10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

P| aoa aa a bullet also, eh? Try it, Bates, and see what happens.” ““‘No—no, don’t make him do that,” Kerrigan cried. “I’ve stood about all I ean. The next storm may kil] me— or you, Gordon. Don’t tempt fate. | heard those stories in Alaska too and the Eskimos believe them. Why shouldn’t we?” “Because we're civilized and edu- cated,’? Gordon shouted. “Bates is ly- ing and he knows it. Do you suppose he’d sit there meekly like this if he could summon such powers? Non- sense!”’ “Wait,” Bates said quietly, see.” Stuart stuffed his gun into his hol- ster. “All right,” he said. “We’ve had enough of the baloney. You still have- n’t told us why you murdered Mere- dith, Terry and Alexander. Or maybe the Storm God did that. Pretty nice to blame murders on a ghost, Bates, but it won’t work. Either you start talking now or we'll all take a ride to headquarters. I don’t care which, ie” “The lights!” “T oo k——" The lights were flickering, just as they did before Meredith and Terry died. Bates, smiling smugly, was the only man in the room who betrayed no fear. Even Stuart felt icy chills running up and down his spine. Then the soft moan of the wind reached their ears. It grew and grew into a howling hurricane. The loose window blind banged. Rain spattered the windows. Trees were bent over, some of their early spring leaves wafted to the ground. The lights went out, but an instant before that hap- pened, Stuart saw Bates rise up out of the chair and the ropes which had held him fell to the floor. “and Kerrigan yelled. TUART’S spell of horror was broken by the escape of this Alaskan guide. He flung himself at the man, but Bates seemed to have been prepared for that. The heel of a big hand caught Stuart on the chin, 10-STORY DETECTIVE—-——— snapped his head back and sent him reeling across the room. He tripped over a ehair and fell down. Gordon, with Bates’ big gun in his fist, charged at the man, but Bates used the strength and_ skill he’d acquired in fighting arctic elements. He lowered his head and met Gor- don’s attack with a plunge straight at the mining operator’s stomach. Gordon doubled up. A fist slashed across his face and he dropped flat. Kerrigan wasn’t waiting to see the final outcome of all this. He sprinted toward the door and the safety of- fered by the darkness on the estate. Even the raging storm didn’t stop him. He managed to reach the door before Bates lunged. Kerrigan went down. Bates, breathing heavily, knelt be- side the fatlen man and fastened huge fingers around Kerrigan’s throat. He began to squeeze, but kept looking up to see if either Gordon or Stuart ap- proached. Kerrigan’s face grew mot- tled and purple. His eyes bulged and his struggles grew weaker. Bates used even more force until his fingers almost sank out of sight in the flesh around Kerrigan’s throat. Stuart got to his feet again. He was aware that the storm had ceased ab- ruptly. Then he heard Kerrigan’s heels beating against the hallway floor. Stuart unlimbered his gun. At that moment the lights flickered a few times, just before coming back on. He saw Bates choking Kerrigan. Stuart fired one shot high beeause he didn’t want to risk hitting Kerrigan. Bates let go of his victim, yanked the door open and ran like mad down the path. Stuart raced out on the porch after him. Gordon came too and elbowed Stuart aside. Gordon held a flashlight in one hand and Bates’ big gun in the other. He snapped on the flash. Its ray eentered on Bates who gave one frightened look over his shoulder and tried to run faster. Gordon carefully leveled the pistol and before Stuart could stop him, he fired once. MIGoOo (C(O) S (C(O) im