“Did it have anything to do with The Chemicals?” Cameron said. He had just picked up the habit of calling Professor Hawkline’s last experiment The Chemicals.
Miss Hawkline did not want to say what she was about to say. Cameron was watching carefully the expression on her face just before she spoke. She looked like a guilty child about to speak.
“Yes, it was an earlier stage of The Chemicals that ate the dog but Daddy took the stuff and flushed it right down the toilet.”
Miss Hawkline was blushing now and staring down at the floor.
Venice
Miss Hawkline got up from the chair she was sitting gravely in like a captured child and went over to the fireplace to poke the coal.
Everybody waited for her to finish and come back to the conversation about The Chemicals, the dog being eaten, etc., and what other topics that might be of interest on July 13, 1902.
While they waited Cameron counted the lamps in the room, 7, the chairs, 6, the pictures on the walls, 5. The pictures were of things that Cameron had never seen before. One of the pictures was of a street lined with buildings. The street was filled with water. There were boats on the water.
Cameron had never seen a street with boats on it instead of horses.
“What in the hell is that?” he said, pointing to the picture.
“Venice,” Miss Hawkline said.
Having finished with the fireplace Miss Hawkline sat back down and the conversation was resumed. Actually, something they had talked about earlier was repeated and then they went onto something else.
Parrot
“If The Chemicals can change your thoughts around in your head and also steal the clothes right off your body, I think you’ve got something there that could be dangerous,” Greer said.
“It’s the monster we’re worried about,” Miss Hawkline said.
“Which one?” Greer said. “I think you might have two of them here. And the one behind the iron door down there in the ice caves might be the one that will give us the least trouble.”
“Let’s go down and kill that fucker right now,” Cameron said. “Let’s be done with it and then we can think about other things if you want to think about them. I’m bored with all this talking. It’s getting us nowhere. I’ll go get the guns and then let’s go down there and do the killing. Do you know what it looks like or how big it is or what the fuck it is, anyway?”
“No, we’ve never seen it,” Miss Hawkline said. “It just howls and pounds on the iron door that’s between the ice caves and the laboratory. We’ve kept the door locked ever since our father disappeared.”
“What does it sound like?” Cameron said.
“It sounds like the combination of water being poured into a glass,” Miss Hawkline said. “A dog barking and the muttering of a drunk parrot. And very, very loud.”
“I think we’re going to need the shotgun for this one,” Cameron said.
The Butler
Just then there was a knock at the front door. The knock echoed through the house and brought silence upon everybody in the parlor.
“What’s that?” Greer said.
“It’s somebody knocking at the door,” Cameron said.
Miss Hawkline got up and started toward the parlor door that led into the front hall.
“It’s the butler,” the other Miss Hawkline said, remaining in her chair.
“The butler?” Greer said.
“Yes, the butler,” the other Miss Hawkline said. “He’s been up in Brooks getting some things we ordered from back East for The Chemicals.”
They heard Miss Hawkline open the front door and then her voice and another voice talking.
“Hello, Mr. Morgan,” she said. “Did you have a good trip?”
Her voice was very formal.
“Yes, madam. I got all the things that you requested.”
The butler answered her with the voice of an old man.
“You look a little tired, Mr. Morgan. Why don’t you go freshen yourself up and then go to the kitchen and have a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee will make you feel better.”
“Thank you, madam. I could stand to get some of this dust off me and a cup of coffee would be most refreshing after my journey.”
“How was Brooks?” Miss Hawkline said.
“Dusty and depressing as always,” Mr. Morgan said.
“Was everything we ordered there?” Miss Hawkline said.
“Yes,” Mr. Morgan said.
“Good,” Miss Hawkline said. “Oh, before you go, Mr. Morgan. My sister is back from Portland and she brought some guests with her who will be staying here with us for a while.”
She brought Mr. Morgan into the parlor.
He ducked his head when he stepped through the door and into the room.
Mr. Morgan was 7 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed over 300 pounds. He was sixty-eight years old and had white hair and a carefully trimmed white mustache. He was an old giant.
“Mr. Morgan, this is Mr. Greer and Mr. Cameron. They have come all the way from Portland and have graciously agreed to kill the monster in the ice caves.”
“I’m pleased to meet you both,” the old giant butler said.
Greer and Cameron told the giant they were glad to meet him, too. The Miss Hawklines stood there watching the meeting, looking quite beautiful.
“This is truly good news,” Mr. Morgan said. “That thing down there is a regular nuisance, pounding on the door and making such terrible noises. Sometimes it’s hard to get a good night’s sleep around here. The demise of that beast would greatly help in making this house a bit more tolerable to live in.”
Mr. Morgan had never really approved of Professor Hawkline’s move from Boston to the Dead Hills of Eastern Oregon. He also did not like the site that the professor had chosen to build the house on.
He excused himself and left very slowly, because he was so old, ducking his head again to get through the door. They could hear him walking slowly down the hall to his room. The heavy sound of his footsteps was very tired.
“Mr. Morgan has been with our family for thirty-five years,” Miss Hawkline said.
“His previous employment involved working with a circus,” the other Miss Hawkline said.
Getting Ready to Go to Work
“Let’s go kill the monster and be done with it.” Cameron said. “I’ll get the guns.”
“As soon as you get the equipment that you need, we’ll take you down there,” Miss Hawkline said.
Cameron went out into the hall and got the long narrow trunk full of guns that was beside the elephant foot umbrella stand. He came back into the parlor and put the trunk down on a couch and opened it.
“We’ll need the shotgun for certain,” Cameron said. He took out the sawed-off twelve-gauge shotgun and a box full of shells. They were 00 buckshot. He loaded the gun and then he put a handful of shells in his coat pocket.
Greer reached into the trunk and took out a.38 revolver. He loaded the pistol and put it into his belt.
Cameron took out the.38 caliber automatic pistol that had previously been used to kill Filipino insurgents. He put a clip of bullets in the butt of the gun and then he snapped back and pushed forward the receiver sending a shell into the chamber. He put the gun on safety and slipped it into his belt.
“How big are those caves?” Greer said to the nearest Miss Hawkline.
“Some of them are big,” she said.
Cameron put an extra clip of bullets for the automatic in his coat pocket.
“Let’s take a rifle with us,” Greer said, reaching down into the trunk for the Krag. “We’ve never tried to stop a monster before. He might give us some extra work, so let’s be prepared for it.”