The Black Mask — page 64: what you’re looking at

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

1 : \ 62 “T am white like thee, OQ Moon- brow,” she went on, “My mother was white—was. from a great country be- yond Tibet, called Russia, This I know, for the Lamas have told me of her, of her death here, in the monas- tery, just after my birth... O be- loved, when I could have sent thee below with my white mummies I let thee remain here—for I knew that we were made for one another. Ah, Moon-brow, thou shalt be a king! Here I am called The Shining One— I talk with the gods! Neither the Dalai Lama or the Tashi Lama, nor that spineless fool at Urga, has so much power as I! And I offer to share this glory with thee! To be the consort of The Shining One% Does that not tempt thee?” Again the man pushed her + acta away. “Leave me alone to die!” he en- treated piteously, you! The touch of you is like that of a leper! You are unclean, foul, accursed, a creature damned!” The fires of jet in her eyes rose. She laughed sharply. Her hands went to her throat and unclasped a necklace of pigeon-blood rubies—a thing that shone like threaded drops of fire. “Ah, beloved, behold these!” she cried, extending the jewels to him; “In the treasure vaults of the Lama- serie there are gems more costly than these, jewels such as are rarely seen, and all are thine if—” “Stop!” he fairly shrieked. With a spring he got to his feet and snatched the necklace from her hand, hurling it to the floor where it broke, scattering in tiny pools of flame, “God in heaven, leave me alone!” he shrilled, “You have undermined my life, murdered my soul, kept me here in this damnable place un- “My God—love_ More Deadly than the Viper til my vitality is sucked up! Now for Christ's sake let me die in peace!” With that he struck her full in the face. She fell back, clutched at the wall and lay panting against the cloth of camel-hair, “Thou hast struck me!’’ she hissed, “Whereas before thou couldst have had my love, now thou shalt know the anger of The Shining One! Thou art mine, body and soul, mine, dost thou hear? And I will take thee, break thee and fling thy body to a death worse than the horrors of the nethermost hell!” Amber lunged at here but she caught his arm, twisted it and sent him to his knees. Her eyes burned emerald-like. “Thou hast no strength to résist me, for I am The Shining One, the soul of Tibet . . . as beautiful as the moons, as fierce as a she-wolf! My voice is like melted honey and when I call, men come from the furthest ends of the earth . . . and I crush them . . . as I will crush thee!” She was forcing the white-faced Amber slowly to the floor, her eyes close to his—and Tremaine, watch- ing, hypnotized, for the time unable to act, imagined he could feel the hot contamination of her breath upon his Cheek’... FE am Fiber lt she panted in that sweet voice, “Thou hast resisted meand I... _ shall).-.. . have . 3. thys... blood?” : With a desperate wrench Amber broke free, staggering back against the reed table whereon the lamp burned. The impact of his body sent the fragile affair crashing to the floor, shattering the globular lamp in a burst of flame Se eee er Oe i ee ee ‘. ; A shriek, terrible, inhuman, rent _— the air, congealing Tremaine’s blood. “Ah, God, no. . 2 - not that !