Page:Stirring Science Stories, March 1942.djvu/63

 Chundarath many days away.

WO DAYS HAD passed. He was far from Oo and far from any known land. Woth was hurrying swiftly along an animal trail under the shade of the great trees. He came to a part that crossed an open stretch upon which the hot light of the clouds flowed uninteruptedly. As he was about to step out into the open, he saw something move in the green on the other side of the space. Accustomed to the natural inhabitants of the fernforests, he recognized instantly the presence of man. Woth dodged back.

Nothing showed itself on the other side. He waited. Now his ears caught a sound. He looked behind him. There was someone coming along his trail. He watched hidden. In a few minutes, he saw three men come into view. Short and plump they were, dressed in queer robes such as were worn in only one place. And all three were smiling. Woth cast a glance at the other side of the clearing Sure enough, three other men had stepped out. Also short and plump and smiling broadly.

Woth stared aghast. They must have followed him all the way and trapped him neatly. They could easily have passed him, he saw, since they could use the river and streams and take advantage of the few inhabitants. Woth swore strange weird oaths under his breath.

The men began to advance to where he lay hidden. Woth took out the tiny miniature of Noom made of the priceless glowing lynquar, and giving it a last look, placed it in his mouth. He leered through the foliage at his pursuers, and then, with a violent effort, swallowed the gem.

He proceeded to step out onto the path in plain view. He looked at the newcomers and removing his skull cap made a sweeping bow.

The six men from Oo looked at him and seemed to smile even more broadly. Woth smiled back at them and queried in a friendly manner.

"Ah, good men, what do you want of me? Is there anything I can do for you?"

The little men smiled even more than before, if that were possible, and one said pleasantly.

"We were searching for a little ornament that has disappeared from Noom the perfect. Do you know ought of it?"

The man from Druun returned his smile and said blandly:

"Would that I could help you, sirs, but alas I cannot. I have not seen it."

The leader answered: "We shall have to continue our search then. May we come along with you, for we are not experienced jungle travellers?"

"Most certainly" answered Woth not in the least perturbed. "I should be delighted to have you with me."

They took up their journey together. The little men were very jolly and Woth was eternally jesting with them and asking about their God. He thought of an amusing notion and asked them.

"If it is true that none but Noom can do anything perfectly, then how could you ever find the one who made off with that which you seek? For would that not be bringing your quest to a perfect conclusion, which would be blasphemous?"

The little men laughed queerly and replied,

"Oh, we will never complete our search. But Noom will. The Perfect God will exact his own punishment and deliver the evildoer into our hand."

Woth smiled to himself and thought of how easy it would be to do away with these foolish men in the night. He wished it were dark already so that he might do it and go to sleep. For he felt very weary and his legs dragged heavily.

In a few hours he was feeling exhausted and dull. The gem seemed to lie on his stomach and grow and grow. His joints were becoming unusually stiff and painful.

When night came, he was able to stagger to a rest, and fell asleep instantly, deciding to put off his task till the morrow.

The next day he felt even queerer. He had little inclination to keep on, and felt decidedly heavier and stiffer. His head was very dizzy and sunk into his shoulders. The stone in his insides seemed to be stifling him. He felt himself visibly shrinking. The little men about him never seemed to take notice of his strange illness but always their smiles grew broader.

Towards mid-day Woth was unable to continue. He lay down in the soft underbrush and the little fat men stood around and stared at him. Woth saw their grins grow and spread, and then finally, as a sickly coldness came over him, noticed them laugh outright.

EFORE THE temple of Noom in the city of Oo on the banks of the River Zoon sits a man. He is small and fat and he watches with his strange smile the people going in and out of the Temple of the Perfect One. And sometimes when he sees somebody that is tall and thin, he laughs to himself and glances, still chuckling, to a place inside the temple.

There along the wall, one among many others, stands a small stone statue. It is an effigy of Noom carved out of a single priceless lynquar gem. It is as large as an ordinary man and quite an excellent representation of the squat god of Oo. But like all things in that city, it, too, is unfinished. For where there should be twinkling stone eyes, there gleam forth two black human orbs that stare with an unearthly horror out at the scene before it. And if you place your ear to the hard stone sides you may hear a dull thumping as if of a heart beating eternally in the interior.