As we returned, I called in at an
ironmonger's, where I bought some thin hemp rope and an iron rack pulley,
like those used in Lancashire for hauling up the ceiling clothes racks,
which you will find in every cottage. I bought also a couple of
pitchforks. "'We shan't want to touch it," I said to the landlord; and he nodded,
rather white all at once. "As soon as the cage arrived and had been fitted together in the cellar,
I sent away the smith; and the landlord and I suspended it over the well,
into which it fitted easily. After a lot of trouble, we managed to hang
it so perfectly central from the rope over the iron pulley, that when
hoisted to the ceiling and dropped, it went every time plunk into the
well, like a candle-extinguisher. When we had it finally arranged, I
hoisted it up once more, to the ready position, and made the rope fast to
a heavy wooden pillar, which stood in the middle of the cellar. "By ten o'clock, I had everything arranged, with the two pitchforks and
the two police lanterns; also some whisky and sandwiches. Underneath the
table I had several buckets full of disinfectant. "A little after eleven o'clock, there was a knock at the front door, and
when I went, I found Inspector Johnstone had arrived, and brought with
him one of his plainclothes men. You will understand how pleased I was
to see there would be this addition to our watch; for he looked a tough,
nerveless man, brainy and collected; and one I should have picked to
help us with the horrible job I felt pretty sure we should have to do
that night. "When the inspector and the detective had entered, I shut and locked the
front door; then, while the inspector held the light, I sealed the door
carefully, with tape and wax. At the head of the cellar stairs, I shut
and locked that door also, and sealed it in the same way. "As we entered the cellar, I warned Johnstone and his man to be careful
not to fall over the wires; and then, as I saw his surprise at my
arrangements, I began to explain my ideas and intentions, to all of which
he listened with strong approval. I was pleased to see also that the
detective was nodding his head, as I talked, in a way that showed he
appreciated all my precautions. "As he put his lantern down, the inspector picked up one of the
pitchforks, and balanced it in his hand; he looked at me, and nodded. "'The best thing,' he said. 'I only wish you'd got two more.' "Then we all took our seats, the detective getting a washing stool from
the corner of the cellar. From then, until a quarter to twelve, we talked
quietly, whilst we made a light supper of whisky and sandwiches; after
which, we cleared everything off the table, excepting the lanterns and
the pitchforks. One of the latter, I handed to the inspector; the other I
took myself, and then, having set my chair so as to be handy to the rope
which lowered the cage into the well, I went 'round the cellar and put
out every lamp. "I groped my way to my chair, and arranged the pitchfork and the dark
lantern ready to my hand; after which I suggested that everyone should
keep an absolute silence throughout the watch. I asked, also, that no
lantern should be turned on, until I gave the word. "I put my watch on the table, where a faint glow from my lantern made me
able to see the time. For an hour nothing happened, and everyone kept an
absolute silence, except for an occasional uneasy movement. "About half-past one, however, I was conscious again of the same
extraordinary and peculiar nervousness, which I had felt on the previous
night. I put my hand out quickly, and eased the hitched rope from around
the pillar. The inspector seemed aware of the movement; for I saw the
faint light from his lantern, move a little, as if he had suddenly taken
hold of it, in readiness. "A minute later, I noticed there was a change in the color of the night
in the cellar, and it grew slowly violet tinted upon my eyes. I glanced
to and fro, quickly, in the new darkness, and even as I looked, I was
conscious that the violet color deepened. In the direction of the well,
but seeming to be at a great distance, there was, as it were, a nucleus
to the change; and the nucleus came swiftly toward us, appearing to come
from a great space, almost in a single moment. It came near, and I saw
again that it was a little naked Child, running, and seeming to be of the
violet night in which it ran. "The Child came with a natural running movement, exactly as I described
it before; but in a silence so peculiarly intense, that it was as if it
brought the silence with it. About half-way between the well and the
table, the Child turned swiftly, and looked back at something invisible
to me; and suddenly it went down into a crouching attitude, and seemed
to be hiding behind something that showed vaguely; but there was
nothing there, except the bare floor of the cellar; nothing, I mean, of
our world. "I could hear the breathing of the three other men, with a wonderful
distinctness; and also the tick of my watch upon the table seemed to
sound as loud and as slow as the tick of an old grandfather's clock. Someway I knew that none of the others saw what I was seeing. "Abruptly, the landlord, who was next to me, let out his breath with a
little hissing sound; I knew then that something was visible to him. There came a creak from the table, and I had a feeling that the inspector
was leaning forward, looking at something that I could not see. The
landlord reached out his hand through the darkness, and fumbled a moment
to catch my arm:--

"'The Woman!' he whispered, close to my ear. 'Over by the well.' "I stared hard in that direction; but saw nothing, except that the violet
color of the cellar seemed a little duller just there. "I looked back quickly to the vague place where the Child was hiding. I
saw it was peering back from its hiding place. Suddenly it rose and ran
straight for the middle of the table, which showed only as vague shadow
half-way between my eyes and the unseen floor. As the Child ran under the
table, the steel prongs of my pitchfork glimmered with a violet,
fluctuating light. A little way off, there showed high up in the gloom,
the vaguely shining outline of the other fork, so I knew the inspector
had it raised in his hand, ready. There was no doubt but that he saw
something. On the table, the metal of the five lanterns shone with the
same strange glow; and about each lantern there was a little cloud of
absolute blackness, where the phenomenon that is light to our natural
eyes, came through the fittings; and in this complete darkness, the metal
of each lantern showed plain, as might a cat's-eye in a nest of black
cotton wool.