The Thing That Walked in the Rain E-Book

Otis Adelbert Kline

• Herausgeber: Ktoczyta.pl
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Those readers who had been charmed by Otis Adelbert Kline’s swashbuckling sci-fi adventures would not have long to wait before they were treated to that novel’s follow-up thrill ride. „The Thing That Walked in the Rain” provides another interplanetary adventure. Considered by many to be the only true equal of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline was a master of the sword and planet genre. From his position on the original editorial staff of Weird Tales and as the literary agent for Conan creator Robert E. Howard, Kline helped shape the face of science fiction as we know it. Kline represented Howard from the Spring of 1933 until Howard’s death in June 1936, and continued to act as literary agent for Howard’s estate thereafter. This one is doing all of those things you expect and want a classic pulp sci-fi to do, not the least of which being to put a smile on your face.

Leseprobe

Contents

I. THE MOUNTAIN OF MYSTERY

II. THE DIARY

III. THE THING THAT WALKED IN THE RAIN

IV. IN THE POWER OF THE ADEPT

V. THE SACRIFICE

VI. THE LAST SACRIFICE

I. THE MOUNTAIN OF MYSTERY

CERRO VERDINEGRO is only one of the lesser volcanic peaks that clutter tip the Nicaraguan landscape in such generous numbers. But to the members of our party, trudging doggedly toward it through the dense tropical jungle, it had an importance out of all proportion to its diminutive size.

Pedro Ortiz, our guide, a swarthy mestizo with a thin, carefully trained black moustache, an admirable tenor voice and a penchant for flamboyant raiment, usually avoided speaking its name, when he had occasion to refer to our destination, but merely mentioned it as “that mountain,” or “that place.” When its name was spoken in his presence he invariably crossed himself piously with a fervent: “Maria Madre preserve us!”

The two Misskito Indians whose keen machetes were carving the way for us, and the eighteen others who trudged behind in single, file, bearing our supplies, had grown more fearful day by day as we drew nearer our destination, so we were kept in constant trepidation lest they bolt and leave us stranded.

Tall, gaunt, bespectacled and bewhiskered, Professor Charles Mabrey, explorer and naturalist, had undertaken the leadership of the expedition for the purpose of clearing up the mystery surrounding the strange disappearance of his friend and colleague, Dr. Fernando de Orellana. And he made it plain that he did not, for one moment, countenance the weird, incredible story which linked that disappearance with the traditional mystery of the extinct volcano. It was his frank and unalterable opinion that the doctor had been murdered by the natives, and that they had invented the outré story of a man-eating monster inhabiting the crater lake purely to shield themselves from punishment. Although I had called his attention to the fact that as soon as the doctor had disappeared the natives had sent a runner to Managua to announce the fact, and that it did not seem likely they would do such a thing, if they had killed him, his only retort was that it was obvious I was not conversant with the complex ramifications of native cunning.