| Show I I L The Maker Maier of o Moons I Continued from Page 8 hind her stole a lynx lyme eyes shining like coals He neither paid pal attention to the doe I nor to me but loped away toward the then north n rth The lynx was In flight From what I asked myself won 1 II dering There was no forest fore t fire no cyclone no flood If It Barris had passed that way could he have stirred up u this sudden exo due dua du Impossible even a regiment In Inthe InI I Ithe the forest could scarcely have put to rout these frightened ned creatures What Wh t on earth oarth thought I turning to ro watch the headlong flight of ofa a fish cr what on earth had started the beasts out at this time of or night I 1 looked up Into the sky The placid 1 glow slow of at the fixed stars comforted me mei met meland i t land and I stepped on through the narrow spruce belt that leads down to the borders of or the Lake Lako of the Stars Wild cranberry and en entwined entwined entwined twined my feet teet dewy branches spat spattered spattered spattered me with moisture and the thick spruce needles scraped my face as I threaded my way over mossy logs and deep spongy tussocks down to the thea a level gravel of at the lake lakeshore shore I I Although there t ere was no wind the little waves were were hurrying In from tram the f I lake and I heard them splashing I among the tho pebbles In the pale vale star start t i glow Ilow thousands of or water lilies lifted I their chalices toward the them i m sky sk skI I threw myself full length upon the t shore and chin on hand looked out across the lake Splash splash came the waves along I the shore higher nearer a film i of at water thin and an glittering as a knife blade crept up to my elbows I could not understand It the lake was ris rising rising ing InS but there had been no rain All 1 along the shore the Water was running up I heard the waves among the sedge grass the weeds at my side were awash In the ripples The lilies Ulies rocked on the tiny waves every wet pad pal rising on the swells sinking ris rising rising ing again until the whole lake was glimmering with undulating blossoms How sweet and deep was the fragrance from tram the lilies And now the water i was ebbing slowly and the waves re reL receded receded L ceded shrinking from the shore rim until the white pebbles p appeared again shining like froth on a brim r I ming glass No animal swimming out in the darkness along the shore no heavy salmon surging could have set the j whole shore as though the wash t from a great boat were rolling In Could it have beenu the through trough the Weir Brook of some cloudburst far back in the forest This was the only anI way I could ac account account account count for tor it it and yet when I had crossed the Weir Brook I had not no noticed noticed noticed that it was swollen And as I lay there thinking a faint breeze sprang up and I saw the sur surface surface surface face of at the lake whits 4 lifted lily Illy pads All around me mo the alders were were sigh sighIng sighIng sighing Ing I heard the forest behind me stir the crossed branches rubbing softly bark against bark Something it may have been an owl sailed out of at atthe the night dipped soared and was again engulfed and far tar across the wa water water water ter I heard its faint cry Ysonde Then first for my m heart henrt was full 1 cast myself down upon my face tace call caU callIng calling Ing on her name My eyes were w re wet when t I raised my head for the spray from the shore was drifting In again and my heart beat heavily No Nomore Nomore Nomore more no more But my heart lied for even as I raised my face to the calm stars I 1 saw her standing still close beside me and very gently I spoke her name Ysonde She held out both hands bands I was W s lonely she said and I went to the glade but the forest foreit is full of ot frightened creatures and they the fright frightened frIghtened frightened ened me Has lIas anything happened In Inthe inthe inthe the woo woods s The deer are running to toward ward the heights Her hand still lay in mine as we moved along the shore and the lap lappIng lapping pIng of ot the water on rock and shallow was was no lower than our voices Why did you leave me without a word there at the fountain In tn the glade she said saidI I r leave you rou Indeed you did running g swiftly with your dog plunging through thickets and brush oh you frightened fright frightened frightened ened me Did I leave you so eo Yes after After You had kissed me Then we leaned down together and looked Into the black water set with stars just as as we had bent b nt together over the fountain in the glade Do you ou remember I asked Yes See the water is inlaid with silver stars everywhere white lilies floating and the stars below deep de p deep down What is the flower you hold in your hand White water lotus Tell me about Yue of the Kuen Yuin I whispered lift liftIng liftIng lifting Ing her head so I could see her eyes Would it please you to hear Yes Yea Ysonde i All that I know is yours now as u I am yours all that E closer Is it of r you would know YueL Is of the Kuen en Yuan He lived in the moon He is old Very very old and aop once before he came to rule the Kuen he was the tho old man who unites with a silken cord all predestined pred ed couples after which nothing can prevent their union But all that Is changed since he came to rule the Now he has perverted the the good cac c E of at China and has fashioned from their warped bodies a monster which he calls the Xin This monster is horrible for It not only lives In Its own wn body but It has thousands of loathsome satellites living creatures without mouths blind that move when the Xin moves like a mandarin and his escort They are are part of at the Xin although they are not attached Yet if it one of at these satellites s is Injured the Xin writhes with agony It Is fearful this huge living bulk and these creatures spread out like sev severed severed severed ered fingers that wriggle around a hideous hand Who told you this My y stepfather Do you ou believe it Yes I have seen one of the creatures Where Ysonde Here In il these woods Then you believe there Is a here 7 There must be perhaps in the lake C Oh inhabit lakes Yes Yes and the seven seen seas s as tim lam not afraid here r Why Because I wear the symbol L of o f the Yuin Then I am not safe I smiled dc Yes yop you are for I hold you in my m arms Shall I J tell you ou more about the Xin When the Xin Is about to do to death a man the gallop through the night What hat are the Ysonde Ysonde Ysonde de The are arc dogs without heads They The are re the spirits of or mur murdered murdered murdered dered children which pass through h the woods at night making a walling noise Do you ou believe this Yes for I J have worn the time yellow ellow lotus The yellow vellow lotus Yellow Is the he symbol ol of or faith Where WhereIn In she said faintly After a while I J said Ysonde you know leno there here Is a n God God and are one Have you ou ever heard of Christ Christo No o she answered softly The wind Avind began again a aln among time the tree tops 1 felt her hands closing in mine Ysonde I asked again do you ou be believe believe believe lieve in sorcerers Yes the are re sorcerers sorcerers Is a sorcerer Have you seen sorcery sorcery Yes the reptile satellite of the Xin Anything else else Yes said I shortly and then rF re r symbol of the Have you seen It change have you seen the rep tiles writhe Yes said I and then re remained remained m silent Ile nt for a sudden shiver I of apprehension had seized me Barris also had spoken gravely ominously of the sorcerers the and I had seen sElen with my own eyes the graven reptiles turning and twisting on the glowing globe Still said I aloud God lives and sorcery is but a name Ah murmured Ysonde drawing closer to me they say In Ylan Yian the live Ue God Is la but a name They He lie I r whispered w fiercely Be careful she pleaded they may hear you Qu Remember that you have hayo havethe havethe the mark of the dragons claw On your our brow What of it I asked thinking also of the white mark on Barris armAh arm armAh armAh Ah you ou dont know that those who are marked with wit the dragons d claw are followed by b for good or for evil and the evil means death if lt you offend him 7 Do you believe that I asked im impatiently impatiently impatiently patiently I know It she sighed Who told you ou all this Your Four step stepfather stepfather stepfather father What hat in heavens name Is he then thena a Chinaman I 1 dont know he is not like you Have have haYe you told him anything about me melie He lie knows about you rouno no I have told him nothing ah what Is this see It Is a cord a cord of silk about i 1 your our neck and about mine miner Where did that come from I asked astonished It must be beIt It must bG b I who binds hinds me m e to you youit it is as lS my m step father said he said would bind us j I Nonsense I said almost roughly I and Seized the silken cord but bt to my amazement It melted In my m hand like smoke t l What Is all this tIlls damnable ahl Juggler jug jugglery jugI j gler gler 7 I whispered angrily but my ITlY i i anger angel vanished as the words were spoken and t a convulsive shudder i J j i Shook me to the feet Standing on the time i shore of the lake a stones throw throwaway throwaway w I away was a figure ure twisted Pent Penta a little old man blowing bowing sparks from froma a live lIe coal which he held In his naked I I hand The file coal coat with increasing g ril lighting up U the I face above li It t and threw a l red glow gl W over mer the tho sand sands at his hi feet But Ute the I I face the ghastly Chinese 13 0 on I II which the light flickered and the j I I snaky eyes ees sparkling as the j I coal oal glowed hotter Coal It was not nota t ta a coal but a golden goiden globe staining the night with crimson flames It was the tha symbol of ot time the t e See See Seel gasped g sped Ysonde trem trembling trembling trembling bling violently see the moon rising from between his fingers Oh I thought it was my stepfather and It Itla ItIs itis Is la tho the Maker of ot Moons no nono I Ino nol no It Is my stepfather rah ah God GodI they are arc the same Frozen with terror I stumbled to my knees groping for tor my m revolver which bulged In my coat coa pocket but some something something something thing held mesor me something which bound me like a web in a thousand th usand strong silky meshes I struggled and turned but the web grew tighter It was over us all l around ar lInd us drawing pressing us Into each others arms until we lay side by side lide bound hand and body bod and foot toot palpitating panting like a pair of ot netted pigeons And the creature on the tho shore below What hat was my horror to see a moon huge silvery rise like Ilko a bubble from between his fingers mount higher higher Into the still air and hang aloft In the midnight sky sc while another moon rose from his fingers and an another another other ot er and nod yet et another until the vast span of heaven was set with moons and the earth sparkled like a diamond In an Inthe anthe the white glare A great wind began to blow from tram the east and It bore to our ears cars cars a long mournful howl howla a cry so unearthly that i for a n moment our hearts stopped The sobbed Ysonde do you hear hearthey they are passing through the forest Tho The Xin Is neary near Then al aU around us In the dry sedge dge grasses came a rustic rustle as ns if some small animals were creeping creep Int and a damp r acrid odOr filled the air I J knew the Ismel smell I saw the spidery T crablike crea i tun swarm out ut around me and drag dragI i I their sort soft yellow J hairy bodies across the shrinking grasses grasse They Thc passed pas d I hundreds of them poisoning the air airI I tumbling writhing Tithing crawling with their i blind heads raised Birds Bird I half h lf asleep ep and confused by y the dark i mess Jess Muttered fluttered away before them In l helpless fright rabbits sprang rang from fromI their forms weasels glided away like I flying shadows What remained of the forest creatures ro rose e und and fled from fron the i loathsome invasion I J heard the time squeak of a terrified hare tie the snort of at stam stampeding stampeding stampeding deer cleer and the lumbering gallop of a bear and all the time lime I was chok chokIng ing half suffocated by the tho poisoned air Then Than as I J struggled l to t free myself from fr m the th silken snare about mo me I cast casta a of deadly fear at the th sorcerer I below b low and ald at the same moment I saw him turn in his tracks I i Halt HUlt cried a voice from the bushes bt hes f Barris I shouted half leaping up j ln my agonI agony agon I saw taw the tho sorcerer spring forward i 1 I heard heart the tho bang b ng bang bang bung of ot a u re volver and as a the sorcerer fell on the waters edge I saw Barris jump out Into the white w glare and fire again a once twice three thre times Umes into the th e writhing figure at his feet Then an awful thing occurred Up out of the black lake l ke reared r ared a n shadow a nameless s shapeless sh mass headless sightless gigantic gaping from end to end endA A great grent waye struck Barris and he fell another washed him up on the pebbles another whirled him back Into the water and then and then the thing fell over him and I fainted TT or orT ft This T ls then theft Is all that I know concerning con concerning concerning and the Xin I donot do donot donot not fear tear the tile ridicule of ot scientists or of the press for I have told the truth Bards Barris is gone and the thing that I killed him is alive today toda in the Lake of the Stars while the satellites satel satellites lites s roam through the Cardinal woods The game has fled the forests around tho the lake are empty of any living lIln crea creatures creatures creatures tures save reptiles s that creep when the XIn moves S in the depths d of ot the lake General Drummond knows what he hehM has hM lost in Bards Barris and we Pierpont and I 1 know what we have lost also His will we found In the time drawer the time key ke of which he lie had handed me It ItI Iti i I waS wrapped In a bit of of t paper on which was written Tit ten the sorcerer is here in inthe Inthe inthe the Cardinal woods I must kill him himor himor himor or he will kill me He made and gave to me the woman I loved he made maderI her herI rI I saw him he made her out of ot a white bud When your four child was wa born he came again before ir ne me and demanded from me the woman I loved Then when I T refused he went away awa and that night my wife and child vanished from my side and I II I found upon her pillow a white lotus I bud Roy the woman of at your dream Ysonde may be my child el God help I you jou if vou von love her for tor will give ant take away as though he heI were which Is la God I will kill I I before I leave this forest forestor or he will Ill kill me FRANKLYN BARRIS BARKIS Now the world knows w what hat Bards Barris thought tho of the and of at Yue Laou Luau I see sec that the time newspapers are just becoming be excited over the glimpses that has h afforded them of or Black Cathay Catha and an the demons of the The K are on the Ule move Pierpont and I have dismantled the shooting box in tn the tho Cardinal Car woods We hold ourselves ready at a moments notice to join and lead the this first government govern government government ment party Part to drag dra the Lake of the Stars and cleanse e the forest of ot the crab I reptiles rt But it will bd be necessary thata that n a lart lar large e force assembles and a well armed force fore for tor we never have hae found I the th body bod of Y and living or dead I 1 fear him Is he living n t who found Ysonde and mf my myself self lying unconscious on the lakeshore lake lakeshore lakeshore shore tire morning moaning after atter saw taw no trace of corpse or blood on |
