The House on the Borderland

lly inhospitable country; where, here and there at great intervals, one may come upon the ruins of some long desolate cottage - unthatched and stark. The whole land is bar

ed on the place, by mere chance, the year previously, during the course of a long walking tour, and discovered t

ream. They seem to have entirely escaped observation: indeed, they might never exist for all that the average guide tells one.

an the previous night, sleeping there in rooms hired at the village post-office, and leaving i

omewhat bad tempered. However, the tent had to be erected, and our goods stowed away, before we could think of food or rest. And so we set to work

o come across to us at the end of a fortnight. We had brought sufficient provisions to last us for that space of time, and water we cou

a numerous family of healthy Irish in one corner, and the pig-sty in the other, while over-head a ragged colony of roosting fowls distributed th

kettle and walked down to the river for water. On the way, I had to pass close to a little group of the vi

d said something rapidly in a language that I did not understand; and, at once, the whole crowd of them fell to jabbering in what, after a few moments, I guessed to be pure Irish. At the same time they cast many glances in my direction. For a minute, perhaps, they spoke among themselves thus; then the man I had addressed, faced round at me, and said something. By the expression of his face I guess

f English; and when I told Tonnison, he remarked that he was aware of the fact, and, more, that it was not at all uncommon in that par

" I remarked, as we sat down to our meal. "It seems so strange fo

ssent, and thereafter

o talk, laying our plans for the morrow; then, after a smo

llows outside taking anything?" I asked,

on to explain, we could lock up everything, except the tent, in the big chest that w

we roused out our fishing tackle, and overhauled it, by which time, our breakfasts having settled somewhat, w

lage, we made a good feed off our day's spoil, after which, having selected a few of the finer fish for our breakfast, we presented the remainder to the group of villagers wh

our prey. We were pleased to find how friendly the villagers were inclined to be, and that th

however, we laid aside our rods, and, taking some provisions, set off for a long ramble in the opposite direction. The day was warm, and we trudged along leisurely enough,

this and that matter, and on several occasions stopping while my companion - who i

e river we had followed so confidently, came

, "who ever would h

on. He was looking, with a blank expression upon h

ment he

y reappear again - anyhow,

ll certain in which direction to prosecute our search. For perhaps a mile we moved onw

ething, over there to the right - away in a line with t

seemed to see something, but co

ction he had suggested, I following. Presently, we came among bushes, and, after a time, out upon the

he was silent, his eyes fixed; and I looked also; for up from somewhere about the centre of the wooded lowland there

tiful!" I

be a waterfall, or something, over there. Perhaps it

ot dark enough to hide from me the fact that many of the trees were fruit-trees, and that, here and there, one could trace indistinctly, signs of a long departed cultivation. Thus it cam

of the old garden grew upon me, and I felt shivery. One could imagine things lurking among the tangled bushes; while, in the

t of droning roar, seeming to come from far away. I experienced a queer, indescribable, little feeling of nervousness. What sort of place was it into which we had got? I looked at my companion, to

"I know the sound now." And he began to push vigorou

towards it. Steadily, the roaring grew louder and nearer, until it appeared, as I remarked to To

great open space, where, not six paces in front of us, yawned the mouth of a tremendous chasm, from the depths of which, th

tiously to the edge of the abyss. I followed, and, together, we looked down through a boil of spray at a mons

d!" said

s so unexpectedly grand and eerie; though t

e a fragment of a great ruin, and I touched Tonnison on the shoulder. He glanced round, with a start, and I pointed towards the thing

this new thing, I saw that I had not been mistaken in my first impression. It was undoubtedly a portion of some ruined building; yet now I made out that it was not built upon the edge of the chasm itself, as I

n intolerable sense of terror, as I looked down from that dizzy perch into the unknown depths below us -

o me, as I proceeded now to examine it minutely, to be a portion of the outer wall of some prodigious structure, it was so thick and substantially bu

ced to examine the surface of the ground, near the edge of the abyss, to see whether there were not left other remnants of the building to which the fragment of ruin evidently belonged. But

ut delay, I hurried along the rocky promontory to the ruin. I wondered whether he

rize to me, telling me to put it into my satchel so as to protect it from the damp, while he continued his explorations. This I did, first, however, running the pages through my fingers, and noting that they were closely filled with neat, old-fashioned writing which was quite legible, save in one portion, where many of the pages were almost destroye

an hour's hard work, turning over the whole of the upheaped stones and rubbish, we came upon nothing more than some fragments of broken wood,

hich we were able to observe was in the form of an almost perfect circle, sa

thing so much as a gigantic well or pit go

d then, noticing that there was a clear space away to th

ards, we came upon a great lake of silent water - silent, that is, s

out having to shout at the tops of our voices, and I asked Tonnison what he thought of the place - I

I asked him if he had seen or heard anything. He made no answe

ly, he

ined silence; yet I could hear nothing, and I turned to Tonnison to say as much; and then, even as I opened my lips to speak, there came a strange w

egan to move slowly towards where the surrounding trees and bushes seemed thinnest. As I followed him,

, except the occasional snapping of a twig under our feet, as we moved forward. Yet, in spite of the quietness, I had a horrible feeling that we were not alone; and I kept so close to Tonnison that twice I kicked his heels clumsily, thoug

a distant sound of walling, and I said to myself th

Tonnison be

that the world holds. There is something unholy - diabolical about it. It came to me all in a m

towards the place; but it was hid

said, and I put my h

he questioned, with a

" I r

get back to the tent. We had better hurry, too; we're a long way of

d, without delay, we set to work to prepare a meal;

out of my satchel. This I did, and then, as we could not both read from it at the same time, he suggested that I s

once at least. And there seated in the opening of our little tent, I began the strange tale of "Th