Will had always spoken of the statue as god. Now, however, as my eyes ran over the various details, a doubt formed itself in my mind, and I suggested to Will that he was possibly mistaken as to the intended sex of the image.
For a moment he looked interested; then remarked gloomily that he didn't see it mattered much whether the thing was a man-god or a woman-god. The point was, had it the power to come off its pedestal or not?
I looked at him reproachfully.
"Surely you are not really going to believe that silly superstition?" I expostulated.
He shook his head moodily. "No, but can you or anyone else explain away last night's occurrences in any ordinary manner?"
To this there was no satisfactory reply, sol held my tongue.
"Pity," remarked Will presently, "that we know so little about this god. And the one man who might have enlightened us dead and gone-goodness knows where?"
"Who's that?" I queried.
"Oh, of course. I was forgetting, you don't know! Well, it's this way: for some years an old Indian colonel called Wingman lived here. He was a queer old stick and absolutely refused to have anything to do with anybody. In fact, with the exception of an old Hindoo serving-man, he saw no one. About nine months ago he and his servant were found brutally murd0ered-strangled, so the doctors said. And now comes the most surprising part of it all. In his will he had left the whole of his huge estate to the citizens of T-worth to be used as a park."
"Strangled, I think you said?" and I looked at Will questioningly.
He glanced at me a moment absently, then the light of comprehension flashed across his face. He looked startled. "Jove! you don't mean that?"
"I do though, old chap. The murder of these others has in every case been accomplished by strangling-their bodies, so you've told me, have shown that much. Then there are other things that point to my theory being the right one.
"What! you really think that the Colonel met his death at the same hands as-?" he did not finish. I nodded assent.
"Well, if you are correct, what about the length of time between then and Sally Morgan's murder-seven months isn't it? -and not a soul hurt all that time, and now-" He threw up his arms with an expressive gesture.
"Heaven knows!" I replied, "I don't."
For some length of time we discussed the matter in all its bearings, but without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion.
On our way back to the town Will showed me a tiny piece of white marble which he had surreptitiously chipped from the statue. I examined it closely. Yes, it was marble, and somehow the certainty of that seemed to give us more confidence.
"Marble is marble," Will said, "and it's ridiculous to suppose anything else." I did not attempt to deny this.
During the next few days, we paid visits to the park, but without result. The statue remained as we had left it. A week passed. Then, one morning early, before the dawn, we were roused by a frightful scream, followed by a cry of deepest agony. It ended in a murmuring gurgle, and all was silent.
Without hesitation, we seized pistols and with lighted candles rushed from our rooms to the great entrance door. This we hurriedly opened.
Outside, the night was very quiet. It had been snowing and the ground was covered with a sheet of white.
For a moment we saw nothing. Then we distinguished the form of a woman lying across the steps leading up to the door. Running out, we seized her and carried her into the hall. There we recognized her as one of the waitresses of the hotel. Will turned back her collar and exposed
the throat, showing a livid weal round it.
He was very serious, and his voice trembled, though not with fear, as he spoke to me. "We must dress and follow the tracks; there is no time to waste." He smiled gravely. "I don't think we shall do the running away this time."
At this moment the landlord appeared. On seeing the girl and hearing our story, he seemed thunderstruck with fear and amazement, and could do nothing save wring his hands helplessly. Leaving him with the body, we went to our rooms and dressed quickly; then down again into the hall, where we found a crowd of fussy womenfolk around the poor victim.
In the taproom I heard voices and, pushing my way in, discovered several of the serving men discussing the tragedy in excited tones. As they turned at my entrance, I called to them to know who would volunteer to accompany us. At once a strongly built young fellow stepped forward, followed after a slight hesitation by two older men. Then, as we had sufficient for our purpose, I told them to get heavy sticks and bring lanterns.
As soon as they were ready, we sallied out: Will and I first, the others following and keeping well together. The night was not particularly dark-the snow seemed to lighten it. At the bottom of the High Street one of the men gave a short gasp and pointed ahead.
There, dimly seen, and stealing across the snow with silent strides, was a giant form draped in white. Signing to the men to keep quiet, we ran quickly forward, the snow muffling our footsteps. We neared it rapidly. Suddenly Will stumbled and fell forward on his face, one of his pistols going off with the shock.
Instantly the Thing ahead looked round, and next moment was bounding from us in great leaps. Will was on his feet in a second and, with a muttered curse at his own clumsiness, joined in the chase again. Through the park gates it went, and we followed hard. As we got nearer, I could plainly see the black headdress, and in the right hand there was a dark something: but what struck me the most was the enormous size of the thing; it was certainly quite as tall as the marble goddess.
On we went. We were within a hundred feet of it when it stopped dead and turned towards us, and never shall I forget the fear that chilled me, for there, from head to foot, perfect in every detail, stood the marble goddess. At the movement, we had brought up standing; but now I raised a pistol and fired. That seemed to break the spell, and like one man we leapt forward. As we did so, the thing circled like a flash and resumed its flight at a speed that bade fair to leave us behind in short time.
Then the thought came to me to head it off. This I did by sending the three men round to the right-hand side of the park lake, while Will and I continued the pursuit. A minute later the monster disappeared round a bend in the path: but this troubled me little, as I felt convinced that it
would blunder right into the arms of the men, and they would turn it back, and then-ah! then this mystery and horror would be solved.
