<\/p>\n\n
“Tanr\u0131 a\u015fk\u0131na, yard\u0131m et!”, nefes nefeseydi. “Yarat\u0131k! Branner’\u0131 \u00f6ld\u00fcrd\u00fc, benim i\u00e7in geliyor! Bak!” \u0130ki \u00e7ift ate\u015f topu, hemen yolun d\u00f6n\u00fc\u015f\u00fcnde \u00e7al\u0131lar\u0131n kenar\u0131nda par\u0131ldad\u0131. Atl\u0131 yine k\u00fcfretti, k\u00fcfr\u00fcn hemen ard\u0131ndan y\u0131k\u0131m makinesi revolver\u0131n\u0131 \u00e7\u0131kard\u0131 sonra defalarca s\u0131kt\u0131. Ate\u015f k\u0131v\u0131lc\u0131mlar\u0131 yok oldu, atl\u0131 birdenbire \u00fczengiyi Griswell’den kurtar\u0131p at\u0131n\u0131 virajda mahmuzlad\u0131. Griswell sersemlemi\u015fti, dizleri titriyordu. Atl\u0131 bir an i\u00e7in g\u00f6zden kayboldu sonra s\u00fcratle geri d\u00f6nd\u00fc.<\/p>\n
“\u00c7al\u0131l\u0131klara kadar kovalad\u0131m. G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f kurt oldu\u011funu san\u0131yorum, ger\u00e7i daha \u00f6nce hi\u00e7 bir adam\u0131 kovalad\u0131\u011f\u0131n\u0131 duymad\u0131m. Ne oldu\u011funu biliyor muydun?”<\/p>\n
Griswell yaln\u0131zca kafas\u0131n\u0131 bitkin bir \u015fekilde sallayabildi. Ay \u0131\u015f\u0131\u011f\u0131nda damgalanan atl\u0131 a\u015fa\u011f\u0131 ona do\u011fru bakt\u0131, t\u00fcten revolver\u0131 hala sa\u011f elindeydi. Orta boylu bir herifti ve geni\u015f kenarl\u0131 kovboy \u015fapkas\u0131 ve botlar\u0131yla bariz bir \u015fekilde b\u00f6lgenin yerlisi oldu\u011fu belli oluyordu, t\u0131pk\u0131 k\u0131l\u0131\u011f\u0131 Griswell’ i yabanc\u0131 olarak ele verdi\u011fi gibi.<\/p>\n
“Her neyse, ne demek oluyor bunlar?”<\/p>\n
“Bilmiyorum,” diye \u00e7aresizce yan\u0131tlad\u0131 Griswell.<\/p>\n
“Ad\u0131m Griswell. John Branner benimle yolculuk eden arkada\u015f\u0131m, yolun a\u015fa\u011f\u0131s\u0131ndaki \u0131ss\u0131z evde geceyi ge\u00e7irmek i\u00e7in durmu\u015ftuk. Bir \u015fey–” haf\u0131zas\u0131na h\u0131zla h\u00fccum eden deh\u015fetle bo\u011fuldu.<\/p>\n
“Tanr\u0131m!” diye hayk\u0131rd\u0131.<\/p>\n
“Delirmi\u015f olmal\u0131y\u0131m! Bir \u015fey merdiven korkulu\u011fundan bakt\u0131, sar\u0131 y\u00fczl\u00fc bir \u015fey! R\u00fcya g\u00f6rd\u00fc\u011f\u00fcm\u00fc sand\u0131m ama ger\u00e7ekti. Sonra yukar\u0131da biri \u0131sl\u0131k \u00e7almaya ba\u015flad\u0131 ve Branner ayakland\u0131, merdivenlerden yukar\u0131 uykusunda y\u00fcr\u00fcyormu\u015f gibi \u00e7\u0131kt\u0131, hipnotize edilmi\u015f gibiydi. \u00c7\u0131\u011fl\u0131k att\u0131\u011f\u0131n\u0131 duydum ya da ba\u015fka biriydi, sonra elinde kanl\u0131 bir baltayla a\u015fa\u011f\u0131 indi ve Tanr\u0131m, efendim o \u00f6lm\u00fc\u015ft\u00fc! Kafas\u0131 kocaman yar\u0131lm\u0131\u015ft\u0131. Beyni d\u0131\u015far\u0131 \u00e7\u0131km\u0131\u015ft\u0131 ve surat\u0131ndan oluk oluk kan ak\u0131yordu, y\u00fcz\u00fc \u00f6l\u00fc bir adam\u0131n y\u00fcz\u00fcyd\u00fc. Ama merdivenlerden a\u015fa\u011f\u0131 indi! Tanr\u0131 \u015fahidimdir ki John Branner o karanl\u0131k salonda katledildi ve cesedi elinde bir baltayla sessizce merdivenleri indi, beni \u00f6ld\u00fcrmek i\u00e7in.”<\/p>\n
Atl\u0131 hi\u00e7 bir cevap vermedi, at\u0131n\u0131n \u00fczerinde y\u0131ld\u0131zlara kar\u015f\u0131 bir heykel gibi oturuyordu, \u015fapkas\u0131 surat\u0131n\u0131 g\u00f6lgelemi\u015fti ve Griswell y\u00fcz\u00fcn\u00fc okuyam\u0131yordu. Umutsuzca “Deli oldu\u011fumu d\u00fc\u015f\u00fcn\u00fcyorsunuz,” dedi.<\/p>\n
“Belki de \u00f6yleyimdir.”<\/p>\n
“Ne d\u00fc\u015f\u00fcnece\u011fimi bilmiyorum,” diye cevaplad\u0131 atl\u0131.<\/p>\n
“Eski Blassenville Malik\u00e2nesi d\u0131\u015f\u0131nda herhangi bir yer olsayd\u0131 i\u015fte o zaman farkl\u0131 olurdu. Ad\u0131m Buckner. Bu kasaban\u0131n \u015ferifiyim. Mahk\u00fbmlardan birini k\u0131rsalda ki kasabaya g\u00f6t\u00fcrd\u00fcm ve bu y\u00fczden ge\u00e7 d\u00f6nd\u00fcm.”<\/p>\n
At\u0131n\u0131 d\u00f6nd\u00fcrd\u00fc ve hemen Griswell’in yan\u0131nda durdu, s\u0131r\u0131k New Englandl\u0131lardan daha k\u0131sayd\u0131 ama daha sa\u011flam yap\u0131l\u0131yd\u0131. Bu adamla ilgili \u00e7ok do\u011fal ve kesin bir karar vard\u0131, herhangi bir kavga an\u0131nda bu adam\u0131n \u00e7ok tehlikeli olaca\u011f\u0131na inanmak kolayd\u0131.<\/p>\n
“Eve d\u00f6nmekten korkuyor musun?” diye sordu, Griswell \u00fcrperdi ama ba\u015f\u0131n\u0131 sallad\u0131, P\u00fcriten atalar\u0131n\u0131n inat\u00e7\u0131l\u0131\u011f\u0131 ve kararl\u0131l\u0131\u011f\u0131 bask\u0131n gelmi\u015fti.<\/p>\n
“Bu korkuyla tekrar y\u00fczle\u015fecek olman\u0131n d\u00fc\u015f\u00fcncesi midemi buland\u0131r\u0131yor. Ama zavall\u0131 Branner-” yeniden t\u0131kand\u0131. “Cesedini bulmal\u0131y\u0131z. Tanr\u0131m!” insanl\u0131ktan uzak bu yarat\u0131\u011f\u0131n olu\u015fturdu\u011fu derin bir deh\u015fetle feryat etti, “ne bulaca\u011f\u0131z? Y\u00fcr\u00fcyen bir \u00f6l\u00fc adam m\u0131, ne-“<\/p>\n
“G\u00f6rece\u011fiz.”<\/p>\n
\u015eerif dizginleri sol dirse\u011fine do\u011fru k\u0131v\u0131rd\u0131 ve y\u00fcr\u00fcrlerken mavi t\u00fcfe\u011finin bo\u015f haznelerini doldurmaya ba\u015flad\u0131.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*revolver: alt\u0131patlar, tek dolumla birden fazla ate\u015f edebilen tabanca t\u00fcr\u00fc.<\/p>\n\t
<\/p>\n\n
“For God’s sake, help me!” he panted. “The thing! It killed Branner-it’s coming after me! Look!” Twin balls of fire gleamed in the fringe of bushes at the turn of the road. The rider swore again, and on the heels of his profanity came the smashing report of his six-shooter-again and yet again. The fire-sparks vanished, and the rider, jerking his stirrup free from Griswell’s grasp, spurred his horse at the bend. Griswell staggered up, shaking in every limb. The rider was out of sight only a moment; then he came galloping back.<\/p>\n
“Took to the brush. Timber wolf, I reckon, though I never heard of one chasin’ a man before. Do you know what it was?”<\/p>\n
Griswell could only shake his head weakly. The rider, etched in the moonlight, looked down at him, smoking pistol still lifted in his right hand. He was a compactly-built man of medium height, and his broad-brimmed planter’s hat and his boots marked him as a native of the country as definitely as Griswell’s garb stamped him as a stranger.<\/p>\n
“What’s all this about, anyway?”<\/p>\n
“I don’t know,” Griswell answered helplessly.<\/p>\n
“My name’s Griswell. John Branner-my friend who was traveling with me-we stopped at a deserted house back down the road to spend the night. Something-” at the memory he was choked by a rush of horror.<\/p>\n
“My God!” he screamed. “I must be mad! Something came and looked over the balustrade of the stair-something with a yellow face! I thought I dreamed it, but it must have been real. Then somebody began whistling upstairs, and Branner rose and went up the stairs walking like a man in his sleep, or hypnotized. I heard him scream-or someone screamed; then he came down the stair again with a bloody hatchet in his hand-and my God, sir, he was dead! His head had been split open. I saw brains and clotted blood oozing down his face, and his face was that of a dead man. But he came down the stairs! As God is my witness, John Branner was murdered in that dark upper hallway, and then his dead body came stalking down the stairs with a hatchet in its hand-to kill me!”<\/p>\n
The rider made no reply; he sat his horse like a statue, outlined against the stars, and Griswell could not read his expression, his face shadowed by his hat-brim.<\/p>\n
“You think I’m mad,” he said hopelessly. “Perhaps I am.”<\/p>\n
“I don’t know what to think,” answered the rider.<\/p>\n
“If it was any house but the old Blassenville Manor-well, we’ll see. My name’s Buckner. I’m sheriff of this county. Took a prisoner over to the county-seat in the next county and was ridin’ back late.”<\/p>\n
He swung off his horse and stood beside Griswell, shorter than the lanky New Englander, but much harder knit. There was a natural manner of decision and certainty about him, and it was easy to believe that he would be a dangerous man in any sort of a fight.<\/p>\n
“Are you afraid to go back to the house?” he asked, and Griswell shuddered, but shook his head, the dogged tenacity of Puritan ancestors asserting itself.<\/p>\n
“The thought of facing that horror again turns me sick. But poor Branner-” he choked again.<\/p>\n
“We must find his body. My God!” he cried, unmanned by the abysmal horror of the thing; “what will we find? If a dead man walks, what-“<\/p>\n
“We’ll see.”<\/p>\n
The sheriff caught the reins in the crook of his left elbow and began filling the empty chambers of his big blue pistol as they walked along.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heyecanl\u0131 bir d\u00f6rd\u00fcnc\u00fc b\u00f6l\u00fcm sizleri bekliyor…","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,140],"tags":[127],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herkafadanses.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}