est me. With
more time on my hands than I quite knew what to do with, I yet felt as
if my time were being wasted. The spell of the dead outskirts, of the
shadowless dead marshes, of that mysterious and inscrutable dog, clung
to me with unrelenting persistence. And the early afternoon found me
standing again by the fountain.

Familiarly I scooped up the cool water and drank it from my palm. I
scattered it over the parched bricks and clay, which instantly soaked it
in. I dashed a few drops also, playfully, upon the image of the dog,
which had taken, the evening before, such fantastic liberties with my
overwrought fancy. But these drops gathered themselves up nimbly into
little shining balls, and fled off to the ground like so much
quicksilver. I looked out upon the wan pools and marshes, whence a
greenish mist steamed up, and seemed to poison the sunlight streaming
through it. It is possible that this semblance of an unwholesome mist
was not so much the fault of the marshes as a condition of the
atmosphere, premonitory of the fierce electric storms and the earthquake
which visited the city that same night. The greenish light beat full on
the sunken doorway, so that only the lowermost steps remained in shadow.
However unattractive the temporary complexion of the sun, I was glad of
his company as I descended the steps. The twisting dragons of the
doorhandle attracted me as I drew near. As for the dog, I had exorcised
it from my imagination with those nimble drops of water; and for the old
door, it looked as if a little persuasion would make it yield whatever
secret it might chance to have in keeping. But certainly, if I might
credit my ears, which had once more grown abnormally attentive, the
sound of the water had ceased. My flesh began to creep a little, though
I told myself the fading of the sound was entirely due to my
position,--that the walls of the stairway intercepted it. At the same
time I felt that eye watching me, and a chilly sweat broke out upon my
limbs; but I execrated my folly, and refused to turn my head. Meanwhile,
so alert had become my hearing that the escape of some gases, bubbling
up from the bottom of a pool far out in the marsh, resounded as if close
beside me. I tried to force the bolt back, but in vain; and I had just
come to the conclusion that a sharp wrench would break away bolt,
socket, and all, when an uncontrollable instinct of fear turned me about
to see what peril threatened. The head of th