diff options
Diffstat (limited to '32610.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 32610.txt | 903 |
1 files changed, 903 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/32610.txt b/32610.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d7c123 --- /dev/null +++ b/32610.txt @@ -0,0 +1,903 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Long Arm, by Franz Habl + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Long Arm + +Author: Franz Habl + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32610] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG ARM *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Long Arm + + By FRANZ HABL[1] + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October +1937. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _Creeping, writhing, insidiously crawling and groping, the +long arm reached out in its ghastly errand of death_] + + +I had been out of Germany for thirty-five years, drawn hither and +thither by various glittering of will-of-the-wisps. When I returned to +my native country, I was as poor in pocket as when I left, and much +poorer in illusions. + +The Berlin insurance company which I had represented with such mediocre +success in Switzerland, Austria and Belgium agreed to let me sell for +them at home, and by a curious coincidence there was an opening in the +quaint old Bavarian city in which I had been born and bred. + +I will pass over the strangely mingled feelings with which I rode in a +Twentieth Century railroad train past the thousand-year-old walls of one +of the most curious ancient cities in Europe, a town moreover whose +every winding narrow street and sharp-gabled building had been the +companion of my infancy and childhood. No one seemed to know me, and I +recognized no one. For several days I made no attempt to sell life +insurance, but wandered in a dream, the bewildered ghost of my former +self, about the spots which I had known in happier days. + +One dull rainy afternoon I took refuge from the weather in a dingy +little coffee-house in which, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, I along +with certain boon companions, had learned the gentle art of billiards. +It seemed as if every article of furniture was just as I had walked away +from them, well toward half a century before. It was raining outside, +and I sat alone in the gloomy, smoky old place, pondering the sweet and +bitter mysteries of life. + +While I sat thus, staring out with unseeing eyes at the rain which was +by this time beating down smartly on the pavement, I became conscious +that someone in the room was staring at me. I had not noticed that there +was anyone else in the dark, low-ceilinged place except the obsequious +proprietor who had served me my cigar and coffee. Now I realized that a +man who sat in the corner diagonally across from me was studying me +curiously from over his newspaper. His face was one that I had seen +before. Suddenly, across all the years, I remembered him. And in that +same moment he rose and came toward me with his hand held out. + +We had been in school together, in the Gymnasium. He had been a strange +fellow with few friends, but had enjoyed the reputation of being the +best student in his class. But in his last year in the Gymnasium he had, +for what reason I never knew, excited the animosity of a cantankerous +old professor who had publicly declared that Gustav was not the kind of +boy who should have a Gymnasium diploma and that he, the professor, was +determined never to give him a passing grade. My father had admired the +boy very much, and at one juncture when my marks looked perilously low, +he had employed Gustav to tutor me. Gustav had been so successful that +Father was delighted and made him a present of a silver cigarette case +with Gustav's initials and mine engraved on it. I remembered all this +very distinctly as we shook hands, but I was doing fast thinking, +because for the life of me I couldn't remember his strange last name. I +had a feeling that it was a very foreign name, Polish or Croatian or +something of the sort. As he mentioned this and that, I fear I answered +him a little absently and incoherently. The name was almost there. The +syllables flitted tantalizingly just out of my reach. But I was sure the +name began with a B. Wasn't it a Bam- or a Ban-something? Ah! I had it. +Banaotovich! + +From that moment the conversation went more easily. I was surprized and +pleased when Banaotovich drew his silver cigarette-case out of his +pocket to prove to me how highly he thought of my poor deceased father. +We were soon launched on a cordial exchange of childhood memories. +Banaotovich seemed a good-hearted fellow after all, and I wondered why +in my childhood I had never been quite comfortable in his company. I +remembered that other boys of the group had admitted to me +confidentially that they were more than a little afraid of him. + + * * * * * + +The longer we talked the more intimate, the more in the nature of a +mutual confession, our conversation became. I admitted to Banaotovich +that the hifalutin fashion in which I had left the town to win fame and +fortune years before, had been asinine in the extreme, and that it +served me just right to have to sneak back unknown and penniless. +Banaotovich rejoined that for all his pride in his school marks he had +remained a person of no importance, and that the pot had not the +slightest intention of making itself ridiculous by calling the kettle +black. He seemed almost painfully inclined to run himself down. I could +feel in his manner a sort of pathetic reaching out for sympathy and +consideration. And it began to seem as if he were about to tell me +something or ask me for something. But whatever he had to tell seemed +hard to say, and it was slow in coming over his lips. + +Banaotovich ordered two bottles of the heavy native wine. I drank +sparingly of it, because it goes to my head. But Banaotovich swallowed +two or three glassfuls in hasty succession, and his cheeks grew flushed. +There was a pause. Suddenly he leaned across the table toward me and +spoke in a hoarse, excited whisper. + +"Modersohn," he said anxiously, "I want to make a confession to you--a +terrible confession. It may turn you against me completely. Maybe you +don't want to hear it. If you don't, say so, and I'll go home. But it +seems as if I've got to tell somebody about it. It seems as if I've got +to find somebody who understands me and can excuse me, or it will kill +me. Shall I tell you? Shall I?" + +I was startled. I was reasonably sure that Banaotovich was no criminal, +since he had lived half a century in his native city, undisturbed and +from all he had told me solvent and respected. I had always known that +he was a queer fish, a brooding, solitary sort of person, and I settled +myself to listen to some harmless bit of psychopathy which meant nothing +except to the unfortunate subject. + +"My dear fellow," I said, no doubt a little patronizingly, "I am sure +you haven't anything to confess that will make you out an outrageous +rascal, but if it will do you any good to tell me your troubles, I am +ready to listen to them." + +"Thank you," said Banaotovich in a trembling voice. "I've done nothing +that they can put me behind the bars for. But I--I----" + +He stared at me sternly. + +"But I've done worse things," he said solemnly, "than some poor fellows +that have been strung up by the neck and choked to death!" + +I laughed, a little nervously. "Tell me your story, if you like," I +said, "and let me decide just how black you are. But I haven't a great +deal of apprehension. We're all of us poor miserable sinners, as far as +that's concerned. I could tell you things about myself----" + +Banaotovich was not listening to me at all. He had fallen suddenly into +a fit of black brooding. After a minute or two, he looked up and asked +sharply: + +"Do you remember Wolansky?" + +Wolansky was the Greek professor who had threatened to vote against +Banaotovich when he was finishing his course at the Gymnasium. + +"Of course," said I. "And I remember well how he abused you that last +year. If there ever was a cantankerous old scoundrel, Wolansky was just +that identical individual!" + +"Maybe," he said absently; then after another pause: + +"Do you remember that Wolansky died suddenly, just a little while before +the end of the school year?" + +I nodded. "I imagine that was a great piece of good luck for you," I +said. + +"Yes," said Banaotovich. "If he had lived, I should never have had my +diploma. As it was, I finished with honors. If Wolansky hadn't died when +he did, I'd have been ruined. Don't forget that--ruined!" + +I was puzzled at his insistence. "Yes, you would have been seriously +handicapped," I agreed. "Ruined is the word, perhaps." + +Banaotovich's face was purple with wine and some strange kind of +suffering. "Do you remember another thing?" he said thickly. "Do you +remember an old Hindoo who had a dark little hole away back of the shops +and the beer depot and the livery stables between the Old Market and the +river?" + +"The old fellow that had love charms and told fortunes and helped people +to health and wealth and happiness?" I said in a tone of slightly forced +cheerfulness. It was hard to be cheerful with those somber eyes boring +into you. "Yes, I remember him, all right. I wanted to go and see him +once, when I was about fifteen or sixteen, but Father told me that +meddling with the black art had sent more people to hell than it had +helped. And Father was so terribly earnest about it that he frightened +me. I never went. As a matter of fact it was only a passing fancy, and I +soon forgot all about him." + +"That Hindoo," said my old school-fellow thoughtfully, "knew things +about the secret forces in the universe that made him almost a god. And +he taught me things that the wisest philosopher in the world doesn't +suspect. Still, your father may have been right. I think it very likely +that what he taught me may send me to hell!" + +I shivered. I looked up nervously to make sure that the way was clear to +the door. I began to suspect that my friend Banaotovich, though he was +certainly not a criminal, might be a dangerous lunatic. + +My _vis-a-vis_ rubbed absently at a protuberance on his left side. I had +noticed it when he first came across the room to speak to me. A +deformity--I was sure it had not been there when he was a boy--or +perhaps a tumor or some such thing as that. + +"I kept very quiet about what the Hindoo taught me, because I knew most +people felt about such things much as you say your father did. And I +wanted to get on in the world. But I had an idea the Hindoo could help +me get on. Perhaps he _has_----" + +And he stared gloomily at space. + +"Perhaps he has. And perhaps he hasn't." + +He brooded. Then he took up the thread of his story. + +"Wolansky nearly drove me to suicide. I read and studied and crammed, +day and night. I tried everything I could think of to overcome the man's +antagonism. I crawled in the dust before him like a whipped cur! Nothing +did any good. And when I saw he hated me and was determined to smash me, +I began to hate _him_, too. I came to hate him worse than I hated the +devils in hell. There was a time when I had to hold myself back with all +my strength to keep from sticking a knife into him or braining him with +a chair. But the Hindoo and I made some experiments with telepathy, and +I discovered that there are other ways of killing a man besides stabbing +him or giving him poison. + +"I learned how to make a man in front of me on the street turn around +and look at me. I learned how to make _you_ dream about me and come and +tell me the dream the next morning," (when he said that, I jumped, for I +remembered having done exactly that thing!). "I learned how to bring out +a bruise on Wolansky's face although he lived on the other side of town; +so that he went around asking people how he could have bumped his +forehead without knowing it. And at last I went to bed one night, set my +mind on Wolansky, and said over and over to myself a thousand times: +Die, you dog! You've _got_ to die! I _order_ you to die! + +"I said it over till I fell into a sort of trance. It wasn't sleep, I +tell you. You can't sleep when you are in a state like that. And in my +trance, I could feel another arm grow out of my side here and grow +longer and longer, and grow out through the window although the window +was closed, and grow out across the street and down the street and right +through the walls and across the river. + +"I had never known where Wolansky lived. But that night I knew. I had +never known the street or the house number. I had never been there in my +life. But I can tell you just exactly how his bedroom looked. The +wash-stand between the two windows, the work-table against the west +wall, the wardrobe, the old divan against the north wall. In a corner +the blue-gray tiled stove with some of the tile chipped off. And against +the south wall--the bed he lay in. I can tell you the color of the +blanket he pulled up over his face. It was a dirty brownish red. + +"But my hand seemed to go through the blanket and grip Wolansky by the +throat. First he sighed and turned his head to one side and tried to +wriggle free. Then he raised his arms and tried to get hold of something +that wasn't there. His sighs turned into groans, and the groans changed +to a death rattle. He threw his arms and legs wildly around in the air, +his body bent up like a bow. But my hand held his head down against the +pillow. At last he quit struggling and dropped down limp on the bed. +Then the arm came crawling back in to my body, and I came out of the +trance--and went to sleep--or perhaps I fainted. + +"The next morning the director came into our classroom and told us +Wolansky had died in the night of some sort of attack. You remember +that, I am sure----" + +When Banaotovich began to tell me this story, he had looked away from +me, and his eyes never met mine during the telling. He had begun with a +painful effort, but as he went on he grew more and more excited and more +and more inflamed with hatred of the malicious old Greek teacher, till +it almost seemed as if he had forgotten me and was living the astounding +experience through for himself alone. When he was through, his ecstasy +of indignation left him and he sat dejected and apprehensive, studying +me pitifully out of the corners of his deep gray eyes. + + * * * * * + +When he stopped speaking, there was a moment of silence. Then I said +something. I think what I said was, "Very extraordinary!" + +He smiled, a strained, sarcastic smile. "Extraordinary?" he repeated, +with an interrogation point in his voice. + +"Your nerves were strained to the breaking-point," I said. "Your trouble +with the old rascal had driven you half distracted. Then there was all +that occultistic hodgepodge with the old Hindoo. And you were overworked +and run down, anyway. No wonder you dreamed dreams and saw visions. And +it may have been that there was some telepathic contact between you and +Wolansky, and when he had his apoplectic attack----" + +The sarcastic smile deepened on Banaotovich's face. "So you have it all +explained, and I'm acquitted?" he inquired. + +"Acquitted?" I cried. "You were never even accused. If the state were to +bring action against every man who had a feeling that he would be +happier if someone else were out of the way, the state would have a big +job on its hands!" + +"Very true," Banaotovich assented icily. "I see I haven't got very far +with you yet. You are forcing me to continue my not very edifying +autobiography.--Did you know my father?" + +I remembered his father, and I remembered that he had not enjoyed the +best possible reputation. + +"I think I knew him," I said hesitantly. "He was a--a money-lender, +wasn't he?" + +"Don't spare my feelings," said Banaotovich bitterly. "He was a usurer, +and a cruel one. I had a feeling for years that his business was a +disgrace to the family, and I made no bones about telling him so. There +were ugly scenes. I thought several times of leaving home. Finally, +Father told me one day that since I didn't approve of the way he got his +money, he was doing me the favor of disinheriting me. I told him that +was all right with me, that I'd rather starve than live on money that +was stained with the blood of poor debtors. + +"I thought at the time that I meant it. But about that time I had become +interested in a young woman. I had never had much to do with the girls, +and very few of them seemed at all interested in me. But this one +appeared to like me, and when I made advances to her, she didn't repel +me. I am no connoisseur of female beauty, but I think she was unusually +attractive, and at that time I was half mad about her. Still waters run +deep, you know. + +"Well, she had me under her spell so completely that I changed my mind +about Father's money. I began to truckle to him, much as I had truckled +to Wolansky. I began to feel him out to find whether he had made a will. +He was very cold and non-committal. Finally I asked him outright if he +would reconsider his decision to leave me penniless. He told me it was I +that had made the decision, not he, and that he had no use for +wishy-washy people that changed their minds like weather-cocks. He was +very sarcastic. I lost my temper and answered him back. We had a +terrible quarrel, and finally he--he struck me. I was twenty years old +and a bigger man than he. And I think no man ever had more stubborn +pride, at bottom, than I have. + +"It was the Wolansky thing all over again. The humiliation, the effort +at ingratiation, the failure, the long, eating, gnawing, growing hatred. +And it--it ended the same way. The night of brooding that hardened into +a devilish decision, the vision of the long arm, growing, stretching, +crawling--but not so far this time, only through two walls and across +our own house. You remember that Father died of an apoplectic stroke, +just as Wolansky had done a year or two before." + +"Yes, I think I remember," I said in considerable embarrassment. The +thing _did_ begin to look uncanny. I was thoroughly sorry for the poor, +cracked fellow, but I would just as soon not have been alone with him in +that solitary drinking-place in the twilight. + +"Well?" he said, almost sharply. + +"Well, Banaotovich," I answered with a show of confidence, "you have had +a great deal of unhappiness, and you have my sympathy. This strange +faculty you have of anticipating deaths, like the night-owls and the +death-watch that ticks in the walls, has made these bereavements an +occasion of self-torment for you. I think you should see a +psychiatrist." + +"Anticipating--anticipating?" Banaotovich had gone back and was +repeating a word I had used, and as he repeated it he drummed madly on +the table with his fingers. "It's a curious coincidence that +'anticipating' is just the word my wife used when I told her about it." + +"You--told--your wife--what you have just told me?" I stammered. "Do you +think that was wise?" + +"I couldn't help it," he said with a catch in his throat. "I thought I +loved her, and I had to talk to somebody. I was miserable, and I had a +feeling that she might understand and be brought closer to me by +sympathy. Now that I think of it, I can see that I was an egregious +idiot, but I discovered long ago that we aren't rational beings after +all. We are driven or drawn by mysterious forces, and we go to our +destination because we can't help it. + +"My wife had always seemed a little timid with me. I never seemed to +have the gift of attracting people. And I don't know whether she would +ever have been interested in me at all if I hadn't used a little--a +little charm the Hindoo taught me. Perhaps that didn't have much to do +with it--but I had never been happy with her. However that may be, one +evening when she seemed unusually approachable, I had just the same +impulse that I had when I met you here tonight, and I told her about +Wolansky and Father. She pooh-poohed it all just as you did. But she was +afraid. I could see that. She was more and more afraid of me as the days +went by. For a long time she tried to be cordial and natural in my +presence, but it was a sham and the poor thing couldn't keep it up. Each +of us knew as well what was in the mind of the other as if we had talked +the situation over frankly for hours. We reached the point where we +couldn't look each other in the face. No solitude could have been as +ghastly as that solitude of two people who shared a revolting secret. +For I had convinced her that I was guilty. I had succeeded in doing what +I had set out to do, and I had ruined two lives in doing it. I have the +faculty, it seems, of poisoning whatever I touch. Only today, my wife +said to me----" + +I started to my feet with a great rush of relief and thankfulness. "Ah, +your wife is alive, then?" I cried. + +"My wife is alive. That is--my _second_ wife is alive," he said, with a +horrible forced smile. + +I sank back gasping. "What did you do with your first wife, you dirty +hound?" I moaned in helpless indignation. + + * * * * * + +He closed his eyes, and a wave of bitter triumph played about the +muscles of his mouth. "Have I convinced _you_ too, at last?" he said. + +Then I realized that I had been an insulting idiot. At worst, the man +before me was a pathological case, and he certainly belonged in an +asylum rather than in a prison. + +"Forgive me, Banaotovich," I panted. "I don't know what made me----" + +He looked at me sadly, almost compassionately. "There is nothing to +forgive," he said, very quietly. "I am all you called me and a thousand +times worse. Now let me finish my story." + +"You don't need to," I said hastily. "I know all the rest of it." + +All interest, I am afraid nearly all sympathy, had gone out of me. What +I wanted most of all was to get away from this melancholy citizen with +power and madness in his gray eyes. + +"No, you don't know quite all of it yet," he insisted. "Perhaps if I +tell you the whole story, even if you can't excuse me--and I don't +deserve your excusing, I don't _want_ your excusing--you can understand +me a little better, and think of me a little more kindly. + +"There was another woman. I couldn't help it, any more than any of us +can help anything. A fine, sympathetic young woman, who loved me because +she knew I was unhappy. I had been married to the other woman for four +years. We were completely estranged. We could scarcely bear to speak to +each other. I couldn't be easy one moment in the same house with her. I +had a cot in my office out in town because I couldn't even sleep soundly +at home. It was hell. The terror in her eyes made me physically sick. My +wife learned about the other woman. My wife was a devout Catholic, and +there was no possibility of a divorce. I could read in my wife's face +just what went on in her mind. She knew the other woman had become my +only reason for living. And one day I read in her eyes, along with the +terror, a glint of desperate determination. She knew she was in danger, +she knew I had a power that I could exercise when I chose in spite of +all the courts and police and jails in the country. She knew her life +was in danger, and her eyes told me that mine was in danger for that +very reason. I didn't blame her. Half my grief through all the years had +been grief for _her_. But the instinct of self-defense in me was +strong--and--she went--too--like----" + +[Illustration: "And she went, too, like the other."] + +He never finished his sentence. He dropped his head on the table and +began to sob hysterically. I laid a gingerly hand on his shoulder. + +"Banaotovich," I said unsteadily, "I'm sorry for you----" + +He sat up and supported his chin in both hands. "I haven't been as--as +bad as all this sounds like," he said after a while. "Before I was +married a second time, I went to the chief of police and gave myself up. +The chief listened to my story--I didn't try to explain it all, as I've +done with you, but just blurted out the main facts; but the longer he +listened the uneasier he became, and when I got through he asked me +nervously if I didn't think I ought to go into a sanitarium for a while. +Then he bowed me out in a big hurry. Perhaps if I had told him all the +ins and outs of it, it might have been different----" + +"But don't you think he's right about the sanitarium?" + +"Right? I'm as sane as you are. I've killed three people, a crazy +scoundrel, a hard man, and a pure, innocent woman. But I did it all +because I had to. A sanitarium wouldn't do me or anyone else any good, +and it would be a heavy expense. I have taken the responsibility for +another pure, innocent woman, and I must support her. The war and the +depression swept away my father's fortune, and my present business has +dwindled away till I am making only the barest living. I have applied +for the agency for a big Berlin insurance company, and if I can get it, +along with my other business, I shall be fairly comfortable. But I +understand there is some talk of their sending in a representative from +outside. If they do that, if they take the bread out of my mouth like +that, it won't be good for the outsider!" + +He was drunk, and his drunkenness was working him into an ugly mood. He +was dangerous, and physical courage was never my strong point. + +"What is the name of the Berlin company?" I asked timidly. + +He named the firm I myself worked for. Then he fumbled for his bottle, +and with stern and painful attention set about the difficult and +delicate task of filling his glass again. I muttered something about +being back in a moment, and made for the door. He was too busy to pay +any attention to me. + +When I had the door safely shut behind me, I sprinted through the rain +to my hotel as if the devil himself were after me.... + + * * * * * + +It was a long time before I got over waking up in the middle of the +night with the feeling that an icy, iron-muscled hand was clutching at +my throat. I don't have the experience often any more, but I have never +seen the city of my birth since that awful night. I got out on the +midnight train, and my company obligingly gave me territory on the other +side of Germany. + +Some time ago I happened to see a notice in the paper to the effect that +a certain patient named G. Banaotovich had died suddenly in the +Staatliche Nervenheilanstalt in Nuremberg. But I have met the name +rather frequently of late, and I think it is a fairly common one. I +didn't investigate. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Adapted by Roy Temple House from the German.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Long Arm, by Franz Habl + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG ARM *** + +***** This file should be named 32610.txt or 32610.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/1/32610/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |