Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/9

Rh der. They say I have phenomenal powers of hearing, and no doubt it is extra acute, but the latent fear that since the day before had lain at the back of my mind, coupled with the nervous strain that had so long oppressed me, would in any case have made me quick to catch any unusual sound from the station—nearly half a mile distant.

What I did hear was an angry shout as of surprise, rage, and something else that seemed to freeze the blood, a moment's mingling of two voices in excitement, a pistol-shot, and that was all. The very silence that succeeded seemed to lend horror to my mind. I had sprung to my feet at the first sound, but stood spell-bound for the few moments the sounds continued, and then at my utmost speed I ran for the station-house.

During the two or three minutes this may have taken, I could not prevent the thought of a hundred awful possibilities from jostling each other through ray mind. I feared to find terrible injury to one or other, perhaps both, of my companions—perhaps Ling even dead, for I knew the fatal accuracy of Lieutenant Wilson with a pistol.

The reality surpassed it all. Poor Wilson lay on his side, bent backward like a bow. His attitude and expression were too frightful to recall, the last convulsive twitchings of life were still faintly perceptible. In his back was the Chinaman's knife, driven to the hilt. The Chinaman lay like one asleep, but in this case it was the sleep that knows no waking, with a face on which its habitual calm had already reasserted itself, and a pistol bullet through his brain.

Y dear May, I cannot give you the history of the time that immediately succeeded my discovery; it has become a blank. Whether I actually lost consciousness at the shock or not, I do not know, but my memory holds no record of what must have been a considerable time. I remember ultimately finding myself standing on the same spot, and, raising my eyes from the awful scene at my feet, I noticed that the sun was already in the western sky. I was shaking like an aspen leaf. I struggled to collect ray ideas into a coherent train of thought, instinctively realizing that something must be done—at once.

The thought of those murdered bodies lying so near me in the pale starlight through the silent watches of the night was intolerable. I resolved to bury them while daylight lasted, just as they were, as deep as I could— out of sight—out of sight! I cannot dwell, even now, on all the details of this task. I dragged them as far as possible from the station-house, where their life's blood had made terrible token of the spot where they fell, just outside the door (thank Heaven, outside).

I was determined that deep they should lie, but the ground was rocky, and my tools not intended for this use. Thankful to have digging tools at all, I at length completed my task. I confess that the hardness of the ground was not my only difficulty, for more than once I leapt up from my work with the vivid impression of the contorted face of the Chinaman, as I had once seen it, close to my shoulder. Nothing but the alternative of their ghastly company above ground drove me to the completion of what I had commenced. I was none too soon, for by the time I had finished, the brief twilight was already on the island. Such, however, was my unreasoning, frantic desire to obliterate all traces of the tragedy, that ere black night descended, the bloodstains also had been washed away.

Entering the building, my loneliness rushed down upon me and seemed to wrap me round. I believe it was more this feeling than the duty of reporting the occurrence, that took me straight to the instrument. I longed to hear the voice of my fellow-man. At the signal-table there is provided, for the purpose of wireless telephony, a headpiece that fits over both ears, without requiring to be held by the hands, that they may be left free for taking down a message, and that shuts out all sounds except those coming through the instrument.

S I put on this headpiece I felt severely the physical and mental strain to which I had been subjected, and suffered a curious feeling that I do not know how to describe, except that it seemed half utter fatigue, and half excitement. I passed the signal, and then spoke the call word, and nearly jumped out of the chair at the sound of my own voice. This should not have been very distinct to me, so effective are the ear-pieces or receivers, as excluders of all sounds not coming by "wireless"; yet I seemed to have shouted.

Trying again, and speaking softly, it had the same effect. Having waited in vain for an answer from the neighboring (neighboring!—three thousand miles) station, I removed the headpiece and sat still for a moment. Then I found why my voice had seemed a shout. My nerves, or whatever the proper word may be, were in a state of unnatural exaltation. Incredible as it may appear, the murmur of the wavelets all round the islet was clearly audible to me. The gentlest of breezes seemed to hiss over the bungalow. The creak of a board was like a pistol-shot.

NCE more I assumed the headpiece and signalled again, and again. The clang of the call-signal at the receiving station is audible for some distance; it is not necessary to have on the head-piece to receive it. The fact of getting no reply proved there was no one in attendance, at the moment, at either of the two stations we communicated with. It is true the hour was an unusual one, in fact oue at which no call had ever been sent before, and that could he the only reason why I was left without reply. It was an illustration of how even the best can get slack under such circumstances. I felt at the time that this went some way to vindicate Lieutenant Wilson's methods, whose faults, whatever they might have been, certainly did not lie in the direction of slackness. No one could have signalled us at any moment, day or night, during his command here without receiving an immediate answer.

Keeping on the headpiece, I waited, calling up at intervals.

How long this went on I cannot say, but after some shorter or longer time a thing happened that I cannot explain unless by supposing it the result