These evidences led me to believe that whoever had been here
before was likely to return, and, not doubting that this must be
he who had played the part of ghost so well, I determined to be
ready for him.
So, leaving all things as I found them, I descended, and, having
closed the trap, hung up the ladder as I had found it.
In the first of the rooms there was a rough fireplace built into
one corner, and as the air struck somewhat damp and chill, I went
out and gathered a quantity of twigs and dry wood, and had soon
built a cheerful, crackling fire. I now set about collecting
armfuls of dry leaves, which I piled against the wall for a bed.
By the time this was completed to my satisfaction, the moon was
peeping above the treetops, filling the Hollow with far-flung
shadows.
I now lay down upon my leafy couch, and fell to watching the fire
and listening to the small, soft song of the brook outside. In
the opposite wall was a window, the glass of which was long
since gone, through which I could see a square of sky, and the
glittering belt of Orion. My eyes wandered from this to the glow
of the fire many times, but gradually my head grew heavier and
heavier, until, at length, the stars became confused with the
winking sparks upon the hearth, and the last that I remember was
that the crackle of the fire sounded strangely like the voice of
the Ancient croaking: "A hijious thing, Peter, a hijious thing!"
I must have slept for an hour, or nearer two (for the room was
dark, save for a few glowing embers on the hearth, and the faint
light of the stars at the window), when I suddenly sat bolt
upright, with every tingling nerve straining as if to catch
something which had, but that very moment, eluded me. I was yet
wondering what this could be, when, from somewhere close outside
the cottage, there rose a sudden cry--hideous and appalling--a
long-drawn-out, bubbling scream (no other words can describe it),
that died slowly down to a wail only to rise again higher and
higher, till it seemed to pierce my very brain. Then all at once
it was gone, and silence rushed in upon me--a silence fraught
with fear and horror unimaginable.
I lay rigid, the blood in my veins jumping with every throb of my
heart till it seemed to shake me from head to foot. And then the
cry began again, deep and hoarse at first, but rising, rising
until the air thrilled with a scream such as no earthly lips
could utter.