“The Silver Knife” was a strange Northern that appeared in Weird Tales, January 1932. It was the first of three stories by Ralph Allen Lang (1906-1987). It wasn’t the first tale of Arctic werewolves in the magazine. Sewell Peaslee Wright had “The Wolf” appear in November 1927. Wright’s earlier version has a man in the North hire a native guide who is a werewolf. Wright’s tale is a mystery of sorts while Lang’s is a chase.
“The Silver Knife” begins with two Mounties discussing the case of murderer Wolf Dalhgren. Constable Ross Nagel brings two items to his superior for consideration. The first item is a dagger taken from a temple of Dagon (nice Lovecraft reference!) that bears a head with ruby eyes and a curved blade of silver. The second item is a diary left by Wolf himself.
In the diary he explains where he got the knife. A native sachem or shaman was using it for sacrificial purposes. Wolf recognized that the rubies alone would make him rich. With the money he could leave the North and the Mounties and the price on his head. He just had to get away first.
At first this seems easy, as Wolf is very strong man, equipped with a five dog sled team and plenty of food. He quickly outdistances any native pursuers. The only one who seems to be following is a large wolf. That night the animal attacks, killing the lead sled dog. The attacks will continue night after night. Wolf fills the giant body with lead but to no effect. He realizes this is no ordinary wolf.
With only two dogs left, Wolf comes to a trapper’s cabin. He abandons the dogs to their death, and gets inside. The werewolf lurks outside, unable to enter. In the cabin Wolf finds bullet molds. He decides he will melt part of the knife handle to make a silver bullet. Unfortunately he can’t get the fire hot enough to melt the metal.
The werewolf is tired of waiting. Turning to its human form, it opens the door. Wolf is ready to shoot the man with ordinary lead. The wolf jumps into the room and attacks. The diary stops there. Ross reports that they found Wolf Dalhgren dead, his throat torn out. They also found the silver knife embedded in the chest of a dead native man, probably a sachem.
A short, effective strange Northern without an illustration but fun. Lang was a toy-maker from Pennsylvania and never went to the North. He must have been a fan of the Northerns popular in magazines at the beginning of the 20th Century made popular by Jack London. The Lovecraft reference shows that Lang was a Weird Tales fan of old and wanted to be part (in a small way) of that circle of Lovecraftian writers. I doubt many critics consider this an actual Cthulhu Mythos tale.
My wife would hate this one. She watches every film through the lens of ” I don’t care who dies as long as the dog is okay”
Sounds like my daughter-in-law.