The Robert E. Howard Omnibus: 97 Collected Stories by Howard Robert E
Author:Howard, Robert E. [Howard, Robert E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Halcyon Press Ltd.
Published: 2010-05-04T07:00:00+00:00
* * *
Contents
THE VOICE OF EL-LIL
By Robert E. Howard
Maskat, like many another port, is a haven for the drifters of many nations who bring their tribal customs and peculiarities with them. Turk rubs shoulders with Greek and Arab squabbles with Hindoo. The tongues of half the Orient resound in the loud smelly bazaar. Therefore it did not seem particularly incongruous to hear, as I leaned on a bar tended by a smirking Eurasian, the musical notes of a Chinese gong sound clearly through the lazy hum of native traffic. There was certainly nothing so startling in those mellow tones that the big Englishman next me should start and swear and spill his whisky-and-soda on my sleeve.
He apologized and berated his clumsiness with honest profanity, but I saw he was shaken. He interested me as his type always does--a fine upstanding fellow he was; over six feet tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, heavy-limbed, the perfect fighting man, brown-faced, blue-eyed and tawny-haired. His breed is old as Europe, and the man himself brought to mind vague legendary characters--Hengist, Hereward, Cerdic--born rovers and fighters of the original Anglo-Saxon stock.
I saw, furthermore, that he was in a mood to talk. I introduced myself, ordered drinks and waited. My specimen thanked me, muttered to himself, quaffed his liquor hastily and spoke abruptly:
"You're wondering why a grown man should be so suddenly upset by such a small thing--well, I admit that damned gong gave me a start. It's that fool Yotai Lao, bringing his nasty joss sticks and Buddhas into a decent town--for a half-penny I'd bribe some Moslem fanatic to cut his yellow throat and sink his confounded gong into the gulf. And I'll tell you why I hate the thing.
"My name," said my Saxon, "is Bill Kirby. It was in Jibuti on the Gulf of Aden that I met John Conrad. A slim, keen-eyed young New Englander he was--professor too, for all his youth. Victim of obsession also, like most of his kind. He was a student of bugs, and it was a particular bug that had brought him to the East Coast; or rather, the hope of the blooming beast, for he never found it. It was almost uncanny to see the chap work himself into a blaze of enthusiasm when speaking on his favorite subject. No doubt he could have taught me much I should know, but insects are not among my enthusiasms, and he talked, dreamed and thought of little else at first....
"Well, we paired off well from the start. He had money and ambitions and I had a bit of experience and a roving foot. We got together a small, modest but efficient safari and wandered down into the back country of Somaliland. Now you'll hear it spoken today that this country has been exhaustively explored and I can prove that statement to be a lie. We found things that no white man has ever dreamed of.
"We had trekked for the best part of a month and had gotten into a part of the country I knew was unknown to the average explorer.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Classics | Fantasy |
Men's Adventure | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense |
Romance | Science Fiction |
Sea Adventures | Short Stories |
War & Military | Women's Adventure |
The Book of Dreams (Saxon Series) by Severin Tim(32283)
Who'd Have Thought by G Benson(15552)
Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han(13692)
Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series) by McCray Carolyn(11521)
Firetrap: The Soul Scorchers MC (The Scorched Souls Serial-series Book 1) by Riley C.L(10628)
Warriors (9781101621189) by Young Tom(9678)
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson(8511)
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher(7834)
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty(7826)
Red Rising by Pierce Brown(7374)
Storm and Silence by Robert Thier(5941)
Shadows Of The Apt [01] - Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky(5917)
The Thirst by Nesbo Jo(5821)
Pandemic (The Extinction Files Book 1) by A.G. Riddle(5620)
Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb(5275)
The Demon Crown: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins(5251)
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty(5235)
The Fall of Dragons by Miles Cameron(5018)
The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (WOMEN IN HISTORY) by Fraser Antonia(4815)