บทที่ บทที่ 11 · THE CRYING OF THE MAN.

. THE CRYING OF THE MAN.

As I drew near the house I saw that the light shone from the open door

of my room; and then I heard coming from out of the darkness at the

side of that orange oblong of light, the voice of Montgomery shouting,

“Prendick!” I continued running. Presently I heard him again. I replied

by a feeble “Hullo!” and in another moment had staggered up to him.

“Where have you been?” said he, holding me at arm’s length, so that the

light from the door fell on my face. “We have both been so busy that we

forgot you until about half an hour ago.” He led me into the room and

sat me down in the deck chair. For awhile I was blinded by the light.

“We did not think you would start to explore this island of ours

without telling us,” he said; and then, “I was afraid—But—what—Hullo!”

My last remaining strength slipped from me, and my head fell forward on

my chest. I think he found a certain satisfaction in giving me brandy.

“For God’s sake,” said I, “fasten that door.”

“You’ve been meeting some of our curiosities, eh?” said he.

He locked the door and turned to me again. He asked me no questions,

but gave me some more brandy and water and pressed me to eat. I was in

a state of collapse. He said something vague about his forgetting to

warn me, and asked me briefly when I left the house and what I had

seen.

I answered him as briefly, in fragmentary sentences. “Tell me what it

all means,” said I, in a state bordering on hysterics.

“It’s nothing so very dreadful,” said he. “But I think you have had

about enough for one day.” The puma suddenly gave a sharp yell of pain.

At that he swore under his breath. “I’m damned,” said he, “if this

place is not as bad as Gower Street, with its cats.”

“Montgomery,” said I, “what was that thing that came after me? Was it a

beast or was it a man?”

“If you don’t sleep to-night,” he said, “you’ll be off your head

to-morrow.”

I stood up in front of him. “What was that thing that came after me?” I

asked.

He looked me squarely in the eyes, and twisted his mouth askew. His

eyes, which had seemed animated a minute before, went dull. “From your

account,” said he, “I’m thinking it was a bogle.”

I felt a gust of intense irritation, which passed as quickly as it

came. I flung myself into the chair again, and pressed my hands on my

forehead. The puma began once more.

Montgomery came round behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Look

here, Prendick,” he said, “I had no business to let you drift out into

this silly island of ours. But it’s not so bad as you feel, man. Your

nerves are worked to rags. Let me give you something that will make you

sleep. _That_—will keep on for hours yet. You must simply get to sleep,

or I won’t answer for it.”

I did not reply. I bowed forward, and covered my face with my hands.

Presently he returned with a small measure containing a dark liquid.

This he gave me. I took it unresistingly, and he helped me into the

hammock.

When I awoke, it was broad day. For a little while I lay flat, staring

at the roof above me. The rafters, I observed, were made out of the

timbers of a ship. Then I turned my head, and saw a meal prepared for

me on the table. I perceived that I was hungry, and prepared to clamber

out of the hammock, which, very politely anticipating my intention,

twisted round and deposited me upon all-fours on the floor.

I got up and sat down before the food. I had a heavy feeling in my

head, and only the vaguest memory at first of the things that had

happened over night. The morning breeze blew very pleasantly through

the unglazed window, and that and the food contributed to the sense of

animal comfort which I experienced. Presently the door behind me—the

door inward towards the yard of the enclosure—opened. I turned and saw

Montgomery’s face.

“All right,” said he. “I’m frightfully busy.” And he shut the door.

Afterwards I discovered that he forgot to re-lock it. Then I recalled

the expression of his face the previous night, and with that the memory

of all I had experienced reconstructed itself before me. Even as that

fear came back to me came a cry from within; but this time it was not

the cry of a puma. I put down the mouthful that hesitated upon my lips,

and listened. Silence, save for the whisper of the morning breeze. I

began to think my ears had deceived me.

After a long pause I resumed my meal, but with my ears still vigilant.

Presently I heard something else, very faint and low. I sat as if

frozen in my attitude. Though it was faint and low, it moved me more

profoundly than all that I had hitherto heard of the abominations

behind the wall. There was no mistake this time in the quality of the

dim, broken sounds; no doubt at all of their source. For it was

groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this

time; it was a human being in torment!

As I realised this I rose, and in three steps had crossed the room,

seized the handle of the door into the yard, and flung it open before

me.

“Prendick, man! Stop!” cried Montgomery, intervening.

A startled deerhound yelped and snarled. There was blood, I saw, in the

sink,—brown, and some scarlet—and I smelt the peculiar smell of

carbolic acid. Then through an open doorway beyond, in the dim light of

the shadow, I saw something bound painfully upon a framework, scarred,

red, and bandaged; and then blotting this out appeared the face of old

Moreau, white and terrible. In a moment he had gripped me by the

shoulder with a hand that was smeared red, had twisted me off my feet,

and flung me headlong back into my own room. He lifted me as though I

was a little child. I fell at full length upon the floor, and the door

slammed and shut out the passionate intensity of his face. Then I heard

the key turn in the lock, and Montgomery’s voice in expostulation.

“Ruin the work of a lifetime,” I heard Moreau say.

“He does not understand,” said Montgomery. and other things that were

inaudible.

“I can’t spare the time yet,” said Moreau.

The rest I did not hear. I picked myself up and stood trembling, my

mind a chaos of the most horrible misgivings. Could it be possible, I

thought, that such a thing as the vivisection of men was carried on

here? The question shot like lightning across a tumultuous sky; and

suddenly the clouded horror of my mind condensed into a vivid

realisation of my own danger.