A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, February 1950 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

THE SMOKING LAND 15 A couple of poor devils were carried out through the door. They had fainted, and now they were rushed over to the win- dows and flattened out on the floor. Wa- ter was thrown in their faces. Brandy was poured down their throats. Darrell was busy over them; his mo- tions were quick and crisp, but heavy with strain. The little fellow with the beard—the snapping turtle of a half hour before— was one of them; and I was rather glad of it. The other was a big six-foot-some- thing whale of a man with a jaw like a crag. Just now as he came to he sat up, stood up—and broke out in heavy sob- bing, ltke a baby. It gave me cold chills to see him, but the dozens or so aproned laboratory work- ers—they looked more like surgeons’ as- sistants—seemed to feel no shame for him, only understanding and sympathy. They helped him out of the room. The little nyan of the beard got up next, and he walked across the room like a sleepwalker until suddenly he threw a hand up before his eyes, and winced a little, sideward, and fell sprawling on the floor again. Well, it’s an odd thing to say, but I’m convinced that what knocked him flat this time was simply the eyes of Dar- rell, which suddenly had met his! CHAPTER 3 The Big Door fy IND you, I don’t think that there M was any malice in Darrell’s look. | He picked up the little bearded man with the ease one would expect from a fellow of his strength of arm and back, and handed him over to a pair of white- aproned assistants who carried him from the room. No, there was no question of personal malice. It was simply that when the little bearded man had looked at Dar- rell, he saw Darrell in connection with something that literally kicked the feet out from under him. Darrell got the rest of his staff out of the room, and it seemed to me that they went like dumb cattle, looking over their shoulders at him as though they expected him to change into a grizzly, or some- GRAS OF. a ee eae A\ ¥ ae maa eet “) att ue NN \ ie oe wp, 5 Pte. Hs wr : AAV 2? Ss Z Og OE ie WASELINE Is the registered trade mark of the Chescbrough Mfg. Co., Cone’d » a ¥, D “BILL'S A GREAT DATE, but he’s a square about his hair. He’s got all the signs of Dry Scalp! Dull hair that a rake couldn’t comb : : : and loose dandruff, too. He needs ‘Vaseline’ Hair Tonic!” Hair looks better. scalp teéls batter... when you check Dry Scalp NEAT SOLUTION, this ‘Vaseline’ Hair Tonic! Just a few drops a day check loose dandruff and other annoying signs of Dry Scalp : s : make your hair naturally good-looking. Contains no alcohol or other drying ingredients . ; < it’s economical, too. Vaseline HAIR TONIC TRADE MARK ® Listen to DR. CHRISTIAN, starring JEAN HERSHOLT, on CBS Wednesday nights, -comicbooks:co pal Ne ee ee ae ee Ca ae a ae Mm) BS