So sudden and so fierce was the attack that save
for the thud of his body no sound was heard. A flood of light
burst outward into the passage, and the Englishmen stood with
blinking eyes in its glare.
In front of them lay a stone-flagged corridor, across which lay
the dead body of the janitor. It had doors on either side of it,
and another grated door at the farther end. A strange hubbub, a
kind of low droning and whining filled the air. The four men were
standing listening, full of wonder as to what this might mean,
when a sharp cry came from behind them. The priest lay in a
shapeless heap upon the ground, and the blood was rushing from his
gaping throat. Down the passage, a black shadow in the yellow
light, there fled a crouching man, who clattered with a stick as
he went.
"It is Andreas," cried West-country Will. "He has slain him."
"Then it was he that I heard behind us," said Nigel. "Doubtless
he was at our very heels in the darkness. I fear that the
priest's cry has been heard."
"Nay," said Simon, "there are so many cries that one more may well
pass. Let us take this lamp from the wall and see what sort of
devil's den we have around us."
They opened the door upon the right, and so horrible a smell
issued from it that they were driven back from it. The lamp which
Simon held forward showed a monkeylike creature mowing and
grimacing in the corner, man or woman none could tell, but driven
crazy by loneliness and horror.
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