Argosy All-Story Weekly, August 9, 1924 — page 147: what you’re looking at

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

THE MAN WHO The plane passed low above a city street, following its length to the blue water that lapped on the white sand at its end. The street seemed full of dogs. A Noth rider —-sinister, animal-like with his black bound head and his naked torso covered with black hair—arrived at a silent white house, with it white columns, splashing fountain, and vivid trellised flowers. The Noth dis- mounted, rushed into the house; he came out dragging an Aran woman—flung her white body to the eager, snarling brute. At the beach hundreds of terrified Arans sprang into the water; but the dogs fol- lowed them, pulled them under, released them at last, and the surf flung back their mangled bodies to the sand. There was a public square, where a hun- dred or more Arans had gathered. The dogs charged them—tore at them—flung them into the air—fought over their broken bod- ies long after life had gone. To every corner of the city the dogs spread simultaneously. A child climbed a pergola—a little Aran boy, white skinned, with long golden curls and a plump baby face. The dogs could not reach him. A Noth man climbed up, pulled him down. Loto had given the Frazia controls to his father. With a small thunderbolt globe at his belt he went to the platform outside the cabin. Presently he found Azeela be- side him. Her arm was around him; to- gether they clung to their insecure footing, watching the scenes below as the plane made its swift circle over the city. What could Fahn do? The thunderbolt projector, here on the platform, could kill a few Noths—a few dogs here and there. But of what avail among these hordes? The Orleen Cavern? Could they attack that? Toroh was probably there in the cavern. If they could kill him, these Noth barbarians, without a leader— Confused, and sick from what he was seeing, Loto tried to force Azeela into the cabin, but the white lipped girl would not go. ‘The plane approached a house where on the roof top an Aran woman crouched with two little girls huddled at her feet. A Noth appeared from below, dashed at them across the roof. Beneath the eaves a dozen dogs stood with bared, dripping fangs held upward. MASTERED TIME. 297 The plane was almost over the house. Loto pointed his globe downward, pressed its lever. There was a flash; a miniature crack of thunder; the globe recoiled in his hand. On the roof top the Noth man and the Aran woman and her children lay dead. The woman’s white robe was black- ened; the children’s bodies were black— shriveled; a cornice of the building was ripped off; the woodwork was blazing. It was so useless! Loto flung the globe from him, loathing it for having killed that woman and her little girls. He drew Azeela back with him into the cabin. The king’s palace of Orleen stood near the water front, in the midst of broad, mag- nificent gardens. A mob of Noths surged around it, into the lower doors, on the bal- conies and roof top. As the plane passed overhead, its occupants caught a fleeting glimpse of the queen and her children, the girl wives of the king and the king himself —in the face of death with petty barriers at last broken down—all huddled together in a corner of the roof. The Noths rushed at them—broad, heavy swords flashing. The plane swept past. The twin peaks of Orleen stood six hun- dred feet apart, Just behind the city. The one that housed the cavern had a broad, circular base, with a ragged, volcanic look- ing cone above. The other peak was con- siderably higher; it looked down upon its fellow. To the higher of the peaks Fahn had directed Rogers to fly the plane. The Sci- entist had hardly spoken. He was pale, grim as ever, but his gaze upon his daugh- ters held a curious softness. What were his plans? What were they going to do? Georgie asked the questions; but Fahn ig- nored them. The little aerial army approaching from Anglese City was now in sight. Fahn’s radio spoke to it. He ordered it back, and ordered it to descend and stop the Bas army and its dogs. All of them were to return to the capital. The plane landed on a small level rock near the summit of the higher peak. Over the cavern, six hundred feet away, a soli- tary male figure stood. The blood light of the sunrise fell full upon it. Toroh! He was standing there, regarding the city. GOMIIGIOO S (C@) nn