John, this long scratch came mighty near the jugular!"
"It felt like it," muttered John.
"I've got one that just missed my left eye. We'll have a beautiful photo of our unseen friend in a few days, though."
"Good heavens, Frank!" exploded Dennison, "what do you want of a photo?"
"Want to see how it looks, of course!"
"Well, I don't! Feeling it was bad enough; let's chop it up and burn it in the furnace—it's a cool night."
"See here, John! These things belong to the hidden side of nature—but they exist, as I've told you, and they're very dangerous!"
"Well, you've killed it."
"Yes, and I'm going to study it. There must be some clue to its identity. They're rare, I grant you, but suppose they should increase on the earth?"
"Horrible!"
"Is the paint ready to smear on? And the stuff for the flashlight?"
"It's all in the back basement."
"Let's snake him down, then."
The doctor's safe holds another dream-photo now; Dennison refuses to look at it, and Robert does not know of its existence, though the rest of the story has been told him in detail. He was informed that the body was burned in the furnace, which was true. The photo shows a man's body, with the legs and scales of some great reptile or lizard, and with the face protected by ridges of bone. It is a truly horrific object, yet Dr. Hedges declares that it shows a decided resemblance to Bull Bayman.
Here Are the Final Chapters of
The Bride of Osiris
The Story So Far
Doris Lee is kidnaped and carried to the underground city of Karneter, under Chicago, there to become the bride of Mezzar Hashin, who, as Osiris, rules Karneter in true Egyptian fashion. Alan Buell and Dan Rafferty, trying to rescue Doris, are captured and led before Osiris for trial. Rafferty is assigned a post as electrician, and conspires with Alcibar, former High Priest but now a slave in the dungeons of Karneter, to slay Mezzar Hashin and the High Priest Sethral, and liberate Doris and Buell. Rafferty, trying to protect Delra, the vestal virgin (nee Mary Mooney), from one of the temple guards, is captured by Sethral's men and chained in the deepest dungeon in Karneter. Buell is sentenced to impersonate the Osiris N at the Festival of Re, when he will be put to death. Doris sees him enter the inner temple: and as a huge bird with body, wings and claws like those of an owl and head of a man, with the features of Alan Buell, emerges from the inner temple and disappears, Thansor, the priestess, tells her: "That was the Ba—the soul of the Osiris N."
CHAPTER 15
BEHIND THE SCENES
IN THE inky solitude of the deepest dungeon, Dan Rafferty, his feet braced against the slimy wall, was trying, as he had tried times without end, to break the heavy chain that held him. As day and night were alike to him and sleep came only with utter exhaustion, he had no idea how long he had been confined there. A few days, a week perhaps, but it seemed an age. True, an attendant had brought him food
This story began in WEIRD TALES for August
