CARNACKI, THE GHOST FINDER

By William Hope Hodgson

1910, 1912

No. 1

THE GATEWAY OF THE MONSTER

In response to Carnacki's usual card of invitation to have dinner andlisten to a story, I arrived promptly at 427, Cheyne Walk, to find thethree others who were always invited to these happy little times, therebefore me. Five minutes later, Carnacki, Arkright, Jessop, Taylor, and Iwere all engaged in the "pleasant occupation" of dining. 

"You've not been long away, this time, " I remarked, as I finished mysoup; forgetting momentarily Carnacki's dislike of being asked even toskirt the borders of his story until such time as he was ready. Then hewould not stint words. 

"That's all, " he replied, with brevity; and I changed the subject, remarking that I had been buying a new gun, to which piece of news hegave an intelligent nod, and a smile which I think showed a genuinelygood-humored appreciation of my intentional changing of the conversation. 

Later, when dinner was finished, Carnacki snugged himself comfortablydown in his big chair, along with his pipe, and began his story, withvery little circumlocution:--

"As Dodgson was remarking just now, I've only been away a short time, andfor a very good reason too--I've only been away a short distance. Theexact locality I am afraid I must not tell you; but it is less thantwenty miles from here; though, except for changing a name, that won'tspoil the story. And it is a story too! One of the most extraordinarythings ever I have run against. 

"I received a letter a fortnight ago from a man I must call Anderson, asking for an appointment. I arranged a time, and when he came, I foundthat he wished me to investigate and see whether I could not clear up along-standing and well--too well--authenticated case of what he termed'haunting. ' He gave me very full particulars, and, finally, as the caseseemed to present something unique, I decided to take it up. 

"Two days later, I drove to the house late in the afternoon. I found it avery old place, standing quite alone in its own grounds. Anderson hadleft a letter with the butler, I found, pleading excuses for his absence, and leaving the whole house at my disposal for my investigations. Thebutler evidently knew the object of my visit, and I questioned him prettythoroughly during dinner, which I had in rather lonely state. He is anold and privileged servant, and had the history of the Grey Room exact indetail. From him I learned more particulars regarding two things thatAnderson had mentioned in but a casual manner. The first was that thedoor of the Grey Room would be heard in the dead of night to open, andslam heavily, and this even though the butler knew it was locked, and thekey on the bunch in his pantry. The second was that the bedclothes wouldalways be found torn off the bed, and hurled in a heap into a corner. 

"But it was the door slamming that chiefly bothered the old butler. Manyand many a time, he told me, had he lain awake and just got shiveringwith fright, listening; for sometimes the door would be slammed timeafter time--thud! thud! thud!--so that sleep was impossible. 

"From Anderson, I knew already that the room had a history extending backover a hundred and fifty years. Three people had been strangled in it--anancestor of his and his wife and child. This is authentic, as I had takenvery great pains to discover; so that you can imagine it was with afeeling I had a striking case to investigate that I went upstairs afterdinner to have a look at the Grey Room. 

"Peter, the old butler, was in rather a state about my going, and assuredme with much solemnity that in all the twenty years of his service, noone had ever entered that room after nightfall. He begged me, in quite afatherly way, to wait till the morning, when there would be no danger, and then he could accompany me himself. 

"Of course, I smiled a little at him, and told him not to bother. Iexplained that I should do no more than look 'round a bit, and, perhaps, affix a few seals. He need not fear; I was used to that sort of thing. But he shook his head when I said that. 

"'There isn't many ghosts like ours, sir, ' he assured me, with mournfulpride. And, by Jove! he was right, as you will see. 

"I took a couple of candles, and Peter followed with his bunch of keys. He unlocked the door; but would not come inside with me. He was evidentlyin a fright, and he renewed his request that I would put off myexamination until daylight. Of course, I laughed at him again, and toldhim he could stand sentry at the door, and catch anything that came out. 

"'It never comes outside, sir, ' he said, in his funny, old, solemnmanner. Somehow, he managed to make me feel as if I were going to havethe 'creeps' right away. Anyway, it was one to him, you know. 

"I left him there, and examined the room. It is a big apartment, and wellfurnished in the grand style, with a huge four-poster, which stands withits head to the end wall. There were two candles on the mantelpiece, andtwo on each of the three tables that were in the room. I lit the lot, andafter that, the room felt a little less inhumanly dreary; though, mindyou, it was quite fresh, and well kept in every way. 

"After I had taken a good look 'round, I sealed lengths of baby ribbonacross the windows, along the walls, over the pictures, and over thefireplace and the wall closets. All the time, as I worked, the butlerstood just without the door, and I could not persuade him to enter;though I jested him a little, as I stretched the ribbons, and went hereand there about my work. Every now and again, he would say:--'You'llexcuse me, I'm sure, sir; but I do wish you would come out, sir. I'm fairin a quake for you. '

"I told him he need not wait; but he was loyal enough in his way to whathe considered his duty. He said he could not go away and leave me allalone there. He apologized; but made it very clear that I did not realizethe danger of the room; and I could see, generally, that he was in apretty frightened state. All the same, I had to make the room so that Ishould know if anything material entered it; so I asked him not to botherme, unless he really heard or saw something. He was beginning to get onmy nerves, and the 'feel' of the room was bad enough, without making itany nastier. 

"For a time further, I worked, stretching ribbons across the floor, andsealing them, so that the merest touch would have broken them, wereanyone to venture into the room in the dark with the intention ofplaying the fool. All this had taken me far longer than I hadanticipated; and, suddenly, I heard a clock strike eleven. I had takenoff my coat soon after commencing work; now, however, as I hadpractically made an end of all that I intended to do, I walked across tothe settee, and picked it up. I was in the act of getting into it, whenthe old butler's voice (he had not said a word for the last hour) camesharp and frightened:--'Come out, sir, quick! There's something going tohappen!' Jove! but I jumped, and then, in the same moment, one of thecandles on the table to the left went out. Now whether it was the wind, or what, I do not know; but, just for a moment, I was enough startled tomake a run for the door; though I am glad to say that I pulled up, beforeI reached it. I simply could not bunk out, with the butler standingthere, after having, as it were, read him a sort of lesson on 'bein'brave, y'know. ' So I just turned right 'round, picked up the two candlesoff the mantelpiece, and walked across to the table near the bed. Well, Isaw nothing. I blew out the candle that was still alight; then I went tothose on the two tables, and blew them out. Then, outside of the door, the old man called again:--'Oh! sir, do be told! Do be told!'

"'All right, Peter, ' I said, and by Jove, my voice was not as steady asI should have liked! I made for the door, and had a bit of work not tostart running. I took some thundering long strides, as you can imagine. Near the door, I had a sudden feeling that there was a cold wind in theroom. It was almost as if the window had been suddenly opened a little. I got to the door, and the old butler gave back a step, in a sort ofinstinctive way. 'Collar the candles, Peter!' I said, pretty sharply, and shoved them into his hands. I turned, and caught the handle, andslammed the door shut, with a crash. Somehow, do you know, as I did so, I thought I felt something pull back on it; but it must have been onlyfancy. I turned the key in the lock, and then again, double-locking thedoor. I felt easier then, and set-to and sealed the door. In addition, Iput my card over the keyhole, and sealed it there; after which Ipocketed the key, and went downstairs--with Peter; who was nervous andsilent, leading the way. Poor old beggar! It had not struck me untilthat moment that he had been enduring a considerable strain during thelast two or three hours. 

"About midnight, I went to bed. My room lay at the end of the corridorupon which opens the door of the Grey Room. I counted the doors betweenit and mine, and found that five rooms lay between. And I am sure you canunderstand that I was not sorry. Then, just as I was beginning toundress, an idea came to me, and I took my candle and sealing wax, andsealed the doors of all five rooms. If any door slammed in the night, Ishould know just which one. 

"I returned to my room, locked the door, and went to bed. I was wakedsuddenly from a deep sleep by a loud crash somewhere out in the passage. I sat up in bed, and listened, but heard nothing. Then I lit my candle. Iwas in the very act of lighting it when there came the bang of a doorbeing violently slammed, along the corridor. I jumped out of bed, and gotmy revolver. I unlocked the door, and went out into the passage, holdingmy candle high, and keeping the pistol ready. Then a queer thinghappened. I could not go a step toward the Grey Room. You all know I amnot really a cowardly chap. I've gone into too many cases connected withghostly things, to be accused of that; but I tell you I funked it; simplyfunked it, just like any blessed kid. There was something precious unholyin the air that night. I ran back into my bedroom, and shut and lockedthe door. Then I sat on the bed all night, and listened to the dismalthudding of a door up the corridor. The sound seemed to echo through allthe house. 

"Daylight came at last, and I washed and dressed. The door had notslammed for about an hour, and I was getting back my nerve again. I feltashamed of myself; though, in some ways it was silly; for when you'remeddling with that sort of thing, your nerve is bound to go, sometimes. And you just have to sit quiet and call yourself a coward until daylight. Sometimes it is more than just cowardice, I fancy. I believe at times itis something warning you, and fighting _for_ you. But, all the same, Ialways feel mean and miserable, after a time like that. 

"When the day came properly, I opened my door, and, keeping my revolverhandy, went quietly along the passage. I had to pass the head of thestairs, along the way, and who should I see coming up, but the oldbutler, carrying a cup of coffee. He had merely tucked his nightshirtinto his trousers, and he had an old pair of carpet slippers on. 

"'Hullo, Peter!' I said, feeling suddenly cheerful; for I was as glad asany lost child to have a live human being close to me. 'Where are you offto with the refreshments?'

"The old man gave a start, and slopped some of the coffee. He stared upat me, and I could see that he looked white and done-up. He came on upthe stairs, and held out the little tray to me. 'I'm very thankfulindeed, sir, to see you safe and well, ' he said. 'I feared, one time, youmight risk going into the Grey Room, sir. I've lain awake all night, withthe sound of the Door. And when it came light, I thought I'd make you acup of coffee. I knew you would want to look at the seals, and somehow itseems safer if there's two, sir. '

"'Peter, ' I said, 'you're a brick. This is very thoughtful of you. ' And Idrank the coffee. 'Come along, ' I told him, and handed him back the tray. 'I'm going to have a look at what the Brutes have been up to. I simplyhadn't the pluck to in the night. '

"'I'm very thankful, sir, ' he replied. 'Flesh and blood can do nothing, sir, against devils; and that's what's in the Grey Room after dark. '

"I examined the seals on all the doors, as I went along, and found themright; but when I got to the Grey Room, the seal was broken; though thecard, over the keyhole, was untouched. I ripped it off, and unlocked thedoor, and went in, rather cautiously, as you can imagine; but the wholeroom was empty of anything to frighten one, and there was heaps of light. I examined all my seals, and not a single one was disturbed. The oldbutler had followed me in, and, suddenly, he called out:--'Thebedclothes, sir!'

"I ran up to the bed, and looked over; and, surely, they were lying inthe corner to the left of the bed. Jove! you can imagine how queer Ifelt. Something _had_ been in the room. I stared for a while, from thebed, to the clothes on the floor. I had a feeling that I did not want totouch either. Old Peter, though, did not seem to be affected that way. Hewent over to the bed coverings, and was going to pick them up, as, doubtless, he had done every day these twenty years back; but I stoppedhim. I wanted nothing touched, until I had finished my examination. This, I must have spent a full hour over, and then I let Peter straighten upthe bed; after which we went out, and I locked the door; for the room wasgetting on my nerves. 

"I had a short walk, and then breakfast; after which I felt more my ownman, and so returned to the Grey Room, and, with Peter's help, and one ofthe maids, I had everything taken out of the room, except the bed--eventhe very pictures. I examined the walls, floor and ceiling then, withprobe, hammer and magnifying glass; but found nothing suspicious. And Ican assure you, I began to realize, in very truth, that some incrediblething had been loose in the room during the past night. I sealed upeverything again, and went out, locking and sealing the door, as before. 

"After dinner, Peter and I unpacked some of my stuff, and I fixed up mycamera and flashlight opposite to the door of the Grey Room, with astring from the trigger of the flashlight to the door. Then, you see, ifthe door were really opened, the flashlight would blare out, and therewould be, possibly, a very queer picture to examine in the morning. Thelast thing I did, before leaving, was to uncap the lens; and after that Iwent off to my bedroom, and to bed; for I intended to be up at midnight;and to ensure this, I set my little alarm to call me; also I left mycandle burning. 

"The clock woke me at twelve, and I got up and into my dressing gown andslippers. I shoved my revolver into my right side-pocket, and opened mydoor. Then, I lit my darkroom lamp, and withdrew the slide, so that itwould give a clear light. I carried it up the corridor, about thirtyfeet, and put it down on the floor, with the open side away from me, sothat it would show me anything that might approach along the darkpassage. Then I went back, and sat in the doorway of my room, with myrevolver handy, staring up the passage toward the place where I knew mycamera stood outside the door of the Grey Room. 

"I should think I had watched for about an hour and a half, when, suddenly, I heard a faint noise, away up the corridor. I was immediatelyconscious of a queer prickling sensation about the back of my head, andmy hands began to sweat a little. The following instant, the whole end ofthe passage flicked into sight in the abrupt glare of the flashlight. There came the succeeding darkness, and I peered nervously up thecorridor, listening tensely, and trying to find what lay beyond the faintglow of my dark-lamp, which now seemed ridiculously dim by contrast withthe tremendous blaze of the flash-power.... And then, as I stoopedforward, staring and listening, there came the crashing thud of the doorof the Grey Room. The sound seemed to fill the whole of the largecorridor, and go echoing hollowly through the house. I tell you, I felthorrible--as if my bones were water. Simply beastly. Jove! how I didstare, and how I listened. And then it came again--thud, thud, thud, andthen a silence that was almost worse than the noise of the door; for Ikept fancying that some awful thing was stealing upon me along thecorridor. And then, suddenly, my lamp was put out, and I could not see ayard before me. I realized all at once that I was doing a very sillything, sitting there, and I jumped up. Even as I did so, I _thought_ Iheard a sound in the passage, and quite _near_ me. I made one backwardspring into my room, and slammed and locked the door. I sat on my bed, and stared at the door. I had my revolver in my hand; but it seemed anabominably useless thing. I felt that there was something the other sideof that door. For some unknown reason I _knew_ it was pressed up againstthe door, and it was soft. That was just what I thought. Mostextraordinary thing to think. 

"Presently I got hold of myself a bit, and marked out a pentaclehurriedly with chalk on the polished floor; and there I sat in italmost until dawn. And all the time, away up the corridor, the door ofthe Grey Room thudded at solemn and horrid intervals. It was amiserable, brutal night. 

"When the day began to break, the thudding of the door came gradually toan end, and, at last, I got hold of my courage, and went along thecorridor in the half light to cap the lens of my camera. I can tell you, it took some doing; but if I had not done so my photograph would havebeen spoilt, and I was tremendously keen to save it. I got back to myroom, and then set-to and rubbed out the five-pointed star in which I hadbeen sitting. 

"Half an hour later there was a tap at my door. It was Peter with mycoffee. When I had drunk it, we both went along to the Grey Room. As wewent, I had a look at the seals on the other doors; but they wereuntouched. The seal on the door of the Grey Room was broken, as also wasthe string from the trigger of the flashlight; but the card over thekeyhole was still there. I ripped it off, and opened the door. Nothingunusual was to be seen until we came to the bed; then I saw that, as onthe previous day, the bedclothes had been torn off, and hurled into theleft-hand corner, exactly where I had seen them before. I felt veryqueer; but I did not forget to look at all the seals, only to find thatnot one had been broken. 

"Then I turned and looked at old Peter, and he looked at me, nodding his head. 

"'Let's get out of here!' I said. 'It's no place for any living human toenter, without proper protection. '

"We went out then, and I locked and sealed the door, again. 

"After breakfast, I developed the negative; but it showed only the doorof the Grey Room, half opened. Then I left the house, as I wanted to getcertain matters and implements that might be necessary to life; perhapsto the spirit; for I intended to spend the coming night in the Grey Room. 

"I go back in a cab, about half-past five, with my apparatus, and this, Peter and I carried up to the Grey Room, where I piled it carefully inthe center of the floor. When everything was in the room, including a catwhich I had brought, I locked and sealed the door, and went toward thebedroom, telling Peter I should not be down for dinner. He said, 'Yes, sir, ' and went downstairs, thinking that I was going to turn in, whichwas what I wanted him to believe, as I knew he would have worried both meand himself, if he had known what I intended. 

"But I merely got my camera and flashlight from my bedroom, and hurriedback to the Grey Room. I locked and sealed myself in, and set to work, for I had a lot to do before it got dark. 

"First, I cleared away all the ribbons across the floor; then I carriedthe cat--still fastened in its basket--over toward the far wall, and leftit. I returned then to the center of the room, and measured out a spacetwenty-one feet in diameter, which I swept with a 'broom of hyssop. 'About this, I drew a circle of chalk, taking care never to step over thecircle. Beyond this I smudged, with a bunch of garlic, a broad belt rightaround the chalked circle, and when this was complete, I took from amongmy stores in the center a small jar of a certain water. I broke away theparchment, and withdrew the stopper. Then, dipping my left forefinger inthe little jar, I went 'round the circle again, making upon the floor, just within the line of chalk, the Second Sign of the Saaamaaa Ritual, and joining each Sign most carefully with the left-handed crescent. I cantell you, I felt easier when this was done, and the 'water circle'complete. Then, I unpacked some more of the stuff that I had brought, andplaced a lighted candle in the 'valley' of each Crescent. After that, Idrew a Pentacle, so that each of the five points of the defensive startouched the chalk circle. In the five points of the star I placed fiveportions of the bread, each wrapped in linen, and in the five 'vales, 'five opened jars of the water I had used to make the 'water circle. ' Andnow I had my first protective barrier complete. 

"Now, anyone, except you who know something of my methods ofinvestigation, might consider all this a piece of useless and foolishsuperstition; but you all remember the Black Veil case, in which Ibelieve my life was saved by a very similar form of protection, whilstAster, who sneered at it, and would not come inside, died. I got the ideafrom the Sigsand MS. , written, so far as I can make out, in the 14thcentury. At first, naturally, I imagined it was just an expression ofthe superstition of his time; and it was not until a year later that itoccurred to me to test his 'Defense, ' which I did, as I've just said, inthat horrible Black Veil business. You know how _that_ turned out. Later, I used it several times, and always I came through safe, until thatMoving Fur case. It was only a partial 'defense' therefore, and I nearlydied in the pentacle. After that I came across Professor Garder's'Experiments with a Medium. ' When they surrounded the Medium with acurrent, in vacuum, he lost his power--almost as if it cut him off fromthe Immaterial. That made me think a lot; and that is how I came to makethe Electric Pentacle, which is a most marvelous 'Defense' againstcertain manifestations. I used the shape of the defensive star for thisprotection, because I have, personally, no doubt at all but that there issome extraordinary virtue in the old magic figure. Curious thing for aTwentieth Century man to admit, is it not? But, then, as you all know, Inever did, and never will, allow myself to be blinded by the little cheaplaughter. I ask questions, and keep my eyes open. 

"In this last case I had little doubt that I had run up against asupernatural monster, and I meant to take every possible care; for thedanger is abominable. 

"I turned-to now to fit the Electric Pentacle, setting it so that each ofits 'points' and 'vales' coincided exactly with the 'points' and 'vales'of the drawn pentagram upon the floor. Then I connected up the battery, and the next instant the pale blue glare from the intertwining vacuumtubes shone out. 

"I glanced about me then, with something of a sigh of relief, andrealized suddenly that the dusk was upon me, for the window was grey andunfriendly. Then 'round at the big, empty room, over the double barrierof electric and candle light. I had an abrupt, extraordinary sense ofweirdness thrust upon me--in the air, you know; as it were, a sense ofsomething inhuman impending. The room was full of the stench of bruisedgarlic, a smell I hate. 

"I turned now to the camera, and saw that it and the flashlight were inorder. Then I tested my revolver, carefully, though I had little thoughtthat it would be needed. Yet, to what extent materialization of anab-natural creature is possible, given favorable conditions, no one cansay; and I had no idea what horrible thing I was going to see, or feelthe presence of. I might, in the end, have to fight with a materializedmonster. I did not know, and could only be prepared. You see, I neverforgot that three other people had been strangled in the bed close to me, and the fierce slamming of the door I had heard myself. I had no doubtthat I was investigating a dangerous and ugly case. 

"By this time, the night had come; though the room was very light withthe burning candles; and I found myself glancing behind me, constantly, and then all 'round the room. It was nervy work waiting for that thing tocome. Then, suddenly, I was aware of a little, cold wind sweeping overme, coming from behind. I gave one great nerve-thrill, and a pricklyfeeling went all over the back of my head. Then I hove myself 'round witha sort of stiff jerk, and stared straight against that queer wind. Itseemed to come from the corner of the room to the left of the bed--theplace where both times I had found the heap of tossed bedclothes. Yet, Icould see nothing unusual; no opening--nothing!... 

"Abruptly, I was aware that the candles were all a-flicker in thatunnatural wind.... I believe I just squatted there and stared in ahorribly frightened, wooden way for some minutes. I shall never be ableto let you know how disgustingly horrible it was sitting in that vile, cold wind! And then, flick! flick! flick! all the candles 'round theouter barrier went out; and there was I, locked and sealed in that room, and with no light beyond the weakish blue glare of the Electric Pentacle. 

"A time of abominable tenseness passed, and still that wind blew upon me;and then, suddenly, I knew that something stirred in the corner to theleft of the bed. I was made conscious of it, rather by some inward, unused sense than by either sight or sound; for the pale, short-radiusglare of the Pentacle gave but a very poor light for seeing by. Yet, as Istared, something began slowly to grow upon my sight--a moving shadow, alittle darker than the surrounding shadows. I lost the thing amid thevagueness, and for a moment or two I glanced swiftly from side to side, with a fresh, new sense of impending danger. Then my attention wasdirected to the bed. All the covering's were being drawn steadily off, with a hateful, stealthy sort of motion. I heard the slow, draggingslither of the clothes; but I could see nothing of the thing that pulled. I was aware in a funny, subconscious, introspective fashion that the'creep' had come upon me; yet that I was cooler mentally than I had beenfor some minutes; sufficiently so to feel that my hands were sweatingcoldly, and to shift my revolver, half-consciously, whilst I rubbed myright hand dry upon my knee; though never, for an instant, taking my gazeor my attention from those moving clothes. 

"The faint noises from the bed ceased once, and there was a most intensesilence, with only the sound of the blood beating in my head. Yet, immediately afterward, I heard again the slurring of the bedclothes beingdragged off the bed. In the midst of my nervous tension I remembered thecamera, and reached 'round for it; but without looking away from the bed. And then, you know, all in a moment, the whole of the bed coverings weretorn off with extraordinary violence, and I heard the flump they made asthey were hurled into the corner. 

"There was a time of absolute quietness then for perhaps a couple ofminutes; and you can imagine how horrible I felt. The bedclothes had beenthrown with such savageness! And, then again, the brutal unnaturalness ofthe thing that had just been done before me!

"Abruptly, over by the door, I heard a faint noise--a sort of cricklingsound, and then a pitter or two upon the floor. A great nervous thrillswept over me, seeming to run up my spine and over the back of my head;for the seal that secured the door had just been broken. Something wasthere. I could not see the door; at least, I mean to say that it wasimpossible to say how much I actually saw, and how much my imaginationsupplied. I made it out, only as a continuation of the grey walls.... Andthen it seemed to me that something dark and indistinct moved and waveredthere among the shadows. 

"Abruptly, I was aware that the door was opening, and with an effort Ireached again for my camera; but before I could aim it the door wasslammed with a terrific crash that filled the whole room with a sort ofhollow thunder. I jumped, like a frightened child. There seemed such apower behind the noise; as though a vast, wanton Force were 'out. ' Canyou understand?

"The door was not touched again; but, directly afterward, I heard thebasket, in which the cat lay, creak. I tell you, I fairly pringled allalong my back. I knew that I was going to learn definitely whetherwhatever was abroad was dangerous to Life. From the cat there rosesuddenly a hideous caterwaul, that ceased abruptly; and then--too late--Isnapped off the flashlight. In the great glare, I saw that the basket hadbeen overturned, and the lid was wrenched open, with the cat lying halfin, and half out upon the floor. I saw nothing else, but I was full ofthe knowledge that I was in the presence of some Being or Thing that hadpower to destroy. 

"During the next two or three minutes, there was an odd, noticeablequietness in the room, and you much remember I was half-blinded, for thetime, because of the flashlight; so that the whole place seemed to bepitchy dark just beyond the shine of the Pentacle. I tell you it was mosthorrible. I just knelt there in the star, and whirled 'round, trying tosee whether anything was coming at me. 

"My power of sight came gradually, and I got a little hold of myself; andabruptly I saw the thing I was looking for, close to the 'water circle. 'It was big and indistinct, and wavered curiously, as though the shadow ofa vast spider hung suspended in the air, just beyond the barrier. Itpassed swiftly 'round the circle, and seemed to probe ever toward me; butonly to draw back with extraordinary jerky movements, as might a livingperson if they touched the hot bar of a grate. 

"'Round and 'round it moved, and 'round and 'round I turned. Then, justopposite to one of the Vales' in the pentacles, it seemed to pause, asthough preliminary to a tremendous effort. It retired almost beyond theglow of the vacuum light, and then came straight toward me, appearing togather form and solidity as it came. There seemed a vast, maligndetermination behind the movement, that must succeed. I was on my knees, and I jerked back, falling on to my left hand, and hip, in a wildendeavor to get back from the advancing thing. With my right hand I wasgrabbing madly for my revolver, which I had let slip. The brutal thingcame with one great sweep straight over the garlic and the 'watercircle, ' almost to the vale of the pentacle. I believe I yelled. Then, just as suddenly as it had swept over, it seemed to be hurled back bysome mighty, invisible force. 

"It must have been some moments before I realized that I was safe; andthen I got myself together in the middle of the pentacles, feelinghorribly gone and shaken, and glancing 'round and 'round the barrier; butthe thing had vanished. Yet, I had learnt something, for I knew now thatthe Grey Room was haunted by a monstrous hand. 

"Suddenly, as I crouched there, I saw what had so nearly given themonster an opening through the barrier. In my movements within thepentacle I must have touched one of the jars of water; for just where thething had made its attack the jar that guarded the 'deep' of the 'vale'had been moved to one side, and this had left one of the 'five doorways'unguarded. I put it back, quickly, and felt almost safe again, for I hadfound the cause, and the 'defense' was still good. And I began to hopeagain that I should see the morning come in. When I saw that thing sonearly succeed, I had an awful, weak, overwhelming feeling that the'barriers' could never bring me safe through the night against such aForce. You can understand?

"For a long time I could not see the hand; but, presently, I thought Isaw, once or twice, an odd wavering, over among the shadows near thedoor. A little later, as though in a sudden fit of malignant rage, thedead body of the cat was picked up, and beaten with dull, sickening blowsagainst the solid floor. That made me feel rather queer. 

"A minute afterward, the door was opened and slammed twice withtremendous force. The next instant the thing made one swift, vicious dartat me, from out of the shadows. Instinctively, I started sideways fromit, and so plucked my hand from upon the Electric Pentacle, where--for awickedly careless moment--I had placed it. The monster was hurled offfrom the neighborhood of the pentacles; though--owing to my inconceivablefoolishness--it had been enabled for a second time to pass the outerbarriers. I can tell you, I shook for a time, with sheer funk. I movedright to the center of the pentacles again, and knelt there, makingmyself as small and compact as possible. 

"As I knelt, there came to me presently, a vague wonder at the two'accidents' which had so nearly allowed the brute to get at me. Was Ibeing _influenced_ to unconscious voluntary actions that endangered me?The thought took hold of me, and I watched my every movement. Abruptly, Istretched a tired leg, and knocked over one of the jars of water. Somewas spilled; but, because of my suspicious watchfulness, I had it uprightand back within the vale while yet some of the water remained. Even as Idid so, the vast, black, half-materialized hand beat up at me out of theshadows, and seemed to leap almost into my face; so nearly did itapproach; but for the third time it was thrown back by some altogetherenormous, overmastering force. Yet, apart from the dazed fright in whichit left me, I had for a moment that feeling of spiritual sickness, as ifsome delicate, beautiful, inward grace had suffered, which is felt onlyupon the too near approach of the ab-human, and is more dreadful, in astrange way, than any physical pain that can be suffered. I knew by thismore of the extent and closeness of the danger; and for a long time I wassimply cowed by the butt-headed brutality of that Force upon my spirit. Ican put it no other way. 

"I knelt again in the center of the pentacles, watching myself with morefear, almost, than the monster; for I knew now that, unless I guardedmyself from every sudden impulse that came to me, I might simply work myown destruction. Do you see how horrible it all was?

"I spent the rest of the night in a haze of sick fright, and so tensethat I could not make a single movement naturally. I was in such fearthat any desire for action that came to me might be prompted by theInfluence that I knew was at work on me. And outside of the barrier thatghastly thing went 'round and 'round, grabbing and grabbing in the air atme. Twice more was the body of the dead cat molested. The second time, Iheard every bone in its body scrunch and crack. And all the time thehorrible wind was blowing upon me from the corner of the room to the leftof the bed. 

"Then, just as the first touch of dawn came into the sky, that unnaturalwind ceased, in a single moment; and I could see no sign of the hand. Thedawn came slowly, and presently the wan light filled all the room, andmade the pale glare of the Electric Pentacle look more unearthly. Yet, itwas not until the day had fully come, that I made any attempt to leavethe barrier, for I did not know but that there was some method abroad, inthe sudden stopping of that wind, to entice me from the pentacles. 

"At last, when the dawn was strong and bright, I took one last look'round, and ran for the door. I got it unlocked, in a nervous and clumsyfashion, then locked it hurriedly, and went to my bedroom, where I lay onthe bed, and tried to steady my nerves. Peter came, presently, with thecoffee, and when I had drunk it, I told him I meant to have a sleep, as Ihad been up all night. He took the tray, and went out quietly, and afterI had locked my door I turned in properly, and at last got to sleep. 

"I woke about midday, and after some lunch, went up to the Grey Room. Iswitched off the current from the Pentacle, which I had left on in myhurry; also, I removed the body of the cat. You can understand I did notwant anyone to see the poor brute. After that, I made a very carefulsearch of the corner where the bedclothes had been thrown. I made severalholes, and probed, and found nothing. Then it occurred to me to try withmy instrument under the skirting. I did so, and heard my wire ring onmetal. I turned the hook end that way, and fished for the thing. At thesecond go, I got it. It was a small object, and I took it to the window. I found it to be a curious ring, made of some greying material. Thecurious thing about it was that it was made in the form of a pentagon;that is, the same shape as the inside of the magic pentacle, but withoutthe 'mounts, ' which form the points of the defensive star. It was freefrom all chasing or engraving. 

"You will understand that I was excited, when I tell you that I felt sureI held in my hand the famous Luck Ring of the Anderson family; which, indeed, was of all things the one most intimately connected with thehistory of the haunting. This ring was handed on from father to sonthrough generations, and always--in obedience to some ancient familytradition--each son had to promise never to wear the ring. The ring, Imay say, was brought home by one of the Crusaders, under very peculiarcircumstances; but the story is too long to go into here. 

"It appears that young Sir Hulbert, an ancestor of Anderson's, made abet, in drink, you know, that he would wear the ring that night. He didso, and in the morning his wife and child were found strangled in thebed, in the very room in which I stood. Many people, it would seem, thought young Sir Hulbert was guilty of having done the thing in drunkenanger; and he, in an attempt to prove his innocence, slept a second nightin the room. He also was strangled. Since then, as you may imagine, noone has ever spent a night in the Grey Room, until I did so. The ring hadbeen lost so long, that it had become almost a myth; and it was mostextraordinary to stand there, with the actual thing in my hand, as youcan understand. 

"It was whilst I stood there, looking at the ring, that I got an idea. Supposing that it were, in a way, a doorway--You see what I mean? A sortof gap in the world-hedge. It was a queer idea, I know, and probably wasnot my own, but came to me from the Outside. You see, the wind had comefrom that part of the room where the ring lay. I thought a lot about it. Then the shape--the inside of a pentacle. It had no 'mounts, ' and withoutmounts, as the Sigsand MS. Has it:--'Thee mownts wych are thee Five Hillsof safetie. To lack is to gyve pow'r to thee daemon; and surelie tofayvor the Evill Thynge. ' You see, the very shape of the ring wassignificant; and I determined to test it. 

"I unmade the pentacle, for it must be made afresh _and around_ the oneto be protected. Then I went out and locked the door; after which I leftthe house, to get certain matters, for neither 'yarbs nor fyre nor waier'must be used a second time. I returned about seven thirty, and as soon asthe things I had brought had been carried up to the Grey Room, Idismissed Peter for the night, just as I had done the evening before. When he had gone downstairs, I let myself into the room, and locked andsealed the door. I went to the place in the center of the room where allthe stuff had been packed, and set to work with all my speed to constructa barrier about me and the ring. 

"I do not remember whether I explained it to you. But I had reasonedthat, if the ring were in any way a 'medium of admission, ' and it wereenclosed with me in the Electric Pentacle, it would be, to express itloosely, insulated. Do you see? The Force, which had visible expressionas a Hand, would have to stay beyond the Barrier which separates the Abfrom the Normal; for the 'gateway' would be removed from accessibility. 

"As I was saying, I worked with all my speed to get the barrier completedabout me and the ring, for it was already later than I cared to be inthat room 'unprotected. ' Also, I had a feeling that there would be a vasteffort made that night to regain the use of the ring. For I had thestrongest conviction that the ring was a necessity to materialization. You will see whether I was right. 

"I completed the barriers in about an hour, and you can imagine somethingof the relief I felt when I felt the pale glare of the Electric Pentacleonce more all about me. From then, onward, for about two hours, I satquietly, facing the corner from which the wind came. About eleven o'clocka queer knowledge came that something was near to me; yet nothinghappened for a whole hour after that. Then, suddenly, I felt the cold, queer wind begin to blow upon me. To my astonishment, it seemed now tocome from behind me, and I whipped 'round, with a hideous quake of fear. The wind met me in the face. It was blowing up from the floor close tome. I stared down, in a sickening maze of new frights. What on earth hadI done now! The ring was there, close beside me, where I had put it. Suddenly, as I stared, bewildered, I was aware that there was somethingqueer about the ring--funny shadowy movements and convolutions. I lookedat them, stupidly. And then, abruptly, I knew that the wind was blowingup at me from the ring. A queer indistinct smoke became visible to me, seeming to pour upward through the ring, and mix with the moving shadows. Suddenly, I realized that I was in more than any mortal danger; for theconvoluting shadows about the ring were taking shape, and the death-handwas forming _within_ the Pentacle. My Goodness! do you realize it! I hadbrought the 'gateway' into the pentacles, and the brute was comingthrough--pouring into the material world, as gas might pour out from themouth of a pipe. 

"I should think that I knelt for a moment in a sort of stunned fright. Then, with a mad, awkward movement, I snatched at the ring, intending tohurl it out of the Pentacle. Yet it eluded me, as though some invisible, living thing jerked it hither and thither. At last, I gripped it; yet, in the same instant, it was torn from my grasp with incredible and brutalforce. A great, black shadow covered it, and rose into the air, and cameat me. I saw that it was the Hand, vast and nearly perfect in form. Igave one crazy yell, and jumped over the Pentacle and the ring of burningcandles, and ran despairingly for the door. I fumbled idiotically andineffectually with the key, and all the time I stared, with a fear thatwas like insanity, toward the Barriers. The hand was plunging toward me;yet, even as it had been unable to pass into the Pentacle when the ringwas without, so, now that the ring was within, it had no power to passout. The monster was chained, as surely as any beast would be, werechains riveted upon it. 

"Even then, I got a flash of this knowledge; but I was too utterly shakenwith fright, to reason; and the instant I managed to get the key turned, I sprang into the passage, and slammed the door with a crash. I lockedit, and got to my room somehow; for I was trembling so that I couldhardly stand, as you can imagine. I locked myself in, and managed to getthe candle lit; then I lay down on my bed, and kept quiet for an hour ortwo, and so I got steadied. 

"I got a little sleep, later; but woke when Peter brought my coffee. When I had drunk it I felt altogether better, and took the old man alongwith me whilst I had a look into the Grey Room. I opened the door, andpeeped in. The candles were still burning, wan against the daylight; andbehind them was the pale, glowing star of the Electric Pentacle. Andthere, in the middle, was the ring ... The gateway of the monster, lyingdemure and ordinary. 

"Nothing in the room was touched, and I knew that the brute had nevermanaged to cross the Pentacles. Then I went out, and locked the door. 

"After a sleep of some hours, I left the house. I returned in theafternoon in a cab. I had with me an oxy-hydrogen jet, and twocylinders, containing the gases. I carried the things into the GreyRoom, and there, in the center of the Electric Pentacle, I erected thelittle furnace. Five minutes later the Luck Ring, once the 'luck, ' butnow the 'bane, ' of the Anderson family, was no more than a little solidsplash of hot metal. "

Carnacki felt in his pocket, and pulled out something wrapped in tissuepaper. He passed it to me. I opened it, and found a small circle ofgreyish metal, something like lead, only harder and rather brighter. 

"Well?" I asked, at length, after examining it and handing it 'round tothe others. "Did that stop the haunting?"

Carnacki nodded. "Yes, " he said. "I slept three nights in the Grey Room, before I left. Old Peter nearly fainted when he knew that I meant to; butby the third night he seemed to realize that the house was just safe andordinary. And, you know, I believe, in his heart, he hardly approved. "

Carnacki stood up and began to shake hands. "Out you go!" he said, genially. And presently we went, pondering, to our various homes. 

No. 2

THE HOUSE AMONG THE LAURELS

"This is a curious yarn that I am going to tell you, " said Carnacki, asafter a quiet little dinner we made ourselves comfortable in his cozydining room. 

"I have just got back from the West of Ireland, " he continued. "Wentworth, a friend of mine, has lately had rather an unexpected legacy, in the shape of a large estate and manor, about a mile and a half outsideof the village of Korunton. This place is named Gannington Manor, and hasbeen empty a great number of years; as you will find is almost always thecase with Houses reputed to be haunted, as it is usually termed. 

"It seems that when Wentworth went over to take possession, he found theplace in very poor repair, and the estate totally uncared for, and, as Iknow, looking very desolate and lonesome generally. He went through thebig house by himself, and he admitted to me that it had an uncomfortablefeeling about it; but, of course, that might be nothing more than thenatural dismalness of a big, empty house, which has been longuninhabited, and through which you are wandering alone. 

"When he had finished his look 'round, he went down to the village, meaning to see the one-time Agent of the Estate, and arrange for someoneto go in as caretaker. The Agent, who proved by the way to be aScotchman, was very willing to take up the management of the Estate oncemore; but he assured Wentworth that they would get no one to go in ascaretaker; and that his--the Agent's--advice was to have the house pulleddown, and a new one built. 

"This, naturally, astonished my friend, and, as they went down to thevillage, he managed to get a sort of explanation from the man. It seemsthat there had been always curious stories told about the place, which inthe early days was called Landru Castle, and that within the last sevenyears there had been two extraordinary deaths there. In each case theyhad been tramps, who were ignorant of the reputation of the house, andhad probably thought the big empty place suitable for a night's freelodging. There had been absolutely no signs of violence to indicate themethod by which death was caused, and on each occasion the body had beenfound in the great entrance hall. 

"By this time they had reached the inn where Wentworth had put up, and hetold the Agent that he would prove that it was all rubbish about thehaunting, by staying a night or two in the Manor himself. The death ofthe tramps was certainly curious; but did not prove that any supernaturalagency had been at work. They were but isolated accidents, spread over alarge number of years by the memory of the villagers, which was naturalenough in a little place like Korunton. Tramps had to die some time, andin some place, and it proved nothing that two, out of possibly hundredswho had slept in the empty house, had happened to take the opportunityto die under shelter. 

"But the Agent took his remark very seriously, and both he and Dennis thelandlord of the inn, tried their best to persuade him not to go. For his'sowl's sake, ' Irish Dennis begged him to do no such thing; and becauseof his 'life's sake, ' the Scotchman was equally in earnest. 

"It was late afternoon at the time, and as Wentworth told me, it was warmand bright, and it seemed such utter rot to hear those two talkingseriously about the impossible. He felt full of pluck, and he made up hismind he would smash the story of the haunting, at once by staying thatvery night, in the Manor. He made this quite clear to them, and told themthat it would be more to the point and to their credit, if they offeredto come up along with him, and keep him company. But poor old Dennis wasquite shocked, I believe, at the suggestion; and though Tabbit, theAgent, took it more quietly, he was very solemn about it. 

"It seems that Wentworth did go; and though, as he said to me, whenthe evening began to come on, it seemed a very different sort of thingto tackle. 

"A whole crowd of the villagers assembled to see him off; for by thistime they all knew of his intention. Wentworth had his gun with him, anda big packet of candles; and he made it clear to them all that it wouldnot be wise for anyone to play any tricks; as he intended to shoot 'atsight. ' And then, you know, he got a hint of how serious they consideredthe whole thing; for one of them came up to him, leading a greatbullmastiff, and offered it to him, to take to keep him company. Wentworth patted his gun; but the old man who owned the dog shook hishead and explained that the brute might warn him in sufficient time forhim to get away from the castle. For it was obvious that he did notconsider the gun would prove of any use. 

"Wentworth took the dog, and thanked the man. He told me that, already, he was beginning to wish that he had not said definitely that he wouldgo; but, as it was, he was simply forced to. He went through the crowd ofmen, and found suddenly that they had all turned in a body and werekeeping him company. They stayed with him all the way to the Manor, andthen went right over the whole place with him. 

"It was still daylight when this was finished; though turning to dusk;and, for a while, the men stood about, hesitating, as if they feltashamed to go away and leave Wentworth there all alone. He told me that, by this time, he would gladly have given fifty pounds to be going backwith them. And then, abruptly, an idea came to him. He suggested thatthey should stay with him, and keep him company through the night. For atime they refused, and tried to persuade him to go back with them; butfinally he made a proposition that got home to them all. He planned thatthey should all go back to the inn, and there get a couple of dozenbottles of whisky, a donkey-load of turf and wood, and some more candles. Then they would come back, and make a great fire in the big fire-place, light all the candles, and put them 'round the place, open the whisky andmake a night of it. And, by Jove! he got them to agree. 

"They set off back, and were soon at the inn, and here, whilst the donkeywas being loaded, and the candles and whisky distributed, Dennis wasdoing his best to keep Wentworth from going back; but he was a sensibleman in his way, for when he found that it was no use, he stopped. Yousee, he did not want to frighten the others from accompanying Wentworth. 

"'I tell ye, sorr, ' he told him, ''tis of no use at all, thryin' terreclaim ther castle. 'Tis curst with innocent blood, an' ye'll be bettherpullin' it down, an' buildin' a fine new wan. But if ye be intendin' toshtay this night, kape the big dhoor open whide, an' watch for thebhlood-dhrip. If so much as a single dhrip falls, don't shtay though allthe gold in the worrld was offered ye. '

"Wentworth asked him what he meant by the blood-drip. 

"'Shure, ' he said, ''tis the bhlood av thim as ould Black Mick 'way backin the ould days kilt in their shlape. 'Twas a feud as he pretendid topatch up, an' he invited thim--the O'Haras they was--siventy av thim. An'he fed thim, an' shpoke soft to thim, an' thim thrustin' him, sthayed toshlape with him. Thin, he an' thim with him, stharted in an' mhurderedthim was an' all as they slep'. 'Tis from me father's grandfather ye havethe sthory. An' sence thin 'tis death to any, so they say, to pass thenight in the castle whin the bhlood-dhrip comes. 'Twill put out candlean' fire, an' thin in the darkness the Virgin Herself would be powerlessto protect ye. '

"Wentworth told me he laughed at this; chiefly because, as he putit:--'One always must laugh at that sort of yarn, however it makes youfeel inside. ' He asked old Dennis whether he expected him to believe it. 

"'Yes, sorr, ' said Dennis, 'I do mane ye to b'lieve it; an' please God, if ye'll b'lieve, ye may be back safe befor' mornin'. ' The man's serioussimplicity took hold of Wentworth, and he held out his hand. But, for allthat, he went; and I must admire his pluck. 

"There were now about forty men, and when they got back to the Manor--orcastle as the villagers always call it--they were not long in getting abig fire going, and lighted candles all 'round the great hall. They hadall brought sticks; so that they would have been a pretty formidable lotto tackle by anything simply physical; and, of course, Wentworth had hisgun. He kept the whisky in his own charge; for he intended to keep themsober; but he gave them a good strong tot all 'round first, so as tomake things seem cheerful; and to get them yearning. If you once let acrowd of men like that grow silent, they begin to think, and then tofancy things. 

"The big entrance door had been left wide open, by his orders; whichshows that he had taken some notice of Dennis. It was a quiet night, sothis did not matter, for the lights kept steady, and all went on in ajolly sort of fashion for about three hours. He had opened a second lotof bottles, and everyone was feeling cheerful; so much so that one of themen called out aloud to the ghosts to come out and show themselves. Andthen, you know a very extraordinary thing happened; for the ponderousmain door swung quietly and steadily to, as though pushed by an invisiblehand, and shut with a sharp click. 

"Wentworth stared, feeling suddenly rather chilly. Then he remembered themen, and looked 'round at them. Several had ceased their talk, and werestaring in a frightened way at the big door; but the great number hadnever noticed, and were talking and yarning. He reached for his gun, andthe following instant the great bullmastiff set up a tremendous barking, which drew the attention of the whole company. 

"The hall I should tell you is oblong. The south wall is all windows; butthe north and east have rows of doors, leading into the house, whilst thewest wall is occupied by the great entrance. The rows of doors leadinginto the house were all closed, and it was toward one of these in thenorth wall that the big dog ran; yet he would not go very close; andsuddenly the door began to move slowly open, until the blackness of thepassage beyond was shown. The dog came back among the men, whimpering, and for a minute there was an absolute silence. 

"Then Wentworth went out from the men a little, and aimed his gun atthe doorway. 

"'Whoever is there, come out, or I shall fire, ' he shouted; but nothingcame, and he blazed forth both barrels into the dark. As though thereport had been a signal, all the doors along the north and east wallsmoved slowly open, and Wentworth and his men were staring, frightenedinto the black shapes of the empty doorways. 

"Wentworth loaded his gun quickly, and called to the dog; but the brutewas burrowing away in among the men; and this fear on the dog's partfrightened Wentworth more, he told me, than anything. Then something elsehappened. Three of the candles over in the corner of the hall went out;and immediately about half a dozen in different parts of the place. Morecandles were put out, and the hall had become quite dark in the corners. 

"The men were all standing now, holding their clubs, and crowdedtogether. And no one said a word. Wentworth told me he felt positivelyill with fright. I know the feeling. Then, suddenly, something splashedon to the back of his left hand. He lifted it, and looked. It was coveredwith a great splash of red that dripped from his fingers. An old Irishmannear to him, saw it, and croaked out in a quavering voice:--'Thebhlood-dhrip!' When the old man called out, they all looked, and in thesame instant others felt it upon them. There were frightened criesof:--'The bhlood-dhrip! The bhlood-dhrip!' And then, about a dozencandles went out simultaneously, and the hall was suddenly dark. The doglet out a great, mournful howl, and there was a horrible little silence, with everyone standing rigid. Then the tension broke, and there was a madrush for the main door. They wrenched it open, and tumbled out into thedark; but something slammed it with a crash after them, and shut the dogin; for Wentworth heard it howling as they raced down the drive. Yet noone had the pluck to go back to let it out, which does not surprise me. 

"Wentworth sent for me the following day. He had heard of me inconnection with that Steeple Monster Case. I arrived by the night mail, and put up with Wentworth at the inn. The next day we went up to the oldManor, which certainly lies in rather a wilderness; though what struckme most was the extraordinary number of laurel bushes about the house. The place was smothered with them; so that the house seemed to begrowing up out of a sea of green laurel. These, and the grim, ancientlook of the old building, made the place look a bit dank and ghostly, even by daylight. 

"The hall was a big place, and well lit by daylight; for which I was notsorry. You see, I had been rather wound-up by Wentworth's yarn. We foundone rather funny thing, and that was the great bullmastiff, lying stiffwith its neck broken. This made me feel very serious; for it showed thatwhether the cause was supernatural or not, there was present in the housesome force exceedingly dangerous to life. 

"Later, whilst Wentworth stood guard with his shotgun, I made anexamination of the hall. The bottles and mugs from which the men haddrunk their whisky were scattered about; and all over the place were thecandles, stuck upright in their own grease. But in the somewhat brief andgeneral search, I found nothing; and decided to begin my usual exactexamination of every square foot of the place--not only of the hall, inthis case, but of the whole interior of the castle. 

"I spent three uncomfortable weeks, searching; but without result of anykind. And, you know, the care I take at this period is extreme; for Ihave solved hundreds of cases of so-called 'hauntings' at this earlystage, simply by the most minute investigation, and the keeping of aperfectly open mind. But, as I have said, I found nothing. During thewhole of the examination, I got Wentworth to stand guard with his loadedshotgun; and I was very particular that we were never caught thereafter dusk. 

"I decided now to make the experiment of staying a night in the greathall, of course 'protected. ' I spoke about it to Wentworth; but his ownattempt had made him so nervous that he begged me to do no such thing. However, I thought it well worth the risk, and I managed in the end topersuade him to be present. 

"With this in view, I went to the neighboring town of Gaunt, and by anarrangement with the Chief Constable I obtained the services of sixpolicemen with their rifles. The arrangement was unofficial, of course, and the men were allowed to volunteer, with a promise of payment. 

"When the constables arrived early that evening at the inn, I gave them agood feed; and after that we all set out for the Manor. We had fourdonkeys with us, loaded with fuel and other matters; also two greatboarhounds, which one of the police led. When we reached the house, I setthe men to unload the donkeys; whilst Wentworth and I set-to and sealedall the doors, except the main entrance, with tape and wax; for if thedoors were really opened, I was going to be sure of the fact. I was goingto run no risk of being deceived by ghostly hallucination, or mesmericinfluence. 

"By the time that this was done, the policemen had unloaded the donkeys, and were waiting, looking about them, curiously. I set two of them tolay a fire in the big grate, and the others I used as I required them. Itook one of the boarhounds to the end of the hall furthest from theentrance, and there I drove a staple into the floor, to which I tied thedog with a short tether. Then, 'round him, I drew upon the floor thefigure of a Pentacle, in chalk. Outside of the Pentacle, I made a circlewith garlic. I did exactly the same thing with the other hound; but overmore in the northeast corner of the big hall, where the two rows ofdoors make the angle. 

"When this was done, I cleared the whole center of the hall, and put oneof the policemen to sweep it; after which I had all my apparatus carriedinto the cleared space. Then I went over to the main door and hooked itopen, so that the hook would have to be lifted out of the hasp, beforethe door could be closed. After that, I placed lighted candles beforeeach of the sealed doors, and one in each corner of the big room; andthen I lit the fire. When I saw that it was properly alight, I got allthe men together, by the pile of things in the center of the room, andtook their pipes from them; for, as the Sigsand MS. Has it:--'Theyre mustnoe lyght come from wythin the barryier. ' And I was going to make sure. 

"I got my tape measure then, and measured out a circle thirty-three feetin diameter, and immediately chalked it out. The police and Wentworthwere tremendously interested, and I took the opportunity to warn themthat this was no piece of silly mumming on my part; but done with adefinite intention of erecting a barrier between us and any ab-humanthing that the night might show to us. I warned them that, as theyvalued their lives, and more than their lives it might be, no one muston any account whatsoever pass beyond the limits of the barrier that Iwas making. 

"After I had drawn the circle, I took a bunch of the garlic, and smudgedit right 'round the chalk circle, a little outside of it. When this wascomplete, I called for candles from my stock of material. I set thepolice to lighting them, and as they were lit, I took them, and sealedthem down on the floor, just within the chalk circle, five inches apart. As each candle measured approximately one inch in diameter, it tooksixty-six candles to complete the circle; and I need hardly say thatevery number and measurement has a significance. 

"Then, from candle to candle I took a 'gayrd' of human hair, entwining italternately to the left and to the right, until the circle wascompleted, and the ends of the hair shod with silver, and pressed intothe wax of the sixty-sixth candle. 

"It had now been dark some time, and I made haste to get the 'Defense'complete. To this end, I got the men well together, and began to fit theElectric Pentacle right around us, so that the five points of theDefensive Star came just within the Hair Circle. This did not take melong, and a minute later I had connected up the batteries, and the weakblue glare of the intertwining vacuum tubes shone all around us. I felthappier then; for this Pentacle is, as you all know, a wonderful'Defense. ' I have told you before, how the idea came to me, after readingProfessor Garder's 'Experiments with a Medium. ' He found that a current, of a certain number of vibrations, _in vacuo, _ 'insulated' the medium. Itis difficult to suggest an explanation non-technically, and if you arereally interested you should read Carder's lecture on 'Astral VibrationsCompared with Matero-involuted Vibrations below the Six-Billion Limit. '

"As I stood up from my work, I could hear outside in the night a constantdrip from the laurels, which as I have said, come right up around thehouse, very thick. By the sound, I knew that a 'soft' rain had set in;and there was absolutely no wind, as I could tell by the steady flames ofthe candles. 

"I stood a moment or two, listening, and then one of the men touched myarm, and asked me in a low voice, what they should do. By his tone, Icould tell that he was feeling something of the strangeness of it all;and the other men, including Wentworth, were so quiet that I was afraidthey were beginning to get shaky. 

"I set-to, then, and arranged them with their backs to one common center;so that they were sitting flat upon the floor, with their feet radiatingoutward. Then, by compass, I laid their legs to the eight chief points, and afterward I drew a circle with chalk around them; and opposite totheir feet, I made the Eight Signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual. The eighthplace was, of course, empty; but ready for me to occupy at any moment;for I had omitted to make the Sealing Sign to that point, until I hadfinished all my preparations, and could enter the Inner Star. 

"I took a last look 'round the great hall, and saw that the two bighounds were lying quietly, with their noses between their paws. The firewas big and cheerful, and the candles before the two rows of doors, burntsteadily, as well as the solitary ones in the corners. Then I went 'roundthe little star of men, and warned them not to be frightened whateverhappened; but to trust to the 'Defense'; and to let nothing tempt ordrive them to cross the Barriers. Also, I told them to watch theirmovements, and to keep their feet strictly to their places. For the rest, there was to be no shooting, unless I gave the word. 

"And now at last, I went to my place, and, sitting down, made the Eighthsign just beyond my feet. Then I arranged my camera and flashlight handy, and examined my revolver. 

"Wentworth sat behind the First Sign, and as the numbering went 'roundreversed, that put him next to me on my left. I asked him, in a lowvoice, how he felt; and he told me, rather nervous; but that he feltconfidence in my knowledge and was resolved to go through with thematter, whatever happened. 

"We settled down to wait. There was no talking, except that, once ortwice, the police bent toward one another, and whispered odd remarksconcerning the hall, that appeared queerly audible in the intensesilence. But in a while there was not even a whisper from anyone, andonly the monotonous drip, drip of the quiet rain without the greatentrance, and the low, dull sound of the fire in the big fireplace. 

"It was a queer group that we made sitting there, back to back, with ourlegs starred outward; and all around us the strange blue glow of thePentacle, and beyond that the brilliant shining of the great ring oflighted candles. Outside of the glare of the candles, the large emptyhall looked a little gloomy, by contrast, except where the lights shonebefore the sealed doors, and the blaze of the big fire made a good honestmass of flame. And the feeling of mystery! Can you picture it all?

"It might have been an hour later that it came to me suddenly that I wasaware of an extraordinary sense of dreeness, as it were, come into theair of the place. Not the nervous feeling of mystery that had been withus all the time; but a new feeling, as if there were something going tohappen any moment. 

"Abruptly, there came a slight noise from the east end of the hall, and Ifelt the star of men move suddenly. 'Steady! Keep steady!' I shouted, andthey quietened. I looked up the hall, and saw that the dogs were upontheir feet, and staring in an extraordinary fashion toward the greatentrance. I turned and stared, also, and felt the men move as they cranedtheir heads to look. Suddenly, the dogs set up a tremendous barking, andI glanced across to them, and found they were still 'pointing' for thebig doorway. They ceased their noise just as quickly, and seemed to belistening. In the same instant, I heard a faint chink of metal to myleft, that set me staring at the hook which held the great door wide. Itmoved, even as I looked. Some invisible thing was meddling with it. Aqueer, sickening thrill went through me, and I felt all the men about me, stiffen and go rigid with intensity. I had a certainty of somethingimpending: as it might be the impression of an invisible, butoverwhelming, Presence. The hall was full of a queer silence, and not asound came from the dogs. _Then I saw the hook slowly raised from out ofits hasp, without any visible thing touching it. _ Then a sudden power ofmovement came to me. I raised my camera, with the flashlight fixed, andsnapped it at the door. There came the great blare of the flashlight, anda simultaneous roar of barking from the two dogs. 

"The intensity of the flash made all the place seem dark for somemoments, and in that time of darkness, I heard a jingle in the directionof the door, and strained to look. The effect of the bright light passed, and I could see clearly again. The great entrance door was being slowlyclosed. It shut with a sharp snick, and there followed a long silence, broken only by the whimpering of the dogs. 

"I turned suddenly, and looked at Wentworth. He was looking at me. 

"'Just as it did before, ' he whispered. 

"'Most extraordinary, ' I said, and he nodded and looked 'round, nervously. 

"The policemen were pretty quiet, and I judged that they were feelingrather worse than Wentworth; though, for that matter, you must not thinkthat I was altogether natural; yet I have seen so much that isextraordinary, that I daresay I can keep my nerves steady longer thanmost people. 

"I looked over my shoulder at the men, and cautioned them, in a lowvoice, not to move outside of the Barriers, _whatever happened_; not eventhough the house should seem to be rocking and about to tumble on tothem; for well I knew what some of the great Forces are capable of doing. Yet, unless it should prove to be one of the cases of the more terribleSaiitii Manifestation, we were almost certain of safety, so long as wekept to our order within the Pentacle. 

"Perhaps an hour and a half passed, quietly, except when, once in a way, the dogs would whine distressfully. Presently, however, they ceased evenfrom this, and I could see them lying on the floor with their paws overtheir noses, in a most peculiar fashion, and shivering visibly. Thesight made me feel more serious, as you can understand. 

"Suddenly, the candle in the corner furthest from the main door, wentout. An instant later, Wentworth jerked my arm, and I saw that the candlebefore one of the sealed doors had been put out. I held my camera ready. Then, one after another, every candle about the hall was put out, andwith such speed and irregularity, that I could never catch one in theactual act of being extinguished. Yet, for all that, I took a flashlightof the hall in general. 

"There was a time in which I sat half-blinded by the great glare of theflash, and I blamed myself for not having remembered to bring a pair ofsmoked goggles, which I have sometimes used at these times. I had feltthe men jump, at the sudden light, and I called out loud to them to sitquiet, and to keep their feet exactly to their proper places. My voice, as you can imagine, sounded rather horrid and frightening in the greatroom, and altogether it was a beastly moment. 

"Then, I was able to see again, and I stared here and there about thehall; but there was nothing showing unusual; only, of course, it was darknow over in the corners. 

"Suddenly, I saw that the great fire was blackening. It was going outvisibly, as I looked. If I said that some monstrous, invisible, impossible creature sucked the life from it, I could best explain theway the light and flame went out of it. It was most extraordinary towatch. In the time that I watched it, every vestige of fire was gonefrom it, and there was no light outside of the ring of candles aroundthe Pentacle. 

"The deliberateness of the thing troubled me more than I can make clearto you. It conveyed to me such a sense of a calm Deliberate Force presentin the hall: The steadfast intention to 'make a darkness' was horrible. The _extent_ of the Power to affect the Material was the steadfastintention to 'make a darkness' was horrible. The extent of the Power toaffect the Material was now the one constant, anxious questioning in mybrain. You can understand?

"Behind me, I heard the policemen moving again, and I knew that they weregetting thoroughly frightened. I turned half 'round, and told them, quietly but plainly, that they were safe only so long as they stayedwithin the Pentacle, in the position in which I had put them. If theyonce broke, and went outside of the Barrier, no knowledge of mine couldstate the full extent of the dreadfulness of the danger. 

"I steadied them up, by this quiet, straight reminder; but if they hadknown, as I knew, that there is no certainty in any 'Protection, ' theywould have suffered a great deal more, and probably have broken the'Defense, ' and made a mad, foolish run for an impossible safety. 

"Another hour passed, after this, in an absolute quietness. I had a senseof awful strain and oppression, as though I were a little spirit in thecompany of some invisible, brooding monster of the unseen world, who, asyet, was scarcely conscious of us. I leant across to Wentworth, and askedhim in a whisper whether he had a feeling as if something were in theroom. He looked very pale, and his eyes kept always on the move. Heglanced just once at me, and nodded; then stared away 'round the hallagain. And when I came to think, I was doing the same thing. 

"Abruptly, as though a hundred unseen hands had snuffed them, everycandle in the Barrier went dead out, and we were left in a darkness thatseemed, for a little, absolute; for the light from the Pentacle was tooweak and pale to penetrate far across the great hall. 

"I tell you, for a moment, I just sat there as though I had been frozensolid. I felt the 'creep' go all over me, and seem to stop in my brain. Ifelt all at once to be given a power of hearing that was far beyond thenormal. I could hear my own heart thudding most given a power of hearingthat was far beyond the normal. I could hear my own heart thudding mostextraordinarily loud. I began, however, to feel better, after a while;but I simply had not the pluck to move. You can understand?

"Presently, I began to get my courage back. I gripped at my camera andflashlight, and waited. My hands were simply soaked with sweat. I glancedonce at Wentworth. I could see him only dimly. His shoulders were huncheda little, his head forward; but though it was motionless, I knew that hiseyes were not. It is queer how one knows that sort of thing at times. Thepolice were just as silent. And thus a while passed. 

"A sudden sound broke across the silence. From two sides of the roomthere came faint noises. I recognized them at once, as the breaking ofthe sealing-wax. _The sealed doors were opening. _ I raised the camera andflashlight, and it was a peculiar mixture of fear and courage that helpedme to press the button. As the great flare of light lit up the hall Ifelt the men all about me jump. The darkness fell like a clap of thunder, if you can understand, and seemed tenfold. Yet, in the moment ofbrightness, I had seen that all the sealed doors were wide open. 

"Suddenly, all around us, there sounded a drip, drip, drip, upon thefloor of the great hall. I thrilled with a queer, realizing emotion, anda sense of a very real and present danger--_imminent. _ The 'blood-drip'had commenced. And the grim question was now whether the Barriers couldsave us from whatever had come into the huge room. 

"Through some awful minutes the 'blood-drip' continued to fall in anincreasing rain; and presently some began to fall within the Barriers. Isaw several great drops splash and star upon the pale glowingintertwining tubes of the Electric Pentacle; but, strangely enough, Icould not trace that any fell among us. Beyond the strange horrible noiseof the 'drip, ' there was no other sound. And then, abruptly, from theboarhound over in the far corner, there came a terrible yelling howl ofagony, followed instantly by a sickening, breaking noise, and animmediate silence. If you have ever, when out shooting, broken a rabbit'sneck, you will know the sound--in miniature! Like lightning, the thoughtsprang into my brain:--_IT has crossed the Pentacle. _ For you willremember that I had made one about each of the dogs. I thought instantly, with a sick apprehension, of our own Barriers. There was something in thehall with us that had passed the Barrier of the Pentacle about one of thedogs. In the awful succeeding silence, I positively quivered. Andsuddenly, one of the men behind me, gave out a scream, like any woman, and bolted for the door. He fumbled, and had it open in a moment. Iyelled to the others not to move; but they followed like sheep, and Iheard them kick the candles flying, in their panic. One of them steppedon the Electric Pentacle, and smashed it, and there was an utterdarkness. In an instant, I realized that I was defenseless against thepowers of the Unknown World, and with one savage leap I was out of theuseless Barriers, and instantly through the great doorway, and into thenight. I believe I yelled with sheer funk. 

"The men were a little ahead of me, and I never ceased running, andneither did they. Sometimes, I glanced back over my shoulder; and I keptglancing into the laurels which grew all along the drive. The beastlythings kept rustling, rustling in a hollow sort of way, as thoughsomething were keeping parallel with me, among them. The rain hadstopped, and a dismal little wind kept moaning through the grounds. Itwas disgusting. 

"I caught Wentworth and the police at the lodge gate. We got outside, andran all the way to the village. We found old Dennis up, waiting for us, and half the villagers to keep him company. He told us that he had knownin his 'sowl' that we should come back, that is, if we came back at all;which is not a bad rendering of his remark. 

"Fortunately, I had brought my camera away from the house--possiblybecause the strap had happened to be over my head. Yet, I did not gostraight away to develop; but sat with the rest of the bar, where wetalked for some hours, trying to be coherent about the wholehorrible business. 

"Later, however, I went up to my room, and proceeded with my photography. I was steadier now, and it was just possible, so I hoped, that thenegatives might show something. 

"On two of the plates, I found nothing unusual: but on the third, whichwas the first one that I snapped, I saw something that made me quiteexcited. I examined it very carefully with a magnifying glass; then I putit to wash, and slipped a pair of rubber overshoes over my boots. 

"The negative had showed me something very extraordinary, and I had madeup my mind to test the truth of what it seemed to indicate, withoutlosing another moment. It was no use telling anything to Wentworth andthe police, until I was certain; and, also, I believed that I stood agreater chance to succeed by myself; though, for that matter, I do notsuppose anything would have taken them up to the Manor again that night. 

"I took my revolver, and went quietly downstairs, and into the dark. Therain had commenced again; but that did not bother me. I walked hard. WhenI came to the lodge gates, a sudden, queer instinct stopped me from goingthrough, and I climbed the wall into the park. I kept away from thedrive, and approached the building through the dismal, dripping laurels. You can imagine how beastly it was. Every time a leaf rustled, I jumped. 

"I made my way 'round to the back of the big house, and got in through alittle window which I had taken note of during my search; for, of course, I knew the whole place from roof to cellars. I went silently up thekitchen stairs, fairly quivering with funk; and at the top, I went to theleft, and then into a long corridor that opened, through one of thedoorways we had sealed, into the big hall. I looked up it, and saw afaint flicker of light away at the end; and I tiptoed silently toward it, holding my revolver ready. As I came near to the open door, I heard men'svoices, and then a burst of laughing. I went on, until I could see intothe hall. There were several men there, all in a group. They were welldressed, and one, at least, I saw was armed. They were examining my'Barriers' against the Supernatural, with a good deal of unkind laughter. I never felt such a fool in my life. 

"It was plain to me that they were a gang of men who had made use of theempty Manor, perhaps for years, for some purpose of their own; and nowthat Wentworth was attempting to take possession, they were acting up thetraditions of the place, with the view of driving him away, and keepingso useful a place still at their disposal. But what they were, I meanwhether coiners, thieves, inventors, or what, I could not imagine. 

"Presently, they left the Pentacle, and gathered 'round the livingboarhound, which seemed curiously quiet, as though it were half-drugged. There was some talk as to whether to let the poor brute live, or not; butfinally they decided it would be good policy to kill it. I saw two ofthem force a twisted loop of rope into its mouth, and the two bights ofthe loop were brought together at the back of the hound's neck. Then athird man thrust a thick walking-stick through the two loops. The two menwith the rope, stooped to hold the dog, so that I could not see what wasdone; but the poor beast gave a sudden awful howl, and immediately therewas a repetition of the uncomfortable breaking sound, I had heard earlierin the night, as you will remember. 

"The men stood up, and left the dog lying there, quiet enough now, as youmay suppose. For my part, I fully appreciated the calculatedremorselessness which had decided upon the animal's death, and the colddetermination with which it had been afterward executed so neatly. Iguessed that a man who might get into the 'light' of those particularmen, would be likely to come to quite as uncomfortable an ending. 

"A minute later, one of the men called out to the rest that they should'shift the wires. ' One of the men came toward the doorway of the corridorin which I stood, and I ran quickly back into the darkness of the upperend. I saw the man reach up, and take something from the top of the door, and I heard the slight, ringing jangle of steel wire. 

"When he had gone, I ran back again, and saw the men passing, one afteranother, through an opening in the stairs, formed by one of the marblesteps being raised. When the last man had vanished, the slab that madethe step was shut down, and there was not a sign of the secret door. Itwas the seventh step from the bottom, as I took care to count: and asplendid idea; for it was so solid that it did not ring hollow, even to afairly heavy hammer, as I found later. 

"There is little more to tell. I got out of the house as quickly andquietly as possible, and back to the inn. The police came without anycoaxing, when they knew the 'ghosts' were normal flesh and blood. Weentered the park and the Manor in the same way that I had done. Yet, whenwe tried to open the step, we failed, and had finally to smash it. Thismust have warned the haunters; for when we descended to a secret roomwhich we found at the end of a long and narrow passage in the thicknessof the walls, we found no one. 

"The police were horribly disgusted, as you can imagine; but for mypart, I did not care either way. I had 'laid the ghost, ' as you mightsay, and that was what I set out to do. I was not particularly afraid ofbeing laughed at by the others; for they had all been thoroughly 'takenin'; and in the end, I had scored, without their help. 

"We searched right through the secret ways, and found that there was anexit, at the end of a long tunnel, which opened in the side of a well, out in the grounds. The ceiling of the hall was hollow, and reached by alittle secret stairway inside of the big staircase. The 'blood-drip' wasmerely colored water, dropped through the minute crevices of theornamented ceiling. How the candles and the fire were put out, I do notknow; for the haunters certainly did not act quite up to tradition, whichheld that the lights were put out by the 'blood-drip. ' Perhaps it was toodifficult to direct the fluid, without positively squirting it, whichmight have given the whole thing away. The candles and the fire maypossibly have been extinguished by the agency of carbonic acid gas; buthow suspended, I have no idea. 

"The secret hiding paces were, of course, ancient. There was also, did Itell you? a bell which they had rigged up to ring, when anyone enteredthe gates at the end of the drive. If I had not climbed the wall, Ishould have found nothing for my pains; for the bell would have warnedthem had I gone in through the gateway. "

"What was on the negative?" I asked, with much curiosity. 

"A picture of the fine wire with which they were grappling for the hookthat held the entrance door open. They were doing it from one of thecrevices in the ceiling. They had evidently made no preparations forlifting the hook. I suppose they never thought that anyone would makeuse of it, and so they had to improvise a grapple. The wire was too fineto be seen by the amount of light we had in the hall; but the flashlight'picked it out. ' Do you see?

"The opening of the inner doors was managed by wires, as you will haveguessed, which they unshipped after use, or else I should soon have foundthem, when I made my search. 

"I think I have now explained everything. The hound was killed, ofcourse, by the men direct. You see, they made the place as dark aspossible, first. Of course, if I had managed to take a flashlight just atthat instant, the whole secret of the haunting would have been exposed. But Fate just ordered it the other way. "

"And the tramps?" I asked. 

"Oh, you mean the two tramps who were found dead in the Manor, " saidCarnacki. "Well, of course it is impossible to be sure, one way or theother. Perhaps they happened to find out something, and were given ahypodermic. Or it is just as probable that they had come to the time oftheir dying, and just died naturally. It is conceivable that a great manytramps had slept in the old house, at one time or another. "

Carnacki stood up, and knocked out his pipe. We rose also, and went forour coats and hats. 

"Out you go!" said Carnacki, genially, using the recognized formula. Andwe went out on to the Embankment, and presently through the darkness toour various homes. 

No. 3

THE WHISTLING ROOM

Carnacki shook a friendly fist at me as I entered, late. Then he openedthe door into the dining room, and ushered the four of us--Jessop, Arkright, Taylor and myself--in to dinner. 

We dined well, as usual, and, equally as usual, Carnacki was prettysilent during the meal. At the end, we took our wine and cigars to ourusual positions, and Carnacki--having got himself comfortable in his bigchair--began without any preliminary:--

"I have just got back from Ireland, again, " he said. "And I thought youchaps would be interested to hear my news. Besides, I fancy I shall seethe thing clearer, after I have told it all out straight. I must tell youthis, though, at the beginning--up to the present moment, I have beenutterly and completely 'stumped. ' I have tumbled upon one of the mostpeculiar cases of 'haunting'--or devilment of some sort--that I have comeagainst. Now listen. 

"I have been spending the last few weeks at Iastrae Castle, about twentymiles northeast of Galway. I got a letter about a month ago from a Mr. Sid K. Tassoc, who it seemed had bought the place lately, and moved in, only to find that he had bought a very peculiar piece of property. 

"When I got there, he met me at the station, driving a jaunting car, anddrove me up to the castle, which, by the way, he called a 'house shanty. 'I found that he was 'pigging it' there with his boy brother and anotherAmerican, who seemed to be half-servant and half-companion. It seems thatall the servants had left the place, in a body, as you might say, and nowthey were managing among themselves, assisted by some day-help. 

"The three of them got together a scratch feed, and Tassoc told me allabout the trouble whilst we were at table. It is most extraordinary, anddifferent from anything that I have had to do with; though that BuzzingCase was very queer, too. 

"Tassoc began right in the middle of his story. 'We've got a room in thisshanty, ' he said, 'which has got a most infernal whistling in it; sort ofhaunting it. The thing starts any time; you never know when, and it goeson until it frightens you. All the servants have gone, as you know. It'snot ordinary whistling, and it isn't the wind. Wait till you hear it. '

"'We're all carrying guns, ' said the boy; and slapped his coat pocket. 

"'As bad as that?' I said; and the older boy nodded. 'It may be soft, ' hereplied; 'but wait till you've heard it. Sometimes I think it's someinfernal thing, and the next moment, I'm just as sure that someone'splaying a trick on me. '

"'Why?' I asked. 'What is to be gained?'

"'You mean, ' he said, 'that people usually have some good reason forplaying tricks as elaborate as this. Well, I'll tell you. There's a ladyin this province, by the name of Miss Donnehue, who's going to be mywife, this day two months. She's more beautiful than they make them, andso far as I can see, I've just stuck my head into an Irish hornet's nest. There's about a score of hot young Irishmen been courting her these twoyears gone, and now that I'm come along and cut them out, they feel rawagainst me. Do you begin to understand the possibilities?'

"'Yes, ' I said. 'Perhaps I do in a vague sort of way; but I don't see howall this affects the room?'

"'Like this, ' he said. 'When I'd fixed it up with Miss Donnehue, I lookedout for a place, and bought this little house shanty. Afterward, I toldher--one evening during dinner, that I'd decided to tie up here. And thenshe asked me whether I wasn't afraid of the whistling room. I told her itmust have been thrown in gratis, as I'd heard nothing about it. Therewere some of her men friends present, and I saw a smile go 'round. Ifound out, after a bit of questioning, that several people have boughtthis place during the last twenty-odd years. And it was always on themarket again, after a trial. 

"'Well, the chaps started to bait me a bit, and offered to take betsafter dinner that I'd not stay six months in the place. I looked once ortwice to Miss Donnehue, so as to be sure I was "getting the note" of thetalkee-talkee; but I could see that she didn't take it as a joke, at all. Partly, I think, because there was a bit of a sneer in the way the menwere tackling me, and partly because she really believes there issomething in this yarn of the Whistling Room. 

"'However, after dinner, I did what I could to even things up with theothers. I nailed all their bets, and screwed them down hard and safe. Iguess some of them are going to be hard hit, unless I lose; which I don'tmean to. Well, there you have practically the whole yarn. '

"'Not quite, ' I told him. 'All that I know, is that you have bought acastle with a room in it that is in some way "queer, " and that you'vebeen doing some betting. Also, I know that your servants have gotfrightened and run away. Tell me something about the whistling?'

"'Oh, that!' said Tassoc; 'that started the second night we were in. I'dhad a good look 'round the room, in the daytime, as you can understand;for the talk up at Arlestrae--Miss Donnehue's place--had made me wonder abit. But it seems just as usual as some of the other rooms in the oldwing, only perhaps a bit more lonesome. But that may be only because ofthe talk about it, you know. 

"'The whistling started about ten o'clock, on the second night, as Isaid. Tom and I were in the library, when we heard an awfully queerwhistling, coming along the East Corridor--The room is in the EastWing, you know. 

"'That's that blessed ghost!' I said to Tom, and we collared the lampsoff the table, and went up to have a look. I tell you, even as we dugalong the corridor, it took me a bit in the throat, it was so beastlyqueer. It was a sort of tune, in a way; but more as if a devil or somerotten thing were laughing at you, and going to get 'round at your back. That's how it makes you feel. 

"'When we got to the door, we didn't wait; but rushed it open; andthen I tell you the sound of the thing fairly hit me in the face. Tomsaid he got it the same way--sort of felt stunned and bewildered. Welooked all 'round, and soon got so nervous, we just cleared out, and Ilocked the door. 

"'We came down here, and had a stiff peg each. Then we got fit again, andbegan to think we'd been nicely had. So we took sticks, and went out intothe grounds, thinking after all it must be some of these confoundedIrishmen working the ghost-trick on us. But there was not a leg stirring. 

"'We went back into the house, and walked over it, and then paid anothervisit to the room. But we simply couldn't stand it. We fairly ran out, and locked the door again. I don't know how to put it into words; but Ihad a feeling of being up against something that was rottenly dangerous. You know! We've carried our guns ever since. 

"'Of course, we had a real turn out of the room next day, and the wholehouse place; and we even hunted 'round the grounds; but there was nothingqueer. And now I don't know what to think; except that the sensible partof me tells me that it's some plan of these Wild Irishmen to try to takea rise out of me. '

"'Done anything since?' I asked him. 

"'Yes, ' he said--'watched outside of the door of the room at nights, andchased 'round the grounds, and sounded the walls and floor of the room. We've done everything we could think of; and it's beginning to get on ournerves; so we sent for you. '

"By this, we had finished eating. As we rose from the table, Tassocsuddenly called out:--'Ssh! Hark!'

"We were instantly silent, listening. Then I heard it, an extraordinaryhooning whistle, monstrous and inhuman, coming from far away throughcorridors to my right. 

"'By G--d!' said Tassoc; 'and it's scarcely dark yet! Collar thosecandles, both of you, and come along. '

"In a few moments, we were all out of the door and racing up the stairs. Tassoc turned into a long corridor, and we followed, shielding ourcandles as we ran. The sound seemed to fill all the passage as we drewnear, until I had the feeling that the whole air throbbed under the powerof some wanton Immense Force--a sense of an actual taint, as you mightsay, of monstrosity all about us. 

"Tassoc unlocked the door; then, giving it a push with his foot, jumpedback, and drew his revolver. As the door flew open, the sound beat out atus, with an effect impossible to explain to one who has not heardit--with a certain, horrible personal note in it; as if in there in thedarkness you could picture the room rocking and creaking in a mad, vileglee to its own filthy piping and whistling and hooning. To stand thereand listen, was to be stunned by Realization. It was as if someone showedyou the mouth of a vast pit suddenly, and said:--That's Hell. And youknew that they had spoken the truth. Do you get it, even a little bit?

"I stepped back a pace into the room, and held the candle over my head, and looked quickly 'round. Tassoc and his brother joined me, and the mancame up at the back, and we all held our candles high. I was deafenedwith the shrill, piping hoon of the whistling; and then, clear in myear, something seemed to be saying to me:--'Get out of here--quick!Quick! Quick!'

"As you chaps know, I never neglect that sort of thing. Sometimes it maybe nothing but nerves; but as you will remember, it was just such awarning that saved me in the 'Grey Dog' Case, and in the 'Yellow Finger'Experiments; as well as other times. Well, I turned sharp 'round to theothers: 'Out!' I said. 'For God's sake, _out_ quick. ' And in an instant Ihad them into the passage. 

"There came an extraordinary yelling scream into the hideous whistling, and then, like a clap of thunder, an utter silence. I slammed the door, and locked it. Then, taking the key, I looked 'round at the others. Theywere pretty white, and I imagine I must have looked that way too. Andthere we stood a moment, silent. 

"'Come down out of this, and have some whisky, ' said Tassoc, at last, ina voice he tried to make ordinary; and he led the way. I was the backman, and I know we all kept looking over our shoulders. When we gotdownstairs, Tassoc passed the bottle 'round. He took a drink, himself, and slapped his glass down on to the table. Then sat down with a thud. 

"'That's a lovely thing to have in the house with you, isn't it!' hesaid. And directly afterward:--'What on earth made you hustle us all outlike that, Carnacki?'

"'Something seemed to be telling me to get out, quick, ' I said. 'Sounds abit silly, superstitious, I know; but when you are meddling with thissort of thing, you've got to take notice of queer fancies, and risk beinglaughed at. '

"I told him then about the 'Grey Dog' business, and he nodded a lot tothat. 'Of course, ' I said, 'this may be nothing more than those would-berivals of yours playing some funny game; but, personally, though I'mgoing to keep an open mind, I feel that there is something beastly anddangerous about this thing. '

"We talked for a while longer, and then Tassoc suggested billiards, whichwe played in a pretty half-hearted fashion, and all the time cocking anear to the door, as you might say, for sounds; but none came, and later, after coffee, he suggested early bed, and a thorough overhaul of the roomon the morrow. 

"My bedroom was in the newer part of the castle, and the door opened intothe picture gallery. At the East end of the gallery was the entrance tothe corridor of the East Wing; this was shut off from the gallery by twoold and heavy oak doors, which looked rather odd and quaint beside themore modern doors of the various rooms. 

"When I reached my room, I did not go to bed; but began to unpack myinstrument trunk, of which I had retained the key. I intended to take oneor two preliminary steps at once, in my investigation of theextraordinary whistling. 

"Presently, when the castle had settled into quietness, I slipped out ofmy room, and across to the entrance of the great corridor. I opened oneof the low, squat doors, and threw the beam of my pocket searchlightdown the passage. It was empty, and I went through the doorway, andpushed-to the oak behind me. Then along the great passageway, throwing mylight before and behind, and keeping my revolver handy. 

"I had hung a 'protection belt' of garlic 'round my neck, and the smellof it seemed to fill the corridor and give me assurance; for, as you allknow, it is a wonderful 'protection' against the more usual Aeiirii formsof semi-materialization, by which I supposed the whistling might beproduced; though, at that period of my investigation, I was quiteprepared to find it due to some perfectly natural cause; for it isastonishing the enormous number of cases that prove to have nothingabnormal in them. 

"In addition to wearing the necklet, I had plugged my ears loosely withgarlic, and as I did not intend to stay more than a few minutes in theroom, I hoped to be safe. 

"When I reached the door, and put my hand into my pocket for the key, Ihad a sudden feeling of sickening funk. But I was not going to back out, if I could help it. I unlocked the door and turned the handle. Then Igave the door a sharp push with my foot, as Tassoc had done, and drew myrevolver, though I did not expect to have any use for it, really. 

"I shone the searchlight all 'round the room, and then stepped inside, with a disgustingly horrible feeling of walking slap into a waitingDanger. I stood a few seconds, waiting, and nothing happened, and theempty room showed bare from corner to corner. And then, you know, Irealized that the room was full of an abominable silence; can youunderstand that? A sort of purposeful silence, just as sickening as anyof the filthy noises the Things have power to make. Do you remember whatI told you about that 'Silent Garden' business? Well, this room had justthat same _malevolent_ silence--the beastly quietness of a thing that islooking at you and not seeable itself, and thinks that it has got you. Oh, I recognized it instantly, and I whipped the top off my lantern, soas to have light over the _whole_ room. 

"Then I set-to, working like fury, and keeping my glance all about me. Isealed the two windows with lengths of human hair, right across, andsealed them at every frame. As I worked, a queer, scarcely perceptibletenseness stole into the air of the place, and the silence seemed, if youcan understand me, to grow more solid. I knew then that I had no businessthere without 'full protection'; for I was practically certain that thiswas no mere Aeiirii development; but one of the worst forms, as theSaiitii; like that 'Grunting Man' case--you know. 

"I finished the window, and hurried over to the great fireplace. This isa huge affair, and has a queer gallows-iron, I think they are called, projecting from the back of the arch. I sealed the opening with sevenhuman hairs--the seventh crossing the six others. 

"Then, just as I was making an end, a low, mocking whistle grew in theroom. A cold, nervous pricking went up my spine, and 'round my foreheadfrom the back. The hideous sound filled all the room with anextraordinary, grotesque parody of human whistling, too gigantic to behuman--as if something gargantuan and monstrous made the sounds softly. As I stood there a last moment, pressing down the final seal, I had nodoubt but that I had come across one of those rare and horrible cases ofthe _Inanimate_ reproducing the functions of the _Animate_, I made agrab for my lamp, and went quickly to the door, looking over myshoulder, and listening for the thing that I expected. It came, just asI got my hand upon the handle--a squeal of incredible, malevolent anger, piercing through the low hooning of the whistling. I dashed out, slamming the door and locking it. I leant a little against the oppositewall of the corridor, feeling rather funny; for it had been a narrowsqueak.... 'Theyr be noe sayfetie to be gained bye gayrds of holienesswhen the monyster hath pow'r to speak throe woode and stoene. ' So runsthe passage in the Sigsand MS. , and I proved it in that 'Nodding Door'business. There is no protection against this particular form ofmonster, except, possibly, for a fractional period of time; for it canreproduce itself in, or take to its purpose, the very protectivematerial which you may use, and has the power to '_forme_ wythine thepentycle'; though not immediately. There is, of course, the possibilityof the Unknown Last Line of the Saaamaaa Ritual being uttered; but it istoo uncertain to count upon, and the danger is too hideous; and eventhen it has no power to protect for more than 'maybee fyve beats of theharte, ' as the Sigsand has it. 

"Inside of the room, there was now a constant, meditative, hooningwhistling; but presently this ceased, and the silence seemed worse; forthere is such a sense of hidden mischief in a silence. 

"After a little, I sealed the door with crossed hairs, and then clearedoff down the great passage, and so to bed. 

"For a long time I lay awake; but managed eventually to get some sleep. Yet, about two o'clock I was waked by the hooning whistling of the roomcoming to me, even through the closed doors. The sound was tremendous, and seemed to beat through the whole house with a presiding sense ofterror. As if (I remember thinking) some monstrous giant had been holdingmad carnival with itself at the end of that great passage. 

"I got up and sat on the edge of the bed, wondering whether to go alongand have a look at the seal; and suddenly there came a thump on my door, and Tassoc walked in, with his dressing gown over his pajamas. 

"'I thought it would have waked you, so I came along to have a talk, ' hesaid. '_I_ can't sleep. Beautiful! Isn't it!'

"'Extraordinary!' I said, and tossed him my case. 

"He lit a cigarette, and we sat and talked for about an hour; and all thetime that noise went on, down at the end of the big corridor. 

"Suddenly, Tassoc stood up:--

"'Let's take our guns, and go and examine the brute, ' he said, and turnedtoward the door. 

"'No!' I said. 'By Jove--_no!_ I can't say anything definite, yet; but Ibelieve that room is about as dangerous as it well can be. '

"'Haunted--_really_ haunted?' he asked, keenly and without any of hisfrequent banter. 

"I told him, of course, that I could not say a definite _yes_ or _no_ tosuch a question; but that I hoped to be able to make a statement, soon. Then I gave him a little lecture on the False Re-Materialization of theAnimate-Force through the Inanimate-Inert. He began then to see theparticular way in the room might be dangerous, if it were really thesubject of a manifestation. 

"About an hour later, the whistling ceased quite suddenly, and Tassocwent off again to bed. I went back to mine, also, and eventually gotanother spell of sleep. 

"In the morning, I went along to the room. I found the seals on the doorintact. Then I went in. The window seals and the hair were all right; butthe seventh hair across the great fireplace was broken. This set methinking. I knew that it might, very possibly, have snapped, through myhaving tensioned it too highly; but then, again, it might have beenbroken by something else. Yet, it was scarcely possible that a man, forinstance, could have passed between the six unbroken hairs; for no onewould ever have noticed them, entering the room that way, you see; butjust walked through them, ignorant of their very existence. 

"I removed the other hairs, and the seals. Then I looked up the chimney. It went up straight, and I could see blue sky at the top. It was a big, open flue, and free from any suggestion of hiding places, or corners. Yet, of course, I did not trust to any such casual examination, and afterbreakfast, I put on my overalls, and climbed to the very top, soundingall the way; but I found nothing. 

"Then I came down, and went over the whole of the room--floor, ceiling, and walls, mapping them out in six-inch squares, and sounding with bothhammer and probe. But there was nothing abnormal. 

"Afterward, I made a three-weeks search of the whole castle, in the samethorough way; but found nothing. I went even further, then; for at night, when the whistling commenced, I made a microphone test. You see, if thewhistling were mechanically produced, this test would have made evidentto me the working of the machinery, if there were any such concealedwithin the walls. It certainly was an up-to-date method of examination, as you must allow. 

"Of course, I did not think that any of Tassoc's rivals had fixed up anymechanical contrivance; but I thought it just possible that there hadbeen some such thing for producing the whistling, made away back in theyears, perhaps with the intention of giving the room a reputation thatwould ensure its being free of inquisitive folk. You see what I mean?Well, of course, it was just possible, if this were the case, thatsomeone knew the secret of the machinery, and was utilizing the knowledgeto play this devil of a prank on Tassoc. The microphone test of the wallswould certainly have made this known to me, as I have said; but there wasnothing of the sort in the castle; so that I had practically no doubt atall now, but that it was a genuine case of what is popularly termed'haunting. '

"All this time, every night, and sometimes most of each night, thehooning whistling of the Room was intolerable. It was as if anintelligence there knew that steps were being taken against it, and pipedand hooned in a sort of mad, mocking contempt. I tell you, it was asextraordinary as it was horrible. Time after time, I wentalong--tiptoeing noiselessly on stockinged feet--to the sealed door (forI always kept the Room sealed). I went at all hours of the night, andoften the whistling, inside, would seem to change to a brutally malignantnote, as though the half-animate monster saw me plainly through the shutdoor. And all the time the shrieking, hooning whistling would fill thewhole corridor, so that I used to feel a precious lonely chap, messingabout there with one of Hell's mysteries. 

"And every morning, I would enter the room, and examine the differenthairs and seals. You see, after the first week, I had stretched parallelhairs all along the walls of the room, and along the ceiling; but overthe floor, which was of polished stone, I had set out little, colorlesswafers, tacky-side uppermost. Each wafer was numbered, and they werearranged after a definite plan, so that I should be able to trace theexact movements of any living thing that went across the floor. 

"You will see that no material being or creature could possibly haveentered that room, without leaving many signs to tell me about it. Butnothing was ever disturbed, and I began to think that I should have torisk an attempt to stay the night in the room, in the Electric Pentacle. Yet, mind you, I knew that it would be a crazy thing to do; but I wasgetting stumped, and ready to do anything. 

"Once, about midnight, I did break the seal on the door, and have a quicklook in; but, I tell you, the whole Room gave one mad yell, and seemed tocome toward me in a great belly of shadows, as if the walls had belliedin toward me. Of course, that must have been fancy. Anyway, the yell wassufficient, and I slammed the door, and locked it, feeling a bit weakdown my spine. You know the feeling. 

"And then, when I had got to that state of readiness for anything, I madesomething of a discovery. It was about one in the morning, and I waswalking slowly 'round the castle, keeping in the soft grass. I had comeunder the shadow of the East Front, and far above me, I could hear thevile, hooning whistle of the Room, up in the darkness of the unlit wing. Then, suddenly, a little in front of me, I heard a man's voice, speakinglow, but evidently in glee:--

"'By George! You Chaps; but I wouldn't care to bring a wife home inthat!' it said, in the tone of the cultured Irish. 

"Someone started to reply; but there came a sharp exclamation, and then arush, and I heard footsteps running in all directions. Evidently, the menhad spotted me. 

"For a few seconds, I stood there, feeling an awful ass. After all, _they_ were at the bottom of the haunting! Do you see what a big fool itmade me seem? I had no doubt but that they were some of Tassoc's rivals;and here I had been feeling in every bone that I had hit a real, bad, genuine Case! And then, you know, there came the memory of hundreds ofdetails, that made me just as much in doubt again. Anyway, whether it wasnatural, or ab-natural, there was a great deal yet to be cleared up. 

"I told Tassoc, next morning, what I had discovered, and through thewhole of every night, for five nights, we kept a close watch 'round theEast Wing; but there was never a sign of anyone prowling about; and allthe time, almost from evening to dawn, that grotesque whistling wouldhoon incredibly, far above us in the darkness. 

"On the morning after the fifth night, I received a wire from here, which brought me home by the next boat. I explained to Tassoc that I wassimply bound to come away for a few days; but told him to keep up thewatch 'round the castle. One thing I was very careful to do, and thatwas to make him absolutely promise never to go into the Room, betweensunset and sunrise. I made it clear to him that we knew nothing definiteyet, one way or the other; and if the room were what I had first thoughtit to be, it might be a lot better for him to die first, than enter itafter dark. 

"When I got here, and had finished my business, I thought you chaps wouldbe interested; and also I wanted to get it all spread out clear in mymind; so I rung you up. I am going over again to-morrow, and when I getback, I ought to have something pretty extraordinary to tell you. By theway, there is a curious thing I forgot to tell you. I tried to get aphonographic record of the whistling; but it simply produced noimpression on the wax at all. That is one of the things that has made mefeel queer, I can tell you. Another extraordinary thing is that themicrophone will not magnify the sound--will not even transmit it; seemsto take no account of it, and acts as if it were nonexistent. I amabsolutely and utterly stumped, up to the present. I am a wee bit curiousto see whether any of your dear clever heads can make daylight of it. _I_cannot--not yet. "

He rose to his feet. 

"Good night, all, " he said, and began to usher us out abruptly, butwithout offence, into the night. 

A fortnight later, he dropped each of us a card, and you can imagine thatI was not late this time. When we arrived, Carnacki took us straight intodinner, and when we had finished, and all made ourselves comfortable, hebegan again, where he had left off:--

"Now just listen quietly; for I have got something pretty queer to tellyou. I got back late at night, and I had to walk up to the castle, as Ihad not warned them that I was coming. It was bright moonlight; so thatthe walk was rather a pleasure, than otherwise. When I got there, thewhole place was in darkness, and I thought I would take a walk 'roundoutside, to see whether Tassoc or his brother was keeping watch. But Icould not find them anywhere, and concluded that they had got tired ofit, and gone off to bed. 

"As I returned across the front of the East Wing, I caught the hooningwhistling of the Room, coming down strangely through the stillness of thenight. It had a queer note in it, I remember--low and constant, queerlymeditative. I looked up at the window, bright in the moonlight, and got asudden thought to bring a ladder from the stable yard, and try to get alook into the Room, through the window. 

"With this notion, I hunted 'round at the back of the castle, among thestraggle of offices, and presently found a long, fairly light ladder;though it was heavy enough for one, goodness knows! And I thought atfirst that I should never get it reared. I managed at last, and let theends rest very quietly against the wall, a little below the sill of thelarger window. Then, going silently, I went up the ladder. Presently, Ihad my face above the sill and was looking in alone with the moonlight. 

"Of course, the queer whistling sounded louder up there; but it stillconveyed that peculiar sense of something whistling quietly toitself--can you understand? Though, for all the meditative lowness of thenote, the horrible, gargantuan quality was distinct--a mighty parody ofthe human, as if I stood there and listened to the whistling from thelips of a monster with a man's soul. 

"And then, you know, I saw something. The floor in the middle of thehuge, empty room, was puckered upward in the center into a strangesoft-looking mound, parted at the top into an ever changing hole, thatpulsated to that great, gentle hooning. At times, as I watched, I saw theheaving of the indented mound, gap across with a queer, inward suction, as with the drawing of an enormous breath; then the thing would dilateand pout once more to the incredible melody. And suddenly, as I stared, dumb, it came to me that the thing was living. I was looking at twoenormous, blackened lips, blistered and brutal, there in the palemoonlight.... 

"Abruptly, they bulged out to a vast, pouting mound of force and sound, stiffened and swollen, and hugely massive and clean-cut in themoon-beams. And a great sweat lay heavy on the vast upper-lip. In thesame moment of time, the whistling had burst into a mad screaming note, that seemed to stun me, even where I stood, outside of the window. Andthen, the following moment, I was staring blankly at the solid, undisturbed floor of the room--smooth, polished stone flooring, from wallto wall; and there was an absolute silence. 

"You can picture me staring into the quiet Room, and knowing what I knew. I felt like a sick, frightened kid, and wanted to slide _quietly_ downthe ladder, and run away. But in that very instant, I heard Tassoc'svoice calling to me from within the Room, for help, _help_. My God! but Igot such an awful dazed feeling; and I had a vague, bewildered notionthat, after all, it was the Irishmen who had got him in there, and weretaking it out of him. And then the call came again, and I burst thewindow, and jumped in to help him. I had a confused idea that the callhad come from within the shadow of the great fireplace, and I racedacross to it; but there was no one there. 

"'Tassoc!' I shouted, and my voice went empty-sounding 'round the greatapartment; and then, in a flash, _I knew that Tassoc had never called_. Iwhirled 'round, sick with fear, toward the window, and as I did so, afrightful, exultant whistling scream burst through the Room. On my left, the end wall had bellied-in toward me, in a pair of gargantuan lips, black and utterly monstrous, to within a yard of my face. I fumbled for amad instant at my revolver; not for _it_, but myself; for the danger wasa thousand times worse than death. And then, suddenly, the Unknown LastLine of the Saaamaaa Ritual was whispered quite audibly in the room. Instantly, the thing happened that I have known once before. There came asense as of dust falling continually and monotonously, and I knew that mylife hung uncertain and suspended for a flash, in a brief, reelingvertigo of unseeable things. Then _that_ ended, and I knew that I mightlive. My soul and body blended again, and life and power came to me. Idashed furiously at the window, and hurled myself out head-foremost; forI can tell you that I had stopped being afraid of death. I crashed downon to the ladder, and slithered, grabbing and grabbing; and so came someway or other alive to the bottom. And there I sat in the soft, wet grass, with the moonlight all about me; and far above, through the broken windowof the Room, there was a low whistling. 

"That is the chief of it. I was not hurt, and I went 'round to the front, and knocked Tassoc up. When they let me in, we had a long yarn, over somegood whisky--for I was shaken to pieces--and I explained things as muchas I could, I told Tassoc that the room would have to come down, andevery fragment of it burned in a blast-furnace, erected within apentacle. He nodded. There was nothing to say. Then I went to bed. 

"We turned a small army on to the work, and within ten days, that lovelything had gone up in smoke, and what was left was calcined, and clean. 

"It was when the workmen were stripping the paneling, that I got hold ofa sound notion of the beginnings of that beastly development. Over thegreat fireplace, after the great oak panels had been torn down, I foundthat there was let into the masonry a scrollwork of stone, with on it anold inscription, in ancient Celtic, that here in this room was burnedDian Tiansay, Jester of King Alzof, who made the Song of Foolishness uponKing Ernore of the Seventh Castle. 

"When I got the translation clear, I gave it to Tassoc. He wastremendously excited; for he knew the old tale, and took me down to thelibrary to look at an old parchment that gave the story in detail. Afterward, I found that the incident was well-known about thecountryside; but always regarded more as a legend than as history. And noone seemed ever to have dreamt that the old East Wing of Iastrae Castlewas the remains of the ancient Seventh Castle. 

"From the old parchment, I gathered that there had been a pretty dirtyjob done, away back in the years. It seems that King Alzof and KingErnore had been enemies by birthright, as you might say truly; but thatnothing more than a little raiding had occurred on either side for years, until Dian Tiansay made the Song of Foolishness upon King Ernore, andsang it before King Alzof; and so greatly was it appreciated that KingAlzof gave the jester one of his ladies, to wife. 

"Presently, all the people of the land had come to know the song, and soit came at last to King Ernore, who was so angered that he made war uponhis old enemy, and took and burned him and his castle; but Dian Tiansay, the jester, he brought with him to his own place, and having torn histongue out because of the song which he had made and sung, he imprisonedhim in the Room in the East Wing (which was evidently used for unpleasantpurposes), and the jester's wife, he kept for himself, having a fancy forher prettiness. 

"But one night, Dian Tiansay's wife was not to be found, and in themorning they discovered her lying dead in her husband's arms, and hesitting, whistling the Song of Foolishness, for he had no longer thepower to sing it. 

"Then they roasted Dian Tiansay, in the great fireplace--probably fromthat selfsame 'galley-iron' which I have already mentioned. And until hedied, Dian Tiansay ceased not to whistle the Song of Foolishness, whichhe could no longer sing. But afterward, 'in that room' there was oftenheard at night the sound of something whistling; and there 'grew a powerin that room, ' so that none dared to sleep in it. And presently, it wouldseem, the King went to another castle; for the whistling troubled him. 

"There you have it all. Of course, that is only a rough rendering of thetranslation of the parchment. But it sounds extraordinarily quaint. Don'tyou think so?"

"Yes, " I said, answering for the lot. "But how did the thing grow to sucha tremendous manifestation?"

"One of those cases of continuity of thought producing a positive actionupon the immediate surrounding material, " replied Carnacki. "Thedevelopment must have been going forward through centuries, to haveproduced such a monstrosity. It was a true instance of Saiitiimanifestation, which I can best explain by likening it to a livingspiritual fungus, which involves the very structure of the aether-fiberitself, and, of course, in so doing, acquires an essential control overthe 'material substance' involved in it. It is impossible to make itplainer in a few words. "

"What broke the seventh hair?" asked Taylor. 

But Carnacki did not know. He thought it was probably nothing but beingtoo severely tensioned. He also explained that they found out that themen who had run away, had not been up to mischief; but had come oversecretly, merely to hear the whistling, which, indeed, had suddenlybecome the talk of the whole countryside. 

"One other thing, " said Arkright, "have you any idea what governs theuse of the Unknown Last Line of the Saaamaaa Ritual? I know, of course, that it was used by the Ab-human Priests in the Incantation of Raaaee;but what used it on your behalf, and what made it?"

"You had better read Harzan's Monograph, and my Addenda to it, on Astraland Astral Co-ordination and Interference, " said Carnacki. "It is anextraordinary subject, and I can only say here that the human vibrationmay not be insulated from the astral (as is always believed to be thecase, in interferences by the Ab-human), without immediate action beingtaken by those Forces which govern the spinning of the outer circle. Inother words, it is being proved, time after time, that there is someinscrutable Protective Force constantly intervening between the humansoul (not the body, mind you, ) and the Outer Monstrosities. Am I clear?"

"Yes, I think so, " I replied. "And you believe that the Room had becomethe material expression of the ancient Jester--that his soul, rotten withhatred, had bred into a monster--eh?" I asked. 

"Yes, " said Carnacki, nodding, "I think you've put my thought ratherneatly. It is a queer coincidence that Miss Donnehue is supposed to bedescended (so I have heard since) from the same King Ernore. It makes onethink some curious thoughts, doesn't it? The marriage coming on, and theRoom waking to fresh life. If she had gone into that room, ever ... Eh?_It_ had waited a long time. Sins of the fathers. Yes, I've thought ofthat. They're to be married next week, and I am to be best man, which isa thing I hate. And he won his bets, rather! Just think, _if_ ever shehad gone into that room. Pretty horrible, eh?"

He nodded his head, grimly, and we four nodded back. Then he rose andtook us collectively to the door, and presently thrust us forth infriendly fashion on the Embankment and into the fresh night air. 

"Good night, " we all called back, and went to our various homes. If shehad, eh? If she had? That is what I kept thinking. 

No. 4

THE HORSE OF THE INVISIBLE

I had that afternoon received an invitation from Carnacki. When I reachedhis place I found him sitting alone. As I came into the room he rose witha perceptibly stiff movement and extended his left hand. His face seemedto be badly scarred and bruised and his right hand was bandaged. He shookhands and offered me his paper, which I refused. Then he passed me ahandful of photographs and returned to his reading. 

Now, that is just Carnacki. Not a word had come from him and not aquestion from me. He would tell us all about it later. I spent about halfan hour looking at the photographs which were chiefly "snaps" (some byflashlight) of an extraordinarily pretty girl; though in some of thephotographs it was wonderful that her prettiness was so evident for sofrightened and startled was her expression that it was difficult not tobelieve that she had been photographed in the presence of some imminentand overwhelming danger. 

The bulk of the photographs were of interiors of different rooms andpassages and in every one the girl might be seen, either full length inthe distance or closer, with perhaps little more than a hand or arm orportion of the head or dress included in the photograph. All of these hadevidently been taken with some definite aim that did not have for itsfirst purpose the picturing of the girl, but obviously of hersurroundings and they made me very curious, as you can imagine. 

Near the bottom of the pile, however, I came upon something _definitely_extraordinary. It was a photograph of the girl standing abrupt and clearin the great blaze of a flashlight, as was plain to be seen. Her face wasturned a little upward as if she had been frightened suddenly by somenoise. Directly above her, as though half-formed and coming down out ofthe shadows, was the shape of a single enormous hoof. 

I examined this photograph for a long time without understanding it morethan that it had probably to do with some queer case in which Carnackiwas interested. When Jessop, Arkright and Taylor came in Carnacki quietlyheld out his hand for the photographs which I returned in the same spiritand afterward we all went in to dinner. When we had spent a quiet hour atthe table we pulled our chairs 'round and made ourselves snug andCarnacki began:

"I've been North, " he said, speaking slowly and painfully between puffsat his pipe. "Up to Hisgins of East Lancashire. It has been a prettystrange business all 'round, as I fancy you chaps will think, when I havefinished. I knew before I went, something about the 'horse story, ' as Ihave heard it called; but I never thought of it coming my way, somehow. Also I know _now_ that I never considered it seriously--in spite of myrule always to keep an open mind. Funny creatures, we humans!

"Well, I got a wire asking for an appointment, which of course told methat there was some trouble. On the date I fixed old Captain Hisginshimself came up to see me. He told me a great many new details about thehorse story; though naturally I had always known the main points andunderstood that if the first child were a girl, that girl would behaunted by the Horse during her courtship. 

"It is, as you can see already, an extraordinary story and though I havealways known about it, I have never thought it to be anything more thanan old-time legend, as I have already hinted. You see, for sevengenerations the Hisgins family have had men children for their first-bornand even the Hisginses themselves have long considered the tale to belittle more than a myth. 

"To come to the present, the eldest child of the reigning family isa girl and she has been often teased and warned in jest by herfriends and relations that she is the first girl to be the eldestfor seven generations and that she would have to keep her menfriends at arm's length or go into a nunnery if she hoped to escapethe haunting. And this, I think, shows us how thoroughly the talehad grown to be considered as nothing worthy of the least seriousthought. Don't you think so?

"Two months ago Miss Hisgins became engaged to Beaumont, a young NavalOfficer, and on the evening of the very day of the engagement, before itwas even formally announced, a most extraordinary thing happened whichresulted in Captain Hisgins making the appointment and my ultimatelygoing down to their place to look into the thing. 

"From the old family records and papers that were entrusted to me Ifound that there could be no possible doubt that prior to something likea hundred and fifty years ago there were some very extraordinary anddisagreeable coincidences, to put the thing in the least emotional way. In the whole of the two centuries prior to that date there were fivefirst-born girls out of a total of seven generations of the family. Eachof these girls grew up to maidenhood and each became engaged, and eachone died during the period of engagement, two by suicide, one by fallingfrom a window, one from a 'broken heart' (presumably heart failure, owing to sudden shock through fright). The fifth girl was killed oneevening in the park 'round the house; but just how, there seemed to beno _exact_ knowledge; only that there was an impression that she hadbeen kicked by a horse. She was dead when found. Now, you see, all ofthese deaths might be attributed in a way--even the suicides--to naturalcauses, I mean as distinct from supernatural. You see? Yet, in everycase the maidens had undoubtedly suffered some extraordinary andterrifying experiences during their various courtships for in all of therecords there was mention either of the neighing of an unseen horse orof the sounds of an invisible horse galloping, as well as many otherpeculiar and quite inexplicable manifestations. You begin to understandnow, I think, just how extraordinary a business it was that I was askedto look into. 

"I gathered from one account that the haunting of the girls was soconstant and horrible that two of the girls' lovers fairly ran away fromtheir ladyloves. And I think it was this, more than anything else, thatmade me feel that there had been something more in it than a meresuccession of uncomfortable coincidences. 

"I got hold of these facts before I had been many hours in the house andafter this I went pretty carefully into the details of the thing thathappened on the night of Miss Hisgins's engagement to Beaumont. It seemsthat as the two of them were going through the big lower corridor, justafter dusk and before the lamps had been lighted, there had been asudden, horrible neighing in the corridor, close to them. Immediatelyafterward Beaumont received a tremendous blow or kick which broke hisright forearm. Then the rest of the family and the servants came runningto know what was wrong. Lights were brought and the corridor and, afterward, the whole house searched, but nothing unusual was found. 

"You can imagine the excitement in the house and the half incredulous, half believing talk about the old legend. Then, later, in the middle ofthe night the old Captain was waked by the sound of a great horsegalloping 'round and 'round the house. 

"Several times after this both Beaumont and the girl said that they hadheard the sounds of hoofs near to them after dusk, in several of therooms and corridors. 

"Three nights later Beaumont was waked by a strange neighing in thenighttime seeming to come from the direction of his sweetheart's bedroom. He ran hurriedly for her father and the two of them raced to her room. They found her awake and ill with sheer terror, having been awakened bythe neighing, seemingly close to her bed. 

"The night before I arrived, there had been a fresh happening and theywere all in a frightfully nervy state, as you can imagine. 

"I spent most of the first day, as I have hinted, in getting hold ofdetails; but after dinner I slacked off and played billiards all theevening with Beaumont and Miss Hisgins. We stopped about ten o'clock andhad coffee and I got Beaumont to give me full particulars about the thingthat had happened the evening before. 

"He and Miss Hisgins had been sitting quietly in her aunt's boudoirwhilst the old lady chaperoned them, behind a book. It was growing duskand the lamp was at her end of the table. The rest of the house was notyet lit as the evening had come earlier than usual. 

"Well, it seems that the door into the hall was open and suddenly thegirl said: 'H'sh! what's that?'

"They both listened and then Beaumont heard it--the sound of a horseoutside of the front door. 

"'Your father?' he suggested, but she reminded him that her father wasnot riding. 

"Of course they were both ready to feel queer, as you can suppose, butBeaumont made an effort to shake this off and went into the hall to seewhether anyone was at the entrance. It was pretty dark in the hall and hecould see the glass panels of the inner draft door, clear-cut in thedarkness of the hall. He walked over to the glass and looked through intothe drive beyond, but there nothing in sight. 

"He felt nervous and puzzled and opened the inner door and went out on tothe carriage-circle. Almost directly afterward the great hall door swungto with a crash behind him. He told me that he had a sudden awful feelingof having been trapped in some way--that is how he put it. He whirled'round and gripped the door handle, but something seemed to be holding itwith a vast grip on the other side. Then, before he could be fixed in hismind that this was so, he was able to turn the handle and open the door. 

"He paused a moment in the doorway and peered into the hall, for he hadhardly steadied his mind sufficiently to know whether he was reallyfrightened or not. Then he heard his sweetheart blow him a kiss out ofthe greyness of the big, unlit hall and he knew that she had followed himfrom the boudoir. He blew her a kiss back and stepped inside the doorway, meaning to go to her. And then, suddenly, in a flash of sickeningknowledge he knew that it was not his sweetheart who had blown him thatkiss. He knew that something was trying to tempt him alone into thedarkness and that the girl had never left the boudoir. He jumped back andin the same instant of time he heard the kiss again, nearer to him. Hecalled out at the top of his voice: 'Mary, stay in the boudoir. Don'tmove out of the boudoir until I come to you. ' He heard her call somethingin reply from the boudoir and then he had struck a clump of a dozen orso matches and was holding them above his head and looking 'round thehall. There was no one in it, but even as the matches burned out therecame the sounds of a great horse galloping down the empty drive. 

"Now you see, both he and the girl had heard the sounds of the horsegalloping; but when I questioned more closely I found that the aunt hadheard nothing, though it is true she is a bit deaf, and she was furtherback in the room. Of course, both he and Miss Hisgins had been in anextremely nervous state and ready to hear anything. The door might havebeen slammed by a sudden puff of wind owing to some inner door beingopened; and as for the grip on the handle, that may have been nothingmore than the snick catching. 

"With regard to the kisses and the sounds of the horse galloping, Ipointed out that these might have seemed ordinary enough sounds, if theyhad been only cool enough to reason. As I told him, and as he knew, thesounds of a horse galloping carry a long way on the wind so that what hehad heard might have been nothing more than a horse being ridden somedistance away. And as for the kiss, plenty of quiet noises--the rustle ofa paper or a leaf--have a somewhat similar sound, especially if one is inan overstrung condition and imagining things. 

"I finished preaching this little sermon on commonsense versus hysteriaas we put out the lights and left the billiard room. But neitherBeaumont nor Miss Hisgins would agree that there had been any fancy ontheir parts. 

"We had come out of the billiard room by this time and were going alongthe passage and I was still doing my best to make both of them see theordinary, commonplace possibilities of the happening, when what killed mypig, as the saying goes, was the sound of a hoof in the dark billiardroom we had just left. 

"I felt the 'creep' come on me in a flash, up my spine and over the backof my head. Miss Hisgins whooped like a child with the whooping cough andran up the passage, giving little gasping screams. Beaumont, however, ripped 'round on his heels and jumped back a couple of yards. I gave backtoo, a bit, as you can understand. 

"'There it is, ' he said in a low, breathless voice. 'Perhaps you'llbelieve now. '

"'There's certainly something, ' I whispered, never taking my gaze off theclosed door of the billiard room. 

"'H'sh!' he muttered. 'There it is again. '

"There was a sound like a great horse pacing 'round and 'round thebilliard room with slow, deliberate steps. A horrible cold fright took meso that it seemed impossible to take a full breath, you know the feeling, and then I saw we must have been walking backward for we found ourselvessuddenly at the opening of the long passage. 

"We stopped there and listened. The sounds went on steadily with ahorrible sort of deliberateness, as if the brute were taking a sort ofmalicious gusto in walking about all over the room which we had justoccupied. Do you understand just what I mean?

"Then there was a pause and a long time of absolute quiet except for anexcited whispering from some of the people down in the big hall. Thesound came plainly up the wide stairway. I fancy they were gathered'round Miss Hisgins, with some notion of protecting her. 

"I should think Beaumont and I stood there, at the end of the passage forabout five minutes, listening for any noise in the billiard room. Then Irealized what a horrible funk I was in and I said to him: 'I'm going tosee what's there. '

"'So'm I, ' he answered. He was pretty white, but he had heaps of pluck. I told him to wait one instant and I made a dash into my bedroom and gotmy camera and flashlight. I slipped my revolver into my right-hand pocketand a knuckle-duster over my left fist, where it was ready and yet wouldnot stop me from being able to work my flashlight. 

"Then I ran back to Beaumont. He held out his hand to show me that he hadhis pistol and I nodded, but whispered to him not to be too quick toshoot, as there might be some silly practical joking at work, after all. He had got a lamp from a bracket in the upper hall which he was holdingin the crook of his damaged arm, so that we had a good light. Then wewent down the passage toward the billiard room and you can imagine thatwe were a pretty nervous couple. 

"All this time there had not been a sound, but abruptly when we werewithin perhaps a couple of yards of the door we heard the sudden clumpingof a hoof on the solid _parquet_ floor of the billiard room. In theinstant afterward it seemed to me that the whole place shook beneath theponderous hoof falls of some huge thing, _coming toward the door_. BothBeaumont and I gave back a pace or two, and then realized and hung on toour courage, as you might say, and waited. The great tread came right upto the door and then stopped and there was an instant of absolutesilence, except that so far as I was concerned, the pulsing in my throatand temples almost deafened me. 

"I dare say we waited quite half a minute and then came the furtherrestless clumping of a great hoof. Immediately afterward the sounds cameright on as if some invisible thing passed through the closed door andthe ponderous tread was upon us. We jumped, each of us, to our side ofthe passage and I know that I spread myself stiff against the wall. Theclungk clunck, clungk clunck, of the great hoof falls passed rightbetween us and slowly and with deadly deliberateness, down the passage. I heard them through a haze of blood beats in my ears and temples and mybody was extraordinarily rigid and pringling and I was horriblybreathless. I stood for a little time like this, my head turned so that Icould see up the passage. I was conscious only that there was a hideousdanger abroad. Do you understand?

"And then, suddenly, my pluck came back to me. I was aware that the noiseof the hoof beats sounded near the other end of the passage. I twistedquickly and got my camera to bear and snapped off the flashlight. Immediately afterward, Beaumont let fly a storm of shots down the passageand began to run, shouting: 'It's after Mary. Run! Run!'

"He rushed down the passage and I after him. We came out on the mainlanding and heard the sound of a hoof on the stairs and after that, nothing. And from thence onward, nothing. 

"Down below us in the big hall I could see a number of the household'round Miss Hisgins, who seemed to have fainted and there were several ofthe servants clumped together a little way off, staring up at the mainlanding and no one saying a single word. And about some twenty steps upthe stairs was the old Captain Hisgins with a drawn sword in his handwhere he had halted, just below the last hoof sound. I think I never sawanything finer than the old man standing there between his daughter andthat infernal thing. 

"I daresay you can understand the queer feeling of horror I had atpassing that place on the stairs where the sounds had ceased. It was asif the monster were still standing there, invisible. And the peculiarthing was that we never heard another sound of the hoof, either up ordown the stairs. 

"After they had taken Miss Hisgins to her room I sent word that I shouldfollow, so soon as they were ready for me. And presently, when a messagecame to tell me that I could come any time, I asked her father to giveme a hand with my instrument box and between us we carried it into thegirl's bedroom. I had the bed pulled well out into the middle of theroom, after which I erected the electric pentacle 'round the bed. 

"Then I directed that lamps should be placed 'round the room, but that onno account must any light be made within the pentacle; neither mustanyone pass in or out. The girl's mother I had placed within the pentacleand directed that her maid should sit without, ready to carry any messageso as to make sure that Mrs. Hisgins did not have to leave the pentacle. I suggested also that the girl's father should stay the night in the roomand that he had better be armed. 

"When I left the bedroom I found Beaumont waiting outside the door in amiserable state of anxiety. I told him what I had done and explained tohim that Miss Hisgins was probably perfectly safe within the'protection'; but that in addition to her father remaining the night inthe room, I intended to stand guard at the door. I told him that I shouldlike him to keep me company, for I knew that he could never sleep, feeling as he did, and I should not be sorry to have a companion. Also, Iwanted to have him under my own observation, for there was no doubt butthat he was actually in greater danger in some ways than the girl. Atleast, that was my opinion and is still, as I think you will agree later. 

"I asked him whether he would object to my drawing a pentacle 'round himfor the night and got him to agree, but I saw that he did not knowwhether to be superstitious about it or to regard it more as a piece offoolish mumming; but he took it seriously enough when I gave him someparticulars about the Black Veil case, when young Aster died. Youremember, he said it was a piece of silly superstition and stayedoutside. Poor devil!

"The night passed quietly enough until a little while before dawn whenwe both heard the sounds of a great horse galloping 'round and 'round thehouse just as old Captain Hisgins had described it. You can imagine howqueer it made me feel and directly afterward, I heard someone stir withinthe bedroom. I knocked at the door, for I was uneasy, and the Captaincame. I asked whether everything was right; to which he replied yes, andimmediately asked me whether I had heard the galloping, so that I knew hehad heard them also. I suggested that it might be well to leave thebedroom door open a little until the dawn came in, as there was certainlysomething abroad. This was done and he went back into the room, to benear his wife and daughter. 

"I had better say here that I was doubtful whether there was any value inthe 'Defense' about Miss Hisgins, for what I term the 'personal sounds'of the manifestation were so extraordinarily material that I was inclinedto parallel the case with that one of Harford's where the hand of thechild kept materializing within the pentacle and patting the floor. Asyou will remember, that was a hideous business. 

"Yet, as it chanced, nothing further happened and so soon as daylight hadfully come we all went off to bed. 

"Beaumont knocked me up about midday and I went down and made breakfastinto lunch. Miss Hisgins was there and seemed in very fair spirits, considering. She told me that I had made her feel almost safe for thefirst time for days. She told me also that her cousin, Harry Parsket, wascoming down from London and she knew that he would do anything to helpfight the ghost. And after that she and Beaumont went out into thegrounds to have a little time together. 

"I had a walk in the grounds myself and went 'round the house, but saw notraces of hoof marks and after that I spent the rest of the day making anexamination of the house, but found nothing. 

"I made an end of my search before dark and went to my room to dress fordinner. When I got down the cousin had just arrived and I found him oneof the nicest men I have met for a long time. A chap with a tremendousamount of pluck, and the particular kind of man I like to have with me ina bad case like the one I was on. I could see that what puzzled him mostwas our belief in the genuineness of the haunting and I found myselfalmost wanting something to happen, just to show him how true it was. Asit chanced, something did happen, with a vengeance. 

"Beaumont and Miss Hisgins had gone out for a stroll just before the duskand Captain Hisgins asked me to come into his study for a short chatwhilst Parsket went upstairs with his traps, for he had no man with him. 

"I had a long conversation with the old Captain in which I pointed outthat the 'haunting' had evidently no particular connection with thehouse, but only with the girl herself and that the sooner she wasmarried, the better as it would give Beaumont a right to be with her atall times and further than this, it might be that the manifestationswould cease if the marriage were actually performed. 

"The old man nodded agreement to this, especially to the first part andreminded me that three of the girls who were said to have been 'haunted'had been sent away from home and met their deaths whilst away. And thenin the midst of our talk there came a pretty frightening interruption, for all at once the old butler rushed into the room, mostextraordinarily pale:

"'Miss Mary, sir! Miss Mary, sir!' he gasped. 'She's screaming ... Out inthe Park, sir! And they say they can hear the Horse--'

"The Captain made one dive for a rack of arms and snatched down his oldsword and ran out, drawing it as he ran. I dashed out and up the stairs, snatched my camera-flashlight and a heavy revolver, gave one yell atParsket's door: 'The Horse!' and was down and into the grounds. 

"Away in the darkness there was a confused shouting and I caught thesounds of shooting, out among the scattered trees. And then, from a patchof blackness to my left, there burst suddenly an infernal gobbling sortof neighing. Instantly I whipped 'round and snapped off the flashlight. The great light blazed out momentarily, showing me the leaves of a bigtree close at hand, quivering in the night breeze, but I saw nothing elseand then the ten-fold blackness came down upon me and I heard Parsketshouting a little way back to know whether I had seen anything. 

"The next instant he was beside me and I felt safer for his company, for there was some incredible thing near to us and I was momentarilyblind because of the brightness of the flashlight. 'What was it? Whatwas it?' he kept repeating in an excited voice. And all the time I wasstaring into the darkness and answering, mechanically, 'I don't know. Idon't know. '

"There was a burst of shouting somewhere ahead and then a shot. We rantoward the sounds, yelling to the people not to shoot; for in thedarkness and panic there was this danger also. Then there came two of thegame-keepers racing hard up the drive with their lanterns and guns; andimmediately afterward a row of lights dancing toward us from the house, carried by some of the men-servants. 

"As the lights came up I saw we had come close to Beaumont. He wasstanding over Miss Hisgins and he had his revolver in his hand. Then Isaw his face and there was a great wound across his forehead. By him wasthe Captain, turning his naked sword this way and that, and peering intothe darkness; a little behind him stood the old butler, a battle-axe fromone of the arm stands in the hall in his hands. Yet there was nothingstrange to be seen anywhere. 

"We got the girl into the house and left her with her mother andBeaumont, whilst a groom rode for a doctor. And then the rest of us, withfour other keepers, all armed with guns and carrying lanterns, searched'round the home park. But we found nothing. 

"When we got back we found that the doctor had been. He had bound upBeaumont's wound, which luckily was not deep, and ordered Miss Hisginsstraight to bed. I went upstairs with the Captain and found Beaumont onguard outside of the girl's door. I asked him how he felt and then, sosoon as the girl and her mother were ready for us, Captain Hisgins andI went into the bedroom and fixed the pentacle again 'round the bed. They had already got lamps about the room and after I had set the sameorder of watching as on the previous night, I joined Beaumont outsideof the door. 

"Parsket had come up while I had been in the bedroom and between us wegot some idea from Beaumont as to what had happened out in the Park. Itseems that they were coming home after their stroll from the direction ofthe West Lodge. It had got quite dark and suddenly Miss Hisgins said:'Hush!' and came to a standstill. He stopped and listened, but heardnothing for a little. Then he caught it--the sound of a horse, seeminglya long way off, galloping toward them over the grass. He told the girlthat it was nothing and started to hurry her toward the house, but shewas not deceived, of course. In less than a minute they heard it quiteclose to them in the darkness and they started running. Then Miss Hisginscaught her foot and fell. She began to scream and that is what the butlerheard. As Beaumont lifted the girl he heard the hoofs come thudding rightat him. He stood over her and fired all five chambers of his revolverright at the sounds. He told us that he was sure he saw something thatlooked like an enormous horse's head, right upon him in the light of thelast flash of his pistol. Immediately afterward he was struck atremendous blow which knocked him down and then the Captain and thebutler came running up, shouting. The rest, of course, we knew. 

"About ten o'clock the butler brought us up a tray, for which I was veryglad, as the night before I had got rather hungry. I warned Beaumont, however, to be very particular not to drink any spirits and I also madehim give me his pipe and matches. At midnight I drew a pentacle 'roundhim and Parsket and I sat one on each side of him, outside the pentacle, for I had no fear that there would be any manifestation made againstanyone except Beaumont or Miss Hisgins. 

"After that we kept pretty quiet. The passage was lit by a big lamp ateach end so that we had plenty of light and we were all armed, Beaumontand I with revolvers and Parsket with a shotgun. In addition to my weaponI had my camera and flashlight. 

"Now and again we talked in whispers and twice the Captain came out ofthe bedroom to have a word with us. About half-past one we had all grownvery silent and suddenly, about twenty minutes later, I held up my hand, silently, for there seemed to be a sound of galloping out in the night. Iknocked on the bedroom door for the Captain to open it and when he came Iwhispered to him that we thought we heard the Horse. For some time westayed listening, and both Parsket and the Captain thought they heard it;but now I was not so sure, neither was Beaumont. Yet afterward, I thoughtI heard it again. 

"I told Captain Hisgins I thought he had better go into the bedroom andleave the door a little open and this he did. But from that time onwardwe heard nothing and presently the dawn came in and we all went verythankfully to bed. 

"When I was called at lunchtime I had a little surprise, for CaptainHisgins told me that they had held a family council and had decided totake my advice and have the marriage without a day's more delay thanpossible. Beaumont was already on his way to London to get a specialLicense and they hoped to have the wedding next day. 

"This pleased me, for it seemed the sanest thing to be done in theextraordinary circumstances and meanwhile I should continue myinvestigations; but until the marriage was accomplished, my chief thoughtwas to keep Miss Hisgins near to me. 

"After lunch I thought I would take a few experimental photographs ofMiss Hisgins and her _surroundings_. Sometimes the camera sees thingsthat would seem very strange to normal human eyesight. 

"With this intention and partly to make an excuse to keep her in mycompany as much as possible, I asked Miss Hisgins to join me in myexperiments. She seemed glad to do this and I spent several hours withher, wandering all over the house, from room to room and whenever theimpulse came I took a flashlight of her and the room or corridor in whichwe chanced to be at the moment. 

"After we had gone right through the house in this fashion, I asked herwhether she felt sufficiently brave to repeat the experiments in thecellars. She said yes, and so I rooted out Captain Hisgins and Parsket, for I was not going to take her even into what you might call artificialdarkness without help and companionship at hand. 

"When we were ready we went down into the wine cellar, Captain Hisginscarrying a shotgun and Parsket a specially prepared background and alantern. I got the girl to stand in the middle of the cellar whilstParsket and the Captain held out the background behind her. Then I firedoff the flashlight, and we went into the next cellar where we repeatedthe experiment. 

"Then in the third cellar, a tremendous, pitch-dark place, somethingextraordinary and horrible manifested itself. I had stationed MissHisgins in the center of the place, with her father and Parsket holdingthe background as before. When all was ready and just as I pressed thetrigger of the 'flash, ' there came in the cellar that dreadful, gobblingneighing that I had heard out in the Park. It seemed to come fromsomewhere above the girl and in the glare of the sudden light I saw thatshe was staring tensely upward, but at no visible thing. And then in thesucceeding comparative darkness, I was shouting to the Captain andParsket to run Miss Hisgins out into the daylight. 

"This was done instantly and I shut and locked the door afterward makingthe First and Eighth signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual opposite to each postand connecting them across the threshold with a triple line. 

"In the meanwhile Parsket and Captain Hisgins carried the girl to hermother and left her there, in a half fainting condition whilst I stayedon guard outside of the cellar door, feeling pretty horrible for I knewthat there was some disgusting thing inside, and along with this feelingthere was a sense of half ashamedness, rather miserable, you know, because I had exposed Miss Hisgins to the danger. 

"I had got the Captain's shotgun and when he and Parsket came down againthey were each carrying guns and lanterns. I could not possibly tell youthe utter relief of spirit and body that came to me when I heard themcoming, but just try to imagine what it was like, standing outside ofthat cellar. Can you?

"I remember noticing, just before I went to unlock the door, how whiteand ghastly Parsket looked and the old Captain was grey-looking and Iwondered whether my face was like theirs. And this, you know, had its owndistinct effect upon my nerves, for it seemed to bring the beastlinessof the thing crash down on to me in a fresh way. I know it was only sheerwill power that carried me up to the door and made me turn the key. 

"I paused one little moment and then with a nervy jerk sent the door wideopen and held my lantern over my head. Parsket and the Captain came oneon each side of me and held up their lanterns, but the place wasabsolutely empty. Of course, I did not trust to a casual look of thiskind, but spent several hours with the help of the two others in soundingevery square foot of the floor, ceiling and walls. 

"Yet, in the end I had to admit that the place itself was absolutelynormal and so we came away. But I sealed the door and outside, oppositeeach doorpost I made the First and Last signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual, joined them as before, with a triple line. Can you imagine what it waslike, searching that cellar?

"When we got upstairs I inquired very anxiously how Miss Hisgins wasand the girl came out herself to tell me that she was all right andthat I was not to trouble about her, or blame myself, as I told her Ihad been doing. 

"I felt happier then and went off to dress for dinner and after that wasdone, Parsket and I took one of the bathrooms to develop the negativesthat I had been taking. Yet none of the plates had anything to tell usuntil we came to the one that was taken in the cellar. Parsket wasdeveloping and I had taken a batch of the fixed plates out into thelamplight to examine them. 

"I had just gone carefully through the lot when I heard a shout fromParsket and when I ran to him he was looking at a partly-developednegative which he was holding up to the red lamp. It showed the girlplainly, looking upward as I had seen her, but the thing that astonishedme was the shadow of an enormous hoof, right above her, as if it werecoming down upon her out of the shadows. And you know, I had run herbang into that danger. That was the thought that was chief in my mind. 

"As soon as the developing was complete I fixed the plate and examined itcarefully in a good light. There was no doubt about it at all, the thingabove Miss Hisgins was an enormous, shadowy hoof. Yet I was no nearer tocoming to any definite knowledge and the only thing I could do was towarn Parsket to say nothing about it to the girl for it would onlyincrease her fright, but I showed the thing to her father for Iconsidered it right that he should know. 

"That night we took the same precaution for Miss Hisgins's safety as onthe two previous nights and Parsket kept me company; yet the dawn came inwithout anything unusual having happened and I went off to bed. 

"When I got down to lunch I learnt that Beaumont had wired to say that hewould be in soon after four; also that a message had been sent to theRector. And it was generally plain that the ladies of the house were in atremendous fluster. 

"Beaumont's train was late and he did not get home until five, but eventhen the Rector had not put in an appearance and the butler came in tosay that the coachman had returned without him as he had been called awayunexpectedly. Twice more during the evening the carriage was sent down, but the clergyman had not returned and we had to delay the marriage untilthe next day. 

"That night I arranged the 'Defense' 'round the girl's bed and theCaptain and his wife sat up with her as before. Beaumont, as I expected, insisted on keeping watch with me and he seemed in a curiously frightenedmood; not for himself, you know, but for Miss Hisgins. He had a horriblefeeling he told me, that there would be a final, dreadful attempt on hissweetheart that night. 

"This, of course, I told him was nothing but nerves; yet really, it mademe feel very anxious; for I have seen too much not to know that undersuch circumstances a premonitory _conviction_ of impending danger is notnecessarily to be put down entirely to nerves. In fact, Beaumont was sosimply and earnestly convinced that the night would bring someextraordinary manifestation that I got Parsket to rig up a long cord fromthe wire of the butler's bell, to come along the passage handy. 

"To the butler himself I gave directions not to undress and to give thesame order to two of the footmen. If I rang he was to come instantly, with the footmen, carrying lanterns and the lanterns were to be keptready lit all night. If for any reason the bell did not ring and I blewmy whistle, he was to take that as a signal in the place of the bell. 

"After I had arranged all these minor details I drew a pentacle aboutBeaumont and warned him very particularly to stay within it, whateverhappened. And when this was done, there was nothing to do but wait andpray that the night would go as quietly as the night before. 

"We scarcely talked at all and by about one a. M. We were all very tenseand nervous so that at last Parsket got up and began to walk up anddown the corridor to steady himself a bit. Presently I slipped off mypumps and joined him and we walked up and down, whispering occasionallyfor something over an hour, until in turning I caught my foot in thebell cord and went down on my face; but without hurting myself ormaking a noise. 

"When I got up Parsket nudged me. 

"'Did you notice that the bell never rang?' he whispered. 

"'Jove!' I said, 'you're right. '

"'Wait a minute, ' he answered. 'I'll bet it's only a kink somewhere inthe cord. ' He left his gun and slipped along the passage and taking thetop lamp, tiptoed away into the house, carrying Beaumont's revolver readyin his right hand. He was a plucky chap, I remember thinking then, andagain, later. 

"Just then Beaumont motioned to me for absolute quiet. Directly afterwardI heard the thing for which he listened--the sound of a horse galloping, out in the night. I think that I may say I fairly shivered. The sounddied away and left a horrible, desolate, eerie feeling in the air, youknow. I put my hand out to the bell cord, hoping Parsket had got itclear. Then I waited, glancing before and behind. 

"Perhaps two minutes passed, full of what seemed like an almost unearthlyquiet. And then, suddenly, down the corridor at the lighted end theresounded the clumping of a great hoof and instantly the lamp was thrownwith a tremendous crash and we were in the dark. I tugged hard on thecord and blew the whistle; then I raised my snapshot and fired theflashlight. The corridor blazed into brilliant light, but there wasnothing, and then the darkness fell like thunder. I heard the Captain atthe bedroom door and shouted to him to bring out a lamp, _quick_; butinstead something started to kick the door and I heard the Captainshouting within the bedroom and then the screaming of the women. I had asudden horrible fear that the monster had got into the bedroom, but inthe same instant from up the corridor there came abruptly the vile, gobbling neighing that we had heard in the park and the cellar. I blewthe whistle again and groped blindly for the bell cord, shouting toBeaumont to stay in the Pentacle, whatever happened. I yelled again tothe Captain to bring out a lamp and there came a smashing sound againstthe bedroom door. Then I had my matches in my hand, to get some lightbefore that incredible, unseen Monster was upon us. 

"The match scraped on the box and flared up dully and in the same instantI heard a faint sound behind me. I whipped 'round in a kind of mad terrorand saw something in the light of the match--a monstrous horse-head closeto Beaumont. 

"'Look out, Beaumont!' I shouted in a sort of scream. 'It's behind you!'

"The match went out abruptly and instantly there came the huge bang ofParsket's double-barrel (both barrels at once), fired evidentlysingle-handed by Beaumont close to my ear, as it seemed. I caught amomentary glimpse of the great head in the flash and of an enormous hoofamid the belch of fire and smoke seeming to be descending upon Beaumont. In the same instant I fired three chambers of my revolver. There was thesound of a dull blow and then that horrible, gobbling neigh broke outclose to me. I fired twice at the sound. Immediately afterward somethingstruck me and I was knocked backward. I got on to my knees and shoutedfor help at the top of my voice. I heard the women screaming behind theclosed door of the bedroom and was dully aware that the door was beingsmashed from the inside, and directly afterward I knew that Beaumont wasstruggling with some hideous thing near to me. For an instant I heldback, stupidly, paralyzed with funk and then, blindly and in a sort ofrigid chill of goose flesh I went to help him, shouting his name. I cantell you, I was nearly sick with the naked fear I had on me. There came alittle, choking scream out of the darkness, and at that I jumped forwardinto the dark. I gripped a vast, furry ear. Then something struck meanother great blow knocking me sick. I hit back, weak and blind andgripped with my other hand at the incredible thing. Abruptly I was dimlyaware of a tremendous crash behind me and a great burst of light. Therewere other lights in the passage and a noise of feet and shouting. Myhand-grips were torn from the thing they held; I shut my eyes stupidlyand heard a loud yell above me and then a heavy blow, like a butcherchopping meat and then something fell upon me. 

"I was helped to my knees by the Captain and the butler. On the floor layan enormous horse-head out of which protruded a man's trunk and legs. Onthe wrists were fixed great hoofs. It was the monster. The Captain cutsomething with the sword that he held in his hand and stooped and liftedoff the mask, for that is what it was. I saw the face then of the man whohad worn it. It was Parsket. He had a bad wound across the forehead wherethe Captain's sword had bit through the mask. I looked bewilderedly fromhim to Beaumont, who was sitting up, leaning against the wall of thecorridor. Then I stared at Parsket again. 

"'By Jove!' I said at last, and then I was quiet for I was so ashamed forthe man. You can understand, can't you? And he was opening his eyes. Andyou know, I had grown so to like him. 

"And then, you know, just as Parsket was getting back his wits andlooking from one to the other of us and beginning to remember, therehappened a strange and incredible thing. For from the end of thecorridor there sounded suddenly, the clumping of a great hoof. I lookedthat way and then instantly at Parsket and saw a horrible fear in hisface and eyes. He wrenched himself 'round, weakly, and stared in madterror up the corridor to where the sound had been, and the rest of usstared, in a frozen group. I remember vaguely half sobs and whispersfrom Miss Hisgins's bedroom, all the while that I stared frightenedly upthe corridor. 

"The silence lasted several seconds and then, abruptly there came againthe clumping of the great hoof, away at the end of the corridor. Andimmediately afterward the clungk, clunk--clungk, clunk of mighty hoofscoming down the passage toward us. 

"Even then, you know, most of us thought it was some mechanism ofParsket's still at work and we were in the queerest mixture of fright anddoubt. I think everyone looked at Parsket. And suddenly the Captainshouted out:

"'Stop this damned fooling at once. Haven't you done enough?'

"For my part, I was now frightened for I had a _sense_ that there wassomething horrible and wrong. And then Parsket managed to gasp out:

"'It's not me! My God! It's not me! My God! It's not me. '

"And then, you know, it seemed to come home to everyone in an instantthat there was really some dreadful thing coming down the passage. Therewas a mad rush to get away and even old Captain Hisgins gave back withthe butler and the footmen. Beaumont fainted outright, as I foundafterward, for he had been badly mauled. I just flattened back againstthe wall, kneeling as I was, too stupid and dazed even to run. And almostin the same instant the ponderous hoof falls sounded close to me andseeming to shake the solid floor as they passed. Abruptly the greatsounds ceased and I knew in a sort of sick fashion that the thing hadhalted opposite to the door of the girl's bedroom. And then I was awarethat Parsket was standing rocking in the doorway with his arms spreadacross, so as to fill the doorway with his body. Parsket wasextraordinarily pale and the blood was running down his face from thewound in his forehead; and then I noticed that he seemed to be looking atsomething in the passage with a peculiar, desperate, fixed, incrediblymasterful gaze. But there was really nothing to be seen. And suddenly theclungk, clunk--clungk, clunk recommenced and passed onward down thepassage. In the same moment Parsket pitched forward out of the doorwayon to his face. 

"There were shouts from the huddle of men down the passage and the twofootmen and the butler simply ran, carrying their lanterns, but theCaptain went against the side-wall with his back and put the lamp he wascarrying over his head. The dull tread of the Horse went past him, andleft him unharmed and I heard the monstrous hoof falls going away andaway through the quiet house and after that a dead silence. 

"Then the Captain moved and came toward us, very slow and shaky and withan extraordinarily grey face. 

"I crept toward Parsket and the Captain came to help me. We turned himover and, you know, I knew in a moment that he was dead; but you canimagine what a feeling it sent through me. 

"I looked at the Captain and suddenly he said:

"'That--That--That--' and I know that he was trying to tell me thatParsket had stood between his daughter and whatever it was that had gonedown the passage. I stood up and steadied him, though I was not verysteady myself. And suddenly his face began to work and he went down on tohis knees by Parsket and cried like some shaken child. Then the womencame out of the doorway of the bedroom and I turned away and left him tothem, whilst I over to Beaumont. 

"That is practically the whole story and the only thing that is left tome is to try to explain some of the puzzling parts, here and there. 

"Perhaps you have seen that Parsket was in love with Miss Hisgins andthis fact is the key to a good deal that was extraordinary. He wasdoubtless responsible for some portions of the 'haunting'; in fact Ithink for nearly everything, but, you know, I can prove nothing and whatI have to tell you is chiefly the result of deduction. 

"In the first place, it is obvious that Parsket's intention was tofrighten Beaumont away and when he found that he could not do this, Ithink he grew so desperate that he really intended to kill him. I hate tosay this, but the facts force me to think so. 

"I am quite certain that it was Parsket who broke Beaumont's arm. He knewall the details of the so-called 'Horse Legend, ' and got the idea to workupon the old story for his own end. He evidently had some method ofslipping in and out of the house, probably through one of the many Frenchwindows, or possibly he had a key to one or two of the garden doors, andwhen he was supposed to be away, he was really coming down on the quietand hiding somewhere in the neighborhood. 

"The incident of the kiss in the dark hall I put down to sheer nervousimaginings on the part of Beaumont and Miss Hisgins, yet I must say thatthe sound of the horse outside of the front door is a little difficult toexplain away. But I am still inclined to keep to my first idea on thispoint, that there was nothing really unnatural about it. 

"The hoof sounds in the billiard room and down the passage were done byParsket from the floor below by bumping up against the paneled ceilingwith a block of wood tied to one of the window hooks. I proved this by anexamination which showed the dents in the woodwork. 

"The sounds of the horse galloping 'round the house were possibly madealso by Parsket, who must have had a horse tied up in the plantationnearby, unless, indeed, he made the sounds himself, but I do not see howhe could have gone fast enough to produce the illusion. In any case, Idon't feel perfect certainty on this point. I failed to find any hoofmarks, as you remember. 

"The gobbling neighing in the park was a ventriloquial achievement onthe part of Parsket and the attack out there on Beaumont was also byhim, so that when I thought he was in his bedroom, he must have beenoutside all the time and joined me after I ran out of the front door. This is almost probable. I mean that Parsket was the cause, for if ithad been something more serious he would certainly have given up hisfoolishness, knowing that there was no longer any need for it. I cannotimagine how he escaped being shot, both then and in the last mad actionof which I have just told you. He was enormously without fear of anykind for himself as you can see. 

"The time when Parsket was with us, when we thought we heard the Horsegalloping 'round the house, we must have been deceived. No one wasvery sure, except, of course, Parsket, who would naturally encouragethe belief. 

"The neighing in the cellar is where I consider there came the firstsuspicion into Parsket's mind that there was something more at work thanhis sham haunting. The neighing was done by him in the same way that hedid it in the park; but when I remember how ghastly he looked I feel surethat the sounds must have had some infernal quality added to them whichfrightened the man himself. Yet, later, he would persuade himself that hehad been getting fanciful. Of course, I must not forget that the effectupon Miss Hisgins must have made him feel pretty miserable. 

"Then, about the clergyman being called away, we found afterward that itwas a bogus errand, or, rather, call and it is apparent that Parsket wasat the bottom of this, so as to get a few more hours in which to achievehis end and what that was, a very little imagination will show you; forhe had found that Beaumont would not be frightened away. I hate to thinkthis, but I'm bound to. Anyway, it is obvious that the man wastemporarily a bit off his normal balance. Love's a queer disease!

"Then, there is no doubt at all but that Parsket left the cord to thebutler's bell hitched somewhere so as to give him an excuse to slip awaynaturally to clear it. This also gave him the opportunity to remove oneof the passage lamps. Then he had only to smash the other and the passagewas in utter darkness for him to make the attempt on Beaumont. 

"In the same way, it was he who locked the door of the bedroom and tookthe key (it was in his pocket). This prevented the Captain from bringinga light and coming to the rescue. But Captain Hisgins broke down the doorwith the heavy fender curb and it was his smashing the door that soundedso confusing and frightening in the darkness of the passage. 

"The photograph of the monstrous hoof above Miss Hisgins in the cellar isone of the things that I am less sure about. It might have been faked byParsket, whilst I was out of the room, and this would have been easyenough, to anyone who knew how. But, you know, it does not look like afake. Yet, there is as much evidence of probability that it was faked, asagainst; and the thing is too vague for an examination to help to adefinite decision so that I will express no opinion, one way or theother. It is certainly a horrible photograph. 

"And now I come to that last, dreadful thing. There has been no furthermanifestation of anything abnormal so that there is an extraordinaryuncertainty in my conclusions. If we had not heard those last sounds andif Parsket had not shown that enormous sense of fear the whole of thiscase could be explained in the way in which I have shown. And, in fact, as you have seen, I am of the opinion that almost all of it can becleared up, but I see no way of going past the thing we heard at the lastand the fear that Parsket showed. 

"His death--no, that proves nothing. At the inquest it was describedsomewhat untechnically as due to heart spasm. That is normal enough andleaves us quite in the dark as to whether he died because he stoodbetween the girl and some incredible thing of monstrosity. 

"The look on Parsket's face and the thing he called out when he heard thegreat hoof sounds coming down the passage seem to show that he had thesudden realization of what before then may have been nothing more than ahorrible suspicion. And his fear and appreciation of some tremendousdanger approaching was probably more keenly real even than mine. And thenhe did the one fine, great thing!"

"And the cause?" I said. "What caused it?"

Carnacki shook his head. 

"God knows, " he answered, with a peculiar, sincere reverence. "If thatthing was what it seemed to be one might suggest an explanation whichwould not offend one's reason, but which may be utterly wrong. Yet I havethought, though it would take a long lecture on Thought Induction to getyou to appreciate my reasons, that Parsket had produced what I might terma kind of 'induced haunting, ' a kind of induced simulation of his mentalconceptions to his desperate thoughts and broodings. It is impossible tomake it clearer in a few words. "

"But the old story!" I said. "Why may not there have been somethingin _that_?"

"There may have been something in it, " said Carnacki. "But I do not thinkit had anything to do with this. I have not clearly thought out myreasons, yet; but later I may be able to tell you why I think so. "

"And the marriage? And the cellar--was there anything found there?"asked Taylor. 

"Yes, the marriage was performed that day in spite of the tragedy, "Carnacki told us. "It was the wisest thing to do considering the thingsthat I cannot explain. Yes, I had the floor of that big cellar up, for Ihad a feeling I might find something there to give me some light. Butthere was nothing. 

"You know, the whole thing is tremendous and extraordinary. I shallnever forget the look on Parsket's face. And afterward the disgustingsounds of those great hoofs going away through the quiet house. "

Carnacki stood up. 

"Out you go!" he said in friendly fashion, using the recognized formula. 

And we went presently out into the quiet of the Embankment, and so toour homes. 

No. 5

THE SEARCHER OF THE END HOUSE

It was still evening, as I remember, and the four of us, Jessop, Arkright, Taylor and I, looked disappointedly at Carnacki, where he satsilent in his great chair. 

We had come in response to the usual card of invitation, which--as youknow--we have come to consider as a sure prelude to a good story; andnow, after telling us the short incident of the Three Straw Platters, hehad lapsed into a contented silence, and the night not half gone, as Ihave hinted. 

However, as it chanced, some pitying fate jogged Carnacki's elbow, or hismemory, and he began again, in his queer level way:--

"The 'Straw Platters' business reminds me of the 'Searcher' Case, which Ihave sometimes thought might interest you. It was some time ago, in facta deuce of a long time ago, that the thing happened; and my experience ofwhat I might term 'curious' things was very small at that time. 

"I was living with my mother when it occurred, in a small house justoutside of Appledorn, on the South Coast. The house was the last of arow of detached cottage villas, each house standing in its own garden;and very dainty little places they were, very old, and most of themsmothered in roses; and all with those quaint old leaded windows, anddoors of genuine oak. You must try to picture them for the sake of theircomplete niceness. 

"Now I must remind you at the beginning that my mother and I had lived inthat little house for two years; and in the whole of that time there hadnot been a single peculiar happening to worry us. 

"And then, something happened. 

"It was about two o'clock one morning, as I was finishing some letters, that I heard the door of my mother's bedroom open, and she came to thetop of the stairs, and knocked on the banisters. 

"'All right, dear, ' I called; for I suppose she was merely reminding methat I should have been in bed long ago; then I heard her go back to herroom, and I hurried my work, for fear she should lie awake, until sheheard me safe up to my room. 

"When I was finished, I lit my candle, put out the lamp, and wentupstairs. As I came opposite the door of my mother's room, I saw that itwas open, called good night to her, very softly, and asked whether Ishould close the door. As there was no answer, I knew that she haddropped off to sleep again, and I closed the door very gently, and turnedinto my room, just across the passage. As I did so, I experienced amomentary, half-aware sense of a faint, peculiar, disagreeable odor inthe passage; but it was not until the following night that I _realized_ Ihad noticed a smell that offended me. You follow me? It is so often likethat--one suddenly knows a thing that really recorded itself on one'sconsciousness, perhaps a year before. 

"The next morning at breakfast, I mentioned casually to my mother thatshe had 'dropped off, ' and I had shut the door for her. To my surprise, she assured me she had never been out of her room. I reminded her aboutthe two raps she had given upon the banister; but she still was certain Imust be mistaken; and in the end I teased her, saying she had grown soaccustomed to my bad habit of sitting up late, that she had come to callme in her sleep. Of course, she denied this, and I let the matter drop;but I was more than a little puzzled, and did not know whether to believemy own explanation, or to take the mater's, which was to put the noisesdown to the mice, and the open door to the fact that she couldn't haveproperly latched it, when she went to bed. I suppose, away in thesubconscious part of me, I had a stirring of less reasonable thoughts;but certainly, I had no real uneasiness at that time. 

"The next night there came a further development. About two thirty a. M. , I heard my mother's door open, just as on the previous night, andimmediately afterward she rapped sharply, on the banister, as it seemedto me. I stopped my work and called up that I would not be long. As shemade no reply, and I did not hear her go back to bed, I had a quick senseof wonder whether she might not be doing it in her sleep, after all, justas I had said. 

"With the thought, I stood up, and taking the lamp from the table, beganto go toward the door, which was open into the passage. It was then I gota sudden nasty sort of thrill; for it came to me, all at once, that mymother never knocked, when I sat up too late; she always called. You willunderstand I was not really frightened in any way; only vaguely uneasy, and pretty sure she must really be doing the thing in her sleep. 

"I went quickly up the stairs, and when I came to the top, my mother wasnot there; but her door was open. I had a bewildered sense thoughbelieving she must have gone quietly back to bed, without my hearingher. I entered her room and found her sleeping quietly and naturally; forthe vague sense of trouble in me was sufficiently strong to make me goover to look at her. 

"When I was sure that she was perfectly right in every way, I was stilla little bothered; but much more inclined to think my suspicion correctand that she had gone quietly back to bed in her sleep, without knowingwhat she had been doing. This was the most reasonable thing to think, asyou must see. 

"And then it came to me, suddenly, that vague, queer, mildewy smell inthe room; and it was in that instant I became aware I had smelt the samestrange, uncertain smell the night before in the passage. 

"I was definitely uneasy now, and began to search my mother's room;though with no aim or clear thought of anything, except to assure myselfthat there was nothing in the room. All the time, you know, I never_expected really_ to find anything; only my uneasiness had to be assured. 

"In the middle of my search my mother woke up, and of course I had toexplain. I told her about her door opening, and the knocks on thebanister, and that I had come up and found her asleep. I said nothingabout the smell, which was not very distinct; but told her that the thinghappening twice had made me a bit nervous, and possibly fanciful, and Ithought I would take a look 'round, just to feel satisfied. 

"I have thought since that the reason I made no mention of the smell, wasnot only that I did not want to frighten my mother, for I was scarcelythat myself; but because I had only a vague half-knowledge that Iassociated the smell with fancies too indefinite and peculiar to beartalking about. You will understand that I am able _now_ to analyze andput the thing into words; but _then_ I did not even know my chief reasonfor saying nothing; let alone appreciate its possible significance. 

"It was my mother, after all, who put part of my vague sensationsinto words:--

"'What a disagreeable smell!' she exclaimed, and was silent a moment, looking at me. Then:--'You feel there's something wrong?' still lookingat me, very quietly but with a little, nervous note of questioningexpectancy. 

"'I don't know, ' I said. 'I can't understand it, unless you've reallybeen walking about in your sleep. '

"'The smell, ' she said. 

"'Yes, ' I replied. 'That's what puzzles me too. I'll take a walk throughthe house; but I don't suppose it's anything. '

"I lit her candle, and taking the lamp, I went through the otherbedrooms, and afterward all over the house, including the threeunderground cellars, which was a little trying to the nerves, seeing thatI was more nervous than I would admit. 

"Then I went back to my mother, and told her there was really nothing tobother about; and, you know, in the end, we talked ourselves intobelieving it was nothing. My mother would not agree that she might havebeen sleepwalking; but she was ready to put the door opening down to thefault of the latch, which certainly snicked very lightly. As for theknocks, they might be the old warped woodwork of the house cracking abit, or a mouse rattling a piece of loose plaster. The smell was moredifficult to explain; but finally we agreed that it might easily be thequeer night smell of the moist earth, coming in through the open windowof my mother's room, from the back garden, or--for that matter--from thelittle churchyard beyond the big wall at the bottom of the garden. 

"And so we quietened down, and finally I went to bed, and to sleep. 

"I think this is certainly a lesson on the way we humans can deludeourselves; for there was not one of these explanations that my reasoncould really accept. Try to imagine yourself in the same circumstances, and you will see how absurd our attempts to explain the happeningsreally were. 

"In the morning, when I came down to breakfast, we talked it all overagain, and whilst we agreed that it was strange, we also agreed that wehad begun to imagine funny things in the backs of our minds, which now wefelt half ashamed to admit. This is very strange when you come to lookinto it; but very human. 

"And then that night again my mother's door was slammed once more justafter midnight. I caught up the lamp, and when I reached her door, Ifound it shut. I opened it quickly, and went in, to find my mother lyingwith her eyes open, and rather nervous; having been waked by the bang ofthe door. But what upset me more than anything, was the fact that therewas a disgusting smell in the passage and in her room. 

"Whilst I was asking her whether she was all right, a door slammedtwice downstairs; and you can imagine how it made me feel. My motherand I looked at one another; and then I lit her candle, and taking thepoker from the fender, went downstairs with the lamp, beginning to feelreally nervous. The cumulative effect of so many queer happenings wasgetting hold of me; and all the _apparently_ reasonable explanationsseemed futile. 

"The horrible smell seemed to be very strong in the downstairs passage;also in the front room and the cellars; but chiefly in the passage. Imade a very thorough search of the house, and when I had finished, I knewthat all the lower windows and doors were properly shut and fastened, andthat there was no living thing in the house, beyond our two selves. ThenI went up to my mother's room again, and we talked the thing over for anhour or more, and in the end came to the conclusion that we might, afterall, be reading too much into a number of little things; but, you know, inside of us, we did not believe this. 

"Later, when we had talked ourselves into a more comfortable state ofmind, I said good night, and went off to bed; and presently managed toget to sleep. 

"In the early hours of the morning, whilst it was still dark, I was wakedby a loud noise. I sat up in bed, and listened. And from downstairs, Iheard:--bang, bang, bang, one door after another being slammed; at least, that is the impression the sounds gave to me. 

"I jumped out of bed, with the tingle and shiver of sudden fright on me;and at the same moment, as I lit my candle, my door was pushed slowlyopen; I had left it unlatched, so as not to feel that my mother was quiteshut off from me. 

"'Who's there?' I shouted out, in a voice twice as deep as my naturalone, and with a queer breathlessness, that sudden fright so often givesone. 'Who's there?'

"Then I heard my mother saying:--

"'It's me, Thomas. Whatever is happening downstairs?'

"She was in the room by this, and I saw she had her bedroom poker in onehand, and her candle in the other. I could have smiled at her, had it notbeen for the extraordinary sounds downstairs. 

"I got into my slippers, and reached down an old sword bayonet from thewall; then I picked up my candle, and begged my mother not to come; but Iknew it would be little use, if she had made up her mind; and she had, with the result that she acted as a sort of rearguard for me, during oursearch. I know, in some ways, I was very glad to have her with me, as youwill understand. 

"By this time, the door slamming had ceased, and there seemed, probablybecause of the contrast, to be an appalling silence in the house. However, I led the way, holding my candle high, and keeping the swordbayonet very handy. Downstairs we found all the doors wide open; althoughthe outer doors and the windows were closed all right. I began to wonderwhether the noises had been made by the doors after all. Of one thingonly were we sure, and that was, there was no living thing in the house, beside ourselves, while everywhere throughout the house, there was thetaint of that disgusting odor. 

"Of course it was absurd to try to make believe any longer. There wassomething strange about the house; and as soon as it was daylight, I setmy mother to packing; and soon after breakfast, I saw her off by train. 

"Then I set to work to try to clear up the mystery. I went first to thelandlord, and told him all the circumstances. From him, I found thattwelve or fifteen years back, the house had got rather a curious namefrom three or four tenants; with the result that it had remained empty along while; in the end he had let it at a low rent to a Captain Tobias, on the one condition that he should hold his tongue, if he saw anythingpeculiar. The landlord's idea--as he told me frankly--was to free thehouse from these tales of 'something queer, ' by keeping a tenant in it, and then to sell it for the best price he could get. 

"However, when Captain Tobias left, after a ten years' tenancy, there wasno longer any talk about the house; so when I offered to take it on afive years' lease, he had jumped at the offer. This was the whole story;so he gave me to understand. When I pressed him for details of thesupposed peculiar happenings in the house, all those years back, he saidthe tenants had talked about a woman who always moved about the house atnight. Some tenants never saw anything; but others would not stay out thefirst month's tenancy. 

"One thing the landlord was particular to point out, that no tenant hadever complained about knockings, or door slamming. As for the smell, heseemed positively indignant about it; but why, I don't suppose he knewhimself, except that he probably had some vague feeling that it was anindirect accusation on my part that the drains were not right. 

"In the end, I suggested that he should come down and spend the nightwith me. He agreed at once, especially as I told him I intended to keepthe whole business quiet, and try to get to the bottom of the curiousaffair; for he was anxious to keep the rumor of the haunting fromgetting about. 

"About three o'clock that afternoon, he came down, and we made athorough search of the house, which, however, revealed nothing unusual. Afterward, the landlord made one or two tests, which showed him thedrainage was in perfect order; after that we made our preparations forsitting up all night. 

"First, we borrowed two policemen's dark lanterns from the stationnearby, and where the superintendent and I were friendly, and as soon asit was really dusk, the landlord went up to his house for his gun. I hadthe sword bayonet I have told you about; and when the landlord got back, we sat talking in my study until nearly midnight. 

"Then we lit the lanterns and went upstairs. We placed the lanterns, gunand bayonet handy on the table; then I shut and sealed the bedroom doors;afterward we took our seats, and turned off the lights. 

"From then until two o'clock, nothing happened; but a little after two, as I found by holding my watch near the faint glow of the closedlanterns, I had a time of extraordinary nervousness; and I bent towardthe landlord, and whispered to him that I had a queer feeling somethingwas about to happen, and to be ready with his lantern; at the same time Ireached out toward mine. In the very instant I made this movement, thedarkness which filled the passage seemed to become suddenly of a dullviolet color; not, as if a light had been shone; but as if the naturalblackness of the night had changed color. And then, coming through thisviolet night, through this violet-colored gloom, came a little nakedChild, running. In an extraordinary way, the Child seemed not to bedistinct from the surrounding gloom; but almost as if it were aconcentration of that extraordinary atmosphere; as if that gloomy colorwhich had changed the night, came from the Child. It seems impossible tomake clear to you; but try to understand it. 

"The Child went past me, running, with the natural movement of the legsof a chubby human child, but in an absolute and inconceivable silence. Itwas a very small Child, and must have passed under the table; but I sawthe Child through the table, as if it had been only a slightly darkershadow than the colored gloom. In the same instant, I saw that afluctuating glimmer of violet light outlined the metal of the gun-barrelsand the blade of the sword bayonet, making them seem like faint shapes ofglimmering light, floating unsupported where the tabletop should haveshown solid. 

"Now, curiously, as I saw these things, I was subconsciously aware that Iheard the anxious breathing of the landlord, quite clear and labored, close to my elbow, where he waited nervously with his hands on thelantern. I realized in that moment that he saw nothing; but waited in thedarkness, for my warning to come true. 

"Even as I took heed of these minor things, I saw the Child jump to oneside, and hide behind some half-seen object that was certainly nothingbelonging to the passage. I stared, intently, with a most extraordinarythrill of expectant wonder, with fright making goose flesh of my back. And even as I stared, I solved for myself the less important problem ofwhat the two black clouds were that hung over a part of the table. Ithink it very curious and interesting, the double working of the mind, often so much more apparent during times of stress. The two clouds camefrom two faintly shining shapes, which I knew must be the metal of thelanterns; and the things that looked black to the sight with which I wasthen seeing, could be nothing else but what to normal human sight isknown as light. This phenomenon I have always remembered. I have twiceseen a somewhat similar thing; in the Dark Light Case and in that troubleof Maetheson's, which you know about. 

"Even as I understood this matter of the lights, I was looking to myleft, to understand why the Child was hiding. And suddenly, I heard thelandlord shout out:--'The Woman!' But I saw nothing. I had adisagreeable sense that something repugnant was near to me, and I wasaware in the same moment that the landlord was gripping my arm in a hard, frightened grip. Then I was looking back to where the Child had hidden. Isaw the Child peeping out from behind its hiding place, seeming to belooking up the passage; but whether in fear I could not tell. Then itcame out, and ran headlong away, through the place where should have beenthe wall of my mother's bedroom; but the Sense with which I was seeingthese things, showed me the wall only as a vague, upright shadow, unsubstantial. And immediately the child was lost to me, in the dullviolet gloom. At the same time, I felt the landlord press back againstme, as if something had passed close to him; and he called out again, ahoarse sort of cry:--'The Woman! The Woman!' and turned the shadeclumsily from off his lantern. But I had seen no Woman; and the passageshowed empty, as he shone the beam of his light jerkily to and fro; butchiefly in the direction of the doorway of my mother's room. 

"He was still clutching my arm, and had risen to his feet; and now, mechanically and almost slowly, I picked up my lantern and turned onthe light. I shone it, a little dazedly, at the seals upon the doors;but none were broken; then I sent the light to and fro, up and down thepassage; but there was nothing; and I turned to the landlord, who wassaying something in a rather incoherent fashion. As my light passedover his face, I noted, in a dull sort of way, that he was drenchedwith sweat. 

"Then my wits became more handleable, and I began to catch the drift ofhis words:--'Did you see her? Did you see her?' he was saying, over andover again; and then I found myself telling him, in quite a levelvoice, that I had not seen any Woman. He became more coherent then, andI found that he had seen a Woman come from the end of the passage, andgo past us; but he could not describe her, except that she keptstopping and looking about her, and had even peered at the wall, closebeside him, as if looking for something. But what seemed to trouble himmost, was that she had not seemed to see him at all. He repeated thisso often, that in the end I told him, in an absurd sort of way, that heought to be very glad she had not. What did it all mean? was thequestion; somehow I was not so frightened, as utterly bewildered. I hadseen less then, than since; but what I had seen, had made me feeladrift from my anchorage of Reason. 

"What did it mean? He had seen a Woman, searching for something. _I_ hadnot seen this Woman. _I_ had seen a Child, running away, and hiding fromSomething or Someone. _He_ had not seen the Child, or the otherthings--only the Woman. And _I_ had not seen her. What did it all mean?

"I had said nothing to the landlord about the Child. I had been toobewildered, and I realized that it would be futile to attempt anexplanation. He was already stupid with the thing he had seen; and notthe kind of man to understand. All this went through my mind as we stoodthere, shining the lanterns to and fro. All the time, intermingled with astreak of practical reasoning, I was questioning myself, what did it allmean? What was the Woman searching for; what was the Child running from?

"Suddenly, as I stood there, bewildered and nervous, making randomanswers to the landlord, a door below was violently slammed, and directlyI caught the horrible reek of which I have told you. 

"'There!' I said to the landlord, and caught his arm, in my turn. 'TheSmell! Do _you_ smell it?'

"He looked at me so stupidly that in a sort of nervous anger, Ishook him. 

"'Yes, ' he said, in a queer voice, trying to shine the light from hisshaking lantern at the stair head. 

"'Come on!' I said, and picked up my bayonet; and he came, carrying hisgun awkwardly. I think he came, more because he was afraid to be leftalone, than because he had any pluck left, poor beggar. I never sneer atthat kind of funk, at least very seldom; for when it takes hold of you, it makes rags of your courage. 

"I led the way downstairs, shining my light into the lower passage, andafterward at the doors to see whether they were shut; for I had closedand latched them, placing a corner of a mat against each door, so Ishould know which had been opened. 

"I saw at once that none of the doors had been opened; then I threw thebeam of my light down alongside the stairway, in order to see the mat Ihad placed against the door at the top of the cellar stairs. I got ahorrid thrill; for the mat was flat! I paused a couple of seconds, shining my light to and fro in the passage, and holding fast to mycourage, I went down the stairs. 

"As I came to the bottom step, I saw patches of wet all up and down thepassage. I shone my lantern on them. It was the imprint of a wet footon the oilcloth of the passage; not an ordinary footprint, but a queer, soft, flabby, spreading imprint, that gave me a feeling ofextraordinary horror. 

"Backward and forward I flashed the light over the impossible marks andsaw them everywhere. Suddenly I noticed that they led to each of theclosed doors. I felt something touch my back, and glanced 'roundswiftly, to find the landlord had come close to me, almost pressingagainst me, in his fear. 

"'It's all right, ' I said, but in a rather breathless whisper, meaning toput a little courage into him; for I could feel that he was shakingthrough all his body. Even then as I tried to get him steadied enough tobe of some use, his gun went off with a tremendous bang. He jumped, andyelled with sheer terror; and I swore because of the shock. 

"'Give it to me, for God's sake!' I said, and slipped the gun from hishand; and in the same instant there was a sound of running steps up thegarden path, and immediately the flash of a bull's-eye lantern upon thefan light over the front door. Then the door was tried, and directlyafterward there came a thunderous knocking, which told me a policeman hadheard the shot. 

"I went to the door, and opened it. Fortunately the constable knew me, and when I had beckoned him in, I was able to explain matters in avery short time. While doing this, Inspector Johnstone came up thepath, having missed the officer, and seeing lights and the open door. I told him as briefly as possible what had occurred, and did notmention the Child or the Woman; for it would have seem too fantasticfor him to notice. I showed him the queer, wet footprints and how theywent toward the closed doors. I explained quickly about the mats, andhow that the one against the cellar door was flat, which showed thedoor had been opened. 

"The inspector nodded, and told the constable to guard the door at thetop of the cellar stairs. He then asked the hall lamp to be lit, afterwhich he took the policeman's lantern, and led the way into the frontroom. He paused with the door wide open, and threw the light all 'round;then he jumped into the room, and looked behind the door; there was noone there; but all over the polished oak floor, between the scatteredrugs, went the marks of those horrible spreading footprints; and the roompermeated with the horrible odor. 

"The inspector searched the room carefully, and then went into the middleroom, using the same precautions. There was nothing in the middle room, or in the kitchen or pantry; but everywhere went the wet footmarksthrough all the rooms, showing plainly wherever there were woodwork oroilcloth; and always there was the smell. 

"The inspector ceased from his search of the rooms, and spent a minute intrying whether the mats would really fall flat when the doors were open, or merely ruckle up in a way as to appear they had been untouched; but ineach case, the mats fell flat, and remained so. 

"'Extraordinary!' I heard Johnstone mutter to himself. And then he wenttoward the cellar door. He had inquired at first whether there werewindows to the cellar, and when he learned there was no way out, exceptby the door, he had left this part of the search to the last. 

"As Johnstone came up to the door, the policeman made a motion of salute, and said something in a low voice; and something in the tone made meflick my light across him. I saw then that the man was very white, and helooked strange and bewildered. 

"'What?' said Johnstone impatiently. 'Speak up!'

"'A woman come along 'ere, sir, and went through this 'ere door, ' saidthe constable, clearly, but with a curious monotonous intonation that issometimes heard from an unintelligent man. 

"'Speak up!' shouted the inspector. 

"'A woman come along and went through this 'ere door, ' repeated the man, monotonously. 

"The inspector caught the man by the shoulder, and deliberately sniffedhis breath. 

"'No!' he said. And then sarcastically:--'I hope you held the door openpolitely for the lady. '

"'The door weren't opened, sir, ' said the man, simply. 

"'Are you mad--' began Johnstone. 

"'No, ' broke in the landlord's voice from the back. Speaking steadilyenough. 'I saw the Woman upstairs. ' It was evident that he had got backhis control again. 

"'I'm afraid, Inspector Johnstone, ' I said, 'that there's more in thisthan you think. I certainly saw some very extraordinary things upstairs. '

"The inspector seemed about to say something; but instead, he turnedagain to the door, and flashed his light down and 'round about the mat. Isaw then that the strange, horrible footmarks came straight up to thecellar door; and the last print showed _under_ the door; yet thepoliceman said the door had not been opened. 

"And suddenly, without any intention, or realization of what I wassaying, I asked the landlord:--

"'What were the feet like?'

"I received no answer; for the inspector was ordering the constable toopen the cellar door, and the man was not obeying. Johnstone repeated theorder, and at last, in a queer automatic way, the man obeyed, and pushedthe door open. The loathsome smell beat up at us, in a great wave ofhorror, and the inspector came backward a step. 

"'My God!' he said, and went forward again, and shone his light down thesteps; but there was nothing visible, only that on each step showed theunnatural footprints. 

"The inspector brought the beam of the light vividly on the top step; andthere, clear in the light, there was something small, moving. Theinspector bent to look, and the policeman and I with him. I don't want todisgust you; but the thing we looked at was a maggot. The policemanbacked suddenly out of the doorway:

"'The churchyard, ' he said, '... At the back of the 'ouse. '

"'Silence!' said Johnstone, with a queer break in the word, and I knewthat at last he was frightened. He put his lantern into the doorway, andshone it from step to step, following the footprints down into thedarkness; then he stepped back from the open doorway, and we all gaveback with him. He looked 'round, and I had a feeling that he was lookingfor a weapon of some kind. 

"'Your gun, ' I said to the landlord, and he brought it from the fronthall, and passed it over to the inspector, who took it and ejected theempty shell from the right barrel. He held out his hand for a livecartridge, which the landlord brought from his pocket. He loaded the gunand snapped the breech. He turned to the constable:--

"'Come on, ' he said, and moved toward the cellar doorway. 

"'I ain't comin', sir, ' said the policeman, very white in the face. 

"With a sudden blaze of passion, the inspector took the man by the scruffand hove him bodily down into the darkness, and he went downward, screaming. The inspector followed him instantly, with his lantern and thegun; and I after the inspector, with the bayonet ready. Behind me, Iheard the landlord. 

"At the bottom of the stairs, the inspector was helping the policeman tohis feet, where he stood swaying a moment, in a bewildered fashion; thenthe inspector went into the front cellar, and his man followed him instupid fashion; but evidently no longer with any thought of running awayfrom the horror. 

"We all crowded into the front cellar, flashing our lights to and fro. Inspector Johnstone was examining the floor, and I saw that the footmarkswent all 'round the cellar, into all the corners, and across the floor. Ithought suddenly of the Child that was running away from Something. Doyou see the thing that I was seeing vaguely?

"We went out of the cellar in a body, for there was nothing to befound. In the next cellar, the footprints went everywhere in that queererratic fashion, as of someone searching for something, or followingsome blind scent. 

"In the third cellar the prints ended at the shallow well that had beenthe old water supply of the house. The well was full to the brim, and thewater so clear that the pebbly bottom was plainly to be seen, as we shonethe lights into the water. The search came to an abrupt end, and we stoodabout the well, looking at one another, in an absolute, horrible silence. 

"Johnstone made another examination of the footprints; then he shone hislight again into the clear shallow water, searching each inch of theplainly seen bottom; but there was nothing there. The cellar was full ofthe dreadful smell; and everyone stood silent, except for the constantturning of the lamps to and fro around the cellar. 

"The inspector looked up from his search of the well, and nodded quietlyacross at me, with his sudden acknowledgment that our belief was now hisbelief, the smell in the cellar seemed to grow more dreadful, and to be, as it were, a menace--the material expression that some monstrous thingwas there with us, invisible. 

"'I think--' began the inspector, and shone his light toward thestairway; and at this the constable's restraint went utterly, and he ranfor the stairs, making a queer sound in his throat. 

"The landlord followed, at a quick walk, and then the inspector and I. Hewaited a single instant for me, and we went up together, treading on thesame steps, and with our lights held backward. At the top, I slammed andlocked the stair door, and wiped my forehead, and my hands were shaking. 

"The inspector asked me to give his man a glass of whisky, and then hesent him on his beat. He stayed a short while with the landlord and me, and it was arranged that he would join us again the following night andwatch the Well with us from midnight until daylight. Then he left us, just as the dawn was coming in. The landlord and I locked up the house, and went over to his place for a sleep. 

"In the afternoon, the landlord and I returned to the house, to makearrangements for the night. He was very quiet, and I felt he was to berelied on, now that he had been 'salted, ' as it were, with his fright ofthe previous night. 

"We opened all the doors and windows, and blew the house through verythoroughly; and in the meanwhile, we lit the lamps in the house, and tookthem into the cellars, where we set them all about, so as to have lighteverywhere. Then we carried down three chairs and a table, and set themin the cellar where the well was sunk. After that, we stretched thinpiano wire across the cellar, about nine inches from the floor, at such aheight that it should catch anything moving about in the dark. 

"When this was done, I went through the house with the landlord, andsealed every window and door in the place, excepting only the front doorand the door at the top of the cellar stairs. 

"Meanwhile, a local wire-smith was making something to my order; andwhen the landlord and I had finished tea at his house, we went down tosee how the smith was getting on. We found the thing complete. It lookedrather like a huge parrot's cage, without any bottom, of very heavy gagewire, and stood about seven feet high and was four feet in diameter. Fortunately, I remembered to have it made longitudinally in two halves, or else we should never have got it through the doorways and down thecellar stairs. 

"I told the wire-smith to bring the cage up to the house so he could fitthe two halves rigidly together. As we returned, I called in at anironmonger's, where I bought some thin hemp rope and an iron rack pulley, like those used in Lancashire for hauling up the ceiling clothes racks, which you will find in every cottage. I bought also a couple ofpitchforks. 

"'We shan't want to touch it, " I said to the landlord; and he nodded, rather white all at once. 

"As soon as the cage arrived and had been fitted together in the cellar, I sent away the smith; and the landlord and I suspended it over the well, into which it fitted easily. After a lot of trouble, we managed to hangit so perfectly central from the rope over the iron pulley, that whenhoisted to the ceiling and dropped, it went every time plunk into thewell, like a candle-extinguisher. When we had it finally arranged, Ihoisted it up once more, to the ready position, and made the rope fast toa heavy wooden pillar, which stood in the middle of the cellar. 

"By ten o'clock, I had everything arranged, with the two pitchforks andthe two police lanterns; also some whisky and sandwiches. Underneath thetable I had several buckets full of disinfectant. 

"A little after eleven o'clock, there was a knock at the front door, andwhen I went, I found Inspector Johnstone had arrived, and brought withhim one of his plainclothes men. You will understand how pleased I wasto see there would be this addition to our watch; for he looked a tough, nerveless man, brainy and collected; and one I should have picked tohelp us with the horrible job I felt pretty sure we should have to dothat night. 

"When the inspector and the detective had entered, I shut and locked thefront door; then, while the inspector held the light, I sealed the doorcarefully, with tape and wax. At the head of the cellar stairs, I shutand locked that door also, and sealed it in the same way. 

"As we entered the cellar, I warned Johnstone and his man to be carefulnot to fall over the wires; and then, as I saw his surprise at myarrangements, I began to explain my ideas and intentions, to all of whichhe listened with strong approval. I was pleased to see also that thedetective was nodding his head, as I talked, in a way that showed heappreciated all my precautions. 

"As he put his lantern down, the inspector picked up one of thepitchforks, and balanced it in his hand; he looked at me, and nodded. 

"'The best thing, ' he said. 'I only wish you'd got two more. '

"Then we all took our seats, the detective getting a washing stool fromthe corner of the cellar. From then, until a quarter to twelve, we talkedquietly, whilst we made a light supper of whisky and sandwiches; afterwhich, we cleared everything off the table, excepting the lanterns andthe pitchforks. One of the latter, I handed to the inspector; the other Itook myself, and then, having set my chair so as to be handy to the ropewhich lowered the cage into the well, I went 'round the cellar and putout every lamp. 

"I groped my way to my chair, and arranged the pitchfork and the darklantern ready to my hand; after which I suggested that everyone shouldkeep an absolute silence throughout the watch. I asked, also, that nolantern should be turned on, until I gave the word. 

"I put my watch on the table, where a faint glow from my lantern made meable to see the time. For an hour nothing happened, and everyone kept anabsolute silence, except for an occasional uneasy movement. 

"About half-past one, however, I was conscious again of the sameextraordinary and peculiar nervousness, which I had felt on the previousnight. I put my hand out quickly, and eased the hitched rope from aroundthe pillar. The inspector seemed aware of the movement; for I saw thefaint light from his lantern, move a little, as if he had suddenly takenhold of it, in readiness. 

"A minute later, I noticed there was a change in the color of the nightin the cellar, and it grew slowly violet tinted upon my eyes. I glancedto and fro, quickly, in the new darkness, and even as I looked, I wasconscious that the violet color deepened. In the direction of the well, but seeming to be at a great distance, there was, as it were, a nucleusto the change; and the nucleus came swiftly toward us, appearing to comefrom a great space, almost in a single moment. It came near, and I sawagain that it was a little naked Child, running, and seeming to be of theviolet night in which it ran. 

"The Child came with a natural running movement, exactly as I describedit before; but in a silence so peculiarly intense, that it was as if itbrought the silence with it. About half-way between the well and thetable, the Child turned swiftly, and looked back at something invisibleto me; and suddenly it went down into a crouching attitude, and seemedto be hiding behind something that showed vaguely; but there wasnothing there, except the bare floor of the cellar; nothing, I mean, ofour world. 

"I could hear the breathing of the three other men, with a wonderfuldistinctness; and also the tick of my watch upon the table seemed tosound as loud and as slow as the tick of an old grandfather's clock. Someway I knew that none of the others saw what I was seeing. 

"Abruptly, the landlord, who was next to me, let out his breath with alittle hissing sound; I knew then that something was visible to him. There came a creak from the table, and I had a feeling that the inspectorwas leaning forward, looking at something that I could not see. Thelandlord reached out his hand through the darkness, and fumbled a momentto catch my arm:--

"'The Woman!' he whispered, close to my ear. 'Over by the well. '

"I stared hard in that direction; but saw nothing, except that the violetcolor of the cellar seemed a little duller just there. 

"I looked back quickly to the vague place where the Child was hiding. Isaw it was peering back from its hiding place. Suddenly it rose and ranstraight for the middle of the table, which showed only as vague shadowhalf-way between my eyes and the unseen floor. As the Child ran under thetable, the steel prongs of my pitchfork glimmered with a violet, fluctuating light. A little way off, there showed high up in the gloom, the vaguely shining outline of the other fork, so I knew the inspectorhad it raised in his hand, ready. There was no doubt but that he sawsomething. On the table, the metal of the five lanterns shone with thesame strange glow; and about each lantern there was a little cloud ofabsolute blackness, where the phenomenon that is light to our naturaleyes, came through the fittings; and in this complete darkness, the metalof each lantern showed plain, as might a cat's-eye in a nest of blackcotton wool. 

"Just beyond the table, the Child paused again, and stood, seeming tooscillate a little upon its feet, which gave the impression that it waslighter and vaguer than a thistle-down; and yet, in the same moment, another part of me seemed to know that it was to me, as something thatmight be beyond thick, invisible glass, and subject to conditions andforces that I was unable to comprehend. 

"The Child was looking back again, and my gaze went the same way. Istared across the cellar, and saw the cage hanging clear in the violetlight, every wire and tie outlined with its glimmering; above it therewas a little space of gloom, and then the dull shining of the iron pulleywhich I had screwed into the ceiling. 

"I stared in a bewildered way 'round the cellar; there were thin lines ofvague fire crossing the floor in all directions; and suddenly Iremembered the piano wire that the landlord and I had stretched. Butthere was nothing else to be seen, except that near the table there wereindistinct glimmerings of light, and at the far end the outline of a dullglowing revolver, evidently in the detective's pocket. I remember a sortof subconscious satisfaction, as I settled the point in a queer automaticfashion. On the table, near to me, there was a little shapelesscollection of the light; and this I knew, after an instant'sconsideration, to be the steel portions of my watch. 

"I had looked several times at the Child, and 'round at the cellar, whilst I was decided these trifles; and had found it still in thatattitude of hiding from something. But now, suddenly, it ran clear awayinto the distance, and was nothing more than a slightly deeper colorednucleus far away in the strange colored atmosphere. 

"The landlord gave out a queer little cry, and twisted over against me, as if to avoid something. From the inspector there came a sharp breathingsound, as if he had been suddenly drenched with cold water. Then suddenlythe violet color went out of the night, and I was conscious of thenearness of something monstrous and repugnant. 

"There was a tense silence, and the blackness of the cellar seemedabsolute, with only the faint glow about each of the lanterns on thetable. Then, in the darkness and the silence, there came a faint tinkleof water from the well, as if something were rising noiselessly out ofit, and the water running back with a gentle tinkling. In the sameinstant, there came to me a sudden waft of the awful smell. 

"I gave a sharp cry of warning to the inspector, and loosed the rope. There came instantly the sharp splash of the cage entering the water;and then, with a stiff, frightened movement, I opened the shutter ofmy lantern, and shone the light at the cage, shouting to the others todo the same. 

"As my light struck the cage, I saw that about two feet of it projectedfrom the top of the well, and there was something protruding up out ofthe water, into the cage. I stared, with a feeling that I recognized thething; and then, as the other lanterns were opened, I saw that it was aleg of mutton. The thing was held by a brawny fist and arm, that rose outof the water. I stood utterly bewildered, watching to see what wascoming. In a moment there rose into view a great bearded face, that Ifelt for one quick instant was the face of a drowned man, long dead. Thenthe face opened at the mouth part, and spluttered and coughed. Anotherbig hand came into view, and wiped the water from the eyes, which blinkedrapidly, and then fixed themselves into a stare at the lights. 

"From the detective there came a sudden shout:--

"'Captain Tobias!' he shouted, and the inspector echoed him; andinstantly burst into loud roars of laughter. 

"The inspector and the detective ran across the cellar to the cage; and Ifollowed, still bewildered. The man in the cage was holding the leg ofmutton as far away from him, as possible, and holding his nose. 

"'Lift thig dam trap, quig!' he shouted in a stifled voice; but theinspector and the detective simply doubled before him, and tried to holdtheir noses, whilst they laughed, and the light from their lanterns wentdancing all over the place. 

"'Quig! quig!' said the man in the cage, still holding his nose, andtrying to speak plainly. 

"Then Johnstone and the detective stopped laughing, and lifted the cage. The man in the well threw the leg across the cellar, and turned swiftlyto go down into the well; but the officers were too quick for him, andhad him out in a twinkling. Whilst they held him, dripping upon thefloor, the inspector jerked his thumb in the direction of the offendingleg, and the landlord, having harpooned it with one of the pitchforks, ran with it upstairs and so into the open air. 

"Meanwhile, I had given the man from the well a stiff tot of whisky; forwhich he thanked me with a cheerful nod, and having emptied the glass ata draft, held his hand for the bottle, which he finished, as if it hadbeen so much water. 

"As you will remember, it was a Captain Tobias who had been the previoustenant; and this was the very man, who had appeared from the well. Inthe course of the talk that followed, I learned the reason for CaptainTobias leaving the house; he had been wanted by the police forsmuggling. He had undergone imprisonment; and had been released only acouple of weeks earlier. 

"He had returned to find new tenants in his old home. He had entered thehouse through the well, the walls of which were not continued to thebottom (this I will deal with later); and gone up by a little stairway inthe cellar wall, which opened at the top through a panel beside mymother's bedroom. This panel was opened, by revolving the left doorpostof the bedroom door, with the result that the bedroom door always becameunlatched, in the process of opening the panel. 

"The captain complained, without any bitterness, that the panel hadwarped, and that each time he opened it, it made a cracking noise. Thishad been evidently what I mistook for raps. He would not give his reasonfor entering the house; but it was pretty obvious that he had hiddensomething, which he wanted to get. However, as he found it impossible toget into the house without the risk of being caught, he decided to try todrive us out, relying on the bad reputation of the house, and his ownartistic efforts as a ghost. I must say he succeeded. He intended then torent the house again, as before; and would then, of course have plenty oftime to get whatever he had hidden. The house suited him admirably; forthere was a passage--as he showed me afterward--connecting the dummy wellwith the crypt of the church beyond the garden wall; and these, in turn, were connected with certain caves in the cliffs, which went down to thebeach beyond the church. 

"In the course of his talk, Captain Tobias offered to take the house offmy hands; and as this suited me perfectly, for I was about stalled withit, and the plan also suited the landlord, it was decided that no stepsshould be taken against him; and that the whole business should behushed up. 

"I asked the captain whether there was really anything queer about thehouse; whether he had ever seen anything. He said yes, that he had twiceseen a Woman going about the house. We all looked at one another, whenthe captain said that. He told us she never bothered him, and that he hadonly seen her twice, and on each occasion it had followed a narrow escapefrom the Revenue people. 

"Captain Tobias was an observant man; he had seen how I had placed themats against the doors; and after entering the rooms, and walking allabout them, so as to leave the foot-marks of an old pair of wetwoollen slippers everywhere, he had deliberately put the mats back ashe found them. 

"The maggot which had dropped from his disgusting leg of mutton had beenan accident, and beyond even his horrible planning. He was hugelydelighted to learn how it had affected us. 

"The moldy smell I had noticed was from the little closed stairway, whenthe captain opened the panel. The door slamming was also another of hiscontributions. 

"I come now to the end of the captain's ghost play; and to the difficultyof trying to explain the other peculiar things. In the first place, itwas obvious there was something genuinely strange in the house; whichmade itself manifest as a Woman. Many different people had seen thisWoman, under differing circumstances, so it is impossible to put thething down to fancy; at the same time it must seem extraordinary that Ishould have lived two years in the house, and seen nothing; whilst thepoliceman saw the Woman, before he had been there twenty minutes; thelandlord, the detective, and the inspector all saw her. 

"I can only surmise that _fear_ was in every case the key, as I mightsay, which opened the senses to the presence of the Woman. The policemanwas a highly-strung man, and when he became frightened, was able to seethe Woman. The same reasoning applies all 'round. _I_ saw nothing, untilI became really frightened; then I saw, not the Woman; but a Child, running away from Something or Someone. However, I will touch on thatlater. In short, until a very strong degree of fear was present, no onewas affected by the Force which made Itself evident, as a Woman. Mytheory explains why some tenants were never aware of anything strange inthe house, whilst others left immediately. The more sensitive they were, the less would be the degree of fear necessary to make them aware of theForce present in the house. 

"The peculiar shining of all the metal objects in the cellar, had beenvisible only to me. The cause, naturally I do not know; neither do I knowwhy I, alone, was able to see the shining. "

"The Child, " I asked. "Can you explain that part at all? Why _you_ didn'tsee the Woman, and why _they_ didn't see the Child. Was it merely thesame Force, appearing differently to different people?"

"No, " said Carnacki, "I can't explain that. But I am quite sure that theWoman and the Child were not only two complete and different entities;but even they were each not in quite the same planes of existence. 

"To give you a root idea, however, it is held in the Sigsand MS. That achild '_still_born' is 'Snatyched back bye thee Haggs. ' This is crude;but may yet contain an elemental truth. Yet, before I make this clearer, let me tell you a thought that has often been made. It may be thatphysical birth is but a secondary process; and that prior to thepossibility, the Mother Spirit searches for, until it finds, the smallElement--the primal Ego or child's soul. It may be that a certainwaywardness would cause such to strive to evade capture by the MotherSpirit. It may have been such a thing as this, that I saw. I have alwaystried to think so; but it is impossible to ignore the sense of repulsionthat I felt when the unseen Woman went past me. This repulsion carriesforward the idea suggested in the Sigsand MS. , that a stillborn child isthus, because its ego or spirit has been snatched back by the 'Hags. ' Inother words, by certain of the Monstrosities of the Outer Circle. Thethought is inconceivably terrible, and probably the more so because it isso fragmentary. It leaves us with the conception of a child's soul adrifthalf-way between two lives, and running through Eternity from Somethingincredible and inconceivable (because not understood) to our senses. 

"The thing is beyond further discussion; for it is futile to attempt todiscuss a thing, to any purpose, of which one has a knowledge sofragmentary as this. There is one thought, which is often mine. Perhapsthere is a Mother Spirit--"

"And the well?" said Arkwright. "How did the captain get in from theother side?"

"As I said before, " answered Carnacki. "The side walls of the well didnot reach to the bottom; so that you had only to dip down into the water, and come up again on the other side of the wall, under the cellar floor, and so climb into the passage. Of course, the water was the same heighton both sides of the walls. Don't ask me who made the well entrance orthe little stairway; for I don't know. The house was very old, as I havetold you; and that sort of thing was useful in the old days. "

"And the Child, " I said, coming back to the thing which chieflyinterested me. "You would say that the birth must have occurred in thathouse; and in this way, one might suppose that the house to have become_en rapport_, if I can use the word in that way, with the Forces thatproduced the tragedy?"

"Yes, " replied Carnacki. "This is, supposing we take the suggestion ofthe Sigsand MS. , to account for the phenomenon. "

"There may be other houses--" I began. 

"There are, " said Carnacki; and stood up. 

"Out you go, " he said, genially, using the recognized formula. And infive minutes we were on the Embankment, going thoughtfully to ourvarious homes. 

No. 6

THE THING INVISIBLE

Carnacki had just returned to Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. I was aware of thisinteresting fact by reason of the curt and quaintly worded postcardwhich I was rereading, and by which I was requested to present myselfat his house not later than seven o'clock on that evening. Mr. Carnackihad, as I and the others of his strictly limited circle of friendsknew, been away in Kent for the past three weeks; but beyond that, wehad no knowledge. Carnacki was genially secretive and curt, and spokeonly when he was ready to speak. When this stage arrived, I and histhree other friends--Jessop, Arkright, and Taylor--would receive a cardor a wire, asking us to call. Not one of us ever willingly missed, forafter a thoroughly sensible little dinner Carnacki would snuggle downinto his big armchair, light his pipe, and wait whilst we arrangedourselves comfortably in our accustomed seats and nooks. Then he wouldbegin to talk. 

Upon this particular night I was the first to arrive and foundCarnacki sitting, quietly smoking over a paper. He stood up, shook mefirmly by the hand, pointed to a chair, and sat down again, neverhaving uttered a word. 

For my part, I said nothing either. I knew the man too well to bother himwith questions or the weather, and so took a seat and a cigarette. Presently the three others turned up and after that we spent acomfortable and busy hour at dinner. 

Dinner over, Carnacki snugged himself down into his great chair, as Ihave said was his habit, filled his pipe and puffed for awhile, his gazedirected thoughtfully at the fire. The rest of us, if I may so expressit, made ourselves cozy, each after his own particular manner. A minuteor so later Carnacki began to speak, ignoring any preliminary remarks, and going straight to the subject of the story we knew he had to tell:

"I have just come back from Sir Alfred Jarnock's place at Burtontree, inSouth Kent, " he began, without removing his gaze from the fire. "Mostextraordinary things have been happening down there lately and Mr. GeorgeJarnock, the eldest son, wired to ask me to run over and see whether Icould help to clear matters up a bit. I went. 

"When I got there, I found that they have an old Chapel attached to thecastle which has had quite a distinguished reputation for being what ispopularly termed 'haunted. ' They have been rather proud of this, as Imanaged to discover, until quite lately when something very disagreeableoccurred, which served to remind them that family ghosts are not alwayscontent, as I might say, to remain purely ornamental. 

"It sounds almost laughable, I know, to hear of a long-respectedsupernatural phenomenon growing unexpectedly dangerous; and in this case, the tale of the haunting was considered as little more than an old myth, except after nightfall, when possibly it became more plausible seeming. 

"But however this may be, there is no doubt at all but that what I mightterm the Haunting Essence which lived in the place, had become suddenlydangerous--deadly dangerous too, the old butler being nearly stabbed todeath one night in the Chapel, with a peculiar old dagger. 

"It is, in fact, this dagger which is popularly supposed to 'haunt' theChapel. At least, there has been always a story handed down in the familythat this dagger would attack any enemy who should dare to venture intothe Chapel, after nightfall. But, of course, this had been taken withjust about the same amount of seriousness that people take most ghosttales, and that is not usually of a worryingly _real_ nature. I mean thatmost people never quite know how much or how little they believe ofmatters ab-human or ab-normal, and generally they never have anopportunity to learn. And, indeed, as you are all aware, I am as big askeptic concerning the truth of ghost tales as any man you are likely tomeet; only I am what I might term an unprejudiced skeptic. I am not givento either believing or disbelieving things 'on principle, ' as I havefound many idiots prone to be, and what is more, some of them not ashamedto boast of the insane fact. I view all reported 'hauntings' as unprovenuntil I have examined into them, and I am bound to admit that ninety-ninecases in a hundred turn out to be sheer bosh and fancy. But thehundredth! Well, if it were not for the hundredth, I should have fewstories to tell you--eh?

"Of course, after the attack on the butler, it became evident that therewas at least 'something' in the old story concerning the dagger, and Ifound everyone in a half belief that the queer old weapon did reallystrike the butler, either by the aid of some inherent force, which Ifound them peculiarly unable to explain, or else in the hand of someinvisible thing or monster of the Outer World!

"From considerable experience, I knew that it was much more likely thatthe butler had been 'knifed' by some vicious and quite material human!

"Naturally, the first thing to do, was to test this probability of humanagency, and I set to work to make a pretty drastic examination of thepeople who knew most about the tragedy. 

"The result of this examination, both pleased and surprised me, forit left me with very good reasons for belief that I had come upon oneof those extraordinary rare 'true manifestations' of the extrusion ofa Force from the Outside. In more popular phraseology--a genuine caseof haunting. 

"These are the facts: On the previous Sunday evening but one, Sir AlfredJarnock's household had attended family service, as usual, in the Chapel. You see, the Rector goes over to officiate twice each Sunday, afterconcluding his duties at the public Church about three miles away. 

"At the end of the service in the Chapel, Sir Alfred Jarnock, hisson Mr. George Jarnock, and the Rector had stood for a couple ofminutes, talking, whilst old Bellett the butler went 'round, puttingout the candles. 

"Suddenly, the Rector remembered that he had left his small prayer bookon the Communion table in the morning; he turned, and asked the butler toget it for him before he blew out the chancel candles. 

"Now I have particularly called your attention to this because it isimportant in that it provides witnesses in a most fortunate manner at anextraordinary moment. You see, the Rector's turning to speak to Belletthad naturally caused both Sir Alfred Jarnock and his son to glance in thedirection of the butler, and it was at this identical instant and whilstall three were looking at him, that the old butler was stabbed--there, full in the candlelight, before their eyes. 

"I took the opportunity to call early upon the Rector, after I hadquestioned Mr. George Jarnock, who replied to my queries in place of SirAlfred Jarnock, for the older man was in a nervous and shaken conditionas a result of the happening, and his son wished him to avoid dwellingupon the scene as much as possible. 

"The Rector's version was clear and vivid, and he had evidently receivedthe astonishment of his life. He pictured to me the wholeaffair--Bellett, up at the chancel gate, going for the prayer book, andabsolutely alone; and then the _blow_, out of the Void, he described it;and the _force_ prodigious--the old man being driven headlong into thebody of the Chapel. Like the kick of a great horse, the Rector said, hisbenevolent old eyes bright and intense with the effort he had actuallywitnessed, in defiance of all that he had hitherto believed. 

"When I left him, he went back to the writing which he had put aside whenI appeared. I feel sure that he was developing the first unorthodoxsermon that he had ever evolved. He was a dear old chap, and I shouldcertainly like to have heard it. 

"The last man I visited was the butler. He was, of course, in afrightfully weak and shaken condition, but he could tell me nothing thatdid not point to there being a Power abroad in the Chapel. He told thesame tale, in every minute particle, that I had learned from the others. He had been just going up to put out the altar candles and fetch theRector's book, when something struck him an enormous blow high up on theleft breast and he was driven headlong into the aisle. 

"Examination had shown that he had been stabbed by the dagger--of which Iwill tell you more in a moment--that hung always above the altar. Theweapon had entered, fortunately some inches above the heart, just underthe collarbone, which had been broken by the stupendous force of theblow, the dagger itself being driven clean through the body, and outthrough the scapula behind. 

"The poor old fellow could not talk much, and I soon left him; but whathe had told me was sufficient to make it unmistakable that no livingperson had been within yards of him when he was attacked; and, as I knew, this fact was verified by three capable and responsible witnesses, independent of Bellett himself. 

"The thing now was to search the Chapel, which is small and extremelyold. It is very massively built, and entered through only one door, whichleads out of the castle itself, and the key of which is kept by SirAlfred Jarnock, the butler having no duplicate. 

"The shape of the Chapel is oblong, and the altar is railed off after theusual fashion. There are two tombs in the body of the place; but none inthe chancel, which is bare, except for the tall candlesticks, and thechancel rail, beyond which is the undraped altar of solid marble, uponwhich stand four small candlesticks, two at each end. 

"Above the altar hangs the 'waeful dagger, ' as I had learned it wasnamed. I fancy the term has been taken from an old vellum, whichdescribes the dagger and its supposed abnormal properties. I took thedagger down, and examined it minutely and with method. The blade is teninches long, two inches broad at the base, and tapering to a rounded butsharp point, rather peculiar. It is double-edged. 

"The metal sheath is curious for having a crosspiece, which, taken withthe fact that the sheath itself is continued three parts up the hilt ofthe dagger (in a most inconvenient fashion), gives it the appearance of across. That this is not unintentional is shown by an engraving of theChrist crucified upon one side, whilst upon the other, in Latin, is theinscription: 'Vengeance is Mine, I will Repay. ' A quaint and ratherterrible conjunction of ideas. Upon the blade of the dagger is graven inold English capitals: I WATCH. I STRIKE. On the butt of the hilt there iscarved deeply a Pentacle. 

"This is a pretty accurate description of the peculiar old weapon thathas had the curious and uncomfortable reputation of being able (either ofits own accord or in the hand of something invisible) to strikemurderously any enemy of the Jarnock family who may chance to enter theChapel after nightfall. I may tell you here and now, that before I left, I had very good reason to put certain doubts behind me; for I tested thedeadliness of the thing myself. 

"As you know, however, at this point of my investigation, I was still atthat stage where I considered the existence of a supernatural Forceunproven. In the meanwhile, I treated the Chapel drastically, soundingand scrutinizing the walls and floor, dealing with them almost foot byfoot, and particularly examining the two tombs. 

"At the end of this search, I had in a ladder, and made a close survey ofthe groined roof. I passed three days in this fashion, and by the eveningof the third day I had proved to my entire satisfaction that there is noplace in the whole of that Chapel where any living being could havehidden, and also that the only way of ingress and egress to and from theChapel is through the doorway which leads into the castle, the door ofwhich was always kept locked, and the key kept by Sir Alfred Jarnockhimself, as I have told you. I mean, of course, that this doorway is theonly entrance practicable to material people. 

"Yes, as you will see, even had I discovered some other opening, secretor otherwise, it would not have helped at all to explain the mystery ofthe incredible attack, in a normal fashion. For the butler, as you know, was struck in full sight of the Rector, Sir Jarnock and his son. And oldBellett himself knew that no living person had touched him.... _'Out ofthe Void, '_ the Rector had described the inhumanly brutal attack. 'Out ofthe Void!' A strange feeling it gives one--eh?

"And this is the thing that I had been called in to bottom!

"After considerable thought, I decided on a plan of action. I proposed toSir Alfred Jarnock that I should spend a night in the Chapel, and keep aconstant watch upon the dagger. But to this, the old knight--a little, wizened, nervous man--would not listen for a moment. He, at least, I feltassured had no doubt of the reality of some dangerous supernatural Forcea roam at night in the Chapel. He informed me that it had been his habitevery evening to lock the Chapel door, so that no one might foolishly orheedlessly run the risk of any peril that it might hold at night, andthat he could not allow me to attempt such a thing after what hadhappened to the butler. 

"I could see that Sir Alfred Jarnock was very much in earnest, and wouldevidently have held himself to blame had he allowed me to make theexperiment and any harm come to me; so I said nothing in argument; andpresently, pleading the fatigue of his years and health, he saidgoodnight, and left me; having given me the impression of being a politebut rather superstitious, old gentleman. 

"That night, however, whilst I was undressing, I saw how I might achievethe thing I wished, and be able to enter the Chapel after dark, withoutmaking Sir Alfred Jarnock nervous. On the morrow, when I borrowed thekey, I would take an impression, and have a duplicate made. Then, with myprivate key, I could do just what I liked. 

"In the morning I carried out my idea. I borrowed the key, as I wanted totake a photograph of the chancel by daylight. When I had done this Ilocked up the Chapel and handed the key to Sir Alfred Jarnock, havingfirst taken an impression in soap. I had brought out the exposedplate--in its slide--with me; but the camera I had left exactly as itwas, as I wanted to take a second photograph of the chancel that night, from the same position. 

"I took the dark slide into Burtontree, also the cake of soap with theimpress. The soap I left with the local ironmonger, who was something ofa locksmith and promised to let me have my duplicate, finished, if Iwould call in two hours. This I did, having in the meanwhile found out aphotographer where I developed the plate, and left it to dry, telling himI would call next day. At the end of the two hours I went for my key andfound it ready, much to my satisfaction. Then I returned to the castle. 

"After dinner that evening, I played billiards with young Jarnock fora couple of hours. Then I had a cup of coffee and went off to myroom, telling him I was feeling awfully tired. He nodded and told mehe felt the same way. I was glad, for I wanted the house to settle assoon as possible. 

"I locked the door of my room, then from under the bed--where I hadhidden them earlier in the evening--I drew out several fine pieces ofplate armor, which I had removed from the armory. There was also a shirtof chain mail, with a sort of quilted hood of mail to go over the head. 

"I buckled on the plate armor, and found it extraordinarilyuncomfortable, and over all I drew on the chain mail. I know nothingabout armor, but from what I have learned since, I must have put on partsof two suits. Anyway, I felt beastly, clamped and clumsy and unable tomove my arms and legs naturally. But I knew that the thing I was thinkingof doing called for some sort of protection for my body. Over the armor Ipulled on my dressing gown and shoved my revolver into one of the sidepockets--and my repeating flash-light into the other. My dark lantern Icarried in my hand. 

"As soon as I was ready I went out into the passage and listened. I hadbeen some considerable time making my preparations and I found that nowthe big hall and staircase were in darkness and all the house seemedquiet. I stepped back and closed and locked my door. Then, very slowlyand silently I went downstairs to the hall and turned into the passagethat led to the Chapel. 

"I reached the door and tried my key. It fitted perfectly and a momentlater I was in the Chapel, with the door locked behind me, and all aboutme the utter dree silence of the place, with just the faint showings ofthe outlines of the stained, leaded windows, making the darkness andlonesomeness almost the more apparent. 

"Now it would be silly to say I did not feel queer. I felt very queerindeed. You just try, any of you, to imagine yourself standing there inthe dark silence and remembering not only the legend that was attached tothe place, but what had really happened to the old butler only a littlewhile gone, I can tell you, as I stood there, I could believe thatsomething invisible was coming toward me in the air of the Chapel. Yet, Ihad got to go through with the business, and I just took hold of mylittle bit of courage and set to work. 

"First of all I switched on my light, then I began a careful tour of theplace; examining every corner and nook. I found nothing unusual. At thechancel gate I held up my lamp and flashed the light at the dagger. Ithung there, right enough, above the altar, but I remember thinking of theword 'demure, ' as I looked at it. However, I pushed the thought away, forwhat I was doing needed no addition of uncomfortable thoughts. 

"I completed the tour of the place, with a constantly growing awarenessof its utter chill and unkind desolation--an atmosphere of colddismalness seemed to be everywhere, and the quiet was abominable. 

"At the conclusion of my search I walked across to where I had left mycamera focused upon the chancel. From the satchel that I had put beneaththe tripod I took out a dark slide and inserted it in the camera, drawingthe shutter. After that I uncapped the lens, pulled out my flashlightapparatus, and pressed the trigger. There was an intense, brilliantflash, that made the whole of the interior of the Chapel jump into sight, and disappear as quickly. Then, in the light from my lantern, I insertedthe shutter into the slide, and reversed the slide, so as to have a freshplate ready to expose at any time. 

"After I had done this I shut off my lantern and sat down in one of thepews near to my camera. I cannot say what I expected to happen, but I hadan extraordinary feeling, almost a conviction, that something peculiar orhorrible would soon occur. It was, you know, as if I knew. 

"An hour passed, of absolute silence. The time I knew by the far-off, faint chime of a dock that had been erected over the stables. I wasbeastly cold, for the whole place is without any kind of heating pipes orfurnace, as I had noticed during my search, so that the temperature wassufficiently uncomfortable to suit my frame of mind. I felt like a kindof human periwinkle encased in boilerplate and frozen with cold and funk. And, you know, somehow the dark about me seemed to press coldly againstmy face. I cannot say whether any of you have ever had the feeling, butif you have, you will know just how disgustingly unnerving it is. Andthen, all at once, I had a horrible sense that something was moving inthe place. It was not that I could hear anything but I had a kind ofintuitive knowledge that something had stirred in the darkness. Can youimagine how I felt?

"Suddenly my courage went. I put up my mailed arms over my face. Iwanted to protect it. I had got a sudden sickening feeling that somethingwas hovering over me in the dark. Talk about fright! I could have shoutedif I had not been afraid of the noise.... And then, abruptly, I heardsomething. Away up the aisle, there sounded a dull clang of metal, as itmight be the tread of a mailed heel upon the stone of the aisle. I satimmovable. I was fighting with all my strength to get back my courage. Icould not take my arms down from over my face, but I knew that I wasgetting hold of the gritty part of me again. And suddenly I made a mightyeffort and lowered my arms. I held my face up in the darkness. And, Itell you, I respect myself for the act, because I thought truly at thatmoment that I was going to die. But I think, just then, by the slowrevulsion of feeling which had assisted my effort, I was less sick, inthat instant, at the thought of having to die, than at the knowledge ofthe utter weak cowardice that had so unexpectedly shaken me all to bits, for a time. 

"Do I make myself clear? You understand, I feel sure, that the sense ofrespect, which I spoke of, is not really unhealthy egotism; because, yousee, I am not blind to the state of mind which helped me. I mean that ifI had uncovered my face by a sheer effort of will, unhelped by anyrevulsion of feeling, I should have done a thing much more worthy ofmention. But, even as it was, there were elements in the act, worthy ofrespect. You follow me, don't you?

"And, you know, nothing touched me, after all! So that, in a littlewhile, I had got back a bit to my normal, and felt steady enough to gothrough with the business without any more funking. 

"I daresay a couple of minutes passed, and then, away up near thechancel, there came again that clang, as though an armored foot steppedcautiously. By Jove! but it made me stiffen. And suddenly the thoughtcame that the sound I heard might be the rattle of the dagger above thealtar. It was not a particularly sensible notion, for the sound was fartoo heavy and resonant for such a cause. Yet, as can be easilyunderstood, my reason was bound to submit somewhat to my fancy at such atime. I remember now, that the idea of that insensate thing becominganimate, and attacking me, did not occur to me with any sense ofpossibility or reality. I thought rather, in a vague way, of someinvisible monster of outer space fumbling at the dagger. I rememberedthe old Rector's description of the attack on the butler.... _of thevoid_. And he had described the stupendous force of the blow as being'like the kick of a great horse. ' You can see how uncomfortably mythoughts were running. 

"I felt 'round swiftly and cautiously for my lantern. I found it close tome, on the pew seat, and with a sudden, jerky movement, I switched on thelight. I flashed it up the aisle, to and fro across the chancel, but Icould see nothing to frighten me. I turned quickly, and sent the jet oflight darting across and across the rear end of the Chapel; then on eachside of me, before and behind, up at the roof and down at the marblefloor, but nowhere was there any visible thing to put me in fear, not athing that need have set my flesh thrilling; just the quiet Chapel, cold, and eternally silent. You know the feeling. 

"I had been standing, whilst I sent the light about the Chapel, but now Ipulled out my revolver, and then, with a tremendous effort of will, switched off the light, and sat down again in the darkness, to continuemy constant watch. 

"It seemed to me that quite half an hour, or even more, must have passed, after this, during which no sound had broken the intense stillness. I hadgrown less nervously tense, for the flashing of the light 'round theplace had made me feel less out of all bounds of the normal--it hadgiven me something of that unreasoned sense of safety that a nervouschild obtains at night, by covering its head up with the bedclothes. Thisjust about illustrates the completely human illogicalness of the workingsof my feelings; for, as you know, whatever Creature, Thing, or Being itwas that had made that extraordinary and horrible attack on the oldbutler, it had certainly not been visible. 

"And so you must picture me sitting there in the dark; clumsy with armor, and with my revolver in one hand, and nursing my lantern, ready, with theother. And then it was, after this little time of partial relief fromintense nervousness, that there came a fresh strain on me; for somewherein the utter quiet of the Chapel, I thought I heard something. Ilistened, tense and rigid, my heart booming just a little in my ears fora moment; then I thought I heard it again. I felt sure that something hadmoved at the top of the aisle. I strained in the darkness, to hark; andmy eyes showed me blackness within blackness, wherever I glanced, so thatI took no heed of what they told me; for even if I looked at the dim loomof the stained window at the top of the chancel, my sight gave me theshapes of vague shadows passing noiseless and ghostly across, constantly. There was a time of almost peculiar silence, horrible to me, as I feltjust then. And suddenly I seemed to hear a sound again, nearer to me, andrepeated, infinitely stealthy. It was as if a vast, soft tread werecoming slowly down the aisle. 

"Can you imagine how I felt? I do not think you can. I did not move, anymore than the stone effigies on the two tombs; but sat there, _stiffened_. I fancied now, that I heard the tread all about the Chapel. And then, you know, I was just as sure in a moment that I could not hearit--that I had never heard it. 

"Some particularly long minutes passed, about this time; but I think mynerves must have quieted a bit; for I remember being sufficiently awareof my feelings, to realize that the muscles of my shoulders _ached_, withthe way that they must have been contracted, as I sat there, hunchingmyself, rigid. Mind you, I was still in a disgusting funk; but what Imight call the 'imminent sense of danger' seemed to have eased fromaround me; at any rate, I felt, in some curious fashion, that there was arespite--a temporary cessation of malignity from about me. It isimpossible to word my feelings more clearly to you, for I cannot see themmore clearly than this, myself. 

"Yet, you must not picture me as sitting there, free from strain; for thenerve tension was so great that my heart action was a little out ofnormal control, the blood beat making a dull booming at times in my ears, with the result that I had the sensation that I could not hear acutely. This is a simply beastly feeling, especially under such circumstances. 

"I was sitting like this, listening, as I might say with body and soul, when suddenly I got that hideous conviction again that something wasmoving in the air of the place. The feeling seemed to stiffen me, as Isat, and my head appeared to tighten, as if all the scalp had grown_tense_. This was so real, that I suffered an actual pain, most peculiarand at the same time intense; the whole head pained. I had a fiercedesire to cover my face again with my mailed arms, but I fought it off. If I had given way then to that, I should simply have bunked straight outof the place. I sat and sweated coldly (that's the bald truth), with the'creep' busy at my spine.... 

"And then, abruptly, once more I thought I heard the sound of that huge, soft tread on the aisle, and this time closer to me. There was an awfullittle silence, during which I had the feeling that something enormouswas bending over toward me, from the aisle.... And then, through thebooming of the blood in my ears, there came a slight sound from theplace where my camera stood--a disagreeable sort of slithering sound, andthen a sharp tap. I had the lantern ready in my left hand, and now Isnapped it on, desperately, and shone it straight above me, for I had aconviction that there was something there. But I saw nothing. ImmediatelyI flashed the light at the camera, and along the aisle, but again therewas nothing visible. I wheeled 'round, shooting the beam of light in agreat circle about the place; to and fro I shone it, jerking it here andthere, but it showed me nothing. 

"I had stood up the instant that I had seen that there was nothing insight over me, and now I determined to visit the chancel, and see whetherthe dagger had been touched. I stepped out of the pew into the aisle, andhere I came to an abrupt pause, for an almost invincible, sick repugnancewas fighting me back from the upper part of the Chapel. A constant, queerprickling went up and down my spine, and a dull ache took me in the smallof the back, as I fought with myself to conquer this sudden new feelingof terror and horror. I tell you, that no one who has not been throughthese kinds of experiences, has any idea of the sheer, actual physicalpain attendant upon, and resulting from, the intense nerve strain thatghostly fright sets up in the human system. I stood there feelingpositively ill. But I got myself in hand, as it were, in about half aminute, and then I went, walking, I expect, as jerky as a mechanical tinman, and switching the light from side to side, before and behind, andover my head continually. And the hand that held my revolver sweated somuch, that the thing fairly slipped in my fist. Does not sound veryheroic, does it?

"I passed through the short chancel, and reached the step that led up tothe small gate in the chancel rail. I threw the beam from my lanternupon the dagger. Yes, I thought, it's all right. Abruptly, it seemed tome that there was something wanting, and I leaned forward over thechancel gate to peer, holding the light high. My suspicion was hideouslycorrect. _The dagger had gone. _ Only the cross-shaped sheath hung thereabove the altar. 

"In a sudden, frightened flash of imagination, I pictured the thingadrift in the Chapel, moving here and there, as though of its ownvolition; for whatever Force wielded it, was certainly beyondvisibility. I turned my head stiffly over to the left, glancingfrightenedly behind me, and flashing the light to help my eyes. In thesame instant I was struck a tremendous blow over the left breast, andhurled backward from the chancel rail, into the aisle, my armor clangingloudly in the horrible silence. I landed on my back, and slithered alongon the polished marble. My shoulder struck the corner of a pew front, and brought me up, half stunned. I scrambled to my feet, horribly sickand shaken; but the fear that was on me, making little of that at themoment. I was minus both revolver and lantern, and utterly bewildered asto just where I was standing. I bowed my head, and made a scrambling runin the complete darkness and dashed into a pew. I jumped back, staggering, got my bearings a little, and raced down the center of theaisle, putting my mailed arms over my face. I plunged into my camera, hurling it among the pews. I crashed into the font, and reeled back. Then I was at the exit. I fumbled madly in my dressing gown pocket forthe key. I found it and scraped at the door, feverishly, for thekeyhole. I found the keyhole, turned the key, burst the door open, andwas into the passage. I slammed the door and leant hard against it, gasping, whilst I felt crazily again for the keyhole, this time to lockthe door upon what was in the Chapel. I succeeded, and began to feel myway stupidly along the wall of the corridor. Presently I had come to thebig hall, and so in a little to my room. 

"In my room, I sat for a while, until I had steadied down somethingto the normal. After a time I commenced to strip off the armor. I sawthen that both the chain mail and the plate armor had been piercedover the breast. And, suddenly, it came home to me that the Thing hadstruck for my heart. 

"Stripping rapidly, I found that the skin of the breast over the hearthad just been cut sufficiently to allow a little blood to stain my shirt, nothing more. Only, the whole breast was badly bruised and intenselypainful. You can imagine what would have happened if I had not worn thearmor. In any case, it is a marvel that I was not knocked senseless. 

"I did not go to bed at all that night, but sat upon the edge, thinking, and waiting for the dawn; for I had to remove my litter before Sir AlfredJarnock should enter, if I were to hide from him the fact that I hadmanaged a duplicate key. 

"So soon as the pale light of the morning had strengthened sufficientlyto show me the various details of my room, I made my way quietly down tothe Chapel. Very silently, and with tense nerves, I opened the door. Thechill light of the dawn made distinct the whole place--everything seeminginstinct with a ghostly, unearthly quiet. Can you get the feeling? Iwaited several minutes at the door, allowing the morning to grow, andlikewise my courage, I suppose. Presently the rising sun threw an oddbeam right in through the big, East window, making colored sunshine allthe length of the Chapel. And then, with a tremendous effort, I forcedmyself to enter. 

"I went up the aisle to where I had overthrown my camera in the darkness. The legs of the tripod were sticking up from the interior of a pew, and Iexpected to find the machine smashed to pieces; yet, beyond that theground glass was broken, there was no real damage done. 

"I replaced the camera in the position from which I had taken theprevious photography; but the slide containing the plate I had exposed byflashlight I removed and put into one of my side pockets, regretting thatI had not taken a second flash picture at the instant when I heard thosestrange sounds up in the chancel. 

"Having tidied my photographic apparatus, I went to the chancel torecover my lantern and revolver, which had both--as you know--beenknocked from my hands when I was stabbed. I found the lantern lying, hopelessly bent, with smashed lens, just under the pulpit. My revolver Imust have held until my shoulder struck the pew, for it was lying therein the aisle, just about where I believe I cannoned into the pew corner. It was quite undamaged. 

"Having secured these two articles, I walked up to the chancel rail tosee whether the dagger had returned, or been returned, to its sheathabove the altar. Before, however, I reached the chancel rail, I had aslight shock; for there on the floor of the chancel, about a yard awayfrom where I had been struck, lay the dagger, quiet and demure upon thepolished marble pavement. I wonder whether you will, any of you, understand the nervousness that took me at the sight of the thing. With asudden, unreasoned action, I jumped forward and put my foot on it, tohold it there. Can you understand? Do you? And, you know, I could notstoop down and pick it up with my hands for quite a minute, I shouldthink. Afterward, when I had done so, however, and handled it a little, this feeling passed away and my Reason (and also, I expect, the daylight)made me feel that I had been a little bit of an ass. Quite natural, though, I assure you! Yet it was a new kind of fear to me. I'm taking nonotice of the cheap joke about the ass! I am talking about thecuriousness of learning in that moment a new shade or quality of fearthat had hitherto been outside of my knowledge or imagination. Does itinterest you?

"I examined the dagger, minutely, turning it over and over in my handsand never--as I suddenly discovered--holding it loosely. It was as if Iwere subconsciously surprised that it lay quiet in my hands. Yet eventhis feeling passed, largely, after a short while. The curious weaponshowed no signs of the blow, except that the dull color--of the blade wasslightly brighter on the rounded point that had cut through the armor. 

"Presently, when I had made an end of staring at the dagger, I went upthe chancel step and in through the little gate. Then, kneeling upon thealtar, I replaced the dagger in its sheath, and came outside of the railagain, closing the gate after me and feeling awarely uncomfortablebecause the horrible old weapon was back again in its accustomed place. Isuppose, without analyzing my feelings very deeply, I had an unreasonedand only half-conscious belief that there was a greater probability ofdanger when the dagger hung in its five century resting place than whenit was out of it! Yet, somehow I don't think this is a very goodexplanation, when I remember the _demure_ look the thing seemed to havewhen I saw it lying on the floor of the chancel. Only I know this, thatwhen I had replaced the dagger I had quite a touch of nerves and Istopped only to pick up my lantern from where I had placed it whilst Iexamined the weapon, after which I went down the quiet aisle at a prettyquick walk, and so got out of the place. 

"That the nerve tension had been considerable, I realized, when I hadlocked the door behind me. I felt no inclination now to think of old SirAlfred as a hypochondriac because he had taken such hyperseemingprecautions regarding the Chapel. I had a sudden wonder as to whether hemight not have some knowledge of a long prior tragedy in which thedagger had been concerned. 

"I returned to my room, washed, shaved and dressed, after which I readawhile. Then I went downstairs and got the acting butler to give me somesandwiches and a cup of coffee. 

"Half an hour later I was heading for Burtontree, as hard as I couldwalk; for a sudden idea had come to me, which I was anxious to test. Ireached the town a little before eight thirty, and found the localphotographer with his shutters still up. I did not wait, but knockeduntil he appeared with his coat off, evidently in the act of dealing withhis breakfast. In a few words I made clear that I wanted the use of hisdark room immediately, and this he at once placed at my disposal. 

"I had brought with me the slide which contained the plate that I hadused with the flashlight, and as soon as I was ready I set to work todevelop. Yet, it was not the plate which I had exposed, that I first putinto the solution, but the second plate, which had been ready in thecamera during all the time of my waiting in the darkness. You see, thelens had been uncapped all that while, so that the whole chancel hadbeen, as it were, under observation. 

"You all know something of my experiments in 'Lightless Photography, 'that is, appreciating light. It was X-ray work that started me in thatdirection. Yet, you must understand, though I was attempting to developthis 'unexposed' plate, I had no definite idea of results--nothing morethan a vague hope that it might show me something. 

"Yet, because of the possibilities, it was with the most intense andabsorbing interest that I watched the plate under the action of thedeveloper. Presently I saw a faint smudge of black appear in the upperpart, and after that others, indistinct and wavering of outline. I heldthe negative up to the light. The marks were rather small, and werealmost entirely confined to one end of the plate, but as I have said, lacked definiteness. Yet, such as they were, they were sufficient to makeme very excited and I shoved the thing quickly back into the solution. 

"For some minutes further I watched it, lifting it out once or twice tomake a more exact scrutiny, but could not imagine what the markings mightrepresent, until suddenly it occurred to me that in one of two placesthey certainly had shapes suggestive of a cross hilted dagger. Yet, theshapes were sufficiently indefinite to make me careful not to let myselfbe overimpressed by the uncomfortable resemblance, though I must confess, the very thought was sufficient to set some odd thrills adrift in me. 

"I carried development a little further, then put the negative into thehypo, and commenced work upon the other plate. This came up nicely, andvery soon I had a really decent negative that appeared similar in everyrespect (except for the difference of lighting) to the negative I hadtaken during the previous day. I fixed the plate, then having washed bothit and the 'unexposed' one for a few minutes under the tap, I put theminto methylated spirits for fifteen minutes, after which I carried theminto the photographer's kitchen and dried them in the oven. 

"Whilst the two plates were drying the photographer and I made anenlargement from the negative I had taken by daylight. Then we did thesame with the two that I had just developed, washing them as quickly aspossible, for I was not troubling about the permanency of the prints, anddrying them with spirits. 

"When this was done I took them to the window and made a thoroughexamination, commencing with the one that appeared to show shadowydaggers in several places. Yet, though it was now enlarged, I was stillunable to feel convinced that the marks truly represented anythingabnormal; and because of this, I put it on one side, determined not tolet my imagination play too large a part in constructing weapons out ofthe indefinite outlines. 

"I took up the two other enlargements, both of the chancel, as you willremember, and commenced to compare them. For some minutes I examined themwithout being able to distinguish any difference in the scene theyportrayed, and then abruptly, I saw something in which they varied. Inthe second enlargement--the one made from the flashlight negative--thedagger was not in its sheath. Yet, I had felt sure it was there but a fewminutes before I took the photograph. 

"After this discovery I began to compare the two enlargements in a verydifferent manner from my previous scrutiny. I borrowed a pair of calipersfrom the photographer and with these I carried out a most methodical andexact comparison of the details shown in the two photographs. 

"Suddenly I came upon something that set me all tingling with excitement. I threw the calipers down, paid the photographer, and walked out throughthe shop into the street. The three enlargements I took with me, makingthem into a roll as I went. At the corner of the street I had the luck toget a cab and was soon back at the castle. 

"I hurried up to my room and put the photographs way; then I went down tosee whether I could find Sir Alfred Jarnock; but Mr. George Jarnock, whomet me, told me that his father was too unwell to rise and would preferthat no one entered the Chapel unless he were about. 

"Young Jarnock made a half apologetic excuse for his father; remarkingthat Sir Alfred Jarnock was perhaps inclined to be a little over careful;but that, considering what had happened, we must agree that the need forhis carefulness had been justified. He added, also, that even before thehorrible attack on the butler his father had been just as particular, always keeping the key and never allowing the door to be unlocked exceptwhen the place was in use for Divine Service, and for an hour eachforenoon when the cleaners were in. 

"To all this I nodded understandingly; but when, presently, the youngman left me I took my duplicate key and made for the door of the Chapel. I went in and locked it behind me, after which I carried out someintensely interesting and rather weird experiments. These provedsuccessful to such an extent that I came out of the place in a perfectfever of excitement. I inquired for Mr. George Jarnock and was told thathe was in the morning room. 

"'Come along, ' I said, when I had found him. 'Please give me a lift. I'vesomething exceedingly strange to show you. '

"He was palpably very much puzzled, but came quickly. As we strode alonghe asked me a score of questions, to all of which I just shook my head, asking him to wait a little. 

"I led the way to the Armory. Here I suggested that he should take oneside of a dummy, dressed in half plate armor, whilst I took the other. He nodded, though obviously vastly bewildered, and together we carriedthe thing to the Chapel door. When he saw me take out my key and openthe way for us he appeared even more astonished, but held himself in, evidently waiting for me to explain. We entered the Chapel and I lockedthe door behind us, after which we carted the armored dummy up the aisleto the gate of the chancel rail where we put it down upon its round, wooden stand. 

"'Stand back!' I shouted suddenly as young Jarnock made a movement toopen the gate. 'My God, man! you mustn't do that!'

"Do what?" he asked, half-startled and half-irritated by my wordsand manner. 

"One minute, " I said. "Just stand to the side a moment, and watch. "

He stepped to the left whilst I took the dummy in my arms and turned itto face the altar, so that it stood close to the gate. Then, standingwell away on the right side, I pressed the back of the thing so that itleant forward a little upon the gate, which flew open. In the sameinstant, the dummy was struck a tremendous blow that hurled it into theaisle, the armor rattling and clanging upon the polished marble floor. 

"Good God!" shouted young Jarnock, and ran back from the chancel rail, his face very white. 

"Come and look at the thing, " I said, and led the way to where the dummylay, its armored upper limbs all splayed adrift in queer contortions. Istooped over it and pointed. There, driven right through the thick steelbreastplate, was the 'waeful dagger. '

"Good God!" said young Jarnock again. "Good God! It's the dagger! Thething's been stabbed, same as Bellett!"

"Yes, " I replied, and saw him glance swiftly toward the entrance ofthe Chapel. But I will do him the justice to say that he neverbudged an inch. 

"Come and see how it was done, " I said, and led the way back to thechancel rail. From the wall to the left of the altar I took down a long, curiously ornamented, iron instrument, not unlike a short spear. Thesharp end of this I inserted in a hole in the left-hand gatepost of thechancel gateway. I lifted hard, and a section of the post, from the floorupward, bent inward toward the altar, as though hinged at the bottom. Down it went, leaving the remaining part of the post standing. As I bentthe movable portion lower there came a quick click and a section of thefloor slid to one side, showing a long, shallow cavity, sufficient toenclose the post. I put my weight to the lever and hove the post downinto the niche. Immediately there was a sharp clang, as some catchsnicked in, and held it against the powerful operating spring. 

I went over now to the dummy, and after a few minute's work managed towrench the dagger loose out of the armor. I brought the old weapon andplaced its hilt in a hole near the top of the post where it fittedloosely, the point upward. After that I went again to the lever and gaveanother strong heave, and the post descended about a foot, to the bottomof the cavity, catching there with another clang. I withdrew the leverand the narrow strip of floor slid back, covering post and dagger, andlooking no different from the surrounding surface. 

Then I shut the chancel gate, and we both stood well to one side. Itook the spear-like lever, and gave the gate a little push, so that itopened. Instantly there was a loud thud, and something sang through theair, striking the bottom wall of the Chapel. It was the dagger. Ishowed Jarnock then that the other half of the post had sprung backinto place, making the whole post as thick as the one upon theright-hand side of the gate. 

"There!" I said, turning to the young man and tapping the divided post. "There's the 'invisible' thing that used the dagger, but who the deuce isthe person who sets the trap?" I looked at him keenly as I spoke. 

"My father is the only one who has a key, " he said. "So it's practicallyimpossible for anyone to get in and meddle. "

I looked at him again, but it was obvious that he had not yet reached outto any conclusion. 

"See here, Mr. Jarnock, " I said, perhaps rather curter than I should havedone, considering what I had to say. "Are you quite sure that Sir Alfredis quite balanced--mentally?"

"He looked at me, half frightenedly and flushing a little. I realizedthen how badly I put it. 

"'I--I don't know, ' he replied, after a slight pause and was then silent, except for one or two incoherent half remarks. 

"'Tell the truth, ' I said. 'Haven't you suspected something, now andagain? You needn't be afraid to tell me. '

"'Well, ' he answered slowly, 'I'll admit I've thought Father a little--alittle strange, perhaps, at times. But I've always tried to think I wasmistaken. I've always hoped no one else would see it. You see, I'm veryfond of the old guvnor. '

"I nodded. 

"'Quite right, too, ' I said. 'There's not the least need to make any kindof scandal about this. We must do something, though, but in a quiet way. No fuss, you know. I should go and have a chat with your father, and tellhim we've found out about this thing. ' I touched the divided post. 

"Young Jarnock seemed very grateful for my advice and after shaking myhand pretty hard, took my key, and let himself out of the Chapel. He cameback in about an hour, looking rather upset. He told me that myconclusions were perfectly correct. It was Sir Alfred Jarnock who had setthe trap, both on the night that the butler was nearly killed, and on thepast night. Indeed, it seemed that the old gentleman had set it everynight for many years. He had learnt of its existence from an oldmanuscript book in the Castle library. It had been planned and used in anearlier age as a protection for the gold vessels of the ritual, whichwere, it seemed, kept in a hidden recess at the back of the altar. 

"This recess Sir Alfred Jarnock had utilized, secretly, to store hiswife's jewelry. She had died some twelve years back, and the young mantold me that his father had never seemed quite himself since. 

"I mentioned to young Jarnock how puzzled I was that the trap had beenset _before_ the service, on the night that the butler was struck; for, if I understood him aright, his father had been in the habit of settingthe trap late every night and unsetting it each morning before anyoneentered the Chapel. He replied that his father, in a fit of temporaryforgetfulness (natural enough in his neurotic condition), must have setit too early and hence what had so nearly proved a tragedy. 

"That is about all there is to tell. The old man is not (so far as Icould learn), really insane in the popularly accepted sense of the word. He is extremely neurotic and has developed into a hypochondriac, thewhole condition probably brought about by the shock and sorrow resultanton the death of his wife, leading to years of sad broodings and toovermuch of his own company and thoughts. Indeed, young Jarnock told methat his father would sometimes pray for hours together, alone in theChapel. " Carnacki made an end of speaking and leant forward for a spill. 

"But you've never told us just _how_ you discovered the secret of thedivided post and all that, " I said, speaking for the four of us. 

"Oh, that!" replied Carnacki, puffing vigorously at his pipe. "Ifound--on comparing the--photos, that the one--taken in the--daytime, showed a thicker left-hand gatepost, than the one taken at night by theflashlight. That put me on to the track. I saw at once that there mightbe some mechanical dodge at the back of the whole queer business andnothing at all of an abnormal nature. I examined the post and the restwas simple enough, you know. 

"By the way, " he continued, rising and going to the mantelpiece, "you maybe interested to have a look at the so-called 'waeful dagger. ' YoungJarnock was kind enough to present it to me, as a little memento of myadventure. "

He handed it 'round to us and whilst we examined it, stood silent beforethe fire, puffing meditatively at his pipe. 

"Jarnock and I made the trap so that it won't work, " he remarked after afew moments. "I've got the dagger, as you see, and old Bellett's gettingabout again, so that the whole business can be hushed up, decently. Allthe same I fancy the Chapel will never lose its reputation as a dangerousplace. Should be pretty safe now to keep valuables in. "

"There's two things you haven't explained yet, " I said. "What do youthink caused the two clangey sounds when you were in the Chapel in thedark? And do you believe the soft tready sounds were real, or only afancy, with your being so worked up and tense?"

"Don't know for certain about the clangs, " replied Carnacki. 

"I've puzzled quite a bit about them. I can only think that the springwhich worked the post must have 'given' a trifle, slipped you know, inthe catch. If it did, under such a tension, it would make a bit of aringing noise. And a little sound goes a long way in the middle of thenight when you're thinking of 'ghostesses. ' You can understand that--eh?"

"Yes, " I agreed. "And the other sounds?"

"Well, the same thing--I mean the extraordinary quietness--may help toexplain these a bit. They may have been some usual enough sound thatwould never have been noticed under ordinary conditions, or they may havebeen only fancy. It is just impossible to say. They were disgustinglyreal to me. As for the slithery noise, I am pretty sure that one of thetripod legs of my camera must have slipped a few inches: if it did so, itmay easily have jolted the lens cap off the baseboard, which wouldaccount for that queer little tap which I heard directly after. "

"How do you account for the dagger being in its place above the altarwhen you first examined it that night?" I asked. "How could it be there, when at that very moment it was set in the trap?"

"That was my mistake, " replied Carnacki. "The dagger could not possiblyhave been in its sheath at the time, though I thought it was. You see, the curious cross-hilted sheath gave the appearance of the completeweapon, as you can understand. The hilt of the dagger protrudes verylittle above the continued portion of the sheath--a most inconvenientarrangement for drawing quickly!" He nodded sagely at the lot of us andyawned, then glanced at the clock. 

"Out you go!" he said, in friendly fashion, using the recognized formula. "I want a sleep. "

We rose, shook him by the hand, and went out presently into the night andthe quiet of the Embankment, and so to our homes.