He Walked Around the Horses

Walked Around the Horses, by Henry
Beam Piper

Project Gutenberg's He Walked Around the Horses, by Henry Beam Piper This eBook is
for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg
License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: He Walked Around the Horses
Author: Henry Beam Piper
Illustrator: Cartier
Release Date: July 11, 2006 [EBook #18807]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HE WALKED AROUND
THE HORSES ***

Produced by Greg Weeks, William Woods and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction April 1948.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the copyright on this publication
was renewed.

[Illustration]
HE WALKED AROUND THE HORSES
BY H. BEAM PIPER
Illustrated by Cartier

This tale is based on an authenticated, documented fact. A man vanished--right out of this
world. And where he went--
In November 1809, an Englishman named Benjamin Bathurst vanished, inexplicably and
utterly.
He was en route to Hamburg from Vienna, where he had been serving as his
government's envoy to the court of what Napoleon had left of the Austrian Empire. At an
inn in Perleburg, in Prussia, while examining a change of horses for his coach, he
casually stepped out of sight of his secretary and his valet. He was not seen to leave the
inn yard. He was not seen again, ever.
At least, not in this continuum....

(From Baron Eugen von Krutz, Minister of Police, to His Excellency the Count von
Berchtenwald, Chancellor to His Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.)
25 November, 1809
Your Excellency:
A circumstance has come to the notice of this Ministry, the significance of which I am at
a loss to define, but, since it appears to involve matters of State, both here and abroad, I
am convinced that it is of sufficient importance to be brought to your personal attention.
Frankly, I am unwilling to take any further action in the matter without your advice.
Briefly, the situation is this: We are holding, here at the Ministry of Police, a person
giving his name as Benjamin Bathurst, who claims to be a British diplomat. This person
was taken into custody by the police at Perleburg yesterday, as a result of a disturbance at
an inn there; he is being detained on technical charges of causing disorder in a public
place, and of being a suspicious person. When arrested, he had in his possession a
dispatch case, containing a number of papers; these are of such an extraordinary nature
that the local authorities declined to assume any responsibility beyond having the man
sent here to Berlin.
After interviewing this person and examining his papers, I am, I must confess, in much
the same position. This is not, I am convinced, any ordinary police matter; there is
something very strange and disturbing here. The man's statements, taken alone, are so
incredible as to justify the assumption that he is mad. I cannot, however, adopt this theory,
in view of his demeanor, which is that of a man of perfect rationality, and because of the
existence of these papers. The whole thing is mad; incomprehensible!
The papers in question accompany, along with copies of the various statements taken at
Perleburg, a personal letter to me from my nephew, Lieutenant Rudolf von Tarlburg. This
last is deserving of your particular attention; Lieutenant von Tarlburg is a very
level-headed young officer, not at all inclined to be fanciful or imaginative. It would take

a good deal to affect him as he describes.
The man calling himself Benjamin Bathurst is now lodged in an apartment here at the
Ministry; he is being treated with every consideration, and, except for freedom of
movement, accorded every privilege.
I am, most anxiously awaiting your advice, et cetera, et cetera,
Krutz

(Report of Traugott Zeller, Oberwachtmeister, Staatspolizei, made at Perleburg, 25
November, 1809.)
At about ten minutes past two of the afternoon of Saturday, 25 November, while I was at
the police station, there entered a man known to me as Franz Bauer, an inn servant
employed by Christian Hauck, at the sign of the Sword & Scepter, here in Perleburg. This
man Franz Bauer made complaint to Staatspolizeikapitan Ernst Hartenstein, saying that
there was a madman making trouble at the inn where he, Franz Bauer, worked. I was,
therefore, directed, by Staatspolizeikapitan Hartenstein, to go to the Sword & Scepter Inn,
there to act at discretion to maintain the peace.
Arriving at the inn in company with the said Franz Bauer, I found a considerable crowd
of people in the common