THE SLAYER OF SOULSROBERTW.

CHAMBERS

THE SLAYER
OF SOULSBY

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
AUTHOR OF "IN SECRET," "THE COMMON LAW," "THERECKONING," "LORRAINE," ETC.

NEW XBIr YORKGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

Copyright, 1920,

By Robert W. Chambers

Copyright, 1919, 1920, by International Magazine Company

Printed in the United States of America

5(2

TO

MY FRIENDGEORGE ARMSBY

564430LISKAEUTOGEORGEI

Mirror of Fashion,
Admiral of Finance,
Don't, in a passion,

Denounce this poor Romance;
For, while I dare not hope it might

Enthuse you,
Perhaps it will, some rainy night,

Amuse you.
II

So, your attention,

In poetry polite,

To my inventionIbashfully invite.

Don't hurl the book at Eddie's head

Deep laden,
Or Messmore's; you might hit instead
Will Braden.
Ill

Kahn among Canners,
And Grand Vizier of style,Emir of Manners,
Accept and place on file
This tribute, which I proffer while
I grovel,And honor with thy matchless Smile

My novel.
R.

W. C.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER

.

PAGE

I

THE YEZIDEE

13

IITHE YELLOW SNAKE

21

III

GREY MAGIC

38

IV

BODY AND SOUL54

V

THE ASSASSINS

76

VI

IN BATTLE

95

VII

THE BRIDAL

113

VIII

THE MAN IN WHITE

135

IX

THE WEST WIND

147

X

AT THE RITZ

l6l
183

XI

YULUN THE BELOVEDXIIHIS EXCELLENCY

197

xin

SA-N'SA

207

XIV

A DEATH-TRAIL

238

XV

IN THE FIRELIGHT

249

XVI

THE PLACE OF PRAYER

26l

XVII

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

277

vil

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

THE SLAYER OF SOULS
CHAPTER I
THE YEZIDEE
when the Nan-yang Maru sailed fromYuen-San did her terrible sense of forebod-

ONLY

ing begin to subside.

For four years, waking or sleeping, the awful subconsciousness of supreme evil had never left her.
But now, as the Korean shore, receding into darkness, grew dimmer and dimmer, fear subsided andgrew vague as the half-forgotten memory of horror
in a dream.

She stood near the steamer's stern apart fromother passengers, a slender, lonely figure in her
silver-fox furs, her ulster and smart little hat, watching the lights of Yuen-San grow paler and smaller

along the horizon until they looked like a level row
of stars.

Under her haunted

eyes Asia was slowly disto
streakofasolving
vapour in the misty lustre of

the moon.

Suddenlytheancient

continent

disappeared,

washed out by a wave against the sky; and with it
13

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

14

vanished the last shreds of that accursed nightmare
which had possessed her for four endless years. But

whether during those unreal years her soul had only
been held in bondage, or whether, as she had beentaught, it had been irrevocably destroyed, she still
remained uncertain, knowing nothing about the deathof souls or how it was accomplished.
As she stood there, her sad eyes fixed on the misty

an Englishwoman
East, a passenger passing
paused to say something kind to the young Americanand added, "if there is anything my husband and I
can do it would give us much pleasure." The girlha.d turned her head as though not comprehending.
;

The other woman hesitated.
"This is Doctor Nome's daughter, is it not?" sheinquired in a pleasant voice.

"Yes,
don.
.

be

.

I
.

am Tressa Nome. ... I ask your parThank you, madam: I am I seem to"a trifle dazed"What wonder, you poor child! Come to us if
you feel need of companionship.""You are very kind. ... I seem to wish to bealone, somehow.""I understand.

.

.

.

Good-night, my dear."

Late the next morning Tressa Nome awoke, conscious for the first time in four years that it was atlast her own familiar self stretched out there on thepillows where sunshine streamed through the porthole.
All that day she lay in her bamboo steamer
chair on deck. Sun and wind conspired to dry every
tear that wet her closed lashes.
Her dark, glossy

THE YEZIDEE
hair blew about her face

again

;

;

15

scarlet tinted her full lips

the tense hands relaxed.

Peace came at sun-down.

That evening she took her Yu-kin from her cabin
and found a chair on the deserted hurricane deck.
And here, in the brilliant moonlight of the China
Sea, she curled up cross-legged on the deck, all alone,and sounded the four futile strings of her moon-lute,and hummed to herself, in a still voice, old songs
she had sung in Yian before the tragedy. She sang
the tent-song called Tchinguiz.
She sang Camel
Bells and The Blue Bazaar,
children's songs of the
She sang the ancient Khiounnou song called
Yiort.
u

The Saghalien":

In the month of Saffar

Among the river-reeds
I saw two horsemen
Sitting on their steeds.

Tulugum !
Heitulum!

By the river-reeds
II

In the month of Saffar

A demon guards the ford.
Tokhta, my Lover!

Draw your shining sword!
Tulugum!
Heitulum!
Slay him with your sword!

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

16

In the month of Saffar

Among the water-weeds]

I saw two horsemen
Fighting on their steeds.

Tulugum!
Heitulum!

How my lover bleeds/lIV
In the month of Saffar,
The Year I should have wed

The Year of The PantherMy lover lay dead,
Tulugum !
Heitulum!

Dead without a head.

Andsongs like these

the onecalled"KeukeMongol," and an ancient air of the Tchortchas called"The Thirty Thousand Calamities," and some Chinese boatmen's songs which she had heard in Yian
before the tragedy; these shehummed to herself

there in the moonlight playing on her round-faced,short-necked lute of four strings.
Terror indeed seemed ended for her, and in herheart a great overwhelming joy was welling up
which seemed to overflow across the entire moonlit

world.

She had no longer any fear; no premonition ofAmong the few Americans and English
aboard, something of her story was already known.

further evil.

THE YEZIDEE

17

People were kind; and they were also considerateenough to subdue their sympathetic curiosity when
they discovered that this young American girl shrankfrom any mention of what had happened to herduring the last four years of the Great World War.
It was evident, also, that she preferred to remainaloof; and this inclination, when finally understood,
was respected by her fellow passengers. The clever,efficient and polite Japanese officers and crew of the
Nan-yang Maru were invariably considerate andcourteous to her, and they remained nicely reticent,although they also knew the main outline of her story
and very much desired to know more. And so, surrounded now by the friendly security of civilised
humanity, Tressa Nome, reborn to light out of hell's
own shadows, awoke from four years of nightmare
which, after all, perhaps, never had seemed entirely
actual.

And now God's real sun warmed her by day; His
real moon bathed her increamy coolness by night;

sky and wind and wave thrilled her with their blessedassurance that this was once more the real world

which stretched illimitably on every side fromhorizon to horizon; and the fair faces and pleasantvoices of her own countrymen made the past seem
only a ghastly dream that never again could enmesh
her soul with its web of sorcery.

And now the days at sea fled very swiftly; andwhen at last the Golden Gate was not far away she
had finally managed to persuade herself that nothing

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

18

really can harm the human soul ; that the monstrous
devil-years were ended, never again to return; thatin this vast, clean

Western Continent there could

be no occult threat to dread, no gigantic menace todestroy her body, no secret power that could consign

her soul to the dreadful abysm of spiritual annihilation.

Very early that morning she came on deck. The
November day was delightfully warm, the air clear
save for a belt of mist low on the water to the southward.
She had been told that land would not be sighted
for twenty-four hours, but she went forward andstood beside the starboard rail, searching the horizon with the enchanted eyes of hope.

As she stood there a Japanese ship's officer crossing the deck, forward, halted abruptly and stood
staring at something to the southward.

At the same moment, above the belt of mist on
the water, and perfectly clear against the blue sky
above, the girl saw a fountain of gold fire rise fromthe fog, drift upward in the daylight, slowly assume
the incandescent outline of a serpentine creature
which leisurely uncoiled and hung there floating, its
its feet with their five stumpy
claws closing, relaxing, like those of a living reptile.

lizard-tail undulating,

For a full minute this amazing shape of fire floatedthere in the sky, brilliant in the morning light, thenthe reptilian form faded, died out, and the last spark

vanished in the sunshine.

THE YEZIDEE

19

When the Japanese officer at last turned to resume his promenade, he noticed a white-faced girlgripping a stanchion behind him as though she wereon the point of swooning.
He crossed the deck
Tressa Nome's eyes opened.
"Are you ill, Miss Nome?" he asked.

quickly.

"The

the Dragon," she whispered.
"Why, that was nothing but

The officer laughed.

Chinese day-fireworks," he explained.
"The crewof some fishing boat yonder in the fog is amusing
Itself."

He looked at her narrowly, then with anice little bow and smile he offered his arm : "If you

are indisposed, perhaps you might wish to go below
to your stateroom, Miss Nome?"

She thanked him, managed to pull herself together
and force a ghost of a smile.

He lingered a moment, said something cheerfulabout being nearly home, thenmade her a punc-

and went his way.
Tressa Nome leaned back against the stanchion
and closed her eyes. Her pallor became deathly. She
bent over and laid her white face in her folded arms.
tilious salute

After a while she lifted her head, and, turning
very slowly, stared at the fog-belt out of frightenedeyes.

And saw, rising out of the fog, a pearl-tinted
sphere which gradually mounted into the clear daylight above like the full moon's phantom in the sky.

moon until at
Then it slowly evap-

Higher, higher rose the spectral
last it swam in the very zenith.

orated in the blue vault above.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

20

A

great wave of despair swept her; she clung to
the stanchion, staring with half-blinded eyes at theflat

fog-bank in the south.

But no more "Chinese day-fireworks" rose out ofit.
And at length she summoned sufficient strength
to go below to her cabin and lie there, half sense-

less, huddled on her bed.

When land was sighted, the following morning,
Nome had lived a century in twenty-four

Tressahours.

And in that space of time her agonised soul

had touched all depths.
But now as the Golden Gate loomed up in themorning light, rage, terror, despair had burned
themselves out. From their ashes within her mind
arose the cool wrath of desperation armed for anything, wary, alert, passionately

determined to sur-

vive at whatever cost, recklessly ready to fight forbodily existence.

That was her sole instinct now, to go on living, tono matter at what price. And if it wereindeed true that her soul had been slain, she defied
survive,its

murderers to slay her body also.

That night,

San Francisco, sheat her hotel indouble-locked her door and lay

down without un-

dressing, leaving all lights burning and an automatic
pistol underneath her pillow.

Toward morning she

fellhour, started up in awful fear.

asleep,slept

for anAnd saw the double-

THE YEZIDEE

21

locked door opposite the foot of her bed slowly
opening of its own accord.
Into the brightly illuminated room stepped agraceful young man in full evening dress carrying
over his left arm an overcoat, and in his other handa top hat and silver tipped walking-stick.

With one bound the girl swung herself from the
bed to the carpet and clutched at the pistol under
her pillow.

"Sanang!" she cried in a terrible voice.

"Keuke Mongol!" he said, smilingly.
For a moment they confronted each other in thebrightly lighted bedroom, then, partly turning, hecast a calm glance at the open door behind him and,;as though moved by a wind, the door slowly closed.

And she heard the key turn of itself in the lock, andsaw the bolt slide smoothly into place again.
Her power of speech came back to her presently
only a broken whisper at first "Do you think I
am afraid of your accursed magic?" she managed"Do you think I am afraid of you,to gasp.
:

Sanang?""You are afraid," he said serenely.
"You lie!""No, I do not lie.

To one another the Yezidees

never lie.""You lie again, assassin!

He smiled gently.

I

am no Yezidee!"His features were pleasing,smooth, and regular; his cheek-bones high, his skinfine and of a pale and delicate ivory colour.
Once
his black, beautifully

shaped eyes wandered to theTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

22

levelled pistol which she

now held clutched desper-

ately close to her right hip, and a slightly ironicalexpression veiled his gaze for an instant.

"Bullets?" he murmured.

"But you and I are of

the Hassanis.""The third lie, Sanang!" Her voice had regained
Tense, alert, blue eyes ablaze, every
strength.
faculty concentrated on the terrible business before
her, the girl now seemed like some supple leopardessits

poised on the swift verge of murder.
"Tokhta!"* She spat the word.

"Any movement toward a hidden weapon, any gesture suggestand I kill you, Sanang, exing recourse to magic
actly where you stand!""With a pistol?" He laughed. Then his smoothfeatures altered subtly. He said: "Keuke Mongol,
who call yourself Tressa Nome, Keuke heavenly
azure-blue,

named so in the temple because of thecolour of your eyes

listen attentively, for this is theYarlig which I bring to you by word of mouth from
Yian, as from Yezidee to Yezidee"Here, in this land called the United States ofAmerica, the Temple girl, Keuke Mongol, who has
witnessed the mysteries of Erlik and who understands the magic of the Sheiks-el-Djebel, and who
has seen Mount Alamout and the eight castles andthe fifty thousand Hassanis in white turbans and inrobes of white; you
Azure-blue eyes heed theor may thirty thousand calamities overYarlig!
:

take you !"*"Look out!"

Nomad-Mongol dialect.

THE YEZIDEE

23

There was a dead silence; then he went on seriously: "It is decreed: You shall cease to rememberthat you are a Yezidee, that you are of the Hassanis, that you ever have laid eyes on Yian the Beautiful,that you ever set naked foot upon Mount Ala-

It is decreed that you remember nothing ofwhat you have seen and heard, of what has been
told and taught during the last four years reckoned
as the Christians reckon from our Year of the Bull.
Otherwise my Master sends you this for yourmout.

convenience."
Leisurely, from under his folded overcoat, theyoung man produced a roll of white cloth anddropped it at her feet and the girl shrank aside,
shuddering, knowing that the roll of white cloth
was meant for her winding-sheet.
Then the colour came back to lip and cheek; and,glancing up from the soft white shroud, she smiled
at the young man: "Have you ended your Oriental

mummery?" she asked calmly. "Listen very seriously in your turn, Sanang, Sheik-el-Djebel, Princeof the Hassanis who, God knows when and how,have come out into the sunshine of this clean anddecent country, out of a filthy darkness where devils

and sorcerers make earth a hell.
"If you, or yours, threaten me, annoy me, interfere with me, I shall go to our civilised police andknow concerning the Yezidees. I mean to
You know what you
have done to me and mine. I come back to my own

tell all I

live.

Do you understand?

country alone, without any living kin, poor, home-

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

24

I intend,
and, perhaps, damned.
less, friendless,nevertheless, to survive. I shall not relax my clutch
on bodily existence whatever the Yezidees may pre-tend to have done to my soul.
live in theI

am determined tobody, anyway."

He nodded gravely.
She said: "Out at sea, over the fog, I saw the signof Yu-lao in fire floating in the day-sky.

Isaw hisI unspectral moon rise and vanish in mid-heaven.
"derstood. But
And here she suddenly showed

an edge of teeth under thefull scarlet

upper lip:

"Keep your signs and your shrouds to yourself, dogof a Yezidee!
three legs
yourself!

!

toad!

he-goat withtortoise-egg!

Keep your threats and your messages to
Keep your accursed magic to yourself!

Do you think to frighten me with your sorcery byshowing me the Moons of Yu-lao? by opening abolted door? I know more of such magic than do
Death Adder of Alamout!"
you, Sanang
Suddenly she laughed aloud at him

laughed in-sultingly in his expressionless face :"I saw you and Gutchlug Khan and your cowardly
Tchortchas in red-lacquered jackets slink out of the

Temple of Erlik where the bronze gong thundered
and a cloud settled down raining little yellow snakes
over the marble steps

over you, Prince
you and
Gutchlug and your red Tchortchas with their halberds all dripping with human entrails
And I saw
all

Sanang!

all

You were afraid, my Tougtchi!

!

you mount and gallop off into the woods while inthe depths of the magic cloud which rained little

THE YEZIDEE

25

yellow snakes all around you, we temple girls laughed

and mocked at you at you and your cowardly
Tchortcha horsemen."
A slight tinge of pink came into the young man's
pale face. Tressa Nome stepped nearer, her levelled
pistol resting on her hip.

"Why did you not complain of us to your Master,
the Old Man of the Mountain?" she asked jeeringly.

"And where, also, was your Yezidee magic when it
rained little snakes ?
What frightened you away

who had boldly come to seize a temple girl you
who had screwed up your courage sufficiently to defy
Erlik in his very shrine and snatch from his temple
a young thing whose naked body wrapped in gold
was worth the chance of death to you?"

The young man's top-hat dropped to the floor.

He bent over to pick it up.

His face was quite ex-pressionless, quite colourless, now.
"I went on no such errand," he said with an effort.

"I went with a thousand prayers on scarlet paper"

made in"A lie, Yezidee!

You came to seize me!""By Abu, Omar, Otman,

He turned still paler.

and Ali, it is not true !""You lieby the Lion of God, Hassini !"!

She stepped closer. "And I'll tell you anotherthing you fear you Yezidee of Alamout
you robber of Yian you sorcerer of Sabbah Khan, and chiefof his sect of Assassinsof mine, America!

You fear this native land

and its laws and customs, and its
clear, clean sunshine; and its cities and people; and;26
its police !

THE SLAYER OF SOULS
Take that message back. We Americans

fear nobody save the trueGod!

neither

nobodyYezidee nor Hassani nor Russ nor German nor thatsexless monster born of hell and called the Bolshevik!""Tokhta !" he cried sharply.

"Damn you!" retorted the girl; "get out of
my room! Get out of my sight! Get out of myTake that to your MasGet out of my life
path
!

!

Mount Alamout

I go
I do what I please
where I please I live as I please. And if I please, /turn against htm!"

ter of!

;;"In that event," he said hoarsely, "there Ties yourwinding-sheet on the floor at your feet!
your shroud; and make Erlik seize you !""Sanang," she said very seriously.

Take up"I hear you, Keuke-Mongol.""Listen attentively.

enough of death in life.

I

wish to live.

I

have had

I desire to remain a living,as you Yezidees
breathing thing even if it be truetell me, that you have caught my soul in a net andthat your sorcerers really control its destiny.

"But damned or not, I passionately desire to live.

And I am coward enough to hold my peace for the
So I remain silent. I have no
stomach to defy the Yezidees; because, if I do,sooner or later I shall be killed. I know it. I haveno desire to die for others to perish for the sakeof the common good. I am young. I have suffered
too much; I am determined to live
and let my soultake its chances between God and Erlik."sake of living.

THE YEZIDEE

27

She came close to him, looked curiously into his
pale face.
"I laughed at you out of the temple cloud," sheknow how to open bolted doors as well
And I know other things. And if you
ever again come to me in this life I shall first tortureyou, then slay you. Then I shall tell all ... and
said.

"I

as you do.

!

unrollmy shroud.""I keep your word of promise until you break it,"he interrupted hastily.
It is decreed!""Yarlig!
And then he slowly turned as though to glance overand bolted door.
"Permit me to open it for you, Prince Sanang,"

his shoulder at the locked

said the girl scornfully.

And she gazed steadily at

the door.
Presently, all by itself, the key turned in the lock,the bolt slid back, the door gently opened.

Toward it, white as a corpse, his overcoat on his
left arm, his stick and top-hat in the other hand, crept

the young man in his faultless evening garb.

Then, as he reached the threshold, he suddenly
sprang aside. A small yellow snake lay coiled there
on the door sill. For a full throbbing minute theyoung man stared at the yellow reptile in unfeigned
horror.
Then, very cautiously, he moved his fascinated eyes sideways and gazed in silence at Tressa

Nome.
The girl laughed.
"Sorceress!" he burst out hoarsely.
accurseo! thing from"Take thatmy path!""What thing, Sanang?"

At that his dark, fright-

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

28

ened eyes stole toward the threshold again, seeking
the little snake. But there was no snake there. And
when he was certain of this he went, twitching andtrembling all over.

Behind him the door closed softly, locking andbolting itself.

And behind the bolted door in the brightly lighted
bedroom Tressa Nome fell on both knees, her pistol
still

clutched in her right hand, calling passionately

upon Christ to forgive her for the dreadful ability
she had dared to use, and begging Him to save herbody from death and her soul from the snare of the
Yezidee.

CHAPTER II
THE YELLOW SNAKE
the young man named Sanang left the
bed-chamber of Tressa Nome he turned toWHEN

the right in the carpeted corridor outside
But he didand hurried toward the hotel elevator.

not ring for the lift; instead he took the spiral ironstairway which circled it, and mounted hastily to thefloor above.

Here was his own apartment and he entered itwith a key bearing the hotel tag.

A dusky-skinned

powerful old man wearing a grizzled beard and agreasy broadcloth coat of old-fashioned cut known
to provincials as a "Prince Albert" looked up from
where he was seated cross-legged upon the sofa,
sharpening a curved knife on a whetstone.
"Gutchlug," stammered Sanang, "I am afraidof herWhat happened two years ago at the temple
Ihappened again a moment since, there in her very
bedroom! She made a yellow death-adder out of
nothing and placed it upon the threshold, and mocked

me with laughter.
ties overtakeher!

May Thirty Thousand CalamiMay Erlik seize her! May her
29THE SLAYER OF SOULS

30

eyes rot out and her limbs fester!
score and three principal devils

May the seven""You chatter like a temple ape," said Gutchlug
tranquilly. "Does Keuke Mongol die or live?
alone interests me."That

"Gutchlug," faltered the young man, "thou knowest that m-my heart is inclined to mercy toward thisyoung Yezidee""I know that it is inclined to lust," said the otherbluntly.

Sanang's pale face flamed.
"Listen," he said. "If I had not loved her better
than life had I dared go that day to the temple totake her for my own?""You loved life better," said Gutchlug. "You fledwhen it rained snakes on the temple steps you andI also ran.
Kai
Butyour Tchortcha horsemen
I gave every soldier thirty blows with a stick before
And you should have had yourI slept that night.
!

!

thirty, also, conforming to the Yarlig,

my Tougtchi."

Sanang, still holding his hat and cane and carrying
his overcoat over his left arm, looked down at theat theheavy, brutal features of Gutchlug Khancruel mouth with its crooked smile under the grizzled

beard; at the huge hands

the powerful hands ofnow deftly honing to a razor-edge thea murderer

Kalmuck knife held so firmly yet lightly in his great
blunt fingers.

"Listenattentively,

PrinceSanang,"growledGutchlug, pausing in his monotonous task to test theTHE YELLOW SNAKE
blade's

31"Does the Yezidee
edge on his thumbYes or no?"Keuke Mongol live?

Sanang hesitated, moistened his pallid lips.

"Shedares not betray us."

"By what pledge?""Fear.""That is no pledge. You also were afraid, yet you
went to the temple !""She has listened to the Yarlig. She has looked
upon her shroud. She has admitted that she desires
to live.

Therein lies her pledge to us.""And she placed a yellow snake at your feet!""Prince Sanang,sneered Gutchlug.

tellme, whatman or what devil in all the chronicles of the past has
ever tamed a Snow-Leopard?" And he continued tohone his yataghan.
""Gutchlug"No, she dies," said the other tranquilly.

"Not yet!""When, then?""Gutchlug, thou knowest me.

At herfirst

Hear my pledge

gesture toward treachery

!

first

I myself will end it all."thought of betrayal"You promise

her

to

slay

this

young snow-leop-

ardess?""By the four companions, I swear to kill her with
my own hands !"Gutchlug sneered.

"Kill heryeswith the kissthat has burned thy lips to ashes for all these months.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

32
I

know thee, Sanang.

Leave her to me.

Dead shewill no longer trouble thee.""Gutchlug!""I hear, Prince Sanang.""Strike when I nod. Not until then."understand thee, my BanKai!"
Sanang looked at him, put on his top-hat and overcoat, pulled on a pair of white evening gloves.
"I go forth," he said more pleasantly.
"I remain here to talk to my seven ancestors and"I hear, Tougtchi.

neret.

I whetI

my knife.

sharpen my knife," remarked Gutchlug.
"When the white world and the yellow world andthe brown world and the black world finally fall be-fore the Hassanis," said Sanang with a quick smile,"I shall bring thee to her. Gutchlug
once before
she is veiled, thou shalt behold what is lovelier thanEve."

The other stolidly whetted his knife.
Sanang pulled out a gold cigarette case, lighted
a cigarette with an air.

"I go among Germans," he volunteered amiably.
"The huns swam across two oceans, but, like theunclean swine, it is their own throats they cut when

they swim!

Well, there is only one God. And not
Erlik is greater. And there arevery many angels.

many million

devils todohisThere isand thereiskoumiss

closet.

hours."

rice

Adieu.
bidding.
in the frozen

When I return you shall have been asleep forTHE YELLOW SNAKE

33

When Sanang left the hotel one of two young men
seated in the hotel lobby got up and strolled out
after him.
few minutes later the other man went to theAelevator, ascended to the fourth floor, and enteredan apartment next to the one occupied by Sanang.

There was another man there, lying on the lounge
and smoking a cigar. Without a word, they bothwent leisurely about the matter of disrobing for thenight.

When the shorter man who had been in the apartment when the other entered, and who was dark
and curly-headed, had attired himself in pyjamas,
he sat down on one of the twin beds to enjoy his
cigar to the bitter end.

"Has Sanang gone out?" he inquired in a low
voice.

"Yes.

Benton went after him."

The other man nodded.

"Cleves," he said, "I

guess it looks as though this Nome girl is in it, too.""What happened?""As soon as she arrived, Sanang made straightfor her apartment.
an hour. Then he

He remained inside for halfcame out in a hurry and went
to his own rooms, where that surly servant of his.
squats all day, shining up his arsenal, and drinking
koumiss.""Did you get their conversation?""I've got a record of the gibberish.
an interpreter, of course."

It requires,

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

34"I suppose so.

I'lltake the records east withme to-morrow, and by the same token I'd better
notify New York that I'm leaving."
He went, half-undressed, to the telephone, got the

telegraph office, and sent the following message:"RECKLOW, New York:"Leaving to-morrow for N. Y. with samples.

Re-tain expert in Oriental fabrics.

"VICTOR CLEVES.""Report for me, too," said the dark young man,

who was still enjoying his cigar on his pillows.
So Cleves sent another telegram, directed also to"RECKLOW, New York:"Benton and I are watching the market.

Chineseimportations fluctuate. Recent consignment per Nanyang Maru will be carefully inspected and details

forwarded.

"ALEK SELDEN."
In the next room Gutchlug could hear the voiceof Cleves at the telephone, but he merely shrugged
his heavy shoulders in contempt.

For he had otherthings to do beside eavesdropping.
in fact,
Also, for the last hour

ever

since

something had been happening
something that happens to a Hassani only

Sanang's departure
to himonce in a lifetime.

happened to him

And now this unique thing had
to him, Gutchlug Khanto himTHE YELLOW SNAKE

35

before whose Khiounnou ancestors eighty-one thou-sand nations had bowed the knee.
It

had come to him at last, this dread thing, un-heralded, totally unexpected, a few minutes after

Sanang had departed.

And he suddenly knew he was going to die.
And, when, presently, he comprehended it, he bent
his grizzled head and listened seriously. And, after
a little silence, he heard his soul bidding him farewell.

So the chatter of white men at a telephone in thenext apartment had no longer any significance forhim.
Whether or not they had been spying on him;

whether they were plotting, made no difference tohim now.
He tested his knife's edge with his thumb andlistened gravely to his soul bidding him farewell.
But, for a Yezidee, there was still a little detail
to attend to before his soul departed;
two matters
One was to select his shroud. The
to regulate.
other was to cut the white throat of this young snowleopardess called Keuke Mongol, the Yezidee temple
girl.

And he could steal down to her bedroom and finish
that matter in five minutes.

But

first

he must choose his shroud, as

is

the

custom of the Yezidee.

That office, however, was quickly accomplished ina country where fine white sheets of linen are to befound on every hotel bed.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

36

So, on his

way to the door, his naked knife in

his right hand, he paused to fumble under the bed-

covers and draw out a white linen sheet.

Something hurt his hand like a needle. He moved
felt the thing squirm under his fingers and pierce
his palm again and again. With a shriek, he tore thebedclothes from the bed.
it,

A little yellow snake lay coiled there.
He got as far as the telephone, but could not useit.

And there he fell heavily, shaking the room anddragging the instrument down with him.

There was some excitement.

Cleves and Seldenin their bathrobes went in to look at the body.

The

as heart-trouble.

Or,hotel physician diagnosed
possibly, poison.

itSome gazed significantly at the

naked knife still clutched in the dead man's hands.
Around the wrist of the other hand was twisted
a pliable gold bracelet representing a little snake.

It

had real emeralds for eyes.
It had not been there when Gutchlug died.
But nobody except Sanang could know that. And
later when Sanang came back and found Gutchlug
very dead on the bed and a policeman sitting outside,
he offered no information concerning the new bracesnake with real emeralds for eyes,
which adorned the dead man's left wrist.

let shaped like a

Toward evening, however, after an autopsy had
confirmed the house physician's diagnosis that heartdiseasehadfinished

Gutchlug,

Sanang mustered

THE YELLOW SNAKE
desk in the lobby
enough courage to go to thesend up his card to Miss Nome.
appeared, however, thatfor Chicago about noon.
It

37

and

Miss Nome had left

CHAPTER III
GREY MAGIC) Victor Clevescame the following telegram

in code:"Washington,"April 1 4th. iQig.
ordered"Investigationby the State Department
as the result of frequent mention in despatches ofChinese troops operating with the Russian Bolsheviki forces ha\s disclosed that the Bolsheviki are actually raising a Chinese division of 30,000 men recruited in Central Asia.
This division has beenA

guilty of the greatest cruelties.
strange rumour
prevails among the Allied forces at Archangel that
this Chinese division is led by Yezidee and Hassani
officers belonging to the sect of devil-worshipers andthat they employ black arts and magic in battle.
"From information so far gathered by the sev-

eral branches of the United States Secret Service
operating throughout the world, it appears possiblethat the various revolutionary forces of disorder, in
Europe and Asia, which now are violently threatening the peace and security, of all established civilisaThis
tion on earth, may have had a common origin.
origin,it is

now suspected, may date back to a very

remote epoch; the wide-spread forces of violence
and merciless destruction may have had their begin38

GREY MAGIC

39

ning among some ancient and predatory race whose
existence was maintained solely by robbery and murder.
t(

Anarchists, terrorists, Bolshevists, Reds of all
shades and degrees, are now believed to represent inmodern times what perhaps once was a tribe ofAssassinsa sect whose religion was founded upon
a common predilection for crimes of violence.

"On this theory then, for the present, the UnitedStatesGovernment will proceed with this investiga-

tion of Bolshevism; and the Secret Service will continue to pay particular attention to all Orientals in

the United States and other countries. You personally are formally instructed to keep in touch with

XLY-37I (Alek Selden) and ZB-jos (James Benton), and to employ every possible means to become
friendly with the girl Tressa Nome, win her confidence, mid, if possible, enlist her actively in the Government Service as your particular aid and comrade.
"It is equally important that the movements of the
Oriental, called Sanang, be carefully observed in order to discover the identity and whereabouts of his

companions. However, until further instructions heis not to be taken into custody.
M. H. 2479.

"(Signed)"(JOHN RECKLOW.)"
The long despatch from John Recklow madeCleves's duty plain enough.

For months, now, Selden and Benton had been
And they had learned
watching Tressa Nome.
practically nothing about her.

And now the girl had come within Cleves's sphereShe had been in New York for two
Telegrams from Benton in Chicago, andof operation.
weeks.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

40

from Selden in Buffalo, had prepared him for her
arrival.

He had his men watching her boarding-house on
West Twenty-eighth Street, men to follow her, men
to keep their eyes on her at the theatre, where every

evening, at 10 145, her entr'acte was staged. He knew
where to get her. But he, himself, had been on thewatch for the man Sanang; and had failed to findthe slightest trace of him in New York, althoughwarned that he had arrived.
So, for that evening, he left the hunt for Sanang
to others, put on his evening clothes, and dined withfashionable friends at the Patroons' Club, who neverfor an instant suspected that young Victor Cleves
was in the Service of the United States Government.
About half-past nine he strolled around to thetheatre, desiring to miss as much as possible of the
popular show without being too late to see the curious
littleentr'acte in which this girl, Tressa Nome, ap-

peared alone.

He had secured an aisle seat near the stage at an
outrageous price; the main show was still thundering and fizzing and glittering as he entered thetheatre; so he stood in the rear behind the orchestra
until the descending curtain extinguished the out-

rageous glare and din.
Then he went down theaisle,

and as he seatedhimself Tressa Nome stepped from the wings andstood before the lowered curtain facing an expectant
but oddly undemonstrative audience.

GREY MAGIC

41

The girl worked rapidly, seriously, and in silence.
She seemed a mere child there behind the footlights,
not more than sixteen anyway her winsome eyes

and wistful lips unspoiled by the world's wisdom.
Yet once or twice the mouth drooped for a second
and the winning eyes darkened to a remoter blue
the brooding iris hue of far horizons.

She wore the characteristic tabard of stiff golden

and the gold pagoda-shaped headpiece of a
Yezidee temple girl. Her flat, slipper-shaped footgear was of stiff gold, too, and curled upward at thetissuetoes.

For inAll this accentuated her apparent youth.
face and throat no firmer contours had as yet modified the soft fullness of immaturity;

her limbs wereboyish and frail, and her bosom more undecided still,so that the embroidered breadth of gold fell flat andfrom her chest to a few inches above thestraight
ankles.

She seemed to have no stock of paraphernalia withwhich to aid the performance; no assistant, no orchestral diversion, nor did she serve herself withany magician's patter. She did her work close to
the footlights.

Behind her loomed a black curtain; the strip ofstage in front was bare even of carpet; the orchestra remained mute.
But when she needed anything a little table, forexamplequired

it

well,

a

it

was suddenly there where she re-tripod,for instance,

evidently fitted

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

42
to

hold

the

big

iridescentbubble

of

glass

in

swarmed little tropical fishes and which
arrived neatly from nowhere.
She merely placedwhich

her hands before her as though ready to support
something weighty which she expected and suddenly, the huge crystal bubble was visible, resting

between her hands.
it,she setit

And when she tired of holding

upon the empty air and let go of it;

and instead of crashing to the stage with its finny
rainbow swarm of swimmers, out of thin air appeared a tripod to support it.
Applause followed, not very enthusiastic, for thesort of audience which sustains the shows of which
her performance was merely an entr'acte is an audience responsive only to the obvious.
Nobody ever before had seen that sort of magicinAmerica.

People scarcely knew whether or notthey quite liked it.

The lightning of innovation stu-of inpefies the dull; ignorance is always suspicious
untilonitselfrecordafraidtonovationputalwaysmind is made up by somebody else.
So in this typical New York audience approbation
was cautious, but every fascinated eye remained
focused on this young girl who continued to do in-itscredible things, which

seemed to resemble "putting

something over" on them; a thing which no uneducated American conglomeration ever quite forgives.

The girl's silence, too, perplexed them they wereaccustomed to gabble, to noise, to jazz, vocal andinstrumental, to that incessant metropolitan clamour;

GREY MAGIC

43

which fills every second with sound in a city whose
only distinction is its din.

Stage, press, art, letters,social existence unless noisy mean nothing in Gotham; reticence, leisure, repose are the three lost arts.

The megaphone is the city's symbol; its chief est
crime, silence.

The girl having finished with the big glass bubble
full of tiny fish, picked it up and tossed it aside.

aFor

moment it apparently floated there in space likea soap-bubble.
Changing rainbow tints waxed andwaned on the surface, growing deeper and more gor-geous until the floating globe glowed

scarlet,thensuddenly burst into flame and vanished. And only astrange, sweet perfume lingered in the air.

But she gave her perplexed audience no time towonder; she had seated herself on the stage and was
already swiftly busy unfolding a white veil withwhich she presently covered herself, draping it over

her like a tent.

The veil seemed to be translucent; she was apparently visible seated beneath it.

But the veil turned

into smoke, rising into the air in a thin white cloud;and there, where she had been seated, was a statueof white stone the image of herself
springtide of early adolescence!

in all the fraila white statue, cold,

opaque, exquisite in its sculptured immobility.
There came, the next moment, a sound of distantthunder; flashes lighted the blank curtain; and suddenly a vein of lightning and a sharper peal shattered
the statue to fragments.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

44.

There they lay, broken bits of her own sculptured
body, glistening in a heap behind the footlights.
Then each fragment began to shimmer with a rosyinternal light of its own, until the pile of broken
marble glowed like living coals under thickening andAnd, presently, dimly percepthere she was in the flesh again, seated in thereddening vapours.
tible,

fiery centre of the conflagration, stretching herarms

luxuriously, yawning, seemingly awakening from refreshing slumber, her eyes unclosing to rest with asort of confused apology
dience.

upon her astounded au-

As she rose to her feet nothing except herself remained on the stage

nodebris,not a shred ofsmoke, not a spark.
She came down, then, across an inclined plank into
the orchestra

among the audience.

In the aisle seat nearest her sat Victor Cleves.

His business was to be there that evening. But she
had
didn't know that, knew nothing about him
never before set eyes on him.
At her gesture of invitation he made a cup of both
Into these she poured a double handful
his hands.
of unset diamonds or what appeared to be diamonds pressed her own hands above his for asecondand the diamonds in his palms had become

pearls.

These were passed around to people in the vicinity,and finally returned to Mr. Cleves, who, at her request, covered the heap of pearls with both his hands,

hiding them entirely from view.

GREY MAGIC45

At her nod he uncovered them. The pearls had
become emeralds. Again, while he held them, andwithout even touching him, she changed them intorubies. Then she turned away from him, apparently
forgetting that he still held the gems, and he satvery still, one cupped hand over the other, while she
poured silver coins into a woman's gloved hands,
turned them into gold coins, then flung each coin into
the air, where it changed to a living, fragrant roseand fell among the audience.
Presently she seemed to remember Cleves, cameback down the aisle, and under his close and intent
gaze drew from his cupped hands, one by one, ascore of brilliant little living birds, which continually
flew about her and finally perched, twittering, on her
golden headdressa rainbow-crest of living jewels.

As she drew the last warm, breathing little feathered miracle from Cleves's hands and released it, hesaid rapidly under his breath: "I want a word withyou later. Where?"She let her clear eyes rest on him for a moment,
then with a shrug so slight that it was perceptible,
perhaps, only to him, she moved on along the inclined

way, stepped daintily over the footlights,

caughtfire,

audience,

apparently, nodded to a badly rattled
and sauntered off, burning from head tofoot.

What applause there was became merged in a
dissonant instrumental outburst from the orchestra;
the great god Jazz resumed direction, the mindlessTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

46

audience breathed freely again as the curtain rose

upon a familiar, yelling turbulence, including all that
Gotham really understands and cares for legs andnoise.

Victor Cleves glanced up at the stage, then continued to study the name of the girl on the programme. It was featured in rather pathetic solitudeunder "Entr'acte."

And he read further: "During

the entr'acte Miss Tressa

withseveralphasesNome will entertain you

of

Black

Magic.

This

strange knowledge was acquired by Miss Nomefrom the Yezidees, among which almost unknown

people still remain descendants of that notorious andformidable historic personage known in the twelfthor Thecentury as The Old Man of the Mountain
Old Man of Mount Alamout.
"The pleasant profession of this historic individual was assassination; and some historians now
believe that genuine occult power played a part inhis dreadful record
a record which terminated only

when the infantry of Genghis Khan took Mount Alamout by storm and hanged the Old Man of theMountain and burned his body under a boulder of
You-Stone.

"For Miss Nome's performance there appears to
be no plausible, practical or scientific explanation.
"During her performance the curtain will remain
lowered for fifteen minutes and will then rise on thelast act of'You Betcha Life.'"

The noisy show continued while Cleves, paying it

GREY MAGIC
scant attention, brooded over the programme.

47

And

ever his keen, grey eyes reverted to her name, Tressa

Nome.
Then, for a little while, he settled back and let
his absent gaze wander over the galloping battalionsof painted girls and the slapstick principals whose
perpetual motion evoked screams of approbationfrom the audience amid the din of the great god
Jazz.

He had an aisle seat; he disturbed nobody when
he went out and around to the stage door.

The aged man on duty took his card, called a boy
and sent it off. The boy returned with the card,saying that Miss Nome had already dressed and departed.

Cleves tipped him and then tipped the doorman
heavily.

"Where does she live?" he asked.
"Say," said the old man, "I dunno, and that's

But them ladies mostly goes up to theroof for a look in at the 'Moonlight Masnue' andstraight.

a dance afterward.

Was you ever up there?""Yes.""Seen the new show?"

"No."
I

"Well, g'wan up while you can get a table. And
bet the little girl will be somewheres around.""The little girl" was "somewheres around."He

secured a table, turned and looked about at the vastcabaret into which only a few people had yet filtered,THE SLAYER OF SOULS

48

and saw her at a distance in the carpeted corridor
buying violets from one of the flower-girls.
waiter placed a reserve card on his table he con-A;

tinued on around the outer edge of the auditorium.

Miss Nome had already seated herself at a small
table in the rear, and a waiter was serving her with

iced orange juice and little French cakes.

When the waiter returned Cleves went up andtook off his hat.

"May I talk with you
Nome?" he said.

foramoment, Miss

The girl looked up, the wheat-straw still between
her scarlet lips. Then, apparently recognising in him
the young man in the audience who had spoken toher, sheresumed her business of imbibing orange

juice.

The girl seemed even frailer and younger in her
hat and street gown.

her shoulders;

A silver-fox stole hung froma gold bag lay on the table under thebunch of violets.
She paid no attention whatever to him. Presently
her wheat-straw buckled, and she selected a betterone.

He said: "There's something rather serious I'dlike tospeak to you about if you'll let me. I'm not
I'm not trying to

the sort you evidently suppose.

annoy you."At that she looked around and upward once more.
Very, very young, but already spoiled, he thought,
for the dark-blue eyes were coolly appraising him,

GREY MAGIC

49

and the droop of the mouth had become almost sulBesides, traces of paint still remained to incarnadine lip and cheek and there was a hint of hard-len.

ness in the youthful plumpness of the features.

"Are you a professional?" she asked without curiosity.

"A theatrical man? No."it

"Then if you haven't anything to offer me, what is
you wish?""I have a job to offer if you care for it and if

you are up to it," he said.
Her eyes became slightly hostile:"What kind of job do you mean?""I want to learn something about you first.

Will

you come over to my table and talk it over?""No.""What sort do you suppose me to be?" he inquired, amused.

"The usual sort, I suppose.""You mean a Johnny?""Yesof sorts."

She let her insolent eyes sweep him once morev

from head to foot.
He was a well-built young man and in his evening
dress he had that something about him which placed
him very definitely where he really belonged.
"Would you mind looking at my card?" he asked.
He drew it out and laid it beside her, and without
stirring she scanned it sideways.

"That's my name and address," he continued. "I'm

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

50

not contemplating mischief.

I've enough excitement

in life without seeking adventure.

Besides, I'm not
the sort who goes about annoying women."

She glanced up at him again:"You are annoying me !""I'm sorry.

I was quite honest.

Good-night."

He took his conge with unhurried amiability; hadalready turned away when she said:"Pleasewhat do you desire to say to me?".

.

.

He came back to her table:"I couldn't tell you until I know a little more about

you."

"What

do you wish to know?"

I could scarcely ask you"Several things.
goover such matters with you standing here."
There was a pause the girl juggled with the straw;

on the table for a few moments, then, partly turning, she summoned a waiter,

paid him, adjusted her

picked up her gold bag and her violets andstood up. Then she turned to Cleves and gave him
stole,

a direct look, which

had in it the impersonal andsearching gaze of a child.
When they were seated at the table reserved for

him the place already was filling rapidly backwash
from the theatres slopped through every aisle
people not yet surfeited with noise, not yet sufficiently sodden by their worship of the great god
Jazz.

"Jazz," said Cleves, glancing across his dinnercard at Tressa Nome
"what's the meaning of theword?

Do you happen to know?"GREY MAGIC

51"Doesn't it come from the French ^aser'f"

He smiled.

"Possibly.

I'm rather hungry.

Are

you?"
"Yes.""Will you indicate your preferences?"
She studied her card, and presently he gave theorder.

"I'd like some champagne," she said, "unless you
think it's too expensive."

He smiled at that, too, and gave the order.
"I didn't suggest any wine because you seem soyoung," he said.
"How old do I seem?""Sixteen perhaps.""I am twenty-one."
5"Then you've had no troubles.
"I don't know what you call i'">uble,"she re-marked, indifferently, watching the a* 'ving throngs.

The orchestra, too, had taken its pla"Well," she said, "now that you've picked me up,
what do you really want of me?" There was no
.

,

She
smile to soften what she said.
dropped her elbows on the table, rested her chinbetween her palms and looked at him with the same

mitigating

searching, undisturbed expression that is so disconcerting in children. As he made no reply: "May I

have a cocktail?" she inquired.

He gave the order. And his mind registered pessimism.

"There is nothing doing with this girl,""She's already on the toboggan." Buthe thought.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

52

he said aloud: "That was beautiful work you did

down in the theatre, Miss Nome.""Did you think so?"
"Of course. It was astounding work.""Thank you. But managers and audiences differ
with you.""Then they are very stupid," he said.
"Possibly.

But that does not helpme pay myboard.""Do you mean you have trouble in securing theatricalengagements?"
I am through here"Yes,

to-night,

andthere's

nothing else in view, so far.""That's incredible I" he exclaimed.

She lifted her glass, slowly drained it.
For a few moments she caressed the stem of theempty glass, her gaze remote.
"Yes, it's that way," she said. "From the beginning I felt that my audiences were not in sympathy
with me. Sometimes it even amounts to hostility.

Americans do not like what I do, even if it holds
I don't quite understand why they
I'm always conscious they don't.
butit,
And of course that settles it to-night has settled thetheir attention.

don't likewhole thing, once and for all.""What are you going to do?""What others do, I presume.""What do others do?" he inquired, watching thelovely sullen eyes.

"Oh, they do what I'm doing now, don't they?

'

GREY MAGIC

53

some man pick them up and feed them." She"I'm not criticising you.
I meant to do it some day
when I had courage.
That's why I just asked you if I might have someletlifted her indifferent eyes.

finding myself a little scared at my firstchampagne
step.

.

for me.

.

.

But you did say you might have a job

Didn't you?""Suppose I haven't.

What are you going to do?"

The curtain was rising.

She nodded toward thebespangled chorus.
"Probably that sort of thing.
They've asked me."Supper was served. They both were hungry andmusic made conversation difficult, sothey supped in silence and watched the imbecile show
thirsty; theconceived by vulgarians, produced by vulgarians andserved up to mental degenerates of the same species
the average metropolitan audience.

For ten minutes a pair of comedians fell up anddown a flight of steps, and the audience shrieked approval.

"Miss Nome?"

The girl who had been watching the show turnedinher chair and looked back at him.

"Your magic is by far the most wonderful I haveever seen or heard of. Even in India such things
are not done.""No, not in India," she said, indifferently.

"Where then?""In China.""You learned to do such things there?"THE SLAYER OF SOULS

54"Yes.""Where, in China, did you learn such amazing
magic?""In Yian.""I never heard of it. Is it a province?""A city.""And you lived there?""Fourteen years.""When?""From 1904 to 1918."in"During the great war," he remarked, "you were
China?""Yes.""Then you arrived here very recently.""In^November, from the Coast.""I see.

You played the theatres from the Coasteastward.""And went to pieces in New York," she added
calmly, finishing her glass of champagne.
"Have you any family?" he asked.

"No.""Do you care to say anything further?" he inquired, pleasantly.

"About my family? Yes, if you wish. My father
was in the spice trade in Yian. The Yezidees took
Yian in 1910, threw him into a well in his own compound and filled it up with dead imperial troops. I
was thirteen years old.
The Hassani did that.
They held Yian nearly eight years, and I lived with.

.

.

my mother, in a garden pagoda, until 1914.

InGREY MAGIC

55

January of that year Germans got through from
Kiaou-Chou. They had been six months on the way.
I think they were Hassanis.

Anyway, they persuaded

the Hassanis to massacre

every English-speaking

prisoner.

And somy mother died in the garden

pagoda of Yian. ...

I

was not

told

for fouryears.""Why did they spare you?" he asked, astonishedat her story so quietly told, so utterly destitute ofemotion.
"I was seventeen.

A certain person had placedme among the temple girls in the temple of Erlik.
It pleased this person to make of me a Mongol
temple girl as a mockery at Christ. They gave me
the name Keuke Mongol.

of Kwann-an

I asked to serve the shrine

she being like to our Madonna.

But

this person gave me the choice between the halberdsof the Tchortchas and the sorcery of Erlik."

She lifted her sombre eyes. "So I learned how to
do the things you saw. But what I did there on therespectable."stage is not
An odd shiver passed over him.

For a second hetook her literally, suddenly convinced that her magic

was not white but black as the demon at whose shrine
she had learned it. Then he smiled and asked herpleasantly, whether indeed she employed hypnosis in
her miraculous exhibitions.

But her eyes became more sombre still, and, "I"I have aldon't care to talk about it," she said.
ready said too much."THE SLAYER OF SOULS

56"I'm sorry.
sional secrets

I

didn't"mean to pry into profes-"I can't talk about it," she repeated. ".

.

.

Pleasemy glass is quite empty."
When he had refilled it:"How did you get away from Yian?" he asked.
"The Japanese.""What luck!""Yes. One battle was fought at Buldak.

The

Hassanis and Blue Flags were terribly cut up. Then,outside the walls of Yian, Prince Sanang's Tchortcha
infantry made a stand. He was there with his Yeziall in leather and silk armour withdee horsemen,casques and corselets of black Indian steel.
"I could see them from the temple
saw the Jap-

The Tchortchas were
gunners open fire.
blown to shreds in the blast of the Japanese guns.
Sanang got away with some of his Yezidee

anese

.

.

.

horsemen.""Where was that battle?""I told you, outside the walls of Yian.""The newspapers never mentioned any such trouble in China," he said, suspiciously.
"Nobody knows about it except the Germans andthe Japanese.""Who is this Sanang?" he demanded.
"A Yezidee-Mongol. He is one of the Sheiks-elDjebelmout."

a servant of The Old"What is he?"Man of Mount Ala-

GREY MAGIC"A sorcerer

57

assassin.""What!" exclaimed Cleves incredulously.
"Why, yes," she said, calmly. "Have you neverheard of The Old Man of Mount Alamout?""Well, yes""The succession has been unbroken since 1090 B.C.
A Hassan Sabbah is still the present Old Man of theMountain. His Yezidees worship Erlik. They aresorcerers.

But you would not believe that."

Cleves said with a smile, "Who is Erlik?""The Mongols' Satan.""Oh! So these Yezidees are devil-worshipers!""They are more. They are actually devils.""You don't really believe that even in unexplored
China there exists such a creature as a real sorcerer,
do you?" he inquired, smilingly.
"I don't wish to talk of it."To his surprise her face had flushed,and hethought her sensitive mouth quivered a little.
He watched her in silence for a moment; then,leaning a little way across the table:"Where are you going when theshow here

closes?""To my boarding-house.""And then?""To bed," she said, sullenly.
"And to-morrow what do you mean to do?"
"Go out to the agencies and ask for work.""And if there is none?""The chorus," she said, indifferently.

58

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"What salary have you been getting?"

She told him.
"Will you take three times that amount and workwith me?"CHAPTER IV
BODY AND SOUL
girl's direct

THE"Whatgaze met his with that merci-less searching intentness he already knew.

do you wish me to do?""Enter the service of the United States.""Wh-what?""Work for the Government."
She was too taken aback to answer.
"Where were you born?" he demanded abruptly.
"In Albany, New York," she replied in a dazed
way.

"You are loyal to your country?""Ye* certainly.""You would not betray her?""No.""I don't mean for money; I mean from fear."

After a moment, and, avoiding his gaze: "Iafraid of death," she said very simply.

am

He waited.
"I

I

don't

know

w'hat

I

might

afraid," she added in a troubled voice.
live."He still waited.
59

do

being

"I desire toTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

60
She

liftedher eyes: "I'd try not to betray mycountry," she murmured.
"Try to face death for your country's honour?""Yes.""And for your own?""Yes; and for my own."
He leaned nearer: "Yet you're taking a chance on
your own honour to-night."
She blushed brightly: "I didn't think I was taking
a very great chance with you."

He said: "You have found life too hard. And
when you faced failure in New York you began tolet goof lifereal life, I mean.

And you came up

here to-night wondering whether you had courage
to let yourself go. When I spoke to you it scared

You found you hadn't the courage. But perto-morrow
haps
you might find it or next week
if sufficiently scared by hunger
you might venture
to take the first step along the path that you say

you.

others usually take sooner or later."

The girl flushed scarlet, sat looking at him out ofeyes grown dark with anger.
He said: "You told me an untruth.

You havebeen tempted to betray your country. You have resisted.
You have been threatened with death. You
have had courage to defy threats and temptations
where your country's honour was concerned !""How do you know?" she demanded.
He continued, ignoring the question: "From thetime you landed
threatened.

in

San Francisco you have been

You tried to earn a living by your ma-

BODY AND SOUL

61

gician's tricks, but in city after city, as you came
East, your uneasiness grew into fear, and your fear

into terror, because every day more terribly confirmed your belief that people were following you de-termined either to use you to their own purposes or
to murder you"

The girl turned quite white and half rose in her
chair, then sank back, staring at him out of dilated
eyes.

Then Cleves smiled: "So you've got the nerve

Government work," he said, "and you've got
the intelligence, and the knowledge, and something
I don't know exactly what to call it
Skill?
else

to do

Sorcery?" he smiled

Dexterity?

"Imean yourprofessional ability. That's what I want that bewildering dexterity of yours, to help your own country in the fight of its life.

Will you enlist for ser-vice?""W-what fight?" she asked faintly.
"The fight with the Red Spectre.""Anarchy?"
Are you ready to leave this place?
"Yes
want to talk to you."
.

.

.

I

"Where?""In my own rooms."

After a moment she rose.
"I'll go to yaur rooms with you," she said.
She
added very calmly that she was glad it was to be his
rooms and not some other man's.

Out of countenance, he demanded what she meant,and she said quite candidly that she'd made up her

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

62

mind to live at any cost, and that if she couldn't
make an honest living she'd make a living anyway.
He offered no reply to this until they had reached
the street and he had called a taxi.

On their way to his apartment he re-opened thesubject rather bluntly, remarking that life was not
worth living at the price she had mentioned.

"That is the accepted Christian theory," she replied coolly, "but circumstances alter things.""Not such things.""Oh, yes, they do.

If one is already damned, what

difference does anything else make?"

He asked, sarcastically, whether she consideredherself already damned.
She did not reply for a few moments, then she
said, in a quick, breathless way, that souls have been

entrapped through ignorance ofevil.

And asked

him if he did not believe it.
"No," he said, "I don't."
She shook her head. "You couldn't understand,""But I've made up my mind to one thing;even if my soul has perished, my body shall not die
she said.

for a long, long time.

I

mean to live," she added.
They shall not"I shall not let my body be slain
steal life

soul

!

from me, whatever they have done to my""What in heaven's name are you talking about?""Do you actually believe in .soulhe exclaimed.
snatchers and life-stealers?"

She seemed sullen, her profile turned to him, hereyes on the brilliantly lighted avenue up which they

BODY AND SOUL

63

were speeding. After a while "I'd rather live decently and respectably if I can," she said. "That is
the natural desire of any girl, I suppose. But if I:

can't, nevertheless I shall beat off death atany cost.

And whatever the price of life is, I shall pay it.
Because I am absolutely determined to go on living.
And if I can't provide the means I'll have to letsome man do it, I suppose.""It's a good thing it was I who found you when
you were out of a job," he remarked coldly.
"I hope so," she said. "Even in the beginning I
didn't really believe you meant to be impertinent"a tragic smile touched her lips
"and I was almost
"

sorry

"Are you quite crazy?" he demanded.
"No, my mind is untouched. It's my soul that's
Do you know I was very hungry when
gone.
.

.

.

you spoke to me? The management wouldn't advance anything, and my last money went for myroom.
Last Monday I had three dollars toface the futureand no job. I spent the last of it
to-night on violets, orange juice and cakes. My furs
and my gold bag remain. I can go two months"
more on them. Then it's a job orSheshrugged and buried her nose in her violets.
"Suppose I advance you a month's salary?" he
.

.

.

said.

"What am I to do for it?"
The taxi stopped at a florist's on the corner ofMadison Avenue and 58th Street. Overhead were
There was no elevator merely theapartments.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

64
streetdoor to unlock and four dim nights of stairs

rising steeply to the top.
lived on the top floor.

He

As they paused before

his door in the dim corridor:"Are you afraid?" he asked.
She came nearer, laid a hand on his arm:
"Are you afraid?"
He stood silent, the latch-key in his hand.

"I'm not afraid of myself

if

that

is

what youmean," he said.

"That is partly what I mean
mount guard over your soul.""I'll look out for"Do so.

.

.

.

you'll have to

my soul," he retorted dryly.

I lost mine.

II

would not wish any

harm to yours through our companionship.""Don't you worry about my soul," he remarked,
But again her hand fell

fitting the key to the lock.

on his wrist:"Wait. I can't can't help warning you. Neither
your soul nor your body are safe if if you everdo make of me a companion. I've got to tell you
this!""What

are you talking about?" hedemandedbluntly.

"Because you have been courteous considerate
and you don't know oh, you don't realise what
What your soul and body havespiritual peril is!
to fear if you
if you win me over
if you evermanage to make of me a friend!"
He said: "People follow and threaten you.

know that.

I

We

understand also that association with

BODY AND SOUL

65

and that I shall no doubt bemenaced with bodily harm."
He laid his hand on hers where it still rested on
you involves me,

his sleeves:"But that's my business, Miss Nome," he addedwith a smile.

"So, otherwise, it being merely a plain
business affair between you and me, I think I may

also venture my immortal soul alone with you in myroom."The girl flushed darkly.
"You have misunderstood," she said.

He looked at her coolly, intently; and arrived at
no conclusion. Young, very lovely, confessedly without moral principle, he still could not believe her actually depraved.

"What did you mean?" he said

bluntly.

"In companionship with the lost, one might lose

Do you know that there
unawares.
an Evil loose in the world which is bent upon conquest by obtaining control of men's minds?""No," he replied, amused.
"And that, through the capture of men's minds
one's way

.

.

.

is

and souls the destruction ofcivilisation

is

being

planned?""Is that what you learned in your captivity, Miss

Nome?""You do not believe me."
"I believe your terrible experiences in China haveshaken you to your tragic little soul Horror andgrief and loneliness have left scars on tender, impressionable youth. They would have slain maturity

THE SLAYER OF 9OLS

66

broken it, crushed it. But youth is flexible, pliable,
and bends gives way under pressure. Scars beIt shall become slowly effaced.

so with you.

You

will learn to understand that nothing really can harmthe soul."

For a few moments' silence they stood facing eachother on the dim landing outside his locked door.
"Nothing can slay our souls," he repeated in agrave voice. "I do not believe you really ever havedone anything to wound even your self-respect. I do
not believe you are capable of it, or ever have been,or ever will be. But somebody has deeply wounded
you, spiritually, and has wounded your mind to persuade you that your soul is no longer in God's keeping.

For that is a lie!"

He saw her features working with poignant emotions as though struggling to believe him.

"Souls are never lost," he said.

"Ungoverned

passions of every sort merely cripple them for aspace. God always heals them in the end."

He laid his hand on the door-knob once more
and lifted the latch-key.
"Don't!" she whispered, catching his hand again,"if there should besomebody in there waiting for

us!""There is not a soul in my rooms.

My servant

sleeps out.""There is somebody there !" she said, trembling.
"Nobody, Miss Nome. Will you come in withme?"
"I don't dare,"

BODY AND SOUL

67

"Why?""You andpleaseI!

I

alone together

no! oh, pleaseam afraid !""Of what?""Of giving you

my c-confidence and trustand f-friendship.""I want you to.""I must not! It would destroy us both, soul andandbody!""I tell you," he said, impatiently, "that there isno destruction of the soul and it's a clean comradeship anyway
Iask;

a fighting friendship I ask of you

all I offer!

all

Wherein, then, lies this peril inbeing alone together?""Because I am finding it in my heart "to believe inyou, trust you, hold fast to your strength and pro-And if I give way yield and if I makeyou a promise and if there is anybody in that room
to see us and hear us
then we shall be destroyed,"
both of us, soul and body
He took her hands, held them until their trembling
tection.

ceased.

answer for our bodies. Let God look after
Will you trust Him?"
She nodded.
"I'll

the rest.

"And me?""Yes."

But her face blanched as he turned the latch-key,switched on the electric light, and preceded her into
the room beyond.

The place was one of those accentless,typicalTHE SLAYER OF SOULS
bachelor apartments made comfortable for anythingmasculine, but quite unlivable otherwise.
Live coals still glowed in the hob grate;

he placeda lump of cannel coal on the embers, used a bellows

vigorously

and the flame caught with a greasy

crackle.

The girl stood motionless until he pulled up an
easy chair for her, then he found another for himShe let slip her furs, folded her hands aroundself.
the bunch of violets and waited.

"Now," he said, "I'll come to the point. In 1916
was at Plattsburg, expecting a commission. The
Department of Justice sent for me. I went to Washington where I was made to understand that I had
been selected to serve my country in what is vaguely
known as the Secret Service and which includes
I

government agents attached to several departments.

"The great war is over; but I am still retained in
the service. Because something more sinister thana hun victory over civilisation threatens this Republic.

And threatens the civilised world.""Anarchy," she said.
"Bolshevism."
She did not stir in her chair.
She had become very white. She said nothing. He
looked at her with his quiet, reassuring smile.
"That's what I want of you," he repeated.
"I want your help," he went on, "I wantyourvaluable knowledge of the Orient.
secret information you possess.

I

I want whateverwant your rather

amazing gifts, your unprecedented experience

BODY AND SOUL

69

almost unknown people, your familiarity with occult
your astounding powers whatever they arethings,hypnotic, psychic, material.

"Because, to-day, civilisation is engaged in a secret battle for existence against gathering powers ofviolence, the force

and limit of which are still un-

guessed.
"It is a battle between righteousness and evil, be-tween sanity and insanity, light and darkness, God
and Satan! And if civilisation does not win, then
the world perishes."
She raised her still eyes to his, but made no othermovement.
"Miss Nome," he said, "we in the International
Serviceknow enough about you to desire to know

more.

"We already knew the story you have told to me.
in the International Secret Service kept intouch with you from the time that the Japanese es-

Agentscorted you out of China.

"From the day you landed, and all across theContinent to New York, you have been kept in viewby agents of this government.
"Here, in New York, my men have kept in touchwith you. And now, to-night, the moment has comefor a personal understanding between you and me."The girl's pale lips moved
late: "II

wish tobecame stiffly articu-

live," shestammered, "I fear

I know what I

ask when I ask yourdeath.""I know it.
help."

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

70

She said in the ghost of a voice "If I turn againstthem they will kill me."
"They'll try," he said quietly.
:"They will not fail, Mr. Cleves.""That is in God's hands."
She became deathly white at that.
"No," she burst out in an agonised voice, "it isin

God's hands!

afraid!

It is in the

not

If

it

were,

should not beIhands of those who stole mysoul!"She covered her face with both arms, fairly writhing on her chair.
"If the Yezidees have actually made you believe

any such nonsense" he began; but she dropped herarms and stared at him out of terrible blue eyes:

"I don't want to die, I tell you!
afraid/me.

Iam afraid!

If I reveal to you what I know they'll kill

If I turn against them and aid you, they'll slay

my body, and send it after my soul!"
She was trembling so violently that he sprang up
and went to her. After a moment he passed one
arm around her shoulders and held her firmly, close
to him.

"Come," he said, "do your duty.

Those who en-list under the banner of Christ have nothing to dreadin this world or the next."

"If

if I

could believe I were safe there.""I tell you that you are.

So is every human soul!

What mad nonsense have the Yezidees made you
believe? Is there any surer salvation for the soulthan to die in Christ's service?"

BODY AND SOUL71

He slipped his arm from her quivering shoulders
and grasped both her hands, crushing them as though
to steady every fibre in her tortured body.

"I want you to live.

want to live, too. But I
and we soldiers of civilisation have nothing to fear except failure to do ourduty. Now, then, are we comrades under the UnitedStates Government?"Itell you it's in God's hands,

"OGod

I

dare not!""Are we?"
Perhaps she felt the physical pain of his crushing
grip for she turned and looked him in the eyes.
"I don't want to die," she whispered.
"Don'tmake me!""Will you help your country?"
The terrible directness of her child's gaze becamealmost unendurable to him.
"Will you offer your country your soul and body?"
he insisted in a low, tense voice.
Her stiff lips formed a word.
"Yes!" he exclaimed.
"Yes."For a moment she rested against his shoulder,deathly white, then in a flash she had straightened,
was on her feet in one bound and so swiftly that he

was unaware thatscarcely followed her movement
she had risen until he saw her standing there witha pistol glittering in her hand, her eyes fixed on the

portieres that hung across the corridor leading to his

bedroom.

"What on earth," he began, but she interrupted

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

72

him, keeping her gaze focused on the curtains, andthe pistol resting level on her hip.

answer you if I die for it!" she cried. "I'lleverything I know You wish to learn whatis this monstrous evil that threatens the world withwhat you call anarchy and Bolshevism?
destruction
It is an Evil that was born before Christ came!^ It"I'lltell you!

is an Evil which not only destroys cities and empires
and men but which is more terrible still for it obtains
control of the human mind, and uses it at will; andit obtains sovereignty over the soul, and makes it
Its aim is to dominate first, then to deprisoner.
conceived in the beginning by ErlikIt
wasstroy.
and by Sorcerers and devils.
Always, from thefirst, there have been sorcerers and living devils.
"And when human history began to be remembered and chronicled, devils were living who worshiped Erlik and practised sorcery.
.

.

.

"They have been called by many names.

A thou-sand years before Christ Hassan Sabbah founded his

The Yezidees are
Their Chief is still called Sabbah; theirsect called Hassanis or Assassins.

of them.

creed is the annihilation of civilisation!"

Cleves had risen.

The girl spoke in a clear, ac-centless monotone, not looking at him, her eyes andpistol centred on the motionless curtains.

"Look out!" she cried sharply.

"What is the matter?" he demanded.
suppose anybody
the passageway?"is"Do you

hidden behind that curtain in

BODY AND SOUL
"If there

is,"

73

she replied in her excited but dis-tinct voice, "here is a tale to entertain him :"The Hassanis are a sect of assassins which has
spread out of Asia all over the world, and they are
determined upon the annihilation of everything andeverybody in it except themselves!
"In Germany is a branch of the sect. The hun is
the lineal descendant of the ancient Yezidee; thegods of the hun are the old demons under othernames; the desire and object of the hun is the samedesireto rule the minds and bodies and souls of
men and use them to their own purposes!"
She lifted her pistol a little, came a pace forward:"Anarchist, Yezidee, Hassani, Boche, Bolshevik
all are secretly swarming in thethe same

all arehidden places for the same purpose!"

The girl's blue eyes were aflame, now, and thepistol was lifting slowly in her hand to a deadly level.
"Sanang!" she cried in a terrible voice.

"Sanang!" she cried again in her terrifying young
voice"Toad!

Tortoise egg!

Spittleof Erlik!

May the Thirty Thousand Calamities overtake you!

Sheik-el-Djebel
cowardly Khan whom I laughedat from the temple when it rained yellow snakes!

on the marble steps when all the gongs in Yiansounded in your frightened ears!"
She waited.
"What! You won't step out? Tokhtaf" she exclaimed in a ringing tone, and made a swift motion
with her left hand.

open palm,

likeApparently out of her empty

a missile hurled,

a thin, blinding

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

74

beam of light struck the curtains, making them suddenly transparent.
man stood there.

A

He came out, moving very slowly as though partly
He wore evening dress under his over-stupefied.

coat, and had a long knife in his right hand.

Nobody spoke.
"So I really was to die then, if I
said the girl in a wondering way.

came here,"

Sanang's stealthy gaze rested on her, stole toward
He moistened his lips with his tongue. "Youdeliver me to this government agent?" he asked

Cleves.

hoarsely.
"I deliver

nobody by treachery.

You may go,

Sanang."He hesitated, a graceful, faultless, metropolitan
figure in top-hat and evening attire. Then, as hestarted to move, Cleves covered him with his weapon.

"I can't

let

that

man gofree!"

cried Clevesangrily.

"Very well!" she retorted in a passionate voice"then take him if you are able ! Tokhta! Look out
for yourself!"

Something swift as lightning struck the pistol fromhis grasp,

blinded him, half stunned him, set him

reeling in a drenching blaze of light that blotted out
all else,

He heard the door slam; he stumbled, caught at
the back of a chair while his senses and sight wereclearing.

"By heavens!" he whispered with ashen lips, "you

BODY AND SOUL75

you are a sorceressr or something.

What

what

are you doing to me ?'*There was no answer.

And when his vision

cleared a little more he saw her crouched on the floor,

her head against the locked door, listening, perhaps

or sobbing he scarcely understood which until
the quiver of her shoulders made it plainer.

When at last Cleves went to her and bent over andtouched her she looked up at him out of wet eyes,
and her grief-drawn mouth quivered.
"I

I don't know,"

away my soul
Yian.

But hethere

she sobbed, "if he truly stole
there in the temple dusk ofhe stole my heart

for all his wick-and I havebeen fighting him for it all these years all theselong years fighting for what he stole in the temple.
dusk!
And now now I have it back myhere on the ioor beheart
all broken to pieces
hind your your bolted door."
Sanang, Prince of the Yezidees

edness.

.

CHAPTER V
THE ASSASSINS

ON

the wall hung amap of Mongolia, thatindefinite region a million and a half square
miles in area, vast sections of which havenever been explored.

Turkestan and China border it on the south, andTibet almost touches it, not quite.

Even in the twelfth century, when the wild Monand nearly overran the world, theTibet infantry under Genghis, the Tchortcha horsemen drafted out of Black China, and a great cloudgols broke loose

Mongol cavalry under the Prince of the Vanguard commanding half a hundred Hezars, neverThepenetrated that grisly and unknown waste.
of"Eight Towers of the Assassins" guarded it still
guard it, possibly.
The vice-regent of Erlik, Prince of Darkness,
dwelt within this unknown land.

And dwells there

perhaps.
In front of this wall-map stood Tressa Nome.

still,

Behind her, facing the map, four men were seatedthree of them under thirty.

These three were volunteers in the service of theUnited States Government men of independent76

THE ASSASSINS

77

means, of position, who had volunteered for military
duty at the outbreak of the great war. However,they had been assigned by the Government to a very
different sort of duty no less exciting than service

on thefighting line, but far less conspicuous,for

they had been drafted into the United States Department of Justice.

The names of these three were Victor Cleves, aprofessor of ornithology at Harvard University before the war Alexander Selden, junior partner in the;

hanking firm of Milwyn, Selden, and Co., and James
Benton, a~NewYork architect.
The fourth man's name was John Recklow. Hemight have been over fifty, or under. He was wellbuilt, in a square, athletic way, clear-skinned andHis
ruddy, grey-eyed, quiet in voice and manner.
hair and moustache had turned silvery. He had been

employed by the Government for many years. He
seemed to be enormously interested in what Miss
Nome was saying.
Also he was the only man who interrupted her
narrative to ask questions.

And his questions re-vealed a knowledge which was making the girl moresensitive

and uneasv every moment.

Finally, when she spoke of the Scarlet Desert, heasked if the Scarlet Lake were there and if the Xin

was still supposed to inhabit its vermilion depths.

And at that she turned and looked at him, her forefinger still resting on the map.

"Where have you ever heard of the Scarlet Lakeand the Xin?" she asked as though frightened.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

78

Recklow said quietly that as a boy he had served
under Gordon and Sir Robert.
Chinese Gordon,"If, as a boy, you served underI have told you,
of
what
much
know
you already

Mr. Recklow.

Isit

not true?" she demanded ner-

vously.

"That makes nosmile.

difference," he replied with a"It is all very new to these three young gen-tlemen.

And as for myself, I am checking up what

you say and comparing it with what I heard many,
many years ago when my comrade Barres and I
were in Yian.""Did you really know Sir Robert Hart?""Yes.""Then why do you not explain to these gentlemen?""Dear child," he interrupted gently, "what did
Chinese Gordon or Sir Robert Hart, or even mycomrade Barres, or I myself know about occult Asia
in comparison to what you know?
a girl who has
actually

served the mysteriesof Erlik for four

amazing years I"
She paled a trifle, came slowly across the room
to where Recklow was seated, laid a timid hand on
his sleeve.

"Do you believe there are sorcerers in Asia?"
she asked with that child-like directness which her

wonderful blue eyes corroborated.

Recklow remained silent.
"Because," she went on, "if, in your heart, you doTHE ASSASSINS

79

not believe this to be an accursed fact, then what I
have to say will mean nothing to any of you."

Recklow touchedhesitating.

Then

his

short,

silvery

moustache,:"The worship of Erlik is devil worship," he said.
"Also I am entirely prepared to believe that thereamong the Yezidees, adepts who employ scienweapons against civilisation who have probably obtained a rather terrifying knowledge of psychic
laws which they use scientifically, and which to orare,tific

dinary,God-fearing folk appear to be the black

magic of sorcerers."
Cleves said:"The employment by the huns of

poison gases and long-range cannon is a parallel case.
Before the war we could not believe in the possibilityof a cannon that threw shells a distance ofseventy miles."The girl still addressed herself to Recklow:"Then you do not believe there are real sorcerers inAsia, Mr. Recklow?""Not sorcerers with supernatural powers for evil.
Only degenerate human beings who, somehow, havemanaged to tap invisible psychic currents, and havelearned how to use
far,terrific forces

about which, so

we know practically nothing."

She spoke again in the same uneasy voice: "Thenyou do not believe that either God or Satan is involved?""No," he replied smilingly, "and you must not sobelieve.""Nor thethe destruction of human souls," she80

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

persisted;"you do not believe

itisbeing accom-

plished to-day?""Not in the slightest, dear young lady," he said
cheerfully.

"Do you not believe that to have been instructedin such unlawful

knowledgeisDo youdamning?

not believe that ability to employ unknown forces
is forbidden of God, and that to disobey His law

means death to the soul?""No!""That it is the price one pays to Satan for occult

power over people's minds?" she insisted.
"Hypnotic suggestion is not one of the cardinalsins," explained Recklow, still smiling"unless wick-edly employed. The Yezidee priesthood is a bandof so-called sorcerers only because of their wicked

employment of whatever hypnotic and psychic knowledge they may have obtained.

"There was nothing
huns'

made

intrinsicallyto manufacture phosgene gas
IwickedBut thediscovery of phosgene.
of it made devils out of them.

in

use

the

they

My ability

no crime.

But ifmanufacture it and use it to poison innocent huis

man beings, then, in that sense, I am, perhaps, a sortof modern sorcerer."

Tressa Nome turned paler:"I had better tell you that I have used

forbidden

knowledge which the Yezidees taught me
temple of Erlik.""Used it how?" demanded Cleves.

in theTHE ASSASSINS"To

to earn a living.

.

.

.

81

And once or twice

to defend myself."

There was the slightest scepticism in Recklow's"You did quite right, Miss Nome."
She had become very white now. She stood beside Recklow, her back toward the suspended map,and looked in a scared sort of way from one to thebland smile.

other of the men seated before her, turning finally to
Cleves, and coming toward him.
"I
I once killed a man," she said with a catch inher breath.
Cleves reddened with astonishment.
"Why did
you do that?" he asked.
"He was already on his way to kill me in bed.""You were perfectly right," remarked Recklow
coolly.

"I don't know... I was in bed.

.

.

.

And then,on the edge of sleep, I felt his mind groping to gethold of minefeeling about in the darkness to gethold of my brain and seize it and paralyse it."All colour had left her face. Cleves gripped thearm of his chair and watched her intently.
"I
I had only a moment's mental freedom," shewent on in a ghost of a voice. "I was just able torouse myself, fight off those murderous brain-fingers
let loose a clear mental ray.
And then, O
.

God!
knife

.

.

saw him in his room with his Kalmuck
saw him already on his way to murder meIGutchlug Khan, the Yezidee

looking about in his

bedroom for a shroud.
And when when hereached for the bed to draw forth a fine, white sheet.

.

.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

82

for the shroud without which no Yezidee dares jour-ney deathward
.

.

.

then

then

And I killed him

became frightened.

I

slew him there in his

Ihotel bedroom on the floor above mine!"

Selden moistened his lips:

"That Oriental, Gutch-lug,

died from heart-failure in a San Francisco ho-tel,"he said.

"I was there at the time.""He died by the fangs of a little yellow snake,"
whispered the girl.

"There was no snake

inroom," retorted

his

Cleves.

"And no wound on his body," added Selden.

"Iattended the autopsy."

She said, faintly: "There was no snake, and no
Yet Gutchlug died of bothwound, as you say.
there in his bedroom.
And before he died heheard his soul bidding him farewell; and he saw the
.

.

.

.

.

.

death-adder coiled in the sheet he clutchedthing strike him again

saw thesaw and felt theand again

tiny wounds on his left hand; felt the fangs pricking
deep, deep into the veins died of it there within the;minute"died of the swiftest poison known.

And

yet

She turned her dead-white face to Cleves"And.
And never had
yet there was no snake there!
been.
And so I I ask you, gentlemen, if souls
.

.

.

.

.

do not die when minds learn to fight death withdeath and deal it so swiftly, so silently, while one's
body lies, unstirring on a bed in a locked room on"
the floor below

THE ASSASSINS
She swayed alittle,83

put out one hand rather

blindly.

Recklow rose and passed a muscular arm around
her; Cleves, beside her, held her left hand, crushingit, without intention, until she opened her eyes with acry of pain.

"Are you all right?" asked Recklow bluntly.
She turned and looked at Cleves and hecaressed her bruised hand as though dazed.
"Yes.""Tell me," she said to Cleves"you who know"
know more about my mind than anybody livinga painful colour surged into her facebut she went
on steadily, forcing herself to meet his gaze: "tellme, Mr. Cleves do you still believe that nothing

can really destroy my soul?

And that it shall yet

win through to safety?"

He said: "Your soul is in God's keeping, and always shall be. ... And if the Yezidees have madeyou believe otherwise, they lie."
Recklow added in a slow, perplexed way: "I haveno personal knowledge of psychic power. I am not
But if you actually possess
psychic, not susceptible.
such ability, Miss Nome, and if you have employedsuch knowledge to defend your life, then you havedone absolutely right.""No guilt touches you," added Selden with an
involuntary shiver, "if by hypnosis or psychic ability
you really did put an end to that would-be murderer,

Gutchlug."
Selden said:"If Gutchlug died by the fangs of ayellow death-adder which existed only in his own

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

84.

mind, and if you actually had anything to do with it

you acted purely in self-defence.""You did your full duty," added Benton "butgood God! it seems incredible to me, that such
power can actually be available in the world!"

Recklow spoke again in his pleasant, undisturbed"Go back to the map, Miss Nome, and tell
us a little more about this rather terrifying thingwhich you believe menaces the civilised world withvoice:

destruction."

Tressa Nome laid a slim finger on the map.
She said:

Her

voice had become steady.

"The devil-worship, of which one of the modern
developments is Bolshevism, and another the terrorism of the hun, began in Asia long before Christ's
advent:At least so it was taught us in the templeof Erlik.
"It has always existed,its

aim always has been

the annihilation of good and the elevation of evil;
the subjection of right by might, and the worldwide

triumph of wrong.

"Perhaps it is as old as the first battle between
I have wondered about it, some'times.
There in the dusk of the temple when the
Eight Assassins came the eight Sheiks-el-Djebel,

God and Satan.

white
al
chanting the Yakase of Sabbah
ways that dirge when they came and spread their

all in"eight white shrouds on the temple steps
Her voice caught; she waited to recover her com-posure.

Then went on:

THE ASSASSINS

85"The ambition of Genghis was to conquer theworld by force of arms. It was merely of physicalBut the Slayer ofsubjection that he dreamed.
"

Souls

"Who?" asked Recklow sharply.
"The Slayer of Souls Erlik's vice-regent on earth
Hassan Sabbah. The Old Man of the Mountain.

am speaking," exclaimed Tressa Nomewith quiet resolution. "Genghis sought only physical conquest of man the Yezidee's ambition is more
It is of him I;

awful, for he is attempting to surprise and seize thevery minds of men!"
There was a dead silence.

Tressa looked palely

upon the four.

"The Yezidees
are using power

accursed by God

who you tell me are not sorcerers
which you tell me is not magic
to waylay, capture, enslave,anddestroy the minds and souls of mankind.
"It may be that what they employ is hypnotic ability and psychic power and can be, some day, explained on a scientific basis when we learn more
about the occult laws which govern these phenomena.

"But could anything render the threat less awful?
For there have existed for centuries perhaps al-ways

a sect of Satanists

determined upon the de-struction of everything thatispure and holy andgood on earth; and they are resolved to substitutefor righteousness the dreadful reign of hell.

"In the beginning there were comparatively few
of thesehuman demons.

Gradually, through theTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

86

In the twelfth century
eras, they have increased.
there were fifty thousand of the Sect of Assassins.

"Beside the castle of the Slayer of Souls on Mount"
she laid her finger on the map

Alamout"eight other towers were erected for the Eight Chief
Assassins, called Sheiks-el-Djebel.

"In the temple we were taught where these eight
towers stood." She picked up a pencil, and on eightblank spaces of unexplored and unmapped MonThen she turned togolia she made eight crosses.
the men behind her.
"It was taught to us in the temple that from theseeight foci of infection the disease of evil has been
spreading throughout the world; from these eight

towers have gone forth every year the emissaries ofto spread the poisonevil
perverted missionaries
ous propaganda, to teach it, to tamper stealthily withthe minds of men, dominate them, pervert them, instruct them in the creed of the Assassin of Souls.

"All over the world are people, already contaminated,

whose minds are already enslaved and poi-soned, and who are infecting the still healthy brainsof others

stealthily possessing themselvesof theminds of mankind

teaching them evil, inviting themto mock the precepts of Christ.

"Of such lost minds are the degraded brains ofGermans the pastors and philosophers whotheteach that might is right.

"Of such crippled minds are the Bolsheviki, poisoned long, long ago by close contact with Asia

THE ASSASSINS

87

which, before that, had infected and enslaved theminds of the ruling classes with ferocious philosophy.
"Of such minds are all anarchists of every shadeand stripe all terrorists, all disciples of violence,themurderously envious, the slothful slinking
brotherhood which prowls through the world taking every opportunity to set it afire those mentally
dulled by reason of excesses; those weak intellects;

become unsound through futile gabble, parlour socialists, amateur revolutionists, theoretical incapables excited by discussion fit only for healthy minds."

She left the map and came over to where the four
men were seated terribly intent upon her every word.
"In the temple of Erlik, where my girlhood waspassed after the murder of my parents, I learned

what I am repeating to you," she said.
"I learned this, also, that the Eight Towers stillat least theoreticallystill stand to-day,exist

and that from the Eight Towers pours forth acrossthe world a stream of poison.

"I was told that, to every country, eight Yezidees

were allottedtificeight sorcerers

or adepts in scien-

psychology if you prefer it

whose mission is toteach the gospel of hell and gradually but surely to

win the minds of men to the service of the Slayerof Souls.

"That is what was taught us in the temple. We
were educated in the development of occult powers
for it seems all human beings possess this psychic
power latent within them only few, even when in-THE SLAYER OF SOULS

88

structed, acquire
force.

"I

.

.

I

any ability to control and use this.

learnedrapidly,Ieven thought, someto be a little

times, that the Yezidees were beginningafraid of me,even the Hassani priests.

.

.

.

And

the Sheiks-el-Djebel, spreading their shrouds on thewhere I
temple steps, looked at me with unquiet eyes,"stood like a corpse amid the incense cloudsthenShe passed, her fingers over her eyelids,

framed her face between both hands for a moment's
thought lost in tragic retrospection.
"Kai !" she whispered dreamily as though to her-

"what Erlik awoke within my body that wasa twin comasleep, God knows, but it was as thoughrade arose within me and looked out through myeyes upon a world which never before had beenselfvisible."Utter silence reigned in the room Cleves's breath:ing seemed almost painful to him so intently was helistening and watching this girl; Benton's hands

whitened with his grip on the chair-arms; Selden,
tense, absorbed, kept his keen gaze of a business man

fastened on her face. Recklow slowly caressed thecold bowl of his pipe with both thumbs.

TressaNome's strange and remote eyes subtly

altered, and she lifted her head and looked calmly at

the men before her.

"I think that there is nothing more for me toadd," she said. "The Red Spectre of Anarchy, called
Bolshevism at present, threatens our country. OurTHE ASSASSINS

89

Government is now awake to this menace and theSecret Service is moving everywhere.

"Great damage already has been done to theminds of many people in this Republic; poison has
spread; is spreading. The Eight Towers still stand.
The Eight Assassins are in America.
"But these eight Assassins know me to be theirenemy.
They will surely attempt to kill me.
... I don't believe I can avoid death very long.
.

.

.

But I want to serve my country and andmankind.""They'll have to get me first," said Cleves, blunt.

.

ly.

.

"I shall not permit you out of my sight."

Recklow saidinamusing voice:"And theseeight gentlemen, who are very likely to hurt us, also,
are the first people we ought to hunt.""To get them," added Selden, "we ought to choke
the stream at its source.""To find out who they are is what is going toworry us," added Benton.

Cleves had stood holding

a chair for Tressa Nome.

Finally she noticed it andseated herself as though tired.
"Is Sanang one of these eight?" he asked her.

The girl turned and looked up at him, and he saw
the flush mounting in her face.

"Sometimes," she said

steadily,"I have almost

believed he was Erlik's own vice-regent on earth
the Slayer of Souls himself."

Benton and Selden had gone.
later.

Recklow left a little

Cleves accompanied him out to the landing.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

90"Are you going to keep Miss Nome here withyou for the present?" inquired the older man.
"Yes.

I

dare not let her out of my sight, Reck-

What else can I do?"low.

"I don't know.

Is sheprepared for the conse-

quences?""Gossip?

Slander?""Of course.""I can get a housekeeper.""That only makes it look worse."
Cleves reddened. "Well, do you want to find her
in some hotel or apartment with her throat cut?""No," replied Recklow, gently, "I do not.""Then what else is there to do but keep her here in
my own apartment and never let her out of mysight until we can find and lock up the eight gentlemen who are undoubtedly bent on murderingher?"some woman"Isn't there

"I

tell

you

in theServicewho

I could mention several."could help out?
I

can't trust Tressa

Nome to any-

body except myself," insisted Cleves. "I got her into
this; I am responsible if she is murdered; I dare notentrust her safety to anybody else.

And, Recklow,

a ghastly responsibility for a

man to induce a

it's

young girl to face death, even in the service of her
country.""If she remains here alone with you she'll facesocial destruction," remarked Recklow.

THE ASSASSINS
Cleves wassilent for a91

moment, then he burst

out: "Well, what am I to do?

What is there left

for me to do except to watch over her and see her

through this devilish business? What other way
have I to protect her, Recklow?""You could offer her the protection of your name,"suggested the other, carelessly.

"What? You mean

marry her?""Well, nobody else would be inclined to, Cleves,if it ever becomes known she has lived here quite
alone with you."
Cleves stared at the elder man.

"This

is

nonsense," he said in a harsh voice.

"That young girl doesn't want to marry anybody.
Neither do I. She doesn't wish to have her throat

And I'm determined she shan't."cut, that's all.

"There are stealthier assassins, Cleves,Itthe slay-

It goes badly with their victim.

ers of reputations.

does indeed.""Well, hangit,what do you think I ought todo?""I think you ought to marry her if you're goingto keep her here.""Suppose she doesn't mind the unconventionalityof it?""All women mind.

No woman, at heart, is un-conventional, Cleves.""She she seems to agree with me that she ought
to stay here.

.

.

.

Besides, she has no money, no"

relatives, no friends in America

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

92"All the more tragic.

If you really believeittobe your duty to keep her here where you can lookafter her bodily safety, then the other obligation isstillheavier.

And there may come a day when Miss

Nome will wish that you had been less conscientiousFor
concerning the safety of her pretty throat.
the knife of the Yezidee is swifter and less cruel than.

.

.

And thisthe tongue that slays with a smile.
young girl has many years to live, after this business.

.

.

of Bolshevism is dead and forgotten in our Republic.""Recklow!""Yes?""You think I might dare try to find a room somewhere

else forher and let her take her chances?

Do you?""It's

your affair.""I know

hang it!

I

know it's my affair.

unintentionally made it so.
what I ought to do?"I've

But can't you tell me"I can't.""What would you do?""Don't ask me," returned Recklow, sharply.

"If

you're not man enough to
may turn her over to me."come to a decision you

Cleves flushed brightly.

"Do you think you are

old enough to take my job and avoid scandal?"

Recklow's cold eyes rested on him"If you like,"
he said, "I'll assume your various kinds of
personal:

responsibility toward

Miss Nome."

THE ASSASSINS
Cleve's visage burned.

"I'llburdens," he retorted.
"Sure. I knew you would."and held out his hand.
diality.

Standingso,93

shouldermy ownAnd Recklow smiled

Cleves took it without cor-

Recklow,stillsmiling, said:"What a rotten deal that child has had is havHer father and mother were fine people. Diding.
you ever hear of Dr. Nome?""She mentioned him once.""They were up-State people of most excellent antecedents and no money.
"Dr. Nome was our Vice-Consul at Yarkand in
the province of Sin Kiang. All he had was his salary, and he lost that and his post when the administration changed. Then he went into the spice trade.
"Some Jew syndicate here sent him up the Yar-kand River to see what could be done about jadeand gold concessions. He was on that business when
the tragedy happened. The Kalmuks and Khirghiz
were responsible, under Yezidee instigation. And
there you areand here is his child, Cleves back,by some miracle, from that flowering hell called:

Yian, believing in her heart that she really lost hersoul there in the temple. And now, here in her own
native land, she is exposed to actual and hourly dan-Poor kid
ger of assassination.
ever hear of a rottener deal, Cleves?"
.

.

.

!

.

.

.

Did you

Their hands had remained clasped while Recklow

was speaking.

He spoke again, clearly, amiably:"To lay down one's life for a friend is fine.

I'm

94

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

not sure that it's finer to offer one's honour in behalfof a girl whose honour is at stake."

After a moment Cleves's grip tightened"All right," he said.
Recklow went downstair

CHAPTER VI
IN BATTLE

went back into the apartment; he noticed that Miss Nome's door was ajar.

CLEVESTo get to his own room he had to passthat way; and he saw her, seated before the mirror,
partlyundressed,

her

dark,

hair

lustrous

being

combed out and twisted up for the night.
Whether this carelessness was born of innocenceor of indifference mattered little; he suddenly realised that these conditions wouldn't do.
first

And hisfeeling was of anger.

"If you'll put on your robe and slippers," hesaid in an unpleasant voice, "I'd like to talk to you

for a few moments."

She turned her head on its charming neck andlooked around and up at him over one naked shoulder.

"Shall I come into your room?" she inquired.

"No!

.

.

.

when you've got someclotheson,me.""I'm quite ready now," she said calmly, and drew
the Chinese slippers over her bare feet and passed
a silken loop over the silver bell buttons on her
callright shoulder.

Then, undisturbed, she continued
95

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

96

to twist up her hair, following his movements in the

mirror with unconcerned blue eyes.

He entered and seated himself, the impatient expression still creasing his forehead and altering his
rather agreeable features,"Miss Nome," he said, "you're absolutely convinced that these people mean to do you harm. Isn't
that true?""Of course," she said simply.
"Then, until we get them, you're running a serious risk. In fact, you live in hourly peril. That isyour belief, isn't it?"
She put the last peg into her thick, curly hair,lowered her arms, turned, dropped one knee over
the other,and let her candid gaze rest on him insilence.

"What I mean to explain," he said coldly, "isthat as long as I induced you to go into this affair
I'm responsible for you. If I let you out of my

New York and if anything happens tobe as guilty as the dirty beast who takes
your life. What is your opinion? It's up to me tostand by you now, isn't it?"
"I had rather be near you
for a while," she said
sight here in

you,

I'll

timidly.

"Certainly. But, Miss Nome, our living here toor living together anygether, in my apartment
where else is never going to be understood byother people.

You know that, don't you?"After a silence, still looking at him out of clear,

unembarrassed eyes:

IN BATTLE"I know.

97... But ... I don't want to die.""I told you," he said sharply, "they'll have tokill

me first.

So that's allright.

But how about

what I am doing to your reputation?""I understand.""I suppose you do.
You're very young. Onceout of this blooming mess, you will have all yourlife before you.
But if I kill your reputation for you
while saving your body from death, you'll find no
Do you realise that?"happiness in living.
"Yes.""Well, then? Have you any solution for thisproblem that confronts you?""No.""Haven't you any idea to suggest?""I don't
don't want to die," she repeated in an
unsteady voice.

He bit his lip; and after a moment's scowlingsilenceunder the merciless scrutiny of her eyes:"Then you had better marry me," he said.
It was some time before she spoke.
For a second or two he sustained the searching quality ofher gaze, but it became unendurable.
Presently she said: "I don't ask it of you. I can
And he remembered
shoulder my own burdens."

what he had just said to Recklow.
"You've shouldered more than your share," heblurted out.

"You

are deliberately risking death
The least I
I enlisted you.

to serve your country.

can do is to say my affections are not engaged; so

THE SLAYER OF SOULS'98

of marrying anybody nevernaturally the idea ofentered my head.""Then you do not care for anybody else?"

Her candour amazed and"No."disconcerted him.

He looked at her, curiously. "Do you care

for anybody in that way?"A

She said gravely:
light blush tinted her face.
"If we really are going to marry each other I had
better tell you that I did care for Prince Sanang.""What!" he cried, astounded.
Yet it is quite"It seems incredible, doesn't it?
true.

I

fought him; I fought myself; I stood guard

over my mind and senses there in the temple I knew
what he was and I detested him and I mocked him;

there in the temple.

.

.

.

And I loved him.""Sanang!" he repeated, not only amazed but also
oddly incensed at the naive confession.
"Yes, Sanang. ... If we are to marry, I thought
I ought to tell you.
Don't you think so?"
"Certainly," he replied in an absent-minded way,
his mind still grasping at the thing.
Then, looking
up: "Do you still care for this fellow?"
She shook her head.

"Are you perfectly sure, Miss Nome?""As sure as that I am alive when I awake from aMy

hatred for Sanang is very bitter,"nightmare.
she added frankly, "and yet somehow it is not mywish to see him harmed.""You still care for him a little?"
1

"Oh,

no.

But

can't

you understand that it is

not in me to wish him harm?

.

.

.

No girlfeels thatIN BATTLE
once having cared.

way

99

To become indifferent toa familiar thing is perhaps natural; but to desire toharm it is not in my character.""You have plenty of character," he said, staringat her.

"You don't think so.

Do you?""Why not?""Because of what I said to you on the roof-garden
that night.

It

was shameful, wasn't it?""You behaved like many a thoroughbred," he returned bluntly; "you were scared, bewildered, readyto bolt to any shelter offered.""It's quite true I didn't know what to

do to keep

And that was all that interested me to keep
on living having lost my soul and being afraid toalive.

die and find myself in hell with Erlik."

He said:"Isn't that absurd notion out of yourhead yet?""I don't know.

... I can't suddenly believe my-

It is not easy to rootout what was planted in childhood and what grew toself safe after all those years.

be part of one during the tender and formative period.

You can't understand, Mr. Clevesyou
what became my daily
life in a region which was half paradise and half.

.

.

can't ever feel or visualise

hell

"

She bent her head and took her face between her
fingers, and sat so, brooding.

After alittlewhile:"Well," heonly one way to manage this affair
ing,Miss Nome."

said,"there's

if youare will-

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

100

She merely lifted her eyes.
"I think," he said, "there's only that one way out
he turned pink"itof it. But you understand"will be quite all
shan't bother you

rightyour liberty

I

privacy"annoy
She merely looked at him.
"After this Bolshevistic flurry is settled

or twoin a year
then you can very easily get youror threefreedom; and you'll have all life before you""and a jolly good friend in me a goodhe rose:.

.

.

comrade, Miss Nome. And that means you canor whatevercount on me when you go into business

you decide to do."
She also had risen, standing slim and calm in her
exquisite Chinese robe, the sleeves of which covered

her finger tips.

"Are you going to marry me?" she asked.
"If you'll let me."

"Yes

I

will

erate of you.

I

.

.

.

it's

so generous

and consid"

I don't ask it; I really don't"But / do.""

And I never dreamed of such a thing."

He forced a smile.
jthingto do.

"Nor I.

It's rather a

crazy

But I know of no saner alternative.

... So we had better get our license to-morrow.
And that settles it.".

.

.

He turned to go; and, on her threshold, his feetcaught in something on the floor and he stumbled,
trying to free his feet from a roll of soft white cloth
lying there on the carpet. And when he picked it up,

IN BATTLE

101

unrolled, and a knife fell out of the folds of clothand struck his foot.

itStill perplexed, not comprehending, he stooped torecover the knife. Then, straightening up, he foundhimself looking into the colourless face of Tressa

Nome.
"What'sall

he asked

this?""this sheet

andknife here on the floor outside your door?"

She answered withdifficulty:"They have sent

you your shroud, I think.""Are not those things yours? Were they not already here in your baggage?" he demanded increduThen, realising that they had not been
lously.
there on the door-sill when he entered her room a

few moments since, a rough chill passed over him
the icy caress of fear.

"Wherehoarsely.

did that thing

come from?" hesaid"How could it get here when my door islocked and bolted?

Unless there's somebody hidden

here!"

Hot anger suddenly flooded him;

he drew his pis-

tol and sprang into the passageway.

"What the devil is all this!" he repeated furiously, flinging open his bedroom door and switchingon the light.

He searched his room in a rage, went on
and searched the dining-room, smoking-room, andkitchen, and every clothes-press and closet, always
aware of Tressa's presence close behind him.

And

when there remained no tiniest nook or cranny inTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

102

the place unsearched, he stood in the centre of the

carpet glaring at the locked and bolted door.
He heard her say under her breath: "ThisisAnd a dangerous
going to be a sleepless night.
one." And, turning to stare at her, saw no fear inher face, only excitement.

He still held clutched in his left hand the sheet and

Now he thrust these toward her.
"What's this damned foolery, anyway?" he demanded harshly. She took the knife with a slight
shudder.
"There is something engraved on thethe knife.

silver hilt," she said.

He bent over her shoulder.
"Eighur," she added calmly, "not Arabic.

The

Mongols had no written characters of their own."
She bent closer, studying the inscription. After
still studying the Eighur characters, she
rested her left hand on his shoulder
an impulsive,
unstudied movement that might have meant eithera moment,

confidence or protection.

"Look," she said, "it is not addressed to you after
but to a symbola series of numbers, 53-6-26.""That is my designation in the Federal Service,"all,

he said, sharply.

"Oh!" she nodded slowly. "Then this is what is
written in the Mongol-Yezidee dialect, traced out in
Eighur characters: 'To 53-6-26! By one of theEight Assassins the Slayer of Souls sends this shroud
and this knife from Mount Alamout. Such a blade
shall divide your heart.
This sheet is for your"corpse.'IN BATTLE

103

After a grim silence he flung the soft white clothon the floor.
"There's no use my pretending I'm not surprised
and worried," he said; "I don't know how that cloth
got here. Do you?""It was sent.""How?"She shook her head and gave him a grave, confused look.

"There are ways. You could not understand.
This is going to be a sleepless night for us.""You can go to bed, Tressa. I'll sit up and readand keep an eye on that door."
I'm afraid"I can't let you remain alone here.
to do that.".

.

.

He gave a laugh, not quite pleasant, as he suddenly comprehended that the girltheir roles to be reversed.

now considered"Are you planning to sit up in order to protectme?" he asked, grimly amused.

"Do you mind?""Why, you blessed little thing, I can take care of
How funny of you, when I am trying toplan how best to look out for you!"myself.

But her face remained pale and concerned, andshe rested her left hand more firmly on his shoulder.

"I wish to remain awake with you," she said.
I myself don't fully understand this""Because

she looked at the knife in her palm, then down at

104
the shroud.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"It is going to be a strange night for"Let us sit together here on theus," she sighed.

Andlounge where I can face that bolted door.
if you are willing, I am going to turn out the"She suddenly bent forward andlights"because I must keep my mind
switched them off
on guard.""Why do you do that?" he asked, "you can't see
the door, now.""Let me help you in my own way," she whispered.
I am very deeply disturbed, and very, very"I
angry. I do not understand this new menace. Yezidee that I am, I do not understand what kind of
danger threatens you through your loyalty to me."
She drew him forward, and he opened his mouth
to remonstrate, to laugh; but as he turned, his foottouched the shroud, and an uncontrollable shiverpassed over him.

They went close together, across the dim room tothe lounge, and seated themselves.
Enough lightfrom Madison Avenue made objects in the room
barely discernible.

Sounds from the street below became rarer as the

The iron jar of trams, the rattleof vehicles, the harsh warning of taxicabs broke thehours wore away.
stillness atlonger and longer intervals,

until,

save

only for that immense and ceaseless vibration of themonstrous iron city under the foggy stars, scarcely asound stirred the silence.

IN BATTLE

105

The half-hour had struck long ago on the bell ofthelittleclock.

Now the clear bell sotmded threetimes.

Cleves stirred on the lounge beside Tressa. Again
and again he had thought that she was asleep forher head had fallen back against the cushions, andshe lay very still. But always, when he leaned nearer
to peer down at her, he saw her eyes open, and fixed
intently upon the bolted door.

His pistol, which

still

rested on his knee,

was

Once
pointed across the room, toward the door.
he reminded her in a whisper that she was unarmed
and that it might be as well for her to go and get
But she murmured that she was sufficiently equipped; and, in spite of himself, he shivered as he glanced down at her frail and empty
her pistol.

hands.
It

was some time between three and half-past,

he judged, when a sudden movement of the girlbrought him upright on his seat, quivering with excitement.

"Mr. Cleves!""Yes?""The Sorcerers!""Where ? Outside the door ?""Oh, my God," she murmured, "they are after
my mind again! Their fingers are groping to seize
my brain and get possession of it!"

"What!" he stammered, horrified.
"Here in the dark," she whispered"and I feelTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

106

mecaressingfingers
and
to
grasp
surprisestealthily

theirsearchingmovingmy thoughts. ... I
know what they are doing ... I am resisting
I am fighting
fighting!".

.

.

She sat bolt upright with clenched hands at her
her face palely aglow in the dimness as
though illumined by some vivid inward light or,from the azure blaze in her wideas he thought
breast,open eyes.

what you believe to beis this what you call"Ismagic?" he asked unsteadily. "Is there some hostile
psychic influence threatening you?"I'm fighting fighting.
I'm resisting.
"Yes.

They shall not trap me. They shall not harm you
I know how to defend myself and you!
.

.

.

.

.

1

.

And you!"
Suddenly she flung her left arm around his neckand the delicate clenched hand brushed his cheek.

"They shall not have you," she breathed. "I am
I am holding my own.
There are eightof themeight Assassins!
My mind is in battlewith theirs
fiercely in battle. ... I hold my own
I am armed and waiting!"
With a convulsive movement she drew his headcloser to her shoulder.
"Eight of them !" she whisfighting.

!

"trying to entrap and seize my brain. But
my thoughts are free My mind is defending you
you, here in my arms!"

pered,I

After a breathless silence:"Look out!"

shewhispered with terrible energy; "they are after your

IN BATTLE

107

mind at last. Fix your thoughts on me
Keep yourmind clear of their net! Don't let their ghostly fingers touch it. Look at me I" She drew him closer.
!

"Look at me! Believe in me! I can resist. I can
Does your head feel confused?"defend you.

"Yes numb.""Don't sleep! Don't close your eyes! Keep them
open and look at me!"""I can scarcely see you"You must see me!"he said drowsily.
"My eyes are heavy,"""I can't

see you, Tressa"Wake! Look at me! Keep your mind clear.
Oh, I beg you I beg you
They're after our minds
and souls, I tell you
Oh, believe in me," she beseeched him in an agonised whisper"Can't you!

!

believe in me for a moment,

as if you loved me!"His heavy lids lifted and he tried to look at her.

"Can you see me?

Can you?"

He muttered something in a confused voice.
"Victor!"At the sound of his own name, he opened his eyes
again and tried to straighten up, but his pistol fellto the carpet.

"Victor!" she gasped, "clear your mind in thename of God!""I can not""I tell you hell is opening beyond that door!
side your bolted door, there I

Can't you hear me

!

out-

Can't you believe me!

Oh, what will hold you if the

108

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

love of God can not!" she burst out.

"I'd crucify

myself for you if you'd look at me if you'd only
as though you
fight hard enough to believe in me

loved me I"

His eyes unclosed but he sank back against her
Moulder.
"Victor I" she cried in a terrible voice.

There was no answer.
"If the love of

moment more!"

God could only hold you for ashe stammered with her mouth

against his ear, "just for a moment, Victor!

Can't

you hear me?""Yes very far away.""Fight for me!

Try to care for me!

Don't let

Sanang have me !"He shuddered in her arms, reached out and resting heavily on her shoulder, staggered to his feet andstood swaying like a drunken man.

"No, by God," he said thickly, "Sanang shall nottouch you."

The girl was on her feet now, holding him uprightwith an arm around his shoulders.
"They can't can't harm us together," she stam"Hark! Listen! Can you hear? Oh, canmered.

you hear?""Give me my pistol," he tried to say, but his tongue

seemed twisted.

"No

by

God

Sanang shall nottouch you."

She stoopedlithely

and recovered the weapon.

"Hush," she said close to his burning face.

"Lis-

IN BATTLE
ten.

Our minds are safe

!

I

109

can hear somebody's

soul bidding its body farewell!"White-lipped she burst out laughing, kicked the
shroud out of the way, thrust the pistol into his righthand, went forward, forcing him along beside her,and drew the bolts from the door.
Suddenly he spoke distinctly:"Is there anything outside that door on the landing?""Yes ... I don't know what. Are you ready?"
She laid her hand on lock and knob.
He nodded. At the same instant she jerked open
the door; and a hunchback who had been picking
at the lock fell

headlong into the room, his pistol

exploding on the carpet in a streak of fire.
It was a horrible struggle to secure

the powerful

misshapen creature, for he clawed and squealed andbounced about on the floor, striking blindly with apelike arms.

But at last Cleves held him down, throt-

tled and twitching, and Tressa ripped strips from theshroud to truss up the writhing thing.
Then Cleves switched on the light.

"Why

why

you rat!" he exclaimed in hysteri-cal relief at seeing a living man

there at his feet.

whom he recognised"What are you doing here?"

The hunchback's red eyes blazed up at him fromthe floor.

"Who

who is he?" faltered the girl.
"He's a German tailor named Albert Feke one
the most dangerous sortof the Chicago Bolsheviki
we harbour one of their vile leaders who preaches

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

110

that might is right and tells his disciples to go ahead

and take what they want."

He looked down at the malignant cripple.
"You're wanted for the I. W. W. bomb murder,
Did you know it?"
The hunchback licked his bloody lips.

Albert.

Then hekicked himself to a sitting position, squatted there
like a toad and looked steadily at Tressa Nome out

Blood dripped on hisof small red-rimmed eyes.
beard; his huge hairy fists, tied and crossed behindmade odd, spasmodic movements.
Cleves went to the telephone. Presently Tressa

his back,

heard his voice, calm and distinct as usual:"We've caught Albert Feke. He's here at
.

.

.

like

my

have you come over, Recklow.
Oh, yes, he kicked and scuffled and scratchedrooms.

I'd like toa cat.

.

.

.

What? ... No, I hadn't heardthat he'd been in China.

.

.

.

Who?

.

.

Albert.

You say he was one of the Germans whoYouescaped from Shantung four years ago?
think he's a Yezidee
You mean one of the Eight
Feke?

.

.

.

!

Assassins?"

The hunchback,staring at Tressa

out of red-rimmed eyes, suddenly snarled and lurched his misshapen body at her.
"Teufelstuck!" he screamed, "ain't I tell efferybody in Yian already it iss safer if we cut yourthroatDevil-slut of Erlikcatsnow-leopardessof the Yezidees who has made of Sanang a fool!

it iss I!

!

who haf said always, always, that you knowIN BATTLE
toodamn much!

.

.

.

111

... I hear my soulKai!

bidding me farewell. Gif me my shroud!"
Cleves came back from the telephone. With thetoe of his left foot he lifted the shroud and kicked it

across the hunchback's knees.

"So you were one of the huns who instigated themassacre in Yian," he said, curiously. At that Tressa
turned very white and a cry escaped her.
But the hunchback's features were all twisted into
ferocious laughter, and he beat on the carpet withthe heels of his great splay feet.

"Ja! Ja!" he shrieked, "in Yianit vas a goot
English and Yankee men und vimmens ve
haff dropped into dose deep wells down.
Py Gotthunting!

Himmel, how dey schream up out of dose deepin

He began to cackle and shriek inwells in Yian!""Ach Gott ja

It iss not you either
you there, Keuke Mongol, who shall escape from thehis frenzy.

I

Sheiks-el-Djebel! It iss dot Old Man of the Mountain who shall tell your soul it iss time to say farewell!

Ja! Ja!

Ach Gott!

itiss

my only regretthat I shall not see the world whenitis

all afire!

on fire like hell
But you shall see it,
You shall see it und you
slut-leopard of the snows
Kai Kaishall burn
My soul it iss bidding mybody farewell. Kai
May Erlik curse you, Keuke
Ja

Ja

!

!

all

!

!

!

!

!

!

Mongol"ple

Heavenly Azure

Sorceress of the tem-!

He spat at her and rolled over in his shroud.
The girl looking down on him closed her eyes fora moment, and Cleves saw her bloodless lips move,

112

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

and bent nearer, listening.
pering to herself:"Preserve us all,who was stoned."

And he heard her whis-

O God, from the wrath of SatanCHAPTER VII
THE BRIDAL
the United States stretched an unseen
network of secret intrigue woven tirelesslynight and day by the busy enemies of civilisa-

OVER
tion

Reds, parlour-socialists, enemy-aliens, terror-

ists,

Bolsheviki, pseudo-intellectuals, I. W. W.'s, so-cial faddists,

and amateur meddlers of every nuanceall the various varieties of the vicious, witless, andmentally unhinged brought together through the"cohesive power of plunder" and the degenerationof cranial tissue.
All over the United States the various departmental divisions of the Secret Service were busily
following up these threads of intrigue leading everywhere through the obscurity of this vast and secretmaze.
To meet the constantly increasing danger of physical violence and to uncover secret plots threatening
sabotage and revolution, there were capable agentsin*.very branch of the Secret Service, both Federalar 1 State.

But in the first months of 1919 something moreterrifying than physical violence suddenly threata wild, grotesque, incredened civilised America,
ible threat of awar on human minds!
"3

114

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

And, little by little, the United States Government became convinced that this ghastly menace wasno dream of a disordered imagination, but that it
was real: that among the enemies of civilisation
there actually existed a few powerful but perverted
minds capable of wielding psychic forces as terrificweapons: that by the sinister use of psychic knowledge controlling these mighty forces the very minds
of mankind could be stealthily approached, seized,
controlled and turned upon civilisation to aid in theworld's destruction.

In terrible alarm the Government turned to Eng-

land for advice.

But Sir William Crookes wasdead.

However, in England, Sir Conan Doyle immediately took up the matter, and in America Professor
Hyslop was called into consultation.

And then, when the Government was beginning
to realise

what this awful menace meant, and that

there were actually in the United States possibly halfa dozen people who already had begun to carry on
a diabolical warfare by means of psychic power, forthe purpose of enslaving and controlling the very
minds of men, then, in the terrible moment of discovery, a young girl landed in America after fourteen years' absence in Asia.

And this was the amazing girl that Victor Cleves
had just married, at Recklow's suggestion, and in
the line of professional duty,
and moral duty, perhaps.
It had been a brief, matter-of-fact ceremony. John

THE BRIDAL

115

Recklow, of the Secret Service, was there; also Benton and Selden of the same service.

The bride's lips were unresponsive; cold as thetouch of the groom's unsteady hand.
She looked down at her new ring in a blank sortof way, gave her hand listlessly to Recklow and tothe others in turn, whispered a timidly comprehensive "Thank you," and walked away beside Cleves as

though dazed.

There was a taxicab waiting. Tressa entered.
Recklow came out and spoke to Cleves in a low
voice.

"Don't worry," replied Cleves"That's

dryly.

why I married her.""Where are you going now?" inquired Recklow.
"Back to my apartment.""Why don't you take her away for a month?"
Cleves flushed with annoyance:
casion for awedding trip.

"This is no oc-

You understand that,

Recklow.""I understand.
ing space.
worn out."

She's

But we ought to give her a breath-

had nothing but trouble.

Cleves hesitated:

She's"I can guard her better in thesafer to go back there, where
your people are always watching the street and houseapartment.

Isn't

it

day and night?""In a way it might be safer, perhaps.
girl is nearly exhausted.

limited.

But that

And her value to us is un-

She may be the vital factor in this fight116

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

with anarchy. Her weapon is. her mind. And it's
got to have a chance to rest."
Cleves, with one hand on the cab door, looked

around impatiently.

"Do you, also, conclude that the psychic factor isactually part of thisdamned problem

of Bolshe-

vism?"
Recklow's ccrol eyes measured him:

"My God, Recklow, I don't know

"Do you?"

after what myown eyes have seen.""I don't know either," said the other calmly, "butI don't attempt to explain
I am taking no chances.
But if it be truecertain things that have occurred.
Asithat a misuse of psychic ability by foreigners
atics
among the anarchists is responsible for someof the devilish things being done in the United States,

then your wife's unparalleled knowledge of the occult East is absolutely vital to us.

ter take her away somewhere

And so I say, bet-

and give her mind achance to recover from the incessant strain of these
tragic years."

The two men stood silent for a moment, then
Recklow went to the window of the taxicab.
"I have been suggesting a trip into the country,
Mrs. Cleves," he said pleasantly, " into the realcountry, somewhere,a month's quiet in the woods,

Wouldn't it appeal to you?"perhaps.
Cleves turned to catch her low-voiced answer.
"I should like it very much," she said in that odd,
hushed way of speaking, which seemed to have al-

THE BRIDAL

117

tered her own voice and manner since the ceremony
a little while before.

Driving back to his apartment beside her, hestrove to realise that this girl was his wife.

One of her gloves lay across her lap, and on it
rested a slender hand. And on one finger was hisring.

But Victor Cleves could not bring himself to bebrand-new ring really signified any-

lieve that thisthing to him,

that

it

had altered his own life in

But always his incredulous eyes returnedto that slim finger resting there, unstirring, bandedwith a narrow circlet of virgin gold.
In the apartment they did not seem to know exwhat attitude to assume
actly what to do or say
what effort to make.
Tressa went into her own room, removed her hat
and furs, and came slowly back into the livingroom, where Cleves still stood gazing absently outof the window.
any way.

A fine rain was falling.
They seated themselves.

There seemed nothing

better to do.

He said, politely:"In regard to going away fora rest, you wouldn't care for the North Woods, I
fancy, unless you like winter sports. Do you?""I like sunlight and green leaves," she said in that

odd, still voice.

"Then, if it would please you to go South for a"
few weeks' rest

"Would it inconvenience you?"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

118

Her manner touched him.
"My dear Miss Nome," he began, and checked
The girl blushed, too;himself, flushing painfully.
when he began to laugh, her lovely, bashful
smile glimmered for the first time.

then,"I really can't bring myself to realise that you
and I are married," he explained, still embarrassed,though smiling.
Her smile became an endeavour.
iteither,Mr. Cleves," shesaid.

"I can't believe"I feel rather

stunned.""Hadn't you better call me Victor

under the cir-

cumstances?" he suggested, striving to speak lightly.
"Yes. ... It will not be very easy to say it notfor some time, I think.""Tressa?""Yes.""Yes what?""Yes Victor.""That's the idea," he insisted with forced gaiety.
"The thing to do is to face this rather funny situation and take it amiably and with good humour.
You'll have your freedom some day, you know.""Yes I know.""And we're already on very good terms. We findeach other interesting, don't we?""Yes.""It even seems to me," he ventured, "it certainly
seems to me, at times, as though we are approach-ing a common basis of

"Yes.

I

I

of mutualeresteem."do esteem you, Mr. Cleves."

THE BRIDAL

119"In point of fact," he concluded, surprised, "weare friends

ina way.

Wouldn't you

friendship?""I think so, I think I'd call

it

call

it

that," she ad-mitted.

"I think so, too.

And that is lucky for us. Thatmakes this crazy situation more comfortable

lessperhaps less ponderous."
The girl assented with a vague smile, but her eyesremained lowered.
"You see," he went on, "when two people are as
oddly situated as we are, they're likely to be afraidof being in each other's way.
But they ought toonaswithoutgetbeing unhappy
long as they arequite confident of each other's friendly consideration.
Don't you think so, Tressa?"
Her lowered eyes rested steadily on her ring-fin-,"Yes," she said. "And I am not unhappy,ger.
or afraid."
She lifted her blue gaze to his; and, somehow, heand its Yezithought of her barbaric name, Keuke,well,

dee significance, "heavenly

azure.""Are we really going away together?" she asked
timidly.

"Certainly, if you wish.""If you, also, wish it, Mr. Cleves."
He found himself saying with emphasis that he

And healways wished to do what she desired.
added, more gently:"You are tired, Tressa tired and lonely and unhappy."

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

120

others.""Tired, but not the"Not unhappy?""No.""Aren't you lonely?""Not with you."
The answer came so naturally,so calmly, thatthe slight sensation of pleasure it gave him arrived

only as an agreeable afterglow.
"We'll go South," he said.
.

.

.

"I'm so glad thatyou don't feel lonely with me.""Will it be warmer where we are going, Mr.
Cleves?""Yes

you poor child!

sunshine, don't you?

You need warmth and

Was it warm in Yian, where

you lived so many years?""It was always June in Yian," she said under her
breath.

She seemed to have fallen into a revery; hewatched the sensitive face. Almost imperceptibly
it changed; became altered, younger, strangely lovely.
and it seemed to him
Presently she looked upthat it was not Tressa Nome at all he saw, but little
Keuke Heavenly Azure of the Yezidee temple,
as she dropped one slim knee over the other andcrossed her hands above it.
""It was very beautiful in Yian," she said,
Yianof the thousand bridges and scented gardens so fullof lilies. Even after they took me to the temple,
and I thought the world was ending, God's skies still
remained soft overhead, and His weather fair andgolden.

.

.

.

And when, in the month of the Snake,THE BRIDAL

121

the Eight Sheiks-el-Djebel came to the temple tospread their shrouds on the rose-marble steps, then,after they had departed, chanting the Prayers forthe Dead, each to his Tower of Silence, we temple
And once I went
girls were free for a week.
.

.

.

and with Yulun anotherand we took our keutch, which is our luggage,
girl
and we went to the yai'lak, or summer pavilion on theLake of the Ghost. Oh, wonderful, a silvery worldof pale-gilt suns and of moons so frail that thewith Tchagane

a girlcloud-fleece at high-noon has

more substance!"

Her voice died out; she sat gazing down at her
spread fingers, on one of which gleamed her wedding-ring.
After a little, she went on dreamily:.

.

"On that week, each three months, we were free.
If a young man should please us.
."
.

.

.

"Free?" he repeated.

"To love," she explained coolly.

He nodded, but his face became rather

"Oh."
grim.

"There came to me at the yai'lak," she went on"one Khassar NoTane NoTane means

carelessly,

Princeall ina surcoat of gold tissue with green

vines embroidered, and wearing a green cap trimmedwith dormouse, and green boots inlaid with
gold.

.

.

stiff

.

"He was so young ... a boy. I laughed. I'Is this a Yagaoul? An
Urdu-envoy of Prince

said:

Erlik?'

mocking him as young and thoughtless girls

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

182

not in unfriendly manner
thoughnot endure the touch of any man at all.

mock

I

would

"And when I laughed at him, this Eighur boy flew
into such a rage !

"'Sou-sou!

Kai!

Squirrel!'I

was amazed.

he cried angrily at me.

'Learn the Yacaz, little chatterer

men,

it

is

!

Little mocker often blows with a stick you require, notkisses!'"At that I whistled my two dogs, Bars and Alaga,for I did not think what he said was funny.
"I said to him:

'You had better go home, Khas-sar Noi'ane, for if no man has ever pleased me where
I am at liberty to please myself, here on the Lakeof the Ghost, then be very certain that no boy canpleaseKeuke-Mongol here or anywhere!'kaiWhat did he say that monShe looked at her husband, her splendid
eyes ablaze with wrathful laughter, and made a ges-"And at that

!

key?"

ture full of angry grace :"'Squirrel !' he criesof Yian!

'littlemalignant sorceress

May everything high about you become asandstorm, and everything long a serpent, and everything broad a toad, and everything'"But I had had enough, Victor," she added excitedly, "and I made a wild bee bite him on the
What do you think of such a courtship?" shelip!
But Cleves's face was a study incried, laughing.
emotions.

And then, suddenly, the laughing mask seemed tofrom the bewitching features of Keuke Mon-

slip

gol;

and there was Tressa Nome

Tressa Cleves

THE BRIDAL

123

disconcerted, paling a little as the memory of her

impulsive confidence in this man beside her began todawn on her more clearly.
""I
I'm sorryshe faltered. . .
think me silly
think evil of me, perhaps"You'll".

She looked into his troubled eyes, then suddenly
she took her face into both hands and covered it,very still.
"We'll go South together," he said in. an uncer-

sitting

tain voice.

as a friend.

... "I hope you will try to think of me
I'm just troubled because I am so.

.

.

That is all.
I'm
I'm troubled, too, because I am anxious that you
should think well of me. Will you try, always?"
She nodded.
"I want to be your friend, always," he said.
anxious to understand you.

.

.

.

"Thank you, Mr. Cleves."
It

was

a

strange spot he chose for Tressa

strange but lovely in its own unreal and rather spectral fashion
where a pearl-tinted mist veiled theSt. Johns, and made exquisite ghosts of the palmettos, and softened the sun to a silver-gilt wafer
pasted on a nacre sky.

It was a still country, where giant water-oaks tow-

ered, fantastic under their misty camouflage of moss,and swarming with small birds.

Among the trees the wood-ibis stole;

without on

the placid glass of the stream the eared grebe floated.

There was no wind, no stirring of leaves, no soundsave the muffled splash of silver mullet, the breath-THE SLAYER OF SOULS

124

less whirr of a humming-bird, or the hushed rustle oflizards in the woods.

For Tressa this was the blessed balm that heals,And, for the first week, she
or
of
the
most
time,
lay in her hammock watchslept
ing the swarms of small birds creeping and flitting
amid the moss-draped labyrinths of the live-oaks at
the balm of silence.

her very door.
It had been a little club house before the war, thisbungalow on the St. Johns at Orchid Hammock. Its

members had been few and wealthy; but some weredead in France and Flanders, and some still remained overseas, and others continued busy in the
North.

And these two young people were quite alone
cook and a maid, and anaged negro kennel-master who wore a scarlet waistcoat and cords too large for his shrunken body,and who pottered, pottered through the fields allday, with his whip clasped behind his bent back andthere, save for a negro

the pointers ranging wide, or plodding in at heel with

red tongues lolling.

Twice Cleves went a little way for quail, using
but even here in this remote spot hedared not move out of view of the little house where
Tressa lay asleep.
So he picked up only a few brace of birds, and con-Benton's dogs;

fined his sport to impaling too-familiar scorpions
on the blade of his knife.

And all the while life remained unreal for him;
hismarriage seemed utterly unbelievable; he could

THE BRIDAL

125

not realise it, could not reconcile himself to conditions so incomprehensible.
Also, ever latent in his mind, was knowledge thatmade him restlessgirl

the knowledge that theyoung

he had married had been in love with anotherman: Sanang.

And there were other thoughts

thoughts which

had scarcely even taken the shape of questions.
One morning he came from his room and found
Tressa on the veranda in her hammock. She had
her moon-lute in her lap.

"You feelbettermuch better!" he said gaily,

saluting her extended hand.

"Yes.
is life

Isn't this heavenly?

I

begin to believe it

and the scent

to me, this pearl-tinted world,of orange bloom and the stillness of paradise itself."

She gazed out over the ghostly
wing stirred its glassy surface.

river.

Nota"Is this dull for you?" she asked in a low voice.

"Not if you are contented, Tressa.""You're so nice about it.

Don't you think you

might venture a day's real shooting?""No, I think I won't," he replied.

"On my account?""Well yes.""I'm so sorry.""It's all right aslong as you're getting rested.

What is that instrument?""My moon-lute.""Oh, is that what it's called?"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

126

She nodded, touched the strings.

He watched her

exquisite hands.

"Shall I?" she inquired a little shyly.

"Go ahead.

I'd like to hear it!"

"I haven't touched it in months

on the steamer."not since I was
She sat up in her hammock andbegan to swing there; and played and sang while
swinging in the flecked shadow of the orange bloom:<fL,ittle Isleof Cispangou,

Isle of iris, isle of cherry,

Tell your tiny maidens merry
Clouds are looming over you!

La-e-la!
La-e-la!
All your ocean's but a ferry;
Ships are bringing death to you!
La-e-lou!
La-e-lou!
"Little Isle of Cispangou,

Half a thousand ships are sailing;
Captain Death commands each crew;

Lo! the ruddy moon is paling!
La-e-la^!
La-e-la\fClouds the dying moon are veiling,
Every cloud a shroud for you!
La-e-lou!
La-e-lou!""Cispangou," she explained, "is the very, very ancient name, among the Mongols, for Japan."it"It's not exactly a gay song," he said.
about?""What's

THE BRIDAL

127"Oh, it's a very ancient song about the Mongol
I know scores and scores of suchinvasion of Japan.
songs."She sang some other songs. Afterward she descended from the hammock and came and sat down
beside him on the veranda steps.

"I wish I could amuse you," she said wistfully.

"Why do you think I'm bored, Tressa?

I'm not

at all."But she only sighed,knees in both arms.

lightly,

and gathered her"I don't know how young men in the Westernworld are entertained," she remarked presently.
"You don't have to entertain me," he said, smiling.

"I should be happy to, if I knew how.""How are young men entertained in the Orient?""Oh, they like songs and stories.
think you do."But I don't

He laughed in spite of himself.
"Do you really wish to entertain me?"
"I do," she said seriously.

"Then please perform some of those tricks ofmagic which you can do so amazingly well."
Her dawning smile faded a trifle. "I don't"
She hesitated.
haven't"You

haven'tyour professional paraphernalia

with you," he suggested.

"OhI

as for that

"Don't you need it?"

"

128

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"For some things
could dosome kinds of things. ...

other things

He waited.

I"

She seemed disconcerted.

"Don't doanything you don't wish to do, Tressa," he said.
"I was only
only afraid that if I should dosome little things to amuse you, I might stir stir
up interfere encounter some sinister current"
and betray myself betray my whereabouts"Well, for heaven's sake don't venture then !" he"Don't do anything to stir up
said with emphasis.
"any other wireless any Yezidee"I am wondering," she reflected, "just what I dare
venture to do to amuse you.""Don't bother about me.

Iwouldn't have you

try any psychic stunt down here, and run the chanceof stirring up some Asiatic devil somewhere !"She nodded absently, occupied with her own
thoughts, sitting there, chin on hand, her musingeyes intensely blue.
"I think I can amuse you," she concluded, "with-out bringing any harm to myself."""Don't try it, Tressa!
"I'll be very careful.
Now, sit quite stillcloserto me, please."

He edged closer; and became conscious of an indefinable freshness in the air that enveloped him,
like the scent of something young and growing.
But

was no magic odour, merely the virginal scent ofher hair and skin that even clung to her summer

it

gown.

THE BRIDAL

1<1

He heard her singing under her breath to herself:"La-e-laf"La-e-la!"and murmuring caressingly in an unknown tongue.
Then, suddenly in the pale sunshine, scores of litcame hovering around them, alighting allover them. And he saw them swarming out of the
mossy festoons of the water-oaks scores and scores
tle birds

Parula warblers, mostlyof tiny birds

down toall flitting

upon his shoulders and
all
their
knees,
sweet, dreamy little twitkeeping up
fearlessly

alighttering sound.

"This is wonderful," he whispered.

The girl laughed, took several birds on her forefinger.

"This is nothing," she said. "If I only dared"wait a moment
And, to the Parula warblers!

:"Go home, little friends of God!"
The air was filled with the musical whisper of
She passed her right arm around her huswings.
band's neck.

"Look at the river," she said.
"Good God!" he blurted out. And sat dumb.
For, over the St. John's misty surface, there was
the span of a bridgea strange, marble bridge

humped up high in the centre.

And over it were passing thousands of people
he could make them out vaguely see them passing

A 30

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

tinted shapes on thein two never-ending streams
marble bridge.
And now, on the farther shore of the river, he
was aware of a city a vast one, with spectral pa-

goda shapes against the sky
Her arm tightened around his neck.
He saw boats on the river like the grotesqueshapes that decorate ancient lacquer.
She rested her face lightly against his cheek.

In his ears was a far confusion of voices the stirand movement of multitudes noises on ships, boat-

men's cries, the creak of oars.

Then, far and sonorous, quavering across the water from the city, the din of a temple gong.

There were bells, too very sweet and silvery
camel bells, bells from the Buddhist temples.

He strained his eyes, and thought, amid the pagodas, that there were minarets, also.
Suddenly, clear and ringing came the distant muezzin's cry:"There is no other god but God!

.

.

.

It is noon.

Mussulmans, pray 1"
The girl's arm slipped from his neck and she shuddered and pushed him from her.
There was nothing, now, on the river or beyond it
but the curtain of hanging mist; no sound except thecry of a gull, sharp and querulous in the vapours
overhead.

"Have have you been amused?" she asked.
"What did you do to me I" he demanded harshly.
She smiled and drew a light breath like a sigh.
"God knows what we living do to one another,THE BRIDAL
or to ourselves," she said.

131"I only tried to amuse

after taking counsel with the birds."

you"What was that bridge I saw!""The Bridge of Ten Thousand Felicities.""And the city?""Yian.""You lived there?""Yes."

He moistened his dry lips and stole another glanceat this very commonplace Florida river.
Sky andwater were blank and still, and the ghostly trees

stood tall, reflected palely in the translucent tide.

"You merely made me visualise what you werethinking about," he concluded in a voice which still

remained unsteady.
"Did you hear nothing?"

He was silent, remembering the bells and theenormous murmur of a living multitude.
"And there were the birds, too." She added,
with an uncertain smile: "I do not mean to worry
And you did ask me to amuse you."
you.
.

.

.

"I don't know how you did it," he said harshly.
"And the details those thousands and thousandsof people on the bridge

!

.

.

.

And there was one,end of the bridge, who looked back.
young girl who turned and laughed atquite near this
.

.

us

.

A
"

"That was Yulun.""Who?""Yulun.

Itaught her English.""A temple girl?"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

132"Yes. From Black China.""How could you make me see her!" he demanded.
"Why do you ask such things? I do not know
how to tell you how I do it.""It'sadangerous, uncanny knowledge!" heblurted out; and suddenly checked himself, for the
girl's facewent white.

"I don't mean uncanny," he hastened to add. "Beause it seems to me that what you did by juggling
with invisible currents to which, when attuned, ourfive senses respond, is on the same lines as the wirelesstelegraph and telephone."

She said nothing, but her colour slowly returned.

"You mustn't be so sensitive," he added.

"I've

no doubt that it's all quite normal quite explicable
on a perfectly scientific basis. Probably it's no moremysterious than a man in an airplane over midocean
conversing with people ashore on two continents."

For the remainder of the day and evening Tressa
seemed subdued not restless, not nervous, but so
quiet that, sometimes, glancing at her askance, Cleves
involuntarily was reminded of some lithe young crea-

ture of the wilds, intensely alert and still, immersed
in fixed and dangerous meditation.

About five in the afternoon they took their golf
went down to the river, and embarked in the

sticks,canoe.

The water was glassy and still. There was nota ripple ahead, save when a sleeping gull awoke andleisurely steered out of their way.

THE BRIDAL

133

Tressa's arms and throat were bare and she wore

no hat.

She sat forward, wielding the bow paddle

and singing to herself in a low voice.

"You feel all right, don't you?" he asked.
"Oh, I am so well, physically, now!

It's reallylike being a child again," she re-wonderful, Victor
plied happily.

"You're not much more," he muttered.
She heard him"Not very much more:in

"Does Scripture tell us how
years," she said.
old Our Lord was when He descended into Hell?".

.

.

"I don't know," he replied, startled.

After a little while Tressa tranquilly resumed her
paddling and singing:"

And eight tall towers

Guard the route
Of human life,

Where at all hours
Death looks out,
Holding a knife
Rolled in a shroud.

For every man,

Humble or proud,
Mighty or bowed,
Death has a shroud; for every man,Even for Tchingniz Khan!
Behold them pass! lancer,
Baroulass,

Temple dancer
In tissue gold,
Khiounnou,
Karlik bold,134.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS
Christian, Jew,
Nations swarm to the great Urdu.
Yagaoul, with your kettledrum,
Warn your Khan that his hour is come!
Shroud and knife at his spurred feet throw,
And bid him stretch his neck for the blow! ""You know," remarked Cleves, "that some ofthose songs you sing are devilish creepy."
Tressa looked around at him over her shoulder,saw he was smiling, smiled faintly in return.
They were off Orchid Cove now. The hotel andVoicescottages loomed dimly in the silver mist.
came distinctly across the water. There were people on the golf course paralleling the river; laughtersounded from the clubhouse veranda.
They went ashore.

CHAPTER VIII
THE MAN IN WHITE
was at the sixth hole that they passed the manahead who was playing all alone a courteous
young fellow in white flannels, who smiled andbowed them "through" in silence.
They thanked him, drove from the tee, and left
the polite and reticent young man still apparentlyIThunting for a lost ball.
Like other things which depended upon dexterity

and precision, Tressa had taken most naturally togolf.

Her supple muscles helped.

At the ninth hole they looked back but did not see
the young man in white flannels.

Hammock, set with pine and palmetto, and intervals of evil-looking swamp, flanked the course.

Rank

wire-grass, bayberry and scrub palmetto bounded thefairgreen.

On every blossoming bush hung butterflies
medes

swallowtails

drugged

with

Palo-

sparkle-berry

honey, their gold and black velvet wings conspicuousin the sunny mist.

"Like the ceremonial vestments of a Yezidee exemurmured the girl. "The Tchortchas

cutioner,"

135

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

136

wear red when they robe to do a man to death.
"Iwish you could forget those things,"

"

said

Cleves.

"I am trying. ... I wonder where that young
man in white went."

Cleves searched the links.

"I don't see him.

Per-haps he had to go back for another ball.""I wonder who he was," she mused.
"I

remember seeing him before,"

don't

Cleves.

.

.

.

said

"Shall we start back?"

They walked slowly across the course toward thetenth hole.

Tressa teed up, drove low and straight.

Clevesand they walked together into the scrub andtowards the woods, where his ball had bounded into
a bunch of palm trees.
sliced,Far in among the trees something white moved
and vanished.
"Probably a white egret," he remarked, knocking
about in the scrub with his midiron.
"It was that young man in white flannels," said

Tressa in a low voice.

"What would he be doing in there?" he asked in"That's merely a jungle, Tressa
andand no man
swamp
cypress, thorn and creeper,
would go into that mess if he could. There is no
bottom to those swamps.""But I saw him in there," she said in a troubled
credulously.

voice.

"But when I tell you that only a wild animal or a

THE MAN IN WHITE

137

snake or a bird could move in that jungleisone vast black quicksand.

!

The bog

There's death in thosedepths."''Victor."

He looked around at her. She was
He came up and took her hand inquiringly.

"Yes?"
pale.

"I don't feel

well," she murmured.
""I'm not ill,you understand"What's the matter, Tressa?"
She shook her head drearily:"I don't know.
... I wonder whether I should have tried to amuse"

you this morning"You don't think you've stirred up any of thoseYezidee beasts, do you?" he asked sharply.
And as she did not answer, he asked again whether
she was afraid that what she had done that morning
might have had any occult consequences. And hereminded her that she had hesitated to venture anything on that account.

His voice, in spite of him, betrayed great nervousness now, and he saw apprehension in her eyes,
also.

"Why should that man in white have followed us,
keeping out of sight in the woods?" he went on.
"Did you notice about him anything to disturb you,

Tressa?""Not at the time.
out of my mind.

But

it's

odd

I can't put him

Since we passed him and left him

apparently hunting a lost ball, I have not been able
to put him out of my mind."

138

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"He seemed civil and well bred.
fectly good-humoured"I think

perhaps

He was per-courtesy and smiles."it was the way he smiled atallmurmured the girl. "Everybody in the East."smiles when they draw a knife.
He placed his arm through hers. "Aren't you a
us,"

.

.

morbid?" he said pleasantly.
She stooped for her golf ball, retaining a hold on
He picked up his ball, too, put away her
his arm.
clubs and his, and they started back together intriflesilence, evidently with no desire to makeiteighteenholes.
"It's a confounded shame,"

he muttered, "just as

you were becoming so rested and so delightfully well,to have anything
any unpleasant flash of memory"

cut in to upset you"I brought it on myself.

I should not have risked

stirring up the sinister minds that were asleep.""Hang it allland I asked you to amuse me."

"It was not wise in me," she said under her breath.
"It is easy to disturb the unknown currents which en-mesh the globe.
I

I ought not to have shown you Yian.

fault for doing that.

i

It was my
was a little lonely, and I

ought not to have shown you Yulun.
I

wanted to see Yulun."
They came down the river back to the canoe,
threw in their golf bags, and embarked on theglassy stream.
Over the calm flood, stained deep with crimson,the canoe glided in the sanguine evening light. But

THE MAN IN WHITE

139

Tressa sang no more and her head was bent side-

ways as though listening always listening tosomething inaudible to Cleves something very,
very far away which she seemed to hear throughthe still drip of the paddles.

They were not yet in sight of their landing when
she spoke to him, partly turning:"I think some of your men have arrived.""Where?" he asked, astonished.
"At the house.""Why do you think so?""I think so."

They paddled a little faster.

In a few minutes

their dock came into view.
"It's funny," he said, "that you should think someof our men have arrived from the North. I don't

see anybody on the dock."
"It's
is

Mr. Recklow," she said in a low voice. "Heseated on our veranda."

As it was impossible to see the house, let alone
He beached
the veranda, Cleves made no reply.
the canoe; Tressa stepped out; he followed, carrying the golf bags.

A mousy light lingered in the shrubbery; bats were
flying against a salmon-tinted sky as they took thepath homeward.
With an impulse quite involuntary, Cleves en*
circled his young wife's shoulders with his left arm.
"Girl-comrade," he said lightly, "I'd

kill

any

man who even looked as though he'd harm you."

140

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

He smiled, but she had not missed the ugly undertone in his words.

They walked slowly, his arm around her shoulSuddenly he felt her start. They halted.
"What was it?" he whispered.

ders.

"I thought there was something whitewoods.""Where, dear?" he asked coolly.

in

the

"Over there beyond the lawn."

What she called the "lawn" was only a vast sheetof pink and white phlox,

now all misty with thewhirring wings of sphinx-moths and Noctuidae.
The oak grove beyond was dusky. Cleves could
see nothing among the trees.

After a moment they went forward.
His arm
had fallen away from her shoulders.
There were no lights except in the kitchen when
At first nobody
they came in sight of the house.
was visible on the screened veranda under the orange
trees.
But when he opened the swing door for her
a shadowy figure arose from a chair.
It was John Recklow.
He came forward, bent hisstrong white head, and kissed Tressa's hand.
"Is all well with you, Mrs. Cleves?""Yes.
I am glad you came."
Cleves clasped the elder man's firm hand.

"I'm glad too, Recklow.
course.""Do you really want me?"
"Of course," said Cleves.

You'll stop with us, ofTHE MAN IN WHITE"All right.

141

I've a coon and a surrey behind yourhouse."So Cleves went around in the dusk and sent theback to the hotel, and he himself carried in
Recklow's suitcase.
Then Tressa went away to give instructions, andoutfitthe two men were left together on the dusky veranda.

"Well?" said Recklow quietly.
Cleves went to him and rested both hands on hisshoulders:"I'm playing absolutely square. She's a perfectly
fine girl and she'll have her chance some day, Godwilling.""Her chance?" repeated Recklow.
"To marry whatever man she will some day carefor."

"I see," said Recklow drily.
There was a silence, then:"She's simply a splendid specimen of womanhood," said Cleves earnestly. "And intensely interesting to me.
Why, Recklow, I haven't known adull
moment"many"Why?""Why?

though

I

fear

she

Well, being married to a

has

known

a

sort oftemporary figurehead shut up here all day alone"
with a man of no particular interest to her"Don't you interest her?""Well, how could I? She didn't choose me because she liked me particularly."

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

142"Didn't she?" asked Recklow, still more drily.
"Well, that does make it a trifle dull for you both.""Not for me," said the younger man naively.
"She is one of the most interesting women I evermet. And good heavens
what psychic knowledge
She did a thing to-day
that child possesses!
"
He checked himself andmerely to amuse me!

looked at Recklow out of sombre eyes.

"What did she do?" inquired the older man.
"I think I'll let her tell you

And that reminds me.
here,

if

she wishes.

.

.

.

Why did you come down

Recklow?""I want to show you something, Cleves.

May westep into the house?"
They went into a little lamplit living-room.

Reck-

low handed a newspaper clipping to Cleves the lat:ter read it, standing:<"HAD DEADLIEST GAS READY FOR GERMANS",'Lewisite' Might Have Killed Millions"WASHINGTON, APRIL 24. Guarded night andday and far out of human reach on a pedestal at
the Interior Department Exposition here is a tiny
It contains a specimen of the deadliest poison
ever known, 'Lewisite,' the product of an Americanvial.

scientist.

"Germany escaped

thispoison by signing theof the United

armistice before all the resourcesStates were turned upon her.

"Tenairplanes carrying 'Lewisite'would haveTHE MAN IN WHITE

143

wiped out, it is said, every vestige of life animaland vegetable in Berlin. A single day's output
would snuff out the millions of lives on Manhattan
Island. A drop poured in the palm of the hand
would penetrate to the blood, reach the heart andthe victim in agony.

kill"What was coming to Germany may be imaginedby the fact that when the armistice was signed 'Lewisite' was being manufactured at the rate of ten tonsa day.
Three thousand tons of this most terrible
instrument ever conceived for killing would havebeen ready for business on the American front inFrance on November i.
'Lewisite' is another of the big secrets of the
war just leaking out. It was developed in the Bureau of Mines by Professor W. Lee Lewis, ofNorthwestern University, Evanston, 111., who took acommission as a captain in the army.
"The poison was manufactured in a speciallybuilt plant near Cleveland, called the 'Mouse Trap/'

because every workman who entered the stockade
went under an agreement not to leave the elevenThe object ofacre space until the war was won.
this, of course, was to protect the secret.
"Work on the plant was started eighteen days
after the Bureau of Mines had completed its experiments.
"Experts are certain that no one will want to
steal

the

sample.

Everybodyatthe Exposition,

which shows what Secretary Lane's department isdoing, keeps as far away from it as possible."

When Cleves had finished reading, he raised hiseyes in silence.

"That vial was stolen a week ago," said Recklow

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

144.

gravely, "by ayoung man who killed one guard andfatally wounded the other.""Was there any ante-mortem statement?"
I lost all trace ofI've followed the man.
him at Palm Beach, but I picked it up again at Ormond. And now I'm here, Cleves.""You don't mean you've traced him here!" ex-"Yes.

claimed Cleves under his breath.
"He's here on the St. Johns River, somewhere.

He came up in a motor-boat, but left it east of
Orchard Cove.

Benton knows this country. He's
And I came here to see

covering the motor-boat.

how you are getting on.""And to warn us," added Cleves quietly.
"\\r e }iy es< He's got that stuff. It's deadlier
I guess,
than the newspaper suspects. And I guess

Cleves, he's one of those

doctors

damned Yezidee

or sorcerers, as they

call

them;

witch-

one ofthat sect of Assassins sent over here to work havoc

on feeble minds and do murder on the side.""Why do you think so?""Because the dirty beast lugs his shroud arounda bed-sheet stolen from the New Willard
with himin Washington.

"We were so close to him in Jacksonville that we
got it, and his luggage. But we didn't get him, therat! God knows how he knew we were waiting for

him in his room.

He never came back to get his

luggage.

"But hestole a bed-sheet

from his hotel in St.

THE MAN IN WHITE

145

Augustine, and that is how we picked him up again.
Then, at Palm Beach, we lost the beggar, but some-how or other I felt it in my bones that he was after
So I sent Benton to OrBenton picked up his
trail.
It led toward you
toward the St. Johns.
And the reptile has been here forty-eight hours, try-

you and your wife.

you

mond and I went to Palatka.

"
ing to nose you out, I suppose
Tressa came into the room. Both men looked ather.

Cleves said in a guarded voice:"To-day, on the golf links at Orchard Cove, there

was a young man in white flannels
courteous to us

butvery polite andTressa thought she saw him

slinking through the woods as though following andwatching us.""My man, probably," said Recklow. He turned
quietly to Tressa and sketched for her the substanceof what he had just told Cleves.

"The man in white flannels on the golf links," said
"was well built and rather handsome, andI thought he was a

Cleves,not more than twenty-five.

Jew.""I thought so too," said Tressa, calmly, "until I

saw him in "the woods. And then and then suddenly it came to me that his smile was the smile ofa treacherous Shaman sorcerer.
".
And the idea haunts me
.

.

the

those smooth-faced, smiling men in whitesmile only

when they slay

memory ofmen whowhen they slay bodyTHE SLAYER OF SOULS
and soul under the iris skies of Yian! O God, mer146

ciful,

long suffering," she whispered, staring into theEast, "deliver our souls from Satan who was stoned,
and our bodies from the snare of the Yezideel"CHAPTER IX
THE WEST WIND
night grew sweet with the scent of orange
bloom, and all the perfumed darkness was
vibrant with the feathery whirr of hawk-THE

moths' wings.

Tressa had taken her moon-lute to the hammock,but her fingers rested motionless on the strings.

Cleves and Recklow, shoulder to shoulder, paced
the moonlit path along the hedges of oleander andfrom jungle.

hibiscus which divided garden

And they moved cautiously on thewhite-shell

For in theroad, not too near the shadow line.
cypress swamp the bloated grey death was awake
and watching under the moon and in the scrub palmetto the diamond-dotted death moved lithely.
;

And somewhere within the dark evil of the jungle
a man in white might be watching.

So Recklow's pistol swung lightly in his righthand and Cleves' weapon lay in his side-pocket, andthey strolled leisurely around the drive and up anddown the white-shell walks, passing Tressa at reguwhere she sat in her hammock withlar intervals,

the moon-lute across her knees.

Once Cleves paused to place two pink hibiscus
147THE SLAYER OF SOULS

148

blossoms in her hair above her ears; and the girlsmiled gravely at him in the light.
Again, pausing beside her hammock on one of
their tours of the garden, Recklow said in a low:"If the beast would only show himself, Mrs.

voice

Have you caught a
Cleves, we'd not miss him.
inthewoods?"
ofwhite
anything
glimpse"Only the night mist rising from the branch anda white ibis stealing through it."
Cleves came nearer: "Do you think the Yezidee isin thewoods watching us, Tressa?""Yes, he is there," she said calmly.

"You know it?""Yes."

Recklow stared at the woods. "We can't go in"That fellow would get
us with his Lewisite gas before we could discover andto hunt for him," he said.

destroy him.""Suppose he waits for a west wind and squirts
his gas in this direction?"

whispered Cleves.

"There is no wind," said Tressa tranquilly.

"He

has been waiting for it, I think. The Yezidee
very patient. And he is a Shaman sorcerer."is"My God!" breathed Recklow. "What sort ofhellish things has the Old World been dumping into

America for the last fifty years? An ordinary anarchist is bad enough, but this new breed of devil
these Yezidees

thissect of Assassins""Hush!" whispered Tressa.
All three listened to the great cat-owl howlingfrom the jungle. But Tressa had heard anotherTHE WEST WIND
sound
it

149

the vague stir of leaves in the live-oaks. Was

a passing breeze?

Was a night wind rising?

She

clatterfrom the"If a wind comes, we must hunt him.

That will

listened.

But heard nobrittlepalm-fronds.
"Victor," she said.
"Yes, Tressa."

be necessary.""Either we hunt him and get him, or he kills us
here with his gas," said Recklow quietly.
"If the night wind comes," said Tressa, "we must

hunt the darkness for the Yezidee."She spoke

coolly.

"If he'd only show himself," muttered Recklow,
staring into the darkness.

The girl picked up her lute, caught Cleves' worriedeyes fixed on her, suddenlycomprehended that hisanxiety was on her account, and blushed brightly
in the moonlight.
And he saw her teeth catch ather underlip; saw her look up again at him, confused.

"If I dared leave you," he said, "I'd go into thehammock and start that reptile.

This won't dothis standing pat while he comes to somedeadly de-woods there.""What else is there to do?" growled Recklow.

cision in the"Watch," said the girl. "Out-watch the Yezidee.
is no night-wind he may tire of waiting.
Then you must shoot fast very, very fast and
But if the night-wind comes, then we muststraight.
hunt him in darkness."
If there150

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Recklow, pistol in hand, stood straight and sturdy
Clevesin the moonlight, gazing fixedly at the forest.

sat

down at his wife's feet.

She touched her moon-lute tranquilly and sangin her childish voice:"Ring, ring, Buddha bells,
Gilded gods are listening.

Swing, swing, lily bells,
In my garden glistening.
Now I hear the Shaman drum;
Now the scarlet horsemen come;Ding-dong!
Ding-dong!

Through the chanting of the throng
Thunders now the temple gong.

Boom-boom!
Ding-dong!

"Let the gold gods listen!
In my garden; what care I

Where my lily bells hang mute!
Snowy-sweet they glisten

Where I'm singing to my lute.
In my garden; what care I
Who is dead and who shall die?
'Let the gold gods save or slay
Scented lilies bloom in May.

Boom, boom, temple gong!
Ding-dong!
Ding-dong!""What are you singing?" whispered Cleves.
"

The Bells of Yian.' ""Is it old?"THE WEST WIND
"Of the 1 3th century.
bells in Yian then.

151

There were few Buddhist

It is Lamaism that has destroyed

the Mongols and that has permitted the creed of theAssassins to spreadthe devil worhip of Erlik."

He looked at her, not understanding. And she,pale, slim prophetess, in the moonlight, gazed at him
out of lost eyes
eyes which saw, perhaps, thebloody age of men when mankind took the devil by
the throat and all Mount Alamout went up in smoking ruin and the Eight Towers were dark as death
and as silent before the blast of the silver clarions ofGhenghis Khan.
;"Something is stirring in the forest," whispered
Tressa, her fingers on her lips.

"Damnation,"
wind!"

muttered

Recklow,

"it's

the

Far in the forest they heard the
They waited. The ominous
warning grew faint, then rose again, a long, lowrattle of palm-fronds which became a steady mono-

They listened.

clatter of palm-fronds.

tone.

"We hunt," said Recklow bluntly. "Come on!"But the girl sprang from the hammock and caught
her husband's arm and drew Recklow back from thehibiscus hedge.

"Use me," she said.
Yezidee.

"You could never find the

Let me do the hunting; and then shootvery, very fast.""We've got to take her," said Recklow.
dare not leave her.""WeTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

152"I can't let her lead theway into those blackwoods," muttered Cleves.
"The wind is blowing in my face," insisted Recklow.

"We'd better hurry."

Tressa laid one hand on her husband's arm.
"I can find the Yezidee, I think. You never could
find him before he finds you
Victor, let me use myown knowledge! Let me find the way. Please let!

me lead!

Please, Victor. Because, if you don't, I'm
all die here in the garden where weafraid we'll
stand."

Cleves cast a haggard glance at Recklow, thenlooked at his wife.
"All right," he said.

The girl opened the hedge gate.
lowed with pistols lifted.
The moon silvered theforest.

Both men fol-

There was no

mist, but a night-wind blew mournfully through palmand cypress, carrying with it the strange, disturbing
pungency of the jungle

wild, unfamiliar perfumes,

the acrid aroma of swamp and rotting mould.

"What about snakes?" muttered Recklow, knee
deep in wild phlox.
But there was a deadlier snake to find and destroy,
somewhere in the blotched shadows of the forest.

The first sentinel trees were very near, now; andTressa was running across a ghostly tangle, whereonce had been an orange grove, and where aged anddying citrus stumps rose stark amid the riot of encroaching jungle.
"She's circling to get the wind at our backs,"

THE WEST WIND

153

breathed Recklow, running forward beside Cleves.
"That's our only chance to kill the dirty rat catch

him with the wind at our backs I"
Once, traversing a dry hammock where streaksof moonlight alternated with velvet-black shadow arattlesnake sprang his goblin alarm.
They could not locate the reptile.

They shrank

together and moved warily, chilled with fear.
Once, too, clear in the moonlight, the Grey Deathreared up from bloated folds and stood swaying
rhythmically in a horrible shadow dance before them.
And Cleves threw one arm around his wife andcrept past, giving death a wide berth there in the

checkered moonlight.

Now, under foot, the dry hammock lay everywhere and the night wind blew on their backs.
Then Tressa turned and halted the two men witha gesture. And went to her husband where he stoodin the palm forest, and laid her hands on his shoulders, looking him very wistfully in the eyes.
Under her searching gaze he seemed oddly tocomprehend her appeal.

"You are going to use to use your knowledge,"
he said mechanically. "You are going to find theman in white.""Yes.""You are going to find him in a way we don't understand," he continued, dully.
"Yes.
You will not hold me in.

will you?".

.

in horror

154

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Recklow came up, making no sound on the spongy
palm litter underfoot.
"Can you find this devil?" he whispered.
"I

think so."

"Does yoursuper-instinct

finer

sense

knowl-

edge whatever it is give you any inkling as to his
whereabouts, Mrs. Cleves?"""I think he is here in this hammock. Only
she turned again, with swift impulse, to her husband,"
if you do not hold me inin horror
only if you"
because of what I do

There was a silence then
"What are you about to do?" he asked hoarsely.
"Slay this man.""We'll do that," said Cleves with a shudder.
"Only show him to us and we'll shoot the dirty;

reptile to slivers:""Suppose we hit the jar of gas," said Recklow.
After a silence, Tressa said:"I have got to give him back to Satan. There isno other way. I understood that from the first. He
can not die by your pistols, though you shoot very
fast

and straight.

No!"

After another silence, Recklow said:"You had better find him before the wind changes.
we die here together."We hunt down wind or

She looked at her husband.

"Show him to us in your own way," he said, "anddeal with him as he must be dealt with."

A gleam passed across her pale face and she tried
to smile at her husband.

THE WEST WIND

155

Then, turning down the hammock to the east, shewalked noiselessly forward over the fibrous litter,the men on either side of her, their pistols poised.
They had halted on the edge of an open glade,ringed with young pines in fullest plumage.
Tressa was standing very straight and still in a
strange, supple, agonised attitude, her left forearm
across her eyes, her right hand clenched, her slenderbody slightly twisted to the left.
The men gazed pallidly at her with tense, set
faces, knowing that the girl was in terrible mental
conflict against another mind
a powerful, sinister
mind which was seeking to grasp her thoughts andcontrol them.

Minute after minute sped the girl never moved,
locked in her psychic duel with this other brutal
mind,beating back its terrible thought-waves whichwere attacking her, fighting for mental supremacy,:

struggling in silence with an unseen adversary whose
mental dominance meant death.

Suddenly her cry rang out sharply in the moonand then, all at once, a man in white stoodlight,

there in the lustre of the moona young, graceful

man dressed in white flannels and carrying on his
right arm what seemed to be a long white cloak.
Instantly the girl was transformed from a living
statue into a lithe, supple, lightly moving thing thatpassed swiftly to the west of the glade, keeping theyoung man in white facing the wind, which was blowing and tossing the plumy young pines.
"So it is you, young man, with whom I haveTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

156

been wrestling here under themoonof the only

God!" she said in a strange little voice, all vibrantand metallic with menacing laughter.
"It is I, Keuke Mongol," replied the young man
in white, tranquilly; yet his words came as though
he were tired and out of breath, and the hand heraised to touch his small black moustache trembled
asiffrom physical exhaustion.

"Yarghouz!" she exclaimed. "Why did I notknow you there on the golf links, Assassin of theSeventh Tower? And why do you come here withyour shroud over your arm and hidden under it, inyour right hand, a flask full of death?"

He said, smiling:"I come because you are to die, Heavenly-Azure
I bring you your shroud."And he moved
warily westward around the open circle of youngEyes.

pines.

Instantly the girl flung her right arm straight up-

ward.

"Yarghouz!""I hear thee, Heavenly Azure.""Another step to the west and I shatter thy flaskof gas.""With what?" he demanded; but stood discreetly
motionless.

"With what I grasp in an empty palm.

Thouknowest, Yarghouz.""I have heard," he said with smiling uncertainty,"but to hear of force that can be hurled out of anTHE WEST WIND
empty palm

is

157

one thing, and to see it and feel it isI think you lie, Heavenly Azure.""So thought Gutchlug. And died of a yellow

another.

snake."The young man seemed to reflect. Then he looked
up at her in his frank, smiling way.
"Wilt thou listen, Heavenly Eyes?""I hear thee, Yarghouz.""Listen then, Keuke Mongol. Take life from us
as we offer it.

Life is sweet.

Erlik, like a spider,waits in darkness for lost souls that flutter to his
net.""You think my soul was lost there in the temple,
Yarghouz?""Unutterably
Therefore, live.

lost,

littletemple

girl

of

Yian.

Take life as a gift!""Whose gift?""Sanang's.""It is written," she said gravely, "that we belong

God and we return to him. Now then, Yezidee,
Kai !"
do your duty as I do mineAt the sound of the formula always uttered by thesect of Assassins when about to do murder, theyoung man started and shrank back. The west windblew fresh in his startled eyes.
"Sorceress," he said less firmly, "you leave yourYiort to come all alone into this forest and seek me.
Why then have you come, if not to submit if not

to

!

!

if not to turn away fromto take the gift of life
your seducers who are hunting me, and who havecorrupted you?"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

158"Yarghouz, I come to slay you," she said quietly.
Suddenly the man snarled at her, flung the shroud
at her feet, and crept deliberately to the left.

"Be careful !" she cried sharply; "look what you're
about

!

Stand still, son of a dog

May your mother!

bewail your death!"

Yarghouz edged toward tlie west, clasping in his
right hand the flask of gas.

"Sorceress,"helaughed,"awitch ofThibetprophesied with a drum that the three purities, thenine perfections, and the nine times nine felicities
shall be lodged in him who slays the treacherous

temple girl, Keuke Mongol! There is more magicin this bottle which I grasp than in thy mind andI pray God to be merciful
body. Heavenly Eyes!

to this soul I send to Erlik!"

All the time he was advancing, edging cautiously
around the circle of little plumy pines and alreadythe wind struck his left cheek.
;"Yarghouz Khan!" cried the girl in her clear"Take up your shroud and repeat the fatha !"""Backward!" laughed the young man,as doyou, Keuke Mongol!"voice.

"Heretic!" she retorted.

"Do you also refuse toname the ten Imaums in your prayers? Dog! Toad!
Spittle of Erlik!
May all your cattle die and all
your horses take the glanders and all your dogs themange!""Silence, sorceress!" he shouted, pale with fear
Erlik seize"Witch
worm

Mud
May
May your skin be covered with putrefying

and fury.
you!

!

!

THE WEST WIND
May all the demons torment you
remember you in hell!"
sores

!

159
!

May GodStand still 1""Yarghouz!

word then the Rampart of Gog and
Magog, you young witch of Yian, that a Khan of the"Is yourSeventh Tower need fear you!" he sneered, stealing
stealthily westward through the feathery pines.
"I give thee thy last chance, Yarghouz Khan," shesaid in an excited voice that trembled. "Recite thy
prayer naming the ten, because with their holy names
upon thy lips thou mayest escape damnation. For I
am here to slay thee, Yarghouz! Take up thy

shroud and pray!"

The young man felt the west wind at the back ofThen he began to laugh.

his left ear.

"Heavenly Eyes," he said, "thy end is cometo-gether with the two police who hide in the pines yonBehold the bottle magic of Yargder behind thee!

houz Khan!"And he lifted the glass flask in the moonlight as
though he were about to smash it at her feet.
Then a terrible thing occurred.

The entire flask

glowed red hot in his grasp and the man screamed
and strove convulsively to fling the bottle; but it;stuck to his hand, melted into the smoking flesh.

Then he screamed againentire

or tried to but his
lower jaw came off and he stood there withthe awful orifice gaping in the moonlightstood,and then and then his wholereeled a moment
face slid off, leaving nothing but a bony mask out of

which burst shriek after shriek

160

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Keuke Mongol had fainted dead away. Cleves
took her into his arms.
Recklow, trembling and deathly white, went overto the thing that lay among the young pines andforced himself to bend over it.
The glass flask still stuck to one charred hand, but
And Recklow rolled the unit was no longer hot.
speakable thing into the white shroud and pushed it
into the swamp.

An evil ooze took it, slowly sucked it under andA few stinking bubbles broke.
Recklow went back to the little glade among theengulfed it.
pines.

A

young girl lay sobbing convulsively in her husband's arms, asking God's pardon and his for thejustice she had done upon an enemy of all mankind.

CHAPTER X
AT THE RITZTTTHEN Victor Cleves telegraphed from
Vl/

St.

Augustine to Washington that he and hiswife were on their way North, and thatthey desired to see John Recklow as soon as they
arrived, John Recklow remarked that he knew of noplace as private as a public one.

And he came on to

New York and established himself at the Ritz, rather
regally.

To dine with him that evening were two volunteer agents of the United States Secret Service,
ZB-303, otherwise James Benton, a fashionable architect;

and XYL-3?i, Alexander Selden, sometime

junior partner in the house of Milwin, Selden & Co.
single lamp was burning in the white-and-roseArococo room.

Under its veiled glow these three men

sat conversing in

guarded voices overcoffeeandawaiting the advent of 53-6-26, otherwise
Victor Cleves, recently Professor of Ornithology at
cigars,Cambridge; and his young wife, Tressa, known officially as V-6g.

"Did the trip South do Mrs. Cleves any good?"inquired Benton.
"Some," said Recklow.

"When Selden and I saw

her she was getting better."
161

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

162"I suppose that affair ofYarghouz upset her

pretty thoroughly.""Yes." Recklow tossed his cigar into the fireplace
and produced a pipe. "Victor Cleves upsets her

more," he remarked.
"Why?" asked Benton, astonished.
"She's beginning to fall in love with him anddoesn't know what's the matter with her," replied theelder man drily.

"Selden noticed it, too.""I suplooked immensely surprised.
posed," he said, "that she and Cleves considered theImarriage to be merely a temporary necessity.
didn't imagine that they cared for each other."

Benton"I don't suppose they did at first," said Selden.
And I don't"But I think she's interested in Victor.

see how he can help falling in love with her, because
she's a very beautiful thing toengaging one to talk to."gaze on, and a most"She's about the prettiest girl I ever saw," adAll themitted Benton, "and about the cleverest.

same

"

"All the same

what?""Well, Mrs. Cleves has her drawbacks, you know

mean."
Recklow said: "There is a fixed idea in Cleves's
head that Tressa Nome married him as a last resort,which is true. But he'll never believe she's changed
her ideas in regard to him unless she herself enAnd the girl is too shy to do that.
lightens him.
Besides, she believes the same thing of him. There's
a mess for you!"as a real wife, I

AT THE RITZ

163

Recklow filled his pipe carefully.
"In addition," he went on, "Mrs. Cleves has
another and very terrible fixed idea in her charming
head, and that is that she really did lose her soulamong those damned Yezidees.

She believes that

Cleves, though kind to her, considers her merely
as something uncannysomething to endure until
this Yezidee campaign is ended and she is safe fromassassination."

Benton said: "After all, and in spite of all her
loveliness, I myself should not feel entirely comfort-

able with such a girl for a real wife.""Why?" demanded Recklow.
"Wellthings

good

she

does

those uncannyheavens, John!
her rather terrifying psychic

knowledge and ability make a man more or less unHe laughed without mirth.
easy.""For example," he added, "I never was nervous
in any physical crisis; but since I've met Tressa

Nome

to be frank

I'm not any too comfortable inmy mind when I remember Gutchlug and Sanang
and Albert Feke and that dirty reptile Yarghouz
and when I recollect how that girl dealt with them!

Good God, John, I'm not a coward, I hope, but thatsort of thing worries me!"Recklow lighted his pipe.

He said: "In the Gov-

ernment's campaign against these eight foreigners
who have begun a psychic campaign against the unsuspicious people of this decent Republic, with the
purpose of surprising, overpowering and enslaving
the minds of mankind by a misuse of psychic power,

164.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

we agents of the Secret Service are slowly gaining
the upper hand.

"In this battle of minds we are gaining a victory.
But we are winning solely and alone through thepsychic ability and the loyalty and courage of ayoung girl who, through tragedy of circumstances,
spent the years of her girlhood in the infamous
Yezidee temple at Yian, and who learned from thedevil-worshipers themselves not only this so-called

magic of the Mongol sorcerers, but also how to meetits psychic menace and defeat it."He looked at Benton, shrugged:"If you and if Cleves really feel the slightest repugnance toward the strange psychic ability of thisbrave and generous girl, I for one do not share it."
Benton reddened: "It isn't exactly repug"
nance
But Recklow interrupted sharply:"Do you realise, Benton, what she's already accomplished for us in our secret battle against Bolshevism?
against the very powers of hell itself, led
by these Mongol sorcerers?
"Of the Eight Assassins or Sheiks-el-Djebel
who came to the United States to wield the dreadfulweapon of psychic power against the minds of ourpeople, and to pervert them and destroy all civilisaof the Eight Chief Assassins of the Eighttion,
Towers, this girl already has discovered and identified four,
Sanang, Gutchlug, Albert Feke, andYarghouz; and she has destroyed the last three."He sat calmly enjoying his pipe for a few moments' silence, then:AT THE RITZ

165

"Five of this sect of Assassins remain

five sly,murderous, psychic adepts who call themselves sor-

Except for Prince Sanang, I do not know
who these other four men may be. I haven't a noNor have you. Nor do I believe that with alltion.
the resources of the United States Secret Service wecerers.

ever should be able to discover these four Sheiksel-Djebel except for the astounding spiritual courageand psychic experience of the young wife of Victor

Cleves."After a moment Selden nodded.
true," he said simply.

"That is quite"We are utterly helplessagainst unknown psychic forces.

And I, for one, feelno repugnance toward what Mrs. Cleves has done
for all mankind and in the name of God.""She's a brave girl," muttered Benton, "but it's
terrible to possess such knowledge and horrible touse it."Recklow said "The horror of it nearly killed theHave you any idea how she must suffer:

girl herself.

by being forced to employ such terrific knowledge?
by being driven to use it to combat this menace ofhell? Can you imagine what this charming, sensitive,
tragic young creature must feel when, with powers
natural to her but unfamiliar to us, she destroys
with her own mind and will-power demons in humanshape who are about to destroy her?
"Talk of nerve! Talk of abnegation!

Talk of
There
more
is
than
and
courage!
perfect loyalty
There is that dauntlessthese in Tressa Cleves.
bravery which faces worse than physical death. Be-

166

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

cause the child still believes that her soul is damned

for whatever happened to her in the Yezidee temple
and that when these Yezidees succeed in killing her;body, Erlik will surely seize the soul that leaves it."
There was a knocking at the door. Benton got up

and opened it.

Victor Cleves came in with his youngwife.

Tressa Cleves seemed to have grown since she
Taller, a trifle paler, yet without

had been away.

even the subtlest hint of that charming maturity
which the young and happily married woman invariably wears, her virginal allure now verged vaguelyon the delicate edges of austerity.

and vigorous, looked older,and he seemed more
far less boyish
silent than when, nearly seven months before, he had
Cleves,sunburnt

somehowbeen assigned to the case of Tressa Nome.
Recklow, Selden and Benton greeted themwarmly; to each in turn Tressa gave her narrow,sun-tanned hand.
Recklow led her to a seat. A
servant came with iced fruit juice and little cakes
and cigarettes.
Conversation, aimless and general, fulfilling formalities, gradually ceased.

A full June moon stared through the open windows searching for the traditional bride, perhaps
and its light silvered a pale and lovely figure thatmight possibly have passed for the pretty ghost ofa bride, but not for any girl who had married because she was loved.

AT THE RITZ

167

Recklow broke the momentary silence, bluntly:"Have you anything to report, Cleves?"
The young fellow hesitated:"My wife has, I believe."
The others turned to her.

She seemed, for a

moment, to shrink back in her chair, and, as her eyes
involuntarily sought her husband, there was in thema vague and troubled appeal.
Cleves said in a sombre voice: "I need scarcely
remind you how deeply distasteful this entire andaccursed business is to my wife. But she is going to

And we four men
understand something of what it has cost her isin violence to her every instinct."
costing her"We honour her the more," said Recklow quietly.
see it through, whatever the cost.

"We couldn't honour her too much," said Cleves.

A slight colour came into Tressa's face she bent;

her head, but Recklow saw her eyes steal sideways

toward her husband.
Still

flect

bowed a little in her chair, she seemed to re-for a while concerning what she had to say;then, looking up at John"I saw Sanang.""Good heavens!
"I

don't

Recklow:

Where?" he demanded.

know."

Cleves, flushing with embarrassment, explained:"She saw him clairvoyantly. She was lying in thehammock. You remember I had a trained nurse forher after what happened in Orchid Lodge."
Tressa looked miserably at Recklow, dumbly,

for a moment.

Then her lips unclosed.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

168"I saw Prince Sanang," she repeated.

near the sea.

There were rocks"He wascottages on cliffs

and very brilliant flowers in tiny, pocket-like gardens.

"Sanang was walking on the cliffs with anotherman. There were forests, inland.""Do you know who the other man was?" asked
Recklow gently.
"Yes.
He was one of the Eight. I recognised
him. When I was a girl he came once to the Templeof Yian, all alone, and spread his shroud on the pinkmarble steps. And we temple girls mocked him andthrew stemless roses on the shroud, telling him they
were human heads with which to grease his toug."
She became excited and sat up straighter in her
chair, and her strange little laughter rippled like arillamong pebbles.

"I threw a big rose without a stem upon the
shroud," she exclaimed, "and I cried out, 'Niaz!'

which means, 'Courage,' and I mocked him, saying,'Djamouk Khagan,' when he was only a Khan, ofcourse and I laughed and rubbed one finger against
the other, crying out, 'Toug ia glachakho!' which
And which wasmeans, 'The toug is anointed.'
very impudent of me, because Djamouk was a Sheikel-Djebel and Khan of the Fifth Tower, and entitledto a toug and to eight men and a Toughtchi. And it;isa grave offence tomock at the anointing of a

toug."She paused, breathless, her splendid azure eyes
sparkling with the memory of that girlish mischief.

AT THE RITZ

169

Then their brilliancy faded; she bit her lip and stole
an uncertain glance at her husband.

And after a pause she explained in a very subdued voice that the "lagla michi," or action of"greasing the toug," or standard, was done when asevered human head taken in battle was cast at thefoot of the lance shaft stuck upright in the ground.

"You see," she said sadly, "we temple girls, being
already damned, cared little what we said, even tosuch a terrible man as Djamouk Khan. And evenhad the ghost of old Tchinguiz Khagan himself
comedo the temple and looked at us out of his tawnyeyes, I think we might have done something saucy."
Tressa's pretty face was spiritless, now; sheleaned back in her armchair and they heard an unconscious sigh escape her.

"Ai-ya Ai-ya I" she murmured to herself, "whatcrazy things we did on the rose-marble steps, Yulun!

and I, so longso long ago."
Cleves got up and went over to stand beside his

wife's chair.

"What happened is this," he said heavily. "During my wife's convalescence after that Yarghouz affair, she found herself, at a certain moment, clair-voyant.

And she thought she saw

she did see

Sanang, and an Asiatic she recognised as being oneof the chiefs of the Assassins sect, whose name is

Djamouk.
"But, except that it was somewhere near the sea
some summer colony probably on the Atlantic
coast

she does notknow where this pair of jail-170

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

birds roost.

And this is what we have come here toreport."Benton, politely appalled, tried not to look inBut it was evident that Selden and Reck-

credulous.

low had no doubts.

"Of course," said Recklow calmly, "the thing to
do is for you and your wife to try to find this place
she saw.""Make a tour of all such ocean-side resorts until
Mrs. Cleves recognises the place she saw," added
Selden. And to Recklow he added: "I believe there
are several perfectly genuine cases on record whereclairvoyants have aided the police.""Several authentic cases," said Recklow quietly.
But Benton' s face was a study.
Tressa looked up at her husband. He dropped
hand reassuringly on her shoulder and nodded

hiswith a slight smile.
"There there was something else," she said withconsiderable

hesitation"something not quite in"of duty perhaps"It seems to concern Benton,"line

added Cleves,smiling.

"What is it?" inquired Selden,
Benton's features froze to a mask.

smiling also as"Let me tell you, first," interrupted Cleves, "thatmy wife's psychic ability and skill can make mevisualise and actually see scenes and people which,
God knows, I never before laid eyes upon, but which
she has both seen and known.
"And one morning, in Florida, I asked her to do

AT THE RITZ

171

something strange something of that sort to amuse
and we were sitting on the steps of our cottageme

you know, the old club-house at Orchid I and theknew I saw, in the mist on the St. Johns, aChinese bridge humped up over that very commonplace stream, and thousands of people passing over*
and a city beyond the town of Yian, Tressa
it,tells me,and I heard the Buddhist bells and the big
temple gong and the noises in streets and on the"water
first IHe was becoming considerably excited at the memory, and his lean faceas he spoke :reddened and he gesticulated"It was astounding, Recklow!
There was thatbridge, and all those people moving over it; and thecity beyond, and the boats and shipping, and thevast

murmur of multitudes.

.

.

.

And then, there

on the bridge crossing toward Yian, I saw a young
girl, who turned and looked back at my wife andlaughed.""And I told him it was Yulun,"said Tressa,

simply.

"A playfellow of my wife's in Yian," explained
Cleves.

"But if she were really Chinese she didn't

look like what are

my own notions of a Chinese

girl.""YulunCleves.
I

came

from

Black

"I taught her English.

China," said Mrs.
I loved her dearly.

was her most intimate friend in Yian."
There ensued a silence, broken presently by Ben-

ton; and:THE SLAYER OF SOULS

172"Where do I appear in this?" he asked stiffly.
Tressa's smile was odd; she looked at Selden andsaid:"When I was convalescent I was lonely. ... I
And I found Yulun.
And again she was on a bridge. But she was dressed
And the bridge was one of 'those great,
as I am.
made the effort one evening.

horrible steel monsters that sprawl across the East

River.

And I was astonished, and I said, 'Yulun,Newdarling, are you really here in America and inYork, or has a demon tangled the threads of thought

to mock my mind in illness?'"Then Yulun looked very sorrowfully at me andwrote in Arabic characters, in the air, the name ofour enemy who once came to the Lake of Ghosts forlove of her
the Fox.

.

Yaddin-ed-Din, Tougtchi to Djamouk.

.

And who went his way again amid

He is a demon. And
our scornful laughter.
he was tangling my thread of thought!"
Tressa btecame exceedingly animated once more.
She rose and came swiftly to where Benton was.

.

.

standing.

"And what do you think!" she said eagerly.

"I

Will you make theWilleffort and come to me if I make the effort?
said to her, 'Yulun!

Yulun!

you come to me, beloved?'

And Yulun made 'Yes,'

with her lips."

After a silence: "Butquired Benton,

stiffly

where do I come in?" in-fearful of such matters.

"You came in."
"I don't understand."AT THE RITZ

173

"You came in the door while Yulun and I weretalking.""When?""When you came to see me after I was better,and you and Mr. Selden were going North with
Don't you remember; I was lying in
the hammock in the moonlight, and Victor told you
I was asleep?"

Mr. Recklow.

"Yes, of course"I was not asleep.

"I

was with Yulun. ...

I

had made the effort and I
did not know you werestanding beside my hammock in the moonlight until

And that is what I am to tell
Yulun told me.
And Yulun has writtenyou; Yulun saw you.
it in Chinese, in Eighur characters and in Arabic,
that
tracing them with her forefinger in the air
Yulun, loveliest in Yian, flame-slender and very
.

.

.

.

.

.

white, has seen her heart, like a pink pearl afire,burning between your august hands.""My hands !" exclaimed Benton, very red.
There fell an odd silence. Nobody laughed.

Tressa came nearer to Benton, wistful, uncertain,
shy.

"Would you care to see Yulun?" she asked.
"Wellno," he said, startled.

"I

I

shall notdeny that such things worry me a lot, Mrs. Cleves.
an Episcopalian."I'm a

The tension released, Selden was the first to laugh.
"There's no use blinking the truth," he said;Of"we're up against something absolutely new.
It can, of course, be excourse, it isn't magic.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

174.

plained by natural laws about which we happen to

know nothing at present."
Recklow nodded.

"What do we know about thehas been proven that no thought
can originate within that mass of convoluted physical
It has been proven thatmatter called the brain.

human mind?

Itsomething outside the brain originates thought anduses the brain as a vehicle to incubate it. What do

we know about thought?"
Selden, much interested, sat cogitating and looking
atMrs. Cleves.

But Benton, still flushed and evi-

dently nervous, sat staring out of the window at thefull moon, and twisting an unlighted cigarette toshreds.

"Why didn't you tell Benton when the thing occurred down there at Orchid Lodge, the night wecalled to say good-bye?" asked Selden, curiously.
Tressa gave him a distressed smile 1 was afraidC:

he wouldn't believe me.

And I was afraid that you

and Mr. Recklow, even

if

not

like

like

you believed it, mightme any the betterforfor beingclairvoyant."

Recklow came over, bent his handsome grey head,and kissed her hand.
"I never liked any woman better, nor respected
any woman as deeply," he said. And, lifting hishead, he saw tears sparkling in her eyes.
"My dear," he said in a low voice, and his firm
hand closed over the slim fingers he had kissed.
Benton got up from his chair, went to the window,
turned shortly and came over to Tressa.

AT THE RITZ

175

'Tou're braver than I ever could learn to be," hesaid shortly., "I ask your pardon if I seem sceptical.
I'm more worried than incredulous. There's something born in me
part of me that shrinks fromanything that upsets my orthodox belief in the futurelife.
But if you wish me to see this this girl
Yulun it's quite all right."
She said softly, and with gentle wonder: "I knowof nothing that could upset your belief, Mr. Benton.

There is only one God.

And if Mahomet be His

prophet, or if he be Lord Buddha, or if your Lord
Christ be vice-regent to the Most High, I do notknow.

All I know is that God is God, and that He

prevailed over Satan who was stoned. And that in
Paradise is eternal life, and in hell demons hide

where dwells Erlik, Prince of Darkness."
Benton, silent and secretly aghast at her theology,
said nothing.
Recklow pleasantly but seriously denied that Satan and his demons were actual and concrete creatures.

Again Cleves's handfelllightlyon

his

wife'sshoulder, in a careless gesture of reassurance. And,
to Benton, "No soul is ever lost," he said, calmly.
"I don't exactly know how that agrees with your or-

thodoxy, Benton. But it is surely so.""I don't know myself," said Benton.

"I hope it'sso."

He looked at Tressa a moment and then blurted

out:"Anyway,ifever there was a soul in God's

keeping and guarded by His angels, it's your wife's 1""That also is true," said Cleves quietly.

"By

the

way,"

remarked

Recklowcarelessly,

176

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"I've arranged to have you stop at the Ritz while
You and your IniSyou're in town, Mrs. Cleves.

band are to occupy the apartment adjoining this.

Where is your luggage, Victor?""In our apartment.""That won't do," said Recklow decisively.

"Tel-ephone for it."
Cleves went to the telephone, but Recklow took
the instrument out of his hand and called the number.

The voice of one of his own agents answered.
Cleves was standing alone by the open window
Tressa, on
the sofa, had been whispering with Benton. Selden,

when Recklow hung up the telephone.

looking over the evening paper by the rose-shaded
lamp, glanced up as Recklow went over to Cleves.
"Victor," he said, "your man has been murdered.

His throat was cut; his head was severed completely.
Your luggage has been ransacked and so has yourapartment. Three of my men are in possession, andthe local police seem to comprehend the necessity ofkeeping the matter out of the newspapers.

What

was in your baggage?""Nothing," said Cleves, ghastly pale.
"All right.
We'll have your effects packed up
again and brought over here. Are you going to tell
your wife?"
Cleves,still

deathly pale, cast a swift glance to-

She sat on the sofa in animated conversation with Benton. She laughed once, and Benton

ward her.

smiled at what she was saying.
"Is there any need to tell her, Recklow?"AT THE RITZ

177

"Not for a while, anyway.""All right.

I

suppose the Yezidees are respon-sible for this horrible business."

Your poor servant's head lay at the"Certainly.
foot of a curtain-pole which had been placed uprightbetween two chairs. On the pole were tied three
from the dead man's head.
had been rubbed with blood."
tufts of hair

The pole"That's Mongol custom," muttered Cleves. "They

made

a

toug

and 'greased'

it!

the

murderous

devils !""They did more. They left at the foot of yourbed and at the foot of your wife's bed two white
sheets.

And a knife lay in the centre of each sheet.

That, of course, is the symbol of the Sect of Assassins."

His body, as he leaned there on
Cleves nodded.
the window sill in the moonlight, trembled. But his
face had grown dark with rage.

"If I could

could only get my hands on one ofthem," he whispered hoarsely.
"Be careful. Don't wear a face like that. Your
wife is looking at us," murmured Recklow.
With an effort Cleves raised his head and smiledroom at his wife.
"Our luggage will be sent over shortly," he said.

across the"If you're tired, we'll say good-night."

So she rose and the three men came to make theiradieux and pay their compliments and devoirs. Then,with a smile that seemed almost happy, she went
into her own apartment on her husband's arm.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

178

Cleves and his wife had connecting bedrooms andHere they paused for a moment before the always formal ceremony of leaveThere were roses on the centre
taking at night.
table.
Tressa dropped one hand on the table anda sitting-room between.

bent over the flowers.

"They seem sofriendly,"

she said under her

breath.

He thought she meant that she found even inflowers a refuge from the solitude of a loveless marriage.

He said quietly: "I think you will find the world
very friendly, if you wish.

n

But she shook her head,looking at the roses.
Finally he said good-night and she extended herhand, and he took it formally.

Then their hands fell away. Tressa turned andAt the door she stopped,

went toward her bedroom.
turned slowly.

"What shall I do about Yulun?" she asked.
"What is there to do ? Yulun is in China.""Yes, her body is.""Do you mean that the rest of heriswhatever it

could come here?""Why, of course.""So that Benton could see her?""Yes.""Could he see her just as she is?
clothes and everything?"

figure"Yes."Her face andAT THE RITZ

179

"Would she seem real or like a ghost
whatever you choose to call such things?"

spiritTressa smiled. "She'd be exactly as real as you
or I, Victor. She'd seem like anybody else.""That's astonishing," he muttered. "Could Benton hear her speak?""Certainly.""Talk to her?"
Tressa laughed: "Of course.

If

Yulun shouldmake the effort she could leave her body as easily
as she undresses herself.

Itisno more difficult todivest one's self of one's body than

one garment and put on another.

.

it is
.

.

to put off

And, some-how, I think Yulun will do it to-night.""Come hercT'"It would be like her." Tressa laughed. "Isn't
it odd that she should have become ro enamoured of
Mr. Benton just seeing him there in the moonlightthat night at Orchid Lodge?"

For a moment the smile curved her lips, then the
shadow fell again across her eyes, veiling them inthat strange and lovely way which Cleves knew sowell; and he looked into her impenetrable eyes introubled silence.
"Victor," she said in a low voice, "were you afraid
to tell me that your man had been murdered?"

After a moment: "You always know everything,"
he said unsteadily. "When did you learn it?""Just before Mr. Recklow told you.""How did you learn it, Tressa?""I looked into our apartment."

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

180"When?""While you were telephoning.""You mean you looked into our rooms fromhere?'"Yes, clairvoyantly.""What did you see?""The laglamichi!" she said with a shudder. "KailThe Toug of Djamouk is anointed at last!""Is that the beast of a Mongol who did thismurder ?""Djamouk and Prince Sanang planned it,"she

"But that butchery was
trembling a little.
Yaddin's work, I think. Kai
The work of Yaddinsaid,!

ed-Din, Tougtchi to Djamouk the Fox!"
They stood confronting each other, the length of
the sitting-room between them.

And after the silence

had lasted a full minute Cleves reddened and said:"I am going to sleep on the couch at the foot of
your bed, Tressa."
His young wife reddened too.
He said: "This affair has thoroughly scared me.
I can't let you sleep out of"I

am quite safe.

my sight."
And you would have an un-

comfortable night," she murmured.

"Do you mind if I sleep on the couch, Tressa?""No.""Will you call me when you are ready?""Yes."She went into her bedroom and closed the door.
When he was ready he slipped a pistol into thepocket of his dressing-gown, belted it over his py-

AT THE RITZ

181

jamas, and walked into the sitting-room.

His wife
him presently, and he went in. Her nightlamp was burning and she extended her hand to excalled

tinguish it.

"Could you sleep if it burns?" he asked bluntly.
"Yes.""Then let it burn.

This business has got on mynerves," he muttered.
They looked at each other in an expressionless

Both really understood how useless was thisway.

symbol of protection this man the girl called husband; how utterly useless his physical strength,
and the pistol sagging in the pocket of his dressing-

Both understood that the only real projection
must come from her from thegifted and guardian mind of this young girl who lay
there looking at him from the pillows.
"Good-night," he said, flushing; "I'll do my best.
But only one of God's envoys, like you, knows how
to do battle with things that come out of hell."After a moment's silence she said in a colourless
voice "I wish you'd lie down on the bed."gown.

to be looked for:"Had you rather I did?""Yes."So he went slowly to the bed, placed his pistol
under the pillow, drew
him, and lay down.

hisdressing-gown around

After he had lain unstirring for half an hour:"Try to sleep, Tressa," he said, without turning his
head.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

182"Can't you seem tosleep,

Victor?" she asked.

And he heard her turn her head.
"No.""Shall I help you?""Do you mean use hypnosis

power of sug-theon me?"

gestion"No. I can help you to sleep very gently. I
can make you very drowsy.
You are drowsy
now.
You are very close to the edge of sleep.
.

.

.

.

.

.

Sleep, dear.

.

.

deeplysweetlydear husband.".

.

Sleep, easily, naturally, con-.

.

fidently as a tired boy.
.

.

.

.

You are sleeping,

.

.

.

.

.

my dear

.

.

.

.

.

.

my dear,CHAPTER XIYULUN THE BELOVED
opened his eyes. He was lying on his
In the pink glow of the night-lamp

left side.

CLEVEShe saw

his wife in her night-dress, seated side-

ways on the farther edge of the bed, talking to ayoung girl.
The strange girl wore what appeared to be achamber-robe of frail gold tissue that clung to herbody and glittered as she moved. He had neverbefore seen such a dress; but he had seen the girl;
he recognised her instantly as the girl he had seen
turn to look back at Tressa as she crossed the phan-

tom bridge over that misty Florida river. And
Clever Comprehended that he was looking at Yulun.
But this charming young thing was no ghost, no
astral projection. This girl was warm, living, breathing flesh.

The delicate scent of her strange gar-ments and of her hair, her very breath, was in the
air of the room. Her half-hushed but laughing voice
was deliciously human; her delicate little hands, caressing Tressa's, were too eagerly real to doubt.
Both talked at the same time, their animatedvoices mingling in the breathless delight of the re-union.

Their exclamations,183

enchanting laughter,THE SLAYER OF SOULS

184

bubbling chatter, filled his ears. But not one wordof what they were saying to each other could heunderstand.

Suddenly Tressa looked over her shoulder andmet his astonished eyes.
"Tokhta!" she exclaimed. "Yulun! My lord
is awake I"
Yulun swung around swiftly on the edge of the
bed and looked laughingly at Cleves. But when
her redunclosed she spoke to Tressa: and,shesaid in English, "I think your dear
"Darling,"
lord remembers that he saw me on the Bridge ofDreams.

lips

And heard the bells of Yian across themist."

Tressa said, laughing at her husband: "This is
Yulun, flame-slender, very white, loveliest in Yian.
On the rose-marble steps of the Yezidee Temple she
flung a stemless rose upon Djamouk's shroud, where
he had spread it like a patch of snow in the sun.

"And at the Lake of the Ghosts, where there is
freedom to love, for those who desire love,, came
Yaddin, Tougtchi to Djamouk the Fox, in search ofand Yulun, flame-slim, and flower-white.
.
Tell my dear lord, Yulun I"
Yulun laughed at Cleves out of her dark eyes that
love

.

.

slanted charmingly at the corners.

"Kail" she cried softly, clapping her palms. "I
took his roses and tore them with my hands till theirpetals rained on him and their golden hearts werea powdery cloud floating across the water.

"I said: 'Even thedamned do not mate with

YULUN THE BELOVED

185

So go to the devil, my Bandemons, my Tougtchi"
neret, and may Erlik seize you!'!

Cleves, his ears ringing with the sweet confusionof their girlish laughter, rose from his pillow, sup-porting himself on one arm.
"You are Yulun. You are alive and real

He looked at Tressa:""She is real, isn't she?" And,to Yulun: "Where do you come from?"

The girl replied seriously: "I come from Yian.""Thouknowest, my heart's gold, how it was I came. Tell
thy dear lord in thine own way, so that it shall be
And now besimple for his understanding.
She turned to Tressa with a dazzling smile.

cause my visit is ending
sleep.

.

:.

I think thy dear lord should

Bid him sleep, my heart's goldl"

At that calm suggestion Cleves sat upright on the
But sank back gently on his
a
and
met
there
dark, delicious rush of drowpillow
bed,

or attempted to.

siness.

He made an effort

or tried to the smooth, sweet:tide of sleep swept over him to the eyelids, leaving

him still and breathing evenly on his pillow.
The two girls leaned over and looked down athim.

"Thy dear lord," murmured Yulun.

"Does helove thee, rosebud of Yian?""No," said Tressa, under her breath.
"Does he know thou art damned, heart of gold?""He says no soul is ever really harmed," whispered Tressa.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

186

"Kail

Has he never heard of the Slayer ofSouls?" exclaimed Yulun incredulously.
"My lord maintains that neither the Assassin ofKhorassan nor the Sheiks-el-Djebel of the Eight
Towers, nor their dark prince Erlik, can have powerover God to slay the human soul.""Tokhta, Rose of Yianl Our souls were slain
there in the Yezfdee temple."
Tressa looked down at Cleves:"My dear lord says no," she said under her
breath.

"And

Sanang?"Tressa paled: "His mind and mine did battle. I
tore my heart from his grasp. I have laid it, bleedLet God judge between
ing, at my dear lord's feet.
us, Yulun.""There was a day," whispered Yulun, "whenPrince Sanang went to the Lake of the Ghosts."
Tressa, very pallid, looked down at her sleeping
She said:husband.

"Prince Sanang came to the Lake of the Ghosts.

The snow of thecherry-trees covered theyoungworld.

"The water was clear as sunlight; and the lake
Yulun beloved
was afire with scarlet carp.

.

.

the nightingale sang all night long.

.

.

all night long

Then I saw Sanang shining, all gold, in the

May God remember him in hell!""May God remember him.""Sanang Noi'ane. May he be accursed in the
Namaz Gal"

moonlight.

.

.

YULUN THE BELOVED

187"May he be tormented in Jehaunum! Sanang,
Slayer of Souls."
Tressa leaned forward on the bed, stretched herself out, and laid her face gently across her husband's feet, touching them with her lips.

Then she straightened herself and sat up,

sup-ported by one hand, and looking silently down at thesleeping man.

"No soul shall die," she said. "Niaz!""Is it written?" asked Yulun, surprised.

"My lord has said it.""Allahou Ekber," murmured Yulun; "thy lordis only a man."
Tressa said: "Neither the Tekbir nor the fatha,
nor the warning of Khidr, nor the Yacaz of the
Khagan, nor even the prayers of the Ten Imaums
are of any value to me unless my dear lord confirms
the truth of them with his own lips.""AndErlik? Is he nothing, then?""Erlik!" repeated Tressa insolently.
"Who isErlik but the servant of Satan who was stoned?"
Her beautiful, angry lips were suddenly distorted;
her blue eyes blazed. Then she spat, her mouth stilltremulous with hatred. She said in a voice shaking
with rage:"Yulun, beloved! Listen attentively. I have slain
two of the Slayers of the Eight Towers. With God'sall!
Djamouk, Yaddin,
help I shall slay them all
Arrak Sou-Sou all! every one! Tiyang Khan,
Togrul,them!"

all shall I slay,

even to the last one among

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

188"Sanang, also?"
It is a fearful thing to fall
"I leave him to God.
into the hands of the living God!"

Yulun calmly paraphrased the cant phrase of theAssassins: "For it is written that we belong to God

and we return to Him.

Heart of gold, I shall exe-cute my dutyl"

Then Yulun slipped from the edge of the bed to
the floor, and stood there looking oddly at Tressa,
her eyes rain-bright as though choking back tears

or laughter.

"Heart of a rose," she said in a suppressed voice,"my time is nearly ended. ... So. ... I go to thechamber of this strange young man who holds mysoul like a pearl afire between his hapds. ... I
think it it written that I shall love him."

Tressa rose also and placed her lips close to
Yulun's ear: "His name, beloved, is Benton. Hisroom is on this floor.

Shall we make the effort to-gether?""Yes," said Yulun.

"Lay your body down upon

the bed beside your lord who sleeps so deeply.

.

.

.

And now stretch out.
And fold both hands.
And now put off thy body like a silken garment.
So!
And leave it there beside thy lord,
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

asleep."

They stood together for a moment, shining likedewy shapes of tall flowers, whispering and laughing
together in the soft glow of the night lamp.
Cleves slept on, unstirring.
There was the whiteYULUN THE BELOVED

189

and sleeping figure of his wife lying on the bed beside him.

But Tressa and Yulun were already melting away
between the wall and the confused rosy radiance ofthe lamp.

Benton, in night attire and chamber-robe belted in,from his bath and still drying his curly hair

fresh

on a rough towel, wandered back into his bedroom.
When his short, bright hair was dry, he lighted acigarette, took the automatic from his dresser, examined the clip, and shoved it under his pillow.

Then he picked up the little leather-bound Testament, seated himself, and opened it. And read
tranquilly while his cigarette burned.

When he was ready he turned out the ceiling light,
Then he knelt
leaving only the night lamp lighted.
beside his bed,a custom surviving the nursery
period,hands.

and rested his forehead against his folded

Then, as he prayed, something snapped the threadof prayer as though somebody had spoken aloud inthe still room; and, like one who has been suddenlyinterrupted, he

opened his eyes and looked aroundand upward.

The silent shock of her presence passed presently.

He got up from his knees, looking at her all thewhile.

"You are Yulun," he said very calmly.
The girl flushed brightly and rested one hand on
the foot of the bed.

"Do you remember in the moonlight where you

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

190

walked along the hedge of white hibiscus and oleanderthat night you said good-bye to Tressa in theSouth?""Yes.""Twice," she said, laughing, "you stopped to peerat the blossoms in the moonlight.""I thought I saw a face among them.""You were not sure whether it was flowers or a
girl's face looking at you from the blossoming hedgeof white hibiscus," said Yulun.
"I know now," he said in an odd, still voice, unlike
his

own.

"Yes, it was I," she murmured. And of a sudden
the girl dropped to her knees without a sound andlaid her head on the velvet carpet at his feet.

was it done that he had
had not moved when she sat
upright, resting on her knees, and grasped the collar
Soswiftly, noiselessly

not comprehendedof her tunic with both gemmed hands.

"Have pity on me, lord of my lost soul !" she criedsoftly.

Benton stooped in a dazed way to lift the girl; but
found himself knee deep in a snowy drift of white
hibiscus blossoms
touched nothing but silken petals

waded in them as he stepped forward. And saw
her standing before him still grasping the collar ofher golden tunic.

A great white drift of bloom lay almost waist
deep between them the fragrance of oleander, too,
was heavy in the room.
"There are years of life before the flaming gates;

YULUN THE BELOVED
of Jehaunum open.

191

And I am very young," said

Yulun wistfully.

Somebody else laughed in the room.

Turning hishead, he saw Tressa standing by the empty fireplace.
"What you see and hear need not disturb you,"she said, looking at Benton out of brilliant eyes.
"There is no god but God; and His prophet has

been called by many names." And to Yulun "Have
I not told you that nothing can harm our souls?"
Yulun's expression altered and she turned to Ben:ton:

"Say it to me !" she pleaded.

As in a dream he heard his own words "Nothingcan ever really harm the soul.":

Yulun's hands

fellfrom her tunic collar.

Veryslowly she lifted her head, looking at him out oflovely, proud young eyes.

She said, evenly, her still gaze on him: "I am
Yulun of the Temple. My heart is like a blazing
pearl which you hold between your hands.
May
the four Blessed Companions witness the truth ofwhat I say."

Then a delicate veil of colour wrapped her whitefrom throat to temple; she looked at Benton
with sudden and exquisite distress, frightened andskinashamed at his silence.
In the intense stillness Benton moved toward her.
Into his outstretched hands her two hands fell; but,bending above them, his lips touched only two white
hibiscus flowers that lay

fresh anddewy

in hispalms.
Bewildered, be straightened up; and saw the girlTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

192

standing by the mantel beside Tressa, who hadcaught her by the left hand.
"Tokhta! Look out!" she said distinctly.
Suddenly he saw two men in the room, close to

him

their

broad

faces,

slanting eyes, and sparsebeards thrust almost against his shoulder.

Yaddin-ed-Din!" cried Tressa in a
But quick as a flash Yulun tore awhite sheet from the bed, flung it on the floor, and,"Djamouk!

terrible voice.

whipping a tiny, jewelled knife from her sleeve,threw it glittering upon the sheet at the feet of thetwo men.
"One shroud for two souls I" she said breathlessly.
"
and a knife like that to sever them from theirbodies!"

The two men sprang backward as the sheet
touched their feet, and now they stood there as
though confounded.
"Djamouk, Kahn of the Fifth Tower!" cried
Tressa in a clear voice, "you have put off your body
like athreadbare cloak, and your form that stands

And it fs only the evil willof Yaddin in the shape of his body that confronts

there Is only your mind!

us in this room of a man you have doomed!"

Yulun, intent as a young leopardess on her prey,

moved soundlessly toward Yaddin.
"Tougtchi!" she said coldly, "you did murder thisday,

my Banneret, and the Toug of Djamouk has

been greased. Now look out for yourself !""Don't stirl" came Tressa's warning voice, as
Benton snatched his pistol from the pillow. "Don't

YULUN THE BELOVED

193

Those men have no real substance For God's
sake don't fireI tell you they have no bodies !"Suddenly something some force flung Benton
on the bed. The two men did not seem to touch him

fire !

!

!

at all, but he lay there struggling, crushed, held bysomething that was strangling him.
Through his swimming eyes he saw Yaddin trying
to drive a long nail into his skull with a hammer,
felt the piercing agonyof the first crashing blow,

struggled upright, drenched in blood, his ears ringing with the screaming of Yaddin.

Then, there in the little rococo bedroom of the
Ritz-Carlton, began a strange and horrible strugthe more dreadful because the struggle was notglephysical and the combatants never touched eachotherscarcely moved at all.

Yaddin, still screaming, confronted Yulun. The
her lips parted with the vio-

girl's eyes were ablaze,

And Yaddin writhed andscreamed under the terrible concentration of herlence of her breathing.

mind locked withgaze, his inferior but ferocious

her mind in deadly battle.

The girl said slowly, showing a glimmer of white
teeth:"Your will to do evil to my young lord isbreaking, Yaddin-ed-Din.

.

...

I

am breaking it.

The nail and hammer were but symbols.

It

was

your brain that brooded murder that willed heshould die as though shattered by lightning when thatblood-vessel burst in his brain!""Sorceress!" shrieked Yaddin, "what are you do-THE SLAYER OF SOULS

194

ing to my heart, where my body lies asleep in a berthon the Montreal Express!""Your heart is weak, Yaddin. Soon the valves
A negro porter shall discover you deadshall fail.
in your berth, my Banneret!"
The man's swarthy face became livid with the terrific mental battle.
"Let me go back to my body !" he panted. "Whatare you doing to me that I can not go back? I will"I
I wish it
go back"Let us go back and rejoin our bodies!" cried
Djamouk in an agonised voice. "There are teeth
!

in

!

my throat, deep in my throat, biting and tearingout the cords.""Cancer," said Tressa calmly.

"Your body shalldie of it while your soul stumbles on through dark-

ness.""My Tougtchi!" shouted Djamouk, "I hear mysoul bidding my body farewell!

I

must go before

my mind expires in the terrible gaze of this young
sorceress!"

He turned, drifted like something misty to thesolid wall.

"My soul be ransom for yours!" cried Yulun to"Bar that man's path to life !"Tressa flung out her right hand and, with her fore-

Tressa.

finger, drew a barrier through space, bar above bar.

And Benton, half swooning on his bed, saw a cageof terrible and living light penning in Djamouk, whobeat upon the incandescent bars and grasped them

YULUN THE BELOVED

195

and clawed his way about, squealing like a tortured
rat in a red-hot cage.

Through the deafening tumult Yulun's voice cut
like a sword:"Their bodies are dying, Heart of a Rose!
I hear their souls bidding their minds fare.

.

.

Listen !

well!"

And, after a dreadful silence: "The train speedGod is God.
ing north carries two dead men!
Niaz!"The bars of living fire faded. Two cinder-like andshapeless shadows floated and eddied like whitenedashes stirred by a wind on the hearth; then drifted
through the lamp-light, fading, dissolving, lost gradually in thin air.

Tressa, leaning back against the mantel, covered
her face with both hands.

Yulun crept to the bed where Benton lay, breathing evenly in deepest sleep.
With the sheer sleeve of her tunic she wiped theblood from his face.

And, at her touch, the woundin the temple closed and the short, bright hair driedand curled over a forehead as clean and fresh as a
boy's.

Then Yulun laid her lips against his, rested so a
moment.
"Seek me, dear lord," she whispered.

"Or sendme a sign and I shall come."
And, after a pause, she said, her lips scarcely"Love me. My heart is a flaming pearl

stirring:burning between your hands."

196

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Then she lifted her head.
But Tressa had rejoined her body, where it lay
asleep beside her deeply sleeping husband.
So Yulun stood a moment, her eyes remote. Then,after a while, the little rococo bedroom in the Ritz-

Carlton was empty save for a young man asleep on
the bed, holding in his clenched hand a white hibiscus
blossom.

CHAPTER XIIHISEXCELLENCYEXCELLENCY PRESIDENT TIN-HISTINTO, Chief Executive of one of thenewer and cruder republics, visiting New
York incognito with his Secretaries of War and of
the Navy, had sent for John Recklow.

And now

the reception was in full operation.

Recklow was explaining.

"In the beginning," hesaid, "the Bolsheviks' aim was to destroy everything

and everybody except themselves, and then to reorganise for their own benefit what was left of a"
wrecked world. That was their programmeof"Quite a programme," interrupted the Secretary
War, with something that almost resembled a

But his prominent eyes continued to stare
giggle.
at Recklow untouched by the mirth which stretched
his large, silly

mouth.

The face of the Secretary of the Navy resembled
the countenance of a benevolent manatee. The visage of the President was a study in tinted chalks.
Recklow said: "To combat that sort of Bol-shevism was a business that we of the United Statesor supposed we underSecret Service understood
stood.
197

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

138"Then, suddenly, out of unknown Mongolia andinto the civilised world stepped eight men.""Yezidees,"

the

said

"Your Government has

President
sent

me

a

mechanically.

very

full

re-

port.""Yezidees of the Sect of the Assassins," con"the most ancient sect in theworld surviving from ancient times the Sorcerersof Asia. And, as it was in ancient times, so it is
now: the Yezidees are devil worshipers; their god
tinued Recklow;isSatan; his prophet is Erlik, Prince of Darkness;on earth is the old man of Mount Ala-

his regent

mout; and to this ancient and sinister title a Yezidee sorcerer called Prince Sanang, or Sanang No'iane, has succeeded.

"His murderous deputies were the Eight Khans
Four of these assassins aredead Gutchlug, Yarghouz, Djamouk the Fox, andYaddin-ed-Din. One is in prison charged with murof the Eight Towers.

der,Albert Feke.

"Four of the sorcerers remain

alive: Tiyang
Khan, Togrul, Arrak, Sou-Sou, called The Squirrel,
and the Old Man of the Mountain himself, Sai-

Sanang, Prince of the Yezidees."

Recklow paused; the pop-eyes of the War Secretary were upon him the benevolent manatee gazedmildly at him; the countenance of the President;

seemed more like a Rocky Mountain goat than everchiselled out of a block of tinted chalk.

Recklow said: "To the menace of Bolshevism,
which endangers this Republic and yours, has been

HIS EXCELLENCY

199

added a more terrible threat the threat of powand evil minds made formidable by psychic

erfulknowledge.

"For these Yezidee Sorcerers are determined toconquer, seize, and subdue the minds of mankind.
They are here for that frightful purpose. Powerfully, terrifically equipped to surprise and capture
the unarmed minds of our people, enslave their very

thoughts and use them to their own purposes, these
Sorcerers of the Yezidees assumed control of the
Bolsheviki, who were merely envious

and ferocious
whose crippled minds are now utterly
enslaved by these Assassins from Asia.
"And this is what the United States Secret Servbandits, but

And its weapons are not warFor in this awful battle between
decency and evil, it is mind against mind in an occultice

has to combat.

rants, not pistols.

death grapple. And our only weapon against theseminds made powerful by psychic knowledge andmade terrible by an esoteric ability akin to what iscalled black magic,
our only weapon is the mind ofa young girl.""I understand," said the President, "that she be-came an adept in occult practices while imprisoned
Yezidee Temple of Erlik at Yian."
Recklow looked into the President's face, which
had grown very pale.
"Yes, sir," he said. "God alone knows what thisin thechild learned in the Yezidee Temple.
is that with this knowledge she hasin a battle

All

I

know

met the Yezideesof minds, has halted them, confoundedTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

200

them, fought them with their own occult knowledge,
and has slain four of them."
The intense silence was broken by the frivolous
titter of the Secretary ofWar:"Of course I don't believe any of this supernatural stuff,"

he said with the split grin which did notmodify his protruding stare.

"This girl is merely aclever detective, that is the gist of the matter.
IAnd

don't believe anything else.""Perhaps, sir, you will believe this, then," said
John Recklow quietly. "I cut it from the Times
And he handed the clipping to thethis morning."
Secretary of War.

NEW PLOT IN EAST
Moslem and Hindu Conspirators
Have Formed Secret
Organisation

Have World Revolution in View
Think to Rouse Asia, America, and Africa
to Outbreaks by Their

Propaganda.

Copyright, I9i9,by The New York Times Company.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
'July

place.

i.

A significant event has recently taken

Under the name of the Oriental League has

recently been established a central organisation unit-

HIS EXCELLENCY201

ing all the various secret societies of Moslem and
Hindu nationalists. The aim of the new association
is to prepare for joint
revolutionary action in Asia,
America, and Africa.
The effects of this vast conspiracy may already be
traced in recent events in Egypt, India, and Afghanistan.
For the first time, through the creation ofthis league, the racial and religious differences whichhave divided Eastern conspirators have been over-

The Ottoman League, founded by Mahmud
Muktar Pasha, Munir Pasha, and Ahmed RechidBey, has adhered to the new organisation. So havethe extreme Egyptian nationalists and the Hindu revcome.

olutionary group, "Pro India," emissaries of whichwere recently sentenced for bringing bombs into

Switzerland during the war at the instigation of theGerman General Staff.
At a "Constituent Assembly" of the league, which
took place in Yian, there were present, besides Young

Turks, Egyptians and Hindus, delegates representing Persia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, andMongolia.
The league is of Mongolian origin. Its leading
spirit is a certain

Prince Sanang, of whom little

isknown.
Associated with this mischievous and rather mysterious Mongolian personage are three better known
criminals,

now fugitives from justicever, and Djemal.

Talaat, Enfor

It is to Enver Pasha's talent

Moslems and Hin-intrigue that the union between
feature of thedus, the most striking and dangerous
movement, is chiefly due.
Considerable funds are at the disposal of the

These are partly supplied from Germany.
Besides enjoying the support of the Germans, theleague.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

202
leagueisalso in close touch with Lenine, who verysoon after his advent to power organised an Oriental Department in Moscow.

The alliance between the league and the Russian
Bolsheviki was brought about by the notorious Ger-

man Socialist agent, "Parvus," who is now in Switzerland.
Many weeks ago he conferred with theSoviet rulers in Moscow, whence he went to Afghanistan, hoping to reorganise the new Amir's army andestablish lines of communication for propaganda inIndia.

Evidence exists that the recent insurrection in
Egypt, the sudden attack of the Afghans, and therising in India, remarkable for co-operation between
Moslems and Hindus, were connected with the activities of the league.

The Secretary looked up

after he finished thereading.
"I don't see anything about Black Magic in this?"he remarked flippantly.
Recklow's features became very grave.
"I think," he said, "that everybody myself inand, with all respect, even yourself, sir,and your honourable colleague, and perhaps evencludedhis Excellency

your President,

should be on per-that
petual guard over their minds, and the thoughts

range there, lest, surreptitiously, stealthily, sometaint of Yezidee infection lodge there and take rootand spread perhaps throughout your new Republic."

HIS EXCELLENCYThe Secretary of War grinned.

$03"They say I'm

something of a socialist already," he chuckled. "Do
you think your magic Yezidees are responsible ?"The President, troubled and pallid, gazed steadily at Recklow.
"Mine is a single-track mind," he remarked as

though to himself.
Recklow said nothing.

It isone kind of mind,

However, single-track roads are now ob-

after all.
solete.

"A single-track mind," repeated the"And

President.

should not like anything to happen to theIswitch.

It would mean ditchingat best.

.

.

.

Please do

all

that

or a rusty siding
ispossible to getthose four Yezidees, Mr. Recklow.""Our only hope is in thisTressawho is now Mrs. Cleves."
Nome,
young girl,
Recklow said calmly:"My conscience!" piped the Secretary of the
Navy.

"What would happen to us if these Yezi-

dees should murder her?""God knows," replied John Recklow, unsmiling.

"Why not put her aboard our new dreadnought?"
suggested the Secretary, "and keep her cruising until

you United States Secret Service fellows get theYezidees and clap 'em into

rest of these infernal

jail?""We can do nothing without her," said Recklow
sombrely.

There was a painful silence. The President joined
his finger tips and stared palely into space.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

204"May I not say," he suggested, "that I think it avital necessity that these Yezidees be caught and de-stroyed before 'they do any damage to the mindsof myself and my cabinet?""God grant it, sir," said Recklow grimly.
"Mine," murmured the President, "is a singletrack mind. I should be very much annoyed if anybody tampered with the rails very much annoyed
indeed,Mr. Recklow.""They mustn't murder that girl," said the Secretary of the Navy. "Do you need any Marines, Mr.
Recklow? Why not ask your Government for afew?"
Recklow rose:

"Mr. President," he said, "I shallnot deny that my Government is very deeply disIn the beginning, theseturbed by this situation.
eight Assassins, and Sanang, came here for the pur-pose of attacking, overpowering, and enslaving theminds of the people of the United States and of
the South American Republics.
"But now, after four of their infamous colleagues

have been destroyed, the ferocious survivors, thoroughly alarmed, have turned their every energy to-ward accomplishing the death of Mrs. Cleves Why,sir, scarcely a day passes but that some attempt upon
her life is made by these Yezidees.
!

"Scarcely a day passes that this young girl is notsuddenly summoned to defend her mind as well as
her body against the occult attacks of these Mongol
Sorcerers.

Yes, sir, Sorcerers!" repeated Recklow,

HIS EXCELLENCY
his calm voice deep with controlled passion,

205"

whatever your honourable Secretary of War may think

about it I"

His cold, grey eyes measured the President as hestood there.

"Mr. President, I am at my wits' end to protect

Her husband is always with
Victor Cleves, sir, of our Secret Service. But

her from assassination

her!

wherever he takes her these devils follow and send
their emissaries to watch her, to follow, to attempt
her mental destruction or her physical death.
"There is no end to their stealthy cunning, totheir devilish devices, to their hellish ingenuity!

"And all we can do is to guard her person fromthe approach of strangers, and stand ready, physically, to aid her.

"She is our only barrier your only defence between civilisation and horrors worse than Bolshevism.
"] believe, Mr. President, that civilisation in
North and South America in your own Republic as

depends, literally, upon the safetyof Tressa Cleves.
For, if the Yezidees kill her,well as in ours

then I do not see what is to save civilisation fromutter disintegration and total destruction."

There was a silence.

Recklow was not certain,that the President had been listening.

His Excellency sat with finger tips joined, gazing
and Recklow heard him murmuring under his breath and all to himself, as
pallidly into space;

206

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

though to fix the deathless thought forever in his
brain:"May I not say that mine is a single-track mind?
it?
May I not say
May I not,"not, notmay I not,not,

CHAPTER XIII
SA-N'SA"TUNE sunshine poured through the window of his
bedroom in the Ritz; and Cleves had just finished dressing when he heard his wife's voice inthe adjoining sitting-room.

He had not supposed that Tressa was awake. He
hastened to tie his tie and pull on a smoking jacket,
listening all the while to his wife's modulated but
gay young voice.
Then he opened the sitting-room door and went
And found his wife entirely alone.
in.
She looked up at him, her lips still parted as
though checked in what she had been saying, thesmile still visible in her blue eyes.

"Who on earth are you talking to?" he asked, hisbewildered glance sweeping the sunny room again.
She did not reply; her smile faded as a spot ofsunlight wanes, veiled by a cloudit"

yet a glimmer ofremained in her gaze as he came over to her.
"I thought they'd brought our breakfast," he said,

Did you sleep well?"hearing your voice.
"Yes, Victor."
He seated himself, and his perplexed scrutiny included her frail morning robe of China silk, her
.

.

207

.

208

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

lovely bare arms, and her splendid hair twisted up
and pegged down with a jade dagger. Around herbare throat and shoulders, too, was a magnificent
necklace of imperial jade which he had never before seen; and on one slim, white finger a superb
jade ring.

"By Jove 1" he said, "you're very exotic this morning, Tressa.

Inever before saw that negligee

ef-fect."The girl laughed, glanced at her ring, lifted a frail
and examined the amazing embroidery.
"I wore it at the Lake of the Ghosts," she said.

silken fold

The name of that place always chilled him. He
had begun to hate it, perhaps because of all that hedid not know about it

about his wife's strange girl-hood about Yian and the devil's Temple there
and about Sanang.
He said coldly but politely that the robe wasunusual and the jade very wonderful.

The alteration in his voice and expression did not
It meant merely masculine jealousy, but
Tressa never dreamed he cared in that way.
Breakfast was brought, served; and presently
these two young people were busy with their melons,coffee, and toast in the sunny room high above theescape her.

traffic echoing through avenue
and street below.
"Recklow telephoned me this morning," he remarked.
She looked up, her face serious.
".Recklow says that Yezidee mischief is taking vis-

softened racket of

SA-N'SA209

The Socialist Party is going to be split

ible shape.

and a new party, impudently and publicly

into bits

announcing itself as the Communist Party of AmerDid you ever hear of anyorganised.
as outrageousin this Repubthing as shamelessica, is beinglic?"

She said very quietly: "Sanang has taken prisoner the minds of these wretched people. He andhisremaining Yezidees are giving battle to the un-armed minds of our American people.""and Yarg"Gutchlug is dead," said Cleves,houz and Djamouk, and Yaddin.""But Tiyang Khan is alive, and Togrul, and thatcunningdemon Arrak Sou-Sou,

calledThe Squir-

She bent her head, considering the"
And Prince Sanang,"jade ring on her finger.
rel," she said.

she added in a low voice.

"Why didn't you let me shoot him when I had
the chance?" said Cleves harshly.

So abrupt was his question, so rough his sudden
manner, that the girl looked up in dismayed sur-

Then a deep colour stained her face.
"Once," she said, "Prince Sanang held my heartprise.

as Erlik held

prisoner

my soul. ... I told you

that.""Is that the reason you gave the fellow a chance?""Yes."

"Oh.

.

.

.

And

possibly

you gavechance because he still holds your

Sanang aaffections !"She said, crimson with the pain of the accusation"I tore my heart out of his keeping. ... I told you:

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

210

And, believing trying to believe what
you say to me, I have tried to tear my soul out of
the claws of Erlik.
Why are you angry?"I'm not angry.
"I don't know.
Thewhole horrible situation is breaking my nerve, I
With whom were you talking before I
guess.
came in?"
that.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

After a silence the girl's smile glimmered.

"I'm afraid you won't like it if I tell you.""Why not?""You such things perplex and worry you.
I

.

.

.

am afraid you won't like me any the better if I
who it was I had been talking with."
His intent gaze never left her. "I want you totell youtellme," he repeated.
I was talking with Sa-n'sa," she faltered.

"I"With whom?""With Sa-n'sa. ... We called her Sansa.""Who the dickens is Sansa?""We were three comrades at the Temple," she"said timidly,
Yulun, Sansa, and myself.
loved each other.
always went to the Lake of"for protection
the Ghosts together

WeWe"Go on!""Sansa was a girl of the Aroulads, born at Buldak
The night she was born three
as was Temujin.

moon-rainbows made circles around her Ya'ilak.
The Baroulass horsemen saw this and prayed loudly
in their saddles.
Then they galloped to Yian andcame crawling on their bellies to Sanang Noiane with
the news of the miracle. And Sanang came with a

SA-N'SA

211

thousand riders in leather armour. And, 'What is thischild's name?' he shouted, riding into the Ya'ilak withhis black banners flapping around him like devil's
wings.

"A poor Manggoud came out of the tent of skins,
carrying the new born infant, and touched his headto Sanang's stirrup. 'This babe is called Tchagane,'he said, trembling all over.
is called Sansa.

'No !' cries Sanang, 'she

Give her to me and may Erlik seizeyou!'"And he took the baby on his saddle in front of
him and struck his spurs deep; and so came Sansa to
Yian under a roaring rustle of black silk banners.
.

.

.

It is so written in the Book of Iron.

.

.

.

Alla-

hou Ekber."
Cleves had leaned his elbow on the table, his forehead rested in his palm.
Perhaps he was striving in a bewildered way toreconcile such occult and amazing things with theyear 1920 with the commonplace and noisy city of

New York

with this pretty, modern, sunlit sitting-room in the Ritz-Carlton on Madison Avenue

withthis girl in her morning negligee opposite, her coffee

and melon fragrant at her elbow, her wonderful blueeyes resting on him.

"Sansa," he repeated slowly, as though striving tograsp even a single word from the confusion ofnames and phrases that were sounding still in hisears like the vibration of distant and unfamiliar seas.
"Is this the girl you were talking with just now?

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

212
In

in

this

room?" he added,

striving to under-

stand.

"Yes.""She wasn't here, of course.""Her body was not.""Oh!"
Tressa said in her sweet, humorous way: "Youmust try to accustom yourself to such things, Victor.
You know that Yulun talks to me. ... I wanted to
The longing awakened me. So /talk to Sansa.

made the effort.""And she came

I mean the part of her which is

not her body.""Yes, she came.

We talked very happily while

I was bathing and dressing.

Then we came in here.

She is such a darling!""Where is she?""In Yian, feeding her silk-worms and making a
You see, Sansa is quite wealthy now, begarden.
cause

when the Japanese came she filled a bullock

cart with great lumps of spongy gold from the Tem-and filled another cart with Yu-stone, and took
the Hezar of Baroulass horsemen on guard at thepleLake of the Ghosts. And with this Keutch, riding
a Soubz horse, and dressed like an Urieng lancer, mypretty little comrade Tchagane, who is called Sansa,
marched north preceded by two kettle-drums and a"

toug with two tails

Tressa's clear laughter checked her; she clapped
her hands, breathless with mirth at the picture she

evoked.

SA-N'SA

213"Kai!" she laughed; "what adorable impudence
has Sansa!
Neither Tchortcha nor Khiounnou
dared ask her who were her seven ancestors
No
And when her caravan came to the lovely Yliang!

river,

lance!

my darling Sansa rode out and grasped thefrom her Tougtchi and drove the point deep
'A place

into the fertile soil, crying in a clear voice :for Tchagane and her people!

Make room for the

toug!'"Then her Manggoud, who carried the spare steel
tip for her lance, got out of his saddle and, gather-ing a handful of mulberry leaves, rubbed the shaftof the lance till it was all pale green.
''Toug iaglachakho !' cries my adorable Sansa*** Andmy Mocalla!

'Build me here my Urdu!

upon it pitch my tent of skins I"
Again Tressa's laughter checked

!

her,

and shestrove to control it with the jade ring pressed to her
lips.

"Oh, Victor," she added in a stifled voice, looking"you don't realSansa and her toug and her
ise how funny it was
Urdu Oh, Allah! the bones of Tchinguiz musthave rattled in his tomb I"
Her infectious laughter evoked a responsive but
perplexed smile from Cleves; but it was the smile ofat him out of eyes full of mischief,a bewildered man who has comprehended very littleof an involved jest; and he looked around at themodern room as though to find his bearings.

=* UrduAn imperial encampment.
* Mocalla
A platform used as a Moslem pulpit.

=

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

214

Suddenly Tressa leaned forward swiftly and laid
one hand on his.

"You don't think all this is very funny. You don't
like it," she said in soft concern.

"It isn't that, Tressa.
in the year 1920.

But this is New York CityAnd I can'tIabsolutely can nothook up, mentally, with such things
get into touchwith the unreal Oriental life that is so familiar
to you.""I know. You feelBaikal when all
from
Lake
Mergued Pagan

She nodded sympathetically:
like athe lamps are lighted in the Mosque;

like acamel

driver with his jade and gold when he enters Yar-kand at sunrise.""Probably I feel like that," said Cleves, laughing"I take your word, dear, anyway."outright.
But he took more; he picked up her soft handwhere it still rested on his, pressed it, and instantly
reddened because he had done it. And Tressa's
bright flush responded so quickly that neither ofthem understood, and both misunderstood.

The girl rose with heightened colour, not knowing
why she stood up or what she meant to do. And
Cleves, misinterpreting her emotion as a silent rebuke to the invasion of that convention tacitly accepted between them, stood up, too, and began to

speak carelessly of commonplace things.
She made the effort to reply, scarcely knowing

what she was saying, so violently had his caress disand she was still speaking whenturbed her heart,

their telephone rang.

SA-N'SA
Cleves went; listened, then,

215
still

listening,sum-

moned Tressa to his side with a gesture.
"It's Selden," he said in a low voice.
"He sayshe has the Yezidee Arrak Sou-Sou under observation,and that he needs you desperately.

Will youhelp us?""I'll go,of course," she replied, turning quite

pale.

Cleves nodded, still listening.
After a while:"All right.
We'll be there.
Good-bye," he said
sharply; and hung up.

Then he turned and looked at his wife.
"I wish to God," he muttered, "that this businesswere ended.

I

I can't bear to have you go.""I am not afraid.

.

.

.

Where is it?""I never heard of the place before.
meet Selden at Tool's Acre.' "We're to"Where is it, Victor?"
Selden says there are no roads,
not even a spotted trail.
It's a wilderness left
practically blank by the Geological Survey.
Only"I don't know.

the contours are marked, and Selden tellsme thatthe altitudes are erroneous and the unnamed lakes

and water courses are all wrong. He says it is his
absolute conviction that the Geological Survey neverpenetrated this wilderness at all, but merely skirted
it and guessed at what lay inside, because the map

he has from Washington is utterly misleading, andthe entire region is left blank except for a few
vague blue lines and spots indicating water, and a"
few heights marked '1800.'

THE SLAYER OF SOULS216

He turned and began to pace the sitting-room,frowning, perplexed, undecided.
"Selden tells me," he said, "that the Yezidee,
Arrak Sou-Sou, is in there and very busy doing

something or other.

He says that he can do noth-ing without you, and will explain why when we meethim."
"Yes, Victor."
Cleves turned on his heel and came over to where
his wife stood beside the sunny window.

"I hate to ask you to go.

understanding.
constant peril

But

this

I

know that was theincessant"dangeryour"That does not count when I think of my country's peril," she said in a quiet voice.

"When arewe to start? And what shall I pack in my trunk?""Dear child," he said with a brusque laugh, "it'sand we carry what we need on oura wilderness

Selden meets us at a place called Glenwild,on the edge of this wilderness, and we follow him
in on our two legs."
He glanced across at the mantel clock.
backs.

"If you'll dress," he said nervously, "we'll go tosome shop that outfits sportsmen for the North.

Be-

cause, if we can, we ought to leave on the one o'clock
train."She smiled; came up to him. "Don't worry about"Because I also am nervous andme," she said.
tired and I mean to make an end of every Yezidee
remaining in America.""Sanang, too?";SA-N'SA

217

They both flushed deeply.
She said in a steady voice:"Between God and

Erlik there is a black gulf where a million million
stars hang, lighting a million million other worlds.

"Prince Sanang's star glimmers there. It is a sun,called Yramid.

And it lights the planet, Yu-tsung.

Let him reign there between God and Erlik.""You will slay this man?""God forbid I" she said, shuddering. "But I shallsend him to his own star. Let my soul be ransom forAnd may Allah judge between us between
his!
this man and me."Then, in the still, sunny room, the girl turned toAnd her husband saw her lips moveas though speaking, but heard no sound.
face the East.

"What on earth are you saying there, all to yourself?" he demanded at last.

She turned her head and looked at him across herleft shoulder.
""I

asked Sansa to help me.

.

.

.

And she says

she will."

Cleves nodded in a dazed way.

Then he opened

a window and leaned there in the sunshine, looking

down into Madison Avenue. And the roar of traffic
seemed to soothe his nerves.
But "Good heavens!" he thought; "do such things
Is the entire
really go on in New York in 1920!
world becoming a little crazy? Am I really in myright mind when I believe that the girl I married istalking, without wireless, to another girl in China 1"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS218

He leaned there heavily, gazing down into thestreet withsombre eyes.

"What a ghastly thing these Yezidees are trying
do to

to

the

world

these

Assassins

of

men's

minds'!" he thought, turning away toward the doorof his bedroom.

As he crossed the threshold he stumbled, and looking down saw that he had tripped over a white sheet
For a moment he thought it was alying there.
sheet
up.

from his own bed, and he started to pick it
Then he saw the naked blade of a knife at his

feet.

With an uncontrollable shudder he stepped out of
the shroud and stood staring at the knife as thoughitwere a snake.

hilt

It had a

curved blade and a bonecoarsely inlaid with Arabic characters in brass.

The shroud was a threadbare affair

perhaps a

bed-sheet from some cheap lodging house. But its
significance was so repulsive that he hesitated totouch it.

However, he was ashamed to have it discovered
room. He picked up the brutal-looking knife
and kicked the shroud out into the corridor, wherein histhey could guess if they liked how such a rag got
into the Ritz-Carlton.

Then he searched his bedroom, and, of course,
discovered nobody hiding.

But chills crawled on his

spine while he was about it, and he shivered still as
he stood in the centre of the room examining theknife and testing edge and point.

Then, close to his ear, a low voice whispered:SA-N'SA219"Be careful, my lord; the Yezidee knife is poisoned.
But it is written that a poisoned heart is more dangerous still."
He had turned like a flash; and he saw, between

him and the sitting-room door, a very young girlwith slightly slanting eyes, and rose and ivory features as perfect as though moulded out of tinted
bisque.

She wore a loose blue linen robe, belted in, shortat the elbows and skirt, showing two creamy-skinned

arms and two bare feet in straw sandals. In one
hand she had a spray of purple mulberries, and she
looked coolly at Cleves and ate a berry or two.
"Give me the knife," she said calmly.
He handed it to her; she wiped it with a mulberryleaf and slipped it through her girdle.
"I am Sansa," she said with a friendly glance athim, busy with her fruit.
Cleves strove to speak naturally, but his voice
trembled.
"Is

it

you

I

mean your real

self

your own

body?"

my real self. Yes.
my mulberry grove."

"It's
in

"In

in

But my body is asleep

China?""Yes," she said calmly, detaching another mulberry and eating it. A few fresh leaves fell on thecentre table.

"You know," sheSansa chose another berry.
thisTressa
to
I
came
"that
morning, to my
said,
And
little Heart of Fire I came when she called me.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

220

was quite sleepy, too. But I heard her, though
there was a night wind in the mulberry trees, andI

the river made a silvery roaring noise in the dark.
.

.

.

And now I must go.

But I shall come again

very soon."
She smiled shyly and held out her lovely little"
As Tressa tells me is your custom in Amerhand,ica," she said, "I offer you a good-bye."He took her hand and found it a warm, smooththing of life and pulse.

"Why," he stammered in his astonishment, "youYou are not a ghost!"

are real!

"Yes, I am real," she answered, surprised, "but
I'm not in my body, if you mean that." Then she
laughed and withdrew her hand, and, going, madehim a friendly gesture.
"Cherish,

my lord, my darling Heart of Fire.
So do rose vines. May

Serpents twist and twine.
their petals
scented.

make your path of velvet and sweet

May everything that is round be a pome-

granate for you two to share may everything thatsways be lilies bordering a path wide enough for two.
;In thename of the Most Merciful God, may the

only cry you hear be the first sweet wail of your firstborn. And when the tenth shall be born, may you

and Heart of Fire bewail your fate because both ofyou desire more children I"
She was laughing when she disappeared. Cleves
thought she was still there, so radiant the sunshine,so sweet the scent in the room.
But the golden shadow by the door was empty of

SA-N'SA221

If she had slipped through the doorway hehad not noticed her departure. Yet she was noher.

longer there. And, when he understood, he turnedback into the empty room, quivering all over. Sudan imdenly a terrible need of Tressa assailed him
to
to
her
her
hear
voice.
speak
perative necessity"Tressa !" he called, and rested his hand on thecentre table, feeling weak and shaken to the knees.
Then he looked down and saw the mulberry leaves
lying scattered there, tender and green and still

dewy with the dew of China.
"Oh, my God!" he whispered, "such things are!
There are
It isn't my mind that has gone wrong.
such things!"

The

conviction

senses swam.

swept him

like

a

tide

till

his

As though peering through a mist of

felt
gold he saw his wife enter and come to him;
her arm about him, sustaining him where he swayedslightly with one hand on the table among the mul-

berry leaves.

"Ah,"murmured Tressa,

noticing

the

green

That wasleaves, "she oughtn't to have done that.
thoughtless of her, to show herself to you."is

Cleves looked at her in a dazed way. "The body
"The rest only is real.
nothing," he muttered.

That is the truth, isn't it?""Yes.""I seem to be beginning to believe it.

... Sansa

some dayI shall try to tell you
said things
I'm so glad to hear your voice."
.
dear.
.

.

"Are you?" she murmured.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

222"And so glad to feel your touch. ... I found a
shroud on my threshold. And a knife.""The Yezidees are becoming mountebanks.
Where is the knife?" she asked scornfully.
.

"Sansa said it was poisoned.

She took it.

.

.

She

she said that a poisoned heart is more dangerous
still."

Then Tressa threw up her head and called softly
into space"Sansa:!

LittleSilk-Moth!

What arethese mischievous things you have told to my lord?"

She stood silent, listening. And, in the answer
which he could not hear, there seemed to be something that set his young wife's cheeks aflame.
"Sansa!
Little devil!" she cried, exasperated.

"May Erlik send his imps to pinch you if you have
It was imwas mischievous! You cover me withshame and confusion, and I am humbled in the dust

said to my lord these shameful things.

pudent!

Itof my lord's feet!"

Cleves looked at her, but she could not sustain
his gaze.

"Did Sansa say to you what she said to me?" hedemanded unsteadily.
And I had"Yes. ... I ask your pardon.
.

already told her you did not.

did not.

were not in... I ask your pardon."Ask your heart whether it"Ask more.
would care to hear that I am in love. And withwhom. Ask your heart if it could ever care to listen
in lovewith me.
.

.

.

to what my heart could say to it.""Y-yesI'llask

my heart," she faltered.

.

.

.

SA-N'SA223""I think I had better finish dressingShelifted her eyes, gave him a breathless smile as hecaught her hand and kissed it.
"Itit would bevery wonderful," she stammered,"if our necessity should be-become our choice."
But that speech seemed to scare her and she fled,leaving her husband standing tense and upright inthe middle of the room.

Their train on the New York Central Railroad
left the Grand Central Terminal at one in the after-

noon.
Cleves had made his arrangements by wire.

They

travelled lightly, carrying, except for the clothing
they wore, only camping equipment for two.
It was raining in the

Hudson valley; they rushed

through the outlying towns and Po'keepsie in a summer downpour.
At Hudson the rain slackened. A golden mist enveloped Albany, through which the beautiful tower

and facades along the river loomed, masking thehuge and clumsy Capitol and the spires beyond.
At Schenectady, rifts overhead revealed glimpsesof blue. At Amsterdam, where they descended fromthe train, the flag on the arsenal across the Mohawk
flickered brilliantly in the sunny wind.

By telegraphic arrangement, behind the station
waited a touring car driven by a trooper of State
Constabulary, who, with his comrade, saluted smartly as Cleves and Tressa came up.
There was a brief, low-voiced conversation. Their

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

224

camping outfit was stowed aboard, Tressa sprangby Cleves, and the car
started swiftly up the inclined roadway, turned tointo the tonneau followed

the right across the railroad bridge, across the trolley tracks,

and straight on up the steep hill pavedwith blocks of granite.

On the level road which traversed the ridge atlast they speeded up, whizzed past the great hedged

farm where racing horses are bred, rushing throughthe afternoon sunshine through the old-time Scotch
settlements which once were outposts of the old New

York frontier.
Nine miles out the macadam road ended.

Theyveered to the left over a dirt road, through twohamlets then turned to the right.
;

The landscape became rougher. To their left lay
the long, low Maxon hills; behind them the May*field

range stretched northward into the open jawsof the Adirondacks.
All around them were woods, now. Once a Gate
House appeared ahead; and beyond it they crossed

four bridges over a foaming, tumbling creek whers.
Cleves caught glimpses of shadowy forms in ambertinted pools
big yellow trout that sank unhurriedly
out of sightwith spray.

among huge submerged boulders wet

The State trooper beside the chauffeur turned to
Cleves, his purple tie whipping in the wind.

"Yonder is Glenwild, sir," he said.
It was a single house on the flank of a heavily
forested hill.

Deep below to the left the creek leaped

SA-N'SA

225

two cataracts and went flashing out through a beltof cleared territory ablaze with late sunshine.

The car swung into the farm-yard, past the barnon the right, and continued on up a very rough trail.
"This is the road to the Ireland Vlaie," said thetrooper.

"It is possible for cars for another mile

only."

Splendid spruce, pine, oak, maple, and hemlock
fringed the swampy, uneven trail which was no morethan a wide, rough vista cut through the forest.

And, as the trooper had said, a little more than amile farther the trail became a tangle of bushes andswale; the car slowed down and stopped; and a manrose from where he was seated on a mossy log andcame forward, his rifle balanced across the hollow
of his left arm.

The man was Alek Selden.
It waslong after dark and they were still travel*ling through pathless woods by the aid of theirtric torches.

elec-

There was little underbrush; the forest of spruceand hemlock was first growth.
Cleves shined the trees but could discover no
blazing, no trodden path.

In explanation, Selden said briefly that he had
hunted the territory for years.
"But I don't begin to know it," he added. "There
are vast and ugly regions of bog and swale where a

There aresea of alders stretches to the horizon.
desolate wastes of cat-briers and witch-hopple un-

226

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

der leprous tangles of grey birches, where stealthy
brooks darkle deep under matted debris. Only

littlewild things can travel such country.

"Then there are strange, slow-flowing creeks inthe perpetual shadows of tamarack woods, where
many a man has gone in never to come out.""Why?" asked Tressa.
"Under the tender carpet of green cresses areshining black bogs set with tussock; and under thebog stretches quicksand, and death.""Do you know these places?" asked Cleves.
"No."
Cleves stepped forward to Tressa's side.

"Keep flashing the ground," he said harshly. "I
don't want you to step into some hell-hole. I'm sorryI

brought you, anyway.""But I had to come," she said in a low voice.
Like the two men, she wore a grey flannel shirt,

knickers, and spiral puttees.
They, however, carried rifles as well as packs;
and the girl's pack was lighter.

They had halted by a swift, icy rivulet to eat, withAfter that they crossed theout building a fire.
Ireland Vlaie and the main creek, where remainsof a shanty stood on the bluff above the right bankthe last sign of man.

Beyondlay theuncharted land,

skimped andshirked entirely in certain regions by map-makers;
an unknown wilderness on the edges of which Sel-den had often camped when deer shooting.
It was along this edge he was leading them, now,

SA-N'SA

227

to a lean-to which he had erected,

and from which
he had travelled in to Glenwild to use the superintendent's telephone to New York.

There seemed to be no animal life stirring in thisforest; their torches illuminated no fiery orbs ofdazed wild things surprised at gaze in the wilderness; no leaping furry form crossed their flashlights'
fan-shaped radiance.

There were no nocturnal birds to be seen or heard,
either: no bittern squawked from hidden sloughs; noherons howled; not an owl-note, not a whispering
cry of a whippoorwill, not the sudden uncanny twitter of thoselittlebirds that become abruptly vocal

after dark, interrupted the dense stillness of theforest.

And it was not until his electric torch glimmered
repeatedly upon reaches of dusk-hidden bog that
Cleves understood how Selden took his bearings
for the night was thick and there were no stars.

"Yes," said Selden tersely, "I'm trying to skirt
the bog until I shine a peeled stick."An hour later the peeled alder-stem glittered in
the beam of the torches.

In ten minutes somethingwhite caught the electric rays.
It was Selden's spare undershirt drying on a bushbehind the lean-to.
"Can we have a fire?" asked Cleves, relieving his
wife of her pack and striding into the open-faced

camp.

228

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

I'll fix it," replied Selden.
"Are you all
Mrs. Cleves?"
Tressa said: "Delightfully tired, thank you." Andsmiled faintly at her husband as he let go his own
pack, knelt, and spread a blanket for his wife.
He remained there, kneeling, as she seated herself.
"Are you quite fit?" he asked bluntly.
Yet,

"Yes,

right,

through his brusqueness her ear caught a vague
undertone of something else anxiety perhaps per-And her heart stirred deliciously

haps tenderness.
in her breast.

He inflated a pillow for her;

the firelight glim*

mered, brightened, spread glowing across her feet.
She lay back with a slight sigh, relaxed.
Then, suddenly, the thrill of her husband's touch
flooded her face with colour; but she lay motionless,one arm flung across her eyes, while he unrolled herputtees and unlaced her muddy shoes.

Aheavenly warmth from the fire dried her stockinged feet. Later, on the edge of sleep, she opened
her eyes and found herself propped upright on her
husband's shoulder.
Drowsily, obediently she swallowed spoonfuls of
the hot broth which he administered.

"Are youreally quite

comfortable,

dear?" hewhispered.

"Wonderfully.

Thank you

.

.

.

And

so

very

happy.

.

.

.

dear."She lay back, suffering him to bathe her face andhands with warm water.
When the fire was only a heap of dying coals, sheSA-N'SA

229

turned over on her right side and extended her handa little way into the darkness. Searching, half
asleep,she touched her husband, and her hand relaxed in
his nervous clasp.

And she fell into the most perfect

sleep which she had known in years.

She dreamed that somebody whispered to her,
It is morning, be"Darling, darling, wake up.
loved."

Suddenly she opened her eyes; and saw her husband set a tray, freshly plaited out of Indian willow,
beside her blanket.

"Here's your breakfast, pretty lady," he said,"And over there is an exceedingly frigid
pool of water. You're to have the camp to yourself
for the next hour or two.""You dear fellow," she murmured, still confusedby sleep, and reached out to touch his hand. He
caught hers and kissed it, back and palm, and got
smilingly.

up hastily as though scared.
"Selden and I will stand sentry," he muttered.
"There is no hurry, you know."
She heard him and his comrade walking awayover dried leaves; their steps receded; a dry stick
cracked distantly; then silence stealthily invaded theplace like a cautious living thing, creeping unseen

through the golden twilight of the woods.
Seated in her blanket, she drank the coffee; ate alittle; then lay down again in the early sun, feelingthe warmth of the heap of whitening coals at her
feet, also.

230

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

For an hour she dozed awake, drowsily opening
her eyes now and then to look across the glade at
the pool over which a single dragon-fly glittered on
guard.
Finally she rose resolutely, grasped a bit of soap,

and went down to the edge of the pool.
Tressa was in flannel shirt and knickers when her
husband and Selden hailed the camp and presently
appeared walking slowly toward the dead fire.
Their grave faces checked her smile of greeting;her husband came up and laid one hand on her arm,
looking at her out of thoughtful, preoccupied eyes.
"What is the Tchordagh?" he said in a low voice.

The girl's quiet face went white.
"The the Tchordagh!" she stammered.
"Yes, dear. What is it?"
"I don't
don't know where

you heard that

"The Tchordagh is theterm," she whispered.
It is a term. ... In it is
the power of Erlik.
comprehended all the evil, all the cunning,

all

the

its sinister
perverted spiritual intelligence of Evil,menace.
an
Alouad-Yezidee
its
It
is
term,
might,and it is written in brass in Eighur characters on the
Eight Towers, and on the Rampart of Gog and
Magog; nowhere else in the world!""It is written on a pine tree a few paces from thiscamp," said Cleves absently.
Selden said: "It has not been there more than anhour or two, Mrs. Cleves. A square of bark was

SA-N'SA
cut out

231

and on the white surface of the wood thisword is written in English.""Can you tell us what it signifies?" asked Cleves,quietly.

Tressa's studied effort at self-control was apparent
to both men.

She said: "When that word is written, then it isa death struggle between all the powers of Darkness

and those who have read the written letters of thatword.
For it is written in The Iron Book thatno one but the Assassin of Khorassan excepting
the Eight Sheiks
shall read that written word andlive to boast of having read it.""Let us sit here and talk it over," said Selden.

.

.

soberly.

And when Tressa was seated on a fallen log, andCleves settled down cross-legged at her feet, Selden

spoke again, very soberly:"On the edges of these woods, to the northwest,
lies a sea of briers, close growing, interwoven andmatted, strong and murderous as barbed wire.
"Miles out in this almost impenetrable region lies
a patch of trees called Fool's Acre.
"At Wells I heard that the only

man who had

ever managed to reach Fool's Acre was a trapper,

and that he was still living.
a very old man,
"I found him at Rainbow Lake
who had a fairly clear recollection of Fool's Acreand his exhausting journey there.
"And he told me that man had been there before
he had. For there was a roofless stone house there,

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

232

and the remains of a walled garden.

And a skull

deep in the wild grasses."
Selden paused and looked down at the recently
healed scars on his wrists and hands.
"It was a rotten trip," he said bluntly.

"It tookme three days to cut a tunnel through that accursed
Fool'stangle of matted brier and grey birch.
Acre is a grove of giant trees first growth pine,oak, and maple. Great outcrops of limestone ledges
bound it on the east. A brook runs through thewoods.
"There is a house there, no longer roofless, and.

built of slabs of fossil-pitted limestone.

.

.

The glass inthe windows is so old that it is iridescent.

"A seven-foot wall encloses the house, built alsoof slabs blasted out of the rock outcrop, and all
pitted with fossil shells.
"Insideisa garden

not the remains of oneabeautiful garden full of unfamiliar flowers.
Andin this garden I saw the Yezidee on his knees making
living things out of lumps of dead earth!""The Tchordagh!" whispered the girl.

"What wastheYezideedoing?"

demanded

Cleves nervously.
Involuntarily all three
there in the sunshine.

drew nearer each other"It was difficult for me to see," said Selden in his"It was nearly twilight: I layof the wall under the curving branches ofquiet, serious voice.
flat on topahuge syringa bush

dees

"

in

full

bloom.

The

Yezi-

SA-N'SA

3S3"Were there two!" exclaimed Clever"Two. They were squatting on the old stone patKbordering one of the flower-beds."
Tressa: "They both wore white

He turned toclothstwistedaround their heads, and long soft garments of white.

Under these their bare, brownlegs

showed, butthey wore things on their naked feet which wereshaped like what we call Turkish slippers

only dif-ferent.""Black and green," nodded Tressa with the vagiUthorror growing in her face.
The soles of their shoes were bright"Yes.
green.""Green is the colour sacred to Islam," saidTressa.

"The priests of Satan defile it by staining with green
the soles of their footwear."

After an interval:"Goon," said Cleves ner-

vously.

Selden drew closer, and they bent their heads tolisten :"I don't, even now, know what the Yezidees were

In the twilight it was hard to see
But I'll tell you what it looked like to me.
One of these squatting creatures would scoop out ahandful of soil from the flower-bed, and mould it

actually doing.
clearly.

for a few moments between his lean, sinewy fingers,

and then he'd open his hands andand something
something small like a rat or a toad, or God
knows what, would escape from between his palms"
and run out into the grass
aliveTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

234

Selden's voice failed and he looked at Cleves withsickened eyes.
can't make you understand"I can't

how repul-

sive to me it was to see a wriggling live thing creep

and go running or
scrambling away little loathsome things withhumpy backs that hopped or scurried through theout between their fingers and

"

grass

"What onearth were these Yezidees doing,
Tressa?" asked Cleves almost roughly.
The girl's white face was marred by the imprints

of deepening horror.
"Itisthe Tchor-Dagh," she said mechanically.

"They are using every resource of hell to destroy
me testing the gigantic power of Evil as thoughitwere some vast engine charged with thunderous
and they were testing it to discover its

destruction!

terrific capacity to annihilate"

Her voice died in her dry throat; she dropped her
bloodlessvisageintoboth hands

and remained

seated so.

Both men looked at her in silence, not daring toFinally the girl lifted her pallid face frominterfere.

her hands.
A
dull

That is what they were doing," she said in avoice.
"Out of inanimate earth they weremaking things animate living creatures to totest the hellish power which they are storing
concentratingformy destruction.""What is their purpose?" asked Cleves harshly.
"What do these Mongol Sorcerers expect to gain

SA-N'SA

235

by making little live things out of lumps of garden
dirt?""They are testing their power," whispered thegirl.

"Like tuning upahuge machine?"

muttered

Selden.

"Yes.""For what purpose?""To make larger living

creaturesout ofofclay.""They
Cleves.

can't
they can't"I don't know how

they make rats out of dirt.
acreate!"exclaimedby what filthy tricks
But they can't makelike a man!"anything like a
Tressa's body trembled slightly.

"Once," she said, "in the temple, Prince Sanang
took dust which was brought in sacks of goat-skin,and fashioned the heap of dirt with his hands, sothat it resembled the body of a man lying there onAnd
the marble floor under the shrine of Erlik.
and then, there in the shadows where only the
Dark Star burned that black lamp which is called
the Dark Star the long heap of dust lying there on"
to breathe!
the marble pavement began to
She pressed both hands over her breast as though.

.

.

to control her trembling body: "I saw it; I saw thelong shape of dust begin to breathe, to stir, move,"and slowly lift itself^"A Yezidee trick!" gasped Cleves; but he also wastrembling now.
"God!" whispered the girl. "Allah alone knows

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

236

the Merciful, the Long Suffering
He knows
what it was that we temple girls saw there that
Yulun saw that Sa-n'sa and I beheld there rising
up like a man from the marble floor and standing
Star.

the

in

erect
.

shadowy

twilight

of

the

Dark

."

.

Her hands gripped at her breast; her face wasdeathly.

"Then," she said, "I saw Prince Sanang draw hissabre of Indian steel, and he struck

.

.

.

once only.

And a dead man fell down where the thing had
stood. And all the marble was flooded with scarlet.

.

.

blood.""A trick," repeated Cleves, in the ghost of his own
voice.

But his gaze grew vacant.

Selden spoke in tones that sounded
weakly querulous from emotional reaction:
Presently"Therebriers.

isa

It took

It is possible toa tunnel under the matted

path

me more than a week to cut it out.
reach Fool's Acre.

We can try

Mrs. Cleves."
The girl looked up. A little colour came into hercheeks.
She shook her head.
"Their bodies may not be there in the garden,"she said absently.
"What you saw may not havebeen that part of them the material which dies bywith our rifles

knife or bullet.

if you.

.

.

say so,And it is necessary that these

Yezidees should die.""Can you do anything?" asked Cleves, hoarsely.
She looked at her husband; tried to smile:SA-N'SA"I must try.

any time

if

237... I think we had better not lose

Mr. Selden will lead us."

"Now?""Yes,

we had better go, I think," said the girl.

Her smile still remained stamped on her lips, but
her eyes seemed preoccupied as though following
the movements of something remote that was passing
across the far horizon.

CHAPTER XIV
A DEATH TRAIL

THE

way to Fool's Acre was under a tangled

canopy of thorns, under rotting windfalls ofgrey mirch, through tunnel after tunnel offallen debris woven solidly by millions of strands oftough cat-briers which cut the flesh like barbed wire.
There was blood on Tressa, where her flannel
shirt had been pierced in a score of places.
Clevesand Selden had been painfully slashed.
Silent, thread-likestreams flowed darkling under

the tangled mass that roofed them.

could

move

Sometimes they

upright; more often they were bent

double; and there were long stretches where they
had to creep forward on hands and knees throughsparse wild grasses, soft, rotten soil, or paths of
sphagnum which cooled their feverish skin in velvety, icy depths.

At noon they rested and ate, lying prone underthe matted roof of their tunnel.

Cleves and Selden had their rifles.

Tressa lay likea slender boy, her brier-torn hands empty.

And, as she lay there, her husband made a spongeof a handful of sphagnum moss, and bathed herface and her arms, cleansing the dried blood from238

A DEATH TRAIL

239

the skin, while the girl looked up at him out ofgrave, inscrutable eyes.

The sun hung low over the wilderness when theycame to the woods of Fool's Acre. They crept cautiously out of the briers, among ferns and open spots

carpeted with pine needles and dead leaves whichwere beginning to burn ruddy gold under the levelrays of the sun.

Lying flat behind an enormous oak, they remained
Selden pointed through thewoods, eastward, whispering that the house stood

listening for a while.

there not far away.

"Don't you think we might risk the chance anduse our rifles?" asked Cleves in a low voice.

"No.
I

It is theTchor-Dagh that confronts us.

wish to talk to Sansa," she murmured.
moment later Selden touched her arm.

A

"My God," he breathed, "who is that!""It

is

Sansa," said Tressa calmly, and sat up

among the ferns. And the next instant Sansa stepped
daintily out of the red sunlightand seated herself

among them without a sound.
Nobody spoke. The newcomer glanced at Selden,
smiled slightly, blushed, then caught a glimpse ofCleves where he lay in the brake, and a mischievous

glimmer came into her slanting eyes.

"Did I not tell my lord truths?" she inquired in a
demure whisper. "As surely as the sun is a dragon,
and the flaming pearl burns between his claws, so
surely burns the soul of Heart of Flame between thy

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

240

guarding hands. There are as many words as there
are demons, my lord, but it is written that Niaz iswords save only the name ofGod."
She laughed without any sound, sweetly malicious
where she sat among the ferns.
"Heart of Flame," she said to Tressa, "you called
me and I made the effort.''the greatest of all"Darling," said Tressa in her thrilling voice, "theasYezidees are making living things out of dust,

Sanang No'iane made that thing in the Temple.

.

.

.

And slew it before our eyes.""The Tchor-Dagh," said Sansa calmly.
"The Tchor-Dagh," whispered Tressa.
Sansa's smooth little hands crept up to the collarof her odd, blue tunic; grasped it.

"In the name of God the Merciful," she said
without a tremor, "listen to me, Heart of Flame, andmay my soul be ransom for yours!""I hear you, Sansa."
Sansa said, her fingers still grasping the embroidered collar of her tunic:"Yonder, behind walls, two Tower Chiefs meddle

with the Tchor-Dagh, making living things out of
the senseless .dust they scrape from the garden."

Selden moistened his dry lips.

Sansa said:"The Yezidees who have come into this wilderness are Arrak Sou-Sou, the Squirrel; and Tiyang

May God remember them in Hell!""May God remember them," said Tressa me-

Khan.

.

.

chanically.

.

A DEATH TRAIL

241"And these two Yezidee Sorcerers," continued
Sansa coolly, "have advanced thus far in the TchorDagh for they now roam these woods, digging likedemons for the roots of Ginseng; and thou knowest,
Heart of Flame, what that indicates.""Does Ginseng grow in these woods!" exclaimed
Tressa with a new terror in her widening eyes.
;"Ginseng grows here, little Rose-Heart, and theroots are as perfect as human bodies. And Tiyang

Khan squats in the walled garden moulding the Ginseng roots in his unclean hands, while Sou-Sou the
Squirrel scratches among the dead leaves of thewoods for roots as perfect as a naked human body.

"All day long the Sou-Sou rummages among the

day longTiyang pats and rubs and moulds
It is thethe Ginseng roots in his skinny fingers.
Tchor-Dagh, Heart of Flame. And these Sorcerers

trees; allmust be destroyed.""Are their bodies here?""Arrak is in the body. And thus it shall be accomplished: listen attentively, Rose Heart Afire!
"
she looked at Selden
1 shall remain here with"
And
with you, my lord.
and flushed a trifle,
when the Squirrel comes a-digging, so shall my lord
I hear hisslay him with a bullet. . . . And whensoul bidding his body farewell, then I shall makeAnd send it to the Dark Star.
prisoner his soul.
And the rest shall be in the hands of Allah."
.
.
.

.

.

.

She turned to Tressa and caught her handsinboth of her own:
"It is written on the Iron Pages," she whispered,242

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"that we belong to Erlik and we return to him.

But

Book of Gold it is written otherwise: 'God
preserve us from Satan who was stoned!'
Now then, Heart
Therefore, in the name of Allahin the.

.

.

!

of Flame, do your duty!"

A burning flush leaped over Tressa's features.
"Is my soul, then, my own!""It belongs to God," said Sansa gravely.

"And Sanang?""God is greatest.""But was God there

at

the

Lake

of

the

Ghosts?""God is everywhere. It is so written in the Bookof Gold," replied Sansa, pressing her hands tenderly.

"Recite the Fatha, Heart of Flame.

Thy lips

shall not stiffen; God listens."

Tressa rose in the sunset glory and stood asthough dazed, and all crimsoned in the last fierybars of the declining sun.

Cleves also rose.
Sansa laughed noiselessly: "My lord would go
whither thou goest, Heart of Fire I" she whispered.

"And thy ways shall be his ways!"
Tressa's cheeks flamed and she turned and lookedat Cleves.

Then Sansa rose and laid a hand on Tressa's armand on her husband's:"Listen attentively.
Tiyang Khan must be
destroyed. The signal sounds when my lord's rifleshot makes a loud noise here among these trees."

A DEATH TRAIL

243"Can I prevail against the Tchor-Dagh?" asked
Tressa, steadily.
"Is not that event already in God's hands, darShe smiled and resumed
ling?" said Sansa softly.
her seat beside Selden, amid the drooping fern
fronds.

"Bid thy dear lord leave his rifle here," she added
quietly.

Cleves laid down his weapon.
Selden pointed
eastward in silence.
So they went together into the darkening woods.

In the dusk of heavy foliage overhanging thegarden, Tressa lay flat as a lizard on the top of thewall. Beside her lay her husband.
In the garden below them flowers bloomed inscented thickets, bordered by walks of flat stoneslabs split from boulders.
little lawn, very green,Acentred the garden.

And on this lawn, in the clear twilight still tinged
with the sombre fires of sundown, squatted a man
dressed in a loose white garment.
Save for a twisted breadth of white cloth, hisshaven head was bare. His sinewy feet were naked,
too, the lean, brown toes buried in the grass.

Tressa's lips touched her husband's ear.
"Tiyang Khan," she breathed. "Watch what hedoes I"
Shoulder toshoulder they lay there, scarcely
Their eyes were fastened on thedaring to breathe.

MongolSorcerer,

who,

squatted

below

on

his

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

244

haunches, grave and deliberate as a great grey ape,
continued busy with the obscure business which so
intently preoccupied him.
In a short semi-circle on the grass in front of him

he had placed a dozen wild Ginseng roots. The
roots were enormous, astoundingly shaped like thehuman body, almost repulsive in their weird symmetry.

The Yezidee had taken one of these roots into his
hands.

Squatting there in the semi-dusk, he began

it between his long, muscular fingers,
rubbing, moulding, pressing the root with caressing
deliberation.

tomassage

His unhurried manipulation, for a few moments,
seemed to produce no result. But presently the Ginseng root became lighter in colour and more supple,
yielding to his fingers, growing ivory pale, sinuously
limber in a newer and more delicate symmetry.

"Look!" gasped Cleves, grasping his wife's arm.

'What is that man doing!"'The Tchor-Dagh I" whispered Tressa.

"Do you

see what lies twisting there in his hands !"The Ginseng root had become the tiny naked
body of a woman a little ivory-white creature,
struggling to escape between the hands that had
created it dark, powerful, masterly hands, opening leisurely now, and releasing the living being they

had fashioned.

The thing scrambled between the fingers of theSorcerer, leaped into the grass, ran a little way andA DEATH TRAIL

245

crouched down, panting, almost hidden by the
The shocked watchers on the wall could

hid,

long grass.

still see the creature.

Tressa felt Cleves' body tremShe rested a cool, steady handbling beside her.

on his.
"It is the Tchor-Dagh," she breathed close to his
face.

"The Mongol Sorcererisbecomingfor-midable.""Oh, God!" murmured Cleves, "that thing hemade is alive! I saw it. I can see it hiding there in
the grass.

It's frightened

breathing!

It's alive!"His pistol, clutched in his right hand, quivered.
His wife laid her hand on it and cautiously shook
her head.

"No," she said, "that is of no use.""But what that Yezidee is doing is
phemous

is

blas-

"

"Watch him!

His mind is stealthily feeling its

way among the laws and secrets of the Tchor-Dagh.

He has found a thread. He is following it throughHe has createdthe maze into hell's own labyrinth!

He willa tiny thing in the image of the Creator.
try to create a larger being now. Watch him with
his

Ginseng roots!"

Tiyang, looming ape-like on his haunches in the
deepening dusk, moulded and massaged che Ginseng roots,

one

after

another.

And

one after

another, tiny naked creatures wriggled out of his
between his fingers and scuttled away into thepalms

herbage.

24,6

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Already the dim lawn was alive with them, crawling, scurrying through the grass, creeping inamong

the flower-beds, little, ghostly-white things that glim-

mered from shade into shadow like moonbeams.
Tressa's mouth touched her husband's ear:
"It is for the secret of Destruction that the Yezi-

dee seeks.
creation.

But

first

he must learn the secret of
And he must learn

He is learning.

.

.

.

no more than he has already learned.""That Yezidee is a living man. Shall I fire?""No.""I can kill him with the first shot.""Hark!" she whispered excitedly, her hand closing convulsively on her husband's arm.
The whip-crack of a rifle-shot still crackled intheir ears.

Tiyang had leaped to his feet in the dusk, a Ginseng root, half-alive, hanging from one hand andbeginning to squirm.

Suddenly the first moonbeam fell across the wall.

And in its lustre Tressa rose to her knees and flungup her right hand.
Then it was as though her palm caught and reflected the moon's ray, and hurled it in one blinding
shaft straight into the dark visage of Tiyang-Khan.
The Yezidee fell as though he had been pierced
by a shaft of steel, and lay sprawling there on thegrass in the ghastly glare.
And where his features had been there gaped
only a hole into the head.

A DEATH TRAIL

247

Then a dreadful thing occurred; for everywhere
the grass swarmed with the little naked creatures hehad made, running, scrambling, scuttling, darting
into the black hole which had been the face of Tiyang-Khan.
They poured into the awful orifice, crowding, jostling one another so violently that the head jerked
from side to side on the grass, a wabbling, inert,
soggy mass in the moonlight.
And presently the body of Tiyang-Khan, Wardenof the Rampart of Gog and Magog, and Lord of
the Seventh Tower, began to burn with white firea low, glimmering combustion that seemed to clothe

the limbs like an incandescent mist.

On the wall knelt Tressa, the glare from her lifted
hand streaming over the burning form below.
Cleves stood tall and shadowy beside his wife, theuseless pistol hanging in his grasp.

Then, in the silence of the woods, and very near,
they heard Sansa laughing.
voice

And Selden's anxious:"Arrak is dead. The Sou-Sou hangs across ahead down, like a shot squirrel. Is all wellrock,with you?""Tiyang is on his way to his star," said Tressa
calmly. "Somewhere in the world his body has bid
And so his body may live
its mind farewell.
.

.

.

for a little, blind, in mental darkness, fed by others,
and locked in all day, all night, until the end."
Sansa, at the base of the wall, turned to Selden.

248

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"Shall I bring my body with me, one day, mylord?" she asked demurely.
"
he whispered, but she placed"Oh, Sansaa fragrant hand across his lips and laughed at him
in the moonlight.

CHAPTER XVIN THE FIRELIGHT

1920 the whole spiritual world was tremblingunderthundering shock ofINpoundingofthethe frontiers

theRed Surf

civilisation from pole

to pole.

Up out of the hell-pit of Asia had boiled themolten flood, submerging Russia, dashing in giant
waves over Germany and Austria, drenching Italy,
France, England with its bloody spindrift.
And now the Red Rain was sprinkling the UnitedStates from coast to coast, and the mindless administration, scared out of its stupidity at last, begana frantic attempt to drain the country of the filthy

flood and throw up barriers against the threateneddeluge.

In every state and city Federal agents made wholesale arrests

too late!

A million minds had already been perverted anddominated by the

terrible

Sect of the Assassins.

A million more were sickening under the awful
psychic power of the Yezidee.
Thousands of the disciples of the Yezidee devil-

worshipers had already been arrested and held for
poor, wretched creatures whose minds
deportation,
249

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

250

were no longer their own, but had been stealthily
surprised, seized and mastered by Mongol adepts
and filled with ferocious hatred against their fellow
men.
Yet, of the Eight Yezidee Assassins only two now
remained alive in America, Togrul, and Sanang,
the Slayer of Souls.

Yarghouz was dead; Djamouk the Fox, Kahn ofthe Fifth Tower was dead; Yaddin-ed-Din, Arrak
the Sou-Sou, Gutchlug, Tiyang Khan, all were dead.
Six Towers had become dark and silent.

From them

the last evil thought, the last evil shape had sped;

the

last

wicked prayer had been said to Erlik,

Khagan of all Darkness.
But his emissary on
lived.

toearth,

Prince Sanang,still

And at Sanang' s heels stole Togrul, Tougtchi

Sanang Noiane, the Slayer of Souls.
In the United States there had been a cessationof the active campaign of violence toward those inauthority.

Such unhappy dupes of the Yezidees as

the I. W. W. and other radicals were, for the time,physically quiescent. Crude terrorism with its morebrutal outrages against life and law ceased.
But

two million

sullen eyes,

in

which

all

independent

human thought had been extinguished, watched unblinking the wholesale arrests by the government
watched panic-stricken officials rushing hither andthither to execute theministration
silence.

watchedmandate of a miserable adand waited in dreadfulIN THE FIRELIGHT

251

In that period of ominous quiet which

possessed
the land, the little group of Secret Service men thatsurrounded the young girl who alone stood between
a trembling civilisation and the threat of hell's own
chaos, became convinced that Sanang was preparing
a final and terrible effort to
overwhelm theutterly

last vestige of civilisation in the United States.

What shape that plan would develop they could
not guess.
John Recklow sent Benton to Chicago to watchthat centre of infection for the appearance there of
the Yezidee Togrul.

Selden went to Boston where a half-witted groupof parlour-socialists at Cambridge were talking too
loudly and loosely to please even the most tolerant
at Harvard.

But neither Togrul nor Sanang had, so far, maand John Recklow prowledterialised in either city;of New York, haunting strange
andobscurequarters where the dull embers
bywaysthepurlieusof revolution always smouldered, watching for the
Yezidee who was the deep-bedded, vital root of thispsychic evil which menaced the minds of all man-

Sanang, the Slayer of Souls.
Recklow's lodgings were tucked away in Westoverkind,

Court three bedrooms, a parlour and a kitchenette.
Tressa Cleves occupied one bedroom; her husband
another; Recklow the third.

And in this tiny apartment, hidden away among agroup of old buildings, the very existence of which
was unknown to the millions who swarmed the

252

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

streets of the greatest city in the world,

here inWestover Court, a dozen paces from the roar of
Broadway, was now living a young girl upon whose
psychic power the only hope of the world now
rested.

The afternoon had turned grey and bitter; ragged
flakes still fell; a pallid twilight possessed the snowy

through which lighted trains and taxis moved
foggy gloom.
By three o'clock in the afternoon all shops werecity,

in theilluminated; the south windows of the Hotel Astor

across the street spread a sickly light over the oldbuildings of Westover Court as John Recklow entered the tiled hallway, took the stairs to the left,

and went directly to his apartment.
He unlocked the door and let himself in and stooda moment in the entry shaking the snow from his
hat and overcoat.
The sitting-room lamp was unlighted but he could
see a fire in the grate, and Tressa Cleves seated near,her eyes fixed on the glowing coals.
He bade her good evening in a low voice; sheturned her charming head and nodded, and he drewa chair to the fender and stretched out his wet shoes
to the warmth.

"Is Victor still out?" he inquired.
She said that her husband had not yet returned.

Her eyes were on the fire, Recklow's rested on her
shadowy face.

IN THE FIRELIGHT

253"Benton got his man in Chicago," he said. "It
was not Togrul Kahn.""Who was it?"
"Only a Swami fakir who'd been preaching sedition to a little group of greasy Bengalese from
Seattle.
I've heard from Selden, too."
She nodded listlessly and lifted her eyes.
"Neither Sanang nor Togrul have appeared in.

.

.

Boston," he said.

"I think they're here in

NewYork."The girl said nothing.
After a silence"Are you worried about your husband?" he asked:

abruptly.

"I

am always uneasy when he is absent," shesaid quietly.

"Of course.

.

.

.

But I don't suppose he knowsthat.""I suppose not."Recklow leaned over, took a coal in the tongs andlighted a cigar.
Leaning back in his armchair, hesaid in a musing voice:

suppose your husband does not realisethat you are so deeply concerned over his welfare."

"No,

I

The girl remained silent.
"I suppose," said Recklow softly, "hedream you are in love with him."

doesn't

Tressa Cleves did not stir a muscle. After a longher even voice:"Do you think I am in love with my husband, Mr.

silence she said in

Recklow?"THE SLAYER OF SOULS254"I think you fell in love with him the first evening
you met him.""I did."Neither of them spoke again for some minutes.
Recklow's cigar went wrong; he rose and foundanother and returned to the fire, but did not light it.
"It's a rotten day, isn't it?" he said with ashiver, and dumped a scuttle of coal on the fire.
They watched the blue flames playing over thegrate.

Tressa said: "I could no more help fallinglove with him than
.

.

I

in

could stop my heart beating.

But I did not dream that anybody knew.""Don't you think he ought to know?""Why? He is not in love with me.""Are you sure, Mrs. Cleves?""Yes. He is wonderfully sweet and kind.
But.

he could not fall in love with agirl

who has been

what I have been."
Recklow smiled. "What have you bees, Tressa

Nome?""You know.""A temple-girl at Yian?""And at the Lake of the Ghosts," she said in a
low voice.

"What of it?"
"I can not tell you, Mr. Recklow.
I lost.

my soul in the Yezidee Temple.

.

Only that""That is untrue !""I wish it were untrue.

.

.

.

My husband tells methat nothing can really harm the soul.

I try to be-

IN THE FIRELIGHT
fieve him.

.

.

.

But Erlik lives.

255

And when my soulat last shall escape my body, it shall not escape the

Slayer of Souls."""That is monstrously untrue"No. I tell you that Prince Sanang slew my soul.

And my soul's ghost belongs to Erlik.

How canany man fall in love with such a girl?""Why do you say that Sanang slew your soul?"
asked Recklow, peering at her averted face throughthe reddening firelight.

She lay still in her chair for a moment, then turned
suddenly on him"He did slay it! He came to the Lake of theGhosts as my lover; he meant to have done it there;
but I would not have him would not listen, nor:suffer his touch !
I

I mocked at him

laughed at his Tchortchas.

me!"and his passion.

They were afraid of

She half rose from her chair, grasped the arms,
then seated herself again, her eyes ablaze with thememory of wrongs.

"How dare I show my dear lord that I am in lovewith him when Sanang's soul caught my soul out of
my body one day surprised my soul while my bodyand bore it
lay asleep in the Yezidee Temple!
in his arms to the very gates of hell!""Good God," whispered Recklow, "what do you
mean? Such things can't happen.""Why not? They do happen. I was caught unawares. ... It was one golden afternoon, andYulan and Sansa and I were eating oranges by the

256

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

fountain in the inner shrine.

pool and made the effort"Yes."And I lay down by theyou understand?""Very well. My soul left my body asleep and I
went out over the tops of the flowers idly, without
aim or intent as the winds blow in summer. ... It
was in the Wood of the White Moth that I saw
Sanang's soul flash downward like a streak of fire

and wrap my soul in flame!
And, in a flash,
we were at the gates of hell before I could free myself from his embrace.
Then, by the Temple
pool, among the oranges, I cried out asleep; and my.

.

terrifiedbody

Yulun's arms.

.

.

.

.

up sobbing and trembling in
But the Slayer of Souls had slain

satmine in the Wood of the White Mothhe caught me in his flaming arms.

.

.

.

slain

it

as

And now you

know why such a woman as I dare not bend to kissthe dust from my dear Lord's feet

Aie-a

!

Aie-a I

who have lost my girl's soul to him who slew it in
the Wood of the White Moth!"I

She sat rocking in her chair in the red firelight,
her hands framing her lovely face, her eyes staringstraight ahead as though they saw opening before
them through the sombre shadows of that room all
the dread magic of the East where the dancing flameof Sanang's blazing soul lighted their path to hellthrough the enchanted forest.

Recklow had grown pale, but his voice was steady.
"I see no reason," he said, "why your husband
should not love you."IN THE FIRELIGHT

257"I tell you my girl's soul belonged to Sanang
was part of his, for an instant.""It is burned pure of dross.""It is burned."

Recklow remained silent.

Tressa lay deep in her

armchair, twisting her white fingers.
"What makes him so late?" she said... "I sent

my soul out twice to look for him, and could not findhim."

"Send it again," said Recklow, fearfully.

For ten minutes the girl lay

asthoughasleep,then her eyes unclosed and she said drowsily: "I can

not find him.""Did

while you
did you learn anything while
away?" asked Recklow cautiously.
"Nothing. There is a thick darkness out there

wereI

mean a darkness gathering over the whole land.
When the damned pray to

It is like a black fog.

Erlik there is a darkness that gathers like a brownmist"

Her voice ceased; her hands tightened on the armsof her chair.
"That is what Sanang is doing I" she said in abreathless voice.

"What?" demanded Recklow.
"Praying!

That is what he is doing!

A million

perverted minds which he has seized and obsessed
are being concentrated on blasphemous prayers to
Erlik!
Sanang is directing them. Do you understand the terrible power of a million minds
destruction ofwilling, in unison, theallgood and theTHE SLAYER OF SOULS
triumph of evil? A million human minds!
258

More!
That is the thick darkness that is gathering over the entire Western world.
It is the terrific materialisation of evil power from
For that is what he is doing.

evil minds, all focussed upon the single thought thatevil must triumph

and good die !"She sat, gripping the arms of her chair, pale, rigid,
terribly alert, dreadfully enlightened,

now, concern-

ing the awful and new menace threatening the sanityof mankind.

She said in her steady, emotionless voice

:

"When

the Yezidee Sorcerers desire to overwhelm a nomad

some yort perhaps that has resisted thepeopleSheiks of the Eight Towers, then the Slayer of Souls
rides with his Black Banners to the Namaz-Ga or
Place of Prayer.

"Two marble bridges lead to it. There are fourteen hundred mosques there. Then come the Eight,
each with his shroud, chanting the prayers for thosedead in hell. And there the Yezidees pray blasphemously, all their minds in ferocious unison.
And I have seen a little yort full of Broad Faces with.

.

.

their slanting eyes and sparse beards, sicken and die,and turn black in the sun as though the plague hadbreathed on them. And I have seen the Long Noses
and bushy beards of walled towns wither and perish
in the blast and blight from the Namaz-Ga where
the Slayer of Souls sat his saddle and prayed to
Erlik, and half a million Yezidees prayed in blas-

phemous unison."
Recklow's head rested on

his left hand.

TheIN THE FIRELIGHT

259

other, unconsciously, had crept toward his pistol
the weapon which had become so useless in thisawful struggle between thisgirland the loosened

forces of hell.

"Is thatwhat you think Sanang is about?" heasked heavily.
"Yes. I know it.

He has seized the minds of amillion men in America.

Every anarchist is to-day

concentrating in one evil and supreme mental effort,
under Sanang's direction, to will the triumph of evil

and the doom of civilisation. ...
band would come home.""Tressa?"
She turned her pallid faceIin thewish my hus-

"Iffirelight:

Sanang has appointed a Place of Prayer," she said,"he himself will pray on that spot. That will be the
Namaz-Ga for the last two Yezidee Sorcerers still
alive in the Western World.""That's what I wished to ask you," said Recklow"Will you try once more, Tressa?"
softly.
"Yes.

I willsend out my soul again to look for

the Namaz-Ga."

She lay back in her armchair and closed her eyes.
"Only," she added, as though to herself, "I wish
my dear lord were safe in this room beside me.
.

.

.

May God's warriors be his escort. And surely they
are well armed, and can prevail over demons. Aie-a
I wish my lord would come home out of the dark!

ness.

... Mr. Recklow?""Yes, Tressa.""I thought I heard him on the stairs."

260

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"Not yet.""Aie-a!" she sighed and closed her eyes again.
She lay like one dead. There was no sound in
the room save the soft purr of the fire.

Suddenly from the sleeping girl a frightened voice
Yulun
Where is that yellow maid
What is she doing? Thatof the Baroulass?
sleek young thing belongs to Togrul Kahn? Yulun
I am afraid of her!
Tell Sansa to watch that she
does not stir from the Lake of the Ghosts!
Warn that young Baroulass Sorceress that if she
burst : "Yulun

!

!

.

.

.

!

.

.

.

And know how to do it in spite of
all
the
and
Sanangprayers from the Namaz-Gal
Yulun! Sansa! Watch her, follow her, hearts offlame! My soul be ransom for yours! Tokhta!"
stirs I slay her.

The girl's eyes unclosed.

Presently she stirred

slightly, passed one hand across her forehead, turned

her head toward Recklow.
"I could not discover the Namaz-Ga," she said
wearily. "I wish my husband would return."

CHAPTER XVI
THE PLACE OF PRAYER
husband called her on the telephone
few minutes later:

HER"Fifty-three,aspeaking!

Six-twenty-six

Who is this?""V-sixty-nine,"

replied his

young wife

happily.

"Are you all right?""Yes.

IsM.H. 2479 there?""He is here.""Very well. An hour ago I saw Togrul Khan ina limousine and chased him in a taxi.

His car got

away in the fog but it was possible to make out theAn empty Cadillac limousine bearing that
number is now waiting outside the 44th Street entrance to the Hotel Astor. The doorman will holdTell M. H. 2479 toit until I finish telephoning.
number.

send men to cover this matter"Victor!""Yes, what is it?""I beg you not to stir in this affair until I can""Be careful!
join

you

street fromHis voice ceased she heard
another voice, faintly, and an exclamation from her"Hurry then.
Westover Court

It's

"

just across the;261

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

262

husband; then his hurried voice over the wire: "Thedoorman just sent word to hurry. The car number"
N. Y. 0/5 F 0379! I've got to run Good-b

is!

He left the booth at the end of Peacock Alley, ran
down the marble steps to the left and out to thesnowy sidewalk, passing on his way a young girlswathed to the eyes in chinchilla who was hurrying
into the hotel.
As he came to where the limousine
was standing, he saw that it was still empty although
the door stood open and the engine was running.
Around the chauffeur stood the gold laced doorman,
the gorgeously uniformed carriage porter and amounted policeman.
"Hey!" said the latter when he saw Cleves,

What are you holding up"what's the matter here?
this car for?"Cleves beckoned him, whispered, then turned tothe doorman.

"Why did you send for me? Was the chauffeur
trying to pull out?"

"Yes,

jumps
ming

A lady come hurrying out an' she
and the shawfur he starts her hum-

sir.

in,

"

"A lady! Where did she go?""It was that young lady in chinchilla fur.

The

one you just met when you run out. YessirWhy,
as soon as I held up the car and called this here cop,she opens the door and out she jumps and beats it!

into the hotel again

"Hold

that

car,

"

Officer!"interrupted

Cleves.

THE PLACE OF PRAYER
"Keep

it

into it!

263

standing here and arrest anybody who gets
I'llbe back again"

He turned and hurried into the hotel, traversed
Peacock Alley scanning every woman he passed,
searching for a slim shape swathed in chinchilla.

There were no chinchilla wraps in Peacock Alley;
none in the dining-room where people already werebeginning to gather and the orchestra was now playing; no young girl in chinchilla in the waiting room,
or in the north dining-room.

Then, suddenly, far across the crowded lobby, hesaw a slender, bare-headed girl in a chinchilla cloak
turn hurriedly away from the room-clerk's desk,
holding a key in her white gloved hand.
Before he could take two steps in her direction
she had disappeared in the crowd.

He made his way through the packed lobby as best
he could amid throngs of people dressed for dinner,
theatre, or other gaiety awaiting them somewhere
out there in the light-smeared winter fog; but when
he arrived at the room clerk's desk he looked for achinchilla wrap in vain.

Then he leaned over the desk and said to the clerk
low voice: "I am a Federal agent from the
Department of Justice. Here are my credentials.
Now, who was that young woman in chinchilla furs
to whom you gave her door key a moment ago?"
in a

The clerk leaned over his counter and, dropping
his voice, answered that the lady in question had ar-

rived only that morning from San Francisco; had
Madame Aoula Baroulass; and had

registered as

264

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

been given a suite on the fourth floor numbered from

408 to 414.
"Do you mean to arrest her?" added the clerk ina weird whisper.
"I don't know.
Have you the masterPossibly.
key?"

The clerk handed it to him without a word; andCleves hurried to the elevator.

On the fourth floor the matron on duty halted
him, butwhen he murmured an

explanation she

nodded and laid a finger on her lips.

"Madame has gone to her apartment," she whispered.

"Has she a servant?
"No, sir. ...

Or friends with her?"I did see her speak to two

foreignlooking gentlemen in the elevator when she arrived
this morning."

Cleves nodded; the matron pointed out the direction in silence,and he went rapidly down the carcame to a door num-

peted corridor, until hebered 408.

For a second only he hesitated, then swiftly fitted
the master-key and opened the door.

The room

a bedroom

there was nobody there.

was brightly lighted but;

The other rooms

dress-

ing closet, bath-room and parlour, all were brilliantly
lighted by ceiling fixtures and wall brackets but there;

was not a person to be seen in any of the rooms
nor, save for the illumination, was there any visible
sign that anybody inhabited the apartment.

Swiftly he searched the apartment

from end toTHE PLACE OF PRAYER

265

end.
There was no baggage to be seen, no garments, no toilet articles, no flowers in the vases, nomagazines or books, not one article of feminine apparel or of personal bric-a-brac visible in the entire
place.

Nor had the bed even been turned down

nor any

preparation for the night's comfort been attempted.
And, except for the blazing lights, it was as though
the apartment had not been entered by anybody for amonth.
All the windows were closed, all shades lowered
and curtains drawn. The air, though apparently
pure enough, had that vague flatness which one associates with an unused guest-chamber when opened
for an airing.

Now, deliberately, Cleves began a more thoroughsearch of the apartment, looking behind curtains,

under beds, into clothes presses, behind sofas.
Then he searched the bureau drawers, dressers,
desks for any sign or clew of the girl in the chinThere was no dust anywhere, the hotelchillas.

management evidently was particular

but there was

not even a pin to be found.
Presently he went out into the corridor and looked
again at the number on the door.
mistake.

He had made no

Then he turned and sped down the long corridor
to where the matron was standing beside her desk
preparing to go off duty as soon as the other matron

arrived to relieve her.

To his impatient question she replied positively

266

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

that she had seen the girl in chinchillas unlock 408

and enter the apartment less than five minutes before he had arrived in pursuit.

"And I saw her lights go on as soon as she went
added the matron, pointing to the distant illuminated transom.
"Then she went out through into the next apart-in,"

ment," insisted Cleves.
"The fire-tower is on one side of her; the scullery"She could
closet on the other," said the matron.
not have left that apartment without coming out into
And if she had come out I should

the corridor.

have seen her.""I tell you she

isn't inthose rooms!" protested

Cleves.

"She must be there, sir.

Isaw her go in a few

seconds before you came up."At that moment the other matron arrived.

was no use arguing.

There

He left the explanation of thesituation to the woman who was going off duty, and,hastening his steps, he returned to apartment 408.
The door, which he had left open, had swung
shut.
Again he fitted the master-key, entered,paused on the threshold, looked around nervously,
his nostrils suddenly filled with a puff of perfume.
And there on the table by the bed he saw a glass
bowl filled with a mass of Chinese orchids greatodorous clusters of orange and snow-white bloomthat saturated all the room with their freshening
scent.

So astounded was he that he stood stock still, one

THE PLACE OF PRAYER

267

hand still on the door-knob; then in a trice he had
closed and locked the door from inside.

Somebody was in that apartment.
be no doubt about it.

There could

He dropped his right hand

into his overcoat pocket and took hold of his auto-

matic pistol.

For ten minutes he stood so, listening, peering
about the room from bed to curtains, and out into
the parlour.

There was not a sound in the place.

Nothing stirred.

Now, grasping his pistol but not drawing it, hebegan another stealthy tour of the apartment, exploring every nook and cranny. And, at the end,
had discovered nothing new.

When at length he realised that, as far as hecould discover, there was not a living thing in theplace excepting himself, a very faint chill grew alongneck and shoulders, and he caught his breath

hissuddenly, deeply.

He had come back to the bedroom, now. The
perfume of #ie orchids saturated the still air.
And, as he stood staring at them, all of a sudden
he saw, where their twisted stalks rested in thetransparent bowl of water, something moving
something brilliant as a live ember gliding out fromamong the mass of submerged stems a living fishglowing in scarlet hues and winnowing the water withgrotesquely trailingfins

as delicate as filaments ofscarlet lace.

To and fro swam the fish among the maze oforchid stalks.

Even its eyes were hot and red as

268

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

molten rubies; and as its crimson gills swelled andrelaxed and swelled, tints of cherry-fire waxed andwaned over its fat and glowing body.

And vaguely, now, in the perfume saturated air,
Cleves seemed to sense a subtle taint of evil,
someinthing sinister in the intense stillness of the place
the jewelled fish gliding so silently in and out among
the pallid convolutions of the drowned stems.

As he stood staring at the fish, the drugged odourof the orchids heavy in his throat and lungs, something stirred very lightly in the room.
Chills crawling over every limb, he looked aroundacross his shoulder.

There wasafigureseated cross-legged in the

middle of the bed!

Then, in the perfumed silence, the girl laughed.
For a full minute neither of them moved.
Nosound had echoed her low laughter save the deadened pulsations of his own heart. But now there
grew a faint ripple of water in the bowl where thescarlet fish, suddenly restless, was swimming hither
and thither as though pursued by an invisible hand.

With the slight noise of splashing water in his
ears, Cleves stood staring at the figure on the bed.
Under her chinchilla cloak the girl seemed to be all a

The scant shredhair, skin, eyes.
pale golden tintof an evening gown she wore, the jewels at her
throat and breast,

allwere yellow and amber andsaffron-gold.

And now, looking him in the eyes, she leisurely
disengaged the robe of silver fur from her nakedTHE PLACE OF PRAYER
shoulders and let it fall around her on the bed.

269

For

a second the lithe, willowy
golden thing gathered
there as gracefully as a coiled snake filled him withswift loathing.

Then, almost instantly, the beauty of

the lissome creature fascinated him.

She leaned forward and set her elbows on her
two knees, and rested her face between her hands
like a gold rose-bud between twoivory petals, hethought, dismayed by this young thing's beauty,
shaken by the dull confusion of his own heart battering his breast like the blows of a rising tide.

"What do you wish?" she inquired in her soft
young voice. "Why have you come secretly into myrooms to search and clasping in your hand a loaded
pistol deep within your pocket?""Why have you hidden yourself until now?" heretorted in a dull and laboured voice.
"I have been here.""Where?"And watchLooking at you.
ing my scarlet fish. His name is Dzelim. He is nearly a thousand years old and as wise as a magician.
"Here!

.

.

.

.

.

.

Look upon

See how rapidly hehim, my lord!
like a comet
darts around his tiny crystal world!

through outer star-dust, running the eternal race withAnd yonder is a chair. Will my lord
Time.
.

.'

be seated.

at his new servant's feet?"

A strange, physical weariness seemed to weight
his limbs and shoulders.

He seated himself near thebed, never taking his heavy gazefrom the smiling,THE SLAYER OF SOULS

270

golden thing which squatted there watching him so
intently.

"Whose limousine was that which you entered andthen left so abruptly?" he asked.

"My own.""What was the Yezidee Togrul Kahn doing init?""Did you see anybody in my car?" she asked,
veiling her eyes a little with their tawny lashes.
"I saw a man with a thick beard dyed red withhenna, and the bony face and slant eyes of Togrul
the Yezidee.""May my soul be ransom for yours, my lord, butyouHer lips parted in ashe said softly.
but her half-veiled eyes were brilliant as two

lie!"

smile

;

topazes.
"Is that your answer?"

She lifted one hand and with her forefinger madefrom right to left and then downward as
though writing in Turkish and in Chinese characters.
signs"It is written," she said in a low voice, "that we

God and we return to him. Look out
what you are about, my lord!"
He drew his pistol from his overcoat and, holding it, rested his hand on his knee.

belong to"Now," he said hoarsely, "while we await the
coming of Togrul Kahn, you shall remain exactly
where you are, and you shall tell me exactly who
you are in order that I may decide whether to arrest
you as an alien enemy inciting my countrymen toTHE PLACE OF PRAYER

271

murder, or to let you go as a foreigner who is able
to prove her honesty and innocence."

The girl laughed:"Be careful," she said. "My danger lies in yoursomewhere between your lips andmine lies my only danger from you, my lord."
A dull flush mounted to his temples and burned

youth and mine

there.

"I

am the golden comrade to Heavenly-Azure,""I am the Third Immaum inshe said, still smiling.

Keuke wears where Yulun hangs as aand Sansa as a pearl on fire.

the necklacerose-pearl,"Look upon me, my lordl"
There was a golden light in his eyes which seemed
to stiffen the muscles and confuse his vision.
He
heard her voice again as though very far away:

"It is written that we shall love, my lord
thou
and I this night this night. Listen attentively. I

am thy slave. My lips shall touch thy feet. Look
upon me, my lord!"
There was a dazzling blindness in his eyes and in

He swayed a little still striving to fix her

his brain.

His pistol hand slipped sideways from his knee, fell limply, and the weapon
dropped to the thick carpet. He could still see thewith his failing gaze.

tglimmering golden shape of her, still hear her distant voice:"Itwrittenis

Tokhta!

.

.

that

we belong

to

God

.

.

.

."

Over his knees was settling a snow-white sheet;
There was noton it, in his lap, lay a naked knife.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

272

a sound in the room save the rushing and splashingof the scarlet fish in its crystal bowl.

Bending nearer, the girl fixed her yellow eyeson the man who looked back at her with dying
gaze, sitting upright and knee deep in his shroud.

Then, noiselessly she uncoiled her supple golden
body, extending her right arm toward the knife.

"Throw back thy head, my lord, and stretch thy
throat to the knife's sweet edge," she whispered
caressingly.

upon me.
girl"No! do not close your eyes. Look
Look into my eyes. I am Aoula, templeof the Baroulass!

of Souls!

amIam mistress to the Slayer

golden plaything to Sanang
Noiane, Prince of the Yezidees. Look upon me attentively,Ia

my lord!"

Her smooth little hand closed on the hilt; thescarlet fish splashed furiously in the bowl, dislodg-

ing a blossom or two whichfell tothe carpet andslowly faded into mist.

Now

she grasped the knife, and she slipped fromthe bed to the floor and stood before the dazed man.

"This
voice.

istheNamaz-Ga," she said in her silky"Behold, this

is

the

appointed Place ofGaze around you, my lord. These are theshadows of mighty men who come here to see you

Prayer.

die in the Place of Prayer."

Cleves's head had fallen back, but his eyes were

The Baroulass girl took his head in both
hands and turned it hither and thither. And his
open.

glazing eyes seemed to sweep a throng of shadowy

THE PLACE OF PRAYER

273

white-robed men crowding the room. And he saw
the bloodless, symmetrical visage ofSanang among
them, and the great red beard of Togrul; and his
stiffening lips parted in an uttered cry,open, flaccid and soundless.

The

Baroulasssorceress

liftedand sagged
theshroudfrom his knees and spread it on the carpet, moving
with leisurely grace about her business and softly
intoning the Prayers for the Dead.

Then, having made her arrangements, she took
her knife into her right hand again and came backto the half-conscious man,and stood close in frontof him, bending near and looking curiously into his

dimmed eyes.
"Ayah!" she said smilingly. "This is the Place
And you shall add your prayer to oursof Prayer.

before I use my knife.

So

!

I

give you back yourpower of speech. Pronounce the name of Erlik!"
Very slowly his dry lips moved and his dry tongue
trembled. The word they formed was,"Tressa!"
Instantly the girl's yellow eyes grew incandescentand her lovely mouth became distorted. With herleft hand she caught his chin, forced his head back,exposing his throat, and using all her strength drew

the knife's edge across it.

But it was only her clenched fingers that swept
clenched and empty fingers intaut throat

thewhich the knife had vanished.

And when the Baroulass girl saw that her clenchedTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

274

hand was empty, felt her own pointed nails cutting
into the tender flesh of her own palm, she stared ather blood-stained fingers in sudden terror stared,
spread them, shrieked where she stood, and writhedthere trembling and screaming as though gripped in

an invisible trap.
But she fell silent when the door of the room
and it was as thoughopened noiselessly behind her
she dared not turn her head to face the end of all;things which had entered the room and was drawing
nearer in utter silence.

Suddenly she saw its shadow on the wall; and hervoice burst from her lips in a last shuddering scream.

Then the end came slowly, without a sound, andshe sank at the knees, gently, to a kneeling posture,then backward, extending her supple golden shapeacross the shroud; and lay there limp as a deadsnake.

Tressa went to the bowl of water and drewfrom it every blossom. The scarlet fish was now
thrashing the water to an iridescent spume; andTressa plunged in her hands and seized it and flungitoutsquirming and wheezing crimson foamon

the shroud beside the golden girl of the Baroulass.

Then, very slowly, she drew the shroud over the dying things stepped back to the chair where her husband lay unconscious; knelt down beside him andtook his head on her shoulder, gazing, all the while,;at theshroud.

outlineof the dead girl under the snowy

THE PLACE OF PRAYER

275

After a long while Cleves stirred and opened his
Presently he turned his head sideways on her

eyes.

shoulder.

"Tressa," he whispered.

"Hush," she whispered, "all is well now." Butshe did not move her eyes from the shroud, which
now outlined the still shapes of two human figures.
"John Recklow !" she called in a low voice.
Recklow entered noiselessly with drawn pistol.
She motioned to him he bent and lifted the edge of;the shroud, cautiously.
truded.

A bushy red beard pro-

"But who is this"Togrul!" he exclaimed.
young creature lying dead beside him?".

.

.

Then Tressa caught the collar of her tunic in her
left hand and flung back her lovely face looking up-

ward out of eyes like sapphires wet with rain
"In the name of the one and only God," she:sobbed "if there be no resurrection for dead souls,
then I have slain this night in vain!

"For what does it profit a girl if her soul be lost
to a lover and her body be saved for her husband?"She rose from her knees, the tears still falling,
and went and looked down at the outlined shapes
beneath the shroud.

Recklow had gone to the telephone to summon his
Now, turning toward
Tressa from his chair:"God knows what we'd do without you, Mrs.

own men and an ambulance.

Cleves.

I

believe this accounts for all the Yezidees

except Sanang."

276

THE SLAYER OF SOULS"Excepting Prince Sanang,"shesaid drearily.

Then she went slowly to where her husband lay in
his armchair, and sank down on the floor, and laid
her cheek across his feet.

CHAPTER XVIITHE SLAYER OF SOULS
that great blizzard which, on the 4th of February, struck the eastern coast of the UnitedStates from Georgia to Maine, John Recklow

INand his men hunted Sanang, the last of the Yezidees.

And Sanang clung like a demon to the country
which he had doomed to destruction, imbedding eachclaw again as it was torn loose, battling for the supremacy of evil with all his dreadful psychic power,
striving still to seize, cripple, and slay the bodies
and souls of a hundred million Americans.

Again he scattered the uncounted myriads ofgerms of the Black Plague which he and his Yezidees
had brought out of Mongolia a year before; andonce more the plague swept over the country, andthousands on thousands died.
But now the National, State and City governments
were fighting, with physicians, nurses, and police,
this gruesome epidemic which had come into theworld from they knew not where. And National,
State and City governments, aroused at last, werefighting the more terrible plague of anarchy.
Nation-wide raids were made from the Atlantic

to the Pacific, and from the Gulf to the Lakes.
277

278

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

Thousands of terrorists of all shades and stripes
whose minds had been seized and poisoned by the
Yezidees were being arrested.
Deportations had
begun; government agents were everywhere swarming to clean out the foulness that had struck deeper
into the body of the Republic than any one had supposed.

And it seemed, at last, as though the Red Plague,
was about to be stamped out along with theBlack Death called Influenza.

too,

But only a small group of Secret Service menknew that a resurgence of these horrors was inevitable unless Sanang, the Slayer of Souls, was destroyed. And they knew, too, that only one person

America could hope to destroy Sanang, the lastof the Yezidees, and that was Tressa Cleves.
in

Only by the sudden onset of the plague in variousof the land had Recklow any clew concerning

citiesthe whereabouts of Sanang.

In Boston, then Washington, then Kansas City,and then New York the epidemic suddenly blazed

And in these places of death the Secret Service
men always found a clew, and there they huntedup.

Sanang, the Yezidee, to kill him without mercy
where they might find him.
But they never found Sanang NoTane; only theghastly marks of his poisoned claws on the body ofthe sickened nation
only minds diseased by the Red
Plague and bodies dying of the Black Death civil
and social centres disorganized, disrupted, depraved,
dying.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

279

When the blizzard burst upon New York, struggling in the throes of the plague, and paralysed themetropolis for a week, John Recklow sent out aspecial alarm,and New York swarmed with Secretmen searching the snow-buried city for agraceful, slender, dark young man whose eyes slanteda trifle in his amber-tinted face; who dressed fashService

ionably, lived fastidiously, and spoke English perfectly in a delightfully modulated voice.

And to New York, thrice stricken by anarchy, by
plague, and now by God, hurried, from all partsof the nation, thousands of secret agents who had
been hunting Sanang in distant cities or who had
been raiding the traitorous and secret gatherings ofhis mental dupes.

Agent ZB-3O3, who was volunteer agent James
Benton, came from Boston with his new bride who
had just arrived by way of England a young girlnamed Yulun who landed swathed in sables, andstretched out both lovely little hands to Benton the
instant she caught sight of him on the pier. Where-

upon he took the slim figure in furs into his arms,
which was interesting because they had never before
met in the flesh.
their honeymoon scarce begun, Benton andSo,
Yulun came from Boston in answer to Recklow's
emergency call.

And all the way across from San Francisco came
volunteer agent XLY-37I, otherwise Alek Selden,
bringing with him a girl named Sansa whom he hadgone to the coast to meet, and whom he had imrne-

280

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

diately married after she had landed from the Jap-

anese steamer Nan-y&mg Maru.

Which, also, wasremarkable, because, although they recognised eachother instantly, and their hands and lips clung as

they met, neither had ever before beheld the living
body of tBe other.

The third man who came to New York at Reeklow's summons was volunteer agent 53-6-26, otherwise Victor Cleyes.

His young wife, suffering from nervous shock
after the deaths of Togrul Khan and of the Baroulass girl, Aoula, had been convalescing in a private
sanitarium in Westchester.

Until thesummons came to her husband from

Recklow, she had seen him only for a few moments
every day. But the call to duty seemed to have effected a miraculous cure in the slender, blue-eyedgirl who had lain all day long, day after day, in her
still, sunny room scarcely unclosing her eyes at all
save only when her husband was permitted to enterfor the few minutes allowed them every day.

The physician had just left, after admitting that
Mrs. Cleves seemed to be well enough to travel if
she insisted; and she and her maid had already begun
to pack when her husband came into her room.
She looked around over her shoulder, then rosefrom her knees, flung an armful of clothing into thetrunk before which she had been kneeling, and came
Then she dismissed her
across the room to him.
maid from the room. And when the girl had gone:

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

281"I am well, Victor," she said in a low voice. "Whyare you troubled?""I can't bear to have you drawn into this horrible
affair once more.""Who else is there to discover and overcome
Sanang?" she asked calmly.
He remained silent.
So, for a few moments they stood confronting
each other there in the still, sunny chamber husband and wife who had never even exchanged thefirst kisstwo young creatures more vitally and intimately bound together than any two on earth yetutterly separated body and soul from each othertwo solitary spirits which had never merged; twobodies virginal and inviolate.
Tressa spoke first: "I must go. That was ourbargain."

The word made him wince as though it had been a
Then his face flushed red.

sudden blow.

"Bargain or no bargain," he said, "I don't want
you to go because I'm afraid you can not endure
another shock like the last one.

.

.

And every time.

you have thrown your own mind and body between
this Nation and destruction you have nearly diedof it""And if I die?" she said in a low voice.

What answer she awaited perhaps hoped for
was not the one he made. He said "If you die in:what you believe to be your line of duty, then it will
be I who have killed you."

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

282"That would not be true.

It is

you who havesaved me."
"I have not.

I

have done nothing except to leadyou Into danger of death since I first met you. If
you mean spiritually, that also is untrue. You havesaved yourself if that indeed were necessary. You
have redeemed yourself if it is true you needed re"demption which I never believed"Oh," she sighed swiftly, "Sanang surprised mysoul when it was free of my body
into theall

Wood of the White Mothfollowed my soulcaught it there

and slew it!"His lips and throat had gone dry as he watchedalone

the pallid terror grow in her face.
Presently he recovered his voice: "You call that
Yezidee the Slayer of Souls," he said, "but I tell
you there is no such creature, no such power"I suppose I
I know what you mean
having!

seen what we call souls dissociated from their physical bodies

but that this Yezidee could do you any

damage I do not for one instant believe.

spiritual

The idea is monstrous, I tell you
"I
soul

I

"

regularly.

"

him
soul
foughtagainstbattling
she stammered, breathing faster and ir"I struggled with Sanang there in the

Wood of the White Moth. I called on God!

I calledon my two great dogs, Bars and Alaga I recited theFatha with all my strength fighting convulsively
whenever his soul seized mine; I cried out the nameof Khidr, begging for wisdom
I called on the Ten
Imaums, on Ali the Lion, on the Blessed Compan!

!

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

283

Then I tore my spirit out of the grasp of his
but there was no escape"!
no escape," shewailed. "For on every side I saw thecloud-topped
ions.

soul

rampart of Gog and Magog, and the woods rang
with

Erlik's"helllaughterthedissonant

mirth

of

She began to shudder and sway a little, then with
an effort she controlled herself in a measure.

"There never has been," she began again with lipsthat quivered in spite of her"there never has been
one moment in our married lives when my soul daredforget the Wood of the White

Mothdared seek

God lives. But so does Erlik.
yours.
are angels; but there are as many demons. .
.

.

There

.

.

.

My

ashamed.
And very lonely
very"
for yours
but no fit companion
lonelyHer hands dropped listlessly beside her and her
soul

is

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

chin sank.

"So you believe that Yezidee devil caught yoursoul when it was wandering somewhere out of yourbody, and destroyed it," he said.
She did not answer, did not even lift her eyes until
he had stepped close to her closer than he had evercome.

Then she looked up at him, but closed hereyes as he swept her into his arms and crushed herface and body against his own.

Now her red lips were on his now her face andheart and limbs and breast melted into his her
breath, her pulse, her strength flowed into his and;became part of their single being and single pulse
and breath. And she felt their two souls flame andTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

284

fuse together, and burn together in one heavenly
felt the swift conflagration mount, over-blaze

whelm, and sweep her clean of thelast lingering

her soul, unafraid, clasp her husband'sclung to him, uplifted
spirit in its white embraceout of hell, rising into the blinding light of Paradise.

taint; felt

far away she heard her own voice in singing

Far

heard her lips pronounce The Name"
Allahou
Her blue eyes unclosed; through a mist, in which
she saw her husband's face, grew a vast metallic
clamour in her ears.
Her husband kissed her, long, silently; then, retaining her hand, he turned and lifted the receiver
whispers

"Ata

Ata

!

from the clamouring telephone.
"Yes! Yes, this is 53-6-26.
me.
.

.

.

.

.

.

When?

.

.

.

Yes, we'll come at once.

a train in a few minutes.

Yes,

To-day?
.

.

.

.

.

.

-69

Very

is

with
well.

Yes, we can get
All right. Good-bye.".

.

.

He took his wife into his arms again.
"Dearest of all in the world," he said, "Sanang iscornered in a row of houses near the East River, andRecklow has flung a cordon around the entire block.

Good God I can't take you there !"Then Tressa smiled, drew his head down, looked!

into his face till the clear blue splendour of her gaze
stilled the tumult in his brain.

"I alone know how to deal with Prince Sanang,""And if John Recklow, or you, or
Mr. Benton or Mr. Selden should kill him with yourshe said quietly.
pistols,itwould be only his body you slay, not theTHE SLAYER OF SOULS
evil thing that would escape285

you and return to Erlik.""Must you do this thing, Tressa?""Yes, I must do it."
"But if our pistols cannot kill this sorcerer, how
are you going to deal with him?""I know how.""Have you the strength?""Yes

the bodily and the spiritual.

Don't youknow that I am already part of you?""We shall be nearer still," he murmured.
She flushed but met his gaze.
"Yes.
.
We shall be but one being.
.

terly.

one.

.

.

.

.

Ut-

For already our hearts and souls are
And we shall become of one mind and one

.

.

.

body.
"I am no longer afraid of Sanang Noiane !""No longer afraid to slay him?" he asked quietly.

A blue light flashed in her eyes and her face grew
and white and terrible.
"Death to the body? That is nothing, my lord!"

still

she said, in a hard, sweet voice.

"It is written that

we belong to God and that we return to Him. All
It isliving things must die, Heart of the World!

And it has
only the death of souls that matters.
arrived at a time in the history of mankind, I think,when the Slayer of Souls shall slay no more."
She looked at him, flushed, withdrew her hand andwent slowly across the room to the big bay window
where potted flowers were in bloom.
From a window-box she took a pinch of dry soil

and dropped it into the bosom of her gown.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

286

Then, facing the East, with lowered arms andpalms turned outward:"There is no god but God," she whispered "themerciful, the long-suffering, the compassionate, thejust.

"For it is written that when the heavens are rolled
scroll, every soul shall know what

together like aithath wrought.

"And those souls that are dead in Jehannum shallarise
court.

from the dead, and shall have their day in
Nor shall Erlik stay them till all has been

said.

"And on that day the soul of a girl that hath been
put to death shall ask for what reason it was slain.
"Thus it has been written."

Then Tressa dropped to her Knees, touched thecarpet with her forehead, straightened her lithe bodyand, looking over her shoulder, clapped her hands

together sharply.

Her maid opened the door.

"Hasten with mylord's luggage!" she cried happily; and,ing, lifted her head to her husband

stillkneel-and laughed up

into his eyes.

"You should call the porter for we are nearly
Shall we go to the station in a sleigh ? Oh,

ready.

wonderful!"
She leaped to her

feet,extended her hand andcaught his.

"Horses for the lord of the Yiort!" she cried,"Kosh! Take me out into this newlaughingly.
white world that has been born to-day of the tenTHE SLAYER OF SOULS
purities and the ten thousand felicities !

287
It has been

made anew for you and me who also have been born
this day!"He scarcely knew this sparkling, laughing girlwith her quick grace and her thousand swift little
moods and gaieties.
Porters came to take his luggage from his own
room and then her trunk and bags were ready, and;were taken away.

The baggage sleigh drove off.

Their own jing-

ling sleigh followed; and Tressa, buried in furs,
looked out upon a dazzling, unblemished world,lying silvery white under a sky as azure as her eyes.
"Keuke Mongol Heavenly Azure," he whis-pered close to her crimsoned cheek, "do you know
how I have loved you always always?""No, I did not know that," she said.
"Nor I, in the beginning. Yet it happened, also,
from the beginning when I first saw you.""That is a delicious thing to be told. Within
Unme a most heavenly glow is spreading.
.

.

.

glove your hand."She slipped the glove from her own white fingers
and felt for his under the furs.
"Aie," she sighed, "you are more beautiful thanmore wonderful than the Flaming Pearl. Outof ice and fire a new world has been made for us."Ali;

"Heavenly Azure

my darling!""Oh-h," she sighed, "your words are sweeter thanI shall be a bride to you suchthe breeze in Yianas there never has been since the days of the BlessedITHE SLAYER OF SOULS

288

may their names be perfumed andCompanions
sweet-scented!

.

.

Shall I truly be one with you,.

my lord?""Mind, soul, and body, one being, you and I, little
Heavenly Azure.""Between your two hands you hold me like aburning rose, my lord.""Your sweetness and fire penetrate my soul.""We shall burn together then till the sky-carpet
Koshbe rolled up.

!

We shall be one, and on thatday I shall not be afraid."
The sleigh came to a clashing, jingling halt; thetrainplowed into the depot buried in vast cloudsof snowy steam.

But when they had taken the places reserved forthem, and the train was moving swifter and more
swiftly toward New York, fear suddenly over-whelmed Victor Cleves, and his face grew grey withthe menacing tumult of his thoughts.

The girl seemed to comprehend him, too, and her
own features became still and serious as she leaned
forward in her chair.
"It is in God's hands, Heart of the World," she"We are one, thou and I, or
said in a low voice.

Nothing can harm my soul.""No. ... But the danger to your life
"I fear no Yezidee."nearly so.

""The beast will surely try to kill you. And what
You say my pistol is useless."

can I do?
"Yes.

.

.

.

But I want you near me."

"Do you imagine I'd leave you for a second?

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

289

Good God," he added in a strangled voice, "isn't
there any way I can kill this wild beast? Withmynaked hands?""You must leave him to me, Victor.""And you believe you can slay him? Do you?"
She remained silent for a long while, bent forward in her armchair, and her hands clasped tightly
on her knees.

"My husband," she said at last, "what your astronomers have but just begun to suspect is true, andhas long, long been known to the Sheiks-el-Djebel.
"For, near to this world we live in, are otherworlds planets that do not reflect light. And there
is a dark world called Yrimid, close to the earth
a planetwrapped in darkness

a black star.

.

.

.

And upon it Erlik dwells.
And it is peopled
And from it comes sickness andby demons.
.

.

evil

.

.

.

.

"

She moistened her lips; sat for a while gazingvaguely straight before her.

"From this black planet comes all evil upon
"For it isearth," she resumed in a hushed voice.
It
not
a
to
the
earth.
ishundred
near
miles
very
away.

All strange phenomena for which our scien-tists can not accountall

are due to this invisible planet,

new and sudden pestilences; all convulsions of

nature; the newly noticed radio disturbances; thenew, so-called inter-planetary signals all all havetheir hidden causes within that black and demonhaunted planet long known to the Yezidees, and bythem called Yrimid, or Erlik's World.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

290

"And

it is

to this black planet that I shall send

Sanang, Slayer of Souls. I shall tear him from thisearth, though he cling to it with every claw; andI shall fling his soul into

gulf
like

a

darkness

forth

hurl

swift rocket charredanddrive his soulout across theittoward Erlikfrom thefalling

sky into endless night.

"So shall I strive to deal with Prince Sanang, Sorcerer of Mount Alamout, the last of the Assassins,
Sheik-el-Djebel,

and SlayerofSouls.

.

.

.

May

God remember him in hell."Already their train was rolling into the great terminal.

Recklow was awaiting them.

He took Tressa's

hands in his and gazed earnestly into her face.

"Have you come to show us how to conclude thismurderous business?" he asked grimly.
"I shall try," she said calmly. "Where have you
cornered Sanang?""Could you and Victor come at once?"
She turned and looked at her husband,
who had become quite pale.
Recklow saw the look they exchanged. There
could be no misunderstanding what had happened
Their tragedy had ended. They
to these two.
"Yes."

were united at last.
realised

He understood it instantly,

how terrible was this new and tragic situ-

ation for them both.

Yet, h-knew also that the salvation of civilisa-

THE SLAYER OF SOULS
tion itself now

face Sanang.

291

She must
depended upon
There was nothing else possible.
this girl.

"The streets are choked with snow," he said,"but I have a coupe and two strong horses waiting."

He nodded to one of his men standing near.
Cleves gave him the hand luggage and checks.
"All right," he said in a low voice to Recklow;
and passed one arm through Tressa's.

The coupe was waiting on Forty-second Street,
guarded by a policeman. When they had entered
and were seated, two mounted policemen rode aheadof the lurching vehicle, picking a way amid themonstrous snow-drifts, and headed for the East
River.

"We've got him somewhere in a wretched row of
empty houses not far from East River Park. I'mtaking you there. I've drawn a cordon of my men
around the entire block. He can't get away. But
I dared take no chances with this Yezidee sorcerer
dared not let one of my men go in to look for him
go anywhere near him, until I could lay theMrs. Cleves.""Yes," she said calmly, "it was the only way, Mr.
Recklow. There would have been no use shooting
him no use taking him prisoner. A prisoner, heremains as deadly as ever; dead, his mind still lives

situation before you,and breeds evil.

You are quite right; it is for me

to deal with Sanang."

Recklow shuddered

in

spite

of himself.

"Can

you tear his claws from the vitals of the world, andTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

292

free the sick brains of a million people

from theslavery of this monster's mind?"
The girl said seriously:
It is so written.
And
And dwells forever and ever in Abad-"Even Satan was stoned.
was cast out.
don.

No star lights that Pit.

Black Planet, Yrimid.

None

lights

It is where evil dwells.

the

And

there Sanang NoTane belongs."

And now, beyond the dirty edges of the snowsmothered city, under an icy mist they caught sightof the river where ships lay blockaded by frozen
floes.

Gulls circled over it; ghostly factory chimneys on
the further shore

loomed up gigantic, ranged likeminarettes.

The coupe, jolting along behind the mounted poup toward the sidewalk andlicemen,struggled

stopped.

The two horses stood steaming, knee deep

Recklow sprang out; Tressa gave him one
hand and stepped lithely to the sidewalk. Then
Cleves got out and came and took hold of his
in snow.

wife's arm again.

"Well," he said harshly to Recklow, "whereisthis damned Yezidee hidden?"

Recklow pointed in silence, but he and Tressa
had already lifted their gaze to the stark, shabby rowof abandoned three-story houses where every dirty
blind was closed.
"They're to be demolished and model tenements
built," he said briefly.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

293

A man muffled in a fur overcoat came up and took
Tressa's hand and kissed it.

She smiled palely at Benton, spoke of Yulun,
wished him happiness. While she was yet speaking
Selden approached and bent over her gloved hand.
She spoke to him very sweetly of Sansa, expressing
pleasure at the prospect of seeing her again in thebody.

"The Seldens and ourselves have adjoining apartments at the Ritz," said Benton. "We have reserved a third suite for you and Victor."
She inclined her lovely head, gravely, then turned
to Recklow, saying that she was ready.

"It makes no difference which front door I unlock," he said.

"All these tenements are connectedby human rat-holes and hidden runways leading fromHow many men do you
one house to another.
want?""I want you four men,nobody else."
Recklow led the way up a snow-covered stoop,
drew a key from his pocket, fitted it, and pulled open.

.

.

the door.

A musty chill struck their faces as they enteredthedarkened and empty hallway.

Involuntarily

every man drew his pistol.
"I must ask you to do exactly what I tell you todo," she said calmly.
his white"Certainly," said Recklow, caressing
moustache and striving to pierce the gloom with hiskeen eyes.
Then Tressa took her husband's hand. "Come,"

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

294

she said. They mounted the stairway together
the three others followed with pistols lifted.

;

andThere was a vague grey light on the second floor;
the broken rear shutters let it in.

As though she seemed to know her way, the girlledthem forward, opened a door in the wall, anddisclosed a bare, dusty room in the next house.

Through this she stepped; the others crept after
her with weapons ready. She opened a second door,
turned to the four men.

"Wait here for me.

Come only when I call," shewhispered.

"For God's sake take me with you," burst out
Cleves.

"In God's name stay where you are till you hearme call your name !" she said almost breathlessly.
Then, suddenly she turned, swiftly retracing her
and they saw her pass through the first door
and disappear into the first house they had entered.
A terrible silence fell among them. The sound ofher steps on the bare boards had died away. There
was not a sound in the chilly dusk.
Minute after minute dragged by. One by one
the men peered fearfully at Cleves.
His visage
was ghastly and they could see his pistol-hand tremsteps;

bling.

Twice Recklow looked at his wrist watch. The"She has been gone

third time he said, unsteadily:

three-quarters of an hour."Then, far away, they heard a heavy tread on thestairs.

Nearer and nearer came thefootsteps.

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

295

Every pistol was levelled at the first door as a man's
bulky form darkened it.
"It's

one of my men," said Recklow in a voice"Where on earth is Mrs. Cleves?"

like a low groan.

"I came to tell you," said the agent, "Mrs. Clevescame out of the first house nearly an hour ago. She
got into the coupe and told the driver to go to theRite.""What!" gasped Recklow.

"No
And I began to worry"She's gone to the Ritz," repeated the agent.

one

else

has come out.

hearing nothing of you, Mr. Recklow.
"

So I stepped

in to see

"You say that Mrs. Cleves went out of fhe house
we entered, got into the coupe, and told the driverto go to the Ritz?" demanded Cleves, astounded.
"Yes, sir.""Where is that coupe? Did it return?""It had not returned when I came in here.""Go back and look for it. Look in the otherstreet," said Recklow sharply.

The agent hurried away over the creaking boards.
The four men gazed at one another.
"The thing to do is to obey her and stay where
we are," said Recklow grimly. "Who knows what"
peril we may cause her if we move fromHis words froze on his lips as Tressa's voice rangout from the darkness beyond the door they wereguarding:"Victor!

band!"

I

I

need youl

Come to me, my hus-

300

THE SLAYER OF SOULS

In the room the mist thinned swiftly; the fourmen could now see one another. But Tressa was nolonger in the room. And in place of the white shroud
a piece of filthy tattered carpet lay on the floor.

And a dead rat, flattened out, dry and dusty, lay
upon it.
"For God's sake," whispered Recklow hoarsely,"let us get out of this!"

Cleves, his pistol clutched convulsively, stared at

him in terror. But Recklow took him by the armand drew him away, muttering that Tressa was
waiting for him, and might be ill, and that there wasnothing further to expect in this ghastly spot.

They went with Cleves to the Ritz.

At the desk

the clerk said that Mrs. Cleves had the keys andwas in her apartment.

The three men entered the corridor with him;
watched him try the door; saw him open it; lingered a moment after it had closed; heard the key
turn.

At the sound of the door closing the maid came.

"Madame is asleep in her room," she whispered.
"When did she come in?""More than two hours ago, sir.

Ihave drawn

her bath, but when I opened the door a few moments
ago, Madame was still asleep."

He nodded; he was trembling when he put off his
overcoat and dropped hat and gloves on the carpet.
From the little rose and ivory reception room heTHE SLAYER OF SOULS

301

could see the closed door of his wife's chamber.

And for a while he stood staring at it.
Then, slowly, he crossed this room, opened thedoor; entered.
In her bedroom the tinted twilight was like ashesof roses. He went to the bed and looked down at
her shadowy face; gazed intently; listened; then, in
sudden terror, bent and laid his hand on her heart.
It

was beating as tranquilly as a child's; but as sheturned her head, and unclosed her eyes, under his hand her heart leaped like a wild thingcaught unawares and the snowy skin glowed with anstirred,and deepening tint as she lifted her arms
and clasped them around her husband's neck, drawexquisite

ing his quivering face against her own.

THE END