of Mr Septimus Thrall.

Otago Witness, Issue 2744, 17 October 1906, Page 80

of Mr Septimus Thrall.

By Frank Mohtox.

I. ADVENTURE OF THE MAHOGANY SIDEBOARD

Adventures are to the adventurous , ard f my friend Septimus Thrall (now, alas! 1 unhappily deceased) met with many | strange experiences even- in Dunedin. You will not be likely to know much ot Septimus Thrall, although his name will , be remembered. An enthusiastic amateur , ot the exceptional and the bizarre, he , hated cant and scorned publicity ; an j aiden-t seeker of illuminations in more or less trackless ways, he detested advertisement, and cordially abhorred the crowd. "The crowd," he said to me one day, "is always and primarily an aes. It clings slavishly to its grandfather's habit 01 thongnt, but lacks the old man's sense ai:d ef€. Tiie'crowa'^s always at least ( fifty , years' ';b&hin<^ ' 'jtlie nreaft average of, knowledge" among intelligent individuals, ■ and tn'e-' ti'iejss&Jness 'of these new dem.eeracies? n6tork)usly consists in the fact that ( the inteHigeVftf individuals ' are governed by the cfrow-d. v Tis' J a:'mad' world, and I prefer tD gy-tiver^mi boT^A- for W companions ' and aintisenifentf '* '"''",. I He'tvas* aflSfays Ufting"td histwo f infi- , mates of '"these" 1 " cdrreip'imclences ' of his i "over the border.'" No man ever lived ] in the spirit mof6 completely than did 1 Septimus Thrall, and no man ever hr.d a greater contempt for the so-called spiritism of the charlatans and cranks. He lived in a dream-world, and unquestionably exercised strange or marvellous | powers -or faculties : but lie always said ! that the rank vulgarity of so-called modern , mysteries disgusted him. Some of jou j may remember the quaint, disturbing figure of a man he was, though he was an unfamiliar figure enough in Princes street. You may recall occasional glimpses of a lanky, cadaverous man, with a hump- , ing stoop — great eyes of vivid blackness j burning under portentous brows, a formid- 1 able nose only dimly d*scfibable as ascetic- J aquiline, a -mobile 'mouth that often curled , ij a jibe, but' seldom flickered in the merej beginning of a smile. You may remember , his oddly conspicuous ' hands, heavily- \ veined, restless, demonstrative, the, finders strongly spatulate. , To,. me th.ese r things j and ol^SiWejce^sry.fainiliar, for I spent , pome time,,fi.!mosk d^ily w^Ui, Thrall and j hU wife,..-. She aVd il j,- r w^m l the, man's j intimates, and .this side th,g ( ,bprder he ( had no others- , We used to sit in his straage den a-nights, in the strange little . house .among the trees, high up on the cliff jbeyond St. Clair. Ths waves thundered below, and ths winds nowVl _ above. v Queer whi&neiing noises crowdea . gently in, am us. from, the shaded comeis, ( and .all the place &eemccj vital md almct j venomous ■with uncla-sed presences that ! peeped aud peered. Xf-vrr were husband j and wife more strange'v mated He, the . man I sketched /n rouyh o'ltline jut now — s-jy fifty years bW ; she, a w onr.n hardly j thirty, "of an appealing elfin beauty, ex- ; quisjte and tender. Now thit he is de?-l ! ond^she.^ has ,pa^«ed beyood my ken, 1 j hardly lmow which made the deeper or more permanen.t impression on my minu and .character/ the woman's wor.deuul 1 charm, or the ;ran"s amazing ppreonaJitv. j He is dead, as I say ; and a huddled } pitiful iury . has deliberated gingerly on 1 his curious re-mains. He loft me ccitain j odds and ends from the rrom, and a 1 mass of diaries and manuscript*, notes cn 1 his thouffht, accounts of his adventures, mc-morand't, of his theories and conclusions. All are interesting, some are alarming, a few are indeed horrid ; and all Fe-em in some measure incomplete. As ' I read hi.s i«otes ai*d coskssioiis, one after j .■mother, I bring away from each a sense ! of something deliberately obscured ana ! wit-held. The man yeems anx'ovs to t suggest what he is not permitted clearly | to express. What I shall make of mv ! legacy eventually I do not know ; but 1 purpose now to publish some account ot certain of the Adventures. Be it understood that I am simply an editor. I vouch for nothing except what I saw. l J express no opinion. From Thrall's notes and diaries I simply take the facts as he alleges them. For the snke of clearness and brevity, the narrative form is my own. j Thrall, labouring to communicate the for- > bidden, is never quite coherent. In telling 1 these stories in my own way. while keep- j ing strictly to the facts as set forth in 1 Thrall's written statemente, I am acting in accordance with his expressed desire. And so I come at once to the curioHS adventure of the mahogany sideboard. In a little by-street in that wide quarter of Dunedin known as the Flat, there is a small, low-browed brick cottage standing in its own garden patch. There are afew frnit trees about, and on one side a . dispirited attempt at a vinery. The 1 -windows are screened by venetior.s of a dingy brown. It is. ,as appearances po, a j hopelessly uninteresting and unromelv little j house, and when Mr Septimus Thrall j passed it one afternoon and saw that it j ■was to let furnished (there was a scrawled . notice standing crooked against one of the t dingy Venetians), the probabilities pointed to the fact that it had been some time untenanted. Mr Thrall, engrossed in thought, passed , the e&roty Souses with his* head down, his j eyea bent on -th* -path at his feet. Ho . passed it by -about ' twenty yards, and j then stopped suddenly and sharply, as though romeone had called him. The rain , pattered about him dismally, md it was j really at all points a most depressing j aftenwHU-b&t >lx Thrall threw back Ins bead with an air almost of enjoyment, his j nostrils expanding, liis eyes bright. He J looked slowly round hina, and in the end . fixed his zaxe on the e^pty house. The]

outer gate was padlocked, but he climbed over, and walked up the bedraggled path to the fiont door. He tapped gently, and from within there came a sound much as though rustling papers were being blown about in the hall. Mr Thrall's interest visibly deepened. He gave a curious little call, a sort of moaning exultation scarcely audible, and the rustling sound within increased till it might have been heard in the road. Mr Thrall went along the verandah to the window that held the notice. He made a careful note of the a-ldress of the agent. Xext, he tapped softly on the window, ond the Venetians rattled inside. Mr Thrall went away, and walked rapidly towards the town. Half an hour later he returned with the key. He opened the front door and went in, closing the dcor carefully behind him. The little hall lay in a dim light, looking threadbare and desolate. The floor was dingily carpeted, with a strip of faded linoleum "running up the middle. There were no lucse papers to be seen, but as Mr Thrall closed the door behind him, that sound of rustling commenced near al hand, and increased in volume till it di owned the incosant patteiing of the rain outside. Mr Thrall seemed in no way surprised. He ra:s-ed one hand as though in kindly rebuke or remonstrance ; aixl almost immediately the rustling ceased. Then he stood up, alert in every line, and listened Apart irom the ijentle insi^tencß of the Tain, there was no sound. Mr Thrall emitted that curious little cry again, and there cam©- a reply, faint as a distant echo, from a room on the right. I heard such cries frequently enough in tho course of my intimacy with Septimus' Thrall ; but I cannot say that I ever became comfortably accustomed to them. To start with, they were so soft and low as to be almost inaudible ; and yet they had such force, such innate and essential intensity, as to give one the idea that they might be neard across continenfs. They were anything but ' human. Their curious Sweetness, as of triunrprtmrt confidence subdued, was almost appalling, a sweetness not of this world The one sensible relief Thrall's death brought me lav in the hope that I should- l'«ar thcFe cries ro more, although I let slip no opportunity to hear them .rh'le he lived. The rocm on the right, as, Thia'l entered it, showed itself as a banal dining room hopelessly pretending to represent the comforts of a home. lliere were olcoprsphs of a bygone fashion on the walls — - Faith. Hope,' ;\rd Chanty, nil smirking and bilious : Mr fi'ads^ono pi.iin'vtel as tln/iyh done to th-» life or thereabout 111 wax : a \ery correct .aid appealing lad T . in her night attiie clinging to a stone un s, angiy b Hows beating aiour.d her feet, wiepths of assorted flowers ppring.ng s''pji naturally from her waist tip; choice specimens all of that counterfeit of ait that has done so much towaids the demoralisation of the suburbs. But thc-e tilings pldiiily did not appeal to .Septimus Thrall. He glanced round lajud'y, and finally gave an exclamation of vei'ed f-ati.-*-fa<tion as his eye rested on a woim-eaten mahogany sidebosud that stood 1 acairst the wall opposite h:m, immediately under Mr Gladstone. This piece of furniture was si-juat and quite unlo\elv. It- was black with age, but still plainly vc-iy solid. Ono of- the carved doois in front stood open, and as Thrall approached) it fchut with a slam. Thrall s-miled, and made a careful examination of the extenor of the sideboard. Then he put his hand to one of the old copper knobs in front and made as though to pull the door open. Ac that a strange thing happened. The v, hole thing sprang forwaid and upwaid as though at a lunge, and came down on the- floor with a smash. But Thrall was too c]ui<k for it. and saved his feet. He seemed in no way disturbed. Still emiling, he left xhe 100 m and the hou^e aud made Ins way back to the agents. The agent was p hard) faced .Scot, who suffered from the prevalent Scottish superstition that .Scots are the shiewdest business men in the world. But it wes notable that in the presence of Septimus Thrall he seemed to lo&e somewhat of his confidence. "Tell me,' said Thrall, "did it ever chance that anyone iva^ murdeied in the cottage yonder"'"' "Mon, no!" said the agent. "But still, the place docs not let. does it? How long has it been empty, Mr M'Egan ?" i "Eighteen months or thereby," said the agent. " See here, Mr Thrall, you have the name of a knowledgeable man and a fair dealer. To be cand:d wi' ye, I bought that house furnished because I had a c hance of getting it cheap after Captain j Trevarthen died there. Ye see, there •was an idea that the place w.i» unlucky I o.- haunted, an' I'm no behe\er in such i t hinged ; "No?" Mr Thrall raised his biibhy eyeI brows half humorously. "And yet. Mr M'Egan, the desirable property does not let. You yourself, now? Might it rot j suit you? Have- you ever spent a night ! there?" I Mr M'Egan shifted uncn>ily m his feat, and eyed 'lhrall unamnbly out of lib l'ttle t\ is. j "Mr Thrall," he said. "I don't krow ! how much you may be knowing about that j house; but there's something uncanny in it. and I'm sorry I c\cr touched it. I I have been in it twite <,ni(_e 1 lx^nght it, and I wouldn't spend a night in it for ten times the amount it o^*t me "

M'Lgan

He paused 1 , then completed Ills assertion violently. "I'll be dnmned if I a ouki !'' "Pcihaps," said Thrall quietly, J it. would be as Avell that you should telL me all about Captain Trevarthen." Mr M'Egan hesitated a monrent^ and then spoke hurriedly, with little e\ asive side glances as though he feartil -to be overheard. "He had a bit schooner, 'and ti?ed to trade among the islands and wherever the lit took him. Before he came to New Zealand he spent some years in the West Indrles. Three years ago he came- 'back from a long tr.p, and brought a lot of lumber with him. Some of it' he seemed to set store by." "That old sideboard, for instance," suggested Thrall. "Yes,' 1 said M'Egan. "I'd like to know how you found that out. He went away again, and left his vrife and daughter at home as usual. The girl disappeared. She was a well-looking lass, and things were said at the time ; but nothing was seen of her afterwards. Then Mrs Trevarthen was found dead in the house one duy. She hr.d fallen down from the attic and broken her neck. A bad break." "Any marks on the body"'*' "There wa3 a curious red ring round the neck," said M'Egan, "and other marks here and thei^e, as though she had been lashed with hot wiies. But there were no other suspicious circumstances, and it was shown pretty clearly that fche had fallen down the stairway. Two days after the inquest the captain came back. He had sold the old schooner up in Wellington, and he just took up his abode in the cottage and sr> id nothing much to nny man. I had been friendly to him, but he kept me at arm's length. Then he broke his neck in the same way. There was some talk about coincidences. The property came to his eon. who is an engineer trading out of Auckland, and from him I bought ,it. That's the story as fa.*- mI fl oT> it, iir "XhralJ." , "Except that, you , are anxious to realise on your outlay^ Mr M'Egan." "I'm not a, rich man, Air Thrall. I've tried to sell, but I can't get a buyer. I've tried to let. and nobedy '11 look at the. place. I can't make it out. There's something devilish wrong about it, and that's a fact." "And if I, for instance, could put things right, you'd be obliged to me?" " I should indeed, sir," " Ah, well, I might be able to serve you. If I do, I ihouM like a souvenir. I'm a dabbler- Among ■ oddities, yon know, Mr M/Egau. Will you give me or sell me the old f-ideboard ?" - • ■ "Willingly, air. .Make it possible fox me ,to do .something With the pjace, a-ad ] &hdll leckon myself your debtor, even d jou clear every stick out of it." The next night I was up at Thrall's house on the cliff. I found him in an almost cheerful Irmnour. Mrs Thrall, that t' m eot nnd Him beauty, seemed depressed. " Come to my cen." s<nd Thrall. *'I have a specim-ai to show you." Xoav, tlipre was nothing tenible or specially txtiaordinai'y in the appearance of the aid -boaid, and I found mys-elf it the outset greatly wondering why Thfail had lumbered th-e den with it. Of rouree, I then knew nothing of its history : nor did I learn anything until afteiwards, Avhen I became possessed of Thiall's records and mcmenanda. "Ht re," eaid my ho«t, "is an ancient piece of furniture with a wicked lretory. So much I know by instinct, and in so much I am not likely to be mistaken. You have heard of hauntings and apparitions — — mostly fudge, of course. And in your own mind, critically, you have decided against the possibility of apparitions. You hold that to be visible and powerful — to have force and t*r>ergy — anything must have substancv • and a^ a supernatural apparition cannot Lave Gubslanbe, therefore there cannot be visible and potent apparitions. You are wrong. All substances be.ng 'merely in illusion, your thoughts are really as Mibstantial as your bones. You, with your so eohd body, could walk unscathed and unhindered, through, walls- of adamant, if you but knew the wny. But I do not want to be prolix. All this is 10 pave the way to the admission that in, that for the moment concealed, there is an influence nyd^gn an< l alert, and at least as substantial as you or I. I purpose new to root out that influence, to disseminate that seeming substance, to rid green earth of one more stalking devil." "Septimus'" murmured Mrs Thiall, "I fear for you ! Ah, let t\ra ill tluna be." Thrall smiled gently. He was always gentle with her — very gentle and very firm. " Dear child," he said, "there is nothing to fear. You will not now tuin coward, my lanthe':"' "All, no," she said, with a sad litfle laugh "I am no cowaid — T!' Thrall chose a spare on the floor, over against the wall. He put down half a dozen clepr gla^s vases, full of some tianslucent fluid that flowed and spaikled in the blight light of the lamp. On the vu«?s he put a wooden board some six feet equaie. ;iiid on this stretched a rug. On the platform thus improvised there w^b comfortable. 100111 for two chairs, in which Mrs 'ibiall and I seated ourselves-. " How mifctaken our philosophy,'' Ikto me. "There you sit, a few fc-et fiom a very vicious appaiition indeed, if I am not niihtakpn ; and yet you have never be 11 so safe in your life as _\ ou are there." "But a on, Septimus — you '" cried Mrs Thrall " I," h" said proudly, "am master hero, by light of knowledge 1 . I ihall have it out with the nppaiition." Sl', 1 made no otliu protect, but a^ we sat by (-arh othei o?i ihr < omfoi t . ; Jj' • - clhins. the uiipped op.p of iiiv luii-'fe. and h.-kl v tin jughout with -i.th M length no I iie\fi l) rr > \ o » u <*.«•<■ d ;it hi that slight body "Whati\i'r you do,"' she murmured in my ear, "don't mo\i. 'Ilirall w,i!ki.il up to the sideboard, and an«uii he ga\e the cry. At first there was

ho response, and 1 he cried out again, more peremptorily, and if that was possible, more strongly. Ar.d now a cry in answer came hissing from behind the closed doors. "Ah," ciied lanthe, "watch yourself — watch yo.ir-:elf, Septimus! He is strong:"'

Thrall gave a little impatient gesture,* and again the intolerable cry rang through the quiet room. This time it was answerP'l savagely fiom within the sideboard, and without, warning the doors flew open and there* emerged the stiangest cieature I have ever seen. Imagine, -if you can. an incandescent octopus, with an unnaturally large head, great eyts aglow j w^th vicicvus and demoniac fury, long tentacles that lashed- %\\\& way and . that \ and fell across as gave tfie blows tfie sounds of pistol shots. I felt the eyes rest on us with intolerable malignity, but from the first I knew that we — Mrs Thrall and myself— were safe. But I was horribly afraid, and I knew that she was terribly anxious for him. He, Septimus, seemed quite unconcerned, an*l before the onslaught of the Thing he showed neither haste nor perturbation. The activity of the Thing was marvellous. Despite its gruesome shape and suggestion of flaccidity, it seemed to have a frame of steel, and was as active and agile as a cat. It sprang at TJ«aril over and over again, and I was surprised to see with what apparent ease he evaded it.

"It has not touched him," I found myself whispering to Mrs Thrah. "Heaven forbid !"' she murmured. ''If it touched) him he must die. Oh, why does he delay !''

Suddenly, Tq W that the Thing no longer sought to attack Thrall. It seemed, instead, to be desperately afraid for itself. It uttered little gasping cries of vicious tenor, to which Thral l responded with cries stern and authoritative. Then , Thrall raised his right hand and Thing shrieked like a ghoul in agony. With that fear hot .vithin me, I saw that a visible gieeJiis.h ray' streamed from tli-e man's uplifted palm straight to the awful head -of the Thing. I saw the hard venomous eyes blink and wavor and dull. The savage beaked mouth gaped and slavered.. The lashing tentacles seemed to grow"] imp and nerveless. Thrall kept his hand up, and the green ray still smote full oi t-he head of the Thing. Then 'l saw the hateful outlines change and blur. The tentacles sloughed off and the abominable head swelled bulging in.to a >sew Bhape: } Then, almost before^ knew what had Happened), the Thing had become a man— ra low-browed. swarthy 7 formidable ruffian, enough. He was dressed in a roughs-suit of dirty linen, anej there was a soiled crimson sa^h about hk waist. A poweiiul venomous fellow he looked. Dangdrous, too ; for 1 suddsnlv saw that he had a &hort knife in one hand. Like a pagther at bay, he moved, torwtrrds' Thrall,. I suppese I .showed) some fresh alarmj" for Mis Thrall snoke to me again, and in her \oice now there was no trace of fear...,. ■ "You need^not be afraid," she 6»id. "This creature merits nothing but contempt. He will be easily disposed of."

I fair the Sp'iniaid spying at Thrall ag«in ai,d-nga!n y and alvrays._ne fell short, as though some Unseen barrier' stayed \\\a\. I saw:, that }h<V ttpaniaid, man or devil, was in the throes '-of some- dreadful fear. His e^es glaied' on Thiall's; his tongue protruded. Ar.d now again Thrall raised Lis hart), ,md tae green ray fell. I heard the tieature cry out in ar> agony. I saw his strong and terrible convulsions. He looked like an earwig under a burningclass. I shut my eyes in horror ; but presently there fell a stillness, and I opened them -again. All sign of the intruder had gone, and Thrall, looking srmewhat tired and spent, was lighting a cigarette.

Together we examined the sideboard, and Thrall speedily discovered that it had a false bottom. In this hiding-place was closely -packed a human skeleton. Thrall threw the poor bones out on to the floor.

"Here," he said, "is atl that remains of our Spanish friend, I fancy."

"But, ' I sa : -d, "he was here just now, I saw him ''

"Dear man," said Thrall, "do not jump to rash conclusions. What you saw jost now was merelv — shall we say, a murderous illusion. It will haunt the earth no more., isFither it nor the red devil that wlf'-iteC soul The sideboard is.no longer haunted), no longer in any sense devilish or'uncanny. It is an interesting piece of furniture. You shall have it ag a Eouvgnifl t It stands in my study bow, looking respectable, and serving -useful purpeses. In the false bottom there is nothing more harmful than a neatly disposed row ."of bottles.

But how or when the sideboard became haunted, and who the Spaniard was, I have no meuu> of knowing.