Part Four

In my collection are the manuscripts of such stories as "West of the Earth" (renamed "In Martian Depths") by Juve, Miss Long's "The Last Man" ("Omega"), "The Egg from the Lost Planet" ("Girl from Mars," by Breuer-Williamson), Skidmore's "Romance of Posi and Nega," "Lancer in the Crystal" ... "The Cities of Ardathia" ... "In the Land of the Bipos" ... "The Machine Man of Ardathia"... "By the Hands of the Dead" .... "Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds" .... "The Head of Apex," and others all by Francis Flagg ... "The Golden Bough," by Dr. Keller, Ed Earl Repp's "Metal World", Bob Olsen's "My Martian Sweetheart", pages from different Edmond Hamilton stories, and others, plus the entire serial by C. Willard Diffin, "Two Thousand Miles Below." I have, in addition, a translation into French of David H. Keller's "Stenographer's Hands," which originally appeared in _Amazing Stories Quarterly_. The French version is known as "Les mains et la machine."

Also, there are four letter files and a large cabinet--all chock full of correspondence from authors and fans.

There is one portion of my collection yet to be described: the scientifilms. In a large box are advertisements, press-sheets, reviews, write-ups, publicity copy, photos, "cuts," and all similar material from dozens of movie magazines, newspapers, other periodicals, film companies and all parts of the world on the scientific from long years ago up to even those to be produced in the future. The amount of material covered in this file is impossible to describe.

(In the installments Mr. Ackerman tells about his scientifilm "stills".)

Birkett's Twelfth Corpse

by August W. Derleth

The wall of hate that stood between the two old rivermen, Fred Birkett and Hank Blum, had grown from a strange and gruesome rivalry--the finding of dead bodies of persons drowned in the Wisconsin River at Sac Prairie. At the time of the tragic drowning of Bud Enders, the rivermen were tied--each had found eleven bodies in the past forty years. It was said by each of them, and repeated in Sac Prairie, that Bud Enders' body would decide the contest.

The sympathy of Sac Prairie was with Birkett, a kindly old man in contrast to the sullen surliness of Blum, who was, too, somewhat younger. Birkett had always joked about his odd luck at finding bodies in the river, and still looked upon his almost uncanny way of knowing where the bodies had been taken by the swift current as more amusing than not. But Blum had brooded upon his rival's luck ever since Birkett had earned a five-hundred dollar reward for finding the corpse of a young student who had fallen into the Wisconsin while drunk, almost a decade before. Now Blum made no effort to conceal his violent hatred for Birkett, nor could Birkett keep down his dislike for his rival.

Bud Enders was drowned on a warm night in July, and twenty boats put out from Sac Prairie within an hour after he went down. Fred Birkett and Hank Blum were among them. Both the old men headed downstream, knowing by long past experience that the swift current in mid-channel, where the youth was drawn under, would quickly roll the body below Sac Prairie toward the long clay river bank southeast of the village, locally known as the Yellowbanks district.

Toward dawn, Fred Birkett found Bud Enders' body, rolling along in shallow but swift water crossing a sand-bar just above the Yellowbanks. The moon was out, and he had no difficulty seeing the body, which he immediately caught with a boathook and secured to the boat without taking it from the water. Then he edged his boat out of the current and made swiftly upstream.

Just where Hiney's Slough enters the Wisconsin, he met Blum. He could not help boasting. "Just made my dozen," he called to Hank in a gruff, yet faintly triumphant voice.

Blum turned his boat and swung across current toward him.

Birkett rested on his oars. Unaware of the fury that consumed his rival, he went on, "Well, we couldn't both find him. Let the best man win, I always said," and smiled in the satisfaction of feeling himself the better of the two.

Blum had said nothing, but now he was looking cautiously upstream and down, his eyes scanning the surface of the water for sight of any boat, his ears waiting to catch any sound that might indicate the approach of other searchers. The two boats lay in quiet water, away from the current.

Whether or not Birkett heard Blum loosen and jerk out one oar is problematical. He turned toward Blum just as the oar descended and caught him a glancing blow on the side of the head, toppling him from his boat and turning the boat with him. Then, with a savage lunge, he pushed Birkett's boat out of reach of the older man just as he came coughing and gasping to the surface of the water. With another quick movement, Blum detached Enders' body from the overturned boat. He made no attempt to catch the body, knowing that the current would not carry it from this quiet water, and he could always return and find it.

Then he shot away, unmindful of Birkett's despairing cries, and secure in the knowledge that Birkett could not swim very well. A little way upstream he paused and listened. There was no sound from below; Birkett had gone down. A cunning smile crossed his lips. Edging the boat into shallow water, he let himself fall fully clothed into the river, wetting himself thoroughly, except for his torn hat, which he threw into the bottom of the boat to give it the appearance of having been hastily torn away from his head and thrown there. Then he got back into the boat and rowed furiously toward Sac Prairie.

The circle of boats was now further downstream, and he did not have to row up quite as far as he drifted down. He timed his entrance well, for the boy's cap had just been found along shore, and the searchers were excited over their find. Quite suddenly he shot from under the bridge into the yellow glow of lanterns held high above the water.

"Birkett's gone under," he shouted frantically. "His boat tipped just above the Yellowbanks!"

Anyone who doubted his cries was easily convinced by his bedraggled appearance, and it did not require his explanation that he had gone into the water after Birkett to explain the wetness of his clothes. He told hastily that the old man fought hard, that he had had to hit him finally, and had at last reluctantly to let him go in order to save himself.

As he led the rowboats to a spot a hundred yards above the entrance to Hiney's Slough, where in the quiet water the two bodies still lay. Blum was enjoying the irony of the knowledge that his twelfth body would be that of his old rival. He broke into speech again, excitedly telling about the accident, and explaining that the boat had long since gone downstream, swept away by the powerful current in which it had tipped. He pointed out approximately the place where the accident had occurred, and went glibly over his story a third time. Then he left the searchers, and pulled into the current toward the dark waters where Birkett had actually gone down.

That much Sac Prairie was later able to piece together. What happened after that is more obscure and fraught with horrific suggestion. It is certain that he went downstream, and equally certain that he seemed to be heading for Hiney's Slough, though one or two disputed this point later. Despite the moon, it was difficult to observe Blum's progress downstream, for he was soon lost in the very heavy shadows on the quiet water surrounding the slough's junction with the river.

In the babble of sound made by the searchers above the slough Blum might have called for some time and not have been heard, though this is doubtful. At any rate, during a lull in the conversation, someone picked up the sound of frantic calling. Everyone stood and listened. Once again came a sharp call, in a voice which was immediately identified as Hank Blum's. The call was heavy with horror and fear. Then another call began to sound, but was abruptly stopped, almost as if it had been rudely shut off by a hand clapped over the lips thru which it came.

The boats immediately pulled away toward Hiney's Slough.

At first there was nothing to be seen except the bottoms of two overturned boats, one of which was Blum's, the other Birkett's. Then someone saw the body of Ender over against one bank, apparently just washing up from deep water. Quite near it, partly submerged, they found the bodies of Hank Blum and Fred Birkett.

Blum was dead, but he had not been drowned. He had been strangled. For when the horrified searchers pulled him out of the water, they found Fred Birkett's dead fingers sunk deep in the flesh of Blum's neck.

Birkett had found his twelfth corpse.

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CLUB NEWS

Mr. Glasser informs us that he will have more news about the Fantasy Fans' Fraternity for our February issue. If you are a science fiction fan, why don't you become a member? There is no charge. Simply write to

Allen Glasser 1610 University Avenue Bronx, New York

and he will tell you all about it.

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Subscribe to TFF today to insure yourself of a monthly copy. Only a limited number are printed.

CONGLAMITORIAL

Third in the series.... Most peculiar titles: "Appendix and the Spectacles," "The Captured Cross-Section," and "The Gostak and the Doshes;" all by Breuer.... Extremities: "Absolute Zero" and "The Heat Wave".... There is plenty of adventure in fantasy fiction. There's the Adventure in Time--In Futurity--On Eros--Of the Pipe--In Anethesia--and the Atomic.... When will we have atomic power? Will we have to wait until "After 5,000 Years," "After 12,000 Years," "After 1,000,000 Years," or until "After Armageddon"?... The entire story of "Beyond the Star Curtain" by Garth Bentley took place upon the earth.... _Wanted_: information from our Long Island readers leading to the discovery of the "Vanishing Wood" in which Tom Jenkins disappeared in October, 1931 (Chronicled in "In 20,000 A.D." by Schachner and Zagat in the September, 1930 Wonder).... People may laugh at fantasy fiction--but we know of at least _two_ motion picture stars that owe their world-wide success to it, and you can think of many others.... Of all the interplanetary stories ever written, "Interplanetary Bridges," by Ludwig Anton, is the only one to have the word in its title....

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Science and Knowledge, And strong youth and power-- Science, the creed of a nation! New customs for old, New ways, a new mold-- The tale of the New Generation!

--Virginia Kidd

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INFORMATION

We have received several requests (and we mean _several_) for a list of the stories written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Following we present a list of his works compiled from the list in the January, 1933 issue of the _Science Fiction Digest_, through the courtesy of Julius Schwartz.

A Princess of Mars The Gods of Mars The Warlord of Mars Thuvia, Maid of Mars The Chessmen of Mars The Mastermind of Mars A Fighting Man of Mars At the Earth's Core Pellucidar Tanar of Pellucidar Tarzan of the Apes The Return of Tarzan The Beasts of Tarzan The Son of Tarzan Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar Tarzan the Untamed Tarzan the Terrible Tarzan and the Golden Lion Tarzan and the Ant Men Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Tarzan and the Lost Empire Tarzan at the Earth's Core Tarzan the Invincible Tarzan Triumphant The Cave Girl The Eternal Lover The Land that Time Forgot The Monster Men The Moon Maid Jungle Girl

This is not a complete list of his works. Will all those that know of stories he has written that are not in this list please send in the names so that we can publish them? We would appreciate it.

If you have any question about weird or science fiction that you would like answered, send it in to us, and we will do our best to answer it for you in this department.

HOW TO COLLECT FANTASY FICTION

by Julius Schwartz