about the spectacle was the fact that every one cancerous grass and a variety of giant moss
of the figures was covered from head to foot
which coated the lava rock, a deep purple in
with disfiguring skin eruptions. Carnes rapidly color. As they moved forward, the vegetation
weighed the chances and then raised his pistol.
grew more and more rank and soon they were
As he did so, fresh howls came from the
forcing their way through a six foot tangle of jungle beyond the clearing and another band
jungle-like thickness. Carnes stopped in of thirty or forty figures burst into the clearing weariness.
and threw themselves into the dancing circle.
“Are we going much farther, Doctor?”
Carnes slowly lowered his gun and
Amazing
10
unobserved, slunk back into the covering seized by another of the group who tried with grass.
howls to sink his teeth into the Doctor’s hand.
Others seized him about the waist and
WHEN Dr. Bird left his companion seated, he
wrestled with him. The sight and smell of their strode into the thick growth for a few feet and disease-stricken bodies filled the Doctor with then turned and followed a depression in the
loathing and as he slipped again and nearly
ground leading in the general direction in fell, he reluctantly drew his pistol.
which he wished to go. The footing was better
Four times he fired with deadly effect,
and the grass less dense in the depression and but as he leveled his weapon for a fifth shot
he followed it for a hundred and fifty yards.
his arms were seized from behind and he was
Suddenly the grass thinned before him and he
borne to the ground and almost buried under a
found himself looking out into an opening
group of fresh attackers who had approached
about an acre in extent where no vegetation
him from the rear. The Doctor’s first impulse
grew except the purple moss which carpeted it
was to shout to warn Carnes of the
thickly. His attention was drawn by a pile of
predicament into which he had fallen, but
rock in the center whose form reminded him
before he did so a second thought scaled his
of a crude altar, and toward it he bent his
lips. He had no assurance that the maniacs
footsteps. It was evidently made by hands and
knew of Carnes’ presence in their sanctuary
quite recently. The gleam of a bar of metal in and a warning shout might be the means of
the heart of the pile attracted his attention and setting them on the detective’s trail.
he grasped it and strove to free it from the
The Doctor was dragged out from the
rock. So engrossed was he in his task that he
pile of stones against which he had fallen and did not hear bare feet stealing up behind him
was pinioned on the ground by four men while
and the helmet he wore prevented the odor
the rest howled and began a wild dance of
which suddenly pervaded the glade from triumph around him. More and more of the intruding itself on his consciousness. His first cancer victims came from the lush vegetation
intimation of danger came when a wild to join in the dance and for half an hour the piercing scream smote on his ears.
orgy went on. Fully two hundred had gathered
Dr. Bird whirled about, his hand before a sudden silence fell on the throng and automatically dropping to his pistol butt as he the dancing circle paused and opened to admit
did so. Before him stood half a dozen figures, the weirdest figure of them all. It was a man, clothed in tattered rags where they were far gone with the disease as could be seen by clothed at all, with a year’s growth o£ beard
the frightful condition of such of his body as on their faces.
was exposed. His head was free from the
One of them reached forward a infection and heavy white hair hung down his swollen scabby paw to touch him and Dr. Bird
shoulders, leaving clear a face that was so
involuntarily stepped back, he forgot the pile swollen that his black eyes peered out as
of stones behind him and as his foot struck it, though from caves. He was dressed in a single
he stumbled. His slip was the signal for the
white garment which extended from his waist
group to rush him, one of them giving voice to to his ankles, on the front of which was
another unearthly howl. The Doctor’s fist shot crudely daubed in green what Dr. Bird took to
out and the first of his assailants fell as though be a representation of the sun, with curling
struck by lightning, but before he could strike rays extending out from it. The figure was
again, handicapped as he was by fatigue and
armed with a long knife in his right hand and
the weight of his lead garments, his arm was
in his left he carried a spear of grass to which
The Earth’s Cancer
11
were bound at intervals fragments of purple
forthwith.’ Bring now the seals.”
moss.
Three figures from the outskirts of the
At the signal of this leader the dancers
crowd darted off into the vegetation at a run to drew back-in a group, leaving the weird figure return in a few minutes, each bearing in his
face to face with the pinioned prisoner. The
hand a spherical piece of silvery metal about
figure essayed to speak but no intelligible which colored lights, red, green, blue and words could come from his lips and another
purple hovered. At a signal from the High
man stepped out from the crowd and stood by
Priest they came forward and applied the bits
his side. The newcomer was a young man with
of metal to the Doctor’s form, one to his
a far less developed case of the disease and
forehead, or as close to it as the helmet which Dr. Bird shuddered as he saw that he was
the Doctor still wore allowed, one to his breast attired in the tattered fragments of a Public
and the third to his left arm. Dr. Bird could
Health Service uniform. The newcomer could
feel a tingle like a mild electrical shock as
talk in an intelligible manner, although his
they touched his garments. They were left in
speech was coarse and thick as though he
place for a moment and then withdrawn.
enunciated with difficulty.
“These be now the words of Adam, the
“Adam, the First Chosen, the High First Chosen, the High Priest of the Chosen Priest of the Chosen Ones, the Brother of the
Ones,” cried the spokesman again, “‘The one
Fire which ennobles, the Servant of the God of newly sealed to the god shall be taken into the Destruction, demands to know why you have
presence of the god that he may look on naked
penetrated to the holy places and slain the
radiant beauty. If the god claims him not for
servants of the God,” he said thickly. “If you sacrifice and immediate destruction, he shall
have come as a neophyte to the Chosen Ones,
be kept bound until the mark of the god shows
you are trebly welcome, welcome in life, and then shall be admitted to the ranks of the welcome in death, and welcome in final Chosen Ones. To the temple of the god!”
destruction, but the mark of the god is not on The assemblage, which had been silent
&nb
sp; you. Speak, why came you here?”
while the ceremony of sealing the Doctor had
The light of madness glittered in the
gone on, suddenly began to howl in wild
speaker’s eye and although Dr. Bird chorus and to throw themselves about in a instinctively cringed at the sight of the knife in frenzied dance. The Doctor was jerked to his
the High Priest’s hand, he endeavored to smile feet by his captors and led into the vegetation as he answered.
behind the High Priest and his spokesman, the
“I have come to worship your god and
balance of the madmen straggling along
to lay offerings before him,” he said.
behind. The path through the tall grass was
The High Priest threw up his arms at
well marked and Dr. Bird found the way easy
the Doctor’s words and uttered a long drawn
to traverse. He gave a fleeting thought of
out wail. The madmen fell on their knees and
regret to the automatic he had been forced to
bowed toward the altar and the High Priest
leave behind and was temped to try to shake
uttered some sounds which were evidently
off his guards and flee, but handicapped as he intelligible to the man who had spoken to the
was by his leaden armor he knew that he
Doctor.
would be promptly recaptured. Besides, the
“One come to worship and to lay gifts
direction of the march was toward the very
before the god who is not marked with the
spot he had meant to explore, so he shrugged
sign of the god. These be the words of Adam,
his shoulders and grinned as cheerfully as he
the First Chosen, ‘Let him be sealed to the god could and went ahead.
Amazing
12
“Thank goodness, Carnes didn’t get some unknown agency.
caught.” he muttered to himself. “I hope the
Up through the swirling silver came
fool found his way back to the car all right. He huge bubbles which burst, throwing globules
should have no difficulty, we tramped down a
of the gleaming silver into the air to burst into pretty good path. If he gets back, they’ll have tiny droplets, each with its halo of wonderful some idea what became of me.”
colors. As Dr. Bird stared into the lake, he
became aware of an intoxicating winelike
FOR half a mile the trail led almost straight, quality in the air which made him feel of
the vegetation getting taller and taller until Dr.
tremendous strength and vitality, as though the Bird estimated it as fully twenty feet high.
very essence of life itself were flowing
Suddenly the grass gave way to an ankle deep
through his veins He laughed aloud in sheer
carpet of purple moss as they entered another
joy of living and reached up to his helmet to
glade. Before he could look around the Doctor
remove it that he might breathe the wonderful
was whirled about and was forced backward,
air more freely. An uncontrollable impulse
step by step, into the clearing. Along the trail seized him to dive into that cool looking silver he had come trooped the rest of the madmen,
lake and to become a part of that wondrous
curiously silent and furtive now, and ranged
and unearthly beauty. He took a step nearer
themselves in a rough semicircle about the
and poised on the edge of the pool, his hands
edge of the glade. As the Doctor walked fumbling with his helmet. He found the tie backward these advanced, keeping about string and started to unfasten it when a sudden twenty-five feet from him. Presently the cry rang out on the still air.
movement ceased and the voice of the
“Doctor Bird! For God’s sake!”
spokesman was heard again.
The spell was broken and Dr. Bird
“These be the words of Adam, the
whirled about. The madmen had been intently
First Chosen,” he cried. “‘Let the one new
watching his every move and when he turned,
sealed turn unabashed on the radiant glory of
a wild howl went up which was stilled by a
the God of Destruction and let the god say
gesture from the High Priest. The spokesman
whether he takes his sacrifice for immediate
came forward again and addressed the crowd.
destruction or as one of his servants.’ Turn,
“These be the words of Adam, the
newcomer, and look on the glory!”
First Chosen,” he declared. “‘The newcomer
The arms holding the Doctor fell away
has turned his back on the radiance and glory
and he turned to see what lay before him. He
of the God of Destruction who has thus
was stricken dumb and motionless at the rejected him as a servant. Therefore, let him beauty of the scene. Before him was a hole in
be a sacrifice to the god he has scorned and
the lava about ten yards across and in the
become one with the glory of the god.’”
depression, just below the surface of the
At the words a half dozen of the men
ground, was a silver lake. It was of gleaming
detached themselves from the crowd and
silvery metal in constant movement as though
closed in on the Doctor. He looked around
it were endowed with life and from its surface hastily for a weapon but could find none and
rose long brilliant corruscating streamers of
the group charged, the crowd kept up its weird color of the spectrum and other weird colors
howling. The first three went down before
which were unknown to the scientist and he
well directed blows of the Doctor’s lead-
suddenly knew that they were the invisible
covered fist, but no man can fight a hundred
rays of the spectrum suddenly made visible by
and gradually he was borne backward toward
The Earth’s Cancer
13
the edge of the pool. At the edge he made a
blinding searing flash of light and the earth
desperate stand, but two of the madmen rocked in throes of agony. Carnes and the grasped him about the waist and strove to hurl Doctor were hurled thirty feet through the air themselves with him into the pool. The to fall unconscious to the ground.
Doctor’s foot slipped and he sobbed in
An hour later, Dr. Bird opened his eyes
apprehension, but he recovered himself and
and blinked unsteadily. He struggled to a
for a moment shook himself free. As he did so
sitting position and gazed at the destruction
the clamor stilled for a moment and a clear
which Carnes’ ill-directed grenade had
voice penetrated to the Doctor’s ears.
wrought. Only a gaping hole marked the
“Down, Doctor!” it cried.
location of the silver pool but where it had
Dr. Bird instinctively dropped to one
been thirty feet across, now the hole yawned a knee and to his ear came the welcome bark of
hundred yards wide and deep into the earth.
an automatic and the nearest of his assailants All trace of the maniacs had vanished; the
crumpled to the ground. Again and again the
hole was where they had been and there was
gun barked and a path was clear to his left. He little doubt of what had happened. The terrible leaped to his feet and ran around the edge of
cataclysm the grenade had started had wiped
the pool. Carnes rose from behind a block of
them from the face of the earth. Dr. Bird
lava and the Doctor joined him.
rubbed his hands and arms to restore the
“Thanks, Carnes!” he gasped. “Any circulation and staggered to his feet to look for more ammunition?”
Carnes.
“Two shots,” replied Carnes, “but I
The detective lay a few feet from him
still have those grenades.”
with his left leg doubled back under his body.
“The devil! I had forgotten all about
Dr. Bird straightened the leg out and Carnes
them!”
opened his eyes with a groan. He recognized
Dr. Bird hastily felt in his pouch and
the Doctor and strove to rise to a sitting
brought out a grenade. The madmen had been
position, but a groan of agony broke from his
stunned for a moment by the suddenness and
lips.
unexpectedness of the attack but now they
“What happened, Doctor?” he
gathered and with howls of rage came forward
muttered feebly.
in a compact body. Dr. Bird drew the pin from
“You saved us both with your grenade, old
the grenade and hurled it. Just in front of the dear,” replied the Doctor, “but I’m afraid you leaders of the rush it fell and as they swept
have a broken leg. I’ll have to carry you out.
over it a terrific crash resounded in the air. A It’ll be a rather painful process but it’s all that huge hole was torn in the ground and the
I can do. Can you stand it?”
leaders of the rush were torn into fragments.
“Go ahead, Doctor, I’ll do my best.”
The rush paused for a moment and then came