ade the Eight Signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual. The eighth
place was, of course, empty; but ready for me to occupy at any moment;
for I had omitted to make the Sealing Sign to that point, until I had
finished all my preparations, and could enter the Inner Star.

"I took a last look 'round the great hall, and saw that the two big
hounds were lying quietly, with their noses between their paws. The fire
was big and cheerful, and the candles before the two rows of doors, burnt
steadily, as well as the solitary ones in the corners. Then I went 'round
the little star of men, and warned them not to be frightened whatever
happened; but to trust to the 'Defense'; and to let nothing tempt or
drive them to cross the Barriers. Also, I told them to watch their
movements, and to keep their feet strictly to their places. For the rest,
there was to be no shooting, unless I gave the word.

"And now at last, I went to my place, and, sitting down, made the Eighth
sign just beyond my feet. Then I arranged my camera and flashlight handy,
and examined my revolver.

"Wentworth sat behind the First Sign, and as the numbering went 'round
reversed, that put him next to me on my left. I asked him, in a low
voice, how he felt; and he told me, rather nervous; but that he felt
confidence in my knowledge and was resolved to go through with the
matter, whatever happened.

"We settled down to wait. There was no talking, except that, once or
twice, the police bent toward one another, and whispered odd remarks
concerning the hall, that appeared queerly audible in the intense
silence. But in a while there was not even a whisper from anyone, and
only the monotonous drip, drip of the quiet rain without the great
entrance, and the low, dull sound of the fire in the big fireplace.

"It was a queer group that we made sitting there, back to back, with our
legs starred outward; and all around us the strange blue glow of the
Pentacle, and beyond that the brilliant shining of the great ring of
lighted candles. Outside of the glare of the candles, the large empty
hall looked a little gloomy, by contrast, except where the lights shone
before the sealed doors, and the blaze of the big fire made a good honest
mass of flame. And the feeling of mystery! Can you picture it all?

"It might have been an hour later that it came to me suddenly that I was
aware of an extraordinary sense of dreeness, as it were, come into the
air of the place. Not the nervous feeling of myste