Monsters and Magicians by Robert Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

Hara says it's true, Danna, then I don't doubt that it is, all of it, even the hardest parts to believe. I'll swear by that old man."
    After once more getting her pipe going and enjoying one or two puffs, then wetting her lips with a bit of the sherry, the woman recommenced her recountal. "Well, the 'festivities' were put on hold, so to speak, and Mr. Hara, his friend and all of the witnesses trooped off to the senior officers with their weird but fully-witnessed and attested tales. When all had been heard out by three of the superior officers, when the broken weapons and the strangely operating revolver had all been carefully examined, one of these seniors had an orderly fetch back to him a more modern firearm, a captured Russian revolver of larger caliber, fully loaded with metallic cartridges.
    "Preferring the big weapon to Mr. Hara, he suggested a self-administered shot to the head, and Mr. Hara endeavored to comply . . . but as before, with the other revolver, all six cartridges failed to fire. A box of fresh cartridges was fetched, the weapon was reloaded, and the senior officer himself fired off two shots that left large, splintery holes in a ceiling-beam, then levelled the still-smoking piece at Mr. Hara and squeezed the trigger only to have the hammer fall on another misfire.
    "They ended going through the entire box of cartridges, before they were done; those not aimed at

    Mr. Hara fired without exception and with a great deal of noise, smoke and damage to the things the heavy, soft-lead bullets hit, but each and every time that the big pistol was aimed at Mr. Hara, the cartridges did not ignite, for all that the depressions left by the firing-pin were easily evident to the eyes of all the men present.
    "Two Imperial Marines were called in, rifle-armed, bayonets fixed. The big, burly men were ordered to impale Mr. Hara on the long blades, only to see the steel inexplicably bend and snap halfway from points to guards when they tried to obey. Other things were essayed—a whole plethora of weapons and means of killing—but with no more success than that first, shattered wakizashi, and at that point Mr. Hara was told to return home and wait to hear from his superiors, who would have the unenviable task of retelling the whole, impossible tale to their superiors . . . and trying to convince said superiors that they were neither drunkards, lunatics nor liars in the process."

    that dark night that he became Hara Tadahira. With the morning tide, he set sail upon his lifelong exile from his homeland."
    "The poor bastard," said Pedro, feelingly. "But he never told me one word of all of this, Danna, in all the years I've known him. So why did he tell it all to you, an acquaintance of so short a time, I wonder?"
    She shrugged again. "I don't really know, Pedro . . . and in a way I wish to hell he hadn't told me any of it"
    "Why?" he inquired. "What you've recounted is a most singular tale, admitted, but I can't see any reason that it should've so shaken you up, not the M. Dannon Dardrey I know."
    "Oh, but there's more to it, Pedro," she said, softly, adding, "and that's the part that curled my hair and innards."
    "Mr. Hara recalls that the captain of that merchant ship was the only man aboard who knew anything at all of his last-minute passenger and seemed a little awed by him; nonetheless, he was eminently practical, too, and immediately he had ascertained that the strange man was a consummate ships' officer and navigator, he was more than willing to allow him to take the bridge on a regular basis, thus making it easier on his own, somewhat shorthanded crew.
    "The broadbeamed ship was anything but a speedy sailor, Mr. Hara recalls, and they had been some three weeks at sea on the broad Pacific, far out of sight of any land, when one dark night he was called down from duty-station to supposedly advise on an equipment problem elsewhere on the ship. As he reached the bottom of a ladder, however, at least

    two pairs of hands