Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

» bad English of a New York newspaper tellin; 114 horrible bulby umbrellas that kept coming closer, dim figures of horror in the green moonlight, huge and im- pregnable, towering over the little group of humans who shouted and cursed and fired impotently. One man, half maddened, even ran forward, waving his bayonet, and was gathered gently up by two of those big arms as a child might be picked up by its parent. | A thrill of wavering ran down the line; one or two men threw away their rifles, when suddenly, right at their feet, one of the monsters collapsed. There was-a chorus of whistling and they moved backward, ap- parently without turning, as rapidly and silently as they had coine... : A feeble cheer rose from the Senegalese, a cheer that was silehced instantly, for a glance revealed that half the hastily formed line was missing, the men gone as completely as though they had never been. : Weyl was aware that he had been clicking an empty pistol, that his throat was dry, that Duperret sat at his feet, his face in his hands, seemingly without power of motion. Senegalese and natives, frightened to the verge of madness, babbled like children all around him. The iron voice of Dubosc rose: “Silence, my children!” Out in the clearing before them was no sign that men had battled for their lives, save one ugly, loathsome shape, that sprawled on the ground and twitched feebly in the gloom. ae CHAPTER I us ex i BE survivors of that unbelievable, one-sided bat- tle dragged: themselves’ back into Fort Dauphin five days later. One man _was violently insane, tightly bound, and as for the rest, it seemed that only remnants of sanity remained. Thé emotional blacks had almost collapsed under the strain, and nothing but incoherent gibberings could be extracted from them by the soldiers who cared for the exhausted, weaponless, starving and almost naked remainder of the trim com- pany of Chasseurs who marched out with drum and bugle only a fortnight before. Weyl begged off from an- immediate report to the commandant, and went to bed, where he slept the sleep of exhaustion for twenty hours on end, and Duperret did likewise. < : Weyl woke vastly refreshed, and with the horror -that had been dragging at his mind relieved, though with such a feeling of weariness as he had not known — since college football days. The black boy at th obligingly brought him the latest newspapers, n quite a month old, and he re-established his tow the world of men by reading them over the tiny break-_ fast of coffee and rolls which was all the fort physician would allow him, — : ee An item in one of them caught his eye, and caused him to sit up in his chair with a whoop of joy brought a scandalized glance from Major Lari white-moustached old Alsatian who was in comm the fort, and a grin from Duperret, the first si dreadful night of the attack. : = : The item, in bad French, was a translation from the et intolerable, but we gained confidence as it be ‘patent that the beasts would not dare the to this conclusion ; and the __laying siege to “I thought I had it when T AMAZING STORIES Weyl’s departure for Madagascar. It was the exalted pseudo-science of which fewspapers are fond and contained much ingeniously sketchy biographi- cal and geographical data, but its appeal was obvious. The American leaned forward over the eups. “Does your fort boast a typist?” he asked. “Lieu- tenant Dubosc has probably already told you of the ter- rible experience we have had. I am anxious to make my report on it through the newspapers.” “Monsieur,” said Major Larivet, gravely, “he died an hour ago by my side. I know nothing but that I have lost many men from my command.” “So...” said Weyl, “All the more reason I should make my report in writing. I need not conceal from you the fact that we are facing a danger which threat- Ox) “ens not merely. Fort Dauphin and Madagascar, but the entire world.” - There was incredulity on the major’s face, but he replied courteously, “My means are entirely at your service, gentlemen.” = Beginning his report with scientific exactitude, Weyl included Duperret’s letter, noted the sudden midnight attack on the steamer and went on to the details of the — expedition : “.. .. For hours after the attack,” he wrote, ne were unable to get anything like control out of the =. chaos in the camp. I think another attack of these un speakably loathsome ‘Umbrella Beasts’ would hav brought complete panic; certainly hardly any rifles bu Duperret’s and my own would have met them. = “We could not hope to escape by an ‘Smmediate dash - for the fort, though it was less than thirty hours’ march away. The beasts seemed. to be on every side, and they wold have every advantage in that jungle, where we would have been instantly swept into the trees by their swinging tentacles. “Fortunately, these hideous monsters appeared fo have gathered their fill of human food for the time be- ing, and meanwhile the idea of fire occurred to use All the wood we could gather without too closely ap- proaching the trees was collected and heaped in piles” about five feet apart in a complete circle. These were — set alight, and we huddled in the center-of the blazing > ring, almost roasted by the heat, but feeling infinitely — safer. With the coming of day, the heat was almost — ‘us with the intent It mm barian, beast or insect, would tc