THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES By way of reply he handed me a letter marked

“Private.” It was dated a week ago, and signed

Case III: “Yours faithfully, Horace Wragge.”
The Nemesis of Fire “He heard of me, you see, through Captain
Anderson,” the doctor explained modestly, as
though his fame were not almost world-wide;
by Algernon Blackwood “you remember that Indian obsession case—”
I read the letter. Why it should have been
marked private was difficult to understand. It was
I very brief, direct, and to the point. It referred by
way of introduction to Captain Anderson, and
By some means which I never could fathom, then stated quite simply that the writer needed
John Silence always contrived to keep the com- help of a peculiar kind and asked for a personal
partment to himself, and as the train had a clear interview—a morning interview, since it was
run of two hours before the first stop, there was impossible for him to be absent from the house at
ample time to go over the preliminary facts of the night. The letter was dignified even to the point of
case. He had telephoned to me that very morning, abruptness, and it is difficult to explain how it
and even through the disguise of the miles of wire managed to convey to me the impression of a
the thrill of incalculable adventure had sounded strong man, shaken and perplexed.
in his voice. Perhaps the restraint of the wording, and the
“As if it were an ordinary country visit,” he mystery of the affair had something to do with it;
called, in reply to my question; “and don’t forget and the reference to the Anderson case, the hor-
to bring your gun.” ror of which lay still vivid in my memory, may
“With blank cartridges, I suppose?” for I knew have touched the sense of something rather
his rigid principles with regard to the taking of ominous and alarming. But, whatever the cause,
life, and guessed that the guns were merely for there was no doubt that an impression of serious
some obvious purpose of disguise. peril rose somehow out of that white paper with
Then he thanked me for coming, mentioned the few lines of firm writing, and the spirit of a
the train, snapped down the receiver, and left me, deep uneasiness ran between the words and
vibrating with the excitement of anticipation, to reached the mind without any visible form of
do my packing. For the honour of accompanying expression.
Dr. John Silence on one of his big cases was what “And when you saw him—?” I asked, return-
many would have considered an empty honour— ing the letter as the train rushed clattering noisily
and risky. Certainly the adventure held all man- through Clapham Junction.
ner of possibilities, and I arrived at Waterloo with “I have not seen him,” was the reply. “The
the feelings of a man who is about to embark on man’s mind was charged to the brim when he
some dangerous and peculiar mission in which wrote that; full of vivid mental pictures. Notice
the dangers he expects to run will not be the the restraint of it. For the main character of his
ordinary dangers to life and limb, but of some case psychometry could be depended upon, and
secret character difficult to name and still more the scrap of paper his hand has touched is suffi-
difficult to cope with. cient to give to another mind—a sensitive and
“The Manor House has a high sound,” he told sympathetic mind—clear mental pictures of what
me, as we sat with our feet up and talked, “but I is going on. I think I have a very sound general
believe it is little more than an overgrown farm- idea of his problem.”
house in the desolate heather country beyond D “So there may be excitement, after all?”
——, and its owner, Colonel Wragge, a retired sol- John Silence waited a moment before he
dier with a taste for books, lives there practically replied.
alone, I understand, with an elderly invalid sister. “Something very serious is amiss there,” he
So you need not look forward to a lively visit, said gravely, at length.
unless the case provides some excitement of its “Some one—not himself, I gather,—has been
own.” meddling with a rather dangerous kind of gun-
“Which is likely?” powder. So—yes, there may be excitement, as you
put it.”

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 1 OF 34

 “And my duties?” I asked, with a decidedly I opened my eyes again, and gave him back
growing interest. “Remember, I am your ‘assist- the letter.
ant.’” “It makes my head hot,” I said, feeling some-
“Behave like an intelligent confidential secret- how unworthy for not seeing anything of interest.
ary. Observe everything, without seeming to. Say But the look in his eyes arrested my attention at
nothing—nothing that means anything. Be once.
present at all interviews. I may ask a good deal of “That sensation of heat is important,” he said
you, for if my impressions are correct this is—” significantly.
He broke off suddenly. “It was certainly real, and rather uncomfort-
“But I won’t tell you my impressions yet,” he able,” I replied, hoping he would expand and
resumed after a moment’s thought. “Just watch explain. “There was a distinct feeling of warmth—
and listen as the case proceeds. Form your own internal warmth somewhere—oppressive in a
impressions and cultivate your intuitions. We sense.”
come as ordinary visitors, of course,” he added, a “That is interesting,” he remarked, putting the
twinkle showing for an instant in his eye; “hence, letter back in his pocket, and settling himself in
the guns.” the corner with newspapers and books. He
Though disappointed not to hear more, I vouchsafed nothing more, and I knew the useless-
recognised the wisdom of his words and knew ness of trying to make him talk. Following his
how valueless my impressions would be once the example I settled likewise with magazines into
powerful suggestion of having heard his own lay my corner. But when I closed my eyes again to
behind them. I likewise reflected that intuition look for the flashing lights and the sensation of
joined to a sense of humour was of more use to a heat, I found nothing but the usual phant-
man than double the quantity of mere “brains,” as asmagoria of the day’s events—faces, scenes,
such. memories,—and in due course I fell asleep and
Before putting the letter away, however, he then saw nothing at all of any kind.
handed it back, telling me to place it against my When we left the train, after six hours’ travel-
forehead for a few moments and then describe ling, at a little wayside station standing without
any pictures that came spontaneously into my trees in a world of sand and heather, the late
mind. October shadows had already dropped their
“Don’t deliberately look for anything. Just sombre veil upon the landscape, and the sun
imagine you see the inside of the eyelid, and wait dipped almost out of sight behind the moorland
for pictures that rise against its dark screen.” hills. In a high dogcart, behind a fast horse, we
I followed his instructions, making my mind were soon rattling across the undulating stretches
as nearly blank as possible. of an open and bleak country, the keen air sting-
But no visions came. I saw nothing but the ing our cheeks and the scents of pine and bracken
lines of light that pass to and fro like the changes strong about us. Bare hills were faintly visible
of a kaleidoscope across the blackness. A against the horizon, and the coachman pointed to
momentary sensation of warmth came and went a bank of distant shadows on our left where he
curiously. told us the sea lay. Occasional stone farmhouses,
“You see—what?” he asked presently. standing back from the road among straggling fir
“Nothing,” I was obliged to admit disappoin- trees, and large black barns that seemed to shift
tedly; “nothing but the usual flashes of light one past us with a movement of their own in the
always sees. Only, perhaps, they are more vivid gloom, were the only signs of humanity and civil-
than usual.” isation that we saw, until at the end of a bracing
He said nothing by way of comment or reply. five miles the lights of the lodge gates flared
“And they group themselves now and then,” I before us and we plunged into a thick grove of
continued, with painful candour, for I longed to pine trees that concealed the Manor House up to
see the pictures he had spoken of, “group them- the moment of actual arrival.
selves into globes and round balls of fire, and the Colonel Wragge himself met us in the hall. He
lines that flash about sometimes look like tri- was the typical army officer who had seen service,
angles and crosses—almost like geometrical fig- real service, and found himself in the process. He
ures. Nothing more.” was tall and well built, broad in the shoulders, but
lean as a greyhound, with grave eyes, rather

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 2 OF 34

stern, and a moustache turning grey. I judged alarm by something he could not comprehend;
him to be about sixty years of age, but his move- forced to deal with things he would have pre-
ments showed a suppleness of strength and agil- ferred to despise, yet facing it all with dogged ser-
ity that contradicted the years. iousness and making no attempt to conceal that
The face was full of character and resolution, he felt secretly ashamed of his incompetence.
the face of a man to be depended upon, and the “So I cannot offer you much entertainment
straight grey eyes, it seemed to me, wore a veil of beyond that of my own company, and the queer
perplexed anxiety that he made no attempt to dis- business that has been going on here, and is still
guise. The whole appearance of the man at once going on,” he said, with a slight inclination of the
clothed the adventure with gravity and import- head towards me by way of including me in his
ance. A matter that gave such a man cause for confidence.
serious alarm, I felt, must be something real and “I think, Colonel Wragge,” replied John
of genuine moment. Silence impressively, “that we shall none of us
His speech and manner, as he welcomed us, find the time hangs heavy. I gather we shall have
were like his letter, simple and sincere. He had a our hands full.”
nature as direct and undeviating as a bullet. The two men looked at one another for the
Thus, he showed plainly his surprise that Dr. space of some seconds, and there was an indefin-
Silence had not come alone. able quality in their silence which for the first
“My confidential secretary, Mr. Hubbard,” the time made me admit a swift question into my
doctor said, introducing me, and the steady gaze mind; and I wondered a little at my rashness in
and powerful shake of the hand I then received coming with so little reflection into a big case of
were well calculated, I remember thinking, to this incalculable doctor. But no answer suggested
drive home the impression that here was a man itself, and to withdraw was, of course, inconceiv-
who was not to be trifled with, and whose per- able. The gates had closed behind me now, and
plexity must spring from some very real and tan- the spirit of the adventure was already besieging
gible cause. And, quite obviously, he was relieved my mind with its advance guard of a thousand
that we had come. His welcome was unmistak- little hopes and fears.
ably genuine. Explaining that he would wait till after dinner
He led us at once into a room, half library, to discuss anything serious, as no reference was
half smoking-room, that opened out of the low- ever made before his sister, he led the way
ceilinged hall. The Manor House gave the impres- upstairs and showed us personally to our rooms;
sion of a rambling and glorified farmhouse, solid, and it was just as I was finishing dressing that a
ancient, comfortable, and wholly unpretentious. knock came at my door and Dr. Silence entered.
And so it was. Only the heat of the place struck He was always what is called a serious man,
me as unnatural. This room with the blazing fire so that even in moments of comedy you felt he
may have seemed uncomfortably warm after the never lost sight of the profound gravity of life, but
long drive through the night air; yet it seemed to as he came across the room to me I caught the
me that the hall itself, and the whole atmosphere expression of his face and understood in a flash
of the house, breathed a warmth that hardly that he was now in his most grave and earnest
belonged to well-filled grates or the pipes of hot mood. He looked almost troubled. I stopped fum-
air and water. It was not the heat of the green- bling with my black tie and stared.
house; it was an oppressive heat that somehow “It is serious,” he said, speaking in a low
got into the head and mind. It stirred a curious voice, “more so even than I imagined. Colonel
sense of uneasiness in me, and I caught myself Wragge’s control over his thoughts concealed a
thinking of the sensation of warmth that had great deal in my psychometrising of the letter. I
emanated from the letter in the train. looked in to warn you to keep yourself well in
I heard him thanking Dr. Silence for having hand—generally speaking.”
come; there was no preamble, and the exchange “Haunted house?” I asked, conscious of a dis-
of civilities was of the briefest description. tinct shiver down my back.
Evidently here was a man who, like my com- But he smiled gravely at the question.
panion, loved action rather than talk. His manner “Haunted House of Life more likely,” he
was straightforward and direct. I saw him in a replied, and a look came into his eyes which I had
flash: puzzled, worried, harassed into a state of only seen there when a human soul was in the

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 3 OF 34

toils and he was thick in the fight of rescue. He So that on entering the dining-room we were
was stirred in the deeps. prepared to find Miss Wragge already at her
“Colonel Wragge—or the sister?” I asked hur- place, seated in a sort of bath-chair. She was a
riedly, for the gong was sounding. vivacious and charming old lady, with smiling
“Neither directly,” he said from the door. expression and bright eyes, and she chatted all
“Something far older, something very, very through dinner with unfailing spontaneity. She
remote indeed. This thing has to do with the ages, had that face, unlined and fresh, that some
unless I am mistaken greatly, the ages on which people carry through life from the cradle to the
the mists of memory have long lain undisturbed.” grave; her smooth plump cheeks were all pink
He came across the floor very quickly with a and white, and her hair, still dark, was divided
finger on his lips, looking at me with a peculiar into two glossy and sleek halves on either side of
searchingness of gaze. a careful parting. She wore gold-rimmed glasses,
“Are you aware yet of anything—odd here?” and at her throat was a large scarab of green
he asked in a whisper. jasper that made a very handsome brooch.
“Anything you cannot quite define, for Her brother and Dr. Silence talked little, so
instance. Tell me, Hubbard, for I want to know all that most of the conversation was carried on
your impressions. They may help me.” between herself and me, and she told me a great
I shook my head, avoiding his gaze, for there deal about the history of the old house, most of
was something in the eyes that scared me a little. which I fear I listened to with but half an ear.
But he was so in earnest that I set my mind “And when Cromwell stayed here,” she
keenly searching. babbled on, “he occupied the very rooms upstairs
“Nothing yet,” I replied truthfully, wishing I that used to be mine. But my brother thinks it
could confess to a real emotion; “nothing but the safer for me to sleep on the ground floor now in
strange heat of the place.” case of fire.”
He gave a little jump forward in my direction. And this sentence has stayed in my memory
“The heat again, that’s it!” he exclaimed, as only because of the sudden way her brother inter-
though glad of my corroboration. “And how rupted her and instantly led the conversation on
would you describe it, perhaps?” he asked to another topic. The passing reference to fire
quickly, with a hand on the door knob. seemed to have disturbed him, and thencefor-
“It doesn’t seem like ordinary physical heat,” I ward he directed the talk himself.
said, casting about in my thoughts for a defini- It was difficult to believe that this lively and
tion. animated old lady, sitting beside me and taking
“More a mental heat,” he interrupted, “a so eager an interest in the affairs of life, was prac-
glowing of thought and desire, a sort of feverish tically, we understood, without the use of her
warmth of the spirit. Isn’t that it?” lower limbs, and that her whole existence for
I admitted that he had exactly described my years had been passed between the sofa, the bed,
sensations. and the bath-chair in which she chatted so natur-
“Good!” he said, as he opened the door, and ally at the dinner table. She made no allusion to
with an indescribable gesture that combined a her affliction until the dessert was reached, and
warning to be ready with a sign of praise for my then, touching a bell, she made us a witty little
correct intuition, he was gone. speech about leaving us “like time, on noiseless
I hurried after him, and found the two men feet,” and was wheeled out of the room by the
waiting for me in front of the fire. butler and carried off to her apartments at the
“I ought to warn you,” our host was saying as other end of the house.
I came in, “that my sister, whom you will meet at And the rest of us were not long in following
dinner, is not aware of the real object of your suit, for Dr. Silence and myself were quite as
visit. She is under the impression that we are eager to learn the nature of our errand as our host
interested in the same line of study—folklore— was to impart it to us. He led us down a long
and that your researches have led to my seeking flagged passage to a room at the very end of the
acquaintance. She comes to dinner in her chair, house, a room provided with double doors, and
you know. It will be a great pleasure to her to windows, I saw, heavily shuttered. Books lined
meet you both. We have few visitors.” the walls on every side, and a large desk in the
bow window was piled up with volumes, some

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 4 OF 34

open, some shut, some showing scraps of paper the subject that was uppermost in the thoughts of
stuck between the leaves, and all smothered in a all of us. The fact was he found it a difficult mat-
general cataract of untidy foolscap and loose-half ter to speak of at all, and it was Dr. Silence who
sheets. finally showed him the way over the hedge.
“My study and workroom,” explained Colonel “Mr. Hubbard will take a few notes when you
Wragge, with a delightful touch of innocent pride, are ready—you won’t object,” he suggested; “I can
as though he were a very serious scholar. He give my undivided attention in this way.”
placed arm-chairs for us round the fire. “Here,” “By all means,” turning to reach some of the
he added significantly, “we shall be safe from loose sheets on the writing table, and glancing at
interruption and can talk securely.” me. He still hesitated a little, I thought. “The fact
During dinner the manner of the doctor had is,” he said apologetically, “I wondered if it was
been all that was natural and spontaneous, quite fair to trouble you so soon. The daylight
though it was impossible for me, knowing him as might suit you better to hear what I have to tell.
I did, not to be aware that he was subconsciously Your sleep, I mean, might be less disturbed, per-
very keenly alert and already receiving upon the haps.”
ultra-sensitive surface of his mind various and “I appreciate your thoughtfulness,” John
vivid impressions; and there was now something Silence replied with his gentle smile, taking com-
in the gravity of his face, as well as in the signific- mand as it were from that moment, “but really we
ant tone of Colonel Wragge’s speech, and are both quite immune. There is nothing, I think,
something, too, in the fact that we three were that could prevent either of us sleeping, except—
shut away in this private chamber about to listen an outbreak of fire, or some such very physical
to things probably strange, and certainly mysteri- disturbance.”
ous—something in all this that touched my ima- Colonel Wragge raised his eyes and looked
gination sharply and sent an undeniable thrill fixedly at him. This reference to an outbreak of
along my nerves. Taking the chair indicated by fire I felt sure was made with a purpose. It cer-
my host, I lit my cigar and waited for the opening tainly had the desired effect of removing from our
of the attack, fully conscious that we were now host’s manner the last signs of hesitancy.
too far gone in the adventure to admit of with- “Forgive me,” he said. “Of course, I know
drawal, and wondering a little anxiously where it nothing of your methods in matters of this kind—
was going to lead. so, perhaps, you would like me to begin at once
What I expected precisely, it is hard to say. and give you an outline of the situation?”
Nothing definite, perhaps. Dr. Silence bowed his agreement. “I can then
Only the sudden change was dramatic. A few take my precautions accordingly,” he added
hours before the prosaic atmosphere of Piccadilly calmly.
was about me, and now I was sitting in a secret The soldier looked up for a moment as though
chamber of this remote old building waiting to he did not quite gather the meaning of these
hear an account of things that held possibly the words; but he made no further comment and
genuine heart of terror. I thought of the dreary turned at once to tackle a subject on which he
moors and hills outside, and the dark pine copses evidently talked with diffidence and unwilling-
soughing in the wind of night; I remembered my ness.
companion’s singular words up in my bedroom “It’s all so utterly out of my line of things,” he
before dinner; and then I turned and noted care- began, puffing out clouds of cigar smoke between
fully the stern countenance of the Colonel as he his words, “and there’s so little to tell with any
faced us and lit his big black cigar before speak- real evidence behind it, that it’s almost
ing. impossible to make a consecutive story for you.
The threshold of an adventure, I reflected as I It’s the total cumulative effect that is so—so dis-
waited for the first words, is always the most quieting.” He chose his words with care, as
thrilling moment—until the climax comes. though determined not to travel one hair’s
But Colonel Wragge hesitated—mentally—a breadth beyond the truth.
long time before he began. He talked briefly of “I came into this place twenty years ago when
our journey, the weather, the country, and other my elder brother died,” he continued, “but could
comparatively trivial topics, while he sought not afford to live here then. My sister, whom you
about in his mind for an appropriate entry into met at dinner, kept house for him till the end, and

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 5 OF 34

during all these years, while I was seeing service Colonel Wragge resumed his seat and laid the
abroad, she had an eye to the place—for we never map upon his knees. His face was very thoughtful
got a satisfactory tenant—and saw that it was not as he plunged abruptly again into his story.
allowed to go to ruin. I myself took possession, “On coming into possession,” he said, looking
however, only a year ago. us alternately in the face, “I found a crop of stor-
“My brother,” he went on, after a perceptible ies of the most extraordinary and impossible kind
pause, “spent much of his time away, too. He was I had ever heard—stories which at first I treated
a great traveller, and filled the house with stuff he with amused indifference, but later was forced to
brought home from all over the world. The laun- regard seriously, if only to keep my servants.
dry—a small detached building beyond the ser- These stories I thought I traced to the fact of my
vants’ quarters—he turned into a regular little brother’s death—and, in a way, I think so still.”
museum. The curios and things I have cleared He leant forward and handed the map to Dr.
away—they collected dust and were always get- Silence.
ting broken—but the laundry-house you shall see “It’s an old plan of the estate,” he explained,
tomorrow.” “but accurate enough for our purpose, and I wish
Colonel Wragge spoke with such deliberation you would note the position of the plantations
and with so many pauses that this beginning took marked upon it, especially those near the house.
him a long time. But at this point he came to a That one,” indicating the spot with his finger, “is
full stop altogether. Evidently there was called the Twelve Acre Plantation. It was just
something he wished to say that cost him consid- there, on the side nearest the house, that my
erable effort. At length he looked up steadily into brother and the head keeper met their deaths.”
my companion’s face. He spoke as a man forced to recognise facts
“May I ask you—that is, if you won’t think it that he deplored, and would have preferred to
strange,” he said, and a sort of hush came over his leave untouched—things he personally would
voice and manner, “whether you have noticed rather have treated with ridicule if possible. It
anything at all unusual—anything queer, since made his words peculiarly dignified and impress-
you came into the house?” ive, and I listened with an increasing uneasiness
Dr. Silence answered without a moment’s as to the sort of help the doctor would look to me
hesitation. for later. It seemed as though I were a spectator
“I have,” he said. “There is a curious sensation of some drama of mystery in which any moment I
of heat in the place.” might be summoned to play a part.
“Ah!” exclaimed the other, with a slight start. “It was twenty years ago,” continued the Col-
“You have noticed it. This unaccountable heat—” onel, “but there was much talk about it at the
“But its cause, I gather, is not in the house time, unfortunately, and you may, perhaps, have
itself—but outside,” I was astonished to hear the heard of the affair. Stride, the keeper, was a pas-
doctor add. sionate, hot-tempered man but I regret to say, so
Colonel Wragge rose from his chair and was my brother, and quarrels between them seem
turned to unhook a framed map that hung upon to have been frequent.”
the wall. I got the impression that the movement “I do not recall the affair,” said the doctor.
was made with the deliberate purpose of conceal- “May I ask what was the cause of death?”
ing his face. Something in his voice made me prick up my ears
“Your diagnosis, I believe, is amazingly accur- for the reply.
ate,” he said after a moment, turning round with “The keeper, it was said, from suffocation.
the map in his hands. “Though, of course, I can And at the inquest the doctors averred that both
have no idea how you should guess—” men had been dead the same length of time when
John Silence shrugged his shoulders express- found.”
ively. “Merely my impression,” he said. “If you “And your brother?” asked John Silence, noti-
pay attention to impressions, and do not allow cing the omission, and listening intently.
them to be confused by deductions of the intel- “Equally mysterious,” said our host, speaking
lect, you will often find them surprisingly, uncan- in a low voice with effort. “But there was one dis-
nily, accurate.” tressing feature I think I ought to mention. For
those who saw the face—I did not see it myself—
and though Stride carried a gun its chambers

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 6 OF 34

were undischarged—” He stammered and hesit- touches the end of the back lawn, as I will show
ated with confusion. Again that sense of terror you tomorrow, and its dense growth of pines
moved between his words. He stuck. forms the chief protection the house enjoys from
“Yes,” said the chief listener sympathetically. the east winds that blow up from the sea. And in
“My brother’s face, they said, looked as olden days, before my brother interfered with it
though it had been scorched. It had been swept, and frightened all the game away, it was one of
as it were, by something that burned—blasted. It the best pheasant coverts on the whole estate.”
was, I am told, quite dreadful. The bodies were “And what form, if I may ask, did this inter-
found lying side by side, faces downwards, both ference take?” asked Dr. Silence.
pointing away from the wood, as though they had “In detail, I cannot tell you, for I do not know
been in the act of running, and not more than a —except that I understand it was the subject of
dozen yards from its edge.” his frequent differences with the head keeper; but
Dr. Silence made no comment. He appeared during the last two years of his life, when he gave
to be studying the map attentively. up travelling and settled down here, he took a
“I did not see the face myself,” repeated the special interest in this wood, and for some unac-
other, his manner somehow expressing the sense countable reason began to build a low stone wall
of awe he contrived to keep out of his voice, “but around it. This wall was never finished, but you
my sister unfortunately did, and her present state shall see the ruins tomorrow in the daylight.”
I believe to be entirely due to the shock it gave to “And the result of your investigations—these
her nerves. She never can be brought to refer to stories, I mean?” the doctor broke in, anxious to
it, naturally, and I am even inclined to think that keep him to the main issues.
the memory has mercifully been permitted to “Yes, I’m coming to that,” he said slowly, “but
vanish from her mind. But she spoke of it at the the wood first, for this wood out of which they
time as a face swept by flame—blasted.” grew like mushrooms has nothing in any way
John Silence looked up from his contempla- peculiar about it. It is very thickly grown, and
tion of the map, but with the air of one who rises to a clearer part in the centre, a sort of
wished to listen, not to speak, and presently Col- mound where there is a circle of large boulders—
onel Wragge went on with his account. He stood old Druid stones, I’m told. At another place
on the mat, his broad shoulders hiding most of there’s a small pond. There’s nothing distinctive
the mantelpiece. about it that I could mention—just an ordinary
“They all centred about this particular planta- pine-wood, a very ordinary pine-wood—only the
tion, these stories. That was to be expected, for trees are a bit twisted in the trunks, some of ‘em,
the people here are as superstitious as Irish peas- and very dense. Nothing more.
antry, and though I made one or two examples “And the stories? Well, none of them had any-
among them to stop the foolish talk, it had no thing to do with my poor brother, or the keeper,
effect, and new versions came to my ears every as you might have expected; and they were all
week. You may imagine how little good dismissals odd—such odd things, I mean, to invent or ima-
did, when I tell you that the servants dismissed gine. I never could make out how these people got
themselves. It was not the house servants, but the such notions into their heads.”
men who worked on the estate outside. The keep- He paused a moment to relight his cigar.
ers gave notice one after another, none of them “There’s no regular path through it,” he
with any reason I could accept; the foresters resumed, puffing vigorously, “but the fields round
refused to enter the wood, and the beaters to beat it are constantly used, and one of the gardeners
in it. Word flew all over the countryside that whose cottage lies over that way declared he often
Twelve Acre Plantation was a place to be avoided, saw moving lights in it at night, and luminous
day or night. shapes like globes of fire over the tops of the
“There came a point,” the Colonel went on, trees, skimming and floating, and making a soft
now well in his swing, “when I felt compelled to hissing sound—most of ’em said that, in fact—and
make investigations on my own account. I could another man saw shapes flitting in and out
not kill the thing by ignoring it; so I collected and among the trees, things that were neither men
analysed the stories at first hand. For this Twelve nor animals, and all faintly luminous. No one
Acre Wood, you will see by the map, comes rather ever pretended to see human forms—always
near home. Its lower end, if you will look, almost queer, huge things they could not properly

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 7 OF 34

describe. Sometimes the whole wood was lit up, me as being in the least likely or probable. They
and one fellow—he’s still here and you shall see are most singular, I consider, most singular, these
him—has a most circumstantial yarn about hav- mysterious fires, and I am glad to say that they
ing seen great stars lying on the ground round the come only at rather long intervals and never seem
edge of the wood at regular intervals—” to spread.
“What kind of stars?” put in John Silence “But the keeper had other queer stories as
sharply, in a sudden way that made me start. well, and about things that are verifiable. He
“Oh, I don’t know quite; ordinary stars, I declared that no life ever willingly entered the
think he said, only very large, and apparently plantation; more, that no life existed in it at all.
blazing as though the ground was alight. He was No birds nested in the trees, or flew into their
too terrified to go close and examine, and he has shade. He set countless traps, but never caught so
never seen them since.” much as a rabbit or a weasel. Animals avoided it,
He stooped and stirred the fire into a wel- and more than once he had picked up dead
come blaze—welcome for its blaze of light rather creatures round the edges that bore no obvious
than for its heat. In the room there was already a signs of how they had met their death.
strange pervading sensation of warmth that was “Moreover, he told me one extraordinary tale
oppressive in its effect and far from comforting. about his retriever chasing some invisible
“Of course,” he went on, straightening up creature across the field one day when he was out
again on the mat, “this was all commonplace with his gun. The dog suddenly pointed at
enough—this seeing lights and figures at night. something in the field at his feet, and then gave
Most of these fellows drink, and imagination and chase, yelping like a mad thing. It followed its
terror between them may account for almost any- imaginary quarry to the borders of the wood, and
thing. But others saw things in broad daylight. then went in—a thing he had never known it to do
One of the woodmen, a sober, respectable man, before. The moment it crossed the edge—it is
took the shortcut home to his midday meal, and darkish in there even in daylight—it began fight-
swore he was followed the whole length of the ing in the most frenzied and terrific fashion. It
wood by something that never showed itself, but made him afraid to interfere, he said.
dodged from tree to tree, always keeping out of And at last, when the dog came out, hanging
sight, yet solid enough to make the branches sway its tail down and panting, he found something
and the twigs snap on the ground. And it made a like white hair stuck to its jaws, and brought it to
noise, he declared—but really”—the speaker show me. I tell you these details because—”
stopped and gave a short laugh—“it’s too absurd “They are important, believe me,” the doctor
—” stopped him. “And you have it still, this hair?” he
“Please!” insisted the doctor; “for it is these asked.
small details that give me the best clues always.” “It disappeared in the oddest way,” the Col-
“—it made a crackling noise, he said, like a onel explained. “It was curious looking stuff,
bonfire. Those were his very words: like the something like asbestos, and I sent it to be ana-
crackling of a bonfire,” finished the soldier, with a lysed by the local chemist. But either the man got
repetition of his short laugh. wind of its origin, or else he didn’t like the look of
“Most interesting,” Dr. Silence observed it for some reason, because he returned it to me
gravely. “Please omit nothing.” and said it was neither animal, vegetable, nor
“Yes,” he went on, “and it was soon after that mineral, so far as he could make out, and he did-
the fires began—the fires in the wood. They star- n’t wish to have anything to do with it. I put it
ted mysteriously burning in the patches of coarse away in paper, but a week later, on opening the
white grass that cover the more open parts of the package—it was gone! Oh, the stories are simply
plantation. No one ever actually saw them start, endless. I could tell you hundreds all on the same
but many, myself among the number, have seen lines.”
them burning and smouldering. They are always “And personal experiences of your own, Col-
small and circular in shape, and for all the world onel Wragge?” asked John Silence earnestly, his
like a picnic fire. The head keeper has a dozen manner showing the greatest possible interest
explanations, from sparks flying out of the house and sympathy.
chimneys to the sunlight focusing through a dew- The soldier gave an almost imperceptible
drop, but none of them, I must admit, convince start. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 8 OF 34

 “Nothing, I think,” he said slowly, “nothing— His intention, I saw, was not to perplex the
er—I should like to rely on. I mean nothing I have good man, but to impress him with his powers so
the right to speak of, perhaps—yet.” as to ensure obedience later.
His mouth closed with a snap. Dr. Silence, “Good Lord! I had no idea—” He did not fin-
after waiting a little to see if he would add to his ish the sentence, and dived again abruptly into
reply, did not seek to press him on the point. his narrative.
“Well,” he resumed presently, and as though “I did not see anything myself, I must admit,
he would speak contemptuously, yet dared not, but the stories of independent eye-witnesses were
“this sort of thing has gone on at intervals ever to the effect that lines of light, like streams of thin
since. It spreads like wildfire, of course, mysteri- fire, moved through the wood and sometimes
ous chatter of this kind, and people began tres- were seen to shoot out precisely as flames might
passing all over the estate, coming to see the shoot out—in the direction of this house. There,”
wood, and making themselves a general nuisance. he explained, in a louder voice that made me
Notices of man-traps and spring-guns only jump, pointing with a thick finger to the map,
seemed to increase their persistence; and—think “where the westerly fringe of the plantation
of it,” he snorted, “some local Research Society comes up to the end of the lower lawn at the back
actually wrote and asked permission for one of of the house—where it links on to those dark
their members to spend a night in the wood! patches, which are laurel shrubberies, running
Bolder fools, who didn’t write for leave, came and right up to the back premises—that’s where these
took away bits of bark from the trees and gave lights were seen. They passed from the wood to
them to clairvoyants, who invented in their turn a the shrubberies, and in this way reached the
further batch of tales. There was simply no end to house itself. Like silent rockets, one man
it all.” described them, rapid as lightning and exceed-
“Most distressing and annoying, I can well ingly bright.”
believe,” interposed the doctor. “And this evidence you spoke of?”
“Then suddenly, the phenomena ceased as “They actually reached the sides of the house.
mysteriously as they had begun, and the interest They’ve left a mark of scorching on the walls—the
flagged. The tales stopped. People got interested walls of the laundry building at the other end.
in something else. It all seemed to die out. This You shall see ’em tomorrow.” He pointed to the
was last July. I can tell you exactly, for I’ve kept a map to indicate the spot, and then straightened
diary more or less of what happened.” himself and glared about the room as though he
“Ah!” had said something no one could believe and
“But now, quite recently, within the past three expected contradiction.
weeks, it has all revived again with a rush—with a “Scorched—just as the faces were,” the doctor
kind of furious attack, so to speak. It has really murmured, looking significantly at me.
become unbearable. You may imagine what it “Scorched—yes,” repeated the Colonel, failing
means, and the general state of affairs, when I say to catch the rest of the sentence in his excitement.
that the possibility of leaving has occurred to There was a prolonged silence in the room, in
me.” which I heard the gurgling of the oil in the lamp
“Incendiarism?” suggested Dr. Silence, half and the click of the coals and the heavy breathing
under his breath, but not so low that Colonel of our host. The most unwelcome sensations were
Wragge did not hear him. creeping about my spine, and I wondered
“By Jove, sir, you take the very words out of whether my companion would scorn me utterly if
my mouth!” exclaimed the astonished man, glan- I asked to sleep on the sofa in his room. It was
cing from the doctor to me and from me to the eleven o’clock, I saw by the clock on the mantel-
doctor, and rattling the money in his pocket as piece. We had crossed the dividing line and were
though some explanation of my friend’s divining now well in the movement of the adventure. The
powers were to be found that way. fight between my interest and my dread became
“It’s only that you are thinking very vividly,” acute. But, even if turning back had been pos-
the doctor said quietly, “and your thoughts form sible, I think the interest would have easily gained
pictures in my mind before you utter them. It’s the day.
merely a little elementary thought-reading.”

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 9 OF 34

 “I have enemies, of course,” I heard the Col- sniffing the air like a dog. Then he closed both
onel’s rough voice break into the pause presently, doors cautiously and came back to the fireplace. A
“and have discharged a number of servants—” strange excitement seemed growing upon him.
“It’s not that,” put in John Silence briefly. Evidently he was trying to make up his mind to
“You think not? In a sense I am glad, and yet say something that he found it difficult to say.
—there are some things that can be met and dealt And John Silence, as I rightly judged, was waiting
with—” patiently for him to choose his own opportunity
He left the sentence unfinished, and looked and his own way of saying it. At last he turned
down at the floor with an expression of grim and faced us, squaring his great shoulders, and
severity that betrayed a momentary glimpse of stiffening perceptibly.
character. This fighting man loathed and Dr. Silence looked up sympathetically.
abhorred the thought of an enemy he could not “Your own experiences help me most,” he
see and come to grips with. Presently he moved observed quietly.
over and sat down in the chair between us. “The fact is,” the Colonel said, speaking very
Something like a sigh escaped him. low, “this past week there have been outbreaks of
Dr. Silence said nothing. fire in the house itself. Three separate outbreaks
“My sister, of course, is kept in ignorance, as —and all—in my sister’s room.”
far as possible, of all this,” he said disconnectedly, “Yes,” the doctor said, as if this was just what
and as if talking to himself. “But even if she knew he had expected to hear.
she would find matter-of-fact explanations. I only “Utterly unaccountable—all of them,” added
wish I could. I’m sure they exist.” the other, and then sat down. I began to under-
There came then an interval in the conversa- stand something of the reason of his excitement.
tion that was very significant. It did not seem a He was realising at last that the “natural”
real pause, or the silence real silence, for both explanation he had held to all along was becom-
men continued to think so rapidly and strongly ing impossible, and he hated it. It made him
that one almost imagined their thoughts clothed angry.
themselves in words in the air of the room. I was “Fortunately,” he went on, “she was out each
more than a little keyed up with the strange time and does not know. But I have made her
excitement of all I had heard, but what stimulated sleep now in a room on the ground floor.”
my nerves more than anything else was the obvi- “A wise precaution,” the doctor said simply.
ous fact that the doctor was clearly upon the trail He asked one or two questions. The fires had
of discovery. In his mind at that moment, I started in the curtains—once by the window and
believe, he had already solved the nature of this once by the bed. The third time smoke had been
perplexing psychical problem. His face was like a discovered by the maid coming from the cup-
mask, and he employed the absolute minimum of board, and it was found that Miss Wragge’s
gesture and words. All his energies were directed clothes hanging on the hooks were smouldering.
inwards, and by those incalculable methods and The doctor listened attentively, but made no com-
processes he had mastered with such infinite ment.
patience and study, I felt sure he was already in “And now can you tell me,” he said presently,
touch with the forces behind these singular phe- “what your own feeling about it is—your general
nomena and laying his deep plans for bringing impression?”
them into the open, and then effectively dealing “It sounds foolish to say so,” replied the sol-
with them. dier, after a moment’s hesitation, “but I feel
Colonel Wragge meanwhile grew more and exactly as I have often felt on active service in my
more fidgety. From time to time he turned Indian campaigns: just as if the house and all in it
towards my companion, as though about to were in a state of siege; as though a concealed
speak, yet always changing his mind at the last enemy were encamped about us—in ambush
moment. Once he went over and opened the door somewhere.” He uttered a soft nervous laugh. “As
suddenly, apparently to see if any one were listen- if the next sign of smoke would precipitate a
ing at the keyhole, for he disappeared a moment panic—a dreadful panic.”
between the two doors, and I then heard him The picture came before me of the night shad-
open the outer one. He stood there for some owing the house, and the twisted pine trees he
seconds and made a noise as though he were had described crowding about it, concealing some

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 10 OF 34

powerful enemy; and, glancing at the resolute Out in the cold and chilly hall he lit our
face and figure of the old soldier, forced at length candles and took us upstairs.
to his confession, I understood something of all The house was at rest and still, every one
he had been through before he sought the assist- asleep. We moved softly.
ance of John Silence. Through the windows on the stairs we saw the
“And tomorrow, unless I am mistaken, is full moonlight falling across the lawn, throwing deep
moon,” said the doctor suddenly, watching the shadows. The nearer pine trees were just visible
other’s face for the effect of his apparently care- in the distance, a wall of impenetrable blackness.
less words. Our host came for a moment to our rooms to
Colonel Wragge gave an uncontrollable start, see that we had everything.
and his face for the first time showed unmistak- He pointed to a coil of strong rope lying
able pallor. beside the window, fastened to the wall by means
“What in the world—?” he began, his lip quiv- of an iron ring. Evidently it had been recently put
ering. in.
“Only that I am beginning to see light in this “I don’t think we shall need it,” Dr. Silence
extraordinary affair,” returned the other calmly, said, with a smile.
“and, if my theory is correct, each month when “I trust not,” replied our host gravely. “I sleep
the moon is at the full should witness an increase quite close to you across the landing,” he
in the activity of the phenomena.” whispered, pointing to his door, “and if you—if
“I don’t see the connection,” Colonel Wragge you want anything in the night you will know
answered almost savagely, “but I am bound to say where to find me.”
my diary bears you out.” He wore the most He wished us pleasant dreams and disap-
puzzled expression I have ever seen upon an hon- peared down the passage into his room, shading
est face, but he abhorred this additional corrobor- the candle with his big muscular hand from the
ation of an explanation that perplexed him. draughts.
“I confess,” he repeated, “I cannot see the John Silence stopped me a moment before I
connection.” went.
“Why should you?” said the doctor, with his “You know what it is?” I asked, with an excite-
first laugh that evening. He got up and hung the ment that even overcame my weariness.
map upon the wall again. “But I do—because “Yes,” he said, “I’m almost sure. And you?”
these things are my special study—and let me add “Not the smallest notion.”
that I have yet to come across a problem that is He looked disappointed, but not half as disap-
not natural, and has not a natural explanation. pointed as I felt.
It’s merely a question of how much one knows— “Egypt,” he whispered, “Egypt!”
and admits.”
Colonel Wragge eyed him with a new and
curious respect in his face. But his feelings were II
soothed. Moreover, the doctor’s laugh and change
of manner came as a relief to all, and broke the Nothing happened to disturb me in the night
spell of grave suspense that had held us so long. —nothing, that is, except a nightmare in which
We all rose and stretched our limbs, and took Colonel Wragge chased me amid thin streaks of
little walks about the room. fire, and his sister always prevented my escape by
“I am glad, Dr. Silence, if you will allow me to suddenly rising up out of the ground in her chair
say so, that you are here,” he said simply, “very —dead. The deep baying of dogs woke me once,
glad indeed. And now I fear I have kept you both just before the dawn, it must have been, for I saw
up very late,” with a glance to include me, “for the window frame against the sky; there was a
you must be tired, and ready for your beds. I have flash of lightning, too, I thought, as I turned over
told you all there is to tell,” he added, “and in bed. And it was warm, for October oppressively
tomorrow you must feel perfectly free to take any warm.
steps you think necessary.” It was after eleven o’clock when our host sug-
The end was abrupt, yet natural, for there was gested going out with the guns, these, we under-
nothing more to say, and neither of these men stood, being a somewhat thin disguise for our
talked for mere talking’s sake. true purpose. Personally, I was glad to be in the

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 11 OF 34

open air, for the atmosphere of the house was get the dogs and go first to the Twelve Acre Wood
heavy with presentiment. The sense of impending I told you about last night. It’s quite near.”
disaster hung over all. Fear stalked the passages, We found the dogs in the stable, and I
and lurked in the corners of every room. It was a recalled the deep baying of the night when a fine
house haunted, but really haunted; not by some bloodhound and two great Danes leaped out to
vague shadow of the dead, but by a definite greet us.
though incalculable influence that was actively Singular companions for guns, I thought to
alive, and dangerous. At the least smell of smoke myself, as we struck out across the fields and the
the entire household quivered. An odour of burn- great creatures bounded and ran beside us, nose
ing, I was convinced, would paralyse all the to ground.
inmates. For the servants, though professedly The conversation was scanty. John Silence’s
ignorant by the master’s unspoken orders, yet grave face did not encourage talk. He wore the
shared the common dread; and the hideous expression I knew well—that look of earnest soli-
uncertainty, joined with this display of so spiteful citude which meant that his whole being was
and calculated a spirit of malignity, provided a deeply absorbed and preoccupied. Frightened, I
kind of black doom that draped not only the had never seen him, but anxious often—it always
walls, but also the minds of the people living moved me to witness it—and he was anxious now.
within them. “On the way back you shall see the laundry
Only the bright and cheerful vision of old building,” Colonel Wragge observed shortly, for
Miss Wragge being pushed about the house in her he, too, found little to say. “We shall attract less
noiseless chair, chatting and nodding briskly to attention then.”
every one she met, prevented us from giving way Yet not all the crisp beauty of the morning
entirely to the depression which governed the seemed able to dispel the feelings of uneasy dread
majority. The sight of her was like a gleam of sun- that gathered increasingly about our minds as we
shine through the depths of some ill-omened went.
wood, and just as we went out I saw her being In a very few minutes a clump of pine trees
wheeled along by her attendant into the sunshine concealed the house from view, and we found
of the back lawn, and caught her cheery smile as ourselves on the outskirts of a densely grown
she turned her head and wished us good sport. plantation of conifers. Colonel Wragge stopped
The morning was October at its best. Sun- abruptly, and, producing a map from his pocket,
shine glistened on the dew-drenched grass and explained once more very briefly its position with
on leaves turned golden-red. The dainty messen- regard to the house. He showed how it ran up
gers of coming hoar-frost were already in the air, almost to the walls of the laundry building—
a search for permanent winter quarters. From the though at the moment beyond our actual view—
wide moors that everywhere swept up against the and pointed to the windows of his sister’s bed-
sky, like a purple sea splashed by the occasional room where the fires had been. The room, now
grey of rocky clefts, there stole down the cool and empty, looked straight on to the wood. Then,
perfumed wind of the west. glancing nervously about him, and calling the
And the keen taste of the sea ran through all dogs to heel, he proposed that we should enter
like a master-flavour, borne over the spaces per- the plantation and make as thorough examina-
haps by the seagulls that cried and circled high in tion of it as we thought worth while. The dogs, he
the air. added, might perhaps be persuaded to accom-
But our host took little interest in this spark- pany us a little way—and he pointed to where
ling beauty, and had no thought of showing off they cowered at his feet—but he doubted it.
the scenery of his property. His mind was other- “Neither voice nor whip will get them very far,
wise intent, and, for that matter, so were our own. I’m afraid,” he said. “I know by experience.”
“Those bleak moors and hills stretch “If you have no objection,” replied Dr. Silence,
unbroken for hours,” he said, with a sweep of the with decision, and speaking almost for the first
hand; “and over there, some four miles,” pointing time, “we will make our examination alone—Mr.
in another direction, “lies S—— Bay, a long, Hubbard and myself. It will be best so.”
swampy inlet of the sea, haunted by myriads of His tone was absolutely final, and the Colonel
seabirds. On the other side of the house are the acquiesced so politely that even a less intuitive
plantations and pine-woods. I thought we would

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 12 OF 34

man than myself must have seen that he was “You still have no strong impressions?” he
genuinely relieved. asked. “Nothing happened in the night, for
“You doubtless have good reasons,” he said. instance? No vivid dreamings?”
“Merely that I wish to obtain my impressions He looked closely for my answer, I was aware.
uncoloured. This delicate clue I am working on “I slept almost an unbroken sleep. I was tre-
might be so easily blurred by the thought-cur- mendously tired, you know, and, but for the
rents of another mind with strongly preconceived oppressive heat—”
ideas.” “Good! You still notice the heat, then,” he said
“Perfectly. I understand,” rejoined the soldier, to himself, rather than expecting an answer. “And
though with an expression of countenance that the lightning?” he added, “that lightning out of a
plainly contradicted his words. “Then I will wait clear sky—that flashing—did you notice that?”
here with the dogs; and we’ll have a look at the I answered truly that I thought I had seen a
laundry on our way home.” flash during a moment of wakefulness, and he
I turned once to look back as we clambered then drew my attention to certain facts before
over the low stone wall built by the late owner, moving on.
and saw his straight, soldierly figure standing in “You remember the sensation of warmth
the sunlit field watching us with a curiously when you put the letter to your forehead in the
intent look on his face. train; the heat generally in the house last evening,
There was something to me incongruous, yet and, as you now mention, in the night. You heard,
distinctly pathetic, in the man’s efforts to meet all too, the Colonel’s stories about the appearances
far-fetched explanations of the mystery with con- of fire in this wood and in the house itself, and
tempt, and at the same time in his stolid, the way his brother and the gamekeeper came to
unswerving investigation of it all. He nodded at their deaths twenty years ago.”
me and made a gesture of farewell with his hand. I nodded, wondering what in the world it all
That picture of him, standing in the sunshine meant.
with his big dogs, steadily watching us, remains “And you get no clue from these facts?” he
with me to this day. asked, a trifle surprised.
Dr. Silence led the way in among the twisted I searched every corner of my mind and ima-
trunks, planted closely together in serried ranks, gination for some inkling of his meaning, but was
and I followed sharp at his heels. The moment we obliged to admit that I understood nothing so far.
were out of sight he turned and put down his gun “Never mind, you will later. And now,” he
against the roots of a big tree, and I did likewise. added, “we will go over the wood and see what we
“We shall hardly want these cumbersome can find.”
weapons of murder,” he observed, with a passing His words explained to me something of his
smile. method. We were to keep our minds alert and
“You are sure of your clue, then?” I asked at report to each other the least fancy that crossed
once, bursting with curiosity, yet fearing to betray the picture-gallery of our thoughts. Then, just as
it lest he should think me unworthy. we started, he turned again to me with a final
His own methods were so absolutely simple warning.
and untheatrical. “And, for your safety,” he said earnestly,
“I am sure of my clue,” he answered gravely. “imagine now—and for that matter, imagine
“And I think we have come just in time. You shall always until we leave this place—imagine with the
know in due course. For the present—be content utmost keenness, that you are surrounded by a
to follow and observe. And think, steadily. The shell that protects you.
support of your mind will help me.” Picture yourself inside a protective envelope,
His voice had that quiet mastery in it which and build it up with the most intense imagination
leads men to face death with a sort of happiness you can evoke. Pour the whole force of your
and pride. I would have followed him anywhere thought and will into it. Believe vividly all
at that moment. At the same time his words con- through this adventure that such a shell, con-
veyed a sense of dread seriousness. I caught the structed of your thought, will and imagination,
thrill of his confidence; but also, in this broad surrounds you completely, and that nothing can
light of day, I felt the measure of alarm that lay pierce it to attack.”
behind.

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 13 OF 34

 He spoke with dramatic conviction, gazing might have been groping in the heart of some
hard at me as though to enforce his meaning, and primeval forest. Then, suddenly, the brambles
then moved forward and began to pick his way and tussocks and stringlike grass came to an end;
over the rough, tussocky ground into the wood. the trees opened out; and the ground began to
And meanwhile, knowing the efficacy of his pre- slope upwards towards a large central mound. We
scription, I adopted it to the best of my ability. had reached the middle of the plantation, and
The trees at once closed about us like the before us stood the broken Druid stones our host
night. Their branches met overhead in a continu- had mentioned. We walked easily up the little
ous tangle, their stems crept closer and closer, the hill, between the sparser stems, and, resting upon
brambly undergrowth thickened and multiplied. one of the ivy-covered boulders, looked round
We tore our trousers, scratched our hands, and upon a comparatively open space, as large, per-
our eyes filled with fine dust that made it most haps, as a small London Square.
difficult to avoid the clinging, prickly network of Thinking of the ceremonies and sacrifices this
branches and creepers. Coarse white grass that rough circle of prehistoric monoliths might have
caught our feet like string grew here and there in witnessed, I looked up into my companion’s face
patches. It crowned the lumps of peaty growth with an unspoken question. But he read my
that stuck up like human heads, fantastically thought and shook his head.
dressed, thrusting up at us out of the ground with “Our mystery has nothing to do with these
crests of dead hair. We stumbled and floundered dead symbols,” he said, “but with something per-
among them. haps even more ancient, and of another country
It was hard going, and I could well conceive it altogether.”
impossible to find a way at all in the night-time. “Egypt?” I said half under my breath, hope-
We jumped, when possible, from tussock to tus- lessly puzzled, but recalling his words in my bed-
sock, and it seemed as though we were springing room.
among heads on a battlefield, and that this dead He nodded. Mentally I still floundered, but he
white grass concealed eyes that turned to stare as seemed intensely preoccupied and it was no time
we passed. for asking questions; so while his words circled
Here and there the sunlight shot in with vivid unintelligibly in my mind I looked round at the
spots of white light, dazzling the sight, but only scene before me, glad of the opportunity to
making the surrounding gloom deeper by con- recover breath and some measure of composure.
trast. And on two occasions we passed dark circu- But hardly had I time to notice the twisted
lar places in the grass where fires had eaten their and contorted shapes of many of the pine trees
mark and left a ring of ashes. Dr. Silence pointed close at hand when Dr. Silence leaned over and
to them, but without comment and without paus- touched me on the shoulder. He pointed down
ing, and the sight of them woke in me a singular the slope. And the look I saw in his eyes keyed up
realisation of the dread that lay so far only just every nerve in my body to its utmost pitch.
out of sight in this adventure. A thin, almost imperceptible column of blue
It was exhausting work, and heavy going. We smoke was rising among the trees some twenty
kept close together. The warmth, too, was yards away at the foot of the mound. It curled up
extraordinary. Yet it did not seem the warmth of and up, and disappeared from sight among the
the body due to violent exertion, but rather an tangled branches overhead. It was scarcely
inner heat of the mind that laid glowing hands of thicker than the smoke from a small brand of
fire upon the heart and set the brain in a kind of burning wood.
steady blaze. When my companion found himself “Protect yourself! Imagine your shell
too far in advance, he waited for me to come up. strongly,” whispered the doctor sharply, “and fol-
The place had evidently been untouched by hand low me closely.”
of man, keeper, forester or sportsman, for many a He rose at once and moved swiftly down the
year; and my thoughts, as we advanced painfully, slope towards the smoke, and I followed, afraid to
were not unlike the state of the wood itself—dark, remain alone. I heard the soft crunching of our
confused, full of a haunting wonder and the steps on the pine needles. Over his shoulder I
shadow of fear. watched the thin blue spiral, without once taking
By this time all signs of the open field behind my eyes off it. I hardly know how to describe the
us were hid. No single gleam penetrated. We peculiar sense of vague horror inspired in me by

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 14 OF 34

the sight of that streak of smoke pencilling its way lowing something. To judge by the poise of his
upwards among the dark trees. head he kept his eyes steadily at a certain level—
And the sensation of increasing heat as we just above the height of a man—and the con-
approached was phenomenal. It was like walking sequence was he stumbled a good deal over the
towards a glowing yet invisible fire. roughness of the ground. The hissing sound had
As we drew nearer his pace slackened. Then stopped. There was no sound of any kind, and
he stopped and pointed, and I saw a small circle what he saw to follow was utterly beyond me. I
of burnt grass upon the ground. The tussocks only know, that in mortal dread of being left
were blackened and smouldering, and from the behind, and with a biting curiosity to see
centre rose this line of smoke, pale, blue, steady. whatever there was to be seen, I followed as
Then I noticed a movement of the atmosphere quickly as I could, and even then barely suc-
beside us, as if the warm air were rising and the ceeded in keeping up with him.
cooler air rushing in to take its place: a little And, as we went, the whole mad jumble of the
centre of wind in the stillness. Overhead the Colonel’s stories ran through my brain, touching
boughs stirred and trembled where the smoke a sense of frightened laughter that was only held
disappeared. Otherwise, not a tree sighed, not a in check by the sight of this earnest, hurrying fig-
sound made itself heard. The wood was still as a ure before me.
graveyard. A horrible idea came to me that the For John Silence at work inspired me with a
course of nature was about to change without kind of awe. He looked so diminutive among
warning, had changed a little already, that the sky these giant twisted trees, while yet I knew that his
would drop, or the surface of the earth crash purpose and his knowledge were so great, and
inwards like a broken bubble. Something, cer- even in hurry he was dignified. The fancy that we
tainly, reached up to the citadel of my reason, were playing some queer, exaggerated game
causing its throne to shake. together met the fact that we were two men dan-
John Silence moved forward again. I could cing upon the brink of some possible tragedy, and
not see his face, but his attitude was plainly one the mingling of the two emotions in my mind was
of resolution, of muscles and mind ready for vig- both grotesque and terrifying.
orous action. We were within ten feet of the He never turned in his mad chase, but pushed
blackened circle when the smoke of a sudden rapidly on, while I panted after him like a figure
ceased to rise, and vanished. The tail of the in some unreasoning nightmare. And, as I ran, it
column disappeared in the air above, and at the came upon me that he had been aware all the
same instant it seemed to me that the sensation time, in his quiet, internal way, of many things
of heat passed from my face, and the motion of that he had kept for his own secret consideration;
the wind was gone. The calm spirit of the fresh he had been watching, waiting, planning from the
October day resumed command. very moment we entered the shade of the wood.
Side by side we advanced and examined the By some inner, concentrated process of mind,
place. The grass was smouldering, the ground still dynamic if not actually magical, he had been in
hot. The circle of burned earth was a foot to a foot direct contact with the source of the whole adven-
and a half in diameter. It looked like an ordinary ture, the very essence of the real mystery. And
picnic fireplace. I bent down cautiously to look, now the forces were moving to a climax.
but in a second I sprang back with an involuntary Something was about to happen, something
cry of alarm, for, as the doctor stamped on the important, something possibly dreadful. Every
ashes to prevent them spreading, a sound of hiss- nerve, every sense, every significant gesture of the
ing rose from the spot as though he had kicked a plunging figure before me proclaimed the fact
living creature. This hissing was faintly audible in just as surely as the skies, the winds, and the face
the air. It moved past us, away towards the of the earth tell the birds the time to migrate and
thicker portion of the wood in the direction of our warn the animals that danger lurks and they must
field, and in a second Dr. Silence had left the fire move.
and started in pursuit. In a few moments we reached the foot of the
And then began the most extraordinary hunt mound and entered the tangled undergrowth that
of invisibility I can ever conceive. lay between us and the sunlight of the field.
He went fast even at the beginning, and, of Here the difficulties of fast travelling
course, it was perfectly obvious that he was fol- increased a hundredfold. There were brambles to

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 15 OF 34

dodge, low boughs to dive under, and countless some interior divining that seemed infallible,
tree trunks closing up to make a direct path made no false turns, though how he failed to
impossible. Yet Dr. Silence never seemed to falter crash headlong into the trees has remained a
or hesitate. He went, diving, jumping, dodging, mystery to me ever since. And then, with a sud-
ducking, but ever in the same main direction, fol- den rush, we found ourselves on the skirts of the
lowing a clean trail. wood with the open field lying in bright sunshine
Twice I tripped and fell, and both times, when before our eyes.
I picked myself up again, I saw him ahead of me, “Too late!” I heard him cry, a note of anguish
still forcing a way like a dog after its quarry. in his voice. “It’s out—and, by God, it’s making for
And sometimes, like a dog, he stopped and the house!”
pointed—human pointing it was, psychic point- I saw the Colonel standing in the field with his
ing, and each time he stopped to point I heard dogs where we had left him. He was bending
that faint high hissing in the air beyond us. The double, peering into the wood where he heard us
instinct of an infallible dowser possessed him, running, and he straightened up like a bent whip
and he made no mistakes. released. John Silence dashed passed, calling him
At length, abruptly, I caught up with him, and to follow.
found that we stood at the edge of the shallow “We shall lose the trail in the light,” I heard
pond Colonel Wragge had mentioned in his him cry as he ran. “But quick! We may yet get
account the night before. It was long and narrow, there in time!”
filled with dark brown water, in which the trees That wild rush across the open field, with the
were dimly reflected. Not a ripple stirred its sur- dogs at our heels, leaping and barking, and the
face. elderly Colonel behind us running as though for
“Watch!” he cried out, as I came up. “It’s his life, shall I ever forget it? Though I had only
going to cross. It’s bound to betray itself. The vague ideas of the meaning of it all, I put my best
water is its natural enemy, and we shall see the foot forward, and, being the youngest of the
direction.” three, I reached the house an easy first. I drew up,
And, even as he spoke, a thin line like the panting, and turned to wait for the others. But, as
track of a water-spider, shot swiftly across the I turned, something moving a little distance away
shiny surface; there was a ghost of steam in the caught my eye, and in that moment I swear I
air above; and immediately I became aware of an experienced the most overwhelming and singular
odour of burning. shock of surprise and terror I have ever known, or
Dr. Silence turned and shot a glance at me can conceive as possible.
that made me think of lightning. I began to shake For the front door was open, and the waist of
all over. the house being narrow, I could see through the
“Quick!” he cried with excitement, “to the trail hall into the dining-room beyond, and so out on
again! We must run around. It’s going to the to the back lawn, and there I saw no less a sight
house!” than the figure of Miss Wragge—running. Even at
The alarm in his voice quite terrified me. that distance it was plain that she had seen me,
Without a false step I dashed round the slippery and was coming fast towards me, running with
banks and dived again at his heels into the sea of the frantic gait of a terror-stricken woman. She
bushes and tree trunks. We were now in the thick had recovered the use of her legs.
of the very dense belt that ran around the outer Her face was a livid grey, as of death itself, but
edge of the plantation, and the field was near; yet the general expression was one of laughter, for
so dark was the tangle that it was some time her mouth was gaping, and her eyes, always
before the first shafts of white sunlight became bright, shone with the light of a wild merriment
visible. The doctor now ran in zigzags. that seemed the merriment of a child, yet was sin-
He was following something that dodged and gularly ghastly. And that very second, as she fled
doubled quite wonderfully, yet had begun, I fan- past me into her brother’s arms behind, I smelt
cied, to move more slowly than before. again most unmistakably the odour of burning,
“Quick!” he cried. “In the light we shall lose and to this day the smell of smoke and fire can
it!” come very near to turning me sick with the
I still saw nothing, heard nothing, caught no memory of what I had seen.
suggestion of a trail; yet this man, guided by

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 16 OF 34

 Fast on her heels, too, came the terrified ter in hand from the start. He issued orders like a
attendant, more mistress of herself, and able to martinet, and, almost before I could realise it,
speak—which the old lady could not do—but with there were streaming buckets on the scene and a
a face almost, if not quite, as fearful. line of men and women formed between the
“We were down by the bushes in the sun,”— building and the stable pump.
she gasped and screamed in reply to Colonel “Inside,” I heard John Silence cry, and the
Wragge’s distracted questionings,—”I was wheel- Colonel followed him through the door, while I
ing the chair as usual when she shrieked and was just quick enough at their heels to hear him
leaped—I don’t know exactly—I was too add, “the smoke’s the worst part of it. There’s no
frightened to see—Oh, my God! She jumped clean fire yet, I think.”
out of the chair—and ran! There was a blast of And, true enough, there was no fire. The
hot air from the wood, and she hid her face and interior was thick with smoke, but it speedily
jumped. She didn’t make a sound—she didn’t cry cleared and not a single bucket was used upon the
out, or make a sound. She just ran.” floor or walls. The air was stifling, the heat fear-
But the nightmare horror of it all reached the ful.
breaking point a few minutes later, and while I “There’s precious little to burn in here; it’s all
was still standing in the hall temporarily bereft of stone,” the Colonel exclaimed, coughing. But the
speech and movement; for while the doctor, the doctor was pointing to the wooden covers of the
Colonel and the attendant were half-way up the great cauldron in which the clothes were washed,
staircase, helping the fainting woman to the pri- and we saw that these were smouldering and
vacy of her room, and all in a confused group of charred. And when we sprinkled half a bucket of
dark figures, there sounded a voice behind me, water on them the surrounding bricks hissed and
and I turned to see the butler, his face dripping fizzed and sent up clouds of steam. Through the
with perspiration, his eyes starting out of his open door and windows this passed out with the
head. rest of the smoke, and we three stood there on the
“The laundry’s on fire!” he cried; “the laundry brick floor staring at the spot and wondering,
building’s a-caught!” each in our own fashion, how in the name of nat-
I remember his odd expression “a-caught,” ural law the place could have caught fire or
and wanting to laugh, but finding my face rigid smoked at all.
and inflexible. And each was silent—myself from sheer inca-
“The devil’s about again, s’help me Gawd!” he pacity and befuddlement, the Colonel from the
cried, in a voice thin with terror, running about in quiet pluck that faces all things yet speaks little,
circles. and John Silence from the intense mental grap-
And then the group on the stairs scattered as pling with this latest manifestation of a profound
at the sound of a shot, and the Colonel and Dr. problem that called for concentration of thought
Silence came down three steps at a time, leaving rather than for any words.
the afflicted Miss Wragge to the care of her single There was really nothing to say. The facts
attendant. were indisputable.
We were out across the front lawn in a Colonel Wragge was the first to utter.
moment and round the corner of the house, the “My sister,” he said briefly, and moved off. In
Colonel leading, Silence and I at his heels, and the yard I heard him sending the frightened ser-
the portly butler puffing some distance in the vants about their business in an excellently mat-
rear, getting more and more mixed in his ter-of-fact voice, scolding some one roundly for
addresses to God and the devil; and the moment making such a big fire and letting the flues get
we passed the stables and came into view of the over-heated, and paying no heed to the stammer-
laundry building, we saw a wicked-looking ing reply that no fire had been lit there for several
volume of smoke pouring out of the narrow win- days. Then he dispatched a groom on horseback
dows, and the frightened women-servants and for the local doctor.
grooms running hither and thither, calling aloud Then Dr. Silence turned and looked at me.
as they ran. The absolute control he possessed, not only over
The arrival of the master restored order the outward expression of emotion by gesture,
instantly, and this retired soldier, poor thinker change of colour, light in the eyes, and so forth,
perhaps, but capable man of action, had the mat- but also, as I well knew, over its very birth in his

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 17 OF 34

heart, the masklike face of the dead he could interview easier for our host, and I went upstairs
assume at will, made it extremely difficult to to my own room—shaking.
know at any given moment what was at work in But in the solitude of my room the vivid
his inner consciousness. But now, when he memories of the last hour revived so mercilessly
turned and looked at me, there was no sphinx- that I began to feel I should never in my whole
expression there, but rather the keen triumphant life lose the dreadful picture of Miss Wragge run-
face of a man who had solved a dangerous and ning—that dreadful human climax after all the
complicated problem, and saw his way to a clean non-human mystery in the wood—and I was not
victory. sorry when a servant knocked at my door and
“Now do you guess?” he asked quietly, as said that Colonel Wragge would be glad if I would
though it were the simplest matter in the world, join them in the little smoking-room.
and ignorance were impossible. “I think it is better you should be present,”
I could only stare stupidly and remain silent. was all Colonel Wragge said as I entered the
He glanced down at the charred cauldron-lids, room. I took the chair with my back to the win-
and traced a figure in the air with his finger. dow.
But I was too excited, or too mortified, or still There was still an hour before lunch, though I
too dazed, perhaps, to see what it was he out- imagine that the usual divisions of the day hardly
lined, or what it was he meant to convey. I could found a place in the thoughts of any one of us.
only go on staring and shaking my puzzled head. The atmosphere of the room was what I might
“A fire-elemental,” he cried, “a fire-elemental call electric. The Colonel was positively bristling;
of the most powerful and malignant kind—” he stood with his back to the fire, fingering an
“A what?” thundered the voice of Colonel unlit black cigar, his face flushed, his being obvi-
Wragge behind us, having returned suddenly and ously roused and ready for action. He hated this
overheard. mystery. It was poisonous to his nature, and he
“It’s a fire-elemental,” repeated Dr. Silence longed to meet something face to face—
more calmly, but with a note of triumph in his something he could gauge and fight. Dr. Silence, I
voice he could not keep out, “and a fire-elemental noticed at once, was sitting before the map of the
enraged.” estate which was spread upon a table. I knew by
The light began to dawn in my mind at last. his expression the state of his mind. He was in
But the Colonel—who had never heard the term the thick of it all, knew it, delighted in it, and was
before, and was besides feeling considerably working at high pressure. He recognised my pres-
worked up for a plain man with all this mystery ence with a lifted eyelid, and the flash of the eye,
he knew not how to grapple with—the Colonel contrasted with his stillness and composure, told
stood, with the most dumfoundered look ever me volumes.
seen on a human countenance, and continued to “I was about to explain to our host briefly
roar, and stammer, and stare. what seems to me afoot in all this business,” he
“And why,” he began, savage with the desire said without looking up, “when he asked that you
to find something visible he could fight—”why, in should join us so that we can all work together.”
the name of all the blazes—?” and then stopped as And, while signifying my assent, I caught myself
John Silence moved up and took his arm. wondering what quality it was in the calm speech
“There, my dear Colonel Wragge,” he said of this undemonstrative man that was so full of
gently, “you touch the heart of the whole thing. power, so charged with the strange, virile person-
You ask ‘Why.’ That is precisely our problem.” He ality behind it and that seemed to inspire us with
held the soldier’s eyes firmly with his own. “And his own confidence as by a process of radiation.
that, too, I think, we shall soon know. Come and “Mr. Hubbard,” he went on gravely, turning
let us talk over a plan of action—that room with to the soldier, “knows something of my methods,
the double doors, perhaps.” and in more than one—er—interesting situation
The word “action” calmed him a little, and he has proved of assistance. What we want now”—
led the way, without further speech, back into the and here he suddenly got up and took his place
house, and down the long stone passage to the on the mat beside the Colonel, and looked hard at
room where we had heard his stories on the night him—”is men who have self-control, who are sure
of our arrival. I understood from the doctor’s of themselves, whose minds at the critical
glance that my presence would not make the moment will emit positive forces, instead of the

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 18 OF 34

wavering and uncertain currents due to negative electricity can be harnessed by the practical man
feelings—due, for instance, to fear.” of this century.
He looked at us each in turn. Colonel Wragge “Alone, these blind elemental energies can
moved his feet farther apart, and squared his accomplish little, but governed and directed by
shoulders; and I felt guilty but said nothing, con- the trained will of a powerful manipulator they
scious that my latent store of courage was being may become potent activities for good or evil.
deliberately hauled to the front. He was winding They are the basis of all magic, and it is the
me up like a clock. motive behind them that constitutes the magic
“So that, in what is yet to come,” continued ‘black’ or ‘white’; they can be the vehicles of
our leader, “each of us will contribute his share of curses or of blessings, for a curse is nothing more
power, and ensure success for my plan.” than the thought of a violent will perpetuated.
“I’m not afraid of anything I can see,” said the And in such cases—cases like this—the conscious,
Colonel bluntly. directing will of the mind that is using the ele-
“I’m ready,” I heard myself say, as it were mental stands always behind the phenomena—”
automatically, “for anything,” and then added, “You think that my brother—!” broke in the
feeling the declaration was lamely insufficient, Colonel, aghast.
“and everything.” “Has nothing whatever to do with it—directly.
Dr. Silence left the mat and began walking to The fire-elemental that has here been tormenting
and fro about the room, both hands plunged deep you and your household was sent upon its mis-
into the pockets of his shooting-jacket. sion long before you, or your family, or your
Tremendous vitality streamed from him. I ancestors, or even the nation you belong to—
never took my eyes off the small, moving figure; unless I am much mistaken—was even in exist-
small yes,—and yet somehow making me think of ence.
a giant plotting the destruction of worlds. And his We will come to that a little later; after the
manner was gentle, as always, soothing almost, experiment I propose to make we shall be more
and his words uttered quietly without emphasis positive. At present I can only say we have to deal
or emotion. Most of what he said was addressed, now, not only with the phenomenon of Attacking
though not too obviously, to the Colonel. Fire merely, but with the vindictive and enraged
“The violence of this sudden attack,” he said intelligence that is directing it from behind the
softly, pacing to and fro beneath the bookcase at scenes—vindictive and enraged,”—he repeated
the end of the room, “is due, of course, partly to the words.
the fact that tonight the moon is at the full”—here “That explains—” began Colonel Wragge,
he glanced at me for a moment—“and partly to seeking furiously for words he could not find
the fact that we have all been so deliberately con- quickly enough.
centrating upon the matter. Our thinking, our “Much,” said John Silence, with a gesture to
investigation, has stirred it into unusual activity. I restrain him.
mean that the intelligent force behind these He stopped a moment in the middle of his
manifestations has realised that some one is walk, and a deep silence came down over the little
busied about its destruction. And it is now on the room. Through the windows the sunlight seemed
defensive: more, it is aggressive.” less bright, the long line of dark hills less friendly,
“But ‘it’—what is ‘it’?” began the soldier, fum- making me think of a vast wave towering to
ing. “What, in the name of all that’s dreadful, is a heaven and about to break and overwhelm us.
fire-elemental?” Something formidable had crept into the
“I cannot give you at this moment,” replied world about us. For, undoubtedly, there was a
Dr. Silence, turning to him, but undisturbed by disquieting thought, holding terror as well as
the interruption, “a lecture on the nature and his- awe, in the picture his words conjured up: the
tory of magic, but can only say that an Elemental conception of a human will reaching its deathless
is the active force behind the elements,—whether hand, spiteful and destructive, down through the
earth, air, water, or fire,—it is impersonal in its ages, to strike the living and afflict the innocent.
essential nature, but can be focused, personified, “But what is its object?” burst out the soldier,
ensouled, so to say, by those who know how—by unable to restrain himself longer in the silence.
magicians, if you will—for certain purposes of “Why does it come from that plantation? And
their own, much in the same way that steam and

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 19 OF 34

why should it attack us, or any one in particular?” will answer the purpose, and we can make the
Questions began to pour from him in a stream. experiment as pleasant as possible. Only, the
“All in good time,” the doctor answered blood must be freshly spilled and strong with the
quietly, having let him run on for several vital emanations that attract this peculiar class of
minutes. “But I must first discover positively elemental creature. Perhaps—perhaps if some pig
what, or who, it is that directs this particular fire- on the estate is ready for the market—”
elemental. And, to do that, we must first”—he He turned to hide a smile; but the passing
spoke with slow deliberation—“seek to capture— touch of comedy found no echo in the mind of
to confine by visibility—to limit its sphere in a our host, who did not understand how to change
concrete form.” quickly from one emotion to another. Clearly he
“Good heavens almighty!” exclaimed the sol- was debating many things laboriously in his hon-
dier, mixing his words in his unfeigned surprise. est brain. But, in the end, the earnestness and sci-
“Quite so,” pursued the other calmly; “for in entific disinterestedness of the doctor, whose
so doing I think we can release it from the pur- influence over him was already very great, won
pose that binds it, restore it to its normal condi- the day, and he presently looked up more calmly,
tion of latent fire, and also”—he lowered his voice and observed shortly that he thought perhaps the
perceptibly—“also discover the face and form of matter could be arranged.
the Being that ensouls it.” “There are other and pleasanter methods,”
“The man behind the gun!” cried the Colonel, Dr. Silence went on to explain, “but they require
beginning to understand something, and leaning time and preparation, and things have gone much
forward so as not to miss a single syllable. too far, in my opinion, to admit of delay. And the
“I mean that in the last resort, before it process need cause you no distress: we sit round
returns to the womb of potential fire, it will prob- the bowl and await results. Nothing more. The
ably assume the face and figure of its Director, of emanations of blood—which, as Levi says, is the
the man of magical knowledge who originally first incarnation of the universal fluid—furnish
bound it with his incantations and sent it forth the materials out of which the creatures of dis-
upon its mission of centuries.” carnate life, spirits if you prefer, can fashion
The soldier sat down and gasped openly in his themselves a temporary appearance. The process
face, breathing hard; but it was a very subdued is old, and lies at the root of all blood sacrifice. It
voice that framed the question. was known to the priests of Baal, and it is known
“And how do you propose to make it visible? to the modern ecstasy dancers who cut them-
How capture and confine it? What d’ye mean, Dr. selves to produce objective phantoms who dance
John Silence?” with them. And the least gifted clairvoyant could
“By furnishing it with the materials for a tell you that the forms to be seen in the vicinity of
form. By the process of materialisation simply. slaughter-houses, or hovering above the deserted
Once limited by dimensions, it will become slow, battlefields, are—well, simply beyond all descrip-
heavy, visible. We can then dissipate it. Invisible tion. I do not mean,” he added, noticing the
fire, you see, is dangerous and incalculable; uneasy fidgeting of his host, “that anything in our
locked up in a form we can perhaps manage it. laundry-experiment need appear to terrify us, for
We must betray it—to its death.” this case seems a comparatively simple one, and
“And this material?” we asked in the same it is only the vindictive character of the intelli-
breath, although I think I had already guessed. gence directing this fire-elemental that causes
“Not pleasant, but effective,” came the quiet anxiety and makes for personal danger.”
reply; “the exhalations of freshly spilled blood.” “It is curious,” said the Colonel, with a sudden
“Not human blood!” cried Colonel Wragge, rush of words, drawing a deep breath, and as
starting up from his chair with a voice like an though speaking of things distasteful to him,
explosion. I thought his eyes would start from “that during my years among the Hill Tribes of
their sockets. Northern India I came across—personally came
The face of Dr. Silence relaxed in spite of him- across—instances of the sacrifices of blood to cer-
self, and his spontaneous little laugh brought a tain deities being stopped suddenly, and all man-
welcome though momentary relief. ner of disasters happening until they were
“The days of human sacrifice, I hope, will resumed. Fires broke out in the huts, and even on
never come again,” he explained. “Animal blood the clothes, of the natives—and—and I admit I

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 20 OF 34

have read, in the course of my studies,”—he made only know we both realised that he would keep
a gesture toward his books and heavily laden his word, and whether a pig died at midnight, or
table,—“of the Yezidis of Syria evoking phantoms at noon, was after all perhaps only a question of
by means of cutting their bodies with knives dur- the sleep and personal comfort of the execu-
ing their whirling dances—enormous globes of tioner.
fire which turned into monstrous and terrible “Tonight, then, in the laundry,” said Dr.
forms—and I remember an account somewhere, Silence finally, to clinch the plan; “we three alone
too, how the emaciated forms and pallid counten- —and at midnight, when the household is asleep
ances of the spectres, that appeared to the and we shall be free from disturbance.”
Emperor Julian, claimed to be the true Immor- He exchanged significant glances with our
tals, and told him to renew the sacrifices of blood host, who, at that moment, was called away by
‘for the fumes of which, since the establishment the announcement that the family doctor had
of Christianity, they had been pining’—that these arrived, and was ready to see him in his sister’s
were in reality the phantoms evoked by the rites room.
of blood.” For the remainder of the afternoon John
Both Dr. Silence and myself listened in Silence disappeared. I had my suspicions that he
amazement, for this sudden speech was so unex- made a secret visit to the plantation and also to
pected, and betrayed so much more knowledge the laundry building; but, in any case, we saw
than we had either of us suspected in the old sol- nothing of him, and he kept strictly to himself. He
dier. was preparing for the night, I felt sure, but the
“Then perhaps you have read, too,” said the nature of his preparations I could only guess.
doctor, “how the Cosmic Deities of savage races, There was movement in his room, I heard, and an
elemental in their nature, have been kept alive odour like incense hung about the door, and
through many ages by these blood rites?” knowing that he regarded rites as the vehicles of
“No,” he answered; “that is new to me.” energies, my guesses were probably not far
“In any case,” Dr. Silence added, “I am glad wrong.
you are not wholly unfamiliar with the subject, Colonel Wragge, too, remained absent the
for you will now bring more sympathy, and there- greater part of the afternoon, and, deeply afflic-
fore more help, to our experiment. For, of course, ted, had scarcely left his sister’s bedside, but in
in this case, we only want the blood to tempt the response to my inquiry when we met for a
creature from its lair and enclose it in a form—” moment at tea-time, he told me that although she
“I quite understand. And I only hesitated just had moments of attempted speech, her talk was
now,” he went on, his words coming much more quite incoherent and hysterical, and she was still
slowly, as though he felt he had already said too quite unable to explain the nature of what she
much, “because I wished to be quite sure it was had seen. The doctor, he said, feared she had
no mere curiosity, but an actual sense of necessity recovered the use of her limbs, only to lose that of
that dictated this horrible experiment.” her memory, and perhaps even of her mind.
“It is your safety, and that of your household, “Then the recovery of her legs, I trust, may be
and of your sister, that is at stake,” replied the permanent, at any rate,” I ventured, finding it dif-
doctor. “Once I have seen, I hope to discover ficult to know what sympathy to offer. And he
whence this elemental comes, and what its real replied with a curious short laugh, “Oh yes; about
purpose is.” that there can be no doubt whatever.”
Colonel Wragge signified his assent with a And it was due merely to the chance of my
bow. overhearing a fragment of conversation—unwill-
“And the moon will help us,” the other said, ingly, of course—that a little further light was
“for it will be full in the early hours of the morn- thrown upon the state in which the old lady actu-
ing, and this kind of elemental-being is always ally lay. For, as I came out of my room, it
most active at the period of full moon. Hence, you happened that Colonel Wragge and the doctor
see, the clue furnished by your diary.” were going downstairs together, and their words
So it was finally settled. Colonel Wragge floated up to my ears before I could make my
would provide the materials for the experiment, presence known by so much as a cough.
and we were to meet at midnight. How he would “Then you must find a way,” the doctor was
contrive at that hour—but that was his business. I saying with decision; “for I cannot insist too

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 21 OF 34

strongly upon that—and at all costs she must be and I made haste to reach the hall and let myself
kept quiet. These attempts to go out must be pre- out through the front door into the night.
vented—if necessary, by force. This desire to visit The air was keen and frosty, perfumed with
some wood or other she keeps talking about is, of night smells, and exquisitely fresh; all the million
course, hysterical in nature. It cannot be permit- candles of the sky were alight, and a faint breeze
ted for a moment.” rose and fell with far-away sighings in the tops of
“It shall not be permitted,” I heard the soldier the pine trees. My blood leaped for a moment in
reply, as they reached the hall below. the spaciousness of the night, for the splendid
“It has impressed her mind for some reason stars brought courage; but the next instant, as I
—” the doctor went on, by way evidently of sooth- turned the corner of the house, moving stealthily
ing explanation, and then the distance made it down the gravel drive, my spirits sank again
impossible for me to hear more. ominously. For, yonder, over the funereal plumes
At dinner Dr. Silence was still absent, on the of the Twelve Acre Plantation, I saw the broken,
public plea of a headache, and though food was yellow disc of the half-moon just rising in the
sent to his room, I am inclined to believe he did east, staring down like some vast Being come to
not touch it, but spent the entire time fasting. watch upon the progress of our doom. Seen
We retired early, desiring that the household through the distorting vapours of the earth’s
should do likewise, and I must confess that at ten atmosphere, her face looked weirdly unfamiliar,
o’clock when I bid my host a temporary good- her usual expression of benignant vacancy some-
night, and sought my room to make what mental how a-twist. I slipped along by the shadows of the
preparation I could, I realised in no very pleasant wall, keeping my eyes upon the ground.
fashion that it was a singular and formidable The laundry-house, as already described,
assignation, this midnight meeting in the laundry stood detached from the other offices, with laurel
building, and that there were moments in every shrubberies crowding thickly behind it, and the
adventure of life when a wise man, and one who kitchen-garden so close on the other side that the
knew his own limitations, owed it to his dignity to strong smells of soil and growing things came
withdraw discreetly. And, but for the character of across almost heavily. The shadows of the
our leader, I probably should have then and there haunted plantation, hugely lengthened by the
offered the best excuse I could think of, and have rising moon behind them, reached to the very
allowed myself quietly to fall asleep and wait for walls and covered the stone tiles of the roof with a
an exciting story in the morning of what had dark pall. So keenly were my senses alert at this
happened. But with a man like John Silence, such moment that I believe I could fill a chapter with
a lapse was out of the question, and I sat before the endless small details of the impression I
my fire counting the minutes and doing received—shadows, odour, shapes, sounds—in
everything I could think of to fortify my resolu- the space of the few seconds I stood and waited
tion and fasten my will at the point where I could before the closed wooden door.
be reasonably sure that my self-control would Then I became aware of some one moving
hold against all attacks of men, devils, or ele- towards me through the moonlight, and the fig-
mentals. ure of John Silence, without overcoat and bare-
headed, came quickly and without noise to join
me. His eyes, I saw at once, were wonderfully
III bright, and so marked was the shining pallor of
his face that I could hardly tell when he passed
At a quarter before midnight, clad in a heavy from the moonlight into the shade.
ulster, and with slippered feet, I crept cautiously He passed without a word, beckoning me to
from my room and stole down the passage to the follow, and then pushed the door open, and went
top of the stairs. Outside the doctor’s door I in.
waited a moment to listen. All was still; the house The chill air of the place met us like that of an
in utter darkness; no gleam of light beneath any underground vault; and the brick floor and white-
door; only, down the length of the corridor, from washed walls, streaked with damp and smoke,
the direction of the sick-room, came faint sounds threw back the cold in our faces. Directly opposite
of laughter and incoherent talk that were not gaped the black throat of the huge open fireplace,
things to reassure a mind already half a-tremble, the ashes of wood fires still piled and scattered

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 22 OF 34

about the hearth, and on either side of the pro- only be temporary, and I will see that no harm
jecting chimney-column were the deep recesses comes to him.”
holding the big twin cauldrons for boiling clothes. He glanced round at the arrangements with
Upon the lids of these cauldrons stood the two approval.
little oil lamps, shaded red, which gave all the “Red light,” he said, indicating the shaded
light there was, and immediately in front of the lamps, “has the lowest rate of vibration. Material-
fireplace there was a small circular table with isations are dissipated by strong light—won’t
three chairs set about it. Overhead, the narrow form, or hold together—in rapid vibrations.”
slit windows, high up the walls, pointed to a dim I was not sure that I approved altogether of
network of wooden rafters half lost among the this dim light, for in complete darkness there is
shadows, and then came the dark vault of the something protective—the knowledge that one
roof. Cheerless and unalluring, for all the red cannot be seen, probably—which a half-light des-
light, it certainly was, reminding me of some troys, but I remembered the warning to keep my
unused conventicle, bare of pews or pulpit, ugly thoughts steady, and forbore to give them expres-
and severe, and I was forcibly struck by the con- sion.
trast between the normal uses to which the place There was a step outside, and the figure of
was ordinarily put, and the strange and medieval Colonel Wragge stood in the doorway. Though
purpose which had brought us under its roof entering on tiptoe, he made considerable noise
tonight. and clatter, for his free movements were impeded
Possibly an involuntary shudder ran over me, by the burden he carried, and we saw a large yel-
for my companion turned with a confident look to lowish bowl held out at arms’ length from his
reassure me, and he was so completely master of body, the mouth covered with a white cloth. His
himself that I at once absorbed from his abund- face, I noted, was rigidly composed. He, too, was
ance, and felt the chinks of my failing courage master of himself. And, as I thought of this old
beginning to close up. To meet his eye in the pres- soldier moving through the long series of alarms,
ence of danger was like finding a mental railing worn with watching and wearied with assault,
that guided and supported thought along the unenlightened yet undismayed, even down to the
giddy edges of alarm. dreadful shock of his sister’s terror, and still
“I am quite ready,” I whispered, turning to showing the dogged pluck that persists in the face
listen for approaching footsteps. of defeat, I understood what Dr. Silence meant
He nodded, still keeping his eyes on mine. when he described him as a man “to be counted
Our whispers sounded hollow as they echoed on.”
overhead among the rafters. I think there was nothing beyond this rigidity
“I’m glad you are here,” he said. “Not all of his stern features, and a certain greyness of the
would have the courage. Keep your thoughts con- complexion, to betray the turmoil of the emotions
trolled, and imagine the protective shell round that were doubtless going on within; and the
you—round your inner being.” quality of these two men, each in his own way, so
“I’m all right,” I repeated, cursing my chatter- keyed me up that, by the time the door was shut
ing teeth. and we had exchanged silent greetings, all the lat-
He took my hand and shook it, and the con- ent courage I possessed was well to the fore, and I
tact seemed to shake into me something of his felt as sure of myself as I knew I ever could feel.
supreme confidence. The eyes and hands of a Colonel Wragge set the bowl carefully in the
strong man can touch the soul. I think he guessed centre of the table.
my thought, for a passing smile flashed about the “Midnight,” he said shortly, glancing at his
corners of his mouth. watch, and we all three moved to our chairs.
“You will feel more comfortable,” he said, in a There, in the middle of that cold and silent
low tone, “when the chain is complete. The Col- place, we sat, with the vile bowl before us, and a
onel we can count on, of course. Remember, thin, hardly perceptible steam rising through the
though,” he added warningly, “he may perhaps damp air from the surface of the white cloth and
become controlled—possessed—when the thing disappearing upwards the moment it passed bey-
comes, because he won’t know how to resist. And ond the zone of red light and entered the deep
to explain the business to such a man—!” He shadows thrown forward by the projecting wall of
shrugged his shoulders expressively. “But it will chimney.

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 23 OF 34

 The doctor had indicated our respective instantly leaped into the keenest vigilance. Col-
places, and I found myself seated with my back to onel Wragge moved too, though slowly, and
the door and opposite the black hearth. The Col- without raising his eyes from the table before
onel was on my left, and Dr. Silence on my right, him.
both half facing me, the latter more in shadow The doctor stretched his arm out and took the
than the former. We thus divided the little table white cloth from the bowl.
into even sections, and sitting back in our chairs It was perhaps imagination that persuaded
we awaited events in silence. me the red glare of the lamps grew fainter and the
For something like an hour I do not think air over the table before us thickened. I had been
there was even the faintest sound within those expecting something for so long that the move-
four walls and under the canopy of that vaulted ment of my companions, and the lifting of the
roof. cloth, may easily have caused the momentary
Our slippers made no scratching on the gritty delusion that something hovered in the air before
floor, and our breathing was suppressed almost my face, touching the skin of my cheeks with a
to nothing; even the rustle of our clothes as we silken run. But it was certainly not a delusion that
shifted from time to time upon our seats was the Colonel looked up at the same moment and
inaudible. Silence smothered us absolutely—the glanced over his shoulder, as though his eyes fol-
silence of night, of listening, the silence of a lowed the movements of something to and fro
haunted expectancy. The very gurgling of the about the room, and that he then buttoned his
lamps was too soft to be heard, and if light itself overcoat more tightly about him and his eyes
had sound, I do not think we should have noticed sought my own face first, and then the doctor’s.
the silvery tread of the moonlight as it entered the And it was no delusion that his face seemed
high narrow windows and threw upon the floor somehow to have turned dark, become spread as
the slender traces of its pallid footsteps. it were with a shadowy blackness. I saw his lips
Colonel Wragge and the doctor, and myself tighten and his expression grow hard and stern,
too for that matter, sat thus like figures of stone, and it came to me then with a rush that, of
without speech and without gesture. My eyes course, this man had told us but a part of the
passed in ceaseless journeys from the bowl to experiences he had been through in the house,
their faces, and from their faces to the bowl. They and that there was much more he had never been
might have been masks, however, for all the signs able to bring himself to reveal at all. I felt sure of
of life they gave; and the light steaming from the it. The way he turned and stared about him
horrid contents beneath the white cloth had long betrayed a familiarity with other things than
ceased to be visible. those he had described to us. It was not merely a
Then presently, as the moon rose higher, the sight of fire he looked for; it was a sight of
wind rose with it. It sighed, like the lightest of something alive, intelligent, something able to
passing wings, over the roof; it crept most softly evade his searching; it was a person. It was the
round the walls; it made the brick floor like ice watch for the ancient Being who sought to obsess
beneath our feet. With it I saw mentally the des- him.
olate moorland flowing like a sea about the old And the way in which Dr. Silence answered
house, the treeless expanse of lonely hills, the his look—though it was only by a glance of
nearer copses, sombre and mysterious in the subtlest sympathy—confirmed my impression.
night. The plantation, too, in particular I saw, and “We may be ready now,” I heard him say in a
imagined I heard the mournful whisperings that whisper, and I understood that his words were
must now be a-stirring among its tree-tops as the intended as a steadying warning, and braced
breeze played down between the twisted stems. myself mentally to the utmost of my power.
In the depth of the room behind us the shafts of Yet long before Colonel Wragge had turned to
moonlight met and crossed in a growing network. stare about the room, and long before the doctor
It was after an hour of this wearing and had confirmed my impression that things were at
unbroken attention, and I should judge about one last beginning to stir, I had become aware in most
o’clock in the morning, when the baying of the singular fashion that the place held more than
dogs in the stableyard first began, and I saw John our three selves. With the rising of the wind this
Silence move suddenly in his chair and sit up in increase to our numbers had first taken place.
an attitude of attention. Every force in my being The baying of the hounds almost seemed to have

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 24 OF 34

signalled it. I cannot say how it may be possible The patches of moonlight on the floor, I
to realise that an empty place has suddenly noted, had become curiously shaded; the faces of
become—not empty, when the new arrival is my companions opposite were not so clearly vis-
nothing that appeals to any one of the senses; for ible as before; and the forehead and cheeks of
this recognition of an “invisible,” as of the change Colonel Wragge were glistening with perspira-
in the balance of personal forces in a human tion. I realised further, that an extraordinary
group, is indefinable and beyond proof. change had come about in the temperature of the
Yet it is unmistakable. And I knew perfectly atmosphere. The increased warmth had a painful
well at what given moment the atmosphere effect, not alone on Colonel Wragge, but upon all
within these four walls became charged with the of us.
presence of other living beings besides ourselves. It was oppressive and unnatural. We gasped
And, on reflection, I am convinced that both my figuratively as well as actually.
companions knew it too. “You are the first to feel it,” said Dr. Silence in
“Watch the light,” said the doctor under his low tones, looking across at him. “You are in
breath, and then I knew too that it was no fancy more intimate touch, of course—”
of my own that had turned the air darker, and the The Colonel was trembling, and appeared to
way he turned to examine the face of our host be in considerable distress.
sent an electric thrill of wonder and expectancy His knees shook, so that the shuffling of his
shivering along every nerve in my body. slippered feet became audible. He inclined his
Yet it was no kind of terror that I experienced, head to show that he had heard, but made no
but rather a sort of mental dizziness, and a sensa- other reply. I think, even then, he was sore put to
tion as of being suspended in some remote and it to keep himself in hand. I knew what he was
dreadful altitude where things might happen, struggling against. As Dr. Silence had warned me,
indeed were about to happen, that had never he was about to be obsessed, and was savagely,
before happened within the ken of man. Horror though vainly, resisting.
may have formed an ingredient, but it was not But, meanwhile, a curious and whirling sense
chiefly horror, and in no sense ghostly horror. of exhilaration began to come over me. The
Uncommon thoughts kept beating on my increasing heat was delightful, bringing a sensa-
brain like tiny hammers, soft yet persistent, seek- tion of intense activity, of thoughts pouring
ing admission; their unbidden tide began to wash through the mind at high speed, of vivid pictures
along the far fringes of my mind, the currents of in the brain, of fierce desires and lightning ener-
unwonted sensations to rise over the remote fron- gies alive in every part of the body. I was con-
tiers of my consciousness. I was aware of scious of no physical distress, such as the Colonel
thoughts, and the fantasies of thoughts, that I felt, but only of a vague feeling that it might all
never knew before existed. grow suddenly too intense—that I might be con-
Portions of my being stirred that had never sumed—that my personality as well as my body,
stirred before, and things ancient and inexplic- might become resolved into the flame of pure
able rose to the surface and beckoned me to fol- spirit. I began to live at a speed too intense to last.
low. It was as if a thousand ecstasies besieged me—
I felt as though I were about to fly off, at some “Steady!” whispered the voice of John Silence
immense tangent, into an outer space hitherto in my ear, and I looked up with a start to see that
unknown even in dreams. And so singular was the Colonel had risen from his chair. The doctor
the result produced upon me that I was uncom- rose too. I followed suit, and for the first time saw
monly glad to anchor my mind, as well as my down into the bowl. To my amazement and hor-
eyes, upon the masterful personality of the doctor ror I saw that the contents were troubled. The
at my side, for there, I realised, I could draw blood was astir with movement.
always upon the forces of sanity and safety. The rest of the experiment was witnessed by
With a vigorous effort of will I returned to the us standing. It came, too, with a curious sudden-
scene before me, and tried to focus my attention, ness. There was no more dreaming, for me at any
with steadier thoughts, upon the table, and upon rate.
the silent figures seated round it. And then I saw I shall never forget the figure of Colonel
that certain changes had come about in the place Wragge standing there beside me, upright and
where we sat. unshaken, squarely planted on his feet, looking

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 25 OF 34

about him, puzzled beyond belief, yet full of a voice that seemed half his own and half another’s.
fighting anger. Framed by the white walls, the red “And out of this darkness they come, they come.”
glow of the lamps upon his streaming cheeks, his I gave a dreadful start. The doctor turned to
eyes glowing against the deathly pallor of his look at me for an instant, and then turned to
skin, breathing hard and making convulsive centre his attention upon the figure of our host,
efforts of hands and body to keep himself under and I understood in some intuitive fashion that
control, his whole being roused to the point of he was there to watch over the strangest contest
savage fighting, yet with nothing visible to get at man ever saw—to watch over and, if necessary, to
anywhere—he stood there, immovable against protect.
odds. And the strange contrast of the pale skin “He is being controlled—possessed,” he
and the burning face I had never seen before, or whispered to me through the shadows. His face
wish to see again. wore a wonderful expression, half triumph, half
But what has left an even sharper impression admiration.
on my memory was the blackness that then began Even as Colonel Wragge spoke, it seemed to
crawling over his face, obliterating the features, me that this visible darkness began to increase,
concealing their human outline, and hiding him pouring up thickly out of the ground by the
inch by inch from view. This was my first realisa- hearth, rising up in sheets and veils, shrouding
tion that the process of materialisation was at our eyes and faces. It stole up from below—an
work. His visage became shrouded. I moved from awful blackness that seemed to drink in all the
one side to the other to keep him in view, and it radiations of light in the building, leaving nothing
was only then I understood that, properly speak- but the ghost of a radiance in their place. Then,
ing, the blackness was not upon the countenance out of this rising sea of shadows, issued a pale
of Colonel Wragge, but that something had inser- and spectral light that gradually spread itself
ted itself between me and him, thus screening his about us, and from the heart of this light I saw
face with the effect of a dark veil. Something that the shapes of fire crowd and gather.
apparently rose through the floor was passing And these were not human shapes, or the
slowly into the air above the table and above the shapes of anything I recognised as alive in the
bowl. The blood in the bowl, moreover, was con- world, but outlines of fire that traced globes, tri-
siderably less than before. angles, crosses, and the luminous bodies of vari-
And, with this change in the air before us, ous geometrical figures. They grew bright, faded,
there came at the same time a further change, I and then grew bright again with an effect almost
thought, in the face of the soldier. One-half was of pulsation. They passed swiftly to and fro
turned towards the red lamps, while the other through the air, rising and falling, and particu-
caught the pale illumination of the moonlight fall- larly in the immediate neighbourhood of the Col-
ing aslant from the high windows, so that it was onel, often gathering about his head and
difficult to estimate this change with accuracy of shoulders, and even appearing to settle upon him
detail. like giant insects of flame. They were accompan-
But it seemed to me that, while the features— ied, moreover, by a faint sound of hissing—the
eyes, nose, mouth—remained the same, the life same sound we had heard that afternoon in the
informing them had undergone some profound plantation.
transformation. The signature of a new power “The fire-elementals that precede their mas-
had crept into the face and left its traces there— ter,” the doctor said in an undertone. “Be ready.”
an expression dark, and in some unexplained And while this weird display of the shapes of
way, terrible. fire alternately flashed and faded, and the hissing
Then suddenly he opened his mouth and echoed faintly among the dim rafters overhead,
spoke, and the sound of this changed voice, deep we heard the awful voice issue at intervals from
and musical though it was, made me cold and set the lips of the afflicted soldier. It was a voice of
my heart beating with uncomfortable rapidity. power, splendid in some way I cannot describe,
The Being, as he had dreaded, was already in con- and with a certain sense of majesty in its
trol of his brain, using his mouth. cadences, and, as I listened to it with quickly
“I see a blackness like the blackness of Egypt beating heart, I could fancy it was some ancient
before my face,” said the tones of this unknown voice of Time itself, echoing down immense cor-

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 26 OF 34

ridors of stone, from the depths of vast temples, forward with a kind of droop. The shapes of fire
from the very heart of mountain tombs. had vanished all, but his face was lit by the red
“I have seen my divine Father, Osiris,” lamps and the pale, shifting moonlight rose
thundered the great tones. “I have scattered the behind him like mist.
gloom of the night. I have burst through the We were both gazing at the bowl, now almost
earth, and am one with the starry Deities!” empty; the Colonel stooped so low I feared every
Something grand came into the soldier’s face. minute he would lose his balance and drop into
He was staring fixedly before him, as though see- it; and the shadow, that had so long been in pro-
ing nothing. cess of forming, now at length began to assume
“Watch,” whispered Dr. Silence in my ear, material outline in the air before us.
and his whisper seemed to come from very far Then John Silence moved forward quickly. He
away. took his place between us and the shadow. Erect,
Again the mouth opened and the awesome formidable, absolute master of the situation, I
voice issued forth. saw him stand there, his face calm and almost
“Thoth,” it boomed, “has loosened the band- smiling, and fire in his eyes. His protective influ-
ages of Set which fettered my mouth. I have taken ence was astounding and incalculable. Even the
my place in the great winds of heaven.” abhorrent dread I felt at the sight of the creature
I heard the little wind of night, with its growing into life and substance before us,
mournful voice of ages, sighing round the walls lessened in some way so that I was able to keep
and over the roof. my eyes fixed on the air above the bowl without
“Listen!” came from the doctor at my side, too vivid a terror.
and the thunder of the voice continued— But as it took shape, rising out of nothing as it
“I have hidden myself with you, O ye stars were, and growing momentarily more defined in
that never diminish. I remember my name—in— outline, a period of utter and wonderful silence
the—House—of—Fire!” settled down upon the building and all it con-
The voice ceased and the sound died away. tained. A hush of ages, like the sudden centre of
Something about the face and figure of Colonel peace at the heart of the travelling cyclone, des-
Wragge relaxed, I thought. The terrible look cended through the night, and out of this hush, as
passed from his face. The Being that obsessed out of the emanations of the steaming blood,
him was gone. issued the form of the ancient being who had first
“The great Ritual,” said Dr. Silence aside to sent the elemental of fire upon its mission. It
me, very low, “the Book of the Dead. Now it’s grew and darkened and solidified before our eyes.
leaving him. Soon the blood will fashion it a It rose from just beyond the table so that the
body.” lower portions remained invisible, but I saw the
Colonel Wragge, who had stood absolutely outline limn itself upon the air, as though slowly
motionless all this time, suddenly swayed, so that revealed by the rising of a curtain. It apparently
I thought he was going to fall,—and, but for the had not then quite concentrated to the normal
quick support of the doctor’s arm, he probably proportions, but was spread out on all sides into
would have fallen, for he staggered as in the space, huge, though rapidly condensing, for I saw
beginning of collapse. the colossal shoulders, the neck, the lower por-
“I am drunk with the wine of Osiris,” he cried, tion of the dark jaws, the terrible mouth, and
—and it was half with his own voice this time then the teeth and lips—and, as the veil seemed to
—“but Horus, the Eternal Watcher, is about my lift further upon the tremendous face—I saw the
path—for—safety.” The voice dwindled and failed, nose and cheek bones. In another moment I
dying away into something almost like a cry of should have looked straight into the eyes—
distress. But what Dr. Silence did at that moment was
“Now, watch closely,” said Dr. Silence, speak- so unexpected, and took me so by surprise, that I
ing loud, “for after the cry will come the Fire!” have never yet properly understood its nature,
I began to tremble involuntarily; an awful and he has never yet seen fit to explain in detail
change had come without warning into the air; to me. He uttered some sound that had a note of
my legs grew weak as paper beneath my weight command in it—and, in so doing, stepped for-
and I had to support myself by leaning on the ward and intervened between me and the face.
table. Colonel Wragge, I saw, was also leaning The figure, just nearing completeness, he there-

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 27 OF 34

fore hid from my sight—and I have always He gave me a swift glance to hide the bowl,
thought purposely hid from my sight. standing between me and our host while I hur-
“The fire!” he cried out. “The fire! Beware!” riedly stuffed it down under the lid of the nearest
There was a sudden roar as of flame from the cauldron.
very mouth of the pit, and for the space of a single “—and none of us the worse for it,” he fin-
second all grew light as day. A blinding flash ished.
passed across my face, and there was heat for an “And fires?” he asked, still dazed, “there’ll be
instant that seemed to shrivel skin, and flesh, and no more fires?”
bone. Then came steps, and I heard Colonel “It is dissipated—partly, at any rate,” replied
Wragge utter a great cry, wilder than any human Dr. Silence cautiously.
cry I have ever known. “And the man behind the gun,” he went on,
The heat sucked all the breath out of my lungs only half realising what he was saying, I think;
with a rush, and the blaze of light, as it vanished, “have you discovered that?”
swept my vision with it into enveloping darkness. “A form materialised,” said the doctor briefly.
When I recovered the use of my senses a few “I know for certain now what the directing intelli-
moments later I saw that Colonel Wragge with a gence was behind it all.”
face of death, its whiteness strangely stained, had Colonel Wragge pulled himself together and
moved closer to me. Dr. Silence stood beside him, got upon his feet. The words conveyed no clear
an expression of triumph and success in his eyes. meaning to him yet. But his memory was return-
The next minute the soldier tried to clutch me ing gradually, and he was trying to piece together
with his hand. Then he reeled, staggered, and, the fragments into a connected whole. He
unable to save himself, fell with a great crash shivered a little, for the place had grown suddenly
upon the brick floor. chilly. The air was empty again, lifeless.
After the sheet of flame, a wind raged round “You feel all right again now,” Dr. Silence
the building as though it would lift the roof off, said, in the tone of a man stating a fact rather
but then passed as suddenly as it came. And in than asking a question.
the intense calm that followed I saw that the form “Thanks to you—both, yes.” He drew a deep
had vanished, and the doctor was stooping over breath, and mopped his face, and even attempted
Colonel Wragge upon the floor, trying to lift him a smile. He made me think of a man coming from
to a sitting position. the battlefield with the stains of fighting still
“Light,” he said quietly, “more light. Take the upon him, but scornful of his wounds. Then he
shades off.” turned gravely towards the doctor with a question
Colonel Wragge sat up and the glare of the in his eyes. Memory had returned and he was
unshaded lamps fell upon his face. It was grey himself again.
and drawn, still running heat, and there was a “Precisely what I expected,” the doctor said
look in the eyes and about the corners of the calmly; “a fire-elemental sent upon its mission in
mouth that seemed in this short space of time to the days of Thebes, centuries before Christ, and
have added years to its age. At the same time, the tonight, for the first time all these thousands of
expression of effort and anxiety had left it. It years, released from the spell that originally
showed relief. bound it.”
“Gone!” he said, looking up at the doctor in a We stared at him in amazement, Colonel
dazed fashion, and struggling to his feet. “Thank Wragge opening his lips for words that refused to
God! it’s gone at last.” He stared round the laun- shape themselves.
dry as though to find out where he was. “Did it “And, if we dig,” he continued significantly,
control me—take possession of me? Did I talk pointing to the floor where the blackness had
nonsense?” he asked bluntly. “After the heat poured up, “we shall find some underground con-
came, I remember nothing—” nection—a tunnel most likely—leading to the
“You’ll feel yourself again in a few minutes,” Twelve Acre Wood. It was made by—your prede-
the doctor said. To my infinite horror I saw that cessor.”
he was surreptitiously wiping sundry dark stains “A tunnel made by my brother!” gasped the
from the face. “Our experiment has been a suc- soldier. “Then my sister should know—she lived
cess and—” here with him—” He stopped suddenly.

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 John Silence inclined his head slowly. “I think Then I saw him steal along to his sister’s room
so,” he said quietly. and disappear.
“Your brother, no doubt, was as much tor-
mented as you have been,” he continued after a
pause in which Colonel Wragge seemed deeply IV
preoccupied with his thoughts, “and tried to find
peace by burying it in the wood, and surrounding But not even the mysterious references to the
the wood then, like a large magic circle, with the mummy, or the prospect of a revelation by dig-
enchantments of the old formulae. So the stars ging, were able to hinder the reaction that fol-
the man saw blazing—” lowed the intense excitement of the past twelve
“But burying what?” asked the soldier faintly, hours, and I slept the sleep of the dead, dreamless
stepping backwards towards the support of the and undisturbed. A touch on the shoulder woke
wall. me, and I saw Dr. Silence standing beside the
Dr. Silence regarded us both intently for a bed, dressed to go out.
moment before he replied. I think he weighed in “Come,” he said, “it’s tea-time. You’ve slept
his mind whether to tell us now, or when the the best part of a dozen hours.”
investigation was absolutely complete. I sprang up and made a hurried toilet, while
“The mummy,” he said softly, after a moment; my companion sat and talked. He looked fresh
“the mummy that your brother took from its rest- and rested, and his manner was even quieter than
ing place of centuries, and brought home—here.” usual.
Colonel Wragge dropped down upon the “Colonel Wragge has provided spades and
nearest chair, hanging breathlessly on every pickaxes. We’re going out to unearth this mummy
word. He was far too amazed for speech. at once,” he said; “and there’s no reason we
“The mummy of some important person—a should not get away by the morning train.”
priest most likely—protected from disturbance “I’m ready to go tonight, if you are,” I said
and desecration by the ceremonial magic of the honestly.
time. But Dr. Silence shook his head.
For they understood how to attach to the “I must see this through to the end,” he said
mummy, to lock up with it in the tomb, an ele- gravely, and in a tone that made me think he still
mental force that would direct itself even after anticipated serious things, perhaps. He went on
ages upon any one who dared to molest it. In this talking while I dressed.
case it was an elemental of fire.” “This case is really typical of all stories of
Dr. Silence crossed the floor and turned out mummy-haunting, and none of them are cases to
the lamps one by one. He had nothing more to trifle with,” he explained, “for the mummies of
say for the moment. Following his example, I fol- important people—kings, priests, magicians—
ded the table together and took up the chairs, and were laid away with profoundly significant cere-
our host, still dazed and silent, mechanically monial, and were very effectively protected, as
obeyed him and moved to the door. you have seen, against desecration, and especially
We removed all traces of the experiment, tak- against destruction.
ing the empty bowl back to the house concealed “The general belief,” he went on, anticipating
beneath an ulster. my questions, “held, of course, that the perpetuity
The air was cool and fragrant as we walked to of the mummy guaranteed that of its Ka,—the
the house, the stars beginning to fade overhead owner’s spirit,—but it is not improbable that the
and a fresh wind of early morning blowing up out magical embalming was also used to retard rein-
of the east where the sky was already hinting of carnation, the preservation of the body prevent-
the coming day. It was after five o’clock. ing the return of the spirit to the toil and discip-
Stealthily we entered the front hall and locked line of earth-life; and, in any case, they knew how
the door, and as we went on tiptoe upstairs to our to attach powerful guardian-forces to keep off
rooms, the Colonel, peering at us over his candle trespassers. And any one who dared to remove
as he nodded good-night, whispered that if we the mummy, or especially to unwind it—well,” he
were ready the digging should be begun that very added, with meaning, “you have seen—and you
day. will see.”

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 I caught his face in the mirror while I He at once cleared away the burnt grass and
struggled with my collar. It was deeply serious. began to dig; we all began to dig. While I used the
There could be no question that he spoke of what pick, the others shovelled vigorously. No one
he believed and knew. spoke. Colonel Wragge worked the hardest of the
“The traveller-brother who brought it here three. The soil was light and sandy, and there
must have been haunted too,” he continued, “for were only a few snake-like roots and occasional
he tried to banish it by burial in the wood, mak- loose stones to delay us. The pick made short
ing a magic circle to enclose it. Something of work of these.
genuine ceremonial he must have known, for the And meanwhile the darkness settled about us
stars the man saw were of course the remains of and the biting wind swept roaring through the
the still flaming pentagrams he traced at intervals trees overhead.
in the circle. Only he did not know enough, or Then, quite suddenly, without a cry, Colonel
possibly was ignorant that the mummy’s guard- Wragge disappeared up to his neck.
ian was a fire-force. Fire cannot be enclosed by “The tunnel!” cried the doctor, helping to drag
fire, though, as you saw, it can be released by it.” him out, red, breathless, and covered with sand
“Then that awful figure in the laundry?” I and perspiration. “Now, let me lead the way.”
asked, thrilled to find him so communicative. And he slipped down nimbly into the hole, so that
“Undoubtedly the actual Ka of the mummy a moment later we heard his voice, muffled by
operating always behind its agent, the elemental, sand and distance, rising up to us.
and most likely thousands of years old.” “Hubbard, you come next, and then Colonel
“And Miss Wragge—?” I ventured once more. Wragge—if he wishes,” we heard.
“Ah, Miss Wragge,” he repeated with “I’ll follow you, of course,” he said, looking at
increased gravity, “Miss Wragge—” me as I scrambled in.
A knock at the door brought a servant with The hole was bigger now, and I got down on
word that tea was ready, and the Colonel had sent all-fours in a channel not much bigger than a
to ask if we were coming down. The thread was large sewer-pipe and found myself in total dark-
broken. Dr. Silence moved to the door and signed ness.
to me to follow. But his manner told me that in A minute later a heavy thud, followed by a
any case no real answer would have been forth- cataract of loose sand, announced the arrival of
coming to my question. the Colonel.
“And the place to dig in,” I asked, unable to “Catch hold of my heel,” called Dr. Silence,
restrain my curiosity, “will you find it by some “and Colonel Wragge can take yours.”
process of divination or—?” In this slow, laborious fashion we wormed our
He paused at the door and looked back at me, way along a tunnel that had been roughly dug out
and with that he left me to finish my dressing. of the shifting sand, and was shored up clumsily
It was growing dark when the three of us by means of wooden pillars and posts. Any
silently made our way to the Twelve Acre Planta- moment, it seemed to me, we might be buried
tion; the sky was overcast, and a black wind came alive. We could not see an inch before our eyes,
out of the east. Gloom hung about the old house but had to grope our way feeling the pillars and
and the air seemed full of sighings. We found the the walls. It was difficult to breathe, and the Col-
tools ready laid at the edge of the wood, and each onel behind me made but slow progress, for the
shouldering his piece, we followed our leader at cramped position of our bodies was very severe.
once in among the trees. He went straight for- We had travelled in this way for ten minutes,
ward for some twenty yards and then stopped. and gone perhaps as much as ten yards, when I
At his feet lay the blackened circle of one of lost my grasp of the doctor’s heel.
the burned places. It was just discernible against “Ah!” I heard his voice, sounding above me
the surrounding white grass. somewhere. He was standing up in a clear space,
“There are three of these,” he said, “and they and the next moment I was standing beside him.
all lie in a line with one another. Any one of them Colonel Wragge came heavily after, and he too
will tap the tunnel that connects the laundry—the rose up and stood. Then Dr. Silence produced his
former Museum—with the chamber where the candles and we heard preparations for striking
mummy now lies buried.” matches.

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 Yet even before there was light, an indefinable painted on the air for all the movement they
sensation of awe came over us all. In this hole in betrayed.
the sand, some three feet under ground, we stood And, as I watched, it was almost necessary to
side by side, cramped and huddled, struck sud- persuade myself forcibly that I was only standing
denly with an over whelming apprehension of upright with difficulty in this little sand-hole of a
something ancient, something formidable, modern garden in the south of England, for it
something incalculably wonderful, that touched seemed to me that I stood, as in vision, at the
in each one of us a sense of the sublime and the entrance of some vast rock-hewn Temple far, far
terrible even before we could see an inch before down the river of Time. The illusion was power-
our faces. I know not how to express in language ful, and persisted. Granite columns, that rose to
this singular emotion that caught us here in utter heaven, piled themselves about me, majestically
darkness, touching no sense directly, it seemed, uprearing, and a roof like the sky itself spread
yet with the recognition that before us in the above a line of colossal figures that moved in
blackness of this underground night there lay shadowy procession along endless and stu-
something that was mighty with the mightiness of pendous aisles. This huge and splendid fantasy,
long past ages. borne I knew not whence, possessed me so vividly
I felt Colonel Wragge press in closely to my that I was actually obliged to concentrate my
side, and I understood the pressure and wel- attention upon the small stooping figure of the
comed it. No human touch, to me at least, has doctor, as he groped about the walls, in order to
ever been more eloquent. keep the eye of imagination on the scene before
Then the match flared, a thousand shadows me.
fled on black wings, and I saw John Silence fum- But the limited space rendered a long search
bling with the candle, his face lit up grotesquely out of the question, and his footsteps, instead of
by the flickering light below it. shuffling through loose sand, presently struck
I had dreaded this light, yet when it came something of a different quality that gave forth a
there was apparently nothing to explain the pro- hollow and resounding echo. He stooped to
found sensations of dread that preceded it. We examine more closely.
stood in a small vaulted chamber in the sand, the He was standing exactly in the centre of the
sides and roof shored with bars of wood, and the little chamber when this happened, and he at
ground laid roughly with what seemed to be tiles. once began scraping away the sand with his feet.
It was six feet high, so that we could all stand In less than a minute a smooth surface became
comfortably, and may have been ten feet long by visible—the surface of a wooden covering. The
eight feet wide. Upon the wooden pillars at the next thing I saw was that he had raised it and was
side I saw that Egyptian hieroglyphics had been peering down into a space below. Instantly, a
rudely traced by burning. strong odour of nitre and bitumen, mingled with
Dr. Silence lit three candles and handed one the strange perfume of unknown and powdered
to each of us. He placed a fourth in the sand aromatics, rose up from the uncovered space and
against the wall on his right, and another to mark filled the vault, stinging the throat and making
the entrance to the tunnel. We stood and stared the eyes water and smart.
about us, instinctively holding our breath. “The mummy!” whispered Dr. Silence, look-
“Empty, by God!” exclaimed Colonel Wragge. ing up into our faces over his candle; and as he
His voice trembled with excitement. And then, as said the word I felt the soldier lurch against me,
his eyes rested on the ground, he added, “And and heard his breathing in my very ear.
footsteps—look—footsteps in the sand!” “The mummy!” he repeated under his breath,
Dr. Silence said nothing. He stooped down as we pressed forward to look.
and began to make a search of the chamber, and It is difficult to say exactly why the sight
as he moved, my eyes followed his crouching fig- should have stirred in me so prodigious an emo-
ure and noted the queer distorted shadows that tion of wonder and veneration, for I have had not
poured over the walls and ceiling after him. Here a little to do with mummies, have unwound
and there thin trickles of loose sand ran fizzing scores of them, and even experimented magically
down the sides. The atmosphere, heavily charged with not a few. But there was something in the
with faint yet pungent odours, lay utterly still, sight of that grey and silent figure, lying in its
and the flames of the candles might have been modern box of lead and wood at the bottom of

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 31 OF 34

this sandy grave, swathed in the bandages of cen- fully arranged at the points of the compass, stood
turies and wrapped in the perfumed linen that the four jars with the heads of the hawk, the
the priests of Egypt had prayed over with their jackal, the cynocephalus, and man, the jars in
mighty enchantments thousands of years before— which were placed the hair, the nail parings, the
something in the sight of it lying there and heart, and other special portions of the body.
breathing its own spice-laden atmosphere even in Even the amulets, the mirror, the blue clay
the darkness of its exile in this remote land, statues of the Ka, and the lamp with seven wicks
something that pierced to the very core of my were there. Only the sacred scarabaeus was miss-
being and touched that root of awe which slum- ing.
bers in every man near the birth of tears and the “Not only has it been torn from its ancient
passion of true worship. resting-place,” I heard Dr. Silence saying in a sol-
I remember turning quickly from the Colonel, emn voice as he looked at Colonel Wragge with
lest he should see my emotion, yet fail to under- fixed gaze, “but it has been partially unwound,”—
stand its cause, turn and clutch John Silence by he pointed to the wrappings of the breast,—”and
the arm, and then fall trembling to see that he, —the scarabaeus has been removed from the
too, had lowered his head and was hiding his face throat.”
in his hands. The hissing, that was like the hissing of an
A kind of whirling storm came over me, rising invisible flame, had ceased; only from time to
out of I know not what utter deeps of memory, time we heard it as though it passed backwards
and in a whiteness of vision I heard the magical and forwards in the tunnel; and we stood looking
old chauntings from the Book of the Dead, and into each other’s faces without speaking.
saw the Gods pass by in dim procession, the Presently Colonel Wragge made a great effort
mighty, immemorial Beings who were yet them- and braced himself. I heard the sound catch in his
selves only the personified attributes of the true throat before the words actually became audible.
Gods, the God with the Eyes of Fire, the God with “My sister,” he said, very low. And then there
the Face of Smoke. I saw again Anubis, the dog- followed a long pause, broken at length by John
faced deity, and the children of Horus, eternal Silence.
watcher of the ages, as they swathed Osiris, the “It must be replaced,” he said significantly.
first mummy of the world, in the scented and “I knew nothing,” the soldier said, forcing
mystic bands, and I tasted again something of the himself to speak the words he hated saying.
ecstasy of the justified soul as it embarked in the “Absolutely nothing.”
golden Boat of Ra, and journeyed onwards to rest “It must be returned,” repeated the other, “if
in the fields of the blessed. it is not now too late. For I fear—I fear—”
And then, as Dr. Silence, with infinite rever- Colonel Wragge made a movement of assent
ence, stooped and touched the still face, so dread- with his head.
fully staring with its painted eyes, there rose “It shall be,” he said.
again to our nostrils wave upon wave of this per- The place was still as the grave.
fume of thousands of years, and time fled back- I do not know what it was then that made us
wards like a thing of naught, showing me in all three turn round with so sudden a start, for
haunted panorama the most wonderful dream of there was no sound audible to my ears, at least.
the whole world. The doctor was on the point of replacing the
A gentle hissing became audible in the air, lid over the mummy, when he straightened up as
and the doctor moved quickly backwards. It came if he had been shot.
close to our faces and then seemed to play about “There’s something coming,” said Colonel
the walls and ceiling. Wragge under his breath, and the doctor’s eyes,
“The last of the Fire—still waiting for its full peering down the small opening of the tunnel,
accomplishment,” he muttered; but I heard both showed me the true direction.
words and hissing as things far away, for I was A distant shuffling noise became distinctly
still busy with the journey of the soul through the audible coming from a point about half-way down
Seven Halls of Death, listening for echoes of the the tunnel we had so laboriously penetrated.
grandest ritual ever known to men. “It’s the sand falling in,” I said, though I knew
The earthen plates covered with hieroglyphics it was foolish.
still lay beside the mummy, and round it, care-

THE NEMESIS OF FIRE — 32 OF 34

 “No,” said the Colonel calmly, in a voice that But Dr. Silence, who seemed no whit sur-
seemed to have the ring of iron, “I’ve heard it for prised, caught my arm and steadied me, and we
some time past. It is something alive—and it is both saw the Colonel then drop upon his knees
coming nearer.” and come thus to a level with his sister. For more
He stared about him with a look of resolution than a whole minute, as though struck in stone,
that made his face almost noble. The horror in his the two faces gazed silently at each other: hers,
heart was overmastering, yet he stood there pre- for all the dreadful emotion in it, more like a gar-
pared for anything that might come. goyle than anything human; and his, white and
“There’s no other way out,” John Silence said. blank with an expression that was beyond either
He leaned the lid against the sand, and astonishment or alarm. She looked up; he looked
waited. I knew by the masklike expression of his down. It was a picture in a nightmare, and the
face, the pallor, and the steadiness of the eyes, candle, stuck in the sand close to the hole, threw
that he anticipated something that might be very upon it the glare of impromptu footlights.
terrible—appalling. Then John Silence moved forward and spoke
The Colonel and myself stood on either side of in a voice that was very low, yet perfectly calm
the opening. I still held my candle and was and natural.
ashamed of the way it shook, dripping the grease “I am glad you have come,” he said. “You are
all over me; but the soldier had set his into the the one person whose presence at this moment is
sand just behind his feet. most required. And I hope that you may yet be in
Thoughts of being buried alive, of being time to appease the anger of the Fire, and to bring
smothered like rats in a trap, of being caught and peace again to your household, and,” he added
done to death by some invisible and merciless lower still so that no one heard it but myself,
force we could not grapple with, rushed into my “safety to yourself.”
mind. Then I thought of fire—of suffocation—of And while her brother stumbled backwards,
being roasted alive. The perspiration began to crushing a candle into the sand in his awkward-
pour from my face. ness, the old lady crawled farther into the vaulted
“Steady!” came the voice of Dr. Silence to me chamber and slowly rose upon her feet.
through the vault. At the sight of the wrapped figure of the
For five minutes, that seemed fifty, we stood mummy I was fully prepared to see her scream
waiting, looking from each other’s faces to the and faint, but on the contrary, to my complete
mummy, and from the mummy to the hole, and amazement, she merely bowed her head and
all the time the shuffling sound, soft and stealthy, dropped quietly upon her knees. Then, after a
came gradually nearer. pause of more than a minute, she raised her eyes
The tension, for me at least, was very near the to the roof and her lips began to mutter as in
breaking point when at last the cause of the dis- prayer. Her right hand, meanwhile, which had
turbance reached the edge. It was hidden for a been fumbling for some time at her throat sud-
moment just behind the broken rim of soil. A jet denly came away, and before the gaze of all of us
of sand, shaken by the close vibration, trickled she held it out, palm upwards, over the grey and
down on to the ground; I have never in my life ancient figure outstretched below. And in it we
seen anything fall with such laborious leisure. beheld glistening the green jasper of the stolen
The next second, uttering a cry of curious quality, scarabaeus.
it came into view. Her brother, leaning heavily against the wall
And it was far more distressingly horrible behind, uttered a sound that was half cry, half
than anything I had anticipated. exclamation, but John Silence, standing directly
For the sight of some Egyptian monster, some in front of her, merely fixed his eyes on her and
god of the tombs, or even of some demon of fire, I pointed downwards to the staring face below.
think I was already half prepared; but when, “Replace it,” he said sternly, “where it
instead, I saw the white visage of Miss Wragge belongs.”
framed in that round opening of sand, followed Miss Wragge was kneeling at the feet of the
by her body crawling on all fours, her eyes bul- mummy when this happened. We three men all
ging and reflecting the yellow glare of the candles, had our eyes riveted on what followed. Only the
my first instinct was to turn and run like a frantic reader who by some remote chance may have wit-
animal seeking a way of escape. nessed a line of mummies, freshly laid from their

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tombs upon the sand, slowly stir and bend as the me not to look, he turned toward me, his face
heat of the Egyptian sun warms their ancient pale, and genuinely sad.
bodies into the semblance of life, can form any “Scorched and blasted,” he whispered.
conception of the ultimate horror we experienced
when the silent figure before us moved in its
grave of lead and sand. Slowly, before our eyes, it
writhed, and, with a faint rustling of the imme-
morial cerements, rose up, and, through sightless algernonblackwood.org
and bandaged eyes, stared across the yellow Font Georgia 11 pt.
candlelight at the woman who had violated it.
I tried to move—her brother tried to move— Source text Project Gutenberg
but the sand seemed to hold our feet. I tried to Layout OpenOffice Writer 3
cry—her brother tried to cry—but the sand PDF Date 02/27/11
seemed to fill our lungs and throat. We could only
stare—and, even so, the sand seemed to rise like a
desert storm and cloud our vision ...
And when I managed at length to open my
eyes again, the mummy was lying once more
upon its back, motionless, the shrunken and
painted face upturned towards the ceiling, and
the old lady had tumbled forward and was lying
in the semblance of death with her head and arms
upon its crumbling body.
But upon the wrappings of the throat I saw
the green jasper of the sacred scarabaeus shining
again like a living eye.
Colonel Wragge and the doctor recovered
themselves long before I did, and I found myself
helping them clumsily and unintelligently to raise
the frail body of the old lady, while John Silence
carefully replaced the covering over the grave and
scraped back the sand with his foot, while he
issued brief directions.
I heard his voice as in a dream; but the jour-
ney back along that cramped tunnel, weighted by
a dead woman, blinded with sand, suffocated
with heat, was in no sense a dream. It took us the
best part of half an hour to reach the open air.
And, even then, we had to wait a considerable
time for the appearance of Dr. Silence. We carried
her undiscovered into the house and up to her
own room.
“The mummy will cause no further disturb-
ance,” I heard Dr. Silence say to our host later
that evening as we prepared to drive for the night
train, “provided always,” he added significantly,
“that you, and yours, cause it no disturbance.”
It was in a dream, too, that we left.
“You did not see her face, I know,” he said to
me as we wrapped our rugs about us in the empty
compartment. And when I shook my head, quite
unable to explain the instinct that had come to

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