{"product_id":"2940013761193","title":"The Hills of the Dead","description":"The twigs which N'Longa flung on the fire broke and crackled. The\u003cbr\u003eupleaping flames lighted the countenances of the two men. N'Longa,\u003cbr\u003evoodoo man of the Slave Coast, was very old. His wizened and gnarled\u003cbr\u003eframe was stooped and brittle, his face creased by hundreds of\u003cbr\u003ewrinkles. The red firelight glinted on the human finger-bones which\u003cbr\u003ecomposed his necklace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe other was an Englishman, and his name was Solomon Kane. He was\u003cbr\u003etall and broad-shouldered, clad in black close garments, the garb of\u003cbr\u003ethe Puritan. His featherless slouch hat was drawn low over his heavy\u003cbr\u003ebrows, shadowing his darkly pallid face. His cold deep eyes brooded in\u003cbr\u003ethe firelight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You come again, brother,\" droned the fetish-man, speaking in the\u003cbr\u003ejargon which passed for a common language of black man and white on\u003cbr\u003ethe West Coast. \"Many moons burn and die since we make blood-palaver.\u003cbr\u003eYou go to the setting sun, but you come back!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Aye,\" Kane's voice was deep and almost ghostly. \"Yours is a grim\u003cbr\u003eland, N'Longa, a red land barred with the black darkness of horror and\u003cbr\u003ethe bloody shadows of death. Yet I have returned.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eN'Longa stirred the fire, saying nothing, and after a pause Kane\u003cbr\u003econtinued.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yonder in the unknown vastness\"--his long finger stabbed at the black\u003cbr\u003esilent jungle which brooded beyond the firelight--\"yonder lie mystery\u003cbr\u003eand adventure and nameless terror. Once I dared the jungle--once she\u003cbr\u003enearly claimed my bones. Something entered into my blood, something\u003cbr\u003estole into my soul like a whisper of unnamed sin. The jungle! Dark and\u003cbr\u003ebrooding --over leagues of the blue salt sea she has drawn me and with\u003cbr\u003ethe dawn I go to seek the heart of her. Mayhap I shall find curious\u003cbr\u003eadventure--mayhap my doom awaits me. But better death than the\u003cbr\u003eceaseless and everlasting urge, the fire that has burned my veins with\u003cbr\u003ebitter longing.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"She call,\" muttered N'Longa. \"At night she coil like serpent about my\u003cbr\u003ehut and whisper strange things to me. Ai ya! The jungle call. We be\u003cbr\u003eblood brothers, you and I. Me, N'Longa, mighty worker of nameless\u003cbr\u003emagic! You go to the jungle as all men go who hear her call. Maybe you\u003cbr\u003elive, morelike you die. You believe in my fetish work?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I understand it not,\" said Kane grimly, \"but I have seen you send\u003cbr\u003eyour soul forth from your body to animate a lifeless corpse.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Aye! Me N'Longa! priest of the Black God! Now watch, I make magic.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKane gazed at the old voodoo man who bent over the fire, making even\u003cbr\u003emotions with his hands mumbling incantations. Kane watched and he\u003cbr\u003eseemed to grow sleepy. A mist wavered in front of him, through which\u003cbr\u003ehe saw dimly the form N'Longa, etched dark against the flames. Then\u003cbr\u003efaded out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKane awoke with a start, hand shooting to pistol in his belt. N'Longa\u003cbr\u003egrinned at him across the flame and there was a scent of early dawn\u003cbr\u003ethe air. The fetish-man held a long stave of curious black wood in his\u003cbr\u003ehands. This stave was carved in a strange manner, and one end tapered\u003cbr\u003eto a sharp point.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This voodoo staff,\" said N'Longa, putting it in the Englishman's\u003cbr\u003ehand. \"Where your guns and long knife fail, this save you. When you\u003cbr\u003ewant me lay this on your breast, fold your hands on it and sleep. I\u003cbr\u003ecome to you in your dreams.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKane weighed the thing in his hand, highly suspicious of witchcraft.\u003cbr\u003eIt was not heavy, but seemed as hard as iron. A good weapon at least,\u003cbr\u003ehe decided. Dawn was just beginning to steal over the jungle and the\u003cbr\u003eriver.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145828385008,"sku":"2940013761193","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013761193_p0.jpg?v=1763589906","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013761193","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}