ad
waited, now that it had actually come I was unprepared for the shock.
I lay motionless and breathless, whilst the great dark mass whisked by
me and was swallowed up in the night.

But now I nerved myself for its return. No sound came from the
sleeping countryside to tell of the horror which was loose. In no way
could I judge how far off it was, what it was doing, or when it might
be back. But not a second time should my nerve fail me, not a second
time should it pass unchallenged. I swore it between my clenched teeth
as I laid my cocked rifle across the rock.

And yet it nearly happened. There was no warning of approach now as
the creature passed over the grass. Suddenly, like a dark, drifting
shadow, the huge bulk loomed up once more before me, making for the
entrance of the cave. Again came that paralysis of volition which held
my crooked forefinger impotent upon the trigger. But with a desperate
effort I shook it off. Even as the brushwood rustled, and the
monstrous beast blended with the shadow of the Gap, I fired at the
retreating form. In the blaze of the gun I caught a glimpse of a great
shaggy mass, something with rough and bristling hair of a withered grey
colour, fading away to white in its lower parts, the huge body
supported upon short, thick, curving legs. I had just that glance, and
then I heard the rattle of the stones as the creature tore down into
its burrow. In an instant, with a triumphant revulsion of feeling, I
had cast my fears to the wind, and uncovering my powerful lantern, with
my rifle in my hand, I sprang down from my rock and rushed after the
monster down the old Roman shaft.

My splendid lamp cast a brilliant flood of vivid light in front of me,
very different from the yellow glimmer which had aided me down the same
passage only twelve days before. As I ran, I saw the great beast
lurching along before me, its huge bulk filling up the whole space from
wall to wall. Its hair looked like coarse faded oakum, and hung down
in long, dense masses which swayed as it moved. It was like an
enormous unclipped sheep in its fleece, but in size it was far larger
than the largest elephant, and its breadth seemed to be nearly as great
as its height. It fills me with amazement now to think that I should
have dared to follow such a horror into the bowels of the earth, but
when one's blood is up, and when one's quarry seems to be flying, the
old primeval hunting-spirit awakes and prudence