Normally, I was sceptical enough, but on this night of the full moon
as I stood there at the window, the horrors which Colonel Menendez
had related to us grew very real in my eyes, and I thought that the
mysteries of Voodoo might conceal strange and ghastly truths, “The
scientific employment of darkness against light.” Colin Camber’s words
leapt unbidden to my mind; and, such is the magic of moonlight, they
became invested with a new and a deeper significance. Strange, that
theories which one rejects whilst the sun is shining should assume a
spectral shape in the light of the moon.
Such were my musings, when suddenly I heard a faint sound as of
footsteps crunching upon gravel. I leaned farther out of the window,
listening intently. I could not believe that Harley would be guilty of
such an indiscretion as this, yet who else could be walking upon the
path below?
As I watched, craning from the window, a tall figure appeared, and,
slowly crossing the gravel path, descended the moss-grown steps to the
Tudor garden.
It was Colonel Menendez!
He was bare-headed, but fully dressed as I had seen him in the
smoking-room; and not yet grasping the portent of his appearance at that
hour, but merely wondering why he had not yet retired, I continued to
watch him. As I did so, something in his gait, something unnatural in
his movements, caught hold of my mind with a sudden great conviction. He
had reached the path which led to the sun-dial, and with short, queer,
ataxic steps was proceeding in its direction, a striking figure in the
brilliant moonlight which touched his gray hair with a silvery sheen.
His unnatural, automatic movements told their own story. He was walking
in his sleep! Could it be in obedience to the call of M’kombo?
My throat grew dry and I knew not how to act. Unwillingly it seemed,
with ever-halting steps, the figure moved onward. I could see that his
fists were tightly clenched and that he held his head rigidly upright.
All horrors, real and imaginary, which I had ever experienced,
culminated in the moment when I saw this man of inflexible character,
I could have sworn of indomitable will, moving like a puppet under the
influence of some unnameable force.
He was almost come to the sun-dial when I determined to cry out. Then,
remembering the shock experienced by a suddenly awakened somnambulist,
and remembering that the Chinese ladder hung from the window at my feet,
I changed my mind. Checking the cry upon my lips, I got astride of the
window ledge, and began to grope for the bamboo rungs beneath me. I had
found the first of these, and, turning, had begun to descend, when:
“Knox! Knox!” came softly from the opening in the box hedge, “what the
devil are you about?”
It was Paul Harley returned from his tour of the building.
“Harley!” I whispered, descending, “quick! the Colonel has just gone
into the Tudor garden!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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