1

The Monster Men

by Edgar R. Burroughs

1, THE MONSTER MEN by Edgar R. Burroughs
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THE RIFT


As he dropped the last grisly fragment of the
dismembered and mutilated body into the small vat of
nitric acid that was to devour every trace of the
horrid evidence which might easily send him to the
gallows, the man sank weakly into a chair and throwing
his body forward upon his great, teak desk buried his
face in his arms, breaking into dry, moaning sobs.

Beads of perspiration followed the seams of his high,
wrinkled forehead, replacing the tears which might have
lessened the pressure upon his overwrought nerves. His
slender frame shook, as with ague, and at times was
racked by a convulsive shudder. A sudden step upon the
stairway leading to his workshop brought him trembling
and wide eyed to his feet, staring fearfully at the
locked and bolted door.

Although he knew perfectly well whose the advancing
footfalls were, he was all but overcome by the madness
of apprehension as they came softly nearer and nearer
to the barred door. At last they halted before it, to
be followed by a gentle knock.

"Daddy!" came the sweet tones of a girl's voice.

The man made an effort to take a firm grasp upon
himself that no tell-tale evidence of his emotion might
be betrayed in his speech.

"Daddy!" called the girl again, a trace of anxiety in
her voice this time. "What IS the matter with you,
and what ARE you doing? You've been shut up in
that hateful old room for three days now without a
morsel to eat, and in all likelihood without a wink of
sleep. You'll kill yourself with your stuffy old experiments."

The man's face softened.

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart," he replied in a
well controlled voice. "I'll soon be through now--soon
be through--and then we'll go away for a long vacation--
for a long vacation."

"I'll give you until noon, Daddy," said the girl in a
voice which carried a more strongly defined tone of
authority than her father's soft drawl, "and then I
shall come into that room, if I have to use an axe, and
bring you out--do you understand?"

Professor Maxon smiled wanly. He knew that his
daughter was equal to her threat.

"All right, sweetheart, I'll be through by noon for
sure--by noon for sure. Run along and play now, like a
good little girl."

Virginia Maxon shrugged her shapely shoulders and shook
her head hopelessly at the forbidding panels of the door.

"My dolls are all dressed for the day," she cried,
"and I'm tired of making mud pies--I want you to come out
and play with me." But Professor Maxon did not reply--
he had returned to view his grim operations, and the
hideousness of them had closed his ears to the sweet
tones of the girl's voice.

As she turned to retrace her steps to the floor below
Miss Maxon still shook her head.

"Poor old Daddy," she mused, "were I a thousand years
old, wrinkled and toothless, he would still look upon
me as his baby girl."

If you chance to be an alumnus of Cornell you may
recall Professor Arthur Maxon, a quiet, slender,
white-haired gentleman, who for several years was an
assistant professor in one of the departments of
natural science. Wealthy by inheritance, he had chosen
the field of education for his life work solely from a
desire to be of some material benefit to mankind since
the meager salary which accompanied his professorship
was not of sufficient import to influence him in the
slightest degree.

Always keenly interested in biology, his almost
unlimited means had permitted him to undertake, in
secret, a series of daring experiments which had
carried him so far in advance of the biologists of his
day that he had, while others were still groping
blindly for the secret of life, actually reproduced by
chemical means the great phenomenon.

Fully alive to the gravity and responsibilities of his
marvellous discovery he had kept the results of his
experimentation, and even the experiments themselves, a
profound secret not only from his colleagues, but from
his only daughter, who heretofore had shared his every
hope and aspiration.

It was the very success of his last and most
pretentious effort that had placed him in the
horrifying predicament in which he now found himself--
with the corpse of what was apparently a human being in his
workshop and no available explanation that could possibly
be acceptable to a matter-of-fact and unscientific police.

Had he told them the truth they would have laughed at
him. Had he said: "This is not a human being that you
see, but the remains of a chemically produced
counterfeit created in my own laboratory," they would
have smiled, and either hanged him or put him away with
the other criminally insane.

This phase of the many possibilities which he had
realized might be contingent upon even the partial
success of his work alone had escaped his
consideration, so that the first wave of triumphant
exultation with which he had viewed the finished result
of this last experiment had been succeeded by
overwhelming consternation as he saw the thing which he
had created gasp once or twice with the feeble spark of
life with which he had endowed it, and expire--leaving
upon his hands the corpse of what was, to all intent
and purpose, a human being, albeit a most grotesque and
misshapen thing.

Until nearly noon Professor Maxon was occupied in
removing the remaining stains and evidences of his
gruesome work, but when he at last turned the key in
the door of his workshop it was to leave behind no single
trace of the successful result of his years of labor.

The following afternoon found him and Virginia crossing
the station platform to board the express for New York.
So quietly had their plans been made that not a friend
was at the train to bid them farewell--the scientist
felt that he could not bear the strain of attempting
explanations at this time.

But there were those there who recognized them, and one
especially who noted the lithe, trim figure and
beautiful face of Virginia Maxon though he did not know
even the name of their possessor. It was a tall well
built young man who nudged one of his younger companions
as the girl crossed the platform to enter her Pullman.

"I say, Dexter," he exclaimed, "who is that beauty?"

The one addressed turned in the direction indicated by
his friend.

"By jove!" he exclaimed. "Why it's Virginia Maxon and
the professor, her father. Now where do you suppose
they're going?"

"I don't know--now," replied the first speaker,
Townsend J. Harper, Jr., in a half whisper,
"but I'll bet you a new car that I find out."


A week later, with failing health and shattered nerves,
Professor Maxon sailed with his daughter for a long
ocean voyage, which he hoped would aid him in rapid
recuperation, and permit him to forget the nightmare memory
of those three horrible days and nights in his workshop.

He believed that he had reached an unalterable decision
never again to meddle with the mighty, awe inspiring
secrets of creation; but with returning health and
balance he found himself viewing his recent triumph
with feelings of renewed hope and anticipation.

The morbid fears superinduced by the shock following
the sudden demise of the first creature of his
experiments had given place to a growing desire to
further prosecute his labors until enduring success had
crowned his efforts with an achievement which he might
exhibit with pride to the scientific world.

His recent disastrous success had convinced him that
neither Ithaca nor any other abode of civilization was
a safe place to continue his experiments, but it was
not until their cruising had brought them among the
multitudinous islands of the East Indies that the plan
occurred to him that he finally adopted--a plan the
outcome of which could he then have foreseen would have
sent him scurrying to the safety of his own country
with the daughter who was to bear the full brunt of the
horrors it entailed.

They were steaming up the China Sea when the idea first
suggested itself, and as he sat idly during the long,
hot days the thought grew upon him, expanding into a
thousand wonderful possibilities, until it became
crystalized into what was a little short of an obsession.

The result was that at Manila, much to Virginia's
surprise, he announced the abandonment of the balance
of their purposed voyage, taking immediate return
passage to Singapore. His daughter did not question
him as to the cause of this change in plans, for since
those three days that her father had kept himself
locked in his workroom at home the girl had noticed a
subtle change in her parent--a marked disinclination to
share with her his every confidence as had been his
custom since the death of her mother.

While it grieved her immeasurably she was both too
proud and too hurt to sue for a reestablishment of the
old relations. On all other topics than his scientific
work their interests were as mutual as formerly, but by
what seemed a manner of tacit agreement this subject
was taboo. And so it was that they came to Singapore
without the girl having the slightest conception of her
father's plans.

Here they spent nearly a month, during which time
Professor Maxon was daily engaged in interviewing
officials, English residents and a motley horde of
Malays and Chinamen.

Virginia met socially several of the men with whom her
father was engaged but it was only at the last moment
that one of them let drop a hint of the purpose of the
month's activity. When Virginia was present the
conversation seemed always deftly guided from the
subject of her father's immediate future, and she was
not long in discerning that it was in no sense through
accident that this was true. Thereafter her wounded
pride made easy the task of those who seemed combined
to keep her in ignorance.

It was a Dr. von Horn, who had been oftenest with
her father, who gave her the first intimation of
what was forthcoming. Afterward, in recollecting
the conversation, it seemed to Virginia that the young man
had been directed to break the news to her, that her
father might be spared the ordeal. It was evident then
that he expected opposition, but the girl was too loyal
to let von Horn know if she felt other than in harmony
with the proposal, and too proud to evince by surprise
the fact that she was not wholly conversant with its
every detail.

"You are glad to be leaving Singapore so soon?" he had
asked, although he knew that she had not been advised
that an early departure was planned.

"I am rather looking forward to it," replied Virginia.

"And to a protracted residence on one of the Pamarung Islands?"
continued von Horn.

"Why not?" was her rather non-committal reply, though
she had not the remotest idea of their location.

Von Horn admired her nerve though he rather wished that
she would ask some questions--it was difficult making
progress in this way. How could he explain the plans
when she evinced not the slightest sign that she was
not already entirely conversant with them?

"We doubt if the work will be completed under two or
three years," answered the doctor. "That will be a
long time in which to be isolated upon a savage little
speck of land off the larger but no less savage Borneo.
Do you think that your bravery is equal to the demands
that will be made upon it?"

Virginia laughed, nor was there the slightest tremor in its note.

"I am equal to whatever fate my father is equal to,"
she said, "nor do I think that a life upon one of these
beautiful little islands would be much of a hardship--
certainly not if it will help to promote the success of
his scientific experiments."

She used the last words on a chance that she might have
hit upon the true reason for the contemplated isolation
from civilization. They had served their purpose too
in deceiving von Horn who was now half convinced that
Professor Maxon must have divulged more of their plans
to his daughter than he had led the medical man to
believe. Perceiving her advantage from the expression
on the young man's face, Virginia followed it up in an
endeavor to elicit the details.

The result of her effort was the knowledge that on the
second day they were to sail for the Pamarung Islands
upon a small schooner which her father had purchased,
with a crew of Malays and lascars, and von Horn, who
had served in the American navy, in command. The
precise point of destination was still undecided--the
plan being to search out a suitable location upon one
of the many little islets which dot the western shore
of the Macassar Strait.

Of the many men Virginia had met during the month at
Singapore von Horn had been by far the most interesting
and companionable. Such time as he could find from the
many duties which had devolved upon him in the matter
of obtaining and outfitting the schooner, and signing
her two mates and crew of fifteen, had been spent with
his employer's daughter.

The girl was rather glad that he was to be a member of
their little company, for she had found him a much
travelled man and an interesting talker with none of
the, to her, disgusting artificialities of the
professional ladies' man. He talked to her as he might
have talked to a man, of the things that interest
intelligent people regardless of sex.

There was never any suggestion of familiarity in his
manner; nor in his choice of topics did he ever ignore
the fact that she was a young girl. She had felt
entirely at ease in his society from the first evening
that she had met him, and their acquaintance had grown
to a very sensible friendship by the time of the
departure of the Ithaca--the rechristened schooner
which was to carry them away to an unguessed fate.

The voyage from Singapore to the Islands was without
incident. Virginia took a keen delight in watching the
Malays and lascars at their work, telling von Horn that
she had to draw upon her imagination but little to
picture herself a captive upon a pirate ship--the half
naked men, the gaudy headdress, the earrings, and the
fierce countenances of many of the crew furnishing only
too realistically the necessary savage setting.

A week spent among the Pamarung Islands disclosed no
suitable site for the professor's camp, nor was it
until they had cruised up the coast several miles north
of the equator and Cape Santang that they found a tiny
island a few miles off the coast opposite the mouth of
a small river--an island which fulfilled in every
detail their requirements.

It was uninhabited, fertile and possessed a clear,
sweet brook which had its source in a cold spring in
the higher land at the island's center. Here it was
that the Ithaca came to anchor in a little harbor,
while her crew under von Horn, and the Malay first
mate, Bududreen, accompanied Professor Maxon in search
of a suitable location for a permanent camp.

The cook, a harmless old Chinaman, and Virginia were
left in sole possession of the Ithaca.

Two hours after the departure of the men into the
jungle Virginia heard the fall of axes on timber and
knew that the site of her future home had been chosen
and the work of clearing begun. She sat musing on the
strange freak which had prompted her father to bury
them in this savage corner of the globe; and as she
pondered there came a wistful expression to her eyes,
and an unwonted sadness drooped the corners of her mouth.

Of a sudden she realized how wide had become the gulf
between them now. So imperceptibly had it grown since
those three horrid days in Ithaca just prior to their
departure for what was to have been but a few months'
cruise that she had not until now comprehended that the
old relations of open, good-fellowship had gone,
possibly forever.

Had she needed proof of the truth of her sad discovery
it had been enough to point to the single fact that her
father had brought her here to this little island
without making the slightest attempt to explain the
nature of his expedition. She had gleaned enough from
von Horn to understand that some important scientific
experiments were to be undertaken; but what their
nature she could not imagine, for she had not the
slightest conception of the success that had crowned
her father's last experiment at Ithaca, although she
had for years known of his keen interest in the subject.

The girl became aware also of other subtle changes in
her father. He had long since ceased to be the jovial,
carefree companion who had shared with her her every
girlish joy and sorrow and in whom she had confided
both the trivial and momentous secrets of her
childhood. He had become not exactly morose, but
rather moody and absorbed, so that she had of late
never found an opportunity for the cozy chats that had
formerly meant so much to them both. There had been
too, recently, a strange lack of consideration for
herself that had wounded her more than she had
imagined. Today there had been a glaring example of it
in his having left her alone upon the boat without a
single European companion--something that he would
never have thought of doing a few months before.

As she sat speculating on the strange change which had
come over her father her eyes had wandered aimlessly
along the harbor's entrance; the low reef that
protected it from the sea, and the point of land to the
south, that projected far out into the strait like a
gigantic index finger pointing toward the mainland,
the foliage covered heights of which were just visible
above the western horizon.

Presently her attention was arrested by a tossing speck
far out upon the rolling bosom of the strait. For some
time the girl watched the object until at length it
resolved itself into a boat moving head on toward the
island. Later she saw that it was long and low,
propelled by a single sail and many oars, and that it
carried quite a company.

Thinking it but a native trading boat, so many of which
ply the southern seas, Virginia viewed its approach
with but idle curiosity. When it had come to within
half a mile of the anchorage of the Ithaca, and was
about to enter the mouth of the harbor Sing Lee's eyes
chanced to fall upon it. On the instant the old
Chinaman was electrified into sudden and astounding
action.

"Klick! Klick!" he cried, running toward Virginia.
"Go b'low, klick."

"Why should I go below, Sing?" queried the girl, amazed
by the demeanor of the cook.

"Klick! Klick!" he urged grasping her by the arm--half
leading, half dragging her toward the companion-way.
"Plilates! Mlalay plilates--Dyak plilates."

"Pirates!" gasped Virginia. "Oh Sing, what can we do?"

"You go b'low. Mebbyso Sing flighten 'em. Shoot
cannon. Bling help. Maxon come klick. Bling men.
Chase'm 'way," explained the Chinaman. "But plilates
see 'em pletty white girl," he shrugged his shoulders
and shook his head dubiously, "then old Sing no can
flighten 'em 'way."

The girl shuddered, and crouching close behind Sing
hurried below. A moment later she heard the boom of
the old brass six pounder which for many years had
graced the Ithaca's stern. In the bow Professor Maxon
had mounted a modern machine gun, but this was quite
beyond Sing's simple gunnery. The Chinaman had not
taken the time to sight the ancient weapon carefully,
but a gleeful smile lit his wrinkled, yellow face as he
saw the splash of the ball where it struck the water
almost at the side of the prahu.

Sing realized that the boat might contain friendly natives,
but he had cruised these waters too many years to take chances.
Better kill a hundred friends, he thought, than be captured
by a single pirate.

At the shot the prahu slowed up, and a volley of
musketry from her crew satisfied Sing that he had made
no mistake in classifying her. Her fire fell short as
did the ball from the small cannon mounted in her bow.

Virginia was watching the prahu from one of the cabin
ports. She saw the momentary hesitation and confusion
which followed Sing's first shot, and then to her
dismay she saw the rowers bend to their oars again and
the prahu move swiftly in the direction of the Ithaca.

It was apparent that the pirates had perceived the
almost defenseless condition of the schooner. In a few
minutes they would be swarming the deck, for poor old
Sing would be entirely helpless to repel them. If Dr.
von Horn were only there, thought the distracted girl.
With the machine gun alone he might keep them off.

At the thought of the machine gun a sudden resolve
gripped her. Why not man it herself? Von Horn had
explained its mechanism to her in detail, and on one
occasion had allowed her to operate it on the voyage
from Singapore. With the thought came action. Running
to the magazine she snatched up a feed-belt, and in
another moment was on deck beside the astonished Sing.

The pirates were skimming rapidly across the smooth
waters of the harbor, answering Sing's harmless shots
with yells of derision and wild, savage war cries.
There were, perhaps, fifty Dyaks and Malays--fierce,
barbaric men; mostly naked to the waist, or with war-
coats of brilliant colors. The savage headdress of the
Dyaks, the long, narrow, decorated shields, the
flashing blades of parang and kris sent a shudder
through the girl, so close they seemed beneath the
schooner's side.

"What do? What do?" cried Sing in consternation.
"Go b'low. Klick!" But before he had finished his
exhortation Virginia was racing toward the bow where
the machine gun was mounted. Tearing the cover from it
she swung the muzzle toward the pirate prahu, which by
now was nearly within range above the vessel's side--
a moment more and she would be too close to use the
weapon upon the pirates.

Virginia was quick to perceive the necessity for haste,
while the pirates at the same instant realized the
menace of the new danger which confronted them. A
score of muskets belched forth their missiles at the
fearless girl behind the scant shield of the machine
gun. Leaden pellets rained heavily upon her
protection, or whizzed threateningly about her head--
and then she got the gun into action.

At the rate of fifty a minute, a stream of projectiles
tore into the bow of the prahu when suddenly a richly
garbed Malay in the stern rose to his feet waving a
white cloth upon the point of his kris. It was the
Rajah Muda Saffir--he had seen the girl's face and at
the sight of it the blood lust in his breast had been
supplanted by another.

At sight of the emblem of peace Virginia ceased firing.
She saw the tall Malay issue a few commands, the
oarsmen bent to their work, the prahu came about,
making off toward the harbor's entrance. At the same
moment there was a shot from the shore followed by loud
yelling, and the girl turned to see her father and von
Horn pulling rapidly toward the Ithaca.