10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TR et — broke, Stuart was surrounded by in- tense gloom. He didn’t move, except to draw himself close against the stone wall so that no attack could be made from the rear. He still had his gun, but his left arm was numb to the shoul- der. That blow had not been gentle. Then, as his mouth suddenly went dry, he saw a glittering form grad- ually emerge from the utter gloom. It was the figure he’d seen on the hillside. It didn’t move—just stood there like some menacing ghost. Stuart didn’t hesitate this time. He slowly raised his gun and sighted it. Just about where the glittering man’s chest could be, he planned to send a thirty-eight slug. His finger de- pressed the trigger very slowly be- cause he had an idea that a miss would mean quick death for him. One thing—the glittering man couldn’t see through the darkness any better than Stuart because he never moved. The gun went off with a roar that almost shattered Stuart’s eardrums. The explosion echoed and re-echoed through the various chambers of this huge system of caves. But the glittering man still stood there, as erect as ever. Stuart was positive he hadn’t missed, but he fired two more shots, point-blank. He was no ovice with a gun, and at the range offered here his target should have been bowled over. Yet the glit- tering man remained just as he was, stationary and silent. And—Stuart thought with a wave of horror—im- mortal. Perhaps he was dead and the body supported by a ledge or other chunk of rock, Stuart started to run across the cavern. The floor was uneven and he nearly tripped a couple of times. The glittering man loomed up larger and larger. Closeness emphasized his vast height. No ordinary man could have tangled with this giant and hoped to escape with his life. Stuart estimated that he was no more than a dozen yards away from the weirdly glittering form when it ———TAKEN FOR A SLAY RIDE 15 vanished. Not by degrees, but as if a black curtain had been suddenly dropped in front of it. One split sec- ond later, two arms wrapped them- selves around Stuart’s legs and he went down with a thump that knocked the wind out of him. Two hands seized his throat, raised his head and rapped it hard against the stone floor. The horrible darkness of the cave became even blacker. When Stuart opened his eyes again, he thought he’d been rendered blind by the mighty blow on the head. Then he knew that it was just still dark. He tried to sit up, but his arms and legs were securely tied. He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious nor what time it was. But he did realize that the longer he delayed, the less would be his chance of getting out of this trap. Brute strength wouldn’t have helped any man in his position so Stuart began to use his brain. He went over the course of events from the moment he entered the cavern. First, his flashlight had been knocked down and broken. The flashlight! That meant a glass lJens—sharp pieces of it lying somewhere on the floor of the main cave. Moving like an inchwormn, by hoist- ing his legs and dragging himself forward, Stuart managed to move toward the narrow channel between the caves. He found the gun that had been knocked out of his hand and he took this along with him. He reached the main cavern and started to roll over and over, methodically approach- ing the approximate spot where the flash had fallen. T TOOK at least twenty minutes, but he found it. Fingers sorted the smal] bits of glass until they lo- cated the largest of them—and the sharpest. He drew his legs up, heed- less of the pain that act caused. Slowly the sliver of glass slit through the rope freeing his ankles. He wriggled to the wall, set his back against it and moved himself O)O)O) O (COUN S (C(O) nn