A WITCH IN TIME
BY HERB WILLIAMS
If historians have ever pondered that eerie
and magical transformation of Abigaile Goodyeare,
that "faire young maide" who aged so before the
disbelieving eyes of gallows witnesses, mayhaps
herein lies the answer....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
I saw this faire young maide, Abigaile Goodyeare, standing yonder onye gallows and shee saith againe and againe that she was no witch,although the jury had founde her guilty of ... familiarity with Satan,the grand enemie of God & man; and that by his instigation and help ...afflicted and done harm to the bodyes and estates of sundry of hisMajesties subjects....
—WITCHCRAFT IN EARLY AMERICA
VOLUME II, CHAPTER 4
Nat Lyon looked nervously at the girl huddled in the corner of the timemachine. There were white streaks down her face where recent tears hadwashed off the grime of several days spent in a primitive jail.
Her almost jet black hair was a tangled mess, hanging in strings toher shoulders. He wrinkled his nose in distaste at the odor fillingthe small compartment. There was romance in history, he thought, whenviewed in the abstract, but not when one faced history in the person ofa female who had languished several days in an unsanitary prison.
"Pray, Sir," she asked slowly, and so softly he scarcely heard her,"Art thou the Lord? Or one of His Angels?"
Nat started to laugh, but she looked so pitiful he checked himself."No, I'm a human being, just like yourself—except that I've never beenaccused of witchcraft!"
A look of fear crossed her face. "Verily, I testify unto thee that I amno witch, but have the fear of God before mine eyes." She was almostfrantic in her statement. She cringed farther into the corner. Natnoticed the raw wounds on her wrists where the irons had chafed her.
"Sure, sure, I believe you," Nat said sharply. "They won't hang younow!" Then he added glumly, "But they'll probably do worse to me ifthey find out what I've done!"
She looked up at him, wonder in her deep blue eyes, her long lashesblinking slowly. Even her bedraggled appearance and the dirt thatliterally covered her could not hide from Nat the beauty of her eyes."Then perhaps thou art an emissary of the Evil One, though thou hast akind look to thy features that seemeth not to come of the Devil."
This time Nat laughed. He had read the ancient records known as booksbut hearing someone talk in archaic book fashion was too much. "Thatwas quite a speech, Pretty Eyes. But get it through your head that I'ma normal human who had a momentary lapse and did an abnormal thing. Iused the paralysis ray on wide range, stopped the show and hauled youoff the gallows. Right now we're in a time machine headed for ... I'mnot sure where."
The girl forgot her fear in momentary puzzlement. "Paralysis ray?" sherepeated slowly, "Stop the show? Time machine?"
"Oh, skip it," he said. "What we need right now is a chance to get youcleaned up—and I think I know just the place. There's a pretty beachin 18th century Mexico. It's warm, and there's a fresh water streamrunning into the ocean. You can wash off some of that prison grime."
The sun beat down on Nat's blonde head as he sat on a rock overlookinga river mouth and several mil