Manly Wade Wellman

“ There were only two dancers left. I flung them back and rose. Only one left. Then none.
They were gone, gone into nowhere.
"That did it," said Miss Dolby breathlessly.
She had pulled the picture down. It was only a frame now, with ragged ribbons of canvas dangling from it.
I snatched it out of her hands and threw it upon the coals of the fire.
"Look," I urged her joyfully. "It's burning! That's the end. Do you see?"
"Yes, I see," she answered slowly. "Some fiend-ridden artist—his evil genius brought it to life." ”

“ His face was set tensely, his eyes gleamed like battle lanterns on a ship's bulwark.
"He is evil," said Anne.
"And all Europe of his day fears him and his plan to rule the world."
"How if we prevent this swaggerer from realizing his dream?"
"Impossible!" exclaimed Nostradame.
Anne glanced at the evening sky, gray and dull. "Surely it is late in the year, with cold weather at hand. And this, you say, is Russia, the land of hard winters. Even if invaders drive back Russian armies, must not they in turn retreat from Russian snows?"
"The master of Europe plans to shelter in this captured town." ”

“ And you can lie there and die slowly. When you die there'll be nobody to help Shanny yonder in her little hole in the wall."
"I won't run," promised Gascon. And Tom-Tom switched on more power.
Sparks, a shuddering roar, a quickening of all parts of the machine. The shining hulk on the slab stirred and quivered, like a man troubled by dreams. Tom-Tom gave a brief barking laugh of triumph, brought the mechanism to a howling crescendo of sound and motion, then abruptly shut it down to a murmur.
"Friday! Friday!" he called.
Slowly the metal giant sat up in its bonds. ”

“ And, lifting my head, I saw indeed the dense timber of the Devil's Croft, its tops seeming to toss and fall like the black waves of a high-pent sea.
It was an inspiration, helped by the shouts of the mob. Nobody went into that grove—avoidance of it had become a community habit, almost a community instinct. Even if my enemies paused only temporarily I could shelter well among the trunks, catch my breath, perhaps hide indefinitely. And surely Zoberg would be recovered, would back up my protest of innocence. With two words for it, the fantasy would not seem so ridiculous. ”

“ Both Lanark and Enid knew they had seen those bodies. In a moment three pairs of feet were thrusting earth down into the grave.
"Don't!" It was a wail from the trees in the ravine, a wail in the voice of Persil Mandifer. "We must return to those skins before dawn!"
Two black silhouettes, wetly shiny in the moonlight, had come into the open. Behind them straggled six more, the guerrillas.
"Don't!" came the cry again, this time a command. "You cannot destroy us now. It is midnight, the hour of the Nameless One." ”

“ But I—I, Barak, the foremost fighter on this planet—am here to see that it does not happen!"
And I drew the saber at my side.
VI
I struck a pose as I stood there. I hoped that a grim and heroic attitude might give them pause.
"It's Barak!" said an officer at the forefront of the Newcomers.
"Barak!" echoed a warrior of Dondromogon. I heard a rattle and clink of weapons.
"Remember," I made haste to call out, "a bullet or ray will tear this place—and both forces—to bits! I'll perish, and so will every man on either side, as far as the explosion reaches!" ”

“ Colonel Carlis, whom we called "Careless," though he was never that; the brothers Penderel, by a fireside with an old dame who may have been their mother; suddenly, as a finish to the show, Cromwell again, seen near with a bible in his hand.
The fire died, like a blown candle. The room was dim and gray, with a whisp of smoke across the hide-spread window.
"Well, sire? You believe?" said Pembru. He smiled now, and I saw teeth as lean and white as a hunting dog's.
"Faith, only a fool would refuse to believe," I said in all honesty. ”

“ Standing there, as a primitive man might have stood in his flame-guarded camp to face the horrors of the ancient world, I tried to judge by ear the direction of that whine.
It died, and I heard, perhaps in my imagination, a stealthy padding. Then the whining began again, from a new quarter and nearer.
I made myself step toward it. My shadow, leaping grotesquely among the tree trunks, almost frightened me out of my wits. The whine had changed into a crooning wail, such as that with which dogs salute the full moon. It seemed to plead, to promise; and it was coming closer to the clearing. ”

“ Remember your cousin's rage at me. I have no fame or position—"
"But you will gain both," Anne told him, with an earnestness so great that it seemed to take her breath.
"You have prophecy for me."
"No, only faith. It is you who see everything and of every time. I am not skilled nor wise in magic. But I feel sure of your future."
"Child, your words make me feel sure, too." He took her hand, in an honest impulse of inspired comradeship. "Happy the man whom you love."
"I love none, messire. My father was gentle, but poor. On his death I came to live with the Lady Olande. ”

“ Yandro, or Barak, or whoever you are—I'm with you!"
"Klob!" I yelled joyously over my shoulder. "I should have known I could count on you!"
He had rushed, facing about at my very shoulder-blades. I heard the snick of his blade against another weapon. Doriza again cried a warning, to Klob this time, and he scored on his adversary, for he snorted triumphantly. Then the Newcomers surged at me again.
I could not kill my own people. I strove to wound only. Three staggered back, out of the fight, but the others pressed me bravely. Both my swords must be everywhere at once. ”

“ Judge. Do it."
Pursuivant set down glass and pipe, and stood up. Scrope also rose from his chair. In so doing he moved backward and stood almost by the darkened door that led to the rear of the house. Pursuivant began solemnly:
"All ye evil spirits, I forbid you this man's bed, his couch; I forbid you, in heaven's name, his house and home; I forbid you, in the name of God, his blood and flesh, his body and soul. Let all evil return from him and his, unto you and yours, in the name of the Trinity." ”

“ Nobody answered, for another bomb exploded at that moment, seemingly just outside. It was soundless in the vacuum of space, but the force of the detonation shook the ship like a leaf in a gust of wind.
"No chance for escape," said Sukune. He tapped the combination for a halt and rose from his seat.
"Now he'll think he hit us," he told the others. "Let's play dead."
"Why?" asked Bull Mike.
"It's our only hope. Another bomb will do the business if we try to run. But he'll want to capture our ship. If he sees it idling, he'll figure that we're washed out. ”

“ I told Susan, and she half shrunk, half stiffened at the implication.
We fell to talking about Judge Pursuivant, the charm and the enigma that invested him. Both of us felt gratitude that he had immediately clarified our own innocence in the grisly slayings, but to both came a sudden inspiration, distasteful and disquieting. I spoke first:
"Susan! Why did the judge bring us here?"
"He said, to help face and defeat the monster. But—but——"
"Who is that monster?" I demanded. "What human being puts on a semi-bestial appearance, to rend and kill?" ”

“ Although she had wandered out to the brink of the sandy beach and so stood in the open brightness, clumps of bushes and young trees grew out almost to the lake. One tufty belt of scrub willow extended from the denser timber to a point within a dozen feet of Sigrid. It made a screen of gloom between Jake's viewpoint and the moon's spray of silver. Yet, he could see, light was apparently soaking through its close-set leaves, a streak of soft radiance that was so filtered as to look murky, greenish, like the glow from rotting salmon. ”

“ Within sixty seconds the patrol closed upon the house like a twenty-fingered hand. Lanark saw that the building had once been pretentious—two stories, stoutly made of good lumber that must have been carted from a distance, with shuttered windows and a high peaked roof. Now it was a paint-starved gray, with deep veins and traceries of dirty black upon its clapboards. He dismounted before the piazza with its four pillar-like posts, and threw his reins to a trooper.
"Suggs!" he called, and obediently his own personal orderly, a plump blond youth, dropped out of the saddle. ”

“ In my first half-moment of wakefulness I was aware that the room was filled with the pink dancers of the picture, in nimble, fierce-happy motion. They were man-size, too, or nearly so, visible in the dark with the dim radiance of fox-fire. On the small scale of the painting they had seemed no more than babyishly plump; now they were gross, like huge erect toads. And, as I awakened fully, they were closing in, a menacing ring of them, around my bed. One stood at my right side, and its grip, clumsy and rubbery-hard like that of a monkey, was closed upon my arm. ”