“I stared in a bewildered way ’round the cellar; there were thin lines of vague fire crossing the floor in all directions; and suddenly I remembered the piano wire that the landlord and I had stretched.  But there was nothing else to be seen, except that near the table there were indistinct glimmerings of light, and at the far end the outline of a dull glowing revolver, evidently in the detective’s pocket.  I remember a sort of subconscious satisfaction, as I settled the point in a queer automatic fashion.  On the table, near to me, there was a little shapeless collection of the light; and this I knew, after an instant’s consideration, to be the steel portions of my watch.

“I had looked several times at the Child, and ’round at the cellar, whilst I was decided these trifles; and had found it still in that attitude of hiding from something.  But now, suddenly, it ran clear away into the distance, and was nothing more than a slightly deeper colored nucleus far away in the strange colored atmosphere.

“The landlord gave out a queer little cry, and twisted over against me, as if to avoid something.  From the inspector there came a sharp breathing sound, as if he had been suddenly drenched with cold water.  Then suddenly the violet color went out of the night, and I was conscious of the nearness of something monstrous and repugnant.

“There was a tense silence, and the blackness of the cellar seemed absolute, with only the faint glow about each of the lanterns on the table.  Then, in the darkness and the silence, there came a faint tinkle of water from the well, as if something were rising noiselessly out of it, and the water running back with a gentle tinkling.  In the same instant, there came to me a sudden waft of the awful smell.

“I gave a sharp cry of warning to the inspector, and loosed the rope.  There came instantly the sharp splash of the cage entering the water; and then, with a stiff, frightened movement, I opened the shutter of my lantern, and shone the light at the cage, shouting to the others to do the same.

“As my light struck the cage, I saw that about two feet of it projected from the top of the well, and there was something protruding up out of the water, into the cage.  I stared, with a feeling that I recognized the thing; and then, as the other lanterns were opened, I saw that it was a leg of mutton.  The thing was held by a brawny fist and arm, that rose out of the water.  I stood utterly bewildered, watching to see what was coming.  In a moment there rose into view a great bearded face, that I felt for one quick instant was the face of a drowned man, long dead.  Then the face opened at the mouth part, and spluttered and coughed.  Another big hand came into view, and wiped the water from the eyes, which blinked rapidly, and then fixed themselves into a stare at the lights.

“From the detective there came a sudden shout:—­

“‘Captain Tobias!’ he shouted, and the inspector echoed him; and instantly burst into loud roars of laughter.