Here he rummaged about in the dark until he had found the two phials he
sought. The noise of the monsters upon the opposite side of the
palisade had now assumed the dimensions of pandemonium, and through it
all the Chinaman heard the constant crack that was the sharp voice of
the bull whip.
He had completed his search and was about to return to the bungalow
when the first of the monsters emerged into the north campong from the
workshop. At the door of his shack Sing Lee drew back to watch, for he
knew that behind them some one was driving these horribly grotesque
creatures from their prison.
One by one they came lumbering into the moonlight until Sing had
counted eleven, and then, after them, came a white man, bull whip and
revolver in hand. It was von Horn. The equatorial moon shone full upon
him—there could be no mistake. The Chinaman saw him turn and lock the
workshop door; saw him cross the campong to the outer gate; saw him
pass through toward the jungle, closing the gate.
Of a sudden there was a sad, low moaning through the surrounding trees;
dense, black clouds obscured the radiant moon; and then with hideous
thunder and vivid flashes of lightning the tempest broke in all its
fury of lashing wind and hurtling deluge. It was the first great storm
of the breaking up of the monsoon, and under the cover of its darkness
Sing Lee scurried through the monster filled campong to the bungalow.
Within he found the young man bathing Professor Maxon’s head as he had
directed him to do.
“All gettee out,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the
court of mystery. “Eleven devils. Plenty soon come bung’low. What do?”
Number Thirteen had seen von Horn’s extra bull whip hanging upon a peg
in the living room. For answer he stepped into that room and took the
weapon down. Then he returned to the professor’s side.
Outside the frightened monsters groped through the blinding rain and
darkness in search of shelter. Each vivid lightning flash, and
bellowing of booming thunder brought responsive cries of rage and
terror from their hideous lips. It was Number Twelve who first spied
the dim light showing through the bungalow’s living room window. With a
low guttural to his companions he started toward the building. Up the
low steps to the verandah they crept. Number Twelve peered through the
window. He saw no one within, but there was warmth and dryness.
His little knowledge and lesser reasoning faculties suggested no
thought of a doorway. With a blow he shattered the glass of the window.
Then he forced his body through the narrow aperture. At the same moment
a gust of wind sucking through the broken panes drew open the door, and
as Number Thirteen, warned by the sound of breaking glass, sprang into
the living room he was confronted by the entire horde of misshapen
beings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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