The King in Yellow

illustrated by Patrick Dean

       "We are now in communication with ten thousand men," he muttered. "We can count on one hundred thousand within the first twenty-eight hours, and in forty-eight hours the state will rise en masse. The country follows the state, and the portion that will not, I mean California and the Northwest, might never have been inhabited. I shall not send them the Yellow Sign."

       The blood rushed to my head, but I only answered, "A new broom sweeps clean."

       "The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts," said Mr. Wilde.

      "You are speaking of the Yellow King," I groaned with a shudder.

       "He is a king whom emperors have served."

       "I am content to serve him," I replied.

                                             - Robert Chambers, 1895