Amazing Stories — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

THE ANCIENT HORROR 65 shaky platform spread over the branches of the fal- Jen conifer. “Up it rose, to a height of seven or eight feet, while I, gazing upon its utter frightfulness, stood paralyzed and dumb. I saw its cavernous mouth, fully three feet from snout to the angle of the jaw; saw it open and reveal its gleaming, needle sharp teeth over the head of the unfortunate man; and I was utterly helpless. Ii my own life had been at stake, I could not have uttered a cry of warning. “T think Wilson must have sensed something, somehow, for I noticed (I can see that look even now) a look of fear spread over his rugged features. But it was too late for, just as he was in the act of turning his head to see what was behind him, the end came. There was a slight working of the ter- rible jaws, perhaps due to some sort of gustatory sug- gestion of the thing’s instinctive machinery, then, like a flash, down came the obscene head, the jaws closed, with a snap and Wilson, only his legs protruding be- yond the lizzard’s snout, was snatched from his seat with the speed and ease with which a hen picks up a kernel of corn. “Horror unspeakable overpowered my mind, and I think I lost consciousness for a moment. Maybe I went mad for a time, for I have no remembrance of having gone to the house, nor, until awakened by a terrific crash of thunder, did I have a realization that anything had taken place. : “When I regained my senses, I sat slumped over in one of the kitchen chairs. I felt dazed, like one who has been on a long drunk. Shadows of strange memories passed through my mind, suggesting noth- ing definite. Then another frightful crash swept the cob-webs from my brain and I felt memory coming back with a rush. “Other things came quickly, and perhaps for- tunately, to occupy my mind, and demand my atten- tion, for one of the worst storms I had ever wit- nessed, was brewing fast and furiously. The house, stout though it was, trembled and creaked beneath the onslaught of the elements gone wild. “Getting up from the chair I staggered to the win- dow. The sky was overcast with heavy clouds, those immediately overhead being a grayish black, while, down in the southwest an unearthly, greenish mass of whirling cumuli, writhed and twisted, high up in the heavens. That there were several currents of air, coming from as many different directions was evident, from the manner in which the tops of the trees behaved. They fairly threshed about. Pres- - ently the temperature began to drop and great clouds from the northwest drove past, beneath the blackness far overhead, and then the flashes of lightning be- came appalling, as the fire forks darted from cloud to cloud, while deafening peals of thunder sent every loose thing a-rattle. “Then the rain came; came in torrents that were veritable cascades of driven water, beating in at-every crack and crevice. There was—a blinding flash a hundred yards from the house and a tall tree, splintered into kindling, flew in all directions; this the gale whirled and tossed about, finally driving it into the lake, the surface of which was beaten into froth. a “T heard a crash overhead and knew the chimney had gone by the board. This was followed by a rip- ping sound, and the roof of the chicken house, look- ing like the flapping wings of some enormous bird, en nn ~ Saat anne ere : =; went sailing away across the lake; and when the house itself began to slide upon its foundation I expected it to follow. It did not, however; neither did it lose its roof, although, as I discovered later, there wasn’t a whole shingle left on it. “Suddenly the hideous racket was augmented by a sound that over-rode all other noises. Every win- dow pane was shattered ; every door was driven from its hinges, while through the openings, a deluge of water rushed, flooded the house and knocked me into a corner. “I have heard about the ‘Crack of Doom’ many times, and, if it is going to be any worse than that crack, I don’t want to hear it. However, it seemed to serve one useful purpose, for after it came, the awful racket began to subside and, within the hour, only an occasional rumble bore evidence of energy still at work. The rain continued, however, until it seemed the oceans were being drained to furnish the water. : “Wet, cold and weary, I waded through the water that swashed back and forth through the lower rooms, to the stair leading to the second floor. I dragged my aching body up the stairs, down which little streams trickled, for the windows, upstairs, also were shattered. I went from room to room, seeking some place of shelter out of the wind, where I might perhaps find some dry clothing and lie down. The second floor was pretty well soaked but I found shelter at last, in a large closet in the rear. This part of the house was toward the east and since the storm had come from the southwest and north, it was comparatively dry there. In this closet I found Wil- son’s Sunday suit, some shirts and a pair of shoes, together with a few pairs of socks. The suit was too small, and the shoes too large, but I was in no position to be particular, so I put them on. Unless you have been in a similar predicament, you cannot know the comfort of dry clothing of any kind or make. “After wringing out my own clothes and hanging them over the backs of chairs to dry if the rain ever let up I piled, some things on the floor and, upon these, for a bed, I soon forgot all about the storm and what had gone before it. “A ray of sunlight on my eyes, reflected from a mirror, awoke me. My watch had stopped, so I didn’t know just what time it was, although I judge it must have been about nine o'clock. I was a bit stiff and hungry, but otherwise, in pretty good shape. After drawing the chairs, over which my clothes hung, into the sunshine, I went down stairs, dug the wet ashes out of the stove, made a fire and cooked some ham and eggs and coffee for myself. Then I started out to learn the extent of the damage. “There was plenty. fallen in, driving the walls outward. Luckily the weather had been warm, so the cattle were still kept outside. I found them at last, in a small apple orchard, apparently no worse for having been out in the storm, contentedly eating grass. I say had been, because practically every one of the trees had been ruined, the branches having been torn off.- “Then, for no particular reason, I strolled down to the lake. branches and boards, it was the same, smiling, beau- tiful blue body of water—the last place in the world, I thought, where such terrible tragedies could take place, and the most unlikely hiding place for th horror that had caused the events. Soon I n aware of a muffled sound like a rushing, The roof of the barn had. Except for a lot of floating shingles,