Book I, Chapter IX

H the Shadow

1.

The sea turned a rheumy
yellow, like a rush cage with
a canary hung in darkness.

2.

Ice had been driven on
the heavy current from
Point Ayre, but who was watching?

3.

H was reduced to a circle of
wet chewing tobacco. The slush-
lamp had not been lighted.

4.

“Och,” said Maug, as if
dangling by the neck from
the great, twisted God’s teeth.

5.

His broken laugh fell among
the wind and tide. H thought of
the Ramsey, sleep, and the beyond.

6.

But it was too late for that
refuge. Maug was evil’s
housemate, and now H needed him.

7.

Above the boom of the sea, he
could hear death at
the door he had opened, coming.

8.

H stumbled through the lane
with Maug, as rain
cracked the dome of the sky.

9.

Maug clearly had horns, and
the governor knew it.
A ghost clung to his past.

10.

“Who is it you’re dragging
after us?” said H. “Or
what?” Maug was dying to say.