It is a hundred and fifteen or twenty miles from Birmingham to London.
Having gambled the fate of the world on a silly trick, and won back my
two-seater from the very hands of the law and of the usurpers, I was
wonderfully bouyed up; and decided to go down to my gang's headquarters
and tell them all the new developments. I was aching to talk to
someone ... preferably Marion.
In half an hour I had left Birmingham and then Coventry far behind
me, and was feeling pretty safe, as there had been no signs of
pursuit. Then, just as I roared into some cursed little hamlet along
the route--I don't even know its name--a great black motor dashed
out of a lane ahead of me and blocked the way. I saw it was crammed
to the roof with _them_; knew that this was no accidental barrier,
but a contingent of the enemy, either lawful or of the misbegotten
underground of the beasts; and without pausing ran the Jaguar up over
the curb, squeezed through between their car and the wall of a shop,
rocketed on two wheels back into the road and trod the accelerator down
to the floor. The black job was after me in a flash. We howled through
that hamlet like a pair of greased lightning bolts.
They gave me only a few bad minutes: when we hit the open road I drew
away as though--to coin a stunning simile--they had been standing
still. But even when their dust was no more than a puff on the horizon,
I gnawed my lips and worried. My course was known, and the telegraphs
and telephones would be crackling far in advance of me. Yet doggedly,
and perhaps rather stupidly, I held to this main road until I had come
nearly to St. Albans, for I could eat up the miles so swiftly on decent
paving that it gave me the illusion of outrunning my enemies. At last,
just before the old cathedral town, I turned off and lost myself in the
network of country byways.
* * * * *
Evening was closing in when at last I rolled the black lass to a
halt at a garage in the south of London. The owner was an old mate
of mine with whom I'd seen a lot of action in the war. What lies I
told him don't matter: suffice it that in three minutes the Jaguar
was stowed in a dark corner of his big shed, and he had contracted to
paint her a deep red hue by next afternoon ... and to keep quiet about
her. Gladstone in hand, I then set out for The Gray Gander. I told
myself that (a) I would be less conspicuous there than at the toney
Gloucester Club or the exclusive Albany, (b) although three of my men
were billeted at the latter place, Alec Talbot was the most able of
the whole band, despite his single arm, and he was at the inn, (c) I
did not want to be seen by any of the aliens who knew me--I hardly
realized why, but I had the creepy feeling that _they_ would somehow
penetrate my secret--and on the single occasion when I had visited the
Gander, I had seen none of the beast-folk. Finally I admitted to myself
that these reasons were so much rot, and actually (d) Marion Black was
drawing me like an irresistible whirlpool draws a chip of flotsam.
I went up to Alec's room, closed the door behind me, and fell on his
bosom. He beat me on the back and gurgled wordlessly. I beat him on the
back and sputtered idiotically. It was a grand reunion.
"Where's Marion?" I asked.
"I'll get her." He dashed out and brought her back. When she came into
the room, lighting it up like a sunburst in a cavern, I took her in my
arms and kissed her long and well.
"Marion, will you marry a poor devil who loves you in a humble but most
passionate manner?"
"After one kiss?" asked Alec blankly. "Just _one_ kiss?"
"Certainly," she said. "That can be remedied."
"Oh, Lord, not immediately," groaned Alec, as we began to do so. "Let
him tell us where in hell he's been for seventeen years. Let him
relieve my mind."
I ended the second kiss with a splutter. "Good God! I can't ask you to
marry me, dearest. I--come and sit down--I'm a murderer."
"You can't call it murder, son, to chop an inhuman monster," said Alec.
"But I'm wanted by every policeman in the Kingdom. You see, I'm the
Manchester Slasher."
* * * * *
I don't know what reaction I expected of Marion ... the pale cheek, the
indrawn gasp, the expression of loathing and fear ... as a matter of
fact, she clapped her hands and laughed.
"You owe Geoff ten bob, Alec!" she cried.
"Huh?" said I.
"Geoff bet Alec ten shillings that you were the Mad Ghoul. He said--"
she became serious--"he said that one just couldn't give a man the
power to see such nightmares as you've been seeing, and expect him to
keep a cool head and not strike at them. He said he had wild bursts of
fury himself when he thought of _them_, and knew if he could see them,
he'd start a reign of terror."
"I thought you'd draw back with abhorrence," I said.
She threw her arms around me. "Oh, Will, poor old Will! My Uncle
Geordie was a big game hunter, and I think he was a much more
reprehensible character than you. After all, darling, the beasts you're
stalking are far worse than any innocent old family-man of a lion."
"Say," put in Alec, "something's been puzzling me. Why haven't the
coppers spotted the license of your Jaguar? It's famous, you know--on
the wireless every hour these days."
"Oh, my dear chap! I stole a set of plates off a big Daimler before I
ever left London. You're dealin' with a hardened crook." I told them
how I had rescued her from the hands of the enemy in Birmingham. "It
was the serial numbers on her innards that worried me. Except for them,
though, she couldn't be traced to me." I kissed my girl again. Her lips
were like a drug, that drew me back again and again for larger doses.
Alec clucked his tongue. "Most un-English!"
"See here, chum: you trot out and collect the lads. Have 'em come here
unobtrusively by ones and twos, and we'll have a council of war."
"Oh, all right, if you don't want an appreciative audience to make
funny remarks at appropriate places." He slapped on his hat and went
out, while I returned to Marion's embrace. For a little while I could
forget the whole abominable race of beast-people, the dire venture
before me, and everything else except the incredible fact that she
returned what I had always considered my hopeless love.