Sax Rohmer

“ Then a faint acrid smell was wafted to his nostrils, perceptible even above the heavy odour of the incense from the barn.
"Relock the door!" came the cry.
Robert Cairn reclosed the door, snapped the padlock fast, and began to fumble with the skeleton keys with which they had come provided. He discovered that to reclose the padlock was quite as difficult as to open it. His hands were trembling too; he was all anxiety to see what had taken place behind him. ”

“ Having summoned him once, he can summon him again, but—"
"Well, sir?"
"He cannot control him."
"Good God!"
*⁠*⁠*⁠*⁠*
That night brought no repetition of the uncanny attack; and in the grey half light before the dawn, Dr. Cairn and his son, themselves like two phantoms, again crept across the field to the barn.
The padlock hung loose in the ring.
"Stay where you are, Rob!" cautioned the doctor.
He gently pushed the door open—wider—wider—and looked in. There was an overpowering odour of burning flesh. He turned to Robert, and spoke in a steady voice. ”

“ A deal table and chair constituted the sole furniture of the interior. A part of the floor was roughly boarded, and a brief examination of the boarding sufficed to discover the hiding place in which Antony Ferrara kept the utensils of his awful art. ”