“I therefore resolved to return forthwith, under the assumption that I would find you still engaged in the search. In this supposition I was mistaken. Discovering—to my surprise—that the apartment was vacant, I determined to continue the examination of the premises on my own. As I pursued this endeavor, something—I cannot recall with any clarity precisely what—drew my attention to the space beneath the bed. Moving aside this article of furniture, I immediately noticed a loose plank in the floor and, without hesitation, pried it up with my fingertips. So ghastly—so appalling—so utterly hideous was the sight which smote my eyes that I staggered back in an ecstasy of horror, and, slipping upon one of the many old newspapers scattered about, toppled backwards and struck my head upon the floor—evidently with sufficient force to render me absolutely unconscious.”

“I see,” said Captain Russell, regarding me with a look of peculiar intensity as he tugged meditatively on a corner of his luxuriant moustache. “Well,” he sighed after a momentary pause. “It appears, Mr. Poe, that, once again, you have rendered us an inestimable service. Your persistence, ingenuity, and singular powers of both observation and deduction have led to a discovery which had escaped the best efforts of myself and my associates.”

I acknowledged this tribute with a gracious nod. “But how,” I inquired, “did you come to learn of my presence?”

“It was the neighbor lady,” the frontiersman declared. “Mrs.—dang it all, but I’ve disremembered her name.”

“Mrs. Purviance,” Captain Russell said to Crockett; then, turning to me, he explained: “Hearing a piercing shriek from these premises—which carried clearly through the kitchen window that we had left open for the pupose of ventilation—the good woman immediately dashed into this apartment from her dwelling next door and found you sprawled upon the floor. In the next instant, she caught sight of the gap in the boards and, peering within, ran to police headquarters in a condition of nearly uncontrolled hysteria.”

“Can’t hardly blame her for taking on so,” said Crockett. “I’m blest if that thing over yonder ain’t downright horrificacious.” And, so saying, he tilted his head in the direction of the three police officers who were, at that moment, in the process of removing the buried horror from its place of concealment beneath the planking.

It was the body of an elderly male, clothed in a frayed, cambric shirt and patched, tattered trousers. Having already glimpsed the thing once, I was better prepared for the sheer ghastliness of its condition. Even so, I took a moment to steel my nerves before focussing my attention on the hideous remains that now lay stretched upon the floor.