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welcome in an environment of this kind. There were adequate bolts on the two
lateral doors to connecting rooms, and these I
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proceeded to fasten.
I did not undress, but decided to read till I was sleepy and then lie down
with only my coat, collar, and shoes off. Taking a pocket flash light from my
valise, I placed ft in my trousers, so that I could read my watch if I woke up
later in the dark. Drowsiness, however, did not come; and when I stopped to
analyse my thoughts I found to my disquiet that I was really unconsciously
listening for something - - listening for something which I dreaded but could
not name. That inspector's story must have worked on my imagination more
deeply than I had suspected. Again I
tried to read, but found that I made no progress.
After a time I seemed to hear the stairs and corridors creak at intervals as
if with footsteps, and wondered if the other rooms were beginning to fill up.
There were no voices, however, and it struck me that there was something
subtly furtive about the creaking. I did not like it, and debated whether I
had better try to sleep at all. This town had some queer people, and there had
undoubtedly been several disappearances. Was this one of those inns where
travelers were slain for their money? Surely I had no look of excessive
prosperity. Or were the towns folk really so resentful about curious visitors?
Had my obvious sightseeing, with its frequent map-
consultations, aroused unfavorable notice. It occurred to me that I must be in
a highly nervous state to let a few random creakings set me off speculating in
this fashion - - but I regretted none the less that I was unarmed.
At length, feeling a fatigue which had nothing of drowsiness in it, I bolted
the newly outfitted hall door, turned off the light, and threw myself down on
the hard, uneven bed - - coat, collar, shoes, and all. In the darkness every
faint noise of the night seemed magnified, and a flood of doubly unpleasant
thoughts swept over me. I was sorry I had put out the light, yet was too tired
to rise and turn it on again. Then, after a long, dreary interval, and
prefaced by a fresh creaking of stairs and corridor, there came that soft;
damnably unmistakable sound which seemed like a malign fulfillment of all my
apprehensions. Without the lean shadow of a doubt, the lock of my door was
being tried - - cautiously, furtively, tentatively - - with a key.
My sensations upon recognising this sign of actual peril were perhaps less
rather than more tumultuous because of my previous vague fear I had about,
albeit without definite reason, instinctively on my guard - - and that was to
my advantage in the new and real crisis, whatever it might turn out to be.
Nevertheless the change in the menace from vague premonition to immediate
reality was a profound shock, and fell upon me with the force of a genuine
blow. It never once occurred to me that the fumbling might be a mere mistake.
Malign purpose was all I could think of, and I kept deathly quiet, awaiting
the would-he intruder's next move.
After a time the cautious rattling ceased, and I heard the room to the north
entered with a pass key. Then the lock of the connecting door to my room was
softly tried. The bolt held, of course, and I heard the floor creak as the
prowler left the room. After a moment there came another soft rattling, and I
knew that the room to the south of me was being entered. Again a furtive
trying of a bolted connecting door, and again a receding creaking. This time
the creaking went along the hall and down the stairs, so I knew that the
prowler had raised the bolted condition of my doors and was giving up his
attempt for a greater or lesser time, as the future would shew.
The readiness with which I fell into a plan of action proves that I must have
been subconsciously fearing some menace and considering possible avenues of
escape for hours. From the first I felt that the unseen fumbler meant a danger
not to be met or dealt with, but only to be fled from as precipitately as
possible. The one thing to do was to get out of that hotel alive as quickly as
I
could, and through some channel other than the front stairs and lobby.
Rising softly and throwing my flashlight on the switch, I sought to light the
bulb over my bed in order to choose and pocket some belongings for a swift,
valiseless flight. Nothing, however, happened; and I saw that the power had
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been cut off. Clearly, some cryptic, evil movement was afoot on a large scale
- - just what, I could not say. As I stood pondering with my hand on the now
useless switch I heard a muffled creaking on the floor below, and thought I
could barely distinguish voices in conversation. A moment later I felt less
sure that the deeper sounds were voices, since the apparent hoarse barkings
and loose-syllabled croakings bore so little resemblance to recognized human
speech. Then I thought with renewed force of what the factory inspector had
heard in the night in this mouldering and pestilential building.
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Having filled my pockets with the flashlight's aid, I put on my hat and
tiptoed to the windows to consider chances of descent. Despite the state's
safety regulations there was no fire escape on this side of the hotel, and I
saw that my windows commanded only a sheer three story drop to the cobbled
courtyard. On the right and left, however, some ancient brick business blocks
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