 THE ROOM OF THE EVIL THOUGHT by Ilya W. P.T. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Ferguson. THE ROOM OF THE EVIL THOUGHT by Ilya W. P.T. They called it the room of the evil thought. It was really the pleasantest room in the house, and when the place had been used as the rectory was the minister's study. It looked out on a mournful clump of larches, such as may often be seen in the old-fashioned yards in Michigan, and these threw a tender gloom over the apartment. There was a wide fireplace in the room, and it had been the young minister's habit to sit there hours and hours staring ahead of him at the fire and smoking mootily. The replenishing of the fire and of his pipe, it was said, would afford him occupation all the day long, and that was how it came about that his parochial duties were neglected so that little by little the people became dissatisfied with him, though he was an eloquent young man who could send his congregation away drunk on his influence. However the calmer pulse among his parish began to whisper that it was indeed the influence of the young minister and not that of the Holy Ghost which they felt, and it was finally decided that neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism were good substitutes for religion, and so they let him go. The new rector moved into a smart brick house on the other side of the church, and gave receptions and dinner parties and was punctilious about making his calls. The people therefore liked him very much, so much that they raised the debt on the church and brought a chime of bells in their enthusiasm. Everyone was lighter of heart than under the ministration of the previous rector. A burden appeared to be lifted from the community. True, there were a few who confessed the new man did not give them the food for thought which the old one had done, but then the former rector had made them uncomfortable. He had not only made them conscious of the sins of which they were already guilty, but also of those for which they had the latent capacity, a strange and fatal man whom women loved to their sorrow and whom simple men could not understand. It was generally agreed that the parish was well rid of him. He was a genius, said the people in commiseration. The word was an uncomplementary epithet with them. When the Hanscombs moved in the house which had been the old rectory, they gave Grandma Hanscom the room with the fireplace. Grandma was well pleased. The roaring fire warmed her heart as well as her chill old body, and she worked with weak joy when she looked at the larches because they reminded her of the house she had lived in when she was first married. All the forenoon of the first day she was busy putting things away in the bureau drawers and closets, but by afternoon she was ready to sit down in her high-backed rocker and enjoy the comforts of her room. She nodded a bit before the fire, as she usually did after luncheon, and then she awoke with an awful start and sat staring before her with such a look in her gentle, filmy old eyes as had never been there before. She did not move except her rock slightly, and the thought grew and grew till her face was disguised as by some hideous mask of tragedy. By and by the children came pounding at the door. Oh, Grandma, let us in, please. We want to see your new room, and Mama gave us some ginger cookies on a plate and we want to give some to you. The door gave way under their assaults, and the three little ones stood peeping in, waiting for permission to enter. But it did not seem to be their Grandma, their own dear Grandma, who arose and tottered toward them in a fierce haste, crying, Away, away, out of my sight, out of my sight, before I do the thing I want to do such a terrible thing. Send someone to me quick, children, children. Send someone quick." They fled with feet shot with fear, and their mother came and Grandma Hanscom sank down and clung about her skirts and sobbed, Tie me, Miranda, make me fast to the bed, or the wall. Get someone to watch me, for I want to do an awful thing. They put the trembling old creature in bed, and she raved there all night long and cried out to be held, and to be kept from doing the fearful thing, whatever it was, for she never said what it was. The next morning someone suggested taking her in the sitting-room, where she would be with the family. So they laid her on the sofa, hemmed around with cushions, and before long she was her quiet self again, though exhausted, naturally, with the tumult of the previous night. Now and then, as the children played about her, a shadow crept over her face, a shadow as of cold remembrance, and then the perplexed tears followed. When she seemed as well as ever they put her back in her room, but though the fire glowed and the lamp burned, as soon as ever she was alone they heard her shrill cries ringing to them that the evil thought had come again. So Hal, who was home from college, carried her up to his room, which she seemed to like very well. Then he went down to have a smoke before Grandma's fire. The next morning he was absent from breakfast. They thought he might have gone for an early walk, and waited for him a few minutes. Then his sister went to the room that looked upon the larches, and found him dressed and pacing the floor with a face set in stern. He had not been in bed at all as she saw at once. His eyes were bloodshot, his face stricken as if with old age or sin or— but she could not make it out. When he saw her he sank in the chair and covered his face with his hands. Between the trembling fingers she could see drops of perspiration on his forehead. Hal, she cried, Hal, what is it? But for answer he threw his arms about the little table and clung to it, and looked at her with tortured eyes in which she fancied she saw a gleam of hate. She ran, screaming from the room, and her father came and went up to him and laid his hands on the boy's shoulders. And then a fearful thing happened. All the family saw it, there could be no mistake. Hal's hands found their way with frantic eagerness towards his father's throat as if they would choke him, and the look in his eyes was so like a madman's that his father raised his fist and felled him, as he used to fell many years before in the college fights, and then dragged him into the sitting-room and wept over him. By evening, however, Hal was all right, and the family said it must have been a fever, perhaps from overstudy, at which Hal covertly smiled. But his father was still too anxious about him to let him out of his sight, so he put him on a cot in his room, and thus a chance that the mother and Grace concluded to sleep together downstairs. The two women made a sort of festival of it and drank little cups of chocolate before the fire, and undid and brushed their brown braids and smiled at each other, understandingly with that sweet intuitive sympathy which women have, and Grace told her mother a number of things which she had been waiting for just such an auspicious occasion to confide. But the larches were noisy and cried out with wild voices, and the flame of the fire grew blue and swelled about in the draught sinuously, so that a chill crept upon the two. Something cold appeared to envelop them, such a chill as pleasure voyages feel when a burg steals beyond newfound land and glows blue and threatening upon their ocean path. Then came something else, which was not cold, but hot as the flames of hell, and they saw red and stared at each other with maddened eyes, then ran together from the room and clasped in close embrace, safe beyond the fatal place, and thank God they had not done the thing that they dared not speak of, the thing which suddenly came to them to do. So they called it the room of the evil thought. They could not account for it. They avoided the thought of it, being healthy and happy folk, but none entered it more. The door was locked. One day Hal, reading the paper, came across a paragraph concerning the young minister who had once lived there and who had thought and written there, and so influenced the lives of those about him that they remembered him even while they disapproved. He cut a man's throat on board ship for Australia, said he, and then he cut his own, without fatal effect, and jumped overboard and so entered it. What a strange thing! Then they all looked at one another with subtle looks, and a shadow fell upon them and stayed the blood at their hearts. The next week the room of the evil thought was pulled down to make way for a pansy bed, which is quite gay and innocent and blooms all the better because the larches, with their eternal murmuring, have been laid low and carted away to the sawmill. The recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Sean Michael Hogan. Silence, a fable by Edgar Allan Poe. Yuduzu Roryan Kodufay T'chai Farages Trones T'chai Karadai The mountain pinnacles slumber, valleys, crags, and caves are silent. Alkman. Listen to me, said the demon as he placed his hand upon my head. The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the borders of the river Zaire, and there is no quiet there, nor silence. The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue, and they flow not onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion. For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks and nod to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water, and they sigh one unto the other. But there is a boundary to their realm, the boundary of the dark, horrible lofty forest. There, like the waves about the hebrides, the low underwood is agitated continually. But there is no wind throughout the heaven, and the tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with a crashing and mighty sound. And from their high summits one by one drop everlasting dews, and at the roots strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And overhead with a rustling and loud noise the gray clouds rush westwardly forever until they roll a cataract over the fiery wall of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the heaven, and by the shores of the river Zaire there is neither quiet nor silence. It was night and the rain fell, and falling it was rain, but having fallen it was blood. And I stood in the morass among the tall lilies, and the rain fell upon my head, and the lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation. And all at once the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was lighted by the light of the moon. And the rock was gray and ghastly and tall, and the rock was gray. Upon its front were characters engraven in the stone, and I walked through the morass of water lilies until I came close to the shore that I might read the characters upon the stone, but I could not decipher them. And I was going back into the morass when the moon shone with a fuller red, and I turned and looked again upon the rock and upon the characters, and the characters were desolation. And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon the summit of the rock, and I hid myself among the water lilies that I might discover the actions of the man. And the man was tall and stately in form and was wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old Rome. And the outlines of his figure were indistinct, but his features were the features of a deity. For the mantle of the night and of the mist and of the moon and of the dew had left uncovered the features of his face. And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care, and in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow and weariness and disgust with mankind and a longing after solitude. And the man sat upon the rock and leaned his head upon his hand and looked out upon the desolation. He looked down into the low, unquiet shrubbery and up into the tall primeval trees and up higher at the rustling heaven and into the crimson moon. And I lay close within shelter of the lilies and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude, but the night waned and he sat upon the rock. And the man turned his attention from the heaven and looked out upon the dreary river Zaire and upon the yellow ghastly waters and upon the pale legions of the water lilies. And the man listened to the sighs of the water lilies and to the murmur that came up from among them. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man and the man trembled in the solitude, but the night waned and he sat upon the rock. Then I went down into the recesses of the morass and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies and called unto the hippopotamia which dwelt among the fens and the recesses of the morass. And the hippopotamia heard my call and came with the behemoth onto the foot of the rock and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man and the man trembled in the solitude, but the night waned and he sat upon the rock. Then I cursed the elements with the curse of tumult and a frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where before there had been no wind and the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest and the rain beat upon the head of the man and the floods of the river came down and the river was tormented into foam and the water lilies shrieked within their beds and the forest crumbled before the wind and the thunder rolled and the lightning fell and the rock rocked to its foundation. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man and the man trembled in the solitude but the night waned and he sat upon the rock. Then I grew angry and cursed with the curse of silence. The river and the lilies and the wind and the forest and the heaven and the thunder were in the eyes of the water lilies and they became accursed and were still. And the moon ceased to totter up its pathway to heaven and the thunder died away and the lightning did not flash and the clouds hung motionless and the water sunk to their level and remained and the trees ceased to rock and the water lilies sighed no more and the murmur was heard no longer from among them nor any shadow of sound throughout the vast, illimitable desert. And I looked upon the characters of the rock and they were changed and the characters were silence and mine eyes fell upon the countenance of the man and his countenance was won with terror and hurriedly he raised his head from his hand and stood forth upon the rock and listened but there was no voice throughout the vast, illimitable desert and the characters upon the rock were silence and the man shuddered and turned his face away and fled afar off in haste so that I beheld him no more. Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi in the iron-bound melancholy volumes of the Magi therein I say are glorious histories of the heaven and of the earth and of the mighty sea and of the genii that overruled the sea and the earth and the lofty heaven there was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sibyls and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled about Dodana but as Allah liveth that fable which the demon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb I hold to be the most wonderful of all and as the demon made an end of his story he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed and I could not laugh with the demon he cursed me because I could not laugh and the links which dwelleth forever in the tomb came out there from and lay down at the feet of the demon and looked at him steadily in the face end of Silence, a Fable by Edgar Allan Poe recording by Sean Michael Hogan St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada Skeleton Lake an episode in camp this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Bernard Spiel Skeleton Lake an episode in camp by Algernon Blackwood the utter loneliness of our moose camp on Skeleton Lake had impressed us from the beginning in the Quebec backwoods five days by trail and canoe from civilization and perhaps the singular name contributed a little to the sensation of eeriness that made itself felt in the camp circle when once the sun was down and the late October mists began rising from the lake and winding their way in among the tree trunks for in these regions all names of lakes and hills and islands have their origin in some actual event taking either the name of a chief participant such as Smith's Ridge or claiming a place in the map by perpetuating some special feature of the journey or the scenery such as Long Island Deep Rapids or Rainy Lake all names thus have their meaning and are usually pretty recently acquired while the majority are self-explanatory and suggest human and pioneer relations Skeleton Lake, therefore was a name full of suggestion and though none of us knew the origin or the story of its birth we all were conscious of a certain radius atmosphere that haunted its shores and islands and but for the evidences of recent moose tracks in its neighborhood we should probably have pitched our tents elsewhere for several hundred miles in any direction we knew of only one other party of whites they had journeyed up on the train with us getting in at North Bay and hailing from Boston Way a common goal and object had served by way of introduction but the acquaintance had made little progress this noisy aggressive Yankee did not suit our fancy as much as a possible neighbor and it was only a slight intimacy between his chief guide, Jake the Swede and one of our men had kept the thing going at all they went into camp on Beaver Creek fifty miles and more to the west of us but that was six weeks ago and seemed as many months four days and nights passed slowly and these solitudes and the scale of time changes wonderfully our men always seemed to know by instinct pretty well why them other fellows was moving but in the interval no one had come across their trails or once so much as heard their rifle shots our little camp consisted of the professor his wife a splendid shot and keen woodswoman and myself we had a guy to peace in pairs from before sunrise till dark it was our last evening in the woods and the professor was lying in my little wedge tent discussing the dangers of hunting alone in couples in this way the flap of the tent hung back and let in fragrant odors of cooking over an open wood fire everywhere there were bustle and preparation and one canoe already lay packed with moose horns her nose pointing southwards if an accident happened to one of them he was saying the survivor's story when he returned to camp would be entirely unsupported evidence wouldn't it because you see and he went on laying down the law after the manner of professors until I became so bored that my attention began to wander to pictures and memories of the scenes we were just about to leave Garden Lake with its hundred islands the rapids out of round pond countless vistas of forest crimson and gold in the autumn sunshine and the starlit nights we had spent watching in cold cramped positions for the weary moose on lonely lakes among the hills the hum of the professor's voice in time grew more soothing a nod or a grunt was all the reply he looked for fortunately he loathed interruptions I think I could almost have gone to sleep under his very nose perhaps I did sleep for a brief interval then it all came about so quickly in the tragedy of it was so unexpected and painful throwing our peaceful camp into momentary confusion that now it all seems to have happened with the uncanny swiftness of a dream first there was the abrupt ceasing of the droning voice and then the running of quick little steps over the pine needles and the confusion of men's voices and the next instant the professor's wife was at the tent door hatless her face white her hunting bloomers bagging at the wrong places a rifle in her hand and her words running into one another anyhow quick Harry it's rushed in I was asleep and it woke me something's happened you must deal with it in a second we were outside the tent with our rifles my god I heard the professor exclaim as if he had first made the discovery it is rushed in I saw the guides helping dragging a man out of a canoe a brief space of deep silence followed in which I heard only the waves from the canoe washing up on the sand and then immediately after came the voice of a man talking with amazing rapidity and with odd gaps between his words it was rushed in telling his story and the tones of his voice now whispering now almost shouting mixed with sobs and solemn oaths and frequent appeals to the deity somehow or other struck the false note at the very start and before any of us guessed or knew anything at all something moved secretly between his words a shadow availing the stars destroying the peace of our little camp and touching us all personally with an undefinable sense of horror and distrust I can see that group to this day with all the detail of a good photograph standing halfway between the firelight and the darkness a slight mist rising from the lake the frosty stars and our men in silence that was all sympathy dragging Russian across the rocks towards the campfire their moccasins crunched on the sand and slipped several times in the stones beneath the weight of the limp, exhausted body and I can still see every inch of the paired cedar branch he had used in the battle on that lonely and dreadful journey but what struck me most as it struck us all was the limp exhaustion of his body compared to the strength of his utterance and the tearing rush of his words a vigorous driving power was there at work forcing out the tail red-hot and throbbing full of discrepancies and the strangest contradictions and the nature of this driving power I first began to appreciate when they had lifted him into the circle of firelight in the face, gray under the skin terror in his eye, tears too hair and beard awry and listened to the wild stream of words pouring forth without ceasing I think we all understood then but it was only after many years that anyone dared to confess what he thought there was Matt Morris, my guide Silver Fizz, whose real name was unknown and who bored the title of his favorite drink and huge Hank Milligan all ears in kind intention and there was Rushton pouring out his ready-made tail with ever-shifting eyes turning from face to face seeking confirmation of details not he had witnessed but himself and one other Silver Fizz was the first to recover from the shock of the thing and to realize with a natural sense of chivalry comments most genuine backwoodsman that the man was at a terrible disadvantage at any rate he was the first to start putting the matter to rights Never mind telling it just now he said in a gruff voice get a bite to eat first and then let her go afterwards better have a horn of whiskey too it ain't all packed yet I guess couldn't eat or drink a thing cried the other good lord don't you see man I want to talk to someone first I want to get it out of me to someone who can answer answer I've had nothing but trees to talk with for three days and I can't carry it alone any longer those cursed silent trees I've told them a thousand times now just see here it was this way when we started out from camp he looked fearfully about him and we realized it was useless to stop him the story was bound to come and come it did now the story itself was nothing out of the way such tales are told by the dozen round any campfire where men who have knocked about in the woods are in the circle it was the way he told it that made our flesh creep he was near the truth all along but he was skimming it and the skimming took off the cream that might have saved his soul of course he smothered it in words odd words too melodramatic poetic out of the way words that lied just on the edge of frenzy of course too he kept asking us each in turn scanning our faces with those restless frightened eyes of his what would you have done what else could I do and was that my fault but that was nothing for a broken waterfellow who dealt in hints and suggestions he told his story boldly forcing his conclusions upon us as if we had been so many wax cylinders of a phonograph that would repeat accurately what had been told us and these questions I have mentioned he used to emphasize any special point that he seemed to think required such emphasis the fact was however the picture of what had actually happened was so vivid still in his own mind that it reached ours by a process of telepathy which he could not control or prevent all through his true false words this picture stood forth in fearful detail against the shadows behind him he could not veil much less obliterate it we knew and I always thought he knew that we knew the story itself as I have said was sufficiently ordinary Jake and himself in a nine foot canoe had upset in the middle of a lake and had held hands across the upturned craft for several hours eventually cutting holes in her ribs to stick their arms through and grasp hands lest the numbness of the cold water should overcome them they were miles from shore and the wind was drifting them down upon a little island but when they got within a few hundred yards of the island they realized to their horror that they would after all drift past it it was then the coral began Jake was leaving the canoe and swimming Rustin believed in waiting till they actually had passed the island and were sheltered from the wind then they could make the island easily by swimming canoe and all but Jake refused to give in and after a short struggle Rustin admitted there was a struggle got free from the canoe and disappeared without a single cry Rustin held on and proved the correctness of his theory and finally made the island canoe and all after being in the water over five hours he described to us how he crawled up onto the shore and fainted at once with his feet lying half in the water how lost and terrified he felt upon regaining consciousness in the dark how the canoe had drifted away and his extraordinary luck in finding it caught again at the end of the island by a projecting cedar branch he told us that the little axe another bit of real luck had caught in the thwart when the canoe turned over the little bottle in his pocket holding the emergency matches was whole and dry he made a blazing fire and searched the island from end to end calling upon Jake in the darkness but getting no answer till finally so many half-drowned men seemed to come crawling out of the water onto the rocks and vanish among the shadows when he came up with them that he lost his nerve completely and returned it to lie down by the fire until the daylight came he then cut about to replace the lost paddles and after one more useless search for his lost companion he got into the canoe fearing every moment he would upset again and crossed over to the mainland he knew roughly the position of our camping place and after paddling day and night and making many weary portages without food or covering he reached us two days later this more or less was the story and we, knowing whereof he spoke knew that every word was literally true and at the same time went to the building of a hideous and prodigious lie once the recital was over he collapsed and silver fizz after a general expression of sympathy from the rest of us came again to the rescue but now, mister, you just got to eat and drink whether you've a mind to or no and Matt Morris cooked that night soon had the fried trout and bacon and the wheat cakes and hot coffee passing round rather silent and a pressed circle so we ate round the fire ravenously as we had eaten every night for the past six weeks but with this difference that there was one among us who was more than ravenous and he gorged in spite of all our devices he somehow kept himself the center of observation when his tin mug was empty Morris instantly passed the teapail when he began to mop up the bacon grease with the dough on his fork Hank reached out for the frying pan and the can of steaming boiled potatoes was always by his side and there was another difference as well he was sick terribly sick before the meal was over and this sudden nausea after food was more eloquent than words of what the man had passed through on his dreadful, foodless ghost-haunted journey of 40 miles to our camp in the darkness he thought he would go crazy he said we tried hard to talk of other things but it was no use for he was bursting with a rehearsal of his story and refused to allow himself the chances we were so willing and anxious to grant him after a good night's rest we went to the camp we went to the camp we went to the camp we went to the camp we went to the camp we went to the camp we went to the camp after a good night's rest he might have had more self-control and better judgment and would probably have acted differently but as it was we found it impossible to help him once the pipes were lit and the dishes cleared away it was useless to pretend any longer the sparks from the burning logs zigzagged upwards into a sky brilliant with stars it was all wonderfully still and peaceful and the forest odors the sharp autumn air the cedar fires melt sweet and we could just hear the gentle wash of tiny waves along the shore all was calm, beautiful and remote from the world of men and passion it was, indeed a night to touch the soul and yet I think none of us heeded these things a bull moose might almost have thrust his great head over our shoulders and have escaped unnoticed the birth of Jake the Swede with its sinister setting was the real presence that held the center of the stage and compelled attention you won't perhaps care to come along, Mr. said Morris by way of a beginning but I guess I'll go with one of the boys here and have a hunt for it sure said Hank Jake and I done some biggest trips together in the old days and I'll do that much for him in steep water they tell me round them islands added silver fizz but we'll find it sure pop if it's there they all spoke of the body as it there was a minute or two of heavy silence and then Rushton again burst out with his story in almost the identical words he had used before it was almost as if he had learned it by heart he wholly failed to appreciate the efforts of the others to let him off silver fizz rust in hoping to stop him from following his lead I once knew another traveling partner of his, he began quickly used to live down Moose Jaw Rapid's way is that so? said Hank kind of a useful sort of feller chimed in Morris all the idea the men had was to stop the tongue wagging before the discrepancies became so glaring that we should be forced to take notice of them and ask questions but just as well tried to stop an angry bull moose on the run or prevent Beaver Creek freezing in midwinter by throwing in pebbles near the shore out it came and though the discrepancy this time was insignificant it somehow brought us all in a second face to face with the inevitable and dreaded climax and so I tramped all over that little bit of an island hoping he might somehow have gotten in without my knowing it and always thinking I heard that awful last cry of his in the darkness and then the night dropped down impenetrably like a damp thick blanket out of the sky and all eyes fell away from his face Hank poked up the logs with his boot and Morris seized an ember in his bare fingers to light his pipe although it was already emitting clouds of smoke but the professor caught the ball flying I thought you said he sank without a cry he remarked quietly looking straight up into the frightened face opposite and then riddling mercilessly the confused explanation that followed the cumulative effect of all these forces hitherto so rigorously repressed now made itself felt and the circle spontaneously broke up everybody moving at once by a common instinct the professor's wife left the party abruptly with excuses about an early start next morning she first shook hands with Rushton mumbling something about his comfort in the night the question of his comfort however devolved by a force of circumstances upon myself and he shared my tense just before wrapping up in my double blankets for the night was bitterly cold he turned and began to explain that he had a habit of talking in his sleep and hoped I would wake him if he disturbed me by doing so well he did talk in his sleep and it disturbed me very much indeed the anger and violence of his words remained with me to this day and it was clear in a minute that he was living over again some portion of the scene upon the lake I listened, horror struck for a moment or two and then understood that I was face to face with one of two alternatives I must continue an unwilling eavesdropper or I must waken him the former was impossible for me yet I shrank from the ladder with the greatest repugnance and in my dilemma I saw the only way out of the difficulty and at once accepted it cold though I was I crawled stealthily out of my warm sleeping bag and left the tent intending to keep the old fire alight under the stars moving hours till daylight in the open as soon as I was out I noticed at once another figure moving silently along the shore it was Hank Milligan and it was plain enough what he was doing he was examining the holes that had been cut in the upper ribs of the canoe he looked half ashamed when I came up to him and mumbled something about not being able to sleep for the cold but there standing together beside the overturned canoe we both saw that the holes were far too small for a man's hand and arm and could not possibly have been cut by two men hanging on for their lives in deep water those holes had been made afterwards Hank said nothing to me and I said nothing to Hank and presently he moved off to collect logs for the fire which needed replenishing for it was a piercingly cold night and there were many degrees of frost three days later Hank and Silver Fizz followed with stumbling footsteps the old Indian trail that leads from Beaver Creek to the southwards a hammock was slung between them and it was weighed heavily yet neither of the men complained and indeed speech between them was almost nothing their thoughts however were exceedingly busy and the terrible secret of the woods which formed their burden weighed far more heavily than the uncouth shifting mast that lay in the swinging hammock and tugged so severely at their shoulders they had found it in four feet of water not more than a couple of yards from the lee shore of the island and in the back of the head was a long terrible wound which no men could possibly have inflicted upon himself this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Bologna Times The Sphinx by Edgar Allan Poe during the dread reign of the cholera in New York I had accepted the invitation of a relative to spend a fortnight with him in the retirement of his cottage on the banks of the Hudson we had here around us all the ordinary means of summer amusement and what with the rambling in the woods sketching, boating, fishing, bathing, music and books we should have passed the time pleasantly enough but for the fearful intelligence which reached us every morning from the populous city not a day elapsed which did not bring us news of the decease of some acquaintance then as the fatality increased we learned to expect daily the loss of some friend at last we trembled at the approach of every messenger the very air from the south seemed to us redolent with death that pausing thought indeed took entire possession of my soul I could neither speak, think, nor dream of anything else my host was of a less excitable temperament and although greatly depressed in spirits exerted himself to sustain my own his richly philosophical intellect was not at any time affected by unrealities to the substances of terror he was sufficiently alive but of its shadows he had no apprehension his endeavours to arouse me from the condition of abnormal gloom into which I had fallen were frustrated in great measure by certain volumes which I had found in his library these were of a character to force into germination whatever seeds of hereditary superstition lay latent in my bosom I had been reading these books without his knowledge and thus he was often at a loss to account for the forcible impressions that had been made upon my fancy my favourite topic with me was the popular belief in omens a belief which, at this one epoch of my life I was almost seriously disposed to depend on the subject we had long and animated discussions he maintaining the utter groundlessness of faith in such matters I contending that a popular sentiment arising with absolute spontaneity that is to say without apparent traces of suggestion had in itself the unmistakable elements of truth and was entitled to as much respect as that intuition which is the idiosyncrasy of the individual men of genius the fact is that soon after my arrival at the cottage there had occurred to myself an incident so entirely inexplicable and which had in it so much of the portentous character that I might well have been excused for regarding it as an omen it appalled and at the same time so confounded and bewildered me that many days elapsed before I could make up my mind to communicate the circumstances to my friend near the close of an exceedingly warm day I was sitting, book in hand, at an open window commanding through a long vista of the river banks a view of a distant hill the face of which, nearest my position, had been denuded by what is termed a landslide of the principal portion of its trees my thoughts had been long wandering from the volume before me to the gloom and desolation of the neighboring city uplifting my eyes from the page they fell upon the naked face of the bill and upon an object upon some living monster of hideous conformation which very rapidly made its way from the summit to the bottom disappearing finally in the dense forest below as this creature first came in sight I doubted my own sanity or at least the evidence of my own eyes and many minutes passed before I succeeded in convincing myself that I was neither mad nor in a dream yet when I described the monster which I distinctly saw I calmly surveyed through the whole period of its progress my readers, I fear, will fill more difficulty in being convinced of these points than even I did myself estimating the size of the creature by comparison with the diameter of the large trees near which it passed the few giants of the forest which had escaped the fury of the landslide I concluded it to be far larger than any ship of the line in existence I say ship of the line because the shape of the monster suggested the idea the hull of one of our 74 might convey a very tolerable conception of the general outline the mouth of the animal was situated at the extremity of a proboscis some 60 or 70 feet in length and about as thick as the body of an ordinary elephant near the root of this trunk was an immense quantity of black shaggy hair more than could have been supplied by the coats of a score of buffaloes and projecting from this hair downwardly and laterally sprang two gleaming tusks not unlike those of the wild boar but of infinitely greater dimensions extending forward parallel with the proboscis and on each side of it was a gigantic staff 30 or 40 feet in length farmed seemingly of pure crystal and in shape a perfect prism it reflected in the most gorgeous manner the rays of the declining sun the trunk was fashioned like a wedge with the apex to the earth from it there were outspread two pairs of wings each wing nearly 100 yards in length one pair being placed above the other and all thickly covered with metal scales each scale apparently some 10 or 12 feet in diameter I observed that the upper and lower tiers of wings were connected by a strong chain but the chief peculiarity of this horrible thing was the representation of a death's head which covered nearly the whole surface of its breast and which was as accurately traced and glaring white upon the dark round of the body as if it had been there carefully designed by an artist while I regarded the terrific animal and more especially the appearance on its breast with a feeling of horror and awe with a sentiment of forthcoming evil which I found it impossible to quell by any effort of the reason I perceived the huge jaws at the extremity of the proboscis suddenly expand themselves and from them there proceeded a sound so loud and so expressive of woe that it struck upon my nerves like a knell and as the monster disappeared at the foot of the hill I fell at once fainting to the floor upon recovering my first impulse of course was to inform my friend of what I had seen and heard I can scarcely explain what feeling of repugnance it was which in the end operated to prevent me at length one evening some three or four days after the occurrence we were sitting together in the room in which I had seen the apparition I occupying the same seat at the same window and he lounging on a sofa near at hand the association of the place and time impelled me to give him an account of the phenomenon he heard me to the end at first laughed heartily and then lapsed into an excessively graved demeanor as if my insanity was a thing beyond suspicion at this instant I again had a distinct view of the monster to which with a shout of absolute terror I now directed his attention he looked eagerly but maintained that he saw nothing although I designated minutely the course of the creature as it made its way down the naked face of the hill I was now immeasurably alarmed for I considered the vision either as an omen of my death or worse as the forerunner of an attack of mania I threw myself passionately back in my chair and for some moments buried my face in my hands when I uncovered my eyes the apparition was no longer apparent at first however had in some degree resumed the calmness of his demeanor and questioned me very rigorously in respect to the conformation of the visionary creature when I had fully satisfied him on this head he sighed deeply as if relieved of some intolerable burden and went on to talk with what I thought a cruel calmness of various points of speculative philosophy which had heretofore form subject of discussion between us I remember his insisting very especially among other things upon the idea that the principal source of error and all human investigations land the liability of the understanding to underrate or to overvalue the importance of an object through mere mis-measurement of its propinquity to estimate properly, for example, he said the influence to be exercised on mankind at large by the thorough diffusion of democracy the distance of the epoch at which such diffusion may possibly be accomplished should not fail to form an item in the estimate yet can you tell me one writer on the subject of government who has ever thought this particular branch of the subject worthy of discussion at all? Here he paused for a moment stepped to a bookcase and brought forth one of the ordinary synopses of natural history requesting me then to exchange seats with him that he might the better distinguish the fine print of the volume he took my armchair at the window and, opening the book, resumed his discourse very much in the same tone as before but for your exceeding minuteness, he said in describing the monster I might never have had it in my power to demonstrate to you what it was in the first place let me read to you a schoolboy account of the genus Sphinx of the family Cripuscularia of the order Lepidoptera of the class of insecta or insects the account runs thus four memberateness wings covered with little colored scales of metallic appearance mouth forming a rolled proboscis produced by an elongation of the jaws upon the sides of which are found the rudiments of mandibles and downy palpy the inferior wings retained to the superior by a stiff hair antenna in the form of an elongated club prismatic abdomen pointed the death's headed Sphinx had occasion much terror among the vulgar at times by the melancholy kind of cry which it utters and the insignia of death which it wears upon its courselet he here closed the book and leaned forward in the chair placing himself accurately in the position which I had occupied at the moment of beholding the monster ah, here it is he presently exclaimed it is re-ascending the face of the hill a remarkable looking creature I admit it to be still it is by no means so large or so distant as you imagined it for the fact is that as it wriggles its way up this thread which some spider has wrought along the window sash I find it to be about the sixteenth of an inch in its extreme length and also about the sixteenth of an inch distant from the pupil of my eye End of This Sphinx by Edgar Allan Poe A Vine on a House by Ambrose Beers this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Bologna Times A Vine on a House by Ambrose Beers about three miles from the little town of Norton in Missouri on the road leading to Mazeville stands an old house that was last occupied by a family named Harding since 1886 no one has lived in it nor is anyone likely to live in it again time and the disfavor of persons dwelling thereabout are converting it into a rather picturesque ruin an observer unacquainted with its history would hardly put it into the category of haunted houses yet in all the region round such is its evil reputation its windows are without glass its doorways without doors there are wide breeches and the shingle roof and for lack of paint the weather boarding is a done gray but these unfailing signs of the supernatural are partly concealed and greatly softened by the abundant foliage of a large vine overrunning the entire structure this vine of a species which no botanist has ever been able to name has an important part in the story of the house the Harding family consisted of Robert Harding his wife Matilda Miss Julia Wendt who was her sister and two young children Robert Harding was a silent, cold-mannered man who made no friends in the neighborhood and apparently cared to make none he was about forty years old frugal and industrious and made a living from the little farm which is now overgrown with brush and brambles he and his sister-in-law were rather tabooed by their neighbors who seemed to think that they were seen too frequently together not entirely their fault for at these times they evidently did not challenge observation the moral code of rural Missouri is stern and exacting Mrs. Harding was a gentle, sad-eyed woman lacking a left foot at some time in 1884 it became known that she had gone to visit her mother in Iowa that was what her husband said and replied to inquiries in his manner of saying it did not encourage further questioning she never came back and two years later without selling his farm or anything that was his or appointing an agent to look after his interests or removing his household goods Harding, with the rest of the family, left the country nobody knew whither he went nobody at that time cared naturally whatever was movable about the place soon disappeared and the deserted house became haunted in the manner of its kind one summer evening, four or five years later the Reverend J. Gruber of Norton and a Maysville attorney named Hyatt met on horseback in front of the Harding place having business matters to discuss they hitched their animals and going to the house sat on the porch to talk some humorous reference to the somber reputation of the place was made and forgotten as soon as uttered and they talked of their business affairs until it grew almost dark the evening was oppressively warm the air stagnant presently both men started from their seats in surprise a long vine that covered half the front of the house and dangled its branches from the edge of the porch above them was visibly and audibly agitated shaking violently in every stem and leaf we shall have a storm, Hyatt exclaimed Gruber said nothing but silently directed the other's attention to the foliage of adjacent trees which showed no movement even the delicate tips of the boughs silhouetted against the clear sky were motionless they hastily passed down the steps to what had been a lawn and looked upward at the vine whose entire length was now visible it continued in violent agitation yet they could discern no disturbing cause let us leave, said the minister and leave they did forgetting that they had been travelling in opposite directions they rode away together they went to Norton where they related their strange experience to several discreet friends the next evening at about the same hour accompanied by two others whose names are not recalled they were again on the porch of the Harding House and again the mysterious phenomenon occurred the vine was violently agitated while under the closest scrutiny from root to tip nor did their combined strength applied to the trunk served to still it in an hour's observation they retreated no less wise it is thought than when they had come no great time was required for these singular facts to rouse the curiosity of the entire neighbourhood by day and by night crowds of persons assembled at the Harding House seeking a sign it does not appear that any found it yet so credible were the witnesses mentioned but none doubted the reality of the manifestations to which they testified by either a happy inspiration or some destructive design it was one day proposed nobody appeared to know from whom the suggestion came to dig up the vine and after a good deal of debate this was done nothing was found but the root yet nothing could have been more strange for five or six feet from the trunk which had at the surface of the ground a diameter of several inches it ran downward, single and straight into a loose friable earth then it divided and subdivided into rootlets fibres and filaments most curiously interwoven when carefully freed from soil they showed a singular formation in their ramifications and doublings back upon themselves they made a compact network having in size and shape an amazing resemblance to the human figure head, trunk and limbs were there even the fingers and toes were distinctly defined and many professed to see in the distribution an arrangement of the fibres and the globular mass representing the head a grotesque suggestion of a face the figure was horizontal the smaller roots had begun to unite at the breast in point of resemblance to the human form this image was imperfect about ten inches from one of the knees the cilia forming that leg had abruptly doubled backward and inward upon their course of growth the figure lacked the left foot there was but one inference the obvious one but in the ensuing excitement as many courses of action were proposed as there were incapable counselors the matter was settled by the sheriff of the county who as the lawful custodian of the abandoned estate ordered the root replaced and the excavation filled with the earth that had been removed later inquiry brought out only one fact of relevancy and significance Robert Harding had never visited her relatives in Iowa nor did they know that she was supposed to have done so of Robert Harding and the rest of his family nothing is known the house retains its evil reputation but the replanted vine is as orderly and well behaved a vegetable as a nervous person could wish to sit under of a pleasant night when the Katie did's grate out their immemorial revelation and the distant whipper will signifies his notion of what ought to be done about it end of a vine on a house The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson it was a dark, starless night we were be calmed in the North Pacific our exact position I do not know for the sun had been hidden during the course of a weary breathless week by a thin haze which had seemed to float above us about the height of our mastheads at wiles descending and surrounding the shrouding sea with there being no wind we had studied the tiller and I was the only man on deck the crew, consisting of two men and a boy were sleeping forward in their den while Will, my friend and the master of our little craft was aft in his bunk on the port side of the little cabin suddenly, from out of the surrounding darkness there came a hail Scooner, ahoy the cry was so unexpected that I gave no immediate answer because of my surprise it came again a voice curiously throaty and inhuman calling from somewhere upon the dark sea on the way on our port broadside Scooner, ahoy hello, I sung out having gathered my wits somewhat what are you? what do you want? you need not be afraid answered the queer voice having probably noticed some trace of confusion in my tone I am only an old man the pause sounded oddly but it was only afterwards that it came back to me with any significance why don't you come alongside then I queried somewhat snappishly for I like not as hinting at my being a trifle shaken I... I can't it wouldn't be safe I... the voice broke off and there was silence what do you mean? I asked growing more and more astonished why not safe? where are you? I listened for a moment but there came no answer and then a sudden indefinite suspicion of I knew not what coming to me I stepped swiftly to the binocle and took out the lighted lamp at the same time I knocked on the deck with my heel to awaken will then I was back at the side throwing the yellow funnel of light out into the silent immensity beyond our rail as I did so I heard a slight muffled cry and then the sound of a splash as though someone had dipped oars abruptly yet I cannot say that I saw anything with certainty save it seemed to me that with the first flash of the light there had been something upon the waters where now there was nothing hello there I called what foolery is this but there came only the indistinct sounds of a boat being pulled away into the night then I heard Will's voice from the direction of the afterscuttle what's up George come here Will I said what is it he asked coming across the deck I told him the queer thing which had happened he put several questions then after a moment's silence he raised his hands to his lips and hailed vote ohoy from a long distance away there came back to us a faint reply and my companion repeated his call presently after a short period of silence there grew on our hearing the muffled sound of oars at which Will hailed again this time there was a reply put away the light I'm damned if I will I muttered to do as the voice bade and I shoved it down under the bulwarks come nearer he said and the oar strokes continued then when apparently some half dozen fathoms distant they again ceased come alongside exclaimed Will there's nothing to be frightened of aboard here promise me that you will not show the light what's to do with you I burst out that you're so infernally afraid of the light because began the voice and stopped short because what Will put his hand on my shoulder shut up a minute old man he said in a low voice let me tackle him he let more over the rail see here mister this is a pretty queer business you coming upon us like this right out in the middle of the blessed pacific how are we to know what sort of hanky-panky trick you're up to you say there's only one of you to know unless we get a squint at you a what's your objection to the light anyway as he finished I heard the noise of the oars again and then the voice came but now from a greater distance and sounding extremely hopeless and pathetic I am sorry sorry and I would not have troubled you only I am hungry and so is she the voice died away and the sound of oars dipping irregularly was born to us stop Will I don't want to drive you away come back we'll keep the light hidden if you don't like it he turned to me it's a damn queer rig this but I think there's nothing to be afraid of there was a question in his tone and I replied no I think the poor devil's been wrecked around here and gone crazy the sound of the oars drew near shove that lamp back in the benical said Will and then he leaned over the rail and listened I replaced the lamp and came back to a side the dipping of the oars see some dozen yards distant won't you come alongside now asked Will in an even voice I've had the lamp put back in the benical I cannot reply the voice I dare not come nearer I dare not even pay you for the the provisions that's all right said Will and hesitated you're welcome to as much grub as you can take again he hesitated you were very good exclaimed the voice may God who understands everything reward you it broke off huskily the the lady said Will abruptly is she I have left her behind upon the island came the voice what island I cut in I know not its name return the voice I would to God it began and checked itself suddenly could we not send a boat for her asked Will at this point no said the voice with extraordinary emphasis my God no there was a moment's pause then it added in a tone which seemed a merited reproach it was because of our want I ventured because her agony tortured me I'm a forgetful brute exclaimed Will just wait a minute whoever you are and I will bring you up something at once in a couple of minutes he was back again and his arms were full of various edibles he paused at the rail can't you come alongside for them he asked no I dare not reply the voice and it seemed to me that in its tones I detected a note of stifle craving as though the owner hushed a mortal desire it then came to me in a flash that the poor old creature out there in the darkness was suffering for actual need of that which Will held in his arms and yet because of some unintelligible refraining from dashing to the side of our little schooner in receiving it and with the lightning-like conviction there came the knowledge that the invisible was not mad but sanely facing some intolerable horror damn it Will I said full of many feelings over which predominated a vast sympathy get a box we must float off the stuff to a minute this we did propelling it away from the vessel out into the darkness by means of a boat hook in a minute a slight cry from the invisible came to us and we knew that he had secured the box a little while later he called out a farewell to us and so heartfelt a blessing that I am sure we were the better for it then without more ado we heard the ply of oars across the darkness pretty soon off remarked Will with perhaps just a little sense of injury wait I replied I think somehow he'll come back and badly needing that food and the lady said Will for a moment he was silent then he continued it's the queerest thing ever I've tumbled across since I've been fishing yes I said and fell to pondering and so the time slipped away an hour another and still Will stayed with me for the queer adventure had knocked all desire for sleep out of him the third hour was three parts through when we heard again the sound of oars across a silent ocean listen said Will a low note of excitement in his voice he's coming just as I thought I muttered the dipping of the oars grew nearer and I noted that the strokes were firmer and longer the food had been needed they came to a stop a little distance off the broadside and the queer voice came again to us through the darkness schooner ohoy that's you asked Will I replied the voice I left you suddenly but there was great need the lady questioned Will the lady is grateful now on earth she will be more grateful soon in heaven Will began to make some reply in a puzzled voice but became confused and broke off short I said nothing I was wondering at the curious pauses and apart from my wonder I was full of great sympathy the voice continued we, she and I, have talked as we shared the result of God's tenderness and yours Will interposed but without coherence I beg of you not to to belittle your deed of Christian charity this night said the voice be sure that it has not escaped his notice it stopped and there was a full minute silence then it came again we have spoken together upon that which which has befallen us we have thought to go out without telling any of the terror which has come into our lives she is with me in believing that tonight's happenings are under a special ruling and that it is God's wish that we should tell you all that we have suffered since since yes, said Will softly since the sinking of the albatross ah, I exclaimed involuntarily she left Newcastle for Frisco some six months ago and hasn't been heard of since yes, answered the voice but some few degrees to the north of the line she was caught in a terrible storm and demastid when the day came it was found that she was leaking badly and presently it falling to a calm the sailors took to the boats leaving leaving a young lady, my fiance and myself upon the wreck we were below gathering a few of our belongings when they left they were entirely callous through fear and when we came up upon the deck we saw them only a small shape so far off upon the horizon yet we did not despair but set to work and constricted a small raft upon this we put such few matters as it would hold including a quantity of water and some ship's biscuit then the vessel being very deep in the water we got ourselves onto the raft and pushed off it was later when I observed that we seemed to be in the way of some tide or current which bore us from the ship at an angle so that in the course of three hours by my watch her hull became invisible to our sight her broken mast remaining in view for a somewhat longer period then towards evening it grew misty and so through the night the next day we were still encompassed by the mist the weather remaining quiet for four days we drifted through this strange haze until on the evening of the fourth day there grew upon our ears the murmur of breakers at a distance gradually it became planar it appeared to sound upon either hand at no very great space the raft was raised upon a swell several times and then we were in smooth water and the noise of the breakers was behind when the morning came we found that we were in a sort of great lagoon but of this we noticed little at the time for close before us through the enshrouding mist loomed the hull of a large sailing vessel with one accord we fell upon our knees and thanked God for we thought that here was the end of our perils we had much to learn the raft drew near to the ship and we shouted on them to take us aboard but none answered presently the raft touched against the side of the vessel and seeing a rope hanging downwards I seized it and began to climb yet I had much adieu to make my way up because of a kind of grey likeness fungus which had seized upon the rope and which blots the side of the ship lividly I reached the rail and clambered over it onto the deck here I saw that the decks were covered in great patches with grey masses some of them rising into nodules several feet in height but at the time I thought less of this matter than of the possibility of there being people aboard the ship I shouted but none answered then I went to the door below the poop deck I opened it and peered in there was a great smell of staleness so that I knew in a moment that nothing living was within and with the knowledge I shut the door quickly lonely I went back to the side where I had scrambled up my sweetheart was still sitting quietly upon the raft seeing me look down she called up to know whether there was any on board of the ship I replied that the vessel had the appearance of having been long deserted but that if she would wait a little I would see whether there was anything in the shape of a ladder by which she could ascend to the deck then we would make a search through the vessel together a little later on the opposite side of the decks I found a rope side ladder this I carried across and a minute afterwards she was beside me together we explored the cabins and apartments in the after part of the ship but nowhere was there any sign of life here and there within the cabins themselves we came across odd patches of that queer fungus but this as my sweetheart said could be cleansed away in the end having assured ourselves that the after portion of the vessel was empty we picked our way to the bowels of the great ugly gray nodules of that strange growth and here we made a further search which told us that there was indeed not a board but ourselves this being now beyond any doubt we returned to the stern of the ship and proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as possible together we cleared out and cleaned two of the cabins and after that made examinations whether there was anything edible in the ship this I soon found was so and thank God in my heart for his goodness in addition to this I discovered the whereabouts of the fresh water pump and having fixed it I found the water drinkable though somewhat unpleasant to the taste for several days we stayed aboard the ship without attempting to get to the shore we were busily engaged in making the place habitable yet even thus early we became aware that our lot was even less to be desired than might have been imagined for though as a first step we scraped away the odd patches of growth that stuttered the floors and walls of the cabins and salon yet they returned almost to their original size within the space of 24 hours which not only discouraged us but gave us a feeling of vague unease still we would not admit ourselves beaten so set to work afresh and not only scraped away the fungus but soaked the places where it had been with Karbalik a can full of which I'd found in the pantry yet by the end of the week the growth had returned in full strength and in addition it had spread to other places as though our touching it had allowed germs from it to travel elsewhere on the seventh morning my sweetheart woke to find a small patch of it growing on her pillow close to her face at that she came to me so soon she could get her garments upon her I was in the galley at the time letting the fire for breakfast come here John she said and led me aft when I saw the thing upon her pillow I shuttered and then and there we agreed to go right out of the ship and see whether we could not fare to make ourselves more comfortable as sure hurriedly we gathered together our few belongings and even among those I found the fungus had been at work for one of her shawls had a little lump of it growing near one edge I threw the whole thing over the side without saying anything to her the raft was still alongside but it was too clumsy to guide and I lowered down a small boat that hung across the stern and in this we made our way to the shore yet as we drew near to it I became gradually aware that here the vile fungus which had driven us from the ship was growing riot in places it rose into horrible fantastic mounds which seemed almost a quiver as with a quiet life when the wind blew across them here and there it took on the forms of vast fingers and in others it just spread out flat and smooth and treacherous odd places it appeared as grotesque stunted trees seeming extraordinarily kinked and gnarled the whole quaking vile at times at first it seemed to us that there was no single portion of the surrounding shore which was not hidden beneath the masses of the hideous lichen yet in this I found we were mistaken for somewhat later coasting along the shore at a little distance we described a smooth white patch of what appeared to be fine sand and there we landed it was not sand what it was I do not know all that I have observed is that upon it the fungus will not grow while everywhere else save where the sand like earth wanders oddly path wise amid the grey desolation of the lichen there is nothing but that loathsome greyness it is difficult to make you understand how cheered we were to find one place that was absolutely free from the growth and here we deposited our belongings then we went back to the ship for such things as it seemed to us we should need among other matters I managed to bring a shore with me one of the ship sails with which I constructed two small tents which though exceedingly rough shaped serve the purpose for which they were intended in these we lived and stored our various necessities and thus for a matter of some four weeks all went smoothly without particular unhappiness indeed I may say with much of happiness for we were together it was on the thumb of her right hand that the growth first showed it was only a small circular spot much like a little grey mole my god how the fear leapt to my heart when she showed me the place it between us washing it with carbolic and water in the morning of the following day she showed her hand to me again the grey warty thing had returned for a little while we looked at one another in silence then still wordless we started again to remove it in the midst of the operation she spoke suddenly what's that on the side of your face dear her voice was sharp with anxiety I put my hand up to feel there under the hair by your ear a little to the front a bit my finger rested upon the place and then I knew let us get your thumb done first I said and she submitted only because she was afraid to touch me until it was cleansed I finished washing and disinfecting her thumb and then she turned to my face after it was finished we sat together and talked a while of many things for there had come into our lives sudden very terrible thoughts afraid of something worse than death we spoke of loading the boat with provisions and water and making our way out onto the sea yet we were helpless for many causes and and the growth had attacked us already we decided to stay God would do with us what was His will we would wait a month, two months, three months passed and the places grew somewhat and there had come others yet we fought so strenuously with the fear that its headway was but slow comparatively speaking occasionally we ventured off to the ship for such stores as we needed there we found that the fungus grew persistently one of the nodules on the main deck became soon as high as my head we had now given up all thought or hope of leaving the island we had realized that it would be unallowable to go among healthy humans with the things from which we were suffering with this determination and knowledge in our minds we knew that we should have to husband our food and water we did not know at that time but that we should possibly live for many years this reminds me that I told you that I am an old man judged by the years this is not so but he broke off then continued somewhat abruptly as I was saying we knew that we should have to use care in the matter of food but we had no idea then how little food there was left of which to take care it was a week later that I made the discovery that all the other bread tanks which I had supposed full were empty and that beyond odd tens of vegetables and meat in some other matters we had nothing on which to depend but the bread in the tank which I had already opened after learning this I bestured myself to do what I could and set to work at fishing in the lagoon but with no success at this I was somewhat inclined to feel desperate until the thought came to me to try outside the lagoon in the open sea here at times I caught odd fish but so infrequently that they proved a but little help in keeping us from the hunger which threatened it seemed to me that our deaths were likely to come by hunger and not by the growth of the thing which had seized upon our bodies we were in this state of mind when the fourth month wore out when I made a very horrible discovery one morning a little before midday I came off from the ship with a portion of the biscuits which were left in the mouth of her tent I saw my sweetheart sitting eating something what is it my dear I called out as I left the shore yet on hearing my voice she seemed confused and turning slightly through something towards the edge of the little clearing it fell short and a vague suspicion having arisen within me I walked across to pick it up it was a piece of the gray fungus as I went to her with it in my hand she turned deadly pale then rose red I felt strangely dazed and frightened my dear my dear I said and could say no more yet at words she broke down and cried bitterly gradually as she calmed I got from her the news that she had tried at the preceding day and and liked it I got her to promise on her knees not to touch it again however great our hunger after she had promised she told me that the desire for it had come suddenly and then until the moment of desire she had experienced nothing towards it but the most extreme repulsion later in the day feeling strangely restless and much shaken with the thing which I had discovered I made my way along one of the twisted paths formed by the white sand like substance which led among the fungoid growth I had once before ventured along there but not to any great distance this time being involved in perplexing thought I went much further than hitherto suddenly I was called to myself by a queer horse sound on my left turning quickly I saw that there was movement among an extraordinarily shaped mass of fungus close to my elbow it was swaying uneasily as though it possessed life of its own abruptly as I stared the thought came to me that the thing had a grotesque resemblance to the figure of a distorted human creature even as the fancy flashed into my brain there was a slight sickeny noise of tearing and I saw that one of the branch like arms was detaching itself from the surrounding gray masses incoming towards me the head of the thing a shapeless gray ball inclined in my direction I stood stupidly and the vile arm brushed across my face I gave out a frightened cry and ran back a few paces there was a sweetest taste upon my lips where the thing had touched me I licked them and was immediately filled with an inhuman desire I turned and seized a mass of the fungus then more and more I was insatiable in the midst of devouring the remembrance of the morning's discovery swept into my May's brain it was sent by God I dashed the fragment I held to the ground then utterly wretched and feeling a dreadful guiltiness I made my way back to the little encampment I think she knew by some marvelous intuition which love must have given so soon as she set eyes on me her quiet sympathy made it easier for me and I told her of my sudden weakness yet omitted to mention the extraordinary thing which had gone before I desired to spare her all unnecessary terror but for myself I had added an intolerable knowledge to breed an incessant terror in my brain for I doubted not but that I had seen the end of one of those men who had come to the island in the ship in the lagoon and in that monstrous ending I had seen our own thereafter we kept from the abominable food though the desire for it had entered our blood yet our drear punishment was upon us for day by day with monstrous rapidity the fungoid growth took hold of our poor bodies nothing we could do would check it materially and so and so we who had been human became well it matters less each day only only we had been man and maid and day by day the fight is more dreadful to withstand the hunger lust for the terrible lichen a week ago we ate the last of the biscuit and since that time I have caught three fish I was out here fishing tonight when your schooner drifted upon me out of the mist I hailed you you know the rest and may God out of his great heart bless you for your goodness to a couple of poor outcast souls there was a dip of an oar another then the voice came again and for the last time sounding through the silence surrounding mist ghostly and mournful God bless you goodbye we shouted together hoarsely our hearts full of many emotions I glanced about me I became aware that the dawn was upon us the sun flung a stray beam across the hidden sea pierced the mist dully and lit up the receding boat with a gloomy fire indistinctly I saw something nodding between the oars I thought of a sponge a great gray nodding sponge the oars continued to ply they were gray as was the boat and my eyes searched a moment vainly for the conjunction of hand and oar my gaze flashed back to the head it nodded forward as the oars went backward for the stroke then the oars were dipped the boat shot out of the patch of light and the thing went nodding into the mist end of The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson