Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 18, 1928 — page 80: what you’re looking at

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

878 us, with a fringe of curious, apathetic men beyond them. Sonya turned to speak to Alice and Dolores. Near by was a dark path between beds of giant flowers. I slipped from the platform. With my cloak held before my face, I avoided the girls and plunged into the shadows of the flowered path. The path was dark, cut off from the moonlight by a great bed of flowers rising high above my head. A group of men came toward me; I stepped between the flower-stalks, stood enshrouded in my cloak, my figure merged with the shadows, un- til the men had passed. - I caught a near glimpse of them. Young men, stalwart fellows, no doubt, according to the standards of their race. But not one of them was taller than my shoulder; and beside me, they were frail, delicate of build. In a weaponless fight, I could doubtless have engaged two or three of them, and come off the victor. I am well over six feet, and powerfully built. On earth there was nothing remarkable in that; but here in this other world, I was almost of giant stature. I was a powerful, primitive man here. The thought brought me a confi- dence. If I could carry through what I planned! The path turned into a dim street that encircled the rear of the castle where a hundred-foot wall rose sheer. It was very dark along here. I hurried forward with my cloak drawn around me. 1 had at first thought vaguely that I might be able“to get under the castle, into the arsenal through some postern gate along here. The arsenal was within this curving wall of stone. I passed such a gate now-—a small, narrow opening, half the height of my upright body. But it was blocked solidly with a metal door which I could see no way of opening. I passed on, heading back through the city to the house in which we had been held since our arrival. Behind that house, with a viaduct connecting them, was the Jaboratory in a room of which we had ar- rived. Our space-vehicle was there. I could not operate the =" but it held a weapon I wanted. “ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. I remembered that Jim had brought it. In the excitement of our arrival, the strangeness of everything, we had forgotten it, the Frazier beam, brought out by an Aberdeen physicist in 1994. It had been designed for hunters of wild animals. It was of little use against hu- mans, particularly of the higher mental type. But Jim in his work of capturing criminals, had several times used it with good effect. I believed that I could use it here. I had left the castle behind me, and turned, somewhat dubiously, into another street. I was sure if I could get to Sonya’s house, where so recently we had been, I could retrace my way from there. I had planned this while on the flying platform as we circled over the castle. I had been able then to identify Sonya’s home, and to gauge the lay of the streets in between. T turned another corner. The street was brighter. A woman on a balcony gazed down at me. I encountered a man; he came abruptly out of a doorway before I could avoid him. I tensed myself to leap upon him if he barred my way. But he stared, and stepped aside. I went on. Another corner. I saw and recognized Sonya’s house. sure. Within twenty minutes after leaving the castle grounds, I was groping in the darkness back of the house where Dr. Weatherby’s body lay. It was near here that the nameless hor- rors had caught Jim, Lupe, and Ren. But I saw no signs of them now. The viaduct connecting the two buildings was a dark, thin line against the stars. The building I was hoping to enter was wholly dark. A two-story structure, the viaduct extended from its upper floor. I prowled around. The lower window Openings were all barred. The door oval was barred. A stairway led up from the ground to the viaduct. From the viaduct’s platform I saw a cornice, too high for a normal man to reach; but I leaped for it, pulled myself up upon the dome-shaped roof of a turret. A leap from here, and I was upon the main flat roof. There should be a door under a mound cover; most of the build- Gomichooks From there, my way was: (E(0) -