R05ARY

jeABV(i>r

canapa

• HUGH.
Rankin
MIRACLES
OF
SCIENCE

Beautifully
bound in rich
blue cloth
with attractive
orange-colored
jacket.

The Making of Another Moon!

N umerous legends almost as old as
the human race represent that the
earth once had two moons. Have you
ever heard of the Sect of Two Moons? They
were the sorcerers of China and were the
stories

Weikd Tales:
OOZE, by Anthony M. Rud,
biologist who removed the growth
—
by well-known authors thrilling
weird stories that appeared in early issues of

fell* of a
limitations
greatest scientists this world had ever pro- from an amoeba, and the amazing catastrophe
duced. —
Talk of modern progress our arts that ensued.
and sciences, our discoveries and inventions
are child’s play beside the accomplishments of
PENELOPE, by Vincent Starrett, a fas-
cinating tale of the star Penelope, and the
this race of Chinese devils. Shut away in
—
that remote interior in a valley so little
fantastic thing that happened when the star
—
heard of that it is almost mythical beyond
was in perihelion.
AN ADVENTURE IN THE FOURTH
trackless deserts and the loftiest mountains
—
on the globe this terrible sect of sorcerers DIMENSION, by Farnsworth Wright, is an
uproarious skit on the four-dimensional
has been growing in power for thousands of
years, storing up secret energy that some day theories of the mathematicians, and inter-
should inundate the world with horrors such planetary stories in general.
as never had been known.
A Superb Book
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rulership of the world by a tremendous threat to you postage prepaid.
against the very existence of the earth. The
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THE MOOX TERROR.
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 —
Published m.onthly by tho Popular Fiction Publishing Company. 2457 E. Wash- |
Ington Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Entered as second-class matter March 20, 1923, at ,
|
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are not responsible for tho loss of unsolicited manuscripts, although every care will be
taken of such material v/hile in their possession. The contents of this magazine are
fully protected by copyright and must not be reproduced either wholly or in part without
permission from the publi.^^hers.
—
NOTE All manuscripts and communications should be addressed to the publishers'
Chicago office at 840 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 111.
FARNSWORTH WRIGHT, Editor.
Copyright, 3929, by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company

Contents for April, 1929

Cover Design : Hugh Rankin
Illustrating a scene in “The Devil’s Rosa'ry”

Neptune’s Neighbors Oristel Hasting’s 436

Verse

The Devil’s Rosary Seabury Quinn 437

Tibetan devil-worshipers play a thrilling part in this eery
tale of the French occultist, Jules de Grandin

The World-Wrecker (Part 1) Arlton Eadie 455

A stirring three-part weird-scientific serial about a scientist
who pulled the world from its position in the solar system

In a Dead Man’s Shoes Harold Markham 465

A story of Tyburn gallows and vengeance from beyond the
—
grave disaster seized the man who betrayed his friend

Folks Used to Believe

The Unicom Alvin F. Harlow 472
One of the strange beliefs of our ancestors

[continued on next page]

434 COPYRIGHTBa> IN GREAT BRITAIN

 [continued from preceding page]

The Hermit of Ohemeketa Mountain Thomas de V. Harper 473

A strange tale of anthropomorphism, and the fate that be-
fell the man loho investigated the hermit and his dogs
A Dinner at Imola August W. Derleth 478
'Abandoning poison for once, Caesar Borgia took an unusual
way to rid himself of an enemy

The Dunwich Horror. H. P. Lovecraft 481

A colossal story of eery happenings in a drab New England
settlement —a tale of blood-milling horror
The City of Iron Cubes (Conclusion) H. F. Arnold 509
A two-part weird-scientific story by the author of “The
Night Wire" —
strange invaders from space land in Pent

Up Iniwaddy Way Lieutenant Edgar Gardiner 519

A story of man-eating p>lants and giant fungus growths that
attack human beings

The Goddess of the Painted Priests Drury D. Sharp 532

Down into the nest of venomous snakes and sparkling jewels
she went, to the amazement of the Indian priests

Sonnet Clark Ashton Smith 442

Ferse

The Damsel and Her Cat David H. Keller 543

The high-born maiden lay in a deathlike swoon, but outside
the castle terrible things tuere happening

Weird Story Reprint:

The Diamond Lens Fitz-James O’Brien 547
This was the first of the great weird-scientific stories, and
itmade its author famous
Moon Mockery Robert E. Howard 562
Verse

The Eyrie 563

A chat ^vith the readers

For AdrertisiDE; Rates in WR1R1> TAXES Apply Direct to

WEIRD TALES
Ifestcni Advertising Office: Knstem Advertising Office:
TOtTNG & WARD, Mgrs. GKOKGE W. STEARNS, Mgr.
360 N, Michigan Ave. Flatiron Building
Chicago, III. New York, N. T.
I’lioiie, Central 6869 Phone, Algontiuin 8328
 Neptune’s Neighbors
By CRISTEL HASTINGS
In shadowed glens they wait l)cneath the waves,
Darting like furtive arrows through the gloom,
Haunting the ghostly hulls that lie at rest
Old slanting decks that settled to their doom.
Strange shapes are here, patrolling somber depths.
Peering through portholes that once framed the sun.
Nosing the keels that lie in sanded graves
—
Good ships that Neptune gambled for and won.
The silent avenues on ocean floore
Are harbor for dead dreams and sodden hulls
Where bells are mute and footsteps sound no more
On ships that once raced convoys of gra3' gulls.

No more will pemiants whip the flying breeze

Nor winds go roaring down a funnel’s throat,
For here they lie, of worlds something apart,
Forgotten bv all things that are afloat.

436
M y friend Jiiles
was
(Ic Grandiu
in a seasonably senti-
mental mood. “It is the
springtime, Friend Trowbridge,” he
reminded as we walked down Tona-
As she seated herself on the taupe
cushions of her carriage, the girl
reached inside her silver mesh bag,
evidently in search of a handkerchief,
fumbled a moment among the miscel-
wanda Avenue. “The horse-chestnuts lany of feminine fripperies inside the
are in bloom and the blackbirds reticule, then wilted forwmrd as
whistle among the branches at St. though bludgeoned.
Cloud; the tables are once more set “Mademoiselle, you ai'e ill, you are
—
before the cafes, and grand Dieu, la ill trouble, you must let us help you
!”
belle creature!” lie cut sliort his re- de Grandin exclaimed as he mounted
marks to stare in undisguised admira- the vehicle’s step. “We are physi-
tion at a girl about to enter an old- cians,” he added in belated exjilana-
fashioned horse-drawn victoi'ia at the tion as the elderly coachman turned
curb. and favored us with a hostile stare.
Embarrassed, I plucked him by the The girl wms plainly fighting hard
elbow, intent on drawing him onward, for consciousness. Her face had gone
but he snatched his arm away and death-gray beneath its film of delicate
bounded forward with a cry, even as make-up, and her lips trembled and
my fingers touched his sleeve. “At- quavered like those of a child about
tend her, my friend,” he called; “she to w’eep, but she made a brave effort
faints!” at composure. “I — — — 437
I’m all right
438 WEIRD TALES
thank
edly.
—you, ’’she murmured disjoint-
“It’s—just—the—heat ”
her with a bow, but .she seemed not to
see it. Instead, she stai-ed about the
Her protest died half uttei-ed and her room with a dazed, panic-stricken
eyelids fluttered down as her head fell look, her lips trembling, her whole
forward on de Grandin ’s ready body quaking in a perfect ague of un-
shoulder. reasoning terror. Somehow, as I
“Morhleu, she /ms swooned!” the watched, I was reminded of a spec-
little Frenchman whispered. “To Dr. tacle I had once witnessed at the zoo
Trowbridge’s house 993 — Susque- when Rajah, a thirty-foot Indian
hanna Avenue!’^ he called authori- python, had refused food, and the
tatively to the coachman. “Mademoi- curators, rather than lose a valuable
selle is indisposed.” Turning to the reptile by starvation, overrode their
girl he busied himself making her as compunctions and thrust a poor, help-
comfortable as possible as the rabber- less white rabbit into the monster’s
tired vehicle rolled smoothly over the glass- walled den.
asphalt roadway. “I’ve seen it; I’ve seen it; I*ve
She was, as de Grandin had said, a seen it!” She chanted the litany oL
“belle creature.” From the top of her terror, each repetition higher, moi’e
velour hat to the pointed tips of her intense, nearer the boundary of hys-
suede ])umps slie was all in gray, a teria than the one before.
platinum fox scarf complementing the “Mademoiselle!” de Grandin ’s per-
.soft, clinging stuff of her costume, a emptorj' tone cut her terrified itera-
tiny bouquet of earlj-'-spring violets tion short. “You w'ill please not re-
lending the sole touch of color to her peat meaningless nothings to yourself
ensemble. A
single tendril of daffodil- while w'e stand here like a pair of
yellow hair escaped from beneath the stone monkeys. What is it you have
’ ’
margin of her close-fitting hat lay seen, if you please ?
across a cheek as creamy-smooth and The imemotional, icy monotone in
delicate as a babe’s. which he spoke brought the girl from
“Gently, my friend,” de Grandin her near-hysteria as a sudden dash of
bade as the carriage stopped before cold water in the face might have
my door. “Take her arm so. Now,— done. “This!” she cried in a soi’t of
we shall soon have her I'ecovered. ’ ’
frenzied desperation as slie thrust her
In the surgeiy' he assisted the girl hand into the mesh bag pendent from
to a chair and mixed a strong dose of her wrist. For a moment she ran-
aromatic ammonia, then held it to the sacked its mterior with groping fin-
patient’s blanched lips. gers; then, gingerly, as though .she
—
“Ah so, she revives,” he com- held something live and venomous,
mented in a satisfied voice as the deli- brought forth a tiny object and ex-
cate, violet -veined lids fluttered un- tended it to him.
certainly a moment, then rose slowly, “ U ’m ? ” he murmured non-commit-
unveiling a pair of wide, frightened tally, taking the thing from her and
purple eyes. holding it up to the light as though
“Oh ” the girl began in a sort it were an oddity of nature.
of choked whisper, lialf rising from It was somewhat smaller than a
her seat, but de Gi’andin put a hand hazel-nut, smooth as ivory, and
gently on her shoulder ajid foreed stained a brilliant red. Through its
her back. axis was bored a hole, evidently for
“Make haste slowly, ma belle the purpose of accommodating a cord.
petite,” he counseled. “You are still Obviously, it was one of a strand of
weak from shock and it is not well to inexpensive beads, though I was at a
tax your strength. If you will be so loss to say of what material it was
good as to drink this ” He ex- made. In anj^ event, I could see noth-
tended the glass of ammonia toward ing about the commonplace little
 THE DEVIL’S ROSARY 439

trinket to warrant such evident terror moved to Harrisonville and leased the
as our patient displayed. Broussard mansion in the fashionable
Jules de Grandin was apparently west end. Though only nineteen years
struck by the incongruity of cause old, she had spent so much time
and effect, too, for he glanced from abroad that America was more foreign
the little red globule to the girl, to her than France, Spain or Eng-
then back again, and his narrow, land.
daric eyebrows raised interrogative- Bom in Waterbury, Connecticut,
ly. At length: “I do not think I she had lived there during her first
apprehend the connection,” he con- twelve years, and her family had been
—
fessed. “This” he tapped the tiny somewhat
to-do.
less than moderately well-
Her father was an engineer,
ball with a well manicured forefinger
— “ may have deep significance to you. and spent mxxch time abroad. Occa-
Mademoiselle, but to me it ap- .sionally, when his remittances were

pears ” delayed, the family felt the pinch of

‘‘Significance?” the girl echoed.
undisgxxised poverty. One day her
father returned home unexpectedly,
“It has! When my mother was
apparently in a state of great agita-
drowned in Paris, a ball like this was
found clutched in her hand. When tion. There had been mysterious
my brother died in London, we found much furtive going and
whisperings,
one on the counterpane of his bed. coming then the family entrained for
;

Boston, going immediately to the

Last summer my sister was drowned
while swimming at Atlantic High- Hoosac Tunnel Docks and taking ship
for Europe.
lands. When they recovered her body,
they found one of these terrible beads She and her sister were put to
school in a convent at Rheims, and
hidden in her bathing-cap!” She
broke off Avith a retching sob and rest- though they had frequent and affec-
tionate letters from their parents, the
ed her arm on the sui^ery table, pil-
lowing her face on it and surrender- communications came from different
ing herself to a paroxysm of weeping. places each time; so she had the im-
pression her elders led a Bedouin ex-
“Oh, I’m doomed,” she wailed be- istence.
tween blanching lips. “Thei*e’s no At the outbreak of the war the girls
—
help for me, and I’m too young; I
were taken to a Spanish seminary,
don’t wmnt to die!”
where they remained until two years
“Pew people do. Mademoiselle,” de before, when they joined their parents
Grandin remai’ked dryly. “However, in Paris.
I see no cause of immediate despair. “We’d lived there only a little
Over an hour has passed since yoxr while,” she continued, “when two
discovered this evil talisman, and you gendarmes came to our apartment one
still live. So much for the past. For afternoon and asked for Daddy. One
the future you may trust in the mercy of them whispered something to him
of heaven and the cleverness of Jules and he turned white as a sheet then, ;

de Grandin. Meantime, if you are when the other took something from
.sufficiently recovered, we shall do our- his pocket and showed it. Daddy fell
selves the honor of escorting vou over in a dead faint. It wasn’t till
’ ’
home. several hours later that we children
Avere told. Mother’s body had been
T Tnder de Grandin ’s adroit ques- found floating in the Seine, and one
^ tioning we learned much of the of those hon’ible little red balls was
girl’s story during our homeward in her hand. That was the first we
drive. She was Hai’oldine Arkright, ex’-er heard of them.
daughter of James Arkright, a “Though Daddy was terribly af-
wealthy widower who had lately fected by the tragedy, there was some-
440 WEIRD TALES
thing we couldn’t understand about the carriage, and — oh, I’m terribly
his actions. As soon as the Pompes afraid. Dr. Grandin. I’m too
de
Funebres (the municipal undertak- young to die! not fair; I’m only
It’s
ers) had conducted the services, he nineteen, and I was to have been
married this June and ”
made arrangements with a solicitor to
sell all our furniture, and we moved “Softly, ma chere,” he soothed.
to liondon without stopping to pack “Do not distress yourself unneces-
anything but a few clothes and toilet sarily. Remember, I am with you. ’ ’

articles. “But what can you do?” she de-

‘
‘
In London we took a little cottage manded. “I tell you, when one of
out by Garden City, and we —
lived it these beads appears anywhere about
—
seemed to me almost in hiding; but a member of our family, it’s too late
”
before we’d lived there a year my for
brother Philip died, and they found — “Mademoiselle,” he interrapted,
the second of these red beads lying “it is never too late for Jules de
on the cover of his bed. —
Grandin if he be called in time. In
” His words
“Father seemed almost beside him- your case we have
self when Phil died. We left—fled were drowned by a sudden angry roar
would be a better word just as we
had gone from Paris, without stop-
— as a sheet of vivid lightning tore
across the sky, followed by the bellow
ping to pack a thing but our clothes. of a deafening crash of thunder.
When we arrived in America we “Parbleu, we shall be drenched!”
lived in a little hotel in downtown
de Grandin cried, eyeing the cloud-
New York for a while, then moved to hung heavens apprehensively. Quick,
‘

'
Harrisonville and rented this house Trowbridge, mon vieux, assist Made-
furnished.
moiselle Haroldine to alight. I think
‘
‘
Last summer Chai’lotte w'ent down we would better hail a taxi and per-
to the Highlands with a party of mit the coachman to return alone with
and
friends, ’’
she paused again, the carriage.
and de Grandin nodded understand- “One moment, if you please. Ma-
ingly. demoiselle,” he ordered as the girl
“Has Monsieur your father eyer took my outstretched hand; “that
taken you into his confidence?’’ he little red ball which you did so un-
asked at length. “Has he, by any accountably find in your purse, you
chance, told you the origin of these so
’’
will let me have it —
a little wetting
mysterious red pellets and
little will make it none the less interesting
“Not till Charlotte drowned,’’ she to your father.” Without so much as
cut in. “After that he told me that a w’ord of apology, he opened the
if I ever saw such a ball anywdiere girl’s hag, extracted the sinister red
whether worn as an ornament by some globule and deposited it between the
person, or among my things, or even cushions of the carriage seat, then,
lying in the street — I was to come to with the coachman ’s aid, proceeded to
him at once.” raise the vehicle’s collache top.
“U’m?” he nodded gravely. “And As the covered carriage rolled rap-
have you, perhaps, some idea how this idly aw'ay, he raised his hand, halting
might have come into your purr:?” a taxicab, and calling sharply to the
“No. I’m sure it wasn ’t there when chauffeur: “Make haste, my friend.
I left home this morning, and it Should you arrive at our destination
wasn’t there when I opened my bag before the storm breaks, there is in
to put my change in after making my my poeket an extra dollar for you.”
purchases at Braunstein ’s, either. The driver earned his fee with com-
The first I saw of it was when I felt pound interest, for it seemed to me
for a handkerchief after getting into we transgressed every traffic ordi-
 THE DEVIL’S EOSAEY 441

“
’Tis only by th’ mercy o’
nance on the books in the course of his feet.
I ’m still a livin man
’ ’
our ride, cutting corners on two heaven ’
!

wheels, racing madly in the wrong

direction through one-w’ay streets,
“Eh Men, my friend” de Grandin —
'

gave his little blond mustache a sharp

talking more than one chance of fatal twist as he suiweyed the ruined car-
collision with passing vehicles. —
riage “perhapsly the stupidity of
The floodgates of the clouds were hell may have something to do Avith it.
just opening, and great torrents of Look to your horses they seem scarce-
;

water were eataracting douTi when w’e ly worse off than yourself, but they
drew up beneath the Arkright porte- may be up to mischief if they remain
’ ’
cochere and de Grandin handed unchaperoned.
Haroldine from the cab with a cei*e- Once more beneath the shelter of
monious bow, then turned to pay the the porte-cochere, as calmly as though
taxi-man his well-earned bonus. discussing the probability of the
‘

“Mordieu, our luck holds excellent- storm ’s abatement, he proposed Let :

‘

ly well ” he began as we turned us go in, my friends. The horses and

toward the door, but a blaze of light- coachman will soon be all right. As
ning more savage than any we had for the carriage” —
he raised his nar-
seen thus far and the roaring detona- roAv shoulders in a fatalistic shrug
tion of a thunderclap which seemed “Mademoiselle, I hope Monsieur your
fairly to split the heavens blotted out father carried adequate insurance on
the remainder of his sentence. it.”

The girl shranlc against me with a

2
frightened little cry as the lightning
seared our eyes, and I sympathized
Avith her terror, for it seemed to me
the flash must have struck almost at
T he little Frenchman
on the polished brass handle of
the big oak door, but the portal held
laid his hand

our feet, so nearly simultaneous were its place unyieldingly, and it was not
Are and thunder, but a Avild, half- till the girl had pressed the bell but-
hysterical laugh from de Grandin ton several times that a butler Avho
brought me round Avith an astonished looked as if his early training had
exclamation. been acquired AA'^liile serving as guard
The little Frenchman had nished in a penitentiary appeared and paid
from the shelter of the mansion’s us the compliment of a searching in-
porch and pointed dramatically to- spection before standing aside to ad-
Avard the big stone pillars flanking mit us.
the entrance to the grounds. There, “Your father’s in the living-room.
toppled on its side as though struck Miss Haroldine,” he ansAvered the
fairly by a high-explosive shell, lay girl’s quick question, then folloAved
the victoria we had ordered to follow IAS half-way down the hall, as though
us, the horees kicking Avildly at their reluctant to let us out of sight.
shattered harness, the coachman Heavy draperies of mulberry and
throAvn a clear dozen feet from his gold brocade were drawn across the
A'ehiele, and the carriage itself re- living-room Avindows, shutting out the
duced to splinters scarcely larger than lightning flashes and muffling the
match-staves. rumble of the thunder. A fire of
Heedless of the drenching rain, we resined logs burned cheerfully in the
raced across the lawn and halted by marble-arched fireplace, taking the
the prostrate postilion. Miraculously, edge from the early-spring chill
the man was not only living, but re- electric lamps under painted shades
gaining consciousness as Ave reached spilled pools of light on Turkey car-
him. “Glory be to God!” he ex- pets, mahogany shelves loaded Avith
claimed piously as we helped him to ranks of morocco-bound volumes and
442 WEIRD TALES
the blurred blues, reds and purples of “when was it you were in Tibet, if
Oriental pox’celains. On the walls the you please?”
dwarfed perfection of several beauti- The effect was electric. Our host
fully executed miniatures showed, and bounded from his chair as though pro-
in the far comer of the apartment pelled by an uncoiled spring, and for
loomed the magnificence of a massive once his eyes ceased to rove as he re-
grand piano. garded the little Frenchman with a
James Arkright leaped from the gaze of mixed incredulity and horror.
overstuffed armchair in which he had His hand slipped beneath his jacket
been lounging before the fire and to the butt of the concealed weapon,
whirled to face us as we entered the but
room, almost, it seemed to me, as “Violence is unnecessary, my
though he were expecting an attack. friend,” de Grandin assured him cool-
He was ar middle-aged man, slender ly. “We are come to help you, if
almost to the point of emaciation, with possible, and besides I have you cov-
an oddly parchmentlike skin and a
long, gaunt face rendered longer by
—
ered” he glanced momentarily at
the bulge in his jacket pocket where
the iron-gray imperial pendant from the muzzle of his tiny Ortgies auto-
his chin. His nose was thin and high- matic pressed against the cloth “and —
bridged, like the beak of a predatory it would be but an instant’s work to
bird, and his ears queer, Panesque ap- kill you several times before you could
pendages, giving his face an odd, imp-
ish look. But it was his eyes which
reach your pistol. Very good” he —
gave one of his quick, elfi.sh smiles as
riveted our attention most of all. They the other sixbsided into his chair
were of an indeterminate color, neither “we do malce progress.
gray nor hazel, but somewhere be- “You wonder, perhapsly, how
tween, and darted continually here
comes it I ask that question? Veiy
and there, keeping i\s constantly in well. A
half-hour or so ago, wtien
view, yet seeming to watch everj^
Mademoiselle your lovely daughter
comer of the room at the same time. was recovered from her fainting-spell
For a moment, as we trooped into the in Dr. Trowbridge ’s office, she tells us
room, he sun^eyed us in turn with
of the sinister red bead she has found
that strange, roving glance, a light of
in her purse, and of the e%ul fortune
inquiring uncertainty in his eyes fad-
such little balls have been connected
ing to a temporary lelief as his daugh-
with in the past.
ter presented us.
“I, Monsieur, have traveled a veiy
As he resumed his seat before the
great much. In darkest Africa, in in-
firethe skirt of his jacket flicked back
nermost Asia, where few white men
and I caught a fleeting glimpse of the
have gone and lived to boast of it, I
eorragated stock of a hea^T revolver have been there. Among the head-
bolstered to his belt.
hunters of Papua, beside the upper
The customary courtesies having banks of the Amazon, Jules de Gran-
been exchanged we lapsed into a si- din has been. Alors, is it so strange
lence w'hich stretched and lengthened that I recognize this so mysterious
until I began to feel like a bashful lad ball for what it is? Parbleu, in dis-
seeking an excuse for bidding his guise I have fingered many sxich in the
sweetheart adieu. I cleared my lamaseries of Tibet
throat, preparatory to making some “Mademoiselle’s story, it tells me
inane remark concerning the sudden much but there is much more I would
;

stonn, but de Grandin forestalled me. learn from you am

to be of ser-
if I
“Monsieur,” he asked as his dii’ect, vice. You were once poor. That is no
imwinking stare bored straight into disgrace. You suddenly became rich
Arkright ’s oddly watchful eyes. that also is no disgrace, nor is the fact
 THE DEVIL’S ROSARY 443

that you traveled up and down the was not for nothing the wise old
world almost constantly after the ac- Hebrews named Satan, the rejected of
quisition qf your fortune necessarily God, the Prince of the Powers of the
confession of wrongdoing. But” ^he — Air. No.
fixed his eyes challengingly on our We many
—
host “but what of the other occur-
“Very
elements that
well. have here so
we need scarcely guess
rences? How comes it that Madame to know what the answer is. Monsieur
your wife (God rest her spirit!) was Arkright, as the roast follows the fish
found floating in the Seine with such and coffee and cognac follow both, it
a red ball clutched in her poor, dead follows that you once wrested from
'
hand? the lamas of Tibet some secret they
“Me, I have recognized this ball. Avished kept; that by that secret you
It is a bead- from the rosary of a did obtain much Avealth; and that in
Buddhist lama of that devil -I’idden revenge tho.se old heathen monks of
gable of the world we call Tibet. How the mountains folloAv you and yours
came Madame to be grasping it? Who AAutli implacable hatred. Each time
. knows? they strike, it Avould appear, they
“When next we see one of these red leave one of these beads from the red
beads, it is on the occasion of the rosary of vengeance as sign and seal
Am
;

sudden sad death of the young Mon- of their accomplished purpose. I

sieur, your son. not right?” He looked expectantly at
‘
Later, Avhcn you have fled like one
‘
our host a moment then, with a ges-
;

pursued to America and settled in tured application for permission from

Haroldine, produced a French ciga-
this small city which nestles in the
rette, set it alight and inhaled its
shadow of the great New York, comes
acrid, ill-flaAmred smoke with gusto.
the death of your daughter, Made-
moiselle Charlotte —and once more the AMES ARKRIGHT regarded the little
red ball appears.
“This afternoon Mademoiselle Ilar- J Frenchman as a respectable ma-
tron might look at the blackmailer
oldine finds the talisman of impend-
threatening to disclose an indiscretion
ing doom in her purse and forthwith
of her youth. With a deep, shudder-
swoons in terror. Dr. Trowbridge and
ing sigh he slumped fonvard in his
I succor her and are convening her to
chair like a man from whom all the
you when a stonn arises oiit of a clear
resistance has been squeezed Avith a
sky. We change veJiicles and I leave
the red bead behind. All goes well
single titanic pressure.
‘
‘
You ’re right.
until —
pouf ! a bolt of lightning
Dr. de Grandin,” he admitted in a
toneless voice, and his eyes no longer
strikes the carriage in which the
holder of this devil’s rosary seems to seemed to take inventory of CA-ery-
'
thing about him. ‘ I urns in Tibet it
ride, and demolishes it. But horses ;

Avas there I stole the Pi Yu Stone

and coachman are spared. Cordieu,
it is more than merely strange; it is
would God I’d never seen the damned
surprizing, it is amazing, it is aston-
thing!”
ishing One who does not know what
!
“Ah?” murmured de Grandin,
Jules de Grandin knows would think emitting a twin column of mordant
it incomprehensible. smoke from his narrow nostrils. “We
“It is not so. I know what I have make progress. Say on. Monsieur; I
seen. In Tibet I have seen- those listen Avith ears like the rabbit’s. This
masked devil -dancers cause the rain Pi Yu Stone, it is Avhat?”
to fall and the winds to blow and the Something like diffidence shoAved in
lightning bolts to strike where thej'' Arkright ’s face as he replied, “You
willed. They are worshipers of the won’t belicAm me, when I’ve told
demons of the air, my friends, and it jmu.”
444 WEIRD TALES
De Drandin emitted a final puff of happenings in those mountain lama-
smoke and ground the fire from his series, we thought we’d go up and
cigarette against the bottom of a —
have a look see on our own.
cloisonne bowl. “Eli bien, Monsieur,” “There was some good shooting on
he answered with an impatient slirug, the way, and what few natives we ran
“it is not the wondrous things men into were harmless enough if you
refuse to credit. Tell the ordinary kept ’em far enough away to prevent
citizen that IMara is sixtj^ million their cooties from climbing aboard
miles from the earth, and he believes you so we really didn ’t get much ex-
;

you without question. Hang up a sign citement out of the trip, and had
infonning him that a fence is newly about decided it was a bust when we
painted, and he must needs smear his came on a little lamasery perched like
finger to prove your veracity. Pro- an eagle’s nest on the edge of an
ceed, if you please.” enormous cliff.
“I was bom in Waterburj',” Ark- “We managed to scramble up the
right began in a sort of half-fearful, zigzag path to the place, and had some
half-stubborn monotone, “and edu- difficulty getting in, but at last the
cated as an engineer. My father was ta-lama agreed we might spend the
a Congregational clergyman, and night there.
money was none too plentiful with ‘
They didn ’t seem to take any par-
‘

US; .so, when I completed my. course ticular notice of us after we’d un-
at Sheff, I took the first job that of- slung our packs in the courtyard, and
fered. They don ’t pay any too prince-
we had the run of the place pretty
ly salaries to cubs just out of school, much to ourselves. Clendenning, my
you know, and the very necessity of English companion, had knocked
my finding employment right away about Central Asia for upward of
kept me from makiiig a decent bar- twenty years, and spoke several
gain for myself. Chinese dialects as well as Tibetan,
“For ten yeai*s I sweated for the but for some reason he’d played dumb
N. Y., N. H. & H., watching most of when we knocked at the gates and let
my classmates pass me by as though our head man interpret for us.
I stood stone-still. Finally I was fed “About 4 o’clock in the afternoon
up. I had a wife and three children, he came to me in a perfect fever of
and hardly enough money to feed excitement. ‘Arkright, old boy,’ he
them, let alone give them the things whispered, ‘this blighted place is
my classmates’ families had. So, when
I got an offer from a British hoivse to
simply filthy with gold raw, virgin
’
—
gold !

do some work in the Himalayas it “ ‘You’re spoofing,’ I told him;

looked about as gorgeous to me as the ‘these poor old duffers are so God-
faiiu’ godmother’s gifts did to Cin- awful poor they’d crawl a mile on
derella. It woTild get me away from their bare knees and elbows for a
America and the constant reminders handful of copper cash.’
of my failure, at any rate. “‘Cash my hat!’ he returned. ‘I
“The job took me into upper Nepal tell you, they’ve got great heaps and
and I worked at it for close to three staete of gold here; gold enough to
years, earning the customarj' vaca- make our perishing fortunes ten times
tion at last. Instead pf going down over if we could shift to get the
into India, as most of the men did, I blighted stuff away. Come along. I’ll
pu.shed up into Tibet with another show you.’
chap who was keen on research, and a “He fairly dragged me across the
party of six Bhotia bearers. We had courtyard where our duffle was stored,
no particular goal in mind, but we’d through a low doorway, and down a
been so fed up on stories of the weird pas.sage cut in the solid rock. There
 THE ]>EVIL’S ROSARY 445

<;asn’t a lama or sen’aiit in sight as making off with the treasure that
we made our way through one tunnel minute.
after another; I suppose they were so “When we saw we couldn’t carrj-
sure we couldn’t understand their any of it off we were almost wild.
lingo that they thought it a waste of Scheme after scheme for getting awaj"
time to watch us. At any rate, no one with the stuff was broached, only to
offered us any interruption while Ave he discarded. Stealth was no go, for
clambered down three or four flights we’d be sure to be seen if w;e tried to
of stairs to a sort of caveni which had lead our bearers down the* tunnels;
been artificially enlarged to make a force was out of the question, for the
big, vaulted cellar. lamas outnumbered us ten to one, and
‘
Gentlemen
‘
’ ’
—
Arkright looked the ugly-lookiug knives they v'ore
from de Grandin to me and back
—
again “I don’t know what it is, but
something seems to get into a white
man’s blood when he goes to the far
cornel's of the world. Men who
wouldn’t think of stealing a canceled
postage stamp at home will loot a
Chinese or Indian treasure house clean
and never stop to give the moral
aspects of their actions a second
thought. That’s the way it was w'ith
Clendenning and me. When we saw
those stacks of golden ingots piled up
in that cave like firewood aroxuid the
sides of a New England woodshed,
we just went off our heads. Nothing
but the fact that the two of us couldn ’t
so much as lift, much less carrj', a
single one of the bars kei>t us from

"Within five minutes the camp was

reduced to hopeless wreckage."
446 WEIRD TALES
were sufficient warning to us not to was already awake, and we could see
get them roused. the faint gleam of light from candles
“Finally, when we were almost in- borne in procession at the farther end
sane with futile planning, Clenden- of the corridor.
ning suggested, ‘Come on, let’s get
out of this cursed place. If we look “TII^hat happened next was the
» ^ turning-point in our lives, gen-
around a little we may find a cache
of jewels-^we wouldn’t need a der- tlemen. Without stopping to think,
rick to carry off a couple of Imperial apparently, Clendenning acted.
quarts of them, at any rate.
’
Snatching the heavy BroAvning from
his belt he hit the guardian monk a
“The underground passages were
terrific blow over the head, dragged
like a Cretan labyrinth, and we lost
our way more than once while we
him through the doorway and ripped
off his robe. Here, Arkright, put this
‘
stumbled around with no light but the
flicker of Clendenning ’s electric
on he commanded as he lugged the
!
’

unconscious man’s body into a dark

torch, but after an hour or more of
floundering over the damp, slippery
comer of the room and concealed
himself behind one of the wall dra-
stones of the tunnels, we came to a
peries.
door stopped with a curtain of yak’s
hide. A fat, shaven-headed lama was I slipped the yelloAv goAvn over my
‘
‘

sitting beside it, but he was sound clothes and squatted in front of the
asleep and we didn ’t trouble to waken nearest prayer Avheel, spinning the
him. thing like mad.
‘
Inside Avas a fair-sized room, part-
‘ “I suppose you’ve already noticed
ly hollowed out of the living I’ock, I’ve a rather Mongolian cast of fea-
partly natural grotto. Multicolored tures?” he asked Avith a bleak smile.
flags draped from the low ceiling, each “iVom dhin fusil, Monsieur, let us
emblazoned with prayers or mottoes in not discuss personal pulchritude, or
Chinese ideographs or painted with its lack, if you please!” de Grandin

effigies of holy saints or gods and exclaimed testily. “Be so good as to

’ ’
goddesses. Big bands of silk cloth advance Avith your narrative !

festooned down the walls. On each “It wasn’t vanity Avhich prompted
side of the doorway were prayer the question,” Arkright replied.
wheels ready to be spun, and a plate
‘
‘
Even v/ith my beard, I ’m sometimes
of beaten gold with the signs of the taken for a Chinaman or a half-caste.
Chinese zodiac was above the lintel. In those days I was clean-shaven, and
On both sides of the approach to the both Clendenning and I had had our
altar were low, red-lacquered benches heads shaA^ed for sanitary reasons be-
for the lamas and the choir. Small fore setting out on our trip; so, Avith
lamps Avith tiny, flickering flames the lama’s robe pulled up about my
threw their rays on the gold and sil- neck, in the dim light of the sanctu-
ver A^essels and candlesticks. At the ary I passed very Avell for one of the
extreme end of the room, veiling the brotherhood, and not one of the monks
sanctuary, hung a heavy curtain of in the procession gave me so much as
yelloAV silk painted with Tibetan in- a second glance.
scriptions. “The ta-lama— I suppose you’d
“While we were standing there, call him the abbot of the community
wondering what our next moA^e would led the procession into the temple and
be, the shuffle of feet and the faint halted before the sanctuary curtain.
tinkle of bells came to us. ‘Quick,’ Two subordinate lamas pulled the veil
Clendenning ordered, ‘we mustn’t be aside, and out of the dim light from
caught here !
’
He ran to the door, but the flickering lamps there gradually
it was too late, for the monk on guard appeared the gi’eat golden statue of
 THE DEVIL’S EOSARY 447

Buddha seated in the Golden Lotus. dimensions of the golden ingots we’d
The face of the image was indifferent seen in the treasure chamber.
and calm with only the softest gleam “I said the bars were lead, copper
of light animating it, yet despite the and iron, but that’s a misstatement.
repose of the bloated features it All of them had been composed of
seemed to me there was something those metals, hut every one was from
malignant about the countenance. a quarter to three-fourths solid gold.
“Glancing up under my brows as SloAvly, as a loaf of bi’ead browns by
I turned the prayer wheel, I could see degrees in a bake-oven, these bars of
the main idol was flanked on each side base metal were being transmuted
by dozens of smaller statues, each, ap- into solid, virgin gold.
parently, of solid gold. “Clendenning and I looked at each
“The ta-lama struck a great bronze other in dumfounded amazement. We
gong M'ith a padded drumstick to at- knew couldn’t be possible, yet there
it
tract the Buddha’s attention to his it was, before our eyes.
px’ayer, then closed his eyes, placefl “For a moment Clendenning
his hands together before his face and peered into the alchemist’s cabinet,
prayed. As his sleeve fell away, I then sxxddcnly gave a low whistle. At
noticed a rosary of red beads, like the extreme back of the ‘ovexx’ was a
those I was later to Imow with such piece of odd-lookiixg substaixce about
horror, looped aboixt his left wrist. the size of a child’s fist; something
“The subordinate lamas all bent like jade, sometbiixg like amber, yet
their foreheads to the floor while their differing subtly from each. As Clen-
master prayed standing before the dexxning reached his hand into the
face of Buddha. Pinallj’, the abbot compartment to indicate it with his
lowered his hands, and his follov/era fixxger the diamoxxd setting of a ring
rose and gathered at the foot of the he wox’e suddexxly glowed and spax’kled
altar. He opened a small, ovenlike as thoxxgh lit fx’om withixi by living
I’eceptaele beneath the calyx of the fire.
Golden Lotus and took from it a little “ ‘For Gawd’s sake!’ he exclaimed.
golden image which one of his subor- “D’ye see what it is, Arkx'ight? It’s
dinates placed among the ranks of the Pliilosopher’s Stone, or I’m a
subsidiarj^Buddhas to the right of the Dutchman!’ ”
great idol. Then he replaced the “The Philosopher’s Stoixe?” I
golden stautuette with another exact- qixexied, pixzzled.
ly like it, except fashioned of lead, De
Graixdin made a gestixre of im-
closed the sliding door to the little patieixce, but Ax‘kright ’s qxx®er, haunt-
cavity and turned from the altar. ed eyes were on me, and he failed to
Then, followed by his company, he notice the Fx’eixchmaix’s annoyaxxce.
marched from the chapel, leaving “Yes, Dr. Trowbx’idge, ” he x'eplied.
Clendenning and me in possession. ‘
The aneieixt alchemists thoxxght thei e
‘

“It didn’t take us more than a v/as a substance Avhich woixld convert
minute to rush up those altar steps, all base metals ixito gold by the power
swing back the curtain and open the of its magical emanations, you know.
door under the Golden Lotus, you Nearly all noted magi believed in it,
may be siu’e. tmd most of them attempted to make
“Inside the door was a compart- it synthetically. Maixy of the thixxgs
ment about the size of a moderately we use in evex’yday life were diseov-
large gas stove’s oven, and in it were ex’ed as by-px’odixets while the axiciexits
the little image we had seen the ta- wex’e seekiixg to perfect the magic
lama put in and half a dozen bars of foxnnula. Bbttieher stumbled oxx the
lead, iron and copper, each the exact method of xnalting Dresden porcelain
'448 WEIRD TALES
while searching for the treasure we used anything but gold as wrap-
Roger Bacon evolved the composition pings for it.
of gunpowder in the same waj'; Ger- “Clendenning was for strangling
ber discovered the properties of acids, the lama we had stunned when we
Van Helmont secured the first accu- saw the procession headed toward the
I’ate data on the nature of gases and chapel, but I persuaded him to tie and
the famous Dr. Glauber discovered the gag the fellow and leave him hidden
medicinal salts which bear his name in the shrine so when we had finished
;

in the course of experiments in search this we crept through the under-

of the Stone. ground passages to the courtyard
“Oddly enough, the ancients were where our Bhotias were squatting be-
on the right track all the while, though, side the luggage and ordered them to
of course, they could not know it for ;
break camp at once,
thej^ were wont to refer to the Stone “The old ta-lama came to bid us a
—
as a substratum from the Latin sub courteous good-bye and refused our
and stratus, of course, signifying offered payment for our entertain-
—
something spread under and hun- ment, and we set off on the trail to-
dreds of years later scientists actually ward Nepal as if the devil were on our
discovered the uranium oxide we know heels. He was, though we didn ’t know
as pitchblende, the chief source of it then.
radium.
“Clendenning must have realized “l^UK way was mostly downhill,
the queer substance in the altar was and everything seemed in our
possessed of remarkable radioactive favor. We
pushed on long after the
properties, for instead of attempting sun had set, and by 10 o’clock were
to grasp it in his fingers, as I should well past the third taeJi-davan, or
have done, he seized two of the altar pass, from the lamasery. When we
candlesticks, and holding them like a finally made camp Clendenning could
pair of pincers, lifted the thing bodily hardly wait for our tent to be pitched
from its setting; then, taking great before experimenting with our loot.
care not to touch it, wrapped and re- “Unwrapping the strange sub-
wrapped it in thin sheets of gold stance, we noticed that it glowed in
stripped from the altar ornaments. the half-light of the tent with a sort
His data were incomplete, of course, of greenish phosphorescence, which
but his reasoning, or perhaps his made Clendenning christen it Pi Yii,
scientifically trained instinct, was ac- which is Chinese for jade, and by that
curate. You see, he inferred that name we knew it thereafter. We put
since the ‘stone’ had the property of a pair of pistol bullets inside the
transmuting base metals wdth which wrappings, and lay down for a few
it came in near contact into gold, gold hours’ sleep with the Pi Yii between
would in all probability be the one us. At 5 the next morning when we
element impervious to its radioactive routed out the bearers and prepared
rays, and consequently the only ef- to get under way, the entire leaden
fective form of insulation. We had portions of the cartridges had been
seen the ta-lama and his assistants transmuted to gold and the copper
grasp the little image of Buddha so powder- jackets were beginning to
recently transformed from lead to take on a decided golden glint. Forc-
gold with their bai’e hands, so felt ing the shells off, we found the powder
reasonably sure there would be no with which the cartridges were
danger of radium burns from gold charged had become pure gold dust.
recently in contact with tlie substance, This afforded us some valuable data.
while thex’e might be grave danger if Lead was transmuted more quickly
 THE DEVIT/!^ ROSARY ' 449

than copper, and scmi-metallie sub- in whieli the Pi Yu was packed in my

stances like gunpowder were appar- hand. Next moment he walked to the
ently even more su" ?eptible than pure center of the shambles which had been
metals, though the owder’s granular our camp and began looking around
form might have sped its transmuta- in a dazed sort of way. Almost as he
tion. came to a halt, a terrific roar sounded
“We drove the bearers like slave- and the entire air seemed to burn with
masters that day, and they -vverc on the fury of a bursting lightning-bolt.
the point of open mutiny when eve- Clendenning was wiped out as though’
ning came. Poor devils, if they’d —
he had never been toni literally to
known what lay behind there ’d have dust by the unspeakable force of the
been little enough need to urge them lightning, and even the rock where he
on. liad stood was scaried and blackened
•as though water-blasted. But the ter-
“Camp had been made and we had
rible performance didn’t stop there.
all settleddowm to a sleep of utter Bolt after bolt of frightful lightning
exhaustion when I first heard it. Very
was hurled down like an accurately
faint and far away it was, so faint as
aimed barrage till eveiy shred of our
to be scarcely recognizable, but grow-
men, our yaks, our tents and our camp
—
ing louder each second the rumbling
paraphernalia had not only been
whistle of a wind of hurricane velocity
milled to dust, but completely ob-
shrieking and tearing down the passes.
literated.
“I kicked Clendenning awake, and
together we made for a cleft in the
“How long the artillery-fire from
the sky lasted I do not know. To me,
rocks, yelling to our Bhotias to take
as I crouched in the little cave be-
'cover at the same time. The poor
devils were too waterlogged with sleep
tween the rocks, it seemed hours,
to realize what we shouted, and before years, centuries. Actually, I suppose,
we could give a second warning the it kept up for something like five

ihing was among them. Demoniacal minutes. I think I must have fainted
blasts of wind so fierce we could al- with the horror of it at the last, for
most see them shrieked and screamed the next thing I knew the sun was
and howled through the camp, each shining and the air was clear and icy-
gust seeming to be aimed with dread- cold. No one passing could have told
ful accuracy. They w'hirled and tv;ist- from the keenest obsci-vation that any-
ed and tore almut, scattering blazing thing living had oecu])icd our camp-
logs like sparks from bursting fire- site in yeai's. There was no sign or
crackers, literally tearing our tents —
trace absolutely none —
of human or
into scraps no larger than a man’s animal occu])ancy to be found. Only
hand, picking up beasts and men the cracked and lightning-blackened
bodily and hurling them against the rocks bore witness to the terrible bom-
cliff-walls till tliey were battered out bardment which had been laid down.
‘

of all semblance of their original form. wasted precious hours in search-

‘
I
Within five minutes our camp was re- ing, but not a shred of cloth or flesh,
duced to such hopeless wreckage as not a lock of hair or a congealed drop
may be seen only in the wake of a of blood renTained of my companions.
tornado, and Clendenning and I were
the only living things witliin a radius “''T^he following days were like a
of five miles. —
nightmare one of those awful
“We
were about to crawl from our dreams in whieh the sleeper is forever
hiding-place when something warned fleeing and forever pursued by some-
me the danger was not yet past, and thing unnamably hoi-rible. A dozen
I grabbed at Clendenning ’s arm. He times a day I’d hear the skirling
pulled away, but left the musette hag tempests rushing down the passes be-
450 WEIRD TALES
hind Jind scuttle to the nearest hole in hind a roadside tree and barred my ,

the rocks like a panic-stricken rabbit way. He did not utter a syllable, but
when the falcon’s shadow suddenly stood immovable in the path before
appears across its path. Sometimes me, regarding me with such a look of
I’d be storm-bound for hours while concentrated malice and hatred that
the v/ind howled like a troop of de- my breath caught fast in my throat.
mons outside my retreat and the For perhaps half a minute he glared
lightning-strokes rattled almost like at me, then raised his left hand and
hailstones on the rubble outside. pointed directly at my face. As his
Sometimes the vengeful tempest would sleeve fell back, I caught the gleam
last only a few minutes and I’d be of a string of small, red beads looped
released to fly like a mouse seeking round his wrist. Next instant he
sanctuary from the eat for a few miles turned away and seemed to walk
befoi’e I was driven to cover once through an invisible door in the air
more. one moment I saw him, the next he
“There were several packs of had disappeared. As I stood staring
emergency rations in the musette bag, stupidly at the spot where he had
and I made out for drink by chipping vanished, I felt a terrific blast of ice-
off bits of ice from the frozen moun- cold wind blowing about me, tearing
tain springs and melting them in my off my hat and sending me staggering
tin cup, but I was a mere rack of against the nearest front-yard fence.
bones and tattered hide encased in “The wind subsided in a moment,
still more tattered clothes when I but it had blown away my peace of
finally staggered into an outpost set- mind forever. From that instant I
tlement in Nepal and fell babbling knew myself to be a marked man, a
likean imbecile into the arms of a man whose only safety lay in flight
sowar sentry. and concealment.
“The lamas’ vengeance seemed con- “My daughter has told you the re-
fined to the territorial limits of Tibet, mainder of the story, how my wife
for I was unmolested during the en- was first to go, and how they found
tire period of my
illness and convales- that accursed red bead which is the
cence in the Nepalese village. trade mark of the lamas’ blood-ven-
“When was strong enough to
I geance clasped in her hand; how my
travel I was passed down country to son was the next victim of those Tib-
my outfit, but I was still so ill and etan devils’ revenge, then my daugh-
nervous that the company doctor gave ter Charlotte now she, too, is marked
me a certificate of physical disability
;

for destruction. Oh, gentlemen” ^his—

eyes once more roved restlessly about
and I was furnished with transporta-
tion home.
— “if you only knew the inferno of
terror and uncertainty I’ve been
“I’d procured some scrap metal be-
fore embarking on the P. and O boat,
through during these terrible years,
and in the privacy of my cabin I you’d realize I’ve paid my debt to
those mountain fien^ ten times over
amused myself by testing the powers
with compound interest compounded
of the Pi Yu. Travel had not altered
them, and in three days I had about
tenfold!”
ten pounds of gold where I’d had half Our host ended his narrative almost
that weight of iron. in a shriek, then settled forward m
‘
‘
I was bursting with the wonderful his chair, chin sunk on breast, hands
news when I reached Waterbury, and Ijdng flaecidly in his lap, almost as if
could scarcely, wait to tell my
A\dfe, the death of which he lived in daily
but as I walked up the street toward dread had overtaken him at last.
my house an ugly. Mongolian-faced In the silence of the dimly lit draw-
man suddenly stepped out from be- ing-room the logs burned with a soft-
 THE DEVIL'S ROSARY 451

ly hissing crackle the little ormolu

;
consequent on the disintegration of
clock on the marble mantel beat off the radium atoms is so powerful that
the seconds with hushed, hurrying even such known and powerful forces
strokes as though it held its breath as electrical energy are completely
and went on tiptoe in fear of some- destroyed by it. In the presence of
thing lurking in the shadows. Out- radium, we know, non-conductors of
side the curtained windows the sub- electricity become conductors, differ-
siding storm moaned dismally, like an ences of potential cease to exist and
animal in pain. electroscopes and I^eyden jars fail to
Jules de Grandin darted his quick, retain their riiargc.s. dut all this is
birdlike glance from the dejected Ark- but the barest iraetioii of the possi-
right to his white-lipped daughter, bilities.

then at me, then back again at Ark- “Consider; Not xong ago we be-
right. “Tiens, Monsieur” he re- lieved theatom to be the ultimate par-
marked, “it would appear you find and thought all atoms
ticle of matter,
yourself in what the Americans call had individuality. An atom of iron,
one damn-bad fix. Sacre bleu, those for instance, was to us the smallest
ape-faced men of the mountains know particle of iron possible, and differed
how to hate well, and they have the distinctly from an atom of hydrogen.
powers of the tempest at their com- But with even such little knowledge as
mand, while you have nothing but we already have of radioactive sub-
Jules de Grandin. stances we have learned that all mat-
“No matter; it is enough. I do not ter is composed of varying charges of
think you will be attacked again to- electricity. The atom, we now believe,
day. Make yourselves as happy as consists of a proton composed of a
may be, keep careful watch for more charge of positive electricity sur-
of those damnation red beads, and rounded by a nmnber of electrons, or
notify me immediately one of them negative charges, and the number of
reappears. Meantime I go to dinner these electrons determines the nature
and to consult a friend whose counsel of the atom. Radium itself, if left to
will assuredly show us a way out of itself,disintegrated into helium, final-
our troubles. Mademoiselle, Monsieur, ly into lead. Suppose, however, the
I wish you a very good evening.” process be reversed. Suppose the
Bending formally from the hips, he radioactive emanations of this Pi Yii
tinned on his heel and strode from which Monsieur Arkright thieved
the drawing-room. away from the lamas, so affect the
balance of protons and electrons of
‘
‘
1^0 YOU think there was anything metals brought close to it as to change
-I—' in that cock-and-bull story of their atoms from atoms of zinc, lead
Arkright’s?” I asked as we walked or iron to atoms of pure gold. All that
home through the clear, rain-washed would be needed to do it would be a
April evening. i-earrangement of protons and elec-
“Assuredly,” he responded with a trons. The hypothesis is simple and
nod. “It has altogether the ring of believable, though not to be easily ex-
truth, my friend. From what he tells plained. You see?”
us, the Pi Yu Stone which he and his “No, I don’t,” I confessed, “but
friend stole from the men of the I’m willing to take your word for it.
moiuitain is merely some little-known Meantime ”
form of radium, and what do we know “IMeantime we have the important
of radium, when all is said and done? matter of dinner to consider, ’ ’ he in-
Bnrbe d’un pou, nothing or less terrupted with a smile as we turned
“True, we know the terrific and in- into my front yard. “Pipe d’un
cessant discharge of etheric waves chamenu, I am hungry like a family
452 WEIRD TALES
of famished wolves with all this movements on the day before her death, and
learned talk.
’ ’ an arrest is promised within twenty-four
hours.

3 “U’m?” I remarked, laying down

“ '"T^ROWBRiDGE, moH vkux, they are the paper.
“U’m?” he mocked. “May the
at their devil’s work again devil’s choicest imps fly away with
have you seen the evening papers?” your ‘u’ms’. Friend Trowbridge.
de Grandin exclaimed as he burst into Come, get the ear; we must be off.”
the office several days later. “Off where?”
‘
‘
Eh —what ? ” I demanded, putting “Beard of a small blue pig, where,
aside the copy of Coi*win ’s monograph indeed, but to the spot where this so:
on Multiple Neuritis and staring at unfortunate girl’s dead corpse was
him. “Who are ‘they,’ and what have discovered? Delay not, we must uti-
‘they’ been up to?” lize what little light remaips
”!

“Who? Name of a little green man,

those devils, of the mountains, those
Tibetan priests, those seiwants of the
Pi Yii Stone!” he responded. “Pe-
T he bunker where poor Lillian Con-
over ’s broken body had been
found was a banked sand-trap in the
ruse le journal, if you please.” He golf course about twenty-five yards
thrust a copy of the afternoon paper from the highway. Throngs of mor-
into my hand, seated himself on the bidly curious sightseers had trampled
comer of the desk and regarded his the smoothly kept fairways all day,
brightly polished nails with an air of brazenly defying the “Private Prop-
deep solicitude. I read: —
erty No Trespassing” signs with
Gangland Suspected in Beauty’s Death which the links were posted.
Police beliere it was to put the seal of To my surprize, de Grandin showed
eternal silence on her rouged lips that little annoyance at the multitude oU
pretty Lillian Conover was “taken for a footprints about, but turned at once
ride” late last night or early this morning.
to the business of surv^eying the tei’-
The young woman’s body, terribly beaten
and almost denuded of clothing, was found rain. After half an hour’s crawling
lying in one of the bunkers of the Sedge- back and forth across the turf, he rose
moor Country Club’s golf course near the and dusted his trouser knees with a
Albemarle Pike shortly after 6 o’clock this satisfied sigh.
morning by an employee of the club. Prom
the fact that no blood was found near the
“Succes!” he exclaimed, raising
body, despite the terrible mauling it had his hand, thumb and * forefinger
received, police believe the young woman clasped together on something which
had been “put on the spot” somewhere else, reflected the last rays of the sinking
then brought to the deserted links and left
sun with an ominous red glow. “Be-
there by the slayers or their accomplices.
The Conover girl was icnomi to have been hold, mon ami, I have found it; it is
intimate with a number of questionable even as I suspected.”
characters, and had been arrested several Looking closely, I saw he held a red
times for shoplifting and petty thefts. Tt bead, about the size of a small hazel-
is thought she might have learned some-
thing of the secrets of a gang of bootleg- nut, the exact duplicate of the little
gers or hijackers and threatened to betray globule Haroldine Arkright had dis-
them to rival gangsters, necessitating her covered in her reticule.
silencing by the approved methods of gang- “Well?” I asked.
land.
The body, when found, was clothed in the *‘Barhe d’un Uevre, yes; it is very
remnants of a gray ensemble with a gray well, indeed, he assented with a
’
’

fox neck-piece and a silver mesh bag was vigorous nod. “I was certain I
still looped about one of her wrists. In the should find it here, but had I not, I
purse were four ten-dollar bills and some
silver, showing conclusively that robbery
should have been greatly worried. Let
was not the motive for the crime. us return, good friend; our quest is
’ ’
The authorities are checking up the girl’s done.
 THE DEVIL’S ROSARY 453

I knew better than to question him

‘
turned. If those lamas are powerful
‘

as Ave diwe slowly home, but my enough to seek their victims out in
ears were open wide for any chance France, England and this eountiy and
remark he might drop. However, he kill them, thei’e ’s not m\Ach chance for
vouchsafed no comment till we the Arkrights in flight, and it ’s hard-
reached home then he hurried to the
;
ly likely we’ll be able to argue them
study and put an urgent call through out of their determination to exact
to the Arkright mansion. Five minutes payment for the theft of their ”
later he joined me in the library, a “Zut!”h.e interrupted with a smile.
smile of satisfaction on his lips. “It “You do talk much but say little.
is as I thought,” he amioimced. Friend Trowbridge. Me, I think it
"‘Mademoiselle Haroldine went shop- highly probable Ave shall convince the
ping yesterday afternoon, and the un- fish-faced gentlemen from Tibet they
fortunate Conover girl picked her have more to gain by foregoing their
pocket in the store. Forty dollars was vengeance than by collecting their
stolen —
forty dollars and a red bead!” debt.”
“She told you this?” I asked. 4
“Why ”
“Non, non,” he shook his head.
“She did tell me of the forty dollars, H arrisonville’s ncAvest citizen had
delayed her debut Avith truly
feminine capriciousness, and my vigil
yes; the red bead’s loss I already
knew. Recall, my
friend, how was it at City Hospital had been long and
the poor dead one was dressed, ac- nerve-racking. Half an hour before I
cording to the paper?” had resorted to the Weigand-Martin
“Er ” method of ending the performance,
“ Precisement. Her costume was a and, shaking with nervous reaction,
took the red, wrinkled and astonish-
cheap copy, a caricature, if you please, ingly A'ocal morsel of humanity from
of the smart ensemble affected by
the nurse’s hands and laid it in its
Mademoiselle Haroldine. Poor crea-
mother’s arms; then, nearer exliaus-
ture, she plied her pitiful trade of
tion than I cared to admit, set out for
pocket-picMng once too often, re-
home and bed.
moved the contents of Haroldine ’s
purse, including the sign of vengeance A rivulet of light trickled under
which had been put there, le bon Dien the study door and the murmAir of
Imows how, and walked forth to her voices mingled Avith the acrid aroma
doom. Those who watched for a gray- of de Grandin ’s cigarette came to me
clad woman with the fatal red ball as I let myself in the front door. “Eh
bien, my friend,” the little French-
seized upon her and called down their
winds of destruction, even as they did man was asserting, “I damn realize
upon the camp of Monsieur Arkright that he who sups with the deAul must
in the mountains of Tibet long years have a long spoon; therefore I have
ago. Yes, it is undoubtlessly so.” requested your so invaluable advice.
‘
‘
Do you think they ’ll try again ? ’ ’
“Trowbridge, mon vieux,” his un-
I “They’ve already muffed
asked. cannily sharp ears recognized my
things twice, and ” tread as I stepped softly into the hall,
“And, as your proverb has it, the “may we trespass on your time a
third time is the charm,” he cut in. moment? It is of interest.”
“Yes, my friend, they will doubtlessly With a sigh of regret for lost my
try again, and again, until they have sleep I put my
obstetrical kit on a
worked their will, or been diverted. chair and pushed open the study door.
We must bend our energies toward Opposite de Grandin Avas seated a
the latter consummation.” figure Avhich might have been the
“But that ’s impossible ” I re- !
original of the queer little manikins
454 WEIRD TALES
with which Chinese ivory-carvers love blood in your protective experi-
to ornament their work. Hardly more
’ ’
ments.
tlian five feet tall, his girth was so “And the ashes?” de Grandin put
great that he seemed to overflow the in eagerly.
confines of the armchair in which he “Those I can procure for you by
lounged. His head, almost totally void noon tomorrow. Camphor w'ood is
of hair, was nearly globular in shape, something of a rarity here, but I can
and the smooth, hairless skin seemed obtain enough for your purpose, I am
stretched drum-tight over the fat with sure.
’ ’

which his skull was generously up- “Bon, tres bon!” the Frenchman
holstered. Cheeks plump to the point exclaimed delightedly. ‘
If those ‘

of puffiness almost forced his oblique ctunel-faces will but have the eon.sid-
eyes shut; yet, though his eyes could eration to wait our pi-eparations, I
scarcely be seen, it required no deep damn think we shall tender them the
intuition to know that they always party of surprize. Yes. Parblen, we
saw. Between his broad, flat nose and shall astonish them!”
a succession of chins was set incon-
gruously a small, sensitive mouth, Chortly after noon the following
full-lipped but mobile, and drooping day an asthmatic Ford deliverj'^
at the comers in a sort of perpetual wagon bearing the picture of a crow-
sad smile. ing cockerel and the legend
“Dr. Peng,” de Grandin intro-
P. GEASBO
duced, “this is my very good friend. Vendita di PoUame Vivi
Dr. Trowbridge. Trowbridge, my
on its weatherw'orn leatherette sides
friend, this is Dr. Peng Yuin-han,
drew up before the house, and an
whose wisdom is about to enable us to Italian youth in badly soiled coixiu-
foil the machinations of those wicked
roys and with a permanent expression
ones who threaten Mademoiselle Har- indicative of some secret sorrow
oldine. Proceed, if you please, cher climbed lugubriously from the driver’s
ami,” he motioned the fat little China- seat, took a covered two-gallon can,
man to continue the remark he had obviously originally intended as a con-
cut short to acknowledge ihe intro- tamer for Quick’s Grade A Lard,
duction. from the interior of the vehicle and
“It is rather difficult to explain,” advanced toward the front porch.
the visitor returned in a soft, unac- “Doeta de Grandin ’ere?” he de-
cented voice, “but if we stop to re- manded as Nora McGinnis, my house-
member that tlie bird stands midway hold factotum, answered his ring.
between the reptile and the mammal “No, he ain’t,” the uidignant Nora
we may perhaps understand why it is informed him, “an’ if he wuz, ’tis at
that the cock’s blood is most accept- th’ back door th likes o you should be
’ ’

able to those elemental forces which inquirin’ fer ’im!”

my unfortunate superstitious coun- The descendant of the Caesars was
trymen seek to propitiate in their in no mood for argument. “You taka
temples. These malignant influences dissa bucket an’ tella heem I breeng
were undoubtedly potent in the days —
it Pete Grasso, ” he returned, thrust-
we refer to as the age of reptiles, and ing the lard tin into the scandalized
it may be the cock’s lineal descent housekeeper ’s hands. You tella heem
‘
‘

from the pterodactyl gives his blood I sella da han, I sella da roosta, too,
the quality of possessing certain an’ I keela heem w’an my customers
emanations soothing to the tempest ask for it but I no lika for .sella da
;

spirits. In any event, I think you blood. No, sa7itissimo Dio, not me!
would be well advised to employ such
,
(Continued on page 567)
 TheWerld-WrecKer
ll^eri Eadie

“Everything seemed to spin around in a roaring chaos.”

rr^ERRY HINTON woke with a Terry yawned audibly. “In that

I start as the telephone at his case I wish you’d chosen a more con-
-fi- bedside rang long and noisily, venient time. Is this some obscure
and the first words that he addressed joke that you’re trying to crack?”
to the offending instrument bore not “Heaven forbid!” was McBlair ’s
the slightest resemblance to a morning pious denial. “No, laddie, I’m ciuite
prayer. Having spent a very strenu- serious. When the advertisement
ous night in first witnessing and manager opened his morning mail he
afterward reporting a big East End found among it a long notice sent for
fire, he felt a very natural irritation insertion at the usual rates. This was
at this inteiTuption of his well-earnt to the effect that if the inhabitants of
slumbers. Jerking off the receiver, he the earth did not consent to accept
recognized the voice of McBlair, news certain drastic changes which the
editor of the well-known daily paper writer thought desirable, their globe
on whose behalf his labors had been was going to be rendered uninhabit-
’ ’
expended. able.
“I’ve rung up to report the ap- “Hoax,” interjected Terry im-
proaching end of the world,” an- patiently.
nounced that worthy. “There were twenty five-pound
455
456 WEIRD TALES
notes enclosed,” returned the Scots- gained thereby proved of no little
man dryly. “Rather a lot to pay for service in the profession in which he
a joke, eh?” now foixnd himself. A hitherto un-
“Madman,” was Terry’s next sug- suspected “nose for news,” together
gestion. with a knack of i)resenting the ac-
‘
‘
If so, then he ’s the most scientific quired information in an eminently
one I ’ve struck yet. ’ ’ readable form, had raised him, at the
“Who is he, anyway?” age of twenty-seven, from a tentative
“That’s just what we’d like to free-lance to a full-blown reporter.
know. The covering letter bore Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular,
neither address nor signature, while his figure was that of one who could
—
the manifesto for that’s what the enjoy to the full the thrill of a well-
advertisement amounts to was also— contested rugger match or the friend-
unsigned. The chief thinks there’s ly rivalry of the running-track. A
something serious behind his blather stickler for classical regularity might
but he wants to get the most author- have hesitated to call him handsome;
itative opinion on the subject before yet there was a pleasing look on his
he decides whether to publish or not. clean-cut features, and his steady
That’s why I’ve spoilt your beauty gray eyes held an expression that
sleep.” seemed to indicate that the brain be-
“Well, I don’t think my opinion hind them was both keen to observe
would carry much weight Ter-’
’
and quick to act.
ry began modestly.
“I wasn’t asking for it,” cut in N SPITE of its name, Tudor Towers
McBlair. “The man whose opinion I was far from being an ancient
we’j-e hankering after is Professor structure, having been erected less
'Amos Merrivale, LL. D., F. R. S., and than thirty years since by a soap-
a few other letters that I ’ve forgotten boiler who had retired from business
for the minute. He’s the foremost with unlimited wealth and a taste for
authority on cosmical .statics, and he sham antiques. But the stuccoed
happens to live in yoixr neighborhood walls looked quite as gloomily de-
— Tudor Towers, Blackhcath. Inter- pressing as the genuine article as
view him, and get his opinion of the Terry, passing beneath the portcullis
soundness or otherwise of the scien- of the frowning outer gate, made his
tific proposition I’m about to dictate way to the main entrance and rang
’ ’
to you. the bell.
For the next five minutes Terry’s “Kindly step this way, sir,” said
pencil flew rapidly over his notebook the liveried man-servant, receiving
as he took down the string of woi'ds Terry’s card on a silver salver and
which came across the wire. It was ushering him into a small room hung
xvith a sigh of heart-felt relief that he with tapestry and lighted by narrow,
at last hung up the receiver; then, slitlike windows. The change from
having washed, shaved and break- the bright sunlight to the half-dark-
fasted in record time, he set out upon ness of the room had been so abrupt
his quest. that for a moment Terry’s dazzled
Terry Hinton had entered the eyes could not discern if the room
realms of journalism by a devious was tenanted or not.
route which had embraced in turn “A gentleman to see Professor
university lecture-rooms, army dug- said the man in a mourn-
’
Merrivale, ’

outs, and the stages of provincial ful tone; then withdrew and closed
theaters. Although no startling suc- the door.
cess had marked his journey to the There was a slight rustling move-
“Street of Ink,” the experience ment, and a girl came forward into
 THE WOELD-WKECKER 457

the shaft of sunligfit which streamed boots and pre-war frocks,” she re-
through the nearest window. Terry turned, Avith a laughing shrug. “And
restrained his start of surprize with noAA% if you please, we A\ ill get dowui
difficulty. So perfeetlj' modeled was to business.”
her face that, as she sat in the shadow, Terry obediently produced his note-
he had thought it to he the creation book and handed her the text of Mc-
of the artist-craftsman who had woven Blair’s telephoned message. Watch-
that Old World tapestry, rather than ing her as she read, he thought he
a girl of flesh and blood. could see an eA^er-groAving surprize
“Professor Merrivale is unable to reflected in her features.
receive you at present,” she said, ‘
‘
This is certainly an extraoi’dinary
glancing at the card on the table. “I document, ’ she said, raising her eyes
’

am his private secretary. Can I be to his.

‘
‘
But the undei’lying principle
’ ’
of any service to you ? is quite sound. It is quite possible
Terry hesitated, then shook his for the writer to cany out his
head. threat, provided that he is not mis-
“I’mafraid not, miss. I wished taken in his interpretation of the
to consult the professor about a mat- Prauenhofer lines AAdiich are to be
ter that is — —
er rather complicated found in the spectra of all heaA'enly
— —
and er abstruse ’ ’
bodies. I presume that you ai’e ac-
“And consequently quite beyond quainted Avith the broad outlines of
my poor understanding ^is that what — spectrum analysis? The light from
you were going to say?” —
any shining object in this case it is
Terry Avas beginning to find that that given out by the tail of a comet
the blue eyes \Affiich had looked so de- is aJloAved to pass through a prism,
mure could, on occasion, be very pen- AA'hich, of course, splits it up into a
etrating. He felt himself turning red series of blended colors exactly re-
beneath their steady gaze. sembling a rainboAV'. There are usual-
“If that is what is holding you ly several black bars crossing this
back, Mr. Hinton, you may go ahead many-colored band, and long and
right now,” she went on. “It may patient experimenting has enabled us
set your mind at ease to know that I to tell by these the actual chemical
took science honors at Cambridge, and components of the particular star to
that since then I have constantly AAdiich the telescope is pointed. All
assisted the professor in his observa- this, of course, is quite elementary
tions and calculations. If your in- and may be found in any text-book.
quiry has to do with sidereal phenom- But there are certain lines and com-
ena, I may be able to assist you.” binations of lines AA'hieh represent el-
“Is that so?” smiled Terry. “I ements not present on our earth. I
must really apologize for my mistake. may instance the well-known case of
I had no idea that I was talking to helium, which was observed to be
—
an astronomeress if that’s the cor- present in the sun long before it was
rect term to use. You see, you looked identified as a terrestrial element in
1895 The spectra of some comets
.

“So stupid?” she suggested help- have so far defied exact analysis.
fully. Carbon, combined Avith hydrogen
“Of course not!” he denied in- sodium, magnesium, iron and nitro-
dignantly. “No, you looked so” he
‘ ’
— gen haA'c been recognized, all in an
was about to say pretty, but he had but
‘

the readiness to change it to “so

’

— incandescent state, naturally

there are other elements which we
;

unlike what I’ve always imagined a haA’e, so far, failed to find on the
lady profes.sor to look.” earth. It is these unkno\ra chemicals
“Oh, we don’t all wear elastic-sided that the AV'riter claims to have dis-
 :

458 WEIRD TALES

covered. If his claim is well founded, his shoulder,and made for the door.
it is quite within his power to put his Six strides
had served to take him
—
threat grotesque though it may seem
at first sight —
into execution. And
down the passage as he had rushed
to the rescue, but now the way
that will mean
” seemed endless to his stumbling feet.
“Yes?” prompted Terry Hinton, Breathe he dared not, though his
as her voice died away. lungs were bursting with the strain.
“The annihilation of every living
His streaming eyes sought in vain, to
thing on the earth!” pierce the whirling mist that encom-
passed him. Supporting himself, and
Scarcely had the words quitted her
guiding his footsteps by the wall, he
lips before the dull thud of an ex-
staggered onward.
plosion came from some distant part
of the house. The girl started to her Surely he had not come all this
feet.
distance? Could he have missed his
way ? Even as the thought chilled his
“The laboratory!” she spoke quiet-
heart the voice of the girl came from
ly, though with a whitening face.
ahead, and never did music fall more
“There has been an accident.”
sweetl5" on Terry’s ears.
She made for the door, but Terry “This way, Mr. Hinton. Straight
was there before her. forward. A few more steps
”
“Where is it?” he rapped out. Terry was conscious of a biirst of
“Let me go.” sunlight and a draft of air which
“You’d never find it in time,” she seemed like nectar to his famished
said,shaking her head. lungs. Swaying like a drunken man,
As he tore open the door he was he lowered the inert body from his
aware of a strange, pungent reek, shoulder and saw with satisfaction
which grew stronger as he dashed at that it still breathed. Then every-
her heels down a long passage which thing seemed to spin round in a roar-
led to the rear of the house. A
short ing chaos, out of which, far off but
flight of stone steps he took at a clear, there sounded a voice which
jump, and here the gas was almost said
overpowering. Terry decided that “Drink this.”
the time had come for him to assert \Vhat it was that he swallowed
himself. Terry had not the faintest idea. But
“Stay where you are,” he ordei’ed. no sooner had it passed his lips than
“Where the laboratory? Quick!”
is he felt his brain becoming clearer.
“Third door —
right,” she managed He opened his eyes to find the gitl
to gasp before she sank, half fainting, bending over him, her eyes wide with
on the steps. _ anxiety and her breath coming fast
between her parted lips.

A STREAM of evil-smelling vapor

rushed out as Terry dashed open
“Thanks,” he
to his feet.
said, rising slowly

the door indicated, but, mindful of his “It is I who ought

thank you for
to
war-time experiences in France, he so gravely risking your life to save
was already holding his breath. Ljung that of my employer,” she answered
face do'wnward amid the fragments with some little warmth.
of a shattered retort was the figure of Terry Hinton looked down at the
a man clad in a long white overall. professor, into whose sallow face a
Pausing only to hurl a stool through tinge of color was returning.
the large window at the farther end “Whew! it must be pretty violent
of the laboratory, Terry snatched up gas to bowl one over like that. I
the unconscious form, thi>ew it across scarcely breathed the stuff, and yet it
 THE WORLD-WRECKER 459

nearly got me down. What gas is letter is unknovn no longer) and the
it?” earth, freed from the restraining
The eyes which had hitherto looked force which has held it in its place
straight into his own now suddenly since the beginning of time, will float
”
sought the ground. off
’
‘
I have not the slightest idea,
‘
she ’
“Like a captive balloon when the
answered, and Terry, with a start of
’
cable snaps ? ’ suggested Terry.
wonder, sensed a sudden coldness in ‘
Quite so.
‘
’
There was no answer-
’

her voice. ing smile on her face at his elemen-

It w'as only after the professor had tary simile. “Only, unlike the cap-
been assisted to his room by the foot- tive baboon, the earth would never
men that Terry remembered the mis- retura.”
sion which had brought him to the Teriy, writing up his “copy” as
house. He waited long enough for the the train whirled him Londonward,
girl to recover from her fright; then
made his way indoors and resumed
mentall>' decided that statics as ex- —
pounded b3^ the pretty lips of Alma
the conversation at the point w'here
it had been so sensationally inter-
—
Wexford was one of the most fas-
cinating things he had ever struck.
rupted.
“So thing is quite feasible,
the A LTHOUGH the uulcnown correspond-
then?” he tapping his notebook.
said, ent had prepaid his adverti.sement
“Quite. You
see the whole thing to the extent of £100, he must have
hangs on Newton’s First Law of Mo- admitted that he received his full
tion. I presume you Imow what that mone.r’s-worth of publicity. When
is?” the numerous readers of the Daily
“I’ve forgotten,” said Terry un- Wire opened their papers the follow-
blushingly. ing morning they were confronted
“It reads: ‘Every body continues with a s})lash of huge black t3'pe
in its state of rest or of uniform mo- which positivel3' shrieked its mes-
tion in a straight line, except in so far sage:
as it ma3" be compelled bj' force to THE WO RLD I N PERIL!
change that state. ’ Now the earth, as
you know, does not travel in a straight TliKEAT TO THE WHOLE HU3IAN RACE
line; the attraction of the sun bends
SELF-ELECTED DICTATOB SAYS V'E MUST
its eoui-se into a nearij’ circular orbit.
OBEY OR I’ERISH. WILL THE GOVEKST-
Abolish that force, or overcome or MEXT SUBMIT’
neutralize it ever so little, and the
earth will travel oif at a tangent into Yesterday our advertising department re-
space.
’ ’ ceived a notice for publication in our
columns that ivas so grotesque that it was
“But alwa.vs undei-stood that
I at first set down to be the production of
everything in the universe was sub- some unfortunate maniac. Further study of
the document, together with a consultation
ject to the sun’s gravitations!” pro-
with one of our leading scientists, has con-
tested Terr3^ —
vinced us that ^bizarre though the state-
“W’ith one exception, Mr. Hinton,” —
ment seems there is a possibility of the
she corrected gravely. “The tail of a threat being put into operation. Whether
the results would be as dire as the writer
comet always points away from the
assumes, it is not our intention to discuss
sun; in other words, the unknown el- at present; but there appears to be no
ements of which it is composed pos- grounds for doubting tliat the writer is in
sess the propert3" of being repelled by deadly earnest, and, unless his identity is
promptly discovered and he himself placed
it, instead of attracted. Once let under restraint, null probably succeed in
loose a cloud of this unkno^vn gas inflicting a catastrophe which must result
(which according to the writer of this in considerable loss of life.
460 WEIRD TALES
Below we give the full text of this un- that can not be converted into cargo-carry-
precedented demand: ing vessels shall be sunk.

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE

—
4 That I shall be acknowledged as
AUTOCEAT OF THE HUMAN EACE, and
PLANET EAKTH as such MY
orders shall meet with un-
HEEEBY TAKE NOTICE, that from this questioning obedience.
day a new Autocracy of the World is in- WHEEEIN FAIL NOT AT YOUE PEEIL!
augurated. Henceforward the supreme
Lawgiver and Euler will be JIYSELF. I It is impossible to describe ade-
hereby abolish all existing Kings, Emper- quately the sensation produced by the
ors, Potentates, Presidents, Senates and publication of this outrageous proc-
Parliaments, investing MYSELF with their
lamation. As a journalistic scoop it
powers and authorities.
surpassed all expectation. Before 9
ALSO TAKE NOTICE, that it is not a
vain desire for power or self-aggrandize- o'clock every available copy of the
ment that has called upon me to take this Wire had been sold, and after that
step, blit a sincere desire for the happiness, they were snapped up as fast as the
well-being and prosperity of the human
roaring presses could disgorge them.
race. Tyranny, oppression, poverty and war
shall cease; the hungry and the homeless By 10, a posse of mounted police was
shall be so no longer; all shall partake detailed to keep back the crowd which
equally of the fruits of the earth. had gathered before the editorial
AND FUETHEE TAKE NOTICE, that office, while another squad marshaled
if, in their blindness and self-conceit, the
the string of lorries which were being
present Eulers of the various Nations shall
refuse to abdicate and recognize MYSELF loaded direct from the machine room
as Supreme Euler, I will mark MY
dis- to cope with the demands from the
pleasure by plunging this planet. Earth, provinces.
into a desolation complete and final.
The noon editions contained the
THAT IS TO SAY, that if, by the first
news that a meeting of the cabinet
day of the coming month my orders, as set
forth below, are not carried out, the Earth was being held, and the additional
will begin to move from its orbit, away fact that the astronomer royal had
from the Sun. That it is possible for me been summoned to the conclave was
to accomplish this is proved by the data
which is already in the hands of the Editor thought worthy of a special edition
of this Journal. Divested of all scientific soon afterward. Their proceedings
terms, it amounts to tliis: were, of course, secret, but their drift
By discovering and separating an element may be gathered when it is stated
which has hitherto been known only by its that, immediately the meeting rose,
occurrence in the spectra of the tails of
various comets, I have evolved a gas, color- the jpremier was observed to emerge
less, tasteless and imperceptible, which from Downing Street, cross Whitehall
possesses the property of overcoming gravi- and enter the precincts of New Scot-
tation. By releasing this gas while the land Yard.
Earth is at its aphelion (its farthest dis-
tance from the sun, and a point where it
His business there was quickly
is at its smallest velocity) I will sever the transacted.
connecting link, as it were, allowing our “Find the man who started all
globe to travel off into interplanetary this,
’
he said to the
’
first commission-
space, where, deprived of the light and heat
of the central luminary, all life on its sur-
er,“and put him under lock and key
face will cease. before the country goes mad.”
FINALLY TAKE NOTICE, that these MY That night the denizens of Lon-
orders are to be carried out without delay: don’s underworld found themselves
1 All earthly authority shall cease from and their doings invested with a
this day, save only that of MYSELF.
strange and unusual immunity. That
2 That all paper currency, together
with all bonds, securities, certificates and terror of evildoers, the Flying Squad,
all documents relating to same, shall be de- were flying at bigger game than they.
stroyed. All gold and silver, whether
coined or uncoined, shall be sunk in the
deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.
3 All arms, ammunition, naval and mili-
tary stores shall be destroyed; all warships
T
tion
he remainder of the week passed
without any further communica-
from the mystei'ious being who
 THE WORLD-WRECKER 461

aspired to control the destinies of his adjusted. The tendency of the spin-
fellow-men for which fact Terry
;
ning globe to move off in a straight
Hinton was not ungrateful. By some line is counterbalanced by the pull
obscure process of reasoning, the exercised by the sun; while the tend-
editor-in-chief had come to regard ency for it to fall into the sun is in
Terry as being the only member of turn neutralized by the velocity with
the staff capable of doing justice to which the earth is endowed. So finely
the theme which still continued to be are the various forces i>oised against
the Wire’s leading feature, and each other, that a mere straw com- —
numerous indeed had been the clues paratively speaking —
would be suffi-
and rumors of clues that he had been cient to upset the balance. But wc
called upon to investigate. Heartily have become so used to the stability of
glad was he to hand in his last sheaf our Mother Earth that it is hard for
of copy on Friday night, with the the lay mind to realize its extreme
comforting Imowledge that he had the precariousness. Had they sentient
following day free in which to carry minds, the tiny insects which live
out his cherished intention of paying upon the bark of an aged oak-tree
another visit to Tudor Towers. might as well argue that their habi-
An anxiety to know if Professor tation,having remained unchanged
Merrivale had recovered from his acci- through countless generations of their
dent would, he decided, be a quite brief lives, is therefore of eternal
plausible excuse; but he did not at- permanence. But one day there comes
tempt to disguise from himself the a woodman with his ax, and the oak
fact that it was a desire to renew his crashes to the ground, m\ich to the
acquaintance with the pretty secre- surprize of its insect philosophers. So
’ ’

tary that lay at the bottom of his con- it is likely 'to be -wdth us.

cern about the old scientist ’s health. Terry Hinton nodded absently. A
He found Merrivale in his study, scientiffe lecture from the dry old
poring over a paper on which was a professor did not sound nearlj' so
chaotic jumble of algebraical signs interesting as the one which Alma
and figui’es. Wexford liad delivered for his sole
“Yes, I’m quite fit again, thanks,” benefit. He had glanced eagerly
he said in answer to Terry’s inquiiy. round the study when he had entered,
“But was touch-and-go that time,
it and had been conscious of a feeling of
and no mistake. If you had delayed disappointment when he had failed to
your plucky rush for another couple see her.
of m.inutes I should have becir far be- “I trust Miss Wexford is quite re-
yond such petty questions as the covered?” He tried to make his tone
probable fate of our earth.” And he sound casual as he asked the question,
made a motion of his hand toward his but Merrivale shot a keen glance at
calculations. him all the same.
‘
So you take the threat seriously ? ’ ’
‘

Terry asked.
—
“Oh, quite quite,” he assured
him. “She is at present engaged in
‘
‘
Most decidedly Considering
I do. developing some photograiffis which I
the gigantic strides which science has
made during the last few years, it is
took last night —
quite a lot of our*
work is done -with the camera, you
only fools who scoff at its future possi- loiow. Ah, here she is.
’ ’

bilities. -would-be autocrat

If this Alma Wexford entered the room
had indeed solved the mystery of the briskly, but as her eyes fell iq)on the
Frauenhofer lines, it is quite pos- young reporter she seemed to paiise a
sible that he may carry out his threat. moment in her steps. She was dressed
You must understand that the move- in a businesslike white overall and
ments of the earth ai’e very delicately carried a rack containing several
462 WEIRD TALES
photographic negatives: It may have “I was not aware that it had one.”
been because of the contrast of the ‘
Weren ’t you ? Merrivale favored
‘
’
’

white linen, or beeaiise of the close him with a keen glance. “Well, you
atmosphere in which she had been can take it from me that it has. Of
working, or it may have been some course, as a scientist my interest in
other emotion, but it certainly seemed political matters is merely academic
as if there was an unusually high I survey the mass of kumanity which
color in her cheeks as she came for- constitutes the so-called civilized na-
ward and shook hands. tions of the earth with that same dis-
“I thought I’d come round and see passionate curiosity with which an
you once again before we were all entomologist obsei*ves the activities of
snuffed out,” Terry explained with a nest of ants or a hive of bees. He
an attempt at jocularity. notes their tendencies without trying
"That was certainly good of you, to share their emotions if they —
Mr. Hinton,” she answered, with a possess such.”
gravity that was somewhat spoilt by During this frankly egoistic avowal
her laughing eyes. Terry had taken a good look at the
“You see, I wanted my last earthly face of the old scientist. It was that
impression to be a pleasant one,” he of a man well over fifty years of age.
went on to explain. Clean-sliaven, thin, ascetic-looking, it
“So you thought you’d fill in your would have served, had it been
last horn’swith another scientific lec- crowned witli a miter or a cope, as a
ture?” she countered. “I did not model for some saintly prelate. And
know that you were such a devotee.” yet, as Terry continued to look, there
“Oh, but I am!” he cried fervent- gradually dawned on him the con-
ly, and meant every word that he said. sciousness of something hard, relent-
But he was not thinking of science less, beneath that placid exterior.
when he spoke. And into the mild eyes there would
Merrivale had finished examining occasionally flash a look so cold, in-
the plates and now sauntered across to exorable and fierce, that the watcher
where the twm were talking by the was irresistibly reminded of a keen-
window. pointed dagger being drawn momen-
“You newspapemen generally tarilyfrom its velvet sheath.
know a more than you put into
lot “But I do not think there can be
print,” he began by saying. “Now, the slightest doubt that a political
what’s yoiir candid opinion of the crisis is approaching,” Merrivale was
situation, Mr. Hinton?” Unless the government sub-
‘
saying. '

Terry hesitated. It is true that, as mits to the demands of this what

— —
a reporter, he was to a certain extent does he call himself? ^this Autocrat
“in the ^ow-” about many things of the Human Race
”
which the general public would be “They will not do that,” Terry
much astonished to learn. But such interposed quickly.
things were not to be dismissed with “Then they may have the decision
a stranger, even though he were the taken out of their hands by the mob.
(ynployer of a girl whom Terry was Pear is still a vei*y potent factor in
beginning to regard as being the most the human mind, Mr. Hinton. We
desirable in the whole world. have, I admit, progressed a long way
“Well, there are so many aspects down that path ivhich separates us
of the situation,” he temporized, from our arboreal ancestors, but we
“that one can hardly sum them up in have not yet shed our respect for that
a few words.” instinct of self-preservation which,
“I was alluding to its political as- after all, is the first law of nature.”
pect,
’
’
explained the other. “You think that fear will induce
 THE WORLD-WEECKEE 463

the world to place its neck beneath as he watched Terry’s stalwai’t figure
the heel of this newly risen scientific go striding down the graveled drive.
slaughterer?” There was a flush of
anger on the young man’s face as he T WAS an evening exactly two weeks
asked the question. I after the Wire had launched its
“Tut, tut,” remonstrated the pro- literary bombshell, and the dance-
fessor, holding up his hands. “We supper at the Blitz Hotel was in full
must not allow our primitive instincts swing. If a casual observer had hap-
to get the better of the scientific calm pened to notice the two elderly gen-
with which every question should be tlemen who occupied a table set a
discussed. —
This man whoever he little apart from the rest, he would
may be—does not desire the annihila- probably have assumed that they were
tion of the world, but its subjection. two bachelor clubmen of convivial
And if he should turn this world into tastes, out for an evening’s amuse-
a frozen globe spinning in the outer ment. As a matter of fact, one was
—
realms of space what then? Are Sir Edmund Brailsford, secretary of
Home Department, and
there not other dead and lifeless state for the
worlds in the universe ?
’ ’
the other was the editor-in-chief of
Terrj^ rose to his feet a trifle ab- the Daily Wire, and the matter which
ruptly. they appeared to discuss so off-hand-
edly was one which deeply concerned
“I’m afraid your finely spun dog-
the destiny of the whole w'orld.
mas are too elusive for me to grasp,
Professor. To my
unscientific mind “You really should not have pub-
murder is still murder, even when it’s
lished without giving us a hint before-
committed on a wholesale scale; and hand,” Sir Edmund was saying.
there’s still enough of the brute left “But, the mischief being done, I as-
in me to make me desire to defend sume that you’re willing to do your
to mitigate it ?
”
my life with such intelligence and best
strength as I possess. I tell you Under ordinary circumstances the
frankly that if I could get my hands editor would rather have perished at
on the man whose misplaced genius the stake than renounce the freedom
is threatening this old world of of the press. But the home secretary
ours ” was an old schoolfellow, and was,
moreover, a statesman who would
“Yes?” said Merrivale softly, re-
have quite a lot of fingers in the next
garding him with inscrutable eyes.
birthday-honor pie.
“I’d kill him with as little com- “Of dear Sir Ed-
course, my
punction as I would a mad dog !
’ ’

mund,” he hastened to murmur.

A mocking smile twisted the old “We’ll do anything in reason any- —
man’s withered lips. thing.
’ ’

“But if this mysterious person “Oh, do not want you to eat

I
were a young and beautiful woman, your words, ’
returned the other,
’

with smooth, soft arms that could smiling. “I just want you to begin
embrace, and warm red lips that to throw out hints that the threat is
could be kissed? What if she loved
you and was by you beloved? Would
—
merely bluif political bluff.”
“I understand,” nodded the editor.
you kill her?” “You want to reassure the public.”
—
“In that ease” Terry’s set mouth
— Sir Edmund ’s smile deepened as he
relaxed in a sudden grin “I’d see if made a little gesture toward the
I couldn’t give her something better laughing, care-free throng which
to think about than depopulating the crowded the floor. “They don’t look
world. Good morning.” as though they need much reassuring,
Professor Merrivale chuckled softly do they?”
464 WEIED TALES
The band struck into the latest had known you were neglecting your
’ ’
dance-craze as he spoke, and for a duties.
time the two watched the stream of “Glad you didn’t, for I should
well-groomed men and daintily have come all the same. I want to see
dressed women pass before the gilded all Ican of you before the zero hour
columns of the alcove in which they Life is liable to be short these days,
were seated. Sir Edmund noticed you know. ’ ’

particularly a tall young fellow danc-

She looked at him in mild surprize.
ing with a very pretty girl, and as “Yon think there is real danger,
they swayed past, with perfectly then ? ”
matched steps, he called the attention
of his companion to them.
“You yourself thought so a few
days since,” he countered. “If I re-
“Look at those two, for instance. member rightly, it was your argu-
Do they appear to be worrying their ments that convinced me of its
young heads about what’s going to reality.
’ ’

happen when the zero hour strikes?

Not a bit of it All they think of is
She lifted her shoulders in a tiny
!
‘
shrug. I ’ve had time to think since
‘

life and love, tlie same as we did

then, and the more I have thought the
when we were their ages. Why, I’ll
wager that they ’ve forgotten all about more fantastic it all seems. Why
’ ’ should anyone wish to be master of
that proclamation by now. ’ ’
the world ?
“You’d lose your money. Sir Ed-
mund,” replied the editor dryly. “I don’t know; it’s a job I don’t
“That happens to be Terry Hinton, hanker after myself, anyway. But
others have thought differently. Look
one of our livest reporters, and the
at Napoleon, Hannibal, Alexander
girl he’s dancing with is the private
’ ’ they decimated the world in their lust
secretaiy to Professor Merrivale.
for power. It’s like morphia or —
money. The more they get the more
'"P'erby had his runabout i)arked
they want. Talking about hard cash,”
near, and when the Blitz had dis-
he went on, ])ressing his foot on the
gorged its merry crowd, he and Alma
accelerator as they entered a straight
Wexford set out on their way back to
stretch of deserted suburban road,
Blacldieath.
“that self-elected Autocrat must be
The night was warm and cloudless, pretty well off. I was talking to a
with a great amber moon riding low in man I Imew at college, who’s now a
the heavens. As the car purred its kind of heavenly look-out man at the
way across Waterloo Bridge, Terry Royal Observatory, and he assured
pointed to the light which burned on me that it would need no end of ex-
the summit of the distant clock-tower pensive apparatus to get the data con-
on their right. tained in that letter which was sent
“The House sitting late,” he re-
is us. By the way, he added casually,
’
’

marked. “There’s an important de- “Professor Merrivale has rather a

—
bate on tonight some of the back swell outfit, hasn’t he?”
benches are talking about knuckling “Ours is one of the finest private
under to the phantom Autocrat, so the observatories in Europe. There was ’
’

rumor goes. By rights I should now something like pride in her voice as
be up in the press gallery, scribbling she answered.
’ ’
for dear life. ‘
Photographic spectroscopes, and
‘

He turned to meet a pair of re- all that?”

proachful eyes. “Of course. He’s had one of the
“You gave up h big debate to take high turrets roofed over and fitted
me out?” she cried. “Oh, I wish I (Continued on page 575)
 HJavKham

“The hangman tugged on his legs with

fiendish energy.”

oyez, oyez! Let all why judgment of death should not

0 I manner of persons keep si- be passed upon you, according to
’ ’
Icnee while judgment of laAV ?

death is passing upon the prisoner In the silence that followed row
at the bar upon pain of imprison- upon row of pale faces and question-
ment — God save the King ” ! ing eyes were turned upon the good-
A tense shudder of anticipation looking young highwayman. At last
ran round the court of the Old he spoke.
Bailey, the one person utterly un- “I’ faith, my Lord,” he replied,
moved besides the usher and the jauntily, “I don’t think I’ll be
judge being the young man who troubling ye with any remarks on
stood erect in the herb-strewn dock. that score. xVll the world knows I’m
“James Barnaby O’Dale,” the a master at my profession. Faith,
voice of the old judge came thin but wasn’t it I held up Seven String Ned
clear through the thick atmosphere him.self the night after he stopped
of the court, “have you aught to say Davy Garrick’s coach and stripped
466 WEIRD TALES
the .iolly plaj^er down
very to his The little inkeeper of Kensington
shoe-buckles? Nay, my Lord, you’ll had much on which to congratulate
swing me whatever I say and so I’ll himself. He had not only cleared a
make no argument against it; but determined rival out of his path but,
there ’s three favors I ’d be asking in doing so, liad also paved the way
with your kind permission.” surely toward winning over the sub-
His Lordship nodded gravely, and ject of their rivalry.
people edged closer to hear what the
condemned man would say.
—
Poor Barbara Challis pretty Bar-
bara Challis! Her intei’view with
“First, then,” young O’Dale began, Jim O’Dale in the condemned hole
“I ask for a reasonabl}’’ sober hang- would be her last sight of him soon
;

man who’ll know his business; second- she would be out of mourning and
ly, for speech w'ith a certain wench ready to listen to the generous
Avho may ask to see me when I’m friend who had paid for such legal
taken back to the cells; and, thirdly” advice as the custom of the time
— his eyes roved mischievously round
— allowed. That had been a master
stroke, Jacob told himself between
the court “that my old friend
Jacob Larkyn do come and see me sips of his wine it had looked posi-
;

turned off. I believe he’s in court. tively Christian and had yet been
Jacob, you put up the money for so absolutely safe. The lawyer’s fee
that poor devil of a lawyer who had been well within his means and
never had a dog’s chance to keep my the evidence agaimst O ’Dale so
windpipe out of the halter and I — damning that the entire four inns of
thank you for that and other — court mustered on his side could not
have saved him from the rope. Yes,
things. See ye again at Tyburn,
Jacob !” it had been a princely inspiration!

The judge’s clerk had already in- None would now suspect that Jacob
vested his master with the black cap Larkyn, proven friend of the ac-
and the lips of the ordinary were cused, had been the one to peach on
framing their “Amen.” him and guide the Bow Street run-
“You shall be taken back to the ners by night to the bedroom where
prison from whence you came,” he lay sleeping the sleep of a man
quavered the tired old voice, “and who believed himself safe in friendly
from there to a place of public exe- hands. No, not even if O’Dale sus-
cution ... by the neck till your body pected —
and Jacob half believed he
be dead; and may God have mercy —
had done so and voiced his sus-
on your soul !
’ ’ picions to Barbara would there be
The parson said his Amen ‘
Jim ‘
’
’ the least atom of proof against the
;

O’Dale bowed ironically to him, and friend who had betrayed him while
then to the bench, and turned as a purporting to be the Good Samai’itan
warder touched him meaningly on of his uttermost need
the shoulder.

J
ACOB LARKYN had been in court
and had certainly every inten-
T here was no court of criminal
appeal in the days of King
George III and executions took place
tion of seeing the execution. It Avould as soon after the trial as the neces-
have been unlike Jacob to deny him- sary arrangements could be made.
self that crowning pleasure. By between 4 and 5 in the morning
He strolled meditatively down Jacob was in his place, close to the
Fleet street and turned into the old scaffold, and by 6 o’clock he was
Cock Tavern, where he sank into a hemmed in by as villainous a mob as
dark corner to ruminate his triumph ever offended eye, ear and nose at
over a bottle of tawny port. once. They beguiled the time with
 IN A DEAD MAN’S SHOES 467

drink and obscene songs, with fight- ent in a scarlet coat, lace niffles,
ing and filching; but their doings white silk breeches and stockings,
were lost on the ugly, undci’sized and highly polished shoes with
man in the drab coat who stood mo- bxieklcs of curiously wrought gold.
tionless through the hours before the The ordinary got down as the cart
great black framework whereon the was drawn under the noose, and
handsome form of Jhn O’Dale was some semblance of a hush was made
soon to swing. in the crowd, expectant of the thrill
At last, to an accompaniment of of a dying speech.
coarse cheering, the black cart was O’Dale bowed gallantly to some
seen pushing its way through the ladies in a window opposite, then
crowd, occupied only by the driver, north, south, east and Avest. They
the clergyman and the condemned. did not hurry over a hanging in
Jacob tiptoed and licked his lips. those days. The executioner waited
It would soon be over now. Soon patiently for him, rope in hand.
he would be free to start, unimpeded, “Good people!” began the high-
on a clear course toward marriage wayman, pitching his voice clearly.
with pretty Barbara Challis! “I’m sorry to cheat ye of a speech;
O’Dale was sitting upright, a rose but ’faith, barkers and rapier come
in his mouth, bowing from side to handier to me than my mother
side as the rogues in the street fouglit tongue and therefore I must. But
to get closer and acclaim tlieir fellow- there’s one I would have a word with
rogue in the cart. before my friend here serves me with
Handsome and debonair as usual! his particular fashion in collar.
Curse his good looks Tliey were
! Jacob, my buck, come forward. I
really the foundation of Jacob’s have a word to speak and a la.st be-
hatred. He hated O’Dale for his quest to make ye. Tut, man, don’t
slim, straight figure that seemed spec- hang back in that ashamed way
iallj^made for the fine velvet clotlies come out, my little Jacob, and show
’ ’
for his immaculately powdered hair yourself !

and his regular features; but most of With a grim smile that he hoped
all for his dainty, almost effeminate would be accepted as a friendly one
hands and feet. Jacob stepped forward.
Jacob, otherwise insignificant, was “Dear friend,” Jim went on, “yoxi
the possessor of big, gnarled hands have done much for poor O’Dale in
—
and stubby, broad feet the feet of a the matter of his late trial and pres-
plebeian, such as would have been ent appointment with Tyburn Tree,
no other in the finest, most expensive and he appreciates it, believe me.
of shoes. It had been those slim Jacob, I have a little gift to make
aristocratic feet of 0 ’Dale’s that, —
you one you will be liking, I fancy
almost more than his looks and man- — these gold buckles and my last
ner, had given him the suggestion of pair of shoes. Take them and wear
breeding which had carried pretty them, Jacob, in memory of what you
Barbara off hers the moment she saw did for ‘Captain’ Jim O’Dale !”
him and caused her to break her The hangman made a gesture as if
tentative betrothal to plain Jacob to speak. O’Dale turned on him.
Larkyn. “Tut, Mister Ketch I know the —
O ’Dale was awai’e of his looks and clothes I’m turned off in are yours
proud of them. Even now, as the by right of law or customs or both,
cart drew up at the scaffold, he gave but you shalln’t deny my fi’iend here
evidence of the fact for he had
;
this trifie ! On my life, if you do.
managed to change his dress since I’ll take off my coat before I hang
being condemned and was resplend- and throw it to the mob — and you’ll
468 WEIRD TALES
see it is a rare fine coat, Ketch, my turned dowly round, this way and
biiek —
not one to let slip through
an that, his knees slightly drawn up and
honest hangman’s fingers, hey? one foot a little above the other.
There, that’s settled!” he added as Jim O’Dale was out of misery at
the hangman nodded a grudging as- last.
sent; and, taking off his lace stock,
gave his neck to the halter and his TTaving feaste<1 his eyes on the
arms ready to be tied. highwayman’s death agonies,
Jacob stood back, clenching Jacob would have made off; but the
his teeth, while the final prep- press of the mob was too close for
arations were made. A dead silence him and there was nothing left but
now reigned. . . .
to wait patiently for the cutting
The hangman gave a signal to the down. For half an hour the body
driver. The cart moved off with a of his onee-handsome rival sMuing in
sharp jolt and the rope was jerked the breeze before his eyes; then the
tight, quivering under the con- hangman mounted the scaffold and
demned man’s weight. with a couple of slices of his knife
For a minute or so he struggled severed the rope and let it drop
violently, his body twisting and his limply to the ground.
feet threshing the air. Tlien he The mob pressed closer, those in
swung gently from side to side, bend- front, eager to chaffer with the exe-
ing and stretching his knees slowly. cutioner for portions of the rope,
Then, with what seemed like a final greatly prized in those days as mas-
reaction to the strangling noose, his cots; and thus was Jacob thrust
whole body stiffened into rigidity right forward till he .stood within a
one last violent convulsion, and it couple of paces of the corpse of the
hung motionless. Were his suffer- man he had betrayed.
ings so quickly over? He looked down at it and for the
No! To the disgust of the watch- firsttime was a little ashamed of
ing multitude the wretched man’s what he had done: this limp thing
struggles recommenced with even had once been a laughing, rollicking
greater violence the legs kicked out,
:
young feUow, whom, at times, even
as if striving to find ground whereon his hatred could not prevent him
to plant the twinkling feet
breast heaved; the features under
the ; —
from admiring whom he had en-
—
vied even as he hated him ^the apple
the white cap swelled till it looked of pretty Barbara’s eye. Ho, Jacob
like a grotesque plaster mask of its
Larkyn, was responsible that life
wearer. Could this really be the
handsome, nonchalant Jim O’Dale?
—
was now extinct he had done a
thing that no power on earth could
The hangman hesitated, then ran undo. It had seemed just and de-
below the scaffold, and, catching sirable at the time, but now he was
those struggling legs round the ashamed.
knees, tugged on them with fiendish
“Here, Master!”
energy. A bestial tussle between
him and his victim followed and was He looked up into a lantem-jaw^ed,
met with groans, cat-calls and hiss- masked face.
!”
ing from the crowd. “A bargain’s a bargain, y ’know
O ’Dale’s struggles subsided; the grinned the hangman and thrust
hangman gave a final jerk to his legs into his hands a pair of shoes with
and let him go. He swung motion- buckles of curiously wrought gold.
the man-shaped pendulum
less, like Mechanically his fingers closed on
of some gruesome clock. A little them and he pushed his way through
from side to side he swung, then the croAvd.
 IN A DEAD MAN’S SHOES 469

ack Jacob soothed dwelt Barbara Challis; and here the

B in Fleet Street,
his rather shaken nerves with an- first manifestation of “dead man’s
luck,” as he believed, struck him
other bottle at the Coek, slipping out
of sight into his old corner and put- Avith its full force as he entered the
ting down Jim’s dying present out front door.
of sight. Little by little, as the wine “Barbara!” he cried, stopping
warmed him, he got over the first dead in his tracks.
disgust and horror of the execution She halted at the door of his
and began to look at things from a private closet from which she had
different viewpoint. What ivas done just come out; halted with parted
was done. He had got his way and lips,as if half afraid of him. Then
was noAv free to make the running she recovered herself and spoke
with Barbai’a.
A rather ghoulish thought came
“Jacob — it is all over?”
“Aye, all over. He died like a
to him; he had heard of dead man’s
brave man.”
luck, had seen the mob fighting for
the rope with which the young high- “I knew he would.”
wayman had been strangled. Might The innkeeper went across to the
there not be luck for him also in this girl, looking for the chance to touch
strange present, made to him on the —
her to clasp a hand, maybe.
scaffold by the man he had so cun- “I did my utmost for him.”
ningly sold? “I know, I knoAv. He told me all
He laughed harshly at the thought, after the trial ... we owe you much,
glanced round the little compartment Jacob.”
in which he sat, satisfied himself He took both her hands, then, and
that no one was spying over the top she looked bravely up into his face.
of either partition or round the side, She had been crying, it was true;
and then qxiickly changed his rather but now tears had given place to a
old shoes for the .smart, gold-buckled strange glory, the light that illu-
ones in which O’Dale had been mines a heroine’s features in the mo-
hanged. They were a shade tight ment of her trial.
for him across the toes, but of softer “It Avas more for you than for
leather than he was accustomed to, him that I did it,” said Jacob, quite
and he decided he could wear them truthfully. “Come, let us go into
with ease when he had broken them my room, Barbara I haA^e much that
;

in a little. I would have you hear.”

He would go .straight back to She yielded to him, let him turn
Kensington and tiy his luck “dead — her and guide her gently back
—
man’s luck” would be guided by through the Ioav, oaken doorway.
circum.stances as they arose. Who They sat 'together on a settee by the
—
kncAV? ^this might be the A^ery turn fire.
of luck he needed to win the heart “Yes,” Barbara dreamily went
of her for whom he had done that on, “Ave have much to repay you for,
thing. — —
Jacob Larkyn and and ”
Kicking his old pair away into the He pressed her hand betw'een both
shadows under the table, he paid his of his.
shot and walked out into the street. “Speak not of repayment. Was
Like the good man of business he not the deed its oaaua reward ? ”
Avas, Jacob tunied into the Blue “For you no doubt; but, Jacob,
Boar to see how the hou.se had pros- those were Jim’s last words to me:
pered while he AA'as away at the exe- ‘Forget not all he has done for poor
cution before he strolled on past it Jim O ’Dale and roAvard him for
to the creeper-covered cottage where it.’
”
470 WEIRD TALES
Jacob started violently, and again Jacob; yes, I would desire that of
the feeling of sliarae passed through all things.”
Mm like a knife. This was indeed a “So be it, then. We go.”
reward of good for evil Devil take —
it, had he known Jim was such a play might have been better
good fellow he doubted he’d have chosen to suit a man with such a
peached on him so readily But that ! conscience as Jacob Larkyn’s that
was all over and done with and con- night; the “Players’ Scene” with its
fession would only make matters dramatic emphasis on the Danish
worse. No, better to accept all King’s treachery reawakened all his
these unlooked-for blessings as scruples as to the death of Jim
“dead man’s luck” and enjoy them O’Dale. But he shook them off
as they came. angrily. Where was the use in
Barbara trembled he could almost — mooning over what was done and
believe she shuddered as he drew — could not be altet’cd? The man was
her toward him. Then her golden dead, now, and in the hands of the
head nestled on his shoulder and the medical students. He -was very
scent of her hair was in his nostrils. likely half dissected already. Enough
. .’Gad, but it was marvelous that
.
of him, then I Having sinned the sin
a w'oman should console herself so of David, what -was left a sensible
soon Why, here was the work of
!
man but at least to enjoy the fruits
months, as he had expected, all done of his misdeed?
for him in less than an hour! Was At last the final curtain fell.
there in truth some uncanny, in- “Jacob,” said Barbara, gently
explicable magic in a dead man’s pressing his arm, “would you do one
blessing—in the standing, literally, more little thing for me?”
in a dead man’s shoes? “Ask it, mj’- love, and see 1”
“Jim bade me not mourn for “It is that you take me to the
him,” .said the girl slowly. “He .stage entrance — I feel Mr. Garrick is
would have none of my wearing my friend, tonight —a better friend
black clothes 'or weeping more than
”
—
than you imagine, Jacob I beg you
a girl could help take me -where we can see him as he
“Aye, aye, my dear. He wms leaves the theater and thank him for
right.
’ ’ his wonderful play.”
“ Was it imagination or reality that
and above all,” Barbara her voice trembled with a high-
wmnt on, “he would have it that I pitched, hysterical note as she con-
must go to the play this evening go — cluded her sentence? Never mind!
to the play and relieve my mind
He was in tlie vein to do whatever
utterly of the terrible thing they did
she asked, that evening; and it was
to him today.”
a small thing to lead her to this
“The play? Sol” player and say a few words of
“To Drury Lane, Jacob Davy — thanks.
Garrick plays Hamlet there tonight.
It
piece.
is performance of tlie
his last
Jim and I went to his fii’st.
Shall we go together, Jacob? It was
T here was a crowd at the stage
door, for “little Davy Garrick”
was the idol of Ijondon in those days
Jim’s last wish.” and never left without a bodyguard
“Whatever you please, -child so ;
of some fifty or more about his coach,
it be for your happiness.” especially since the affair of Seven
Again she trembled or maybe — String Ned who had held him up on
shuddered in his arms. — a Tuesday and been himself so
“Then 1 would desire to go, dramatically robbed the following
 IN A DEAD MAN’S SHOES 471

Wednesday by the late “Captain” ing by a ra.scal called Seven String

Jim O’Dale. Ned, less than a month ago!”
Jacob and Barbara waited some “I — — got them honest,
I
I sir. I’ll
time, but at last a rustle in the crowd swear —they—thev were given
it to
pi’oclaimed the coming of the famous me!”
actor. Then Jacob let go of Bar- Garrick smiled unkindly. A growl
bara ’s hand to shoulder his way for- went up from the crowd.
ward for the promised speech. “And by whom, dear Mr. Larkyn
”
“Mr. Garrick, sir —by whom, pray?”
“Sir to you!” A girl ’s voice rang out
The little player stoppedand,
smiling genially, looked Jacob up
“I tell you, Mr. Garrick!”
Avill

and doAvn from hat to toes. With eyes and flaming

flashing
cheeks Barbara Challis faced Jacob.
‘
‘
come to thank you on
Sir, I haA^e
behalf of a young lady who is wdth
“Seven Strmg Ned was himself
me for the fine evening’s entertain-
robbed by Jim O’Dale whom they
ment you have given us. I protest, hanged this morning. It was Jim
sir, you are the very first actor of
0 ’Dale gave him those buckles as he
your time, sir, and ” '
gave him many more of your things
He paused, somehow discon- — search the cupboard in his private
cei'ted.
closet He was ever the receiver
!

for 0 ’Dale’s stolen goods!”

Garrick was smiling, but his
still
‘

smile had a flicker of grim curiosity

‘
BarbaraDelilah ’ shrieked
! !
’

in it; he still looked the innkeeper Jacob, noAV fully aware of the trap.
up and down and seemed particular- —
“She lies gentlemen all, she lies
she was that damned highwayman’s
ly interested in his feet.
“May I know your name, .sir?” —
mistress if there is anything in my
“Withpleasure, Mr. Garrick! I closet she pixt it there herself!
”
I’ll
am Jacob Larkyn, at your service, swear
sir,keeper of the Blue Boar in Ken- A hand struck him across the
sington. Ever at your service, Mr. mouth.
Garrick, sir.” “The lie in your own teeth, you
“Ah! Ever at my service? That dog!” cried a burly citizen. “Boys,
is Mr. Jacob Larkyn very
good, — 1 was in court when Jim O ’Dale was
good indeed!” and he laughed a tried —
this man xvas his friend and
little harshly. The croAvd edged in paid for the lawyer to defend him
round them. now, boys, will ye see our little Davy
“So Mr. Larkyn is e\'er at this Garrick robbed? Will ye see the
poor player’s service, is he?” Gar- scoundrels as filched from him es-
rick went on. “Then perchance he
’ ’
cape ?
will tell the poor player where he got “No! No!” shi’ieked Jacob, blood-
those fine gold buckles he is now guiltiness and terror almost depriv-
wearing in his shoes for, egad, I — ing him of the pow'er of coherent
seem to knoAv them passing well, my- speech.
‘
Spare me Mercy
‘
I can ! '

self!” —
explain explain all
!”
Asudden suspicion dawned on “Explain to a jury!” snarled the
Jacob. foremost citizen. “Seize him, boys!
“G-gold b-buckles, sir?” he stam- To Newgate with the villain!”
mered. A roar of vindictiA-^e enthusiasm
“Yes, fellow!” Garrick changed ansAvered him and a score pairs of
his bantering manner and snapped hands gripped the innkeeper. As
at him. “My
gold buckles that were they dragged him away his voice
stolen off the veiy shoes 1 was wear- choked in his throat and he saAV
 472 AVEIRD TALES

visions swirling in the air before him black gallows tree. . But last of
. .

—a red-robed figure behind a desk, all, before he fainted and they began
one that wore a snow-white pex’uke to cany him bodily toward Newgate
ft —
and a black cap the sea of pale, jail, he saw the face of a bereaved
expectant faces, riveted to the dock girl, flushed and glowing with hatred
— the gaunt, bare framework of the and v.dth triumph.

O NE of the most famous of all

the fabulous beasts of history
was the unicorn, whose name
was derived from two Latin words
which meant “one horn.” It even
its head in her lap. This story was
illustrated in several bid tapestries.
When the unicorn stooped to drink
from a pool, its horn dipping into the
water purified it and made it SAveet.
gained a place in the coat of arms of Purchas tells hoAv a party of travel-
Great Britain, its rampant attitude ers were poisoned by “the root of
opposite the lion giving rise to the Mandioca, but by a peeee of Vni-
old nursery ballad, beginning, “The cornes home they \A’'ere preserued.”
Lion and the Unicorn were fighting Sir John Mandeville asserted that in
for the crown.
’ ’
Asia there were “manye white Oli-
One of the earliest accounts of the f antes,” (elephants) “Unyeornes and

unicorn Avas that of Ctesias, a his- Lyouns and manye other hydous
’

torian of the Fifth Century B. C., Bestes Avith miten nombre. The ani-’

who declared that in India there were mal Avas listed in some Englisli works
wild asses, A’ery fleet, having in their on zoology as late as the middle of the
Eighteenth Century; and in France,
forehead a horn one and a half cubits
even up to 1789, instruments sup-
long and colored red, black and white
posedly of unicorn’s hom were used
from this horn drinking-cups were
to test the royal food for poison.
made which neutralized poison.
Edward Webbe, an English trav-
The unicorn was generally repre- eler of the Sixteenth Century, claimed
sented as a horselike animal save for to have visited the mythical monarch,
the horn, which grew fonvard from Prester John, whom he located in
its forehead and Avas tAvisted in a sort Ethiopia. “I have seen,” says he,
of rope pattern. Some early Avriters “in a place like a park near Prester
said that the Ainicorn had been known John’s court, three score and seven-
to Avoi'st the elephant in combat. It teene unicomes and elephants all at
was usually savage and quarrel- one time, and they were so tame that
some, but at sight of a young girl be- I have played with them as one would
came gentle, and Avould come and lay jJaye with yoAing lambes.”
 “The three advanced silently, and in their ap-
proach the shrinking fugitive read his doom.”

HEMEKETA MOUNTAIN is a
C wild bit of densely wooded
country in the heart of a thin-
ly settled farming district. In the
valley at the foot of its eastern slope
little pleasure, and back of
sinister shadow of Chemeketa Moun-
tain, dark and silent against the
setting sun.
There had always been a deal of
it all the

is a small hamlet of forty or fifty mystery about the Hermit of Chem-

souls which forms the business and eketa Mountain. High up in the
social center of the district. The forest near the top of the mountain
farmers, mostly frugal, hard-tvorking he lived, he and his two dogs. He
Bohemians, eke out a meager living was a tall, gaunt man, with a ragged,
from the small truck gardens and unkempt beard, long, tangled hair,
orchards Avhich constitute their hold- and cold, green-gray eyes that in
ings, and help to keep body and soul moments of anger glowered in their
together by working as day laborers deep sockets in a malevolent, un-
part of the time, while their wives winking stare. His clothing was
and families labor in the fields. filthy and ragged, and was kept in
Three days a week the younger chil- place by bits of string, rusty nails
dren attend the district school, and in lieu of buttons, and a frayed rope
on Sunday there is church in the for a belt.
village. It is a life of hard work, ’Where he came from no one knew
473
474 WEIRD TALES
how he made a living was an
also days unhappy and your nights full
unfathomed secret. His shack was of fear. Your honest farmer would
high up on the mountain, in the heart look fearfully over his shoulder,
of the timber, surrounded by a small crossing himself the AA^hile, as he ex-
patch of half-cleared ground, set off plained this to you.
from the forest by a rail fence which One day there came to the hamlet
seemed always on the verge of fall- a stranger from the big city doAvn
ing apart, but somehow never quite the valley near the sea. A small,
accomplished it. furtive, rat-faced chap he was; he
His only companions were two appeared on the street but seldom,
great shaggy wolf-dogs, vicious, evil- having obtained a room at Mrs.
looking brutes with red slavering Sczura’s, in Avhich he stayed except
jaws, whose appearance as they when it was absolutely necessary for
would come charging up to the fence him to be out. When he did appear
on the approach of a stranger was on the dusty road which passed for
enough to strike terror into the the main street, he walked Avith his
stoutest heart. head down and his cap pulled well
If you chanced on the hermit and over his eyes; and if by chance a
spoke to him his lips would draw peiAson happened to approach him
back in a snarl, disclosing vicious, siAddenly from behind he would find
pointed fangs rather than teeth, and immediate reason to back up against
his words came in a low, rumbling a Avail, while his right hand would
growl that carried a menace in the seek his eoat pocket.
tone as well as, usually, in tlie words. After a few days he began to be
The natives generally regarded on the street a little more frequent-
him as having kinship with the two ly, and gradually struck up a speak-
dogs, and believed all three were in ing acquaintance Avith some of the
league with the devil. They regard- men Avho freqAiented the grocery
ed the mountain with fear and awe; store corner of an evening. He was
and while some drew their wood from reticent regarding his motive in com-
the edge of the forest, none was bold ing to the village, but seemed very
enough to venture into its depths much interested in the geography of
after sundoAvn. the surrounding country, asking
It was said that the two dogs ran numerous questions regarding dis-
wild in the woods at night, and avo tances to the next tOAAms, the fai’m-
betide the luckless traveler whose houses by the Avay, and the like.
trail they held. True, there w'ere no It Avas inevitable, of course, that
actual disappearances Avhich could be he should hear of the Hermit of Chem-
charged against the brutes, but this eketa Mountain. Indeed, he had
Avas because none tempted the deAul, shown a good deal of interest in the
Avhose agents they were, by ventur- topography of the mountain, the
ing into the Avoods after dark. In the depth and denseness of the forest,
daytime they apparently stayed at and the trails through the woods,
or near the hermit’s shack, but at before anyone thought of the her-
—
night ah! that was different. mit. Or maybe they thought of him,
As for the hermit himself, he was but hesitated to speak; the stranger
possessed of the evil eye, said the Avas from outside, and Avould not
natives. If he looked you squarely understand.
in the face your coav Avould become But eventually someone mentioned
dry; the Avatcr in your Avell Avould the hermit, and described his pe-
be polluted ;
and numerous other culiarities; how he lived alone, ex-
misfortunes Avould surely make your cept for his tAvo dogs; spoke also of
 THE HERMIT OF CHEMEKETA MOUNTAIN 475

the ferocity of the dogs, and of the ing in his eyes, then slowly turned
malevolent powers of their master. and went into the house.
The stranger and
a ghost
listened,
T WAS two days later that he left his
of a smile passed across his face, to
I room in the morning, strolling
be instantly repressed. Casually, as
if it were a passing thought and a
through the village carelessly, as if
matter of no importance, he sug- bound for nowhere in particular, and
gested that it might be possible that speaking casually to such of his few
the hermit had a miser’s hoard of acquaintances as he met, until he
gold in his little shack oit the moun- reached the edge of town. Then he
tain, and that his apparent poverty
became more circumspect, and was
was a subterfuge for the purpose of extremely careful that none should
misleading the villagers, while the see him from there until he plunged
dogs were purposely kept vicious and into the forest. About sundown, if
his own reputation for supernatural
you had been watching, you might
evil powers carefully cultivated have seen him return, keeping care-
fully out of sight until well within
pm’ely as a means of insuring undis-
turbed enjoyment of his hidden the village, and returning immediate-
wealth. ly to his room.
Matt Borlitz, who had a small
But no, they said, this could not
garden patch on the edge of the vil-
be ;
the man was known to have the lage near the forest, came into the
evil eye. Why, look you, Stanislaus
post-office the next day with a
Mathewzewiski, who lived nearest of strange story. He had been aroused
all the village to the wood, had sud-
about midnight by the frenzied bark-
denly come upon the hermit one day ing of his two fox terriers, and had
face to face just inside the forest,
got up to ascertain the trouble and
and what had happened? That very quiet the dogs. They were on the
night a loose stone on the road had
porch, and as he opened the door
turned under his foot and he had
they dashed into the house, very
fallen, breaking an arm. And young
evidently in terror of some danger
Ilrdlika, who went into the forest
without. Borlitz stepped out on the
with his I’ifle for a deer, and haA’ing porch, but at first could see nothing
w'andered farther than he intended
to cause the dogs to act so strangely.
you know what happened to him? As he stared into the darkness, how-
Two days later Matilda Czerny, ever, three great wolf-dogs suddenly
whom he was to have married the broke out of the forest and passed
following month, ran away to the doAvn the road toward the town.
big city by the sea and married an They ran silently, looking neither to
outsider, a stranger wdiom she had
the right? nor the left; their eyes
known for no more tUan two or three gleamed like coals of fire, and from
years. Yes, indeed, the hermit had
where he stood he could see the froth
the evil eye, no doubt about it.
dripping from their slavering jaws
As he walked back to his room as they sped by on their mysterious
that night the stranger’s ratlike eyes trail. Borlitz ’s dogs, ordinarily
continually sought the black depths noisy, fearless animals, cowered and
of the forest on Chemeketa Moun- whimpered in apparent abject terror
tain, which seemed to hang over the as the spectral figures passed and
village like a shadow of evil. At his vanished around a bend in the road.
gate he paused and stared long at When he returned to the house
the summit of the mountain, and Borlitz put the dogs out, much
then, like one who has come to a against their will. He heard nothing
definite decision, he nodded his head more from them during the night,
a couple of times, an ugly light shin- but when morning came he found
476 WEIRD TALES
them both dead, their throats torn something to be done, but the meet-
out and their bodies mangled. ing broke up Avithout anything being
This was the first of three nights accomplished Avhen it de\’eloped that
of terror for the village. It was the no one Avas Avilling to run the risk
next night after Berlitz ’s dogs were of calling on the hermit for the pur-
killed that Katrina, the little twelve- pose of persuading him to restrain his
year-old daughter of Thaddeus Po- dogs.
lonski, left the house about 9 o’clock
to go to the spring, about fiftj^ yards Tt av^as that evening, just before
down the road, to draw a bucket of A dusk, that the second stranger
water against its use in the morning. arrived. He Avas a big, determined-
She Avas gone a little longer than looking chap, Avith an indefinable
usual, and then came dashing back something in his appearance that
to the house, hysterical Avith terror. caused Gorgas Pichutzki, the tOAvn
She told hoAV she had draAvn the toper, to hasten home at his first
Avater andAvas just leaAung the spring glimpse of the neAvcomer and bury in
Avhen three great beasts came riish- a deep hole in his radish patch the
ing doAvn oAit of the forest. As she gallon jug of hard cider Avhich he
crouched, terror-stricken, in the had kept in his kitchen. It seemed
shadoAv of the little shed over the .safer to take no chances.
spring, they rushed silently doAvn the But the stranger Avas apparently
road toAvard the toAvn and disap- not interested in Pichutzki ’s cider or
peared. The child Avas too frightened its age or potency. He immediately
to move from her hiding-place for a sought the grocery store, and in the
time, until she finally mustered up back room held a short conference
sufficient courage to run aci’oss the Avith Jan Chezik, the propifietor, Avho
open space betAveen the spring and Avas also postmaster and tOAvn con-
the house, arriving breathless with stable. During the conversation he
fear, and sobbed out her story to her exhibited certain papers which ap-
father. parently gained him considerable re-
The next morning Serge Hrdlika, spect on the part of Jan. He also
Avho Avas the father of the young man shoAved that ^gentlemen two photo-
whose love affair had terminated so graphs; they Avere a full face and
unhappily, and Avho lived about a profile view of the rat-faced stranger,
hundred yards doAvn the road, found and at the bottom of each picture
a week-old Holstein calf dead in Avas a number.
front of his house, killed in much the When he stepped out on the street
same manner as had been Berlitz ’s again the neAvcomer proceeded di-
dogs the night before. rectly to Mrs. Sezura’s, whei’e he in-
The men of the village met at the quired for her roomer. The good
grocery store the next day to see Avoman informed him that the man
Avhat, if anything, could be done he sought Avas out, but would surely
about it. It Avas pretty generally be- return shortly, and Avould he care to
lieved that they must be the hermit’s Avait? He AvoAild, he replied grimly.
dogs, suddenly taken to straying 'And he did, in Mrs. Sezura’s “sit-
farther afield than had been their ting-room.”
custom. True, he Avas only knoAvn to Now, it so happened that just about
have tAvo, but it Avas not impossible the time he stood at Mrs. Sezura’s
that he had recently acquired a door, the man for Avhom he Avas asking
third. was coming up the street to the hoiAse.
A great deal of talk Avas indulged When he saAv his landlady’s visitor,
in, and Borlitz, Polonski, and he cursed under his breath, and im-
Hrdlika Avere especially anxious for mediately effaced himself from the
 THE HERMIT OF CHEMEKETA MOUNTAIN 477

scene by stepping behind a convenient eyes. And the gleaming eyes and
tree, where he remained until the big snarling lips, God help him, were
man had entered the house. Then he those of the Hermit of Chemeketa
retreated back down the street and Mountain
kept well out of sight of the house As he stared, paralyzed with terror,
until after dark. the brute was joined by two others;
His room was on the ground floor, they were possibly not quite so large
and about 9 that night, when there as their apparent leader, but they
was no one on the street, he returned were every bit as awe-inspiring. To-
and entered the room through a win- gether the three advanced, silently,
dow. He struck no light, and moved noiselessly, and in their relentless ap-
with extreme caution, being careful proach the shrinking fugitive read his
to make no noise. He quickly gath- doom as surely as if it were written
ered up a few things which he made with letters of fire against the black-
into a small, compact bundle, slipped ness of the forest.
out of the w'indow, and keeping care- In frantic terror he suddenly
fiilly in the shadow, left the town and whipped out a revolver and emptied
plunged into the darkness of the it in the direction of the approaclung
forest on Chcmeketa Mountain. brutes. The six shots had no effect
His many questions regarding the whatever, and with a despairing curse
.surrounding country had been in the that was half a shriek of terror he
way of providing for just such a con- flung the gun at them, and turned and
tingency as this, and his plans were fled at full speed back through the
all formed. As he neared the top of forest toward the village. And fol-
the mountain he paused for a moment lowing him in a noiseless, effortless
to rest, and the thought of the hermit lope that slowly, surely lessened the
came to him. distance bet^veen them, the three
With the thought came a grim phantom hounds relentlessly held the
smile; there was no danger of any trail.
interruption as he passed the place About midnight the big stranger
now; no, indeed. who waited in Mrs. Sezura’s “sitting-
Those doddering fools in tlie village, room” made arrangements with that
with their superstitious talk of the worthy woman for the use of her
“evil eye”! True, the old man’s eyes spare bedroom for the rest of the
did gleam wickedly, like two coals of night.
fire, when —what was that? Bah! Came morning, and with it Matt
Nerves! Mustn’t let this stuff “get Borlitz, fearfully crossing himself as
his goat.” He reached in his pocket he told of the hideously mangled body
—
for a cigarette there it was again! that he had found almost at his door-
Two flaming red eyes in the path step. The news soon came to the ears
ahead of him! Could it be that the of the big stranger, and he, with a
—
old man no! For God’s sake, what number of the villagers, returned
was it? with Borlitz to the little farm at the
A long, lean, graj’- phantom shape edge of the wood.
that advanced slowly, noiselessly,
down the trail; and with his blood ''T^he body was literally tom to
turning to ice in his veins he saw pieces, but identification was not
coming slowly toward him a great difficult; the man had been a subject
wolf-dog, larger than any he had ever of considerable interest in the small
seen, with foam-flecked jaws and an community, and his clothing, general
almost human
expression of malevo- build, and other details made recc^-
lent triumph in the creature 's blazing ( Confirmed on x>age 573)
A T’ale of Cesare Borgia

A Dinner at Imola
By AUGUST W. DERLETH

M
Ten, when
essee niccolo machi-
AVELLI had just signed
his name to a letter to the
the flap of his tent swung
wide in the hand of a lackey, per-
Orsini and della Rovere.
rumored, too, that the young Paolo di
Colonna was in alliance with this
secret revolt, and that he was further-
ing the cause by sowing the seeds of
It was

mitting His Highness, the Prince revolt among the troops in camp at
Cesare Borgia, to enter. Imola, wdiile at the same time the
“Ah! Excellency.” Machiavelli Duke Giovanni di Orsini was seeking
half turned. to stir up the Borgia soldiers at Forli.

“Another letter to the Ten, Mes- As yet Machiavelli had no knowledge

that the prince knew of the affair.
ser Machiavelli?” Cesare Borgia
shrugged his shoulders. “You keep Messer Machiavelli nodded his
them well informed as to my move- head. “You honor me,” he mur-
ments.
’ ’ mured.
“You will come?”
Niccolo Machiavelli made a depre- “With pleasure.”
cating gesture. The Borgia prince “Very well. We will meet at table,
smiled. ’ ’
if not before.
“You had best warn them against The prince signaledto his lackey,
guile in their dealings with me, Mes- who raised the tent flap for his mas-
ser Machiavelli. Florence holds no ter to take leave of the Florentine
—
interest for me but let them once envoy. But hardly had the Borgia
deceive me, and the IMedici rule no prince left the tent than Machiavelli
longer.” gave a quick, short call.
Messer Machiavelli bowed his head. “Giulio!”
“Florence has no intention. High- From somewhere in the rear of the
ness, of going against yoxir wishes. tent a small, stooped figure arose and
Indeed, she is most anxious to pre- stood before Niccolo Machiavelli.
serve your friendship.” “You called me, Messer Machia-
“That will remain as it is, Messer velli?”
Machiavelli. For the present I have “You heard the Borgia?” The
come to ask you to dine with my figure nodded. “It is well. You
company on the third night hence. w’ill follow him continually until the
The dinner is in honor of the young thii’dnight hence.” The lackey
Duke Paolo di Colonna.” laughed silently. He nodded. “At
Messer Machiavelli started. He the third night, report here before
’ ’
looked at his host with raised eye- dinner.
brows. Only yesterday his trusted The lackey nodded quickly again,
lackey had informed him of the and without a word vanished into the
rumor of a plot against the Borgias, interior of the tent, to emerge in the
the headquarters of which were in gathering darkness at its back within
Rome, at the palaces of the Cardinals the minute. Messer Niccolo Machi-
 A DINNEK AT IMOLA 479

avelli yawned, and gazed speculative- The lackey bowed and vanished in
ly at the hour-glass on his table. the shadows at the rear of the tent.
Messer Maehiavelli rose and donned
a great cloak. He raised the flap of
A t the hour before dinner on the
third night, Messer Maehiavelli
was startled out of his revery by the
^

his tent
less sky.
and looked out at the cloud-
Far away, on the horizon
sudden appearance of his lackey, toward the east, the full moon was
Giulio. just rising above the hills, and from
“He visited at Luigi Reni’s,” said the marshlands to the west thin wisps
Giulio abruptly. of vapor were moving toward the
camp. Messer Maehiavelli glanced
'^‘And this Reni?” queried Machia-
dubiously at the hour-glass on the table,
veiliwith arched brows.
saw that the sand had passed the half-
“Is a magician,” answered Giulio
hour, and slipped out of his tent.
suggestively.
f- Ah And what did the Borgia
there ?
'^si'^He
’ ’

brought with him and left at

A t the banquet
Paolo di Colonna
of a boisterous crowd.
hallthe young
was the center
Cesare Borgia
Reni’s a small portrait of the Duke
Paolo di Colonna. That was yester- stood some distance away from him,
day; Today he went again, and the and was the first to greet the Floren-
portrait was returned to him, to- tine envoy at his arrival. Messer
gether with a large package. This Maehiavelli sought vainly for some
package contained, I have made cer- trace, some premonition on the in-
tain, numerous curiously wrought scrutable face of his host there was
;

candles for the table tonight.” naught save a sardonic smile. Mes-
That is all?” ser Maehiavelli was uneasy; he be-
“Other than that is of no account. thought himself of the pending al-
The' Borgia prince attended to the liance between the Council of Ten and
usual matters of his troops.
’ ’
di Colonna. He resolved to keep a
Messer Maehiavelli toyed with a watchful eye on the Borgia ring,
quill on his table. “What make you which he knew served as a container
of the candles, Giulio?” he asked. for the white powder that Cesare had
The lackey smiled suggestively. He once shown him. He had often been
hunched his shoulders and spread his told that for the Borgia prince to
hands in an empty gesture. open this ring meant instant death
“Who knows?” he said. “The for someone.
Borgia takes a portrait of his enemy Messer Maehiavelli moved some-
to a magician, and receives at its re- what closer to the table, the better to
turn a packet of wax candles. It is observe wFat Cesare Borgia was
said that if one burns a wax effigy of occupied with. He gave an involun-
one’s foe, made according to certain tary start when he noticed that the
secret formulas, or if one pierces it prince himself was distributing be-
’ ’
to the heart, the model dies. fore the places at table the earven
Jlesser Maehiavelli pondered a candles that he had received from the
space. “How
many figures are need- magician, Reni. He sought out the
ed? How
many must be burned to place reserved for the prince, and
rid oneself of an enemy?” found it quickly by the banner of the
“But one. Excellency. But Ce- Bull draped over the back of the
sare is a true Borgia. His resources chair. Directly opposite this chair
know no end.
’ ’
stood one marked with the arms of
Messer Maehiavelli nodded. “It is di Colonna. Messer Maehiavelli ’s
good work, Giulio; I shall not forget eyes strayed unconsciously to the wax
it.” figure before his own plate, set at the
480 WEIRD TALES
arms of the Medici. The figure was fiscated by His Holiness, Alexander
merely a replica of a trooper, and so, VI. The Cardinals Orsini and della
Messer Machiavelli saw, were many Rovere are heading this move, and
of the others. Some were copies of there is talk of allying the rebellious
kings or princes, others of dukes or Colonna faction ”
barons. As his eyes stole down the The prince was interrupted by a
line of figures, Messer Machiavelli hoarse scream from the Duke Paolo
found himself curiously attracted by di Colonna, who had half risen from
one, slightly larger than the rest, his chair and was clawing at his
that bore a suspicious resemblance collar.
to someone he knew. He looked at “I am burning,” he shrieked, and
the chair; it was the chair of Paolo
fell toward the table.
di Colonna, and the figure was an
exact replica of the yoiing duke.
A lackey hastily ran to aid him,
The strident voice of Cesare Bor- and in a loud voice Cesare Borgia
gia interrupted Messer Machiavelli ’s
summoned his physician. Then he
crossed aro\md the table and sup-
thoughts, calling him to table. Some
of the young officers were already ported the young duke until the doc-
tor came. When at last he entered,
seated. Smiling inwardly, Machia-
the prince gave an order for the
vellinoticed that the Duke Paolo di
Colonna had brought his taster with duke’s removal to his own chamber,
him; so, he saw, had several of the aiding the physician and two lackeys
to earrv the duke to the door of the
noblemen who were known to be in
hall.
sympathy with Borgia enemies.
The dinner progressed smoothly Cesare Borgia returned to the
much too smoothly, Messer Maehia- table outwardly calm; all about him
velli thought. Cesare Borgia, as hummed excited whispers. Many of
host, discoursed volubly on many the soldiers looked questioningly gt
subjects, and he did not lack those to the duke’s taster standing unharmed
argue with him. behind the empty chair. The prince
During the entire meal the prince reopened the convei'sation, and con-
had not once touched his ring. Now, tinued to speak until he saw that the
toward the end of the meal, the prince flame of di Colonna ’s candle had
indicated by example that his guests burned out. Then he stopped abrupt-
were to light the candles at their ly, and Messer Machiavelli caiight
plates with tapers that had been fur- him glancing toward the door. At
nished. Hardly had this been done, the same moment the curtains at the
than, to the amazement of all pres- end of the hall w'ere tlirust aside, and
ent, Cesare Borgia abruptly changed the prince’s physician ran into the
the conversation. room. He bowed and spoke.
“It is generally faiowm, I believe, “Highness,” he said simply, “the
that there is a conspiracy now stir- Duke Paolo di Colonna is dead of an
ring in Rome.” The prince looked unknown illness.”
casually over at the Duke Paolo di The prince nodded his head and
Colonna; the duke paled. “Its lead- opened his lips. “It is unfortunate;
ers have been determined, and iinless
’ ’
but as God wills, so shall it be.
all plans are immediately surrendered Without ftirther comment he again
to the papal government, they and opened the subject of the Orsini con-
their estates will be seized and con- spiracy.
 “Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras 1
dire stories of Celajno and the Harpies
may reproduce tliemselves in the brain of
superstition hut they were there before.

recital of that which we know in a waking

—
They are transcripts, types the archetypes
are in us, and eternal. How else should the

sense to be false come to affect us at all?

W HEN a traveler in north cen-
tral Massachusetts takes the
wrong fork at the junction
of the Aylesbury pike just beyond
Dean ’s Corners he comes upon a lone-
Is it that we naturally conceive terror from
ly and curious country. The ground
such objects, considered in their capacity gets higher, and the brier-bordered
of being able to inflict upon us bodily in- stone walls press closer and closer
jury? Oh, least of all! These terrors are against the ruts of the dusty, curving
of older standing. They date beyond body road. The trees of the frequent for-
—or without the body, they would have been est belts seem too large, and the wild
the same. That the kind of fear here
. . .

treated purely spiritual—that

is strong it is
weeds, brambles, and grasses attain a
in proportion as it is objectless on earth, luxuriance not often found in settled
that it predominates in the period of our regions. At the same time the plant-
sinless infancy — are difficulties the solution ed fields appear singularly few and
of which might afford some probable in-
barren; while the sparsely scattered
sight into our ante-mundane condition, and
houses wear a surprizing uniform as-
a peep at least into the shadowland of pre-
—
existence.” Charles Lamb: Witches and pect of age, squalor, and dilapidation.
Other Night-Fears. Without knowing why, one hesitates
W. T.— 481
482 WEIED TALES
1o ask directions from the gnarled, let. One dreads to tnist the tene-
solidary figures spied now and then on brous tunnel of the bridge, yet there
crii milling doorsteps or in the sloping, is no way to avoid it. Once across, it
rocirstrown meadows. Those figaires is hard to prevent the impression of a
are silent and furtive that one
so .
faint, malign odor about the village
feelssomehow confronted by forbid- street, as of the massed mold and de-
den things, with which it would be cay of centuries. It is always a relief
bettor to have nothing to do. When to get clear of the place,and to follow
a rise in the road brings tlie moun- the narrow road around the base of
taiii.i in view above the deep woods, the hills and aero.ss the level country
the reeling of strange uneasiness is in- beyond till it rejoins the Aylesbury
creased. The summits are too round- pike. Afterward one sometimes learns
ed and symmetrical to give a sense of that one has been through Dunwich.
com fort and naturalness, and some- Outsiders visit Dimwich as seldom
times the sky silhouettes with especial as possible, and since a certain season
clearness the queer circles of tall stone of horror all the signboards pointing
pillars with which most of them are toward have been taken down. The
it
crowned. scenery, judged by any ordinary es-
(lorges and ravines of problemati- thetic canon, ismore than commonly
cal depth intersect the way, and the beautiful yet there is no influx of
;

crude wooden bridges always seem of artists or summer tourists. Two cen-
dubious safety. When the road dips turies ago, when talk of witch-blood,
again there are stretches of marsh- Satan -v/orship, and strange forest
land that one instinctively dislikes, presences was not laughed at, it was
and indeed almost fears at evening the custom to give reasons for avoid-
when unseen whippoorwills chatter ing the locality. In our sensible age
and the fireflies come out in abnonnal since the Dunwich horror of 1928 was
profusion to dance to the raucous, hushed up by those who had the
creepily insistent rhythms of strident- town’s and the world’s welfare at
ly piping bullfrogs. The thin, shin-
ing line of the Miskatonic’s upper
heart —people shun it without know-
ing exactly why. Perhaps one reason
reaches has an oddly serpentlike sug- — though it can not apply to iiniu-
gestion as it winds close to the feet of —
formed strangers is that the natives
the domed liills among which it ri.ses. are now repellently decadent, having
As the hills draw
nearer, one heeds gone far along that path of retrogres-
their wooded sides more than their sion so commonin many New Eng-
stone-crowned tops. Those sides loom land backwaters. They have come to
up so darkly and precipitously that form a race by themselves, with the
one wi.shcs they would keep their dis- well-defined mental and physical stig-
tance, but there is no road by which to mata of degeneracy and inbreeding.
escape them. Aero.ss a covered bridge The average of their intelligence is
one sees a small village huddled be- wofullj'’ low, whilst their annals reek
tween the stream and the vertical of overt vieiousnessand of half-hid-
slope of Round Mountain, and won- den murders, incests, and deeds of
ders at the cluster of rotting gambrel almost unnamable violence and per-
roofs bespeaking an earlier architec- versity. The old gentry, representing
tural period than that of the neigh- the two or three armigerous families
boring region. It is not reassuring to which came from Salem in 1692, have
see, on a closer glance, that most of kept somewhat above the general level
the hoiises are deserted and falling to of decay; though many branches are
ruin, and that the broken-.steepled sunk into the sordid ])opulace so deep-
church now harbors the one slovenly ly that only their names remain as a
mercantile establishment of the ham- key to the origin they disgrace. Some
 THE DUNWICH HOEROR 483

of the Whateleys and Bishops still the numerous whippoorwills which

send their eldest sons to Harvard and grow vocal on warm nights. It is
Sliskatonie, though those sons seldom vowed that the birds are psychopomps
return to the moldering gambrel roofs lying in wait for the souls of the dy-
under which they and their ancestors ing, and that they time their eery
were born. cries in unison with the sufferer’s
No one, even those who have the struggling breath. If they can catch
facts concerning the recent horror, the fleeing soul when it leaves the
can say just what is the matter with body, they instantly flutter away chit-
Dunwieh; though old legends speak tering in demoniac laughter; but if
of unhallowed rites and conclaves of they fail, they subside gradually into
the Indians, amidst which they called a disappointed silence.
forbidden shapes of shadow out of tlie These tales, of course, are obsolete
great rounded hills, and made wild and ridiculous because they come
;

orgiastic prayers that were answered down from very old times. Dunwieh
by loud crackings and rumblings from is indeed ridiculously old —
older by
the ground below. In 1747 the Rev- far than any of the communities with-
erend Abijah Hoadley, newly come to in thirty miles of it. South of the
the Congregational Church at Dun- village one may .still spy the cellar
wich Village, preached a memorable walls and chimney of the ancient
sennon on the close presence of Satan Bishop house, which was built before
and his imps, in which he said 1700; whilst the ruins of the mill at
the falls, built in 1806, form the most
It must be allow’d that these Blas- modem piece of architecture to be
phemies of an infeniall Train of Damons
are Matters of too common Knowledge to seen. Industry did not flourish here,
be deny’d; the cursed Voices of Azamel and and the Nineteenth Century factory
Buzrael, of Beelzebub and Belial, being movement proved short-lived. Oldest
heard from under Ground by above a Score of all are the great rings of rough-
of credible Witnesses now living. I myself
did not more than a Fortnight ago catch a hewn stone columns on the hilltops,
very plain Discourse of evill Powers in the but these are more generally at-
Hill behind my House; wherein there were tributed to the Indians than to the
a Rattling and Rolling, Groaning, Screech- settlers. Deposits of skulls and bones,
ing, and Hissing, such as no Things of this
Earth cou’d raise up, and which must needs found within these circles and around
have come from those Caves that only black the sizable table-like rock on Sentinel
Magick can discover, and only the Divell Hill, sustain the popular belief that
unlock.
siich spots were once the burial-place's
Mr. Hoadley disappeared soon after of the Pocumtucks even tho^igh
;

delivering this sermon; but the text, many ethnologists, disregarding the
printed in Springfield, is still extant. absurd improbability of such a theory,
Noises in the hills continued to be re- persist in believing the remains
ported from year to year, and still Caucasian.
form a puzzle to geologists and
2
physiographers.
Other traditions tell of foul odors T T WAS in the township of Dunwieh,
near the hill-crowning circles of stone in a large and partly inhabited
pillars, and of rushing airy presences farmhouse set against a hillside four
to be heard faintly at certain hours miles from the village and a mile and
from stated points at the bottom of a half from any other dwelling, that
the great ravines; while still others Wilbur Whateley was born at 5 a. ra.
try to explain the Devil’s Hop Yard on Sunday, the second of February,
a bleak, blasted hillside where no tree, 1913. This date was recalled because
shrub, or grass-blade will grow. Then, it was Candlemas, which people in
too, the natives are mortally afraid of Dunwieh curiously obseiwe under an-
484 WEIRD TALES
oilier name and because the noises in
;
which echoed above even the hill
the hills had sounded, and all the dogs noises and the dogs’ barking on the
of the countryside had barked per- night Wilbur was born, but no known
sistently, throughout the night before. doctor or midwife presided at his
Less worthy of notice was the fact coming. Neighboi*s knew nothing of
that the mother was one of the de- him till a week afterward, when Old
cadent Wliateleys, a somewhat de- Whateley drove his sleigh through the
formed, unattractive albino woman of snow into Dunwich Village and dis-
35, living with an aged and half- coursed incoherently to the group of
insane father about whom the most loungers at Osborn’s general store.
frightful tales of wizardry had been There seemed to be a change in the
whispered in his youth. Lavinia —
old man an added element of fur-
Whateley had no known husband, but tiveness in the clouded brain which
according to the custom of the region subtly transformed him fi-om an
made no attempt to disavow the object to a subject of fear though —
child; concerning the other side of he was not one to be perturbed by
whose ancestry the country folk might any common family event. Amidst
— —
and did speculate as widely as it all he showed some trace of the
they chose. On the contrary, she pride later noticed in his daughter,
seemed strangely proud of the dark, and what he said of the child’s pa-
goatish-looking infant who formed ternity was remembered by many of
such a contrast to her own sickly and his hearers years afterward.
pink-eyed albinism, and was heard
to mutter many curious prophecies
‘
‘
I dun ’t keer what folks think —ef
Lavinny’s boy looked like his pa, he
about its unusual powers and tre- wouldn’t look like nothin’ ye expeek.
mendous future. Ye needn’t think the only folks is
Lavinia was one who would be apt the folks hereabouts. Lavinny’s read
to mutter such things,^ for she was a some, an’ has seed some things the
lone creature given to wandering most 0 ye only tell abaout. I calc ’late
’

amidst thunderstorms in the hills and her man is as good a husban’ as ye

trying to read the great odorous books kin find this side of Aylesbury; an'
which her father had inherited ef ye Imowed as much abaout the hills
through two centuries of Whateleys, as I dew, ye wouldn’t ast no better
and which were fast falling to pieces church weddin’ nor her’n. Let me
with age and worm-holes. She had tell ye suthin’ some day yew folks’ll
never been to school, but was filled hear a child o’ Lavinny’s a-callin’ its
with disjointed scraps of ancient lore father’s name on the top o’ Sentinel
that Old Whateley had taught her. Hill!”
The remote farmhouse had always The only pei*sons who saw Wilbur
Ijeen feared because of Old Whate- during the first month of his life were
ley ’s reputation for black magic, and old Zechariah Whateley, of the unde-
the unexplained death by violence of caj^ed Whateleys, and Earl Sawyer’s
]\Irs. Wliateley when Lavinia was common-law wife, Mamie Bishop.
twelve years old had not helped to Mamie’s visit was frankly one of
make place popular.
the Isolated curiosity, and her subsequent tales
among strange influences, Lavinia did justice to her observ'ations but ;

was fond of wild and grandiose day- Zechariah came to lead a pair of
dreams and singular occupations nor ; Alderney cows which Old Whateley
was her leisure much taken up by had bought of his son Curtis. This
household cares in a home from which marked the beginning of a course of
all standards of order and cleanliness cattle-buying on the part of small
had long since disappeared. Wilbur’s family which ended only in
There was a hideous screaming 1928, when the Dunwich horror came
 THE DUNWICH HORROE 485

and went; yet at no time did the boy running sturdily up that hill
ramshackle Whateley bam seem over- ahead of his mother about an hour
crowded with livestock. There came before the blaze was remarked. Silas
a period when people were curious was rounding uj) a stray heifer, but
enough to steal up and count the herd he nearly forgot his mission when he
that grazed precariously on the steep fleetingly spied the two figures in the
hillside above the old farmhouse, and dim light of his lantern. They darted
they could never find more than ten almost noiselessly through the under-
or twelve anemic, bloodless-looking brush, and the astonished watcher
specimens. Evidently some blight or seemed to think they Avere entirely
distemper, perhai^s sprung from the lAiiclothed. AfterAvard he could not
unwholesome pasturage or the dis- be sure about the boy, avIio may have
eased fungi and timbers of the filthj'- had some kind of a fringed belt and
barn, caused a heavy mortality a pair, of dark blue trunlcs or trousers
amongst the Whateley animals. Odd on. Wilbur Avas never subsequently
wounds or sores, having something of seen alive and conscious Avithout com-
the aspect of incisions, seemed to af- plete and tightly buttoned attire, the
flict the visible cattle; and once or disarrangement or threatened disar-
twice during the earlier months cer- rangement of which alAA-ays seemed to
tain callers fancied thej^ could discern fill him Avith anger and alarm. His
.similar sores about the throats of the contrast Avith his squalid mother and
gray, unshaven old man and his slat- grandfather in this respect Avas
ternly, crinkly-haired albino daughter. thought very notable until the horror
In the spring after Wilbur’s birth of 1928 suggested the most valid of
Lavinia resumed her customary ram- reasons.
bles in the hills, bearing in her mis- The next January gossips Avere
proportioned arms the swarthy child. mildly interested in the fact that
Public interest in the Whateleys sub- “LaA’imiy’s black brat” had com-
sided after most of the countrj' folk menced to talk, and at the age of only
had seen the baby, and no one eleA'en months. His speech was some-
, bothered to comment on the swift AAiiat remarkable both because of its
development which that newcomer difference from the ordinary accents
seemed every day to exliibit. Wilbur’s of the region, and because it dis-
growth was indeed phenomenal, for played a freedom from infantile lisp-
within three months of his birth he ing of Avhich many children of three
had attained a size and muscular or four might AA^ell be proud. The boy
power not usually found in infants Avas not talkative, yet Avhen he spoke
under a full year of age. His motions he seemed to reflect some elusive
and even his vocal sounds showed a element wholly unpossessed by Dun-
restraint and deliberateness highly Aviehand its denizens. The strangeness
peculiar in an infant, and no one was did not reside in AA'hat he said, or even
really unprepared when, at seven in the simple idioms he used; but
months, he began to walk unassisted, seemed A'aguely linked Avith his intona-
with falterings which another month tion or Avith the internal organs that
was sufficient to remove. produced the spoken sounds. His fa-
It was somewhat after this time — on cial aspect, too, was remarkable for its
—
Hallowe’en that a great blaze was maturit}^; for though he shared his
seen at midnight on the top of Senti- mother’s and grandfather’s ehinless-
nel Hill where the old table-like stone ness, his firm and precociously shaped
stands amidst its tumulus of ancient nose united with the expression on his
bones. Considerable talk Avas started large, dark, almost Latin eyes to give
—
Avhen Silas Bishop of the undecayed him an air of quasi-adulthood and
—
Bishops mentioned having seen the well-nigh preternatural intelligence.
486 WEIRD TALES
He was, however, exceedingly ugly sevei-al callers saw, though no one was
despite his appearance of brilliancy; ever admitted to the closely-boarded
there being something almost goatish upper story. This chamber he lined
or animalistic about his thick lips, with tall, firm shelving; along w'hieh
large-pored, yellowish skin, coarse he began gradually to arrange, in
crinkly hair, and oddly elongated apparently careful order, all the rot-
ears. He was soon disliked even more ting ancient books and parts of books
decidedly than his mother and grand- which during his own day had been
sire, and all conjectures about him heaped promiscuously in odd corners
were spiced -vWth references to the by- of the various rooms.
gone magic of Old Whateley, and hoAv "I made some use of ’em,” he
the hills once shook when he shrieked would say as he tried to mend a torn
the dreadful name of Yog-Sothoth in black-letter page with paste prepared
the midst of a circle of stones with a on the rusty kitchen stove, “but the
great book open in his arms before boy’s fitten to make better xise of ’em.
him. Dogs abhorred the boy, and he He’d orter hev ’em as well sot as he
was always obliged to take various kin, for they’re goin’ to be all of his
defensive measures against their lamin’.”
barking menace.
When Wilbur was a year and seven
3 —
months old in September of 1914
his size and accomplishments were al-
IV/fEANWHiLE Old Whateley con- most alarming. He had grown as
tinned to bxiy cattle without large as a child of four, and was a
measurably increasing the size of his fluent and inei'edibly intelligent talker.
herd. He also cut timber and began He ran freely about the fields and
to repair the unused parts of his hills, and accompanied his mother on
—
house a spacious, peaked-roofed af- all her wanderings. At home he would
fair whose rear end was buried en- pore diligently over the queer pic-
tirely in the rocky hillside, and whose tures and charts in his grandfather’s
three least-ruined ground-floor rooms books, while Old Whateley would in-
had always been sufficient for himself struct and catechize him through
and his daughter. There must have long, hushed afternoons. By this time
been prodigious reserves of strength the restoration of the house was
in the old man to enable him to ac- finished, and those who watched it
complish so much hal’d labor; and wondered why one of the upper win-
though he still babbled dementedly at dows had been made into a solid
times, his earpentiy seemed to show plank door. It was a window in the
the effects of sound calculation. It rear of the east gable end, close
had really begun as soon as Wilbur against the hill; and no one could
was born, when one of the many tool imagine why a cleated wooden run-
sheds had been put suddenly in order, way was built up to it from the
clapboarded, and fitted with a stout ground. About the period of this
fresh lock. Now, in restoring the work’s completion people noticed that
abandoned upper story of the house, the old tool-house, tightly locked and
he was a no less thorough craftsman. Avindowlessly clapboarded since Wil-
His mania showed itself only in his bixr’s birth, had been abandoned
tight boarding-up of all the windows again. The door suiing listlessly open,
in the reclaimed section ^though— and when Earl Saxvyer once stepped
many declared that it was a crazy a cattle-selling call on
xvithin after
thing to bother with the reclamation Old Whateley he was quite discom-
at all. Less inexplicable was his fit- posed by the singular odor he en-
ting-up of another downstairs room —
countered such a stench, he averred,
—
for his new grandson ^a room which as he had never before smelt in all his
 THE DUNWICH HORROR 487

life except near the Indian circles on loungers reflected, thinking of the
the hills, and which could not come door and runway, and of the cattle
from anything sane or of this earth. that so swiftly disappeared. Then
But then, the homes and sheds of they shuddered as they recalled tales
Dunwich folk have never been re- of Old Whateley’s youth, and of the
markable for olfactory immaculate- strange things that are called out of
ness. the earth \yhen a bullock is sacrificed
The following months were void of at the proper time to certain heathen
visible events, save that everyone gods. It had for some time been
swore to a slow but steady increase in noticed that dogs had begun to hate
the mysterious hill noises. On May and fear the whole Whateley place as
Eve of 1915 there were tremors which violently as they hated and feared
even the Aylesbury people felt, whilst young Wilbur personally.
the following Hallowe’en produced an In 1917 the war came, and Squire
underground rumbling queerly syn- Sawyer Whateley, as chairman of the
chronized with bursts of flame local draft board, had hard work find-
“them witch Whateleys’ doin’s’’ ing a quota of young Dunwich men
from the summit of Sentinel Hill. fiteven to be sent to a development
Wilbur was growing up uncannily, so camp. The government, alarmed at
that he looked like a boy of ten as he such signs of wholesale regional de-
entered his fouilh year. He read cadence, sent several officers and med-
avidly by himself now; but talked ical experts to investigate ;
conducting
much less than formerly. A settled a survey which New England newspa-
taciturnity was absorbing him, and per readers maj’ still recall. It was
for the first time people began to the publicity attending this investiga-
speak specifically of the dawning look tion which set reporters on the track
of evil in his goatish face. He would of the Whateleys, and caused the
sometimes mutter an unfamiliar jar- Boston Globe and Arkham Advertiser
gon, and chant in bizarre rhythms to print flamboyant Sunday stories of
which chilled the listener with a sense young Wilbur’s precociousness. Old
of unexplainable terror. The aver- Whateley’s black magic, the shelves
sion displayed toward him by dogs of strange books, the sealed second
had now become a matter of wide story of the ancient farmhouse, and
remark, and he was obliged to carry the weirdness of the whole region and
a pistol in order to traverse the its hill noises. Wilbur was four and
countrj^side in safety. His occasional a half then, and looked like a lad of
use of the weapon did not enhance his fifteen. His lip and cheek were fuzzy
popiflarity amongst the o^vners of with a coarse dark down, and his
canine guardians. voice had begun to break. Earl Saw-
The few callers at the house would yer went out to the Whateley place
often find Lavinia alone on the vuth both sets of reporters and
ground floor, while odd cries and foot- camera men, and called their atten-
steps resounded in the boarded-up tion to the queer stench which now
second story. She would never tell seemed to trickle down from the
what her father and the boy were do- sealed upper spaces. It was, he said,
ing up there, though once she turned exactly like a smell he had found in
pale and displayed an abnormal the tool-shed abandoned when the
degree of fear when a jocose fish- house was finally repaired, and like
peddler tried the locked door leading the faint odors which he sometimes
to the stairway. That peddler told thought he caught near the stone
the store loungers at Dunwich Village circles on the mountains. Dunwich
that he thought he heard a horse folk read the .stories when they ap-
stamping on that floor above. The peared, and grinned over the obvious
488 WEIRD TALES
mistakes. They wondered, too, why In the spring after this event Old
the writers made so much of the fact Whateley noticed the growing number
that Old Whatelej' always paid for of whippoorwills that would come out
his cattle in gold pieces of extremely of Cold Spring Glen to chirp luider
ancient date. The Whateleys had re- his window at night. He seemed to re-
ceived their visitors with ill-concealed gard the circumstance as one of great
distaste, though they did not dare significance, and told the loungers at
court further publicity by a violent Osborn ’s that he thought his time had
resistance or refusal to talk. almost come.
“They whistle jest in tune with my
4 breathin’ naow,” he said, “an’ I
guess they’re gittin’ ready to ketch

F or a decade the annals of the

Whateleys sink indistinguishably
my soul. They know it’s a-goin'’ aout,
an’ dun’t calc ’late to miss
it. Yew’ll
into the general life of a morbid com- know, boys, arter I’m gone, whether
munity used to their queer wa 5’'s and they git me er not. Ef they dew,
hardened to their May Eve and All- they’ll keep up a-siugin’ an’ laffin’
Hallow orgies. TAvice a year they till break o’ day. Ef they dun’t,
would light fires on the top of Senti- they’ll kinder quiet daown like. I
nel Hill, at Avhich times the moun- expeck them an’ the souls they hunts
tain rumblings would recur with fer hev some pi’etty tough tussles
greater and greater violence while at
; sometimes. ’ ’

all seasons there were strange and On Lammas Night, 1924, Dr.
portentous doings at the lonely farm- Houghton of Aylesbury was hastily
house. In the course of time callers summoned by Wilbur Whateley, who
professed to hear sounds in the sealed had lashed his one remaining horse
upper story even when all the family through the darkiress and telephoned
were downstairs, and they wondered from Osborn’s in the village. He
how swiftly or how lingeringly a cow found Old Whateley in a very grave
or bullock was usually sacrificed. state,with a cardiac action and ster-
There was talk of a complaint to the torous breatlfing that told of an end
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty not far off. The shapeless albino
to Animals but nothing ever came of
;
daughter and oddly bearded grand-
it, since Dunwich folk are never son stood by the bedside, whilst from
anxious to call the outside world’s at- the vacant abyss overhead there came
tention to themselves. a disquieting suggestion of rhyth-
About 1923, when Wilbur was a mical surging or lapping, as of the
boy of ten whose mind, voice, stature, waves on some level beach. The
and bearded face gave all the impres- doctor, though, was chiefly disturbed
sions of maturity, a second great siege by the chattering night birds outside
of carpentry went on at the old house. a seemingly limitless legion of whip-
It was all inside the sealed upper poorwills that cried their endless
part, and from bits of discarded message in repetitions timed dia-
lumber people concluded that the bolically to the wheezing gasps of the
youth and his grandfather had dying man. It was iincanny and
knocked out all the partitions and —
unnatural too much, thought Dr.
even removed the attic floor, leaving Houghton, like the whole of the
only one vast open void between the region he had entered so reluctantly
ground story and the peaked roof. in response to the urgent call.
They had torn down the great central Toward 1 o’clock Old Whateley
chimney, too, and fitted the rusty gained consciousness, and interrupted
range with a flimsy outside tin stove- his wheezing to choke out a few words
pipe. to his grandson.
 THE DUNWICH HOEROR 489

“More space, Willy, more, space buying. He was now tremendously

soon. Yew —
grows an’ that grows mature of aspect, and his height,
faster. be ready to sarve ye
It’ll having reached the normal adult
soon, boy. Open up the gates to Yog- limit, seemed inclined to wax beyond
Sothoth with the long chant that ye ’ll that figure. In 1925,when a scholarly
find on page 751 of the complete edi- correspondent from Miskatonie Uni-
tion, an’ then' put a match to the versity called upon him one day and
prison. Fire from airth can’t burn it departed pale and puzzled, he was
nohaow !
’ ’
and three-quarters feet tall.
fully six
He was obviously quite mad. After Through all the years Wilbur had
a pause, during which the flock of treated hishalf-deformed albino
whippoorwills outside adjusted their mother a growing contempt,
with
cries to the altered tempo while some finally forbidding her to go to the
indications of the strange hill noises hills with him on May Eve and Hal-
came from afar off, he added another lowmass; and in 1926 the poor ci’ea-
sentence or two. ture complained to Mamie Bishop of
“Feed it reg’lar, Willy, an’ mind being afraid of him.
the quantity; but dun’t let it grow “They’s more abaout him as I
too fast fer the place, fer ef it busts knows than I kin tell ye, IMamie, she ’
’

quarters or gits aout afore ye opens said,“an’ naowadays they’s mbre nor
to Yog-Sothoth, it’s all over an’ no what I know myself. I vaow afur
use. Only them from beyont kin Gawd, I dun’t know what he wants
make it multiply an’ work. Only . . . nor what he’s a-tryin’ to dew.”
them, the old uns as wants to come That Hallowe’en the hill noises
back. ...” sounded louder than ever, and fire
But speech gave place to gasps burned on Sentinel Hill as usual, but
again, and Lavinia screamed at the people paid more attention to the
way the whippoorwills followed the rhythmical screaming of vast flocks
change. It was the same for more of unnaturally belated whippoorwills
than an hour, when the final throaty which seemed to be assembled near
rattle came. Dr. Houghton drew the unlighted Whateley farmliousc.
shrunken lids over the glazing gray After midnight their shrill notes
eyes as the tumult of birds faded burst into a kind of pandemoniae
imperceptibly to silence. Lavinia caehinnation which filled all the
sobbed, but Wilbur only chuckled countrjmde, and not until dawn did
whilst the hill noises rumbled faintly. they finally quiet down. Then they
‘
They didn ’t git him, he muttered
‘
’
’
vanished, hurrying southward wheio
in his heavy bass voice. they wei’e fully a month overdue.
Wilbur was by this time a scholar What this meant, no one could quite
of reallj^ tremendous eriidition in his be certain till later. None of the
one-sided way, and was quietly knovm countryfolk seemed to have died but —
by correspondence to many librarians poor Lavinia Whatelej', the twisted
in distant places where rare and for- albino, was never seen again.
bidden books of old days are kept. In the summer of 1927 Wilbur
He was more and more hated and repaired two sheds in the farmyard
dreaded around Dunwich because of and began moving his books and
certain youthful disappearances which effects out to them. Soon afterward
suspicion laid vaguely at his door; Earl Sawyer told the loungers at
but was always able to silence inquiry Osborn ’s that more carpentry was go-
through fear or through use of that ing on in the Whateley farmhouse.
fund of old-time gold which still, as Wilbur was closing all the doors and
in his grandfather’s time, went forth windows on the ground floor, and
regularly and increasingly for cattle- seemed to be taking out partitions as
490 WEIRD TALES
he and his grandfather had done up- with the aim of discovering a certain
stairs four years before. He was passage which would have come on
living in one of the sheds, and Saw- the 751st page of his own defective
yer thought he seemed unusually volume. This much he could not
worried and tremulous. People gen- civilly refrain from telling the libra-
erally suspected him of knowing rian —
the same erudite Henry Annit-
something about his mother’s dis- age (A. M. Miskatonic, Ph. D. Prince-
appearance, and very few ever ap- ton, Litt. D. Johns Hopkins) who had
proached his neighborhood now. His once called at the farm, and who now
height had increased to more than politely plied him with questions. He
seven feet, and showed no signs of was looking, he had to admit, for a
ceasing its development. kind of formula or incantation con-
taining the frightful name Yog-
5 Sothoth, and it puzzled him to find
discrepancies, duplications, and am-
T hefollowing winter brought an
event no less strange than Wil-
bur’s first trip outside the Dunwich
biguities which made the matter of
determination far from easy. As he
copied the formula he finally chose.
region. Correspondence with the
Dr. Armitage looked involuntarily
Widener Library at Harvard, the
over his shoulder at the open pages;
Bibliotheque National e in Paris, the
the left-hand one of which, in the
British Museum, the University of
Latin version, contained such mon-
Buenos Aires, and the Library of
strous threats to the peace and sanity
Miskatonic University at Arkham had
of the world.
failed to get him the loan of a book
he desperately wanted; so at length Nor is it to be thought [ran the text as
he set out in person, shabby, dirty, Armitage mentally translated it] that man
is either the- oldest or the last of earth’s
bearded, and uncouth of dialect, to
masters, or that the common bulk of life
consult the copy at Miskatonic, which and substance walks alone. The Old Ones
was the nearest to him geographically. were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones
Almost eight feet tall, and carrying shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but
a cheap new valise from Osborn’s heUveen them. They walk serene and
primal, undimensioned and to tis unseen.
general store, this dark and goatish Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth
gargoyle appeared one day in Ark- is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and
ham in quest of the dreaded volume guardian of the gate. Past, present, future,
all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where
kept lender lock and key at the college
—
library the hideous N
ecronomicon of
the Old Ones broke through of old, and
where They shall break through again. He
the mad Arab Alhazred in Dlaus knows where They have trod earth’s fields,
Wormius’ Latin version, as printed in and where They still tread them, and why
Spain in the Seventeenth Century. no one can behold Them as They tread. By
Their smell can men sometimes know Them
He had never seen a city before, but near, but of Their semblance can no man
had no thought save to find his way know, saving only in the features of those
to the university grounds; where, in- They have begotten on manhind; and of
deed, he passed heedlessly by the those are there many sorts, differing in
likeness from man’s truest eidolon to that
great white-fanged watchdog that shape without sight or substance which is
barked with unnatural fury and They. They walk unseen and foul in lone-
enmity, and tugged frantically at its ly places where the Words have been spoken
stout chain. and the Kites howled through at their Sea-
sons. The wind gibbers with Their voices,
Wilbur had with him the priceless and the earth mutters with Their con-
but imperfect copy of Dr. Dee’s sciousness. They bend the forest and crush
English version which his grand- the city, yet may not forest or city behold
father had bequeathed him, and upon the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold
waste hath known Them, and what man
receiving access to the Latin copy he knows Kadath ? The ice desert of the South
at once began to collate the two texts and tlie sunken isles of Ocean hold stones
 THE DUNWICH HOEEOR 491

w-liereonTheir seal is engraven, but who such a being the key to such blas-
hath seen tlie deep frozen city or the sealed phemous outer spheres. Whateley
tower long garlanded with seaweed and
barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, saw hoAv things .stood, and tried to
yet can he spy Them only dimly. 7d Shub- answer lightly.
Niggnrath! As a foulness shall ye know “Wal,
Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet
all right, way
ef ye feel that
ye see Them not; and Their habitation is abaout it. Maybe Ilaiward wun’t be
even one with your guarded threshold. Yog- so fussy as yew be.” And without
Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the saying more he rose and strode out of
spheres meet. Man rules now where They
the building, stooping at each door-
ruled once They shall soon rule where man
;

rules now. After summer is winter, and way.

after winter summer. They wait patient Armitage heard the savage yelping
and potent, for here shall They reign again. of the great watchdog, and studied
Dr. Armitage, associating what he Whateley’s gorilla-like lope as he
was reading with what he had heard crossed the bit of campus visible from
of Dunwich and its brooding pres- the window. He thought of the wild
ences, and of Wilbur Whatelej^ and tales he had heaixl, and recalled the
his dim, hideous aura that stretched old Sunday .stories in the Advertiser
from a dubious birth to a cloud of these things, and the lore he had
probable matricide, felt a wave of picked up from Dunwich ru.stics and
fright as tangible as a draft of the villagers during his one visit there.
tomb’s cold clamminess. The bent, Unseen things not of earth or at —
least not of tri-dimensional earth
goatish giant before him seemed like
the spawn of another planet or dimen- rushed fetid and horrible through
sion; like something only partly of New England’s glens, and brooded
mankind, and linked to black gulfs of obscenely on the mountain tops. Of
this he had long felt certain. Now he
essence and entity that stretch like
titan fantasms beyond all spheres of
seemed to sense the close presence of
force and matter, sjjace and time.
some terrible part- of the intruding
horror, and to glimpse a hellish ad-
Presently Wilbur raised his head
vance in the black dominion of the
and began speaking in that strange, ancient and once passive nightmare.
resonant fashion which hinted at
He locked away the N ecronomicon
sound-producing organs unlike the
with a shudder of disgust, but the
run of mankind ’s. room still reeked with an unholy and
“Mr. Armitage,” he said, “I calc’- unidentifiable stench. “As a foidness
late I’ve got to take that book home. shall ye know them,” he quoted. Yes
They’s things in it I’ve got to try
under sarten conditions that I can’t
—the odor was the same as that which
had sickened him at the Whateley
git here, an’ it ’ud be a mortal sin to farmhouse less than three years be-
let a red-tape rule hold me up. Let foi'e.He thought of Wilbur, goatish
me take it along, sir, an’ I’ll swar and ominous, once again, and laughed
they wun’t nobody know the differ- mockingly at the village rumors of his
ence. I dun ’t need to tell ye I ’ll take parentage.
good keer of it. It wa’n’t me that put “Inbreeding?” Armitage muttered
this Dee copy in the shape it is.
”
. . .
half aloud to himself. “Great God,
He .stopped as he saw firm denial what simpletons! Show them Arthur
on the librarian’s face, and his own lilaehen’s Great God Pan and they’ll
goatish features grew crafty. Armi- think it a common Dunwich scandal
tage, half ready to tell him he might But what thing —
what cursed shape-
make a copy of what parts he needed, less influenceon or off this three-di-
thought suddenly of the possible con- —
mensioned earth was Wilbur Whate-
sequences and checked himself. There ley’s father? Bom on Candlemas
was too much responsibility in giving nine months after May Eve of 1912,
492 WEIRD TALES
when the talk about the queer earth almost equally anxious to get home
noises reached clear to Arkham again, as if he feared the results of
what walked on the mountains that being away long.
May Night? What Roodmas horror Early in August the half-expected
fastened itself on the world in half- outcome developed, and in the small
human flesh and blood?” hours of the third Dr. Armitage was
During the ensuing weeks Dr. Ar- awakened suddenly by the wild,
mitage set about to collect all possible fierce cries of the savage watchdog on
data on Wilbur Whateley and the the college campus. Deep and ter-
formless presences around Dunwich. rible, the snarling, half-mad growls
He got in communication with Dr. and barks continued always in
;

Houghton of Aylesbury, who had at- mounting volume, but with hideously
tended Old Whateley in his last ill- significant pauses. Then there rang
ness, and found much to ponder over out a scream from a wholly different
in the grandfather’s last words as
quoted by the physician. A visit to
—
throat such a scream as roused half
the sleepers of Arkham and haunted
Dunwich Village failed to bring out
much that was new; but a close sur-
their dreams ever afterward such a —
scream as could come from no being
vey of the N ecronomicon, in those born of earth, or wholly of earth.
parts which Wilbxir had sought so
Armitage hastened into some cloth-
avidly, seemed to supply new and ter-
ing and rushed across the street and
rible clues to the nature, methods, and
lawn to the college buildings, saw that
desires of the strange evil so vaguely
others were ahead of him and heard ;
threatening this planet. Talks with
the echoes of a burglar-alarm still
several students of archaic lore in
shrilling from the library. An open
Boston, and letters to many others
window showed black and gaping in
elsewhere, gave him a growing amaze-
the moonlight. What had come had
ment which passed slowly through indeed completed its entrance for the ;
varied degrees of alarm to a state of
barking and the screaming, now fast
really acute spiritual fear. As the fading into a mixed low growling and
summer drew on he felt dimly that moaning, proceeded unmistakably
something ought to be done about the from within. Some instinct warned
lurking terrors of the upper Miska- Armitage that what was taking place
tonic valley, and about the monstrous
was not a thing for unfortified eyes to
being known to the human world as
see, so he brushed back the crowd with
Wilbur Whateley. authority as he unlocked the vestibule
door. Among the others he saw Pro-
6
fessor Warren Rice and Dr. Francis

T he Dunwich horror itself

tween Lammas and the equinox in
1928, and Dr. Armitage was among
came be- Morgan, men to whom he had told
some of his conjectures and misgiv-
ings; and these two he motioned to
those who witnessed its monstrous pro- accompany him inside. The inward
logue. He had heard, meanwhile, of sounds, except for a watchful, dron-
Whateley ’s grotesque trip to Cam- ing whine from the dog, had by this
bridge, and of his frantic efforts to time quite subsided; but Armitage
N
borrow or copy from the ecronomi- now perceived with a sudden start
con at the Widener Library. Those that a loud chorus of whippoorwills
efforts had been in vain, since Armi- among the shrubbery had commenced
tage had issued warnings of the keen- a damnably rhythmical piping, as if
est intensity to all librarians having in unison with the last breath of a
charge of the dreaded vohime. Wil- dying man.
bur had been shockingly nervous at The building was full of a fx’ightful
Cambridge anxious for the book, yet
;
stench which Dr. Armitage knew too
 THE DUNWICH HOKROK 493

well, and the three men rushed across anthropomorphic though its chest,
;

the hall to the small genealogical where the dog’s rending paws still
reading-room whence the low whining rested w^atchfully, had the leathery,
came. For a second nobody dai’ed to reticulated hide of a crocodile or alli-
turn on the light then Armitage sum-
; gator. The back was piebald with yel-
moned up his courage and snapped low and black, and dimly suggested
the switch. One of the three it is — the squamous covering of certain
—
not certain which shrieked aloiid at snakes. Below the waist, though, it
what sprawled before them among was the worst ; for here all human re-
disordered tables and overturned semblance left off and sheer fantasy
chairs. Professor Rice declares that began. The skin was thickly covered
he wholly lost consciousness for an in- with coarse black fur, and from the
stant, though he did not stumble or abdomen a score of long greenish-
fall. gray tentacles with red sucking
The thing that lay half-bent on its mouths protruded limply. Their ar-
side in a fetid pool of greenish-yellow rangement was odd, and seemed to
ichor and tarry stickiness was almost follow the symmetries of some cosmic
nine feet tall, and the dog had torn geometry unknown to earth or the
off all the clothing and some of the solar system. On each of the hips,
skin. It was not quite dead, but deep set in a kind of pinkish, ciliated
twitched silently and spasmodical- orbit, was what seemed to be a rudi-
ly while its chest heaved in mon- mentary eye; whilst in lieu of a tail
strous unison with the mad pip- there depended a kind of trunk or
ing of the expectant whippoorwills feeler with purple annular markings,
outside. Bits of shoe-leather and and with many evidences of being an
fragments of apparel were scattei'ed undeveloped mouth or throat. The
about the room, and just inside the limbs, save for their black fur, rough-
window an empty canvas sack lay ly resembled the huid legs of prehis-
where it had evidently been thro^vn. toric earth’s giant saurians; and ter-
Near the central desk a revolver had minated in ridgy-veined j)ads that
fallen, a dented but undischarged were neither hooves nor claws. When
cartridge later explaining why it had the thing breathed, its tail and ten-
not been fired. The thing itself, how- tacles rhythmically changed color, as
ever, crowded out all other images at if from some circulatory cause normal
the time. It would be trite and not to the non-human side of its ancestry.
wholly accurate to say that no human In the tentacles this was observable
pen could describe it, but one may as a deepening of the greenish tinge,
properly say that it could not be whilst in the tail it was manifest as
vividly visualized by anyone whose a yellowish appearance which alter-
ideas of aspect and contour are too nated with a sickly grayish-white in
closely bound up with the common the spaces between the purple rings.
life-forms of this planet and of the Of genuine blood there was none;
three known dimensions. It was part- only the fetid greenish-yellow ichor
ly human, beyond a doubt, with very which trickled along the painted floor
manlike hands and head, and the goat- beyond the radius of the stickiness,
ish, chinless face had the stamp of the and left a curious discoloration be-
Whateleys upon it. But the torso and hind it.
lower parts of the body were terato- As the presence of the three men
logically fabulous, so that only gener- seemed to rouse the dying thing, it
ous clothing coiild ever have enabled began to mumble without turning or
it to walk on earth unchallenged or raising its head. Dr. Armitage made
uneradicated. no written record of its mouthings,
Above the waist it was semi- but asserts confidently that nothing in
494 WEIRD TALES
English was uttered. At first the syl- missible to say that, aside from the
lables defied all cori’elatioii with any external appearance of face and
speech of earth, but toward the last hands, the really human elements in
there came some disjointed frag- Wilbur Whateley must have been
ments evidently taken from the iVec- very small. When the medical ex-
ronomicon, that monstrous blasphemy aminer came, there was only a sticky
in quest of which the thing had per- whitish mass on the painted boards,
ished. Those fragments, as Armitage and the monstrous odor had nearly
recalls them, ran something like disappeared. Apparently Whateley
n’gha’ghaa, bugg-shoggog, had had no skull or bony skeleton at ;

y’hah; Yog-SothotJi, Yog-Sothoth . least, in any true or stable sense. He

They trailed off into nothingness as had taken somewhat after his un-
the whippoorwills shrieked in rhyth- known father.
mical crescendoes of imholy anticipa-
tion .
7
Then came a halt in the gasping,
and the dog raised his head in a long,
lugubrious howl. A change came over
Y et all this was only the prologue
of the actual Dunwich horror.
Formalities were gone through by be-
the yellow, goatish face of the pros- wildered officials, abnormal details
trate thing, and the great black eyes were duly kept from press and public,
fell in appallingly. Outside the win- and men were sent to Dunwich and
dow the shrilling of the whippoorwills Aylesbury to look up property and
had suddenly ceased, and above the notify any who might be heirs of the
murmiirs of the gathering crowd there late Wilbur Whateley. They found
came the sound of a panic-struck the countryside in great agitation,
whirring and fluttering. Against the both because of the growing rum-
moon vast clouds of feathery watchers blings beneath the domed hills, and
rose and raced from sight, frantic at because of the unwonted stench and
that which they had sought for prey. the surging, lapping sounds which
All at once the dog started up came increasingly from the great
abruptly, gave a frightened bark, and empty shell formed by Whateley ’s
leaped nervously out the window by boarded-up farmhouse. Earl Sawyer,
which it had entered. A cry rose from who tended the horse and cattle dur-
the crowd, and Dr. Armitage shouted ing Wilbur’s absence, had developed
to the men outside that no one must a wofully acute ease of nerves. The
be admitted till the police or medical officials devised excuses not to enter
examiner came. He was thankful that the noisome boarded place; and were
the windows were just too high to glad to confine their survey of the de-
permit of peering in, and drew the ceased’s living quarters, the newly
dark curtains carefully down over mended sheds, to a single visit. They
each one. By this time two policemen filed a ponderous report at the court-
had arrived; and Dr. Morgan, meet- house in Aylesbury, and litigations
ing them in the vestibule, was urging concerning heirship are said to be still
them for their own sakes to postpone in progress amongst the innumerable
entrance to the stench-filled reading- Whateleys, decayed and undecayed,
room till the examiner came and the of the upj)er Miskatonic valley.
prostrate thing could be covered up. An almost interminable manuscript
Meanwhile frightful changes were in strange characters, written in a
taking place on the floor. One need huge ledger and adjudged a sort of
not describe the kind and rate of diary because of the spacing and the
shrinkage and disintegration that oc- variations in ink and penmanship,
curred before the eyes of Dr. Armi- presented a baffling puzzle to those
tage and Professor Rice but it is. per-
;
who found it on the old bureau which
 THE DUNWICH HOEROR 495

served as its owaier’s desk. After a shiver afresh with the fright that had
week of debate it was sent to IMiska- sent him flying home. iirs. Corey,
tonic University, together with the de- unable to extract more information,
ceased’s collection of strange books, began telephoning the neighboi’S thus;

for study and possible translation; starting on its rounds the overture of
but even the best linguists soon saw panic that heralded the major ter-
that it was not likely to be unriddled rors. When she got Sally Sawyer,
with case. No trace of the ancient housekeeper at Seth Bishop’s, the
gold with which Wilbur and Old nearest place to Whateley ’s, it became
Whateley always paid their debts has her turn to listen instead of transmit
yet been discovered. for Sally’s boy Chauneey, who slept
It was in the dark of September poorly, had been up on the hill to-
ninth that the horror broke loose. The ward Whateley ’s, and had dashed
hill noises had been very pronounced back in terror after one look at the
dui-ing the evening, and dogs barked place, and at the pasturage where IMr.
frantically all night. Early risers on Bishop’s COW'S had been left out all
the tenth noticed a peculiar stench in night.
the air. About 7 o’clock Luther “Yes, Mis’ Corey,” came Sally’s
Brown, the hired boy at George Co- tremulous voice over the party wire,
rey’s, between Cold Spring Glen and “Cha’ncey he just come back a-post-
the village, rushed frenziedly back in’, and couldn’t half talk fer bein’
from his morning trip to Ten-Acre scairt He says 01’ Whateley ’s haoiise
!

Meadow with the cows. He was al- is blowcd up, wdth the timbers
all
most convulsed wdth fright as he stum- scattered raound like they ’d ben djma-
bled into the kitchen and in the yard
;
mite inside; only the bottom floor
outside the no less frightened herd ain’t through, but is all covered with
wei'e pawing and lowing pitifully, a kind o’ tarlike stuff that smells
having followed the boy back in the aw'ful an’ drips daown olfen the
panic they shared with him. Between aidges onto the graoun ’ w'har the side
gasps Luther tried to stammer o\Tt his timWs is blow'ed aw'ay. An’ they’s
tale to Mrs. Corey. awful kinder marks in the yard, tew
“Up thar in the rud beyont the —great raound marks bigger raound
glen, Mis’ Corey —
thej^’s suthin’ ben than a hogshead, an’ all sticky with
on the blowed-up haouse.
stuff like is
thar! It smells like thunder, an’ all
the bushes an’ little trees is pushed Cha’ncey he saj's they leads olf into
back from the rud like they’d a the medders, w'har a great swath
haouse ben moved along of it. An’ wider ’n a bam is matted dao-wn, an’
that ain’t the w'ust, nuther. They’s all the stun walls tumbled every
prints in the rud. Mis’ Corey great
raound prints as big as barrel-heads,
— which way wherever it goes.
“An’ he says, says he. Mis’ Corey,
all sunk daown deep like a elephant as haow he sot to look fer Seth’s
had ben along, only they’s a sight caows, frighted ez he was an faound
;
’

more nor four feet could make. I ’em in the upper pasture nigh the
looked at one or two afore I run, an’ Devil’s Hop Yard in an awful shape.
I see every one was covered with lines Ilaff on ’em’s clean gone, an’ nigh
spreadin’ aout from one place, like as haff 0 them that ’s left is sucked most
’

if —
big palm-leaf fans twiet or three dry o’ blood, with sores on ’em like
times as big as any they is hed of — they’s ben on Whateley ’s cattle ever
ben paounded daown into the rud. senct Lavinny’s black brat was born.
An the smell was awful, like w’hat it
’
Seth he’s gone aout naow to look at
is araound Wizard Wliateley’s ol’ ’em, thoirgh I’ll vaow' he wun’t keer
haouse. .
.”. very nigh Wizard Whateley ’s!
ter git
Here he faltered, and seemed to Cha’ncey didn’t look keerful ter see
496 WEIRD TALES
whar the big matted-daown swath led place, atweeii the rock falls an’ Bear’s
arter it lefif: the pasturage, but he says Den.”
he thinks it p’inted towards the glen
rud to the village.
“I tell ye, Mis’ Corey, they’s B y that men and
of the
noon fully three-quarters
boj's of Dunwich
suthin’ abroad as hadn’t orter be were trooping over the roads and
abroad, an I fer one think that black
’
meadows between the new-made
Wilbur Whateley, as come to the bad Whateley ruins and Cold Spring
eend he desarved, is at the bottom of Glen; examining in horror the vast,
the breedin’ of it. He wa’n’t all hu- monstrous prints, the maimed Bishop
man hisself, I alius says to every- cattle, the strange, noisome Avreck of
body an’ I think he an’ 01’ Whateley
; the farmhouse, and the bruised, mat-
must a raised suthin’ in that there ted vegetation of the fields and road-
nailed-up haouse as ain’t even so hu- sides. Whatever had burst loose upon
man as he was. They’s alius ben un- the Avorld had assuredly gone down
seen things araound Dunwich livin’ — into the great sinister ravine; for all
—
things as ain’t human an’ ain’t good the trees on the banks Avere bent and
fer human folks. broken, and a great avenue had been
“The graoun’ was a ’talkin’ lass gouged in the precipice-hanging
night, an’ towards morhin’ Cha’ncey underbrush. It Avas as though a
he heerd the whippoorwills so laoud house, launched by an avalanche, had
in Col’ Spring Glen he couldn’t sleep slid down through the tangled
none. Then he thought he heerd growths of the almost vertical slope.
another faintlike saound over towards From beloAv no sound came, but only
—
Wizard Whateley ’s a kinder rippin’ a distant, undefinable fetor; and it is
or tearin’ o’ wood, like some big box not to be Avondered at that the men
cr crate was bein’ opened fur off. preferred to stay on the edge and
What with this an’ that, he didn’t git argue, rather than descend and beard
to sleep at all till sunup, an’ no sooner the unknoAvn Cyclopean horror in its
was he up this mornin’, but he’s got lair. Three dogs that Avere with the
to go over to Whateley ’s an’ see party had barked furiously at first,
what’s the matter. He see enough, I but seemed coAved and reluctant when
tell ye.Mis’ Corey! This dun’t mean near the glen. Someone telephoned
no good, an’ I think as all the men- the news to the Aylesbury Tran-
folks ought to git up a party an’ do script; but the editor, accustomed to
suthin’. I know suthin’ awful’s w'ild tales from DuiiAvich, did no more
abaout, an’ feel my time is nigh, than concoct a humorous paragraph
though only Gawd knows jest what it about it an item soon afterA’ ard re-
;

is. produced by the Associated Press.

“Did your Luther take aeeaount o’ That night everyone went home,
whar them big tracks led tew? No? and every house and bam w'as barri-
Wal, Mis’ Corey, ef they was on the caded as stoutly as possible. Need-
glen rud this side o’ the glen, an’ less to say, no cattle Avere allowed to
your haouse yet, I calc’-
ain’t got to remain in open pasturage. About 2
late they must go into the glen itself. in the morning a frightful stench and
The 3' would do that. I alius says Col ’
the savage barking of the dogs awak-
Spring Glen ain’t no healthy nor de- ended the household at Elmer Frj'e’s,
cent place. The whippoorwills an’ on the eastern edge of Cold Spring
fireflies there never did act like they Glen, and all agreed that they could
Gawd, an’ they’s them
Avas ereaters o’ hear a sort of muffled SAvishing or lap-
as says j’e kin hear strange things ping sound from somcAvhere outside.
a-rushin’ an’ a-talkin’ in the air Mrs. Frye proposed telephoning the
daown thar ef ye stand in the right neighbors, and Elmer Avas about to
 THE UUNWICH HORROR 497

agree when the noise of splintering nected with Wilbur and his grand-
wood bnrst in upon their deliberations. father.
It came, apparently, from the barn; Darkness fell upon a stricken
and was quickly followed by a hideous countryside too passive to organize
screaming and stamping amongst the for real defen.se. In a few cases close-
cattle. The dogs slavered and ci’ouched
ly related families would band to-
close to the feet of the fear-numbed
gether and watch in the gloom under
iamily. Frye lit a lantern through
one roof; but in general there was
force of habit, but knew it would be
only a repetition of the barricading of
death to go out into that black farm-
the night before, and a futile, ineffec-
yard. The children and the women-
tive gesture of loading muskets and
folk whimpered, kept from screaming
by some obscure, vestigial instinct of setting pitchforks handily about.
defense which told them their lives Nothing, however, occurred except
depended on .silence. At last the some hill noises; and when the day
noise of the cattle subsided to a piti- came there were many who hoped that
ful moaning, and a great snapping, the new horror had gone as swiftly
crashing, and crackling ensued. The as it had come. There were even bold
Fryes, huddled together in the sitting- souls who ])roi)oscd an offensive ex-
room, did not dare to move until the pedition down in the glen, though
last echoes died away far down in they did not venture to set an actual
Cold Spring Glen. Then, amidst the example to the .still reluctant major-
dismal moans from the stable and the ity.
demoniac, piping of late whippoor- AVhen night came again the barri-
wills in the glen, Selina Frye tottered
cading was repeated, though there
to the telephone and spread what news
Avas loss huddling together of families.
she could of the second phase of the
In the morning both the Frye and the
horror.
Seth Bishop households reported ex-
The next day all the countryside citement among the dogs and vague
was in a panic; and cowed, uncom- sounds and stenches from afar, wdiilc
municative groups came and went early explorers noted with horror a
where the fiendish thing had occurred. fresh set of the monstrous tracks in
Two titan swaths of destruction the road skirting Sentinel Hill. As
.stretched from the glen to the Frye before, the sides, of the road shoAved a
farmyard, monstrous prints covered bniising indicative of the blasphem-
the bar,e patches of ground, and one ously stupendous bulk of the horror
side of the old red barn had complete- whilst the conformation of the tracks
ly caved in. Of the cattle, only about seemed to argue a passage in tAvo di-
a quarter could be found and identi- rections, as if the moving mountain
fied. Some of these were in curious had come from Cold Spring Glen and
fragments, and all that survived had returned to it along the same path. At
to be shot. Earl Sawyer suggested the base of the hill a thirty-foot swath
that help be asked from Aylesbury or of crushed shrubbery and saplings led
Arkham, but others maintained it steeply upAvard, and the seekers
would be of no u.se. Old Zebulon gasped Avhen they saAV that even the
Whateley, of a branch that hovered most perpendicular places did not de-
about half-way between so^nidness flect the inexorable trail. Whatever
and decadence, made darkly wild sug- the horror Avas, it could scale a sheer
gestions about rites that ought to be stony cliff of almo,st complete verti-
practised on the hilltops. He came of cality; and as the investigators
a line where tradition ran strong, and climbed ai'ound to the hill’s summit
his memories of chantings in the great by safer routes they saAv that the trail
stone circles were not altogether con- — —
ended or rather, reversed there.
498 WEIRD TALES
It was here that the Whateleys used 8
to build their hellish fires and chant
their hellish rituals by the table-like T N THE meantime a quieter yet even
stone on May Eve and Hallowmass. more spiritually poignant phase of
Now that very stone formed the cen- the horror had been blackly unwind-
ter of a vast space thrashed aroupd ing itself behind the closed door of a
by the mountainous horror, whilst shelf-lined room in Arkham. The
lapon its slightly concave surface w'as curious manuscript record or diary of
a thick fetid deposit of the same tarrj' Wilbur Whateley, delivered to Miska-
stickiness observed on the floor of the tonic University for translation, had
ruined Whateley fai*mhouse when the caused much worry and bafflement
horror escaped. Men looked at one among the experts in languages both
another and muttered. Then they ancient and modern; its very alpha-
looked down the hill. Apparently the bet, notwithstanding a general resem-
liorror had descended by a route much blance to the heavily shaded Arabic
the same as that of its ascent. To used in Mesopotamia, being absolutely
speculate was futile. Reason, logic, unknown to any available authority.
and normal ideas of motivation stood The final conclusion of the linguists
confounded. Only old Zebulon, who was that the text represented an arti-
was not with the group, could have ficial alphabet, giving the effect of a
done justice to the situation or sug- cipher; though none of the usual
gested a plausible explanation. methods of cryptographic solution
Thursday night began much like seemed to furnish any clue, even when
it ended less happily.
the others, but applied on the basis of every tongue
The whippoorwills in the glen had the writer might conceivably have
screamed with such unusual persist- used. The ancient books taken from
ence that many could not sleep, and Whateley ’s quarters, while absorbing-
about 3 a. m. all the party telephones ly interesting and in several cases
rang tremulously. Those who took promising to open up new and terrible
down their receivers heard a fright-
lines of research among philosophers
mad voice shriek out, “Help, oh, my and men of science, were of no assist-

Gawd! ...” and some thought a ance whatever in this matter. One of
crashing sound followed the breaking them, a heavy tome with an iron
off of the exclamation. There w’as clasp, was in another unknowTi alpha-
nothing more. No one dared do any- bet— this one of a very different cast,
thing, and no one knew till morning and resembling Sanskrit more than
whence the call came. Then those who anything else. The old ledger was at
had heard it called everyone on the length given wholly into the charge of
line, and found that only the Fryes Dr. Armitage, both because of his
did not reply. The truth appeared peculiar interest in the Whateley mat-
an hour later, when a hastily assem- ter, and because of his wide linguistic
bled group of armed men trudged out learning and skill in the mystical
to the Frye place at the head of the formulse of antiquity and the Middle
glen. It was horrible, yet hardly a Ages.
surprize. There were more swaths Armitage had an idea that the al-
and monstrous prints, but there was phabet might be something esoter-
no longer any house. It had caved in ically used by certain forbidden cults
like an egg-shell, and amongst the which have come down from old times,
ruins nothing living or dead could be and which have inherited many forms
—
discovered only a stench and a tarry and traditions from the wizards of
stickiness. The Elmer Fiyes had been the Saracenic world. That question,
erased from Dunwich. however, he did not deem vital since ;
 THE DUXWICH HORROR 499

it would be unnecessary to know the script, emergeddefinitely and unmis-

origin of the symbols if, as he suspect- takably; and it became obvious that
ed, they were used as a cipher in a tlie was indeed in English.
text
modem language. It was his belief On the evening of September second
that, considering the great amount of the last major barrier gave way, and
text involved, the writer would scarce- Dr. Armitage read for the first time
ly have wished the trouble of using a continuous passage of Wilbur
another speech than his own, save per- Whateley ’s annals. It was in truth a
haps in certain special formute and diary, as all had thought and it was
;

incantations. Accordingly he at- couched in a style clearly showing the

tacked the manuscript with the pre- mixed occult erudition and general
liminary assumption that the bulk of illiteracy of the strange being who
it was in English. wrote it. Almost the first long pas-
Dr. Armitage knew, from the re- sage that Armitage deciphered, an
peated failures of his colleagues, that entry dated November 26, 1916,
the riddle was a deep and complex proved highly startling and disquiet-
one, and that no simple mode of solu- ing. It was written, he remembered,
tion could merit even a trial. All by a child of three and a half who
through late August he fortified him- looked like a lad of twelve or thirteen.
self with the massed lore of cryp-
Today learned the Aklo for the Sabaoth,
tography, drawing upon the fullest [it ran] which did not like, it being an-
resources of his own library, and wad- swerable from the hill and not from the
ing night after night amidst the ar- air. That upstairs more ahead of me than
I had thought it would be, and is not like
cana of Trithemius’ Poligraphia, to have mirch earth brain. Shot Elam
Giambattista Porta ’s De Furtivis Lit- Hutchins’s collie .Tack when he went to bite
ergrum Notis, De Vigenere’s Traite me, and Elam says he would kill me if he
des Chiffres, Falconer’s Cryptomen- dast. I guess he won’t. Grandfather kept
ysis Patefacta, Davys’ and Thick-
me saying the Dlio formula last night, and
I think I saw the inner city at the 2 mag-
nesse’s Eighteenth Century treatises, netic poles. I shall go to those poles when
and such fairly modern authorities as the earth is cleared off, if I can’t break
Blair, von Marten, and Kliiber’s through with the Dho-Hna formula when I
commit it. They from the air told me at
Kryptograpliik. He interspersed his
Sabbat that it will be years before I can
study of the books with attacks on the clear off the earth, and I guess Grandfather
manuscript itself, and in time became will be dead then, so I shall have to learn
convinced that he had to deal with one all the angles of the planes and all the
formulas between the Yr and the Nhhngr.
of those subtlest and most ingenious They from outside will help, but they can
of cryptograms, in which many sep- not take body without hmnan blood. That
arate lists of corresponding letters are upstairs looks it will have the right cast. I
ai’ranged like the multiplication table, can see it a little when I make the Yoorish
sign or blow the power of Ibn Ghazi at it,
and the message built up with arbi- and it is near like them at May Eve on the
trary key-words Imown only to the Hill. The other face may wear off some. I
initiated. The older authorities seemed wonder how I shall look when the earth is
rather more helpful than the newer cleared and there are no earth beings on it.
He that came with the Aklo Sabaoth said
ones, and Armitage concluded that
I may be transfigured, there being much of
the code of the manuscript was one of outside to work on.
great antiquity, no doubt handed
dovm through a long line of mystical Morning found Dr. Armitage in a
experimenters. Several times he cold sweat of terror and a frenzy of
seemed near daylight, only to be set wakeful concentration. He had not
back by some unforeseen obstacle. left the manuscript all night, but sat
Then, as September approached, the at his table under the electric light
clouds began to clear. Certain letters, turning page after page with shaking
as used in certain parts of the manu- hands as fast as he could decipher the
500 WEIRD TALES
cryptic text. He hadnervously tele- he could only mutter over and over
phoned his wife he would not be again, “But what, in God’s name, can
home, and when she brought him a we do?”
breakfast from the house he could Dr. Armitage slept, but was partly
scarcely dispose of a mouthful. All delirious the next day. He made
that day he read on, now and then no explanations to Hartwell, but
halted maddeningly as a reapplication in his calmer moments spoke of the
of the complex key became necessary. imperative need, of a long conference
Lunch and dinner were brought him, with Rice and Morgan. His wilder
but he ate only the smallest fraction wanderings were very startling in-
of either. Toward the middle of the deed, including frantic appeals that
next night he drowsed off in his chair, something in a boarded-up farmhouse
but soon woke out of a tangle of be destroyed, and fantastic references
nightmares almost as hideous as the to some plan for the extirpation of
truths and menaces to man’s exist- the entire human race and all animal
ence that he had uncovered. and vegetable life from the earth by
On the morning of September some terrible elder race of beings
fourth Professor Rice and Dr. Mor- from another dimension. He would
gan insisted on seeing him for a while, shout that the .world was in danger,
and departed trembling and ashen- since the Elder Things wished to strip
gray. That evening he went to bed, it and drag it away from the solar
but slept only fitfully. Wednesday system and cosmos of matter into
—
the next day he was back at the some other plane or phase of entity
manuscript, and began to take copious from which it had once fallen, vigin-
notes both from the current sections tillions of eons ago. At other times
and from those he had already de- he would call for the dreaded Necro-
ciphered. In the small horn’s of that nomicon and the Dcemonolatreia of
night he slept a little in an easy-chair Reraigius, in which he seemed hopeful
in his office, but was at the manuscript of finding some formula to check the
again before dawn. Some time before peril he conjured up.
noon his physician. Dr. Hartwell, Stop them, stop them ” he would
‘
‘
!

called to see him and insisted that he shout. “Those Whateleys meant to
cease work. He refused, intimating let them in, and the worst of all is
that it was of the most vital impor- left Tell Rice and Morgan we must
!

tance for him to complete the reading

of the diary, and promising an ex-
—
do something it’s a blind business,
but I know how to make the
planation in due course of time. powder. ...
It hasn’t been fed
That evening, just as twilight fell, since the second of August, when Wil-
he finished his terrible perusal and bur came here to his death, and at
sank back exhausted. His wife, bring- that rate . .
.”
ing his dinner, found him in a half- But Armitage had a sound physique
comatose state; but he was conscious despite his seventy-three years, and
enough to warn her off with a sharp slept off his disorder that night with-
cry when he saw her eyes wander to- out developing any real fever. He woke
ward the notes he had taken. Weakly late Friday, clear of head, though
rising, he gathered up the scribbled sober, with a gnawing fear and tre-
papers and sealed them all in a great mendous sense of responsibility. Sat-
envelope, which he immediately urday afternoon he felt able to go
placed in his inside coat pocket. He over to the library and summon Rice
had sufficient strength to get home, and Morgan for a conference, and the
but was so clearly in need of medical rest of that day and evening the three
aid that Dr. Hartwell was siimmoned men tortured their brains in the wild-
at once. As the doctor put him to bed est speculation and the most desperate
 THE DUNWICH HORROE 501

debate. Strange and terrible books raised up. Armitage, half stunned,
were drawn voluminously from the could only teleijhone for Rice and
stack shelves and from secure places IMorgan. Far into the night they dis-
of storage, and diagrams and formul® cussed, and the next day was a whirl-
were copied with feverish haste and wind of preiiaration on the part of
in bewildering abundance. Of skep- them all. Annitage knew he would
ticism there was none. All three had be meddling with terril)le powei’s, yet
seen the body of Wilbur Whateley as saw that there was no other way to
it lay on the floor in a room of that annul the deeijer and more malign
very building, and after that not one meddling which others had done be-
of them could feel even slightly in- fore him.
clined to treat the diary as a mad-
9
man’s raving.
Ox>inions were divided as to notify- P^RiDAY morning Armitage, Rice and
ing the ^tassachusetts State Police, ^ jMorgan set out by motor for Dun-
and the negative finally won. There wieh, arriving at tlie village about 1
were things involved which simi^ly in the afternoon. The day was pleas-
could not be believed by those who ant, but even in the brightest sunlight
had not seen a sami:)le, as indeed was a kind of quiet dread and portent
made clear during certain subse((uent seemed to hover about the strangely
investigations. Late at night the con- domed hills and the deep, shadoAvy
ference disbanded without having de- ravines of the stricken I’egion. Now
veloijed a definite plan, but all day and then on some mountain top a
Sundaj^ Armitage was busy compar- gaunt circle of stones could be
ing formulas and mixing chemicals ob- glimpsed against the sky. From the
tained from the college laboratory. air of hushed fright at Osborn’s store
The more he reflected on the hellish they Imew something hideous had
diary, the more he was inclined to hai>i>ened, and soon learned of the
doubt the efficacy of any material annihilation of the Elmer Frye house
agent in stamping out the entity and family. Throughout that afler-
which Wilbur Whateley had left be- noon they rode around DunAvich,
—
hind him the earth-threatening en- questioning the natives concerning all
tity which, unknown to him, was to that had occurred, and seeing for
burst forth in a few hours and be- themselves with rising iiangs of hor-
come the memorable Dunwieh horror. ror the drear bb’ye mins with their
j\Ionday was a repetition of Sunday lingering traces of the tari’y sticki-
with Dr. Armitage, for the task in ness, the blasphemous tracks in the
hand required an infinity of research Frye yard, the rvounded Seth Bishop
and experiment. Further consulta- cattle, and the enormous swaths of
tions of the monstrous diary brought disturbed vegetation in various places.
about various changes of plan, and he The trail up and down Sentinel Hill
knew that even in the end a large seemed to Armitage of almost cata-
amount of uncertainty must remain. clysmic significance, and he looked
By Tuesday he had a definite line of long at the sinister altarlike stone on
action mapped out, and believed he the summit.
would try a trip to Dunwieh within At length the visitors, apprised of
a week. Then, on Wednesday, the a i>arty of State Police rvhich had
great shock came. Tucked obscurely come from Aylesbury that morning
'

away in a comer of the ArkJwm in response to the first telephone

Advertiser was a facetious little item reports of the Frye tragedy, decided
from the Associated Press, telling to seek out the officers and compare
what a record-breaking monster the notes as far as practicable. This, how-
bootleg whisky of Dunwieh had ever, they found more easily planned
502 WEIRD TALES
than performed; since no sign of the homeward, anxious to bar themselves
party could be found in any direc- indoors despite the present evidence
tion. There had been five of them in that all human locks and bolts were
a ear, but now the car stood empty useless before a force that could bend
near the ruins in the Frye yard. The trees and crush houses when it chose.
natives, all of whom had talked with
’
They shook their heads at the visitors
the policemen, seemed at first as per- plan to stand guard at the Frye ruins
plexed as Armitage and his com- near the glen; and as they left, had
panions. Then old Sam Hutchins little expectancy of ever seeing the
thought of something and turned watchers again.
pale, nudging Fred Farr and point- There were rumblings under the
ing to the dank, deep hollow that hills that night, and the whippoor-
yawned close bj’’. wills piped threateningly. Once in a
“Gawd,” he gasped, “I telled ’em while a wind, sweeping up out of
not ter go daown into the glen, an’ Cold Spring Glen, would bring a
I never thought nobody ’d dew it with touch of ineffable fetor to the heavy
them tracks an’ that smell an’ the night air sucli a fetor as all three of
;

whippoorwills a-screeehin daown ’

the watchers had smelled once before,
thar in the dark o’ noonday. ...” when they stood above a dying thing
A cold shudder ran through natives that had passed for fifteen years and
and visitors alike, and every ear a half as a hiaman being. But the
seemed strained in a kind of instinc- looked-for terror did not appear.
tive, unconscious listening. Armitage, Whatever was down there in the glen
now that he had actually come upon was biding its time, and Armitage
the horror and its monstrous work, told his colleagues it would be suicidal
trembled with the responsibility he to try to attack it in the dark.
felt to be his. Night would soon fall, Morning came wanly, and the
and it was then that the mountainous night-sounds ceased. It was a gray,
blasphemy lumbered upon its eldritch bleak day, with now and then a
course. Negotmm peramhulans in drizzle of rain ;
and heavier and
tenebris. . . . The old librarian re- heavier clouds seemed to be piling
hearsed the formulae he had memo- themselves up beyond the hills to the
rized, and clutched the paper con- northwest. The men from Arkham
taining the alternative ones he had were undecided what to do. Seeking
not memorized. He saw that his elec- shelter from the increasing rainfall
tric flashlight was in working order. beneath one of the few undesti’oyed
Rice, beside him, took from a valise a Frye outbuildings, they debated the
metal sprayer of the sort used in com- wisdom of waiting, or of taking the
bating insects whilst Morgan un-
;
aggressive and going dowm into the
cased the big-game rifle on which he glen in quest of their nameless, mon-
relied despite his colleague’s warnings strous quarry. The downpour waxed
that no material weapon would be of in heaviness, and distant peals of
help. thunder sounded from far horizons.
Armitage, having read the hideous Sheet lightning shimmered, and then
diary, knew painfully well what kind a forky bolt flashed near at hand, as
of a manifestation to expect, but he if descending into the accursed glen
did not add to the fright of the Dun- itself. The sky grew very dark, and
wich people by giving any hints or the watchers hoped that the storm
clues. He hoped that it might be would prove a short, sharp one fol-
conquered without any revelation to lowed by clear weather.
the world of the monstrous thing it It -w'as still gruesomely dark when,
had escaped. As the shadows gathered, not much over an hour later, a con-
the natives commenced to disperse fused babel of voices soixnded dowm
 THE DUNWICH HOKROR 503

the road. Another moment brought tracks abaout as fast as could be; but
to view a frightened group of more begimiin’ at the glen maouth, AA’har
than a dozen men, running, shouting, the trees bed moved, they Avas still
and even wliimpering hysterically. .some o’ them awful i)rints big as
Someone in the lead began sobbing bar ’Is like he seen Monday.”
out words, and the Arldiam men At this point the first excited
started violently when those words speaker interrupted.
developed a coherent form. “But that ain’t the trouble naoAA"
“Oh, my Gawd, my Gawd!” the that Avas only the .start. Zeb here Avas
voice choked out; “it’s a-goin’ agin, callin’ folks up an’ eAmrybody Avas
an’ this time hij day! It’s aout it’s— a-li.stenin’ in Avhen a call from Seth
aout an’ a-movin’ this vei'y minute, Bishop’s cut in. His haousekeeper
an’ only the Lord knows when it’ll Sally Avas carryin’ on fit ter kill
be on ;is all! she’d jest .seed the trees a-bendin’ be-
The speaker panted into silence, side the rud, an’ says they was a kind
but another took up his message. o’ mivshy saound, like a elephant
“Nigh on a haour ago Zeb Wliate- pAiffin’ an’ treadin’, a-hcadin’ fer the
ley here heerd the ’phone a-ringin’, haouse. Then she up an’ spoke sud-
an’ it was IMis’ Corey, George’s Avife, dent of a fearful .smell, an’ says her
that lives daown by the junction. She boy Cha’ncey Avas a-sereamin’ as
says the hired boy Luther was aout haow it Avas jest like Avhat he smelt
drivin’ in the eaows from the storm up to the Whateley rcAvins Monday
arter the big bolt, Avhen he see all the mornin’. An’ the dogs Avas all barkin’
trees a-bcndin’ at the maouth o’ the an’ AA'liinin’ aAvful.
—
glen- oppo.site side ter this —
an’ “An’ then she let aout a turrible
smelt the same aAvful smell like he yell, an’ says the .shed daoAAm the rud
smelt when he faound the big tracks hed jest caved in like the .storm hed
las’ Alonday mornin’. An’ .she says bloAved it over, only the Avind Ava’n’t
he says they was a swishin’, lappin’ strong enough to dew that. Every-
saound, moi'e nor what the bendin’ body Avas a-li.stenin’, an’ ye could
trees an’ bushes could make, an’ all hear lots o’ folks on the wire a-
on a suddent the trees along the rud gaspin’. All to onct Sally she yelled
begun ter git pushed one side, an’ agin, an’ says the front yard picket
they Avas a aAvful stompin’ an’ fence hed jest crumpled up, thopgh
splashin’ in the mud. But mind ye, they Ava’n’t no sign o’ Avhat done it.
Luther he didn’t see nothin’ at all, Then everybody on the line could
only jest the bendin’ trees an’ under- hear Cha’ncey an’ ol’ Seth Bishop
brush. a-yellin’, tcAv, an’ Sally Avas shriekin’
“Then fur ahead AAdiere Bishop’s aout that suthin heavy hed struck the
’

Brook goes under the I'ud he heerd a —

haouse not lightnin’ nor nothin’,
awful creakin’ an’ .strainin’ on the but suthin’ heavy agin’ the front,
bridge, an’ says he could tell the that kep’ a-launchin’ itself agin an’
saound o’ Avood a-startin’ to crack an’ agin, though ye couldn’t see nuthin’
split. An’ all the Avhiles he ne\mr .see aout the front Avinders. An’ then . . .

a thing, only them trees an’ bushes an’ then .”

. .

a-bendin’. An’ AA'hen the SAvishin’ Lines of fright deepened on every

—
saound got Amry fur off on the rud face and Armitage, shaken as he Avas,
;

toAvai’ds Wizard Whateley’s an’ had barely poise enough to prompt

—
Sentinel Hill Luther he had the guts the speaker.
ter ste]) up Avhar he’d heei’d it fust “An’ then Sally she yelled
. . .

an’ look at the graound. It Avas all aout, ‘0 help, the haouse is a-cavin’
mud ail’ water, an’ the sky Avas dark, in’ . . an’ on the Avire we could
.

an’ the rain was Avipin’ aout all hear a tui'rible crashin’, an’ a hull
504 WEIRD TALES
flock o’ screamin’ . . . jest like when might be a shorter cut across lots.
Elmer Frye’s place was took, only How about it?”
wuss. ...” The men shuffled about a moment,
The man paused, and another of and then Earl Sawyer spoke softlj’’,
thecrowd spoke. pointing wuth a grimy finger through
—
“That’s all not a saound nor the .steadily lessening rain.
‘
squeak over the ’phone arter that. I guess ye kin git to Seth Bishop ’s
‘

Jest still-like. We. that heerd it got quickest by cuttin’ aerost the lower
aout Fords an’ wagons an’ raounded medder here, wadin’ the brook at the
up as many able-bodied men-folks as low place, an’ climbin’ through
we could get, at Corey’s place, an’ Carrier’s mowin’ an’ the timber-lot
come up here ter see what yew beyont. That comes aout on the upper
thought best ter dew. Not but what rud mighty nigh Seth’s a leetle —
I think it’s the Lord’s judgment fer t’other side.”
our iniquities, that no mortal kin ever Armitage, with Rice and Morgan,
set aside.” started to walk in the direction indi-
Armitage saw that the time for cated; and most of the natives fol-
positive action had come, and spoke lowed slowly. The sky was growing
decisively to the faltering group of lighter, and there were signs that the
frightened rustics. storm had worn itself away. When
“We must follow it, boys.” He Armitage inadvertently took a wrong
made his voice as reassuring as pos- direction, Joe Osborn warned him
sible. “I believe there’s a chance of and walked ahead to show the right
putting it out of business. You men one. Courage and confidence were
know that those Whateleys were mounting though the twilight of the
—
wizards well, this thing is a thing
;

almost perpendicular wooded hill

of wizardry, and must be put down which lay toward the end of their
by the same means. I’ve seen Wil- short cut, and among whose fantastic
bur Whateley’s diary and read some ancient trees they had to scramble as
of the strange old books he used to if up a ladder, put these qualities to
read, and I think I know the right a severe test.
kind of a spell to recite to make the At length they emerged on a muddy
thing fade away. Of course, one road to find the sun coming out.
can’t be sure, but we can always take They were a little beyond the Seth
a chance. It’s invisible —
I knew it Bishop place, but bent trees and
—
would be but there’s a powder in hideously unmistakable tracks showed
this long-distance sprayer that might what had passed by. Only a few
make it show up for a second. Later moments w'ere consumed in sinweying
on we’ll try it. It’s a frightful thing the ruins just around the bend. It
to have alive, but it isn’t as bad as was the Frye incident all over again,
what Wilbur would have let in if he’d and nothing dead or living was found
lived longei’. You’ll never know what in either of the collapsed shells which
the world has escaped. Now we’ve had been the Bishop house and bam.
only this one thing to fight, and it No one eared to remain there amidst
can’t multiply. It can, though, do a the stench and the tarry stickiness,
lot of harm so we mustn’t hesitate to
;
but all turned instinctively to the line
rid the community of it. of horrible prints leading on toward
“We must follow it and the way— the wrecked Whateley farmhouse and
to begin is to go to the place that has the altar-crowned slopes of Sentinel
just been wrecked. Let somebody lead Hill.
the W'ay —I don’t know' your roads As the men passed the site of
very well, but I’ve an idea there Wilbur Whateley’s abode they shud-
 THE DUNWICH HORROR 505

dered visibly, and seemed again to itsfocusing and use, they left the tele-
mix hesitancy with their zeal. It was scope with the frightened group that
no joke tracking down something as remained, in the road; and as they
big as a house that one could not see, climbed they were watched closely by
but that had all the vicious malevo- those among whom the glass was
lence of a demon. Opposite the base passed around. It was hard going,
of Sentinel Hill the tracks left the and Armitage had to be helped more
road, and there was a fresh bending than once. High above the toiling
and matting visible along the broad group the great swath trembled as its
swath marking the monster’s former hellish maker repassed with snail-like
route to and from the summit. deliberateness. Then it was obvious
Armitage produced a pocket tele- that the pursuers were gaining.
scope of considerable power and Curtis Whateley —of the undecayed
scanned the steep green side of the branch —
was holding the telescope
hill. Then he handed the instrument when the Arkham party detoured
to Morgan, whose sight was keener. radically from the swath. He told the
After a moment of gazing Morgan crowd that the men were evidently
cried out sharply, passing the glass to trying to get to a subordinate peak
Earl Sawyer and indicating a certain which overlooked the swath at a point
spot on the slope with his finger. considerably ahead of where the
Sawyer, as clumsy as most' non-users shrubbery was now bending. This,
of optical devices are, fumbled a indeed, proved to be true; and the
while but eventually focused the
;
party were seen to gain the minor
lenses with Armitage ’s aid. When he elevation only a short time after the
did so his cry was less restrained than invisible blasphemy had passed it.

Morgan’s had been. Then Wesley Corey, who had taken

“Gawd almighty,
the grass an’ the glass, cried out that Armitage was
bushes is a-movin It ’s a-goin up
’
!
’
adjusting the sprayer w’hieh Rice
slow-like —
creepin up ter the top this
’
held, and that something must be
minute, heaven only knows what about to happen. The crowd stirred
’
fer ! uneasily, recalling that this sprayer
Then the gei’m of panic seemed to was expected to give the unseen hor-
spread among the seekers. It was one ror a moment of visibility. Two or
thing to chase the nameless entity, three men shut their eyes, biit Curtis
but quite another to find it. Spells Whateley snatched back the telescope
—
might be all right but suppose they and strained his vision to the utmost.
He saw that Rice, from the party’s
weren’t? Voices began questioning
Armitage about what he knew of the point of vantage above and behind
thing, and no reply seemed quite to the entity, had an excellent chance of
satisfy. Everyone seemed to feel him- spreading the potent powder with
self in close proximity to phases of marvelous effect.
nature and of being utterly for- Those without the telescope saw
bidden, and wholly outside the sane only an instant’s fiash of gray cloud
experience of mankind. — a cloud about the size of a moder-
—
ately large building near the top of
10 the mountain. Curtis, who had held
the instrument, dropped it with a
N THE end the three men from piercing shriek into the ankle-deep
—
I Arldiam old, white-bearded Dr. mud of the road. He reeled, and
Armitage, stocky, iron-gray Professor would have crumpled to the ground
Rice, and lean, youngish Dr. Morgan had not two or three others seized
— ascended the mountain alone. After and steadied him. All he could do
much patient instruction regarding was moan half-inaudibly
506 WEIRD TALES
“Oh, oh, gi’eat Gawd that . . . . . . mentioxxed the circxxmstaixce the
that ...” croxvd seemed to hear a faint, half-
Thei’e was a pandemonimn of fpies- mxxsical soxxnd from the distance, as if
tioning, and only Henry Wheeler a loxxd chaxxt were accompanying the
thought to rescue the fallen telescope gestures. The xveird silhoxxette on that
and wipe it clean of mud. Curtis Avas remote peak mxxst have been a spec-
past all coherence, and even isolated tacle of infiixite gi'otesqxxeness aixd im-
replies were almost too much for him. pre.ssiveness, bxxt no observer was in
a nxooxl for e.s1hetic appreciatioix.
“ Bigger ’n a barn all made o’ . . .

squirmin’ ropes hull thing sort

. . .
“I gxxess he’s sayin’ the spell,”
xvhisperod Wheeler as he snatched
o’ shaped like a hen’s egg bigger ’n
anything, with dozens o’ legs like
back the telescope. The whippoor-
wills A^'ere pipiixg wildly, and in a
hogsheads that haff shut up when
siixgxxlai-ly curioxxs irregxxlar rhythm
they step nothin’ solid abaout it
. . .

— all like jelly, an’ made o’ sep’rit

(ixxiteuixlike that of the visible ritual.
Sxxddeixly the sxxnshine seemed to
wrigglin’ ropes pushed dost together
lessen xvithoxxt the interveixtion of any
. .great bixlgin’ eyes all over it
. . . .

discernible eloxxd. It was a veiy

ten or twenty maouths or trunks
peculiar pheixomenon, aixd was jxlainly
a-stickin’ aout all along the sides, big
as stovepipes, an’ all a-tossin’ an’
marked by all. A
I’xxmblixxg soxxnd

openin’ an’ shuttin’ ... all gray,

seemed bx'ewing beneath the hills,
nxixed strangely with a concordant
with kinder blue or purjxle rings . .

—
.

i-xxmbling xvliiclx clearly came from

an’ Gawd in Heaven that haff face
the sky. Lightxxing flashed aloft, and
on top! ...”
the woix dering cx-owd looked ixx vain
This final memory, whatever it was,
for the porteixts of storm. The chant-
proved too much for poor Curtis, and
ixxg of the men fx’om Ax’kham now be-
he collapsed completely before he
came xxnmistakable, aixd Wheeler saw
could say more. Fred Parr and Will
thx’oxxgh the glass that they wex’e all
Hutchins carried him to the road-
x'aising their ai’ms in the rhythmic
side and laid him on the damp grass.
Henry Wheeler, trembling, turned
incantation. Prom some farmhoxxse
far axvay came the frantic bax-king of
the rescued telescope on the mountain
dogs.
to see what he might. Through the
lenses were discernible three tiny The change in the quality of the
figures, apparently running toward daylight increased, and the crowd
the summit as fast as the steep incline gazed about the hox’izon ixx wonder. A
allowed. Only these nothing more. — purplish darkness, born of nothing
more than a spectral deepening of the
Then everyone noticed a strangely
unseasonable noise in the deep valley skj’’s blue, pressed down upon the

behind, and even in the xxnderbrush x’xxmbling liills. Then the lightning
of Seixtiixel Hill itself. It was the flashed again, somewhat brighter than
piping of xxnnxxmbered whippoorwills, befox’e, and the cx’owd fancied that
and in their shifill chorxxs thex’e it had showed a certain mistiness
seemed to Ixxi'k a note of tense and around the altar-stone on the distant
evil expectancy. height. No one, hoxvever, had been
Earl Sawyer now took the tele- using the telescope at that instant.
scope and reported the thi’ee figures The whippoorwills continued their
as standing on the topmost ridge, irregxxlar pxxlsation, and the men of
virtxxally level xvith the altar-stone bxxt Dxxnwich braced themselves tensely
at a considerable distance from it. against some imponderable menace
One he said, seemed to be
figxxre, with which the atmosphere seemed
I'aising hands above its head at
its surcharged.
rhythmic intervals; and as Sawyer Without warning came those deep,
 THE DTTNWICH HORROR 507

cracked, raucous vocal sounds which . . . h’yuli HELP!

. . . h’yuh . , .

will never leave the memory of the HELP! //—//—//—FATHER!

. . .

stricken group who heard them. Not FATHER! YOG-SOTHOTH! .” . .

from any human throat were they But that was The pallid group
all.
born, for the organs of man can jdeld in the road, reeling at the indis-
still
no such acoustic pen'ersions. Rather putably English syllables that had
would one have said they came from poured thickly and thunderously
the pit itself, had not their source down from the frantic vacancy beside
been so unmistakably the altar-stone that shocking altar-stone, were never
on the peak. It is almost erroneous to hear such sjdlables again. Instead,
to call them, sounds at all, since so thej’' jumped violently at the terrific
much of their ghastly, infra-bass report which seemed to rend the hills
timbre spoke to dim seats of con- the deafening, cataclysmic peal whose
sciousness and terror far subtler than source, be it inner earth or sky, no
the ear; yet one must do so, since hearer was ever able to place. A
their form was mdisputably though single lightning bolt shot from the
vaguely that of half-articulate toords. purple zenith to the altar-stone, and
They were loud loud as the rum- — a great tidal wave of viewless force
blings and the thunder above which and indescribable stench swept down
—
they echoed yet did they come from
no visible being. And because imagi-
from the hill to all the countryside.
Trees, grass, and underbrush were
nation might suggest a conjectural whipped into a fury; and the fright-
source in the world of non-visible ened crowd at the mountain’s base,
beings, the huddled crowd at the weakened by the lethal fetor that
mountain’s base huddled still closer, seemed about to asphyxiate them,
and evinced as if in expectation of a were almost hurled off their feet. Dogs
blow. howled from the distance, green grass
“Ygnaiih . . . ygnaiih . . . and foliage wilted to a curious, sickly
tliflthkh^ngha . Yog-Sothoth
. . . . yellow-gray, and over field and forest
rang the hideous croaking out of were scattered the bodies of dead
space. “Y’bthnk h’ehye . . . . . . whippoorwills.
n’grkdVlh ...” The stench left quickly, but the
The speaking impulse seemed to vegetation never came right again.
falter here, as if some frightful To this day there is something queer
psychic struggle were going on. Henry and unholy about the growths on and
Wheeler strained his eye at the tele- around that fearsome hill. Curtis
scope, but saw only the three gro- Whateley was only just regaining
tesquely silhouetted human figures on consciousness when the Arkham men
the peak, all moving their arms furi- came slowly down the mountain in
ously in strange gestures as their in- the beams of a sunlight once more
cantation drew near its culmination. brilliant and untainted. They were
Prom what black wells of Acherontie grave and quiet, and seemed shaken
fear or feeling, from what unplumbed by memories and reflections even
gulfs of extra-cosmic consciousness or more terrible than those which had
obscure, long-latent lieredity, were reduced the group of natives to a
those half-articulate thunder-croak- state of cowed quivering. In reply
ings drawn ? Presentlj^ thej' began to to a jumble of questions they only
gather renewed force and coherence shook their heads and reaffirmed one
as they grew in stark, utter, ultimate vital fact.
frenzy. “The thing has gone for evex’,”
“ Eh-ya-ya-ya-yahaah . . . e’yaya- Armitage said. “It has been split up
yayaaaa . . . ngh’auaa . . . ngh’aaaa into what it xvas originally made of.
508 WEIRD TALES
and can never exist again. It was an But Joe Osborn interrupted him to
impossibility in a normal world. question the Arkham men anew’.
Only the least fraction was really “What was it,anyhaow, an’ haow-
matter in any sense we know. It was ever did young Wizard Whateley call
like its father —
and most of it has it aout o’ the air it come from?”
gone back to him in some vague realm Armitage chose his words carefully.
or dimension outside our material
‘
It was
‘
— well, it was mostly a kind
universe; some vague abyss out of of force that doesn’t belong in our
w'hich only the most accursed rites of part of space; a kind of force that
luiman blasphemy could ever have acts and grows and shapes itself by
called him for a moment on the hills. ” other laws than those of our sort of
There was a brief silence, and in Nature. We have no business calling
that paxise the scattered senses of poor in such things from outside, and only
Curtis Whateley began to knit back very wicked people and very wicked
into a sort of continuity; so that he cults ever try to. There was some of
put his hands to his head wutli a it in Wilbur Whateley himself
moan. IMemory seemed to pick itself enough to make a devil and a pre-
up where it had left off, and the hor- cocious monster of him, and to make
ror of the sight that had prostrated his passing out a pretty terrible sight.
him burst in upon him again. I’m going to burn his accursed diary,
“OJi, oh, my Gawd, ihat haff face and if you men are wdse you’ll dyna-
. . that iiaff face on top of it .. .
. mite that altar-stone up there, and
that face ivith the red eyes an’ pull down all the rings of standing
crinkly albino hair, an’ no chin, like stones on the other hills. Things like
Ihe Whateleys ... It was a octopus, that brouglit down the beings those
centipede, spider kind o’ thing, but —
Whateleys were so fond of the beings
they u'as a haff -shaped man’s face on they were going to let in tangibly to
top of it, an’ it looked like Wizard wipe out the human race and drag the
Whateley’ s, only it teas yards an’ earth off to some nameless place for
yards acrost. ...” some nameless purpose.
He paused exhausted, as the Avhole “But as to this thing we’ve just
group of natives stared in a bewilder- —
sent back the Whateleys raised it
ment not quite crystallized into fresh for a terrible part in the doings that
terror. Only old Zebulon Whateley, were to come. It grew’ fast and' big
who wanderingly remembered ancient from the same reason that Wilbur
things but who had been silent here- —
grew fast and big but it beat liim
tofore,spoke aloud. because it had a greater share of the
“Fifteen year’ gone,” he rambled, out sideness in it. You needn’t ask
“I heerd 01’ Whateley say as haow how Wilbur called it out of the air.
some day we’d hear a child o’ La- He didn’t call it out. It ivas his tivin
vinny’s a-callin’ its father’s name on brother, but it looked more like the
the top 0 ’
Sentinel Hill. . .
” father than he did.”
.
 The Story Thus Far itas that of the doctor and wondered
EVEN huge black iron cubes have fallen on a idly where he had come from. With
S certain plateau in Peru, at intervals of four an effort I fought off my drowsiness
years. Dr. Frelinghusen, the earthquake specialist,
and his friend Dana, investigate the mysterious and attempted to sit up. A soft hand
objects from outer space, and find in one of them
a beautiful girl, named Aien, and the corpse of slipped behind my neck and aided me.
her father. Dr. Frelinghusen deciphers the diary It was Aien a sorry -looking and
;
of her father and finds that he had been a scientist
on a dying world, who had invented the iron troubled Aien with tear furrows
cubes to transport his people to Earth to save
them from death. The first cubes had been shot showing through the caked diist on
out to learn whether they could be landed success- her face.
fully on Eax*th. During a riot when the seventh
cube was to staii; out with a picked crew, the old
man and his daughter set out alone, the inventor
Her tears had been for me
dying en route. A large scouting party arrives in realization acted more swiftly
The
the eighth cube, and Aien*s brother is strangled in
sight of Aien, Dana and the doctor. The three than any tonic, and in a few minutes
hide from the gray-clad invaders from the cube,
but Dana, pinned in the wreckage of the cabin I was sitting up. They had relie\ ed
during an earthquake, is being slowly strangled
by one of the invaders, when he hears an explosion
me of the burden of debris which
and lapses into unconsciousness. pinned me down.

W
water.
HEN
I
I recovered my
became aware that someone
was bathing my forehead with
It splashed in my eyes and
ran down into my nostrils, choking me
senses,
“It was a close
the doctor,
“but
else.
’ ’
it
call, old bo5%” said
and then added grimly,
was a closer call for someone

He nodded significantly at a heap

of rubbish beside the spot where I
so that I gasped and sputtered. had been imprisoned. Prom a few
‘
That ’s enoiigh water he is coming
‘
: scraps of curiously colored cloth, I
out of it,” said a voice. I recognized identified the heap as the body of my
XUis story began in WBIKD XAJLES for March 509
510 WEIED TALES
late antagonist. The corpse had been watched. As nearly as I can describe
bunied and nearly dissolved into it, the edifice resembled nothing so
nothing-ness by some unknown weap- much as a huge cylinder with one end
on. I looked questioningly at the open to the sky. It had a bowl some
doctor. He shook his head. sixty feet in diameter and had
‘
‘
No, it wasn ’t I. I fancy you can reached a height already greater than
thank Aien for your life, Dana.” that.

With his help I rose to my feet and The doctor looked it over and
walked over to where our visitor was whistled softly under his breath.
standing. She was regarding the “They’re not losing any time, are
body of the shadow-man with seared, they?” he queried. “It will soon be
fascinated eyes. At my approach she up to us to do something or it will be
looked up quickly, and then, burying too late.”
her face in her hands, ran into the “What can we do?” I demanded.
adjoining room. Behind her on the
‘
In what way can we act ? Three of
‘

ground was the long, tubelike weapon us against at least a thousand, and
which I remembered the scout had we don’t even know what they are
leaned against the wall as he started trying to do.”
toward me. “But I have a very good suspi-
“Where were you, Doctor?” I cion,” said Dr. Frelinghusen. “Let
asked. us get something to eat first and then
“I’ve been busy, Dana, he replied, ’
’ —
we will plan out a course of I repeat
“and just arrived above ground in it —
a course of action.”
time to see her aim the tube. There We went into what had been the
was a flash as of a condensed light- adjoining room before the temblor
ning bolt and then all was over. But and there found Aien awaiting us.
tell me quickly what has happened Although her eyes were dry I noticed
here.
’ ’
that her lips quivered as we entered,
In a few words I related the and I judged it better not to say any-
happenings of the last few hours. thing at the time about the events of
When I had finished, he looked un- the afternoon. Not daring to light a
usually grave and questioned me fire, we squatted in the ruins of our
briefly about the apparatus which the dwelling and consiimed such food as
invaders had been constructing. I could be eaten uncooked. While we
told him as well as I could, and we satisfied our hunger I explained and
moved over to where a gap in the
.
enlarged on what we had seen early
wreckage gave us a clear view of the in the day.
open space surrounding the cubes. “You say the prisoner acted grieved
Although it was now nearing dusk, and sorrowful when he saw the body
the efforts of the workers were con- of the old man?” demanded the doc-
tinuing with undiminished ardor. I tor when I reached that point in my
dovibted if even the temblor had dis- narrative.
tracted their attention for more than I answered in the affirmative.
a few minutes. “Then I believe that I can throw
In the interval since I had observed some light on that particular portion
them last they had accpmplished a of the happenings of today, at least,”
seemingly incredible amount of work. he said. “The prisoner was excited
In the open space before the cube an because he saw the body of his own
immense stracture was now rearing father. The man you saw murdered
itself into the sky. Steel cranes was undoubtedly Aien’s own brother.
operating from doors half-way up the No wonder she wanted to go to his
’ ’
side of the cube swung huge masses rescue.
of metal into place even as we He reached over and patted her
 THE CITY OP IRON CUBES 511

shoulder as she sat beside us bravely “Precisely! Imagine, Dana, that

attempting to choke down a few mor- you are back in the days of the
sels of food,although she must have World War. You are intending to
felt that every bite would strangle seize enemy territory. What would
her. you do first?”
“And how do you Imow that?” I “I would send out a scouting
demanded. party, of course.”
“From the diary again. In it the “Of course you would. You see be-
inventor often mentioned his son and fore you a scouting party dispatched
assistant. I have been puzzled to from a dying world. Now suppose
account for his whereabouts, but the that this party entered the enemy’s
‘shadow-men,’ as you call them, of territory and found conditions suit-
course forced him to help in the con- able for a grand attack; in this case
struction of another cube and then suppose the}' discovered that the
made him come along to aid them in earth was habitable and free from
landing.” fierce inhabitants. What is the next
“And what else does your precious thing to do?”
‘
diary tell you?” I asked. “Does it Obviously to send a messenger
‘

tellyou the purpose of all that?” back to tell the forces to come on and
And I waved my hand at the swift consolidate the territory.”
and never-ending activity on the plain “But suppose a messenger isn’t
before us. practicable. Let us say that the
“It does, indeed,” he replied, “al- scouting party has traveled 100,000,-
though I believe I would have guessed 000 miles at a speed greater than that
it even though it had not. But come, of a falling body. What then?”
let us see how they are progressing “Then I would u.se some other
and I will tell you about it.” means of communication. Say wire
less or a rocket or a flare.”

N ight had descended upon the

plateau even as we ate. Night
but not darkness. From a score of
“Precisely.

more acute.
My boy, your intelli-
gence is rapidly becoming more and
That is just what our
vantage-points, powerful lights simi- friends, the enemy, are doing. You
lar to those we had observed in the see before you a giant searchlight or
interior of the cube were focused flare which at the proper moment will
upon the structure in the plain. A be touched off, signaling to skilled
softbut penetrating glow bathed the observers with a battery of telescopes
whole area in the center of the ring on another terrestrial body that our
of cubes. planet is ripe and ready for the pick-
“Do Ineed to enlighten you, ing. Can you imagine what will
Dana?” inquired the old man as we result ?
”
Avatched the work. “Doesn’t the The probability was appalling. I
very shape and structure of the ma- visioned scores and hundreds of such
chinery suggest something to you?” cubes descending at random upon an
“It might be a big gun emplace- unsuspecting world. I saw cities
ment,” I hazarded, “except that leveled as by a stroke of lightning. I
there is nothing to shoot at. It might saiv armies wiped out over night by
be a telescope or a huge searchlight strange and unknown weapons. I
or almost anything.” dreamed of a Avorld writhing in agony
“But the direction in which it is as it attempted vainly to fight off an
pointing! Man, can’t you see that it overwhelming and implacable foe.
is aimed at the sky?” ‘
Are you beginning to comprehend
‘

Intuition suggested to me a pur- what we are up against?” asked the

pose. “You mean it is
” doctor. Can you imagine the terror
‘
‘
512 WEIED TALES
and ruin and desolation facing our ing for their lost companion and I
earth if these men succeed in their believe they are suspicious of the
enterprise, gallant and adventurous cabin. It means that we must act to-
as it may seem ?
’ ’ ’ ’
night.
I nodded, feeling of my sore and “Act?” I repeated in exaspera-
torn throat as I did so. I felt small tion. “How can we act? areWe
sympathy for our “gallant” adver- three against a thousand. The most
saries. we can hope for is to escape with our
“Our eai'th is ah’eady becoming lives.”
overcrowded,” eontinued the doctor. “We may not accomplish even that
“Can yorr imagine it filled with the much,” he said, “but at least we can
teeming millions of a desperate and try. AVait for me here. I am going
alien race —
a race that is facing ex- into the cave iinder the cabin. While
tinction at home and is fighting with you are waiting, get together such
its back to the wall? Do you under- provisions as we three can carry. Get
stand what we are combating, rifles and canteens for the three of us.
Dana ? ’ ’
AVhatev'er you do, make no noise.”
I did indeed iinderstand, but the Halting my question with a wave
situation appeared hopeless. What of his arm, he hauled up the trap-
could we do? How could we interfere door and disappeared into the dark-
with destiny? ness, leaving me nothing to do but
I started to voice my query when obey his commands. Luckily, our
Aien’s hand clamped down across my supplies were grouped closely to-
lips. Uninterested in and not under- gether and had escaped the fall of the
standing our conversation, she had roof, so that I bad little difficulty in
been devoting more attention to her assembling the three packs. Water
surroundings than had the rest of us. was not plentiful, but I succeeded in
Now, in the darkness, I knew that she canteens from the pail we
filling three
had heard or seen something. What? had brought in only that morning.
I touched the professor on the arm Sensing my preparations, Aien
and felt that he understood. We aided me, and after a few minutes of
three sat motionless with our eyes and united efforts we foiuid oux’selves out-
ears strained to catch the slightest fitted as well as we could be for the
movement or sound. unknown perils which lay before us.
After a long time, I heard a slight Unable to do anything further, we
click as tho;igh metal had rasped sat down on the floor within arm’s
against stone. Our senses strained to reach of the trap and waited for the
the utmost, we sat peering into the return of the doctor. He was absent
darkness. Then a shadow flitted past for an interminable period. The hour
us and paused to peer at the wreck of grew later and later. Three times the
our hut. I raised my rifle and thi’eatening shadows of the enemy
covered it but was conscious of the approached our hiding-place so closely
restraining hand of the doctor against that I feared we were discovered. I
my arm. was confident that oxit in the night a
“For God’s sake, Dana, don’t silent but persistent watch was being
shoot,” he caiitioned. “You will kept over the rixins of the cabin.
ruin everything if you do.” Aien, beside me, fairly quivered
Motionless we waited, and after an ivith excitement, and despite the al-
endless interval of breathless silence most constant strain of the past few
the shadow moved on. —
days a strain which would have
“He will be back sooner or later,” —
crushed any earth woman I felt sure
whispered the doctor, “and there will she would play her part bravely dur-
be others with him. They are search- ing what was to come. She was a true
 THE CITY OF IRON CUBES 513

comrade, uncomplaining and un- “How?” I gasped.

afraid, despite the myriad dangers “Because nature is helping us,” he
which encompassed us. I wondered replied. “But hurry. We must leave
if, cast adi’ift on a strange and fierce this place instantly. Where are the
world in the midst of enemies who packs ?
’ ’

had slain my father and brother, I

Hidden was some
in the shadows, it
myself would have behaved as bravely. minutes before we found them. The
She was a good soldier. Impulsively doctor was fuming with an impa-
I felt through the darkness and tience so unusual that I was in some
possessed myself of her hand. She
made no resistance and for a time her
doubt as to his sanity —
especially so
in the light of his last statement.
fingers relaxed passively in my palm. At last we got imder way, and
Between us, as always when she was clinging hand to hand made our way
near, I felt pulsing the vital current, through the underbrush directly be-
the current of life and hope and hind the cabin. Familiar as he was
happiness, the current of love. For I with the terrain, the doctor guided us
loved her and had from the very first, in a straight line directly away from
when her white and suffering face the city of cubes and toward the rim
seen through the transparent doors of of the plateau. Despite his plea of
her cube prison had incited me to the urgent necessity for haste, I
rashness in an effort to relieve her forced him to move slowly and care-
distress. I felt that between us words fully.
were unnecessary and that she under- The going was rough and highly
stood my feelings perhaps better than dangerous. Stumbling through the
if I had voiced them. Yet she made darkness, we escaped outposts of the
no resistance! shadow-men only by miracles. Time
With a passion that I was wholly after time, I feared that all was lost
unable to withstand, I reached and that we were discovered. Then
through the night for her other hand at the last possible moment, fate
and caught her close to me. I felt would intervene and save us by a
her muscles tense as she lay in my hair’s breadth from being captured.
arms. Then, despite the darkness, It was the doctor’s fearful impa-
our lips met in a first kiss. tience which continually threatened
The sweetness of her sxirrender us with disaster. Again and again
dazzled me. Alone in the wreck of Avhen prudence dictated that we wait
the shattered cabin and surromided and reconnoiter, he pushed boldly
by the gray shadows of enemies, we ahead. A tiny knight-errant with his
knew a love such as falls to the lot of cocked rifle in his hand and his white
but few men and women. After a shirt gleaming like a torch, he vio-
moment I released her and bent over lated all the rules of careful cam-
as might anyUover, to kiss my lady’s paigning and yet escaped discovery.
hand. As we climbed higher and ap-
proached the rim of the plateau we

A BLACK shape looming beside us

recalled us to our senses. Auto-
matically I reached for my rifle and
came into the circle of reflection from
the huge lights in the circle of cubes
and our dangers increased a thou-
then realized that the shadow was Dr. sandfold.
Frelinghusen coming through the Once I paused to look behind us in
trap. amazement at what wms taking place.
“Dana,” he whispered, “I’ve done The immense cylinder had reached a
it. The scouting party is cut off from height of at least a hundred feet and
their main body. The star signal shall was obviously nearing completion. A
never be sent. We have won.” crew of the dark-clad worlonen
514 WEIRD TALES
swarmed toand fi’o, manipulating the Reversing our fire, the doctor and
giant cranes which swimg load after I concentrated our rifle fire on the
load of materials from the-cube to the light apparatus on the other side. It
cylinder. They worked with the seemed an eternity before Ave landed
frenzy of desperation. A hum as of a hit and saAv the glare vanish. There
a hive of giant bees came up to us Avas noAV a dark spot some two hun-
from the circle. The prodigious lights, dred yards Avide along the crest
directed a score of attendants, directly in front of us.
swung ceaselessly back and forth Snatching Aien in my arms, I ran
across the open space. Furnishing a as I hain never run before in my life.
background for the excitement were At the same instant, the shadow-men
the cubes themselves, gigantic mon- opened fire and I saAv the effects of
sters crouched, it seemed, in readiness their strange, noiseless Aveapons.
to spring. It was a veritable city — They were shooting what appeared
city of steel and iron, of potential
to be condensed electric current blue
desolation and death.
;

flame lightning bolts that burned,

“Hurry, Dana! Hurry!” The un- destroyed, obliterated eA’erjdhing Avith
guarded voice of the doctor sounded Avhich they came in contact. The dis-
from ahead of me. Obeying his com- charge Avas constant, more like ma-
mand, I turned and made my way up chine-guns than rifle fire. They
the slope after him, occasionally lend- played the bolts across our path as
ing a hand to help Aien over or firemen direct a hose.
around a fallen tree or a giant For a fcAV seconds Ave dodged back
boulder. As the brush cleared away, and forth between the flashes of
we ran forward recklessly to keep up death, playing hide and seek Avith the
with the doctor, who hurried as if en- rays. It Avas a hopeless battle.
dowed with the strength and speed of “It’s come!” screamed the doctor
twenty men. suddenly and stopped in his tracks.
In front of us, from the rim of “Lie down in this holloAV, we may
the plateau, I heard a shout. We had have a chance.”
nearly reached the edge. Disdaining Tossing the girl doAAm beside him,
further pretense of taking cover, Ave I covered her with my body. Behind
pushed boldly throiigh the last line of us, ill the valley, I heard a roar more
trees and faced the open expanse of immense and more threatening than
ground which led to the rim. anything I had ever heard before. It
But the Avay was barred! seemed that the end of the Avorld Avas
Ahead of us, at intervals along the come upon us.
crest, were placed searchlights, mini- I turned and looked tOAvard the
ature duplicates of the ones in use cubes. Where our cabin had stood
beloAv. Their rays covered every inch Avas now a sheet of solid flame reach-
of the edge of the plateau, preventing ing high into the heavens. Then the
either entrance or exit, unseen. burst of the explosion reached us.
Abruptly the doctor paused to drag “Pray God that it AA'orks, Dana,”
out his Avatch and light a match. begged the doctor. “Pray for the
“Dana,” he said quietly, “avc have future of the earth. Pray for the
just about three minutes. Shoot at men of our 0A\m race.”
their lights, and when they go out, It, Avhatever it was, Avorked. I felt
run for it.” beneath my feet the stirring of the
Sensing at last that our danger was earth. SloAvly it mo\’’ed at first as a
immediate, dropped on one knee
I tired demon awakens, then more
and opened on the nearest light.
fire rapidly, magnificently, resistlessly.
My firet shot scored a direct hit and I Avatched the little plain occupied
with a splutter the light went out. by the cubes. Beneath them the earth
 THE CITY OF IRON CUBES 515

was cracking and crumbling, twisting of the mountain toward the green
their iron frames and upending them woods, the rivers and the calm safety
as toy blocks are shifted upon their below. I never remembered when we
corners. Around the toy cylinder stopped sliding, to collapse in a tiny
in the center, the workmen were glen through which, untroubled by
grouped, struck motionless by the the catastrophe, a stream of clear
frenzy of a world gone insane. water trickled quietly.
Beneath their very feet the soil was The last that I recall was a sensa-
opening, cracking in immense slits tion of tumbling and falling down the
that widened into colossal valleys. moimtainside accompanied, as I Imew
Deep down in their depths I saw vaguely, bymy two companions.
liquid fire, the fires of hell come sud-
denly to earth. Then the entire pla- ONFUSEDLY, I realized that it was
teau tipped crazily, crumpling to- C morning, but my muscles, torn
wai'd the center. I saw a gigantic and racked by the experiences of the
funnel formed by swiftly revolving last few days, refused to function im-
mountains of earth. The funnel be- mediately. After a long interval of
came a maelstrom of dirt and rock half-awakening, I sat up wearily and
and metal down which was pouring in commenced to take stock of the rav-
a continuous stream the countryside ages of the night. IMy clothes were
we had known. torn almost to shreds and they were
Silhouetted sharply for an instant —
covered with blood ^my own blood, as
against the background of subterra- I well knew after looking at my
nean fires were the toy men of the ripped and torn flesh. I had cut my-
cubes and their puny contrivances, self in a dozen places as I forced a
one instant visible and then vanished way through the dense foliage for us
forever as they slid in a crumpled in that last mad scramble.
mass into the volcanic fires below. My two companions were in scarce-
I heard no noise. We were deaf- ly better condition. The doctor, worn
ened, all of us, by the initial crash of to but a shadow of his former self,
the doctor’s weapon, whatever it was. muttered and tossed as he slept the
The curve of the funnel rim was sleep of complete exhaustion. I found
broadening, reaching up toward us it difficult to realize that this was the
with gigantic, tentacle-like fingers. I man who a few short hours ago had
felt the earth slide beneath me. I was destroyed a thousand men and saved
gripped with the sensation of nausea. a world from war.
Trees and bushes uprooted themselves Of the three of us, Aien, who had
and fell to earth, or else poised sick- gone through the most, had apparent-
eningly with their roots in the air. ly suffered the least. True, her clothes
Down toward the maelstrom we slid were tom and covered with volcanic
onward to the inevitable end. dust but her sleep was deep and
And then, for perhaps no reason healthful. I noticed that the dark
at all, the particular plot of ground hair was drawn back carefully to
some two acres in extent on which we form a frame for her flnely chiseled
found ourselves remained poised on features and that her hands and face
the very verge of the precipice. were clean. I knew that she must
Too much exhausted to think or have awakened before the rest of us
reason, we somehow staggered to our and bathed herself in the icy waters
feet, and, dodging the chunks of of the brook.
metal which yet fell all around us As I watched her, a queer exotic
from the skies, we climbed the few butterfly fluttered up from the waters
hundred yards to the rim of the to perch for a moment upon one of
plateau and half fell down the slope her tiny relaxed little hands. In the
516 WEIRD TALES
clear gay sunlight the insect distended they had reason to be frightened, con-
and stretched its wings until, alarmed sidering their proximity to the plateau
at last by some vagrant breeze, it and taking into consideration the fact
fluttered away. that they must have witnessed some
The insect to me typified all that small part of the night ’s terrors.
the future held for both of us. After we had convinced them that
We had escaped. We were free. Life we were living and not dead, the old
was good and the earth, was young chief welcomed us in great delight.
again. I realized that I had never The doctor and he were apparently
really expected to escape from the city old friends; in fact, I am not sure
of the cubes. With me, as probably that he did not regard our companion
with my companions, it had been a as one of the immortals. Few men
mad gamble in which the cards were could have spent the past night on the
stacked before we began. plateau of Tahunjero and lived to tell
However, we were not yet completely the story.
in the clear. At any moment the rem- After they had tendered us the cus-
nant of the guards of the rim might tomary obeisances, the best that the
discover our hiding-place. I wondered village afforded was immediately
that they had not done so before. Al- placed at our disposal. Although we
ready the sun was high overhead. It were eager to escape at once from the
was time we were moving. region of our terrible experiences, we
Aien woke lightly as my hand decided to put off the start until the
touched her shoulder. Dr. Freling- next day because of our fagged con-
husen was more difficult due to his dition.
greater exhaustion. I started to speak We rested, therefore, and on the
to him, and to my surprize found that next morning, with our fatigue part-
I was unable to hear my own voice. ly overcome and with our voices and
The immense volume of that last ear- our hearing rapidly returning to
splitting crash had virtually deafened normal, we set out on our long trip to
me. I must have made a queer pic- the coast.
ture as I stood there before them
struggling to express my
thoughts.
However, my companions were too
near exhaustion themselves to wonder
D uring the journey. Dr. Freling-
husen was evidently reluctant to
speak of the happenings of that last
at my plight. The events of the past night on the plateau. Again and again
night and our subsequent relaxation when I endeavored to question him as
from the strain had left us all near to precisely what had happened, he
the breaking-point. changed the subject so obviously that
During our hurried descent of the I could not but take the hint. I came
mountain we had, of course, lost our at last to believe that the virtual exe-
packs and retained only our rifles. cution of so many human beings had
Preparation for our journey then was preyed on his consciousness and that
a mere matter of a hurried wash in he would never discuss the subject
the brook, and w'e were ready to start. again.
Personally I had no idea of the di- I was really too much engrossed in
rections, but the doctor started off my own happiness to wish to open up
without hesitation and followed the any subject bringing with it unpleas-
creek bed downstream. ant memories. For the first time in
Shortly after noon we entered the my life I was learning what the com-
Indian village from which a few days panionship and affection of an ideal
before a vaquero had departed to meet woman could mean. Aien and I dwelt
me in Lima. The natives were terror- in Paradise, and if sometimes she
stricken at our approach. No doubt grew sad and her gray eyes would fill
 THE CITY OF IRON CUBES 517

with tears, I understood that even explosion and then the earth caved
Paradise must have its sorrows and in.What caused it?”
that her thoughts were far away with “Enough trinitrotoluol to wreck
the loved ones whom she had left for- half New York,” he replied. “I sup-
ever. pose you may as well have the com-
She learned English with amazing plete story.
rapidity. Before we had left the “When I first saw the plateau near-
shelter of the mountains she was able ly four years ago, I had a suspicion
to converse in simple phrases and I that the cubes were hollow. I don’t
knew that before we reached Lima she know just what I expected to find in
would pass, except for her soft into-
nations, as a modern English or
—
them a message perhaps from some
other earth. I did not expect to find
American girl. anything like this.” He waved his
On the last night in the desert-,- as hand toward Aien. ‘
I sent out to the
‘

we grouped ourselves around the States for some high explosive, expect-
campfire, I determined that we must ing to blast the cubes apart atom by
decide at last on the story which we atom if it was necessary in order to
were to tell the world. Falling in with learn their secret. The TNT I packed
my plans, the doctor, for the first time, in by horseback. It was a hair-raising
seemed to have forgotten his melan- experience, I assure you.
choly and chafed Aien with almost his “I stored the stuff in the cave be-
old jovial manner. The omens were neath the cabin. The earth beneath
propitious and I decided to begin. our plateau was a veritable network
“Doctor,” I said, “I suppose you of tunnels, and I had no difficulty in
have guessed that Aien and I are to packing the explosive quite a way
be married as soon as we reach down. By the way, Dana, did you
’ ’
Lima. ever notice any peculiarity about our
“My boy,” he replied, “I did in- plateau ?
’ ’

deed guess it. Although I had hoped I nodded. “Of course I did. As I
to adopt her as my ward, I know of climbed the mountain for the first
no man to whom I would rather trust time I decided that the whole struc-
her. You have my heartiest con- ture was volcanic in origin.
’ ’

gratulations.” “You are right. The entire plateau

“Doctor,” I asked, “don’t you was a roofed-over volcano. It had
think that it is about time that we been roofed over for thousands of
decided on what explanation, if any, yeai's. But the molten lava and vol-
we are to give? How are you going canic substances were still there, alive
to this marvelous adventure
relate and powerful, deep down under the
and how will you account for her?” earth.”
And I gestured at Aien, who was “So when you exploded your mine
silently watching us. the roof caved in, did it?”
“Dana, for the past two weeks I “Something like that, although
have been thinking of that very prob- there was another contributing factor
lem. I don’t know. Every time I as well.” He picked up a specimen
recall the happenings of that terrible of tropical fruit shaped and formed
last night, I shudder and long to for- somewhat like an orange, and tapped
get it. I don’t know what to say or lightly on it with the hilt end of his
’ ’
do. knife.
Now was my opportuirity. “The action was much like this,”
“Just precisely what did happen?” he explained. “When I hit this fruit
I demanded. “It was never quite a single blow with the hilt, nothing
clear to me. First there was a gigantic happens. But if I hit it again and
518 WEIRD TALES
again, repeating my blows always “What is it?”
with the same force, the roof struc- “Tell me how you could interpret
ture finally weakens, and at last it the log of the old inventor? What
all caves in —
so.” And he tossed the methods did you use?”
pulpy remnants of the fruit aside. He shook his head. “Dana,” he
“In similar manner was the action said, “that is one of the questions
of our cubes. They were giant ham- whose answers I would wish to know
mers striking time after time at the myself. I did not interpret the book.
breast of old Mother Earth. At last It would be more exact to say that I
she weakened under the attacks the — read it. Dana, the log of the old
earthquake on the last day was an inventor was written in archaic Sans-
—
indication of that and when I help krit.
’ ’

a little with my comparatively tiny

‘
‘
What ? ” I stared at him in amazed
mine, behold! the hammer head is wonder.
buried, absorbed in the breast of the “Yes, Dana. I repeat it, the diary
mighty one. Do you see how it was in Sanskrit. Why, I do not know.
occurred, Dana?” Perhaps Aien does. Some day we
I nodded slowly. It was all very must ask her.”
simple now. And he left us to go to his rest.
‘
But what are you going
‘
to tell the
world?” I asked.
He
them
shook his head. “We will tell
nothing,” he said. “Those
L ong afterward I did ask her and
this is what she said
“My father was a gi'eat inventor,
foolish ones would never understand. yet he worked from the ancient plans
I am too old to waste my last days of someone who had lived long before.
explaining to idiots. And besides He copied his plans and wrote down
there is the little one. Would you his diary in that dead and vanished
wish to have her regarded as a freak, language of his predecessor, so that
a sideshow attraction for the delecta- none but he might read it.
tion of an interested and amused “The first inventor was a genius
civilization ? No, we will say nothing who has long been forgotten. The
and go our ways in silence and be legend relates that he became dis-
happy. Is it not better so?” gusted with his people and built the
He rose to his feet and started to —
cube built it and then vanished
first
his tent. into space accompanied only by a
“One question more. Doctor,” I woman.
called. “Answer it if you will, and “The name of the inventor,” .she
then we need never mention the said, “was Edam, and the woman was
’ ’
mystery again.” called Ev.

[THE END]
“Too late! There was a soft thud as the idol swung
into place.”

T HAD all been a tremendous destruction whose very name the na-
mistake.From the time we had tives feared to utter was rot; while
I Singapore on what was to
left
prove such a terrible chase, I had felt
the tales about the many who had
gone to seek this hidden loot never
that it was a colossal blunder. But —
to return that was nothing but ig-
the others had overruled my half- norant superstition — native fancy
hearted protests, inflamed as they with no basis in fact. Stuff and non-
were by money madness and treasure sense !

lust. But one thing could they think What did it matter that as far as
—
of that tremendous heap of rubies, they knew its devious trail, their in-
of wealth incalculable, the secret of formation had come a blood-spat-
whose whereabouts was at last in tered deadly way? That but gave
their hands. added proof of its genuineness. Men
What did it matter to them that have ever killed for far less than this
this was the treasure-house of a god? —
dazzling pile history was full of
They didn’t believe in heathen gods such cases and it would be so again.
— not they! Nor in the supernat-
—
;

They were positive of the truth

ural. Trickery ^that’s what it was, and reliability of their map with its
nothing else, and this talk of a god of ugly brown stains. They were just
519
520 WEIRD TALES
as sure of the information that had round that great room, and on the
been gasped out by that native priest red-lacquered beams above, seemed
as his life slowly welled from his to me oddly symbolic. That greatest
body, so terribly mutilated by native stone monstrosity of all, seated
vengeance just when he had almost above us in its niche, seemed a live
won clear away. And that informa- and sentient thing. It leered at me
tion had fired them with a madness through the flickering shadoAvs, its
there was no staying, even while it one eye folloAving me wherever I
chilled me with grim foreboding. moved until I was almost mad.
Perhaps I had been in the Orient too I begged and pleaded with my
long, had seen too much that could comrades to get out while there Avas
not be explained aAvay; perhaps too yet time, but they only jeered and
much sun and raw native liquor. shouted ribald comments. Forego
I was overruled, browbeaten, bull- the loot they had come so far to get?
dogged, until I gave in against my With success just around the corner?
better judgment. Never! To my entreaties that we
—
The trip up-river had been well, push on then at once, rifle the cache
and go Avhile the night was with us,
not exactly a pleasure, but then, not
so bad, either. I had done worse they turned a deaf ear. Tomorrow
many times. Things had gone AA'as time enough, they argued. No
—
smoothly ^too smoothly, I could see hurry now. It was much the best to
now. We had been led on like rats Avait until daylight before descend-
into a trap. ing below ground in this venerable
Step by step we had followed the relic.
trail as shown on that gruesome map, At last Ave lay doAvn, the six of us,
and as each item proved correct the and their snores soon proclaimed the
hopes of my comrades had risen the others asleep, but the longer I lay
higher while, oddly enough, my own the more Avide awake I became.
spirits had sunk the lower for I was Restlessly I tossed and tumbled then
scared — ;

I, who had shot my way out

;

in desperation I got up and crouched

of some mighty tight places and above the dying embers. Malevolent-
through some pretty rash adven- ly that eAul image glared down upon
tures —
I, who was never so cool as us. So sinister it was that I shud-
when the odds looked hopeless dered. When I could stand it no
here I shivered Avith dread while longer I picked up a brand, SAvung
things Avent so smoothly —
too it vigorously overhead until it
smoothly. blazed, and with this torch I clam-
We had cut our way throAigh the bered into the niche.
jungle after leaving the last outpost What I intended to do up there, I
of civilization, so called, the six of had not the remotest idea perhaps
:

us Avhite men all as brave and fear-

: there Avas a wild desire to hurl that
—
;

less a crew as you ever saw and as stone image into the dust I don’t
unprincipled. We had come upon the know. What I did instead, Avas to
ruined temple, almost swalloAved up thrust the blazing brand into the
by the ever-encroaching jungle, with corners and crannies, seeking eA^ery-
little or no ti’ouble. It lay just Avherc Avhere for I know not what.
Ihe map had indicated. And while the Aero.ss the face of the idol T SAVung
rest had jubilated OA'^er the easy con- the smoking flames, illuminating
quest, I had knoAvn nothing but sick eA’^ery holloAV above, but saAV nothing
di’ead, a vague terror that Avas none saA'e the dust of centuries, patched
the less real, oppressive, impending. and discolored by the. mold of tropic
Our campfire gleaming redly over damp. Then, my sanity returning in
the ruined moldering idols ranged some measure, Avith a muttered curse
 UP IRRIWADDY WAY 521

I turned and was about to throw the until the slow, dreadful end came.
brand back to the hard-packed earth- And, stop did not the natives give
!

en floor, but instead, thought better him the same name as this fearsome
of it and thrust the torch, with a image above us?
sardonic humor, into the figure’s But Jack’s paroxysms were grow-
clasped hands, into a hollow made ing more violent and his entire body
for the burning of incense. was tuniing an ugly mottled purple.
There! Let him sit once more as His eyeballs seemed straining from
he had sat in the heyday of his popu- their sockets and his back bowed as
larity, with the smoke curling about if it must break, while from his lips
his Satanic features. But now no burst the noise of a soul in torment
devout throng of worshipers grov- unutterable. The cold sweat of hor-
eled on the ground before him. In- ror stood damply on my brow and
stead lay five hard-bitten adventur- I was sick within.
ers sleeping the sleep of the just until Another unearthly scream, broken
the morrow, when they would wrest short by a harsh grunted oath as
from him his treasures, gathered Jeremy Sykes dropped beside him:
through the centuries and left be- a flash of .steel shone redly up, then
hind wdien his might had declined down in a shining are and cheated
into obscurity. that dreadful grinning monster be-
hind us of his last full measure of
\ BLOOD-CURDLING sci’cam bi’oke payment.
through my musings. One of “God!” breathed Bill Callaghan,
those five figures raised with a con- passing a shaking hand before his
vulsive start and fell back writhing eyes -while he drew a shuddering
in agony, while the others came to breath.
‘
‘
What hit him ? ’ ’

frenzied life with a bound and I pointed at that grinning image

gathered about him. I came tumbling above.
from the niche in a hurry. “Hell’s bells!” growled Jeremy
“Wot’s th’ matter, hi sye?” Sykes. “Nowthin’ of the sort.
growled Jeremy Sykes, while the Snake-bite. A
little red devil. No
others babbled in excitement not un- cure for it but an hour or so of what
;

mixed with fear. The sufferer, how- you saw Jack going thi'ough. Often
ever, was beyond answering. A enow I’ve seen it, and twice it was
bloody froth flecked his lips, drawn Gord’s mercy to pass th’ steel be-
back from his teeth in an animal- tween the ribs to end it. Ugh!”
like snarl his limbs threshed wildly
;
And he tiumed unsteadily away
as those horrible agonizing tremors while the others looked at me.
passed over him; his face turned a “It’s the truth,” I affirmed.
mottled, livid hue. “Steel is quick and merciful and no
One glance I took and knew the less sure. I’d thank anyone for that
worst. Of all venomous snakes and — choice if it ever came to me. Jeremy
they are myriad in that land the — did the best possible thing.
’ ’

smallest of them all is the most dead- There was no more sleep for us
IjL Scarce six inches long and red that night. We sat instead about
as hell-fire, his bite is the agony of another blaze which we had built at
centuries of the pit compressed into the other end of the room, furtively
a short half-hour: agony so great eyeing every moving shadoAV and
that sufferers have been known to studiously avoiding the dreadful
choose the merciful quickness of the figure that lay in the half-gloom
steel in preference, though too often staring sightlessly up into the niche.
they had no such chance, but bent One gone, I ruminated. One. So
and writhed in tortures unutterable soon and so terribly. Who would be
522 WEIRD TALES
next? For that more would follow agreed with me that save for a little
him I was sure. Deep within me I grille leading upward toward a dim
felt that as surely as I knew that I light no other opening existed.
was still alive. And those deaths, I “Damme, it must be here,” Peter
felt, would be just as terrible as this insisted.
first one, whatever form they might
take.
“Where?” I began. “We have
tried everywhere.”
The others laughed at my fore- “Maybe in the ceiling,” he be-
bodings. It was an accident, such as gan, and jumped up on the idol’s
might occur to anyone, anywhere. .spacious lap to investigate.
These old ruins, they pointed out, ‘
‘
Oh, nonsense ” I began.
!

were overrun with vermin. This “Hey, look out!” shouted Jeremy
land saw frequent violent deaths in as thehuge stone idol tilted slowly
.strange guises. Why, one in every foramrd.
ten died from the bite of poisonous Peter dropped off to one side, cat-
snakes I was an old granny, a
!
like, on all fours, and the idol .swung
superstitious fool. slowly back again.
“You’ve found it,” I shouted in
'^HE quick dawn put an end to our triumph. *

A arguing, and as the details stood “Pound what, you fool?” growled
out more and more plainly in the Jeremy.
grayness of that dim interior, the “The opening of the labyrinth.
night seemed more and more like a It’sunder the idol, of course. That
fantastic dream —
except for that big stone god tilts on a balance, and
horrible thing that lay, putrescent under it is the month of the treasure-
already, offensive and swelling, at house. I saw the steps leading
the far end of the idol room. With down. ’ ’

the light came the first bit of the “Aw, what bally rot!” from Jer-
day’s humid heat and in contrast our emy again.
trip underground promised relief. “Not at all. It had to be hidden,
We map again and stud-
got out the you know. What better hiding-place
ied it carefully. Above all things we than under several tons of stone?”
must not get lost in the labyrinth be- “But how ”
neath us. How extensive it was we “You saw how it worked. A
could not tell, nor did we want to man’s weight out on the knees of the
know, save as it led us to the treas- idol opens the way
”
ure we all felt was there. “And its own weight shuts it
“Le’see: we go down back
of that again, eh?”
big idol,” said Peter Drew, his “Certainly does. One of us has
it
stubby forefinger on the map. ‘‘We to stay outside to work it while the
must. They’s no other place in this rest go below. Or perhaps there is
room that fits the plan,” he argued some way to move it from the in-
as we objected. side. Here, Peter, open it again and
’
I ’ll go down and try to find out.
’
‘‘There’s no opening there,” I pro-
tested. “I was up there when Obediently Peter climbed up on his
when ” perch again, and slowly the idol tilt-
“Yeah, I know. But it was dark ed forward once more. Down, down,
then. You couldn’t see nothin’. The till Peter could stand upon the fioor
mouth of that underground passage and hold his weight about the fig-
just must be there. ure’s neck, leaving a yawning hole
’ ’

To settle the argument I led the through which we might easily enter.
way into the niche, and after look- Three times we tried the rocking
ing and prodding everywhere, they stone to make sure it would work
 UP IRKIWADDY WAY 523

without sticking before my com- now was settling slowly into place. I
panions let me go down gingerly into felt its cold rough edge graze my
the darkness. I counted fourteen shoulders as I scrambled out with
steps before I reached the bottom, Jeremy close behind me.
and the matches I lit showed me the A muffled curse, and in my swift
corridor sloping slightly downward backward glance I saw that Jeremy
before me. By their feeble flicker I had dropped one of his rubies. He
—
saw something else something that swept it up again almost without
made me shout aloud. pausing and was scrambling over the
“What Jock?” and Jeremy’s
is ut, edge. But that momentary pause
shaggy head was thrust into the was fatal. The huge block of stone
patch of light that marked the en- was swinging downward now at a
trance. terrific rate.
“Two skeletons, Jeremy,” I re- “Hurry, Jeremy,” I shouted, and
turned. “The poor must have
devils grasped his shoulders to drag him
come into this place and the idol from beneath that impending doom.
closed behind them, shutting them in Too late There was a soft thud as
!

to a miserable death,” I called as I the idol swung into place. A spasm

bent over them. “And wait
” crossed Jeremy’s face. I looked in
Into my voice crept such a note of dazed horror at the swift red spot
excitement that all but Peter Drew that grew and grew from about his
came scrambling down to me. No waist where he protruded from be-
doubt he, too, would have been there tween the stones.
had it not meant the closing of that Whei’e Avas Peter Drew, and why
massive door. had he not held the stone god down
By the flickering light of a candle away from the opening ? I wondered
or two that they had brought with even as I heard the sharp crack of
them, my comrades saw the proof Bill’s heavy revolver and some-
that the treasure we had come so far thing flashed past my shoulder in a
to find was still there. A’ivid streak of light. swiftMy
How long those two had lain there glance showed Bill lying flat on the
could not be told; a hundred years floor of the niche as cool as though
perhaps, maybe three times that he were at tiffin, the while he pumped
—
long long enough to rot away al- an occasional shot into the light-shot
most eveiy vestige of clothing. Yet gloom of the big room beyond.
one of those two had brought with And Peter’s failure to keep the
him from those treasure rooms below idol in place out of the opening was
indubitable proof that what we explained by the same glance, for I
sought was still there. Tucked into saw him lying on his face before that
his girdle perhaps, or in a purse long grim deity in an attitude of .si;ppli-
since gone to dust, he had brought a eation, arms outspread. Poor Peter
dozen or so of splendid rubies that His last act in this life From his
!

now gleamed redly from about the back protruded the handles of two
pelvis bones where they had fallen. of those terrible throwing-knives of
Each of them was worth a Iring’s which I had seen a few specimens
ransom. No wonder we shouted and down river.
scrambled for the precious bits of Poor, poor Peter Semper Fidelis
!

living flame. was the motto tattooed upon his mas-

A hoarse shout broke on our ears sive chest, and that he had been. Al-
that was Peter Drew It brought us
! ways faithful, yes, faithful unto
up those steps in a panicky run, sent death With his last breath as his
!

us scrambling into the idol room dying grip had loosened he had ut-
around the base of the idol that even tered the warning shout that had
524 WEIED TALES
enabled us all to escape from that little grille to which I had paid such
death-trap. scant attention on our first inspection.
All? No, not all. There was Jer- Fergus had thrust it partly aside
emy Sykes pinned under that loath- and he now crawled through it into
some stone, still alive, still conscious, the gloom. I hesitated to follow into
as I was surprized to discover. that dimly glowing opening that had
Too well I knew what had hap- swallowed him and now reflected the
pened when that stone settled into dim light as he crawled forward,
lighting matches as he went, or a
place with Jeremy only partly
through the opening. How long can candle perhaps. Then the light faded
a man live when he is mashed into
out entirely for a few moments, re-
two wondered? I had
pieces, I
appeared once more, and then grew
thought perhaps a few moments brighter as Fergus’ head came into
surely not as many minutes. Yet view, disheveled and dirty.
Jeremy seemed almost normal in “It leads beyond the temple wall
spite of that terrible thing, in spite into a thicket,” he grinned. “I
of that gruesome spreading red flood don’t think there is a soul about out-
about him. side, either. They must all be in
“I’m done,” he muttered thickly here. Tell Bill about it and we’ll
get going.”
as he caught my eye. “Get these
— —
stones ^to my wife you know ad- — “And leave all our outfit?” I be-
dress.
’ ’
gan.
I nodded. “If I get out of this “We get away with our lives, per-

alive I’ll do it, Jeremy,” I promised.

haps,” he pointed out. “Our outfit
isn’t much good to us if we are all
The filming eyes lit up joyfully.
dead, is it ? ”
“Thanks, old top,” he whispered. He crawled out to Bill’s side and
A deathly grayness was creeping they conferred earnestly together for
over his features and consciousness a moment. Then he was back again.
was fast departing. Death was com- “Come on,” he whispered. “Bill
ing almost like sleep. will hold themoff for a few moments
“Get down, you fool,” shouted before he follows us.”
Bill as another streak flashed past As I edged around the idol again
me, and once more Bill’s service re- I bethought me of my promise to
volver spoke. It was followed by a Jeremy and took from his stiffening
blood-curdling scream. dead hands the jewels that had cost
“Gutted him. That’s two,” Bill him his life, slipping them into one of
grunted in satisfaction. “I wish I the pockets of my shorts.
knew how many more are out there,
’ ’

he added as I
“Mois?” I questioned.
crawled up beside him.

“No. We’re too far north for their

H ow silent was the festering jun-
gle, as we crawled out into the
light once more ! Behind us we heard
range. Bandit looters from beyond the muffled reports of two shots, sul-
the northern border most likely. len and hollow, and a few moments
Damme, I missed him, as he
’
’
later Bill rose beside us.
pumped another shot at a half-seen “Got another,” he commented
figure. briefly. “Now let ’s
get out of here.
’

A sibilant hiss drew my

attention We movedas silently and as swift-
to our rear. Fergus was there beck- ly as possible toward the river, but
oning to me and I crawled swiftly we had gone only a few hundred feet
backward. when we heard a yell of baffled rage.
“I think we can get out through “They rushed the niche and found
here,” he whispered, pointing at the us gone, I guess,” said Bill as he in-
 UP IRRIWADDY WAY 525

creased his pace. “And in mighty ed even than that other. So as I

scant time those devils will be slipped along, my eyes were darting
swarming after us. The trail is CA’^erywhere. I stopped at last, so
’ ’
plain. abruptly that Fergus and Bill,
Five minutes passed five long — crowding me closely, bumped into
eternities while we made our way as each other.
swiftly and silently as might be to- “What’s the matter?” groAvled
ward where Ave hoped the river lay. Bill, his voice a mere Avhisper.
Behind us the jungle lay quiet and I pointed at the trail before us.
empty.
“I don’t see a thing but a leaf or
“They must have missed us,” tAvo,” he added and tried to push by.
Avhispered Fergus.
Roughly I pulled him back and,
“Don’t ever think it,” I retorted. stooping, I carefully lifted a large
“Those fiends are on our trail, never leaf from the path Avhile they eyed
fear. They’re slipping along as si-
me Carefully I picked up
intently.
lently as shadows and not far away
the thorn concealed beneath it, AAUth
right now. Perhaps they’ve even
its gummy message of violent death.
got ahead of us, some of them, trymg
Carefully I searched the ground for
to ring us in.” I cast an apprehen-
more. There were no more. It was
sive glance through the sun-splashed
alone.
gloom. We
stepped abruptly through
Bill’s face was Avhite, his eyes in-
a leafy tangle into a path or animal
run.
credulous. God Suppose we had ‘
‘
!

‘
Thank God ’ stepped on it,” he Avhispered
‘
muttei’ed Bill as he
!
’

quickened his pace. Fergus and I through stiff lips.

followed closely on his heels. “We “Death, eh?” Fergus’ voice was
might get away now, he continued. ’
’ steady but a glance at his eyes
“ If it ’s an animal trail, yes, I be- ’
’ show'ed that he thoroughly under-
gan. “If this leads to a village, no. stood the situation.
For it might be that the villagers are I nodded none too cheerfully as I
the ones Avho attacked us.” Avent on again more cautiou.sly than
“Speed is what counts now,” ever. Soon the path forked.
snapped Fergus, “not talk,” and he “Which way?” asked Bill.
pushed past Bill. Almost without a pause I turned to
“Something else counts most of to the left. The other path goes to
‘
‘

—
all something that neither of you a village,” I whispered. “And it
has got,” I growled as I jerked Fer- isn’t friendly. They Avant no vis-
’ ’
gus back and took the lead myself. itors.
Ais.swiftly as possible I moved for-
‘
How
do you knoAv 1
‘
’
’
Fergus Avas
ward, yet cautiously, too. Our at- frankly curious.
tackers might be ahead of us and it “You saAV that little bamboo lying
Avould be an ideal trick to ambush across the path, didn’t you?” I
us, slipping the steel into our de- asked, never turning my head.
fenseless bodies as we brushed past “That a plain Avarning.
is The path
some leafy covert. Not a pleasant is closed to strangers. Beyond
thought, that. it
”
Yet, somehow, I didn’t think they “More poisoned thorns, eh?” he
had passed us. Something within me finished quietly.
warned me of danger, yet I was sure “Yes, or worse,” I promised.
that any danger from them was in “This path, now,” began Bill.
our rear. But if this path led in- “Probably runs to the river,” I
deed to a village, there was before cut in. ‘
And if it ’s not a game trail
‘

there may be a boat. If not

”
us a silent danger more to be dread-
526 WEIED TALES
“If not,” Bill interrupted bruskly, I nodded as I swiftly took the trail
“I’ve got four more clips of ammu- again.
nition. How many have you ? ’ ’

“Six.” My eyes never left the P>ERHAPS our good luck made us
trail ahead.
-*•
careless certainly there was little
;

excuse for otir running into that am-

We crossed a glade, and as we en-
bush. The first I knew of it was see-
tered the jungle again Bill stopped.
ing one of those flashing throwing-
“Go on,” he directed. “I’ll join
knives streak past me. I ducked
you in a few minutes. I’ve had a
instinctively and so escaped the
feeling we were being followed.
’ ’

withering shower of slugs and scrap-

“So have I. It’s been getting iron discharged by an old smooth-
’
stronger and stronger, ’
said Fergus. bore muzzle-loader that let go almost
The place was ideal to stop those at the same instant. Fergus, just be-
we were confident were so hot on our hind, was not so fortunate. His hiss-
trail should they cross the glade ing indrawn breath told me he was
openly. Should they skirt it, how- hit, no less than his stagger. Bill’s
—
ever but I did not let my mind gun and mine exploded at the same
dwell on that. Bill was a sharp- instant, and a shriek answered their
shooter, and in any event he would reports, but whether it was a death
not go on the long trail alone. cry or not we couldn’t tell.
The path was leading downwai'd Fergus sank slowly to the side of
into a valley. We must be almost to the trail and a red tide dyed his tat-
the river. Our hick was still hold- tered shirt. Quickly I stooped and
ing. If there were a boat, now — got his arm about my neck, then lift-
heard the crack of Bill’s pistol ed him bodily the while I swung my
— —
once twice three times then si- — gun in my left hand in wide arcs
lence. Fergus stopped. covering the jungle before me.
“I’m going back,” he snapped. I Bill’s eager glances stabbed the
laidmy hand on his arm. green gloom about us, but the jungle
“No nse, lad,” I soothed. “Bill’s Avas still as death. He moved for-
all right. He stopped them, at any Avard close beside the trail like a
rate, whether he got any or not. And shadoAV, taking advantage of every
they haven’t got him. I’m sure. He bit of cover Avhile I followed with my
will be streaking it to us now. If he burden as well as I could. Fergus’
doesn’t
” breath came in painful gasps, but he
I didn’t finish, but Fergus’ face gritted his teeth and doggedly kept
grew grim as he nodded. on.
“You’re right, Jock. It wouldn’t It was utter foolhardiness for us to
do any good. But if he ” And advance so, but with enemies ahead
then Bill was with us again. and behind, desperate measures were
“Got another,” he jubilated. necessary. And such
a desperate
“Eight between the eyes. And play might succeed through its sheer
pinked another, I think. They’re unexpectedness.
Mongols, just as I thought raiders — So it proved. Bill got in one more
from the North.” shot at a half-seen figure that was
My face lighted. “Fine,” I ex- gone again in a flash, and, though we
claimed. “And they have a hostile craAvled along at a snail’s pace, we
village behind them.” saw ho others. Perhaps we had been
“By Jove, that’s right,” Fergus ambushed by so few that they had no
grinned. “And this racket is more chance in the face of our bold move.
than likely to bring the villagers out, Perhaps our one hit had destroyed
too.” their desire for combat at close
 UP IPRIWADDY \YAY 527

;
we saw no more
quarters at any rate and Ave tried together AA'ith no better
of them just then. luck.
The ground beneath our feet was Then the terrible truth struck
becoming a quivering jelly, a home to both of us. Fergus was held
swampy quagmire that betrayed the fast by that strange vegetable
river’s proximity. The gloom was groAvth on which he sat. His legs
even more pronounced, with an op- seemed half embedded in its rubbeiy
pressive quiet in the air, a sullen substance. But that was not the
foreboding. Despite the heat I shiv- worst. All about him, through those
ered. plant tissues was a red stain, deep-
On such treacherous footing I was est close to him and fading gradually
hard put to go on with Fergus, and away.
after several hundred feet of it I was I think I Avas the first to under-
almost exhausted. But the gloom stand. Some fcAV carnivorous plants
was lightening; the jungle was I had seen before, but not of such a
changing; we must be almost to the size or shape my experience having
;

river. been confined to Venus fly-traps and

could go no faTther. Re.st I must
I pitchei'-plants back in the dim days
my breath came in whistling gasps; of my youth.
I streamed perspiration. Chase or no “We’A'c got to free him from this
chase, I could go no farther. thing. Bill,” I said rapidly. “It’s
Close beside the path was a round not only holding him fast but it’s
rock about waist-high, and a short draAving every drop of blood out of
distance away a number of others of- him,” and I pointed to that darken-
ered an ideal resting-place as well as ing stain.
shelter should we be attacked. Bill “God!” gasped Bill as his nimble
stopped on the path, his glance dart- mind took it all in at a flash. He
ing incessantly about, every sense on heaved and tugged till his mighty
the alert, and I carefully eased Fer- thcAvs and sineAvs cracked. As Avell
gus onto the nearest rock not a — have tried to pull doAvn a vine-en-
tangled jungle giant bare-handed as
rock after all, but some kind of
spongy vegetable growth such as I to pull that yielding form from the
had never seen before. Warily I plant’s tenacious grip.
rocked on my feet, too spent to take “Cut him free AAdth your knife.
the few steps that separated this Bill,” I suggested.
growth from the others. Bill .
“I can’t,” he groaned. “I lost it
dropped back to us and the lines in craAvling out of the temple through
his face smoothed themselves mo- the passage.”
mentarily as he smiled. “I lost mine, too,” I admitted
hopelessly. Oh, for one of those
“We’ll makeit, old things,” he en-
‘ ’ ’ throAving-knives that had flashed
couraged. It can ’t be far now.
‘

past me not so long ago

Fergus’ chin slumped forward But Bill Avas heaA'ing and tugging
onto his chest his body sagged slow-
; again in a frenzy. In desperation he
ly toward us as I jumped for him. jumped upon that spongy mass,
He was perilously close to a collapse, stooped, and then lifted Fergus AAuth
though the Lord knows he had gone a firm gi’ip under his arms. Just
through enough to try even a well such a heave had I seen him make in
man. His face was gray, his eyes Singapore one day AA'hen he had lift-
closed. My arm about his shoulders, ed the end of a great tealcAvood tim-
I strove to raise him, but he seemed ber so they could take the crushed
made of lead. Again I heaved no — body of a coolie laborer from be-
result. Bill stepped to the other side neath it. But all in vain though he
:
528 WEIED TALES
heaved and tugged till I feared for can make the river, perhaps. Take
Fergus’ body, he never raised him an Fergus’ gun and ammunition and
inch; he merely sank his own feet his rubies. Here ’s mine. ’
’
He tossed
into the spongy mass to his anldes. me three flashing bits of flame.
And Fergus’ legs, I noticed, were “They’re yours, and welcome. I’ll
now almost buried in that frightful hold those de\ils back when they
plant, while the red stain had spread come as long as I
”
through its entire bulk. And Fer- He shuddered. I knew what he
gus’ face and arms "were turning a meant by that unfinished sentence.
sinister bluish color.
I shook my head in negation.
Oppressed by a sudden fear, I
“Go on, you fool!” he raged.
thrust my hand within his tattered “There’s none to mourn me. Good
shirt. I groaned. Fergus was dead. riddance to bad rubbish. The
Not the slightest tremor rewarded world’s the better for me leaving
my exploring fingers pressed over his it,” and he grinned wryly. “Per-
heart. It was stilled forever. haps I can do a little bit of good
“He’s dead. Bill,’’ I shuddered. now to offset all the bad. Go on,
“One of those slugs must have got old top, and good luck.” So in the
him worse than we thought and he end I was persuaded.
bled internally, or
”
Heavy-hearted I went foi’ward,
“Or this plant killed
devilish carrying with me the loot of two
him,” and then Bill’s face became a dead men and that of another who
tragic mask of terror. “ It ’s got me, faced horrible death and hopeless
too,” he screamed, while he strug- odds as I may some day hope to face
gled wildly to free himself from that them, unafraid and smiling.
deadly grip about his anldes. But A gun in each hand, I crept slowly
each violent struggle only sent him along that shaking, sucking path
the deeper into that yielding mass. that threatened each moment to dis-
Fergus’ legs had vanished entirely solve into abysmal ooze beneath my
into that horrid thing. He was en- feet —
onward to I knew not what, I
gulfed almost to the waist and sink- knew not where. Death, certain and
ing slowly ever deeper. Bill had terrible, was behind me where it had
sunk ankle-deep before he discovered already overtaken all of my com-
he was trapped, and his struggles to rades in most horrible forms. Would
free himself speedily sank him al- it get me too, I wondered? Would
most to his knees. the powerful long arm of that long-
forgotten, long-neglected god of de-

H elplessly, sick at
watched the hopeless struggle,
unable to help in any way. There
heart, I struction reach out even to me? In
my heart was a sick dread, and a
determination to do my best, what-
was nothing I could do bare-handed ever the odds.
no one to whom I could appeal for I made my way through the gloom,
help. The brigands behind us, the my eyes ever ahead, my ears turned
—
natives behind them all hostile, all backward to where that grim, ter-
seeking our death. rible thing was happening or was —
Bill was the first to recover his it all over? What a cowardly fool I
nerve. Face to face with a terrible had been to leave! Yet, perhaps I
and certain death that had already would have been a greater one to
taken his brother and was about to have stayed.
claim him, he nevertheless refused No, it was not all over yet. I
to yield after his first momentary heard Bill’s pistol cracking spiteful-
lapse. —
ly half a dozen times then after a
;

“Go on, Jock,” he urged. “You pause, another string of shots.

 UP lEKIWADDY WAY 529

Good old Bill A man

at the last,
! the faint light of that dense growth
whateA^er his faults. Going doAvn like until it seemed to gloAv like a monster
a hero, game to the very last, never jewel. While I Avatched, several more
giving up, even though the odds were of them appeared, rising above the
overwhelming. lu.sh jungle groAvth and bobbing
My mind was engrossed over what gracefully above the path I had come.
Avas behind me when it should have Odd hoAV such trivial things should
been most concerned Avith what lay register on my mind in this ex-
ahead. That is my only excuse for tremity.
Avhat happened. The path dissolved SloAvly I sank into the slime
suddenly into nothingness I .scram- ;
—
waist-deep then more sloAvly yet
bled madly for another precarious until that filthy mess was up about
foot-hold half turned, and began
;
my chest. But so sloAvly now was I
sinking sloAvly into that deadly muck sinking that 1 could scarce tell it.
— sinking to a death no less terrible, The minutes dragged endlessly by;
no less certain than those others had each seemed like an eternity.
been. Would they never come, I Avon-
I felt the muck creeping .slowly dered, after Avhat seemed years of
and steadily upAvard. Already ray waiting? Had Bill’s last fusillade
tlioughts pictui’ed its constricting beaten them off for good? I think
Hutch about my chest, its deadly I really hoped for the bandits’ com-
entry into my throat and lungs. ing; anything was better than this
Ugh! What a Avay to die —unseen, sloAv,horrible approach of death,
unheeded alone and unheeded.
But Avait! Perhaps there was a Again and again I twisted my head
more merciful death even noAv creep- around to vieAvthat path along Avhieh
ing along that path behind me. I I had come, but it Avas utterl3'- Avith-
strained my eyes through the semi- out movement .save for the .swaying
gloom, hoping to see the .skulking and bobbing of those lustrous blue
forms of the bandits. Better the globes above the rank, steaming
merciful crash of a destroying bullet jungle groAvth.
or the stabbing pain of one of thos^
deadly kniA'es than this slow, sucking '’T^EN more minutes passed or per- —
horror about me. haps it Avas an hour T don’t —
Knee-deep already, I made no use- know. The ooze had risen no higher.
less moves that might drive me down Though I felt nothing solid beneath
the faster. Though death seemed cer- my feet, I had failed to sink any
tain, I Avould not give up hope until deeper; I mu.st be floating in that
the last. My guns in my hands, I semi-fluid mess. My heart rose at
Avould go doAvn shooting if the enemy the discovery, yet my reason told
—
came. Tf not well, I Avould go down me that it meant nothing: I Avas
anyAvay, perhaps Avith a last mercy helpless unless assistance of some
bullet from my OAvn hand. sort arrived. Though I might not
What Avas that movement back suffocate under that filthy ooze, I
there along the trail? Had they Avas doomed no less .surely.
caught up so soon? Yet, it couldn’t I felt, rather than saAV, a move-
be. It might be monkeys, perhaps, in ment beside the path my quickened
;

the trees above the trail humans ;

senses warned me that my pursuers
Avere hardly likely to come so. had arrived. By straining to the ut-
Dimly thi’OAigh the oppressive most I could swing my arm around
gloom I made out a round, brilliant so that my gun commanded the path.
blue globe SAvaying at the end of a Carefully I sighted into the thick of
slender stalk and gathering to itself that dense growth ; blindly I pressed
W, T.—
-V
530 WEIRD TALES
the triggei’, and the spiteful crack of sink into its depths still struggling
my revolver broke through that madly and screaming eerily at the
brooding oppressive silence, to echo top of their singsong voices.
and re-echo against the thick leafy In God’s name, what had happened
growth that hemmed me in. there? Another dropped across the
I saw the bullet shatter one of path, writhing in agony, aiad yet an-
those bobbing blue globes; saw the othei’. In all directions they sprang,
shattered shards drop, followed by colliding blindly with the jungle
a blue smokelike cloud of dust that growths, slipping heedlessly off the
settled slowly. Again I fired, aiming path to sink into that deadly .slime,
blindly, and yet a third time, but or dropping in their tracks to lie
the onlj^ tangible result was the threshing with pain. One huge, half-
shattering of yet more of those odd naked fiend sprang directly toward
things, followed by other clouds of me, dropping into the ooze only a
that blue dust that sank slowly out few feet away, where he twisted and
of sight behind that luxuriant jungle clawed blindly.
growth, spreading as it dropped. As I w'atched his death agonies my
Had I imagined the presence of an dazed mind dimly grasped its stu-
enemy ? W ere my senses giving way pendous horror. My bullets had not
under the strain of this terrible or- gone so wild as I had expected after
deal? It would seem so. The jungle all. True, I had hit no human body,
was as motionless as ever. Not a but I had loosed upon these cut-
sound, not a movement betrayed the throats something more deadly for
proximity of man. Ah, I had it! them than mere bullets. Those slow-
They hadn ’t seen me yet they were
;
ly sinking, spreading blue clouds
trying to locate me. had dropped upon their naked
—
A scream rang out wild, inarticu- bodies, unnoticed perhaps, but only
late with fear, with agony. And hard so for a few moments.
on its echoes the jungle wmke to life Dustlike spores they must have
with a chorus of them; the doath- been, of some gigantic fungi un-
still growth sprang
to motion as half known to science, growing in that
a score of frenzied figures broke out almost unknown land; another of
into the path. those terrible carnivorous plants
It was the end, myself
I told such as had laid hold of Bill and his
grimly, the last charge
desperate brother a short while before or was —
that must surely overwhelm me. it ages ago?
Very well. Let them come. It was The gleaming yellow body so close
at least a relief after all these to me was stilled now; its struggles
horrors. I was ready to die. But I Avere over. Even as I Avatched, a
would not go alone. I would hold terrible change was going on —
my bullets until I could make them change that my mind refused almost
all count. There would be plenty to to believe. SAviftly its color Avas
join me as I took that last long trail. changing from yelloAv to blue. Its
But it was not the rush of an at- outlines grew indistinct. The upper
tack after all. These terror-stricken part of the torso seemed dissolving
Chinese half-castes were too utterly into a mass of little tentacles that
demoralized to think of anything but grew rapidly and stretched upAvard
—
blind flight flight in any direction in a compact group. Higher and
in their frenzied efforts to get away higher they rose until they stood a
from that accursed spot. "While I foot above the level of the morass
watched I saw two of them pushed —
two feet three And now from
.

headlong from the path into that among them were pu.shing up color-
morass that hedged it so closely, to less spikes that gleamed Avhitely as
 UP IRRIWADDY WAY 531

they rose swiftly. Up, up, up, until ly at the viscous unresisting filth
only by straining my head backward that held me there, until at last
with all my might could I see their reason fled.
tips.
Their upward growth was stopped, ''IXThat happened after that I
yet they seemed still in motion. The ^ could dimly reconstruct Avhen,
»

rods Ayere becoming more slender, I knoAV not hoAV long after, I woke
the tips were thickening rapidly. once more to reason Avithin the high
Now the whiteness of them was latticework hut of a native village.
changing to a deep glistening blue So weak that the slightest move took
and the thickened tips were becom- prodigious effort, I opened my eyes
ing those glistening blue globes I had to the blazing sunlight and stupidly
seen rising above the jungle growth, Avatched a native Avoman busy at her
while the compact mass of tentacles mud hearth preparing a meal. She
at their base was assuming a wilted, turned and smiled as she saAv my
shidveled appearance, to fall over at eyes upon her, calling in her musical
last, a putrescent mass, upon what A'oice while the hut shook as some-
had once been a human body vibrant one climbed the ladder without and
Avith life. Only upon the path I saw a man entered a golden-hued native
;

the leg lying of what had so short a like the many I haA'e met in that
time before been a man. upland country.
Dimly in the back of my mind For many days I dwelt Avith them,
some memory Avas struggling toward slowly regaining strength under
their ministrations, until at last I
the surface of its consciousness. In
my school days, in my youth I had could travel again. From that hut,
watched slimes and molds under the one of the pitiful feAv that formed
high-powered microscope and had the village, under the guidance of the
native, I made my way back to the
seen those tiny infinitesimal growths
complete their life cycle so. But Irriwaddy and the trader’s landing.
they had been tiny growths, frac- Of the scene on that jungle path
tional parts of an inch in height
or the ruined temple with its for-
never such monstrosities as these. gotten treasure they could not or
And their similar upthrust sporangia would not tell me. Nor Avould they
held in their shells the dustlike talk of my rescue. I surmised that
spores of another such life circle, the man had come along that path
of sucking, treacherous death and
even as these bhte globes that bobbed
about in the air above me. had plucked my unconscious body
from its slimy embrace, bringing me
So far I reasoned, when like a to the village. Of my giins or the
flash, my own danger came to me. rubies there was no sign they must
These spore-eases bobbing above me
;

have been sucked down into the ooze.

so lazily held another such cycle Back once more at the river ’s edge^
within their gleaming shells. In the I loaded my guide with what was to
fullness of time they would open, him a veritable treasiu*e of brass
dropping another sloAV-floating, blue, rings and armlets, smiling a return
dustlike cloud to settle doAvn, down, to his thanks while my eyes traveled
down upon me held fast by the ooze over the breast of that taAvny strejim
beneath them. that Avould carry me away foreyer
In that moment I think I went from that still powerful though for-
stark, raving mad, screaming curses gotten god Avhose arm had so nearly
at the top of my voice, beating wild- taken me.
M ilton was sweltci'ing on
the baked mud roof of a
Ilopi pueblo; one of those
pyramid cities lost in the shimmering
heat of the Painted Desert. The
prairie snakes. They were on the
south roof of the ground floor and
he was safe enough on the roof of
the second floor above them, with
only a rude pole ladder fi’om roof to
snake dance was on. The painted roof. But the sight sickened him,
priests were chanting and circling sent chills of revulsion through him,
upon the roof below, and he watched though he had seen their snake dance
the mottled and white bellies of the many times before.
squirming serpents as they dangled A gild’s head came cautiously
sulkily or whipped savagely about to over the north wall. She was creep-
free themselves from the sharp teeth ing up carefully between the poles of
of the dancers. The white bellies a ladder which projected a few feet
—
flashed their flag of death rattle- above the roof. She Avas a Avoman
snakes, big fellows most of them. Avith green eyes and yelloAv hair and
And Milton watched for them among fair cheeks AA^hich flamed under the
the mottled bellies of the harmless raAv sun. He stared as though she
532
 THE GODDESS OP THE PAINTED PEIESTS 533

was a mirage or a vision. The last “Yes, I’m that girl,” she ad-
thing he expected to see climbing mitted, and bit the flesh of her lower
that wall was a white woman. As lip. “That is why I am here. To find
she saw him perched upon the par- something ncAv. I’m with the cir-
apet of mud bricks she stopped,
’ ’
cus.
astonished. She frowned as though “You?” the question escaped him
disappointed, abandoned her caution as an exclamation.
and mounted the roof. Both thought She still crouched under the para-
themselves pioneers here, one hun- pet, peering over at the half-naked
dred and fifty miles from the iron snake priests circling Avith the stamp
arteries of the world.
of feet and the throb of drums. He
She spoke in a low tone which talked on to make her forget his re-
barely reached him above the puls- mark.
ing chant beyond the wall.
“Tell me, I’ve heard a lot about
“Will they let one watch?” she
asked, reassuming her movement of
—
pythons can they swallow a man
fable?”
Avhole, or is that a
caution and crouching below the “I don’t know,” she answered ab-
parapet. sently, looking with interest on the
He grinned at her. “Arc you scene below. “T .shouldn’t wonder,
afraid? You crept up like a shy though I ’ve seen
;
common prairie
ghost.” .snakes no bigger than that one”
“I didn’t want them to know I she pointed to a snake “swalloAV
—
was here. I suppose it won’t make eggs. I saAV one with a china egg in
any dilferenee, now.” She glanced its throat one time it gagged trying;

at him meaningly. to crush it, and then kept SAvallowing

“Oh, they don’t care,” he an- it though its neck swelled out like a
swered carelessly. “I’ve watched toothache.”
them a good many times. They do “There are lots of things about
have some rites, though, which it snakes I don’t knoAv,” he spoke to
would pay to creep up on, if one her again but she did not hear. She
;

watched at all. ” Avas AA’atching the weird scene be-

“I wanted to watch them without loAv. The drone of the chant vibrated
’
their knowing. She was still frown-
’
into their ears, the .singing of the
ing. “I’m afraid they won’t put on rattlers whined into their flesh, the
’ ’
the whole show. glare of the AAffiite sun smote their
“You’ll see enough,” he affirmed brains, and the white teeth of the
Avith another grin, “You ’fraid of broAvn, naked dancers gleamed whiter
snakes?” clamped upon the scaly throats of the
’
“No. I’m interested in them. .snakes.
“Well, there are plenty of them Milton Avas nauseated. The girl
down there,” Milton said with a did not seem so, but under some un-
shrug of his gaunt frame. “I never holy spell. Her green eyes followed
did care much for this kind of a one large, sinuous serpent as it dan-
show, yet I always manage to be gled from the brutelike mouth of a
here each year. Guess I’m queer hairy but scrawny priest. Milton,
that way, looking at Avhat I don’t torn between his disgusted abhor-
like to see. I always took in the rence of snakes and his attraction to
snake shows back home. The girl in this Avoman who was interested in
the glass case, and the big python them, moved nearer her as she peered
crawling over her, ugh. He shrugged ’
’ down upon the door of an open Kiva.
his .shoulders again. “Say, tell me,” he drawled, “am
She Avinced. He studied her keen- I seeing things? Am I dreaming or
ly. awake?”
534 WEIRD TALES
She thought he "was speaking of and after a while tried to renew her
the snake dance, but his eyes were on defense.
her. She did not look up from her “Don’t you think it’s our tradi-
downward gaze at the writhing tions which take hold of us like
length of that enormous snake in the that?” she asked.
mouth of the snake priest, but an- “Maybe,” he answered, “but I
swered him with dreamy lassitude,
believe onewould loathe snakes if he
as though she were only half awake
had never seen them before.”
or in a semi-delirium.
“Not always,” she said, raising a
“It does seem unreal. See those
bare arm toward the exotic dancers.
fangs in his arm. He only shakes it
“Those men down there worship
off! He is unharmed! If I could them !”
only flo that ? I can handle them, but
He was silent, and they listened to
I must charm them. If I could only
the wail and chant of the priests.
handle them like that!”
After a while she spoke again. “I
Milton recoiled involuntarily. She wish I could see that huge rattler a
sensed it and turned a smile upon little closer. I wish I dared go down
—
him a strange, pensive smile which close to them.”
begged that she be not misunder- “Why don’t you?” he asked with
stood. He felt an impulse whieh was a quizzical smile.
primal, and which the ci%'ilized man “I would. But those priests!
fought to conquer. He stammered They look at each other so queerly
an apology; not exactly an apology, from their black eyes. I’m afraid
more an explanation. of them.”
—
“I just can't think of you touch- Milton stretched his legs upon the
ing them.” He shrugged his shoul- baked roof and then got up.
ders in a slight intimation of his “Come. I’ll go down with you.”
thoughts.
Her eyes softened. She under-
stood, and understanding him she
seemed to find something which for
T hey walked to the crude pole
ladder whieh led from the roof
above to the roof below. She did not
the moment fascinated her even tell him her name, nor he tell her his.
more than the twisting snake in the He was thinking of the marvel that
mouth of the priest, yet with a dif- such a woman should exist at all, and
ferent kind of an influence, not mes- wondered not at the lesser marvel
merism, just his awakening concern that she should be in this particular
for her. place. And she was thinking of the
“Snakes aren’t so bad as you snakes, wondering if they who had
think, when you know them. I felt saved her in one crisis would crush
much as jmu do, for a while, but they her in the next, would draw a line
saved the life of one I love, and they between her and the man beside her.
have provided means for me when I He went over the wall first, step-
thought there were no means, so why ping upon the ancient, sun-cracked
should I not like them?” rungs of the pole ladder, looking
She was defending herself more back at her with a smile, and she
than the snakes. He did not answer waited on top until he should step
her, but sat in a moody silence listen- upon the hard clay of the roof below.
ing to the hiss and whir below, his With his eyes upon her he did not
only movement being to change see the nest of snakes which crawled
about so that the sun could not strike at the foot of the ladder, and looking
the same side of his body for long at at him sh5 did not see them either
a time. She was interested in him, until it was almost too late and the ;
 THE GODDESS OF THE PAINTED PRIESTS 535

priests with their sacred dance and arm above her head, and by now her
the attendants with their sticks and feet were very close to the head of
sacred meal were too devout to let the big serpent, but she left her hand
their eyes wander from the back of in his and descended another rung.
the man ahead of them. There were “It’s all right,” she said, her eyes
dozens of snakes at the base of the still holding him. “Let me loose,
ladder, harmless prairie snakes with please. It will strike if I can not
tapering tails and slim heads, but see it.”
one of the larger sullen ones had Idd-
Milton released her hand and
ney-shaped splotches of brown upon
stared with a perplexed fear, chilled
its scaly flesh, and it coiled and lifted
to his soul. She stepped slowly and
the thick wedge-shaped head which,
sinuously, lithe as the serpents them-
denoted the poisonous rattler, and
selves, picked up the big fellow and
darted its forked tongue and whirred
laid him upon her bare white shoul-
its vibrant rattlers.
der, let him circle her white arms
The chant was shrill and loud. She and coil about her whiter throat.
leaned over the wall and extended Twice about her white throat she
both her hands. She doubted if she wound him and let his long brown
could make him understand, and her body fall like a necklace of rusty
veiy fear caught her voice and gold down across her rounded breast
stifled it to a whisper as she motioned
and over the glistening sheen of her
to him. white dress, its tail weaving back
“Wait! Stop!” and forth, its ugly head curved for-
The chant of the dance went on. ward, sullen and stiff, like carved
The priests had not seen nor heard, bronze. There was no hint of
but Milton had. He turned about bravado in her actions. Every move-
upon his narrow perch and saw the ment was the careless, yet trained
wicked, lidless green eyes below him, action of long custom. She seemed
eyes which held the concentrated hardly aware she was doing any-
venom of a thousand years’ enmity thing out of the ordinary, and she
with man, not soft, deep green eyes turned her green eyes invitingly to
like hers above him. Milton swore the man upon the roof, with the faint
under his breath, shivered a little, trace of a smile about the comers of
and climbed back to the roof above. her mouth. The bright Arizona sun
Beside her again he tried to laugh caught the coils of her yellow hair,
easily, but could not hide his ab- and the dry breath of the desert
horrence of the insidious death he breeze vrrapped her skirt close about
had escaped. her knees, and there was something
“I’ll go first,” she said, and was about her which caught the imagina-
already upon the ladder. tion of the white man above and the
“No you don’t,” he commanded, copper men below.
looking about the bare roof for a A vibrant calm fell upon the wor-
weapon. “That devil has its fangs!” shipers, a calm more violent than
the stamp of their feet or the throb
But she was going down, calmly
of their drums, or the undertone of
smiling at him with a pleased assur-
hissing snakes. And then priest and
ance of her power.
attendants, slowly, with upstretched
Stop ” he cried, leaning over and
‘
‘
!
arms and adoring faces, sank to their
grasping her hand, his eyes on hers, shaking knees, and prostrated them-
and said hoarsely, “I’m not a cow- selves among the serpents.
ard. Come on back. I’ll go first.” “Akkii! Akkiii!” they groaned,
The low walls of the house were bare bronze backs toward the white
not longer than the length of her noon sun.
536 WEIRD TALES
Something had happened for which he, bowing low, spread wide his
they had long waited and prayed. hands in a gesture of abjection and
That bright American girl with the worship, all the other bare copper
great snake about her neck and the backs prostrate under the burning
white silk of her dress shimmering sun.
in the sunshine, appeared to them as With slow, august grace the old
some angel manifest from heaven, a man retreated, one brown leg thnist
fair goddess of the snakes, their back, the other bent in genuflection,
messengers to those who reign above. the grace and precision of long-ac-
customed ceremonies, but also with

M ilton looked down in astonished,

frozen amazement, half believ-
ing he had witnessed some marvel
an added touch of fear, Avonder, Avor-
ship !Backward, baekAvard, step
upon sloAv adoring step, until he
conjured by the priests below. reached the mouth of a rounded
There was something about this Kiva with a panel of fine polished
hot, dazzling sunshine which gave granite before its door.
credence to the unreal. It wrought With a cry of high-pitched Avail-
great lakes which vanished at ap- ing, sad, yet AAuth a tone of final,
proach, it built cities of walls and culminating triumph, a cry more
towers upon the bare and vacant wild and unforgettable in that un-
table-lands, it mixed myster5^ with artieulated Hopi tongue, he swept
reality, and here was this girl, fair back the Kiva door, and there
under a sun which withered and tumbled into the sunlight such a
burn^ the flesh, coiled about with hoard of dull, gleaming, yellow gold
the snake-angels of the demon-wor- as caught the goddess’ breath and
shipers below. So he stood there left Milton gaping upon the roof.
very much as spellbound as the And there Avere jcAvels, blue tur-
priests, who were prostrate upon the quoises and red rubies, and sap-
lower roof with great snakes writh- phires and opals which sparkled and
ing and whipping about upon the ran fire under the sharp sunlight;
hot, baked floor, whipping and coil-
hand-wrought Navajo bracelets, and
ing about, trying to release them- lieaA'^y crude necklaces of turquoise,
selves from the clenched teeth of the great silver earrings and armlets,
priest and the outstretched hands of and golden anklets and bracelets of
attendants, the whir of their rattlers a curious antique Spanish pattern,
high-pitched and shrill. Yet not a bracelets with great blood imbies and
brown face raised from the floor scintillating diamonds and there
;

and not an outstretched hand upon Avcrc long ropes of matched pearls,
that blistering roof so much as and old coins, and gold nuggets and
twitched as fangs sank into lean, dull heavy yellow dust the long ac-
;

muscular arms. cumulation of long years of Avar and

The grizzled old priest who had barter and search; several hundred-
led the ceremonies rose slowlj'' with Aveight of sparkling, gleaming, flam-
his head low toward the ground, as ing treasure
though not daring a second look at Milton and the girl Avere too aston-
the vision. She stood like some god- ished to take in its meaning. Some
dess of fine marble, with hair of spun hazy, dull idea that she was being
gold and arms and face of alabaster. worshiped had OA'erpowered her, some
Even then not one moved other than idea that all this was intended for her,
the majestic old priest. The girl was though it seemed more the Avild de-
transfixed more with amazement lirium of the intolerable glaring sun
than any idea of having struck an than reality. E\'en then it never oc-
attitude of proud superiority, while curred to her what it might mean
 THE C40DDESS OF THE PAINTED PRIESTS 537

that it threatened her —that

an in- hint she had dropped him. At least
fluence was at work which might en- it had seemed a hint to him, a bar-
slave her and destroy the man upon rier she had raised that he might
‘
the roof. govern his heart. Snakes saved the
‘

The old priest, singing his wild life of one I love.” That sentence!
chant, was now being echoed by the It had stung him before she was in
prostrate men. His brown, withered this danger, and danger had roused
hands dived into the hoarded treas- something long peaceful years never
ure and scattered basket after bas- arouse.
ket full at her feet in slow unison
wdth weird song.
his Gleaming,
sparkling, glowing under the naked
sun the various treasures fell about
T
she
he old priest had now prostrated
himself upon the roof again and
was extricating herself from the
her, heaping upon her slippered feet heap of treasure, gently uncoiling
and mounting her silken legs, and the big snake from her white throat
formed a pedestal of jewels and fine and placing him, a tawny coil, upon
gold. the yellow gold and the blue tur-
Something touched her now, some- quoise and the white silver. Then
thing she could not explain. Realiz- with a lithe grace she went quickly
ing she was the central actor of a up the ladder and took refuge be-
tremendous drama, she lifted her hind Milton iipon the higher roof.
face toward heaven and smiled, a She was afraid of those bare, white-
quaint, charming little smile, her toothed snake priests. She did not
eyes bright and her cheeks all trust the power she had exerted over
aflame. And still the hoarded treas- these heathen men.
ure rained at her feet, and Milton “Oh!” she cried and sank limply
upon the wall became uneasy, for he behind Milton. “Wasn’t it ter-
knew this could not last. He knew, rible?”
too, he had seen something the Hopi —
“It was very beairtiful and un-
would never let be known beyond real,” he said as he gazed at the
the walls of their pueblo. She was tumbled treasure with its goddess
safe enough at present, but when she gone.
failed to vanish and take their offer- “Yes, unreal,” she assented.
ing with her would they allow her “That stuff down there! That!”
to leave as flesh and blood? Would He pointed below. “It must bo
they ? He knew that they would not. worth almost anything. I had no
He knew when she did not vanish idea they had gold So much gold
! !
’ ’

into heaven with their gifts they Then he thought of her and forgot
would begin to be troubled, and to the treasure.
doubt, and like all men to destroy “You’d better go now. Hurry. If
that which they had worshiped. As they find vou’re flesh and blood
—
for himself but he did not think of they’ll kill you.”
himself. She was down there, she She made an odd little gesture of
who was so lovely, coiled about with compliance which caught at Milton’s
snakes and half buried in gold. And heart, but she said, “Come on, let’s
then his eyes took in the significance go together. I believe I need an
of that treasure. No more long pil- escort.”
grimages across the hostile desert; There was something in his cj’es
she would no longer have to feel the she did not understand.
crawl of snakes across her silky “I can’t go just yet,” he said,
shoulders. She could leave the snakes knowing full well the Hopi v/ould
to the heathen priest. They could never let him go while their treasure
live! They? That brought back the was left rejected upon the roof. Then,
538 WEIRD TALES
as she looked at him puzzled, he “Only about a gallon,” she an-
added, “I haven’t finished my trad- swered. “Is it that bad? You look
”
mg.” positively seared.
“You practical man,” she laughed, He sat thinking hard.
“to finish trading when a goddess “The trader told me there was
demands your service. Very well, is plenty of Avater at the pueblo,” she
it good-bye then?” said, defending her lack of foresight.
“Yes, good-bye,” he said hastily, “There is. But not for you.”
afraid she might wait too long.
“Good-bye,” and then as she “Not for me?”
started over the wail she blew him “They must not know you need
a kiss and said softly, “I shall re- water. Goddesses do not come with
member you, always.” Avater kegs for the return trip. I
She waved him a farewell as she can’t get it for you, either. They
descended the ladder and left him might think I Avas trying to get
’ ’

her smile as a last picture, just over aAvay.

the parapet of the roof. He bit his lip hastily, but it was
He struggled with an impulse to out, he had told her. She undei’-
follow her, and conquered. There why he had not gone.
stood instantly
was no way but for him to remain. Her act had made him prisonei;. She
They would not let him go to tell the came back quickly upon the roof,
clans to the east and the west and fear in her own eyes noAv. She
the south of their trea.sure and its caught hold of his arm, whispering
shame. He must stay; for if he left tensely: “What is it? What are you
with her, their runners Avould hunt hiding? They will kill you They’ll !

him down and find her also, and find kill you because of what you saAV
she was no goddess after all, and he doAvn there I know it
! You can’t
!

would fight but that could not save fool me, man. Tell me the truth! I’ll
her. There was only one way to save not go until you tell me the truth!”
her and that was by surrendering He only shook his head and said,
himself. So he sat thinking, waiting “I’m only afraid for you. They
for the storm to break below and must not find you. You must go.”
the painted priest to leap upon him “Then you come, too,” she in-
and kill him. He thought of her sisted. “What am I saying? We
alone out there on the thir.sty desert, can’t go, either of us. We should die
slowly taking her way across the of thirst.”
miles back to the circus for which “Look!” he pointed tOAA^ard the
she had risked the little known Hopi southeast. “See that gully in the
lands. He wondered if she would red sand, just beyond the soapweed
think of him as she said she would, clump ? ’ ’

always She shaded her eyes from the

And then, he saw her face again, glare of the sun.
there above the parapet. At first he “Yes.”
thought it the heat that had wrought “Up that gulch tAvo miles yoix Avill
that face there, her face, which he findmy burros loaded Avith water
had never expected to see again. and food. Take them and go quick-
She smiled and then drew a puzzled ly. I Avill follow with your burros
frown between her eyes. and meet you at Tres Piedras AAuth-
“I forgot,” she whispered. in a week. This is your only chance.
“Where is the well? I have no Hurry! They won’t look for you.
water.” If I am here they will suspect noth-
“You haven’t water?” he ex- ing.”
claimed alarmed. “But you?” she questioned look-
 THE GODDESS OF THE PAINTED PKIESTS 539

ing at him closely, her eyes telling go!” She begged. “It was my
what her lips would not say. fault. Go Leave me to undo it.”
!

“Me?” he said as though he had “If we only had some way of get-
just thought of himself. “Oh, I ting rid of that stuff, we could go
—
know these hombres I trade with together. If we only had some means
them.” of lugging it off, all of that blasted
“But you said they would not let stuff, carry it off in such a way as
you go !

to make them think it was sucked up

“I’ll fool them.” into heaven or taken by their angels.
“How?” You could go and I would follow
“I have a plan,” he lied. you. They would want me to go then
“Why did you hide }mur bur- so that I might tell the unbelievers
ros?” she asked with new suspicion. to the soutli and east of what I had
“I didn’t hide them. There’s a seen, but if we can’t get rid of that
shinery brush up that gulch. I
little stuff they will never
let us go. They
left theburros there to save feed.” would you if I went with you,
kill
He drew her back quickly from for they would hunt me down. You
where she was standing near the will have to go on alone, and let me
wall. “Keep low!” he whispered a have my chance when you are gone.”
caution to her. “Listen! Listen!” she exclaimed,
The grizzled old priest had ven- her words drowned by the clamor
tured to raise his head from the below. “They’re going crazy.
blistering mud bricks, and hesitated Listen!”
with his head poised in air as though
listening for a flutter of angel’s
mysterious appearance and
wings, and then he guardedly risked
disappearance of the girl, her
a glance toward the heaped treasure
strange power over the snakes, had
and then a full gaze of astonishment.
set the dancers on fire. The crisis
She had vanished as she had come,
for which they had waited for cen-
but his old face gathered wrinkles
turies was upon them. The great
of worry into its seams. He began
daj" long looked for had come.
a chant of wailing, waking the seem-
Prophecy was fulfilled, legend was
ingly dead acolytes, swaying his old
verified. Their music grew fevered
head toward the mass of treasure as
he chanted. Milton understood what
and wild, their dance waxed violent
it meant. They were wailing because
and fierce. Throbbing, pulsing
their treasure «had been refused.
sobbed their drums; pleading, be-
seeching wailed their chant calling,
Hardly knowing he was thinking ;

calling back the angel who had

aloud he said, more to himself than
the girl, “If we only had some way
given them a visitation; praying
to get rid of that stuff! If we only
with their dance for her return
had some way !” praying with their most furious and
fervid dance for her to return and
“I’ve gotten you into trouble,”
breathed the girl as she crouched accept their gifts, their long-accu-
beside him. “I never dreamed of mulated treasure against this time;
such a climax. You get away. It and then they prostrated them-
selves, hoping when they arose to
was my fault. See if you can’t es-
find their treasure gone.
cape. If they come up here I can
startle them for a while.” “I must go back,” she whispered.
“Escape? Say!” He laughed “What?”- he exclaimed, not try-
with a bold fearlessness. “Do I ing to hide his fear for her.
look that kind?” “I must go back. I have a plan.”
She was repentant now. “Please That was all she would say.
540 WEIRD TALES
“You must not.” Ho was firm, never let him go as long as the gold
but he asked, “What is your plan?” and jewels were left, for the vision
She did not tell him. He might had refused their greatest gifts, their
not consent. If she failed and they own gold and blood rubies picked
killed her, he would l>e fi’ee. She from their sacred mountains, and she
would not have his blood upon her had taken the handiwork of the
hands. She had a plan, a bold, fool- hated Navajo and the spoils of the
ish plan. It might make away with more hated Spaniard. No. they
—
the gold and jewels those dear, ter- Avould not let him go. But that mat-
tered little. He would have thrown
rible jewels, and that gold. Yet,
there was many hundredweight of it. himself in the midst of those vile,
Gold isso very heavy. She could poisonous snakes if it would free
not carry it away that would be im- her.
;

possible, but she had a plan, a plan Still she stood waiting. Why did
that had come to her as she spoke she not go quickly to the ladder on
of angels. the other side of the wall which led
Every head there below was close to the ground below? Why did she
against the ground, and again she not hurry to get across the great
descended the ladder. Milton pro- burning sand and reach the gulch he
tested, but she went ahead and he had shown her? He was of half a mind
dared not call out or try to detain her, to call to her, to urge her to run,
but he stood where she had left him though he knew that would not do.
like an image of stone, watching her They would hear him and kill her
as she picked up the stupefied ser- before she could get aAvay. Tensely
pent where it lay hot and blinded by he leaned over and wondered what
the sun, still coiled upon the heap of she had in mind.
treasure. She put the snake care- And then he heard the long rise
fully to one side and stooping down of a queer sound, rising in a thin
lifted necklace after necldace and weird key, throbbing like the beat
bracelet after bracelet cheap silver
;
of drums, quivering like a cry loud-
;

ones from the Navajo tribes to the er it grew, rising and rising, sobbing
ea.st, and costly fabulous ones from and wailing in the same thin key.
rich caravans which had journeyed The prostrate worshipers heard it
from the west coast hea^y gold ones
;
and their rigid muscles grew stiffer
from the defeated Conquistadores until they seemed like petrified
who had become lost upon this images of stone. The snakes of the
Painted Desert; strings of matched big Kiva heard it, "too, and poked
pearls and hea'v’y turquoise and puzzled heads from its door as the
beads of pure gold. She covered staccato plaint kept on.
her arms and ankles and slipped Milton looked at the girl in aston-
them about her neck until there re- ishment. In her mouth was some
mained not one bracelet or necklace kind of a reed pipe and she gazed
left. Then she stretched down her steadily ahead of her toward the
arms and lifted the big snake and door of the snake Ki^m with the
placed him upon her shoulders. same dazed look he had seen upon
Milton still stood pei’plexed and her face as she had watched the
petrified. He thought her purpose .snakes from over the Avail. Milton
was to take the neeldaces and brace- began to feel somewhat hypnotized
lets and leave the heavy gold and the himself as the queer sound went on.
heaps of rare jewels. He knew that
Avould not do. They Avould find her T^rom out the Kiva door one mam-
upon the painted sands weighted moth snake drcAv its seemingly
with her ornaments, and they would interminable coil, and after it came
 THE GODDESS OF THE PAINTED PRIESTS 541

another, and they glided toward the priests looked up! If they found
girl upon the pile of precious stones her feeding their treasure to the
and metal; another and another, snakes! What would they do?
dozens of them, hundreds of them, Would they rise and kill her? Mil-
and still they came from the Kiva, ton had no idea and he fretted as
more and more of them, and on they time dragged .on.
glided with that sinuous, sidewise The old priest began to grow un-
sweep, crawling over the prostrate easy, too, with grim silenee about
men, on and on to the foot of her him. He stirred, he poised his head
golden throne. in air again, he was about to rise.
Milton stared in wonder, fear, hor- The girl saw him. She dropped the
ror! What could she do? What big snake in a twisting heap at her
could she do, against that oncoming feet. Milton clenched his teeth. She
reptilian army? But even as he ought not to have done that. She
despaired, he saw her do a peculiar ought to have placed the snake
•

thing. She passed her hand before about her. That is what had star-
her very much as a hypnotist would tled them before. Milton gripped
do, and the big prairie snake ahead the ladder as the grizzled head of the
stopped with a puzzled stupor, priest slowly turned toward the
raised its head from the earth in a treasure heap. She must do some-
rigid metallic-seeming arch, and then thing at once. And she did. She
opened its yellow mouth and hissed, placed the reed pipe in her mouth
darting its tongue in and out with and blew a note, long, wild, high.
lightninglike rapidity. She reached The old man di*opped as though liit
down and lifted it with one hand, by a bolt from heaven.
and with the other lifted a nugget of “ ATiMi! Akkiii!” he groaned and
gold the size of a marble ;
then, flattened his face to the roof.
grasping the sides of its mouth, she She lifted her snake again and
forced the nugget into the snake’s went unhuiTiedly on, yet with the
throat and with her fingers outside swiftness of precision. Her eyes fell
its neck gently massaged the bulge upon a pigeon-blood ruby. It was
lentil the snake had swallowed it. larger than any Milton had ever
And this she did again and again in seen, and he knew that she coveted
the hushed silence which fell upon it, for she reached down and placed
that lone pueblo in the vacancy of it to one side and kept on with her
desert and clear sky, a silence that labor until there was left but a hand-
was broken only by the creepy rasp ful of yellow dust, which she swept
of snake bellies over the hard baked up carefully and placed in one of
roof. The white-bellied rattlers she those tough, round, waterproof bas-
charmed but laid in a stupefied heap kets the Hopi weaves from the
to one side, grasping the harmless strong fiber of the yucca leaf, and
prairie snakes to make the cache for into the basket she dropped the
her gold. great ruby, and picked up the basket
When one snake’s sides were dis- and took the snake from her shoul-
torted with gold and rubies and ders and w'ent swiftly down the lad-
pearls and sapphires and turquoise, der to the ground, beckoning Milton
she laid it in a heap and picked an- to follow her where she had gone
other of the larger prairie snakes on the trail to the gulch. Prom his
and repeated her methods. She did perch above, Milton saw her vanish
not hurry, for she was handling beliind a large drift of maroon sand,
death. Rattlers were coiled or crawl- and then he went below.
ing all about her, and yet the pile The big snakes were heaped upon
diminished very slowly. If those one another, sluggish with their
g42 WEIRD TALES
weight of precious stones and much snakes, her angels, so that when
heavier gold. they carry your messages for rain
“My brothers,” Milton said. and long life she may know that
The prostrate men arose, looking they come from your pueblo and not
quickly toward the heap of snakes from another. And when your name
and where had lain the heap of is heard among the Eagle clan to the
treasure. There was a shout, a Water clan to the south,
east, or the
scream of ti’iumph, a babble of danc- or the Bear clan to the north, they
ing joy, an ecstasy of religious ex- shall have my witness. And now,
ultation. It was some time before my brothers, I go, and may peace be
they would listen to him, circling in unto you.”
their frenzied dance, flinging hand- And when Milton overtook her
fuls of sacred meal toward the heap below the sand dune and had smiled
of snakes, dancing, dancing, round triumphantly and tenderly he
at her
and round, but Anally he made them “And now the snakes have
said:
hear him and commanded their at- saved the life of one you love, and
tention. Then he began in slow, the life of one who loves you but ;

solemn speech. what can the one do who loves you,

“My brothers,” he spoke in the without your love ? ’ ’

Hopi tongue, and they settled upon And she laughed a little happy
their tucked-under legs as in a daze, laugh and said to him, “The one I
or dream, or weary exhaustion. “I love, sir, is you.”
have seen. And now I go to tell the And he looked at her bewildered
Navajo and the Laguna and the and said:
Acoma that there is a true people “But you told me they had saved
with a true worship. And that I one you love even before they had
have seen with my own eyes that she saved me?”
has come and accepted of your gifts, And she laughed more happily and
and such as she has not taken with said, “The other one, you goose, was
her she has left in the belly of the myself.”

SONNET
By CLARK ASHTON SMITH
Empress with eyes more sad and aureate
Than sunset ebbing on a summer coast.
What gold chimera lovest thou the most
What gryphon, with emblazoned wings elate.
Or dragon straying from the dim estate
Of kings that sway the continents uttermost
Of old Satumus? Or what god, or ghost.
Or spatial daemon, for thy spirit’s mate
Art fain to choose? . . . Howbeit, in thy heart.
Though void as now to vision and desire
The days and years deny thee, shall abide
The passion of the impossible, the pride
Of lust immortal for the monstrous ire
And pain of love in scarlet worlds apart.
A Short and Eery Sto?y Is

THE DAMSEL AND

HER CAT
By DAVID H. KELLER
T ALL happened in the fall of security. The very poverty of the
1270. duke and the isolated position of his
The Damsel Susanne had de- castle kept at a distance the robber
veloped a sickness that frightened bands that roamed over France dur-
her parents and drove Friar Sinis- ing those lawless centuries.
trari to extra hours of devotion. She The duke and his Lady Arabella,
would retire as usual in the evening, however, considered themselves rich
and, after some hours had passed, in one respect, and that was in the
there would come a cry from her as possession of their daughter. She
though she had suffered from a was not onlj' a well-behaved young
nightmare in her sleep. Going to her lady, but she had some degree of
daughter’s room, the mother would beauty and in addition was intelli-
find her in a deep sleep and very gent enough to learn to read and
white, with little beads of perspira- write, a most unusual accomplish-
tion on her face. Moisture gathered ment in those days for a woman. The
on a mirror held before her mouth old friar Avas proud of her, as she
but she could not be seen to breathe. was the only pupil of his old age.
This way she would stay for hours, He was almost enthusiastic over her
often till the first dawn of day, and scholastic attainments and frequent-
then she would sigh deeply, grow ly spoke of her Avisdom.
roses in her cheeks and fall into a In 1270 Susanne was seventeeen
natural sleep from which she would years old. Life must have seemed
awake by noon. These periods of A^ery quiet to her during those years,
deep unconsciousness, hours of stu- and no doubt she took long breaths
por, came at first a week apart, then and sighed deeply Avhen the friar
twice a week, and finally every told her tales of Paris and the
night. During the daytime the dam- French court. I presume that she
sel lost her buoj’-aney and light heart thought nothing ever happened in
and became listless. —
Aragon and just AA^hen the child
The duke, her father, was poor. Avas ready to die from the very same-
Fortunately for him the forests were ness of her life, the cat had come to
full of deer and the rivers abundant the castle.
with fish. Grain was raised by the There is no doubt that this was a
vassals, and firewood was plenty. ATiy unusAial eat in every way. She
Everyone contributed toward the Avas much larger than the average
welfare of the little community. cat, and striped like a tiger. The
There was but little gold, and few eyes^were yelloAv and at night shone
jewels, some dresses that had been like large stars. During the entire
worn for three generations, plenty of time the cat was at the castle she
armor, and at least some degree of Avasnever seen to eat AAdiile she often
;

543
544 WEIRD TALES
sat on the table
at mealtime, not even his lady and the friar was no story
tlie choicest titbit was fine enough to tell to little children.
to tempt her appetite. As soon as To put it briefly, was
their tale
this cat came to the castle all the this —^that several of them had seen
other cats left, at once, and their a woman wandering through the
absence was not a cause for concern, woods on the nights Avhen the lambs
for all the rats and mice left at the and the baby had been slain. It was
same time. the opinion of those Avho had seen
The cat came and went according her most clearly in the moonlight
to no rule or reason and seemed to that the woman had the dress and
have no troiible in going anj’Tvhere general appearance of the Damsel
she wished to, even thoiigh the doors Susanne. At this statement the duke
were closed and the windows locked. SAvore, the Lady Arabella fainted,
She was never seen in the small and the friar crossed himself. The
chapel. Her favorite room was that nobility in the castle assured the
occupied by the Damsel Susanne, serfs that they must be mistaken, as
and she seemed fonder of that child they Avere sure that on these nights
than of any other person in the the damsel had been asleep in her
castle. She would lie for hours at a —
bed not only asleep, but so deeply
time on the floor, watching Susanne, asleep that she could not be aroused.
her eyes first narrow slits in the yel- For a Avonder the simple folk be-
low and then deep pits of a peculiar lieved the duke and his lady. They
green. left the castle convinced that their
The damsel liked the cat, and for eyes had betrayed them. The friar
that reason the animal was tolerated. went at once to his room, AA'here he
Friar Sinistrari protested from the spent long hours in study and prayer,
first and said that it would end in nor did he neglect to fast, to purge,
some horrible disaster, but the dam- and to drink large amounts of water
sol cried and the Lady Arabella mingled Avith the juice of limes.
looked concerned and the duke said Then the secret Avas rcA^ealed to him
tiiat he saw nothing of harm in a by merciful Saint Anthony.
cat; so it ended in the cat’s staying. What he realized was this:
Yet in the fall of the year the dam- When the cat AAms in the room with
sel was ill more often than ever. the damsel, she Avas alAAmys aAvake or
To add to the worries of Duke sleeping peacefully. On occasions
Jacobus Hubelaire, strange tales be- when the damsel Avas in her deep and
gan to come to the castle. First a deathlike stupor the cat Avas ncA^er to
goose was found dead with blood be seen. When she roiAsed from this
coming from little punctate holes in deep sleep the cat Avas alAA'ays in the
the neck; then little lambs were room, crouched in one corner or
somehow killed during the night and hidden back of a chest. In some way
their bodies sucked dry of blood; the cat was associated Avuth the
and finally a child was taken from its strange sickness of the girl. Another
crib and the torn and lifeless body fact Avas evident. The child had
left in a thicket near the grief- been perfectly well before the cat
stricken parents’ hut. came. Also the killing of the an-
The common folk were dependent imals and the child had all happened
on the duke for protection, so it was since the coming of the cat.
natural that they send a delegation If the oat could be killed, then the
to him telling him what they feared AA'hole trouble Avould stop. At least
and asking him for help. They were Friar Sinistrari hoped so. Un-
no coAvards though they were serfs, fortunatelj’, the thinking about kill-
and the tale they told to the duke, ing the animal and the actual kill-
 THE DAMSEL AND HER CAT 545

ing of it were two separate things. whiter than her usiial wont that
There was no doubt about its hav- dinner-time, and against the pallor
ing nine livesperhaps it had ninety.
;
of her face her red lips blushed.
Secretly the duke offered a gold Friar Sini.strari had something on
piece as a reward for the killing of his mind, it seemed, something that
the cat everyone wanted the money
;
he dared not speak to the damsel’s
and tried to earn it, but when they father. None the less, he made two
saw the eat they were weaponless, suggestions : first, that from then
and Avhen they had their weapons on the damsel be watched constant-
ready the cat was never to be seen. ly, and second, that a lamb be tied

Then another lamb was killed, and as a decoy and a bait in the grass
the very next night an attempt was circle of the dark wood in back of
made to take a baby out of the the castle. He advised that all the
cradle. This time the mother was people hide themselves in a great
watching and when her baby cried circle around this lamb and watch
she sprang forward in its defense. in the full of the moon for whatever
She saw a woman in white picking might come to kill the lamb and
the baby up. There was a struggle, suck its blood.
and finally the intruder fled. The His advice and argument were so
mother was sure that it was another good that the duke promised him
woman who had tried to rob her. that no matter who came for the
She had scratched the thief’s neck lamb, they would kill him in any
and, the next morning, while telling manner the friar considered best.
the story to the duke and the friar, The friar went to the blacksmith
showed them the blood, still under and had a long talk with him, and
her fingernails. all that day the smith toiled at his
The duke tried to comfort her, forge.
but all the time he and the friar
were looking sidewise at each other,
and as soon as they could do so they
went to the room of the damsel. She
T
No
hat night the lamb was tied in
the middle of the bare circle.
—
tree or shrub grew there only a
had ^passed through another hard —
small green grass and all around
night, one that was worse than the edge were mushrooms. The sim-
usual, but when they saw her she ple peasants, shivering but at the
was sleeping naturally. There was same time determined to do what
a red spot on the sheet, and when they could to rid the place of this
the}’’turned her head they saw horrid pest, hid in the thick wood
several long red scratches on her some distance away. They were
neck. told to come to the circle when they
The eat sat as usual up on the heard the screech of the great
window-sill, leisurely washing her horned owl.
face. The Damsel Susanne complained
The duke was not a coward but of being tired and went went to bed
at the sight of the scratches he earlier than usual. In the next
turned pale and started to gnaw room, looking through holes bored
upon his fingers. The friar thought in the wooden partition, watched
harder than ever, but all he could the duke and the friar. The window
say was to repeat the statement was open and the night was still;
that they should kill the eat, at there was no breeze, and the candle
which statement the animal disap- by the bed burned without a flicker.
peared through the window and was Just as they were growing tired, the
seen no more that day. moon came above the trees and
But the Damsel Susanne was shone into the room. There was now
546 WEIRD TALE&
light —
from three sources the moon, the thing they had been asked to do.
the candle, and the fire on the They carried axes and hoes and
hearth. They had no trouble in see- sharpened stakes, and a few had
ing the cat come through the open .spears and swords. The circle
window and jump up on the bed. filially was three deep with deter-
They had no trouble at all in seeing mined men.
the gi’eat green globes of the cat’s Too late the woman realized that
eyes as it leaned over the damsel and she was surrounded. She glided
seemed to suck the breath of life away from the dead lamb, and her
from her. Friar Sinistrari had to face was covered with blood and
hold the duke to keep him from hate. Several times she jumped sav-
rushing into the room. Then, with agely at different portions of the en-
one jump, the eat disappeared circling ring only to be met by the
through the window. When they threatening hedge of weapons. Then
reached the room, Susanne seemed the friar whispered to the .smith,
as though touched by the hand of and he shouted an order to close
death. Leaving her in the care of upon the woman.
her mother and the aged nurse, the
To the duke’s credit he kept si-
duke ran out of the castle, followed lent; he had promised to keep silent
as rapidly as possible by the old
and not interfere, but his face dis-
friar. A few men-at-arms joined closed the feeling in his heart to find
them in their hurried walk to the , that this woman, this fiend from
bare circle. There they joined the hell, was his daughter. Closer and
blacksmith and the others who were closer the threatening ring of peas-
waiting.
ants pressed, and finally a few of
The full moon, just above the the bravest jumped and bore the
tree-tops, was like a harvest moon, woman to the ground under their
yellow like an orange, round as a weight. The blacksmith had her by
ball and largo as a bushel ba.sket. the throat, but not before she had
It seemed to rest on the top of- the drawn blood from his arm.
pines, flooding the circle with light.
Tlie friar called for the brazier of
In the middle of the spot the white
glowing charcoal. In it, white-hot,
lamb baaed uneasily.
was a brand in the shape of a cro.ss.
Then the woman appeared. Shaking with excitement, the old
The duke gasped. The friar man managed to control him.self long
prayed. Every peasant who saw enough to say earnestly, “In the
what was to be seen crossed him-
name of the Father, Son and Holy
self, for the woman was the Damsel
Ghost;” then he took the handle- of
Susanne, but her eyes- Avere yellow
the brand in his hands and pressed
globes in the moonlight. She glided
at against the skull of the woman,
over to the lamb and .struck it with
just above and between the eyes
her left hand. A feline erjr echoed
pressed it with all his strength. . . .
through the wood, and then, without
further pause, the woman seized the The woman writhed beneath the
lamb, bit it in the neck and. started weight of tho.se above her. All the pow-
to suck the blood. Once she raised erful strength of the smith was- bare-
her head to listen, and her lips ly enough to hold her head to the
were red in the moonlight. ground. Shriek after shriek filled
Out of the .stillness- came the hoot- the air as the hot crucifix burned its
ing of an owl! way into her brain and into her soul,
From evei’y side the. peasants soaring and destroying the very cen-
gathered to form a complete circle, ters of her life.
greatly afraid but determined to do And to the horror of all, to the
 THE DAIMSEL AND HEE CAT 547

sarprizc and amazement of those dropped backward. The mother and

who held her, she changed suddenly the old nurse thought she was dead,
hi shape, and when she died, it was but her regular breathing soon
not the Damsel Susanne they held, showed the return of life. The rest
but a twisted cat. of the night they spent in the bed-
Tlie duke was brave, but for all room, one on each side of their be-
his bravely he fainted. loved daughter, holding her hands.
When he came to his senses, he The morning dawned, a lovely
found that a large fire had heen rose.
built and the eat was searing amid The damsel, waking, called for
the flames. There was nothing to food. When milk was brought to
do but to stumble back to the castle. her she drank it eagerly but com-
The Lady Arabella told her hus- plained that it hurt her to swallow.
band that she had sat by the side Then she fell asleep.
of her daughter holding a golden In the daylight they saw a red
cross in her hands and praying. At cross on her forehead.
a certain time the damsel "had On her neck were the livid marks
screamed, sat up in bed, and then of fingertips. •

The Diamond Lens*

By FITZ-JAMES O’BRIEN
1, The Bending of the Twig in which a drop of pure water was
sustained by capillary attraction. This
rom a very early period of my
F the entire bent of my inclina-
life
tions had been towards micro-
scopic investigations. When I was
verj’ primitive apparatus, magnifying
some fifty diameters, presented, it is
true, only indistinct and imperfect
forms, but still wonderful
sufficiently
not more than ten years old, a distant
relative of our family, hoping .to
to work up my imagination to a pre-
ternatural state of exeit^ement.
astonish my inexperience, constructed
a simple microscope for me, by drill- Seeing me so interested in this rude
ing in a disk of coppei* a small hole, instrument, my cousin explained to
me all that he knew about the prin-
This Story, poblished in the Atlantic Mon'fhly
in 3858, was the first of ereat weird-scientific
ciples of the microscope, related to
stories.
— Tt won immediate i)opularity for the
authror -a popniarity which contiiraea unbroken
me a few of the wonders which had
until his death in the Civil War. been accomplished through its agency.
548 WEIRD TALES
and ended by promising tosend me through the sanctuaries. Where they
one regularly constructed, immediate- beheld only a drop of rain slowly roll-
ly on his return to the city. I counted ing down the window-glass, I saw a
the days, the hours, the minutes, that universe of beings animated with all
intervened between that promise and the passions common to physical life,
his departure. and convulsing their minute sphere
Meantime I was not idle. Every with struggles as fierce and protracted
transparent substance that bore the as those of men. In the common
remotest resemblance to a lens I spots of mold, which my mother, good
eagerly seized upon, and employed in housekeeper that she was, fiercely
vain attempts to realize that instru- scooped away fi’om her jam pots,
ment, the theory of whose construc- there abode for me, under the name
tion I as yet only vaguely compre- of mildew, enchanted gardens, filled
hended. All panes of glass contain- with dells and avenues of the densest
ing those oblate spheroidal knots foliage and most astonishing verdure,
familiarly known as “ bull’s eyes” while from the fantastic boughs of
were ruthlessly destroyed, in the hope these microscopic forests hung strange
of obtaining lenses of marvelous fruits glittering with green, and sil-
power. I even went so far as to ex- ver and gold.
tract the crystalline humor from the It was no scientific thirst that at
eyes of fishes and animals, and en- this time filled my
mind. It was the
deavored to press it into the micro- pure enjoyment of a poet to whom a
scopic service. I plead guilty to hav- w'orld of wonders has been disclosed.
ing stolen the glasses from my Aunt I talked of my solitary pleasures to
Agatha’s spectacles, with a dim idea none. Alone with my
microscope, I
of grinding them into lenses of won- dimmed my sight, day after day and
drous magnifying properties —
in night poring over the
after night,
which attempt it is scarcely necessary marvels which it unfolded to me. I
to saj*^ that I totally failed. was like one who, having discovered
At last the promised instrument the ancient Eden still existing in all
came. It was of that order known as its primitive glor:', should resolve to
Field’s simple microscope, and had enjoy it in soliti.do, and never betray
cost perhaps about fifteen dollars. to mortal the secret of its locality.
As far as educational purposes went, The rod of my life was bent at this
a better apparatus could not have moment. I destined myself to be a
been selected. Accompanying it was microscopist.
a small treatise on the microscope Of course, like every novice, I fan-
its history, uses, and discoveries. I cied myself a discoverer. I was ig-
comprehended then for the first time norant at the time of the thousands
the Arabian Nights Entertainments. of acute intellects engaged in the
The dull veil of ordinary existence same pursuit as myself, and with the
that hung across the world seemed advantage of instruments a thousand
suddenly to roll away, and to lay bare times more powerful than mine. The
a land of enchantments. I felt towards names of Leeuwenhoek, Williamson,
my companions as the seer might feel Spencer, Ehrenberg, Schultz, Du-
towards the ordinary masses of men. jardin, Schaeht and Schleiden were
I held conversations with nature in then entirely unltnown to me, or if
a tongue which they could not under- Imown, I was ignorant of their patient
stand. I was in daily communication and wonderful researches. In every
with living wonders, such as they fresh specimen of cryptogamia which
never imagined in their wildest I placed beneath my instrument I be-
visions. I penetrated beyond the ex- lieved that I discovered wonders of
ternal portal of things, and I’oamed which the world was as yet ignorant.
 THE DIAMOND LENS 549

I remember well the thrill of delight as I never had the remotest intention
and admiration that shot through me of standing an examination, there was
the time that I discovered the
first no danger of my being “plucked.”
common wheel animalcule (Rotifera Besides, a metropolis was the place for
vulgaris) expanding and contracting me. There I could obtain excellent in-
its flexible spokes, and seemingly struments, the newest publications,
rotating through the water. Alas intimacy witli men of pursuits kin-
as I grew older, and obtained some dred —
with my own in short, all
works treating of my favorite study, things necessary to insure a profitable
I found that I was only on the devotion of my life to my beloved
threshold of a science to the investiga- science. Ihad an abundance of money,
tion of w'hich some of the greatest few desires that were not bounded by
men of the age were devoting their my illuminating mirror on one side
lives and intellects. and mj^ object-glass on the other;
As I grew up, my parents, who saw what, therefore, was to prevent my
but likelihood of anything prac-
little becoming an illustrious investigator
tical resulting from the examination of the veiled worlds ? It was with the
of bits of moss and drops of water most buoyant hope that I left my
through a brass tube and a piece of New England home and established
glass, were anxious that I should myself in New York.
choose a profession. It was their de-
sire that I should enter the counting- 2. The Longing of a Man of Science
house of my uncle, Ethan Blake, a
prosperous merchant, who carried on
business in New York. This sug-
gestion I decisively combated. I had
M y i’lKST step, was to
of course,
find suitable apartments. These
I obtained, after a couple of days’
no taste for trade I should only make
;
search, in Fourth Avenue; a very
a failure; in short, I refused to be- pretty second-floor unfurnished, con-
come a merchant. taining sitting-room, bedroom, and a
But it was necessary for me to smaller apartment which I intended
select some pursuit. My parents were to fit up as a laboratory. I furnished
staid New England people, who in- my lodgings simply, but rather
sisted on the necessity of labor; and elegantly, and then devoted all my
therefore, although, thanks to the be- energies to the adornment of the tem-
quest of my poor Aunt Agatha, I ple of my worship. I visited Pike,
should, on coming of age, inherit a the celebrated optician, and passed in
small fortune sufficient to place me review his splendid collection of mi-
above want, it was decided that, in- —
croscopes Field’s Compound, Hing-
stead of waiting for this, I should act ham’s, Spencer’s, Naehet’s Binocular
the nobler part, and employ the inter- (that founded on the principles of
vening j'ears in rendering myself in- the stereoscope), and at length fixed
dependent. upon that form Imown as Spencer’s
After much cogitation I complied Trunnion Microscope, as combining
with the wishes of my family, and the greatest number of improvements
selected a profession. I determined with an almost perfect freedom from
to study medicine at the New York tremor. Along with this I purchased
Academy. This disposition of my —
every possible accessory draw-tubes,
future suited me. A
removal from micrometers, a camera-lucida, lever-
my relatives would enable me to dis- stage, achromatic condensei’s, white
pose of my time as I pleased without cloud illuminators, prisms, parabolic
fear of detection. As long as I paid condensers, polarizing apparatus, for-
my Academy fees, I might shirk at- ceps, aquatic boxes, fishing-tubes, with
tending the lectures if I chose; and. a host of other articles, all of which
550 WEIED TALES
would have been useful in the hands the Volvox ghhator was an animal,
of an experienced microscopist, but, and proved that his “monads” with
as I aftei’wards discovered, were not stomachs and eyes were merely phases
of the slightest present value to me. of the formation of a vegetable cell,
It takes years of practise to know how and were, when they reached their
to use a complicated microscope. The mature state, incapable of the act of
optician looked suspiciously at me as conjugation, or any true generative
I made these wholesale purchases. He act, without which no organism rising
evidently was uncertain whether to to any stage of life higher than veg-
set me down as some scientific celeb- etable can be said to be complete. It
rity or a madman. I think he inclined was I who resolved the singular prob-
to the latter belief. I suppose I was lem of rotation in the cells and hairs
mad. Every great genius is mad upon of plants into ciliarj"- attraction, in
the subject in Avhieh he is greatest. spite of the assertions of ]\Ir. Wen-
The unsuccessful madman is dis- ham and others, that my
explanation
graced and called a lunatic. was the result of an optical illusion.
Mad or not, I set myself to work But notwithstanding these discov-
with a zeal which few scientific stu- eries, laboriously and painfully made
dents have ever equaled. I had everj"- as they were, I felt horribly dissatis-
thing to leam relative to the delicate fied. At every step I found myself
study upon which I had embarked stopped by the imperfections of my
a study involving the most earnest instruments. Like all active mieroscop-
patience, the most rigid analytic ists, I gave my imagination full play.
powers, the steadiest hand, the most Indeed, it is a common complaint
untiring eye, the most refined and against many such, that they supply
subtile manipulation. the defects of their instniments with
For a long time half my apparatus the creations of their brains. I imag-
lay inactively on the shelves of my ined depths beyond depths in natiire
laboratory, which was now most which the limited power of my lenses
amplj^ furnished with every possible prohibited me from exploring. I lay
contrivance for facilitating my in- awake at night constructing imagi-
vestigations. The fact was that I did nary microscopes of immeasurable
not know how to use some of my power, with which I seemed to pierce
—
implements never ha\ing
scientific through all the envelopes of matter
—
been taught microscopies and those doAvn to its original atom. How I
^vhose use I luiderstood theoretically cursed those imperfect mediums which
were of little avail, until by practise necessity through ignorance compelled
I could attain the neecssarv^ delicacy me to use How I longed to discover
!

of handling. Still, such was the fury the secret of some perfect lens, whose
of my ambition, such the untiring magnifying power should be limited
])erseveranee of my experiments, that, only by the resolvability of the ob-
difficult of credit as it may be, in the ject, and which at the same time
course of one year I became theo- should be free from spherical and
retically and practically an accom- chromatic aberrations, in short from
plished microscopist. all the obstacles over which the poor
During this period of my labors, in microscopist finds himself continual-
which I submitted specimens of every ly stumbling! I felt convinced that
substance that came under mj^ ob- the simple microscope, composed of a
servation to the action of my lenses, single lens of such vast yet perfect
I became a discoverer —in a small power, was possible of construction.
way, it is true, for I was very young, To attempt to bring the compound
but still a discoverer. It was I who microscope up to such a pitch would
destroyed Ehrenberg’s theory that have been commencing at the wrong
 THE DIAMOND LENS 551

end; this latter being simply a par- some enough even for that and —
tially successful endeavor to remedy some other knickknaeks for my sit-
those very defects of the simple in- ting-room. Why Simon should pursue
strument, which, if conquered, would this petty trade I never could imag-
leave nothing to be desired. ine. He apparently had plenty of
It was in this mood of mind that I money, and had the entree of the best
became a constructive microscopist. —
houses in the city taking care, how-
After another year passed in this new ever, I suppose, to drive no bargains
pursuit, experimenting on every within the enchanted circle of the
imaginable substance —
glass, gems, Upper Ten. I came at length to the
conclusion that this peddling was but
flints, crystals, artificial crystals
formed of the alloy of various vitre- a mask to cover some greater object,
—
ous materials in short, having con- and even went so far as to believe my
young acquaintance to be implicated
structed as many varieties of lenses
as Argus had eyes, I found myself in the slave-trade. That, however,
precisely where I started, with noth- was none of my affair.
ing gained save an extensive knowl- On the present occasion, Simon
edge of glass-making. I was almost entered myi-oom in a state of con-
dead with despair. My
parents were siderable excitement.
surprized at my apparent want of “Ah! mon ami!” he cried, before
progress in my medical studies ( I had I could even offer him the ordinaiy
not attended one lecture since my ar- salutation, “it has occurred to me to
rival in the city), and the expenses of be the witness of the most astonishing
my mad pursuit had been so great as things in the world. I promenade
to embarrass me very seriously. myself to the house of Madame
I was in this frame of mind one —
how does the little animal le renard
day, experimenting in my laboratory — name himself in the Latin ? ’ ’

—
on a small diamond that stone, from “Vulpes,”answered.
I
its great refracting power, having —
“Ah! yes Vulpes. I promenade
always occupied my attention more myself to the house of Madame
—
than any other when a young Vulpes.”
Frenchman, who lived on the floor “The spirit medium?”
above me, and who was in the habit “Yes, the great medium. Great
of occasionally visiting me, entered heavens! what a woman! I write on
the room. a slip of paper many of questions
I think that Jules Simon was a Jew. concerning affairs the most secret
He had many traits of the Hebrew affairs that conceal themselves in the
character a love of jewelry, of dress,
: abysses of my heart the most pro-
and of good living. There was some- found and behold by example what
;
! !

thing mysterious about him. He occurs ? This devil of a woman makes

always had something to sell, and yet me replies the most truthful to all of
went into excellent society. When I them. She talks to me of things that
say sell, I should perhaps have said I do not love to talk of to myself.
peddle; for his operations were gen- What am I to think? I am fixed to
erally confined to the disposal of sin- the earth!”
gle articles —
a picture, for instance, “Am I to understand you. Mon-
or a rare carving in ivory, or a pair sieur Simon, that this Mrs. Vulpes re-
of duelling-pistols, or the dress of a plied to questions secretly written by
Mexican cahallero. When I was first you, which questions related to events
furnishing my rooms, he paid me a known only to yourself?”
visit,which ended in my purchasing “Ah! more than that, more than
an antique silver lamp, which he as- that,” he answered, with an air of
—
sured me was a Cellini it was hand- some alarm. “She related to me
552 WEIRD TALES
things But,” he added, after a awe. Everything bore a simple and
pause, and suddenly changing his practical asi>eet. This intercourse
manner, “why occupy ourselves with with the spiritual world was evident-
these follies? It was all the biology, ly as familiar an occupation with Mi’s.
without doubt. It goes without say- Vulpes as eating her dinner or riding
ing that it has not my credence. in an omnibus.
But why are we here, mon mni? It “You come for a communication,
has occurred to me to discover the Mr. Linley?” said the medium, in a
most beautiful thing as you can imag- dry, businesslike tone of voice.
—
ine a vase with green lizards on it, ‘
By appointment —yes.
‘
’ ’

composed by the great Bernard Pa- “What sort of communication do

It is in my apartment; let us
lissy.
you want ? —a written one ?
’ ’

mount. I go to show it to you.” “Yes —I wish for a written one.”

I followed Simon mechanically but ; “Prom any particular spirit?”
my thoughts were far from Palissy “Yes.”
and his enameled wmre, although I, “Have you ever knowm this spirit
like him, was seeking in the dark a on this earth?”
great discovery. This casual mention “Never. lie died long before I was
of the spiritualist, Madame Vulpes, born. I wish merely to obtain from
set me on a new^ track. What if tliis him some information which he ought
spiritualism should be really a great to be able to give better than any
fact? What if, through communica- other.
’ ’

tion with more sirbtile organisms than “Will you seat yourself at the
my own, 1 could reach at a single table, Mr. Linley,” said the medium,
bound the goal, which perhaps a life “and place your hands upon it?”
of agonizing mental toil would never I obeyed —
IMrs. Vulpes being seated
enable me to attain? opposite to me, with her hands also on
While purchasing the Palissy vase the table. We remained thus for
from my friend Simon, I was mental- about a mmute and a half, when a
ly arranging a visit to hladame violent succession of raps came on tlie
Vulpes. table, on the back of my chair, on the
floor immediately under my feet, and
3. The Spirit of Leeuwenhoeh even on the window-panes. Mi’s.
Vulpes smiled composedly.

T wo evenings after
this, thanks to
an arrangement bj’ letter and the
promise of an ample fee, I found
“They are very strong tonight,”
she remarked. “You are fortunate.”
She then continued, “Will the .spirits
JIadame Vulpes awaiting me at her communicate with this gentleman?”
residence alone. She was a coarse- Vigorous affirmative.
featured woman, with keen and rather “Will the particular spirit he de-
cruel dark eyes, and an exceedingly sires to speak with communicate?”
sensual expression about her mouth A very confused rapping followed
and mider jaw. She received me in this question.
perfect silence, in an apartment on “I know what they mean,” said
the ground floor, very sparely fur- Mrs. Vulpes, addressing hei’self to
nished. In the center of the room, me; “they wsli you to write down
close to where Mrs. Vulpes sat, thei’e the name of the particular spirit that
was a common round mahogany you desire to converse with. Is that
table. If I had come for the purpose so?” she added, speaking to her in-
of sweeping her chimney, the w'oman visible guests.
could not have looked more indiffer- That it was so was evident from
ent to my appearance. There was no the numerous affiimatory I’esponses.
attempt to inspix’e the visitor with While this was going on, I tore a slip
 THE DIAMOND LENS 553

from my pocket-book, and scribbled a Spirit. Yes.

name, under the table. I. — Am I destined to accomplish
“Will this spirit communicate in this great task?
writing with this gentleman?” asked Spirit. You are.
the medium once more. I. —
I wish to know how’ to px'oceed
After a moment’s pause, her hand to attain this end. For tlie love which
seemed to be seized nith a violent you bear to science, help me
tremor, shaking so forcibly that the Spirit. Adiamond of one hundred
table vibrated. She said that a spirit and forty carats, submitted to electro-
had seized herhand and would write. magnetic currents for a long peiiod,
I handed her some sheets of paper will experience a rearrangement of
that were on the table, and a pencil. its atoms inter se, and from that
The latter she held loosely in her stone you will form the universal lens.
hand, which presently began to moA'e I. —
Will great discoveries result
over the paper with a singular and from the use of such a lens!
seemingly involuntary motion. After Spirit. So great that all that has
a few moments had elapsed, she gone before is as nothing.
handed me the paper, on which I I. —
But the refractive pow'er of the
found written, in a large, unculti- diamond is so immense, that the
vated hand, the words image will be formed within the lens.
How' is that difficulty to be sur-
He is not here, but has been sent for.
mounted ?
A pause of a minute or so now' en- Spirit. Pierce the lens through its

sued, during w’hich Mk;. Vulpes re- and the difficulty is obviated.
axis,
mained perfectly silent, but the raps The image will be formed in the
continued at regular intenmls. When pierced space, which will itself ser\'e
the short period I mention had as a tube to look through. Now I am
elaixsed, the hand of the medium was calle<j. Good-night.
again seized with its convulsive tre- I can not at all describe the effect
mor, and she wrote, under this strange that these extraordinary communica-
influence, a few wnrds on the paper, tions had ui)on me. I felt complete-
which she handed to me. They wore ly bewildered. No biological theory
as follows: could aeeoimt for the discovery of
the lens. The medium might, by
I am here. Question me.
Leeuwenhoek. means of biological rapport with my
mind, have gone so far as to read my
I w'as astounded. The name was questions, and reply to them co-
identical with that I had written be- herently. But biology could not en-
neath the table, and carefully kept able her to discover that magnetic
concealed. Neither was it at all currents would so alter the crystals
probable that an micultivated woman of the diamond as to remedy its pre-
like Mrs. Vulpes should know even the vious defects, and admit of its being
name of the great father of micro- polished into a perfect lens. Some
scopies. It may have been biology; such theory may have passed through
but this theory was soon doomed to my head, it is true; but if so, I had
be destroyed. I wrote on my slip forgotten it. In my excited condi-
still concealing it from Mi’s. Vulpes tion of mind there was no course left
a series of questions, which, to avoid but to become a convert, and it w'as
tediousness, I shall place wdth the in a state of the most painful nerv-
responses, in the order in wdiich they ous exaltation that I left the me-
occurred dium’s house that evening. She ac-
I. —
Can the microscope be brought companied me to the door, hoping
to perfection? that I w'as satisfied. The raps fol-
554 WEIRD TALES
lowed us as we went through the hall, I continued. “Simon, she told me
Rounding on the balusters, the floor- wonderful things tonight, or rather
ing, and even the lintels of the door. Avas the means of telling me wonder-
I hastily expressed my satisfaction, ful things. Ah! if I could only get
and escaped hurriedly into the cool a diamond that weighed one hundred
I walked home with but and forty carats ’ ’
night air. !

one thought possessing me how to — Scarcely had the sigh with which I
obtain a diamond of the immense size uttered this desire died upon my
required. My
entire means multi- lips, when Simon, with the aspect of
plied a hundred times over would a wild beast, glared at me savagely,
have been inadequate to its purchase. and, rushing to the mantelpiece,
Besides, such stones are rare, and be- where some foreign Aveapons hung on
come historical. I could find such the wall, caught up a Malay creese,
only in the regalia of Eastern or Eu- and brandished it furiously before
ropean monarchs. him.
“No!” he cried in French, into
4. The Eye of Morning which he ahvays broke when excited.
“No! you shall not have it! You are
T here was alight in Simon’s room
as I entered my house. A vague
impulse urged me to visit him. As I
perfidious You have consulted with
!

that demon, and desire my treasure!

opened the door of his sitting-room But I shall die first! Me! I am
unannounced, he was bending, with brave ! You can not make me fear !
’ ’

his back toward me, over a carcel

All this, uttered in a loud voice
lamp, apparently engaged in minute- trembling with excitement, astounded
Ij' examining some object which he
me. I saw at a glance that I had acci-
held in his hands. As I entered, he dentally trodden upon the edges of
started suddenly, thrust his hand
Simon’s secret, whatever it was. It
into his breast pocket, and tuimed to was necessary to reassure him.
me with a face crimson with confu- “My dear Simon,” I said, “I am
sion.
entirely at a loss to know what you
mean. I went to Madame Vulpes to
“What!” I cried, “poring over the consult her on a scientific problem,
miniature of some fair lady? Well,
to the solution of which I discovered
don’t blush so much; I won’t ask to
’ ’
that a diamond of the size I just men-
see it.
tioned was necessary. You were
Simon laughed awlcnmrdly enough, never alluded to during the evening,
but made none of the negative pro- nor, so far as I was concerned, even
testations usual on such occasions. thought of. What can be the mean-
He asked meto take a seat. ing of this outburst? If you happen
“Simon,” said I, “I have just come to have a set of valuable diamonds in
from Madame Vulpes.” your possession, you need fear noth-
This time Simon turned as white as ing from me. The diamond Avhich I
a sheet, and seemed stupefied, as if a require you could not possess; or, if
sudden electric shock had smitten him. you did possess it, you would not be
He babbled some incoherent words, living here.
’ ’

and went hastily to a small closet Something in my tone must have

where he usually kept his liquors. completely reassured him for his ex-
;

Although astonished at his emotion, pression immediately changed to a

I was too preoccupied with my own sort of constrained merriment, com-
idea to pay much attention to any- bined, however, Avith a certain sus-
thing else. picious attention to my movements.
“You say truly when you call He laughed, and said that I must bear
Madame Vulpes a devil of a woman,” with him that he was at certain mo-
;
 THE DIAMOND LENS 555

ments subject to a species of vertigo, “Monster,” he cried, passionately,

which betrayed itself in incoherent “I am ruined! What shall I do?
speeches, and that the attacks passed You shall never have it! I SAvear by
off as rapidly as they came. He put my mother!”
his weapon aside while making this “I don’t want it,” I said; “rest
explanation, and endeavored, with secure, but be frank Avith me. Tell me
some success, to assume a more cheer- all about it.”
ful air. The drunkenness began to return.
All this did not impose on me in the He protested with maudlin earnest-
least. I was too much accustomed ness that I Avas entirely mistaken
to analytical labors to be baffled by that I was intoxicated then asked me
;

so flimsy a veil. I determined to to SAvear eternal seci’ecy, and prom-

probe the mystery to the bottom. ised to disclose the mystexy to me. I
“Simon,” I said, gayly, “let us for- pledged myself, of course, to all. With
get all this over a bottle of Burgundy. an uneasy look in his eyes, and hands
I have a case of Lausseure’s Clos Vou- unsteady Avith drink and nerAmusness,
geot downstairs, fragrant with the he drew a small case from his breast
odors and ruddy mth the sunlight of and opened it. HeaAmns! Hoav the
the Cote d’Or. Let us have up a mild lamplight Avas shivered into a
couple of bottles. What say you?” thousand prismatic arroAvs, as it fell
“With all my heart,” answered upon a vast rose-diamond that glit-
Simon, smilingly. tered in the case I Avas no judge of
!

1 produced the wine and we seated diamonds, but I saAv at a glance that
ourselves to drink. It was of a famous this Avas a gem of rare size and purity.
vintage, that of 1848, a year when I looked at Simon Avith Avonder, and
Avar and Avine throve together and — —
must I confess it? Avith enAy. Hoav
its pure but powerful juice seemed to could he have obtaiixed this treasure?
impart renewed vitality to the sys- In reply to my questions, I could just
tem. By the time Ave had half fin- gather from his drmiken statements
ished the second bottle, Simon ’s head, (of Avhich, I fancy, half the inco-
Avhich I knew Avas a AA'cak one, had herence Avas affected) that he had
begun to yield, Avhile I remained calm been superintendiixg a gang of slaves
as e\'er, only that CA'erj' draft engaged in diamond-washing in Bra-
seemed to send a flush of vigor zil that he had seen one of them
;

through my limbs. Simon’s utter- secrete a diamond, but, instead of in-

ance became more and more indis- forming his employers, had quietly
tinct. He took to singing French Avatched the negro until he saw him
chansons of a not A'erj' moral tend- bury his treasure; that he had dug
ency. I rose suddenly from the table it up and fledVith it, but that as yet
just at the conclusion of one of those he Avas afraid to attempt to dispose
incoherent verses, and, fixing my eyes —
of it i)ublicly so A’aluable a gem
on him Avith a quiet smile, said being almost certain to attract too
“Simon, I haAm deeeh'ed you. I much attention to its OAAmer’s ante-
learned your secret this CA’-ening. You —
cedents and he had not been able to
may as Avell be frank Avith me. Mrs. diseoA'er anj' of those obscure chan-
Vulpes, or rather one of her spirits, nels by Avhieh such matters are con-
told me all.” veyed aAvay safely. He added, that,
He started with horror. His in- in accordance with the Oi'iental prac-
toxication seemed for the moment to tise, he had named his diamond with
fade aAvay, and he made a movement the fanciful title of “The Eye of
tOAvards the weapon that he had a
’ ’
Morning.
short time before laid doAsm. I stopped While Simon Avas relating this to
him with my hand. me, I regarded the great diamond at-
556 WEIRD TALES
tentively. Never had I beheld any- moved him to the bed, on which I laid
thing so beautiful. All the glories of him so that his feet hung down over
light, ever imagined or described, the edge. I had possessed myself of
seemed to pulsate in its crystalline the Malay creese, which I held in my
chambers. Its weight, as I learned right hand, while with the other I
from Simon, was exactly one hundred discovered as accurately as I could by
and forty carats. Here was an amaz- pulsation the exact locality of the
ing coincidence. The hand of destiny heart. It was essential that all the
seemed in it. On the very evening aspects of his death should lead to
when the spirit of Leeuwenhoek com- the surmise of self-murder. I calcu-
municates to me the great secret of lated the exact angle at which it was
the microscope, the priceless means probable that the weapon, if leveled
which he directs me to employ start by Simon’s own hand, would enter
up within my easy reach! I deter- his breast; then with one powerful
mined, with the most perfect delibera- blow I thrust it up to the hilt in the
tion, to possess myself of Simon’s di- very spot which I desired to pene-
amond. trate. A convulsive thrill ran through
I sat opposite to him while he Simon’s limbs. I heard a smothered
nodded over his glass, and calmly re- sound issue from his throat, precisely
volved the whole affair. I did not for like the bursting of a large air-bubble,
an instant contemplate so foolish an sent up by a diver, when it reaches
act as a common theft, which would the surface of the water; he turned
of course be discovered, or at least half round on his side, and, as if to
necessitate flight and concealment, all assist my plans more effectually, his
of which must interfere with my right hand, moved by some mere spas-
scientific plans. There was but one modic impulse, clasped the handle of
—
step to be taken to kill Simon. After the creese, which it remained holding
with extraordinary muscular tenacity.
all, what was the life of a little ped-
dling Jew, in comparison with the Beyond this there was no apparent
interests of science? Human beings struggle. The laudanum, I presume,
are taken every day from the con- paralyzed the usual nervous action.
demned prisons to be experimented He must have died instantly.
on by surgeons. This man, Simon, There was yet something to be done.
was by his own confession a criminal, To make it certain that all suspicion
a robber, and I believed on my soul of the act should be diverted from
a murderer. He deserved death quite any inhabitant of the house to Simon
as much as any felon condemned by himself, it was necessary that the door
the laws why should I not, like gov-
: should be found in the morning locked
ernment, contrive that his punishment on the inside. How to do this, and
should contribute to the progress of afterwards escape myself? Not by
human knowledge? the window; that was a physical im-
The means for accomplishing every- possibility. Besides, I was deter-
thing I desired lay within my reach. mined that the windows also should be
There stood upon the mantelpiece a found bolted. The solution was simple
bottle half full of French laudanum. enoiigh. I descended softly to my own
Simon was so occupied with his di- room for a peculiar instrument which
amond, which I had just restored to I had used for holding small slippery
him, that it was an affair of no diffi- substances, such as minute spheres of
culty to drug his glass. In a quarter glass, etc. This instrument was noth-
of an hour he was in a profound sleep. ing more than a long slender hand-
I now opened his waistcoat, took vise,with a very powerful grip, and
the diamond from the inner pocket a considerable leverage, which last
in which he had placed it, and i*e- was accidentally owing to the shape
 THE DIAMOND LENS 557

of the handle. Nothing was simpler Simon, when paying him his last
than, when the key was in the lock, month’s rent, remarked that “he
to seize the end of its stem in this vise, should not pay him rent much long-
through the keyhole, from the out- er.” All the other evidence corre-
side, and so lock the door. Previous- —
sponded the door locked inside, the
ly, however, to doing this, I burned position of the corpse, the burnt pa-
a number of papers on Simon’s pers. As I anticipated, no one knew
hearth. Suicides almost always burn of the possession of the diamond by
papers before they destroy themselves. Simon, so that no motive was sug-
I alsoemptied some more laudanum gested for his murder. The jury,
—
into Simon’s glass having first re- after a prolonged examination,
moved from it all traces of wine brought in the usual verdict, and the
cleaned the other wine-glass, and neighborhood once more settled do^vn
brought the bottles away with me. If into its accustomed quiet.
traces of two persons drinking had
been found in the room, the question 5. Animula
naturally would have arisen. Who was
the second? Besides, the wine-bottles
might have been identified as belong-
ing to me. The laudanum I poured
T he

and day
three months succeeding Si-
mon’s catastrophe I devoted night
to my diamond lens. I had
out to account for its presence in his constructed a vast galvanic battery,
stomach, in case of a post-mortem ex- composed of nearly two thousand
amination. The theory naturally
would be, that he first intended to
—
pairs of plates a higher power I
dared not use, lest the diamond
poison himself, but, after sAvallowing should be calcined. By means of this
a little of the drug, was either dis- enormous engine I was enabled to send
gusted with its taste, or changed his a powerful current of electricity con-
mind from other motives, and chose tinually through my great diamond,
the dagger. These arrangements which it seemed to me gained in luster
made, I w'alked out, leaving the gas every day. At the expiration of a
burning, locked the door with my vise, month Icommenced the grinding and
and went to bed. polishing of the lens, a work of in-
Simon’s death was not discovered tense toil and exquisite delicacy. The
until nearly 3 in the afternoon. The great density of the stone, and the
servant, astonished at seeing the gas care required to be taken with the
—
burning the light streaming on the curvatures of the surfaces of the lens,
dark landing from under the door rendered the labor the severest and
peeped through the keyhole and saw most harassing that I had yet under-
Simon on the bed. She gave the gone.
alarm. The door was burst open, and At last the eventful moment came
the neighborhood was in a fever of the lens was completed. I stood
excitement. trembling on the threshold of new
Everyone in the house was ar- worlds. I had the realization of Alex-
rested, myself included. There was ander’s famous wish before me. The
an inquest but no clue to his death
;
lens lay on the table, ready to be
beyond that of suicide could be ob- placed upon its platform. My hand
tained. Curiously enough, he had fairly shook as I enveloped a drop of
made several speeches to his friends water with a thin coating of oil of
the preceding week, that seemed to turpentine, preparatory to its exam-
point to self-destruction. One gen- —
ination a process necessary in order
tleman swore that Simon had said in to prevent the rapid evaporation of
his presence that “he was tired of the water. I now placed the drop on
life.” His landlord affirmed that a thin slip of glass under the lens.
558 WEIRD TALES
and throwing upon it,by the com- branches wa\'ed along the fluid glades
bined aid of a prism and a mirror, a until every vista seemed to break
powerful stream of light, I ap- through half-lucent ranks of many-
proached my eye to the minute hole colored drooping silken pennons.
drilled through the axis of the lens. What seemed to be either fruits or
For an instant I saw nothing save flowers, pied with a thousand hues,
what seemed to be an illuminated lustrous and ever vaiying, bubbled
chaos, a vast luminous abyss. A pure from the crowns of this fairy foliage.
white light, cloudless and serene, and No hills, no lakes, no rivers, no forms
seemingly limitless as space itself, was animate or inanimate, were to be seen,
my first impression. Gently, and with save those vast auroral copses that
tire greatest care, I depressed the lens floated serenely in the luminous still-
a few hair ’s-breadths. The wondrous ness, with leaves and fruits and flow-
ilhimination still continued, but as the ers gleaming with unknown fires, un-
lens approached the object a scene of realizable by mere imagination.
indescribable beauty was unfolded to How strange, 1 thought, that this
my view. sphere should be thus condemned to
I seemed to gaze upon a vast space, solitude! I had hoped, at least to
the limits of which extended far be- discover some new form of animal
yond my vision. An atmosphere of
magical luminousness permeated the
—
life perhaps of a lower class than
any with which we arc at present
entire field of view. I was amazed acquainted, but still, some living
to see no trace of animalculous life. organism. I foimd my newly discov-
Not a living thing, apparently, inhab- ered world, if I may so speak, a beau-
ited that dazzling expanse. I com- tiful chromatic desert.
prehended instantly that, by the won- While I was speculating on the
drous power of my lens, I had pene- singular arrangements of the internal
trated beyond the grosser particles of economy of Nature, with which she
aqueous matter, beyond the realms of so frequently splinters into atoms our
infusoria and protozoa, down to the most compact theories, I thought I be-
original gaseous globule, into w'hose lield a form moving slowly through
lumi7ious interior I was gazing, as into the glades of one of the prismatic
an almost boundless dome filled with forests. I looked more attentively,
a supernatural radiance. and found that I was not mistaken.
It was, however, no brilliant void Words can not depict the anxiety
into which I Looked. On every side with which I awaited the nearer ap-
I beheld beautiful inorganic forms, proach of this mysterious object. Was
of unknown texture, and colored with it merely some inanimate substance,

the most enchanting hues. These held in sus]>ense in the attenuated at-
forms presented the appearance of mosphere of the globule? or was it an
what might be called, for want of a animal endowed with vitality and mo-
more specific definition, foliated tion? It approached, flitting behind
clouds of the highest rarity; that is, the gauzy, colored veils of eioud-foli-
thej^ undulated and broke into veg- age, for seconds dimly revealed, then
etable formations, and were tinged vanished. At last the violet ]>ennons
with splendors compared with which that trailed nearest to me vibrated
the gilding of our autumn w'oodlands they w'ere gently pushed aside, and
is as dross compared with gold. Par the form floated out into the iDroad-
away into the illimitable distance lighL
stretched long avenues of these gas- It was a female human shape.
eous forests, dimly transparent, and When I say human, I mean it pos-
painted with prismatic hues of un- —
sessed the outlines of humanity but
imaginable brilliancy. The pendent there the analogy ends. Its adorable
 THE DIAMOND LENS 559

beauty lifted it illimitable heights be- Animula (let me now call her by
yond the loveliest daughter of Adam. that dear name which I subsequently
I can not, I dare not, attempt to bestowed on her) had changed her
inventory the charms of this divine position. She had again approached
revelation of perfect beauty. Those the wondrous forest, and was gazing
eyes of mystic violet, dewy and serene, earnestly upwards. Presently one of
evade my words. Her long, lustrous —
the trees as I must call them ua- —
hair following her glorious head in folded 'a long ciliary process, with
a golden wake, like the track sown in which it seized one of the gleaming
.

heaven by a falling star, seems to fruits that glittered on its sximmit,

quench my most burning phrases with and, sweeping slowly down, held it
its splendors. If all the bees of Hybla wdthin reach of Animula. The sylph
nestled upon my Lips, they would still took it in her delicate hand and began
smg but hoarsely the wondrous har- to eat. My attention was so entirely
monies of outline that enclosed her absorlsedby her, that I could not ap-
form. ply myself to the task of determining
She swept out from between the whether this singular plant was or
rainbow-curtains of the cloud-trees was not instinct with volition.
into the broad sea of light that lay I watched her, as she made her re-
beyond. Her motions %'ere those of past, wth the most profound atten-
some graceful naiad, cleaving, by a tion. The suppleness of her motions
mere effort of her will, the eleai’, un- sent a thrill of delight through my
ruffled waters that fill the chambers frame; my heart beat madly as she
of the sea. She floated forth with the turned her beautiful eyes in the direc-
serene grace of a frail bubble ascend- tion of the spot in which I stood.
ing througli the still atmosphere of a What would I not have given to have
June day. The perfect roundness of had the power to precipitate myself
her limbs formed suave and enchant- into that luminous ocean, and float
ing curves-. It w'as Like listening to with her through those groves of pur-
the most spiritual symphony of Bee- ple and gold! While I was thus
thoven the divine, to watch the har- breathlessly following her everj^ move-
monious flow of lines. This, indeed, ment, she suddenly started, seemed to
was a pleasure, cheaply purchased at listen for a moment, and then cleav-
any price. What cared I, if I had ing the brilliant ether in which she
waded to the portal of this wonder was floating, like a flash of light,
through another’s blood? I w'ould pierced through the opaline forest,
have given ray own to enjoy one such and disappeared.
moment of intoxication and delight. Instantly a series of the most singu-
Breathless with gazing on this love- lar sensations attacked me. It seemed
ly wonder, and forgetful for an in- as if I had suddenly gone blind. The
stant of everything save her presence, luminous sphere was still before me,
I withdrew ray eye from the mid'o- but my daylight had vani,shed. What
—
seope eagerly alas ! As my gaze caused this sudden disappearance?
fell on the thin slide that lay beneath Had she a lover or a husband? Yes,
my instrument, the bright light from that was the sohition Some .signal
!

mirror and from i)rism sparkled on a from a happy fellow-being had vi-
colorless drop of water! There, in brated through the avenues of the
that tiny bead of dew, this beautiful forest, and she had obeyed the sum-
being was forever imprisoned. The mons.
planet Neptune was not more distant The agony of my sensations, as I
from me than she. I hastened once arrived at this conclusion, startled
more to apply mj" eye to the micro- me. I tried to reject the conviction
scope. that my reason forced iipon me. I
560 WEIRD TALES
battled against the fatal conclusion tained my all. Animula was there.
but in vain. It was so. I had no es- I had left the gas-lamp, surrounded
cape from it. I loved an animalcule by its moderators, burning, when I
It is true that, thanks to the mar- went to bed the night before. I found
velous power of my microscope, she the sylph bathing, as it were, with an
appeared of human proportions. In- expression of pleasure animating her
stead of presenting the revolting as- features, in the brilliant light which
pect of the coarser creatures, that live surrounded her. She tossed her lus-
and struggle and die, in the more trous golden hair over her shoulders
easily resolvable portions of the with innocent coquetry. She lay at
water-drop, she was fair and delicate full length in the transparent me-
and of surpassing beauty. But of dium, in -ft'hich she supported herself
what account was all that? Every with ease, and gamboled with the en-
time that my eye was Avithdrami from chanting grace that the nymph Sal-
the instrument, it fell on a miserable macis might have exhibited when she
drop of water, within which, I must sought to conquer the modest Her-
be content to Imow, dwelt all that maphroditus. I tried an experiment to
could make my life lovely. satisfy myself if her i^owers of reflec-
Could she but see me once! Could tion Avere developed. I lessened the
I for one moment pierce the mystical lamplight considerably. By the dim
walls that so inexorably rose to sepa- light that remained, I could see an
rate us, and whisper all that filled my expression of pain flit across her face.
soul, I might consent to be satisfied She looked upward suddenly, and her
for the rest of my life with the kjiowl- brows contracted. I flooded the stage
edge of her remote sympathy. It of the microscope again with a full
would be something to have estab- stream of light, and her w’hole ex-
lished even the faintest personal link pression ehaiiged. She sprang for-
to bind us together —
to know that at ward like some substance deprived of
times, when roaming through those all weight. Her eyes sparkled and her
enchanted glades, she might think of lips moved. Ah! if science had only
the wonderful stranger, who had bro- the means of conducting and redupli-
ken the monotony of her life 'with his cating sounds, as it does the rays of
presence, and left a gentle memory in light, w'hat carols of happiness would
her heart then have entranced my ears! what
But it could not be. No invention jubilant hymns to Adonis would have
of which human intellect w'as capable thrilled the illumined air!
could break down the barriers that I now comprehended how it was
nature had erected. I might feast that the Count de Gabalis peopled his
my soul upon her wondrous beauty,
yet she must always remain ignorant
—
mystic world with sylphs beautiful
beings wdiose breath of life was lam-
of the adoring eyes that day and night bent fire, and who sported forever in
gazed upon her, and, even when regions of purest ether and purest
closed, beheld her in dreams. With light. The Rosicrueian had antici-
a bitter cry of anguish I fled from pated the wonder that I had prac-
the room, and, flinging myself on my tically realized.
bed, sobbed myself to sleep like a How long this worship of ray
child. strange divinity went on thus I
6. The Spilling of the Cup scarcely Imow. I lost all note of time.
All day from early dawn, and far
AROSE the next morning almost at into the night, I was to be found peer-
I daybreak, and rushed to my micro- ing through that wonderful lens. I
scope. I trembled as I sought the saw no one, went nowhere, and scarce
luminous world in miniature that con- allowed myself sufficient time for mj
 THE DIAIMOND LENS 561

meals. My whole life was absorbed liquid expressive eyes, the harmonious
in contemplation as rapt as that of limbs of Animxxla ?
any of the Eomish saints. Every hour The Signorina danced. What
that I gazed upon the divine form gross, discordant movements The
—
strengthened my passion a passion
!

play of her limbs xvas all false and

that was always overshadowed by the artificial. Her bounds were painful
maddening conviction, that, although athletic efforts; her poses xvere angu-
I could gaze on her at will, she never, lar and distressed the eye. I could
never could behold me bear it no longer with an exclamation
;

At grew so pale and ema-

length, I of disgust that drew every eye upon
ciated, from want of rest and con- me, I rose from my seat in the verj’'
tinual brooding over my insane love middle of the Signorina ’s pas-de-fa-
and its cruel conditions, that I deter- sination, and abruptly quitted the
mined to make some elEort to wean house.
myself from it. “Come,” I said,
“this is at best but a fantasy. Your
I hastened home to feast myeyes
imagination has bestowed on Animula once more on the lovely form of my
charms which in reality she does not sylph. I felt that henceforth to com-
possess. Seclusion from female so- bat this passion would be impossible.
ciety has produced this morbid condi- I applied my eye to the lens. Animula
tion of mind. Compare her with the
—
was there ^but what could have hap-
beautiful women of your own world, pened? Some terrible change seemed
and tills false enchantment will van- to have taken place during my
ish.” absence. Some secret grief seemed to
I looked over the newspapers by cloud the lovely features of her I
chance. There I beheld the advertise- gazed upon. Her face had grown
ment of a celebrated danseme ivho ap- thin and haggard; her limbs trailed
peared nightlj’’ at Niblo’s. The Si- heavily; the wondrous luster of her
gnorina Caradolce had the reputation golder hair had faded. She was ill !

ill, and I could not assist her I be-

of being the most beautiful as well as !

the most graceful woman in the lieve at that moment I would have
world. I instantly dressed and went gladly forfeited all claims to my
to the theater. human birthright, if I could only
The curtain drew up. The usual have been dwarfed to the size of an
semicircle of fairies in white muslin animalcule, and permitted to console
were standing on the right toe around her from whom fate had forever
the enameled flower-bank, of green divided me.
canvas, on which the belated prince I racked my brain for the solution
was sleeping. Suddenly a flute is of this myster>^ What xvas it that
heard. The fairies start. The trees afflicted the sjdph? She seemed to
open, the fairies all stand on the left suffer intense pain. Her features con-
toe, and the queen enters. It was the tracted, and she even writhed, as if
Signorina. She bounded forward with some internal agony. The vx>-on-
amid thunders of applause, and, light- drous forests appeared also to have
ing on one foot, remained poised in lost half their beauty. Their hues
air ! Heavens was this the great en-
! were dim and in some places faded
chantress that had dravui monarchs away altogether. I xvatched Animula
at her chariot-wheels? Those heavy for hours with a breaking heart, and
muscular limbs, those thick ankles, she seemed absolutely to wither away
those cavemoxTs eyes, that stereotyped under my very eye. Suddenh^ I re-
smile, those crxxdely painted cheeks! membered that I had not looked at
Whei’e were the vermeil blooms, the the water-drop for several days. In
562 WEIED TALES
fact, Ihated to see it for it remindec^
;
lank and discolored. The last throe
me of the natural barrier between came. I beheld that final struggle of
Animula and myself. I hurriedly —
the blackening form and I fainted.
looked do\vn on the stage of the mi- When I awoke out of a trance of
croscope. The slide was still there many hours, I found myself lying
but, great heavens! the water-drop amid the wreck of my instrument,
had vanished 1The awful trutli burst myself as shattered in mind and body
upon me; it had evaporated, imtil it as it. I crawled feebly to my bed,
had become so minute as to be in- from which I did not rise for months.
visible to the naked eye; I had been They say now that I am mad but ;

gazing on its last atom, the one that they are mistaken. I am poor, for I
—
contained Animula and she was have neither the heart nor the will to
dying work; all my money is spent, and I
I rushed again to the front of the live on charity. Young men’s associa-
lens, and looked through. Alas! the tions that love a joke invite me to lec-
last agony had seized her. The rain- ture on optics before them, for which
bow-hued forests had all melted they pay me, and laugh at me w'hile
away, and Animula lay struggling I lecture. “Linley, the mad micro-
feebly in what seemed to be a spot of is the name I go by.
’
scopist, ’
I sup-
dim light. Ah! the sight was hor- pose that I talk incoherently while I
rible: the limbs once so round and lecture. Who could talk sense w'hen
lovely shriveling up into iiothings; his brain is haunted by such ghastly
the eyes —
those eyes that shone like memories, while ever and anon among
heaven —
being quenched into black the shapes of death I behold the radi-
dust; the lustrous golden hair now ant form of my lost Animula

MOON MOCKERY By ROBERT E. HOWARD

I walked in Tara’s Woodone summer night,
And saw, amid the still, star-haunted skies,
A slender moon in silver mist arise.
And hover on the hill as if in fright.
Burning, I seized her veil and held her tight
An instant all her glow was in my eyes;
Then she was gone, swift as a w^hite bird flies,
And I went down the hill in opal light.
And soon I was aware, as down I came.
That all wms strange and new on every side
Strange people went about me to and fro.
And when I spoke with trembling mJne ow
name
They turned away, but one man said: “He died
In Tara Wood, a hundred years ago.”
“T T IS with pleasure,” from Havre, France, ‘‘that I
writes C. M. B. S.,

I note you have included Ooze, Penelope, and An Adventure in the

Fourth Dimension in your book-publication of A. G. Birch’s novel. The
Moon Terrar. I read these ‘yams’ in the early issues of Weird Tales, and
—
have not forgotten them who in the name of ‘homed toads’ could? When I
read Rud’s yam (Ooze) I was on board a ship bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico,
loaded with djmamite and gunpowder for use in a ‘forthcoming’ presidential
inauguration down there, and a pair of gun-boats had been a trifle too in-
dustrious in our vicinity. To top off all that, one of the crew went cuckoo and ‘ ’

tried to blow up the ship. We also had some very heavy weather at the time.
In the midst of it all I read Mr. Rud’s yam and got the thrill of my life. I
also experienced a really thrillingnightmare shortly after. If there is any-
it is a nightmare of the first order.
thing I like better than a really weird yarn,
Why something that I can not explain. It is nature, I suppose, for
I like it is
me to like anything that is adventurous. I have been that way all my life,
and am now close to sixty years of age. Prior to my twelfth year nightmares
frightened me, but since that time I have always enjoyed them. I get a most
pleasing ‘kick’ out of my struggle with them. ‘Riding’ nightmares and read-
ing weird tales really helped me practise self-control in a practical manner.
In all my reading of such stories as The Bloon Terror and the other three, I
have never encountered anjflhing that ever beat them in their particular line.
Rud is great in creating monsters. Starrett’s Penelope can, to my idea, be
given a dual interpretation. I do not know whether others see it that way or
viot, but to me it seems a story within a story —
one side of it humor and the
other side satire, yet both sides fantastic. It is clever, and, alone, easily worth
the price of the book. Wright, with ten thousand husky citizens of Jupiter
. . .

imprisoned within a soap-bubble, etc., came darned near wrecking a ship the —
whole crew laughed for two weeks over it A man with an imagination like
!

his should sui’ely enjoy life —

provided someone does not crown him in self-
defense. His yam is enough to give one apoplexy from laughing. . . . Birch
563
564 WEIED TALES
is good reading for one's enemy at bedtime; that is, if one does not really
’ ’
love his enemy, for chances of frightening him to death are extremely good.

Writes Henry Kuttner, Jr., of San Francisco: “Although only in high

school, yet I am a regular reader of your magazine, and whenever our ‘gang’
gets together to tell ghost stories. Weird Tales always comes in handy. I con-
sider The Brass Key, by Hal K. Wells, the best story in your latbst issue
(February). Is he any relation to H. G. Wells? My second choice is A
Witch’s Curse, by Paul Ernst. That kept me on pins and needles throughout.
When our cat entered the room and jumped on my lap, I was nearly frightened
out of my wits. Edmond Hamilton and Seabury Quinn are my favorite
authors.”
“A few lines to express my appreciation of your magazine. Weird Tales,”
writes W.F. Macleod, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. “I have been a constant
reader of it for nearly four years and read every number from cover to cover.

I think Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn are hard to beat anywhere, both for
style of English and general treatment of subjects. The former’s command
of English and descriptive powers are truly remarkable.”
Arlin C. Jones, of St. Louis, writes to the Eyrie: “Anyone should be
given due credit when serving a purpose in this world. And beyond the
semblance of a doubt you are. You your way, enabling the tired busi-
are, in
ness man to relinquish his care and thoughts of this world of reality, and to
drift into the world of the so-called unreal. It’s just like having a soothing
ointment applied when your finger is cut. I have read Weird Tales about
three years, and during that time have brought quite a few new converts. I
hope you keep up the splendid work. Weird Tales is a radical departure
from any magazine on the stands. It has science filtered through it, and its
stories are so put together that they seem plausible. I surely did enjoy The
Brass Key; I particularly admired the manly attitude of Foo-Chong. It was
an unpleasant way of seeking revenge, but he had such a businesslike way of
going about it.”
“I love best the really imird stories,” writes Mrs. Z. P. Gustafson, of
Miami, Florida, “witches, werewolves, vampires, incubi, specters and cadavers.
I want my horrors to be strictly supernatural. I advise Seabury Quinn to
—
make Jules de Grandin a little less sure of himself it spoils the story to have
him so flippant and matter of fact, and .so confident. Otherwise his stories
are excellent. Please have more poetry by Robert E. Howard.”
Writes William D. Bain, of Indianapolis: “I Imow of no other publica-
tion that compares with your magazine for clean, fascinating stories, and can
recommend no better antidote for brain fag than an hour with Weird Tales.”
“I was surprized that nobody commented in the Eyrie on The Mystery
in Acatlan,” writes J. C. C., of Chicago. “I consider it one of the best stories
I have ever read in W. T. My favorite authors are Quinn and Price. Saladin’s

(Continued on page 566)

 WEIRD TALES 565

FUTURE ISSUES
A WEALTH of fascinating stories is scheduled for early publication in Weibd
Tales, the unique magazine. The brilliant success of Weibd Tales has
been founded on its imrivaled, superb stories of the strange, the grotesque
—
and the terrible gripping stories that stimulate the imagination and send
—
shivers of apprehension up the spine tales that take the reader from the
humdrum world about us into a deathless realm of fancy marvelous tales —
so vividly told that they seem very real. Weibd Tales prints the best
weird fiction in the world today. If Poe were alive he would undoubtedly
be a contributor. In addition to creepy mystery stories, ghost-tales, stories
of devil-worship, witchcraft, vampires and strange monsters, this magazine
also prints the cream of the weird-scientific fiction that is written today
tales of the spaces between the worlds, surgical stories, and stories that scan
the future with the eye of prophecy. Among the amazing tales in the next
few issues will be:

THE HOUSE OF GOLDEN MASKS, by Seabury Quinn

Wolrd and terrible were the tortures meted out to the masked maidens in
—
that sinister House of the Golden Masks a daring adventure of the little
French scientist. Jules de Grandin.

THE DEATH TOUCH, by Chester L. Saxby

Frozen in the ice they found Yardley. there in the southern wastes, and his
coid, clutching lingers sapped the vital magnetism from the bodies of the
crew, leaving them white as leprosy.
DEMON DOOM OF N’YENG SEN, by Bassett Morgan
The author of ‘‘The Devils of Po Sung” returns again to the South Seas for
another gripping tale of brain-transplantation and horrors unspeakable.
THE THING IN THE HOUSE, by H. F. Scotten
A combination of de Maupassant's "Horla,” Bierce’s ‘‘Damned Thing" and
Crawford’s invisible creature in "The Upper Berth,” this fearsome monster
wrought dreadful havoc before it was brought to bay.

WITHIN THE NEBULA, by Edmond Hamilton

own
—
Three beings from different corners of the Galaxy an Earth-man from our
solar system, a plant-man from Capella, and a tentaclc-man from
—
Arcturus start out on the strangest expedition In all literature as the great
nebula expands and menaces the universe with Aery destruction.
THE SHADOW OF A NIGHTMARE, by Donald Wandrei
Tucked away in a corner of the Himalayas was a strange country, inhabited
entirely by madmen; and from a manuscript that found its way to the outer
world from this Country of the Mad stalked forth nightmare and horror.
THE LAUGHING THING, by G. G. Pendarves
Bidred Werne signed away his estates to Jason Drewe, and then died, but
the terrlflc manifestations at the manor showed that he wielded more
power dead than —
alive a powerful ghost-story.

T hese are but a few of the many super-excellent stories in store for
the readers of Weibd 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. That’s the safest way.

WlilRB TALKS,
840 North Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, HI.
Enclosed find $2.50 for 1 year’s subscription to ‘Weird Tales,” to begin with the
May issue. ($3.00 in Canada.)

Address

City State
566 WEIRD TALES
(Continued from page 564)
Throne-Rug was a, beautiful stoiy. I wish you would reprint The Wind That
—
Tramps the World I have heard so much about it.”
Lewis D. Taylor, of Guntersville, Alabama, writes to the Eyrie: “Our
'gang’ are all lovers of the unusual and we always look forward to Weird
Tales. After we read it, Ave gather and discuss the stories. We are very fond
of those that tell of battles betiveen inhabitants of the earth and other planets,
using weapons of a far-advanced science. We eagerly devour the stories of
experiments in science and would like to see some stories featuring radio and
signals to other planets. There is only one feature of the magazine that we
do not like, and that is: the occasional stories dealing Avith torture. We get
no pleasure at all from reading stories of deliberate punishment and torture
such as The Justice of the Czar and The Copper Bowl.”
“I have read two or three issues of Weird Tales and would not do with-
out this extraordinary^ publication,” Avrites Alfred Oelfke, of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. “In the few copies I have read some of the best stories I have seen
printed. The tale by Eli Colter, The Vengeance of the Dead, is indeed a
great story. Friends have told me that you once published the Chinese story.
The Wind That Tramps the World. As I have heard a great deal about this
’ ’
wonderful story, I sincerely ask you, if at all possible, to reprint it.

Readers, which story do you like best in this issue? Your favorite story
by your votes, was Hal K. Wells’ grim story
in the February issue, as shoAvn
of spidersand Chinese retribution, The Brass Key. The Devil-People, by
Seabury Quinn, and The Star-Stealers, by Edmond Hamilton, Avere your
second and third choice.

MY FAVORITE STORIES IN THE APRIL WEIRD TALES ARE:

Story Remarks

(
1)

(
2)

(3)

I do not like the following stories:

( 1 ) AVhy?

(
2)

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

stories you want in Weird Tales if you
will fill out this coupon and mail it to
The Eyrie, Weird Tales, 840 N. Michigan
Ave., Chicago, 111.
 WEIRD TALES 567

The Devil’s
Rosary MYSTICAL
(Continued from page 454)
—
Perche il sangue e la vita how you
say? Da blood, he are da life; I not
LAWS OF
lika for carry heem aroun’.”
"Howly Mither, is it blood ye’re
LIFE
afther givin’ me ter hold onto?” ex-
claimed Nora in rising horror. “Ye ARemarkable Book
murtherin’ dago, come back ’ere an’
take yer divilish
But P. Grasso,
”
dealer in live poul-
LOANED
try, had cranked his decrepit fliv\’er
into a state of agitated life and set
To All Seekers
off down the street, oblivious of the For Power
choice insults which Mrs. IMcGinnis
sent in pursuit of him. Whatever you imasrine the power of Black
Majric may be. remember there is a pure
“Sure, Dr. Trowbridge, sor,” she WHITE MAGIO which is as potent for sood.
confided as she entered the consulting- With tlie higher occult laws and secrets of
mystical power you can change the course of
room, the lard tin held at arm’s S your life and atti'oct success, health, happiness
length,
“ ’tis th’ fine gintleman Dr. and a development of mental foresight that
will astound you and surprise your friends.
de Grandin but he do be
is entirelj’; The Roslcrucians were the Master Mystics
in all ages and today they are organized in
afther doin’ some crazy things at Lodges, groups and colleges in all parts of the
times. Wud ye be afther takin charge
’ world. In their teachings they secretly pre-
serve the ancient wisdom that made the Pyra-
o’ this mess o’ blood fer him? ’Tis mid in Egypt the marvel of today and the
meself as wouldn’t touch it wid a mystery temples of Greece the most alluring
places of strange achievements.
fifthy-foot pole, so I wouldn’t, once You may share in this great knowledge if
I’ve got it out o’ me hands!” you are more than a mere seeker for mys-
tery and magic. If you really desire to
“Well,” I laughed as I espied a master the arcane, occult knowledge of the
Masters, step by step, and become a true
trim little figure turning into my Adept of the Roslcrucian Fraternity, you
front yard, “here he comes now. You may have the doorway opened to you.
can tell him your opinion of his prac- The Roslcrucian teachings containing the
true knowledge of the mystics are never pub-
tises if you want.” lished in books. But you may borrow a book
called "The Light of Egypt,’’ in which the
“Ah, Docthor, darlin’, ye know I’d I strange story of the Roslcrucians Is told and
niver have th’ heart to scold ’im,” an explanation of how you may have the
private teachings of the Roslcrucian Frater-
she confessed with a shamefaced grin. nity in America. Address in confidence, giv-
“Sure, he’s th’ ” ing name and address in a letter (not on a
postcard)
The sudden hysterical caehinuation
Librarian N. B.
of the office telephone bell cut through
her words, and I turned to the shrill- AMORC TEMPLE
ing instrument. B Roslcrucian Park
I SAN JOSE, OAUP.
For a moment there was no response I (Not sponsoring Rosicrncian
to my rather impatient “Hello?”; I "Fellowships” or “Societies”)
then dimly, as one entering a dark-
ened room slowly begins to descry ob-
jects about him, I made out the ATTRACT MONEY, HEALTH, LOVE, Wis-
dom, business, strength, peace, harmony, ~and
hoarse, ralelike rasp of deep-dravm, happiness. My practical method.—Complete $1.
Dr. Lonk, T-2945 North Ridgeway. Chicago.
—
irregular breathing.
“Hello?” I repeated, more sharply.
“Dr. Trowbridge,” a low, almost FOR 1929 NFMEBOLOGICAL FORECAST
send 20c and birth date. Martha Sanchez,. 829
breathless feminine voice whispered Howard St.. Detroit, Michigan.
568 WEIED TALES
ovei- the wire, “this is Haroldine Ark- light a tin squirt-gun of the sort used
right. Can yon come right over with to spray insecticide about a room in-
Dr. de Grandin ? Right away? Please. fested with mosquitoes.
—
It it’s here!” Dipping the nozzle of the syringe
“Right away!” I called back, and into the blood-filled lard tin, he
w'heeled about, almost colliding with worked the pliTiiger back and forth a
the little Frenchman, who had been moment, then handed the contrivance
listening over shoulder.my to me. Do you stand at my left, he
‘
‘
’
’

“Quick, speed, haste!” he cried, as commanded, “and should you see

I related her message. “We
must rush, footprints in the ashes, spray the
we must hurry, we must fly, my fowl’s blood through the air above
them. Remember, my friend, it is
’ ’
friend There is not a second to lose
! !

As charged down the hall and

I most important that you act with
across the porch to my waiting ear he
’
’
speed.
stopped long enough to seize the lard “Footprints in the ashes ” I
tin from beside my desk and two began incredulously, wondeinng if he
bulky paper parcels from a hall chair, had lost his senses, but a sudden cur-
then almost trod on my heels in his rent of glacial air sweeping through
haste to enter the motor. the room chilled me into silence.
“Ah! of the beautiful form is Ma-
5 demoiselle, and who was I to Imow
“l^OT here. Monsieur, if you that cold wind of Tibetan devils would
please,” de Grandin ordered display it even more than this ex-
as he surveyed the living-room where quisite rohe d’Orient?” said de Gran-
Arkright and his daugliter awaited din.
us. “Is there no room without furni- Clad in a wondrous something, she
ture, where we can meet the foeman explained fright had so numbed her
face to face? I would fight over a flat that dressing had been impossible.
terrain, if possible.” “When did you first know they
“There’s a vacant bedroom on were here?” de Grandin whispered,
the next floor,” Arkright replied, turning his head momentarily toward
“but ” the trembling couple inside the inner
“No buts, if you please; let us circle, then darting a wmtchful glance
ascend at once, immediately, right about the room as though he looked
away!” the Frenchman interrupted. for an invisible enemy to materialize
“Oh, make haste, my friends! Year from the air.
lives depend upon it, I do assure “I found the horrible red ball in
you ! ’ ’
my bath, Haroldine replied in a low,
’
’

About the floor of the empty room I screamed when

‘
trembling whisper. ‘

de Grandin traced a circle of chick- I saw it, and Daddy got up to come to
en’s blood, painting a tw'o-ineh-Avide me, and there was one of them under
ruddy border on the bare boards, and his ash-tray; so I telephoned your
inside the outer circle he drew an- house right away, and ”
other, forcing Haroldine and her “S-s-st!” the Frenchman’s sibilant
father within it. Then, with a bit of warning cut her short. “Garde d vous.
rag, he wiped a break in the outside Friend Trow^bridge! Fixe!” As
line, and opening one of his paper though drawing a saber from its scab-
parcels proceeded to scatter a thin bard he whipped the keen steel sword
layer of soft, w'hite wood-ashes over blade from his walking-stick and
the boards between the two circles. swished it whiplike through the air.
“Now, mon vieux, if you will as- “The cry is still ‘On ne passe pas!’
sist,”he turned to me, ripping open my friends!”
the second package and bringing to There w'as the fluttering of the
 WEIRD TALES 569

tiny breeze along the bedroom floor,

not like a breeze from outside, but an
eery, tentative sort of wind, a wind
which trickled lightly over the door-
sill, rose to a blast, paused a moment
in reconnaissance, then crept forward
experimentally, as though testing the
strength of our defenses.
A light, pit-pattering noise, as
though an invisible mouse were cir-
cling the room, sounded from the
Learn Electricity
shadows then, to my horrified amaze-
In 12 Weeka —
In the Great Shops of Coyne
; The whole world of electricity is open to the
ment, there appeared the print of a Coynetrained man because the COYNE big, new-
ly enlarged course is complete and trains you BY
broad, naked foot in the film of ashes ACTUAL WORK onavast ou tlayof electrical equiraient.
No Books-^No Classes^Start Any Time*
de Grandin had spread upon the Mot a Correspondence School
floor We don’t make you a mere ’’paper” electrician. Too
become a reai EXPERT through actual work at COYNE.
Wave on wave of goose-flesh rose on You Oon*C Nee4 Advanced Education
or experience! Any man who is ambitious and willing
my arms and along rn'/ ’•f'rh as I can learn at Coyne.

watched the first print M j d by a•

Earn $200 to $300 a Month
No books or useless theory. Touarctrainedon everything
from door bells to power plants, everything to make yoo
second, for there was ii. above a $50 to $200 a week COY^E-trained EXPERT.
for bla free book, epecial FREB
them, no sign nor trace of any alien AVtUiy Send
Vdhdlcmv
R.R. far# offer, detailo of Mfd
Memberahip and two FREE coorBos. including Radio . W rite today.
presence in the place; only, as the COYNE EIJBCTRICAli SCHOOli
keys of a mechanical piano are de- 500 S. PauUoa St., Dept. 29-96. Chicago, III.

COYNE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL. H. C. Lawls. Pr#g.

pressed as the strings respond to the 500 S. Paulina St., O^t. Chicago. 111.
Please send me poor Free, lliuatrated Book on Eieetrieity and
notes of the reeling record, the smooth Coyne. No obligation. Give details of special offer too.

coating of ashes gave token of the on-

ward march of some invisible thing. Address..

“Quick, my
friend, shoot where you
City

see the prints J” de Grandin cried in An Art

a shrill, excited voice, and I thrust the
plunger of my pump home, sending
Education
out a shower of ruddy spray. At Home
Earn $50 or more a
As invisible ink takes form when week. OIL PAINT
the paper is held before a flame, there PHOTOS, POR-
TRAITS, LAND-
was suddenly outlined in the empty SCAPES, MINIA-
TURES, etc.
air before us the visage of Eleven clearly written lessons, easy to understand,
teach you Art Work, and a thorough lesson on Busi-
“Sapristi! ’Tis Yama himself. ness Management trains you in the Art Business.
King of Hell! God of Death! Hola, Professional Oil Painting Outfit— 15 tubes of Oil
Colors, Brush, Medium andall accessories, including
mon brave,” de Grandin called almost Portraits and Landscapes, FREE, with Art Course.
jocularly as the vision took form Learn this Fascinating Profession
wherever the I'ain of fowl ’s blood Become distinguished. Enroll now. Send check or
money order for course today.
it seems we meet face to face,
‘
struck, ‘

Flctori&lArtStadios, Inc., 2926 Broadway, Dept.W.T.,Chlcngo

though you expected it not. Nom d’un Ship at once Art Course, including Professional Outfit. $7.50
pore, is this the courtesy of your enclos^.

country? You seem not overjoyed to Name

meet me. Addreee

“Lower, Friend Trowbridge,” he

calledfrom the corner of his mouth, Thrills! Mystery!
keeping w'ary eyes fixed upon the vis-
itant, “aim for his legs; there is a
Excitement
trick I wish to show him.” ‘‘THE MOON TERROR”
Obediently, I aimed the syringe at
570 WEIRD TALES
the footless footprints in the ashes, pronounce judgment on you, though
and a pair of broad, naked feet sprang I fear the worst unless you mend your
suddenly into view. morals. Come, will you return this
“Bien,” the Frenehman com- man his property, or do I release him
mended, then with a sudden forward and bid him do his worst?”
thrust of his foot engaged the masked Muttering imprecations, Arkright
Mongolian’s ankle in a grapevine stepped across the barrier of blood,
twist and sent the fellow sprawling left theroom and returned in a few
to the floor. The blue and gold horror minutes rvith a small parcel wrapped
that was the face of Yama came off, in what appeared to be thin plates of
disclosing a leering, slant-eyed lama. gold.
“Now, Monsieur,” de Grandin De Grandin took it from his hand
I’emarked, placing his sword-point and presented it to the Tibetan with
against the other’s throat directly a ceremonious bow,
above the palpitating jugular vein, “I “Ki lao yeh ksieh ti to lo,” the
damn think perhaps you will listen to yellow man pressed his clasped hands
reason, heinf” to his breast and bowed nearly double
The felled man gazed malignantly to the Frenehman.
into his conqueror’s face, but neither “Parhlcu, yes, and Dr. Trowbridge,
terror nor surrender showed in his too,” my little friend returned, indi-
sullen eyes. cating me with a wave of his hand.
“Morhleu, he is a brave savage, this The Tibetan bent ceremoniously to-
one,” de Grandin muttered, then ward me as de Grandin added, “Ch’i
lapsed into a wailing, singsong speech kan.”
the like of which I had never heard. “What did he say?” I demanded,
A look of incredulous disbelief, then returning the Asiatic’s salute.
of interest, finally of amazed delight,
‘
He says, The honorable, illus-
‘ ‘

spread over the copper-colored fea- trious sir has my heartfelt thanks, or ’

tures of the fallen man sis the little words to that effect, and I insist that
Frenchman progressed. Finally he he say the same of you, my friend,”
answered with one or two coughing de Grandin returned. “Name of a
ejaculations, and at a sign from de small green pig, I do desire that he
Grandin rose to his feet and stood rmderstand there are two honorable
with his hands lifted above his head. men in the room besides himself.
“Monsieur Arkright,” the French- “Fa avanf, mon brave,” he mo-
man called without taking his eyes tioned the Tibetan toward the door
from his captive, “have the goodness with his sword, then lowered his point
to fetch the Pi Yu Stone without de- Avitha flourish, saluting the Arkrights
lay. I have made a treaty with this with military punctilio.
emissary of the lamas. If you return ‘
Mademoiselle Haroldine, ’ ’ he said,
‘

his treasure to him at once he will re- “it is a great pleasure to have served
pair forthwith to his lamasery and you. May your approaching marriage
trouble you and yours no more. ’ ’
be a most happy one.
“But what about my wife, and my “Monsieur Arkright, I have saved
children these fiends killed?” Ark- your life, and, though against your
right expostulated. “Are they to go \vill, restored your honor. It is true
seotfree? How do I know they’ll keep you have lost your gold, but self-re-
their woi’d? I’m damned if I’ll re- spect is a more precious thing. Next
turn the Pi Yu!” time jmu desire to steal, permit that I
“You wDl most certainly be killed suggest you select a less vengeful vic-
if you do not,” de Grandin returned tim than a Tibetan brotherhood. Par-
coolly. “ As to your damnation, I am bleii, those savages they have no sense
a sinful man, and do not presume to of humor at all! When a man robs
 WEIRD TALES 571

them, they take with the worst

sible grace.”
it i>os-
TOBACCO HABIT
d’un cJiameau ” Jules de — " STOPPED or
DK>rett^^9|
50 years
Kcelw
Th^,
Treat-
Jl Grandin brushed an imaginar>^
fleck of dust from the sleeve of his
ment has been sue-
cessful ... in
thousands
and thotisands of cases.
has been tried
^
Money,
dinner jacket and refilled his liqueur
—
glass “it has been a most satisfac-
Bureet way on earth of stopping the
useoi tobacco without Inconvenience
unpleasant effects.
tory day, Friend Trowbridge. Our ^ousands Praise Keeley Treatment
Heavy, inveterate tobacco users areamaz^ at toeease'*^
experiment was one gi’and, unqualified with which tills wonderful treatment enables them to sto»
iffiingtobMco. Itlsthesafe. reliable method—known to ana
success we have restored stolen prop-
; endorsed by the medical sn’ofesslon lor half n century^
erty to its rightful o^^nel’S, and I have Take Treatment At Our Risk
If, after you have taken this treatment, you are not
satis-
told that Monsieur Arkright what 1 ned. it will not cost you a cent. The
Keeley Treatment sel-
dom falls: thatlswhy wo can makesuch anuo-
think of him.” quallded guarantee. You are Judge and Jury*
This Booklet FREK
“U’m,” I murmured. “I suppose Every tobacco usersbould read theamaz-
ing facts in this booklet. It tells you|wba&
it’s all perfectly clear to you, but I’m '
lana have found out about the
ul effect of tobacco; what insur-
still in the dark about it all.” ancestatlstlcs reveal, and many other
interesting facts. It Is free. Send today*
“Perfectly,” he agi'eed with one of THCKEELSY INSTITUTE
Dept. e*701 Dwight. Ilflnofe
his quick, elfin smiles. “Howeverly,
that can be remedied. Attend me, if
you please:
“When first we inteiwiewed Made-
moiselle Haroldine and her father, I
smelt the odor of Tibet in this so i^eignWmrild
Travel— Romantic, does
strange business. Those red beads, Like to
,Wealthy South America call you? Unneual
they could have come from but one bit Opportunities for youngr men. American
Umployersjpay fare and expenses. Bie pay
of jewelry, and that was the rosary of ^'pmtefor Free Information and Instmenons.
'*How to Apply forPoeitiou.*' No obUgadona.
a Buddhist monk of Tibet. Yes. Now, SOUTH AMERICAN SCRVICS DUREAU
in the course of my
travels in that S4600 Alma Avaaue* Oetroit* Mleh*

devil-infested land, I had seen those

old lamas do their devil-dances and
command the elements to obey their
TMshOOKiQf
Explains many mystifying tricks with
coins, cards, handkerchiefs, etc., you
summons and wreak vengeance on can do. Also contains complete catalc^ of
Magic Tricks, Jokes. Puzzles. Escapes.
their enemies. ‘Very well,’ I tell me, Curios, and Imported Novelties from
many Foreign lands. Large assortment,
‘if this be a ease of lamas’ magic, we lowest prices. You will amaze and
mystify your friends! Send 10c today.
must devise magic which will counter- LYLE DOUGLAS,
act it.’ Station A-a Dailaa, Texas
“ ‘Of course,’ I agree with me.
‘For every ill there is a I’emedy. Men
living in the lowlands know eiires for ToAnySuifI
Double the life of your
malaria; those who inhabit the peaks
I

^coat and vest with perfectly

matched pants.100t000 pattarns*
know the cure for mountain fever. Every pair nand tailc»red to year measure;
*'readymadee.** Our match sent FREE for yoor
They must do so, or they die. Very O. K. before pants are made. Fit sTuaraoteed.
Send pleee of cloth or vest today.
well, is it not highlj^ probable that the - >'87 SUPERIOR MATCH PANTS COMPANY
lis So. 0«arJ>orn Street* Dept. 194 CMcago
Mongolian people have their own safe-
guards against these mountain devils?
If it were not so, would not Tibet
completely dominate all China?’
“ ‘You have
FOR SALE
Complete sets
right,’ I compliment (12 issues) of 1927 and

me, ‘but whom shall we call on for

1928 issues of “Weird Tales” $3.60 per —
set, or 30c per single copy for any issue
aid?’ in either 1927 or 1928. TALES, WEIRD
“Thereupon I remember that my 840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 111.
old friend. Dr. Feng Yuin-han, whom
572 WEIED TALES
I have Imown at the Sorbonne, is at cles our first line of defenses, finds the
present residing in New York, and it break I have purposely left, and -walks
is to him send my message for as-
I into our trap. In the camphor wood
sistance. Parbleu, when he comes he ashes his all-invisible feet leave visi-
is as full of -wisdom as a college pro- ble footprints to warn of his approach.
fessor attempts to appear! He tells “With your aid, then, I do spray
me much in our nighttime interview him wdth the blood as soon as his foot-
before you arrive from your work of prints betray him, and make him visi-
increasing the population. I learn ble so that I may slay him at my good
from him, for instance, that -when convenience. But he are no match for
these old magicians of the mountains me. Non, Jules de Grandin -would not
practise their devil’s art, they auto- call it the sport to kill such as he it ;

matically limit their powers. Invis- would not be fair. Besides, is there
ible they may become, yes but while;
not much to be said on his side? I
invisible, they may not overstep a think so.
pool, puddle or drop of chicken blood. “It wms the cupidity of Monsieur
For some strange reason, such blood Arkright and no other thmg which
makes a barrier w'hich they can not brought death upon his wife and chil-
pass and across which they can not dren. We have no way of telling that
hurl a missile nor send their destroy- the identical man whom I have over-
ing winds or devastating lightning- thrown murdered those unfortunate
flashes. Further, if chicken blood be ones, and it is not just to take his life
east upon them their invisibility at for his fellows’ crimes. As for legal
once melts away, and -vv'hile thej" are justice, what court would listen be-
in the process of becoming visible in lievingly to our story? Cordieu, to
such circumstances theiy physical relate what we have seen these last
strength is greatly reduced. One man few days to the ordinary lawyer
of normal lustiness would be a match would be little better than confessing
for fifty of them half visible, half un- ourselves mad or infatuated with too
seen because of fresh fowl’s blood much of the so execrable liquor which
splashed on them. your prosperous bootleggers supply.
“Yoila, I have my grand strategy' Me, I have no wish to be thought a
of defense already mapped out for fool.
‘
me. From the excellent Pierre Grasso
‘
Therefoi’e, I say to me, ‘ It is best
I buy much fresh chicken blood, and that we call this battle a draw. Let
fi'ora Dr. Feng I obtain the ashes of us give back to the men of the moun-
the mj^stie camphor tree. The blood I tains that which is theirs and take
spread around in an almost-eircle, their promise that they will no longer
that our enemy may attack us from jiursue Monsieur Arkright and Made-
one side only, and inside the outer moiselle Haroldine. Let there be no
stockade of gore I scatter camphor more beads from the Devil’s rosary
’
wood ashes that his footprints may scattered across their path.
become visible and betray his position “Very good. I make the equal bar-
to us. Then, inside our outer ram- gain with the Tibetan his property is
;

parts, I draw a second complete cir- returned to him and

cle of blood which the enemy can not “My friend, I suffer!’’
penetrate at all, so that Monsieur Ark- “Eh?” I exclaimed, shocked at the
right, but most of all his so charming tragic face he turned to me.
daughter, may be safe. Then I wait. “Nom d'un canon, yes; my glass is
“Presently comes the foe. He cir- empty again!”

Don't fail to read the next adventure of Jules de Grandin:

‘^The House of Golden Masks f by Seabury ^uinn
 WEIRD TALES 573

The Hermit of Chem- Now You Can Have

eketa Mountain
( Continued from page 477)
A New Skin-3 Days
nition a simple matter in. spite of the Blemishes Vanish!
terrible condition of the body.
The big stranger, taking myster-
ious articles from his pockets, knelt
down beside the body, and in a minute
arose with prints of the victim’s
fingers, which he compared with
papers in his possession, after which GET THIS FREE
he announced that the man was a
desperate criminal, for whom a con-
—and learn that what was considered impossible
before the banishing of pimples, blackheads,
siderable reward was offered, “dead freckles, large pores, tan, oily skin, wrinkles and
other defects —can now be done by any person at
or alive.” He intimated that Borlitz home in 3 days’ time, harmlessly and economically.
It is all explained in a new treatise call^
w'ould be entitled to a share in the re- “BEAUTIFUL NEW
SKIN IN 3 DAYS.” which
ward, but Matt crossed himself fer- is being mailed absolutely free to readers of this
maj.?azine. So, worry no more over your humiliat-
vently, and vowed he would have ing skin and complexion or signs of aging. Simply
none of it. send your name and address to MARVO BEAUTY
LABORATORIES. Dept. 324-G, No. 1700 Broad-
way, New York, N. Y., and you will receive it by
But regardless of whether or not return mail, without charge or obligation. If
the man was a criminal with a price pleased, tell your friends abwt it.

on his head, and may have richly de-

served his fate, one serious feature
could not be overlooked. This was
What Do You Want?
TVTiatever it is we can help you get it. Just
that the hermit’s dogs had suddenly
give us the chance by writing for
become a serious menace to the com-
munity, and something would have to ** Clouds Dispelled**
be done about it.
Absolutely Free. You will be delighted. A*t
The committee wiiich w'as formed to today! Write NOW!!
call on the hermit that afternoon in- THE BROTHERHOOD OF LIGHT
cluded the big detective, the town doc- Dept. O, Box 1585, Los Angeles, Cnllf.

tor, the postmaster, several of the or DRUG HABIT

CimSD rORCVCR or NO PAV
older and more influential men of the uU treotment dent on trial. Cao ber
_ _ 'Ivea ocretly to privacy o< home. Guaniuteetf
village, and last, but by no means to btnisE forever ell deaire (or whiskey. Sin. wine, borne
*brew, nmt^sblne, opltun, morphine, heroin, pereftoric nA
least, the priest. Indeed, several of llaudnum. Costs ^.00 u core*, nothing i| falls. STAI^ArD
r LA£OHATORl£S Sta.NPs3 BALTIMORE. WO.
those on the committee vow'ed they
would not so much as enter the forest OLD MONEY WANTED Hfi
unless he were with them, and even dreds of Old or Odd Coins. Keep All Old Mon-
ey, it may be very valuable. Send 10 cents for
then it is said that ehanns, warranted New Illustrated Coin Value Book, 4x6. Guaran-
teed Prices. Get Posted. pay cash. We
to counteract the effects of the evil CLARKE COIN CO.. TT. T. Dept., LeRay, N. Y.
eye if judiciously employed, w^ere
secretly carried by several members of II
A^/*A CURED OR NO
HABITl
BfiYI
the committee. Any fbm, dgan, cignrettes,
Son trial Ha^eaa.
snuff. pip.,(chewing. Full treatcoent
Costa tlX-O if DOthiDg n
cuiud, notrung if n
it laus. OvSTa
foils. trvurH

But, at any rate, they started, 600,000 treatments used. SUPERSA CO. KT-i 7. Baltiniore, Md.

bravely enough at first; the big de- > a

#ai#at>lce, $5.00; Cards, $1.25; Inks, $1.50;
tective, w^ho scoffed at their fears, led
MAIs|||_ Magic Fluid for Transparents, $3.00;
Slick Ace Cards, $1.25; Factory
the way, with the priest walking be- Readers, $1.00. Sales Boards, etc. Catalog 10c.
CENTRAL NOVKLTY COMPANT,
side him to show him the trail. As 740 W. Madison St., Chicago, ni.
they advanced up the mountain the WmSKET OR DRUG HABIT CURED OR NO
conversation became quieter; a noise pay! on
Secret Treatment. $2.00 it cured, sent
trial! Laboratories, Sta. C. Box 99, Los Angeles.
ill the thicket, or the sudden rustle of Calif.
574 WEIRD TALES
a bird overhead, would result in an As they arrived at the cabin the
effort on the part of the group to keep detective silently pointed to the
more closely together, and the man of ground, and there, cold in death, lay
God at the head of the band was the bodies of the hermit and his two
called on more frequently for spirit- dogs. They were not a pretty sight;
ual reassurance. This he gave, will- the birds had discovered them.
ingly enough; but it was noted that The doctor, after an examination of
on one or two occasions, as they drew the bodies, said that they had all three
near the hermit’s place, his voice may been shot; the hermit apparently at
have trembled a little, and he was ob- close range, as the bullet had passed
served to cross himself quite frequent- clear through the body and was found
ly, and with possibly a little more in his clothing. He showed it to them,
fervor than usual. and the detective, who knew about
Nearing the cabin one of the group such things, said that it had undoubt-
picked up a revolver, with six empty edly been fired from the revolver they
shells in the chambers. This was had found on the trail. And the doc-
passed from hand to hand, and at tor said that from the condition of
least one of the group claimed to have the bodies they had been dead at least
seen it in the dead man’s possession. three or four days
They at last came out on the little
clearing, and paused at the dilapi-
dated fence. The detective had volun-
W HEN he retiumed to the big city
by the sea the detective report-
ed to his superiors that the man he
teered to do the talking, since he sought had been killed on Chemeketa
claimed to be undismayed l3y the pros- Mountain by timber wolves which had
pect of facing the hermit’s evil eye, harassed the community for a few
and also since he was especially in- days previously. But if you go to
terested in the death of the man he Matt Borlitz, or Stanislaus Mathew-
had come to the village to seek. There zewiski, or even Gorgas Pichutzki,
was no protest at his taking the lead when he is sober, they will tell you
in the negotiations. that it had been fifteen years since a
There was no one in sight in the timber wolf had been seen in the coun-
little cleared space surrounding the try, and that there never has been one
cabin, and the thing that impressed seen there since. And besides, timber
itself almost immediately on the wolves leave tracks, and howl, and
minds of all present was the absence there never was a track left or a sound
of the dogs. Invariably on the ap- made by the three phantom beasts
proach of strangers they had always who terrorized the village until they
charged up to the fence, threatening killed the murderer of the hermit and
annihilation to trespassers, but now his two dogs.
there was no sign of them whatever. The three phantoms have never
Nor of the hermit himself. been seen since. That was insured,
The detective called a couple of however, when they buried the hermit
times from where they stood at the and his two dogs. There is one sure
fence, and receiving no answer, an- way of keeping in its grave the body
nounced that he was going in. He of a dead man who takes the form of
climbed the fence, walked across the a beast and roams the woods at night,
field, and disappeared behind the or of a vicious wolf-dog which will not
shack. A moment later he reappeared stay dead, and this' was done. You
and motioned to the group to come to will not be able to learn who did it,
him, and, after some hesitation, with but before the graves were filled there
two or three of the bolder ones leading was driven through the heart of each
the way, the committee crossed the of them and deep into the groimd
field. beneath a long wooden stake.
 WEIRD TALES 575

The World-
Wrecker
(Continued from page 464) _ PRICES ON STANDARD TIRES
Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone, and other
used tipes, reconstructed by our special
witli a movable dome. It makes an process. Many miles of extra service.
ideal place for observation. You Sza
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must come up and see it one day. ’ ’
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30x3</s 2.4B 1.35
"
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75
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32x 4'/2 3.7B 2.25 30x6.77 4.3B 2.75
stars don’t twinkle then. Can not I 33x4'/: 3.8B 2.30 32x6.20 4.7B 2.75
come tonight ^now ? — ’ ’
I 30xB 4.2B 2.15 33x6.00 4.9B 2.75
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‘
‘
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for star-gazing. I’m simply longing

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m
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’
’ that's why
Satisfaction
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or just after sunset.”
“ No ? ” was his imperturbable com-
ment. “Then Jupiter will do. Good
—
old Jupiter ‘Twinkle, twinkle little
I
you
CHALLENGE
that I will teach you, by moll, in one lesson, the
simplest, shortest method all for $1.00. Not telepathy.
You can read one's mind to a dot, by only looking In the
Jupe.’ I’m just crazy to see him do eyes of partner, chum, sweetheart, etc. Praised by New
York. Boston, Montreal Police chiefs; colleges; Thurston;.
it! Come now, just let me have one Blackatone; etc. If fake, let them arrest me.
A.HONiQMAN,51 16 Clarke SI., Dept. WT-3, Montreal, Can
little peep. You’ve already told me
that Professor Merrivale is away in PAVI KATHOSCOPE. Pock-
the Midlands, and I’m sure he will
not object, considering that I saved
X body wants
Detector.
it.
girl and all she's doing. No
Every-
See your best
one knows; you see everything. Periscope operates In all
him from his own gas-attack. Please climates; lasts lifetime; ready for use. Made of hard
rubber. $1.00 cash with order for this wonderful instru-
say ‘yes’.” ment and 8 astonishing French pictures.
Half serious, half bantering, he KATHOS CO., P.O. Box 8302, City HaH Pott Office, NewTorkCity
stuck to his point while the ear
Fits Stopped! New Remedy
whirled them eastward, but it was not Wonderfu results, most stubborn cases of fits
until they had mounted Blackheath — Harmless, non-habit forming.
stopped Frco
booklet explains this new guaranteed treatment.
Hill and w^ere crossing the dark
Send. "Name to: Nurosol Laboratories, 509 Fifth
stretch of moor that she signified a Avenue, Dept. 492, New York City.
reluctant assent.
/or DRUG HABIT
Avoiding the main entrance of feURED FOREVER or NO PAY
Tudor Towers, Terry drew up before , _ _
^'ult treatment «cot on trial. Can be
iven secretly in privacy of home. Guaranteed
g forever all desire for whhkejr, gin. wine, home
a narrow postern door at the base of ^ f brew, moonshine, opium, morphine, heroin, paregoric and
laudnum. Costs $2.00 if cures, nothing if fails. Save him from Poisoo.
one of the corner turrets, whose sham STANDARD LABORATORIES Sta. N-33 8ALT1MORB..MD,

battlements wex’e crowned with a BIG PAY: SOUTH .YMKKICAN WOKK. AMKK-
bulbous dome. Alma opened the door ican firms pay fare, expenses. South American
Service Bureau. 14.000 Alma. Detroit. Mich.
with her pass-key, but it was Terry
who led the way up the winding INVENTIONS WANTKD — PATKNTKD, UN-
staircase, guided by a mere pinpoint patented. If you have an idea for sale, write
Hartley. Box 928. Bangor. Maine.
of light from his electric torch.
“What’s that?” She clutched his SONG rOKM WRITEKS— “KKAIi” PROPOSI-
tion. Hibbeler, D-156, 2104 N. Keystone.
wrist as she breathed the startled Chicago.
 What Would You Do

F you had received thousands of

9 world by a tremendous threat against
you to reprint
letters requesting the very existence of the earth. The
I certain story whicli was too
a diabolical methods bj' which they put
long to be republished in the maga- their scheme into execution, the
zine, what would you do? THE frantic race across the ocean to cir-
MOON TERROR, by A. G. Birch, cumvent them, the weird and exciting
winch appeared as a serial adventures that befell, make
in Weird Tales in 1923, is one of the most gripping
too long to republish in our and fascinating novels ever
magazine consistent with written.
our policy. As a matter
of service to the multitude For Your Library
of readers who have re-
This book will make a
quested us to reprint this
valuable addition to your
story, we have had i1

printed in cloth -bound book library collection. It is beau-

form to sell at the publish- tifully bound in rich blue
ers’ price of $1.50 per copy. cloth with attractive orange-
This fascinating book will colored jacket.
be sent to you direct we pay the
postage.
;

Don’t Pass This Up

Tremendously Popular Your life is not complete until you
have read this book of thrills. It is
THE MOON TERROR was such a full of breath-taking adventures and

thrilling story that the entire reserve eery crime.

Xote: If >'Our bookdoaler doesn’t carry this
stock of the issue containing the first book in stork, have him order it for you. or,
mail the coupon to u.s and we will send the book
part was sold out on special orders to direct to you itostag’o prepaid.
those who were not fortunate enough
to start the story from the beginning, Weird Tales. Book Dept. iI-14.
j
but began to read it with the second I 810 X. .Michigim Ave.. Chicago. Tllinoi.s.
installment. It narrates the sensa- I Enclosed find $1.50 for cloth-bonnd copy
tional attempt of a group of Chinese I
of TTTK MOOX TERROR.
scientists to obtain rulership of the Xame
! _

Address
WEIRD TALES, Book Dept. M-14 I

840 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois I

City.. State.
 10.000 Free Miles
of Gasoline/
On a 3, 000-mile trip, J. R. Wood reports that his Oldsmobile ran 30 miles
per gallon due to an amazing device now used by over three million car
owners! At this rate, when his car runs 23,000 miles he will get 10,000
free miles of gasoline. Write the inventor now to test the device on your
car at his risk.

$75 to $200 in a Week

Thousands Report
Sensational Records
ir. H. Cumminj?s writes
O VER
been
three million Stranskys have
installed on practically every
make of automobile, also on trucks,
tractors, stationary en.gines. marine engines
and aeroplane. Many of them after three
to ci.ght years of constant practical tests
and so on. Are you getting that
miles per gallon now ?

Not tlie
REDUCES CARBON
remarkable news from car owners is
least
tliat this amazin:? device has reduced carbon. Xatu-
many

that he has driven his 1922 repoi-t increased miU.-a.ge, more power, and rally nlien kus is more tliurniurlily vapoidzed raw, wcl
50,000 miles and in-
--T^'ord reduced carbon. Seldom has jjasoline cannot cntei' tlie cylinders
creased his ,t?as mileage to such an invention so taken to burn and i>it —
a constant menace
28 miles per gallon of gas. America by storm. No wonder t<* every motorist, furthermore,

36 Miles on 1 }^ Gallons
Williams made .$48 in three $48 IN tliis
to
device permits an easy way
remove catlion alrea'ly formed;
hours and Foster $137.50 in 3 HOURS the same cleansin,',; principle as
‘•Yesterday I made a trip a week used on the famous Diesel eniiim'.
of 36 miles and used only My gas bill has been
1^/4 gallons.”
inson.
—
L. L. Rob- HOW IT WORKS cut in half.
it. my engine
in.stalled
Since I DARINQ
43 Miles on a Gallon
J. A. Stransky, former candi-
date for Governor of South runs as good as new. TEST OFFER
Dakota, is the inventor of this starts easier and quick- Mail the coupon now for free test
‘‘We have tried them out. '’Pile inventor will pay a casli
offer.
Chevrolet got 43 miles.” device. It is a simple little er. I went out Satur-
— F. S. Carroll. Rex Dean, l)iece not much larger than a
dollar coin and a 12-year-okl
day about three hours
and secured 16 orders.
fmfeit if the test fails to save ga.s.
Ambitijius men speak up! -irr) to—
?2i»n in a week is a fair expecta-
another Chevrolet owner, boy can install it. It is auto- J. A. Williams. tion as our distributor. Otlier men
reports he got 25 miles a
.
matic and self regulating. It have earned.it tliis rate, full and
gallon. operates on a universally-rec- spare time. Kvery car owner wants
Almost Double ognized engineering principle to see this nationally advertised
that has been approved, after exhaustive proposition: we Kive you exact plan to follow that
J. R. Wood writes he in- can net you ¥75 to .S2 00 in a week. Tlie coupon hiiiurs
tests, by experienced auto drivers, automo-
creased mileage on his bile dealers, and expert mechanics. you full details without ohlig£tion. Act now.
Oldsmobile from 17 miles Official tests have proved that most cars
a gallon by actual count waste 30% of the gasoline power through FREE COUPON lilll|
on 3,000 miles. improper combustion, and we have thou- I L. G. Stransky, General Manager, I
International Truck sands of unsolicited testimonials like the I J. A. Stransky Mfg. Co., R
Saves 41% following: Ford. 20 to 40 miles on a gallon. * D-1550 Stransky BIk., Pukwana, So. Dakota. I
Star, 25 to 42, Chevrolet. 30 to 42. Hudson. I Yes, tell me liow can test this way to save my |
.1
*‘I find it better than you
19 to 21. Overland, 19 to 31. Nash. 19 to gasoline at your risk. A l.so send me your money j
recommend it. On the In- 22. Hupmobile. 32 to 37. Buick. 18 to .32. g making distriliutor's iilan. This reijuest does not
ternational truck we use, Studebaker, 23 to 27. Cadillac. 12 to 18 obligate me to order anything at any time.
we are saving by positive g
N Name !
test 41
engine uses
% in gas
less
and our
oil.”
J. A. STRANSKY MFG. CO.
..

Street (orniralroute)-

Geo. Bell. D-1550 Stransky Block, PUKWANA, S. OAK. nty(P. O.) State-
Resoorcet $500,000.00
576 WEIRD TALES
question. From' the darloiess above
there came a faint, irregular clicking
NEXT MONTH noise.
With a whispered order for her to
remain where she was, Terry kicked
The SCOURGE off hisshoes and crept up the remain-
ing stairs to where an oblong of gray

of B’MOTH among
an open door.
the velvety blackness told of
Terry pocketed his
By BERTRAM RUSSELL torch and peered cautiously in.
It was a large, circular room, filled
with strange machines and chemical
T he author of “The Bat-Men of
Thorium” paints in this story
a vivid picture of an invasion from
apparatus. A shaded lamp burnt at
the farther end, its pool of light fall-
ing like a halo on the high, bald head
the sea and the jungles that threat-
of Professor Merrivale as he sat work-
ens to wipe out civilization, enslave
ing at a small typewriter.
the human race, and re-establish
the supremacy of the wilderness,
Warily, his stocking feet making
no sound, Terry approached the
crouching figure and looked over its
A TALE of strange madness, of
weird rites and human sacri-
of fantastic and thrilling hor-
shoulder, reading the words that were
forming beneath the clicking keys.
fice,
And what he saw caused a gasp of
ror, of a world'-wide and sinister amazement to escape his lips.
conspiracy, and finally, in wave on Like a flash the professor spun
wave of frightful menace, the con- round and leapt toward him, his
certed uprising of the whole an- skinny hands fastening upon his
imal kingdom against their master, throat.
Man. This utterly strange and fas- “So, you sneaking spy, I’ve got
cinating story vdll be printed com-
you!” the old man hissed.
plete in the Terry, without apparent effort, re-
leased himself and stepped back a
May issue of pace. The light glinte<i along a re-
volver barrel as he raised his hand

WEIRD TALES level with the other’s breast.

—
“And I’ve got you at last Auto-
crat of the World! Up with ’em
On Sale April 1 lively I
’ ’

Hard on his w'ords there came a

Clip and Mail thi» coupon today/ flash of violet fire leaping across the

WKIRD TALKS room, blinding, dazing in its inten-

840 AUchigan Ave., sity. Terry staggered, and the
Chioaco, Dl.
Enclosed And tl for special 6 months sub-
weapon was wrenched from his grasp
scription to "Weird Tales" to begin with as though by the hand of an invisible
the May issue ($1.25 in Canada). Spe-
cial offer void unless remittance Is accom- giant.
panied by coupon.

Name , What happened to Terry, and the

startling way in ivhich the Auto-
AAdrass crat proceeded to make good his
threat against the world, will he
City Stata narrated in next month’s WEIRD
TALES.