All-Story Weekly, Vol. 112, No. 1 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

LAND OF THE SHADOW PEOPLE, Somewhere in the depths of the rock could be heard the faint purling of a hidden stream. Jones looked inquiringly at the Indian. “ There, patron—it is in there,” Tomas whispered, pointing to the first opening. Seeing that the Aymara showed no disposi- tion to lead, Jones lifted his torch high, and with pistol leveled, stepped into the mouth of the gallery. A draft of air set the flame of his torch to flickering. By its inconstant light, he saw that the tunnel sloped downward from the shaft and ended some five yards from where he stood in a square, black aperture, which seemed to be at the head of a flight of steps. This was a fleeting impression only; for his entire attention was centered at once upon an object which lay at his feet—the naked body of a man, which lay upon its back, its knees drawn up, and its arms flung wide. At first glance, the thought of Jones was that fell mutilation had been practised upon the stark remains; that it was only the lower portion of a body which lay before him—so like in color were torso, arms and head of the dead man to the dun rock upon which he had fallen!. His eyes becoming better used to the light in the place, Jones saw his error. The corpse was whole. That the man, whoever he was, had been roughly used by Enrique, was attested by a stream of blood which had trickled from beneatn the body and made a pool in a depression of the floor. ‘As the patron may see for himself, it is the momia of a Gentile—long dead and half rotted,” observed Tomas, thrusting his head over Jones’s shoulder. “Nonsense!” Jones spoke sharply, for the place had tried his nerves. ‘‘ Hold this light. There is nothing to be feared.” ~Tomas took the torch, muttering, never- theless, “Ojala estuviésemos en campo!” which, freely translated, means, ‘“ Would to God that we were out of this!” By the doubled light of the two torches, Jones examined the body. It had many peculiarities. To begin with, was its oddity of coloring, which Jones at first had thought due to the 57¢ manner in which the light fell upon it, but which was not. On closer view he dis- covered a narrow strip of fibrous cloth, similar to the gee-string of a Papuan, wound about its loins. Below that cincture the flesh was light-colored, not darker than that of a white man who has been much exposed to the sun. Above, it was an indefinite, earthy brown. The man was hatchet-faced, with high, shriveled features; and his body, though broad of shoulder and equipped with wiry Sinews, indicating considerable strength and endurance, was so gaunt as to consist of little but skin and bones. His head was as bald as that of Grim- shaw. Moreover, there was not a sign that hair ever had grown on either head or body, not a vestige of fuzz on the cranium, not a suspicion of either eyebrows or lashes. The eyes were wide open and staring. Jones looked into them, and was unpleas- antly impressed by their strange, indefinite quality, the entire lack of expression in them, and in the face in which they set. Enrique’s machete, swung by an arm to which terror had lent a giant’s strength, had bitten into the bare skull above the left ear, crushing the bone. Thus far in his examination Jones had not touched the creature. Laying aside his automatic, he gripped the stranger’s bony shoulders and partially lifted him: but he at once let him fall back with a shudder of repulsion. Contact with the still warm flesh of that singular corpse thrilled him with an unaccountable loathing. He had disturbed it sufficiently to reveal the weapon which had killed Enrique. It lay under the man’s side, a narrow-bladed, triangular hatchet, blade: and haft of which had been beaten from a single piece of copper. “Did I not tell the patron?” put in Tomas, who had watched Jones’s proceed- ings with uneasiness, and whose keen eyes had missed neither the shudder nor the copper ax. “ This is a ghost. Many such a hatchet have I seen dug from the /uacas of the Gentiles.” Jones looked up, and had a testy reply ready, when he noticed that the eyes of the Indian were beginning to roll in theit COMICOooe C S C©