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Whateley here heered the ā€˜phone a-ringinā€™, anā€™ it was Misā€™ Corey, Georgeā€™s wife, that lives daown by the junction. She says the hired boy Luther was aout drivinā€™ in the caows from the storm arter the big bolt, when he see all the trees a-bendinā€™ at the maouth oā€™ the glen - opposite side ter this - anā€™ smelt the same awful smell like he smelt when he faound the big tracks lasā€™ Monday morninā€™. Anā€™ she says he says they was a swishinā€™ lappinā€™ saound, more nor what the bendinā€™ trees anā€™ bushes could make, anā€™ all on a suddent the trees along the rud begun ter git pushed one side, anā€™ they was a awful stompinā€™ anā€™ splashinā€™ in the mud. But mind ye, Luther he didnā€™t see nothinā€™ at all, only just the bendinā€™ trees anā€™ underbrush.

ā€˜Then fur ahead where Bishopā€™s Brook goes under the rud he heerd a awful creakinā€™ anā€™ straininā€™ on the bridge, anā€™ says he could tell the saound oā€™ wood a-startinā€™ to crack anā€™ split. Anā€™ all the whiles he never see a thing, only them trees anā€™ bushes a-bendinā€™. Anā€™ when the swishinā€™ saound got very fur off - on the rud towards Wizard Whateleyā€™s anā€™ Sentinel Hill - Luther he had the guts ter step up whar heā€™d heerd it fust anā€™ look at the graound. It was all mud anā€™ water, anā€™ the sky was dark, anā€™ the rain was wipinā€™ aout all tracks abaout as fast as could be; but beginninā€™ at the glen maouth, whar the trees hed moved, they was still some oā€™ them awful prints big as barā€™ls like he seen Monday.ā€™

At this point the first excited speaker interrupted.

ā€˜But that ainā€™t the trouble naow - that was only the start. Zeb here was callinā€™ folks up anā€™ everybody was a-listeninā€™ in when a call from Seth Bishopā€™s cut in. His haousekeeper Sally was carryinā€™ on fit to kill - sheā€™d jest seed the trees a-bendinā€™ beside the rud, anā€™ says they was a kind oā€™ mushy saound, like a elephant puffinā€™ anā€™ treadinā€™, a-headinā€™ fer the haouse. Then she up anā€™ spoke suddent of a fearful smell, anā€™ says her boy Chaā€™ncey was a-screaminā€™ as haow it was jest like what he smelt up to the Whateley rewins Monday morninā€™. Anā€™ the dogs was barkinā€™ anā€™ whininā€™ awful.

ā€˜Anā€™ then she let aout a turrible yell, anā€™ says the shed daown the rud had jest caved in like the storm bed blowed it over, only the wind wā€™anā€™t strong enough to dew that. Everybody was a-listeninā€™, anā€™ we could hear lots oā€™ folks on the wire a-gaspinā€™. All to onct Sally she yelled again, anā€™ says the front yard picket fence hed just crumbled up, though they waā€™nā€™t no sign oā€™ what done it. Then everybody on the line could hear Chaā€™ncey anā€™ old Seth Bishop a-yellinā€™ tew, anā€™ Sally was shriekinā€™ aout that suthinā€™ heavy hed struck the haouse - not lightninā€™ nor nothinā€™, but suthinā€™ heavy againā€™ the front, that kepā€™ a-launchinā€™ itself agin anā€™ agin, though ye couldnā€™t see nothinā€™ aout the front winders. Anā€™ thenā€¦ anā€™ thenā€¦ā€™

Lines of fright deepened on every face; and Armitage, shaken as he was, had barely poise enough to prompt the speaker.

ā€˜Anā€™ thenā€¦. Sally she yelled aout, ā€œO help, the haouse is a-cavinā€™ inā€¦ anā€™ on the wire we could hear a turrible crashinā€™ anā€™ a hull flock oā€™ screamingā€¦ jes like when Elmer Fryeā€™s place was took, only wussā€¦ā€™

The man paused, and another of the crowd spoke.

ā€˜Thatā€™s all - not a saound nor squeak over the ā€˜phone arter that. Jest still-like. We that heerd it got aout Fords anā€™ wagons anā€™ rounded up as many able-bodied men-folks as we could git, at Coreyā€™s place, anā€™ come up here ter see what yew thought best ter dew. Not but what I think itā€™s the Lordā€™s jedgment fer our iniquities, that no mortal kin ever set aside.ā€™

Armitage saw that the time for positive action had come, and spoke decisively to the faltering group of frightened rustics.

ā€˜We must follow it, boys.ā€™ He made his voice as reassuring as possible. ā€˜I believe thereā€™s a chance of putting it out of business. You men know that those Whateleys were wizards - well, this thing is a thing of wizardry, and must be put down by the same means. Iā€™ve seen Wilbur Whateleyā€™s diary and read some of the strange old books he used to read; and I think I know the right kind of spell to recite to make the thing fade away. Of course, one canā€™t be sure, but we can always take a chance. Itā€™s invisible - I knew it would be - but thereā€™s powder in this long-distance sprayer that might make it show up for a second. Later on weā€™ll try it. Itā€™s a frightful thing to have alive, but it isnā€™t as bad as what Wilbur would have let in if heā€™d lived longer. Youā€™ll never know what the world escaped. Now weā€™ve only this one thing to fight, and it canā€™t multiply. It can, though, do a lot of harm; so we mustnā€™t hesitate to rid the community of it.

ā€˜We must follow it - and the way to begin is to go to the place that has just been wrecked. Let somebody lead the way - I donā€™t know your roads very well, but Iā€™ve an idea there might be a shorter cut across lots. How about it?ā€™

The men shuffled about a moment, and then Earl Sawyer spoke softly, pointing with a grimy finger through the steadily lessening rain.

ā€˜I guess ye kin git to Seth Bishopā€™s quickest by cuttinā€™ across the lower medder here, wadinā€™ the brook at the low place, anā€™ climbinā€™ through Carrierā€™s mowinā€™ anā€™ the timber-lot beyont. That comes aout on the upper rud mighty nigh Sethā€™s - a leetle tā€™other side.ā€™

Armitage, with Rice and Morgan, started to walk in the direction indicated; and most of the natives followed slowly. The sky was growing lighter, and there were signs that the storm had worn itself away. When Armitage inadvertently took a wrong direction, Joe Osborn warned him and walked ahead to show the right one. Courage and confidence were mounting, though the twilight of the almost perpendicular wooded hill which lay towards the end of their short cut, and among whose fantastic ancient trees they had to scramble as if up a ladder, put these qualities to a severe test.

At length they emerged on a muddy road to find the sun coming out. They were a little beyond the Seth Bishop place, but bent trees and hideously unmistakable tracks showed what had passed by. Only a few moments were consumed in surveying the ruins just round the bend. It was the Frye incident all over again, and nothing dead or living was found in either of the collapsed shells which had been the Bishop house and barn. No one cared to remain there amidst the stench and tarry stickiness, but all turned instinctively to the line of horrible prints leading on towards the wrecked Whateley farmhouse and the altar-crowned slopes of Sentinel Hill.

As the men passed the site of Wilbur Whateleyā€™s abode they shuddered visibly, and seemed again to mix hesitancy with their zeal. It was no joke tracking down something as big as a house that one could not see, but that had all the vicious malevolence of a daemon. Opposite the base of Sentinel Hill the tracks left the road, and there was a fresh bending and matting visible along the broad swath marking the monsterā€™s former route to and from the summit.

Armitage produced a pocket telescope of considerable power and scanned the steep green side of the hill. Then he handed the instrument to Morgan, whose sight was keener. After a moment of gazing Morgan cried out sharply, passing the glass to Earl Sawyer and indicating a certain spot on the slope with his finger. Sawyer, as clumsy as most non-users of optical devices are, fumbled a while; but eventually focused the lenses with Armitageā€™s aid. When he did so his cry was less restrained than Morganā€™s had been.

ā€˜Gawd almighty, the grass anā€™ bushes is aā€™movinā€™! Itā€™s a-goinā€™ up - slow-like - creepinā€™ - up ter the top this minute, heaven only knows what fur!ā€™

Then the germ of panic seemed to spread among the seekers. It was one thing to chase the nameless entity, but quite another to find it. Spells might be all right - but suppose they werenā€™t? Voices began questioning Armitage about what he knew of the thing, and no reply seemed quite to satisfy. Everyone seemed to feel himself in close proximity to phases of Nature and of being utterly forbidden and wholly outside the sane experience of mankind.

X.

In the end the three men from Arkham - old, white-bearded Dr Armitage, stocky, iron-grey Professor Rice, and lean, youngish Dr Morgan, ascended the mountain alone. After much patient instruction regarding its focusing and use, they left the telescope with the frightened group that remained in the road; and as they climbed they were watched closely by those among whom the glass was passed round. It was hard going, and Armitage had to be helped more than once. High above the toiling group the great swath trembled as its hellish maker repassed with snail-like deliberateness. Then it was obvious that the pursuers were gaining.

Curtis Whateley - of the undecayed branch - was holding the telescope when the Arkham party detoured radically from the swath. He told the crowd that the men were evidently trying to get to a subordinate peak which overlooked the swath at a point considerably ahead of where the shrubbery was now bending. This, indeed, proved to be true; and the party were seen to gain the minor elevation only a short time after the invisible blasphemy had passed it.

Then Wesley Corey, who had taken the glass, cried out that Armitage was adjusting the sprayer which Rice held, and that something must be about to happen. The crowd stirred uneasily, recalling that his sprayer was expected to give the unseen horror a moment of visibility. Two or three men shut their eyes, but Curtis Whateley snatched back the telescope and strained his vision to the utmost. He saw that Rice, from the partyā€™s point of advantage above and behind the entity, had an excellent chance of spreading the potent powder with marvellous effect.

Those without the telescope saw only an instantā€™s flash of grey cloud - a cloud about the size of a moderately large building - near the top of the mountain. Curtis, who held the instrument, dropped it with a piercing shriek into the ankle-deep mud of the road. He reeled, and would have crumbled to the ground had not two or three others seized and steadied him. All he could do was moan half-inaudibly.

ā€˜Oh, oh, great Gawdā€¦ thatā€¦ thatā€¦ā€™

There was a pandemonium of questioning, and only Henry Wheeler thought to rescue the fallen telescope and wipe it clean of mud. Curtis was past all coherence, and even isolated replies were almost too much for him.

ā€˜Biggerā€™n a barnā€¦ all made oā€™ squirminā€™ ropesā€¦ hull thing sort oā€™ shaped like a henā€™s egg biggerā€™n anything with dozens oā€™ legs like hogsheads that haff shut up when they stepā€¦ nothinā€™ solid abaout it - all like jelly, anā€™ made oā€™ sepā€™rit wrigglinā€™ ropes pushed clost togetherā€¦ great bulginā€™ eyes all over itā€¦ ten or twenty maouths or trunks a-stickinā€™ aout all along the sides, big as stove-pipes an all a-tossinā€™ an openinā€™ anā€™ shuttinā€™ā€¦ all grey, with kinder blue or purple ringsā€¦ anā€™ Gawd it Heaven - that haff face on topā€¦ā€™

This final memory, whatever it was, proved too much for poor Curtis; and he collapsed completely before he could say more. Fred Farr and Will Hutchins

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