San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-03

scales, hoarSe cr0akS ana leatnery
wing-rustles. One cannot thrust
ones sword into the NAV of moth
ingness. The only light being the
doubtful reflection of some I'M
seen, reddish flame, it was hardly
more than a sinister twilight. The
beating of the young mans heart
initiated the hoofstrokes of hur-
rying horse. He was aware of
sweat that pricked out upon him.
There must be an end to this. The
fear that Sidonia-his woman
had melted again into the unseen
world rowelled him like a spur.
He invoked st. Michael, the con-
queror of Lucifer. beneath his
breath, and moved from the wall
against which he had stood for a
century of moments.
Ills hunters tread was noiseless.
At the side of the nearest pillar he
paused, standing close TO il. He
saw, at the head, the altar-tomb,
with Sablc-cloakcd and hooded
figure standing before it. He saw
the sparse circle of the kneeling
congregation. He saw what APP
peared to be a woman's corpse laid
out upon the altartomb. Where
was Sidonia? Where was Satan?
He had expected-he hardly knew
what, but not this fantastic de-
corum-this semblance of sanctu-
airy and altar. He looked, holding
himself perfectly still, his mind
cropping desperately and to no pur-
pose.
The hooded figure turned to face
the kneelers, A tall masked man.
But was he a man? Gervais felt
the skin of his flesh vince and
SILVER.
The soul of Gervais became cold
and then hot as fire. Only
Satan would dare such a bias
phemy. And he-he must defend
the honor of God. He took a
quick, forward step.
Immediately noise broke loose.
Screaming cackles of historical
laughter; animal-like sounds;
whoops; shouted words, senseless
or worse; sharp female shrieks.
suggesting devil-possession. The
emotional tension had snapped with
the suddenneSs of an overstretched
bowstring. With an epileptic in
stability the huddled figures had
lapsed from unnatural pass
witty to unnatural frenzy. A
beldame with struggling gray
shot hair shuffled her feet
like a dancing bear. A girl
was casting her garments this way
and that as though they scorched
her. One of the gnarled gutter
men, a hunchback, mauled another
girl, who whimpered as a baby
does, PROSTATE on the death-dusted
floor. A youth spun round and
round like a top, with extended
arms, his glazed eyes ecstatic, his
teeth barred. Some were initiating
the antics of goats or dogs and,
one woman, still upon her knees,
threw herself from side to side,
rolling her eyeballs dreadfully and
frothing at the mouth. 1t was
like a madhouse. low-vaulted
dungeon for the violently insane.
Delirium.
Gervais had halted. He was
amazed, confused, as though d
swarm of imps had flown into his
face. 1t was the welter of a wal
lowing sty, the capers of the
moonstruck, an outrageous night
mare. Fiends had certainly entered
into the bodies of these people
tormenting fiend 5, unhuman,
scarcely even animal. Yet there
was release and insensate JOY.
Sword in hand, he looked be-
meath frowning brows to right and
left and then at the altar-tomb.
It was tenantless. Satan had lift
ed the woman who had been her
self the living altar. She was
grappled to him starkly, but APP
peared homeless as a corpse that
has not yet begun to stiffen. Her
very long black hair fell like q
travelled veil. There was a strange,
dreadful cry, such as might have
come from the lips and throat Of
a dead creature galvanized from
without. The cry of trapped soul
Sidonia it was she-there, In
the arms of Satan, Gervais's mind
and spirit and energy fused in one