Weird Tales v46n02

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The Editor, WEIRD TALES should like to discuss further my
9 Rockefeller Plaza sugges.ion for a companion maga-
New York 20, N, Y.

zine tided WEIRD NOVELS. Vou
ha/e published many excellent
/ shall open this letter with a serials in the past which would
sidelight which may prove inter- never fit info your present policy
es ing to some of your readers. I
and makeup. You could print some
have formed a group of children of these complete in such a com-
who like to listen to ghost stories panion magazine. But the publica-
and weird fiction of every description should not use reprint novels
tion. We call it the Ghost Story exclusively. At least every o.her

Club, and we meet once a week, should contain a new book-length
always after dark, of course. al- I
by your best current writers. How
ways have at least one planned about a Derleth-Bloch collabora-
story for the group, and if we have tion or a new, original Cfhulhu
extra time available allow the I
novel? Or a book-length DeGran-
youngsters to try their hand at din werewolf-vampire mystery by
story-telling. Several times I have Seabury Quinn? Let's hear from
used stories from WEIRD TALES, the other fans on this idea.
and these have always been en- Also, let's have other opinions
thusiastically received. Such stories on the following suggestions: In-
as MR. GEORGE, MAYAYA'S LIT- crease the size of WEIRD TALES
TLE GREEN MEN, SWEETS TO THE bi-monthly to 1 70 pages to sell at
SWEET, POOR LITTLE TAMPICO, 50(‘ a copy. Inaugurate WEIRD
and ONCE THERE WAS A LITTLE NOVELS bi-monthly, approximate-

GIRL were especially favorites. I
ly 170 pages, to sell at 50^’ a
fear though that G. G. Pendarves' copy. Inaugurate WEIRD TALES
THING OF DARKNESS was just a CLASSICS, 170 pages, to include
bit too vivid for them. That last the great tales from your ancient
session broke up in a discussion of files as requested by the readers,
who was going to walk home with to sell at $1 .00 a copy. All of the
whom! magazines to be illustrated.
As a concluding paragraph, I (Continued on page 1 28)

THE EYRIE Inside front cover
SONG IN THE THICKET (A novelette) . Manly Banister 2

Neither closer nor farther, the voices urged him onward^
calling, luring, promising, lulling.
THE PREDESTINED Q. Patrick 38

Itseemed as if the horror of his predestination had
dogged him all his life.
LORD OF THE TALKING HANDS Arthur Woodward 49

An unusual man, indeed, and his statements were as unusual
as his looks and manners.
PREDICTION . . . . . , Curtis W. Casewit 60
. riot a story of murder, though there's a corpse in
. . it; nor a
love story, though a blond actress plays a role in it.
THE PLACE IN THE WOODS . . August Derleth 84

In isolated country places, one is alone with sky, earth and waters—'
and any invisible dwellers there may be tn the trees.
THE Return OF SIMON CARIB .... Frederick Sanders 94

The hospitable lights of an old inn shone over the snowy street.
How-long had they thus shone?
WITCH WOMAN (Verse) . « « o • Dorothy Quick 102
THE BANSHEE AND PATRICK O’BANNON ... Joe Bishop 104
Though usually silent, the Banshee's wail could not be Stopped}
it meant death —
maybe that of the man who tried it,
BEYOND THE DOOR . Paul Suter 114
The whole affair had been a mystery of lips which closed and
faces which were averted at my approach.
Cover by W. H. SILVEY
Published bi-monthly by Short Stories, 1nc„ 9 Rockefeller Plaza, New, York 20, N. Y.
W. J. Delaney, PTesident & Treasurer, R, M. Cogan, Secretary, Reentered as second-class
matter January 26, 1940, at the Post Office, New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates: One year in the United States and 'possessions $2.00; two years $3.60.
Canadian: one year $2.25; two years, $4.00. Foreign: one year $2.30: two years, $4.10.
The publishers are not responsible for cho loss of unsolicited manuscripts.
D. McILWRAITH. Editor
Copyright 1954 by Weird Tales. Copyright in Great Britain.
Title registei ed In U. S. Patent Office.
Printed in TJ, S. A- VoL. 46, No. 2
proach of Beauregard Avenue.
All the streets are -avenues in
Burton County; although, new
development style, they deserved
rather to be called ruts. Beaure-
gard Ruts, Drake thought with
a high degree of dissatisfaction.
Whyever he and Bev had chosen
to settle in Burton County was
something that presently evaded
hismore cognizant faculties.
Twelve thousand bucks
t^ênty years to pay it in be . .
dead by then. Drake tooled the

sedan through a choking cloud
of dust. Twelve thousand bucks
down the drain if you could—
call a cesspool a proper drain.
There were no sewers in Burton
County yet . they’d come later.
. .
Sewers would bite an extra
Is it true that an Undine can obtain a soul

by marrying a human being?
4 WEIRD TALES
twenty-five dollars a month out of yard was still a semi-sea of
his inadequate incorne.
already yellowish mud whenever it
He kicked himself for not having rained. When it didn’t rain, the
foreseen the sewer problem. Add soilbaked so hard you couldn’t
that expense to house payments, sink a pick in it. Oh, of course,
car payments, insurance, lights, he had a jeiv sprigs of grass iiere
water, gas, food, clothing, and and there . crabgrass grows
the sizable sum he had invested anywhere.
in a perverted lawn that refused Drake steered carefully around
to become grass. . another puddle. There were not
He a crawl and
braked to many finished houses on Beaure-
steered around a big
carefully gard Avenue. Drake had the last
mud puddle in the middle of the one, at the end of the street.
road. A dollar and a quarter he’d There were several more about
spent this very day for a v’ash midway down, but all the other
job, and damned if he was going lots were still a-building. Lean
to throw that away with a wild skeleton houses lined the dusty
dive through that obscene patch road.
of liquidity.
in
No wonder there was a puddle
Drake mused vi-
the road,
ciously. The whole benighted
Another peered
puddle.
at
Drake
with a frown of
it
disfavor. Something about those

country was clay from the surface puddles had set his subconscious
to the center of the earth and . . , mind to working. He could al-
probably a few thousand miles most hear the w'hirring and click-
beyond. No drainage through ing of mental cogs. The puddle
clay clay! No wonder his was as ordinary as any, damp
lawn wouldn’t grow! Gezvich around the edges and wet in the
told him that yesterday no, middle. Otherwise, the .roadway
it was this morning. You got to was covered with a thick, soft
haul in topsoil, Gezwich- had layer of dust. There wasn’t much
put in sod. Need topsoil
said, or traffic on the back streets of Bur-
any case
in the builders
. . . ton County, and Drake was sure
buried the original topsoil under those puddles had not been there
the junk they dug out to make when he left for work
morn- this
the basement. ing. If it had rained Burton in
Drake had always thought dirt County today, the roadway
was dirt, and dirt was what grass would at least be damp, wouldn’t
grew in. Thirty bucks worth of it ^
seed and fertilizer—hours of' Drake coped no further with

back-breaking effort and the — the problem of the puddles. He
SONG IN THE THICKET 5
carefully negotiated the peri- "John there’s something I want

meters of several more and drove you to do for me before it gets
onto his own drive. dark ...”
A flurry of pink and white in "Eh? Sure anything at all,.
a yellow starched housedress of baby!”

economical cotton fluttered at the He kissed her again, even more
kitchen door, hurtled out to the satisfying than before.
car. Drake opened the door. "Well!” she balked, pulling
'
"H’lo, hon. How’s m'baby?” free. "Nothing like killing a

Beverly Drake planted a lus- dragon or anything! I just want
cious, soul-satisfying kiss on her you to drain a puddle out of the
homecoming husband’s lean front yard.”
chops. They still had a couple of He went up the kitchen steps
million kisses to go —
and a into the house.
couple of babies, too —
before "Let it dry up, baby.”
Bev would content herself with "But John .
.!”
a mere look out the window as Heturned, chucked her under

John came driving in. For the the chin, grinning.
present, they were very much "Anything for you, baby
married, and very much in love. after supper!”
'Tm so glad you’re home, He progressed into the living
lover boy!” room, dumped his hat on a chair.
Beverly was blonde, sparkling He sprawled on the davenport.
blue-eyed, warm and cuddlesome. "Where’s m’paper?”
Drake grabbed her to him and
‘
"Pork chops for supper to . .
returned the luscious, soul-satis- answer your questions in the

fying kiss she had so generously order of their appearance,”
given him. Beverly said, running one hand
”
’Smatter? Trouble?” through his hair. She balanced
He knew there was no trouble. herself delicately on the arm of
Bev said it every night. She was tlie davenport.
just glad he was home and want- "As for your paper — it’s out in
ed him to know it. He knew it the middle of that nasty puddle
and was glad of it, too. Bev was I was telling you about!”
all he wanted out of life the — "The hell it is!” Drake swung
rest of it could go hang. himself to a sitting posture.
He expressed the depth of his "What kind of an idiot have we
feelings with, "What’s for sup- got for a paper boy? Get on the
per, baby?” phone and have another sent
.She ignored his outburst of over.”
connubial passion. BeverJy went dutifully to the
6 WEIRD TALES
phone, called the local distribu- "It isn’t a broken water ma,in,”
tor. Beverely said matter-of-factly,
"He'll be by with it in about "because the water doesn’t flow.
a half hour,” she said, hanging It just puddles. There seems to be
up. "John," I want to discuss that a sag in the walk there, right at
puddle with you the foot of the steps.” __
Drake lay back on the daven- Indeed, it did appear that the
port and reached for a maga- water filled a sag in. the concrete
zine. walkway. It lapped out several
"Hmmmm. Hope you told feet on either side into the grue-
that guy what I think of his some mockery of a lawn. John
delivery knew couldn’t be a sag
there
"John, the puddle there. The grade sloped from the
"Lots of puddles, John ob- house to the street the walk
served, whetting his glance on a itself was slightly crowned.
four-color representation of pul- The evening paper lay, as
chritude in the magazine ad. Beverly had said, in the middle
"There are puddles all over the of the puddle, -just beyond reach
road,” he said. "What do you of a questing broom handle.
expect when it rains?” "Could you drain it?” Beverly
"Did it '.rain downtown to- suggested, referring to the pud-
day?” die. ”Dig a little ditch or some-
"Don’t think it did just thing?”
out here.” "It’ll -dry up by morning,
"Not out here, it didn’t. I’ve Drake protested dubiously.
been home all day, so I know.” "Are we to ask the Harrians
"Maybe a street cleaning to wade through it tonight?
wagon went by.” Remember . we’re having
"Be sensible!” them over for canasta. Or do
"Okay. Maybe there’s a water you?
main bust. Drake hadn’t remembered, but
"John — this puddle in front of he did now.
our door. "Get me a broom,” he said
Drake’s face went a trifle gray. tersely, "and go on with supper.
"Good God! Do you suppose I’ll sweep it away.”
our water main could be broken? "Huh-uh.”-

And on our side of the meter? "Huh-uh what? Must I get my
. Oy! At the rate we’re paying own broom?”
for water!” "Nuh. No swêep.’’
.
He
got up quickly and open- "Nonsense.' Get me a broom.”
ed the front door. "It won’t work, I say.”
“Why won’t It work? Get me gleamed silvery with sky

that broom!” light,
“Okay, Canute. Have it your Beverly said over his shoulder,
way,” ‘
“I see it’s back.”
She flounced into the house There was a tone of smug sat-
and a moment later the broom isfaction in her words that stung
came bouncing out. Drake Drake.
caught it and began to sweep “I suppose you knew it would
industriously, sending the offen- be?” he hurled at her.
sive puddle in foaming waves “Yup. I swept it away three
down the walk. Observing the times myself today!”
damp spot that remained, he “Get me that broom again!”
shook the -moisture from the Drake snapped. *T’ll do some
broom with complete satisfaction more sweeping — see if it’s a
and went into the house. water line bust, or a spring in our
Drake was in process of man- front yard!”
gling his third pork ‘chop when “John, dear .« . your sup-
Mr. Barnes, the neighborhood per . .
ne\yspaper distributor, knocked “Hang supper! I’ve finished

on the door. He passed the paper anyway.”
and a mumbled apology through He swept the water away
the door to John. again. During the last half of the
“That’s certainly a man-size operation, he had to have the
puddle you’ve got there,” he porch light on to see by. Finally,
allowed. “You got a bad sag in there was only a damply gleam-
your walk. What 1 always say ing streak reflecting the shine of
about these houses they build the early evening stars.
nowadays, scamp the work, that’s Drake examined the ground
what they do! Never try to see on both sides of the walk and
a thing is done right. If you was along the foundation, but there
me. I’d get hot after the contrac- were no tell-tale streams of mois-
tor that left that sag in the walk. ture bubbling from the earth
You get a puddle like that from or anywhere else. For the last
watering your yard, you’ll see time, Drake shook out the broom,
it’s a fright when it rains!” stamped moisture from his soggy
With that, he politely touched footgear, and went grumpily back
the brim of his fedora, stepped into the house. He left the porch
off the porch and sloshed off light on for the expected arrival
through the puddle. Drake stared of the Harrians.
after him, nonplussed. It was Neither John nor Bev heard
almost dark, and the puddle Ben and Zuelda Harrian drive
8 WEIRD TALES
Up. Abedroom intervened be- the last hour. I’ve swept it away
tween the living room and the twice this evening. I don’t know
driveway, and the TV set was where it comes from nor
making an exorbitant amount of where it goes to!”
noise. A loud hallooing and Ben lifted heavy, perfectly
banging at the back door an- arched brows.
nounced the arrival of the ex- "Tut, tut not so- touchy,
pected couple. Jack! Sorry to tramp on your
"The front door’s for coming feelings, but it is a big pud-
in,” Drake greeted them pleas- dle ...”
antly, switching on the drive "All’ right,” brake said. "All
light. right! "Let’s go into the living
Zuelda, tiny, buoyant, viva- room.”
cious and brunette, assumed a The living room emitted a
mien of mock indignation. blast of variegated squeals and
"Wade through that puddle? giggles, as Bev and Zuelda came
Or do you furnish a boat?” face to, face. The Harrians were
handsome Ben Harrian,
Tall, really Beverly’s friends, Drake
as dark and sombre as his wife thought, as he put their things
was dark and sparkling, nudged away in the bedroom while Bev
her through the. door. and Zuelda hugged each other.
•"Go in, Zuelda!” The Harrians had arrived in
The expression was just like the city, friendless,; a few months
him, Drake thought so gram-
. ago, and Ben had landed a job
matically proper. He could not in the shipping departrhent of
imagine Ben saying "go on in” Drake’s company. A' background
like a native ewould have said it. of extensive Old World travel
"Don’t keep the man waiting and an uncanny familiarity with
with the door open,” Ben con- every backwoods hamlet in Amer-
cluded, and grinned at Drake as ica made Ben a natural for the
they passed through the kitchen. shipping department post.
"That is a big sink you have in Drake, of course, had been re-
your front yard, Jack. Been sponsible for 'Beverly’s meeting
"
watering the lawn?” .Zuelda^ He’d invited the couple
"That’s the second time to- the first time, out of a desire to be
night somebody has blamed lawn friendly to the new man. Ben had
watering for that puddle,” Drake accepted the ihvitation with a
retorted. "I haven’t got enough surprising warmth, and from
of a lawn to waste oiir high- then on . well, it had been like
priced water on. If there’s a a rolling stone picking up mo-
puddle there’ now, it’s grown in menturn.
Not that he disliked Ben Har- replace the walk. The walk
fian. Drake just was* not a gre- doesn't need replacing. There's
garious type, and the thoughtless no sink in it. But where is that
remarks of others frequently irri- water coming from?”
tated him. Ben was quite good at "I wouldn’t worry about it,’.’
being irritating, and apparently Ben observed lazily,
without meaning to be. should worry,” Drake said
,
Zuelda, now
.
she was cute. stiffly. "It’s my walk.”
and convivial and . well, hell! The game continued with

it’s 'natural for a man to take something less of its former spar-
less umbrage with a good-look- kle. Bev mixed and served cock-
ing woman than with another tails, and spirits picked up again.
fellow, isn’t it? Zuelda had a "It’s either a busted water

mouth like a fresh, red rosebud, main or a spring in the front
deep, dark eyes that swam in a ,
yard,” Drake gloomed.
sea of gaiety, and a figure "How terrible!” Zuelda put
Drake’s neighbors never irritated in, "Your nice new house!”
him with things like that! Drake looked at her gratefully.

The group settled down to a Ben tapped his cards against a
comfortable game of canasta. The gleaming thurnbnail.
conversation was bright and "A spring? That’s a possibility.
sparkling. Ben was witty,Drake Jack.”
had to say that fof him. He was Drake tossed his hand on the
extremely cultured, betraying in table.
speech and manners an. unusual "Come on» Ben. Let’s look it
education coupled with a wide over. Maybe you can see some-
knowledge of little known sub- thing i couldn't the last time I
jects. looked,”
Ordinarily, Drake enjoyed the
Harrian’s company well, enough,
but tonight a worry oppressed
him. He didn’t like things that
Armed with a
Drake flipped on the porch
light and went out. The puddle
flashlight,
went unexplained. Finally, he put was a black and shining smear at

words to his aggravation. the foot of the steps, extending
"The. thought of that puddle out a considerable distance along
is getting me dovvn!” the walk and into the yard on
"Tell your contractor about it,” either side. Drake flashed the
Ben observed judiciously, quietly torch over the far perimeter of
studying his cards and playing the glistening.slick.
with great care. "It’s bigger than it was last
"You mean I should make him time, and for the life of me, J
10 WEIRD TALES
can’t figure what keeps it frorn grumped. Ben’s talk of the water
flowing down the walk. Might witch irritated him more com-
as well be tar.” He dipped the toe pletely than anything else that
of his shoe into the pool. "But it had passed between them this
isn’t. It's water, all right.” night. "If I got a spring pouring
Ben made a humming, noise in up there, I can find it myself to-
his throat but offered ho other morrow!,”
comment'. Sudd'enly he snapped
his fingers. RAKE could not find the
"Might' be a spring at that, spring the following morn-
Jack! I know a fellow who might ing, though he swêpt the puddle
be able to tell you something. away once more before going to
Old Tom Ellers he lives over . work. Far from being happy at
near us, on a back street. Sort not finding the evidence he
of a neighborhood handyman. sought, Drake was so put out he
He ” Ben stopped, at a loss failed to notice that yesterday’s
for words. puddles were gone from the road,
"Go on, Drake prompted. though new pools of water gleam-
"He what,^” ed among the row of houses un-
"He he’s what they call a der construction.
water witch. Having had the day in which
"One of those guys twid- who to think over his predicament,
dles a stick and finds water?” he dropped into Ben’s office
"You might put it that shortly before quitting time.
way "What’d you call that fellow,
"Ha!” Drake glared gloomily Ben?”
at the puddle. "I can find water Ben looked up from a desk
without a stick. Here it is full of papers. "What fellow?”"
see?
”
"You know last night

"I Ben put in, "that
mean, was it water 'wdtch?”
Tom could find out where it is- "Oh you mean Tom Ellers.
coming from if it is a Sure. Decided to have a try at
spring.” it? Now, I don’t guarantee Tom
Drake glanced sourly up at the can actually tell you where that
taller man. water coming from, Jack
is
"You don’t believe that Drake waved a hand.

rot, do you?” "I looked -all over hell for a
"Well . Ben temporized. spring this morning. Didn’t 'find
"I can’t do it myself, but any.”
Tom . . "Was the water still there?”
"'Let’s go in the house, Drake "I swept it away.”
It s gone now? it’s permanent or not ... or show

'T . . well . it’s always you some way to divert it.”
come back before. Let me call Drake shook his head. "I can’t
Bev.” believe in that kind of stuff.”
He scooped up Ben’s phone, Ben hoisted his shoulders
dialed outside, then rapidly again.
dialed his home phone num- "Nobody does, really ... ex-
ber. Beverly answered prompt- cept the water witches. Nobody
ly- believes in their ability but
"How’s that puddle, hon? The they hire them every day to find
one in front, I mean.’’ water.”
There was a brief pause. "It’s "Is that true? I thought water
back again, John.’’ witching' was some kind of
Drake swore. "Sorry, honey,” fable .”
.
He apologized. ^
"Many water sources have
"That isn’t all.” been discovered by the so-called
"Isn’t all?” water witches. Fable or not, they
"No. There’s another one frequently do locate water under
across the drive from the kitchen ground with nothing but a stick,”
door, and a third one in the back Drake gave in with a sigh.
yard!” "Okay. How about bringing
"Have you been Drake this Ellers around, hey? I
began suspiciously. don’t know what good he can do,

"Whatever it is you’re think- but maybe just
. maybe he
ing, I haven’t. And it hasn’t rain- can tell me for sure if I’ve got a
ed today, either.” damned spring running loose or
"Uh thanks. See you.” not!”
Drake hung up, looked gloomily
at Ben.
"Bev says it’s back
there’s another in the side yard
. and E llers turned out to
wizened little man of about
sixty, gaunt as a pitchfork, sparse-
be a
and One in back.” ly topped with gray. His cheeks

Ben whistled softly. like old bacon rind were covered
"You just could have a spring with a gray stubble. He was
breaking out in several places. dressed in sordid blue overalls,
You’d better let me bring Tom and his wretched once-wdiite shirt
Ellers over this evening.” bore witness to at least a score of
"Sure, but' what could he bachelor meals. He grinned all
do?” over, shaking hands with Drake.
Ben shrugged. "He might be "Pleased t’meet yew, Mist’
able to give you a hint whether Drake!”
12 WEIRD TALES
Drake smiled affably as tlie hind the garage. Drake glanced
little dowser ambled out of Ben’s inquiringly at Ben. The tall, dark
coupe. man smiled easily.
"Ben uh . tells me "He’s gone to cut a divining
you’re a water witch, Mr. —
rod the forked stick he uses.”
Ellers.” Ellers returned in an instant,
Tom Ellers’blue eyes turned paring leaves and stems from a
frosty. He frowned. forked branch -of elm.
"They ain’t no sech tiling as a "We c’n start aroun’ in front,”
witch, Mist’ Drake. I’m a plain, he hailed cheerfully, "by that big
natural dowser, that’s all. I puddle, and come on aroun’ this-
dowses for water ain’t no away .. .
witchin’ to it!” He led off quickly, with a spry-

Drake acknowledged his error ness that belied his years, shuck-
with a look of pained embarrass- ing the last of the leaves in the
ment, hiding an inward smile. drive. He skirted the edge of the
"Do you think I’ve got a spring puddle on the sad description of
on the property, Mr. Ellers?" lawn, raising the "rod" until it
The oldster stamped on the pointed upward like a V, in a
concrete drive, surveyed tlie lay peculiar, back-handed kind of
of the land with a critical grip.
eye. Drake was not prepared for
"T’tell ’e truth, Mist’ Drake, what happened next. He jumped
if I was one of these geology fel- as the rod whipped violently
lers, I’d say there wasn’t a chance -
downward, swung back up an-
in the wôrld. This county is solid other half arc betvêen Ellers’
clay more than two hundred foot arms and beat the air in front of'
down, to bedrock. But that ain’t his chin. The dowser’s browm
the case.” He fell musingly si- face mirrored his physical strain.
lent, scanning the slope behind His arms twisted, seeming to
the liouse and its thickets of scrub fight the vicious pull of the rod,
elm and willow. "No, sir, it ain’t and he found it difficult to keep
the case. There’s lots of water his Suddenly the old

footing.
—
here I can feel it. I am one of man stumbled and fell, losing his
them as can,” he observed with a grip on the writhing rod. \
proud grin, "though I like the Ellers got up with a shanae-
feel o’ the stick for pinning it faced grin.
down. Let me cut a stick, now% "You’ve sure got a lot of water
and I’ll be right with you.” under there, Mist’ Drake. See
Ellers stamped off briskly in how th.at blamed rod th’owed
the’ direction of the thicket be- nie? One nev' th’ow me befo’,
though I did hear tell of it hap- a breath. Drake peered more

* >>
penm
>
closely at the puddle. The surface

He grinned,
braced himself, was definitely agitated in brisk
and swung the rod upward. It motion,
flapped violently again, seeming Ellers cupped the rod in his
to twist itself from the old man's armpit and moved into the back
grip- yard where the performance was
"Plenty there, all right,” Ellers repeated. He held his rod up
grunted. "Naow, le’s aroun’ to again, turning this way and that,
side.” seeming to read significance into
He led off again, and Drake the waving and waggling of the
hurled an accusing glance at Ben. forked stick,
"Is that guy nuts or some- "I think. Mist’ Drake, I can
thing.^” find fo’ you where that stream is
Tlie half-grin of understand- cornin’ from
ing' he had expected from Ben The oldster took off at a high
did not materialize. The tall lope toward the thicketed slope.
man’s lean face suffused with a Drake took a step to follow,
saturnine frown. heard Ben call out to Ellers, then
"You modern Americans don’t Ben’s hand on his arm arrested
believe in anything; that’s your him.
trouble! ” he spoke harshly. _ "He’ll be back in a minute.
Drake shrugged, privately The big spring, or source, is
thinking that Ben Harrian must probably up there on the slope
be nuts, too, if he took any stock some place. No use our crashing
in this sort of thing. around the brush after him
Ellers was in the side yard, his he’ll go in a straight line through
rod doing a witch’s dance over anything in the way!”
the second puddle. "I’d say, Mist’ It was, Drake saw, almost
Drake, they’s a great big spring dark. The sky still glared against
feed in’ that pool, but you doan’ the horizon, silhouetting the
see runnin’ out anywheh!"
it thickety ridge, whicli was now
Drake regarded the pool. The like a pool' of ink.
sun was below the horizon, by
now. It had been sunset when
Ben drove in with the old fellow.
Lingering twilight reflected from
D rake didn’t know how long
Ben passed the
they waited.
time with a few comments on
the surface of the pool, which dowsing which he seemed to have
seemed to ruffle, swirling, as if gleaned from some place. It may
caressed by a Brisk wind. have been ten minutes, or fifteen.
But tiiere was no wind . . not Shadows gathered thickly on the
14 WEIRD TALES
drive until Drake could scarcely things. Frankly, this business
see the tall man's face. Before worries, me.”
they knew
it, darkness closed in. "Your friend Ellers is what’s
Stars sprang into being in the worrying me!" Drake barked at
velvety overhead. Drake fumbled him. "We’d better look for him.”
his way to the kitchen door, Drake went inside for a flash-
found the light switch just inside, light. It took an hour, casting
and turned on the drive light. about in widening circles, to find
"Your friend ought to be com- the little dowser on the thickety
ing back pretty soon, hadn't he, slope. A three-quarter moon ris-
Ben.?" ing in the east cast oblique light

Ben shrugged. "He may have into a small clearing about two
gone farther than we thirik. No hundred yards from the house.
use shouting. If he’s still dows- They found Tom Ellers there .
ing, he wouldn’t hear us." quite dead.

^
Drake peered across the drive "Poor little devil!” Drake
toward the puddle that had puz- mourned as they picked their way
zled him wtih its seeming agita- back to the house. "I feel guilty
tion. He clutched Ben’s arm. as hell, having you bring him
"Ben! The. puddle I” . over here .
The tall man swung around. Ben’s voice was a mumble in

"What .
?" the darkness. "Forget it,: Jack.”
"It isn’t there!" "We couldn’t know he had a
"Sure -enough!” Ben bit his bad heart, could we, Ben?"
lip. He looked sidelong at Drake. "Forget it. Jack!"
"How about ?". Drake nearly wept with re-
Drake bounded through the morse. "Ben, I .
house, nearly scaring Beverly out Ben’s firm, slim hand came out
of her wits. A long minute later, of the darkness, shook Drake
he returned slowly. forcibly.
It s gone. "Forget it!”
"I checked the one in the back Drake’s teeth rattled. Momen-
yard,” Ben said. tary rage swarmed through him.
Drake looked at him. Ben But the shaking cleared his head,
nodded. He felt his guts settle slowly back
"What the hell !’’
Drake into place.
exploded. "Sorry, Ben . here, take it
"What can it be?" murmured easy here’s the yard .'
Ben Harrian. "Jack, you don’t They rounded the garage and
believe in superstition, of course, went Drake did
into the house.
but I’ve made a study of such not see the shadow lurking there.
out of the moonglow. As- the own house, was a nincompoop.

kitchen door closed, the shadow He blamed Beri for accentuating
detaclied itself from the garage, his distress.' Beverly appeared
dri-fted down the drive and into suddenly and jammed something
'
the night. cold and firm into his grasp. He
"Guess we better Call the sher- tilted the glass, drank. His feel-
iff, Ben?” ings subsided.
"That is the usual procedure,” was a long night. -They had
It
Ben said gruffly. to go back to the body, of course,

Drake moved toward the with the sheriff' and two of his
phone. Ben put a hand on his deputies. Flashlights bobbed in
arm. He made a motion signify- the thicket, pale swords of lumi-
ing a drink in Beverly’s direction. nance in the stark glare of the
Beverly understood, .sped wor- moon. When came upon the
they
riedly into the kitchen where they body, Hamilton sent a
Sheriff
‘kept a fifth under the sink. deputy back to the house to await
"Better let me phone,” Ben the county coroner, who was an
said. unnecessarily long time in com-
He made the call quickly, curt- ing.
ly, and turned to Drake. The remaining deputy occu-
"Bev is bringing you a drink, pied the interval taking several
Jack. Pull yourself together. The flash photographs -with an enor-
sheriff and his men will be here mous camera.
in a few minutes. Don’t mention The sheriff questioned both
the puddles to them.” Ben and Drake, listened to the
"The puddles?” Drake had story Ben told of the water hunt,
forgotten. the puddles. ‘^Why?” the graphic description of the
Ben grinned tightly. He tap- speed with which the old man
ped his forehead with a stiffened had darted into the brush in
finger. search of the "big spring.’’
”T hat’s why. They’ll think "Don’t take much stock in
you’re crazy enough, having a water witchin’, myself,” the sher-
dowser over. Let me do the talk- iff grunted, "though I guess
ing. You just answer what ques- there’s a lot of it bein’ done. It’s
tions are asked of you.” plain the old fellow had a bad
"But, Ben, how about those heart. Too much* exertion- for a
puddles ?” man his age.”
"Forget the puddles, Jack!” The. coroner finally carne, fuss-
Drake felt anger flare in him ed over the corpse. He wasn’t a
again. Ben Harrian was master of doctor — the coroner’s post in
this situation. He, Drake, in his Burton County was a political ap-
16 WEIRD TALES
pointment —but
even he could Jack. It’s late.” A
cloud settled on
see that Ellers was dead, and he his thin, handsome face. "There’s
said so, with what seemed to . somethirig frightening going
Drake to be a great deal of un- on around here. Jack.” He ap-
necessary satisfaction. pealed to Beverly. "Aren’t you
"Think his heart gave out, afraid to stay here?”
Abe.?” rumbled the sheriff. Beverly shook her head, won-
"Ed, you know I’m not a. doc- dering.
tor!" protested the coroner. Drake said, "If you’re refer-
"We’ll have to send the body to ring to tlîose puddles, Ben, it’s
the city for a post mortem. All I your turn to forget it. There’s a
can say -for sure is that he’s natural explanation for every-
dead.” thing, if you look far enough. As
The group crashed back for being afraid of poor old El-
through the brush. The two dep-" lers’ ghost . I think not!”
uties carried the body. At the Zuelda spoke slowly, looking
edge of the thicket, a pair of doubtfully at ,her husband, as if
ambulance men with a. stretcher seeking support from him.

met them. The body was put on "Ben is is psychic . .
the stretcher, carried out to the Jack. You can call it that. W'e
ambulance in the. street. Sheriff wouldn’t blame you if you moved
.Hamilton offered a few last out right away after these, things
words, legged into his car with have happened.”
his deputies, and the cortege Drake laughed harshly.-
away.
'
"Too big an investment to
Drake was surprised to find leavej” he chuckled grimly. "It’s
Zuelda in the house when they over with now, so what is there
re-entered. to worry about? Ben you’re .
"Bev called me,” Zuelda ex- too sensitive. I’ve thought that
plained. "I had- neighbors bring about you all along. If I told you
me over,” there were pixies in the thicket,

Ben frowned. "You should not I’m sure you would believe me!”
have come, Zuelda . Ben stared at him oddly while
Zuelda sparkled dangerously. Zuelda anxiously regarded her
^
"Leave Bey all alone, with you husband.
men out there crashing around in "Do you do you .know
the brush?” She softened sudden- there is something in the
,ly. "Poor old Tom
1” thicket ?”
Ben shrugged, turned to ' Drake exploded with strained

Drake. mirth.
"I guess we better be going, "There . . what did I tell you?
SONG IN THE YhICKET 17
I didn'teven say there were Drake passed a hand across his

pixies, and you ...” He exploded Lace. His fingers shook.
'
in another uproar. "I’m sorry, Bev. Shock, I
"You listen to Ben, Jack!” guess. Mostly,. I can’t stand that

Zuelda shrilled at him^ shocking guy, anyway. I’ll look him up at
him out of his semi-hysteria. the office tomorrow and apolo-
"Ben knows things you don’t gize.”
know he knows don’t He wondered
0
later about Ben’s
dream !”
. . . concern oyer their leaving this
Ben Harrian’s hand came place, he and Bev. Drake laugh-
down forcibly on her arm. ed 'grimly at the thought. It
"Zuelda! My dear .” He wasn’t in Drake’s make-up to
turned to Drake, smiling. "Sorry, scare easily. He wasn’t scared at
old man. I take it, then, that you all, he told himself. His reaction
plan to stay right here?” was’ shock sympathy
. . pity
for poor old 'Tom Ellers^,
NOW stare.
it was Drake’s turn to
Could there really be
any other thought in the tall
tough way to end!
The apology he had contem-
plated making Ben for Beverly’s
man’s mind? Move out? Why? benefit dried up like the puddles
Ben
o
seemed satisfied with in the yard. Drake didn’t apolo-,
Drake’s reaction. He took his gize, and though he saw Ben
wife solicitously by the shoulder. frequently there was
at the office,
"Come, dear. Jack's had a bad a strained atmosphere, behveen
evening.” them. And it didn’t matter,
"Sorry I’m not scared out of Drake told himself, though Bev
seven years’ growth,” Drake put was worried about losing Zu-
in with a sour grin. "Like some elda's friendship.
people .
Ben turned, flashing white

teeth in a friendfy smile. Friday evening.
Hamilton stopped by. Drake
Sheriff
"Good night. Jack Bever- gave Bev that look which both
•y” of them tacitly understood to
They heard the Harrian s car mean vanish. Bev, vanished into
churning the furlongs to the the kitchen and rattled crock-
highway. ery.
Beverly said, "You’ve insulted Hamilton opened the skirmish
them, John, our best friends!” with a few questions about
She said it simply, without accu-
sation, puzzled, and
as if she
Tom Ellers
Drake shrugged.
— pointless questions.
awaited an explanation. "You’d better ask Ben Harrian

.18 WEIRD TALES
about that, Sheriff.. I’d' never seen agony of his disclosure. Did he
”
the man before in my life. think he and Ben Harrian had

The sheriff grunted. -Til get killed Ellers?
around to Harrian later. Now, "How did he die — if it’s any
dowsing. Tell me my
”
about this of business?

about that again.” "It might be your business. It
Drake told him. He wanted to depends on whether Ellers went
mention the puddles, just to spite off into the brush under his own
Ben Harrian, but somehow he power, as you say, or whether he
could make no mention of them was carried in there and planted
pass his lips. after he was drowned.”
"Now, tell me again just how ^^Droiuned?”
you found the body,” the sheriff "The autopsy showed his lungs
went on, full of water.
died Ellers by
Drake said. Aren’t you. mak- strangulation in an aqueous me-
ing a? lot of unnecessary trouble, dium if you prefer the
Sheriff, over a man’s dying of a language of the autopsy re-
heart attack.^” port.”
Sheriff Hamilton stared ievelly There was a moment- of
into Drake’s eyes. leaden, swimming silence, then
“"T didn’t say Ellers died of a the sheriff’s rough voice resumed
heart attack — leastwise, not to- the interrogation. --
night.” "Now, you’re sure, are you,

Drake. felt a kind of sick alarm that Ellers went off alone into the
flood him. brush
"You mean an accident? He does euspect us, Drake
He could -have tripped and thought. A countering thought
fallen flashed through his mind. It. was
"He didn’t trip. Hamilton’s job to suspect every-
Drake felt sicker. The thought body. He could have no evidence
of an attacker lurking in the to point suspicion toward Ben or
thicket probably there while Drake.
Bev was home alone Drake said, "I guess I’ve said
”I any marks to
didn’t see enough. If I am under
Sheriff.
show he might have been club- go peacefully
arrest. I’ll .
bed or stabbed. Sheriff. And we The sheriff sighed and got to

didn’t hear a shot.” his feet.
"Ellers Wasn’t knifed, clubbed "Sit down. You’re not under
or shot.” arrest. Ibelieve your story, and
Drake wondered why the sher- that’s the tough part of it. It
iff deliberately prolonged .the^ would be easier if I didn’t. If you
find out how a man
can drown someplace, he knew not where.
himself in the middle of a thicket Drake sat up in bed, head cocked
without getting his clothes wet, for better listening, restraining
and without a drop of water any- the mad impulse to jump and
where around, let me know run.
huh?” It was the- sound of a voice
or of many voices, so beautifully
OHN DRAKE awoke in the blended as to seem one. It was a
middle of the night with a voice such as Drake had never
feeling of palpitant urgency. His heard before, its unhuman qual-
ears strained against the unusual itypoignant with desire and the
quiet of the night, asif seeking promise of sweetness ineffable.
again the source of some sound As the voice crescendoed, his ear
that might have awakened him. detected the separation of sylla-
Silver moonlight gushed through bles, but the song remained lost
the bedroom windows from' a to his understanding, the words
nearly full moon riding high in blurred and indistinct, yet preg-
the star-powdered sky. nant with a lure that was more
The night was breathlessly still than he could resist.
and hot.There was no murmur Suddenly the singing was quite
of insects, no raucous screams of loud, as if swelled by an unim-
the cicada, a blasting trumpet of aginable chorus, until the room
sound .synonymous with hot throbbed with its rhythm. Surely,
weather, He heard only the light Drake thought, the swelling har-
breathing of Beverly as she slept monies must awaken Beverly.
quietly beside him, bathed in the But she slept gently on. Drake
light of the moon. covered his ears with his hands,
Then, faintly, he heard the but the wild song diminished
sound again, the sound that had not a decible in volume.
brought him awake a low, — It came to him then that the
throbbing ululation of musical voices he heard lifted in song
quality that rose and fell on the were not in the air at all, but in,
moon-drenched night, crescen- his own mind, ringing sweet and
doed to a wail, and fell again to a clear from some mystic, hidden
haunting murmur that was like well-spring of his own being.
the whisper of dark waters caress- The pathos of it, the lure of it,
ing the smooth stones of an an- the liquid, murmuring richness
cient stream bed. With the sound, of its rhythmic fabric consumed
there came an intensification of him, dulled his senses, his power
the urgent feeling that gripped
' of thought, made of his mind a
him. He had to get up and go bright chamber where Nothing-
20 WEIRD TALES
ness floated in Void and he was of each seemed to pour that un-
robbed of his will. earthly melody which held him
Like a man in a dream, Drake spellbound.
dressed, stole to the door and The night became a blur in
out.Moments later, he picked his Drake’s mind. By and by, he was
way through the thicket world of vaguely aware that time had pass-
scrubby elms and willows, blun- ed, that tlie'moon had lowered
dering through an endless, itself and now poured a colder
chaotic world of molten-bright light athwart the thickety ridge.
moon silver and ebon shad- He stumbled, leaving the thicket
ow. behind him to re-cross his own
The rang in his
voices still back yard. He did not perceive
mind, neither closer nor fartl^r the shape that huddled in the
away, with quickened tempo, shadow of the garage and looked
with breathless beat, urging him after him with, complete satisfac-
frantically onward, calling, lur- tion as he groped his way to the
ing, promising, lulling. Drake kitchen door and into the house.
came out in a clearing in the He was not truly conscious of
heart of the thicket. He might anything until he suddenly awoke
have recognized it as the place to full command, of his own
where they had found Tom senses in his o^yn bed.
Ellers’ body, but his external Beverly slept quietly yet. She
senses were dulled to his sur- might not have stirred a muscle
roundings, only the inner, ones the whole night through. Drake’s
were afire with the rhythm of mind was a kaleidoscope of
that delectable melody. moonlight shards and shadows,
In the clearing he saw them and twisting, writhing, leaping
that angelic chorus that shapes that glistened silver .
heavenly minstrelsy and the . of soft breasts and yielding

moon bathed with its glare their tprsos, dinging arms and flashing
glowing bodies, effulgent silver thighs. . ..
against the shadowed backdrop The whole vision seemed to

of the thicket. With intricate step contract in his mind-, shriveling
and flowing motion they danced into a core of hard brilliance,
. naked in tlie moonlight they
. an unremembered spectacle of
danced the grassblades scarce-
. . grandeur and passion. Drake
ly bending under the flitting whimpered, his face in his hands,
lightness of their dainty feet. as the last shred of delightful
Scores of female, figures dancing, memory drifted beyond his ken,
each perfect as cast, in the mold became a throbbing ache that
of perfection, and from the throat answ-cred nothing 'of the ques-
tioning pain in his being . . and her look of dissappointment, he

demanded much. He slept. added quickly, "Til have a aip
of coffee with you while you
D rake could not explain,

even to himself, the feeling
that gripped him next day. What
eat.”
The
kitchen.
table was
While Drake gloomed
set in the
mystihed him was something be- over his coffee, Beverly pecked
yond his unexplainable feeling disinterestedly at her food.
of physical exhaustion. He spent "Have you seen the Harrians
the morning out of doors, hover- today he asked.
ing at the^fringe of the thicketed She raised her brows. "No.
slope.
as he
Once he
had seen
cut a forked stick
Tom Ellers do.
Sliould I have?”
"No. I just thought
— ” he
He held it in his hands in as paused. "I stopped by their place
nearly the same peculiar manner this morning. Nobody was home,
as he could remember. But it was and I thought maybe they miglit
only a sticks —a scrawny, bifur- have come here. I didn’t go di-
cated wooden thing, dead as a rectly there I drove around a
stick of wood in his grasp . . a bit first.”

stick of wood it was nothing "They weren’t here. She
more. paused, wanting to ask the ques-
He drove by the Harrian’s, but tion. She blurted, "Where did
the shades wêre drawn at all the you go today, dear?”
windows, and nobody answered "No place,” At her continued
his knock on the door. questioning look, he amplified,
Drake drove into the city, "In town to the library.”
parked by the public library and Beverly seemed suddenly more
went in. It was late afternoon cheerful. She relexed, smiled.
when he came out, and he was "Get any good books?"
ravenously hungry. He found a _ "Huh? Get any . .? No ... I
small restaurant, ate, and drove didn’t take any out. Just looked
home. It was after sunset when through a couple."
Beverly met him at the door. She "What kind of books?"
looked worried, wifely intuition He acted as if he didn’t w'ant
sensing the discûiet that gnawed to talk about it, but was impelled
at him. to speak.
She said, "Your supper is wait- "Skipped through some books
ing, dear." on dowsing . . . you know . .
."
Drake roused from his abstrac- Beverly perked up with a look

tion sufficiently to kiss her lightly. of interest.
"Thanks. I ate downtown. " At "Are there, books about it?"
22 WEIRD TALES
Hechuckled hollowly. "Plenty cloud of fine-spun platinum
of books, but none of them say against her pillow.
much. There’s a history to dows- There was something in the
ing, of course, and they all treat elfin light that flooded the bed
that. The authors are either which brought out a certain ap-
totally for dowsing as a fact, or pealing quality no woman save
totally against it. None of the Beverly had ever had for Drake.
authors, it seems, are dowsers. Briefly he yearned for her, then
They’re just investigators . . . and the throbbing ululation of devil-
writers. It was a foolish notion ish melody in his mind overcame
I had, anyway.” the impulse and he fQund him-
She sensed that the subject op- self dressed, crashing through
pressed him and wisely refrained moon-drenched thicket.
from pursuing it further. The dance slowed its tempo as
"Well, we
don’t seem to have he approached, and as he stepped
any more springs in our yard, so through a screen of young elms
I guess it doesn’t matter. There’s into the clearing, tlie swirling
a good play on. TV
tonight, and I of naked figures became a close-
want you just to relax and forget knit weaving and swaying, their
all about . song a tremulous humming with
could stand some rest,
"Sure. I vocal counterpoint. Suddenly
hon. Feel beat Up.” He stood up, there were words that had mean-
yawned, and went into the living ^ ing for Drake, a contrapuntal
room. repetition,now in low, murmur-
The television play was medi- ing melody, liquid as a clear, cold
ocre. Drake' yawned all the way freshet springing dowm-a piney
through it. At its close, he clump- mountainside.
ed off to bed and fell instantly "Hail the Bridegroom!
into deep, dreamless sleep. Haiir
The massed dancers converged
Again
awake. Drake
the clarion call of the
mystic saraband pulled
sat up in bed, pant-
him •
upon him. Drake saw the gleam
of moonglow on their eyeballs,
the flashing refulgence- of pant-
ing, his brain astir with vague, de- ing breasts, of sinuous torsos .
lightful memories. Beverly slept He yielded to an intoxicating in-

peacefully,and the moon painted flux of passion, a living flame
a broad band of silver across her that ripped through his body,
face and .night-clad -upper body. then flickered and failed, and
The gold of her hair fought nothing of it was left save a
against the silver of the moon- frigid ash. The hair prickled at
light arid lost. It looked like a the fiape of his neck. The singers
were silent, poised, staring at Almost aiômatic

at once, the
him, sensing that their hold upon sump pump woke to \îrring
him had somehow snapped. life, began to pump the water
Drake fell back a step. He into the French drain prepared
yearned to move forward, to be for its outflow beside the
swept up again in a maddening house.
chorus 'of voices and flowing A step grated on the drive and
bodies, in a welter of passion and Drake whirled. Ben Harrian
delight but something deep
. stood limned in the light pour-
as the shadow of the elms, as ing out of' the kitchen door. His
hard and bright as the floating face drawn and pallid. His mouth
moon, shut like a door between was half open, as if he had been
*
his mind and his feelings and . about to speak.
he turned and fled, back to the "What do you want.^” Drake
house, to Beverly, to. snarled at him.
What was that impelled him
it The sump pump still whirred
so to run, Drake did not know. softly basement. Drake
in the
It was a consuming urgency that knew' that Ben heard it too, and
brooked no delay, a greater he suspected that Ben knew why
urgency than that imposed upon it was whirring. What was Ber
him by the massed singers in the ^ Harrian doing here at this time
thicket, and diametrically op- of night,ânyway? Drake got hole
posed, accompanied by such a of himself.
sense of* prickling dread that it "Sorry. I didn't see it was you.
left him gasping. Ben. What’s the trouble?"
He heard the, sound of its Ben smiled slightly, his thin,
going as he launched himself handsome face passively calm.
against the kitchen door, heard "I . . I just dropped by. Jack.
the frantic-, watery splashing of I couldn't sleep for for think-
it as the door burst open. He ing. I was afraid you would be
flipped the light switch on in bed. .
the floor was a sea of roiling "Beverly’s asleep!” Drake an-

water. nounced crisply.
Poised on the threshold, Drake "Of course. Jack. I can speak
stared at it without comprehen- to you out here. I’ve I’ve . .
sion, aware only that it 'seethed been worrying. Sheriff Hamilton

and boiled away from him, smote dropped by this morning
with a splash against the cellar yesterday morning now, I guess.
door. The panel crashed open, We went vdth him, Zuelda and
and the water poured foaming I, to his office
into the basement. Drake grunted. "So that's
24 WEIRD TALES
where^ypu were. I stopped by to Ben Harrian as he undressed for
see you.’’ bed. There was that dark, sombre
Ben’s face lighted. He' sat air about him that he didn’t
down on the kitchen step. understand, for one thing. Take
"He said he’d talked to you. I Zuelda; now her face was like
, . .
was wondering- what you made of an open book. She was every-
this drowning business.’’ thing her husband was .not
^ Drake leaned in the doorway. so full of life and the love of
"Some fool of an intern got living but what was the al-
.
hold of the wrong corpse, natur- most passionate affection she ex-
ally. ^Hamilton will prpbably get pressed for Bevely, a faint glow
a corrected report next week. A of which he seemed to feel wash-
*man doesn’t drown in thin air.” ed over upon himself? Both the
Ben got to his feet. He looked Harrians seemed unusually de-
reassured. voted to the Drakes, though their
"You don’t think there was an acquaintanceship was short in-
assailant lurking in the thick- deed.
?’’
et .. .
Drake
'"With a bucket
snorted.
Ben grinned
of water?”
almost, it
A PROFOUND
started
saulted Drake’s frame.
as
weariness
he suddenly recalled
as-
He
^
seemed to Drake, as if with re- the gushing flood in the kitchen.
lief. He had been so intent oh conceal-
"Okay, you win! I’d better be ing its presence from, Ben that
getting back. I left my car down it had slipped his own mind until
at the end of the street . didn’t just now.

want to wake you if you were What manner of horror was it
sleeping he had witnessed what dark
He turned and walked off into rite had he interrupted by his
the dark. untimely return? Could that rush
"Liar!" Drake thought. He of of water, wasn't it? ..
stared into the dark, ‘though have any relationship to- them
Ben Harrian was no longer visi- be one of them?
.
ble. "I’d give a nickel to know How could he ever sleep again
just why you tuere hanging with sq^ frTghtful a question un-
around here!” answered? He looked at Beverly,
Drake locked the kitchen door the sweet outline of her cheek
and went into the living room. cuddled against the pillow . . .
The mantel clock pointed to ten. then the segmented parts of his
minutes past two. night’s experience clashed in his
Drake continued to muse about brain, burst into jumbled frag-
ments that whirled madly and puddles that glistened among the
exploded in ribbons of incandes- scrub. The earth was unaccount-
cence upon the darkness of his ably dry in a clearing among the
mind. Drake toppled over in in- brush. It looked somehow famil-
ert slumber. iar- then Drake remembered that
There were^ thundershowers here was where they had found

the next day, and Drake mooned Ellers’ body.
around the house, hating the in- He threw himself on the
clement weather. He blamed his ground to rest, turned his eyes
feelings on a night of poor sleep, up to the sky and balefully
not realizing he had scarcely slept studied the few woolly clouds
at all. His mind was confused that- still lingered after the rain.
with a chaotic non-remembrance He was troubled in mind and
of racing dreams from which he spirit, possessed of a wonder that
could isolate no single bizarre went deeply and acutely into his
scene. He looked out the window perceptions. He wondered what
at the rain puddles in the yard this impelling wonder was .
and street, remembering those nothing had been the same since,
other puddles with a vicious kind Tom Ellers had come up here on
of wonder. the hilUand died had drown-
. .
Drake had enough to say

little ed in a sea of dry grass, brush
to Beverly, and she seemed to and trees.
respect his reticence, though with Somehow, Drake felt no sense
a puzzled crease between her of personal danger from his sur-
eyes. roundings. He was completely
"You ve not been feeling well detached from the physical world
lately, John. I think you ought as he wrestled with a thing that
to stay home =f rpm the office to- was in his mind alone. He let his
morrow take another day thoughts drift over the events of
of rest - the night of Ellers’ death, tried
’He shrugged, switched on the to correlate them into something
TV and settled himself for a dull that resembled coherence.
afternoon. By 'and by, the sun The clouds drifted by as the
came out, the landscape steamed sun declined. Slowly, Drake drift-
itself dry, and Drake went out ed away and away, unîl finally
for a walk. he slept in complete exhaustion
He felt impelled, somehow, to of brain and body.
stroll up toward the thickety
ridge, in the direction
had There was nothing in
taken.
the wood but damp humus and
Tom Ellers
D rakefloating.
luminescence
felt
A
as
strange,
engulfed
if he Were
bluish
him, a
26 WEIRD TALES
Sparkling blueness, alive with a dreamed, but accepting the dream
strange, vital sort of sentience. for fact,-nonetheless...
The sparkles waxed and waned He seemed to float midway
in the blueness, and he was con- between die floor of the cavern
scious of dim, blue shapes that and its stalactite encrusted. -ceil-
swam around him. He saw their ing.' The female shapes, with
glistening eyes as they, peered at here and there among them the
him, felt the presence of naked arrowing form of a male figure,
bodies close to his own, stirring swarmed around him, above, be-
the sluggish medium in which he low and on both sides. He be-
seemed to. float. came.aware then .of a thrumming
'
Somehow, Drake did not care. and humming that existed in- his
He contemplated his surround- mind alone, as the images of the
ings with a mindless apathy. ”1 ^ caverri-creatures existed, a waver-
dreaming, of course,” he thought, ing chorus of melody which he
as one thinks iri dreams. “I identified as coming from the
should wake up and get back to throng about him.
the house.. Beverly will be won- The dream-people were sing-
dering where I am.” ing to him —
a song that wel-
But he made no effort to ex- comed him to the blue-lit cavern,
tricate himself from the dream. under the earth. There was a
He allowed himself to drift, bliss- pathos in their welcome, and a
. fully at peace, fully relaxed, a sweetness, and. a lulling lure that
an atom, a vêtch-
floating mote, made his presence there a thing
ed shell of nothing among the of desire to him.
glimmering shapes of the blue All at once, a single figure
void. swam out of the crowding
Drake’s perceptions seemed to myriad, a dainty.Jigure, her hair
sharpen after k time. The limits a clou.d of shadow that caressed
of the void extended themselves her shoulders, floated on the too-
to floor, walls, ceiling. He was in heavy medium of the cavern at-
,an eerie, blue-lit cavern the mosphere. Her arms moved
light which he knew had no
lit.it slowly, with sinuous grace, as if
physical existence, but was. mere- she actually swam in something
ly an impression of his mind, that was as if it w''ere water . .
reaching out with some other- though even Drake’s sleeping

sense to palp the eternal gloom mind rejected the thought, for he
of this rift in the limestone womb breathed, and the air of Earth
of the earth. He smiled to him- was his medium.
self for dreaming such a bizarre There, was something vaguely
thing, as this, knowing that he familiar about the elfin features
and more closely ap-

that closely Drake made to stand, but for
proached his own, but his mind some odd reason, his legs refused
was dulled, and he could not to support him. He sat panting,
place the familiarity of her. She his mind's eye still aglow wdth
hovered above him he could — that world of dream, his inner
have touched her simply by lift- ear vibrating yet to the luring
ing his hand, but he lacked the promise of the witch with the
will to do so. Her hair floated floating hair the strangely fa-
around small, piquant features, miliar witch who promised her-
blue-gleaming, shapely shoul- self to him body and .
ders. The points of her tiny The moon rose higher and
breasts pressed almost against higher on his dazed musing
him. and the dance of the undines' be-
Her lips smiled, and her eyes gan.
caressed him voluptuously. He He noticed suddenly how^ the
heard the murmur of her voice moonlight sparkled on pools of
deep in his mind, and his percep- water that nestled among the
tions fled before the ecstasy of scrub.' All at once, ripples beset
promise in her words. the surfaces of them, though
^^Tonight, tvhiie the undines there was no breeze, so that they
dance, my love I’ll lued you shimmered and winked like
and you’ll toed me, as H was done glowing eyes in the darkness .
ivhen the tuorld was young like giant jewêls flung strew by
Drake threshed, aflame with some sublime hand.
desire, as her lips met his and The pools stirred . and
clung. He flung his arms up to moved. They shifted position
embrace her, bût he embraced with wills of their own, rose in
nothing, and awoke in the still mounds, then in dripping col-
darkness of the thicket. umns and bulging shapes that
He rolled over and sat up, spun and glistened in the moon-
head swimming, eyes still blind- light. Then began a slow, erratic
ed by the blue glare of the motion, from moon-bright night
dream-cavern. The world was a to densest shadow, back and
silent, breathless place, peopled forth, gliding, slithering, bend-
with moveless shadows among ing, twdsting and slowly the
the scrub, gashed by the glare of undine shapes took form, became
the rising moon a full moon as lovely women, bending and
tonight . a glowing orb that swaying in rhythmic dance. He
spectacularly lightened the sky was swept away by the sight of
to dusty blue and paled the them in their nakedness, by the
stars. song to which they danced, and
2S WEIRD TALES
he became as elemental as these, tion asserted itself. John would
creatures from the olueht .lime- be proud of her for her discretion
stone cavern under the earth if she called out first
which he kne\y now had been, no ‘Who’s there?"
dream. Totally unexpected, Zuelda’s
The woman-shapes t.roupcd voice answered her, muffled by
around him, ûnearthly in their the heavy panel of the door,
beauty, breathing the breath of “It’s Ben and Zuelda, Bev. Let
ecstasy into their song. They Bent us in, please .
quickly!”
above hini, caressing. Zuelda’s voice was not loud,
but distraught. Beverly opened
A SINGLE light glowed

living-room window of the
Drake house, where Beverly,
in the up. Zuelda hurled herself into
the room, followed closely by her
tall, handsome husband..
worried and alone, tried to read, "When I first heard your

a magazine. John had been gone knock, I thought ” Beverly
all -afternoon and evening it began.

was nearly midnight. "You thought it -was Jack!”
She fought against the clammy Zuelda cried. "We know he’s
lingers of cold fear that persisted gone. Bev something_terrible
is .happening .”
in gripping her. John had gone .
olf today into the thicket . as Beverly felt her throat con-
Tom Ellers had goneshe cast, tract.
the thought out of her mind. - "Has something . .. . happened
?”
John would have had no reason to John . . .
to stay this long in such a wild She felt faint. She groped be-
.
place, she told herself. He could hind her for the davenport and
have come out of the thicket at collapsed, stricken, horror staring
any .one of a hundred different out of her eyes.
places. Perhaps he had. taken a Ben was briskly reassuring.
notion to stroll over to the Har- "Not at all! Beverly!' Jack’s all
rian’s . the silent telephone
. right, do you hear me?”
mocked her. She could comfort The meaning of his words
'herself, at least, with the thought slowly sank in and color returned
that perhaps he had. If she called to Beverly’s cheeks. She gulped.
and found that he had not . Ben’s voice was soothing, gentle,
her heart stilled . then raced at curiously lulling.
sound of a step on the porch. Ben turned to Zuelda. "Don’t
Tlie door rattled in its frame, excite her, dear. Would you like
and a feeling of glad relief thrust a drink?” he asked Bev.
through her. Then a natural cau- Beverly shook her head wordr
lessly, wide-eyed. She sat up cause they actually associated

straight. with tlie beings who later became
"What about John? Tell known as gods, goddesses, hnd so
me!” on.
Ben looked at slim, welhkept "In those years, the streams,
hands. Zuelda fluttered like a ponds, rivers and underground
small, frightened bird. She flew watercourses of the Earth were
to Beverly's side, twittering al- populated by a race of elemental
most, comforting with her arms. beings called undines popu- .
"What I have to say is going larly represented as being entire-

to be difflcult for you to under- ly female, but there were males
stand. Bev. You must, forget among them too, naturally.”
ever}'thing you have been taught "You say these things are
as truth and and remem-
fact . . . fact,” Beverly put in. "How do
ber that the scientists do not yet you know?”
have the universe trapped in a Ben smiled slightly. "My dear,
test tube and wrapped up in a I am a student of the . ocailt
coil of wire. . . a vastly misunderstood word,
"A long, long time ago, Bev, by the way. simply means hid-
It
the world was much different den. All my life, I have studied
from the world .you know. I the hidden things the things
don’t mean it was less civilized, that are true but not evident,
or an)1:hing like that, which you simply because people refuse to
know well enough. Perhaps I can believe in them. The undines
make it plain this way from — may be included in this classifica-
childhood, you have been famil- tion, and they still exist in spite
iar with so-called fables and
’
of man’s stupid ignorance of
myths of the ancient world . them.”
of gods and goddesses, pixies, His mouth set in a thin, hard
fairies, fauns, and so on. You line. He mused on his next
must believe me when I say that words.
the fables are founded on solid "We have been watching your
fact.” house every night, Zuelda and I,
Beverly looked puzzled. since the night Tom Ellers was
"What has this to do wdth drowned by the undines.”
John?” Beverly straightened with a
"I am getting to that. You gasp.
must understand this part first. In "It wasn’t ... his heart?”
the very long ago of which I was "I assume John did not tell
speaking, men knew the truth of you. But you must know now. It
these things I am telling you, be- is important. The undines drown-
30 WEIRD TALES
ed Ellers because it is their sim- possesses this something called a
plest and most effective means of soul.”
attack against human beings. The A light of dawning compre-
fact that Ellers was dro\<med in a hension gleanied in Beverly’s
perfectly dry area gave me my blue eyes.
first clue that it was the work of "I kiiow! They can get a soul
undines. by marrying a human being!”
"You see,” Ben went on, “the
undines have for
been forced away from the
to live
many centuries
B en “That
smiled
is how
again,
the
slowly.
fables,
habitat of man. Man’s attitude phrase it. It is true in a sense, but
toward them his vain pre- only in the manner of speaking.
tense of enlightenment . made We are speaking of perfectly
further contact between the two natural powers now, and not of
races irripossible. In places far mythical beings and mythical
from men, some undines still souls. The human soul, as we
people the surface waters of must call it, is as real as the elec-
Earth, but there are many ' of tricity that lights that lamp. It is
them, and not enough isolated a force orpower that can be used,
waters. So many, indeed, have transferred, and otherwise treat-
taken to the streams and pockets ed like any other source of
of water under the earth. Occa- energy.
sionally, some of them come to “The undines have a ritual of
the surface, take on human form marriage with human beings, by
and mingle a while with men, which the mind-force of the
but they cannot stay too long group acts upon the individual
away from their natural medium human being to absorb him or
a few months at most. In her into the race of undines. In
order- to stay longer requires tlie doing so, the human being is
peculiar spiritual nature possess- forced to give up that focus of
ed by man alone.” living energy he calls his soul,
"I don’t understand,” Beverly which may then be trapped into
interrupted, quietly. ^ the service of a waiting undine.
“You have heard a great deal Have I made myself clear?”
of talk,” Ben shrugged, "about Beverly stared. Her mouth
something called the human soul. worked. "This this marriage
. .
It is what you and the

not exactly ceremony is some kind of witch-
greater part of mankind think it craft that will change a man into
is there are not even words
- an undine . and the undine he
.
in the language to describe its 'marries* into a human being

exact nature. Anyway, no undine with a soul?”
Tonight, the un-

"Precisely! shattered her reserve, penetrated
dines lielebrate the marriage of where his other arguments had
their queen with your husband.” not. She acquiesced with -vehe-
Beverly’s eyes blazed. Her lips- mence. A minute later, the three
tightened, white-edged. picked their way cautiously
"She can't do that! John is' through the moonlight and shad-
married to me!” ow of the dreaming thicket.
"The marriage of the undines At first, Beverly could see
is only a travesty on .human mar-
-
nothing but a moonlit glade
riage. The two have nothing in among the scrub, grass blades
common. Unless we act to pre: turned to the moon, glowdng as if
vent it, the queen of the undines pow'dered with diamond dust.
tonight will gain a soul and Beyond die glade, the shadows
Jack will become an immortal, were deep and dark, and there
soulless undine.” was an uncanny stillness on the
He held up a warning hand as warm night air.
Beverly attempted to speak. Ben halted her with a light

"We’ve been watching, as I touch, whispered to her to sit.
said before, and twice already Beverly obeyed, puzzled, fright-
last night and the night before ened, as she peered out on the
Jack has kept a secret rendezvous empty glade. Then Ben Harrian
with the undines in the thicket, leaned over her and murmured
where they have made an en- something softly, a few syllables
trance to their watery world un- she did not quite catch. Before
der the. surface. Tonight is, the Beverly could ask him to repeat,
last night your husband is she drew her breath in sharply at
with them now.. .We need your sight of the d’ancing figures, afire
and I
help, Zuelda we need with rhoonglow, with w'hich the
yourhuman soul as a catalyst in glade seemed to be filled.
what we have to do^ Will you "These are the undines,” Ben
come with us into the thicket hissed."Watch them well! Re-
now.?” main here don’t move or
.
There was a long silence. Bev- make a sound'- no matter what

erly said, hollowly, "I . I can’t you may see or hear. Remember
believe aword you’ve said! I , your husband’s life is at stake
"Don’t try. Just come with us out there ,
and do as I tell you.” Then she heard the brush rus-

"Now ?” tle' softly as Ben departed in one.
"Now! You want to save direction and Zuelda in another,

Jack’s don’t you?”
life, 'circling the glade as if to sur-
The bluntness of his statement round it with the three of, them.
32 WEIRD TALES
Moment by moment her eyes hands clutching-the turf
stasy, his
accustomed themselves to the with agonized fervor.,
treacherous light. Now she made Beverly’s breath came in short
out more plainly the dancing -gasps. She.' felt sticky and wet
troupe, saw their nakedness, the wdth a perspiration of anxiety.
lasciviousness of their gestures She leaned forward, peering
and dance. She could not guess through the shadows of the scrub,
how many there were.. per-. into that moonlit glade in the
haps a couple of dozen .
per- heart of the thicket.'
haps as many as fifty or more. Around and around the un-
That they were lovely she could dines danced, their song growing
see at a glance . . lovely, grace- louder, trilling more sweetly as it
ful, and possessed of an appeal filledwith the ecstasy of the mar-
that made even her pulses quick- riage bed.The bride was coming,
en., the song related, to meet her
groom.
W ITH
joyous abandon, the
undines danced in the
moonlight, and, as if from far pang —
—
The bride it must be she,
Beverly thought with a jealous
drifted from the press of
away, the sound of their singing dancers, 'alone into the center of
penetrated to the ear of her mind, the circle' they made. Which it
wailing and wonderful, utterly was, Beverly could not tell, for
sweet beyond measure, throbbing the creature had her back turned,
with undertones of passion and her dark hair a floating cloud
grief. about her naked shoulders. Her
It seemed Beverly that the
to body swayed voluptuously to the
words of the song were half un- tempo of the dance; her arms and
derstood by her, and the undines legs writhed to the pulse of mel-
were wailing their farewell to ody. The queen of the undines
the queen they loved’, promising approached Drake, who awaited
a welcome to the one who her in eager expectation.
was to take her place among Beverly’s breath caught in her
them. throat. It was'âll she coiild do to
The dancing group swirled keep from crying out and rushing
apart for a moment, and Beverly into the glade. She restrained
saw her husband, seated on the herself with an effort, trembling,
floor of the glade. His face, was panting, her eyes straining to
toward her, but lifted, so that the realize the tableau.
moon caught his expression in Any woman would know what
full brillance, and she saw his the dancer’s gestures 'meant .
lips parted in a grimace of ec- and Beverly shuddered with re-

vulsion as she saw her husband footsteps, light and indistinct on

responding. Slowly the uridine the deadening humus.
bride with averted face circled ”Put her in the bedroom,” Zu-
her. waiting groom; then she elda directed crisply, turning on
seemed to melt downward as she the lights as they went through
flung herself writhing at Drake’s the house.
feet. Her body twisted —
white, Ben deposited his burden on
arms reached out to embrace him the bed and turned to leave the
as he hurled himself upon room.
her. "Undress her. She will be all
Harsh upon the sudden still- right. She is sleeping naturally.”
ness that followed cessation of He went out and waited in the
the undine song; a man’s voice living room, turning off the over-
boomed across the clearing.' Bev- head light, leaving the room dim:
with wonder and re-
erly started ly lit by a small television lamp
lief. was Ben’s voice, and he
It on the console. Zuelda joined
was chanting something not un- him softly.
derstandable, a semi-song of roll- He whirled, seized her arms
ing syllables that had the sound in a fierce paroxysm of passion.
ofsome ancient tongue long dead His eyes gleamed fervidly in the
upon the face of the Earth. half-light. Zuelda did not draw
What expected, Beverly
she away. She collapsed against him,
did not know, but she was not turned her face up to his with a
prepared ^foc the sudden vanish- smile of luxurious triumph. Her
ment that occurred. One moment, eyes were half-veiled, somnolent,
the undines circled in a. refulgent flickering with nameless fires.
splendor of silyery flesh, in their "How does it feel.^” he cried
midst an oBsceiie spectacle of hoarsely, devouring her with his
lewdness against which Beverly eyes. ''How does it feel?”
shut her eyes in horror and dis- She laughed throatily, did a
gust. When she looked again, im- dancing pirouette out of his
pelled by the silence, the glade grasp, and threw herself breath-
was empty, a slice of moonlight less on the davenport.
carved out of the shadow. "Not like going through the
Beverly fainted then, and was sump pump last night. That
only dimly conscious of Ben’s tickled!”
arms supporting her as he carried "You tried to rush things last
her back through the thicket to night,” he accused her. "You put
the house. She was also vaguely us off a whole day.”
aware of softly thuddeng foot- "What is "a day in eter-
steps that followed, Zuelda’s
34 WEIRD TALES
He regarded her somberly, The undines were outside the
half across the space of the living house and in it, below it and on
room. all sides, dancing their endless
"You can feel it?” dance, trilling the bridal song of

"Of course T can! You will the blue-lit caverns of limestone
know what it feels like-. by far down in the earth.
and by Ben squared his shoulders,
He lunged at her, seized her murmured to his. wife.
shoulders, shook her. "Now that yoti have a soul,
"Tell me!” you wdll be the catalyst for
She arched her back, like a cat me .
stretching. Her mouth was red His eyes held hers and she
and wide with soundless laugh- laughed without sound again, red
ter, eyes closed to gleaming slits. lips parted, pointed white teeth
"Wonderful, darling! Oh gleaming in the lamplight.
wonderful to have a soul!” "Hurry ” she whispered,
"... and come back to me!”

The somberly handsome un.-
dine turned, stepped tow'ard the
bedroom.
OHN DRAKE opened his

J eyes the cavern of blue
in
spangles and encrusted limestone
walls. Full rhemory w' as his now.
The charm that had held him
pow'erless had acted upon that
other side of him that part .
of.hirn which was his no longer.

He was an undine as soulless
as these others who swam around
him, peering curiously, patheti-
cally .half -afraid, wdshing to make
him welcome, yet not daring the
.He retreated, an enigmatic j^ssibility of his wrath,
smile twisting his handsome, un,- >.It was peculiar, Drake thought,
human face. He cocked his head that he did not feel angry. He
listening. fully understood how he had
"It is worth the trouble then been duped, and by whom, but
. and now, 'the undines his mind, viewed the situation
sing with a logical philosophy. He
was without emotion . and it The was streaming

throng
occurred to him that perhaps that away from him now, arrowing
had been taken from him, along upward in full song, and Drake
with that other his soul. The
. hurtled in the midst of them,
word echoed flatly in the corri- came out with them in the moon-
dors of his thinking. lit glade, and flowed down the
The tragic enormity of his thicketed slope toward the light-

transgression in the ethereal ed house.
glade he reviewed with a calm Drake cast his other-sense
deliberation. He remembered ahead of him, palping the night
well the dancing undines, the for the last act of this unhuman
poignant sweetness of their song, drama.
remembered again the ecstasy of While the undines danced, he
that joyous embrace of the queen glided and ran. He was half a
of the water-world then he . man-shape when he reached the
felt again in memory the sharp house, a water blob of a man that
pangs of dissolution, felt himself shone in the unwavering moon-
flowing away into the dark earth, light. He found the door and
a watery substance that fled hurled it open, flung himself into
through minute interstices of the the living room.
clay, into the phosphorescent blue Zuelda sat with eyes closed
sanctuary of the limestone under- upon the davenport, attuned to
world. the rapture of the undine song.
Remorse and disgust bit him, Drake’s uncouth entry startled
these being not emotions but her into outcry. She flung herself
states of mind. He knew that the erect.
life force the soul erst- . "Jack!”
while his, now caressed the body Drake halted. "So you were
and Zuelda Harrian,
spirit of my bride tonight.” He chuckled
while her husband he knew obscenely. *T rather think you
that, too. left me at the altar, my
The undines flashed away dear!”
from him as he moved suddenly "No!” she gasped. "No!”
. and then he heard them sing-
. She voiced not. a denial of his
ing again, their unheard voices statement, but a frantic rejection
lifted in the pagan lilt of their of the intent she read in his
betrothal song. mind.
He knew he must go . . "You wouldn't dare!”
or spend eternity in this blue- "But I would dare,” Drake
lit water- world with Beverly . . . mimicked her tone softly. "You
and the undines. forgot a few things, my pretty
36 WEIRD TALES
bride. forgot that when you
You quite asmuch of a funk as you
took the vital essence of my life, are.But you have the soul, see?
you took also the means by which My soul and I want it back.
. . .
you could control me!” You can die now, remember, like
Her eyes were big and dark, Tom Ellers died
pits of smouldering despair. She "If you kill me,” she whis-
backed in a half-circle around pered in ghastly panic, "you will
him. The blood had drained from lose your soul forever!”
her face; taking with it her spar- "You won’t die, my dear. I
kling vivacity; the color of her won't let you not for. a long
. . .
beauty, leaving her cheeks sal- time. Drowning is not a pleasant

low, sagging, quivering with death . but you wouldn’t know
.
alarm. anything about dying. You will

”rm going to do to you, he learn, though or go back to
said deliberately; "what you did your hole in the ground!"
to Tom Ellers out there in the She moved swiftly to dart past
thicket. Becausehe had a soul . . him, into the kitchen. Drake
and was human he could die.
. . . elongated his body into a shining
You killed him then, because he ribbon of wâter. A watery pseu-
came upon you taking form in dopod burst -from his side and
the glade, and he knew you for plunged .against her face, chok-
what you are ...” He chuckled ing the scream that welled into
with a tinge of bitterness. "Poor her throat. His other hand, semi-
old devil you were using him
. .
.
solid, held her fast.
show to work me into the
just for "I wish tlie sheriff could see
proper psychological mood, but tills,” he murmured into her -
you forgot to control him. Maybe threshing hair. "He’d see how a
if it hadn’t been for him, I mail can drown without getting
wouldn’t have had enough on his clothes wet!”
my mind to come back here Zuelda struggled piteously,
from your blue cavern He floundering in his aqueous
paused.
"Jack!” Zuelda whispered des- The bedroom door burst open.
perately. "Ben is in the bedroom Ben Harrian was wild-eyed, fero-
with .
cious of contenance.
He
laughed savagely. "Will she let me kill her,
"Another thing you forget, Ben?” Drake taunted.
Zuelda that I am an undine
. . Alarm flooded Ben’s unhu-
now. I can see where poor hu- manly handsome features.
mans can not. He is standing on "Don’t do it. Jack!’’
the other side of the door, in "'She can give it up- . . . if she
wants to. She is drowning now, much he had lost . and how'
Ben.” much regained
Ben didn’t move. He called He swayed, naked in his own
out, "Zuelda!” living room. There were no danc-
The sound of water gargling ing undines anywhere. .Zuelda
in Zuelda’s lungs was! horrid an- was gone. Ben was gone. There
swer to his call. was only a lilting splash of water
“Zuelda! Don’t let him do it, flowing down the kitchen steps,
darling! Give it up hear.^ Let
. . and then that was gone.
him have the damned thing back Drake found that he wa's shak-
it’s probably bound for Hell, ing. He went into the bedroom,
anyway!” He glared fiercely at looked down at Beverly sleeping,
Drake’s shining form. “Give it touched the soft, pale curve of
back to him, and we’ll- go. back to her cheek. The westering moon
our world and our people to- shone full upon her. Her lips
gether . .tilted in a tender smile, as if in
Zuelda relaxed in Drake’s her dreams she responded to a
grip. Her body began to lose suggestive, unheard song
form and substance. He knew "She knows,” Drake thought,
that she had assented to her hus- “but she won’t remember I
band’s plea with the last gasp of can thank them for that, at least.
life in her tissues. Drake held I won’t have to tell her, either
his grip. He must not let go. too . and I won’t
. . . .
soon. He half-turned, cocked an ear

The undine was a column of toward the thickety ridge, seeing
madly churning water between again the passionate surge of the
his hands. The base of it spread; undines’ dance, hearing the elfin
the water-column collapsed . . lure of their song. But it wâs only
and so7nelhing came out of it, in fancy that he saw and heard.
like the song comes out of a bird, All was silent no, not silent
boisterous, vital,' filled with a . there was sound that came to
. .
splendor of being. his earthly ears the shrill

Drake caught it, enfolded it music of tree frogs, the trilling of
with himself, made himself crickets, and boorning above
“
whole once more. them the rasping scream of a
all,
'He stood erect, his hands cicada as it yielded its life to the
empty. He was solid flesh and predacious assault of some
blood, sturdy boned and only
. . . horny-limbed horror in - the
now did he know in full how moonlight.
BY Q, PATRICK
His schoolmaster prophesied tweaked that she had rounded

that Jasper would go a long upon him in a sudden burst of
way; but did not say in impolite ferocity.
which direction. Now that the avenger had de-
parted alo-ng with the other
guests, Jasper seemed the prey
bored reple-
to the listlessrtess of
I tion, His grandmother was
watching him anxiously. /
T WAS Jasper's tenth birth- "Is your new collar too tight?”
I day.There had been straw- she asked solicitously, as Jasper
berries and cream for tea on the unloosened his birthday tie and
lawn, and. a party of nice-man- Was unbuttoning his first really
hefed boys and. girls had solemn- "grown-up’' shirt. "Come here,
ly presented him with gifts and my dear, and let me look.”
wished him many happy returns. Jasper, a handsome, heavy
But Jasper, an ungracious boy, moved sulkily towards -her.
host, had .shown more interest "Why, good gracious, your
in the strawberries and the gifts poor neck is all black and blue!
than in his guests’ comfort. In Did that horrid Richardslittle
had been a scuffle with
fact, there girl scratch you,
darling?”
a diminutive female guest, whose Grandmother shook her gray
pigtails he had so continually curls as she examined the ugly
THE PREDESTINED 39
reddish-blue' weal on Jasper's pletely. It must have been a trick

throat. "It can’t be the shirt: I of light. My eyes are not what
bought it large on purpose to they were.”
allow for growth. Does it hurt "But it hurt,” put in Jasper,
you,- my pet?” "Well doesn’t hurt any
it
Jasper gave a non-committal more.” Dr. Barnes gave him a

groan. An orphan child, living playful pinch. “Tummy’s a bit
alone with a doting grandmoth- fat, but — all’s well that ends
er,he knew that slight indisposi- well.”
tions often had their concomitant He might have added, "And
advantages; such as pleasant all’s Bad that begins badly.”
pamperings, tempting food and
freedom from school. On the II
•other hand-^
"Or perhaps it’s strawberry N THE last Saturday of the
rash. Your poor father always Summer Term, Dr. Hod-
used to break out after straw- son, Headmaster of St. Ewold’s
berries. It’s just struck eight, School, made a habit of inviting
and if we
hurry we’ll be in time the ten senior boys to a buffet
to catch Dr. Barnes. He usually supper home. From, among
at his
stays late in his surgery Saturday these he would choose the pre-
nights.” fects for the coming year, to
Jasper was not so pleased at supplant those who were leav-
this. Dr. Barnes was apt to pooh- ing.’ And, being a wise man, he
pooh childish malingerings and valued the opinion of his wife
to prescribe nasty medicines. But and daughters in making his
this time his neck really did hurt selections.
him quite badly a sort of — Like soldiers on parade the
chokey feeling. Perhaps he was boys had lined up outside the
going to be ill after all. Headmaster’s door, sleek and
A few minutes later Dr. shiny as soap, shoe-polish and
Barnes, was casting a professional brilliantine could make them.
eye over Jasper*. Jasper, third in line of. seniority,
"Where did you say the rash longed for (and fully expected)
was, Mrs. Dogarty? I can’t see the honor of prefecture, with its
anything.” privileges,comforts and poten-
"It wasn’t exactly a rash; it tialities He had,
of dominance.
was a sort of mark more like — perhaps, thought too little of its
a brîise.” She moved nearer,, responsibilities.
peering through thick spectacles,. On the stroke of eight, the
"Well, bless me, it’s gone com- senior boy knocked at the Head-
40 WEIRX) TALES
me
master’s door.
there was a choking sound,
As he did so
and
told he was a
not a bit popular
— bully; and he’s
he turned to see Dogarty stag- Here the Headmaster held up

gering oiit of line, clutching hishand with his oft- repeated
feverishly at his collar and pull- adjuration against telling tales
ing at the neat knot, of his tie. either in or out of school. Then
“Fall out, Dogarty,” hissed he added, "Well, I think Dogarty
the senior boy. may go a long way a very long —
The Mesdames Hodson were way.” But he did not say in
extremely polite in accepting' which direction.
Jasper’s apologies for being late. However, it came to pass that,
But their eagle eyes had taken despite his fine athletic record
note of the unbuttoned collar, and a brilliant scholarship to
barely hidden by the crooked Cambridge, Jasper Dogarty never
tie. Nor did his hair have that had his name inscribed amongst
Guardsman “spitând-polish” to those who had been prefects at
which these critical Jadies were St. Ewold’s.
accustomed on such near-formal'
occasions. Ill
“I think so much of
don’t
your Dogarty,” said ;Mrs. Hod- AY Week at Cambridge,
son, after the boys had bowed with examinations oyer and
themselves politely out at ten dreamy, sunny days punting
o’clock. along the Cam moonlit
"Not mine, my dear,” said nights with their gay college
the Headmaster, with his fa- dances the announcement of
.
mous, whimsical smile, "but St. optimistic engagements with

Ewold’s. A good scholar and a Youth having a final, carefree
good athlete, handsome, but—’’ fling before stepping -out from
"Handsome is as haridsome the sheltered. groves of Academe
does," put in the youngest and. into the cold, withering realities
most tactless of the girls. "And of everyday life.
Handsome, didn’t offer me any And to Jasper.’ these realities
of that trifle; though he took two imight.well prove withering and
heljjings himself.” cold.j His grandmother’s legacy
His eyes are too close to- aided by his Scholarship had —
gether,” said the eldest daughter, barely seen, him through Cam-
"and his mouth is too red for a bridge.A double first and the
boy’s. Besides — if he can’t tie lamor surrounding a "rugger
his .own tie properly, how can he lue” are valuable in their way,
make other boys do it.^ Jones mi. -But their value so often dies
THE PREDESTINED 41
with the shouting and the tumult ters to a head that last Saturday
of graduation, and they are no afternoon in May Week, as they
guarantees of a safe, remunera- punted down to Byron's pool be-
tive job later on. Unless, ôf tween the daisied banks of the
course, they have enabled one. to —
Cam. But Eunice wise- girl
find the right connections. had brought along her Pekinese,
And here Jasper had been Snap, who had a knack of creat-
lucky, or perhaps clever. Though ing some diversion whenever
not generally popular, he had relations threatened to become
managed to secure the friend- too .intimate. And Jasper was re-
ship of Douglas Mervyn, who quired to 'praise the cleverness
had good-naturedly invited him of sorhe canine antic, when he
to share his suite of rooms in would willingly have drowned
Trumpirigton Street, and, more the little dog in those deep
good-naturedly, had invited him waters traditionally loved by
to his home during the long Lord Byron.
vacations. Here Jasper had made
good ground with Sir Montague
Mervyn, the great industrialist, B ut he would have his chance
wdth Eunice that night at^
and also with his only daughter, the Trinity Ball. Jaspen had
Eunice. Jasper had managed to hired "tails” for -the occasion,,
convince himself that he would and their perfect fit had given
have been genuinely in.loVe with him much satisfaction when he
Eunice, even if her father had had tried them on that morning,
not been in a position to* find a Eunice could not fail to notice
good job for any worthy young the figure he would cut in com-
man he fancied, and, of course, parison with less favored under-
an even better situation Tor 'a grajduates —
including even her
son-in-law. Jasper felt sure that short, cheerfully-chubby brother,
Eunice, for all her Puritanical Douglas.
upbringing and her ice-clear, Before the dance they were in-
gray eyes, was not indifferent' to vited to dine with the Dean of
.him. For now that tiie tod- red Trinity, and Douglas had assem-
mouth with its petulant lower bled his party of men and maid-
lip had been brought under con- ens a little before eight. Eunice
trol, his .perfect physique -and was there with Snap, who was
fegular features were enough to to be left in charge of the. land-
cause a flutter in an even more lady. In the adjoining bedroom
sternly-disciplined heart than Jasper was putting the finishing
Eunice’s. touches to his toilet. He was
He would have brought mat- nervous and somewhat afraid.
42 WEIRD TALES
He had learnt by now that nerv- stunned silence, broken only by
ous strain —
especially in the the whimpering of the dog.
—
evening was apt to bring on Finally Douglas stammered,
that queer constriction of the
throat, followed by a short emo-
— *er do, you know
—
"Look here, old man, this won’t
tional spasm when he was hardly But Jasper did not listen. He
responsible for his actions. had gone back into the bedroom,
The College clock struck slamming the door behind him.
eight. He never saw Eunice Mervyn
"We’ll be late, and the Dean’s again.
a stickler for punctuality, said
Douglas, moving towards the IV
bedroom door.
His sister restrained him,
laughingly. send little
"Let’s
Snappy boy in to hurry him up.”
At thirty-four
Dogarty
called a success.
could
jasper
hardly
His latest- job
be
Eunice opened the door jiist of selling on commission for a

wide enough for the Pekinese to large Perfume Company barely
^
enter. paid for the Single Bloomsbury
There was a sound of playful room and the commonest neces-
yapping and then a howl of pain. sities of life. It did not cover the
The door was flung wide open rich foods, the pink gins and the
and the dog hurtled across the double whiskies to which he had
room with Jasper’s patent-leath- become increasingly addicted.
ered foot behind it. But it had one advantage. It
"Damn that blasted dog! And brought him into contact with
damn, triple damn this cursed rich — usually older — women
collar!” who could supply many such
Jasper stood in the doorway. little luxuries, and who were, if
In his hired "tails, he was fully carefully handled, good for an
dressed, except for the side of occasional "present”
which, if
his butterfly which he
collar not in actual could be
cash,
had wrenched loose from the translated into such beneath the
stud. three .balls. But suddenly, it
His eyes were wild, and there seemedj women had become
was an ugly weal on his neck more, sensible, or less sensitive
and throat. Oblivious of the to Jasper’s attractions. Invitations
ladies,he stood like the rnad
.
were falling off: He was even
Hercules pouring his oaths out reduced to paying for' his own
to heaven and hell. drinks and dinner three nights
Then there was a moment of in succession. His bathroom
THE PREDESTINED 43
mirror finally told him the rea- be obliged to take on not only
son. He was getting fat
F-A-T,
yes,
There was even a
fat.
— the assets but also the liabilities
of his beloved. Both her income
suspicion of a double chin, and and her capital were untouchable
no doubt at all about his reced- during her lifetime, and, though
ing hair-line. she consented to make a will
He must, he told himself, per- largely in his favor, she insisted
petrate the only dishonesty that that Miss' Goodman should con-
he had not as yet tried with the tinue to run the household and
opposite sex,' He must get mar- hold tight upon the purse-
ried — and fast. strings. And that lady, as may
Quickly, almost feverishly, he well be surmised, had declared
reviewed/his list of matrimonial war from the first moment that
prospects. Jasper appeared in the bride-
A
few weeks later he was the groom role. Indeed, after the
husband of Sophie Cain, a wid- ceremony, she showed her dis-
o\y ten years his senior, who en- approving contempt of the hy-
joyed comfortable ill-health, a meneal bonds by constantly re-
more than comfortable income ferring to Mrs. Cain's car, Mrs.
and a magnificent Mayfair flat. 'Cam's flat, and even to Mrs.
.
Other appurtenances of wealth Cain's husband. She ordered

included an almost new Rolls groceries for Mrs. Cain, and
Royce and a nearby doctor who, since the creed of both ladies
cheerfully and unashamedly, forbade alcoholic beverages of
pandered to her hypochondria. any kind, no provisions along
Such things were, however, those lines were made for Mr.
mere baubles of a temporal na- Dogarty.
ture. Sophie Cain, now Dogarty, Jasper, shorter of pocket
had spiritual wealth, too — a sin- money than ever, found what
cere, if rather narrow, religious solace he could in flaunting the
creed, and the services of a more Rolls Royce before his former
devout, far- narrower female ‘‘customers,” and in the convivial
—
companion Miss, Grace Good- atmosphere of Dr. Belk’s flat,
man. In fact, this lady went so "which was immediately below
far as to assert that anything his own. The latter, his wife’s
enjoyable must ipso facto be sin- physician, was a cheerful old
ful. rascal, who soon showed that he
Jasper’s bathroom mirror had was more than ready to enter
driven him to matrimony so with Jasper into a defensive al-
precipitously that he had had no liance against Miss Grace Good-
time to find out that he would man.
44 WEIRD TALES
is
"What your wife
cheering up a bit,” said Dr,
really needs
But as he thought it over, he
was not sure he wanted to
Belk, as he and Jasper sipped get rid of Miss .Goodman. The
their drinks one evening, ”But doctor had given him another
old goody-goody Goodman is idea, in which Miss Goodman
always reminding her of her might be quite useful quite .
mortality and scaring the living useful for a- plan he had con-
daylights out of her. Then poor ceived . a plan which, gradu-
Sophie gets fluttery and sends ally, through the ensuing days
for me. I’m almost ashamed to was growing and now be-
. .
go as often as I appar-
do. ’’
He ginning to take final shape in
ently felt no shame about the his mind.
size of his monthly bill. His chance came about some
"My wife isn’t seriously ill, two weeks later when Mrs. Belk
then?” sent a polite note, asking Mr.
—
'We 11, you know how it is and Mrs. Dogarty to cocktails
with women her age.” The
doc- and dinner the following Satur-
tor spread out his hands .and day.
shrugged. "I’m not saying she "Do you good, dear,” urged
doesn’t need medical attention Jasper. " And. the doctor wouldn’t
now and then. There is a little ask you he didn’t think you
if
cardiac trouble. Flittery, fluttery, up to it. promised anyhow,
I’ve
you know. 'A car accident, too but I’d hate to go and leave you
hot a bath, a shock, running for all alone.”
a bus might bring on a syncope. Saturday evening was prover-
But so it might with any of us. bially Miss Goodman’s night off
And -we get along without Miss. .
— her only relaxation —
the one
Goodman to us and
pamper period in which her argus-eyed
preach death and desolation to vigilance over Sophie waf
us.” abated. Every Saturday at seven
Dr. Belk lifted his glass. "A she marched off on foot scorn-—
little of this— a little fun How ing buses and tubes just as she
and then— theatres, dinner- scorned raincoats and umbrellas
parties —they~would work won- — to visit her brother in Maida
ders Sophie.” He winked.
for Vale. If was a stern Duty; for
"Come, fill up, my boy.” her brother, once a missionary,
Of course Jasper realized the had fallen from grace and need-
meaning of that wink was: *‘.Get ed all the spiritual ‘succor and
rid of Miss Goodman and there exhortation his sister had to
will be the more pickings for offer.
you and me.” Of course cocktails were out
THE. PREDESTINED 45
of the question for Sophie. But merged beneath tlie Only
water.
Jasper could go an hour early a fe\v splashes on the floor and
and his wife would join the a few splashes on his dressing-
party for dinner. gown were left to tell the tale.
Before leaving, Miss Good-, He ran some hot water into
man prepared a bath for her the bath, remembering the doc-
.mistress (carefully testing it to tor’s words that too hot a batli
body temperature), and laid out might well cause a syncope. It
the least becoming of her eve- would be at least an hour and a
ning gowns. quarter before he need feign
Jasper made a point of leaving anxiety as to his \vife’s non-
the flat a few- seconds before she appearance at the Belks’ dinner
did, and Miss Goodman saw table. After that he had planned
him, as the lift bore her down- •
to "discover” the "accident”
wards, standing outside the door himself. His alibi, would be al-
of the doctor’s flat as if \vaiting most spite-proof, and his grief
for admittance. He waved her a more than convincing. By the
cheerful good night, which was time -Miss Goodman returned
a mistake. at about eleven o’clock, any aw'k-
But as soon as the lift had ward questions about the tem-
passed, Jasper climbed the one perature of the water or the
flight of stairs to his flat and splashes on the
bathroom floor,
.
quietly let himself in. Then, would be unnecessary and
etc.,
noiselessly, he moved to the bed- out of place. Sophie’s body

room door and waited. would (with good luck) have
At length the faint sound of been removed, and her death
'
splashing told him that his wife certificate, duly signed by tlie
was in her bath. complacent Dr. Belk, might well
He put on his dressing-gowm be a /^;V accompli.
over his dinner jacket. Then 'So far so good.
slowly . silently . deliber-
HUNG
ately .he made for the
.
opened bathroom door.

And slowly . silently
half-
H e.
gown
and walked down
in
up
its
his dressing-
usual place,
to the Belks’
deliberately . . he entered and where he was admitted
flat, at
did what he had to do. less than five minutes past seven.
It was as easy and quick for He was in splendid form both
Jasper Dogarty asit had been with his hosts and their guests.
George Joseph Smith many
for Dr. Belk kept plying his glass,
years ago. There was no struggle whispering, "Make hay while
as poor Sophie’s head was sub- the sun’s shining, eh my boy!”
46 WEIRD TALES
"Talking about the sun’s shin- hot. Just an accident. Too bad,
ing,” put in Mrs. Belk, "just too bad.”
look at that! Why, who’d have Jasper should have been grate-
thought!” ful for the doctor’s reassurance.
She had pulled aside the cur- But he sat staring in front of
tain to show a sudden torrential him, his head spinning.
rain storm. There were rum- A few minutes; before eight
blings of thunder and angry o’clock, the police arrived, sum-
tongues of lightning. It was as moned by Miss Goodman, and
though Nature herself was cry- again he heard her voice shrill-
ing vengeance for the outrage ing protestingly about the heat
which Jasper had just perpe- of the bath-water and the rela-
trated against her. tively excellent health of Mrs.
‘
The noise was deafening. But Cain when she had left her.
the banging at the door and the And then Jasper was aware of
screeching of the bell were a distant church clock striking
heard above the thunder. eight, and a young-looking police
Instinct told Jasper what it officer was questioning him in a
was. Grace Goodman’s
Even polite, B.B.G. voice:
know how you
stout heart had quailed before
those drenching floods of rain.
"I
Dogarty, but
— feel, Mr.
She had returned home too — But not "know how

he did
early. Jasper felt. Only Jasper knew^
He was conscious of her stand- the feeling of that dreaded con-
ing in the Belks’ doorway, drip- striction round his throat- that —
ping wet, screaming, "Doctor, choking sensation that had so
come quick, it’s Mrs. Cain often gripped him in moments
she’s —
dead :drowned in her of crisis. Instinctively his hand
bath!” went up to loosen his tie and
Jasper gulped down his own collar.
cocktail and another one that "That mark on your neck, Mr.
stoodj nearby.' Then, nioving like Dogarty?” said the young officer,
an automaton, he followed the less polite now, "It looks freshly
doctor 'up to his own flat. —
made as though you’d been
He was a little drunk. er—struggling with someone.”
Much later, so it seemed, he And then Jasper, fuddled by
heard the doctor’s voice, rich cocktails and bewildered by Miss
and "Bear up, old man.
fruity: Goodman’s accusatory screech-
Tm afraid she’s gone. I always ing, made the mistake
of his
told her that she might have an -life —the mistake which was to
attack if her bath-water -was too cost him his lif e.
THE PREDESTINED '47
"Struggling! Oh no. She didn’t wanted Regina v. Dogarty to

struggle stretch wearily irito another
It was only one short sentence week.
and the young detective knew, of Thomas, the old servant,
course, that this little slip of slipped in silently, removed the
Jasper’s tongue could not be used Judge’s wig, and placed a dis-
in evidence, since no official warn- creet w'hiskey soda on a
and
hng had been given. But he also table, convenient' to hishand.
knew that, in a murder case, half Thomas knew, partly by in-
the battle was won if one knew stinct and partly by the droop
the identity of the murderer. of the Judge’s shoulders, that he
It. hardly needed the ‘malig- w'ould soon be faced with the
nance of Grace Goodman to duty that he dreaded most.
point out the financial motive; "I have*an idea for your meal,
the almost scalding heat of the my liid, he whispered. "A bit
bath- water; the wet, dressing- on the vulgar side, perhaps, but
gown, and the (now) palpably I’ll use the best Crown silver
manufactured alibi. cover, so as no one I -pass in the
”
It was only a matter of hours passage wfill know what it is.
before Jasper Dogarty was held "Very well, Thomas," The

without bail, charged with the Judge smiled mechanically.
murder of his wife. He held out, his hands before
the flames. They were old, and
V they w'ere very cold. This would
make the thirty-fourth time that
M r. justice
slumped into
before the fire
harriman
his arm-chair
in his chambers
those tired old hands of- his had
signed away a -life sometimes
young, and often potentially use-
—
at the Old Bailey.usual when
As ful. He looked at them almost
he felt certain a prisoner’s
of wdth awe.
guilt, his summing-up had been" Thirty-four —
that must be just
far too long —
and every possible about the age of the unfortunate
point in favor of the accused young man who had now' faced
had been emphasized him for four ‘days from the
seam. He was tired, and he knew
the jury was tired too, aS;;he\had
Dock. Thirty-four ^he same age
that Gordon
—
w'ould have been if
kept them late into the evening. luck -had been on his side during'
That was why he had begged the Normandy landings.
them to tr.y and reach their ver- He shook himself out of his
dict before midnight. -For to- reverie as Thomas came in w'ith
morrow^ was Sunday, and iio one his supper. Whisking oflf the
48 WEIRD TALES
silver cover, he announced, things, over early in the morn-
"Here you are, my lud. Fish and ing. They lipset the other inmates
chips, and piping hot!" and were bad for discipline. But
He looked on, almost mater- Dogarty’s Counsel, with unrea-
Mr.
nally, until Justice Harriman sonable optimism, had hoped ..
had consumed his plebeian re- for the Home Secretary to act
past down to the last chip. in this matter, and the Warden
At a few minutes before eight had promised him until 8' p.m.
he was told the jury had agreed on the last day of the month.
upon their verdict. But the Home Secretary had
Back in the Court, his wrin- not acted. And so, just before
kled old face was an expression- eight, the Governor and ~ his
less mask, hiding the. humane officers proceeded to. Jasper’s cell,
pity as he awaited the inevitable: where they cut off his shirt collar
"Guilty . and pinioned his hands.
As the clock struck ''eight, he On the gallows, Jasper may
put his formal question to Jasper. have heard .the first stroke of
Receiving no reply, he assumed eight as they shrouded his
the black cap and pronounced head.
the awful words; Then the trap was sprung.
to be hanged by the heck In the shed below, the rope
until you be dead- and -may
. . . was loosened from Jasper’s neck.
the IxDrcl have mercy on -your The two official doctors, waiting
soul.” for the last heartbeat, looked in-
But Jasper was ûnconscious differently at the ugly, bluish-
of these dreadful formalities. He red marks about his throat
had heard the eight strokes of those same marks that had wor-
the clock, and now his hands ried the loving eyes of his grand-
were at his Collar, tugging vio- mother' at eight o’clock many
lently at his shirt and tie. evenings ago. The same marks
It was as if he already felt the that had caught the critical eyes
noose tightening ^ about his of the Hodson ladies, of Eunice
neck. . Mervyh, and, recently, drawn
VI the' suspicious eyes of the young
police officer who had ârrested
T he estyjs-
Governor of Her Maj-
Prison at Bfixham.
him..."
They were the marks of his

liked, as a rule,, to get these •predestination.
In the country of the head- (
hunting Jibaros a Big Chief
^
controlled the spirits
of the deed.
TAiffm
mAfPs
BY
ARTHUR WOODWARD
The phone rang and the sec-
announced that a man
retary
was coming up to see me. Such:
reports are a part of the day’s
business. Often they are worth
while. Sometimes they are the
means of acquiring valuable col-
lections or. specimens for the
museum. At other times they
are merely indicative of some one
who wishes something identified
or requires information on some
Indian tribe. AIF are welcome.
The man who rapped timidly
Copyright 1931, by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company.
49
50 WEIRD TALES
on the door and sidled furtively eyed me
• steadily. '"I don’t look
into the room with a small paper crazy, do I?” he asked quietly.
wrapped parcel in his hand look- I laughed at that.. He looked
ed to be at least sixty. His hair tlie part of a. timid, hard-working
was white, and his face thin, rancher but scarcely that of an
haggard but singularly free from insane man.
wrinkles for a man of his age. "Well,” be continued, settling
"Are you the man in charge of back in his chair, "I just, wanted
this departmeiit?” he asked. to know, because what I have to
Again I was puzzled, for the tell you may sound crazy, but I
voice was that of a man in his want to say right now that I am
prime. as sane as you are, only it’s, all
"Yes, sir; won't you be seat- so damned weird and foolish that
ed.^’’ I responded, motioning to sometimes I wonder if I am
a guest chair near" the desk. crazy or not. Do you know who I
'lAre you the one w'ho accepts am?”
things for. the museum, Indian "You the best of me,
'have
things and such-like?” friend, answered. "I don’t re-
I.
Again I nodded. " Alw'ays glad call having seen you before.
to look at anything. You have "Well, I work here in the
something interesting?” museum,” he said. "My name is
He placed the small parcel on John Benson.
the desk. • I thought rapidly, trying to fit
"I — I think I have, he falter- this- man with some of the at-
ed, "Mebbe you wôn’t think so, tendants who might possibly
but if you'd care to listen a work in the annex or the prep-
minute, 'that is if you have the arator’s laboratory, places I
time, it won't take very long, I’d rarely visited, but could not re-
like to tell you about this^ this member having seen him, nor
specimen I want to loan you, if’ hearing his name.
you want it.” "I’m the night watchman, he
Something about the man, his added. "I know you by your
old-youthful look and actions,. the name on the door. I make thie
air of timidity with which he rounds "every night but you’ve
entered the room, aroused in me ne.ver seen me, I’ve been plari-
a curiosity that I do not usually ,ning on corning to. see you for a
have for the chance visitor. month, ever since I got the job,
"Make yourself at home, I but couldn’t bring myself to do
said. "Comfortable? All right, it, but things have come to such
shoot!” a pass L just had to get rid of

He drew a Jong breath arid it..
LORD OF THE TALKING HANDS 51
’’Get rid of what?” I asked. can’t get a job as a young man.

He pointed to the bundle on My looks are against me. That’s
the desk. "That. No, wait, don’t why I’m a night watchman,
open it yet. Wait'llI tell you my working at an old man’s job for
little yarn; then you can look at an old man’s pay, by night,^ and
it, and if you want it for the trying to sleep by day. My God!
museum loan it to you. I can’t
I’ll If I don’t get some sleep soon
give it but you can have
to you, I’ll be as mad as I sound.
it for a long-time loan.” "Well, no matter. Once this

”We have papers for what we is ofiF my chest. I’ll sleep soundly.
call indefinite loans,” I said. "The job didn’t pan out as
"That’s loan it to you
it, I’ll well as I expected, and being
indefinitely; you can keep it as young and ready for anything I
long as I live. Keep it in a glass fell likea ripe peach for an old
case where I can see it at night yarn of a lost Inca city lousy with
when I make my
rounds, and I gold somewhere in the Oriente
.won’t have to think of it being country. I heard it from a young
in my room daytimes, while I’m Indian in Quito. He seemed to
asleep. That’s why I want you know what he was talking about.
to have it. I must retain owner- Got me all pepped up with the
ship while I’m alive. After I’m idea, and offered to guide me in.
dead, well, you can do what you Said he needed a white man to
—
wish with it keep it, burn it, help him.
bury it, anything you like. Now "We outfitted and started out.
you want the dope?” I didn’t know thing about the
a
country, or what we needed, left
was a most unusual man,
H
unusual
e
and his statements
as his looks
were as
and rnanners,
it all to the Indian. I furnished
him with all the money I had,

and it seemed to me he got an
and hiswords aroused my curios- ungodly amount of stuff for just
ity as nothing had done for many two of us, and when I mentioned
a moon. it, he just grinned, and' said he
"Well,” he began, "two years knew what we were up against,

ago I shipped out of .San Fran- and would need everything we
cisco for a job with a mining had before we got back if we —
company -in Ecuador. I was just got back. That last crack didn’t
twenty-eight then. I am sixty sound good to me, and I asked
now! Look at my
Look athair! him what he meant.
my face! You thought I was ah "Then he told me about the
old man, didn’t you? No matter, Jibaros. To me they might have
every one does. That's why I been a new brand of cigarettes
52 WEIRD TALES
or something to eat had I heard selves, looked at me, grinned,
them mentioned in Frisco, but fingered my hair it —
was red
when that brown-skinned devil —
then rand every minute I ex-
calmly informed me that they pected to see one of their big
were some of his uncivilized knives flicker toward my neck
brothers who made it a national or have a spear probing my-
pastime to remove people’s heads liver. I didn’t like it and told-
and convert them into household Pepe, my
Indian guide, so in
ornaments, cold shivers rippled danged few words. I was all for
up my backbone and I began to going back. He wouldn’t hear
wish any place hut there.
I v/as of it.
"
However, there was no backing 'We go with them now, see
out then. The Indian, had hired the chief, he expects us,’ he said.
some carriers from another tribe "And go we At sunset we

did.
to cart out stuff over the moun- halted in a clearing where a big
tains, and dowri into the forest house stood, made of posts set
land. The whole push decamped on end in the ground and
the second night after we reached' thatched with grass of some sort.
the timber.
‘Now what?”' I asks. 'How^ <<rpHEY motioned us to go in,
we gonna get all this junk into and once inside I took a
this mess with us and where is good look around and nearly fell
that city of gold?’ By this time over, for there sitting on a com-
I was beginning to be fed up mon kitchen chair sat a huge
with cold nights and hot days, Negro. He was a good six feet
strong winds and poor grub. tall and husky as a mule. On his
”
'We wait, bimeby they come, head he had a.short, stiff standup
take us in. Pretty soon everything headdress of purple and red par-
all bueno.’ rot feathers. On his chest was a
"That night they did come, breastplate of jaguar skin orna-
twenty or thirty of them, lean, mented all over with red and
half-naked cusses; all carrying black seeds, bright feathers,
long, chonta palm spears tipped stuffed hummingbird' skins and
with bone points and' decorated shining green beetle wings.
with plaited basketry and tufts of "On his arms were bands of
bright feathers. Nearly every one bark painted red and hung with
had a German-made machete crimson feather tufts. In his ears
thrust through a woven girdle were huge golden wheels inlaid
and five or six of them toted .44 with turquoise, the first evidence
V7inchesters. I had seen of any gold in that
"They jabbered among them- neck of the woods. A Winchester
lay across his lap. When he saw the center pole of the Big Chief’s
me he grinned, like a devil. house.
"
'Git down on yoh knees, "Then he got the Big Idea.
stranger,'he rumbled, 'git down He wanted a white slave. -He
on yoh knees and crawl heah and sent Pepe, one of his trusted
kiss mah feet. Down, yoh heah men, out with the sa'me bait,
me?’ buried gold. I was the fall
"He raised the Winchester and guy-
at the same time I felt the point "For six months I was dos-
of a spear prod me in the small robber to that big burly savage.
of the back. Instinctively I I had to fan him, I had to wash
glanced over my shoulder and his feet, I had to fetch and carry
saw^ Pepe leering at me mocking- for him, and all the time I
ly- schemed to escape.
"He was a cunning devil. He
HAT was there to do? A seemed .to be able to read •
my
bloodthirsty, traitorous thoughts. When I looked long-
Indian behind me, a mad coon in ingly at the trail that led into
front of me, ready to blow my the forest lands towârd the west
guts out. I did what you’d- have he’d laugh and prod me in the
done, brother: I crawled. ribs.
"Well, that was the beginning 'Thinkin’ uh leavin’ rne, wus

of six months hell. It seemed the yoh? Jus’ try it, stranger! Yuh
Big Chief had made his way in- haid will look purty fine up dar
land and was just a bit mad, by among dose fine gemmemun.
his actions. He had set himself Yass.uh, soon’s yoh daid I’m gon-
up as sort of a god among those na sew yoh soul inside yoh haid
Jibaros. He had welded them into and keep yoh to help me lak I
a lightingbody and ruled them does dem other white folks.
by magic. He claimed he had Yassuh, dyin’ won’t let yoh go.
conjuring powers, and those I keeps yoh atter you-all am daid.
babies are as superstitious as they Oooee, I got power, I’se got

make ’em. He had learned of a conjure medicine. I holds onto
hidden Inca treasure and- helped daid men’s souls. Look, stranger,
himself to it. He hated white see, dey all got dey lips sewed
men, .and had lured several up. Dey can’t escape. Dey helps
parties into the forest, where he me.'
delivered them into the hands of "He was mad. No doubt about
the Jibaro warriors. The heads it. But didn’t those Jibaros eat
of those unfortunates hung in it up! They believed implicitly
a dark, repulsive cluster around in what he said, and every head
54 WEIRD TALES
they took they shrunk to the size yong bodder me. Hit’s too
to
of an orange, using hot sand and scairt o’ me
to do anythin’ but
rocks in the-curing process. Then obey. Watch and lissen!’
they held a nine-day ceremony, 'Til never forget that night
during which time the head- as long as I live. Big Chief took
takers danced with those damned that gruesome, wizened head and
grisly things flopping on their swung it by the head-cord, which
chests. At first they just stuck was fastened to the top of the
chonta palm splinters in the
little scalp, on the center pole. Then
lips and later ran long cotton he sat down on his chair facing
cords through the holes, sewing it, and closed his eyes. The hut
the lips tightly together. wâs full of Jibaros, stinking of

sweat, and grease; the had fire
ATTENDED many of those some cussed gave
stuff on it that
-L ceremonies during the time off a sickish smell, and a gray
I was with them. I had to. In silvery smoke that made the air
that way I learned just how to foggy-,
—
do it how long the fresh skin 'Lissen, yoh spirit-boy, lissen
should be boiled in the pre- an’ answêr rne. I’se tellin’ yoh
liminary shrinking and how to what, I wants yoh to do. Tell me,
mold the features as the skin w'hut does it look lak, dat house
gradually dried, how to sew, the wây up yander on de mountain,
cut at the back of the neck where de one jest before de trail
last
they the skin in order to peel
slit' dips down de hills into de trees?
the hide from the head, and how Tell me so’s I can heah.
to do the delicate skinning work "I leaned forward, watching
required to remove the skin from the head.. This, was just mum-'
around, the nose and eyes. mery, I knew, but I had to watch
"One day they brought in the that head.
head of a kid about fourteen "I knew the house to which the
or fifteen, a mestizo, a half- Big Chief referred. It was the last
breed. sign of civilization we had pass;
''
'Now, stranger, I show yoh ed, one hundred and fifty miles
how I keeps de soul,' leered the to the w'êst, a small, stone hut
Big Chief when the head was with tiled roof, unlike the
properly cured. I done got dis wôoden thatched dwêllings of
young-un’s .spirit cooped up, an’ the Jibaro country.
to show yoh how easy it is I’se
gonna take de splinters outen de ^^rilHEN my hair began to
lips an’ leave ’em out so’s yoh -L crawl on the nape of my
can heah it talk to me. Hit’s too neck. I felt cold swêat begin to
oo2e from my pores. I froze in stumbled through the doorway

my tracks. and loomed for a moment against
"That dried head began to the stars. I heard hoarse bub-
speak! From the tiny open mouth bling gasps and an instant later
issued a thin trembling voice the Big Chief crashed full length
speaking in Spanish. in the path, his feet drumming
'La casita es de piedra blanca. a tattoo on the beaten earth.
Hay dos ventanas. Ye veo un "A moment later I heard the
hombre en la puerta, es un sound of laughter, excited
soldad. . laughter and a- babble of men’s
"The head was swaying back voices dwindling in the distance.
and forth, back and forth, and "All the rest of that long night
about that time I lost my grip on I lay there in the bush scarcely
things and passed out. daring to and not a
breathe,
"When I came to, the hut was lance-length from me sprawled
empty of Indians. The head on the silent corpse of the Big Chief.
the post was trembling almost "When morning broke I stole
imperceptibly and the Big Chief over to the body and looked at
was looking .down at me, a it. The face was screwed into
mocking sneer on his ebony a terror-stricken mask, the yel-
face. low white of the eyeballs stood
'Theah, yoh see, I’se voodoo. out hideously, the mouth gaped
Now yoh is mah slave fob life open and the tongue was thick
an’ in death.’ and swollen, and on the black
"That night I sneaked into the throat w'ere the thin welts of
hut and ripped the mouth cords many fingers, fingers that were
out of every white man’s head* bone-like in their thinness.
that hung on the central post!
"Mad.^ Perhaps I was, but I iiyX WAS pleasure to prepare
had been shown my way out. J- that head. I removed it and
The Big Chief feared those stole away into the. forest. By
spirits. He controlled them only that time I was an adept at
so long as he could keep their getting around in the under-
souls in their head. The soul growth. I cured the head as I
must escape through the mouth.^ had seen it done dozens of times,
"Then I ran frond the hut. and and I was very careful to sew
hid in the darkness outside. Sud- the lips tightly together.
denly I heard a fearful, blood- "Then I escaped. I had the
curdling cry and the* sound of a golden ear-plugs which the Big
huge body lurching around in- Chief had worn in his ears. I had
side the house. Then a black hulk other gold in a leather pouch,
56 WEIRD TALES
along with'. extra ammunition for where can flash my light on him
I
the Big Smoke’s .44. as I make my

rounds, and the
"Finally I won out to the coast attendants can watch him diiring
and managed to ship home. My the day. Then I’ll sleep. Will
hair has been like this since that you do this for me?’’
awful night when the Big Chief
passed out.
"Everything
was home, and ih
wâs.
it
all right.
wasn't for
I A S HE ceased, he fumbled
with the cord of the parcel
and opened the paper.
the kinkyhaired doll head I kept There lay the shrunken head
on the shelf in rny room., which of a Negro, tiny, repellent.
all my friends took for a new The tiny eye-slits were closed
kind of Woolworth souvenir, tightly, the hair curled in a tight
I’d have -said it wâs just .a bad kinky mas/ on the bullet-shaped
dream. head, and on the face was a look,
"Then one night awâkened I of horror, perceptible even in the
to hear a gasping gurgle close to
.
diminutive features which ap-
my ear.was. the
It mumble of parently had been carefully mold-
the Big Chief. ed to represent the living maiii.
'Jest a little moah! Jest a Looking closer I saw that the

little moah! One moah string and. lobe of each ear wâs slit and
I’se free. Then. I gits yohj Mr. distended. The lips were sewed
Man!’’ together with new, white cotton
"I switched on. the light and cord.
looked at the head. All save one I looked at. Benson. He was ,
of the cotton cords that held the watching me intently,- appeal-

lips together had parted from ihgly.
dampness and action of a mouse "Well?"
which had gnawed away while "Why, of course, we’ll be glad
I slept. to take care of it for you,!’ I said
"It didn’t take me long to put cheerfully, as though I had not

new cords in place,- I can tell listened to as wild a tale as a
you, but every night now for the man. ever heard. Privately I
last few weeks I have worked thought him the biggest liar I
here, and I don’t have to face the had ever listened to, but lie did
danger of the night, but I can’t have shrunken head and those
a!
sleep in the daytime for fear the grisly thingsdo attract the public.
Big Chief will get loose. So, I "Only," continued, "I’ll have
I
want you to take him, put him in to wait a day or two before I can
a tight glass case, where nooths fihd a case for it. In the mean-
or mice cail’t get at him, arid tiine I’ll turn it over to the
custodian to place in a fumigat* of his caliber before. There was

ing-vat.” the little old lady who was so
.
"You’re sure it’ll be safe gentle and calm but she went off
there? Mice can’t get at it? My raving in two minutes, telling me
God, man, can’t you realize what about the disembodied spirit who
it would mean to me if those kept invisible watch on her and
lips should become unsealed? whispered vile things in her ear
Suppose I felt those damned as she took the air on top of a
black paws at my throat as I Fifth Avenue bus. Benson had
traveled down one of the dark been too much alone. He walked
corridors. Suppose he got loose at night down the dim corridors
and hid out in this building. alive with the memories of by-
Can’t you imagine the horror of gone days, and perhaps he had
it?’’ been a. prisoner in the Jibarp
"Well, mice can’t -live Jn fu- country, and the sights he had
migating-vats, and besides I im- seen were now crystallizing in an
agine he’d feel lost in this all too vivid form..
building, if he did get loose. I turned the head over to the
Benson looked at me fearfully. custodian and forgot it for the

"You don’t know what you’re moment. I really intended, to put
saying. Oh, I know you think iton exhibition the same, after-
I’m crazy as a loon, but for God’s noon after it had been in the
sake take care of that head! Now fumigating-case, but other mat-
I’m going home and enjoy the ters came up and I forgot the
first good sleep I've had in cursed thing.
weeks.’’
A fter
he had gone I sat for TWO days after this interview
Benson cameto see ine again,
some time looking at the and I resigned myself to another
gruesome, wizened trophy^. It was long tale of hair-raising horrors,
genuine, all right. We have had but he surprised me by his
report that some cunning China- brevity.
men in Panama have been mak- "You haven’t put the head on
ing bootleg heads taken from exhibition yet, I notice,’’ he said,
'paupers’ bodies, but they sew the after th'e first greetings were over.
neck slit with ordinary cord in-
- "Would you mind telling me
stead of a bit of fiber from a where it is? I — I^don’t feel easy
vine. This head was sewed in the unless I can keep it where. I can
orthodox manner. As for the soul see it."
part of it bosh, the man was
. . . "By Jove, so I haven’t," I said.
just a bit daffy. I’ve had visitors "The custodian took it to the
58 WEIRD TALES
fumigation case and I completely "Dead man!” I echoed. "Who
forgot it. Glad you reminded me is it?”
of it. I’ll get it immediately.” "Night watchman, a new man;
I went to the phone and rang some one says his name is Ben-
the front office and asked for the son. Must have had a fit or some-
custodian. thing. He looks terrible.”
"It is and he won’t
his day off, pushed through the group
I
be in until tomorrow morning,” and bent over the body of a man

the secretary told me. sprawled in a grotesque heap at
’'Well, it looks as though we’ll the feet of one of the huge
have to. wait until tomorrow, mounted simians that loomed
Benson. Dickson, the custodian, over the dead body like an' un-
is off for the day, and he has gainly, sinister thing,' a setting
the key to the furnigating-case. in that dim, gloomy hall fit to be
ril make a memorandum and the climax of a movie thriller.
have that head out first thing It was Benson. He had fallen
in the morning.” on his back. His flashlight was

He appeared somewhat re- clutched tightly in his right hand,
lieved, but a trace of anxiety still and the time-clock, glass shatter-
lingered in his face. ed for all of its protective cover-
"It ’.11 be in a case by tomorrow, ing, lay at the feet of the gorilla.
sure?” he pressed. I looked
at the clock. It had. stop-
"Word of honor,” I assured ped ten minutes past twelve.
at
ffim. Some one had thrown a piece
He thanked me and went ‘but. of canvas over the face of the
corpse. I lifted the fabric and
The was
next morning the head
o'n my
intended asking Dickson to open
mind, and I fully
stared at the features of the man
who had been in my office the
day before. In truth he must
the case and get the head for me, have died of some sudden, sei-
but an excited group in front of, zure. The eyeballs protruded,
the unfinished gorilla group in the tongue showed thick and
the African hall drove the good swollen through blackened lips,
intention into thin air. r bent closer merciful God,
"What’s up?” asked of the I the throat. .
electrician who
stood on the I whirled and dashed for the
fringe of the knot of employees. door.
'"Plenty,” he answered solemn- "Dickson! Get Dickson!” I
ly. "We got a dead man -here shouted.

and we’re waiting for the He came on the run,
coroner.” "For heaven’s sake, man, he
gasped, "what on earth is the loose. Ithought I'd better mend

matter with you?" it and took it back to my desk,
"The key, man, the key! Open but some one called me away
the fumigating-vat immediate- just then and I forgot all about
ly!” .1 said, and, I trembled in it. That’s all there is to it. The
spite of myself. head is on my desk now. Satis-
"It’s empty, he answered. fied?”
"Oh, by the gosh, I intended, For a moment I thought I was
You
telling
know
you*
that
something.
head
— going
ed out
to keel over. Strings pull-
head on desk. Lips
.
"Yes, that’s it, the head, what unsealed and there in the .
did you do with it? Where is it? gloom of the African hall lay all
Quick, tell me, where is that that was mortal of Benson with
head?” I seized him by the a set of cruel, deep welts on his
shoulders and shook him. I felt throat.
that must be going mad.
I It was broad daylight but I
Dickson gaped at me. swear to this day that I heard

"You crazy?” he asked, far off, a throaty, terrible chuck-
wrenching away from me. "Keep le, receding into the distance,
your shirt on and I’ll tell you. and a voice that chilled me to
I intended doing it before I the very marrow of my bones,
left, but it slipped my mind jeeringly say:
didn’t amount to anything, but "Crawl, stranger. Ah holds
yoh now foh good! Git
I
it
—
'thought I ought to mention
an’ crawl!” A mad,
down
terrible
"Out with it! Quick, for the voice.
love of heaven, Dickson where — But Dickson couldn’t hear it,
have you put that head? I’ve and now they say I’m a bit crack-
got to know,” I snapped. ed because I wired the lips of a
"Well, when you brought it shrunken head shut with heavy
in to me I started to take it copper wire, and keep it in a
downstairs, and by accident the sealed case.
strings dangling from the lips They don’t know what Ben-
caught on the door and yanked son and I know.
BY CURTIS W. CASEWIT
60
“The book of life i$ a supreme book
which one con neither open nor close.
One would like to return to one^s favorite poge
But the page where one dies is already under the thumb.”
S. Prudbomme.
I Riviera for a spot of excitement.

Fve no doubt you’ll provide it.
A ll
friend
this
Herbert
happened
Geoffrey
Ragsdale after the war when
to my Cordially,
Rags
English ladies returned to sniff I understood at once' what he
at the mimosas of Nice and rich meant by "empire”; he had be-

gentlemen from Switzerland come a tremendously wealthy
were again found hanging in the man, making money out of auto-
Eucalyptus trees of Monte Carlo mobiles, beer and a new glass-
after they had gambled away cutter, and later by investing this
their life savings. money wisely. But
did he why
This is not a story of murder say "excitement?" thought theI
although' there is a corpse in it, first thing to do would be to give
nor of love, despite a blonde a party for him. I could not pre-
American actress, a Spanish dict then that each person I in-
count, a Prejet de Police^ and the vited should play a rather sordid
idealistic man from Vienna. It role,contributing to a cliain of
is the story of Ragsdale, essen- unfortunate incidents.
Herbert Geoffrey Ragsdale,
tially, I meant well, for instance,
from whom
I had not heard for when I called up Max Brody.
eight years, when, in his bold He was the man classed as
handw'riting, I received the fol- Spanish count, but I knew that
lowing letter; he was neither Spanish nor a
count. His real name was Brodi-
London, July 1946 poulus, and he did a remarkable
Dr. Francois de Beaumonet business in Swiss francs and
Vnia Olivette American cigarettes. He happen-
Cimiez near Nice ed have the best connections
to
France in the black market, and be it for
Dear Frangois: Must leave my my cuisine or my medical prac-
empire and dash down to the tice, there existed no commodity
Heading br Gahau Wilson

61
62 WEIRD TALES
he couid not Brody
find. .
Max I said. “Do you remember a
was a plump man with wavy young Anglais, ten years ago,
hair who had a penchant for who rented a noisy car which he
antic trips and dangerous ven- drove through the hyacinths of
tures, although he never did any- the Albert Premier gardens? And
thing more strenuous than plac- thereafter to Cannes at top
ing a daily carnation into his speed?”
buttonhole. "Yes, Frangois. We fined him.
"Max,” I asked, “are you still ten thousand francs.”
interested in mountain climb- “Your memory does not fail
mg? you. Perhaps you 'wfill recall that

"Mountain climbing? Of he has many funds in France.
course!”. Assets in England. Interests in
"Herbert Geoffrey Ragsdale America. Cartels and so on.”
is on his way. You have heard’ "Should I be impressed?”
of him, have you not?” “No. Only this time more
"Yes,” said Brody. "Herbert cautious. He is a friend of mine.
Ragsdale! What a man! He I would not like him fined again.
financed the Himalaya trip. Tell your gendarmes. Also, you
When was it? 1939, yes! And are invited to a party I will give
then he took part in it!” in his honor.”
‘
"I am giving a soiree for him. Pellin accepted. He was a hol-

What I need are two geese and low-chested man with a thin
half a dozen trout.” mustache who could tell the most
"Ah.” unusual things about the political
"Also several pounds of coffee. world which would entertain
Two boxes of chocolats. And Ragsdale.
my cellar is empty.” We needed a young woman,
"Am I invited?” of course.
"If you bring these things, yes. I telephoned Angela Sinnt, the
You will be reimbursed, as American actress. She had a little-

usual.” girl air and at the same time
^^Cest parfait,” said Max maturity. I liked her. I liked her
Brody. "I will come.” for Ragsdale whom I presumed
lonely after his second divorce.
CALLED up the Prefet of “I want you to meet a very
I Nice. handsome man,” I said. “I have
His name was Pellin and it not seen him for eight years.
had sometimes been useful to What I recall are blue eyes, red-
know him. dish-blond hair and a sharp
“You have a good memory,” profile.”
PREDICTION 63
earned rest; He will stay at the

"A golfer. An excellent tennis Ruhl. in Nice.”
player. He also boxes.” Ragsdale arrived in the after-
"Cherj," she said for she often noon that July Saturday. The
called me that when she was weather was perfect. Nice spar-
happy, ” Chert, you’ve convinced kled. You see, this was another
me. When is it?” curious thing, this superb July
"Next Saturday. He attends to weather at the Riviera, the blue-
business in Paris just now. He ness of the sea, the whiteness of
will arrive by the train bleu" our palaces. This gaiety was to
contrast with - the horrors that
II beset us later.
I fetched Ragsdale from the
O YOU see how blithely it station. He
looked as T had de-
S all started. scribed him, only more so: the
I meant well. I could not* pre- perfect leader, the sportsman,
dict what would happen. I could tanned, muscular, and, everything
not know that each person, the about him spelling success.
olive-skinned Max Brody, the We drove down the Avenue
shrewd Pellin and even the de la Victoire, and along the sea
gentle Arigela Sinnt, would add front ,to his hotel. A porter un-
to Ragsdale’s misfortune. loaded the many suitcases âll —
My gravest mistake was *to in- initialed —
H.G.R. ^his cameras,
vite Ludwig von Hoffenberg. He golf things and tennis racquets.
lived in a decayed house beyond By 5 P.M., after a short rest,
the port, a house surrounded by lunch and shower he was at my
shabby cypresses overlooking the house. We
made the rounds; I
dilfs and the sea. Hoffenberg showed him the terrasse where
had no telephone. I wrote Boris, the butler, was just setting
him a note. I knew he would the long table; I showed him the
come. view from the roof-tower where
A day. after these contacts were we could see the Mediterranean
made, I read in the Paris Herald-. at the horizoii. Then I took him
"Herbert Geoffrey Ragsdaley back to the stiidy-and let him see
the Briton who succeeded: in
• .•* I
my new .Picasso. Years ago he
turning to gold everything he had liked paintings. He had
touched, the man who renovated changed.
the French refrigeration industry, "A painting,” he said, "is a
the man who designed a hew distortion of fact.”
automobile, is finally on his way That was when it all started,
to the Cote d’Azur for a wÎl- Hoffenberg stood behind us. We
64 WEIRD TALES
heard his shy voice as he remarked at Hoffenberg. There was a
ed, "Sometimes it -is better not brief skirmish of eyes between
to see reality,” them.
Ragsdale turned sharply and "Your friend is a frustrated
gave a little laugh. "Not see writer or a poet or a philoso-
reality? That’s the viewpoint of pher.”
a coward.”' "Close but not right,” I said.
"Or an idealist?” said Hoffen- "I am an astrologer,” said
berg, blushing. Hoffenberg.
"Oh, pmdon" I said. "I have Jiist then Boris waved us to-
not introduced you two. ward the terrace.

Hoff enberg bowed. He was an
odd-looking man with round Ill
shoulders and thick spectacles.
His clothes always needed press-
-
ing and his hair was too long. T heretable

were flowers on the
and the silver sparkled.
"I’m a realist,” remarked Two champagne buckets were
Ragsdale. "I believe iri coming filled with ice, Boris is a, fine
to grips with the present. Only servant. I 'seated Ragsdale at the
the present counts.” head of the table so that he. could
"How about the future?’'' ask- see the roofs of Nice beneath
ed Pellin.- They were all stand-" him and, by turning, the moun-
ing -behind us now: the thin- tains *above, I placed the Astro-
lipped frail Pellin, Max Brody loger beside him and Angela
with the inevitable carnation in opposite.
his buttonhole and the lovely Boris came with the hors-
Angela Sinnt. d’oevres and by the time they
"The future? I’m not afraid were eaten and the rot? on the
of the future. I accept it.” table, Ragsdale had already
"Then you believe in destiny,; quarrelled with most of us; with
Monsieur?” asked Hoffenberg. Pellin about the French wines
Boris arrived with' a tray of and Scotland .Yard, with Brody
aperhifs. We each took one. about fashion, and with me about
Ragsdale asked, "What do you medicine. Half an hour later,
do, Mr. Hoffenberg?”
"Me? I am
—
a
they were back to astrology.
"Destiny in the stars!” Rags-
"Do not him, Ludwig, He
tell dale was saying in his clipped
is good at judging people. Let English voice. "Fiddlesticks!' A
him guess!” man like me makes his own
"I won’t haye.to'. I’ll tell you.” destiny!”
'We all waited. Ragsdale lookV There had long been an unease'
PREDICTION 65
among these present, an expect- all faces! My guests’ were holding

ancy, a reckless waiting for their breaths, and waiting for
something to happen, and later, Hoffenberg’s answer. Even Boris
as they were slicing their cheeses had stopped twirling his bottles
and sipping at their wine, an in the bucket. I suddenly knew
embarrassed silence. Ragsdale that they were all despising the
had created an antagonism tycoon and that I had made a
amongst them. He had an arro- great- mistake in bringing him.
gant 'answer for everything Hof- "Well, Hoffenberg.?”
fenberg said. Frankly, t did not
know how to cope with this. It
was a difficult situation, one that T he Astrologer turned his
round head toward me as if
shocked and surprised me. seeking advice. I could give none.
"I’m amazed at the gullibility I had never felt as inadequate.
of man,” Ragsdale said. "And "Listen,” Ragsdale told him

you quote people like J. Pierpont rudely, "you brought your books
Morgan. The Vanderbilts. And and charts, didn’t you? Isn’t this
why
all these American film stars!”
"They used astrology, yes.

you’re here?”
"No prediction, is absolute
'
—
Hoffenberg was very patient; I "You don’t seem to be so sure,
liked the softness of his voice now do you?”
which contrasted with his ap- "And the prediction of death
pearance.
"And you actually believe you
is least of all absolute. Constella-
tions change. I prefer not to
—
could forecast my future?” "And if I insist?”
"Indeed, Astrology is a sci-
ence. A matter of mathematics.” not
—
"I would rather you did
"Good,” shouted Ragsdale, "i "Frangois, what’s his fee?”

was born at five minutes after "Forgive me,” I said."Mr.
three o’clock on the morning of Hoffenberg does not seem to
May 22nd, 1906. Then tell me. like—”
Tell me now! —
How am —/ "I don’t care what he likes,
going— — to die?" and at this point as if to hide his
He delivered this question harshness, Ragsdale smiled show-
His huge
like the slap of a glove. ing his teeth. But the damage was
shoulders were hunched forward done. 'There was an icy silence
.as if to attack the Astrologer; his and no one, of course, was eat-
face was fiercer -than I had ever ing.
seen it, the nostrils dilated, eyes "What’s your fee, 'HofiPen-
under bushy brows narrowed.
the' berg?”
Again there was a stoniness on The Astrologer looked into
66 WEIRD TALES
his glass. Softly he said: “10 away from the others. We cross-
pounds — 14,000 francs.” ed the study where Hoffenberg
“I’ll pay dcfuble.” was now working, to the other
“It is not a question of side of the house where a balcony
’
money. opened to the terraced fields

Ragsdale insisted even more, above us. The vines were dusty
so that after liqueurs and coffee and a last redness was on the
the Astrologer fetched his para- mountain crest.
phernalia and called Ragsdale For a moment wê stood quiet-
into the study where he took ly, inhaling the balmy air.
notes. Then I said, "Rags, in your

letter you spoke of excitement.
oris had meanwhile That, was why I invited Hoffen-
B moved the table and we
re-
re- berg-”
"Good
mained our wicker chairs on
in try, Francois.”
the terjace, looking through the “I am sorry he was uncoopera-
”
arabesques of the railing. I could, tive.
not find one subject to. entertain "That’s his privilege.” Rags-
them with. It seemed like the dale nodded toward the study
frustrated silence of strangers in. where Hoff enbeffi hovered over
'
an elevator. There was no doubt his books, ''Twenty pounds

that Ragsdale had left -a very bad changed his mind though!”
impression..' Since the days of I ignored the remark. "It is,
-Cambridge he had certainly woman invited you for.”
I
“I’m through with, women.”

changed. Eight years was a long
..tinie. He was very wealthy be- “Have a look at her ” I made
—
fore the' war, and a little pom- him turn his Head so that he
pous, but he had never behaved could see Angela on the terrace.
like this. There was in him a She was sniiling, and looked
new superciliousness which I graceful in her white linen
could not analyze. Perhaps the dress.
money had gone to his head and "Angela just ;^finishgd a -pic-
I .knew that I had made a grave t“e.” 1
.error, to let him meet Hoffen- “^Jjat part did she play? A
varhp?”
After awhile, Ragsdale return- "A nurse— Ragsdale went
ed, and when the conversation on smoking, .resentfully. I sud-
was slowly resumed, with Brody denly recalled, his 'reaction >when
telling about his luck at roulette,, I had introduced them several
and Angela asking questions and hours ago; she had been iri Eu-
,
Pellin listening, I drew Ragsdale rope so long that she had risen
PREDICTION 67
and stretched her hand out. He witness this twenty-pound horo-

had taken it, tense, his teeth scope!”
clamped together. The Prefet got up. "I enjoyed
"She is no femme fatde” I the dinner, Francois.” Arid be-
said. "Nor quite like other ac- fore I had time to stop him, he
tresses. She is lonely." left.
He did not answer, looking Max Brody stayed a little long-
at the mountain where the lights er. Then he shook my hand,
went on. I continued to cater to ignored Ragsdale and asked An-
him for I knew riot what reason. gela whether he could drive her
Perhaps I was trying to revive to Nice. "Thank you very much,
my old camaraderie with him; A but Angela, and Brody
no,’’ said
perhaps it was on account of left with a Bonne nuitl”
Angela whom I liked. Presently "Well,” asked Ragsdale, un-
she turned her head with languor. ruflled. "Are you ready, Hoffen-
She did everything with languor. berg?”
Brody was flirting with her. "I am not, Monsieur. I will
Ragsdale said,
After awhile, need another day.”
"Francois, never under-
you’ll I suggested that they meet on
stand this, being French. But I my beach strip in Cannes two
can get along without women.” days later. Then I accompanied
"Can you? I must contradict the Astrologer down the stairs,
you at that point.” to await Boris with the car. We
let you. But once my
"I’ll
mind is
— Stood in the darkness under the
umbrella pines. Stars were over
"Rags, tell me — ^what has us.
changed you so?” "How long is your friend to
"Some other time! Let*s get stay?” asked Hoffenberg.
back to the others, shall we?” "Six weeks, perhaps eight. He
came for a repos”
IV "He must not remain here. He
should leave.”
H OFFENBERG
the group
He had his threadbare briefcase
had
on the
joined
terrace.
"Leave? Why?”
"You see, Frangois, his horo-
scope is very bad. Tragedy. A
on his knees. He rose when he terrible tragedy. If he leaves, it
saw us appear through the French may

not happen.”
doors. There hung again a silence I said nothing. I heard Boris
in the air, until Ragsdale broke open the garage door, switch on
it. 'T say! I want everybody to the light and back the car out
stay here. I want everyone to over the gravel.
68 WEIRD TALES
"There advantage in
is an She did not answer immedi-
astrology. One cart warn a man watched her hands; they
ately. I
so that he can master fate." were round and very soft. -She
"Then warn him!" wore no jewelery. Just the round
"He will not heed my words,", soft hands.
said Hoffenberg. "Help me. Send After awhile she asked, "Do
him away." you know Ragsdale well?" Her
"It is impossible," I said. "I face w'a^ serene, open.
cannot do anything. The appoint- "Once I did. Why?"
—
ment, Ludwig. It has beeri
made
"Once?"
"Yes. He is not the same
"Please! Please! Tell Ragsdale man.”
I cannot cast his horpsrape!" A late ship gave a melancholy
There was an urgency in the As- sound. It was the night steamer
trologer’s voice, and I saw his to Corsica.
face in the darkness; the lines "He is suffering," said Angela.
that creased his forehead. But "'I would like tq^help him.”
then Boris arrived with the car. She leaned forward and I saw
"You have promised," I said. as in a close.-up the fine lines in
"With him you cannot break a her face —
lines, no doubt, of
promise.” disappoinm'ents and the wêar of
Hoifenberg shook his head and life,
then climbed' into the car. They "Francois,” she said, in a whis-
drove out of the gate and I stood per almost. "Ragsdale interests
under, the trees for awhile, star- me. Do you understand?" -
ing down at the lights of Nice "Yes, Angele."
which shone like pearls. I contemplated the twdsted
When I returned to the study, path of the human heart. Here
Ragsdale was leaving. He seemed W3LS a man who did' not wish
surly till the last moment. He her, w^ho was hard and reluc-
had his rented car downstairs but tant; who bore her a passionate
did not bother to offer- Angela a grudge for wdiat women had
lift. done to him. And there she
was drawn to him;'* for just these
V reasons^-
"I’m very busy,” she said.
A t last
her. I
I was alone wdth
promised myself not
"I’m studying several, kripts.
Hollywood wants me back. So I
know how
to mention Ragsdale.
"Ahgele,” I said, "the evening
don’t
here, but
— ’’
long. I’ll stay
w'as bad. I am sorry.” "I will do my best," I said.

PREDICTION 69
VI "You have an excellent brain,

Hoffenberg began. "A brain that
WO days later I picked up gave you financial
THoffenberg. I had never been
grasps. It
success.”
"You’ve read, the papers!”
to his house, if such it can be
called. One of the windows is "I do not read papers, Mr.
stuffed with paper, and the brick Ragsdale. Not anymore. I judge
walls sag as if they cannot sup- from stellar conditions.”
port the roof. And his two rooms Hoffenberg looked up, awk-
—
I then saw them only for an wardly, as if requesting permis-
instant, for Hoffenberg was sion to continue.
ready —
looked like antique shops. "Go on!”
I had never seen such dirt and "You despise weakness. You
disorder, and such accumulations are frequently angry. You are too
of worthless objects. sensitive —ând much too impul-
Wedrove to Cannes and found sive. Too much
—
energy, intensity,
Ragsdale on the beach. He was passion. That is why
in his bathing trunks, sprawled "I know what I am. I'm not
in a deck chair, Leica beside him. interested in a character analysis.”
His massive body was drenched "'That was the reason you di-
with oil and his face glistened vorced, I wanted to say. You had
two You
in the sun.
"You brought the scientist,” loss of
divorces.
many women —
suffered the
he jeered. And to Hoffenberg: "Suffered? Ha. Why

don’t you
"There's a chair. Sit down! I talk about the future?"
hope you made up a good story!” "I will.” Hoffenberg turned
I wanted to leave but he forced the pages of his script. He was a
me to stay. curious mixture of crankiness and
Hoffenberg opened his brief-
case and withdrew a number of fall in iQve
—
kindness. "I predict that you will
neatly written sheets and a chart, "Me? In love? You heard that,
covered with black ant-like signs. Francois? I hate women. I despise
"Mr. Ragsdale,” he asked. the entire calculating scheming
"Are you absolutely certain you lot of them!”*
want this? I mean absolutely "Love and hate sometimes go
certain?” hand in hand.”
"Of course I want it. Never "An old thought, dear fel-
mind the preambles!” low.”
"I dislike this responsibility. "You will reach this woman.
I can return your check
still — •”
You will have her. And lose
"I daresay not!” her.”
70 WEIRD TALES
”If I can't fall in love —and ter. "Francois, wouldn’t that be
I can’t! — it’simpossible to lose good? Jolly, jolly good! Tell me,

a woman. You’re not very logi- you ought to know!”
cal.” "You’re mistaken, said the
"Life
Hoffenberg
is
pulled
not
out
very
a
logical.” Astrologer.
pleasant death
—
"It will be an un-
handkerchief and wiped his "Unpleasant, eh? I'll tell you

heavy spectacles. He did this very again, Herr Professor, I hate
methodically. Around us bathers women. I loathe them! I wouldn’t
ran, chasing one another, and be seen near a woman. And there-
children skipped over the sand. fore I won't die in the arms of
The Mediterranean was bluer one.”
than I had ever seen it, and the "Nevertheless it will be so.
air smelled of salt. “I must give you credit. You’re
"Why don’t' you make this not only fantastic but also origi-
short, my friend. How shall 1 nal!”
die?” "The dying- will be slow. It
The
Astrologer hesitated, pull- will take several days. And no
ing the spectacles over the bridge one will help you. You will be
of his nose. Then slowly, "Re- surrounded by people and they
member, Mr. Ragsdale, jou will let you die.”
wanted me to say this.” "Ridiculous,’’ shouted Rags-
"Yes, /. Tm
not afraid. dale. "Help? And 1 can’t get it?
"You will die— in the arms You’re insane, man. The pound
of a woman.” still has some value!”
Hoffenberg rose and handed

T WATCHED Ragsdale, saw the dossier and his card to Rags-
J- his eyes become smaller, his dale. "You understand that con-
broad dominant face turn into stellations change. Please come
creases, and then the -first peal back and see me again. Nothing
of laughter, followed by another, is final.”
until, hands over his stomach, he After, he had gone —he caught
laughed so hard that his entire the bus back to Nice —Ragsdale
body rocked. asked me why Hoffenberg limp-
"Give me a towel, Francois, ed.
he shouted and as I handed it I had never told him about it.
to him, he wiped his perspiring "Torture,” I said.

chest and face."Arms of— a "Torture? How?”
woman, eh? But that’s pleasant, "He made a prophecy to an
man! Darn pleasant ” He turn-
— man in his country. An evil
ed to me still shaking with laugh-
evil
prophecy
—
PREDICTION 71
"Death in a woman's arms?” did not mention it to Ragsdale.

"No. A violent death. Asphyx- I would not admit to myself that
iation.” Hoffenberg’s prediction held me^
"And it happened?” back. Frankly, whatever Hoffen-
"Yes, The man died in an un- berg’s and his 'celebrated
past
derground bunker just off the record, did not believe in revT
I
,Wilhelmstrasse. The bunker was elations of this genre. I occa-

hit by bomb. But before this
a sionally had Hoffenberg at the
happened, the man had put Hof- house as one would invite a violin
fenberg in irons, telling him to pFayer or a —
Hula dancer merely
take back the prediction. Hqflfen- as a new type ofamusement for
berg refused. So they smashed my friends. Some of them fol-
his knee bone with a hammer, lowed Hoffenberg’s advice, even
blow by blow. That was when to the extent of delaying business
Hoffenberg left Hitler’s General transactions or the purchase of a
Staff.” villa. But nothing like this had
"General Staff?” ever happened before, Hoffen-
"Yes,” I said, watching a berg had never made a fatal
speedboat at the horizon. "You prediction"; and not once did I
see, Rags, at the time of the dic- have, an occasion to doubt his
tator’s march into Vienna, Hof- ethics. In fact, I liked him. I sym-
fenberg lived there. He was, as pathized whh this round-shoul-
I told you, famous.” dered limping Austrian who had
Ragsdale opened his mouth to never done any harm.
answer and then closed it again. But I kept quiet about An-
He was impressed. L told him gela.
how the new masters forced me the same eve-
She phoned
Hoffenberg to work for them, ning. Iwas smiling about the
how he became one of the top amount of diplomacy she em-
five astrologers who guided every ployed to make me keep my
action of the Fuehrer, until he. promise. In what delicate words
made the prediction to his aide. she terhpted me! She used her
most languid voice. I could im-
VII agine her in a telephone booth,
just back from a game of tennis,
HAD .no important appoint- the blond head pressed to the
I ments so that I spent the day phone, her lips parted, *her deli-
at the beach. Ragsdale was a cate skin flushed, and her feet
magnificent swimmer, I could not in sandals, placed sideways on.
help thinking of Angela. I had the floor. Ah, Va7nour! I prom-
not forgotten her request; but I ised again.
72 WEIRD TALES
Next day I had lunch with put nothing more than water, to
Ragsdale the Ruhl.
at cure their imaginary ills.
It was^ difficult for me to un-
derstand what Angela saw in E WERE looking at all
him. these people, and gamblers,
He handsome, of'
was' \ery the international riff-raff, the
course, two sharp lines
with matadors from Barcelona, Ger-.
leading down from under his man tourists and the many white
eyes — ^blue eyes — to the chin. It Russians. There was this mixture
was an unusual face, perhaps, be- of haste and leisure which one
cause it. showed a combination of finds at the Riviera.
,
energy and sensitivity. But as a After awhile, Ragsdale said

person he had changed complete- casually, ,'T say. What became of
ly. Everyone disliked him. Pellin this —blonde creature? The In-
had phoned, inquired about the grid Bergman from the party, I
’
outcome of the horoscope, and, mean.”

as I remained silent, voiced his "Angela?”
antipathy. Brody had not phoned He nodded.
— he seldom did rbut I knew- — "Why do you ask?”
that he too, felt a distaste for "I would like to see her.”
Ragsdale. Only Angela wanted Just then someone sat down
to know him better.' While we beside us and we got up and
had our coffee 1 thought again walked on, out of the gardens
.
of her request. There was no and toward the ocean.

opportunity to speak of it. "I thought you hated women?”
Afterwards we walked along "I do. do.” I.
the Promenade which was sun- I looked

at the beach and saw
baked and overcrowded as always hand-waving 'Nicois and bathers
at this noon-hour. In the J addins in crazy bathing costumes, and a
we sat dowri on one of the iron- steamer at. the horizon: The sky
wrought benches. These gardens was splashed with blue. I did not
are filled with people every sum- look at Ragsdale.
mer: little nurses in uniforms "What're ;.you^:ayoiding me
with their young flock, my com- for? You. doiiT; .think I mind
patriotes from Paris, Calais and what this — charlatan said!”
Grenoble who come for their "He’s not a charlatan.”
vacations* and then of course, "All right, chappie. Then he’s
the usual habitues,
old ladies not.” And softly, "Still, Francois,
mostly, who graced my
also I would like to see her.”
medical practice, absorbing quan- I was afraid. I did not believe
tities of capsules into, which we Hoffenberg’s predictions, not
PREDICTION 73
‘really, even if this first one had tine one September afternoon I
come true. I thought it a coinci- saw them both; they made a

dence. was afraid. But one
Still, I handsome couple which invari-
could change Ragsdale’s
not ,
ably stood out from the crowds.
mind, once it was made up. He They were at a little kiosk which
was the most obstinate man I dispenses jus de rmsin —
freshly
had ever met. pressed grapes —
he in’ a polo
So I said, "You are lucky. shirt and she in slacks with a
Angela likes you.” And gave him ribbon through her hair. They
her address. did not see me as they toasted
VIII to each Angela with her
other,
arm through- Ragsdale’s. Perhaps
HAThappened after that I am a sentimental man because
seemed rather curious. He I imagined him talking now,
did not;come to the villa. One propounding his difficulties and
day in August I received a note Angela absorbing them. 'There
in his large script: was a chance for him, perhaps,
to adapt himself.
“Dear Frangois:
I considered the matter as
We’re taking long walks,
closed. Once he phoned, another
spend many hours together.
time she wrote, and by fractions
We saw Beaulieu; we drove I learned that they had become
'Up to. Grasse, and visited
important to each other. She sent
the- Perfume establishments.
him little gifts: 'an invitation to
We’re playing tennis and golf.
We" swim and participate in
the many fetes and soirees the
Riviera offers. •
Cordially,
Rags.”
Not a word of thanks, of

course. Ragsdale was not a man the opera one month, a new ten-
leaning to gratefulness. nis racquet the next, and he”cles-
I could have phoned him at patched, morning for morning,
the RuhLh\xt I did not Wish to
' two dozen freshly-cut roses arid
interfere in. his life. Besides, I every Sunday a box of candied
was busy with my English ladies. marrons or Sicilian peaches. He
As for Angela, I did not hear never did anything in halves.
from her. I was glad -about their Chivalry dr rudeness; love or
idyll d deux, hate. I felt victorious. Arid I had"
Driving down the Rue Lamar- forgotten Hoffenberg.
74 WEIRD TALES
IX him to speak. "Forget about the
predictiotis!” And then louder,
hen, one day October, "She doesn’t want me. Say the
T Ragsdale^ came up to my
in
truth!”
"How can I know, Rags?”
house. I had just returned from
the clinic and sat on the ''terrace, "You’re a doctor. You’re sup-
eating figs from a basket. He fell posed to understand human na-
heavily into a wicker chair. He ture.” Softly, "And you’re my
had had too much sunshine, and only friend. Please get in touch
his face was peeling, I pushed with her.’’
the basket toward him but he "Surely .you can arrange these
shook his head. things yourself. You have known
want you
"I to do something her for a long time.”
for me.” "Now, please! Get in touch
”Yes,” I said, "What?” with her!’’
"Contact Angela.” It was strange how he said this
"Oh?” — with' humility almost. Some-

"Something has gone wrong. thing was" happening to Ragsdale.
I can feel it.” As he followed'-me inside I no-
Below us, a little donkey was ticed that he had lost his erect
pulling a big cart,loaded with gait; he seemed bent.
olives. A man was hitting the I poured him a glass of Pernod
donkey. and helped myself to one. Then

"How can you feel it?” I went to the phone. "Rags, may
"Little things, Frangois. He I ask you something?”
lit a cigarette andwaved the He was very tense; his cheek-

match out with quick movements. 'bones stirred. "Do,” he said.
"Whatthings?” "Ask!. I’m at yoiir mercy!”
"Like her lack of time,, for "I mentioiied this before,
example. She says she' has no Rags. On the rear balcony. It is
time. You know how little she this, what has changed you so?
speaks. It’s hard to understand. I mean, since Cambridge?”
I don’t know what happened.” He was leaning against the
"The predictions did you — wall, the Picasso at his left; a
ever mention them to her?” palm |idt in a metal frame to his
"No.' No. Of course not.” right.
"Do you believe in them?” "Last year— when I, came back
"I don’t.. I absolutely don’t! from the Himalaya expedition,
You should forget about this r met a woman. In Torquay. You
mumbo-junibo!” know where it is. South Coast of
I remained quiet which forced England. I — loved her.”
PREDICTION
He reached into the palm pot X
and tore a fragment off the plant.
”Yes, Rags.”
"Oh, rot. Why don’t you
phone first? Angela should be
• '
>>
W HEN he had gone, I dialed
Angela’s hotel. She was in.
Comment gava?” I asked.
in. ’T am well, cher}”
"Later. tell me about the
You "He is here. Ten meters from
woman Torquay.”
in me. And with problems.”
"I wanted to marry her. My "Problems?” She was always
third marriage. But one eve- the same; self-possessed and con-
ning I found her with another fident. And a little vague.
man.” "He would like to ê you.”
"That can happen.” "Tve much, work,” she said,
"But never like this!” He tore "I told you. I’m studying a script.
another bit off the plant and Might have to leave any day.
squeezed it between his fingers I—’
until the juice ran out of it. "Tell me, Angele. Did Rags
"Women are hypocrites. They’re ever speak about the horoscope?”
insensitive. One day she became "No. Why?”
aloof, you see. I knew something "It does not matter. What hap-
was wrong. She always went out pened to you two?”
nights. Had no more 'time. Going There was a pause. I felt child-
to the library, she said. One eve- ish. Onecould go too far in try-
ning I followed her, Not a detec- ing to bring people together,
tive, Francois. But me! especially w'hen they were as com-
"She didn’t go to the library. plicated as Ragsdale.
She went down to the beach. I Then she said softly, "He has
watched her. She was there wfith changed.”
the other man.” "How?”
"I am sorry,” I said, under- "I can’t put my finger on the
standing him much better. He spot. It’s hard to explain, Fran-
had thawed; suddenly he became cois.”
human. "Try!”
"I will call Angela now,” I "It’s a fear,” she said. "As if
said. — well, as if he were afraid to
Ragsdale stayed next to me, lose me.”
his ,eyesglued to the receiver as "Does he have reasons to fear
I picked it up. this?”
"Rags,” I said. "A little favor. "Perhaps.”
Go on the terrace while I speak "Why, Angela?
to her. Yes?” "I liked the boldness in him.
76 WEIRD TALES
This was his major quality, Fran- "My regrets,” I said. "There
cois. Boldness. Strength. A —
dare- are other women. The Cote
devilish streak. He's lost it d'Azur abounds with beauty.”
"Angele," I pleaded, "could "The demoiselle appealed to
you not see him once more?" me," said Brody. "I like Califor-
I spoke to her for awhile, nian apples better than those
watching Ragsdale on the terrace, from Nice. And what gives me
his massive hands on the railing, the honor to see you.^-"
the back turned to me, and then "American cigarettes. A quan-
again, as he strode back and tity."
forth, impatiently. "For whom?”
Angela agreed to meet
finally "For me.”
him the next evening. I gave him He went down into the cellar
the news. He seemed relieved. where he kept all his things and
Thereafter we spoke of this and returned with a shoe box, and, a
that, and then he mentioned the string round it. He always deliv-
fact that he needed soap and ered black market merchandise
cigarettes. I promised to contart in a shoe box.
my only source for these things: When I paid him he asked,
the man named Max Brody. "What happened to Ragsdale's
horoscope?"
XI "Nothing special,” I said.
**Au revoh'V*
Two days later, on my way
T he
drove
next evening, while Rags-
dale went
‘to see Angela, I
Brody’s house. It was

to
back from the clinic I parked my
automobile near the Ruhl and
at the sea front, a white stucco carried the shoe box up to Rags-
affair, very small, really, but sur- dale’s room.
rounded by an enormous wall. His expensive luggage stood
Light beams were on the house in an even row against the wall.
when. I arrived, a measure as — Copies of the London Times and
he explained it once against — the Wall Street Journal were in
burglars. He wore no carnation the waste basket.- He did not
because he was in a house greet me, but went _on filling a
coat. last He was in shirt-
suitcase.
"How does your friend get -sleeves, and looked, tired.
along with Angela?” he ask- "So we’re going to lose you,”
ed. I said.
"Why does it interest you?*^ "There won’t be much lost.”
"Why? I wanted her. Ragsdale "Quite the reverse. And what
stole her.'" happened?”
PREDICTION 77
’'What happened, Frangois? It was a monstrosity. I thought

And you ask me?” of Angela, the frankness in her
"I am not Nostradamus.” face, the finesse of her person.
He dropped a pair of trousers I believed Ragsdale; I was sorry
into the case, snapped the lock for him, and then, momentarily,
and stared at me. His hauteur, I wondered whether it could be
his arrogance, all gone. his imagination. She was to meet

"Sit down,” he said. "I’ll tell him. It was impossible. But at
yôu.” the Riviera nothing was quite
I sat down. impossible.
"She has cheated me. You un- Ragsdale got up, pacing the
derstand that? Cheated me!” His room. He told me how, through
eyes widened. His flat hand the impact of the moment, he
knocked on the table. Veins stood just stood there, in the night and
out from the hand. He was still said nothing and thought noth-
impulsive. ing, and how, afterwards, he
^
"So me,” I said.
tell walked away, weakness in his
was very simple. Very sim-
"It knees. He did not inquire at her
ple. I went down to her hotel hotel. An hour later, in his room,
around nine. Just as you arranged rage came over him and. he tore
it. They're serving cocktails out- up all the pictures she had given
side. You remember she prom- him. He showed me the shreds
ised to meet me there. I was in the waste basket.
early.” "But, Rags,” I said, "this is
"All right. then?” And not tlie end of everything.' You
"I didn't go inside. I got up can ski in Chamonix. Why not
after awhile and went to the go there for awhile no?” —
beach.” "No,” he said.
"Yes,” I said, with a premoni-
tion. soon. Or
—
"Or the Carneval of Nice,
"They’ve an old bathing cabin "I’m leaving,” he cried. "For

there. I walked toward it. Over good.”
the pebbles. Silently. Not a de- He went on packirig I looked
tective. But me !” out of the window. The sky was
” And there she loas! I saw her clear and blinking with stars.
profile in the moonlight! Like I "The prediction,” I said —and
see you now. And against the I don’t know why I said it for
wall with her: a man. Close. it immediately infuriated him.
Close, I tell you!” He sat down "Do you believe in it?”
on the window sill, breathless. "No,” he shouted. "How
"Rags. Do not speak more.” often should I tell you? Though
78 WEIRD TALES
I’ve a surprise for you! I'm on unless she moved. If she had left
my way to Hoffenberg.” she had no doubt tried to reach
"A good idea,” I said. "He me before. had not been home
I
advised you to come.” since morning. Perhaps there was

He opened a drawer and pull- a letter from her. I called, the
ed out the horoscope in the as- house. Boris answered.
trologer’s dossier. He threw the ^
"Boris,” I said excitedly.
dossier into the waste basket. "Please look through today’s
There were little lights dancing mail.”
.inRagsdale’s eyes now, as he ad-, He did and quoted" the names
vanced toward me, "And I’ve of the senders. There was a letter
another surprise for you. The from Angela Sinnt. "Open it,”
reason I’ll see Hoffenberg is not I said.

this!” and he pointed to Hoffen- He hesitated.
berg’s sheets. "It’s something "Open it, Boris. And quickly!”
quite different!” He read in his broken English:
-
"What?”
"The man saw with Angela
I ^^Cheri:
looked like a frog. Just like your A telegram came from my
astrologer!” agent. Must leave in two
"You are absurd, Rags.
are not in your right mind
—You hours.
seen
Tomorrow
your friend
I should’ve
Ragsdale.
"Hang it all, man! Keep your I’m sorry I can’t. I’ve tried to
opinions to yourself!” reach him; he was out. So I
"Let me drive you. wrote him a note. It left with
He pushed me out of the room. the same mail as this. Thanks
"Thanks. My plane leaves at ten. for everything.
See you tomorrow morning. And Amour. Angele,
I’m going to Hoffenberg now”
With that he slammed the put the phone down incredu-
I
door in my face. lously.So at the beach it had not

been Angela, nor her ghost, but
XII simply another woman. And
Ragsdale, hypersensitive as he
WENT to the desk phone was, had seen things. His mind
I and dialed Angela’s hotel. had, so to speak, repeated an
Perhaps she can explain, I event.
thought. The hotel told me tha.t then Ragsdale stepped
Just
she had checked out. Checked out out of the elevator. His cuffs
three days ago! So she had not were not buttoned and a tie hung
even been in Nice that evening, out of his white suit.
PREDICTION 79
"Wait!” I called as he rushed touristsand women and black?

past me. haired children. I imagined the
He turned and 1 went toward stench and oily odors. I knew I
him. "It’s all been a mistake, would get to Hoffenberg’s house
Rags.-A Angela
terrible mistake. before Ragsdale, could.
has left. on her way to
She is He had to cross the Paillon
America. The evening you had
to meet her she was
— river and the Vie He Vilie where
there were no more palms and
"Prove it!” marble palaces. He had two kilo-
"Ah, I will, I will! She wrote meters through crooked lanes of
you a note. It must be here.” the old town where prostitutes
We went to the desk. stood at the corners and where
"My mail. Herbert Geoffrey squat women with aprons argued
'
Ragsdale.” from window to window, across

The clerk nodded and put his clothes-lines. And then- down
hand into Ragsdale’s box. through the tin-can-littered
It was empty. Hoffenberg’s miserable
streets to
"It is the mail, I said. "The abode above the sea.
mail
slow
—
in Nice is sometimes
XIV
Ragsdale’s eyes narrowed. Of
course he did not believe me. I REACHED Hoffenberg’s
wanted to tell him about Angela’s house , from the Corniche
message but he ran away, push- Road.
ing through the revolving doors After parking my car, I walked
out into the Promenade, along a stone wall. Below me
I stared after him. He. could were rocks, and tiny roads twist-
not find a cab and jumped into ing themselves to the sea. As I
a trolley. He had Hoffenberg’s approached I could observe the
card. I wondered what .1 should astrologer through a curtainless
do, and decided to drive, to the window. He sat at a dusty desk;
astrologer’s house. I had to warn with books heaped up around
him. I had to prevent a liiishap. him and on tables and chairs.
And perhaps' he’' could revise the Shreds of tapestry hung from' the
horoscope.' walls, and faded dust-covered
etchings and paintings.
XIII I knocked.
"Come in, he called and
PASSED the and trolley when I entered, he rose slowly,
I caught a glimpse of Rags as painfully.
he stood in a cluster of people, "Liidy/ig,” I said, "Ragsdale
80 WEIRD TALES
ison his \yay here. He is in a Ragsdale jerked the door open.
bad state. You must hide.” He looked at the disorder, the~
“There is no reason for it. dirt, and then advanced toward
"As you wish, Ludwig. But the wall, not noticing Holferi-
do me one favor.” berg who turned livid, nor me,
"Yes, Francois.” but §^ta ring at the wall.
"He does' not believe your "Angela,” he cried. "There.
horoscope. At least he says so. There! I knew!”
But just in any case, Ludwig. 1 tried to follow his panicky
Tell him the forecast is not cor- widening gaze, past Hoffenberg
rect. Sav to him that nothin? will now, past a floor-lamp, past a
ever happen.” ridiculous-looking cat ‘which I
Hoffenberg looked at me had not seen before. It all hap-
quietly from behind his thick p'ened so quickly; he scrambled
lenses. toward the wall, toward a paint-
"It important,” I went on.
is ing which he"” now covered so
"You understand that. Two pre- that I could not see it, and then
dictions already came true. But I heard a savage blow, another
you must tellhim^he is safe.” "Angela, Angela!” -uttered in
"I can examine his horoscope Ragsdale’s hoarse voice, and
again.” then the sound of glass, smash-
Do ing onto the floor. A cloud of
'"No.
anything! Just
No.
tell
not
him that
—
examine
dust. rose. Ragsdale himself stood
"Do you wish me to lie against the wall, facing me, in a,
then?” pose of hostility. His suit was
I shuddered. "Lie? Do you soiled and splinters glittered in
mean happen? The w'om- blading knuckles.
an, the
— it will his
I went toward him. He seem-
He sat down, not answering. ed nailed to the spot, gasping
Soniewhere a water tap dripped. and staring at me. Sweat covered
Rhythmically. his face and his hair stood up,
"Ludwig! You must help me, virtually.
you hear? The man will kill "I hate her,’’i'. he cried. "I
someone. Or kill himself. Find ioathe her.”
a way — ”
Again he did not answer.
"Think!
minutes.”
We
only have ten
'
Hoffenberg
table.
moved
ward him, from behind the
to-
We had ten seconds. "Andher picture! Hers. How

Steps crunched on the .road did get here?” He stared at
it
above. They were coming down. the astrologer, all the frustration.
PREDICTION 81
all the accumulated terror of "Hoffenberg,” I said,

the past years boiling within must find him. His injury — it is
him. grave. You saw his hand?^*

He clutched my arm just as I The astrologer nodded, but
wanted to examine the only turned to the painting, pidc-
paint-
ing. ing it up from the floor. Its frame
berg, "The dancer

—
"It is a Degas,” said Hoffen- was broken, its glass shattered,
with Ragsdale’s blood on it. It
It was all a mistake

—
"So yoii see it is not Angela!© was Degas’ Star, yes, the lovely
" Passion, dancer, her hair crowned by a
I thought. He sees you every- ribbon, with the sea in the back-
where, Angela. "Let me show ground.
you,’’ I added. "Ludwig,” I said, "you must
But he held on to my arm, come with me. Let lis look for
vise-like. him. As a doctor, I—”
"Ludwig,’’ I said, "do pick up "It is too dark. The cliffs are
the painting." dangerous.’’
Hoffenberg did not- move. It "Then what can we do?” I
was curious how he stood in the was slowly losing my senses.
center of the room now, small,
puffy-cheeked, gazing into his
"Inform the police. Ask them,
to search with lights
—
cigarette-filled ashtray. And as asked Hoffenberg to let me
I
for Ragsdale, he seemed as if in have the painting so that ! could

a trance, a sudden softness in his show it to Rags when he returned
blood -streaked eyes, a softness to the hotel.
because with one hysterical blow
TTTHEN
against the inanimate thing
the painting of a woman: he
had released his -hatred.
— W
my
I arrived at the Pre-
fecture that night,“
friend Pellin on duty.
I found
A ciga-
But then he walked past me rette was jutting from the corner
out of the house.
"
—
wait a moment! My car
— of
how
his mouth. "Ah, Francois,
content I am to see you!. I
But he was; already out of have bought a little yacht. You

sight. I heard the clatter of his are invited to a party I will give
•footsteps rushing into the dark- on weekend
it this,
ness. I him and explain-
interrupted
I wanted to run after him. But ed Ragsdale’s situation, and ask-
I am
not a young man. ed Pellin to send a squad at once.
"Ragsdale,” I shouted. There All the beaches should- be search-
was no answer, except from the ed, as well as the shopping dis-
waves. tricts and the: old town. Pellin
82 WEIRD TALES
listened with interest, impartially out to Villefranche, which is
like a policeman, only six kilometers from Nice.
"I comprehend, he said, A woman wâs very ill; I gave her
touching his thin mustache with a prescription when a message
the tip of his finger. will- take came from the clinic. Ragsdale’s
care of it. But just tonight, Fran- hotel had phoned them; he was <
cois, we are expecting a political in his room.

demonstration.” I Villefranche as quickly
left
"But this is a matter of life as I The curves on the
could.
and death!” road to Nice are very sharp. And
He raised a thin hand, "I wdll the road is lonely. My car broke
down where
handle
night.
it,
Tomorrow
—
Francois! But not to-
By the time
it
I
is loneliest.
'was in Ragsdale’s
My throat was constricted as room, I knew that he was in a
I walked out of Fellin’ s office. very bad way. I also knew that
You see, the Prefer had done Pellin had never sent his men
many things for me; I could not out,' although I could never
understand that he would fail me prove it.
now. Ragsdale fay on his bed, shak-
ing with fever. Everything, the
XV swollen arm, with the thin red
line stretching up from the wrist,
T WAS midnight when I the hollowed cheeks, the jaun-
I reached my house in Cimiez diced skin, and his breathing—
and two in the morning when I the shallow hurried breathing—
returned to Ragsdale’s hotel with everything pointed to. blood-
Angela’s letter and the Degas poisoning. He was beyond trans-
which I had made into a bundle. fer to the clinic, but not beyond
Ragsdale had not come in; so I hope. But what I needed was
wênt to his room and left the penicillin;
bundle, seme gauze, disinfectants The drug was only available
and a note that he should tenta- in the black market; 1knew only
tively attend to- his wound when one nian who Had it. It was Max
he came in, I also left a message Brody. Everything depended on
^ '•
i'
at the desk to inform me as soon, him.
as Ragsdale should return. I phoned his’ house. He was
I spent a sleepless mght and out. I left the Ruhl nurnber.
a day and another night, shut- Then\ asked the Hotel kitchen
tling between Hoffenberg’s to send up some boiled water,
house, the Prefecture arid the and when it was brought, I at-
Ruhl. The next day Twas called tended to Ragsdale’s injury the
PREDICTION 83
best I could. He was

wet with ed the painting. It was faded, this
perspiration and his clothes were Degas copy, yes, and as I wiped
torn, his white suit black. Some- the dry blood away, I all at once
how his body seemed to have saw something had not noticed I
shriveled. before because that night at Hof-

I waited for Brody’s call, fenberg’s I had been much too
pacing back and forth, with Rags- frantic.
dale slowly dying and the sky I saw that the woman in the
outside bluer than ever and the picture had her arms stretched
wide sweep of the Bay gay with out!
boats and sails. The prediction! A shiver went
Finally I reached Brody. He down my back.
had just come in. "Show me,” he moaned.
gave him the letter.
"I
"Max,”
need
I said with emotion.
penicillin. I will pay any
I
"No, the picture

—
price.” "You are tired now, Rags.
"What happened.^” I—”
j With a last effort: "The pic-
"What happened?” ture — !”
"Ragsdale it’s his —

only I gave it to him. He stared at
chance.” it, unseeing, I hope, and then
"Francois! How I wish I could fell back against the cushion, and
help you. But I have none of the frame fell over him.
that drug.” The receiver clicked. Later I shakily left the room
Brody had hung up. and passed the desk.
When Rags came out of his "Monsieur,” said the clerk,
delirium, I rushed toward his "we have some mail for Herbert
bed. Ragsdale.”
"I will do everything I can, I turned Angela’s letter over
I said although I knew that in my hand. I sent it back to her

nothing, could be done. "But later, without opening it, and I
the painting it —
was not" An- never saw her again, nor did I
gela! And I have her letter to dare to write her. You see, I did
me.” not wish to destroy one last hope;
He watched me out of sunken that in this one instance Hoffen-
were parched. He
eyes; his lips
moaned, "Show me
— berg was wrong and that she,
perhaps, this lovely American
I opened the bundle and clean- woman, had spoken of love.
Tm£ Pi/X£ ms lVa)PS
BY AUGUST DERLETH
Thosecities
of you
have
who
little
live
conception
of isolated country places, where
in the earth, with the invisible
dwellers of the woods. There
-
must be many hidden places on

one is alone with sky and trees, the face of the earth like the
with the soil and the waters of place in the woods on my grand^
84
. . . fantastic places still on the face of the earth
where the old gods die hard.
father’s farm, places with trees as if this little place were re-
and where the
a pool in a brook, served for us.
earth has never been turned and It lay perhaps a mile from the
nothing has ever disturbed the farm buildings, for my grand-
haunts which were occupied by father's was a large farm of al-
unknown dwellers ages be- most three hundred acres, and
fore any human being walked the woods was close to a
alone
there. hundred acres in low rolling land
Grandfather never forbade us and small hills, from the crowms
to go to the place in the woods. of which you could look far in
Indeed, we went
ever)rwhere every direction to the distant hills
my sister, my cousin, and I
but — which lay blue against every
there was no other spot on the horizon. Whenever we tired of
farm we liked so well as the playing in the haymow — on
place where the brook made a which' grandfather frowned^ or —
pool under the great old trees, tormenting the animals, or fish-
the beech and the oak, the scarlet ing in the lower brook where
maple and the birch, all un- chub and a species of trout
aware that it w'as a place set abounded, or running the dogs,
apart. we wênt off to play in the place
It was an idyllic woodland in the woods which we had come
setting. The great trees wêre to think of as our own.
three and four feet in diameter; Despite old Tom. Tom was
their limbs hung low, pressing the hired man, an old fellow who
groundward; and they wêre thick had lived in the neighborhood
there, making a kind of haven of formany years and had at last
the place, a haven in which the come to work for my grand-
voice of the brook was constant, father. -
and, in summer, the hushing of "There’s things in the woods,"

the birch and beech leaves, he used to say. "Stay out.”
whether wind blew or not; "What things?” my sister
though otherwise it was still, would demand challengingly.
with a few bird voices raised "Things,” he would answer,
tliere, drifting in from outside. darkly.
Heading by Virgil Finlay

83
86 WEIRD TALES
Never anything more —only celebrate the end of the day and
his ambiguous words, his dark the coming of night.
hints, and his brooding fear of Of such fantasies is childhood
something he could or would not made.
define. We paid no attention to We did not always go to the
him, except to tease him from glade together. Sometimes grand-
time' to time, in the way of father put us boys to work at the
children; he was so old that he corn-sheller or in the hay-mow;
went about muttering to himseilf, sometimes Evelyn refused to go
talking about the small events of fishing with us, having a horror
his life. of worms; sometimes she herself
Later on, we understood ^
was busy' in the kitchen with
that grandfather had taken him grandmother. She had just turn-
oil because he felt sorry for the ed eight, and was already in-
lonely old man, though he was dulging her imagination by see-
only a little older than grand- ing herself a matron who ex-
father, if more worn. celled in all the culinary virtues.
One night, after the house was
he
T place in the
southeast of the farm build-
think was my
woods lay asleep,
I
Evelyn came to the room
shared with cousin Richard.
was
ings. I it sisL'er ''Nick, I at the place in
Evelyn who first discovered that the woods evening,” she
this
the trees were arbored over a whispered, for Dick was asleep.
kind of bank or rise in the earth, "Uh-huh,” I answered.
which faced westward and on "Nick, there was something
which, just at sunset, the sun- there.”
light fell redly, lending to the ''Oh, you and old Tom, I
place a kind of strange, almost said, grinning.

unearthly The sunlight at
light. "No, really, cross-my-heart-
this penetrated no other
hour and-hope to die, she said earn-
part of the place of the pool estly.
only this one, slanting across the "What, then?”
landscape, through the woods, to "An animal, T- think.”
fall from among the boles of the "Oh,’ rabbits,.”, .-I said in dis-
trees to this one spot, and from .gust.
this spot seeming to reflect in a "No, a big animal. And some-
roseate glow over all the hidden one looked at me from out of
place. And it was my sister, too, the trees.”
who conceived the idea of mak- "You mean a man?” I/.asked,
ing of that spot an altar, at incredulous.
which the three of us could "I think so.”
THE PLACE IN THE WOODS 87
wanted to make fun of her,

I guess who or what it might be,
but she was trembling and but of course, we could not. If it
scared. She stood there biting were an animal, then of course
her lip, wanting me to believe there must have been a man
her; I pushed away the book I there, too, to account for the
had been reading and slipped .face Evelyn had "sworn she had
out of bed. seen. The investigation promised
••What did he look like?" excitement. ^
"I’m not sure. An old man. None
of us thought of saying
I ran.” anything to our grandparents,
"Could it have been Tom?” and our
parents were seldom
•‘Oh, no —
I know Tom.” there; they spent most of the
But I knew it couldn’t have week in the city, during our
been Tom, for he had been with holiday time, an~d showed up
us. At this moment Dick woke only on the weekends. This was
up, irritated. our secret alone, and the place
"What’s going on?” he de- in the woods took on new
manded, rubbing his eyes sleep- significance, held new promise.
ily. That next evening we went
I told him. out to it, though Evelyn was
"Girls are always seeing hesitant now that she must face
things,” he said. again the mystery w'hich had so
••Iswear,” Evelyn said. seized upon her imagination. It
"Well, you just go back to was a beautiful summer evening,
bed. We’ll investigate,” said Dick with a light west wind blowing.
importantly. The^ day had been hot, but was
"I want to go along.” cooling now, and all around us
"Not now. Tomorrow night.” the countryside rang with the
songs of larks and thrushes, of
HE went back to her own robins and killdeers. It was just
S room then, leavingDick and at* sundown that we pushed into
me to talk about what she might the place of the pool.
/have seen. He preferred to be- The reddening light of the
lieve it was all Evelyn’s imagina- setting sun lay against the little
tion. I was not convinced of that. knoll. There was something on
•
Actually, I did not want to be it.
convinced of it, because the "What’s - that?” demanded

prospect of someone or some- Dick, looking accusingly at
thing really being in the place of Evelyn.
the pool was too exciting to brush Evelyn made futile gestures
away so casually. ‘We tried' to with her hands. She explained,
88 WEIRD TALES
haltingly. On
her way to the grass,even the water were spring-
place yesterday she had found a ing to life against our intrusion.
dead sparrow. She had intended And at the' same time that we
to bury it there. But once she^ were conscious of this, we heard
had put it down, she had become what was undeniably the sound
convinced that the dead bird of somebody blowing on a flute
ought to be given a funeral by or something of that sort, mak-
fire. ing a kind of weird, piping
"I know it's funny, but I music, followed by the sound of
thought it ought to be cut open something jumping up and down
and bled, only of course it was —
on the ground an animal. And
dead -and wouldn’t bleed and so the limbs of the trees began to
the next best thing was to build move as if a wind was in them.
a fire under it; so I gathered all I glanced at Dick, He, too, had
the twigs and some of those dry hea'rd.

leaves and put. them on the
altar. ,
.” LOOKED toward Evelyn. But
"What .altar,^” I asked. I she was standing transfixed,
"Why, that altar,” she said, ^staring at the little grove of
pointing to the rise in the bank. cedars just behind the altar; her
Dick looked at me and sniffed. eyes were wide, and her lips
"Girls are like that,” he said ,
were parted. On the instant she
heavily. gave a wild cry of terror and ran
"Only,' I didn’t have a match,” back, right into Dick, knocking
finished Evelyn. him in turn into me, and she
"Well, I have,” said Dick, went out of the place in the
grinning. ^
woods, screaming in fright.
And he went to set fire to
off Had she seen something.^ Had
the leaves and twigs under the we? thought there had been
I
dead sparrow. It started to blaze something in the cedars. I did

at once with an orange flame. not stop to look. Neither did
For. a moment the glade shone Dick. Both of us ran pell-mell
with sunlight and fire; then the after Evelyn, and we did not
sunlight faded as the sun slipped stop until we were half way back
under the horizon, and only the to the farm, and all alone in
little fire burned there. a wide expanse of pasture which
It was then that the first stillseemed to glow a little from
change came to the place- in the the declining day shining yet in
woods. Suddenly out of the hush an afterglow to the west, where
came a feeling of ineffable wild- the evening star and the new
ness; it was as if trees, leaves. moon hung pale yellow.
THE PLACE IN THE WOODS
"Well, what. did you see?" T as soon as we could find some-
demanded. thing to sacrifice, something alive
"Didn’t you see it?” that we
could kill without doing
.
"Don’t think so,’’ I answered. anybody any, harm.

"Did you, Dick?’’
"How could I? With her T WAS three days before pur
carrying on like .that.” I •
chance came.
"I saw him again. That man." That morning Tom came in
"I: think there was something while we were eating breakfast
there,” said Dick thoughtfully. and said to grandmother that
"But if I can depend on my nose, three, chickens appeared to be
itwas an animal. It smelled like sick, and ought to be killed. He
—
an animal you know the kind of
smell animals have. Strong;”
had been watching them for two
days now, and they weren’t im-
Now that hejiad mentioned it, proving. Better to kill them than
I too knew that had smelled
I let them infect the whole flock.
something. A musk. It might Grandmother agreed and said
have been an animal. On the simply, "Kill them, then.”
other hand, that, sparrow’s The moment
he left the
feathers were beginning to burn kitchen, was after him.
I
and if might have been that. I "Tom, we want one of those

pointed this out. sick chickens,” I said.
"
"I saw a man',’’ my sister said ’Tain’t no good, Nick. It’s
stubbornly. "He had a little gonna die.”

beard.” /'We want to kill it,” I said.
"An old man?” "Bloodthirsty, ain’t you?
"I’m not sure.” Whyn’t you take ’em all three?”
"You said he had a beard.” "We just need one.”
"I know.'But I don’t think he He looked at me with a side>
was old.” ways glance. "What’re you up*
Dick looked at me and shrug- to?”
'
ged as much as to say, "That’s I assured him we weren’t up to
girls for you.” anything, and kept on badgering

We'talked for a while longer. him until' he agreed that we
We couldn’t get 'anywhere. We might have one of the chickens.
decided at last that each of us Without delay, I went with him
had felt or seen something — I suppose because I didn’t en-
strange. We
decided, too, that tirely trust himând
got the
burning the sparrow had had chicken immediately, tying, a
something to do with it. And string to one of its legs to make
we agreed to go back there, just sure it wouldn’t get away. I took
90 WEIRD TALES
the chicken away from the barn- ashes lay there, black where the
yard and tied it to an ash tree grass had been burned away.
on the way to the pasture. Old I carried the chicken and took
Tom watched me ^with grave it over to the altar.
Curiosity and frowning disap- The sunlight shone redly on its
proval. white feathers.

That evening, just as soon as "Do we have; to have a fire?"
supper was done, the three of us asked Evelyn.
collected the chicken, which was Weha3 not thought of that.
ail but dead,' and set out across Dick said, "Not yet. We can
the pasture- for the place of the kill it first.. Then we can burn
pool‘. it.”
Wewere all wildly excited. That was agreed upon. Then
The quick fear we had known it was a matter of how it should
before was already lost in the be killed.
past, and we were anxious to try. My sister thought it ought to
again. This time, we vowed,: we be stabbed .to death. Girls always
would not break ranks and run, seemed to be more bloodthirsty
but would stand pur ground, to than boys,- Dick was for more
see what might be there. Some- refinement than that, and so was
how, we were convinced the I. The poor chicken was hardly
chicken and the sacrifice were able to sit erect; its head drooped,
important. and you could see that it would
It was a wonderful night, just probably not last till morning. It
like the other, except that there was a mercy to kill it.
were a few dark, louring clouds "We’ll slit its throat,” said
in the west. From among them, Dick.
now and the sunlight
then,, He had brought his jack-knife,
streaked through, over the fields and now he took it out and
and pastures, against the hills, opened it.
showing rose and lavender. Al- "I won’t look,” said Evelyn,
ready the pale moon showed in staring right at the chicken to
the sky, though the sun, was still make sure she wouldn’t miss a
above the horizon. drop of blood.
The place in the woods was
lighted by the setting sun; a haze RAISED an objection. If we
of old rose bathed the tree-trunks I were making a sacrifice of the
and the place that Evelyn had chicken, we ought to know to
called an altar. We had
not been what, we were sacrificing it. We
back there since the night we had couldn’t sacrifice it to God, be-
burned the sparrow; now only cause, chickens, were not the. kin4
of sacrifice to make to him. We- us seemed suddenly charged with

couldn’t sacrifice it to an animal danger. It grew darker than the
or a face, either, Dick pointed pasture beyond the woods, the
out,
- hushing of the leaves sounded
"I know," said Evelyn. "We’ll more loudly, and the limbs and
make the sacrifice to the place branches began to thresh together
the place of the woods and the as if a storm were brewing
pool.” among them. The cedars began
To this we all agreed. to tremble and I could hear that
Dick took his place beside the music again, a- thin, faraway pip-
chicken. ing, growing steadily more loud,
"Somebody ought to pray,” he coming closer. And I could hear
said. the tapping of feet.
"We will,” said Evelyn. "He's coming," said Evelyn
She knelt down. Somewhat re- huskily. She reached for my hand
luctantly, I followed her ex- and clung to me.
ample. "Remember,” said Dick in a
My sister knew just what to trembling
’’
voice. "We won’t
say. "To you, woods’ spirit, we move.
offer up this creature. We make "We’re waiting,” I said with
this sacrifice to theoaks and the a stoutness I did not feel.
birches, to the beeches and the Then knew it was bad to
cedars, to the water of the brook stay, I knew there was terrible
and the pool, to the fish and the danger. The wind was pulling
sky and the birds and the animal at us, and Evelyn’s face was
we can hear but cannot see, and white, and that music was wild,
the player of the music. wilder than the wind, and a
So she had heard that music, horrible face, a face that was
too, I thought! both old and young, peered out
'The last sunlight slipped away of the cedars. With one accord,
from the mound where the we broke away frorn the altar
chicken lay just as Dick made a and ran.
dramatic gesture and pulled up But the very trees had turned
its head. With one sweep, he against us. Now their branches
bent and slit its throat. The swept down
to make a kind of
blood ran redly down the white prison, barring our way. We
feathers. flung ourselves upon them,
Suddenly, just as before, every- screaming for help now, spurred
thing was changed. by a terrible fear. Behind us
The place in the woods which came the sound of oncoming feet,
had always seemed a haven for like a deer’s, almost overcoming
92 WEIRD TALES
US with dread. None of us dared And when they came back and
turn to look. told us Tom wasn’t coming back
At that moment old Tom burst again, Tom was dead, he had had
into the place in the woods.He a heart attack, , we could hardly
came fiercely in among the trees, believe it. We went bed sub-
to
swinging his arms,, breaking the dued and contrite, sure that some-
branches which barred, us from how we had brought about
the pasture and the far buildings Tom’s end, and cried to think
stillheld in half -daylight, half- of it because he had been kind
moonlight so near and yet so far. for all his gruff ways, and he
Gratefully, we flowed around had saved us. We
did not know
hiih, past him, and streaked from what, biit we knew with
across the pasture for the safety the unerring instinct of children
of the house, never pausing a that he had saved us from some-
moment, but running wildly into thing terrible beyond words.
the house where our parents had And late that night, waking
just come, for it was Friday from sleep, I crept out and
night, and midsummer eve, the listened at the register to what
eve of their holiday, too. . they were saying below.
"Indians!’' said my father. "Hoof-marks?” My mother
"Oh, be quiet, children,” said- was talking. "But there aren’t any
my Aunt "I’ve such a
Leonie. animals in that part of the woods.
headache.” Never were. Or are you pasturing
But grandfather sensed at once^ it now. Pa?”
that something was wrong. "No.” That was my grand-

"What’s up?” he demanded, father’s voice.
'What have you children been "They were there, all right,”
up to?” said my Uncle Sherwood. "All
Breathlessly, we told him, each , over.”
of us, in snatches of words. And "My God, yes,” said my father
at last, we turned back the way "Cut into his head and his
again.
we had come and in one voice hands and all around that
"Ask Tom!”
cried, ^ chicken. How did that get there,
ButTom was not there. anyway?”
Tom had not come with us. "You could ask the children,”
Tom was nowhere in the House said grandmother.
or the barn or the barnyard. "No, not one single word
c to the children,” said. Aunt
They
would
place
set out at
inthe
not let us
once for The
woods, and
come along.
Leonie.
"There’ll be an inquest, of
course.”
"But what kind of animal?” ly slain in the woods southeast of

"They were small hoof-marks, the farm buildings, with pointed
relatively. A sheep perhaps. Is hoof -marks all over his body —
there an old ram loose here- memory sharply, but
story to jog
abouts?” no longer the memory of a boy
"No.” who could not know what he had
"Or a goat?” seen or heard, who could not
"No.” fully understand.
"Well, a deer, then.” Perhaps, long ago, old Tom
"Some wild animal, perhaps. had understood, even if he could
A domesticated animal would not put into words what he knew
hardly have killed. I don't, see by an intuition common to peo-
yet how it could have been done, ple close to the earth and the
unless, of course, he had really elements. Wehad no way of
had a heart attack and it was knowing.
done when he was down.-. Grandfather gone, father
gone, too. Uncle Sherwood too
That
And
was tvsênty
the place in the
years ago.
woods
old to care, Evelyn in Europe.
I telephoned Dick, and he met
left untouched, undisturbed, so me at once at the railroad station,
that the brook could murmur to go down with me and see to
through it, as always, and the it that the trees at the place of
hushing in the leaves keep on in the pool were cut down, and the
the absence of the birds, and the cedars uprooted, and the pool
mound of earth we had called an drained, knowing that there are
altar could catch the roseate light places on the face of this earth
of every setting sun. . where ancient things die hard,
Until yesterday, when I came where old gods linger long past
upon shocking news in the paper, their time, drawing unwitting
new^s about the old- Norris farm, homage to deitieslong since em-
still in the family; but being balmed in textbooks, all but for-
rented now, about a small boy gotten, names like Zeus, Bacchus,
who had been found mysterious- and Persephone —and Pan.
. . . tasty were the venison fries
they served at the old inn.
The Return
Simon Carib
BY
FREDERICK
SANDERS
Heading by Jon Arfstrom
I In the town below ghostly lights

seeped through the brownish
The November fog was

where. It swirled around
every-
the
blanket of freezing vapor and
only subdued sounds of traffic
old churchyard on the hill and filtered out into the blankness
touched with chilly breath the of the treacherous night. Yet this
faded inscriptions on the old damp detestable'^ horror did not
tombs that had once been names. worry me, for I was in a warm
94
THE RETURN OF SIMON CARIB 95
haven of dryness and soft light fog-bound way to my last port

with the mouth-watering aroma of call for that day.
of good food not far away. was a splash of red seen
It
As a traveler in tobacco my through the mist that signaled to
work takes me far and wide in rny mind and made me think
the country, and_ though many "This is it," as I drew into the
years have inured me to all gutter, braked and switched off
weathers, I can appreciate all the the engine. And "This” was it!
more comfort and good food As I got out of the car the warm
where they can be. encountered red curtains over a long narrow
upon the roads. Either from es- window glowed from the light
tablished places known to me behind them. Over the top of the
and others of my occupation or window I read "The Happy
upon those now and again chance Travelers Eating House.” open- I
drop-ins at strange places in new ed the door and went in to find

territory that come up to more myself in a largish roorh with
than one’s estimation where a low ceiling. Long high backed
plates have to be covered with seats faced each other across
something substantial and glasses highly polished tables! Clean
filled with liquid to sustain the smelling pine sawdust was -scat-
mind and warm in winter the tered over the boarded floor and
chilled cockles of our hearts. The in a tidy sized old fashioned fire-
"HAPPY TRAVELERS EAT- place, spitting away merrily upon
ING HOUSE,” in which I found the fire-dogs were logs of cherry
myself ensconced this moisture- wood sweetening the air.'CandleSj
drenched evening of Novemberj in tall' copper candlesticks, placed
was such a place. If it had not at strategic points about the room
.
been for the terrific fog making .and upon the tables combined to
visibility almost nil, I should not give a cheerful .illumination.
have got off my usual- bearings* I hung my hat, overcoat and
and become temporarily lost in scarf upon one of several wooden
the old cathedral city of Dld-
. pegs which seemed to -do duty
ch ester, that I knew in the 'main, as a clothes’ rack near the win-
as well as I didTlie’ backs of my dow. Then, settling mys'elf in a
own hands. In ’losing myself, I corner of one of the seats nearest
discovered the Happy Travelers the fire, I relaxed. How clean,
as I furtively cruised my small warm and comfortable,. I mused.
rnotor-van down a steeply narrow So quiet.
street to .where I hoped to pick
‘
. Stealing into the room came

up the old’ winding High Street, a cozy aroma of cooking' from
from where I could make my somewhere beyond. It seemed
96 WEIRD TALES
that I had stumbled upon one of and so like an angel for she —
» those places of refreshment one really looked like one spread —
does come across in these modern them and vanish away. She did
times that are modelled on the neither. Instead she informed me
lines of eating-places of a hun- that was roast pheasant,
there
dred and fifty or more years past, after, which there would be
A place designed for an exclusive served a special pudding three
clientele of men, who were not years' old, kept with brandy. And
exactly epicures, or gluttons, but as gazed at her great blue eyes
I
who appreciate good food, nicely and mobile red lips, with just
cooked and well-served. I rubbed that added fuUness.. as if a bee
my hands, and was just about to had lightly stung them, I thought
ring a, small highly-polished brass "This h an exclusive show.
bell near at hand, when a form Pheasant and brandy-pudding!
passed room, tripped
into the A pretty penny this will cost
briskly across the sawdered floor, me!" So I ordered supper and
and stood before rne. It wore an was rewarded with a devastating
ample ankle-length dress of blue, smile and a neat old-fashioned
had a beautifully corseted -waist, curtsy and Peg'O’Myhart disap-
above which a snow-white blouse peared away to where the choice
coyly emphasized a delicately aromas of cooking escaped.
modelled bosom. But the face! T really did enjoy that dish of
Ah! that countenance! I know- pheasant and I am rather afraid
that I shall never see its counter- that I overcame good-manners to
.parf again, at least not in -this openly feast my eyes upon the
world! Then the vision spoke lovelyPeg when she served it .
and set my heart racing mad. and again when she cleared the
**An’ it please you, Peg O’My- dishes preparatory to the second
hart, at your service, sir." course.
I had nearly finished the in-
II toxic’atingly good pudding when
a slight sound made me glance
W ITH my nerves
and a peculiar sensation
flowing along my spine, I gazed
all a-tingle- '
up -
to see a tall lithe
proaching the table. He wore a
short- waisted cut-away jacket
man ap-
up at Peg O’ My hart, I caught my with shining metal buttons and

breath, for there, in the mellow sported a most exquisitely em-
-'Candlelight I perceived a face of broidered colored waistcoat sur-
such beauty and sw'eet innocence mounted with a cravat bf Alpine
that I was tempted to think that whiteness. His nether limbs were
she would, suddenly sprout wings encased in rather tight fitting
black gleaming
trousers, and which, when spoken blended into
polished wellingtons, from the one and the same, "Quite sweet
sides of which depended golden- enough to eat!” We laughed,
corded tassels putting the finish- and said Simon, "Two minds
ing- touch to this old-time male with but a single thought betwixt
ensemble. "Nothing like keeping them. There is no doubt that girls
up the clothes of the period to like young Peg can be to us mere
go with the surroundings,” I males a consuming desire.-
thought. As he stood before me Though it may well be it is our
I noted his light brown skin, own hearts we eat out over their
dark eyes, fullish lips and crinkly artless though artful ways.” We
hair. An Indian type and a cul- chuckled. Winked at each other.
tured one, I noted mentally. Then the quarter-chimes from,
Then in a very” English voice the old cathedral clock nearby
barring a slight slur, he bowed, told that it was a quarter to eight
saying, "Simon Carib, keeper of o’clock. This would not do, for
the Happy Travelers, sir. I hope I had^ to get to my last place of
everything is to your satisfac- business by eight —

closing time.
I asked my score and Simon ask-
’
tion.^
As he finished his introduction ed me a sum but half what I had
I popped the last spoonful of expected. A. trifle surprised I
the rich dark-brown pudding into paid him, leaving a tip for Peg.
my mouth, set down the spoon-, He saw me to the door, and re-
and answered him that I had en- marked that I had picked a good
joyed everything. The dining time to have my supper, for soon
room, the courtesy, the well- the London coach would arrive
cooked meal and the charming with a goodly crowd who would
waitress. • soon make the eating room ring
"Yes,” retorted Simon, "she with quip and jest and much
is a winsome lass. Been here chatter.
several months, and has endeared "Come here at the same time
herself to all hearts. In fact she a week from today, sir. We shall
is what one would call a 'tooth- have a rare dish—specially cook-
some morsel,’ sir.” At that pre- ed venison pie from a little deer
cise moment the charming Peg fed and fattened to' a nicety un-
tripped in, removed the spoon der my personal supervision.
and empty smiled and tip-
plate, Good night, sir, good night!”
tapped her way out of the room, The fog had cleared a trifleand
"Indeed she is, Mister Carib,” going to the. .end of the road, I
and I glanced at his shining'face emerged from under the old gate-
as he and I framed a sentence, house archway, into the near de—
98 WEIRD TALES
serted street. As I edged out into “Yes; a place called 'The Happy
the main thoroughfare, I noticed Travelers Eating House’ not far
the name of the •
street of the lip from the old city Gate House.
Happy Travelers. It was named, And rare food they serve up and
Corncockle. at a price to suit The pockets of
commercials.”
Ill Phineas looked fully surprised,
then he suddenly got excited, a
ive minutes parked rare thing for him, and he could
F my later
car outside the shop of
I
only stutter out "B-b-but t-that

im^pup-pup-possible, Mr.
Phineas Fagg, retail tobacconist, i-is
the local historian of Oldchester Sprucer!”

and president of the select Old- Then a rap came at the office
chester Historical Society,and door and one of his two assistants
was soon seated at the back of came in to remark to Phineas
his commodious shop, in his .that the cash register had jam-
little pen in hand
private office, med, and would he please come
and order-book open for his list out to try to release it, so that he
of requirements. Phineas was a could finish checking. up the day’s
sparse little man of some sixty receipts.
summers. Soon our business was So thanking Phineas for his
transacted and I arose to go. 'T order I bid him good night, to
fully expect you will be very glad leave him to wrestle with the re-
to get back to Medvale Town calcitrant register. Whether it
and a good hot supper this, un- was sheer amazement or the her-
felicitous night, Mr. Sprucer,” alding of fear that shone in his
remarked Phineas. “As a matter eyes as they followed me to the
of fact” I rejoined. “I have ,
shop door, I could not be sure,
dined well at a new place I dis- but in a few .moments I was out
covered but an hour ago!” in the fog again, ready to drive
“Ah! The 'Tudor Rose Cafe' away home.
I presume, that only opened' this
week at the other end of the
High Street.?”
“Not the 'TudoP but a 'new-
A WEEKit
soon slipped by and
was order-day for Old-
chester again. It had been a cold
old’ cafe if one cari call it such hard, day and now^ at half past
up in Corncockld Street,” I re- six in the evening, the rime of
plied. frost was pres,ent under the
Phineas opened his eyes, wide, moonlight. I was ahead of sched-
and I could see that I had caught ule as I cruised along the High
him on the hop. He didn’t know. Street, thinking of The Happy
Travelers —and prettyPeg. T ing to us, bowed to me, wishing

turned the motor van under the me a “Good evening.”
Gate House archway and moved Turning to Maria he asked,
up the steep ascent of. Corncockle "Has cook got the first of the
Street, looking out for the lighted special venison pies ready
red-curtains of the eating house. Maria replied that she had and
•I was just about to pass a blank*- that they smelt uncommonly de-
faced, unlighted building when a licious.
glimmer of light manifested it- "Then,” said Simon, “bring a
self and a dull red spot appeared goodly portion for our gentleman
at the lower window, I pulled here, for I am sure he has had a
over to the other side and got long cold day behind him.”
out. Sure enough, the red-gleam “And where, if I may be so
in the window grew and grew bold as to ask, is our fair Peg
as someone —no doubt Peg — lit tonight, Mr. Carib.^” I inquired.
candle after candle in the room "She wascalled away three
behind. I crossed over, pushed days ago, to her poor dear moth-
open the door and was in the er, who lies exceedingly ill in
warm atmosphere of the dining London, sir. I do miss her, as do

room, with its cheerful' fire and we all. But young Maria Lovelace
candlelight, but no one was pre- is an apt pupil and fills her place
sent. admirably well, until Miss Peg

Evidently the lighter of can be with us again, sir.”
candles had just left the room We chatted of this and of that
as I had been about to enter. until the dark-haired Maria
So I hung up my coat, hat and brought in the. pie and placed it
scarf and settled myself down before rne. I sniffed the aroma.
where I had seated myself a week Such cooking! Such rare meat!
before. A
few moments later And the smell of delicately
there sounded a patter of feet in applied cooking herbs pervading
the outer passage, and in at the it. "I will now leave you in peace,
door came a lovely well-knit to enjoy your supper, sir!” re-
dark-haired maiden who quickly marked Simon. “I am sure you
tripped across to me, and, drop- will say when you have partaken
ping a swift curtsy said, ‘'If it of it that you have never eaten
please you, sir. Maria Lovelace, anything so truly rare and tender
at your service, sir.” I was sorry before. Every few months I treat
not to see Peg, and I surmised my customers to such regal meat
that the establishment kept more and, I may add, I eat a goodly
than one waitress. Then, into the fill myself, for to. venison pie I
room walked Simon, and, cross- am very partial, as was my fath-

100 WEIRD TALES
er and grandfather before me. eating-house, you mention does
Indeed sir, the cooking recipe not exist!”
was handed down from my great- Something in his words made
grandparents.” Then softly he me. short-tempered. "Call me a
quitted the dining, room, leaving liar then! Go on! Just because
me to enjoy such a meal as 1 had you happen to know a great deal
never tasted before. ^bout this locality no one else
must know anything!”
IV He vvas very decent, was old
Phineas, for he smiled in a queer
IDY THE time I arrived at wây and patted my arm, saying
-D Phineas Fagg’s shop, was
I "Now, now, listen to me, Tom
feeling fully repleted, warm and Sprucer. Corncockle Street exists,
happy — on top of the
right but the eating-house you speak
world. Iwent throv^h into his of ceased to be a place of call
little office, gave him a cheery as far back as the winter of 1820.
greeting and the usual hand- The house is still there, but it
shake. has had a very chequered career,
"You seemfull of snap and and for the past thirty years it
vim evening, Mr. Sprucer,”
this has remained empty, fast falling
remarked the kindly old histo- into decay.”
rian. "And so would you be, my ".But Mr. Fagg!” was all
friend, if you had dined and T could reasonably say.
wined like I have, at the Happy Phineas went on. "You have
Travelers,” I replied. "In these seen the past come back, my
modern times it is not many friend. You have' been seeing
,
restaurants, if any at all, that dish ghosts of people dead and gone
Up venison-pie for a weary trav-:' for .over a century. I have heard
eier’s supper!” of such things, but never experi-
"Venison?” the word was like enced such myself. See here,
the last of an echo from the old Tom.” (And Phineas moved over
man’s lips. "Where is this to-a small bookcase from which
'Happy Travelers Rest’ you he took a large leather-covered
you speak about?” He was eyeing .-book, placing it on the desk be-
me, so I. thought, rather warily.
^
fore me.) "Here you can read
"In Corncockle Street, Mr. of' the old ’Happy Travelers
Fagg. You must pop up there Rest’ from a cutting from an old
one evening dine out, — you county- journal published back in
know.” 1820.”
Slowly he replied, "That I. can- He opened the old well-
not do, my dear friend, for the thumbed press-cuttings book and
THE RETURN OF SIMON CARIB lOJ
.pointed tp a yellowy-brown cut- and fed well, feasting upon them

ting affixedon one of the pages. and to making 'venison pies’ for
I read with growing apprehen- his special customers. Carib is a
sion and horror the account of near descendent of cannibals who
happenings —
and of people up till quite recent years still
whom I had recently seen that — lived and practiced cannibalism

occurred but five short years after on one of the remoter isles of
the Battle of Waterloo! the West Indies.
"Owing to his confession we
A DASTARDLY DEVIL hope very shortly to see this fiend
BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. incarnatehung from the old
Hanging Oak opposite the UNI-
"Early yesterday morning, the CORN- INN, at the four-went-
I4th pf November, a light-color- way on Pendleton Heath. Good
ed man by the name of Simon seats for the hanging can be ob-
Carib was apprehended for the tained from the offices of this
murder of Miss. Peg O’Myhart newspaper at half-a-guinea per
who had been in his employ as numbered ticket.”
a serving-maid at his eating-
house, The Happy Travelers Rest V
inCorncockle Street, of this town.
Miss Maria Lovelace, a quick-
witted girl last in his employ had
noticed many peculiarities about
And
ed
now I
lieve that all that

was but a
did want to be-
had pass-
phantasm an —
her employer and coupled wdth abnormal state of' mind caused
a bone she found protruding somehow from remote psychic
from the earthen floor of the influences. My horror must have
large cellar beneath the house, shown itself in my face. A face,
laid information with the local that Iperceived in the small
authority who brought down Bow wall-mirror opposite to me, of a
Street detectives, who had the peculiar yellowish-green with
house surrounded and the fiend dead white nose and bloodless
Simon Carib placed under arrest. lips set with two dark-rimmed
"The cellar was dug up and staring eyes.
the remains of eight bodies, all Old Phineas called out to me,
young women, were disclosed, "Don’t let it worry you Tom!
"Carib confronted with all his —
What you saw ^what you ate
guilt broke down and confessed did not, could not, have really
to killing them all and from the existed.”
choicest portions of these youth- My stomach seemed to be
ful serving-maids, whom he kept tying itself into a great and
102 WEIRD TALES
painful knot. I heard myself cry- BUT IT WAS DEAR PEG-
ing out in anguish, "But the DEAR PEG O'MYHART!
venison-pie! I ate it! It SO
REAL! Everything was SO Y INNER-SELF became a
REAL!” And I remember saying complicated contortion of
to that — — Simon,
that "She was anguishing pain. Then I was hor-
QUITE SWEET ENOUGH TO ribly, excruciatingly ill. A crim-
EAT!” Pretty Peg O’Myhart son mist obscured my vision and
whom he described as a tooth- a final wrench of the great knot
some morsel. Phipeas, Phineas, inside sent me, with a gigantic
that PIE, made from a little spasm of agony into merciful
"deer!” A "LITTLE DEER"— oblivion.
W ITCH woman,
Is brighter than rubies, as red
Of dark rowan berries strung taut as
witch woman, the necklace you wêar
and
a wire
as rare.
From whom did you get them? And for what strange hire?
Witch woman, witch woman, those earrings of gold,

What service won' them? What deed can’t be told?
Never had gypsy so pretty a pair
Nor lady in castle such glitter to wear.
Witch w'oman, witch wornan, the great silver ring

That circles your finger, whence came such a thing?
A melting of silver, of bone, and of gem,
Only a witch could be sporting of them.
Witch wpmaQ, witch woman, what hangs at your sash?
For that whip of leather whose heart did you smash?
For that whip of leather whose back will you break,
And where is the treasure your lingers will take?
Witch woman, witch woman, your eyes open wide.

What will their blaclcness lure to your side?
^^Stop asking questions I can’t answer true,
Or the day might come wJoen I’ll question you!”
\
Witch woman, witch woman, come weave me a spell,

To bring back my lover, that I can keep well,
”No, no, do not tempt me, no spelt for your whim ^
Could euer he keeping a good man like him.”
Witch woman, witch woman, then what will you ntiake^
A spell or. a potion for your true love’s sake?

’’Never a potion and never a brew
To bind such as him to the. likes, of you!
He me my necklace^ my earrings of gold

gave
My ring of bright silver and monies untold,
And yet you have caught him by book and by hell,
'And I, the wdch woman, am under his spell.”
Witch woman, witch woman, now what have I done

book and candle what have I won?
•By bell,
My good man loves you, he’s under your, grip.
Oh no! Don’t be raising that terrible whip.
”Go home to your good man with Mood on your hide

And. never again let him stray from your side «
Remember the lashing, remembeY the pain

And come near the witch woman never again.”
105
To grasp the Banshee was like trying to hold an
armful of the evening breeze.
Fey the people of the village

said I 'was, because
rumored about that I
became
it
had seen,
what it was. Up and down it
went, moaning low and howling

high, as though a thousand devils
and fought the ban-
talked with, were bewailing their banishment
shee, and had driven her from from Paradise.
Conneman’s Bog, There was I have no strength of heart for
some truth in the rumors and such sorrowful sounds, so I made
much exaggeration, so at the de- for the house where the presence
sire of Doctor O’Gjnnor I am of others would give me comfort.
telling how it came about. Doctor O’Connor was seated be--
You may not believe me as I
. .
side the bed in Sean’s room
have no mortal witness as proof
;
watching his patient, with Annie
of what I write; but if it is ever McManus, Sean’s mother, stand-
given you to meet Boree, the ing behind him.
leprechaun, or Willie the Wisp, Sean, a bright, brawny lad, had
he- of the bog light, they will worn himself out working hard
tell you the tale much as I have as he was in the government at
set it down here. Dublin, and he had returned to
his mother’s home for test and
T WAS an evening of deep comfort. He had been home but
I cloudiness, and a light mist three days when the fever struck
was falling when I arrived at him. Now he was rolling and
the home of Sean McManus near tossing on the bed, his feverish
the edge of Conneman’s Bog. face twisted as though beset by
Sean was in bed with a raging the devils of darkness intent on
fever, and I was to wait outside taking his. soul, Annie, though
the house for Doctor O’Connor dry-eyed, had the look of a
who was caring for the lad. It mother fearful of losing her son.
was' while I was waiting that "You know yourself. Doctor,”
the banshee started her wailing. she was saying as I entered the
The wail started low, and at room, "that when the banshee
first I thought it was but the wails it means the death of some
wind rising. But as the mournful mortal. And Sean is near to his
’
sound rose higher, I knew it for end.”
Heading by Jon Arfstrom

103
106 WEIRD TALES
"Enough of those old wives’ meadows _during the day disturb
tales," Doctor O'Connor inter- her. But the stench of the
let
rupted. "You should know better near-death float through the air,
than to believe such superstitions, she will arouse from her lethargy
Annie McManus. Sean is not to start a keening and wailing
It’s the noise from
near his end. which mortal ears can hardly
thebog which is disturbing him tolerate.”
more than the sickness. Come Which was the truth, though
morning, and we’ll' move hirri to few mortals believed it. I had
a quieter place.” learned of the banshee from
"Be that as may. Doctor,”
it Boree, the -leprechaun, for I had
Annie "but ’tis myself
replied, never met the woman. Boree, a
believe the tale.” She moved brave, daring little fellow, roam-
"
slowly toward the door. ’Tis a ed the bog at will and knew her.
bad night out,” she went on. But no one could know her well,
"I’ll be making a cup of tea.” he admitted, for she was a dour,
unpredictable old witch who
T WOULD be a pity should made friends with none of tbe
I Sean die, for he was Annie’s other little people.
only child and his death would And though usually silent, the
be a frantic loss to her. Besides, banshee’s wail once started could
Sean and his mother were well not be stopped. No mortal dared
liked in the village and the go near her; for all he knew her
country about, not only by their keening may be the sounding of
mortal friends .but also by the his own death knell. And seldom
little people. For Sean was always would the other little people
ready to help others, myself in- enter the bog when the banshee
cluded, arid Annie often put out was near, for they were a gentle,
milk for the leprechauns and kindly folk who shy away from
honey for the fairies. all harshness and violence. They
Doctor O’Connor gave, me a know that death follows in the
sidelong glance as Annie left the wake of the keening^ and death
room. is the one thing they do not fully
"It’s a story, many believe understand.

even in these days, Patrick,”
he said, "that the banshee lies
quiet in her bog-nest until she
smells the near-death approacH-
A nnie returned with the
and we sat sipping in silence
watching Sean. Sean’s restless
tea,
ihg. Neither the odorous atmos- body would not be stilled, and
phere of the bog at night, nor there was naught we could do for
the fragrant breezes from the him.
THE BANSHEE AND PATRICK O’BANNON
i,-
107,
Doctor O’Connor finished his O’Connor had ever spoken of my

cup and rose to his feet. 'He ability to see and talk with the
started pacing the floor, his wor- little people. But that being as it
ried' eyes moving from Sean to may, I had no courage to face,

me and back again toward Sean. the banshee on her own boggy
"It’s that hellish banshee caus- ground.
ihg this with her senseless "Or are you really afraid to try,
clamor,” he finally burst out. Patrick?” the doctor went on.
"Her wailing has disturbed the Yes, I was afraid. With the
latent devils of the fever in Sean, keening of the bog spirit ringing
,
bringing them to a stronger life. in my ears, I was afraid. For

Can you do nothing to stop that though it was said that the wail-
bedkm-turned-loose, Patrick? It ing of the banshee was only for
will be the death of Sean, for he those who were ill and near
cannot be' moved safely now.” death, others had heard the wail-
Sean’s mother looked toward ing who were stricken down
me, worried but silent. But what while in the prime of health.
could I do? Big as I was I feared "I don’t blame you for not
the banshee, and to go searching going if you are afraid, Patrick,”
for her through the bog at night the doctor said, "but there is no
might be the death of me also. other to send.”
"How can I stop her yowling, I went outside without answer-
Doctor?” I asked. "It is said, she ing. I could not stomach the
cannot be seen by mortals, and doctor’s harsh words, nor stand
though found her wailing cannot up to the appeal in the eyes of
be stopped until death crosses Sean’s mother. I was a coward,
the threshold,” for feared the banshee, though

I
"You are afraid, Patrick,” the I knew I could find and see her
doctor, replied. "Had I but half even in the darkness of the bog.
your influence with the peo-
little The light froni Sean’s bedroom
ple, I would go myself. It's a lighted my way as wandered
I
God-given gift you have, laddie, toward the bog. Around me I
that you can see and talk with could sense the. closeness of the
the fairies and elves, the lepre- little people, and I was wonder-
chauns and others to whom the ing what brought them out in the
eyes of ordinary mortals are darkness of the night when I
blind. With your gift, you could met Boree.
surely see the banshee and per- The leprechaun was seated on
suade her to silence her lamenta- a slender limb which crossed my
tions.” path, and I might have passed
This was the first time Doctor him unknowing — for my eyes
108 WEIRD TALES
‘
-were blurred to the sight of the about And' we need you,

it.
little people with the thought of Patrick.Will ye help us? Will

my feardness —had he not put ye agree to do what we ask
out a hand to stop me. without reason or question}”
"And what might be pothering It wâs a difficult problem he
you now, Patrick?” he asked. ''Is was facing me with. If I agreed
it that the wailing has addled- to help them, I would have to
your brain so ye cannot see your do Boree said willy-nilly be
as
friends? Tell me, Patrick, why it for good or bad. But I had
do you pass us by?” much faith in Boree, He was a

The fog cleared from my eyes tricky little old man, always up
then, and I saw^ the fairies and to troublesome mischief; but he
elves and leprechauns gathered forever knew' what he was doing,
as though- for a conference. And and never suffered unpleasant-
off to one side, his light covered, ness for his pranks.-
"
stood Willie the Wisp. ’Twill help Sean if we suc-
"Tell me, Patrick, what might ceed,” Boree. went on. “There’ll
be troubling ye?” Boree went on. be some .discomfort for yourself,
I spared not myself, but told Patrick. Ye may never look the
Boree of my cowâfdice. Boree same after ye’ve met the banshee.
shook his head when I had But ye will have experienced
finished. somew'hat rio mortal has suffered
"Ye might find the banshee,” before and may never again.”
he stated. "All ye need is to "It might even be the death of
follow your ears to yon racket. ye, Patrick,” Willie the Wisp put
But ye cannot stop' her clamor in.
wdiile the s^cent of the near-death The death of me? I was dying
is in the air.*^For that ye must get on my feet, torn between the
rid of her.” fear of what Boree might w'ant
"Get rid of her?” I asked. me to do and the displeasure of
"How^ can one' like me get rid of the little people should I refuse.
her who cannot be killed? An- was the keening of the bog
It
swer me that, Boree, and I’ll find spirit, a moaning lamentation of

the courage to face her though it sorrow and woe, and the ap-
be the death ,of me.” pearance of Doctor O’Connor in
"
cannot kill her,”
’Tis true ‘ye the door of the house which de-
Boree replied,round, elfiii
his cided me.
face now grave sober, “for she is "Do'^you be going home now,
not mortal. But there is a way Patrick,” the doctor called,
to stop her yowling, and we are though doubt he could see me
I
here to see what might be done in the darkness. “There is naught

THE BANSHEE AND PATRICK O’BANNON 109
•we can do for Sean this night. have not the stomach to talk with
I’ll stay here." nor even look at the old hag."
I did not reply, but turned to "Then be off wfith ye. And
Boree. don’t forget the part ye axe. to
"What is it you wish me to play, Willie-Wisp,'-or I’ll. knock
do?" I asked. the daylights out of ye."
"Good lad," Boree answered.
"Ye will go into the bog till HEARD no more from Doctor
ye find the banshed- Draw her I O’Connor. Likely he thought
attention to yourself. Ye may Ihad returned home. Willie the
have trouble, for she is a dis- Wisp danced ahead of me, his
agreeable wench, and will not flickering light guiding my feet
take pleasure at your coming. through the muck of the bog.
Talk with her. Make mortal love The lamentations of the banshee
to her if need be. Fight with her grew louder as we advanced, and
if ye must. But make her move soon Willie the Wisp halted.
around all ye can, for while she "I go no farther," he stated
is active she cannot wail. ’Twill positively. "Follow your ears to
give us time to set a plan in the noise, Patrick. You’ll find
motion which should silence her. Keep her busy aslong as you
her." can, for I have far to go and
"What are you going to do?" much do to carry out
to my part
I asked. *Tf I should stop her of the program."
wailing, for how long must it With thaij his light wênt out,
be?" and I w'as left alone in the dark-
"Who kncns^s?" Boree replied, ness.
"for your time means naught to I almost turned back. The
us. Just keep her on the go as blackness all about me and the
long as ye are able. I cannot tell lamentations of the banshee ad-
ye what we have in mind, Patrick, dkd my brain, until I knew"
but if it turns out as we hope, naught of what I should do.
all wdll be well.” Then the wailing ceased, and
"Coming, Patrick?” Doctor* the fretful voice of the ban-
O’Connor called. shee came from the darkness
"Do ye not mind him," Boree ahead.
broke in before -I could answ’er. "Who is this come to disturb
"Ye must be leaving wdth na my lamentations?" she asked.
regrets. Willie the Wisp wdll "Be ye mortal, turn back lest
light your way through the bog." my cries be for you. Be ye of the
"But only till we near the little people, go away.”
lady," Willie the Wisp stated. "I --."It is I, Patrick O’Bannon, a
110 WEIRD TALES
mortal soul," I replied. "I would asked. "Cease what is the na-
have a word with you." ture withinme? Can the sun stop
"Patrick O'Bannon, what do- shining? Can a pig refrain from
ye here?’’ the banshee asked. "I eating? Can ye mortals cease
have heard of ye, and I know
'
feasting and loving when the
there is no harm in ye. Step mood upon ye? Since the days
is
forward and say your say quickly, of the Tuatha De Danann, the
for I have much to do this gods of the ancient Firbolg, I
night." have mourned when the death of
I took a few steps forward mortals is near. No, Patrick, I
through the muck, and my eyes cannot cease my lamentations, for
were opened to the sight of the it is the nature of me to mourn
banshee. when the scent of the near-death
She was seated on a tuft of comes to my nostrils."
moss, a little old woman no big- "Then can’t you go away,” I
ger than 'Bowgene’s pig, black asked, "to some place where you
with the muck of the bog on her, cannot get the scent of the near-
her features grim and haggard death?”
as though she was carrying the "That I cannot,” she replied.
weight of all the sins of the "My nature will not allow me to
world. leave.”
"It is about Sean McManus," "Then my errand here was for
nothing?” "You
I said. "Sean is ill and near death.
Your lamentations keep him wouldn't
I
—
asked.
from sleeping, and without sleep "It was, and .1 won’t,” she
he cannot get well." interrupted. "Be ye gone now,
"And what do ye wish me to'* Patrick. ’Tis been nice meeting
do about that?” she asked, ye, and if ye come again some
"Cease your wailings so Sean other time, be pleased to
I shall
can sleep,” I replied. My courage visit andwith ye. ’Tis few
talk
was increasing as we talked, for •mortals who have the gift. But
I could see no harm in this little now I must be about my duties.”
old woman. A thin wail floated out into the
bog. A mewling plaint which
HE started combing her long rose higher until it sounded like
S hair withher thin fingers. the desparing cry of a soul lost
Her drear eyes looked up at me, in the black void between Heaven
eyes seemingly weary ofiher place and Hell. Sean would be badly
in the existence of the little disturbed by that cry, and there
people. seemed no way of stopping it.
"Cease my lamentations?" she Unless I could use mortal force
THE BANSHEE AND PATRICK O’BANNON Ill
on the banshee. Which could be "until I’ve stopped your yowl-

the worse for me if the force mg.
would not affect her. But I could "Then on your own head be
'•* >1
only try. Scooping up a gob of it.
mud, I threw it square into her /
mouth. MOVED
toward her, stoop-
The wair stopped as though I ing low with my arms wide
blocked by choking fingers. The to grasp her. But’ it was like
banshee spat out the mud, and trying to catch and hold an arm-
I feared of what might happen ful of the evening breeze.
to myself. But I had to go on Around and around in the muck
now that I had started, I l^ped we went, with myself slipping
toward the banshee, hoping I and sliding like a pig on ice in
might get my arms about her my efforts to reach her, she caper-
small body and hold her. ing arouiid light as a feather and
She sprang nimbly up and to keeping away from my reaching
one side as I leaped, giving me a arms. How long this lasted I
slight push as I passed her. know not, but her wailings had
Though she barely touched me, ceased and there was no noise
I staggered and fell headlong except for my muddlings in the
into the bog. muck and water. Finally I stop-
I lay still for the moment, ped, for I had no more breath
smeared with muck and soaked left in me.
by water. Then I lumped to my The banshee seemed to float in
feet and faced her, for I knew the air before me. My
sight was
naught of what she might do and so sullied I could but see her
I feared her anger. She stood, a form.
"
frightful, worrisome figure, but ’Tis enough now, Patrick,
a few feet away. she cried. "Ye have no one. but
"Cease, Patrick, ye spalpeen," yourself to blame for what will
she cried. "Cease while ye are befairye."
still able to keep to your feet. With that she sprang toward
This is no place for mortal man me, and gave me a clout on the
to-die.” side of the head which knocked
I coiild not cease, though
But me- down.
it be the death of me. I had “Ye haye given me quite a
given my word to Boree that I time," she went on as I lay
would do all I could to silence there. "Now go ye home and
the banshee, and that word drove leave me be to my wailings."
me on. Tired, dizzy, and flat in the
"I will not cease," I. shouted, muck I watched her. She glanced
112 WEIRD TALES
\
around, and an air of puzzlement ahead, straight toward the

came to her face. Then she smiled light.
grimly and gave a cackling laugh., The light seemed far away;
"Ye had me distracted for the seemed to move farther away as
moxnent, Patrick,” she said, "but we advanced. I knew that this
I have it now. -It pains me to was not so, but. was the blurring
leave ye, laddie, for I would of the sight in my bewildered
know more 'of a. fine boy like brain.
you.” A moan as of sadness and The banshee became
soon
sorrow came from her lips as strangely silent, and wondered
I
she moved away through the bog. if the scent of the near-death had
A haunting moan, the sound of left the air; if Sean had dxed
which I will never forget. while we were scrabbling in the
clambered to my feet. My
I bog.
knees were weak. I was covered After what seemed hours to
with slime and mire, I didn’t my fuddled brain, the light ahead
know where I was, and I didn’t drew nearer. We
should soon be
care. My mind was set on but at .the house.
one thing; I had to follow the
banshee; must stop her wailing.' F THE
Of Boree and the other little
people I gave but scant thought.
O unnatural silence of
I gave but little
the banshee,
thought. She would halt near the
I may have failed so far, but I edge of the bog, as near to the
had done the best I could and window as she could get, and I
would carry on. would, 'agairi try to silence her
The banshee was moving to- if she started her wailing.
ward a glimmer of light which Then, with an unexpected sud-
seemed far away in the darkness. denness, the light went out.
That would be the 'light from The banshee stopped. But only
the. window in Sean’s bedroom, for a moment. With a mewling
for there was no other house cry she ran ahead for a few yards
could be seen from the bog. and stopped again. I caught up
In the black darkness I could with her, keeping far to one side.
see nothing but the light and the The end of the bog was in sight,
small form of the banshee bob- and she .stood staring wildly to-
bing, ahead of me; could feel ward a broad, open meadow with
nothing biit my wetness and no sign of house or light on any
weariness, and the yearning to side. She turned toward me, a
be home and in bed; could hear furious light in her eyes.
nothing but the slight moaning "Ye omadhaun,” she shrieked.
of the banshee as she 'moved "This is some trick of yours.
THE BANSHEE AND PATRICK C’BANNON 113
Patrick O’Bannon. Some mortal thought she might. But was soreI
trick ye have played on me, to afraid the old woman would do
toll me away to some place I ye harm.”
know not. ’Tis another dout I’ll "She tried to, I answered as
be giving ye for that.” we moved toward Annie Mc-
She leaped toward me, but in Manus’ home, "but I’m still fdive.
her fury she missed as I dodged But tell me, Boree. How did you
to one side. I waited not for her put out the light in Sean’s win-
rage was evident, but ran up into dow so the banshee could not
the meadow where she dare not see it? There was but one light to
follow. But her screaming voice be- seen from the bog.”
blared in my ears. "We didn’t put it out,” Boree
replied. "We just gathered the
''
smart lad ye think ye
’Tis a
are,” she shouted. ”Ye have the little people in front of the win-
best of me now, Patrick O’Ban- dow and blocked off the light,
non, but it will be a pleasure to while Willie tolled the old witch
me when I have the good fortune end of the bog and up
to the far
to wail at- your own near-death.” the wet swale to the bog above
I ignored her ranting and went Killaty. She won’t find her way
on. Beyond the meadow lay a back here till Sean is well, I’ll
field of flax, and I knew where see to that.”

I was. And there I found Boree
and Willie the Wisp waiting.
"Are ye all right, Patrick?”
Willie the Wisp asked. "That old
The
all
light was shining from
Sean’s bedroom window and
the little people had disap-
harridan didn’t hurt you?” when we reached Annie
peared,
'T.m all right,” I replied,' "but McManus’ home. I went to the
I’m fair tired.” door and called Doctor O’Con-
"Ye should be,” Boree said. nor."’He gave me but one glance.
"
’Twas a good job ye done, "Sean is now sleeping, and I
Patrick,and I’m proud of ye. believe he will get well,” the
Ye bothered the old witch long doctor said. "I’ll not ask you how
enough to get her flustered, and you done it, Patrick, but we are
*
when Willie showed his light at thankful that you have returned
the far end of the bog, she took safely. Get you home now, bathe
itfor the light from Sean’s bed- and take some rest. We
can talk
room and followed it. Which I later.”
Like many another he left a diary, but this one was a thing of horror.
Heading by Joseph Eberle
haven’t told me yet This housekeeper of my

i how happened,” I said
it uncle’s was somewhat taller than
to Mrs. Malkin. I,and much heavier two phys- —
She set her lips and eyed me, icalpreponderances which afford
sharply. any woman .possessing them an
"Didn’t you talk with the advantage over the ‘inferior male.
coroner, sir?” She appeared a subject for
"Yes, of course,” I âdmitted; diplomacy rather than argument.
"but as I understand you found Noting her ample jaw, her
rny uncle, I thought-4:^” •breadth of cheek, - the unsenti-
"Well, I wouldn’t care to say mental glint of her eye, I de-
anything about it,” she inter-' cided on conciliation. I placed a
rupted, with, decision. chair for lier; there in my Uncle
Copyi’isrht 192.^ by Rural PublishiuK Company
.114
BEYOND THE DOOR 115
Godfrey’s study, and dropped in cabinets, all over the place,

into another, myself. the way you do. But when it
"At before we go over
least, comes to pinnin’ them on the
the other parts of the house, walls in regular armies,’ I says,
suppose we rest a little,” I sug- 'and on the ceiling of your own
gested, in my most unctuous man- study; and even on different
ner. "The place rather gets on parts of the furniture, so that
one’s nerves —
don’t you think a body don’t know what awfiil
so.'’ things she's agoin’ to find under
It was sheer luck — I claim no her hand of a sudden when she
credit for it. My chance reflection does the dusting; why then,’ I
found the weak spot in her says to him, 'it’s drivin’ a decent
”
She replied to it
fortifications. woman too far.’
with an undoubted smack of sat- "And did he never try to re-
isfaction; form his ways when you told him
"It’s more than seven years "that.^” I asked, smiling.
that I’ve been doing for Mr. "To be frank with you, Mr.
Sarston, sir. Bringing him his Robinson when I talked like that
meals regular as clockwork, keep- to him, he generally raised my
ing the house clean —
as clean as pay. And what ,was a body to do
he’d let me — and sleeping at my then?”
own home, o’ nights; and in all "I can’t see how Lucy Lawton
that time over and
I’ve said, stood the place as long as she
over, there ain’t a house in New“ did,” I observed, watching Mrs.
York the equal of this for queer- Malkin’s red face very closely.
ness.” She swallowed the bait, and
"Nor anywhere else,” I en- leaned forward, hands on knees.
couraged her, with a laugh; and "Poor girl, it got on her
her confidences opened another nerves. But she was the quiet
notch kind. You
never saw her, sir?”
"You’re likely right in that, I my head.
shook
too, sir. As I’ve said to poor Mr. "One of them slim, faded
Sarston, many a time, 'It’s all girls, with light hair, and hardly
well enough,’ says I, 'to have a word to say. for herself. I don’t
bugs for a hobby. You can af- believe she got to know the next-
ford it; and being a bachelor and door neighbor in the whole year
by yourself, you don’t have to she lived with your uncle. She
consider other people’s likes and was an orphan, wasn't she, sir?”
dislikes. And it’s all well enough "Yes,” I said. "Godfrey Sars-
if you want to, says I, to keep ton and I were her only living
thousands and thousands o’ them relatives. That was why she came
116 WEIRD TALES
from Australia to stay with him, about it. Shall we be getting on
after her father’s death.” now, sir?”
Mrs.' Malkin nodded. I was I tried another lead:
hoping that, putting a check on "I hadn’t seen my uncle in five
my eagerness, I could lead her years, you know. He seemed
on to a number of things I great- terribly changed. He was not an
ly desired to know. Up io the
time I had induced the house--
old man, by any means, yet
I saw him at the funeral
—when
” I
keeper to show me through this paused, expectantly.

strange house of my Uncle God- To my relief, she responded
frey’s, the whole affair had been readily;
a mystery of lips which closed "He looked that way for the
and which were averted at
faces last few months, especially that
my approach. Even the coroner last week, 1 spoke to him about
seemed unwilling to tell me just it, two days before before it —
how my uncle had died. happened, sir and told him —
he’d do well to see the doctor
you understand she again. But he cut me off short.
-L^ was going to live with My sister
took sick the same day,
him, sir?” asked Mrs. Malkin, and I was called out of town.
The next time I saw him, he
looking hard at me.
confirmed myself to a nod.
I was
—
I. Yet, after a
••Well, so .did She paused, and then went on,
year, back she went.” sobbing;
"She went suddenly?” I sug- "To think of him lyin’ there ,
gested. in that awful place, and callin'

"So suddenly that I never and callin’ for me, as I know'
knew a thing about it till after he must, and me not around
she was gone. I came to do my to hear him!”
chores one day, and she was As she stopped again, sudden-
.
here, I came the next, and she ly, and threw a suspicious glance
had back to Australia.

started at me,. I hastened to insert a
That’s how sudden
she went.” matter-of-fact question:
"They must have had a falling "Did he appear ill on that
out, I conjectured. "I suppose
k was because of the house.”

last
"Not
day?”
so much ill, as
—
"Maybe it was and maybe it "Yes?” I prompted.
wasn't." She was silent a long time,
"You know of
other reasons?" while I waited, afraid that some
my head,” she
"I have eyes in word of mine, had brought back
said. "But I’m not going To talk her former attitude of iiostility.
BEYOND THE DOOR 117
Then she seemed to make up "Itwas in the night that it —

her mind. happened?” I asked.
“I oughtn’t to say another She nodded; then, as if the
word. I’ve said too much, al- prologue were over, as if she had
ready. But you’ve been Wberal prepared my mind sufficiently,
with me, sir, and I- know some- she produced something from
thin’ you’ve a right to be told, under her apron. She must have
which I’m thinkin’ no one else been holding it there all the
is agoin’ to tell you. Look at the time.
bottom of his study door a min- "It’s his diary, sir. It was lying
ute, sir.” here on the floor, I saved it for
you, before the police could get
FOLLOWED her direction. theirhands on it.”
I What I saw led me to drop .1opened the little book. One
to my hands and fences the better of the sheets near the back was
to examine it. crumpled, and I glanced at it,
"Why should he put a rubber idly.
strip on the bottom of his door?” What I read there impelled

I asked, getting up. me to slap the cover shut again.
She replied with another enig- "Did you read this?” I de-
matical suggestion; manded.
"Look at these, if you will, She met my" gaze, frankly.
sir. "You’ll remember that he "I looked into it, sir, just as
slept in this study. That was his
^
you did —
only just looked into
bed, over there -in the alcove.” it. Not for worlds would I do
"Bolts!” I exclaimed. And I even that again!”

reinforced sight with touch by _ "I noticed some reference
shooting one of them back and here to a slab in the cellar. What
forth a few times. "Double bolts slab is that?”
on the inside of this bedroom "It covers an old, dried-up
door! An upstairs room, at that. well, sir.”
What was the idea?” "Will you show it to me?”
Mrs. Malkin portentously "You can find it for yourself,
shook her head and sighed, as sir, if you wish. I’m not goin’
one unburdening her mind. down there,” she said, decidedly.
"Only this can I say, sir; he "Ah, well. I’ve seen enough
was afraid of something terri- — for today,” I told her. "I’ll take
bly afraid, sir. Something that the diary back to my hotel and
came in the night.” read it.” _
"What was it?” I demanded. I did not return to my hotel,
*T don’t know, sir.” however. In my one brief

118 WEIRD TALES
glance into the little book, I had extended the bounds of human
seen something which had bitten knowledge. Could not his. un-
into my soul, only a few words, questioned merits have been bal-
but they had brought me very anced against his sin? Was if
near to that queer, solitary man necessary to even-handed justice
who had been my uncle. that he die face-to-face with
I dismissed Mrs. Malkin, and Horror, struggling with the thing
remained in the study. There
' he most feared? .1 ponder the
was the fitting place to read the question still, though his body
diary he had left behind him. strangely bruised —
has been long
His personality lingered like at rest.
a vapor in^that study. I ^titled

into his
turned it
deep morris
to catch the light
window
chair,
—
and
from T he entries in the little
began with the fifteenth
book
of
the single, narrow the June. Everything before that
light, doubtless, by which he had date had been’ torn out. There,
written much of his work on in the room where it had been
entomology. written, I read my Uncle God-
That same struggling illumi- frey’s diary.
nation played shadow'y tricks “It is done. I am trembling
with hosts of wall-crucified in- so that the words will hardly
sects, which seemed engaged in form under rny pen, -but my
a united effort to crawl upward mind is collected. My course was
in sinuous lines. Some of their for the best. Suppose I had mar-
number, impaled to the ceiling ried her? She w'ould have beeri
itself, peered quiveringly down unwilling to live in this house.
on the aspiring multitude. The At the outset, her wishes would
whole house, with its crisp dead, have come between me and my
rustling in any vagrant breeze, work, and that would have been
brought back to my mind the only the beginning.
hand that had pinned them, one “As a married man’, I could
by one, on w'all and ceiling and not have concentrated properly,
furniture. A kindly hand, I re- I could not have surrounded my-
flected, though eccentric; one not self with the atmosphere indis-
to be turned aside from its single ensable to the writing of my
hobby. ook. My scientific message
When quiet, peering Uncle would never have been deliver-
Godfrey went, there passed out ed. As it is, though my heart is
another of those scientific enthu- sore, I shall stifle these memories
siasts,whose passion for exact in work.
truth in some one direction has “I wish I had been more
BEYOND THE DOOR 119
gentle with her, especially when cellar and lift the slab over the
she sank to her knees before me, old well.
tonight. She kissed my hand. I "I never have yielded to the
should^ not have repulsed her so impulse, but it had persisted for
roughly. In particular, my words minutes together with such in-
could have been better chosen. tensity have had to put
that I
I said to her, bitterly; 'Get up, work and literally hold
aside,
and don’t nuzzle my hand like myself down in my chair. This
a dog.’ She rose, without a word, insane desire comes only in the
and left me. How was I to know dead of night, when its disquiet-
that, within, an hour ing effect is heightened by the
"I am
largely to blame. Yet, various noises peculiar .to the
had taken any other cohrse
I house.
afterward than the one I did, "For instance, there often is
the authorities would have mis- a draft of air along the hallways,
understood.” which causes a rustling among
Again, there followed -a space the specimens impaled on the
from which the sheets had been walls. Lately, too, there have
torn; but- from the sixteenth of been other nocturnal sounds,'
July, all the pages were intact. strongly suggestive of 'the busy
Something had come over the clamor of and mice. This
rats
writing, too. It was still precise calls for have
investigation.
I
—
and clear my Uncle Godfrey’s been at considerable expense to
characteristic han.d —but the let- make the house proof against
ters were less firm. As the rodents, which might destroy
entries approached the end, some of my best specimens. If
this difference became still more some structural defect has open-
marked. ed a way for them, the situation
Here follows, then, the whole niust be corrected at once.”
of his story; or as rriuch of it as "July 17th. The foundations
will ever be known. I shall let and cellar were examined today
his words speak for him, without by a workman. He states posi-
further interruption: .fively that there is no place of
"My nerves are becoming ingress for rodents. He content-
more seriously affected. If certain ed himself with looking at the
annoyances do not shortly cease, slab over the old well, without
I shall be obliged to procure lifting it.”
medical advice. To be more "July 19th. While I was sit-
myself, at times,
specific, I find ting in this chair, late last night,
obsessed by an almost uncontrol- writing, the impulse to descend
lable desire to descend fd the to the cellar suddenly came upon
120 WEIRD TALES
me with tremendous insistence". cellar stairs, thence to this study.
I yielded —
which, perhaps, was My nerves are playing' me sorry
as well. For at least I satisfied tricks."
myself that the disquiet which "July 30th. For more than a.
possesses -me has no external week, all has been well. The
cause. tone of my nerves seems distinct-
"The long journey through ly better. Mrs. Malkin, who has
th^ hallways was difficult. Sev- remarked several times lately up-
eral times, I was keenly aware . on my paleness, expressed, the
of the same sounds (perhaps I conviction this afternoon that I
should say, the same IMPRES- am nearly my old self again.
SIONS of sounds) that I had This is encouraging. I was be-
•erroneously laid to rats. I am ginning to fear that the severe
convinced now that they are strain of the past few months
more symptoms of my nervous had left an indelible mark upon
condition. Further indications of me.
this came in "the fact that, as I "With continued health, I
opened the cellar door, the small shall be able to finish my book
noises abruptly ceased. There by spring.”
was no final scamper of " tiny "July 31st. Mrs. Malkin re-
footfalls to suggest rats disturb- .mained rather late tonight in
ed at their occupations. connection with' some item of
"Indeed, I was conscious of a housework^ and it was- quite
certain impression of expectant dark when I returned to my
"silence —as if the thing behind study from bolting the street
the noises, whatever it was, had door after her. The blackness of
paused to watch me enter its the upper hall, which the former
domain. Throughout my time in owner of the house inexplicably
the cellar, I seemed surrounded- failed to wire for electricity, was
by this same atmosphere. Sheer profound. As I came to^the top
'nerves,’ of course.. of the second flight of stairs,
#
something clutched at my foot,
<<TN THE main, I held myself and, for an instant, almost pull-
JL well under control. As I ed rhe back.. I freed myself and
was about to leave the cellar; ran- to the study.” >
however, I unguardedly glanced "August 3rd. Again the awful

back over my shoulder at the insistence. I sit here, with this
stone slab covering the old well. diary upon my knee, and it
At that, a violent tremor came seems that fingers_ of iron are
.over me, and, losings all com- tearing at me. I WILL go! NOT
mand, I rushed back up the_ My nerves may be utterly un-
BEYOND THE DOOR 121
Strung again (I fear they are), through. Calmness may come

'but I am still their master.” that way.
"August 4th. I did not yield,
last night. After a bitter struggle, 'CREELING rather fatigued
which must have lasted nearly last night, from the strain
an hour, the desire to go to the of a weary day of research,' I re-
cellar suddenly^ departed. I must tired early. My sleep was more

not give in at any time.” refreshing than usual, as it is
“August 5th. Tonight, the rat likely to be when one is genuine-

noises (I shall call them that for ly awakened, however
tired.
I
want a more appropriate

of (it must have been about ah
’
term) are very noticeable. I went hour ago), with a start of tre-
to the length of unbolting my mendous violence.
door and stepping into the hall- "There was moonlight in the
way to listen. After a few min- room. My nerves were on edge,
utes, I seemed to be aware of but for a moment, I saw nothing'
something large and gray watch- unusual. Then, glancing toward
ing me from the darkness at the the door, I perceived what ap-
end of the passage. This is a peared to be thin, white fingers,
bizarre statement, of course, but —
thrust under it- exactly as if
it exactly describes my
impres- some one outside’ the door were
:sion. I withdrew hastily into the trying to attract my attention in
study, and bolted the door. that manner. rose and turned
I
"Now that my nerves’ condi- on the light, but the fingers were
tion is so palpably affecting the gone.
optic nerve, • I must not- much "Needless to say, I did not
longer delay seeirig a specialist. open the door, I write the occur-
But-r-how much shall I tell rence down, just as it took place,
him?” or as it seemed; but I can not
"August 8th. Several times, trust myself to corhment upon
tonight, while sitting here at it.
my work, I have seemed to hear "August 10th. Have fastened

soft footsteps, the passage.
in heavy rubber strips on the bottom
”
'Nerves’ again, of course, or else of my ..bedroom •
door.
some new trick of the wind "August 15th. All quiet, for
among the specimens on the severa.1 nights. I am hoping that
walls.” the riibber strips, being some-
"August 9th. By my watch it thing definite and tangible, have
is four o’clock in the morning. had a salutary effect upon my
My mind is made up to record nerves. Perhaps I shall not need
the experience I have passed to see a? doctor.”
'
>
122 WEIRD TALES
"August 17th, Once more, 1“ the start. Without doubt, most,
’
have been aroused from sleep. if not all, of my hallucinations
The interruptions seem to come could have been averted.

always at the- same hour about — "I have been suffering a
three o’clock in the rhorning. I needless penalty from my nerves
had .been dreaming of the well for an action I took solely in the
in the cellar —
the same dream, interests of science. I have no
over and over —
everything black disposition to tolerate it further.
except the slab, and a figure From today, I shall report regu-
with bowed head and averted larly to Dr. Sartwell.”
face sitting there. Also, I had "August 19th. Used the sleep-
vague dreams about a dog. Can ing draft last night, with gratify-
it be that my last words to. her ing results. The doctorj says I
have impressed that on my must repeat the dose for several
mind.^ I must pull myself to- nights, until my nerves are well
gether, In particular, I must not, under control again.
under any pressure, yield, and "August 21st.. All well. It
visit the cellar after nightfall.” seems that I have found the way
-"August 18th, Am
' feeling out— a very simple and prosaic
much more hopeful, Mrs. Mal- way. I rnight have avoided much
kin remarked bn it, while serv- needless annoyance by seeking
ing dinner. This improvement expert advice at the beginning.
is due largely to a consultation Before I un-
retiring, last night,
I have had with Dr. Sartwell, bolted my
study door and took
the .distinguished specialist in a turn up and down the passage.
nervous diseases, I went irito I felt no trepidation. The, place
full details with him, excepting was as it used to be, before these
certain reservations. He
scouted fancies assailed me. A ' visit to
the idea that my
experiences theTellar after nightfall will be
could be. other .than purely the test for my complete recov-
mental. ery, but I am not' yet quite
"When he recommended a ready for that. Patience!”
change of scene (which I had
been expecting) I told him posi-
,
A UGUST 22nd. I have just
tively that it was out of the read yesterday’s entry,
question. He said them that, with thinking to steady myself; It is
the aid of a tonic and an occa- cheerful —
almost gay; and there
sional sleeping draft, I arii likely are other entries like it in pre-
to progress well enough at home. ceding pages. I am a mouse, in
This is distinctly encouraging. the grip of a cat. Let me have
1 erred in not going to him at freedom for ever' so short a. time.
BEYOND THE DOOR 123
and I begin Lo rejoice at my explanations of 'doctor’s orders’

escape. Then the paw descends has silenced her. I am awake, for
again. breakfast and supper, and sleep
'Tt is four in the morning in the hours between. She is
the usual hour. I retired rather leaving me, each evening, a cold
late, last night, after administer-v lunch to be eaten at midnight.”
ing the draft. Instead of the "August 26th. Several times,
dreamless sleep, which hereto- I have caught myself nodding in
fore has followed the use of the my chair. The last time, I am
drug,, the slumber into which I sure on arousing, I per-
that,
fell was punctuated by recurrent ceived the rubber strip under the
visions of the slab, with the door bent, inward, as if some-
bowed figure, upon it. Also, T thing were pushing it from the
had one poignant dream in other side. I must not, under
which the dog was involved. any circumstances, permit myself
to fall asleep.”
A T LENGTH, I awakened, "September 2nd. Mrs. Malkin
and reached mechanically is to be away, because of her
for the light switch beside my sister’s illness. I can not help
bed. When my hand encounter- dreading her absence. Though
ed nothing, I suddenly realized she is here only in the daytime,
the truth. I was standing in my even that companionship is very
study, with my other hand upon welcome.”
the doorknob. It required only "September 3rd. Let me put
a moment, of course, to find the .
this into writing. The mere labor
light and switch it on. I saw of composition has a soothing
then that the bolt had been influence upon me. God knows,
drawn back. I need such, an influence now, as
"The door was quite unlock- never before!
ed. My awakening must have "In spite of all my watchful-
interrupted me in the very act of ness, I fell asleep, tonight
opening it. I could hear some- across my bed. must have been
I
thing moving restlessly in the utterly exhausted. The dream I

passage outside the door." had was. the one about the dog.
"August 23rd. I must beware I was patting the creature’s head,
of sleeping at night. Without over and over.

confiding the fact to Dr. Sart- "I awoke, at last, to find my-
well, I have begun to take the self in darkness, and in a stand-
drug in the daytime. At first, ing position. There was a sug-
Mrs. Malkin’s views on the sub- gestion of chill and earthiness
ject were pronounced, but my in the air. While I was drowsily
124 WEIRD TALES
trying to get my bearings, I be- covering the writing. With diffi-
came aware thatsomething was culty, I made it out:

muzzling my hand, as a dog "The guilt is mine —mine,
might do. only. loved her too well, yet
I
’'Still saturated with my I was unwilling to marry,

dream, I was not greatly aston- though she entreated me on her
ished. I extended my hand, to —
knees though she kissed my
pat the dog’s head. That brought hand. I told her my scientific
me to my senses. I was standing work came first. She did it, her-
in the cellar. self. J was not expecting that —
"THE THING BEFORE ME swear I was not expecting it. But
WAS NOT A DOG! I was afraid the authorities
"I can not tell how I fled back would misunderstand. So I took
up the cellar stairs. I know, what seemed the best course. She
however, that, as I turned, the had no friends here who would
slab was visible, in spite of the inquire.
darkness, with something sitting "It is waiting outside my
upon it. All the way up the door. I FEEL it. It compels me,
stairs, hands snatched at my through myThoughts. My hand
feet. keeps on writing. I must not fall
his entry seemed to

asleep.
am
must think only of what
I
must
—
T this diary, for blank
finish
pages
I writing. I
Then came the words I had
followed it; but I remembered seen when Mrs. Malkin had
the crumpled sheet, near the handed me the book. They were
back of the book. was partly
It written very large. In places, the
torn out, as if a hand had clutch- pen had dug through the paper.
ed it, convulsively: writing The Though they were scrawled, I
on it, too, was markedly
in con- read them at a glance:
trast to the precise, albeit nerv- "Not the slab in the cellar!
Not Oh, my God, anything
ous penmanship of even the last
entry I had perused. I was forced but
that!
Anything
that!
—
to hold the scrawl up to the By what strange compulsion
light to decipher it. This is what was the hand forced to write
I read: down what was in the brain;
"My hand keeps on writing, even to the ultimate thoughts;
in spite of myself. What is this? even ^ to those final words?
I do not wish to write, but it
compels me. Yes, yes, I will tell
the truth,
A
I will tell the truth.”
heavy blot followed, partly
T he
dull
gray light
slanting
little
down through
fmm
windows, sank into the
outside,
twô
BEYOND THE DOOR 125
sodden hole near the inner wall. does it?” he suggested, in an.
The coroner and I stood in the undertone.
cellar, but not too near the hole. I shook my head. "Still, it’s
A small, demonstrative, dark stone," I demurred. "A man
man —
the chief of detectives would have to be rather strong
stood a little apart from us, his to lift it.”
eyes intent, his natural animation "To lift it—yes.” He
suppressed. We
were watching about the cellar. "Ah, I foijgot,"
the stooped shoulders of a police he said, abruptly. "It is in my
constable, who was angling in office, as part of the evidence."
the well. He went on,- half to himself; "A
"See anything, Walters?" in- —
man even though not very
quired the detective, raspingly. •strong— could take a stick for —
The policeman shook his instance, the stick that is now in
head. my office —and prop up the slab.
The little man turned his If he wished to look into the
questioning to me. well,” he whisjpered.
You’re quite sure?" he de- The policeman interrupted,
manded, straightening again with a groan,
"Ask the coroner. He saw the and laying his electric torch be-
diary," I told him. side the well.
"I’m afraid bliere can be no "It's breaking my back,” he
doubt," the coroner confirmed, complained. "There’s dirt down
in his heavy, tired voice. there. It seems loose, but I can’t
He was an old man, with lack- get through it. Somebody’ll have
lustre eyes. It had seemed best to go down.”
to me, on the whole, that he The detective cut in; ,
should read my uncle’s diary. "I'm lighter than you, Wal-

His position entitled him to all ters,"
the available facts. What we "I’m not afraid, sir.”
were seeking in the well might "I didn’t say you were,” the
especially concern him. little man snapped.
"There’s
He looked at me opaquely nothing down there, anyway
now, while the policeman bent though we’ll have to prove that,
double again. Then he spoke I suppose." He glanced trucu-
like one who reluctantly and at lently at me, but went on talking
last does his duty. He nodded to the constable; "Rig the rope
toward the slab of gray stone, around me, and don’t bungle the
.
which lay in the shadow to the knot. I’ve no intention of falling

left of the well. into the place.”
"It doesn’t seem very heavy. "There is something there,”
126 WEIRD TALES
whispered the coroner, slowly, behind me. It won't be much of
to me. His eyes left the little de- a pull. take the brunt of it.”
I’ll
tective and the policeman, care- We let the little man down,
fully tying and testing knots, with the electric torch strapped
and turned again to the square to his waist, and some sort of
slab of stone. implement — a trowel or a small
—
"Suppose while a man was —
spade in his hand. It seemed
looking into that hole with the — a long time before his voice,
stone propped up he should — curiously hollow, directed us to
accidentally knock the prop stop. The hole must have been
away?" He was still whispering. deep.
"A stone so light he that We braced ourselves. I was
could prop it up wouldn’t be second, the coroner, last. The
heavy enough to kill him,” I policeman relieved his strain
objected. somewhat by snagging the rope
"No." He laid a hand on my against the edge of the well, '
shoulder. "Not to kill him—to A noise like muffled scratch-

paralyze him if — it struck the ing reached us from below. Oc-
spine in a certain way. To render casionally, the" rope shook and
him helpless, but not uncon- shifted slightly at the edge of
scious: The post mortem would the hole. At last, the detective’s
disclose that, through the bruises hollow voice spoke.
bn the body." ^
"What does he say?” the coro-
f
ner demanded.
T he policeman and the detec-

tive had adjusted the knots
They were
The
square,
policeman turned
dogged face toward us.
"I think he’s found some-
his
to» their satisfaction.

bickering now as to the details thing,” he explained.
of the descent.
"Would that cause death?” I
whispered. The rope jerked and shifted
again. Some sort of struggle
"You must remember that the seemed to be going, on below.
housekeeper was absent for two The weight suddenly increased,
days. In two days, even that and as suddenly lessened, as if
pressure
— ” He stared at me something had been grasped,
hard, to
stood
make
— "with sure that
the head down
— I under- then had managed to elude -the
grasp and slip away. I could
Again the policeman inter- catch the detective’s rapid breath-
rupted: ing now; also the sound of in-
"I’ll stand at the well, if you articulate speech in his hollow
gentlemen will grab the rope voice.
BEYOND THE DOOR 127
The next words I caught came the coroner took him by the
more clearly. They were a com- shoulders and deliberately shook
mand ,to pull up. At the same him. Then the policeman led
moment, the weight* on the rope him out of the cellar.
grew heavier, and remained so.
The policeman’s big shoulders T WAS not then, but. after-
began straining, rhythmically. I ward, thatI put my question
‘All together,” he directed. to the coroner.

“Take it easy. Pull when I do.” “Tell me,” I demanded. "Peo-
Slowly, the rope passed ple pass there at all hours. Why
through our hands. Then it didn’t my uncle call for help?”
tightened suddenly, and there “I have thought of that,”y he
was an ejaculation from below replied. "I believe he did call.
— just below. Still holding fast, I think, probably, he screamed.
the policeman contrived to stoop But head was down, and he
his
over and look. He translated the couldn’traise it. His screams
ejaculation for us. must have been swallowed up
“Let down a little. He’s struck in the well.”
with against the side.”
it "You are sure he didn’t mur-
Weslackened the ropCj until der her?” He had given me that
the detective’s voice gave us the assurance before, but I wished
word again. it again.
The rhythmic tugging contin- “Almost sure,” he declared.
ued. Something dark appeared, "Though it was on his account,
quite abruptly, at the top of the undoubtedly, that she killed her-
hole. My nerves leapt in spite self. Few of us are punished as
of me, but it was merely the accurately for our sins as he

top of the detective’s head his — was.”
dark hair. Something white came One should be thankful, even
—
next ^his pale face, with staring for crumbs of comfort. I am
eyes. Then his shoulders, bowled thankful.
forward, the better to support
. But there are times when my
what was in his arms. Then uncle’s face rises before me.
I looked away; but, as he laid After all, we were the same
his burden down at the side of blood, our sympathies had much
the well, the detective whispered in common; under any giyeri
to us: circumstances, our thoughts and
“He had her, covered up with feelings must have been largely
dirt —covered up the same. I seem to see him in
He began to laugh— a little, that final death march along the
high cackle, like a child’s^ —until unlighted passageway— obeying
128 WEIRD TALES
— —
an imperative summons going Yet was it final? I
expiation.
on, step by step down the wonder. Did the last Door of
Stairway to the first floor, down all, when it opened, find him
the cdlar stairs —
at last, lifting willing to pass through? Or was
the slab. something waiting beyond that
I try not to think of the final Door?
THE EYRIE mance. On the other hand, there

is something about the very
(Continued from second cover) thought ..of rocket
death-rays,
Come on, fans. If we yell loud ships, ancipitus Martians, other and
enough and long enough we may familiars of scientifiction that pre-
convince the publishers that they vents from relinquishing my skep-
should expand this field of weird ticism even while. I'm reading
fiction. Henry D. Barnett, about them. There have been
Crystal City, Mq. good stfyarns just as there have
been bad Gothics, on the
The Editor, WEIRD TALES whole, stf — and,
but,
in particular,
9 Rockefeller Plaza modern stf — is puerile.
New York 20, N. Y. So far as I'm,, concerned, the best

story in the March, 1954, WEIRD
The new, pocket-sized WEIRD TALES is "The Grave at Goonhilly”
—
TALES is ^so far as artistic and by G. G. Pendarves. As recall, a
literary quality is concerned as — few months ago WT reprinted an-
I
good as it has been in the past. other of Mr. Pendarves' wonderful

Apropos of Atr. M. McNeil’s re- tales, called, I think, "Thing of
cent question in The Eyrie anent Darkness.” It is evident that Mr.
the difference between stf and Pendarves can write but I don’t
weird literature, am always ready
I believe any of his GoJ^hic romances
to take up the cudgels in defense ever appeared in book form. I’ve
of the weird tale. Gothic literature never even come, across his name
is meant to entertain. I do not bein any anthology of ghost stories.
lieve in the existence of vampires Until some publisher decides to put
and werewolves but I enjoy read- out a collection of G. G. Pen-
ing about such betes noires. A darves' best works, I think WT
well-written tale of horror can should continue to reprint Mr. Pen-
make you forget- your actual sur- darves’ writings. I hope they are
. roundings and transport you to a all as good as those which have
mediaeval castle haunted by come back in print in recent issues.
things more palpable than mere More power to -you when you rec-
memories. I know such a sentence ognize the maturity of horrific and
smacks of the histrionic but I ac- weird literature.
tually experience such emotions Irving Classman,
when f read q .good Gothic ro- Brooklyn, N, Y.
THE EYRIE
Doubleday Science Fiction Magazines as compiled by Brad-

The Caves of Steel * by Isaac Asi- ford M. Day. The compiler has
mov • Asimov has one of the best studied many sources to which —
.names in this sf business, and this he gives careful credit and his —
novel of an almost perfect crime lists comprise (in multigraphed
form) stories in the genre from
in intergalactic media is one of his
most fascinating. WEIRD TALES, Golden Fleece,
fiorn Leader by J. T. McIntosh • A Strange Stories, Oriental Stories,
v/onderfully imaginative novel of Magic Carpet, Tales of Magic and
intrigue among refugees from a Mystery, Thrill Book, Strange
dying Earth upon one of the newer Stories, Complete Stories, Romance
worlds around us. Magazine, Popular Magazine, The
A' Mirror for Observers by Edgar Idler, Blue Book, etc. For students
Pangborn • A struggle in the minds of the the index will provide
field,
of pseudo men of Earth in a small a very complete compilation. It
Massachusetts town. can be obtained by sending $2
« « 4e to the publisher; Bradford M. Day,
Also a very comprehensive index 1 27—01 1 1 6 Avenue, South Ozone

of the WEIRD & FANTASTICA in Park 20, New York.
WO^’T Mess YOL'U r«i*Yt
WEIRD TALES, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N. Y.
Please enter a subscription to WEIRD TALES for:
One yeor $2.00, two years $3.50. Canada, one year $2.25, two years, $4.00
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Read WEIED TALES

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lEDjlWrNZ.

New York 20, N, Y.

tion. We call it the Ghost Story exclusively. At least every o.her

and ONCE THERE WAS A LITTLE NOVELS bi-monthly, approximate-

As a concluding paragraph, I (Continued on page 1 28)

SONG IN THE THICKET (A novelette) . Manly Banister 2

THE PREDESTINED Q. Patrick 38

LORD OF THE TALKING HANDS Arthur Woodward 49

THE PLACE IN THE WOODS . . August Derleth 84

THE Return OF SIMON CARIB .... Frederick Sanders 94

dead by then. Drake tooled the

Sewers would bite an extra

Is it true that an Undine can obtain a soul

disfavor. Something about those

seed and fertilizer—hours of' Drake coped no further with

carefully negotiated the peri- "John there’s something I want

a yellow starched housedress of baby!”

"H’lo, hon. How’s m'baby?” free. "Nothing like killing a

a mere look out the window as Heturned, chucked her under

returned the luscious, soul-satis- answer your questions in the

our water main could be broken? "Huh-uh.”-

“Why won’t It work? Get me gleamed silvery with sky

ne\yspaper distributor, knocked “Hang supper! I’ve finished

and convivial and . well, hell! The game continued with

fellow, isn’t it? Zuelda had a "It’s either a busted water

him with things like that! Drake looked at her gratefully.

went unexplained. Finally, he put was a black and shining smear at

"You know last night

"You don’t believe that Drake waved a hand.

It s gone now? it’s permanent or not ... or show

began suspiciously. don’t know what good he can do,

and One in back.” ly topped with gray. His cheeks

witchin’ to it!” He led off quickly, with a spry-

the case. There’s lots of water his Suddenly the old

though I did hear tell of it hap- a breath. Drake peered more

closely at the puddle. The surface

Ben.?" ing in the east cast oblique light

ing, he wouldn’t hear us." quite dead.

The tall man swung around. Ben’s voice was a mumble in

"What can it be?" murmured easy here’s the yard .'

out of the moonglow. As- the own house, was a nincompoop.

Ben said gruffly. to go back to the body, of course,

ambulance men with a. stretcher seeking support from him.

me over,” there were pixies in the thicket,

Ben shrugged, turned to ' Drake exploded with strained

I didn'teven say there were Drake passed a hand across his

"You listen to Ben, Jack!” guess. Mostly,. I can’t stand that

Ben turned, flashing white

awaited an explanation. "You’d better ask Ben Harrian

the man before in my life. think he and Ben Harrian had

about this of business?

night.” "Now, you’re sure, are you,

bed or stabbed. Sheriff. And we The sheriff sighed and got to

heavenly minstrelsy and the . of soft breasts and yielding

against the shadowed backdrop The whole vision seemed to

tioning pain in his being . . and her look of dissappointment, he

D rake could not explain,

stick of wood in his grasp . . a bit first.”

Drake roused from his abstrac- Beverly perked up with a look

lightful memories. Beverly slept He yielded to an intoxicating in-

were silent, poised, staring at Almost ai^omatic

the floor was a sea of roiling "Beverly’s asleep!” Drake an-

sion, aware only that it 'seethed been worrying. Sheriff Hamilton

at the end of the street . didn’t just now.