OFF!
With the full darkness a whole army of horrors crept nearer. He felt
sure of this, though he could actually see nothing. The house was
surrounded, the courtyard crowded. Outside, on the stairs, in the other
rooms, even on the roof itself, waited dreadful things ready to catch
him, to tear off his wings, to make him prisoner for ever and ever.
The possibility that something had happened to the governess now became
a probability. Imperceptibly the change was wrought; he could not say
how or when exactly; but he now felt almost certain that the effort to
keep her out of the way had succeeded. If this were true, the boy's only
hope lay in his wings, and he pulled them out to their full length and
kissed them passionately, speaking to the strong red feathers as if they
were living little persons.
"You must save me! You will save me, won't you?" he cried in his
anguish. And every time he did this and looked at them he gained fresh
hope and courage.
The problem _where he was to fly to_ had not yet insisted on a solution,
though it lay always at the back of his mind; for the final flight of
escape without a guide had never been even a possibility before.
Lying there alone in the darkness, waiting for the sound of the voice so
longed-for, he found his thoughts turning again to the moon, and the
strange words of the song that had puzzled him the night before. What in
the world did it all mean? Why all this about the moon? Why was it a
cruel moon, and why should it attract and persuade and entice him? He
felt sure, the more he thought of it, that this had all been a device to
draw him to the window--and perhaps even farther.
The darkness began to terrify him; he dreaded more and more the waiting,
listening things that it concealed. Oh, when would the governess call to
him? When would he be able to dash through the open window and join her
in the sky?
He thought of the sunlight that had flooded the yard all day--so bright
it seemed to have come from a sun fresh made and shining for the first
time. He thought of the exquisite flowers that grew in the fields just
beyond the high wall, and the night smells of the earth reached him
through the window, wafted in upon a wind heavy with secrets of woods
and fields. They all came from a Land of Magic that after to-night might
be for ever beyond his reach, and they went straight to his heart and
immediately turned something solid there into tears. But the tears did
not find their natural expression, and Jimbo lay there fighting with his
pain, keeping all his strength for the one great effort, and waiting for
the voice that at any minute now might sound above the tree-tops.
But the hours passed and the voice did not come.
How he loathed the room and everything in it. The ceiling stretched like
a white, staring countenance above him; the walls watched and listened;
and even the mantelpiece grew into the semblance of a creature with
drawn-up shoulders bending over him. The whole room, indeed, seemed to
his frightened soul to run into the shape of a monstrous person whose
arms were outstretched in all directions to prevent his escape.
His hands never left his wings now. He stroked and fondled them,
arranging the feathers smoothly and speaking to them under his breath
just as though they were living things. To him they were indeed alive,
and he knew when the time came they would not fail him. The fierce
passion for the open spaces took possession of his soul, and his whole
being began to cry out for freedom, rushing wind, the stars, and a
pathless sky.
Slowly the power of the great, open Night entered his heart, bringing
with it a courage that enabled him to keep the terrors of the House at a
distance.
So far, the boy's strength had been equal to the task, but a moment was
approaching when the tension would be too great to bear, and the long
pent-up force would rush forth into an act. Jimbo realised this quite
clearly; though he could not exactly express it in words, he felt that
his real hope of escape lay in the success of that act. Meanwhile, with
more than a child's wisdom, he stored up every particle of strength he
had for the great moment when it should come.
A light wind had risen soon after sunset, but as the night wore on it
began to fail, dropping away into little silences that grew each time
longer. In the heart of one of these spells of silence Jimbo presently
noticed a new sound--a sound that he recognised.
Far away at first, but growing in distinctness with every dropping of
the wind, this new sound rose from the interior of the house below and
came gradually upon him. It was voices faintly singing, and the tread of
stealthy footsteps.
Nearer and nearer came the sound, till at length they reached the door,
and there passed into the room a wave of fine, gentle sound that woke no
echo and scarcely seemed to stir the air into vibration at all. The door
had opened, and a number of voices were singing softly under their
breath.
And after the sounds, creeping slowly like some timid animal, there came
into the room a small black figure just visible in the faint starlight.
It peered round the edge of the door, hesitated a moment, and then
advanced with an odd rhythmical sort of motion. And after the first
figure came a second, and after the second a third; and then several
entered together, till a whole group of them stood on the floor between
Jimbo and the open window.
Then he recognised the Frightened Children and his heart sank. Even
they, he saw, were arrayed against him, and took it for granted that he
already belonged to them.
Oh, why did not the governess come for him? Why was there no voice in
the sky? He glanced with longing towards the heavens, and as the
children moved past, he was almost certain that he saw the stars
_through_ their bodies too.
Slowly they shuffled across the floor till they formed a semicircle
round the bed; and then they began a silent, impish dance that made the
flesh creep. Their thin forms were dressed in black gowns like shrouds,
and as they moved through the steps of the bizarre measure he saw that
their legs were little more than mere skin and bone. Their faces--what
he could see of them when he dared to open his eyes--were pale as ashes,
and their beady little eyes shone like the facets of cut stones,
flashing in all directions. And while they danced in and out amongst
each other, never breaking the semicircle round the bed, they sang a
low, mournful song that sounded like the wind whispering through a
leafless wood.
And the words stirred in him that vague yet terrible fear known to all
children who have been frightened and made to feel afraid of the dark.
Evidently his sensations were being merged very rapidly now into those
of the little boy in the night-nursery bed.
"There is Someone in the Nursery
Whom we never saw before;
--Why hangs the moon so red?--
And he came not by the passage,
Or the window, or the door;
--Why hangs the moon so red?--
And he stands there in the darkness,
In the centre of the floor.
--See, where the moon hangs red!--
Someone's hiding in the passage
Where the door begins to swing;
--Why drive the clouds so fast?--
In the corner by the staircase
There's a dreadful waiting thing:
--Why drive the clouds so fast?--
Past the curtain creeps a monster
With a black and fluttering wing;
--See, where the clouds drive fast!--
In the chilly dusk of evening;
In the hush before the dawn;
--Why drips the rain so cold?--
In the twilight of the garden,
In the mist upon the lawn,
--Why drips the rain so cold?--
Faces stare, and mouth upon us,
Faces white and weird and drawn;
--See, how the rain drips cold!--
Close beside us in the night-time,
Waiting for us in the gloom,
--O! Why sings the wind so shrill?--
In the shadows by the cupboard,
In the corners of the room,
--O! Why sings the wind so shrill?--
From the corridors and landings
Voices call us to our doom.
--O! how the wind sings shrill!"--
By this time the dreadful dancers had come much closer to him, shifting
stealthily nearer to the bed under cover of their dancing, and always
_between him and the window_.
Suddenly their intention flashed upon him; they meant to prevent his
escape!
With a tremendous effort he sprang from the bed. As he did so a dozen
pairs of thin, shadowy arms shot out towards him as though to seize his
wings; but with an agility born of fright he dodged them, and ran
swiftly into the corner by the mantelpiece. Standing with his back
against the wall he faced the children, and strove to call out for help
to the governess; but this time there was an entirely new difficulty in
the way, for he found to his utter dismay that his voice refused to make
itself heard. His mouth was dry and his tongue would hardly stir.
Not a sound issued from his lips, but the children instantly moved
forwards and hemmed him in between them and the wall; and to reach the
window he would have to break through this semicircle of whispering,
shadowy forms. Above their heads he could see the stars shining, and any
moment he might hear Miss Lake's voice calling to him to come out. His
heart rose with passionate longing within him, and he gathered his wings
tightly about him ready for the final dash. It would take more than the
Frightened Children to hold him prisoner when once he heard that voice,
or even without it!
Whether they were astonished at his boldness, or merely waiting their
opportunity later, he could not tell; but anyhow they kept their
distance for a time and made no further attempt to seize his feathers.
Whispering together under their breath, sometimes singing their
mournful, sighing songs, sometimes sinking their voices to a confused
murmur, they moved in and out amongst each other with soundless feet
like the shadows of branches swaying in the wind.
Then, suddenly, they moved closer and stretched out their arms towards
him, their bodies swaying rhythmically together, while their combined
voices, raised just above a whisper, sang to him--
"Dare you fly out to-night,
When the Moon is so strong?
Though the stars are so bright,
There is death in their song;
You're a hostage to Fright,
And to us you belong!
Dare you fly out alone
Through the shadows that wave,
When the course is unknown
And there's no one to save?
You are bone of our bone,
And for ever His slave!"
And, following these words, came from somewhere in the air that voice
like the thunder of a river. Jimbo knew only too well to whom it
belonged as he listened to the rhyme of the West Wind--
"For the Wind of the West
Is a wind unblest,
And its dangerous breath
Will entice you to death!
Fly not with the Wind of the West, O child,
With the terrible Wind of the West!"
But the boy knew perfectly well that these efforts to stop him were all
part of a trap. They were lying to him. It was not the Wind of the West
at all; _it was the South Wind_! That at least he knew by the odours
that were wafted in through the window. Again he tried to call to the
governess, but his tongue lay stiff in his mouth and no sound came.
Meanwhile the children began to draw closer, hemming him in. They moved
almost imperceptibly, but he saw plainly that the circle was growing
smaller and smaller. His legs began to tremble, and he felt that soon he
would collapse and drop at their feet, for his strength was failing and
the power to act and move was slowly leaving him.
The little shadowy figures were almost touching him, when suddenly a new
sound broke the stillness and set every nerve tingling in his body.
Something was shuffling along the landing. He heard it outside, pushing
against the door. The handle turned with a rattle, and a moment later
the door slowly opened.
For a second Jimbo's breath failed him, and he nearly fell in a heap
upon the floor. Round the edge of the door he saw a dim huge figure come
crawling into the room--creeping along the floor--and trailing behind it
a pair of immense black wings that stretched along the boards. For one
brief second he stared, horror-stricken, and wondering what it was. But
before the whole length of the creature was in, he knew. It was Fright
himself! _And he was making steadily for the window!_
The shock instantly galvanised the boy into a state of activity again.
He recovered the use of all his muscles and all his faculties. His
voice, released by terror, rang out in a wild shriek for help to the
governess, and he dashed forward across the room in a mad rush for the
window. Unless he could reach it before the other, he would be a
prisoner for the rest of his life. It was now or never.
The instant he moved, the children came straight at him with hands
outstretched to stop him; but he passed through them as if they were
smoke, and with almost a single bound sprang upon the narrow
window-sill. To do this he had to clear the head and shoulders of the
creature on the floor, and though he accomplished it successfully, he
felt himself clutched from behind. For a second he balanced doubtfully
on the window ledge. He felt himself being pulled back into the room,
and he combined all his forces into one tremendous effort to rush
forward.
There was a ripping, tearing sound as he sprang into the air with a yell
of mingled terror and exultation. His prompt action and the fierce
impetus had saved him. He was free. But in the awful hand that seized
him he had left behind the end feathers of his right wing. A few inches
more and it would have been not merely the feathers, but the entire wing
itself.
He dropped to within three feet of the stones in the yard, and then,
borne aloft by the kind, rushing Wind of the South, he rose in a
tremendous sweep far over the tops of the high elms and out into the
heart of the night.
Only there was no governess's voice to guide him; and behind him, a
little lower down, a black pursuing figure with huge wings flapped
heavily as it followed with laborious flight through the darkness.