Page:Weird Tales v13n04.djvu/144

a bird overhead, would result in an effort on the part of the group to keep more closely together, and the man of God at the head of the band was called on more frequently for spiritual reassurance. This he gave, willingly enough; but it was noted that on one or two occasions, as they drew near the hermit's place, his voice may have trembled a little, and he was observed to cross himself quite frequently, and with possibly a little more fervor than usual.

Nearing the cabin one of the group picked up a revolver, with six empty shells in the chambers. This was passed from hand to hand, and at least one of the group claimed to have seen it in the dead man's possession.

They at last came out on the little clearing, and paused at the dilapidated fence. The detective had volunteered to do the talking, since he claimed to be undismayed by the prospect of facing the hermit's evil eye, and also since he was especially interested in the death of the man he had come to the village to seek. There was no protest at his taking the lead in the negotiations.

There was no one in sight in the little cleared space surrounding the cabin, and the thing that impressed itself almost immediately on the minds of all present was the absence of the dogs. Invariably on the approach of strangers they had always charged up to the fence, threatening annihilation to trespassers, but now there was no sign of them whatever. Nor of the hermit himself.

The detective called a couple of times from where they stood at the fence, and receiving no answer, announced that he was going in. He climbed the fence, walked across the field, and disappeared behind the shack. A moment later he reappeared and motioned to the group to come to him, and, after some hesitation, with two or three of the bolder ones leading the way, the committee crossed the field.

As they arrived at the cabin the detective silently pointed to the ground, and there, cold in death, lay the bodies of the hermit and his two dogs. They were not a pretty sight; the birds had discovered them.

The doctor, after an examination of the bodies, said that they had all three been shot; the hermit apparently at close range, as the bullet had passed clear through the body and was found in his clothing. He showed it to them, and the detective, who knew about such things, said that it had undoubtedly been fired from the revolver they had found on the trail. And the doctor said that from the condition of the bodies they had been dead at least three or four days!

When he returned to the big city by the sea the detective reported to his superiors that the man he sought had been killed on Chemeketa Mountain by timber wolves which had harassed the community for a few days previously. But if you go to Matt Borlitz, or Stanislaus Mathewzewiski, or even Gorgas Pichutzki, when he is sober, they will tell you that it had been fifteen years since a timber wolf had been seen in the country, and that there never has been one seen there since. And besides, timber wolves leave tracks, and howl, and there never was a track left or a sound made by the three phantom beasts who terrorized the village until they killed the murderer of the hermit and his two dogs.

The three phantoms have never been seen since. That was insured, however, when they buried the hermit and his two dogs. There is one sure way of keeping in its grave the body of a dead man who takes the form of a beast and roams the woods at night, or of a vicious wolf-dog which will not stay dead, and this was done. You will not be able to learn who did it, but before the graves were filled there was driven through the heart of each of them and deep into the ground beneath a long wooden stake.