Page:Weird Tales volume 32 number 05.djvu/25

Rh crushed to mine, but it did not take this to inform me that the tall white-shirted thing with which I battled was not a man but a beast!

In the gloom I was unable to make out the features—only the shaggy outlines of a head, and weird green eyes that glared unblinkingly into mine.

But now our bodies were whirling at such a speed as to make any close scrutiny impossible. With the tenacity of a bulldog those great arms sought to press the life from me. But not a whit less savage was my own response as two trained fists sent a series of short, choppy jolts to the body, wicked blows that caused the thing to gasp with pain, and its grip to weaken.

A wild surge spun the great form from me. Together we rose to continue our struggle, but I knew my foe was weakening. A left hook had my two hundred pounds behind it, and although strong teeth and a fetid breath flew to my throat, a smashing right sent the beast-thing flying to the wall. Another minute was all I needed. Whatever fate it was that ordained otherwise I shall never know, but as we fought and strained in the darkness, the sharp trill of a whistle reached us from without.

At the same instant I lunged forward, to stumble over an overturned table and fall heavily to the floor. Only a moment I lay there, dazed, but in that brief interval the creature had sprung through the doorway and disappeared. With a curse at my clumsiness I followed, just in time to see a flying form round the prow end of the ship.

Up the moonlit deck I tore at a speed I have never equaled before or since, to find at its far end the trembling little steward, who stared at me with the wild glare of a maniac.

"The man!" I shouted. "The man who just went by—which way did he go?"

"Oh Gawd, sir!" screamed the steward. "Did you see it? Oh, did you see it? A giant black dog the size of a small horse! It had on pants and a white shirt!"

"You're mad!"

running on its hind legs with eyes like balls of fire! I tried to scream but—but—oh Gawd!"

The weak little fool gave a sobbing cry, and fell forward into my arms in a faint.

At the same instant a ship's officer emerged from a near-by stairway.

"Look after him!" I yelled to that startled official, and pushing the unconscious steward into his arms took up the chase once more.

Already innumerable lights were being flashed around us, as the sleepy murmurs and startled voices of the awakening passengers came from the gloom. The wild shouting and the struggle had aroused them as surely as a gunshot. Soon they would be pouring from their cabins with a thousand questions. But directly ahead the still deserted deck was in semi-darkness, with objects barely discernible.

Behind me I could hear the shouts of the ship's officer who must have jumped to the conclusion that I was an escaping murderer who had callously tossed my victim into his own arms. But there was no time for explanations. Up toward the stern I ran, passing the numerous cabins and stairways but seeing no one, at last to halt, panting, in the shadows of an overhanging lifeboat, leaning against the ship's rail and knowing the pangs of failure.

That last act was to prove my undoing. What I did not know was that