Show 4 t I The wed Red 1 Mask 6 sE H Williams gave me the mask the 0 night before he died He had picked J it up at some shop near the dock docIe the day our ship left Shanghai In passIng passing pass pass- Ing he had caught sight of it In the i window and attracted by its awful hideousness had entered and asked Its pricel price l' l Two dollars the shopkeeper told him As you can see the mask is not wholly new I bought it from the servant of an Englishman a few weeks ago The Englishman was found dead In his bed strangled bed strangled 0 doubtless the gentleman heard of it it- it It made quite a stir His friends said he had been murdered but the English doctor said no he had died in his sleep there had been some trouble of the throat t which had made mades s It close up i It was unwrapped In the smoking room that night and the silence i l. l which fell upon the crowd when the lO mask was laid bare told more plainly plain plain- ly than speech how hideous and rei re- re i 11 f r YOU ll 7 I v Now ow do me a favor and take himoff him himoff off my hands Tolling it was The doctor was the first to speak r. r Heavens Williams he said It if itS that thing were mine Id I'd pitch it u S. S overboard What the deuce are you your r t going Coins ing to do with it 1 Oh said sald Williams well pleased r by th the evident aversion with witti which we regarded his purchase I intend to hang heng it over my bunk and when I I get home Ill I'll ship It out West toa to toa toa a brother of mine hes he's been writing me to bring him some Chinese truck dragons masks and that sort of thing thing and and I fancy this ought to please him The mask was twice e the size of a human face it seemed carved out of f wood and was painted bright red The eyeballs were large and pro pro- they were gilded glided and holes cut in the the corners made the ey eyes eYA i appear appear appear ap ap- pear to be gazing fixedly In a sidewise side side- sidewise wise direction There were no other openings in the face The forehead was deeply wrin wrinkled ded the nose broad and flat fiat and the mouth with thick distended lips Ups was was drawn into a sneering smile Altogether Alto Alto- gether the expression of the face was that which can best be described Inthe inthe In inthe the two words words mocking mocking and fiendish That afternoon we w weighed anchor and passed out of the harbor Fairweather Fair Fairweather Fairweather weather followed us all the way to the Gulf Stream where we struck fog and afterward ran into a headwind head headwind headwind wind which took three knots l from our speed The storm went down on the second day the engines eng nes were put at quickened sneed and we ran down the home coast toward Norfolk where our orders called caned for us to stop One day more more The laughter and song grew louder and the mess room that night rang with the noise of popping corks But among us all there was none In quite such high spirits as Williams Wil Wil- liams He would be detached as soon as the ship reached port and given his three months' months leave and he was to be married that very week weel That night the last one of the run I sat late with Williams In his room As I was leaving he said Look here old man I dont don't know what to do with that fellow there pointing to the mask Ive more luggage luggage lug lug- gage gage than I can handle Now do me mea a favor Will WUl you take him and tre treat t him kindly Yes I said theres a girl here herein in in Norfolk who'll be pleased to death with with him him Ill I'll give him himI I t to her All right said Williams hes yours jours I Next morning my boy knocked on F r r 5 f j L r r V the the- thedoor door door- a full ull hour before rising time Hello I cried up Oh sah he said sald thrusting in his woolly head Mr Dir Williams is dead I Iran ran to Villi Williams William's ams am's room The doctor doctor doc doc- tor was there I cant can't make It out he said slowly slowly slowly slow slow- ly he died cUed of strangulation strangulation smothered ered to death When I first saw v him himI I thought hed he'd been murdered and looked for prints o of fingers on his throat I really did He wasn't the I sort of man for apoplexy His IUs death came from natural causes all right enough only enough only they're so unnatural I 1 cant can't understand th them m at all Poor fellow fellow and an an there were tears In his eyes and mine poor mine poor fellow What is that dirt doing on his face I asked I dont don't know said the doctor Its dust see And he wiped it off gently with his handkerchief Then moving back he caught sight of the mask Just over the white face Here he called to the boy who was waiting outside the door take that thing down and It overboard overboard overboard over over- board Its It's like a fiend gloating over his prey He shuddered as he spoke No I said quickly Its mine Williams gave it to me last night And taking the mask I carried it to my room When my detachment came a few weeks later I went to my home in Washington taking the mask with me I I. I hung it up as Williams had done over my bed I no longer felt any repulsion towards It but almost affection One night the last one of my holidays holidays holidays holi holi- days I awoke with a strange smothered smothered smothered ered feeling There was a chill upon my face and it seemed as though something cold and hard was pressed tightly over it I tried to breathe but could not Putting my hand to my face I found that it was covered by some large smooth object I tried but could not remove it My Diy hands ran rail quickly over It It was the tha mask I could feel the distorted lips the bulging eyeballs I tried to call for help but my mouth was closed by bythe bythe bythe the pressing mask I was strangling a red vapor danced before my eyes the pain at my my temples was maddening maddening madden madden- ing and their throbbing sounded like Uke the beating of a mighty hammer I beat upon the face with my clenched fists I I fought to lift my iny he head d from the pillow but it was held there as as though a ton of Iron were upon It I thrust my fingers int into the eyes and dragged upon the mask with witha a maiman's madman's strength strength all all In vain And now a dro drowsy y feeling came I upon me I heard bells tolling In the I The mask was shattered Into a mass massof massof massof of fragments and dust far distance and now and then the thelow thelow thelow low low- booming of a gun Suddenly a yellow light flashed d dInto into my eyes through the holes In Inthe inthe inthe the mask The second after I was sitting up in bed gasping for breath while my brother in his night dress f. f t. t 7 1 1 and holding a lamp stood looking lookin atme at me half halt alarmed halt half amused N Nightmare I 1 I heard beard him sayDo say sayDo Do you often have them lIl like e this 7 4 I heard you kicking like a ste steer r In a astall stall and came t to see to-see see what was up up upI I leaned from the bed The mask masl was lying face up on the floor Climbing out of bed I staggered it across the room anti and taking up a twenty-pound twenty dumb bell In both hands V came back to the mask above Y Lifting ie iron bell high my head I hurled It with all my strength upon the red grinning face 1 It struck squarely and the mask was shattered into a mass of dust and fragments My Diy brother looked on in affright Are you mad he cried No let me tell you I said But my brother laughed laughed when I bad had ended and said that it was nightmare night nightmare nightmare night night- mare that was all My Ally face tace was dirty covered by the dust wh which ch had bad gathered on the in inside inside in in- inside side of the mask but when I showed him this proof he only said The mask fell on you that's all and that's what started you off ot on the th dream Among the fragments of the mask I found next morning a thin piece of rice paper closely covered with red characters Taking it to a Chinaman China China- Chinaman J man who kept a shop near ear by I 1 asked him to translate it He did so so and I wrote It down I Kung Wong known of men as The Strangler made this mask from the powdered bones of my victims mixing them with clay and molded it into the shape and likeness of him that sits beside me in my sleep and whispers in in my ear the names of those whom I must kill It has been promised to me that when I die my soul shall enter into this mask and still do the de deeds ds which I did while living He who sits beside me in 1 my sleep hath said it KUNG WONG oj But my brother notwithstanding i this still laughs Wilson Wilson Lyne in Boston Journal s 1 |