The Night of the Howling Light - Recap

Jim West speaks to a nurse, but she can tell him little beyond what he already knows – the hospital is treating a seriously injured Artemus Gordon. She takes Jim downstairs to a door labeled “Emergency Operating Room.” As Jim opens the door, a doctor finishes covering the table with a sheet. He tells Jim that he has arrived too late and then asks Jim to identify the body. Jim lifts the sheet, but the man it conceals is much older than Artemus. Then the doctor presses a floor switch, discharging a plume of vapor into the agent’s face. Jim staggers backwards, fighting the effect. He draws his gun and turns slowly towards the doctor, who expresses amazement that he’s able to do that much. The weapon spins out of a nerveless hand and Jim pitches to the floor, unconscious. Two men enter the room bearing a large wicker basket; they load Jim into the basket and leave. The doctor remains, examining Jim’s revolver...

Aboard The Wanderer, Artie hosts Ahkeema, a college educated Osage brave. Ahkeema demonstrates his skill with the pistol, shooting the pips from a six of spades. Artie offers his visitor a drink, but Ahkeema declines, stating that his education granted him an appreciation for calculus and culture, and a disdain for the white man’s vices. Artie comments on the man’s poor manners and the men exchange barbs. Finally, Ahkeema suggests he might behave better if James West had arrived on time. The future of Ahkeema’s people depends on the message Jim brings from President Grant. Ahkeema shows Artie where the Osage live, near the Pawnee, Cherokee, Comanche, Arapaho and Apache. He explains how his people are engaged in a kind of mass suicide, preying on each other since they found the white man’s technology unbeatable. Artie asks Ahkeema about Chief Ho-Tami. Ahkeema is surprised Artie knows of the chief. By way of explanation, Artie shows Ahkeema a picture the chief gave the agents a few years back when they were of some service to him. Ahkeema praises Ho-Tami for his ability to unite the tribes. Artie remains certain Jim will shortly return with the answer the tribes want to hear, but when Ahkeema asks for details, Artie must admit he does not know what has delayed his partner. Artie believes his partner has returned from Washington, since The Wanderer is here, but does not know more. Ahkeema wonders what could be more important than the lives of the Indian people and then starts to leave. Shots pierce the walls of the car, and both men dive for cover! Outside, Artie sees Indian raiders riding off. Ahkeema tells the agent that there are those who prefer Mr. West’s message never reach Ho-Tami. Before Ahkeema leaves, Artie asks where the agents can find him. Ahkeema explains that he will bring Ho-Tami to St. Louis in one week’s time, and cautions that if he has received no word from Mr. West by then, a great many men will die.

Artie’s first move is to the telegraph set, where he begins to tap out a message. Then he sees impressions of an earlier message on the notepad nearby. Using a pencil, Artie rubs the paper lightly to draw out the impressions and sees the message: “Urgent Artemus Gordon seriously hurt Samaritan Hospital come at once” Taking up his hat and a sword cane, Artie departs.

Jim awakens in a lonely lighthouse. As he surveys the storeroom, a voice introduces itself as “Dr. Arcularis.” Jim impresses the doctor by correctly identifying the anesthetic used from the characteristic symptoms. Arcularis then tells Jim it is useless to seek escape, which Jim counters suggesting there’s no harm in trying. Chuckling, Arcularis concedes that there is no harm in trying, and tells Jim to amuse himself. Jim notices a hatch and moves to try it when the two dark suited men from the hospital enter and grab him. Halfway up to the next floor, they pull him back down. He drops long enough to kick them free before he scrambles back up through the hatch. The door there is locked, so Jim tries the stairs, confronting another man at a landing; Jim kicks him off the landing to the floor below. Jim hurls himself to the top of the stairs and hauls open the door. A blinding light stops him in his tracks, long enough for his pursuers to catch and overpower him.

Inside this room, Dr. Arcularis thanks the agent for joining him so promptly, and tells him that he stumbled into the two hundred and fifty thousand candle power beam of a lighthouse. Jim believed the government owned all the lighthouses, and Arcularis concedes that, but says he owns the lighthouse keeper, one Joshua Trowbridge. Jim can tell immediately that Trowbridge isn’t quite right – he’s too still, not reacting to what occurs around him. Almost like he has no feelings. Dr. Arcularis agrees that this is essentially correct, saying he has desensitized the people around him. He demonstrates by snatching a hair from Trowbridge’s beard and rapping another man sharply on the shin with his cane. Neither man so much as flinches. Then he demonstrates on a girl, Indra, bending her arm behind her back. This appalling display prompts Jim to lunge free and snap a punch into the doctor’s short ribs. Recovering, Arcularis asks why Jim punched him, and Jim replies that it seemed like a good idea at the time. Turning to Indra, Arcularis explains that she has just seen chivalry in action, and that Jim would defend her with his very life if necessary! And that it was entirely for nothing, for she, like the men, felt no pain at all. Arcularis then orders his henchmen to take Jim to the catwalk surrounding the inside of the lighthouse windows. They secure the agent to a chair so that the piercing beam of the light falls on his face as it slowly turns – a ray so intense even closed eyelids cannot block it. Arcularis tells Jim that at first this beam will seem unendurable, and then... it will get worse. Much worse! And then, a visitor enters the room – Ahkeema!

Sometime later, the doctor has his men unbind Jim, who is semi-conscious. Jim has lasted longer than the doctor expected, earning respect from Ahkeema for his courage. The doctor dismisses such praise, saying that Jim owes his superior endurance to his superb physical condition; Ahkeema scorns that, saying Arcularis reduces everything to the test tube. Arcularis hopes that Ahkeema’s admiration for Jim’s courage will not interfere with a very important experiment. Angrily, Ahkeema dashes a teacup from Arcularis’ hand, reminding the doctor who runs the show. He demands Arcularis acknowledge him, and the doctor does. The Ahkeema asks the doctor if Jim West will be ready in one week when Ahkeema and Ho-Tami visit St. Louis. That is when Ahkeema needs Jim West to publicly execute Ho-Tami! Dr. Arcularis hesitates at first, musing that he will have to condense a little, but then says that James West will be ready.

The next morning, Dr. Arcularis greets Jim cheerily, and offers a tour of his laboratory. Arcularis mentions a brilliant young European scientist whose work he admires, who subjects mice to unpleasant stresses, and teaches them to respond blindly and instantly to an object or signal which they have learned will remove the stress. Jim counters that mice are hardly the most intelligent animals, but Arcularis has discovered that the method works on guinea pigs, cats, dogs, apes – and people. He shows Jim a piteous wreck of a man, caged and begging. Arcularis suggests that it has been awhile since the man’s last drink, so he probably wants water. Jim goes to an urn; Arcularis calls off his henchman, saying that Jim is a knight, and knights always help people. Jim draws a cup and hands it to the caged man, who drinks greedily. But a second later, Arcularis blows a whistle and the man drops the water cup instantly! He could not possibly have drunk his fill, and yet he allowed the cup to fall.

Arcularis shows Jim something else. Behind a sliding panel is... Chief Ho-Tami! For a second Jim wonders about the motionless chief, but then realizes that the image is merely a clay duplicate of the great man. A friend, Arcularis continues, has decided that Ho-Tami must die. And that he must die by the hand of someone he trusts: James West. Jim finds that amusing. Arcularis suggests that since Ho-Tami has told his people that James West is honorable, he will make their case to President Grant and the united tribes will have their honorable peace. So what will happen, Arcularis muses, when Jim cold-bloodedly guns down the chief in full view of everyone there? Then Arcularis promises Jim that he will first put three or four bullets into the clay duplicate – and later, he will do the same to the real Ho-Tami!

Artemus searches for Jim at the Samaritan Hospital, but runs into a dead end. The superintendent there knows nothing of Jim, and emphatically denies that Jim or anyone answering his description has come to the hospital, today or any other day. He asks Artie to leave quietly, so that he does not have to have his giant orderly Alex “help” the Secret Service man out. Leaving, Artie feels a tap, and discovers a paper wad. Not far away, a hand gestures from a room – the person who threw the paper wants Artie’s attention.

Inside Room 14 Artie meats Madame Lafarge, who mutters about guillotines and beheadings – she’s not quite right in her head, and obsessed with the French Revolution. But she sees everybody, and she writes it all down. And Artie can have her book if he can get her out of the hospital. Artie wheels her from the room; when he turns to close the door, she attempts escape but Artie catches her easily. She then claims to know nothing of Jim West, and Artie offers chocolate: he promises the lady bonbons in all the varieties. She seems to consider this, but before she can answer the doctor and Alex appear. They chide Mme. Lafarge, reminding her that she’s not to leave her room. As Alex wheels her back inside Artie mentions bonbons and she tosses him her notebook.

Bells ring loudly in a small, bare room. Jim clutches his ears but cannot block the pain. The bells stop as a hatch opens and Doctor Arcularis tells Jim he has endured the bells for six hours. Jim defies the doctor by claiming to like the sound. Arcularis offers more of it – the bells resume their clangor. Then the doctor tells Jim that if he happens to grow tired of the bells, there is a way to make them stop. He tosses a pistol into Jim’s cell as a wall panel slides back, revealing the clay figure of Ho-Tami. All Jim must do is shoot the bad, bad Indian and the bells will cease. Jim hurls the gun back through the hatch; at once the wall panel shuts and the bells resume, driving Jim to the ground in agony.

Sometime later, two henchmen drag a semi-conscious Jim West into a different cell, and leave him on the pallet there. Indra brings food and strokes his face, then calls his name. She tells Jim to do what the doctor wants him to, and that Arcularis will win in the end – he always does. Jims says the doctor holds the high cards and may win the pot, but that he’ll give the man a run for his money. She leaves and Jim calls after her. When she stops, he asks her whether she really felt no pain when the doctor twisted her arm, and she confirms it. Jim claims she must feel something; she came to his cell to tell him to yield, not because of the doctor, but because she didn’t want to see anyone else hurt. She admits that she doesn’t want to see Jim hurt, and he asks her to help him. But she cannot. Jim believes she can but she repeats herself: she cannot. She does not know why, she only knows that she cannot. Jim switches tacks, asking how long she has been here, but she cannot answer that question either. Then he asks if she does everything the doctor tells her, even if she knows it is wrong. She nods, and Jim asks her to try hard to disobey. Then he kisses her fiercely. She kisses his hand shyly and then leaves the cell.

Outside the lighthouse, a chill wind blows. Inside, Jim sits tied in a chair on the catwalk, shirtless and blasted by the bitter wind. Arcularis commends his resistance, but tells him hunger, pain, and cold will soon make him receptive. Then Arcularis has his men release the agent –two hours is long enough; it wouldn’t do to overdo. The men haul Jim down the ladder. When they open the door, Jim bursts into action, punching one and shoving the other out of the room, then sending his partner hurtling after him. Before they can return, Jim slams the door and throws the bolt, leaving him alone with Arcularis. The doctor tells Jim the stunt will do him no good; his men will have the door down in five minutes. Then the doctor lunges at Jim, but cannot overpower him. Jim grabs a blanket and the doctor. Jim shuts off the lamp rotor and then, forcing Arcularis ahead of him, climbs the ladder. On the catwalk, he uses the blanket to flash an SOS out to sea. Instead of a steady flashing, ships will see the light interrupted by the blanket.

Aboard a ship, an officer spies something he does not understand. It is an SOS, but not from another ship. It comes from the lighthouse at Barrow’s Point! The captain orders his officer to have the signalman contact the Naval Station at Barrows Point.

Sometime later, a naval commander commends Joshua Trowbridge for his ingenuity in creating the SOS signal despite a broken arm. The lighthouse keeper stands silently by, arm in a sling. The navy man continues that it was lucky the doctor saw the signal and came to Trowbridge’s aid! Convinced everything is under control, the officer and his sailors leave. Then Arcularis opens double doors. Inside a small storeroom sits Jim West, bound to a chair and gagged! His SOS ploy has failed, for Arcularis and his conditioned hostages have crafted a clever cover.

Later, Jim is bound once again in front of the blinding light. A pistol hangs from his hand as Ahkeema and Arcularis watch. Arcularis opens the doors to the storeroom; he has moved the clay Ho-Tami here, within the limited firing arc of Jim’s pistol. He yells, urging Jim to shoot the bad Indian, and there will be no more light, no more bells, only peace... quiet... darkness...

Ahkeema tells the doctor that Ho-Tami will be in St. Louis the next morning, and reminds him that he guaranteed Jim West would be there waiting. Then he asks if the agent will be ready. Arcularis does not know; this subject isn’t human and won’t break. Then, suddenly, Jim empties his revolver into the clay Ho-Tami! He continues to fire even after the hammer falls on expended cartridges with loud clicks. Mindlessly. Reflexively.

The schemers watch this. Ahkeema realizes they have won after all. He asks if Jim is alright and Arcularis confirms that he is – he’s only unconscious. Bitterly, Ahkeema proclaims a triumph of science over bravery. Arcularis dismisses bravery – to a man of science, bravery is a sentimental term signifying nothing. So far as the doctor is concerned, James West is merely a vehicle with certain useful preconditioned reflexes. Arcularis makes notes in his casebook. As he does, light glints from Ahkeema’s jeweled tie clasp, flashing into Jim’s eyes.

At night, a man leaves a waterfront bar. Artie taps his shoulder with a cane; he turns and draws a knife. Artie raps his wrist sharply and the knife falls from his hand. Then he asks what Artie wants and Artie tells him: information. About James West. The man claims ignorance of that particular topic. Then Artie addresses the man by his name, Sikes. He tells Sikes that he knows Jim was brought to him, and that Sikes either has him, or knows who does. As Artie turns to face Sikes, two other men emerge from the disreputable drinkery. Sikes again denies knowing Jim. Artie then draws a bag from his coat – money, and a lot of it, if Sikes can answer questions. The men creep closer, and suddenly, without a glance in their direction, Artie hurls the money to their feet; the bag explodes in a cloud of gas, stunning the two sneaks. In the furor, Artie grabs Sikes and pins him to a wall. Sikes pleads that they’ll kill him if he reveals what he knows. Coldly, Artie tells him that’s the future, and if he refuses to talk, Artie will kill him right now. Sikes finally reveals that Arcularis holds Jim at the lighthouse.

In his lab, Arcularis speaks to Jim, explaining that he will be leaving quite soon. He also says that Artie has made a nuisance of himself trying to find his partner, and Arcularis expects him to appear at any moment. He wonders if Artie will be as easy to condition as Jim. Jim never reacts. Arcularis next runs through the plan again, as a metronome ticks steadily. Jim recites his instructions: leave here, find Ho-Tami at the Traveler’s Hotel in St. Louis. “And then?” the doctor prompts. Jim replies, without emotion, that when he finds Ho-Tami he will kill him.

Ahkeema enters the Traveler’s Hotel and visits Jim’s room. It is almost time for Ho-Tami’s arrival. Jim rises and dons his gun belt. Ahkeema checks the agent’s pistol and then reholsters it.

Outside, Ho-Tami and other chiefs disembark a coach and approach the hotel. Seeing this from his window, Jim pulls his pistol – but Ahkeema stops him. This execution must be public. Ahkeema instructs his pawn to count slowly to twenty-five and then come downstairs. Then, Ahkeema leaves.

Seeing his aide descend the stairs, Ho-Tami asks if James West is here, and what answer he bears. Ahkeema says he feels Jim should give that answer in person. At that point, Jim descends and Ho-Tami approaches and greets the agent. He asks if Jim brings good news, but Jim says nothing. He turns away from the chief, and Ahkeema calls sharply to him. Jim slowly turns back to face the chief as Ahkeema asks if he has business with the chief. His tie-clasp again reflects light into Jim’s eyes. Ho-Tami does not understand Jim’s silence, or why seconds later the agent turns and dashes a vase from a nearby table. Spinning, the agent draws and fires several shots!

Stunned, Ahkeema crumples to the floor. Several bystanders crouch to examine him; Ho-Tami draws a short knife and begins to stalk Jim. Jim says nothing as Ho-Tami draws back for a killing stab. Then a voice cries out, “No!” Ahkeema, dying, calls his chief to his side and explains that the plan was his, and that he sought to prevent Ho-Tami from delivering his people into slavery. Ho-Tami argues that he only wants peace. Ahkeema says the agreement will start that way, but over time the white man will whittle away the lands until only wretched little reservations remain, where the people can starve and rot in peace. Then his head drops back to the floor as he succumbs.

Ho-Tami’s heart is broken, but he thinks to ask Jim if there can still be peace. Jim conveys the President’s true message: there is peace, and a special envoy is coming to escort Ho-Tami to Washington for discussions on the matter. Then Ho-Tami, in apology, tells Jim the plan was Ahkeema’s alone. Jim replies that it wasn’t, and leaves...

Jim bursts into the lighthouse, where Arcularis’ voice welcomes him back! Tersely, Jim asks where “he” is and Arcularis directs him to the second floor, first door on the right. Jim climbs the stairs and enters the lab; there, he sees a stone-faced Artemus sitting in a chair. As Jim reaches his friend, Arcularis whistles, and Artie attacks! A two-handed blow knocks Jim over, and a punch follows. Artie gets his hands around Jim’s throat and begins to strangle him, still wearing that same dull expression. Jim manages to break the grip, then hurls Artie to the floor and kicks him before running. Artie fires twice as Jim dodges out the laboratory door.

Jim climbs to the next landing as Artie emerges from the lab. Below, Arcularis warns Artie not to waste his one remaining cartridge. Henchmen above prevent Jim from climbing further, so he vaults from the landing and hangs beneath it. Artie stalks the stairs, but cannot see his partner hanging below them. Arcularis tells Jim that Artie, too, was a difficult subject for programming, but that he has responded beautifully! Artie reaches the landing and passes the spot where Jim hangs; Jim hauls himself up and grabs Artie from behind, overpowering his partner and knocking him cold.

Arcularis offers Jim a bravo for neatly handling a difficult situation. Then he recalls the lovely words from Ecclesiastes... Jim supplies a few of them: a time to weep, and a time to laugh, and Arcularis adds his favorites: a time to be born, and a time to die! He directs Jim to look around him at the four men, all programmed to kill. Jim asks him who they’re programmed to kill – Jim? Or Mr. Gordon? Or... Arcularis himself? Arcularis merely laughs, reminding Jim who does the programming. But Jim points out that perhaps the doctor is slipping. His programming didn’t hold, and Ho-Tami lives while Ahkeema lies dead! At first the mad doctor is startled. Then he decides this is a stupid lie that he will ignore.

Jim next appeals to Indra, exhorting her to remember what he told her – that if one fights, and fights hard, one can overcome the conditioning. She seems unreceptive; Arcularis spares her a glance and concludes that Jim has not reached her. Jim disagrees. He tells the doctor to look again, at her eyes. She’s not a vegetable any longer. Arcularis then commands the girl to retrieve his casebook from the next room, that he might record Jim West’s final moments – and she does not move. She has defeated his conditioning!

Jim speaks generally, telling the other men that the program doesn’t work if you fight. It won’t stick if you don’t want it to. All they have to do is resist and fight!! Arcularis scoffs, telling Jim the men do not hear him. Jim speaks to Trowbridge, reminding him that this was his lighthouse, and that he can take it back! No one moves. Jim asks the others what Arcularis took from each of them and tells them they can have it back if they fight, and really want it. Arcularis tells Jim he’s through, and orders the men to attack – but at first they do not move. Then they do – passing Jim and descending. Arcularis demands they kill Jim, but they do not. Mockingly, Jim suggests a whistle, or a bell. All the men now close on Arcularis, who realizes they have broken his hold and darts up the stairs into his laboratory, sealing the door behind him. The men begin to batter the door.

Artie awakens; hearing him, Jim whirls and draws back a first, but Artie has also broken the conditioning. He remembers arriving at the lighthouse, but little else – like he had a terrible dream. Jim only says that he had a ticket on the same train. Then Artie asks what the men are doing and Jim answers that they’re trying to get to Arcularis. Artie guesses they’d better stop the men from killing the doctor, but Jim cannot think of a reason why they should. At first, neither can Artie – but then he jokingly suggests that Arcularis could condition a woman to always be nice and never nag and the men descend towards the commotion...

Share this article with your friends