Manly Wade Wellman - Judge Pursuivant 01 Read Online Free Page A

attacker fell away from him toward us.
                   It was all over before one might ask what it
was about.

             IV
     
                  ''I don't know what kiUed him."
                   Just when I got up I do not remember, but I
was on my feet as the grapplers separated. Without thinking of danger - and
surely danger was there in the room - I might have rushed forward; but Susan
Gird, lying limp in her chair, hampered me in our mutual shackles. Standing
where I was, then, I pawed in my pocket for something I had not mentioned to
her or to Zoberg; an electric torch.
                   It fitted itself into my hand, a compact
little cylinder, and I whipped it out with my finger on the switch. A cone of
white light spurted across the room, making a pool about and upon the
motionless form of Gird. He lay crumpled on one side, his back toward us, and a
smudge of black wetness was widening about his slack head and shoulders.
                   With the beam I swiftly quartered the room,
probing it into every corner and shadowed nook. The creature that had attacked
Gird had utterly vanished. Susan Gird now gave a soft moan, like a dreamer of
dreadful things. I flashed my light her way.
                   It flooded her face and she quivered under the
impact of the glare, but did not open her eyes. Beyond her I saw Zoberg,
doubled forward in his bonds. He was staring blackly at the form of Gird, his
eyes protruding and his clenched teeth showing through his beard.
                   "Doctor Zoberg!" I shouted at him,
and his face jerked nervously toward me. It was fairly cross-hatched with tense
lines, and as white as fresh pipe-clay. He tried to say something, but his
voice would not command itself.
                   Dropping the torch upon the floor, I next dug
keys from my jacket and with trembling haste unlocked the irons from Susan
Gird's wrist and ankle on my side. Then, stepping hurriedly to Zoberg, I made
him sit up and freed him as speedily as possible. Finally I returned, found my
torch again and stepped across to Gird .
                   My first glance at close quarters was enough;
he was stone-dead, with his throat torn brutally out. His cheeks, too, were
ripped in parallel gashes, as though by the grasp of claws or nails. Radiance
suddenly glowed behind me, and Zoberg moved forward, holding up the carbide
lamp.
                   "I found this beside your chair," he
told me unsteadily. "I found a match and lighted it." He looked down
at Gird, and his lips twitched, as though he would be hysterical.
                   "Steady, Doctor," I cautioned him
sharply, and took the lamp from him. "See what you can do for Gird."
                   He stooped slowly, as though he had grown old.
I stepped to one side, putting the lamp on the table. Zoberg spoke again:
                   "It is absolutely no use. Wills. We can do nothing. Gird has been killed."
                   I had turned my attention to the girl. She
still sagged in her chair, breathing deeply and rhythmically as if in
untroubled slumber.
                   "Susan," I called her.
"Susan!"
                   She did not stir, and Doctor Zoberg came back
to where I bent above her. "Susan," he whispered penetratingly,
"wake up, child."
                   Her eyes unveiled themselves slowly, and
looked up at us. "What -" she began drowsily.
                   "Prepare yourself ,"
I cautioned her quickly. "Something has happened to your father."
                   She stared across at Gird's body, and then she
screamed, tremulously and long. Zoberg caught her in his arms, and she swayed
and shuddered against their supporting circle. From her own wrists my irons still dangled, and they clanked as she wrung her hands in aimless
distraction.