originally published Weird Tales, March 1949
Claiborne Boyd is the scion of an old money New Orleans family, and a scholar studying Creole culture. The only other member of his family who's not a redneck doofoid is his great uncle Asaph Gilman, a former prof of nuclear physics who retired to Miskatonic U for awhile and then became a recluse who, it seems spent his time doing what reclusive scholars always do in these Derleth "Trail" stories - discovered and studied the connections between ancient pagan worship and the Cthulhu Mythos hooha!
Asaph snuffs it, under possibly suspicious circumstances, kilt in a riot among "lascars" or "dacoits" on the Limehouse docks. He leaves Claiborne two steamer trunks full of papers and artifacts from his studies, including a statue of ol' Cthu hisself. Amongst them is a handwritten account of a shipwreck and the surviving sailors encounter with what's apparently R'lyeh, risen from the sea.
Claiborne, for whatever reason, decides this shit is all really interesting and dives into Unc's research, leading him to make the same conclusions - the cult survives, and the gloopy monsters might be real!
Soon after alla this, Claiborne has a vivid dream about a creepy old dude named Japhet Smith shuffling into his Unc's lawyers offices and requesting Unc's papers. They helpfully give the creep Claiborne's name and address.
The next morning, Clai calls the lawyer's offices and finds out that, yes indeed, this event actually did take place and, yes indeed, they did give Smith Clai's name and address (shee-it - were things really that different in the 40's??). Needless to say Clai ain't all that happy about this.
To make him even unhappier, he realizes he's being followed and spied on by literally fishy-looking people. And he has another dream - this time featuring a white-haired, roman-nosed, prognathous-jawed, shades-wearing dude - yes, if you've been following kiddies, that's Dr. Laban Shrewsbury hisself! Standing in a vast temple somewhere. This time Clai gets a visual of a post office in Natchez where a letter from Unc Asaph intended for him has fallen down behind some shelves. The next day Clai books out to that same Natchez post office and, after leaning on some unusually cooperative post office employees, finds the letter, right where he dreamed it would be! The letter turns out to be a final missive from Unc, warning him that the Cthulhu bizness is real, he's in a lot of danger, and he should get off to Peru and meet with Prof. Andros, and work to do in the leader of a Cthulhu cult in South America. Naturally, off he goes.
Prof. Andros points him to a saintly missionary named Fr. Andrada who works converting the Indians in a remote region near Macchu Picchu, which Unc had helpfully provided a hand-drawn map to and of.
That night in his hotel, Clai dreams about Dr. Shrew again, and this time is told (a) he has to kill the leader of the cult and (b) he's going to be given a vial of the Magic Mead, a star-stone, and a whistle to summon a byakhee which can get him around. Clai wakes up in time to see a young man drop off these items in his room and then hop on a byakhee and fly off.
Making his way out to the Peruvian boonies, Clai is given a letter that Fr. Andrada wrote, warning of the rise of a sinister, worse than Satanic cult among the Indians. But something is up with Andrada, and he may have changed. Or been replaced by an impostor. That night, Clai again dreams of Doc Shrew, who confirms his suspicions about Andrada and tells him to wipe out the temple which Doc directs him to.
The next day Clai finds the temple, spies on a ceremony, where a giant gloop rises from the black pool in the center of the room, shoots Andrada - who transforms into a gloop himself - and dynamites the temple. Fleeing (and basically telling his guides they're on their own, buddy), he soon disappears, leaving behind only the now-empty Magic Mead vial.
Okay, the third tale in the "Trail of Cthulhu" cycle. Story one was better than I expected. Story two was a turkey that left me dreading this one. Fortunately, sort of, story three is a slight improvement. But it isn't very good. It's a mediocre and slightly pointless piece that doesn't really move the overall story arch that "Trail" is trying to build anywhere, and mostly just rehashes elements of the two earlier tales.
Unfortunately Derleth pulls a really big boner in the first third of the tale by blatantly rehashing HPL's own "The Call of Cthulhu" almost note for note! Reclusive scholar narrator - check. Whacky uncle pursuing Cthulhu stuff gets kilt by some slimy non-white Cthulhu-lover - check. Sends all his papers AND a Cthulhu statue to nephew - check. Nephew gets caught up in it - check. Important clue is the manuscript of a sailor who had an encounter with a risen R'lyeh - check.
Why in the hell Derleth did this I'll never know. The real shame of it is - the sailor's narrative, which, fortunately, does not simply rehash the Johansen Narrative from "Call", is actually a very, very effective little piece of spookery. Derleth could have easily broken that piece out and expanded it into a memorable short story.
All in all this isn't dreck, but its without purpose. A waste.
ma chi ha fatto la traduzione?
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