Hamars--outwardly and physically the
same--inwardly and psychologically diametrically opposed. A year ago,
Curtis and Kelson would have ridiculed the idea of being afraid of
Hamar--such an idea would have struck them as simply absurd; but they
were afraid of him now, they dreaded his anger more than anything,
more even than the prospect of infringing their compact with the
Unknown.

"We have made pots of money," Curtis remarked one day. "Why can't we
give up work and enjoy it?"

"Because I say no!" Hamar hissed. "No! We can't give up--not, at
least, until the last stage has been safely gone through. To give up
now would be to break the compact!"

"Well, why not?" Curtis mumbled.

"Why not!" Hamar cried. "Heavens, man, can't you understand! Can you
form no conception of what failure to keep the compact means? Has the
memory of that night--of that tree and all the foul things it
suggested, passed completely out of your mind? It hasn't out of
mine--it is as clear now as it was then. And often--mark this, both of
you--often when I am alone in the night, I see queer luminous
shapes--shapes of repulsive vegetable growths--of polyps--and of
disgusting tongues that come towards me through the gloom and circle
slowly round the bed, whilst the whole room vibrates with soft,
mocking laughter! You know how mirrors shine in the moonlight. Well,
the other night, when I looked at mine, I saw in it the reflection,
not of a face, but of two light evil eyes that looked at me
and--smiled! Smiled with a smile that said more plainly than words, 'I
am waiting!' and that is what the shapes, and the very atmosphere of
the place at night always seem to say--'We are waiting! You are
enjoying the joke now--we shall enjoy it later on!' If we knew exactly
what was in store for us it wouldn't be so bad, but it is the
vagueness of it, the vagueness of the horrors that the Unknown has
hinted at, that makes it so appalling! We may die awful deaths--or we
may not die AT ALL--the shapes, indefinite and misty no longer, but
materialized--wholly and entirely materialized--may come for us and
take us away with them! And it is to prevent this, that I am urging
you, compelling you, to stick to the compact, and give the Unknown no
loophole! Think of the tremendous rewards, if we succeed in passing
through the last stage! As I have said before, Curtis need do nothing
else but eat, whilst you, Matt, can become a Mormon and marry all the
pretty girls in Lon