Tails of Wonder and Imagination - By Ellen Datlow Page 0,293

back, close to the gate, stood the Hyena-Swine.

"She is one of us, one of the made. Why does she carry a gun? Why does she carry a whip? Let her join her own people."

The Beast Men stood, staring, and I could see the inquisitive look in their eyes.

"Why does she not come to us?" said Catullus, the Satyr. "We have few females. Why does she not come to live in our huts, and work in our gardens, like the other females?"

"Yes," said the Ape Man. "Let her live with us, with us, with us! She can be my mate."

Then others spoke and said that she could be their mate as well.

I could see Montgomery looking puzzled. He had been up late drinking, the night before, and was still nursing a hangover. He could not understand this rebellion among the usually peaceable Beast Men. From where he stood, he could not see the Hyena-Swine.

I could see Catherine's hand on her gun.

The Beast Men began arguing among themselves, each claiming her. Moreau had never made enough Beast Women, and they were constantly trying to lure the ones they had away from each other. One pushed another. Soon there would be a fight.

I stepped through the doorway, into the enclosure.

"The Master, who has gone to live among the stars, and watches you from above, has intended her for another purpose. She will not be any of your mates. She will be without a mate, but will bear a child that will perpetuate your race. That is the purpose for which he has created her. She will be the mother of a new race of men. Bow to her, who is dedicated to such a high purpose!"

They stared at me.

"Bow!" I said, raising my gun. I could see the Hyena-Swine slinking through the gate.

One by one, reluctantly, they inclined their heads.

"Hail to the Holy Mother," said the Ape Man. He had always been sillier than the rest.

"Well then," I said. "You may continue to trade. There will be no punishment today, despite your disobedience."

That night, Montgomery lit the bonfire. He lit it every night. If there was a ship sailing within sight of the island, we did not want it to miss us. Sometimes the Beast Men came and danced by the light of the bonfire. "A regular corroboree," Montgomery called it.

"Catherine," he called, after the fire was lit. I could see him standing in the enclosure, with the full moon behind him, larger than it ever is in England. "Come to the dance. There's a regular crowd of them tonight."

"Not tonight," she answered. "Tonight I wish to speak with Edward."

"Damn Edward. Come on, Catherine." I realized that he had already started drinking, or perhaps had never stopped.

I did not hear her answer, but he shouted, "All right then, damn you!" And then I heard the gate crash shut.

"He's gone," she said a moment later, standing in my doorway.

"What did you want to speak to me about?"

She came closer. She had a smell about her, not unpleasant but particularly, I thought, feline.

"Do you think he had a purpose for me?"

"Who?"

"Moreau. You can see that I'm made—differently from the others. My hands—he must have taken particular care."

Her hands were on my shoulders. I could feel her claws through my shirt.

"Am I not well made, Edward?"

I looked down into her eyes, dark in the darkness. I don't know what possessed me. "You are—divinely made."

Where my shirt was open, she licked my chest, then my neck. She was almost as tall as I was. I could not help remembering Moreau's neck, torn open.

He had done his work well. Standing on an English hillside, watching her with her veil blown back by the wind, I shuddered at the memory of her brown thighs, with a down on them softer than the hair of any woman.

She smiled at me, and despite my sweater and mackintosh, I felt cold.

We were lying together in a tangle of sheets when we heard the shot.

"Get your gun," she said.

We ran out, me in my trousers, she in Montgomery's shirt. As we passed the storeroom, she disappeared suddenly, then reappeared with an ammunition belt over her shoulder.

On the beach, around the bonfire, Beast Men were dancing. There was a throb in the air, and after a moment I realized that it was a drum. Someone—it looked like the Sayer of the Law—was keeping time while the Beast Men turned and leaped and shook their hands in the air, and shouted each in his own