west ebb, and every
Physician is aware that there is a greater likelihood of a patient's
passing between midnight and four A. M., than at any other period during
the cycle of the hours.

To-night I became specially aware of this lowering of vitality, and
now, with the night at that darkest phase which precedes the dawn, an
indescribable dread, such as I had known before in my dealings with
the Chinaman, assailed me, when I was least prepared to combat it. The
stillness was intense. Then:

"Here it is!" whispered Burke from the bed.

The chill at the very center of my being, which but corresponded with
the chill of all surrounding nature at that hour, became intensified,
keener, at the whispered words.

I rose stealthily out of my chair, and from my nest of shadows
watched--watched intently, the bright oblong of the window...

Without the slightest heralding sound--a black silhouette crept up
against the pane... the silhouette of a small, malformed head, a
dog-like head, deep-set in square shoulders. Malignant eyes peered
intently in. Higher it arose--that wicked head--against the window,
then crouched down on the sill and became less sharply defined as
the creature stooped to the opening below. There was a faint sound of
sniffing.

Judging from the stark horror which I experienced, myself, I doubted,
now, if Burke could sustain the role allotted him. In beneath the
slightly raised window came a hand, perceptible to me despite the
darkness of the room. It seemed to project from the black silhouette
outside the pane, to be thrust forward--and forward--and forward... that
small hand with the outstretched fingers.

The unknown possesses unique terrors; and since I was unable to conceive
what manner of thing this could be, which, extending its incredibly long
arms, now sought the throat of the man upon the bed, I tasted of that
sort of terror which ordinarily one knows only in dreams.

"Quick, sir--quick!" screamed Burke, starting up from the pillow.

The questing hands had reached his throat!

Choking down an urgent dread that I had of touching the thing which
reached through the window to kill the sleeper, I sprang across the room
and grasped the rigid, hairy forearms.

Heavens! Never have I felt such muscles, such tendons, as those beneath
the hirsute skin! They seemed to be of steel wire, and with a sudden
frightful sense of impotence, I realized that I was as powerless as a
child to relax that strangle-hol