The Ordway new era., 1909-03-12

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moon. huge, silvery. rise like bubble
from between his fingers. mount high
er. higher into the still air and hang
aloft In the midnight sky, while an
other moon rose from his fingers, and
another and yet another until the vast
span OF Heaven was set with moons
and the earth sparklcd like diamond
In the white glare
A great wind began to blow from
the east and IL bore to our ears Il
long mournful howl-a cry so un'
earthly that for moment our hearts
| stopped
The Seth-hounds," sobbed fsonde:
do you hcar,-thcy are passing
through the forest, The Kin is near!
Then all around us In the dry sedge
| grasses came a rustic as II some small
animal We're creeping. and u damp
nCrid Odor filled the air. ! knew the
| smell, saw the spidery, crablike
creatures swarm out around me and
| drag their soft yellow hairy bodies
across the shrinking grasses, They
| passed hundreds OF them. poisoning
| the air. tumblinE. writhing, crawling
with their blind. mouthless heads
raised, Birds, half asleep and con
fused by the darkness. furtercd away
before them In helpless flight; rab'
bits spranS from their forms. weasels
giidcd away like flying shadows. What
remained OF the forest creatures rose
! and fled from the lOathsomc invasion.
| heard the squeak of a terrified hare.
the short stampcdInG OF a deer and the
numbering gallop OF a bear; and all
the time | was choking. half sunocatcd
by the poisoned air.
Then as | struggled TO free myself
from the silken snare about me. | cast
glance OF deadly fear at the sorcer-
er below. and nj the same moment
saw him turn In his tracks.
Halt" cried a voice from the
bushes.
"Barris." | shouted. half lcaping up
in my agony
! saw the sOTcercr spring forward,
| heard the bang, bang bang, OF a
revolver. and as the sorcercr fell on
the waters edge. | saw Barris jump
out into the white glare and fire again,
once. twice. three times. into the
writhing figure At his feet.
Then an awful thing occurred. Up
out OF the black lake reared shadow.
namcless. shapeless mass. headless.
sishtless. gigantic. gaping from end
to end.
\ great wave struck Barris and he
fell. another washed him up on the
pebbles, another whirled him back into
the water and thcn-and then the
thing fell over him-and | tainted.
This. then, is all that | know con.
Cerning Yue-Laou and the Kin. do
not fear the ridicule of scientists or OF
the press for ! have told the truth.
Barris Is gone and the thing that killed
him is alive to-day. In the Lake of the
Stars. while the spider.likc satellites
roam through the Cardinal Woods.
The game has fled. the forests around
the lake are empty of any living crca-
lures save the reptiles that creep when
the Kin moves in the depths OF the
lake.
Gen. Drummond knows what he has
lost in Barris, and we, Pierpont and
!, know what we have lost also His
will we found In the drawer. the key
OF which he had handed me. 1t was
wrapped in n bit of paper on which
was written:
Yue-Laou. the sorcerer. is here In the
Cardinal Woods l must kill him or he
will kill me. He made and gave to me
the woman ! lOvcd-he made her-I saw
him-hc made her out Of white water
lotus bud. When our child was born. he
cam" again before me and demanded
from me the woman ! loved. Then. when
l refused, he went away. and that night
my wife and child vanished from my
side. and found upon her pillow white
lotus bud. Roy. the woman OF your
dream, Ysondc. may be my child. God
help you II you love her, for Yue-Laou
will .ivc-Hnd take away as though he
were Xangi. which is God. will kill
Yuc-Laou before | leave this forest-or
ne will kill me.
FRANKLIN BARRIS
Now, the world knows what Barris
thought of the Kuen-Yuin and of Yue-
Laou. | see that the newspapers are
just becoming excited over the
glimpses that Li-Hung Chang has af
forded them of Black Cathay and the
demons of the kuen-Yuin. The Kuen-
YUM are on the move.
Pierpont and | have dismantled the
shooting box in the Cardinal Woods
We hold ourselves ready at a mo-
ment's notice to join and lead the first
government party to drag the Lake of
the Stars and cleanse the forest of the
crab reptiles. But it will be necessary
that large force assemble, and we'll
armed force, for we never have found
the body Of Yue-Laou, and living or
dead. l fear him. Is he living?
Pierpont, who found Ysonde and
myself unconscious on the lake shore,
the morning after, saw no trace of
corpse or blood on the sands. He may
have fallen into the lake, but l fear,
and Ysonde fears, that he is alive We
never were able to find either her
dwelling place or the glade and the
fountain again. The only thing that