ix inches.

It was Providential that I had managed to drive the brutes away just
when I did! And that copingstone! I wondered, vaguely, how I had managed
to dislodge it. I had not noticed it loose, as I took my shot; and then,
as I stood up, it had slipped away from beneath me ... I felt that I
owed the dismissal of the attacking force, more to its timely fall than
to my rifle. Then the thought came, that I had better seize this chance
to shore up the door, again. It was evident that the creatures had not
returned since the fall of the copingstone; but who was to say how long
they would keep away?

There and then, I set-to, at repairing the door--working hard and
anxiously. First, I went down to the basement, and, rummaging 'round,
found several pieces of heavy oak planking. With these, I returned to
the study, and, having removed the props, placed the planks up against
the door. Then, I nailed the heads of the struts to these, and, driving
them well home at the bottoms, nailed them again there.

Thus, I made the door stronger than ever; for now it was solid with the
backing of boards, and would, I felt convinced, stand a heavier pressure
than hitherto, without giving way.

After that, I lit the lamp which I had brought from the kitchen, and
went down to have a look at the lower windows.

Now that I had seen an instance of the strength the creatures
possessed, I felt considerable anxiety about the windows on the ground
floor--in spite of the fact that they were so strongly barred.

I went first to the buttery, having a vivid remembrance of my late
adventure there. The place was chilly, and the wind, soughing in through
the broken glass, produced an eerie note. Apart from the general air of
dismalness, the place was as I had left it the night before. Going up to
the window, I examined the bars, closely; noting, as I did so, their
comfortable thickness. Still, as I looked more intently, it seemed to
me, that the middle bar was bent slightly from the straight; yet it was
but trifling, and it might have been so for years. I had never, before,
noticed them particularly.

I put my hand through the broken window, and shook the bar. It was as
firm as a rock. Perhaps the creatures had tried to 'start' it, and,
finding it beyond their power, ceased from the effort. After that, I
went 'round to each of the windows, in turn; examining them with careful
attention; but nowhere else could I trace anything to show that there
ha