No. 4--THE HORSE OF THE INVISIBLE
I had that afternoon received an invitation from Carnacki. When I reachedhis place I found him sitting alone. As I came into the room he rose witha perceptibly stiff movement and extended his left hand. His face seemedto be badly scarred and bruised and his right hand was bandaged. He shookhands and offered me his paper, which I refused. Then he passed me ahandful of photographs and returned to his reading.
Now, that is just Carnacki. Not a word had come from him and not aquestion from me. He would tell us all about it later. I spent about halfan hour looking at the photographs which were chiefly "snaps" (some byflashlight) of an extraordinarily pretty girl; though in some of thephotographs it was wonderful that her prettiness was so evident for sofrightened and startled was her expression that it was difficult not tobelieve that she had been photographed in the presence of some imminentand overwhelming danger.
The bulk of the photographs were of interiors of different rooms andpassages and in every one the girl might be seen, either full length inthe distance or closer, with perhaps little more than a hand or arm orportion of the head or dress included in the photograph. All of these hadevidently been taken with some definite aim that did not have for itsfirst purpose the picturing of the girl, but obviously of hersurroundings and they made me very curious, as you can imagine.
Near the bottom of the pile, however, I came upon something _definitely_extraordinary. It was a photograph of the girl standing abrupt and clearin the great blaze of a flashlight, as was plain to be seen. Her face wasturned a little upward as if she had been frightened suddenly by somenoise. Directly above her, as though half-formed and coming down out ofthe shadows, was the shape of a single enormous hoof.
I examined this photograph for a long time without understanding it morethan that it had probably to do with some queer case in which Carnackiwas interested. When Jessop, Arkright and Taylor came in Carnacki quietlyheld out his hand for the photographs which I returned in the same spiritand afterward we all went in to dinner. When we had spent a quiet hour atthe table we pulled our chairs 'round and made ourselves snug andCarnacki began:
"I've been North," he said, speaking slowly and painfully between puffsat his pipe. "Up to Hisgins of East Lancashire. It has been a prettystrange business all 'round, as I fancy you chaps will think, when I havefinished. I knew before I went, something about the 'horse story,' as Ihave heard it called; but I never thought of it coming my way, somehow.Also I know _now_ that I never considered it seriously--in spite of myrule always to keep an open mind. Funny creatures, we humans!
"Well, I got a wire asking for an appointment, which of course told methat there was some trouble. On the date I fixed old Captain Hisginshimself came up to see me. He told me a great many new details about thehorse story; though naturally I had always known the main points andunderstood that if the first child were a girl, that girl would behaunted by the Horse during her courtship.
"It is, as you can see already, an extraordinary story and though I havealways known about it, I have never thought it to be anything more thanan old-time legend, as I have already hinted. You see, for sevengenerations the Hisgins family have had men children for their first-bornand even the Hisginses themselves have long considered the tale to belittle more than a myth.
"To come to the present, the eldest child of the reigning family isa girl and she has been often teased and warned in jest by herfriends and relations that she is the first girl to be the eldestfor seven generations and that she would have to keep her menfriends at arm's length or go into a nunnery if she hoped to escapethe haunting. And this, I think, shows us how thoroughly the talehad grown to be considered as nothing worthy of the least seriousthought. Don't you think so?
"Two months ago Miss Hisgins became engaged to Beaumont, a young NavalOfficer, and on the evening of the very day of the engagement, before itwas even formally announced, a most extraordinary thing happened whichresulted in Captain Hisgins making the appointment and my ultimatelygoing down to their place to look into the thing.
"From the old family records and papers that were entrusted to me Ifound that there could be no possible doubt that prior to something likea hundred and fifty years ago there were some very extraordinary anddisagreeable coincidences, to put the thing in the least emotional way.In the whole of the two centuries prior to that date there were fivefirst-born girls out of a total of seven generations of the family. Eachof these girls grew up to maidenhood and each became engaged, and eachone died during the period of engagement, two by suicide, one by fallingfrom a window, one from a 'broken heart' (presumably heart failure,owing to sudden shock through fright). The fifth girl was killed oneevening in the park 'round the house; but just how, there seemed to beno _exact_ knowledge; only that there was an impression that she hadbeen kicked by a horse. She was dead when found. Now, you see, all ofthese deaths might be attributed in a way--even the suicides--to naturalcauses, I mean as distinct from supernatural. You see? Yet, in everycase the maidens had undoubtedly suffered some extraordinary andterrifying experiences during their various courtships for in all of therecords there was mention either of the neighing of an unseen horse orof the sounds of an invisible horse galloping, as well as many otherpeculiar and quite inexplicable manifestations. You begin to understandnow, I think, just how extraordinary a business it was that I was askedto look into.
"I gathered from one account that the haunting of the girls was soconstant and horrible that two of the girls' lovers fairly ran away fromtheir ladyloves. And I think it was this, more than anything else, thatmade me feel that there had been something more in it than a meresuccession of uncomfortable coincidences.
"I got hold of these facts before I had been many hours in the house andafter this I went pretty carefully into the details of the thing thathappened on the night of Miss Hisgins's engagement to Beaumont. It seemsthat as the two of them were going through the big lower corridor, justafter dusk and before the lamps had been lighted, there had been asudden, horrible neighing in the corridor, close to them. Immediatelyafterward Beaumont received a tremendous blow or kick which broke hisright forearm. Then the rest of the family and the servants came runningto know what was wrong. Lights were brought and the corridor and,afterward, the whole house searched, but nothing unusual was found.
"You can imagine the excitement in the house and the half incredulous,half believing talk about the old legend. Then, later, in the middle ofthe night the old Captain was waked by the sound of a great horsegalloping 'round and 'round the house.
"Several times after this both Beaumont and the girl said that they hadheard the sounds of hoofs near to them after dusk, in several of therooms and corridors.
"Three nights later Beaumont was waked by a strange neighing in thenighttime seeming to come from the direction of his sweetheart's bedroom.He ran hurriedly for her father and the two of them raced to her room.They found her awake and ill with sheer terror, having been awakened bythe neighing, seemingly close to her bed.
"The night before I arrived, there had been a fresh happening and theywere all in a frightfully nervy state, as you can imagine.
"I spent most of the first day, as I have hinted, in getting hold ofdetails; but after dinner I slacked off and played billiards all theevening with Beaumont and Miss Hisgins. We stopped about ten o'clock andhad coffee and I got Beaumont to give me full particulars about the thingthat had happened the evening before.
"He and Miss Hisgins had been sitting quietly in her aunt's boudoirwhilst the old lady chaperoned them, behind a book. It was growing duskand the lamp was at her end of the table. The rest of the house was notyet lit as the evening had come earlier than usual.
"Well, it seems that the door into the hall was open and suddenly thegirl said: 'H'sh! what's that?'
"They both listened and then Beaumont heard it--the sound of a horseoutside of the front door.
"'Your father?' he suggested, but she reminded him that her father wasnot riding.
"
Of course they were both ready to feel queer, as you can suppose, butBeaumont made an effort to shake this off and went into the hall to seewhether anyone was at the entrance. It was pretty dark in the hall and hecould see the glass panels of the inner draft door, clear-cut in thedarkness of the hall. He walked over to the glass and looked through intothe drive beyond, but there nothing in sight.
"He felt nervous and puzzled and opened the inner door and went out on tothe carriage-circle. Almost directly afterward the great hall door swungto with a crash behind him. He told me that he had a sudden awful feelingof having been trapped in some way--that is how he put it. He whirled'round and gripped the door handle, but something seemed to be holding itwith a vast grip on the other side. Then, before he could be fixed in hismind that this was so, he was able to turn the handle and open the door.
"He paused a moment in the doorway and peered into the hall, for he hadhardly steadied his mind sufficiently to know whether he was reallyfrightened or not. Then he heard his sweetheart blow him a kiss out ofthe greyness of the big, unlit hall and he knew that she had followed himfrom the boudoir. He blew her a kiss back and stepped inside the doorway,meaning to go to her. And then, suddenly, in a flash of sickeningknowledge he knew that it was not his sweetheart who had blown him thatkiss. He knew that something was trying to tempt him alone into thedarkness and that the girl had never left the boudoir. He jumped back andin the same instant of time he heard the kiss again, nearer to him. Hecalled out at the top of his voice: 'Mary, stay in the boudoir. Don'tmove out of the boudoir until I come to you.' He heard her call somethingin reply from the boudoir and then he had struck a clump of a dozen orso matches and was holding them above his head and looking 'round thehall. There was no one in it, but even as the matches burned out therecame the sounds of a great horse galloping down the empty drive.
"Now you see, both he and the girl had heard the sounds of the horsegalloping; but when I questioned more closely I found that the aunt hadheard nothing, though it is true she is a bit deaf, and she was furtherback in the room. Of course, both he and Miss Hisgins had been in anextremely nervous state and ready to hear anything. The door might havebeen slammed by a sudden puff of wind owing to some inner door beingopened; and as for the grip on the handle, that may have been nothingmore than the snick catching.
"With regard to the kisses and the sounds of the horse galloping, Ipointed out that these might have seemed ordinary enough sounds, if theyhad been only cool enough to reason. As I told him, and as he knew, thesounds of a horse galloping carry a long way on the wind so that what hehad heard might have been nothing more than a horse being ridden somedistance away. And as for the kiss, plenty of quiet noises--the rustle ofa paper or a leaf--have a somewhat similar sound, especially if one is inan overstrung condition and imagining things.
"I finished preaching this little sermon on commonsense versus hysteriaas we put out the lights and left the billiard room. But neitherBeaumont nor Miss Hisgins would agree that there had been any fancy ontheir parts.
"We had come out of the billiard room by this time and were going alongthe passage and I was still doing my best to make both of them see theordinary, commonplace possibilities of the happening, when what killed mypig, as the saying goes, was the sound of a hoof in the dark billiardroom we had just left.
"I felt the 'creep' come on me in a flash, up my spine and over the backof my head. Miss Hisgins whooped like a child with the whooping cough andran up the passage, giving little gasping screams. Beaumont, however,ripped 'round on his heels and jumped back a couple of yards. I gave backtoo, a bit, as you can understand.
"'There it is,' he said in a low, breathless voice. 'Perhaps you'llbelieve now.'
"'There's certainly something,' I whispered, never taking my gaze off theclosed door of the billiard room.
"'H'sh!' he muttered. 'There it is again.'
"There was a sound like a great horse pacing 'round and 'round thebilliard room with slow, deliberate steps. A horrible cold fright took meso that it seemed impossible to take a full breath, you know the feeling,and then I saw we must have been walking backward for we found ourselvessuddenly at the opening of the long passage.
"We stopped there and listened. The sounds went on steadily with ahorrible sort of deliberateness, as if the brute were taking a sort ofmalicious gusto in walking about all over the room which we had justoccupied. Do you understand just what I mean?
"Then there was a pause and a long time of absolute quiet except for anexcited whispering from some of the people down in the big hall. Thesound came plainly up the wide stairway. I fancy they were gathered'round Miss Hisgins, with some notion of protecting her.
"I should think Beaumont and I stood there, at the end of the passage forabout five minutes, listening for any noise in the billiard room. Then Irealized what a horrible funk I was in and I said to him: 'I'm going tosee what's there.'
"'So'm I,' he answered. He was pretty white, but he had heaps of pluck.I told him to wait one instant and I made a dash into my bedroom and gotmy camera and flashlight. I slipped my revolver into my right-hand pocketand a knuckle-duster over my left fist, where it was ready and yet wouldnot stop me from being able to work my flashlight.
"Then I ran back to Beaumont. He held out his hand to show me that he hadhis pistol and I nodded, but whispered to him not to be too quick toshoot, as there might be some silly practical joking at work, after all.He had got a lamp from a bracket in the upper hall which he was holdingin the crook of his damaged arm, so that we had a good light. Then wewent down the passage toward the billiard room and you can imagine thatwe were a pretty nervous couple.
"All this time there had not been a sound, but abruptly when we werewithin perhaps a couple of yards of the door we heard the sudden clumpingof a hoof on the solid _parquet_ floor of the billiard room. In theinstant afterward it seemed to me that the whole place shook beneath theponderous hoof falls of some huge thing, _coming toward the door_. BothBeaumont and I gave back a pace or two, and then realized and hung on toour courage, as you might say, and waited. The great tread came right upto the door and then stopped and there was an instant of absolutesilence, except that so far as I was concerned, the pulsing in my throatand temples almost deafened me.
"I dare say we waited quite half a minute and then came the furtherrestless clumping of a great hoof. Immediately afterward the sounds cameright on as if some invisible thing passed through the closed door andthe ponderous tread was upon us. We jumped, each of us, to our side ofthe passage and I know that I spread myself stiff against the wall. Theclungk clunck, clungk clunck, of the great hoof falls passed rightbetween us and slowly and with deadly deliberateness, down the passage.I heard them through a haze of blood beats in my ears and temples and mybody was extraordinarily rigid and pringling and I was horriblybreathless. I stood for a little time like this, my head turned so that Icould see up the passage. I was conscious only that there was a hideousdanger abroad. Do you understand?
"And then, suddenly, my pluck came back to me. I was aware that the noiseof the hoof beats sounded near the other end of the passage. I twistedquickly and got my camera to bear and snapped off the flashlight.Immediately afterward, Beaumont let fly a storm of shots down the passageand began to run, shouting: 'It's after Mary. Run! Run!'
"He rushed down the passage and I after him. We came out on the mainlanding and heard the sound of a hoof on the stairs and after that,nothing. And from thence onward, nothing.
"Down below us in the big hall I could see a number of the household'round Miss Hisgins, who seemed to have fainted and there were several ofthe servants clumped together a little way off, staring up at the mainlanding and no one saying a single word. And about some twenty steps upthe stairs was the old Captain Hisgins with a drawn sword in his handwhere he had halted, just below the last hoof sound. I think I never sawanything finer than the old man standing there between his daughter andthat infernal thing.
"I daresay you can understand the queer feeling of horror
I had atpassing that place on the stairs where the sounds had ceased. It was asif the monster were still standing there, invisible. And the peculiarthing was that we never heard another sound of the hoof, either up ordown the stairs.
"After they had taken Miss Hisgins to her room I sent word that I shouldfollow, so soon as they were ready for me. And presently, when a messagecame to tell me that I could come any time, I asked her father to giveme a hand with my instrument box and between us we carried it into thegirl's bedroom. I had the bed pulled well out into the middle of theroom, after which I erected the electric pentacle 'round the bed.
"Then I directed that lamps should be placed 'round the room, but that onno account must any light be made within the pentacle; neither mustanyone pass in or out. The girl's mother I had placed within the pentacleand directed that her maid should sit without, ready to carry any messageso as to make sure that Mrs. Hisgins did not have to leave the pentacle.I suggested also that the girl's father should stay the night in the roomand that he had better be armed.
"When I left the bedroom I found Beaumont waiting outside the door in amiserable state of anxiety. I told him what I had done and explained tohim that Miss Hisgins was probably perfectly safe within the'protection'; but that in addition to her father remaining the night inthe room, I intended to stand guard at the door. I told him that I shouldlike him to keep me company, for I knew that he could never sleep,feeling as he did, and I should not be sorry to have a companion. Also, Iwanted to have him under my own observation, for there was no doubt butthat he was actually in greater danger in some ways than the girl. Atleast, that was my opinion and is still, as I think you will agree later.
"I asked him whether he would object to my drawing a pentacle 'round himfor the night and got him to agree, but I saw that he did not knowwhether to be superstitious about it or to regard it more as a piece offoolish mumming; but he took it seriously enough when I gave him someparticulars about the Black Veil case, when young Aster died. Youremember, he said it was a piece of silly superstition and stayedoutside. Poor devil!
"The night passed quietly enough until a little while before dawn whenwe both heard the sounds of a great horse galloping 'round and 'round thehouse just as old Captain Hisgins had described it. You can imagine howqueer it made me feel and directly afterward, I heard someone stir withinthe bedroom. I knocked at the door, for I was uneasy, and the Captaincame. I asked whether everything was right; to which he replied yes, andimmediately asked me whether I had heard the galloping, so that I knew hehad heard them also. I suggested that it might be well to leave thebedroom door open a little until the dawn came in, as there was certainlysomething abroad. This was done and he went back into the room, to benear his wife and daughter.
"I had better say here that I was doubtful whether there was any value inthe 'Defense' about Miss Hisgins, for what I term the 'personal sounds'of the manifestation were so extraordinarily material that I was inclinedto parallel the case with that one of Harford's where the hand of thechild kept materializing within the pentacle and patting the floor. Asyou will remember, that was a hideous business.
"Yet, as it chanced, nothing further happened and so soon as daylight hadfully come we all went off to bed.
"Beaumont knocked me up about midday and I went down and made breakfastinto lunch. Miss Hisgins was there and seemed in very fair spirits,considering. She told me that I had made her feel almost safe for thefirst time for days. She told me also that her cousin, Harry Parsket, wascoming down from London and she knew that he would do anything to helpfight the ghost. And after that she and Beaumont went out into thegrounds to have a little time together.
"I had a walk in the grounds myself and went 'round the house, but saw notraces of hoof marks and after that I spent the rest of the day making anexamination of the house, but found nothing.
"I made an end of my search before dark and went to my room to dress fordinner. When I got down the cousin had just arrived and I found him oneof the nicest men I have met for a long time. A chap with a tremendousamount of pluck, and the particular kind of man I like to have with me ina bad case like the one I was on. I could see that what puzzled him mostwas our belief in the genuineness of the haunting and I found myselfalmost wanting something to happen, just to show him how true it was. Asit chanced, something did happen, with a vengeance.
"Beaumont and Miss Hisgins had gone out for a stroll just before the duskand Captain Hisgins asked me to come into his study for a short chatwhilst Parsket went upstairs with his traps, for he had no man with him.
"I had a long conversation with the old Captain in which I pointed outthat the 'haunting' had evidently no particular connection with thehouse, but only with the girl herself and that the sooner she wasmarried, the better as it would give Beaumont a right to be with her atall times and further than this, it might be that the manifestationswould cease if the marriage were actually performed.
"The old man nodded agreement to this, especially to the first part andreminded me that three of the girls who were said to have been 'haunted'had been sent away from home and met their deaths whilst away. And thenin the midst of our talk there came a pretty frightening interruption,for all at once the old butler rushed into the room, mostextraordinarily pale:
"'Miss Mary, sir! Miss Mary, sir!' he gasped. 'She's screaming ... out inthe Park, sir! And they say they can hear the Horse--'
"The Captain made one dive for a rack of arms and snatched down his oldsword and ran out, drawing it as he ran. I dashed out and up the stairs,snatched my camera-flashlight and a heavy revolver, gave one yell atParsket's door: 'The Horse!' and was down and into the grounds.
"Away in the darkness there was a confused shouting and I caught thesounds of shooting, out among the scattered trees. And then, from a patchof blackness to my left, there burst suddenly an infernal gobbling sortof neighing. Instantly I whipped 'round and snapped off the flashlight.The great light blazed out momentarily, showing me the leaves of a bigtree close at hand, quivering in the night breeze, but I saw nothing elseand then the ten-fold blackness came down upon me and I heard Parsketshouting a little way back to know whether I had seen anything.
"The next instant he was beside me and I felt safer for his company,for there was some incredible thing near to us and I was momentarilyblind because of the brightness of the flashlight. 'What was it? Whatwas it?' he kept repeating in an excited voice. And all the time I wasstaring into the darkness and answering, mechanically, 'I don't know. Idon't know.'
"There was a burst of shouting somewhere ahead and then a shot. We rantoward the sounds, yelling to the people not to shoot; for in thedarkness and panic there was this danger also. Then there came two of thegame-keepers racing hard up the drive with their lanterns and guns; andimmediately afterward a row of lights dancing toward us from the house,carried by some of the men-servants.
"As the lights came up I saw we had come close to Beaumont. He wasstanding over Miss Hisgins and he had his revolver in his hand. Then Isaw his face and there was a great wound across his forehead. By him wasthe Captain, turning his naked sword this way and that, and peering intothe darkness; a little behind him stood the old butler, a battle-axe fromone of the arm stands in the hall in his hands. Yet there was nothingstrange to be seen anywhere.
"We got the girl into the house and left her with her mother andBeaumont, whilst a groom rode for a doctor. And then the rest of us, withfour other keepers, all armed with guns and carrying lanterns, searched'round the home park. But we found nothing.
"When we got back we found that the doctor had been. He had bound upBeaumont's wound, which luckily was not deep, and ordered Miss Hisginsstraight to bed. I went upstairs with the Captain and found Beaumont onguard outside of the girl's door. I asked him how he felt and then, sosoon as the girl and her mother were ready for us, Captain Hisgins andI went into the bedroom and fixed the pentacle again 'round the bed.They had already got lamps about the room and after I had set the sameorder of watching as on the previous nig
ht, I joined Beaumont outsideof the door.
"Parsket had come up while I had been in the bedroom and between us wegot some idea from Beaumont as to what had happened out in the Park. Itseems that they were coming home after their stroll from the direction ofthe West Lodge. It had got quite dark and suddenly Miss Hisgins said:'Hush!' and came to a standstill. He stopped and listened, but heardnothing for a little. Then he caught it--the sound of a horse, seeminglya long way off, galloping toward them over the grass. He told the girlthat it was nothing and started to hurry her toward the house, but shewas not deceived, of course. In less than a minute they heard it quiteclose to them in the darkness and they started running. Then Miss Hisginscaught her foot and fell. She began to scream and that is what the butlerheard. As Beaumont lifted the girl he heard the hoofs come thudding rightat him. He stood over her and fired all five chambers of his revolverright at the sounds. He told us that he was sure he saw something thatlooked like an enormous horse's head, right upon him in the light of thelast flash of his pistol. Immediately afterward he was struck atremendous blow which knocked him down and then the Captain and thebutler came running up, shouting. The rest, of course, we knew.
"About ten o'clock the butler brought us up a tray, for which I was veryglad, as the night before I had got rather hungry. I warned Beaumont,however, to be very particular not to drink any spirits and I also madehim give me his pipe and matches. At midnight I drew a pentacle 'roundhim and Parsket and I sat one on each side of him, outside the pentacle,for I had no fear that there would be any manifestation made againstanyone except Beaumont or Miss Hisgins.
"After that we kept pretty quiet. The passage was lit by a big lamp ateach end so that we had plenty of light and we were all armed, Beaumontand I with revolvers and Parsket with a shotgun. In addition to my weaponI had my camera and flashlight.
"Now and again we talked in whispers and twice the Captain came out ofthe bedroom to have a word with us. About half-past one we had all grownvery silent and suddenly, about twenty minutes later, I held up my hand,silently, for there seemed to be a sound of galloping out in the night. Iknocked on the bedroom door for the Captain to open it and when he came Iwhispered to him that we thought we heard the Horse. For some time westayed listening, and both Parsket and the Captain thought they heard it;but now I was not so sure, neither was Beaumont. Yet afterward, I thoughtI heard it again.
"I told Captain Hisgins I thought he had better go into the bedroom andleave the door a little open and this he did. But from that time onwardwe heard nothing and presently the dawn came in and we all went verythankfully to bed.
"When I was called at lunchtime I had a little surprise, for CaptainHisgins told me that they had held a family council and had decided totake my advice and have the marriage without a day's more delay thanpossible. Beaumont was already on his way to London to get a specialLicense and they hoped to have the wedding next day.
"This pleased me, for it seemed the sanest thing to be done in theextraordinary circumstances and meanwhile I should continue myinvestigations; but until the marriage was accomplished, my chief thoughtwas to keep Miss Hisgins near to me.
"After lunch I thought I would take a few experimental photographs ofMiss Hisgins and her _surroundings_. Sometimes the camera sees thingsthat would seem very strange to normal human eyesight.
"With this intention and partly to make an excuse to keep her in mycompany as much as possible, I asked Miss Hisgins to join me in myexperiments. She seemed glad to do this and I spent several hours withher, wandering all over the house, from room to room and whenever theimpulse came I took a flashlight of her and the room or corridor in whichwe chanced to be at the moment.
"After we had gone right through the house in this fashion, I asked herwhether she felt sufficiently brave to repeat the experiments in thecellars. She said yes, and so I rooted out Captain Hisgins and Parsket,for I was not going to take her even into what you might call artificialdarkness without help and companionship at hand.
"When we were ready we went down into the wine cellar, Captain Hisginscarrying a shotgun and Parsket a specially prepared background and alantern. I got the girl to stand in the middle of the cellar whilstParsket and the Captain held out the background behind her. Then I firedoff the flashlight, and we went into the next cellar where we repeatedthe experiment.
"Then in the third cellar, a tremendous, pitch-dark place, somethingextraordinary and horrible manifested itself. I had stationed MissHisgins in the center of the place, with her father and Parsket holdingthe background as before. When all was ready and just as I pressed thetrigger of the 'flash,' there came in the cellar that dreadful, gobblingneighing that I had heard out in the Park. It seemed to come fromsomewhere above the girl and in the glare of the sudden light I saw thatshe was staring tensely upward, but at no visible thing. And then in thesucceeding comparative darkness, I was shouting to the Captain andParsket to run Miss Hisgins out into the daylight.
"This was done instantly and I shut and locked the door afterward makingthe First and Eighth signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual opposite to each postand connecting them across the threshold with a triple line.
"In the meanwhile Parsket and Captain Hisgins carried the girl to hermother and left her there, in a half fainting condition whilst I stayedon guard outside of the cellar door, feeling pretty horrible for I knewthat there was some disgusting thing inside, and along with this feelingthere was a sense of half ashamedness, rather miserable, you know,because I had exposed Miss Hisgins to the danger.
"I had got the Captain's shotgun and when he and Parsket came down againthey were each carrying guns and lanterns. I could not possibly tell youthe utter relief of spirit and body that came to me when I heard themcoming, but just try to imagine what it was like, standing outside ofthat cellar. Can you?
"I remember noticing, just before I went to unlock the door, how whiteand ghastly Parsket looked and the old Captain was grey-looking and Iwondered whether my face was like theirs. And this, you know, had its owndistinct effect upon my nerves, for it seemed to bring the beastlinessof the thing crashing down on to me in a fresh way. I know it was only sheerwill power that carried me up to the door and made me turn the key.
"I paused one little moment and then with a nervy jerk sent the door wideopen and held my lantern over my head. Parsket and the Captain came oneon each side of me and held up their lanterns, but the place wasabsolutely empty. Of course, I did not trust to a casual look of thiskind, but spent several hours with the help of the two others in soundingevery square foot of the floor, ceiling and walls.
"Yet, in the end I had to admit that the place itself was absolutelynormal and so we came away. But I sealed the door and outside, oppositeeach doorpost I made the First and Last signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual,joined them as before, with a triple line. Can you imagine what it waslike, searching that cellar?
"When we got upstairs I inquired very anxiously how Miss Hisgins wasand the girl came out herself to tell me that she was all right andthat I was not to trouble about her, or blame myself, as I told her Ihad been doing.
"I felt happier then and went off to dress for dinner and after that wasdone, Parsket and I took one of the bathrooms to develop the negativesthat I had been taking. Yet none of the plates had anything to tell usuntil we came to the one that was taken in the cellar. Parsket wasdeveloping and I had taken a batch of the fixed plates out into thelamplight to examine them.
"I had just gone carefully through the lot when I heard a shout fromParsket and when I ran to him he was looking at a partly-developednegative which he was holding up to the red lamp. It showed the girlplainly, looking upward as I had seen her, but the thing that astonishedme was the shadow of an enormous hoof, right above her, as if it werecoming down upon her out of the shadows. And you know, I had run herbang into that danger. That was the thought that was chief in my mind.
"As soon as the developing was complete I fixed the plate and examined itcarefully in a good light. There was no doubt about it at all,
the thingabove Miss Hisgins was an enormous, shadowy hoof. Yet I was no nearer tocoming to any definite knowledge and the only thing I could do was towarn Parsket to say nothing about it to the girl for it would onlyincrease her fright, but I showed the thing to her father for Iconsidered it right that he should know.
"That night we took the same precaution for Miss Hisgins's safety as onthe two previous nights and Parsket kept me company; yet the dawn came inwithout anything unusual having happened and I went off to bed.
"When I got down to lunch I learnt that Beaumont had wired to say that hewould be in soon after four; also that a message had been sent to theRector. And it was generally plain that the ladies of the house were in atremendous fluster.
"Beaumont's train was late and he did not get home until five, but eventhen the Rector had not put in an appearance and the butler came in tosay that the coachman had returned without him as he had been called awayunexpectedly. Twice more during the evening the carriage was sent down,but the clergyman had not returned and we had to delay the marriage untilthe next day.
"That night I arranged the 'Defense' 'round the girl's bed and theCaptain and his wife sat up with her as before. Beaumont, as I expected,insisted on keeping watch with me and he seemed in a curiously frightenedmood; not for himself, you know, but for Miss Hisgins. He had a horriblefeeling he told me, that there would be a final, dreadful attempt on hissweetheart that night.
"This, of course, I told him was nothing but nerves; yet really, it mademe feel very anxious; for I have seen too much not to know that undersuch circumstances a premonitory _conviction_ of impending danger is notnecessarily to be put down entirely to nerves. In fact, Beaumont was sosimply and earnestly convinced that the night would bring someextraordinary manifestation that I got Parsket to rig up a long cord fromthe wire of the butler's bell, to come along the passage handy.
"To the butler himself I gave directions not to undress and to give thesame order to two of the footmen. If I rang he was to come instantly,with the footmen, carrying lanterns and the lanterns were to be keptready lit all night. If for any reason the bell did not ring and I blewmy whistle, he was to take that as a signal in the place of the bell.
"After I had arranged all these minor details I drew a pentacle aboutBeaumont and warned him very particularly to stay within it, whateverhappened. And when this was done, there was nothing to do but wait andpray that the night would go as quietly as the night before.
"We scarcely talked at all and by about one a.m. we were all very tenseand nervous so that at last Parsket got up and began to walk up anddown the corridor to steady himself a bit. Presently I slipped off mypumps and joined him and we walked up and down, whispering occasionallyfor something over an hour, until in turning I caught my foot in thebell cord and went down on my face; but without hurting myself ormaking a noise.
"When I got up Parsket nudged me.
"'Did you notice that the bell never rang?' he whispered.
"'Jove!' I said, 'you're right.'
"'Wait a minute,' he answered. 'I'll bet it's only a kink somewhere inthe cord.' He left his gun and slipped along the passage and taking thetop lamp, tiptoed away into the house, carrying Beaumont's revolver readyin his right hand. He was a plucky chap, I remember thinking then, andagain, later.
"Just then Beaumont motioned to me for absolute quiet. Directly afterwardI heard the thing for which he listened--the sound of a horse galloping,out in the night. I think that I may say I fairly shivered. The sounddied away and left a horrible, desolate, eerie feeling in the air, youknow. I put my hand out to the bell cord, hoping Parsket had got itclear. Then I waited, glancing before and behind.
"Perhaps two minutes passed, full of what seemed like an almost unearthlyquiet. And then, suddenly, down the corridor at the lighted end theresounded the clumping of a great hoof and instantly the lamp was thrownwith a tremendous crash and we were in the dark. I tugged hard on thecord and blew the whistle; then I raised my snapshot and fired theflashlight. The corridor blazed into brilliant light, but there wasnothing, and then the darkness fell like thunder. I heard the Captain atthe bedroom door and shouted to him to bring out a lamp, _quick_; butinstead something started to kick the door and I heard the Captainshouting within the bedroom and then the screaming of the women. I had asudden horrible fear that the monster had got into the bedroom, but inthe same instant from up the corridor there came abruptly the vile,gobbling neighing that we had heard in the park and the cellar. I blewthe whistle again and groped blindly for the bell cord, shouting toBeaumont to stay in the Pentacle, whatever happened. I yelled again tothe Captain to bring out a lamp and there came a smashing sound againstthe bedroom door. Then I had my matches in my hand, to get some lightbefore that incredible, unseen Monster was upon us.
"The match scraped on the box and flared up dully and in the same instantI heard a faint sound behind me. I whipped 'round in a kind of mad terrorand saw something in the light of the match--a monstrous horse-head closeto Beaumont.
"'Look out, Beaumont!' I shouted in a sort of scream. 'It's behind you!'
"The match went out abruptly and instantly there came the huge bang ofParsket's double-barrel (both barrels at once), fired evidentlysingle-handed by Beaumont close to my ear, as it seemed. I caught amomentary glimpse of the great head in the flash and of an enormous hoofamid the belch of fire and smoke seeming to be descending upon Beaumont.In the same instant I fired three chambers of my revolver. There was thesound of a dull blow and then that horrible, gobbling neigh broke outclose to me. I fired twice at the sound. Immediately afterward somethingstruck me and I was knocked backward. I got on to my knees and shoutedfor help at the top of my voice. I heard the women screaming behind theclosed door of the bedroom and was dully aware that the door was beingsmashed from the inside, and directly afterward I knew that Beaumont wasstruggling with some hideous thing near to me. For an instant I heldback, stupidly, paralyzed with funk and then, blindly and in a sort ofrigid chill of goose flesh I went to help him, shouting his name. I cantell you, I was nearly sick with the naked fear I had on me. There came alittle, choking scream out of the darkness, and at that I jumped forwardinto the dark. I gripped a vast, furry ear. Then something struck meanother great blow knocking me sick. I hit back, weak and blind andgripped with my other hand at the incredible thing. Abruptly I was dimlyaware of a tremendous crash behind me and a great burst of light. Therewere other lights in the passage and a noise of feet and shouting. Myhand-grips were torn from the thing they held; I shut my eyes stupidlyand heard a loud yell above me and then a heavy blow, like a butcherchopping meat and then something fell upon me.
"I was helped to my knees by the Captain and the butler. On the floor layan enormous horse-head out of which protruded a man's trunk and legs. Onthe wrists were fixed great hoofs. It was the monster. The Captain cutsomething with the sword that he held in his hand and stooped and liftedoff the mask, for that is what it was. I saw the face then of the man whohad worn it. It was Parsket. He had a bad wound across the forehead wherethe Captain's sword had bit through the mask. I looked bewilderedly fromhim to Beaumont, who was sitting up, leaning against the wall of thecorridor. Then I stared at Parsket again.
"'By Jove!' I said at last, and then I was quiet for I was so ashamed forthe man. You can understand, can't you? And he was opening his eyes. Andyou know, I had grown so to like him.
"And then, you know, just as Parsket was getting back his wits andlooking from one to the other of us and beginning to remember, therehappened a strange and incredible thing. For from the end of thecorridor there sounded suddenly, the clumping of a great hoof. I lookedthat way and then instantly at Parsket and saw a horrible fear in hisface and eyes. He wrenched himself 'round, weakly, and stared in madterror up the corridor to where the sound had been, and the rest of usstared, in a frozen group. I remember vaguely half sobs and whispersfrom Miss Hisgins's bedroom, all the while that I stared frightenedly upthe corridor.
"The silence lasted several seconds and then, ab
ruptly there came againthe clumping of the great hoof, away at the end of the corridor. Andimmediately afterward the clungk, clunk--clungk, clunk of mighty hoofscoming down the passage toward us.
"Even then, you know, most of us thought it was some mechanism ofParsket's still at work and we were in the queerest mixture of fright anddoubt. I think everyone looked at Parsket. And suddenly the Captainshouted out:
"'Stop this damned fooling at once. Haven't you done enough?'
"For my part, I was now frightened for I had a _sense_ that there wassomething horrible and wrong. And then Parsket managed to gasp out:
"'It's not me! My God! It's not me! My God! It's not me.'
"And then, you know, it seemed to come home to everyone in an instantthat there was really some dreadful thing coming down the passage. Therewas a mad rush to get away and even old Captain Hisgins gave back withthe butler and the footmen. Beaumont fainted outright, as I foundafterward, for he had been badly mauled. I just flattened back againstthe wall, kneeling as I was, too stupid and dazed even to run. And almostin the same instant the ponderous hoof falls sounded close to me andseeming to shake the solid floor as they passed. Abruptly the greatsounds ceased and I knew in a sort of sick fashion that the thing hadhalted opposite to the door of the girl's bedroom. And then I was awarethat Parsket was standing rocking in the doorway with his arms spreadacross, so as to fill the doorway with his body. Parsket wasextraordinarily pale and the blood was running down his face from thewound in his forehead; and then I noticed that he seemed to be looking atsomething in the passage with a peculiar, desperate, fixed, incrediblymasterful gaze. But there was really nothing to be seen. And suddenly theclungk, clunk--clungk, clunk recommenced and passed onward down thepassage. In the same moment Parsket pitched forward out of the doorwayon to his face.
"There were shouts from the huddle of men down the passage and the twofootmen and the butler simply ran, carrying their lanterns, but theCaptain went against the side-wall with his back and put the lamp he wascarrying over his head. The dull tread of the Horse went past him, andleft him unharmed and I heard the monstrous hoof falls going away andaway through the quiet house and after that a dead silence.
"Then the Captain moved and came toward us, very slow and shaky and withan extraordinarily grey face.
"I crept toward Parsket and the Captain came to help me. We turned himover and, you know, I knew in a moment that he was dead; but you canimagine what a feeling it sent through me.
"I looked at the Captain and suddenly he said:
"'That--That--That--' and I know that he was trying to tell me thatParsket had stood between his daughter and whatever it was that had gonedown the passage. I stood up and steadied him, though I was not verysteady myself. And suddenly his face began to work and he went down on tohis knees by Parsket and cried like some shaken child. Then the womencame out of the doorway of the bedroom and I turned away and left him tothem, whilst I over to Beaumont.
"That is practically the whole story and the only thing that is left tome is to try to explain some of the puzzling parts, here and there.
"Perhaps you have seen that Parsket was in love with Miss Hisgins andthis fact is the key to a good deal that was extraordinary. He wasdoubtless responsible for some portions of the 'haunting'; in fact Ithink for nearly everything, but, you know, I can prove nothing and whatI have to tell you is chiefly the result of deduction.
"In the first place, it is obvious that Parsket's intention was tofrighten Beaumont away and when he found that he could not do this, Ithink he grew so desperate that he really intended to kill him. I hate tosay this, but the facts force me to think so.
"I am quite certain that it was Parsket who broke Beaumont's arm. He knewall the details of the so-called 'Horse Legend,' and got the idea to workupon the old story for his own end. He evidently had some method ofslipping in and out of the house, probably through one of the many Frenchwindows, or possibly he had a key to one or two of the garden doors, andwhen he was supposed to be away, he was really coming down on the quietand hiding somewhere in the neighborhood.
"The incident of the kiss in the dark hall I put down to sheer nervousimaginings on the part of Beaumont and Miss Hisgins, yet I must say thatthe sound of the horse outside of the front door is a little difficult toexplain away. But I am still inclined to keep to my first idea on thispoint, that there was nothing really unnatural about it.
"The hoof sounds in the billiard room and down the passage were done byParsket from the floor below by bumping up against the paneled ceilingwith a block of wood tied to one of the window hooks. I proved this by anexamination which showed the dents in the woodwork.
"The sounds of the horse galloping 'round the house were possibly madealso by Parsket, who must have had a horse tied up in the plantationnearby, unless, indeed, he made the sounds himself, but I do not see howhe could have gone fast enough to produce the illusion. In any case, Idon't feel perfect certainty on this point. I failed to find any hoofmarks, as you remember.
"The gobbling neighing in the park was a ventriloquial achievement onthe part of Parsket and the attack out there on Beaumont was also byhim, so that when I thought he was in his bedroom, he must have beenoutside all the time and joined me after I ran out of the front door.This is almost probable. I mean that Parsket was the cause, for if ithad been something more serious he would certainly have given up hisfoolishness, knowing that there was no longer any need for it. I cannotimagine how he escaped being shot, both then and in the last mad actionof which I have just told you. He was enormously without fear of anykind for himself as you can see.
"The time when Parsket was with us, when we thought we heard the Horsegalloping 'round the house, we must have been deceived. No one wasvery sure, except, of course, Parsket, who would naturally encouragethe belief.
"The neighing in the cellar is where I consider there came the firstsuspicion into Parsket's mind that there was something more at work thanhis sham haunting. The neighing was done by him in the same way that hedid it in the park; but when I remember how ghastly he looked I feel surethat the sounds must have had some infernal quality added to them whichfrightened the man himself. Yet, later, he would persuade himself that hehad been getting fanciful. Of course, I must not forget that the effectupon Miss Hisgins must have made him feel pretty miserable.
"Then, about the clergyman being called away, we found afterward that itwas a bogus errand, or, rather, call and it is apparent that Parsket wasat the bottom of this, so as to get a few more hours in which to achievehis end and what that was, a very little imagination will show you; forhe had found that Beaumont would not be frightened away. I hate to thinkthis, but I'm bound to. Anyway, it is obvious that the man wastemporarily a bit off his normal balance. Love's a queer disease!
"Then, there is no doubt at all but that Parsket left the cord to thebutler's bell hitched somewhere so as to give him an excuse to slip awaynaturally to clear it. This also gave him the opportunity to remove oneof the passage lamps. Then he had only to smash the other and the passagewas in utter darkness for him to make the attempt on Beaumont.
"In the same way, it was he who locked the door of the bedroom and tookthe key (it was in his pocket). This prevented the Captain from bringinga light and coming to the rescue. But Captain Hisgins broke down the doorwith the heavy fender curb and it was his smashing the door that soundedso confusing and frightening in the darkness of the passage.
"The photograph of the monstrous hoof above Miss Hisgins in the cellar isone of the things that I am less sure about. It might have been faked byParsket, whilst I was out of the room, and this would have been easyenough, to anyone who knew how. But, you know, it does not look like afake. Yet, there is as much evidence of probability that it was faked, asagainst; and the thing is too vague for an examination to help to adefinite decision so that I will express no opinion, one way or theother. It is certainly a horrible photograph.
"And now I come to that last, dreadful thing. There has been no furthermanife
station of anything abnormal so that there is an extraordinaryuncertainty in my conclusions. If we had not heard those last sounds andif Parsket had not shown that enormous sense of fear the whole of thiscase could be explained in the way in which I have shown. And, in fact,as you have seen, I am of the opinion that almost all of it can becleared up, but I see no way of going past the thing we heard at the lastand the fear that Parsket showed.
"His death--no, that proves nothing. At the inquest it was describedsomewhat untechnically as due to heart spasm. That is normal enough andleaves us quite in the dark as to whether he died because he stoodbetween the girl and some incredible thing of monstrosity.
"The look on Parsket's face and the thing he called out when he heard thegreat hoof sounds coming down the passage seem to show that he had thesudden realization of what before then may have been nothing more than ahorrible suspicion. And his fear and appreciation of some tremendousdanger approaching was probably more keenly real even than mine. And thenhe did the one fine, great thing!"
"And the cause?" I said. "What caused it?"
Carnacki shook his head.
"God knows," he answered, with a peculiar, sincere reverence. "If thatthing was what it seemed to be one might suggest an explanation whichwould not offend one's reason, but which may be utterly wrong. Yet I havethought, though it would take a long lecture on Thought Induction to getyou to appreciate my reasons, that Parsket had produced what I might terma kind of 'induced haunting,' a kind of induced simulation of his mentalconceptions to his desperate thoughts and broodings. It is impossible tomake it clearer in a few words."
"But the old story!" I said. "Why may not there have been somethingin _that_?"
"There may have been something in it," said Carnacki. "But I do not thinkit had anything to do with this. I have not clearly thought out myreasons, yet; but later I may be able to tell you why I think so."
"And the marriage? And the cellar--was there anything found there?"asked Taylor.
"Yes, the marriage was performed that day in spite of the tragedy,"Carnacki told us. "It was the wisest thing to do considering the thingsthat I cannot explain. Yes, I had the floor of that big cellar up, for Ihad a feeling I might find something there to give me some light. Butthere was nothing.
"You know, the whole thing is tremendous and extraordinary. I shallnever forget the look on Parsket's face. And afterward the disgustingsounds of those great hoofs going away through the quiet house."
Carnacki stood up.
"Out you go!" he said in friendly fashion, using the recognized formula.
And we went presently out into the quiet of the Embankment, and so toour homes.
Carnacki, the Ghost Finder Page 4