10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

j 54—__——_——____—————_10-STORY DETECTIVE—_—_—__—________——_ eyes. Jarvis remembered what the watchman had said. The stone head had also carried what seemed to be a bullet hole. Jarvis backed out of the room, hunted for another telephone and called headquarters. Then he went downstairs until a radio car pulled up. He gave the two men ex- plicit instructions to touch nothing. Then he ran to his own car, opened the siren wide and drove at a frantic pace toward the museum. There was a small beil beside the heavy bronze doors of the museum and Jarvis rang this several times. During the seconds which elapsed, he felt a wave of apprehension come over him. Maybe the watchman was dead too. Then bolts were drawn, the door opened a crack and he saw the watch- man’s chalky white face peering at him. Jarvis showed his badge and was instantly admitted. The watch- man bolted the doors again and led him to the office. In the middle of the desk Jarvis saw that small stone head and gasped at its uncanny like- ness. A trained, steady hand had carved this miniature. He stared at the perfectly created bullet hole be- tween the eyes. “My name is Gorman,” the watch- man said. “I—I found that—that thing in the hands of the Aztec god. It seared me. I recognized it, of course, so I phoned Mr. Kent right away. I heard a shot like I told you.” “Kent is dead,” Jarvis said blunt- ly. “Now talk some sense. You found this small stone head in what?’ “The hands of the Aztec god. Honest—I’ll show you. Sure it sounds crazy. Maybe it is. You'll think so when I tell you about the god. Come along, I’ll explain on the way.” HEIR heels clicked against the smooth tiled floor and echoed and re-echoed. Jarvis got the idea a tomb might make the same sound when it was violated. He passed be- tween a rew of mummies, along an aisle composed of big stone blocks that had once been sacrificial altars. Gorman kept talking all the time. “The Aztec god was the punisher of evildoers. Somebody killed another man, or stole his wife or something, and the medicine men made a dummy that looked like the criminal. This was put in the hands of the god and left there. Pretty soon the criminal com- mitted suicide. That always hap- pened if he was guilty. If nothing occurred, then everybody knew he was innocent because the stone god wouldn’t punish anyone unless he deserved it.” “Baloney,” Jarvis grunted. “That sounds like something out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Now exactly what did Kent say when you told him?” : “He just said he expected it to happen and he was almost glad it did. Then I heard the gun go off. [ never know what to expect from the men who own this place. I think they’re crazy. Long ago I dubbed this the Wacks’ Museum. There—to your left. That’s her—the biggest statue you see.” Jarvis turned the ray of his flash on the grim god and made a wry face. He had never seen anything quite so’ hideous. Gorman walked a little closer, but maintained a healthy distance between himself and the stone image. Gorman was getting jit- tery. One hand stretched out and he pointed at the cupped palms of the god. “T found the stone head—right there in— L—look! Another onef Another stone head.” Jarvis whipped out a handker- chief, hurried up to the image and grasped the small stone head care- fully so as not to smudge any possi- ble fingerprints. He carried the ob- ject over beneath the single bulb and then slowly peeled away part of the handkerchief. He gave a visible start of horror. Gorman let out a bleat of alarm. This stone head was also perfectly fashioned, Every detail of the man’s ~ . a 66 r be ee : re make a, books com —