Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 120: what you’re looking at

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

110 easily have set it off with a burning glass. But its use would be too patent, not orig- inal enough. Ponda and his priests had seen burning glasses. McKay had figured out his program, his little ritual, which was to be at once simple, lacking any attempt at hiding his actions, and therefore the more supernatural, and also effective. ‘The fissure in the rock pleased him especially. He had not counted om anything of the kind, but he had hoped —and he had brought a stick of dynamite along, capped and short-fused, on the possi- bility of a gorgeous wind-up and a bang to emphasize his performance. Dynamite was not new to Ponda, but in connection with the rest of the happening he would not be likely to think of a final explosion as dyna- mite, but something far more unearthly. McKay prodded here and there in the sand, and decided that the top-soil was quite dry enough to carry his chemicals without deterioration. He turned to Ponda..- “Et will make no difference. You have seen me make fire dance on water. Now behold! And this is in the bright light of day. I want twenty peeled wands, a fathom or more high. If you bring them you will know that I have not put a spell upon them.” : Ponda sent off two of his priests for the peeled poles, of which there were bound to be plenty in any village, used for tabu pur- poses. McKay strolled over to the stone wall of a hut-cluster and cut a bamboo cane, from which he proceeded to trim all the leaves but a tiny tuft at the top. He took some time to fix this tuft to his satis- faction, but, when the job was done, his little vial of acid was bound to the slender stem, well hidden by the leaves. He thrust the cane into the sand by the side of the rock, and left it there for the time being while the wands were being brought. beckoned Sime to come over to him. ‘‘ When I start to march round this stone, Fred,” he said. ‘‘I want you and the boys to walk with me, outside of me, as a cover, not too closely. I don’t think there is a chance in a million of their getting on to the game, but we'll minimize it, and at the same time let them think they can see everything. So it Il be open order. I’m He going to have those wands stuck up in @ circle and keep the audience twenty feet off. I'll tell ’em rt’s dangerous to get any closer, and before it’s over theyll believe me. Take this.’”’ He pulled out a flaming orange silk handkerchief from the side pocket of his coat. ‘“Go over there and sit on the side of the rock by the bamboo. Don’t shake the cane or you may loosen the bottle of acid I’ve got fixed there. It’s firm enough, but go easy.” Cut up this handkerchief mto strips, and tie these strips on the bamboo, one at each jomt. There’s a stick of dyna- mite, capped and fused in the handkerchief. Take all the time you want to cutting up the silk and fixing the strips just right. And manage to get that stick of dynamite into the crack in the rock with the fuse up so I can get at it from the top of the stone. The crack is right by the bamboo. You get the idea? It’s going to be the climax.” “Got you,” said Sime brieffy, took over the square of silk with its dangerous con- tents and walked over to the rock, getting busy with the decoration of the bamboo. MeKay inspected the wands and approved them. Kekko and the three other boys from the Mbelema then stuck them into the sand in a ring, McKay apparently taking infinite pains to place each pole in precisely the right position, sighting from behind it at the rock, with the priestlngs watching every move, and Ponda’s eyes glued not to lose any of the preliminaries. Once they thought they Knew what Sime was doing with the bamboo stem, they gave all their attention to McKay as principal, as he had expected. The wands fixed, McKay solemnly paced around the rock, taking care to time him- self. He had cut his fuse already, and he did not want an anticlimax. ‘* The stuff’s all planted,’” said Sime in a low voice as McKay passed him. “ Fuse almost level with the top of the rock. How about the smoke from it? Won't that give the show away a bit?” ‘““TTl smother it as much as I can. I’m going to cover the sacred demit of the shark god with green boughs,” answered McKay. ‘Fhe sun’s high. Time for the big show to start. As we go round, Fred, whistle COMmiiclooo SS (CO