* * * * *
We initially journeyed by train to Buffalo, New York. From there, we flew aboard a war-surplus Handley/Page bomber (accordingly modified for passenger service) to a runway in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A relatively short car trip across the bridge separating the latter from Detroit? And, we were soon shaking hands with George Chelgi.
He'd been born Gyorgy Urivitch Chelgikov, in Sitka, Alaska, in 1867, to Crimean War refugees of the Doukhobor faith.* Raised in Holland, Michigan, from the age of three onward, he was nicknamed "Chelgie" by his classmates at the Western Theological Seminary. And, after his discharge from the U.S. Army (in which he had served, as a chaplain, during the Spanish-American War), he legally changed his name to its present Americanized form.
We met in his sound-proofed office at the local lodge. There, he introduced us to Sheriff Andrew Nellis of Winnebago County, Wisconsin.
"The orphan train disappeared in his jurisdiction. So, he is representing the Milwaukee Lodge in this matter."
"Then, I take that to mean he's a _full_ member-in-good-standing of the Knights of Melion?" Sir Anthony pointedly asked.
Sheriff Nellis held up his right hand. On the fourth finger of which was a gold ring adorned with a wolf's head surmounted by a Celtic cross.
" 'O Death, where is thy sting?' " he quoted.
Duly reassured, Sir Anthony asked the sheriff what he had in the way of forensic evidence for us. The latter promptly removed some black-and-white photographs from a beige folder on Mr. Chelgi's desk. And, the images captured within them...
...were just as Mr. Berkhart had described.
"What was the measurement of the footprints?" Sir Anthony inquired.
"Eleven feet long by four feet wide."
"Hmmmmm! As I'm sure you gentlemen already know, the Melissae's Amazon adherents had an average height of six feet/one inch. With eleven inch-long feet!"
I nodded: "That's what made them so intimidating to their contemporary male adversaries. Most ancient peoples were shorter, by comparison, due to vitamin-deficient diets."
"True," Sir Anthony replied: "But, the chief hand-maidens of the Melissae were more than just lesbian love-slaves. They were also trained in shapeshifting sorcery! So, if one such modern Amazon used that power to increase her height by a factor of ten...?"
"I see what you're driving at, Sir Anthony," Sheriff Nellis interrupted: "And, I agree that a sixty-one-foot tall giantess might have the muscle mass to do this."
He pointed to the photo of the bent railroad tracks before continuing.
"They'd also be able kidnap a couple handfuls of people paralyzed with fright. But, to make off with an entire train?! She'd have to double her size, at least! And, that'd be a tad incautious, even for one of them. Don't you think?"
"The sheriff is right," said Mr. Chelgi: "Even in this sparsely populated region of the Badger State, a naked female giant, over a hundred feet tall, and carrying an entire steam train, would be inevitably noticed!"
"Unless," I hastened to counter (raising my right index finger for emphasis): "...she shrank back down to six-foot-one. And, in the process, shrank the orphan train, too!"
"Good show, Peter!" exclaimed Sir Anthony, with a slap on my back: "At this rate, you'll probably wind up ghost-writing my mysteries."
"That still doesn't explain how she fled the scene," insisted the sheriff: "There were no other footprints (normal-sized or otherwise). No tire tracks from a get-away vehicle. Nothing!"
"Shapeshifting sorcery, again, Sheriff," I replied:
Sir Anthony nodded in agreement, adding: "Have there been any recent reports of...unusually large birds, sighted in the tri-state area?"
Mr. Chelgi smiled: "I'll contact our man in the local Audobon Society, and see."
Whereupon, the meeting broke up, and our host rang for someone to show us to our guest rooms. Needless to say, our two straight days of very intense travel resulted in our having a very deep and relaxing sleep.
Unfortunately, for us, such relaxation would become a fond memory all too soon.
tbc
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
JUNE 23, 1921
Chapter End Notes:
*Doukhobor: Russian Orthodox equivalent of the Amish and Quaker faiths.