PANDEMONIUM 87 



went back. All the servants had come running, 

 and were now screaming to her to come down. 



" She cannot come ! the house is breaking. 

 Fetch her ! fetch her ! bring a ladder ! " I said. 

 They ran to get one and brought it, while the 

 tumult of the crashes and smashes each time the 

 house swayed ; the deafening screams of thousands 

 of crows and birds ; the frenzied yappings of the 

 three dogs, who stood looking at the house as if 

 they understood ; the wild weird sounds of the 

 conches blown by the priests at the temple, on the 

 other side of the garden wall ; the mad ringings of 

 their bells, showing their desire to appease Kali, 

 the goddess of destruction ; added to our calls to 

 Unda made a pandemonium of noises that could 

 only be remembered and analysed afterwards. 

 Just as the ladder was brought, Unda herself 

 came, white as death, and we threw ourselves into 

 each other's arms, thankful, so thankful, that we 

 were not hurt. She said that as she was playing 

 her fiddle, all at once she felt the room sway from 

 side to side, and heard crashes. She attempted to 

 come downstairs, but a great piece of plaster 

 cornice fell from above the doorway in front of 



