Read Online Manly Wade Wellman - Judge Pursuivant 01 by The Hairy Ones Shall Dance (v1.1) - Free Book Online Page A

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medium substitute wizard.'' His grin burst out again, and he began to
mix a third round of drinks. "A wizard, having darkness and quiet and
being disguised to change shape, exudes a material that gives him a new shape
and character. Maybe it is bestial, to match a fierce or desperate spirit
within. There may be a shaggy pelt, a sharp muzzle, taloned paws and rending
fangs. To a terrified victim he is doom itself But to a brave adversary, facing
and fighting him - "
                   He flipped his way through Summers '
book, as I had with Richet's. "Listen: '. . . the shape of the werewolf
will be removed if he be reproached by name as a werewolf, or if again he be
thrice addressed by his Christian name, or struck three blows on the forehead
with a knife, or that three drops of blood should be drawn.' Do you see the
parallels, man? Shouted at, bravely denounced, or slightly wounded, his false
beast-substance fades from him." He flung out his hands, as though
appealing to a jury. "I marvel nobody ever thought of it before."
                   "But nothing so contrary to nature has a
natural explanation," I objected, and very idiotic the phrase sounded in
my own ears.
                   He laughed, and I could not blame him.
"I'll confound you with another of your own recent experiences. What could
seem more contrary to nature than the warmth and greenness of the inside of
Devil's Croft? And what is more simply natural than the hot springs that make it possible?"
                   "Yet, an envelope of bestiality,
beast-muzzle on human face, beast-paws on human hands -
"
                   "I can support that by more
werewolf-lore. I don't even have to open Summers ,
everyone has heard the story. A wolf attacks a traveler, who with his sword
lops off a paw. The beast howls and flees, and the paw it leaves behind is a
human hand .* *
                   "That's an old one, in every
language."
                   "Probably because it
happened so often. There's your human hand, with the beast-paw forming
upon and around it, then vanishing like wounded ectoplasm. Where's the weak
point, Wills? Name it, I challenge you."
                   I felt the glass shake in my hand, and a
chilly wind brushed my spine. "There's one point," I made myself say.
"You may think it a slender one, even a quibble. But ectoplasms make human
forms, not animal."
                   "How do you know they don't make animal
forms?" Judge Pursuivant crowed, leaning forward across the desk.
"Because, of the few you've seen and disbelieved, only human faces and
bodies showed? My reply is there in your hands. Open Richet's book to page 545,
Mr Wills. Page 545 . . . got it? Now, the passage I marked, about the medium
Burgik. Read it aloud."
                   He sank back into his chair once more, waiting
in manifest delight. I found the place, underscored with pencil, and my voice
was hoarse as I obediently read:
                   "'My trouser leg was strongly pulled and
a strange, ill-defined form that seemed to have paws like those of a dog or
small monkey climbed on my knee. I could feel its weight, very light, and
something like the muzzle of an animal touched my cheek.'"
                  "There you are, Wills," Judge
Pursuivant was crying. "Notice that it happened in Warsaw , close to the heart of the werewolf
country. Hmmm, reading that passage made you sweat a bit - remembering what you
saw in the Devil's Croft, eh?"
                   I flung down the book.
                   "You've done much toward convincing
me," I admitted. "I'd rather have the superstitious peasant's behef,
though, the one I've always scoffed at."
                   "Rationalizing the business didn't help,
then? It did when I explained the Devil's Croft and the springs."
                   "But the springs don't chase you with
sharp