Avon Fantasy Reader No. 8 — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

~ a ae ee et SE POW BORA IEE side, a vagary of suicidal and homicidal mania for which I was scarcely pre- pared. As I hung back and attempted to soothe him he grew more violent, _ saying: “Come now—do not wait until later; it is better to repent and be for-. > _ given than to defy and be condemned.” Then I tried the opposite of the sooth-- ~ ~ ing plan, and told him he was mad—pitifully demented. But he was unmoved, ~ and cried: “If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man who imhis - callousness can remain sane to the hideous end! Come and be mad whilst he still calls with mercy!” This outburst seemed to relieve a pressure in his brain; for as he finished he - grew much milder, asking me to let him depart alone if I would not accom-. _ pany him. My course at once became clear. He was a German, but only a... Rhinelander, and he was now a potentially dangerous madman. By complying — with his suicidal request I could immediately free myself from one who was no longer a companion but a‘menace. I asked him to give me the ivory image , before he went, but this request ‘brought from him such uncanny laughter that I did not repeat it. Then I asked him if he wished to leave any keepsake or lock of hair for his family in Germany-in case I should be rescued, but again he gave me that strange laugh. So as he climbed the ladder I went to the levers and allowing proper time-intervals operated the machinery which | sent him to his death. After I saw that he was no longer in the boat I threw _ the searchlight around the water in an effort to obtain a last glimpse of him; since I wished to ascertain whether the water-pressure would flatten hint as- it theoretically should, or whether the body would be unaffected, like those extraordinary dolphins. I did not, however, succeed in finding my late ‘com- =m panion, for the dolphins were massed thickly and obscurely about the conning- tower. That evening I regretted that I had not taken the ivory image surrepti- tiously from poor Klenze’s pocket as he left, for the: memory of it fascinated me. I could not forget the youthful, beautiful head with its leafy crown, though I am not by nature an artist. I was also sorry that I-had no one with whom to converse. Klenze, though not my mental equal, was much better than no one. I did not sleep well that night, and wondered exactly when the end would come. Surely, I had little enough chance of rescue. _ The next day I ascended to the conning-tower and commenced the cus- tomary searchlight explorations. Northward the view was much the same as it had been all the four days since we had sighted the bottom, but I per- ceived that the drifting of the U-29 was less rapid. As I swung the beam around to the south, I noticed that the ocean floor ahead fell away in a marked declivity, and bore curiously regular blocks of stone in certain places, ~ disposed as if in accordance with definite patterns. The boat did not at once » descend to match the greater ocean depth, so I was soon forced to adjust the searchlight to cast a sharply downward beam. Owing to the abruptness of the change a wire was disconnected, which necessitated a delay of many /-_ commichooks.<corny