Edgar Jepson

“ Then my wits cleared a little; and I heard, or fancied I heard, a movement in the garden of No. 19; a quiet movement, a faint dragging, brushing movement; and I had an impression—it was not as much as a vision—of a hideous, shapeless, sluggish beast, drawing its pendulous belly over turf. It was moving towards the house.
I stood gasping. Then there came a sharp cry from the dining room of No. 19; and the girl's voice, shrill and full of fear, cried, "Uncle! Uncle! There's something horrible in the garden!" ”

“ Then the muttering ceased; and I knew that the air had been full of unspeakable horror, and that it was clear again.
"What ever was it?" I cried in a high, shaky voice.
There was a pause; then the man said in a hoarse, rasping voice, "What was what?"
"The beast in your garden."
"There is no beast in my garden." ”

“ I had read for half an hour perhaps, when I was disturbed by a flight of shrilly chirping sparrows from the sycamores of No. 19. I looked after them and observed that they flew uncommonly fast and straight for sparrows, as if they had been badly frightened. My eyes were seeking the page again when another movement caught them; and a big rat, a middle-sized rat, and two small rats ran out from under the palings of No. 19, helter skelter across my garden, and disappeared among the plants on the other side of it. I have never seen rats run so fast ”