"And then--well, what followed is not very clear in my mind. I know that a madness seemed to come over me. But I did not flee from that place of mystery and death; the madness, if madness it was, was not like that. It was not of myself that I was thinking; it was not of escape. It was as though a bloody mist had fallen upon the place. Vengeance was what I wanted--vengeance and blood, vengeance and slaughter. I reloaded my revolver, picked up Long's and thrust it into my pocket, then caught up White's weapon with my left hand and started for the rocks, shouting defiance and curses as I went. "I reached that pile of stone, found the tracks of the angel and the man and of that winged beast; but, at the edge of the rocks, the tracks vanished, and I could not follow farther. But I did not stop there. I went on, clear around that pile, and again and yet again. I climbed it, clear to the summit, searched everywhere; but I could not find a single trace of them I sought. Once, indeed, I thought that I heard a voice, the voice of the angel--thought that I heard that cursed word _Drome_. "But I can not write any more now. Why, oh, why didn't we listen to Sklokoyum and keep away from this hellish mountain? That, of course, would have been foolish; but it would not have been this thing which will haunt me to my dying hour." Chapter 7 "AND NOW TELL ME!" Scranton closed the journal, leaned back in his chair and looked questioningly at Milton Rhodes. "There you are!" he said. "I told you that I was bringing you a mystery, and I trust that I have, at least in a great measure, met your expectations." There was silence for a moment. "Hellish mountain!" said Rhodes. "Hellish mountain! Noble old Rainier a hellish mountain! "Pardon my soliloquy," he added suddenly, "And I want to thank you, Mr. Scranton, for bringing me a problem that, unless I am greatly in error, promises to be one of extraordinary scientific interest." Extraordinary scientific interest! What on earth did he mean by that? "Still," he subjoined, "I must confess that there are some things about it that are very perplexing, and more than perplexing." "I think I know what you mean. And that explains why the story has been kept a secret all these years." "Your grandfather, Mr. Scranton, seems to have been a well-educated man." "Yes; he was." Milton Rhodes' pause was a significant one, but Scranton did not enlighten him further. "On his return from Old He, did he tell just what had happened up there?"