e supposed, we
felt not altogether secure; for there was that in the growling which now
filled the darkness, that seemed demoniac, and we knew not what horrid
Powers were abroad.

And so through the night the growling continued, seeming to be mighty
near unto us--aye! almost over our heads, and of a loudness far
surpassing all that had come to us on the previous night; so that I
thanked the Almighty that we had come into shelter in the midst of so
much fear.

III

The Thing That Made Search

Now at times, I fell upon sleep, as did most of the others; but, for the
most part, I lay half sleeping and half waking--being unable to attain to
true sleep by reason of the everlasting growling above us in the night,
and the fear which it bred in me. Thus, it chanced that just after
midnight, I caught a sound in the main cabin beyond the door, and
immediately I was fully waked. I sat me up and listened, and so became
aware that something was fumbling about the deck of the main cabin. At
that, I got to my feet and made my way to where the bo'sun lay, meaning
to waken him, if he slept; but he caught me by the ankle, as I stooped to
shake him, and whispered to me to keep silence; for he too had been aware
of that strange noise of something fumbling beyond in the big cabin.

In a little, we crept both of us so close to the door as the chests
would allow, and there we crouched, listening; but could not tell what
manner of thing it might be which produced so strange a noise. For it
was neither shuffling, nor treading of any kind, nor yet was it the
whirr of a bat's wings, the which had first occurred to me, knowing how
vampires are said to inhabit the nights in dismal places. Nor yet was it
the slurr of a snake; but rather it seemed to us to be as though a great
wet cloth were being rubbed everywhere across the floor and bulkheads.
We were the better able to be certain of the truth of this likeness,
when, suddenly, it passed across the further side of the door behind
which we listened: at which, you may be sure, we drew backwards both of
us in fright; though the door, and the chests, stood between us and that
which rubbed against it.

Presently, the sound ceased, and, listen as we might, we could no longer
distinguish it. Yet, until the morning, we dozed no more; being troubled
in mind as to what manner of thing it was which had made search in the
big cabin.

Then in time the day came, and the growling ceased. For a mou