COMING NEXT MONTH
SANDERSON'S big brown hands fumbled as he tugged and strained at the flooring. He felt suddenly hot and weak. There was a flurry in his brain. Still on his knees, he gathered up his tools.
He rattled and banged things about, trying to shut out other sounds . . . sounds on the stairs. . . .
The breath seemed to stop in his big body.
Creak. Creak. Creak.
It was someone cautiously stealing downstairs.
Crack!
He knew that sound. It was the broken step, third from the bottom. He tried to call out. It must be that damned oaf, Walter! The fool must have gone to sleep up there.
His hunted eyes sought the window. Power to move, to jump for it, had left him. He knelt there, powerful shoulders hunched, hands on the floor for support, crouched like a big frightened animal. He fought to prevent himself looking over his shoulder at the door behind him. He knew it was opening. He heard stealthy fingers on the old loose knob. He heard the harsh scrape of wood on wood as the sagging door was pushed back.
Ice-cold wind blew in, rustled bits of paper and shavings on the floor.
Sanderson's head jerked back to look. The door stood widely open. His eyes, filmed with terror, focussed achingly on the gap between door and wall. Darkness moved there. A Thing of Darkness. On the threshold it bulked in shapeless moving menace. Darkness made visible . . . blotting out everything . . . blotting out life itself. . . .
You will not want to miss this compelling novelette, which will hold your fascinated interest to the last word. It is the story of a Thing—a Thing of horror and darkness—a destroying ravening Thing that brought death to Troon House. It will be printed complete in next month's Weird Tales:
WORLD OF THE DARK DWELLERS
A thrilling weird-scientific tale of a distant world and the dreadful creatures that tyrannized over its human subjects—a story of the heroic Brotherhood of the Redeemer.
THE MANDARIN'S EAR
By Frank Owen
An odd and curious story about a Chinese mandarin who had the ear of a thief grafted in place of the ear he had lost.
THE WILL OF THE DEAD
The story of a hate that was strong enough to strike back from the grave—an unusual weird tale of a mother's malign resentment of her son's wife.
THE ABYSS UNDER THE WORLD
An amazing tale about three men who were precipitated into a series of adventures as astounding as any that ever befell mortal men.
August Issue WEIRD TALES . . . . Out July 1
