: 8
leaned over the rail beside- him. and
wished him good evening, and spat at the
froth of the wake In token of friendly
ease. ' ,; :. ,
picked up a rummy curio on the
beach this go." said the captain. "Iff a
thing I never saw dona this side of Indy
before.'
"What might that be!" said Pollock.
"Pickled 'ed," said the captain.
"What?" said Pollock.
"Ed smoked. 'Edof one of these
Porroh chaps, all ornamented with knife
cuta. Why! What's up? Nothing? I
shouldn't have took you for ia' nervous .
chap. Green In the face. By gosh! you're
a bad sailor. All right, eh? Lord, how
funny you went! Well, this 'ed I was tell-
tng you of is a bit rum in a way. I've
got it, along with some snakes, in a jar of
spirit in my cabin, what X keeps for such
curios, and I'm hanged if it don't, float
upsy down. Hullo!" r
Pollock had given an incoherent cry,
and had his bands in his hair. He ran
toward the paddle-boxes with a half
formed idea of jumping into the sea, and
then he realized, bis position and turned
back toward the captain.
' ';' ;
"Here!" said the captain. "Jack Phil
ips, just -keep him off me! Stand off! No
nearer, muter!. What's the matter with
you?. Are -you mad?" ,,
Pollock put bis hand to his head. It
was no good explaining. "I believe I am
pretty nearly mad at times,' he said. "It's
a pain X bave here. Comes suddenly.
You'll excuse me, -I hope.' .? i i-.-t
He was white and to a perspiration.
He saw suddenly very clearly .all the dan
- ger he ran of having his sanity doubted.
He forced himself to restore the captain's
confidence by answering' bis sympathetic
inquiries, noting " his- suggestions,', even
trying a spoonful of neat brandy in-his
cheek, and, that matter .settled, asking a
number of questions about., the captain's
private trade in curiosities. The captain
described the head in detail. All the
while Pollock was straggling to keep un
der a preposterous persuasion that the
ship was as transparent as glass, and
that he could distinctly see, the Inverted
face looking at him from the cabin be
neath his feet.
Pollock naa a worse .time aunosx on ine
steamer than he had at Sulyma. All day
be had to control himself in spite of his
Intense perception of the imminent pres
ence of that horrible head that was over
shadowing bis mind. At night bis old
nightmare returned, until, with a violent
effort, he would force himself awake, rigid
with the horror of it, and with the ghost
of a hoarse scream in. bis throat.
He left the actual head behind at Bath
urst, where he changed ship forJTeneriffe,
but not bis dreams nor the dull ache in
bis bones. At Teneriffe Pollock trans
ferred to a Cape '.liner, but the head fol
lowed him. He gambled, he. tried chess.
.-r vntra- kt Vim knftw the dan
ger of drink. Yet whenever a" round, black
shadow, a round, black object came into
his range,, there be looked for the head,
and saw it. He knew clearly enough that
his Imagination was growing traitor to
him. and yet at times it seemed the ship
he sailed in, hi f ellow passengers, the
sailors, the wide sea, was all part of; a
filmy phantasmagoria that hung, scarcely
veiling it, between him and a' horrible real
world. Then the Porroh man,.; thrusting
his diabolical lace through that curtain.
- was the one real and undeniable thing.
- At that he would get up and touch things,
taste something, gnaw something, burn
hls hand with a match, or run a needle
. iuw uuuomm ... : ...... 1 - :.'V.... i... t' "
. ..... . r i jm r , .n
: i BO, struggling srmiijr inu mcuujr iui
England, ' He landed at Southampton and
. went on , straight from Waterloo " to his
banker's inCo'rnhlll In a cab. There he
transacted some business with the manager-
in a private room; and all the while
: the ' black mantel and dripped upon the
fender. He could, hear' the drops fait and
see the red on the fender. ' .
a pretty fern,rsad the manager. foU
THE SUNDAY FICTION MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 20,
"But it. makes , the fen-
1916.
lowing his eyes.
der rusty." ...
"Very," said Pollock; "a very pretty
"Very little,' said Pollock.
A shade passed over the physician's
face. "J don't know if you have heard of
fern. And that reminds me. Can you -the miraculous; cures it ; may ..be, of
recommend me a physician for mind trou
bles? I've got a little what is it? hal
lucination." The head laughed savagely, wildly.
Pollock was surprised the manager did
not notice it. But the manager only
stared at his face.
are
not miraculous at
course, they-
Lourdes."
"Faith-healing will hardly, suit me, I
am afraid," said Pollock, with his eye on
the dark cushion.
The head distorted its scarred features
in an abominable grimace. The physician
With the address of a doctor. Pollock went upon a new track. "It's all Imag
presently emerged in Cornhill. There was nation, " he said, speaking with sudden
no cab in sight, and so, he went on down briskness. "A fair case for faith-healing,
to the western end of the street and es- anyhow. Your nervous system has run
sayed the crossing opposite the Mansion down, you're in that twilight state, of
House. The crossing is hardly easy even health when the bogles come easiest. The
for the expert Londoner; cabs, vans, car- strong impression was too much for you.
riages, mail carts, omnibuses go by In one I must make you up a little mixture that
incessant stream; to anyone fresh from will strengthen your nervous system
the malarious solitudes of Sierra Leone it especially your brain. And you must take
is a boiling, maddening confusion. But exercise."
when an Inverted head - suddenly comes . 'Tm no good for faith-healing," said
bouncing, like an india-rubber ball, be- Pollock.
t ween your legs, leaving distinct smears "And therefore we must restore tone,
of blood every time it touches the ground, Go in search of stimulating air Scotland,
you can scarcely hope to avoid an acci- Norway, the Alps "
dent. . Pollock lifted his feet convulsively "Jericho, if you like," said Pollock,
to avoid, it, and then kicked at the thing where Naaman went."
furiously. Then something hit him vio- However, as soon as hia fingers would
lently in the back, and a hot pain ran up let him, Pollock made a gallant attempt
his arm. . . , to ..follow out the doctor's suggestion. It
He had been hit by the pole of an om- was iovr November. He tried football; but
nibus, and three of the fingers of his left to Pollock' the game consisted in kicking a
hand smashed by the hoof, of one of the furious inverted head about a field. He
horses the very fingers, as it happened, was no good at the game. He kicked
that he shot from the Porroh man. They blindly, with a kind of horror, and when
pulled him out from between the horses they put him back into goal, and the ball
legs and found the address of the pbysi- came swooping down upon him, he sud
clan in hia. crushed hand. I ,denly yelled and got out of its way. The
. For a couple of days Pollock's sensa- discreditable stories that had driven him
tions were full of the sweet, pungent smell from England to wander in the tropics
of chloroform, of painful operations that shut him "off from any hut men's society,
caused him no pain, of lying, still and be- and now his increasingly strange behavior
ing given food and drink. Then he had a made even his man friends avoid him.
slight fever,, and was very thirsty, arid his The thing was no longer a thing of -the
old nightmare came back.. It was only eye merely; it gibbered at him, spoke to
when It returned that he noticed It had him. A horrible fear came upon him that
left him for" a day. ; TV T presently, when he took hold of the ap-
"If my skull had been smashed instead parition, it would no longer become some
pf my fingers;, it might "have "gone alto- mere article of furniture, but would feel
gether," said Pollock, staring, thought- like a real dissevered head, Alone, he
fully at the dark cushion! that, had taken would curse at the thing, defy it', entreat
on for the time the shape of the head. . it; once1 or twice, Tln'spite iof nffgrim self
Pollock at the first opportunity told the control, he addressed It in the presence of
physician of his mind trouble. He knew others. He felt .the growing suspicion In
clearly that he must go mad unless some- "the eyes 6f ike people that watched him
thing should - intervene to save him. He his landlady, the servant, his man.
explained that he had witnessed a decapl- 'One' day, early in December his cousin
tation in Dahomey, and was haunted by Arnold his next of kin came to see him
one of the heads. Naturally, he 'did t not and draw him out, and watch his sunken,
care to state the actual facta. The physi- yellow face with narrow, eager eyes. And
cian .looked grave. u it seemed to Pollock that the hat his
Presently he spoke hesitatingly. "As. a cousin carried In his hand was no hat at
child, did you get very much ' religious 'all. but a Gorgon head that glared at him
training?" " " ' upside down, and fought with its eyes
Tlie Girl Spy
against his reason. However, he was still
resolute to see the matter out. He got a
bicycle, and. riding over the frosty road
from Wandsworth to Kingston, found, the
thing rolling along at his side, and leaving
a dark trail .behind it. He set his teeth
and rode,, faster. Then suddenly, as be
came down the hill toward Richmond
Park, the apparition rolled in front of
him and under his wheel, so quickly that
he had no time for thought, and, turning
quickly to avoid it, was flung violently
against a heap of stones and broke his
left ' wrist. t ' t, fJ.
The end came on Christmas morning.
All night he. had; been In a fever, the
bandages encircling-his wrist like a band
of fire, his dreams more vivid and terrible
than ever, - In the cold, colorless, uncer
tain light that came before the sunrise, he
sat up in his bed and saw the head upon
the bracket in the place of the bronxe Jar
that bad stood there overnight.
- y..v ;
"I know that is a bronze jar," he said,
with a chill doubt at his heart. Presently :
the doubt was irresistible. He got out-of
bed slowly, ahivering, and advanced, to
the jar with Is hand raised. .Surely, he
would see now hia imagination had de
ceived him, recognize the distinctive sheen
of bronze. At last, after an age of hesita
tion, his fingers came down on the pat
terned cheek of the head. He withdrew
them spasmodically. The last stage was
reached. His sense of touch had be
trayed him.
Trembling, stumbling against the bed,
kicking against his shoes with his barf
feet, a dark confusion eddying round him,
he groped "his way to the dressing-table,
took his razor from the drawer and sat
down on the bed with this in his hand. In
the looking-glass he saw hia own face,
colorless, haggard, full of the ultimate
bitterness of despair,' '
He beheld in swift succession the- inci
dents in the brief tale of his experience.
His wretched home, his still more wretched
schooldays, the years of vicious life he had
led since then, one act of selfish dishonor
leading to another; it was all clear and
pitiless now. all its squalid folly, in the
cold light of the dawn. He came to the
hut, to the. fight with the Porroh man, to
the retrekt down the river to Sulyma, to
the Mendi assassin and his red parcel, to
his frantic endeavors to destroy the head,
to the growth of bis hallucination. It was
a hallucination! He knew It was. A hal
lucination merely. For a moment he
snatched at hope. He looked away from
the glass, and on the bracket, the Inverted
bead grinned and grimaced at .him -
With the stiff fingers of his bandaged
hand be felt at his neck for the throb of
his arteries. The morning was .very cold,
the steel blade felt like Ice.
Copyright by Edward Arnold . J
(Continued from Page
in bis eyes, bis words. hiss every move
ment, And she,, poor child, no longer the hero
ine, the patriot, but the sorrowing sister,
.the grief -stricken girl, a creature to love,
to comfort, and to cherish, was comforted
as she listened to the tender words of one
who loved her so devotedly.
I saw that with the confiding simplicity
of a child she let him take her hand in
his. I saw the tear-laden eyes raised to
him, anda pang of exceeding pity moved
my heart, for I knew the love born and
fostered beneath the murderous shadow
of conspirators' Intrigues could never
blossom Into ripe and good fruit, but must
end ere long in despair and death. '
Even as I turned away I thought saw
In the remotest : corner of that gloomy
room baneful eyes fixed upon the pair
eyes with lowering and drooping lids, eyes
that glared with a cold, snakelike gaze,
so fixed, so xaruel.'so unrelenting. Was I
the victim needed, or were those two the
objects of that savage scowl?,
'And then from that same corner came
a savage cry: "Say also, Pemetrio Clem
ens, that both In London and in Paris
justice has been done. Traitors have there
died traitors deaths." - , "
There are several circumstances con
nected with this broken narrative re
specting which I must be forever silent.
The scenes I witnessed that night, the
oath I was compelled to take that night,
must forever remain buried in , my own
heart.
There was a time when I might have
spoken I think I ought to have spoken,
but that time has passed. My words now
would be of no value. Alas! too late too
late, and now my own safety, perhaps
even that of others, demand my silence.
Suffice it to say that .when I recall that
dread time, those dread words, strong of
..... ' v. H
heart and body as I am, a nervous trem
bling seizes me, a great fear comes over
me. I look around in terror lest -he"
should be near; and as I clasp my little'
one closer to my heart I pray she may
never have the sane experiences that
have fallen to my lot.
Let those "whose lives have been cast
in pleasant places, whose paths are the
paths of peace and safety, thank God,
Who, of 'His great mercy has been so
bountiful . to them, and let an earnest,
prayer go up to, His throne for raercy for
all misguided hearts, and especially for
those unhappy ones who. though still liv
ing, are burled In a distant and hideous
grave. ' '.."..
(To be continued next week)
For Valor
(Continued from Page 5)
He confronted Gregor and his wife.
"I shall have the stretcher here for
him. immediately' he said. "Meanwhile"
he drew something from his pocket
"you shall have it gladly, but I think that
you will not receive it ao.-
"There is something in our army which
we value more than money it is the su
preme -prize for courage I So far as I
knowr it has never been given te any.
soldier outside', our ranks, but today I
find myself in ' a position in which my?
master would wish it presented.
You have nearly lost your home inv
helplng. one whom you knew to be an
enemy. You might easily have given up
your, lives because of his had , we not
reached here in time. I present yon,
though I do not know your name, with
this medal the ;. highest testimonial f ;
the nation which my beloved master di
rects." He held out a small, dull-looking ob
ject. Gregor shook his head, smiling.
"It is true," he said, "that we did what
we could for your soldier, but on the bat-
tlefield he would be our enemy. Here"
Gregor bowed quietly "he fs not our en
emy, but our guet!r"
(Copyright y The Funk A. Mnney Ce.1