Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930 Part 32

Swiftly the cloud-cyst faded. Even as the group caught a fleeting sight of Skip Handlon, the last that mortal eyes would ever see of him as he actually was, there came a violent disturbance at the edge of the shrinking nebula. Would the speed of condensation of the atoms which comprised the body of Professor Kell serve to shut out the pursuing astral of Kell?

Even Bland held his breath!

The cloud lost its luminous quality, the action of condensation increasing in speed. It was barely visible in the enshrouding gloom. An astral had long since been enveloped within the rapidly acc.u.mulating substance. Came a sudden clap of sound as before, and the final act of resolution had been accomplished. Whether the Professor had succeeded in regaining a position within the cloud-cyst before the crucial second none could say.

Jimmie relighted the lantern. Apparently the effect of the love tap administered by his automatic was more or less of a lasting character, and the men were put to some ado to restore the body of Kell to consciousness. At length their efforts began to bear fruit, however, and it became expedient to remove the patient to the softer couch in the sitting room below. As they moved forward to lay hold of the limp body a figure appeared in the doorway to the hall. It was the plainclothesman, Riley.

"How about getting under way for town," he wanted to know. "Is the old party croaked yet? Miss Manion has had a fierce time and says she won't stay near this house another minute. I don't like this place myself either. Do you know I just got kicked by a poll parrot? Let's get away from here."

"Hold on, Riley, what are you talking about?" growled Bland. "Kicked by a poll parrot! You're--"

"That's all right, Chief," broke in the now thoroughly cheerful Perry.

"That jacka.s.s I shot could probably have told us all about it. I positively know the beast could talk."

"Humph!" snorted Bland, "Well, if a donkey can talk, and a bull can bite, and a hound can hook, why shouldn't a parrot--Judas Priest, I'm getting as crazy as the rest of you! Hurry up and get Kell downstairs so we can see who he is. There I go again! Oh, go lie down, Riley."

"But look, Bland, look!" Riley was pointing a demoralized finger at a cage in the corner. He tugged frantically at Bland's coat sleeve. "See what's in there, won't you? I--well, I did find some liquor in your car, and Miss Manion made me take some. I--I didn't know it would do this to me. Look in there; please, Mr. Bland!"

Bland gave Riley a dark look, but nevertheless he reached for O'Hara's flashlight. In the cage two yellow eyes blinked sleepily out at him.

Perry began to laugh.

"Why, there's nothing in there but a cat. Skip and I heard it purring when we first came in here this afternoon. Guess Riley--"

"Great G.o.d, Jimmie, give me your gun!" Hard Boiled Bland for the moment failed to merit his sobriquet. The torch in his hand threw a trembling beam full into the cage. "It's a snake! And--there! It's doing it again!"

A snake it was, indubitably, a huge black specimen with bright yellow stripes. Bland's frenzied yell seemed not to have excited it at all, for now the sleek fellow had arched its body neatly and was calmly licking its sides with a long forked tongue. After a moment it halted the operation long enough to rub its jaw against a bar of its cage, and gave vent to a sociable mew!

Even this could not dash the spirits of Horace Perry. He laughed delightedly again as he laid Bland by the arm.

"That creature is perfectly harmless, Chief," he told the editor.

"Somewhere I suppose there's a mighty dangerous kitty cat at large, but there's no sense in taking it out on this poor reptile. Let's live and let live."

With a show of reluctance Bland returned Jimmie's automatic, then strode over to where lay the form of Kell. Perry and O'Hara lingered by the cage long enough to arrange a plan to let the snake out doors as soon as opportunity offered, after which they joined their Chief. Riley went out to resume his vigil in Bland's car, while his fellow sleuth prepared to light the way downstairs. Under his guidance the sick man was carried below without mishap.

Downstairs the now conscious form of the venerable Professor was laid out on the ancient sofa until his senses could clear a bit. Presently the eyelids fluttered open and a feeble voice asked, "Where the deuce am I, and how did all you guys get here?"

A joyous gasp went up. That voice! Although uttered in somewhat the same vocal quality as Kell's the intonation and accents had strangely altered. O'Hara leaned eagerly over the figure on the couch. The question he asked was startling in its incongruity:

"How are you feeling, _Skip_!"

"Rotten," was the reply from the lips of Kell. "What hit me such a crack on the dome? I feel as if I had been dragged through a knot-hole. Lemme up."

"Stay still," commanded O'Hara, kindly but firmly. "You aren't fit to move yet. You are going on a long ride and will need your strength.

Don't talk, either."

A half-hour later they left the house. In the front yard the editor called a hasty conclave which included the entire party. Hard Boiled Bland has never been known to talk so much at a stretch, before or since.

"Before we start back," he began, "we had better come to an understanding.

In the first place--Skip, come over here a minute."

Norma Manion uttered an involuntary cry of fear as the aged form of Kell pa.s.sed by her. Skip's instant response to his name had, of course, been perfectly natural to him. But it had an odd effect on the others.

"Miss Manion, and gentlemen," Bland went on, with a bow of mock ceremony, "I want you to meet Mister--er, Mister--oh h.e.l.l, call him Saunders. This is Mr. Kenneth Saunders, ladies and gentlemen. When he gets a shave and has his new face patched up I believe you will like his appearance much more than you do now.

"Seriously though, folks, I hope that with a little fixing up the gentleman will hardly resemble Professor Anton Kell. Kell is dead.

Obviously, however, this gentleman can hardly continue his existence as Skip Handlon. Hence--well, hence Mr. Saunders. And don't forget the name.

"Now another little matter. This house has proven a curse to humanity.

What has transpired here need never be known. Would it not be the wiser to eliminate all traces of to-night's happenings? There is a way." He looked significantly at the others.

"You mean--" began Perry.

"That we destroy all traces of Professor Kell's villainy. Although he is no more, still someone might notice that _his body actively remains_.

And no one wants to do any explaining."

"It's the only way we can protect Handlon," one of the sleuths ruminated, half to himself. "No judge would ever believe a word about this de-astralization business. The chances are we would all go to the b.o.o.by hatch and Handlon would go to prison for Kell's crimes."

"There were four of us that witnessed the fact of the--the soul transfusion, though," Perry objected. "Wouldn't that be enough to clear Skip? Besides, wouldn't it be possible for us to lead a jury out here and duplicate the experiment?"

"Too much undesirable publicity," growled Bland, who for once in his life had found reason to keep something good out of the headlines. "What do you say, people?"

"I move we move," from the detective who had had the uncomfortable job of attending to Norma Manion.

"Gentleman, I believe we understand each other," said Jimmie quietly.

"Now I am going into the barn"--significantly--"to see if everything's all right. While I am there something _might_ happen. You understand?"

The others nodded silent a.s.sent.

In the snug seat of Jimmie's speedster Norma Manion s.h.i.+vered as she followed the direction indicated by her companion's finger. It was that darkest hour which comes just before the dawn.

To the westward could be perceived a dull, red glow, which, even as they watched with fascinated eyes, developed into an intense glare. Gradually the fading stars became eclipsed in the greater glory.

Three cars, motors throbbing as if eager to be gone, stood a s.p.a.ce apart on the main road. The car behind O'Hara's was the Manion machine, now occupied by Bland and Riley. The remaining one was a touring car and contained the balance of the party. Perry was at the wheel, and beside him sat the Handlon-Kell-Saunders combination.

"Thus pa.s.ses a den of horror," whispered Jimmie to his companion.

"It is the funeral pyre of my father," the girl answered simply. She had long since recovered from her initial outburst of grief at her loss, and now watched the progress of the conflagration dry-eyed. At length Jimmie slipped an arm protectingly about the trembling shoulders.

"You have seen enough," he said. As the three cars raced from the scene of the holocaust, faint streamers in the east told of the rising orb of day.