It was either on the fourth or the fifth day after I had taken possession
of my cottage that I was astonished to hear footsteps upon the grass
outside, quickly followed by a crack, as from a stick upon the door. The
explosion of an infernal machine would hardly have surprised or
discomfited me more. I had hoped to have shaken off all intrusion for
ever, yet here was somebody beating at my door with as little ceremony as
if it had been a village ale-house. Hot with anger, I flung down my book
and withdrew the bolt just as my visitor had raised his stick to renew
his rough application for admittance. He was a tall, powerful man, tawny-
bearded and deep-chested, clad in a loose-fitting suit of tweed, cut for
comfort rather than elegance. As he stood in the shimmering sunlight, I
took in every feature of his face. The large, fleshy nose; the steady
blue eyes, with their thick thatch of overhanging brows; the broad
forehead, all knitted and lined with furrows, which were strangely at
variance with his youthful bearing. In spite of his weather-stained felt
hat, and the coloured handkerchief slung round his muscular brown neck, I
could see at a glance he was a man of breeding and education. I had been
prepared for some wandering shepherd or uncouth tramp, but this
apparition fairly disconcerted me.
"You look astonished," said he, with a smile. "Did you think, then, that
you were the only man in the world with a taste for solitude? You see
that there are other hermits in the wilderness besides yourself."
"Do you mean to say that you live here?" I asked in no conciliatory
voice.
"Up yonder," he answered, tossing his head backward. "I thought as we
were neighbours, Mr. Upperton, that I could not do less than look in and
see if I could assist you in any way."
"Thank you," I said coldly, standing with my hand upon the latch of the
door. "I am a man of simple tastes, and you can do nothing for me. You
have the advantage of me in knowing my name."
He appeared to be chilled by my ungracious manner.
"I learned it from the masons who were at work here," he said. "As for
me, I am a surgeon, the surgeon of Gaster Fell. That is the name I have
gone by in these parts, and it serves as well as another."
"Not much room for practice here?" I observed.
"Not a soul except yourself for miles on either side."
"You appear to have had need of some assistance yourself," I remarked,
glancing at a broad white splash, as from the recent action of some
powerful acid, upon his sunburnt cheek.
"That is nothing," he answered, curtly, turning his face half round to
hide the mark. "I must get back, for I have a companion who is waiting
for me. If I can ever do anything for you, pray let me know. You have
only to follow the beck upward for a mile or so to find my place. Have
you a bolt on the inside of your door?"
"Yes," I answered, rather startled at this question.
"Keep it bolted, then," he said. "The fell is a strange place. You
never know who may be about. It is as well to be on the safe side.
Goodbye." He raised his hat, turned on his heel and lounged away along
the bank of the little stream.
I was still standing with my hand upon the latch, gazing after my
unexpected visitor, when I became aware of yet another dweller in the
wilderness. Some distance along the path which the stranger was taking
there lay a great grey boulder, and leaning against this was a small,
wizened man, who stood erect as the other approached, and advanced to
meet him. The two talked for a minute or more, the taller man nodding
his head frequently in my direction, as though describing what had passed
between us. Then they walked on together, and disappeared in a dip of
the fell. Presently I saw them ascending once more some rising ground
farther on. My acquaintance had thrown his arm round his elderly friend,
either from affection or from a desire to aid him up the steep incline.
The square burly figure and its shrivelled, meagre companion stood out
against the sky-line, and turning their faces, they looked back at me. At
the sight, I slammed the door, lest they should be encouraged to return.
But when I peeped from the window some minutes afterward, I perceived
that they were gone.
All day I bent over the Egyptian papyrus upon which I was engaged; but
neither the subtle reasonings of the ancient philosopher of Memphis, nor
the mystic meaning which lay in his pages, could raise my mind from the
things of earth. Evening was drawing in before I threw my work aside in
despair. My heart was bitter against this man for his intrusion.
Standing by the beck which purled past the door of my cabin, I cooled my
heated brow, and thought the matter over. Clearly it was the small
mystery hanging over these neighbours of mine which had caused my mind to
run so persistently on them. That cleared up, they would no longer cause
an obstacle to my studies. What was to hinder me, then, from walking in
the direction of their dwelling, and observing for myself, without
permitting them to suspect my presence, what manner of men they might be?
Doubtless, their mode of life would be found to admit of some simple and
prosaic explanation. In any case, the evening was fine, and a walk would
be bracing for mind and body. Lighting my pipe, I set off over the moors
in the direction which they had taken.
About half-way down a wild glen there stood a small clump of gnarled and
stunted oak trees. From behind these, a thin dark column of smoke rose
into the still evening air. Clearly this marked the position of my
neighbour's house. Trending away to the left, I was able to gain the
shelter of a line of rocks, and so reach a spot from which I could
command a view of the building without exposing myself to any risk of
being observed. It was a small, slate-covered cottage, hardly larger
than the boulders among which it lay. Like my own cabin, it showed signs
of having been constructed for the use of some shepherd; but, unlike
mine, no pains had been taken by the tenants to improve and enlarge it.
Two little peeping windows, a cracked and weather-beaten door, and a
discoloured barrel for catching the rain water, were the only external
objects from which I might draw deductions as to the dwellers within. Yet
even in these there was food for thought, for as I drew nearer, still
concealing myself behind the ridge, I saw that thick bars of iron covered
the windows, while the old door was slashed and plated with the same
metal. These strange precautions, together with the wild surroundings
and unbroken solitude, gave an indescribably ill omen and fearsome
character to the solitary building. Thrusting my pipe into my pocket, I
crawled upon my hands and knees through the gorse and ferns until I was
within a hundred yards of my neighbour's door. There, finding that I
could not approach nearer without fear of detection, I crouched down, and
set myself to watch.
I had hardly settled into my hiding place, when the door of the cottage
swung open, and the man who had introduced himself to me as the surgeon
of Gaster Fell came out, bareheaded, with a spade in his hands. In front
of the door there was a small cultivated patch containing potatoes, peas
and other forms of green stuff, and here he proceeded to busy himself,
trimming, weeding and arranging, singing the while in a powerful though
not very musical voice. He was all engrossed in his work, with his back
to the cottage, when there emerged from the half-open door the same
attenuated creature whom I had seen in the morning. I could perceive now
that he was a man of sixty, wrinkled, bent, and feeble, with sparse,
grizzled hair, and long, colourless face. With a cringing, sidelong
gait, he shuffled toward his companion, who was unconscious of his
approach until he was close upon him. His light footfall or his
breathing may have finally given notice of his proximity, for the worker
sprang round and faced him. Each made a quick step toward the other, as
though in greeting, and then--even now I feel the horror of the
instant--the tall man rushed upon and knocked his companion to the earth,
then whipping up his body, ran with great speed over the intervening
ground and disappeared with his burden into the house.
Case hardened as I was by my varied life, the suddenness and violence of
the thing made me shudder. The man's age, his feeble frame, his humble
and deprecating manner, all cried shame against the deed. So hot was my
anger, that I was on the point of striding up to the cabin, unarmed as I
was, when the sound of voices from within showed me that the victim had
recovered. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and all was grey, save
a red feather in the cap of Pennigent. Secure in the failing light, I
approached near and strained my ears to catch what was passing. I could
hear the high, querulous voice of the elder man and the deep, rough
monotone of his assailant, mixed with a strange metallic jangling and
clanking. Presently the surgeon came out, locked the door behind him and
stamped up and down in the twilight, pulling at his hair and brandishing
his arms, like a man demented. Then he set off, walking rapidly up the
valley, and I soon lost sight of him among the rocks.
When his footsteps had died away in the distance, I drew nearer to the
cottage. The prisoner within was still pouring forth a stream of words,
and moaning from time to time like a man in pain. These words resolved
themselves, as I approached, into prayers--shrill, voluble prayers,
pattered forth with the intense earnestness of one who sees impending an
imminent danger. There was to me something inexpressibly awesome in this
gush of solemn entreaty from the lonely sufferer, meant for no human ear,
and jarring upon the silence of the night. I was still pondering whether
I should mix myself in the affair or not, when I heard in the distance
the sound of the surgeon's returning footfall. At that I drew myself up
quickly by the iron bars and glanced in through the diamond-paned window.
The interior of the cottage was lighted up by a lurid glow, coming from
what I afterward discovered to be a chemical furnace. By its rich light
I could distinguish a great litter of retorts, test tubes and condensers,
which sparkled over the table, and threw strange, grotesque shadows on
the wall. On the further side of the room was a wooden framework
resembling a hencoop, and in this, still absorbed in prayer, knelt the
man whose voice I heard. The red glow beating upon his upturned face
made it stand out from the shadow like a painting from Rembrandt, showing
up every wrinkle upon the parchment-like skin. I had but time for a
fleeting glance; then, dropping from the window, I made off through the
rocks and the heather, nor slackened my pace until I found myself back in
my cabin once more. There I threw myself upon my couch, more disturbed
and shaken than I had ever thought to feel again.
Such doubts as I might have had as to whether I had indeed seen my former
fellow-lodger upon the night of the thunderstorm were resolved the next
morning. Strolling along down the path which led to the fell, I saw in
one spot where the ground was soft the impressions of a foot--the small,
dainty foot of a well-booted woman. That tiny heel and high instep could
have belonged to none other than my companion of Kirkby-Malhouse. I
followed her trail for some distance, till it still pointed, as far as I
could discern it, to the lonely and ill-omened cottage. What power could
there be to draw this tender girl, through wind and rain and darkness,
across the fearsome moors to that strange rendezvous?
I have said that a little beck flowed down the valley and past my very
door. A week or so after the doings which I have described, I was seated
by my window when I perceived something white drifting slowly down the
stream. My first thought was that it was a drowning sheep; but picking
up my stick, I strolled to the bank and hooked it ashore. On examination
it proved to be a large sheet, torn and tattered, with the initials J. C.
in the corner. What gave it its sinister significance, however, was that
from hem to hem it was all dabbled and discoloured.
Shutting the door of my cabin, I set off up the glen in the direction of
the surgeon's cabin. I had not gone far before I perceived the very man
himself. He was walking rapidly along the hillside, beating the furze
bushes with a cudgel and bellowing like a madman. Indeed, at the sight
of him, the doubts as to his sanity which had arisen in my mind were
strengthened and confirmed.
As he approached I noticed that his left arm was suspended in a sling. On
perceiving me he stood irresolute, as though uncertain whether to come
over to me or not. I had no desire for an interview with him, however,
so I hurried past him, on which he continued on his way, still shouting
and striking about with his club. When he had disappeared over the
fells, I made my way down to his cottage, determined to find some clue to
what had occurred. I was surprised, on reaching it, to find the iron-
plated door flung wide open. The ground immediately outside it was
marked with the signs of a struggle. The chemical apparatus within and
the furniture were all dashed about and shattered. Most suggestive of
all, the sinister wooden cage was stained with blood-marks, and its
unfortunate occupant had disappeared. My heart was heavy for the little
man, for I was assured I should never see him in this world more.
There was nothing in the cabin to throw any light upon the identity of my
neighbours. The room was stuffed with chemical instruments. In one
corner a small bookcase contained a choice selection of works of science.
In another was a pile of geological specimens collected from the
limestone.
I caught no glimpse of the surgeon upon my homeward journey; but when I
reached my cottage I was astonished and indignant to find that somebody
had entered it in my absence. Boxes had been pulled out from under the
bed, the curtains disarranged, the chairs drawn out from the wall. Even
my study had not been safe from this rough intruder, for the prints of a
heavy boot were plainly visible on the ebony-black carpet.