THE MYSTERY OF THE XV (3)
By:
January 26, 2026
Léo Saint-Clair, known as the “Nyctalope,” is an indomitable crimefighter with night vision — and an early example of a pulp superhero. Excerpted here is a section from the first of his many outings, in Jean de La Hire’s Le Mystère des XV (The Mystery of the XV, serialized in 1911 in the French newspaper Le Matin). There’s a proto-Batman vibe to the Nyctalope; here, he even mentors an irrepressible teenage sidekick. In Josh Glenn’s translation, which first appeared in the anthology Before Superman: Superhumans of the Radium Age (MIT Press, Summer 2025), he’s attempted to retain the proto-cartoonish tone of the prose.
ALL INSTALLMENTS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5.
Each of them carried a rifle in his right hand, ready to shoulder and fire should their lives be threatened — whether by some wild animal or by the arrow of a Vouatoua dwarf. Even a slight injury could spell doom for their campaign.
After traveling another three quarters of an hour, Saint-Clair pulled Max close and whispered, “Stop — here we are.”
What silence! A distant, muffled bellowing only emphasized the awe-inspiring grandeur of this quietude. Not a breath of air passed through the trees; and whether because the animals that crawl, fly, chatter, and jump were sleeping, or because this region of the jungle was depopulated, one couldn’t hear the slightest breaking of a branch, the rustling of leaves… nothing! Nothing but the rhythmic, distant roars of a lioness on the hunt.
Though he could hear his own heart pounding, Max remained strong and resolute. “What do you see?” he murmured — because for him, the night had lost none of its black opacity. He could see only the bizarre phosphorescent eyes of the Nyctalope.
“Twenty steps ahead, through the trees, I can see the clearing…”
“What do we do now?”
“Don’t move a muscle — remain standing up, and facing in the same direction. If I whistle, walk straight forward. I’ll look your way, and the glow of my eyes will guide you through the foliage. And if I don’t whistle… whatever you may see or hear, don’t move!”
“What if I’m attacked?”
“Kill! Man or beast, aim between its eyes… If it’s a close-quarter scrap, you have your automatic pistols and a hatchet. But keep your cool… don’t act impetuously.”
“Don’t worry about me, chief!”
“Stretch out your hand… Good! It’s not shaking. I’m leaving.”
Supple, feline, and swift, gliding between the trees without a misstep, penetrating bushes without disturbing a leaf, dodging a tangled network of vines without slowing down, Saint-Clair advanced upon the clearing. He had no idea what awaited him, so he remained ready for anything — his mind lucid, his nerves under control, his muscles tensed. His rifle was in both hands, his index finger on the trigger, ready to fire…
FRENCH PROTO-SF TRANSLATIONS BY JOSH GLENN: Raymond Roussel’s LOCUS SOLUS [excerpt] | Noëlle Roger’s THE NEW ADAM [excerpt] | Alfred Jarry’s THE SUPERMALE [excerpt] | Jean de La Hire’s THE MYSTERY OF THE XV [excerpt].
RADIUM AGE PROTO-SF: “Radium Age” is Josh Glenn’s name for the nascent sf genre’s c. 1900–1935 era, a period which saw the discovery of radioactivity, i.e., the revelation that matter itself is constantly in movement — a fitting metaphor for the first decades of the 20th century, during which old scientific, religious, political, and social certainties were shattered. More info here.
SERIALIZED BY HILOBOOKS: James Parker’s Cocky the Fox | Annalee Newitz’s “The Great Oxygen Race” | Matthew Battles’s “Imago” | & many more original and reissued novels and stories.