Otis Adelbert Kline

“ Ritsky."
The doctor was conscious of a cold, clammy sensation as he took the hand of the stranger and acknowledged the introduction. Was it the contrast between those chill fingers and the strong warm ones of the detective that had caused this feeling? He did not know; but somehow, instinctively, he disliked Mr. Ritsky.
"I've got a queer case for you, Doc," said Hoyne, taking a proffered cigar and inserting it far back in his cheek, unlighted. "Just your specialty—ghosts and all that. I told Mr. Ritsky you'd be the only man to unravel the mystery for him. ”

“ Ibrahaim, stand guard," he commanded. "And keep an eye on the infidel, Rankin. The rest of you, follow me."
Zantut, followed by his adepts, turned toward the black-tiled circular court at the extremity of the avenue up which they had ridden.
"Look, master! There it is, just as it was written!" exclaimed one of the adepts as he pointed out to Zantut a copper image that gleamed dully on its basalt pedestal.
"There is where Iblis sits dreaming of those broad, rich days before Suleiman—may wild hogs defile his grave!—learned the Word of Power. Stand by, brethren!" commanded Zantut. ”

“ His instructions were to patrol the place every half hour. As it took him only five minutes to make the rounds, there was twenty-five minute intervals of rest twice in every hour. He hurried his pace a little as he neared the chair. Once seated thereon, he would at least be rid of the sound of those haunting footsteps.
He was walking along, swinging his nightstick with attempted jauntiness, when, out of the tail of his eye, he saw, or imagined he saw a slight movement of the sheet covering the corpse at his right. ”

“ The face of a man stared back at me from behind the curved glass, eyes glowing with malevolent hatred and lips drawn back in a snarl that revealed crooked, yellow fangs. For a moment only the vision held. The next instant the jar was empty of all save a tiny pile of white, flaky ash and the bones of the mouse.
Dr. Dorp shut the door suddenly and noisily.
"That face," I exclaimed. "Did you see it also?"
"A queer distortion of the gas-inflated protoplasm," he replied.
Chief McGraw seemed greatly perturbed. ”

“ Being strangers, we could not handle an assassination as safely or effectively as the son of our Lord the Shareef."
"But why," queried one of the adepts, "should Sayyid Absál have killed or captured this madman, Rankin?"
"Iblis alone can say. Power and praise to Thousand-Eyed Malik Taûs!"
"Praise and power to him!" intoned the assembled adepts in unison as they made with their left hands a curious fleeting gesture.
"It may be," continued Zantut, "that the Shareef or Sayyid Absál doubted that Rankin is indeed the Elect, the reincarnated Abdemon who alone can thwart Iblis on the 14th of Nisan. ”

“ My senses reeled, as I saw first one heavy sledge descend, then another. The stake crashed through the coffin and deep into the ground beneath, driven by the relentless blows.
Suddenly, apparently from the bottom of the grave, came a muffled wailing cry, increasing to a horrible, blood-curdling shriek.
The mob stood for a moment as if paralyzed, then, to a man, fled precipitately, stopping for neither weapons nor tools. I found temporary relief in unconsciousness.... ”

“ I said, "with something alive floating in it."
"The foam, as you call it, bears a singular resemblance to the basic life principle, protoplasm, when seen under the microscope," replied the doctor.
"But those white things—" I began.
"The white things," he went on, "are the living remnants of a complex organism that has been destroyed. They are waging an unequal and hopeless battle against assimilation by the globules that surround them. These faithful guardians of the organism when alive still fight, and will continue to fight the enemy until, figuratively speaking, the last man falls." ”

“ With forced bravado he stepped up beside the still figure and turned back the sheet. The corpse, which lay on the third slab from the end, was that of a middle aged man, gray haired, slightly bald, and dressed in the garb of a laborer. No doubt the face had not been unpleasant to look at in life but in death it was hardly a thing of beauty, with its glassy, staring eyes, sagging lower jaw, and protruding, blue-white tongue.
Ryan replaced the sheet with a shudder and hurried to his chair: The place certainly got on his nerves. ”

“ Above the confusion and uproar of the slaughter, Ismeddin heard the clank of arms and the clatter of hoofs in the courtyard, far above them.
"If that's the guard," observed Ismeddin, as he paused to wipe on his djellab the blood-drenched grip of his scimitar, "all is well. But if it's reinforcements for these sons of flat-nosed mothers, they'll regain their wits.... Drive hard, uncle!" ”

“ Ritsky studied his clawlike hands for a moment, clasping and unclasping the bony fingers. Suddenly he looked up.
"Do animals have immortal souls?" he asked, anxiously.
"I'm afraid you have sadly overrated my ability as a recorder of scientific facts," replied the doctor, smiling slightly. "Frankly, I do not know. I don't believe anyone knows. Most people think they haven't, and I incline toward that belief."
"Then such a thing as a ghost of a—a hound could not be?"
"I would not say that. Nothing is impossible. ”

“ Miss Van Loan had taken one of the wicker porch chairs, assuring me that she had fully recovered. I was sitting in another. All sounds in the house had ceased, and I began to feel some apprehension for the doctor’s safety.
“Do you mind staying alone for a few minutes?” I asked. “I should like to go and see if my friend is all right.”
“I’ll go with you,” she replied, rising.
“Are you sure you are strong enough?”
“Of course. Oh, I do hope nothing happened to him. I should never forgive myself.”
We met the pale houseman in the hall.
“Where is the doctor, Riggs?” she asked. ”

“ I arrived in Peoria shortly before midnight, and was glad to find Joe Severs, son of my uncle’s tenant, waiting for me with a flivver. After a five-mile ride in inky darkness over a rough road, we came to the farm.
I was greeted at the door by the housekeeper, Mrs. Rhodes, and one of two men, nearby neighbors, who had kindly volunteered to "set up" with the corpse. The woman's eyes were red with weeping, and her tears flowed afresh as she led me to the room where my uncle's body lay in a gray casket. ”

“ The acolytes were bringing in the veiled Azizah, and Rankin, securely bound.
"Lay them on the altar," commanded Zantut.
The deep resonance of a brazen gong rang down the succession of winding stairways, and rolled and thundered in the vaulted holy of holies.
"The hour is at hand," proclaimed Zantut solemnly. And then, to those who had carried Azizah and Rankin into the sanctuary: "The brethren from Azerbaijan are late. Did you see any signs of them?"
"Yes, saidi. And Ibrahaim up there is watching the star of our Lord very closely so as to withhold the final signal until the very last moment. ”

“ Have you seen one?"
"Have I seen one?" groaned Ritsky. "Good Lord, man, I'd give every cent I own to be rid of that thing! For two years it's turned my nights into hell! From a perfectly healthy, normal human being I've been reduced to a physical wreck. Sometimes I think my reason is slipping. The thing will either kill me or drive me mad if it is not stopped."
He buried his face in his hands.
"This is most strange," said the doctor. "You say the apparition first troubled you two years ago?" ”

“ There may be, and probably is another kind of life which is simply mind without matter, but we of the material world know it not. To us, mind without matter or matter without mind are equally dead. The moneron has a mind—a soul—a something that makes it a living individual. Call it what you will. The professor's cell of man-made protoplasm has not. Can you conceive of any possible way in which he could, having reached this stage, create an individual mind or soul, an essence of life that, once united with his cell of protoplasm would form an entity? ”

“ Won’t you stay?”
I relapsed once more into my chair.
The doctor, I observed, had pricked up his ears like a hound on a hot trail. He leaned forward in his chair and pressed the tips of his fingers together—an attitude he always assumed when absorbed in a problem that was of intense interest to him.
“Miss Van Loan,” he began, “you are not by any chance a relative of my old friend and fellow worker, Gordon Van Loan?”
“I am his niece.”
“Indeed. I begin to understand your interest in spiritistic phenomena. Dense of me not to have thought of it before.” ”

“ The beggar muttered a few words to the sentry.
"I have kept it safely, saidi," replied the sentry, as he unbuckled from his waist a belt and scimitar which he handed the beggar.
"I ride unarmed. Sayyid Yussuf, be kind enough to carry my sword."
"Allah, and again, by Allah!" marveled the Shareef as he accepted the blade, and noted the sentry's respectful address. "Saint or beggar, or both ... but who are you, old man?" ”

“ What's the matter? Are you afraid?"
"Afraid, hell!" growled Hoyne. "Can't a man ask you a question—"
"No time to answer questions now. Get in there and do as I say if you want to be of any assistance."
"All right, Doc. It's your party."
The big detective entered the room of the sobbing child and squeezed his great bulk into a dainty rocking chair from which he could view her bed. She tossed from side to side, moaning as if in pain, and Hoyne, pitying her, wondered why the doctor did not awaken her. ”

“ My eye fell upon two large oak logs, which young Severs had brought for the fireplace, and I said,
"Why not weight the casket with these logs and screw the lid down? No doubt they will carry it out without opening it, and when they are well on their way we can place my uncle in your car and be out of reach before they discover the substitution."
"A capital idea," said the professor. "We will wrap the logs well so they will not rattle, and, as the casket is an especially heavy one, they will be non the wiser until it is opened at the grave." ”

“ He has bristled and growled repeatedly, for no apparent reason. Although he has always been a most friendly and playful pet, he now slinks about the house like some vicious creature of the jungle, or mopes in corners, avoiding all human companionship and barely tasting food and water. ”

“ Where is the daughter of your brother, on whom be peace?"
"On the way to the Valley of Djinn, with Zantut the darvish and his pious companions."
"And what of the infidel, Rankin?" next demanded the beggar.
"The kaffir rides with them. But who are you, reverend saint?" wondered the Shareef; for there was something strangely familiar about this madman.
"I am as much a saint as Zantut is a darvish. It is you who are stark mad, and not I," declared the beggar.
"Even so," agreed the Shareef. "But what do you mean?" ”

“ No heat—no blankets—nothing. The beds are cold as ice and hard as rocks, and the sheets are thin as paper."
Ryan was astounded. Could it be possible that this corpse didn't know it was in the morgue?
The thing yawned, disclosing its ghastly, blue-white tongue.
"Ho, hum. Gettin' sleepy again. Guess I'll crawl back in the old sheetrock bunk. G'night, bottle-nose."
This was too much for Ryan. His naturally florid countenance turned purple with anger as he watched the ghoulish figure stagger slowly toward the third slab. If he could only move! He concentrated his gaze on his little finger. ”

“ Miss Randall was awakened by suggestion.
"We now have conclusive proof that your uncle is alive, and in a cataleptic state," said the professor.
"Is there no way to arouse him?" I asked.
"The best thing to do is to let him waken himself, as he directed us to do in the telepathic message. He is, as he says, recuperating from his illness and should not be disturbed. You are, perhaps, unaware that catalepsy, although believed by many people to be a disease, is really no disease at all. ”

“ Zantut whirled about, knife in hand.
The adepts leaped to their feet.
Ismeddin, sword in one hand, torch in the other, stood in the entrance. Following him came the Shareef.
"Holy darvish! Oh, son of many pigs!" roared the Shareef, and opened fire with his pistol. But the old man's rage was too much for his aim.
"Steady, uncle!" snapped Ismeddin. "You'll hit the girl!"
Zantut and his followers charged, swords drawn.
Ismeddin dashed his blade to the floor, drew from his djellab a slim tube the length of his forearm, and touched it with his torch. ”

“ I have heard uncle Gordon speak of you. Goodby, until dusk—and thank you, much." . . .
OUR drive, that evening, through the red-gold light of the waning afternoon, was both pleasant and uneventful. After a sultry day in the loop, it was refreshing to ride through the cool, tree-shaded north shore suburbs. Dr. Dorp, as was his wont when on the trail of a new mystery, was in the best of spirit—laughing and chatting gaily.
We arrived in Highland Park just at dusk, and presently turned into a narrow driveway which circled through a heavily wooded estate. ”

“ Two years ago your uncle advanced a theory that materialization phenomena were produced by a substance which he termed 'psychoplasm.' After listening to his argument, I was convinced that he was right. Since then, we have attended numerous materialization seances, with the object of securing a sample of this elusive material for examination. It always disappears instantly when bright light is flashed upon it, or when the medium is startled or alarmed, and our efforts in this direction have always been fruitless. ”

“ I have theories, of course, but they are, after all, only theories."
"Do you believe it was the ghost of Uncle Gordon that we saw in the living room last night?"
"I don't believe in ghosts."
"Then what was it? What could have caused it? What could have caused doors to lock and unlock, to open and close without the touch of human hands? What could have caused the intense cold—the poker to creep across the floor as if it were alive? What drove my dog mad with fear?"
"The dog," I replied, "showed symptoms of hydrophobia."
"That is what Dr. Dorp thought, although he was not sure. ”

“ The word "supernatural" was, after all, only an expression invented by man in his finite ignorance, to define those things which he did not understand. Telegraphy, telephony, the phonograph, the moving picture-all would have been regarded with superstition by an age less advanced than ours. Man had only to become familiar with the laws governing them, in order to discard the word "supernatural" as applied to their manifestations.
What right, then, had I to term the phenomena, which I had just witnessed, supernatural? ”

“ At times Rankin caught a word, and was glad that he could not understand all....
Steel against steel ... strength against strength ... but ages of cunning against the wits of one short life: for only the body of that terrific adversary was human. ”

“ How such a thing is possible, I cannot explain any more than I can tell you how psychoplasm is generated. The wonderful powers of the subjective entity are truly amazing. We can only deal with the facts as we find them. Statistics show that no less than one case a week of suspended animation is discovered in the United States. There are, no doubt, hundreds of other cases which are never brought to light. As a usual thing, nowadays, the doctor no sooner pronounces the patient dead than the undertaker is summoned. ”

“ At such crisis the most keen-witted of scientists may be blinded to truth by the overpowering influence of his own desires. Sir Oliver lost a beloved son. Only those who have suffered similar losses can appreciate the keen anguish that followed his bereavement, or sympathize with his intense longing to communicate with Raymond. Most men are creatures of their desires. They believe what they want to believe. Under the circumstance it was not difficult for a clever psychic to read the mind of the scientist and tell him the things he wanted to hear. ”