The Unspeakable Thing

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue XXVI, 27 June 1903, Page 1767

The Unspeakable Thing

The Story of the Year!

V By

HARRIS BURLAND,

Author of “ Dacobra," Etc.

CHAPTER I. SPIDER ISLAND. A broad stretch of the South Pacific, smooth as glass and burnished like a shield of blue steel. A sky of biasing light, fierce, pitiless, and with never a Heck of cloud to break its surface, or cast a single shadow on the waters be neath. A small black speck on the face of the deep, crawling slowly like a wounded animal that is swimming its last strokes before its strength fails. The small black speck was a boat con taining five men and a boy, the sole survivors of the "White Swallow.” Three days ago she had been a 500-ton brig bound from Cardiff to Lima. She was now a charred mass of timber burnt to the water’s edge, and out of her crew of twenty-four men six alone remaned It was doubtful if it would not have been better for them to have gone down in the storm which had overtaken their comrades in the other boats. They had only provisions for a week, and hid had but little time to save anything from the wreck. The clothes they wore, a compass, a rifle, and fifty cartridges, the log of the ship, and a mongrel dog constituted their sole possessions. The latter was a mere encumbrance to them, but it had been impossible to leave it to roast to death. Captain Williams, a hard, sullen o.d sailor, who had seen the very worst days of the merchant service, sat in the stern of the boat and made little entries in the log with the stump of an old lead pencil. By his side sat the boy. The latter was slight of frame, and there was a smile on his thin w’izened little face. He was anticipating adventure, and he it was who had saved the rifle and cartridges, having a sweet vision of meeting savages on a desert island. He was called Winkles, and responded to no other name. In the bow of the boat were two seamen, Morgan and Hughes. They were rough fellows, but they had fallen asleep, and there was something almost soft and pathetic in their faces. Two men were pulling at the oars. One was Dennis, second mate of the ship, a lean slip of a man. but with the wiriness and the activity of a eat. The other was Emrvs Tredegar, who had shipped as a passenger on ' the ‘White Swallow” to Lima. He was a young man of about thirty, of enormous bulk and strength. He was 6ft 4in in height, and was • so powerfully built that he seemed merely a stalwart fellow of no extraordinary stature. His great arms were bare almost to the shoulders, and the muscles showed up like knots and ropes of steel. As he drove the oars through the wat' r they bent like whips. His face was no' handsome, but kindly and honest, ard strong of purpose —such a face as wome-' love. " Clean shaven men do not look their best with a three days’ growth o' beard on them, but he looked better than most men would have done. His rugge strength did not suffer from mere vn tidiness His soiled shirt, collarless. end flung open at the front, showed off h s muscular neck to advantage. Such were the survivors of the “White Swallow.” bound together by common misfortune, and working in shifts night and day to reach land before their rood was exhausted. Thev steered their course sou’-west by west in the hope of striking Easter Island or one of the islands of the Marquesas Group. They were without a chart, for it had been put in one of the other boats. But, judging from what Captain Williams could remember. they were at least 700 miles from land Thev had barely a week’s pro visions, and unless they happened to fall in with a ship, things looked very bad for them. They kept their spirits up, however, and Winkles, who was of little use in moving the boat, told them

anecdotes of his early days in Whitechapel that promised well for his future career. For five days there was no wind, and the skin on their arms and faces blistered like new paint. Then a breeze sprang up trom the west, and drove them out of their reckoning in a single night. It continued for twenty-four hours and then uied away. They could only guess that they were rather west of their course, and steered due south. They eked out the food, but at the end of another three days they had only a pound of biscuits and a quart of water for each man of them. They made this last for two days more, and then death began to look them in the face. They were making slow progress. Men do not row very well on half a pouna of biscuits a day. and it is thirsty work sitting under a tropical sun. Tredegar kept his last biscuit and looked at it tor eight hours. Then he gave a foolish laugh and ate it. Perhaps he would nave kept it long er if it had not been for the others. He eould not stand the look in their eyes as they glared at him. After that everyone’s attention was fixed on the dog. The poor beast was half dead already, and it was a merev to kill him. The men had given him a good share of their food, and it was only reasonable that he should make some return to them. But they all felt like cannibals, and Winkles burst into tears. He had an idea that it would be his turn next. He had read a good many stories of shipwrecked sailors, and in these the boy was always the first to go. Then for a whole day they were without food or water, and not one of them had the strength to take a hand at the oars. The boat lay motionless on the glittering surface of the sea. The next morning they tried to eatch some fish with a bent pin and a piece of l ed flannel from Hughes’ shirt, but they caught nothing. By mid-day, however, a merciful breeze sprang up. They hoisted the sail and went spinning forward at the rate of seven knots an hour. Towards five o’clock the water began to be covered with dark patches, varying in size from three inches to six feet in diameter. Tredegar feebly put his hand into the middle of one of them in the faint hope that it might be something edible. When he drew his fingers out they were alive with small grey spiders. He showed his hand to the others; they regarded it apathetically and shook their heads. “The Chinese eat th=in. I believe,” he said in a low voice. “At any rate they don’t look any worse than snails.” Then he watched the hundreds of little legs moving in all directions and hurriedly put his hand back into the water. Captain Williams burst into a laugh, and rising to his knees, looked anxiously towards the south. “Land,” he said. hoarsely: “these things mean land. Anv fool can tell you that. Spiders ain’t fishes, and they ain’t birds either. It’s land, you chickenhearted dogs. Why the devil don’t you dance and sing, you swine’” And land it was. Before the sun set that night a thin dark line rose from the horizon and raised itself slowly into the sky as they rippled through the water towards it. The last rays of light showed them a tall barrier of cliffs, barely two miles from their bows. They took down the sail and watched the land slowly merging into the darkness. It was hard for these starving men to he careful, but Captain Williams and Tr» degar insisted on waiting till the morning. Even at that distance they could hear the thunder of the waves on the iron bound coast, and see the white spray foaming on the rocks. Hughes cried out with parched lips that he

would rather drown than endure his agony, and tried to jump overboard. Tredegar held him down, and kept his grip on him through all the night. All the men were absolutely worn out, but no one closed his eyes. The nights were short, yet that one seemed an eternity. When dawn broke it disclosed a black wall of roek nearly three hundred feet in height, rising sheer from the foaming waters at its base, and crowned wi*h thick forest. They lifted their sail again to the slight breeze and skirted the coast at a distance of half a mile. The island appeared to be about even miles in length, and they sailed half round it before they came to a sheer break in the cliffs. It appeared to run inland for about a mile. This ravine was not more than a hundred yards in width, and as they sailed down it the dark water seemed like the aisle of some great cathedral with towering walls of stone and a roof of sapphire blue. The summit was still fringed with forest, and the air was bright with the wings of millions of butterflies and gauzy insects. The water was now almost entirely covered with the large patches of floating spiders. But although the whole place was musical with the hum of insects, it was noticeable that not a single bird crossed the vault of heaven or hovered ?bout the cliffs, and not a single sound or cry of beast came from the forests above. Save for the buzz of the countless wings and the ripple of the water at the bows of the boat, there was complete silence. In about a quarter of an hour the waterway turned abruptly to the left, the tall cliffs began to slip down to the level ground, and the eyes of the starving and thirsty men were gladdened with a sight that put fresh life into their weary hearts and bodies. The narrow channel suddenly widened out into a little circular lake, not more than two hundred yards in diameter. Its shores were of smooth, white sand, littered and heaped up with huge boulders, and a dozen little streams of clear water struggled down through the dark masses of the rocks. A hundred yards from the edge of the lake the rock-strewn shore was circled by a belt of enormous trees, hung with tangled bunches of orchids and flaming creepers, and shutting out all view of the surrounding landscape with an impenetrable wall of foliage. The men rowed the boat ashore with feeble strokes, and dragging themselves to the nearest spring drank deeply, and lav for a full hour in the shadow of a great rock. Then their thoughts turned to food. They hastily improvised some fishing apparatus out of rone strands, bent nails, and pins, and a few pieces of coloured stuff. Then they pushed out the boat and tried their luck. They were rewarded bevond their wildest hopes. Perhaps the fish in these blue and shallow waters were more careless and frivolous than their fellows of the deep ocean. At any rate, the men caught two dozen in less than ton minutes. Thev were all of the same kind—long, thin and silvery, with a few black spots on their hacks. The men found them most excellent eating. Thev each consumed one raw to stay the immediate mngs of starvation. Then tbev cooked the rest over a fire, nnd had three more aniece. Then Captain Williams loaded the rifle and looked wistfully at the fringe of forest. It was ns silent as the grave, and not a cry of bird or beast came from its depths. Not oven a butterfly came out of its darkness into the sunlight. All insect life seemed to have died away by this silent pool. “I will try what I can do,” Captain Williams muttered, rising with diffi-

culty to his feet. “We must have some meat. One of you had better come with me. Morgan, you look as if you could walk. Maybe you can help to carry all I shoot.” With these words he struggled off towards the forest. Morgan followed him, carrying a piece of stick which he had found on the beach. The others watched the two men picking their way among the boulders until they reached the trees. Then they saw Morgan draw a knife from his belt and cut a notch in a huge palm. Hungry and eager though the two men were they had not forgotten the precaution of making their path. Then they disappeared from sight, and in silence their companions could hear the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs for several minutes afterwards. Then all sounds died away. Then they lay on their backs in the sun and longed for something to smoke Tredegar had a single cigar in his pocket, but he was kind - hearted enough not to enforce his right of possession and smoke it. He produced it and thev all drew the prizP ' Bv an iron .V of fate **inkles won it. He realised his unworthiness, and cutting the precious thing in two gave half back to Tredegar. and breaking up the other half with his fingers, filled a short clav pipe with the fragments. Then the two smoked, and the others sat close to them to inhale as much of the fragrance as possible. They all talked of their supper, which would probably include meat: and Winkles ransacked his memory or his imagination for the most stirring anecdotes of his life, and in this way the afternoon passed pleasantly. At four o’clock thev roused themselves to make some sort of shelter for the night. By fixing a sail across three large boulders thev constructed a verv decent imitation of a cave. The boulders enclosed three sides of it. and the canvas formed an excellent roof. Instructed by Winkles, thev piled up a great bean of sticks and dead leaves in front of the entrance. He explained to them that if was necessary to light a fire at nightfall to scare off the 'wild beasts, and that all the best authorities were agreed on this point. By six o’clock they began to get rather anxious about their comrades. The island was so small that it would ho almost impossible for anyone to get lost in it. A man would only have to strike the coast-line and follow it round until he came to the creek. They had heard no sound of firing. They gave un all hopes of meat for supper, and caught some more fish. About eight o’clock the sun sank below the tops of the trees. The men cooked and ate their meal, and creeping into the shelter they had made forthemselves. lit the fire. The opening of the Htfle house faced the forest, and they hoped that the crackling pyramid of flame would serve as some guide to their companions. Tn a few minutes darkness came down swiftly and suddenly, and they eould see nothing but the glare of the firelight, on the rocks and sand. There was complete silence. There were none of those strange sounds which come from a forest at night: no cries of night birds or beasts of prey: not a snapping of a twig —nothing but silence. The castaways talked cheerfully to each other, and peered out into the circle of light. From time to time one of them went to the entrance and shouted. Tlie sound was echoed and re-echoed hv the rocks, but there was no answer. Then they drew happy pictures of their comrades sitting over a fire in the forest and cooking some succulent steaks from some most delicious animal.

Suddenly the silence was broken by the distant report of a rifle, and then by another report, and then by a long scream like the cry of a wounded beast. After that there was again silence. Dennis, Hughes, and the boy dozed off to sleep, and dreamt of roast meat for breakfast. Tredegar alone eould not close his eves. He stretched his huge bulk on the sandy floor and stared hard into the darkness. But his thoughts were far away, and they would not let him sleep. He saw the black cliffs of Cardiganshire, the long stretch of yellow sand, and the great bog of Gogerddam, reaching to the circle of wooded mountains. He saw, too, the face of one he loved, more beautiful, as it seemed to him, than the face of an angel. He looked again into the dark eyes, filled with tears, as he had seen them last. He heard once more a low voice whispering to him, “I love you, Emrys, and will always love you. I will wait till yon return to me!” Till he returned to her! He clenched his hands and laughed bitterly. Mavanwy Morgan might be an old woman before then. She might be dead. She might even No, at least she would be true. She would wait, wait, wait. Even the stern and grasping spirit of her father could not force her against her will. She would wait till her lover returned. And he would return—aye, and rich enough to pay off the mortgages on his estate and live in the home of his fathers. Tredegar’s face grew stern and determined in the firelight, and the muscles stood out on his bare arms as he knotted his powerful fingers together. But in time Nature asserted her authority. Even this active mind could not fight against the exhaustion of the body. His head gradually sank on his breast, and he fell asleep. When he awoke the moon was high in the heavens. The fire had died down to a few glowing ashes, but every detail of the shore was clearly cut and defined in the moonlight. His companions still slept, and he could hear nothing but the sound of their breathing. He peered out towards the black wall of forest and listened attentively. He began to wonder why Williams and Morgan had not returned. He had halfhoped that the noise of their approach had roused him from his sleep. But he could hear nothing. Then it struck him that the silence was not so complete as he fancied. No definite sound came to break the silence, but he began to fancy that the air was vibrating with a long even murmur, so faint and continuous as to be scarcely noticeable. He put the idea down to his imagination. A man who listens for sounds in the dead of night seldom fails to find them. After he had listened for two or three minutes a new fancy struck him. He began to imagine that the small stretch of sand and rocks that came within his range of vision had in some inexplicable manner changed since he last saw it by daylight. It seemed in some way blurred —the white sand had grown darker, and the black rocks more grey. Seeing that the effect of moonlight is to heighten the lights and deepen the shadows, this general grey effect was the more strange and startling. He rubbed his eyes and observed everything carefully. Then, as he looked, something ran across his hand, and he saw it moving swiftly out of the shadow of the little house into the moonlight. It was about the size of a mouse, and of a grey colour. He could not see clearly what it was, but it appeared to have a large number of legs. He caught up a small stone from the sandy floor and hurled it with all his force at the flying patch of grey. Then a strange thing happened. The whole extent of beach and rocks seemed to suddenly quiver and move in the moolight, and millions of little grey things scuttled in all directions and piled themselves up in ridges and heaps in their fear and excitement. But in a few seconds they seemed to recover from their scare, and the whole mass began to move slowly towards the forest. He woke his comrades with kicks and shouts and flung a few sticks on the fire. Tn the blaze he saw two or three belated fugitives crawling across the sand. Ono of them got into the flames and frizzled there. Ho could see it quite plainly. It was an enormous spider, with a body an inch and a half

in diameter, and legs not less than eight inches long. The other men were slow in waking, and by the time they were able to see or think clearly there was nothing to be seen in the moonlight but black rocks and white sand. The view had resumed its natural appearance. They plied Tredegar with angry questions. He told them what he had seen, and pointed to the little charred body in the fire. They believed then, and not one of them closed their eyes again that night. CHAPTER 11. THE EOREST OF FEAR. In the morning neither Captain Williams nor Morgan had returned, and their comrades resolved to go in search of them. After an early breakfast of fish they walked up to the edge of the forest, and cutting themselves some heavy sticks from the bushes, found the first mark that Morgan had “blazed” on the palm tree, and began to make their way through the undergrowth. It was not difficult to trace the path of the missing men. They had marked a tree every twenty yards, and even if they had not done so it would have been easy to see where 'they had forced their way through the dense shrubs and creepers. They had, in fact, cut out a clean path, and it was wonderful how much strength and energy had been displayed by two men on the verge of starvation. At first the men saw nothing to attract their attention, unless, indeed, it was the absence of bird and animal life, and the extraordinary profusion of insects. But when they had penetrated to a distance of about one hundred" and fifty yards the whole wood seemed suddenly to spring into animation. It is no exaggeration to say that there were spiders everywhere. Every leaf and frond trembled with their weight. The undergrowth rustled as they moved through it in countless thousands. Hundreds scuttled away out of the path, and hundreds were trodden under foot. Their webs were woven from branch to branch and twig to twig till the very air seemed full of light network and quivering bolts of grey. And everywhere winged insects flew and struggled and died. It was a horrible and disgusting sight. Before the searchers had gone another 150 yards their clothes were grey and shaggy with fine silken threads, and they had to brush insects from their hair and eyes. The spiders were of all sizes, some two or three inches in diameter, and some scarcely bigger than the head of a pin. They anpeared to be absolutely harmless. Hughes caught a large one in his hand, and it struggled like a rat, til’, he dropped it on the ground and crushed it with his heel. But it did not bite him. Yet in spite of their harmlessness and their anxiety to escape, their very presence filled the men with so great a horror that Tredegar had the utmost difficulty in persuading his companions to continue the search. However, he drew so terrible a picture of the two missing men abandoned in that gruesome forest that the others were forced to proceed for very shame. In an h-ur’s time they came to a spot where the trees were smaller and s»t farther apart. All the undergrowth "had suddenly died away. In its place was a floor of hard eartk and black rock. And still the spiders were everywhere. It was now possible to see for some distance in every direction, and yet. strange to say, it was at this point that the men lost the trail. They found the mark of Morgan’s knife on a tall mahogany tree, and after that w-wc unable to find a single other sign of anyone having passed that way. It is true that they could no longer glean any information from the undergrowth. and that the earth and rock beneath their feet was so hard that it would not receive any impression of a human foot. But it was strange that there was absolutely no further mark on the trees. Thev consulted together, and organised a, definite plan of search. Tredegar remained by the mahogany tree, end the others went out. in three different directions through the forest. It was agreed that Tredegar should bo a kind of landmark by which the others could rotrac" their footsteps to the path, and that he should shout nt, interval to give them some idea of his whereabouts. Tn loss than five minutes all three had passed out of Tredegar’s sight, but ho eould still

hear them tapping the trees with their sticks.

Every three minutes by his watch he gave a loud and long call, and three distinct answers came back from the forest. Then, after a lapse of twenty minutes, there came only two answers to the cry. He waited for three minutes more, then called again and again in quick succession, but still there were only two answers. Then he heard the sound of someone running in the distance. It was Dennis, and he came panting through the trees with a white face. “I’ve found summat, sir!” he cried. “Come along wi’ me.” Tredegar gave three sharp cries, the -pre-arranged signal for all to return, and then questioned Dennis as to what he had found.

“The rifle,” the man answered, huskily, “and blood. And there’s summat else— God knows what it is—l can’t tell you, sir; but it’s more like a fishing net than anything.” In a few minutes Hughes came running up. He had not seen or heard anything. But there was no sign of Winkles, and all three men kept shouting for ten minutes; but still he did not come. Then they decided to go and look at the things Dennis had found, marking every fifth tree as they went, and to return afterwards and wait till the boy turned up. They were not long in reaching the place indicated by Dennis. A rifle lay on the ground, and close by it an empty cartridge. Tredegar opened the breech and took out another cartridge, also empty. The weapon had been fired twice, and they called to mind the two shots they h ’d heard the night before. On th* ground there were traces of blood and evidences of a struggle. The black rock was scratched, and the earth torn up into long ridges. A few yards away thev found Morgan’s knife. There was blood sticking to it. and some long yellowish hairs. Dennis picked up the rifle, and leading them further into the forest, showed them a thing which might well set the brain of any man a-wandering. To all appearances it was a gigantic spider's web. It was fifty feet in diameter, and every strand of it was an inch in thickness. At the first glance Tredegar’s blood ran cold. Was it possible that a spider of such enormous proportions existed, and that William and Morgan had been overpowered by its stupendous strength? Then he examined it more carefully and saw that each rope was composed of thousands of thin glutinous strands woven and twisted together, and that the whole design had been constructed by knotting the ropes into the required pattern. The structure was stretched horizontally between several trees, and had the appearance of a gigantic hammock. “The work of a man!” Tredegar said, turning to his comrades. The others examined the thing and nodded their heads. “Aye, sir,” Dennis muttered. “No animal could make these knots. I should like to meet him.” And he eyed the barrel of the rifle wistfully. They had no cartridges with them. “He must have been a strong fellow,” Tredegar said. “The captain was no chicken —and he had a rifle, and Morgan could use a knife.” They made their way back to the mahogany tree and again called out for Winkles, all three of them together, so that the sound might carry further. But there was no reply, though they waited there and continued to call until they were faint with hunger and the sun was low in the heavens. “We will return,” Tredegar said, in a low voice. “It is a horrible thing to leave the boy here in the darkness. But perhaps he has struck the coast, and he has only to follow it till—” he stopped suddenly. He remembered that they had argued in the same way about Captain Williams and Morgan, and that thev had not returned. They retraced their steps in silence, finding the marks on the trees with difficulty, for it was growing rapidly dark. At last, however, they passed through all the horrors of that crawling and rustling forest, and came out on to the shore. They heaped up a pile of wood and lit it—they owed this much to Winkles, who would have insisted on its being done. Then they cooked some fish, ate a hearty supper in silence and turned in for the night. They had a rifle with them now, and wore not afraid of anything. either man or beast. Tredegar

slipped a cartridge into the breech and laid it ready to his hand. It would go hard with anyone who attacked them in the night. In the morning Winkles had not returned, and they went once more into the forest to look for their three missing comrades. They took the rifle with them and searched all day, but found nothing except spiders. An acute sense of horror came over them, and a mad desire to get out of the accursed place. They were all agreed on one point—none of them would enter the forest unless the other two went with him.

Yet even this precaution proved no safeguard. Before another twentyfour hours had passed Dennis had disappeared. He went out one evening to fish on the far side of the lake and never returned he had taken the rifle with him, and it was found lying on a flat piece of rock. There was no sign of a struggle, and the cartridges were undischarged. But there were curious footprints in the sand, like blurred impressions of human hands and feet, and there was also a long trail, as though some heavy body had been dragged towards the forest.

Tredegar and Hughes eame to the conclusion that their unfortunate comrade was undoubtedly dead. They had not been more than two hundred yards away from him. and if he had been able to cry out they would have heard him. A great fear fell upon them, and so paralyse'd "their minds that they made no attempt at a rescue. They retired into their shelter and kept watch alternately until the dawn broke. And the dark circle of forest round their little bay seemed to each of them like the yawning jaws of some terrible monster waiting to swallow them up in its denths.

But with the morning light their courage returned to them. Tredegar rose to his feet and clenched his great hands as he looked at the forest. He asked nothing better than to meet this thing face to face and feel it in his grasp, and strangle it or beat out its brains on the trunk of some tree. Two hours after sunrise the two men entered the forest. Tredegar carried the rifle under his arm, and twenty cartridges in his pocket. Hughes cut himself a bludgeon of ironwood sufficiently heavy to break in a man’s legs or batter in his skull. They took a new route this time, and followed the trail they had seen upon the beach—the footprints and the marks of something being dragged along the ground. This trail led them into a more northerly direction than Captain Williams’ path, and was an easy one to follow. The undergrowth was crushed and broken, and the prints of the animal’s feet were plainly visible from time to time. Here and there the thick stem of a shrub was torn in half, and Hughes thought he eould distinguish the marks of nails upon the bark. Tn one place they found a long shred of cloth upon a stout thorn, and recognised it as part of Williams’ coat. As on their last journey, the spiders were everywhere, but they scarcely heeded them. Their minds were too intent on the matter they had in hand. For two hours they followed the trail, and observed by reference to the compass, which was fortunately in their possession, that the path was sweeping round in a circular route towards the west. Then the wood began to grow more open, and in a few minutes they caught sight of a “blaze” upon a tree, and found themselves upon their old track, close to the place where they had waited in vain for Winkles to return. They stood here a little while, and gave several calls in the hope of hearing some answering voice; but there was no reply. Then they decided to make their way to the strange web they had discovered the day before. Tredegar held his rifle with both hands in order to raise it to his shoulder at a moment’s notice.

Before they had gone very far Hughes grasped him by the arm, and pointed into the heart of the wood. They both stopped, and saw in the distance the strands of the giant web like fine threads against a clear piece of sky. In their centre was a large, dark patch with four arms or legs, like the figure of a man clinging to a wall, and, as they looked, it seemed as though the limbs moved. Nearer the edge of the patch were four other patches, but these were motionless. The sight reminded them horribly of a spider and four dead bluebottles. Tredegar raised the rifle quickly to his shoulder hut

Hughes cried out and struck up the barrel. •‘Wait, sir,” he said hurriedly, “you don’t know what it is yet.” “You are right,” Tredegar replied, lowering The ride. “We will get a little closer.” And they crept from tree to tree as silently as they could. Before they had gone fifty yards, however, the object in the centre slid swiftly to the ground and disappeared. The others remained motionless. Tredegar cursed

bitterly and tired into a mass of undergrowth beyond the web. Then he put his hand into his pocket for another cartridge. The pocket was empty and three of his fingers slid through a long tear in the cloth. It had probably been made by some thorn, and every single cartridge had dropped out. The two men went back several yards in the hope of finding at least one of the small metal tubes which meant so much to them, but they found nothing. Tredegar laughed as they retraced their steps.

"It does not matter,” he said; “in faet it is a fairer game. 1 only ask to get within arm's length of the creature.” In a few minutes they came close to where the great web was strung up among the trees. The huddled objects hung motionless in the sunlight. One of them was considerably smaller than the others. They were undoubtedly human bodies. The backs were towards them,but the clothes were familiar. They rushed eagerly to the other side and looked on the faces. They were the

faces of Captain Williams, and Morgan, and Dennis, and the boy Winkles. Their hands and feet were strapped close to the net with pieces of some stout and wiry creeper, and they were all four dead. Tredegar and Hughes unfastened the bands in silence and lifted the bodies reverently to the earth. All their necks were broken, and their heads hung limply betwean their shoulders. Round every throat were the long blue marks of fingers or claws.

CHAPTER 111. “THE BODY OF THIS DEATH.” The two men looked at each other and Tredegar nodded hie head in answer to the mute enquiry in Hughes' eyes. Then they took up the limp bod iee one by one in their arms and carried them into the thickets part of the forest. When they reached the undergrowth they scraped four shallow graves in the soft rotting mould, and stamping down the earth, covered the plaxes with tangled masses of orchid and palm. Then they returned with a grim look in their faces. There was only one thought ir their minds, only om hope—that they might find the creatur and’avenge the dead. All fear had vat ished. They felt nothing of the silence, and the loneliness, and the unknown terror crouching in the depths of the forest, and waiting for their lives. They only saw that something had to be killed, and they were resolved to kill it. They made a complete circuit of the open part of the forest, looking everywhere, and listening intently for any sound, but they did not hear or see anything of what they sought. They made up their minds to spend the nrzht in the place. They had with them some fish that they had dried in the sun and a bottle of. water. They made a meal off this frugal fare, ai.d searched for a suitable place to keep their watch through the darkness. They selected the most open spot they could find, and piled up a huge heap of brushwood. There they stayed till the sun set, and as the darkness came swiftly over the heavens they once more began to realise the supernatural fear of the forest, a fear of things unseen and unknown, a lurking terror that watched them from the shadows. This was no physical fear, though they knew that the thing they sought would have them at a disadvantage, and that darkness would be all in its favour. They were both brave men. and one of them endowed with enormous bodily strength. They feared nothing that they could grasp and battle with. But they began to see how, after all that had happened, •the very darkness itself would be their enemy. Yet they knew that the creature would only attack in the darkness, and it was their one chance to kill it. They lit their fire, anu sitting back to back strained every nerve to see and hear. The flames cast a wide circle of red light, giving a weird effect to the gnarled and stunted trees. In the gloom beyond Tredegar thought he could see the faces of his dead comrades. He placed his rifle across his knees, and kept watch twith his hands on the barrel. It would at least be something to strike with, and Tredegar meant to strike hard. Hughes grasped his bludgeon tightly, and stared into the crackling flames. After three hours of this silent watcii Tredegars eyes grew drowsy with sleep, and it required a great mental effort to keep them open. He began to realise the sufferings of the sentry who knows it is death to him to sleep. From time to time the two men spoke to each other. It was necessary to keep themselves awake, and the sound of a human voice was cheerful in the great soli tude. There was not a whisper in the depths of the forest, neither rustling or lear, nor cry of bird. It was terrible to listen to such silence. Then Tredegar noticed that Hughes’ back began to press more heavily against his own, and fearing that the latter was asleep, he turned round to shake him. As he did so he heard a faint scratching such as the claws of an animal would make on a rock. He rose sharply to his feet, and Hughes fell backwards. Twenty yards away something moved behind the shadow of a tree. Hughes jumped up with the startled eyes of one suddenly wakened from sleep, and stared wildly into the darkness. The fire was low, and Tredegar flung a pile of brushwood on the red embers. But he flung too much of it, and the dense smoke smothered the struggling flames, and only a shower of sparks illuminated the darkness. Then one branch commenced to burn furiously and Hughes sprang forward with an oath. A second later there was a terrific thud and Tredegar heard the crack of wood, and saw Hughes’ bludgeon fly into the air in two pieces. He rushed forward, and as he did so Hughes was flung backwards with so terrific a force that he twide turned head over heels on

the ground. Tredegar saw something move before him, and swinging the rifle over his shoulder, he struck. at it with all his gigantic strength. The barrel snapped and the stock went spinning into the forest, striking half a dozen trees before it fell to the ground. He rushed back to the tire and kicked the smouldering brushwood till it burst into a clear flame. Then he went back to look at the thing he had struck. He expected to find it dead or maimed, for few living things could have stood up against such a blow. But he only found a livid scar across the dark trunk of a tree, and a dent two inches deep in the wood, and fragments of bark on the ground. But in the distance he still licard something move. He turned to Hughes, who was lying motionless on his back. He lifted the limp form off the ground into a sitting position and looked into the face. It was white and drawn, and the blood trickled down one side of it from a gash in the forehead. Tredegar thrust hi? hand against the heart, but could discern no movement. Then he placed the blue steel barrel of the rifle against the lips and the surface did not dull. He examined the body closely and turned it over. The man’s back was broken. and he was quite dead. Tredegar was alone on the island with a monster that Had killed four men and a boy as easily as a child kills flies. He rose to his feet and stared at the daik ring of forest around him. while the whole horrible truth burst upon his brain. He was alone in the island. He muttered the word “alone” to himself, and tried to realise all it meant. All the silence, the solitude, the long, empty days, the sleepless nights, the years, crawling by one after another till his hair grew grey and his body was bent with age. The loss of all interest in life, the loss perhaps of reason itself, or the power of human speech, till he became a mere animal, dragging out its bestial existence in the forest. All this he saw before him in the darkness. The fairest island in the world could hold all the torments of hell for a lonely man. But this loathsome spot, tenanted by foul spiders and by something else that would be a constant terror till it had been destroyed, had such inconceivable horrors of its own that the mind could not grasp them. And then Mavanwy— Tredegar could think no more. He fell on his knees and prayed that he might not think—prayed that he might die. that he might go mad, that he might do anything but think and realise his position. Then he cried out to heaven aloud, so that he might hear his own voice. The cry was answered by a savage howl in the distance. In a moment Tredegar’s mood changed. and the cloud of darkness lifted from his brain. He rose to his feet and gripped the band of the broken rifle in his hand. Here at any rate was something to be done —something to take his thoughts from his loneliness—something that needed strength, and nerve, and skill. Here was a tangible adversary to be hunted down, to battle with, to be lured on to an attack, to be killed. The gigantic young Welshman had no fear of the result. He would let the creature track him down and try to kill him as it had killed his comrades. It would find out its mistake too late. Every muscle of his body grew taut as a rope of steel. His face glowed in the firelight with the pride of strength. He grasped the branch of a tree near to him with one hand and tearing it from its socket flung it on the fire with a laugh. He pictured himsqlf. tearing this unknown adversary limb from limb. He wondered why it did not come. It was not afraid of human beings, and did not know the welcome that awaited it. He threw some more brushwood on tlm fire and kept a lonely vigil by the de d till the dawn flushed golden through th • frees. Then he raised the body in hi< arms and carried it to the same plac > v. nere they had buried the others the day before. He scraped out another shallow grave in the soft earth. rn 1 laid the dead man beside his comrades. Then he filled in the narrow trench m l rose to his feet. llis face was pale ami hard and something wet glistened on his cheekbone. This man had been nothing to him. merely a rough sailor whom chance had thrown across his path. Yet somehow his death had been different to the others. He had perhaps buried the last human being he would ever see. He covered the grave with flowers, and

made his way back to their little encampment. Everything was in its place, just as it had been left the day before. He flung his tired body on the sand end longed for sleep. Yet it was impossible till he had made a safe place to slrep in. He roused himself to his task, and after he had eaten some fish, he went to the ■ dge of the forest and began to break off boughs varying from four to six inches ir thickness. He carried these to the shelter, and spread them over the top of the car.vas. Then he took large stones from the beach and placed them on the top of the boughs. The smallest of these stones weighed at least a hundred pounds, and the whole formed a solid roof of masonry. Then he filled up the cracks between the three great boulders with wood, jammed in tightly, and strengthened on the outside by great heaps of stones. Then he turned his attention to the open side of the structur •, and it was some time before he could think of a satisfactory door —something that would keep anything out, and be opened and shut from within. At last, however, he managed to drag a huge flat slab of rock against the opening. It ’efl a gap of about eighteen inches at the top. and it was just possible for him to squeeze through this. To fill up this gap he placed a heavy log of driftwood, so balanced that it could be easily dislodged. It eould only be removed from the outside by pushing it into the interior. and the noise of its fall would be sufficient to wake the soundest sleeper. When he had finished this work to his satisfaction, he lay down on the sandy floor and went to sleep. He was worn out. and did not wake till it was dark. He struck a match and looked at his watch. It had stopped. He had forgotten to wind it during the excitement of the last thirty-six hours. He rose to his feet, and, removing the wooden barrier, looked out into the darkness. It was a starlight night, but he could see nothing except a dark mass of forest against the sky, and the reflection of a few stars in the water. It was the first night there had been no genial glow of firelig.nt, and he realised how mud- th ; s means to a lonely man. He wound up - his watch, and the mere clicking of the wheels was a grateful sound. He lit a match, and held it outside the opening. In the little circle of light he could see the grey spiders moving to and fro. He shuddered. Then he foraged for some dried fish, took a deep draught of water, and leant back against one of the boulders which formed the walls of his little fortress. In spite of the darkness he was wide awake. He would have be?n glad to have been able to sleep till daybreak, but he fov.nd it impossible to close his eyes. They were fixed on a narrow g’p of sky that faced him. and he counted the stars that twinkled through the opening till they seemed like little frames dancing across the darkness. Suddenly half of the stars vanished as though a cloud of smoke had been driven across them, and something darker than the sky moved in the opening. At the same time Tredegar heard the heavy breathing of some animal and the scraping of something against the slab of

stone. He laughed quietly to himself from the darkness of his corner, and leaning noiselessly forward, gripped the log of wood and drew it slowly towards him across the sand. As he did so the form disappeared, the great slab c’ stone swung Lack wards, and then fell forward against the boulders with a cracii. Tredegar laughed to himself. He had dragged that slab of stone forty yards, and this creature could barely shift it from its place. Then once more there was a dark, shadowy outline against the sky. liedegar lifted the log of wood and poised it in the air. A second later it went spinning forward to the opening like a missile hurled from some ancient mangonel But it turned over in its night, and one end striking the roof it crashed against the stone slab with such force that the whole structure trembled there was a howl of rage or pain from the darkness, a blind scuffle, and the crashing of the stone slab as it swung back warns and forwards in quick succession. Tredegar gripped the barrel of the rifle, which he had kept by his side, and w al ted. Then he struck a match with his left hand, and looked at the gap. There, peering above the stone, was a horrible mass ot yellow and matted hair out of which glittered a pair of malignant eyes. And stretched over the top a great hairy limb and long claws which grasped and scraped the stone, as though they would tear it to pieces. Then the match burned down to his fingers and they were in darkness. He sprang forward with a cry and clutched the limb. It was hard as steel and wrenched itself irom Ms clasp, leaving a tuft of hair in his hand. Then he bore all his strength and weight against the slab of stone and hurled it to the ground. It fell with a heavy thud on the sand, and Tredegar moved cautiously out of the shelter locking sharply right and left in ease of a surprise. But nothing attacked him, and for a moment or two he could hear nothing but the tumultuous beatino- of qis own heart. Then listening intently he heard soft footfalls in the distance, and shortly afterwards the snapping of twigs and rustling of branches in the forest. The creature had fled from him Perhaps it had thought better of its intentions after it had felt the grip of Tredegar’s hand. At any rate, it had fled, and Tredegar bit his lip with vexation. He did not fear the contest. What he did fear was the continual terror of watching and waiting for his adversary, the sense of death lurking behind every tree and stone, and concealing itself in every shadow. He resolved to put the matter to an .issue there and then. He guessed that this creature feared the light, and like other beasts of prey, preferred to prowl in the night time.' All his comrades, except the boy, had been seized after dark, and it was probable that the boy had run right into the creature’s hiding place. It was no use. therefore, to wait for the daylight. The thing probably had some secret lair, which he might never find. It was necessary io tempt it to an attack, and this would have to be done by nigh'. He picked the rifle barrel from the floor and

made his way across the aand to the forest. He noticed in the faint .ight that there was not a snider to be seen on the shore. Doubtless they had been disturbed and had lied back into the trees. He was glad they had gone. It would not have been pleasant to walk over a thick carpet of their bodies. When be reached the trees he found the pathway which they had already cut through the forest and groped blindly along it in the darkness. So long as he kept to the path he moved ahead slowly and with steps that often stumbled as they caught some rut or stone, but directly he was confronted by a mass of thorny bushes, or a net-work of creepers, or a trunk of a tree, he knew that he had left the track. It was laborious work. The gloom was intense, almost overwhelming in its oppressive blackness. The air was hot and scented with innumerable dowers and spices. Tredegar felt that he was buried und >r some gigantic pall, drenched with all the perfumes of Araby. Every now and then he stopped and listened, expecting to hear the snapping of a twig or the soft crunching of feet in the thick mould. He heard nothing but a long continuous rustle, so faint as to be almost imperceptible. He knew that it was the movement of millions of spiders. His face brnsTied against their webs. He could feel their tiny legs on his hands, and his clothes were covered with them. It was a loathsome journey, but there was that in his mind which forbade him to turn back. He only prayed that he might find what he sought as soon as possible. He kept every nerve and muscle on the alert, ready at arty moment to strike or free himself from the grasp of an adversary. But it was not until he had reache I the more open part of the forest th a' his prayer was! answered. He had jus' emerged close to the place where th • bodies of his comrades were burie 1 when the end of the rifle barrel was seized and wrenched so violently that Tredegar would have fallen if he had not been prepared for such an emer gency. He could see nothing, but shifting his hands farther down the barrel to get a greater leverage he encountered a huge hairy paw and felt the cold touch of metal against his fingers. At the same time something jingled against the rifle barrel as they swayed to and fro in the darkness. Tredegar hesitated whether to let go and seize his adversary by the throat, but he thought the risk too great. A steel rifle barrel is a nasty weapon, and he could not afford to lose it on the chance of getting a good and certain grip. He tugged and strained with all his strength, and flung his adversary to and fro in his efforts to shake him off. But the creature held on, and in its turn tried to throw Tredegar off his feet. At last they both stood still, and tried by slow pressure to force the barrel out of each other’s hands. Then slowly, inch by inch, the rifle began to bend under the enormous strain till it was curved like a bow. Then suddenly it snapped and both reeled backwards. The next second Tredegar was flung to the ground with a great pair of hairy claws at his throat. He had not been quick enough. Powerful though he was, it was evident that this creature had the advantage of him

in activity. Man is one of the least active of all animals. It was possible, too, that the thing ciuld see in the dark, and had him at a disadvantage. Tredegar gripped the limbs and by sheer strength bent them backwards till the fingers grew loose at his throat and the animal shrieked with pain. Then he swung the thing downwards to the ground, and still holding the limbs, tried to struggle to his feet. But the task was too much for him. When he had struggled to his knees the creature managed to twist itself round with such force that it wrenched itself from his grasp. ue rose in a flash to his feet, but before he could get another hold it went crashing through the forest in flight. But it had left something in Tredegar’s hand—-something semi-circu-lar and hard and cold like half of a metal disc. Tredegar thrust it into his pocket and started off in pursuit. He was determined to finish the contest that night. His blood was up and ae know he could do himself justice. He was only afraid that the creature would seek to avoid him now that it knew what sort of a man it had to deal with. The chase was hopeless from the first. Tredegar, even if he had been as active as his opponent, could scarcely have followed him in the dark at an equal pace. He was only guided by sound, and from time to time he had to stop and listen. Every minute the swish of boughs and rustle of leaves grew fainter and fainter in the distance. He was bruised from head to foot and bleeding from a hundred scratches. Every now and then he came crashing down on to his hands as his foot caught in some rut or creeper. At last the trees began to thin and diminish in size and the stars began to shine through their branches, and he heard the distant sound of the sea. In five minutes’ time he staggered out on to the edge of the cliffs and felt the cold night air blowing from the ocean. Beneath him the heavy Pacific surge thundered on the rocks, and even where he stood, some 60ft above it. the salt spray beat against his face. Far away on the horizon a thin bar of grey showed the coming of tne dawn. He sat down a few yards from the edge and rested his face in his hands. All the lust of blood and the heat of contest had died away. He only saw the great loneliness. The very voice of the sea seemed to whisper the word “Alone.” The faint rustle of the breeze in the stunted trees behind him seemed to echo it. He was alone -alone! And once more through the darknesr he saw the slate cliffs of Cardiganshire, and the foam running up their sides, and the little village straggling by the sea, and the ring of purple mountains towering peak after peak into the distance. And once more he saw the face of Mavanwy —white, tired with waiting, yet patient with love. And once more he heard her voice, and he whispered the word “Alone.” He clenched his hands in agony. He could not endure these thoughts, and for one moment the brink of the cliff seemed dangerously near to him. It was but a step or two. and then — No, he was no coward to shirk what lay before him! He would wait. One year, two years, three perchance, and then—the ship, the stray vessel

driven out of its course, the signal on the heights, flag or fire, the boat sweeping towards him across the sea. The sight of a human face, the touch of a human hand, the sound of a human voic. It was worth waiting for. Yet it might never come. There might be no dawn in the awful night that loomed before him. As if in answer to his thoughts, the •’lev bar on the horizon lightened into pale yellow, and then into a brilliant gold; and then the whole Eastern sky glowed with azure and rose, and the sea itself was a lake of rippling fire. He rose to his feet, and his rough fsee seemed to drink in the light, as a thirsty man drinks in water. As the sun crept up from the sea he saw that he was on a part of the coast he had never visited before. The trees ran almost to the edge of the cliffs. He took the compass from his pocket and saw that he was almost exactly on the opposite side of the island to the little encampment. He resolved to explore the eoast before returning to the creek. .m«i knowing that he shore must even tually lead him to his destination, he started to walk along the cliflfs. Before he had gone very far he chanced to thrust his hands into his pockets, and his fingers encountered the metal disc he had wrenched off in Hie contest of the night before. He examined it carefully, and saw that it was made of some yellow metal, perhaps gold, and had evidently been fastened to something else by a short piece of chain, which was still attach ed to it. Only half of the gold disc remained. It had evidently been broken off, for the edges were jagged and tin even. At the first glance Tredegar concluded that the other half had been torn off in the struggle; but a more careful inspection of the edge showed that it was dull and worn, and that 'the .fracture was of long standing. The disc was covered with strange lettering.

which was absolutely unintelligible to Tredegar. It seemed, however, that he recognised some of the letters. The whole disc must have been over 3 inches Across, and an eighth of an inch in thickness. He turned it over and over in his hand, but could make nothing of it. But the horrible suspicion crossed his mind that the creature that sought his lief and which had taken the lives of his comrades was or had been a human being. No animal, he reasoned, would have such a thing fastened to its limbs, unless, indeed, it had been placed there by human beings. But he could surmise no more than this from the dull yellow surface. He replaced it in his pocket and continued bis walk along the coast. After he had gone about a mile the cliffs began co rise higher and higher from the shore beneath, till their summits were three hundred feet above the sea. Then they were suddenly split by a ravine. At first Tredegar thought he had reached the narrow channel by which they had originally landed on the island. But when he reached the edge he saw that this was not the case. Far below him ihe sea b?at with great fury on an evillooking reef, •'.nd sluiced backwards and forwards between piles of jagged rock. Behind the reef lay a little pool of smooth water that rippled gently on a sandy beach. The whole ravine was in the form of a wedge, and its apex was not more than three hundred yards from the water. Its sides dropped sheer down to a floor of soft white sand, piled up in long ridges and dunes and dotted here and there with elumps 1 f straggling shrub, and thin, wiry grass. Some twenty yards from the edge of the water the sand rose in ii great hillock, and something dark jutted out from one of the sides. Tredegar’s curiosity was roused. It looked remarkably like a wreck buried in the sand. He walked along the edge of the

precipice to the extreme point where a narrow bank of shale sloped down steeply to a huge heap of boulders that had been broken off from the rocky walls, and heaped up to a height of more than one hundred feet. A little stream trickled down the slope and poured a tiny cascade of water over the edge of a large rock. He descended with considerable difii culty to the beach, and ploughed his way ankle-deep through the dry, silvery sind to the strangely-shaped hillock by the water. And as he went he saw that which quickened his pulse, and made him glance swiftly round the rocky sides of the gorge. Parallel with his own path were innumerable deep dents in the sand. They bore no resemblance to the impression of a foot, for they were merely little fun-nel-shaped holes. But Tredegar looked back at his own tracks, and saw that his own feet left similar marks in the shift ing yielding sand. His heart beat high with hope. "At last,” he said to himself, “I have tracked this horror to its lair, and it shall not leave the gorge alive!” But ha was doomed to disappointment. He was, however, right in supposing that the hillock of sand marked the grave of a vessel. As he drew near to it he saw beams and shattered spars sticking cat from the sides, and these were white as the sand itself, bleached by the suns of centuries. For at the first glance he could see that this was no modern ship but an old galleon. Little remained of it but the high poop and a few bare ribs of oak. The black patch he had seen Irom the top of the cliff had not been timber, but the entrance to a cabin. The doorway was gone, and only a dark cav ity remained. The floor was covered deeply with sand, and Tredegar saw that this had been shifted and trodden down by something. He paused at the entrance, with clenched fists and his legs a little apart, lo give him a firm standing. Then he picked up a stone and flung it hard into the darkness. The stone struck wood and rattled from wall to wall. But nothing stirred within, and there was no sound but the splashing of the waters on the shore. He drew nearer, and, lighting a match, peered cautiously into the interior. At first he could see nothing. After the brilliant sunshine outside the light of the match was no more than darkness. Then, as his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, he saw that the cabin was empty. He lit another match, and examined the inside. It was a room about twelve feet square, with a low ceiling. The tim bers were rudely ornamented, and a coat of arms with a Spanish motto was carved on one of the beams. Tredegar recog nised the arms of Castille in one of the

quarterings. In one corner the sand was piled nearly to the ceiling, and it bore the impress of a body. A heavy oaken door with broken hinges lay half-buried on the floor. He lit several more matches, and examined every inch of the woodwork carefully in the hope of finding some clue to the name of the vessel. But he found none. Then a sudden idea struck him. Here was the very place for him to live. A snug shelter from sun and rain; and with the door repaired and fixed, an altno-' impregnable fortress, where he < ..d sleep in security. tie came out into the air and glanced at the line of rocks with the foam swirling round their bases. He was thinking of the boat and how he could bring it up on the beach. To his joy he noticed a narrow channel on one side, close to the eliffs. It was no more than fifteen feet wide, and the water sluiced through it like a mill race. It was possible that there were sunken rocks beneath. But still it was an opening, and a pair of strong arms might guide a boat through it. He returned along the cliffs to the encampment, launched the boat, placed everything in it, and rowed round the coast till he reached the ravine. Only a man of his great strength would have attempted to guide an eighteen foot boat through that narrow swirling channel. And he failed in his task. The boat ran on a sunken rock and stuck there quivering like a butterfly impaled on a pin. He leapt over the side into the shallow rushing water, and by superhuman efforts managed to transfer everything to the shore. But his last chance of escape was gone. With no tools it would be impossible to repair the boat, even if he could save it from its present position. But in less than two hours it was broken to pieces. Then he set to work to fix up the door of the cabin, and the sun was low in the heavens before he had accomplished the job to his satisfaction. After that he commenced to clear out the sand from the interior. He had lit a lire at the entrance behind a wall of sand, and the red light glowed through the doorway on the oaken walls. It was a laborious task, but he threw the sand out in great handfuls and scooped it away until it lay about a foot deep on the floor. He left this as a couch to sleep on. Just as he had completed the job his eye was caught by s.everal marks on a beam which he had just uncovered. He could not distinguish them in the firelight, but they appeared to be letters. He had some smattering of Spanish, and, striking a match, he stooped down and examined them, moving the match along from letter to letter, till he had spelt out the whole sentence. Then he

looked behind him in terror, as though he expected to see something. For the words were in English, and had apparently not been cut more than a tew years, and they were words that struck fear into his heart and threw a terrible light on the years that lay before him. And yet they were but a short quotation from the New Testament: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” He rose to his feet and staggered out into the open. The sky was roofed with tossing flame and the land bathed in liquid gold. There was no sound but the roar of the sea on the rocks. The black cliffs towered up around him like the walls of a dungeon. It seemed for a moment as though he were chained down in the lowest depths of hell. The living death was written over the heavens and the sea and the sky and the very silence spoke of it. He fell on his knees and prayed. "Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.” (To be continued.)