“As you chaps know, I never neglect that sort of thing.  Sometimes it may be nothing but nerves; but as you will remember, it was just such a warning that saved me in the ‘Grey Dog’ Case, and in the ‘Yellow Finger’ Experiments; as well as other times.  Well, I turned sharp ’round to the others:  ‘Out!’ I said.  ‘For God’s sake, out quick.’  And in an instant I had them into the passage.

“There came an extraordinary yelling scream into the hideous whistling, and then, like a clap of thunder, an utter silence.  I slammed the door, and locked it.  Then, taking the key, I looked ’round at the others.  They were pretty white, and I imagine I must have looked that way too.  And there we stood a moment, silent.

“‘Come down out of this, and have some whisky,’ said Tassoc, at last, in a voice he tried to make ordinary; and he led the way.  I was the back man, and I know we all kept looking over our shoulders.  When we got downstairs, Tassoc passed the bottle ’round.  He took a drink, himself, and slapped his glass down on to the table.  Then sat down with a thud.

“‘That’s a lovely thing to have in the house with you, isn’t it!’ he said.  And directly afterward:—­’What on earth made you hustle us all out like that, Carnacki?’

“‘Something seemed to be telling me to get out, quick,’ I said.  ’Sounds a bit silly, superstitious, I know; but when you are meddling with this sort of thing, you’ve got to take notice of queer fancies, and risk being laughed at.’

“I told him then about the ‘Grey Dog’ business, and he nodded a lot to that.  ‘Of course,’ I said, ’this may be nothing more than those would-be rivals of yours playing some funny game; but, personally, though I’m going to keep an open mind, I feel that there is something beastly and dangerous about this thing.’

“We talked for a while longer, and then Tassoc suggested billiards, which we played in a pretty half-hearted fashion, and all the time cocking an ear to the door, as you might say, for sounds; but none came, and later, after coffee, he suggested early bed, and a thorough overhaul of the room on the morrow.

“My bedroom was in the newer part of the castle, and the door opened into the picture gallery.  At the East end of the gallery was the entrance to the corridor of the East Wing; this was shut off from the gallery by two old and heavy oak doors, which looked rather odd and quaint beside the more modern doors of the various rooms.

“When I reached my room, I did not go to bed; but began to unpack my instrument trunk, of which I had retained the key.  I intended to take one or two preliminary steps at once, in my investigation of the extraordinary whistling.

“Presently, when the castle had settled into quietness, I slipped out of my room, and across to the entrance of the great corridor.  I opened one of the low, squat doors, and threw the beam of my pocket searchlight down the passage.  It was empty, and I went through the doorway, and pushed-to the oak behind me.  Then along the great passageway, throwing my light before and behind, and keeping my revolver handy.