Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

‘ fled yelps grew fainter. 102 jerked her forward. It was faster than carrying her. She stumbled, almost fell headlong, but I pulled her up and onward. “We came upon the gully. For one agonized instant I wondered if the plane would still be there. The dog seemed al- most upon us. I could hear its eager whine as it came leaping along. Then I saw the plane — snow-covered, but apparently un- disturbed. “We flung ourselves down the gully side, sliding, falling to its bottom. The deep snow there broke our fall. The dog was at the top. I saw its huge head and its bared fangs as it dashed along, selecting a place to descend. ““] jumped to the cabin platform of the plane and shoved open the door. Then I stooped, grasping Azeela under the armpits and lifting her. The dog came sliding into the gulley, and gathering itself up—it leaped. ‘“‘ But we were inside, and I slid the door closed just as the brute’s great body struck the cabin with an impact that rocked the plane. The dog fell, but was up again with a snarl, standing on its hind legs;.its huge paws-scratching at the cabin wall. ‘“T had flung Azeela to the floor of the compartment. She shouted at me reassur- ingly, and I jumped to the Frazia controls. ‘““A moment later the helicopters were raising us out of the gulley. The dog’s baf- As we rose into the air I saw Bool, a quarter of the way from the house, stumbling along through the snow, following the trail. “IT went up a thousand feet, dropped a little, and began horizontal flight. To the south, perhaps a mile away, Toroh’s sled, with its two dogs, was swinging up toward the house. He saw the plane, and as we swept over him at an altitude of some five hundred feet, he turned and followed us. ““TIt was amazing to see those two gi- gantic dogs run. They must have been pulling the sled at fifty or sixty miles an hour, for they kept almost under us. We came to the south of the island and they went down a declivity and out over the frozen, snow-covered water. Toroh was lashing them with a long quirt. “J put on more power, and we gradually ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. = drew ahead. When we had crossed the broad expanse of bay, the sled was no more than a black blob in the distance. It swung to the right, turned and went back—lost to our sight in the gathering darkness. ‘““We were alone, fairly started south- ward to Azeela’s native country and her people from whom Toroh had stolen her.” CHAPTER VII. *“*l MUST GO THERE AGAIN.” OR some minutes past the Big Busi- ness Man had been awaiting an op- portunity to interrupt. “J don’t quite understand,” he began, hesitantly. ‘‘ I’ve been wondering—Loto, you spent a month in that house, but you’ve only been away from us some twenty-eight hours. We know. We’ve been right here. How could that be? You—” “Your reasoning is quite wrong, Will,” the Chemist exclaimed warmly. ‘Loto lived in that future time-world, went for- ward in it at its natural pace for the period of a month. Then he returned, back through time, and he stopped off at a point twenty-eight hours farther along than the point at which he started. Don’t you grasp that?” “I'd like to hear more about Azeela,” Georgie put in timidly. ‘“‘ Where was her home, Loto?” Loto had ‘refused Georgie’s proffered cigarette, and was fumbling in his pocket. He produced a little black pipe and lighted it before he went on. ‘“ Azeela and her people live on an island which once was the mainland—the south- eastern corner of the United States as we know it to-day. It’s a narrow, crescent- shaped island—something like Cuba in out- line, but smaller. mainland by a channel some ten miles at its greatest width. It was for this island we were heading—south over what seemed almost a snow-covered waste. It was grow- ing dark, but presently the moon rose—a red moon.” “ And that red, burned out sun,” mused the Big Business Man. oO It is separated from the ~ (CG) COMmcoookSs