A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, February 1950 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

12 A. MERRITT’S FANTASY “Uppercut ?” said the doctor. “Er—as a matter of fact, not only individuals— and men of great power, too—but whole nations are interested in either stealing the results of Dr. Darrell’s experiments, or else destroying him before they are com- pleted.” “Destroying him?” said I. “Yes.” “Murder Darrell?” eres?’ “But,” I protested, “nations—great modern nations don’t go all out to kill an individual even if he has found a new kind of gunpowder, or a way to fly to the moon.” I could almost hear the doctor shake his head. “This case is a new one,” said he. “And the matter is of such vast im- portance that even international morals and law will be shaken to their founda- tions! That is to say, if the experiments succeed, and in the meantime, we have Cleveland Darrell, a man who absolutely refuses to take the slightest precautions. His own heart is so high and his spirit so noble that he declines to attribute meaner motives to others. In short, he imperils his life—which is another way of saying that he imperils the future of civilization —by refusing to take the slightest precau- tion. And that is why I have come to you. I have heard him refer to you affection- ately, and very often. I believe that since he opened his laboratory at silver Dam he has used his hours of recreation to come hunting with you on your prop- erty.” “Ves, he’s done that,” said I. “And I gather from what he says,” went on Dr. Franklin, “that you are a friend who could be depended upon. Otherwise, I confess that I don’t know what to do or where to turn. If I hire armed men, they will probably be cor- rupted by the enormous sums of money which our enemies are prepared to use, and in the most unscrupulous ways.” This began to look interesting. “Concerning your interrupted work,” said the doctor, “I could promise you on behalf of the laboratory a fee sufficiently handsome to cover, I believe—”’ “Fee?” said I. “No, Dr. Franklin. I have a foreman and ranch hands down below who run my place much better with- out me. That’s why I have my headquar- ters up here. Getting me off the property means money in my pocket in the long run. I’ll be happy to stay around and look after Cleve Darrell as much as I can.” The doctor was delighted. He said he had been led to suspect that I was exactly this sort of a splendid fellow, and he passed out a lot more of the same sort of encouragement. However, I let that go over my shoulder. “When do you want me on the job?” said I. “Tomorrow morning?” “Tomorrow morning?” said he, with a sort of horror in his voice. “Mr. Cassidy, if you can possibly manage it, it would be a godsend to have you with us to help us through this very night!” I must admit that my temperature low- ered pretty fast, at that. But I said that I would come, and went down to saddle my horse. CHAPTER 2 The Weeping Giant G resstte. € I’ve discovered, don’t overstate. Certainly Dr. Franklin did not. I went over to the great dam and the laboratory which used some of the power that whirred out of the dynamos, fairly determined that I would be able to steer Cleve Darrell through that one night, at least; but I failed. My com- fort is that I don’t think any other one man would have succeeded. However, I shall try to tell the details of that dizzy affair one by one. On the way over, of course I pumped Dr. Frank- lin as thoroughly dry as I could. I said, “There’re a good many men employed about the works and in the factory, I sup- se?” “About two hundred,” he nodded. “Do you suspect that some of those men are on the wrong side?” said I. “Yes, they are all on the wrong side, I suspect,” said the doctor. “You suspect everybody?” “Yes, everybody.” “There, must be some hardy, honest old night watchman,” said I. “Come, now, Dr. Franklin. Don’t tell me that every soul in two hundred could be corrupted this way!” GoOMmMiGdoo S (©