Page:Weird Tales Volume 23 Issue 5 (1934 05).djvu/114

640 which Ossaru himself had established to guard the vault for ever. For an instant, on the air, there was a melting as of misshapen cloud, a falling as of light ashes. After that the darkness returned, and with the darkness, silence,

settled above that nameless land, that forgotten city; and with its coming the Ghorii, who had followed Milab and Marabac over the desert plain. Swiftly they slew and ate the camel that waited patiently at the palace entrance. Later, in the old hall of columns, they found that opening in the dais through which the jewelers had descended. Hungrily they gathered about the hole, sniffing at the tomb beneath. Then, baffled, they went away, their keen nostrils telling them that the scent was lost, that the tomb was empyempty [sic] either of life or death.



NWAVERINGLY, my guest sustained my perplexed and angry stare. Silently he withstood the battering words I launched at him. He appeared quite unmoved by my reproaches, save for a dull red flush that crept up and flooded his face, as now and then I grew particularly bitter in my tirade.

At length I ceased. It was like hitting into a mass of feathers: there was no resistance to my blows. He had made no attempt to justify himself. After a moment of silence, he spoke his first word since he had entered the room.

"I'm sorry, my friend, sorrier than you can imagine, but—I couldn't help it. I simply could not touch her hand. The shock—so suddenly to come upon her—to see her as she was—I tell you, I forgot myself. Please convey to your wife my most abject apologies, will you? I am sorry, for I know I should have liked her very much. But—now I must go."

"You can't go out in this storm," I answered. "It's out of the question. I'm sorry, too, sorry that you acted as you did—and more than sorry that I spoke to you as I did, just now. But I was angry. Can you blame me? I'd been waiting for

W.T.—7