Argosy, Vol. 112, No. 2 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

. % 1 Ay ig, tify a Pe y Fas wy »f. hae ‘ ae tied 5 "y : q » ; ? ’ | t LS ARE ys “wa” 4s iy i uy 262 ered, toppled, crashed, face downward, back into the room, Throwing the legs to one side, and clear- ing the passageway, they rushed in. Zaida, tied hand and foot in a chair, occupied the middle of the room. On the desk the powder glowed and smoked whit- ishly. The air was fetid with its deadly, pungent odor. Tarton, in the lead, seized the girl, chair and all, and, with Smith helping, rushed her out. In the empty room, before the Open window, they set her down and un- tied her. And ten minutes later, when her senses glimmered back, it was to find, mys- teriously sitting at her side, some one whose arm gently supported her, and whose shoul- der pillowed her head. Startled, she looked round; then, with a sigh, happily closed her eyes. This, she was sure, was the first of the visions. Smith had gone in to see about Held- strom. “ He’s still out,” he reported on returning. Five minutes later he went again. This time he stayed. A voice broke out, at first softly, then more loudly.. It spoke no sense. It addressed no one. Gradually it swelled to fury. It was the Norwegian’s. There was something strange about it. Tarton sprang to his feet. At the thres- hold he found Smith, automatic in hand, white-faced and shuddering. Wordless, he pointed in at the opposite corner. “Tt got him,” he whispered awesomely, “while he was out.” } Heldstrom, disheveled, hollow-eyed and white, stood staring into space. He reeled as though intoxicated; his great arms beat the air about his head like flails. He was talking, arguing, defying, cursing, pleading, weeping, screaming, first with anger, then with terror. He was haranguing the visions —the diabolical personages of furious im- agination that the drug had conjured up. They were all about him—a hundred hor- _rible shapes and sounds, that he fought at and defied with all his might. He called them by name—he pleaded with them, ca- joled and promised them. Perspiration flowed from his forehead. His struggles grew feebler, his voice hoarse and broken. Still he battled desperately on. THE ARGOSY. Tarton felt a tug at his sleeve. It was Zaida, who had come creeping out in fright and loneliness, She clung to him, gasping. “Do you-know—anything about this?” he whispered. “He told me,” she breathed. “ First you see these terrible visions. The room is full of dreadful creatures that threaten you. Then afterward you fall asleep, and when you awake you are—insane. It is incurable —oh, look!” Heldstrom had suddenly stopped. talking. His tongue ran round his lips, moistening them. His hand dropped to his side. He wavered, staggered, collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily. He had seen the vision, and fallen into the slumber. Two hours later, when he awoke, a strait- jacket was about him. Nevertheless, it required four men to take him away to the asylum. es CHAPTER X. THE MESSAGE OF KING T’ATH-MESSU. “WELL, it all began when my stepfather met Professor Fisher in Egypt,” said Zaida Heldstrom. She was sitting by Tar- ton’s side on a rock. There were rocks on the steep bank that towered above them and rocks on the slope that fell away below. And to the right and left. But in front was only the solitude of the open sea, with a canopy of cotton clouds on turquoise sky. They had taken the day and gone to land’s end. The world is full of land’s ends when you are in love. Love gives you an instimct where to find quiet places, undis- turbed except by soft breezes and the song of birds. They had brought their luncheon — and eaten it in this wilderness of boulders and sky, and at last Zaida had begun to ex- plain. “The professor, as you of course know, has spent most of his life digging up buried cities in Egypt. He has discovered some wonderful things. And he’s written books and books about it. . “ My stepfather had been traveling about in Persia and Afghanistan and Turkestan, and all those dreadful places, for years. I think it was the hardships he went through Gomicbooks..