A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, February 1950 — page 55: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE SMOKING LAND 55 while I rested my chin on my knuckles and looked her over, and realized that whatever bunkum there might be in this religion of hers, as far as she was con- cerned, it was the pure quill. Whatever else might be, this nameless goddess, was, to Sylvia, the real, true force of life, her commands embraced the whole of justice, and there was no limit to her wisdom. All this shone in Sylvia’s clear and lovely eyes; it was implicit in the little pause that followed her words. Then she went on to say that since there had been, as she thought, a heavenly intervention to save me, she believed all of the story I had told her, although it was so strange that, to use her own expression, the “exceeding marvel and passing won- der” of it still staggered her, As for Darrell, in short, she knew nothing about him, but if he were in the land the men of the mountain would know. I asked her who the men of the moun- tain might be, and she said, “Nay, stran- ger, that has not been revealed to me, and to none other, as I well think, saving to those wise men themselves. But they are the friends of the goddess and they dwell apart, even in the heart of the mountain, and on its lofty shoulders. I have sent unto them to have knowledge of thy friend. Even in the name of the goddess I have sent, and the answer surely will not be long. Wilt thou sit and wait? And thou, also, the captain of the guard?” The captain got off a bow that made me sick with envy, and thanked her, but he said that it was not for him to sit in such a presence. I envied the speech as much as I envied the bow, but since I was already lowering myself onto a bench, I finished the job and sat down, and felt a bit hot in the face. Sylvia smiled at me, though, in a way to make me feel more comfortable. However, the girl Alice came right over and sat down beside me, and she said, “Truly, my friend, curiosity is a wolf that consumes me when I hear thy speech in- toned through thy nose, and I would give the rings from my fingers to know more of the southern land from which thou comest.”” Her voice had a gay, lilting ring tinged with a mockery that; was light and a little stinging. She was sparkling with gaiety. “If you give me some time and half an ear,” said I, “you can keep your rings and hear all about it.” She looked me up and down and laughed in a half friendly and half mock- ing manner. “Sylvia,” she said, “it is as thou hast said. There is a flavor and a smack of life in his speech. Thou comest from a great land and a great people, dost thou not?” “The greatest in the world, bar none,” said I. “Ah? The greatest?” said she. And she lifted her brows at me. “Surely, Alice, a man’s country is ever the best in his eyes, and his people are the greatest !”’ “But tell me nevertheless,” said Alice, “is thy land so wide as ours, and are thy mountains as great as the smoking moun- tains?” I said, “You could put three or four dozen little islands like this in a coat pocket of that country of mine.” “Ahe” said she, blinking. “And is it as fair?” I looked around me. “Do you like this garden?” said I. “It is a miracle of beauty,” said she, “for it was made by the men of the moun- tain. Hast thou aught to match it in thy kingdom?” 99 6 HE whole country, once or twice a year, is like this little garden,” I told her. “No man makes it beautiful, but the sun and the rain do it for them. The flowers jump up under your feet, and the sweetness of them fills the wind, I tell you! Stretch out this garden to fill a valley a hundred miles long, all paved with color, and set some good big blue mountains in the distance, and round off things with a blue sky, and a few white puffs of clouds, here and there, and you have an idea of a little scene that I’ve looked at not once, but a good many times!” She looked me fairly in the eye and didn’t say a word, but I knew that she was telling herself that I was one of the biggest and clumsiest liars in the whole world. Sylvia seemed disturbed. She said in her gentle voice, for everything about her COMicaoo® S (©