The Washington times., 1912-04-18
THE TIMES DAILY SERIAL STORY
Darkness andDawn
By George Allan England r ySE GsSssAi K h nsa Co.,
Copyright, 1911
(The Frank A. Munsey Coz

Now, from the other horde, coming
aration were ere growing ever " louder.
With quicker beats the insistent TOM
choly rune, hollow and dissonant.. Then
through the night air drifted a minor
chant; wall, that rose, fell. died. and
came again, tagging as many strange
And from the square below, a shrill,
high-pitched, half-animal cry responded.
Creeping shudders chilled the flesh
along the engineers backbone.
about 100 pounds OF high-grade dyna-
unite or a gallon Of nitro-glycerine. Bet
ter still, a dozen capsules Of my own
Invention, my 'Pulverite!'
mighty quick. 1t would be the joker In
this game, all right Well. why not
make some7 With what chemicals I've
got left couldn't work up a half pint?
Bottled in glass TASKS. guess 1t would
turn the trick on 'em!'
why, they look black suddenly in
tsrrupted the girl. See there-and
She pointed toward the spring. Stern
saw moving shadows In the dark. Then;
impression of n hand holding torch.
He saw a body, half human.
The glimpse vanished, but he had seen
enough.
so, anyhow. And-why, did you see the
sizes of them2 No bigger than apes!
Good heaven!"
Involuntarily he shuddered. For now,
seen in q nightmare, the torch bearers
had spread all through the forest Mt
the base of the Metropolitan.
Away from the building out across by
the spring. and even to Fifth avenue.
the mob extended, here thick. there
thin. without order or coherence-a
shifting, murmuring. formless. seeming
ly painless congeries OF dull brutality .
Here or there, where the swaying or
the trees parted the branches a little
the wavering lights brought some frag-
ment of the mass to view. -,
No white thing showed anywhere. All
was dark and vague. lndistinctiy,
wayerng as in a vision, dusky heads
naked arm, greasily shining for sec
ond in the ruddy glow which now dlt-
fused itself through the whole wooo.
Here the watchers saw gnsteninS
back; again an outthrust leg, small ana
| crooked, apelike and repulsive.
And once again the engineer got
glimpse of a misshapen hand, q long,
lean, hIdeous hand that clutched a
spear. But. hardly seen, II Vanisheo
into obscurity once more.
Seems as those malformed human
members. black and bestial. had been
| flung at random into ghastly kaleido.
scope turned by madmans Whispered
Stern. The girl, answering nothins'
peered out in fascinated horror.
| Up, up to the watchers rose STEADY
droning hum; and from the northward,
ever louder. ever clearer, came now nne
! war song OF the attacking party. the
drums began again. suddenly. A hlgh,
pitched, screaming laugh echoed ana
died among the woods beyond the ruins
! of Twenty eighth street.
7 Still in through the western ap-
proaches of the square more and more
light kept struggling. Thicker and lll
| more thick grew the press below. .No"
the torch-glow was strong enough 10
cast it's lurid reflections on the vacant
| staring wrecks of windows and OF walls,
| gaping like the shattered skulls OF a
| civilization which was no more. To the
Eostrils OF the man and Won woman up; up
zigzag about, aimlessly. with frightened
cries One even dashed against the
building close ,t,n at hand; aTtb and feil' nut
| Stern, with a word of hot anger, mn
gered his revolver. But Beatrice laid
her hand upon his arm:
| Not YETI begged she
He glanced down at her. where she
stood beside him at the empty EN-
brasure of the window. The dim light
| from the vast and empty overarch OF
sky. powdered with a wonder OF stars,
showed him the vague outline OF her
| face. Wistful and pale she was. yet
very brave. Through Stern welled a
| sudden tenderness.
| He put his arm around her and for q
moment her head lay on his breast.
| But only moment.
For, ali at once, a snarling cry rama
through the wood, and, with a north
ward surge of the torch-bearers, a con-
fused tumult of shrieks. howls, simiar
| Gatherings and dull blows, the battle
! Joined between those two vague, strange
forces down below in the black forest,
A Continuation OF This story VIII
| BE Found In TOmOrrOw's
Insue Of The Times.