HE was a very quiet, self-possessed sort of man, sitting a moment on top of the wall to sound the damp darkness for warnings of the dangers it might conceal.But the plummet of his hearing brought nothing to him save the moaning of wind through invisible trees and the rustling of leaves on swaying branches.A heavy fog drifted and drove before the wind, and though he could not see this fog, the wet of it blew upon his face, and the wall on which he sat was wet.
Without noise he had climbed to the top of the wall from the outside, and without noise he dropped to the ground on the inside.From his pocket he drew an electric night-stick, but he did not use it.Dark as the way was, he was not anxious for light.Carrying the night-stick in his hand, his finger on the button, he advanced through the darkness.The ground was velvety and springy to his feet, being carpeted with dead pine-needles and leaves and mold which evidently bad been undisturbed for years.Leaves and branches brushed against his body, but so dark was it that he could not avoid them.Soon he walked with his hand stretched out gropingly before him, and more than once the hand fetched up against the solid trunks of massive trees.All about him he knew were these trees; he sensed the loom of them everywhere; and he experienced a strange feeling of microscopic smallness in the midst of great bulks leaning toward him to crush him.Beyond, he knew, was the house, and he expected to find some trail or winding path that would lead easily to it.
Once, he found himself trapped.On every side he groped against trees and branches, or blundered into thickets of underbrush, until there seemed no way out.Then he turned on his light, circumspectly, directing its rays to the ground at his feet.
Slowly and carefully he moved it about him, the white brightness showing in sharp detail all the obstacles to his progress.He saw, an opening between huge-trunked trees, and advanced through it, putting out the light and treading on dry footing as yet protected from the drip of the fog by the dense foliage overhead.His sense of direction was good, and he knew he was going toward the house.
And then the thing happened--the thing unthinkable and unexpected.His descending foot came down upon something that was soft and alive, and that arose with a snort under the weight of his body.He sprang clear, and crouched for another spring, anywhere, tense and expectant, keyed for the onslaught of the unknown.He waited a moment, wondering what manner of animal it was that had arisen from under his foot and that now made no sound nor movement and that must be crouching and waiting just as tensely and expectantly as he.The strain became unbearable.Holding the night-stick before him, he pressed the button, saw, and screamed aloud in terror.He was prepared for anything, from a frightened calf or fawn to a belligerent lion, but he was not prepared for what he saw.In that instant his tiny searchlight, sharp and white, had shown him what a thousand years would not en.able him to forget--a man, huge and blond, yellow-haired and yellow-bearded, naked except for soft-tanned moccasins and what seemed a goat-skin about his middle.Arms and legs were bare, as were his shoulders and most of his chest.The skin was smooth and hairless, but browned by sun and wind, while under it heavy muscles were knotted like fat snakes.Still, this alone, unexpected as it well was, was not what had made the man scream out.What had caused his terror was the unspeakable ferocity of the face, the wild-animal glare of the blue eyes scarcely dazzled by the light, the pine-needles matted and clinging in the beard and hair, and the whole formidable body crouched and in the act of springing at him.Practically in the instant he saw all this, and while his scream still rang, the thing leaped, he flung his night-stick full at it, and threw himself to the ground.He felt its feet and shins strike against his ribs, and he bounded up and away while the thing itself hurled onward in a heavy crashing fall into the underbrush.
As the noise of the fall ceased, the man stopped and on hands and knees waited.He could hear the thing moving about, searching for him, and he was afraid to advertise his location by attempting further flight.He knew that inevitably he would crackle the underbrush and be pursued.Once he drew out his revolver, then changed his mind.He had recovered his composure and hoped to get away without noise.Several times he heard the thing beating up the thickets for him, and there were moments when it, too, remained still and listened.This gave an idea to the man.One of his hands was resting on a chunk of dead wood.
Carefully, first feeling about him in the darkness to know that the full swing of his arm was clear, he raised the chunk of wood and threw it.It was not a large piece, and it went far, landing noisily in a bush.He heard the thing bound into the bush, and at the same time himself crawled steadily away.And on hands and knees, slowly and cautiously, he crawled on, till his knees were wet on the soggy mold, When he listened he heard naught but the moaning wind and the drip-drip of the fog from the branches.Never abating his caution, he stood erect and went on to the stone wall, over which he climbed and dropped down to the road outside.
Feeling his way in a clump of bushes, he drew out a bicycle and prepared to mount.He was in the act of driving the gear around with his foot for the purpose of getting the opposite pedal in position, when he heard the thud of a heavy body that landed lightly and evidently on its feet.He did not wait for more, but ran, with hands on the handles of his bicycle, until he was able to vault astride the saddle, catch the pedals, and start a spurt.Behind he could hear the quick thud-thud of feet on the dust of the road, but he drew away from it and lost it.
