SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: JU-JU

 "Ju-Ju" by "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins)  (first published in The Thrill Book, October 15, 1919; reprinted in the Leinster collection The Trail of Blood and Other Tales of Adventure, 2017; also available in a number of e-Book collections of Leinster's stories)

First off, this is an African adventure story and contains some language, opinions, and accepted ideals of the time period in which it was first published.  None of this may reflect the author's personal views buit it is indicative of the fiction market conditions of the time.

Our narrator has just left the Belgian Congo, where he had been trading in ivory and rubber against the rather strict rules of the Belgians.  Carefully avoiding being caught, he stops off at the remote Portugese West African plantation of Evan Graham.  Graham is a shady and unpleasant character but he's the only English-speaking person in that part of the country, so a stopover at his plantation is a regular occurance on the way to more civilized areas.  Graham is unlike any other plantation owner.  He rules his workers (actually slaves) through fear; just how he does that is not known.  He also lets his workers run free, rather than keeping them locked up.  He even allows them to openly practice ju-ju, or black magic.  Graham started his African career with very little.  As the younger son of a nobleman, his elder brother Arthur had inherited the title and all the money, leaving Graham to ruthlessly carve his own empire in the jungle.

In the distance, jungle drums are sounding.

Graham's brother is currently in the Congo hunting gorillas and is expected to drop in on him at any time now.  Also expected is a visit from his second cousin Alicia Dalforth, who is engaged to Arthur.  Traveling with Alicia is her companion Mrs.Braymore.  Alicia, Arthur, and Graham were raised together, almost as siblings.  When our narrator reaches Ticao, the commissioner there asks him to guide Alicia and Mrs. Braymore to Graham's plantation.  It turns out to be a rough journey but both women prove themselves more than capable.  They reach the plantation the same time as Arthur, who appears tired and worried.  While in the Congo, Arthur shot a female gorilla and her mate had been following him, seeking revenge.  The huge, intelligent gorilla had ambushed Arthur several times, but Arthur managed to escape.  At one time he thought he had killed the beast, but now he is not so sure -- perhaps the gorilla had trailed him to the plantationj.  The next day, all of Graham's servants and workers are missing, as are the narrator's porters and servants -- all having escaped into the night.  

The jungle drums keep sounding, luder and faster than before.  It is clear that the natives are working up the courage through ju-ju to attack the whites at the plantation.  The local witch doctor is caught trying to curse the house where they are staying.

Suddenly -- almost preternaturally -- the gorilla is back, moving at will without being seen or heard.  It has killed some of the dogs, breaking their necks.  The one servant too afraid to leave the plantation is found dead in her room, horribly butchered.  A strict search finds no trace of the beast.  A giant, furred arm reaches through a window and grabs another dog, breaking its neck.  Then the natives attack.  There are hundreds of them and despite many losses they keep coming.  Somehow the gorilla gets in and kills Arthur without anyone being aware.  Graham is protecting the back of the house and is about to be overrun when the gorilla appears there and begins attacking the natives.  The natives flee and the giorilla again vanishes.

Things are not looking good for the home team.

One interesting aspect of "Ju-Ju" is a reliance on the belief that one's eyes can reveal the last thing a person saw before he died.  I'm sure most readers accepted this theory as fact, especially in this case, as  Arthur matter-of-factly photographs the dead servant's retina to reveal the horrible image of the violent gorilla about to kill her..  

Leinster, all of 23 when he wrote this tale., was already a master of pacing and plotting, able to draw both convincing characters and realistic exotic locations.  His stories often had an unexpected twist ending, as is the case here.  Although best known for his many works of science friction, he wrote in many fields, publishing about 1500 stories and a good many western, mystery, and romance novels, as well as film and television scripts.   Somehow he also found time to be a successful inventor.

The Thrill Book was short-lived (16 issues) fiction magazine covering a number of genres.  Among the better-known authors of the time who were published in its pages were Greye La Sina, Percy Poore Sheehan, Fulton Oursler, Seabury Quinn, Raymond Spears, H. Bedford Jones, Tod Robbins, J. U. Giesy, Don Mark Lemon, Francis Stevens, Junius B. Smith, Frank L. Packard, Edward Lucas White, Clark Ashton Smith, and Harold de Polo,   Leinster appeared in the magazine with three novellas -- "A Thousand Degrees Below Zero" and "The Silver Menance," both well-written science fiction adventures, and "Ju-Ju."  All 16 issues of The Thrill Book are available at luminist.org/archives/.  Check them out.