Show km THE MAKER 01 0 t fl U d R 0 S I 1 by ROBERT W CHAMBERS 4 illustrations by jj J J sheridan sha SH 1 culy tight a 0 1 Iut nama sons SYNOPSIS the story opens in new york R hoy ny car lenh iio tho I 1 0 storyteller story teller toller t n 9 0 1 auer r rp ali I 1 n owned bv deborgo godfrey of nt 1 l rr y yB roy and barris and Iler pont two fr friends 1 e I 1 q 1 depart I a p a r t 0 on n a hunting i u n t I 1 n g t trip r I 1 I 1 t to 0 cardinal WOODS woods A 11 rather obscure locally barris leven revea led leil the fact that ho he had joined the lio secret bervice for the purpose it 3 f runn 1 ng down a i gang of gold ma maljers liers prof bagran T on discovering th alie tinga fortna had find been mysteriously killed t harris rev received elved a telegram of 0 in ito ifo and Iler pont set out to locate tho gold snaking rans gang A valet reported seeing a queer chinaman in tho the supposedly untenanted woods toy went nun bunting ting ito ho toll fell asleep in it tell dell on wakening lie beheld a beautiful girl at a small mall take lake A bli I 1 resembling a dragons Ira gons claw on nn itous to torn head had a mysterious effect upon the girl who said gald tier her name was aki on e toa suddenly goldenly she Ws pl fleeing in terror r r r roy beheld apgear a L horrible chinese visage nt at ill ailin in front from the woods v clarris and Iller pont returned hairls darris exhibited a r i entile like 11 te that owned by joffrey jod frey A b ball or A supposed P rold gold ii he e lipold eimil R suddenly u d d r y become became alive lie ho told of the kuen Y euln ian a clit veso nation 0 of so numbering anti explained that tho the moon maker ra their vuler ruler whoso choso crescent symbol cymbol was B n dragon claw was su supposed lIBed to hl have va recently returned to earth barris pierpont and roy hoy fathel to ind find Ys ondes dell font later ater roy bunt i g camo came to tho the tul ful spot where ho ic found she told jilin how tier her stepfather evidently a ChIn chinaman arnan made gold andoe and ot his mysterious actions suddenly a all I 1 turned black and roy awoke t tp find himself stunned and bleeding on JR lua own doorstep roy recovered barris under tinder a mys spell told of hla his stay amons among the ch Clil terl nese sorcerers his love there and its false ending several ol of the gold balcers those who were not sorcerers were alth 1 tr er caught or 1101 killed led tiny wandered into the woods and found ysonde CHAPTER vill VIII continued no alil animal lilal swimming out in tho the dar earliness liness along the shore ao to heavy salmon surging could have set the whole shore shoie algood its as though tho the wash from it a groat boat were rolling in could it have been the over overflow flaw through the weir brook ot of bould cloudburst far back in tho the forest this was the only way I 1 could account tor for it and yet when I 1 had crossed the weir brook I 1 had bad not noticed that it was swollen Bwol leu and na as I 1 la lay y thero there thinking a faint breeze sprang up and I 1 saw tho the surface of the lake whiten with lifted illy pods all around me the alders were sighing I 1 heard the forest behind me stir tho the crossed branches rubbing softly softly bark against barli bark something it may have been an owl sailed out of tho the night dipped soared and was again engulfed and tar far across the water I 1 heard its faint cry ysonde then than first for my heart was full I 1 cast myself down upon my face call ing on liar name my eyes were wet when I 1 raised my head for the spray from the shore was drifting in again anti and my heart beat heavily no me more re no more but my heart lied for oven even as I 1 raised my face to the calm stars I 1 saw her standing still close beside me and very gently I 1 spoke her name ysonde she held out both hands 1 I was lonely she said and I 1 went to the glade but tho the forest Is full of frightened creatures and they frightened me ilas has anything hap pencil in the woods the deer are running toward the heights iler her hand still lay in mine as wo we moved along the shore and the I 1 lapping ap of the water on rock and shall shallow w was no lower than our voices why did you leave mo me without a word there at the fountain in the glade she said 1 I leave youl you indeed you did running swiftly with your our log dog plunging through thickets and brush oh you frightened me did I 1 leave you so go yes after alter after you had kissed me then we leaned down together and looked into the black water set with stars just its as we hild hau bent together over the fountain in tho the glade do you remember yes see cc the water Is inlaid with stiver silver stars everywhere white lilies floating and the tars stars below deep deep down what Is the hower flower you hold in your hand band white water lotus tell mo me about yue laou azil abu of the kuen euln I 1 whispered lifting her head so fco I 1 could seo see her eyes would it please you to hear yes ysonde all that I 1 know Is yours now as I 1 km irn all that I 1 am bedd den d closer Is it of yue laou you would know yue laou Is azil cibil of tho the kuen rutn lie iio lived in the moon aloon lie he is old olivery very very old and once before he bo camo came to rulo rule tho the etien KuenY euln nin ho he was the old man who unites with a silken cord all predestined couples after which nothing can prevent their union but all that is changed since he camo came to rulo rule the kuen euln now he has bas prever prevented ted the xin the good genii of china and has baa fashioned from their warped bodies a monster which ho he calls the aln this monster I 1 Is horrible for it not only lives in its own body but it has thousands of loathsome satellites living creatures crea turea without mouths blind that move when the xin moves like a mandarin and its his escort they are anre part of tho the xin although they are not attached yet it if ono one of those theae satellites la Is injured the aln writhes in agony it Is tearful this huge living bulk and those these creatures borund out like severed that wriggle around a hideous hand band who told you this my aly stepfather do you believe it yes yea I 1 havo have been ono one of the ains creatures where ysolda Ys ondo onda here in the woods then you yon belade there la Is a xin here there must be perhaps in the lake oh ains inhabit lakes yes and tho seven seas I 1 am not afraid here why because I 1 wear the symbol of the nuen kuen euln then I 1 am not safe I 1 smiled yes yea you are tor for I 1 hold you in my arms shall I 1 toll tell you more about the xin when the xin Is about to do to death a man the yeth hounds gallop through the night what are the yeth hounds ysonde the yeth hounds bounds are dogs without heads they are spirits of murdered children which pass through the woods at night making a walling noise do you believe this yes for I 1 have worn the yellow lotus the yellow lotus yellow is tho the symbol of at faith where in ylan she said faintly after a while I 1 said ysonde you know there Is a god god and bangi aro are one havo you over eyer heard of christ no she answered softly tho he wind began again among the tree tops I 1 jelt fet her handa banda closing in mine ysonde I 1 asked again do you be have in sorcerers tos the kuen yuin are sorcerers yue laou Is a sorcerer llave havo you seen sor sorcery iery yos yes the reptile satellite of the aill 11 anything else my aly charm the golden ball the symbol of the kuen euln have you beert it change have you seen the reptiles writhe yes sald said 1 I shortly and then remained silent tor for it a sudden shiver of apprehension had seized me darris also had spoken gravely ominous ominously illy of the sorcerers the Kuen Yuin and I 1 had bad seen with my own eyes the graven reptiles turning and twisting on the glowing globe still said 1 I aloud god lives and sorcery r Y Is but a name all ah murmured ysonde drawing closer to me they say in ylan yian the kuen euln live god is but a name they lie I 1 whispered fiercely be careful she pleaded they may hear you Rem remember embey that you have the mark of the dragons claw on your brow what of 0 it I 1 asked thinking also of the white mark on harris barris arm ah ab dont you know that those who are mar marked ked with tho the dragons claw are followed by yue laou for good or for evil and the tha evil means death it if you offend him do you believe that I 1 asked impatiently ihnow 1 I know it she sighed who told you all this your stepfather what in heavens name Is be then a chinaman 1 I dont know he Is not like hire vou van have have you told him anything about me ile ho knows about you no I 1 I 1 have bave told him nothing ah h what is th this 18 see it is a cord a cord of silk about your neck and about mine millet where did that come from I 1 as asked cod astonished it must bit b be it must be yue laou who binds me to you it is as my stepfather said ho he said yue laou would bind us nonsense I 1 said almost roughly and seized the silken cord but to my amazement it melted in my hands bands like smoke what Is all this damnable jugglery I 1 whispered angrily but my anger vanished as the words were spoken and a convulsive shudder shook mo me to the feet standing on the shore of the lake a stones throw away was a acure twisted and bent a little old man blowing sparks from a live coal which lie ho held in his naked hand band the coal glowed with increasing radiance lighting up the skull like faco face above it and threw a red glow over the sands at his feet but tho the bacel the ghastly chinese face on which the light flickered and the snaky s bitted eyes sparkling as the coal glowed hotter coal it was not a coal but a golden globe staining the night with crimson flames it was tho the symbol of the kuen auen yuin seel seel see gasped ysonde trembling violently see th tha 3 moon rising from between beav een his fingers fluger sl oh I 1 thought it was my stepfather and it is yue daou the maker of moons no 1 not no it is my stepfather ah ab god they are the samel same frozen with terror I 1 stumbled to ray my knees groping for my revolver which bulged in my coat pocket but something th ing held me something which bound me like a web in a thousand strong suky silky meshes I 1 struggled and turned but bui the web grow grew tighter it was ovo over r us all around us its drawing pressing us into each others arms until we lav side by side bound hand baud and body and foot palpitating tating panting like a pair of netted pigeons and the creature on the shore below owl 1 what was my horror to see a moon huge silvery rise like a bubble from between his fingers mount higher higher into the still air and hang aloft in ili tho the midnight sky while another giboo rose from his fingers and another an and yot yet another until tho the vast span epan of heaven was set bet with moons moon and tho the earth cat th sparkled like a diamond in the white glare A great wind began to blow from the east cast and it bore to our ears cars a long jong mournful howl bowl a cry so unearthly that for a moment our hearts stopped tho the yeth roundal sobbed bobbed ysonde do you hearl hear they are passing through the the aln la near then all around us in the dry sedge grasses came a rustle as it if some gome small animal were creeping and a damp acrid odor filled the air I 1 knew the smell I 1 saw the spidery crablike crab like creatures swarm out around me and drag their soft yellow hairy bodies across the shrinking grasses they pas passed S ed hundreds of at them poisoning the air tumbling writhing crawling with their blind heads raised birds halt half asleep and confused by the darkness fluttered away before them in helpless flight rabbits sprang from their forms weasels glided away like flying shadows what remained of the forest creatures rose and fled from the loathsome invasion I 1 heard the squeak of a terri terrified flea hare haie the short stampeding of a deer and the lumbering gallop of a boar bear and all the time I 1 was choking halt half suffocated by the poisoned air then as I 1 struggled struggled to free myself from the silken snare about me I 1 cast a glance of deadly fear at tho the sorcerer below and at the same moment I 1 saw him turn in ilia his tracks haiti Ilal tl cried a voice from tho the bushes barris Barr ls I 1 shouted halt half leaping up in my agony I 1 saw tho the sorcerer sor ceier spring forward I 1 heard the bang bang bang ol of a revolver and as the sorcerer fell on the waters edge I 1 saw barris jump out into the white glare and fire again once twice three times into the writhing figure at his teat feet then an awful thing occurred up out of the black lake fake reared a shadow a nameless shapeless mass headless sightless gigantic gaping from en end to end A great wave struck barris and he fell another washed him up tip on the pebbles another whirled him back into the water and then and then the tha thing fell over him and I 1 fainted d is then la Is all that I 1 know concerning atie laou and the aln 1 I do not fear the ridicule of scientists or of tho the press for I 1 have told the truth barris Is gone and the thing that killed him is alive today to day lay in the lake of th the stars while the spider like satellites roam through the cardinal woods the te game has fled the forests around the lake are empty of any living creatures save the reptiles that creep when the xin moves in the depths of the tha lake gen drummond knows what he has lost in barris and we pierpont pont and I 1 know what we have lost also hla his will wo we found in the drawer the key hey of which he be had handed me it was waa wrapped in a bit of paper on which was written yue laou the sorcerer Is here in the cardinal woods I 1 must kill him or lie h will kill me ile he made and grave gave to rna me tho the woman I 1 loved he made heri saw him highe he made tier her out ot of a white water lotus bud when our child was wan born he came again before me and demanded from rno me the woman I 1 loved then when I 1 refused he went away and that night my wife and child vanished from my side and I 1 found upon her pillow a white lotus bud roy the woman of your dream ysonde may bo be my child god help you it if you love her tor for yue laou wilt all gave atad take away as though he ha were dangl which la Is god I 1 will kill yue laou before I 1 leave leao this forestor forest or lie he will kill me F FRANKLIN HARRIS BARRIS now the tha world knows what barris thought of the kuen euln and of yuo yue 1 laou 1 I see that the newspapers are ara just becoming q excited over tho the glimpses that li hung chang has ati afi forded corded them ot of black cathay and the demons of the kuen euln the nuen kuen euln are on the move pierpont pont and I 1 have dismantled the tha shooting box in the ardinal cardinal C woods we hold ourselves ready at a moments notice to join and lead the first government party to drag the lako lake of the stars and cleanse the forest of tho the crab reptiles but irwill it will be necessary that a largo large force assemble and a well armed force for we nye never have found the body of yue laou and living lining or dead I 1 fear him Is he living pierpont pont who found ysonde and myself unconscious on the lake shore tho the morning after saw no trace ot of corpse or blood on the sands lie ile may have fallen into the lake but I 1 fear and ysonde tears fears that he la Is alive we never were wera able to find fand either her dwelling place or the glade and the fountain again the only thing that remains to her of her former life Is tho the golden serpent in the metropolitan tan museum and her golden globe the symbol of the kuen euln but the latter no longer changes color david and the dogs aro are waiting for roe me in the courtyard as I 1 write pierpont la Is in the sunroom loading shells arid and 11 hewlett owlett brings him mug after mug of my ate ale from the wood ysonde bends over my desk I |