The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tiger Cat, by David H. Keller

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Title: Tiger Cat

Author: David H. Keller

Release Date: May 31, 2010 [EBook #32630]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Tiger Cat

By DAVID H. KELLER

[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October
1937. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Sidenote: _A grim tale of torture, and the blind men who were chained
to pillars in an underground cave_]

The man tried his best to sell me the house. He was confident that I
would like it. Repeatedly he called my attention to the view.

There was something in what he said about the view. The villa on the top
of a mountain commanded a vision of the valley, vine-clad and
cottage-studded. It was an irregular bowl of green, dotted with stone
houses which were whitewashed to almost painful brilliancy.

The valley was three and a third miles at its greatest width. Standing
at the front door of the house, an expert marksman with telescopic sight
could have placed a rifle bullet in each of the white marks of cottages.
They nestled like little pearls amid a sea of green grape-vines.

"A wonderful view, _Signor_," the real-estate agent repeated. "That
scene, at any time of the year, is worth twice what I am asking for the
villa."

"But I can see all this without buying," I argued.

"Not without trespassing."

"But the place is old. It has no running water."

"Wrong!" and he smiled expansively, showing a row of gold-filled teeth.
"Listen."

We were silent.

There came to us the sound of bubbling water. Turning, I traced the
sound. I found a marble Cupid spurting water in a most peculiar way into
a wall basin. I smiled and commented.

"There is one like that in Brussels and another in Madrid. But this is
very fine. However, I referred to running water in a modern bathroom."

"But why bathe when you can sit her