“When we were ready we went down into the wine cellar, Captain Hisgins carrying a shotgun and Parsket a specially prepared background and a lantern.  I got the girl to stand in the middle of the cellar whilst Parsket and the Captain held out the background behind her.  Then I fired off the flashlight, and we went into the next cellar where we repeated the experiment.

“Then in the third cellar, a tremendous, pitch-dark place, something extraordinary and horrible manifested itself.  I had stationed Miss Hisgins in the center of the place, with her father and Parsket holding the background as before.  When all was ready and just as I pressed the trigger of the ‘flash,’ there came in the cellar that dreadful, gobbling neighing that I had heard out in the Park.  It seemed to come from somewhere above the girl and in the glare of the sudden light I saw that she was staring tensely upward, but at no visible thing.  And then in the succeeding comparative darkness, I was shouting to the Captain and Parsket to run Miss Hisgins out into the daylight.

“This was done instantly and I shut and locked the door afterward making the First and Eighth signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual opposite to each post and connecting them across the threshold with a triple line.

“In the meanwhile Parsket and Captain Hisgins carried the girl to her mother and left her there, in a half fainting condition whilst I stayed on guard outside of the cellar door, feeling pretty horrible for I knew that there was some disgusting thing inside, and along with this feeling there was a sense of half ashamedness, rather miserable, you know, because I had exposed Miss Hisgins to the danger.

“I had got the Captain’s shotgun and when he and Parsket came down again they were each carrying guns and lanterns.  I could not possibly tell you the utter relief of spirit and body that came to me when I heard them coming, but just try to imagine what it was like, standing outside of that cellar.  Can you?

“I remember noticing, just before I went to unlock the door, how white and ghastly Parsket looked and the old Captain was grey-looking and I wondered whether my face was like theirs.  And this, you know, had its own distinct effect upon my nerves, for it seemed to bring the beastliness of the thing crash down on to me in a fresh way.  I know it was only sheer will power that carried me up to the door and made me turn the key.

“I paused one little moment and then with a nervy jerk sent the door wide open and held my lantern over my head.  Parsket and the Captain came one on each side of me and held up their lanterns, but the place was absolutely empty.  Of course, I did not trust to a casual look of this kind, but spent several hours with the help of the two others in sounding every square foot of the floor, ceiling and walls.

“Yet, in the end I had to admit that the place itself was absolutely normal and so we came away.  But I sealed the door and outside, opposite each doorpost I made the First and Last signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual, joined them as before, with a triple line.  Can you imagine what it was like, searching that cellar?