ker than the surrounding shadows. I lost the thing amid the
vagueness, and for a moment or two I glanced swiftly from side to side,
with a fresh, new sense of impending danger. Then my attention was
directed to the bed. All the covering's were being drawn steadily off,
with a hateful, stealthy sort of motion. I heard the slow, dragging
slither of the clothes; but I could see nothing of the thing that pulled.
I was aware in a funny, subconscious, introspective fashion that the
'creep' had come upon me; yet that I was cooler mentally than I had been
for some minutes; sufficiently so to feel that my hands were sweating
coldly, and to shift my revolver, half-consciously, whilst I rubbed my
right hand dry upon my knee; though never, for an instant, taking my gaze
or my attention from those moving clothes.

"The faint noises from the bed ceased once, and there was a most intense
silence, with only the sound of the blood beating in my head. Yet,
immediately afterward, I heard again the slurring of the bedclothes being
dragged off the bed. In the midst of my nervous tension I remembered the
camera, and reached 'round for it; but without looking away from the bed.
And then, you know, all in a moment, the whole of the bed coverings were
torn off with extraordinary violence, and I heard the flump they made as
they were hurled into the corner.

"There was a time of absolute quietness then for perhaps a couple of
minutes; and you can imagine how horrible I felt. The bedclothes had been
thrown with such savageness! And, then again, the brutal unnaturalness of
the thing that had just been done before me!

"Abruptly, over by the door, I heard a faint noise--a sort of crickling
sound, and then a pitter or two upon the floor. A great nervous thrill
swept over me, seeming to run up my spine and over the back of my head;
for the seal that secured the door had just been broken. Something was
there. I could not see the door; at least, I mean to say that it was
impossible to say how much I actually saw, and how much my imagination
supplied. I made it out, only as a continuation of the grey walls.... And
then it seemed to me that something dark and indistinct moved and wavered
there among the shadows.

"Abruptly, I was aware that the door was opening, and with an effort I
reached again for my camera; but before I could aim it the door was
slammed with a terrific crash that filled the whole room with a sort of
hollow thunder. I jumped, like