Читать книгу The Fourth Ghost Story MEGAPACK ® - Редьярд Джозеф Киплинг - Страница 6

Originally published in Spaceways #1, November 1938.

A Tale Told by a Wraith....

“Si, Si, Senor Saint Petair! It was at Irun that I lost my life. You wish to hear the story? Very well, but first you must understand that I have loved, or thought I loved, three women at the same time.”

“Do not smile, senor Saint; it is not a frivilous matter. To love one woman, that is bad enough; but to love two, that is terrible. Just imagine my woes with three!”

At this point the wraith with the very Spanish accent shifted his position on the cloud he occupied with St. Peter. Finally he settled back with a loud sigh, if ghosts may be said to sigh, and continued his narration.

“The first was Juanita. She was tall and slim and lithe. The second was Carlotta. She eked out a bare existence by selling flowers on the street for a few coppers an ounce. Her figure was short and rather plump with skin as brown as a nut.

“The third was quite different, senor Saint, a blonde. Delores, the daughter of old Don Hernandez, was half French. You see, her father met his wife on one of his annual visits to Paris.”

“Well, senor Saint, I loved the three and became more miserable as the days slid by. I might still be in the dilemma, but then the revolution came.”

“When France’s legions marched to attack Irun (that is my home city up on the French frontier), I joined the loyalist forces. They pounded us with heavy artillery for days, shelling, shelling ceaselessly until men began to go mad from it. Then, our vigilance relaxed, the rebels poured in. All that day we fought like demons, but ever we were pushed back.”

“And then, by one of those weird coincidences which do occur at times to mystify us, I rounded a corner and found, crouched low in a doorway, my three loves. Not knowing each other, yet hiding together!”

“I had hardly perceived the girls when suddenly I was struck. I felt the slug’s deadening impact, felt it tear its fiery way through my flesh, and heard a sickening crunch and splintering as my bones gave way.”

“As I crumpled, I was glad. Yes, glad, for I knew my love problems were solved. Regardless of the seething hell about me, the one girl who really loved me would reach my side. And, senor Saint, would you believe it, I calmly wondered which of the three it would be as I lay there!”

“A hand touched my shoulder; I heard someone call my name softly. With a mighty effort I opened my eyes…and peered into those of…Dios!…Jose, my sergeant!”

“There and then I wished I might die. Si, those fascists were very, very obliging fellows, for they dropped a heavy shell almost on top of us.

“By the way, Senor Saint Petair, is my friend Jose here? He isn’t? My, can it be that he is in…in…in…in the other place?”