The succeeding horror almost obliterated it.

I woke as a grey dawn stole into the cave.

The damsel had disappeared; but in the shrubbery, at the mouth of the cave, stood a strange horrible object.

It looked like an open coffin set up on one end; only that the part for the head and neck was defined from the shoulder-part.

In fact, it was a rough representation of the human frame, only hollow, as if made of decaying bark torn from a tree.
It had arms, which were only slightly seamed, down from the shoulder-blade by the elbow, as if the bark had healed again from the cut of a knife.