Show I A DUMAN CHAMELEON I BY NEWTON NEWXIRK Ho was sleeping As I stood over his cot a nurse told me he had come to the hospital the night before and asked to be given medical attention Ho had the air and dress of a gentleman and tendered ten-dered In advance the money for his treatment More of him than this I did i + not learn When the nurse moved away I seated myself and taking his hand felt for the pulse As r counted the beats my eyes were on the small hand of my tiny watch When 1 looked up his eyes L were open and on mine What Is the pulsation doctor he queried One hundred and four j A trifle high Yes Hl voice was rich and had In It the accent of education and refinement You will find the trouble here doctor f doc-tor and ho patted the right aide qf his neck whiz a finger Examination J showed tint he was suffering from aj small cancerous growth 1 advised Its f removal when the fever symptoms had J subsided to which he readily aequl I cared 81 turned to a small able and began to prescribe 1 he reached out and touched my arm There was a mingled look of concern and alarm In his face Will you kindly go away for a few minutes doctor only a short while will you f I Tin pitiful quaver of entreaty In his once for the moment overcame my curloblty at his strange request J was nboui to Invent some roundabout question I ques-tion wlsJch would bring out his reason for warning me to withdraw when his manner stopped me short His hands 1 and uv Hi were clenched and he strove with a nirrhty effort like a man who r llRhj off some strange spell All the I Lime he looked pleadingly Into my eyes Oh doctorwont you please goCor the sake of Godhasten Turning quickly from my strange patient I crossed the floor and entered a large cabinet in the center of the room in which drugs and supplies were kept A man of medicine especially a hospital physician encounters numberless num-berless puzzling mental derangements III experience and for a time I oharged the new men s odd behavior to that side of the medical ledger Neverthsless my curiosity was aroused Looking about I observed a small chink through the frame partition I par-tition of the cabinet and clapped my eye to It Instantly 1 commanded a full view of the man I had Just left He was not more than thirty feet from me There was a screen on cither side of his cot whldh shut him off from the observation of other patients He lay propped up with his feet toward me and his hands lying on the snowy coverlet cov-erlet I studied his face carefully It was In natural repose It was I winked In rapid succession to remove I A blur fro n before my vision and looked again I The mans head was gone I drew quickly back from thc chink and examined It to make sure there I was certainly a hole there Then I Put l my eye to the opening again The head remained missing his hands I They too wer absent Both seemed I to be severed where the sleeves of his sleeping gown ended and the white I coverlet began When I looked again i j for the head f plainly sw the collar but abovj It was neither neck nor I head Where the read should have I been I saw the surface of the white pillow and the vertical iron rungs of I the bedhead Then I glanced down at myself to see If I werr really the I being 1 seemed to be When I peeped I again through the hole 1 beheld no I i longer l the headless nnd handless man J Those l members were again In place He was looking toward the cabinet and r saw his lips frame the word doctor lie was calling me I 1 stopped long enough to wipe away the perspiration which had gathered on my forehead and stepping out walked I toward him with as much of an air of unconcern as I could assume Thank you he said simply His I very tone would have conveyed the sense of deepest gratitude 1C I he had said apples After writing out the I prescription r left hlnu When I had finished my rounds I examined the hospital register My j headless patient was dntered In the j name Emmanuel Rlccar of Florence Italy I could not dismiss him from my mind and sought some pretext to t visit him again that night He was J I j lying quite still yet not asleep and I greeted me with a smile I sat down and engaged him In conversation I found Signor Rlccardo the most I fascinating and brilliant man I have ever met l la short hour he I took me all the way round the habitable globe shifting the scenes cast and we ton t-on the continents or from the scent laden atmosphere of the tropics to the frozen zones of the polar regions I listened In rapture and left him regretfully regret-fully For the time I forgot the Inexplicable Inex-plicable occurrence of the morning to which ha made no reference I had a I natural and professional curiosity to I Unravel the uncanny mystery but It was obvious that Signor Riccardo wished me not to know and common courtesy forbade me trying to draw from him his peculiar secret Another time three days later as I 1 sat near his cot with my back to him writing at the Stand a peculiar quaver In his vloce1 as lie talked made I me turn my eyes quickly J toward him Dont look ul me doctor please I not now he pleaded lie had spoken too late My eyes I were upon him as he uttered the words His head was gone but the voice came from where It should have been lie I held up one headless arm In protest as I gazed stupidly at the headless I trunk Then the Invisible fingers clutched the coverlet and pulled It completely over him I turned away and tried to write but my hand trembled trem-bled and laying down the pen I waited during what seemed an interminable period I heard the clothing being adjusted ad-justed behind me and when I looked around his eyes were closed He feigned sleep and I left him Two days afterward Miss West the nurse In charge of Signor Rlceardow ward entered my office white and trembling Thjs was an unusual manifestation man-ifestation on the part of a trained attendant at-tendant towhom surgery and even i deaths were merely details of hospital I work The girl sank weakly I Into 11 chair and gazed at me strangely I Am I myself doctor oris It true111 Then she plunged on as Ir1 could r i I I I c I M F IIIa 1 tvcc a iI r b 1 sc eisl I I t 1 l r + r t I The Head and Hands Were Gone understand and I believed I knew what was coming When It happened the first time T thought I must have been deceived but nownot ten mliutes ago when I came to his cot suddenly the head nnd I the hands were gone Oh IL was dreadful dread-ful I You mean1 J queried Rlccardo she gasped I 0 He lay quietly on the operating table with his flue varthy face toward the I stand on which arranged my Instruments Instru-ments Miss West stood with bottle am + muzzle ready to administer the anaes I thetic when I should give the word He was cheerful and hiked glibly I had assured him the operation would be in no wise difficult oi dangerous which waa true and the last words which came from under the muzzle were 1 hate breathed worse things and bet ter terIn In a few minutes he wns deep under un-der yet the nurse still held the muzzle I muz-zle over his nostrllp as I turned to a stand to choose my Instrument I heard her try to cull mo and faced about quickly Miss West was shrink ing away from the prostrate figure She had loft the muzzle lying on the face not on the face there was no face nor head The muzzle seemed to be r floating In midair where the face should have been The handless arms I were lying I at his aides T strove to master a nameless feel Ing as I advanced to the niembcrless figure and lifting the muzzle placed my hand against against the nose which I felt without seeing Moving my fingers fin-gers over the Invisible face I tracefl the chin the mustache the rounded cheeks the depressions of the eyes the forehead and fell as plainly as the sense of touch can convey the thick wavy hair of Signor Rlccardos head ThenI sought the hands and held each i In turn I could count their fingers and feel their warmth but to my eyes I seemed to hold but air The room was bathed In bright light yet It was as If T felt the head and hands of a man with my eYes closed or In Intense darkness I Readjusting the muzzle I waited for the strange spell to pass The nurse stood apart trembling but when the head and hands began to outline themselves I I from apparent nothingness to visible flesh and blood she gave her attention to administering the anaesthetic I With the return of Signor Rlccardos I head and hands he began to communicate communi-cate his subconscious vagaries In speech and the first words arrested me as I stood over him knife In hand They laid the t curse would follow meta my death but I did not believe I had rather died on that lonely Island than bcs shunned by man and pointed out as one bewitched Is there no cure In the name of God1M there no help A sudden thought came to me I would question his sleeping 8eIChls I alter ego There Is help Riccardo I said In I loud distinct tones His face seemed to beam with a great hope although 0 = = ho was yet under the Influence of the drug and his eyes were closed Help for ineV he questioned eagerly Yes 101 You must answer my questions I will What Is this curse The chameleon fever Where did It overtake you Madacascnr was exploring the Interior In-terior for diamondsyou say you can cure me Yes what h 1 this chameleon fever Those who have had It are doomed Ito I-to strange spells which they cannot control during which the exposed portions I por-tions of the body take op the color of the backgrounds against which they I rest This gives theflesh the appearance appear-ance of having vanished altogether Do you suffer whIle these spells lastNo ocan you cure me I will try now lie very still In wonderment began to operate At the first Incision I observed a structure I struc-ture In Signor Rlccardos skin different differ-ent from anything I had ever read of or met with In histology When the nurse lad brought me a powerful magnifying mag-nifying glass I examined minutely Instead of one secondary stratum of cuticle where 1 would look for the col orlng matter of the skin there were many layers and each seemed to hold a different hue of pigment condition condi-tion I had never met or heard of I could understand how the exudations of vnrlcolored pigments from these different layers might blend as to give the surface of the skin the complexion of surrounding objects and thus render 1 It Invisible like that of a chameleon Anxious as r was to pursue this strange freak of physical structure i discharged it to proceed with the operation Signor Rlccardo recovered rapidly and at the end of two weeks was ready to he discharged As ho grasped my hand at parting he looked into my eyes aa If there were something he would tell me Suddenly he seemed to think better of It Goodbye doctor he said cheerily If I have noted strangely at times I hope you will yet think well of me It was20mcthlnb something beyond my control goodbye And the Human Chameleon pressed my hand and was gone on his wander lags Some day I shall visit lIadagas t I car to study that strangest of all I humaii ntiladlc chameleon Cover Copyright hln KOI by tho Short s t or Pub lashing company All rights reserved |