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order to choose and pocket some belongings for a swift, valiseless flight. Nothing, however,
happened; and I saw that the power had been cut off. Clearly, some cryptic, evil movement was
afoot on a large scale - - just what, I could not say. As I stood pondering with my hand on the
now useless switch I heard a muffled creaking on the floor below, and thought I could barely
distinguish voices in conversation. A moment later I felt less sure that the deeper sounds were
voices, since the apparent hoarse barkings and loose-syllabled croakings bore so little
resemblance to recognized human speech. Then I thought with renewed force of what the factory
inspector had heard in the night in this mouldering and pestilential building.
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Having filled my pockets with the flashlight's aid, I put on my hat and tiptoed to the windows to
consider chances of descent. Despite the state's safety regulations there was no fire escape on
this side of the hotel, and I saw that my windows commanded only a sheer three story drop to the
cobbled courtyard. On the right and left, however, some ancient brick business blocks abutted on
the hotel; their slant roofs coming up to a reasonable jumping distance from my fourth -story
level. To reach either of these lines of buildings I would have to be in a room two from my own -
- in one case on the north and in the other case on the south - - and my mind instantly set to
work what chances I had of making the transfer.
I could not, I decided, risk an emergence into the corridor; where my footsteps would surely be
heard, and where the difficulties of entering the desired room would be insuperable. My progress,
if it was to be made at all, would have to be through the less solidly-built connecting doors of
the rooms; the locks and bolts of which I would have to force violently, using my shoulder as a
battering-ram whenever they were set against me. This, I thought, would be possible owing to the
rickety nature of the house and its fixtures; but I realised I could not do it noiselessly. I
would have to count on sheer speed, and the chance of getting to a window before any hostile
forces became coordinated enough to open the right door toward me with a pass-key. My own outer
door I reinforced by pushing the bureau against it - - little by little, in order to make a
minimum of sound.
I perceived that my chances were very slender, and was fully prepared for any calamity. Even
getting to another roof would not solve the problem for there would then remain the task of
reaching the ground and escaping from the town. One thing in my favour was the deserted and
ruinous state of the abutting building and the number of skylights gaping blackly open in each
row.
Gathering from the grocery boy's map that the best route out of town was southward, I glanced
first at the connecting door on the south side of the room. It was designed to open in my
direction, hence I saw - - after drawing the bolt and finding other fastening in place - - it was
not a favorable one for forcing. Accordingly abandoning it as a route, I cautiously moved the
bedstead against it to hamper any attack which might be made on it later from the next room. The
door on the north was hung to open away from me, and this - - though a test proved it to be locked
or bolted from the other side - - I knew must be my route. If I could gain the roofs of the
buildings in Paine Street and descend successfully to the ground level, I might perhaps dart
through the courtyard and the adjacent or opposite building. to Washington or Bates - - or else
emerge in Paine and edge around southward into Washington. In any case, I would aim to strike
Washington somehow and get quickly out of the Town Square region. My preference would be to avoid
Paine, since the fire station there might be open all night.
As I thought of these things I looked out over the squalid sea of decaying roof below me, now
brightened by the beams of a moon not much past full. On the right the black gash of the river-
gorge clove the panorama; abandoned factories and railway station clinging barnacle-like to its
sides. Beyond it the rusted railway and the Rowley road led off through a flat marshy terrain
dotted with islets of higher and dryer scrub-grown land. On the left the creek-threaded country-
side was nearer, the narrow road to Ipswich gleaming white in the moonlight. I could not see from
my side of the hotel the southward route toward Arkham which I had determined to take.
I was irresolutely speculating on when I had better attack the northward door, and on how I could
least audibly manage it, when I noticed that the vague noises underfoot had given place to a fresh
and heavier creaking of the stairs. A wavering flicker of light shewed through my transom, and the
boards of the corridor began to groan with a ponderous load. Muffled sounds of possible vocal
origin approached, and at length a firm knock came at my outer door.
For a moment I simply held my breath and waited. Eternities seemed to elapse, and the nauseous
fishy odour of my environment seemed to mount suddenly and spectacularly. Then the knocking was
repeated - - continuously, and with growing insistence. I knew that the time for action had come,
and forthwith drew the bolt of the northward connecting door, bracing myself for the task of
battering it open. The knocking waxed louder, and I hoped that its volume would cover the sound of
my efforts. At last beginning my attempt, I lunged again and again at the thin paneling with my
left shoulder, heedless of shock or pain. The door resisted even more than I expected, but I did
not give in. And all the while the clamour at the outer door increased.
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