Duffey at first thought that a most peculiar fog was rising in the night. Then he saw that it was the special shimmering. That meant that the events happening now and henceforth, though of high probability, were not absolutely happening. It was really a sort of relief.
“But the flayed skin that I hold in my hands, to what man does it belong? The skin of the dead Cardinal Artemis was marked and mottled naturally. The skin of Gilberto who would play his double was marked by Gilberto himself with a tattoo needle, and it had all the marks of the Cardinal's skin. But Gilberto put on certain of his own characteristic marks also, ‘So that I will know my own skin if I ever see it again,’ as he said. But which skin is it now? Are there too many marks on it, or too few? Of which man is this the skin? And which man is sleeping on this ship right now?”
“I don't know, Monsignor X,” said Melchisedech of the bones only.
“I find it significant that you, a certified sorcerer and magus, do not know such a simple thing,” Monsignor X said.
Yes, it was possible that Casey Gorshok Szymansky, of the Zodiac and of Chicago, was somewhat chilly to Count Finnegan and his companions when those three came onto the Argo during the ‘Third Year of the Bells’. But both of them were Argonauts and Masters, so a chilliness between them would not have been becoming. There had to be some explanation of the apparent frostiness of Casey, since it could not be real.
Then there was an event of great importance in the history of art. Count Finnegan, in that short time he was on the Argo at that time, painted thirteen really stunning pictures. This was the “Deaths of the Cardinals” series. They are beyond all price. They are also beyond almost all access, for they are painted on the very bulkheads of the ‘Bread and Wine Room’ of the Argo, and the Argo does not come to the call of random persons.
Could there be any doubt that Count Finnegan himself painted them? Cardinal Hedayat, that great Prince of the Church and look alike double of Finnegan, had been an accomplished amateur painter. But had he such power as this? Was there on all the Earth, now that Adam Scanlon was dead, any painter other than Finnegan who was capable of such work? This was consummate power in portraiture.
The series showed the thirteen executions or murders of the thirteen very great men. All of them were wonderful in their power and majesty, but the ‘Hanging of Cardinal Gabrailovitch’, the ‘Beheading of Cardinal Ti’, the ‘Flaying of Cardinal Artemis’, the ‘Impaling Upside Down of Cardinal Hedayat’, these were surpassing.
The thirteen great paintings, representing the Cardinals Ti, Brokebolt, Merry de Val, Leviathon, Artemis, Lloyd-Spencer, Salvatore, Gregorio, Runosake, Doki, Gabrailovitch, Erculo, and Hedayat, showed thirteen very great men, some of them saints, one of them Salvatore an Argo Master.
“My God, what passion!” Biloxi Brannagan had cried out when he saw those beautiful and torturous burstings of color. These were life and death portrayed.
“Biloxi, you have known myself and you have known Melchisedech and others of us,” Count Finnegan chided him, “and you still use words wrongly, as a land-bound mortal would. ‘Passion’ is but the weak opposite of ‘Action’ as to be passive is the opposite of to be active. You should look at these and strike your forehead with your hand and cry ‘My God, what action!’ Action does not require such incidentals as exterior motion. Action is...”
“Be off with thee, thou impelled genius, thou glorious counterfeit, thou delicious fraud,” Biloxi Brannagan cried at him.
“We go to the ‘Belling Shoals’, to the ‘Ringing Rocks’, to the hewn cave in the heart of the ‘Mooring Stone’,” Count Finnegan said to them all. “Ours is a very short trip with you this time. And I may never again set foot on the Argo till I sail on her on the Four Waters of Paradise. We are going to the Haven in the Shoals because that is the last refuge on Earth for us. We are assembling there now, by various conveyance, thirteen shadow men, thirteen doubles of dead princes, because we will play a trick on the Judas World by going there. Of the thirteen of us, one of us will not be a shadow man. One of us will not be the double of a dead holy man. One of us will be, pardon me, a dead holy man who is still alive. And by that we will effect it that the line is not broken. We will assure it that the world will not be lost before the last battle begins at least. You will know that we have not let the line be broken by the fact that on your very next adventure you will have the transporting of the Antichrist. Were we extinguished now, his evil would already have been done and there would be no need for him to appear in the world in person. But our line will still be unbroken when Armageddon Morning dawns red. One of us will be reigning when this very ship, the Holy Argo, carries Antichrist to the Plains of Megiddo.”
“The Antichrist will never travel on the Argo,” said Biloxi Brannagan.
“He has done so,” said Gilberto Levine and O’Brien, the double of Holy Artemis.
“He is doing so,” said Herman Hercules, the double of Holy Erculo.
“He will do so,” said Count Finnegan the double of Holy Hedayat.
When Count Finnegan and his companions left tthe Argo, the Coryphaena Fish with their brass-fretted shell horns stayed by that shore of the ‘Ringing Rocks’ where the three landed, and they did not follow the Argo further.
9
Melchisedech Duffey and Biloxi Brannagan and Kasmir Gorshok, the three Masters then a-sail on the Argo, declared themselves in perpetual session to guard against the coming of the Antichrist onto the Argo.
“Prophecies are made for man and not man for prophecies,” Melchisedech swore. “lf a prophecy is bad hap for man, or if it signifies the end of man, then we will contravene it. Myself, I cannot even recall the prophecy that Antichrist will sail on the Argo to Megiddo.”
“I believe that it is somehow combined with the Judas Prophecy,” Casey said.
“And it is necessary that it should happen,” said Biloxi Brannagan. “It is needful that this evil person of Mystery does go to Megiddo. Scripture tells us that this, along with other related things, must happen.”
“ ‘It is necessary that it happens, but woe to him by whom it happens,’ is what God in Scripture says,” Melchisedech said. “My own prayer is ‘Let this misfortune happen if it must, only not yet!’ Let this woe, which will be eternal, not fall on us. Not on myself, not on thee Biloxi, not on thee Kasmir, not on Holy Argo Herself. Somewhere there are experts at detection and scrutiny who could set up conditions so that this ‘Person of Mystery’ could in no way come onto the Argo. Who are these experts? Where will we find them?”
Finnegan and his companions had left the Ship by then, and the Argo was on further adventures.
“Oh the highest experts will be found in their graves,” Kasmir said, “or we'll find them still struggling in the World Militant, or we'll find them still unborn. Or in fiction. Damn this flitting fog!”
“The flitting fog, the shimmering, is to be blessed and not damned,” Melchisedech said. “It means that some of the most direful things are not of absolute finality at this time, We will find the experts at once, wherever they are, and we will procure their services. See to it, Gorshok! See to it, Brannagan! See to it, myself!”
Well, they got such as they could of the experts in scrutiny and detection. Some of these were indeed fictitious, and they were routed out of their fictional graves. Some of them were authentic persons behind fictional disguises, and these were plucked either out of life or out of death. All the better ones insisted on anonymity before they would give advice: so these will appear under code names. So it happens that they will all be called by the names of famous detectives, whether these are their code names or their real names. They are here called Philo Vance, Father Brown, Doctor Thorndyke, Max Carrados, and Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen. And thus they advised how to keep a person from entering:
“Fireplaces are often the keys to situations like this,” Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, also known as ‘The Thinking Machine’ said. “I always regretted that I could not use a fireplace in my famous ‘The Pro
blem of Cell 13’, but fireplaces are so seldom found in standard jail cells. When one considers a room or a building or a ship, one says ‘This is still a cube, however much it is distorted. We still have the problem of entering or leaving a cube. And a cube is made up of four sides, distorted maybe, and a top and a bottom; or four bulkheads and an overhead and a deck if it is a ship. Something coming into this cube must come in through one of the sides, or through the top or the bottom’. Aha, yes, that is the classic statement. But now comes the classic exception that is so often forgotten: ‘Have you remembered the fireplace?’ More people have gone wrong by not remembering fireplaces than by any other thing. A fireplace is not really a wall, and it is not really a ceiling, but what is it? Are there any fireplaces on the Argo?”
“There are a few,” Kasmir Gorshok said. “I suspect that most of them are subjective or state of mind fireplaces. Every study, every den, every wardroom, on ship or off, has to have a fireplace. There is no satisfaction in such a place without one. But a fireplace need not have an exit to the outside world. A sorcerer in particular has to have a fireplace. He uses the shapes that appear in it for the assembly and selecting of his thoughts and figures. He will also use it as a Sorcerer's Furnace or as an Alchemist's Retort. He will use it for conjuring, or just because a sorcerer would be lost without a fire and a fireplace. There are a number of sorcerers affiliated with the Argo, so there are a number of fireplaces on her. But as I say, they need not have outlets to the exterior world. They may be subjective fireplaces, blind fireplaces.”
“Blind spirits may enter by blind fireplaces,” the Professor said, “and I believe that we are dealing with such here. And once they are inside, they can turn themselves into almost anything. A fireplace is neither a wall nor a ceiling, but it is a forgotten entry place between the two. Do you sorcerers or masters have access to or command of any firedrakes?”
“Oh certainly,” Kasmir said. “We can command all the firedrakes we wish, and they will come.”
“Then set a firedrake to guard each fireplace,” the Professor said. “Take ordinary precautions about all the other entrances. Make sure that he who would come aboard does not have an ally on ship already. Watch all these things, and the code-named ‘Man of Mystery’ will not be able to come onto the Argo.”
“The thing to keep track of is who goes out and who comes in,” said the person using the name of ‘Max Carrados the Blind Detective’. “Do not trust anyone. If more persons come in than go out, then there are additions to the people here. Sound every alarm then, for you have an illegal entry. Break down the security into sections. Make it check for every person, even for yourself, most especially for yourself. And the person who has more entries than exits is himself the guilty one. If you yourself come in more times than you go out, then you may be the culprit, you may be the invader, you may be the ‘Man of Mystery’. Watch particularly whether you do not sometimes use a disguise when you come in. Sawed-off shotguns, strategically placed, are a good solution to this problem. They will blast and kill anyone who has an entry that is not balanced by a previous exit.”
“Always notice the frame of a picture or of a problem closely,” said the person using the code name of Doctor Thorndyke. “Always distrust a person who says that an answer must be either inside or outside of the framework of a problem or a question. Perhaps the answer is neither inside nor outside the framework. Perhaps there are two different meanings to being ‘inside’ a frame. A thing may be in or inside a frame, and yet not be in the space enclosed by the frame. Especially if the frame is made out of five-eighth inch hardwood moulding, the answer may be hidden within the frame itself. You will have to take the ship apart and examine it plank by plank and stick by stick and nail by nail. Examine them all minutely and individually. The ship is its own framework. You recall that in my ‘The Case of Oscar Brodski’ that I said ‘...the danger of delay; the vital importance of instant action before that frail and fleeting thing that we call a clue has time to evaporate’. I suggest that you apprehend the ‘Man of Mystery’ first of all.”
“But we still don't know who he is, that is to say, we don't know who he will be,” Melchisedech said.
“In that case, find out who he is first of all,” said the doctor, “and then apprehend him second of all.”
“One of the answers is to be found in the eighth movement of Andreyev's Zauberkonzert,” said the expert who was codenamed Philo Vance. “Or, really, the answer may be found in the eighth movement of anything at all, but not so clearly. If you have any feeling for African Violets, you will clearly understand the answer. I would recommend, however, that African Violets be felt for themselves alone. See my celebrated monogram ‘The Unutility of African Violets’. A consummate cribbage boardman will know the answer instantly, as will a master of the Round-The-Mountain maneuver at American checkers.”
“I dispute you there, Mr. Vance,” said Melchisedech Duffey. “I am the master of the Round-The-Mountain trick at checkers, but I do not know the answer to the problem of keeping the person codenamed ‘The Man of Mystery’ off of the Argo. Myself, when I really know the answer to a thing, I can usually state it in three words.”
“Oh certainly, I could do that also,” Philo Vance said.
“Well, what are your three words, Philo?” Duffey asked him.
“Get a dog,” said the master of detection.
“The hardest man to throw out of a place is the man who is already outside,” said codenamed Father Brown, “and the hardest man to prevent entering a place is the man who is already inside. Well, it's been a pleasure, gentlemen. And since Philo and the others have already solved the problem for you, I will bid you all good day. Remind me not to walk directly off the ship until a plank or ladder or device of some sort is provided. I am absent-minded about such things, and sometimes I get a good drenching that way. You know that the original meaning of ‘drench’ in Old English is to drown, but I don't want to apply this meaning to myself.”
“But has the problem been solved?” Brannagan asked. “Do we know how to deal with the ‘Man of Mystery’ and how to keep him off our Ship? What, after all, has Philo Vance told us?”
“Perhaps an English Bulldog would be the best sort of dog in this case,” Father Brown said. “If you know one you can trust, get him. The English Bulldog will most quickly realize it when something familiar begins to turn into something strange and wrong. Deal with it quickly when that moment arrives.”
“I'll do it,” Melchisedech said. “I'll get an English Bulldog. I know one I can trust.” The Argo Masters sent the codenamed detectives and scrutinizers back to their stations, whether in life or out of it.
“Not Gunboat Smith,” Kasmir Gorshok said with a touch of worry after the detectives had gone.
“Yes, Gunboat Smith,” Melchisedech insisted. “That is one English Bulldog that I trust all the way.”
“But Gunboat never liked me,” Kasmir said. “We just don't get along well enough together to be on the same ship.”
“Gunboat Smith it will be,” Melchisedech said with heavy finality. And it was but a short adventure to pick up Gunboat Smith where he was Bulldog-in-Residence at the Old Wooden Ship Tavern in Galveston, Texas.
There was a lot of growling on the Argo for the next several days. Gunboat Smith growled at Kasmir Gorshok, and Kasmir Gorshok growled at Gunboat Smith. But otherwise the Ship was in good shape. Closed circuit burglar alarms were installed at every passageway and rat line of the Argo, and the firedrakes were on constant patrol. It would seem that no person could enter the Argo uninvited, either by air or by land or sea, or from under the sea.
But phenomena of every sort were surrounding and infiltrating the ship in their multitudes. Something from their still poorly-defined aggregation was trying to board the Argo, or was already paying homage to somebody on the Argo. There was the beginning of something familiar turning strange and wrong. Gunboat Smith let them know about it as well as he could, but they all felt it.
“Has he come already?” Biloxi asked, “and has he been given authority over the world?”
The Argo was picking up an entourage of ships and boats, large and small, and some of them of unrecognizable flag and registry. There were musical sounds from the sea, but these were of a greatly different music from that which had accompanied the Argo when it was carrying Count Finnegan and Gilberto and Herman Hercules. The sea itself was something that was turning wrong and strange. There was a new magnetic wind blowing. Strangeness isn't to be classified too quickly.
The musical sound that accompanied them now (or was it an anti-musical sound?) was possessed of a different magnetism. It was as if consensus and polarity had been abrogated. The ears of Duffey and Brannagan and Gunboat Smith bled a bit in those hours. New and dazzling things were happening to smell and vision, and even to tactile feeling. There was a pleasant clamminess in the air. Can there be a pleasant clamminess? Something new in excitement and fascination was creating itself.
The Ship Argo was following a course of her own selection, or perhaps she had been instructed by persons unknown to follow this course. She was moving eastward at a fair speed, but not at full Argo speed. She was not (as she usually was) moving against the winds and waves. Now she was carried along by the winds and waves (winds and waves that had obviously been tampered with). And those winds and waves were paying open homage to the Argo or to someone on board of her.
“Morning sickness? Me? Morning sickness!” Melchisedech moaned one morning, and he was sicklied all over with a new dullness.
“I've got it too, Duffey,” Brannagan said. “I'm just like a landsman on his first rough sea. Have you noticed the sea though? It's different. It's of a different texture and aim and intent. Duff, it's paying homage to a different thing. I had a discussion with some fellows once. What, we considered, if the materialists and secularists are right, and there are no things beyond? What if there be no aim or intent? What if there be a different aim or intent to it all? What would the sea be like then? Those were all fellows who knew the many faces of the sea well.
More Than Melchisedech Page 59
