A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, February 1950 — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

78 A. MERRITT’S FANTASY have spring and summer ‘in this bleak land, so they made the warmth under the land. They were backed up against a wall, so they had to use their wits every- way they could. “The result was that very soon they were handing down vastly increased sci- entific brain-power and knowledge to their descendants. They turned to mathe- matics as a pastime, almost, and mathe- matics is the key that unlocks the doors of most of the mysteries of the universe. “Even so, they would not have made all of their present progress except that now and then they made contacts with the out- side world and found out what had been discovered there. Two or three ship- wrecks in the course of the centuries— particularly the wreck of a ship belonging to a scientific expedition in eighteen ninety-something—kept them fairly up with the times. And on that broad founda- tion, they went ahead. Incidentally, though, they clung to some of their old ways. Their clothes, for instance, pat- terned after the old styles—their speech —it must have been a kind of nostaligia for their felt, and not remembered, ori- gins. “They learned, very early, to control the great heating plant here—the volcano —by constructing certain great sluices that connect with the sea. The mountain can’t explode unless the sluices are blocked up. And with the heat of this great furnace at their command, they soon had comfortable homes, and above all, an almost inexhaustible source of power. They used that power to drill out the heart of the mountain. And they’ve equipped themselves to lead happy lives—after their fashion. “But they never have forgotten the old traditions of greener, happier lands to the south. An early type of airship they devised some fifteen years ago. And in their first voyage, they went all over the world. They saw that there were delight- ful regions. They saw, also, that they were light years ahead of the rest of the world in most of their mechanical devices. And they were simply looking around for some tremendously powerful device that would make them world conquerors. “Finally they got wind of my experi- ments, and straightway decided that I should become their servant. Should teach them my secret.” “And have you?” “No,” said Darrell, looking me straight in the eyes. “Somehow they’ve never been able to get together exactly the right materials for me!” He smiled; and I understood. CHAPTER 23 Arms and Two Men ELL, I began to feel smaller and smaller as the true fineness of Darrell’s character showed. It was plain enough that he could have put into the hands of these northern wolves weap- ons with which—combined with their own inventions—they could have plundered the rest of the world. But he had not done so. He preferred to accept anything rather than to turn these half-barbarians, half-supermen lose upon the rest of the world. “Cleve, you used to beat me in the old days with that uppercut of yours. You beat me a lot worse now, in other ways. You mean that you’ve only been pretend- ing to work for them in their labora- tories?” “That’s all,” said he. “And further- more, I’ll never work for any man again. I’m through tinkering with life’s deep secrets. If I could get back to my coun- try, I’d get a job riding a cow pony, or pitching hay, or digging ditches. I’ve had my hands on power too long. They ache from it—and tremble. I’ve seen too much, Smoky. 4.3” He paused, and seemed lost in thought, while I pondered him again, and wondered over him. Pain had scarred his face as I had never seen it before, or since, in any man upon this earth. And now, out of the torment, he had reached his deci- sion. Darrell was made of different stuff from most. He stood by himself; he was on a mountain peak of strength, far above the general level of the rest of us. I felt that, as I watched him. And now he began undoing a bolt of cloth which he had brought along under his arm. Inside were two pairs of cuiras- ses similar to those I had taken from Murder’s original owner. GOMIIGooOO S (C@ iin