Chapter 11: The Searching Of The Gardens

How Slowly The Time Went; And Never A Thing To Indicate That Any Of The Brutes Still Infested The Gardens.

It Was On The Ninth Day That, Finally, I Decided To Run The Risk, If Any There Were, And Sally Out. With This Purpose In View, I Loaded One Of The Shotguns, Carefully--Choosing It, As Being More Deadly Than A Rifle, At Close Quarters; And Then, After A Final Scrutiny Of The Grounds, From The Tower, I Called Pepper To Follow Me, And Made My Way Down To The Basement.

At The Door, I Must Confess To Hesitating A Moment. The Thought Of What Might Be Awaiting Me Among The Dark Shrubberies, Was By No Means Calculated To Encourage My Resolution. It Was But A Second, Though, And Then I Had Drawn The Bolts, And Was Standing On The Path Outside The Door.

Pepper Followed, Stopping At The Doorstep To Sniff, Suspiciously; And Carrying His Nose Up And Down The Jambs, As Though Following A Scent. Then, Suddenly, He Turned, Sharply, And Started To Run Here And There, In Semicircles And Circles, All Around The Door; Finally Returning To The Threshold. Here, He Began Again To Nose About.

Hitherto, I Had Stood, Watching The Dog; Yet, All The Time, With Half My Gaze On The Wild Tangle Of Gardens, Stretching ‘Round Me. Now, I Went Toward Him, And, Bending Down, Examined The Surface Of The Door, Where He Was Smelling. I Found That The Wood Was Covered With A Network Of Scratches, Crossing And Recrossing One Another, In Inextricable Confusion. In Addition To This, I Noticed That The Doorposts, Themselves, Were Gnawed In Places. Beyond These, I Could Find Nothing; And So, Standing Up, I Began To Make The Tour Of The House Wall.

Pepper, As Soon As I Walked Away, Left The Door, And Ran Ahead, Still Nosing And Sniffing As He Went Along. At Times, He Stopped To Investigate. Here, It Would Be A Bullet-Hole In The Pathway, Or, Perhaps, A Powder Stained Wad. Anon, It Might Be A Piece Of Torn Sod, Or A Disturbed Patch Of Weedy Path; But, Save For Such Trifles, He Found Nothing. I Observed Him, Critically, As He Went Along, And Could Discover Nothing Of Uneasiness, In His Demeanor, To Indicate That He Felt The Nearness Of Any Of The Creatures. By This, I Was Assured That The Gardens Were Empty, At Least For The Present, Of Those Hateful Things. Pepper Could Not Be Easily Deceived, And It Was A Relief To Feel That He Would Know, And Give Me Timely Warning, If There Were Any Danger.

Reaching The Place Where I Had Shot That First Creature, I Stopped, And Made A Careful Scrutiny; But Could See Nothing. From There, I Went On To Where The Great Copingstone Had Fallen. It Lay On Its Side, Apparently Just As It Had Been Left When I Shot The Brute That Was Moving It. A Couple Of Feet To The Right Of The Nearer End, Was A Great Dent In The Ground; Showing Where It Had Struck. The Other End Was Still Within The Indentation--Half In, And Half Out. Going Nearer, I Looked At The Stone, More Closely. What A Huge Piece Of Masonry It Was! And That Creature Had Moved It, Single-Handed, In Its Attempt To Reach What Lay Below.

I Went ‘Round To The Further End Of The Stone. Here, I Found That It Was Possible To See Under It, For A Distance Of Nearly A Couple Of Feet. Still, I Could See Nothing Of The Stricken Creatures, And I Felt Much Surprised. I Had, As I Have Before Said, Guessed That The Remains Had Been Removed; Yet, I Could Not Conceive That It Had Been Done So Thoroughly As Not To Leave Some Certain Sign, Beneath The Stone, Indicative Of Their Fate. I Had Seen Several Of The Brutes Struck Down Beneath It, With Such Force That They Must Have Been Literally Driven Into The Earth; And Now, Not A Vestige Of Them Was To Be Seen--Not Even A Bloodstain.

I Felt More Puzzled, Than Ever, As I Turned The Matter Over In My Mind; But Could Think Of No Plausible Explanation; And So, Finally, Gave It Up, As One Of The Many Things That Were Unexplainable.

From There, I Transferred My Attention To The Study Door. I Could See, Now, Even More Plainly, The Effects Of The Tremendous Strain, To Which It Had Been Subjected; And I Marveled How, Even With The Support Afforded By The Props, It Had Withstood The Attacks, So Well. There Were No Marks Of Blows--Indeed, None Had Been Given--But The Door Had Been Literally Riven From Its Hinges, By The Application Of Enormous, Silent Force. One Thing That I Observed Affected Me Profoundly--The Head Of One Of The Props Had Been Driven Right Through A Panel. This Was, Of Itself, Sufficient To Show How Huge An Effort The Creatures Had Made To Break Down The Door, And How Nearly They Had Succeeded.

Leaving, I Continued My Tour ‘Round The House, Finding Little Else Of Interest; Save At The Back, Where I Came Across The Piece Of Piping I Had Torn From The Wall, Lying Among The Long Grass Underneath The Broken Window.

Then, I Returned To The House, And, Having Re-Bolted The Back Door, Went Up To The Tower. Here, I Spent The Afternoon, Reading, And Occasionally Glancing Down Into The Gardens. I Had Determined, If The Night Passed Quietly, To Go As Far As The Pit, On The Morrow. Perhaps, I Should Be Able To Learn, Then, Something Of What Had Happened. The Day Slipped Away, And The Night Came, And Went Much As The Last Few Nights Had Gone.

When I Rose The Morning Had Broken, Fine And Clear; And I Determined To Put My Project Into Action. During Breakfast, I Considered The Matter, Carefully; After Which, I Went To The Study For My Shotgun. In Addition, I Loaded, And Slipped Into My Pocket, A Small, But Heavy, Pistol. I Quite Understood That, If There Were Any Danger, It Lay In The Direction Of The Pit And I Intended To Be Prepared.

Leaving The Study, I Went Down To The Back Door, Followed By Pepper. Once Outside, I Took A Quick Survey Of The Surrounding Gardens, And Then Set Off Toward The Pit. On The Way, I Kept A Sharp Outlook, Holding My Gun, Handily. Pepper Was Running Ahead, I Noticed, Without Any Apparent Hesitation. From This, I Augured That There Was No Imminent Danger To Be Apprehended, And I Stepped Out More Quickly In His Wake. He Had Reached The Top Of The Pit, Now, And Was Nosing His Way Along The Edge.

A Minute Later, I Was Beside Him, Looking Down Into The Pit. For A Moment, I Could Scarcely Believe That It Was The Same Place, So Greatly Was It Changed. The Dark, Wooded Ravine Of A Fortnight Ago, With A Foliage-Hidden Stream, Running Sluggishly, At The Bottom, Existed No Longer. Instead, My Eyes Showed Me A Ragged Chasm, Partly Filled With A Gloomy Lake Of Turbid Water. All One Side Of The Ravine Was Stripped Of Underwood, Showing The Bare Rock.