could see me.

"Unmasked, I bear no resemblance whatever to a man, but rather to some
ghastly, drug-inspired dream or nightmare of an Oriental Dante. The
fact that I have sacrificed my human appearance in the Great Cause
cannot overcome the shrinking aversion that normal men would feel,
if they could see me. I say only this, that my mutilation is
indescribable. As the officer and gentleman I know you to be, you
won't ask me to expose this horror!"




CHAPTER IV


THE MASKED RECRUIT

A little silence lengthened, while the strange aviator continued to
peer out with strangely shining eyes through the holes of his mask.
The effect of that human intelligence, sheltered in there behind that
expressionless celluloid, whose frail thinness they all knew covered
unspeakable frightfulness, became uncanny.

Some of the men eased the tension by blowing ribbons of smoke or
by relighting tobacco that had gone out while the stranger had been
talking. Others shifted, a bit uneasily. Voices began to mutter, pro
and con. The Master suddenly knocked again, for silence.

"I am going to accept this man," said he, sharply. "You notice I