of the thing crash down on to me in a fresh way. I know it was only sheer
will power that carried me up to the door and made me turn the key.

"I paused one little moment and then with a nervy jerk sent the door wide
open and held my lantern over my head. Parsket and the Captain came one
on each side of me and held up their lanterns, but the place was
absolutely empty. Of course, I did not trust to a casual look of this
kind, but spent several hours with the help of the two others in sounding
every square foot of the floor, ceiling and walls.

"Yet, in the end I had to admit that the place itself was absolutely
normal and so we came away. But I sealed the door and outside, opposite
each doorpost I made the First and Last signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual,
joined them as before, with a triple line. Can you imagine what it was
like, searching that cellar?

"When we got upstairs I inquired very anxiously how Miss Hisgins was
and the girl came out herself to tell me that she was all right and
that I was not to trouble about her, or blame myself, as I told her I
had been doing.

"I felt happier then and went off to dress for dinner and after that was
done, Parsket and I took one of the bathrooms to develop the negatives
that I had been taking. Yet none of the plates had anything to tell us
until we came to the one that was taken in the cellar. Parsket was
developing and I had taken a batch of the fixed plates out into the
lamplight to examine them.

"I had just gone carefully through the lot when I heard a shout from
Parsket and when I ran to him he was looking at a partly-developed