bling, falling, plunging forward—ever forward . . . and, by some unfathomed miracle, the vision of a road sign which read in the bright moonlight: "You are Now Entering the City of Merlin. Go slow."
I woke up the filling-station keeper. He didn't seem very surprized to see me. His jaundiced grin swept me once; then, not waiting to hear my gasping explanations, he led me to a room—the room I am writing this letter in. . . .
It's no use trying to sleep. Sleep takes me back there. . . . The eye of the cyclops . . . the bleeding head . . . the ribald wink. . . .
If all these things are but the figments of a diseased mentality then I suppose I should be put away. . . . Maybe they didn't happen. . . . Maybe I'm crazy. . . .
I see dawn breaking over the hills. As soon as it gets a bit lighter I'm going to post this letter via the first bus.
Then I'm going to get in my car and drive like mad out of this accursed country!
Robert Darnley.
*****
The following newspaper clipping was included by Mr. Abiathar Hall with the manuscript of Mr. Darnley's letter:
May 5, 1936—The body of a man believed to be Robert Darnley, a professional art collector, was found in the wreckage of his automobile about three miles north of Merlin, Tenn. The car, which had sheared off a number of telegraph poles, had evidently been traveling at a high rate of speed. Glass from the shattered windshield had completely decapitated the body.
Omega
I gaze upon a barren, ghostly world,
Devoid of ought but grayish, crumbling earth,
Alone, through space, in stygian void fast hurled
By some weird force. And yet, upon her girth
The pyramids of Egypt once were spread.
Whence went they? Night, the monstrous spider, now,
Web-filled, spins softly her eternal thread.
To think that once some deep-knit, throbbing brow
Conceived of floating space-ships, manned by kings,
With cargoes of sweet spices and rich gems,
Which winged toward Mars and Saturn's whirling rings;
Of foreign moons, and telescopes with stems
Abysmal. Man's dreams, buried in this run
Of tabid clay; what has Jehovah done?
