientific renown, men of
my friend ? IMy thoughts were hard-headed business acumen, have
i*unning wild. knowni fear this night. Consider what
"I might choose no better time groveling fear you might have felt
than this to explain the situation,” had you been of the masses, or of less-
Travis was saying calmly. "Per- er intelligence! Suppose I had been
haps some of you gentlemen have born among magi, suckled and nour-
been wondering just what my object ished in an atmosphere of intrigue
was in displaying the magic I have and mysticism; do you doubt that
learned. If you will be patient a mo- I might now perform even more
ment, I shall satisfy your curiosity. wondrous deeds?
"You, my friends, and myriad "And yet they would all have been
hosts of human beings in every coun- deeds of trickery! Of these things
try and clime, have been, and, but which you have 'seen, and of their
for me, always would be subject, to explanations, I shall speak further at
the age-old superstition that spirits a later time, for I see that my es-
communicate with the living and that teemed visitoris becoming uneasy.
with the aid and assistance of these "Some small satisfaction I shall
spirits, certain persons are able to permit him by publicly admitting
accomplish supernatural acts. As for that I am a thief.” Calmly, as a
myself, I believe in God, and there ripple of disbelief swept over us,
my
belief ceases. I do not believe Travis thrust his hand into an inner
 THE IMPOSSIBLE 39

pocket of his coat and withdrew a part of a great whole. Knowing com-
small, stained, tattered, ancient-ap- paratively little, he has but little to
pearing book. “I have here a chron- impart to his son or successor. So
icle —
of but wait. I must begin at great are the secrets combined tliat
the beginning. no man could ever hope to master
“It is well known that the magi- one tenth part of tliem; and so, per-
cians and priests of tlie various East- force, they must be written. This
ern cults have kept knowledge of
—
book” ^holding aloft the stained and
—
magic alive by handing tliat wisdom tattered parchment “holds within
down from father to son. You might its covers the answer to every mys-

torture or kiU, but the' priests died tery of the universe! I stole it from
with their secrets of necromancy this Chinaman —for all humanity I
locked in their breasts. Only to their beqame a thief.
sons or successors would they impart “And now you know why have I
their learning. And down through come to you with these astounding
the ages, the peoples of the earth revelations now you comprehend
;

have been as dust beneath the feet of why I have performed these acts of
the sorcerers, bound to them by a magic tonight. I loiow that I have
chain of fear hitherto unbreakable. convinced you that I am telling the
It is my purpose to break that chain! truth and, together, we shall bend
;

“And now, a moment of my his- every effort, lend every aid to broad-
tory for the four years just past. A cast to the world these logical and
few months here, several there, ap- simple explanations of hitherto in-
plying myself diligently and with explicable mysteries of the super-
the aid of unlimited fuiids judicious- natural. And when we shall have
ly spent, I passed from one sorcerer informed the world of the insidious
to another, learning what each had evil of the magi, then we shall have
to impart. No need for me to go into removed for all time the clutching,
intricate details —
time forbids. Let clawing grasp of fear from the hearts
of those who know no better than to
it suJBfiee that at last, a year ago, I had
’ ’

seemingly reached my goal. I could give credence to the supernatural !

duplicate all the bags of tricks dis-

played by magicians of Eg^^pt, India,
China. And yet I knew that some- E xhausted by the
fierce pas.sion,
force
Travis smiled
of his
tri-
where there must be a source of umphantly at the Chinaman. “This
knowledge. I think that it cost me a sorcerer’s presence, sirs, can mean
part of my soul, but I found that but one thing. He has ti-ailed me,
source over thousands of miles, intent upon
“This man”—pointing regaining possession of this book foi’
id old Chinaman —“lived toin the stol-
a hovel
exposure of its contents will wreak
;

near a temple far from the haunts of incalculable ruin to the carefully
man. How I found him, God alone nurtiired, age-old belief. WeU”
knows. But I did find him, and, by smiling hito the Chinaman’s eyes
throwing myself whole-heartedly into “he shall not have it!”
a living lie, I caused him to believe The Chinaman made no remon-
me a sincere and devout mem- still and silent
strance; he remained
ber of his cult. And this little, as a carven statue.
wrinkled old man held in the hollow Travis thrust out the book, so that
of hishand all the secrets of eternity the Chinaman’s eyes might fall upon
‘
Remember, please, that the knowl-
‘
it. “Permit me to point out to you,”
edge possessed by the ordinary magi- he said, “that while I did not suc-
cian or priest is but a very small ceed in overpowering your will, a
40 WEIRD TALES
few minutes past, yet at the same contents of tliis record, for any at-
time you found to your sorrow that tempt to decipher it would result in
you could not conquer my own. failure. But what this master ne-
Checkmate! Physically you arc un- cromancer has forgotten is that when
able to overcome me; and you know these writings were put on parch-
quite well that, sorcerer thougli you ment by the guiding genius of Black
are, I can thwart your magic with Magic, it was merely thought trans-
other magic equally as powerful. ferred to paper and that thought is
Therefore, I shall keep the book.” ever the same, changeless. I have
Now, for thefirst time, the China- but to concentrate, and this ancient
man moved. There was something thought instantly becomes intelli-
”
sinisterabout his sinuous, gliding mo- gible
tion, and I felt a premonition of im- A wailing shriek broke from the
pending evil, terror, horror lips of the Chinaman shrill, terrify-
;

The Chinaman halted, spoke swift- ing in its intensity. His face blazed
ly. “One thing you forget; you have with the demoniacal fury of a man
not yet mastered all the secrets you
are a fool! I
—
know a thousandfold
gone mad with rage and hatred. Too
late, he realized that Travis could, in-
more than you. Can you hope to re- deed, solve all that which he would
sist the accumulated knowledge of have given his life to conceal.
eons of time?”
I perceived a sardonic twitching at
Travis’ mouth.
‘
‘
—you should
I read j^our thoughts
W HY we of the Wanderlust Club
did not interfere none of us
was ever able to ascertain, after-
have guarded them more carefully.” ward; it was as if we were chained
This was Travis’ answer to the to our chairs by an irresistible force.
Chinaman. “You are thinking that Travis and the Chinaman were
this book is written in the very oldest almost face to face their eyes burned
;

form of written language, and that queerly as will-power met will-power

you alone possess the key whereby the in mortal, terrific struggle. How long
writings become legible and in- they stood thus I do not know; it
telligible. But you are wrong in seemed years, yet it could have been
your assumption.” Travis’ voice at most only a few minutes.
rang shrilly in my ears as he turned They say that a Chinaman’s fea-
from the Chinaman to us who were
tures do not betray his inner emo-
his friends. “You may
not believe
tions; still, I fancied that I saw a
me when I tell you this thing; but
trace of chagrin, of disappointment,
that man does not understand one
on the face of this little, wrinkled,
word of English, and he has been
dried-up old Chinaman. For a mo-
speaking in the purest of the Mongo-
lian dialects.Yet you and I have ment he was baffled—even I knew
understood him perfectly, and he has that. And then I saw him concen-
understood every word I have ut- trating upon the book in Travis’
tered. The explanation is merely hand.
telepathy. IWhenspeak, the The atmosphere of the room be-
thought-wave impelled from my
is came super-charged with a crackling,
brain in perfect synchronization with rending power one could almost hear!
the spoken word, and it is the thought Then came a blinding flash of light;
which he has understood likewise
;
an odor of burning parchment.
our comprehension of his speech. In the very hands of Travis, the
Now, it is true that, as an ordinary books of secrets had burst into a dev-
man, I might never hope to read the astating flame!
 THE IMPOSSIBLE 41

“You devil from hell!” screamed reached the person of the man who
Travis. “That secret — lost to the was my friend, and I saw a glittering
world since the day of the priests of flash of gleaming metal.
Baal and the Prophet God sent de-
! Travis crumpled. His body bent
vouring fire upon the water-soaked in the middle, sagging then he;

altar and the priests of Baal could crashed to the floor.

not duplicate the feat because the “A little knowledge is a dangerous
only one of their number who knew thing,” murmured the Chinaman,
the secret of devouring fire had van- quite distinctly. A
queer glint of a
ished. Lost throughout the ages peculiarly greenish tint showed in
and it now appears at the command his eyes. Then slowly, slowly, his
of this necromancer!” lids drooped lower and lower. As
The Chinaman flicked a skinny, his eyes were masked by those lower-
clawlike hand in the direction of the ing lids, he toppled as might a tower
ashes upon the floor. “I told you undermined at its base, and fell to
there were secrets which you did not the floor beside the body of Travis.
know,” he commented softly. “And The spell was broken; for the first
there are yet other mysteries
” time in an hour I moved. Travis
Travis whipped out an iigly, squat- was in my arms, his life-blood stain-
looking automatic. “You have pre- ing my garments, while all about me
vented me from publishing that rec- I heard horrified cries.
ord of deviltry,” he said, “yet I can Stark terror depicted upon their
not permit you to return to your faces, they backed away from those
temple and continue the breeding of still Ijodies; all but Dr. Broome, who
evil to visit upon the ignorant and was now crouched beside me.
ill-advised. As you have destroyed I, too, arose and backed away. We
that which would have liberated the waited an eternity.
world from fear, so I shall destroy As Broome turned, there was an
you.” awed hush.
There was a cold finality in his “Travis —
and that other both —
voice; and scarce had the words left dead !Travis had learned too much,
his lips than he fired. The shot re- and he has paid the penalty. For,
verberated through the room. Came alone, he could not overthrow that
the fumes of burned powder, acrid. which had existed since first the
But the Chinaman was still standing, world began.
unmoved. “Gentlemen, tonight we have seen
An exl)ression of incredulity the Chinaman kill our friend after
touched Travis’ face. I could see the three bullets had struck him. Travis
puzzled, dazed, uncomprehending did not miss, for, in a space which
look in his eyes, for at that distance might be covered by a half-dollar
he could not have missed. He coin, three bullets smashed their way
squeezed the stock of the automatic into the Chinaman’s heart.
—
yet again and again. “Therefore, when he took that last
Almost together those two last step fonvard and killed Travis, the
shots; almost as one, so rapidly were Chinaman was already a dead man.”
they fired. His voice trailed away into a whis-
And the Chinaman had not moved per: “We have witnessed the accom-
—until now. With one swift step he plishment of the impossible!”
 ARCH 3rd, 19 — : Perhaps disease. Nor is the tightness of my
my am but forty-two,
M-.somebodyam
story. I
will believe
a plain man not
muscles age.
though I look
I
sixty.
given to imagination; surely not to I must tell this story before
lying. You have seen me, no doubt. well, I will be frank in these written
When you came front at the Durand —
words before I pass away. For I
Theater you saw me. I was the last can not live long. My nights of toss-
orchestra member to come out of the ing tell me this. My weird hours of
—
“hole” the one at the far left. pain and nausea tell me. I am fad-
You thought me a hunchback, per- — —
ing fading fading. I will tell it all,
haps. But I am not. Myfingers and maybe you, who later read, will
are knotted a bit and I have become believe my story. God, somebody
a little bowed by constant playing of micst believe me!
the bass viol. My eyes are not what It is the story of the Unchained
they once were. My arms have lost Devil.
their muscular freedom. I am nerv- Twenty-two years ago I was a
ous. I know because of this I
;
pupil of the violin in Munich. Had
shrink from the sight of the front we possessed great wealth I would
rows at the Durand. Sometimes I have been there as a lad of ten, for
twitch more than others. It is not a our neighbors said that my fingers
42
 THE UNCHAINED DEVIL 43

were those of a genius. At twelve I and write downa few German

played better than our first-violin words. He was the only one, how-
now at the Durand. We did not ever, among us four who knew Eng-
know then that Grandfather Printz lish, and he spoke it as a scholar. I
owned the dye-works at Berlin. Nor learned later from Mother that he
•
did we know that he had standing —
had been years before ^in diplo- —
with the German royalty. Nor did matic service and in his early man-
—
we know that but I am going too hood an instructor in the university
fast. at Gottingen.
When Munich I was
I finished at Perhaps it was hia great joy, per-
a concert violinist. But my time haps it was the strain of early
had come for the Prussian army. I army life. Before Father could get
rebelled. My mother rebelled and a hearing with American manufac-
wept because my art would be turers he died. Grandfather took
crushed by three years of army serv- Mother and me to a little town north
ice. One day we learned our fate of Boston. It was then we knew of
more certainly. Father came in with his wealth. Much to our surprize,
a face afiame. A ruling of the he purchased a beautiful, though
throne was about to snatch from him small, estate near the Atlantic. On
his toy-inventions. He had been the newly-bought grounds was a
years perfecting them. He cursed grove of hardy trees. In the heart
the ruling powers and said we were of the grove he had his coffin-box
to fiee to America. —
opened for the first time ^though the
Itwould take thousands of words custom-house officers had taken off a
to tell all of our flight. I was about slat or two
to estimate the duty. It
to be free in America. I had had revealed a carefully-crated statue of
distant relatives to return with their Baron von Bismarck.
stories of America and her spirit of Grandfather was radiant as his
freedom and her great concert-halls workmen placed it.
and orchestras and her chances for “This, Franz,” he said to me,
being somebody and getting some-
where. Father sat half-hidden
“this is to be our inspiration yours
and mine. This is the likeness of
—
among packs of emigrant belongings the world’s greatest spirit, the em-
and whispered his dreams of toy bodiment of all that is power and
production when he should reach energy and courage and craftsman-
Boston. Mother stroked my fingers ship and ambition. Here is our idol,
and told of her dreams of me as I the Iron Chancellor. Sit here with
stood before great masses of the rich him in the grove until you catch the
who sat in decorated boxes. And mystery of his being. Ponder on the
together we laughed and cried grass by the side of this marble be-
sometimes hours at a time. ing until you catch his ambition.
—
Never with us always alone sat — We have oTir work to do —you and
Grandfather Printz. He sat silent I. Remember, Fi-anz!”
for the ten days we were on ship- Grandfather doled out his money
board. And to add to the mystery solemnly, almost stubbornly., Mother
of his silence he leaned against what wished to seek work until I should
appeared to be a wooden coffin-box. come into my own, but he would not
It was the only possession he had hear to it. I found him once ten
brought, and when it had been days after we had become estab-
loaded by four burly deck-hands he lished. I had been sent by Mother
had refused all information as to its to Boston and had chosen to see the
contents. Now and then he would harbor rather than spend my vacant
take a small book from his pocket time in some place of amusement. I
44 WEIRD TALES
came upon Grandfather. He was 1 had been telling Mother of my ef-
silently and with rare art charting forts at mastering English at the
the harbor. His surprize at seeing Consei’vatory. Later I had gone to
me was not as great as his apparent my oAvn room and was looking about
uneasiness. He ordered me away. on the photographic prints some of —
But secretly I found his notations Munich, many more of America.
later. In German Avords he had writ- Suddenly I saw Grandfather Printz.
ten upon each sheet in small char- .No form at the Judgment Throne
acters, “For the Fatherland.” will ever be more real. He appeared
wonder today, if Grandfather
I to be touched with some great zeal,
Printz had lived, if the fate of some big enthusiasm. His words
France and Belgium would not have Avere as clear as his living voice
been America’s! But he aged rap- only not as loud. “Have you for-
idly after leaving Munich and he left gotten, Franz, our inspiration
us suddenly. According to his pa- yours and mine ? Ponder on the
pers we shipped his remains back to grass by the side of this marble be-
—
Munich the ashes of cremation as ing until you catch his ambition. We
he had directed. The papers and —
have our Avork to do you and I.
charts he wished returned to Berlin Remember, Franz!”
vve did not send. Mother seemed to By nature I am obedient. Even
divine that he had, in his loyalty to —
then in my early twenties I still —
the old, been unfaithful to the new. asked permission of my Mother for
His funds (I do not think we ever almost anything I Avished to do. She
found all of them), Mother directed had often smiled and told me I was
into a finishing course for me at Bos- a man. But the habit was strong
ton Conservatory and my initial ca- upon me. Noav when Grandfather
reer. looked straight at me with unusual
animation, I never questioned the
T WILL rush by two years of study idea that I had an hallucination. I
A at Boston. My chance finally saAV Grandfather —actual, real. His
came. was
to be soloist with a
I Avords Avent into the depths of me.
great orchestra. Mother told me I quickly obeyed. Any other course
that afteinvard managers would" flock Avas out of the question. Without
to me and the critics would herald thinking of Mother, I almost ran
me. In anticipation of the triumph I from the room. I do not recall see-
went to rest for a month or more ing the buildings in the outer barn-
back at the little estate which lot. I do not remember Avhether I
Grandfather had bought. leapt the fence or opened the gate-
Perhaps I had been there four Avay. But ten minutes later I was
— —
days at least four when a strange in the heart of the grove, prostrate
—
upon the grass and I Avas looking
sensation came over me. I am about
to be absolutely honest. I do not stedfastly upon the marble statue.
understand the spirit Avorld. I have Nor Avill I try to imagine how long
never studied the unseen forces of I was there. The sun must have
Nature and Mind. I am by trade a ereiJt below the hill. For I saw the
—
mu.sieian a violinist. I merely am - image in the moonlight. It was as
writing those sensations which I distinct as a fine portrait.
felt. do not know that I heard
I My story is honest. I do not know
actual voices. I do not know whether how long I was there I do not
;

or not actual sound-waves wmre pro- even know why I did not hunger.
duced. I can only tell what I actual- Crouched there, I looked upon the
lij heard. face of my Grandfather’s idol the —
It was late on a Fi-iday afternoon. embodiment of a giant ambition. I
 THE UNCHAINED DEVIL 45

do not recall being numb, though I and your art shall become wonderful
do not believe I changed my position —
and terrible and your name shall be
for at least three hours. glorious. Loose me Loose me lam ! !

All of a sudden that finely chiseled bound, who should be free. Loose
face changed. I believe the sky had me and into your fingers shall flow
become overcast, for it was necessary my power— ^into your soul shall then
to look more intently to see the dif- come the rivers of ambition that
ferent features of the face. The face none shall stem. I am the lord of
of von Bismarck faded out into an power! I am the king of all yet
intense blackness. I would judge to be!”
that it remained so perhaps for As quickly as the words were
three or fqur minutes of time. The spoken the direful visage faded out
mystery held me closely and I stood and I found my eyes looking once
to my feet and came a bit closer. more upon von Bismarck. I fell to
One by one the features took on a the ground as in a great swoon.
most gruesome, hideous likeness. When I awoke, Mother was weeping
The nose became more pointed and over me. She said they had not
slender than Grandfather’s idol’s; found me until dawn.
the whole contour was longer and
thinner and sterner, if anything. Be- 71^ ARCH 6th: The pain of the
fore my gaze there came into being writing stayed my stiff fingers
a face of some terrible and mighty from their task. You who read will
force or personality or being call — never know the labor of my record.
it anything you will. To me it was But I will go on today after my rest.
nothing short of the face of Satan. You must know. You must judge.
Not differing from the pictured like- When I was strong again I went
nesses, it shone almost as a dull-red back to the statue. This time with
sun against a stormy sky. There a strange fear that hung upon me
was no recognition. No smile ^in- — like a cloak. But I saw nothing,
deed, there appeared to be nothing hfeither did I hear a word.
personal. Today I met an American girl.
Yet I heard a voice. Before God’s She near by and seems to be an
lives
throne, I would still declare I heard artist. Yes, she told me a sculptress. —
a voice! She interested me. But I am not for
The words came slowly and yet women. I have my art.
with a terrible power that seemed She told me to call her Minna.
to make them burn their way into She is frail and unlike my old-coun-
my consciousness. The words sank tiy women friends.
so deep that I could scarcely breathe. She asked all about my .story. I
I know was absolutely motionless.
I —
did not tell her she is young and
I felt the sensation of an all-engulf- beautiful and she might well, a —
—
ing power of deity call it what you woman can change one’s ambition.
wish. The voice was harsh and as I may see her again after my
if strained in the production. Like debut.
brands each word burned its way Her eyes were large and wistful
into memory. —
and she am I an egotist to think
“Today,” said thevoice, “is the she is drawn to me ?
night of toll. All things have their Bah, with the entire sex!
price. You have bound me for years. The night before I should go to
You have shackled me and trodden New York for the debut I saw
—
me down. Loose me! loose me or Grandfather. This was the last time
you shall die! Loose me and your I ever saw his image. He repeated
dream shall come true! Loose me only a phrase and went from view
46 WEIED TALES
into the darkness of my sleeping snatches of folk-song, too; and to
room. But the phrase branded me cap the evening’s mirth, I told the
with a swift purpose. He said: party that on the morrow I would
“This is to be our inspiration ...” —
play like this, and oh God, I tell the
I walked slowly this time out into
truth !
—
I actually transfixed them,

the grove. My mood was unlike any-

my mother most of all. At the close of
thing I had known. A strange re-
the rhapsody I had chosen, my
ceptivity possessed me completely.
mother held me for minutes to her
breast and every woman in the
I felt as one being led into an un-
known land by an untried pathway. party kissed me with the silly senti-
The spell mentality of the French.
I had not long to wait.
did not hold by mysteiy as on the Minna was among them.
tirst occasion. I looked about me, I I think she had asked Mother if
even walked about the statue and she might not hear me sometime.
watched the sun go down behind the The wistfulness of her eyes I am
!

liill. I felt oddly unafraid. twice her age at least. Why do I

With the darkness the terrible even think of her a moment? We
face crept slowly into view and I no are unlike. She asked me for a mo-
longer viewed my grandparent’s idol ment in the far corner away from
but the being of Satanic likeness and the others. She showed me rough
power. sketches of her sculpture. She, too,
“You will loose mo, my musician! has a gift.
You have accepted my terms. You But she has no ambition. She will
will pay the toll . And yours is to
. . not go far. She managed to reply
be the power and glory and kingdom to my question about her career by
forever and ever and ever.” blushing and saying a home must be
The voice faded and with it the more remarkable than all the careers
terrible face. I turned about with in the world.
deliberate purpose and walked She is. weakly sentimental that
slowly back to my mother, whom I way.
found with friends on the veranda.
T was not shaken. Nor, to be honest, ARCH 20th: What surrender
had I known that I had reached any I ever made will always be a
decisions or made any surrender. I mystery to mo. I can not name an
do know that a very queer sense of hour when I ever said to imp or god
relief possessed me utterly. I amused that I would do thus or so. But
my mother’s friends with some heart decisions are unlike mind deci-
stories of Conservatory life. I found sions. The mind may speak one
myself laughing with a strange in- thing and the heart be acting along
toxication. Mother even felt my lines quite contrary. The heart in
cheeks, fearing a fever had come its decision is still the heart is
;

with the approach of my great night. never loud, never boastful; but it
T brought out Grandfather’s ancient —
wins over the mind will or nil.
tankard and, as we were all of one I went to my debut with no con-
blood, we drank rather heartily of cern. In fact my calm puzzled my
the beer and ate with enthusiasm of friends and made my mother sorrow-
the German cakes which Mother al- ful. She had never known an artist
ways baked with such fine skill. I to feel such an abandon, such buoy-
am not by nature a wit; in fact I —
ancy such utter lack of concern.
have always taken myself too seri- (My fingers ache with their task. I
ously. Yet on that strange night will finish another day.)
—
that eVe of victory I became a pun- April 271(1: I could not go on. For
ster of the worst sort. T sang lilting days I have been in physical misery.
 THE UNCHAINED DEVIL 47

I can hardly play the bass viol at tentions. dragged me away

She
the Durand. I am aging. I am old agaiiLst every protest. Leaning upon
and —at
stiff forty-two! her frail shoulder I came to a park.
But the story. I dare not delay it. Tlie girl confessed her love for
Perhaps I can never finish it, if I me. But I can have none of it. I
neglect my chance. —
have a work if they will only let
With nimble fingers, I wish to tell me—»and they will let me —whatever
you of that great evening. But gods there be!
cramped fingers can not write with Days later, when I crept back, the
rapidity, and besides, you all have criticsfound me and the managers
—
read ah, you have read of Franz crowded upon me. For genius is
Printz readily forgiven its dissipations. But
I was everything that night! Lis- when I found my violin it had been
ten, for I am not a boasting, lying smashed. I recall vaguely that I hit
man. In the name of the Blessed a stage-hand who stood in my way
Virgin, I am even thought modest. after my last great number. And
But it is God’s truth I was every- — vdth managers pleading for my
thing. I was Passion ranning wdtli booking time, I discovered that I
wild abandon down flowering gar- had ti’uly paid a price dearer than
den-paths to find Youth eager and my goal. My fingers were worked,
unafraid in the secret of alluring not by nimble and trained, but by
caves. I was Power with my hand surely knotted muscles. My whole
on the river, the mill, the dynamo, being was actually warped. I could
and the forge. I was Love leading not stand straight. I seemed muscle-
to a million sacrifices. I was fiend- bound and every atom of vital power
ish, wooing, haunting, and Sir Gala- seemed to have left me helpless. —
had on holy quests. I was man in Mother and the managers spared no
his striving. God with forgiving, expense. I was rubbed and mas-
Satan with his subtle mockeries. saged I was bathed in every known
;

Yes, they covered me wutli flowers mineral water. But to no avail.

and they shrieked their voices hoarse I paid mj' toll.
because their hands could not show And later with difficulty I man-
me their homage. I was mobbed, aged to hold the stubby bow and for
kissed and applauded until years I have been at the Durand
When it was, I do not know. I —
with a bass viol the purchase of the
was heavy with drinking and only last money given me by a broken-
awake enough from to time to time hearted mother. The estate went, the
to feel bare-breasted women leaning friends, all save Minna, forsook me;
about me. It had been a mad car- God turned away from me.
nival of the low and beast in me. Even the Unchained Devil never
Mother told me later that I left the visited me again.
stage with critics begging for photo- But Minna came. She came night
graphs and intendews. But, so she after night to share with me the
told, I broke away in a delirium of scant luxury of a walk to my home
joy and said that / otved a man some- or the jars of a surface-car.
thing and that I must first pay him! She bathes my fingers.
It was Minna who found me. How Last night she told me that maybe
strange are the ways of good women I could come to see her work. It is
She searched for me until she found an exhibit or something. But I will
me. She took her own reputation never go. I will not ruin her stand-
into her own hands. She fell down ing, whatever it has grown to be. I
by my side with painted women am an outcast, a failure ! I could
. . .

showering me with their hectic at- cry from the pain of humiliation
48 WEIRD TALES
until the stars shriek back at me in face is changing into the likeness of
mockery. Satan! And the lips are moving
Love has welled up in my hard moving as they did so long ago. Yes,
heart. I love the girl in return it is the same voice and I hear the
but I am man enough never to let same words.
—
her know. She is gaitle ^like the “Loose me!
”
Loose me and I
whisper of new spring in Central wiU
Park. She must have some wealth. Oh, I wiU, I win, I wni! I wUl
I do not understand it. But I will loose you and I shaH play in the
be fair to her. I will give her no Symphony with the first violins! I
wreck. shaU . . .

April 15th: I must add this. Some May 15th: It was Minna’s hand
unseen power compels me. I have that stopt me at the writing. It
just gotten word from the manager was the warm heart of a wonder-
of the Durand to whom in a moment woman who took me away.
of terrible despair I showed these “I have something to show you.
slowly-penned pages of my life. He My Own!” she explained.
says that I must be treated yet Then she took me back to the
again. That new invention and dis- garden. Her own funds had pur-
covery will play upon my tightened, chased it aU back for me.
stiffened muscles and I yet wiU play. Then I looked on the miracle that
He has loaned me a violin and I am is Love. And, Oh you who read my
trying daily to play. honest story, don't forget, as I did,
April 20th: The Symphony Or- that Love is more than aU Art or
chestra needs a first-violin. My con- Genius or Power.
ductor at the Durand has recom- This was the miracle. She had
mended me. with skilled fingers changed the
—
statue of Bismarck ^von Bismarck
11^ AY 1st: It is evening. I have —
the chancellor into a being scarce a
surrendered the bass viol at —
fourth the size and it was the like-
the Durand and daily they are rub- ness of a little child!
bing my muscles. I have come to “And,” she went on, “this is to
the old estate bought by Grand- be our new inspiration until ^until —
father. It will be sunset soon. I the time comes, if it ever comes,
am here pondering on the grass by that God shall give to us a living
the side of a marble statue. Some- —
child sent from His glory-throne to
thing has lured, something has lead us aright.”
called me. I do not know what; I Daily she has massaged my fingers
do not care. Only I am here to watch with more than skill.
—
and listen and obey. Today I took a bow into my
It is so near the dusk that I can bands.
hardly see to write ... Oh God, the I can play! —I can play a violin!
“As he shouted he hurled the tiny
through the vapor-
pellet point-blank
ous body of the specter."

ORT d’tin chat! I do not “Of course there arc,” I conceded

” J ules de Gran-
like this ! soothingly,
‘
‘
one suicide is that much
din slammed the evening too many; people have no right
paper down upon the table and to
”
glared ferociously at me through the “Ah bah!” he cut in. “You do
library lamplight. misapprehend me, vieux. Ex-
“What’s up now?” I asked, won- cuse me one moment, if you please.”
dering vaguely what the cause of his He rose hurriedly from his chair and
latest grievance was. “Some reporter left the room. A moment later I
say something personal about jmu?” heard him rummaging about in the
“Parhleu, non, he would better cellar.
not!” the little Frenchman replied, In a few minutes he returned, the
his round blue eyes flashing ominous- week’s supply of discarded newspa-
ly. “Me, I would pull his nose and pers salvaged from the dust bin in
tweak his ears. But it is not of the his arms.
reporter’s insolence I speak, my “Now, attend me,” he ordered as
friend; I do not like these suicides; he spread the sheets out before him
there are too many of them.” and began scanning the columns
W. T.— 49
50 WEIRD TALES
hastily. “Here is an item from Mon- startled to see a dark form hurtle past

day’s Journal:
her window. A moment later a second
body flashed past on its downward flight,
Two Motorists Die While Driving Cars and as Miss Walsh, horrified, rushed toward
the window, a loud crash sounded outside.
The impulse to end their lives apparently Looking out. Miss Walsh saw the body of a
attacked two autoriiobile drivers on the Al- third woman partly impaled on the spikes
bemarle turnpike near Lonesome Swamp, of a balcony rail.
two miles out of llarrisonville, last night. Miss Walsh sought to aid the woman.
Carl Planz, thirty-one years old, of Mai-tins As slie leaned from her window and
Falls, took his own life by shooting him.self reached out with a trembling arm she
in the head with a shotgun while seated in was greeted by a scream: “Don’t try! I
his automobile, which he had parked at the won’t be saved; I must go with Mother and
roadside where the pike passes nearest the Sister!” A moment later the woman had
swamp. His remains n ere identified by two managed to free herself from the restrain-
letters,one addressed to his wife, the other ing iron spikes and fell to the cement area-
to his father, Joseph Planz, with whom he way four floors below.
was associated in the real estate business
at Martins Falls. A check for three him- “And here is still another account,
dred dollars and several other papers found this one from tonight’s paper,” he
in his pockets completed identification.
The letters, which mei-ely declared his in- continued, unfolding the sheet which
tention to kill himself, failed to establish had caused his original protest
any motive for the act.
High School Co-ed Takes Life in Attic
Almost at the same time, and within a
hundred yards of the spot where Planz’s The family and friends of Edna May
body was found by State Trooper Henry McCarty, fifteen-year-old co-ed of Harrison-
Ander.son this morning, the bftdv of Henry ville High School, are at a loss to assign
William Nixon, of New Rochelle, N. Y., a cause for her suicide early this morning.
was discovered partly sitting, partly ly- The girl had no love affairs, as far as is
ing on the rear seat of his automobile, known, and had not failed in her examina-
an empty bottle of windshield cleaner lying tions. On the contrary, she had passed
on the floor beside him. It is thought this the school’s latest test with flying colors.
liquid, which contained a small amount of Her mother told investigating police offi-
cyanide of potassium, was used to inflict cials that overstudy might have temporarily
death. Police Surgeon Stevens, who ex-, unbalanced the child’s mind. Miss Mc-
amined both bodies, declared that the men Carty’s body was found suspended from
had been dead approximately the same the rafters of her father’s attic by her
length of time when brought to the station mother this morning when the young
house. woman did not respond to a call for break-
fast and could not be found in her room
“What think you of that, my on the second floor of the house. A clothes-
friend, lieinf” de Grandin demanded, line, used to hang clothes which were dried
inside the house in rainy weather, was used
looking tip from tlie ])aper with one
to form the fatal noose.
of his direct, challongiug stares.
“WTiy —er ’’
I began, but he
“XJow then, my friend,” de Gran-
interrupted.
din reseated himself and light-
“Hear he commanded, tak-
this,’’
ed a vile-smelling French cigarette,
ing up a second paper, “this is from
puffing furiously, till the smoke sur-
the News of Tuesday:
rounded his sleek, blond head like a
Mother and Daughters Die in Death Pact mephitic nimbus, “what have you to
Police .and heai'tbroken relatives are to- say to those reports ? Am I not right ?
day trying to trace a motive for the triple Are there not too many mordie\i,
suicide of Mrs. Ruby Westerfelt and her
daughters, Joan and Elizabeth, who per-
entirelv too manv! —^suicides in our
ished by leaping from the eightli floor of
city?”
the Hotel Dolores, Newark, late yesterday “All of them weren’t committed
afternoon. The women registered at tlie here,” I objected practically, “and
hotel under assumed names, went immedi-
besides, there couldn’t very well be
ately to the room assigned them, and ten
minutes Liter Miss Gladys Walsh, who oc- any connection between them. Mrs.
cupied a room on the fourth floor, was Westerfelt and her daughters carried
 THE CURSE OP EVERARD MAUNDY 61

out a suicide pact, it appears, but “Another thing: At the FaculU

they certainly could have had no un- de Medicine Legal and the Surete in
derstanding with the two men and Paris we keep most careful statistics,
the young girl ” not only on the number, but on the
“Perhaps, maybe, possibly,” he manner of suicides. I do not think
agreed, nodding his head so vigorous- your Frenchman differs radically
ly that a little column of ash detached from your American when it comes
itself from his cigarette and dropped to taking his life, so the figures for
unnoticed on the bosom of his stiffly one nation may well be a signpost for
starched evening shirt. “You may the other. These self-inflicted deaths,
be right. Friend Trowbridge, but they are not right. They do not fol-
then, as is so often the case, you may low the rules. Men prefer to hang,
be entirely wrong. One thing I know: slash or shoot themselves ;
women
I, Jules de Grandin, shall investigate favor drowning, poison or gas; yet
these eases myself personally. Cor- here we have one of the men taking
dieu, they do interest me! I shall poison, one of the women hanging
ascertain what is the what here.” herself, and three of them jumping

“Go ahead,” I encouraged. “The to death. Yom d’lm canard, I am

investigation will keep you out of not satisfied with it!”
mischief,” and I returned to the sec- “H’m, neither are the unfortunate
ond chapter of Haggard’s The Wan- parties who killed themselves, if the
derer’s Necklace, a book which I have theologians are to be believed,” I re-
read at least half a dozen times, yet turned.
find as fascinating at each rereading “You speak right,” he returned,
as when I first perused its pages. then muttered dreamily to himself:
—
“Destruction destruction of body

T he matter of the six suicides still

bothered him next morning.
“Trowbridge, my friend,” he asked
and imperilment of soul mordieu, it
is strange, it is not righteous!” He
disposed of his coffee at a gulp and
abruptly as he disposed of his second leaped from his chair. “I go!” he
helping of coffee and passed his cup declared dramatically, turning to-
for replenishment, “why is it that ward the door.
people destroy themselves?” “Where?”
“Oh,” I answered evasively, “dif- “Where? Where should I go, if
ferent reasons, I suppose. Some are not to secure the history of these so
crossed in love, some meet financial puzzling cases? I shall not rest nor
reverses and some do it while tem- sleep nor eat until I have the string
porarily deranged.” of the mysteiy’s skein in my hands.”
“Yes,” he agreed thoughtfully, He paused at the door, a quick, elfin
“yet every self-murderer has a real smile playing across his usually stem
or fancied reason for quitting the features. “And should I return be-
world, and there is apparently no fore my work is complete,” he sug-
reason why any of these six poor gested, “I pray you, have the excel-
ones who hurled themselves into lent Nora prepare another of her so
’
outer darkness during the past week
’
magnificent apple pies for dinner.
should have done so. All, apparent- Forty seconds later the front door
ly, were well provided for, none of clicked shut, and from the dining
them, as far as is known, had any room’s oriel window I saw his neat
reason to regret the past or fear the little figure, trimly encased in blue
—
future; yet” he shrugged his nar- chinchilla and gray worsted, pass
row shoulders significantly “voild, quickly down the sidewalk, his ebony
they are gone! cane hammering a rapid tattoo on the
52 WEIED TALES
stMies as kept time to the thoughts
it doubting that something more than
racing through his active brain. the idle wish to hear a sensational
evangelist urged the little French-
“T AM desolated tliat my capacity man toward the tabernacle, I rose
is exhausted, ” he announced that and accompanied him.
evening as he finished his third por- “Parhleu, w'hat a day!” he sighed
tion of deep-dish apple pie smothered as I turned my ear toward the dowm-
in pungent rum sauce and regarded town section. “Prom coroner’s office
his empty plate sadly. “Eh Men, to undertakers’ I have run; and from
perhaps it is as well. Did I eat more undertakers’ to hospitals. I have
I might not be able to think clearly, interviewed everyone who could shed
and clear thought is what I shall need the smallest light on these strange
this night, my friend. Come ;
we deaths, yet I seem no further ad-
must be going.” vanced than when I began. What I
“Going where?” I demanded. have foiuid out serves only to whet
“To hear the reverend and es- my curiosity; what I have not dis-
timable Monsieur Maundy deliver his covered ” He spread his hands
sermon. ’ ’
in a world-embracing gesture and
lapsed into silence.
“Who? Everard Maundy?”
“But of course, who else?” The Jaehin Tabernacle, where the
“But —but,”stammered, looking
I Kev. Everard Maundy was holding
his series of non-sectarian revival
at him incredulously, “why should
we go to the tabernacle to hear this meetings, was crow'ded to overflow-
man? I can’t say I’m particularly ing when we arrived, but our tickets
impressed with his sj’^tem, and passed us through the jostling crowd
aren’t you a Catholic, de Grandin?” of half-skeptical, half-believing peo-
“Who can say?” he replied as he ple who thronged the lobby, and we
lighted a cigarette and stared were soon ensconced in seats where
thoughtfully at his coffee cup. “My every word the preacher uttered
father was a Huguenot of the Hugue- could be heard with ease.
nots; a several times great-grandsire Before the introductory hymn had
of his cut his way to freedom through been finished, de Grandin mumbled
the Paris streets on the fateful night a wholly unintelligible excuse in my
of Axigust 24, 1572. mother wasMy ear and disappeared up the aisle, and
convent-bred, and as pious as anyone I ^ttled myself in my seat to enjoy
with a sense of humor and the gift of the service as best I might.
thinking for herself could well be. The Rev. Mr. Maundy was a tall,
—
One of my uncles ^he for whom I am hatchet-faced man in early middle
—
named was like a blood brother to life, a little inclined to rant and make
Darwin the magnificent, and Huxley use of worked-over platitudes, but
the scarcely less magnificent, also. obviously sincere in the message he
—
Me, I am” ^lie elevated his eye- had for his congregation. From the
brows and shoulders at once and half-cynical attitude of a regularly-
pur-sed his lips comically “what
— enrolled church member who looks on
should a man with such a heritage he, revivals with a certain disdain, I
my friend? But come, we delay, we found myself taking keener and
tarry, we lose time. Let us hasten. keener interest in the story of re-
I have a fancy to hear what this Mon- generation the preacher had to tell,
sieur Maixndy has to say, and to ob- my attention compelled not so much
serve him. See, I have here tickets by his words as by the earnestness of
for the fourth row of the hall.” his manner and the wonderful stage
Very much puzzled, but never presence the man possessed. When
 THE CURSE OF EVERARO MAUNDY 53

the ushers had taken up the collection finally tossing nearly to the ceiling
it
and the final hymn was sung, I was to test the tale I had so often heard
surprized to find we had been two that a cat always lands on its feet.
hours in the tabernacle. If anyone My experiment was the exception
had asked me, I should have said half which demonstrated the rule, it
an hour would have been nearer the seemed, for the pool’, half-starved fe-
time consumed by the service. line hit the hardwood floor squarely
“Eh, my friend, did you find it on its back, struggled feebly a mo-
interesting ? ” de Grandin asked as he ment, then yielded up its' entire nine-
'
joined me in the lobby and linked his fold expectancy of life.
arm in mine. Long after the smart of the whip-
“Yes, very,” I admitted, then, ping I received in consequence had
somewhat sulkily: “I thought you been forgotten, the memory of that
—
wanted to hear him, too it was your unintentional murder had plagued
idea that w’e came here what made— my boyish conscience, and many were
you run away?” the times I had awakened at dead of
“I am sorry,” he replied w'ith a night, -weeping bitter repentance out
chuckle which belied his words, “but upon my pillow.
itwas necessaire that I fry other fish Now, some forty yeare later, the
while you listened to the reverend thought of that kitten’s death came
gentleman’s discourse. Will you back as clearly as the night the un-
drive me home?” kempt little thing thrashed out its
life upon our kitchen floor. Strive as
The March wind cut shrewdly
through my overcoat after the super- I would, I could not drive the mem-
heated atmosphere of the tabernacle, ory from me, and it seemed as though
and I felt myself shivering involun- the unwitting crime of my childliood
tarily more than once as we drove was assuming an enormity out of all
through the quiet streets. Strangely, proportion to its true importance.
too, I felt rather sleepy and ill I shook my head and passed my
at ease. By the time w'e reached hand across my brow, as a sleeper
'
the wide, tree-bordered avenue before suddenly wakened does to drive away
my house I was conscious of a dis- the lingering memory of an unpleas-
tinctly unpleasant sensation, a con- ant dream, but the kitten’s ghost, like
stantly-growing feeling of malaise, a Banquo’s, would not down.
sort of baseless, irritating uneasiness. “What is it. Friend Trowbridge?”
Thoughts of years long forgotten de Grandin asked as he eyed me
seemed summoned to my memory shrewdly.
without rime or reason. An incident “Oh, nothing,” 1 replied as I
of an unfair advantage I had taken parked the car before our door and
of a younger boy while at public leaped to the ciirb, “I was just
school, recollections of petty, useless thinking.”
lies and bits of naughtiness com- “Ah?” he responded on a rising
mitted when I could not have been accent. “And of what do you think,
more than three came flooding back my friend? Something unpleasant?”
on my consciousness, finally an epi- “Oh, no; nothing important
sode of my early youth which I had enough to dignify by that term,” I
forgotten some forty years. answered shortly, and led the way to
My father had brought a little the house, keeping w’ell ahead of him,
stray kitten into the house, and I, lest he push his inquiries farther.
with the tiny lad’s unconscious In this, however, I did him wrong.
cruelty, had fallen to teasing the Tactful women and Jules de Grandin
wretched bundle of bedraggled fur. have the talent of feeling without be-
54 WEIRD TALES
ing told when conversation is unwel- phorescence of its tribe, and with an
come, and besides wishing me a pleas- added demoniacal glow the like of
ant good-night, he spoke not a word which I had never seen. Its red
until we had gone upstairs to bed. mouth, opened to full compass in a
As I was opening my door, he called venomous, soundless “spit,” seemed
down the hall, Should you want me,
‘
‘
almost as large as that of a lion, and
remember, you have but to call.” the wicked, pointed ears above its
Humph ” I muttered ungracious-
‘
‘
!
rounded face were laid back against
ly as I shut the door. “Want him? its head, as though it were crouching

What the devil should I want him for combat.

’
for ? ^ And so I pulled off clothes my “Get out! Seat!” I called feebly,
and climbed into bed, the thought of but making no move toward the
the murdered kitten still with me and thing.
annoying me more by its persistence “S-s-s-sssh!” a hiss of incom-
than by the faint sting of remorse parable fury answered me, and the
it evoked. creature put one heavy, padded paw
tentatively over the window-sill, still

H ow long I had slept I do not

know, but I do know I was wide-
awake in a single second, sitting up
regarding me with its unchanging,
hateful stare.
“Get!” I repeated, and stopped
in bed and staring through the dark- abruptly. Before my eyes the great
ened chamber with eyes which strove beast was growing, increasing in size
desperately to pierce the gloom. till its chest and shoulders completely
—
Somewhere ^whether far or near I blocked the window. Should it at-
—
could not tell a cat had raised its tack me I would be as helpless in its
voice in a long-drawn, wailing cry, claws as a Hindoo under the paws of
kept silence a moment, tlien given a Bengal tiger.
tongue again with increased volume. Slowly, stealthily, its cushioned
There are few sounds more eery to feet making no sound as it set them
hear in the dead of night than the down daintily,the monstrous crea-
cry of a prowling feline, and this one ture advanced into the room,
was of a particularly sad, almost re- crouched on its haunches and re-
proachful tone. garded me steadily, wdckedly, malevo-
“Confound beast!” I ex-
the lently.
claimed angrily, and lay back on my I rose a little higher on my elbow.
pillow, striving vainly to recapture The great brute twitched the tip of
my broken sleep. its sable tail warningly, half lifted
Again the wail sounded, indefinite one of its forepaws from the fioor,
as to location, but louder, more pro- and set it down again, never shifting
longed, even, it seemed, fiercer in its itssulfurous eyes from my face.
timbre than when I first heard it in Inch by inch I moved my farther
my sleep. foot from the bed, felt the fioor be-
I glanced toward the window with neath it, and pivoted slowly in a sit-
the vague thought of hurling a book ting position until my other foot was
or boot or other handy missile at the free of the bedclothes. Apparently
disturber, then held my breath in the cat did not notice my strategy,
sudden affright. Staring through the for it made no menacing move till I
aperture between the scrim curtains flexed my muscles for a leap, sudden-
was the biggest, most ferocious-look- ly flung myself from the bedstead,
ing tom-cat I had ever seen. Its eyes, and leaped toward the door.
seemingly as large as butter dishes, With a snarl, white teeth flashing,
glared at me with the green phos- green eyes glaring, ears laid back, the
 THE CUESE OF EVEEARD MAUNDY 55

beast moved between me and the exit, tellyou, I saw it; a great, black cat,
and began slowly advancing on me, as big as a lion. It came in the win-
hate and menace in every line of its dow and crouched right over there,
giant body. and was driving me to jump to the
ground when you came ”
I gave ground before it, retreating
step by step and striving desperately “Nom d’un pore! Do you say so?”
to hold its eyes with mine, as I had he exclaimed, seizing my arm again
heard hunters sometimes do when and shaking me. “Tell me of this
suddenly confronted by wild animals. eat, my friend. I would learn more
Back, back I crept, the ogreish of puss-puss who comes into
this
visitant keeping pace with my re- Friend Trowbridge’s house, grows
treat, never suffering me to increase great as a lion and drives him to his
the distance between us. death on the stones below. Ha, I
I felt the cold draft of the window
think maybe the trail of these myste-
on my back; the pressure of the sill rious deaths is not altogether lost!
against me behind me, from the Tell me more, mon ami; I would
;

waist up, was the open night, before know all —all!”
me the slowly advancing monster. “Of course, it was just a bad
It was a thirty-foot drop to a ce- dream,” I concluded as I finished tlie
mented roadway, but death on the recital of my midnight visitation,
pavement was preferable to the slash- “but it seemed terribly real to me
ing claws and grinding teeth of the while it lasted.”
terrible thing creeping toward me. “I doubt not,” he agreed with a
it
I threw one leg over the sill, watch- quick, nervous nod. “And on our
ing constantly, lest the cat-thing way from the tabernacle tonight, my
leap on me before I could cheat it by friend, I noticed you were much dis-
dashing myself to the ground trait. Were you, perhaps, feeling ill
“Trowbridge, mon Dicu, Trow- at the time?”
bridge, my friend! What is it you “Not at all,” I replied. “The
would do?” The frenzied hail of truth is, I was remembering some-
Jules de Grandin cut through the thing which occurred when I was a
dark, and a flood of light from the lad four or five years old; sometliing
hallway swept into the room as he which had to do with a kitten I
flung the door violently open and killed,” and I told him the whole
raced across the room, seizing my arm wretched business.
in both hands and dragging me from “U’m?” he commented when I
the window. had done. “You arc a good man,
“Look out, de Grandin!” I Trowbridge, my friend. In all your
screamed. “The cat! It’ll get you!” life, since you attained to years of
“Cat?” he echoed, looking about discretion, I do not believe you have
him uncomprehendingly. “Do you done a wicked or ignoble act.”
say ‘eat’, my friend? A cat will get “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,”
”
I re-
mef Mort (run cJiou, the eat which turned, “we all
can make a mouse of Jules de Gran- “Parhleu, I have said it. That kit-
din is not yet whelped Where is it,
! ten incident, now, is probably the
this cat of yours?” single tiny skeleton in the entire
“There! Th ” I began, then closet of your existence, yet sustained
stopped, rubbing my eyes. The room thought upon it will magnify it even
was empty. Save for de Grandin and as the eat of your dream grew from
me there was nothing animate in the cat’s to lion’s size. Pardieu, my
place. friend, I am not so sure you did
“But it was here,” I insisted. “I dream' of that abomination in the
56 WEIRD TALB»
shape of a eat which visited you. Sup- brooding over things last night, and
pose ” he brolre off, staring in- when I went into the bathroom this
tently before him, twisting first one, morning, —
something something in-
then the other end of his trimly side my
head, like those ringing
waxed mustache. noises you hear w'hen you have a
“Suppose what?" I prompted. head-cold, you know seemed to be —
whispering, ‘ Go on, kill yourself
“Non, we will suppose nothing to-
night," he replied. “You will please
you’ve nothing to live for. Go on,
go to sleep once more, my friend, and
do it!’ So I just stood on the scales
I shall remain in the room to frighten
and took the cord from bathrobe my
aw'ay any more dream-demons which
and tied it over the transom, then
may come to plague you. Come, let knotted the other end about neck. my
us sleep. Here I do remain." He
Then I kicked the scales away and"
leaped into the wide bed beside me
— she gave another faint smile
and pulled the down comforter snug- “I’m glad I hadn’t locked the door
before I did it," she admitted.
ly up about his pointed chin.
De Grandin had been staring un-
“. . . and I ’d like very much to
.
winkingly at her with his curiously
have you come right over to see her. level glance throughout her recital.
if you w’ill," Mrs. Weaver finished. As she concluded he bent forward
“I can’t imagine whatever made her and asked; “This voice w'hieh you
attempt such a thing she’s never — heard bidding you commit an un-
pardonable sin. Mademoiselle, did
shonm any signs of it before."
you, perhaps, recognize it?"
I hung up the telephone receiver
and tuiTied to de Grandin. “Here’s The girl .shuddered. “No!" she
another suicide, or almost-suicide, replied, but a sudden paling of her
for you," I told him half teasingly. face about the lips gave the lie to her
“The daughter of one of my patients word.
attempted her life by hanging in the Pardonn ez-moi,
‘
‘
Madem oiselle, ’ ’

bathroom this morning.” the Frenchman retiirned.. “I think

“Par la fete hleu, do you tell me you do not tell the truth. Now, whose
so?" he exclaimed eagerly. “I go voice was it, if you please?"
with you, chcr ami. I see this young Asullen, stubborn look spread over
woman; examine her. Perhaps I
I the girl’s featxn*es, to be replaced a
shall find some key to the riddle moment later by the muscular spasm
there. Parhleu, me, I itch, I burn, I which ixrelndes weeping. “It it —
am all fire wdth this mystery
on Cer- ! sounded like Fanny’s," she cried,
tainly, there must be an answer to it and turning her face to the pillow,
but it remains hidden like a peasant’s fell to sobbing biti^erly.
pig when the tax collector arrives." “And Fanny, who is she?” de
Grandin began, but Mrs. Weaver
^'Vl^ELL, young lady, what’s this I motioned him to silence with an im-
’ ^ hear about you?" I demand- ploring ge.sture.
ed severely as we entered Grace I proscribed a mild bromide and
Weaver’s bedroom a few minutes left the patient, w'ondering what mad
later. “What on earth have you to impulse could liave led a girl in the
die for?" first flush of young womanhood, hap-
—
“I I don’t know what made me pily situated in the home of parents
want to do it. Doctor,’’ the girl re- who idolized her, engaged to a fine
plied with a wan smile. “T hadn’t young man, and without bodily or
thought of it before ever. But T — spiritxial illof any sort, to attempt
—
just got to oh, you know, sort of her life. Outside, de Grandin seized
 THE CURSE OF EVERARD MAUNDY 57

the mother’s arm and whispered •‘What do you mean?” I asked.

fiercely: “Who is this Fanny, Ma- "‘Parblcu, what should I mean ex-
dame Weaver? Believe me, I ask not cept tliat we go to interview this Mon-
from idle curiosity, but because I seek sieur Everard Maundy immediately,
vital information!” right away, at once? Mordicii, I
“Fanny Briggs was Grace’s chum damn think I have the tail of this
two years ago,” Mrs. Weaver an- mystery in my hand, and may the
swered. “My husband and I never blight of prohibition fall upon Fi’ance
quite approved of her, for she was if I do not twist it!”
several years older than Grace, and
had such pronounced modern ideas
that we didn’t think her a suitable
companion for our daughter, but you
T he Rev. Everard Maundy’s rooms
in the Tremont Hotel were not
hard to locate, for a constant stream
know how girls are with their of visitors went to and from them.
‘crushes’. The more we objected to
“Have you an appointment with
her going with Fanny, the more she
Mr. Maundy?” the secretary asked
used to seek her company, and we
as we were ushered into the ante-
were both at our wits’ ends when the
room.
Briggs girl was drowned while swim-
ming at Asbury Park. I hate to say “Not we,” de Grandin denied,
it, but it was almost a positive relief
“but if you will be so kind as to tell
to us when the news came. Grace him that Dr. Jules de Grandin, of the
was almost broken-hearted about it Paris Surete, desires to speak with
at first, but she met Charley this him for five small minutes, I shall be
summer, and I haven’t heard her in your debt.”
mention Fanny’s name since her en- The young man looked doubtful,
gagement until just now.” but de Grandin ’s steady, catlike stare
“Ah?” de Grandin tweaked the never wavered, and he finally rose
tip of his mustache meditatively. and took our message to his employer.
“And perhaps Mademoiselle Grace In a few minutes he returned and
was somewhere to be reminded of admitted las to the big I’oom where
Mademoiselle Fanny last night?” the evangelist received his callei’s be-

“No,” Mrs. Weaver replied, “she hind a wide, flat-topped desk.

went with a crowd of young folks to “Ah, Mr. de Grandin,” the ex-
hear Maundy preach. There was a horter began with a professionally
big party of them at the tabeffiacle bland smile as we entered, “you are
I’m afraid they went more to make from Fi-anee, are you not, sir? What
fun than in a religious frame of can I do to help you toward the
mind, but he made quite an impres- light?”
sion on Grace, she told us. ’ ’
“Cordieu, Monsieur,” de Grandin
“Few de Dieu!” de Grandin ex- barked, for once forgetting his cour-
ploded, twisting his mustache furi- tesy and ignoring the preacher’s out-
ously. “Do you tell me so, Madame stretched hand, “you can do much.
This is of the interest. Madame, I You can explain these so unexplain-
saluteyou,” he bowed formally to able suicides which have taken place
Mrs. Weaver, then seized me by the —
during the past week the time you
arm and fairly dragged me away. have preached here. That is the light
“Trowbridge, my friend,” he in- we do desire to see.”
formed me as we descended the steps Maundy’s face went masklike and
of theWeaver portico, “this business, expressionless. “Suicides? Suicides?”
ithas Vodeur du poisson how is it — he echoed. “What should I know
—
you say? the fishy smell.” of
”
58 WEIRD TALES
The Frenchmau shrugged his nar- hope for me on earth or yet in
row shoulders impatiently. “We do heaven !”
fence with words, Monsieur,” he in- De Grandin tweaked the ends of
‘
terrupted testily. Behold the facts
‘
his mustache alternately as he gazed
Messieurs Planz and Nixon, young curiously at the man before us.
men with no reason for such desper- Monsieur,” he replied at length, “I
ate deeds, did kill themselves by vi- think you do exaggerate. There are
olence; Madame Westerfelt and her surely greater sinners than you. But
two daughters, who were happy in if you would shrive you of the sin
their home, as everyone thought, did which gnaws your heart, I pray you
hurl themselves from an hotel win- shed what light you can upon these
dow; a little schoolgirl hanged her- deaths, for there may be more to fol-
low, and who knows that I shall not
self last night my good friend Trow-
;
be able to stop them if you will but
bridge, who never understandingly ”
tell me all?
harmed man or beast, and whose life
is dedicated to the healing of the sick,
“Mea culpa!” Maundy exclaimed,
did almost take his life and this very and struck his chest with his clenched
;

morning a young girl, wealthy, be- fists a Hebrew prophet of old.

like
“ In my younger days, gentlemen, be-
loved, wdth every reason to be happy,
fore I dedicated myself to the sal-
did almost succeed in dispatcliing
vaging of souls, I was a scoffer. What
herself.
I could not feel or weigh or measure,
“Now, Monsietir le predicateur, the I disbelieved. I mocked at all re-
only thing this miscellaneous assort- ligion and sneered at all the things
ment of persons had in common is the which others held sacred.
fact that each of them did hear you
preach the night before, or the same
“One night I went to a Spiritual-
istic seance, intent on scoffing, and
night, he attempted self-destruction.
forced my young wife to accompany
That is the light we seek. Explain
me. The medium was an old colored
us the mystery, if you please.”
woman, wrinkled, half-blind and un-
Maundy’s lean, rugged face had believably ignorant, but she had
undergone a strange transformation
while the little Frenchman spoke.
something —
some secret power —
which was denied the rest of us.
Gone was his smug, professional Even atheist and derider of the
I,
smirk, gone the forced and meaning- truth that I was, could see that.
less expression of benignity, and in
“As the old woman called on the
their place a look of such anguish and
spirits of the departed, I laughed out
horror as might rest on the face of
loud, and told her it was
a fake. all
one who Ileal’s his sentence of damna- The negress came out of her trance
tion read.
and turned her deep-set, burning old
—
“Don’t don’t!” he besought, eyes on me. ‘White man,’ she said,
covering his writhing face with his ‘yuli is gwine ter feel mighty sorry
hands and bowing his head upon his fo’ dem words. Ah tells yuh de
desk while his shoulders shook with speerits can heah whut yuh says, an’
deep, soul-racking sobs. “Oh, miser- dey will take deir revenge on yuh
My
— —
able me sin has found me out
’ ’
! !
an’ yours yas, an’ on dem as foilers
For a moment he wrestled in yuh till yuh wishes yo’ tongue had
spiritual then raised his
anguish, been cut out befo’ yuh said dem
sti’ieken countenanee and regarded us words dis yere night.’
with tear-dimmed eyes. “I am the “I tried to laugh' at her to curse —
greatest sinner in the world,” he an- her for a sniveling old faker but —
nounced sorrowfully. “Tlierc is no there was something so terrible in
 THE CURSE OF EVERARD ]\IAUNDY 59

her wrinkled old face that the words

froze on my lips, and I hurried away. T most fantastic story I
h.\t’s the
ever heard!” I declared as we
“The next night my wife my — entered the hotel elevator. “The
—
young, lovely bride drowned her- idea! As if a)i ignorant old negress
could put a curse on
”
self in the river, and I have been a
marked man ever since. Wherever I “Zut!” de Grandin shut me off.
go it is tlie same. God has seen fit to “You are a most excellent physician
open my eyes to the light of Truth in the State of New Jersey, Friend
and give me words to place His mes- Trowbridge, but have you ever been
sage before His people, and many in Martinique, or Haiti, or in the
who come to sneer at me go away be- jungles of the Congo Belgique?”
lievers; but wherever throngs gather “Of course not,” I admitted,
to hear me bear my testimony there “but ”
are always these tragedies. Tell me, “I
have. I have seen things so
—
gentlemen” he threw out his hands
— strange among the Voudois people
in a gesture of surrender “must I that you would wish to have me com-
forever cease to preach the message mitted to a madhouse did I but relate
of the Lord to His people? I have them to you. However, as that Mon-
told myself that these self-murders sieur Kipling says, ‘that is another
w’ould have occurred whether I came story. ’ At the present we are pledged
—
to town or not, but is this a judg- to the solving of another mystery.
ment which pursues me forever?” Let us go to your house. I would
Jules de Grandin regarded him think, I would consider all this busi-
thoughtfully. Monsieur,” he mur- ness-of-the-monkey. Pardieu, it has as
mured, “I fear you make the mis- many angles as a diamond cut in
takes we are all too prone to make. Amsterdam!”
You do saddle le bon Dieu with all
the sins with which the face of man “'^ELL me. Friend Trowbridge,”
is blackened. What if this were no he demanded as we concluded
judgment of heaven, but a curse of our evening meal, “have you perhaps
a very different sort, lieinf” among your patients some young man
“You mean the devil might be who has met with a great sorrow
striving to overthrow the effects of recently; someone who has sustained
my work?” the other asked, a light a loss of wife or child or parents?”
of hope breaking over his haggard I looked at him in amazement, but
face. the serious expression on his little
“U’m, perhaps; let us take that heart-shaped face told me he was in
’
de earnest, not making some ill-timed
for our working hypothesis,’

Grandin replied. “At present we

jest at my
expense.
may not say whether it be devil or
“Why, yes,” I responded. “There
is young Alvin Spence. His wife
devilkin which dogs your footsteps;
died in childbirth last June, and the
but at the least w^e are greatly in-
poor chap has been half beside him-
debted to you for what you have told.
self ever since. Thank God I was
Go, my friend ;
continue to preach out of town at the time and didn’t
the Truth as you conceive the Truth liave the responsibility of the ease.
’ ’

to be, and may the God of all peoples “Thank God, indeed,” de Grandin
uphold your hands. Me, I have other nodded gravely. “It is not easy for
word to do, but it may be scarcely us, though we do ply our trade among
less important.” He bowed formally the dying, to tell those who remain
and, turning on his heel, strode quick- behind of their bereavement. But
ly from the room. this Monsieur Spence; will you call
60 WEIRD TALES
on him this evening? Will you give ical garb and a face as round and
him a ticket to tlie lecture of Mon- ruddy as a winter apple.
sieur Maundy?” De Grandin spoke hurriedly to him
“No!” I blazed,half rising from in a low' voice, waving his hands,
my chair. “I’ve known that boy shaking his head, shrugging his
since he was a little toddler knew — shoulders, as was his wont when the
his dead -wife from childhood, too; earnestness of his argument bore him
and if you’re figuring on making him before it. The priest’s round face
the subject of some experiment ” showed first incredulity, then mild
“Softly, my friend,” he besought. skepticism, finally absorbed interest.
“There is a terrible Thing loose In a moment the pair of them had
among us. Remember the noble mar- vanished inside the house, leaving me
tyrs of science, those so magnificent to cool my heels in the bitter March
men who risked their lives that yel- air.
low fever and malaria should be no
more. Was not their work a holy “'\7'ou were long enough,” I
one? Certainly. I do but wish that * grumbled as he emerged from
this young man may attend the lec- the rectory.
ture tonight, and on my honor, I shall “Pardieu, yes, just long enough,”
guard him until all danger of at- he agreed. “I did accomplish my
tempted self-murder is passed. You purpose, and no visit is either too
will do w'hat I say?” long or too short when you can say
He was so earnest in his plea that, that. Now to the house of the good
though I felt like an accessory before Monsieur Spence, if you will. Mor-
the fact in a murder, I agreed. dieu, but we shall see what we shall
Meantime, his little blue eyes snap- see this night!”
ping and sparkling with the zest of
the chase, de Grandin had busied IX hours later de Grandin and I
himself with the telephone directorj', S crouched shivering at the road-
looking up a number of addresses, side where the winding, serpentine
culling through them, discarding Albemarle Pike dips into the hol-
some, adding others, until he had low beside the Lonesome Swamp. The
obtained a list of some five or six. wind which had been trenchant as a
“Now, mon vieux,” he begged as I shrew’s tongue earlier in the'evening
made ready to visit Alvin Spence on had died away, and a hard, dull bit-
my treacherous errand, “I would terness of cold hung over the hills
that you convey me to the rectory of and hollows of the rolling country-
St. Benedict’s Church. The priest in side. From the wide salt marshes
charge there is Irish, and the Irish where the bay’s tide crept up to
have the gift of seeing things which mingle with the swamp’s brackish
you colder-blooded Saxons may not. waters twice a day there came great
I must have a confab with this good sheets of brumous, impenetrable
Father O’Brien before I can permit vapor which shrouded the landscape
that you interview the young Mon- and distorted commonplace objects
sieur Spence. Mordieu, me, I am a into hideous, gigantic monstrosities.
scientistno murderer
; !
’ ’
“Mort d’un petit honhomme, my
I drove him past the rectory and friend,” de Grandin commented be-
parked my motor at the curb, wait- tween chattering teeth, “I do not like
ing impatiently while he thundered this place; it has an evil air. There
at the door with the handle of his are spots where the very earth does
ebony walking stick. His knock was breathe of unholy deeds, and by the
answered by a little old man in cler- sacred name of a rooster, this is one
 THE CURSE OF EVERARD MAUNDY 61

such. Look you at this accursed fog. gazing through the opened imrtals of
Is it not as if the specters of those Paradise.
drowned at sea were marching up “A-a-ah!” de Grandin’s whisper
the shore this night?” cut like a wire-edged knife through
^“Umph!” I replied, sinking my the silence of the fog-bound air, “do
neck lower in the collar of my ulster you behold it. Friend Trowbridge?”
and silently cursing myself for a fool. “Wha ” I whispered back, but
A moment’s silence, then: “You broke the syllable half uttered. 'Thin,
are sure Monsieur Spence must come tenuous, scarcely to be distinguished
this way? There is no other road by from the lazily drifting festoons of
which he can reach his home?” the fog itself, there was a something
‘
‘
Of course ’
answered short-
not, ’
I in midair before the ear where Alvin
ly. “He lives out in the new Weiss Si)enee sat with his yearning soul
development with his mother and sis- looking from his eyes. I seemed to
—
ter ^you were there this evening see clear through the thing, yet its
and this is the only direct motor outlines were plainly perceptible, and
route to the subdivision from the as I looked and looked again, I recog-
city.” nized the unmistakable features of
“Ah, that is well,” he replied, Dorothy Spence, the young man’s
hitching the 'collar of his greatcoat —
dead wife.. Her body if the tenu-
higher about his ears. “You will ous, ethereal mass of static vapor
—
recognize his car surely?” —
could be called such ^was bare of
“I’ll try to,” I promised, “but clothing, and seemed endued with a
you can’t be sure of anything on a voluptxaous grace and allure the liv-
night like this. I’d not guarantee to ing woman had never possessed, but
—
pick out my own ^there’s somebody her face was that of the young wo-
pulling lip beside the road now,” I man who had lain in Rosedale Ceme-
interrupted myself as a roadster came tery for three-quarters of a year. If
to an abrupt halt and stood panting, ever living man beheld the simula-
its headlights forming vague, lumin- crum of the dead, we three gazed on
ous spots in the haze. the wraith of Dorothy Spenee that
“Mais Old,” he agreed, “and no moment.
one stops at this spot for any good —
“Dorothy my beloved, my dear,
until It has been conquered. Come, my dear!” the man half whispered,
let us investigate.” He started for- half sobbed, stretching forth his
ward, body bent, head advanced, hands to the spirit-woman, then fall-
like a motion picture conception of ing back on the seat as the vision
an Indian on the warpath. seemed to elude his grasj) when a
Half a hundred stealthy steps sudden puff of breeze stirred the fog.
brought us abreast of the parked We could not catch the answer he
car. Its occupant was sitting back received, close as we stood, but we
on the driving seat, his hands resting could see the pale, curving lips frame
listlessly on the steering wheel, his the single word, “Come!” and saw
eyes upturned, as though he saw a the transparent arms stretched out to
vision in the trailing wisps of fog beckon him forward.
before him. I needed no second The man half rose from his seat,
glance to recognize Alvin Spenee, then sank back, set his face in sud-
though the rapt look upon his white, den resolution and plunged his hand
set face transfigured it almost be- into the pocket of his overcoat.
yond recognition. He was like a Beside me de Gran din had been
poet beholding the beatific ^n6ion of fumbling with something in his in-
his mistress or a medieval eremite side imcket. As Alvin Spenee drew
62 WEIRD TALES
forth his hand and the dull gleam of soporific. He must sleep, this poor
a polished revolver shone in the light one, or the memory ofwhat we have
from his dashboard lamp, the French- shown him will rob him of his rea-
man leaped forward like a panther. son.
’ ’

“Stop him, Friend Trowbridge!” he So we carried Alvin Spence to his

called shrilly, and to the hovering home, administered a hypnotic and
vision left him in the care of his wondering
“Avaunt, accursed one! Begone, mother with instructions to repeat
thou exile from heaven! Away, the dose if he should wake.
snake-spawn!”
As he shouted he drew a tiny pellet T WAS a mile or more to the nearest
from his inner pocket and hurled it I bus station, and we set out at a
point-blank through the vaporous brisk walk, our heels hitting sharply
body of the specter. against the frosty concrete of the
road.
Even as I seized Spence’s hand and
fought with him for possession of the “What in the world was it, de
pistol, I saw the transformation from Grandin?” I asked as we marched in
the tail of my eye. As de Grandin’s step down
the darkened highway.
“It was the most horrible ”
missile tore through its unsxxbstantial
substance, the vision-woman seemed “Parhleu,” he interrupted, “some-
to shrink in upon herself, to become one comes this way in a monstrous
suddenly more compact, thinner, hurry!”
scrawny. Her rounded bosom flat- His remark was no exaggeration.
tened to mere folds of leatherlike skin Driven as though pursued by all the
stretched drum-tight above staring furies from pandemonium, came a
ribs, her slender graceful hands were light motor car with plain black sides
horrid, claw-tipped talons, and the and a curving top. “Look out!” the
yearning, enticing face of Dorothy driver warned as he recognized me
Spence became a mask of hideous, and came to a bumping halt. “Look
implacable hate, great-eyed, thin- out. Dr. Trowbridge, it’s walking! It
—
lipped, beak-nosed sxich a face as got out and walked!”
the demons of hell might show after a De Grandin regarded him with an
million million years of burning in expression of comic bewilderment.
the infernal fires. A screech like the “Now what is it that walks, mon
keening of all the owls in the world hravef” he demanded. “MordJieu,
together split the fog-wrapped still- you chatter like a monkey with a
ness of the night, and the monstrous handful of hot chestnuts! What is
thing before us seemed suddenly to it that walks, and why must we look
shrivel, shrink to a mere spot of bale- out for it, hein?”
ful, phosphorescent fire, and disap- “Sile Gregory,” the young man
pear like a snuffed-out candle’s answered. “He died this momin’,
flame. an’ Mr. Johnson took him to th’ par-
Spence saw it, too. The pistol lors to fix ’im up, an’ sent me an’
dropped from his nerveless fingers to Joe Williams out with him this
the car’s floor with a soft thud, and evenin’. I was just drivin’ up to th’
his arm went limp in my grasp as he house, an’ Joe hopped out to give me
fell forward in a dead faint. a lift with th’ casket, an’ old Silas
‘‘
Parbleu,” de Grandin swore got up an’ tvalJced away! An’ Mr.
softly as he climbed into the uncon- Johnson embalmed ’im this mornin’,
’
scious lad’s car. “Let us drive for-
’
I tell you !
ward, Friend Trowbridge. We will **Nom d’un chou-fletir!” de Gran-
take him b.ome and administer a din shot back. “Aiid where did this
 THE CURSE OP EVERARD MAUNDY 63

so remarkable demonstration take would follow us,” and the implica-

place, mo7i vieuxf Also, what of the tion raised by the impei-sonal form
excellent Williams, your partner?” sent tiny shivers racing along my
“I don’t know, an’ I don’t care,” back and neck.
the other replied. “When a dead De Grandin cast me
a quick, ap-
corpse I saw embalmed this mornin’ praising glance, and I saw the ends
gets outa its casket an’ walks, I ain’t of his spiked mustache lift suddenly
gonna wait for nobody. Jump up as his lips framed a sardonic smile,
here, if you want to go with me; I but instead of answering he swung
ain’t gonna stay here no longer!” round on his heel and faced the
“Bien,” de Grandin acquiesced. shadows behind us.
‘
Go your way, my excellent one.
‘
“Ilola, Monsieur le Cadavre!” he
Should we encounter your truant called .sharply.
‘
‘
Here we are, and
corpse, we will direct him to his wait- —
sang dv, diahle! ^hei’e we shall
ing Mere.” stand.”
The young man waited no second I looked at him in open-mouthed
invitation, but started his car down amazement, bxat his gaze xvas turned
the road at a .speed which would stedfastly on something half seen in
bring him into certain troiible if ob- the mist which lay along the road.
served by a state trooper. Next instant my heart seemed
“Now, what the devil do you make pounding through my ribs and my
of that?” I asked. “I know John- breath came hot and choking in my
son, the funeral director, well, and I throat, for a tall, gangling man sud-
always thought he had a pretty level- denly emerged from the fog and
headed crowd of boys about his place, made for us at a shambling gait.
but if that lad hasn’t been drinking He was clothed in a long, old-
some powerful liquoi% I’ll be ” fashioned double-breasted frock coat
“Not necessarily, my friend,” de and stiffly starched shirt topped by a
Grandin interrupted. “I think it standing collar and white, ministerial
not at all impossible that he tells but tie. His hair was neatly, though
the sober truth. It may M^ell be that somewhat unnaturally, arranged in a
the dead do walk this road tonight.” central part above a face the color
I shivered with something other and smoothness of wax, and little
than the night’s chill as he made the flecks of talcum powder still clung
matter-of-fact assertion, but forbore here and there to his eyebrows. No
pressing him for an explanation. mistaking it! Johnson, artist that he
There are times when ignorance is a was, had arrayed the dead farmer in
happier portion than knowledge. the manner of all his kind for then*
We had marched perhaps another last public appearance before rela-
quarter-mile in silence when de Gran- tives and friends. One look told me
din suddenly plucked my sleeve. the horrible, incredible truth. It xvas
“Have you noticed nothing, my the body of old Silas Gregory which
friend?” he asked. stumbled toward us through the fog.
“What d’ye mean?” I demanded Dressed, greased and powdered for
sharply, for my nerves were worn its last, long rest, the thing came
tender by the night’s events. tow’ard xis with faltering, xxnceii:ain
“I am not certain, but it seems to strides, and I noticed, witli the sud-
me we are followed.” den ability for minxxte inventory fear
‘
Followed ? Nonsense ? W/iO would
‘ sometimes lends our .senses, that his
be following us?” I returned, uncon- old, sunbxxrned skin showed more
sciously stressing the personal pro- than one brand where the formalde-
noun, for I had almost said, “What hyde embalming fluid had burned it.
64 WEIRD TALES
In one long, thin hand the horrible of surprize —almost of consternation
thing grasped the helve of a farm- —was on his face.
yard ax, the other hand lay stiffly I felt my
mouth go dry with ex-
folded across the midriff as the em- citement, and a queer, weak feeling
balmer had placed it when his pro- hit me at the pit of the stomach. The
fessional ministrations were finished Frenchman had driven his sword
that morning. home with the skill of a practised
“My God!” I cried, shrinking fencer and the precision of a skilled
back toward the roadside. But de anatomist. His blade had pierced
Grandin ran forward to meet the the dead man’s body at the junction
charging horror with a cry which was of the short head of the biceps and
almost like a welcome. the great pectoral muscle, at the
“Stand clear. Friend Trowbridge,” coracoid process, inflicting a wound
he warned, “we will fight this to a which should have paralyzed the arm
finish, I and It!” His little, round — ^yet the terrible ax rose for a sec-

eyes were fiashing with the zest of ond blow as though de Grandin ’s
combat, his mouth was set in a steel had struck wide of the mark.
straight, uncompromising line be- “Ah?” de Grandin nodded under-
neath the sharply waxed ends of his standingly as he leaped backward,
diminutive mustache, and his shoul- avoiding the ax-blade by the breadth
ders hunched forward like those of a of a hair. “Bien. A la fin!”
practised wrestler before he comes His defensive tactics changed
to grips with his op])onent. instantly. Flickeringly his sword
With a quick, whij)ping motion, he lashed forward, then came down and
ripped the razor-sharp blade of his back with a sharp, whipping motion.
sword-cane from its ebony sheath and The keen edge of the angular blade
swung the fiashing steel in a whir- bit deeply into the corpse’s wrist, lay-
ring circle about his head, then sank ing bare the bone. Still the ax rose
to a defensive posture, one foot ad- and fell and rose again.
vanced, one retracted, tlie leg bent at Slash after slash de Grandin gave,
the knee, the triple-edged sword his slicing cuts falling with almost
dancing before him like the darting mathematical precision in the same
tongue of an angry serpent. spot, shearing deeper and deeper
The dead thing never faltered in into his dreadful opponent’s w'rist.
its stride. Three feet or so from At last, with a short, clucking ex-
Jules de Grandin it swung the heavy, clamation, he drew his blade sharpl.y
rust-encrusted ax above its shoulder back for the last time, severing the
and brought it downward, its dull, ax-hand from the arm.
lack-luster eyes staring straight be- The dead thing collapsed like a de-
fore it with an im])assivity more ter- flated balloon at his feet as hand and
rible than any glare of hate. ax fell together to the cement road-
“Sa ha!” de Grandin ’s blade way.
fiickei’edforward like a streak of Quick as a mink, de Grandin thrust
storm lightning, and fleslied itself to his left hand within his coat, drew
the hilt in the corpse’s shoulder. forth a pellet similar to that with
He might as well have struck his which he had transfoi’med the coun-
steel into abag of meal. terfeit of Dorothy Spence, and
The ax descended with a crushing, hurled it straight into the upturned,
devastating blow. ghastly-calm face of the mutilated
De Grandin leaped nimbly aside, body before him.
disengaging his blade and swinging The dead lips did not part, for the
itagain before him, but an expression embalmer’s sutures had closed them
 THE CURSE OF EVERARD MAUNDY 65

forever that morning, but the body pocus, and I've been patient long
writhed upward from the road, and enough. Stop sitting there like a
a groan which was a muted scream glutton, wailing for more pie, and
came from its flat chest. It twisted tell me about it.”
back and forth a moment, like a “Oh, the mystery?” he replied,
mortally stricken serpent in its death yawn and lighting a cigar-
stifling a
agony, then lay still. ette. “That is simple, my friend,
Seizing the corpse by its grave- but these so delicious pies ^however, —
elotlies, de Grandin dragged it I do digress:
through tlie line of roadside hazel “Wlien first I saw the accounts of
bushes to the rim of the swamp, and so many strange suicides within one
busied himself cutting long, straight little week I was interested, but not
withes from the brushwood, then dis- greatly puzzled. People have slain
appeared again behind the tangled themselves since the beginning of
branches. At last time, and yet” he shrugged his— —
“It is finished,” he remarked, step- shoulders depreeatingly “what is it
ping back to the road. “Let us go.” that makes the hound scent his
“Wha—what did you do?” I quarry, the war-horse sniff the battle
faltered. afar off? Who can tell?
“I did the needful, my friend. “I said to me: ‘There is undoubt-
Morhleu, we had an evil, a very evil lessly more to these deaths than the
thing imprisoned in that dead newspapers have said. I shall in-
man, and I took such precautions vestigate.
’

as were necessary to fix it in its “From the coroner’s to the under-

prison. A
stake through the heart, a takers’,and from the undertakers’ to
severed head, and the whole firmly the physicians’, yes, parbleu! and to
thrust into the ooze of the swamp the family residences, as well, I did
voila. It will be long before oilier go, gleaning here a bit and there a
innocent ones are induced to destroy bit of information which seemed to
themselves by that.” mean nothing, but which might mean
“But ” I began. much did I but have other informa-
‘‘Non, non,” he replied, half tion to add to it.

laughing. “En avant, mon ami! I “One thing I ascertained early: In

would that we return home as quick- each instance the suicides had been
ly as possible. Much work creates to hear this reverend Maundy the
much appetite, and I make small night before or the same night they
doubt that I shall consume the re- did away with themselves. This was
mainder of that so delicious apple pie perhaps insignificant perhaps it
;

which I could not eat at dinner.” meant much. I deteimined to hear

this Monsieur Jlaundy with my own
ULES DE GRANDIN regarded the two ears; but I would not hear him
J empty plate before him with a too close by.
look of comic tragedy. “May end- “Forgive me, my friend, for I did
less benisons rest upon your amiable make of you the guinea-pig for my
cook. Friend Trowbridge,” he pro- laboratory experiment. You I left in
nounced, “but may the curse of a foi’ward seat while the reverend
heaven forever pursue the villain who gentleman preached, me, I stayed in
manufactures the wofully inadequate the rear of the hall and used my eyes
pans in which she bakes her pies.” as well as my ears.
“Hang the pies, and the plate- “What happened that night?
makers, too!” I bufst out. “You Why, my good, kind Friend Trow-
promised to explain all this hocus- bridge, who in all his life had done
66 WEIRD TALES
no greater wrong than thoughtlessly “How should I know?” I an-
to kill a little, so harmless kitten, did swered.
almost seemingly commit suicide. “Correct,” he nodded, “how, in-
But I was not asleep by the switch, deed? Beyond doubt it were a spirit
my friend. Not Jules de Grandin! of some sort; what sort we do not
All tlie way home I saw you were dis- know'. Perhaps it were the spirit of
trait, and I did fear something would some unfortunate who had destroyed
happen, and I did therefore watch be- himself and was earthbound as a
side your door with my eye and ear consequence. There are such. And,
alternately glued to the keyhole. as misery loves company in the
Parbleu, I entered the chamber not proverb, so do these wretched ones
one little second too soon, either seek to lure others to join them in
“ ‘This is truly strange,’ I tell me. their unhappy state. Or, maybe, it
‘My friend hears this preacher and were an Elemental.”
nearly destroys himself. Six others “A what?’’ 1 demanded.
have heard him, and have quite killed
themselves. If Friend Trowbridge
—
“An Elemental a Neutrarian.”
were haunted by the ghost of a dead “What the deuce is that?”
kitten, why should not those others, For answer he left the table and
w’ho also undoubtlessly possessed dis- entered the library, returning with a
tressing memories, have been hound- small red-leather bound volume in
ed to their graves by them?’ his hand. “You have read the works
“ ‘There is no reason of Monsieur Rossetti?” he asked.
why they
“Yes.”
should not,’ I tell me.
“You recall his poem, Eden Bow-
“Next morning comes the sum- ers, perhaps?”
mons to attend the young Mademoi- “H’m; yes, read it, but I
I’ve
selle Weaver.
She, too, have heard never could make anything of it.”
the preacher; she, too, have attempt- “Quite likely,” he agreed, “its
ed her life. And what does she teU meaning is most obscure, but I shall
us? That she fancied tlie voice of enlighten you. Attendez-moi!”
her dead friend urged her to kill her- Thumbing through the thin pages
self.
“ he began reading at random
‘Ah, ha!’ I say to me. ‘This
whatever-it-is which causes so much Itwaa Lilith, the wdfe of Adam,
suicide may appeal by fear, or per- Not a drop of her blood waa human.
But she was made like a soft, sweet
haps by love, or by whatever wiU woman ....
most strongly affect thq person who
dies by his own hand. We must see Lilith stood on the skirts of Eden,
this Monsieur Maundy. It is per- She was the first that thence was driven.
With her waa hell and with Eve waa
haps possible he can tell us much.’
heaven ....
“As yet I can see no light I am
— —
still in darkness ^but far ahead I What bright babes hadLilith and Adam,
already see the gleam of a promise Shapes that coiled in the woods and
waters.
of information. When we see Mon-
Glittering sons and radiant daugh-
sieur Everard Maundy and he tells ters ....
us of his experience at that seance
so many years ago parhJeu, I see it “You see, my friend?”
all. or almost all. “No, I’m hanged if I do.”
“Now, what was it acted as agent “Very well, then, according to the
for that aged sorceress’ curse?” rabbinical lore, before Eve was
He elevated one shoulder and created, Adam, our first father, had
looked questioningly at me. a demon wife named Lilith. And by
 THE CURSE OP EVERARD MAUNDY 67

her he had many children, not to ours, yet for the most part invis-
human, nor yet wholly demon. ible to us, as is the air? not?Why
“For her sins Lilith Avas expelled No man can truthfully say, ‘I have
from Eden’s bowers, and Adam was seen the air,’ yet no one is so great
given Eve to wife. With Lilith was a fool as to doubt its existence for
driven out all her progeny by Adam, that reason.”
and Lilith and her half-man, half- “Yes, but we can see the effects of
demon brood declared war on Adam air^” I objected. “Air in motion, for
and Eve and their descendants for instance, becomes wind, and
”
ever. These descendants of Lilith “Mart dhin cmpaud!” he burst
and Adam have ever since roamed out. “And have w’e not observed the
the earth and air, incorporeal, hav- effects of these Elementals these —
ing no bodies like men, yet having Neutrarians, or whatsoever their
always a hatred for flesh and blood. name may be? How of the six sui-
Because they were the first, or elder cides how of that which tempted the
;

race, they are sometimes called Ele- young Mademoiselle Weaver and the
mentals in the ancient lore some- ; young Monsieur Spence to self-mur-
times they are called Neutrarians, der? How' of the cat which entered
because they are neither w’holly men your room? Did we see no effects
nor wholly devils. Me, I do not take there, keinf”
sides in the controversy; I care not “But the thing we saw with young
what they are called, but I know what Spence, and the cat, were visible,” I
I have seen. I think it is highly pos- objected.
sible those ancient Hebrews, misin-
“But of course. When you fancied
terpreting the manifestations they
you saw' the cat, you w'ere influenced
observed, accounted for them by
from within, even as Mademoiselle
their so fantastic legends. are We Weaver w'as w'hen she heard the voice
told these Neutrarians or Elementals
of her dead friend. What we saw
are immaterial beings. Absurd? Not
with the young Spence was the sliad-
necessarily. What is matter mate- — ow of his desire —
the intensified love
rial? —
Electricity, perhaps a great
and longing for his dead wife, plus
system of law' and order throughout
the evil entity w'hich urged him to
the universe and all the millions of
unpardonable sin.”
worlds extending throughout infinity.
“Oh, all right,” T conceded. “Oo
“Very good, so far; but w'hen we on W'ith your theory.”
have said matter is electricity, what He stared thoughtfully at the
have we to say if asked, ‘AVhat is glowing tip of his cigarette a mo-
electricity?’ Me, I think it a modi- ment, then “It has been obseiwed,
:

fication of the ether.

“ ‘Very
my friend, that he w'ho goes to a
good,’ you say; ‘but what Spiritualistic seance may come away
is ether?’ some
W'ith attached to him
evil spirit
‘‘Parhleu, I do not know. The —^whether be a spirit which once
it
— —
matter or material of the universe inhabited hiiman form or an Ele-
is little, if anything, more than elec- mental, it is no matter; the evil ones
trons flow'ing about in all directions. swarm about the lowered lights of the
Now here, now' there, the electrons Spiritualistic meeting as flies congre-
coalesce and form what we call solids gate at the honey-pot in summer. It
— rocks and trees and men and wom- appeal’s such an one fastened to
en. But may they not coalesce at a Everard IMaundy. His wife was its
different rate of speed, or vibration, first victim, afterward those who
to form beings w'hieh are real, w'ith heard him preach were attacked.
emotions and loves and hates similar “Consider the .scene at the taber-
68 WEIRD TALES
nacle when Monsieur Maundy all seriousness, entirely unaware of
preaches: Emotion, emotion all is— its sound, for to him it was but a
emotion; reason is lulled to sleep by straightforward statement of undis-
the power of his words and the
;
puted fact. I grinned in spite of
minds of his hearers are not on their myself, then curiosity got the better
guard against the entrance of evil of amusement. “What were those
spirits; they are too intent on what little pelletsyou threw at the spirit
he is saying. Their consciousness is when it was luring young Spence to
absent. Pmif! The evil one fastens commit suicide, and later at the
firmly on some unwary person, ex- corpse of Silas Gregory?” I asked.
plores his innermost mind, finds out
his weakest point of defense. With
—
“x\h” his elfish smile flickered
across his lips, then disappeared as
you it was the kitten; with young —
quickly as it came “it is better you
Mademoiselle Weaver, her dead do not ask me that, won clier. Let it
friend ; with Monsieur Spence, his suffice w'hen I tell you I convinced
lost wife. Even love can be turned to the good Pere O ’Brien
that he should
evil purposes by such an one. let me have what no lajunan is sup-
“These things I did consider most posed to touch, that I might use the
carefully, and then I did enlist the ammunition of heaven against the
services of young Monsieur Spence. forces of hell.”
You saw what you saw on the lonely “But how do we Imow this Ele-
road this night. Appearing to him mental, or whatever it is, won’t come
in the form of his dead beloved, this back again?” I persisted.
wicked one had all but persuaded ‘ ’ ‘
‘ Little fear,
’
he encouraged. The ‘

him to destroy himself when we in-

1‘esort to the dead man’s body was its
tervened.
last desperate chance. Having elect-
**Tres hien. We triumphed then;
ed to fight me phj'sically, it must
the night before I had prevented
stand or fall by the result of tlie
your death. The evil one was angry
fight. Once inside the body, it could
at me; also it was frightened. If I
not quickly extricate itself. Half an
continued, I would rob it of much
hour, at least, must elapse before it
prey, so it sought to do me harm. Me,
could withdraw, and before that time
I am ever on guard, for knowledge is
power. It could not lead me to my had pas.sed I had fixed it there for
death, and, being spirit, it could not all time. The stake through the heart
directly attack me. It had recourse and the severed head makes that body
to its last resort. While the young as harmless as any other, and the
undertaker’s assistant was about to wicked spirit which animated it must
deliver the body of the old Monsieur remain with the flesh it soiight to per-
Gresrory, the spirit seized the corpse vert to its own evil ends henceforth
and animated it, then pursued me. and forever.”
“Ha, almost, T thoneht, it had done “But ”
for me at one time, for I forgot it “Alt hnli!” He dropped his cigar-
was no living thing I fought, and at- ette end into his emptv coffee cup
tacked it as if it could be killed. But and yawned frankly. “We do talk
when T found my sword could not kill too much, mv friend. This night’s
that which was alreadv dead, T did work has made me heavy with sleep.
cut off its so abominable hand. T am Let us take a tinv sin of cognac, that
very clever, my friend. The- evil the pie mav not give us unhappy
Ruirit reaped small profits from dreams, and then to bed. Tomorrow
fighting with me.” is another da'<'. and who knows what
He made the boastful admission in new task lies before us?”
 NEVER read of odd and bizarre city, and which was added to by the
occurrences or of happenings clouds of smoke from our cigars. It
I which seem beyond mortal ken,
but I think of a tale related to me by
was very warm.
Cumberland is by nature one of
a gentleman' in whom I have the ut- the untidiest men I know, and as
most confidence, and which is in my ixsual his desk was littei-ed all over
experience unique although no doubt
;
with this and that, compelling him to
students of the occult, particularly in pull out a drawer to support his
Eastern lands, will be able to parallel elbow as he sat and smoked. This
it directly it sees the light of day, drawer was also crammed full of
which I think it has not done before. heterogeneous papei's, some of which
I shall begin to relate it without any appeared to be letters recently re-
further prolixity. ceived, and some of which were yel-
It was on a warm July night that I low and cracked at the edges.
sat with my friend Cumberland the— The untidy seldom censure our
Reverend Wilfred —
Cumberland in neatness, but we always feel we must
his study. The roar of London traffic chide their want of care. “Cumber-
had quieted down, the stars winked land,” said I, “do you never clear
at us gravely through the pall of soft out your desk?”
coal smoke that still overhung the “About once a year,” he replied,
00
70 WEIED TALES
“but does no good. There is sel-
it Psychic Phenomena. I was, indeed.”
dom much in it that I can bear to “And you don’t recollect the story
part with. I don’t know how others without the papers?”
manage, but I am irresolution itself “Quite. But there are certain de-
when it comes to destroying old pa- tails which people would expect to
pers! instance, this is a memo-
For find included in such an article, and
rial pamphlet gotten ou^ at the time as I always have been poor on dates
of the death of Gibbons, the first rec- and other figures ” He sighed.
tor I served under. A
fine chap. This
“Would the tale suffer so much
is a copy of some verses worthless — with those out?”
I haven’t a doubt —
written by one of
“Not
left
as a story, I suppose, but I
the boys in my
Sunday School class
fear it would be unacceptable to a
on the occasion of my
ordination. Of
course they are funny; they would — scientific magazine. . It would not
sound convincing at all. In fact I
be merely funny to anyone else. This
don’t believe I could ever have made
is a guide to Winchester Cathedral
it sound anything but impossible, so
I might go there again, you know. So
perhaps it is no matter.”
you see how it is. In fact, the place
seldom gets weeded out except when “There is nothing so interesting as
I happen —hang it ! I ’ve done it again an improbable tale from a truthful
person, my dear chap. Won’t you
now!’’
let me have it from your lips some-
By
a careless gesture with the hand
time, if I am. never to have the chance
which held his cigar, he had started
to read it in the society’s bulletin?”
what was evidently his only method
of desk-clearing —
an accidental con- “Well then,” he retorted smiling,
“no time like the present. The mist,
flagration.The hot ash from the
tobacco had fallen into the open I see, has turned to quite a heavy
drawer and the papers had started rain. I couldn’t allow you to go nut
blazing merrily. Frantically he be- in it, unless you were extremely de-
gan to pull out the bundle of pa- termined! So compose yourself, my
pers which were burning, before the excellent fellow, to be talked to
whole contents of the drawer were in- sleep.”
volved. “Instruct, then, your audience -of
He was successful in saving the one, since a larger one is denied you,
rest of his cherished trash,but when and in doing so crystallize your own
he had flung the blazing package into memories before they become dim-
’ ’
the empty grate it was itself a total mer.
loss.

He viewed this
“Now see!” he cried; “there goes a
with dismay.
A fter carefully closing the drawer,
the Reverend Wilfred lit another
cigar, crossed his legs and began
bunch of papers which I valued high-
ly. I had rather burned all the rest “It was when I was at Oxford that
of the drawer than that!” it all happened; that must have been
One glance had showed me that the thirty years ago. My
failings you
bundle contained no securities nor Imow well, of course, but in one sub-
anything of real value, but I tried to ject I never came a cropper, that of
conceal my amusement nevertheless. English literature. This fact came
He contimied; “Those were the veiy near to changing the entire
notes from which I was about to start coui'se of my life. I wonder if I
constructing what I hoped would be should ever have been able to get
Q, very interesting monograph for the used to life in an Indian palace, and
Society for the Investigation of if I should have made a good raja
 TANGLED SKEINS 71

when my turn came. Well, no mat- would never acknowledge him? I do

ter, I was not obliged to, after all,” not like to think, sir,’

I stared, and he went on. “ ‘Well, Chundun, I never realized

“I sat in my study at Magdalen, you were a prince before,’ I replied,
smoking, one evening, when someone ‘but the government will take care of
knocked on the door. As my usual your rights, I have no doubt.’
companions dispensed with that “ ‘Perhaps,’ he said, ‘and per-
formality, I concluded it must be a haps not. As long as there was no
proctor, and rose to open. Instantly general massacre, your government
I regretted rising, for my caller was might keep its hands off. Ours is but
not only merely a fellow student, but a small principality among the hills.
one for whom I cared very little, And with the best of intentions,
although principally for racial rea- troops do not reach a place instantly
sons. He was an East Indian. they are sent. ^Much can be done to
“No one could say that Chundun a woman in a few hours. My mother
had anything wrong with him, yet I is but a small woman.’

strongly preferred my own color and “This last sentence which he in-
race; and, childishly, the fact that I troduced so irrelevantly somehow
had been so courteous as to rise and brought up such a picture of horror
open for him, irked me. that I am still at a loss to account
“ ‘Good evening, Mr. Cumberland,’ for it except bj-^ means of thought
he said in his almost perfect Eng- transference. I had never inquired
lish, ‘May I come in?’ into the details of Indian methods of
“
‘Certainly,’ I growled, resuming torture.
my seat and my
pipe churlishly, but I “I shuddered, and Chundun went
motioned him to a chair. on, almost without a pause; ‘And I

“He and shut the door be-

entered,
can not return to India without my
hind him. With a grace that seemed
degree. My
father expects it.’
“ ‘Naturally,’ I remarked dryly.
a little out of place for some reason
it suggested a panther to me —he “I fancied the dark face fluslied,
but Chundun went on quite calmly,
crossed the room and took the chair
‘I can pass in everything but English
I had indicated.
“
‘I have come to ask you a very
literature. It —
I ask your pardon
fails to hold my attention, my inter-
great favor, he began immediately.
’

est. No doubt the manner of think-

“I frowned and was silent. ing in the two races is too different.
“ ‘I am most anxious,’ he con- This Addison, for example what is —
tinued, ‘to return to my home. Eng- he to me ? I can read him, but after-
land is no place for me. It is too ward I can not answer questions
cold, too cold in every way. My about what I have read. What is it
father is old, very old. He can not to me? Pardon me, it is only non-
’
live long now, we fear. I should be sense.
with him; I should also be at hand
“ ‘Then why not elect something
in case the time comes for me to suc- else?’
ceed to the throne. There are other
“ ‘Ah, but it is too late. I have
sons, older than I (although I am the elected. At the end of this term I
only child of the ranee, and there is should be finished all. I should re-
but one ranee), and if I am not on ceive my degree and return to my
the spot, my father’s throne may be dear father. And so I am asking
polluted by the son of a nautch girl. your help.’
Who knows? And in that ease what “ ‘If you want a tutor I’ll take
would he do to my mother, who you on’ (I had become interested at
72 WEIRD TALES
last), ‘but it’s awfully late to start forsome years with the priests and
in with a tutor now !
’
Brahmins of my country.’
“ ‘Too late,’ Chundun.
replied He relapsed into silence.
*The examination is but a week off, I “My curiosity thoroughly aroused
must use different means. Someone by I wished intensely to
this time,
must take the examination for me.’ ” see what
this intended process could
Cumberland paused for a few be like. I had not the least faith in
puffs, and then smiled at me rue- it, but wanted to see it through, as I

fully: “Now I know just what I should in those days have stayed out
should have done then, as well as you a show in a cheap museum. Also I
do. I ought to have stood up and wanted to lau^ a little at Chundun
showed Chundun the door. But I when he failed. We
agreed to his
didn’t. I was short of funds as plans, which included a large fee to
usual. I needed to return home, not me, part of which he insisted upon
to succeed to my
father’s throne, but paying immediately. His knowledge
to help him with the family excheq- of my finances seemed to me then
uer. Where even the expenses of my almost uncanny. Now I think it is
graduation were coming from I was the most ordinary reasoning.’’
not certain. So, to my shame it is Cumberland laughed. He contin-
spoken, I looked at the Indian with a ued:
sickly smile and answered, ‘Do you “The date for the experiment was
think we look enough alike that with set the day previous to the examina-
some sort of face stain V tion in which Chundun expected in
“ mean nothing so crude as
‘I his own character to fail. I had fin-
that, Mr. Cumberland,’ he rejoined. ished all my own, so was free. He
‘I mean to suggest that we exchange came to my rooms at 8 o’clock that
bodies for the day of the examination evening, and we talked awhile first,
in literature.’ he telling me something of his habits,
“ ‘We what?’ I jumped from my that the next morning Chundun
seat. might not appear to be acting too
“ ‘Do not be so astonished, sir,’ oddly.
“ ‘And what do you call this
went on Chundun smoothly. ‘I am
process, Chundun?’ I asked.
not surprized at your feelings, and “ ‘It is called in India’ (then fol-
am deeply grateful that you have not
lowed a long Indian word instantly
doubted my sanity, as many of your
forgotten) ‘and sometimes’ (another
countrymen would have done. It is ‘In Eng-
unpronounceable name).
true, nevertheless, that I am able to
lish it is termed a metempsychosis,
do this thing in fact I have repeated-
;
but this strikes me as singularly in-
ly done it. I exchanged forms several accurate, as to change souls would
times with a servant in India, and I
be manifestly impossible. The body
do not doubt that with some degree envelope, so readily laid aside uni-
of concentration it can be done equal-
versally at the hour of deatli, can
ly well in England. If it does not
also be laid aside temporarily during
turn out as we expect, we shall be
none the worse off—you in particu-
My soul, however, is indissolubly
life.
connected with my consciousness!’
lar.’
“I agreed with him.
“I flushed silently. “At a quarter before 9, I remem-
“Chundun went on in his clear ber looking at my clock as I lay on
smooth tones: ‘I am not, you see, as my bed. The process of body ex-
densely ignorant of all matters as of change, according to Chundun, was
Engli^ literature. I have studied now about to commence.
 TANGLED SKEINS 73

“I had expected a in a brazier,

fire “Yes,” went on Cumberland, “the
incense, smoke, incantations, and I impossible actually occurred, as one
know not what of mystic ceremonies hears of its doing every once in a
in this I was disappointed. I can not while. My powers of mind and mem-
remember any fear, only a faint sense ory were just what they had always
of amusement and a great curiosity. been (when I recovered from the
Had I been a good Christian in those shock of surprize and terror which
days I should undoubtedly have had accompanied my awaking from the
nothing to do with the whole matter. trance), and although my friend
Had I been even a poor Romanist, I would not allow me to go in my be-
should have protected myself in some wildered state to his rooms to spend
way by prayer. Alas those were my
! the night, but insisted on my occupy-
agnostic days! ing my own bed for the nonce while
“Chundun began proceedings by a he used the couch, in the morning I
brief injunction to me to concentrate —
was quite myself in a brown body.
”
on the matter in hand, and then was “And you took the examination
silent himself.. He was reclining on successfully for the Indian prince?”
my lounge. The body being wholly “To my shame, yes.”
at rest, he said, assisted the powers
“And then changed back, I sup-
of the mind and soul. We
continued
pose ? Most astounding !
’ ’

in sHenee a few minutes, and I began

to get drowsy. Then I heard Chun-
“The next night I spent in my own
dun’s voice a few moments in some rooms also, as Chundun and I agreed
it would be best to stay where one of
sort of singsong chant in what I knew
us knew exactly where everything
to be Hindustani, but could not
was. I could see, though, that my
catch a word of. The voice now
striker was more than astonished to
ceased and I began again to grow
find an Indian spending two nights
sleepy.
“Presently, although the drowsi- with me. He was plainly disgusted.
ness continued, it was strangely per-
“At 5 o’clock the following eve-
ning, thoroughly tired of each other’s
meated by a sense, first of strain, Aen
bodies, we agreed to resume our own,
of giddiness similar to the feeling
when succumbing and, locking the door as before, pre-
to an anesthetic. It
was accompanied now, however, by no pared for the second change. We lay
drumming in the ears. As total un-
down, we concentrated, Chundun
chanted, I became drowsy, and then
consciousness supervened, I was con-
scious of a sense of being lifted in
— nothing more. I awoke out of the
drowsiness (I had not lost my senses
some way. Then I returned to my
completely as at first) to find myself
senses very suddenly, with a feeling
of having been ‘out’ only about a
stillbrown, still a prisoner in a body
not my owm!
minute.
“How can I describe that endless
“'VT’otJ may believe me or not, Gris- night? The repetition of the process,
* wold, I awoke on the couch. I the strained ‘concentrating’ which
looked over to the bed in surprize for one of us knew nothing about in
Chundun, but on it lay a white man reality, the varied incantations in
of a familiar appearance. I sat up Hindustani, all perfectly useless! We
suddenly, and saw that my hands faced the dawn in utter despair,
were brown. I ran over to examine which even Chundun ’s Eastern stoi-
the man on the bed. He was living cism coiild not conceal.
in my own body.” “As we sat there in the gray mist
“So the thing really happened!” of morning, we could make no plans
I interjected. save for the immediate present. The
74 WEIRD TALES
nest night we would both spend in suffer. I was silent. Never could I
his rooms until I became accustomed counsel him to take my place. Could
to where he kept his belongings, and I see ray sisters in the arms of one
then the false life miist continue, un- whose body was a brother to them,
til —
“
what ? but whose soul was that of an In-
‘Perhaps,’ Chundun suggested, dian? No, he must stay away from
‘we are now undxily esliausted. All Deven, I thought.
may go well next time we make the “Most of the timewe were now
attempt to change. In the mean- alone. I suppose Chundun did not
while let us rest, relax, refresh mind act like me, and so was shunned as a
and body.’ changed man by my old cronies. I
“Rest? Relax? With this frightful was too disheartened to care for any
problem eating out our hearts ? company, and no one spoke to me but
Should I never again be myself, never the instructors and a couple of other
again see my family, embrace my Indian students, who, I suspect, knew
mother and sisters? Should I have all, having been confided in by Chun-

to go and be a prince in India? dun. It was manifestly impossible

Loathsome thought! How I should for me to do the same with my
undoubtedly hate the climate and the friends. My troubles would merely
surroundings! I had no fear but have been aggravated by the risk of
that I would make an excellent ruler, being committed to a madhouse.
but this gave me little comfort.
“Chundun being an Indian, I have “Tt was now the day following the
no way of guessing how much of graduating exercises. The pre-
similar import went through his vious day most of the students had
mind. When I met him in the halls departed. I was glad that none of
and grounds of the college, his face my people had been up to the com-
(my face!) appeared unmoved. But mencement; I could not have home
I presume his face which I wore be- it. Today was the latest day I could
trayed my grief conspicuously and with any face start for home. I did
disgraced its real owner. not know if Chundun intended to do
“Our deceitful examination in this for me or not. I could not bear
literature had been the last one to think of him with my family. It
scheduled for either of us. The day was woi-se than the thought of going
of commencement drew on, arrived. to India (I had not even asked the
I received Chundun ’s diploma, and exact location of the kingdom in
he mine. I carried his continually in which he expected me to take his
a pocket. place) and never seeing my dear ones
“That night I went to my old again myself.
rooms to see him. We tried once “I wandered about Oxford in a
more to regain our own bodies it was;
despairing state, unable to make up
in vain. Under a calm exterior, he my mind as to my next move. The
looked haggard and worn. He in- only trouble that I did not have (I
sistedon accompanying me back to felt) was lack of funds, and finally
his rooms, where he divided equals I decided to take train for Liverpool,
between us, come what would, the and ship for America. There at least
thousand or so pounds which he kept I could lose myself among strangers,
there. He declared that if we finally and grief might finally dull itself
failed to regain our own physical en- out. No doubt I should be able to
velopes, I must go to India and take get some kind of work in time. And
up his duties, and he would let his as virtually no one in America was
father know, lest I be found out and acquainted with any of the tongues
 TANGLED SKEINS 75

of India, I should not present the turn the monej'. Then a second and
anomaly of an East Indian unable stronger impulse forced me to un-
word of Hindustani.
to talk a accustomed knees, and to a prayer of
“I repaired to thh railroad station, penitence which was probably the
and bought my ticket for Liverpool. first genuine one I had ever offered.

I took first class that I might be The sweep of utterly new religious
alone. The train did not start for an feeling (I had always hated church
hour. I wandered about waiting. I from a child, probably because I was
had no luggage. I did not know taken to too many services each Sun-
which set of luggage belonged to me, day) seemed to me far the most won-
and was too discouraged to try to derful thing in my whole experience.
find out. And after praying for forgiveness, I
w'as moved to ask also for a deliver-
“As I traversed for the last time
ance from my dreadful predicament.
the well-known streets of the old
town, I was drawn by the strains of
Then, exhausted, I flung myself back
into the pew.
one of Chopin’s nocturnes and found
myself entering a small old church, “I felt drowsy, dreamy; I lost con-
very dark and peaceful, where the sciousness.
organist was giving a most beautiful “Then I awoke with a start. I
recital to himself and the doves in the leaped to my feet. The church would
ivy-covered belfry above. I sank into be locked up for the night, perhaps.
a pew, and seemed to stop thinking. I must find Chundun, I must make
I often wonder now how long that
‘
‘ restitution. I started for the door.
blessed musician played, and I sat “Then I staggered back in sur-
motionless, scarcely knowing who or prize.Where was I? Not in the lit-
what I was, stunned still by my grief, tle old church near the railway sta-
yet comforted by the familiar and tion but in my own room at Magda-
beautiful strains of some of the best len. I fell back into a chair, as-
music ever written by mortals. Final- toimded. I glanced down at my
ly I think I fell asleep. hands.
“Suddenly I came to myself with “They were white!
a start. The music had ceased I was ;
“I was myself again, thanks be to
wide-awake, with my mind unusually God! But where was Chundiin?
clear, clearer far than it had been “It took a few moments of reflec-
since the day I had left my own tion to see that he must have been sit-
body. But what astonished me most ting, probably dozing and receptive,
was that I had also a complete in a chair in my sitting room; and I
change of mind. Not in regard to m3^ upon my return to my o'vvn body had
grief at my dreadful predicament, found my.self thei’o. So he must have
but in regard to my worse than in- awakened in the church. Thither I
difference to the religion of my hastened.
parents. Suddenly I saw myself as “It was still unlocked, but the sex-
I was, and the enormity of my offense ton was about to close it. I a{?ked if
against God and Man in agreeing to I might first see if a friend of mine
a cheat, in taking part in a mystic were there, perhaps asleep. ‘He has
ceremony of whose import I miist just had a great shock,’ I. had the
necessarily be ignorant, in carrying forethought to explain. We went in
out the deception. Come what together, the sexton and I. The
woiild, I thought, I would do what I church was empt3^
could to rectify matters. What should “I came out perplexed. I wan-
I do? The first thing that occurred dered about and then sought the sta-
to me was to find Ohxindun and re- tion. Had an Indian gentleman
76 WEIRD TALES
taken the Liverpool train? lie had. I said, charms don’t work so well
Quick-witted Chundun No doubt away from their native heath. Per-
•
‘
!

he had found the ticket in my pocket haps again, one person had to be
when he came to himself, and fearing dominant at the » first change, the
perliaps even to look once more on other at the second. And I had
myself or the scenes where his Indian always left the responsibility to
enchantments worked only in their Chundun. Perhaps again, the sweep-
first part, he had fled incontinently ing changes of conversion in my own
for home. soul necessitated in some way its also
“I never saw him again, nor heard returning to the body in which it had
from him. He never even sent for been created. No, Griswold, I don’t
the contents of his rooms at the col- explain it. I am only very thankful
lege, and I believe they were finally I am not on an Indian throne at this
.sold at auction. I fancied he wished moment, a place I should be about as
me to have them, but he never left fit to occupy as Pido here. That is
’ ’
any word to that effect, for which I all there is to the story.
was very glad. The cheat was now And he arose and strolled to the
irrevocable, or at least it would have window. It was late. The rain had
served no purpose to have exposed it. ceased. Big Ben was chiming mid-
No doubt Chundun knew far more night.
than the average Oxford don. As “After all,” I said as I rose to de-
for the money, in the course of years part,“Cumberland, I don’t think it
I have paid it to the church —
to mis- is a paper for the society. I am in-
sions in India,” he added with a clined to think it is a sermon.”
smile. He smiled a little ruefully. “Shoe-
“And how do you account for it, maker, stick to your last!” said he.
Cumberland ? ’ ’
“Anyhow it’s a story.”
“I don't, altogether. Perhaps, as And in that Iagreed with him.

A FABLE
By CLARK ASHTON SMITH
O lords and gods that are The assigning tide, upon
1

Some prowless beach where a forgotten fisher dwells.

At length will leave the sea-flung jars of Solomon ;

And he, the fisher, fumbling ’mid the weeds and shells,
Shall find them, and shall rive the rusted seals, and free
The djinns that shall tread down thy towering iron hells
And turn to homeless rack thy proud Reality
That shall re-mold thy pyramids and mountains flown.
And liftAtlantis on their shoulders from the .sea

To flaunt her kraken-fouled necropoli unknown

And lift again those vaster peaks, that saw the veil
Of fire from primal suns on plains ealescent thrown. . . . .

O lords and cods that are ! I tell a future tale.

r^ULTIMAm PROBLEM
bjVlCTOR.
(l.OVJ7fcAV

“Some frenzy must have overcome me

next. I tore away the wires and
overturned the globe.”

D URIN(tthe two years that I

had acted
as secretary to Dr.
Brodsky, assisting him in his
psychical experiments, I had been en-
abled to build up an active medical
His early revolutionary career in
Poland, his struggles in America, at
firstfor the mere necessities of life,
afterward for success finally, the
;

dedication of his career to the solu-

practise of my oum. IMy duties were tion of psychical pi-oblems had sa-
light; often the doctor did not call tiated him with worldly experiences.
upon my services for two or three He was unmarried; his only ties lay,
weeks together. More and more rare- as he had told me, upon the veiled
ly had he done so of recent months, shore of eternity. I felt that life held
and gradually the conviction, sure, nothing further for him.
although intuitive, was borne in upon “Death,” he said to me once, “is
me that the days of our association no result of physical processes. So
were numbered. wonderful a machine is the human
Althofigh comparatively young in
body that there exists no reason at
years, Brod.sky lived tlirough the
all why it should not go on forever.
existences of three ordinary men.
What kills is the satiation with earth-
NOTE—This is the eleventh and last of a ly experiences that comes to us; it is
series of stories, each complete in itself, dealinqr
with Dr. Ivan Brodslcy. **T he Snrcreon of Souls.*' the longing of the soul for its resting
The series began in WEIRD TALES for Septem- place, where it stores up and absorbs
ber, 1926.
78 WEIED TALES
allthe results of its earthly achieve- answer the call, when it comes,” said
ments until it is ready to renew them the doctor. He walked over to his
in some fresli incarnation.” desk and unlocked a drawer. “Here
“And you—are you satisfied?” I is a sealed letter that I have left
ventured to ask. you,” he said. “After my death you
“Not with the world,” he an- will open it.”

swered. “But with my own person- I wondered even then why he did
ality —
yes, I am tired of Ivan Brod-
These incarnations are the
not lock the drawer.
sky. I remembered this conversation the
merest halting places in the soul’s more vividly in the light of subse-
long pilgrimage. I would like to take quent events. It must have been a
up my work afresh, but in a different little more than a week later when he
body, so that I might forget Brodsky, sent for me.
with his hopes and longings and dis- “I am resolved to undertake an ex-
appointments, and face the world periment,” he said, “more difficult
with the fresh anticipations and new than any that I have ever attempted.
faith of a child.” It has been done before; yet it is
“But that is annihilation!” I arduous and uncertain. You have
cried. “All the dreams of immortal- heard of the Indian fakirs who
ity that are the hope of the world, the actually pass over the borderland of
desire for continued personal exist- death, allowing themselves to be
—
ence after death are these all use- buried in a grave, on which the grass
less?” sprouts, only to be revived after a
“By no means,” the doctor an- period of months?”
swered. “The personality persists “You will not attempt such an ex-
after the change called death. It re- periment as that ? ” I cried.
mains so long as it is needed. Rein- “No,” answered the doctor. “It
carnation is not fulfilled until the would be senseless to attempt so fool-
soul has grown tired of its remem- ish an experiment without grave rea-
brances and voluntarily descends, son. Nevertheless, I am planning one
after some thousand years of dreams, somewhat analogous ;
I intend to pass
to gain new experiences. And then, through the gates of death for the
though it puts off the old personality sake of giving back to one who has
forever, the results of its acts remain been deprived of it his inheritance
to modify its new life; shadowj^ re- of the soul.”
membrances flit through tlic brain; “You mean the imbecile!” I cried,
old friends are encountered; besides, suddenly understanding.
in the end, everything is remembered. “Yes,” answered the doctor. “I
“For those who wish continued hope that this will succeed but if my;

personality there is a heaven of rest own death be the result, at least the
where every dream and hope come last act of my
life will have been to
true. But as for myself, I confess, some good purpose.” And I could
if only I could start life again and not dissuade him from his intention.
take up my work in a new body I
should
will this
' be infinitely content.
be long, I believe.”
I kneAv that he alluded to his heart,
Nor
A mong the dozen or more inmates
of Dr. Brodsky’s home, whom
he maintained out of his ovm pocket,
which was somewhat affected yet ;
was an imbecile orphan, some seven
the danger was not imminent nor years of age. This child had never
likely to become so for many years exhibited the slightest sign of intelli-
to come. gence; he lived a purely vegetative
“At any rate, I shall be ready to existence, had never learned to crawl,
 THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM 79

to utter a word. He
did not even Well, in the end, of course, I con-
possess the common animal faculty of sented, though I felt that this would
recognizing one person from another. be the last occasion upon which I
As there existed no apparent cause should look into the doctor’s face
for this defect, no defoi-mity of the while he was alive. Looking back
head or body, and the vital functions now, I think my mind must have been
seemed in perfect condition, many warped; I accuse myself a hundred
theories had been advanced as to the times of having been the cause of
cause of so singular an anomaly. Dr. Brodsky’s death. Yet the first lesson
Brodsky, after studying the child for that he had implanted in my mind,
many months, had finally formulated ever since I first heard him lecture to
his own conclusions. us students at the hospital, was the
“It is one of those rare cases,” he duty of obedience. He had com-
said, “in which, the soul was not born manded and it was for me to obey.
Especially, however, I base my vindi-
'

into the body. It remains shut but,

as you can imagine yourself shut out cation upon that hypnotic power
of your house. Doubtless it is hover- through the medium of which Brod-
ing in close proximity to the mortal sky possessed the ability to compel
form, connected, as it must be, by the me, or anyone else, to obey him.
ethereal ligatures that bind it to the Some days elapsed before the ex-
spinal cord. In this condition, it is periment was made. Brodsky occu-
virtually deprived of its existence pied himself during this interval, as
upon either of the planes ; it is earth- I surmised, in setting his affairs in
bound and spirit-bound. And there order. At last, upon the afternoon
isonly one remedy; some other dis- appointed, I repaired with him to his
embodied soul must assist it. It is laboratory, a long chamber in the
my plan to pass out of the body rear of the house, completely shut off
temporarily and to compel it to in- from all communication with the out-
carcerate itself.”
side. Ordinarily there was no sound
“And if you can not return?” I within, but now a great electrical
cried. engine buzzed and throbbed beside a
“I shall ask your assistance in this low, fiat table, raised only some six
matter,” the doctor answered. “I inches above the floor, and surmount-
shall give you careful instructions, ed by a large bowl of translucent
which you will fulfil to the letter. If, blue, into which the wires entered.
after the lapse of a certain time, you Upon the table the imbecile child sat,
find that these attempts are fruitless, propped up against a flexible pillow
you will break open the letter which of rubber, or some similar non-
I have left for you in the bureau
conducting material, searching the
drawer, and read it.”
room with his large lack-luster eyes.
The doctor stooped over his machine
I can hardly tell how this project
and made his adjustments; then he
affected me. In vain I pointed out to connected a rubber sponge, at the
the doctor the inexpediency, from a termination of a network of wires,
purely utilitarian point of view, of with the child’s spine, and bound it
risking his own life for the sake of there with strips of cloth in such a
giving intelligence to the imbecile. manner that it could not be removed.
But my words were unheeded. I felt He drew another wire, terminating
that in truth this was to be our last in a similar sponge, from the recesses
experiment, that it amounted almost of the machine, and affixed it to him-
to premeditated suicide. I refused self in the same way; finally, ho
to participate in it. united both to the metal base of the
80 WEIRD TALES
globe with a clamp. Immediately the myself and the imbecile child. You
globe became dark and opaqne. will wait until you see the two
“That is the measure of our vital threads of flame appear within the
forces,” he said. “And now I will center of the globe. Then you will
give you your instructions. fling back the lever, and again push
it forward to the notch marked E.
“It was my
intention to ask you
to pi’ess the lever which will send the That will be all your task. The re-
high voltage through our bodies. But versal of the current w’ill again force
in case of any untoward results you each separate soul along the wore
would reproach yourself with being mine, into my own body; and the
my slayer. I shall, therefore, myself imbecile’s, I hope, into his.”
press the lever, and lay upon you “But if you do not awake?” I
only the responsibility of recalling cried.
me to life again. “You then wait until some un-
will
“WhenI press this lever it will usual symptom intervenes, either in
send aciirrent of electricity of the child or in myself. And now I
several thousand volts directly confess that I am sufficiently human
through our bodies. The effect wull to feel a certain sense of apprehen-
be the same as that which is produced sion. So give me your hand remem- ;

by an electrocution. Now it has al- ber, if this should be our last ex-
ways been my claim although the— periment, we have yet many more
authorities of our prisons would parts to play, and lives to play them
never permit me to demonstrate it in; be ready to play your own part
that the man who has suffered elec- sturdily in this.”
trocution can invariably be revived
by the proper methods, since the cur- TTe gripped my hand in farewell.
rent merely paralyzes the nerve cen- My ownanswered the pressure
ters and suspends the vital functions, then I my head and waited.
averted
withoiit destroying any of the tissues. Meanwhile Brodsky, kneeling on the
The criminal who goes to the electric low table, in the position of a Japan-
chair dies, not from the effects of the ese in some old print, about to commit
current, but under the surgeon’s the fatal thrust that should cause
knife. I have especially contrived instantaneous death, braced himself
this instrument for the pui’pose of against the rubber pillow and
proving ray contention, although I .stretched out his hand. I heard the
little imagined at the time I set it soft thud of the doctor’s body as he
forth that I was likely to be the first collapsed sidewuse; and suddenly the
subject. The soul, which is purely opaque globe became a dazzling blue,
electrical, is attached to the body by and blue fire spluttered along the
extremely tenuous, but none the less wires. It was almost too bright for
substantial ligaments, and, tvhen my eyes to look into it. Gradually it
driven out by some violent shock, re- .subsided, the globe became a pearly
mains for some days floating above gray, and therewithin, dimly visible
it, until the ligaments give way and through the glass, were two bright
set it free.By means of this mechan- flames. Butterfly-.shaped, they seemed
ism I claim that the expelled soul can to pursue each other as goldfish in
be conducted along the wire and a bowl, circling and doubling upon
stored within the globe, which is a their courses: now approaching each
perfect vacuum, and where its pres- other, now dancing apart, now fused
ence will be indicated by the appear- into one, elongating, and again re-
ance of a wisp of light. ti-eating to opposite sides of the
“To sum up, ,I shall electrocute globe; yet never for one instant did
 THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM 81

they cease to hover, with poised and cold. More and more slowly moved
pendulous wings. I stole a glance at that butterfly light. It hovered, a
the body of the doctor. He had fallen pitiful, tiny thing, poised in the
upon his side and lay motionless, ap- midst of the globe, which was itself
parently lifeless, his limbs out- changing in color and slowly fading
stretched and stiffened as those of a in brilliancy. Now it was a deep
man in some cataleptic trance, while blue, merging into indigo, and from
at his side, in the same state, the im- the edges black shadows seemed to
becile lay, with glassy eyes wide open. creep forward and envelop that little
Was it indeed possible, I asked my- spark at the heart of it. This became
self, that those two souls, one imbe- but a pin-point of light then it ;

cile, the other a compendium of glowed no more than the burnt-out

knowledge and fineness, should in end of a match. One instant it
reality be those foolish, circling, but- flickered up then it went out abrupt-
;

terfly-shaped lights that hovered and ly, and the globe was utterly dark
danced continually ? I must have and opaque. I placed my hand once
watched them in fascination for fully more on the doctor’s. It was icily
five minutes before I suddenly re- cold, and as I bent over him, I saw
called the doctor’s instructions. the stiffness go out of the muscles
But my hands shook so that I could and the limbs relax.
with difficulty lay them upon the Some frenzy must have overcome
lever. I caught it at last, reversed it, me next. I must have torn away the
and sent it forward again to the wires and overturned the globe, for,
notch E. Instantly the flames
when I came to my senses, nothing re-
divided there came a hiss and splut-
;
mained of the apparatus except the
ter, and the wire was once more
lifelessbulk of the electrical machine,
aflame with the blue light. Then a
while all around me was a wreckage
con\Tilsive trembling seized upon the
of wires. I lifted the doctor’s body
limbs of the imbecile. He gasped,
drew in a long breath, and sat up. in my arms and carried him into his
His eyes fixed themselves gravely on study. I laid him upon a loixnge and
mine. But it was no longer a glance injected strychnin into the veins.
of blanknass, as though there were no There was no response.. I placed my
mind behind the vision. He saw me ear against his heart; did not stir.
it

when I moved, the eyes followed Against his mirror

lips I laid a little
mine, and a current of unintelligible of silvered glass. It was not clouded.
babbling came from between the And suddenly I felt a thing pulling
child’s lips. But Brodsky lay as at my coat. It was the imbecile
when he had fallen, nor was there child it had crawled after me. Then
;

any relaxation in the stiffened limbs. I understood. This was the unusual
A spasm of fear seemed to turn the symptom of which Brodsky had
muscles of my heart to stone.. I spoken. Then I knew that I had ex-
stared into the bowl. There was but hansted all my resources. I rushed
one light there now, a tiny, fluttering to the telephone and summoned medi-
thing, that seemed each moment to cal aid. Hours afterward, as it ap-
become more and more attenuated. peared to me, though it was in reality
It danced more feeblj% beating from only a matter of minutes, a doctor ar-
side to side in inefficiency, now dart- rived. I tried to stammer out some
ing back, now dancing forward once explanation, but he cut me short.
again to where the wires entered the “Heart disease,” he pi’onounced.
vacuum. I bent over the body of the “I warned him only last week that he
doctor, chafing the hands in vain; I must be prepared. There will be no
”
touched the cheeks, now growing need of an autoiisy.
82 WEIRD TALES
“But the soul!” I stammered. make my most difficult experiment, to
‘
The soul in the glass globe
‘
!
’ ’
go through the gates of death and to
The doctor looked at me gravely. search out and bring back with me
“You must lie down and rest,” he tlie soul of the imbecile child. For-
answered. ‘
It must have been a
‘ give me for having made -this state-
great shock to you.” So I knew that ment. It was an impossibility. The
my words would go for less than electric current that I sent through
nothing. my own body with my owm hand de-
stroyed once and for all the vital
T WAS ill for weeks
after that. powers. Nothing on earth could have
A Friends took charge of the fu- restored them. I tell you this in order
neral, friends whom Brodsky had that you may not think you were
aided, who appeared in countless remiss or negligent in your endeavors
numbers from unexpected quarters. to resuscitate me. The two flames that
The funeral partook almost of the you will doubtless have seen within
character of a public demonstration. the globe were not the souls, but only
Even I had never known the extent those N-rays which are given forth
of Brodsky’s benefactions. Even the from all living tilings, whether men,
physicians of the town, who had re- beasts or trees. When the last flame
garded him more or less with sus- went out the organism was dead be-
picion, participated in the cere-
yond possibility of recall.
monies. The newspapers were tilled “The child revived because the
with long accounts of tlie dead man’s current was so graduated that it
works; his psychical researches were merely stunned, without destroying,
dismissed lightly, but not contemptu- that duller organism. Had it been
ously, as the vagaries of a great of a force proportioned to that which
thinker, the relaxations of a scientist. passed through my own body, noth-
When the will was read I found that ing could have revived him. But now,
I had been left sole executor and to explain more fully what it was my
chief legatee. The remainder of the intent to do, and what I hope and
doctor’s fortune was to go to endow think that I have done.
the home which he had established. “As I have told you, I knew that
Then, one day, while looking no power on earth could bring the
through the doctor’s papers, I came soul into the child’s body. It was, in
upon a sealed letter addressed to me. fact, born soulless, nothing more than
I had forgotten all about it in the a vital organism. It was my purpose,
strain that I had gone through. then, in dying, to transfer my oivn
Hastily I broke the seal and read identity into that child’s body, so that
“You must pardon me, my dear while the Ivan Brodsky whom you
friend,” ran the letter, “if for the knew disintegrated slowly, according
second time I have wilfully deceived to the natural processes of the body,
you. The fii’st occasion, as you will his spirit might gain a new lease of
remember well, was when you first life and grow to manhood, forgetful
came to me, when I hypnotized you of the old ills and troubles, eager to
in my
study for the purpose of turn- fulfil the work that I had laid down

ing your mind from the gloomy for myself.

thoughts of suicide that possessed “I leave him in your care. Doubt-
you. On this occasion I felt impelled less within a few days he will begin
to say less than the truth for fear to manifest a human intelligence. As
that you would attempt to dissuade he grows older he will have vague
me from my purpose. memories of my own life. He will
“I told you that I intended to repay your care with the truest affec-
 THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM 83

tion, since I myself shall be his inspir- and, after some fumbling, found and
ing spirit, and this, you Imow, I feel pressed the secret spring. drawer A
for you. He will have, also, strange flew back.. In it I found a typewrit-
reminiscences, will recall faces of per- ten paper, half covered with dried
sons strange to him, but known to me. rose petals. I unfolded it and began
These recollections you will discour- slowly to read. ... I read till the day
age. Remember that he is a new was gone. . . . Then I committed it to
being, whose life is as yet an unwrit- the flames.
ten page, and that tte past must For I felt, and still feel that, many
remain sealed to him through all his as were the evils which Brodsky
life. cured during the brief period of our
“Train him, then, in the medical association, the world is better off
profession, and guide his mind so without this knowledge of his. The
that when he reaches maturity he risks were too many. And, after all,
will voluntarily take up those studies as he had always said, this is a world
of mine where I have dropped them. of light ; there is a long eternity when
I have embodied these in a tjrpewrit- we shall be shut off from external
ten document which you will find in activities, when the things of the soul
a secret drawer at the back of my only will be of account. Let us not
bureau.” [Here followed instruc- meddle with them here, but go about
tions for opening it.] “In these in- our appointed tasks in the manner set
structions you will learn much that I for us.
have never told you of, things that in The boy is growing to manhood.
the hands of evil men might plunge Already he is planning to enter the
the whole world into barbarism and medical school; I find in him odd
shake down the pillars of civiliza- traces of Brodsky, odd flashes of
tion.” [Here followed some purely memory and intuitive appreciation of
personal instructions.] “But above the things Brodsky cared for. But I
all, remember that I leave everything discourage all his interest in the
to your absolute discretion, since all realm of psychic things. It may be
things are appointed to their own that his will will prove stronger than
end, and if my hopes are vain, noth- mine, that he will succeed in taking
ing can bring them to fruition.” up the doctor’s w’ork where Brodsky

W
while.
HEN I had finished reading this
letter I sat thinking for a long
Then I went to the bureau
abandoned it. In such event I shall
give w'ay; until that happens I shall
fulfil my trust in the spirit of my
own interpretation.
A Story of the Australian Gold Diggings

THE EL DORADO
OF DEATH
By PERCY B. PRIOR

T he brothers Wakeford
worked together in a South
Australia^ chemical factory.
There was a strong bond of sympa-
thy between them, they were insep-
Range, and of a thin wisp of stream
that meandered through it, in the
dry bed of which, near a certain
gnarled and aged tree, gold-dust,
plenty of it, glittering in the sand,
arable pals. Both of an adventurous could be scooped up in handfuls.
disposition, they chafed at the re- In proof that his story was not an
strictions of city life, and constantly hallucination he showed the brothers
planned to go prospecting. Like all a small quantity of the precious
young men, and not a few elderly metal in a tobacco tin, and also gave
ones, they dreamed of earning easy them a plan of the gully roughly
money. Working merely in order scrawled on a scrap of paper, with
to make a bare living did not coin- full directions for reaching it. They
cide with their ideas of what life was were astonished that he made no en-
meant for. We have all of us, at deavor to sell them his secret, in-
some time or other, experienced this stead of divulging it gratuitously.
feeling. His explanation, however, seemed
One evening, while they were reasonable enough. He had for
drinking together, they fell into con- years, he said, been a martyr to
versation with a bearded man, rheumatism, but, hopeful of shaking
bronzed and weather-beaten, gaunt it off sufficiently to go gold-hunting
and keen-eyed. They thought, at again, he had never mentioned the
first, that he was merely one of those gully and its auriferous creek-bed
pests always to bo found hanging to a living soul. Alone in the world,
around hotels, but were not long in and no longer hopeful of recovery,
discovering their error. he saw' no reason why its where-
Many of his reminiscences were abouts should continue to remain a
concerned with prospecting. He had secret.
sought for gold along the banks of Their meeting with the old pros-
creeks in lonely bush gullies, and pector inflamed imaginations and
many were the stories he told the roused dormant aspirations. Sudden-
two Wakefords of perils and hard- ly deciding to throw off their shack-
ships, of occurrences — grim, some of les, they left their chemical factory,
—
them, others ludicrous that, by and purchasing a tent, blankets, and
turns, had gladdened and sad- other equipment, set out in search of
dened his adventurous wanderings. their El Dorado.
Warmed by their hospitality, the old They could not have selected a
bushman told them, among other more inopportune time to begin their
places, of a valley in the Macdonnell quest. The heat that summer was
84
 THE EL DORADO OF DEATH 85

phenomenal. Unused to hardships pains, and a strained and ovei:-

that would have tried the stoicism of wrought state of mind by reason of
hardened bushmen, the brothers which he was on the verge of hysteria,
Wakeford trudged onward, with the younger Wakeford, controlling
their heavy packs, the sun blazing himself by an effort of will, deter-
fiercely down upon them. Their feet, mined to await, resolute and alert,
which had never previously been the issue of events which he somehow
called upon to carry them as far in felt, without knowing how or why,
a week as now, tramping from dawn were impending.
to dark, in heavy blucher boots, they The elder brother, overcome by
were compelled to travel every day, weariness, fell into a deep and dream-
became blistered and raw. Insects lessslumber.
of many kinds, some of them poison-
Wakeford, the younger, was aroused
ous, bit and stung the two men with
toward midnight from a revery by
persistency.
feeling that someone or something
At last the younger brother, half- had entered the tent. Raising his
crazed by the heat and parched with eyes, he beheld bending over him a
thirst, became too ill to proceed tall figurein white, which signed to
farther, and a camp was made in a him to follow. He rose immediately,
drear and lonely spot, beside a stag- and, the white-robed figure leading
nant pool, in a forest of dead and the way, they began to traverse a
gaunt gum-trees that raised bleached succession of damp and dark corri-
branches as though in supplication dors, seemingly endless, until they
to a relentless and white-hot sky. reached, at last, an enormous cav-
A more appropriate scene for a ern, filled with a moonlike radiance,
tragedy, indeed, could scarcely be where dancing was in progress.
imagined. Athunderstorm, at first
Strains of weird music were pierced
muffled and far away, crept even
by a continuous strange and staccato
closer, and finally crashed above tiie
clicking sound, like the turbulence of
tent of the two unfortunates, who, castanets.
weakened by privation and comatose
Bewildered and dazed by the
with fatigue and despair, huddled
inside it. The storm intensified the sudden transition from darkness and
desolation, the melancholy, and the
desolation to the glittering and
loneliness, filling them with a sense crowded hall of festivities, it was
of foreboding, as though of some im- some moments before Wakeford the
pending calamity. younger was able to comprehend in
The younger Wakeford ’s suffer- its entirety what was going on.
ings, in particular, were intense, When he did so, he was chilled to the
much more so than those of his bone with horror, for the white-robed
brother, for, besides being weak and figures, gliding hither and thither
light-headed for want of proper across the crystal floor, were skele-
nourishment and as a result of ex- tons, and the curious and continu-
posure to the pitiless sun, he was a ous staccato sound which resembled
nerve-racked and under-vitalized fel- castanets was the clicking of their
low, moody and imaginative. fleshless jaws.
The music ceased, and the couples

N ight, illuminated by flashes of

lightning and made hideous by
the cannonading of warring clouds,
separated,
benches of
seating themselves upon
iridescent stalagmites
ranged round the walls. Then, after
closed round the desperate wayfarers. a brief interval of awful and un-
Despite the uproar, aches and broken silence,' the invisible musi-
1
86 WEIRD TALES
eians commenced again, and the young Wakeford, whose legs alone
skeletons, to a different rhythm this seemed stricken with paralysis,
time, began once more to glide about pulled a revolver from his holster,
the cavei’n floor. and, levelling it at the tall and
Young Wakeford was petrified ghostly specter, pulled the trigger.
with terror. The white-robed figure With the shock of the report, the
he had followed into the cavern dreadful dream was shattered. The
seemed taller than any of the others, cavern with its gho.stly radiance, its
and to be in a position of command. fearsome and ghastly dancers, and
It now ordered him, by signs, to se- the threatening specter, all had van-
lect a partner for the next dance ished. Wakeford, the younger, was
from the hideous throng surrounding back in the tent again, staring, dum-
him. founded, at his elder brother, who
Horrified, he shrank from it, tried lay bleeding from a bullet wound in
to run, but, held by some strange the chest, and gasping out his life.
power, was unable to move from Scarcely had the elder Wakeford
where he stood. breathed his last before another shot
Irritated, the tall figure, turning rang out. The two brothers ended
upon him threateningly, raised its the journey as they had begun it
arm to strike. Quick as thought together.

AS ALWAYS By A. LESLIE
“Behold, the face that launched a thousand ships!”
Thus sang the ancient bard, of Trojan Helen.
And the young men gathered.
Each to hear, and each to dream his chosen dream
Of Helen, and to give
Her face and form to his own fancy and desire.

For Helen lived in many lands

And Helen’s hair was softly brown.
And black as dream-clouds, and as gold
As summer sunlight of the dawn;
And Helen smiled where’er the night
Strode grandly down the stairway of the stars.

And this was thrice two thousand years agone!

But still the young men gather close to hear
Of Trojan Helen, and to dream their dreams.
For Helen lives, and Troy bums,
And Odysseus sails westward to the setting sun.
 T WAS accidental, my meeting A hotel taxi was at the curb, and
the Chapmans at Tampa. had as I crossed the walk toward
I been doing Florida, as most
I
Avhom should I almost bump into but
it,

everybody does at least once, had —

Bstey Chapman and as I had every
gone down the east coast, and on to —
reason to suppose Estelle Morse?
Havana in a Key West packet. I They had just come out of a shop.
was now on my way north np the Chapman’s arms laden with pur-
west side of the peninsula. T found chases, and were on the point of
that the real estate selloi’s of the east climbing into their car, parked in
side of that incomparable sand-drift front of the store.
haven’t anything on those of the west I must have .stood in open-mouthed
side, if anybody should ask you. nonplus througli a heartbeat or so
But the trip had all been ditfei’ent when 1 recognized them. Then my
enough from selling farm machinery amazement was swallowed up in our
ill Saskatchewan, which was my own mutual greetings. Chapman put me
specialty, and as I went down the right, in a bashful way, when I ad-
hotel steps on the way to the railroad dressed Estelle as Mrs. Morse.
station I carried, besides my travel- —
“Mrs. Chapman now,” he stam-
ing bag, an equally heavy regret that mered, across his armful of parcels.
my week in Tampa was up. They both laughed, easily, at my
87
88 WEIRD TALES
momentary funk. One risks a con- I found everything lovely inside
tretemps or two, losing one ’s self for though large, brightly lighted rooms
years, as I had done in the North- — ^the
:

lighting was really extraordi-

west. I had left Estelle happily mar- nary —and the rich furnishings were
—
ried to Professor Morse an event and in taste.
of the best,
following close on our university as- “You’ll have a nice place of this,
—
sociation and Chapman burning the when you’ve had time to grow some
midnight electricity trying to break trees,” I said to Chapman that eve-
into print. ning, as we sat outside at sunset,
“You’ll have to come up to the smoking.
house and hear the whole story,” “We have all the trees we are
Chapman said, turning to the car to likely to have, soon.”
rid his arms of the parcels. There Avas abstraction in the man-
Estelle nodded sweetly in confir- ner of his reply, Avhich, I thought,
mation. Everything Estelle did was presaged the story I knew he had
done sweetly. to tell me. I had sensed his attempts
“But I was on my way to the sta- to get a start on it, all afternoon, and
man!” I half objected.
tion, had wondered what there could be
Chapman wouldn’t listen to me. about it that was so deucedly hard to
He waved me into the tonneau seat tell. But if he Avas at the door of the
Avith Estelle, while he sat with the thing now he Avas diverted again, for
driver, his big back squarely in front at the approach of the sudden dusk
of me. Chapman was massive. He of Florida latitudes, he started up
had played center on the football suddenly Avith a seared look and an
team in his last two years at college. exclamation that we must go to join
Estelle had kept something of her Estelle.
old-time vivacity; but it seemed sub- We found her in the music room,
dued, as though it might have run just seating herself at the piano.
the gantlet of no telling what repres- Something told me that if we had
sive memories. She had, to my taste, not come when we did the instru-
more than ever of brunette loveli- ment beneath her hands would have
ness, yet she didn’t look just fit, summoned us. A sense of queemess
somehow, and I noticed that Chap- struck me the instant we entered the
man helped her into the car as room. It was the lights, I think. All
though she were an invalid. I the electric bulbs in the room, and
couldn’t chaff her, as I once would there were ten times too many, were
have done. There was some subtle beaming garishly. I suspected Chap-
quality in her manner that stopped man or his wife of an odd passion for
me. We talked of the old days, but light, light, and yet more light, as
we did so a little pensively. though gloom or .shadow were a
The car traversed the city’s streets deadly gas that must be kept off.
and its citrus-screened outskirts, One of the maids was with Estelle
coming to a halt at last beside a when we entered. I noticed that.
sandy plot bordered in the distance But she withdrew when we came in,
with scrub pines. In the midst of as though she had been there merely
the plot .stood the Chapman resi- to keep her mistress from being
dence, bare and bleak, sans veranda, alone.
sans stoop, and even sans shade trees. Estelle played for us until dinner
It was just a great plain unrelieved was announced. After ditmer, the
cube, with no projections of any three of us recalled old friends, trac-
kind about it save the cornices. ing this or that one to his or her sue-
 THE MYSTERY OP SYLMARE 89

cess or failure. We
went over a lit- believe that plants have not only
tle of Chapman’s work. A good deal feeling but a kind of mentality, or at
of it I had never seen, though it was least consciousness, and at the last
now being published. I had been out he became next to noisy on the sub-
of touch with most prints for years. ject of chlorophyl and its powers.”
Chapman stopped and stared at
stelle left us at 10 ;30, avowedly the floor. I shook my head, at what
E to let us smoke without making he had told mo about Morse, and
her coiigh, but really, I knew quite wondered, meanwhile, how much of
well, to clear the way for Chapman’s the story I was to be cheated out of
disclosures, thatseemed so hard for by his intimate relation to it.
him to disclose. The thing he told “When Mouse’s mother died,” he
me could not have been told with her resumed, “she left him the old home
present. That’s certain. We went place in Sylmare, on the northeast
to Chapman’s den. It was already coast. He and Estelle used to spend
bedtime, and Chapman made no their vacations there. It’s a sleepy
more false starts. old town, but something of a sum-
“Had Morse shown any signs of mer re.sort for a few' New York and
of overstudy, before you went Boston people who like to dodge the
Wests’’ he asked doubtfully, when expense or the clatter of the more
we were settled in easy chairs. popular places. There’s a w'riters’
and artists’ summer colony some
“No.” My answer was prompt; eight miles up the coast from Syl-
but, on his remaining silent, I recon-
mare, and I spent my summers there,
sidered: “That is, he always
what time I w'asn’t w'ith the Morses.
seemed intent on his work, when at
work, but he was able apparently to
I was there —
at the Avriters’ roost
when the thing happened.
forgot it when away from it.’’
“It happened in June. The Morses
“So he was. once,’’ Chapman had visited Estelle’s people in At-
agreed. “But later on, his intensity lanta at the end of the .school year,
at his work grew on him, while he Morse going North a week in advance
way of letting go of
lost entirely his of his wife, to get together a corps of
itwhen he knocked off. Finally, he servants and put the old house in
developed a tendency to di’ag his in- order. Estelle never liked mu.ssing
fernal science into everything that around a house. Morse telephone(l
came up in everyday life. That got me, on his arrival, and I went dowm
to be devilish unpleasant for Estelle, the next day in my motor-boat. I
and, as T seemed the only one w'ho knew that Estelle w'ould want me to
could fetch him out of it even tem- be with him as much as I could,
porarily, they had me a])out as miieh while she w'as not.
as possible. It was Estelle’s doings. “T found the house topsyturvy in
But Morse wanted me, too. T think the hands of the cleaners. To get
he felt that he was going a gait, away from the dust and litter, Morse
mentally. and I went out for a spin in his car.
“His hobby eventually ran to “The road ran along the foot of a
—
botany that is, to that phase of bot- cavelike forest that covered the hill.
any that considers its relation to It used to be a fancy of Morse’s that
biology in general. Ho delved into a dweller on some other planet,
vegetable sentiency, and vegetable wholly unacquainted with our forms
—
consciousness can you imagine it? of life, w'ould, on coming to Sylmare,
— and even into vegetable mobility! be sure to think the trees the real life
He finally came to more than half of the place, and that the people go-
90 WEIRD TALES
ing about beneath them were some hole in his right temple, and the girl
sort of rather unimportant parasitic bore a wound quite like it. The queer-
form. At any rate, the gloomy old est thing of all, however, was the
town on the sea slope was dark and great number of scratches and slight
dim with the shade of maples, wounds on their faces, their hands,
beeches and elms, and its steep and their wrists.
streets rumiing down to the shell “ ‘The Ellis boys were like that!’
road along the beach were very like I heard a woman near me whisper to
grottoes in some half-lit cavern with another.
sloping floor. “ ‘Mrs. Van Scoyk, too!’ the other
“Imagine, now, a lot of men and answered, with a straight, wild look.
women running down those dim ‘And Barry, also, I heard.’
aisles beneath the trees toward the
old wharf on the bayshore, and you
“The coroner came pushing
through the crowd about the wharf.
have a part of that which brought
His examination disclosed nothing
our forty mile an hour clip in
Morse’s car to a sudden stop.
we had not already seen, save a re-
“ ‘Something’s gone wrong, here, volver with two empty chambers ly-
ing in the bottom of the boat. He
Ed!’ I exclaimed, turning to Morse
gave directions for the removal of
as the car slowed up.
the bodies. As they carried the girl
“I don’t think he heard me at all.
out of the boat, one of her dead,
nis face was turned to the whai’f,
drooping hands still grasped and
and his vibrant, ashen lips were ar-
carried a small bag of fir tips, such
ticulating, ‘It’s another! It’s an-
as are used for stuffing aromatic pil-
other ’ !

lows. Eyes filled, at that sight.

“lie unlatched the ear door and
jumped Somehow, that was the most pa-
out, hurrying toward the
wharf. I was at his heels, the chauf-
thetic thing about the whole solemn
scene.
feur at mine.
“A fisherman’s rowboat was “I turned Morse for an explan-
to
drawn up at the wharf, and it had ation, but he shook his head, at ray
in tow a small motor-boat. In the questioning look, and led the way si-
last, as we drew nearer, we could lently to the group about the fislier-
see the bodies of a youth and a girl. man who had brought in the boats
“ ‘My God!’ Morse and was now telling and retelling
gasped, stop-
ping short and gazing stilly at the his story.
“ ‘I was ’boxit seven miles down
two forms in the boat. ‘It’s Prank
Kirby and Alta Cline!’ coast when I see their boat driftin’
“I heard the ehautfeur whisper out to sea, engine dead and nobody
an oath as we -went on toward the rowin’. I could see ’em layin’ as you
wharf. saw ’em, here. They was so still that
“The youth and the girl looked I rowed up to ’em, tryin’ to make
about nineteen or twenty. They out Avhat was wrong. Bixt when I
were dressed for outing. The boy got near enough to see them
had on a Naval Reserve uniform, scratches on their faces, I went weak
queerly shot with little pricks and as a eat; for I saw the Ellis boys,
rents of the fabric, and the girl’s and Barry, too. It was all I could
knickers bore the same strange do to nerve myself up to towin’ ’em
marks. Her bobbed brown hair lay in.’ He shook his head and started
about her sweet set face like a lovely up the beach.
soft frame about a picture. The “ ‘You had no means of judging
youth had a powder-smoked bullet- how far they had drifted?’ Morse
 THE MYSTEEY OF SYLMAEE 91

asked, as we walked beside the man indirectly, of a number

of others.
toward the road. They are all without a parallel that —
“ ‘No; but I saw ’em leave the I can find —
in human experience.
’

wharf, this morning. They was gay “I shivered and shook my head,
as two kids, then. Is it so, they was moving my chair nearer to his in the
to bemarried next fall?’ great, gloomy library.
“ ‘Yes, it’s true, I believe,’ Morse “ ‘The first of the more recent
replied gravely, following me to the cases,’ he went on, ‘was that of Mrs.
car. Van Scoyk. You didn’t know the
“ ‘What in the name of heaven do Van Seoyks?’
you make of this, Ed?’ I asked, as “ never heard the name until
‘I
our machine moved away. today. It was whispered, then.’
“He shook his head, silently. “ ‘They summered here, or rather,
‘ ‘
But what did they mean about
‘
— she did. Van Scoyk ran out from
the Ellis boys, and Barry?’ the city usually Friday nights, go-
—
“ ‘It’s a long story too long to ing back Mondays. She went in for
tell here.’ His eyes were on the boating; she was, in fact, an expert
driver, meaningly. I didn’t know, with the oars.
then, as he did, that every servant in
“ ‘I was away when the Van
the town was already on the verge Scoyk affair happened. It was last
of pulling up stakes and leaving, be- summer. Mrs. Van Scoyk had been
cause of this strange, deadly thing out on the bay in her rowboat. To-
that was killing people right and left ward evening, a passing boatman
among them. True, these two latest saw her leap from the shore into the
victims had evidently ^killed them- water. This, mind you, was in sight
selves but everyone seemed sure
;
of her splendid summer home on the
that it was The Thing that had North Bluff. She had everything to
brought it about. live for. The Van Seoyks were
“ ‘Let’s go home,’ Morse suggest- wealthy.
ed. ‘I don’t feel in the mood for a
“ ‘It came out at the inquest that
drive, now.’ several of her acquaintances had
‘
‘
I nodded
assent, and he gave the passed her as she iwved up the bay
order to the driver. on her way home, but she paid not
the slightest attention to any of their
“TI^hen we got back to the house greetings. She seemed dull and
^ » we found the library, at least, —
dazed dead alive, as one witness ex-
out of the hands of the dusters, and pressed it.
went into it. Morse was moody. It “ ‘The boatman raced to her to
seemed an effort for him to begin the get her out of the water, calling an
disclosures I felt he had brought me alarm as he did so but she could not
;

there to make. be revived. She was dead. On the

“ ‘In the first place,’ he began, at beach near by was her boat, and in
last, when he saw that I couldn’t or the deep sand near the waterside she
wouldn’t talk of anything else, ‘the had molded with her hands a shal-
two victims you saw at the wharf low grave, on which sheiiad placed a
just now are merely the latest of a bouquet of wild flowers.
long series, though I’ll admit that “ ‘Now comes the strangest part
they have affected me more than has of this strange ease: Mrs. Van
any of the others, because of their Scoyk ’s clothing was all pricked and
carefree youth and their promise of torn, and her face and hands were
life and love an^ happiness. But T covered with mysterious scratches
know of six such cases, directly and.
;
and small wounds, like those of the
92 WEIRD TALES
two j^ou just now saw at the wharf had shot himself with a small rifle
I suppose you noticed that detail?’ w'hieh he kept at the barn for killing
“‘Noticed it! T was so struck rats. Now, listen: Barry’s face and
with it that I saw little else — save hands and clothes bore the same queer
marks that the others had borne!’
the bag of fir tips.’
“ ‘The “If Morse meant to impress me, he
fir tips . . . yes. That is
. .something.’
. Morse had evi- succeeded. I sat staring from the
dently forgotten my presence for the library window into the gloom be-
moment, and -was staring at the floor neath the shrubbery without, almost
in deep thought. as still and breathless as those forms
“ ‘I have studied closely three of I had seen lifted from the boat.
the five cases that have occurred When I at last looked up, Morse
since that of Mrs. Van Scoyk,’ he went on speaking.
went on. coming out of his abstrac- “ ‘But of all the victims of this

——
tion. ‘The Ellis boj'S you heard mysterious, baffling thing, those of
Gibbs mention them ? w'ere two lads today are the most touching. They
of tw’elve and fourteen. They, too, were at the brink of life’s sweetest
were drowned. They had been out period, the mating time. There was
clamming, but had come in and had no opposition to their love affair. I
tied up their boat in its usual place. am as sure as one can be of anything,
Even at tliat, their death must have almost, that there was not a cloud in
been attributed to accident, but fo)‘ their sky Avhen Briggs saw them
the fact that, when their bodies were leave thfe wdiarf this morning!’
recovered, their faces, hands, and “ ‘In God’s iiame, Ed, what can it
clothes bore those same strange
be ? I cried out, springing up to pace
’

marks! Foul play, of some queer,

the floor.
crazy kind, was suspected. I looked
for the affair to get into the head-
“He shook his head. ‘Not one
lines of the metropolitan press, but
word has anyone ever heard any of
them speak, between what happened
it didn’t.
“ ‘The Barry ease happened
— if anything happened
’
—
and their
death.
shortly Barry was a
afterward.
bachelor who
lived with his unmar- —
“ ‘Their wounds suggest a fight
ried sister, about half a mile up the with some bird or beast,’ I hazarded.
coast. He was a farmer, a close- “He looked at the floor, in thought.
fisted one who wanted his owui, and a ‘I can’t think it,’ he replied at last,
man who apparently hadn’t a raising his gaze to mine. ‘The
thought above his meager daily sav- scratches arc superficial, and there
ings. But Barry had one -weakness seems no sign of the claw or talon
fishing. He had spent the whole of about them.’
the day of his death somewhere on
“ ‘Has no search of the vicinity
the bay. fishing. Plenty of people been made?’
saw him rowing home “ ‘No. It’s been talked of, but
at nightfall;
but he stared straight ahead in the well, for what would one search, in a
same half-dead way that Mrs. Van case of this kind?’
Seoj^k had done, answering the hail “That silenced me, for the mo-
of no one. ment.
“ ‘Well. Barry
“ ‘But that is not the real reason a
never reached
home; that is. he reached the prem- search has not been made,’ he went
ises, but not the house. His sister, on. ‘There’s the danger that a
hearing a shot, ran out to the barn- search would result in —more fatali-
lot, where she found him dying. He ties.’
 THE MYSTERY OF SYLMARE 93

“ ‘I’m willing to risk it,’ I ven- wounds we have seen, and I suspect
tured grimly. that three of the others did. Their
“ ‘Not alone!’ he objected, star- bodies were never recovered from the
tled by my remark. bay. Four of the eleven went in
“ ‘Well, with pairs, and. were fishermen, without, I
a party, then.’
“ ‘A party would be hard to should say, a thought above their
handle, hard to control. It would daily catch!’
“ ‘There’s something deadly ab-
destroy more evidence than it gath-
ered. Besides, a party would look normal about it, Ed,’ I mused aloud,
siUy, when you don’t know what peering at the floor.
you’re hunting for. A still hunt —
“ ‘Yes ^if the extremely rare, or
would be better.’ —
possibly the unique, is abnormal,’
“I took that as a sort of a chal- he countered.
lenge. ‘I’ll go with you, if you like,’ “He plainly was at his theorizing
I said. again, and I thought I might as well
“ ‘When?’ go to the bottom of it. ‘You have
“I considered. I had an unfin- an idea about it, Ed?’ I half asked.
ished article overdue, and an idle “He hesitated, standing with one
typist up at the colony drawing pay foot on a chair to gaze gloomily
while she flirted with no telling through a window. ‘Nothing credi-
which one of the other scribblers or ble, Estey,’ he replied, at last. ‘Noth-
dabblers. ing that I would care to advance,
“ ‘Would the day after tomorrow even to you.’
do?’ I asked. “There was but one thought in
“ ‘Perfectly. I have all the time either of our minds, I’m sure, when
there is.’ I left him, a few minutes later, and
“He had become laconic, but I that was our proposed search for a
could see that he was still tense and thing that I, at least, hadn’t the
nervous. To relieve the strain, I least idea of what we were searching
asked: ‘These other cases you men- for. He intended no publicity, no
tioned, outside of those you have unnecessary risk, no self-sacrifice, at
looked into, where did you learn of that time. I’m sure of that.”
’
them ?
“ ‘In the files of the local news- HAPMAN took up a cut-glass de-
paper. I went to the bottom of the C canter from the desk beside us
entire moldy heap. Fifty-four years 1 and went into a tiny lavatory just
A fire had destroyed everything up off the den for a turn of fresh water.
to 1867.’ He was walking the floor, It was a hot night. As he came oxit
now, his eyes gleaming like those of of the lavatory he snapped a switch,
an ecstatic. and I saw the lights in the library
“ ‘What did you find in the files?’
go out.
I demanded. “They’re all in bed,” he said.
“‘I found eleven mysterious ‘
‘
There ’s no use having the place lit
deaths in the fifty-four years!’ he up like a power house.”
hurled at me, stopping short in his We drank some of the water, and
uneasy prance across the floor. ‘Too Chapman lit another cigar. I had
many for one small towi,’ he added. had enough of smoking.
‘I found, too, that all but one of them “Morse intended to play square,”
happened in summer, and they all Chapman resumed. “T am positive
exhibited a strangely identical lack of that. But when my telephone bell
of cause. Four of the eleven are rang at an unearthly hoiir of the
known to have borne the strange morning we were to go on our search.
94 WEIRD TALES
I knew that something had gone awry. pause an instant, then bring up its
I got up and went to the instrument. trailing rear, as though it were a
Its metallic whine, as aloof and im- dragged burden.
personal as though it was giving out “The worm brought to my mind
the weather forecast, let me know one of Morse’s favorite arguments:
that a milkman, early astir, had found that its kind are a significant con-
]\Iorse sitting at a raised window of necting link between the two great
his study, dead divisions of life, animals and plants,
“I threw on my clothes and ran its imperfect mobility relating it to
out to t^e boathouse. I had a key. the one and its green color pointing
There was a line of daylight low in plainly to the other. He believed
the northeast, but no one was up. It that its alternate movement of first
was supposed to be a fifteen minute one part of its body and then the
j'un to Sylmare, but I must have other wms due to its scant dole of
jerked the painter througli a stay- mobile energy, sufficient only to ani-
I'ing in the old wharf at tlie foot of mate half its body at a time.
the town in ten minutes at the most. “I turned from the window and
‘
‘
it was, a crowd of towns-
Early as went into the house. Everything
folk had gathered outside the win- was just as it had been the last time
dow of Morse’s study when I arrived. I saw him —everything but Ed him-
They fell back in whispering groups self. The familiar appointments of
beneath the trees as I entered the the study, the books on their shelves,
gate. Naturally, Morse’s death, fol- the writing machine on its stand, the
lowing so close on that of Frank Kir- pens gleaming dully in their wire
by and Alta Cline, had fallen on them holder, seemed only to accentuate the
with cumulative effect. They were dead man’s inability to move. He
awed. In the dim light under the was now like them —
inert. Somehow,
irees they looked as might a group of they brought out the fact, subtly,
I>rimitivemen, huddled in the face that he was still all there except that
ef some unknown, mysterious danger. mystei’ious quality called conscious-
“I approached the window slowly ness, with its accompanying parallel,
and in extreme dread, stopping short the power to move.
when I reached it, to stare fixedly “There were two doctors in the
into Ed’s face as at the Medusa! It town and they were both there, in
bore the baffling marks I was now the room. I knew Knowles, and he
familiar with, the marks I had seen introduced me to Eberslee in a —
on the youth and the girl in the boat I
whisper. Imagine a doctor, whisper-
“It was a moment between him — ing over the dead It shows what the
!

and me. Not ])leasant, those rare mo-

ments alone with the dead. I don’t
—
thing had done to us to all of us.
The coroner hadn’t yet been called.
Imow whether death really adds “ ‘We can make nothing of it,’ Dr.
H’eight to what one has said, or be-
lieved, or advocated, before dying,
Knowles whispered, meaning, clearly,
but I do know that my mind brushed the cause of Morse’s act. There was
nearer Morse’s queer theory, while I no ms’^stery about the cause of his
was standing there before his stark death, or rather, of the means of it.
body, than ever before. His lips were burned, and an empty
“Under the spell of his dead pres- glass on the writing desk smelled of
ence, I watched a green worm meas- acid.
ure its laborious way along the sill of
“ ‘He seems much like the others,’
the open window between us, watched Knowles went on; ‘but He hesi-
’

it rear its forward length in air, tated, looked at Eberslee, then back
 THE MYSTERY OF SYLMARE 95

at me. ‘You probably wouldn’t know out. had steeled myself

I to take it,
’
of while he was fussing with it. I sus-
“ ‘Yes, I know,’ I interrupted. pect that he noticed my reluctance
‘Morse told me, himself. He we — my nervousness. At any rate, he
—
were interested in the other cases.’
“
took up a book, as I unfolded the
manuscript and read:
‘We guessed that,’ Eberslee inter-
posed. ‘That’s w'hy we telephoned “My dear Estey:
you. That, and these. He left these
“I hope you will forgive my going
written sheets for you.’ He crossed
alone on the search we had planned,
the room to the writing machine
when I tell you
resulted wholly
it
stand and lifted a paperweight from from an accident, the turning up of
a few pages of manuscript. an old, old book by the house-clean-
“I took up the sheets of paper, ers in their work. I came across it
gingerly. There wasn’t a reason un- soon after you left, yesterday., It
‘
der the blue sky why I should take gave me a lead that was irresistible.
these two doctors into my confidence I simply could not wait. You will
in the matter of Morse’s last words believe that I deeply regret grieving
to me, but such was my immeasura- Estelle and you ; but the riddle drew
ble interest and theirs, no thought me, as a magnet draws metal. I
of any other course ever entered any guess you know why.
of our heads, I think. tiptoed We “At the outset, I want to warn you
from the study into the old parlor as
against the tendency of the human
cautiously as though we feared the
mind to dismiss as incredible and
contents of the precious sheets might
unworthy of serious consideration
be jeopardized by a heavy footfall.
the exceedingly strange or the
Grouped at a window for light, we
unique. It is a grave fault, or limi-
read the dimly penned pages, hand-
tation, rather, of our mentality.
ing them from one to another as we
Since the mind itself is no more than
read.”
a set of comparisons of known forms,
it is at ease and satisfied only among

CHAPMAN left off

leaned over the writing desk be-
speaking and
the known and comparable. The un-
like and the unfamiliar confuse and
fore him. He unlocked a drawer and
offend it. The series of mysterious
took out of it a Size 11 white envel-
lope. I felt goofy — felt definitely on —
cases which will I have made sure
the verge of an ordeal. The taboo of
—
of that culminate with my own
death, may be merely the result of
the cerements was about the thing
Chapman held in his hand. It was prenomena as definite and, once we
getting an ugly time of night, and
know them, as commonplace, as
the house was still as a crj-^pt. From
gravity or the electric current, once
off somewhere, a pensive chorus of
the laughing stock of incredulous
frogs reached us faintly, while nearer minds.
at hand, without the screened win- “I have long had more than an
dows, the whine of baffled mosquitos inkling of the nature of the fell en-
haunted the night. tity I set myself the task of bringing
‘
‘
Estelle doesn ’t know I kept this,
’ ’
to light. When I left Sylmare this
Chapman said, slipping the rubber morning, I knew fairly well what I
band off the envelope. ‘‘She thinks was looking foi’. My problem was
I burned it. She has a horror of it, chiefly one of where to look for it,
and with reason. It very iiearly sent and in that, T liad one governing
her after Morse.” clue; that is, all the victims of this
I took the thing, when he held it deadly enemy of our kind which I
96 WEIRD TALES
was seeking had apparently reached occupied by a strangely sharp and
it by means of boats. One of the slender pinnacle of rock, undermined
victims, too, had also brought away, by the beating sea until it seems to
probably from the place I sought, a point to the sun at noonday. This
bag of fir tips. This fact seemed to singular formation, and the deep
me of some significance, since fir is gloom beneath the woods of the
not a universal growth hereabouts. island, lent it a distinctly weird and
“Then, as if arranged by fate, eery aspect.
came the finding of the old book. It “When I entered the dark wood
was an odd volume of the Colonial after beaching the boat, I had to
period, containing a legend which stoop and creep to avoid the thickets
assigned a haunted island to our bay, of dead branches that clothed the
an island that the redmen who had lower portions of all the trees. As
lived here for centuries could in no I penetrated deeper and ever deeper
wise be induced to visit. I assumed, into the deathlike stillness of the for-
that the tradition had something to est, the darkness became as dense as
do with the present mystery. that of a dimly lit cave. A great
“With these premises, I set out in loneliness depressed me as I stopped
a rowboat, before daybreak, reaching from time to time and stood in the
the island directly east of Sylmare vast dim silence, tensely listening to
soon after daylight. On it I found the beating of my own heart.
no fir; in fact, this island is very “The sense of guidance that had
sparsely wooded, and I gave little taken possession of me in the boat
time to it. Rowing southward, I still had me in its keeping.
_
My
came to the second island at 9 :30 in course through the wood was in no
the morning. It is more densely sense a search; rather, it was a toil-
wooded, with a sprinkling of fir some passage to a definite point,
among its pines. But, though I spent wMch a strange assurance told me I
upwards of an hour exploring it, I would neithen fail to find nor fail to
found nothing unusual about it. know, when I came to it.
“Leaving this island, I continued “ I at last ran onto a small, circular
my course southwai'd. The morning rift in the forest, and stopped on its
was now far spent, and I began to verge as suddenly as though it had
feel that perhaps I had embarked on been a precipice. The weird gloom
a fool’s errand, when suddenly I felt that hung above the carpet of dead
a strong presentiment come over me, pine needles in the wood, here broke
and I immediately fell under the into a half-light that was like a thick
guidance of that ancient monitor of mist in color and opaqueness. Though
the race, intuition. As I approached it was high noon, not a ray of sun-
the third island to the southward, I light penetrated either the forest or
felt strangely assured that some- the rift by which I stood. Strangely
where within its wooded depths I moved, as if at some hellish shrine,
would find the lair of the unnamable I sank to the ground with my back
object of my search. against a tree.
“This island is not greatly differ- “I glanced down at my hands.
ent from the others I had visited, ex- They were scratched and bleeding
cept that it is heavily wooded from tiny wounds made by the sharp
throughout its extent. It is not points of dead branches with which
large, and has the general contour they had come in contact. I could
of an ellipse. At its southern extrem- feel similar abrasions on my face.
ity there is a rocky headland, the ex- Already, I bore the uncanny sign
treme point of the promontory being with which the evil genius of this
 THE MYSTEEY OF SYLMARE 97

baleful death spot marked its vic- “But I attribute the unique power
tims ! this strange spot on the island pos-
“My eyes fell on two slight inden- sessed to a much older kinship, a
tations in the thick bed of pine brotherhood dating clear back to
needles under a double tree at my life’s dim beginnings, when the ani-
feet. Between the two depressions mal and vegetable forms were iden-
in the litter lay a little heap of fir tical in their common ancestry. To
boughs from which the tips had been me this vengeful death-trap seems
removed. It was the discard from nothing less than the ruing, on the
Alta Cline’s pillow! I knew from part of the trees that constitute it,
that, if from nothing else, that I had of an old, old bargain, an ancient
found the thing I sought. covenant tacitly made by first life,
“The trees about the rift were very when, the materials it found here re-
old, with knotted, gnarled, and mis- quired a division of method for their
shapen trunks. Their dead lower utilization, and the primitive forms
branches, gleaming like whitened drew apart into two classes, the
bones through the gray light of the plants remaining fixed and insen-
place, and surmounted by their green tient, securing their sustenance in
tops, suggested life superimposed on one spot, the animal forms develop-
deatli, ever growing, ever dying. ing mobility in their search for food,
“While I was musing on this along with its parallel, consciousness.
thought, I became conscious of a “It is a sure thing that each of
sound. It was like the self-made mur- these divisions of life still retains, in
mur one hears in the silence of a suppressed form, the characteristics
cavern, but seemed to come from the —
of the other rather, of its own dis-
upper part of the rift, as though the used half plants retain the sex char-
:

sound of the sea, by some freak of acter, while many animals are sex-
acoustics, was caught and repeated less; the fungus remains in one spot,
by the mystic cleft in the forest. The yet feeds by alimentation some ani-
;

soft, mill-like murmur had come mals have lost their power of move-
creeping on my senses unawares but, ;
ment, have vegetated, while others
once I had taken note of it, I was possess the leaf’s power of direct
never afterward able to disregard it. fixation of carbon; man, highest of
“The sense of isolation was appal- all animals, loses both senticncy and
ling. The gloom of the wood and the volition in catalepsy and kindred
gray of the rift cast a deep depression states, while insectivorous plants
on me. and in the pulseless monotone have cleai’ly developed both mobility
that filled the place there was all the and consciousness,
haunting sadness of the night wind’s “Thus I could go on at great
moan. length to convince you that the at-
“The voice of the forest, man’s tributes of animal life merely slum-
earliest lullaby, has ever affected ber in the plant, and that they often
him deeply, imbuing him with relig- are reawakened. No rational ex-
ious fervor, abasing him in awe and planation of the wood’s spell pre-
fear. The Druid ’s oak with its pray- sents itself save that the old trees
ers and sacrifice, the African’s hal- on the verge of the rift, during the
lowed fetish-wold, the sylvan shrine centuries of arrested growth forced
of the South Sea savage all are — on them by a sterile soil, had devoted
remnants of an ancient kinship be- their idle eons to developing their
tween man and tree that still appeals sleeping cbnsciousness ;
that they,
through the subtle and desuete though defeated in their efforts to
avenues of the soul, attain mobility itself, had yet
w. T.—
98 .
WEIRD TALES
achieved, preternaturally. some meas- erate. child or adult, who came
ure of mobility’s parallel, mentality, within its deadlj' spell
or at least a weird power of sugges-
tion which they were able to employ “llJow long I sat peering into the
in a strange, telepathic way, on .such n. mistlike void of the rift I do
as fell into their gray and terrible not know. I was aroused from the
web. torpor that lay on me by the fall of
“As a pitcher-plant lies in wait for a dead branch from a tree at my
its prey, these misshapen monsters side. I started up, shaking as with a
of the vegetable world awaited their palsy. The place had grown almost
victims. The chief accessory by pitch-dark. The returning tide of
which they conveyed their deadly animation and love of life flushed
virus of depression to the minds of through me and sent me fleeing
their prey was the gray rift in the wildly from the spot.
forest. This was like a seer’s crys- “I ran through the wood, scarcely
tal, in which floated dimly the entire checking my half-mad course to feel
flux of being, .from incandescent my way among the dead branches
world birth to dead orb whirling in that wounded me in the darkness. I
darkness, the vast whole appearing erashed out of the tangle at some
in a condensed brevity that was like distance from the boat, and, as I
the fall of a yellowed leaf. It was walked along the beach toward it, I
a cinematograph of eternity itself, felt the spell of the rift, which I had
— —
staggering ^yes, fatal to any mere momentarily thrown off, settle back
mote of humanity whose eyes fell on on me. I heard again its inescapable
the screen. monotone of sound. I then recog-
“The infinite perspective one got nized the activity that had carried
on gazing into the mistlike void was me away from the spot as the mere
paralyzing, and its endless parade of
reaction of awounded spirit, the re-
flex shrinking of sentiency from a
living forms made consciousness and
blow.
movement appear an unending pun-
“Deeply depressed, I approached
ishment, an unfinishable task, like
the boat and stood beside it in
the doom of Sisyphus. The inert and
thought. The lapping sea crooned a
somnolent vegetable, at rest and in-
low accompaniment to the ceaseless
capable of suffering, seemed to have
sound that was in my ears. It was
fallen on a better lot than had its
nightfall. An early star twinkled in
cousin, the animal. The latter, ever
the east, and as I gazed at it ab-
prodded with the impulse to do, to sently I found my imagination peo-
keep going, appeared to be playing pling its unseen satellites with the
the clown’s part in the pageant of appalling infinity of living forms I
being. had reviewed at the rift.
“Such was the sophistry with “I grew cold. A
tremor like that
which the enormity of the island of a chill shook me, and I reached
poisoned the minds of its victims, the for my coat, which I had left in the
while it sapped them of their will boat. As I was about to put it on,
and wish to live. And I am con- an idea was suggested to me by the
vinced that this gloom-girt Upas of sight of a match-case that fell from
the wood had learned through the one of its pockets. Catching up the
centuries a cunning that guided it in little silver box, I ran back to the
the adaptation of its subtle propa- wood and crept a little way into the
ganda to the mind of every being, underbrush.
savage or civilized, learned or illit- “I struck a match and touched it
 THE MYSTERY OF SYLMARE 99

to the layer of pine needles -on the quit writing and quit living. In-
ground. I was startled as the flames deed, the last lines of the script had
leaped up in the dark thicket, and grown weak and indistinct, as
plunging out of the wood and across though the writer’s power to think
the beach, I leaped into the boat had outlasted his poAver to move the
as thougli pursued by an embodied pen across the page. The last of the
spirit of the island, and pushed hast- writing trailed off into an illegible
ily away front the shore. scrawl, a mere meaningless trail
“The litter on the ground and the —
across the paper like the track of a
dry lower branches of the trees fed craAvling Avorm!
the fire like' an inflammable oil, and Chapman looked up from his book,
soon the entire wood was a mass of when I laid the sheets on the desk;
flames beneath, above which the but he remained silent, forcing me to
green treetop's wi’itlled like a tor- speak first.
tured multitude. The upflare of the “Of all the !” I stopped, for
flame.s, lighting the level sea, fell on Avant of a fitting word Avuth which to
me with a glare like that of the blaz- express my opinion.
ing eyes of a monster dying in rage, “You think .so?”
as I rowed swiftly away from the There Avas a tentativeness in his
accursed island.^ '
inflection, thatmight mask either de-
“Tw6 hours later, I landed at the fense or derision of Morse ’s madness.
old abandoned wharf south of town, “And I thought you stupidly sane,
made my way home unseen, and at Estey!” I exclaimed.
—
once sdt about this task which is He smiled. “Well, I’m not going
to be "my last. to do anything about it, whether
“I apprehend that my theory in Moi’se Avas right or Avrong. In fact,
this matter will encounter unlimited there’s nothing to do about it. BAit
skepticism, and I grant that certain there’s more to his theory than you
of my predilections may have made think. I’ve put the thing up to men
me overcredulous. With such as who ought to know, and they all con-
take this view of it I will have no cede that Morse’s premises have
quarrel, but I suggest that they ex- weight. But none of them, of course,
plore the fields of natural sugge.stion would folloAV him to his conclusions.
and impression. There is a much Even the great Sundberg was inter-
broader and more potent force in ested, though he finally labeled it a
this quarter, I am sure, than has yet
case of a man finding AV’hat he started
been uncovered. That definite and out to find, whether it Avas there or
etfective impression, whether elating
not; that is, he felt that Morse’s bias
or depressive, is a faculty of certain had led him to his conclusions.
aspects of nature is well known, and Oddly enough. Considine Avas the
I am quite sure that, whether or not among them. You knew
kindest one
the deadly spot on the island was
conscious, was capable of volition,
— or did you knoAv —Considine.
? He
must haA'e joined the staff about the
the clement of suggestion was a po- time you Avent West.”
tent factor in its Kdl spell.” “I kneAV him. I thoAight there Avas
—
a sort of a feud professional jeal-
Oo THE amazing message ended. —
ousy or the like between him and
^ There wore no farewell clauses, Morse?”
not even a signature, as though the “There was. But Considine ’s ill
burden of mere existence had sud- will stopped at the grave. He met
denly become more than the writer Morse’s theory more than half-Avay,
could bear, and he had simply quit went into Bergson farther than I
100 WEIED TALES
could follow him, and finished with waiting for the next instant. And
that old saw about the poorhouse or that was the peculiar doom of the
the asylum being the only place for island. It set its victims counting
the man in advance of his times.” the spokes in eternity’s wheel!”
“But the other victims!” I ex- —
“How did Estelle take it all?” I
ploded. “How —
do you how does asked, to break the uneasy silence
anyone — account for them? They that fell on us. My question sounded
hadn’t Morse’s predilections!” crass enough, but I wasn’t quick
“Oh, there’s no mystery about enough to stop it, once I had set it
them, exeept their number. Even going.
their number is nearly or quite Chapman hesitated. “She hasn’t
equaled by a few other famous death got over it yet, entirely. But she
spots in this queer w'orld. Why, will. The mistake was in letting her
man, one of the most ill-famed of see this, at all.” He tapped the
them all is no more than blocks, I folded message in his hand. “But
should say, from the headquarters of what was I to do? Her father and
your own beloved Harvester Trust, her married sister had come on from
in the rotunda of a skyscraper. What Atlanta with her, and I put it up to
are its wire nettings, but a tangible them. They wanted she should see
acknowledgment of its deadly spell? it. We none of us felt that we could
And how many victims had it withhold such a thing from her.
claimed before the wire was put up? What we failed to take into account
“Morse was right enough in his was her knowledge of the.'Other
second guess. It is a form of sug- cases, and of Morse’s work on
—
gestion that does it depressive sug- them.”
gestion. It is exactly as though mel- Chapman sat staring at the desk-
ancholia were a communicable dis- top. “Estelle came nearer believing
ease, and this spot on the island a Morse’s theory than has anyone else.
carrier of it; and a carrier able to She was a nervous wreck, for awhile
give the malady to everyone who afraid of her own shadow and of —
came near! There are a number of all other shadows. Strangely or not,
places in the world that are known she clung to me. I had been through
to be fatal to certain people. The much of it with her. She had been
one at Sylmare differed from the away from her own people, except
others only in that it was fatal to all. for brief visits, so long that I was
It was one hundred per cent efficient. really nearer to her than they were.
“Great waterfalls, high cliffs, and The upshot of it all was that I mar-
even desert wastes, possess this de- ried her, after a decent time. Her
pressing power, as do high bridges folks wanted that, too. They are a
and lofty domes. It’s the perspec- sensible lot.
tive that does it, as Morse su.spected. “Wespent a long time getting her
It puts you under a reversed micro- out of it. Travel wouldn’t do. We
—
scope makes you little. You may tried that. It led us into too many
be sure tliat I’ve gone to the bottom suggestive surroundings, too many
of this thing, and you can take it gloom spots. You wouldn’t think
from me that any view which gives that just a flowing stream or any—
us that crushing realization of our steady movement or sound would —
infinite unimportance to the whole, so upset anyone! The sea, too, is
is not good for us. We must remain taboo. She can’t bear the sight nor
unconscious of the whole, and espe- sound of it, nor the shade of trees,
cially must we be able to disregard nor even the shade of a porch. That
duration. No man can live, merely is why we have neither^- tre^esj nor
 THE MYSTERY OF SYLMARE 101

porch here. The steady roar of wind “It kicked up none, if you mean
in a grove would drive her to mad- this,” Chapman replied, reaching for
ness in twenty-four hours. the envelope and putting the folded
“So we at last foundthis spot and sheets back into it. “They know
settled down. We are so far from nothing of this, up there. The coro-
the bay that you wouldn’t know it ner didn’t get within rods of it. I
was there, yet near enough to the saw to that. The whole affair
city to avoid isolation But if
. . .
would be almost forgotten, in the
T have given you, in all this, an im- course of time, in Sylmare, if it
pression of being burdened
” —
liadn ’t left a reminder a monument.
I stopped him short, wdth a reas- The island is there yet. I rowed out
suring gesture. I could honestly do
and took a look at it, naturally.
that. Estelle, in any state of nerves,
Eberslee went with me. We went at
night, to avoid talk, and perhaps a
could never be a burden to any man.
following of the curious.
I recalled the thrill I had got from
“The island lies black and desolate
the pressure of her soft cool hand at
on the horizon of passing boatmen,
our greetings, saw again her superb its stony surface thick set with the
figure at the piano, its loveliness sug-
blackened boles of the burned pines,
gested, where it was not revealed, by still standing. There isn’t a living
the tight and loose set of the becom-
ing house dress she wore. She was
beast, bird, or bush on it —
the most
deserted spot on earth! I wouldn’t
so eminently desirable, so full of
warm, pulsing life, that I could not
—
want to it isn ’t a nice place to
be, on a moonless night, with the dull
ward off the thought that, whatever faces of the rocks staring dimly at
Professor Morse might have done for the stars, and the night breeze from
Sylmare or for science, he had done off the lapping surf strumming the
Estcy Chapman an immeasurably low, haunting voices of the standing
good turn. dead.”
the deep
T sat in silence, thinking, Chapman seldom was eloquent,
dark rooms that
stillness of the great and I satabashed at this peroration
opened upon the den pressing in on of his. In the deep silence that fol-
me like a physical presence. To get lowed it, we heard again the lonely
away from the eery feeling, I asked: cry of frogs in the distance, the
“What kind of a stir did this thing weird wait' of mosquitos in the dark-
kick up in Sylmare?” ness without.
A Tale of Dire Occult Evil

THE EDGE OF THE

SHADOW
By R. ERNEST DUPUY

T
edge I
hat you should believe
would be remarkable. I have
no explanation. Limited knowl-
have, and hearsay for the rest.
The hearsay at first I did not believe.
this my
my
It
hackles rise and the ice creep
backbone, and I wonder.
was a book that had made him
open up to me in the first place
book called Dracula. Ever read it?
up

—
But when the man who lifted the cur- No? Well, sometime when you want
—
tain had gone West and he was a a good crawly chill, look it over. He
hard-headed soldier man I won- — ,

noticed it on the shelf one night when

dered. For his going, when one takes he had dropped in at my quarters for
everything into consideration, fitted a chat, some time before we went into
in. And to that, at least, I can bear the war. And he asked me what I
witness. thought of it. He didn’t pay much
We were lying in our dugout at attention to my opinion, I guess, but
Romagne, waiting for zero hour. Out- sat there sucking his pipe and nod-
side, Fritz’s counter preparation was ding while I talked. And then he
messing things up considerably. said:
Through an instant’s lull came the “I’ve scraped against the edge of
long-drawn howl of a dog if it was— that stuff.Just the edge. It’s not so
a dog. And something scratched and good.”
slithered against the sturdy logs of
Now, he wasn’t at all the type of
our shelter. A spray of shrapnel, man that one would link up with that
perhaps.
sort of yam. And for that reason it
“It’s calling me,’’ was all that he made all the more impression on me.
said. He didn’t attempt any explanation
I can still see his face and the quiz- either; just told it as it struck him.
zical lift of his eyebrows in the glare And do not get the idea that he was
—
of our gasoline lantern w'e were mo- boasting of his conquest. I didn’t
torized artillery and did things in know the girl, never would know her.
style. And as I returned his stare, And we had been friends too long for
his yam, forgotten for two years, him to fear that I might blab. His
came back. thoughts had just come to a boil, I
He had to go out a few minutes later imagine, looking at the book and
to check up data at the guns, and bringing back the thing, so he had to
when we found him in the dawning get it out of his system.
a splinter — —
or something ^had ripped It seems that he had met her in a
away his throat. Nothing else. But casual way, but first glance had been
even now, when a dog gives dismal like fire to tow. Headlong they went
tongue in the quiet of the ni^t, Z feel into it, wilh open esms, a well-matched
102
 THE EDGE OF THE SHADOW 103

pair. She must have been a wonder. guarded by a fringe of stunted, deso-
A Russian, with all the Slavic grasp late-looking deadwood. And some-
of the ars amandd, one moment all fire how the air felt different. There was
and passion, the next an iceberg. A a chill and dankness about it he had
thoroughbred, too. “Gone wrong,” if not noticed in the other woods. The
you will, but always a thoroughbred. girl shivered. Up a slight incline and
—
And he was my friend. Not that he then into the open again and on their
elaborated on their adventure. I sim- —
right a dark mass the gloomy pile of
ply filled in, in my mind’s eye, the a deserted house, its empty windows
brief, bold outline he blocked out. black leering dead eyes, the moon-
light heaping fantastic shadows about

T he climax came one night when

they were riding. They had had
several nocturnal prowls on horse-
its front and through the ruins of
what had once been a noble porte-
cochere. A bit of broken pane in one
back, I gathered; brief intervals of of the lower windows flickered eerily
dalliance. This night they took a in the moon-rays. The girl brought
trail that was new to both. Imagine her animal close to his, her eyes
them jogging side by side, the August shielded with one hand as she passed
moon rising over the treetops, throw- the house with averted head.
ing the masses of foliage into deep re- “What’s the matter, dear?” he
lief; great blocks of velvet blactaess joked. “Afraid that you will see the
against the cloudless sky. About them goblins holding carnival inside?”
fields shining silver in the moonlight. But she only cowered closer in the
saddle. And that was so odd, so dif-
The shadows swallowed them up as
the trail twisted into the woods, the ferent from her usual bold demeanor
that it chilled him. And then some-
man leading, his white-shirted back
thing, vague, unformed, brushed be-
gleaming vaguely to the woman fol-
lowing close, the horses picking their tween them. He felt it touch his
boot, he said.
way up hill and down. Through
brush and trees the trail ran, now
The girl screamed, the horses
plunged, and she wheeled Jier beast,
sloping upward on hillsides whose
inky depths defied the faint moon- crowding the man into the brush as
she spurred past him. He followed,
light now plunged in woodland pock-
;
only to see her throw her horse once
ets. I could feel the gloom that closed
them in, as he talked a tangible thing more upon its haunches as she turned
;
again, squarely in front of the house.
seemingly, ever surrounding, yet ever
giving way before their advance un-
And the thought passed through his
til at last they broke through to a
mind of the house as a finite being,
moonlit plateau and cantered to- an unclean object squatting there in-
side its circle of blasted trees.
gether over the swelling ridges to
draw rein on the very crest of the He rode up beside her as she sat,
with staring eyes and heaving breasts.
cliff.
And to his question she answered sim-
Below them the lowlands spread in ply-
tawny languor till they touched the “It is the end,” she said.
moon-swept
silver-flashing edge of the And then her mood changed and
sea on the horizon; behind them the her lips sought his and covered them
swale of plateau ran clear to the cur- with voluptuous kisses.
tain of the woods.. “Dismount,” she whispered.. I
And then, he said, they decided to could see the perspiration gather on
explore farther. Again they entered his forehead as he told this part, al-
—
the woods ^this time a clump of trees though his voice never changed.
104 WEIRD TALES
“Dismount,” she coaxed again, for one bright spot, at the height of a
and her lips caressed his throat. Her man’s head, where the sunlight
arms were about him now as they struck. Once again she eai’elessly
pressed closely, the horses jammed tossed the jacks against the door.
against one another. There was a rattle and stir inside, and
“We are going in there together, with a creaking groan the door swung
dear boy,” and the wdiite teetli inw’ard and the child foxxnd herself
touched his flesh. And through him staring at something that lurked and
passed a wave of pure terror. mew'ed in the opaque shadow'. Star-
tled, she rose to her feet, and It rose
“I’m damned if we are!” he
too, and stood with head and shoul-
snapped, and tearing himself loose,
snatched at her bridle and urged the ders framed in the light of the dying
horses into a gallop. He didn’t re- sun, gazing down on Iier.
member how they got out, he said. Terror froze the girl, for through
The horses miTst have found the way. the dusk she could see the body the —
All he remembei'cd was a rush body of the Thing That Should Not
through the restraining underbrush, Have Been. And she! cowered there.
the gix’l sobbing as they went, until at It bent toward her and she felt her-
last they broke through to the high selfpicked up in arms that w'ere not
road and sanity. human, cru.shed against a form not
That night slie told him her story. human, while the face that w'as hu-
Told him, with his arms about her; man but should not have been blew
and he quivered now and then at the its fetid breath upon her. In a voice
telling, and once, as a dog howded
rasping and metallic, like no human
voice, it spoke, in a horrid, unforget-
somewhere in the distance, he pushed
her from him for a moment. She un- table monotone that thrilled and bit

derstood and laughed, though the deep into her brain.

tears were close beneath. “You have come to me of your ow'n
She was twelve, she said, when the free will you have called me. Again
;

Terrorfirst came to her. In her home w'ill come to you and yet again.
I

on the Dniester, almost in the shadow' And you shall belong to me, body and
soul, to do my bidding, for the ages
—
of the Carpathians a feudal hold
and ages to come.”
whose foundations went back to time
immemorial, one wing was forbidden One arm forced the girl’s head
territory. Blocked off from the rest back, passing over her neck in a
of the old castle it was, with its own dreadful caress. The Face bent over
tiny court, the oixly entrance a door her throat, the slavering lips touched
giving from the east tower to the her skin, the pointed teeth pressed
courtyard. The gatekeeper, old Por- against her flesh. Came one shriek of
tal, w'as the only human she had ever terror from her and then oblivion.
seen go through its entrance. She W'as sixteen when she met the
Playing wdth her jacks one after- Terror again. Riding through the
noon she found the courtyard door woods near Garenstein with her
open, and with the curiosity of a child coixsin Ivan, the pair of them madly
overcoming the strict injunction, had in love, she had felt the icy blast of
slipped in. a w'ave of horror and sensed the
It was late and the rays of the set- shadow'y Thing that loped on all
ting sun w'cre striking the massive fours by her stirrup, its hot breath on
tower door. Sitting on the lintel she her boot and the touch of fearsome
idlj' threw the jaekstones against the lips on its leather. All that evening
oak. Deeper the shadows grew excejxt she had cowered in her room, gazing
 THE EDGE OP THE SHADOW 105

at the boot that lay where she had the blood-soaked morasses of the Ma-
flung it, a bi'oad white mark blasted zurian lakes, she told him.
oil its shining surface. For slie was Whether or not my friend ever saw
certain then, she told him, that what the girl after that I don ’t know. At
they had said was a terrible dream, any rate he never mentioned the thing
tour years ago, had been no dream at to me from that day until the night
all. he died. So there the matter lies. I can
Ivan, called to the colors the next not give any explanation. Perhaps
day by the mobilization, lay, a few you can. But the howl of a dog at
months later, a sprawling corpse in night annoys me.

The Old Crow of

Cairo
By T. LOVELL BEDDOES (1803-1849)
(Reprint)

Old Adam, the carrion crow.

The old crow of Cairo;
He sat in the shoiver, and let it flow
Under his tail and over his crest;
And through every feather
Leak’d the wet weather;
And the bough swung under his nest
For his beak it was heavy with marrow.
Is that the ivind dying? 0 no;
It’s only two devils, that blow
Through a murderer’s bones, to and fro.
In the ghosts’ moonshine.

Ho! Eve, my gray carrion wife,

When we have supped on kings’ marrow.
Where shall we drink and make merry our life?
Our nest it is Queen Cleopatra’s skull,
’Tis cloven and crack’d.
And batter’d and hack’d,
But with tears of blue eyes it is full:
Let us drink then, my raven of Cairo!
Is that the wind dying? 0 no;
It’s only two devils, that blow
Through a murderer’s bones, to and fro.
In the ghosts’ moonshine.
A Tale of Reincarnation

The Algerian Cave

By DICK HEINE
t first

A was strange, this

it

tragic thing, hard to under-

L stand. But now it is so clear,
so logical. I thought Louis Fanon
dark mustache showed a set of ivory-
white teeth. His brown eyes were
almost Oriental in their depth of feel-
ing. In spite of his French vivacity,
insane. Perhaps I, myself, might Paul was, at the same time, the soul
have perished if the bullet had come of calmness.
two feet nearer. Wlio knows? But He placed both hands upon my
I will tell all — all. shoulders when I rose to greet him.
At 2 o’clock in the afternoon of “And how are you, Arden?’’ he
that unforgettable day I was loung- asked. “The judges have told me
ing in the sitting room of my second- the decision will be reached by tomor-
story apartment in Paris and waiting
for my friend, Paul Mitrande, who
—
row night. Just think on the next
’ ’
morning I shall be given the award.
was to drive me to the art reception “You are always too sure, my
at 3. I am an American artist. friend,” I said. “Your picture, no
Arden Dexter, finishing my studies doubt, is wonderful. I wish you
abroad. Paul had been my friend would tell me the name of it.”
since the great war, for we had
served in the same regiment when I
“The name — it is ‘The Algerian
Cave’, and I have created it from
was brigaded with the French. I was sheer inspiration. It is a picture
thinlcing of the picture he was going from the well of my soul. I have
to exhibit. He had never told me drawn upon the treasure house of the
its name, and I hadn’t the least idea subconscious. That, you know, bears
what kind it was but he had assured
; the writing of the Infinite; it is ever
me that it was certain to win the revealing something new in the his-
prize of fifteen thousand francs. tory of the individual and the race.
There are many reasons why I am not
going to mention the name and exact
I am sure of the prize my work —
is a part of me. And I believe, of
locality of the place where the recep- course, that I am eternal.”
tion was held and where occurred the “You have your chance, Paul, but
strange event that led to stranger don’t forget there are dozens of good
things. rivals. When shall we go now?” —
Just before 3 Paul came in, smil- His roadster was soon speeding
ing as usual. He was about five down an avenue lined with trees that
feet six inches, solidand strong. He were just beginning to drop the col-
was dressed in his usual good taste, ored leaves of autumn. I settled back
this time in gray. His face was a comfortably, smoking and thinking
healthy tan, a fresh, beaming, open how pleasant it was to have a friend
face, upon which rested an expression I dearly loved and not a care in all
of satisfaction. His hair was sleek the world. At length we entered the
and black, and beneath his small, Rue de la Convention, and then- the
106
 THE ALGERIAN CAVE 107

Avenue de Breteuil. Wedid not shady thoughts and unknown deeds.

di’ive long in this, but left it for a I sensed this pei’sonal atmosphere, or
less well-known street not so vei'y far whatever it was, in a way I could not
from the Place Vauban. Paul headed understand. His beardless face was
for the parking space beyond a tall dark and sharp, and his hair jet-black.
building on the edge of a square, A glance into his eyes, quick, venge-
where dozens of machines were placed ful, shrewd, made me nervous; his
in line. prominent nose reminded me of an
A number of well-dressed gentle- eagle’s beak when he looked keenly
men were standing about in the ves- about at everything and everybody.
tibule of the building when we en- It was difficult to take my gaze from
tered, and a few students were him. I was attempting to form some
pacing the hall by twos and threes estimate of his character and wonder-
discussing learned subjects in clouds ing who he might be, when the recep-
of tobacco smoke. Wegreeted the tion formally began.
friends we saw and went to a little Forty-five minutes later the gather-
open space among the flowers and ing was before the picture painted by
plants at tlie end of the exhibition Paul Mitrande.. The artist himself
room, where we sat down and waited stood near the wall directly by one
for the reception to begin. It was end of his canvas, and I was at his
only a few minutes of the set hour, elbow. Ford and his lady were at the
and people were arriving in consider- other end of the picture. The circling
able numbers. From my position I crow'd, with interested faces, awaited
had a good view of the whole room. the lifting of the veil. When a spec-
It was about fifty feet wide and tacled member of some big society
seventy long the floor was of pol-
;
performed that act, I saw “The Al-
ished hardwood, and the ceiling gerian Cave” for the first time.
ornately decorated. Electric globes The painting represented the in-
in suitable places aided the skylight. terior of a cave, lighted by the sun’s
A fountain of water and a statue rays streaming in through the mouth,
stood in the middle of the floor.. On which, from the view selected, could
the walls were hung the pictures to be observed opening upon the shining
be exhibited, each one covered with stretches of a barren wasteland. In
its veiling cloth. one corner of the cave was a niche in
In groups stood immaculate men the wall ;
in this niche rested the
and handsomely gowned women and golden bust of a beautiful goddess.
girls. It was a crowd typical of such She shone in the sunlight. On the
affairs. I could see Sir Harden Ford, ground beneath her was an open
who pulled always at his little mus- treasure chest filled with precious
tache; there was a lady, gray and stones. On each side of the chest were
stout but finely finished, holding his stacks of bars of gold. Kneeling by
arm. The students, with their attempt the treasure was a Roman soldier,
at correct dress and ease of manner, lightly armored but wearing a helmet.
moved leisurely and indifferently His hands were filled with the stones,
about. and he was looking into the face of
But all these people did not hold the goddess. Back of this soldier
my attention long. Apart from any- stood another similarly clad. They
'
one stood a man who interested me were both fine examples of their race
in several ways. He was somewhat and breed doubtless, no better men
;

taller than Paul and dressed in shiny had ever thrust the short-sword. The
black. He had a black look hanging picture was marvelously colored,
about him, as if he might be a man of and I felt that Paul Mitrande had in-
108 WEIRD TALES
deed created something from the missaire de police and then taken to
well of his soul. The eternal Rome the Depot and put in solitary con-
is forever in the hearts of men; this finement. An ambulance was called.
picture called from the canvas the Poor Paul was carried to a hospital.
glory and adventure of the legions, The examining surgeon performed
fighting their way of conquest over an emergency operation, but he
the world. In the hinterland of would give out no word about my
northern Africa, two brave men had friend’s condition; I did not know at
stumbled upon the workings of some 7 o’clock in the evening whether
unknown race. As Paul explained, Paul would live.
perhaps the treasure and statue had The people had been horrified at
been placed there by thieves, who the attempted murder, no one being
had looted a far city ages before the able to understand why such a sud-
birth of Rome. He would leave that den and brutal attack should have
to the fancy of the individual been made. Sir Harden sent me a
Many were the sighs of wonder personal note at my rooms, express-
and admiration. I could scarcely ing his sympathy and asking to be
realize myself the triumph of my remembered to Paul’s mother; he
friend. Only one other picture had a was sorry that he had not foreseen
chance against his. the villain’s intention.
The moment after the first wave All night I waited in anxiety. I
of enthusiasm, it happened. made no attempt to sleep, but paced
The people gave way to the dark the sitting room, smoking and trying
man in the shiny black suit. He to understand the thing that had
forced himself rudely to the front happened, in which I was so much
and gazed with wild interest at the concemei The thought of Paul’s
picture. On his face was the keen- possible death almost felled me.
ness of the hawk after its prey. A few years before, I had been
Suddenly he pointed his finger at hardened against death and destruc-
smiling Paul and cried: “You!” A tion, having seen them in all forms;
revolver flashed in the hand of the but now, relaxed into the ease of
man, and a sharp report followed. peace, I felt the deep grief of a nor-
Paul fell into my arms with the' mal man. Paul was the dearest
blood spurting from his neck. The friend I had in Paris. Life would
stranger would have flred again, but be sad without him. I felt as if I
Sir Harden Ford sprang at him, tore could no longer continue my studies.
the weapon from his hand, and But the thing that hung about me
choked him to the floor. I dragged was the mystery of the attack. Why
Paul out of the crowd and hastened should the man have attempted
with Mm to a bench. With the as- Paul ’s life ? Other pictures had been
sistance of some other gentlemen. exhibited. Where was the relation
Sir Harden secured his prisoner. between “The Algerian Cave” and
the brain of this insane criminal?
SHALL relate briefly the events pre- For the life of me I could make no
1 ceding my visit on the following progress. If Paul were to die, I
afternoon to the Depot of Prefecture should have a thing unsolved that
of Police in the Palais de Justice. The would haunt me down the years. I
oflBcers came in from the street when wanted to see my friend, to clear up
summoned and relieved the gallant this mystery, to know that in the life
Englishman of his charge. The mad- of Paul Mitrande there was no justi-
man proved to be Louis Panon, and fication for this deed- I decided to
he was rushed away to the local com- go as soon as possible and see him;
 THE ALGERIAN CAVE 109

then I should endeavor to discover prisoner was not dangerous unarmed

the motive of the criminal. and that I might have a short inter-
At 10 o’clock I called on Paul’s view. Soon, surrounded by things of
mother. She was so overcome that steel, I was face to face with Louis
she could hardly speak. While it Fanon. The conducting gentleman
was true that so far I had heard of arms, chin in air, respectfully
nothing of her son’s condition, I walked away down the corridor,
tried to console her, saying that I holding his keys behind his back and
had indeed heard and that all was digging his heels into the floor with
sure to be well. She begged me to an air of absolute indifference.
go and learn more. I left her and
went directly to the hospital. T^anon sat on a bench in his cell
The attendants were reluctant to * and received me with perfect
let me see the patient, but upon hear- calm. He was clad in his black suit
ing that I was the man’s best friend and looked quite comfortable. I was
and came at the request of his surprized to see that the mean ex-
mother, they admitted me to the pression had vanished. He did not
sickroom. Before I entered, the look the same man at all; some sort
nurse told me the bullet had missed of relaxation had come over him.
the jugular vein, but that some of the The extraordinary keenness of his
smaller blood-vessels had been dam- eyes was absent, and they were now
aged. Paul, having stood the an- of a softer light. I sat down oppo-
esthetic well, was resting quite site him, and he spoke to me in
comfortably amid his white surround- French.
ings, but he was not permitted to “So you are Monsieur Dexter, the
speak. His face indicated that he friend of Paul Mitrande?”
knew of my anxiety, and when he “I am,” I said, “and I have come.
heard that I had reassured liis Monsieur Fanon, to ask you to tell
mother, Ms teeth showed in a game me why you committed this assault.
grin. Yet there was a ghastly look The man is unknown to you. You
to his face, and I knew that if doubtless had never seen him be-
chance there was, it was small in- fore.”
deed. Only the next few hours could
“There are many things to be ex-
tell.
plained,” he said suavely. “But I
“I am going to find out if possi- will tell them all. You assume.
ble, Paul,” I said to him, “why the Monsieur, that I am insane. I assure
attack was committed. I suppose you
you that nothing could be more un-
think, as I do, that the man is a
maniac. I shall ask permission this
true. A
saner man never walked ; a
afternoon to see him. If he will talk,
man more devout in his worship of
right never lived. I have achieved
I shall no doubt have something to
tellyou when I see you again. ’ ’ my purpose, and my heart is calm.”
With a grasp of the hand he “Calm! You are indeed cold-
thanked me for coming, and I left blooded to speak so when at the hos-
him. But still I did not know pital this man lies near to death!”
whether he would live. I should “Your feelings will be different
have to lie again to his mother. If when you hear m.v story. There
death came, she would overlook the —
are things many things ^beyond —
lie; if life prevailed, there would be the comprehension of materialistic
no harm done. Americans like you. No doubt this
At 4 o’clock I made my way to criminal Mitrande will have a few
the proper officials. They said the apologies to make to me!”
 110 WEIRD TALES
I could not tolerate these caustic saw the shining stretches of the
comments; I was almost in a rage desert framed by the mouth of the
when Panon bade me keep my cave. In one corner of the cavern,
temper. lighted by the rays of the sun, was a
“You shall have no interview un- little projecting ledge or table, upon

less you let me say what I must say. which rested the bust of a golden
You may leave this prison with a goddess. Down on the ground was
hand-clasp of affection for me in- a small treasure chest, and near each
stead of with the hatred that you end some stacks of gold bars.
bring.” “With a sharp cry Severus
“Proceed with your story,” I said. dropped on his knees before the chest
He placed the tips of his fingers and lifted the lid. Quintian re-
together, leaned back, and looked at
mained standing behind him. They
saw, gleaming with the colors of
me with an air of complete ease.
Paradise, a thousand precious stones
“I presume. Monsieur Dexter, that
you have some imagination. We — ^jewels that would make them rich

artists must have, or we could never

beyond the dream of mortals. The
become artists. Imagine, then, if sticksof gold were nothing beside
the gems. Severus feasted his eyes
you can, a shining stretch of desert
wasteland. Picture the sand, the far and scooped up a handful.
distances, and refiections, and colors. “Now Severus could not have
Make some blue mountains rising known what went on in the mind of
into the sky a long way off. Imagine Quintian nor what he did. But I
that you saw two Roman soldiers can easily imagine that. Quintian
walking across the wasteland. They stood looking down at what was be-
were lightly armored and wore hel- fore him. Slowly his face hardened.
mets. They were a legion’s finest. His right hand went to his short-
You can imagine those things, can sword. His left hand snatched the
you?” unbuckled helmet from the head of
“Easily,” looking into his
I said, Severus. Then in a flash the butt
eyes for some brightness or dilation of the sword descended upon the
that would reveal his evident lunacy. bared head. Severus fell limp and
“Then I shall proceed to tell you unconscious with the blood pouring
the story of the two soldiers. One from his scalp. Then what did
was the soldier Quintian, and the Quintian do? Oh, yes. He kicked
other the soldier Severus. And de- the body of Severus to one side and
voted friends they were. They would stooped to examine the chest. He
have died for each other. They had filled it with the gold -bars and
obtained leave from their company strained to lift it to his shoulder. It
in order to make a four-day trip was almost too much for one man to
into the mountains in search of ad- carry, but he carried it anyway. A
venture. The blue mountains you last satisfied look at the motionless
created in the distance were not so Severus, and Quintian left the cave.
very far from them when their first ‘
Severus lay for a day and a half.
‘

day’s march was over. The morning When he came to his senses, he
of the second day found them high slowly turned over on his side and
in the hills, scanning the gorges, tried to sit up. He succeeded feebly.
peering into dark holes, and looking His hand went to his head, which
eversTwhere for anything of interest. seemed bursting with pain. He
“At length they came to the crawled to the mouth of the cave and
mouth of a cave. When they went looked out. Nothing was to be seen
’inside, they" looked behind them and of Quintian. And Severus then re-
 THE ALGERIAN CAVE 111

fleeted how fortunate he was to be are in your right senses, you will fare
alive. He slept. Upon awakening, little better. You will be convicted
his head was clearer, and he left the and put to death or given a life sen-
cave and made his way down among tence at hard labor. I shall rejoice
the rocks to a little stream. Here if the blade falls upon your neck!
he bathed and refreshed himself. You have no resource. I believe that
Then he ate some berries and de- b~y this fabrication you hope some-
scended to the plain. A few days how to escape.”
later he was captured by a wandering Fanon smiled.
tribe and carried away to slavery.” “You are inclined to doubt me.
“And what became of him after Monsieur. There are many things
that?’' I asked impatiently. you may doubt. But do you not see
“He escaped on the borders of any relation between what I Iiave
Egypt and the interior of
'fled into told you and my attack on Paul
that country. A
few years’ labor Mitrande?”
found him still poor, and finally “Not the slightest,” I answered.
sickness overtook him. He fell in “Paul Mitrande teas the soldier
the streets with running sores, and Quintian, and Louis Fanon, was
I,
he had to beg for his bread. On his the soldier Severus!”
deathbed be cursed the trusted I gasped with staggering compre-
friend who had- wrecked his life. hension.
“And now. Monsieur Dexter, you “I refuse to believe you!” I
doubtless want to know what be- shouted. ‘‘How’ do you know? How
came of the soldier Quintian. Sev- do you know?”
erus, before his death, had learned “I was a queer child, Monsieur,
a good deal about him by carefully born in the south of France. At an
questioning travelers from Rome. In early age I used to stand upon the
fact, he had learned nearly all I shall seashore and point toward Africa,
tell you. Quintian escaped from the begging my nurse to take me there
mountains with his treasure, hired just there, over there, where I used
a substitute to serve in the army, to live. She would ignore, my child-
and went to Rome. There he dis- ish fancies and drag me back to the
posed of his jewels and gold. He house, sometimes punishing me. I
moved to Sicily and
e.stablished him- had flashes of some past existence
He built a great
self in a fine, estate. visions of sands, of rivers, of black
house and made a vast garden sur- slaves toiling in the sun. At five
rounded by mai’ble walls. Nowwhat years of age I fashioned a sword
think you of the fate of Severus com- from a board, though I had never
pared with that of Quintian?” seen a sword, and drove my play-
“Quintian was a knave and a mates from the nursery. At six I
scoundrel, and Severus an unfortu- lay supposedly dying of a fever. De-
nate man betrayed by his friend,” I lirious, I was crying in an unknown
said. “Monsieur Fanon, you have tongue. The priest they brought in
but imaginatively constructed a tale rose from the bedside and I'ushed
around the picture painted by Paul from the room. Later he returned
Mitrande, who lies now almost cer- Avith the most learned father in the
tain to die. You are indeed insane!” district. They both listened and
I waxed angry and rose to my feet. agreed that I was talking in Latin;
“Unless you can establish your san- they would not translate, but said I
ity, you will be sent to a prison was calling for someone. The elder
worse than death, where are many placed his hand upon my head and
like you. If -you can prove that you answered me in Latin. Immediately
112 WEIRD TALES
I became calm, the fevei* subsided, have painted that -picture unless he
and the old family doctor clapped his had been Quintian in that cave of
hands for joy that life was mine. Africa two thousand years ago
But I was delicate for some time Hardly knowing what I did, I shot
after that. I still wanted to go him. You know the rest. Here I
across the sea. The doctor advised am, perhaps to be adjudged insane,
my father to take me to Africa to perhai)s to be convicted and impris-
satisfy the ci’aving. We went. On oned or put to death, and never to fin-
the desert I was at home. They said ish my studies and become an artist
I seemed to recognize places, to bo known to the world. But it may be
joyous at times. They observed a well after all. I have not the means
great emotion when we approached to complete my courses. I shall have
the Nile. After six months in Egypt, to wait upon the doing of the law.”
I grew stronger in every way. I was Tears came into his eyes, and he
brought home to begin my schooling. sank back upon his bench.
“I learned rapidly. I seemed to I left the prison hurriedly. In the
know some of the Latin stories, when taxicab that hurled me along the
we came to that study, before I read boulevards I tried to collect my rea-
them. The teachers, astounded, son. I could do nothing but believe
hinted at precocious idiocy. My the things Panon had told’ me.
father feared I should die before ma- The dangerous condition of Paul
turity. But my passion for outdoor Mitrande finally brought me in touch
play developed me into a running, with reality again, and when I en-
tearing, shouting youth, who would tered the hospital, I was almost my-
fearlessly charge upon his comrades self again.
in the games.
“I know that I was Severus. There pAuii MITRANDE lived. He is calmly
is no other explanation.” sitting on my sofa now while I
Panon paused. His face was tense finish the story Ihave set myself to
and wet with sweat. write. Every day he has driven over
I felt as if I wanted to flee from to sit by the fire, to gaze into its
that cell, to hide myself somewhere, flames, and to muse over the things
to wipe the memory of this day from that may be and that may not be.
my brain. Paul Mitrande ! Sometimes he is sad, sometimes joy-
I rose and stepped toward the ous; and often in his deep, brown
door. The hand of Panon held me eyes, I see the welling of man’s im-
back. His face had changed to penetrable soul. “The Algerian
peacefulness again, and he spoke less Cave was awarded the prize. Paul
’
’

vehemently. recommended that lenity be shown

In my life. Monsieur, I have been
‘
‘
Louis Panon, and the court gave it.
cursed with a passion for revenge The prisoner was released after a
a thing I could not understand. I very short term. The day he was
have hated my fellowmen since be- freed, Paul met him at the prison
coming a man. I have gone armed gates and handed him a deposit-book
of late years. Yesterday, when I and a cheek-book; then Panon
saw that picture, the things of my learned that Paul had deposited to
other life flashed back to me. I his credit ten thousand francs of the
knew that Paul Mitrande could not prize money.
The Epic of the Microbe-hunters

The Dark Chrysalis

By ELI COLTER
The Story So Far the process of irritation to deter-
mine whether an animal not having
S AUL BLAUVETTB, Working in his laboratory with
John Cloud and Henry Arn, discovers the the microbe in its flesh could de-
microbe ot cancer—a germ shaped like a devil-
fish, that is visible only when stained with a velop the cancer growth. All this
combination of red and blue dye. He finds that
his mother is tainted with the cancer-microbe, done, Saul thought of the doctor’s
and feverishly works to find a cure for the bottles, and hurried away to
dread disease. He is spurred on by Helene Kin-
kaid’s faith in him, Whittly’s office.

T he scientist’s first succeed-

ing step was further experi-
mentation on the animals.
From every rat, mouse, guinea-pig
and rabbit and monkey in the lab-
Whittly had the bottles ready,
and the little scientist stared at the
packet with its grisly contents,
wheeled abruptly and began pacing
aimlessly about the room. Then he
oratory he with the aid of Cloud and paused suddenly and faced the old
Arn examined a piece of fiesh, while doctor.
he waited the doctor’s gruesome bot- “Where’s Helene?”
tles of samples. It took the three
“Gone out for lunch, Saul, She’ll
men two days to make the final regret having missed you.”
round, and their findings were pre-
cisely the same as they had been “Not so much as I. But I’ll see
with human flesh. In several rats, her soon. Doc” — Saul’s eyes cen-
tered on Whittly’s face, harassed
guinea-pigs, mice and one monkey
they found the devil-fish microbes
—
and probing “Arn and Mother are
swarming like bees in a hive. The swarming with those damned mi-
other animals were free from the crobes. Aril’s healthy as a bear, ap-
bacterium. All these in the animals parently. But Mother hasn’t been
well for a long time. She’s never
on which they had as yet made no
attempt to produce a cancer. In all said a word to me about herself. I
the animals developing cancer the never dared ask. She keeps such a
microbe multiplied and throve. Hav- grim silence. I’ve been brought up
ing satisfied himself so far, Saul be- to respect it. But sometimes I’ve —
gan a series of ghastly experiments. seen her eyes. Do you know any-
thing about it?”
Into each of the animals un-
touched by the microbe he injected “I don’t know,” Whittly answered
live, groping bacteria from the flesh slowly, turning his eyes out the win-
of the dead man’s tongue, saving out dow to escape Saul ’s penetrating
only a few of each species immune. gaze. “Her brother and her father
On each of the animals receiving the died of cancer of the liver. Didn’t
germ he began the process of irrita- you know that? Well, they did. I
tion with his tar and oils and gums. fancy she’s afraid. Her color’s bad.
One monkey free of the cancer germ But she stays in her shell. She’ll
he saved for a third test. He began never come to me till she’s driven
This story began in WKIRD TAUBS for June 113
114 WEIRD TALES
sick by fear, and then it’ll be too in a dozen other diseases. They may
late.” not have a thing to do with the real
“By God, it’ll never be too late!” causation of cancer.”
Saul interrupted swiftly. “Give me “You’re ratty!” Saul snapped.
those bottles.” He snatched the
packet from the table and ran from
—
“Rats pure rats! Of course they’re
the cause of cancer! Haven’t I just
the room, leaving Whittly staring got through explaining to you what I
after him with strange eyes. know? But we don’t dare make a
He raced into the laboratory where move toward our goal till we’ve gone
Cloud and Arn awaited him impa- through the maddening process of
tiently. All that day three excited —
proving proving! I’m going to see
Doc Whittly!”
men hung over the microscopes. In
none of the flesh did they discover So again the old doctor was called
any microbes. In Saul there was into the ring, a willing and eager par-
bom a frenzy that turned the labora- ticipant in, the cause of materialiang
tory into a shambles, littered with Saul’s great dream. Again Whittly
blood and fur and stench, noisy with turned over to Saul several bottles
the squeals and whimpers of suffering with ghastly contents, shivering in-
and dying animals. The scientists voluntarily to think of the dangers
woiited over the squealing brutes, faced night and day by those three
brewed soups of seeds and broths tireless men. And Saul Blauvette and
from meat and set to work to obtain his faithful coworkers bent unweary-
a pure culture microbe for further ing over blisters from measles pa-
experimentation. The ghastly little tients, blood from a tuberculous man,
devil-fish grew with appalling speed. pus from the one smallpox patient in
“If they can grow at that rate, how town, and even the terrible discharge
in blazes does it take a cancer so long from the flesh of a syphilis-eaten
to develop?” Am
demanded, frown- baby. At the end of the long hideous
ing at the microscope and shaking his day Saul raised to his meager height
head. and looked at his two assistants tri-
“Amount of demoralization in the umphantly. In not one of the other
tissue,” Saul returned. “The more diseases did a single devil-fish microbe
broken, down the tissue the faster the appear. It belonged to that malig-
bugs can get in their work. We’ve nant thing called cancer, and that
got to find something that will kill alone.
them when injected into the body, Cloud gave back Saul’s slight smile,
and yet not injure the human being. nodding, “You win, old man. I’m
I know there’s no use in trying any beginning to think you’ll win all the
vaccine process with them. We’ve vwiy.”
got to make a totally foreign serum “Of course Fll win!” Saul retorted
God knows from what we’ll make it. vehemently. “That’s so much proof.
But we’ll find it. And then all the Now we’ve got to get back to the rab-
broken-down tissue in the world can’t bits and rats and guinea-pigs. These
become housing space for a cancer. three things we’ve got to prove with
—
But proof! Proof! We haven’t
any proof! We’ve got to waste time
them : that only in the animals having
cancer germs will a cancer appear;
doing all these things to prove what that in an animal not infested with
—
I already know or even I won’t be the germ you can’t start a cancer to
satisfied.” save your soul; and that the cancer
“Yes, we’ve got to get busy proving germ itself will never give us a serum
something, all right. We don’t even to do the trick of annihilating cancer.
know yet that those microbes aren’t —
And the world waits and we’ve so
 THE DARK CHRYSALIS 115

much to do ! Let ’s go ! ” But he was tiplying, breaking down new tissue,

thinking of his gaunt and silent eating it as fast as it breaks enough
mother. She knew that he had lied. to become susceptible! Then they
branch out, the cancer grows deeper,
A gain long days of experimenting, the epithelial cells penetrate to the
and as they worked, weeks and lymphatics and follow to the nearest
months began to fly. They searched glands. We’ve proved the causation
diligently through pieces of animal and explanation of that thing called
flesh and examined sore and irritated cancer, Henry!’’
bellies. On none of the animals not “Yes.” Am
nodded somberly, as
inoculated by the cancer germ did Cloud bent over the lens and squinted
any sign of cancer appear. Cracks and his red-rimmed eyes at the squirming
small lumps grew, and the moment bacteria.
the irritation was suspended they
“That wasn’t so diffieult,” Saul
healed quickly and passed away. On
went on wearily. “What is to come
the belly of one guinea-pig they had
is the almost impossible task.”
inoculated with the germ a cra^ ap- ‘
Conquering the microbe ?
‘
Cloud ’
’

peared. A
crack that did not heal. half stated, half questioned.
Saul took a minute piece of the irri- “And thereby, cancer,” Saul sup-
tated edge of the crack and put it
plemented. “We’ve got our real work
under the microscope. The membrane ahead of us. We’ve proved conclu-
was broken and angry. They re- sively that the microbe itself can’t
doubled their efforts at applying irri-
tation.
aid us in making a serum I knew —
it all before we started. We’ve got
In a few months another piece of to find some serum that’ll do the
tissuefrom the small growing sore trick, though. Local application is of
was put under the microscope. The course out of the question, since the
delicate epithelial cells had grown microbes go all over the body. And
more numerous, thickened, and all when we do find the seram that will
around the edge a congregation of Imock the devil-fish ”
blood cells was gathered, trying to “The world will go Avild!” Cloud
assist the sore to heal. But the lit- cut in. “Think of it! All anyone
tle devil-fish microbes were hard at has to do is be tested to see whether or
work on the weakened tissue, and it not he has it in his system, and if,
showed no indication of healing. In he has it, take the serum, and he
a few months more the sore had couldn’t get cancer on a bet.”
grown hard, bled easily and had a “But we’ve got to start some-
look of going deep. The cells which where, Arn frowned, Avatching Saul.
’
’

before were merely thickened and “And if you know that where to
angry, now apparently had begun to
grow. Saul pointed it out to Am and
start —
we’re on the last lap.”
“We’re on the last lap, all right!”
looked at him with triumphant en- Saul strode over to the microscope
thusiasm in his enormous slate-colored and stared into it. “But God knows
eyes. when Ave’ll reach the post! No —
“See that? And they tell you can- don’t knoAV where to start, but we’ll
cer a nucleus of seemingly normal
is experiment with mercury for a be-
’ ’
cells that suddenly begin to spread ginning.
and eat up all the surrounding tis-
sues!
The
dirty
Eats! Look at those bugs!

little
growing! The
cells aren’t really
have settled in
devil-fish
T here were,
Three years in AV'hieh Saul’s
then,

mother moved eA^er more sloAvly, ever

three years.

them and started housekeeping, mul- more gaunt, the faded sallowness of
116 WEIRD TALES
her face deepening to a sinister shade. you from her. How can I convince
Three years in which fear and despair her that I long to take her to my
came to brood over the great bam of arms, in place of the mother that died
a laboratory and the adjoining living- in my infancy? What can I do?”
house, while Whittly looked on with “Nothing.” Saul shook his head
bitter silence and grim eyes. Three somberly. “ It ’s a situation that must
years that whirled crazily by while resolve itself somehow. I feel sure
three men grew old in their youth, that it will, by some twist of circum-
turned gray at the temples, worked stance.
”
frantically with devil-fish microbes
Helene nodded slowdy, believing in
and did w’eird horrible things in their him with utter faith, and in all that
tireless search for the serum that
he said. But if either of them could
would conquer the cancer microbe. have looked ahead and seen the “twist
They injected aged and devitalized of circumstance” that was to bring
germs into rats and guinea-pigs half those two women together their
eaten by cancer, only to see the germs cheeks would have paled aiid their
grow live and active the moment they hearts gone sick. Saul’s mind was
joined their kind, sending the small too occupied with his life-work to give
animals to swift and hideous death. it much thought.
They dried spinal cords and brains,
Never once did he lose sight of his
blood and body-juices, made serums
great vision, forever holding an inner
and injected them into animals
mind-picture of the dark chrysalis
doomed with the malignant tumors
broken open at last, bringing light to
only to see the cancers increase with
a fear-bound world. Here and there a
appalling speed and send other small
beasts to horror and extermination.
man sprang into prominence with a
new cure for cancer. Saul held his
‘
‘
’
’

Three men grew thin of body, lean breath, ready to cheer on a man more
of hope and sick of heart. But they successful than he, only to find the
never relaxed their efforts. When- cure as crazily erratic, as without
ever despair descended to sit on the basis or virtue as all the old cures.
shoulders of Saul Blauvette, he And he turned to delve anew into
looked into his mother’s eyes and his own research with John Cloud at
drove himself harder than ever. And one elbow' and Henry Arn at the
when he w’as too weary to go another other.
step without relief, he sought rest and
surcease in the arms of Helene
Then Henry Arn began to suffer

Kinkaid. A strange situation ob-

continuouslj' with an ugly indiges-
tained between Helene and Saul’s tion. It had been bothering him per-
mother. Never yet had the girl come sistently through the last year, grow-
near the laboratory. Never yet had ing steadily worse. He had paiid lit-
Saul’s mother left it. Saul knew that tle heed to it, dismissing it as nothing,
the gaunt, fear-ridden woman held believing its cause to be mainly strain-
off from her hanshly the idea of that ing overw'ork, hastily snatched meals
other woman in Saul’s life. He told and too little sleep. But when it be-
Helene, delicately as he could, and came so bad that he could keep noth-
queerly enough Helene understood. ing on his stomach, when he found
“It’s jealousy, Saul,’’ she said himself with sharp pain and contin-
gently. “A strange kind of jealousy ual nausea for constant companions,
all mothers know when their children he went to Doc Whittly and asked for
come to love and another person en- some prescription for a “slight stom-
ters the scene. I think she must be- ach disorder.” He had, strange as it
lieve that marriage with me will take may seem, quite forgotten that in his
 THE DARK CHRYSALIS 117

flesh the little microbes

devil-flsh The three men wheeled to see Saul ’s
swarmed and throve and grew. mother, standing facing them, her
Whittly examined him quickly, al- head high, her face grim, and in her
most perfunctorily, and Helene paled, eyes the agony of aU hell.
‘
listening, at the old doctor’s words. ‘
Mother What are you saying
! !
’ ’

“I —Am, you want the truth?” Saul’s voice rose to a half-hysterical

“Certainly!” Am started at the shout.
doctor’s Hone, and his own sallow “Doctor Whittly was here pster-
cheek grew a shade paler. day, at my request. You did not
“You’ve a well-developed cancer of know. I demanded his secrecy. He
the stomach,” Whittly responded, told me what he told Henry. I have
turning his eyes from the shock in
, cancer of the liver. Nothing can be
Arn’s face. “For God’s sake, man, done. No one can save me but you, my
why didn’t you come to me before? son.” She spoke with the grim con-
I’ve been watching you, I was dis- trol of lier stern nature, but Saul read
turbed at your color. But none of the hopeless horror underneath.
you ever said anything about your The little scientist threw his hands
having any symptoms.” over his head in a gesture of wild
“I didn’t think it amounted to despair.
anything,” Amajiswered, shudder-
^
“And I am powerless! For three
ing involuntarily.' “Cancer! I’ve
years we have worked and slaved, and
got it! My God, Doc, can’t you do nothing has rewarded us. Mother!
anything for mqr ’

“It’s too late.” Whittly shook his

—
You and Henry! My God, I’m go-
ing mad! I’ve got .to get out of
head, and liis eyes were stricken. “I
here!”
could put you on the operating table
and cut you up, but it would he ut- He whirled and raced from the
room, out into the gathering dusk,
terly useless. Nobody can save you
leaving behind him horror and pain
now but Saul Blauvette.”
Henry looked for a moment into and sick despair. Straight as a hom-
ing pigeon flies he went to Helene.
the pitying eyes of Whittly and
Helene Kinkaid, and turned to walk “Come to the hill,” he begged of
slowly from the office, like a very old her, frigid in his terror of the thing
man, too weary to lift his head and ahead. “Come out to our little hill.
mark which way he was going. I’ve got to talk to you or I’ll go
So he came to the laboratory, white- mad !”
faced and weary-eyed, and Saul, look- Without a word of question she fol-
ing into his face, sprang toward him lowed him to the little birch-clad hill
with a startled cry: “Henry! What’s between the laboratory and the little
the matter? Are you sick?” town. And there he tiirned to her,
“Sick to death,” Arn answered, took her in his arms and hid his face
and Cloud paled as lie heard. on her .slioulder.
“Whittly says I have cancer of the “Helene,” he choked, shivering as
stomach, and it’s too late even to he put his horror into words,
operate. He says nobody can save “Mother and Henry Arn ”
me but you.” “I know,” the girl interrui)ted
“Oh, my God! Henry! You?” him, gripping him with arms that
Saul ’s enomious eyes went wide, then would drive from him his soul-break-
blinked shut as though to close from ing desperation. “I know. Doctor
his sight some hideous picture. told me. Their salvation lies in you.
“And I.” A harsh, fear-chilled Saul, listen — listen, dear. You can’t
voice came from the doorway. break now!”
118 WEIRD TALES
‘
can ’t go on ” Saul ’s voice rose,
‘
I ! Down on your knees, beloved, here in
and he lifted his head to stare into the grass. Lift your head, and pray.”
her face through the deepening shad- She released herself from his arms
ows. “I don’t know which way to and dropped lithely to her knees,
turn. We’ve been working like mad pulling him down beside her, her face
for three years to discover the ele- uplifted. Saul gripped her hand with
ment that will kill that germ, and both of his, raising his face to the
we’ve failed. Failed miserably. We now dark and star-flecked sky, pray-
may search on for three years more. ing aloud a queer little stumbling
Helene, how long have Mother and prayer.
Am to live?”
—
“God are You there? Help me.
“Arn can have but a few months, —
Can You hear? I I don’t know how
your mother at best a year,” Helene to pray. A man drifts. I guess I’ve
answered, her voice bitter with regret. drifted—away from You. Help me!
“A few montlis a few months — — Send me some answer by which I may
year Good God
! Saul ’s arms held
!
’
’ know— give me the Help me
light.
her convulsively, and his words were to save Henry—Mother—help me to
harsh with his emotion. “And we save the world! God—are You
may work a dozen years, a lifetime there?”
and then not find it There is some- ! Silence, on the little hill. SUence,
thing that will conquer that cancer singing, and a cool breeze blowing
microbe Somew'here in the world it
! down over two on their knees in the
waits the man who can find it! But grass, faces lifted to the eternal stars.
only God knows what it is ” ! Helene’s voice, like ’a muted silver
“Ah—there, you said it! Only bell.
God knows! Haven’t you been for- “He heard. I know —He heard.’’
getting a bit about God?” Some- In a solemn hush they w'ent down
thing in her tone struck deep, and the the little hill and parted.
frenzy that swirled in Saul’s racked
brain hushed to hear. “God knows. A LONE Saul walked and waited till

And only God can help you now.. I the lights went out in the great
tell you God guards his own, but God building where he worked and in the
does not will that they shall forget adjoining house. And that night, in
Him. I told you once before that the welter of writhing wo that
man does all things through God, shrouded the laboratory, carrying his
Saul. And when men think they are faith and the memory of Helene’s
supreme, and that they can work the calm face, Saul Blauvette had a
world to their will without him, he dream.
brings them to tlieir knees. As he He dreamed that he stood on the
has brought you. You can’t go one top of their little hill, with the birch
step farther without the aid of God. trees rising slimly around him and
Saul, listen to me! You’ve got to the cool breeze blowing into his face.
turn to God.” Then suddenly ahead of him a great
‘
‘
I— ray own,
yes,
nodded
’
The scien- yes.
’
devil-fish appeared, creeping down
tist his head, his frenzy gone, from the sky, reaching and groping
looking into her -eyes with a strange with its long hideous arms. Stunned
mixture of bewilderment and trust. with fear, sick to death of a weaken-
“I’m ready. Tell me what to do. I ing nausea, he could neither breathe
guess I was forgetting about God.” nor move a muscle to fight the thing,
“Most men forget about God” but only stare at it and wait for the
Helene’s lips quivered, then went still horrible death that crawled upon him.
— “till they are driven to the wall. As it drew nearer he saw that it was
 THE DARK CHRYSALIS 119

a mass of putrid stinking flesh, and as devil-fish and the snake and the but-
the sinuous arms groped and writhed, terfly bursting out of the dark chrys-
his mother and Henry Arn abruptly alis into the light.
appeared in its path. The ghastly “I wonder!” Cloud said, dazedly.
arms gripped and began to crush “I wonder!”
them, and Saul, suddenly crazed into
“Don’t wonder!” Saul shouted,
action, began struggling and scream-
leaping out of bed and catching at
ing and beating at the terrible mass.
his shoulders, “Mother and Henry
His frantic efforts were of less ef- are dying. Don’t you realize that?
fect than the puff of wind swirling Don’t wonder! Get me some rattle-
around his head, the horrible mass snakes !
’ ’

choked him and his nostrils smothered “But where will I get them?”
in the stench and fumes of its putre- Cloud demanded, shaking himself
faction. into coherent thought.
Then a small snake, hardly a foot “My God, I don’t know! Out in
long, came creeping over his feet, Arizona, Wyoming —anywhere that
through the wasli of dew that covered it’s hot, I guess. Hurry, man!
the grass, rattling its small tail men- Hurry!”
acingly. It reared its tiny head and Cloud whirled and ran into his own
struck at the gigantic devil-fish. It room, got into his clothes and rushed
struck but once. Yet instantly the into the garage where stood Saul’s
monster quivered, loosed its hold on little-used powerful car. half-hour A
its victims, shriveled up like a leaf in later he was racing down the highway
flame and faded away. toward the desert country three hun-
Saul Blauvette staggered back in dred miles distant, where rattlesnakes
his dream, tlirowing up his arms with lived and multiplied. The great car
a great cry, breathing gratefully the roared through the little town and
clean air rid of the nauseous fumes. shot on, leaving waking wondering
And just ahead of him on a limb of people behind it.
one of the slim birches he saw a dark In the town people looked at each
gray chrysalis. It burst open as he other and frowned. Spme rose and
gazed. A
gorgeous butterfly crawled went to their windows, to get a
out into the sunlight, tested its wings glimpse of the big maroon car tearing
and drank in the glow of a new day, by in the moonlight. That crazy
as the sun flamed in the sky and the scientist’s car! What was he up to
world was bathed with light. Then now? For many months sentiment
the dream faded, and Saul woke with had been rising in the town concern-
a great start, sat up in his bed and ing the laboratory. It was known
cried aloud to John Cloud. only as the isolated experimental lab-
“John! John! Get up! Quick! oratory of the weird, erratic, queer-
We have to get hold of some rattle-
’ ’
looking little Saul Blauvette. Specu-
snakes !
lation began to rise concerning what
Cloud leaped out of his bed where grisly things might be going on in
he had been lying wide-eyed, came that guarded, mysterious and silent
running into the room and turned on place. Sentiment in the town began
the light to stand staring at Saul with to frown at the great barnlike build-
startled eyes. Had the wonder- ing, wholeheartedly wishing it away
seeker gone mad ? Saul saw the ques- from there, watching askance for
tion in his face, and answered it. some tangible evidence of dark and
“No, I’ve not gone mad. I’ve had ugly deeds.
a dream! Listen.” And he went on The next day there passed .secretly
to explain rapidly the vision of the from tongue to tongue the knowledge
120 WEIRD TALES
of the passage of the great car roar- weakening, stricken Henry Am with
ing tlirough in the night. Where had terrible eyes. Henry Am could now
Blauvette gone? On what sudden with difficulty stay from his bed but a
and imperative errand? Then some few hours at a time. His nausea and
saw Blauvette walking towdrd the his gnawing pain had made of him
birch-clad hill with Helene Kinkaid, but a shell. And by the end of the
and speculation rose higher. If it week of suspense Saul was a mad
were not Blauvette himself who had ghost of himself, turning desperately
raced away so summarily, then who? to Helene for strength when he felt
And why? that he must know her steady poise
Saul had gone to seek Helene and or break.
tellher of his dream. There on the Then John Cloud came back came ;

top of the hill they pieced it together, with a box in the tonneau of the car
and sought the answer to its riddle. that held seven huge rattlesnakes. He
“But there is no riddle, really,” rushed into the house, stared into
Helene said when Saul had finished Henry Arn’s sallow pain-drawn
giving her the details of his vision. face and turned choking from Mrs.
“It is very clear. The rattlesnake Blauvette ’s awful eyes to set down
poison is the element you seek.” the box before Saul. Inside of ten
“Of course. I sent Cloud after minutes Saul had killed the seven
some snakes in the middle of the snakes and was cutting out their
night.” Saul laid his hand over hers poison sacs.
where it pressed the deep grass. “And There ensued one terrible frantic
the diminutive proportionate size of month, in which Henry Am
and Mrs.
the snake is significant that I shall Blauvette went steadily marching to-
use the poison sparingly in my solu- ward the yawning doors of death,
tion. The only other element clear in while John Cloud and Saul worked
—
the dream was the dew ^water. The strange and fearful havoc with rat-
—
world was wet with dew and dew is tlesnake poison and distilled water.
traditionally supposed to be pure. I They took the hideous virulent stuff
must distill the water. Distilled wa- and diluted it four-fifths. They put
ter and rattlesnake poison. It sounds a squirming mass of the devil-fish
wild, insane. But I know we’ve got microbes under the lens, while Henry
the answer. I even feel a sort of Am crept in and stood looking on
calmness inside. All I’ve got to do is with staring, haggard eyes. Onto the
wait tUl Cloud comes back, and we’re microbes they dropped the diluted
on the home stretch.” poison, and the microbes shriveled up
“And in tlie morning of new
hei’e, and died. They injected the solution
hope, must we thank God who sent into a guinea-pig with three cancers.
you tlie dream.” Helene’s face Every microbe in the animal’s body
raised to the light-washed sky —but died, but the guinea-pig died also.
Saul bowed his head. And through that month, down in
the little adjoining town, ramor,
'^HEN for a week Saul paced the speculation and ugly suspicion, once
laboratory restlessly, belying that roused, grew and intensified against
calmness he had felt for a moment in the laboratory out in the trees.
his soul. Every waking hour length- There was no one to tell of the
ened into an eternity as he waited heroic nights and days through which
the return of John Cloud. Every few two tireless men worked frantically
moments he hurried into the house on on, eating little, sleeping less, madly
one pretext or another, to glance at experimenting with ghoulish bugs
his mother’s face. He followed the and deadly poison while two pain-
 THE DAEK CHRYSALIS 121

racked doomed watched with staring pulled him down beside her. He
eyes. Helene and Whittly, hearing threw himself full-length in the grass
breath of the rumor of dissatisfaction and laid his tired head in her lap.
and resentment against the labora- She looked out across the trees into
tory, spoke of it with anxious hearts, the sky. “Was there no other ele-
and held their tongues, knowing the ment in that dream? Dew —
dew and
utter futility of anything they could poison. —
And Saul! The devil-fish
say. came crawling out of the sky, didn’t
The laboratory became the housing —
he? Out of Sie air ether!”
space for dozens of rattling, hissing “Ether!” Saul leaped to his feet
snakes. John Cloud had left orders with a wild shout, cursing his own
with an old prospector on the desert lack of divination, staring at her with
to catch and ship him all the rattle- startled eyes. “Ether! My God,
snakes that he could ferret out of what a blind man I am! Of course.
rocks and holes. Those mysterious We need ether!”
boxes, arriving regularly, to spew He wheeled and raced down the
their deadly contents into the labo- hill toward the laboratory, with only
ratory, did their silent share in in- a backward look, a shout, and a wave
creasing the sentiment daily rising in of his arm, before he disappeared
the little town. The laboratory be- running from her sight. Helene, un-
came an abattoir, a madhouse. derstanding, smiled after him with
Henry Amand Mrs. Blauvette looked quivering lips, and her eyes were wet
on sick to the soul, afraid to hope, as she turned to go down the other
while Helene and Whittly waited side of the hill to tell Whittly of the
apart in a numb, silent suspense. new idea and the rebirth of hope.
Guinea-pigs died. Rats, mice and
rabbits died. Monkeys died — even as aul burst into the laboratory with
the microbes died. Till the half- S a shout that brought Cloud ran-
crazed scientists had left but one ning, “Ether! Wo need ether,
monkey, two rats, one tiny brown and John. Bring me the ether!”
white guinea-pig and a few mice. All
Cloud whirled to a shelf across the
the remaining animals bore rotting
cluttered, stinking room, snatched
hideous cancers on their bellies. And down an ether can and rushed across
the soul-weary men were no nearer
the laboratory to place the can in
an effective solution than they had Saul’s shaking fingers. Then madly
been before. they set to work again, while Am and
Then again the frantic little scien- Mrs. Blauvette, hearing the loud
tist sought Helene Kinkaid, and again cries, came stealing to the door to look
they walked upon the hilltop and dis- on like ghosts, and wonder.
cussed the dream. The last serum made, their five
“I’m almost at the end of my hundred and tenth solution, had been
tether.” Saul’s blue-ringed eyes and little short of seeming siiccess. The
haggard face were turned to the girl rat with cancer upon which they had
as he spoke, and his body drooped tried it had lived two days. In three
against her wearily as though it were hours they had tested his fiesh to find
taking all his strength to keep his the microbes dead and absorbed. The
feet.“I tell you, I’m about done. cancerous growth had begun to
What way is there to turn! And shrivel and dry up. The day he died
every hour Mother and Henry Am the flesh had begun to assume a
are dying.” healthy tone around the edges of the
“Sit down a moment and rest.” thick dry scab, and had started heal-
Helene slipped to the grass and ing.
122 WEIRD TALES
•
To that Saul BJauvette
solution anger that she could not be here now
added his ether. He studied it out in thishour of triumph.
minutely. The dew had covered the They waited in an aching hush, the
earth, in his dream. The ether had four of them, while the hours passed
covered the earth. He must use equal and the little scientist slept on.
proportions of ether and distilled wa- Whittly ordered Cloud to lie down
ter. The two scientists, with Arn and and get some rest, but Cloiid fought
the gaunt-eyed Mrs. Blauvette look- his drooping lids and waited with
ing on, held their breath and prayed them. Henry Arn, unable to keep his
when the five hundred and eleventh feet, had dropped into a chair, sleep-
serum was injected into the leg of a ing fitfully, waking often to stare at
guinea-pig dying of cancer, whimper- Saul with mad eyes. Saul slept for
ing in his cage. eighteen hours, and when he woke it
But that guinea-pag did not die. was night again. His mother stood
In two hours microscopic examina- by Whittly at the foot of his bed.
tion of his flesh showed that every Cloud stood at his right hand, and
microbe was dead and absorbed. In Henry Ara dozed in a chair. Saul
three hours more the cancerous sat up, stared at them and leaped out
growths began to shrivel and dry. \ipon the floor.
Swiftly they degenerated into nothing “We’ve got it, Doe!” he shouted.
but a scab over the tender flesh. Then “We’ve got it. We’ve discovered the
Saul plucked the scab away to find fonnula that kills the microbe, with-
healthy firm tissue growing under- ers the cancer and lets the being
’ ’
neath. The guinea-pig scampered live !

about his cage, ate piggishly and be- “John told me.” Whittly held
gan to grow fat. And when Saul Saul’s eyes with a steady gaze. “I
knew what he had done he stared at want you to give it immediately to
his mother wildly, glanced once into Henry Arn.”
Henry Am’s pain-racked eyes, and “Saul!” Henry shook himself
fainted on the floor. John Cloud awake and staggered to his feet, be-
picked him up, carried him into his seeching the wonder-worker with
own room and w'ent for old Doc naked appeal. —
“Saul I’m next!”
Whittly. “No!” Saul hurled the word at
His mother stood over him with a him and took a step backward. “I
ghastly face, her eyes glaring with don’t dare try it on a human being
the insane light of fanatical hope, yet. Not till I’ve tested it on a few
likea woman in a dream, while Arn more animals. That might have been
exclaimed over what Saul had done. only a happy accident. Don’t ask
Together those two doomed ones again! No, I tell you! No!”
waited like senseless statues by their
Arn drooped, glanced hopelessly at
Whittly, turned and dragged out of
wonder-worker till Whittly and
Cloud came rushing in the door.
the room. He knew too well the
strength of Saul Blauvette ’s word. If
Whittly bent over him, felt his. pulse
Saul said no, Saul meant no. The
and raised to smile at Mrs, Blau- others watched Am
go in stark si-
vette.
lence. like seeing a man walk
It was
“It merely utter exhaustion.
is into void of eternity.
the Then
Let him sleep. We’ll wait.” But he Whittly turned to Saul with a harsh
thought of Helene. Helene, long reprimand.
since asleep fitfully in her own room, “Saul, don’t be a fool. He’s
her mind following Saul every foot doomed beyond all hope, anyway. He
of the way. And Whittly felt a grim hasn’t but a few days or weeks to live.
 THE DARK CHRYSALIS 123

What better man for your last test his eyes, smiled at Whittly and
up
than the man who has worked with glanced around at the others sitting
you side by side?” suspense-racked in the cool dawn.
“No! I tell you, no!” Saul shouted —
“Yes you’re all here, eh?
new man. Doc. Nausea
I feel
at him violently and started for the like a gone,
door, to be met by the returning fig- pain gone. A little weak. How’s
ure of Henry Am. Saul stopped my pulse? Lord, it’s good to be free
short at the look on Arn’s face. of pain! — —
Saul you you miracle-
The doomed man stood before them worker ! Do you know what it means
as a soldier going into battle, his head to be free of pain? And Doe I’m —
high, his eyes flaring with an exalted hungry. Can’t I have something to
li'^t. Something about him sent a eat?”
hush over the room, and though his
voice was little above a whisper it
“Why, yes — yes,
Whittly ’s voice was hus^, and he
I guess so.”

rang through the room like a temple turned to Mrs.. Blauvette, reading the
gbng. flaming hope in her eyes as he spoke.
“I have taken it myself. You “You might get him a soft poached
wouldn’t give it to me; I know you egg and a little milk, if you will?”
too well, Saul. So I have taken it Mrs. Blauvette moved out of the
myself. It may be imagination, but room with more haste than Saul had
I think that already my deathly ever seen her show, and closed Am
nausea is lessening. Time will tell. his eyes again, his drawn face relaxed
Time alone. I gave my life to this into the calm of rest and release from
cause, remember, not in the letter, but pain. Silence fell once more. Si-
in the deed.” lences seemed a part of the great
Saul sank back on the edge of his barnlike laboratory and the adjoin-
bed and buried his head in his hands. —
ing house tense silences, and shout-
No one moved, till Arn spoke again: ing frantic cries.
“Now I am going to bed, and sleep.
— ”'
If Iwake in the morning
“We’ll all be there,” Whittly an-
swered, and Cloud added a hoarse and
A
Am,
s Mrs. Blauvette came in again
noiselessly to give the food to
Whittly turned to Saul and
vehement amen to the promise, as Am spoke: “We’d better go out now and
went again from their sight. let the man sleep. He needs a lot of
They heard him go into his own rest after all the pain and exhaustion
room. Then silence fell. Saul did he has endured. He’ll have to come
not move. None of them moved. back slowly. But before I go I want
They knew Am
had thrown himself —
you to give 511 to your mother.”
upon his blankets fully dressed. They “Mother ” Saul’s cry was
!

waited tensely for what seemed an wrenched out of his throat, and his
eternity, till Whittly stepped softly cheek blanched as his gaze leaped to
across to Am’s room to find him her face. Involuntarily she straight-
peacefully asleep. One by one the ened, staring deep into his enormous
others filed in and grouped them- eyes, and in the tone of his cry and
selves around his bed, Saul coming the pallor of his features the gaunt
last like a man drawn toward some and silent woman read the love of her
horror beyond hiswill. They waited, son.
‘
Mother I can ’t I’m afraid
‘ ! !
! ’

asleep in their chairs,till dawn came Wliittly looked steadily into the lit-
window to waken them. Whittly
in the tle scientist’s face, and read accu-
moved, rose and stretched his tired rately that fear. Rats and mice and
muscles, walked across to the bed and rabbits were one thing. And a
felt Arn’s pulse. Am stirred, opened guinea-pig was only a guinea-pig.
124 WEIRD TALES
Henry Arn had worked with him side Saul’s voice rose, and he winced visi-
by side, had taken the matter of his bly. “Mother! I’m afraid!” •

own life in his hands to prove or dis- He swayed on his feet and his
prove the efficacy of fonnula 511. mother walked up to him and placed
But this woman was his mother. The her hands on his shoulders, looking
woman who had given him of her down into his colorless face with her
flesh and blood that he might walk terrible eyes. He quivered at her
through the world and become a man. touch. He stood like a man turned
The woman who had fed and clothed to stone, as her voice broke upon hi^,
him and believed in him when others ears in wild words. Strange words,,
laughed and sneered. The woman from her, the grim and silent woman.,'
who would never fail him in the val- “Saul, you are too exliausted to use,
ley of death nor the pits of hell, in that magnificent brain. Reason, my
heaven or on earth. His mother. Her son Reason
! What if I should die
!

blood in his veins, her substance in under the serum treatment ? It would
his bones, her gift in his flesh. He be a shorter, more merciful death. I
knew then how her mighty love had suffer! You can save me that, at
grown in her grim silence and envel- least. I ask you what Henry asked
oped him and claimed him and made you. Do you know what it means to
him what he was. His mother. be free of pain? But I shall not die.,
“I can’t. I can’t, I tell you!” I feel it —
I know! You have life in'
Saul sprang to his feet and backed your two hands—life for me and for
away, his hand held out as if to ward the world. Are you going to let an
off a blow. “I’m afraid!” unreasonable, groundless fear con-
“So is she!” Whittly’s harsh voice demn me to death before your eyes?
cut in swiftly- “She has been afraid Saul —you have life. Give it to me ”
!

for twenty years. The whole world Saul stared at her, dumb, and
is afraid. What of your dark chrys- neither Whittly nor Arn moved. It
alis? She can’t live another month if was as though in that gripping tense-
you don’t do something for her. ness no one breathed. No one no-
You’ve got to work quickly. You’ve ticed John Cloud as he swiftly and
proved your formula Look at Arn
! !
’ ’
silently passed from the room. He re-
Saul’s eyes leaped to Arn’s face, turned almost instantly with a bottle
and Am
looked back at him, sanely, of 511 and a needle in his hands, to
steadily, smiling his reassurance. find them as he had left them, trans-
“I know.” Saul’s gaze turned to fixed, a frozen tableau. Suddenly
his mother, and his face was white Mrs. Blauvette moved in a quick flash
as chalk. “The sohxtion works the of frantic abandon to her own driving
same on rat, monkey or mouse. It fear, threw herself on her knees be-
should work the same on a human be- fore her son and held up imploring;
ing. But I’m afraid!” He shook hands.
his head, setting his teeth, and his
‘
‘
Saul ! I gave you life ! You iniist
enormous eyes burned black in his give life to me. Now—now while
face. “I tell you I can’t do it! Not there is time.”
yet! Wait a week to be sure that Saul continued to stare into her
Henry ” face like a man hypnotized, and
“And in a week your mother may Whittly ached for want of breath as
die!” Whittly’s voice was sharp; he Cloud stepped silently across the room
knew he was arguing against the pale to lay bottle and needle in Saul’s
angel with the scythe, and he heard hand. Slowly Saul opened the bot--
the thud of clods on a grave. tie, her eyes on him, holding him,
“She’D not die by my hand!” compelling him, begging, command-
 THE DARK CHRYSALIS 125

and fear of her life

ing, all the horror startled, incredulously horror-shaken
plainly written on her face for him tone. He wheeled, still gripping his
to see. mother’s arm, to see Cloud and
Then with one swift motion he filled Whittly staring fascinatedly at Am.
the needle, caught her upraised arm Arn lay on his pillows, the food
and injected the serum into the tis- half-eaten on the plate beside him.
sues. She winced slightly, bit her lip, His face was calm and smiling, and
and threw her arms about his knees. his eyes gazed at them with a look
The first sob he had ever heard from of infinite peace. But the look was
her throat shook her body as he bent fixed and unmistakable, as was the
to raise her to her feet. Then behind pallor of his face.
him he heard Whittly’s voice in a Heni’y Arn was dea'd.

This story rises to a dramatic and thrilling culmination in the con-

cluding chapters in next month's issue of TALES. WEIRD

WEIRD STORY REPRINT

The Dragon Fang
By FITZ-JAMES O’BRIEN
CHAPTER 1 families can be discovered and made
to yield compensation, or be brought
THE MIRACULOUS DRAGON under the just eye of the Brother of
FANG the Sun. What is it that you want?
««^^OME, men and women, and This mean little conjurer, who now
. little people of Tching-tou, addresses you, can suppl3’' all your
come and listen. The small charming and refreshing desires; for
and ignoble person who annoys you he is known ever3’where as Piou-lu,
by his presence is the miserable con- the possessor of the ever-renowned
jurer known as Piou-lu. Everything and miraculous Dragon Fang!”
that can possibly be desired he can There was a little, dry laugh, and
give you —
charms to heal dissensions
;
a murmur among the crowd of idlers
in your noble and illustrious fami- that surrounded the stage erected by
—
lies; spells by which beautiful little Piou-lu in front of the Hotel of the
people without style may become Thirt3’^-two Virtues. Fifth-class man-
learned Bachelors, and reign high in darins looked at fourth-class manda-
the palaces of literary composition ;
rins and smiled, as much sis to say,
supernatural red pills, with which “W’'e who are educated men know
3^011 can cure 3’our elegant and re- what to think of this fellow.” But
nowned diseases —
wonderful incan-
; the fourth-class mandarins looked
tations, by which the assassins of any haughtily at the fifth-class, as if they
member of your shining and vh*tuous had no business to smile at their
126 WEIRD TALES
superiors. The crowd, however, eom- and unmentionable town of Siho,
po^ as it was principally of small when one morning, as I was sitting
traders, barbers, porcelain-tinkers, in my shop waiting for customers, I
and country people, gazed with open heard a great noise of tam-tams, and
mouths upon the conjurer, who, clad a princely palanquin stopped before
in a radiant garment of many colors, my door. I hastened, of course, to
strutted proudly up and down upon observe the honorable rites toward
his temporary stage. this newcomer, but before I could
“What is a Dragon Fang, ingen- reach the street a mandarin, splen-
ious and well-educated conjurer?” at didly attired, descended from the
last inquired Wei-chang-tze, a sol- palanquin. The ball on his cap was
emn-looking mandarin of the third of a stone and color that I had never
class, who was adorned with a sap- seen before, and three feathers of
phire button and a one-eyed pea- some unknown bird hung down be-
cock’s feather. “What is a Dragon hind his headdress. He held his hand
Fang?” to his jaw, and walked into my house
“Is it possible,” asked Piou-lu, with a lordly step. I was greatly
confused, for I knew not what rank
“that the wise and illustrious son of
virtue, the Mandarin Wei-chang-tze,
he was of, and felt puzzled how to
address him. He put an end to my
does not know what a Dragon Fang
is?” and the conjurer pricked up his
embarrassment.
“ ‘I am in the house of Piou-lu,
ears at the mandarin, as a hare at a
barking dog. '
the barber,’ he said, in a haughty
“Of course, of course,” said Voice that sounded like the roll of a
the Mandarin Wei-chang-tze, looking
copper drum amidst the hills.
“ ‘That disgraceful and ill-condi-
rather ashamed of, his having be-
trayed such ignorance, “one does not tioned person stands before you,’ I
pass his examinations for nothing. I replied,bowing as low as I could.
merely wished that you should ex- “ ‘It is well,’ said he, seating him-
plain to those ignorant people here self in my operating-chair, while two
what a Dragon Fang is; that was why of his attendants fanned him. ‘Piou-
’
I asked.” lu, I have the toothache !

“I thought that the Soul of Wis- “ ‘Does your lordship,’ said I,

dom must have known,” said Piou- ‘wish that I should remove your
lu, triumphantly, looking as if he be- noble and illustrious pain?’
lieved firmly in the knowledge of “ ‘You must draw my tooth,’ said
Wei-chang-tze. “The noble com- he. ‘Wo to you if you draw the
mands of Wei-chang-tze shall be wrong one!’
obeyed. You all know,” said he, “ ‘It is too much honor,’ I replied;
looking round upon the people, “that ‘but I will make my abominable and
there arc three great and powerful ill-conducted instruments entice your
Dragons inhabiting the universe. lordship’s beautiful tooth out of your
Lung, or the Dragon of the Sky; Li, high-bom jaw with much rapidity.’
or the Dragon of the Sea and Kiau,
;
“So I got my big pincers, and my
or the Dragon of the Marshes. All opium-bottle, and opened the strange
these Dragons are wise, strong and mandarin’s mouth. Ah! it was then
terrible. They are wondrously that my low-bom and despicable
formed, and can take any shape that heart descended into my bowels. I
pleases them. Well, good people, a should have dropped my pincers
great many moons ago, in the season from sheer fright if they had not
of spiked grain, I was following the caught by their hooked ends in my
profession of a barber in the mean wide sleeve. The mandarin’s mouth
 THE DRAGON PANG 127

was all on fire inside.As he breathed, “The mandarin was smiling pleas-
the flames rolled up and down his antly as I got up from the floor.
throat, like the flames that gather on ‘Piou-lu,’ said he, ‘you had a narrow
the Yellow Grass Plains in ^e season escape. You have removed my tooth-
of Much Heat. His palate glowed ache, but had you failed, you would
like red-hot copper, and his tongue have perished miserably; for I am the
was like a brass stewpan that had Dragon Lung, who rules the sky and
been on the salt-fire for thirty days. the heavenly bodies, and I am as
But it was his teeth that affrighted powerful as I am wise. Take as a re-
me most. They were a serpent’s ward the Dragon Pang which you
teeth. They were long, and curved drew from my jaw. You will find it
inward, and seemed to be made of a magical charm with which you can
transparent crystal, in the center of work miracles. Honor your parents,
which small tongues of orange- observe the rites, and live in peace.’
colored fire leaped up and down out “So saying, he breathed a whole
of some cavity in the gums. cloud of fire and smoke from his
“ ‘Well, dilatory barber,’ said the throat, that filled my poor and des-
mandarin, in a horrible tone, while I picable mansion. The light dazzled
stood pale and trembling before him, and the smoke suffocated me, and
‘why don’t you draw my tooth? when I recovered my sight and breath
Hasten, or I will have you sliced the Dragon Lung, the attendants, the
lengthwise and fried in the sun. ’ palanquin, and the four bearers had
“ ‘0, my
lord!’ said I, terrified at all departed, how and whither I knew
this threat, ‘I fear that my
vicious not. Thus was it, elegant and re-
and unendurable pincers are not fined people of Tching-tou, that this
sufficiently strong.’ small and evil-minded person who
“ ‘Slave!’ answered he in a voice stands before you became possessed
of thunder, ‘if you do not fulfil my of the wonderful Dragon Pang, with
desires, you will not see another moon which he can work miracles.”
rise.’

“I saw that I should be killed any-

way, so I might as well make the at-
T his story, delivered as it was with
much graceful and dramatic
gesticulation, and a volubility that
tempt. I made a dart with my pin-
cers at the first tooth that came, seemed almost supernatural, had its
effect upon the crowd, and ^ poor
closed them firmly on the crystal
little tailor, named Hang-pou, who
fang, and began to pull with all my
strength. The mandarin bellowed was known to be always in debt, was
like an ox of Tibet. The flames heard to say that he wished he had
rolled from his throat in such vol- the Dragon Pang, wherewith to work
ume that I thought they would singe miracles with his creditors. But the
my eyebrows. His two attendants mandarins, blue, crystal, and gilt,
and his four palanquin-bearers put smiled contemptuously, and said to
their arms round my waist to help themselves, “We who are learned
me to pull, and there we tugged for men know how to esteem these
three or four minutes, until at last I things.”
heard a report as loud as nine thou- The Mandarin Wei-ehang-tze, how-
sand nine hundred and ninety-nine ever, seemed to be of an inquiring
firecrackers. The attendants, the disposition, and evinced a desire to
palanquin-bearers, and myself all fell continue his investigations.
flat on the floor, and the crystal fang “Supremely visited conjurer,”
glittered between the jaws of the pin- said he to Piou-lu, “your story is in-
cers. deed wonderful To have been visited
128 WEIRD TALES
by the Dragon Lung must have been if it only agrees,” continued the con-
truly refreshing and enchanting. jurer; ‘‘or I will make the Lake Tung
Though not in the least doubting come up into the town in the shape
your marvelous relation, I am sure of a water-melon, and then burst and
this virtuous assemblage would like overflow everything.”
to see some proof of the miraculous “But we should all be drowned!”
power of your Dragon Fang.” exclaimed Hang-pou, who was cow-
The crowd gave an immediate as- ardly as well as intemperate.
sent to his sentiment by pressing “That’s true,” said Piou-lu, “but
closer to the platform on which Piou- then you need not fear your cred-
lu strutted, and exclaiming with one
voice,
‘
The lofty mandarin says
—
itors,” and he gave such a dart of
his long arm at the poor little tailor,
‘

Avisely. Wewould like to behold, ” that the wretched man thought he

Piou-lu did not seem in the slight- was going to claw him up and change
est degree disconcerted. His narrow him into some frightful animal.
black eyes glistened like the dark “Well, since this illustrious as-
edges of the seeds of the water-melon, sembly will not have turkey-buzzards
and he looked haughtily around him. or camels, this weak-minded, ill-
‘‘Is there any one of you who shapen personage must work a mir-
would like to have a miracle per- acle on himself,” said Piou-lu, de-
formed, and of what nature?” he scending from his platform into the
asked, with a triumphant wave of his street, and bringing with him a little
arms. three-legged stool made of bamboo
“I would like to see my debts rods.
paid,” murmured the little tailor, The crowd retreated as he ap-
Hang-pou. proached, and even the solemn Wei-
“0 Hang-pou,” replied the con- chang-tze seemed rather afraid of this
jurer, ‘‘this unworthy personage is miraculous conjurer. Piou-lu placed
not going to pay your debts. Go the bamboo stool firmly on the
home and sit in your shop, and drink ground, and then mounted upon it.
no more rice-wine, and your debts “Elegant and s3Tnmetrical bamboo
will be paid for labor is the Dragon
;
stool,” he said, lifting his arms, and
Pang that works miracles for idle exhibiting something in his hand that
tailors!” seemed a piece of polished jade-
There - was a laugh through the stone,
—“elegant
like
and symmetrical
crowd at this sally, because Hang- bamboo stool, the justly despised
pou was well known to be fond of in- conjurer, named Piou-lu, entreats
toxicating drinks, and spent more of that you will immediately grow tall,
his time in the street than on his in the name of the Dragon Lung
” !

shop-board. Truly the stool began to grow, in

‘‘Would either of you like to be the presence of the astonished crowd.
changed into a camel?” continued The three legs of bamboo lengthened
Piou-lu. ‘‘Say the word, and there and lengthened with great rapidity,
shall not be a finer beast in all bearing Piou-lu high up into the air.
Tibet!” As he ascended he bowed gracefully
No one, however, seemed to be to the open-mouthed assembly.
particularly anxious to experience “It is delightful!” he cried; “the
this transformation. Perhaps it was air up here is so fresh! I smell the
because it was warm weather, and tea winds from Puh-kien. I can see
camels bear heavy burdens. the spot where the heavens and the
‘‘I will change the whole honor- earth cease to run parallel. I hear
able assemblage into turkey-buzzards. the gongs of Pekin, and listen to the
 THE DEAGON FANG 129

lowing of the herds of Tibet. Who could see the tip of his cap, and dis-
would not have an elegant bamboo tinguish his black, roguish eyes, but
stool that knew how to grow ? ’ ’
that may have been all fancy; and
By this time Piou-lu had risen to they were quickly diverted from tlieir
an enormous height. The legs of the search for the conjurer by a shower
slender tripod on which he was of red, pulpy fruits, that began to
mounted seemed like silkworms’ fall with great rapidity from the
threads, so thin were they compared miraculous tree. Of course there was
with their length. The crowd began a scramble, in which the mandarins
to tremble for Piou-lu. themselves did not disdain to join;
“Will he never stop?” said a
—
and the crimson fruits ^the like of
mandarin with a gilt ball, named Lin. which no one in Tching-tou had ever
“O, yes!” shouted Piou-lu from
seen —
before proved delightfully
sweet and palatable to the taste.
the dizzy height of his bamboo stool.
“0, yes! this ugly little person will “That’s right! that’s right! per-
fectly bred and very polite people,”
immediately stop. Elegant stool, the
cried a shrill voice while they were
poor conjurer entreats you to stop
all scrambling for the crimson fruits
growing; Lut he also begs that you
“pick fruit while it is fresh, and tea
will afford some satisfaction to this
while it is tender. For the sun wilts,
beautifying assemblagedown below,
who have honored you with their in- and the chills toiighen, and the bluest
spection.”
plum blooms only for a day.”
.

The bamboo stool, with the utmost Everybody looked up, and lo there
!

complaisance, ceased to lengthen out was Piou-lu, as large as life, strutting

its attenuated limbs, but on the mo- ripon the stage, waving a large green
ment experienced another change as fan in his hand. Wliile the crowd
terrifying to the crowd. The three was yet considering this wonderful
legs began to approach each other reappearance of the conjurer, there
rapidly, and before the eye could was heard a very great outcry at the
very well follow their motions had end of the street, and a tall thin man
blended mysteriously and inex- in a coarse blue gown came running
plicably into one, the stool still re- up at full speed.
taining a miraculous equilibrium. “Wliere are my plums, sons of
Immediately this single stem began thieves?” he cried, almost breathless
to thicken most marvelously, and in- with haste. “Alas! alas! I am com-
stead of tlie dark shining skin of a pletely rained. My wife will perish
bamboo stick, it seemed gradually to miserably for want of food, and my
be incased in overlapping rings of a sons will inherit nothing but empty
rough bark. Meanwhile a faint rust- baskets at my death Where are my
!

ling noise continued overhead, an(^ plums?”

when the crowd, attracted by the “Who that dares to address
is it
sound, looked up, instead of the flat the virtuous and well-disposed people
disk of canework on which Piou-lu of Tching-tou after this fashion?”
had so wondrously ascended, they be- demanded the Mandarin Lin, in a
held a cabbage-shaped mass of green, haughty voice, Jis he confronted the
which shot forth every moment long newcomer.
pointed satiny leaves of the tenderest The poor man, seeing the gilt ball,
green, and the most graceful shape became immediately very humble,
imaginable. But where was Piou-lu? and bowed several times to the man-
Some fancied that in the yellow darin..
crown that topped the cabbage- “0, my lord!” said he; “I am an
shaped bud of this strange tree they incapable and undeserving plum-
130 WEIRD TALES
seller, named Liho. I was just now “Gather your plums, Liho,” said
sitting at my stall in a neighboring Piou-lu kindly, “and think this one
street selling five cash worth of plums of your fortunate days; for he who
to a customer, when suddenly all the runs after his losses with open mouth
plums rose oiit of my baskets as if does not always overtake them.”
they had the wings of hawks, and flew And as the conjurer descended
through the air over the tops of the from his platform it did not escape
houses in this direction. Thinking the sharp eyes of the little tailor
myself the sport, of demons, I ran Hang that Piou-lu exchanged a mys-
after them, hoping to catch them, terious signal with the Mandjarin
and Ah! there are my plums,” Wei-chang-tze. .

he cried, suddenly interrupting him-

self and making a dart, at some of the
crimson fruits that the tailor Hang
CHAPTER 2\ -v :

held in his hand, intending to carry THE SHADOW OF THE DUCK

them home to his wife.
‘‘These your plums!” screamed T WAS close on nightfall when Pipu-
Hang, defending his treasure vigor- I lu stopped before Wei-chang-.
ously. ‘‘Mole that you are, did you tze’s The lanterns were
house.
ever see scarlet plums?” already lit, and the porter dozed, in

‘‘This man is stricken by heaven,” a bamboo chair so soundljr that PiOu-

said Piou-lu, gravely. ‘‘He is a fool lu entered the porch and passed the
who hides his plums and then thinks screen without awaking him.. The
that they fly away. Let someone shake inner room was dimly lighted by
his gown.” some horn lanterns elegantly painted
A porcelain-cobbler who stood near with hunting scenes; but despite the
the fruiterer immediately seized the
obscurity the conjurer could discover
long blue robe and gave it a lusty Wei-chang-tze seated at the farther
pull, when, to the wonder of every-
end of the apartment on an inclined
))ody, thousands of the most beauti-
couch covered with blue and yellow
satin. Along the corridor that led to
ful plums fell out, as from a tree
shaken by the winds of autumn. At the women’s apartments the shadows
lay thick; but Piou-lu fancied he
this moment a great gust of wind
could hear the pattering of little feet
arose in the street, and a pillar of
dust mounted up to the very top of upon the matted floor, and see the
twinkle of curious eyes illuminating
the strange tree, that still stood wav-
ing its long satiny leaves languidly the solemn darkness. Yet, after all,
above the house-tops. For an instant he may haA'e been mistaken, for the
corridor opened on a garden wealthy
everyone was blinded, and when the
in the rarest flowers, and he may
dust had subsided so as to permit the
people to use their eyes again the
have conceived the silver dripping of
wonderful tree had completely van- the fountain to be pattering of dainty
feet, and have mistaken the, moon-
ished, and all that could be seen was
light shining on the moist leaves of
a little bamboo stool flying along the
road, where it was blown by the
the lotus for the sparkle of women’s
storm. The poor frititerer, Liho, eyes.

stood aghast, looking at the plums, in “Has Piou-lu arrived in my dwell-

which he stood knee-deep. ing?” asked Wei-chang-tze from the
The mandarin,
addressing him, dim corner in which he lay.
said sternly, “Let us hear no more “That ignoble and wrath-deserving
such folly from Liho, otherwise he bows his head before you,”
j)ersonage
will get twenty strokes of the stick.” answeied Piou-lu, advancing and sa-
 THE DRAGON FANG 131

luting the mandarin in accordance ter,” said the conjurer, bowing and
with the laws of the Book of Rites. proceeding to the garden.
hope that you performed your Ah! what a garden it was that
journey hither in great safety and now entered The walls
Piou-lu ! that
peace of mind,” said Wei-ehang-tze, surrounded were lofty, and built
it
gracefully motioning to the conjurer of a rosy stone brought from the
to seat himself on a small blue sofa mountains of Manchuria. This wall,
that stood at a little distance. on whose inner face flowery designs
“When so mean an individual as and triumphal processions were
Piou-lu is honored by the request of sculptured at regular intervals, sus-
the noble Wei-chang-tze, good for- tained the long and richly laden
tune must attend him. How could it shoots of the white magnolia, which
be otherwise?” replied Piou-lu, seat- spread its large snowy chalices in
ing himself not on the small blue myriads over the surface. Tamarisks
sofa, but on the satin one which was and palms sprang up in various
partly occupied by the mandarin parts of the grounds, like dark
himself. columns supporting the silvery sky;
“Piou-lu did not send in his name, while the tender and mournful wil-
as the rites direct,” said Wei-chang-
low drooped its delicate limbs over
tze, looking rather disgusted by this
numberless fish-ponds, whose waters
impertinent freedom on the part of seemed to repose peacefully in the
the conjurer. bosom of the emerald turf. The air
was distracted with innumerable per-
“The elegant porter that adorns fumes, each more fragrant than the
the noble porch of Wei-chang-tze was
other. The blue convolvulus, the
fast asleep,”answered Piou-lu, “and
crimson ipomea, the prodigal azaleas,
Piou-lu knew that the great manda--
the spotted tiger-lilies, the timid and
rin expected him with impatience.”
half-hidden jasmine, all poured forth,
“Yes,” said Wei-ehang-tze; “I am during the day and night, streams of
oppressed by a thousand demons perfume from the inexhaustible foun-
my hair, and my ears
devils sleep in
tains of their chalices. The heavy
are overflowing with evil spirits; I
odors of the tube-rose floated languid-
can not rest at night, and feel no ly through the leaves, as a richly
pleasure in the day. Therefore was
plumaged bird would float through
it that I wished to see you, in hopes
summer air, borne down by his own
that you would, by amusing the de-
splendor. The blue lotus slept on the
mon that inhabits my stomach, induce smooth waves of the fish-ponds in
him to depart.”
sublime repose. There seemed an
“I will endeavor to delight the re- odor of enchantment over the entire
spectable demon who lodges in your place. The flowers whispered their
stomach with my unworthy conjura- secrets in the perfumed silence; the
tions,” replied Piou-lu. “But flrst I inmost heart of every blossom was
must go into the garden to gather unclosed at that mystic hour; all the
flowers.” magic and mystery of plants floated
“Go,” said Wei-chang-tze. “The abroad, and the garden seemed filled
moon shines, and you will see there with the breath of a thousand spells.
very many rare and beautiful plants But amidst the lilies and lotuses,
that are beloved by my daughter amidst the scented roses and the
Wu.” drooping convolvuli, there moved a
“The moonlight itself can not flower fairer than all.

shine brighter on the lilies than the “I am here,” whispered a low

glances of your lordship’s daugh- voice, and a dusky figure came glid-
132 WEIRD TALES
ing toward Pion-lu, as he stood by
the fountain.
“Ah!” said the conjurer, in a ten-
W
while
u GLIDED away through the
gloom to her own apartment,
the conjurer passed rapidly
der tone, far different from the shrill through the garden and gathered the
one in which he addressed the crowd blossoms of certain flowers as he
opposite the Hotel of the Thirty-two went. He seemed to linger with a
Virtues. “The garden is now com- strange delight over the buds bathed
in the moonlight and the dew; their
plete. Wu, the Rose of Completed
’ ’ perfume ascended into his nostrils
Beauty, has blossomed on the night.
like incense, and he breathed it with
“Let Piou-lu shelter her under his a voluptuous pleasure.
mantle from the cold winds of eve-
“Now let the demon tremble in the
ning, and bear her company for a
noble stomach of Wei-chang-tze,”
little while, for she has grown up
said Piou-lu, as he re-entered the hall
under a lonely wall,” said Wu, lay- of reception laden With flowers.
ing her little hand gently on the con- ‘
This
‘
ill-favored personage will
jurer’s arm, and nestling up to his make such conjurations as shall de-
side as a bird nestles into the fallen and well-
light the soul of the elegant
leaves warmed by the sun. born mandarin, and cause his illus-
“She can lie there but a little trious persecutor to fly terrified.”
’
whUe, answered Piou-lu, folding the
’
Piou-lu then stripped off the petals
mandarin’s daughter in a passionate from many of the flowers, and
embrace, “for Wei-ehang-tze awaits gathered them in a heap on the floor.
the coming of Piou-lu impatiently, in The mass of leaves were indeed varie-
order to have a conjuration with a gated. The red of the quamoclit, the
devil that inhabits his stomach.” blue of the convolvulus, the tender,
“Alas!” said Wu, sadly; “why do pink of the camellia, the waxen white
you not seek some other and more dis- of the magnolia, were all mingled to-
tinguished employment than that of gether like the thousand hues in the
a conjurer? Wliy do you not seek Scarfs of Felicity. Having built this
distinction in the Palace of Literary confused mass of petals in the shape
Composition, and obtain a style? of a pyramid, Piou-lu unwound a
Then we need not meet in secret, and scarf from his waist and flung it over
you might withoiit fear demand my the heap. He then drew the piece of
hand fiorn my
father.” jade-stone from his pocket, and
said,
Piou-hr smiled, almost scornfully.
He seemed to gain an inch in stature, “This personage of outrageous
presence desires that what wdll be
and looked around him with an air
of command.
may be shown to the lofty mandarin,
Wei-ehang-tze.”
“The marble from which the statue As he pronounced these words, he
is to be carved must lie in the quarry
twitched the scarf away with a rapid
until the workman finds it,” he an- jerk,and lo! the flower-leaves were
swered, “and the hour of my destiny gone,and in their place stood a beau-
has not yet arrived.”
tifulmandarin duck, in whose gor-
“Well, we must wait, I suppose,” geous plumage one might trace the
said Wu, with a sigh. “Meantime, brilliant hues of the flowers. Piou-lu
Piou-lu, I love you.” now approached the duck, caught it
“The hour will come sooner than up with one hand, while with the
you think,” said Piou-lu, returning other he drew a sharp knife from his
her caress; “and now go, for the girdle and severed the bird’s head
mandarin waits.” from its body at a single stroke. To
 THE DRAGON FANG 133

the great astonishiriMit -of Wei-chang- when, on making a map at the beau-
tze, the body and dismembered head tiful duck, his sharp fangs met no
of the bird vani^ed the moment the resistanee, while the bird flew with
knife had passed through the neck; wonderful venom straight at his fiery
but at the same instant a duck, re- eyes. He growled, and snapped, and
sembling it in every respect, escaped
from the conjurer’s hands and flew
tore with ^ claws at the agile shad-
ow that fluttered around and over
across the room. When I say that him, but ail to no purpose. As w^
this duck resembled the other in mi^t the hound leap at the reflection,
every respect, I mean only in shape, of the deer in the pool where he
size and colors. For the rest, it was drinks. The shadow of the beautiful
no bodily duck. It was impalpable duck seemed all the while to possess
and transparent, and even when it some strange, deadly influence over
flew it made no noise with its wings. the savage wolf. His growls grew
“This is indeed wonderful!” said fainter and fainter, and his red and
Wei-ehang-tze. “Let the marvelous flaming eyes seemed to drop blood.
conjurer explain.” His limbs quivered sdl over, and the
“The duck formed out of flowers rough hairs of his coat stood on end
was a duck pure in body and in spirit, —
with terror and pain the shadow of
the beautiful duck never ceasing all
most lofty mandarin,” said Piou-lu,
the time to fly straight at his eyes.
“and when it died under the knife, I
ordered its soul to pass into its shad- “The wolf is dying!” exclaimed
ow, which can never be killed. Henoe Wei-ehang-tze.
the shadow of the duck has all the “He will die, —die like a dog,”
colors as well as the inteUigmice of said Piou-lu, in a t(Hie of savage tri-
the real duck that gave it birth.” umph.
“And to what end has tiie veiy And presently, as he predicted, the
wise Piou-lu created this beautiful wolf gave two or three faint howls,
duek-shadowl” asked the mandarin. turned himself round in a circle as if
“The cultivated Wei-ehang-tze making a bed to sleep on, and then
shall immediately behold,” answered lay down and died. The shadow of
the conjurer, drawing from his wide the beautifoi duek seemed now to be
sleeve a pieee of rock-salt and fling- radiant with glory. It shoc^ its
ing it to the farther mid of die room. bright wings, that were lovely and
He had hardly done this when a ter- transparent as a rainbow, and,
rific sound, between a bark and a moimting on the dead body of the
howl, issued from the dim comer into wolf, sat in majesty upon his grim
which he had cast the rock-salt, and and siiaggy throne.
immediately a large gray wolf issued “And what means this strange ex-
wonderfully from out of the twi- hibition, learned and wise conjurer?”
light, and rushed with savage fangs asked Wei-chang-tze, with a sorely
upon the shadow of the beautiful troubled air.
duek. “I will tell you,” said Piou4u,
“Wliy, it is a wolf from the forest suddenly dropping his respectful and
of Mandiuria!” exclaimed Wei- ceremonious language, and lifting his
chang-tze, rather alarmed at this hand with an air of supreme power.
frightful appariticm. “This is no “The mandarin duck, elegant, faith-
shadow, but a living and bloodthirsty ful, and courageous, is an emblem of
beast.” the dynasty of Ming, the true Chinese
“Let my lord ob^rve and have no race that ruled so splmdidly in this
fear,” said Pioudn, tranquilly. land before' the inva^rs usurped the
The wolf seemed rather confounded throne. The eowardly and savage
134 WEIRD TALES
wolf isa symbol of the Manchu Tar- “Ha!” screamed a shrill voice be-
tar robbers who slew our liberties, hind him at this moment, “here he is.
shaved our heads, and enchained our The elegant and noble rebel for whose
people. The time has now arrived head our worthy Emperor has offered
when the duck has recovered its a rew’ard of ten thousand silver taels.
splendor and its courage, and is going Here he is. Catch! beautiful and
to kill the wolf ; for the wolf can not noble mandarins, catch him! and I
bite it, as it works like a shadow in will pay my creditors with the head
the twilight and mystery of secret money.”
association. This j'ou know, Wei- Piou-lu turned, and beheld the lit-
chang-tze, as well as I.” tle tailor Hang-pou, at whose back
“I have indeed heard of a rebel were a whole file of soldiers and a
Chinese named Tien-te who has number of mandarins. Wei-chang-
raised a flame in our peaceful land, tze shuddered, for in this compromise
and who, proclaiming himself a lineal of his character he knew that his
descendant of the dynasty of Ming, death was written if he fell into the
seeks to dethrone our wise and heav- Imperial hands.
enly sovereign, Hien-foung.”
“Lie not to me, Wei-chang-tze, for CHAPTER 3
I know your inmost thoughts. Chinese
“ALL IS OVER”
as you are, I know that you hate the
Tartar in your heart, but you are “Ctately and temperate tailor,”
afraid to say so for fear of losing ^ said Piou-lu, calmly, “why do
your head.” you wish to arrest me?”
The mandarin was so stupefied at “Ho! because I will get a reward,
this audacious address that he could and I want to pay my debts,” said
not reply, while the conjurer con- Hang-pou, grinning spitefully.
tinued: “I come to make you an of- “A reward for me, the miserable
fer. Join the forces of the heaven- and marrowless conjurer Piou-lu 0, !

descended Emperor Tien-te. Join elegant cutter of summer gowns, your

with him in expelling this tyrannical well-educated brains are not at
!”
Tartar race from the Central King- home
dom, and driving them back again to “0, we know you well enough,
their cold hills and barren deserts. mighty conjurer. You are none
Ply with me to the Imperial camp, other than the contumacious rebel,
and bring with you your daughter Tien-te, who dares to claim the throne
Wu, the Golden Heart of the Lily, held by the wise and merciful Hien-
and I promise you the command of foung; and we will bear you to the
one third of the Imperial forces, and court of Pekin in chains, so that you
the Presidency of tlie College of Cere- may wither in the light of his terrible
monies.” eyes.”
“And who are you, who dare to “You think you will get aVeward
ask of Wei-chang-tze to bestow on you of ten thousand silver taels for my
his nobly-bom daughter?” said Wei- head?” said Piou-lu.
chang-tze, starting in a rage from his “Certainly,” replied the little
couch. tailor,rubbing his hands with glee,
“I!” replied Piou-lu, shaking his “certainly. His Unmatched and Iso-
conjurer’s gown from his shoulders lated Majesty has promised it, and
and displaying a splendid garment of the Brother of the Sun never lies.”
yellow satin, on the breast of which “Listen, inventive closer of sym-
was emblazoned the Imperial Dragon, metrical seams! Listen, and I will
—“I am your Emperor, Tien-te!” tell you what will become of your ten
 THE DRAGON FANG 135

thousand silver taels. There is a long upon me, I pray you, you would
if
avenue leading to the imperial treas- oblige me, to look at that duck.” So
ury, and at every second step is an saying, Piou-lu pointed to where the
open hand. When the ten thousand shadow of the duck was sitting on the
taels are poured out, the first hand body of the wolf.
grasps a half, the second hand an “Oh, what a beautiful duck!”
eighth of the remaining half, the cried Hang-pou, with glistening eyes,
third hand grasps a fourth of the and clapping his hands. “Let us try
rest, and when the money-bags get and catch him!”
down a little lower, all the hands “It is indeed a majestic duck,”
grasp together so that when the bags
;
said Mandarin Lin, gravely stroking
reach the little tailor Hang-pou, who
his mustache. “I am favorable to
stands stamping his feet very far
his capture.”
down indeed, they are entirely
empty; for Tartar robbers .surround
“You will wait until we catch the
duck, illustrious rebel!” said Hang-
the throne, and a Tartar usurper sits
pou to Piou-lu, very innocently,
upon it, and the great Chinese nation
never turning his eyes from the duck,
toils in its rice-fields to gild their
to which they seemed to be glued by
palaces, and fill their seraglios, and
some singular spell of attraction.
for all they give get neither justice
“I will talk with the Mandarin
nor mercy. But I, Tien-te, the Heav-
Wei-chang-tze while you put your
enly Emperor of this Central Land,
noble maneuvers into motion,” an-
will ordain, it otherwise, and hurl the
swered Piou-lu.
false Dragon from his throne; for it
“Now, let us steal upon the duck,”
is written in the Book of Prognostics,
said Hang-pou. “0 handsomely-
a copy of which was brought to me on
formed duck, we entreat of you to
the wings of a yellow serpent, that
remain as quiet as possible, in order
the djTiasty of Han shall rule once
that we may grasp you in our
more, and the Tartar wolves perish ’
hands.
miserably out of the Land of Flow-
Then, as if actuated by a single
ers.”
impulse, the entire crowd, with the
“This is treason against the Light exception of Wei-chang-tze and Piou-
of the Universe, our most gracious moved toward the duck. The
lu,
Emperor,” said the Mandarin Lin. mandarins stepped on tiptoe, with
“You shall have seventy times seven bent bodies, and little black eyes
pounds of cold iron put ujmn your glistening with eagerness; Hang-poia
neck for these blasphemies, and I will crawled on his belly like a serpent;
promise you that many bamboo splin- and the soldiers, easting aside their
ters shall be driven up under your bows and shields, crept, with their
rebellious nails.”
hands upon their sides, toward the
“Let oux ears be no longer filled beautiful bird. The duck remained
with these atrocious utterances!” perfectly quiet, its variegated wings
cried Hang-pou.
‘
0 brave and splen-
‘
shining like painted talc, and its neck
did mandarins, order your terrifying lustrous as the court rolje of a first-
tigers to arrest this depraved rebel, class mandarin. The crowd scai'cely
in order that we may hasten with breathed, so intense was their eager-
him Pekin.”
to ness to capture the duck; and they
“Before you throw the chains of moved slowly foi’ward, gradually sur-
sorrow around my neck, 0 tailor of rounding it.

celestial inspirations,” said Piou-lu, Hang-pou was the first to make a

—
with calm mockery, “before the ter- clutch at the bird, but he was very
rible weight of your just hand falls much astonished to find his hand
136 WEIRD TALES
closing on empty
while the duck
air, mind, and, turning, he would behold
remained seated on the wolf, as still the duck marching proudly down the
as a picture. center of the floor. Another time a
“Miserable tailor!” cried Manda- soldier would declare that he had the
rin Lin; “your hand is a sieve, with duck in his breeches pocket; but
meslies wide enough to strain el- while his neighbors were carefully
ephants. How can you catch the probing that rece.ss the duck would
beautiful duck? Behold me!” and be seen calmly emerging from his
Mandarin Lin made a rapid and well-
right-hand sleeve. One time Hang-
calculated dive at the duck. To
pou sat down suddenly on the mouth
the wonderment of everyone except
of a large china jar, and resolutely
Piou-lu and Wei-chang-tze, the duck
refused to stir, declaring that he liad
seemed to ooze through his fingers,
and, escaping, flev/ away to the other seen the duck enter the jar, and that
end of the room. he was determined to sit upon the
“If my hand is a sieve,” said
mouth until the demon of a duck was
.starved to death. But even while
Hang-pou, “it is evident that the ...

uttering his heroic determination, his

noble mandarin’s hand is not a wall
mouth. was .seen to open, yery. wide,
of beaten copper, for it lets ducks
and, to the astonishment of all, the
fly through with wonderful ease.”
duck flew out. In an;,ijnstant the
“It is a depraved and abominable whole crowd was after jiim again;
duck, of criminal parentage,” said Mandarin Hy-le tumbled over Man-
IMandarin Lin, in a terrible rage; darin Ching-tze, and Mandarin Lin
“and I vow, by the whiskers of the nearly drove his head through Hang-
Dragon, that I will catch it and biim pou ’s stomach.
it on a spit.”
“0, yes!” cried the entii’e crowd,
—mandarins, and the
soldiers,
— now attracted to the chase
tailor, all
little
T he unliappy wretches began now
to perspire and grow faint with
fatigue, but the longer the chase went
of the duck by a power that they
could no longer I’esist. “O, yes! we on the hotter it grew. There was no
will most assuredly capture this little
rest for any of them. From comer
duck, and, depriving him of his to corner, from side to side, — —
now in
r(':ithers, punish him on a spit that is
one direction, now in another, ^no
exceedingly hot.” matter whither the duck flew, they
So the chase commenced. were compelled to follow. Their faces
Here
streamed, and their legs seemed wady
and there, from one corner to the
to sink upon them. Their eyeballs
other, up the walls, on the altar of
ihc household gods, in —
short, in
were ready to start out of their heads,
and they had the air of government
every ])ortion of the large room, did
couriers who had traveled five hun-
the mandarins, the little tailor, and
liie .soldiers pursue the shadow of the
dred li in eleven days. They were
nearly dead.
’oeautiful duck. Never was seen such
a duck. It seemed to be in twenty “Those men will surely perish,
places at a time. One moment Man- illustrious claimant of the throne,”
darin Lin would throw himself bodily said Wei-chang-tze, gazing with
on tlic bird, in hopes of crushing it, astonishment at this mad chase.
.•Mid would call out triumphantly that “Let them perish!” said the con-
now indeed he had the duck; but the jurer; “so will perish all the enemies
words would be hai-dly out of his of tlie Celestial sovereign, Ti6n-te.
moutii when a loud shout from the
.
Wci-chang-tzc, once more, do you
rest of the paidy would disabuse his accept my offer? If you remain here.
 THE DRAGON FANG 137

you will be sent to Pekin in chains; mountains of Tse-Hing, near the

if you come with me, I will gird your Kouei-Lin, in less than a minute,”
w'aist with the scarf of Perpetual De- answ'ered Piou-lu; “for to the pos-
light. We want w'ise men like
”
you to sessor of the Dragon Fang all things
guide our armies, and are possible.”
“And the illustrious Tien-te loves Even as he spoke the ground began
the mandarin’s daughter,” said Wei- to slide from under their feet with
chang-tze, roguishly finishing the wonderful rapidity, leaving them mo-
sentence. “Light of the Universe tionless and upright. Houses, walls,
and Son of Heaven, Wei-chang-tze is gardens, fields, all passed by them
’ ’
your slave ! with the swiftness of a dream until,
—
Piou-lu for I still call him by his in a few' seconds, they found them-
—
cohjurer’s name gave a low whistle,
and, obedient to the summons, Wu’s
selves in the mountain castle of Tien-
te, w'here they were w'eleomed w'ith a
delicate shape came gliding from the splendid hospitality. Wu
became the
corridor toward her lover, with the favorite wife of the adventurous Em-
dainty step of a young fawn going to peror, and Wei-chang-tze one of his
the fountain. most famous generals.
“Wu,” said Piou-lu, “the marble The day after these events some
is carved, and the hour is come.” Tartar soldiers entered Wei-chang-
“My father, then, has consented?” tze ’shouse to search for the manda-
said Wu, looking timidly at her rin, w'hen, in the reception-hall, they
father. w'ere confounded at finding a number
“When the Emperor of the Cen- of men lying dead upon the fioor.
tral Land condescends to woo, what while in the midst sat a beautiful
father dare refuse?” said Wei-chang- duck, that immediately on their
tze. entrance flew out through a window',
“Emperor!” said Wu, opening her and was seen no more. The dead
black eyes with wonder. “My Piou- men w'ere soon recognized, and it was
lu an Emperor!” the opinion of the people of Tching-
“I am indeedthe son of the Drag- tou that Wei-chang-tze had poisoned
on,” said Piou-lu, folding her to his all the soldiers and mandarins, and
breast, “and you shall sit upon a then fled. The tailor, Hang-pou, be-
throne of ivory and gold.” ing among the corpses, was found to
“And I thought yoxi were only a have given his creditors the slip for-
conjurer!” murmured Wu, hiding ever.
her head in his yellow' gown. Victory still sits on the banner of*
“But how are we to leave this Tien-te, and he will, without doubt,
place?” asked Wei-chang-tze, looking by the time that the tea is again fit
alarmed. “The guard will seize us if to gather, sit upon the ancient throne
they get knowledge of your pres- of his ancestors.
ence.” Everj'thing is now gracefully con-
“We shall be at my castle in the cluded.
 F ONE were asked to name the author whose genius made the weird tale
popular, the instant answer would be Edgar Allan Poe. We owe not
I only the weird tale to Poe, but we are also indebted to him for the word
itself. Poe was not the creator of the word “weird,” but he rescued it from
oblivion and made it popular, so that now the word is understood and used
by everyone.
Lafcadio Hearn, in his chapter on Poe’s verse, thus describes how Poe
picked up this almost forgotten word and restored it to the language: “When
you read in Idyls of the King such phrases as ‘the weirdly sculptured gate,’
perhaps you have never suspected that the use of the adverb ‘weirdly’ was
derived from the study of the American poet. There were two words used by
the Saxons of a very powerful kind, one referring to destiny or fate, the other
to supernatural terror. ‘Weitd’ is another form of the Anglo-Saxon word
meaning fate. The northern mjrthology, like the Greek, had its fates who
devised the life histories of men. Later the word came also to be used in
relation to the future of the man himself; the ancient writers spoke of ‘his
weird,’ ‘her weird.’ Still later the term came to mean simply supernatural
influence of a mysterious kind. Poe found it so used and made it into a
living adjective after it had become almost forgotten by using it very cleverly
in his poems and stones. As he used it, it means ghostly or ghostly-Iooking,
or suggesting the supernatural and occult. Hundreds of writers imitated
• Poe in this respect and now it is so much the rale that the word must be
used very sparingly. It is the mark of a very young writer to use it often.”
“Weird Tales is getting better all the time,” writes A. Leslie, whose
verse has been a feature of this magazine. “I am particularly interested in
Ray Cummings’ new story; he is an old favorite of mine, and he appears
to be surpassing himself this time.”
Ralph Raeburn Phillips, of the Order of the Star in the East, writes to
the Eyrie from Portland, Oregon: “Up till now I have been a silent but
appreciative reader of Weird Tai.,es, but now I must let you know that here
is another constant reader and strong supporter of your incomparable mag-
azine. You are doing a good work; keep it up. We of the great brotherhood
who love the mystical, occult, etc., could not get along without our Weird
Tales. Give us more good old ghost-stories. Your contributors are splendid.
I especially like Greye La Spina and H. P. Lovecraft.”
Writes S. V. Toomey, of East Orange, New Jersey: “I have been reading
Weird Tales for three years and as yet have no fault to find. I thought
138
 THE EYRIE 139

your magazine the most interesting of lany until you put in the reprint,
stories; now I know it is the most interesting. Cummings’ latest, Explorers
Into Infinity, has proved a masterpiece so far, but don’t you think the install-
ments too short?”
“I am a new reader of Weird Tales, and want to congratulate you on
the publication of such a splendid magazine,” writes E. E. M., of Birming-
ham, Alabama, in a letter to the Eyrie. “I don’t like tales of supernatural
horror but I do like those of imaginative science and pseudo-science, such as
Explorers Into Infinity. Weird Tales is the best magazine of its kind in
print.”
“The ‘snowbird’ story by Carr in the May issue, L e.. Phantom Fingers,
isa real corneracker and gets my vote by a jugful,” writes the Rev. Henry S.
Whitehead from Oswego, New York.
“Each month Weird Tales is improved in some distinct manner,” writes
Jack Snow, of Dayton, Ohio. “Periiaps it contains some mighty story or it
may be composed of a group of excellent tales, but it never fails to bear the
mark of progress. Please do not even consider discontinuing your reprints.
Weird Tales can find sufficient worthy material from the great library of
the past for one reprint story a month. I am taking this opportunity to thank
you for the March issue of Weird Tales which contained Lovecraft’s The
White Ship. It was a beautiful, exquisite little story, as remotely unreal and
Lovecraftean in character as his terror-striking masterpiece. The Outsider.
I wonder how many of your readers truly appreciate beauty of this sort.
Certainly your publishing material like this raises the magazine many points
as an artistic and worthwhile journal. Windows of Destiny, by James B.
M. Clark, Jr., in the April issue, is a really remarkable story. It is the first
story of its kind I have found in Weird Tales, and it is delightful. At times
this tale approaches the fairy-story and it is always an allegory, but the
author tells it with prosaic naturalness,”
Sanford Aronow, of Toms River, New Jersey, writes to the Eyrie: “I
have been a constant reader of your magazine for three years, and I like it
,

better than any other magazine. There were many excellent stories in the
May issue. It seems that every time you print the magazine it gets better. I
picked Explorers Into Infinity first. The Master of Doom for second, and
The Veiled Prophetess third. I like Ray Cummings’ story tremendously.”
Private Howard A. McElroy writes from the Presidio in San Francisco
“Here is how I became a member of the great order of Weird Tales readers:
I was cleaning up the office one night and as I was about to empty the
wastebasket I saw a copy of the August, 1926, Weird Tales and took it and
thought: ‘Here is something new.’ Well, I read that copy from back to back.
If is entirely different from anything I ever read, and I have read thousands
of magazines. My two favorite stories in the May issue are The Master of
Doom by Donald Edward Keyhoe and In Kashla’s Garden by Oscar Schisgall.
They are weirdly beautifuL”
Here is a real knock, from Mrs. R. Snyder of Reading, Pennsylvania:
“Dear Sirs: I have been reading weird tales for years I have a habit of
saying what I think right out so dont get cross at what I write to you. But
you want to snap out of it. you are loseing your trade you print some
stories that is not interesting you have so many abut destroying the earth
and killing all the peopel that’s not iuteresting at all beside ’s your stories
140 WEIED TALES
are nearly alike only here and there a littel diffrent. Did you ever read
ghost stories ? well you want to them ’s the spooky creepy stories like the weird
tales useto have lots of my friends dropet your magazine. If you could gave
us more ghost stories you would be o. k. what is better than to read a
creepy ghost storie at night give us more of Seabury Quinn and Greye la
Spina allso Maria Movavsky espesly Seabury Quinn. ’ ’

C. T. Byrd, of Des Moines, Iowa, writes “ I .suggest that you print from
:

old books of magic a chapter or two in each issue in place of the reprint
stories. It would also be a good plan, I think, to have a department in which
the readers can write their own experiences in the land of the occult and
weird.”
“I can not say enough for Weird Tales,” writes Miss Laura Johnson,
of Cincinnati. “1 have just recently begun to read the magazine, and I
have never, in all my reading of books and magazines, come upon one that
I admii’ed so immensely.”
“The three best stories ever published which I have read,” writes Fred
W. Fischer, Jr., of Knoxville, Tennessee, “were these ever-to-be-remembered-
with-pleasure stories from Weird Tales: 1, When the Green Star Waned, by
Nictzin Dyalhis; 2, Invaders from Outside, by J. Schlossel; 3, Runaway A
—
World, by Clare Winger Harris. By the way ^about a year ago you forecast
a tale entitled Other Worlds, by Will Smith. Why has it never been men-
tioned since? Will it ever be published?” [Editor’s note: Yes, it will.,]
The Master of Doom, by Donald Edward Keyhoe, is about tied with the
second installment of Ray Cummings’ serial. Explorers Into Infinity, for
favorite story in the May Weird Tales, as shown by your votes. What is
your favorite story in this issue? Send in the ballot below, or write a letter to
the Eyrie telling ns what you want to see in the magazine. welcomeWe
advice from you, the readers, as this is your magazine and we want to keep
it in accord with your wishes.

MY FAVORITE STORIES IN THE JULY WEIRD TALES ARE

Story Remarks

( 1)

( 2)

(3)

I do not like the following stories:

( 1) Why?
(2)

It will help us to know what kind of I Reader’s name and address:

stories you want in Weird Tales if you I

will fill out this coupon and mail it to I

The Eyrie, Weird Tales, 460 E. Ohio St., I

Chicago, m. I
 WEIRD TALES 141

The Return of the What Made His

Master
( Continued from page 20)
Hair Grow?
Read His Letter for tte Answer
while he slunk toward the door.
“Revenge!" I cried, and the Hell-
hound sprang. IwasbMl all over
the top ot Toj head.
Straight for the Master’s throat he MtaskaaMil
leapt,but seized instead the arm, that for people to ace my
head. 1 tried differ-
was flung across it. I heard a dull ent preparationa.
but they did no
crack, and I knew the bone was Bood. I remained
bald, until 1 need
broken. He staggered with the blow, Kotalkob
groaned, and sank to his knees. “New bair came
ahoost bnaMdlat-
The beast shifted his hold and •ly and kept on
growiner. In a short
grappled for the throat again. This time I had a splen-
time he succeeded, but I could see did head of hair,
vrfaieh haa been per-
that the fangs did not penetrate the fect ever sinee
and no return e£
skin. He toyed with the Vampire as the baldness.”
a eat with a mouse. With one great TMavarlfiad Statement is by Mr. H. A. Wild. He
Is but one of the big lesrion of users of Kotalko who
paw on the Master’s chest he held voluntarily attest it haa stopped falling hw. elimin-
ated dandruff or aided new. luxuriant hair growth.
him flat, and snarled in his face. KOTALKO is sold by busy druggists everywhere.
Tasting to the full a revenge that
had burned hot for many years, he
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Pierre, the hulking mass of brain-
Name
less muscle, lunged forward, clutch-
Address
ing the beast by the loins, although
the creature snapped fiercely at his
arms. With blood pouring down his
sides from his wounds he began to
raise the Hungarian above his head,
slowly as moves a ponderous machine.
Under the will of the Master the
corjise was energized with movement,
and was operating as directed by the
Vampire.
Into mybrain poured commands, HEALINfi THE UNSEEN WAY
and I knew they issued from the in- The Mijthty UnMeen Powers are Yours
Even as You Will
visible company. Many voices, but Let them heal, comfort and prosper you
^11 urged, “Hurl the lamp! They Do It Nowl
can not pass the flame!’’ Qlva (^mptoms or desires. Name, address and
IVes Will Offering for Demonirtratlon and
“But Brenryk?’’ I thought. Instruction and Be ConviBced.
Aqnarisn CIrele, Elkhart, Indiana
“He will not be harmed,’’ they an-
swered. He lives in this shape only
‘
‘ BE A. rapid-
by our wish.’’ fire TRICK CARTOONIST
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“And Pierre?’’ I queried silently. 'Stants: "How to Give a Performance;" "Bow to

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144 WEIRD TALES

Gray Ghouls
NEXT MONTH ( Continued from page 34)
disabled launch to port, and during
The that time Tom Mansey recovered
from a siege of sub-consciousness and
fever in which he raved and fought
Bride of Osiris a nightmare jungle peopled with gray
By OTIS ADELBERT KLINE ghouls. And when some time later he
made a report to the authorities, it
An Egyptian story of the pres- contained prophecy and prediction.
ent day, set- in the strange “It is fairly well established that
subterranean city of Karneter, un- wherever the white man goes, it
derneath Chicago, where Mez- means elimination of the savage, not
zar Hashin rules his subjects in by slaughter, of course. We have
true Egyptian pomp and splendor, subtler ways. And the higher type
with all the rites and ceremonies of skill and brains you send in, the
of the ancient Egyptian religion; quicker you set the death-dealing
A three-part serial story by the forces to work among the natives.
author of “The Cup of Blood” Compared with one courageous,
and “The Thing of a Thousand brainy white man, cobras, crocodiles,
Shapes.” tigers, any of the jungle terrors are
simple and innocuous. I know. As
TARTLING kidnapings and regai’ds moneyed idiots who were pro-
S strange murders make this moting head barter, fine them enough
fast-moving story replete with ex- and jail them. Cut off the demand
citement. It is a fantastic and and you kill the supply.”
fascinating tale of Osiris, the Fes- They rewarded Mansey rather well
tival of Re, giant negro guards, for that investigation, although f
mystic the Am-mits, weird
rites, the launch bottom the Tonga boy.i
and thrilling adventures, and the gathered a king’s ransom in pearls
desolate dungeons of Karneter. from strands which broke as Mullet
This story will begin in the struggled to escape death. They were
rather honest Tonga* boys and only
August issue of thieved half of the pearls to divide
among themselves, but Mansey is
WEIRD TALES barrassed. Pearls belong to
throats of pretty women, but those
On Sale July 1 pearls held memories too horrid to
give to a nice girl, so he is waiting to
Clip and Mail this coupon today! trade them to curio-hunters disap-
pointed at lack of mummied human
WEinD TALKS
450 £. Ohio St., heads.
Chicago, ni.
Kncloscd find SI for special 5 months sub-
scription to “Weird Tales” to begin with
the August issue. (Special offer void unless
remittance is accompanied by coupon).
^*The Devils of Po Sung” another
powerful weird story of the
Name ,
South Seas by Bassett Morgan^
AddTCM a tale of creeping horror^ will
City
appear soon in WEIRD
TALES. Watch for it.
142 WEIRD TALES
“dead, but bound to earth while the
Life’s Secrets!
fUBMfnff new book,
Master lives. If you fail we can
never strike again, and you will be
Mlje yoa tbo tblnn fob wont to
lost oat,
mow stv^ht from tM sbouioor.
^
to
Ohrosod’
marrlod. Bxslsino saotomr of one of us. Do you fear for your-
eoDMdi^^ omns. Impotoneo. tows of Sox- ’
litfo, mlstakOB Co ovoid, disoosss, proimaDeF.
“ .Cod Coi ns 9 startlii^
self ? Fire is a clean death. Strike !
seettoos: 1—oeloai
The Undead prepared to throw the
’Xisoo. 9—Story of Ufo. In o
writhing monster. The Master began
to rise.
Send No Money
Wrlto for FOOT copy today. Don't oondo “Now!” they shrieked, and* I
avsri^.^sTfSfeiif'SiA’asas: threw the lamp.
....nUNKLIN ASSOeiATION
WI2j_^S6Na^«Sall**tj^hlea|aJ2.
Partly filled with oil arid wStrm
gas it exploded when it struck "^he

BUST DEVEOPED My Biff Three Part Treatment ia the

floor. Flaming liquid spurted over
the three and across the door. Escape
ONLY ONE that gives FULL was blocked.
PEVELOFMENT without bathing,
exercises, pumpa or other danger*
oua absurdities. I aend you
GUARANTEED TWO DOLLAR
a The fire spread in the dry leaves.
14.DAY rDCl? Staggering away from the whvering
TREATMENT rllCL
you send a DIME toward expenses.
flames they were penned in a corner,
(A Large Aluminum Box of my Won* and the fiery tongues licked in.
der Cream ineiuded.) Plain wrapper.
IS IT WORTH 10c
If not. your dime back by first mail.
TO YOU? I broke out the remains of a win-
Address NOW, with ten cents only dow, and supporting the girl we es-
Madsinc C. I. Williams, Birffsls. H, Y.
caped.

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cleared up often in 24 hours. To prove
you can be rid of pimples, blackheads, acne
My last sight of the
through a sheet of flame. Pierre stood
dumbly stolid, watching the light.
The Master lay on the floor manifest-
three tvas

eruptions on the face or body, barbers’ itch, ly dying, not struggling against the
eczema, enlarged pores, oily or shiny skin, wolf that lay across him.
simply send me your name and address today no cost** —
no obligation.
cases** used
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tried and tested in over 100,000
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While I watched, a pale glow began
results.
the loss
Ton can repay the favor by
Ismine. WRITE TODAY.
telling yonr friends; It not toshow within the beast's body. He
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 WEIRD TALES 143

mission, finished. His last look was

one of gratitude to me.
Then the walls began to crumble.
Pierre went down, struck by a fall-
ing beam, and the scene was blotted
out in a whirling veil of sparks.
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As I dragged myself and Regina to ful Talisman Ring. On each side
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We explained to the people that, —
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passing by the haunted inn, I saw the not satisfied your money quickly returned. Address
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fought to rescue her, and in the
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believed the story, but I saw others
furtively cross themselves, and all
were glad to see us go.
Part of the story I revealed to the
village priest, under pledge of se-
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upon the ruins, but I doubt that it
was of much value. I place more
faith in the whining wund that rose THOUSANDS
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Send the coupon below and 4 cents for
This isbut one of the many similar letters we are con- my Large Illustrated Coin and Stamp
ilantly receiving. Post yourself! It pays! paid We Folder and further particulars. Write
Mr. Manning, New York, $2,500.00 for a single silver today for this eye-opening val-
dollar. Mrs. G. F. Adams, Ohio, received $740.00 for uable wealth of information on
the profits that have been made
some old coins. We
paid W. F. Wilharm, of Pennsyl-
from old money. No
vania, $13,500.00 for his rare coins. I paid J. T. Ne- obligation on your
ville, of North Dakota, $200.00 for a $10 bill he picked part. You have noth-
up in circulation. Mr. Mehl paid $1,000.00 to Mr. J. E, —
ingtolose everything
Brownlee, of Heardmont, Ga., for one old coin. Mr. to gain. It may mean i
Brownlee, in his letter to Mr. Mehl, says: “Your letter much profit to you.
received with the check for $1,000.00 enclosed. I like
to deal with such men as you and hope you^ continue
buying coins for a long time.” In the last thirty years
we have paid hundreds of others handsome premiums
for old bills and coins.

All Kinds of Old Coins, Medals,

Bills and Stamps Wanted FILL OUT AND MAIL NOWI
11.00 to $1,000 p«id for cerUin old cents, nickels, dimes,
quarters, etc. Right now we will pay $50.00 for 1913 Liberty ^ Ri
Head nickels (not buffalo). $100.00 for 1894 dimes (“S NUMISMATIC COMPANY OF TEXAS
Mint), $8.00 for 1853 noartera (no arrows), $10.00 for 186b
quarters (no motto). $200.00 each for 1884 and 1885 Silver
404 Mehl Building, Fort Worth, Texas.
Trade Dollars, etc., etc.
WE eOOUR MtIT

Big Cash Premiums for Hundreds Dear Mr. Mehl: Please send me your Large
Illustrated Coin and Stamp Folder and
of Coins Now Circulating particulars, for which I enclose 4 cents.
further

There are literally thousands of old coins and bills that

we want at once and for which we will pay big cash
premiums. Many of these coins are now passing from
Name
band to hand in circulation. Today or tomorrow a valu-
able coin may come into your possession. Watch your Address
change. Know what to loc^ for.

TEXAS "
City State.

NUMtSMATIC CO. of
404 Mehl Building - - - FORT WORTH, TEXAS
W. F. HALL PRINTING CO.