A luminous hand--a hand in the veins of which fire seemed to run so
that the texture of the skin and the shape of the bones within were
perceptible--in short a hand of glowing, fiery flesh, clutching a
short knife or dagger which also glowed with the same hellish,
infernal luminance, was advancing upon us where we stood--was not
three paces removed!
What I did or how I came to do it, I can never recall. In all my years
I have experienced nothing to equal the stark panic which seized upon
me then. I know that I uttered a loud and frenzied cry: I know that I
tore myself like a madman from Smith's restraining grip....
"Don't touch it! Keep away, for your life!" I heard....
But, dimly I recollect that, finding the thing approaching yet
nearer, I lashed out with my fists--madly, blindly--and struck
something palpable....
What was the result, I cannot say. At that point my recollections
merge into confusion. Something or some one (Smith, as I afterwards
discovered) was hauling me by main force through the darkness; I fell
a considerable distance on to gravel which lacerated my hands and
gashed my knees. Then, with the cool night air fanning my brow, I was
running--running--my breath coming in hysterical sobs. Beside me fled
another figure.... And my definite recollections commence again at
that point. For this companion of my flight from The Gables threw
himself roughly against me to alter my course.
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