Abraham Merritt - Burn, Witch, Burn!

Bill began to telephone. Stuffing the cap and knotted cord in my pocket, I walked over to the nurse. She was rapidly recovering and in a minute or two I had her awake. At first her eyes dwelt on me, puzzled; took in the lighted room and the two men, and the puzzlement changed to alarm. She sprang to her feet.

"I didn't see you come in! Did I fall asleep…what's happened?…" Her hand went to her throat.

"I'm hoping you can tell us," I said, gently.

She stared at me uncomprehendingly. She said, confusedly:

"I don't know…it became terribly still…I…thought I saw something moving at the window…then there was a queer fragrance and then I looked up to see you bending over me."

I asked: "Can you remember anything of what you saw at the window? The least detail—the least impression. Please try."

She answered, hesitantly: "There was something white…I thought someone…something…was watching me…then came the fragrance, like flowers…that's all."

Bill hung up the telephone: "All right, Doc. They're after McCann. Now what?"

"Miss Butler," I turned to the nurse. "I'm going to relieve you for the balance of the night. Go to bed. And I want you to sleep. I prescribe—" I told her what.

"You're not angry—you don't think I've been careless—"

"No, to both." I smiled and patted her shoulder. "The case has taken an unexpected turn, that's all. Now don't ask any more questions."

I walked with her to the door, opened it.

"Do exactly as I say."

I closed and locked the door behind her.

I sat beside Ricori. The shock that he had experienced—whatever it might have been—should either cure or kill, I thought grimly. As I watched him, a tremor went through his body. Slowly an arm began to lift, fist clenched. His lips moved. He spoke, in Italian and so swiftly that I could get no word. His arm fell back. I stood up from the bed. The paralysis had gone. He could move and speak. But would he be able to do so when consciousness assumed sway? I left this for the next few hours to decide I could do nothing else.

"Now listen to me carefully," I said to the two guards. "No matter how strange what I am going to say will seem, you must obey me in every detail! Ricori's life depends upon your doing so. I want one of you to sit close beside me at the table here. I want the other to sit beside Ricori, at the head or the bed and between him and me. If I am asleep and he should awaken, arouse me. If you see any change in his condition, immediately awaken me. Is that clear?"

They said: "Okay."

"Very well. Now here is the most important thing of all. You must watch me even more closely. Whichever of you sits beside me must not take his eyes off me. If I should go to your chief it would be to do one of three things only—listen to his heart and breathing—lift his eyelids—take his temperature. I mean, of course, if he should be as he now is. If I seem to awaken and attempt to do anything other than these three—stop me. If I resist, make me helpless—tie me up and gag me—no, don't gag me—listen to me and remember what I say. Then telephone to Dr. Braile—here is his number."

I wrote, and passed it to them.

"Don't damage me any more than you can help," I said, and laughed.

They stared at each other, plainly disconcerted. "If you say so, Doc—" began the guard Bill, doubtfully.

"I do say so. Do not hesitate. If you should be wrong, I'll not hold it against you."

"The Doc knows what he's about, Bill," said the guard Jack.

"Okay then," said Bill.

I turned out all the lights except that beside the nurse's table. I stretched myself in her chair and adjusted the lamp so my face could be plainly seen. That little white cap I had picked from the floor had shaken me—damnably! I drew it out and placed it in a drawer. The guard Jack took his station beside Ricori. Bill drew up a chair, and sat facing me. I thrust my hand into my pocket and clutched the knotted cord, closed my eyes, emptied my mind of all thought, and relaxed. In abandoning, at least temporarily, my conception of a sane universe I had determined to give that of Madame Mandilip's every chance to operate.

Faintly, I heard a clock strike one. I slept.

Somewhere a vast wind was roaring. It circled and swept down upon me. It bore me away. I knew that I had no body, that indeed I had no form. Yet I was. A formless sentience whirling in that vast wind. It carried me into infinite distance. Bodiless, intangible as I knew myself to be, yet it poured into me an unearthly vitality. I roared with the wind in unhuman jubilance. The vast wind circled and raced me back from immeasurable space…

I seemed to awaken, that pulse of strange jubilance still surging through me…Ah! There was what I must destroy…there on the bed …must kill so that this pulse of jubilance would not cease…must kill so that the vast wind would sweep me up again and away and feed me with its life…but careful…careful…there—there in the throat just under the ear…there is where I must plunge it…then off with the wind again…there where the pulse beats…what is holding me back?…caution…caution, "I am going to take his temperature"…that's it, careful, "I am going to take his temperature."…Now—one quick spring, then into his throat where the pulse beats…"Not with that you don't!"…Who said that?… still holding me…rage, consuming and ruthless blackness and the sound of a vast wind roaring away and away…

I heard a voice: "Slap him again, Bill, but not so hard. He's coming around." I felt a stinging blow on my face. The dancing mists cleared from before my eyes. I was standing halfway between the nurse's table and Ricori's bed. The guard Jack held my arms pinioned to my sides. The guard Bill's hand was still raised. There was something clenched tightly in my own hand. I looked down. It was a strong scalpel, razor–edged!

I dropped the scalpel. I said, quietly: "It's all right now, you can release me."

The guard Bill said nothing. His comrade did not loose his grip. I twisted my head and I saw that both their faces were sallow white. I said:

"It was what I had expected. It was why I instructed you. It is over. You can keep your guns on me if you like."

The guard who held me freed my arms. I touched my cheek gingerly. I said mildly:

"You must have hit me rather hard, Bill."

He said: "If you could a seen your face, Doc, you'd wonder I didn't smash it."

I nodded, clearly sensible now of the demonic quality of that rage, I asked:

"What did I do?"

The guard Bill said: "You wake up and set there for a minute staring at the chief. Then you take something out of that drawer and get up. You say you're going to take his temperature. You're half to him before we see what you got. I shout, 'Not with that you don't!' Jack grabs you. Then you went crazy. And I had to slam you. That's all."

I nodded again. I took out of my pocket the knotcord of woman's pale hair, held it over a dish and touched a match to it. It began to burn, writhing like a tiny snake as it did so, the complex knots untying as the flame touched them. I dropped the last inch of it upon the plate and watched it turn to ash.

"I think there'll be no more trouble tonight," I said. "But keep up your watch just as before."

I dropped back into the chair and closed my eyes…

Well, Braile had not shown me a soul, but—I believed in Madame Mandilip.

The balance of the night I slept soundly and dreamlessly. I awakened at my usual hour of seven. The guards were alert. I asked if anything had been heard from McCann, and they answered no. I wondered a little at that, but they did not seem to think it out of the ordinary. Their reliefs were soon due, and I cautioned them to speak to no one but McCann about the occurrences of the night, reminding them that no one would be likely to believe them if they did. They assured me, earnestly, that they would be silent. I told them that I wanted the guards to remain within the room thereafter, as long as they were necessary.