1929 · CLOSE READING
Moonchild
Moonchild (1929), PDF p. 124
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(dwelling) (Below)
Homotopic hermeneutical
(this) (magic)
Ru-volvolimperipunct,suprorientalize,
(circle) (arise)
factote kinematodrastically,
(move)(soon)
overplus phenomenize!
(and) (appear) [177]
Upon this skeleton, a fair example of his earlier manner, for no man attains
the summit of an art in a day, he would build a superstructure by the deft
introduction of parentheses, amplifying each word until the original
coherence of the paragraph was diluted to such an extent that the true trail
was undiscoverable. The effect upon his public was to impress them with the
universality of his learning.
Arthwait being thus well out of harm's way, Vesquit and Abdul set to work
on the less arduous of the preparations. Four black cats were needed for the
four points of the compass, and it was desirable to massacre a goat upon the
altar, which would be no less than the corpse itself. Vesquit, declaring that
the body was to be sent to England, had a dummy shipped off in a coffin, and
kept Gates on ice, which may or may not have been a great comfort to him.
Abdul had no difficulty in procuring the cats which, much to their
dissatisfaction, were caged in Arthwait's study, and fed on human flesh,
which Vesquit easily procured from the dissecting-rooms of the local
hospitals.
But the goat was a more serious matter. An ordinary goat will not do; it
had to qualify in certain respects; Abdul succeeded in his quest only after a
series of intrigues with the lowest ruffians in Naples, which brought him into
more vulgar and unpleasant dangers than he had contemplated "when he first
put that uniform on." It was, however, at least temporarily, a very amusing
situation for the goat. The requisite bat, which must be fed on a woman's
blood, was easily arranged for, a courageous country girl offering to
accommodate with a toe, for a consideration. The nails from a suicide's
coffin, and the skull of the parricide, were of course no trouble; for Vesquit
never travelled without these household requisites.
There were many other details to arrange; the consideration of a proper
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