Shrieking Coffins by G
Secret Agent X, April, 1935
Mysteriously six empty coffins disappeared. Then one by one out of the black void of the night they began to appear, each with its grim cargo of shrieking corpses.
CHAPTER I
Mundy grumbled as he impatiently stamped
A SCREAM FROM THE SKY
snow from the instep of his rubber arctics.
“Er, doornail, I think it was, Mundy,”
DEADER ’n a dormouse!” Campus Constable
Colonel Samons corrected. The colonel had
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2
met the constable making his evening rounds
object—a glossy enameled steel coffin!
and was accompanying him across the
Constable and colonel ran together
university campus as far as Kalvin Hall.
towards the coffin, stopped a short yard from
“Howsomever, I don’t like it!” Mundy
it, and looked at each other in surprise and
insisted. “These Christmas holidays! I’ll be
horror. For the mound of virgin snow was
darned glad when the students get back. The
unbroken by foot-steps. It seemed as though
campus is just too darned dead for men of
Mundy’s prediction had come true and that the
action like me and you, Colonel. It’s just coffin had risen from the grave itself.
rheumatics that keeps me here.”
The colonel took a step nearer. His
The campus was a rolling expanse of
cold, fear-shaken fingers groped for matches.
silent beauty. Trees bowed beneath the weight
He scratched a light. “Why, the—the casket is
of a heavy snow. Dwarf evergreens that upside down,” he stuttered. “And what’s covered the grave of John Kalvin, the college
that?’
founder, presented an unbroken knoll of cold
Drip—drip—drip, sounding faintly
whiteness. With monotonous regularity, the
near the coffin. Another match scuffed into
ghostly finger of light from the college airport
yellow flame.
slipped beneath the black and starless ceiling
Mundy swore. “God, sir! Blood
of sky that pressed low against the snow-
drippin’ from that coffin!”
rounded roofs of the buildings.
“Get the town marshal at once,”
They had nearly reached Kalvin Hall
ordered Colonel Samons. “It’s murder. There
when Mundy said, “I’ll be turnin’ off here,
can be no other explanation.”
Colonel. No use of me ploddin’ along here.
Nothin’ ever happens on a night like this.
IN the hotel room where he was stopping,
Wonder to me that old John Kalvin ain’t riz up
Paul Marco chuckled. That evening, in the
just from bein’ bored with his own company.”
Community House, Paul Marco had again
Mundy uttered a crackling laugh and nodded
assumed the role of Marco, the magician.
towards the founder’s grave.
Independently wealthy, Marco had two
“Well, I’m going to another of those
hobbies to which he devoted more time than
abominable bridge games,” replied the another man might devote to his profession.
colonel. “I much prefer—”
These hobbies—curious combination!—were
Colonel Samons’ voice suddenly conjuring and criminal investigation. At one chilled to silence. His breath hung, a frosty
time Marco was a maker of mysteries ; at
cloud in the air. Mundy’s right hand, pudgy
another he was engaged in unraveling them.
within its glove, closed over the colonel’s
He had just concluded his performance of
sleeve. “God, sir!”
feats of magic before a large crowd. He
From above them, from out of the chuckled because he knew that every cent of black void of night, came a shrill scream,
the money taken in would go to the Children’s
unwavering, but dropping in pitch until its
Benefit.
vibrations became inaudible. A disembodied
That Marco was an extremely tall man
voice, a banshee wail, knifed the sky. Then
was concealed to some extent by a huge black
awful silence while Samons and Mundy stared
fur coat that he had not yet had time to
and stared at the grave of John Kalvin, its
remove. A small, neatly trimmed Vandyke
snowy shroud ripped wide.
beard sharpened his chin. A black mustache
For bulking obliquely from the snow-
was drawn to pin points above his too thin
covered mound was a black, blunt-ended lips. His nose, perhaps, prevented him from
Shrieking Coffins
3
being called handsome. Yet there was
Marco tiptoed to the curtained
something magnetic about his gray eyes; doorway and looked in. The lounge was something, threatening, too, when they fringed with shadow beyond the sphere of squinted over the bead of an automatic.
light cast by a green-shaded desk lamp. At the
Marco was about to divest himself of
desk, pen sagging from nerveless fingers, blue
his heavy coat, when the phone on his night
eyes starting, hair upstanding, was Will
stand jangled insistently. He picked up the
Kemper. Suddenly, Kemper’s head jerked.
instrument and, as he listened, his lips twisted
Something cleaved the air with a scintillating
in a whimsical little smile.
flash of silver and struck the top of the desk
“Will Kemper!” he exclaimed. “Swell
with a whang. A knife! It slanted obliquely to hear your voice again. What are you doing
from the dark wood of the desk, still quivering
in this burg? . . . The hell you say! Staying at
like a thing alive.
the Delta Chi house, eh?.... Coming right
“There are others!” came the
over.”
whispering voice. “The next knife shall pierce
He took a taxi, passed through your neck at the base of the brain if you move University Park until he came to the Delta Chi
or speak.”
house. Kemper, a member of the university
Something lurked within the shadows
staff, served as faculty adviser for the Delts.
of that room—a living shadow among
Marco had been very much surprised
inanimate ones. Marco’s long-fingered right
to learn that his old school chum had settled
hand flashed between the soft folds of his coat
into the rut of a college professor. As Marco
and groped in a hidden, inner pocket. He
remembered him, Will Kemper was a well-
found his automatic, withdrew it, and sprang
knit man of average height; he had crisp red
like a cat into the room. The living shadow
hair and an inconspicuous nose. Not the moved again. A pale ray of light struck the professor type at all.
prowler’s face—a mere mask of dark colored
After paying his fare, Marco sauntered
sil
k with yellow eyes that gleamed hatefully
up the snow covered walk that twisted to the
through slits in the cloth.
door of the fraternity house. Pale yellow light
“Hands up!” Marco rapped out.
passed through the panes of leaded glass in the
But the masked man made a single,
front windows. Kemper would be alone, sweeping movement. Something hurtled probably bored to distraction with the through the air, crashed the desk lamp, and loneliness of the great house. All the students
plunged the room into darkness. Marco’s gun
would be away for the holidays.
spat splinters of death-laden flame. A window
Marco opened the door and walked in.
burst open. The shadow passed swiftly and
Silently, on soft pile rugs, he crossed the
silently as a bat. Marco’s second shot, delayed
sumptuous hall. He was on the point of calling
too long, screamed through an empty window
out to Kemper when he heard a voice frame. He sprang to the open window and speaking words that sent Marco’s blood racing
looked out upon the lawn with its thick
through his body.
shrubbery grotesquely shaped beneath the
“Do not move or speak. Do not look
weight of the snow. No sign of the masked
around if you value your life!”
man.
The voice was low pitched and had a
He
turned.
A
mere gesture with his
curiously unemotional quality that Marco right hand and a flashlight dropped from the could not relish. A man with a voice like that
sleeve of his coat into his waiting fingers. Its
could commit ax murders!
beam fanned the room and came to rest upon
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4
the startled face of Will Kemper.
should say. Then there’s one Chinese laundry.
“Turn on the light, Will,” Marco’s Why?”
husky voice was low and tense. “It’s your old
Marco shrugged as he put the knife
pal, Paul Marco.”
back on the desk. “Nothing. Because I wear
bear skin is not a sign that I am a bear. The
KEMPER moved from the cone of light and
man who would carry such a knife doesn’t
touched an electric switch. The room was have to be a Chinese. However—” He flooded with brilliant illumination from an
stopped, head on one side, listening intently.
electrolier that hung from the ceiling. Kemper
There was someone walking softly in the next
crossed to Marco, hand outstretched, lips room. Without a word to Kemper, Marco compressed. Marco took his friend’s hand and
tiptoed into the hall, automatic in his hand. A
found that it was shaking.
man with a frost-pinched nose pointing above
“What the devil, Will?” he asked.
his upturned collar stared with fear-goggled
“Do I know?” snapped Kemper. eyes at Paul Marco.
“That—that man must be able to move
“Hands above your head,” Marco
without a sound. I simply heard a voice behind
whispered. “Come right in here. No funny
me. At first I thought it was one of your jokes.
business! I’m in pretty good practice now and
Then I thought of the cabinet where I put the
I can drill those two eyes of yours in less than
envelope—”
a second!"
“Slow down,” said Marco. “What
The man walked on trembling legs
envelope?”
towards Marco. “See here,” he said in a voice
“Why the envelope that I haven’t got.
that was intended to convey threat, “you can’t
Day before yesterday, Professor Scolar, a do this to me, Mister. I’ll have you in jail!”
crazy old fossil in the chemistry department,
The man’s eyes looked past Marco and
came in here and handed me an envelope. He
encountered Will Kemper. “Say, Mr. Kemper,
told me to hide it, that it was something of
this guy can’t do this to me,” he whimpered.
value. I put it over in that cabinet and forgot
“Why hello, Mundy,” said Kemper.
about it. Then this morning, Scolar got me out
Then to Marco, “It’s just Mundy, the campus
of bed at dawn. He wanted his envelope. I
constable.”
gave it to him, and he dashed out without a
“I just wanted to use your phone,”
word. It was pretty clear that he was worried
Mundy explained, “to call the hotel and see if
about something. Looked as though he was
I could get that magician guy that I’ve heard
half sick.”
of havin’ remarkable success solvin’ crimes in
Marco stepped over to the desk where
the big cities. His name’s Polo—”
Kemper had been working. He took hold of
“You mean Marco?” Will cut in. “If
the ivory handle of the knife and pulled it out.
you do, you’re looking right at him.”
He tested the point of the knife with his finger,
“By the great horn moon!” Mundy
and shuddered slightly as he thought how far
exclaimed.
such a weapon could be driven into human
“What’s up?” asked Marco. “More
flesh. He examined the hilt closely. It was
mystery?”
ornately carved and clearly of Chinese
“More?” Mundy gasped. “Don’t know
workmanship. “Got any Chinks around here?”
what you’re referencing to, but you ain’t seen
he asked.
any yet. Old John Kalvin got cavortin’ in his
“A few students that the Chinese coffin and kicked it clean out of the ground, government sends over. About twenty in all, I
seems like!” Mundy snapped the elastic that
Shrieking Coffins
5
held his earmuffs, crawled a little farther immediately pigeon-holed as being Slavic, down into his collar. He turned towards the
stepped forward. “Hello, Mr. Kemper,” he
door. “Come on, you gents, if you want to see
said. His voice had a slight accent. Probably
the gol-darnedest thing that ever happened
Russian, Marco thought.
since Joshua fought the battle of the—the—”
Kemper nodded at the man. “Let me
“Marne?” suggested Kemper jocosely.
introduce Mr. Marco, Dr. Kaslof.”
“Wait until I get my coat” To Marco he
Marco grasped the man’s plump,
whispered, “Mundy sometimes has spots in
unpleasantly soft fingers.
front of his eyes, if you get what I mean.”
“I’ve heard a great deal about you, Mr.
Marco,” said Kaslof with a smile.
CHAPTER II
“You can’t believe more than half of
COFFIN OF HORROR
it,” replied Marco. He stepped briskly across
the trampled snow to the coffin. “What the
“OUT of that selfsame sky, gentlemen, that’s
hell?” he asked softly.
yawnin’ up there black as a basket of
An elderly man wearing the uniform of
monkeys, we heard a yell that was the god-
a policeman sa
id. “We can’t make it out, Mr.
awfulest thing ever heard!” whispered Marco. Be proud to have you help us. My Constable Mundy as they left the house.
name’s Kvale, town marshal around here. This
“Probably the wind,” said Will thing’s a coffin!”
Kemper lightly.
“So I see. But after all, it’s in a strange
But Marco knew that his companion’s
place—on top of a grave.”
attitude was assumed. He knew that Kemper
The constable nodded his head
was thinking of the mysterious prowler who
vigorously. “Yes, the grave of old John Kalvin
was so proficient with the knife. After another
who started this whole shebang a hundred odd
moment, his beliefs were confirmed by a year ago. Looks as though he just riz right out question from Kemper.
of his grave, that’s what!”
“Do you suppose whatever Mundy has
“Nonsense!” snapped a serious-faced
reference to could have some connection with
young man who leaned callously against the
the man who threw that knife at me?”
coffin and puffed at a pipe. He shook hands
Marco nodded vigorously. “Bet on it.
with Marco. “My name is Durn. I’m the
After all, this is supposed to be a peaceful
university physician. I wish you’d use your
university campus. Two such unusual influence, if you have any, Mr. Marco, with happenings have to be associated.”
these two men who are our police force! They
They rounded the L of Kalvin Hall and
don’t want to open the casket. Don’t want to
came abruptly upon the snow covered bed of
touch a thing until the sheriff comes here.
evergreens that marked the grave of John Please don’t think that the rest of us share Kalvin. Huddled closely about an up-ended