The Boats of the Glen-Carrig | Page 6

and there was a full minute of silence; then, once more it came,
and it was nearer and more plain to the ear. I took my pipe from my
mouth; for I had come again upon the great fear and uneasiness which
the happenings of the first night had bred in me, and the taste of the
smoke brought me no more pleasure. The muttered growl swept over
our heads and died away into the distance, and there was a sudden
silence.
Then, in that quietness, came the bo'sun's voice. He was bidding us
haste every one into the captain's cabin. As we moved to obey him, he
ran to draw over the lid of the scuttle; and Josh went with him, and,
together, they had it across; though with difficulty. When we had come
into the captain's cabin, we closed and barred the door, piling two great
sea chests up against it; and so we felt near safe; for we knew that no
thing, man nor beast, could come at us there. Yet, as may be supposed,
we felt not altogether secure; for there was that in the growling which
now filled the darkness, that seemed demoniac, and we knew not what
horrid Powers were abroad.
And so through the night the growling continued, seeming to be mighty
near unto us--aye! almost over our heads, and of a loudness far
surpassing all that had come to us on the previous night; so that I
thanked the Almighty that we had come into shelter in the midst of so
much fear.

III
The Thing That Made Search

Now at times, I fell upon sleep, as did most of the others; but, for the
most part, I lay half sleeping and half waking--being unable to attain to
true sleep by reason of the everlasting growling above us in the night,
and the fear which it bred in me. Thus, it chanced that just after
midnight, I caught a sound in the main cabin beyond the door, and
immediately I was fully waked. I sat me up and listened, and so became
aware that something was fumbling about the deck of the main cabin.
At that, I got to my feet and made my way to where the bo'sun lay,
meaning to waken him, if he slept; but he caught me by the ankle, as I
stooped to shake him, and whispered to me to keep silence; for he too
had been aware of that strange noise of something fumbling beyond in
the big cabin.
In a little, we crept both of us so close to the door as the chests would
allow, and there we crouched, listening; but could not tell what manner
of thing it might be which produced so strange a noise. For it was
neither shuffling, nor treading of any kind, nor yet was it the whirr of a
bat's wings, the which had first occurred to me, knowing how vampires
are said to inhabit the nights in dismal places. Nor yet was it the slurr of
a snake; but rather it seemed to us to be as though a great wet cloth
were being rubbed everywhere across the floor and bulkheads. We
were the better able to be certain of the truth of this likeness, when,
suddenly, it passed across the further side of the door behind which we
listened: at which, you may be sure, we drew backwards both of us in
fright; though the door, and the chests, stood between us and that which
rubbed against it.
Presently, the sound ceased, and, listen as we might, we could no
longer distinguish it. Yet, until the morning, we dozed no more; being
troubled in mind as to what manner of thing it was which had made
search in the big cabin.
Then in time the day came, and the growling ceased. For a mournful
while the sad crying filled our ears, and then at last the eternal silence
that fills the day hours of that dismal land fell upon us.
So, being at last in quietness, we slept, being greatly awearied. About
seven in the morning, the bo'sun waked me, and I found that they had
opened the door into the big cabin; but though the bo'sun and I made
careful search, we could nowhere come upon anything to tell us aught
concerning the thing which had put us so in fright. Yet, I know not if I

am right in saying that we came upon nothing; for, in several places,
the bulkheads had a chafed look; but whether this had been there before
that night, we had no means of telling.
Of that which we had heard, the bo'sun bade me make no mention, for
he would not have the men put more in fear than