s it hard for him to turn back from that which
he has once undertaken. This feeling of personal pride was my salvation
now, and it was that alone which held me fast when every instinct of my
nature was dragging me away. I am glad now that I had the strength. In
spite of all that is has cost me, my manhood is at least above reproach.

Twelve o'clock struck in the distant church, then one, then two. It was
the darkest hour of the night. The clouds were drifting low, and there
was not a star in the sky. An owl was hooting somewhere among the rocks,
but no other sound, save the gentle sough of the wind, came to my ears.
And then suddenly I heard it! From far away down the tunnel came those
muffled steps, so soft and yet so ponderous. I heard also the rattle of
stones as they gave way under that giant tread. They drew nearer.
They were close upon me. I heard the crashing of the bushes round the
entrance, and then dimly through the darkness I was conscious of the
loom of some enormous shape, some monstrous inchoate creature, passing
swiftly and very silently out from the tunnel. I was paralysed with fear
and amazement. Long as I had waited, now that it had actually come I was
unprepared for the shock. I lay motionless and breathless, whilst the
great dark mass whisked by me and was swallowed up in the night.

But now I nerved myself for its return. No sound came from the sleeping
countryside to tell of the horror which was loose. In no way could I
judge how far off it was, what it was doing, or when it might be back.
But not a second time should my nerve fail me, not a second time should
it pass unchallenged. I swore it between my clenched teeth as I laid my
cocked rifle across the rock.

And yet it nearly happened. There was no warning of approach now as the
creature passed over the grass. Suddenly, like a dark, drifting shadow,
the huge bulk loomed up once more before me, making for the entrance of
the cave. Again came that paralysis of volition which held my crooked
forefinger impotent upon the trigger. But with a desperate effort I
shook it off. Even as the brushwood rustled, and the monstrous beast
blended with the shadow of the Gap, I fired at the retreating form.
In the blaze of the gun I caught a glimpse of a great shaggy mass,
something with rough and bristling hair of a withered grey colour,
fading away to white in its lower parts, the huge body supported upon
short, thick, curving legs. I had just that glance, and