Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 39: what you’re looking at

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

baie ak Selig st ir) ey ee ee er, Pe gn ei ane THE PHANTOM OF GALON 517 corridor he was hurried, and through a heavy door at the end. He found himself in a softly-lighted luxur- ious room which served as the office, no doubt, for that fiend who ruled the Phantom. The furnishings, the atmosphere of the place were undoubtedly oriental; The heavy drapes which hung around the room were Chinese, and the divan with its many pillows was purely Persian. One who had read of the mysteries-of harem life, as they are pictured to the Western reader, might well have expected-to see some scantily-dressed beauties reclining on the large divan. If so, great would have been his disappointment; for the only person in the toom was a masked: man, who half sat, half reclined, in a large easy chair behind an exquisitely carved ebony desk. But the thing-which struck Richard as being most extraordinary was that the man of mystery seemed to be a prisoner on his own ship. He was fastened firmly, to all appeatances, by several strands of heavy silk rope which circled his body and which were doubtless secured in. some-manner to the back of the chair. Richard im- mediately suspected the hooded individual of being the same person at-whom he had shot on the Ambassador. At least the hood and cloak, the form, were: identical ; whether or not it was the same man, he could not be sure. : For a moment after Manning and his captor entered the presence of the masked man, no word was spoken; but he could feel the fiery eyes behind the mask burning into. him. Then the master of:the Phantom spoke in a not displeasing voice, his English betraying an. undefin- able. foreign accent : “Ah! Meester Manning, welcome to Galon; we have been expecting thees-visit and eet ces endeed.a pleasure to receive such an eemportant person. Eet ees rare that we have veeseetors.” He paused a moment, then grunted something to the giant Malay; and Manning had the Satisfaction of feeling his bonds being loosed. Before he could follow his impulse to do something of a violent nature, however, he: was- propelled backward by the huge Malay and landed sprawling in an easy chair. “That ees-much better, Meester Manning,” said the hooded figure: “Now be calm, and we’ll-talk business,” Manning became as docile-as a lamb; the Malay stepped across the room and stood by the door, “A sweet time I would have passing that gorilla!” thought Manning: “I must think fast.” Back from the Dead! LTHOUGH he appeared to be the picture of meek- ness, his brain was moving like lightning: Sud- denly, before the huge Malay could realize what was happening, Manning was out of his chair, like a flash, was across the room, atid had: torn the hood from the head of the Phantom’s master. When he saw the face thus revealed he stepped back aghast.. His face turned deadly white, a gasping cry gurgled in his throat, and the black hood fell from-his nerveless fingers. The man who sat in front of him was Richard Herrick, come back from the dead! Manning sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands. What turmoil raged in his breast. To think that the man who had been his best friend, and whom he long believed to be dead and buried, should prove to be that hated fiend of the Phantom! Silence reigned in the room. Even:the giant Malay who had sprung to Herrick’s assistance seemed to feel the tenseness of the situation, for he stood gazing at his master’s face, now twisted with: many emotions, on which he was looking for the first time. Herrick was the first to break the silence + “Richard, my boy, do. not judge too hastily.” He paused; the young man did-not’move. “Will you please forget for a moment that I am the ‘Phantom’ and listen to me?” There was no answer: “For ‘God's: sake, Richatd, you-must hear me!” ex- claimed Herrick frantically. Manning raised his head. “I will listen,” he said slowly and.in a voice choked by. emotion, “but: what can-you say?” “Thank God,” breathed the “Phantom,” sighing with relief; “‘in--half an hour. all will be explained and Herrick. will then be ready to join-his fathers on the banks of ‘the Styx.” He leaned back in his chair, and after gazing vacantly into space for a moment, he began: “Years ago, when you were but a lad, your father and I were working together one day in the workshop. An iron bar which hung suspended above-us suddenly came loose, struck me.on the head, and knocked me unconscious. The blow did not prove very serious, but your father insisted that I see a specialist:in-order to be sure that everything was all right. I consulted a noted authority on the brain; he took X-rays and told me that there was a-slight-dent.in my skull; that the bone was pressing slightly on the brain, but that it did not present serious danger, “Nothing will come of: it,” he told me, ‘provided you lead an active outdoor life and never allow your brain to become fatigued. But, if you fail to-carry out these simple instructions, the pressure on your brain as it fills with blood may cause mental derangement!’ “So, during the years that: followed, I tried to lead a normal life; and trained you along the same lines. With pride I watched-you-develop into splendid man- hood, and had nearly: forgotten theineident-of the iton bar, until a few years ago, I began to perceive queer ideas that filled my mind at times, yet quickly passed away. But the ideas returned with renewed force, despite all that I could-do. A great fear clutched. me, and I consulted specialist after specialist. All recom- mended. different things, but the main thing was to occupy: my mind with happy thoughts, But, as these ideas gaitied force in my mind, my: own doctor at last sent me to a private sanitarium; but I hated conditions there. A different-spirit, a cold-blooded cruel mentality seemed to have taken possession of me. I was becoming a regular Mr. Hyde, “One night I escaped, returned home, and then de- parted for the West. You know what happened then. I wandered like a lost soul all through the Orient. Every day I could feel my other self; the demon, slowly consuming the good in me. God! I wanted-to die; but I was afraid. “In. my: travels I landed upon this island, Galon, made friends with the natives, and started my devilish work. Here I discovered the secret of my- paralyzing tay; learned: that by means of this ray I could create a vacuum in the air at.a distance or, by shortening the wavelength, paralyze a gas engine. The ship that I built works on the simple principle of atmospheric pres- sure; by means-of the ray I exhaust the air in front or above the craft, and the air pressure on the opposite side pushes it into a vacuum. The principle is simple, but the atomic ray is too dangerous for human weak- ness to possess, For the safety of mankind; no one else must ever learn that secret. : (Continued on page 556) comicbooks.com Rr ee ee Se AR ey STS a ee ET eR Sn nme e Vib En tine Maer EN SN Bo yon Ss by adie. Mh) be te eet eee ee Tee ge tee” a ee