*       *       *       *       *

The outer doorway held momentarily against our frantic assault, then
gave way and we hurtled into the outer starlight. Behind us the flames
leaped up with a crackling roar as we fled down the hill. Conrad,
glancing over his shoulder, halted suddenly, wheeled and flung up his
arms like a madman, and screamed, "Soul and body he sold to Malik Tous,
who is Satan, two hundred and fifty years ago! This was the night of
payment--and my God--look! _Look!_ The Fiend has claimed his own!" I looked, frozen with horror. Flames had enveloped the whole house
with appalling swiftness, and now the great mass was etched against
the shadowed sky, a crimson inferno. And above the holocaust hovered a
gigantic black shadow like a monstrous bat, and from its dark clutch
dangled a small white thing, like the body of a man, dangling limply. Then, even as we cried out in horror, it was gone and our dazed gaze
met only the shuddering walls and blazing roof which crumpled into the