Robert E. Howard

Name: Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion
Author: Robert E. Howard

Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

Summary

“Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion”, published in 1929, is a work by Robert E. Howard. It explores elements such as Scorpion, Kathulos and lair.

Quotes from Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (Robert E. Howard)

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ Like fire, like hell-fire the elixir raced along my veins and I was a giant! A monster! A superman!
Turning, I strode to the menacing, shadowy doorway. I had no plan; I felt the need of none. As a drunken man walks blithely into danger, I strode to the lair of the Scorpion, magnificently aware of my superiority, imperially confident of my stimulation and sure as the unchanging stars that the way would open before me.
Oh, there never was a superman like that who knocked commandingly on the door of Soho 48 that night in the rain and the fog! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ Something gave way in my brain at that; something like a flood of wild and terrible exultation swept over me.
"The Master will kill no one!" I shouted, flinging my arms on high. "Before ever the east turns red for dawn, the Master dies! By all things holy and unholy I swear it!"
Hansen stared wildly at me and Zuleika shrank back as I turned on her. To my dope-inspired brain had come a sudden burst of light, true and unerring. I knew Kathulos was a mesmerist--that he understood fully the secret of dominating another's mind and soul. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ But the lair of the scorpion often seems deserted until the silent death strikes suddenly.
Here I halted and a wild thought struck me. One way or another, the drama would be over by dawn. Tonight was the climax of my career, the ultimate top of life. Tonight I was the strongest link in the strange chain of events. Tomorrow it would not matter whether I lived or died. I drew the flask of elixir from my pocket and gazed at it. Enough for two more days if properly eked out. Two more days of life! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ I sought an attic but there seemed no door letting into one. Returning to the first floor, I made a search for an entrance into the basement, but again my efforts were fruitless. The amazing truth was borne in upon me: except for myself and that dead man who lay sprawled so grotesquely in the outer vestibule, there were no men in that house, dead or living.
I could not understand it. Had the house been bare of furniture I should have reached the natural conclusion that Kathulos had fled--but no signs of flight met my eye. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ But fear and the elixir are strangers and I mounted that stair of lurking terror as boldly as I had entered that house of terror. The upper rooms I found to be much like those below and with them they had this fact in common: they were empty of human life. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ Tonight assemble a great host of the people of the Scorpion for the sacrifice."
"Sacrifice!" A grisly thrill of horror coursed down my spine. Was there no limit to the ghastliness of this business?
"Quick, Zuleika, where is this house of the Master's?"
"Soho, 48. You must summon the police and send many men to surround it, but you must not go yourself--"
Hansen sprang up quivering for action, but I turned to him. My brain was clear now, or seemed to be, and racing unnaturally.
"Wait!" I turned back to Zuleika. "When is this sacrifice to take place?" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ It cut me to the quick to enforce my will upon her in this apparently brutal manner but I steeled myself.
"Zuleika," I said tenderly, "you are now my prisoner. The Scorpion cannot blame you for not returning to him when you are unable to do so--and before dawn you shall be free of his rule entirely."
I turned to Hansen and spoke in a tone which admitted of no argument.
"Remain here, just without the door, until I return. On no account allow any strangers to enter--that is, anyone whom you do not personally know. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert E. Howard, Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (1929)

“ Death looks gigantically down."
- Poe
Hansen snored on the bed as I paced the room. Another day had passed over London and again the street lamps glimmered through the fog. Their lights affected me strangely. They seemed to beat, solid waves of energy, against my brain. They twisted the fog into strange sinister shapes. Footlights of the stage that is the streets of London, how many grisly scenes had they lighted? I pressed my hands hard against my throbbing temples, striving to bring my thoughts back from the chaotic labyrinth where they wandered.
Gordon I had not seen since dawn. ”

Robert E. Howard

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Quotes from Skull-Face — The Grip of the Scorpion (Robert E. Howard)

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