by R. R. Ryan
He turned the knob of Terry’s strong-room unhurriedly, smiling wider and wider until his smile changed to an audible giggle.
The heavy door swung smoothly open.
Propelled by Vin, Govina stumbled over the dark threshold. His luminous eyes created a little glow. Vin, too, crossed the threshold. The great door crashed to.
“We’re in, Meredith,” Vin cried with a loud laugh. “That’s a saying humans have . . . Here we are then, fast in the strong-room . . . And We Can’t Get Out.”
His laughter increased—becoming shrill; but Govina seemed not to comprehend his father’s meaning, for he said:
“Light.”
The terse word still further amused Vin.
“What on earth does an immortal being want with light? Where are your magical powers? However, as ever, I oblige.”
He took a small torch from some pocket and switched on its powerful rays. Govina turned savagely to grip his prey, but, except for Border and himself, the stout chamber was empty.
He looked wildly round at his madly laughing father.
“Where is she?” he demanded harshly.
“Not here, my son. Just a little magic of my own, dear boy. Just a little joke. I always had a fantastic sense of humour and always did laugh at serious situations. I was laughing when I drove the stake through your grandfather’s heart. How he screamed! But fire is just as effective for destroying eternally malign beings like you and me. And we’ll scream, too, when the flames get us . . . I set the house on fire when I left you, son. It was all prepared. Straw and rubbish and petrol. We can’t hear the flames through these strong walls, but they’re roaring below . . . The thought of roast Borders excites me . . . I’d like to dance and dance . . .”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Item, which, some months later, appeared in the gossip page of The Weekly Record:
“Mr. Terry Cliffe, who has now quite recovered from the inexplicable attack that condemned him to several weeks in hospital, is, we understand, to be quietly married next week to his oldest friend, Mrs. Mary Border, whose late husband was so tragically burned to death in the mysterious fire which reduced Cliffe House to a smouldering mass of ruins. Readers will recall that the house in question was empty, which rendered the cause of the fire a complete enigma. However, it was understood at the time that the late Mr. Border, together with a guest staying in his house, went to investigate certain signs of intrusion they had detected in Cliffe House, and were trapped in the old strong-room where once Mr. Terry Cliffe’s forebears stored legal documents. How the house came subsequently to catch fire none will ever be able to say, but it was assumed, at the time, that a tramp had been responsible.
“Our readers, we feel sure, will join us in wishing the prospective bride and bridegroom every happiness.”
The End
The DANCING TUATARA PRESS
Books from RAMBLE HOUSE
CLASSICS OF HORROR
1 Beast or Man! — Sean M’Guire
2 The Whistling Ancestors — Richard E. Goddard
3 The Shadow on the House — Mark Hansom
4 Sorcerer’s Chessmen — Mark Hansom
5 The Wizard of Berner’s Abbey — Mark Hansom
6 The Border Line — Walter S. Masterman
7 The Trail of the Cloven Hoof — Arlton Eadie
8 The Curse of Cantire — Walter S. Masterman
9 Reunion in Hell and Other Stories — The Selected Stories of John H. Knox Vol. I
10 The Ghost of Gaston Revere — Mark Hansom
11 The Tongueless Horror And Other Stories — The Selected Weird Tales of Wyatt Blassingame Vol. I
12 Master of Souls — Mark Hansom
13 Man Out of Hell and Other Stories — The Selected Stories of John H. Knox Vol. II
14 Lady of the Yellow Death and Other Stories — Selected Weird Tales of Wyatt Blassingame Vol. II
15 Satan’s Sin House and Other Stories — The Weird Tales of Wayne Rogers Vol. I
16 Hostesses in Hell and Other Stories — The Weird Tales of Russell Gray Vol. I
17 Hands Out of Hell and Other Stories — The Selected Stories of John H. Knox Vol. III
18 Summer Camp for Corpses and Other Stories — Weird Tales of Arthur L. Zagat Vol. I
19 One Dreadful Night — by Ronald S.L. Harding
20 The Library of Death — by Ronald S.L. Harding
21 The Beautiful Dead and Other Stories — The Weird Tales of Donald Dale
22 Death Rocks the Cradle and Other Stories — Weird Tales of Wayne Rogers Vol. II
23 The Devil’s Night Club and Other Stories — Nat Schachner
24 Mark of the Laughing Death and Other Stories — Francis James
25 The Strange Thirteen and Other Stories — Richard B. Gamon
26 The Unholy Goddess and Other Stories — The Selected Weird Tales of Wyatt Blassingame Vol. III
27 House of the Restless Dead and Other Stories — Hugh B. Cave
28 Tales of Terror & Torment Vol. 1 — Edited by John Pelan
29 The Corpse Factory and Other Stories — Arthur Leo Zagat
30 The Great Orme Terror and Other Stories — Garnett Radcliffe
31 Freak Museum — R. R. Ryan
32 The Subjugated Beast — R. R. Ryan
33 Towers & Tortures — Dexter Dayle
34 The Antlered Man — Edwy Searles Brooks
35 When the Batman Thirsts — Frederick C. Davis
36 The Sorcery Club — Elliott O’Donnell
37 Tales of Terror and Torment Vol. 2 — Edited by John Pelan
38 Mistress of Terror and Other Stories — The Selected Weird Tales of Wyatt Blassingame Vol. IV
39 The Place of Hairy Death and Other Stories — An Anthony Rud Reader, Volume 1
40 Dark Sanctuary — H.B. Gregory
41 Echo of a Curse — R.R. Ryan
42 The Finger of Destiny — Edmund Snell
43 The Devil of Pei-Ling — Herbert Asbury
44 The Madman — Mark Hansom
45 Laughing Death — Walter C. Brown
46 The Silent Terror of Chu-Sheng — Eugene Thomas
47 Death of a Sadist — R.R. Ryan
48 The Crimson Butterfly — Edmund Snell
49 Vampire of the Skies — James Corbett
50 The Back of Beyond — Edmund Snell
51 My Touch Brings Death — The Weird Tales of Russell Gray Vol. II
52 The Tomb of the Dark Ones — A novel of the occult by J.M.A. Mills
CLASSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
1 Chariots of San Fernando and Other Stories — Malcolm Jameson
2 The Story Writer and Other Stories — Richard Wilson
3 The House That Time Forgot and Other Stories — Robert F. Young
4 A Niche in Time and Other Stories — William F. Temple
5 Two Suns of Morcali and Other Stories — Evelyn E. Smith
6 Old Faithful and Other Stories — Raymond Z. Gallun
7 The Alien Envoy and Other Stories — Malcolm Jameson
8 The Man without a Planet and Other Stories — Richard Wilson
9 The Man Who was Secrett and Other Stories — John Brunner
10 The Cloudbuilders — Colin Kapp
11 Somewhere In Space — C.C. MacApp
DAY KEENE IN THE DETECTIVE PULPS
1 League of the Grateful Dead and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. I
2 We Are the Dead and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. II
3 Death March of the Dancing Dolls and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. III
4 The Case of the Bearded Bride and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. IV
5 A Corpse Walks in Brooklyn and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. V
6 Homicide House and Other Stories — Day Keene in the Detective Pulps Vol. VI
RAMBLE HOUSE CATALOG
RAMBLE HOUSE’s
Harry Stephen Keeler Webw
ork Mysteries
(RH) indicates the title is available ONLY in the RAMBLE HOUSE edition
The Ace of Spades Murder
The Affair of the Bottled Deuce (RH)
The Amazing Web
The Barking Clock
Behind That Mask
The Book with the Orange Leaves
The Bottle with the Green Wax Seal
The Box from Japan
The Case of the Canny Killer
The Case of the Crazy Corpse (RH)
The Case of the Flying Hands (RH)
The Case of the Ivory Arrow
The Case of the Jeweled Ragpicker
The Case of the Lavender Gripsack
The Case of the Mysterious Moll
The Case of the 16 Beans
The Case of the Transparent Nude (RH)
The Case of the Transposed Legs
The Case of the Two-Headed Idiot (RH)
The Case of the Two Strange Ladies
The Circus Stealers (RH)
Cleopatra’s Tears
A Copy of Beowulf (RH)
The Crimson Cube (RH)
The Face of the Man From Saturn
Find the Clock
The Five Silver Buddhas
The 4th King
The Gallows Waits, My Lord! (RH)
The Green Jade Hand
Finger! Finger!
Hangman’s Nights (RH)
I, Chameleon (RH)
I Killed Lincoln at 10:13! (RH)
The Iron Ring
The Man Who Changed His Skin (RH)
The Man with the Crimson Box
The Man with the Magic Eardrums
The Man with the Wooden Spectacles
The Marceau Case
The Matilda Hunter Murder
The Monocled Monster
The Murder of London Lew
The Murdered Mathematician
The Mysterious Card (RH)
The Mysterious Ivory Ball of Wong Shing Li (RH)
The Mystery of the Fiddling Cracksman
The Peacock Fan
The Photo of Lady X (RH)
The Portrait of Jirjohn Cobb
Report on Vanessa Hewstone (RH)
Riddle of the Travelling Skull
Riddle of the Wooden Parrakeet (RH)
The Scarlet Mummy (RH)
The Search for X-Y-Z
The Sharkskin Book
Sing Sing Nights
The Six From Nowhere (RH)
The Skull of the Waltzing Clown
The Spectacles of Mr. Cagliostro
Stand By—London Calling!
The Steeltown Strangler
The Stolen Gravestone (RH)
Strange Journey (RH)
The Strange Will
The Straw Hat Murders (RH)
The Street of 1000 Eyes (RH)
Thieves’ Nights
Three Novellos (RH)
The Tiger Snake
The Trap (RH)
Vagabond Nights (Defrauded Yeggman)
Vagabond Nights 2 (10 Hours)
The Vanishing Gold Truck
The Voice of the Seven Sparrows
The Washington Square Enigma
When Thief Meets Thief
The White Circle (RH)
The Wonderful Scheme of Mr. Christopher Thorne
X. Jones—of Scotland Yard
Y. Cheung, Business Detective
Keeler Related Works
A To Izzard: A Harry Stephen Keeler Companion by Fender Tucker — Articles and stories about Harry, by Harry, and in his style. Included is a compleat bibliography.
Wild About Harry: Reviews of Keeler Novels — Edited by Richard Polt & Fender Tucker — 22 reviews of works by Harry Stephen Keeler from Keeler News. A perfect introduction to the author.
The Keeler Keyhole Collection: Annotated newsletter rants from Harry Stephen Keeler, edited by Francis M. Nevins. Over 400 pages of incredibly personal Keeleriana.
Fakealoo — Pastiches of the style of Harry Stephen Keeler by selected demented members of the HSK Society. Updated every year with the new winner.
Strands of the Web: Short Stories of Harry Stephen Keeler — 29 stories, just about all that Keeler wrote, are edited and introduced by Fred Cleaver.
RAMBLE HOUSE’s Loon Sanctuary
A Clear Path to Cross — Sharon Knowles short mystery stories by Ed Lynskey.
A Corpse Walks in Brooklyn and Other Stories — Volume 5 in the Day Keene in the Detective Pulps series.
A Jimmy Starr Omnibus — Three 40s novels by Jimmy Starr.
A Niche in Time and Other Stories — Classic SF by William F. Temple
A Roland Daniel Double: The Signal and The Return of Wu Fang — Classic thrillers from the 30s.
A Shot Rang Out — Three decades of reviews and articles by today’s Anthony Boucher, Jon Breen. An essential book for any mystery lover’s library.
A Smell of Smoke — A 1951 English countryside thriller by Miles Burton.
A Snark Selection — Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark with two Snarkian chapters by Harry Stephen Keeler — Illustrated by Gavin L. O’Keefe.
A Young Man’s Heart — A forgotten early classic by Cornell Woolrich.
Alexander Laing Novels — The Motives of Nicholas Holtz and Dr. Scarlett, stories of medical mayhem and intrigue from the 30s.
An Angel in the Street — Modern hardboiled noir by Peter Genovese.
Automaton — Brilliant treatise on robotics: 1928-style! By H. Stafford Hatfield.
Away From the Here and Now — Clare Winger Harris stories, collected by Richard A. Lupoff
Beast or Man? — A 1930 novel of racism and horror by Sean M’Guire. Introduced by John Pelan.
Black Beadle — A 1939 thriller by E.C.R. Lorac.
Black Hogan Strikes Again — Australia’s Peter Renwick pens a tale of the 30s outback.
Black River Falls — Suspense from the master, Ed Gorman.
Blondy’s Boy Friend — A snappy 1930 story by Philip Wylie, writing as Leatrice Homesley.
Blood in a Snap — The Finnegan’s Wake of the 21st century, by Jim Weiler.
Blood Moon — The first of the Robert Payne series by Ed Gorman.
Bogart ’48 — Hollywood action with Bogie by John Stanley and Kenn Davis
Calling Lou Largo! — Two Lou Largo novels by William Ard.
Cornucopia of Crime — Francis M. Nevins assembled this huge collection of his writings about crime literature and the people who write it. Essential for any serious mystery library.
Corpse Without Flesh — Strange novel of forensics by George Bruce
Crimson Clown Novels — By Johnston McCulley, author of the Zorro novels, The Crimson Clown and The Crimson Clown Again.
Dago Red — 22 tales of dark suspense by Bill Pronzini.
Dark Sanctuary — Weird Menace story by H. B. Gregory
David Hume Novels — Corpses Never Argue, Cemetery First Stop, Make Way for the Mourners, Eternity Here I Come. 1930s British hardboiled fiction with an attitude.
Dead Man Talks Too Much — Hollywood boozer by Weed Dickenson.
Death Leaves No Card — One of the most unusual murdered-in-the-tub mysteries you’ll ever read. By Miles Burton.
Death March of the Dancing Dolls and Other Stories — Volume Three in the Day Keene in the Detective Pulps series. Introduced by Bill Crider.
Deep Space and other Stories — A collection of SF gems by Richard A. Lupoff.
Detective Duff Unravels It — Episodic mysteries by Harvey O’Higgins.
Diabolic Candelabra — Classic 30s mystery by E.R. Punshon
Dictator’s Way — Another D.S. Bobby Owen mystery from E.R. Punshon
Dime Novels: Ramble House’s 10-Cent Books — Knife in the Dark by Robert Leslie Bellem, Hot Lead and Song of Death by Ed Earl Repp, A Hashish House in New York by H.H. Kane, and five more.
Doctor Arnoldi — Tiffany Thayer’s story of the death of death.
Don Diablo: Book of a Lost Film — Two-volume tr
eatment of a western by Paul Landres, with diagrams. Intro by Francis M. Nevins.
Dope and Swastikas — Two strange novels from 1922 by Edmund Snell
Dope Tales #1 — Two dope-riddled classics; Dope Runners by Gerald Grantham and Death Takes the Joystick by Phillip Condé.
Dope Tales #2 — Two more narco-classics; The Invisible Hand by Rex Dark and The Smokers of Hashish by Norman Berrow.
Dope Tales #3 — Two enchanting novels of opium by the master, Sax Rohmer. Dope and The Yellow Claw.
Double Hot — Two 60s softcore sex novels by Morris Hershman.
Double Sex — Yet two more panting thrillers from Morris Hershman.
Dr. Odin — Douglas Newton’s 1933 racial potboiler comes back to life.
Evangelical Cockroach — Jack Woodford writes about writing.
Evidence in Blue — 1938 mystery by E. Charles Vivian.
Fatal Accident — Murder by automobile, a 1936 mystery by Cecil M. Wills.
Fighting Mad — Todd Robbins’ 1922 novel about boxing and life
Finger-prints Never Lie — A 1939 classic detective novel by John G. Brandon.
Freaks and Fantasies — Eerie tales by Tod Robbins, collaborator of Tod Browning on the film FREAKS.
Gadsby — A lipogram (a novel without the letter E). Ernest Vincent Wright’s last work, published in 1939 right before his death.
Gelett Burgess Novels — The Master of Mysteries, The White Cat, Two O’Clock Courage, Ladies in Boxes, Find the Woman, The Heart Line, The Picaroons and Lady Mechante. Recently added is A Gelett Burgess Sampler, edited by Alfred Jan. All are introduced by Richard A. Lupoff.
Geronimo — S. M. Barrett’s 1905 autobiography of a noble American.
Hake Talbot Novels — Rim of the Pit, The Hangman’s Handyman. Classic locked room mysteries, with mapback covers by Gavin O’Keefe.
Hands Out of Hell and Other Stories — John H. Knox’s eerie hallucinations
Hell is a City — William Ard’s masterpiece.
Hollywood Dreams — A novel of Tinsel Town and the Depression by Richard O’Brien.
Hostesses in Hell and Other Stories — Russell Gray’s most graphic stories