A TALE OP THE GRAND JARDIN 



"In a lull to gather force for a fresh 

 assault, the cry again: again, and 

 nearer, when the wind burst upon the 

 mountain-top, as though released from 

 some mighty dam in the heavens. This 

 was not voice of beast or bird, and cour- 

 age fell from me like a garment. The 

 numbness of terror possessed me ; I sat 

 with nails digging into the wood, say- 

 ing over and over some silly rhyme. 

 Close at hand the cry ; heart-breaking, 

 dreadful, unbearable . . . 



" Wrenching myself free, as from the 

 grip of a nightmare, I leaped to the door 

 of the tent ; five paces away in the howl- 

 ing blackness stood something in the 

 form of a man, and in one stricken mo- 

 ment the lightning revealed what I 

 would give much that is dear to blot 

 from memory. As the creature sprang, 

 with its hellish voice filling my ears, I 

 flung into the water, diving far and 

 deep. Swimming with frantic strokes 

 for the farther shore, I did not, in the 



159 



