In the Grip of the Griffin: The Complete Battles of Gordon Manning & The Griffin, Volume 3 by Dunn J. Allan

Author:Dunn, J. Allan [Dunn, J. Allan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Detective/Hard-Boiled
Publisher: Altus Press
Published: 2015-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

The Griffin’s Gambit

A Legless Figure of Horror Climbs into a Locked House to Start a Game of Death That Brings Manning and the Griffin Face to Face

I

The Griffin’s Key

The long black car slid along the country road. The purring of the engine was inaudible. The moon was shining, though it was low in the heavens, and no lights showed in or about the big sedan. It glided with the somber, sinister aspect of a hearse.

Trees lined the road, which was a branch from a main highway. It possessed no lighting, either for traffic control or general purposes. It ran for about two miles before it linked with another highway, and in that distance there were but four houses, well apart; comfortable country residences without especial pretense to display or size.

The car came to a noiseless halt where the shadow was thick. Across the road from it ran a high hedge of osage orange, thorny and impenetrable, backed by wire fencing that was invisible from the road. There was an entry gate of ornamental iron, swung between two pillars of cemented fieldstone, topped by electric lanterns that had been switched off.

One figure remained at the wheel of the car, seated as rigidly as an automaton. A door opened, and two weird figures descended. One was dwarfish, not more than four feet in height. It was dressed like a man, but it appeared like a deformed ape. It had no legs, but it moved with astounding agility, the trunk swung between the arms.

The other figure was almost as mysterious. It was tall and lean, wrapped in a black mantle of ankle length. On the head was a high-crowned, wide-brimmed sombrero. This man looked like some tragic figure of mediaeval Spanish romance. The collar of the cape was turned up, his features were not to be seen in the light. What was to be glimpsed of the face appeared ghastly and unnatural.

No words passed between them. What was to be done seemed to have been planned to the minutest detail.

The legless creature climbed one of the stone pillars as nimbly as a chimpanzee, hoisting its bulk with the strength of its arms, hand-over-hand, with fingers that gripped the crevices securely.

It was a fearful sight to see this object swarming up the wall to the lantern cage. It squatted there, like a gargoyle, motionless.

A dog came bounding and barking across the lawn. It was not yet enraged, its voice was a first warning, rather a general alarm. Its nostrils twitched to catch the strange scent that had roused it to duty.

The legless freak tossed a juicy fragment of meat. Here was a more inviting odor. The dog gulped it down. A sound, half groan, half howl, as the pellet inside the meat dissolved, and the deadly poison paralyzed lungs and heart, died away as the unlucky brute fell on its side, twitching, gasping, limp.

In the darkness the human gargoyle chuckled noiselessly. It was deaf and dumb. Such deeds as this amused it. Then it lowered itself inside the garden.

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