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…looking through my slit bamboo blinds, I could see the great dog standing, not sleeping, in the veranda, the hackles alift on her back, and her feet planted as tensely as the drawn wire rope of a suspension bridge. In the very short pauses of the thunder I tried to sleep, but it seemed that some one wanted me very badly. He, whoever he was, was trying to call me by name, but his voice was no more than a husky whisper. |
This is from The Return of Umray, collected in Life’s Handicap. Strickland had taken over a bungalow from Imray, who had mysteriously disappeared. The story-teller is staying with him. On a night of storm he senses a restless presence in the house. Strickland’s great dog, out in the verandah, is uneasy and will not settle down. In the morning they find Imray’s body, killed by his servant and hidden, up in the roof. |
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