The second night after the above-recorded conversation between Billy and
myself brought with it the threat of a change of weather. It had been
exceptionally hot all day, with less wind than usual, and there was a
languorous quality in the atmosphere that seemed to portend thunder, a
portent that was strengthened toward nightfall when the wind died away
to the merest zephyr, while a great bank of heavy, lowering cloud piled
itself up slowly along the eastern horizon so that the rising full moon
had no chance to show herself. As the evening progressed what little
air of wind there was died completely away, and we were left, with all
doors and windows flung wide open, gasping for breath, and sweltering as
in a Turkish bath. I endured it as long as I could, and then, tossing
aside the book I was attempting to read, announced my determination to
go down to the cove and have a swim.
Billy declared that he would like a swim too, if he could take a header
off the veranda into deep water; but as to walking down to the cove in
that heat--no; much as he would enjoy a dip he wasn't prepared to
undergo that amount of exertion to get it.
As the gathering storm seemed unlikely to break suddenly, I did not
unduly hurry over my dip, but remained in the water about an hour,
emerging at last delightfully cool, and quite ready for bed. Upon my
return to the house I found Billy still up and poring over a book; but
he confessed to feeling sleepy, upon which I ordered the boy off to bed
forthwith and, extinguishing the lamp in the living-room, retired to my
own apartment and straightway turned in; being quickly lulled to sleep
by the sound of pouring rain that began just as I stretched myself upon
my bed.
It seemed as though I had only just fallen asleep when I awoke with
startling suddenness. The rain was pelting down on the roof in
torrents, making quite noise enough to account for my sudden awakening,
through which I could just hear poor Kit whining and fidgeting
restlessly under the veranda, outside my French window. Imagining that
it was these combined sounds that had awakened me, I rose, thinking:
"I must fetch that animal indoors. I expect the poor beggar is getting
pretty wet, hence his restlessness."
One of the doors of my room opened into the living-room, while the other
gave on to the veranda, both of them being wide open. As I passed
through the latter a vivid flash of lightning revealed the rain coming
straight down in sheets and rebounding in glittering spray off the
already streaming earth, with Kit straining at his leash, which Billy
had made fast as usual to one of the veranda posts. The beast had
withdrawn himself as far under the veranda as his leash would permit,
and he did not appear to be very wet; but he seemed anxious to enjoy the
more complete shelter of the living-room, so I stepped out and cast him
adrift.
To my amazement, the instant that I released him from his leash, he tore
himself away from my hold upon his collar and, with a savage snarl,
bounded through the living-room door. The next instant there issued
from the interior of the room a yell of consternation, immediately
followed by a shriek of terror, the fall of a heavy body on the floor,
screams, execrations, and the dreadful sound of Kit worrying somebody or
something; and before I could draw another breath the figure of a
yelling, screaming, frantic man dashed from the room, cleared the
veranda steps at a bound, landed heavily on the ground some five feet
below, and, still screaming, disappeared through the curtain of pouring
rain.
But the sounds from the living-room still continued with increasing
violence, augmented now by cries from Billy, whose form I dimly descried
outlined against the dark background of the open door; and a perception
of what had happened, and was still happening, leapt to my brain with
sudden enlightenment.
"Bring a light, Billy, quick!" I shouted, as I sprang through into the
living-room and, instinctively avoiding the table that stood in the
middle of the room, flung myself upon the struggling group on the floor.
My hands at once came into contact with Kit's hairy hide, and slid
along it until they closed upon the collar round his neck, when,
exerting all my strength, I dragged the beast, still savagely snarling
and resisting, off the writhing and groaning form at my feet. Somehow--
to this day I know not how--I managed to drag the fiercely struggling
creature out of the room and back to the veranda, where I securely tied
him up again. Then I returned to the living-room as Billy entered it
with a lighted lamp.