The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-01-05

ing NJ from the inside. You will re-
member what We found within il
Consider this with the new fact above,
and 10 what conclusion do YOU come?
Something had been concealed in
side, and had slain Professor Decping
while he was actually engaged in en-
deavoring TO force the box open. This
inconccivable creature had then
searched the study for the slipper
or ior the key of the safe. Inter
rupted and trapped, by the arrival of
the police, the creature had returned
to the box, closed it. and had actually
been there when the study was searched.
FOR a creature so small as the mur.
derous thing in the box to slip out
during the confusion, and at some time
prior to Bristol's arrival, was no diff
cult matter.
But what was this creature?
! turned to the chapter in Assyran
My'hology-"The Tradition of the
llashlshln" The legends which the
late Professor Deeping had collected
relative TO this sect of religious mur-
derers were truly extraSrdinary. OF
the cults extinction, at the time Of
writing, he was clearly certain, but he
referred to the popular belief, or Mos.
lem legend, that since iIassan of kho-
rassan. there had always been a Shcil;-
al-ichal, and that dreadful being
known as Hassan OF Aleppo was the
present holder of the title
| He referred to the fact that De Sacv
has shown the word assassin To be de
rived from Hashishin and quoted FL
Idrlsi to the same end The HaShshin
performed their murderous ieats under
the influence OF Hashish, or Indian
hemp; and during the state OF ecstasy
so induced, according TO Dceping, they
acquired powers almost superhuman.
] read how they could scale sheer
prcclpices, pass iearleSsly along narrow
edges which would scarcely afford
! ioothold Tor rat, cast themselves
from great heights, unscratched, and
track one marked for death in such
a manner as to remain unseen not only
by the victim but BY others atsut him.
AT this point OF my studies started
Fin a sudden nervous panic, and laid
my hand upon my revolver, for |
thought ] heard faint sound outside
my study door
TlFSkeyNi Dcepng's safe and hi,
letter n me lay close by my hand.
slipped them into drawer and locked
IT. Wlth every nerve, il seemed, strung
up almost to the swapping point, | me.
chancally pursued my reading.
My door began very slowly 10 open
Merciiul God! What was coming into
the room So'very slowly, so gently
so all but impercepitbly, did it move,
that had my nerves been less kcenly
aruncd ] doubt not ! should have re-
NAMED unaware OF the happening
Frozen with horror, sat and watched
Vet my mental condition was a singu-
lar one.
My direct gaze never quilted the
door but IN some strange fashion |
saw the words of the next paragraph
upon the page before me The Sheikh-
al-Jebal took young boys OF a certain
desert tribe, and for eight hours o,
every day, until their puberty, confined
them IN wooden frame"
What looked like reed was slowl,
inserted through the opening between
door and doorpost! II was brought
gradually round - = until it pointed
directly toward me
II seemed TO put forth mighty men
tai effort, shaking off the icy hand
OF fear which held me inactive in my
chair a saving instinct warned me
and ducked my head.
Something whirred past me and
struck the wall. behind.
Revolver in hand. | leaped across the
room, dashed the door open and fired
hllndy-again and again and again
down the passage.
And in the brief CLEANS | saw IL
1t was a tiny dwarf Neither within
nor without freak exhibition had
seen so small human being A kind
OF supernatural dread gripped me BY
the throat at sight of it, As it turned
with animal activity and bounded into
my bathroom, | caught three quarter
view OF the creatures swollen, incred.
ihlc head, which was nearly as large as
that OF normal man
Never, while my mind serves me, car
forget that yellow. grinning face and
those canine tangs--thc ,igerish, bla,.
ing eyes set in the misshapen head
Wildly, | fired again. | hurled my.
self forward and dashed into the room
Like nothing so much as a cat, IN,
cleaning body (he dwarf was hui
Scahtily clothed streaked through tn,
open window
Certain death, | though. must he hi'
lot, upon the stones OF the court fHi
below. ran and looked down, shakinl
in every limb, my mind filled with q
loathing terror unlike anything | haC
ever known.
Brilliant moonlight flooded the pave
ment beneath and for twenty yards 'C
left and right every stone was visible
The court was empty g.
Human. homely London moved ant
wrought intimately abou, me: bu, there
a, sight OF the empty court below, I
great loneliness swept down like q man
eie--a clammy mantle of the fabric o.
dread. stood remote from my fel
lows, in an evil world peopled with
the creatures Of Hassan OF Aleppo.
(Thc end New story NEXT weekly