Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 63: what you’re looking at

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

THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME. now I was wholly confused. I turned back toward the curtain. I would escape from the house—come back some other time. Or Should I pick her up now, and run with her? She was small—frail. I could carry her easily; escape almost as quickly with her, perhaps, as by myself. And shoot back at any one—anything—that followed. ‘“T found myself back at her couch. She had withdrawn to the further side of it, huddled against the wall. Her horrified eyes were on my face, but she did not scream again. ‘There was a noise behind me, I swung about. The curtain was parting. There was a figure there. I could not see it plainly; it was in the darkness, and I was in the light. I aimed the Collinger, pressed the trigger. Simultaneously a tiny pencil- point of light seemed to spring at me from where the figure was standing—a brief, very tiny, but horrible intense glare flashed in my eyes. ‘“T was in darkness; everything went black. I did not fall, but reeled sidewise. I heard a mocking laugh; footsteps running up to me; a hand struck me across the mouth. ‘It is terrible to fight in total darkness. I stumbled aimlessly somewhere, and felt the Collinger twisted from me. But when I lurched in that direction, my outflung arms met only empty air. Again a hand struck me across the mouth; again that mocking laugh. My assailant was playing with me! ‘“{ was unhurt, and desperately I rushed to where I thought the room’s exit might be. But strong fingers gripped my shoulder and I was flung violently sidewise. I must have struck my head against something as I went down. My senses faded; the last thing I remember was that jeering, mocking laughter out of thé darkness!” CHAPTER VI ESCAPE. “yg CAME to myself still lying where I had fallen. Striking my head had knocked me out momentarily. I heard voices; some one was kneeling beside me. 697 “IT opened my eyes, but everything was black. JI remember feeling my head. It was not cut—only a lump on it. I was un- hurt, and I struggled to a sitting position. Whoever it was beside me, now stood up and moved away. The girl’s voice came to me out of the darkness. The low words were unintelligible—yet they were words not wholly unfamiliar in ring. ‘The darkness was full of little darting red spots. And my eyes pained me—the back of the eyeballs were burning. I was blind. I had not realized it—” ‘“ Blind!” exclaimed Georgie.’ “ Oh, that little light he shot at you—” ‘“‘T had not realized it before, I thought the light in the room had suddenly been extinguished—and a vague idea that my antagonist could see in the dark had pos- sessed me. But it wasn’t so. He had blinded me, with the tiny flash of light that had struck into my eyes. ‘‘ My head was still reeling from the blow when I fell. They carried me, half con- scious, into some other room, and left me lying on something soft. I closed my eyes, but I could not shut out those darting red spots. At last, I must have drifted off to sleep. ‘“When I awoke it was morning. The red glow of the sunrise was coming in a small aperture up near the ceiling. I could see it; the blindness had passed. My head was still ringing, my eyes still pained me. But I was uninjured. ‘“T was on a low couch, with a fur rug under me. My overcoat lay beside me on the floor. The whole thing seemed like a dream to my mind, but finally I got it straightened out. ‘““T was in a fairly large bedroom. Two windows of heavy transparent material were up near the ceiling. Opposite to. the win- dows was a doorway with a curtain. I slipped into my overcoat, searching its pockets. My cap was there, but the com- pass and the flash light were gone and my Collinger had already been taken from me. “The storm outside seemed to have passed. The house was dead silent. I went to the curtain; beyond it was a small hall, empty, and with another curtain at its further end. This I pushed aside cautiously. oO CoOmiclbhoOokKs (S@)