out of my hand. As I groped for it in the dark my hand was clutched
by Bagley, who, I think, must have dropped upon his knees; but I was too
much perturbed myself to think much of this. He clutched at me in the
confusion of his terror, forgetting all his usual decorum. "For God's
sake, what is it, sir?" he gasped. If I yielded, there was evidently an
end of both of us. "I can't tell," I said, "any more than you; that's
what we've got to find out. Up, man, up!" I pulled him to his feet. "Will
you go round and examine the other side, or will you stay here with the
lantern?" Bagley gasped at me with a face of horror. "Can't we stay
together, Colonel?" he said; his knees were trembling under him. I pushed
him against the corner of the wall, and put the light into his hands.
"Stand fast till I come back; shake yourself together, man; let nothing
pass you," I said. The voice was within two or three feet of us; of that
there could be no doubt.

I went myself to the other side of the wall, keeping close to it. The
light shook in Bagley's hand, but, tremulous though it was, shone out
through the vacant door, one oblong block of light marking all the
crumbling corners and hanging masses of foliage. Was that something dark
huddled in a heap by the side of it? I pushed forward across the light in
the door-way, and fell upon it with my hands; but it was only a
juniper-bush growing close against the wall. Meanwhile, the sight of my
figure crossing the door-way had brought Bagley's nervous excitement to a
height: he flew at me, gripping my shoulder. "I've got him, Colonel!
I've got him!" he cried, with a voice of sudden exultation. He thought it
was a man, and was at once relieved. But at that moment the voice burst
forth again between us, at our feet,--more close to us than any separate
being could be. He dropped off from me, and fell against the wall, his
jaw dropping as if he were dying. I suppose, at the same moment, he saw
that it was me whom he had clutched. I, for my part, had scarcely more
command of myself. I snatched the light out of his hand, and flashed it
all about me wildly. Nothing,--the juniper-bush which I thought I had
never seen before, the heavy growth of the glistening ivy, the brambles
waving. It was close to my ears now, crying, crying, pleading as if for
life. Either I heard the same words Roland had heard, or else, in my
excitement, his imagination got possession of mine. The voice went on,
growing into distin