“PSYCHIANA” ( The New Psychological Religion )

A new and revolutionary religious teaching based entirely on the misunderstood sayings of the
Galilean Carpenter, and designed to show how to find and use the
same identical power that He used.

“PSYCHIANA”
• Believes and Teaches as Follows:

FIRST—That there is in this Universe an UNSEEN OM-

FRANKR. ROBINSON, D. D.
Founder of “Psychiana.” Author
of “America Awakening”
Cod Nobody Knows,"
NIPOTENT GOD LAW so POTENT and DYNAMIC that
its contemplation seems to STAGGER our imagination
—yet so SIMPLE and UNDERSTANDABLE that all
who will may GRASP and USE this MIGHTY POWER
EVERY DAY and EVERY HOUR.
SECOND—That this INVISIBLE DYNAMIC POWER Is
the self-same POWER that Jesus used over 2,000 years
ago when he held the MULTITUDES SPEECHLESS
with his POWER to “Heal the Sick, Cleanse the Leper,
Raise the Dead.”
THIRD —That the so-called MIRACLES performed by the
NAZARENE were NOT THE RESULT of any
humble
WERE THE RESULT of a
Supernatural power but
DIVINELY NATURAL POWER which on account of its
VERY SIMPLICITY was entirely misunderstood by the
listeners of Christ’s day and by those who PROFESS
TO FOLLOW HIM TODAY.
FOURTH—That Jesus had NO MONOPOLY on this
POWER but that it is possible for anyone who under-
stands this SPIRITUAL LAW
as the GALILEAN CAR-
PENTER understood it to duplicate EVERY WORK
that He did and that when He said “the things that I
do shall YB DO also” He meant EXACTLY what He
said, and meant it to apply LITERALLY to ALL MAN-
KIND throughout ALL TIME.
FIFTH—That when rightly understood and correctly used
— “ The THIS MIGHTY POWER NEVER FAILS to bring
ABUNDANT HEALTH—RADIANT HAPPINESS and
etc. OVERWHELMING SUCCESS.

Dr. Frank B. Robinson

one of the keenest psychological minds this country has ever produced, and one of the most earnest
intense searchers into the spiritual realm believes, after years of experimentation and research, that
there is in this world today, an UNSEEN power or force, so dynamic in itself, that all other powers or
forces FAt>E INTO INSIGNIFICANCE BESIDE IT. He believes that this power of force is THE VERY
SAME POWER THAT JESUS USED. He believes further that the entire world, including the present
church structure, MISSED IN ITS ENTIRETY the message that He came to bring. He believes that
The world is on the verge of the most stupendous spiritual upheaval it has ever experienced.

FREE . . . FREE . . . FREE

Every reader of this magazine Is cordially invited to write “PSYCHIANA” for more details of this
revolutionary teaching which might very easily be discussed the ENTIRE WORLD
ROUND. Dr. Robin-
son will tell you something of his years of search for the truth as he KNEW
it must exist, and will
give you a few facts connected with the founding of “PSYCHIANA.” NO OBLIGATIONS WHATSO-
EVER. Sign your name and address here.
w. T.
Name
Street and Number '

.. _

City

Send this to “Psychiana,” Moscow, Idaho.

W. T.— 401
Cover Design J.
Allen St. John
Illustrating a scene in "Golden Blood”
_j

Golden Blood (part 1) 1 Jack Williamson 403

A powerful novel of weird adventures in the hidden land of Arabia

Autumn Robert E. Howard 422

Verse

Tiger Dust Bassett Morgan 423

A thrilling tale of brain-transplantation

The Return of Balkis E. Hoffmann Price 438

A thrill-tale of modern sorcery and the ancient Queen of Sheba

The Star-Roamers Edmond Hamilton 461

An interplanetary story that will make your pulse beat faster, by the author of "Crashing Suns"

The Ice-Demon Clark Ashton Smith 484

The wild adventure of a hunter who sought to dig royal rubies from a glacial tomb

Revelations in Black Carl Jacobi 495

An utterly strange story of the woman who sat by a fountain in the house of the bluejays

Buccaneers of Venus (conclusion) Otis Adelbert Kline 5 10

A novel of breath-taking adventures amid the eery perils of another planet

The House of Shadows Mary Elizabeth Counselman 523

A strange little story, about a family whose images would not reflect in the mirror

Weird Story Reprint:

Over an Absinthe Bottle W. C. Morrow 529
A tale of an eery encounter in a San Francisco saloon

The Eyrie 535

A chat with the readers

The White Moth August W. Derleth 540 f.

A brief story of a little white insect that became an instrument of retribution

Published monthly by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 2457 E. Washington Street, Indianapolis, Ind. En-
tered as second-class matter March 20, 192$, at the post office at Indianapolis, Ind., under the act of March 3, 1870.
Single copies, 25 cents. Subscription, $2.50 a year in the United States, $4.u0 a year in Canada. English office:
Charles Lavell, 13, Serjeant's Inn, Fleet Street, E. C. 4, London. The publishers are not responsible for the loss
of unsolicited manuscripts, although every care will be taken of such material while In their possession. The don-
tents of this magazine are fully protected by copyright and must not be reproduced either wholly or in part
without permission from the publishers.
—
NOTE All manuscripts and communications should be addressed to the publishers' Chicago office at 849
North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IU. FARNSWORTH
WRIGHT. Editor.
Copyright 1933, by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company.
COPYRIGHTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
402
-7 — . —
"It was a bleached
man skull, set
pole planted
the sand."

olden Blood
By JACK WILLIAMSON
A tale of weird adventures in the hidden land beyond the cruel desert of the Rub’
Al Khali, and a golden folk that ride upon a golden-yellow tiger
and worship a golden snake

1. The Secret Legion faded awning on the schooner’s heat-blis-

tered deck, lay in that curious half-sleep

T
moon,
HE noonday Arabian sun
ously like moonlight.
searing brilliance of it,

blots out all color, in pitiless con-

is curi-

The eye-
like the
in

play.
which

And
one dreams,

Price, the
mind, was astonished
yet
dreams, and watches his visions like a
knows he

waking part of
at his dream.
his

trast of black and white. The senses For he saw Anz, the lost city of the
withdraw from its drenching flame; and legend, where it stood hidden in the des-
the Arab kaylulah or siesta is a time of ert’s heart. Mighty walls girdled its
supine surrender to supernal day. proud towers, and away from their foot
Price Durand, sprawled beneath a sun- stretched the green palm groves of the
403
404 WEIRD TALES
great oasis. He saw the gates of Anz His emotions had become oddly divid-
open in the dream, massive valves of ed, he was thinking, in the long days since
bronze. A man rode out upon a gigantic the schooner had left the Red Sea, as if
white camel, a man in gleaming mail of two forces in him were struggling for
gold, who carried a heavy ax of yellow mastery.
metal. Price Durand, the world-weary soldier
The warrior rode out of the gate, and of fortune, was afraid of this crudest and
through the palms of the oasis, and
tall least known of the deserts of the world,
into the tawny dunes of the sand-desert. but not, of course, to the extent of wish-
He was reaching for something, and his ing to abandon the expedition; he was not
fingers kept tight upon the helve of the the sort to quit because he was afraid.
great ax. And the white camel was But he struggled against the tawny,
afraid. brooding power of the desert, fiercely de-
A fly catne buzzing about Price’s head, termined not to be mastered by its silent

and he sat up, yawning. A damned spell.

queer dream, that! He had seen the old And the other, new-born part of him
city as vividly as if it had actually been welcomed the haunting spirit of the des-
before his eyes. His subconscious mind ert, surrendered to it gladly. The very
must have been at work on the legend: loneliness beckoned, the swart crudty
there had been nothing in the story about was a mute appeal. The same stern hos-
a man in golden armor. tility of the land that frightened the old
Well, it was too hot to worry about a Price Durand was a fascinating allure for
dream, too hot to think at all. He the new.
mopped the perspiration from his face, "See Fouad’s coming,” boomed Jacob
and stared around him with eyes narrowed Garth’s calm voice from the foredeck.
against the blinding glare. "Kept the rendezvous to a day. We’M
The Arabian Sea blazed beneath the be starting inland by Monday.”
merciless sun, a plane of molten glass. Price looked up at Jacob Garth. A
The blazing sky was tinged with copper; huge, gross, red-bearded man, with a de-
dry, stinging heat drove down from it. A ceptive appearance of softness that con-
tawny line of sand marked the northern cealed his iron strength. His skin looked
horizon, where the desolate shifting dunes white and smooth; it seemed neither to

of the Rub’ A1 Khali met the incandes- burn nor tan beneath the sun that had
cent sea. The schooner Inez, as furtively cooked all the others to a chocolate brown.
sinister as her swart Macanese master, lay
motionless upon the hot, steely ocean, a
mile offshore, her drooping, dingy
casting narrow and comfortless shadows
sails H olding the binoculars with which he
had been scanning the red line of
the coast, Jacob Garth wheeled with pon-
upon greasy decks. derous ease. He evinced no excitement;
Price Durand, lounging beneath his his pale blue eyes were cold and emotion-
tattered awning, was saturated with the less. But his words woke the schooner
haunting loneliness of hot sea and burn- from sun-drenched sleep.
ing sand. The brooding, shadowy hostil- Joao de Castro, the swarthy and slant-
ity unknown desert
of the so near flowed eyed Eurasian master, scum of degenerate
about him like a tangible current, silent, Macao, burst out of his cabin, shrieked
sinister. excited questions in Portuguese and bro-
 GOLDEN BLOOD 405

ken English. De Castro was small, phys- A hard lot, this score of life-toughened
ically insignificant,holding authority over adventurers who called themselves the
his crew by sheer force of cutthroat hell- "Secret Legion.’’ But a hard lot was just
ishness. Price had no great liking for what this demanded; no
undertaking
any of his strangely assorted fellow ad- place here for pampered tenderfeet.
venturers; but Joao was the only one of Every man
of the "Secret Legion” had
them he actually hated. That hatred was served in the World War. That was es-
natural, instinctive; it had risen from sential, in view of the actual nature of the
some deep well of his nature at first sight schooner’s cargo, which was manifested as
of the man; and Price knew the little Ma- "agricultural machinery.” None was
canese returned it cordially. younger than thirty, and few were more
Jacob Garth silenced the feverish ques- than forty. One, besides Price, was an
tions of the master with a single booming American; he was Sam Sorrows, a lanky
word: "There!” ex-farmer from Kansas. Nine were Brit-
He handed his binoculars to the little ish, selected by Jacob Garth. The others
man, pointed at the line of undulating represented half a dozen European coun-
sand across the shimmering, steely sea. tries. All were men well trained in the
"Price’s attention went back to Garth. use of the implements in the cargo; and
After three months he knew no more of all were the sort to use them with desper-

the man than on the day he had met him. ate courage, in quest of the fabulous treas-

Jacob Garth was a perpetual enigma, a ure Jacob Garth had promised.
puzzle Price had failed to solve. His With only their naked eyes, the men at

broad, tallow-white face was a mask. His the rail could see nothing. Reluctantly,
mind seemed and imperturb-
as deliberate Price got to his feet, crossed the hot deck
able as his massive body. Price had never to where Garth stood. Without a word,
seen him display any shadow of emotion. the big man took the binoculars from the
Presumably, Garth was an Englishman. captain’s trembling hands and handed
English, at any rate, he spoke, unaccented them to Price.
and with the vocabulary of an educated "Look beyond the second line of
man. Price imagined that he might be a dunes, Mr. Durand."
member of the aristocracy, ruined by the Endless ranks of heaving red-sand
war, and attempting this fantastic expedi- crests marched across the lenses. Then
tion to recoup his fortune. But the sup- Price saw the camels, a line of dark
position was unconfirmed. specks, creeping across the yellowish flank
It was strange, and yet almost amusing, of a long dune, winding down toward the
to watch Jacob Garth standing motionless sea in interminable procession.
and immutable as a Buddha, while the ex- "Sure your Arabs?” he asked.
it’s

citement his words had created ran like "Of course,” boomed Garth. "This
a flame over the ship. isn’t exactly a main street, you know. And

The men sprang up from where they I’ve had dealings with Fouad before. I

had been lounging on the deck, or came
running up the companionway, to line the
rail in a shouting, jostling throng, obliv-
ious of the beating sun, staring at the ho-
rizon of sand.
Price surveyed the line, Speculatively.
promised him two hundred and fifty
pounds gold a day, for forty mounted
warriors and two hundred extra camels.
Knew I could depend on him.”
But Price, haying heard before of
Fouad El Akmet and his renegade band
406 WEIRD TALES
of Bedouin harami or highwaymen, knew Five hundred pounds of dynamite, with
that the old sheikh could be depended caps and fuses.
upon for little save to slit as many throats And looming near him, beside a stack
as possible whenever profitable opportu- of oil and gasoline drums, was the most
nity offered. ambitious weapon of all: a light-armored,
The stinging sun soon drove the men three-ton army tank, mounting two ma-
back to the narrow shadows. Stifling si- chine-guns, equipped with wide treads
lence settled again, and the vast, unfriend- specially designed for operation over a
ly loneliness of the Rub’ A1 Khali— the sandy terrain.
Empty Abode —was flung once more over had wanted to bring an airplane
Price
the little schooner drenching in blinding, also. But Jacob Garth had opposed the
merciless radiation. suggestion, without any good reason save
that landing and taking off would be dif-

B y sunset of the next day the last box

and crate had been landed from the
schooner and carried up beyond reach of
ficult in the sand-desert.
had deferred, without suspecting
Price, for once,
tire mo-
tive of the other’s opposition.
the waves by Fouad’s forty-odd men. The Many weeks of cautious, anxious effort,
neat, tarpaulin-covered piles stood beside and many thousands of dollars Price’s —
the camp, surrounded by tents and kneel- money —had been paid for this parapher-
ing camels. nalia of modem war, to equip the little

Price, guarding the piles with an auto- band of hard-faced men who called them-
matic at his hip, smiled at the consterna- selves the "Secret Legion.”
tion that would ensue in certain diplo- From his place by the tarpaulin-covered

matic circles if it became known that the crates, Pricewatched Jacob Garth coming
"agricultural implements” in these crates away from the empty schooner. He no-
had gone into private circulation. ticed curiously that Garth had brought all

Mentally, he ran over the inventory, the men from her, even Joao de Castro,

chuckling. her swarthy, pock-marked little captain.

As the boat neared the sand, he saw that
Fifty new Lebel rifles, .315 caliber,
Garth and de Castro were quarreling; or
five-shot, sighted to 2,400 meters, with
rather that the little Eurasian was scream-
50,000 rounds of ammunition.
ing shrill invective at the big man, who
Four French Hotchkiss machine-guns,
appeared placidly unconscious of him.
air-cooled —
an important consideration in
was wondering why no watch had
desert warfare —
also .315 caliber, mount-
been
Price
leftaboard, when he saw the an-
ing on tripods, with 60,000 rounds of
chored schooner quiver abruptly. A
ammunition, in metal strips of thirty
muffled detonation rolled from her across
rounds.
the quiet sea. saw debris lift slow-
Price
Two twenty-year-old Krupp mountain ly from the deck, and yellow smoke spurt
guns, which had seen service in several from ports and hatches.
Balkan wars, and five hundred rounds of With a curious silent deliberation, the
ammunition, shrapnel and high explosive. Inez listed to port, lifted her black bow
Two Stokes trench mortars, and four into the air, and slipped down by the
hundred ten-pound shells to match. stern.

Four dozen .45 automatics, with ammu- Then Jacob Garth’s booming voice
nition. Ten cases of hand grenades. drowned the lurid protestation of the en-
 GOLDEN BLOOD 407

raged captain: "We won’t need the ship Anz, fantastic as they are, are based on
out in the desert. And I didn’t want her truth. Most folk-tales are. Even the
tempting anybody to turn back. When Arabian Nights you mention have a core
we find the gold, de Castro, you’ll be able of true history. But I’ve something more
to buy the Majestic, if you want!” than hearsay to go on. If you will be so
kind as to accompany me aboard my
2. The Yellow Blade schooner, I’ll give you the details. The
ACOB garth had come to Price Du- Inez —down in the outer basin, by the
J rand three months before, at a bar in breakwater.”
Port Said—a giant of a man, grossly fat, "Why not here?” Price motioned to
his pouchy, pallid face covered with a a table in the corner.
tangle of red beard. His once-white lin- "There are certain articles I want to
ens were soiled, limp with sweat: the sun- show you, by way of evidence. And
helmet pushed back on his head was bat- well, I don’t care to be overheard.”
tered, sweat-sodden. By reputation Price knew the Inez and
The man possessed a puzzling strength. her swarthy Macanese master and knew —
In his pale-blue, deeply sunk eyes was nothing good of either. Any enterprise
something hard and cold, a strange glint in which they were involved promised
of will and power. His great, thick hand dubious adventure. But in his present
was not soft, as Price had expected; its mood, restless, weary of the world, that
grasp was crushing. was not to his distaste.
"Durand, aren’t you?” he had greeted He nodded to the big man.
Price, his deep voice richly resonant.
Keenly his pale eyes appraised Price’s six- oaode castro welcomed Price aboard,
feet-two of solid, red-headed body; pen- J with a twisted smile upon his swart
etratingly his cold eyes met Price’s unwa- face, which had been so eaten away by
vering, deep-blue ones. smallpox that it was hairless. The dark,
Price studied him in return, found oblique eyes of the little Eurasian went
something to pique his curiosity. He fleetingly to Jacob Garth, and Price caught
nodded. a furtive question in them. The big man
"I understand you are the sort who can pushed by him, almost roughly, led the
be called a soldier of fortune?” way to a dingy cabin, amidships.
"Perhaps,” Price admitted. "I have Locking the door behind them, he
cultivated a certain taste for excitement.” turned to face Price with hard, pale eyes.
"I have something that should interest "It’sunderstood you say nothing of
you.” this, unless you accept my proposition.”
"Yes?” Price waited. "Very well.”
"You have heard the desert tales of He studied Price again, nodded. "I
Anz? I don’t mean the village of Anz in trust you.”
North Arabia. The Anz of the lost oasis, He made down, while he set a
Price sit

beyond the Jebel Harb range.” bottle of whisky and two glasses upon the
"Yes, I know the Arab legends, of Ma- cabin table. Price refused the drink, and
gainms and other lost cities of the central Jacob Garth said abruptly:
desert. New Arabian Nights." "Suppose you tell me what you know
"No, Durand.” Garth lowered his —
of Anz the lost Anz.”
mellow voice. "The Bedouin tales of "Well, simply the usual story. That
408 WEIRD TALES
the inner desert used to be fertile, or at though not altogether empty-handed.
least inhabitable. That it was ruled by a The evidence I spoke of.”
great city named Anz. That the spread- Moving with a certain cat-like ease,
ing deserts cut the city off from the world despite his gross bulk, Jacob Garth
a thousand years or so ago. opened a locker and brought Price a roll
"It’s just what might be expected, con- —
of parchment a long, narrow strip of
sidering the Arab imagination, and the cured skin, dry, cracked, the writing upon
fact that southern Arabia is the biggest itfading with the centuries.
blank spot on the map, outside the polar "A bit faint, but legible,” said Garth.
regions.” "Do you read Spanish?”
Jacob Garth spoke slowly, in his deep, "After a fashion. Modern Spanish.”
passionless tones: "This is fair Castilian.”
"Durand, that legend, as you have out- Price took it with eager fingers, un-
lined it, is true. Anz exists. It is still rolled it carefully, and scanned the ancient
inhabited —or at least the old oasis is. characters.
And it is the richest city in the world. "Mayo del Ano
1519,” it was dated
Loot for an army.” [May, of the year 1519].
"I’ve heard men say such things be- The manuscript was a brief autobi-
fore,” Price observed. "Do you know?" ography of one Fernando Jesus de Quadra
"You may judge the evidence. I’ve y Vargas. Born in Seville about 1480, he
been exploring the fringes of the Rub’ A1 was forced to flee to Portugal at the age
Khali for twelve years — ever since the of twenty-two, as a result of circumstances
war. I’ve lived with the Bedouins, and that he did not detail.
run down a thousand legends. And most Entering the maritime service of King
of them turned out to be simply distorted Manoel, he was a member of the Portu-
versions of the story of Anz. guese expedition under Alfonso de Al-
"And, Durand, I’ve been as far as the buquerque, which seized the east coast of
Jebel Harb range.” Arabia in 1508. There, becoming for the
That statement raised Price’s estimation second time involved in difficulties that
of the man. He knew that these moun- he did not describe, he deserted Albu-
tains were considered as mythical as the querque, only to be immediately captured
lost city beyond them. If Jacob Garth and enslaved by the Arabs.
had seen them, he must be far more than After some years, having escaped his
the unwieldy mass of flesh that he ap- captors,and not daring to return to the
peared. Portuguese settlements, he had set out,
"I had five men,” he went on. "We upon a stolen camel, to cross Arabia, in
had rifles. But we couldn’t pass the Jebel the direction of his native Spain.
Harb. Durand, those mountains were "Great hardships attended me,” he re-
guarded! I fancy the people of Anz lated, "for want of water, in a heathen
know more about the outside world than land where the true God is not known,
we know about them. And they aren’t nor even the prophet of the infidel. For
anxious to resume communications. many weeks drank naught save the milk
I

"We had rifles. But they attacked us of my she-camel, which fed upon the
with weapons that — well, the details are thorns of the cruel desert.
rather unbelievable. But the five with me "Then I came into a region of hot
were brave men, and I came back alone, sand, where the camel died for want of
 GOLDEN BLOOD 409

water and fodder. I pushed onward on Garth’s deep voice broke the spell:
foot, and by the blessing of the Virgin "What do you think of it?”

Mary did come into the golden land. "Interesting. Very much so. But it
"I found refreshment at a city beside might be a forgery, of course. Plenty of
groves of palms. In most hellish idol- old parchment to work on.”
atry did I find these people, who call "I found that,” said Garth, "near a
themselves the Beni Anz. They worship human skeleton, in a cave in the Jebel
beings of living gold, which haunt a Harb.”
mountain near the city, and dwell in a "That doesn’t answer my objection.”
house of gold on that mountain. Garth smiled, grimly. "Perhaps this
will. It would not be easily forged.”
"These beings, the golden folk, took
me captive to the mountain, where I saw
He went back to the locker, and drew
the idols, which are a tiger and a great
out the yellow blade. Wondrously it
snake that live and move, though the}'
scintillated in the dim cabin; the ruby

are of yellow gold. A man of gold, who blazed hot in the serpent’s mouth. A
gem-set, golden yataghan!
is the priest of the snake, did question
me, and then tear out my tongue, and "Look at this!” he boomed, in the deep
voice that was so hypnotically compelling.
make me a slave.
"Gold! Pure gold! And tempered hard
"For three years did I labor in the
as steel! Look at it!”
mountain, and by the mercy of God I
He swung it in a hissing circle, then
slew my guard with his own sword of
handed it to Price.
gold, which I have with me. Once more
with a camel provided by the goodness of
A weird weapon, heavy, its broad,
double-curved blade razor-keen. Price
the Virgin, I went toward the sea, along
thumbed it, realized that it carried an
a road that is marked with the skulls of
edge no ordinary gold or alloy of gold
men.
could keep. The handle was a coiled
"Again thirst has pursued me, and the serpent of soft
gold, grasping in the
evil power of the golden gods. The fanged mouth a great, burning blood
camel is dead, and I am a cripple; so I
ruby.
can never leave these mountains, in which
Leaning across the table, Jacob Garth
I have found a spring. In this cave I shall looked as extraordinary as the weapon;
die, and I pray that the vengeance of God
thick-bodied, immensely broad of shoul-
shall fall soon upon the golden land, to
der, skin soft and white as a child’s, cold
purge it of idolatory and evil.” eyes glittering strange and hard and
eager above the tangle of curling red
rice sat staring at the dry and brittle
P parchment, trying to fill out in his
beard.
"Yes, it’s gold,” Price admitted. No
imagination the epic of desperate adven- —
denying that or that it was harder than
ture that its faded The
letters outlined. any gold he had ever seen. "And die ruby
old Spaniard must have been made of is genuine.”
stern stuff, to do what he had done, and "You are satisfied?” Garth demanded.
to dress the camel’s hide and make ink "Satisfied that you have something un-
—
and write his memoirs driven by some usual —the manuscript was rather fantas-
obscure impulse of egotism —even after tic in spots. But what’s your proposi-
he had resigned himself to death. tion?”
410 WEIRD TALES
"I'm organizing another expedition. The lure of treasure was nothing. The
I’m going to take a force strong enough promise of action meant more. Of strug-
to break through the guarded pass, and gle with nature at her crudest. Of battle
to smash whatever resistance the people — if Garth’s story were indeed true —with
of Anz may offer, beyond. A small army, the strange power reigning in the central
if you please.” desert.

"Central Arabia has never been con- The adventure appealed to him as a
quered —and a good many nations have sporting proposition, as a daring and dif-
tried in, in the last fifty centuries or so.” ficult thing, that men had not done be-
"It won’t be easy,” Garth agreed, "but fore. And the gold of which Garth
the reward will be incalculable! Think talked meant no more than a trophy.
of the Spaniard’s house of gold! I know Price was suddenly eager, more inter-
the desert; you do, too. We won’t be ten- ested and enthusiastic than he had been
derfeet.” over anything in many months. Decision
"And your proposition?” came to him instantly. But something
"Ineed about $140,000 to finish about him rebelled at taking second place
equipping the expedition. I understand in anything, at taking orders from
that you are able to advance such a sum.” another.
"Possibly. And in return?” "I will have to be in command,” he
"You would be second in command — said. "We can share equally — four and
am the leader, of course, and de Castro a half shares each.”
third. Half the loot will have to be di- Paleand hard, Jacob Garth’s eyes
vided among the men. The remainder scanned Price’s face. His deep voice
we shall divide in twelve shares, of which rang out, almost angrily:
five are mine, four are yours, and three “You heard my proposition.” And he
de Castro’s.” added: "You needn’t fear dishonesty.
Gold for its own sake meant nothing You may pay out the money yourself.
to Price. His own fortune, which he had You know that I wouldn’t risk the Rub’
not striven to increase, approximated four Al Khali unless I believed.”
million dollars. But, at thirty-one, he "I can’t go,” said Price, quietly, "except
found himself a wanderer, weary of life, as the leader.”
oppressed by killing ennui, driven by And Garth at last had surrendered.
vague, formless longings that he did not "Very well. You take command, and we
understand. For a decade he had been an share equally.”
unresting, purposeless wanderer through
the tropic East, seeking —
what, he did not or two months the Inez crept stealth-
know. F ily between ports of eastern Europe

The swarthy and hostile mystery of the and the Levant, while Price and Jacob
mountain-rimmed, barren sand-desert of Garth accumulated by the devious nego-
the Rub’ Al Khali —
the "Empty Abode” tiations required in such matters, the cargo
which the nomad Bedouins themselves listed on the manifests as agricultural ma-
fear —
and shun held an obscure challenge chinery, and the score of men who called
for him. He had learned Arabic; he themselves the "Secret Legion.”
knew something of desert life; he had The transactions completed and the
seen the fringes of the unconquered cargo aboard, she slipped through (he
desert. canal and down the Red Sea, and east-
 GOLDEN BLOOD 411

ward along the Arabian coast, to the spot eyes glittered. "Or perhaps we will make
that Jacob Garth had designated as the war even on the farengi?”
rendezvous with his questionable Arab Jacob Garth’s hand went to the leather
allies. scabbard at his belt. Slowly he drew the
golden sword, held it up.
3. The Road of Skulls
"What think you of this?” he asked in

T he Sheikh Fouad el Akmet appeared

painfully surprized to learn that he
was expected accompany an expedition
to
Arabic as fluent as Price’s own.
Fouad El Akmet started to his feet and
came forward eagerly, the gleam of the
into the forbidden heart of the Rub’ A1 yellow blade reflected in his eyes.
Khali. Jacob Garth, it developed, had en- "Gold?” he demanded. Then, at sight

gaged his services upon the promise of of the snake motif of the sword’s handle,
two hundred and fifty pounds a day, and of the great ruby held in the serpent’s
rich plunder, without specifying where fangs, he leapt back, with a muttered
the plundering was to be done. "Bismillah!”
"Yes, it is gold,” Garth told him.
" Salaam aleikum! be unto
[peace
you!]” he cried, in the age-old formula
"The thing is accursed!” he cried. "It
is of the forbidden land!”
of desert greeting, when Price Durand
"Then perhaps you know the road of
and Jacob Garth entered his black tent, on
the night after the sinking of the Inez.
skulls? ’
Garth asked, his sonorous voice
slow and even. "You perhaps have heard
"Aleikum salaam," Price returned,
of the treasures that lie at the end of that
thinking at the same time that the old
road, beyond the Jebel Harb?”
Bedouin’s pious greeting would have little
"No, by Allah!” the old Bedouin cried,
meaning if he ever found it feasible to
so vehemently that Price knew he lied.
attack his farengi allies.
"Then I shall show you the road,”
Price and Garth seated themselves upon Garth told him, "for we ride to plunder
the worn rugs spread against camel-sad- the land at its end.”
dles on the sand. Fouad sat facing them,
"Allah forbid!” The sheikh was nerv-
supported by a dozen of his renegade fol-
ously twisting a finger in his sparse, rusty
lowers, squatting in a semicircle. One of beard; fear was plain in his eyes.
the Arabs served thick, viscid, unsweet-
"Every camel will be laden with gold!”
ened poured from a brass pot
coffee,
Garth predicted.
into a single tiny cup, which passed from
"It is forbidden the faithful go beyond
hand to hand.
the Jebel Harb,” the sheikh exclaimed
Price sipped the coffee, delaying the with unwonted religious fervor, fondling
opening of negotiations; Garth’s bland, the hijab suspended from his neck. "Be-
pale face was inscrutable. The glitter of yond is a land of strange evil; Allah and
curiosityburned stronger in Fouad’ s dark, his prophet are unknown there.”
shifting eyes, and at last he could contain "Then shall we not wage a jehad, a
himself no longer. holy war?” said Price, maliciously.
"We ride soon?” he asked. An agitated whisper ran along the line
"Truly,” Price assented. "Soon.” of squatting men. Price caught mention
"Raids,” the old sheikh suggested, of djinn and ’ifrits.

’’against the ElMurra? They have many "What is there to fear, beyond the
camels, of the fine Unamiya breed.” His mountains?” he asked.
 .

412 WEIRD TALES

“I know not/’ he replied, "but men things beyond the accursed mountains as
whisper strange things of the Empty men say there are, we can destroy them.”
Abode.” "On the morrow we shall show you our
"And what are those things?” Price in- weapons,” Garth agreed suavely. He and
sisted. Price rose from the rugs, and returned to
"Of course I do not believe,” Fouad dis- their own tents, leaving the old sheikh
claimed his superstition, half-heartedly. muttering uncertainly, obviously tom be-
"But men beyond the Jebel Harb
say that tween fear of the desert’s unknown terrors
is a great was old when the
city, that and greed for its equally unknown treas-
prophet came. Its people, though Arabs, ures.

are not of the faithful, but worship a

golden snake, and are ruled, not by men,
but by evil yellow djinn, in the shape of A t sunset on the following day, when
t the air was comparatively cool again.

Price rode upon a borrowed camel with

men.
"The yellow djinn ride upon a great the old Bedouin and a group of his men
tiger, to hunt down those who cross the to the summit of a dune above the camp.

mountains, and take their skulls to mark Jacob Garth had remained behind, to act
their evil caravan-track to die sea. And as director of ceremonies.
they dwell in a castle of shining gold, "You have rifles,” Price said, indicat-
upon a black mountain that is called hajar ing the muzzle-loading trade guns the
jehannum [the rock of hell] Aiabs carried. "But have you such rifles

"Such are the desert tales. But of as these?”

course I do not believe!” Fouad insisted He waved an arm, and the four Hotch-
again, when it was quite evident that he kiss machine-guns, waiting on their tri-

did. pods below, burst into staccato song, their

now,” Price remarked aside to
"I see hail of bullets lifting little clouds of sand
Garth, "where our old Spanish friend got along the beach.
the material for his fantastic diary.” "Your rifles fire swiftly,” Fouad ad-
"I have seen queer things in the Jebel mitted. "But what do djinn care for
Harb,” the other returned. "Fouad’s rifles?”

story is more truth than he imagines. "We have greater guns.” Again Price
Nothing supernatural, you understand. waved.
Modern science was bom in this part of The Stokes mortars and the two ancient
the world, you know, when Europe was mountain guns fired at once. The crash-
still in the Dark Ages. My theory is that ing detonations and the whine of shell
we have to deal with an isolated offshoot fragments, the pits torn in the loose sand,
of the classic Arabic civilization, on a lost were startling, even to Price. The more
oasis.” cautious of Fouad’s men drew their cam-
Price turned back to Fouad el Akmet, els back behind the dune.
who was sitting again on his rugs, star- "And our chariot of death!” Price
ing fascinated at the golden yataghan. shouted, signalling again.
"We talk of the evil of the Empty The tank, which the Arabs had not seen
Abodes,” Price explained in Arabic. in motion, burst into roaring life and
"There is nothing for our allies to fear, came lumbering up the slope of the dune,
for we bring with us the weapons of the like some gray antediluvian monster, clat-
farengi. Even should there be such tering, clanging, guns hammering vicious-
 GOLDEN BLOOD 413

ly. For a moment the awe-struck Arabs T was a curious procession that left the
held their ground; then, as one, they I landing-place next morning before
goaded their camels into sudden flight. sunrise. The Sheikh Fouad El Akmet
was the leader, upon his magnificent
"I am sorry,” Jacob Garth greeted
them, when they rode sheepishly back
white hejin, or racing-camel. A tall,

into camp, "that you did not remain to

sparse-bearded, hawk-nosed man was
Fouad, with a predatory glitter in his
see our other weapons.”
dark eyes that did not belie his unsavory
"The camels were frightened,” replied reputation.
Fouad. "We could not control them.”
The baggage-camels were strung out
"Even as the watchers in the desert will
behind him, laden with cases still marked
be frightened,” said Price. "Tomorrow
"spades” or "cultivators” or "farm im-
we take the road of skulls?”
plements.”
The old sheikh hesitated, muttering. The Arabs rode among them; lean men,
"You will pay the gold you promised,” mostly, as if dried and shriveled by the
he asked Garth, at length, "even if we desert sun, with dark stern faces, thin,
find no treasure?” tight lips and piercing eyes. Like Fouad,
"Yes,” Garth assured him. they wore flowing white kafiyehs, or
Price was ready. He called out a com- head-cloths, and rough black abbas, or
mand, and four men came staggering robes, of camel’s hair.
from the camp, beneath the weight of a The white men were mostly in the rear,
great teak chest. Silently, they set it on all of them save Price and Jacob Garth

the sand in front of Price. Deliberately, unused to camel-riding, and sitting their
he found the key, unlocked it, lifted the rolling, jerking mounts awkwardly and

lid to display the splendor of glittering with much complaint.

yellow sovereigns. Bringing up the rear came the tank,
Two menmight have carried the chest motor roaring, reeking of burning oil
easily enough; but it contained five thou- drifting from it. The camels were afraid

sand pounds sterling, in gold, represent- —

of it and the Arabs regarded it as a very
ing another advance from Price’s pocket. dubious addition to the caravan. It would
He held back the lid, let the Arabs feast stiffen Fouad’s uncertain loyalty, Price

avid eyes. thought — especially since it carried the

gold.
"For each day we will pay you this
They had dawn, packed
risen before
great wealth.” He counted two hundred
the complaining camels, and breakfasted
and fifty coins into gclden piles, and let
hastily, the Arabs upon dates and flaps of
Fouad feel them with trembling hands.
half-raw dough, the others upon bacon
"We carry the treasure with us,” he
and coffee and hardtack.
added, "in the chariot of death, and pay
Price had put himself near the head of
you when we have returned to the sea.”
the long line of laden beasts that wound
The old sheikh haggled, insisting upon over the first lines of dunes, away from
daily payment. But Price held to his the sea, toward the heart of the great un-
terms, and that night, in the coffee-circle, known, the Empty Abode, toward desper-
Fouad surrendered. ate adventure.
"Wallah, effendi. Tomorrow we ride, It was all strong wine of life —the
and may Allah have mercy!” crisp, refreshing dawn-breeze; die glory
414 WEIRD TALES
of the scarlet sunrise, enchanting the des- Reluctantly the old Bedouin turned his
ert with purple mystery; the strong, eager camel toward As they drew near,
it,

he rode; the shout-

stride of the fine beast Price saw was a bleached human
that it

ing of the men, even the grumbling skull, set on a

pole planted deep in
tall

groans of the camels. the sand. From beside it, another was in
Caravan of strange adventure! Vague, view, perhaps a mile ahead.
rosy visionsswam before him. He saw the "Who set it here?” Price asked the
"golden land” of the Spaniard’s man- sheikh, curiously.
uscript, the lost city of Anz beyond the "How do I know?” said Fouad, nerv-
forbidden mountains. Disillusion and ously. "Men say the djinn of the ac-
ennui slipped from him, He felt young cursed land leave here the heads of men
and free and powerful. He knew that he they have lured to doom. Perhaps they
was not living in vain, that splendid mark the road to Eblis.”
deeds awaited to be done. Price rode toward the pole. His camel
But the brief elan dropped away, as the shied from the unfamiliar object; he dis-
sun rose higher. The illimitable expanse mounted and approached it on foot. The
of crescent hills, dull-red and yellow, pole, some three inches in diameter, was
wavered and trembled in the heat, unreal. of reddish brown wood, very hard. The
The air became stifling, almost unbreath- skull was some ten feet above his head,
able, laden with the alkali dust that rose but he could see bits of hair and gristle
from the trail in choking, saffron clouds. still clinging to it.

Perspiration wet his body and the sting-

The Arab went on, and Price waited
ing dust clung to it. He soon felt un-
for Jacob Garth.
washed, His eyes smarted
miserable.
"Just what do you know of these
with dust, ached from the pressure of
skulls?” he demanded.
blinding light that drove down from the
"There is an unbroken line of them,
sun and the blazing sky, beat back from
extending from here to a pass in the Jebel
the sand, shone dazzling from all the hot-
horizon.
Harb, where I found the Spaniard’s
bones. Presumably they go on, to Anz
The dry air parched his throat, and he
refused himself water from his canteen to
I wasn’t able to get beyond the mountains.
wet —
it three days, Jacob Garth said it
They must have been here four hundred
years ago, for Quadra y Vargas mentions
would be, to the first well. The saddle
chafed him. His lip bled, where sun and
them in his manuscript.”
alkali dust had already cracked it. "This skull is no four centuries old!”
Even so, the strange urge in him did objected Price. "Look at it!”
not completely die. He knew the fierce "Evidently not. It must have been re-
joy of conquest as he reached the crest of cently replaced.”
each new dune. "But who would replace it?”
"I think I told you that I believe the

T hey were just losing sight of the sea,

over the trackless, undulating plain
of sand, when old Fouad rather appre-
people of the hidden land
the outer world than the outer world
knows of them. I suppose they wanted
know more of

hensively pointed out to Price a tiny white to keep marked the road to the sea.”
object that gleamed against the dull red "But why use the skulls of men for
waste ahead. markers?”
 —
GOLDEN BLOOD 415

"Durable and easy to see, I suppose luridly crowned with strata of red sand-
and cheap." stone, with pinnacles of white limestone,

Several times that day Price rode back glaringly leprously. A basalt-ribbed "wall
along the line of march, to talk with the of death. Bare and tortured cliff and
men. Few of them knew anything of peak were silent and ugly as bleaching

camels. They distrusted the unfamiliar bones. No green of vegetation lined the
beasts, and were chafed and bruised by steep-walled canyons. Unbroken, the
the lurching saddles. They complained dark cruel scarp marched across the hori-
of thirst and heat and the blinding flame zon, a sinister barrier to the accursed land.
of the brazen sky.
During the intensest heat of the day
they stopped and let the camels kneel
upon the bare, burning sand, to rest.
T he desert is deceptive.
had looked very near, but as sunset
approached on the following day, the car-
The barrier

Toward evening they pushed on again, avan was still winding up the waterless
until it was too dark to find the guiding
gravel slopes, which were barren of even

skulls. the ordinary sprinkling of dwarf acacia

The next day was the same, and the and stunted tamarisks.
next. Fouad was unmistakably apprehensive.
On the morning of the fourth day they Leaving his usual place at the head of the
came out upon a narrow plain of gravel, caravan, he rode back to join Price and
a dark slash through red-sand dunes. Jacob Garth. Without his leadership, his
—
There they found a well a square, un- men stopped, gazing with unconcealed
covered pit, from which they drew water fear at the grim, looming, granite escarp-
with leathern buckets and ropes of cam- ment.
el’s hair, for beasts and men. Muddy "Sidi," the sheikh began, unwontedly
water, bitter, brackish, almost undrink- respectful again in his anxiety, "Allah
able. forbid that we go farther! Before us are
was late afternoon when the last
It the mountains of the accursed land, that
camel had been satisfied and the last Allah gave to powers of evil. Beyond
water-skin filled. Then they pushed on wait the djinn, to set our heads upon their
again, followed by the clattering tank, poles.”
into another belt of loose red sand. "Nonsense,” Price said. "Didn’t we
Two more nights they camped among show you the jarengi weapons?”
the dunes. On the morning of the sixth Fouad muttered in his beard, and craft-
day from the sea they came again upon ily demanded that he be paid the seven

hard, rolling, flinty gravel, which sloped days’ wages due, that he might distribute
up to a grim and rugged wall of barren the gold to encourage his timid men.
mountains. "It would only encourage them to de-
“The Jebd Harb,” Jacob Garth told sert,” Price told him grimly. "Not one
Price, "where I was stopped before. piece, until we get back to the sea!”
We’ll see trouble before we pass them "There is water in the mountains,”
and I don’t know what beyond.” boomed Garth. "You know we must
In the pellucid desert atmosphere the have water.”
mountains looked very near. Beetling "Bisshai," Fouad agreed. "The skins
black granite ramparts, furrowed into are dry and the camels are thirsty. But
rugged gorges and hostile, jutting salients, even so-
 1
416 WEIRD TALES
'
Let us ride on,” Price cut him off. he turned to the trembling Fouad, who
And the old Bedouin, grumbling, at had gone white as his pigmentation al-
last returned to the head of the column. lowed.
By sunset they had covered half the re- "What is it?”
maining distance to the lofty pass ahead, "The evil djinn of the accursed land
between cleft, towering masses of dark rise beyond the hills!”
granite, capped with bands of somber red
"Nonsense! Just the rays of the sun
and livid white. shining past a cloud, and seeming to con-
It was at sunset that they saw the first
verge in the distance. A
natural phe-
weird phenomenon that heralded the com- nomenon
”
ing conflict with the alien power of the
Price rapidly scanned the cloud for a
hidden land. cloud to prove his theory, but found its

indigo dome, as usual, perfectly clear. He

4. The Tiger in the Sky
hesitated, then went on rapidly:
RICE had urged his weary camel to the "A mirage, perhaps. We
P head of the line again, to ride beside them in the
always see
morning and the evening.
old Fouad and bolster the Bedouin’s cour- They are queer, sometimes.
Once, in the
age. Jacob Garth was back among the Sind desert, hundreds of miles from the
men. As usual, the camels were strung sea, I saw a steamer. Funnels and smoke
out in single file; it was over a mile back and all. Even made out the boats in their
to the tank, which brought up the rear, davits. Simply reflection and refraction
”
clattering and banging across the hard, of light, in the atmosphere
!”
flinty gravel. "Bismillah wa Allahu akbar the old
But a few miles ahead the colossal sheikh was groaning, too overcome to
rugged precipices of black granite plunged listen.

upward to red-and-white crowns of sand-
stone and limestone, forming twin towers
that grimly guarded the pass.
"Ya Allah!” the Arab renegade
shrieked suddenly, terror-stricken.
Price then saw that a picture was taking
form above the fan of colored rays, some-
what as if projected upon the sky by a
colossal magic lantern. Yet it seemed
"Be weirdly real, stereoscopic.

merciful!” Beneath his dark abba he What he saw was madness. He knew
raised a lean arm that shook with fear, that it should be mirage, grotesque fancy,
and pointed above the pass. illusion. It should have been hallucina-
Lifting his eyes, Price saw a strange tion, merely the projection of the Arabs’
thing in the sky, beyond the yawning gap, fears against the sky. But he knew that
above dark, tumbling rocks that were in- it was not, knew that it was, in some

carnadined with the red glare of sunset. strange way, a reflection of actual exist-
Penciled rays of light were streaming ence.
upward in a vast, spreading fan, against "The tiger of the accursed land!”
the violet-blue of the east. Thin, pale Fouad was screaming. "The yellow
beams of rose and saffron, flung out as if woman of the mirage, whose fatal beauty
from a single radiant point hidden below lures men across the desert to die. And
the black range. the golden god, the king of evil djinn!”
Price was startled; something about the Abruptly the old Bedouin lifted his
luminescent display seemed weirdly arti- camel-stick, shouted at his mount, turned
ficial. Fighting back his momentary fear, in panic flight.
W. T.—
 2
GOLDEN BLOOD 417

Drawing himself back from the appari- van had stopped. Even the tank’s clatter
tion in the sky, Price drew his automatic had ceased. He sensed the fear that ran
and called to the Arab in a deadly voice: electric along the line, from man to awe-

"Stop! You aren’t going to run off. 1 struck man, fear that might readily be-

can kill you quicker than all the ’ifrits in come disastrous panic.

Arabia!” The old sheikh had been edging his

Fouad sputtered and cursed, but he camel away.
brought his white camel to a halt. His "Keep still,” Price warned him, "or
dark eyes, wide with fear, went back to I’ll kill you!”
the pass. He was certain that the danger was not
A tiger had appeared in the sky, above immediate, and he knew the Arabs would
the spreading rays of rose and topaz. not desert without their leader.
Huge image was incredibly
as a cloud, its His eyes went back to the picture in
vivid and real. A
powerful beast,
sleek, its magnitude,
the sky, silent and awful in
magnified incredibly, floating above the infinitely appalling for its eldritch strange-
jagged peaks. Its sides were barred with ness. The yellow man’s crafty, leering
bright, rufous gold. Vast muscles bulged eyes scanned the caravan. And the
its thick, massive limbs. It looked down woman was smiling down. Price saw, at
from the sky with tawny, terrible eyes, him.
narrowed to black slits. No kind smile was it. Mysterious,
A curious, box-like saddle of black enigmatic, mocking. Its evasive chal-
wood was strapped upon the bade of the lenge raised in Price a vague and name-
uncanny beast, like a howdah on an el- less anger; yet somehow the exotic golden
ephant. In it were two persons. beauty stirred faint awakenings of desire.
One was a man, golden-bearded, yel- The oval, aureate face was lovely, allur-
low-skinned, dad and wear-
in red robes ing, yet subtly malicious. The greenish,
ing a crimson skull-cap. His face was tawny eyes hinted of hot passion, of burn-
sullenly cruel, marked with the stamp of ing desire and withering hate, of caprice
sinister power. Balanced on his knee was unchecked by fear or law. They were
a great spiked mace, of yellow metal. wise with an ancient knowledge not all of
The other was a woman, green-robed, good. They were bold with power un-
reclining in an attitude of voluptuous limited and carelessly held. They watched
ease. Her was yellow; and her
skin, also, Price, speculatively, tauntingly. . . .

long hair, flying free, was red-golden. The yellow-beard moved. In both
Slim, green-cased, her body was lithely great hands he raised the spiked golden
graceful, and on her face was a perilous mace, flourished it over the pass, in a ges-
beauty. ture definitely hostile, menacing. On his
Her slightly oblique eyes were tawny- harsh face was warning . . . and hate.
green, oddly like the tiger’s. Their lids The woman smiled down at Price, with
were darkened, as if with kohl. Her lips a challenge in her tawny eyes, and ran
were crimsoned, her golden cheeks slim, reddened fingers through the golden
touched with rouge, her slender fingers masses of her hair.
henna-reddened. Hers was a loveliness "See, Howeja!” Fouad hissed. "He
exotic and sinister. warns us to go back!”
Fouad’s furtive movement called back Price did not answer. His gaze was
Price’s eyes. He saw that the whole cara- still upward, meeting the woman's enig-
W. T. —
418 WEIRD TALES
matic orbs, giving challenge for chal- his finger in his scrawny beard. The
lenge. His own eyes were hard. Abrupt- Arabs had refused to go farther, on the
ly, to the old Arab’s manifest surprize, he night before, had protested, even, at
laughed, laughed long and harshly, jeer- camping on the spot. Now, on the fol-
ingly, at the woman, and turned away. lowing morning, the old sheikh was
"A modern Lilith, eh?” he muttered. vainly opposing any further advance.
"Well, strut your stuff. We can play the "Sidi, you know that the shadow was a
game.” warning. We may yet save our lives from
Then, slowly as the picture had ap- the golden king of djinn
”
peared, it faded, dissolved in the darken- "If we go on and conquer him!”
ing amethystine sky, vanished. The fan "There is water in the pass,” Garth
of narrow rays died beyond the pass. said. "A clear, sweet well. And you
The black ramparts of the Jebel Harb know the bitter waters of the last well are
loomed hostile against the dusk. many days behind. Few of you would
Price sat on his camel, his automatic live to taste them.”
still covering Fouad El Akmet —and won- Fouad wavered visibly.
dered. "Remember the death,”
chariot of
The weird beings of the accursed land, Price urged. "And the gold in it that is
then, were not all fiction. People lived already yours, if you but stay.”
beyond the mountains, people whose "Wallah!” the Bedouin cried at last,
skins were the color of gold —
not the yel- though with obviously tepid enthusiasm.
low-brown of the Mongolian, but golden; "We ride into the pass.”
people who had domesticated the tiger, The rugged masses of the Jebel Harb
and who must command strange powers loomed ragged and black against a pallid
of science. glow of pearl in the east, as the caravan
The apparition, he was sure, had been toiled wearily upward again, over rolling
some sort of mirage. He recalled the foothills that were darkly purple in the
Fata Morgana, that he had seen once at dawn.
the Strait of Messina, remembered ac- The long line of camels wound into the
counts of that uncanny light-phenomenon pass, between soaring, cyclopean walls of
of the German mountains, known as the elemental granite. The patch of sky
Specter of the Brocken, in which colossal ahead became a lurid high curtain of scar-
shadows are cast upon the clouds. But let flame; the desert behind was lit with
had this lost race mastered the laws of the pastel hues of saffron and lavender.
mirage? Did they rule illusion? Price rode in the lead, beside Fouad, to
If this fantastic madness had already keep alive the uncertain spark of the old
greeted them, what would they encounter man’s courage. Garth was back among
beyond the range? the men; the tank, as usual, at the rear.
The lower pass was a titanic gorge, a
5. The Sign of the Snake
gargantuan gash through living rock. Its
onsider this also,” Price said: "if beetling walls, marching in rough paral-
any man turns back, we shall pur- lel, seemed almost to close above its rug-
sue him with the chariot of death, and ged, boulder-strewn floor. As Price and
leave his skull to make a nest for scor- the old Arab picked a cautious way up-
pions.” ward for the tender-footed camels, the
Fouad El Akmet muttered, and twisted sun rose to touch the high cliffs with a
 GOLDEN BLOOD 419

brush of scarlet fire, but the canyon re- strange agency, the temperature of his
mained shadow-filled. body had been suddenly lowered to a
Scanning the narrowing walls ahead, point far below zero.It was so cold that

Price saw a glittering flash at the base of condensed upon it from the air.
frost

a sandstone column, a mile up the gorge. For a moment Price was dazed by the
Instinctively he goaded his camel into discovery, with all that it implied of the
cover behind a gigantic fallen mass of perils ahead. Then a mind and body
granite. trained to meet unexpected emergencies
"The pass is guarded,’’ he called out to responded smoothly, almost automatically.
Fouad. "I saw the gleam of a blade, "Quick,” he called to the men behind.
ahead. Better have your men take cover.” "Get over by the cliff, out of sight.” He
The old Arab groaned. gestured.
Price saw that the old sheikh, struck A score of the Bedouins and a few of
motionless with terror, was staring at the the whites had been close enough to see
man who had been riding just behind the weird tragedy. As Price’s words broke
him. their spell of terror, they wheeled with
That man was the Arab Mustafa, a one accord in panic flight, goading weary
young warrior, mounting a black she- camels to a run. In vain he shouted at

camel of whose gait and endurance he was them to halt, as they vanished down the
inordinately proud. From the shelter of canyon.
the fallen megalith. Price saw Mustafa
freeze suddenly into strange immobility.
The young Arab and his black camel
became utterly motionless. The camel
D ismounting swiftly, he slipped to
the edge of the sheltering boulder
and cautiously surveyed the gorge ahead.
was poised rigid, in the very act of step- He saw nothing moving; ominous silence
ping, one forefoot lifted. The man hung expectant between the frowning
leaned forward, mute wonder on his thin walls. He studied the base of the sand-
face, one hand lifted as if to shade his stone monolith, where he had seen that
eyes. His brown abba and flowing white fleeting, betraying gleam that had saved
kafiyeh had become stiff as cast metal. him from Mustafa’s fate, and quickly esti-
"Ya, Mustafa!” old Fouad howled, in mated the range.
terror. Then, hastening back, he found the
A strange, swift change came over the whole caravan gathered in confusion
motionless figure. Glittering tracery of about the tank, where Jacob Garth had
white was drawn over man and camel. succeeded in stopping the fleeing Arabs.
In seconds, a frosty film covered both. The frightened clamor ceased as he rode
The mounted man had become a statue in up.
white, bright with an icy sparkle. "Refrigeration to the »th degree,” he
Staring in dazed and unbelieving won- explained tersely. "The man was frozen
der, Price heard abrupt, crackling sounds — instantly. The white is frost. I saw

from the figure. A breath of air cold as the glitter of the thing that did it, up the
an arctic blizzard struck Price’s face, canyon.”
chilled the sweaton his forehead. The pale, fat face, the cold, deep-set
Then he knew! Not, of course, how eyes of Jacob Garth revealed neither won-
ithad been done. But he knew that Mus- der nor fear.
tafa had been frozen to death! By some "They saw us, last night,” he boomed.
 <420 WEIRD TALES
"In that —mirage. They are ready — as ding little mountain guns, past the Hotch-<

they were before.” kiss guns and snipers that protected them.
"We’ll give them a run for the Below the fallen megalith, beside
money,” announced Price. He turned to which Mutafa stood white in statuesque
the men and began shouting brisk orders: rigidity, Price left the tank, crept forward
"Muller, take your crews and mount again to scan the upper gorge. No enemy
the Krupps for action. Bear on the base was in view. He watched the yellow
of that sandstone cliff.” He pointed. bursts of dustand smoke about the base
"Range is about four thousand yards.” of the sandstone column as the shells ex-
"Yes, sir!” The little Teuton, who had ploded, called corrections out to Sam Sor-
been a captain of artillery in the Austrian rows, at the tank, who wigwagged them
army, saluted briskly and ran toward the back to the gun crews.
baggage-camels that carried the mountain A score of shells whined over: still the
guns. enemy did not appear.
Rapidly Price gave commands to have Price slipped back to the tank.

the machine-guns unpacked and set up, to "Signal them to stop firing,” he said.
cover the ancient cannon. He had rifles "Probably just wasting ammunition. And
and automatics served out, stationed snip- let’s go ahead, to where we can see, any-
ers to pick off any of the unseen enemy how. Do you mind?”
' that might appear. "You’re the captain,” grinned the man.
When the weapons were unpacked, he "It will be risky. I don’t know what

sent the camels back to the rear, with we’ll find. Our guns may have scared
Arab herdsmen. The camels were to be them off; they may be waiting. The thing
”
guarded at all costs, for their loss would that hit Mustafa

mean inevitable ruin. Sam Sorrows was clambering back into

Jacob Garth watched silently as Price the tank.
rapped out his orders, the bland white "Risks are up my street, or I’d be back
face showing neither satisfaction nor dis- in Kansas,” he said. "Let’s go!”

approval. Price climbed in after him, smiling.

"Watch Fouad,” Price told him, in a Here was a man! Price, himself, never

low voice. “If he rims out on us, with tried too hard to avoid danger; he had a
the camels, we’re ditched. I’m going up fatalistic faith in the Durand luck. His
in the tank, where I can watch the results philosophy was simple: play the game,
of our fire and signal corrections.” leave the dealing of the cards to fate, to

As the little mountain guns delivered kismet, as the Arabs said. And he re-
their first bracketing shots, Price delivered joiced to find another of the same reck-

final instructions, sprang upon the iron less stamp.

deck of the tank and climbed down
through the manhole to the gunner’s seat. urching, clanging, treads ringing
He spoke swiftly to Sam Sorrows, the IJ upon bare rock, the tank roared up-
lanky Kansan, who had been driving the ward between narrowing granite walls,
machine, and it lurched into roaring mo- on to the sandstone pillar. And chill fin-
tion. gers of fear snatched at Price’s heart: the
Up the defile it lumbered, past the clus- shells had fallen short!
tered, frightened Arabs, still mounted, Bright metal glittered a full hundred
under Jacob Garth’s guard, past the thud- yards beyond the group of ragged, smok-
 GOLDEN BLOOD 421

ing, shell-torn craters, a fantastic device filmed with hate, and he whispered, in the
of glistening brass, of shimmering crystal, strangely inflected Arabic of an unfamil-
surmounted with a huge, ellipsoid mirror, iar dialect:

scintillant with a silvery fulgor. "I die. But on you, intruder, is the
A single man in blue bent behind the curse of the golden folk. By Vekyra, and
machine. by the tiger and the snake, and by Mal-
This uncanny mechanism, Price knew, ikar the master —
you shall follow me!”
was what had killed Mustafa. Would the He coughed blood, and died with a
tank’s light armor be sufficient protection leer ofbloody horror on his face.
against the terrific cold that had frozen Only when his final struggles had
the Arab rigid in a split second? He ceased did Price find the sign of the snake
thought not. —a brand on his forehead, that had been
Fear numbed him, the deadliest he had hidden by the hood of his burnoose-like
ever known. Icy feet raced up his spine. blue robe. Printed in gold on the dark
Chill sweat beaded his face. Grim, tense, skin was the figure of a coiled snake. It
he bent to the machine-gun. seemed burned into the skin, indelible.
The harsh stutter of it rose above the Price studied it with wonder strangely
song of the racing engine. But, tossing akin to horror. What did it mean? Was
from side to side in the lurching, rocking the dead man a branded member of some
tank, he could not aim. Splinters of rock grim snake-cult?
danced about the strange glittering ma- "Let’s go on through the pass,” Sam
chine, but the old, blue-robed man behind Sorrows proposed suddenly.
it seemed invulnerable. "A good idea. Might be more of
Violet light gleamed suddenly on the them.”
ellipsoid mirror. And the air in the tank They clambered back in the tank, which
was deathly cold. Price’s breath crackled, was now silvery with its bright armor of
as he expelled it in an involuntary gasp frost where the ray of deadly cold had
of terror. touched it. The defile narrowed before
With numbed hands, he kept the gun them, then broadened, and they lumbered
hammering. At last a stream of bullets across a high sandstone plateau.
swept the bright machine. A vivid flare They looked beyond the range.
of purple light enveloped it, an explosive
rice had half expected to see a
burst of flame that left
wreck of bent metal and broken crystal.
Flung back by the blast, the blue-robe
but a twisted
P inhabited oasis, but the endless plain
that stretchedaway beyond the Jebel Harb,
fertile,

fell, lay motionless. shimmering in a smoky haze of heat, was

The man was still alive when they left grim and lifeless desolation.
the tank and went to him, though burned Long drear dunes of red sand, like
by the explosion and riddled with bullets. stilled seas of death. Dark gravel-bar-
He lay in his gory robe, and stared up at rens. Lurid streaks of yellow clay. Salt-
Price with a red grin of hate. pans, glaring leprous white. Low and
He had been His features were of
tall. age-worn hills of livid limestone and
the familiar Arab type, hawk-nosed, thin- black basalt; grim, denuded skeletons of
lipped, cruel. He might have been some ancient ranges.
ensanguined, dying Bedouin. The accursed land, indeed! All its

Price bent beside him. His black eyes swart vastness showed no hint of life.
422 WEIRD TALES
Nothing moved upon it save the ceaseless, The pale eyes in his fat, bland face were
silent flicker of heat, like waves of ghost- coldly unreadable as ever; his deep, suave
seas. Or perhaps, when the winds blew, voice carried neither concern nor self-re-
red and ancient sands, whispering secrets proach, when he said:
of the immemorial past. "Durand, Fouad got away.’’
Across those wastes of desolation led Throat suddenly dry, Price managed to
the road of skulls. With his binoculars. whisper, "The camels?”
Price could trace the white gleams of the "Gone. We’re stranded As the
grisly landmarks for many miles, far out Spaniard was.”
into the dead solitude of the forbidden Price’s despair gave way to a flame of
land. useless anger.
”
What would they find at the end of "I toldyou to watch! How
that road? That is, he thought, if they "We were watching the tank. When
lived to reach it! The perils of alien sci- it turned white, and stopped, the Arabs

ence — the encounter in the pass had as- wheeled and dashed off, before we could
sured him of that. The peril that had stop them. Drove off the baggage-camels
been promised in the yellow man’s flour- too. We’re on foot.”
ish of the great mace, in the mirage about Scathing criticism was on Price’s
the mountains. And the peril Price had tongue, but he checked it. It would do
read in the taunting, tawny-greenish eyes no good. Nothing, now, would do any
of the goldenwoman. good. Only a hopeless battle remained;
Jacob Garth met them, alone and on battle, not with man but with the world’s
foot, as the tank lumbered back down the crudest desert.
gorge. Icy apprehension had dawned in The astounding adventure that befell Price Durand
unrolls breath-taking incidents in next month’s
Price’s heart before they heard him speak. its
WEIRD TALES, You can not afford to miss it.

utumn
By ROBERT E. HOWARD
Now is the lyre of Homer flecked with rust,
And yellow leaves are blown across the world,
And naked trees that shake at every gust
Stand gaunt against the clouds autumnal-curled.

Now from the hollow moaning of the sea

The dreary birds against the sunset fly.

And drifting down the sad wind’s ghostly dree

A breath of music echoes with a sigh.

The barren branch shakes down the withered fruit.

The seas faint footprints on the strand erase;
The sere leaves fall on a forgotten lute,
And autumn’s arms enfold a dying race.
 A thrilling tale of brain-transplantation and the eery
vengeance of a weird tiger

W ITH
to
lector,
an order for Paradise birds
be shipped to a private col-
Dineen decided to see if
any could be bought from Omar Sung
Loo, a native dealer whose unscrupulous
Omar Sung Loo
lecting but
game and wiped
native dealer. He
in his early days of Col-
he had cut his eye-teeth in the
off his score against the
was on his guard,
with him went his chief trapper and
and

trickery had made all dealers wary of him right-hand man, TomRourke, big, devil-
and caused the captains of cargo boats to may-care Irishman, equally at home with
refuse to carry his trapped animals and the natives and white men in their gath-
birds. Dineen had been cheated by ering-places of Malaysia.
423 .
424 WEIRD TALES
Over a drink before they started, ity in the water. Dineen cursed as he
Rourke unbosomed the fact that he had gazed. Instead of legs the tail of a fish
taken a native wife. was joined to its hips! Agony burned in
"Faith, a man that might any day set its It snatched at a banana Omar
eyes.
his foot on the tail of a king cobra has offered and a Chinese attendant forced
no business to marry a nice white girl,” a tablet down its throat, which seemed to
he said. "Should I meet .up wid a hun- relieve its pain. It would not live long,
gry tiger, my fate wouldn’t be good for but Omar Sung Loo tried hard to make
her to contemplate. But native women Dineen buy it while it lived.
understand their country an’ its peculiar Oriental curio shops are full of mum-
accidents. What’s more, they have ways mied monkey bodies joined to dried fish-
of avengin’ a man just as white widows tails, the "mermaid” of commerce, but

have accident insurance claims. There’s Dineen realized some hellishly ingenious
a sayin’ that where nature grows a poison master surgeon had attempted this re-
the antidote is near by. Maybe ’tis true. volting living experiment. Rourke’s
But anyway I paid dear for a little golden curses were livid. His hand went to his
native woman from the temple. She pocket and the searing sunlight shone
dances finely, an’ she knows native magic. on a small black revolver in his hand.
I hope you’ll feel free to visit our bunga- "I’m of two minds whether to shoot
low any time, sir.” you or the monkey,” he said to Omar
Time came when Dineen wished to Sung Loo, who backed away from the
God he had not bothered with the order belligerent Irishman and snarled out an
for Paradise birds or met Rourke’s native order. The Chinese darted to a cage and
wife. howled a warning. From the open cage
door swung the head of a tiger.

T
The
hecages in Omar Sung Loo’s kam-
pong were small and badly kept.
drooped in merci-
luckless prisoners
Omar was running to the house and
the two white men followed. Dineen
knew that trick of Omar’s to frighten vis-
less sun heat. Omar Sung Loo was a itors by the peril of a tiger on the loose

mongrel of bad ancestry despised by Ma-
lays and Chinese alike, and as Dineen
stole his business by honest dealings,
Omar Sung Loo went in for side-show
freaks. There was a two-headed carabao
calf, an elephant with twenty instead of
eighteen toes held for a high price from
nabobs who
considered them lucky, and
in a casetwo cobras joined for three-
quarters of their length. Rourke spat
with disgust as he looked at them.
"Freaks should be killed,” he men-
tioned. "But Dineen, damned if them
cobras look as if they was born that way!
Look at the puckered scar between them.”
Omar Sung Loo led them to a shal-
low pond where a small monkey lay
along the sloping bank, its
and gouge cumshaw from them. But this
time the Chinese was having trouble jam-
ming the cage door on the tiger’s neck
to force him back into the cage. The
beast had a foreleg outside the bars.
They heard the wooden rods splinter
and the tiger leaped down, letting out
roars of defiance. The Chinese fled for
cover and Omar cursed as the tiger cleared
the kampong fence at one bound.
Shrieks of frightened villagers shrilled
through the heated silence, but Omar
snarledcommands and the coolies opened
the kampong gates and wheeled the tiger
cage across the opening. Then Omar
took a small sack from his turban folds
and loosed the puckering string.
lower extrem- In the sun-baked emptiness of the vil*
 TIGER DUST 425

lage road stalked the royal beast, roaring ness this side o’ Sheol. Dineen, some o’

at intervals. A coming down the

native his Chink surgeons joined them two
road unaware of peril saw it and ran up cobras, sure as I live! I’ve heard o’ graft-
the kampong fence in an incredible burst in’ fins on fish, but that monkey business
of agility and dived over. Rourke makes a man side inside. He’s got smart
chuckled. But Omar went into the road surgeons on his staff, an’ no laws o’ God
and tossed a little powder from the or man, heaven or hell to keep him in
pouch in his hand. The tiger crouched bounds. I’ll give that tiger dust to my
with lashing tail, ready to spring, took wife, who believes tigers have souls. She
a crawling step forward and sniffed the even says humans can change into tigers,
white powder. Instead of leaping, it be- an’ ” Rourke launched into stories
gan to lick the dust. Omar dribbled a line of were-tigers that lasted until they were
of white powder to the cage and the back at the hotel, bathed and sipping cool
beast lapped and purred, rolling as it drinks.
went along licking the powder to a few Next day Rourke departed for the in-
grains on the floor of the cage. The cage terior and Dineen
after Paradise birds,
door was jammed shut, with a contented, waited. No
word came for months and
purring tiger inside. he grew worried and decided to call on
With a malignant smirk Omar turned Rourke’s native wife in a village of the
to the two white men. interior. He came after the heat of the
"My lord knows his master,” he said. day to a pretty bungalow covered with
"Will you sell me some of that pow- wine-colored bougainvillea, and coming
der?” asked Dineen. up the path heard the soft notes of a
"No, Tuan, it is my great secret,” said native bell-gong and the croon of a love
Omar, drawing up the pouch string. An song which ceased as he drew near.
instant later Rourke’ s hand darted, Rourke’s wife came to the porch clad in
snatched the pouch, and with his gun a silk sarong, her dark hair in a coil over
covering Omar’s breast he nudged Dineen one ear, a red flower over the other.
to go and backed out of the place with She was dainty and pretty, but her
the curses and threats of Omar Sung Loo dark eyes held the enigmatic look of
shrieked after them. coquetry arrested in full flush by tragedy.
"Curses don’t worry me none,” said He had brought her a string of small
Rourke. "But he’s said ’em of a nature seed pearls as a wedding gift, but drop-
to blast my body now an’ my soul here- ping them into her hand made him feel
after.” as awkward as if he gave red-heeled slip-
pers to a nun. She spoke port English

N o native showed a face to them

in that otherwise friendly village as
they plodded the hot road back to Soera-
and he asked if she had heard from
Rourke.
Dineen came from that interview with
baya after a fruitless search for birds and a chill in spite of the tropic heat. Un-
with trouble hot on their heels for the doubtedly Rourke’s wife was fey. Her
theft of the tiger dust. passion for Rourke was apparent, her
“I’ll go get ye some birds,” said loyalty intense. She talked queerly, cau-
Rourke. "It’d be as well fer me to get tiously, but she said evil had befallen
inland anyway. Omar is lower than a her man. She had heard him calling in
cobra, but he’s clever an’ he’s in with the agony yet warning her not to try to reach
worst fiends of undiluted Asiatic hellish- him. He was not dead, yet devils tor-
426 WEIRD TALES
mented him. He loved her, yet their life per tree branches at sunrise. There were
together was ended. He commanded her flashes of gaudy parrots and butterflies
not to avenge him as love might prompt. like wind-blown bits of gay silks.

Dineen realized that she accepted her loss They found a blazed trail where Rourke
with native philosophy but she was wait- had cut his way inland. But the irritat-
ing to learn the mystery regarding Rourke ing thing to Dineen was the constant
and brooding vengeance in spite of his torturing roll and stuttering of native
warning. drums talking back and forth.
Dineen decided to search for his chief
Inbam, who understood the drum gos-
trapper, and Rourke’s wife sent him a
sip,was worried. The other natives
relative of her family named Inbam who
wanted to turn back, but there is a pen-
knew Rourke and was loyal to his wife.
alty for deserting a white man in the jun-
Inbam gathered native carriers and sup-
gle; also, Inbam held over them the fear
plies for the trip, one item of which sur-
of vengeance from Rourke’s wife, who
prized Dineen, a supply of thick long
had a definite reputation as a sorceress.
candles. Dineen reminded Inbam that
Leaving the canoes, they went through
they had flashlights, but the native said
saw-edged jungle grass, plagued by leech-
Rourke always carried "corpse-candles”,
which in case of his death were to be
es and stinging insects. Around the eve-
ning campfire the men picked off leeches
lighted around his body. Rourke’s wife
and polished their jimats, which are
added her gift for good luck, a treasured
charms against evil. The villagers met
crucifix of Rourke’s, finely carved of
with were friendly and they remembered
ebony and ivory wrapped in a length of
silk, which Dineen placed in the box con-
Rourke going through, but refused to
furnish guides. "There are debbil-deb-
taining the "corpse-candles” and some
bils,” they said.
canned and bottled delicacies for his own
personal use. Inbamtranslated, but Dineen did not
scoff. There was a tangible apprehension

N ative canoes took them up shore-

less rivers where mangrove pods
ripen on branches and drop roots in ten-
uous webs bedded in the ooze. Crocodiles
in his own mind, a feeling of weird
things going forward in the jungle. He
decided that a rest from the laborious
travelling and a little hunting might

rested their opened jaws on the roots and cheer the men. Birds were plentiful. So
small sicsac birds flew in and out taking at the foot of a hill range standing like
food particles from their fangs. The the vertebrae of a monster that had fos-

country swarmed with small monkeys silized as crawled seaward, they made
it

that scattered when a big orang-outang camp.

would come along and peer curiously at Dineen’s personal supplies were kept
the canoes. Dineen noticed his natives in a hut they built on high stilt legs. He

were uneasy from the start, and their was sitting in the doorway one sundown
fears affected him. But there were com- when he saw a huge orang-outang stand-
pensations for the discomforts of insects ing in the crotch of a near-by tree holding
and leeches and guarding against the the branches apart and peering down.
swinging tails of crocodiles. The moun- Inbam also saw it and silently handed up
tain peaks were mist-wreathed, the a gun to Dineen’s hand. Instantly the
wooded jungles held orchids like tinted branches crashed together, the ape fled,

flames. Birds of Paradise danced on up- and the swish of other branches spring-
 TIGER DUST 427

ing back as it leaped from one to another and taught to speak,” he said, knowing
told of its size and weight. it was folly to contradict their belief that

That night the native drums were live-
lier. Inbam went to the nearest village
and returned late with a tale that kept
Dineen awake longer than usual. He
said a native girl had been carried into the
jungle by one of the orang-outangs. The
villagers were mourning her loss and talk-
ing about terrible magic in the hills. In-
bam’ s own tale was interrupted as he
ceased speaking and pointed toward the
tree, and in the moonlight Dineen saw
again an orang-outang with its fangs
bared as if it grinned. There came a bel-
low from that hairy throat which sent the
men lying around the small campfire scut-
tling toward the hut, their curved knives
ready for defense.
The big ape stood on a branch balanced
by its hand-grip on a higher limb and
from its blade lips came sounds so un-
couth that Dineen felt the hair prickling
on the nape of his neck. He could have
the creature had used their own speech.
He did not yet believe it, and his men
needed to be handled carefully lest they
desert him now.
T hat night the drums spoke in pur-
ring spurts and tattoo rolls, bursting
sometimes into violent throbbing, and his
men lay awake whispering. At dawn they
pleaded to leave this evil place. Dineen
was one white man among a crowd of
savages almost uncontrollable from super-
stitious fear. He started them placing
bird-lime on sticks to lodge in the trees
and building cages on tall poles beyond
the reach of snakes; then he led them into
the jungle to hunt.
That night in camp, while supper was
cooking, he sat cleaning off leeches that
had penetrated his puttees and laced boots,
and decided to open canned peaches for a
treat. He pulled the box with his cloth-

sworn he heard the creature mouth words: ing from under the camp bed and groped
"By, Tuan, by which means "It
. , for the other case. Then Dineen cursed.
is true, Tuan.” The case of precious canned food was
A silence bred of fear held Dineen gone, and with it the candles and crucifix
mute. Slowly and laboriously the great packed among the bottles. He did not
ape mouthed sounds like Malay words. suspect a thief among his own men; yet
The natives huddled together, whispering around the hut lay his shaving tackle,
in terror. At Dineen’s ear Inbam weapons and ammunition, far more ap-
breathed: pealing to a native from the village, left

"He says 'orang puteh ubat,’ Tuan. He undisturbed. He searched further, then
wants white man medicine. What devil called Inbam, who had discovered that a
is it that gives speech to a man of the sack of rice was missing also. The sack
woods, Tuan?” had been punctured and rice had trickled
"That is foolish talk,” said Dineen from the hole as it was carried away.
stubbornly, "Your wits wander. Get the At dawn they saw birds alighting to
express rifle.” But at sight of Dineen feed on the rice. Dineen marked their
with the elephant gun in his hand, the swooping flight toward a shadowy cre-
ape disappeared. vasse in the hills.

Below the but the natives were chat- "We’ll follow the thief,” he an-
tering in frenzied outbursts and Dineen nounced.
knew they were ready to bolt. With a few picked men and Inbam he
"It is an ape that somebody has trained started across the valley and camped near
428 WEIRD TALES
the hills that night. He was wakened the body of a tigress. Now my spirit has
from sleep beside the Campfire by a sound entered into the body of a man of the
that lifted his hair. The light of dying woods.”
embers showed men crouching
his or A snarl ended the stentorian musings.
creeping toward him. From the caves of Dineen pinched his own forearm until it

gloom beyond the dim fire-glow came a hurt convincing himself that he was not
booming voice like a minor tune played dreaming. The crashing of tree branches
on the bass notes of an ancient organ. ended the jungle parley.
No human throat could have emitted its
rumbling sonorousness. Inbam touched
Dineen’s arm and his teeth chattered as
he whispered:
T here was no more sleep for Dineen.
At daybreak he led his men toward
the purple gap in the hills and again
"Tuan, the man of the woods sings a camped at the edge of flat country bor-
mating-song that I have sung to women. dering another crocodile-infested river.
It is a devil!” Leaving the men and supplies, Dineen
"I’ve heard that damned ditty,” agreed and Inbam went forward, picking their
Dineen. Yet fear clawed at his brain. way through masses of creepers and rot-
Cold sweat broke from his pores. "It’s ting deadwood to the gloom of man-
that talking ape,” he added. groves bordering the water. From one
"Yes, Tuan. He is singing to the na- twisted root to another they stepped cau-
tive girl he stole from the village,” said tiously. The muggers slipped into the
Inbam. water and sank slowly, their unblinking
There was a restless rustling of tree eyes staring upward, bubbles breaking
branches that told of more than one where they sank. The stench of rotting
great ape in the vicinity. To Dineen’s vegetation and nauseating crocodile odor
increasing horror there came a gusty was thick and heavy. Then as Dineen
burst of profanity in a voice as mighty peered up and down the dark stream he
as that of the singer: caught sight of a neat modern power-
"Shut up, ye damned brute. Quit yer boat on the opposite side, moored to a
singin’ love songs to what the Chinks’ll tree. From where it lay, a trail had been
make o’ that poor little native girl that hacked into the farther jungle.
ye stole an’ dropped in their kampong. Small monkeys chattered and fled with
God! I could kill ye for doing that if it sudden cries, a sign that orang-outangs
wouldn’t be so hellish lonesome without were coming. At the sound of distant
yer bad company in my own misery.” branches swishing, Dineen turned to re-
The speech ended with a volley of oaths trace his way to solid ground. Inbam
that should have blasted their victim; then was younger and more agile and he left
came the reply in port Pidgin from the Dineen behind. Creeoers cut ofF Di-
voice thathad sung the pantun: neen’s sight of the native, when suddenly
"Be not angry with thy servant, Tuan. a great ape dropped and confronted the
Long have I followed you into the perils white man.
of trapping beasts and birds. Now I am It stood erect, horribly huge and men-
trapped with you. Yet perhaps it was acing. Dineen tried to shoot, but as he
so written. Strange magic I have seen, swung the gun to his shoulder it was
yet never did I think to be caught by it. wrenched from his grasp by a second
The spirit of my first woman entered into orang-outang which hung by its paws
 —
TIGER DUST 429

from an overhead tree branch. His blood drank eagerly; then as his head lifted he
seemed to congeal in his flesh as the big dropped it again on his arm, hoping to
ape came nearer, mouthing uncouth God he dreamed the sight before him.
sounds that even in his terror Dineen Yet the voice went on relentlessly:
could not refuse to understand. "Dineen, I’m a sight to scare a man, I
"Dineen, ye don’t know me,” it said know, but listen. Omar Sung Loo’s
mournfully. "Ye don’t know Rourke, Chink surgeons have a kampong near
an’ I don’t blame ye. Ye couldn’t be- here an’ a nice little surgery. Tabak
lieve it’s me in this awful shape. But it’s that’s my trapper as was, though he’s an
true, Dineen. It’s Rourke’s brain in the —
ape now same as I am well, we walked
head of an ape. That’s what the Chinks into it innocent as babes. The Chinks
did to me. Omar Sung Loo’s Chink sur- was polite and give us food an’ drinks.
geons played their hellish tricks on me They was both doped, Dineen. An’ them
an’ my trapper, jist because I stole that devils butchered us an’ put our brains
tiger dust o’ his. God! what a price fer into the heads of orang-outangs. They
a man to pay.” meant to ship us to Omar an’ sell us as
Dineen felt his senses whirling, his legs freaks, but we broke away. Omar owed
wobbling. The stench of the crocodile me a grudge, an’ you remember how he
swamp filled his throat and nostrils and cursed me. He said he’d pay back, an’
vertigo clamped its claws in his vitals. he did.”
He tried to leap to the next tree-root and It took time for the slow and labored

his legs were paralyzed like a man in a utterance to be voiced. Dineen listened
nightmare trying to escape from demons. helplessly, and something in that sorrow-
He stumbled and fell across a mangrove ful wail penetrated past fear, which was
root with his legs in the stinking ooze. his only sensation.
The came nearer, a paw
giant ape "Ye can’t believe,” mourned the ape,
reached for him. He was lifted close to "but I’ll show ye presently how true it is.

that terrible face. Then he knew nothing My wife knows. I went there an’ told
more until his eyes opened on a leafy can- herI was in a devil land an’ could never
opy of cool shade and cleaner wind. It come home to her again. I told her not
was some minutes before he saw the great to search for me. But I said if Omar
apes crouching near him and realized that Sung Loo came tiger-trapping in the
he lay on a platform of bamboo crudely jungles she might slip the word to the
lashed to branches high in the trees, natives to let a tiger maul him to death.
which swayed gently as the apes moved ’Tis a poor revenge but ’twill keep him
and shifted their weight. from further hellishness. An’ Dineen, I
"Dineen,” came the rasping and thick want your help now. My man, Tabak
sounds from a tongue that was slowly the unbaptized son of a slut! — stole a na-
accustoming itself to human speech, tive girl an’ handed her down to the kam-
"It’s Rourke talkin’. God! I don’t blame pong fer this Chink surgeon to make him
ye fer doubtin’ what I say. But listen to a sweetheart orang-outang. We stole her
what I’m sayin’ an’ try to understand. before the head wound healed, an’ she’s
Here, take a swig o’ this coconut milk.” here on our tree-nest dyin’ by inches.
He whanged a nut on the tree branch and You’ve some skill with wounds, Dineen.
broke the shell. Look at her an’ see can ye do anything.
Dineen’s throat was parched and he I’d end it for her, only it’s so damned
430 WEIRD TALES
lonesome, an’ Tabak an’ me would fight. saw humans. His first thought was of
Somehow I want to live to know Omar is escape.
dead first ... if I can stand it that Gathering all his strength in a desper-
long.” ate effort he heaved suddenly against the
ape’s grasp. Then he was falling, slither-

D
him with
ineen
not heeding.
lay shuddering, hearing but
The great ape lifted
his back against the tree bole
ing through thick-foliaged
dropping to the ground inside the stock-
ade. He heard the bellow of the apes
branches,

and pointed toward a female ape that sat and gun-shots crashing. Opening his
slumped in a heap as native women sit, eyes later he saw a Chinese walking be-
its body leaning forward between its up- side him as coolies carried him to the hut.
thrust knees. Around its head was a pink He also saw three orang-outangs chained
puckered scar like the edge of a cap. One to trees in the kampong, leaping the
look at the scar revealed to Dineen the length of their fetters, yelling horridly.
badly infected state. His dread-filled The Chinese lashed at them with a whip
eyes gazed at the other apes and saw the in his hand, and they cowered, whimper-
healed scars around their heads. A burst ing. A fourth ape slumped between its

of insane laughter came from his lips. knees like the she-ape in the tree eyrie.

"It’s tough on ye, Dineen, but you’re Their heads were swathed in bandages,
safe with us, if that’s any comfort. Tell their four paws manacled.
me about the ape-girl.” Dineen was glad to lie on a cot on the
"That wound needs surgical attention hut porch behind mosquito netting and
and disinfectants,” he muttered hoarsely. drink what was handed him. The Chi-
"We got none, but there’s plenty in the nese spoke excellent English, but as Di-
Chink’s kampong. You know drugs bet- neen cursed the nightmare through which
ter’n I do. I’ll take ye along.” he was enduring so dreadfully, there came
"I won’t go!” Dineen protested, but further horror.
his resistance was feeble. The big ape "It is neither fever nor a dream,” said
was ruthless. Dineen saw that the ape the Chinese. "Those apes have human
body and instincts were not wholly con- brains. We experimented long ago in
trolled by the human brain, and Rourke that branch of surgery. My countrymen
had been a bold hunter, cruel enough were adepts at grafting when your West-
when his work demanded. Dineen was ern colleges were being built. Recently
slung over his shoulder like a sack, car- we have studied your work and gone
ried in swinging flight that swooped from ahead tremendously. Animals furnish
branch to tree. To save the lashing of our greatest field of experimentation.
branches on his face he ducked his head You have seen some poor specimens in
and shut his
against the hairy breast eyes. the cages of Omar Sung Loo’s kampong.
Presently he must waken from this devil He has a market for side-show freaks.
dream. . . . We hope he will be able to sell the talk-
There was a glimpse of dark water as ing apes which we have successfully pro-
the apes leaped and caught branches on duced. It has been possible for us to
the opposite shore; then he saw sun transplant human brains into the skulls
gleams on a bamboo palisade and of orang-outangs and have them survive.
thatched buildings like large huts. From But unfortunately our greatest prize, a
high in the tree Dineen looked down and man of your race, escaped with a Malay;
 TIGER DUST 431

ape-man. They brought me a native girl cried."And you’ll stop me at your peril.
who was operated upon, but stole her My men are not far away, remember.”
before her wound
healed. She may not "They can not enter here,” said the
need care in
survive, for such operations Chinese. "Nor are you free to leave,
Those men-apes you see in the
treatment. Dineen. I could not part with so fortu-
kampong speak no English and will not nate a guest for the experiment 1 have in
be so valuable for side-show purposes in view, your own intelligent, trained and
European So you see how
countries. educated brain. I lost Rourke, but I shall
grateful I am that Rourke, the man-ape not risk losing you. Better have another
who captured you, dropped you here. I drink, Mr. Dineen, to quiet your nerves.”
hope you will enjoy our hospitality until
"Not another drop,” shouted Dineen.
we can trap another orang-outang.”
"I believe you doped my drinks.”
The menace of the Chinese’s
sinister
"Of course, both your food and drink
words was some time penetrating Di-
were doped, as you call it. But is it not
neen’s mind. He was given highly spiced
better to meet fate which even the brav-
curry and cool drinks, which he ate and
est man puts off as long as he can, the
drank gratefully. Then he slept and
translation from one existence to another
wakened behind the mosquito-netting of form of life? Think it over. I must at-
the cot in a contented lethargy only dis-
tend to that suffering ape in the kam-
turbed by the clanking chains and hoarse
pong.”
cries of the ape prisoners.
Slowly, frightfully, the ghastly truth
A coolie led him to a bath house and
dawned in his mind. He sat in a hell of
handed him fresh pajamas, comforting
chaotic and frenzied fear, and when the
and cool to his flesh. He was enjoying
drink was brought, he struck it from the
the rest, the well-seasoned food and
man’s hand. He was unarmed, helpless;
drinks. His body and brain were still too
even his clothes were gone, except the cot-
exhausted to anticipate danger or defend
ton pajamas in which he sat. His body
himself against it. Except for the chained
shuddered as he realized the fiendish sur-
apes, the place was quiet and deserted,
geon fully intended to make an ape of
yet the jungle seemed noisier than usual
him! Chattering fear took him down the
by day, beyond the bamboo fence.
steps to where the Chinese bent over the
chained ape, but two Malays dogged his

H e rose and strolled toward the fence,

but two natives appeared armed
with ugly-looking krisses and herded him
steps and stood beside him as
plead against the fate in store for him.
he began to

The end came suddenly. From the

ignominiously back to the porch, where
trees dropped a cyclonic fury of fighting
one stood guard while the other sum-
apes, bellowing their rage, knocking the
moned the Chinese surgeon.
Malays aside, seizing them by the feet and
Courteous of speech yet blandly cruel,
swinging their heads against the palms,
the surgeon informed Dineen more fully
breaking their skulls like egg-shells. Di-
of the horror awaiting him.
neen turned from the sight of the surgeon
"You must not leave the house.”
being tom to shreds. Then he was
Anger of the white man toward the caught over the shoulder of an ape and
Oriental stoicism roused Dineen’s rage. swung to the trees, the guttural Malay of
"I’ll go where I damn please,” he Tabak in his ears. The ape-man Rourke
432 WEIRD TALES
was gathering up the surgical instruments, look down. And the fear and repulsion
bottles of medicine and rolls of gauze. of the unnatural beasts left him as he
A hell of noise, shrieking, roaring, gazed upon their work. There was a hole
screeching, rang in Dineen’s ears until he scooped from the earth, and in it lay the

was carried to the tree platform. The body of the she-ape with the ivory and
height above ground made him crouch ebony crucifix stolen from his camp hut,
low beside the she-ape which lay limp on on her breast. Around the grave stood his
its side. When the case of instruments stolen candles, their flames wavering in
and drugs was thumped down beside him the soft night breeze. Beside the grave
Dineen touched the she-ape’ s body. He the ape-man Tabak sat crooning that Ma-
sat back on his heels and shook his head. lay pantun, the love song roared in the
"She is dead,” he said. night. Dineen remembered that it was
the same song he had heard Rourke’s na-
N the swaying aerial perch he felt tive wife singing to the accompaniment of
I numbed after the fright in his mind bell-gongs as he went up the path to her
and din of the fight. He watched dully bungalow. The voice of Rourke, mourn-
as the ape-men picked up the dead orang- fully unaware of its volume, came to him

outang and lowered her body to the sorrowfully:

thicket of lianas below, where they van- “Corpse-candles don’t mean much to
ished. He was alone in the tree as night her, Tabak, but maybe it’ll help her soul
fell and the prowlers of darkness began find its way home. God help me! I won-
their mysterious rustlings, the insect clack der if this purgatory I’m goin’ through
and clamor arose. He slept and wakened will be enough fer me to find heaven.”
as the Scorpion crawled down the sky The was dearing
cool night breeze
and the Southern Cross was dimmed by Dineen’s head of the drugs he had im-
dawnlight. bibed in thekampong food. He remem-
He shrank from an attempt to descend, bered had happened, and even
all that
but thirst tortured so badly that summon- bdieved now! Yet exhaustion forced
it

ing his courage he swung from the plat- him to lie and sleep on the rocky hill.
form to the nearest branch, and working The leeches which had bled him freely
his way by the tree crotches he reached by day dropped from his flesh at night.
the protruding root-knees and got to solid A feeling of fatalism dulled further fear.
ground. He drank from moisture of He was roused from sleep by a touch on
night dew cupped in leaves, and followed his arm, and the sight of the ape squatting
a well-defined trail to higher ground. near him was no longer frightening.
His men had fled, leaving the cold ashes "Dineen, I’ll be takin’ ye to yer camp.
of a campfire to marie the place where Go out with your men. There’s nothing
they had been. All day he traveled, fol- you can do for me except kill me, unless
lowing their trail, and at dark he saw maybe you’d see my wife an’ tell her to
small lights flickering against a hill. With go back to her people an’ forget me.
a fresh burst of speed he hurried on, then There’s nothing for her to forgive. We
halted. Against the little flames he saw was happy while it lasted.”
the grotesque figures of the two ape-men. Dineen was carried swiftly, not caring
He would not risk being their prisoner where, and dropped on the opening of the
again, and he circled cautiously along a hill crevasse into the valley, high enough

hill slope to a rode from which he could to look down on his own camp.
W. T. —
 3 :

TIGER DUST 433

"Put him there, Tabak,” said the other She crooned songs and tapped the soft-
ape, who carried the gun that had been voiced bells, and one night she began the
snatched from Dineen when he met them love pantun he had heard roared from
at the river. "Dineen, when ye get out the voice of an ape-man in the jungle.
say a prayer fer the soul o’ Tom Rourke. Dineen started up from his couch pro-
He’s had hell enough alive. There can’t testing.

be worse hell where he’s goin’.” The "Not that song!” he cried aghast.
rumbling voice held tragic sorrow and "No?” she asked, her hands still strok-
despair.
ing chimes from the bell-gong. "It is the
Dineen plunged down the trail. The song I sang to my man in the night,
sound of a shot startled him and he Tuan. A song he loved. And it is time
looked back. On the rock ledge one ape I was doing what must be done.”
writhed in death agony a moment, then
"What must you do?” he asked.
limply its body fell from the ledge. Di-
"Tuan, the enemy that tortured him
neen heard it crash in the bushes.
must die. Inbam has told me much, and
Then the other ape squatted and braced you shouted much in the fever which tor-
the gun between its feet and placed the tured you. Omar Sung Loo shall not con-
muzzle between its open jaws. Its hand tinue his evil magic and fill the jungle
reached down the gun-barrel to find the with fear!” Her small body seemed to
trigger. There was a second report. An grow in height and dignity. Her soft
inertmass of hair-covered body slumped eyes were black fire.
from sight. Dineen ran on. Dineen protested very little. No white
man can argue a native from a blood feud,

E xhausted,

feet oat
his
speechless,
camp bleeding from
and gashed, his face gray and
Dineen came to
leeches, his
and Dineen had no pity for Omar Sung
Loo or the surgeons who provided his
cages with animal freaks.
grim. He gave the command to go out With a crash of her hands on the bell-
and fell into Inbam’s arms. They carried gong, Rourke’s wife ran to her room and
him in a hammock to the dark river and returned wrapped in a black sarong. She
canoe. Repentant over deserting him, went from the house and did not return
Inbam made that trip comfortable and until just before dawn. She slept that
brought him to the house of Rourke’s na- day like a woman drugged, but the serv-
tive wife.
ants looked after Dineen. That night as
For days he nursed by native
lay, they sat cross-legged at the tiny low table,
women, drinking the bitter herb tea that she ate little, and again as the moon rose
combats fever, his body massaged with she went from the house. It was two
scented unguents, his appetite tempted days before she returned. Dineen was
with delicacies. Rourke’s wife asked no wakened by a sound and saw her swaying
-
questions, but Inbam called daily and as she made her way through the house
talked with her for hours. Dineen knew to her room.
that she heard from Inbam what had Then for several days she stayed in the
happened in the jungle. house and seemed to regain spirits that
Her house was cool and pleasant, and had been exhausted on those nights she
in time she tried to amuse Dineen with was away. A weds passed, and one day
her dances, her body sheathed in glitter- she said to Dineen
ing metal cloth sewn with little mirrors. "Tuan, word has been carried to Omar
W. T.—
434 WEIRD TALES
Sung Loo that there isgood tiger-hunting moonlighted porch. He was ready to
near here. He is coming to trap them. grant her slightest wish; yet his mood was
But you must not leave the house while unaffected by her prettiness as a woman.
he is near." She was no longer quite normal. He felt
A weird chill touched Dineen’s flesh. the burning desire of her vengeance

It was evening, with a red moon like an toward Rourke’s murderer as she rose and
old doubloon rising behind the hills and stood before him motionless, then spread

turning silver. The hot thick scent of her arms and bent her body as if ded-
flowers weighted the wind. icating herself to a mission.

"I would like to see a tiger trap him,” She went from the house, but that night
said Dineen. Dineen sat in a porch chair, dozing and
"Yes, Tuan”-—her voice held a quiver- waking until the dark hour before dawn,
ing vibrance of satisfaction like the pur- when in the night noises he heard another
ring of a cat
—"but tigers take vengeance sound. Something crept stealthily nearer.
on innocent and guilty men alike. It will The slanting moonlight showed a long
not be safe for you to be abroad.” shape stirring the flower hedge it came
"How brave you are,” he said, "to say through. He saw a tawny body. Then to
the name of the tiger boldly. Your his horror it reared up on its hind legs,

people always speak of him as' My Lord’.” and the two forepaws and velvet-striped
He saw her slow smile in the moon- head of a tiger rose above the floor boards
light. of the porch. He saw its shining green
"Perhaps the Tuan remembers the little eyes, its bristling whiskers, its black muz-

bag of tiger dust my beloved took from zle and white fangs, the long claws

the unmentionable Omar Sung Loo. It clenched on the floor matting.

is mine now. Besides, there are tigers As he stared, the tiger head changed.
and tigers. Most of them are stupid Like breath blown on hot metal it was
beasts intent only on fending for exist- misted and blurred. Before his terrified
ence. Has the Tuan heard of the tiger gaze the velvet stripes of the head fused
herhantu?” into the blade hair of Rourke’s wife,
"Ghost tigers!” he said. "I have heard. framing her amber-tinted face. The tiger
Rourke believed in them. I do not. Any- body flowed up the steps, transfusing it-
way, it happens I have never killed a self into the slender body of the girl,
tiger, so no spirit need take vengeance which stood there shuddering, her black
on me.” hair veiling arms that were torn and
"Tuan, it is not dead tigers you need scratched. One hand was drawn across
fear. But you will give me the word of her lips and came away stained darkly.
a white Tuan that you will not leave my Then she saw Dineen in the porch chair.
house until vengeance is accomplished!”
Rage leaped furiously to life in her
She swayed before him, sitting on her
tired flesh.
head bent in suppli-
heels with her pretty
cation. He saw his pearls in a string "Tuan, how dare you sleep here?

around the creamy column of her throat. Long have we nursed you through feVer.
A queer fascination caught him as her
The night chill will bring it on again.”
head lifted and he looked into the black *Tm not afraid of night chill or ghost
fire of her eyes, which slowly brightened tigers!” he said gently.
until they were shining amber in the He heard a gasping sob as she vanished
 TIGER DUST 435

in the house, heard her cot creak as she gripped and shook them. A golden
dropped on it to sleep. death all too merciful for such dogs.
They were his men, Beloved. And I . . .

T hat day Dineen

was plainly reluctant to speak of the
fate of Rourke or the ruse to fetch Omar
sent for Inbam, who have his scent. Your murderer shall not
escape long.”

Sung Loo tiger-trapping, until Dineen

forced him to talk by mentioning that
Inbam had deserted him in the jungle, a
D ineen went quietly away and
brooding on the mysterious and un-
canny problem until tiffin, bat the widow
sat

crime for which the punishment was did not appear. He finally went to bed
severe if complaint was made. but lay awake, and as the moon sailed

"I shall not interfere with your affairs, high he was aware of her soundless glid-
Inbam, but I want some questions ing to the door and into the flower hedge.
answered. Otherwise ” his tone He followed and found the black sarong
held a threat. "Now tell me what became she had left there. He had slept that

of the helpers of that Chinese surgeon in afternoon and had no difficulty staying
the jungle kampong." awake until the hour she returned. From
inside the house he watched again until
"Tuan, they were killed by a tigress
and the ants have picked their bones.”
he heard the soft thud of bounding paws
"And your kinswoman in this house, and distinctly saw by a moon late enough
to leave its frail ghost by dawnlight, the
had she a hand in that vengeance, Inbam?”
striped body of the tigress transformed as
he asked.
it glided over the porch, into the body of
"Of a truth, Tuan, is she not the widow
of a white Tuan the Chinese devils
Rourke’s widow. He saw the startling
green glow of her eyes as she went to
killed? More I can not answer, except
her room. That morning he stood beside
that what is written, is written.”
her again and saw the change in her ap-
"Where does Rourke’s widow go by
night,Inbam?” pearance. She had been a dainty, per-
I dare not follow her to know.”
"Tuan,
fumed creature. Now her face was
haggard, her flesh was
amber-colored
"But you know where she goes, In-
bam.”
scratched, were broken and
her nails
grimed, and about her was the fetid odor
"Tuan, I know only that what is writ-
ten, is written!”
of the great carnivore’s breath, faint yet
distinct.
"Where is Omar Sung Loo, Inbam?”
"Word comes that he is on his way to As he watched, her body moved,
trap tigers and should be here soon.” stretched and curled again like a cat, and
The widow slept all that day. Intrigued her fingers flexed and spread like daws.
and curious about her, Dineen came to Dineen touched her wrist. Without a
her couch and stood looking down movement her eyes opened their glowing
through the mosquito-netting. An im- green fire; yet in the light the iris nar-
pulse prompted him to hum the love pan- rowed to a thin slit of emerald flame.
tun Hearing it in her sleep, she
softly. Her head rubbed against his arm, and like
stirred and sighed and began to murmur a kitten her tongue licked at his hand.

words. Dineen listened shamelessly. He jerked back and spoke sharply.

"Beloved five have I killed.
. . . . . . Blood oozed to the surface of the skin her
I- leaped from the gloom. My fangs tongue had rasped. Then he regretted
436 WEIRD TALES
speaking, for she wakened fully, and he gress is my kinswoman, the wife of Tuan
saw she was bewildered, and shuddered Rourke!"
convulsively, moaning a little. "Nonsense,” shouted Dineen. "You
"I dreamed, Tuan! I dreamed I was lie to me!”
caught in a trap!” "Tuan, I speak truth. She is a tigress
"Then take warning,” he said gently. berbantu. A ghost tigress.”
"Leave vengeance to the gods.” Then, "Then why should cage bars hold her,
ashamed cf a speech that betrayed his Inbam?”
own weak slipping into a belief in this "Tuan, it is that magic tiger dust of
dreadful metempsychosis, he left her Omar Sung Loo drugging her senses. She
abruptly, thinking it was high time he lies contented licking it, rolling in the
cleared out and went back to the haunts dirty straw, she who loved perfumes and
of his own logical-minded race. silks and jewels. Tuan, see her and know
"Tomorrow I leave,” he announced to if I lie to you. She wears the pearls you
her late that afternoon. gave her on her neck!”
She did not demur, and as usual dis- Dineen laughed harshly. These night-
appeared as the moon rose. As before, mares were sending him mad. Reason
he waited until dawn, but this time his was tottering. He would get out at
vigil was fruitless. She did not return. once. Inbam agreed to go with him, but
Remembering that she sometimes stayed when they started from the village they
away for a few days, he was not alarmed learned that Omar Sung Loo had gone,
until Inbam came running in the noonday the tigress was on her way to his kam-
heat when no native willingly stirs abroad. pong. Driven now by a desire to see the
He was greatly upset and excited and al- finish of the affair, Dineen followed. The
most incoherent as he blurted out the lumbering cage on cart-wheels, drawn by
news that Omar Sung Loo had trapped a carabaos, was somewhere on the river
splendid tigress and was shipping her road, but Dineen took a boat and some
back to his kampong. time in the night he passed it.
"Tuan, you must buy this tigress and
set it free,” wailed Inbam. "I tried to
buy it. I offered all I possessed and all
my kinsfolk possessed, but he will not
H
turned.
e waited in the village until word
came that Omar Sung Loo had
Then with a loaded gun in
re-
his
sell. Tuan, he trapped the tigress with pocket he went to the kampong.
bags of white dust he scattered, a magic Omar Sung Loo stood at the gate and
powder that made her forget her cunning barred his way belligerently. Smirking
and roll in it like a cub at play. But she and defiant, he said he had nothing for
must be freed, Tuan. Buy her. By your sale.

hope of Paradise, you must free this "You captured a tigress. I will buy
tigress.” her,” said Dineen.
Dineen leaned forward in his chair, "She is not for sale, Tuan. Down her
staring at the agonized Inbam. black throat has gone more of my magic
"Why should I set this tigress free?” powder than she is worth. Yet I have an
he demanded. affection for the beast and will not sell
"By the spirit of Tuan Rourke who was her.”
your friend, you must. Tuan, it is past "Let me see her!” Dineen's gun poked
the belief of a white Tuan. But the ti- the belly of Omar Sung Loo and his finger
 TIGER DUST 437,

curved on the trigger. The dealer liberately, daintily, but she was snarling
snarled and backed toward the kampong her rage. Fear-stricken, Omar shook the
where the tigress lay in her cage on dirty sack of tiger dust, but a hot wind carried
jungle grass, her tongue lolling thirstily, it high in air, over the pond. His scream
her eyes glowing green with hate and was pitiful, but it was cut short as the
fear. She crouched and snarled as Omar tigress leaped.
Sung Loo came near, and her lithe paw Dineen whirled as he saw the animal’s
reached through the bars.
jaws fasten on the neck of Omar, and she
Dineen held Omar Sung Loo in a corner
shook him like a rat. His body fell and
by the cage, with his gun still indenting
lay still, blood pulsing from his neck into
the brown skin. The cries of Omar fell
the dust. Over him the tigress stood, her
on heedless ears. Dineen began to whis- ears laid back, snarling at Dineen. He
tle, then to sing the tune of the love pan-
saw her body flatten, her muscles gathered
tun he had heard Rourke’s wife sing, and
to leap.
again heard roared from the throat of a
There came the quick staccato of gun-
bull ape in the jungle.
shots and the beautiful beast dropped
The effect on the tigress was startling.
slowly over the body of the man she had
She lifted her head and roared. She
killed.
worked herself into a fury and her long
claws tore splinters from the cage bars. Dineen darted toward the gate. There
Then she went into a flurry that made the he halted to look back. He stared, rubbed
wooden crate creak and strain. Omar his eyes and retraced his steps. A cry of

screeched in fear, his defiance was gone. near madness came from his lips.
"Tuan, she was kept without food or In the sun-baked kampong dust lay the
water, but the cage bars can not hold her dead Omar Sung Loo, face down, and
how. They are breaking!” over his shoulders was the amber-tinted
It was true. Two of the bars were body of a woman. Blood drained like
gone. The head of the tigress and one scarlet ribbons from the bullet wounds in
foreleg came through. Omar Sung Loo's her breast. About her neck was the string
shaking fingers grabbed a sack of tiger of small pearls he had given the wife of
dust from his loin-rag and he tried to Tom Rourkel But it seemed to him her
loosen the string. lips smiled and in her partly opened eyes

The tigress leaped to earth, and came was a look of triumph slowly dimming as
toward them, her great pads stepping de- they glazed hr the chill of death.
 eturn of
Balkis
By E. HOFFMANN PRICE
A thrill-tale of modern sorcery, of murder and fight-
ing and sudden death, and the return from
the shadows of the ancient Queen of

"I clutched Madeleine in my

arms, and faced the monster."

“"M M" Y FRIEND,” began Pierre d’Ar- the proper response to what seemed the
one evening a opening remarks of a discussion of wife
IVI
"*
tois abruptly,
few days after my arrival in versus mother-in-law: an odd topic, since,
Bayonne, "you have heard that two happily, it could at the best be only aca-
women can not occupy one house without demic as far as either Pierre or I was con-
discord, have you not?” ,, cerned. "Well, now that you mention it,

As he spoke, he thrust aside the un- doubtless the situation has its trying fea-
”
tasted glass of vieux armagnac at which tures. But
he had been staring. "Alors,” continued d’ Artois, "what if
"Eh, what’s that?” I demanded. He two women are seeking to occupy the same
had caught me off guard, and at loss for body?”
438
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 439

"Good Lord, Pierre!" I began. "This is thought at first that it was a hysterical
too thick. Two women in the same body?” fancy. But one night I saw. Then I

But I could not hurdle it, even with a knew.”

running start. D’Artois paused. Iwondered what it
"Yes. Exactly that,” affirmed Pierre. could have been that he had seen. There
"Madeleine’s personality is splitting. An are vaults and passages far beneath the

intruder from across the Border is taking ancient city that for centuries have been
possession of her.” lost to the memory of those who daily

D’Artois was referring to the daughter throng the arcades of rue Pont Neuf, and
the narrow tortuous length of rue d’Es-
of his old friend, Andre Delorme. Her
presence in Pierre’s house had been a sur- pagne. Something archaic and malignant

prize to me, particularly since d’ Artois in

was whispering from the blacknesses of
week ago, inviting me from
his letter of a
those unhallowed mazes. It had spoken to

Bordeaux, had said nothing about his ex- Madeleine, and she had heard.

pecting a decidedly charming guest from Bayonne is ancient, somnolent, fantastic

the States to enliven my visit. as a hasheesh dream, and as strangely

"An intruder from across the Border?” beautiful when of a morning the gray
groping for my wits.
I said, walls and battlements of the citadel are
The idea was hard to assimilate. But I afloat on the low-hanging river mists, and
had noticed something strange about Ma- the cathedral spires reach into the early
deleine Delorme. She was colorfully light like long slim lance-heads. But at

charming, despite the swiftly changing night the blacknesses of the crypts far
moods that had baffled and disconcerted below the level of the moat that girdles
me; yet there was a suggestion of the un- the city begin their murmuring: and Ma-
canny. deleine had listened too long.
"Now that you mention it,” I contin- "But see for yourself,” continued d’ Ar-
ued, "it did seem as though some second tois. "We will watch in her room. It will
personality was regarding me from her return. It is growing strong in its suc-
”
eyes. At times their expression was very cess
old, and absolutely alien. Could that be "Who will return?” I demanded, as I
what you mean?” followed him up the winding staircase.
"For a fact, that is exactly what I "What manner of thing, or presence, is
mean,” assured d’ Artois. haunting her?”
"
'Some one is trying to crowd me out "See, and you will know,” evaded
of myself,’ she said to me a few days Pierre, as he led the way down the hall.
before your arrival. 'I dare not relax. Not D’Artois tapped gently at Madeleine's
for a moment. It is waiting and ready, door.
lurking beside me. It is gaining in strength. "She is asleep,” he said in a low voice.
At times I feel that I am some one else. "But let us go in.”
I’m afraid to leave the house. It might
take possession of me, and lead
good God, but where might
me?’
it
me — oh,
not lead M adeleine lay
great four-poster bed.
under the canopy of a

light filtering in through the bars of the

The moon-

"Alors, had her leave the pension

I window and between the heavy drapes
where she was staying, and move into my caressed her faultless shoulders and gra-
house, where I could observe her. I ciously curved throat, and lost itself in
 440 WEIRD TALES
the twining midnight of her hair. She Neither d' Artois nor I stirred. I doubt
was lovely, this Madfeleine Delorme. even that we breathed. We sat there,

And something was crowding her out watching that shadowy, diabolical beauty
of her own body! The thought was out- return our stare. Then she noiselessly ap-
rageous. But I remembered other and proached Madeleine’s bed, moving with
equally incredible things that had taken an undulant, serpentine grace. She bent
place in Bayonne, and could not doubt over the sleeping girl, and made weaving
Pierre’s ominous words. And certainly I passes with her slender hands.
could not question his sincerity. Madeleine stirred, and murmured in
D’Artois nudged me, and gestured her sleep, and made a gesture as if to re-
toward a chair. pel the presence. She half rose and sup-
"Seat yourself,” he whispered. “Wait ported herself on her elbow. Then as she
and you will see.” sank back among her pillows, her gesture
We sat there in the shadows. I won- became one of despair and weariness, and
dered what specter from the dark back- resignation. Her deep sigh was the only

ground of that old city would appear to sound in the terrible, haunted silence of
make good Pierre’s ominous words. I that room.

heard the silvery chime of the cathedral I saw a misty vapor rising from her
clock striking eleven. I relaxed. It . . . half -parted lips. It floated, and spread
whatever it would be . . . would not ap- like cigarette smoke in a room whose air
pear until midnight. is utterly still.

But I was wrong. I became aware of a "Pardieu!” muttered d’ Artois. "She de-
subtle, poison sweetness that permeated fies us to our teeth!”
the room. And in the darkness to the left He rose from his chair, and advanced a
of the moonbeams marched slowly
that pace.
across the floor, I saw a shimmering phos- Queen of the Morning, get
"Balkis,
phorescence that elongated, and spread, you back to the shadows whence you
and took form. It was at first so tenuous came!” he commanded in a low, tense
that I could distinguish the mantelpiece voice. "Back to the shadows, Balkis, and
looming out of the shadows behind it. confuse him who disturbed your rest.”
The odor in the room was becoming more The presence ceased her gestures. She
intense. It was like the aroma of embalm- stood erect, and regarded Pierre with eyes
ing spices from some desecrated sarcopha- burning with fury. She advanced a pace
gus, but infinitely more pungent. The toward him. But instead of retreating,
luminous haze was something from a d’ Artois took another stride toward that

tomb, or worse. Even as I watched, spectral presence. The air became tense
drugged by that spectral sweetness, the from the silent conflict of Pierre’s will and
silvery mist became substantial. It as- the resentment of that ghostly beauty. For
sumed a definite form. an instant it seemed that she was becom-
It was a woman of surpassingly gracious ing more substantial, and was poised,
figure. She wore on her head a tall, curi- ready to claw him in her imperious, un-
ously wrought diadem. As she turned to spoken wrath.
face us, I saw that her features were lovely D’Artois advanced another pace, almost
with an evil beauty. Her smile was a within arm’s reach, and confronted her,
curved sinister mockery. Her lips moved, eye to eye. He feared neither man nor
but I could distinguish no sound. devil, that fierce old soldier.
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 441

Then he spoke solemnly in a sonorous "Balkis, Queen of the Morning,” said

language that reminded me of Arabic. His d’ Artois, "and having been aroused from
voice was low, but the syllables rolled like her sleep, she is struggling eagerly to take
the surge of a distant surf. As he intoned, the body that her damnable ally has
he extended his hand in a gesture of com- sought for her to inhabit. And we can
mand. The presence became more and not stop her. True, I drove the presence
more tenuous, and retreated. It became a away. But I must have a better weapon
vague fleck of luminescence that paled than my unaided will, or in the end, when
in the slowly shifting moonlight; and in I am exhausted, she will return, and final-
another moment it vanished. ly take full possession.” -

I heard Pierre’s sharply exhaled breath, "Good God, Pierre, that’s terrible!” I
and saw his shoulders droop wearily. The exclaimed, horrified at the thought of a
tension in the room eased abruptly. And woman’s soul being crowded out of her
then I noted that Madeleine no longer ex- own body.
haled the misty vapor that had been pass-
"But how do you know that this ap-
ing between her lips.
parition is Balkis? And why did you call

H e turned. Trembling violently, I

followed him from the room. Under
the light in the hall, I could see that his
her Queen of the Morning?”
"I judged by her costume. And at times
Madeleine in her speech gropes for
features were drawn and haggard, and that words, as though she had forgotten the
his eyes burned with a fierce light. He too languages she speaks, or forgot what she
was trembling; not from fright, but from intended to say. And then she drops a
the effort of will which he had exerted in few foreign words, starts, corrects her-
defying the lovely, spectral presence. self. And those foreign words were in
"For God’s sake, what was it?” I finally that long-forgotten dialect spoken by the
ventured to ask, speaking in a whisper. Sabeans. Judge for yourself. Balkis lurks
"Will it stay away?” in the body of Madeleine, and even dur-
That is what is seeking to take pos-
'
ing the day asserts herself.
session of her,” replied d’ Artois. "And it "But that in itself proves nothing, you
will not stay away, if he who sent it understand,” d’ Artois continued. "This,
*
chooses to make it return.” when I called her Balkis,
however, does:
"What is it?” I repeated. "A ghost?” Queen of the Morning, and addressed
"In a way, yes,” he said, "but no honest her in her own language, she obeyed me.
ghost walking of its own accord. It is a That title is a play on the Arabic word
presence conjured up by some necromanc- that designated her ancient kingdom.”
er,and sent to possess her. And though I pondered on this for a moment, then
I

have driven her away tonight, she will re- resumed my questions.
turn tomorrow night, and the one there- "But can’t some one drive her away,
after, until she has accomplished her end. and keep her away?” I demanded.
I I used no formula
ordered her to leave. "Haven’t the clergy some ritual of exor-
other than that of solemn command. It cism, or has that been discarded in this
was my will against that damnable shade day and age? I notice you didn’t follow
from across the Border.” the old traditional sign-of-the-cross for-
"But who is she?” I asked, still dazed mula.”
by the apparition, and by the glare of "There is nothing essentially evil about
deadly hatred she had turned on us. Balkis,” explained Pierre. "She is only a
442 WEIRD TALES
woman whom some evil person has called Madeleine Delorme would be thinking
from her grave. And a Christian exor- the thoughts and pondering on the age-
cism would be as meaningless to her as it old memories of dead Balkis.
would be to a Hottentot. She never heard We sat again in Pierre’s study. The
of such a thing. It would be utter vanity. evening ritual of cigars and coffee and
"An occult knowledge more profound liqueur was somber and unrelieved by
than that possessed by any one in France the scintillant d' Artois conversation and
is required,” he continued. "I know of esprit that in the past had made him the
only one person who has it, and I have perfect host. He was staring at the pat-
sent for him. He is a darwish, one of tern of the Boukhara rug, and absently
those eccentric mendicants who preserve lifting a demi-tasse to his lips.
the occult traditions of the Orient. He is I heard the sharp crack of a pistol, the
an adept. shattering of the cup, a tinkle of glass,
"With his assistance, we may succeed, if and the chunk of something striking
solid
in the meanwhile Madeleine does not the woodwork behind him.
become entirely possessed. Sitting and "The devil!” exclaimed d’ Artois, div-
watching her will be futile. To expel ing to the floor. "We are under fire!”
Balkis by the unaided will is a terrific I snatched the cord that drew the heavy
task, and no sooner is it accomplished damask drapes away from the windows,
than she presently returns, and in no wise letting them close and mask the opening.
discouraged.” "Some one,” said Pierre, "resents my
The mere announcement of the pres- expelling Balkis last night. Ah . . «
ence of our spectral guest would have there’s where it landed.”
been sufficiently disconcerting; but actual- With his penknife, d’ Artois dug into
ly to have seen her was too much for my the door-jamb and extracted a bullet.
comfort. Yet I finally slept, thanks to a "Probably a Luger,” he muttered as he
half-pint of Pierre’s vieux armagnac. It studied the jacketed missile. "And, thank
burned like the everlasting fires, but it God, a bungler fired the shot. My friend,
drugged my wrenched nerves. Dead they are hunting us. They see that we are
royalty in the house, visible or invisible, is keeping her, and that though they accom-
not an effective sedative. plish their devilish aims, it will avail them
nothing. Resurrected queens may disturb

M adeleine spent most of the follow-

And charming
ing day in her room.
as she was, Iwas glad that she remained
one’s mind, but they do not
and shoot a demi-tasse from one’s lips.”
Pierre seated himself, and pondered.
fire pistols

out of sight. Her presence would have His brow was cleft by a triple-furrowed
been disconcerting. I would have won- frown, and he twisted his fierce gray mus-
dered whether Madeleine or her ghostly tache. Then, finally, he spoke.
companion looked at me from those lus- "Some one has prepared Madeleine
trous, almond-shaped eyes. The appari- for this outrage, and has overcome her
tion of the previous night accounted for will, so that when she is asleep she can
the indefinable foreign expression of her not any'longer deny the ghostly intruder
features. It was the spiritual intrusion of that would inhabit her body. And that
Balkis, leaving its imprint, bit by bit. And one, pardieu, is the person we must find.
those successive visitations would be Somewhere in this town is a necromancer
branded on her brain so that in the end, whose terrible studies have led him to
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 443

this outrage. Some one has called Balkis tasse from his very lips had immeasurably
from the shadows of twenty-eight dusty encouraged him.
centuries. She has not appeared of her "We will hunt him down, pardieu!”
own volition. This wasted bullet bears he exclaimed. "And in the meanwhile,
witness to her living sponsor." we will divide the watches of the night.

He paused for a moment, regarded Take your post, and your choice of pis-
me intently, and continued in a low, tols. I will relieve you at midnight. And
tense voice, "Some necrophile is enam- until then, I will be busy with some de-
ored of the Queen of the Morning, and ductions of my own. While we are
wishes to give her a new body.” awaiting the arrival of our excellent dar-

"Necrophile?” I shuddered at the hid-

wish, we may find that accursed lover
of dead queens, and he will regret his
eous implication. "But that would sig-
” poor marksmanship. Sdaud! I will not
nify
miss!”
"That is hair-splitting,” d’Artois in-
terrupted."Whether this one be in love
selected a pistol from Pierre’s ar-
with the very body of dead Balkis, or
her
I senal, and took my post in the hall-
whether, as in the present case, it is
way, just outside Madeleine’s door. I
spirit for which he seeks a living body,
knew that her windows were barred, and
he is still a necrophile. And this, while
that nothing larger than a cat could slip
less horrible to contemplate than that
through. And being on the second floor,
which you had in mind, is really a greater
it would require exceptionally clever work
outrage, since it is directed against a
for an intruder to steal in and make away
person who would much rather be her-
with her. The sawing or forcing of the
self than any number of departed queens.
bars, moreover, would betray him, then
Mordieu! And rightly so! and there.
"We know now that we have men as This, however, did not lull me into a
well as a phantom to combat. This wild sense of false security. The knowledge
shot has betrayed the nature of the enemy, that in the room beyond the door, Balkis
and we shall track down this lover of might be bending over Madeleine, and
dead Balkis. And then, when that old with ceremonious gestures and passes be
darwish appears — I cabled the consuls commanding her spirit to leave its body,
and Residents of every port in whose was sufficient to keep me from becoming
hinterland he might be he will expel — sleepy, or negligent in my watch. I paced
Balkis and she will swallow her rage and up and down the carpeted hallway. Yet
go back to her disturbed sleep, to dream it was an eery vigil, and I forced myself
once more of Suleiman. to cease visioning that sinister,shadowy
"Do you, therefore, v/atch by her room. presence that Pierre had confronted the
Do not fear the presence if it appears. night before. At times, I fancied that I
For it is constantly here, whether visible could again smell the subtle sweetness
or not. If anything substantial enough that had heralded the materialization of
to handle a pistol or knife appears, draw dead Balkis.
and fire. With the full moon, you may There was a window at the end of the
enjoy excellent shooting!" hallway. I glanced out, occasionally, and
Pierre’s gray eyes had a steely glitter, saw nothing but the light of a full moon.
and he spoke now with his old vivacity. But the black shadows seemed alive with
That bullet which had picked the demi- emanations filtering from the ancient, un-
444 •WEIRD TALES

disturbed soil of the citadel. A conclave winding stairway, three steps at a time,
of evil was abetting Balkis. This house I drew my pistol.

had become a focal point of entities that Another crash, and a splintering of
the power of some necromancer had re- glass, and the smack of a pistol.

leased in summoning Balkis from the "Hold ’em, Pierre!” I shouted. And
dust. I entered the vacant room that ad- an instant later, I landed with a leap in
joined Madeleine’s. It was the one that the vestibule. A man lay stretched out
her maid had occupied before leaving on the floor. Pierre was struggling with

in terror one night after having seen the another, seeking to wrench from his
apparition. Like Madeleine’s, it faced hand a long, curved knife. A third,
the tree-clustered parkway that extended groaning and cursing, was reaching for
from the gray walls and moat toward the a pistol that lay beyond his grasp. Just
highway that leads to ruined Chateau as d’ Artois back-heeled his adversary and
Maracq. sent him crashing into a comer, I opened

I looked down into the deserted street up with my pistol. The gentleman on
that ran along the city wall. Once I the floor lost all interest in the weapon
thought could see a figure lurking in
I he sought.
an angle of the parapet. And then it "Back to your post, imbecile!" d’ Artois
seemed after all to be only a wisp of yelled, as he turned to face me. "See if

river mist, or perhaps a whirling of wind- they are attacking the second floor.”
”
blown dust. But stared for an
I started,
"But the windows
instant, and shivered, for even the dust "Back to your post! Immediately!"
of this ancient town is alive and vibrant As I turned to obey, I heard another

with that which it has received and as- crash, and saw d’ Artois following me.
similated since mediaeval sorcerers and The yard-long blade of a Moro kampilan
shuddering flashed as he leaped after me, carrying
alchemists crouched over
their terribly charged alembics that bub- the weapon at the port.

bled and dripped strange

fumed
naces.

But that dust cloud or fog wisp could

distillates,

in the red glare of charcoal fur-

and

W E burst into Madeleine’s room.

Pierre’s intuition
In the moonlight we saw
had been right.
three intrud-
ers. Two
of them were about to take
not reach to the second story. So I re-
Madeleine from her bed. The third with
turned again to the hall, to walk my post.
a gesture was indicating the window, I
I heard Pierre stirring about in the
saw had been wrenched
that the bars
study on the first floor. He commanded
aside, and caught a glimpse of a rope
the entrance of the house. Then later, I
ladder, apparently let down from the
heard him exclaim and mutter. Some
roof.
late visitor, I thought, as the door opened.
As we leaped into the room, the leader
And then . . .

shouted a warning, and Madeleine’s cap-

I heard a gasp, and a groan, and the
tors dropped her to the bed from which
thud of a falling body and the splintering
they were lifting her. A pistol cracked.
of wood.
I saw Pierre flinch from the. impact, but
"Sucre nom d’un nom!" I heard Pierre the shot did not stop him. His blade
exclaim. flashed forward and up, ripping his
That was enough. They were taking enemy from waist to chin.
us by assault. As I bounded down die As I turned to let drive at the one who
 —
THE RETURN OF BALKIS 445

was leaping across Madeleine’s bed, clutched, sink to the floor. The kampilan,
knife in hand, a fourth, emerging from wedged in the bones of the hip, was
a corner, struck my arm. My shot went pulled from Pierre’s grasp.
wild; and then my pistol jammed as I D’ Artois sighed, tottered, and leaned
whirled about to fire at the assailant from against the bed-post.
the side. A and in
blade raked my ribs,
Of the two, I was the most shaken, as
another instant I was grappling hand to spectators usually are,
hand with the newcomer, striving to
"Christ, Pierre!” I exclaimed. I had
brain him with my clubbed pistol, and
to say something. "You’d make a won-
to avoid his curved knife.
derful jurmentado! But did that first
We crashed to the floor. Luckily, it
shot get you?”
was his head and not mine that was
"Only a scratch,” he assured. "The
dashed against the massive leg of Made-
second missed entirely.”
leine’s bed. I rapped the useless pistol
against his skull for good measure, and
He shook his head, and regarded the
two at his feet.
staggered to my feet.
"They should have died in good
D’ Artois, blade in hand, was facing
spirits," he muttered, "knowing how
the two survivors. One was poised to
close they came to taking the hide of
leap and thrust with his knife. The
Pierre d’ Artois. And that shot, earlier
other, pistol rising from his hip, was
this evening mordieu! Some one is
ready to drop d’ Artois.
cursing his poor marksmanship.
One
of them would be sliced in half
"That attack at the front door,” he
by that yard-long kampilan. One of continued, "was undoubtedly a ruse to
them was a dead man. But the other
draw you from your post. As for the
would account for d’ Artois as I hurdled
the bed to close in, hand to hand. Neither
window — look!”
He indicated the bars that had been
thrust nor shot could miss at that range.
wrenched aside.
There was but one thing to do. I
"Those were sawed in advance of the
hurled my jammed pistol at the one about attempt. All of which confirms my sus-
to fire. I missed. It crashed into a mir- picions. We are contending with more
ror. I had failed d’ Artois. than ghosts. This necromancer has a well
Then, during that despairing instant ”
organized crew Of cutthroats, who
in which I leaped, empty-handed and "Good Lord,” I interrupted, "she's
too late, it happened. not even awakened by all this rioting.”
saw an incredibly swift, fluent flash
I "No,” replied d’ Artois. "Nor is that
of steel, and a spurt of fire; heard a grunt, strange. My guess — tu comprends, it is

a shot, a yell of mortal terror, and once
more the sound of steel biting home.
Pierre, poised and tense in his mo-
ment of extreme peril, had lunged as
the shivering of the glass distracted the
enemy’s attention, and slashed asunder
the one who fired, an instant too late.
Then, cat-like, he whirled about to cut
down the survivor.
All in a glance, I saw him, knife
but a guess — is that Madeleine has been
carefully prepared for this outrage. Some
one has hypnotized her and impressed
upon her mind certain commands which
she executes without knowing why.”
"But how could she be hypnotized,
and not know it?” I wondered. "Did
”
she mention
"That is simple,” explained d’ Artois,
still "He could order her to forget it, and all
446 WEIRD TALES
else bat the commands he wants her to while you snored so melodiously to keep
remember. But give me a hand, and we me awake on my post?”
will heave this carrion into the court- "Good Lord, Pierre!” I exclaimed,
yard.” fearing the worst. "Surely, they didn't
”
One by one we dragged the intruders return and
to the window and heard them drop to ”
"They did indeed return, and
the paving below. He laughed outright at my dismay,
"In the morning,” said Pierre, "I will then continued, "And take away those
have new bars set into the window. Bet- we heaved into the court. Under my
ter yet, we will move her into another nose, par dieu, or while you and I surveyed
room, although that will in all proba- the wreckage in my study. But they
bility not fool them. And then I must asked for no more steel!” he concluded
report this skirmish to the police. It with a grim smile, and a twist of his
will be embarrassing, but I think that I fierce gray mustache.
can convince Monsieur le Prefel, without Then, as an afterthought, "But this
hishaving to listen to any talk about a enemy is no incompetent bungler, de-
queen loitering about the house.” spite his poor marksmanship.”
Then, as I followed him down the As I sipped my coffee, and digested
stairway,"Those I left scattered about Pierre’s last remark, I glanced down rue
down below must also be disposed of.” Lachepaillet. The street extends from
But as we entered the vestibule, we the citadel commandant’s headquarters,
saw not a sign of those that d’ Artois had along the city wall, to the guardhouse at
struckdown. the Porte d’Espagne drawbridge. An old
He stared at me for an instant, and man was striding jauntily up the grade.
frowned. His white beard streamed in the morn-
"One would think from this, mon ing breeze. He wore an Arab's burnoose,
we were indeed under close
vieux, that and headkerchief. The hilt of a simitar
Even as we fought up there,
observation. peeped over his shoulder, and his belt
some one hauled the casualties away. Do bristled with daggers.
you, therefore, sleep, and I will stand A frown wrinkled his scar-seamed
watch the rest of the night. While an- forehead as he halted and regarded the
other attempt is not at all likely, it would number over the front door.
be best to take no chances.” "Pierre,” I said, "it seems we have a

And though the events of the eve- visitor.”

ning did not tend to promote sound D’ Artois thrust aside his coffee, and
sleep, I did better than the previous night. glanced down from (he balcony.
Nevertheless, I was up shortly after sun- "Hold.1 Nureddin!” he hailed.
rise. "Ya Pierre!” shouted the old fellow,
as he looked up and recognized d’ Artois.

found d’ Artois sitting on the balcony The ensuing sputter of Arabic was too
I overlooking the moat, and the rolling fast for my ear. And then d’ Artois, after

parkway below. Raoul was serving cof- hesitating for a moment at the balcony
fee. railing, decided the leap was too great
"My friend,” said d’ Artois as I greet- for his years, and dashed down the stairs

ed him, “I will allow you no more than to admit his visitor.

three of those guesses. What happened "Ya sidi,“ said the old man, as Pierre
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 447

seized his hand, "the British Resident at "Say you so, my friend?” interrupted
Aden sought me out in the desert and d' Artois. "I will give them cutting in
gave me your message. And behold, I good measure.”
am here, el hamdu lilahi!” Nureddin’s eyes brightened.
"And I also praise God, my good "Praise God!” he ejaculated devoutly.
friend,
’
’
exclaimed d’ Artois devoutly. And "But I saw no camels in the public square

then, "Raoul! Coffee!” this morning, and I feared that there

”
Turning to me, Pierre continued, "This were no caravans to rob

is Nureddin, a holy darwish with whom "There are none,” admitted Pierre.
I have had dealings in the past.” "But we have better game for you. And
The old fellow grinned, nodded, and as for your Dankalis, let them make camp
said, "By the bounty of Allah, I am in- in the courtyard. I have work for the
deed a pious my friend
recluse, but good fellows.”
Pierre summoned me from my medita- "In that case, my lord,” replied the
tions.” old darwish, "I will get them at once.”
He made the last part of his declara- And Nureddin, striking light to a

tion solemnly; but the twinkle in his keen cigarette, strode briskly to the door, and
old eyes convinced me that his holiness thence down rue Lachepaillet.
had been considerably diluted of late.
“TI There,”
"There were no vessels, and I was in
a hurry,” he continued. "So in my de-
spair, Iapproached the crew of a zaroug
W
"That
him?”
find
I demanded,

Nureddin, the darwish,” said

is
"did you

”
lying at anchor. I gave them various Pierre. "A pious and holy man

presents. We threw the nakhoda over- "Holy, hell!” I exclaimed. "Then I’m
board, with the help of Allah, and set a cardinal.”
sail.” "Despite his occasional trifling with
And then Raoul served coffee. Nured- caravans, he is, according to his own
din’s piety did notkeep him from relish- standards, a pious and holy man,” d’ Ar-

ing the brandy that Raoul had added. tois insisted. "He robs only heretic Per-
”
This wrinkled old reprobate from the sians
hinterland of Aden must be the ally that "And dumps the nakhoda over the
Pierre had summoned, relying on past side, as his debut in piracy,” I interrupted.

friendship to bring him in such haste. "Tiens!" scoffed Pierre. "He was in a
Piracy, it seemed, was a new accomplish- hurry on my account. As I said, the good
ment, for as he sipped his coffee, he re- fellow is versed in occult sciences. He
peated with gusto how with the help of has even been in that lost city Madinat
God they had thrown the captain over- ash-Shams, far beyond the ruins ofMareb.
board, and sailed up the Red Sea. He, if any one, can get to the bottom of
"We were not far from the shore, this matter. Be of good cheer, my friend.
sidi,” he added, "and the dog refused a This accursed pack of devil-mongers will
fair offer I made him. My crew? Wallah, have the crimp put in their style!”
they will remain in the zaroug. Eight D’ Artois was enormously cheered by
stout Dankalis. Wild men from behind the arrival of his strange ally. I could
Djibouti. The voyage kept them busy, see that he had shaken off the burden of
but lying here in idleness, they will doubt- despair that had weighed him down ever
”
less cut each other to pieces since my arrival in Bayonne.
 3
448 WEIRD TALES
In order to thwart a repetition of the It was utterly inconceivable, a woman’s
previous night’s raid, we decided to con- being crowded out of her own body; yet
tinue our watch. The power
was that Madeleine had actually become another
reaching forth to clutch Madeleine had person. When, during her waking mo-
become stronger. Her eyes had become ments, Nureddin had succeeded in ca-

strange in expression, and regarded us joling her from her haughty silence, she
with curiosity mingled with resentment. had addressed him in what the darwish
Her slow, enigmatic smile made us shud- declared was the language of the ancient
der from its resemblance to the shadowy Sabeans.
Balkis whom Pierre had commanded to The classic example of the illiterate
leave, that night that we had seen the servant-girl’s reciting long passages of
apparition. And then, once in a while, Hebraic which she had overheard her
we caught flashes of Madeleine herself, master, a philologist, declaiming did not
bewildered, and dazed, and strange in apply to Madeleine. The servant in the
her own body. Her gestures had become delirium of fever recited, whereas Made-
undulant and serpentine. It was terrify- leine conversed. The and the
distinction
ing to watch Madeleine being rapidly logical inference were painfully obvious.
thrust into the background by the invader. Balkis the Queen remembered that her
She was lovelier, perhaps, than she had people, the Sabeans, were cousins of the
been, but it was a dismaying beauty that Arabs, and she recognized the kinship
came from the grave of Balkis. between her and the darwish. She con-
Happily, she was awake but little of sidered Pierreand me as aliens. She
the day. And shortly after sunset, she spoke in the present tense of the lost
fell into a deep sleep. splendors of Madinat ash-Shams, that
"Watch her closely, my friend,” said city whose ruins are in Arabia, far be-

Pierre. "Do not relax from your vigi- hind Mareb.

lance even for a moment. Nureddin and "By Allah. ”
1
the darwish had ex-
I will divide the watches with you. Be- claimed at the end of one of those con-
ware of any trickery to distract you. Call versations, "I have seen those ruins. And
me if you should become drowsy no — I know that she speaks of that city as it

matter how early it may be, call me at was in the days of Suleiman, upon whom
once.” be the peace!
"She is verily Balkis, Malikat as-
n view of the strategy employed by Sabahh!” he continued, lowering his voice
I theenemy in the attack of the pre- in awe. "The Queen of the Morning.
ceding night, I took my post in Made- And look you, sidi, those are the eyes of
leine’s room. I examined the window- a Sabean woman of the line of Iaraab,
bars, and noted that they had not been of pure race.”
tampered with. And regardless of what- It was terrifying to think that a necro-

ever disturbance I might hear from be- mancer loved a dead queen, and could
low, I resolved not to quit my post. With summon her from her grave, and plan
Pierre, and the old Arab, Nureddin, and so that his accursed lips might thrill to
the crew of Dankalis from the zaroug, die caress of one who had smiled at
any handful of cutthroats that the un- Solomon.
known devil-monger might send would Then what of the true Madeleine?
meet an adequate reception committee. Into what darkness was she banished?
W. T.—
 4
THE RETURN OF BALKIS 449

In what limbo, neither living nor dead, prove me for my insolence, so that I

did she roam, desolate and become like would not be utterly alone in this whirl-
a bird without feathers? pool of evil. I wondered then if even
Hideous! Only in this hasheesh dream Balkis was present. That darkened room
of a city could this infamy have occurred. had become appallingly empty, save for
that malevolence that had become a con-
The moon was almost full. In another
centrated fury.
night, lean, wrinkled Nureddin would
try his occult arts, whether or not the I at the window, and saw that
glanced
identity of the devil-monger was known. which had not heard. Then I won-
I

And in the meanwhile, he and d’ Artois dered indeed, I saw.

were taking counsel.
The night was warm and
yet suddenly I shivered.
were poor company. I knew that this
room was alive with presences, and that
the very silence masked the soundless
murmuring of powers who were striving
to make a final assault against that body
whose soul they had banished.
I could not see them, but they were
assembling.
The room had become a congress of
evil,unseen shapes. Dead Balkis had
been only an apparition, which should
have been asleep rather than awake and
wandering. But this which I now sensed
if, That which
stared between the stout half -inch bars
of steel was a thing which could not have
pleasant,
any existence. It was a foulness and an
My thoughts
abomination and an outrage, that slate-
gray, amorphous presence, four of whose
misshapen hands clutched the sill. It
was that whose soundless approach, and
not any cloud, had obscured the moon.
The reptilian stench of the creature
choked me, and its baleful eyes paralyzed
me. I gasped, and licked my dry lips,
and sought to yell, but my throat was a
dusty void through which my breath
hissed and muttered futilely. I had a pis-
tol, but as in a dreadful nightmare, my
numb hands would not draw and fire.

approaching was malignant, and obscene

I knew that firing would be useless. I
knew that it would be vain to alarm
in its own right.
Pierre and the darwish, and the Dankali
The moonlight that had streamed in
sailors.
through the window was becoming
dimmed. Two of the hands gripped the bars,
"Only a cloud,” I reassured myself. and strained against them, until they
But I knew better. stretched and snapped. And then an-
Madeleine—Balkis stirred uneasily,— other pair gave way before the resistless
and murmured. Then her great dark force of that monster. It was translucent

eyes opened. They had the sightlessness in the moonlight; and despite its prodi-
of drugged sleep. I knew that something gious strength, it was unsubstantial seem-
was commanding her silence. ing, and formless. It was a foulness from

The cloud that blotted the moon must those unhallowed vaults, coming to do
now be very dense. The moon sought to the bidding of him who had resurrected
hide her face from the evils of creation. and enslaved dead Balkis.
The air was now vibrant with menace.
Balkis,

for a moment
ghost that she was in a living
body, was at least human.
if I
I

could awaken her, and

wondered T
into the
he window was now
shapeless,
clear.

monstrous thing flowed

room with its ghastly confusion
That

let her dark eyes and strange tongue re- of limbs. The reptilian mustiness of
W. T.—
450 WEIRD TALES
serpent -infested subterranean caverns I leaped past the terror, clutched Made-
made the air dense and stifling and foul. leine in my arms, and faced the monster.
In that extreme of terror, I could no —
Madeleine Balkis was the beloved of —
longer tremble. A lethargic resignation that damnable necromancer. It would

possessed me. And then I remembered not hurt her.

that it had come at its diabolical master’s I shuddered, and sickened as it em-
command to seize Madeleine. My throat braced me and my still sleeping burden.
was still inarticulate, but with a mighty I held her in a frenzied grip, so that it
effort I regained command of my arms. would seize us as one. My senses whirled
I seized the chair on which I had been and spun as the deadly vileness exhaled
sitting and with the strength of frenzy, by the creature stifled me.
smote the creature on the head. I thought, "Must . . . hold . . . tight.”
at least, that it was its head, but I could
Good God, what would not a breath
not be sure, for the monstrosity trans- . one breath ... of pure air be worth!
. .

cended the anatomy of honest beasts.

And that amorphous, textureless traves-
The and yet bounded
chair splintered, ty on all creation was touching her. I
back as though had smitten an inflated
I wondered how her bare skin could en-
tire. I lashed out again with what re- dure that which made me shudder from
mained in my hand. It ignored me, and the contamination that filtered through
lumbered toward Madeleine’s bed. It my heavier clothing.
was as indifferent to position as it was to That quintessence of all subterraneaa
blows; for instead of rising from its dive loathsomeness. . . .

to the floor, it waddled sidewise, crab-

"Must . . . hold . . . tight ... go
like. That formless foulness moved but
with . . . her . .
.”
with a single idea. It was devoid of per-
My last conscious impression was that
ceptions. If it were cut to fragments,
we were descending the masonry side of
they would unite, and march on. Neither
the building. Very vaguely, and as from
beast, nornor plant, but a hid-
reptile,
a great distance, I heard yells of frantic
eous blending of them.
men crying out in a strange language.
It waddled, dragging its members The Dankali sailors had seen it. . . .

with a scraping, hissing rustling. Noth- Then no more, until I know not how —
ing could stop that abysmal foulness. —
much later I opened my eyes, and saw
It would take Madeleine to the den that I was in a vast, high-ceiled room
of the necromancer. Madeleine was pervaded with a phosphorescent green-
doomed, and before my staring eyes. My ness that quivered and glowed and flick-
paralyzed throat still sought to yell, but ered maddeningly. The expanse of floor
could not. A fragment of the heavy was so broad that the furniture, visible
chair still hung in my grasp. Hopeless. at the far side, seemed diminutive. I
Hopeless. What if the Dankalis drove was lying near the wall. My hands and
their broad-bladed knives through it? feet were tied with cords. My desperate
What if Pierre sliced it with that two- strategy had worked, though to what end,
handed Moro kampilan? Futile. Vain. I knew not. I had followed Madeleine
The master demanded Madeleine. And into the house of the sorcerer, or into
it served. It advanced, deliberately. his subterranean den. I had no ideas on
"No, by God!” my mind said, though my location, whether above or below
my lips were dumb. "There is a way.” ground.
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 451

My clothing still reekfed from the foul- Ihad wondered for a moment as to
ness of that which had brought us here, my own fate. But as I heard the Mas-
although the stench was rapidly becom- ter’s instruction, and saw that corpse-

ing less intense. I shivered from the like fellow with the staff hurrying from
memory of that repugnant contact. one group to the next, issuing orders in
In the dim light of the room, I could a low, hoarse voice, my thoughts reverted
distinguish hooded and robed figures. to Madeleine. Some final ritual, some ut-
Some sat cross-legged, each on a bench termost outrage seemed to be necessary
scarcely larger than a coffee-table. Others, before Madeleine would be utterly ex-
shadowy, ominous presences, conferred pelled from her body, and everlastingly
in low tones. A heavy haze of incense cast into the darkness from which dead
from several wrought-iron tripods cloud- Balkis had been summoned.
ed the room with its dizzying, breath-tak- I heard the resonant clang of a brazen
ing fumes. From another apartment, be- gong. A woodwind instrument breathed
yond the brocaded draperies, that con- mellow, evil notes that bore a mocking
cealed a doorway, I could hear the mut- semblance to the human voice. Then
tering of kettle-drums, and the whine of four litter-bearers, nude save for loin-
single-stringed kemenjahs, and the sob- cloths, strode across my field of vision.
bing notes of pipes. The weird, minor Despite my bonds, I contrived to wrig-
harmony sent (hills up my spine. gle to a sitting position, against the wall.
Then a man garbed in formal evening I saw that it was Madeleine they were
attire emerged from the shadows not far carrying to the dim shadows of the ex-
from me. He was tall and aquiline-fea- tremity of the hall. As they approached
tured; his eyes were glittering and phos- their destination, I saw a muffled figure
phorescent, like those of a great cat. flitting about, taper in hand, touching
This was the Master of the show, that light to other tapers. Their glow was
necromancer who had defiled the very wan in that poisonous greenish phosphor-
order of life in his attempt to gratify his escence; but the added illumination re-
ghastly whim; and those robed, hooded vealed an altar, and an arched shrine
figures that moved through the spectral whose monstrous carvings leered horri-
haze of the room were his acolytes, and bly in the flickering, sickly flames.
his adepts in the devilish hierarchy which
The acolytes laid Madeleine on the
he had assembled.
altar. Then with ceremonious gestures
and obeisance, they retreated and took
O ne
tile
of the adepts strode across the
floor
paces of the Master.
and halted within a few
He was lean, and
their posts at the left of the shrine.
The Master, incongruous in his fault-
cadaverous, and his bald head was bulb- less costume de rigueur, then approached
ous and dome-like. He carried in his the shrine, and halting three paces dis-
hand a long, carven staff on which he tant, extended his arms.
leaned as he rendered his report in halt- At his gesture, the gongs clanged
ing French. again, and as their brazen thunder sub-
"All is in readiness, Master," he said. sided in a hissing, rustling shiver, he
"We are waiting for your command.” raised his voice in a terrific invocation.

"Then wait no longer,” replied the "Balkis! Balkis! Balkis, Queen of

necromancer. "Bring her into the hall Saba! I have descended into the shad-
at once.” ows, and into the grave, and led you
452 WEIRD TALES
back to the morning! I have sifted the "What?” thundered the Master.
dust of forgotten centuries, and found "Who?”
for you a body lovelier than that before! "The enemy, Master!” replied the re-
Queen of the Morning! Balkis,
Balkis, tainer. "And armed men are with him.”
Queen of the Yaman! I will drive her Pierre on the way! The necromancer’s
into the shadows, Balkis, and you will
had come
spies to warn him that the
rejoice in this body,and in this new life! avenger had found the trail, and was on
I have faced the blacknesses of death, the road to end this toying with the
and the terror of the grave and the wrath dead, and affronting the living. Pierre
beyond, for your sake, Balkis. . .
had heard. It had not been my fancy,
It was somber and magnificent and that terrified yell of the Dankalis in the
terrible, that deep-throated chant. I shud- courtyard. Pierre had in some way found
dered with an ecstasy of horror as I a clue which would lead him to this den
heard that resonant rich voice declaim of uttermost damnation.
and
full-throated above the wailing reeds
mocking mellow pipes. His words were
a colossal blasphemy and a superhuman
magnificence that echoed the voice of
T he Master
on the
stared at the white form
altar before him, and at the
ranged about him. He frowned,
acolytes
that arch-rebel, Lucifer, Son of the Morn- then clapped his hands. The bulbous-
ing, crying his defiance across the vast-
headed, cadaverous one advanced.
nesses of the gulf into which he had "What demanded the Mas-
say you?”
been hurled. And I knew that when he ter.
reached the climax of that awful invoca- him
"Stop came the reply.
at once,”
tion, Madeleine would be for ever "Send It out again. There is yet time.
damned to wander in unfathomable They can form the circle, and It will
blacknesses; and resurrected Balkis would crush the enemy
”

smile with new eyes and new lips at that "Set them to work!” commanded the
mortal who had plunged into the shad- Master; and then, perturbed, he strode
ows beyond the Border, and led her by up and down the expanse of tiles.
the hand to greet once more the morning At a signal from the chief of the aco-
she had not seen for twenty-eight weary lytes, an attendant smote a brazen gong.
centuries of wasting her beauty among He shouted a command. Robed figures
the cheerless dead. emerged from the shadows, each bringing
Acolytes stood by, prepared to do that with him his own bench. They arranged
which the ritual prescribed, and waiting themselves in a crescent in the center of
for the signal of the Master. The strange
the hall. I heard the purr of drums; and
utensils and the uncouth objects that
then the adepts of the crescent began
they held in readiness hinted at further murmuring in cadence to the rhythm.
blasphemies to come, Lips drawn to thin lines, jaws clenched,
And then one from the farther shad- they hummed in a droning
monotone, as
ows came running into the semicircular they swayed from the and made
hips,
field of the tapers’ glow. His oiled skin serpentine passes and
gestures. Their
shone dully in the flickering light. He eyes stared glassily in that awful green-
bowed his shaven skull to the tiles, and ish light and their bronzed features were
lifted his arms in supplication. expressionless. They had become autom-
"Master, he is on the way! Heknows!” atons, moving to the cadence of those
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 453

whining pipes and muttering drums. the rhythm that had been established.
They were like the evil fantasies of In- They stared fixedly at the spot from
dian sculpture set to a devilish music. whence the monstrosity had materialized,
And then the music ceased, so that noth- and gestured with the slow precision of
ing was audible but that damnable dron- an intricate machine.
ing, like the buzz of monstrous flies. The silence was absolute for a moment.
Finally they broke the unison that had And then I heard the faint, sibilant
marked their start, and each carried on hiss of the monster’s limbs as it dragged
his own peculiar humming, so that it
them across the tiles. A choking, nau-
seemed as though articulate voices were seous vapor exuded from its presence. As
chanting as from a great distance, pro- it advanced,it began to murmur, and
nouncing words that I could almost un- flex its misshapen members as though to
derstand.
test their strength. It paused a moment,
Then at the point on which their star- as if to receive its final instructions, and
ing eyes' were focused, I perceived a hazy, then it moved across the floor with a
bluish vortex that spun, and expanded rapidity that belied its grotesquely de-
and contracted as it spiralled. It elon- formed shape. I heard a door close be-
gated, and began an axial spinning. That hind it, and bolts slip into place as that
nebulous vapor expanded, and branched, foulness went out into the night to seek
growing in stature and becoming every Pierre and waylay him. Nor could it
instant more solid, until it evolved into miss, for it was guided by the fiendish
a monstrous It was neither
presence. intelligence of those entranced adepts,
human, nor nor beast, but a hid-
reptile, who were clairvoyant in that self-imposed
eous travesty that was a blasphemy against hypnosis which enabled them to material-
created things. It was the counterpart of ize their malignant thought-form. It
that which had seized Madeleine. It was would hunt him down. He could not by
even more horrible in that green lumines- any chance avoid it; and he could not
cence than it had been in the moonlight overcome it.

of Madeleine’s room. It was a horror and Madeleine was doomed. In my de-

an outrage conceived by those six adepts; spair, I became resigned to my bonds.
and projected by the concentrated force Balkis would smile from her new body,
of their wills exerted in unison,it had
and be untroubled by any lingering ves-
assumed physical substance. It fed on tige of that lovely girl’s personality. The
their will-emanations, and waxed mo- Master had but to resume his sonorous
mentarily more and more substantial. invocation, and weave again the spell,
The Master contemplated the horror. complete the ritual recitation of that
He smiled thinly, as well he could, hav- which he had faced to woo her among
ing marched into the grave and led Bal- the dead, then chant her back to the for-
kis by the hand to see the morning. He gotten light of the morning.
knew that it would waylay Pierre and was doomed, and with him,
Pierre
his men, and crush them in its irresistible stout Nureddin who had come across the
grasp, and sear their brains with the ter- desert and sailed a frail zaroug coastwise
ror of its presence. from the Red Sea to France. It would
The droning of the adepts ceased and annihilate them all, Pierre, the darwish,
with it the mutter of drums and whine and the Dankalis with their broad-bladed
of strings. They swayed in cadence to knives.
 —
454 WEIRD TALES
A great rage then possessed me, and leaped to my feet, and seized the
put to flight my resignation. I would I wrought-iron tripod by its legs. I

burst my bonds, and bare-handed avenge charged across the hall, scattering behind
as much of this infamy as I could until me a trail of incandescent coals. The
those adepts overwhelmed me. But as I Master heard me, and turned. He shouted
strained at the cords that bound my a command. I saw emerging from the
ankles and wrists, I knew that even that green shadows a file of short, muscular
was vanity. men, naked save for loin-cloths, and
armed with short curved blades.
And then a cigar-lighter fell from my
vest pocket to the tiles. The Master had With my feet planted firmly on the
not even glanced in my direction. He tiles,I swung my fire-charged weapon

still paced up and down before the altar, not at them, but crashing down on the

disturbed by the interruption of his ritual. shaven skull of the first of the six adepts
He was waiting to learn of the destruc- and showering the others with fire.

tion of Pierre and his party. That would break up their concentra-
tion!
Arching my back like a measuring-
Crash! Another found his brains ooz-
worm, I placed myself over the cigar-
ing across the tiles.
and with the fingers of one hand,
lighter,
uncapped it, and whirled the milled They were almost upon me, those
wheel. The wick ignited. I could feel swordsmen. Their blades glittered as
its tiny, fierce flame eating into my wrists; they advanced.

and above the fumes that rose from the A pistol cracked, and the impact of the
tall wrought-iron tripod censers, I could Master’s shot whirled me back a pace.
smell the burning of the cord, and the I recovered, and swung again as he fired

singeing of hair and flesh. The pain a second time. And then I hurled the
was excruciating. I dared not move. The tripod full into the face of the leading

strain of keeping my body clear of the

swordsman. Their blades hacked and
lighter, so that its flame would not be raked me as I stretched out in a lunge

smothered, was intolerable. And then that carried me under their sweeping
the cords yielded. Hands free! With my slashes. I clutched the second by the

scorched fingers, I dug a penknife from ankles and dragged They him to the floor.

my pocket, and slashed the cords that howled with pain as their bare feet trod
bound me. on the live coals I had scattered.
The Master no longer dared fire, lest
The Master stood before the altar,
he strike his own men.
contemplating Madeleine’s still body in
They were hacking and thrusting in
His
the light of those flickering tapers.
that milling confusion of arms and legs
hands were clasped behind his back, and
and bodies, doing each other more harm
his head bowed.
than they did me. I salvaged a dagger,
The shaven heads of the six adepts and stabbed blindly. But itwas a hope-
seated behind the Master
crescent-wise less mel^e. I was at the bottom of the
were weaving and nodding in cadence. heap.

And then I heard a shout, and cries Those few seconds of close-packed con-
of terror. Pierre’s voice. He had avoided fusion seemed ages. No one could last
It until almost within striking distance long against such odds. Any instant
of the enemy. would bring the finishing thrust. . . .
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 455

I heard a splintering of glass, and outside the chateau,” he said. "MonDieu!

shouts. The voice of Pierre! And Nured- A loathsome nightmare! The darwish
din with his Dankalis! slashed it with his simitar. I fired at it,

In an instant, the milling tangle leaped but the thing was invulnerable. The Dan-
clear, leaving me lying among the dead. kalis were too frightened to run.So were
I saw the darwish, white beard streaming, we all, for that matter. It enveloped us in
sword in hand, leading his topper-colored its limbs and was crushing us slowly but
Dankalis toward the altar, slaying-mad very surely, like some monstrous octopus,

and howling as they slashed with their and stifling us with its poisonous exhala-
broad-bladed knives. tion,”

One of them was about to cut down the D’Artois shuddered at the memory of
Master. the horror.
"Stop!” cried Pierre. "And then,” he resumed, "it suddenly
The mad savage halted, and lowered his became vague and shadowy. Now that I
blade. I struggled to my feet, cut, blood- hear your side of it, it is all clear. You
drenched, but not entirely dismembered. were right in bending that iron tripod
The hall was a madhouse of slaughter. over the heads of those adepts. The mon-
Nureddin’s curved blade dripped blood- ster was their thought-form, projected
ily. A Dankali lay on a heap of fallen into the physical plane, and when you so
swordsmen, still clutching his knife. deftly addled the brains of two or three
Pierre’s pistol, empty and fuming, was in of them, the concentration was inter-
his hand, at his side. rupted. As you describe the ritual, those
"Graf Istavan,” he said to that tall, adepts must have hypnotized themselves,
somber Master, "it seems that you are the each envisioning the same creature, bent
only survivor. But I propose to remedy on the same mission. The Yogis in Hin-
that in a moment.” dustan have a similar feat. The vortex of
"So the redoubtable d’ Artois will attack thought force became a physical entity
an unarmed man?” he murmured dis- with no motive but to annihilate us, just
dainfully. as the thing which took you and Ma-
"By no means, monsieur,” said Pierre, deleine had but one impulse, capturing
"but wait and see.” her. Your device, my friend, in seizing
"My lord,” said Nureddin, as he ap- her and being taken with her was shrewd
”
proached, "I will send Balkis back to the strategy
shadows." “I was too scared to do anything else,”
And then he spoke to the Dankalis in I replied. "But where are we? How did
”
own language. They
their surrounded you follow us? How
Graf Istavan with a circle of steel. The "Tenez!" exclaimed d’ Artois. "I will
darwish picked from the floor a fragment enlighten you. One of the Dankalis
of charcoal that had been spilled during howled as though Satan had prodded him
the skirmish, and set about making good with his red-hot trident. He had seen It
his promise to d’ Artois. While he was leaving with you and Madeleine.
marking upon the tiles the figure that was "Nureddin and I had been studying the
required, I turned to Pierre to inquire case that evening. We carefully con-
about the monstrosity that had been sent sidered a list, as I told you, of all persons
to waylay him. Madeleine had had any contact with while
"It met us as we drew up in the grove in Bayonne. I took the liberty of opening
456 WEIRD TALES
a letter addressed to her, from a friend in wish had placed glowing charcoal from
Marseilles, and there I found it. ’You the censers that had not been overturned.
didn’t tell me about the seance at Graf And on each heap he poured a handful of
Istavan’ s chateau,’ the young lady wrote to the same incense that they had been burn-
Madeleine. ing in the room. As the fumes rose in
"Voild! There I had it. Why did she dense, stifling sweet clouds that almost
forget the handsome Graf Istavan, when obscured the darwish as he knelt in the
she remembered all those shopkeepers and center of the figure, we heard him chant.
servants,and casual acquaintances? How "Ya Balkis! Ya Balkis, malikat us-
could a girl reared in America, where a Sabahh! Beloved of Suleiman! The diief
Hungarian count would be a sensation, and the spoiler has robbed the grave and
forget an invitation to a soiree at his cha- called you from being queen among the
teau? I inquired. It was simple. I knew quiet dead. The mocker and the defiler
then that she had forgotten because she has disturbed your rest.

had been commanded to remember that "Ya Balkis, come forth from the body
she was Balkis, and to forget that she had which you have invaded!
ever heard of Graf Istavan. It was obvi- "Ya Balkis, come forth of your own
ous, simple, n’est-ce pas? And so when I will,or I will pronounce your Hidden
found you two had vanished and heard of Name. I will pronounce your True
the afreet, as those excellent black fellows Name. Hear me, Balkis, Queen of the
called the hideous thing, I set out on the Morning, for this I can and this I will

trail. And the rest you know.” do!”

Then he began solemnly intoning

W
in
E glancedat the darwish. He had that almost forgotten language.
His voice
drawn a pentade upon the tiled rolled and thundered like drums beaten
floor. In each of its five angles he was in- before a palace; and from time to time,
scribing symbols, and characters in a script during that sonorous invocation, we heard
I did not recognize. her name, and knew that he had not yet
"Look!” muttered Pierre. "Madeleine’s pronounced the True Name.
fate depends upon that darwish. When D’ Artois shivered, and down my own
he arrived, he thought that it would be spine there were chills leaping and danc-
simple to expel Balkis. But she has taken ing to the cadence of that great voice. A
such complete possession that it will be terrifictension was in the air, and a rus-
more than a simple exorcism. And the tlingand chirping, and a murmuring: and
great danger Madeleine has been
is that within the pentacle, beside the smoke-
shadows that there is
thrust so far into the veiled kneeling form of the darwish, we
no longer any bond between her and the saw another standing, who was slender
body that once was hers. and wore a tall, curiously wrought diadem.
"My friend, you think that the evening The chanting ceased, and the mutter-
behind you has been one of perils and en- ing, rustling sounds that we had heard.
counters.A has! That has been nothing. And then the darwish pronounced a sin-

The conflict is yet to come. That white- gle phrase, and made a gesture.
bearded nomad holds the destiny of two There was a deep sigh, and a stifled

women in his hands. And, if I mistake wail of unutterable despair. The darwish
not, perhaps another destiny.” was alone in the pentacle. His eyes stared
At the corners of the pentacle, the dar- and his face was drawn as he bowed to the
 THE RETURN OF BALKIS 457

five points of the pentacle, and stepped thoughtfully fingering the edge of his
from its limits. sword. Then he faced the altar, and made
He addressed d’ Artois. stroking passes and gestures. He addressed
the sleeping girl in sharp syllables of
"My lord, Balkis has returned to the
command. Perspiration cropped out on
shadows. Now let us see what tenant the
his forehead. His hands began to tremble
stolen body has.”
as he exerted his will to its utmost, trying
Madeleine lay motionless on the altar,
one device after another to awaken Ma-
in the wan light of the flickering tapers,
deleine. He was fighting for his life, and
and the green phosphorescence that per-
he knew it. But in vain.
vaded the room.
His arms dropped to his side. He
"Look,” whispered Pierre, "her expres-
turned to Pierre with a despairing gesture.
sion is changed. She is indeed gone.”
"It is useless, monsieur,” he said. "She
I saw then that while the features had
has escaped. She is beyond my reach.
not altered in any essential, there was an ”
She
indefinable though certain difference. I
"Is she dead?” I demanded. "Pi-
wondered if Madeleine would look at us
from those long-lashed eyes when she
opened them. "No,” said d’ Artois. "Her body is

alive. It has suffered no violence. But her

"Awaken her at once!” commanded
spiritual essence, her intelligence, her soul,
d’ Artois, beckoning to Graf Istavan. He
call itwhat you will, had been forced so
too had seen that presence in the pentacle
far into theshadows that it wanders, lost
with the darwish, and with her disappear-
His and confused, and can not find its way
ance, his last hope had vanished.
back. Try again, Graf Istavan, or by the
haughty features were calm in despair: for
living God, these fellows will tear you
Balkis, the beloved from the shadows, had
limb from limb, and I am not jesting!”
died before his eyes.
Nureddin muttered a word to the
The necromancer shrugged his shoul-

Dankalis. As they advanced, their circle

ders resignedly, and shook his head.

of steel urged Graf Istavan toward the "What I can not do, I can not. Do your
altar. Then they halted, letting him ap- worst. am beaten, and I do not com-
I

proach the body of his victim. Their plain. That white-bearded juggler of
thirsty blades were poised, ready to cut yours, that wild darwish from the desert,

him down at Nureddin’s signal. has driven Balkis beyond my reach. I

The necromancer turned toward d’ Ar- heard him command her by her True
”
tois. Name, and she obeyed. She is gone
"Monsieur,” he said, "this has gone too Again that gesture, and that haunted
far.I can not awaken her.” look of despair.
"Try it!” demanded d’ Artois. "It is "So it makes little difference what hap-
worth trying. If you fail, these black fel- pens to me. Let them strike. Perhaps I
lows will tear you to pieces and eat your can find her somewhere across the Border,
raw flesh. Awaken her!” where she is with the untroubled dead.
Strike, monsieur. I am unarmed.”

G
made
raf istavan knew

his threat.
that d’ Artois
used no figure of speech when he
He saw
had

the darwish
And

flinch. I
the eager steel that touched him,
waiting to drive home, did not
saw that he welcomed
make him
it. I sensed
458 WEIRD TALES
that we were but saving him from seeking bowed, and eyes staring at the tiles. Pierre
his own life. It was I. rather than Graf was playing the heart-breaking role of
Istavan, who felt the supreme despair of destiny. His choice would decide the day.
that tense moment when the steel would Madeleine would remain a lovely, lifeless
blossom red again and complete the eve- —
thing or old Nureddin would face some
ning’s vain butchery. For vain
it was, with awful peril. I had sensed that from the
Madeleine lying there, a thing of exquisite moment I had heard the name of that
beauty: living, yet dead. Madeleine’s self mountain in Kurdistan. Now I knew it.
was wandering blindly in a limbo whose "My friend,” said the darwish, "I will
dim mazes confused her groping search make the venture, imhallah! Do not seek
for her body. I saw the fierce light in to dissuade me. You have no choice. I
Pierre’s eyes and the passionless, serene will not fail!”
gaze of the darwish, and the grimness of The darwish turned to the Dankalis
the Dankalis poised to strike: and saw but
and spoke a few words in a low voice.
futile vengeance whose bitter fruit would
They stared, and made gestures of protest.
be a lovely, soulless body. Nureddin hushed their murmurings with
Nureddin’s gesture beckoned the sav- a sharp command. Then they escorted
ages away from Graf Istavan, whose life Graf Istavan away from the altar. I had
they wanted as blood indemnity for their not understood a word of that Somali
fallen comrades. Coast jargon, but I saw from their faces
"Nureddin,” said d’ Artois, "is there no that the words of Nureddin had instilled
way? Are we too late?” fear, and consternation, and grief.

His voice was unsteady, and his features "Mordieu!” exclaimed Pierre as he
were tense. For a moment I wondered if faced me. "He has taken the initiative so
he would with his own hands kill an un- as to absolve me of all blame. He knew
armed man. that I could neither consent nor deny.”
"Sidi, there is a way,” replied the dar- In a low, hoarse voice he continued,
wish. He spoke very slowly and solemnly. "To stand here and watch, helplessly — it

"Do you remember that night? We were is terrible!”

in Kuh-i-Atesh?” The darwish in the meanwhile had
D’Artois’ tanned cheeks paled at the been scratching a on the tiles with
circle
mention of the Mountain of Fire, in the point of his blade. Then he wiped it
Kurdistan. “Good God! you don’t mean clean and forced between the tiles so
it

that you’ll try that ritual?” that it stood upright before him. The
"If it please Allah, I will,” affirmed steel glistened frostily in that weird green

the darwish. light.

D’Artois bowed his head for a mo-

ment. He glanced at the sleeping loveli-
ness on the altar. His eyes were somber
and despairing.
N ureddin knelt and crossed his arms
on his breast. He bowed thrice,
touching his forehead to the tiles just ia
"I can’t let him do that,” he muttered. front of the sword. We
heard him mut-
"And she's the daughter of my old friend. tering words that he pronounced so rapid-
I can’t refuse. . .
.” ly that we made no attempt to understand
Pierre's features quivered with emo- or even recognize the language. Then his
tion. He paced back and forth, head voice became a faint murmur as he stared
 —
THE RETURN OF BALKIS 459

fixedly at the glittering steel. Finally it "My dear,” said d’ Artois, making an
subsided to an indistinct whisper, then to effort to control his conflicting emotions,
silence. His body swayed ever so slightly, "let us go home. We have here, take —
like a reed in a gentle breeze. her!” he commanded in a voice whose
Nureddin’s features were transfigured gruffness nearly cracked for an instant.

with an awful solemnity. His eyes had “The car is not far from the chateau, in
become fixed in an intent stare. I held my front.”

breath, and quivered from a growing As Madeleine clung to my arm, I

tension. Neither fuming censers nor caught a glimpse of Nureddin lying face
chanting acolytes only an old man kneel-
: down on the tiles. His arms stretched out
ing before an upright blade, and staring before him. Only a glance: but I knew
fixedly; yet it was more awesome and now why d’ Artois had paled at the men-
compelling than any of the thaumaturgy tion of Kuh-i-Atesh.
and sonorous rituals I had witnessed that The exit from the room was through
night, and more terribly thrilling than the window. As I helped Madeleine
Graf Istavan’s mighty recital. through the shatteted sash, I heard
I knew that this darwish who knelt in Pierre’s voice, very stem, and too well
the circle was indeed a pious and holy controlled. He spoke to the Dankalis in
man; that such pecadillos as the robbing Arabic.
of caravans were trifles not to be charged "One of you help me with your mas-
to his account. ter’s body. He is dead.”
The room was a brooding silence such "Monsieur d’ Artois,” said Graf Istavan,
as precedes the relentless stroke of doom. "death is nothing to me. But would you
I glanced at Pierre, and was glad that 1 leave me to be mutilated by these sav-
did not know what to expect. ages?”
We stood poised on the very border "Their master,” replied d’ Artois stern-
of- ly, "went across the Border to lead your
A wrenched our tense nerves.
great cry victim back to her body before it died.
Then we heard a gasp, and the scream of But he himself could not return. Before
a startled woman. he left, I fancy that he instructed his men.
Madeleine sat upright on the altar. She Who am I to ask them to disobey?”
was bewildered, and her eyes were wide I leaped to the ground. As Madeleine
with terror. Then she recognized d’ Ar- dropped to my arms, one of the Dankalis
tois. followed her. After him came d’Artois,
"Oh, Uncle Pierre!” she exclaimed, as who let down the body of the darwish.
she slid from the altar that had come so Pierre, however, carried Nureddin sin-
perilously close to being her bier. "What gle-handed to the car, for the Dankali was
in —
world where an old white-
the — in great haste to rejoin his comrades. . . .

bearded man was leading me through an

awful fog where I’d been lost so hope-
lessly—
She laughed hysterically, and clung to
W
carry us.
E
fast
drove back
as tire

Madeleine,
to Pierre’s
powerful car would
still
house as

unstrung from
her Uncle Pierre. her sudden awakening, was startled at the
"He took me . . . by the hand . . . and sight of Nureddin.
led me. . . . Oh, it was terrible, but his "Oh, that’s the same old man that I
face was so kind. . .
.” saw in my dream!” she exclaimed. "He
460 WEIRD TALES
led me back through the fog and the dark- "Everything, in fact, is supposed to
ness. It’s been the most miserable night- have a secret name by which it can be
mare! Most of the time I thought I was commanded,” concluded Pierre. "But few
some one else.” have that knowledge.”
Later, as we three sat in his study, I "And to think,” said Madeleine, "that
said, "Pierre, what really did happen, now that old man deliberately gave his life for
that it’s all over?’’ a strange woman.” Her eyes sparkled
"That old darwish,” said d’Artois, with tears as she continued, "That took
"knew was but one way of
that there greater courage than facing — oh, but I

bringing Madeleine back to her body. He shouldn’t say that, after what you and
knew that that would be a feat that even Uncle Pierre did. What
”
I mean — if I

an adept can perform but once. Yet, could only express

knowing that it would be fatal, he per- "Don’t try to, my dear,” said Pierre.
sisted. "We know how you feel about that heroic

"My dear,” he continued, turning to old fellow.” And then, solemnly, "You
Madeleine, "although your body was still can best express your appreciation by
alive, you were dead. And had Nureddin never regretting that you are not a queen.”
not acted so quickly, you would have D’Artois, deeply moved
he was by as
joined Balkis in the shadows, for there the sacrifice of the darwish, smiled, and
would have been no living body to await twisted his mustache. "You might,” he
your return.” suggested, "remember him, and some day
For a few moments we were without name your first son Nureddin!
words. Death had taken the darwish, but "And now I must busy myself with cer-
the living girl was testimony that Death tain arrangements with Monsieur the Pre-
himself had been robbed by that strange fect of Police, on account of the messy
old man. condition of the chateau of the late Graf
"But why didn’t he use the True Name Istavan. His title, by the way, is as fic-
—whatever that may be?” I finally asked titious as your claim to the throne of
d’Artois. Balkis. Those good Dankalis would do
well to leave Bayonne quietly and quickly.
"Nureddin’s occult studies could ”
scarcely have included Madeleine’s True
And while I arrange

Name,” replied d’Artois. "He did not D’Artois winked at me, and grinned,
know it, and thus could not call her back making an unconvincing attempt to con-
to her body. But an adept from the ceal his emotions.

Orient would know the True Name of "See if you can console this young lady
Balkis. for her sudden loss of a crown,” he said.
“That principle,” d’Artois continued, "That,” murmured Madeleine, as the
"is one of the oldest in the study of magic door closed behind Pierre, "should be easy
and the occult. The ancient Hebraic cabala enough, unless you take after Graf Istavan
made much of the holy and awful mystery and insist upon royalty.”
of the True Name of Javeh. Egyptian But she was wrong; for my thoughts as
sorcerers claimed that they would work well as hers, that evening, were of an old
miracles by threatening Osiris with the man who had gone empty-handed on a
public revelation of his True Name if he raid to rob Death, instead of a caravan of
did not lend them his power. Persian heretics.
 *-’**•5
By EDMOND HAMILTON
An interplanetary story of many thrills —
a battle of leaping flame on the worlds of
Alpha Centauri, our nearest neighbor in space

^’"'^ONNOR! Newell!” called Rod- dered impatiently. "Can’t you two let up
3 . ney March from the cruiser’s on this scrapping for a few minutes?"
wheel. "Come up here to the There was silence for a few moments,
pilot room —something to show you!” and then the two climbed up into the
A voice reached him from below. *TU broad-windowed little pilot room in which
be up in a minute, Rod, but don’t ask March sat at the controls of the cruiser as
Connor. He looks a little space-sick." it raced through the void.
"Space-sick your eye!” a wrathful voice Tim Connor was red-haired and blue-
answered. "If you were just half the eyed, with hard-bitten face, while Milt
”
space-sailor I am, you’d Newell was long and dark and lazy-
"Cut it and come up here!” March or- moving. They came over to March’s side.
461
462 WEIRD TALES
"What Trouble?” asked Connor.
is it? ible power, and thus the three could expect
"I’d almost welcome some to break this in it to visit the universe’s greatest stars.
cursed monotony.” Now the first goal of their voyage, the

"The monotony is almost over, Tim,” was in sight, as they gazed

nearest star,

March told him. "Look ahead there at toward Alpha Centauri and its attendant
—
Alpha Centauri see those spots of light planets.

on either side?” "Three worlds!” Connor was exulting.

"Spots of light?” Connor’s eyes wrin- "Do you suppose they have life on them?
”
kled. "Spots - Intelligent life?”
"I see them!” Newell announced. "Hard to tell,” March answered. "We
"Two on one side of the double-star and can’t expect to find peopled planets or
”
one on the other side! They must be even planets at every star we visit. If
"Planets!” March finished for him. these three worlds have inhabitants, they
"Three planets moving round Alpha Cen- may be like ourselves or entirely alien in
tauri, and we’ll be reaching them in form.”
hours!” "Whatever they’re like, I hope they’re
"They are planets, too!” Connor said not too peaceful,” Connor said. "I’m
excitedly. "By the Lord, I was getting aching to get this boat’s guns on some-
afraid that we’d have to go on to Sirius
without finding any planets at our first
thing —then bam!”
"You and your cursed guns will prob-
stop —Alpha Centauri!” ably be the end of us before we touch at
The three gazed with intent interest. many Newell told him. "Having
stars,”
The broad fore-window of the pilot room you along is a perfect way of laying up a
framed the blackness of interstellar space,
store of first-class trouble.”
dotted with brilliant stars. In this black-
"Is that so?” Connor demanded.
ness there flamed close together two yel-
"Since when have you been so cautious? I
low suns, one rather larger than the other,
never remember you hanging back when
and about them were the three attendant
there was trouble being mixed, and what’s
spots of steady light. Alpha Centauri ”
more
and its three worlds!
Toward Alpha Centauri their cruiser "Will you two lay off?” March asked.
"We’ll reach those planets in a few hours;
had raced steadily through the trackless
so try to control yourselves until then.”
void for weeks, since they had left their
own solar system. It was in a wild long- "Going to head for the outermost plan-
ing for new adventure that the three had et first?” Connor asked, and March
left in their new cruiser of revolutionary nodded.
design. Wearied by the boredom of the "Yes, it’s the nearest, and we may as
solar system’s tame interplanetary traffic, well look it over first.”

W
they had started toward the hitherto un-
reached stars on a voyage of discovery and ithin hours Alpha Centauri’ s out-
adventure. ermost planet had grown from a
Their cruiser, driven
by etheric propul- speck of steady light to a great yellowish
sion-vibrations which it projected behind globe over which their cruiser hung in
it, could attain speeds many times the space. March began to bring the cruiser
speed of light itself. It had super-con- down in steep spirals toward the planet.
centrated supplies and almost inexhaust- He was gazing intently down with Con-
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 463

nor and Newell when there came a star- from beneath and falling on the attackers!
tling interruption to their descent. Instantly there was a mad melange of bat-

Space about them was suddenly alive tle around the cruiser, gas-globes storm-

with strange, dark oval ships! March, ing thick among the spinning ships, crum-
even as he whirled over the cruiser’s wheel bling to fragments those ships they
in answer to Newell's startled cry of touched. Then abruptly those who had
warning, was aware that from the rushing attacked the cruiser fled, darting up and
ships small globular clouds of white gas The battle was over!
out of sight.
were speeding toward them! The scores "Good God!” aied March, shaken.
of oval ships were attacking them! "What kind of a hornet’s nest have we
The cruiser heeled dizzily in space as it blundered into here?”
answered the wheel. Crisscrossing gas- "Whatever else this star has, it has
globes hurtled through space where it had fighting!” Connor cried, his blue eyes bril-

just been, and as one of these globes of liant with excitement. "We put our mark
gas touched a darting oval ship that was on those birds, too, though they’d have
too slow in escaping its path, March saw had us if the others hadn’t shown up.”
the ship crumbled to fragments by the It reminded March. "The ships that
globe of gas! As he swerved the cruiser saved us! Look, they’re coming toward
with instinctive swiftness, he heard a ay us— they must be friendly.”
from Newell, another from Connor. "I see men inside that one!” said New-
Connor was at the controls of the cruis- ell suddenly. "Look, Rod, the transpar-
er’s guns, his blue eyes blazing. From ent part there at the nose!”
these ether-guns mounted at prow and March had seen. One of the scores of
stern of the cruiser came a swift drum- oval ships of their rescuers had driven
ming as they poured a stream of ether- level with the cruiser in space and at its

shells at the attacking oval ships around nose was a transparent-windowed section
them. Three ships were struck by the much like the cruiser’s pilot room. They
ether-shells and vanished instantly, the could see men inside it, bronze-skinned
exploding shells dematerializing them by and dark-haired men clad in black har-
destroying the ether about and through ness. One of them was making friendly
them. But the scores of other oval ships signs to the three in the cruiser’s pilot
were closing in. room, pointing down to the planet below.
Their deadly gas-globes hurtled from "They want us to accompany them
every direction as March kept the cruiser down to their world,” March interpreted.
leaping, turning, jerking and dodging in "They seem friendly enough, too.”
an effort to evade them. Newell was "Well, it’s where we were going any-
—
shouting something to him Connor was way,” Connor said, "though I’d like to
yelling as he worked the ether-guns he — come out here and meet those other birds
glimpsed symbols of two metal circles on again some time.”
—
the sides of the oval ships he knew that "We’re going down with them,” March
in seconds one of those hurtling gas- decided. "Remember to keep your mitts
globes would touch the cruiser off those gun-grips, Tim. These people
Suddenly the attacking ships whirled are friends.”
back, recoiled. Other oval ships, twice Their cruiser swung down in steep
their number and like, them save that they spirals with the oval ships around it*

bore a three-circle symbol, were racing up "Rod, do you think those ships that at-
 4

464 WEIRD TALES

tacked us came from one of the other two there’s a crowd waiting for us out there
planets?” Newell asked. already. What do the meters read, Milt?”
"Must have,” March said thoughtfully. "Atmosphere and temperature about
"I didn’t glimpse those inside them, but
I’ve no doubt they were from the other
the same as earth’s —
gravitation a little
stronger,” Newell reported. "Our belt
worlds.” automatic-equalizers will take care of the
They descended quickly with the oval increased gravitation, of course.”
ships flying smoothlydown around them. "Then it’s safe to go out. Come on,
Soon the rush and roar of air outside told you jtwo.”
them that they were entering the planet’s "Shall we take ether-pistols?” Connor
atmosphere. Newell consulted meters asked.
and reported the atmosphere a heavy one "You’re a trusting fellow, aren’t you?”
of air. Connor looked down with March Newell exclaimed. "These people out
intently. and the first
there just saved all our necks
They dropped through the mists of the thing you suggest is taking ether-pistols
planet’s upper atmosphere and had on a friendly call on them!”
glimpses from time to time of a yellow "I don’t think we’ll need the pistols,”
and black checkered plain below. They March said.
shot down through the last mists to find "Have it your own way,” Connor re-
themselves less than a mile over this plain. turned. "I’m only afraid that when they
March and Connor and Newell exclaimed see this pan of Newell’s they’ll regret sav-
”
in their surprize. The plain was a city! ing us and want to
It was an immense yellow and black "Can it, will you!” March exclaimed.
checker-city, the yellow squares being "No more out of you two, now let’s get —
blocks of thick yellow vegetation careful- out.”
ly tended, and the black squares being He led down to the space-doors, spin-
blocks of cubical black buildings. This ning open inner and outer ones, and they
strange checker-city of vegetation and stepped out onto the plaza’s seamless
buildings stretched from horizon to hori- black paving.
zon of the world under them. They looked instinctively upward first

Its inhabitants, they saw as they dropped
lower, were innumerable bronze-skinned
men and women. Many thronged the
ways of the building-squares, while as
many others worked in the vegetation-
squares at the cultivation of the growths
and then blinked dazzled eyes for a mo-
ment, almost blinded by the brilliance of
the two suns flaming close together in the
heavens. An intense flood of light and
heat poured down from the two lum-
inaries.

there. A few oval ships were in sight When their eyes were a little accus-
over the city, most of them near a block tomed to the light, they saw in front of
that held the largest blade buildings. them a group of a dozen waiting men.
Toward this the cruiser’s escorting ships They were the bronze-skinned, dark-
were leading it. haired men of the oval ships, their fea-
tures regular and intelligent. They wore

T he came to rest with the oval

cruiser
ships about it on the black plaza sur-
rounding these large central buildings.
black belts that formed more
than clothing, and each wore on his shoul-
der-belt a symbol of three metal circles
a harness

“Here we are,” said March, "and like those on their ships. They surveyed
W. T.—
 5
THE STAR-ROAMERS 46 5

the earthmen in patent amazement, veloped between liquid and human form,
which was shared by the throngs of though as intelligent as we are.”
bronze-skinned men and women gathered “And the other planet, the innermost
at a respectful distance. one?” March pursued.
"These people seem far enough ad- "The innermost planet is inhabited
vanced to converse telepathically as we neither by us Kerts nor by the Threns, but

can in the solar system,” March told his by the Rhels,” Jurn answered. "The
companions. “I’ll try them.” Rhels are a strange liquid-people sup-
posed to be ancestors of both Threns and
He projected a clear thought at the men
before him. "We three are men from Kerts, and greater in intelligence than
another sun’s worlds —from another star.
either. But little is known of them, for
they have no intercourse with either of
Can you receive and understand my
the other two worlds.”
thought?”
The foremost bronze man, a tall, com- “But the space-ships and weapons of
the Threns seemed just the same as yours,”
manding figure, answered, his own dear
thought coming into the minds of the
Connor commented.
Hollak, the huge co-ruler of Jurn, an-
three. "I understand you; yet I do not
understand how you can claim to be from
swered. "They are the same, for they
were handed down to us from the far past
another star.”
March gestured upward. "The stars
when the Threns were the ancestors of
that dot the heavens at night are all suns.
our own Kert race.”
"It is so,” Jum added, "and because
You know that?”
"We know,” the other answered, "but our weapons and space- ships are the same
as theirs the Threns have warred for long
never have we thought it possible to cross
the vast gulfs that lie between the suns.
without conquering us. But of late they
Yet on the other hand you three are not —
have been growing too strong for us too —
strong— ” His face shadowed
of any of our suns’ three worlds.”
“Your three worlds are all inhabited
2
then by humans like yourselves?” March
asked quickly, but the other shook his
head.
"No, we Kerts inhabit only this outer-
T hen
ly.
Jum’s manner changed sudden-
"But enough of Threns and
Kerts for the present. I am forgetting
most world, planet three. I, Jurn, am one my duties toward you as guests of our
of the two co-rulers of our race of Kerts world.” He motioned to the great build-
or humans, and beside me is Hollak, the ings.
other. We were conferring here together March hesitated. “Our cruiser will be
on the situation of our world when there safe here?”
came an alarm that a ship was being at- “I will make sure for you that it is,”
tacked over it.” Jurn answered.
"Then the ships that attacked us He turned and uttered a brief order.
weren’t ships of humans?” asked Newell. Guards armed with short rods
weapons, they guessed—surrounded the
—gas-globe
Again Jurn shook his head. "No, they
were ships of the Threns who inhabit the cruiser.
second planet and make war on us Kerts. Jurn and Hollak led the way toward
While somewhat like humans in appear- the great central building in the block of
ance, the Threns are really but half-de- huge black cubes ahead. A little retinue
W. T.—
466 WEIRD TALES
of guards and officials followed them, and go backr from here to your own sun
the watching crowds of Kerts gave way again?”
before the party, staring with a very hu- "No,” Connor grinned. "Sirius is our
man curiosity at March and his compan- next stop, and after that we go on from
ions. star to star.”
When theyhad passed out of the two "Sirius, and then on from star to star,”
suns’ blaze of light and heat into the cool mused Hollak. "You have surely ahead
dimness of the great cube-building, Jurn of you the greatest adventures in the uni-
led them to the black-walled, high-win- verse, though they almost ended today be-
dowed chambers that were to be theirs. neath the gas-globes of the Threns.”
He informed them that they would meet "We’ve you to thank that they didn’t,”
Hollak and him shortly at the evening March returned. “I admit that I’m curi-
meal. ous about what you told us of the Threns
When he had gone, March and Connor and Rhels. You say both were the an-
and Newell stared about them and from cestors of your own race of Kerts?”
the windows, as though doubting the "That is Jurn answered. “The
so,”
reality of their transition from the monot-
first life in this system developed on the
ony of space to this civilized city. The innermost planet and there under its con-
utter simplicity of design of all about ditions of intense heat and light evolved
them bespoke a combination of scientific into intelligent creatures in liquid form,
and artistic knowledge and instinct. the Rhels. They are sexni-liquid proto-
Soft and sourceless light waxed in the plasmic masses with half-human heads.
rooms as darkness fell outside, and silent- Having great intelligence and scientific
moving Kert sen’ ants tended them unob- knowledge, some of these Rhels built
trusively. They went then to join Jurn space-ships and migrated to the second
and Hollak and found the two co-rulers planet.
on a balcony that jutted from the great "Its conditions of heat and gravitation
cube-building’s side. A small food-laden being different, the Rhels who settled
table awaited them. The great city there evolved with time into a differently
stretched before them in the darkness, formed race, roughly human in form but
many lights blinking from its checkered with glistening protoplasmic flesh. Thus
building-squares. was formed the race of Threns, and since
The Kert city’s patterned lights were the Threns had some of the scientific
rivalled by the star-spawn that glittered knowledge of their ancestors the Rhels,
across the sky. March and Newell and some of them migrated in turn to this
Connor gazed up across them, noting that outermost one of the three planets.
some of the familiar constellations had "On this planet, with its still different
altered slightly in outline but that most conditions, the Threns settling here
were unchanged. The sun of their own changed in turn, developing tissues and
origin shone as a bright yellow point, and skin and blood instead of their proto-
March gestured to if. plasmic flesh, and becoming in fact Kerts
"Our sun our — star! It seems a long or humans such as we are now. Such was
while now since we started out from it the origin of this system’s three races,
toward this star.” though no doubt the humans of your own
"It is wonderful that such a thing system developed by a different evolu-
could be,” Jurn marvelled. "And do you tionary chain.
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 467

"The Rhels have remained secluded on berly. "When Grund strikes, the Threns
their inner planet without holding any in- will pour down on our world like an
tercourse with the other two races. The avalanche,”
Tbrens of the second planet, however, "I am afraid it will be so,” Jum ad-
have sought repeatedly to conquer and mitted, "I had hoped that the many
enslave us Kerts, We have had to strug- Threns who want peace with us would
gle hard to repel them; for they are have stopped this attack, but Grund has
slightly superior to us in scientific knowl- overruled them. There’s nothing left for
edge and weapons, though inferior to the us but to fight.”
Rhels in these.”
"Then

nodded.
this
now going on?” March
war of Threns and Kerts is
asked, and Jurn T he conversation went on,
his companions rapidly learning by
this telepathic talk the
March and

language which
"Yes, and our situation is growing they were informed was spoken alike by
menacing; for Grund is gathering the Kerts, Tbrens and Rhels. March a little

Threns for a final attack on us. Grund stepped over to the balcony’s rail and
later

is Thren
the present ruler and is one of looked out over the city’s checkered lights.
the hardest and most ruthless of his race. The huge black bulk of the cubical
He has overruled the many Threns who building behind him, shouldered against
would like to liye at peace with us, and the stars, seemed brooding on the Kert
with his two lieutenants, Quamai and city. From distant building-squares came
Dron, has been preparing for a final con- a dim hum of voices, and as March looked
quest of our world and race, up he could see a group of oval ships
"Undoubtedly Grund will loose his at- dropping leisurely out of the night.
tack on us before long, but seems waiting "Fighting here seems the real thing,”
now to find where we are weakest. If he heard Connor saying. "Those gas-
Grund learns how our space-ships are dis- globes you use, now ”
posed in defense around our worid he can
"What are those ships, patrols coming
attack the weakest side first and be cer-
in?”March turned to ask Hollak.
tain of victory. Of late a force of Thren
The ruler and Connor came to his side,
ships has been hovering over our world
for some purpose we can not guess, but
"What ships?” Hollak asked.
which is undoubtedly part of Grund's March pointed up to the descending
plan.” ships, that seemed dropping now almost
"Those were the ships that attacked us straight toward the balcony. Hollak
when we ran into them?” Newell asked. peered up at them. The oval ships sud-
"They were, and they would have denly deserted their leisurely slowness of
destroyed you had we not got the alarm descent and dropped like plummets to
from our patrols in time,” Jum replied. hang level beside the balcony.

"As it was, the greater part of them es- With exdamations the three recoiled,
caped us; for we dared not chase them just as the space-doors of the ships burst
too far out in space lest we be ambushed open. Out from them a stream of weird
by a superior force. They’re probably figures poured onto the balcony, figures
hovering up there above our patrols yet.” human in shape but with glistening, skin-
"They are only the vanguard of those less bodies! They bore gas-globe rods in
that will come,” interjected Hollak som- their grasp, but without using them they
 468 WEIRD TALES
threw themselves toward the two rulers our world for days for that purpose, to
and the earthmen. raid us and capture Hollak and myself.
"Thren raiders!” cried Hollak, his rod- This is Grund’s plan —
to capture us two
weapon leaping. before he starts the attack on our world.”

''They’re the Thren ships that have "And they tried to seize all of us —did
been hovering over this world!” cried seize Tim just to — get you two!”
Jurn.
”
"I know now- — they’re after "But we’re not going to let them keep
us Tim!” Newell burst. "Damn it, Rod,
The glistening-bodied Threns had where’s our ship? We’re going after
seized March and Connor and Hollak in them!”
their first rush, knocking the weapon "Wait —wait!” Jurn interrupted.- "You
from the latter’s grasp. Kert guards in will not help your friend by following
the great building were coming on the him to a similar fate.and Hollak He
run, shouting, while the big Thren who will undoubtedly be taken before Grand,
seemed leader of the raiders was pointing and whether or not Grand is able to get
to Jurn and Hollak and bellowing to his information from them, he will not let
followers. them live long.”
March, struggling with glistening fig- "The more reason for us to start after
ures, glimpsed Hollak being dragged into them now!” Newell said. "Do you think
a ship by four Threns and saw Connor, we’re going to let the Threns keep Tim
when he leapt to free him, pulled after or Hollak either? We’ll go to the Thren
him. Others were reaching for Jurn, but planet and yank them out of there!”
March and Newell were fighting so fren- "Milt is right, Jurn,” said March, his
ziedly beside him that they could not voice steely. "We’re not the kind to
overpower him. sheer off and leave Tim to his fate.” •

There came the fierce cries of the Kert "I understand,” Jurn said, "but you do
guards bursting out on the balcony. The notknow how hopeless such a project is.
Thren leader leapt back into a ship and it You would have to go alone to the Thren
and the other oval ships shot up into the world; for with this attack hanging over
night. The Threns left on the balcony us I could not give you an escort of sup-
turned desperately to face their oppo- porting ships. And alone how can you
had
nents, but the Kerts raised their rods, hope even to find your friend and Hollak,
and the white gas-globes that hurtled let alone take them from the clutches of
from them crumbled and annihilated the Grand?”
glistening raiders. "We can try, and we’re going to try,”
The fight on the balcony was over. The March answered. "Where on the Thren
Thren ships had disappeared into the world would they be taken, do you
upper night, alarmed patrol-ships of the think?”
Kerts racing after them, and March and Jurn shook his head. "None of us
Newell and Jurn faced each other wild- Kerts know much of the Thren world,
eyed. but it is known that Grand has immense
"They got Connor!” cried March. central palaces from which he rales, his
"They dragged him in after Hollak when aides Quarnal and Dron have separate pal-
he tried to pull Hollak free!” aces. I think two prisoners of such im-
"I see it all now!” Jurn exclaimed. portance would be held in the palaces of
"Those Threns have been hovering over Grand.”
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 469

"That gives us something to go on, at be safely guarded and will be here for
least,” March said. "If we can reach the you if you return.”
palaces you speak of we can trust the rest "There are no ifs about it,” March
to luck.” smiled. "We’ll be back, and Connor and
"Youare foolish to walk thus into Hollak with us. And if possible we’ll
death,” Jum said, "but if you must go, go give your friend Grand a sock in the eye
in one of our oval ships and not in your while we’re calling on him.”
cruiser. Our ships are the same in ap- "That’s if Tim and Hollak haven’t
pearance as the Thren ships, and you will done it already,” Newell added.
have a far better chance of landing on the They shook hand and then the
Jura’s
Thren world in one.” them and the oval
space-door shut after
"That’s reasonable,” March agreed, craft shot up into the blazing light of the
"but we don’t know the operation of your two rising suns.It climbed up and out in
ships and their weapons.” spiralsfrom the planet’s atmosphere, hov-

few hours,” Jurn said.

—
"They are simple you can learn in a ered for a moment, and then shot through
space in the direction of the suns, toward
"But that means waiting till tomorrow the planet of the Threns.
to start!” Newell protested.
Jurn regarded him. "What difference 3
will a
kill
few hours make? Grund will not
Hollak and your friend until he has
learned all possible from them, and if I
know Hollak, that will not be soon. And
W HEN the Thren raiders had dragged
Hollak from the balcony into one
of their hanging ships, Connor had leapt

this short delay will give you a far better

to his aid only to be grasped by a half-

chance of reaching them.” dozen Threns and dragged after him.

"He’s right, Milt,” March said. "We Connor struck out fiercely and was strug-
can learn how to run these Kert ships be- gling still as the Kert guards called by

fore morning and start then.” Jura burst onto the balcony. Then, as
the ships shot upward, some one struck

T hey spent the following hours of the

night in unceasing activity. By
morning, under the tutelage of Kert pi-
him a stunning blow on the head and for
the moment he knew no more.
When Connor came back to conscious-
lots, they had learned the operation of the ness he found himself half lying against a
oval ships, which they found were pro- wall with Hollak reviving him. He re-

pelled by force-vibrations like their cruis- membered at sight of the big Kert and
er,though far inferior to it in speed. The grasped his arm.
controls of the gas-globe weapons they "What happened? Were Rod or Milt
found quite simple. hurt?” he demanded.
They equipped themselves with ether- Hollak shook his head. "None was
pistols from their cruiser, and when the hurt that I could see, and none but our-
two suns rose they were ready to start. selves captured.”
Jum was at hand to see them go, having "Captured?” Connor’s jaw dropped.
spent the night in gathering his world’s "We two captured?”
forces against possible subsequent raids. He looked amazedly about him. He
"You are brave men, men from the and Hollak sat in the corner of a metal-
stars,” he told them. "Your cruiser shall walled compartment. The humming of
4 70 WEIRD TALES
mechanisms and quiver of motion told nal warned. "You won’t be the first Kert
them that it was part of a ship racing I’ve had them twist to shapelessness.”
through space. Opposite Hollak and "Is it so?” said Hollak quietly. “Then
Connor stood three Threns, watching for these others when the times comes,
with gas-globe rods ready. Quarnal, I am going to kill you—slowly.”
Connor stared at them, seeing them fully Quarnal started toward him, glistening
for the first time. The Threns were weird featurescontorted with rage, but the
figures, having bodies, limbs and hairless other Thren jerked him back.
heads of human shape and size, with hu- “Enough of this, Quarnal!” he
man eyes and features and harness-cloth- snapped. “I know your ways, but there’ll
ing, but with glistening protoplasmic be no prisoner-torturing in my presence!”
flesh instead of ordinaiy human tissues. Quarnal turned angrily on him. "You
Connor could half discern their arm and are strangely solicitous about our enemies,
leg-bones through their translucent, rub- Dron!” he snarled. "So solicitous indeed
bery flesh! They were watching the two that even Grund has begun to wonder
captives steadily. whether you are Thren or Kert!”
"Holy smoke—and these birds are the Dron faced him calmly. "I am Thren,
Threns!” he exclaimed. "What are they and all know it,” he said, "but though I
going to do with us?” fight as a Thren I think as a reasoning
being, and I see that these wars of ours
"Whatever it is, it isn’t likely to be
pleasant,” Hollak answered. "This ship on the Kerts are folly. And you need not
carry that tale to Grund, for I said as
is on its way with the others to their
much to him myself!”
world.”
"So Grund told me,” said Quarnal, his
The compartment’s door opened and
tone subtly menacing. He turned back to
two other Threns entered. Connor rec-
the prisoners. "Enough for you at pres-
ognized the largest, one as big as Hollak,
ent, Hollak,” he said. "Who is this
as the leader of the attack on the balcony.
strange-garbed son of a slave we took
This Thren stared contemptuously at
with you?”
them.
Connor’s wrath had been rising to
"So, Hollak, you go with us to be the
bursting-point during the preceding ex-
guest of Grund,” he said, using the lan- changes, and now he found utterance.
guage which served all three races and "Listen, you half -finished excuse for a
which Connor and his friends had learned human being,” he told Quarnal. "I come
much of in telepathic conversation with from another solar system and it’s one
Jurn and Hollak. "Grund will be glad
where you and your crowd would be hung
Thren continued, "though
to see you,” the
up to dry in three seconds flat. Your face
he will be sorry we couldn’t bring Jurn gives me a pain, your talk is foolish, your
also. He’ll be glad to hear all you can I’m be-
manners don’t exist, and in short
tell him about the forces of your race of
ginning to think I don’t like you.”
slaves.”
"From another star?” Quarnal said,
"Grund will learn nothing from me, and laughed. "Then you have come a
and you know it, Quanta!,” answered long way to be killed. You prevented us
Hollak. from taking Jurn, and I think Grund will
.
"You now, but when my
are obstinate be glad to see you.”
torturers work on you you’ll talk,” Quar- He left the compartment with that, and
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 471

Dron, distaste evident on his face, fol- them. In the crowds of Threns,
streets,

lowed. glistening and weird figures, thronged

"So that’s why Grand ordered the cap- busily, and Connor could see some Kerts

ture of Jum and myself,” Hollak com- who carried burdens and were quite
mented, "to take our race’s leaders and evidently captive slaves. Hollak growled
torture information about our forces from deep in his chest at sight of these.

us. Well, they didn’t get Jurn and they’ll The ships had landed on a broad park
get no information from me.” that surrounded immense cubical build-
"That Quarnal is sure poison,” Connor ings, by far the largest they had seen on
said, "though the other one, Dron, seems either world. Into one of these they were
regular.” conducted.

"Dron is one of the Threns who hate In a few minutes they were halted near
this warring with the Kerts but whom the center of a long, high-windowed hall
Grand has overruled,” Hollak told him. crowded with Threns, while Quarnal and
"But neither Dron nor those who believe Dron made their report to Grand.
with him will be able to save us from Grand, ruler of the Threns, was a dom-
Grand when we reach the second planet. inant figure as he sat on his throne-like
And we’ll be reaching it in hours.” erection at the hall’s end, officials and
guards about him. Connor forgot the
N the next hours the ship in which glistening body as he saw Grand’s cold,
I they were prisoned sped steadily on keen eyes. It was evident that the report
through space. From the compartment’s of Quarnal and Dron displeased Grand.
window they could look out, though the "You should have taken them both!”
guards did not relax their vigilance. he snapped to Quarnal. "You took Hol-
Through this window Connor saw that lak —why not Jurn?”
the ship, with other similar oval ships "It was because of the strangely garbed
around it, was racing in toward the sec- men with them, who fought us off long
ond planet that glowed like a steady star enough for the guards to get there,”
in the blackness of space. Beyond this Quarnal explained. "We took one of
planet of the Threns, on the other side of them and might have taken Jurn despite
the two suns, he could make out the light- them if Dron had taken part in the
point of the innermost planet, the planet attack,” he added maliciously.
of the Rhels. "I do not like such sneaking exploits,”
The Thren planet grew ahead of them said Dron directly. "Such raids are mis-
and soon the ships
to a buff-colored ball, takes —many of our people say that that
were rushing down through its atmos- other raid you ordered will bring disaster
phere. The ships came to rest, and Con- on us.”
nor and Hollak were marched out into the Grand eyed him narrowly. "And you
open air by Quarnal and Dron and a do not discourage them from saying that,
group of guards. The Thren world lay do you?” he asked softly but with deadly
about them in the brilliant sunlight. emphasis. "You grow somewhat too
It was covered like the world of the bold, Dron. Remember that I am ruler
Kerts by a single city, denoting a great of the Threns and not you, and that while
population. But though this city’s build- I rale we’ll go on until these Kerts are
ings were also black and cubical, there conquered and made what they should be,
were no vegetation-squares checkering our slaves.”
472 WEIRD TALES
He made and the guards uarnal gave an
a gesture,
jerked Hollak and Connor forward. Hol-
lak eyed the Thren ruler levelly.
O
the hall, marching
order to the guards
and they followed him back out of
Connor and Hollak
"Your head will not be so high before with them. They passed through curving
long, Hollak," said Grund. "Will you corridors and ramps leading downward,

tell me what forces of ships the Kerts until Connor estimated that they were

have and how they are placed around your some distance below ground-level. En-
world?” tering a corridor with barred doors along
it, they moved down it and halted before
"You know that I will not,” Hollak
one of the doors. A guard unbarred and
answered contemptuously.
opened it and Quarnal motioned them in-
Grund’s cold eyes did not change.
side.
"We will see—we will see. A few hours
"Remember, Kert,” he said to Hollak,
of torture sometimes works wonders. I
"that unless your tongue loosens by morn-
will give you a night in which to consider
that fact, and if then you are not more
ing my torturers will show me their skill

willing, we’ll see what Quarnal and his

on you!”
followers can do with you.” Hollak turned in the door, "You,
Quarnal, remember this,” he said levelly,
"We will, will we?” Connor exclaimed.
“Say, if you want to keep Quarnal "that have promised to kill you and that
I

healthy, keep him out of my reach, or I'll

I have never yet broken a promise,”
smack him down so flat you can write a "That’ll hold you,” observed Connor
letter home on him!”
to Quarnal. "And you can tell Grund
that I wish him the same and many of
Grund’s gaze switched to Connor, and
them.”
Quarnal spoke a few words of explana-
Connor and Hollak were thrust on
tion. "You say he is from another star?”
Grund said. "What matters it? he is — through the door and it clanged shut
after them, the bar falling. They heard
one of those who blocked your capture of
Quarnal order one of the Thren guards to
Jum. You need not have brought him
remain outside it, and then he moved off
here. Dispose of him.”
with the others.
Quarnal’s rod came up to loose a gas-
They looked about was
their prison. It
globe at Connor, but before the Thren
a small room, dimly lit by a ray of waning
could use the weapon Hollak stepped be- light from a tiny loophole in the wall, the
tween it and the earthman.
only opening.
"If you kili this man you will kill me Connor put his hand on Hollak’s
with him,” Hollak informed Quarnal. shoulder. "That’s one I owe you, Hol-
Quarnal’s savage change of expression lak,’’he observed. "Quarnal was set to
showed that he meant to do so, but a quick give me the works when you stepped be-
sign from Grund made him desist. tween us,”
"Let him live for the present, then,” "We are but quits; for you were taken
Grund ordered, "since Hollak must live trying to save me,” Hollak told him.
until we have learned what we want from "Besides, I knew Grund would not let me
him. Put the two of them down there be killed until he had learned what he
with the other, and if Hollak hasn’t talked wants to know from me, how our Kert
by morning you can start your torturers forces are divided on our world. He is
to work on him.” holding his attack on our world until he

learns in this way its weakest point, but
he’ll never learn it from me.”
"That’s the spirit,” Connor approved,
"though this fix we’re in
my —what was that?”
Something had moved in the darkness
of the little room, something that was
coming toward them with a soft, slither-
ing sound.
"It’s some one they’ve prisoned us
with!” Hollak exclaimed. "You remem-
ber, Grand ordered them to put us down
here with the other.”
"But good Lord, look at
cried, stupefied.
"It’s a Rhel!” Hollak exclaimed. "A
Rhel prisoner of the Threns!”
The figure advancing toward them was
staggeringly weird in appearance as it
emerged into the single ray’s dim light. It
seemed a great viscous mass of translu-
cent flesh like that of the Threns’ bodies.
But it was simply a mass, without perma-
nent form, flowing forward and reaching
out great pseudopod-tentacles as an ameba
does.
Set at the center of this flowing mass
was its one permanent feature, the head.
It was a glistening head like those of the
Threns, with dark human-like eyes and a
mouth below them, the black nerve-con-
nections branching from this head being
mass of the body.
visible in the translucent
The creature was speaking to Connor and
Hollak in a low, hissing voice.
"Yes, a Rhel prisoner of the Threns,” it
was saying. "And I, Xydd, am first of the
Rhels that the Threns have ever dared to
imprison.”
"A Rhel!” Connor was exclaiming, and
Hollak nodded quickly. "Yes, one of the
race of the inner planet who were ances-
tors of both Threns and Kerts. They
have never had intercourse with the other
planets, this being the first Rhel I have
ever really seen myself."
THE STAR-ROAMERS 473
"How comes it that the Threns dared
capture you?” he asked Xydd.
"It was simple enough,” Xydd an-
isn’t much to swered. "I am one of the greatest of the
Rhel and this Grand, the Thren
scientists,
ruler, sent a raiding party to capture
Rhel scientists so that he might gain from
them knowledge of new weapons with
which to conquer you Kerts. His raiders
came to our world, and since we have no
guards, none ever before daring to molest
us, theyfound it easy to penetrate our city
unobserved by night and to capture me in
him!” Connor my laboratory.
"They saw no chance to capture others
of our scientists; so they left and brought
me here. Their ruler, this Grand, de-
manded that I design new weapons for
him to use against the Kerts. I told him
that I, Xydd, was a Rhel and that when
Mnann, ruler of the Rhels, learned what
he had dared do, the Rhels would take a
terrible retribution. He answered that
Mnann would never learn and that in any
case he feared none in the three worlds.
I was imprisoned here with Grand’s
warning that unless I acceded to his de-
mand I would meet death, and I think
that will be soon now.”
"So Grand dared do that, capture a
Rhel!” exclaimed Hollak. "Then that
was what Dron referred to when he said
that the Thren people feared the other
raid would bring disaster on them.”
"Who is this with you?” asked Xydd.
"He seems a Kert, yet different.”
Briefly Hollak explained Connor’s or-
igin. The Rhel seemed highly interested,
his dark eyes running over Connor.
"So you came with others from another
star? We Rhels have long thought that
possible, though engrossed in different
researches we have never investigated the
matter. I should be interested in seeing
your star’s worlds— for though your peo-
ple can not rival the Rhels in knowledge,
474 WEIRD TALES
they must have made considerable prog- The three prisoners stared at the new-
ress.” comer.

Hollak intervened impatiently. "It is

It was Dron.
no time for scientific speculations,” he 4
toldXydd, "but for us to think of what
we are to do.”

"What we are to do?” echoed Xydd.

D ron once revealed his purpose in
at
coming. "My business is with
"That is easy —we will wait here, and be-
Xydd,” he told Hollak and Connor.
"Xydd,” he said to the Rhel, "since
fore long the Threns will put us to death
for not telling them the things they wish your capture by Grund’s raiders became
to know.” known, many of us Threns have been

"Some program,” Connor commented.

very anxious. We fear that by his rash
action Grand has made the whole Rhel
"Don’t you even want to make a try to
race our enemies.”
get out of here?”
"You fear rightly,” Xydd told him
"Of what use to try? I am sorry to
calmly. "If Mnann, ruler of the Rhels,
die now, for I was engaged in a very in-
learns of your people will
it, know the
teresting scientific study in my world; but
Rhel vengeance.”
since we can not escape there is no help "But we have no desire to become en-
in feeding ourselves with useless hopes.” emies of the Rhels, whatever Grand has
"There must be some way of escape,” done!” Dron exclaimed. "The great ma-
Hollak insisted. jority of us disapprove even of this war of

"There is none,” Xydd repeated. "The conquest against the Kelts.”

first day was prisoned here I concen-
I
"Why do you tell me this?” Xydd
trated all my mental power on possibil- asked him.
ities of escape. I found there was none,
"For this reason,” Dron returned.
and so dismissed the question from my "There are many of us who would like to
mind.” release you from this prison to go back to
your own world. If we did this would it
In the next hours, rack their brains as
placate your people when they learned of
they might, Connor and Hollak had no
what had happened?”
better success than Xydd. It seemed im-
Before Xydd could answer the door
possible to escape from their cell, and in
flew open. Quarnal stood in it, the single
time they gave up discussing impossible
Thren door-guard behind him. Quar-
schemes.
nal’s face was aflame with evil triumph.
Darkness had fallen outside and the "So I’ve caught you at last, Dron!” he
dim ray of sunlight from the loophole exulted. "You would release this Rhel
was replaced by an equally dim source- prisoner, would you? I think Grand will
less light that came into being in the room
thank me for this news.”
with the coming of night. Connor whispered tensely to Hollak.
Connor and Hollak and Xydd had sat "Hollak, here’s our chance! Take Quar-
”
silent for some time, when there was an
exchange of voices outside their door and
nal and I’ll

Connor had seen

take the guard
their
— quick
opportunity.
they heard it unbarred and opened. A Quarnal’s triumph at overhearing his fel-

figure stepped inside, the door being low-Thren had made him forget for the
closed and locked after him by the guard. moment that the cell’s door was open and
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 475

*
that butone guard stood behind him. So they hastened along the corridor. ’What-
his denunciation of Dron was hardly out ever happens. I’m glad Quarnal got what
of Quarnal’ s mouth before Hollak had was coming to him.”
leapt upon him. Connor sprang for the "Careful!" Xydd warned suddenly.
guard. "My hearing is better than yours— I can
With a terrific blow of his clenched fist hear voices from around the corridor’s
Connor drove the guard against the wall, turn.”
where he fell to the floor stunned. Quarnal They crept on with sudden stealth.
had given a brief bellow of rage as Hol- They made three weirdly dissimilar fig-
lak seized him, and as Connor turned he ures in the dim corridor—Connor in his
saw that Hollak held the Thren in his tight-fitting space-jacket, the huge Hol-
great arms, while Xydd had reached quick lak in his black harness, the monstrous
pseudopod arms to pull down Dron. human-headed Xydd with viscous body
For a moment there was silence in the flowing smoothly beside them. Their
cell, Quarnal straining every muscle to rods were raised as they came to the hall’s
break free of Hollak’s grip. Hollak’s arm turn and peered around it.

went higher, around his glistening neck, Two guards were stationed at separate
and Quarnal’s eyes protruded, became doors not a dozen feet around the turn,
dreadful. Then Hollak* s arm closed with and these two Threns glimpsed the three
tremendous power, there was a dull snap, a second too late as they appeared at the
and Quarnal’s head rolled limp. Hollak corner; for from the rods of Xydd and
let the dead Thren fall to the floor. Hollak and Connor leapt white gas-
promised him that I would kill
”1 globes that crumbled and annihilated the
him,” he panted. two Threns as they raised their own
"What of this one?” Xydd asked. He weapons.
was holding Dron bound and gagged by
four powerful pseudopod-arms. "Shall I
kill him also?”
"No,” Connor said. "He’s too good a
T
lead
he three moved swiftly on, follow-
ing a branch corridor that seemed to
upward. The immense building
guy for that, even if he is a Thren.” over them was largely silent; its dim cor-
"We'll tie and gag him to keep him ridors were almost deserted. The one
from giving the alarm,” Hollak said. they followed debouched suddenly into
—
"Quick his harness-straps
”
the outside air, and they found themselves
They secured and gagged Dron with in the darkness just outside the wall of
the belts of his own harness. His gas- Grund’s huge palaces.
globe rod, and those of Quarnal and the The world-covering city of the Threns
guard, they quickly Hollak
retrieved, extended before them in the darkness, a
showing Connor the catch by which the plain of twinkling lights. There were
rods were operated. They hurried then some lights in the huge buildings behind
out into the corridor. them, too, and among the scores of ships
No one was in sight along its dim-lit resting in tire surrounding park. Toward
length. the nearest of these ships the trio moved
"Come on!” Hollak said. "If we can swiftly, Xydd gliding easily beside the
get out of this building we may be able to running Connor and Hollak.
steal a ship in the darkness outside.” They were beside the nearest oval ship
"Here’s hoping!” Connor returned as when they flattened themselves suddenly
476 WEIRD TALES
under its curve. A ship was descending after locating those palaces from high
from above! It was an oval ship that above, we waited until night to come
circled down very slowly over the park down in this ship and try getting inside
and then came to rest directly beside the them.”
craft under which they crouched. The Xydd’s hissing voice came from the
space-door of the newly landed ship darkness. "If we are to escape it had best
swung open and before the three could be soon,” he warned. "They will find
change position two figures had emerged Dron and give the alarm at any moment.”
from this door, stepping from it almost "Who’s that?” exclaimed March, mak-
directly into the crouching three.
ing out Xydd’s weird form for the first
There was a low cry from one of them, time.
a rush of dark shadows, and then before
Connor explained how he and
Briefly
either party could use their gas-rods they
Hollak had been prisoned with the Rhel
were struggling hand to hand. Connor and had escaped with him. March’s eyes
knew that a cry from the two would sum-
lit.
mon Thren guards, but to his amaze-
"Then this is your chance to smash
ment there came no cry from them. And
Grund’s plans for good, Hollak!” he ex-
in a moment he knew the reason, for
claimed. "If Xydd will raise the Rhels
as he struggled fiercely with one of the
and you go back and gather the Kert
two his hands encountered in the dark-
forces, the two combined can crush
ness not the glistening body of a Thren
Grund and the Threns.”
but a body clothed in a space- jacket like
his own!
"By the two suns, it is so!” Hollak ex-
He uttered an exclamation, pawing at claimed. "Xydd, do you agree to that?”
his opponent. "Good God it’s Con-— "I am not the ruler of the Rhels,”
nor!” exclaimed his antagonist at that Xydd answered, "but I am sure that

moment. "Rod, it’s Tim!” Mnann, who is ruler, will agree when he
"Milt Newell!” gasped Connor. "What hears my tale. I can guarantee to have

the devil —
is the other one Rod?”
the Rhel forces here for the attack.”

"It is,” announced March, freeing him- "Then that settles it!” Hollak cried. "I
self from Hollak as the big Kert now will go back to the third planet and Jurn

recognized his antagonist. "And damn and I will bring all the Kert forces here
glad to see you again, Tim!” to meet the Rhels over this world at noon

"Speak for yourself,” Newell said. of the third day from this, and make a
"This red-headed baboon almost choked combined attack on Grund and his
the life out of me.” Threns.”
"I would have if I’d known
surely "That means we’ll have to steal one of
whom was choking!” Connor declared.
I these ships,”March planned swiftly, "and
March was smiling to himself in the some of us will have to go with Xydd in
darkness at this exchange, for he could it to his world, in case he meets Thren

guess not only how anxious Connor and ships in space and has to fight; and some
Newell had been about each other but will have to go back with Hollak for the
how fearful each was of showing it. same reason.”
"It’s sheer luck we found you this "I’ll go back with Hollak,” Newell

way,” he told Hollak and Connor. "Milt said. "I know how to work the ship’s
and I reached this world hours ago, and gas-globe v/eapons in case he runs into
 —
THE STAR-ROAMEES 477
t

trouble. You and Tim can go on with of them. They were heading through
Xydd.” space toward that light-spot.

"Then it’s agreed. Remember,” March "They’re creeping closer,” Xydd an-

added to Hollak, "noon of the third day nounced. "They’ll be abreast of us

from this for the attack.” shortly!”

"Jurn and I will be ready with every "If we only were in our own cruiser!”
Kert ship,” Hollak answered tersely. Connor exclaimed. "We’d leave those
"Into this ship with you, then!” March ships out of sight in a second.”

told him and Newell. '"We three will "How many are there after us, Xydd?”
take one of these others — quick!” March asked.

In a moment the ship’s space-door had "Four that I can make out,” the Rhel

shut after Newell and Hollak, and their answered. "They’re coming still closer

craft was humming up into the night. will be using their gas-globes in a mo-
”
March and Xydd and Connor raced to the ment
door of one of the parked oval ships be- Almost as he spoke March glimpsed the
side them. They were entering the ship dark Thren ships drawing into sight in
when from the immense black palaces of space beside them. He slanted their ship
Grand came a rising clamor. sharply upward as his eyes caught the flash

"They’ve found Dron!” Connor cried. of white gas-globes from the Thren craft.

"The sooner we’re out of here the health- The globes missed, and as they hurtled
ier!” Xydd shot two gas-globes from their
past,

March was already in the pilot’s seat of own ship. One missed, but the other
the ship. "Can you work the gas-globe struck and the four Thren ships became
abruptly three.
weapons, of this ship, Xydd?” he cried to
the Rhel as their ship rose from the park.
"One of them!” March exclaimed.
"Keep at it, Xydd!”
For answer Xydd grasped the gas-globe
"If this ship only had ether-guns!”
controls with two pseudopod-arms. Con-
groaned Connor.
nor, gazing down as their craft shot up-
The Thren ships were darting close
ward, uttered a cry. "They’re after us
again to the fleeing craft, March swerving
already, Rod!”
this way and that to confuse them. Dead-
white gas-globes were hurtling again in

T
ly
hren ships that had been over the
a crisscross between pursuers and pur-
attracted by the alarm at the pal-
city,
sued as they held to this running fight
aces, were darting up after them. March
racing on through space. . . .

held the controls grimly open, the oval

ship flashing out through the planet’s at-
5
mosphere with the pursuing ones grouped
behind.

air
Almost before they knew
about the ship died as
it

its
the roar of
great speed
M arch for a moment thought it the
end as white gas-globes hurtled all
around their ship. But miraculously they
took it clear of the planet’s atmosphere were unhit, and then the straggle came to
and into free space. Before them flamed an abrupt end. The Thren ships had
Alpha Centauri’s two suns, one partly darted close to release those gas-globes,
hiding the other, with the light-spot of and now Xydd drove globes at them in
the world of the Rhels on the other side swift succession. Two struck, two Thren
478 WEIRD TALES
ships crumbled, and the remaining one mass of the Rhels had gathered about
sheered off, halted and turned backward, them, many bearing unfamiliar-looking
vanishing from sight weapons.
"Good work, Xydd!” cried Connor ap- Xydd made rapid explanations to them
provingly. "Though I still wish I’d had and then the three passed into the strange
an ether-gun’s grips in my hands.” great structure. In minutes they stood in
"No more ships in sight behind us,” its inmost square before Mnann, ruler of
Xydd reported. "I think we’ve shaken the Rhels.
off all pursuit.” Mnann, a viscous-bodied creature with
"And Hollak and Newell must have a head unusually large even for a Rhel,
got clear, for they had a start on us,” listened in calm silence to Xydd’s story.
March said. When Xydd had finished Mnann seemed
"On to the first planet, then!” Connor to meditate.
exclaimed. “And if all the Rhels there He
spoke finally. "Your unaccount-
can fight like Xydd, it’s good-bye Grund!” able absence was reported to me, Xydd,
For a score of hours their ship hummed but had not dreamed that Grund and
I
at its highest speed, a comparatively great his Threns would have dared seize you, a
one, toward the light-spot of the inner- Rhel. For ages none has dared molest us
most planet. To reach it they must pass here.”
the two flaming suns of Alpha Centauri,
"Yet Grund dared,” Xydd told him,
and this they did as closely as they dared. "and will dare even more in the future.
The two suns were sights of awesome I think he means to master all the three
splendor with their great coronas, and
worlds if he can,”
with their huge prominences that seemed
"And I think it is time the Rhels taught
licking out toward the passing ship.
him and the Threns a lesson,” Mnann re-
At last the innermost planet was a dull
turned. "You say the Kerts will be ready
globe ahead. They tore in through its
to attack his world at the time mentioned?
atmosphere and slanted toward its sur-
Then we Rhels will be there also with our
face.
ships,and will have a reckoning with
Like the world of the Threns, it was
Grund.”
covered by a city, but this city of the Rhels
many "With your ships?” Connor repeated.
was different in respects. Its square
buildings were quite roofless, bespeaking
"Do you have any? I haven’t seen one
on this world.”
a perfect weather-control. Its wide streets
held throngs of the weird Rhels, human- "Wedo not use space-ships ordinar-

headed viscous masses gliding to and fro ily,” Mnanntold him, "for we have no
in the sunlight and warmth of the two intercourse with the other two planets.

suns, which were intense on this inner- But we have ships stored, and weapons
most world. No ships at all were in sight too, so that in an emergency we can pro-
over it.
tect ourselves. I will order them brought
Xydd directed March to land before a forth at once —our force will have to start

low, square, roofless building inside soon if we’re to reach the Thren world at
which a dozen smaller square structures the time set.”
could be seen, each enclosed within the There followed a scene that astonished
next. March and Connor had no sooner March and Connor. Mnann gave an
stepped out of the ship with Xydd than a order, and as scores of Rhels glided swift-
 —
THE STAR-ROAMERS 479

]y off to execute it the Rhel world became "No, we have other weapons, devised
alive with activity. which we have
to protect ourselves but

Great sections of the wide streets were scarcely ever used.”

sfidaside, exposing cavern-like hangars
beneath that held oval ships much larger
than those of either the Threns or Kerts.
These were rapidly brought forth and
their mechanisms and weapons inspected
by crews of Rhels. All these preparations
were carried out with a swift efficiency
that was an index to the co-operative qual-
ity of the Rhel civilization.
The Rhel fleet throbbed steadily at top-
most speed through the void for the fol-
lowing hours. They passed the two suns
of Alpha Centauri, giving them a some-
what wider berth than March had done,
and drew visibly closer to the shining
planet of the Threns.
March estimated that at their present
progress they would reach the second

W hile the preparations went

March and Connor snatched much-
needed sleep in one of the roofless
on,

rooms
planet at almost exactly the time
Jurn and Hollak and the Kert forces
should arrive also.
"I hope Milt and Hollak got through
set, when

of the Rhel ruler’s structure. When they all right,” Connor said. "If they didn’t
awoke, the two suns had travelled down the Kerts won’t be there to join us.”
the sky to the planet’s horizon, and when "I think they must hav£ made it,”
they went to join Mnann they found him March reassured him. "Well know
with Xydd and his other weird-bodied soon, in any case.”
lieutenants. Mnann gave an order and the fleet

"Our forces are ready to start,” Mnann slackened speed as it approached the ball-
informed the earthmen. "I have been like Thren planet. The Rhel ships pro-
hearing from Xydd that you two are from ceeded in a regular formation with all in

—
another sun’s system is it aught like this them watching intently, as they moved in
one of ours?” space over the Thren world.
''It is in some ways,” March said, "but There came an exclamation as some one
in others different. For one thing, the in the pilot room sighted ships ahead, and
wars of our system’s worlds ended long pointed. There were four hundred oval
ago, whereas the three races of this system ships approaching, in compact battle-for-
seem still hostile to each other.” mation, coming forv/ard with cautious
"That is so,” said Mnann thoughtfully, slowness.
"and it should not be so, many of us have They peered narrowly. "Oval ships
long thought. But enough of this for the they may be either Thren or Kert ships,”
present —the ships are ready.” March said. "If they’re Threns it means
Minutes of three hundred
later a force the Kerts haven’t shown up.”
from the Rhel world in
great ships rose "They’re not, they’re Kert ships!” cried
regular March and Connor
columns. Connor. "See the three-circle symbols on
stood with Mnann and Xydd and a half- their sides!”
dozen other Rhels in the pilot section of The Kert fleet came warily on until it

the foremost ship as the fleet sailed out had recognized the Rhel ships, and then
from the inner planet. one of the Kert craft drove up to hang
"You use the same gas-globe weapons beside the ship of Mnann. In its pilot
as the Threns and Kerts?” Connor asked, room could be glimpsed Jurn and Hollak
but Mnann’ s answer was negative. and Newell. Swiftly a tubular space-
 5
489 WEIRD TALES
gangway was run out from the space-door planet As they moved down through
of the Rhel craft to the other, and in a this, two oval ships that had been patrol-
moment the three from the other had ling beneath suddenly darted downward
joined March and Connor and the Rhel at top speed.
leaders. "Thren scouts,” commented Mnann.
The faces of Jurn and Hollak gleamed "Grund expects our attack and will he
with intense excitement, and it was with ready for it. Well, it will be over for
a very apparent respect tinged with awe them so much the sooner.”
that they met the great Rhel ruler. "Confident, isn’t he?” Connor whis-
"We have brought all cur ships,” Jura pered to March and Newell. "He seems to
told Mnann, "and every Kent in them is think this is going to be a push-over, but
eager for the battle.” those Threns are tough eggs.”
"And the Thren fleet will be waiting
"He knows what he’s about, I sup-
for us!” Hollak added. "Grund will have pose,” said March doubtfully.
known what our escape meant,”
In a few minutes there
came into sight
"It is well that you are here,” Mnann
ahead of them, over the Thren planet, a
told Jurn and Hollak, "but it will be best
mass of dark dots. This grew, as it
for your ships to take up formation be-
neared them, into a fleet of several hun-
hind and within the formation of our own
dred oval ships, heading toward them in
Rhel fleet. Then we can move down to
a circular formation adapted either to of-
the attack.”
fense or defense. At sight of it the Rhel
Jurn and Hollak stared, "But by the
and Kert fleet slowed until it hung mo-
two suns,” Hollak exclaimed, "you can’t
tionless in the air.
expect us Kerts to let you do our fighting
for vs!”
The circle of Thren ships slowed also,

"You him, .Hollak!” as .though expecting a sudden dash from

tell approved
Connor. "The Rhels can’t hog the whole their enemies. But as the Rhel and Kert
scrap!”
ships remained motionless the Threns
seemed to lose their doubts, their circle
"It will be best as I have said,” Mnann
leaping forward with renewed speed. It
calmly repeated.
"Mnann was opening as it did so and in moments
Jurn intervened. is right,
Hollak,” he said,
would have flashed round the Rhel and
"There’ll be fighting
enough for all when we meet the Thren
Kert fleet to enclose it.

fleet” "What’s the matter with these birds?”

"Very well, then,” Hollak reluctantly demanded Connor tensely. "Don’t they
agreed. see we’ll have those hundreds of Threns
on all sides of us in a moment, all their
urn and Hollak returned to their own gas-globes going?”
J ship, the space-gangway was with- "Quiet, Tim,” warned March. "This
drawn, and the Rhel ships proceeded to is their battle.”
form a great wedge, inside and behind "Wait,” Xydd told the earthmen.
which the Kert fleet placed itself. Then "You will soon see the Rhel power.”
this triangle moved down toward the Mnann was gazing calmly at the on-
Thren world. rushing Thren ships. Even March had
Air roared outside as the combined fleet begun to doubt, but at the moment that
entered the atmosphere of the big buff the Thren circle seemed almost on and
W. T.—
 6
THE STAR-ROAMERS 481

around them, Mnann spoke briefly and a of white gas-globes. In the intensity of
signal flashed. this wild civil combat the Threns did not
From the three hundred Rhel ships notice the ships hanging above.
there sprang instantly flashes of blinding "Holy smoke —the Threns are massa-
white flame toward the Thren ships. The cring each other!” Connor exclaimed.
flame-flashes blastedand annihilated the "What the devil does it mean?”

Thren craft they struck, and did not go "Whatever they’re fighting about, its

out when they had done so but leapt almost over,” Kydd said.
through the air to neighboring ships to The had died
struggle across the city
blast them also. The flame-flashes were out and the fighting at Grund’s palaces
burning up the Thren fleet, leaping from was ceasing as the guards there were over-
ship to ship. come.
The Thren ships yet untouched by the
"Let’s go on down, then,” urged New-
flames were scattering madly, seeking ell. "There’ll be no resistance from that
flight, but the flame-flashes leapt after wild mob.”
them, devoured almost all of them. In a
Mnann gave the order and the fleet
few moments, before the stupefied eyes
descended rapidly. As they dropped
of Connor and March and Newell, nine-
through the sunlight the wild crowds of
tenths of the hundreds of Thren ships had
Threns below saw them for the first time
been annihilated without loosing a gas-
and scattered.
globe, and as the flame-flashes went out in
the air the survivors were in mad flight. The greater part of the Rhel and Kert
ships remained hovering while a score
"You have seen," came Mnann’s calm
descended to land in the park around
voice. "The retribution of the Rhels.”
Connor turned to him, shaken. "I Grund’s palaces. From these ships
emerged Rhels and Kerts, including
take it all back, Mnann,” he said. "When
it comes to fighting, you Rhels know your
Mnann and Xydd and Connor and New-
ell and March, and Jurn and Hollak.
business!”
"We descend now
to find Grund,” They were moving toward the great
Mnann said. he who ordered the
"It is palaces when a party of Threns emerged
seizing of a Rhel, and for him we have and approached them. Mnann and his
come.” companions waited their approach, and as
they came near, Connor and Hollak and

T he combined
ships
fleet of Rhel and Kert
dropped rapidly toward the
planet below, but halted a few thousand
Xydd recognized the Thren at their head
as Dron.

"We Rhels have come for Grund,”

feet above its surface. Mnann said to him, "and will spare your
The Thren city that covered the planet race if you do not resist us.”

was the scene of a wild battle between "Grund is dead,” Dron told them.
different swarms of the Threns. "He was killed but minutes ago.”
This struggle seemed centered on the "Grund killed!” exclaimed Hollak.
great black palaces of Grund, whose "By whom?”
guards were striving to hold back Thren "By myself and my followers,” Dron
hordes pouring from all directions toward answered calmly. "Many of us Threns
it. The Rhels and Kerts above, gazing have long hated Grund’s plans of war
down in astonishment, could see the play and conquest. When the survivors of our
W. T.—
482 WEIRD TALES
fleet returned but now with news that the torn with war and battle when you
Rhels had destroyed our ships and were reached it become now a system whose
approaching with the Kerts, our Thren peace shall be unbroken.”
people realized that this was the result of "And you’re grateful to us for that?”
Grund’ s doing, and revolt broke out. Connor exclaimed.
When we stormed the palace but now, "Of course we are!” Jurn answered.
Grund was in it and died fighting. The "So grateful that your names will live in
Threns have now named me as their new this systemwhile any one lives in it.”
ruler.
"Can you tie that?” exclaimed Connor
"I have never seen why we Threns to March and Newell. "We started out
should war with the Kerts,” Dron added, from our own solar system because it was
"nor can I seewhy we should war with too dull and peaceful, and here we’ve
the Rhels. Our three races are descended been making this system of Alpha Cen-
one from another, so why should we not tauri’s, that was full of battle, murder and
live at peace with one another? Grund
is gone and we Threns wish peace as you
—
sudden death we’ve been making it into
a dull and peaceful one like our own!
do; so why can we not agree to bury all
And the crowning blow is that they’re
enmity and live as friends on our three
grateful to us for it!”
worlds?”
"We "Dron, I
can!” Jurn exclaimed.
6
have respected you even when you warred
against us
you.”
—
we Kerts have no enmity for

"None at all,” Hollak agreed, "nor have

M
The
arch and Connor and Newell had
two leave-takings in the next days.
was on the Thren world, a few
first

we ever ourselves sought warfare with the days after the new peace agreement of the
Threns. Our agreement for lasting peace Rhels, Threns and Kerts. That agree-
you have, then, but what of the Rhels?” ment had been sealed at a formal council
Mnann spoke. "We Rhels
have never at which Dron, the new ruler of the
fought but to protect ourselves; so you Threns, had pledged his people’s adher-
have our agreement also. And more, ence to it, Jurn and Hollak ratified it for

whatever of scientific knowledge we have the Kerts and Mnann for the Rhels.
greater than your own shall be shared With the council over, the representa-
with Threns and Kerts. We are, after all, tives of the three races were ready to part,
their parent-race.” Mnann and Xydd with the other Rhels
"Then our three worlds will live in to the innermost planet, Jurn and Hollak
friendly peace, as I have dreamed!” Jurn with their Kerts to the outermost world.
cried. "And I think thatwe owe that to Each of the three races had desired March
these three, these men from another star!” and his companions to remain as their
"Not to us!” exclaimed March and guests, but the three had explained their
Newell, but Turn nodded. desire to continue their star-cruising voy-
"Yes, to you, for our races had warred age, and so had parted from Dron and
in this system for ages before you came. Mnann and Xydd, to accompany Jurn and
But you came, and -we now see Grund Hollak.
dead and his plans of conquest shattered, It was from Jurn and Hollak that their
we see Rhels and Threns and Kerts second leave-taking was, a few days later.

friends at last. We see a system that was Standing beneath the blaze of Alpha Cen-
 THE STAR-ROAMERS 483

tauri’s suns on the outermost planet, be- Connor gazed with him toward the great
side their cruiser’s open door, they shook green star as the cruiser leapt forward
the hands of the Kert rulers. with mounting speed toward it.

"We’d sure stick around here at Alpha "That’s our next stop — Sirius!” March
Centauri if we weren’t so anxious to find told them.
out what it’s like at Sirius,” Connor ex- "Sirius —and be like there, I
what’ll it

plained. wonder?” speculated Newell.

"And at the stars beyond Sirius,” "Whatever it’s like, it can’t be much
March smiled. more exciting than back at Alpha Cen-
"I understand,” Jurn said, "nor will Connor said. "Our first stop
tauri,”
we try to detain you. But if you ever and came near being my last.”
it
”
come back this way "Yes,I was hopeful for a time that

"Remember that at this star at least you Rod and I were going to shake you there
have only friends,” Hollak finished for and make the trip a success after all,”
him. Newell said. "But I might have known
"We’ll remember,” Connor assured we couldn’t lose you.”
him. "So long, Jurn Hollak — ”
"Is that so?” Connor demanded. "You
In moments their cruiser was climbing lazy, long-legged liability, if any one’s a
up out of the planet’s atmosphere into drawback on this trip it’s you! If we
free space. High it climbed until Alpha don’t get rid of you at some star soon, we
Centauri’s suns lay down to their right, its might as well give up and go home, you
three worlds but shining specks. In black cross- jointed, cock-eyed ” Hfe broke
space around them blazed the hosts of off to ask,"What were you saying, Rod?”
countless stars. "I was just saying,” said March, "that
One blazed brightest among them, after all I’m glad to be out here again in
green and brilliant, and toward it March space, where everything’s calm and peace-
pointed the cruiser’s prow. Newell and ful!”
 A fantastic tale of an animate, sentient sheet of ice, and the wild
adventure of Quanga the hunter, who sought to dig
royal rubies from that glacial tomb

UANGA
O
the huntsman, with cities, covering the broad isthmus from
Hoom Feethos and EiburTsanth, shore to shore beneath fathoms of per-
two of the most enterprising petual ice.

jewelers of Iqqua, had crossed the bor- The shell-shaped domes of Cerngoth, it

ders of a region into which men went was fabled, could still be seen deep down
—
but seldom and wherefrom they re- in and the high, keen
the glaciation;
turned even mire rarely. Travelling spires of Oggon-Zhai were embedded
north from Iqqua, they had passed into therein, together with fern-palm and
desolate Mhu Thulan, where the great mammoth and the square black temples
glacier of Polarion had rolled like a of the god Tsathoggua. All this had oc-
frozen sea upon wealthy and far-famed curred many centuries ago; and still the
484
 THE ICE-DEMON 485

ice, a ' mighty, glittering rampart, was evil and clammy, coiling and wreathing
moving south upon deserted lands. like knots of phantom serpents, and fill-
Now, in the path of the embattled ing men’s marrows as if with the cold
glacier, Quanga led his companions on a of death. It covered all the camp, a tan-
bold quest. Their object was nothing gible thing, ever colder and thicker,
less than the retrieval of the rubies of numbing the limbs of those who groped
King Haalor, who, with the wizard Om- blindly and could not see the faces of
mum-Vog and many full - caparisoned their fellows at arm’s-length. A few of
soldiers, had gone out five decades before the common soldiers, somehow, reached
to make war upon the polar ice. From its outer confines and crept fearfully
this fantastic expedition, neither Haalor away beneath the wan sun, seeing no
nor Ommum-Vog had come back; and longer in the skies the wizard globe that
the sorry, ragged remnant of their men- had been called up by Ommum-Vog.
at-arms, returning to Iqqua, after two And looking back presently, as they fled
moons, had told a dire tale. in strange terror, they beheld, instead of
The army, they said, had made its en- the low-lying mist they had thought to
campment on a sort of knoll, carefully see, a newly frozen sheet of ice that cov-
chosen by Ommum-Vog, in full sight of ered the mound on which the king and
the vanward ice. Then the mighty sor- the sorcerer had made their encampment.
cerer, standing with Haalor amid a ring The ice rose higher above theground
of braziers that fumed incessantly with than a man’s head; and dimly, in its
tall

golden smoke, and reciting runes that glittering depth, the fleeing soldiers saw
were older than the world, had conjured the imprisoned forms of their leaders
up a fiery orb, vaster and redder than the and companions.
southward-circling sun of heaven. And Deeming that this thing was no natural
the orb, with blazing beams that smote occurrence, but a sorcery that had been
from the and effulgent, had
zenith, torrid exerted by the great glacier, and that the
caused the sun to seem no more than a glacier itself was a live, malignant entity
daylight moon, and the soldiers had al- with powers of unknown bale, they did
most swooned from its heat in their heavy not slacken their flight. And the ice had
panoply. But beneath its beams the verges suffered them to depart in peace, as if to
of the glacier melted and ran in swift give warning of the fate of those who
rills and rivers, so that Haalor for a time dared to assail it.

was hopeful of reconquering the realm Some there were who believed the tale,

ofMhuThulan over which his forefathers and some who doubted. But the kings
had ruled in bygone ages. that ruled in Iqqua after Haalor went not
The rushing waters had deepened, forth to do battle with the ice; and no
flowing past the knoll on which the army wizard rose to make war upon it with
waited. Then, as if by a hostile magic, conjured suns. Men fled before the ever-
the rivers began to give forth a pale and advancing glaciations; and strange leg-
stifling mist, that blinded the conjured ends were told of how people had been
sun of Ommum-Vog, so that its sultry overtaken or cut off in lonely valleys by
beams grew faint and chill and had sudden, diabolic shiftings of the ice, as
power no longer on the ice. if it had stretched out a living hand. And
Vainly the wizard had put forth other legends there were, of awful crevasses
spells, trying to dissipate the deep and that yawned abruptly and closed like
gelid fog. But the vapor drew down. monstrous mouths upon them that dared
486 WEIRD TALES
the frozen waste; winds like the
of
breath of boreal demons, that .blasted
men’s flesh with instant, utter cold and
turned them into statues hard as granite.
In time the whole region, for many miles
before the glacier, was generally shunned;
and only the hardiest hunters would fol-
low their quarry into that winter-blighted
land.
N ow it happened that the fearless
huntsman Iluac, the elder brother
of Quanga, had gone into Mhu Thulan,
and had pursued an enormous black fox
that led hirn afar on the mighty fields of
the ice-sheet. For many leagues he trailed
it, coming never within bowshot of the
beast; and at length he came to a great
mound on the plain, that seemed to mark
the position of a buried hill. And
thought that the fox entered a cavern in
the mound; so, with lifted bow and a
poised arrow at the string, he went after
it into the cavern.
The place was like a chamber of boreal
kings or gods. All about him, in a dim
green were huge, glimmering pil-
light,
lars; and giant icicles hung from the roof
in the form of stalactites. The floor sloped
downward; and Iluac came to the cave’s
end without finding any trace of the fox.
But in the transparent depth of the fur-
ther wall, at the bottom, he saw the
standing shapes of many men, deep-frozen
and sealed up as in a tomb, with unde-
caving bodies and fair, unshrunken fea-
tures. The men were armed with tall
spears, and most of them wore the pan-
oply of soldiers. But among them, in the
van, there stood a haughty figure attired
in the sea-blue robes of a king; and be-
side him was a bowed ancient who wore
the night-black garb of a sorcerer.
robes of the regal figure were heavily
sewn with gems burned like colored
that
stars through the ice; and great rubies
red as gouts of newly congealing blood
were arranged in the lines of a triangle
on the bosom, forming the royal sign of
the kings of Iqqua. So Iluac knew, by
these tokens, that he had found the tomb
of Haalor and Ommum-Vog and the
soldiers with whom they had gone up
against the ice in former days.
Overawed by the strangeness of it all,
and remembering now the old legends,
Iluac lost his courage for the first time,
and quitted the chamber without delay.
Nowhere could he find the black fox;
and abandoning the chase, he returned
southward, reaching the lands below the
glacier without mishap. But he swore
later that the ice had changed in a weird
manner while he was following the fox,
so that he was unsure of his direction for
a while after leaving the cavern. There
Iluac were steep ridges and hummocks where
none had been before, making his re-
turn a toilsome journey; and the glacia-
tion seemed to extend itself for many
miles beyond its former limits. And be-
cause of these things, which he could not
•
explain or understand, a curious eery fear
was born in the heart of Iluac.
Never again did he go back, upon the
glacier; but he told his brother Quanga
of that which he had found, and described
the location of the cavern-chamber in
which King Haalor and Ommum-Vog
and their men-at-arms were entombed.
And soon after this, Iluac was killed by
a white bear on which he had used all
his arrows in vain.
uanga was no
O
since
less brave than Iluac;
and he did not fear the glacier,
he had been upon it many times
and had noticed nothing untoward. His
was a heart that lusted after gain, and
The often he thought of the rubies of Haalor,
locked with the king in eternal ice; and
it seemed to him that a bold man might
recover the rubies.
So, one summer, while trading in
 THE ICE-DEMON
Iqquawith his furs, he went to the jewel-
ers Eibur Tsanth and Hoom Feethos, tak-
ing with him a few garnets that he had
found in a northern valley. While the
jewelers were appraising the garnets, he
spoke idly of the rubies of Haalor, and
inquired craftily as to their value. Then,
hearing the great worth of the gems, and
noting the greedy interest that was shown
by Hoom Feethos and Eibur Tsanth, he
told them the tale he had heard from his
brother Iluac, and offered, if they would
promise him half the value of the rubies,
to guidethem to the hidden cave.
The jewelers agreed to this proposi-
tion, in spite of the hardships of the pro-
posed journey, and the difficulty they
might afterward encounter in disposing
surreptitiously of gems that belonged tc
the royal family of Iqqua and would be
claimed by the present king, Ralour, if
their discovery were learned. The fabu-
lous worth of the rubies had fired their
avarice. Quanga, on his part, desired
the complicity and connivance of the
dealers, knowing that it would be hard
for him to sell the jewels otherwise. He
did not trust Hoom Feethos and Eibur
Tsanth, and it was for this reason that
he required them to go with him to the
cavern and pay over to him the agreed
sum of money as soon as they were in
possession of the treasure. ,
The strange trio had set forth in mid-
summer. Now, after two weeks of jour-
neying through a wild, sub-arctic region,
they were approaching the confines of
the eternal ice. They travelled on foot,
and their supplies were carried by three
horses little larger than musk-oxen.
Quanga, an unerring marksman, hunted
for their daily food the hares and water-
fowl of the country.
Behind them, in a cloudless turquoise
heaven, there burned the low sun that
was said to have described a loftier eclip-
tic in former ages. Drifts of unmelting
487
snow were heaped in the shadows of the
higher hills; and in steep valleys they
came upon the vanward glaciers of the
ice-sheet. The trees and shrubs were al-
ready sparse and stunted, in a land where
rich forests had flourished in olden time
beneath a milder climate. But poppies
flamed in the meadows and along the
slopes, spreading their frail beauty like a
scarlet rug before the feet of perennial
winter; and the quiet pools and stagnant-
flowing streams were lined with white-
water-lilies.
A little to the east, they saw the fum-
ing of volcanic peaks that still resisted
the inroads of the glaciers. On the west
were high, gaunt mountains whose sheer
cliffs and pinnacles were topped with
snow, and around whose nether slopes the
ice had climbed like an inundating sea.
Before them was the looming, crenelated
wall of the realm-wide glaciation, mov-
ing equally on plain and hill, uprooting
the trees, and pressing the soil forward in
vast folds and ridges. Its progress had
been stayed a little by the northern sum-
mer. Quanga and the jewelers, as they
went on, came to turbid rills, made by a
temporary melting, that issued from be-
neath the glittering blue-green ramparts.
T hey left their pack-horses in a grassy
valley, tethered by long cords of elk-
thong to the dwarfish willows. Then, car-
rying such provisions and other equipment
as they might require for a two days’
journey, they climbed the ice-slope at a
point selected by Quanga as being most
readily accessible, and started in the di-
rection of the cave that had been found
by Iluac. Quanga took his bearings from
the position of the volcanic mountains,
and also from two isolated peaks that
rose on the sheeted plain to the north like
the breasts of a giantess beneath her shin-
ing armor.
The three were well equipped for all
 —
488 WEIRD TALES
the exigencies of their search. Quanga had been so oddly frightened and had
carried a curious pick-ax of finely tem- fancied such extraordinary things after
pered bronze, to be used in disentombing the finding of Haalor. It was a singular
the body of King Haalor; and he was weakness in Iluac, the rash and almost
armed with a short, leaf-shaped sword, foolhardy hunter who had feared neither
in addition to his bow and quiver of man ncr beast. As to the trapping of
arrows. His garments were made from Haalor and Ommum-Vog and their army
the fur of a giant bear, brown-black in in the glacier, it was plain that they had
color. allowed themselves to be overtaken by the
Hoorn Feethos and Eibur Tsanth, in winter storms; and the few survivors,
raiment heavily quilted with eider-down mentally unhinged by their hardships,
against the cold, followed him complain- —
had told a wild story. Ice even though
ingly but with avaricious eagerness. They it had conquered half of a continent

had not enjoyed the long marches through was merely ice, and its workings con-
a desolate, Weakening land, nor the rough formed invariably to certain natural laws.
fare and exposure to the northern ele- Iluac had said that the ice-sheet was a
ments. Moreover, they had taken a dislike great demon, cruel, greedy, and loth to
to Quanga, whom they considered rude give up that which it had taken. But
and overbearing. Their grievances were such beliefs were crude and primitive
aggravated by the fact that he was now superstitions, not to be entertained by
compelling them to carry most of the sup- enlightened minds of the Pleistocene age.
plies in addition to the two heavy bags of They had climbed the rampart at an
gold which they were to exchange later early hour of morning. Quanga assured
for the gems. Nothing less valuable than the jewelers that they would reach the
the rubies of Haalor would have induced cavern by noon at the latest, even if there
them to come so far, or to set foot on the should be a certain amount of difficulty
formidable wastes of the ice-sheet. and delay in locating it.
The scene before them was like some The plain before them was remarkably
frozen world of the outer void. Vast, free of crevasses, and there was little to
unbroken, save for a few scattered mounds obstruct their advance. Steering their
and ridges, the plain extended to the way with the two breast-shaped moun-
white horizon and its armored peaks. tains for landmarks before them, they
Nothing seemed to live or move on the came after three hours to a hill-like ele-
awful, glistening vistas, whose nearer vation that corresponded to the mound
levels were swept clean of snow. The of Iluac’s story. With little trouble, they
sun appeared to grow pale and chill, and found the opening of the deep chamber.
to recede behind the adventurers; and a
wind blew upon them from the ice, like t seemed that the place had changed
a breath from abysses beyond the pole. I little if at all since the visit of Iluac,
Apart from the boreal desolation and for the interior, with its columns and
drearness, however, there was nothing to pendant icicles, conformed closely to his
dismay Quanga or his companions. None description. The entrance was like a
of them was superstitious, and they fanged maw. Within, the floor sloped
deemed that the old tales were idle downward at a slippery angle for more
myths, were no more than fear-born de- than a hundred feet. The chamber swam
lusions. Quanga smiled commiseratively with a cold and glaucous translucency
at the thought of his brother Iluac, who that filtered through the dome-like roof4
 THE ICE-DEMON 489

At the lower end, in the striated wall, by his companions, Quanga raised the
Quanga and the jewelers saw the embed- keen and highly tempered pick of bronze,
ded shapes of a number of men, among and began to assaii the translucent wall
which they distinguished easily the tall, with mighty blows.
blue-clad corpse of King Haalor and the
The ice rang shrilly beneath the pick,
dark, bowed mummy of Ommum-Vog. and dropped away in crystal splinters and
Behind these, the shapes of others, lift-
diamond lumps. In a few minutes, he
ing their serried spears eternally, and re- had made a large cavity; and only a thin
ceding downward in stiff ranks through shell, cracked and shattering, remained
unfathomable depths, were faintly dis- before the body of Haalor. This shell
cernible.
Quanga proceeded to pry off with great
Haalor stood regal and erect, with care; and soon the triangle of monstrous
wide-open eyes that stared haughtily as in rubies, more or less encrusted still with
life. Upon his bosom the triangle of hot clinging ice, lay bare to his fingers. While
and blood-bright rubies smoldered nn- the proud, bleak eyes of Haalor stared
quenchably in the glacial gloom; and the immovably upon him from behind their
colder eyes of topazes, of beryls, of dia- glassy mask, the hunter dropped the pick,
monds, of gleamed and twin-
chrysolites, and drawing his sharp, leaf-shaped sword
kled from his azure raiment. It seemed
from its scabbard, he began to sever the
that the fabulous gems were separated
fine silver wires by which the rubies were
by no more than a foot or two of ice from attached cunningly to the king’s raiment.
the greedy fingers of the hunter and his
In his haste he ripped away portions of
companions. the sea-blue fabric, baring the frozen and
Without speaking, they stared raptly at dead-white flesh beneath. One by one,
the far-sought treasure. Apart from the he removed the
as rubies, he gave them
great rubies, the jewelers were also es-
to Hoorn Feethos, standing close behind
timating the value of the other gems
him; and the dealer, bright-eyed with
worn by Haalor. These alone, they avarice, drooling a little with ecstasy,
thought complacently, would have made
stored them carefully in a huge pouch of
it worth while to endure the fatigue of mottled lizardskin that he had brought
the journey and the insolence of Quanga.
along for the purpose.
The hunter, on his part, was wishing
that he had driven an even steeper bar-
The last ruby had been secured, and

gain. The two bags of gold, however, Quanga was about to turn his attention

would make him a wealthy man. He to the lesser jewels that adorned the king’s
could drink to his full content the costly garments in curious patterns and signs of
wines, redder than the rubies, that came astrological or hieratic significance. Then,
from far Uzuldaroum in the south. The amid their preoccupation, he and Hoom
tawny, slant-eyed girls of Iqqua would Feethos were startled by a loud and splin-
dance at his bidding: and he could gam- tering crash that ended with myriad
ble for high stakes. tinklings as of broken glass. Turning,
All three were unmindful of the eeri- they saw that a huge icicle had fallen
ness of their situation, alone in that boreal from the cavern-dome; and its point, as
solitude with the frozen dead; and they if aimed unerringly, had cloven the skull

were oblivious likewise to the ghoulish of Eibur Tsanth, who lay amid the debris
nature of the robbery they were about to of shattered ice with the sharp end of
commit. Without waiting to be urged the fragment deeply embedded in his
490 WEIRD TALES
oozing brain. He had died, instantly, cave, the dreadful and sinister closing-
without knowledge of his doom. down of its roof, had apparently ceased.
The accident, it seemed, was a perfectly At any rate, the Hyperboreans could de-
natural one, such as might occur in sum- tect no visible continuation of the process
mer from a slight melting of the im- as they climbed frantically and preca-
mense pendant; but, amid their consterna- riously toward the opening. They were
tion, Quanga and Hoom Feethos were forced to stoop in many places to avoid
compelled to take note of certain circum- the mighty fangs that threatened to de-
stances that were far from normal or scend upon them; and even with the
explicable. rough tigerskin buskins that they wore,
During the removal of the rubies, on it was hard to keep their footing on the

which their attention had been centered terrible slope.

•
Sometimes they pulled
so exclusively, the chamber had narrowed themselves up by means of the slippery,
to half of its former width, and had also pillar-like formations; and often Quanga,
closed down from above, till the hanging who led the way, was compelled to hew
icicles were almost upon them, like the hasty steps in the incline with his pick.
champing teeth of some tremendous Hoom Feethos was too terrified for
mouth. The place had darkened, and the even the most rudimentary reflection.
light was such as might filter into arctic But Quanga, as he climbed, was consider-
seas beneath heavy floes. The incline of ing the monstrous alterations of the cave,
the cave had grown steeper, as if it were which he could not aline with his wide
pitching into bottomless depths. Far up and various experience of the phenomena
— —
incredibly far- the two men beheld of nature. He tried to convince himself
the tiny entrance, which seemed no big- that he had made a singular error in es-
ger than the mouth of a fox’s hole. timating the chamber’s dimensions and
I
the inclination of its floor. The effort
or an instant, they were stupefied. was useless: he found himself con-
F The changes of the cavern could
still

fronted by a thing that outraged his rea-

admit of no natural explanation; and the son; a thing that distorted the known
Hyperboreans felt the clammy surge of face of theworld with unearthly, hideous
all the superstitious terrors that they had madness, and mingled a malign chaos
formerly disclaimed. No longer could with its ordered workings.
they deny the conscious, animate malevo- After an ascent that was frightfully
lence, the diabolic powers of bale im- prolonged, like the effort to escape from
puted to the ice in old legends. some delirious, tedious nightmare pre-
Realizing their peril, and spurred by dicament, they neared the cavern-mouth.
a wild panic, they started to climb the in- There was barely room now for a man to
cline. Hoom Feethos retained the bulg- creep on his belly beneath the sharp and
ing pouch of rubies, as well as the heavy ponderous teeth. Quanga, feeling that
bag of gold coins that hung from his the fangs might close upon him like those
girdle; and Quanga had enough presence of some great monster, hurled himself
of mind to keep his sword and pick-ax. forward and started to wriggle through
In their terror-driven haste, however, the opening with a most unheroic celerity.
both forgot the second bag of gold, Something held him back, and he thought,
which lay beside Eibur Tsanth, under the for one moment of stark horror, that his
debris of the shattered pendant. worst apprehensions were being realized.
The supernatural narrowing of the Then he found that his bow and quiver
 THE ICE-DEMON 491

of arrows, which he had forgotten to re-
move from his shoulders, were caught
against the pendant ice. While
Feethos gibbered in a frenzy of fear and
impatience, he crawled back and relieved
himself of the impeding weapons, which
But seeing the pouch that had fallen for-
ward from the dead jeweler’s fingers, the
Hoom hunter snatched it up through an impulse
of terror-mingled greed; and then, with
no backward glance, he fled on the gla-
cier, toward the low-circling sun.

he thrust before him together with his

pick in a second and more successful at- or a few moments, as he ran, Quan-
tempt to pass through the strait opening. F ga failed to perceive the sinister and
Rising to his feet on the open glacier, ill-boding comparable to
alterations,

he heard a wild cry from Hoom Feethos, those of the cave, which had somehow
who, trying to follow Quanga, had be- occurred in the sheeted plain itself. With
come tightly wedged in the entrance a terrific shock, which became an actual
through his greater His right hand,
girth. vertigo, he saw that he was climbing a
clutching the pouch of rubies, was thrust long, insanely tilted slope above whose
forward beyond the threshold of the cave. remote extreme the sun had receded
He howled incessantly, with half-coherent strangely, and was now small and chill
protestations that the cruel ice-teeth were as if seen from an outer planet. The very
crunching him to death. sky was different: though still perfectly
In spite of the eery terrors that had cloudless, it had taken on a curious death-
unmanned him, the hunter still retained ly pallor. A brooding sense of inimical

enough courage to go back and try to volition, a vast and freezing malignity,
assist Hoom Feethos. He was about to seemed to pervade the air and to settle
assail the huge with his pick, when
icicles upon Quanga like an incubus. But more
he heard an agonizing scream from the terrifying than all else, in its proof of a
jeweler, followed by a harsh and inde- conscious and malign derangement of
scribable grating. There had been no natural law, was the giddy poleward in-
visiblemovement of the fangs and yet — clination that had been assumed by the
Quanga now saw that they had reached level plateau.
the cavern-floor! The body of Hoom Quanga felt that creation itself had
Feethos, pierced through and through by gone mad, and had left him at the mercy
one of the and ground down by
icicles, of demoniacal forces from the godless
the blunter teeth, was spurting blood on outer gulfs. Keeping a perilous foot-
the glacier, like the red mist from a wine- hold, weaving and staggering laboriously
press. upward, he feared momently that he
Quanga doubted the very testimony of would slip and fall and slide bade for
his senses.The thing before him was ever into arctic depths unfathomable.
patently impossible —
there was no mark And yet, when he dared to pause at last,
of cleavage in the mound above the cav- and turned shudderingly to peer down at
ern-mouth, to explain the descent of those the supposed descent, he saw behind him
awful fangs. Before his very eyes, but an acclivity similar in all respects to the
too swiftly for direct cognition, this un- one he was climbing: a mad, oblique
thinkable enormity had occurred. wall of ice, that rose interminably to a
Hoom Feethos was beyond all earthly second remote sun.
help, and Quanga, now wholly the slave In the confusion of that strange bou'le-
of a hideous panic, would hardly have versement, he seemed to lose the last
stayed longer to assist him in any case. remnant of equilibrium; and the glacier
492 WEIRD TALES
reeled and pitched about him like an over- and would not let him pause or flag on
turning world as he strove to recover the the mocking, nightmare slope. Reflection
sense of direction that had never before would have told him only that his ulti-
deserted him. Everywhere, it appeared, mate escape was impossible; that the ice,
there were small and wan parhelia that a live and conscious and maleficent thing,
mocked him
above unending glacial was merely playing a cruel and fantastic
scarps. He resumed his hopeless climb game which it had somehow devised in
through a topsy-turvy world of illusion: its incredible animism. So, perhaps, it

whether north, south, east or west, he was well that he had lost the power of
could not tell. reflection.

A sudden wind swept downward on Beyond hope and without warning, he

the glacier; it shrieked in Quanga’s ears
like the myriad voices of taunting devils;
it moaned and laughed and ululated with
shrill notes as of crackling ice. It seemed
to pluck at Quanga with live malicious
fingers, to suck the breath for which he
fought agonizingly. In spite of his heavy
raiment, and the speed of his toilsome
ascent, he felt its bitter, mordant teeth,
searching and biting even to the marrow.
Dimly, as he continued to climb up-
ward, he saw that the ice was no longer
smooth, but had risen into pillars and
pyramids around him, or was fretted ob-
scenely into wilder shapes. Immense,
malignant profiles leered in blue-green
crystal; the malformed heads of bestial
devils frowned; and rearing dragons
writhed immovably along the scarp, or
sank frozen into deep crevasses.
Apart from these imaginary forms
that were assumed by the ice itself, Quan-
ga saw, or believed that he saw, human
bodies and faces embedded in the glacier.
came to the end of the glaciation. It
was like the sudden shift of a dream,
which takes the dreamer unaware; and
he stared uncomprehendingly for some
moments at the familiar Hyperborean
valleys below the rampart, to the south,
and the volcanoes that fumed darkly be-
yond the southeastern hills.
His flight from the cavern had con-
sumed almost the whole of the long,
sub-polar afternoon, and the sun was now
swinging close above the horizon. The
parhelia had vanished, and the ice-sheet,
as if by some prodigious legerdemain,
had resumed its normal horizontality. If
he had been able to compare his impres-
sions, Quanga would have realized that
at no time had he surprized the glacier
in the accomplishment of its bewildering
supernatural changes.
D oubtfully,
that might fade
as if it
at
surveyed the landscape below the battle-
were a mirage
any moment, he

Pale hands appeared to reach dimly and ments. To all appearances, he bad re-
imploringly toward him from the depths; turned to the very place from which he
and he felt upon him the frost-bound and the jewelers had begun their dis-

eyes of men who had been lost in former astrous journey on the ice. Before him
years; and beheld their sunken limbs, an easy declivity, and runneled,
fretted
grown rigid in strange attitudes of tor- ran down toward the grassy meadows.
ture. Fearing that it was all deceitful and un-
Quanga was no longer capable of real — a fair, beguiling trap, a new treach-
thought. Deaf, blind, primordial terrors, ery of the element that he had grown to
older than reason, had filled his mind regard as a cruel and almighty demon
with their atavistic darkness. They drove Quanga descended the slope with hasty
him on implacably, as a beast is driven, leaps and bounds. Even when he stood
 THE ICE-DEMON 493

ankle-deep in the great dub-mosses^ with heavy pouch of rubies in the bosom of
leafy willowsand sedgy grasses about his raiment for safekeeping. He had for-
him, he could not quite believe in the gotten them, and he did not even no-
verity of his escape. tice the trickle of water from the melting

The mindless prompting of a panic of crusted ice about the jewels, that
fear still drove him on; and a primal in- seeped upon his flesh from the lizard-
stinct,equally mindless, drew him toward skin pouch.
the volcanic peaks. The instinct told Crossing one of the innumerable val-
him that he would find refuge from the leys, he stumbled against a protruding
bitter boreal cold amid their purlieus; and willow-root, and the pick was hurled
there, if anywhere, he would be safe from his fingers as he fell. Rising to his
from the diabolical machinations of the feet, he ran on without stopping to re-
glacier. Boiling springs were said to flow trieve it.

perpetually from the nether slopes of Aruddy glow from the volcanoes was
these mountains; great geysers, roaring now visible on the darkening sky. It

and hissing like infernal cauldrons, filled brightened as Quanga went on; and he
the higher gullies with scalding cataracts. felt that he was nearing the far-sought,

The long snows that swept upon Hyper- inviolable sanctuary. Though still thor-
borea were turned to mild rains in the oughly shaken and demoralized by his
vicinity of the volcanoes; and there a rich preterhuman ordeals, he began to think
and sultry-colored flora, formerly native that he might escape from the ice-demon
to the whole region, but now exotic, after all.

flourished throughout the seasons. Suddenly he became aware of a con-

Quanga could not find the little shaggy suming thirst, to which he had been ob-
horses that he and his companions had left livious heretofore. Daring to pause in
tethered to the dwarf willows in the val- one of the shallow valleys, he drank from
ley-meadow. Perhaps, after all, it was a blossom-bordered stream. Then, be-
not the same valley. At any rate, he did neath the crushing load of an uncon-
not stay his flight to search for them. sciously accumulated fatigue, he flung
Without delay or lingering, after one himself down to rest for a little while
fearful backward look at the menacing among the blood-red poppies that were
mass of the glaciation,he started off in purple with twilight.
a direct line for the smoke-plumed moun-
tains. leep fell like a soft and overwhelm-
The sun sank lower, skirting endlessly S ing snow upon his eyelids, but was
the southwestern horizon, and flooding soon broken by evil dreams in which he
the battlemented ice and the rolling land- still fled vainly from the mocking and
scape with a light of pale amethyst. inexorable glacier. He awoke in a cold
Quanga, with iron thews inured to pro- horror, sweating and shivering, and
tracted marches, pressed on in his un- found himself staring at the northern
remitting terror, and was overtaken grad- sky, where a delicate flush was dying
ually by the long, ethereal-tinted twilight slowly. It seemed to him that a great

of northern summer. shadow, malign and massive and some-

Somehow, through all the stages of his how solid, was moving upon the horizon
flight, he had retained the pick-ax, as and striding over the low hills toward the
well as his bow and arrows. Automati- valley in which he lay. It came with in-
cally, hours before, he had placed the expressible speed, and the last light ap-
494
peared to fall from the heavens,
a reflection caught in ice.
He started to his feet with the
ness of prolonged exhaustion in all his
body, and the nightmare stupefaction of
slumber still mingling with his half-
awakened fears. In this state, with a mad,
momentary defiance, he unslung his bow
and discharged arrow after arrow, empty-
ing his quiver at the huge and bleak and
formless shadow that seemed to impend
before him on the sky. Having done
this, he resumed his headlong flight.
Even as he he shivered uncontrol-
ran,
lably with the sudden and intense cold
that had filled the valley.
an access of fear, he felt that there was
something unwholesome and unnatural
—
about the cold something that did not
belong to the place or the season. The
glowing volcanoes were quite near, and
soon he would reach their outlying hills.
The air about him should be temperate,
even if not actually warm.
All at once, the air darkened before
WEIRD TALES
chill as in some glacial tomb. It was cold with a
transarctic rigor, such as he had never
known, that ached unbearably in all his
stiff-
flesh, and was followed by a swiftly
spreading numbness.
Dimly he heard a sound as of clashing
icicles, a grinding as of heavy floes, in
the blue-green gloom that tightened and
thickened around him. It was as if the
soul of the glacier, malign and implaca-
ble,had overtaken him in his flight. At
times he struggled numbly, in half-
drowsy terror. With some obscure im-
pulse, as if to propitiate a vengeful deity,
he took the pouch of rubies from his
bosom with prolonged and painful effort,
Vaguely, with and tried to hurl it away. The thongs
that tied the pouch were loosened by its
fall, and Quanga heard faintly, as if
from a great distance, the tinkle of the
rubies as they rolled and scattered on
some hard surface. Then oblivion deep-
ened about him, and he fell forward
stiffly, without knowing that he had
fallen.
Morning found him beside the little

him, with a sourceless, blue-green glim- stream, stark-frozen, and lying on his
mering in its depths. For a moment, he face in a circle of poppies that had been
saw the featureless Shadow that rose gi- blackened as if by the footprint of some
gantically upon his path and obscured gigantic demon of frost. A near-by pool,
the very stars and the glare of the vol- formed by the leisurely rill, was covered
canoes. Then, with the swirling, of a with thin ice; and on the
ice, like gouts

tempest-driven vapor, it closed about him, of frozen blood, there lay the scattered
gelid and relentless. It was like phan- rubies of Haalor. In its own time, the
tom ice — a thing that blinded his eyes great glacier, moving slowly and irresist-
and stifled his breath, as if he were buried ibly southward, would reclaim them.
 By CARL JACOBI
utterly strange story of three mad
volumes and a weird woman who sat
by a fountain in the house of the

"Oh, the foulness of it! She had been feasting on mv

blood!’’

T WAS a dreary, forlorn establishment with the warp showing in worn places.
way down on Harbor Street. An old An
I sign announced the legend: "Giovan-
Italian
shrank despondently in
Renaissance wine
its
cabinet
corner and
ni Larla —Antiques,” and a dingy win- seemed to frown at me as I passed.
dow revealed a display half masked in "Good afternoon, Signor. There is

dust. something you wish to buy? A picture, a

Even as I crossed the. threshold that ring, a vase perhaps?”
cheerless September afternoon, driven I peered at the squat, pudgy bulk of the
from the sidewalk by a gust of rain and Italian proprietor there in the shadows
perhaps a fascination for all antiques, the and hesitated.
gloominess upon me like a material
fell "Just looking around,” I said, turning
pall. Inside was half darkness, piled my eyes to the jumble about me. "Noth-
boxes and a monstrous tapestry, frayed ing in particular. ...”
495
 : 6

496 WEIRD TALES

The man’s oily face moved in smile as never rested on that cover in black. What
though he had heard the remark a thou- u'rithings of the soul, what terrors, what
sand times before. He sighed, stood unrest, what madness would have been
moment, the rain drum-
there in thought a spared me!
ming and swishing against the outer pane. But never dreaming the hideous secret
Then very deliberately he stepped to the of its pages I fondled it casually and rer

shelves and glanced up and down them marked

considering. I moved to his side, letting "An unusual book. What is it?”
my eyes sweep across the stacked array of Larla glanced up and scowled.
ancient oddities. At length he drew forth "That is not for sale,” he said quietly.
an object which I perceived to be a painted "I don’t know how it got on these shelves.
chalice. It was my poor brother's.”
"An authentic Sixteenth Century Tan-
dart,”
Signor.”
I
he murmured. "A work

shook my head. "No pottery,” I said.

of art,
T he volume
unusual in appearance.
in my hand was

but four inches across and five inches in

indeed
Measuring

“Books perhaps, but no pottery.” length and bound in black velvet with
He frowned slowly. "I have books each outside corner protected with a tri-

too,” he replied, "rare books which no- angle of ivory, was the most beautiful
it

body sells but me, Giovanni Larla. But piece of book-binding I had ever seen.

you must look at my other treasures too.” In the center of the cover was mounted a
There was, I found, no hurrying the tiny piece of ivory intricately cut in the

man. A quarter of an hour passed, dur- shape of a skull. But it was the title of
ing which I had to see a Glycon cameo the book that excited my interest. Em-
brooch, a carved chair of some inde- broidered in gold braid, the title read:

terminate style and period, and a muddle "Five Unicorns and a Pearl.”
of yellowed statuettes, small oils and one I looked at Larla. "How much?” I

or two dreary Portland vases. Several asked and reached for my wallet.
times I glanced at my watch impatiently, He shook his head. "No, it is not for
wondering how I might break away from sale. It is ... it is the last work of my
this Italian and his gloomy shop. Already brother. He wrote it just before he died
the fascination of its dust and shadows in the institution.”

had begun to wear off, and I was anxious "The institution?” I queried.

to reach the street. Larla made no reply but stood staring

But when he had conducted me well at the book, his mind obviously drifting
toward the rear of the shop, something away in deep thought. A moment of
caught my fancy. I drew then from the silence dragged by. There was a strange
shelf the first book of horror. If I had gleam in his eyes when finally he spoke.

but known the terrible events that were to And I thought I saw his fingers tremble

follow, if I could only have had a fore- slightly.

sight into the future that September day,
I swear I would have avoided the book
like a leprous thing, would have shunned
that wretched antique store and the very
street it stood on like places accursed.
"My brother, Alessandro, was a fine
man before he wrote that book,” he said
slowly. "He wrote beautifully, Signor,
and he was strong and healthy. For
A hoursI could sit while he read to me his

thousand times I have wished my eyes had poems. He was a dreamer, Alessandro;
W. T.—
 7
REVELATIONS IN BLACK 497

he loved everything beautiful, and the two them by hand the verses of Marini. He
of us were very happy. was very clever at such work. But the
"All . . . until that terrible night. wanderings of his mind which filled the
Then he . . . but no . . . a year has pages now, I have never read. Nor do I
passed now. It is best to forget.” He intend to. I want to keep with me the
passed his hand before his eyes and drew memory of him when he was happy. This
in his breath sharply. book has come on these shelves by mis-
take. I shall put it with his other pos-
"What happened?” I asked sympathet-
sessions.”
ically, hiswords arousing my curiosity.
"Happened, Signor? I do not really My desire to read the few pages bound
know. It was all so confusing. He be- in velvet increased a thousandfold when I

came suddenly ill, ill without reason. The found they were unobtainable. I have

flush of sunny Italy, which was always on always had an interest in abnormal psy-
his cheek, faded, and he grew white and chology and have gone through a number
drawn. His strength left him day by day. of bocks on the subject. Here was the
Doctors prescribed, gave medicines, but work of a man confined in the asylum for
nothing helped. He grew steadily weaker the insane. Here was the unexpurgated
until . . . until that night.” writing of an educated brain gone mad.

I looked at him curiously, impressed by And unless my intuition failed me, here
his perturbation. was a suggestion of some deep mystery.
"And then ?” I urged. My mind was made up. I must have it.
Hands opening and closing, Larla I turned to Larla and chose my words
seemed to sway unsteadily; his liquid eyes carefully.
opened wide to the brows, and his voice "I can well appreciate your wish to
was strained and tense as he continued: keep the book,” I said, "and since you re-
"And then . . . oh, if I could but for- fuse to sell, may I ask if you would con-
get! It was horrible. Poor Alessandro sider lending it to me for just one night?
came home screaming, sobbing, tearing If I promised to return it in the morn-
his hair. He was ... he was stark, rav- ing? . .
.”

ing mad! The Italian hesitated. He toyed unde-

"They took him to the institution for cidedly with a heavy gold watch chain.
the insane and said he needed a complete "No. I am sorry. . .
.”

rest, that he had suffered from some ter- "Ten dollars and back tomorrow un-
mental shock. He .
rific . died three . harmed.”
weeks later with the crucifix on his lips.” Larla studied his shoe.
For a moment I stood there in silence, "Very well, Signor, I will trust you.
staring out at the falling rain. Then I But please, I ask you, please be sure and
said: return it.”

"He wrote this book while confined to

the institution?”
Larla nodded absently.
"Three books,” he replied. "Two
T hat night in the quiet of
ment I opened the book. Immediate-
ly my attention was drawn to three lines
my apart-

others exactly like the one you have in scrawled in a feminine hand across the in-
your hand. The bindings he made, of side of the front cover, lines written in a
course, when he was quite well. It was faded red solution that looked more like
his original intention, I believe, to pen in blood than ink. They read:
W. T.—
 —
498 WEIRD TALES
"Revelations meant to destroy but only mediate spell of depression over me. The
binding without the stake. Read, fool, vague lines weighed upon my mind, hung
and enter my field, for we are chained to before my eyes like a design, and I felt
the spot. Oh wo unto Larla.” myself slowly seized by a deep feeling of
mused over these undecipherable sen-
I uneasiness.

tences for some time without solving their The air of the room grew heavy and
meaning. At last, shrugging my shoul- close. The open casement and the out-of-
ders, I turned to the first page and began doors seemed to beckon to me. I walked
the work of Alessandro Larla, the
last to the window, thrust the curtain aside,
had ever in my years of
strangest story I stood there, smoking furiously. Let me
browsing through old books, come upon. say that regular habits have long been a
"Onthe evening of the fifteenth of part of my make-up. I am not addicted
October I turned my steps into the cold to nocturnal strolls or late meanderings
and walked until I was tired. The roar of before seeking my bed; yet now, curious-
the present was in the distance when I ly enough, with the pages of the book still

came to twenty-six bluejays silently con- in my mind I suddenly experienced an in-

templating the ruins. Passing in the definable urge to leave my apartment and
midst of them l wandered by the skeleton walk the darkened streets.

trees and seated myself where I could I paced the room nervously, irritated
watch the leering fish. A child wor- that the sensation did not pass. The clock
shipped. Glass threw the moon at me. on the mantel pushed its ticks slowly
Grass sang a litany at my feet. And the through the quiet. And at length with a
pointed shadow moved slowly to the left. shrug I threw my pipe to the table,
"I walked along the silver gravel until reached for my hat and coat and made
I came to five unicorns galloping beside for the door.
water of the past. Here I found a pearl, Ridiculous as it may sound, upon reach-
a magnificent pearl, a pearl beautiful but ing the street I found that urge had in-
black. Like a flower it carried a rich per- creased to a distinct attraction. I felt that
fume, and once l thought the odor was under no circumstances must I turn any
but a mask, but why should such a perfect direction but northward, and although
creation need a mask? this way led into a district quite unknown
"I sat between the leering fish and the to me, I was in a moment pacing forward,
five galloping unicorns, and I fell madly choosing and heading
streets deliberately
in love with the pearl. The past lost itself without knowing why toward the out-
and ”
in drabness skirts of the city. It was a brilliant moon-

I laid the book down and

sat watching
the smoke-curls from my pipe eddy ceil-
ingward. There was much more, but I
could make no sense to any of it. All was
in that strange style and completely in-
comprehensible. And yet it seemed the
story was more than the mere wanderings
of a madman. Behind it all seemed to lie
a narrative cloaked in symbolism.
Something about the few sentences
just —
what I can not say had cast an im-
light night in September. Summer had
passed and already there was the smell of
frosted vegetation in the air. The great
chimes in Capitol tower were sounding
midnight, and the buildings and shops
and later the private houses were dark
and silent as I passed.
Try as I would to erase from my mem-
ory the queer book which I had just read,
the mystery of its pages hammered at me,
arousing my curiosity, dampening my
 REVELATIONS IN BLACK 499

spirits. "Five Unicorns and a Pearl!” There were several fountains, weather-
What did it all mean? beaten and ornamented with curious fig-
More and more I realized as I went on ures, to which at the time I paid only cas-

that a power other than my own will was ual attention. Farther on, half hidden by

leading my steps. It was absurd, and I the underbrush, was the life-size statue of
tried to resist, to turn back. Yet once a little Child kneeling in position of
when I did momentarily come to a halt prayer. Erosion on the soft stone had dis-

that attraction swept upon me as inex- figured the face, and in the half-light the

orably as the desire for a narcotic. carved features presented an expression

It was far out on Easterly Street that I

strangely grotesque and repelling.

came upon a high stone wall flanking the Kow long I sat there in the quiet, I

sidewalk. Over its ornamented top I don’t know. The surroundings under
could see the shadows of a dark building the moonlight blended harmoniously with

set well back in the grounds. A wrought- my mood. But more than that I seemed
iron gate in the wall opened upon a view physically unable to rouse myself and

of wild desertion and neglect. Swathed pass on.

in the light of the moon, an old court- It was with a suddenness that brought

yard strewn with fountains, stone benches me electrified to ray feet that I became
and statues lay tangled in rank weeds and aware of the real significance of the ob-
undergrowth. The windows of the build- jects about me. Held motionless, I stood
ing, which evidently had once been a pri- there running my eyes wildly from place

vate dwelling, were boarded up, all except to place, refusing to believe. Surely I

those on a little tower or cupola rising to must be dreaming. In the name of all
a point in the front. And here the glass that was unusual this this absolute-
. . .

caught the blue-gray light and refracted it ly couldn’t be. And yet
Into the shadows. It was the fountain at my side that had
Before that gate my feet stopped like caught my attention
first. Across the top
dead things. The psychic power which of the water basin were five stone uni-
had been leading me had nov/ become a corns, all identically carved, each seeming
reality. Directly from the courtyard it to follow the other in galloping proces-
emanated, drawing me
toward it with an sion. Looking farther, prompted now by
intensity that smothered all reluctance. a madly rising recollection, I saw that the
cupola, towering high above the house,
trangely enough, the gate was un- eclipsed the rays of the moon and threw
S locked; and feeling like a man in a a long pointed shadow across the ground
trance I swung the creaking hinges and at my left. The other fountain some dis-
entered, making my way along a grass- tance away was ornamented with the fig-

grown path to one of the benches. It ure of a stone fish, a fish whose empty eye-
seemed that once inside the court the dis- sockets were leering straight in my direc-
tant sounds of the city died away, leaving tion. And the climax of it all — the wall!
a hollow silence broken only by the wind At intervals of every three feet on the
rustling through the dead weeds.
tall top of the street expanse were mounted
Rearing up before me, the building with crude carven stone shapes of birds. And
its dark wings, cupola and facade oddly counting them I saw that those birds were
resembled a colossal hound, crouched and twenty-six bluejays.
ready to spring. Unquestionably — startling and impos-
500 WEIRD TALES
sible as it seemed — I was in the same set- over-jacket, only the black dress relieved
ting as described in Larla’s book! It was solely by the whiteness of her throat.
my mind
a staggering revelation,
reeled at the thought of
how odd
tion of the city
that I
it.
and
How strange,
should be drawn to a por-
had never before fre-
I
W
moved
ith a sigh of regret at having
pleasant solitude thus disturbed
across the court until I stood at her
my
I

quented and thrown into the midst of a side. Still she showed no recognition of
narrative written almost a year before! my presence, and clearing my throat I said

I saw now that Alessandro Larla, writ- hesitatingly:

ing as a patient in the institution for the "I suppose you are the owner here.
insane, had seized isolated details but neg- I ... I really didn’t know the place
lected to explain them. Here was a was occupied, and the gate . well, the . .

problem for the psychologist, the mad, the gate was unlocked. I’m sorry I tres-
symbolic, the incredible story of the dead passed.”
Italian. I was bewildered, confused, and She made no reply to that, and the
I pondered for an answer. dog merely gazed at me in dumb silence.
As if to soothe my perturbation there No graceful words of polite departure
stole into the court then a faint odor of came to my lips, and I moved hesitatingly
perfume. Pleasantly it touched my nos- toward the gate.
trils, seemed to blend with the moonlight. "Please don’t go,” she said suddenly,
I breathed it in deeply as I stood there by looking up. "I’m lonely. Oh, if you but
the curious But slowly that
fountain. knew how lonely I am!” She moved to
odor became more noticeable, grew strong- one side on the bench and motioned that
er, a sickish sweet smell that began to I sit beside her. The dog continued to
creep down my lungs like smoke. And examine me with its big eyes.
absently I recognized it. Heliotrope! The Whether it was the nearness of that
honeyed aroma blanketed the garden, odor of heliotrope, the suddenness of it
thickened the air, seemed to fall upon me all, or perhaps the moonlight, I did not

like a drug. know, but at her words a thrill of pleasure

And then came my second surprize of ran through me, and I accepted the prof-
the evening. Looking about to discover fered seat.
the source of the irritating fragrance I There followed an interval of silence,
saw opposite me, seated on another stone during which I puzzled my brain for a
bench, a woman. She was dressed entire- means to start conversation. But abrupt-
ly in black, and her face was hidden by a ly she turned to the beast and said in
veil. She seemed unaware of my pres- German:
ence. Her head was slightly bowed, and ’’Fort mit dir, Johann!"
her whole position suggested a person The dog rose obediently to its feet and
deep in contemplation. stole slowly oif into the shadows. I
I noticed also the thing that crouched watched it for a moment until it disap-
by her side. It was a dog, a tremendous peared in the direction of the house.
brute with a head strangely out of pro- Then the woman said to me in English
portion and eyes as large as the ends of which was slightly stilted and marked
big spoons. For several moments I stood with an accent:
staring at the two of them. Although the "It has been ages since I have spoken to
air was quite chilly, the women were no any one. . » We are Strangers. I do
 REVELATIONS IN BLACK 501

not know you, and you do not know me. I stared at her. "Dead?” I asked.
Yet ... strangers sometimes find in The veil trembled as though moved by
each other a bond of interest. Suppos- a shudder, as though her thoughts had ex-
ing . . . supposing we forget customs humed some terrible event of the past.
and formality of introduction? Shall Unconscious of my interruption she went
we?” on:
For some reason I felt my pulse quick- "Tonight I came here I don’t know —
en as she said that. "Please do,” I re- —
why merely because the gate was un-
plied. "A spot like this enough intro-
is locked, and there was a place of quiet
duction in itself. Tell me, do you live within. Now have I bored you with my
here?” confidences and personal history?”
She made no answer for a moment, and "Not at all,” I replied. "I came here
I began to fear I had taken her sugges- by chance myself. Probably the beauty
tion too quickly. Then she began slowly: of the place attracted me. I dabble in
"My name is Perle von Mauren, and I amateur photography and
occasionally
am really a stranger to your country, react strongly to unusual scenes.Tonight
though I have been here now more than Iwent for a midnight stroll to relieve my
a year. My home is in Austria near what mind from the bad effect of a book I was
is now the Czechoslovakian frontier. reading."
You see, it was to find my only brother She made a strange reply to that, a
that Icame to the United States. During replyaway from our line of thought and
the war he was a lieutenant under Gen- which seemed an interjection that escaped
eral Mackensen, but in 1916, in April her involuntarily.
I believe it was, he ... he was reported "Books,” she said, "are powerful
missing. things. They can fetter one more than
"War is a cruel thing. It took our the walls of a prison.”
money; it took our castle on the Danube, She caught my puzzled stare at the
—
and then my brother. Those following remark and added hastily: "It is odd that
years were horrible. We lived always in we should meet here.”
doubt, hoping against hope that he was For a moment I didn’t answer. I was
still living. thinking of her heliotrope perfume, which
'Then after the Armistice a fellow for a woman of her apparent culture was
claimed to have served next to him
officer applied in far too great a quantity to man-
on grave-digging detail at a French prison ifest good taste. The impression stole
camp near Monpre. And later came a upon me that the perfume cloaked some
thin rumor that he was in the United secret, that if it were removed I should
States. I gathered together as much find . but what? It was ridiculous,
. .

money as I could and came here in search and I tried to cast the feeling aside.
of him.” The hours passed, and still we sat there
Her voice dwindled off, and she sat in talking, enjoying each other’s companion-
silence staring at the brown weeds. When ship. She did not remove her veil, and
she resumed, her voice was low and wa- though I was burning with a desire to see

vering. her features, I had not dared ask her to.

"I . . . found him . . . but would A strange nervousness had slowly seized
to God I hadn’t! He , . , he was no me. The woman was a charming conver-
longer living.” sationalist, but there was about her an in-
502 WEIRD TALES
definable something which produced in of the woman in black: Perle von Mauren.
me a distinct feeling of unease. The revelation climaxed my train of
It was, I should judge, but a few mo- thought. What did it all mean?
ments before the first streaks of dawn Dinner had little attraction for me that
when it happened. As I look back now, evening. I had gone to the an-
Earlier
even with mundane objects and thoughts tique-dealer and begged him to loan me
on every side, it is not difficult to realize the sequel, the second volume of his
the dire significance, the absolute baseness brother Alessandro. When he had re-
of that vision. But at the time my brain fused, objected because I had not yet re-
was too much in a whirl to understand. turned the first book, my nerves had sud-
A thin shadow moving across the gar- denly jumped on edge. I felt like a nar-
den attracted my gaze once again into the cotic fiend facedwith the realization that
night about me. I lodked up over the he could not procure the desired drug. In
spire of the deserted house and started as desperation, yet hardly knowing why, I

if struck by a blow. For a moment I offered the man money, more money,
thought had seen a curious cloud forma-
I until at length I had come away, my

tion racing low directly above me, a cloud powers of persuasion and my pocket-book
black and impenetrable with two wing- successful.

like ends strangely in the shape of a mon- The second volume was identical in
strous flying bat. outward respects to its predecessor except
I blinked my eyes hard and looked that it bore no title. But if I was expect-
again. ing more disclosures in symbolism I was
"That cloud!" I exclaimed, "that doomed to disappointment. Vague as
”
strange cloud! . . , Did you see "Five Unicorns and a Pearl” had been,
I stopped and stared dumbly. the text of the sequel was even more wan-
The bench at my side was empty. The dering and was obviously only the ram-
woman had disappeared. blings of a mad brain. By watching, the
sentences closely I did gather that Ales-

D went about my
uring the next day
professional duties in £he law office
with only half interest, and my business
I sandro Larla had made
his court of the twenty-six bluejays
met there again his "pearl.”
a second trip to
and

partner looked at me queerly several There was a paragraph toward the end
times when he came upon me mumbling that puzzled me. It read:
to myself. The incidents of the evening "Can it possibly be? 1 pray that it is
before were rushing through my mind in not. And yet I have seen it and heard it
grand turmoil. Questions unanswerable snarl. Oh, the loathsome creature! 1 will
hammered at me. That I should have not, I will not believe it.”
come upon the very details described by I closed the book with a snap and tried
mad Larla in his strange book: the leering to divert my attention elsewhere by pol-
fish, the praying child, the twenty-six ishing the lens of my
newest portable
bluejays, the pointed shadow of the cu- camera. But again, as before, that same
pola —
was unexplainable; it was v/eird.
it urge stole upon me, that same desire to
"Five Unicorns and a Pearl.” The visit the garden. I confess that I had

unicorns were the stone statues ornament- watched the intervening hours until I
ing the old fountain, yes—but the pearl? would meet the woman in black again; for
With a start I suddenly recalled the name strangely enough, in spite of her abrupt
 REVELATIONS IN BLACK 503

exit before, I never doubted but that she the gate to the grounds unlocked as be-
would be there waiting for me. I wanted fore, and the garden a dripping place

her tolift the veil. I wanted to talk with masked in shadow.

her.I wanted to throw myself once again The woman was not there. Still the
into the narrative of Larla’s book. hour was early, and I did not for a mo-
Yet the whole thing seemed preposter- ment doubt that she would appear later.
ous, and I fought the sensation with every Gripped now with the enthusiasm of my
ounce of will-power I could call to mind. plan, I set the camera carefully on the
Then it suddenly occurred to me what a stone fountain, training the lens as well
remarkable picture she would make, sit- as I could on the bendi where we had
ting there on the stone bench, clothed in sat the previous evening. The flash-

black, with the classic background of the lamp with its battery handle I laid within
old courtyard. If I could but catch the easy reach.
scene on a photographic plate. . . . Scarcely had I finished my arrangements
I halted my polishing and mused a mo- when the crunch of gravel on the path
ment. With a new electric flash-lamp, caused me to turn. She was approaching
that handy invention which has sup- the stone bench, heavily veiled as before
planted the old mussy flash-powder, I and with the same sweeping black dress.
could illuminate the garden and snap the "You have come again,” she said as I
picture with ease. And if the result were took my place beside her.
satisfactory it would make a worthy con- "Yes,” I replied. "I could not stay
tribution to the International Camera Con- away.”
test at Geneva next month. Our conversation that night gradually
The idea appealed to me, and gather- centered about her dead brother, although
ing together the necessary equipment I I thought several times that the woman
drew on an ulster ( for it was a wet, chilly tried to avoid the subject. He had been,
night) and slipped out of my rooms and it seemed, the black sheep of the family,
headed northward. Mad, unseeing fool had led more or less of a dissolute life
that I was! If only I had stopped then and had been expelled from the Univer-
and book to the an-
there, returned the sity ot Vienna not only because of his lack

tique-dealer and dosed the incident! But
the strange magnetic attraction had
gripped me in earnest, and I rushed head-
long into the horror.
of respect for the pedagogues of the vari-
ous sciences but also because of his queer
unorthodox papers on philosophy. His
sufferings in the war prison camp must
have been intense. With a kind of grim

A fall

Off to the
rain
ment, and the
east,
was drumming the pave-
streets were deserted.
however, the heavy blanket
delight she dwelt on his horrible expe-
riences in the grave-digging detail which
had been related to her by the fellow
of douds glowed with a soft radiance officer. But of the manner in which he
where the moon was trying to break had met his death she would say abso-
through, and a strong wind from the lutely nothing.
south gave promise of clearing the skies Stronger than on tire night before was
before long. With my coat collar turned the sweet smell of heliotrope. And
well up at the throat I passed once again again as the fumes crept nauseatingly
into the older section of the town and down my lungs there came that same sense
down forgotten Easterly Street. I found of nervousness, that same feeling that the
504 WEIRD TALES
perfume was hiding something I should gray shape came hurtling through the
know. The desire to see beneath the veil long bounding in great leaps
weeds,
had become maddening by this time, but straighttoward me. It was the woman’s
still I lacked the boldness to ask her to dog, which I had seen with her the night

lift it. before. But no longer was it a beast pas-

Toward midnight the heavens cleared sive and silent. Its face was contorted in

and the moon in splendid contrast shone diabolic fury, and its jaws were dripping
high in the sky.The time had come for slaver. Even in that moment of terror as
my picture. I stood frozen before it, the sight of those

"Sit where you are,’’ I said. 'Til be white nostrils and those black hyalescent
back in a moment.” eyes emblazoned itself on my mind, never
Stepping quickly to the fountain I to be forgotten.

grasped the flash-lamp, held it aloft for Then with a lunge it was upon me. I
an instant and placed my finger on the had only time to thrust the flash-lamp up-
shutter lever of the camera. The woman ward in half protection and throw my
remained motionless on the bench, weight to the side. My arm jumped in
evidently puzzled as to the meaning of my recoil. The bulb exploded, and I could
movements. The range was perfect. A feel those teeth clamp down hard on the
click, and a dazzling white light enveloped handle. Backward I fell, a scream gur-
the courtyard about us. For a brief second gling to my lips, a terrific heaviness
she was outlined there against the old surging upon my body.
wall. Then the blue moonlight returned, I struck out frantically, beat my fists

and I was smiling in satisfaction. into that growling face. My fingers

"It ought to make a beautiful picture,” groped blindly for its throat, sank deep
I said. into the hairy flesh. I could feel its very
She leaped to her feet. breath mingling with my own now, but
"Fool!” she cried hoarsely. "Blunder- desperately I hung on.
ing fool! What have you done?” The pressure of my hands told. The
dog coughed and fell back. And seizing
ven though my feet,
E her face
that her eyes
I
the veil was there to hide
got the instant impression
were glaring
me, smol-
at
that instant
jumped forward and planted
I struggled

kick straight into the brute’s middle.

to
a terrific

dering with hatred. I gazed at her curi- "Fort mit dir, Johann!” I cried, remem-
ously as she stood erect, head thrown back, bering the woman’s German command.
body apparently taut as wire, and a slow It leaped back and, fangs bared, glared
shudder crept down my spine. Then at me motionless for a moment. Then
without warning she gathered up her abruptly it turned and slunk off through
dress and ran down the path toward the the weeds.
deserted house. A moment later she had Weak and trembling, I drew myself
disappeared somewhere in the shadows of together, picked up my camera and passed
the giant bushes. through the gate toward home.
I stood there by the fountain, staring
after her in a daze.
umbra of the house’s facade
low animal snarl.
Suddenly, off in the
there rose a T
ment
hree
hours
days passed.
I spent confined to
suffering the tortures of the
Those endless
my apart-
damned.
And then before I could move, a huge On the day following the night of my
 REVELATIONS IN BLACK 505

terrible experience with the dog I realized fluttering weakly. All was quiet, so still

I was in no condition to go to work. I that the clock on my bureau ticked dis-

drank two cups of strong black coffee and tinctly each passing second. The curtain
then forced myself to sit quietly in a chair, billowed in the night breeze, though I

hoping my nerves. But the

to soothe was positive I had closed the casement
sight of thecamera there on the table ex- when I entered the room.
cited me to action. Five minutes later And then suddenly I threw back my
I was in the dark room arranged as my head and screamed from the bottomest
studio, developing the picture I had taken depths of my soul! For slowly, slowly
the night before. I worked feverishly, creeping down my lungs was that detest-
urged on by the thought of what an un- able odor of heliotrope!
usual contribution it would make for the Morning, and I found all was not a
amateur contest next month at Geneva, dream. My head was ringing, my hands
should the result be successful. trembling, and I was so weak I could
An exclamation burst from my lips as hardly stand. The doctor I called in

I stared at the still-wet print. There was looked grave as he felt my pulse.
the old garden clear and sharp with the "You are on the verge of a complete
bushes, the statue of the child, the foun- collapse,” he said. "If you do not aHow
tainand the wall in the background, but yourself a rest it may permanently affect
the bench —
the stone bench was empty. your mind. Take things easy for a while.
There was nc sign, not even a blur of the And if you don’t mind, I’ll cauterize those
woman in black. two cuts on your neck.
little They’re
My brain in a whirl, I rushed the neg- ratherraw wounds. What caused them?”
ative through a saturated solution of mer- I moved myfingers to my throat and
curic chloride in water, then treated it with drew them away again tipped with blood.
ferrous oxalate. But even after this inten- "I ... I don’t know,” I faltered.
sifying process the second print was like He busied himself with his medicines,
the first, focused in every detail, the bench and a few minutes later reached for his
standing in the foreground in sharp relief, hat.
but no trace of the woman. "I advise that you don’t leave your bed
I She had been
stared incredulously. for a week at least,” he said. "I’ll give

in plain view when I snapped the shut- you a thorough examination then and see
ter. Of that I was positive. And my cam- if there are any signs of anemia.” But as
era was in perfect condition. What then he went out the door I thought I saw a
was wrong? Not until I had looked at puzzled look on his face.
the print bard in tire daylight would I be- Those subsequent hours allowed my
lieve my eyes. No explanation offered thoughts to run wild once more. I vowed
itself, none at all; and at length, confused I would forget it all, go back to my work

unto weakness, I returned to my bed and and never look upon the books again.
fell into a heavy sleep. But I knew I could not. The woman in
Straight through the day I slept. Hours black persisted in my mind, and each min-
later I seemed to wake from a vague ute away from her became a torture. But
nightmare, and had not strength to rise more than that, if there had been a de-
from my pillow. A great physical faint- cided urge to continue my reading in the
ness had overwhelmed me. My arms, my second book, the desire to see the third
legs, lay like dead things. My heart was book, the last of the trilogy, was slowly
506 IWEIRD TALES

increasing to an obsession. It gripped settled over me, a mental miasma muffling

me, etched itself deep into my thoughts. the distant sounds of the street. I was

At length I could stand it no longer, vaguely aware of an atmosphere, heavy

and on the morning of the third day I and dense, in which objects other than the
took a cab to the antique store and tried book lost their focus and became blurred
to persuade Larla to give me the third vol- in proportion.

ume But the Italian was

of his brother. For a moment I hesitated. Something
firm. had already taken two books,
I psychic, something indefinable seemed to
neither of which I had returned. Until forbid me to read farther. Conscience,
I brought them back he would not listen. curiosity, that queer urge told me to go
Vainly I tried to explain that one was of on. Slowly, like a man in a hypnotic
no value without the sequel and that I trance wavering between two wills, I be-
wanted to read the entire narrative as a gan to turn the pages, one at a time, from
unit. He merely shrugged his shoulders back to front.
and toyed with his watch chain. Symbolism again. Vague wanderings
Cold perspiration broke out on my fore- with no sane meaning.
head as I heard my desire disregarded. But suddenly my fingers stopped! My
Like the blows of a bludgeon the thought eyes had caught sight of the last para-
beat upon me that I must have that book. graph on the last page, the final pennings
I argued. I pleaded. But to no avail. of Alessandro Larla. I started downward
At length when Larla had turned the as a terrific shock ripped through me from
other way I gave in to desperation, seized head to foot. I read, re-read, and read
the third book as I saw it lying on the again those words, those blasphemous
shelf, slid it into my pocket and walked words. I brought the book closer. I

guiltily out. I make no apologies for my traced each word in the lamplight, slowly,
action. In the light of what developed carefully, letter for letter. I opened and
later it may be considered a temptation in- closed my eyes. Then the horror of it

spired, for my will at the time was a con- burst like a bomb within me.
quered thing blanketed by that strange In blood-red ink the lines read:
lure. "What shall I do? She has drained my
blood and rotted my soul. My pearl is

ack my apartment
dropped into a The curse be upon
B in I

chair and hastened to open the vel-

vet cover. Here was the last chronicling
of that strange series of events which had
so completely become a part of my life
during the past five days. Larla’s volume
three. Would all be explained in its
pages? If so, what secret would be re-
vealed?
With the light from a reading-lamp
glaring full over my opened
shoulder
the book, thumbed through it slowly, mar-
veling again at the exquisite hand-print-
black, black as all evil.
her brother, for it is he who made her
thus. I pray the truth in these pages will
destroy them for ever.
"But my brain is hammering itself
apart. Heaven help me, Perle von Mau-
ren and her brother, Johann, are vam-
pires!”
With a scream I leaped to my feet.
"Vampires!” I shrieked. "Vampires!
I Oh, my God!”
I clutched at the edge of the table and
stood there swaying, the realization of it

ing. It seemed then as I sat there that an surging upon me like the blast of a fur-
almost palpable cloud of intense quiet nace. Vampires! Those horrible crea-
 —
REVELATIONS IN BLACK 507

tures with a lust for human blood, fiends saw those scrawled lines which had meant
of hell, taking the shape of men, of bats, nothing to me before.
of dogs. I saw it all now, and my brain "Revelations meant to destroy but only
reeled at the horror of it. binding without the stake. Read, fool,
Oh, why had I been such a fool? Why and enter my field, for we are chained to
had I not looked beneath the surface, the spot. Oh, wo unto Larla!"
taken away the veil, gone farther than the Perle von Mauren had written that.
perfume? That damnable heliotrope was Fool that I was, unseeing fool! The
a mask, a mask hiding all the unspeak- books had not put an end to the evil life
able foulness of the grave. of her or her brother. No, only one thing
My emotions burst out of control then. could do that. Yet the exposures had not
With a cry I swept the water-glass, the been written in vain. They were record-
books, the vase from the table, smote my ed for mortal posterity to see.
fist down upon the flat surface again and Those books bound the two vampires,
again until a thousand little pains were Perle von Mauren and her brother,
stabbing the flesh. Johann, to the old garden, kept them from
"Vampires!” I screamed. "No, no roaming the night streets in search of vic-
oh God, it isn’t true!” tims. Only him who had once passed
through the gate could they pursue and
But I knew that it was. The events of
attack.
the past days rose before me in all their
horror now, and
It was the old metaphysical law: evil
I could see the black sig-
shrinking in the face of truth.
nificance of every detail.
Yet bound their power
the books had
The brother, Johann —some time since
if

in chains they had also opened a new

the war he had become a vampire. When avenue for their attacks. Once immersed
the woman sought him out years later he
in the pages of the trilogy, the reader fell
had forced this terrible existence upon her
helplessly into their clutches. Those
too. Yes, that was it.
printed lines had become the outer reaches
With the garden as their lair the two of their web. They were an entrapping
of them had entangled poor Alessandro net within which the power of the vam-
Larla in. their serpentine coils a year be- pires always crouched.
fore. He had loved the woman, had wor- That was why my life had blended so
shipped her madly. And then he had strangely with the story of Larla. The
found the truth, the awful truth that had moment I had cast my
on the open-
eyes
sent him stumbling home, stark, raving ing paragraph had fallen into their coils
I
mad. to do with as they had done with Larla a
Mad, yes, but not mad enough to keep year before. I had been lured, drawn re-
him from writing the facts in his three lentlessly into the tentacles of the woman
velvet-bound books for the world to see. in black. Once I was past the garden
He had hoped the disclosures would dis- gate the binding spell of the books was
patch the woman and her brother for ever. gone, and they were free to pursue me
But it was not enough. and to
A giddy sensation rose within me.
Now
F ollowing my thoughts, I whipped
the first book from the table stand and
I

been puzzled.
saw why the
Now
scientific

I
doctor had
saw the reason for
opened the front cover. There again I my physical weakness. Oh, the foul-
508 WEIRD TALES
ness of it! She had been — feasting on my moldering masonry and tangled weeds
blood! were steeped in silence as before.
With a sobbing cry I flung the book
to a far corner, turned and began madly traight for the house I made, climb-
pacing up and down the room. Cold per- S ing the rotten steps to the front en-
spiration oozed from every pore. My trance. The door was boarded up and
heart pounded like a runner’s. My brain locked. Smothering an impulse to scream,
ran wild. I retraced my steps at a run and began to
circle the south wall of the building. It
Was I to end as Larla had ended,
another victim of this loathsome being’s
was this direction I had seen the woman
power? Was she to gorge herself further
takewhen she had fled after I had tried to
snap her picture. The twenty-six blue-
on my life and live on? Were others to
be preyed upon and go down into the pits
jays on the wall leered at me like a flock
of harpies.
of despair? No, and again no! If Larla
had been ignorant of the one and only Well toward the rear of the building I

way in which to dispose of such a crea- reached a small half -open door leading to
ture, I was not. I had not vacationed in the cellar. For a moment I hesitated
south Europe without learning something there, sick with the dread of what I knew
of these ancient evils. lay before me. Then, clenching hard the
Frantically I looked about the room, two wooden tripod stakes, I entered.

took in the objects about me.' A chair, a Inside, cloaked in gloom, a narrow cor-
table, a taboret, one of my cameras with ridor stretched before me. The floor was
its long tripod. I stared at the latter as in littered with rubble and fallen masonry,
my terror-stricken mind a plan leaped into the ceiling interlaced with a thousand cob-
action. With I was across the
a lunge webs.
floor, had one of the wooden legs
seized I stumbled forward, my eyes quickly
of the tripod in my hands. I snapped it accustoming themselves to the half-light
across my knee. Then, grasping the two from the almost opaque windows. A
broken pieces, both now with sharp splin- maddening urge to leave it all and flee
tered ends, I rushed hatless out of the back to the sunlight was welling up with-
door to the street. in me now. I fought it back. Failure
A moment later Iwas racing north- would mean a continuation of the horrors
ward in a cab bound for Easterly Street. — a lingering death —
would leave the
"Hurry!” I cried to the driver as I gate open for others.
glanced at the westering sun. "Faster, do At the end of the corridor a second
you hear?” door barred my passage. I thrust it open
We shot along the cross-streets, into the — and stood swaying there on the sill star-
old suburbs and toward the outskirts of ing inward. A great loathing crept over
town. Every traffic halt found me fum- me, a stifling sense of utter repulsion. Hot
ing at the delay. But at length we drew blood rushed to my head. The air seemed
up before the wall of the garden. to move upward in palpable swirls.
Tossing the driver a bill, I swung the Beyond was a small room, barely ten
wrought-iron gate open and with the feet square, with a low-raftered ceiling.
wooden pieces of the tripod still under my And by the light of the open door I saw
arm, rushed in. The courtyard was a side by side in the center of the floor
place of reality in the daylight, but the two white wood coffins.
 I

REVELATIONS IN BLACK 509

How long I stood there leaning weakly Even in that moment of stark horror I
against the stone wall I don’t know. realized that not even the most subtle
There was a silence so profound the beat- erasures of Time would be able to remove
ing of my heart pulsed through the pas- that blasphemous sight from my inner eye.
sage like the blows of a mallet. And It was a scene so abysmally corrupt —
there was a slow penetrating odor drifting pray heaven my dreams will never find it
from out of that chamber that entered my and re-vision its unholy tableau. There
nostrils and claimed instant recognition. before me, focused in the shaft of light
Heliotrope! But heliotrope defiled by the open door like
that filtered through the
rotting smell of an ancient grave. the miasma from a fever swamp, lay the
Then suddenly with a determination two white caskets.
born of despair I leaped forward, rushed And within them now, staring up at
to the nearest coffin, seized its cover and me from eyeless sockets two gray and —
ripped it open. moldering skeletons, each with its hideous
Would to heaven I could forget the leering head of death.
met my eyes. There lay Perle
sight that
—
von Mauren, the woman in blade un-
veiled.
That face —how can I describe it? It
T he rest is
to
but a vague dream.
remember rushing madly
along the path to the gate and down
I seem
outside,
the
was divinely beautiful, the hair black as street, down Easterly, away from that ac-
sable, the cheeks a classic white. But the cursed garden of the jays.

lips —oh God! those lips! I grew sudden- At length, utterly exhausted, I reached
ly sick as I looked upon them. They were my apartment, burst open the door and
scarlet, crimson . and sticky with hu-
. . staggered Those mundane surround-
in.

man blood. ings that confronted me were like balm to

I moved like an automaton then. With my burning eyes. But as if in mocking
a low sob I reached for one of the tripod irony there centered into my gaze three
stakes, seized a flagstonefrom the floor objects lying where I had left them, the
and with the pointed end of the wood three volumes of Larla.
resting directly over the woman’s heart, i moved across to them, picked them
struck a crashing blow. The stake jumped up and stared down vacantly upon their
downward. A sickening crunch and a — black sides. These were the hellish works
violent contortion shook the coffin. Up that had caused it all. These were the
to my face rushed a warm, nauseating pages that were responsible. . . .

breath of rot and decay. With a low cry I turned to the grate
I wheeled and hurled open the lid of on the other side of £he room and flung
her brother’s coffin. With only a flashing the three of them onto the still glowing
glance at the young masculine Teutonic coals.
face I raised the other stake high in the There was an instant hiss, and a line of
air and brought it stabbing down with all yellow flame streaked upward and began
the strength in my light arm. Red blood eating into the velvet, I watched the fire

suddenly began to form a thick pool on grow higher . . , higher . , , and di-
the floor. minish slowly.
For an instant I stood rooted to the And as the last glowing spark died into
spot, the utter obscenity of it all searing a blackened ash there swept over me a
its way into my brain like a hot sword. mighty feeling of quiet and relief.
buccaneers
of Venus

"He drew back bis band with a sharp exclamation of sur-

prize. The face was as hard and cold as marble."

By OTIS ADELBERT KLINE

A powerful weird-scientific story by a master of science-fiction —
a swift-moving tale of piracy, and weird monsters
on another planet

The Story Thus Far low race of buccaneers against which

Grandon had previously formed a secret
OBERT GRANDON,
R young Chi-
cago clubman who had fought his
way to the throne of Reabon,
mightiest empire of the planet Venus,
alliance with three other Venusian rulers.

Grandon
the pirate
instantly set out in pursuit of
fleet in a small fishing-boat, ac-
was honeymooning on the sea-coast with companied by Kantar the Gunner, who
his beautiful young bride, Vernia, Prin- was an expert with the Venusian machine-
cess of Reabon, when she was carried off guns known as mattorks. They were cap-
by the Huitsenni, a hairless, toothless yei- tured by the buccaneers, but managed to
{510 This story began in WEIRD TARES for November
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 511

escape, after they reached Huitsen, the on his face before the
losing his hold, fell
hidden port of the pirates, and form an throne. His right arm now free, Gran-
alliance with the Chispoks, a secret society don snatched the scarbo which depended
opposed to piratical practises. from the belt of the other guard, and ran
With the help of the Chispoks, Gran- him through.
don got into the palace and killed Yin At this, one of Vernia’s guards sprang
Yin, the pirate ruler, while Kantar, mis- forward and struck at Grandon with his
taking another captive princess, Narine of scarbo. The Earth-man side-stepped the
Tyrhana, for Vernia, escaped with her in blow and countered with a slash to the
a small boat. head that stretched his opponent on the
Vernia, meanwhile, was carried off by floor. In the meantime, Ez Bin had re-
Heg, Rogo of the Ibbits, a furry race of covered his weapon, and made a terrific
savages inhabiting the antarctic wastes swing at Grandon’ s neck. Dodging be-
south of Huitsen. Grandon killed Heg neath the blade, the Earth-man stabbed
and rescued Vernia, but they were later upward and thrust him through the
captured by the Huitsenni, and Grandon throat. Then, before any one could stop
was condemned to death. him, he sprang straight for the monarch

Kantar, who had meantime

who squatted on the throne.
in the dis-

covered his mistake, fell in love with Na- With screams of terror, the slave-girls

rine.They were recaptured by the pirates,
and rescued by the aerial battleships of
Zinlo of Olba. Zinlo took them to the
flagship ofAd of Tyrhana, father of Na-
rine,and they formulated a plan for cap-
turing Huitsen and rescuing Grandon and
scattered. But Thid Yet whipped out his
scarbo and leaped to his feet. He had not
been Rogo long enough to become fat
and flabby like Yin Yin from easy living,
nor was he a coward, but despite his great
girth, a trained fighting-man in the pink

Vernia. of condition, and the veteran of many

hand-to-hand encounters which had made

CHAPTER him the most feared duelist in Huitsen.

19
"Stand back,” he shouted to the nobles
THE DUEL and soldiers who had begun to crowd
ack in the throne room of Thid Yet, around. "Stand back and watch your
B Rogo of Huitsen, Grandon, who had
been forced to his knees by his two burly
Rogo carve the heart from this white-
skinned slave who dares to attack the

guards, awaited the stroke of Ez Bin, the throne of Huitsen.”

headsman. He saw the huge blade flash To the courtiers of Huitsen their rul-
upward, and nerved himself for a mighty er’s word was absolutely law; so they fell
effort. As the two-handed scarbo de- back and made room for the two combat-
scended, he flung himself backward, ants. Nor were any of them worried as
carrying both guards with him. The to the outcome. Thid Yet had not had
heavy blade crashed to the polished glass time to select any favorites from among
floor, and many tiny cracks radiated from those who stood about his throne, which
the point where it had struck. he had seized with the assistance of the
Grandon instantly flung his right arm navy faction, nor had he, as yet, conferred
forward once more. The guard who clung any honors or promotions, If he were
to it tripped over the blade of Ez Bin, and slain, another would take his place, prob-
 — 7
512 WEIRD TALES
ably no better or no worse, and Grandon over an area that had become slippery
could easily be dealt with. with their own gore. Grandon’ s sword
It was evident, as Thid Yet sprang for- arm began to ache. His head swam diz-
ward to meet the Earth-man, that despite zily. Loss of blood was beginning to sap
Grandon’s reputation as a swordsman, he his strength. He wondered how Thid
was positive he could easily best him Yet, who appeared to be losing more
that it would be an opportunity to add to blood than he, could stand the terrific ex-

his laurels and convince the Huitsenni be- ertion. And wondering, he began to con-
yond all doubt that they were ruled by a serve his strength, to fight a defensive
brave man. rather than an offensive battle, and to
As their blades clashed, and Grandon wait.
felt the strength of his wrist and met the Presently the Earth-man felt the arm of
lightning speed of his attack, he knew he his adversary begin to weaken. Still he
had an opponent worthy of his steel, and fought cautiously, reserving his strength
that the outcome was indeed doubtful. for a final effort — waiting. Suddenly
Blood was drawn on both sides at the very Thid Yet extended his weapon in a vi-
start. First Thid Yet’s point raked Gran- cious but clumsy thrust at Grandon’s left
don’s cheek, cutting a deep gash. Then breast. With a quick and a nar-
parry,
the Earth-man countered with a swift row moulinet ending in a swift drawing
head cut. The Rogo parried in time to cut, the Earth-man brought his keen blade

save his head, but not his ear, which was down on his opponent’s extended wrist,
shorn off by the blow. shearing through bone and muscle. The
The spectators cried out in delighted scarbo of the Rogo clattered to the floor,
amazement at the swift and brilliant his severed hand still clinging to the grip.
sword-play that followed. Trained from Thid Yet uttered a grunt of surprize
infancy in the use of the scarbo, these men and pain, and stared at his spurting wrist
of Huitsen knew that they were witness- for a moment as if he could not believe
ing a duel the like of which they might what he saw. Then he clamped the fin-
never see again were they to live a dozen gers of his left hand just behind the stump
lifetimes. One Grandon
after another, to stay the bleeding, and staggered back-
he had learned from his
tried all the tricks ward, collapsed against the base of his
old fencing-master, Le Blanc, and from throne.
the numerous scarbo experts he had en-
countered. But thrust or cut as he would, n the uproar that followed, Grandon
the darting blade of Thid Yet was there I leaped back to where Vernia, who had
to meet his, and to counter wfith a light- recovered consciousness shortly after the
ning slash or a swift riposte. Time and duel commenced and watched it with
again Grandon received wounds which bated breath, stood in the custody of her
might have been fatal had he not succeed- remaining guard. The fellow reached for
ed in parrying them or springing back his scarbo, but not quickly enough. He
just in time. And for every wound he died with the blade half out of the scab-
received, the yellow Rogo was dealt two, bard and Grandon’s point through his
though he was equally successful in avoid- heart. With his leftarm around his
ing a fatal injury. wife’s slender waist, Grandon waved his
Bathed in blood and perspiration, the bloody scarbo, menacing the nobles and
two contestants fought -back and forth warriors who were crowding around him.
W. T.—
 8
BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 513

One he could
elevated his tork, but ere
fire it, there was a report from an upper
balcony and he pitched forward on his
face. A voice rang out from above them.
"Back, all of you, and lay down your arms.
The first to menace Their Majesties dies.”
balcony to balcony until he reached the
floor. Scarcely had his feet touched its
mirrored surface ere a terrific bombard-
ment commenced outside. He ran over
to where Grandon and Vemia stood, and
made obeisance.

Looking up, Grandon saw Kantar "What’s all the shooting about out-
standing on a balcony, his tork muzzle side?” asked Grandon.
pointed over the railing. Behind him, "Your Majesty’s warriors are attacking
two Olban warriors guarded the door. the city,” replied Kantar, "under cover of
A number of the nobles had rushed to a barrage from the artillery. The air fleet
Thid Yet’s assistance. Two of them of Olba is also bombarding the city, as are
helped him to the throne, while a third the ships of Reabon, Tyrhana and Adon-
tightly bound his wrist with a strip of ijar, which are now fighting their way into

silk torn from his own cloak. The cat- the harbor and coming up the canal.”
like eyesof the Rogo glittered with hatred. "But you! Where did you come from
"Shoot them,” he groaned. "Slav them with these Olban warriors? Did you drop
all.” from the sky?”
A noble reached for his tork, followed "In truth, I did. Majesty. Zinlo of
by two more. But went
as swiftly as they Olba, at my request, dropped me on one
for their weapons, the tork of thegunner of the outer balconies of the palace with
spoke. One after another they sank to these two warriors. His airship was not
the floor. The lesson was not lost on the fired upon, as it came and went so sud-
others. Most of them quickly complied denly that the Huitsenni had no time to
with Kantar’s request by opening their train their heavy mattorks on it. I hoped
belts and letting their weapons drop to to find you here, as a squadron sent to
the floor. Then they clasped their hands follow the party of Ibbits with whom
behind their heads in token of surrender. Your Majesties were supposed to be trav-
A few guards who had rushed in from the eling, returned to report that you were not
outer corridors to learn the cause of the with them. I feared that your lives would
disturbance, quickly followed their ex- be put in jeopardy by the attack, and so
ample. came before the assault. By arguing with
"What’s this?” cried Thid Yet. "Is our scarbos, we convinced several yellow
my entire court to be captured by a single guards who way that we had
barred our
marksman?” He reached for his own Rogo of Huit-
important business with the
tork. Then a bullet drilled him neatly sen.Then we came to the inner balcony.”
between the eyes and he slumped for- "You came in the nick of time, Gun-
ward, dead. ner,” said Grandon, "and I’m eternally
This settled the matter for those who grateful.Now, let’s get out of here.”
had hesitated to obey the commands of The gunner signaled to the Olban war-
the sharp-shooting gunner. They all rior on the balcony. He called to his
dropped their weapons and clasped their companion, and the two dropped from
hands behind their heads. balcony to balcony under the protection
Leaving one of his companions to of the watchful gunner’s tork, until they
cover the group while the other still reached the floor.
watched the door, Kantar dropped from "What shall we do with these prison-
W. T.—
514 WEIRD TALES
ers, Majesty?” asked Kantar, indicating are brothers and allies. Relieve us of
the group of disarmed nobles, officers and these prisoners.”
slaves who still stood with their hands "Gladly, brothers. We were sent by
clasped behind their heads. Han Lay to rescue you, and assist in tak-

Grandon thought for a moment. ing the palace, but you have evidently
''We’ll take them with us,” he decided. been able to take care of yourselves.”
"It is the only way. Let the two Olban "Is the palace taken?” Grandon asked
warriors bind their hands behind their the mojak of the band.
backs.” The officer bowed low. "No, Majesty.
But it soon will be. Already a thousand

W
from
hile the members of the group
were being bound with strips tom
their own Grandon select-
clothing,
of the brotherhood have come in through
the boat entrances, and they are fighting
their way to the top.
are storming the gates
Five thousand
on the
more
street level,
ed a tork and ammunition belt from the
pile of weapons. He also exchanged his.
and the rest stand ready to cut off the re-

nicked and bloody scarbo for a jewel- army of Thid Yet.”

treating

hilted weapon which had belonged to one "Then my soldiers have broken
of the nobles. Vemia also armed herself, through?”

and the two assisted Kantar to keep watch "They have. Majesty, and drive the
on the balconies and doorways. But it army of the false Rogo before them like
frightened frellas, while the warriors
soon appeared that there was no need for
this. Evidently the thunder of the con-
from the ships close in from the other
side.”
outside had prevented the palace in-
flict

mates from taking any interest in what

"The false Rogo is now a dead Rogo,”
went on in the throne room. Grandon told him. "But where is Han
Lay?”
As soon as the prisoners had been
"He was to lead the charge on the pal-
bound, Grandon divided them into two
ace gate, so it is there he will be if he has
groups, one to march before them, and
not fallen.”
one behind. Then, with Grandon and
"Then let us charge through from the
Kantar covering the group that marched
inside. It will make victory swifter and
before and the two Olbans walking back-
easier.”
ward with their torks trained on those who
"But most of my men are fighting on
came behind, they passed out into the cor-
the upper floors.”
ridor which led to the main gate.
"Never mind. Can you spare twenty?”
They had scarcely moved twenty feet "Assuredly. Fifty.”
along this corridor, when a considerable "Splendid! I will lead them.” He
body of Huitsenni, wearing white scarves turned to the two Olbans, who, relieved
around their necks, poured in from a side of their prisoners, awaited orders. "Guard
corridor. Grandon instantly elevated his Her Majesty well,” he commanded. Then,
tork, but Kantar, recognizing the white to Kantar. "Come, Gunner.”
scarves as the symbol previously agreed Followed by the fifty men whom the
upon, stayed his hand. mojak had detailed to accompany them,
"Don’t Majesty,”
shoot, he said. Grandon and Kantar led the charge
"These are friends.” He called to the ad- through the entrance, and straight into the
vancing warriors. "Ho, Chispoks. We melee where the palace guards strove with
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 515

the Chispoks at the gate. For some min- vast multitude that had gathered there.
utes the guards, beset from both sides, of- They were Ad of Tyrhana, Aardvan of
fered half-hearted resistance. Then, one Adonijar, and San Thoy. Grandon held
by one, they threw down their weapons a short conference with his allies. Then,
and clasped their hands behind their accompanied by Han mounted to
Lay, he
heads. The attacking Chispoks surged the top step of the aluminum stairs which
in, with Han Lay at their head. led to Zinlo’s flagship. It was a position

"I rejoice to find you alive, Majesty,” from which he could command a view of
said Han Lay, rendering the royal salute the entire crowd, and be seen by them.

to Grandon. "People of Huitsen,” he shouted.

"And I, you, Your Majesty soon to "First of all, I want to tell you, and I

be,” replied Grandon, returning his speak on behalf of my allies as well as

salute. myself, that we are not here to exact trib-
Suddenly a string of aerial battleships utes or reparations, nor to gloat over a
swooped down from the sky and circled prostrate foe. On the contrary, we wish
the palace. Swiftly their mattorks si- to establish friendly relations with the
lenced the weapons of those who fired at people of Huitsen — relations that will last
them. Then they sailed up to the bal- through the years.The officer and re-
conies at the various levels, and Olban nowned warrior who stands here beside
warriors poured down their aluminum me is willing to meet the conditions which
stairways into the palace. The leading air- will best foster these relations, namely, an
ship settled beside the palace gate. The abolition of piracy, the freeing of all

steps dropped, and down them came Zin- slaves who have been acquired by bucca-
lo and Narine. neering and coastal raids, and the entry
Grandon and Zinlo saluted each other of Huitsen into peaceful commerce with
in the Zorovian fashion, then puzzled the other nations of this planet.
those who stood around them by enthusi- "Being in full accord with these pol-
astically shaking hands, a purely earthly icies, we will withdraw our warriors as

demonstration which was unknown on soon as a treaty is concluded with him, if

Venus. you will acclaim him your Rogo. What is
"I see you are in at the kill, in spite of your pleasure?”
the fact that we couldn’t notify you,” said "Han Lay for Rogo,” shouted a war-
Zinlo. rior. The shout was taken up by thou-
"Decidedly,” replied Grandon. "Where sands of throats.
are Ad and Aardvan?” Presently Grandon held up his hands
"Coming. They have just accepted the for silence. When the clamor had ceased,
surrender of the Romojak of Huitsen, and he said: "Have you any other candidates
will be here in a moment.” to propose?”
Grandon presented Han Lay to Zinlo No one spoke. He waited for a mo-
and Narine. Then Vernia came out, ac- ment. "Then acclaim him,” he cried.
companied by her two Olban guards, and "Hail Han Lay, Rogo of Huitsen!”
to her he was also presented. roared the crowd, as with one voice.
When the shouting had subsided to a

A
riors
moment later, three men strode
to the palace gate, a half-dozen war-
making a way for them through the
up murmur, Grandon turned to Han Lay,
and said: "I have a suggestion, Your
Majesty. There is one who, though he
516 WEIRD TALES
has his little weaknesses, has been largely new Rogo. Now Han Lay stood on the
instrumental in the consummation of this palace steps, surrounded by his nobles
glorious victory. I refer to San Thoy, and and officers, to bid his friends farewell.
recommend that he be suitably rewarded.” Zinlo’ s flagship had descended to the
The new Rogo beckoned to San Thoy, ground, and two of its aluminum stair-

who came and made obeisance before him. cases had been lowered. Up one of these,
"Rise, San Thoy, Romojak of the Na- a number of Huitsenni struggled with
vies of Huitsen,” said Han Lay. two heavy, coffin-like chests, and passed
them to the waiting Olbans.
Then he and Grandon descended the
ladder, and amid the cheering of the pop- Farewells were said, and, one by one,

ulace, the royal group, attended by their Han mounted the other stair-
Lay’s guests

officers and guards, went into the palace. way. The were raised, the doors
stairs

As they entered, Han Lay, who was were and the mighty airship shot
closed,

walking beside Grandon, said: "What of skyward, while the people cheered and

this lasciviousRogo who was the cause of the palace mattorks thundered a farewell
salute.
Her Majesty’s abduction? Can we be of
assistance in bringing him to justice?”
At an elevation of about two thousand
feet, the flagship darted seaward, fol-
"You can, decidedly,” replied Gran-
lowed by the fleet, which had been hover-
don. “I had already thought of a plan.
ing above the palace.
I should like to borrow one of your largest
and crew, Installed in his luxurious cabin, Zin-
vessels complete with officers
lo’ guests sipped kova and chatted gayly.
with San Thoy in command. Also, if you s

can furnish me with a sculptor who can Having seen to their comforts, the Tor-
rogo of Olba climbed to the forward tur-
make a life-like image of one who will
ret to note their progress.
pose for him, say in wax, or some such
Presently Grandon joined him. "Are
material, I shall be able to complete my
plans without great difficulty.”
you sure wq can catch San Thoy before he
Han reaches the rendezvous?” he asked.
"These are but trifles,” protested
"Positive,” Zinlo replied. "We have
Lay. "A ship will be put at your disposal
already covered half the distance.”
immediately, and within the hour a dozen
such sculptors as you require will await
"Marvellous! How fast will these
things go, anyway?”
your pleasure.”
"Excellent! As soon as I have had these "Earth distance and time, about a thou-
sand miles an hour. In Olba, the speed
scratches dressed, I’ll explain my plan to
is reckoned in rotations of the planet at
you.”
its equator, or fractions thereof. Our
CHAPTER 20 smallest and slowest ships make at least a
quarter of a rotation. This one can easily
RETRIBUTION AND REWARD do a rotation.”

T en
Huitsen.
victory,
days had elapsed since the fall of
On the day following their
and warriors of the
the ships
"I thought the shoreline of Huitsen
receded pretty
was quite
fast,

that speedy. Look!

but I didn’t
We’re
know it

pass-
allies had sailed away. Only a part of the ing over a fleet, now.”
Olban air fleet remained, while Grandon, "That’s Ad of Tyrhana, ready to at-

Vernia, Zinlo, Loralie, Kantar and Na- tack Zanaloth from the south. See that
rine stayed at the palaee as guests of the fleet over to the west? That’s Aard-
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 517

van, spoiling for a fight. Your own ships ing him, yourself. Well, I don’t blame
are over at your right, and the fleet that you.”
set sail from Reabon under your orders They paused, at this moment, above the
should be within twenty-five miles of the bat-winged vessel which Han Lay had
north coast of the Island of the Valkars lent to Grandon, and Zinlo gave orders
by now.” for them to descend.
"Why, there’s San Thoy’s ship,
Lightly the airship dropped beside the
already.” vessel. Grappling-irons were tossed
"Right.We’ll ascend and. do a little aboard, and the two stairways let down.
scouting before we drop you off.” Grandon bade his friends good-bye, and
He gave several swift orders to his Ro- took Vernia in his arms. She clung to
mojak.
shot
Then
skyward,
the entire fleet of aircraft
and entered the lowest
—
him at the door begged him not to go.
"You are putting your head in the mouth
cloud stratum. of the marmelot,” she said. "Why not
Looking down through the thin veil of capture him first, then deal with him
vapor, Grandon presently descried an afterward? I’m afraid for you.”
island, the Island of the Valkars. An-
"And I,” replied Grandon, "am. afraid
chored off its tiny harbor was a single
he might otherwise escape me. This way,
battleship, flying the flag of Mernerum.
he will not.”
But behind a jutting promontory, only a
As he descended the ladder, San Thoy
little way off, fully fifty big battleships
stood on the deck to greet him, mumbling
lurked.
kerra spores and grinning toothlessly. In
"It’s just as you thought,” said Zinlo,
the meantime, the two casket-like chests
at sight of the concealed ships. "Either
which had been brought in the airship
Zanaloth was afraid of treachery on the
were lowered to the deck of the vessel.
part of the Huitsenni, or he intended
The stairs were drawn up and the grap-
treachery toward them. He came pre-
pling-irons cast off.
pared for trouble, in any event.”
Grandon waved farewell to his friends,
They cruised toward the north a few
and entered the cabin of the bowing San
minutes longer, and Grandon saw another
Thoy.
fleet, consisting of fully a hundred splen-
did battleships, the pride of Reabon’s
analoth, Torrogo of Mer-
navy, sailing toward the island.
saw them, too, and immediately gave
Zinlo
Z nerum,
dissolute
sat at the gold-topped table in
the luxurious cabin of his flagship, sip-
orders to turn back.
"All is ready,” he said. "Now, if you ping kova. Oglo, Romojak of the Im-
still insist. I’ll put you on San Thoy’s ship, perial Navy, stood at attention, awaiting

but I can’t for the life of me see the sense his pleasure.

of it. We’ve got them bottled up, any- Presently the dissipated Torrogo turned
way, and it won’t be much of a job to his bloated countenance toward his chief
lick them.” naval officer, and said: "The time is
"I’ll tell you why on carrying
I insist nearly at hand, Oglo. Are you positive
out my plan,” replied Grandon. "It’s the that everything is ready?”
only way I can make sure of meeting my "Positive, Your Majesty. A thousand
worst enemy face to face.” warriors are concealed in the hold, await-
"I see. You want the pleasure of kill- ing instructions. Our fleet lurks in readi-
 518 WEIRD TALES
ness to come to us under full sail at the ders to trouble you. Go, now, and watch
boom of the first mattork.” for that ship.”

Zanaloth emptied his kova bowl and Oglo made profound obeisance, and
smacked his thick, sensuous lips. "Very withdrew.
good. Very good, indeed. If the pirates Zanaloth fidgeted impatiently. Present-
come in a single ship, as we agreed, we ly he quaffed another bowl of kova and
can capture it. If they mean treachery, and getting ponderously to his feet, paced the
have other vessels standing by to attack floor.
us, they will easily be taken care of by Suddenly the door was flung open, and
our battle fleet. Oglo, bowing on the threshold, an-
"Now let us review your instructions, nounced breathlessly: "A sail, Majesty!
so there will be no mistakes. As soon as A pirate sail!”
the pirates display the royal prisoner, we Zanaloth grunted. "So! They come to
will request that she be brought aboard the rendezvous at last.”
our vessel. They, on their side, will no He squeezed his ample girth through
doubt insist that the gold be transferred the doorway, and walked forward, Oglo
to their ship. We will agree to this, and following at a respectful distance. Then
begin transferring the gold. But as soon he took the which his romojak ob-
glass
as the Princess of Reabon is safely inside
sequiously proffered, and focused it on
this cabin, I will enter in and close the the approaching vessel. Traveling under
door. That be your signal to attack.
will
full sail before a stiff breeze, it was mak-
Let the warriors take the place of the gold- ing considerable speed.
passers, and charge into the other ship.
"Bones of Thorth!” he exclaimed. "We
See that you have plenty of grappling-
must save that splendid ship, if possible.
irons aboard her, so she can’t slip away
It flies over the water like an ormf. A
from us. And don’t forget to go into
few alterations, and it will never be recog-
action immediately with the mattorks, so
nized.”
the battle fleet will know they are to start
at once.”
As if its commander had no suspicion
of treachery, the pirate ship sailed swiftly
"To hear Your Majesty is to obey,” re-
up to them, hove to, and dropped its
plied Oglo.
anchors. An officer came out of a cabin,
"And remember. Every man aboard wearing the uniform of a romojak, and
the pirate vessel must die. If need be, we Zanaloth hailed him.
will sink their ship, but first we must try
"Are you Thid Yet, Romojak of Huit-
to get back what gold has been taken
sen?” he asked.
aboard her. As for the slaves we are sup-
“No, I am San Thoy, Romojak of Huit-
posed to have put ashore for them, the
sen,” was the reply. “Thid Yet is dead,
pirates will not live to look for them. We and I have come to keep the rendezvous
will have both the girl and the gold, and
in his place.”
the Rogo of Huitsen will perhaps guess
"You have brought the royal slave-
that he has been beaten at his own game, girl?”
but he will have no proof.”
"We have, Your Majesty. And what of
"I will not forget, Majesty.” the gold?”
“If your head fails you in this, I prom- "We stand ready to deliver it to you.

ise it will no longer remain on your shoul- But first let me see the royal prisoner.”
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 519

"What of the slaves you were to place Shall we convey Her Majesty to the quar-
on the island for us?” ters you have provided for her?”
"They are there, under guard, awaiting This was precisely what Zanaloth
your pleasure. But let us see your pris- wanted, but he did not wish to appear too
oner.” eager. "At your convenience,” he re-
"Very well, Majesty.” plied. "The cabin behind me has been
prepared for her.”
San Thoy went into a cabin, and re-
mained for several minutes. Then he San Thoy signaled to the officer who
came out, alone. "She has fainted. Your stood near the recumbent figure. The lat-
Majesty. Will you not come aboard and ter gave a command, and four Huitsenni
see her?”
took up the litter, while four more came
out from the cabin and fell in behind them
"Ha! What’s this? Perhaps you have
with a heavy, ornate chest about seven
not brought her, after all.”
feet in length.
'Well you doubt my word, I’ll
then, if
"What is in that chest?” asked Zana-
have her carried out, so you may view
loth, suspiciously.
her.”
"A few of Her Majesty’s belongings,”
He raised his hand, and a mojak
replied San Thoy. "Mostly wearing-ap-
entered the cabin. He came out in a mo- parel and ornaments.”
ment, followed by four Huitsenni, who
San Thoy himself crossed the gang-
bore a litter on which reposed the golden-
plank ahead of the others.
haired, richly clad figure of a young
"This cabin?” he asked, indicating the
woman. door of Zanaloth’s cabin.
Zanaloth stared until he was watery- "That is right. Just leave her in there,
eyed. Then he focused his glass on the and I’ll call the ship’s doctor to attend
recumbent figure and stared again. her in a moment.”
"By the blood and body of Thorth!” he Zanaloth drank in the beauty of the
exclaimed to Oglo. "It is she. It must be. recumbent girlish form as it was borne
For nowhere on Zorovia is there beauty past him. "How still she is!” he thought.
such as hers.” To San Thoy he called: "I "Perhaps she is dead, and they have
am satisfied. Let us draw the ships tricked me.” But a searching look at the
together with grappling-irons. My men red lips and pink cheeks reassured him.
are ready to unload the gold.” "No corpse could have such bloom of life
and health as this,” he reasoned.
rons were quickly hurled from ship to Under the supervision of their officer,
I ship, and the chains, drawn taut by the eight men placed the litter and the
hand-turned winches, gradually drew the large chest in the cabin. Then they re-

two vessels together. This achieved, gang- tired.

planks were dropped across, fore and aft, "You will excuse me,” said Zanaloth,
and Zanaloth’s men began carrying bars formally, "if I go to examine the mer-
of gold to the pirate ship from the after chandise I have purchased at so high a
hold, to be checked, weighed and received price.”
by members of the yellow crew. "Assuredly,” replied San Thoy. "I will,
For some time Zanaloth and San Thoy in the meantime, take a closer look at the
chatted across the rails. Then the latter gold with which it was purchased.” He
said: "Nearly half the gold is unloaded. bowed low, with righthand extended
520 WEIRD TALES
palm downward, and turning, crossed the it locked. Grandon reached in his belt-
plank to his own ship. pouch and held up the key.
Zanaloth watched his broad back with "Wha —what do you want?” asked
a supercilious sneer, until he had reached Zanaloth.
his own vessel.Then, with a significant come for your head,” replied
"I have
glance at Oglo, he swung on his heel, and the Earth-man, whipping out his scarbo.
entering his cabin, slammed the door shut "On guard, if you have the manhood left
behind him. The boom of a mattork out- to defend it.”
side instantly followed his action. It was
With trembling fingers, Zanaloth drew
succeeded by shouts, commands, shrieks
his own scarbo. In his youth he had been
and groans, mingled with the popping of
accounted an excellent scarboman. But
torks, the clash of blades, the scurrying of
that day was long past. Years of dissipa-
feet on deck, and the rumble of mattorks.
tion and luxurious living had made him
He smiled cunningly as he thought of the
short of breath and flabby of muscle. And
splendid prize which his concealed war-
he knew that there were few, if any, of
riors would take and of the very
so easily,
the most expert duelists on Zorovia who
slight expense at which he had been to
could meet Grandon of Terra, scarbo in
secure the golden-haired beauty who lay
hand, and live to boast of it. Only a
at his mercy on the litter before him.
trick, a sudden, unexpected move, might
He and kneeling,
crossed the room, save him. He came on guard, but before
touched a rosy cheek. Then he drew back the blades had touched, lowered his point.
his hand with a sharp exclamation of sur-
"I can not fight you,” he whined. "It
prize. The face was as hard and cold as if
would be suicide.”
it had been hewn from marble.
Unsuspecting, Grandon lowered his
A heavy hand fell on his shoulder and
own point.
closed with a grip that
He was
made him
jerked to his feet, and spun around
wince.
"You may choose between ——
” he

to face a tall, handsome stranger, who began. But just then Zanaloth raised his
wore the scarlet of royalty and the in-
weapon and lunged at his opponent’s un-
protected body. Grandon had no time to
signia of the imperial house of Reabon.

"Who —who he stammered,

are you?”
parry this vicious and cowardly thrust.
Barely in time to avert disaster, he hurled
his trembling voice barely audible above
himself to one side, so that the point only
the din of battle outside.
grazed him. Zanaloth automatically re-
"I am Grandon of Terra, Torrogo of covered his stance as Grandon now at-
Reabon, and husband of her whom you tacked. For a moment, it seemed to the
would have wronged —
whose graven Mernerumite that the blade of his op-
image you just now profaned by the touch ponent had wrapped itself around his
of your filthy hand.” own. Then his weapon was twisted from
Behind Grandon, the ornate chest his grasp, and flew through the air to
under which the four Huitsenni had stag- alight in a corner of the cabin. Zanaloth
gered stood with the lid thrown back, started back, his eyes wide with terror, as
empty. Zanaloth’s gaze roved from this the point of the Earth-man plunged
to the door, as he realized the manner in straight for his breast. But Grandon
which Grandon had gained access to his stopped the thrust, and contented himself
cabin. He leaped for the door, but found with merely touching his antagonist.
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 521

T HE
side,
din of battle had increased out-
but neither
"I suggest that you pick
man heeded
up your
it.

scar- his
For some time the Earth-man stood
there, waiting, suspecting a trick. But as
opponent continued motionless, he
bo,” said Grandon, ''and that hereafter bent and felt a flabby wrist, then held his
you keep a tighter grip on it.” hand over the heart. There was no pulse.

watching his generous op-

Furtively Zanaloth of Mernerum was dead, not
ponent, Zanaloth slunk to the corner and slain by the scarbo, but by a weapon that
recovered his weapon. He knew that he is often more deadly, that always tortures
could not hope to win this fight, that before it kills — fear.

death had marked him

own. Great
for its Grandon and sheathed
rose to his feet
beads of sweat standing out on his fore- his bloodless blade. Then, taking the key
head betrayed the fear that gripped his from he opened the cabin
his belt pouch,
craven heart. door and stepped out on deck. San Thoy
At his left side, as at Grandon’ s, there was waiting there to greet him. The fight-
hung a jeweled, gold-plated tork. Sud- ing had ceased, and the Huitsenni worked
denly he lowered his left hand, gripped side by side with his own Fighting Trav-
the weapon, and was about to press the eks who had been concealed in the hold
firing-button when a projectile struck his of their ship. They were tossing the
wrist, numbing it, and paralyzing his fin- corpses of the slain Mernerumites over-
gers. With incredible swiftness, Grandon board, tending the wounded, and guard-
had again forestalled him. ing the prisoners.
Seeing that he had rendered the Mer- A large aerial battleship dropped
nerumite’s tork hand useless, Grandon beside them. Grappling-irons were cast
lowered his own weapon. you can ''Since aboard, and an aluminum stairway v/as
no longer fight with the tork,” he said, lowered. Zinlo stood in the doorway.
politely, ''perhaps we had best resume "The battle fleet of Mernerum has sur-
with the scarbo.” He advanced, and once rendered,” he said. "Coming aboard?”
more their blades met. "I advise you,”
"Immediately,” replied Grandon. With
continued Grandon, mechanically cutting,
one foot on the stairway, he turned to San
thrusting and parrying, "to guard well
Thoy. "Good-bye, my friend,” he said.
your head, as I have promised it to the
"Come and visit me in Reabon. Oh, by
Rogo of Huitsen. A little gift to recom-
the way! You will find the gift I promised
pense him for the loss of much gold and Han Lay on the floor of Zanaloth’s cabin.
many slaves. But then the head of a Tor- Present it to him with my compliments.”
rogo is a rare and truly royal gift, even if
San Thoy bowed low, and grinned
its intrinsic worth is trifling.”
toothlessly, as Grandon mounted the
Zanaloth said nothing. He was fight-
stairs.
ing with all his skill and strength, yet the
Earth-man was only playing with him.
Suddenly Grandon’s blade flashed in a
swift moulinet, touched the Mernerum-
ite’s neck, and v/as withdrawn, without
T he next day, Grandon sat at the crys-
tal-topped table in the drawing-room
of his private apartments in the imperial
so much as drawing blood. But to Gran- palace of Reabon.

don’s surprize, his antagonist dropped his Bonal, his torrango, or prime minister,
weapon and sank to the floor, limp, and appeared in the doorway and made obei-
apparently lifeless. sance. "The messenger has arrived from
522 WEIRD TALES
Mernerum, Your Majesty,” he an- permission to present his missive to Ad
nounced. of Tyrhana.”
"I’ll receive him here,” replied Gran- "Good. You may go now. And send
don. ’"‘And by the way, Zonal, ask Zinlo this messenger to me.”
of Olba to come in now. ! want him to The mojak and making the
arose, cus-
be present at the interview.” tomary obeisance, withdrew.
A few moments later, Bonal announced: "Thus far,”Grandon told Zinlo, "our
"His Imperial Majesty, Zinlo of Olba, plot has worked out. It remains to be
and Mojak Sed of the staff of Orthad, Su- seen how Ad of Tyrhana will take the
preme Romojak of Reabon.” news.” He called a guard. "Have Bonal
Zinlo entered, followed by a young usher in Their Majesties of Tyrhana and
Reabonian officer. The Torrogo of Olba Adonijar,” he commanded.
took a seat at the table, and the demo- "I can tell you how Ad will take it,”

cratic Grandon invited the young officer said Zinlo. "He’ll take it as a marmelot
also to be seated, knowing it would not takes a slap on the nose. But it was the
offend his equally democratic guest. only thing to do.”

"You bring a message from Orthad?” A moment later, Ad and Aardvan

Grandon asked.
"I do, Majesty. He bids me inform
thatwe took Mernerum with ease. The
people were sick of the tyrannous Zana-
loth, and most of them actually welcomed
us. We were delayed only by the diffi-
culties which, arise in moving so large an
army. The fighting was but desultory,
and there were few casualties.”
"What was the attitude of the nobles
and officials?”
"They begged that Mernerum be an-
nexed to Reabon, or if this should not
comport with Your Majesty’s wishes, that
you name a competent Torrogo to rule
them. So as soon as Kantar the Gunner
arrived in the Olban airship. His Excel-
lencynamed him Torrogo, in accordance
with Your Majesty’s commands. He was
later acclaimed by the nobles, warriors
and people without a dissenting voice.”
"What of the other ceremony?”
"It has been performed, Majesty.
Her Majesty invites all to attend the feast
which will be held this evening.”
"Did you bring with you a messenger
from the new Torroga?”
“I did, your Majesty. He awaits your
were ushered in by Bonal. A slave brought
kova, and the four Torrogos were chat-
you
ting merrily over their bowls v/hen Bonal
announced: "A messenger from Her Im-
perial Majesty, theTorroga of Mernerum,
to see His Imperial Majesty, the Torrogo
of Tyrhana.”
"What’s this?” exclaimed Ad. "I
didn’t know Zanaloth left a widow. And
why should she send a messenger to me?”
"Perhaps an interview with the mes-
senger will explain,” rumbled the deep-
voiced Aardvan.
"True. Show him in, Bonal.”
The messenger, who wore the uniform
of a mojak of the Imperial Guards of
Mernerum, made obeisance to all four of
the rulers. His puzzled look showed that
he did not know which one to address.
"I am the Torrogo of Tyrhana,” said
Ad. "I believe your message is for me.”
"It is. Your Majesty.” The mojak took
a small scroll from his belt pouch and
And handed it to Ad. "From Her Imperial
Majesty, the Torroga of Mernerum,” he
said.
Ad broke the seai and unrolled the mis-
sive. First he looked puzzled, then
astounded, then fiercely angry. His face
 BUCCANEERS OF VENUS 523

purpled and his brow contracted. "Blood "their marriage would have been impos-
of Thorth!” he exploded. "Narine lias sible, anyway. Besides, we need no mar-
eloped with that young upstart of a gun- riage to cement the firm friendship
ner, and married him!” between us. And think, you will now
"She could have done worse,” soothed have as an additional ally the wealthy and
Grandon. "The gunner is now Torrogo powerful Torrogo of Mernerum, your
of Mernerum.” son-in-law.”

"The little she-marmelot! The traitor! "That’s right, Your Majesty,” said
The ungrateful child! I’ll disown her! Ziulo. "Forgive the child, and let’s pile

—
I’ll I’ll
” into one of my ships and attend the wed-
ding feast tonight, all of us.”
"Tut, tut,” said Aardvan. "I think she
has made a splendid match.” "What! You, too? This has all the
earmarks of a conspiracy,” said Ad.
"But what of Gadrimel? What of our
my daughter and your son should
pact that Grandon kova bowls all
filled the
wed?” around, then took up his own, and said:

"I don’t like to mention this,” replied

"My friends, let us drink to the health and
happiness of the charming young bride
Aardvan, "but Gadrimel picked up a
slave-girl in Huitsen and brought her here
and the lucky bridegroom.”
with him. Zena, I believe he called her, Zinlo and Aardvan drained their bowls.
an ex-concubine of Yin Yin’s. I told him Ad hesitated for a moment, then caught
to get rid of her, and last night they both up his own bowl and emptied it with ap-
learned that they parent gusto. "Our work is done,” he

^
disappeared. Later, I

had gone for a cruise in one of my ships.” said. "The power of the pirates is bro-

"Urn,” grunted Ad, non-committally. ken, and the port of peril is no more. Let
"So you see,” continued Aardvan, us on to the wedding feast.”
[THE END]

of Shadows
By MARY ELIZABETH COUNSELMAN
A strange little story is this, about a family whose
images would not reflect in the mirror

T HE
jerk
train pulled up with a noisy
and wheeze, and I peered out
semi-gloom of dusk at the
into the
little depot. What was the place? "Oak
—
the lurching
flying past
roll, the cinders, the scenery
my window! I came to a sud-
den decision and hurried down the aisle
to where the conductor was helping an
Grove.” I could read dimly the sign on old lady off.

the station’s roof. I sighed wearily. Three "How long do we stop here?” I asked
days on the train! Lord, I was tired of him quickly.
 —
524 WEIRD TALES
"About ten minutes, ma’am,” he said, an odd hesitancy that was very noticeable.
and I stepped from the train to the smooth "You her kin?”
sand in front of the station. So pleasant "No,” I smiled. "I went to college
to walk on firm ground again! I breathed with her. I ... I thought perhaps she
deeply of the spicy winter air, and might put me up for the night. I’ve . . .

strolled to the far side of the station. A well, I was idiot enough to let my train
brisk little wind was whipping my skirts go off and leave me. Do you ... is she
about my legs and blowing wisps of hair fixed to put up an unexpected guest, do
into my eyes. I looked idly about at what you know?”
I could see of
small town —a
Oak
little
Grove. It was a
sleepier than some,
typical
"Well” — again that odd hesitancy
"we’ve a fair to middlin’ hotel here,” he
a little prettier than most. I wandered a
evaded. "Maybe you’d rather stay there.”
block or two toward the business dis-
I frowned. Perhaps my old friend had
trict, glancing nervously at my watch from
incurred the disapproval of Oak Grove
My
time to time.
to be up, when I
ten minutes threatened
came upon two dogs
by indiscreet behavior it seems a very —
easy thing to do in rural towns. I looked
trying to tear a small kitten to pieces.
at him coldly.
I dived into the fray and rescued the
"Perhaps you can direct me to her
kitten, not without a few bitesand
house,” I said stiffly.
scratches in the way of service wounds,
He did so, still with that strange re-
and put the little animal inside a store
luctance.
doorway. At that moment a long-drawn,
I made my way to the big white house
it seemed to me derisive, whistle from my
at the far end of town, where I was told
train rent the quiet, and as I tore back
Mary Allison lived. Vague memories flit-
toward the station I heard it chugging
ted through my mind of my chum as I had
away. I reached the tracks just in time
seen her last, a vivacious cheerful girl
to see the caboose rattling away into the
whose home and family life meant more
night.
to her than college. I recalled hazy pic-
What should I do? Oh, why had I
tures she had given me of her house, of
jumped off at this accursed little station?
her parents and a brother whose picture
My luggage, everything I possessed ex-
had been on our dresser at school. I found
cept my purse, was on that vanished
myself hurrying forward with eagerness
train, and here I was, marooned in a vil- to see her again and meet that doting
lage I had never heard of before! family of hers.
Or had "Oak Grove”
I? the name . . .

had a familiar ring. Oak Grove ... ah! found my way at last to the place, a
I had it! My loommate at college two I beautiful old Colonial mansion with
years before had lived in a town called tall pillars. The grounds were overgrown
Oak Grove. I darted into the depot. with shrubbery and weeds, and the enor-
"Does a Miss Mary Allison live here?” mous white oaks completely screened the
I inquired of the station-master. "Mary great house from the street, giving it an
Deane Allison?” appearance of hiding from the world.
I wondered at the peculiar unfathom- The place was sadly in need of repairs
able look the old man gave me, and at and a gardener’s care, but it must have

his long silence before he answered my been magnificent at one time.

question. "Yes’m,” he said slowly, with I mounted the steps and rapped with
 THE HOUSE OF SHADO WS 525

the heavy brass knocker. At my third "What a beautiful old place!” I ex-
knock the massive door swung open a claimed, with an effort to put her at ease
little way, and my college friend stood again. Then, as the complete silence of
in the aperture, staring at me without a the place struck me, unthinkingly I added,
word. I held out my hand, smiling de- "You don’t live here alone, do you?”
lightedly,and she took it in a slow in- She gave me the oddest look, one I
credulous grasp. She was unchanged, I could not fathom, and replied so softly
noticed — except, perhaps, that her danc- that I could hardly catch the words, "Oh,
ing bright-blue eyes had taken on a vague no.”
dreamy There was an unnatural
look.
I laughed. "Of course! I’m crazy . . ,
quiet about her manner, too, which was but where is everybody?”
not noticeable until she spoke. She stood
I took off mv hat, looking about me
in the doorway, staring at me with those
at the Colonial furniture and the large
misty blue eyes for a long moment with-
candelabra on the walls with the clusters
out speech; then she said slowly, with
of lighted candles which gave the only
more amazement than I thought natural,
"Liz! Liz!” Her fingers tightened about
light in the place —
for there were no
modern lighting fixtures of any kind, I
my hand as though she were afraid I
noted. The dim candle-light threw deep
might suddenly vanish. "It’s
good to see you! Gosh! How
it’s

why
.

. .
.

.
.

shadows about the hall shadows that —

flickered and moved, that seemed alive.
did you come here?” with a queer em-
It should have given me a sense of nerv-
barrassment.
ous fear; yet somehow there was peace,
"Well, to tell the truth, my train ran contentment, warmth about the old man-
off and left me when I got off for a breath sion. Yet, too, there was an incongruous
of air,” I confessed sheepishly. "But I’m air of mystery, of unseen things in the
glad now that it did . . remembered
. shadowy corners, of being watched by
you lived here, so here I am!” She mere- unseen eyes.
ly stared at me strangely, still clutching
"Where is everybody? Gone to bed?”
my hand. "There’s no train to Atlanta
I repeated, as she seemed not to have
till ten in the morning.” I hesitated, then heard my question.
laughed, "Well, aren’t you going to ask
"Here they are,” Mary answered in
me in?” that strange hushed voice I had noticed,
"Why . . . why, of course,” Mary said as if some one were asleep whom she
©ddly, as if the idea was strange and had might waken.
not occurred to her. "Come in!” I looked in the direction she indicated,
I stepped into the great hall, wonder- and started slightly. I had not seen that
ing at her queer manner. She had been little group when I entered! They were

one of my best friends at college, so why standing scarcely ten feet from me just
this odd constraint? Not quite as if she beyond the aura of light from the candles,
did not want me
around more as if it — and they stared at me silently, huddled
were queer that I should wish to enter together and motionless.
her house, as if I were a total stranger, a I smiled and glanced at Mary, who
creature from another planet! I tried to said in a soft voice like the murmur of a
attribute it to the unexpectedness of my light wind, "My mother . .
.”

visit; yet inwardly I felt this explanation I stepped forward and held out my
was not sufficient. hand to the tall kind-faced woman who
 —
526 WEIRD TALES
advanced a few steps from the half-seen child peeped out at me from behind his
group in the shadows. She seemed, with- sister’s dress and broke into a soft gur-
out offense, not to see my hand, but mere- gling laugh.
lygave me a beautiful smile and said, in "What darling kids!” I burst out.
that same hushed voice Mary used, “If The baby toddled out from behind
you are my daughter’s friend, you are Betty and stood looking at me with big
welcome!” blue eyes, head on one side. I stepped
I happened to glance at Mary from the forward to pat the curly head, but as I
corner of my eye as she spoke, and I saw put out a hand to touch him, he seemed
my friend’s unnatural constraint vanish, to draw away easily just out of reach. I
give place to a look, I thought wonder- could not feel rebuffed, however, with
ingly, that was unmistakably one of re- his bright eyes telling me plainly that I
lief. was liked. It was just a baby’s natural
“My father,” Mary’s voice had a pecu- shyness with strangers, I told myself, and
liar tone of happiness. A tall distin- made no other attempt to catch him.
guished-looking man of about forty
He
stepped toward me, smiling gently.
too seemed not to see
but said in a quiet friendly voice, "I
my outthrust hand,
am
A fter a moment’s conversation, during
- which my liking for this charming

family grew, Mary asked if I should like

glad to know you, my dear. Mary has to go to my room and freshen up a bit
spoken of you often.” before dinner. Asfollowed her up the
I

I made some friendly answer to the old stairs, it struck me forcibly as it had—
couple; then Mary said, “This is Lonny before only vaguely —- that this family,

. . . remember his picture?” with the exception of Mary, were in very

handsome young man whose

The bad health. From father to baby, they
photograph I remembered stepped for- were most pasty-white of complexion
not sallow, I mused, but a sort of trans-
ward, grinning engagingly.
lucent white like the glazed-glass doors
"So this is Liz!” he said. "Always
of private offices. I attributed to the
wanted to meet one girl who isn’t afraid it

uncertain light of the candles that they

of a mouse remember? Mary told us
. . .

looked rather smoky, like figures in a

about the time you put one in the prof’s
desk.” He too spoke in that near-whisper
movie when the film has become old and
faded.
that went oddly with his cheery words,
and I found myself unconsciously lower- “Dinner at six,” Mary told me, smil-
ing my voice to match theirs. They were ing, and left me to remove the travel-
unusually quiet for such a merry friendly stains.

group, and I was especially puzzled at I came downstairs a little before the

Mary’s hushed voice and manner she — dinner hour, to find the hall deserted
had always been a boisterous tomboy sort and, woman-like, I stopped to parade be-
of person. fore a large cheval-glass in the wall. It

“This is Betty,” Mary spoke again, a was a huge mirror, reflecting the whole
strange glow lighting her face. hall behind me, mellowly illumined in
A small girl about twelve stepped the glow of the candles. Turning about
solemnly from the shadows and gave me for a back-view of myself, I saw the lit-
a grave old-fashioned curtsey. tle baby. Bill, standing just beside me,
"And Bill,” said Mary, as a chubby big eyes twinkling merrily.
 THE HOUSE OF SHADOWS 527 ,

"Hello there, old fellow,” I smiled at ting it up ready for eating but not tasting
him. "Do I look all right?” I glanced a bite, though several times they would
back at the mirror and what it re-
. . . raise a fork to their lipsand put it down
flected gave me a shock. again, as though pretending to eat. Even
I could see myself clearly in the big the baby only splashed with his little fork
glass, and most of the hall far behind in his rice and kept his eyes fixed on me,

me, stretching back into the shadows. now and then breaking into that merry
But the baby was not reflected in the gurgling laugh.
glass at all! I moved, with a little chill, We wandered into the library after
just behind him . . and I could see my
. the meal, where Mary and I chatted of
own reflection clearly, but it was as if he old times. Mr. Allison and his wife read
was simply not there. or gave ear to our prattling from time to
At that moment Mary called us to din- time, smiling and winking at each other.

ner, and I promptly forgot the disturbing Lonny, with the baby in his lap and Betty
optical illusion with the parting resolve perched on the arm of his chair, laughed
to have my eyes examined. I held out my with us at some foolish tale of our fresh-
hand to lead little Bill into the dining- man days.

room, but he dodged by me with a mis- At about eleven Mary caught me yawn-
chievous gurgle of laughter, and toddled ing covertly, and hustled me off to bed.
into the room ahead of me. I obediently retired, thankful for a bed
that did not roll me from side to side all

T hat was the pleasantest meal I can

remember. The food was excellent
and the conversation cheery and light,
night, and crawled in bed in borrowed
pajamas with a book, to read myself to
sleep by the flickering candle on my bed-
though I had to strain to catch words side table.
spoken at the far end of the table, as
they still spoke in that queer hushed tone. must have dropped off to sleep sud-
My voice, breaking into the murmur of I denly, for I awoke to find my candle
theirs,sounded loud and discordant, still burning. I was about to blow it out
though I have a real Southern voice. and go back to sleep when a slight sound
Mary served the dinner, hopping up startled the last trace of drowsiness from
and running back into the kitchen from me.
time to time to fetch things. By this I It was the gentle rattle of my door-

gathered that they were in rather strait-
ened circumstances and could not afford
a servant. I chattered gayly to
and Mary, while the baby and Betty lis-
tened with obvious delight and Mary’s
parents put in a word occasionally
they could break into our chatter.
It was a merry informal dinner, not
unusual except that the conversation was
knob being turned very quietly.
An impulse made me feign sleep,
Lonny though my eyes were not quite closed
and I watched the door through my eye-
lashes. It swung open slowly, and Mrs.
when Allison came into the room. She walked
with absolute noiselessness up to my bed,
and stood looking down at me intently.
I shut my eyes tightly so my eyelids would

carried on in that near-whisper. I no- not flutter, and when I opened them
ticed vaguely that Mary and I were the slightly in a moment, she was moving
only ones who ate anything at all. The toward the door, apparently satisfied that
others merely toyed with their food, cut- I was fast asleep. I thought she was go-
 —
528 WEIRD TALES
ing out again, but she paused at the door glow of happiness lighted my friend’s
and beckoned to some one outside in the face again, but at my next words it van*
hali. ished into one that was certainly fright-
ened pleading. I had merely asked to
Slowly and with incredible lack of
sound, there tiptoed into my room Mr. tell them good-bye.
Allison, Lonny, Betty, and the baby. They That, oddunfathomable expression
stood beside the bed looking down at me flitted across her face once more. "They
with such tender expressions that I was . . . they're gone,” she said in a strained
touched. whisper. And as I stared at her per-
plexedly, she added in confusion, "I ... I
I conquered an impulse to open my
mean, they’re away. They won’t be back
eyes and ask them what they meant by
this late visit, deciding to wait and watch.
until . . . nightfall,” the last word was
It did not occur to me to be frightened
so low it was almost unintelligible.

at this midnight intrusion. There swept So I told her to give them my thanks
over me instead a sense of unutterable and farewells. She did not seem to want
peace and safety, a feeling of being to accompany me to the train, so I went

watched over and guarded by some be- alone. My train was late, and I wandered

nevolent angel. to the ticket window and chatted with the

station-master.
They stood for a long moment without
"Miss Allison has a charming family,
speaking, and then the little girl, bend-
hasn’t she?” I began conversationally.
ing close to me, gently caressed my hand,
which was lying on the coverlet. I con-
"They seem so devoted to each other.”

trolled a start with great effort. Then I saw the station-master was star-
Her little hand was icy cold —not with ing at me as if I had suddenly gone mad.
His wrinkled face had gone very pale.
the coldness of hands, but with a peculiar
windy coldness. It was as if some one "You stayed there last night?” His
voice was almost a croak.
had merely blown a breath of icy air on
me, for though her hand rested a moment "Why, yes!” I replied, wondering at
on mine, it had no weight! his behavior. "I did. Why not?”

Then, still without speaking but with "And . . .

you saw . . . them?” his

gentle affectionate smiles on all their voice sank to a whisper.

faces, they tiptoed out in single file. Won- "You mean Mary’s family?” I asked,
dering at their actions, I dropped off at becoming a little annoyed at his foolish
last into a serene sleep. perturbation. saw them! "Certainly I

What’s so strange about that? What’s

M
with
ary brought my

me while I ate.
breakfast to
next morning, and sat chattering
I
my

dressed leisurely
bed wrong with them?”
My approaching train wailed in the
distance, but I lingered to hear his reply.
and made ready to catch my ten o’clock It came with that same reluctance, that
train. When the time drew near, I asked same hesitancy, after a long moment.
Mary where her family was — they were "They died last year,” he whispered,
nowhere in the house and I had seen none leaning forward toward me and fixing me
of them since the night before. I reiter- with wide intent eyes. "Wiped out
ated how charming they were, and how every one of ’em exceptin’ Mary
by —
happy my visit had been. That little smallpox.”
 UeiRD JTi
A RtPRINT

an Absinthe Bottle
By W. C. MORROW
A RTHUR KIMBERLIN, a young took what comfort he could find in the
man of very high spirit, found savory odors which came steaming up
** himself a total stranger in San from the basement kitchen of the restau-
Francisco one rainy evening, at a time rants in Market Street, caring more to
when his heart was breaking; for his gain them than to avoid the rain. His
hunger was of that most poignant kind teeth chattered; he shambled, stooped,
in which physical suffering is forced to and gasped. He was too desperate to
the highest point without impairment of curse his fate —
he could only long for
the mental functions. There remained food. He could not reason; he could not
in his possession not a thing that he understand that ten thousand hands
might have pawned for a morsel to eat; might gladly have fed him; he could
and even as it was, he had stripped his think only of the hunger which con-

body of all articles of clothing except
those which a remaining sense of de-
cency compelled him to retain. Hence
it was that cold assailed him and con-
spired with hunger to complete his mis-
ery. Having been brought into the world
and reared a gentleman, he lacked the
courage to beg and the skill to steal.
Had not an extraordinary thing occurred
to him, he either would have drowned
himself in the bay within twenty-four
hours or died of pneumonia in the
sumed him, and of food that could give
him warmth and happiness.
When he had arrived at Mason Street,
he saw a restaurant a little way up that
thoroughfare, and for that he headed,
crossing the street diagonally. He stopped
before the window and ogled the steaks,
thick and lined with fat; big oysters lying
on ice; slices of ham as large as his hat;
whole roasted chickens, brown and juicy.
He ground his teeth, groaned, and stag-
gered on.
street.

He had been seventy hours without food, A few steps beyond was a drinking-
and his mental desperation had driven saloon, which had a private door at one
him far in its race with his physical needs side, with the words "Family Entrance”
to consume the strength within him; so painted thereon. In the recess of the
that now, pale, weak, and tottering, he door (which was closed) stood a man.
W. T.— 529
530 WEIRD TALES
In spite of his agony, Kimberlin saw tleof absinthe, and bring a pitcher of
something in this man’s face that ap- water and some glasses? I don’t like for
palled and fascinated him. Night was the waiters to come around. Here is a
on, and the light in the vicinity was dim; twenty- dollar bill.”
but it was apparent that the stranger had
an appearance of whose character he him-
self must have been ignorant. Perhaps
it was the unspeakable anguish of it that
K imberlin took the

the bar.
down through
He clutched the
bill and started
the corridor toward
money tightly
struck through Kimberlin’s sympathies. in his palm; it felt warm and comforta-
The young man came to an unrertain ble, and sent a delicious tingling through
halt and stared at the stranger. At first his arm. How many glorious hot meals
he was unseen, for the stranger looked did that bill represent? He clutched it

straight out into the street with singular tighter and He thought he
hesitated.
fixity,and the death-like pallor of his smelled a broiled steak, with fat little
face added a weirdness to the immobility mushrooms and melted butter in the
of his gaze. Then he took notice of the steaming dish. He stopped and looked
young man. back toward the door of the booth. He
"Ah,” he said, slowly and with pe- saw that the stranger had closed it. He
culiar distinctness, "the rain has caught could pass it, slip out the door, and buy
you, too, without overcoat or umbrella! something to eat. He turned and started,
Stand in this doorway — there is room but the coward in him (there are other
names for this) tripped his resolution;
for two.”
so he went straight to the bar and made
The voicewas not unkind, though it
the purchase. This was so unusual that
had an alarming hardness. It was the
the man who served him looked sharply
first word that had been addressed to the
at him.
sufferer since hunger had seized him, and
"Ain’t goin’ to drink all o’ that, are
to be spoken to at all, and have his com-
you?” he asked.
fort regarded in the slightest way, gave
"I have friends in the box,” replied
him cheer. He entered the embrasure
Kimberlin, "and we want to drink quiet-
and stcod beside the stranger, who at
once relapsed into his fixed gaze at noth-
ly and without interruption. are in We
Number 7.”
ing across the street. But presently the
"Oh, beg pardon. That’s all right,”
stranger stirred himself again.
said the man.
"It may rain a long time,” said he; "I Kimberlin’s step was very much
am cold, and I observe that you tremble. stronger and steadier as he returned with
Let us step inside and get a drink.” the liquor. He opened the door of the
He opened the door and Kimberlin booth. The stranger sat at the side of
followed, hope beginning to lay a warm the little table, staring at the opposite
hand upon his heart. The pale stranger wall just as he had stared across the
led the way into one of the little private street. He
wore a wide-brimmed, slouch
booths with which the place was fur- hat, drawn well down. It was only after
nished. Before sitting down he put his Kimberlin had set the bottle, pitcher, and
hand into his pocket and drew forth a glasses on the table, and seated himself
roll of bank-bills. opposite the stranger and within his
"You are younger than I,” he said; range of vision, that the pale man noticed
"won’t you go to the bar and buy a bot- him.
 OVER AN ABSINTHE BOTTLE 531

"Oh! you have brought it? How kind "On the contrary,” replied Kimberlin,
of you! Now please lock the door.” "I shall enjoy it.”

Kimberlin had slipped the change into "Very well; but let us have another
his pocket, and was in the act of bringing drink before we start. I believe I am
it out when the stranger said, growing colder.”
"Keep the change. You will need it,
They drank again, and this time the
for I am going to get it back in a way starving man took his liquor with relish
that may
and then
interest you.
I will explain.”
Let us first drink,
— at least, it was something in his stom-
ach, and it warmed and delighted him.
The pale man mixed two drinks of
absinthe and water, and the two drank.
Kimberlin, unsophisticated, had never
tasted the liquor before, and he found
T he
berlin
was a dollar a side. Kim-
stake
won. The pale stranger
smiled grimly, and opened another
it harsh and offensive; but no sooner game. Again Kimberlin won. Then the
had it reached his stomach than it began stranger pushed back his hat and fixed
to warm him, and sent the most delicious that still gaze upon his opponent, smil-
thrill through his frame. ing yet. With this full view of the pale
"It will do us good,” said the stranger; stranger’s face, Kimberlin was more ap-

"presently we shall have more. Mean- palled than ever. He had begun to ac-

while, do you know how to throw dice?” quire a certain self-possession and ease,
and his marvelling at the singular char-
Kimberlin weakly confessed that he
acter of the adventure had begun to
did not.
weaken, when this new incident threw
"I thought not. Well, please go to
him back into confusion. It was the
the bar and bring a dice-box. I would
extraordinary expression of the stranger’s
ring for it, but I don't want the waiters
face that alarmed him. Never upon the
to be coming in.”
face of a living being had he seen a pal-
Kimberlin fetched the box, again and The face
lor so death-like chilling.
locked the door, and the game began. was more than pale; it was white. Kim-
Itwas not one of the simple old games, berlin’s observing facultyhadbeen sharp-
but had complications, in which judg- ened by the absinthe, and, after having
ment, as well as chance, played a part. detected the stranger in an absent-mind-
After a game or two without stakes, the ed effort two or three times to stroke a
stranger said, beard which had no existence, he reflected
"You now seem to understand it. Very that some of the whiteness of the face
well —
I will show you that you do not. might- be due to the recent removal of a
We will now throw for a dollar a game, full beard. Besides the pallor, there were
and in that way I shall win the money deep and sharp lines upon the face,
that you received in change. Otherwise which the electric light brought out very
I should be robbing you, and I imagine distinctly. With the exception of the
you can not afford to lose. I mean no steady glance of the eyes and an occa-
offense. I am a plain-spoken man, but 1 sional hard smile, which seemed out of
believe in honesty before politeness. 1 place upon such a face, the expression
merely want a little diversion, and you was that of stone inartistically cut. The
are so kind-natured that I am sure you eyes were black, but of heavy expression;
will not object.” the lower lip was purple; the hands were
 —
532 WEIRD TALES
fine, white, and thin, and dark veins with great care, studying each throw
bulged out upon them. The stranger minutely. No conversation passed be-
pulled down his hat. tween them now. They drapk occasion-

"You are lucky,” he said. "Suppose ally, the dice continued to rattle, the

we try another drink. There is nothing money kept piling up at Kimberlin’s

like absinthe to sharpen one’s wits, and hand.
I see that you and I are going to have a The pale man began to behave strange-

delightful game.” ly. At times he would start and throw

back his head, as though he were listen-
After the drink the game proceeded.
ing. For a moment his eyes would sharp-
Kimberlin won from (he very first, rarely
en and flash, and then sink into heaviness
losing a game. He became greatly ex- again. More than once Kimberlin, who
cited. His eyes shone; color came to his
had now begun to suspect his antagonist
cheeks. The stranger, having exhausted
was some kind of monster, saw a fright-
the roll of bills which he first produced,
fully ghastly expression sweep over his
drew forth another, much larger and of
face, and his features would become
higher denominations. There were sev-
fixed for a very short time in a peculiar
eral thousand dollars in the roil. At
grimace. It was noticeable, however, that
Kimberlin’s righthand were his win-
nings — something like two hundred dol-
he was steadily sinking deeper
er into a condition of apathy.
and deep-
Occasion-
lars. The stakes were raised,and the
ally hewould raise his eyes to Kimberlin’s
game went rapidly on. Another drink
face after the young man had made an
was taken. Then fortune turned the
astonishingly lucky throw, and keep
stranger’s way, and he won easily. It
them fixed there with a steadiness that
went back he was now
to Kimberlin, for
made the young man quail.
playing with all the judgment and skill
The stranger produced another roll of
he could command. Once only did it
bills when the second was gone, and this
occur to him to wonder what he should
had a value many times as great as the
do with the money if he should quit
others together. The stakes were raised
winner; but a sense of honor decided
to a thousand dollars a game, and still
him that it would belong to the stranger.
Kimberlin won. At last the time came
By this time the absinthe had so sharp- when the stranger braced himself for a
ened Kimberlin’s faculties that, the tem- final effort. With speech somewhat thick,
porary satisfaction which it had brought but very deliberate and quiet, he said,
to his hunger having passed, his physical "You have won seventy-four thousand
suffering returned with increased aggres- dollars, which is exactly the amount I
siveness. Could he not order a supper have remaining. We
have been playing
with his earnings? No; that was out of for several hours. I am tired, and I sup-
the question, and the stranger said noth- pose you are. Let us finish the game.
ing about eating. Kimberlin continued Each will now stake his all and throw
to play, while the manifestations of hun- a final game for it.”

W
ger took the form of sharp pains, which
darted through him viciously, causing him ithou r hesitation, Kimberlin
to writhe and grind his teeth. The stran- agreed. The bills made a consider-
ger paid no attention, for he was now able pile on the table.Kimberlin threw,
wholly absorbed in the game. He seemed and the box held but one combination
puzzled and disconcerted. He played that could possibly beat him; this com-
 OVER AN ABSINTHE BOTTLE 533

bination might be thrown once in ten grown a beard, and lived by dice-throw-
thousand times. The starving man’s ing with men who thought they could
heart beat violently as the stranger picked detect him if he should swindle them;
up the box with exasperating delibera- but that is impossible. No human being
tion. It was a long time before he threw. can come winner out of a game with him.
He made his combination and ended by He is evidently not here; let us look
defeating his opponent. He sat looking farther.”
at the dice a long time, and then he slow- Then the two men clinked glasses and
ly leaned back in his chair, settled him- passed out.
self comfortably, raised his eyes to Kim- The dice-players — the pale one and the
berlin’s, and fixed that unearthly stare starving one —
sat gazing at each other,
upon him. He said not a word; his face with a hundred and forty-eight thousand
contained not a trace of emotion or intel- dollars piled up between them. The Man-
ligence. He simply looked. One can not ner made no move to take in the money;
keep one’s eyes open very long without he merely sat and stared at Kimberlin,
winking, but the stranger did. He sat wholly unmoved by the conversation in
so motionless that Kimberlin began to the adjoining room. His imperturbability
be tortured. was amazing, his absolute stillness ter-
"I will go now,” he said to the strang- rifying.
er —
said that when he had not a cent and Kimberlin began to shake with an
was starving. ague. The cold, steady gaze of the stran-
The stranger made no reply, but did ger sent ice into his marrow. Unable to
not relax his gaze; and under that gaze bear longer this unwavering look, Kim-
the young man shrank back in his own berlin moved to one side, and then he
chair, terrified. He became aware that was amazed to discover that the eyes of
two men were cautiously talking in an the pale man, instead of following him,
adjoining booth. As there was now a remained fixed upon the spot where he
deathly silence in his own, he listened, had sat, or, rather, upon the wall behind
and this is what he heard: it. A great dread beset the young man.
"Yes; he was seen to turn into this He feared to make the slightest sound.
street about three hours ago.” Voices of men in the bar-room were audi-
"And he had shaved?” ble, and the sufferer imagined that he
"He must have done so; and to re- heard others whispering and tiptoeing
move a full beard would naturally make in the passage outside his booth. He
a great change in a man.” poured out some absinthe, watching his
"But it may not have been he.” strange companion all the while, and
"True enough; but his extreme pallor drank alone and unnoticed. He took a
attracted attention. You know that he heavy drink, and it had a peculiar effect
has been troubled with heart-disease late- upon him: he felt his heart bounding
ly, and it has affected him seriously.” with alarming force and rapidity, and
"Yes, but his old skill Why,
remains. breathing was difficult. Still his hunger
this is the most daring bank-robbery we remained, and that and the absinthe gave
ever had here. A hundred and forty-eight him an idea that the gastric acids were
thousand —think
dollars of it! How destroying him by digesting his stomach.
long has it been since he was let out of He leaned forward and whispered to the
Joliet?” stranger, but was given no attention. One
"Eight years. In that time he has of the man’s hands lay upon the table;
534 WEIRD TALES
Kimberlin placed his upon it, and then of the early evening, yet the sky was
drew back in terror the hand was as— clear. It was evident to him that he had
cold as a stone. not been in the saloon as long as he had
The money must not lie there ex- supposed. He walked along the street
posed. Kimberlin arranged it into neat with the utmost unconcern of the dan-
parcels, looking furtively every moment gers that beset him, and laughed softly
at his immovable companion, and in mor- but gleefully. Would he not eat now ah, —
tal fear that he would stir! Then he sat would he not? Why, he could buy a dozen
back and waited. A deadly fascination restaurants! Not only that, but he would
impelled him to move back into his form- hunt the city up and down for hungry
er position, so as to bring his face di-
men and feed them with the fattest steaks,
rectly before the gaze of the stranger.
the juiciest roasts, and the biggest oysters
And so the two sat and stared at each
that the town could supply. As for him-
other.
self, he must eat first; after that he would
Kimberlin felt his breath coming set up a great establishment for feeding
heavier and his heart-beats growing other hungry mortals without charge.
weaker, but these conditions gave him Yes, he would eat first; if he pleased,
comfort by reducing and his anxiety he would eat till he should burst. In
softening the pangs of hunger. was He what single place could he find sufficient
growing more and more comfortable and to satisfy his hunger? Could he live
yawned. If he had dared he might have sufficiently long to have an ox killed and
gone to sleep. roasted whole for his supper? Besides
Suddenly a fierce light flooded his an ox he would order two dozen broiled
visionand sent him with a bound to his chickens, fifty dozen oysters, a dozen
feet.Had he been struck upon the head crabs, ten dozen eggs, ten hams, eight
or stabbed to the heart? No; he was young pigs, twenty wild ducks, fifteen
sound and alive. The pale stranger still fish of four different kinds, eight salads,
sat there staring at nothing and immov- four dozen bottles each of claret, bur-
able; butKimberlin was no longer afraid gundy, and champagne; for pastry, eight
of him. On the contrary, an extraordi- plum-puddings, and for dessert, bushels
nary buoyancy of spirit and elasticity of of nuts, ices, and confections. It would
body made him feel reckless and daring. require time to prepare such a meal, and
His former timidity and scruples van- if he could only live until it could be
ished, and he felt equal to any adventure. made ready it would be infinitely better
Without hesitation he gathered up the than to spoil his appetite with a dozen
money and bestowed it in his several or two meals of ordinary size. He thought
pockets. he could he felt amaz-
live that long, for
"I am a fool to starve,” he said to ingly strong and bright. Never in his
himself, “with all this money ready to life before had he walked with so great

my hand.” ease and lightness; bis feet hardly touched

the ground —
he ran and leaped. It did
him good to tantalize his hunger, for that
A s
l
cautiously as a thief
the door, stepped out, reclosed
and boldly and with head erect stalked
he unlocked
it, would make his relish of the feast all the
keener. Oh, but how they would stare
out upon the street. Much to his aston- when he would give his order, and how
ishment, he found the city in the bustle (Please turn to page 539)
 N THE January issue of Weird Tales, we asked you, the readers, whether you
We
I wished us to discontinue stories of other planets
question because of the vehement
and other
of protest against interplanetary stories
letters
stars. asked this

that we received from a number of our readers. The replies demonstrated the strong
hold that such imaginative tales as the interplanetary stories of Kline and the Interstel-
lar Patrol stories of Hamilton have upon your affections. There have been many letters
in favor of discontinuing such stories; but these have been swamped by the flood of
letters protesting against any decrease in the number of interplanetary tales in this
magazine. We bow to your wishes, and in this issue we are printing The Star-Roam-
ers, by Edmond Hamilton, and have a goodly number of excellent interplanetary stories
to follow, including Hamilton’s Thundering Worlds and The Horror on the Asteroid.
One qualification, however, appears frequently in the letters you have written urging
us to continue using interplanetary stories: that is, that the stories must be weird
enough to class as weird-scientific stories, and not merely pseudo-scientific. This seems
a reasonable demand, and we shall heed it.

Alford Cuatt, of Mamaroneck, New York, writes to the Eyrie: "Receiving my

January issue of Weird Tales later than usual, on account of my being up in the moun-
tains, I write immediately to defend stories of Otis Adelbert Kline’s caliber. It might
interest you to know that through the Buccaneers of Venus I have become an ardent
reader of Weird Tales., Picking up the magazine on a local news stand, I decided to
buy it because Kline’s story appealed to me. Incidentally, I read the other stories, and
feel now that I couldn’t get along without your magazine.”
"You certainly can pick out good stories,” writes Claude H. Cameron, of Toronto,
Canada. "The current issue is excellent, and it is really difficult to assign the first place
of preference, so evenly balanced is the entire issue. However, I think I would assign
first place to The Chadbourne Episode by Whitehead, because of its vital reality.
Somehow, due to Whitehead’s craftsmanship, the story rings true and seems entirely
plausible. I vote second place to The Mirror by Burrowes, because he sounds a new
note in a new way — logical, well written, excellently plotted.”
Writes Julius Hopkins, of Washington, D. C: "I am bitterly opposed to any idea
of eliminating interplanetary stories. They are a feature of our magazine. I am ex-
tremely distressed that you have neglected to have more of Edmond
Hamilton’s Inter-
stellar Patrol stories and trust that in the near future I willhave the opportunity to read
more of them in WT. I am enjoying tremendously the short stories reprinted from
back issues of WT and I congratulate you on your splendid selections.”
535
536 WEIRD TALES
Reginald A. Pryke writes from England: "Let me state without any preamble what-
soever that this letter constitutes an emphatic and almost shocked 'no' to the query:
'Shall we discontinue scientific stories?’ I read the question with dismay. I vote em-
phatically for the continuance of your present policy of including stories to suit all

tastes. Are you contemplating the destruction of the magazine’s reputation merely to
please a blustering few whose tastes are so hidebound as to refuse recognition to tales
that do not conform to their own ice-locked mentalities? Do I desire tales of years gone
by, of battle and majestic kingliness, I turn to Howard. Do I crave stories to curdle
my blood and bring shivers to my spine, I steer for Lovecraft and Quinn, and if I
yearn for a yarn of doom, awful and magnificent, of self-sacrifice and high endeavor,
I pick our old reliable Edmond Hamilton. Hamilton is the acknowledged master of

this type of fiction, yet you threaten to expunge from your periodical his imaginative
tales. Have done with this half-hearted hesitation.”

"De Brignac’s Lady, by Kirk Mashburn, is one of those stories that linger in the
memory long after they are read,” writes J. D. Arden, of Detroit. "Needless to say, it
is my favorite story in the February issue. Following that, I select The Fire Vampires,

by Donald Wandrei. One can always rely on Wandrei. His themes are unique and
original. What surprized me, however, was the high literary quality of the ’shorts.’
The Lovecraft story you used for the reprint was uncommonly good, but in my opinion
too short to be used as a reprint. I am still patiently waiting for you to reprint The
Woman of the Wood, by A. Merritt, which appeared in WT
several years ago.”
"Although I was on the losing side in the recent controversy over reprint serials,”
writes Donald Allgeier, of Mountain Grove, Maryland, "I again take up the gage to
defend the pseudo-science serials. Without your weird-scientific stories your magazine
would lose much of its appeal to me. In my opinion Edmond Hamilton and Otis
Adelbert Kline are virtually unexcelled as authors, and both lean toward the science
type of fiction. The outstanding feature of your magazine is its variety, its wide scope,
its word ‘weird.’ It is my opinion that a periodical filled en-
liberal translation of the
tirely with vampires and horror stories would become monotonous. Your science nov-
elettes are the cream of the crop. Keep them so and I will venture to say that the ap-
provals will shower over the protests.”
Mrs. M. McHenry, of Toledo, Ohio, writes to the Eyrie: "I wish to cast my vote
against stories dealing with other planets. Give us more stories about haunted houses,
werewolves, vampires, and about scientists who change parts of humans with animals,
etc. In your stories except the ones I mentioned at the beginning of
fact, I like all

this paragraph; always omit reading them. I especially liked Jules de Grandin and
I

would one about him in every issue. In the February issue, which I have
like to see
just completed, my favorite story was De Brignac’s Lady, by Kirk Mashburn. Keep
Weird Tales weird.”
From Superior, Arizona, comes a letter from Mrs. P. E. Wilkins, who writes to
the Eyrie: "I have just finished reading my February issue of WT, and 'day by day in
every way it is getting better and better,’ especially the covers.was un- The best story
doubtedly De Kirk Mashburn almost makes me believe there really
Brignac’s Lady.
—
and baby vampires that is something new.”
are such things as vampires;
Clark Ashton Smith, known to all of you by his artistic weird stories, writes:
"Howard’s The Scarlet Citadel, in the current WT. gave me a grand thrill. It seems
(Please turn to page 538
 Coming Next Month
G OING

I think
below was

I was
like

faint
walking into
ing and holding us back, a nauseating odor,
when we
salt water,

reached the hold, for

account for what happened. Bill was carrying a lighted candle while
the odor was that strong, push-
filthy, abominable, and beast-like.
I can not otherwise quite
I unbattened the
hatch and looked in.

"Shut it! Shut it!” Bill screamed, and we hurled ourselves against the door, fasten-
ing it securely. Down in the hold we had seen a vast, shapeless mass of undulating
greenish-white stuff, thick as skin, with a beating motion like a pulse. The revolting
odor came from that mass, but what terrified us most was the way that pulpy sub-
stance leaped up at us when we opened the hatch! Leaped, like an unknown animal
after prey, with a furious beating of the pulse, its surface writhing into tentacles that
flung at us, and a hiss like an inarticulate cry.

The candle went out when Bill jumped. Darkness dropped upon us like a shroud.
We heard the thing undulating in the hold and pounding against the hatch.
Panic caught us. We dashed for the other hatchways and fought to get out. Once
on deck, we felt a bit ashamed, with the morning sun shining brightly. We looked at
each other, white and shaken, for all that. Then a wave of corruption eddied around
us, and we knew it came from the thing in the hold. . , .

New thrills await you in this story of a fearsome sea voyage, with a terrible death
striking from the hold, and shuddering dread as the constant companion of the voy-
agers. This startling narrative by the author of The Red Brain will be published com-
plete in next month’s Weird Tales:

SPAWN OF THE SEA

DONALD WANDREI By
—ALSO—
THE WHEEL DEAD MAN’S BELT
By H. Warner Munn By Hugh B. Cave
Another grim and powerful tale of torture, by A grim story of murder and the dwellers on a
the author of The Chain. city dump— an unusual and striking tale.

THE CARVEN IMAGE

By August W. Derleth and Mark Schorer
The story of a wooden image endued with a hideous life
— a grim, tragic tale of three bloody murders.

THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN EYES GOLDEN BLOOD

By Mary Elizabeth Counselman By Jack Williamson
An utterly strange story about witchcraft and oc- Another thrilling installment of this fascinating
cult powers of evil —
a story of eery thrills. serial story.

May WEIRD TALES Out April 1

537
538 WEIRD TALES
( Continued from page 536)
to me that Howard is improving, that his tales are becoming weirder and more
imaginative. The only drawback, from my viewpoint, is the excessive manslaughter:
some he would write a tale in which the hero isn’t always mowing peo-
time, I wish
ple down in windrows with a double-fisted sword. Apart from that element, The
Scarlet Citadel is absolutely first-rate; and probably most readers will like it all the
better for the super-heroism. Apropos of the interplanetary question: I vote for the
retention of such stories, but think they should be much weirder and better-written
than the general run. Tales such as Nictzin Dyalhis used to write would be suit-
able. Kline’s serial is enjoyable, and has touches of sly humor that lift it above
some of Burroughs’ work on similar themes. And I don’t mean to disparage Bur-
roughs either: his The Master Mind of Mars was a great story, no matter what the
pedants may say.”
A. V. Pershing, of Indianapolis, writes. "I vote that all reprints be taken from back
issues of Weird Tales. Please reprint all of Lovecraft’s stories, also The Woman of
the Wood
by A. Merritt, and other rare gems of your magazine. I vote for vampire,
ghost, and Chinese stories, also the Howard type of story. There was only one thing
wrong with the January issue: it did not contain a story by Clark Ashton Smith.”
Readers,
) what is your favorite story in this issue of Weird Tales? De Brignac’s
Lady, Kirk Mashburn’s eery story of baby vampires, won first place in your letters
among all the stories in our February issue, as shown by your letters and votes. The
Chadbourne Episode, by the late Henry S. Whitehead, won second place.
Now for the big surprize: Your favorite stories from Weird Tales, past and
present, will be broadcast nationally, with prominent motion picture stars portray-
ing the characters. One of these radio dramatizations will be broadcast each week,
beginning with De Brignac’s Lady, by Kirk Mashbum. Watch your local newspa-
per for details.

(1)
My favorite stories in the April WEIRD TALES are:

Story Remarks

(
1)

(
2)

(3)
I do not like the following stories:

— Why?

(
2 — -

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

Stories you want in Weird Tales if you 1

will fill out this coupon and mail it to |

The Eyrie, Weird Tales, 840 N. Michigan I

Ave., Chicago, 111. I

 !

WEIRD TALES 539

(Continued from page 534)

comically they would hang back, and how
amazed they would be when he would
throw a few thousands of dollars on the
counter and tell them to take their money
out of it and keep the change! Really,
it was worth while to be so hungry as

that, for then eating became an unspeak-

able luxury. And one must not be in too
great a hurry to eat when one is so hun-
gry — that is beastly. How much of the
joy of living
eating before they
do from
rich people miss
hungry before
are
they have gone three days and nights
— T hrough space to the most distant
corners of the universe in the twin-
kling of an eye! When Schehera-
zade told her Sultan the tales that make up
without food! And how manly it is, and The Arabian Nights Entertainments, she
how great self-control it shows, to dally told him of a Magic Carpet that flew
with starvation when one has a dazzling through the sky and carried its human
cargo to distant countries with the speed
fortune in one’s pocket and every restau-
of thought.
rant has an open door! To be hungry The Magic Carpet Magazine, 1-ike the
without money — that is despair; to be carpet of Scheherazade, carries its readers
starving with a bursting pocket —that is out of the humdrum life of our modern
sublime! Surely the only true heaven is civilization to lands of romance, adven-
ture, mystery and glamor. It will transport
that in which one famishes in the pres-
you quickly through the air of Timbuktu,
ence of abundant food, which he might
to Egypt, to the Vale of Kashmere, to
have for the taking, and then a gorged Bagdad, to Suva, to Istanbul. It will even
stomach and a long sleep. fly backward into the departed glories of

The starving wretch, speculating thus, past ages. And unlike the carpet of
Scheherazade, our Magic Carpet will
still kept from food. He felt himself make an occasional trip to distant planets
growing in stature, and the people whom and far suns in the remote corners of the
he met became pigmies. The streets wid- galaxy. Among the authors who contribute
ened, the stars became suns and dimmed to The Magic Carpet Magazine are:
the electric lights, and the most intoxicat- Seabury Quinn
ing odors and the sweetest music filled Edmond Hamilton
the air. Shouting, laughing, and singing, Hugh B. Cave
H. Bedford-Jones
Kimberlin joined in a great chorus that
Warren Hastings Miller
swept over the city, and then Otis Adeibert Kline
# # * # E. Hoffmann Price
James W. Bennett
Robert E. Howard

T
in
he two detectives who had
the famous bank-robber to the saloon
Mason Street, where Kimberlin had
traced
Climb aboard and fly with us through
space with the speed of thought and enjoy
a wide variety of fascinating fiction which
encountered the stranger of the pallid expresses to the full the lure and mystery
face, left the saloon; but, unable to pur- of far places.
sue the trail farther, had finally returned. See your magazine dealer today
They found the door of booth No. 7
locked. After rapping and calling and
Price: 15c a copy
 , —
540 WEIRD TALES
receiving no answer, they burst open the the elder man as he had thrown them
door, and there they saw two men one — last. One of the detectives covered the
of middle age and the other very young elder man with a revolver and com-
— sitting perfectly still, and in the stran- manded,
gest manner imaginable staring at each "Throw up your hands!”
other across the table. Between them was But the dice-thrower paid no atten-
a great pile of money, arranged neatly tion. The detectives exchanged startled
in parcels. Near at hand were an empty glances. They looked closer into the faces
absinthe bottle, a water-pitcher, glasses, of the two men, and then they discov-
and a dice-box, with the dice lying before ered that both were dead.

White Moth
By AUGUST W. DERLETH
A brief weird tale —a white insect, fluttering just beyond the man’s
little reach,
became an instrument of retribution

AUL BLAKE took the crape band mocking glance. He leaned weakly

P from his
fully away.
arm and laid it very care-
Then he glanced at him-
self in the large mirror and reflected that
against the wall, and continued to lean
there even had disappeared
after she
where her room was. When he had re-
he looked properly grieved. He sighed covered himself sufficiently to stride away
with relief, and was about to turn away from the wall, he felt that indeed his
from the mirror when he saw Alice. She nerves had been strained unduly, and that
was standing just behind him, laughing perhaps he had better go away for a
silently, and the glass gave back her re- while. And then immediately Alice was
flection as clearly as his own. He spun there at his side; he almost fell on the
around, but there was nothing there. stairs, but caught himself in time.
Nerves, he thought, and shrugged his "You can’t get away like that, Paul,”
shoulders. At any rate, Alice could not she was saying. Oh! that was her voice,
—
have known when he himself was not all right; there was no mistaking it.
sure. That arsenic had taken infernally "Alice!” he muttered.
long to get down to business; three years "Oh, it’s Alice, right enough,” she
of feeding it to her, before the end came. said. "This is the first time I’ve seen you
Paul Blake felt that his relief was justi- worked up for three years — that’s correct,
fied. isn’t it, three years? Dear me, how the
As he stepped out of his chamber into years go on!”
the hall, he saw Alice a second time. She Paul took a firm hold of the banister
was walking along the hall not very far and began to descend the stairs. It was
from where he stood, and as he looked at as if he could feel Alice over his left
her, she turned and gave him a swift, shoulder; there was no use in trying to
 )
WEIRD TALES 541

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same time he was trying very hard to for- '
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get how she looked as she lay in her cof-
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— —
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half-way down the stairs, there was noth-

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There was absolutely nothing; he could QUIT
only listen, and he found
attempt to stop his ears
one brief
in
that he must do
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— —
voice, "you seem to be at a distinct loss
Treatment For
for once; unusual, not, Paul?” And then, Tobacco Habit
receiving no answer, she went on, "Now
that I’m dead, I suppose you’ll want to
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.

—
man-
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Then, abruptly, Paul Blake felt that
SECRET
We
SERVICE
Want Men and Women of Average School Ed-
ucation, gifted with common sense, to study Secret
Alice had gone. He went forward hes- Service and Scientific Crime Detection. If in this
class and interested, write Joseph A. Kavanagh,
itatingly. expecting every moment to hear Former Agent, U. S. Secret Service, Director, Inter-
(Please turn to next page national Secret Service Institute, Dept. WT-43 g
68 Hudson St.. Hoboken. N. J.
542 WEIRD TALES
( Continued from preceding page) to do better than that, Paul; how could
her voice at his ear. But there was noth- a moth get in here?”
ing,and he slipped into his topcoat feel- "Can’t you see asked Paul, and he
it?”

ing somewhat more at ease. An evening smiled at her in order to hide the dismay
at the club served to dispel his temporary at the answer he foresaw he would get.
depression still more. "Silly. Of course not. There’s nothing
When, three days later, he went to see there.”
Beatrice, he felt convinced that Alice was But Paul Blake could see the moth as
securely and permanently dead, and he clearly as anything else in his box, and
looked upon the incident of her post- as he looked at it, he thought he heard
mortem appearance as a severe attack of Alice laughing; since he did not want to
nerves, or, at the least, a warning from recognize the thought, he contented him-
his conscience. He was inclined to accept self with believing that it was some one
the latter, distasteful as it seemed, be- on the stage, though the action at that
cause his physician had told him there point was anything but a matter for
was absolutely nothing the matter with laughter.
his nerves. Paul Blake looked forward After that, he did not go to see Bea-
with genuine enthusiasm to an evening at trice foralmost a week, and when he did,
the opera with Beatrice. he saw the white moth again. As he
looked at it, he fancied that it had grown
much larger. They were sitting in the
C
tain,
haliapin was in the midst of Mef-
istofeles’ O Night Draw Thy Cur-
when Paul Blake became suddenly
garden, and for a moment Paul Blake
wondered whether it would do any good
conscious of a small white moth fluttering to go into the house. But he knew it
about in his box. He looked at Beatrice; would not, and for the second time he
she had not noticed it, at any rate, for pointed out the moth to Beatrice.
she was still absorbed in the opera. He "I think you’ve got a moth complex,”
wondered whether he could kill it with- she said. "Really, I can’t see it at all. Do
out her seeing, and began to watch it you really see it, or is it just a joke?”
covertly, hoping it would come to rest And Paul Blake felt for the
at that,

where he could strike at it. And this it first time the irony of Alice’s appearance.

presently did. He fixed his eyes on it, If he told Beatrice he really saw the moth,
measuring its position, and then suddenly she would begin to doubt his sanity, and
swept his hand outward to catch and if he passed it off as a joke — well, it was
crush it in his fingers. But the moth a mighty poor joke at best. In the end he
eluded him, though he was sure he had grinned rather stupidly, and the matter
touched it at least, and worse, Beatrice was dropped. Paul Blake went home
noticed his maneuver and turned. early, and he noticed the white moth flut-
"What is it?” she asked. tering along before him until he reached
He looked at her foolishly. "I was try- his door.
ing to catch that white moth, before it Next day, when he went to the tele-
could annoy you,” and he pointed to phone to make his apologies to Beatrice
where it was circling the fan in Beatrice’s — for he felt that she deserved them —
hand. there was the white moth, fluttering about
Beatrice looked at her fan, and back the instrument. As he came toward it,
at Paul Blake with the faintest trace of the moth settled itself on the mouthpiece,
annoyance on her features. "You’ll have Paul Blake made a savage swipe at it,
 WEIRD TALES 5.43

but either he had missed it completely, or

the moth had fluttered up and back down
again, for it was still on the mouthpiece

despite his attack. For amoment he stood

looking at and then he turned abrupt-
it,

ly on and left the room; he could

his heel
telephone as well some other time. As
he closed the door behind him, the sound WHICH CONTROLS YOU?
Science says that the chemical elements compos*)
of Alice’s mocking laughter came to him tag a man's body may be bought for sixty cents at
a pharmacy shop. But the seal part of you is the,
too distinctly for him to pass it off. f

infinite, creative power within— it makes YOU

Two nights later, when he left the living, vital being. - . . .
By the proper use of this creative, sleeping force.,
. 1

house to call on Beatrice, the white moth, within you, you can jDOMINATE YOUR
LIFE'!
findMASTER THE CONDITIONS WHICH!
now grown much larger, appeared with- •SURROUND YOU, The Rosicrucians have shown J

thousands of thinking men and women how to us»j

in a block of his door, and after a short this infinite power. Leam Co direct the mixes
processes of your mind.
hesitation he turned back to the house, This Free Book Explains _
called Beatrice and gave a sudden illness The Rosdcrucian* -will send the SINCERR
S5EXER a free copy of the new book, ‘‘Tb»
as his excuse for not coming. Wisdom of the Sages,” which tells how yon may
become a student of these age-old truths. Ad dree.
After that, he began to haunt the club. « letter (not a postcard of curiosity) toi
Scribe D.Y.P.
He came to suffer from long spells of
melancholia, and fellow club members fiOSKMKIAN BROTHERHOOD*
one by one fell away from him. He no-
was nothing
ticed their attitude, but there
SAN JOSE. CALIFORNIA
—
Just ft reminder The Roeicrnclan
he could do about it. Hemingway stuck Brotherhood is NON-RELIGIOUS

with him, and Dillon—and they’d stick

for a good long while yet. There was one
Jurt o block or two
thing he had set his mind on: no one from everywhere
should know about the white moth; he
would suffer in silence, no matter what
happened.
All Outside Roonse
end each with Bath

H emingway was
end came, and even he did not
with him

recognize that anything had happened to

when the RADIO
In every
$200 to $250
room
Single

Paul Blake until the morning papers had $300 to $400 Double
come in. He told it later at the club. Only one and one-half
"If it hadn’t ended so tragically, the blocks from Union Station
and two blocks from
thing would have been funny. were We Traction Terminal

walking along the drive that night, talk- 121 SOUTH

ILLINOIS St
ing about nothing in particular; it was
raining just a little, but not enough for
us to open cur umbrellas. Just as we came
out of the light of a street lamp, a rather
tmiUG ZINK
bedraggled-looking white moth came flut- noo/na Ofmctor

tering toward us from the darkness.

"Blake saw the moth, and since I was
talking to him at the time, I had my eyes
(Please turn to next page).
 9) —
544 WEIRD TALES
( Continuedfrom preceding page
NEXT MONTH fixed on him. As he looked at die moth,
his jaw dropped, and he stood stock-still
as if waiting for the thing to pass. Then
Dead Man's he began to glare at
usual fashion, so that for a
it in the most un-
moment I
thought he’d gone suddenly mad. You
Belt know, tlm happens somedmes. I put my
hand on his arm, but he shook it off.
By HUGH B. CAVE Then he gave a sort of cry it sounded, —
you know, as if he were saying ’Alice’
A n exceptionally
- is

murder and the

this grim
powerful story
tale of a cold-blooded
terrible retribution that
too bad about his wife; I’ve always felt
diat her death was a pretty hard blow for

stalked relentlessly in its wake. It is a —

him and then he aimed at the moth with
narrative of the cruel and sordid exist- his umbrella. Of course, he missed it,

ence of the dwellers on a city dump, and it flew off into the darkness, and then,
their loves and their lusts, their super-
to my amazement, he began to race along

stitions and their games, and the stark

after it, striking at it with his umbrella.
tragedy of their lives.
At first I thought of going after him, but
I remembered his condition and thought
it would be best if I left him alone.
N this weird story, one of the most
I unusual ever printed, Mr. Cave has
"I feel rather bad now ever since I —
saw the papers that carried the story of
dipped his pen in the life-blood of his
hisdrowning last night. When he raced
characters and depicted them so vividly
off like that, I’d forgotten all about the
that they seem to step out of the print-
river being right in his path. And I can’t
ed page and grip your sympathies. This
think why I didn’t remember that he
absorbing, fascinating and dramatic
couldn’t swim a stroke."
weird narrative will be published com-
plete in the .

May issue of
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