Frederick Britten Austin

“ I use occult as a synonym for the spiritual, for all that lies beyond the veil. Such, I may remark, were the Rosicrucians. Others are known to every student of the subject. One might almost class it as common historical knowledge. Few, however, suspect that today such a society, immeasurably more powerful than the ordinary man considers possible, exists. It exists, and by some means it has penetrated to the very arcana of the spiritual world. It wields a power, by its control over forces that to call cosmic is to minimize, quite beyond ordinary resistance. ”

“ No shape of dog was anywhere visible. The policeman's eyes rested upon me with so questioning a look that I felt uncomfortable. I could divine that he was thinking me deranged or intoxicated. My mind was in a state of bewilderment also at the sudden disappearance of the creature that a moment before had hung at my heels with all the quiet persistency of Fate. I stammered, strove to explain, found myself entangled in nervous foolishness rendered worse by e slightly contemptuous, steady gaze of the policeman. ”

“ Its dreadful nature is bound to flare into publicity. It is useless, therefore, for me to attempt to conceal it. If you care to hear the true version of a tragedy which every newsboy will be shouting tomorrow morning,—a version stranger than the one counsel for defense and prosecution will adopt as a battle-ground for their wits,—I will do my best to gratify your curiosity. I may say that it will be some comfort to me to know that one fellow human being—especially so kind-hearted a one as yourself—is acquainted with the real facts.”
“My dear sir!” began Mr. Gilchrist. ”

“ Fool that I was, I might have known better. 'They' are far too cunning thus to advertise their power needlessly. Day after day I dwelt in a world of terror, and nothing happened, save the complete interruption of any intercourse with the spiritual world. Malevolent forces had closed that door. I waited, each moment expecting disaster, I knew not from what quarter, as a man waits in a dark wood for the lurking danger to spring at him. Suddenly—a week ago today—they commenced to act. ”

“ Few men, good or evil, are so fortunately endowed as to acquire a mastery over those forces for any purpose, and of those who have acquired it the majority are good. In any case they are rare. For myself, despite years of study and anxious striving, I have utterly failed to grasp those forces save in one or two trifling instances. ”

“ DOG
By
F. BRITTEN AUSTIN
Illustrated by
J. HENRY
“For many years my mind has been familiar with the occult.”
MR. GILCHRIST was nervous and fidgety. He was alone, not merely in the dining-room where he sat, but in the house; and solitude at night to a man accustomed to find comfort and distraction in the presence of others is a black desert where one starts at one's own footsteps. ”

“ It is the terrible truth, I assure you, sir. I am a murderer, a murderer trapped into crime by that chain of circumstances I spoke of. And I am a man that until today never wittingly took the life of any creature, however small.”
“But—my dear sir!” Mr. Gilchrist half rose from his chair. His guest waved him back into it.
“I am speaking the sober truth. You think that you are harboring a madman. I am as sane as you. ”

“ You have won. I might, of course, shoot you,”—he took a revolver from his pocket,—“as I shot your confederate in the train tonight. But I recognize that it would be useless. Your Society would raise up yet other avengers—”
Both Gilchrist and Williamson had shrunk back in alarm from that brandished revolver—were unable, in their astonishment, to utter a word. They could only stare, bewildered.
The old gentleman looked down at the dog which still offered him the paper. ”

“ The dog slunk under the seat, where it lay watching me with steady eyes.
“I cowered in my corner in terror. Had I wished to speak, I could not have done so. The sight of one of my all-powerful foes, visible for the first time, fascinated me. I could not take my eyes from him. Occasionally he looked up at me from his newspaper with a slow, quiet smile which seemed to say: 'All right, my friend. I'll deal with you presently.'
“THE train clanged and banged over the switches and gathered speed for its rush into the dark night and the loneliness of the country-side. ”

“ Gilchrist, who felt in a dream, scarcely knowing whether he was awake or sleeping.
“In one way only can it be overthrown—and it must be overthrown if our civilization is to continue. A group of men—equally adept but pure in soul—must meet and check each of their schemes and finally turn the immense forces, too great for ordinary comprehension, with which they work, against them, wiping them out of existence. Where that group of men is to be found, sir, I do not know, but if the disease is to find a remedy it must first be diagnosed. ”

“ These little unfamiliarities observed with his mind on the stretch—the latent primitive man in him. Scenting danger in solitude—added to the loneliness. The sheltering walls of the usual were pushed away from him. He felt himself exposed, out of the call of friends, in a desolation haunted by invisible malevolences. ”

“ The pure in heart may achieve a certain mastery over forces hidden from the multitude and use them for innocent or praiseworthy ends, such, for example, as establishing communication between our loved ones who have crossed the threshold and those who remain here. ”

“ It is known to every adept that it is possible—difficult. perhaps, but possible—for self-seeking men who have, perchance before they became perverted, had the key to these vast mysteries put in their hands, to control the mighty forces of which I have spoken and turn them, regardless of the suffering they inflict, to their personal advantage. ”

“ And it wields that power for evil. I could point out several frightful disasters of recent times directly traceable to that society. It is a menace to the world!”
THE old gentleman's eyes flashed excitement at Mr. ”