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He noticed the bronzed muscles of the Jungle Man tense, then relax.
Our other friend is here, he said.
Only then did the Swordsman see the silhouette of the figure in the
wide hat once more. How do you do that? he demanded. Do both of us
have invisible warriors on our sides?
A nasty-sounding laugh answered him. You might say that, the figure
replied. For the moment, I have them chasing each other. But they will
soon be on our trail again, especially that one who is part wolf. He won t
have any trouble picking up our track.
I m sure, murmured the Jungle Man.
But he may be the key to our survival, said the half-visible man. Do
any of you know what movies are?
I do, the Jungle Man said. I once tried out for the role of myself in a
motion picture. But I didn t get the part.
I had heard of some experiments in England with proj-ecting moving
pictures by Friese-Greene and Paul, and in America by Thomas Edison,
the Sleuth said. The Swordsman continued to look blank.
All right, said the shrouded figure. Suffice to say movies are one of
those art forms from which all of you derive your substance in this shade.
That is less true for me I m more in the radio and comic books media.
Never mind. My point is that movies are the major incarnations or the
Universals as well, especially the wolf, mummy and the man of parts, the
big man. In fact, the same actor who is famous for the wolf role has also
contributed to the others. Eliminate him, and we may stand a chance of
weakening those other two incarnations.
I don t pretend to understand this, the Jungle Man said, but I m
willing. How do we do it?
That s a good question. In the movies, the best method is a silver
bullet.
Since we are in no position to mine any silver, said the Sleuth, I
would suggest we concentrate on Vlad. He turned to the Swordsman.
From what you told me of Larry s words, I have an idea what he was trying
to tell you. The word would, you know, has another spelling and another
meaning. If I can borrow the formidable-look-ing knife of yours, I may be
able to fashion an appropriate weapon from some of this tree growth below
us.
Whatever you do, you d better do it fast, the Jungle Man said. I
smell gypsies approaching again. ...
Soft laughter interrupted him. I ll see if I can t lead them astray, too,
while you make your preparations. His voice faded off and, although the
Swordsman looked care-fully, he did not see his departure.
The Swordsman did not pretend to understand the forces of nature
that arrayed these two sides against one another. But it did not seem to fit
that one side should have so many more forces to deploy than the other.
He was con-vinced that those who would maintain the world as he knew it
had more allies who, he fervently hoped, would show up very soon.
No sooner had the Sleuth returned his knife with another weapon he
had made than the sounds of the approaching gypsies could be heard
below. The Swordsman stood. Amigos, I suppose we might as well make
our stand here. At least we have the advantage of the high ground. . . . He
noticed the Jungle Man s nose twitching. Something?
Men and animals. Approaching the open area behind us, down
below. I have no way of knowing if they are friends or more enemies, but ...
Si. We know those approaching from this side are enemies. What do
we have to lose? Come on.
They scrambled down the back of their ledge, just ahead of Vlad s
forces scaling the front men with heads wrapped in colorful kerchiefs,
knives gripped in their hands and teeth, scrambling up toward them. The
stalkers made it to the top, only to find their prey retreating below them on
the opposite side. The Swordsman drew his weap-ons, the Sleuth checked
the loads of his pistol, the Jungle Man crouched pantherlike, and the
strangely clouded fig-ure in the slouch hat rejoined them as they formed a
circle, protecting each other s backs, from those closing in around them.
A ringing cry from the open area behind them was echoed by the
sound of hoofbeats and then a volley of gunshots. The Swordsman spun
around to see another Masked Man leading the charge of what seemed to
be a posse of American cowboys.
And then the gypsies were upon them. The Swords-man s long and
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