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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32891-h.zip b/32891-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..09d177a --- /dev/null +++ b/32891-h.zip diff --git a/32891-h/32891-h.htm b/32891-h/32891-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95f2dd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/32891-h/32891-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1490 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Phantom Of The Forest, by LEE FRANCIS. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phantom of the Forest, by Lee Francis + +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: Phantom of the Forest + +Author: Lee Francis + +Release Date: June 19, 2010 [EBook #32891] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHANTOM OF THE FOREST *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>PHANTOM OF THE FOREST</h1> + +<h2>By LEE FRANCIS</h2> + +<p>[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories November +1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="sidenote">Every year men slaughter deer by the thousands; it seems only +fitting that the tables be turned once in a while....</div> + + +<p>The automobile reached the crest of the hill, skidded and started toward +the ditch. Earl Robinson twisted the wheel savagely, got the feel of the +ice hidden under the snow, and deftly straightened the car. Roy Starr +awakened at his side and sat up. His eyes were narrowed with sleep.</p> + +<p>"Lord," he groaned, "how much farther?"</p> + +<p>Robinson spoke through gritted teeth.</p> + +<p>"About three miles. Might as well be a million."</p> + +<p>The car was moving forward about twenty miles per hour. Three people +slept in the rear seat. They were packed under pieces of equipment. +There were half a dozen guns stacked across their feet.</p> + +<p>The snow came down thickly, endlessly. It drifted across the road. +Almost eight inches had fallen since sundown. Tomorrow, there won't be +any traffic moving, Robinson thought, not without a plow to break the +trail. The valley will be a lost world.</p> + +<p>"Shangrila," he said softly.</p> + +<p>"Huh?" Roy Starr was almost asleep once more.</p> + +<p>Robinson said, "Skip it."</p> + +<p>He was thinking about the war, and the deep, lost valleys he flew into +when he flew the "hump."</p> + +<p>He tried to concentrate on the road once more. They had come six miles +from Indian River. The road was just a white line, leading up and down +long rows of dark evergreens. The snow filled the air, tangling his +thoughts, filling the world with stinging, blinding particles of white. +The snow actually seemed to hurt his eyes. It seemed to be hitting his +eyeballs.</p> + +<p>He shook his head angrily. <i>Sleep</i> was stinging his eyes. He watched the +trackless road with an intensity of a man hovering between life and +death. Sleep—and death. Trying desperately to avoid both.</p> + +<p>One more long hill.</p> + +<p>Taking a long chance, he pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would +go. The motor roared, protested and the car leaped ahead like a monster +alive. The speedometer said fifty—then fifty-five. Sixty. At sixty they +hit the sharp incline. Roy Starr was wide awake now, holding tightly to +the door-handle, as though it insured him against an accident. Someone +stirred in the back seat.</p> + +<p>"Almost there?" It was a girl's voice, sleepy and disinterested.</p> + +<p>"Almost," Earl Robinson said, and twisted the wheel again. The car went +crosswise with the road. It slid forward, up the hill, careened wildly +and straightened its course once more. Robinson sighed.</p> + +<p>"Close," he said.</p> + +<p>"<i>Earl, for God's sake, stop!!</i>"</p> + +<p>Roy Starr's voice welled out of him, filled with stark horror. Robinson +saw the weird, shadowy form on the road just in time. He pressed hard on +the brake and the car jerked into the ditch, and stopped with a +sickening jolt.</p> + +<p>The girl in the rear seat clawed her way forward, clutching Starr's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"A man on the road," she cried. "Earl, you hit him."</p> + +<p>She started sobbing as though her heart were breaking.</p> + +<p>"Shut up," Robinson snapped. His nerves had reached the breaking point. +Then, in a gentler voice. "There's a man there all right, Marge. I +didn't hit him. Get hold of yourself. Glenn, Glenn, take care of her, +will you?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>All three people in the rear seat were wide awake now. Glenn Starr, +dark, serious, in full control of his wits, drew the sobbing girl back +beside him.</p> + +<p>"Take it easy, kid," he said. "Earl will take care of everything. We +haven't done anything wrong."</p> + +<p>The other man, sitting on the far side of the car, pushed the door open +and climbed out.</p> + +<p>"Man, this is a storm, and I don't mean perhaps. Nice little ditch we +got ourselves into."</p> + +<p>Robinson and Roy Starr got out. Roy pulled his collar up tightly around +his neck. He walked back a few paces and kneeled beside the snow buried +corpse. Earl Robinson, tall, solid, stood over him as he pushed away the +snow.</p> + +<p>"Nobody I know," Roy said, and turned away so he wouldn't have to stare +at the dead, frozen face.</p> + +<p>Robinson bent over and pushed more snow away.</p> + +<p>"I'll be damned."</p> + +<p>The chest was badly crushed. Blood had frozen in the snow next to the +wound.</p> + +<p>"Hit sometime before the snow came," Robinson said.</p> + +<p>Roy Starr was brushing snow away from the corpse.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," he said softly. "A car never hit him, though. There aren't any +blood tracks. The hole is in the direct center of his chest. The ribs +aren't crushed on either side."</p> + +<p>Robinson's voice was a little hushed.</p> + +<p>"That's what I was thinking. Looks like a bear might have mauled him."</p> + +<p>Roy Starr came slowly to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Look," he said, "we aren't kidding ourselves. Something hit him, hard, +in the chest. It wasn't a car because it didn't break in the whole bone +structure. It wasn't a bear, because a bear would have done a more +thorough job of it. Shooting is out. That isn't a bullet wound."</p> + +<p>Robinson shrugged.</p> + +<p>"What's left?"</p> + +<p>"The same thing that's been killing hunters for the past five years," +Starr said grimly. "For lack of a better name, the phantom buck."</p> + +<p>Robinson turned away, looking toward the car.</p> + +<p>"You're crazy," he said. "Let's say we're both crazy. Our imaginations +are running riot. I think the rest of the party ought to know about the +<i>automobile accident</i>. We can't do any good here. We'll go on to +Rosewood if we can get the buggy out of the ditch. We can call the +sheriff from there. This is the sheriff's job, not ours."</p> + +<p>The three people who had ridden in the rear seat were in the ditch, +pushing snow away from the wheels. Glenn Starr was saying quietly:</p> + +<p>"We ought to get him out of the road."</p> + +<p>Robinson went to work with the shovel, digging the right rear wheel out +of the snow and the thick, half-frozen mud.</p> + +<p>"Forget all about it," he said. "No one will be driving through here +tonight. We'll call the sheriff from Rosewood. Outside of that, it's +none of our business. Automobile accident. Wasn't our fault. We've done +all we can."</p> + +<p>They worked hard, all of them trying to forget the body on the road and +concentrate on the task of freeing the car from the ditch. In twenty +minutes they were on their way, crawling slowly down the opposite side +of the hill into the cup-like valley where a country store, church and +schoolhouse had been flatteringly named "Village of Rosewood!"</p> + +<p>Marjorie Wrenn was still crying softly. Glenn tried to comfort her, but +the girl was exhausted mentally and physically. The snow still blotted +out everything but a few yards of the road. Once in the valley, Robinson +released his grip on the wheel and relaxed.</p> + +<p>"Roy," he said softly.</p> + +<p>"Yea?"</p> + +<p>"About that phantom buck story. I wouldn't talk too much. On the square, +though I'm inclined to wonder."</p> + +<p>Roy Starr's voice sank to a whisper.</p> + +<p>"You think—maybe...?"</p> + +<p>"Yea," Robinson answered, "I think—maybe...."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The electric light flashed on, making the world of swirling snow +friendly once more. The car was parked beside the house, close to the +barn. The place was a huge country store with the living quarters +attached like a toad-stool to the side of it. There was a wood-pile in +the yard, hidden under a foot of snow, looking like a crouching, white +monster. A single pole had been buried in the ground, and from it hung a +six-point buck. The deer had been gutted, and blood made little red +blobs on the snow.</p> + +<p>Glenn Starr climbed out and helped Marjorie Wrenn to the ground. He saw +the overcoated figure emerging from the woodshed.</p> + +<p>"Norm, you old horse. Got any snake bite medicine?"</p> + +<p>Norm Boody, a well fed duplicate of Slim Summerville, was clad in a +heavy overcoat drawn over a flannel night-shirt. His feet were hidden in +vast, felt slippers.</p> + +<p>"Thought you people weren't gonna get here. It's almost three in the +morning. About those snake bites. What's the matter? Snow snakes biting +tonight?"</p> + +<p>The others were getting stiffly out of the car.</p> + +<p>Earl Robinson said solemnly:</p> + +<p>"Those snow snakes bite before you can go ten feet. We had a little +trouble, Norm."</p> + +<p>Boody found a half filled bottle in his coat and passed it around.</p> + +<p>"Bad country to drive in a storm," he said.</p> + +<p>"Worse than usual," Robinson said. "There is a dead man laying down the +road a mile or two."</p> + +<p>Norm Boody gulped from the bottle, choked and spewed the whiskey on the +snow.</p> + +<p>"It—wasn't Bill, was it?"</p> + +<p>Robinson shook his head.</p> + +<p>"No one I know. Dressed in hunter's outfit. Didn't find his gun. +Probably buried under the snow."</p> + +<p>Boody sighed. He looked uncertain.</p> + +<p>"Bill went into Indian River for some stuff. He didn't come back."</p> + +<p>"Look," Glenn said suddenly. "Marge is freezing and we're all tired out. +We better get inside."</p> + +<p>Norm Boody sprang toward the door and held it open.</p> + +<p>"Sure, sure," he said. "The wife's got both coffee pots steaming by now. +I oughta be shot for not getting this poor girl inside the minute she +came. It ain't fit weather...."</p> + +<p>Robinson smiled.</p> + +<p>"Let's get to that coffee."</p> + +<p>Inside, they all greeted Mrs. Boody. While she poured coffee into the +cups on the kitchen table, Robinson cornered Norm Boody and led him into +the living room. It was a low-ceilinged, warm, homey place. A telephone +hung on the far wall. Robinson dialed the sheriff's number at Indian +River, put the receiver back in place, lifted it and tried again. He +shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Trouble?" Boody asked.</p> + +<p>"The line must be down. Phone won't work. Guess we'll sleep tonight and +make that call in the morning."</p> + +<p>The two men sat down in the darkness of the living room. Mrs. Boody, a +grey headed, smiling woman who looked as though she might be anyone's +mother, came in with two steaming cups.</p> + +<p>"You better drink before you freeze," she said. "That darned stove takes +so long to heat up."</p> + +<p>She turned to her husband.</p> + +<p>"Norm, what's wrong?"</p> + +<p>Norm Boody grimaced.</p> + +<p>"Man dead down the road. Something mauled him. Killed before the snow +came this evening. Earl most ran over him."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The room was deathly silent for a moment. Then the woman's voice came, +almost in a sob.</p> + +<p>"Norm, Norm, it wasn't Bill, was it?"</p> + +<p>Robinson said quickly:</p> + +<p>"It wasn't Bill. I saw the face. No one I've ever seen before."</p> + +<p>"Thank God for that," Mrs. Boody said. "You called the sheriff?"</p> + +<p>"Can't," Norm Boody said. "Line's out of order. We'll get in touch with +town in the morning."</p> + +<p>"I don't think we'll sleep much tonight," a soft voice said from the +door.</p> + +<p>Earl Robinson chuckled. It was an attempt to put the whole thing off +lightly. It didn't sound very sincere.</p> + +<p>"You'll sleep all right, Marjorie. After that trip, we'll all sleep."</p> + +<p>The girl smiled wanly.</p> + +<p>"I hope so. It's hard—thinking of that—that...."</p> + +<p>Daylight brought a peaceful, untroubled look to the valley. For ten +miles, without a track save for the animals who had moved during the +night, the valley stretched upward on all sides to the wooded hills. The +big general store, schoolhouse and country church nestled in the center +of the snow cup, with trackless roads leading away to the four points of +the compass.</p> + +<p>Blue-gray smoke lifted straight upward from the house, drifted two +hundred feet into the sky and wafted away into nothingness.</p> + +<p>Robinson came out of the woodshed with his black and red plaid coat +wrapped tightly around him. It was a grand hunting morning, and he +didn't intend to let last night's incident spoil it. The country was +beautiful but there was nothing gentle about it. You had to face +violence and forget it—quickly. Death wasn't easy to look at, but here, +people learned that when it came, there was no point in letting it +interfere with their life.</p> + +<p>Bill Boody hadn't come in last night. His car wasn't to be seen. +Robinson went back into the woodshed. He climbed the steps to the +kitchen and walked in quietly behind Mrs. Boody, who was bent over the +kitchen stove.</p> + +<p>"Where's Norm?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boody looked worn and tired, as though she hadn't slept.</p> + +<p>"Milking the cows. Bill didn't come home last night."</p> + +<p>He knew that she was still suspicious of him. She wasn't sure that he +told the truth about the body on the road.</p> + +<p>"Bill will be okay," he said. "Are any of the others up?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boody smiled.</p> + +<p>"Roy came out a few minutes ago. He took one look at the thermometer +outside the kitchen window, groaned and went back to bed."</p> + +<p>Robinson started for the bedroom.</p> + +<p>"You better let Marge sleep," Mrs. Boody said. "She was all worn out. +She needs the rest."</p> + +<p>"Earl," the woman at the stove said. There was a quality of urgency in +her voice that stopped him short. He pivoted.</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"You think the phantom buck might have done the killing?"</p> + +<p>Here it was again, he thought. They weren't satisfied to let the whole +thing pass as an accident. They had to bring up dead dogs, fall back on +superstition. Everything was perfect for hunting, and they had to spoil +the spirit of the thing.</p> + +<p>"That phantom buck business is a damned fairy tale," he said.</p> + +<p>"<i>But you think it was the phantom buck, all the same.</i>"</p> + +<p>Robinson said nothing. The woman pushed the coffee pot back on the stove +and went to the window. She stared out at the snowy world.</p> + +<p>"Bill <i>saw</i> the phantom buck once."</p> + +<p>"I know," Robinson said. He wished she wouldn't talk about it. She was +getting herself all excited. "Probably Bill had been drinking some of +that snake bite medicine."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boody shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Bill don't touch a drop." Her face was very red, maybe from the stove. +"Bill said the buck was the biggest deer he'd ever seen. He went right +by Bill, and disappeared, right in broad daylight. Bill looked for +tracks after he was gone, and there weren't any."</p> + +<p>She wet her lips and went back to the stove.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Boody," Robinson said.</p> + +<p>She looked up then with frantic eyes.</p> + +<p>"<i>It isn't Bill, out there on the road, dead?</i>"</p> + +<p>He went swiftly to her and put one hand on her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't lie to you. It wasn't him."</p> + +<p>She seemed to relax for the first time since last night.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're telling the truth. I wish Bill would come home, though. +They used to say that anyone who saw the phantom buck was getting ready +for an early death."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Norm Boody came up from the barn with two steaming pails of milk. Roy +Starr was getting dressed in the kitchen, close to the stove. He was +muttering threats against his brother, Glenn.</p> + +<p>"Never let a guy sleep," he groaned. "Always the first guy up and the +only man on earth who can't let other people stay in bed when they want +to."</p> + +<p>Glenn Starr and Marjorie were already at the breakfast table. The others +drifted in and sat down. A girl and a husky, sleepy-eyed man came down +from upstairs. Roy Starr greeted the girl by chasing her around the +stove and left her alone only after she picked up the poker and +threatened to use it on him.</p> + +<p>Robinson introduced the fifth member of the hunting party at the +breakfast table.</p> + +<p>"Pete Larson hasn't hunted before," he said. "Pete, you know our own +bunch. You know Norm and Mrs. Boody now. The tall, fair damsel holding +the coffee pot is Norma, Mrs. Boody's best assistant housekeeper and +daughter. The sleepy eyed creature at her side is her husband, Floyd."</p> + +<p>Larson himself was heavy set, and a slightly ponderous man who wore +light rimmed glasses and a rather awed look on his face.</p> + +<p>"I guess I've let myself in for some rugged country and some heavy +eating," he said. "Anyhow, I always did like a fifth cup of coffee and +the supply looks adequate."</p> + +<p>"It <i>was</i> rugged last night, all right," Roy Starr said.</p> + +<p>Instantly there was silence. Norma, the tall, slim girl, looked at her +mother questioningly.</p> + +<p>Robinson broke in before she had time to speak.</p> + +<p>"We found a dead man on the road last night. Nobody we knew."</p> + +<p>He heard Norma and her husband catch their breaths quickly. Then the +telephone rang and he was on his feet. Norm Boody was closer to the +phone and answered it. The remainder of the group went on eating, but +every ear was tuned to the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>He listened for a time, then said:</p> + +<p>"I got a party of hunters who came in last night. They saw him on the +road. We tried to call you but the wires were dead."</p> + +<p>Then:</p> + +<p>"Oh? So that was it. Okay, we'll keep an eye open. Haven't seen Bill, +have you? He's coming in behind the plough? Good. We were worried about +him."</p> + +<p>"Telephone linemen came through this morning," he explained. "They +picked up the body. That was Sheriff Walt Beardsly calling. He ain't +blaming you boys. Says your tracks went right around the body. Says a +bear must have mauled the guy. They found his gun in the ditch."</p> + +<p>Earl Robinson said:</p> + +<p>"Yea, that's what happened all right. Bill's okay, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>Boody nodded.</p> + +<p>"Spent the night at the sheriff's house. Couldn't drive in. He's coming +in a couple of hours."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boody went out for some more coffee. Larson, managing a smile, +said:</p> + +<p>"Guess we can go hunting without worrying about anything—except bear."</p> + +<p>Norma tickled her husband between well padded ribs.</p> + +<p>"Take Floyd along. He'll chase all the bears to the other side of the +mountain."</p> + +<p>Floyd grinned.</p> + +<p>"Guess you boys can take care of yourselves."</p> + +<p>Roy Starr hadn't taken an active part in the conversation for some time. +He brought his fist down on the table with a bang.</p> + +<p>"To hell with the phantom," he stood up. "Ten minutes ago you were all +tied up inside with a damned silly superstition. Now you're kidding +yourselves that everything is okay. You're <i>still</i> ready to believe in +ghosts and goblins at a moment's notice. What's the matter? We all too +scared to think clearly for ourselves?"</p> + +<p>Robinson got up.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Roy," he said. "Let's go out and get chains on the car. We'll +need them to make that south hill."</p> + +<p>Roy Starr was trembling. Something had slipped inside him. Something +that made him angry at all of them. Who did they think he was? Could +they handle him like a ten year old kid?</p> + +<p>"You want to lead Junior outside and give him a lecture," he snapped. +"Please don't scare these good people. Well, you can all go to hell. I'm +going after a deer. If it turns out to be the phantom buck, I'll get +<i>him</i>. I'm going alone and I don't need you or the car or anything else. +I still got two good feet."</p> + +<p>They sat there and watched him go. Robinson sat down a little weakly. +They heard Roy pick up his rifle in the kitchen and waited until his +footsteps faded beyond the woodshed.</p> + +<p>"Well," Robinson said at last, "I guess Junior is on the warpath."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Glenn Starr looked at his watch. He halted in the protection of the +evergreen grove and turned his back to the wind. Marjorie Wrenn caught +up with him.</p> + +<p>"Better rest," Glenn said. "It's after noon."</p> + +<p>He found some sandwiches in his pocket and passed her one. The girl's +face was very pale.</p> + +<p>"The tracks didn't come out of the swamp," she said.</p> + +<p>"Forget the tracks," Glenn said gently. "It's been snowing since ten +o'clock. They were Roy's tracks all right. The snow drifted in and +covered them up. He probably headed for home hours ago."</p> + +<p>"I—can't eat, Glenn. Let's go back. Let's try to find the tracks again. +I'm scared, Glenn. I'm so scared my teeth are chattering."</p> + +<p>Glenn took her rifle.</p> + +<p>"Follow me," he said abruptly. "You're all done in. I'll take the +shortest route."</p> + +<p>The girl took half a dozen faltering steps and sank down into the snow. +When he reached her side, she was out cold. He rubbed her wrists and +cheeks until her eyes, full of tears, opened slowly.</p> + +<p>"You're gonna be all right," he said, and picked her up in his arms.</p> + +<p>Slowly, for he knew it was going to be a rough trail, he headed across +the valley toward home.</p> + +<p>Earl Robinson moved more slowly now. He and Larson had swung down from +the north and crossed the three sets of tracks. Larson, puffing from his +first day of marching, came behind him. Robinson stopped finally. He +waited for Larson to catch up. He pointed at the almost covered tracks.</p> + +<p>"Here's where they missed his trail," he said. "I think we can still +follow it if we take our time."</p> + +<p>"Look," Larson said abruptly, "you don't believe that phantom buck +business, do you?"</p> + +<p>Robinson didn't answer. He started away through the swamp, watching for +a broken twig here, an almost buried footprint there. It took him two +long hours to find the end of the trail. It had started to snow again. +The boy was half covered with the drift. A thick growth of cedars had +protected him from the full force of the storm. His eyes were wide open +and he showed signs of recognizing Robinson as the big man bent over +him. He tried to smile, but he couldn't. There was blood around his lips +and his jacket was torn open to reveal a deep, bloody gash in his chest.</p> + +<p>Robinson built a fire hurriedly and Larson kept the blaze alive with dry +logs.</p> + +<p>Robinson swore softly as he found bandages in his kit and administered +first aid. He swore at the cold, and the snow, and the thing that had +done this to the kid.</p> + +<p>They carried Roy Starr out that night, and it was close to midnight +before they met Norm Boody and the party who had come in search of them. +Mrs. Boody had coffee on the stove when they got in. Robinson, once Roy +Starr was warm and fairly safe once more, fell into a chair and slept +like a child. An hour later, he was on his feet again, staggering, half +dead from exhaustion, giving orders to the doctor who had come from +Indian River.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Roy spoke in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Earl?"</p> + +<p>He was in pain. Bad pain. Earl took his hand.</p> + +<p>"It's okay, kid. I'm with you. It's all over."</p> + +<p>"Earl," the voice was a sob. "Earl, it's true about the phantom. I saw +him."</p> + +<p>"I know," Robinson said softly. "Keep quiet. We found you in the swamp. +Larson and I brought you in. The Doc says you're okay. Few days rest."</p> + +<p>Roy felt all choked up and hot inside. He squeezed Earl's hand.</p> + +<p>"Tell Larson he's okay. You're okay. Earl, we got to get out'a here."</p> + +<p>His fever was rising.</p> + +<p>"Listen, junior," Robinson said sternly, "I said everything's okay, and +it is. Lay still and sleep."</p> + +<p>Roy wasn't hearing him now. He tried to force himself up on one elbow. +His eyes were filled with memories—of terror.</p> + +<p>"I was a sap, Earl. I tell you I saw him. He was big and beautiful, big +as a nightmare. He snorted right close to me and there was fire shooting +out of his nostrils. He hit me like lightning, Earl. I—don't +remember—after—that."</p> + +<p>He sank back, breathing hard.</p> + +<p>Glenn Starr came in from the bedroom.</p> + +<p>"How's Roy?"</p> + +<p>"He's going to sleep now, aren't you Roy?" Earl asked.</p> + +<p>"Yea—I'm gonna sleep."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> can't sleep," Glenn Starr said. "If we'd kept him here this +morning, he'd have been all right."</p> + +<p>"Is Bill up?" Earl asked.</p> + +<p>"Yea! He's talking with the Doc in the kitchen. Doctor hasn't left yet."</p> + +<p>"Send in Bill and tell Doc to wait a little while," Robinson said +grimly.</p> + +<p>Bill Boody came into the darkened room and sat down quietly by the +couch.</p> + +<p>"How's Roy?"</p> + +<p>"Okay, Bill," Robinson said. "I been doing some thinking."</p> + +<p>"About what?"</p> + +<p>Bill Boody was tall, slim, and well put together. His face, burned dark +from sun and rain, was sensitive and mirrored friendliness and +intelligence.</p> + +<p>"About the phantom buck," Robinson said.</p> + +<p>"We all have," Boody said. "Norm told you I saw the phantom once, didn't +he?"</p> + +<p>Robinson nodded.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't the phantom attack you, Bill?"</p> + +<p>Boody shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. It was the phantom all right. He was big—and grand, like +sort of a God."</p> + +<p>Neither of them said anything for a while. Roy was sleeping. His +breathing came easier now.</p> + +<p>"I guess I sound a little corny," Boody said. "I don't mean to."</p> + +<p>"No," Robinson answered. "No, I wasn't thinking of that. Roy says it was +the phantom that attacked him. He felt kinda like you do about it."</p> + +<p>Robinson stood up and walked to the window. He stared upward toward the +dark, moonlit forest.</p> + +<p>"When did you see the phantom?"</p> + +<p>Bill looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"It was just before dusk...."</p> + +<p>"I guess I'm not making my question clear," Robinson interrupted. "I +mean, was it during hunting season?"</p> + +<p>"It was last spring. We were plowing the north field."</p> + +<p>"Were you carrying a gun?"</p> + +<p>"No," Boody said, puzzled.</p> + +<p>"That's what I thought."</p> + +<p>Doctor Peterson was a frosty looking old chap with black rimmed specs +and a grey beard.</p> + +<p>"You about ready to go back to town, Doc?" Robinson asked.</p> + +<p>Peterson grinned.</p> + +<p>"After I drink all the coffee in sight," he said. "And it looks like I +have."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boody was with them in the kitchen. The house was quiet.</p> + +<p>"I've got to get gas and oil. Guess I'll follow you in," Robinson said.</p> + +<p>"Good. The boy's all right. I'll be out again tomorrow. Ready to go?"</p> + +<p>Outside the snow had finally stopped falling. The early morning was +clear, with a promise of a bright day to come. Robinson started his car +and warmed it up. The Doctor said good night to Mrs. Boody and came out +to climb into his Model T. Robinson backed out slowly and followed the +car down the road toward Indian River.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was just daylight. Robinson left the car a mile from Rosewood and +entered the woods. He had taken his time in town, found an all-night gas +station to refuel his car and parked it here just as the sun came up, +coloring the frosty, blue-gray hills above him.</p> + +<p>Half a mile from the road he turned and entered the swamp where he had +found Roy the day before. He started walking swiftly. He was weaponless, +having left the rifle in his car. Two hours passed and he had penetrated +deeply into the swamp.</p> + +<p>He was cold. He had seen no fresh trails. A black squirrel chattered at +him, and hid itself on the far side of a cedar tree. A fox hurried +across his trail, a red blurr against the snow.</p> + +<p>Far away, he heard the sudden dry "snap" of a twig. He found a stump and +seated himself. He was very quiet. Suddenly an icy coldness penetrated +his entire body. It wasn't the wind or the natural cold that troubled +him now. It was the feeling of death—sudden death—poised only seconds +away.</p> + +<p>Death—behind him, and he dared not look around.</p> + +<p>He waited perhaps sixty seconds, and they seemed like hours. He stood up +very slowly and started to move his arms rhythmatically in a back and +forth motion as though to restore circulation. At the same time, he made +it evident to anyone—<i>anything</i>, looking at him, that he carried no +weapon.</p> + +<p>Then, without betraying fear, he turned.</p> + +<p>Not ten feet away, poised with every splendid muscle tense and alert, +was the biggest buck he had ever seen. The great animal stared at him +without fear. Its antlers were held high.</p> + +<p>The eyes frightened Robinson. They weren't soft, brown deer eyes. They +were, instead, black and beady, like twin windows to Hell.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>There was the baleful glint of Hell in the monster eyes</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The head swung back. The hooves pawed at the snow. With a snort, the +creature sprang into the air. Robinson ducked quickly to one side, but +there was no reason for him to flee. The phantom buck, for he was sure +the animal <i>was</i> a phantom, moved past him with incredible speed and was +gone in the forest. He was aware of a terrific burst of speed—of a +perfectly proportioned body, and that was all.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>With a burst of speed, the magnificent buck rushed past him</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>For a long time, Robinson stood there by the stump. All the education +that goes into a man, to bring him culture, was reviewing itself in his +mind. All the hunter instinct drained out of him. There was only +humbleness left, and respect for wild things.</p> + +<p>He knew he would find no tracks, even though he forced himself to look +for them. Six inches of untouched snow covered the spot where the +phantom had stood.</p> + +<p>Robinson shrugged and started back along the lengthy, circular trail to +his car.</p> + +<p>Norm Boody came out of the house with Roy Starr's rifle. They were all +gathered beside the car. Roy, a trifle pale, was wrapped snugly, and +resting on the rear seat. Glenn Starr sat beside Roy, his arm about +Marjorie. Norma smiled at Glenn.</p> + +<p>"I know a secret," she said.</p> + +<p>"Better not tell it," Glenn made a pass at her with his open palm. Norma +stepped back and laughed loudly.</p> + +<p>"Glenn's a hero. He carried Marge out of the cruel woods. He carried her +three miles, and now she's consented to marry him."</p> + +<p>Glenn gave a war-whoop and started after her. Norma ran into the house +and slammed the door.</p> + +<p>"You may as well face it," Robinson said. "Roy isn't so weak that he +can't kid the daylights out of you all the way home."</p> + +<p>Pete Larson spoke from the far corner of the front seat.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"How about the little secret <i>you're</i> keeping, Earl. That was quite a +little research trip you took into the woods this morning."</p> + +<p>Robinson looked startled.</p> + +<p>"You didn't..."</p> + +<p>Larson chuckled.</p> + +<p>"When you and the doctor left last night, I was suspicious. I went down +the road this morning and located your car. <i>I</i> took along a gun for +protection. Spent an hour in the swamp. Got tired of tracking you after +that."</p> + +<p>Norm Boody had been studying them curiously.</p> + +<p>"Bill said you were asking a lot of questions last night, Earl."</p> + +<p>Larson spoke again before Robinson could answer.</p> + +<p>"Of course we all go at things a little differently," he admitted. +"However, I got an idea that the phantom wouldn't attack a man who +didn't carry a gun. Earl left his in the car when he went into the +swamp."</p> + +<p>Robinson nodded.</p> + +<p>"I went into the swamp," he admitted. "I had an idea the phantom might +be sort of a ghostly protector of the herd. We have quite a slaughter of +deer up here every fall. It must be hard on them if they have any +feeling at all. What's so damn much different between men killing deer, +or a deer killing a man? If the Phantom exists, he's sort of a +protecting angel—or a God. If I had met him ..."</p> + +<p>"You didn't?" Norm Boody asked sharply.</p> + +<p>Earl grinned.</p> + +<p>"If I <i>had</i> met him," he went on, "I guess I'd do something about it. I +guess I'd think he was a pretty grand old guy, standing up to fight for +his kind. I'd probably look him over and pray for mercy, and get the +hell out of his domain. If I hunted again next year, I'd either find new +territory, or prepare to get myself killed."</p> + +<p>Norm Boody looked solemn.</p> + +<p>"Well, I ain't much for hunting myself," he admitted. "But if I <i>did</i> +like to hunt, and I <i>believed</i> a story like that, I'd leave my gun at +home when I went into the woods. Ain't that the general idea?"</p> + +<p>Roy Starr said weakly:</p> + +<p>"Gosh, I'm getting awfully weak already. How about a shot of snakebite +medicine."</p> + +<p>Glenn found a half bottle and passed it around.</p> + +<p>"Might as well finish it. My wife-to-be says I gotta stop drinking as +soon as we're married."</p> + +<p>"And where are <i>you</i> hunting next year, Larson," Robinson asked.</p> + +<p>Larson grinned.</p> + +<p>"How about a good week hunting jack-rabbits? I don't think I'd be very +scared if I met the God of the jack-rabbits, even if he did shoot fire +out of the corner of his nostrils."</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Phantom of the Forest, by Lee Francis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHANTOM OF THE FOREST *** + +***** This file should be named 32891-h.htm or 32891-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/9/32891/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. 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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: Phantom of the Forest + +Author: Lee Francis + +Release Date: June 19, 2010 [EBook #32891] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHANTOM OF THE FOREST *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + PHANTOM OF THE FOREST + + By LEE FRANCIS + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories November +1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: Every year men slaughter deer by the thousands; it seems only +fitting that the tables be turned once in a while....] + + +The automobile reached the crest of the hill, skidded and started toward +the ditch. Earl Robinson twisted the wheel savagely, got the feel of the +ice hidden under the snow, and deftly straightened the car. Roy Starr +awakened at his side and sat up. His eyes were narrowed with sleep. + +"Lord," he groaned, "how much farther?" + +Robinson spoke through gritted teeth. + +"About three miles. Might as well be a million." + +The car was moving forward about twenty miles per hour. Three people +slept in the rear seat. They were packed under pieces of equipment. +There were half a dozen guns stacked across their feet. + +The snow came down thickly, endlessly. It drifted across the road. +Almost eight inches had fallen since sundown. Tomorrow, there won't be +any traffic moving, Robinson thought, not without a plow to break the +trail. The valley will be a lost world. + +"Shangrila," he said softly. + +"Huh?" Roy Starr was almost asleep once more. + +Robinson said, "Skip it." + +He was thinking about the war, and the deep, lost valleys he flew into +when he flew the "hump." + +He tried to concentrate on the road once more. They had come six miles +from Indian River. The road was just a white line, leading up and down +long rows of dark evergreens. The snow filled the air, tangling his +thoughts, filling the world with stinging, blinding particles of white. +The snow actually seemed to hurt his eyes. It seemed to be hitting his +eyeballs. + +He shook his head angrily. _Sleep_ was stinging his eyes. He watched the +trackless road with an intensity of a man hovering between life and +death. Sleep--and death. Trying desperately to avoid both. + +One more long hill. + +Taking a long chance, he pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would +go. The motor roared, protested and the car leaped ahead like a monster +alive. The speedometer said fifty--then fifty-five. Sixty. At sixty they +hit the sharp incline. Roy Starr was wide awake now, holding tightly to +the door-handle, as though it insured him against an accident. Someone +stirred in the back seat. + +"Almost there?" It was a girl's voice, sleepy and disinterested. + +"Almost," Earl Robinson said, and twisted the wheel again. The car went +crosswise with the road. It slid forward, up the hill, careened wildly +and straightened its course once more. Robinson sighed. + +"Close," he said. + +"_Earl, for God's sake, stop!!_" + +Roy Starr's voice welled out of him, filled with stark horror. Robinson +saw the weird, shadowy form on the road just in time. He pressed hard on +the brake and the car jerked into the ditch, and stopped with a +sickening jolt. + +The girl in the rear seat clawed her way forward, clutching Starr's +shoulder. + +"A man on the road," she cried. "Earl, you hit him." + +She started sobbing as though her heart were breaking. + +"Shut up," Robinson snapped. His nerves had reached the breaking point. +Then, in a gentler voice. "There's a man there all right, Marge. I +didn't hit him. Get hold of yourself. Glenn, Glenn, take care of her, +will you?" + + * * * * * + +All three people in the rear seat were wide awake now. Glenn Starr, +dark, serious, in full control of his wits, drew the sobbing girl back +beside him. + +"Take it easy, kid," he said. "Earl will take care of everything. We +haven't done anything wrong." + +The other man, sitting on the far side of the car, pushed the door open +and climbed out. + +"Man, this is a storm, and I don't mean perhaps. Nice little ditch we +got ourselves into." + +Robinson and Roy Starr got out. Roy pulled his collar up tightly around +his neck. He walked back a few paces and kneeled beside the snow buried +corpse. Earl Robinson, tall, solid, stood over him as he pushed away the +snow. + +"Nobody I know," Roy said, and turned away so he wouldn't have to stare +at the dead, frozen face. + +Robinson bent over and pushed more snow away. + +"I'll be damned." + +The chest was badly crushed. Blood had frozen in the snow next to the +wound. + +"Hit sometime before the snow came," Robinson said. + +Roy Starr was brushing snow away from the corpse. + +"Maybe," he said softly. "A car never hit him, though. There aren't any +blood tracks. The hole is in the direct center of his chest. The ribs +aren't crushed on either side." + +Robinson's voice was a little hushed. + +"That's what I was thinking. Looks like a bear might have mauled him." + +Roy Starr came slowly to his feet. + +"Look," he said, "we aren't kidding ourselves. Something hit him, hard, +in the chest. It wasn't a car because it didn't break in the whole bone +structure. It wasn't a bear, because a bear would have done a more +thorough job of it. Shooting is out. That isn't a bullet wound." + +Robinson shrugged. + +"What's left?" + +"The same thing that's been killing hunters for the past five years," +Starr said grimly. "For lack of a better name, the phantom buck." + +Robinson turned away, looking toward the car. + +"You're crazy," he said. "Let's say we're both crazy. Our imaginations +are running riot. I think the rest of the party ought to know about the +_automobile accident_. We can't do any good here. We'll go on to +Rosewood if we can get the buggy out of the ditch. We can call the +sheriff from there. This is the sheriff's job, not ours." + +The three people who had ridden in the rear seat were in the ditch, +pushing snow away from the wheels. Glenn Starr was saying quietly: + +"We ought to get him out of the road." + +Robinson went to work with the shovel, digging the right rear wheel out +of the snow and the thick, half-frozen mud. + +"Forget all about it," he said. "No one will be driving through here +tonight. We'll call the sheriff from Rosewood. Outside of that, it's +none of our business. Automobile accident. Wasn't our fault. We've done +all we can." + +They worked hard, all of them trying to forget the body on the road and +concentrate on the task of freeing the car from the ditch. In twenty +minutes they were on their way, crawling slowly down the opposite side +of the hill into the cup-like valley where a country store, church and +schoolhouse had been flatteringly named "Village of Rosewood!" + +Marjorie Wrenn was still crying softly. Glenn tried to comfort her, but +the girl was exhausted mentally and physically. The snow still blotted +out everything but a few yards of the road. Once in the valley, Robinson +released his grip on the wheel and relaxed. + +"Roy," he said softly. + +"Yea?" + +"About that phantom buck story. I wouldn't talk too much. On the square, +though I'm inclined to wonder." + +Roy Starr's voice sank to a whisper. + +"You think--maybe...?" + +"Yea," Robinson answered, "I think--maybe...." + + * * * * * + +The electric light flashed on, making the world of swirling snow +friendly once more. The car was parked beside the house, close to the +barn. The place was a huge country store with the living quarters +attached like a toad-stool to the side of it. There was a wood-pile in +the yard, hidden under a foot of snow, looking like a crouching, white +monster. A single pole had been buried in the ground, and from it hung a +six-point buck. The deer had been gutted, and blood made little red +blobs on the snow. + +Glenn Starr climbed out and helped Marjorie Wrenn to the ground. He saw +the overcoated figure emerging from the woodshed. + +"Norm, you old horse. Got any snake bite medicine?" + +Norm Boody, a well fed duplicate of Slim Summerville, was clad in a +heavy overcoat drawn over a flannel night-shirt. His feet were hidden in +vast, felt slippers. + +"Thought you people weren't gonna get here. It's almost three in the +morning. About those snake bites. What's the matter? Snow snakes biting +tonight?" + +The others were getting stiffly out of the car. + +Earl Robinson said solemnly: + +"Those snow snakes bite before you can go ten feet. We had a little +trouble, Norm." + +Boody found a half filled bottle in his coat and passed it around. + +"Bad country to drive in a storm," he said. + +"Worse than usual," Robinson said. "There is a dead man laying down the +road a mile or two." + +Norm Boody gulped from the bottle, choked and spewed the whiskey on the +snow. + +"It--wasn't Bill, was it?" + +Robinson shook his head. + +"No one I know. Dressed in hunter's outfit. Didn't find his gun. +Probably buried under the snow." + +Boody sighed. He looked uncertain. + +"Bill went into Indian River for some stuff. He didn't come back." + +"Look," Glenn said suddenly. "Marge is freezing and we're all tired out. +We better get inside." + +Norm Boody sprang toward the door and held it open. + +"Sure, sure," he said. "The wife's got both coffee pots steaming by now. +I oughta be shot for not getting this poor girl inside the minute she +came. It ain't fit weather...." + +Robinson smiled. + +"Let's get to that coffee." + +Inside, they all greeted Mrs. Boody. While she poured coffee into the +cups on the kitchen table, Robinson cornered Norm Boody and led him into +the living room. It was a low-ceilinged, warm, homey place. A telephone +hung on the far wall. Robinson dialed the sheriff's number at Indian +River, put the receiver back in place, lifted it and tried again. He +shook his head. + +"Trouble?" Boody asked. + +"The line must be down. Phone won't work. Guess we'll sleep tonight and +make that call in the morning." + +The two men sat down in the darkness of the living room. Mrs. Boody, a +grey headed, smiling woman who looked as though she might be anyone's +mother, came in with two steaming cups. + +"You better drink before you freeze," she said. "That darned stove takes +so long to heat up." + +She turned to her husband. + +"Norm, what's wrong?" + +Norm Boody grimaced. + +"Man dead down the road. Something mauled him. Killed before the snow +came this evening. Earl most ran over him." + + * * * * * + +The room was deathly silent for a moment. Then the woman's voice came, +almost in a sob. + +"Norm, Norm, it wasn't Bill, was it?" + +Robinson said quickly: + +"It wasn't Bill. I saw the face. No one I've ever seen before." + +"Thank God for that," Mrs. Boody said. "You called the sheriff?" + +"Can't," Norm Boody said. "Line's out of order. We'll get in touch with +town in the morning." + +"I don't think we'll sleep much tonight," a soft voice said from the +door. + +Earl Robinson chuckled. It was an attempt to put the whole thing off +lightly. It didn't sound very sincere. + +"You'll sleep all right, Marjorie. After that trip, we'll all sleep." + +The girl smiled wanly. + +"I hope so. It's hard--thinking of that--that...." + +Daylight brought a peaceful, untroubled look to the valley. For ten +miles, without a track save for the animals who had moved during the +night, the valley stretched upward on all sides to the wooded hills. The +big general store, schoolhouse and country church nestled in the center +of the snow cup, with trackless roads leading away to the four points of +the compass. + +Blue-gray smoke lifted straight upward from the house, drifted two +hundred feet into the sky and wafted away into nothingness. + +Robinson came out of the woodshed with his black and red plaid coat +wrapped tightly around him. It was a grand hunting morning, and he +didn't intend to let last night's incident spoil it. The country was +beautiful but there was nothing gentle about it. You had to face +violence and forget it--quickly. Death wasn't easy to look at, but here, +people learned that when it came, there was no point in letting it +interfere with their life. + +Bill Boody hadn't come in last night. His car wasn't to be seen. +Robinson went back into the woodshed. He climbed the steps to the +kitchen and walked in quietly behind Mrs. Boody, who was bent over the +kitchen stove. + +"Where's Norm?" he asked. + +Mrs. Boody looked worn and tired, as though she hadn't slept. + +"Milking the cows. Bill didn't come home last night." + +He knew that she was still suspicious of him. She wasn't sure that he +told the truth about the body on the road. + +"Bill will be okay," he said. "Are any of the others up?" + +Mrs. Boody smiled. + +"Roy came out a few minutes ago. He took one look at the thermometer +outside the kitchen window, groaned and went back to bed." + +Robinson started for the bedroom. + +"You better let Marge sleep," Mrs. Boody said. "She was all worn out. +She needs the rest." + +"Earl," the woman at the stove said. There was a quality of urgency in +her voice that stopped him short. He pivoted. + +"Yes?" + +"You think the phantom buck might have done the killing?" + +Here it was again, he thought. They weren't satisfied to let the whole +thing pass as an accident. They had to bring up dead dogs, fall back on +superstition. Everything was perfect for hunting, and they had to spoil +the spirit of the thing. + +"That phantom buck business is a damned fairy tale," he said. + +"_But you think it was the phantom buck, all the same._" + +Robinson said nothing. The woman pushed the coffee pot back on the stove +and went to the window. She stared out at the snowy world. + +"Bill _saw_ the phantom buck once." + +"I know," Robinson said. He wished she wouldn't talk about it. She was +getting herself all excited. "Probably Bill had been drinking some of +that snake bite medicine." + +Mrs. Boody shook her head. + +"Bill don't touch a drop." Her face was very red, maybe from the stove. +"Bill said the buck was the biggest deer he'd ever seen. He went right +by Bill, and disappeared, right in broad daylight. Bill looked for +tracks after he was gone, and there weren't any." + +She wet her lips and went back to the stove. + +"I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Boody," Robinson said. + +She looked up then with frantic eyes. + +"_It isn't Bill, out there on the road, dead?_" + +He went swiftly to her and put one hand on her shoulder. + +"I wouldn't lie to you. It wasn't him." + +She seemed to relax for the first time since last night. + +"I guess you're telling the truth. I wish Bill would come home, though. +They used to say that anyone who saw the phantom buck was getting ready +for an early death." + + * * * * * + +Norm Boody came up from the barn with two steaming pails of milk. Roy +Starr was getting dressed in the kitchen, close to the stove. He was +muttering threats against his brother, Glenn. + +"Never let a guy sleep," he groaned. "Always the first guy up and the +only man on earth who can't let other people stay in bed when they want +to." + +Glenn Starr and Marjorie were already at the breakfast table. The others +drifted in and sat down. A girl and a husky, sleepy-eyed man came down +from upstairs. Roy Starr greeted the girl by chasing her around the +stove and left her alone only after she picked up the poker and +threatened to use it on him. + +Robinson introduced the fifth member of the hunting party at the +breakfast table. + +"Pete Larson hasn't hunted before," he said. "Pete, you know our own +bunch. You know Norm and Mrs. Boody now. The tall, fair damsel holding +the coffee pot is Norma, Mrs. Boody's best assistant housekeeper and +daughter. The sleepy eyed creature at her side is her husband, Floyd." + +Larson himself was heavy set, and a slightly ponderous man who wore +light rimmed glasses and a rather awed look on his face. + +"I guess I've let myself in for some rugged country and some heavy +eating," he said. "Anyhow, I always did like a fifth cup of coffee and +the supply looks adequate." + +"It _was_ rugged last night, all right," Roy Starr said. + +Instantly there was silence. Norma, the tall, slim girl, looked at her +mother questioningly. + +Robinson broke in before she had time to speak. + +"We found a dead man on the road last night. Nobody we knew." + +He heard Norma and her husband catch their breaths quickly. Then the +telephone rang and he was on his feet. Norm Boody was closer to the +phone and answered it. The remainder of the group went on eating, but +every ear was tuned to the conversation. + +"Yes?" + +He listened for a time, then said: + +"I got a party of hunters who came in last night. They saw him on the +road. We tried to call you but the wires were dead." + +Then: + +"Oh? So that was it. Okay, we'll keep an eye open. Haven't seen Bill, +have you? He's coming in behind the plough? Good. We were worried about +him." + +"Telephone linemen came through this morning," he explained. "They +picked up the body. That was Sheriff Walt Beardsly calling. He ain't +blaming you boys. Says your tracks went right around the body. Says a +bear must have mauled the guy. They found his gun in the ditch." + +Earl Robinson said: + +"Yea, that's what happened all right. Bill's okay, isn't he?" + +Boody nodded. + +"Spent the night at the sheriff's house. Couldn't drive in. He's coming +in a couple of hours." + +Mrs. Boody went out for some more coffee. Larson, managing a smile, +said: + +"Guess we can go hunting without worrying about anything--except bear." + +Norma tickled her husband between well padded ribs. + +"Take Floyd along. He'll chase all the bears to the other side of the +mountain." + +Floyd grinned. + +"Guess you boys can take care of yourselves." + +Roy Starr hadn't taken an active part in the conversation for some time. +He brought his fist down on the table with a bang. + +"To hell with the phantom," he stood up. "Ten minutes ago you were all +tied up inside with a damned silly superstition. Now you're kidding +yourselves that everything is okay. You're _still_ ready to believe in +ghosts and goblins at a moment's notice. What's the matter? We all too +scared to think clearly for ourselves?" + +Robinson got up. + +"Come on, Roy," he said. "Let's go out and get chains on the car. We'll +need them to make that south hill." + +Roy Starr was trembling. Something had slipped inside him. Something +that made him angry at all of them. Who did they think he was? Could +they handle him like a ten year old kid? + +"You want to lead Junior outside and give him a lecture," he snapped. +"Please don't scare these good people. Well, you can all go to hell. I'm +going after a deer. If it turns out to be the phantom buck, I'll get +_him_. I'm going alone and I don't need you or the car or anything else. +I still got two good feet." + +They sat there and watched him go. Robinson sat down a little weakly. +They heard Roy pick up his rifle in the kitchen and waited until his +footsteps faded beyond the woodshed. + +"Well," Robinson said at last, "I guess Junior is on the warpath." + + * * * * * + +Glenn Starr looked at his watch. He halted in the protection of the +evergreen grove and turned his back to the wind. Marjorie Wrenn caught +up with him. + +"Better rest," Glenn said. "It's after noon." + +He found some sandwiches in his pocket and passed her one. The girl's +face was very pale. + +"The tracks didn't come out of the swamp," she said. + +"Forget the tracks," Glenn said gently. "It's been snowing since ten +o'clock. They were Roy's tracks all right. The snow drifted in and +covered them up. He probably headed for home hours ago." + +"I--can't eat, Glenn. Let's go back. Let's try to find the tracks again. +I'm scared, Glenn. I'm so scared my teeth are chattering." + +Glenn took her rifle. + +"Follow me," he said abruptly. "You're all done in. I'll take the +shortest route." + +The girl took half a dozen faltering steps and sank down into the snow. +When he reached her side, she was out cold. He rubbed her wrists and +cheeks until her eyes, full of tears, opened slowly. + +"You're gonna be all right," he said, and picked her up in his arms. + +Slowly, for he knew it was going to be a rough trail, he headed across +the valley toward home. + +Earl Robinson moved more slowly now. He and Larson had swung down from +the north and crossed the three sets of tracks. Larson, puffing from his +first day of marching, came behind him. Robinson stopped finally. He +waited for Larson to catch up. He pointed at the almost covered tracks. + +"Here's where they missed his trail," he said. "I think we can still +follow it if we take our time." + +"Look," Larson said abruptly, "you don't believe that phantom buck +business, do you?" + +Robinson didn't answer. He started away through the swamp, watching for +a broken twig here, an almost buried footprint there. It took him two +long hours to find the end of the trail. It had started to snow again. +The boy was half covered with the drift. A thick growth of cedars had +protected him from the full force of the storm. His eyes were wide open +and he showed signs of recognizing Robinson as the big man bent over +him. He tried to smile, but he couldn't. There was blood around his lips +and his jacket was torn open to reveal a deep, bloody gash in his chest. + +Robinson built a fire hurriedly and Larson kept the blaze alive with dry +logs. + +Robinson swore softly as he found bandages in his kit and administered +first aid. He swore at the cold, and the snow, and the thing that had +done this to the kid. + +They carried Roy Starr out that night, and it was close to midnight +before they met Norm Boody and the party who had come in search of them. +Mrs. Boody had coffee on the stove when they got in. Robinson, once Roy +Starr was warm and fairly safe once more, fell into a chair and slept +like a child. An hour later, he was on his feet again, staggering, half +dead from exhaustion, giving orders to the doctor who had come from +Indian River. + + * * * * * + +Roy spoke in a whisper. + +"Earl?" + +He was in pain. Bad pain. Earl took his hand. + +"It's okay, kid. I'm with you. It's all over." + +"Earl," the voice was a sob. "Earl, it's true about the phantom. I saw +him." + +"I know," Robinson said softly. "Keep quiet. We found you in the swamp. +Larson and I brought you in. The Doc says you're okay. Few days rest." + +Roy felt all choked up and hot inside. He squeezed Earl's hand. + +"Tell Larson he's okay. You're okay. Earl, we got to get out'a here." + +His fever was rising. + +"Listen, junior," Robinson said sternly, "I said everything's okay, and +it is. Lay still and sleep." + +Roy wasn't hearing him now. He tried to force himself up on one elbow. +His eyes were filled with memories--of terror. + +"I was a sap, Earl. I tell you I saw him. He was big and beautiful, big +as a nightmare. He snorted right close to me and there was fire shooting +out of his nostrils. He hit me like lightning, Earl. I--don't +remember--after--that." + +He sank back, breathing hard. + +Glenn Starr came in from the bedroom. + +"How's Roy?" + +"He's going to sleep now, aren't you Roy?" Earl asked. + +"Yea--I'm gonna sleep." + +"_I_ can't sleep," Glenn Starr said. "If we'd kept him here this +morning, he'd have been all right." + +"Is Bill up?" Earl asked. + +"Yea! He's talking with the Doc in the kitchen. Doctor hasn't left yet." + +"Send in Bill and tell Doc to wait a little while," Robinson said +grimly. + +Bill Boody came into the darkened room and sat down quietly by the +couch. + +"How's Roy?" + +"Okay, Bill," Robinson said. "I been doing some thinking." + +"About what?" + +Bill Boody was tall, slim, and well put together. His face, burned dark +from sun and rain, was sensitive and mirrored friendliness and +intelligence. + +"About the phantom buck," Robinson said. + +"We all have," Boody said. "Norm told you I saw the phantom once, didn't +he?" + +Robinson nodded. + +"Why didn't the phantom attack you, Bill?" + +Boody shook his head. + +"I don't know. It was the phantom all right. He was big--and grand, like +sort of a God." + +Neither of them said anything for a while. Roy was sleeping. His +breathing came easier now. + +"I guess I sound a little corny," Boody said. "I don't mean to." + +"No," Robinson answered. "No, I wasn't thinking of that. Roy says it was +the phantom that attacked him. He felt kinda like you do about it." + +Robinson stood up and walked to the window. He stared upward toward the +dark, moonlit forest. + +"When did you see the phantom?" + +Bill looked thoughtful. + +"It was just before dusk...." + +"I guess I'm not making my question clear," Robinson interrupted. "I +mean, was it during hunting season?" + +"It was last spring. We were plowing the north field." + +"Were you carrying a gun?" + +"No," Boody said, puzzled. + +"That's what I thought." + +Doctor Peterson was a frosty looking old chap with black rimmed specs +and a grey beard. + +"You about ready to go back to town, Doc?" Robinson asked. + +Peterson grinned. + +"After I drink all the coffee in sight," he said. "And it looks like I +have." + +Mrs. Boody was with them in the kitchen. The house was quiet. + +"I've got to get gas and oil. Guess I'll follow you in," Robinson said. + +"Good. The boy's all right. I'll be out again tomorrow. Ready to go?" + +Outside the snow had finally stopped falling. The early morning was +clear, with a promise of a bright day to come. Robinson started his car +and warmed it up. The Doctor said good night to Mrs. Boody and came out +to climb into his Model T. Robinson backed out slowly and followed the +car down the road toward Indian River. + + * * * * * + +It was just daylight. Robinson left the car a mile from Rosewood and +entered the woods. He had taken his time in town, found an all-night gas +station to refuel his car and parked it here just as the sun came up, +coloring the frosty, blue-gray hills above him. + +Half a mile from the road he turned and entered the swamp where he had +found Roy the day before. He started walking swiftly. He was weaponless, +having left the rifle in his car. Two hours passed and he had penetrated +deeply into the swamp. + +He was cold. He had seen no fresh trails. A black squirrel chattered at +him, and hid itself on the far side of a cedar tree. A fox hurried +across his trail, a red blurr against the snow. + +Far away, he heard the sudden dry "snap" of a twig. He found a stump and +seated himself. He was very quiet. Suddenly an icy coldness penetrated +his entire body. It wasn't the wind or the natural cold that troubled +him now. It was the feeling of death--sudden death--poised only seconds +away. + +Death--behind him, and he dared not look around. + +He waited perhaps sixty seconds, and they seemed like hours. He stood up +very slowly and started to move his arms rhythmatically in a back and +forth motion as though to restore circulation. At the same time, he made +it evident to anyone--_anything_, looking at him, that he carried no +weapon. + +Then, without betraying fear, he turned. + +Not ten feet away, poised with every splendid muscle tense and alert, +was the biggest buck he had ever seen. The great animal stared at him +without fear. Its antlers were held high. + +The eyes frightened Robinson. They weren't soft, brown deer eyes. They +were, instead, black and beady, like twin windows to Hell. + +[Illustration: There was the baleful glint of Hell in the monster eyes] + +The head swung back. The hooves pawed at the snow. With a snort, the +creature sprang into the air. Robinson ducked quickly to one side, but +there was no reason for him to flee. The phantom buck, for he was sure +the animal _was_ a phantom, moved past him with incredible speed and was +gone in the forest. He was aware of a terrific burst of speed--of a +perfectly proportioned body, and that was all. + +[Illustration: With a burst of speed, the magnificent buck rushed past +him] + +For a long time, Robinson stood there by the stump. All the education +that goes into a man, to bring him culture, was reviewing itself in his +mind. All the hunter instinct drained out of him. There was only +humbleness left, and respect for wild things. + +He knew he would find no tracks, even though he forced himself to look +for them. Six inches of untouched snow covered the spot where the +phantom had stood. + +Robinson shrugged and started back along the lengthy, circular trail to +his car. + +Norm Boody came out of the house with Roy Starr's rifle. They were all +gathered beside the car. Roy, a trifle pale, was wrapped snugly, and +resting on the rear seat. Glenn Starr sat beside Roy, his arm about +Marjorie. Norma smiled at Glenn. + +"I know a secret," she said. + +"Better not tell it," Glenn made a pass at her with his open palm. Norma +stepped back and laughed loudly. + +"Glenn's a hero. He carried Marge out of the cruel woods. He carried her +three miles, and now she's consented to marry him." + +Glenn gave a war-whoop and started after her. Norma ran into the house +and slammed the door. + +"You may as well face it," Robinson said. "Roy isn't so weak that he +can't kid the daylights out of you all the way home." + +Pete Larson spoke from the far corner of the front seat. + + * * * * * + +"How about the little secret _you're_ keeping, Earl. That was quite a +little research trip you took into the woods this morning." + +Robinson looked startled. + +"You didn't..." + +Larson chuckled. + +"When you and the doctor left last night, I was suspicious. I went down +the road this morning and located your car. _I_ took along a gun for +protection. Spent an hour in the swamp. Got tired of tracking you after +that." + +Norm Boody had been studying them curiously. + +"Bill said you were asking a lot of questions last night, Earl." + +Larson spoke again before Robinson could answer. + +"Of course we all go at things a little differently," he admitted. +"However, I got an idea that the phantom wouldn't attack a man who +didn't carry a gun. Earl left his in the car when he went into the +swamp." + +Robinson nodded. + +"I went into the swamp," he admitted. "I had an idea the phantom might +be sort of a ghostly protector of the herd. We have quite a slaughter of +deer up here every fall. It must be hard on them if they have any +feeling at all. What's so damn much different between men killing deer, +or a deer killing a man? If the Phantom exists, he's sort of a +protecting angel--or a God. If I had met him ..." + +"You didn't?" Norm Boody asked sharply. + +Earl grinned. + +"If I _had_ met him," he went on, "I guess I'd do something about it. I +guess I'd think he was a pretty grand old guy, standing up to fight for +his kind. I'd probably look him over and pray for mercy, and get the +hell out of his domain. If I hunted again next year, I'd either find new +territory, or prepare to get myself killed." + +Norm Boody looked solemn. + +"Well, I ain't much for hunting myself," he admitted. "But if I _did_ +like to hunt, and I _believed_ a story like that, I'd leave my gun at +home when I went into the woods. Ain't that the general idea?" + +Roy Starr said weakly: + +"Gosh, I'm getting awfully weak already. How about a shot of snakebite +medicine." + +Glenn found a half bottle and passed it around. + +"Might as well finish it. My wife-to-be says I gotta stop drinking as +soon as we're married." + +"And where are _you_ hunting next year, Larson," Robinson asked. + +Larson grinned. + +"How about a good week hunting jack-rabbits? I don't think I'd be very +scared if I met the God of the jack-rabbits, even if he did shoot fire +out of the corner of his nostrils." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Phantom of the Forest, by Lee Francis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHANTOM OF THE FOREST *** + +***** This file should be named 32891.txt or 32891.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/9/32891/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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. 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