{"id":6933,"date":"2019-08-13T19:55:34","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T00:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/?p=6933"},"modified":"2023-01-26T09:35:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T15:35:52","slug":"the-willows-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/13\/the-willows-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Willows, Part 4 of 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A horror story presented here in 4 parts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By Algernon Blackwood<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adapted to chat story format by Captivated Chat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lurking-2.mp3\" loop><\/audio><figcaption>Tap arrow above to play cinematic-style theme music.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Willows-4-recording-Trimmed-3.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Tap on arrow above to hear story read aloud.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> But you really think a sacrifice would solve our problem? Thanks for another of  your scary ghost stories\u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> If we can hold out through the night, we may get off in the daylight unnoticed, or rather, undiscovered.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Wait! The gong-like humming just came down very close over our heads as you spoke. Hush! They&#8217;re nearby!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Do not mention them or refer to them by name. The name is the inevitable clue, so our only hope lies in ignoring them, in order that they may ignore us.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Even in thought?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Especially in thought. Our thoughts make something like spirals in their world. We must keep them out of our minds. Here, rake the fire.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Certainly. I have never longed for the sun as I long for it now in the awful blackness of this summer night.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Were you awake all last night?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I slept badly a little after dawn, but the wind, of course\u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I know. However the wind won&#8217;t account for all the noises.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Then you heard it too?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The multiplying countless little footsteps I heard, and that other sound\u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> You mean above the tent, and the pressing down upon us of something tremendous, gigantic?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It was like the beginning of a sort of inner suffocation?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Partly, yes. It seemed to me that the weight of the atmosphere had been altered\u2014had increased enormously, so that we should have been crushed.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> And that gong overhead. What do you make of that?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It&#8217;s their sound. It&#8217;s the sound of their world, the humming in their region. The division between us here is so thin that it leaks through somehow. But, if you listen carefully, you&#8217;ll find it&#8217;s not above so much as around us. It&#8217;s in the willows. It&#8217;s the willows themselves humming.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I could not follow exactly what you meant by that, yet the thought and idea in my mind are beyond question the thought and idea in yours.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I realized what he realized, only with less power of analysis than his. Then he suddenly thrust his face again close into mine across the firelight and began to speak in a very earnest whisper. He amazed me by his calmness and pluck, his apparent control of the situation. This man I had for years deemed unimaginative, stolid!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Now listen, we&#8217;ll go on as though nothing had happened, follow our habits; pretend we feel nothing and notice nothing. It is a question wholly of the mind, and the less we think about them the better our chance of escape. Above all, don&#8217;t think, for what you think happens!&#8221;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me <\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> All right, all right, I&#8217;ll try, but tell me one more thing first. What do you make of those hollows in the ground, the sand-funnels?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> No! I dare not, just dare not put the thought into words. If you have not guessed, I am glad. Don&#8217;t try to. They have put it into my mind; try to prevent their putting it into yours.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I will not press you to explain. There is already just about as much horror in me as I can hold. Please be qui-I \u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I stopped in the middle, seized anew by the old horror. I tried to smother the sound of my voice as something sacrilegious. The Swede, of course, heard it too\u2014the strange cry overhead in the darkness\u2014and that sudden drop in the air as though something had come nearer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>He had turned ashen white under the tan. He stood bolt upright in front of the fire, stiff as a rod, staring at me. The terror had caught him at last.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> After that close call, we must go! We can&#8217;t stay now; we must strike camp this very instant and go on\u2014down the river.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> In the dark? That&#8217;s madness! The river&#8217;s in flood, and we&#8217;ve only got one paddle. Besides, we only go deeper into their country! There&#8217;s nothing ahead for fifty miles but willows, willows, willows!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What on earth possessed you to do such a thing?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It is all right, my friend. You will soon be eating roast beef in London with me and we will laugh at this all.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I was as frightened as any man ever before. But when you looked in my eyes and mentioned roast beef, I forgot all of it.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I as well. We&#8217;ll make one more blaze, and then turn in for the night. At sunrise we&#8217;ll be off at full speed for Komorn. Now, pull yourself together a bit, and remember your own advice about not thinking fear!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The commonplace feeling introduced by your food mention broke the spell. I shall say no more.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> In some measure it will be a relief for us both to get up and make an excursion into the darkness for more wood. We&#8217;ll keep close together, and look among the bushes and along the bank.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The humming overhead never ceased, but seemed to me to grow louder as we increased our distance from the fire. It was shivery work!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Look! By my soul! There, in front of the dim glow, something is moving.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\">&nbsp; I see it through this veil that hangs before our eyes like the gauze drop-curtain used at the back of a theater\u2014hazily. It is neither a human figure nor an animal.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It&#8217;s shaped and sized like a clump of willow bushes, rounded at the top, and moving all over upon its surface\u2014coiling upon itself like smoke.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> It is settling down through the willows.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Look, by God! It&#8217;s coming this way! Oh, o no! Ehh! They&#8217;ve found us.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I gave one terrified glance, which just enabled me to see that the shadowy form was swinging towards us through the bushes, and then I collapsed backwards with a crash into the branches.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was the pain, he declared afterwards, that saved me; it caused me to forget them and think of something else at the very instant when they were about to find me. It concealed my mind from them at the moment of discovery, yet just in time to evade their terrible seizing of me. He himself, he says, actually passed out at the next moment, and that was what saved him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I lost consciousness for a moment or two. That&#8217;s what saved me. It made me stop thinking about them.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> You nearly broke my arm in two.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> That&#8217;s what saved you! Between us, we&#8217;ve managed to set them off on a false tack somewhere. The humming has ceased. It&#8217;s gone\u2014for the moment!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> A wave of hysterical laughter is about to seize me again.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Neither of us said a word. We both knew that sleep was the safest thing we could do, and to bed we went without delay, having first thrown sand on the fire and brought the provision sack and paddle inside the tent with us. The canoe, too, we propped at the end of the tent so that our feet touched it, and the least motion would disturb and wake us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In case of emergency, too, we again went to bed in our clothes, ready for a sudden start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was my firm intention to lie awake all night and watch, but the exhaustion of nerves and body decreed otherwise, and sleep after a while came over me with a welcome blanket of oblivion. The fact that my companion also slept quickened its approach. At first he fidgeted and constantly sat up, asking me if I &#8220;heard this&#8221; or &#8220;heard that.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A difficulty in breathing woke me, and I found the blanket over my face. But something else besides the blanket was pressing upon me, and my first thought was that my companion had rolled off his mattress on to my own in his sleep. I called to him and sat up, and at the same moment it came to me that the tent was surrounded. That sound of multitudinous soft pattering was again audible outside, filling the night with horror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I called again to him, louder than before. He did not answer, but I missed the sound of his snoring, and also noticed that the flap of the tent was down. This was the unpardonable sin. I crawled out in the darkness to hook it back securely, and it was then for the first time I realized positively that the Swede was not there. He had gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I dashed out in a mad run, seized by a dreadful agitation, and the moment I was out I plunged into a sort of torrent of humming that surrounded me completely and came out of every quarter of the heavens at once. It was that same familiar humming\u2014gone mad! A swarm of great invisible bees might have been about me in the air. The sound seemed to thicken the very atmosphere, and breathing was difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But my friend was in danger, and I could not hesitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dawn was just about to break, and a faint whitish light spread upwards over the clouds from a thin strip of clear horizon. No wind stirred. I could just make out the bushes and river beyond, and the pale sandy patches. In my excitement I ran frantically to and fro about the island, calling him by name, shouting at the top of my voice the first words that came into my head. But the willows smothered my voice, and the humming muffled it, so that the sound only traveled a few feet round me. I plunged among the bushes, tripping headlong, tumbling over roots, and scraping my face as I tore this way and that among the preventing branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, quite unexpectedly, I came out upon the island&#8217;s point and saw a dark figure outlined between the water and the sky. It was the Swede. And already he had one foot in the river! A moment more and he would have taken the plunge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I threw myself on him, flinging my arms about his waist and dragging him shorewards with all my strength. Of course he struggled furiously, making a noise all the time just like that cursed humming, and using the most outlandish phrases in his anger about &#8220;going inside to Them,&#8221; and &#8220;taking the way of the water and the wind,&#8221; and God only knows what more besides, that I tried in vain to recall afterwards, but which turned me sick with horror and amazement as I listened. But in the end I managed to get him into the comparative safety of the tent, and flung him down breathless and cursing, where I held him with one foot until his fit had passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the suddenness with which it all went and he grew calm, coinciding as it did with the equally abrupt cessation of the humming and pattering outside\u2014I think this was almost the strangest part of the whole business. For he had just opened his eyes and turned his tired face up to me so that the dawn threw a pale light upon it through the doorway, and said, for all the world just like a frightened child:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> My life, old man\u2014it&#8217;s my life I owe you. But it&#8217;s all over now anyhow. They&#8217;ve found a victim in our place!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I feel it, too.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\">&nbsp; River&#8217;s falling at last; that&#8217;s one good thing.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> The humming has stopped too.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\">&nbsp; Everything has stopped, because\u2014\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Because they&#8217;ve found another victim&#8217;?&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede!<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Exactly. I feel as positive of it as though\u2014as though\u2014I feel quite safe again, I mean.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> How do you know?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Come, I think if we look, we shall find it.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Wait half a&nbsp; mo-, I&#8217;m coming.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> We will need a stick of wood from here!&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> What for?\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> To poke among the sandy bays and caves and little back-waters.&nbsp; Here now,  to the river banks.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I am right behind you, Swede!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Ah! Look!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He was pointing with his stick at a large black object that lay half in the water and on the sand. It appeared to be caught by some twisted willow roots so that the river could not sweep it away. A few hours before the spot must have been under water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> See, the victim that made our escape possible! If I can turn it over, umph! There! It is the body of a peasant, and the face was hidden in the sand.&nbsp;\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Clearly the man has been drowned, but a few hours ago, and his body must have been swept down upon our island somewhere about the hour of dawn\u2014at the very time the fit passed.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> We must give it a decent burial, you know.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I suppose so. Poor fellow, poor, poor old man.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Come along.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Halfway down the bank my companion suddenly stopped and held up his hand in warning; but either my foot slipped, or I had gained too much momentum to halt, for I bumped into him and sent him forward with a sort of leap to save himself. We tumbled together on to the hard sand so that our feet splashed into the water. And, before anything could be done, we had collided a little heavily against the corpse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Oomph, ouch!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Oww! What in the &#8211;! It&#8217;s them! They are humming inside the corpse, like hornets in the nest!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\">  We  must get away. But the filthy things are leaving him, ascending into the air. It seems we disturbed the rotten creatures at work.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But before either of us had time properly to recover from the unexpected shock, we saw that the current was turning the corpse round so that it became released from the grip of the willow roots.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"CV-messages-container CV-mainContainer-android\" style=\" background: none; background-color: #cc0000;\"><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> We must save the man. He must have a proper burial! Oh dear God!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-outgoingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Me<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-outgoing CV-outgoingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> I saw it!  The skin and flesh of the face and chest are indented with small hollows, perfectly formed, quite similar to those beings&#8217; damned sand funnels.\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"msg-container CV-messageContainer-android\" style=\"\"><div class=\"CV-incomingMessagePhoto CV-incomingMessagePhoto-android\" style=\" background-image: url(https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-photo-2128815-3523249170-1566488374878.jpeg); \"><\/div><div class=\"CV-message-author CV-incomingAuthor-android\" style=\"\">Swede<\/div><div class=\"CV-message CV-incomingMessage-android \" style=\"\"> Their mark! Their awful mark!\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And when I turned my eyes again from the dead man&#8217;s ghastly face to the river, the current had done its work, and the body had been swept away into mid-stream and was already beyond our reach and almost out of sight, turning over and over on the waves like an otter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A horror story presented here in 4 parts By Algernon Blackwood Adapted to chat story format by Captivated Chat I realized what he realized, only with less power of analysis than his. Then he suddenly thrust his face again close into mine across the firelight and began to speak in a very earnest whisper. He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[253,248,63,245,1095,372,319,228,254,1092,1097,145,257,1094,650,697,276,1096,241,1093],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6933"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11590,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6933\/revisions\/11590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6933"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captivatedchat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}