Tanith's heart. She had been dwelling upon Rex's face as she crossed
the plain, and all the health-giving freshness of his gay clean
modernity, but now she was drawn back into another world; the one of
which she had thought so long, in which a very few chosen people
could perform the seemingly impossible -bend others to their
will-cause them to fall or rise-place unaccountable obstacles in
their path at every turn, or smooth their way to a glorious success.
That was more than riches, more than fame; the supreme pinnacle to
which any man or woman could rise, and all her longing to reach
those heights before she died came back to her. Rex was a pleasant,
stupid child; De Richleau a meddlesome fool, who did not understand
the danger of the things with which he was trying to interfere.
Mocata was a Prince in power and knowledge. She should be
unutterably grateful that he had considered her worthy of the honour
which she was about to receive.
'It is not far, dearie. Not so far as you have thought. The great
Festival does not take place in the house at Chilbury. That was only
a meeting place, and the Sabbat is to be held upon these downs only
a few miles from here. Come with me, and you shall receive the
knowledge and the power that you seek.'
A curtain of forgetfuiness seemed to be falling over Tanith's
mind-a feeling of intoxication-mental and physical, flooded through
her. She felt her eyes closing . . . closing ... as she muttered:
'Yes. Knowledge and Power. Hurry, Mizka! Hurry, or we shall be too
late,'
All her previous hesitations had now been blotted out, and
although they were walking over coarse grass, it seemed to her that
they trod a smooth and even way. Her mind was obsessed again with
the sole thought of reaching the Sabbat in time.
'That is my own beautiful one talking now,' crooned the old
beldame in a honeyed voice. 'But have no fear, the night is young,
and we shall reach the meeting-place of the Covens before the hour
when our Master will appear.'
Tanith was holding herself stiffly as she walked. Her golden head
thrown back, her eyes dilated to an enormous size-the muscles at the
sides of her mouth twitched incessantly as the old woman's smooth
babble flowed on.
They crossed the road, although Tanith was hardly conscious of it
as, with Mizka beside her, she stepped out, a new strength surging
through her despite her long and tiring day. Then as she mounted an
earthy bank a dark and furry presence brushed against her legs, and
looking down she saw the golden eyes of a great black cat.
For a moment she was startled, but the old woman chuckled in the
darkness. 'It is only Nebiros,' she muttered. 'You have played with
him often as a child, dearie, and he is so pleased to see you now.'
The cat mewed with pleasure as Tanith stooped for a moment to
stroke its furry back. Then they hastened on again.
For hours it seemed they tramped over the grassy tussocks, up
gently-sloping hills and down again into lonesome valleys unbroken
by trees or cottages or farmsteads, ever on to the secret place
where the Satanists would be gathering now, until old Mizka, walking
at Tanith's left, suddenly pulled up-clutching at her arm with her
bony hand.
'Shut your eyes, dearie,' she hissed in a sharp whisper. 'Shut
your eyes. There is something here that it is not good for you to
see. I will guide you.'
Tanith did as she was bid mechanically, and although she could no
longer see the rough ground over which they were passing, she did
not stumble but continued to step forward evenly at a good pace. Yet
she had a feeling that she was no longer alone with the old woman,
but that a third person was now walking with them at her right hand.
Then, a low voice, bell-like and clear, sounded in her ears.
'Tanith, my darling. Look at me, I implore you.'
At the shock of hearing that well-loved voice, the curtain lifted
for a moment and Tanith opened her eyes again. To her right, she saw
the figure of her mother dressed in white as she had last seen her
before she had set out to some great party where she had died of a
sudden heart attack. Round her neck hung a rope of pearls, and her
head was adorned with a half-hoop of diamond stars. The figure shone
by some strange unnatural light in the surrounding darkness, seeming
as pure and translucent as carved crystal.
'My dear one,' the voice went on, 'my folly of encouraging your
gift of second sight has led you into terrible peril. I beg you by
all that is good and holy to draw back while there is yet time.'
Despite the urging hand which clawed upon her arm, Tanith
stumbled for the first time in the long grass and, wrenching her arm
away, stood still. In a flash of insight which seared through her
drugged brain, she knew then that old Mizka was not a living being,
but a Dark Angel sent to lead her to the Sabbat, and that her mother
had come at this moment from the world beyond as an Angel of Light
to draw her back again into the safety and protection of holy
things.
Mizka was babbling and crowing upon her left, urging her onward
with a terrible force and intensity. The words 'power' -'crowning
your life'-'mastery of all' came again and again in her rapid
speech, and Tanith moved a few steps forward. But her mother's
voice, imploring again, came clearly in her ears.
Tanith, my darling, I am only allowed to appear to you because of
your great danger, and for the briefest space. I am called back
already, but I beg you in the name of the love that we had for each
other, not to go. There is a better influence in your life. Trust in
it while there is still time, otherwise you will be dragged down
into the pit and we shall never meet again.' Suddenly the voice
changed, becoming cold and commanding, 'Back, Mizka-back whence you
came. I order you by the names of Isis, mother of Horus, Kwan-Yin,
mother of Hau-Ki, and Mary, mother of Our Lord.'
The voice ceased on a thin wall as though, all unwillingly, the
spirit had been drawn back while its abjuration to the demon was
only half completed. With a wild cry and arms outstretched, Tanith
dashed forward to the place where that nebulous moon-white being had
floated, but where the apparition of her mother had been a second
before, only a little breeze ruffled the long grasses. A feeling of
immense fatigue bowed her shoulders as she turned towards old Mizka
and the cat. But they too had vanished.
She sank upon her knees and began to pray, feverishly at first
and then less strongly, until her tongue tripped upon the words and
at last she fell silent. Almost unconsciously she rose to her feet
and found herself, the night wind playing gently in her hair,
standing upon a hilltop gazing down into a shallow
valley.
A new and terrible fear gripped at her heart, for she saw below
her, by the strange unearthly light of a ring of blue candles, the
Satanists gathering for their unholy ceremony, and knew that evil
powers had led her feet by devious paths to the place of the Great
Sabbat that she might participate after all.
She stood for a moment, the blood draining from her face, quick
tremors of horror and apprehension running down her body. She wanted
to turn and flee into the dark, protective shadows of the night, but
she could not tear her eyes away from that terrible figure seated
upon the rocky throne, before which the Satanists were making their
obscene obeisance. Some terrible uncanny power kept her feet rooted
to the spot, and although her mother's warning still rang in her
ears, she could not drag her gaze away from that blasphemous mockery
of God proceeding in a horrid silence a hundred yards down the slope
from where she stood.
Time ceased to exist for Tanith then. An unearthly chill seemed
to creep up out of the valley, swirling and eddying about her legs
as a cold current suddenly strikes a bather in a warm patch of sea.
The chill crept upward to the level of her breasts, numbing her
limbs and dulling her faculties until she could have cried out with
the pain. She watched the gruesome banquet with loathing and
repulsion, but as she saw those ghoul-like figures tilting the
bottles to their mouths she was suddenly beset by an appalling
desire to drink.
Although her limbs were cold, her mouth seemed parched; her
throat swollen and burning. She was seized with an unutterable
longing to rush forward, down the slope, and grab one of those
bottles with which to slake her all-consuming thirst. Yet she
remained rooted, held back by her higher consciousness; the vision
of her mother no longer before her physical eyes, but clear in her
mentality just as she had seen it, tall, slender and white-clad,
with a sparkling hoop of star-like diamonds glistening above the
hair drawn back from the high, broad forehead.
At the defamation of the Host, she was seized by a shuddering
rigor in all her limbs. She tried to shut her eyes but they remained
fixed and staring while silent tears welled from them and gushed
down her cheeks. She endeavoured to cross herself, but her hand,
numb with that awful cold, refused to do the bidding of her brain
and remained hanging limp and frozen at her side. She endeavoured to
pray, but her swollen tongue refused its office, and her mind seemed
to have gone utterly blank so that she could not recall even the
opening words of the Paternoster or Ave Maria. She knew with a
sudden appalling clarity that having even been the witness of this
blasphemous sacrilege was enough to damn her for all eternity, and
that her own wish to attend this devilish saturnalia had been
engendered only by a stark madness caught like some terrible
contagious disease from her association with these other unnatural
beings who were the victims of a ghastly lunacy;
In vain she attempted to cast herself upon her knees, to struggle
back from this horror, but she seemed to be caught in an invisible
vice and could not lift her glance for one single second from that
small lighted circle which stood out so clearly in the surrounding
darkness of the mysterious valley.
She saw the Satanists strip off their dominoes and shuddered
afresh-almost retching-as she watched them tumbling upon each other
in the disgusting nudity of their ritual dance. Old Madame D'Urfe,
huge-buttocked and swollen, prancing by some satanic power with all
the vigour of a young girl who had only just reached maturity; the
Babu, dark-skinned, fleshy, hideous; the American woman, scraggy,
lean-flanked and hag-like with empty, hanging breasts; the Eurasian,
waving the severed stump of his arm in the air as he gavotted beside
the unwieldy figure of the Irish bard, whose paunch stood out like
the grotesque belly of a Chinese god.
'They are mad, mad, mad,' she found herself saying over and over
again, as she rocked to and fro where she stood, weeping bitterly,
beating her hands together and her teeth chattering in the icy wind.
The dance ceased on a high wail of those discordant instruments
and then the whole of that ghastly ghoul-like crew sank down
together in a tangled heap before the Satanic throne. Tanith
wondered for a second what was about to happen next, even as she
made a fresh effort to drag herself away. Then Simon was led out
from among the rest and she knew all too soon that the time of
baptism was at hand. As she realised it, a new menace came upon her.
Without her own volition, her feet began to move.
In a panic of fear she found herself setting one before the other
and advancing slowly down the hill. She tried to scream, but her
voice would not come. She tried to throw herself backward, but her
body was held rigid, and an irresistible suction dragged at each of
her feet in turn, lifting it a few inches from the ground and
pulling it forward, so that, despite her uttermost effort of will to
resist the evil force, she was being drawn slowly but surely to
receive her own baptism.
The weird unearthly music had ceased. An utter silence filled the
valley. She was no more than ten yards from the nearest of those
debased creatures who hovered gibbering about the throne. Suddenly
she whimpered with fright for although she was still hidden by the
darkness, the great horned head of the Goat turned and its fiery
eyes became fixed upon her.
She knew then that there was no escape. The warnings from Rex and
her mother had come too late. Those powers which she had sought to
suborne now held her in their grip and she must submit to this
loathsome ritual despite the shrinking of her body and her soul,
with all the added horror of full knowledge that it meant final and
utter condemnation to the bottomless pit.
18
The Power of Light
At the sight of De Richleau's breakdown Rex almost gave in too.
The cold sweat of terror had broken out on his own forehead, yet he
was still fighting down his fear and, after a moment, the collapse
of that indomitable leader to whom he had looked so often and with
such certain faith in the worst emergencies brought him a new
feeling of responsibility. His generous nature was great enough to
realise that the Duke's courage had only proved less than his own on
this occasion because of his greater understanding of the peril they
were called upon to face. Now, it was as though the elder man had
been wounded and put out of action, so Rex felt that it was up to
him to take command.
'We can't Jet this thing be,' he said with sudden firmness,
stooping to place an arm round De Richleau's shaking shoulders. 'You
stay here. I'm going down to face the music.'
'No-no, Rex.' The Duke grabbed at his coat. 'They'll murder you
without a second thought.'
'Will they? We'll see!' Rex gave a grating laugh. 'Well, if they
do you'll have something you can fix on them that the police will
understand. It'll be some consolation to think you'll see to it that
these devils swing for my murder if they do me in.'
'Wait I I won't let you go alone,' the Duke stumbled to his feet.
'Don't you realise that death is the least thing I fear. One look
from die eyes of the Goat could send you mad-then where is the case
to put before the police? Half the people in our asylums may be
suffering from a physical lesion of the brain but the others are
unaccountably insane. The real reason is demoniac possession brought
about by looking upon terrible things that they were never meant to
see.'
'I'll risk it.' Rex was desperate now. He held up the crucifix.
This is going to protect me, because I've got faith that it will.'
'All right then-but even madness isn't the worst that can happen
to us. This life is nothing-I'm thinking of the next. Oh, God, if
only dawn would come or we had some form of Light that we could
bring to bear on these worshippers of Darkness.'
Rex took a pace forward. 'If we'd known what we were going to be
up against we'd have brought a searchlight on a truck. That would
have given this bunch something to think about if light has the
power you say. But it's no good worrying about that now. We've got
to hurry.'
'No-wait!' the Duke exclaimed with sudden excitement. 'I've got
it. This way-quick!' He turned and set off up the hill at a swift
crouching run.
Rex followed, and when they reached the brow easily overtook him.
'What's the idea,' he cried, using his normal voice for the first
time for hours.
'The car!' De Richleau panted, as he pelted over the rough grass
to the place where they had left the Hispano. To attack them is a
ghastly risk in any case, but this will give us a sporting chance.'
Rex reached it first and flung open the door. The Duke tumbled in
and got the engine going. It purred on a low note as they bumped
forward in the darkness to the brow of the hill.
'Out on the running-board, Rex,' snapped De Richleau as he thrust
out the clutch. He seemed in those few moments to have recovered all
his old steel-like indomitable purpose. 'It's a madman's chance
because it's ten to one we'll get stuck going up the hill on the
other side, but we must risk that. When I use the engine again, snap
on the lights. As we go past, throw your crucifix straight at the
thing on the throne. Then try and grab Simon by the neck.'
'Fine!' Rex laughed suddenly, all his tension gone now that he
was at last going into action. 'Go to it!'
The car slid forward, silently gathering momentum as it rushed
down the steep slope. Next second they were almost upon the nearest
of the Satanists. The Duke let in the clutch and Rex switched on the
powerful headlights of the Hispano.
With the suddenness of a thunderclap a shattering roar burst upon
the silence of the valley-as though some monster plane was diving
full upon that loathsome company from the cloudy sky. At the same
instant, the whole scene was lit in all its ghast-liness by a
blinding glare which swept towards them at terrifying speed. The
great car bounded forward, the dazzling beams threw into sharp
relief the naked forms gathered in the hollow. De Richleau jammed
his foot down on the accelerator and, calling with all his will upon
the higher powers for their protection, charged straight for the
Goat of Mendes upon his Satanic throne.
At the first flash of those blinding lights which struck full
upon them, the Satanists rushed screaming for cover. It was as
though two giant eyes of some nightmare monster leapt at them from
the surrounding darkness and the effect was as that of a fire-hose
turned suddenly upon an angry threatening mob.
Then- maniacal exaltation died away. The false exhilaration of
the alcohol, the pungent herbal incense and the drug-laden ointments
which they had smeared upon their bodies, drained from them. They
woke as from an intoxicated nightmare to the realisation of their
nakedness and helplessness.
For a moment some of them thought that the end had come and that
the Power of Darkness had cashed in their bond, claiming them for
its own upon this last Walpurgis-Nacht. Others, less deeply imbued
with the mysteries of the Evil cult, forgot the terrible entity
whose powers they had come to beg in return for their homage and,
reverting to their normal thoughts, saw themselves caught and ruined
in some ghastly scandal, believing those blinding shafts of light
from the great Hispano to herald the coming of the police.
As the grotesque nude figures scattered with shrieks of terror
the car bounded from ridge to ridge heading straight for the
monstrous Goat. When the lights fell upon it Rex feared for an
instant that the malefic rays which streamed from its baleful eyes
would overcome the headlights of the car. The lamps flickered and
dimmed, but as the Duke clung to the wheel he was concentrating with
all the power of his mind upon visualising the horseshoe surmounted
by a cross in silver light just above the centre of his forehead,
setting the symbol in his aura and, at the same time, repeating the
lines of the Ninety-first Psalm which is immensely powerful against
all evil manifestations.
' "Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High: shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say unto the Lord, Thou are my hope, and my stronghold:
my God, in Him will I trust.
For He shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter: and from
the noisome pestilence." '
From the time Rex switched on the headlights, it was only a
matter of seconds before the big car hurtled forward like a living
thing right on to the ground where the Sabbat was being held.
Rex, clinging to the coachwork, and also visualising that symbol
which De Richleau had impressed so strongly upon him, leaned from
the step of the car and, with all his force, threw the ivory
crucifix straight in the terrible face of the monstrous beast.
The Duke swerved the car to avoid the throne and Simon who, alone
of all the Satanists, remained standing but apparently utterly
unconscious of what was happening.
The blue flames of the black candles set upon the hellish altar
went out as though quenched by some invisible hand. The lights of
the car regained their full brilliance, and once again they heard
the terrible screaming neigh which seemed to echo over the desolate
Plain for miles around as the crucifix, shining white in the glow of
the headlights, passed through the face of the Goat.
A horrible stench of burning flesh mingled with the choking odour
from the sulphur candles, filled the air like some poisonous gas,
but there was no time to think or analyse sensations. After that
piercing screech, the brute upon the rocks disappeared. At the same
instant Rex grabbed Simon by the neck and hauled him bodily on to
the step of the car as it charged the farther slope of the hollow. '
Jolting and bouncing it breasted the rise, hesitating for the
fraction of a second upon the brink as though some awful power was
striving to draw it backwards. But the Duke threw the gear lever
into low, and they lurched forward again on to level ground,
Rex, meanwhile, had flung open the door at the back and dragged
Simon inside where he collapsed on the floor in a senseless heap.
Instinctively, although De Richleau had warned him not to do so, he
glanced out of the back window down into the valley where they had
witnessed such terrible things, but it lay dark, silent, and
seemingly deserted.
The car was travelling now at a better pace, although De Richleau
did not dare to use the full power of his engine for fear that they
should strike a sudden dip or turn over in some hidden gully.
For a mile they raced north-eastward while, without ceasing, the
Duke muttered to himself those protective lines:
' "He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shall be safe
under his feathers: his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield
and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night: nor for the
arrow that flieth by day;
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the sickness
that destroyeth in the noon-day."'
Then to his joy, they struck a track at right-angles, and he
turned along it to the north-westward, slipping into top gear. The
car bounded forward and seemed to fly as though in truth all the
devils of Hell were unleashed behind it in pursuit. Swerving,
jolting, and bounding across the grassy ruts, they covered five
miles in twice as many minutes until they came upon the Lavington-
Westbury road.
Even then De Richleau would not slow down but, turning in the
direction of London, roared on, swerving from bend to bend with
utter disregard for danger in his fear of the greater danger that
lay behind.
They flashed through Earlstoke, Market Lavington and then
Easterton, where, unseen by them, the Blue Rolls lay just off the
road in a ditch where Tanith had crashed it a few hours before; then
Bushall, Upavon, Ludgershall and so to Andover, having practically
completed a circuit of the Plain. Here at last, at the entrance of
the town, the Duke brought the car to a halt and turned in his seat
to look at Rex,
'How is he?' he asked.
'About all-in I reckon. He is as cold as blazes, and he hasn't
fluttered an eyelid since I hauled him into the car. My God I what a
ghastly business.'
'Grim, wasn't it!' De Richleau for once was looking more than his
age. His grey face was lined and heavy pouches seemed to have
developed beneath his piercing eyes. His shoulders were hunched as
he leaned for a moment apparently exhausted over the wheel. Then he
pulled himself together with a jerk and thrusting his hand in his
pocket, took out a flask which he passed to Rex.
'Give him some of this-as much as you can get him to swallow. It
may help to pull him round.'
Rex turned to where Simon lay hunched up beneath the car rugs on
the back seat beside him and forcing open his mouth poured a good
portion of the old brandy into it.
Simon choked suddenly, gasped, and jerked up his head. His eyes
flickered open and he stared at Rex, but there was no recognition in
them. Then his lids closed again and his head fell backwards on the
seat.
'Well, he's alive, thank God,' murmured Rex. 'While you've been
driving like a maniac I've been scared that we had lost poor Simon
for good and all. But now we'd best get him back to London or to the
nearest doctor just as soon as we can.'
'I daren't.' De Richleau's eyes were full of a desperate anxiety.
That devilish mob will have recovered themselves and are probably
back at the house near Chilbury by now. They will be plotting
something against us you may be certain.'
'You mean that as Mocata knows your flat he will concentrate on
it to get Simon back-just as he did before?' 'Worse, I doubt if
they'd ever let us reach it.' 'Oh, shucks!' Rex frowned impatiently,
'How're they going to stop us?'
'They can control all the meaner things-bats, snakes, rats,
foxes, owls-as well as cats and certain breeds of dog like the
Wolfhound and Alsatian. If one of those dashed beneath the wheels of
the car when we were going at any speed it might turn over. Besides,
within certain limits, they can control the elements, so they could
ensure a dense local fog surrounding us the whole way, and every
mile of it we'd be facing the risk of another car that hadn't seen
our lights smashing into us head on at full speed. If they combine
the whole of their strength for ill it's a certainty they'll be able
to bring about some terrible accident before we can cover the
seventy miles to London. Remember too, this is still Walpurgis-Nacht
and every force of evil that is abroad will be leagued against us.
For every moment until dawn we three remain in the direst peril.'
19
The Ancient Sanctuary
'Well, we can't stay here,' Rex protested.
'I know, and we've got to find some sanctuary where we can keep
Simon safe until morning.'
'How about a church?'
'Yes, if we could find one that is open. But they will all be
locked up at this hour.'
'Couldn't we get some local parson out of bed?'
'If I knew one anywhere near here I'd chance it, but how can we
possibly expect a stranger to believe the story that we should have
to tell? He would think us madmen, or probably that it was a plot to
rob his church. But wait a moment! By Jove, I've got it! We'll take
him to the oldest cathedral in Britain and one that is open to the
skies.' With a sudden chuckle of relief, De Richleau set the car in
motion again and began to reverse it.
'Surely you're not going back?' Rex asked anxiously.
'Only three miles to the fork-roads at Weyhill, then down to
Amesbury.'
'Well, don't you call that going back?'
'Perhaps, but I mean to take him to Stonehenge. If we can reach
it, we shall be in safety, even though it is no more than a dozen
miles from Chilbury.'
Once more the car rocketed along the road across those grassy,
barren slopes, cleaving the silent darkness of the night with its
great arced headlights.
Twenty minutes later they passed again through the twisting
streets of Amesbury, now silent and shuttered while its inhabitants
slept, not even dreaming of the terrible battle which was being
fought out that night between the Power of Light and the Power of
Darkness, so near to them in actuality and yet so remote to the
teeming life of everyday modern England.
A mile outside the town, they ran up the slope to the wire fence
which rings in the Neolithic monument, Stonehenge. The Duke drove
the car into the deserted car park beside the road and there they
left it. Rex carried Simon, wrapped in De Richleau's great-coat and
the car rug, while the Duke followed him through the wire with the
suitcase containing his protective impedimenta.
As they staggered over the grass, the vast monoliths of the
ancient place of worship stood out against the skyline-the timeless
symbols of a forgotten cult that ruled Britain, before the Romans
came to bring more decorative and more human gods.
They passed the outer circle of great stone uprights upon some of
which the lintels forming them into a ring of arches still remain.
Then De Richleau led the way between the mighty chunks of fallen
masonry to where, beside the two great trili-thons, the sandstone
altar slab lies half buried beneath the remnants of the central
arch.
At a gesture from the Duke, Rex laid Simon, still unconscious,
upon it. Then he looked up doubtfully. 'I suppose you know what
you're doing, but I've always heard that the Druids, who built this
place, were a pretty grim lot. Didn't they sacrifice virgins on this
stone and practise all sorts of pagan rites? I should have thought
this place would be more sacred to the Power of Evil than the Power
of Good.'
'Don't worry, Rex,' De Richleau smiled in the darkness. 'It is
true that the Druids performed sacrifices, but they were sun-
worshippers. At the summer solstice, the sun rises over the hilltop
there, shedding its first beam of light directly through the arch on
to this altar stone. This place is one of the most hallowed spots in
all Europe because countless thousands of long-dead men and women
have worshipped here-calling upon the Power of Light to protect them
from the evil things that go in darkness-and the vibrations of their
souls are about us now making a sure buttress and protection until
the coming of the dawn.'
With gentle hands, they set about a more careful examination of
Simon. His body was still terribly cold but they found that, except
for where Rex had clawed at his neck, he had suffered no physical
injury.
'What do you figure to do now?' Rex asked as the Duke opened his
suitcasej
'Exorcise him in due form, in order to try and drive out any evil
spirit by which he may be possessed.'
'Like the Roman Catholic priests used to do in the Middle Ages.'
'As they still do,' De Richleau answered soberly,
'What-in these days?'
'Yes. Don't you remember the case of Helene Poirier who died only
in 1914. She suffered from such terrible demoniacal possession that
many of the most learned priests in France, including Monsiegneur
Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, and Monsieur Mallet, Superior of the
Grand Seminary, had to be called in before, with God's grace, she
could be freed from the evil spirit which controlled her.'
'I didn't think the Church admitted the existence of such things
as witchcraft and black magic.'
'Then you are very ignorant, my friend. I do not know the
official views of others, but the Roman Church, whose authority
comes unbroken over nineteen centuries from the time when Our Lord
made St. Peter his viceregent on earth, has ever admitted the
existence of the evil power. Why else should they have issued so
many ordinances against it, or at the present time so unhesitatingly
condemn all spiritualistic practices which they regard as the modern
counterparts of necromancy, by which Hell's emissaries seek to lure
weak, foolish and trusting people into their net?'
'I can't agree to that,' Rex demurred. 'I know a number of
Spiritualists, men and women of the utmost rectitude.'
'Perhaps.' De Richleau was arranging Simon's limp body. They are
entitled to their opinion and he who thinks rightly lives rightly.
No doubt their high principles act as a protective barrier between
them and the more dangerous entities of the spirit world. However,
for the weak-minded and mentally frail such practices hold the
gravest peril. Look at that Bavarian family of eleven people, all of
whom went out of their minds after a Spiritualistic seance in 1921.
The case was fully reported by the Press at the time and I could
give you a dozen similar examples, all attributable to Diabolic
possession, of course. In fact, according to the Roman Church, there
is no phenomenon of modem Spiritism which cannot be paralleled in
the records of old witch trials.'
'According to them, maybe, but Simon's not a Catholic.'
'No matter, there is nothing to prevent a member of the Roman
Church asking Divine aid for any man whatever his race or creed.
Fortunately I was baptised a Catholic and, although I may not be a
good one, I believe that with the grace of God, power will be
granted to me this night to help our poor friend.
'Kneel down now and pray silently, for all prayers are good if
the heart is earnest and perhaps those of the Church of England more
efficacious than others since we are now in the English countryside.
It is for that reason I recite certain psalms from the book of
Common Prayer. But be ready to hold him if he leaps up for, if he is
possessed, the Demon within him will fight like a maniac.'
De Richleau took up the holy water and sprinkled a few drops on
Simon's forehead. They remained there a moment and then trickled
slowly down his drawn, furrowed face. But he remained corpse-like
and still.
'May the Lord be praised,' murmured the Duke.
'What is it?' breathed Rex.
'He is not actually possessed. If he were the holy water would
have scalded him like boiling oil, and at its touch the Demon would
have screamed like a hell cat.'
'What now then?'
'He still reeks of evil so I must employ the banishing ritual to
purge the atmosphere about him and do all things possible to protect
him from Mocata's influence. Then we will see if this coma shows any
signs of lifting.'
The Duke produced a crutch of Rowan wood then proceeded to
certain curious and complicated rites; consisting largely in
stroking Simon's limbs with a brushing motion towards the feet; the
repetition of many Latin formulas with long intervals in which, led
by the Duke, the two men knelt to pray beside their friend.
Simon was anointed with holy water and with holy oil. The gesture
of Horus was made to the north, to the south, to the east and to the
west. The palms of his hands were sprinkled and the soles of his
feet. Asafoetida grass was tied round his wrists and his ankles. An
orb with the cross upon it was placed in his right hand, and a phial
of quicksilver between his lips. A chain of garlic flowers was hung
about his neck, and the sacred oil placed in a cross upon his
forehead. Each action upon him was preceded by prayer, concentration
of thought, and invocation to the archangels, the high beings of
Light, and to his own higher consciousness.
At last, after an hour, all had been accomplished in accordance
with the ancient lore and De Richleau examined Simon again. He was
warmer now and the ugly lines of distress and terror had faded from
his face. He seemed to have passed out of his dead faint into a
natural sleep and was breathing regularly.
'I think that with God's help we have saved him,' declared the
Duke. 'He looks almost normal now, but we had best wait until he
wakes of his own accord; I can do no more, so we will rest for a
little.'
Rex passed his hand across his eyes as De Richleau sank down
beside him. 'I'll say I need it. Would it be . . . er . .
sacrilegious or anything if I had a smoke?'
'Of course not.' De Richleau drew out his cigars. 'Have a Hoyo.
It is thoughts, not formalities, which make an atmosphere of good or
evil.'
For a little while the two friends sat silent, the points of
their cigars glowing faintly in the darkness until a pale greyness
in the eastern sky made clearer the ghostly outlines of the great
oblong stones towering at varying angles to twenty feet about their
heads.
'What a strange place this is,' Rex murmured. 'How old do you
suppose it to be?'
'About four thousand years.'
'As old as that, eh?'
'Yes, but that is young compared with the Pyramids and, beside
them, for architecture and scientific alignment, this thing is a
primitive toy.'
'Those ancient Britons must have been a whole heap cleverer than
we give them credit for all the same, to get these great blocks of
stone set up. It would tax all the resources of our modern
engineers, I reckon. Some of them must weigh a hundred tons apiece.'
De Richleau nodded. 'Only the piety of many thousand willing
hands, hauling on skin ropes, and manipulating vast levers, could
have accomplished it, but what is even more remarkable is that the
foreign stones were transported from a quarry nearly two hundred
miles from here.'
'What do you mean by "foreign stones"?'
The stones which form the inner ring and the inner horseshoe are
called so because they were brought from a great distance-a place in
Pembrokeshire, I think.'
'Horseshoe,' Rex repeated with a puzzled look. 'I thought all the
stones were placed in rings.'
'It is hardly discernible in the ruins now, but originally this
great temple consisted of an outer ring formed of big arches, then a
concentric circle of smaller uprights. Inside that, five great
separate trilithons of arches, two of which you can see still
standing, set in the form of a horseshoe and then another horseshoe
of the smaller stones,'
The Druids used the horseshoe, too, then?'
'Certainly. As I have told you, it is a most potent symbol
indissolubly connected with the Power of Light. Hence my use of it
in connection with the swastika and the cross.'
They fell silent again for some time, then Simon stirred beside
them and they both stood up. He slowly turned over and looked about
him with duil eyes until he recognised his friends, and asked in a
stifled voice where he was.
Without answering, De Richleau drew him down between Rex and
himself on to his knees, and proceeded to give thanks for his
restoration. 'Repeat after me,' he said, 'the words of the fifty-
first Psalm.
' "Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according
to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my
sin,
For I acknowledge my faults and my sin is ever before me." '
To the end of the beautiful penitent appeal the Duke read in a
solemn voice from the Prayer Book by the aid of a little torch while
the others repeated verse by verse after him. Then all three stood
up and began at last to talk in their normal voices.
De Richleau explained what had taken place, and Simon sat upon
the altar-stone weeping like a child as now, with a clear brain, he
began at last to understand the terrible peril from which his
friends had rescued him.
He remembered the party which had been given at his house and
that the Duke had hypnotised him in Curzon Street. After
that-nothing, until he found himself present in the Sabbat which had
been held that night, and even then he could only see vague pictures
of it, as though he had not participated in it himself, but watched
the whole of the ghastly proceedings from a distance; horrified to
the last degree to see a figure that seemed to be himself taking
part in those abominable ceremonies, yet mentally chained and
powerless to intervene or stop that body, so curiously like his own,
participating in that godless scene of debauchery.
Dawn was now breaking in the eastern sky. as De Richleau placed
his arm affectionately round Simon's shoulders. 'Don't take it to
heart so, my friend,' he said kindly. 'For the moment at least you
have been spared, and praise be to God you are still sane, which is
more than I dared to hope for when we got you here.'
Simon nodded. 'I know-I've been lucky,' he said soberly. 'But am
I really free-for good? I'm afraid Mocata will try and get me back
somehow.'
'Now we're together again you needn't worry,' Rex grinned. 'If
the three of us can't fight this horror and win out we're not the
men I always thought we were.'
'Yes,' Simon agreed, a little doubtfully. 'But the trouble is
that I was born at a time when certain stars were in conjunction, so
in a way I'm the key to a ritual which Mocata's set his heart on
performing.'
The invocation to Saturn coupled with Mars,' the Duke put in.
'I'm scared he'll exercise every incantation in the book to drag
me back to him despite myself,'
'Isn't that danger over? Surely it should have been done two
nights ago, but we managed to prevent it then.'
'Ner,' Simon used his favourite negative with a little wriggle of
his bird-like head. 'That would have been the most suitable time of
all, but the ritual can be performed with a reasonable prospect of
success any night while the two planets remain in the same house of
the Zodiac.'
'Then the longer we can keep you out of Mocata's clutches, the
less chance he stands of pulling it off as the two planets get
farther apart,' Rex commented.
De Richleau sighed. His face looked grey and haggard in the early
morning light. 'In that case,' he said slowly, 'Mocata will exert
his whole strength when twilight comes again, and we shall have to
fight with our backs to the wall throughout this coming night.'
20
The Four Horsemen
Now that the sun was up Rex's resilient spirit reasserted itself.
'Time enough to worry about tonight when we are through today,' he
declared cheerfully. 'What we need most just now is a good hot
breakfast.'
The Duke smiled. 'I thoroughly agree, and in any case we can't
stay here much longer. While we feed we'll discuss the safest place
to which we can take Simon.'
'We can't take him anywhere at the moment,' Rex grinned. 'Not as
he is-with only the car rug and your great-coat to cover his
birthday suit.'
Simon tittered into his hand. It was the gesture which both his
friends knew so well, and which it delighted them to see again. 'I
must look pretty comic as I am,' he chuckled. 'And it's chilly too.
One of you had better try and raise me a suit of clothes.'
'You take the car, Rex,' said the Duke, 'and drive into Ames-
bury. Knock up the first clothes dealer you can find and buy him an
outfit. Have you enough money?'
'Plenty. I was going down to Derby yesterday for the first Spring
Race Meeting if this business hadn't cropped up overnight. So I'd
drawn fifty the day before.'
'Good,' the Duke nodded. 'We shan't move from here until you
return.' Then, as Rex strode away across the grass to the Hispano,
which was now visible where they had left it in the car-park, he
turned to Simon:
'Tell me,' he said, 'while Rex is gone. How did you ever get
drawn into this terrible business?'
Simon smiled. 'Well,' he said hesitantly, 'it may seem a queer
thing to say, but you are partly responsible yourself.'
'I!' exclaimed the Duke. 'What the deuce do you mean?'
'I'm not blaming you, of course, in the least, but do you
remember that long chat we had when we were both down at Cardinals
Folly for Christmas? It started by your telling us about the old
Alchemists and how they used to make gold out of base metals.'
De Richleau nodded. 'Yes, and you threw doubt upon my statement
that the feat had actually been performed. I cited the case of the
scientist Helvetius, I remember, who was bitterly opposed to the
pretentions of the Alchemists, but who, when he was visited by one
at the Hague in December, 1666, managed to secrete a little of the
reddish powder which the man showed him under his finger-nail, and
afterwards succeeded in transmuting a small amount of lead into gold
with it. But you would not believe me, although I assured you, that
no less a person than Sponoza verified the experiment at the time.'
'That's right,' said Simon. 'Well, I was sceptical but
interested, so I took the trouble to check up as far as possible on
all you'd said. It was Spinoza's testimony that impressed
me because he was so very sane and unbiased.'
'So was Helvetius himself for that matter.'
'I know. Anyhow, I dug up the fact that Povelius, the chief
tester of the Dutch Mint, assayed the metal seven times with all the
leading goldsmiths at the Hague and they unanimously pronounced it
to be pure gold. Of course there was a possibility that Helvetius
deceived them by submitting a piece of gold obtained through the
ordinary channels, but it hardly seemed likely that he practised
deliberate fraud, because he had no motive. He had always declared
his disbelief in alchemy and he couldn't make any more because he
hadn't got the powder -so there was no question of his trying to
float a bogus company on the experiment. He couldn't even claim any
scientific kudos from it either because he frankly admitted that he
had stolen the powder from the stranger who showed it to him. After
that I went into the experiment of Berigord de Pisa and Van
Helmont.'
'And what did you think of those?' asked the Duke, his lined face
showing quick interest in the early morning light.
'They shook my unbelief a lot. Van Helmont was the greatest
chemist of his time, and like Helvetius, he'd always said the idea
of transmitting base metals into gold was sheer nonsense until a
the plain, and all the health-giving freshness of his gay clean
modernity, but now she was drawn back into another world; the one of
which she had thought so long, in which a very few chosen people
could perform the seemingly impossible -bend others to their
will-cause them to fall or rise-place unaccountable obstacles in
their path at every turn, or smooth their way to a glorious success.
That was more than riches, more than fame; the supreme pinnacle to
which any man or woman could rise, and all her longing to reach
those heights before she died came back to her. Rex was a pleasant,
stupid child; De Richleau a meddlesome fool, who did not understand
the danger of the things with which he was trying to interfere.
Mocata was a Prince in power and knowledge. She should be
unutterably grateful that he had considered her worthy of the honour
which she was about to receive.
'It is not far, dearie. Not so far as you have thought. The great
Festival does not take place in the house at Chilbury. That was only
a meeting place, and the Sabbat is to be held upon these downs only
a few miles from here. Come with me, and you shall receive the
knowledge and the power that you seek.'
A curtain of forgetfuiness seemed to be falling over Tanith's
mind-a feeling of intoxication-mental and physical, flooded through
her. She felt her eyes closing . . . closing ... as she muttered:
'Yes. Knowledge and Power. Hurry, Mizka! Hurry, or we shall be too
late,'
All her previous hesitations had now been blotted out, and
although they were walking over coarse grass, it seemed to her that
they trod a smooth and even way. Her mind was obsessed again with
the sole thought of reaching the Sabbat in time.
'That is my own beautiful one talking now,' crooned the old
beldame in a honeyed voice. 'But have no fear, the night is young,
and we shall reach the meeting-place of the Covens before the hour
when our Master will appear.'
Tanith was holding herself stiffly as she walked. Her golden head
thrown back, her eyes dilated to an enormous size-the muscles at the
sides of her mouth twitched incessantly as the old woman's smooth
babble flowed on.
They crossed the road, although Tanith was hardly conscious of it
as, with Mizka beside her, she stepped out, a new strength surging
through her despite her long and tiring day. Then as she mounted an
earthy bank a dark and furry presence brushed against her legs, and
looking down she saw the golden eyes of a great black cat.
For a moment she was startled, but the old woman chuckled in the
darkness. 'It is only Nebiros,' she muttered. 'You have played with
him often as a child, dearie, and he is so pleased to see you now.'
The cat mewed with pleasure as Tanith stooped for a moment to
stroke its furry back. Then they hastened on again.
For hours it seemed they tramped over the grassy tussocks, up
gently-sloping hills and down again into lonesome valleys unbroken
by trees or cottages or farmsteads, ever on to the secret place
where the Satanists would be gathering now, until old Mizka, walking
at Tanith's left, suddenly pulled up-clutching at her arm with her
bony hand.
'Shut your eyes, dearie,' she hissed in a sharp whisper. 'Shut
your eyes. There is something here that it is not good for you to
see. I will guide you.'
Tanith did as she was bid mechanically, and although she could no
longer see the rough ground over which they were passing, she did
not stumble but continued to step forward evenly at a good pace. Yet
she had a feeling that she was no longer alone with the old woman,
but that a third person was now walking with them at her right hand.
Then, a low voice, bell-like and clear, sounded in her ears.
'Tanith, my darling. Look at me, I implore you.'
At the shock of hearing that well-loved voice, the curtain lifted
for a moment and Tanith opened her eyes again. To her right, she saw
the figure of her mother dressed in white as she had last seen her
before she had set out to some great party where she had died of a
sudden heart attack. Round her neck hung a rope of pearls, and her
head was adorned with a half-hoop of diamond stars. The figure shone
by some strange unnatural light in the surrounding darkness, seeming
as pure and translucent as carved crystal.
'My dear one,' the voice went on, 'my folly of encouraging your
gift of second sight has led you into terrible peril. I beg you by
all that is good and holy to draw back while there is yet time.'
Despite the urging hand which clawed upon her arm, Tanith
stumbled for the first time in the long grass and, wrenching her arm
away, stood still. In a flash of insight which seared through her
drugged brain, she knew then that old Mizka was not a living being,
but a Dark Angel sent to lead her to the Sabbat, and that her mother
had come at this moment from the world beyond as an Angel of Light
to draw her back again into the safety and protection of holy
things.
Mizka was babbling and crowing upon her left, urging her onward
with a terrible force and intensity. The words 'power' -'crowning
your life'-'mastery of all' came again and again in her rapid
speech, and Tanith moved a few steps forward. But her mother's
voice, imploring again, came clearly in her ears.
Tanith, my darling, I am only allowed to appear to you because of
your great danger, and for the briefest space. I am called back
already, but I beg you in the name of the love that we had for each
other, not to go. There is a better influence in your life. Trust in
it while there is still time, otherwise you will be dragged down
into the pit and we shall never meet again.' Suddenly the voice
changed, becoming cold and commanding, 'Back, Mizka-back whence you
came. I order you by the names of Isis, mother of Horus, Kwan-Yin,
mother of Hau-Ki, and Mary, mother of Our Lord.'
The voice ceased on a thin wall as though, all unwillingly, the
spirit had been drawn back while its abjuration to the demon was
only half completed. With a wild cry and arms outstretched, Tanith
dashed forward to the place where that nebulous moon-white being had
floated, but where the apparition of her mother had been a second
before, only a little breeze ruffled the long grasses. A feeling of
immense fatigue bowed her shoulders as she turned towards old Mizka
and the cat. But they too had vanished.
She sank upon her knees and began to pray, feverishly at first
and then less strongly, until her tongue tripped upon the words and
at last she fell silent. Almost unconsciously she rose to her feet
and found herself, the night wind playing gently in her hair,
standing upon a hilltop gazing down into a shallow
valley.
A new and terrible fear gripped at her heart, for she saw below
her, by the strange unearthly light of a ring of blue candles, the
Satanists gathering for their unholy ceremony, and knew that evil
powers had led her feet by devious paths to the place of the Great
Sabbat that she might participate after all.
She stood for a moment, the blood draining from her face, quick
tremors of horror and apprehension running down her body. She wanted
to turn and flee into the dark, protective shadows of the night, but
she could not tear her eyes away from that terrible figure seated
upon the rocky throne, before which the Satanists were making their
obscene obeisance. Some terrible uncanny power kept her feet rooted
to the spot, and although her mother's warning still rang in her
ears, she could not drag her gaze away from that blasphemous mockery
of God proceeding in a horrid silence a hundred yards down the slope
from where she stood.
Time ceased to exist for Tanith then. An unearthly chill seemed
to creep up out of the valley, swirling and eddying about her legs
as a cold current suddenly strikes a bather in a warm patch of sea.
The chill crept upward to the level of her breasts, numbing her
limbs and dulling her faculties until she could have cried out with
the pain. She watched the gruesome banquet with loathing and
repulsion, but as she saw those ghoul-like figures tilting the
bottles to their mouths she was suddenly beset by an appalling
desire to drink.
Although her limbs were cold, her mouth seemed parched; her
throat swollen and burning. She was seized with an unutterable
longing to rush forward, down the slope, and grab one of those
bottles with which to slake her all-consuming thirst. Yet she
remained rooted, held back by her higher consciousness; the vision
of her mother no longer before her physical eyes, but clear in her
mentality just as she had seen it, tall, slender and white-clad,
with a sparkling hoop of star-like diamonds glistening above the
hair drawn back from the high, broad forehead.
At the defamation of the Host, she was seized by a shuddering
rigor in all her limbs. She tried to shut her eyes but they remained
fixed and staring while silent tears welled from them and gushed
down her cheeks. She endeavoured to cross herself, but her hand,
numb with that awful cold, refused to do the bidding of her brain
and remained hanging limp and frozen at her side. She endeavoured to
pray, but her swollen tongue refused its office, and her mind seemed
to have gone utterly blank so that she could not recall even the
opening words of the Paternoster or Ave Maria. She knew with a
sudden appalling clarity that having even been the witness of this
blasphemous sacrilege was enough to damn her for all eternity, and
that her own wish to attend this devilish saturnalia had been
engendered only by a stark madness caught like some terrible
contagious disease from her association with these other unnatural
beings who were the victims of a ghastly lunacy;
In vain she attempted to cast herself upon her knees, to struggle
back from this horror, but she seemed to be caught in an invisible
vice and could not lift her glance for one single second from that
small lighted circle which stood out so clearly in the surrounding
darkness of the mysterious valley.
She saw the Satanists strip off their dominoes and shuddered
afresh-almost retching-as she watched them tumbling upon each other
in the disgusting nudity of their ritual dance. Old Madame D'Urfe,
huge-buttocked and swollen, prancing by some satanic power with all
the vigour of a young girl who had only just reached maturity; the
Babu, dark-skinned, fleshy, hideous; the American woman, scraggy,
lean-flanked and hag-like with empty, hanging breasts; the Eurasian,
waving the severed stump of his arm in the air as he gavotted beside
the unwieldy figure of the Irish bard, whose paunch stood out like
the grotesque belly of a Chinese god.
'They are mad, mad, mad,' she found herself saying over and over
again, as she rocked to and fro where she stood, weeping bitterly,
beating her hands together and her teeth chattering in the icy wind.
The dance ceased on a high wail of those discordant instruments
and then the whole of that ghastly ghoul-like crew sank down
together in a tangled heap before the Satanic throne. Tanith
wondered for a second what was about to happen next, even as she
made a fresh effort to drag herself away. Then Simon was led out
from among the rest and she knew all too soon that the time of
baptism was at hand. As she realised it, a new menace came upon her.
Without her own volition, her feet began to move.
In a panic of fear she found herself setting one before the other
and advancing slowly down the hill. She tried to scream, but her
voice would not come. She tried to throw herself backward, but her
body was held rigid, and an irresistible suction dragged at each of
her feet in turn, lifting it a few inches from the ground and
pulling it forward, so that, despite her uttermost effort of will to
resist the evil force, she was being drawn slowly but surely to
receive her own baptism.
The weird unearthly music had ceased. An utter silence filled the
valley. She was no more than ten yards from the nearest of those
debased creatures who hovered gibbering about the throne. Suddenly
she whimpered with fright for although she was still hidden by the
darkness, the great horned head of the Goat turned and its fiery
eyes became fixed upon her.
She knew then that there was no escape. The warnings from Rex and
her mother had come too late. Those powers which she had sought to
suborne now held her in their grip and she must submit to this
loathsome ritual despite the shrinking of her body and her soul,
with all the added horror of full knowledge that it meant final and
utter condemnation to the bottomless pit.
18
The Power of Light
At the sight of De Richleau's breakdown Rex almost gave in too.
The cold sweat of terror had broken out on his own forehead, yet he
was still fighting down his fear and, after a moment, the collapse
of that indomitable leader to whom he had looked so often and with
such certain faith in the worst emergencies brought him a new
feeling of responsibility. His generous nature was great enough to
realise that the Duke's courage had only proved less than his own on
this occasion because of his greater understanding of the peril they
were called upon to face. Now, it was as though the elder man had
been wounded and put out of action, so Rex felt that it was up to
him to take command.
'We can't Jet this thing be,' he said with sudden firmness,
stooping to place an arm round De Richleau's shaking shoulders. 'You
stay here. I'm going down to face the music.'
'No-no, Rex.' The Duke grabbed at his coat. 'They'll murder you
without a second thought.'
'Will they? We'll see!' Rex gave a grating laugh. 'Well, if they
do you'll have something you can fix on them that the police will
understand. It'll be some consolation to think you'll see to it that
these devils swing for my murder if they do me in.'
'Wait I I won't let you go alone,' the Duke stumbled to his feet.
'Don't you realise that death is the least thing I fear. One look
from die eyes of the Goat could send you mad-then where is the case
to put before the police? Half the people in our asylums may be
suffering from a physical lesion of the brain but the others are
unaccountably insane. The real reason is demoniac possession brought
about by looking upon terrible things that they were never meant to
see.'
'I'll risk it.' Rex was desperate now. He held up the crucifix.
This is going to protect me, because I've got faith that it will.'
'All right then-but even madness isn't the worst that can happen
to us. This life is nothing-I'm thinking of the next. Oh, God, if
only dawn would come or we had some form of Light that we could
bring to bear on these worshippers of Darkness.'
Rex took a pace forward. 'If we'd known what we were going to be
up against we'd have brought a searchlight on a truck. That would
have given this bunch something to think about if light has the
power you say. But it's no good worrying about that now. We've got
to hurry.'
'No-wait!' the Duke exclaimed with sudden excitement. 'I've got
it. This way-quick!' He turned and set off up the hill at a swift
crouching run.
Rex followed, and when they reached the brow easily overtook him.
'What's the idea,' he cried, using his normal voice for the first
time for hours.
'The car!' De Richleau panted, as he pelted over the rough grass
to the place where they had left the Hispano. To attack them is a
ghastly risk in any case, but this will give us a sporting chance.'
Rex reached it first and flung open the door. The Duke tumbled in
and got the engine going. It purred on a low note as they bumped
forward in the darkness to the brow of the hill.
'Out on the running-board, Rex,' snapped De Richleau as he thrust
out the clutch. He seemed in those few moments to have recovered all
his old steel-like indomitable purpose. 'It's a madman's chance
because it's ten to one we'll get stuck going up the hill on the
other side, but we must risk that. When I use the engine again, snap
on the lights. As we go past, throw your crucifix straight at the
thing on the throne. Then try and grab Simon by the neck.'
'Fine!' Rex laughed suddenly, all his tension gone now that he
was at last going into action. 'Go to it!'
The car slid forward, silently gathering momentum as it rushed
down the steep slope. Next second they were almost upon the nearest
of the Satanists. The Duke let in the clutch and Rex switched on the
powerful headlights of the Hispano.
With the suddenness of a thunderclap a shattering roar burst upon
the silence of the valley-as though some monster plane was diving
full upon that loathsome company from the cloudy sky. At the same
instant, the whole scene was lit in all its ghast-liness by a
blinding glare which swept towards them at terrifying speed. The
great car bounded forward, the dazzling beams threw into sharp
relief the naked forms gathered in the hollow. De Richleau jammed
his foot down on the accelerator and, calling with all his will upon
the higher powers for their protection, charged straight for the
Goat of Mendes upon his Satanic throne.
At the first flash of those blinding lights which struck full
upon them, the Satanists rushed screaming for cover. It was as
though two giant eyes of some nightmare monster leapt at them from
the surrounding darkness and the effect was as that of a fire-hose
turned suddenly upon an angry threatening mob.
Then- maniacal exaltation died away. The false exhilaration of
the alcohol, the pungent herbal incense and the drug-laden ointments
which they had smeared upon their bodies, drained from them. They
woke as from an intoxicated nightmare to the realisation of their
nakedness and helplessness.
For a moment some of them thought that the end had come and that
the Power of Darkness had cashed in their bond, claiming them for
its own upon this last Walpurgis-Nacht. Others, less deeply imbued
with the mysteries of the Evil cult, forgot the terrible entity
whose powers they had come to beg in return for their homage and,
reverting to their normal thoughts, saw themselves caught and ruined
in some ghastly scandal, believing those blinding shafts of light
from the great Hispano to herald the coming of the police.
As the grotesque nude figures scattered with shrieks of terror
the car bounded from ridge to ridge heading straight for the
monstrous Goat. When the lights fell upon it Rex feared for an
instant that the malefic rays which streamed from its baleful eyes
would overcome the headlights of the car. The lamps flickered and
dimmed, but as the Duke clung to the wheel he was concentrating with
all the power of his mind upon visualising the horseshoe surmounted
by a cross in silver light just above the centre of his forehead,
setting the symbol in his aura and, at the same time, repeating the
lines of the Ninety-first Psalm which is immensely powerful against
all evil manifestations.
' "Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High: shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say unto the Lord, Thou are my hope, and my stronghold:
my God, in Him will I trust.
For He shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter: and from
the noisome pestilence." '
From the time Rex switched on the headlights, it was only a
matter of seconds before the big car hurtled forward like a living
thing right on to the ground where the Sabbat was being held.
Rex, clinging to the coachwork, and also visualising that symbol
which De Richleau had impressed so strongly upon him, leaned from
the step of the car and, with all his force, threw the ivory
crucifix straight in the terrible face of the monstrous beast.
The Duke swerved the car to avoid the throne and Simon who, alone
of all the Satanists, remained standing but apparently utterly
unconscious of what was happening.
The blue flames of the black candles set upon the hellish altar
went out as though quenched by some invisible hand. The lights of
the car regained their full brilliance, and once again they heard
the terrible screaming neigh which seemed to echo over the desolate
Plain for miles around as the crucifix, shining white in the glow of
the headlights, passed through the face of the Goat.
A horrible stench of burning flesh mingled with the choking odour
from the sulphur candles, filled the air like some poisonous gas,
but there was no time to think or analyse sensations. After that
piercing screech, the brute upon the rocks disappeared. At the same
instant Rex grabbed Simon by the neck and hauled him bodily on to
the step of the car as it charged the farther slope of the hollow. '
Jolting and bouncing it breasted the rise, hesitating for the
fraction of a second upon the brink as though some awful power was
striving to draw it backwards. But the Duke threw the gear lever
into low, and they lurched forward again on to level ground,
Rex, meanwhile, had flung open the door at the back and dragged
Simon inside where he collapsed on the floor in a senseless heap.
Instinctively, although De Richleau had warned him not to do so, he
glanced out of the back window down into the valley where they had
witnessed such terrible things, but it lay dark, silent, and
seemingly deserted.
The car was travelling now at a better pace, although De Richleau
did not dare to use the full power of his engine for fear that they
should strike a sudden dip or turn over in some hidden gully.
For a mile they raced north-eastward while, without ceasing, the
Duke muttered to himself those protective lines:
' "He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shall be safe
under his feathers: his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield
and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night: nor for the
arrow that flieth by day;
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the sickness
that destroyeth in the noon-day."'
Then to his joy, they struck a track at right-angles, and he
turned along it to the north-westward, slipping into top gear. The
car bounded forward and seemed to fly as though in truth all the
devils of Hell were unleashed behind it in pursuit. Swerving,
jolting, and bounding across the grassy ruts, they covered five
miles in twice as many minutes until they came upon the Lavington-
Westbury road.
Even then De Richleau would not slow down but, turning in the
direction of London, roared on, swerving from bend to bend with
utter disregard for danger in his fear of the greater danger that
lay behind.
They flashed through Earlstoke, Market Lavington and then
Easterton, where, unseen by them, the Blue Rolls lay just off the
road in a ditch where Tanith had crashed it a few hours before; then
Bushall, Upavon, Ludgershall and so to Andover, having practically
completed a circuit of the Plain. Here at last, at the entrance of
the town, the Duke brought the car to a halt and turned in his seat
to look at Rex,
'How is he?' he asked.
'About all-in I reckon. He is as cold as blazes, and he hasn't
fluttered an eyelid since I hauled him into the car. My God I what a
ghastly business.'
'Grim, wasn't it!' De Richleau for once was looking more than his
age. His grey face was lined and heavy pouches seemed to have
developed beneath his piercing eyes. His shoulders were hunched as
he leaned for a moment apparently exhausted over the wheel. Then he
pulled himself together with a jerk and thrusting his hand in his
pocket, took out a flask which he passed to Rex.
'Give him some of this-as much as you can get him to swallow. It
may help to pull him round.'
Rex turned to where Simon lay hunched up beneath the car rugs on
the back seat beside him and forcing open his mouth poured a good
portion of the old brandy into it.
Simon choked suddenly, gasped, and jerked up his head. His eyes
flickered open and he stared at Rex, but there was no recognition in
them. Then his lids closed again and his head fell backwards on the
seat.
'Well, he's alive, thank God,' murmured Rex. 'While you've been
driving like a maniac I've been scared that we had lost poor Simon
for good and all. But now we'd best get him back to London or to the
nearest doctor just as soon as we can.'
'I daren't.' De Richleau's eyes were full of a desperate anxiety.
That devilish mob will have recovered themselves and are probably
back at the house near Chilbury by now. They will be plotting
something against us you may be certain.'
'You mean that as Mocata knows your flat he will concentrate on
it to get Simon back-just as he did before?' 'Worse, I doubt if
they'd ever let us reach it.' 'Oh, shucks!' Rex frowned impatiently,
'How're they going to stop us?'
'They can control all the meaner things-bats, snakes, rats,
foxes, owls-as well as cats and certain breeds of dog like the
Wolfhound and Alsatian. If one of those dashed beneath the wheels of
the car when we were going at any speed it might turn over. Besides,
within certain limits, they can control the elements, so they could
ensure a dense local fog surrounding us the whole way, and every
mile of it we'd be facing the risk of another car that hadn't seen
our lights smashing into us head on at full speed. If they combine
the whole of their strength for ill it's a certainty they'll be able
to bring about some terrible accident before we can cover the
seventy miles to London. Remember too, this is still Walpurgis-Nacht
and every force of evil that is abroad will be leagued against us.
For every moment until dawn we three remain in the direst peril.'
19
The Ancient Sanctuary
'Well, we can't stay here,' Rex protested.
'I know, and we've got to find some sanctuary where we can keep
Simon safe until morning.'
'How about a church?'
'Yes, if we could find one that is open. But they will all be
locked up at this hour.'
'Couldn't we get some local parson out of bed?'
'If I knew one anywhere near here I'd chance it, but how can we
possibly expect a stranger to believe the story that we should have
to tell? He would think us madmen, or probably that it was a plot to
rob his church. But wait a moment! By Jove, I've got it! We'll take
him to the oldest cathedral in Britain and one that is open to the
skies.' With a sudden chuckle of relief, De Richleau set the car in
motion again and began to reverse it.
'Surely you're not going back?' Rex asked anxiously.
'Only three miles to the fork-roads at Weyhill, then down to
Amesbury.'
'Well, don't you call that going back?'
'Perhaps, but I mean to take him to Stonehenge. If we can reach
it, we shall be in safety, even though it is no more than a dozen
miles from Chilbury.'
Once more the car rocketed along the road across those grassy,
barren slopes, cleaving the silent darkness of the night with its
great arced headlights.
Twenty minutes later they passed again through the twisting
streets of Amesbury, now silent and shuttered while its inhabitants
slept, not even dreaming of the terrible battle which was being
fought out that night between the Power of Light and the Power of
Darkness, so near to them in actuality and yet so remote to the
teeming life of everyday modern England.
A mile outside the town, they ran up the slope to the wire fence
which rings in the Neolithic monument, Stonehenge. The Duke drove
the car into the deserted car park beside the road and there they
left it. Rex carried Simon, wrapped in De Richleau's great-coat and
the car rug, while the Duke followed him through the wire with the
suitcase containing his protective impedimenta.
As they staggered over the grass, the vast monoliths of the
ancient place of worship stood out against the skyline-the timeless
symbols of a forgotten cult that ruled Britain, before the Romans
came to bring more decorative and more human gods.
They passed the outer circle of great stone uprights upon some of
which the lintels forming them into a ring of arches still remain.
Then De Richleau led the way between the mighty chunks of fallen
masonry to where, beside the two great trili-thons, the sandstone
altar slab lies half buried beneath the remnants of the central
arch.
At a gesture from the Duke, Rex laid Simon, still unconscious,
upon it. Then he looked up doubtfully. 'I suppose you know what
you're doing, but I've always heard that the Druids, who built this
place, were a pretty grim lot. Didn't they sacrifice virgins on this
stone and practise all sorts of pagan rites? I should have thought
this place would be more sacred to the Power of Evil than the Power
of Good.'
'Don't worry, Rex,' De Richleau smiled in the darkness. 'It is
true that the Druids performed sacrifices, but they were sun-
worshippers. At the summer solstice, the sun rises over the hilltop
there, shedding its first beam of light directly through the arch on
to this altar stone. This place is one of the most hallowed spots in
all Europe because countless thousands of long-dead men and women
have worshipped here-calling upon the Power of Light to protect them
from the evil things that go in darkness-and the vibrations of their
souls are about us now making a sure buttress and protection until
the coming of the dawn.'
With gentle hands, they set about a more careful examination of
Simon. His body was still terribly cold but they found that, except
for where Rex had clawed at his neck, he had suffered no physical
injury.
'What do you figure to do now?' Rex asked as the Duke opened his
suitcasej
'Exorcise him in due form, in order to try and drive out any evil
spirit by which he may be possessed.'
'Like the Roman Catholic priests used to do in the Middle Ages.'
'As they still do,' De Richleau answered soberly,
'What-in these days?'
'Yes. Don't you remember the case of Helene Poirier who died only
in 1914. She suffered from such terrible demoniacal possession that
many of the most learned priests in France, including Monsiegneur
Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, and Monsieur Mallet, Superior of the
Grand Seminary, had to be called in before, with God's grace, she
could be freed from the evil spirit which controlled her.'
'I didn't think the Church admitted the existence of such things
as witchcraft and black magic.'
'Then you are very ignorant, my friend. I do not know the
official views of others, but the Roman Church, whose authority
comes unbroken over nineteen centuries from the time when Our Lord
made St. Peter his viceregent on earth, has ever admitted the
existence of the evil power. Why else should they have issued so
many ordinances against it, or at the present time so unhesitatingly
condemn all spiritualistic practices which they regard as the modern
counterparts of necromancy, by which Hell's emissaries seek to lure
weak, foolish and trusting people into their net?'
'I can't agree to that,' Rex demurred. 'I know a number of
Spiritualists, men and women of the utmost rectitude.'
'Perhaps.' De Richleau was arranging Simon's limp body. They are
entitled to their opinion and he who thinks rightly lives rightly.
No doubt their high principles act as a protective barrier between
them and the more dangerous entities of the spirit world. However,
for the weak-minded and mentally frail such practices hold the
gravest peril. Look at that Bavarian family of eleven people, all of
whom went out of their minds after a Spiritualistic seance in 1921.
The case was fully reported by the Press at the time and I could
give you a dozen similar examples, all attributable to Diabolic
possession, of course. In fact, according to the Roman Church, there
is no phenomenon of modem Spiritism which cannot be paralleled in
the records of old witch trials.'
'According to them, maybe, but Simon's not a Catholic.'
'No matter, there is nothing to prevent a member of the Roman
Church asking Divine aid for any man whatever his race or creed.
Fortunately I was baptised a Catholic and, although I may not be a
good one, I believe that with the grace of God, power will be
granted to me this night to help our poor friend.
'Kneel down now and pray silently, for all prayers are good if
the heart is earnest and perhaps those of the Church of England more
efficacious than others since we are now in the English countryside.
It is for that reason I recite certain psalms from the book of
Common Prayer. But be ready to hold him if he leaps up for, if he is
possessed, the Demon within him will fight like a maniac.'
De Richleau took up the holy water and sprinkled a few drops on
Simon's forehead. They remained there a moment and then trickled
slowly down his drawn, furrowed face. But he remained corpse-like
and still.
'May the Lord be praised,' murmured the Duke.
'What is it?' breathed Rex.
'He is not actually possessed. If he were the holy water would
have scalded him like boiling oil, and at its touch the Demon would
have screamed like a hell cat.'
'What now then?'
'He still reeks of evil so I must employ the banishing ritual to
purge the atmosphere about him and do all things possible to protect
him from Mocata's influence. Then we will see if this coma shows any
signs of lifting.'
The Duke produced a crutch of Rowan wood then proceeded to
certain curious and complicated rites; consisting largely in
stroking Simon's limbs with a brushing motion towards the feet; the
repetition of many Latin formulas with long intervals in which, led
by the Duke, the two men knelt to pray beside their friend.
Simon was anointed with holy water and with holy oil. The gesture
of Horus was made to the north, to the south, to the east and to the
west. The palms of his hands were sprinkled and the soles of his
feet. Asafoetida grass was tied round his wrists and his ankles. An
orb with the cross upon it was placed in his right hand, and a phial
of quicksilver between his lips. A chain of garlic flowers was hung
about his neck, and the sacred oil placed in a cross upon his
forehead. Each action upon him was preceded by prayer, concentration
of thought, and invocation to the archangels, the high beings of
Light, and to his own higher consciousness.
At last, after an hour, all had been accomplished in accordance
with the ancient lore and De Richleau examined Simon again. He was
warmer now and the ugly lines of distress and terror had faded from
his face. He seemed to have passed out of his dead faint into a
natural sleep and was breathing regularly.
'I think that with God's help we have saved him,' declared the
Duke. 'He looks almost normal now, but we had best wait until he
wakes of his own accord; I can do no more, so we will rest for a
little.'
Rex passed his hand across his eyes as De Richleau sank down
beside him. 'I'll say I need it. Would it be . . . er . .
sacrilegious or anything if I had a smoke?'
'Of course not.' De Richleau drew out his cigars. 'Have a Hoyo.
It is thoughts, not formalities, which make an atmosphere of good or
evil.'
For a little while the two friends sat silent, the points of
their cigars glowing faintly in the darkness until a pale greyness
in the eastern sky made clearer the ghostly outlines of the great
oblong stones towering at varying angles to twenty feet about their
heads.
'What a strange place this is,' Rex murmured. 'How old do you
suppose it to be?'
'About four thousand years.'
'As old as that, eh?'
'Yes, but that is young compared with the Pyramids and, beside
them, for architecture and scientific alignment, this thing is a
primitive toy.'
'Those ancient Britons must have been a whole heap cleverer than
we give them credit for all the same, to get these great blocks of
stone set up. It would tax all the resources of our modern
engineers, I reckon. Some of them must weigh a hundred tons apiece.'
De Richleau nodded. 'Only the piety of many thousand willing
hands, hauling on skin ropes, and manipulating vast levers, could
have accomplished it, but what is even more remarkable is that the
foreign stones were transported from a quarry nearly two hundred
miles from here.'
'What do you mean by "foreign stones"?'
The stones which form the inner ring and the inner horseshoe are
called so because they were brought from a great distance-a place in
Pembrokeshire, I think.'
'Horseshoe,' Rex repeated with a puzzled look. 'I thought all the
stones were placed in rings.'
'It is hardly discernible in the ruins now, but originally this
great temple consisted of an outer ring formed of big arches, then a
concentric circle of smaller uprights. Inside that, five great
separate trilithons of arches, two of which you can see still
standing, set in the form of a horseshoe and then another horseshoe
of the smaller stones,'
The Druids used the horseshoe, too, then?'
'Certainly. As I have told you, it is a most potent symbol
indissolubly connected with the Power of Light. Hence my use of it
in connection with the swastika and the cross.'
They fell silent again for some time, then Simon stirred beside
them and they both stood up. He slowly turned over and looked about
him with duil eyes until he recognised his friends, and asked in a
stifled voice where he was.
Without answering, De Richleau drew him down between Rex and
himself on to his knees, and proceeded to give thanks for his
restoration. 'Repeat after me,' he said, 'the words of the fifty-
first Psalm.
' "Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according
to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my
sin,
For I acknowledge my faults and my sin is ever before me." '
To the end of the beautiful penitent appeal the Duke read in a
solemn voice from the Prayer Book by the aid of a little torch while
the others repeated verse by verse after him. Then all three stood
up and began at last to talk in their normal voices.
De Richleau explained what had taken place, and Simon sat upon
the altar-stone weeping like a child as now, with a clear brain, he
began at last to understand the terrible peril from which his
friends had rescued him.
He remembered the party which had been given at his house and
that the Duke had hypnotised him in Curzon Street. After
that-nothing, until he found himself present in the Sabbat which had
been held that night, and even then he could only see vague pictures
of it, as though he had not participated in it himself, but watched
the whole of the ghastly proceedings from a distance; horrified to
the last degree to see a figure that seemed to be himself taking
part in those abominable ceremonies, yet mentally chained and
powerless to intervene or stop that body, so curiously like his own,
participating in that godless scene of debauchery.
Dawn was now breaking in the eastern sky. as De Richleau placed
his arm affectionately round Simon's shoulders. 'Don't take it to
heart so, my friend,' he said kindly. 'For the moment at least you
have been spared, and praise be to God you are still sane, which is
more than I dared to hope for when we got you here.'
Simon nodded. 'I know-I've been lucky,' he said soberly. 'But am
I really free-for good? I'm afraid Mocata will try and get me back
somehow.'
'Now we're together again you needn't worry,' Rex grinned. 'If
the three of us can't fight this horror and win out we're not the
men I always thought we were.'
'Yes,' Simon agreed, a little doubtfully. 'But the trouble is
that I was born at a time when certain stars were in conjunction, so
in a way I'm the key to a ritual which Mocata's set his heart on
performing.'
The invocation to Saturn coupled with Mars,' the Duke put in.
'I'm scared he'll exercise every incantation in the book to drag
me back to him despite myself,'
'Isn't that danger over? Surely it should have been done two
nights ago, but we managed to prevent it then.'
'Ner,' Simon used his favourite negative with a little wriggle of
his bird-like head. 'That would have been the most suitable time of
all, but the ritual can be performed with a reasonable prospect of
success any night while the two planets remain in the same house of
the Zodiac.'
'Then the longer we can keep you out of Mocata's clutches, the
less chance he stands of pulling it off as the two planets get
farther apart,' Rex commented.
De Richleau sighed. His face looked grey and haggard in the early
morning light. 'In that case,' he said slowly, 'Mocata will exert
his whole strength when twilight comes again, and we shall have to
fight with our backs to the wall throughout this coming night.'
20
The Four Horsemen
Now that the sun was up Rex's resilient spirit reasserted itself.
'Time enough to worry about tonight when we are through today,' he
declared cheerfully. 'What we need most just now is a good hot
breakfast.'
The Duke smiled. 'I thoroughly agree, and in any case we can't
stay here much longer. While we feed we'll discuss the safest place
to which we can take Simon.'
'We can't take him anywhere at the moment,' Rex grinned. 'Not as
he is-with only the car rug and your great-coat to cover his
birthday suit.'
Simon tittered into his hand. It was the gesture which both his
friends knew so well, and which it delighted them to see again. 'I
must look pretty comic as I am,' he chuckled. 'And it's chilly too.
One of you had better try and raise me a suit of clothes.'
'You take the car, Rex,' said the Duke, 'and drive into Ames-
bury. Knock up the first clothes dealer you can find and buy him an
outfit. Have you enough money?'
'Plenty. I was going down to Derby yesterday for the first Spring
Race Meeting if this business hadn't cropped up overnight. So I'd
drawn fifty the day before.'
'Good,' the Duke nodded. 'We shan't move from here until you
return.' Then, as Rex strode away across the grass to the Hispano,
which was now visible where they had left it in the car-park, he
turned to Simon:
'Tell me,' he said, 'while Rex is gone. How did you ever get
drawn into this terrible business?'
Simon smiled. 'Well,' he said hesitantly, 'it may seem a queer
thing to say, but you are partly responsible yourself.'
'I!' exclaimed the Duke. 'What the deuce do you mean?'
'I'm not blaming you, of course, in the least, but do you
remember that long chat we had when we were both down at Cardinals
Folly for Christmas? It started by your telling us about the old
Alchemists and how they used to make gold out of base metals.'
De Richleau nodded. 'Yes, and you threw doubt upon my statement
that the feat had actually been performed. I cited the case of the
scientist Helvetius, I remember, who was bitterly opposed to the
pretentions of the Alchemists, but who, when he was visited by one
at the Hague in December, 1666, managed to secrete a little of the
reddish powder which the man showed him under his finger-nail, and
afterwards succeeded in transmuting a small amount of lead into gold
with it. But you would not believe me, although I assured you, that
no less a person than Sponoza verified the experiment at the time.'
'That's right,' said Simon. 'Well, I was sceptical but
interested, so I took the trouble to check up as far as possible on
all you'd said. It was Spinoza's testimony that impressed
me because he was so very sane and unbiased.'
'So was Helvetius himself for that matter.'
'I know. Anyhow, I dug up the fact that Povelius, the chief
tester of the Dutch Mint, assayed the metal seven times with all the
leading goldsmiths at the Hague and they unanimously pronounced it
to be pure gold. Of course there was a possibility that Helvetius
deceived them by submitting a piece of gold obtained through the
ordinary channels, but it hardly seemed likely that he practised
deliberate fraud, because he had no motive. He had always declared
his disbelief in alchemy and he couldn't make any more because he
hadn't got the powder -so there was no question of his trying to
float a bogus company on the experiment. He couldn't even claim any
scientific kudos from it either because he frankly admitted that he
had stolen the powder from the stranger who showed it to him. After
that I went into the experiment of Berigord de Pisa and Van
Helmont.'
'And what did you think of those?' asked the Duke, his lined face
showing quick interest in the early morning light.
'They shook my unbelief a lot. Van Helmont was the greatest
chemist of his time, and like Helvetius, he'd always said the idea
of transmitting base metals into gold was sheer nonsense until a