A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, April 1950 — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

THE NINTH LIFE sheep, mister. Can’t leave them alone.” _ They set off, and the old dog followed. The Grange frontage was no mote than a dark oblong against the night sky when the gang of men whom Perry had fetched, together with tackle from a builder’s yard, finally got the large car out from the moat and righted it, little damaged except for its driven-in radiator. They, dragged it toward the portico, into the ray of Gees’ headlamps, and the light, too, of the two lorries on which the tackle had been fetched under Perry’s direction. Tott, who had remained on guard all the time, reached out to open the door, but then stood back and turned to Crampton, who by that time had arrived to take part. “It’s your case,”’ Tott said. “Not that there’s much of a case left for you, except for the mask I told you about.” “It'll be in there,” Crampton decided. “All windows up and unbroken—it’ll be m there. Somebody give a hand here!” Fie turned the handle and tugged at the car door. It yielded stiffly ; in the fall, the body of the car had been strained, probably. As the door came open, water gushed out. Men reached in and took out the body of Cleo Kefra, and Gees standing back, held his breath as the light of a big electric torch that Tott held fell on the still fgure, and on her face. Her face, he saw, and with that turned away, for a drowned face is not pretty. from the driver’s seat,” Crampton ordered. “Let me have that light, Mr. Tott. The glass between her and the driver was closed, she was all shut in. The mask will be in the back, I expect, where she was.” He directed the strong light into the back of the car, rayed it slowly from floor to roof. Then, getting inside, he threw out the sodden rug, the seat, and even a movable floor-board, while men carried the two bodies into the Grange. Cramp- ton got out again. “You're sure about that mask, Mr. Tott?” he asked. “It'll be somewhere in front,” Tott answered. “We should have seen if they’d thrown it out while we were chasing them —at least, they were in sight a good part of the way. A mask like a lion’s head— like a lioness’ head, I mean, I saw it quite plainly while: she had hold of that man Drake. Covering all her head and neck as far down as the collar of the fur coat. Look in front.” They stripped the driving compartment as Crampton had already stripped the back, but with no more result. Tott, stand- ing beside Gees, observed—‘‘That’s funny. They must have thrown it out.” Gees said, “They didn’t throw it out.” “It’s not there!” Tott protested. (Please continue on page 127) GET IT NOW! THE SECRET PEOPLE | By John Beynon ee Lost in a fantastic underground world .. . guarded by a race left over in strange survival from the dawn of time ... What would become of the hapless captives cut off from the world they knew—and what part would they be made to play in the forbidding ancient rites whose strange gods threatened in the eerie light of their waking nightmare? Don’t miss this story—well-known among the collectors of hard- to-get fantasy. One of the most thrillingly weirdly writ- ; : ten stories in the fantasy field! The big April issue is on all newsstands ~ GERTOW some of you get that body out (e(e) ‘comichoo KS