A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

it’s like; but this wall’s like his wife put- ting a veil over her face sudden. He’d know he’d seen the same old face but he’d have to lift it just the same. An’ for the same reason "Lias just has to look over that wall. “He knows there ain’t a chance by day, but he reconnoiters an’ crawls around, an’ at last he picks a place down near the water. Eph.says there’s breasts of rock at each end of the wall into which the wall is built an’ you can’t even get over ’em from the water. ’Lias figures he can row down, slip to land and climb the wall. So he picks a night when it’s full moon but clouds obscuring the moon frequent. He packs a light ladder an’ sculls down cautious. He lands an’ puts up his ladder an’ when the moon’s under a cloud he swarms up. An’ there he is on top the wall. He draws up the ladder an’ flattens out an’ peers round. It’s *Lias’s idea to drop the ladder on the other side an’ prospect. He waits till the moon comes out again an’ he sees it’s an open meadow below him dotted with big bushes. He waits till another cloud comes an’ he unslings the ladder an’ starts down. An’ when he gets to this point in his story, Eph shuts up an’ heads the bus to the side of the road where we halt. I say: ‘Yeah, an’ what then?’ Eph says: ‘Then we pick him up next morning rowing ’round and ’round the harbor an’ crying “keep ‘em off me—keep ’em off me!” We take him in,’ he says, ‘an’ get him calmed down some an’ he tells us what I’ve told you.’” | Said McCann, “An’ then—” He poured himself a drink and gulped it. “An then the old goat show’s he’s the best liar or the best actor I ever rode range with. For he says after that "Lias goes like this—an’ Eph’s eyes roll an’ his face twitches an’ he sort of whimpers—‘Hear the piping! Oh, hear the piping like birds! Oh, God—look at ‘em running and hiding in the bushes! Hiding and piping! God—they look like men—but they ain’t men. Look at ’em run an’ hide! ... | “‘ *What’s that? It sounds like a hoss... a big hoss .. . galloping! “ ‘Look at her... with her hair stream- ing . . . look at the blue eyes an’ white face of her . .. on the hoss . . . the big black hoss! “ *Look at em run...an’ hear ’em pipe! A. MERRITT’S FANTASY Hear ’em pipe like birds! In the bushes — ... running from bush to bush... a “Look at the dogs . . . they ain’t dogs! Keep ’em off me! Keep ’em off me! The — hounds of Hell!” a McCann said: “He made me crawl. I’m — telling you I’m crawling now. q “Then he just started the bus an’ went ~ on. I managed to ask: ‘Then what?’ He © says: ‘That’s all. That’s all we can get out — of him. Ain’t never been the same since. Mebbe he just fell off the wall an’ hit his ~ head. Mebbe so—mebbe not. Anyway, — ’Lias ain’t curious no more. Goes round ~ the village sort of wide-eyed an’ lonesome. © Get him started an’ he’ll do for you what I ; just did.’ He cackled— ‘But better.’ . “T said, still crawling: ‘If what looked like men wasn’t, an’ the dogs that looked _ like dogs wasn’t, then what the hell were — they ?’ 4 . “He says: ‘You know as much as I do.” | “T say: ‘Oh, yeah. Anyway, ain’t you © got any idea on who was the gal on the big black hoss ?’ > = “He says: ‘Oh, her, sure. That was the Frenchman’s gal.’ ” S: Rgee N the icy hand ruffled my hair, and | and my thoughts ran swiftly ... Da- ~ hut on the black stallion... and hunting— — what . . . and with—what? And the up-. right stones and the men who had died raising them... as they did of old... as of old in Caranac... McCann’s narrative was going smooth- | ly on. He said: “We ride along quiet after that. I see the old goat is pretty agitated, an’ chewing his whiskers. We come to the place he’s been telling about. We look — around. It’s a nice place all right. If I was what I say I was, I’d buy it. Old stone house, lots of room—for the East. Furniture in it. We amble around an’ after awhile we come in sight of this wall. | It’s all the old goat said it was. It’d take _ artillery or TNT to knock it down. Eph — mutters not to pay attention to it, except 4 casual. There’s big gates across the road — that look like steel to me. An’ while I~ don’t see nobody I get the idea we're being — watched all the time. We stroll here an’ | stroll there, an’ then back to the other — place. An’ then the old goat asks me — anxious what I think of it, an’ I says it’s © all right if the price is, an’ whaf is the — ' Comicbooks:com 7 a let a te i A 8