Avon Fantasy Reader No. 14 — page 87: what you’re looking at

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

“By their rotting, Your Majesty. I have tried to make that plain to you. They die and rot.’ “You mean they decay?” “Exactly. They dissolve into pools of slime. They form a puddle about three feet in diameter and weighing about thirty pounds.” it “How would such decaying masses stop an invading army?” : “It is their stench that will stop them. The yeast is mixed with culture of Bacillus Butericus and other foctid germs. These grow in the dying and dead yeast, and produce a dreadful odor.” “That may be true, but your idea that it will stop an army ts all nonsense. No soldier was checked by just a smell!” “But this will stop them. [ have a little bottle here. It has one drop of the end-slime diluted a thousand times. Have one of your officers smell it.” “Any volunteers?”’ asked the King. “Certainly,” answered the Chief of Artillery. “I have been in three wars and have smelled everything horrible known to any form of campaign. It will never hurt me.” The inventor held the opened boitle under the military man’s nose. Rough- ly, the soldier took two deep sniffs. Then Billings corked the bottle, while the volunteer slumped from the chair to the floor and lay there, white, sweat- : ing and vomiting. The others hastened to help him loosen his collar. dl “My God!” exclaimed the King. “Just two whiffs from a bottle containing i a thousandth of a drop, and each dead Yeast Man produces thirty pounds of | the stuff. Will it kill?” “Not men, but plants,” was Billings’ reply. “Look at this.” He emptied the bottle on a large clay jar holding a blooming cyclamen. At once the plant withered and died. A curious foetid odor filled the room. The King rose hastily and sought an opened window. So did the rest seek doors and open windows, carrying the fainting Chief of the Artillery Service with them. As soon as they got outside the room, in pure air, the King turned to the : inventor, i “Show me just one man like those you describe, Mr. Billings—just one st ) eet es — < Ks Md man, and the resources of the kingdom are at your command.” i “[T have made them. I have one that is now nearly three days old. My as- tk sistants have been leading him around a deserted race track. You see, they go 4 in a straight line unless led, and the only way we could keep him under ob- i servation was to lead him around in a track.” a “We will go and see him,” said the King, “and we will take with us the Professor of Mathematics from the University. Gentlemen, follow in your cars.” The party reassembled at an old race track, overgrown with grass and a quarter of a mile in circumference. Walking slowly around this track was an assistant from the Moronian laboratories. Other men were resting on a bench. The walking man held a rope and was leading a peculiar creature. It was a Yeast Man. Imagine a six-foot man of dough, with a crust bard enough to hold it erect, yet viscid enough to allow it to move forward. A creature with a head but 85 comicbhooks.com :