Page:Strange Tales Volume 02 Number 03 (1932-10).djvu/6

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Marta was sinking into that ooze, and the things were all about her.

The Hunters from Beyond

By Clark Ashton Smith

I have seldom been able to resist the allurement of a bookstore, particularly one that is well supplied with rare and exotic items. Therefore I turned in at Toleman's to browse around for a few minutes. I had come to San Francisco for one of my brief, biannual visits, and had started early that idle forenoon to an appointment with Cyprian Sincaul, the sculptor, a second or third cousin of mine, whom I had not seen for several years.

Living gargoyles, most hideous, come to the sculptor Sincaul from outland realms of evil.

His studio was only a block from Toleman's, and there seemed to be no especial object in reaching it ahead of time. Cyprian had offered to show me his collection of recent sculptures; but, remembering the smooth mediocrity of his former work, amid which were a few banal efforts to achieve horror and grotes-querie, I did not

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