Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930

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By Sophie Wenzel Ellis
It’s a poor science that would hide from us the great, deep, sacred infinitude of Nescience, whither we can never penetrate, on which all science swims as mere superficial film. — Carlyle .

Sir Basil showed his teeth in his ugly smile. “A creator is never merciful.”
The two batalões turned from the open waters of the lower Tapajos River into the igarapé , the lily-smothered shallows that often mark an Indian settlement in the jungles of Brazil. One of the two half-breed rubber-gatherers suddenly stopped his batalõe by thrusting a paddle against a giant clump of lilies. In a corruption of the Tupi dialect, he called over to the white man occupying the other frail craft.
Fate’s retribution was adequate. There emerged a rat with a man’s head and face.