The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction Megapack
H. Bedford-Jones
COPYRIGHT INFO
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC. All rights reserved. Cover art © Aleksandra Smirnova / Fotolia.
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“The Miraculous Buddha” originally appeared in Short Stories, April 10, 1944.
“The House of Skulls” originally appeared in All-Story, January 25, 1919.
“Written In Red” originally appeared in Short Stories, August 10, 1922.
“Yellow Intrigue” originally appeared in Short Stories, March 1921.
“Down the Coast of Barbary” originally appeared in All-Story, October 21, 1922.
“Skulls” originally appeared in Short Stories, February 1921.
The Opium Ship originally appeared as a four-part serial in the legendary pulp magazine The Thrill Book in the July 1, 1919; July 15, 1919; August 1, 1919; and August 15, 1919 issues.
“Pirates Gold” originally appeared in Adventure magazine, December 20, 1922.
The Second Life of Monsieur originally appeared in the November 1920 issue of Blue Book magazine, copyright © 1920 by The Story-Press Corporation, Inc.
Nuala O’Malley originally appeared in All-Story Weekly magazine as a four-part serial, running from October 5, 1918, to October 26, 1918.
“Mustered Out” originally appeared in Argosy and Railroad Man’s Magazine, April 5, 1919.
“Irregular Brethren” originally appeared in the Blue Book magazine, August 1919.
“Clancy, Detective” originally appeared in The Blue Book Magazine, April 1926.
“The Thrust of a Finger” originally appeared in Complete Stories, March 1, 1932.
“Three Smart Silks” originally appeared in Detective Dragnet, December 1930.
“The Blue Beetle” originally appeared in Short Stories, April 25, 1932.
“Rendezvous” originally appeared in Short Stories, April 10, 1933.
“Test Pilot Number One” originally appeared in Short Stories, January 10, 1940.
“The Curious Luck of the Earl Of Pugwash” originally appeared inShort Stories, February 10, 1942.
D’Artagnan originally appeared in 1928.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
H. Bedford-Jones (1889-1949) was, at one point in the 1920s, among the highest paid, most read, and most popular authors in the English language. If you’ve never heard of him, it’s because he wrote primarily for magazines—Adventure, Argosy, Blue Book, The Thrill Book, Weird Tales, and many, many more. He turned out thousands of short stories and more than 100 novels (so many and in such diverse markets that no one has been able to complile a complete list). He was a fast writer—exceptionally so—and wrote with great style and vigor. In many ways, he was the Stephen King or Charles Dickens of his day.
But because he published in ephemeral markets, his work came out each month—and then disappeared, to be replaced by next month’s stories in next month’s magazines. It’s not a great way to build an enduring audience. If you stop publishing in magazines, the editors replace your work with someone else’s…and the readership rapidly forgets you, which ultimately became Bedford-Jones’s fate.
Still, pulp magazine collectors today seek out and relish his work. If you like a great adventure story well told, you can’t go wrong with anything by Henry James O’Brien Bedford-Jones!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS
Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS
The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
MYSTERY
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Charlie Chan Megapack*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack
The Detective Megapack
The Father Brown Megapack
The Girl Detective Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack
The First Mystery Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Philo Vance Megapack*
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Raffles Megapack
The Victorian Mystery Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure Megapack
The Baseball Megapack
The Cat Story Megapack
The Second Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Christmas Megapack
The Second Christmas Megapack
The Classic American Short Stories Megapack, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor Megapack
The Dog Story Megapack
The Doll Story Megapack
The Horse Story Megapack
The Military Megapack
The Sea-Story Megapack
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Martian Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Science-Fantasy Megapack
The First Science Fiction Megapack
The Second Science Fiction Megapack
The Third Science Fiction Megapack
The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack
The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack
The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack
The Seventh Science Fiction Megapack
; The Eighth Science Fiction Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
The Steampunk Megapack
The Time Travel Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
HORROR
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Second Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The Ghost Story Megapack
The Second Ghost Story Megapack
The Third Ghost Story Megapack
The Haunts & Horrors Megapack
The Horror Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Macabre Megapack
The Second Macabre Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The Mummy Megapack
The Occult Detective Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Vampire Megapack
The Werewolf Megapack
WESTERNS
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The Buffalo Bill Megapack
The Cowboy Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Western Megapack
The Second Western Megapack
The Wizard of Oz Megapack
YOUNG ADULT
The Boys’ Adventure Megapack
The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack
The Doll Story Megapack
The G.A. Henty Megapack
The Girl Detectives Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Pinocchio Megapack
The Rover Boys Megapack
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack
The Tom Swift Megapack
AUTHOR MEGAPACKS
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The H. Bedford-Jones Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Guy de Maupassant Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The Dashiell Hammett Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Selma Lagerlof Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack
The Talbot Mundy Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Rafael Sabatini Megapack
The Saki Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
* Not available in the United States
** Not available in the European Union
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
THE MIRACULOUS BUDDHA
Duane had never heard of Korla; the name meant absolutely nothing to him. Yet he was one of Stratolines’ most active and far-traveled trouble shooters. Ever since the war ended, he had been rushing from corner to corner of the globe—yes, the new air-age geography did square the world’s circle—on business for Stratolines. But Korla struck no echo in his memory.
He scowled at the brief memorandum he had found on his desk:
Captain James Duane: Headquarters Office:
Report to me at 10:40 if willing to accept detail to handle situation at Korla.
Upshott, President Stratolines.
Looking up, Duane glanced about the headquarters office used by the Strata-shooters, as the corps termed itself when not on field duty. Blount sat working at the corner desk, and Duane called to him.
“Hey, Blount! Where’s a place called Korla?”
Blount gave him a grin. “Same location it was two thousand years ago, maybe three. Turkestan, or Sinkiang as the Chinese call it. It’s the capital of the province now, and going great guns since the peace was signed.”
“Thanks.” Duane scowled again at the memorandum. “Turkestan or the South Pole, I don’t care which. Why in hell doesn’t the Chief quit calling me Captain? That went out when the war ended.”
Duane was just in bad humor, that was all, and looking for trouble. This corps of picked men were treated with deference by Stratolines. Even that enormous air-freight network covering most of the earth, handled its trouble shooters cautiously. They were all former war pilots. Further, they were sworn officers of the International Air Control, which gave them wide powers. They had to have exceptional ability in a dozen ways, for there was no telling what they might run up against. Stratolines had become practically a world power. It handled long-haul freight exclusively, but handled it everywhere, and ran into some queer things that needed fixing. Men like Duane did the fixing, and some of them were not particular how they did it, either.
Duane, for example. He had started out married; his wife died in childbirth while he was bombing Tokio. He went to work for Stratolines a hard-boiled, unhappy man. Now, three years after the war, he had been in love again, only to be turned down rather cruelly. It hurt. It left him, as on this particular morning, looking for trouble and not giving a damn where it might turn up.
He walked into Upshott’s office promptly at 10:40. The Stratolines president, who looked not unlike a bulldog, gave him a cigar and a barked greeting.
“Hiya, Jim. Know anything about Turkestan or Sinkiang?”
“Not a solitary thing, Chief.”
“Good. You got a lot to learn; but ignorance is one advantage. Only an outsider can help us here. Carter and Browne have been there and know it well, and they step around the subject like a cat around a pool of water.
“Why?” demanded Duane, to the point as usual.
“Why? Because it’s devilish unhealthy, that’s why.” Upshott chewed a cigar, unlit. “We’ve got a special run going—Korla, Urga, Yakutsk—as a feeder to our main Siberian lines; it’s doing a tremendous business, and we’re dickering now with the Soviet people, who want to take it over.”
“So what?” asked Duane, biting at his cigar.
“So trouble at Korla, or somewhere near there. The trouble is named Ming Shui, which means Clear Water. She is a woman. She is the abbot of a monastery at the back door of nowhere—”
“Wait a minute,” said Duane. “You’re getting off the track. An abbot is a man; a monastery holds monks.”
“Shut up,” snapped Upshott. “This is a Buddhist monastery. Of course it doe
sn’t make sense! If it did, the trouble would have been adjusted before this. It’s all cockeyed; that’s why I’m sending you. Any arrangement is impossible; our Siberian headquarters say so flatly. Here’s their report. Read it and you’ll go crazy like I did. Go to Yakutsk and hop one of our ships down to Korla and do anything possible.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“Okay.” Duane took the typed report and stood up.
“Wait, dammit.” Upshott blinked up at him. “Don’t get yourself killed. We need you other places.”
“Thanks. I’ll not. Any particular instructions?”
“Nope. The sky’s the limit. Stratolines backs any play you make.”
Duane said goodby and walked out. He knew nothing about the trouble or what he was to find or do. He knew this would be in the report, and that it was probably something so utterly insane that everyone had flung up their hands and quit. So it was, too.
That evening found him snugly berthed seven miles high aboard the giant six-engined Planetoid that made only one stop, at Edmonton, before Irkutsk in the heart of the booming Siberia…a hurtling 26-hour flight.
The post-war world, arising on the wings of invention and science and progress from the destruction and ashes of global conflict, had reached almost fantastic heights. Siberia, once a barren frozen waste, was now pouring forth wealth in metals and oil; China and central Asia were close behind. Even during the war, Russia had withdrawn from Turkestan, restoring this desert province to China by one of those great-hearted gestures which the Soviets made in so many directions.
Turkestan, under the wise guidance of the new China, was waxing rich and great. Swept bare for centuries by jangling armies, now she enjoyed all the blessings that had come to a world where war was done forever. Great water and power systems, a flood of new population, an outpouring of economic wealth, marked her advent in this air-age. Korla, once a miserable huddle of mud houses, was now a city of half a million. Within her borders, however, the new still elbowed the old; Tibet, across her southern frontier, still blocked progress.
* * * *
The ancient Buddhist monasteries that had studded the wastes of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts were still existent, although the deserts were becoming fertile gardens. Duane, poring over the typed report in his snug berth, was quick to perceive the astonishing situation which he—and Stratolines—now faced.
Bounding the great Tarim Basin, formerly all desert, were the Tien Shan or Celestial Mountains. In their heart, still almost unknown territory, was the Eternal Peace Monastery, of which Ming Shui was the abbot or ruler. She was a woman. She was also an incarnation of the Living Buddha. She had enormous influence, and the monastery controlled mineral deposits being opened up by the new government—deposits of such incalculable wealth that she was a personage of real importance.
