She said yes, and so I rooted out Captain Hisgins and Parsket,
for I was not going to take her even into what you might call artificial
darkness without help and companionship at hand.
"When we were ready we went down into the wine cellar, Captain Hisgins
carrying a shotgun and Parsket a specially prepared background and a
lantern. I got the girl to stand in the middle of the cellar whilst
Parsket and the Captain held out the background behind her. Then I fired
off the flashlight, and we went into the next cellar where we repeated
the experiment.
"Then in the third cellar, a tremendous, pitch-dark place, something
extraordinary and horrible manifested itself. I had stationed Miss
Hisgins in the center of the place, with her father and Parsket holding
the background as before. When all was ready and just as I pressed the
trigger of the 'flash,' there came in the cellar that dreadful, gobbling
neighing that I had heard out in the Park. It seemed to come from
somewhere above the girl and in the glare of the sudden light I saw that
she was staring tensely upward, but at no visible thing. And then in the
succeeding comparative darkness, I was shouting to the Captain and
Parsket to run Miss Hisgins out into the daylight.
"This was done instantly and I shut and locked the door afterward making
the First and Eighth signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual opposite to each post
and connecting them across the threshold with a triple line.
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