The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places

by William Hope Hodgson; Jeremy Lassen

  “They set off back, and were soon at the inn, and here, whilst the donkey was being loaded, and the candles and whisky distributed, Dennis was doing his best to keep Wentworth from going back; but he was a sensible man in his way; for when he found that it was no use, he stopped. I believe, he did not want to frighten the others from accompanying Wentworth.

  “ ‘I tell ye, sorr,’ he told him, ‘ ’tis no use at all at all thryin’ to reclaim ther castle. ’Tis curst with innocent blood, an’ ye’ll be betther pullin’ it down, an’ buildin’ a fine new wan. But if ye be intendin’ to shtay this night, kape the big dhoor open whide, an’ watch for the bhlood-dhrip. If so much as a single dhrip falls, don’t shtay though all the gold in the worrld was offered ye.’

  “Wentworth asked him what he meant by the blood-drip.

  “ ‘Shure,’ he said, ‘ ’tis the bhlood av thim as ould Black Mick, ’way back in the ould days, kilt in their shlape. ’Twas a feud as he pretendid to patch up, an’ he invited thim—the O’Haras they was—sivinty av thim. An’ he fed thim, an’ shpoke soft to thim, an’ thim thrustin’ him, shtayed to shlape with him. Thin, he an’ thim with him, stharted in an’ mhurdered thim wan an’ all as they slep’. ’Tis from me father’s grandfather ye have the sthory. An’ sence thin ’tis death to any, so they say, to pass the night in the castle whin the bhlood-drip comes. ’Twill put out candle an’ fire, an’ thin in the darkness the Virgin Herself would be powerless to protect ye.’

  “Wentworth told me he laughed at this; chiefly because, as he put it:— One always must laugh at that sort of yarn, however it makes you feel inside. He asked old Dennis whether he expected him to believe it.

  “ ‘Yes, Sorr,’ said Dennis, ‘I do mane ye to b’lieve it; an’, please God, if ye’ll b’lieve, ye may be back safe befor’ mornin’.’ The man’s serious simplicity took hold of Wentworth, and he held out his hand. But, for all that, he went; and I must admire his pluck.

  “There were now about forty men, and when they got back to the Manor—or castle as the villagers always call it—they were not long in getting a big fire going, and lighted candles all round the great hall. They had all brought sticks; so that they would have been a pretty formidable lot to tackle by anything simply physical; and, of course, Wentworth had his gun. He kept the whisky in his own charge; for he intended to keep them sober; but he gave them a good strong tot all round first, so as to make things cheerful; and to get them yarning. If you once let a crowd of men like that grow silent, they begin to think, and then to fancy things.

  “The big entrance door had been left wide open, by his orders; which shows that he had taken some notice of Dennis. It was a quiet night, so this did not matter, for the lights kept steady, and all went on in a jolly sort of fashion for about three hours. He had opened a second lot of bottles, and everyone was feeling cheerful; so much so that one of the men called out aloud to the ghosts to come out and show themselves. And then, you know, a very extraordinary thing happened; for the ponderous main door swung quietly and steadily to, as if pushed by an invisible hand, and shut with a sharp click.

  “Wentworth stared, feeling suddenly rather chilly. Then he remembered the men, and looked round at them. Several had ceased their talk, and were staring in a frightened way at the big door; but the greater number had never noticed, and were talking and yarning. He reached for his gun, and the following instant the great bull-mastiff set up a tremendous barking, which drew the attention of the whole company.

  “The hall I should tell you is oblong. The South wall is all windows; but the North and the East have rows of doors leading into the house, whilst the West wall is occupied by the great entrance. The rows of doors leading into the house were all closed, and it was towards one of these in the North wall that the big dog ran; yet he would not go very close; and suddenly the door began to move slowly open, until the blackness of the passage beyond was shown. The dog came back among the men, whimpering, and for perhaps a minute there was an absolute silence.

  “Then Wentworth went out from the men a little, and aimed his gun at the doorway.

  “ ‘Whoever is there, come out, or I shall fire,’ he shouted; but nothing came, and he blazed both barrels into the dark. As though the report had been a signal, all the doors along the North and East walls moved slowly open, and Wentworth and his men were staring, frightened, into the black shapes of the empty doorways.

  “Wentworth loaded his gun quickly, and called to the dog; but the brute was burrowing away in among the men; and this fear on the dog’s part frightened Wentworth more, he told me, than anything. Then something else happened. Three of the candles over in the corner of the hall went out; and immediately about half a dozen in different parts of the place. More candles were put out, and the hall had become quite dark in the corners.

  “The men were all standing now, holding their clubs, and crowded together. And no one said a word. Wentworth told me he felt positively ill with fright. I know the feeling. Then, suddenly, something splashed on to the back of his left hand. He lifted it, and looked. It was covered with a great splash of red that dripped through his fingers. An old Irishman near to him, saw it, and croaked out in a quavering voice:— ‘The bhlood-dhrip!’ When the old man called out, they all looked, and in the same instant others felt it upon them. There were frightened cries of:— ‘The bhlood-dhrip! The bhlood-dhrip!’ And then, about a dozen candles went out simultaneously, and the hall was suddenly almost dark. The dog let out a great, mournful howl, and there was a horrible little silence, with everyone standing rigid. Then the tension broke, and there was a mad rush for the main door. They wrenched it open, and tumbled out into the dark; but something slammed it with a crash after them, and shut the dog in; for Wentworth heard it howling as they raced down the drive. Yet no one had the pluck to go back to let it out, which does not surprise me.

  “Wentworth sent for me the following day. He had heard of me in connection with that Steeple Monster Case. I arrived by the night mail, and put up with him at the inn. The next day we went up to the old manor, which certainly lies in rather a wilderness; though what struck me most was the extraordinary number of laurel bushes about the house. The place was smothered with them; so that the house seemed to be growing up out of a sea of green laurel. These, and the grim, ancient look of the old building, made the place look a bit dank and ghostly, even by daylight.

  “The hall was a big place, and well lit by daylight; for which I was not sorry. You see, I had been rather wound-up by Wentworth’s yarn. We found one rather funny thing, and that was the great bull-mastiff, lying stiff with its neck broken. This made me feel very serious; for it showed that whether the cause was supernatural or not, there was present in the house some force dangerous to life.

  “Later, whilst Wentworth stood guard with his shot-gun, I made an examination of the hall. The bottles and mugs from which the men had drunk their whisky were scattered about; and all over the place were the candles, stuck upright in their own grease. But in that somewhat brief and general search, I found nothing; and decided to begin my usual exact examination of every square foot of the place—not only of the hall, in this case, but of the whole interior of the castle.

  “I spent three uncomfortable weeks, searching; but without result of any kind. And, you know, the care I take at this period is extreme; for I have solved hundreds of cases of so-called ‘hauntings’ at this early stage, simply by the most minute investigation, and the keeping of a perfectly open mind. But, as I have said, I found nothing. During the whole of the examination, I got Wentworth to stand guard with his loaded shot-gun; and I was very particular that we were never caught there after dusk.

  “I decided now to make the experiment of staying a night in the great hall, of course ‘protected’. I spoke about it to Wentworth; but his own attempt had made him so nervous that he begged me to do no such thing. However, I thought it well worth the risk, and I managed in the end to persuade him to be present.

  “With this in view, I
went to the neighbouring town of Gaunt, and by an arrangement with the Chief Constable I obtained the services of six policemen with their rifles. The arrangement was unofficial, of course, and the men were allowed to volunteer, with a promise of payment.

  “When the constables arrived early that evening at the inn, I gave them a good feed; and after that we all set out for the manor. We had four donkeys with us, loaded with fuel and other matters; also two great boar-hounds, which one of the police led. When we reached the house, I set the men to unload the donkeys; whilst Wentworth and I set-to and sealed all the doors, except the main entrance, with tape and wax; for if the doors were really opened, I was going to be sure of the fact. I was going to run no risk of being deceived either by ghostly hallucination, or mesmeric influence.

  “By the time that we had sealed the doors, the policemen had unloaded the donkeys, and were waiting, looking about them, curiously. I set two of them to lay a fire in the big grate, and the others I used as I required them. I took one of the boar hounds to the end of the hall furthest from the entrance, and there I drove a staple into the floor, to which I tied the dog with a short tether. Then, round him, I drew upon the floor the figure of a pentacle, in chalk. Outside of the pentacle, I made a circle with garlic. I did exactly the same thing with the other hound; but over in the North-East corner of the big hall, where the two rows of doors make the angle.

  “When this was done, I cleared the whole centre of the hall, and put one of the policemen to sweep it; after which I had all my apparatus carried into the cleared space. Then I went over to the main door, and hooked it open, so that the hook would have to be lifted out of the hasp, before the door could be closed.

  “After that, I placed lighted candles before each of the sealed doors, and one in each corner of the big room; and then I lit the fire. When I saw that it was properly alight, I got all the men together, by the pile of things in the centre of the room, and took their pipes from them; for, as the Sigsand MS. has it:— ‘Theyre must noe lyght come from wythin the barryier.’ And I was going to make sure.

  “I got my tape-measure then, and measured out a circle ninety-nine feet in circumference, and immediately began to chalk it out. The police and Wentworth were tremendously interested, and I took the opportunity to warn them that this was no piece of silly mumming on my part, but done with a definite intention of erecting a barrier between us and any ab-human thing that the night might show to us. I warned them that, as they valued their lives (and more than their lives, it might be), no one must on any account whatever pass beyond the limits of the barrier that I was making.

  “After I had drawn the circle, I took a bunch of the garlic, and smudged it right round the chalk circle, a little outside of it. When this was complete, I called for candles from my stock of material. I set the police to lighting them, and as they were lit I took them and sealed them down on to the floor, just along the chalk circle, five inches apart. Each candle measured one inch in diameter, and it took one hundred and ninety-eight candles to complete the circle. I need hardly say that every number and measurement has a significance.

  “Then, from candle to candle I took a ‘gayrd’ of human hair, entwining it alternately to the left and to the right, until the circle was completed, and the ends of the final hairs shod with silver, were pressed into the wax of the one hundredth and ninety-eighth candle.

  “It had now been dark some time, and I made haste to get the ‘Defense’ complete. To this end I got the men well together, and began to fit the Electric Pentacle right around us, so that the five points of the Defensive Star came just within the Hair-Circle. This did not take me long, and a few minutes later I had connected up the batteries, and the weak blue glare of the intertwining vacuum tubes shone all round us.

  “I felt happier then; for this Pentacle is, as you all know, a wonderful ‘Defense’. I have told you before how the idea came to me, after reading Professor Garder’s ‘Experiments with a Medium’. He found that a current, of a certain number of vibrations, in vacua, ‘insulated’ the Medium. It is difficult to suggest an explanation non-technically, and if you are really interested you should read Carder’s Lecture on ‘Astarral Vibrations Compared with Matero-involuted Vibrations Below The Six-Billion Limit’.

  “As I stood up from my work, I could hear outside in the night a constant drip from the laurels, which, as I have said, come right up around the house very thick. By the sound, I knew that a ‘soft’ rain had set in, and there was absolutely no wind, as I could tell by the steady flames of the candles.

  “I stood a moment or two, listening, and then one of the men touched my arm, and asked me in a low voice what they should do. By his tone I could tell that he was feeling something of the strangeness of it all; and the other men, including Wentworth, were so quiet that I was afraid they were beginning to get nervy.

  “I set-to, then, and arranged them with their backs to one common centre, so that they were sitting flat upon the floor, with their feet radiating outwards. Then, by compass, I laid their legs to the eight chief points, and afterwards I drew a ‘circle’ with chalk round them; and opposite to their feet, I made 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 had confidence in my knowledge, and was resolved to go through with the matter, whatever happened.

  “We settled down then to wait. There was no talking, except that, once or twice, the police bent towards one another, and whispered odd remarks concerning the hall… their whispers being queerly audible in the intense silence. But in a while there was not even a word 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 outwards; and all around us the strange, weak blue glow of the intertwining 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 in the corners; whilst the blaze of the big fire made a good honest mass of flame on the monster hearth. 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 mystery that had been with us all the time; but a new feeling, as if there were something going to happen any moment.

  “Abruptly, there came a slight noise from the East end of the hall, and I felt the star of men move suddenly. ‘Steady! Keep steady!’ I said sharply, and they quietened. I looked up the hall, and saw that the dogs were upon their feet, and staring in an extraordinary fashion towards the great entrance. I turned and stared, also, and felt the men move as they craned their heads to look. Suddenly, the dogs set up a trem
endous barking, and I glanced across to them, and found they were still ‘pointing’ for the big door way. They ceased their noise just as quickly, and seemed to be listening. In the same instant, I heard a faint chink of metal to my left, that set me staring at the hook which held the great door wide. It moved, even as I looked. Some invisible thing was meddling with it. A queer, sickening thrill went through me, and I felt all the men about me, stiffen and go rigid with intensity. I had a certainty of something impending; as it might be the impression of an invisible, but overwhelming, Presence. The hall was full of a queer silence, and not a sound came from the dogs. Then, I saw the hook slowly raised from out of its hasp, without any visible thing touching it. A sudden power of movement came to me. I raised my camera, with the flashlight fixed, and snapped it at the door. There came the great blare of the flashlight, and a simultaneous roar of barking from the two dogs.

  “The intensity of the flash made all the place seem dark for some moments after, and in that time of darkness, I heard a jingle in the direction of the door, that made me strain to look. The effect of the bright light passed, and I could see clearly again. The great entrance door was being slowly closed. It shut with a sharp snick, and there followed a long silence, broken only by the whimpering of the dogs.

  “I turned suddenly, and looked at Wentworth. He was looking at me.

  “ ‘Just as it did before,’ he whispered.

  “ ‘Most extraordinary,’ I said, and he nodded and looked round, nervously.