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 wan 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 to
ok 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 horrible. Theextent of the Power to affect the Material was now the one constant,anxious questioning in my brain. 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 extraordinarily loud. Ibegan, however, to feel better, after a while; but I simply had not thepluck 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.