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diff --git a/old/10659-8.txt b/old/10659-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f895797 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10659-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5560 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Three More John Silence Stories, by Algernon Blackwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three More John Silence Stories + +Author: Algernon Blackwood + +Release Date: January 9, 2004 [EBook #10659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +Three More John Silence Stories + +BY ALGERNON BLACKWOOD + + + + +To M.L.W. The Original of John Silence + +and + +My Companion in Many Adventures + + + + +Contents + +Case I: Secret Worship + +Case II: The Camp of the Dog + +Case III: A Victim of Higher Space + + + + +CASE I: SECRET WORSHIP + + +Harris, the silk merchant, was in South Germany on his way home from a +business trip when the idea came to him suddenly that he would take the +mountain railway from Strassbourg and run down to revisit his old school +after an interval of something more than thirty years. And it was to +this chance impulse of the junior partner in Harris Brothers of St. +Paul's Churchyard that John Silence owed one of the most curious cases +of his whole experience, for at that very moment he happened to be +tramping these same mountains with a holiday knapsack, and from +different points of the compass the two men were actually converging +towards the same inn. + +Now, deep down in the heart that for thirty years had been concerned +chiefly with the profitable buying and selling of silk, this school had +left the imprint of its peculiar influence, and, though perhaps unknown +to Harris, had strongly coloured the whole of his subsequent existence. +It belonged to the deeply religious life of a small Protestant community +(which it is unnecessary to specify), and his father had sent him there +at the age of fifteen, partly because he would learn the German +requisite for the conduct of the silk business, and partly because the +discipline was strict, and discipline was what his soul and body needed +just then more than anything else. + +The life, indeed, had proved exceedingly severe, and young Harris +benefited accordingly; for though corporal punishment was unknown, there +was a system of mental and spiritual correction which somehow made the +soul stand proudly erect to receive it, while it struck at the very root +of the fault and taught the boy that his character was being cleaned and +strengthened, and that he was not merely being tortured in a kind of +personal revenge. + +That was over thirty years ago, when he was a dreamy and impressionable +youth of fifteen; and now, as the train climbed slowly up the winding +mountain gorges, his mind travelled back somewhat lovingly over the +intervening period, and forgotten details rose vividly again before him +out of the shadows. The life there had been very wonderful, it seemed to +him, in that remote mountain village, protected from the tumults of the +world by the love and worship of the devout Brotherhood that ministered +to the needs of some hundred boys from every country in Europe. Sharply +the scenes came back to him. He smelt again the long stone corridors, +the hot pinewood rooms, where the sultry hours of summer study were +passed with bees droning through open windows in the sunshine, and +German characters struggling in the mind with dreams of English +lawns--and then the sudden awful cry of the master in German-- + +"Harris, stand up! You sleep!" + +And he recalled the dreadful standing motionless for an hour, book in +hand, while the knees felt like wax and the head grew heavier than a +cannon-ball. + +The very smell of the cooking came back to him--the daily _Sauerkraut_, +the watery chocolate on Sundays, the flavour of the stringy meat served +twice a week at _Mittagessen_; and he smiled to think again of the +half-rations that was the punishment for speaking English. The very +odour of the milk-bowls,--the hot sweet aroma that rose from the soaking +peasant-bread at the six-o'clock breakfast,--came back to him pungently, +and he saw the huge _Speisesaal_ with the hundred boys in their school +uniform, all eating sleepily in silence, gulping down the coarse bread +and scalding milk in terror of the bell that would presently cut them +short--and, at the far end where the masters sat, he saw the narrow slit +windows with the vistas of enticing field and forest beyond. + +And this, in turn, made him think of the great barnlike room on the top +floor where all slept together in wooden cots, and he heard in memory +the clamour of the cruel bell that woke them on winter mornings at five +o'clock and summoned them to the stone-flagged _Waschkammer_, where boys +and masters alike, after scanty and icy washing, dressed in complete +silence. + +From this his mind passed swiftly, with vivid picture-thoughts, to other +things, and with a passing shiver he remembered how the loneliness of +never being alone had eaten into him, and how everything--work, meals, +sleep, walks, leisure--was done with his "division" of twenty other boys +and under the eyes of at least two masters. The only solitude possible +was by asking for half an hour's practice in the cell-like music rooms, +and Harris smiled to himself as he recalled the zeal of his violin +studies. + +Then, as the train puffed laboriously through the great pine forests +that cover these mountains with a giant carpet of velvet, he found the +pleasanter layers of memory giving up their dead, and he recalled with +admiration the kindness of the masters, whom all addressed as Brother, +and marvelled afresh at their devotion in burying themselves for years +in such a place, only to leave it, in most cases, for the still rougher +life of missionaries in the wild places of the world. + +He thought once more of the still, religious atmosphere that hung over +the little forest community like a veil, barring the distressful world; +of the picturesque ceremonies at Easter, Christmas, and New Year; of the +numerous feast-days and charming little festivals. The _Beschehr-Fest_, +in particular, came back to him,--the feast of gifts at Christmas,--when +the entire community paired off and gave presents, many of which had +taken weeks to make or the savings of many days to purchase. And then he +saw the midnight ceremony in the church at New Year, with the shining +face of the _Prediger_ in the pulpit,--the village preacher who, on the +last night of the old year, saw in the empty gallery beyond the organ +loft the faces of all who were to die in the ensuing twelve months, and +who at last recognised himself among them, and, in the very middle of +his sermon, passed into a state of rapt ecstasy and burst into a torrent +of praise. + +Thickly the memories crowded upon him. The picture of the small village +dreaming its unselfish life on the mountain-tops, clean, wholesome, +simple, searching vigorously for its God, and training hundreds of boys +in the grand way, rose up in his mind with all the power of an +obsession. He felt once more the old mystical enthusiasm, deeper than +the sea and more wonderful than the stars; he heard again the winds +sighing from leagues of forest over the red roofs in the moonlight; he +heard the Brothers' voices talking of the things beyond this life as +though they had actually experienced them in the body; and, as he sat in +the jolting train, a spirit of unutterable longing passed over his +seared and tired soul, stirring in the depths of him a sea of emotions +that he thought had long since frozen into immobility. + +And the contrast pained him,--the idealistic dreamer then, the man of +business now,--so that a spirit of unworldly peace and beauty known only +to the soul in meditation laid its feathered finger upon his heart, +moving strangely the surface of the waters. + +Harris shivered a little and looked out of the window of his empty +carriage. The train had long passed Hornberg, and far below the streams +tumbled in white foam down the limestone rocks. In front of him, dome +upon dome of wooded mountain stood against the sky. It was October, and +the air was cool and sharp, woodsmoke and damp moss exquisitely mingled +in it with the subtle odours of the pines. Overhead, between the tips of +the highest firs, he saw the first stars peeping, and the sky was a +clean, pale amethyst that seemed exactly the colour all these memories +clothed themselves with in his mind. + +He leaned back in his corner and sighed. He was a heavy man, and he had +not known sentiment for years; he was a big man, and it took much to +move him, literally and figuratively; he was a man in whom the dreams of +God that haunt the soul in youth, though overlaid by the scum that +gathers in the fight for money, had not, as with the majority, utterly +died the death. + +He came back into this little neglected pocket of the years, where so +much fine gold had collected and lain undisturbed, with all his +semispiritual emotions aquiver; and, as he watched the mountain-tops +come nearer, and smelt the forgotten odours of his boyhood, something +melted on the surface of his soul and left him sensitive to a degree he +had not known since, thirty years before, he had lived here with his +dreams, his conflicts, and his youthful suffering. + +A thrill ran through him as the train stopped with a jolt at a tiny +station and he saw the name in large black lettering on the grey stone +building, and below it, the number of metres it stood above the level of +the sea. + +"The highest point on the line!" he exclaimed. "How well I remember +it--Sommerau--Summer Meadow. The very next station is mine!" + +And, as the train ran downhill with brakes on and steam shut off, he put +his head out of the window and one by one saw the old familiar landmarks +in the dusk. They stared at him like dead faces in a dream. Queer, sharp +feelings, half poignant, half sweet, stirred in his heart. + +"There's the hot, white road we walked along so often with the two +Brüder always at our heels," he thought; "and there, by Jove, is the +turn through the forest to '_Die Galgen_,' the stone gallows where they +hanged the witches in olden days!" + +He smiled a little as the train slid past. + +"And there's the copse where the Lilies of the Valley powdered the +ground in spring; and, I swear,"--he put his head out with a sudden +impulse--"if that's not the very clearing where Calame, the French boy, +chased the swallow-tail with me, and Bruder Pagel gave us half-rations +for leaving the road without permission, and for shouting in our mother +tongues!" And he laughed again as the memories came back with a rush, +flooding his mind with vivid detail. + +The train stopped, and he stood on the grey gravel platform like a man +in a dream. It seemed half a century since he last waited there with +corded wooden boxes, and got into the train for Strassbourg and home +after the two years' exile. Time dropped from him like an old garment +and he felt a boy again. Only, things looked so much smaller than his +memory of them; shrunk and dwindled they looked, and the distances +seemed on a curiously smaller scale. + +He made his way across the road to the little Gasthaus, and, as he went, +faces and figures of former schoolfellows,--German, Swiss, Italian, +French, Russian,--slipped out of the shadowy woods and silently +accompanied him. They flitted by his side, raising their eyes +questioningly, sadly, to his. But their names he had forgotten. Some of +the Brothers, too, came with them, and most of these he remembered by +name--Bruder Röst, Bruder Pagel, Bruder Schliemann, and the bearded face +of the old preacher who had seen himself in the haunted gallery of those +about to die--Bruder Gysin. The dark forest lay all about him like a sea +that any moment might rush with velvet waves upon the scene and sweep +all the faces away. The air was cool and wonderfully fragrant, but with +every perfumed breath came also a pallid memory.... + +Yet, in spite of the underlying sadness inseparable from such an +experience, it was all very interesting, and held a pleasure peculiarly +its own, so that Harris engaged his room and ordered supper feeling well +pleased with himself, and intending to walk up to the old school that +very evening. It stood in the centre of the community's village, some +four miles distant through the forest, and he now recollected for the +first time that this little Protestant settlement dwelt isolated in a +section of the country that was otherwise Catholic. Crucifixes and +shrines surrounded the clearing like the sentries of a beleaguering +army. Once beyond the square of the village, with its few acres of field +and orchard, the forest crowded up in solid phalanxes, and beyond the +rim of trees began the country that was ruled by the priests of another +faith. He vaguely remembered, too, that the Catholics had showed +sometimes a certain hostility towards the little Protestant oasis that +flourished so quietly and benignly in their midst. He had quite +forgotten this. How trumpery it all seemed now with his wide experience +of life and his knowledge of other countries and the great outside +world. It was like stepping back, not thirty years, but three hundred. + +There were only two others besides himself at supper. One of them, a +bearded, middle-aged man in tweeds, sat by himself at the far end, and +Harris kept out of his way because he was English. He feared he might be +in business, possibly even in the silk business, and that he would +perhaps talk on the subject. The other traveller, however, was a +Catholic priest. He was a little man who ate his salad with a knife, yet +so gently that it was almost inoffensive, and it was the sight of "the +cloth" that recalled his memory of the old antagonism. Harris mentioned +by way of conversation the object of his sentimental journey, and the +priest looked up sharply at him with raised eyebrows and an expression +of surprise and suspicion that somehow piqued him. He ascribed it to his +difference of belief. + +"Yes," went on the silk merchant, pleased to talk of what his mind was +so full, "and it was a curious experience for an English boy to be +dropped down into a school of a hundred foreigners. I well remember the +loneliness and intolerable Heimweh of it at first." His German was very +fluent. + +The priest opposite looked up from his cold veal and potato salad and +smiled. It was a nice face. He explained quietly that he did not belong +here, but was making a tour of the parishes of Wurttemberg and Baden. + +"It was a strict life," added Harris. "We English, I remember, used to +call it _Gefängnisleben_--prison life!" + +The face of the other, for some unaccountable reason, darkened. After a +slight pause, and more by way of politeness than because he wished to +continue the subject, he said quietly-- + +"It was a flourishing school in those days, of course. Afterwards, I +have heard--" He shrugged his shoulders slightly, and the odd look--it +almost seemed a look of alarm--came back into his eyes. The sentence +remained unfinished. + +Something in the tone of the man seemed to his listener uncalled for--in +a sense reproachful, singular. Harris bridled in spite of himself. + +"It has changed?" he asked. "I can hardly believe--" + +"You have not heard, then?" observed the priest gently, making a gesture +as though to cross himself, yet not actually completing it. "You have +not heard what happened there before it was abandoned--?" + +It was very childish, of course, and perhaps he was overtired and +overwrought in some way, but the words and manner of the little priest +seemed to him so offensive--so disproportionately offensive--that he +hardly noticed the concluding sentence. He recalled the old bitterness +and the old antagonism, and for a moment he almost lost his temper. + +"Nonsense," he interrupted with a forced laugh, "_Unsinn_! You must +forgive me, sir, for contradicting you. But I was a pupil there myself. +I was at school there. There was no place like it. I cannot believe that +anything serious could have happened to--to take away its character. The +devotion of the Brothers would be difficult to equal anywhere--" + +He broke off suddenly, realising that his voice had been raised unduly +and that the man at the far end of the table might understand German; +and at the same moment he looked up and saw that this individual's eyes +were fixed upon his face intently. They were peculiarly bright. Also +they were rather wonderful eyes, and the way they met his own served in +some way he could not understand to convey both a reproach and a +warning. The whole face of the stranger, indeed, made a vivid impression +upon him, for it was a face, he now noticed for the first time, in whose +presence one would not willingly have said or done anything unworthy. +Harris could not explain to himself how it was he had not become +conscious sooner of its presence. + +But he could have bitten off his tongue for having so far forgotten +himself. The little priest lapsed into silence. Only once he said, +looking up and speaking in a low voice that was not intended to be +overheard, but that evidently _was_ overheard, "You will find it +different." Presently he rose and left the table with a polite bow that +included both the others. + +And, after him, from the far end rose also the figure in the tweed suit, +leaving Harris by himself. + +He sat on for a bit in the darkening room, sipping his coffee and +smoking his fifteen-pfennig cigar, till the girl came in to light the +oil lamps. He felt vexed with himself for his lapse from good manners, +yet hardly able to account for it. Most likely, he reflected, he had +been annoyed because the priest had unintentionally changed the pleasant +character of his dream by introducing a jarring note. Later he must seek +an opportunity to make amends. At present, however, he was too impatient +for his walk to the school, and he took his stick and hat and passed out +into the open air. + +And, as he crossed before the Gasthaus, he noticed that the priest and +the man in the tweed suit were engaged already in such deep conversation +that they hardly noticed him as he passed and raised his hat. + +He started off briskly, well remembering the way, and hoping to reach +the village in time to have a word with one of the Brüder. They might +even ask him in for a cup of coffee. He felt sure of his welcome, and +the old memories were in full possession once more. The hour of return +was a matter of no consequence whatever. + +It was then just after seven o'clock, and the October evening was +drawing in with chill airs from the recesses of the forest. The road +plunged straight from the railway clearing into its depths, and in a +very few minutes the trees engulfed him and the clack of his boots fell +dead and echoless against the serried stems of a million firs. It was +very black; one trunk was hardly distinguishable from another. He walked +smartly, swinging his holly stick. Once or twice he passed a peasant on +his way to bed, and the guttural "Gruss Got," unheard for so long, +emphasised the passage of time, while yet making it seem as nothing. A +fresh group of pictures crowded his mind. Again the figures of former +schoolfellows flitted out of the forest and kept pace by his side, +whispering of the doings of long ago. One reverie stepped hard upon the +heels of another. Every turn in the road, every clearing of the forest, +he knew, and each in turn brought forgotten associations to life. He +enjoyed himself thoroughly. + +He marched on and on. There was powdered gold in the sky till the moon +rose, and then a wind of faint silver spread silently between the earth +and stars. He saw the tips of the fir trees shimmer, and heard them +whisper as the breeze turned their needles towards the light. The +mountain air was indescribably sweet. The road shone like the foam of a +river through the gloom. White moths flitted here and there like silent +thoughts across his path, and a hundred smells greeted him from the +forest caverns across the years. + +Then, when he least expected it, the trees fell away abruptly on both +sides, and he stood on the edge of the village clearing. + +He walked faster. There lay the familiar outlines of the houses, sheeted +with silver; there stood the trees in the little central square with the +fountain and small green lawns; there loomed the shape of the church +next to the Gasthof der Brüdergemeinde; and just beyond, dimly rising +into the sky, he saw with a sudden thrill the mass of the huge school +building, blocked castlelike with deep shadows in the moonlight, +standing square and formidable to face him after the silences of more +than a quarter of a century. + +He passed quickly down the deserted village street and stopped close +beneath its shadow, staring up at the walls that had once held him +prisoner for two years--two unbroken years of discipline and +homesickness. Memories and emotions surged through his mind; for the +most vivid sensations of his youth had focused about this spot, and it +was here he had first begun to live and learn values. Not a single +footstep broke the silence, though lights glimmered here and there +through cottage windows; but when he looked up at the high walls of the +school, draped now in shadow, he easily imagined that well-known faces +crowded to the windows to greet him--closed windows that really +reflected only moonlight and the gleam of stars. + +This, then, was the old school building, standing foursquare to the +world, with its shuttered windows, its lofty, tiled roof, and the spiked +lightning-conductors pointing like black and taloned fingers from the +corners. For a long time he stood and stared. Then, presently, he came +to himself again, and realised to his joy that a light still shone in +the windows of the Bruderstube. + +He turned from the road and passed through the iron railings; then +climbed the twelve stone steps and stood facing the black wooden door +with the heavy bars of iron, a door he had once loathed and dreaded with +the hatred and passion of an imprisoned soul, but now looked upon +tenderly with a sort of boyish delight. + +Almost timorously he pulled the rope and listened with a tremor of +excitement to the clanging of the bell deep within the building. And the +long-forgotten sound brought the past before him with such a vivid sense +of reality that he positively shivered. It was like the magic bell in +the fairy-tale that rolls back the curtain of Time and summons the +figures from the shadows of the dead. He had never felt so sentimental +in his life. It was like being young again. And, at the same time, he +began to bulk rather large in his own eyes with a certain spurious +importance. He was a big man from the world of strife and action. In +this little place of peaceful dreams would he, perhaps, not cut +something of a figure? + +"I'll try once more," he thought after a long pause, seizing the iron +bell-rope, and was just about to pull it when a step sounded on the +stone passage within, and the huge door slowly swung open. + +A tall man with a rather severe cast of countenance stood facing him in +silence. + +"I must apologise--it is somewhat late," he began a trifle pompously, +"but the fact is I am an old pupil. I have only just arrived and really +could not restrain myself." His German seemed not quite so fluent as +usual. "My interest is so great. I was here in '70." + +The other opened the door wider and at once bowed him in with a smile of +genuine welcome. + +"I am Bruder Kalkmann," he said quietly in a deep voice. "I myself was a +master here about that time. It is a great pleasure always to welcome a +former pupil." He looked at him very keenly for a few seconds, and then +added, "I think, too, it is splendid of you to come--very splendid." + +"It is a very great pleasure," Harris replied, delighted with his +reception. + +The dimly lighted corridor with its flooring of grey stone, and the +familiar sound of a German voice echoing through it,--with the peculiar +intonation the Brothers always used in speaking,--all combined to lift +him bodily, as it were, into the dream-atmosphere of long-forgotten +days. He stepped gladly into the building and the door shut with the +familiar thunder that completed the reconstruction of the past. He +almost felt the old sense of imprisonment, of aching nostalgia, of +having lost his liberty. + +Harris sighed involuntarily and turned towards his host, who returned +his smile faintly and then led the way down the corridor. + +"The boys have retired," he explained, "and, as you remember, we keep +early hours here. But, at least, you will join us for a little while in +the _Bruderstube_ and enjoy a cup of coffee." This was precisely what +the silk merchant had hoped, and he accepted with an alacrity that he +intended to be tempered by graciousness. "And to-morrow," continued the +Bruder, "you must come and spend a whole day with us. You may even find +acquaintances, for several pupils of your day have come back here as +masters." + +For one brief second there passed into the man's eyes a look that made +the visitor start. But it vanished as quickly as it came. It was +impossible to define. Harris convinced himself it was the effect of a +shadow cast by the lamp they had just passed on the wall. He dismissed +it from his mind. + +"You are very kind, I'm sure," he said politely. "It is perhaps a +greater pleasure to me than you can imagine to see the place again. +Ah,"--he stopped short opposite a door with the upper half of glass and +peered in--"surely there is one of the music rooms where I used to +practise the violin. How it comes back to me after all these years!" + +Bruder Kalkmann stopped indulgently, smiling, to allow his guest a +moment's inspection. + +"You still have the boys' orchestra? I remember I used to play 'zweite +Geige' in it. Bruder Schliemann conducted at the piano. Dear me, I can +see him now with his long black hair and--and--" He stopped abruptly. +Again the odd, dark look passed over the stern face of his companion. +For an instant it seemed curiously familiar. + +"We still keep up the pupils' orchestra," he said, "but Bruder +Schliemann, I am sorry to say--" he hesitated an instant, and then +added, "Bruder Schliemann is dead." + +"Indeed, indeed," said Harris quickly. "I am sorry to hear it." He was +conscious of a faint feeling of distress, but whether it arose from the +news of his old music teacher's death, or--from something else--he could +not quite determine. He gazed down the corridor that lost itself among +shadows. In the street and village everything had seemed so much smaller +than he remembered, but here, inside the school building, everything +seemed so much bigger. The corridor was loftier and longer, more +spacious and vast, than the mental picture he had preserved. His +thoughts wandered dreamily for an instant. + +He glanced up and saw the face of the Bruder watching him with a smile +of patient indulgence. + +"Your memories possess you," he observed gently, and the stern look +passed into something almost pitying. + +"You are right," returned the man of silk, "they do. This was the most +wonderful period of my whole life in a sense. At the time I hated +it--" He hesitated, not wishing to hurt the Brother's feelings. + +"According to English ideas it seemed strict, of course," the other said +persuasively, so that he went on. + +"--Yes, partly that; and partly the ceaseless nostalgia, and the +solitude which came from never being really alone. In English schools +the boys enjoy peculiar freedom, you know." + +Bruder Kalkmann, he saw, was listening intently. + +"But it produced one result that I have never wholly lost," he +continued self-consciously, "and am grateful for." + +"_Ach! Wie so, denn?_" + +"The constant inner pain threw me headlong into your religious life, so +that the whole force of my being seemed to project itself towards the +search for a deeper satisfaction--a real resting-place for the soul. +During my two years here I yearned for God in my boyish way as perhaps I +have never yearned for anything since. Moreover, I have never quite lost +that sense of peace and inward joy which accompanied the search. I can +never quite forget this school and the deep things it taught me." + +He paused at the end of his long speech, and a brief silence fell +between them. He feared he had said too much, or expressed himself +clumsily in the foreign language, and when Bruder Kalkmann laid a hand +upon his shoulder, he gave a little involuntary start. + +"So that my memories perhaps do possess me rather strongly," he added +apologetically; "and this long corridor, these rooms, that barred and +gloomy front door, all touch chords that--that--" His German failed +him and he glanced at his companion with an explanatory smile and +gesture. But the Brother had removed the hand from his shoulder and was +standing with his back to him, looking down the passage. + +"Naturally, naturally so," he said hastily without turning round. +"_Es ist doch selbstverständlich_. We shall all understand." + +Then he turned suddenly, and Harris saw that his face had turned most +oddly and disagreeably sinister. It may only have been the shadows again +playing their tricks with the wretched oil lamps on the wall, for the +dark expression passed instantly as they retraced their steps down the +corridor, but the Englishman somehow got the impression that he had said +something to give offence, something that was not quite to the other's +taste. Opposite the door of the _Bruderstube_ they stopped. Harris +realised that it was late and he had possibly stayed talking too long. +He made a tentative effort to leave, but his companion would not hear of +it. + +"You must have a cup of coffee with us," he said firmly as though he +meant it, "and my colleagues will be delighted to see you. Some of them +will remember you, perhaps." + +The sound of voices came pleasantly through the door, men's voices +talking together. Bruder Kalkmann turned the handle and they entered a +room ablaze with light and full of people. + +"Ah,--but your name?" he whispered, bending down to catch the reply; +"you have not told me your name yet." + +"Harris," said the Englishman quickly as they went in. He felt nervous +as he crossed the threshold, but ascribed the momentary trepidation to +the fact that he was breaking the strictest rule of the whole +establishment, which forbade a boy under severest penalties to come near +this holy of holies where the masters took their brief leisure. + +"Ah, yes, of course--Harris," repeated the other as though he remembered +it. "Come in, Herr Harris, come in, please. Your visit will be immensely +appreciated. It is really very fine, very wonderful of you to have come +in this way." + +The door closed behind them and, in the sudden light which made his +sight swim for a moment, the exaggeration of the language escaped his +attention. He heard the voice of Bruder Kalkmann introducing him. He +spoke very loud, indeed, unnecessarily,--absurdly loud, Harris thought. + +"Brothers," he announced, "it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce +to you Herr Harris from England. He has just arrived to make us a little +visit, and I have already expressed to him on behalf of us all the +satisfaction we feel that he is here. He was, as you remember, a pupil +in the year '70." + +It was a very formal, a very German introduction, but Harris rather +liked it. It made him feel important and he appreciated the tact that +made it almost seem as though he had been expected. + +The black forms rose and bowed; Harris bowed; Kalkmann bowed. Every one +was very polite and very courtly. The room swam with moving figures; the +light dazzled him after the gloom of the corridor, there was thick cigar +smoke in the atmosphere. He took the chair that was offered to him +between two of the Brothers, and sat down, feeling vaguely that his +perceptions were not quite as keen and accurate as usual. He felt a +trifle dazed perhaps, and the spell of the past came strongly over him, +confusing the immediate present and making everything dwindle oddly to +the dimensions of long ago. He seemed to pass under the mastery of a +great mood that was a composite reproduction of all the moods of his +forgotten boyhood. + +Then he pulled himself together with a sharp effort and entered into the +conversation that had begun again to buzz round him. Moreover, he +entered into it with keen pleasure, for the Brothers--there were perhaps +a dozen of them in the little room--treated him with a charm of manner +that speedily made him feel one of themselves. This, again, was a very +subtle delight to him. He felt that he had stepped out of the greedy, +vulgar, self-seeking world, the world of silk and markets and +profit-making--stepped into the cleaner atmosphere where spiritual +ideals were paramount and life was simple and devoted. It all charmed +him inexpressibly, so that he realised--yes, in a sense--the degradation +of his twenty years' absorption in business. This keen atmosphere under +the stars where men thought only of their souls, and of the souls of +others, was too rarefied for the world he was now associated with. He +found himself making comparisons to his own disadvantage,--comparisons +with the mystical little dreamer that had stepped thirty years before +from the stern peace of this devout community, and the man of the world +that he had since become,--and the contrast made him shiver with a keen +regret and something like self-contempt. + +He glanced round at the other faces floating towards him through tobacco +smoke--this acrid cigar smoke he remembered so well: how keen they were, +how strong, placid, touched with the nobility of great aims and +unselfish purposes. At one or two he looked particularly. He hardly knew +why. They rather fascinated him. There was something so very stern and +uncompromising about them, and something, too, oddly, subtly, familiar, +that yet just eluded him. But whenever their eyes met his own they held +undeniable welcome in them; and some held more--a kind of perplexed +admiration, he thought, something that was between esteem and deference. +This note of respect in all the faces was very flattering to his vanity. + +Coffee was served presently, made by a black-haired Brother who sat in +the corner by the piano and bore a marked resemblance to Bruder +Schliemann, the musical director of thirty years ago. Harris exchanged +bows with him when he took the cup from his white hands, which he +noticed were like the hands of a woman. He lit a cigar, offered to him +by his neighbour, with whom he was chatting delightfully, and who, in +the glare of the lighted match, reminded him sharply for a moment of +Bruder Pagel, his former room-master. + +"_Es ist wirklich merkwürdig_," he said, "how many resemblances I see, +or imagine. It is really _very_ curious!" + +"Yes," replied the other, peering at him over his coffee cup, "the spell +of the place is wonderfully strong. I can well understand that the old +faces rise before your mind's eye--almost to the exclusion of ourselves +perhaps." + +They both laughed presently. It was soothing to find his mood understood +and appreciated. And they passed on to talk of the mountain village, its +isolation, its remoteness from worldly life, its peculiar fitness for +meditation and worship, and for spiritual development--of a certain +kind. + +"And your coming back in this way, Herr Harris, has pleased us all so +much," joined in the Bruder on his left. "We esteem you for it most +highly. We honour you for it." + +Harris made a deprecating gesture. "I fear, for my part, it is only a +very selfish pleasure," he said a trifle unctuously. + +"Not all would have had the courage," added the one who resembled +Bruder Pagel. + +"You mean," said Harris, a little puzzled, "the disturbing memories--?" + +Bruder Pagel looked at him steadily, with unmistakable admiration and +respect. "I mean that most men hold so strongly to life, and can give up +so little for their beliefs," he said gravely. + +The Englishman felt slightly uncomfortable. These worthy men really made +too much of his sentimental journey. Besides, the talk was getting a +little out of his depth. He hardly followed it. + +"The worldly life still has _some_ charms for me," he replied smilingly, +as though to indicate that sainthood was not yet quite within his grasp. + +"All the more, then, must we honour you for so freely coming," said the +Brother on his left; "so unconditionally!" + +A pause followed, and the silk merchant felt relieved when the +conversation took a more general turn, although he noted that it never +travelled very far from the subject of his visit and the wonderful +situation of the lonely village for men who wished to develop their +spiritual powers and practise the rites of a high worship. Others joined +in, complimenting him on his knowledge of the language, making him feel +utterly at his ease, yet at the same time a little uncomfortable by the +excess of their admiration. After all, it was such a very small thing to +do, this sentimental journey. + +The time passed along quickly; the coffee was excellent, the cigars soft +and of the nutty flavour he loved. At length, fearing to outstay his +welcome, he rose reluctantly to take his leave. But the others would not +hear of it. It was not often a former pupil returned to visit them in +this simple, unaffected way. The night was young. If necessary they +could even find him a corner in the great _Schlafzimmer_ upstairs. He +was easily persuaded to stay a little longer. Somehow he had become the +centre of the little party. He felt pleased, flattered, honoured. + +"And perhaps Bruder Schliemann will play something for us--now." + +It was Kalkmann speaking, and Harris started visibly as he heard the +name, and saw the black-haired man by the piano turn with a smile. For +Schliemann was the name of his old music director, who was dead. Could +this be his son? They were so exactly alike. + +"If Bruder Meyer has not put his Amati to bed, I will accompany him," +said the musician suggestively, looking across at a man whom Harris had +not yet noticed, and who, he now saw, was the very image of a former +master of that name. + +Meyer rose and excused himself with a little bow, and the Englishman +quickly observed that he had a peculiar gesture as though his neck had a +false join on to the body just below the collar and feared it might +break. Meyer of old had this trick of movement. He remembered how the +boys used to copy it. + +He glanced sharply from face to face, feeling as though some silent, +unseen process were changing everything about him. All the faces seemed +oddly familiar. Pagel, the Brother he had been talking with, was of +course the image of Pagel, his former room-master, and Kalkmann, he now +realised for the first time, was the very twin of another master whose +name he had quite forgotten, but whom he used to dislike intensely in +the old days. And, through the smoke, peering at him from the corners of +the room, he saw that all the Brothers about him had the faces he had +known and lived with long ago--Röst, Fluheim, Meinert, Rigel, Gysin. + +He stared hard, suddenly grown more alert, and everywhere saw, or +fancied he saw, strange likenesses, ghostly resemblances,--more, the +identical faces of years ago. There was something queer about it all, +something not quite right, something that made him feel uneasy. He shook +himself, mentally and actually, blowing the smoke from before his eyes +with a long breath, and as he did so he noticed to his dismay that every +one was fixedly staring. They were watching him. + +This brought him to his senses. As an Englishman, and a foreigner, he +did not wish to be rude, or to do anything to make himself foolishly +conspicuous and spoil the harmony of the evening. He was a guest, and a +privileged guest at that. Besides, the music had already begun. Bruder +Schliemann's long white fingers were caressing the keys to some purpose. + +He subsided into his chair and smoked with half-closed eyes that yet saw +everything. + +But the shudder had established itself in his being, and, whether he +would or not, it kept repeating itself. As a town, far up some inland +river, feels the pressure of the distant sea, so he became aware that +mighty forces from somewhere beyond his ken were urging themselves up +against his soul in this smoky little room. He began to feel exceedingly +ill at ease. + +And as the music filled the air his mind began to clear. Like a lifted +veil there rose up something that had hitherto obscured his vision. The +words of the priest at the railway inn flashed across his brain +unbidden: "You will find it different." And also, though why he could +not tell, he saw mentally the strong, rather wonderful eyes of that +other guest at the supper-table, the man who had overheard his +conversation, and had later got into earnest talk with the priest. He +took out his watch and stole a glance at it. Two hours had slipped by. +It was already eleven o'clock. + +Schliemann, meanwhile, utterly absorbed in his music, was playing a +solemn measure. The piano sang marvellously. The power of a great +conviction, the simplicity of great art, the vital spiritual message of +a soul that had found itself--all this, and more, were in the chords, +and yet somehow the music was what can only be described as +impure--atrociously and diabolically impure. And the piece itself, +although Harris did not recognise it as anything familiar, was surely +the music of a Mass--huge, majestic, sombre? It stalked through the +smoky room with slow power, like the passage of something that was +mighty, yet profoundly intimate, and as it went there stirred into each +and every face about him the signature of the enormous forces of which +it was the audible symbol. The countenances round him turned sinister, +but not idly, negatively sinister: they grew dark with purpose. He +suddenly recalled the face of Bruder Kalkmann in the corridor earlier in +the evening. The motives of their secret souls rose to the eyes, and +mouths, and foreheads, and hung there for all to see like the black +banners of an assembly of ill-starred and fallen creatures. Demons--was +the horrible word that flashed through his brain like a sheet of fire. + +When this sudden discovery leaped out upon him, for a moment he lost his +self-control. Without waiting to think and weigh his extraordinary +impression, he did a very foolish but a very natural thing. Feeling +himself irresistibly driven by the sudden stress to some kind of action, +he sprang to his feet--and screamed! To his own utter amazement he stood +up and shrieked aloud! + +But no one stirred. No one, apparently, took the slightest notice of his +absurdly wild behaviour. It was almost as if no one but himself had +heard the scream at all--as though the music had drowned it and +swallowed it up--as though after all perhaps he had not really screamed +as loudly as he imagined, or had not screamed at all. + +Then, as he glanced at the motionless, dark faces before him, something +of utter cold passed into his being, touching his very soul.... All +emotion cooled suddenly, leaving him like a receding tide. He sat down +again, ashamed, mortified, angry with himself for behaving like a fool +and a boy. And the music, meanwhile, continued to issue from the white +and snakelike fingers of Bruder Schliemann, as poisoned wine might issue +from the weirdly fashioned necks of antique phials. + +And, with the rest of them, Harris drank it in. + +Forcing himself to believe that he had been the victim of some kind of +illusory perception, he vigorously restrained his feelings. Then the +music presently ceased, and every one applauded and began to talk at +once, laughing, changing seats, complimenting the player, and behaving +naturally and easily as though nothing out of the way had happened. The +faces appeared normal once more. The Brothers crowded round their +visitor, and he joined in their talk and even heard himself thanking the +gifted musician. + +But, at the same time, he found himself edging towards the door, nearer +and nearer, changing his chair when possible, and joining the groups +that stood closest to the way of escape. + +"I must thank you all _tausendmal_ for my little reception and the great +pleasure--the very great honour you have done me," he began in decided +tones at length, "but I fear I have trespassed far too long already on +your hospitality. Moreover, I have some distance to walk to my inn." + +A chorus of voices greeted his words. They would not hear of his +going,--at least not without first partaking of refreshment. They +produced pumpernickel from one cupboard, and rye-bread and sausage from +another, and all began to talk again and eat. More coffee was made, +fresh cigars lighted, and Bruder Meyer took out his violin and began to +tune it softly. + +"There is always a bed upstairs if Herr Harris will accept it," said +one. + +"And it is difficult to find the way out now, for all the doors are +locked," laughed another loudly. + +"Let us take our simple pleasures as they come," cried a third. "Bruder +Harris will understand how we appreciate the honour of this last visit +of his." + +They made a dozen excuses. They all laughed, as though the politeness of +their words was but formal, and veiled thinly--more and more thinly--a +very different meaning. + +"And the hour of midnight draws near," added Bruder Kalkmann with a +charming smile, but in a voice that sounded to the Englishman like the +grating of iron hinges. + +Their German seemed to him more and more difficult to understand. He +noted that they called him "Bruder" too, classing him as one of +themselves. + +And then suddenly he had a flash of keener perception, and realised with +a creeping of his flesh that he had all along misinterpreted--grossly +misinterpreted all they had been saying. They had talked about the +beauty of the place, its isolation and remoteness from the world, its +peculiar fitness for certain kinds of spiritual development and +worship--yet hardly, he now grasped, in the sense in which he had taken +the words. They had meant something different. Their spiritual powers, +their desire for loneliness, their passion for worship, were not the +powers, the solitude, or the worship that _he_ meant and understood. He +was playing a part in some horrible masquerade; he was among men who +cloaked their lives with religion in order to follow their real purposes +unseen of men. + +What did it all mean? How had he blundered into so equivocal a +situation? Had he blundered into it at all? Had he not rather been led +into it, deliberately led? His thoughts grew dreadfully confused, and +his confidence in himself began to fade. And why, he suddenly thought +again, were they so impressed by the mere fact of his coming to revisit +his old school? What was it they so admired and wondered at in his +simple act? Why did they set such store upon his having the courage to +come, to "give himself so freely," "unconditionally" as one of them had +expressed it with such a mockery of exaggeration? + +Fear stirred in his heart most horribly, and he found no answer to any +of his questionings. Only one thing he now understood quite clearly: it +was their purpose to keep him here. They did not intend that he should +go. And from this moment he realised that they were sinister, formidable +and, in some way he had yet to discover, inimical to himself, inimical +to his life. And the phrase one of them had used a moment ago--"this +_last_ visit of his"--rose before his eyes in letters of flame. + +Harris was not a man of action, and had never known in all the course of +his career what it meant to be in a situation of real danger. He was not +necessarily a coward, though, perhaps, a man of untried nerve. He +realised at last plainly that he was in a very awkward predicament +indeed, and that he had to deal with men who were utterly in earnest. +What their intentions were he only vaguely guessed. His mind, indeed, +was too confused for definite ratiocination, and he was only able to +follow blindly the strongest instincts that moved in him. It never +occurred to him that the Brothers might all be mad, or that he himself +might have temporarily lost his senses and be suffering under some +terrible delusion. In fact, nothing occurred to him--he realised +nothing--except that he meant to escape--and the quicker the better. A +tremendous revulsion of feeling set in and overpowered him. + +Accordingly, without further protest for the moment, he ate his +pumpernickel and drank his coffee, talking meanwhile as naturally and +pleasantly as he could, and when a suitable interval had passed, he rose +to his feet and announced once more that he must now take his leave. He +spoke very quietly, but very decidedly. No one hearing him could doubt +that he meant what he said. He had got very close to the door by this +time. + +"I regret," he said, using his best German, and speaking to a hushed +room, "that our pleasant evening must come to an end, but it is now +time for me to wish you all good-night." And then, as no one said +anything, he added, though with a trifle less assurance, "And I thank +you all most sincerely for your hospitality." + +"On the contrary," replied Kalkmann instantly, rising from his chair and +ignoring the hand the Englishman had stretched out to him, "it is we who +have to thank you; and we do so most gratefully and sincerely." + +And at the same moment at least half a dozen of the Brothers took up +their position between himself and the door. + +"You are very good to say so," Harris replied as firmly as he could +manage, noticing this movement out of the corner of his eye, "but really +I had no conception that--my little chance visit could have afforded you +so much pleasure." He moved another step nearer the door, but Bruder +Schliemann came across the room quickly and stood in front of him. His +attitude was uncompromising. A dark and terrible expression had come +into his face. + +"But it was _not_ by chance that you came, Bruder Harris," he said so +that all the room could hear; "surely we have not misunderstood your +presence here?" He raised his black eyebrows. + +"No, no," the Englishman hastened to reply, "I was--I am delighted to be +here. I told you what pleasure it gave me to find myself among you. Do +not misunderstand me, I beg." His voice faltered a little, and he had +difficulty in finding the words. More and more, too, he had difficulty +in understanding _their_ words. + +"Of course," interposed Bruder Kalkmann in his iron bass, "_we_ have not +misunderstood. You have come back in the spirit of true and unselfish +devotion. You offer yourself freely, and we all appreciate it. It is +your willingness and nobility that have so completely won our veneration +and respect." A faint murmur of applause ran round the room. "What we +all delight in--what our great Master will especially delight in--is the +value of your spontaneous and voluntary--" + +He used a word Harris did not understand. He said "_Opfer_." The +bewildered Englishman searched his brain for the translation, and +searched in vain. For the life of him he could not remember what it +meant. But the word, for all his inability to translate it, touched his +soul with ice. It was worse, far worse, than anything he had imagined. +He felt like a lost, helpless creature, and all power to fight sank out +of him from that moment. + +"It is magnificent to be such a willing--" added Schliemann, sidling +up to him with a dreadful leer on his face. He made use of the same +word--"_Opfer_." + +"God! What could it all mean?" "Offer himself!" "True spirit of +devotion!" "Willing," "unselfish," "magnificent!" _Opfer, Opfer, Opfer!_ +What in the name of heaven did it mean, that strange, mysterious word +that struck such terror into his heart? + +He made a valiant effort to keep his presence of mind and hold his +nerves steady. Turning, he saw that Kalkmann's face was a dead white. +Kalkmann! He understood that well enough. _Kalkmann_ meant "Man of +Chalk": he knew that. But what did "_Opfer_" mean? That was the real key +to the situation. Words poured through his disordered mind in an endless +stream--unusual, rare words he had perhaps heard but once in his +life--while "_Opfer_," a word in common use, entirely escaped him. What +an extraordinary mockery it all was! + +Then Kalkmann, pale as death, but his face hard as iron, spoke a few low +words that he did not catch, and the Brothers standing by the walls at +once turned the lamps down so that the room became dim. In the half +light he could only just discern their faces and movements. + +"It is time," he heard Kalkmann's remorseless voice continue just behind +him. "The hour of midnight is at hand. Let us prepare. He comes! He +comes; Bruder Asmodelius comes!" His voice rose to a chant. + +And the sound of that name, for some extraordinary reason, was +terrible--utterly terrible; so that Harris shook from head to foot as he +heard it. Its utterance filled the air like soft thunder, and a hush +came over the whole room. Forces rose all about him, transforming the +normal into the horrible, and the spirit of craven fear ran through all +his being, bringing him to the verge of collapse. + +_Asmodelius! Asmodelius!_ The name was appalling. For he understood at +last to whom it referred and the meaning that lay between its great +syllables. At the same instant, too, he suddenly understood the meaning +of that unremembered word. The import of the word "_Opfer_" flashed upon +his soul like a message of death. + +He thought of making a wild effort to reach the door, but the weakness +of his trembling knees, and the row of black figures that stood between, +dissuaded him at once. He would have screamed for help, but remembering +the emptiness of the vast building, and the loneliness of the situation, +he understood that no help could come that way, and he kept his lips +closed. He stood still and did nothing. But he knew now what was coming. + +Two of the Brothers approached and took him gently by the arm. + +"Bruder Asmodelius accepts you," they whispered; "are you ready?" + +Then he found his tongue and tried to speak. "But what have I to do with +this Bruder Asm--Asmo--?" he stammered, a desperate rush of words +crowding vainly behind the halting tongue. + +The name refused to pass his lips. He could not pronounce it as they +did. He could not pronounce it at all. His sense of helplessness then +entered the acute stage, for this inability to speak the name produced +a fresh sense of quite horrible confusion in his mind, and he became +extraordinarily agitated. + +"I came here for a friendly visit," he tried to say with a great effort, +but, to his intense dismay, he heard his voice saying something quite +different, and actually making use of that very word they had all used: +"I came here as a willing _Opfer_," he heard his own voice say, "and _I +am quite ready_." + +He was lost beyond all recall now! Not alone his mind, but the very +muscles of his body had passed out of control. He felt that he was +hovering on the confines of a phantom or demon-world,--a world in which +the name they had spoken constituted the Master-name, the word of +ultimate power. + +What followed he heard and saw as in a nightmare. + +"In the half light that veils all truth, let us prepare to worship and +adore," chanted Schliemann, who had preceded him to the end of the room. + +"In the mists that protect our faces before the Black Throne, let us +make ready the willing victim," echoed Kalkmann in his great bass. + +They raised their faces, listening expectantly, as a roaring sound, like +the passing of mighty projectiles, filled the air, far, far away, very +wonderful, very forbidding. The walls of the room trembled. + +"He comes! He comes! He comes!" chanted the Brothers in chorus. + +The sound of roaring died away, and an atmosphere of still and utter +cold established itself over all. Then Kalkmann, dark and unutterably +stern, turned in the dim light and faced the rest. + +"Asmodelius, our _Hauptbruder_, is about us," he cried in a voice that +even while it shook was yet a voice of iron; "Asmodelius is about us. +Make ready." + +There followed a pause in which no one stirred or spoke. A tall Brother +approached the Englishman; but Kalkmann held up his hand. + +"Let the eyes remain uncovered," he said, "in honour of so freely giving +himself." And to his horror Harris then realised for the first time that +his hands were already fastened to his sides. + +The Brother retreated again silently, and in the pause that followed all +the figures about him dropped to their knees, leaving him standing +alone, and as they dropped, in voices hushed with mingled reverence and +awe, they cried, softly, odiously, appallingly, the name of the Being +whom they momentarily expected to appear. + +Then, at the end of the room, where the windows seemed to have +disappeared so that he saw the stars, there rose into view far up +against the night sky, grand and terrible, the outline of a man. A kind +of grey glory enveloped it so that it resembled a steel-cased statue, +immense, imposing, horrific in its distant splendour; while, at the same +time, the face was so spiritually mighty, yet so proudly, so austerely +sad, that Harris felt as he stared, that the sight was more than his +eyes could meet, and that in another moment the power of vision would +fail him altogether, and he must sink into utter nothingness. + +So remote and inaccessible hung this figure that it was impossible to +gauge anything as to its size, yet at the same time so strangely close, +that when the grey radiance from its mightily broken visage, august and +mournful, beat down upon his soul, pulsing like some dark star with the +powers of spiritual evil, he felt almost as though he were looking into +a face no farther removed from him in space than the face of any one of +the Brothers who stood by his side. + +And then the room filled and trembled with sounds that Harris understood +full well were the failing voices of others who had preceded him in a +long series down the years. There came first a plain, sharp cry, as of a +man in the last anguish, choking for his breath, and yet, with the very +final expiration of it, breathing the name of the Worship--of the dark +Being who rejoiced to hear it. The cries of the strangled; the short, +running gasp of the suffocated; and the smothered gurgling of the +tightened throat, all these, and more, echoed back and forth between the +walls, the very walls in which he now stood a prisoner, a sacrificial +victim. The cries, too, not alone of the broken bodies, but--far +worse--of beaten, broken souls. And as the ghastly chorus rose and fell, +there came also the faces of the lost and unhappy creatures to whom they +belonged, and, against that curtain of pale grey light, he saw float +past him in the air, an array of white and piteous human countenances +that seemed to beckon and gibber at him as though he were already one of +themselves. + +Slowly, too, as the voices rose, and the pallid crew sailed past, that +giant form of grey descended from the sky and approached the room that +contained the worshippers and their prisoner. Hands rose and sank about +him in the darkness, and he felt that he was being draped in other +garments than his own; a circlet of ice seemed to run about his head, +while round the waist, enclosing the fastened arms, he felt a girdle +tightly drawn. At last, about his very throat, there ran a soft and +silken touch which, better than if there had been full light, and a +mirror held to his face, he understood to be the cord of sacrifice--and +of death. + +At this moment the Brothers, still prostrate upon the floor, began again +their mournful, yet impassioned chanting, and as they did so a strange +thing happened. For, apparently without moving or altering its position, +the huge Figure seemed, at once and suddenly, to be inside the room, +almost beside him, and to fill the space around him to the exclusion of +all else. + +He was now beyond all ordinary sensations of fear, only a drab feeling +as of death--the death of the soul--stirred in his heart. His thoughts +no longer even beat vainly for escape. The end was near, and he knew it. + +The dreadfully chanting voices rose about him in a wave: "We worship! We +adore! We offer!" The sounds filled his ears and hammered, almost +meaningless, upon his brain. + +Then the majestic grey face turned slowly downwards upon him, and his +very soul passed outwards and seemed to become absorbed in the sea of +those anguished eyes. At the same moment a dozen hands forced him to his +knees, and in the air before him he saw the arm of Kalkmann upraised, +and felt the pressure about his throat grow strong. + +It was in this awful moment, when he had given up all hope, and the help +of gods or men seemed beyond question, that a strange thing happened. +For before his fading and terrified vision there slid, as in a dream of +light,--yet without apparent rhyme or reason--wholly unbidden and +unexplained,--the face of that other man at the supper table of the +railway inn. And the sight, even mentally, of that strong, wholesome, +vigorous English face, inspired him suddenly with a new courage. + +It was but a flash of fading vision before he sank into a dark and +terrible death, yet, in some inexplicable way, the sight of that face +stirred in him unconquerable hope and the certainty of deliverance. It +was a face of power, a face, he now realised, of simple goodness such as +might have been seen by men of old on the shores of Galilee; a face, by +heaven, that could conquer even the devils of outer space. + +And, in his despair and abandonment, he called upon it, and called with +no uncertain accents. He found his voice in this overwhelming moment to +some purpose; though the words he actually used, and whether they were +in German or English, he could never remember. Their effect, +nevertheless, was instantaneous. The Brothers understood, and that grey +Figure of evil understood. + +For a second the confusion was terrific. There came a great shattering +sound. It seemed that the very earth trembled. But all Harris remembered +afterwards was that voices rose about him in the clamour of terrified +alarm-- + +"A man of power is among us! A man of God!" + +The vast sound was repeated--the rushing through space as of huge +projectiles--and he sank to the floor of the room, unconscious. The +entire scene had vanished, vanished like smoke over the roof of a +cottage when the wind blows. + +And, by his side, sat down a slight un-German figure,--the figure of the +stranger at the inn,--the man who had the "rather wonderful eyes." + + * * * * * + +When Harris came to himself he felt cold. He was lying under the open +sky, and the cool air of field and forest was blowing upon his face. He +sat up and looked about him. The memory of the late scene was still +horribly in his mind, but no vestige of it remained. No walls or ceiling +enclosed him; he was no longer in a room at all. There were no lamps +turned low, no cigar smoke, no black forms of sinister worshippers, no +tremendous grey Figure hovering beyond the windows. + +Open space was about him, and he was lying on a pile of bricks and +mortar, his clothes soaked with dew, and the kind stars shining brightly +overhead. He was lying, bruised and shaken, among the heaped-up débris +of a ruined building. + +He stood up and stared about him. There, in the shadowy distance, lay +the surrounding forest, and here, close at hand, stood the outline of +the village buildings. But, underfoot, beyond question, lay nothing but +the broken heaps of stones that betokened a building long since crumbled +to dust. Then he saw that the stones were blackened, and that great +wooden beams, half burnt, half rotten, made lines through the general +débris. He stood, then, among the ruins of a burnt and shattered +building, the weeds and nettles proving conclusively that it had lain +thus for many years. + +The moon had already set behind the encircling forest, but the stars +that spangled the heavens threw enough light to enable him to make quite +sure of what he saw. Harris, the silk merchant, stood among these broken +and burnt stones and shivered. + +Then he suddenly became aware that out of the gloom a figure had risen +and stood beside him. Peering at him, he thought he recognised the face +of the stranger at the railway inn. + +"Are _you_ real?" he asked in a voice he hardly recognised as his own. + +"More than real--I'm friendly," replied the stranger; "I followed you up +here from the inn." + +Harris stood and stared for several minutes without adding anything. His +teeth chattered. The least sound made him start; but the simple words in +his own language, and the tone in which they were uttered, comforted him +inconceivably. + +"You're English too, thank God," he said inconsequently. "These German +devils--" He broke off and put a hand to his eyes. "But what's become +of them all--and the room--and--and--" The hand travelled down to his +throat and moved nervously round his neck. He drew a long, long breath +of relief. "Did I dream everything--everything?" he said distractedly. + +He stared wildly about him, and the stranger moved forward and took his +arm. "Come," he said soothingly, yet with a trace of command in the +voice, "we will move away from here. The high-road, or even the woods +will be more to your taste, for we are standing now on one of the most +haunted--and most terribly haunted--spots of the whole world." + +He guided his companion's stumbling footsteps over the broken masonry +until they reached the path, the nettles stinging their hands, and +Harris feeling his way like a man in a dream. Passing through the +twisted iron railing they reached the path, and thence made their way to +the road, shining white in the night. Once safely out of the ruins, +Harris collected himself and turned to look back. + +"But, how is it possible?" he exclaimed, his voice still shaking. "How +can it be possible? When I came in here I saw the building in the +moonlight. They opened the door. I saw the figures and heard the voices +and touched, yes touched their very hands, and saw their damned black +faces, saw them far more plainly than I see you now." He was deeply +bewildered. The glamour was still upon his eyes with a degree of reality +stronger than the reality even of normal life. "Was I so utterly +deluded?" + +Then suddenly the words of the stranger, which he had only half heard or +understood, returned to him. + +"Haunted?" he asked, looking hard at him; "haunted, did you say?" He +paused in the roadway and stared into the darkness where the building of +the old school had first appeared to him. But the stranger hurried him +forward. + +"We shall talk more safely farther on," he said. "I followed you from +the inn the moment I realised where you had gone. When I found you it +was eleven o'clock--" + +"Eleven o'clock," said Harris, remembering with a shudder. + +"--I saw you drop. I watched over you till you recovered consciousness +of your own accord, and now--now I am here to guide you safely back to +the inn. I have broken the spell--the glamour--" + +"I owe you a great deal, sir," interrupted Harris again, beginning to +understand something of the stranger's kindness, "but I don't understand +it all. I feel dazed and shaken." His teeth still chattered, and spells +of violent shivering passed over him from head to foot. He found that he +was clinging to the other's arm. In this way they passed beyond the +deserted and crumbling village and gained the high-road that led +homewards through the forest. + +"That school building has long been in ruins," said the man at his side +presently; "it was burnt down by order of the Elders of the community at +least ten years ago. The village has been uninhabited ever since. But +the simulacra of certain ghastly events that took place under that roof +in past days still continue. And the 'shells' of the chief participants +still enact there the dreadful deeds that led to its final destruction, +and to the desertion of the whole settlement. They were +devil-worshippers!" + +Harris listened with beads of perspiration on his forehead that did not +come alone from their leisurely pace through the cool night. Although he +had seen this man but once before in his life, and had never before +exchanged so much as a word with him, he felt a degree of confidence and +a subtle sense of safety and well-being in his presence that were the +most healing influences he could possibly have wished after the +experience he had been through. For all that, he still felt as if he +were walking in a dream, and though he heard every word that fell from +his companion's lips, it was only the next day that the full import of +all he said became fully clear to him. The presence of this quiet +stranger, the man with the wonderful eyes which he felt now, rather than +saw, applied a soothing anodyne to his shattered spirit that healed him +through and through. And this healing influence, distilled from the dark +figure at his side, satisfied his first imperative need, so that he +almost forgot to realise how strange and opportune it was that the man +should be there at all. + +It somehow never occurred to him to ask his name, or to feel any undue +wonder that one passing tourist should take so much trouble on behalf of +another. He just walked by his side, listening to his quiet words, and +allowing himself to enjoy the very wonderful experience after his recent +ordeal, of being helped, strengthened, blessed. Only once, remembering +vaguely something of his reading of years ago, he turned to the man +beside him, after some more than usually remarkable words, and heard +himself, almost involuntarily it seemed, putting the question: "Then are +you a Rosicrucian, sir, perhaps?" But the stranger had ignored the +words, or possibly not heard them, for he continued with his talk as +though unconscious of any interruption, and Harris became aware that +another somewhat unusual picture had taken possession of his mind, as +they walked there side by side through the cool reaches of the forest, +and that he had found his imagination suddenly charged with the +childhood memory of Jacob wrestling with an angel,--wrestling all night +with a being of superior quality whose strength eventually became his +own. + +"It was your abrupt conversation with the priest at supper that first +put me upon the track of this remarkable occurrence," he heard the +man's quiet voice beside him in the darkness, "and it was from him I +learned after you left the story of the devil-worship that became +secretly established in the heart of this simple and devout little +community." + +"Devil-worship! Here--!" Harris stammered, aghast. + +"Yes--here;--conducted secretly for years by a group of Brothers before +unexplained disappearances in the neighbourhood led to its discovery. +For where could they have found a safer place in the whole wide world +for their ghastly traffic and perverted powers than here, in the very +precincts--under cover of the very shadow of saintliness and holy +living?" + +"Awful, awful!" whispered the silk merchant, "and when I tell you the +words they used to me--" + +"I know it all," the stranger said quietly. "I saw and heard everything. +My plan first was to wait till the end and then to take steps for their +destruction, but in the interest of your personal safety,"--he spoke +with the utmost gravity and conviction,--"in the interest of the safety +of your soul, I made my presence known when I did, and before the +conclusion had been reached--" + +"My safety! The danger, then, was real. They were alive and--" Words +failed him. He stopped in the road and turned towards his companion, the +shining of whose eyes he could just make out in the gloom. + +"It was a concourse of the shells of violent men, spiritually developed +but evil men, seeking after death--the death of the body--to prolong +their vile and unnatural existence. And had they accomplished their +object you, in turn, at the death of your body, would have passed into +their power and helped to swell their dreadful purposes." + +Harris made no reply. He was trying hard to concentrate his mind upon +the sweet and common things of life. He even thought of silk and St. +Paul's Churchyard and the faces of his partners in business. + +"For you came all prepared to be caught," he heard the other's voice +like some one talking to him from a distance; "your deeply introspective +mood had already reconstructed the past so vividly, so intensely, that +you were _en rapport_ at once with any forces of those days that chanced +still to be lingering. And they swept you up all unresistingly." + +Harris tightened his hold upon the stranger's arm as he heard. At the +moment he had room for one emotion only. It did not seem to him odd that +this stranger should have such intimate knowledge of his mind. + +"It is, alas, chiefly the evil emotions that are able to leave their +photographs upon surrounding scenes and objects," the other added, "and +who ever heard of a place haunted by a noble deed, or of beautiful and +lovely ghosts revisiting the glimpses of the moon? It is unfortunate. +But the wicked passions of men's hearts alone seem strong enough to +leave pictures that persist; the good are ever too lukewarm." + +The stranger sighed as he spoke. But Harris, exhausted and shaken as he +was to the very core, paced by his side, only half listening. He moved +as in a dream still. It was very wonderful to him, this walk home under +the stars in the early hours of the October morning, the peaceful forest +all about them, mist rising here and there over the small clearings, and +the sound of water from a hundred little invisible streams filling in +the pauses of the talk. In after life he always looked back to it as +something magical and impossible, something that had seemed too +beautiful, too curiously beautiful, to have been quite true. And, though +at the time he heard and understood but a quarter of what the stranger +said, it came back to him afterwards, staying with him till the end of +his days, and always with a curious, haunting sense of unreality, as +though he had enjoyed a wonderful dream of which he could recall only +faint and exquisite portions. + +But the horror of the earlier experience was effectually dispelled; and +when they reached the railway inn, somewhere about three o'clock in the +morning, Harris shook the stranger's hand gratefully, effusively, +meeting the look of those rather wonderful eyes with a full heart, and +went up to his room, thinking in a hazy, dream-like way of the words +with which the stranger had brought their conversation to an end as they +left the confines of the forest-- + +"And if thought and emotion can persist in this way so long after the +brain that sent them forth has crumbled into dust, how vitally important +it must be to control their very birth in the heart, and guard them with +the keenest possible restraint." + +But Harris, the silk merchant, slept better than might have been +expected, and with a soundness that carried him half-way through the +day. And when he came downstairs and learned that the stranger had +already taken his departure, he realised with keen regret that he had +never once thought of asking his name. + +"Yes, he signed the visitors' book," said the girl in reply to his +question. + +And he turned over the blotted pages and found there, the last entry, in +a very delicate and individual handwriting-- + +"_John Silence_, London." + + + + +CASE II: THE CAMP OF THE DOG + + +I + +Islands of all shapes and sizes troop northward from Stockholm by the +hundred, and the little steamer that threads their intricate mazes in +summer leaves the traveller in a somewhat bewildered state as regards +the points of the compass when it reaches the end of its journey at +Waxholm. But it is only after Waxholm that the true islands begin, so to +speak, to run wild, and start up the coast on their tangled course of a +hundred miles of deserted loveliness, and it was in the very heart of +this delightful confusion that we pitched our tents for a summer +holiday. A veritable wilderness of islands lay about us: from the mere +round button of a rock that bore a single fir, to the mountainous +stretch of a square mile, densely wooded, and bounded by precipitous +cliffs; so close together often that a strip of water ran between no +wider than a country lane, or, again, so far that an expanse stretched +like the open sea for miles. + +Although the larger islands boasted farms and fishing stations, the +majority were uninhabited. Carpeted with moss and heather, their +coast-lines showed a series of ravines and clefts and little sandy bays, +with a growth of splendid pine-woods that came down to the water's edge +and led the eye through unknown depths of shadow and mystery into the +very heart of primitive forest. + +The particular islands to which we had camping rights by virtue of +paying a nominal sum to a Stockholm merchant lay together in a +picturesque group far beyond the reach of the steamer, one being a mere +reef with a fringe of fairy-like birches, and two others, cliff-bound +monsters rising with wooded heads out of the sea. The fourth, which we +selected because it enclosed a little lagoon suitable for anchorage, +bathing, night-lines, and what-not, shall have what description is +necessary as the story proceeds; but, so far as paying rent was +concerned, we might equally well have pitched our tents on any one of a +hundred others that clustered about us as thickly as a swarm of bees. + +It was in the blaze of an evening in July, the air clear as crystal, the +sea a cobalt blue, when we left the steamer on the borders of +civilisation and sailed away with maps, compasses, and provisions for +the little group of dots in the Skägård that were to be our home for the +next two months. The dinghy and my Canadian canoe trailed behind us, +with tents and dunnage carefully piled aboard, and when the point of +cliff intervened to hide the steamer and the Waxholm hotel we realised +for the first time that the horror of trains and houses was far behind +us, the fever of men and cities, the weariness of streets and confined +spaces. The wilderness opened up on all sides into endless blue reaches, +and the map and compasses were so frequently called into requisition +that we went astray more often than not and progress was enchantingly +slow. It took us, for instance, two whole days to find our +crescent-shaped home, and the camps we made on the way were so +fascinating that we left them with difficulty and regret, for each +island seemed more desirable than the one before it, and over all lay +the spell of haunting peace, remoteness from the turmoil of the world, +and the freedom of open and desolate spaces. + +And so many of these spots of world-beauty have I sought out and dwelt +in, that in my mind remains only a composite memory of their faces, a +true map of heaven, as it were, from which this particular one stands +forth with unusual sharpness because of the strange things that happened +there, and also, I think, because anything in which John Silence played +a part has a habit of fixing itself in the mind with a living and +lasting quality of vividness. + +For the moment, however, Dr. Silence was not of the party. Some private +case in the interior of Hungary claimed his attention, and it was not +till later--the 15th of August, to be exact--that I had arranged to meet +him in Berlin and then return to London together for our harvest of +winter work. All the members of our party, however, were known to him +more or less well, and on this third day as we sailed through the narrow +opening into the lagoon and saw the circular ridge of trees in a gold +and crimson sunset before us, his last words to me when we parted in +London for some unaccountable reason came back very sharply to my +memory, and recalled the curious impression of prophecy with which I had +first heard them: + +"Enjoy your holiday and store up all the force you can," he had said as +the train slipped out of Victoria; "and we will meet in Berlin on the +15th--unless you should send for me sooner." + +And now suddenly the words returned to me so clearly that it seemed I +almost heard his voice in my ear: "Unless you should send for me +sooner"; and returned, moreover, with a significance I was wholly at a +loss to understand that touched somewhere in the depths of my mind a +vague sense of apprehension that they had all along been intended in the +nature of a prophecy. + +In the lagoon, then, the wind failed us this July evening, as was only +natural behind the shelter of the belt of woods, and we took to the +oars, all breathless with the beauty of this first sight of our island +home, yet all talking in somewhat hushed voices of the best place to +land, the depth of water, the safest place to anchor, to put up the +tents in, the most sheltered spot for the camp-fires, and a dozen things +of importance that crop up when a home in the wilderness has actually to +be made. + +And during this busy sunset hour of unloading before the dark, the souls +of my companions adopted the trick of presenting themselves very vividly +anew before my mind, and introducing themselves afresh. + +In reality, I suppose, our party was in no sense singular. In the +conventional life at home they certainly seemed ordinary enough, but +suddenly, as we passed through these gates of the wilderness, I saw them +more sharply than before, with characters stripped of the atmosphere of +men and cities. A complete change of setting often furnishes a +startlingly new view of people hitherto held for well-known; they +present another facet of their personalities. I seemed to see my own +party almost as new people--people I had not known properly hitherto, +people who would drop all disguises and henceforth reveal themselves as +they really were. And each one seemed to say: "Now you will see me as I +am. You will see me here in this primitive life of the wilderness +without clothes. All my masks and veils I have left behind in the abodes +of men. So, look out for surprises!" + +The Reverend Timothy Maloney helped me to put up the tents, long +practice making the process easy, and while he drove in pegs and +tightened ropes, his coat off, his flannel collar flying open without a +tie, it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was cut out for +the life of a pioneer rather than the church. He was fifty years of age, +muscular, blue-eyed and hearty, and he took his share of the work, and +more, without shirking. The way he handled the axe in cutting down +saplings for the tent-poles was a delight to see, and his eye in judging +the level was unfailing. + +Bullied as a young man into a lucrative family living, he had in turn +bullied his mind into some semblance of orthodox beliefs, doing the +honours of the little country church with an energy that made one think +of a coal-heaver tending china; and it was only in the past few years +that he had resigned the living and taken instead to cramming young men +for their examinations. This suited him better. It enabled him, too, to +indulge his passion for spells of "wild life," and to spend the summer +months of most years under canvas in one part of the world or another +where he could take his young men with him and combine "reading" with +open air. + +His wife usually accompanied him, and there was no doubt she enjoyed +the trips, for she possessed, though in less degree, the same joy of the +wilderness that was his own distinguishing characteristic. The only +difference was that while he regarded it as the real life, she regarded +it as an interlude. While he camped out with his heart and mind, she +played at camping out with her clothes and body. None the less, she made +a splendid companion, and to watch her busy cooking dinner over the fire +we had built among the stones was to understand that her heart was in +the business for the moment and that she was happy even with the detail. + +Mrs. Maloney at home, knitting in the sun and believing that the world +was made in six days, was one woman; but Mrs. Maloney, standing with +bare arms over the smoke of a wood fire under the pine trees, was +another; and Peter Sangree, the Canadian pupil, with his pale skin, and +his loose, though not ungainly figure, stood beside her in very +unfavourable contrast as he scraped potatoes and sliced bacon with +slender white fingers that seemed better suited to hold a pen than a +knife. She ordered him about like a slave, and he obeyed, too, with +willing pleasure, for in spite of his general appearance of debility he +was as happy to be in camp as any of them. + +But more than any other member of the party, Joan Maloney, the daughter, +was the one who seemed a natural and genuine part of the landscape, who +belonged to it all just in the same way that the trees and the moss and +the grey rocks running out into the water belonged to it. For she was +obviously in her right and natural setting, a creature of the wilds, a +gipsy in her own home. + +To any one with a discerning eye this would have been more or less +apparent, but to me, who had known her during all the twenty-two years +of her life and was familiar with the ins and outs of her primitive, +utterly un-modern type, it was strikingly clear. To see her there made +it impossible to imagine her again in civilisation. I lost all +recollection of how she looked in a town. The memory somehow evaporated. +This slim creature before me, flitting to and fro with the grace of the +woodland life, swift, supple, adroit, on her knees blowing the fire, or +stirring the frying-pan through a veil of smoke, suddenly seemed the +only way I had ever really seen her. Here she was at home; in London she +became some one concealed by clothes, an artificial doll overdressed and +moving by clockwork, only a portion of her alive. Here she was alive all +over. + +I forget altogether how she was dressed, just as I forget how any +particular tree was dressed, or how the markings ran on any one of the +boulders that lay about the Camp. She looked just as wild and natural +and untamed as everything else that went to make up the scene, and more +than that I cannot say. + +Pretty, she was decidedly not. She was thin, skinny, dark-haired, and +possessed of great physical strength in the form of endurance. She had, +too, something of the force and vigorous purpose of a man, tempestuous +sometimes and wild to passionate, frightening her mother, and puzzling +her easy-going father with her storms of waywardness, while at the same +time she stirred his admiration by her violence. A pagan of the pagans +she was besides, and with some haunting suggestion of old-world pagan +beauty about her dark face and eyes. Altogether an odd and difficult +character, but with a generosity and high courage that made her very +lovable. + +In town life she always seemed to me to feel cramped, bored, a devil in +a cage, in her eyes a hunted expression as though any moment she dreaded +to be caught. But up in these spacious solitudes all this disappeared. +Away from the limitations that plagued and stung her, she would show at +her best, and as I watched her moving about the Camp I repeatedly found +myself thinking of a wild creature that had just obtained its freedom +and was trying its muscles. + +Peter Sangree, of course, at once went down before her. But she was so +obviously beyond his reach, and besides so well able to take care of +herself, that I think her parents gave the matter but little thought, +and he himself worshipped at a respectful distance, keeping admirable +control of his passion in all respects save one; for at his age the eyes +are difficult to master, and the yearning, almost the devouring, +expression often visible in them was probably there unknown even to +himself. He, better than any one else, understood that he had fallen in +love with something most hard of attainment, something that drew him to +the very edge of life, and almost beyond it. It, no doubt, was a secret +and terrible joy to him, this passionate worship from afar; only I think +he suffered more than any one guessed, and that his want of vitality was +due in large measure to the constant stream of unsatisfied yearning that +poured for ever from his soul and body. Moreover, it seemed to me, who +now saw them for the first time together, that there was an unnamable +something--an elusive quality of some kind--that marked them as +belonging to the same world, and that although the girl ignored him she +was secretly, and perhaps unknown to herself, drawn by some attribute +very deep in her own nature to some quality equally deep in his. + +This, then, was the party when we first settled down into our two +months' camp on the island in the Baltic Sea. Other figures flitted from +time to time across the scene, and sometimes one reading man, sometimes +another, came to join us and spend his four hours a day in the +clergyman's tent, but they came for short periods only, and they went +without leaving much trace in my memory, and certainly they played no +important part in what subsequently happened. + +The weather favoured us that night, so that by sunset the tents were up, +the boats unloaded, a store of wood collected and chopped into lengths, +and the candle-lanterns hung round ready for lighting on the trees. +Sangree, too, had picked deep mattresses of balsam boughs for the +women's beds, and had cleared little paths of brushwood from their tents +to the central fireplace. All was prepared for bad weather. It was a +cosy supper and a well-cooked one that we sat down to and ate under the +stars, and, according to the clergyman, the only meal fit to eat we had +seen since we left London a week before. + +The deep stillness, after that roar of steamers, trains, and tourists, +held something that thrilled, for as we lay round the fire there was no +sound but the faint sighing of the pines and the soft lapping of the +waves along the shore and against the sides of the boat in the lagoon. +The ghostly outline of her white sails was just visible through the +trees, idly rocking to and fro in her calm anchorage, her sheets +flapping gently against the mast. Beyond lay the dim blue shapes of +other islands floating in the night, and from all the great spaces about +us came the murmur of the sea and the soft breathing of great woods. The +odours of the wilderness--smells of wind and earth, of trees and water, +clean, vigorous, and mighty--were the true odours of a virgin world +unspoilt by men, more penetrating and more subtly intoxicating than any +other perfume in the whole world. Oh!--and dangerously strong, too, no +doubt, for some natures! + +"Ahhh!" breathed out the clergyman after supper, with an indescribable +gesture of satisfaction and relief. "Here there is freedom, and room for +body and mind to turn in. Here one can work and rest and play. Here one +can be alive and absorb something of the earth-forces that never get +within touching distance in the cities. By George, I shall make a +permanent camp here and come when it is time to die!" + +The good man was merely giving vent to his delight at being under +canvas. He said the same thing every year, and he said it often. But it +more or less expressed the superficial feelings of us all. And when, a +little later, he turned to compliment his wife on the fried potatoes, +and discovered that she was snoring, with her back against a tree, he +grunted with content at the sight and put a ground-sheet over her feet, +as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to fall asleep +after dinner, and then moved back to his own corner, smoking his pipe +with great satisfaction. + +And I, smoking mine too, lay and fought against the most delicious +sleep imaginable, while my eyes wandered from the fire to the stars +peeping through the branches, and then back again to the group about me. +The Rev. Timothy soon let his pipe go out, and succumbed as his wife had +done, for he had worked hard and eaten well. Sangree, also smoking, +leaned against a tree with his gaze fixed on the girl, a depth of +yearning in his face that he could not hide, and that really distressed +me for him. And Joan herself, with wide staring eyes, alert, full of the +new forces of the place, evidently keyed up by the magic of finding +herself among all the things her soul recognised as "home," sat rigid by +the fire, her thoughts roaming through the spaces, the blood stirring +about her heart. She was as unconscious of the Canadian's gaze as she +was that her parents both slept. She looked to me more like a tree, or +something that had grown out of the island, than a living girl of the +century; and when I spoke across to her in a whisper and suggested a +tour of investigation, she started and looked up at me as though she +heard a voice in her dreams. + +Sangree leaped up and joined us, and without waking the others we three +went over the ridge of the island and made our way down to the shore +behind. The water lay like a lake before us still coloured by the +sunset. The air was keen and scented, wafting the smell of the wooded +islands that hung about us in the darkening air. Very small waves +tumbled softly on the sand. The sea was sown with stars, and everywhere +breathed and pulsed the beauty of the northern summer night. I confess I +speedily lost consciousness of the human presences beside me, and I have +little doubt Joan did too. Only Sangree felt otherwise, I suppose, for +presently we heard him sighing; and I can well imagine that he absorbed +the whole wonder and passion of the scene into his aching heart, to +swell the pain there that was more searching even than the pain at the +sight of such matchless and incomprehensible beauty. + +The splash of a fish jumping broke the spell. + +"I wish we had the canoe now," remarked Joan; "we could paddle out to +the other islands." + +"Of course," I said; "wait here and I'll go across for it," and was +turning to feel my way back through the darkness when she stopped me in +a voice that meant what it said. + +"No; Mr. Sangree will get it. We will wait here and cooee to guide him." + +The Canadian was off in a moment, for she had only to hint of her wishes +and he obeyed. + +"Keep out from shore in case of rocks," I cried out as he went, "and +turn to the right out of the lagoon. That's the shortest way round by +the map." + +My voice travelled across the still waters and woke echoes in the +distant islands that came back to us like people calling out of space. +It was only thirty or forty yards over the ridge and down the other side +to the lagoon where the boats lay, but it was a good mile to coast round +the shore in the dark to where we stood and waited. We heard him +stumbling away among the boulders, and then the sounds suddenly ceased +as he topped the ridge and went down past the fire on the other side. + +"I didn't want to be left alone with him," the girl said presently in a +low voice. "I'm always afraid he's going to say or do something--" She +hesitated a moment, looking quickly over her shoulder towards the ridge +where he had just disappeared--"something that might lead to +unpleasantness." + +She stopped abruptly. + +"_You_ frightened, Joan!" I exclaimed, with genuine surprise. "This is a +new light on your wicked character. I thought the human being who could +frighten you did not exist." Then I suddenly realised she was talking +seriously--looking to me for help of some kind--and at once I dropped +the teasing attitude. + +"He's very far gone, I think, Joan," I added gravely. "You must be kind +to him, whatever else you may feel. He's exceedingly fond of you." + +"I know, but I can't help it," she whispered, lest her voice should +carry in the stillness; "there's something about him that--that makes me +feel creepy and half afraid." + +"But, poor man, it's not his fault if he is delicate and sometimes looks +like death," I laughed gently, by way of defending what I felt to be a +very innocent member of my sex. + +"Oh, but it's not that I mean," she answered quickly; "it's something I +feel about him, something in his soul, something he hardly knows +himself, but that may come out if we are much together. It draws me, I +feel, tremendously. It stirs what is wild in me--deep down--oh, very +deep down,--yet at the same time makes me feel afraid." + +"I suppose his thoughts are always playing about you," I said, "but he's +nice-minded and--" + +"Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently, "I can trust myself absolutely +with him. He's gentle and singularly pure-minded. But there's something +else that--" She stopped again sharply to listen. Then she came up close +beside me in the darkness, whispering-- + +"You know, Mr. Hubbard, sometimes my intuitions warn me a little too +strongly to be ignored. Oh, yes, you needn't tell me again that it's +difficult to distinguish between fancy and intuition. I know all that. +But I also know that there's something deep down in that man's soul that +calls to something deep down in mine. And at present it frightens me. +Because I cannot make out what it is; and I know, I _know_, he'll do +something some day that--that will shake my life to the very bottom." +She laughed a little at the strangeness of her own description. + +I turned to look at her more closely, but the darkness was too great to +show her face. There was an intensity, almost of suppressed passion, in +her voice that took me completely by surprise. + +"Nonsense, Joan," I said, a little severely; "you know him well. He's +been with your father for months now." + +"But that was in London; and up here it's different--I mean, I feel that +it may be different. Life in a place like this blows away the restraints +of the artificial life at home. I know, oh, I know what I'm saying. I +feel all untied in a place like this; the rigidity of one's nature +begins to melt and flow. Surely _you_ must understand what I mean!" + +"Of course I understand," I replied, yet not wishing to encourage her in +her present line of thought, "and it's a grand experience--for a short +time. But you're overtired to-night, Joan, like the rest of us. A few +days in this air will set you above all fears of the kind you mention." + +Then, after a moment's silence, I added, feeling I should estrange her +confidence altogether if I blundered any more and treated her like a +child-- + +"I think, perhaps, the true explanation is that you pity him for loving +you, and at the same time you feel the repulsion of the healthy, +vigorous animal for what is weak and timid. If he came up boldly and +took you by the throat and shouted that he would force you to love +him--well, then you would feel no fear at all. You would know exactly +how to deal with him. Isn't it, perhaps, something of that kind?" + +The girl made no reply, and when I took her hand I felt that it trembled +a little and was cold. + +"It's not his love that I'm afraid of," she said hurriedly, for at this +moment we heard the dip of a paddle in the water, "it's something in his +very soul that terrifies me in a way I have never been terrified +before,--yet fascinates me. In town I was hardly conscious of his +presence. But the moment we got away from civilisation, it began to +come. He seems so--so _real_ up here. I dread being alone with him. It +makes me feel that something must burst and tear its way out--that he +would do something--or I should do something--I don't know exactly what +I mean, probably,--but that I should let myself go and scream--" + +"Joan!" + +"Don't be alarmed," she laughed shortly; "I shan't do anything silly, +but I wanted to tell you my feelings in case I needed your help. When I +have intuitions as strong as this they are never wrong, only I don't +know yet what it means exactly." + +"You must hold out for the month, at any rate," I said in as +matter-of-fact a voice as I could manage, for her manner had somehow +changed my surprise to a subtle sense of alarm. "Sangree only stays the +month, you know. And, anyhow, you are such an odd creature yourself that +you should feel generously towards other odd creatures," I ended lamely, +with a forced laugh. + +She gave my hand a sudden pressure. "I'm glad I've told you at any +rate," she said quickly under her breath, for the canoe was now gliding +up silently like a ghost to our feet, "and I'm glad you're here, too," +she added as we moved down towards the water to meet it. + +I made Sangree change into the bows and got into the steering seat +myself, putting the girl between us so that I could watch them both by +keeping their outlines against the sea and stars. For the intuitions of +certain folk--women and children usually, I confess--I have always felt +a great respect that has more often than not been justified by +experience; and now the curious emotion stirred in me by the girl's +words remained somewhat vividly in my consciousness. I explained it in +some measure by the fact that the girl, tired out by the fatigue of many +days' travel, had suffered a vigorous reaction of some kind from the +strong, desolate scenery, and further, perhaps, that she had been +treated to my own experience of seeing the members of the party in a new +light--the Canadian, being partly a stranger, more vividly than the rest +of us. But, at the same time, I felt it was quite possible that she had +sensed some subtle link between his personality and her own, some +quality that she had hitherto ignored and that the routine of town life +had kept buried out of sight. The only thing that seemed difficult to +explain was the fear she had spoken of, and this I hoped the wholesome +effects of camp-life and exercise would sweep away naturally in the +course of time. + +We made the tour of the island without speaking. It was all too +beautiful for speech. The trees crowded down to the shore to hear us +pass. We saw their fine dark heads, bowed low with splendid dignity to +watch us, forgetting for a moment that the stars were caught in the +needled network of their hair. Against the sky in the west, where still +lingered the sunset gold, we saw the wild toss of the horizon, shaggy +with forest and cliff, gripping the heart like the motive in a symphony, +and sending the sense of beauty all a-shiver through the mind--all these +surrounding islands standing above the water like low clouds, and like +them seeming to post along silently into the engulfing night. We heard +the musical drip-drip of the paddle, and the little wash of our waves on +the shore, and then suddenly we found ourselves at the opening of the +lagoon again, having made the complete circuit of our home. + +The Reverend Timothy had awakened from sleep and was singing to himself; +and the sound of his voice as we glided down the fifty yards of enclosed +water was pleasant to hear and undeniably wholesome. We saw the glow of +the fire up among the trees on the ridge, and his shadow moving about as +he threw on more wood. + +"There you are!" he called aloud. "Good again! Been setting the +night-lines, eh? Capital! And your mother's still fast asleep, Joan." + +His cheery laugh floated across the water; he had not been in the least +disturbed by our absence, for old campers are not easily alarmed. + +"Now, remember," he went on, after we had told our little tale of travel +by the fire, and Mrs. Maloney had asked for the fourth time exactly +where her tent was and whether the door faced east or south, "every one +takes their turn at cooking breakfast, and one of the men is always out +at sunrise to catch it first. Hubbard, I'll toss you which you do in the +morning and which I do!" He lost the toss. "Then I'll catch it," I said, +laughing at his discomfiture, for I knew he loathed stirring porridge. +"And mind you don't burn it as you did every blessed time last year on +the Volga," I added by way of reminder. + +Mrs. Maloney's fifth interruption about the door of her tent, and her +further pointed observation that it was past nine o'clock, set us +lighting lanterns and putting the fire out for safety. + +But before we separated for the night the clergyman had a time-honoured +little ritual of his own to go through that no one had the heart to deny +him. He always did this. It was a relic of his pulpit habits. He glanced +briefly from one to the other of us, his face grave and earnest, his +hands lifted to the stars and his eyes all closed and puckered up +beneath a momentary frown. Then he offered up a short, almost inaudible +prayer, thanking Heaven for our safe arrival, begging for good weather, +no illness or accidents, plenty of fish, and strong sailing winds. + +And then, unexpectedly--no one knew why exactly--he ended up with an +abrupt request that nothing from the kingdom of darkness should be +allowed to afflict our peace, and no evil thing come near to disturb us +in the night-time. + +And while he uttered these last surprising words, so strangely unlike +his usual ending, it chanced that I looked up and let my eyes wander +round the group assembled about the dying fire. And it certainly seemed +to me that Sangree's face underwent a sudden and visible alteration. He +was staring at Joan, and as he stared the change ran over it like a +shadow and was gone. I started in spite of myself, for something oddly +concentrated, potent, collected, had come into the expression usually so +scattered and feeble. But it was all swift as a passing meteor, and when +I looked a second time his face was normal and he was looking among the +trees. + +And Joan, luckily, had not observed him, her head being bowed and her +eyes tightly closed while her father prayed. + +"The girl has a vivid imagination indeed," I thought, half laughing, as +I lit the lanterns, "if her thoughts can put a glamour upon mine in this +way"; and yet somehow, when we said good-night, I took occasion to give +her a few vigorous words of encouragement, and went to her tent to make +sure I could find it quickly in the night in case anything happened. In +her quick way the girl understood and thanked me, and the last thing I +heard as I moved off to the men's quarters was Mrs. Maloney crying that +there were beetles in her tent, and Joan's laughter as she went to help +her turn them out. + +Half an hour later the island was silent as the grave, but for the +mournful voices of the wind as it sighed up from the sea. Like white +sentries stood the three tents of the men on one side of the ridge, and +on the other side, half hidden by some birches, whose leaves just +shivered as the breeze caught them, the women's tents, patches of +ghostly grey, gathered more closely together for mutual shelter and +protection. Something like fifty yards of broken ground, grey rock, moss +and lichen, lay between, and over all lay the curtain of the night and +the great whispering winds from the forests of Scandinavia. + +And the very last thing, just before floating away on that mighty wave +that carries one so softly off into the deeps of forgetfulness, I again +heard the voice of John Silence as the train moved out of Victoria +Station; and by some subtle connection that met me on the very threshold +of consciousness there rose in my mind simultaneously the memory of the +girl's half-given confidence, and of her distress. As by some wizardry +of approaching dreams they seemed in that instant to be related; but +before I could analyse the why and the wherefore, both sank away out of +sight again, and I was off beyond recall. + +"Unless you should send for me sooner." + + +II + +Whether Mrs. Maloney's tent door opened south or east I think she never +discovered, for it is quite certain she always slept with the flap +tightly fastened; I only know that my own little "five by seven, all +silk" faced due east, because next morning the sun, pouring in as only +the wilderness sun knows how to pour, woke me early, and a moment later, +with a short run over soft moss and a flying dive from the granite +ledge, I was swimming in the most sparkling water imaginable. + +It was barely four o'clock, and the sun came down a long vista of blue +islands that led out to the open sea and Finland. Nearer by rose the +wooded domes of our own property, still capped and wreathed with smoky +trails of fast-melting mist, and looking as fresh as though it was the +morning of Mrs. Maloney's Sixth Day and they had just issued, clean and +brilliant, from the hands of the great Architect. + +In the open spaces the ground was drenched with dew, and from the sea a +cool salt wind stole in among the trees and set the branches trembling +in an atmosphere of shimmering silver. The tents shone white where the +sun caught them in patches. Below lay the lagoon, still dreaming of the +summer night; in the open the fish were jumping busily, sending musical +ripples towards the shore; and in the air hung the magic of +dawn--silent, incommunicable. + +I lit the fire, so that an hour later the clergyman should find good +ashes to stir his porridge over, and then set forth upon an examination +of the island, but hardly had I gone a dozen yards when I saw a figure +standing a little in front of me where the sunlight fell in a pool among +the trees. + +It was Joan. She had already been up an hour, she told me, and had +bathed before the last stars had left the sky. I saw at once that the +new spirit of this solitary region had entered into her, banishing the +fears of the night, for her face was like the face of a happy denizen of +the wilderness, and her eyes stainless and shining. Her feet were bare, +and drops of dew she had shaken from the branches hung in her +loose-flying hair. Obviously she had come into her own. + +"I've been all over the island," she announced laughingly, "and there +are two things wanting." + +"You're a good judge, Joan. What are they?" + +"There's no animal life, and there's no--water." + +"They go together," I said. "Animals don't bother with a rock like this +unless there's a spring on it." + +And as she led me from place to place, happy and excited, leaping +adroitly from rock to rock, I was glad to note that my first impressions +were correct. She made no reference to our conversation of the night +before. The new spirit had driven out the old. There was no room in her +heart for fear or anxiety, and Nature had everything her own way. + +The island, we found, was some three-quarters of a mile from point to +point, built in a circle, or wide horseshoe, with an opening of twenty +feet at the mouth of the lagoon. Pine-trees grew thickly all over, but +here and there were patches of silver birch, scrub oak, and +considerable colonies of wild raspberry and gooseberry bushes. The two +ends of the horseshoe formed bare slabs of smooth granite running into +the sea and forming dangerous reefs just below the surface, but the rest +of the island rose in a forty-foot ridge and sloped down steeply to the +sea on either side, being nowhere more than a hundred yards wide. + +The outer shore-line was much indented with numberless coves and bays +and sandy beaches, with here and there caves and precipitous little +cliffs against which the sea broke in spray and thunder. But the inner +shore, the shore of the lagoon, was low and regular, and so well +protected by the wall of trees along the ridge that no storm could ever +send more than a passing ripple along its sandy marges. Eternal shelter +reigned there. + +On one of the other islands, a few hundred yards away--for the rest of +the party slept late this first morning, and we took to the canoe--we +discovered a spring of fresh water untainted by the brackish flavour of +the Baltic, and having thus solved the most important problem of the +Camp, we next proceeded to deal with the second--fish. And in half an +hour we reeled in and turned homewards, for we had no means of storage, +and to clean more fish than may be stored or eaten in a day is no wise +occupation for experienced campers. + +And as we landed towards six o'clock we heard the clergyman singing as +usual and saw his wife and Sangree shaking out their blankets in the +sun, and dressed in a fashion that finally dispelled all memories of +streets and civilisation. + +"The Little People lit the fire for me," cried Maloney, looking natural +and at home in his ancient flannel suit and breaking off in the middle +of his singing, "so I've got the porridge going--and this time it's +_not_ burnt." + +We reported the discovery of water and held up the fish. + +"Good! Good again!" he cried. "We'll have the first decent breakfast +we've had this year. Sangree'll clean 'em in no time, and the Bo'sun's +Mate--" + +"Will fry them to a turn," laughed the voice of Mrs. Maloney, appearing +on the scene in a tight blue jersey and sandals, and catching up the +frying-pan. Her husband always called her the Bo'sun's Mate in Camp, +because it was her duty, among others, to pipe all hands to meals. + +"And as for you, Joan," went on the happy man, "you look like the spirit +of the island, with moss in your hair and wind in your eyes, and sun and +stars mixed in your face." He looked at her with delighted admiration. +"Here, Sangree, take these twelve, there's a good fellow, they're the +biggest; and we'll have 'em in butter in less time than you can say +Baltic island!" + +I watched the Canadian as he slowly moved off to the cleaning pail. His +eyes were drinking in the girl's beauty, and a wave of passionate, +almost feverish, joy passed over his face, expressive of the ecstasy of +true worship more than anything else. Perhaps he was thinking that he +still had three weeks to come with that vision always before his eyes; +perhaps he was thinking of his dreams in the night. I cannot say. But I +noticed the curious mingling of yearning and happiness in his eyes, and +the strength of the impression touched my curiosity. Something in his +face held my gaze for a second, something to do with its intensity. That +so timid, so gentle a personality should conceal so virile a passion +almost seemed to require explanation. + +But the impression was momentary, for that first breakfast in Camp +permitted no divided attentions, and I dare swear that the porridge, the +tea, the Swedish "flatbread," and the fried fish flavoured with points +of frizzled bacon, were better than any meal eaten elsewhere that day in +the whole world. + +The first clear day in a new camp is always a furiously busy one, and we +soon dropped into the routine upon which in large measure the real +comfort of every one depends. About the cooking-fire, greatly improved +with stones from the shore, we built a high stockade consisting of +upright poles thickly twined with branches, the roof lined with moss and +lichen and weighted with rocks, and round the interior we made low +wooden seats so that we could lie round the fire even in rain and eat +our meals in peace. Paths, too, outlined themselves from tent to tent, +from the bathing places and the landing stage, and a fair division of +the island was decided upon between the quarters of the men and the +women. Wood was stacked, awkward trees and boulders removed, hammocks +slung, and tents strengthened. In a word, Camp was established, and +duties were assigned and accepted as though we expected to live on this +Baltic island for years to come and the smallest detail of the Community +life was important. + +Moreover, as the Camp came into being, this sense of a community +developed, proving that we were a definite whole, and not merely +separate human beings living for a while in tents upon a desert island. +Each fell willingly into the routine. Sangree, as by natural selection, +took upon himself the cleaning of the fish and the cutting of the wood +into lengths sufficient for a day's use. And he did it well. The pan of +water was never without a fish, cleaned and scaled, ready to fry for +whoever was hungry; the nightly fire never died down for lack of +material to throw on without going farther afield to search. + +And Timothy, once reverend, caught the fish and chopped down the trees. +He also assumed responsibility for the condition of the boat, and did it +so thoroughly that nothing in the little cutter was ever found wanting. +And when, for any reason, his presence was in demand, the first place to +look for him was--in the boat, and there, too, he was usually found, +tinkering away with sheets, sails, or rudder and singing as he tinkered. + +'Nor was the "reading" neglected; for most mornings there came a sound +of droning voices form the white tent by the raspberry bushes, which +signified that Sangree, the tutor, and whatever other man chanced to be +in the party at the time, were hard at it with history or the classics. + +And while Mrs. Maloney, also by natural selection, took charge of the +larder and the kitchen, the mending and general supervision of the rough +comforts, she also made herself peculiarly mistress of the megaphone +which summoned to meals and carried her voice easily from one end of the +island to the other; and in her hours of leisure she daubed the +surrounding scenery on to a sketching block with all the honesty and +devotion of her determined but unreceptive soul. + +Joan, meanwhile, Joan, elusive creature of the wilds, became I know not +exactly what. She did plenty of work in the Camp, yet seemed to have no +very precise duties. She was everywhere and anywhere. Sometimes she +slept in her tent, sometimes under the stars with a blanket. She knew +every inch of the island and kept turning up in places where she was +least expected--for ever wandering about, reading her books in sheltered +corners, making little fires on sunless days to "worship by to the +gods," as she put it, ever finding new pools to dive and bathe in, and +swimming day and night in the warm and waveless lagoon like a fish in a +huge tank. She went bare-legged and bare-footed, with her hair down and +her skirts caught up to the knees, and if ever a human being turned into +a jolly savage within the compass of a single week, Joan Maloney was +certainly that human being. She ran wild. + +So completely, too, was she possessed by the strong spirit of the place +that the little human fear she had yielded to so strangely on our +arrival seemed to have been utterly dispossessed. As I hoped and +expected, she made no reference to our conversation of the first +evening. Sangree bothered her with no special attentions, and after all +they were very little together. His behaviour was perfect in that +respect, and I, for my part, hardly gave the matter another thought. +Joan was ever a prey to vivid fancies of one kind or another, and this +was one of them. Mercifully for the happiness of all concerned, it had +melted away before the spirit of busy, active life and deep content +that reigned over the island. Every one was intensely alive, and peace +was upon all. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile the effect of the camp-life began to tell. Always a searching +test of character, its results, sooner or later, are infallible, for it +acts upon the soul as swiftly and surely as the hypo bath upon the +negative of a photograph. A readjustment of the personal forces takes +place quickly; some parts of the personality go to sleep, others wake +up: but the first sweeping change that the primitive life brings about +is that the artificial portions of the character shed themselves one +after another like dead skins. Attitudes and poses that seemed genuine +in the city drop away. The mind, like the body, grows quickly hard, +simple, uncomplex. And in a camp as primitive and close to nature as +ours was, these effects became speedily visible. + +Some folk, of course, who talk glibly about the simple life when it is +safely out of reach, betray themselves in camp by for ever peering about +for the artificial excitements of civilisation which they miss. Some get +bored at once; some grow slovenly; some reveal the animal in most +unexpected fashion; and some, the select few, find themselves in very +short order and are happy. + +And, in our little party, we could flatter ourselves that we all +belonged to the last category, so far as the general effect was +concerned. Only there were certain other changes as well, varying with +each individual, and all interesting to note. + +It was only after the first week or two that these changes became +marked, although this is the proper place, I think, to speak of them. +For, having myself no other duty than to enjoy a well-earned holiday, I +used to load my canoe with blankets and provisions and journey forth on +exploration trips among the islands of several days together; and it was +on my return from the first of these--when I rediscovered the party, so +to speak--that these changes first presented themselves vividly to me, +and in one particular instance produced a rather curious impression. + +In a word, then, while every one had grown wilder, naturally wilder, +Sangree, it seemed to me, had grown much wilder, and what I can only +call unnaturally wilder. He made me think of a savage. + +To begin with, he had changed immensely in mere physical appearance, and +the full brown cheeks, the brighter eyes of absolute health, and the +general air of vigour and robustness that had come to replace his +customary lassitude and timidity, had worked such an improvement that I +hardly knew him for the same man. His voice, too, was deeper and his +manner bespoke for the first time a greater measure of confidence in +himself. He now had some claims to be called nice-looking, or at least +to a certain air of virility that would not lessen his value in the eyes +of the opposite sex. + +All this, of course, was natural enough, and most welcome. But, +altogether apart from this physical change, which no doubt had also been +going forward in the rest of us, there was a subtle note in his +personality that came to me with a degree of surprise that almost +amounted to shock. + +And two things--as he came down to welcome me and pull up the +canoe--leaped up in my mind unbidden, as though connected in some way I +could not at the moment divine--first, the curious judgment formed of +him by Joan; and secondly, that fugitive expression I had caught in his +face while Maloney was offering up his strange prayer for special +protection from Heaven. + +The delicacy of manner and feature--to call it by no milder term--which +had always been a distinguishing characteristic of the man, had been +replaced by something far more vigorous and decided, that yet utterly +eluded analysis. The change which impressed me so oddly was not easy to +name. The others--singing Maloney, the bustling Bo'sun's Mate, and Joan, +that fascinating half-breed of undine and salamander--all showed the +effects of a life so close to nature; but in their case the change was +perfectly natural and what was to be expected, whereas with Peter +Sangree, the Canadian, it was something unusual and unexpected. + +It is impossible to explain how he managed gradually to convey to my +mind the impression that something in him had turned savage, yet this, +more or less, is the impression that he did convey. It was not that he +seemed really less civilised, or that his character had undergone any +definite alteration, but rather that something in him, hitherto dormant, +had awakened to life. Some quality, latent till now--so far, at least, +as we were concerned, who, after all, knew him but slightly--had stirred +into activity and risen to the surface of his being. + +And while, for the moment, this seemed as far as I could get, it was but +natural that my mind should continue the intuitive process and +acknowledge that John Silence, owing to his peculiar faculties, and the +girl, owing to her singularly receptive temperament, might each in a +different way have divined this latent quality in his soul, and feared +its manifestation later. + +On looking back to this painful adventure, too, it now seems equally +natural that the same process, carried to its logical conclusion, should +have wakened some deep instinct in me that, wholly without direction +from my will, set itself sharply and persistently upon the watch from +that very moment. Thenceforward the personality of Sangree was never +far from my thoughts, and I was for ever analysing and searching for the +explanation that took so long in coming. + +"I declare, Hubbard, you're tanned like an aboriginal, and you look like +one, too," laughed Maloney. + +"And I can return the compliment," was my reply, as we all gathered +round a brew of tea to exchange news and compare notes. + +And later, at supper, it amused me to observe that the distinguished +tutor, once clergyman, did not eat his food quite as "nicely" as he did +at home--he devoured it; that Mrs. Maloney ate more, and, to say the +least, with less delay, than was her custom in the select atmosphere of +her English dining-room; and that while Joan attacked her tin plateful +with genuine avidity, Sangree, the Canadian, bit and gnawed at his, +laughing and talking and complimenting the cook all the while, and +making me think with secret amusement of a starved animal at its first +meal. While, from their remarks about myself, I judged that I had +changed and grown wild as much as the rest of them. + +In this and in a hundred other little ways the change showed, ways +difficult to define in detail, but all proving--not the coarsening +effect of leading the primitive life, but, let us say, the more direct +and unvarnished methods that became prevalent. For all day long we were +in the bath of the elements--wind, water, sun--and just as the body +became insensible to cold and shed unnecessary clothing, the mind grew +straightforward and shed many of the disguises required by the +conventions of civilisation. + +And in each, according to temperament and character, there stirred the +life-instincts that were natural, untamed, and, in a sense--savage. + + +III + +So it came about that I stayed with our island party, putting off my +second exploring trip from day to day, and I think that this far-fetched +instinct to watch Sangree was really the cause of my postponement. + +For another ten days the life of the Camp pursued its even and +delightful way, blessed by perfect summer weather, a good harvest of +fish, fine winds for sailing, and calm, starry nights. Maloney's selfish +prayer had been favourably received. Nothing came to disturb or perplex. +There was not even the prowling of night animals to vex the rest of Mrs. +Maloney; for in previous camps it had often been her peculiar affliction +that she heard the porcupines scratching against the canvas, or the +squirrels dropping fir-cones in the early morning with a sound of +miniature thunder upon the roof of her tent. But on this island there +was not even a squirrel or a mouse. I think two toads and a small and +harmless snake were the only living creatures that had been discovered +during the whole of the first fortnight. And these two toads in all +probability were not two toads, but one toad. + +Then, suddenly, came the terror that changed the whole aspect of the +place--the devastating terror. + +It came, at first, gently, but from the very start it made me realise +the unpleasant loneliness of our situation, our remote isolation in this +wilderness of sea and rock, and how the islands in this tideless Baltic +ocean lay about us like the advance guard of a vast besieging army. Its +entry, as I say, was gentle, hardly noticeable, in fact, to most of us: +singularly undramatic it certainly was. But, then, in actual life this +is often the way the dreadful climaxes move upon us, leaving the heart +undisturbed almost to the last minute, and then overwhelming it with a +sudden rush of horror. For it was the custom at breakfast to listen +patiently while each in turn related the trivial adventures of the +night--how they slept, whether the wind shook their tent, whether the +spider on the ridge pole had moved, whether they had heard the toad, and +so forth--and on this particular morning Joan, in the middle of a little +pause, made a truly novel announcement: + +"In the night I heard the howling of a dog," she said, and then flushed +up to the roots of her hair when we burst out laughing. For the idea of +there being a dog on this forsaken island that was only able to support +a snake and two toads was distinctly ludicrous, and I remember Maloney, +half-way through his burnt porridge, capping the announcement by +declaring that he had heard a "Baltic turtle" in the lagoon, and his +wife's expression of frantic alarm before the laughter undeceived her. + +But the next morning Joan repeated the story with additional and +convincing detail. + +"Sounds of whining and growling woke me," she said, "and I distinctly +heard sniffing under my tent, and the scratching of paws." + +"Oh, Timothy! Can it be a porcupine?" exclaimed the Bo'sun's Mate with +distress, forgetting that Sweden was not Canada. + +But the girl's voice had sounded to me in quite another key, and looking +up I saw that her father and Sangree were staring at her hard. They, +too, understood that she was in earnest, and had been struck by the +serious note in her voice. + +"Rubbish, Joan! You are always dreaming something or other wild," her +father said a little impatiently. + +"There's not an animal of any size on the whole island," added Sangree +with a puzzled expression. He never took his eyes from her face. + +"But there's nothing to prevent one swimming over," I put in briskly, +for somehow a sense of uneasiness that was not pleasant had woven itself +into the talk and pauses. "A deer, for instance, might easily land in +the night and take a look round--" + +"Or a bear!" gasped the Bo'sun's Mate, with a look so portentous that we +all welcomed the laugh. + +But Joan did not laugh. Instead, she sprang up and called to us to +follow. + +"There," she said, pointing to the ground by her tent on the side farthest +from her mother's; "there are the marks close to my head. You can +see for yourselves." + +We saw plainly. The moss and lichen--for earth there was hardly any--had +been scratched up by paws. An animal about the size of a large dog it +must have been, to judge by the marks. We stood and stared in a row. + +"Close to my head," repeated the girl, looking round at us. Her face, I +noticed, was very pale, and her lip seemed to quiver for an instant. +Then she gave a sudden gulp--and burst into a flood of tears. + +The whole thing had come about in the brief space of a few minutes, and +with a curious sense of inevitableness, moreover, as though it had all +been carefully planned from all time and nothing could have stopped it. +It had all been rehearsed before--had actually happened before, as the +strange feeling sometimes has it; it seemed like the opening movement in +some ominous drama, and that I knew exactly what would happen next. +Something of great moment was impending. + +For this sinister sensation of coming disaster made itself felt from the +very beginning, and an atmosphere of gloom and dismay pervaded the +entire Camp from that moment forward. + +I drew Sangree to one side and moved away, while Maloney took the +distressed girl into her tent, and his wife followed them, energetic and +greatly flustered. + +For thus, in undramatic fashion, it was that the terror I have spoken of +first attempted the invasion of our Camp, and, trivial and unimportant +though it seemed, every little detail of this opening scene is +photographed upon my mind with merciless accuracy and precision. It +happened exactly as described. This was exactly the language used. I see +it written before me in black and white. I see, too, the faces of all +concerned with the sudden ugly signature of alarm where before had been +peace. The terror had stretched out, so to speak, a first tentative +feeler toward us and had touched the hearts of each with a horrid +directness. And from this moment the Camp changed. + +Sangree in particular was visibly upset. He could not bear to see the +girl distressed, and to hear her actually cry was almost more than he +could stand. The feeling that he had no right to protect her hurt him +keenly, and I could see that he was itching to do something to help, and +liked him for it. His expression said plainly that he would tear in a +thousand pieces anything that dared to injure a hair of her head. + +We lit our pipes and strolled over in silence to the men's quarters, and +it was his odd Canadian expression "Gee whiz!" that drew my attention to +a further discovery. + +"The brute's been scratching round my tent too," he cried, as he pointed +to similar marks by the door and I stooped down to examine them. We both +stared in amazement for several minutes without speaking. + +"Only I sleep like the dead," he added, straightening up again, "and so +heard nothing, I suppose." + +We traced the paw-marks from the mouth of his tent in a direct line +across to the girl's, but nowhere else about the Camp was there a sign +of the strange visitor. The deer, dog, or whatever it was that had twice +favoured us with a visit in the night, had confined its attentions to +these two tents. And, after all, there was really nothing out of the way +about these visits of an unknown animal, for although our own island was +destitute of life, we were in the heart of a wilderness, and the +mainland and larger islands must be swarming with all kinds of +four-footed creatures, and no very prolonged swimming was necessary to +reach us. In any other country it would not have caused a moment's +interest--interest of the kind we felt, that is. In our Canadian camps +the bears were for ever grunting about among the provision bags at +night, porcupines scratching unceasingly, and chipmunks scuttling over +everything. + +"My daughter is overtired, and that's the truth of it," explained +Maloney presently when he rejoined us and had examined in turn the other +paw-marks. "She's been overdoing it lately, and camp-life, you know, +always means a great excitement to her. It's natural enough, if we take +no notice she'll be all right." He paused to borrow my tobacco pouch and +fill his pipe, and the blundering way he filled it and spilled the +precious weed on the ground visibly belied the calm of his easy +language. "You might take her out for a bit of fishing, Hubbard, like a +good chap; she's hardly up to the long day in the cutter. Show her some +of the other islands in your canoe, perhaps. Eh?" + +And by lunch-time the cloud had passed away as suddenly, and as +suspiciously, as it had come. + +But in the canoe, on our way home, having till then purposely ignored +the subject uppermost in our minds, she suddenly spoke to me in a way +that again touched the note of sinister alarm--the note that kept on +sounding and sounding until finally John Silence came with his great +vibrating presence and relieved it; yes, and even after he came, too, +for a while. + +"I'm ashamed to ask it," she said abruptly, as she steered me home, her +sleeves rolled up, her hair blowing in the wind, "and ashamed of my +silly tears too, because I really can't make out what caused them; but, +Mr. Hubbard, I want you to promise me not to go off for your long +expeditions--just yet. I beg it of you." She was so in earnest that she +forgot the canoe, and the wind caught it sideways and made us roll +dangerously. "I have tried hard not to ask this," she added, bringing +the canoe round again, "but I simply can't help myself." + +It was a good deal to ask, and I suppose my hesitation was plain; for +she went on before I could reply, and her beseeching expression and +intensity of manner impressed me very forcibly. + +"For another two weeks only--" + +"Mr. Sangree leaves in a fortnight," I said, seeing at once what she was +driving at, but wondering if it was best to encourage her or not. + +"If I knew you were to be on the island till then," she said, her face +alternately pale and blushing, and her voice trembling a little, "I +should feel so much happier." + +I looked at her steadily, waiting for her to finish. + +"And safer," she added almost in a whisper; "especially--at night, I +mean." + +"Safer, Joan?" I repeated, thinking I had never seen her eyes so soft +and tender. She nodded her head, keeping her gaze fixed on my face. + +It was really difficult to refuse, whatever my thoughts and judgment may +have been, and somehow I understood that she spoke with good reason, +though for the life of me I could not have put it into words. + +"Happier--and safer," she said gravely, the canoe giving a dangerous +lurch as she leaned forward in her seat to catch my answer. Perhaps, +after all, the wisest way was to grant her request and make light of it, +easing her anxiety without too much encouraging its cause. + +"All right, Joan, you queer creature; I promise," and the instant look +of relief in her face, and the smile that came back like sunlight to her +eyes, made me feel that, unknown to myself and the world, I was capable +of considerable sacrifice after all. + +"But, you know, there's nothing to be afraid of," I added sharply; and +she looked up in my face with the smile women use when they know we are +talking idly, yet do not wish to tell us so. + +"_You_ don't feel afraid, I know," she observed quietly. + +"Of course not; why should I?" + +"So, if you will just humour me this once I--I will never ask anything +foolish of you again as long as I live," she said gratefully. + +"You have my promise," was all I could find to say. + +She headed the nose of the canoe for the lagoon lying a quarter of a +mile ahead, and paddled swiftly; but a minute or two later she paused +again and stared hard at me with the dripping paddle across the thwarts. + +"You've not heard anything at night yourself, have you?" she asked. + +"I never hear anything at night," I replied shortly, "from the moment I +lie down till the moment I get up." + +"That dismal howling, for instance," she went on, determined to get it +out, "far away at first and then getting closer, and stopping just +outside the Camp?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Because, sometimes I think I almost dreamed it." + +"Most likely you did," was my unsympathetic response. + +"And you don't think father has heard it either, then?" + +"No. He would have told me if he had." + +This seemed to relieve her mind a little. "I know mother hasn't," she +added, as if speaking to herself, "for she hears nothing--ever." + + * * * * * + +It was two nights after this conversation that I woke out of deep sleep +and heard sounds of screaming. The voice was really horrible, breaking +the peace and silence with its shrill clamour. In less than ten seconds +I was half dressed and out of my tent. The screaming had stopped +abruptly, but I knew the general direction, and ran as fast as the +darkness would allow over to the women's quarters, and on getting close +I heard sounds of suppressed weeping. It was Joan's voice. And just as I +came up I saw Mrs. Maloney, marvellously attired, fumbling with a +lantern. Other voices became audible in the same moment behind me, and +Timothy Maloney arrived, breathless, less than half dressed, and +carrying another lantern that had gone out on the way from being banged +against a tree. Dawn was just breaking, and a chill wind blew in from +the sea. Heavy black clouds drove low overhead. + +The scene of confusion may be better imagined than described. Questions +in frightened voices filled the air against this background of +suppressed weeping. Briefly--Joan's silk tent had been torn, and the +girl was in a state bordering upon hysterics. Somewhat reassured by our +noisy presence, however,--for she was plucky at heart,--she pulled +herself together and tried to explain what had happened; and her broken +words, told there on the edge of night and morning upon this wild island +ridge, were oddly thrilling and distressingly convincing. + +"Something touched me and I woke," she said simply, but in a voice +still hushed and broken with the terror of it, "something pushing +against the tent; I felt it through the canvas. There was the same +sniffing and scratching as before, and I felt the tent give a little as +when wind shakes it. I heard breathing--very loud, very heavy +breathing--and then came a sudden great tearing blow, and the canvas +ripped open close to my face." + +She had instantly dashed out through the open flap and screamed at the +top of her voice, thinking the creature had actually got into the tent. +But nothing was visible, she declared, and she heard not the faintest +sound of an animal making off under cover of the darkness. The brief +account seemed to exercise a paralysing effect upon us all as we +listened to it. I can see the dishevelled group to this day, the wind +blowing the women's hair, and Maloney craning his head forward to +listen, and his wife, open-mouthed and gasping, leaning against a pine +tree. + +"Come over to the stockade and we'll get the fire going," I said; +"that's the first thing," for we were all shaking with the cold in our +scanty garments. And at that moment Sangree arrived wrapped in a blanket +and carrying his gun; he was still drunken with sleep. + +"The dog again," Maloney explained briefly, forestalling his questions; +"been at Joan's tent. Torn it, by Gad! this time. It's time we did +something." He went on mumbling confusedly to himself. + +Sangree gripped his gun and looked about swiftly in the darkness. I saw +his eyes aflame in the glare of the flickering lanterns. He made a +movement as though to start out and hunt--and kill. Then his glance fell +on the girl crouching on the ground, her face hidden in her hands, and +there leaped into his features an expression of savage anger that +transformed them. He could have faced a dozen lions with a walking stick +at that moment, and again I liked him for the strength of his anger, his +self-control, and his hopeless devotion. + +But I stopped him going off on a blind and useless chase. + +"Come and help me start the fire, Sangree," I said, anxious also to +relieve the girl of our presence; and a few minutes later the ashes, +still growing from the night's fire, had kindled the fresh wood, and +there was a blaze that warmed us well while it also lit up the +surrounding trees within a radius of twenty yards. + +"I heard nothing," he whispered; "what in the world do you think it is? +It surely can't be only a dog!" + +"We'll find that out later," I said, as the others came up to the +grateful warmth; "the first thing is to make as big a fire as we can." + +Joan was calmer now, and her mother had put on some warmer, and less +miraculous, garments. And while they stood talking in low voices +Maloney and I slipped off to examine the tent. There was little enough +to see, but that little was unmistakable. Some animal had scratched up +the ground at the head of the tent, and with a great blow of a powerful +paw--a paw clearly provided with good claws--had struck the silk and +torn it open. There was a hole large enough to pass a fist and arm +through. + +"It can't be far away," Maloney said excitedly. "We'll organise a hunt +at once; this very minute." + +We hurried back to the fire, Maloney talking boisterously about his +proposed hunt. "There's nothing like prompt action to dispel alarm," he +whispered in my ear; and then turned to the rest of us. + +"We'll hunt the island from end to end at once," he said, with +excitement; "that's what we'll do. The beast can't be far away. And the +Bo'sun's Mate and Joan must come too, because they can't be left alone. +Hubbard, you take the right shore, and you, Sangree, the left, and I'll +go in the middle with the women. In this way we can stretch clean across +the ridge, and nothing bigger than a rabbit can possibly escape us." He +was extraordinarily excited, I thought. Anything affecting Joan, of +course, stirred him prodigiously. "Get your guns and we'll start the +drive at once," he cried. He lit another lantern and handed one each to +his wife and Joan, and while I ran to fetch my gun I heard him singing +to himself with the excitement of it all. + +Meanwhile the dawn had come on quickly. It made the flickering lanterns +look pale. The wind, too, was rising, and I heard the trees moaning +overhead and the waves breaking with increasing clamour on the shore. In +the lagoon the boat dipped and splashed, and the sparks from the fire +were carried aloft in a stream and scattered far and wide. + +We made our way to the extreme end of the island, measured our distances +carefully, and then began to advance. None of us spoke. Sangree and I, +with cocked guns, watched the shore lines, and all within easy touch and +speaking distance. It was a slow and blundering drive, and there were +many false alarms, but after the best part of half an hour we stood on +the farther end, having made the complete tour, and without putting up +so much as a squirrel. Certainly there was no living creature on that +island but ourselves. + +"I know what it is!" cried Maloney, looking out over the dim expanse of +grey sea, and speaking with the air of a man making a discovery; "it's a +dog from one of the farms on the larger islands"--he pointed seawards +where the archipelago thickened--"and it's escaped and turned wild. Our +fires and voices attracted it, and it's probably half starved as well as +savage, poor brute!" + +No one said anything in reply, and he began to sing again very low to +himself. + +The point where we stood--a huddled, shivering group--faced the wider +channels that led to the open sea and Finland. The grey dawn had broken +in earnest at last, and we could see the racing waves with their angry +crests of white. The surrounding islands showed up as dark masses in the +distance, and in the east, almost as Maloney spoke, the sun came up with +a rush in a stormy and magnificent sky of red and gold. Against this +splashed and gorgeous background black clouds, shaped like fantastic and +legendary animals, filed past swiftly in a tearing stream, and to this +day I have only to close my eyes to see again that vivid and hurrying +procession in the air. All about us the pines made black splashes +against the sky. It was an angry sunrise. Rain, indeed, had already +begun to fall in big drops. + +We turned, as by a common instinct, and, without speech, made our way +back slowly to the stockade, Maloney humming snatches of his songs, +Sangree in front with his gun, prepared to shoot at a moment's notice, +and the women floundering in the rear with myself and the extinguished +lanterns. + +Yet it was only a dog! + +Really, it was most singular when one came to reflect soberly upon it +all. Events, say the occultists, have souls, or at least that +agglomerate life due to the emotions and thoughts of all concerned in +them, so that cities, and even whole countries, have great astral shapes +which may become visible to the eye of vision; and certainly here, the +soul of this drive--this vain, blundering, futile drive--stood somewhere +between ourselves and--laughed. + +All of us heard that laugh, and all of us tried hard to smother the +sound, or at least to ignore it. Every one talked at once, loudly, and +with exaggerated decision, obviously trying to say something plausible +against heavy odds, striving to explain naturally that an animal might +so easily conceal itself from us, or swim away before we had time to +light upon its trail. For we all spoke of that "trail" as though it +really existed, and we had more to go upon than the mere marks of paws +about the tents of Joan and the Canadian. Indeed, but for these, and the +torn tent, I think it would, of course, have been possible to ignore the +existence of this beast intruder altogether. + +And it was here, under this angry dawn, as we stood in the shelter of +the stockade from the pouring rain, weary yet so strangely excited--it +was here, out of this confusion of voices and explanations, that--very +stealthily--the ghost of something horrible slipped in and stood among +us. It made all our explanations seem childish and untrue; the false +relation was instantly exposed. Eyes exchanged quick, anxious glances, +questioning, expressive of dismay. There was a sense of wonder, of +poignant distress, and of trepidation. Alarm stood waiting at our +elbows. We shivered. + +Then, suddenly, as we looked into each other's faces, came the long, +unwelcome pause in which this new arrival established itself in our +hearts. + +And, without further speech, or attempt at explanation, Maloney moved +off abruptly to mix the porridge for an early breakfast; Sangree to +clean the fish; myself to chop wood and tend the fire; Joan and her +mother to change their wet garments; and, most significant of all, to +prepare her mother's tent for its future complement of two. + +Each went to his duty, but hurriedly, awkwardly, silently; and this new +arrival, this shape of terror and distress stalked, viewless, by the +side of each. + +"If only I could have traced that dog," I think was the thought in the +minds of all. + +But in Camp, where every one realises how important the individual +contribution is to the comfort and well-being of all, the mind speedily +recovers tone and pulls itself together. + +During the day, a day of heavy and ceaseless rain, we kept more or less +to our tents, and though there were signs of mysterious conferences +between the three members of the Maloney family, I think that most of us +slept a good deal and stayed alone with his thoughts. Certainly, I did, +because when Maloney came to say that his wife invited us all to a +special "tea" in her tent, he had to shake me awake before I realised +that he was there at all. + +And by supper-time we were more or less even-minded again, and almost +jolly. I only noticed that there was an undercurrent of what is best +described as "jumpiness," and that the merest snapping of a twig, or +plop of a fish in the lagoon, was sufficient to make us start and look +over our shoulders. Pauses were rare in our talk, and the fire was never +for one instant allowed to get low. The wind and rain had ceased, but +the dripping of the branches still kept up an excellent imitation of a +downpour. In particular, Maloney was vigilant and alert, telling us a +series of tales in which the wholesome humorous element was especially +strong. He lingered, too, behind with me after Sangree had gone to bed, +and while I mixed myself a glass of hot Swedish punch, he did a thing I +had never known him do before--he mixed one for himself, and then asked +me to light him over to his tent. We said nothing on the way, but I felt +that he was glad of my companionship. + +I returned alone to the stockade, and for a long time after that kept +the fire blazing, and sat up smoking and thinking. I hardly knew why; +but sleep was far from me for one thing, and for another, an idea was +taking form in my mind that required the comfort of tobacco and a +bright fire for its growth. I lay against a corner of the stockade +seat, listening to the wind whispering and to the ceaseless drip-drip of +the trees. The night, otherwise, was very still, and the sea quiet as a +lake. I remember that I was conscious, peculiarly conscious, of this +host of desolate islands crowding about us in the darkness, and that we +were the one little spot of humanity in a rather wonderful kind of +wilderness. + +But this, I think, was the only symptom that came to warn me of highly +strung nerves, and it certainly was not sufficiently alarming to destroy +my peace of mind. One thing, however, did come to disturb my peace, for +just as I finally made ready to go, and had kicked the embers of the +fire into a last effort, I fancied I saw, peering at me round the +farther end of the stockade wall, a dark and shadowy mass that might +have been--that strongly resembled, in fact--the body of a large animal. +Two glowing eyes shone for an instant in the middle of it. But the next +second I saw that it was merely a projecting mass of moss and lichen in +the wall of our stockade, and the eyes were a couple of wandering sparks +from the dying ashes I had kicked. It was easy enough, too, to imagine I +saw an animal moving here and there between the trees, as I picked my +way stealthily to my tent. Of course, the shadows tricked me. + +And though it was after one o'clock, Maloney's light was still burning, +for I saw his tent shining white among the pines. + +It was, however, in the short space between consciousness and +sleep--that time when the body is low and the voices of the submerged +region tell sometimes true--that the idea which had been all this while +maturing reached the point of an actual decision, and I suddenly +realised that I had resolved to send word to Dr. Silence. For, with a +sudden wonder that I had hitherto been so blind, the unwelcome +conviction dawned upon me all at once that some dreadful thing was +lurking about us on this island, and that the safety of at least one of +us was threatened by something monstrous and unclean that was too +horrible to contemplate. And, again remembering those last words of his +as the train moved out of the platform, I understood that Dr. Silence +would hold himself in readiness to come. + +"Unless you should send for me sooner," he had said. + + * * * * * + +I found myself suddenly wide awake. It is impossible to say what woke +me, but it was no gradual process, seeing that I jumped from deep sleep +to absolute alertness in a single instant. I had evidently slept for an +hour and more, for the night had cleared, stars crowded the sky, and a +pallid half-moon just sinking into the sea threw a spectral light +between the trees. + +I went outside to sniff the air, and stood upright. A curious +impression that something was astir in the Camp came over me, and when I +glanced across at Sangree's tent, some twenty feet away, I saw that it +was moving. He too, then, was awake and restless, for I saw the canvas +sides bulge this way and that as he moved within. + +The flap pushed forward. He was coming out, like myself, to sniff +the air; and I was not surprised, for its sweetness after the rain was +intoxicating. And he came on all fours, just as I had done. I saw a head +thrust round the edge of the tent. + +And then I saw that it was not Sangree at all. It was an animal. And the +same instant I realised something else too--it was _the_ animal; and its +whole presentment for some unaccountable reason was unutterably malefic. + +A cry I was quite unable to suppress escaped me, and the creature turned +on the instant and stared at me with baleful eyes. I could have dropped +on the spot, for the strength all ran out of my body with a rush. +Something about it touched in me the living terror that grips and +paralyses. If the mind requires but the tenth of a second to form an +impression, I must have stood there stockstill for several seconds while +I seized the ropes for support and stared. Many and vivid impressions +flashed through my mind, but not one of them resulted in action, because +I was in instant dread that the beast any moment would leap in my +direction and be upon me. Instead, however, after what seemed a vast +period, it slowly turned its eyes from my face, uttered a low whining +sound, and came out altogether into the open. + +Then, for the first time, I saw it in its entirety and noted two things: +it was about the size of a large dog, but at the same time it was +utterly unlike any animal that I had ever seen. Also, that the quality +that had impressed me first as being malefic was really only its +singular and original strangeness. Foolish as it may sound, and +impossible as it is for me to adduce proof, I can only say that the +animal seemed to me then to be--not real. + +But all this passed through my mind in a flash, almost subconsciously, +and before I had time to check my impressions, or even properly verify +them, I made an involuntary movement, catching the tight rope in my hand +so that it twanged like a banjo string, and in that instant the creature +turned the corner of Sangree's tent and was gone into the darkness. + +Then, of course, my senses in some measure returned to me, and I +realised only one thing: it had been inside his tent! + +I dashed out, reached the door in half a dozen strides, and looked in. +The Canadian, thank God! lay upon his bed of branches. His arm was +stretched outside, across the blankets, the fist tightly clenched, and +the body had an appearance of unusual rigidity that was alarming. On his +face there was an expression of effort, almost of painful effort, so far +as the uncertain light permitted me to see, and his sleep seemed to be +very profound. He looked, I thought, so stiff, so unnaturally stiff, and +in some indefinable way, too, he looked smaller--shrunken. + +I called to him to wake, but called many times in vain. Then I decided +to shake him, and had already moved forward to do so vigorously when +there came a sound of footsteps padding softly behind me, and I felt a +stream of hot breath burn my neck as I stooped. I turned sharply. The +tent door was darkened and something silently swept in. I felt a rough +and shaggy body push past me, and knew that the animal had returned. It +seemed to leap forward between me and Sangree--in fact, to leap upon +Sangree, for its dark body hid him momentarily from view, and in that +moment my soul turned sick and coward with a horror that rose from the +very dregs and depths of life, and gripped my existence at its central +source. + +The creature seemed somehow to melt away into him, almost as though it +belonged to him and were a part of himself, but in the same +instant--that instant of extraordinary confusion and terror in my +mind--it seemed to pass over and behind him, and, in some utterly +unaccountable fashion, it was gone. And the Canadian woke and sat up +with a start. + +"Quick! You fool!" I cried, in my excitement, "the beast has been in +your tent, here at your very throat while you sleep like the dead. Up, +man! Get your gun! Only this second it disappeared over there behind +your head. Quick! or Joan--!" + +And somehow the fact that he was there, wide-awake now, to corroborate +me, brought the additional conviction to my own mind that this was no +animal, but some perplexing and dreadful form of life that drew upon my +deeper knowledge, that much reading had perhaps assented to, but that +had never yet come within actual range of my senses. + +He was up in a flash, and out. He was trembling, and very white. We +searched hurriedly, feverishly, but found only the traces of paw-marks +passing from the door of his own tent across the moss to the women's. +And the sight of the tracks about Mrs. Maloney's tent, where Joan now +slept, set him in a perfect fury. + +"Do you know what it is, Hubbard, this beast?" he hissed under his +breath at me; "it's a damned wolf, that's what it is--a wolf lost among +the islands, and starving to death--desperate. So help me God, I believe +it's that!" + +He talked a lot of rubbish in his excitement. He declared he would +sleep by day and sit up every night until he killed it. Again his rage +touched my admiration; but I got him away before he made enough noise to +wake the whole Camp. + +"I have a better plan than that," I said, watching his face closely. "I +don't think this is anything we can deal with. I'm going to send for the +only man I know who can help. We'll go to Waxholm this very morning and +get a telegram through." + +Sangree stared at me with a curious expression as the fury died out of +his face and a new look of alarm took its place. + +"John Silence," I said, "will know--" + +"You think it's something--of that sort?" he stammered. + +"I am sure of it." + +There was a moment's pause. "That's worse, far worse than anything +material," he said, turning visibly paler. He looked from my face to the +sky, and then added with sudden resolution, "Come; the wind's rising. +Let's get off at once. From there you can telephone to Stockholm and get +a telegram sent without delay." + +I sent him down to get the boat ready, and seized the opportunity myself +to run and wake Maloney. He was sleeping very lightly, and sprang up the +moment I put my head inside his tent. I told him briefly what I had +seen, and he showed so little surprise that I caught myself wondering +for the first time whether he himself had seen more going on than he had +deemed wise to communicate to the rest of us. + +He agreed to my plan without a moment's hesitation, and my last words to +him were to let his wife and daughter think that the great psychic +doctor was coming merely as a chance visitor, and not with any +professional interest. + +So, with frying-pan, provisions, and blankets aboard, Sangree and I +sailed out of the lagoon fifteen minutes later, and headed with a good +breeze for the direction of Waxholm and the borders of civilisation. + + +IV + +Although nothing John Silence did ever took me, properly speaking, by +surprise, it was certainly unexpected to find a letter from Stockholm +waiting for me. "I have finished my Hungary business," he wrote, "and am +here for ten days. Do not hesitate to send if you need me. If you +telephone any morning from Waxholm I can catch the afternoon steamer." + +My years of intercourse with him were full of "coincidences" of this +description, and although he never sought to explain them by claiming +any magical system of communication with my mind, I have never doubted +that there actually existed some secret telepathic method by which he +knew my circumstances and gauged the degree of my need. And that this +power was independent of time in the sense that it saw into the future, +always seemed to me equally apparent. + +Sangree was as much relieved as I was, and within an hour of sunset that +very evening we met him on the arrival of the little coasting steamer, +and carried him off in the dinghy to the camp we had prepared on a +neighbouring island, meaning to start for home early next morning. + +"Now," he said, when supper was over and we were smoking round the fire, +"let me hear your story." He glanced from one to the other, smiling. + +"You tell it, Mr. Hubbard," Sangree interrupted abruptly, and went off a +little way to wash the dishes, yet not so far as to be out of earshot. +And while he splashed with the hot water, and scraped the tin plates +with sand and moss, my voice, unbroken by a single question from Dr. +Silence, ran on for the next half-hour with the best account I could +give of what had happened. + +My listener lay on the other side of the fire, his face half hidden by a +big sombrero; sometimes he glanced up questioningly when a point needed +elaboration, but he uttered no single word till I had reached the end, +and his manner all through the recital was grave and attentive. +Overhead, the wash of the wind in the pine branches filled in the +pauses; the darkness settled down over the sea, and the stars came out +in thousands, and by the time I finished the moon had risen to flood the +scene with silver. Yet, by his face and eyes, I knew quite well that the +doctor was listening to something he had expected to hear, even if he +had not actually anticipated all the details. + +"You did well to send for me," he said very low, with a significant +glance at me when I finished; "very well,"--and for one swift second his +eye took in Sangree,--"for what we have to deal with here is nothing +more than a werewolf--rare enough, I am glad to say, but often very sad, +and sometimes very terrible." + +I jumped as though I had been shot, but the next second was heartily +ashamed of my want of control; for this brief remark, confirming as it +did my own worst suspicions, did more to convince me of the gravity of +the adventure than any number of questions or explanations. It seemed to +draw close the circle about us, shutting a door somewhere that locked us +in with the animal and the horror, and turning the key. Whatever it was +had now to be faced and dealt with. + +"No one has been actually injured so far?" he asked aloud, but in a +matter-of-fact tone that lent reality to grim possibilities. + +"Good heavens, no!" cried the Canadian, throwing down his dishcloths +and coming forward into the circle of firelight. "Surely there can be no +question of this poor starved beast injuring anybody, can there?" + +His hair straggled untidily over his forehead, and there was a gleam in +his eyes that was not all reflection from the fire. His words made me +turn sharply. We all laughed a little short, forced laugh. + +"I trust not, indeed," Dr. Silence said quietly. "But what makes you +think the creature is starved?" He asked the question with his eyes +straight on the other's face. The prompt question explained to me why I +had started, and I waited with just a tremor of excitement for the +reply. + +Sangree hesitated a moment, as though the question took him by surprise. +But he met the doctor's gaze unflinchingly across the fire, and with +complete honesty. + +"Really," he faltered, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "I can +hardly tell you. The phrase seemed to come out of its own accord. I have +felt from the beginning that it was in pain and--starved, though why I +felt this never occurred to me till you asked." + +"You really know very little about it, then?" said the other, with a +sudden gentleness in his voice. + +"No more than that," Sangree replied, looking at him with a puzzled +expression that was unmistakably genuine. "In fact, nothing at all, +really," he added, by way of further explanation. + +"I am glad of that," I heard the doctor murmur under his breath, but so +low that I only just caught the words, and Sangree missed them +altogether, as evidently he was meant to do. + +"And now," he cried, getting on his feet and shaking himself with a +characteristic gesture, as though to shake out the horror and the +mystery, "let us leave the problem till to-morrow and enjoy this wind +and sea and stars. I've been living lately in the atmosphere of many +people, and feel that I want to wash and be clean. I propose a swim and +then bed. Who'll second me?" And two minutes later we were all diving +from the boat into cool, deep water, that reflected a thousand moons as +the waves broke away from us in countless ripples. + +We slept in blankets under the open sky, Sangree and I taking the +outside places, and were up before sunrise to catch the dawn wind. +Helped by this early start we were half-way home by noon, and then the +wind shifted to a few points behind us so that we fairly ran. In and out +among a thousand islands, down narrow channels where we lost the wind, +out into open spaces where we had to take in a reef, racing along under +a hot and cloudless sky, we flew through the very heart of the +bewildering and lonely scenery. + +"A real wilderness," cried Dr. Silence from his seat in the bows where +he held the jib sheet. His hat was off, his hair tumbled in the wind, +and his lean brown face gave him the touch of an Oriental. Presently he +changed places with Sangree, and came down to talk with me by the +tiller. + +"A wonderful region, all this world of islands," he said, waving his +hand to the scenery rushing past us, "but doesn't it strike you there's +something lacking?" + +"It's--hard," I answered, after a moment's reflection. "It has a +superficial, glittering prettiness, without--" I hesitated to find the +word I wanted. + +John Silence nodded his head with approval. + +"Exactly," he said. "The picturesqueness of stage scenery that is not +real, not alive. It's like a landscape by a clever painter, yet without +true imagination. Soulless--that's the word you wanted." + +"Something like that," I answered, watching the gusts of wind on the +sails. "Not dead so much, as without soul. That's it." + +"Of course," he went on, in a voice calculated, it seemed to me, not to +reach our companion in the bows, "to live long in a place like +this--long and alone--might bring about a strange result in some men." + +I suddenly realised he was talking with a purpose and pricked up my +ears. + +"There's no life here. These islands are mere dead rocks pushed up from +below the sea--not living land; and there's nothing really alive on +them. Even the sea, this tideless, brackish sea, neither salt water nor +fresh, is dead. It's all a pretty image of life without the real heart +and soul of life. To a man with too strong desires who came here and +lived close to nature, strange things might happen." + +"Let her out a bit," I shouted to Sangree, who was coming aft. "The +wind's gusty and we've got hardly any ballast." + +He went back to the bows, and Dr. Silence continued-- + +"Here, I mean, a long sojourn would lead to deterioration, to +degeneration. The place is utterly unsoftened by human influences, by +any humanising associations of history, good or bad. This landscape has +never awakened into life; it's still dreaming in its primitive sleep." + +"In time," I put in, "you mean a man living here might become brutal?" + +"The passions would run wild, selfishness become supreme, the instincts +coarsen and turn savage probably." + +"But--" + +"In other places just as wild, parts of Italy for instance, where there +are other moderating influences, it could not happen. The character +might grow wild, savage too in a sense, but with a human wildness one +could understand and deal with. But here, in a hard place like this, it +might be otherwise." He spoke slowly, weighing his words carefully. + +I looked at him with many questions in my eyes, and a precautionary cry +to Sangree to stay in the fore part of the boat, out of earshot. + +"First of all there would come callousness to pain, and indifference to +the rights of others. Then the soul would turn savage, not from +passionate human causes, or with enthusiasm, but by deadening down into +a kind of cold, primitive, emotionless savagery--by turning, like the +landscape, soulless." + +"And a man with strong desires, you say, might change?" + +"Without being aware of it, yes; he might turn savage, his instincts and +desires turn animal. And if"--he lowered his voice and turned for a +moment towards the bows, and then continued in his most weighty +manner--"owing to delicate health or other predisposing causes, his +Double--you know what I mean, of course--his etheric Body of Desire, or +astral body, as some term it--that part in which the emotions, passions +and desires reside--if this, I say, were for some constitutional reason +loosely joined to his physical organism, there might well take place an +occasional projection--" + +Sangree came aft with a sudden rush, his face aflame, but whether with +wind or sun, or with what he had heard, I cannot say. In my surprise I +let the tiller slip and the cutter gave a great plunge as she came +sharply into the wind and flung us all together in a heap on the bottom. +Sangree said nothing, but while he scrambled up and made the jib sheet +fast my companion found a moment to add to his unfinished sentence the +words, too low for any ear but mine-- + +"Entirely unknown to himself, however." + +We righted the boat and laughed, and then Sangree produced the map and +explained exactly where we were. Far away on the horizon, across an open +stretch of water, lay a blue cluster of islands with our crescent-shaped +home among them and the safe anchorage of the lagoon. An hour with this +wind would get us there comfortably, and while Dr. Silence and Sangree +fell into conversation, I sat and pondered over the strange suggestions +that had just been put into my mind concerning the "Double," and the +possible form it might assume when dissociated temporarily from the +physical body. + +The whole way home these two chatted, and John Silence was as gentle and +sympathetic as a woman. I did not hear much of their talk, for the wind +grew occasionally to the force of a hurricane and the sails and tiller +absorbed my attention; but I could see that Sangree was pleased and +happy, and was pouring out intimate revelations to his companion in the +way that most people did--when John Silence wished them to do so. + +But it was quite suddenly, while I sat all intent upon wind and sails, +that the true meaning of Sangree's remark about the animal flared up in +me with its full import. For his admission that he knew it was in pain +and starved was in reality nothing more or less than a revelation of his +deeper self. It was in the nature of a confession. He was speaking of +something that he knew positively, something that was beyond question or +argument, something that had to do directly with himself. "Poor starved +beast" he had called it in words that had "come out of their own +accord," and there had not been the slightest evidence of any desire to +conceal or explain away. He had spoken instinctively--from his heart, +and as though about his own self. + +And half an hour before sunset we raced through the narrow opening of +the lagoon and saw the smoke of the dinner-fire blowing here and there +among the trees, and the figures of Joan and the Bo'sun's Mate running +down to meet us at the landing-stage. + + +V + +Everything changed from the moment John Silence set foot on that island; +it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, some +great arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravity +increased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves a +subtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure--this deserted bit +of sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands--somehow turned sombre. +An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, crept +unbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and took +the sparkle from the sunshine and the sea. + +I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted, +as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert. The figures +from the background of the stage moved forward a little into the +light--nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrival +intensified the whole affair. + +And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, it +is clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it from +the very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange divining +powers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon the +scene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongst +us, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no need +to ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such an +atmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for he +took no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of us +floundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true diviner +of souls. + +I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at the +time, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how he +would deal with it. And the conversations I can reproduce almost +verbatim, for, according to my invariable habit, I kept full notes of +all he said. + +To Mrs. Maloney, foolish and dazed; to Joan, alarmed, yet plucky; and to +the clergyman, moved by his daughter's distress below his usual shallow +emotions, he gave the best possible treatment in the best possible way, +yet all so easily and simply as to make it appear naturally spontaneous. +For he dominated the Bo'sun's Mate, taking the measure of her ignorance +with infinite patience; he keyed up Joan, stirring her courage and +interest to the highest point for her own safety; and the Reverend +Timothy he soothed and comforted, while obtaining his implicit +obedience, by taking him into his confidence, and leading him gradually +to a comprehension of the issue that was bound to follow. + +And Sangree--here his wisdom was most wisely calculated--he neglected +outwardly because inwardly he was the object of his unceasing and most +concentrated attention. Under the guise of apparent indifference his +mind kept the Canadian under constant observation. + +There was a restless feeling in the Camp that evening and none of us +lingered round the fire after supper as usual. Sangree and I busied +ourselves with patching up the torn tent for our guest and with finding +heavy stones to hold the ropes, for Dr. Silence insisted on having it +pitched on the highest point of the island ridge, just where it was most +rocky and there was no earth for pegs. The place, moreover, was midway +between the men's and women's tents, and, of course, commanded the most +comprehensive view of the Camp. + +"So that if your dog comes," he said simply, "I may be able to catch him +as he passes across." + +The wind had gone down with the sun and an unusual warmth lay over the +island that made sleep heavy, and in the morning we assembled at a late +breakfast, rubbing our eyes and yawning. The cool north wind had given +way to the warm southern air that sometimes came up with haze and +moisture across the Baltic, bringing with it the relaxing sensations +that produced enervation and listlessness. + +And this may have been the reason why at first I failed to notice that +anything unusual was about, and why I was less alert than normally; for +it was not till after breakfast that the silence of our little party +struck me and I discovered that Joan had not yet put in an appearance. +And then, in a flash, the last heaviness of sleep vanished and I saw +that Maloney was white and troubled and his wife could not hold a plate +without trembling. + +A desire to ask questions was stopped in me by a swift glance from Dr. +Silence, and I suddenly understood in some vague way that they were +waiting till Sangree should have gone. How this idea came to me I cannot +determine, but the soundness of the intuition was soon proved, for the +moment he moved off to his tent, Maloney looked up at me and began to +speak in a low voice. + +"You slept through it all," he half whispered. + +"Through what?" I asked, suddenly thrilled with the knowledge that +something dreadful had happened. + +"We didn't wake you for fear of getting the whole Camp up," he went on, +meaning, by the Camp, I supposed, Sangree. "It was just before dawn when +the screams woke me." + +"The dog again?" I asked, with a curious sinking of the heart. + +"Got right into the tent," he went on, speaking passionately but very +low, "and woke my wife by scrambling all over her. Then she realised +that Joan was struggling beside her. And, by God! the beast had torn her +arm; scratched all down the arm she was, and bleeding." + +"Joan injured?" I gasped. + +"Merely scratched--this time," put in John Silence, speaking for the +first time; "suffering more from shock and fright than actual wounds." + +"Isn't it a mercy the doctor was here?" said Mrs. Maloney, looking as if +she would never know calmness again. "I think we should both have been +killed." + +"It has been a most merciful escape," Maloney said, his pulpit voice +struggling with his emotion. "But, of course, we cannot risk another--we +must strike Camp and get away at once--" + +"Only poor Mr. Sangree must not know what has happened. He is so +attached to Joan and would be so terribly upset," added the Bo'sun's +Mate distractedly, looking all about in her terror. + +"It is perhaps advisable that Mr. Sangree should not know what has +occurred," Dr. Silence said with quiet authority, "but I think, for the +safety of all concerned, it will be better not to leave the island just +now." He spoke with great decision and Maloney looked up and followed +his words closely. + +"If you will agree to stay here a few days longer, I have no doubt we +can put an end to the attentions of your strange visitor, and +incidentally have the opportunity of observing a most singular and +interesting phenomenon--" + +"What!" gasped Mrs. Maloney, "a phenomenon?--you mean that you know what +it is?" + +"I am quite certain I know what it is," he replied very low, for we +heard the footsteps of Sangree approaching, "though I am not so certain +yet as to the best means of dealing with it. But in any case it is not +wise to leave precipitately--" + +"Oh, Timothy, does he think it's a devil--?" cried the Bo'sun's Mate in +a voice that even the Canadian must have heard. + +"In my opinion," continued John Silence, looking across at me and the +clergyman, "it is a case of modern lycanthropy with other complications +that may--" He left the sentence unfinished, for Mrs. Maloney got up +with a jump and fled to her tent fearful she might hear a worse thing, +and at that moment Sangree turned the corner of the stockade and came +into view. + +"There are footmarks all round the mouth of my tent," he said with +excitement. "The animal has been here again in the night. Dr. Silence, +you really must come and see them for yourself. They're as plain on the +moss as tracks in snow." + +But later in the day, while Sangree went off in the canoe to fish the +pools near the larger islands, and Joan still lay, bandaged and resting, +in her tent, Dr. Silence called me and the tutor and proposed a walk to +the granite slabs at the far end. Mrs. Maloney sat on a stump near her +daughter, and busied herself energetically with alternate nursing and +painting. + +"We'll leave you in charge," the doctor said with a smile that was meant +to be encouraging, "and when you want us for lunch, or anything, the +megaphone will always bring us back in time." + +For, though the very air was charged with strange emotions, every one +talked quietly and naturally as with a definite desire to counteract +unnecessary excitement. + +"I'll keep watch," said the plucky Bo'sun's Mate, "and meanwhile I find +comfort in my work." She was busy with the sketch she had begun on the +day after our arrival. "For even a tree," she added proudly, pointing to +her little easel, "is a symbol of the divine, and the thought makes me +feel safer." We glanced for a moment at a daub which was more like the +symptom of a disease than a symbol of the divine--and then took the path +round the lagoon. + +At the far end we made a little fire and lay round it in the shadow of a +big boulder. Maloney stopped his humming suddenly and turned to his +companion. + +"And what do you make of it all?" he asked abruptly. + +"In the first place," replied John Silence, making himself comfortable +against the rock, "it is of human origin, this animal; it is undoubted +lycanthropy." + +His words had the effect precisely of a bombshell. Maloney listened as +though he had been struck. + +"You puzzle me utterly," he said, sitting up closer and staring at him. + +"Perhaps," replied the other, "but if you'll listen to me for a few +moments you may be less puzzled at the end--or more. It depends how much +you know. Let me go further and say that you have underestimated, or +miscalculated, the effect of this primitive wild life upon all of you." + +"In what way?" asked the clergyman, bristling a trifle. + +"It is strong medicine for any town-dweller, and for some of you it has +been too strong. One of you has gone wild." He uttered these last words +with great emphasis. + +"Gone savage," he added, looking from one to the other. + +Neither of us found anything to reply. + +"To say that the brute has awakened in a man is not a mere metaphor +always," he went on presently. + +"Of course not!" + +"But, in the sense I mean, may have a very literal and terrible +significance," pursued Dr. Silence. "Ancient instincts that no one +dreamed of, least of all their possessor, may leap forth--" + +"Atavism can hardly explain a roaming animal with teeth and claws and +sanguinary instincts," interrupted Maloney with impatience. + +"The term is of your own choice," continued the doctor equably, "not +mine, and it is a good example of a word that indicates a result while +it conceals the process; but the explanation of this beast that haunts +your island and attacks your daughter is of far deeper significance than +mere atavistic tendencies, or throwing back to animal origin, which I +suppose is the thought in your mind." + +"You spoke just now of lycanthropy," said Maloney, looking bewildered +and anxious to keep to plain facts evidently; "I think I have come +across the word, but really--really--it can have no actual significance +to-day, can it? These superstitions of mediaeval times can hardly--" + +He looked round at me with his jolly red face, and the expression of +astonishment and dismay on it would have made me shout with laughter at +any other time. Laughter, however, was never farther from my mind than +at this moment when I listened to Dr. Silence as he carefully suggested +to the clergyman the very explanation that had gradually been forcing +itself upon my own mind. + +"However mediaeval ideas may have exaggerated the idea is not of much +importance to us now," he said quietly, "when we are face to face with a +modern example of what, I take it, has always been a profound fact. For +the moment let us leave the name of any one in particular out of the +matter and consider certain possibilities." + +We all agreed with that at any rate. There was no need to speak of +Sangree, or of any one else, until we knew a little more. + +"The fundamental fact in this most curious case," he went on, "is that +the 'Double' of a man--" + +"You mean the astral body? I've heard of that, of course," broke in +Maloney with a snort of triumph. + +"No doubt," said the other, smiling, "no doubt you have;--that this +Double, or fluidic body of a man, as I was saying, has the power under +certain conditions of projecting itself and becoming visible to others. +Certain training will accomplish this, and certain drugs likewise; +illnesses, too, that ravage the body may produce temporarily the result +that death produces permanently, and let loose this counterpart of a +human being and render it visible to the sight of others. + +"Every one, of course, knows this more or less to-day; but it is not so +generally known, and probably believed by none who have not witnessed +it, that this fluidic body can, under certain conditions, assume other +forms than human, and that such other forms may be determined by the +dominating thought and wish of the owner. For this Double, or astral +body as you call it, is really the seat of the passions, emotions and +desires in the psychical economy. It is the Passion Body; and, in +projecting itself, it can often assume a form that gives expression to +the overmastering desire that moulds it; for it is composed of such +tenuous matter that it lends itself readily to the moulding by thought +and wish." + +"I follow you perfectly," said Maloney, looking as if he would much +rather be chopping firewood elsewhere and singing. + +"And there are some persons so constituted," the doctor went on with +increasing seriousness, "that the fluid body in them is but loosely +associated with the physical, persons of poor health as a rule, yet +often of strong desires and passions; and in these persons it is easy +for the Double to dissociate itself during deep sleep from their system, +and, driven forth by some consuming desire, to assume an animal form and +seek the fulfilment of that desire." + +There, in broad daylight, I saw Maloney deliberately creep closer to the +fire and heap the wood on. We gathered in to the heat, and to each +other, and listened to Dr. Silence's voice as it mingled with the swish +and whirr of the wind about us, and the falling of the little waves. + +"For instance, to take a concrete example," he resumed; "suppose some +young man, with the delicate constitution I have spoken of, forms an +overpowering attachment to a young woman, yet perceives that it is not +welcomed, and is man enough to repress its outward manifestations. In +such a case, supposing his Double be easily projected, the very +repression of his love in the daytime would add to the intense force of +his desire when released in deep sleep from the control of his will, +and his fluidic body might issue forth in monstrous or animal shape and +become actually visible to others. And, if his devotion were dog-like in +its fidelity, yet concealing the fires of a fierce passion beneath, it +might well assume the form of a creature that seemed to be half dog, +half wolf--" + +"A werewolf, you mean?" cried Maloney, pale to the lips as he listened. + +John Silence held up a restraining hand. "A werewolf," he said, "is a +true psychical fact of profound significance, however absurdly it may +have been exaggerated by the imaginations of a superstitious peasantry +in the days of unenlightenment, for a werewolf is nothing but the +savage, and possibly sanguinary, instincts of a passionate man scouring +the world in his fluidic body, his passion body, his body of desire. As +in the case at hand, he may not know it--" + +"It is not necessarily deliberate, then?" Maloney put in quickly, with +relief. + +"--It is hardly ever deliberate. It is the desires released in sleep +from the control of the will finding a vent. In all savage races it has +been recognised and dreaded, this phenomenon styled 'Wehr Wolf,' but +to-day it is rare. And it is becoming rarer still, for the world grows +tame and civilised, emotions have become refined, desires lukewarm, and +few men have savagery enough left in them to generate impulses of such +intense force, and certainly not to project them in animal form." + +"By Gad!" exclaimed the clergyman breathlessly, and with increasing +excitement, "then I feel I must tell you--what has been given to me in +confidence--that Sangree has in him an admixture of savage blood--of Red +Indian ancestry--" + +"Let us stick to our supposition of a man as described," the doctor +stopped him calmly, "and let us imagine that he has in him this +admixture of savage blood; and further, that he is wholly unaware of his +dreadful physical and psychical infirmity; and that he suddenly finds +himself leading the primitive life together with the object of his +desires; with the result that the strain of the untamed wild-man in his +blood--" + +"Red Indian, for instance," from Maloney. + +"Red Indian, perfectly," agreed the doctor; "the result, I say, that +this savage strain in him is awakened and leaps into passionate life. +What then?" + +He looked hard at Timothy Maloney, and the clergyman looked hard at him. + +"The wild life such as you lead here on this island, for instance, +might quickly awaken his savage instincts--his buried instincts--and +with profoundly disquieting results." + +"You mean his Subtle Body, as you call it, might issue forth +automatically in deep sleep and seek the object of its desire?" I said, +coming to Maloney's aid, who was finding it more and more difficult to +get words. + +"Precisely;--yet the desire of the man remaining utterly unmalefic--pure +and wholesome in every sense--" + +"Ah!" I heard the clergyman gasp. + +"The lover's desire for union run wild, run savage, tearing its way out +in primitive, untamed fashion, I mean," continued the doctor, striving +to make himself clear to a mind bounded by conventional thought and +knowledge; "for the desire to possess, remember, may easily become +importunate, and, embodied in this animal form of the Subtle Body which +acts as its vehicle, may go forth to tear in pieces all that obstructs, +to reach to the very heart of the loved object and seize it. _Au fond_, +it is nothing more than the aspiration for union, as I said--the +splendid and perfectly clean desire to absorb utterly into itself--" + +He paused a moment and looked into Maloney's eyes. + +"To bathe in the very heart's blood of the one desired," he added with +grave emphasis. + +The fire spurted and crackled and made me start, but Maloney found +relief in a genuine shudder, and I saw him turn his head and look about +him from the sea to the trees. The wind dropped just at that moment and +the doctor's words rang sharply through the stillness. + +"Then it might even kill?" stammered the clergyman presently in a hushed +voice, and with a little forced laugh by way of protest that sounded +quite ghastly. + +"In the last resort it might kill," repeated Dr. Silence. Then, after +another pause, during which he was clearly debating how much or how +little it was wise to give to his audience, he continued: "And if the +Double does not succeed in getting back to its physical body, that +physical body would wake an imbecile--an idiot--or perhaps never wake at +all." + +Maloney sat up and found his tongue. + +"You mean that if this fluid animal thing, or whatever it is, should be +prevented getting back, the man might never wake again?" he asked, with +shaking voice. + +"He might be dead," replied the other calmly. The tremor of a positive +sensation shivered in the air about us. + +"Then isn't that the best way to cure the fool--the brute--?" thundered +the clergyman, half rising to his feet. + +"Certainly it would be an easy and undiscoverable form of murder," was +the stern reply, spoken as calmly as though it were a remark about the +weather. + +Maloney collapsed visibly, and I gathered the wood over the fire and +coaxed up a blaze. + +"The greater part of the man's life--of his vital forces--goes out with +this Double," Dr. Silence resumed, after a moment's consideration, "and +a considerable portion of the actual material of his physical body. So +the physical body that remains behind is depleted, not only of force, +but of matter. You would see it small, shrunken, dropped together, just +like the body of a materialising medium at a seance. Moreover, any mark +or injury inflicted upon this Double will be found exactly reproduced by +the phenomenon of repercussion upon the shrunken physical body lying in +its trance--" + +"An injury inflicted upon the one you say would be reproduced also on +the other?" repeated Maloney, his excitement growing again. + +"Undoubtedly," replied the other quietly; "for there exists all the time +a continuous connection between the physical body and the Double--a +connection of matter, though of exceedingly attenuated, possibly of +etheric, matter. The wound _travels_, so to speak, from one to the +other, and if this connection were broken the result would be death." + +"Death," repeated Maloney to himself, "death!" He looked anxiously at +our faces, his thoughts evidently beginning to clear. + +"And this solidity?" he asked presently, after a general pause; "this +tearing of tents and flesh; this howling, and the marks of paws? You +mean that the Double--?" + +"Has sufficient material drawn from the depleted body to produce +physical results? Certainly!" the doctor took him up. "Although to +explain at this moment such problems as the passage of matter through +matter would be as difficult as to explain how the thought of a mother +can actually break the bones of the child unborn." + +Dr. Silence pointed out to sea, and Maloney, looking wildly about him, +turned with a violent start. I saw a canoe, with Sangree in the +stern-seat, slowly coming into view round the farther point. His hat was +off, and his tanned face for the first time appeared to me--to us all, I +think--as though it were the face of some one else. He looked like a +wild man. Then he stood up in the canoe to make a cast with the rod, and +he looked for all the world like an Indian. I recalled the expression of +his face as I had seen it once or twice, notably on that occasion of the +evening prayer, and an involuntary shudder ran down my spine. + +At that very instant he turned and saw us where we lay, and his face +broke into a smile, so that his teeth showed white in the sun. He +looked in his element, and exceedingly attractive. He called out +something about his fish, and soon after passed out of sight into the +lagoon. + +For a time none of us said a word. + +"And the cure?" ventured Maloney at length. + +"Is not to quench this savage force," replied Dr. Silence, "but to steer +it better, and to provide other outlets. This is the solution of all +these problems of accumulated force, for this force is the raw material +of usefulness, and should be increased and cherished, not by separating +it from the body by death, but by raising it to higher channels. The +best and quickest cure of all," he went on, speaking very gently and +with a hand upon the clergyman's arm, "is to lead it towards its object, +provided that object is not unalterably hostile--to let it find rest +where--" + +He stopped abruptly, and the eyes of the two men met in a single glance +of comprehension. + +"Joan?" Maloney exclaimed, under his breath. + +"Joan!" replied John Silence. + + * * * * * + +We all went to bed early. The day had been unusually warm, and after +sunset a curious hush descended on the island. Nothing was audible but +that faint, ghostly singing which is inseparable from a pinewood even on +the stillest day--a low, searching sound, as though the wind had hair +and trailed it o'er the world. + +With the sudden cooling of the atmosphere a sea fog began to form. It +appeared in isolated patches over the water, and then these patches slid +together and a white wall advanced upon us. Not a breath of air stirred; +the firs stood like flat metal outlines; the sea became as oil. The +whole scene lay as though held motionless by some huge weight in the +air; and the flames from our fire--the largest we had ever made--rose +upwards, straight as a church steeple. + +As I followed the rest of our party tent-wards, having kicked the embers +of the fire into safety, the advance guard of the fog was creeping +slowly among the trees, like white arms feeling their way. Mingled with +the smoke was the odour of moss and soil and bark, and the peculiar +flavour of the Baltic, half salt, half brackish, like the smell of an +estuary at low water. + +It is difficult to say why it seemed to me that this deep stillness +masked an intense activity; perhaps in every mood lies the suggestion of +its opposite, so that I became aware of the contrast of furious energy, +for it was like moving through the deep pause before a thunderstorm, and +I trod gently lest by breaking a twig or moving a stone I might set the +whole scene into some sort of tumultuous movement. Actually, no doubt, +it was nothing more than a result of overstrung nerves. + +There was no more question of undressing and going to bed than there was +of undressing and going to bathe. Some sense in me was alert and +expectant. I sat in my tent and waited. And at the end of half an hour +or so my waiting was justified, for the canvas suddenly shivered, and +some one tripped over the ropes that held it to the earth. John Silence +came in. + +The effect of his quiet entry was singular and prophetic: it was just as +though the energy lying behind all this stillness had pressed forward to +the edge of action. This, no doubt, was merely the quickening of my own +mind, and had no other justification; for the presence of John Silence +always suggested the near possibility of vigorous action, and as a +matter of fact, he came in with nothing more than a nod and a +significant gesture. + +He sat down on a corner of my ground-sheet, and I pushed the blanket +over so that he could cover his legs. He drew the flap of the tent after +him and settled down, but hardly had he done so when the canvas shook a +second time, and in blundered Maloney. + +"Sitting in the dark?" he said self-consciously, pushing his head +inside, and hanging up his lantern on the ridge-pole nail. "I just +looked in for a smoke. I suppose--" + +He glanced round, caught the eye of Dr. Silence, and stopped. He put his +pipe back into his pocket and began to hum softly--that underbreath +humming of a nondescript melody I knew so well and had come to hate. + +Dr. Silence leaned forward, opened the lantern and blew the light out. +"Speak low," he said, "and don't strike matches. Listen for sounds and +movements about the Camp, and be ready to follow me at a moment's +notice." There was light enough to distinguish our faces easily, and I +saw Maloney glance again hurriedly at both of us. + +"Is the Camp asleep?" the doctor asked presently, whispering. + +"Sangree is," replied the clergyman, in a voice equally low. "I can't +answer for the women; I think they're sitting up." + +"That's for the best." And then he added: "I wish the fog would thin a +bit and let the moon through; later--we may want it." + +"It is lifting now, I think," Maloney whispered back. "It's over the +tops of the trees already." + +I cannot say what it was in this commonplace exchange of remarks that +thrilled. Probably Maloney's swift acquiescence in the doctor's mood had +something to do with it; for his quick obedience certainly impressed me +a good deal. But, even without that slight evidence, it was clear that +each recognised the gravity of the occasion, and understood that sleep +was impossible and sentry duty was the order of the night. + +"Report to me," repeated John Silence once again, "the least sound, and +do nothing precipitately." + +He shifted across to the mouth of the tent and raised the flap, +fastening it against the pole so that he could see out. Maloney stopped +humming and began to force the breath through his teeth with a kind of +faint hissing, treating us to a medley of church hymns and popular songs +of the day. + +Then the tent trembled as though some one had touched it. + +"That's the wind rising," whispered the clergyman, and pulled the flap +open as far as it would go. A waft of cold damp air entered and made us +shiver, and with it came a sound of the sea as the first wave washed its +way softly along the shores. + +"It's got round to the north," he added, and following his voice came a +long-drawn whisper that rose from the whole island as the trees sent +forth a sighing response. "The fog'll move a bit now. I can make out a +lane across the sea already." + +"Hush!" said Dr. Silence, for Maloney's voice had risen above a whisper, +and we settled down again to another long period of watching and +waiting, broken only by the occasional rubbing of shoulders against the +canvas as we shifted our positions, and the increasing noise of waves on +the outer coast-line of the island. And over all whirred the murmur of +wind sweeping the tops of the trees like a great harp, and the faint +tapping on the tent as drops fell from the branches with a sharp pinging +sound. + +We had sat for something over an hour in this way, and Maloney and I +were finding it increasingly hard to keep awake, when suddenly Dr. +Silence rose to his feet and peered out. The next minute he was gone. + +Relieved of the dominating presence, the clergyman thrust his face close +into mine. "I don't much care for this waiting game," he whispered, "but +Silence wouldn't hear of my sitting up with the others; he said it would +prevent anything happening if I did." + +"He knows," I answered shortly. + +"No doubt in the world about that," he whispered back; "it's this +'Double' business, as he calls it, or else it's obsession as the Bible +describes it. But it's bad, whichever it is, and I've got my Winchester +outside ready cocked, and I brought this too." He shoved a pocket Bible +under my nose. At one time in his life it had been his inseparable +companion. + +"One's useless and the other's dangerous," I replied under my breath, +conscious of a keen desire to laugh, and leaving him to choose. "Safety +lies in following our leader--" + +"I'm not thinking of myself," he interrupted sharply; "only, if anything +happens to Joan to-night I'm going to shoot first--and pray afterwards!" + +Maloney put the book back into his hip-pocket, and peered out of the +doorway. "What is he up to now, in the devil's name, I wonder!" he +added; "going round Sangree's tent and making gestures. How weird he +looks disappearing in and out of the fog." + +"Just trust him and wait," I said quickly, for the doctor was already on +his way back. "Remember, he has the knowledge, and knows what he's +about. I've been with him through worse cases than this." + +Maloney moved back as Dr. Silence darkened the doorway and stooped to +enter. + +"His sleep is very deep," he whispered, seating himself by the door +again. "He's in a cataleptic condition, and the Double may be released +any minute now. But I've taken steps to imprison it in the tent, and it +can't get out till I permit it. Be on the watch for signs of movement." +Then he looked hard at Maloney. "But no violence, or shooting, remember, +Mr. Maloney, unless you want a murder on your hands. Anything done to +the Double acts by repercussion upon the physical body. You had better +take out the cartridges at once." + +His voice was stern. The clergyman went out, and I heard him emptying +the magazine of his rifle. When he returned he sat nearer the door than +before, and from that moment until we left the tent he never once took +his eyes from the figure of Dr. Silence, silhouetted there against sky +and canvas. + +And, meanwhile, the wind came steadily over the sea and opened the mist +into lanes and clearings, driving it about like a living thing. + +It must have been well after midnight when a low booming sound drew my +attention; but at first the sense of hearing was so strained that it was +impossible exactly to locate it, and I imagined it was the thunder of +big guns far out at sea carried to us by the rising wind. Then Maloney, +catching hold of my arm and leaning forward, somehow brought the true +relation, and I realised the next second that it was only a few feet +away. + +"Sangree's tent," he exclaimed in a loud and startled whisper. + +I craned my head round the corner, but at first the effect of the fog +was so confusing that every patch of white driving about before the wind +looked like a moving tent and it was some seconds before I discovered +the one patch that held steady. Then I saw that it was shaking all over, +and the sides, flapping as much as the tightness of the ropes allowed, +were the cause of the booming sound we had heard. Something alive was +tearing frantically about inside, banging against the stretched canvas +in a way that made me think of a great moth dashing against the walls +and ceiling of a room. The tent bulged and rocked. + +"It's trying to get out, by Jupiter!" muttered the clergyman, rising to +his feet and turning to the side where the unloaded rifle lay. I sprang +up too, hardly knowing what purpose was in my mind, but anxious to be +prepared for anything. John Silence, however, was before us both, and +his figure slipped past and blocked the doorway of the tent. And there +was some quality in his voice next minute when he began to speak that +brought our minds instantly to a state of calm obedience. + +"First--the women's tent," he said low, looking sharply at Maloney, "and +if I need your help, I'll call." + +The clergyman needed no second bidding. He dived past me and was out in +a moment. He was labouring evidently under intense excitement. I watched +him picking his way silently over the slippery ground, giving the moving +tent a wide berth, and presently disappearing among the floating shapes +of fog. + +Dr. Silence turned to me. "You heard those footsteps about half an hour +ago?" he asked significantly. + +"I heard nothing." + +"They were extraordinarily soft--almost the soundless tread of a wild +creature. But now, follow me closely," he added, "for we must waste no +time if I am to save this poor man from his affliction and lead his +werewolf Double to its rest. And, unless I am much mistaken"--he +peered at me through the darkness, whispering with the utmost +distinctness--"Joan and Sangree are absolutely made for one another. And +I think she knows it too--just as well as he does." + +My head swam a little as I listened, but at the same time something +cleared in my brain and I saw that he was right. Yet it was all so weird +and incredible, so remote from the commonplace facts of life as +commonplace people know them; and more than once it flashed upon me that +the whole scene--people, words, tents, and all the rest of it--were +delusions created by the intense excitement of my own mind somehow, and +that suddenly the sea-fog would clear off and the world become normal +again. + +The cold air from the sea stung our cheeks sharply as we left the close +atmosphere of the little crowded tent. The sighing of the trees, the +waves breaking below on the rocks, and the lines and patches of mist +driving about us seemed to create the momentary illusion that the whole +island had broken loose and was floating out to sea like a mighty raft. + +The doctor moved just ahead of me, quickly and silently; he was making +straight for the Canadian's tent where the sides still boomed and shook +as the creature of sinister life raced and tore about impatiently +within. A little distance from the door he paused and held up a hand to +stop me. We were, perhaps, a dozen feet away. + +"Before I release it, you shall see for yourself," he said, "that the +reality of the werewolf is beyond all question. The matter of which it +is composed is, of course, exceedingly attenuated, but you are partially +clairvoyant--and even if it is not dense enough for normal sight you +will see something." + +He added a little more I could not catch. The fact was that the +curiously strong vibrating atmosphere surrounding his person somewhat +confused my senses. It was the result, of course, of his intense +concentration of mind and forces, and pervaded the entire Camp and all +the persons in it. And as I watched the canvas shake and heard it boom +and flap I heartily welcomed it. For it was also protective. + +At the back of Sangree's tent stood a thin group of pine trees, but in +front and at the sides the ground was comparatively clear. The flap was +wide open and any ordinary animal would have been out and away without +the least trouble. Dr. Silence led me up to within a few feet, evidently +careful not to advance beyond a certain limit, and then stooped down and +signalled to me to do the same. And looking over his shoulder I saw the +interior lit faintly by the spectral light reflected from the fog, and +the dim blot upon the balsam boughs and blankets signifying Sangree; +while over him, and round him, and up and down him, flew the dark mass +of "something" on four legs, with pointed muzzle and sharp ears plainly +visible against the tent sides, and the occasional gleam of fiery eyes +and white fangs. + +I held my breath and kept utterly still, inwardly and outwardly, for +fear, I suppose, that the creature would become conscious of my +presence; but the distress I felt went far deeper than the mere sense of +personal safety, or the fact of watching something so incredibly active +and real. I became keenly aware of the dreadful psychic calamity it +involved. The realisation that Sangree lay confined in that narrow space +with this species of monstrous projection of himself--that he was +wrapped there in the cataleptic sleep, all unconscious that this thing +was masquerading with his own life and energies--added a distressing +touch of horror to the scene. In all the cases of John Silence--and they +were many and often terrible--no other psychic affliction has ever, +before or since, impressed me so convincingly with the pathetic +impermanence of the human personality, with its fluid nature, and with +the alarming possibilities of its transformations. + +"Come," he whispered, after we had watched for some minutes the frantic +efforts to escape from the circle of thought and will that held it +prisoner, "come a little farther away while I release it." + +We moved back a dozen yards or so. It was like a scene in some +impossible play, or in some ghastly and oppressive nightmare from which +I should presently awake to find the blankets all heaped up upon my +chest. + +By some method undoubtedly mental, but which, in my confusion and +excitement, I failed to understand, the doctor accomplished his purpose, +and the next minute I heard him say sharply under his breath, "It's out! +Now watch!" + +At this very moment a sudden gust from the sea blew aside the mist, so +that a lane opened to the sky, and the moon, ghastly and unnatural as +the effect of stage limelight, dropped down in a momentary gleam upon +the door of Sangree's tent, and I perceived that something had moved +forward from the interior darkness and stood clearly defined upon the +threshold. And, at the same moment, the tent ceased its shuddering and +held still. + +There, in the doorway, stood an animal, with neck and muzzle thrust +forward, its head poking into the night, its whole body poised in that +attitude of intense rigidity that precedes the spring into freedom, the +running leap of attack. It seemed to be about the size of a calf, leaner +than a mastiff, yet more squat than a wolf, and I can swear that I saw +the fur ridged sharply upon its back. Then its upper lip slowly lifted, +and I saw the whiteness of its teeth. + +Surely no human being ever stared as hard as I did in those next few +minutes. Yet, the harder I stared the clearer appeared the amazing and +monstrous apparition. For, after all, it was Sangree--and yet it was not +Sangree. It was the head and face of an animal, and yet it was the face +of Sangree: the face of a wild dog, a wolf, and yet his face. The eyes +were sharper, narrower, more fiery, yet they were his eyes--his eyes run +wild; the teeth were longer, whiter, more pointed--yet they were his +teeth, his teeth grown cruel; the expression was flaming, terrible, +exultant--yet it was his expression carried to the border of +savagery--his expression as I had already surprised it more than once, +only dominant now, fully released from human constraint, with the mad +yearning of a hungry and importunate soul. It was the soul of Sangree, +the long suppressed, deeply loving Sangree, expressed in its single and +intense desire--pure utterly and utterly wonderful. + +Yet, at the same time, came the feeling that it was all an illusion. I +suddenly remembered the extraordinary changes the human face can undergo +in circular insanity, when it changes from melancholia to elation; and I +recalled the effect of hascheesh, which shows the human countenance in +the form of the bird or animal to which in character it most +approximates; and for a moment I attributed this mingling of Sangree's +face with a wolf to some kind of similar delusion of the senses. I was +mad, deluded, dreaming! The excitement of the day, and this dim light of +stars and bewildering mist combined to trick me. I had been amazingly +imposed upon by some false wizardry of the senses. It was all absurd and +fantastic; it would pass. + +And then, sounding across this sea of mental confusion like a bell +through a fog, came the voice of John Silence bringing me back to a +consciousness of the reality of it all-- + +"Sangree--in his Double!" + +And when I looked again more calmly, I plainly saw that it was indeed +the face of the Canadian, but his face turned animal, yet mingled with +the brute expression a curiously pathetic look like the soul seen +sometimes in the yearning eyes of a dog,--the face of an animal shot +with vivid streaks of the human. + +The doctor called to him softly under his breath-- + +"Sangree! Sangree, you poor afflicted creature! Do you know me? Can you +understand what it is you're doing in your 'Body of Desire'?" + +For the first time since its appearance the creature moved. Its ears +twitched and it shifted the weight of its body on to the hind legs. +Then, lifting its head and muzzle to the sky, it opened its long jaws +and gave vent to a dismal and prolonged howling. + +But, when I heard that howling rise to heaven, the breath caught and +strangled in my throat and it seemed that my heart missed a beat; for, +though the sound was entirely animal, it was at the same time entirely +human. But, more than that, it was the cry I had so often heard in the +Western States of America where the Indians still fight and hunt and +struggle--it was the cry of the Redskin! + +"The Indian blood!" whispered John Silence, when I caught his arm for +support; "the ancestral cry." + +And that poignant, beseeching cry, that broken human voice, mingling +with the savage howl of the brute beast, pierced straight to my very +heart and touched there something that no music, no voice, passionate or +tender, of man, woman or child has ever stirred before or since for one +second into life. It echoed away among the fog and the trees and lost +itself somewhere out over the hidden sea. And some part of +myself--something that was far more than the mere act of intense +listening--went out with it, and for several minutes I lost +consciousness of my surroundings and felt utterly absorbed in the pain +of another stricken fellow-creature. + +Again the voice of John Silence recalled me to myself. + +"Hark!" he said aloud. "Hark!" + +His tone galvanised me afresh. We stood listening side by side. + +Far across the island, faintly sounding through the trees and brushwood, +came a similar, answering cry. Shrill, yet wonderfully musical, shaking +the heart with a singular wild sweetness that defies description, we +heard it rise and fall upon the night air. + +"It's across the lagoon," Dr. Silence cried, but this time in full tones +that paid no tribute to caution. "It's Joan! She's answering him!" + +Again the wonderful cry rose and fell, and that same instant the animal +lowered its head, and, muzzle to earth, set off on a swift easy canter +that took it off into the mist and out of our sight like a thing of wind +and vision. + +The doctor made a quick dash to the door of Sangree's tent, and, +following close at his heels, I peered in and caught a momentary glimpse +of the small, shrunken body lying upon the branches but half covered by +the blankets--the cage from which most of the life, and not a little of +the actual corporeal substance, had escaped into that other form of life +and energy, the body of passion and desire. + +By another of those swift, incalculable processes which at this stage of +my apprenticeship I failed often to grasp, Dr. Silence reclosed the +circle about the tent and body. + +"Now it cannot return till I permit it," he said, and the next second +was off at full speed into the woods, with myself close behind him. I +had already had some experience of my companion's ability to run swiftly +through a dense wood, and I now had the further proof of his power +almost to see in the dark. For, once we left the open space about the +tents, the trees seemed to absorb all the remaining vestiges of light, +and I understood that special sensibility that is said to develop in the +blind--the sense of obstacles. + +And twice as we ran we heard the sound of that dismal howling drawing +nearer and nearer to the answering faint cry from the point of the +island whither we were going. + +Then, suddenly, the trees fell away, and we emerged, hot and breathless, +upon the rocky point where the granite slabs ran bare into the sea. It +was like passing into the clearness of open day. And there, sharply +defined against sea and sky, stood the figure of a human being. It was +Joan. + +I at once saw that there was something about her appearance that was +singular and unusual, but it was only when we had moved quite close that +I recognised what caused it. For while the lips wore a smile that lit +the whole face with a happiness I had never seen there before, the eyes +themselves were fixed in a steady, sightless stare as though they were +lifeless and made of glass. + +I made an impulsive forward movement, but Dr. Silence instantly dragged +me back. + +"No," he cried, "don't wake her!" + +"What do you mean?" I replied aloud, struggling in his grasp. + +"She's asleep. It's somnambulistic. The shock might injure her +permanently." + +I turned and peered closely into his face. He was absolutely calm. I +began to understand a little more, catching, I suppose, something of his +strong thinking. + +"Walking in her sleep, you mean?" + +He nodded. "She's on her way to meet him. From the very beginning he +must have drawn her--irresistibly." + +"But the torn tent and the wounded flesh?" + +"When she did not sleep deep enough to enter the somnambulistic trance +he missed her--he went instinctively and in all innocence to seek her +out--with the result, of course, that she woke and was terrified--" + +"Then in their heart of hearts they love?" I asked finally. + +John Silence smiled his inscrutable smile. "Profoundly," he answered, +"and as simply as only primitive souls can love. If only they both come +to realise it in their normal waking states his Double will cease these +nocturnal excursions. He will be cured, and at rest." + +The words had hardly left his lips when there was a sound of rustling +branches on our left, and the very next instant the dense brushwood +parted where it was darkest and out rushed the swift form of an animal +at full gallop. The noise of feet was scarcely audible, but in that +utter stillness I heard the heavy panting breath and caught the swish of +the low bushes against its sides. It went straight towards Joan--and as +it went the girl lifted her head and turned to meet it. And the same +instant a canoe that had been creeping silently and unobserved round the +inner shore of the lagoon, emerged from the shadows and defined itself +upon the water with a figure at the middle thwart. It was Maloney. + +It was only afterwards I realised that we were invisible to him where we +stood against the dark background of trees; the figures of Joan and the +animal he saw plainly, but not Dr. Silence and myself standing just +beyond them. He stood up in the canoe and pointed with his right arm. I +saw something gleam in his hand. + +"Stand aside, Joan girl, or you'll get hit," he shouted, his voice +ringing horribly through the deep stillness, and the same instant a +pistol-shot cracked out with a burst of flame and smoke, and the figure +of the animal, with one tremendous leap into the air, fell back in the +shadows and disappeared like a shape of night and fog. Instantly, then, +Joan opened her eyes, looked in a dazed fashion about her, and pressing +both hands against her heart, fell with a sharp cry into my arms that +were just in time to catch her. + +And an answering cry sounded across the lagoon--thin, wailing, piteous. +It came from Sangree's tent. + +"Fool!" cried Dr. Silence, "you've wounded him!" and before we could +move or realise quite what it meant, he was in the canoe and half-way +across the lagoon. + +Some kind of similar abuse came in a torrent from my lips, too--though I +cannot remember the actual words--as I cursed the man for his +disobedience and tried to make the girl comfortable on the ground. But +the clergyman was more practical. He was spreading his coat over her and +dashing water on her face. + +"It's not Joan I've killed at any rate," I heard him mutter as she +turned and opened her eyes and smiled faintly up in his face. "I swear +the bullet went straight." + +Joan stared at him; she was still dazed and bewildered, and still +imagined herself with the companion of her trance. The strange lucidity +of the somnambulist still hung over her brain and mind, though outwardly +she appeared troubled and confused. + +"Where has he gone to? He disappeared so suddenly, crying that he was +hurt," she asked, looking at her father as though she did not recognise +him. "And if they've done anything to him--they have done it to me +too--for he is more to me than--" + +Her words grew vaguer and vaguer as she returned slowly to her normal +waking state, and now she stopped altogether, as though suddenly aware +that she had been surprised into telling secrets. But all the way back, +as we carried her carefully through the trees, the girl smiled and +murmured Sangree's name and asked if he was injured, until it finally +became clear to me that the wild soul of the one had called to the wild +soul of the other and in the secret depths of their beings the call had +been heard and understood. John Silence was right. In the abyss of her +heart, too deep at first for recognition, the girl loved him, and had +loved him from the very beginning. Once her normal waking consciousness +recognised the fact they would leap together like twin flames, and his +affliction would be at an end; his intense desire would be satisfied; he +would be cured. + +And in Sangree's tent Dr. Silence and I sat up for the remainder of the +night--this wonderful and haunted night that had shown us such strange +glimpses of a new heaven and a new hell--for the Canadian tossed upon +his balsam boughs with high fever in his blood, and upon each cheek a +dark and curious contusion showed, throbbing with severe pain although +the skin was not broken and there was no outward and visible sign of +blood. + +"Maloney shot straight, you see," whispered Dr. Silence to me after the +clergyman had gone to his tent, and had put Joan to sleep beside her +mother, who, by the way, had never once awakened. "The bullet must have +passed clean through the face, for both cheeks are stained. He'll wear +these marks all his life--smaller, but always there. They're the most +curious scars in the world, these scars transferred by repercussion from +an injured Double. They'll remain visible until just before his death, +and then with the withdrawal of the subtle body they will disappear +finally." + +His words mingled in my dazed mind with the sighs of the troubled +sleeper and the crying of the wind about the tent. Nothing seemed to +paralyse my powers of realisation so much as these twin stains of +mysterious significance upon the face before me. + +It was odd, too, how speedily and easily the Camp resigned itself again +to sleep and quietness, as though a stage curtain had suddenly dropped +down upon the action and concealed it; and nothing contributed so +vividly to the feeling that I had been a spectator of some kind of +visionary drama as the dramatic nature of the change in the girl's +attitude. + +Yet, as a matter of fact, the change had not been so sudden and +revolutionary as appeared. Underneath, in those remoter regions of +consciousness where the emotions, unknown to their owners, do secretly +mature, and owe thence their abrupt revelation to some abrupt +psychological climax, there can be no doubt that Joan's love for the +Canadian had been growing steadily and irresistibly all the time. It had +now rushed to the surface so that she recognised it; that was all. + +And it has always seemed to me that the presence of John Silence, so +potent, so quietly efficacious, produced an effect, if one may say so, +of a psychic forcing-house, and hastened incalculably the bringing +together of these two "wild" lovers. In that sudden awakening had +occurred the very psychological climax required to reveal the passionate +emotion accumulated below. The deeper knowledge had leaped across and +transferred itself to her ordinary consciousness, and in that shock the +collision of the personalities had shaken them to the depths and shown +her the truth beyond all possibility of doubt. + +"He's sleeping quietly now," the doctor said, interrupting my +reflections. "If you will watch alone for a bit I'll go to Maloney's +tent and help him to arrange his thoughts." He smiled in anticipation of +that "arrangement." "He'll never quite understand how a wound on the +Double can transfer itself to the physical body, but at least I can +persuade him that the less he talks and 'explains' to-morrow, the sooner +the forces will run their natural course now to peace and quietness." + +He went away softly, and with the removal of his presence Sangree, +sleeping heavily, turned over and groaned with the pain of his broken +head. + +And it was in the still hour just before the dawn, when all the islands +were hushed, the wind and sea still dreaming, and the stars visible +through clearing mists, that a figure crept silently over the ridge and +reached the door of the tent where I dozed beside the sufferer, before I +was aware of its presence. The flap was cautiously lifted a few inches +and in looked--Joan. + +That same instant Sangree woke and sat up on his bed of branches. He +recognised her before I could say a word, and uttered a low cry. It was +pain and joy mingled, and this time all human. And the girl too was no +longer walking in her sleep, but fully aware of what she was doing. I +was only just able to prevent him springing from his blankets. + +"Joan, Joan!" he cried, and in a flash she answered him, "I'm here--I'm +with you always now," and had pushed past me into the tent and flung +herself upon his breast. + +"I knew you would come to me in the end," I heard him whisper. + +"It was all too big for me to understand at first," she murmured, "and +for a long time I was frightened--" + +"But not now!" he cried louder; "you don't feel afraid now of--of +anything that's in me--" + +"I fear nothing," she cried, "nothing, nothing!" + +I led her outside again. She looked steadily into my face with eyes +shining and her whole being transformed. In some intuitive way, +surviving probably from the somnambulism, she knew or guessed as much as +I knew. + +"You must talk to-morrow with John Silence," I said gently, leading her +towards her own tent. "He understands everything." + +I left her at the door, and as I went back softly to take up my place of +sentry again with the Canadian, I saw the first streaks of dawn lighting +up the far rim of the sea behind the distant islands. + +And, as though to emphasise the eternal closeness of comedy to tragedy, +two small details rose out of the scene and impressed me so vividly that +I remember them to this very day. For in the tent where I had just left +Joan, all aquiver with her new happiness, there rose plainly to my ears +the grotesque sounds of the Bo'sun's Mate heavily snoring, oblivious of +all things in heaven or hell; and from Maloney's tent, so still was the +night, where I looked across and saw the lantern's glow, there came to +me, through the trees, the monotonous rising and falling of a human +voice that was beyond question the sound of a man praying to his God. + + + + +CASE III: A VICTIM OF HIGHER SPACE + + +"There's a hextraordinary gentleman to see you, sir," said the new man. + +"Why 'extraordinary'?" asked Dr. Silence, drawing the tips of his thin +fingers through his brown beard. His eyes twinkled pleasantly. "Why +'extraordinary,' Barker?" he repeated encouragingly, noticing the +perplexed expression in the man's eyes. + +"He's so--so thin, sir. I could hardly see 'im at all--at first. He was +inside the house before I could ask the name," he added, remembering +strict orders. + +"And who brought him here?" + +"He come alone, sir, in a closed cab. He pushed by me before I could say +a word--making no noise not what I could hear. He seemed to move so soft +like--" + +The man stopped short with obvious embarrassment, as though he had +already said enough to jeopardise his new situation, but trying hard to +show that he remembered the instructions and warnings he had received +with regard to the admission of strangers not properly accredited. + +"And where is the gentleman now?" asked Dr. Silence, turning away to +conceal his amusement. + +"I really couldn't exactly say, sir. I left him standing in the 'all--" + +The doctor looked up sharply. "But why in the hall, Barker? Why not in +the waiting-room?" He fixed his piercing though kindly eyes on the man's +face. "Did he frighten you?" he asked quickly. + +"I think he did, sir, if I may say so. I seemed to lose sight of him, as +it were--" The man stammered, evidently convinced by now that he had +earned his dismissal. "He come in so funny, just like a cold wind," he +added boldly, setting his heels at attention and looking his master full +in the face. + +The doctor made an internal note of the man's halting description; he +was pleased that the slight signs of psychic intuition which had induced +him to engage Barker had not entirely failed at the first trial. Dr. +Silence sought for this qualification in all his assistants, from +secretary to serving man, and if it surrounded him with a somewhat +singular crew, the drawbacks were more than compensated for on the whole +by their occasional flashes of insight. + +"So the gentleman made you feel queer, did he?" + +"That was it, I think, sir," repeated the man stolidly. + +"And he brings no kind of introduction to me--no letter or anything?" +asked the doctor, with feigned surprise, as though he knew what was +coming. + +The man fumbled, both in mind and pockets, and finally produced an +envelope. + +"I beg pardon, sir," he said, greatly flustered; "the gentleman handed +me this for you." + +It was a note from a discerning friend, who had never yet sent him a +case that was not vitally interesting from one point or another. + +"Please see the bearer of this note," the brief message ran, "though I +doubt if even you can do much to help him." + +John Silence paused a moment, so as to gather from the mind of the +writer all that lay behind the brief words of the letter. Then he looked +up at his servant with a graver expression than he had yet worn. + +"Go back and find this gentleman," he said, "and show him into the green +study. Do not reply to his question, or speak more than actually +necessary; but think kind, helpful, sympathetic thoughts as strongly as +you can, Barker. You remember what I told you about the importance of +_thinking_, when I engaged you. Put curiosity out of your mind, and +think gently, sympathetically, affectionately, if you can." + +He smiled, and Barker, who had recovered his composure in the doctor's +presence, bowed silently and went out. + +There were two different reception-rooms in Dr. Silence's house. One +(intended for persons who imagined they needed spiritual assistance when +really they were only candidates for the asylum) had padded walls, and +was well supplied with various concealed contrivances by means of which +sudden violence could be instantly met and overcome. It was, however, +rarely used. The other, intended for the reception of genuine cases of +spiritual distress and out-of-the-way afflictions of a psychic nature, +was entirely draped and furnished in a soothing deep green, calculated +to induce calmness and repose of mind. And this room was the one in +which Dr. Silence interviewed the majority of his "queer" cases, and the +one into which he had directed Barker to show his present caller. + +To begin with, the arm-chair in which the patient was always directed to +sit, was nailed to the floor, since its immovability tended to impart +this same excellent characteristic to the occupant. Patients invariably +grew excited when talking about themselves, and their excitement tended +to confuse their thoughts and to exaggerate their language. The +inflexibility of the chair helped to counteract this. After repeated +endeavours to drag it forward, or push it back, they ended by resigning +themselves to sitting quietly. And with the futility of fidgeting there +followed a calmer state of mind. + +Upon the floor, and at intervals in the wall immediately behind, were +certain tiny green buttons, practically unnoticeable, which on being +pressed permitted a soothing and persuasive narcotic to rise invisibly +about the occupant of the chair. The effect upon the excitable patient +was rapid, admirable, and harmless. The green study was further provided +with a secret spy-hole; for John Silence liked when possible to observe +his patient's face before it had assumed that mask the features of the +human countenance invariably wear in the presence of another person. A +man sitting alone wears a psychic expression; and this expression is the +man himself. It disappears the moment another person joins him. And Dr. +Silence often learned more from a few moments' secret observation of a +face than from hours of conversation with its owner afterwards. + +A very light, almost a dancing, step followed Barker's heavy tread +towards the green room, and a moment afterwards the man came in and +announced that the gentleman was waiting. He was still pale and his +manner nervous. + +"Never mind, Barker" the doctor said kindly; "if you were not psychic +the man would have had no effect upon you at all. You only need training +and development. And when you have learned to interpret these feelings +and sensations better, you will feel no fear, but only a great +sympathy." + +"Yes, sir; thank you, sir!" And Barker bowed and made his escape, while +Dr. Silence, an amused smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, +made his way noiselessly down the passage and put his eye to the +spy-hole in the door of the green study. + +This spy-hole was so placed that it commanded a view of almost the +entire room, and, looking through it, the doctor saw a hat, gloves, and +umbrella lying on a chair by the table, but searched at first in vain +for their owner. + +The windows were both closed and a brisk fire burned in the grate. There +were various signs--signs intelligible at least to a keenly intuitive +soul--that the room was occupied, yet so far as human beings were +concerned, it was empty, utterly empty. No one sat in the chairs; no one +stood on the mat before the fire; there was no sign even that a patient +was anywhere close against the wall, examining the Bocklin +reproductions--as patients so often did when they thought they were +alone--and therefore rather difficult to see from the spy-hole. +Ordinarily speaking, there was no one in the room. It was undeniable. + +Yet Dr. Silence was quite well aware that a human being _was_ in the +room. His psychic apparatus never failed in letting him know the +proximity of an incarnate or discarnate being. Even in the dark he could +tell that. And he now knew positively that his patient--the patient who +had alarmed Barker, and had then tripped down the corridor with that +dancing footstep--was somewhere concealed within the four walls +commanded by his spy-hole. He also realised--and this was most +unusual--that this individual whom he desired to watch knew that he was +being watched. And, further, that the stranger himself was also +watching! In fact, that it was he, the doctor, who was being +observed--and by an observer as keen and trained as himself. + +An inkling of the true state of the case began to dawn upon him, and he +was on the verge of entering--indeed, his hand already touched the +door-knob--when his eye, still glued to the spy-hole, detected a slight +movement. Directly opposite, between him and the fireplace, something +stirred. He watched very attentively and made certain that he was not +mistaken. An object on the mantelpiece--it was a blue vase--disappeared +from view. It passed out of sight together with the portion of the +marble mantelpiece on which it rested. Next, that part of the fire and +grate and brass fender immediately below it vanished entirely, as though +a slice had been taken clean out of them. + +Dr. Silence then understood that something between him and these objects +was slowly coming into being, something that concealed them and +obstructed his vision by inserting itself in the line of sight between +them and himself. + +He quietly awaited further results before going in. + +First he saw a thin perpendicular line tracing itself from just above +the height of the clock and continuing downwards till it reached the +woolly fire-mat. This line grew wider, broadened, grew solid. It was no +shadow; it was something substantial. It defined itself more and more. +Then suddenly, at the top of the line, and about on a level with the +face of the clock, he saw a round luminous disc gazing steadily at him. +It was a human eye, looking straight into his own, pressed there against +the spy-hole. And it was bright with intelligence. Dr. Silence held his +breath for a moment--and stared back at it. + +Then, like some one moving out of deep shadow into light, he saw the +figure of a man come sliding sideways into view, a whitish face +following the eye, and the perpendicular line he had first observed +broadening out and developing into the complete figure of a human being. +It was the patient. He had apparently been standing there in front of +the fire all the time. A second eye had followed the first, and both of +them stared steadily at the spy-hole, sharply concentrated, yet with a +sly twinkle of humour and amusement that made it impossible for the +doctor to maintain his position any longer. + +He opened the door and went in quickly. As he did so he noticed for the +first time the sound of a German band coming in gaily through the open +ventilators. In some intuitive, unaccountable fashion the music +connected itself with the patient he was about to interview. This sort +of prevision was not unfamiliar to him. It always explained itself +later. + +The man, he saw, was of middle age and of very ordinary appearance; so +ordinary, in fact, that he was difficult to describe--his only +peculiarity being his extreme thinness. Pleasant--that is, +good--vibrations issued from his atmosphere and met Dr. Silence as he +advanced to greet him, yet vibrations alive with currents and discharges +betraying the perturbed and disordered condition of his mind and brain. +There was evidently something wholly out of the usual in the state of +his thoughts. Yet, though strange, it was not altogether distressing; it +was not the impression that the broken and violent atmosphere of the +insane produces upon the mind. Dr. Silence realised in a flash that here +was a case of absorbing interest that might require all his powers to +handle properly. + +"I was watching you through my little peep-hole--as you saw," he began, +with a pleasant smile, advancing to shake hands. "I find it of the +greatest assistance sometimes--" + +But the patient interrupted him at once. His voice was hurried and had +odd, shrill changes in it, breaking from high to low in unexpected +fashion. One moment it thundered, the next it almost squeaked. + +"I understand without explanation," he broke in rapidly. "You get the +true note of a man in this way--when he thinks himself unobserved. I +quite agree. Only, in my case, I fear, you saw very little. My case, as +you of course grasp, Dr. Silence, is extremely peculiar, uncomfortably +peculiar. Indeed, unless Sir William had positively assured me--" + +"My friend has sent you to me," the doctor interrupted gravely, with a +gentle note of authority, "and that is quite sufficient. Pray, be +seated, Mr.--" + +"Mudge--Racine Mudge," returned the other. + +"Take this comfortable one, Mr. Mudge," leading him to the fixed chair, +"and tell me your condition in your own way and at your own pace. My +whole day is at your service if you require it." + +Mr. Mudge moved towards the chair in question and then hesitated. + +"You will promise me not to use the narcotic buttons," he said, before +sitting down. "I do not need them. Also I ought to mention that anything +you think of vividly will reach my mind. That is apparently part of my +peculiar case." He sat down with a sigh and arranged his thin legs and +body into a position of comfort. Evidently he was very sensitive to the +thoughts of others, for the picture of the green buttons had only +entered the doctor's mind for a second, yet the other had instantly +snapped it up. Dr. Silence noticed, too, that Mr. Mudge held on tightly +with both hands to the arms of the chair. + +"I'm rather glad the chair is nailed to the floor," he remarked, as he +settled himself more comfortably. "It suits me admirably. The fact +is--and this is my case in a nutshell--which is all that a doctor of +your marvellous development requires--the fact is, Dr. Silence, I am a +victim of Higher Space. That's what's the matter with me--Higher Space!" + +The two looked at each other for a space in silence, the little patient +holding tightly to the arms of the chair which "suited him admirably," +and looking up with staring eyes, his atmosphere positively trembling +with the waves of some unknown activity; while the doctor smiled kindly +and sympathetically, and put his whole person as far as possible into +the mental condition of the other. + +"Higher Space," repeated Mr. Mudge, "that's what it is. Now, do you +think you can help me with _that_?" + +There was a pause during which the men's eyes steadily searched down +below the surface of their respective personalities. Then Dr. Silence +spoke. + +"I am quite sure I can help," he answered quietly; "sympathy must always +help, and suffering always owns my sympathy. I see you have suffered +cruelly. You must tell me all about your case, and when I hear the +gradual steps by which you reached this strange condition, I have no +doubt I can be of assistance to you." + +He drew a chair up beside his interlocutor and laid a hand on his +shoulder for a moment. His whole being radiated kindness, intelligence, +desire to help. + +"For instance," he went on, "I feel sure it was the result of no mere +chance that you became familiar with the terrors of what you term Higher +Space; for Higher Space is no mere external measurement. It is, of +course, a spiritual state, a spiritual condition, an inner development, +and one that we must recognise as abnormal, since it is beyond the reach +of the world at the present stage of evolution. Higher Space is a +mythical state." + +"Oh!" cried the other, rubbing his birdlike hands with pleasure, "the +relief it is to be able to talk to some one who can understand! Of +course what you say is the utter truth. And you are right that no mere +chance led me to my present condition, but, on the other hand, prolonged +and deliberate study. Yet chance in a sense now governs it. I mean, my +entering the condition of Higher Space seems to depend upon the chance +of this and that circumstance. For instance, the mere sound of that +German band sent me off. Not that all music will do so, but certain +sounds, certain vibrations, at once key me up to the requisite pitch, +and off I go. Wagner's music always does it, and that band must have +been playing a stray bit of Wagner. But I'll come to all that later. +Only first, I must ask you to send away your man from the spy-hole." + +John Silence looked up with a start, for Mr. Mudge's back was to the +door, and there was no mirror. He saw the brown eye of Barker glued to +the little circle of glass, and he crossed the room without a word and +snapped down the black shutter provided for the purpose, and then heard +Barker snuffle away along the passage. + +"Now," continued the little man in the chair, "I can begin. You have +managed to put me completely at my ease, and I feel I may tell you my +whole case without shame or reserve. You will understand. But you must +be patient with me if I go into details that are already familiar to +you--details of Higher Space, I mean--and if I seem stupid when I have +to describe things that transcend the power of language and are really +therefore indescribable." + +"My dear friend," put in the other calmly, "that goes without saying. To +know Higher Space is an experience that defies description, and one is +obliged to make use of more or less intelligible symbols. But, pray, +proceed. Your vivid thoughts will tell me more than your halting words." + +An immense sigh of relief proceeded from the little figure half lost in +the depths of the chair. Such intelligent sympathy meeting him half-way +was a new experience to him, and it touched his heart at once. He leaned +back, relaxing his tight hold of the arms, and began in his thin, +scale-like voice. + +"My mother was a Frenchwoman, and my father an Essex bargeman," he said +abruptly. "Hence my name--Racine and Mudge. My father died before I ever +saw him. My mother inherited money from her Bordeaux relations, and when +she died soon after, I was left alone with wealth and a strange freedom. +I had no guardian, trustees, sisters, brothers, or any connection in the +world to look after me. I grew up, therefore, utterly without education. +This much was to my advantage; I learned none of that deceitful rubbish +taught in schools, and so had nothing to unlearn when I awakened to my +true love--mathematics, higher mathematics and higher geometry. These, +however, I seemed to know instinctively. It was like the memory of what +I had deeply studied before; the principles were in my blood, and I +simply raced through the ordinary stages, and beyond, and then did the +same with geometry. Afterwards, when I read the books on these subjects, +I understood how swift and undeviating the knowledge had come back to +me. It was simply memory. It was simply _re-collecting_ the memories of +what I had known before in a previous existence and required no books to +teach me." + +In his growing excitement, Mr. Mudge attempted to drag the chair forward +a little nearer to his listener, and then smiled faintly as he resigned +himself instantly again to its immovability, and plunged anew into the +recital of his singular "disease." + +"The audacious speculations of Bolyai, the amazing theories of +Gauss--that through a point more than one line could be drawn parallel +to a given line; the possibility that the angles of a triangle are +together _greater_ than two right angles, if drawn upon immense +curvatures--the breathless intuitions of Beltrami and Lobatchewsky--all +these I hurried through, and emerged, panting but unsatisfied, upon the +verge of my--my new world, my Higher Space possibilities--in a word, my +disease! + +"How I got there," he resumed after a brief pause, during which he +appeared to be listening intently for an approaching sound, "is more +than I can put intelligibly into words. I can only hope to leave your +mind with an intuitive comprehension of the possibility of what I say. + +"Here, however, came a change. At this point I was no longer absorbing +the fruits of studies I had made before; it was the beginning of new +efforts to learn for the first time, and I had to go slowly and +laboriously through terrible work. Here I sought for the theories and +speculations of others. But books were few and far between, and with the +exception of one man--a 'dreamer,' the world called him--whose audacity +and piercing intuition amazed and delighted me beyond description, I +found no one to guide or help. + +"You, of course, Dr. Silence, understand something of what I am driving +at with these stammering words, though you cannot perhaps yet guess what +depths of pain my new knowledge brought me to, nor why an acquaintance +with a new development of space should prove a source of misery and +terror." + +Mr. Racine Mudge, remembering that the chair would not move, did the +next best thing he could in his desire to draw nearer to the attentive +man facing him, and sat forward upon the very edge of the cushions, +crossing his legs and gesticulating with both hands as though he saw +into this region of new space he was attempting to describe, and might +any moment tumble into it bodily from the edge of the chair and +disappear form view. John Silence, separated from him by three paces, +sat with his eyes fixed upon the thin white face opposite, noting +every word and every gesture with deep attention. + +"This room we now sit in, Dr. Silence, has one side open to space--to +Higher Space. A closed box only _seems_ closed. There is a way in and +out of a soap bubble without breaking the skin." + +"You tell me no new thing," the doctor interposed gently. + +"Hence, if Higher Space exists and our world borders upon it and lies +partially in it, it follows necessarily that we see only portions of all +objects. We never see their true and complete shape. We see their three +measurements, but not their fourth. The new direction is concealed from +us, and when I hold this book and move my hand all round it I have not +really made a complete circuit. We only perceive those portions of any +object which exist in our three dimensions; the rest escapes us. But, +once we learn to see in Higher Space, objects will appear as they +actually are. Only they will thus be hardly recognisable! + +"Now, you may begin to grasp something of what I am coming to." + +"I am beginning to understand something of what you must have suffered," +observed the doctor soothingly, "for I have made similar experiments +myself, and only stopped just in time--" + +"You are the one man in all the world who can hear and understand, _and_ +sympathise," exclaimed Mr. Mudge, grasping his hand and holding it +tightly while he spoke. The nailed chair prevented further excitability. + +"Well," he resumed, after a moment's pause, "I procured the implements +and the coloured blocks for practical experiment, and I followed the +instructions carefully till I had arrived at a working conception of +four-dimensional space. The tessaract, the figure whose boundaries are +cubes, I knew by heart. That is to say, I knew it and saw it mentally, +for my eye, of course, could never take in a new measurement, or my +hands and feet handle it. + +"So, at least, I thought," he added, making a wry face. "I had reached +the stage, you see, when I could imagine in a new dimension. I was able +to conceive the shape of that new figure which is intrinsically +different to all we know--the shape of the tessaract. I could perceive +in four dimensions. When, therefore, I looked at a cube I could see all +its sides at once. Its top was not foreshortened, nor its farther side +and base invisible. I saw the whole thing out flat, so to speak. And +this tessaract was bounded by cubes! Moreover, I also saw its +content--its insides." + +"You were not yourself able to enter this new world," interrupted Dr. +Silence. + +"Not then. I was only able to conceive intuitively what it was like and +how exactly it must look. Later, when I slipped in there and saw objects +in their entirety, unlimited by the paucity of our poor three +measurements, I very nearly lost my life. For, you see, space does not +stop at a single new dimension, a fourth. It extends in all possible new +ones, and we must conceive it as containing any number of new +dimensions. In other words, there is no space at all, but only a +spiritual condition. But, meanwhile, I had come to grasp the strange +fact that the objects in our normal world appear to us only partially." + +Mr. Mudge moved farther forward till he was balanced dangerously on the +very edge of the chair. "From this starting point," he resumed, "I began +my studies and experiments, and continued them for years. I had money, +and I was without friends. I lived in solitude and experimented. My +intellect, of course, had little part in the work, for intellectually it +was all unthinkable. Never was the limitation of mere reason more +plainly demonstrated. It was mystically, intuitively, spiritually that I +began to advance. And what I learnt, and knew, and did is all impossible +to put into language, since it all describes experiences transcending +the experiences of men. It is only some of the results--what you would +call the symptoms of my disease--that I can give you, and even these +must often appear absurd contradictions and impossible paradoxes. + +"I can only tell you, Dr. Silence"--his manner became exceedingly +impressive--"that I reached sometimes a point of view whence all the +great puzzle of the world became plain to me, and I understood what they +call in the Yoga books 'The Great Heresy of Separateness'; why all great +teachers have urged the necessity of man loving his neighbour as +himself; how men are all really one; and why the utter loss of self is +necessary to salvation and the discovery of the true life of the soul." + +He paused a moment and drew breath. + +"Your speculations have been my own long ago," the doctor said quietly. +"I fully realise the force of your words. Men are doubtless not separate +at all--in the sense they imagine--" + +"All this about the very much Higher Space I only dimly, very dimly, +conceived, of course," the other went on, raising his voice again by +jerks; "but what did happen to me was the humbler accident of--the +simpler disaster--oh, dear, how shall I put it--?" + +He stammered and showed visible signs of distress. + +"It was simply this," he resumed with a sudden rush of words, "that, +accidentally, as the result of my years of experiment, I one day slipped +bodily into the next world, the world of four dimensions, yet without +knowing precisely how I got there, or how I could get back again. I +discovered, that is, that my ordinary three-dimensional body was but an +expression--a projection--of my higher four-dimensional body! + +"Now you understand what I meant much earlier in our talk when I spoke +of chance. I cannot control my entrance or exit. Certain people, certain +human atmospheres, certain wandering forces, thoughts, desires even--the +radiations of certain combinations of colour, and above all, the +vibrations of certain kinds of music, will suddenly throw me into a +state of what I can only describe as an intense and terrific inner +vibration--and behold I am off! Off in the direction at right angles to +all our known directions! Off in the direction the cube takes when it +begins to trace the outlines of the new figure! Off into my breathless +and semi-divine Higher Space! Off, _inside myself_, into the world of +four dimensions!" + +He gasped and dropped back into the depths of the immovable chair. + +"And there," he whispered, his voice issuing from among the cushions, +"there I have to stay until these vibrations subside, or until they do +something which I cannot find words to describe properly or intelligibly +to you--and then, behold, I am back again. First, that is, I disappear. +Then I reappear." + +"Just so," exclaimed Dr. Silence, "and that is why a few--" + +"Why a few moments ago," interrupted Mr. Mudge, taking the words out of +his mouth, "you found me gone, and then saw me return. The music of that +wretched German band sent me off. Your intense thinking about me brought +me back--when the band had stopped its Wagner. I saw you approach the +peep-hole and I saw Barker's intention of doing so later. For me no +interiors are hidden. I see inside. When in that state the content of +your mind, as of your body, is open to me as the day. Oh, dear, oh, +dear, oh, dear!" + +Mr. Mudge stopped and again mopped his brow. A light trembling ran over +the surface of his small body like wind over grass. He still held +tightly to the arms of the chair. + +"At first," he presently resumed, "my new experiences were so vividly +interesting that I felt no alarm. There was no room for it. The alarm +came a little later." + +"Then you actually penetrated far enough into that state to experience +yourself as a normal portion of it?" asked the doctor, leaning forward, +deeply interested. + +Mr. Mudge nodded a perspiring face in reply. + +"I did," he whispered, "undoubtedly I did. I am coming to all that. It +began first at night, when I realised that sleep brought no loss of +consciousness--" + +"The spirit, of course, can never sleep. Only the body becomes +unconscious," interposed John Silence. + +"Yes, we know that--theoretically. At night, of course, the spirit is +active elsewhere, and we have no memory of where and how, simply +because the brain stays behind and receives no record. But I found +that, while remaining conscious, I also retained memory. I had attained +to the state of continuous consciousness, for at night I regularly, with +the first approaches of drowsiness, entered _nolens volens_ the +four-dimensional world. + +"For a time this happened regularly, and I could not control it; though +later I found a way to regulate it better. Apparently sleep is +unnecessary in the higher--the four-dimensional--body. Yes, perhaps. But +I should infinitely have preferred dull sleep to the knowledge. For, +unable to control my movements, I wandered to and fro, attracted, owing +to my partial development and premature arrival, to parts of this new +world that alarmed me more and more. It was the awful waste and drift of +a monstrous world, so utterly different to all we know and see that I +cannot even hint at the nature of the sights and objects and beings in +it. More than that, I cannot even remember them. I cannot now picture +them to myself even, but can recall only the _memory of the impression_ +they made upon me, the horror and devastating terror of it all. To be in +several places at once, for instance--" + +"Perfectly," interrupted John Silence, noticing the increase of the +other's excitement, "I understand exactly. But now, please, tell me a +little more of this alarm you experienced, and how it affected you." + +"It's not the disappearing and reappearing _per se_ that I mind," +continued Mr. Mudge, "so much as certain other things. It's seeing +people and objects in their weird entirety, in their true and complete +shapes, that is so distressing. It introduces me to a world of monsters. +Horses, dogs, cats, all of which I loved; people, trees, children; all +that I have considered beautiful in life--everything, from a human face +to a cathedral--appear to me in a different shape and aspect to all I +have known before. I cannot perhaps convince you why this should be +terrible, but I assure you that it is so. To hear the human voice +proceeding from this novel appearance which I scarcely recognise as a +human body is ghastly, simply ghastly. To see inside everything and +everybody is a form of insight peculiarly distressing. To be so confused +in geography as to find myself one moment at the North Pole, and the +next at Clapham Junction--or possibly at both places simultaneously--is +absurdly terrifying. Your imagination will readily furnish other details +without my multiplying my experiences now. But you have no idea what it +all means, and how I suffer." + +Mr. Mudge paused in his panting account and lay back in his chair. He +still held tightly to the arms as though they could keep him in the +world of sanity and three measurements, and only now and again released +his left hand in order to mop his face. He looked very thin and white +and oddly unsubstantial, and he stared about him as though he saw into +this other space he had been talking about. + +John Silence, too, felt warm. He had listened to every word and had made +many notes. The presence of this man had an exhilarating effect upon +him. It seemed as if Mr. Racine Mudge still carried about with him +something of that breathless Higher-Space condition he had been +describing. At any rate, Dr. Silence had himself advanced sufficiently +far along the legitimate paths of spiritual and psychic transformations +to realise that the visions of this extraordinary little person had a +basis of truth for their origin. + +After a pause that prolonged itself into minutes, he crossed the room +and unlocked a drawer in a bookcase, taking out a small book with a red +cover. It had a lock to it, and he produced a key out of his pocket and +proceeded to open the covers. The bright eyes of Mr. Mudge never left +him for a single second. + +"It almost seems a pity," he said at length, "to cure you, Mr. Mudge. +You are on the way to discovery of great things. Though you may lose +your life in the process--that is, your life here in the world of three +dimensions--you would lose thereby nothing of great value--you will +pardon my apparent rudeness, I know--and you might gain what is +infinitely greater. Your suffering, of course, lies in the fact that you +alternate between the two worlds and are never wholly in one or the +other. Also, I rather imagine, though I cannot be certain of this from +any personal experiments, that you have here and there penetrated even +into space of more than four dimensions, and have hence experienced the +terror you speak of." + +The perspiring son of the Essex bargeman and the woman of Normandy bent +his head several times in assent, but uttered no word in reply. + +"Some strange psychic predisposition, dating no doubt from one of your +former lives, has favoured the development of your 'disease'; and the +fact that you had no normal training at school or college, no leading by +the poor intellect into the culs-de-sac falsely called knowledge, has +further caused your exceedingly rapid movement along the lines of direct +inner experience. None of the knowledge you have foreshadowed has come +to you through the senses, of course." + +Mr. Mudge, sitting in his immovable chair, began to tremble slightly. A +wind again seemed to pass over his surface and again to set it curiously +in motion like a field of grass. + +"You are merely talking to gain time," he said hurriedly, in a shaking +voice. "This thinking aloud delays us. I see ahead what you are coming +to, only please be quick, for something is going to happen. A band is +again coming down the street, and if it plays--if it plays Wagner--I +shall be off in a twinkling." + +"Precisely. I will be quick. I was leading up to the point of how to +effect your cure. The way is this: You must simply learn to _block the +entrances_." + +"True, true, utterly true!" exclaimed the little man, dodging about +nervously in the depths of the chair. "But how, in the name of space, is +that to be done?" + +"By concentration. They are all within you, these entrances, although +outer cases such as colour, music and other things lead you towards +them. These external things you cannot hope to destroy, but once the +entrances are blocked, they will lead you only to bricked walls and +closed channels. You will no longer be able to find the way." + +"Quick, quick!" cried the bobbing figure in the chair. "How is this +concentration to be effected?" + +"This little book," continued Dr. Silence calmly, "will explain to you +the way." He tapped the cover. "Let me now read out to you certain +simple instructions, composed, as I see you divine, entirely from my own +personal experiences in the same direction. Follow these instructions +and you will no longer enter the state of Higher Space. The entrances +will be blocked effectively." + +Mr. Mudge sat bolt upright in his chair to listen, and John Silence +cleared his throat and began to read slowly in a very distinct voice. + +But before he had uttered a dozen words, something happened. A sound of +street music entered the room through the open ventilators, for a band +had begun to play in the stable mews at the back of the house--the March +from _Tannhäuser_. Odd as it may seem that a German band should twice +within the space of an hour enter the same mews and play Wagner, it was +nevertheless the fact. + +Mr. Racine Mudge heard it. He uttered a sharp, squeaking cry and twisted +his arms with nervous energy round the chair. A piteous look that was +not far from tears spread over his white face. Grey shadows followed +it--the grey of fear. He began to struggle convulsively. + +"Hold me fast! Catch me! For God's sake, keep me here! I'm on the rush +already. Oh, it's frightful!" he cried in tones of anguish, his voice as +thin as a reed. + +Dr. Silence made a plunge forward to seize him, but in a flash, before +he could cover the space between them, Mr. Racine Mudge, screaming and +struggling, seemed to shoot past him into invisibility. He disappeared +like an arrow from a bow propelled at infinite speed, and his voice no +longer sounded in the external air, but seemed in some curious way to +make itself heard somewhere within the depths of the doctor's own being. +It was almost like a faint singing cry in his head, like a voice of +dream, a voice of vision and unreality. + +"Alcohol, alcohol!" it cried, "give me alcohol! It's the quickest way. +Alcohol, before I'm out of reach!" + +The doctor, accustomed to rapid decisions and even more rapid action, +remembered that a brandy flask stood upon the mantelpiece, and in less +than a second he had seized it and was holding it out towards the space +above the chair recently occupied by the visible Mudge. Then, before his +very eyes, and long ere he could unscrew the metal stopper, he saw the +contents of the closed glass phial sink and lessen as though some one +were drinking violently and greedily of the liquor within. + +"Thanks! Enough! It deadens the vibrations!" cried the faint voice in +his interior, as he withdrew the flask and set it back upon the +mantelpiece. He understood that in Mudge's present condition one side of +the flask was open to space and he could drink without removing the +stopper. He could hardly have had a more interesting proof of what he +had been hearing described at such length. + +But the next moment--the very same moment it almost seemed--the German +band stopped midway in its tune--and there was Mr. Mudge back in his +chair again, gasping and panting! + +"Quick!" he shrieked, "stop that band! Send it away! Catch hold of me! +Block the entrances! Block the entrances! Give me the red book! Oh, oh, +oh-h-h-h!!!" + +The music had begun again. It was merely a temporary interruption. The +_Tannhäuser_ March started again, this time at a tremendous pace that +made it sound like a rapid two-step as though the instruments played +against time. + +But the brief interruption gave Dr. Silence a moment in which to collect +his scattering thoughts, and before the band had got through half a bar, +he had flung forward upon the chair and held Mr. Racine Mudge, the +struggling little victim of Higher Space, in a grip of iron. His arms +went all round his diminutive person, taking in a good part of the chair +at the same time. He was not a big man, yet he seemed to smother Mudge +completely. + +Yet, even as he did so, and felt the wriggling form underneath him, it +began to melt and slip away like air or water. The wood of the arm-chair +somehow disentangled itself from between his own arms and those of +Mudge. The phenomenon known as the passage of matter through matter took +place. The little man seemed actually to get mixed up in his own being. +Dr. Silence could just see his face beneath him. It puckered and grew +dark as though from some great internal effort. He heard the thin, reedy +voice cry in his ear to "Block the entrances, block the entrances!" and +then--but how in the world describe what is indescribable? + +John Silence half rose up to watch. Racine Mudge, his face distorted +beyond all recognition, was making a marvellous inward movement, as +though doubling back upon himself. He turned funnel-wise like water in a +whirling vortex, and then appeared to break up somewhat as a reflection +breaks up and divides in a distorting convex mirror. He went neither +forward nor backwards, neither to the right nor the left, neither up nor +down. But he went. He went utterly. He simply flashed away out of sight +like a vanishing projectile. + +All but one leg! Dr. Silence just had the time and the presence of mind +to seize upon the left ankle and boot as it disappeared, and to this he +held on for several seconds like grim death. Yet all the time he knew it +was a foolish and useless thing to do. + +The foot was in his grasp one moment, and the next it seemed--this was +the only way he could describe it--inside his own skin and bones, and at +the same time outside his hand and all round it. It seemed mixed up in +some amazing way with his own flesh and blood. Then it was gone, and he +was tightly grasping a draught of heated air. + +"Gone! gone! gone!" cried a thick, whispering voice, somewhere deep +within his own consciousness. "Lost! lost! lost!" it repeated, growing +fainter and fainter till at length it vanished into nothing and the last +signs of Mr. Racine Mudge vanished with it. + +John Silence locked his red book and replaced it in the cabinet, which +he fastened with a click, and when Barker answered the bell he inquired +if Mr. Mudge had left a card upon the table. It appeared that he had, +and when the servant returned with it, Dr. Silence read the address and +made a note of it. It was in North London. + +"Mr. Mudge has gone," he said quietly to Barker, noticing his expression +of alarm. + +"He's not taken his 'at with him, sir." + +"Mr. Mudge requires no hat where he is now," continued the doctor, +stooping to poke the fire. "But he may return for it--" + +"And the humbrella, sir." + +"And the umbrella." + +"He didn't go out _my_ way, sir, if you please," stuttered the amazed +servant, his curiosity overcoming his nervousness. + +"Mr. Mudge has his own way of coming and going, and prefers it. If he +returns by the door at any time remember to bring him instantly to me, +and be kind and gentle with him and ask no questions. Also, remember, +Barker, to think pleasantly, sympathetically, affectionately of him +while he is away. Mr. Mudge is a very suffering gentleman." + +Barker bowed and went out of the room backwards, gasping and feeling +round the inside of his collar with three very hot fingers of one hand. + +It was two days later when he brought in a telegram to the study. Dr. +Silence opened it, and read as follows: + + "Bombay. Just slipped out again. All safe. Have blocked + entrances. Thousand thanks. Address Cooks, London.--MUDGE." + +Dr. Silence looked up and saw Barker staring at him bewilderingly. It +occurred to him that somehow he knew the contents of the telegram. + +"Make a parcel of Mr. Mudge's things," he said briefly, "and address +them Thomas Cook & Sons, Ludgate Circus. And send them there exactly a +month from to-day and marked 'To be called for.'" + +"Yes, sir," said Barker, leaving the room with a deep sigh and a hurried +glance at the waste-paper basket where his master had dropped the pink +paper. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three More John Silence Stories +by Algernon Blackwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 10659-8.txt or 10659-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/5/10659/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three More John Silence Stories + +Author: Algernon Blackwood + +Release Date: January 9, 2004 [EBook #10659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<h1>Three More John Silence Stories</h1> + +<h2>BY ALGERNON BLACKWOOD</h2> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<h4>To M.L.W. The Original of John Silence</h4> + +<h6>and</h6> + +<h4>My Companion in Many Adventures</h4> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<a name="Contents"></a><h2>Contents</h2> + +<h3><a href="#CASE_IV:_SECRET_WORSHIP">Case I</a>: Secret Worship</h3> + +<h3><a href="#CASE_V:_THE_CAMP_OF_THE_DOG">Case II</a>: The Camp of the Dog</h3> + +<h3><a href="#CASE_VI:_A_VICTIM_OF_HIGHER_SPACE">Case III</a>: A Victim of Higher Space</h3> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<a name="CASE_IV:_SECRET_WORSHIP"></a><h2>CASE I: SECRET WORSHIP</h2> +<br> + +<p>Harris, the silk merchant, was in South Germany on his way home from a +business trip when the idea came to him suddenly that he would take the +mountain railway from Strassbourg and run down to revisit his old school +after an interval of something more than thirty years. And it was to +this chance impulse of the junior partner in Harris Brothers of St. +Paul's Churchyard that John Silence owed one of the most curious cases +of his whole experience, for at that very moment he happened to be +tramping these same mountains with a holiday knapsack, and from +different points of the compass the two men were actually converging +towards the same inn.</p> + +<p>Now, deep down in the heart that for thirty years had been concerned +chiefly with the profitable buying and selling of silk, this school had +left the imprint of its peculiar influence, and, though perhaps unknown +to Harris, had strongly coloured the whole of his subsequent existence. +It belonged to the deeply religious life of a small Protestant community +(which it is unnecessary to specify), and his father had sent him there +at the age of fifteen, partly because he would learn the German +requisite for the conduct of the silk business, and partly because the +discipline was strict, and discipline was what his soul and body needed +just then more than anything else.</p> + +<p>The life, indeed, had proved exceedingly severe, and young Harris +benefited accordingly; for though corporal punishment was unknown, there +was a system of mental and spiritual correction which somehow made the +soul stand proudly erect to receive it, while it struck at the very root +of the fault and taught the boy that his character was being cleaned and +strengthened, and that he was not merely being tortured in a kind of +personal revenge.</p> + +<p>That was over thirty years ago, when he was a dreamy and impressionable +youth of fifteen; and now, as the train climbed slowly up the winding +mountain gorges, his mind travelled back somewhat lovingly over the +intervening period, and forgotten details rose vividly again before him +out of the shadows. The life there had been very wonderful, it seemed to +him, in that remote mountain village, protected from the tumults of the +world by the love and worship of the devout Brotherhood that ministered +to the needs of some hundred boys from every country in Europe. Sharply +the scenes came back to him. He smelt again the long stone corridors, +the hot pinewood rooms, where the sultry hours of summer study were +passed with bees droning through open windows in the sunshine, and +German characters struggling in the mind with dreams of English +lawns—and then the sudden awful cry of the master in German—</p> + +<p>"Harris, stand up! You sleep!"</p> + +<p>And he recalled the dreadful standing motionless for an hour, book in +hand, while the knees felt like wax and the head grew heavier than a +cannon-ball.</p> + +<p>The very smell of the cooking came back to him—the daily <i>Sauerkraut</i>, +the watery chocolate on Sundays, the flavour of the stringy meat served +twice a week at <i>Mittagessen</i>; and he smiled to think again of the +half-rations that was the punishment for speaking English. The very +odour of the milk-bowls,—the hot sweet aroma that rose from the soaking +peasant-bread at the six-o'clock breakfast,—came back to him pungently, +and he saw the huge <i>Speisesaal</i> with the hundred boys in their school +uniform, all eating sleepily in silence, gulping down the coarse bread +and scalding milk in terror of the bell that would presently cut them +short—and, at the far end where the masters sat, he saw the narrow slit +windows with the vistas of enticing field and forest beyond.</p> + +<p>And this, in turn, made him think of the great barnlike room on the top +floor where all slept together in wooden cots, and he heard in memory +the clamour of the cruel bell that woke them on winter mornings at five +o'clock and summoned them to the stone-flagged <i>Waschkammer</i>, where boys +and masters alike, after scanty and icy washing, dressed in complete +silence.</p> + +<p>From this his mind passed swiftly, with vivid picture-thoughts, to other +things, and with a passing shiver he remembered how the loneliness of +never being alone had eaten into him, and how everything—work, meals, +sleep, walks, leisure—was done with his "division" of twenty other boys +and under the eyes of at least two masters. The only solitude possible +was by asking for half an hour's practice in the cell-like music rooms, +and Harris smiled to himself as he recalled the zeal of his violin +studies.</p> + +<p>Then, as the train puffed laboriously through the great pine forests +that cover these mountains with a giant carpet of velvet, he found the +pleasanter layers of memory giving up their dead, and he recalled with +admiration the kindness of the masters, whom all addressed as Brother, +and marvelled afresh at their devotion in burying themselves for years +in such a place, only to leave it, in most cases, for the still rougher +life of missionaries in the wild places of the world.</p> + +<p>He thought once more of the still, religious atmosphere that hung over +the little forest community like a veil, barring the distressful world; +of the picturesque ceremonies at Easter, Christmas, and New Year; of the +numerous feast-days and charming little festivals. The <i>Beschehr-Fest</i>, +in particular, came back to him,—the feast of gifts at Christmas,—when +the entire community paired off and gave presents, many of which had +taken weeks to make or the savings of many days to purchase. And then he +saw the midnight ceremony in the church at New Year, with the shining +face of the <i>Prediger</i> in the pulpit,—the village preacher who, on the +last night of the old year, saw in the empty gallery beyond the organ +loft the faces of all who were to die in the ensuing twelve months, and +who at last recognised himself among them, and, in the very middle of +his sermon, passed into a state of rapt ecstasy and burst into a torrent +of praise.</p> + +<p>Thickly the memories crowded upon him. The picture of the small village +dreaming its unselfish life on the mountain-tops, clean, wholesome, +simple, searching vigorously for its God, and training hundreds of boys +in the grand way, rose up in his mind with all the power of an +obsession. He felt once more the old mystical enthusiasm, deeper than +the sea and more wonderful than the stars; he heard again the winds +sighing from leagues of forest over the red roofs in the moonlight; he +heard the Brothers' voices talking of the things beyond this life as +though they had actually experienced them in the body; and, as he sat in +the jolting train, a spirit of unutterable longing passed over his +seared and tired soul, stirring in the depths of him a sea of emotions +that he thought had long since frozen into immobility.</p> + +<p>And the contrast pained him,—the idealistic dreamer then, the man of +business now,—so that a spirit of unworldly peace and beauty known only +to the soul in meditation laid its feathered finger upon his heart, +moving strangely the surface of the waters.</p> + +<p>Harris shivered a little and looked out of the window of his empty +carriage. The train had long passed Hornberg, and far below the streams +tumbled in white foam down the limestone rocks. In front of him, dome +upon dome of wooded mountain stood against the sky. It was October, and +the air was cool and sharp, woodsmoke and damp moss exquisitely mingled +in it with the subtle odours of the pines. Overhead, between the tips of +the highest firs, he saw the first stars peeping, and the sky was a +clean, pale amethyst that seemed exactly the colour all these memories +clothed themselves with in his mind.</p> + +<p>He leaned back in his corner and sighed. He was a heavy man, and he had +not known sentiment for years; he was a big man, and it took much to +move him, literally and figuratively; he was a man in whom the dreams of +God that haunt the soul in youth, though overlaid by the scum that +gathers in the fight for money, had not, as with the majority, utterly +died the death.</p> + +<p>He came back into this little neglected pocket of the years, where so +much fine gold had collected and lain undisturbed, with all his +semispiritual emotions aquiver; and, as he watched the mountain-tops +come nearer, and smelt the forgotten odours of his boyhood, something +melted on the surface of his soul and left him sensitive to a degree he +had not known since, thirty years before, he had lived here with his +dreams, his conflicts, and his youthful suffering.</p> + +<p>A thrill ran through him as the train stopped with a jolt at a tiny +station and he saw the name in large black lettering on the grey stone +building, and below it, the number of metres it stood above the level of +the sea.</p> + +<p>"The highest point on the line!" he exclaimed. "How well I remember +it—Sommerau—Summer Meadow. The very next station is mine!"</p> + +<p>And, as the train ran downhill with brakes on and steam shut off, he put +his head out of the window and one by one saw the old familiar landmarks +in the dusk. They stared at him like dead faces in a dream. Queer, sharp +feelings, half poignant, half sweet, stirred in his heart.</p> + +<p>"There's the hot, white road we walked along so often with the two +Brüder always at our heels," he thought; "and there, by Jove, is the +turn through the forest to '<i>Die Galgen</i>,' the stone gallows where they +hanged the witches in olden days!"</p> + +<p>He smiled a little as the train slid past.</p> + +<p>"And there's the copse where the Lilies of the Valley powdered the +ground in spring; and, I swear,"—he put his head out with a sudden +impulse—"if that's not the very clearing where Calame, the French boy, +chased the swallow-tail with me, and Bruder Pagel gave us half-rations +for leaving the road without permission, and for shouting in our mother +tongues!" And he laughed again as the memories came back with a rush, +flooding his mind with vivid detail.</p> + +<p>The train stopped, and he stood on the grey gravel platform like a man +in a dream. It seemed half a century since he last waited there with +corded wooden boxes, and got into the train for Strassbourg and home +after the two years' exile. Time dropped from him like an old garment +and he felt a boy again. Only, things looked so much smaller than his +memory of them; shrunk and dwindled they looked, and the distances +seemed on a curiously smaller scale.</p> + +<p>He made his way across the road to the little Gasthaus, and, as he went, +faces and figures of former schoolfellows,—German, Swiss, Italian, +French, Russian,—slipped out of the shadowy woods and silently +accompanied him. They flitted by his side, raising their eyes +questioningly, sadly, to his. But their names he had forgotten. Some of +the Brothers, too, came with them, and most of these he remembered by +name—Bruder Röst, Bruder Pagel, Bruder Schliemann, and the bearded face +of the old preacher who had seen himself in the haunted gallery of those +about to die—Bruder Gysin. The dark forest lay all about him like a sea +that any moment might rush with velvet waves upon the scene and sweep +all the faces away. The air was cool and wonderfully fragrant, but with +every perfumed breath came also a pallid memory....</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of the underlying sadness inseparable from such an +experience, it was all very interesting, and held a pleasure peculiarly +its own, so that Harris engaged his room and ordered supper feeling well +pleased with himself, and intending to walk up to the old school that +very evening. It stood in the centre of the community's village, some +four miles distant through the forest, and he now recollected for the +first time that this little Protestant settlement dwelt isolated in a +section of the country that was otherwise Catholic. Crucifixes and +shrines surrounded the clearing like the sentries of a beleaguering +army. Once beyond the square of the village, with its few acres of field +and orchard, the forest crowded up in solid phalanxes, and beyond the +rim of trees began the country that was ruled by the priests of another +faith. He vaguely remembered, too, that the Catholics had showed +sometimes a certain hostility towards the little Protestant oasis that +flourished so quietly and benignly in their midst. He had quite +forgotten this. How trumpery it all seemed now with his wide experience +of life and his knowledge of other countries and the great outside +world. It was like stepping back, not thirty years, but three hundred.</p> + +<p>There were only two others besides himself at supper. One of them, a +bearded, middle-aged man in tweeds, sat by himself at the far end, and +Harris kept out of his way because he was English. He feared he might be +in business, possibly even in the silk business, and that he would +perhaps talk on the subject. The other traveller, however, was a +Catholic priest. He was a little man who ate his salad with a knife, yet +so gently that it was almost inoffensive, and it was the sight of "the +cloth" that recalled his memory of the old antagonism. Harris mentioned +by way of conversation the object of his sentimental journey, and the +priest looked up sharply at him with raised eyebrows and an expression +of surprise and suspicion that somehow piqued him. He ascribed it to his +difference of belief.</p> + +<p>"Yes," went on the silk merchant, pleased to talk of what his mind was +so full, "and it was a curious experience for an English boy to be +dropped down into a school of a hundred foreigners. I well remember the +loneliness and intolerable Heimweh of it at first." His German was very +fluent.</p> + +<p>The priest opposite looked up from his cold veal and potato salad and +smiled. It was a nice face. He explained quietly that he did not belong +here, but was making a tour of the parishes of Wurttemberg and Baden.</p> + +<p>"It was a strict life," added Harris. "We English, I remember, used to +call it <i>Gefängnisleben</i>—prison life!"</p> + +<p>The face of the other, for some unaccountable reason, darkened. After a +slight pause, and more by way of politeness than because he wished to +continue the subject, he said quietly—</p> + +<p>"It was a flourishing school in those days, of course. Afterwards, I +have heard—" He shrugged his shoulders slightly, and the odd look—it +almost seemed a look of alarm—came back into his eyes. The sentence +remained unfinished.</p> + +<p>Something in the tone of the man seemed to his listener uncalled for—in +a sense reproachful, singular. Harris bridled in spite of himself.</p> + +<p>"It has changed?" he asked. "I can hardly believe—"</p> + +<p>"You have not heard, then?" observed the priest gently, making a gesture +as though to cross himself, yet not actually completing it. "You have +not heard what happened there before it was abandoned—?"</p> + +<p>It was very childish, of course, and perhaps he was overtired and +overwrought in some way, but the words and manner of the little priest +seemed to him so offensive—so disproportionately offensive—that he +hardly noticed the concluding sentence. He recalled the old bitterness +and the old antagonism, and for a moment he almost lost his temper.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," he interrupted with a forced laugh, "<i>Unsinn</i>! You must +forgive me, sir, for contradicting you. But I was a pupil there myself. +I was at school there. There was no place like it. I cannot believe that +anything serious could have happened to—to take away its character. The +devotion of the Brothers would be difficult to equal anywhere—"</p> + +<p>He broke off suddenly, realising that his voice had been raised unduly +and that the man at the far end of the table might understand German; +and at the same moment he looked up and saw that this individual's eyes +were fixed upon his face intently. They were peculiarly bright. Also +they were rather wonderful eyes, and the way they met his own served in +some way he could not understand to convey both a reproach and a +warning. The whole face of the stranger, indeed, made a vivid impression +upon him, for it was a face, he now noticed for the first time, in whose +presence one would not willingly have said or done anything unworthy. +Harris could not explain to himself how it was he had not become +conscious sooner of its presence.</p> + +<p>But he could have bitten off his tongue for having so far forgotten +himself. The little priest lapsed into silence. Only once he said, +looking up and speaking in a low voice that was not intended to be +overheard, but that evidently <i>was</i> overheard, "You will find it +different." Presently he rose and left the table with a polite bow that +included both the others.</p> + +<p>And, after him, from the far end rose also the figure in the tweed suit, +leaving Harris by himself.</p> + +<p>He sat on for a bit in the darkening room, sipping his coffee and +smoking his fifteen-pfennig cigar, till the girl came in to light the +oil lamps. He felt vexed with himself for his lapse from good manners, +yet hardly able to account for it. Most likely, he reflected, he had +been annoyed because the priest had unintentionally changed the pleasant +character of his dream by introducing a jarring note. Later he must seek +an opportunity to make amends. At present, however, he was too impatient +for his walk to the school, and he took his stick and hat and passed out +into the open air.</p> + +<p>And, as he crossed before the Gasthaus, he noticed that the priest and +the man in the tweed suit were engaged already in such deep conversation +that they hardly noticed him as he passed and raised his hat.</p> + +<p>He started off briskly, well remembering the way, and hoping to reach +the village in time to have a word with one of the Brüder. They might +even ask him in for a cup of coffee. He felt sure of his welcome, and +the old memories were in full possession once more. The hour of return +was a matter of no consequence whatever.</p> + +<p>It was then just after seven o'clock, and the October evening was +drawing in with chill airs from the recesses of the forest. The road +plunged straight from the railway clearing into its depths, and in a +very few minutes the trees engulfed him and the clack of his boots fell +dead and echoless against the serried stems of a million firs. It was +very black; one trunk was hardly distinguishable from another. He walked +smartly, swinging his holly stick. Once or twice he passed a peasant on +his way to bed, and the guttural "Gruss Got," unheard for so long, +emphasised the passage of time, while yet making it seem as nothing. A +fresh group of pictures crowded his mind. Again the figures of former +schoolfellows flitted out of the forest and kept pace by his side, +whispering of the doings of long ago. One reverie stepped hard upon the +heels of another. Every turn in the road, every clearing of the forest, +he knew, and each in turn brought forgotten associations to life. He +enjoyed himself thoroughly.</p> + +<p>He marched on and on. There was powdered gold in the sky till the moon +rose, and then a wind of faint silver spread silently between the earth +and stars. He saw the tips of the fir trees shimmer, and heard them +whisper as the breeze turned their needles towards the light. The +mountain air was indescribably sweet. The road shone like the foam of a +river through the gloom. White moths flitted here and there like silent +thoughts across his path, and a hundred smells greeted him from the +forest caverns across the years.</p> + +<p>Then, when he least expected it, the trees fell away abruptly on both +sides, and he stood on the edge of the village clearing.</p> + +<p>He walked faster. There lay the familiar outlines of the houses, sheeted +with silver; there stood the trees in the little central square with the +fountain and small green lawns; there loomed the shape of the church +next to the Gasthof der Brüdergemeinde; and just beyond, dimly rising +into the sky, he saw with a sudden thrill the mass of the huge school +building, blocked castlelike with deep shadows in the moonlight, +standing square and formidable to face him after the silences of more +than a quarter of a century.</p> + +<p>He passed quickly down the deserted village street and stopped close +beneath its shadow, staring up at the walls that had once held him +prisoner for two years—two unbroken years of discipline and +homesickness. Memories and emotions surged through his mind; for the +most vivid sensations of his youth had focused about this spot, and it +was here he had first begun to live and learn values. Not a single +footstep broke the silence, though lights glimmered here and there +through cottage windows; but when he looked up at the high walls of the +school, draped now in shadow, he easily imagined that well-known faces +crowded to the windows to greet him—closed windows that really +reflected only moonlight and the gleam of stars.</p> + +<p>This, then, was the old school building, standing foursquare to the +world, with its shuttered windows, its lofty, tiled roof, and the spiked +lightning-conductors pointing like black and taloned fingers from the +corners. For a long time he stood and stared. Then, presently, he came +to himself again, and realised to his joy that a light still shone in +the windows of the Bruderstube.</p> + +<p>He turned from the road and passed through the iron railings; then +climbed the twelve stone steps and stood facing the black wooden door +with the heavy bars of iron, a door he had once loathed and dreaded with +the hatred and passion of an imprisoned soul, but now looked upon +tenderly with a sort of boyish delight.</p> + +<p>Almost timorously he pulled the rope and listened with a tremor of +excitement to the clanging of the bell deep within the building. And the +long-forgotten sound brought the past before him with such a vivid sense +of reality that he positively shivered. It was like the magic bell in +the fairy-tale that rolls back the curtain of Time and summons the +figures from the shadows of the dead. He had never felt so sentimental +in his life. It was like being young again. And, at the same time, he +began to bulk rather large in his own eyes with a certain spurious +importance. He was a big man from the world of strife and action. In +this little place of peaceful dreams would he, perhaps, not cut +something of a figure?</p> + +<p>"I'll try once more," he thought after a long pause, seizing the iron +bell-rope, and was just about to pull it when a step sounded on the +stone passage within, and the huge door slowly swung open.</p> + +<p>A tall man with a rather severe cast of countenance stood facing him in +silence.</p> + +<p>"I must apologise—it is somewhat late," he began a trifle pompously, +"but the fact is I am an old pupil. I have only just arrived and really +could not restrain myself." His German seemed not quite so fluent as +usual. "My interest is so great. I was here in '70."</p> + +<p>The other opened the door wider and at once bowed him in with a smile of +genuine welcome.</p> + +<p>"I am Bruder Kalkmann," he said quietly in a deep voice. "I myself was a +master here about that time. It is a great pleasure always to welcome a +former pupil." He looked at him very keenly for a few seconds, and then +added, "I think, too, it is splendid of you to come—very splendid."</p> + +<p>"It is a very great pleasure," Harris replied, delighted with his +reception.</p> + +<p>The dimly lighted corridor with its flooring of grey stone, and the +familiar sound of a German voice echoing through it,—with the peculiar +intonation the Brothers always used in speaking,—all combined to lift +him bodily, as it were, into the dream-atmosphere of long-forgotten +days. He stepped gladly into the building and the door shut with the +familiar thunder that completed the reconstruction of the past. He +almost felt the old sense of imprisonment, of aching nostalgia, of +having lost his liberty.</p> + +<p>Harris sighed involuntarily and turned towards his host, who returned +his smile faintly and then led the way down the corridor.</p> + +<p>"The boys have retired," he explained, "and, as you remember, we keep +early hours here. But, at least, you will join us for a little while in +the <i>Bruderstube</i> and enjoy a cup of coffee." This was precisely what +the silk merchant had hoped, and he accepted with an alacrity that he +intended to be tempered by graciousness. "And to-morrow," continued the +Bruder, "you must come and spend a whole day with us. You may even find +acquaintances, for several pupils of your day have come back here as +masters."</p> + +<p>For one brief second there passed into the man's eyes a look that made +the visitor start. But it vanished as quickly as it came. It was +impossible to define. Harris convinced himself it was the effect of a +shadow cast by the lamp they had just passed on the wall. He dismissed +it from his mind.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, I'm sure," he said politely. "It is perhaps a +greater pleasure to me than you can imagine to see the place again. +Ah,"—he stopped short opposite a door with the upper half of glass and +peered in—"surely there is one of the music rooms where I used to +practise the violin. How it comes back to me after all these years!"</p> + +<p>Bruder Kalkmann stopped indulgently, smiling, to allow his guest a +moment's inspection.</p> + +<p>"You still have the boys' orchestra? I remember I used to play 'zweite +Geige' in it. Bruder Schliemann conducted at the piano. Dear me, I can +see him now with his long black hair and—and—" He stopped abruptly. +Again the odd, dark look passed over the stern face of his companion. +For an instant it seemed curiously familiar.</p> + +<p>"We still keep up the pupils' orchestra," he said, "but Bruder +Schliemann, I am sorry to say—" he hesitated an instant, and then +added, "Bruder Schliemann is dead."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed," said Harris quickly. "I am sorry to hear it." He was +conscious of a faint feeling of distress, but whether it arose from the +news of his old music teacher's death, or—from something else—he could +not quite determine. He gazed down the corridor that lost itself among +shadows. In the street and village everything had seemed so much smaller +than he remembered, but here, inside the school building, everything +seemed so much bigger. The corridor was loftier and longer, more +spacious and vast, than the mental picture he had preserved. His +thoughts wandered dreamily for an instant.</p> + +<p>He glanced up and saw the face of the Bruder watching him with a smile +of patient indulgence.</p> + +<p>"Your memories possess you," he observed gently, and the stern look +passed into something almost pitying.</p> + +<p>"You are right," returned the man of silk, "they do. This was the most +wonderful period of my whole life in a sense. At the time I hated +it—" He hesitated, not wishing to hurt the Brother's feelings.</p> + +<p>"According to English ideas it seemed strict, of course," the other said +persuasively, so that he went on.</p> + +<p>"—Yes, partly that; and partly the ceaseless nostalgia, and the +solitude which came from never being really alone. In English schools +the boys enjoy peculiar freedom, you know."</p> + +<p>Bruder Kalkmann, he saw, was listening intently.</p> + +<p>"But it produced one result that I have never wholly lost," he +continued self-consciously, "and am grateful for."</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach! Wie so, denn?</i>"</p> + +<p>"The constant inner pain threw me headlong into your religious life, so +that the whole force of my being seemed to project itself towards the +search for a deeper satisfaction—a real resting-place for the soul. +During my two years here I yearned for God in my boyish way as perhaps I +have never yearned for anything since. Moreover, I have never quite lost +that sense of peace and inward joy which accompanied the search. I can +never quite forget this school and the deep things it taught me."</p> + +<p>He paused at the end of his long speech, and a brief silence fell +between them. He feared he had said too much, or expressed himself +clumsily in the foreign language, and when Bruder Kalkmann laid a hand +upon his shoulder, he gave a little involuntary start.</p> + +<p>"So that my memories perhaps do possess me rather strongly," he added +apologetically; "and this long corridor, these rooms, that barred and +gloomy front door, all touch chords that—that—" His German failed +him and he glanced at his companion with an explanatory smile and +gesture. But the Brother had removed the hand from his shoulder and was +standing with his back to him, looking down the passage.</p> + +<p>"Naturally, naturally so," he said hastily without turning round. +"<i>Es ist doch selbstverständlich</i>. We shall all understand."</p> + +<p>Then he turned suddenly, and Harris saw that his face had turned most +oddly and disagreeably sinister. It may only have been the shadows again +playing their tricks with the wretched oil lamps on the wall, for the +dark expression passed instantly as they retraced their steps down the +corridor, but the Englishman somehow got the impression that he had said +something to give offence, something that was not quite to the other's +taste. Opposite the door of the <i>Bruderstube</i> they stopped. Harris +realised that it was late and he had possibly stayed talking too long. +He made a tentative effort to leave, but his companion would not hear of +it.</p> + +<p>"You must have a cup of coffee with us," he said firmly as though he +meant it, "and my colleagues will be delighted to see you. Some of them +will remember you, perhaps."</p> + +<p>The sound of voices came pleasantly through the door, men's voices +talking together. Bruder Kalkmann turned the handle and they entered a +room ablaze with light and full of people.</p> + +<p>"Ah,—but your name?" he whispered, bending down to catch the reply; +"you have not told me your name yet."</p> + +<p>"Harris," said the Englishman quickly as they went in. He felt nervous +as he crossed the threshold, but ascribed the momentary trepidation to +the fact that he was breaking the strictest rule of the whole +establishment, which forbade a boy under severest penalties to come near +this holy of holies where the masters took their brief leisure.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, of course—Harris," repeated the other as though he remembered +it. "Come in, Herr Harris, come in, please. Your visit will be immensely +appreciated. It is really very fine, very wonderful of you to have come +in this way."</p> + +<p>The door closed behind them and, in the sudden light which made his +sight swim for a moment, the exaggeration of the language escaped his +attention. He heard the voice of Bruder Kalkmann introducing him. He +spoke very loud, indeed, unnecessarily,—absurdly loud, Harris thought.</p> + +<p>"Brothers," he announced, "it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce +to you Herr Harris from England. He has just arrived to make us a little +visit, and I have already expressed to him on behalf of us all the +satisfaction we feel that he is here. He was, as you remember, a pupil +in the year '70."</p> + +<p>It was a very formal, a very German introduction, but Harris rather +liked it. It made him feel important and he appreciated the tact that +made it almost seem as though he had been expected.</p> + +<p>The black forms rose and bowed; Harris bowed; Kalkmann bowed. Every one +was very polite and very courtly. The room swam with moving figures; the +light dazzled him after the gloom of the corridor, there was thick cigar +smoke in the atmosphere. He took the chair that was offered to him +between two of the Brothers, and sat down, feeling vaguely that his +perceptions were not quite as keen and accurate as usual. He felt a +trifle dazed perhaps, and the spell of the past came strongly over him, +confusing the immediate present and making everything dwindle oddly to +the dimensions of long ago. He seemed to pass under the mastery of a +great mood that was a composite reproduction of all the moods of his +forgotten boyhood.</p> + +<p>Then he pulled himself together with a sharp effort and entered into the +conversation that had begun again to buzz round him. Moreover, he +entered into it with keen pleasure, for the Brothers—there were perhaps +a dozen of them in the little room—treated him with a charm of manner +that speedily made him feel one of themselves. This, again, was a very +subtle delight to him. He felt that he had stepped out of the greedy, +vulgar, self-seeking world, the world of silk and markets and +profit-making—stepped into the cleaner atmosphere where spiritual +ideals were paramount and life was simple and devoted. It all charmed +him inexpressibly, so that he realised—yes, in a sense—the degradation +of his twenty years' absorption in business. This keen atmosphere under +the stars where men thought only of their souls, and of the souls of +others, was too rarefied for the world he was now associated with. He +found himself making comparisons to his own disadvantage,—comparisons +with the mystical little dreamer that had stepped thirty years before +from the stern peace of this devout community, and the man of the world +that he had since become,—and the contrast made him shiver with a keen +regret and something like self-contempt.</p> + +<p>He glanced round at the other faces floating towards him through tobacco +smoke—this acrid cigar smoke he remembered so well: how keen they were, +how strong, placid, touched with the nobility of great aims and +unselfish purposes. At one or two he looked particularly. He hardly knew +why. They rather fascinated him. There was something so very stern and +uncompromising about them, and something, too, oddly, subtly, familiar, +that yet just eluded him. But whenever their eyes met his own they held +undeniable welcome in them; and some held more—a kind of perplexed +admiration, he thought, something that was between esteem and deference. +This note of respect in all the faces was very flattering to his vanity.</p> + +<p>Coffee was served presently, made by a black-haired Brother who sat in +the corner by the piano and bore a marked resemblance to Bruder +Schliemann, the musical director of thirty years ago. Harris exchanged +bows with him when he took the cup from his white hands, which he +noticed were like the hands of a woman. He lit a cigar, offered to him +by his neighbour, with whom he was chatting delightfully, and who, in +the glare of the lighted match, reminded him sharply for a moment of +Bruder Pagel, his former room-master.</p> + +<p>"<i>Es ist wirklich merkwürdig</i>," he said, "how many resemblances I see, +or imagine. It is really <i>very</i> curious!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the other, peering at him over his coffee cup, "the spell +of the place is wonderfully strong. I can well understand that the old +faces rise before your mind's eye—almost to the exclusion of ourselves +perhaps."</p> + +<p>They both laughed presently. It was soothing to find his mood understood +and appreciated. And they passed on to talk of the mountain village, its +isolation, its remoteness from worldly life, its peculiar fitness for +meditation and worship, and for spiritual development—of a certain +kind.</p> + +<p>"And your coming back in this way, Herr Harris, has pleased us all so +much," joined in the Bruder on his left. "We esteem you for it most +highly. We honour you for it."</p> + +<p>Harris made a deprecating gesture. "I fear, for my part, it is only a +very selfish pleasure," he said a trifle unctuously.</p> + +<p>"Not all would have had the courage," added the one who resembled +Bruder Pagel.</p> + +<p>"You mean," said Harris, a little puzzled, "the disturbing memories—?"</p> + +<p>Bruder Pagel looked at him steadily, with unmistakable admiration and +respect. "I mean that most men hold so strongly to life, and can give up +so little for their beliefs," he said gravely.</p> + +<p>The Englishman felt slightly uncomfortable. These worthy men really made +too much of his sentimental journey. Besides, the talk was getting a +little out of his depth. He hardly followed it.</p> + +<p>"The worldly life still has <i>some</i> charms for me," he replied smilingly, +as though to indicate that sainthood was not yet quite within his grasp.</p> + +<p>"All the more, then, must we honour you for so freely coming," said the +Brother on his left; "so unconditionally!"</p> + +<p>A pause followed, and the silk merchant felt relieved when the +conversation took a more general turn, although he noted that it never +travelled very far from the subject of his visit and the wonderful +situation of the lonely village for men who wished to develop their +spiritual powers and practise the rites of a high worship. Others joined +in, complimenting him on his knowledge of the language, making him feel +utterly at his ease, yet at the same time a little uncomfortable by the +excess of their admiration. After all, it was such a very small thing to +do, this sentimental journey.</p> + +<p>The time passed along quickly; the coffee was excellent, the cigars soft +and of the nutty flavour he loved. At length, fearing to outstay his +welcome, he rose reluctantly to take his leave. But the others would not +hear of it. It was not often a former pupil returned to visit them in +this simple, unaffected way. The night was young. If necessary they +could even find him a corner in the great <i>Schlafzimmer</i> upstairs. He +was easily persuaded to stay a little longer. Somehow he had become the +centre of the little party. He felt pleased, flattered, honoured.</p> + +<p>"And perhaps Bruder Schliemann will play something for us—now."</p> + +<p>It was Kalkmann speaking, and Harris started visibly as he heard the +name, and saw the black-haired man by the piano turn with a smile. For +Schliemann was the name of his old music director, who was dead. Could +this be his son? They were so exactly alike.</p> + +<p>"If Bruder Meyer has not put his Amati to bed, I will accompany him," +said the musician suggestively, looking across at a man whom Harris had +not yet noticed, and who, he now saw, was the very image of a former +master of that name.</p> + +<p>Meyer rose and excused himself with a little bow, and the Englishman +quickly observed that he had a peculiar gesture as though his neck had a +false join on to the body just below the collar and feared it might +break. Meyer of old had this trick of movement. He remembered how the +boys used to copy it.</p> + +<p>He glanced sharply from face to face, feeling as though some silent, +unseen process were changing everything about him. All the faces seemed +oddly familiar. Pagel, the Brother he had been talking with, was of +course the image of Pagel, his former room-master, and Kalkmann, he now +realised for the first time, was the very twin of another master whose +name he had quite forgotten, but whom he used to dislike intensely in +the old days. And, through the smoke, peering at him from the corners of +the room, he saw that all the Brothers about him had the faces he had +known and lived with long ago—Röst, Fluheim, Meinert, Rigel, Gysin.</p> + +<p>He stared hard, suddenly grown more alert, and everywhere saw, or +fancied he saw, strange likenesses, ghostly resemblances,—more, the +identical faces of years ago. There was something queer about it all, +something not quite right, something that made him feel uneasy. He shook +himself, mentally and actually, blowing the smoke from before his eyes +with a long breath, and as he did so he noticed to his dismay that every +one was fixedly staring. They were watching him.</p> + +<p>This brought him to his senses. As an Englishman, and a foreigner, he +did not wish to be rude, or to do anything to make himself foolishly +conspicuous and spoil the harmony of the evening. He was a guest, and a +privileged guest at that. Besides, the music had already begun. Bruder +Schliemann's long white fingers were caressing the keys to some purpose.</p> + +<p>He subsided into his chair and smoked with half-closed eyes that yet saw +everything.</p> + +<p>But the shudder had established itself in his being, and, whether he +would or not, it kept repeating itself. As a town, far up some inland +river, feels the pressure of the distant sea, so he became aware that +mighty forces from somewhere beyond his ken were urging themselves up +against his soul in this smoky little room. He began to feel exceedingly +ill at ease.</p> + +<p>And as the music filled the air his mind began to clear. Like a lifted +veil there rose up something that had hitherto obscured his vision. The +words of the priest at the railway inn flashed across his brain +unbidden: "You will find it different." And also, though why he could +not tell, he saw mentally the strong, rather wonderful eyes of that +other guest at the supper-table, the man who had overheard his +conversation, and had later got into earnest talk with the priest. He +took out his watch and stole a glance at it. Two hours had slipped by. +It was already eleven o'clock.</p> + +<p>Schliemann, meanwhile, utterly absorbed in his music, was playing a +solemn measure. The piano sang marvellously. The power of a great +conviction, the simplicity of great art, the vital spiritual message of +a soul that had found itself—all this, and more, were in the chords, +and yet somehow the music was what can only be described as +impure—atrociously and diabolically impure. And the piece itself, +although Harris did not recognise it as anything familiar, was surely +the music of a Mass—huge, majestic, sombre? It stalked through the +smoky room with slow power, like the passage of something that was +mighty, yet profoundly intimate, and as it went there stirred into each +and every face about him the signature of the enormous forces of which +it was the audible symbol. The countenances round him turned sinister, +but not idly, negatively sinister: they grew dark with purpose. He +suddenly recalled the face of Bruder Kalkmann in the corridor earlier in +the evening. The motives of their secret souls rose to the eyes, and +mouths, and foreheads, and hung there for all to see like the black +banners of an assembly of ill-starred and fallen creatures. Demons—was +the horrible word that flashed through his brain like a sheet of fire.</p> + +<p>When this sudden discovery leaped out upon him, for a moment he lost his +self-control. Without waiting to think and weigh his extraordinary +impression, he did a very foolish but a very natural thing. Feeling +himself irresistibly driven by the sudden stress to some kind of action, +he sprang to his feet—and screamed! To his own utter amazement he stood +up and shrieked aloud!</p> + +<p>But no one stirred. No one, apparently, took the slightest notice of his +absurdly wild behaviour. It was almost as if no one but himself had +heard the scream at all—as though the music had drowned it and +swallowed it up—as though after all perhaps he had not really screamed +as loudly as he imagined, or had not screamed at all.</p> + +<p>Then, as he glanced at the motionless, dark faces before him, something +of utter cold passed into his being, touching his very soul.... All +emotion cooled suddenly, leaving him like a receding tide. He sat down +again, ashamed, mortified, angry with himself for behaving like a fool +and a boy. And the music, meanwhile, continued to issue from the white +and snakelike fingers of Bruder Schliemann, as poisoned wine might issue +from the weirdly fashioned necks of antique phials.</p> + +<p>And, with the rest of them, Harris drank it in.</p> + +<p>Forcing himself to believe that he had been the victim of some kind of +illusory perception, he vigorously restrained his feelings. Then the +music presently ceased, and every one applauded and began to talk at +once, laughing, changing seats, complimenting the player, and behaving +naturally and easily as though nothing out of the way had happened. The +faces appeared normal once more. The Brothers crowded round their +visitor, and he joined in their talk and even heard himself thanking the +gifted musician.</p> + +<p>But, at the same time, he found himself edging towards the door, nearer +and nearer, changing his chair when possible, and joining the groups +that stood closest to the way of escape.</p> + +<p>"I must thank you all <i>tausendmal</i> for my little reception and the great +pleasure—the very great honour you have done me," he began in decided +tones at length, "but I fear I have trespassed far too long already on +your hospitality. Moreover, I have some distance to walk to my inn."</p> + +<p>A chorus of voices greeted his words. They would not hear of his +going,—at least not without first partaking of refreshment. They +produced pumpernickel from one cupboard, and rye-bread and sausage from +another, and all began to talk again and eat. More coffee was made, +fresh cigars lighted, and Bruder Meyer took out his violin and began to +tune it softly.</p> + +<p>"There is always a bed upstairs if Herr Harris will accept it," said +one.</p> + +<p>"And it is difficult to find the way out now, for all the doors are +locked," laughed another loudly.</p> + +<p>"Let us take our simple pleasures as they come," cried a third. "Bruder +Harris will understand how we appreciate the honour of this last visit +of his."</p> + +<p>They made a dozen excuses. They all laughed, as though the politeness of +their words was but formal, and veiled thinly—more and more thinly—a +very different meaning.</p> + +<p>"And the hour of midnight draws near," added Bruder Kalkmann with a +charming smile, but in a voice that sounded to the Englishman like the +grating of iron hinges.</p> + +<p>Their German seemed to him more and more difficult to understand. He +noted that they called him "Bruder" too, classing him as one of +themselves.</p> + +<p>And then suddenly he had a flash of keener perception, and realised with +a creeping of his flesh that he had all along misinterpreted—grossly +misinterpreted all they had been saying. They had talked about the +beauty of the place, its isolation and remoteness from the world, its +peculiar fitness for certain kinds of spiritual development and +worship—yet hardly, he now grasped, in the sense in which he had taken +the words. They had meant something different. Their spiritual powers, +their desire for loneliness, their passion for worship, were not the +powers, the solitude, or the worship that <i>he</i> meant and understood. He +was playing a part in some horrible masquerade; he was among men who +cloaked their lives with religion in order to follow their real purposes +unseen of men.</p> + +<p>What did it all mean? How had he blundered into so equivocal a +situation? Had he blundered into it at all? Had he not rather been led +into it, deliberately led? His thoughts grew dreadfully confused, and +his confidence in himself began to fade. And why, he suddenly thought +again, were they so impressed by the mere fact of his coming to revisit +his old school? What was it they so admired and wondered at in his +simple act? Why did they set such store upon his having the courage to +come, to "give himself so freely," "unconditionally" as one of them had +expressed it with such a mockery of exaggeration?</p> + +<p>Fear stirred in his heart most horribly, and he found no answer to any +of his questionings. Only one thing he now understood quite clearly: it +was their purpose to keep him here. They did not intend that he should +go. And from this moment he realised that they were sinister, formidable +and, in some way he had yet to discover, inimical to himself, inimical +to his life. And the phrase one of them had used a moment ago—"this +<i>last</i> visit of his"—rose before his eyes in letters of flame.</p> + +<p>Harris was not a man of action, and had never known in all the course of +his career what it meant to be in a situation of real danger. He was not +necessarily a coward, though, perhaps, a man of untried nerve. He +realised at last plainly that he was in a very awkward predicament +indeed, and that he had to deal with men who were utterly in earnest. +What their intentions were he only vaguely guessed. His mind, indeed, +was too confused for definite ratiocination, and he was only able to +follow blindly the strongest instincts that moved in him. It never +occurred to him that the Brothers might all be mad, or that he himself +might have temporarily lost his senses and be suffering under some +terrible delusion. In fact, nothing occurred to him—he realised +nothing—except that he meant to escape—and the quicker the better. A +tremendous revulsion of feeling set in and overpowered him.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, without further protest for the moment, he ate his +pumpernickel and drank his coffee, talking meanwhile as naturally and +pleasantly as he could, and when a suitable interval had passed, he rose +to his feet and announced once more that he must now take his leave. He +spoke very quietly, but very decidedly. No one hearing him could doubt +that he meant what he said. He had got very close to the door by this +time.</p> + +<p>"I regret," he said, using his best German, and speaking to a hushed +room, "that our pleasant evening must come to an end, but it is now +time for me to wish you all good-night." And then, as no one said +anything, he added, though with a trifle less assurance, "And I thank +you all most sincerely for your hospitality."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary," replied Kalkmann instantly, rising from his chair and +ignoring the hand the Englishman had stretched out to him, "it is we who +have to thank you; and we do so most gratefully and sincerely."</p> + +<p>And at the same moment at least half a dozen of the Brothers took up +their position between himself and the door.</p> + +<p>"You are very good to say so," Harris replied as firmly as he could +manage, noticing this movement out of the corner of his eye, "but really +I had no conception that—my little chance visit could have afforded you +so much pleasure." He moved another step nearer the door, but Bruder +Schliemann came across the room quickly and stood in front of him. His +attitude was uncompromising. A dark and terrible expression had come +into his face.</p> + +<p>"But it was <i>not</i> by chance that you came, Bruder Harris," he said so +that all the room could hear; "surely we have not misunderstood your +presence here?" He raised his black eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"No, no," the Englishman hastened to reply, "I was—I am delighted to be +here. I told you what pleasure it gave me to find myself among you. Do +not misunderstand me, I beg." His voice faltered a little, and he had +difficulty in finding the words. More and more, too, he had difficulty +in understanding <i>their</i> words.</p> + +<p>"Of course," interposed Bruder Kalkmann in his iron bass, "<i>we</i> have not +misunderstood. You have come back in the spirit of true and unselfish +devotion. You offer yourself freely, and we all appreciate it. It is +your willingness and nobility that have so completely won our veneration +and respect." A faint murmur of applause ran round the room. "What we +all delight in—what our great Master will especially delight in—is the +value of your spontaneous and voluntary—"</p> + +<p>He used a word Harris did not understand. He said "<i>Opfer</i>." The +bewildered Englishman searched his brain for the translation, and +searched in vain. For the life of him he could not remember what it +meant. But the word, for all his inability to translate it, touched his +soul with ice. It was worse, far worse, than anything he had imagined. +He felt like a lost, helpless creature, and all power to fight sank out +of him from that moment.</p> + +<p>"It is magnificent to be such a willing—" added Schliemann, sidling +up to him with a dreadful leer on his face. He made use of the same +word—"<i>Opfer</i>."</p> + +<p>"God! What could it all mean?" "Offer himself!" "True spirit of +devotion!" "Willing," "unselfish," "magnificent!" <i>Opfer, Opfer, Opfer!</i> +What in the name of heaven did it mean, that strange, mysterious word +that struck such terror into his heart?</p> + +<p>He made a valiant effort to keep his presence of mind and hold his +nerves steady. Turning, he saw that Kalkmann's face was a dead white. +Kalkmann! He understood that well enough. <i>Kalkmann</i> meant "Man of +Chalk": he knew that. But what did "<i>Opfer</i>" mean? That was the real key +to the situation. Words poured through his disordered mind in an endless +stream—unusual, rare words he had perhaps heard but once in his +life—while "<i>Opfer</i>," a word in common use, entirely escaped him. What +an extraordinary mockery it all was!</p> + +<p>Then Kalkmann, pale as death, but his face hard as iron, spoke a few low +words that he did not catch, and the Brothers standing by the walls at +once turned the lamps down so that the room became dim. In the half +light he could only just discern their faces and movements.</p> + +<p>"It is time," he heard Kalkmann's remorseless voice continue just behind +him. "The hour of midnight is at hand. Let us prepare. He comes! He +comes; Bruder Asmodelius comes!" His voice rose to a chant.</p> + +<p>And the sound of that name, for some extraordinary reason, was +terrible—utterly terrible; so that Harris shook from head to foot as he +heard it. Its utterance filled the air like soft thunder, and a hush +came over the whole room. Forces rose all about him, transforming the +normal into the horrible, and the spirit of craven fear ran through all +his being, bringing him to the verge of collapse.</p> + +<p><i>Asmodelius! Asmodelius!</i> The name was appalling. For he understood at +last to whom it referred and the meaning that lay between its great +syllables. At the same instant, too, he suddenly understood the meaning +of that unremembered word. The import of the word "<i>Opfer</i>" flashed upon +his soul like a message of death.</p> + +<p>He thought of making a wild effort to reach the door, but the weakness +of his trembling knees, and the row of black figures that stood between, +dissuaded him at once. He would have screamed for help, but remembering +the emptiness of the vast building, and the loneliness of the situation, +he understood that no help could come that way, and he kept his lips +closed. He stood still and did nothing. But he knew now what was coming.</p> + +<p>Two of the Brothers approached and took him gently by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Bruder Asmodelius accepts you," they whispered; "are you ready?"</p> + +<p>Then he found his tongue and tried to speak. "But what have I to do with +this Bruder Asm—Asmo—?" he stammered, a desperate rush of words +crowding vainly behind the halting tongue.</p> + +<p>The name refused to pass his lips. He could not pronounce it as they +did. He could not pronounce it at all. His sense of helplessness then +entered the acute stage, for this inability to speak the name produced +a fresh sense of quite horrible confusion in his mind, and he became +extraordinarily agitated.</p> + +<p>"I came here for a friendly visit," he tried to say with a great effort, +but, to his intense dismay, he heard his voice saying something quite +different, and actually making use of that very word they had all used: +"I came here as a willing <i>Opfer</i>," he heard his own voice say, "and <i>I +am quite ready</i>."</p> + +<p>He was lost beyond all recall now! Not alone his mind, but the very +muscles of his body had passed out of control. He felt that he was +hovering on the confines of a phantom or demon-world,—a world in which +the name they had spoken constituted the Master-name, the word of +ultimate power.</p> + +<p>What followed he heard and saw as in a nightmare.</p> + +<p>"In the half light that veils all truth, let us prepare to worship and +adore," chanted Schliemann, who had preceded him to the end of the room.</p> + +<p>"In the mists that protect our faces before the Black Throne, let us +make ready the willing victim," echoed Kalkmann in his great bass.</p> + +<p>They raised their faces, listening expectantly, as a roaring sound, like +the passing of mighty projectiles, filled the air, far, far away, very +wonderful, very forbidding. The walls of the room trembled.</p> + +<p>"He comes! He comes! He comes!" chanted the Brothers in chorus.</p> + +<p>The sound of roaring died away, and an atmosphere of still and utter +cold established itself over all. Then Kalkmann, dark and unutterably +stern, turned in the dim light and faced the rest.</p> + +<p>"Asmodelius, our <i>Hauptbruder</i>, is about us," he cried in a voice that +even while it shook was yet a voice of iron; "Asmodelius is about us. +Make ready."</p> + +<p>There followed a pause in which no one stirred or spoke. A tall Brother +approached the Englishman; but Kalkmann held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Let the eyes remain uncovered," he said, "in honour of so freely giving +himself." And to his horror Harris then realised for the first time that +his hands were already fastened to his sides.</p> + +<p>The Brother retreated again silently, and in the pause that followed all +the figures about him dropped to their knees, leaving him standing +alone, and as they dropped, in voices hushed with mingled reverence and +awe, they cried, softly, odiously, appallingly, the name of the Being +whom they momentarily expected to appear.</p> + +<p>Then, at the end of the room, where the windows seemed to have +disappeared so that he saw the stars, there rose into view far up +against the night sky, grand and terrible, the outline of a man. A kind +of grey glory enveloped it so that it resembled a steel-cased statue, +immense, imposing, horrific in its distant splendour; while, at the same +time, the face was so spiritually mighty, yet so proudly, so austerely +sad, that Harris felt as he stared, that the sight was more than his +eyes could meet, and that in another moment the power of vision would +fail him altogether, and he must sink into utter nothingness.</p> + +<p>So remote and inaccessible hung this figure that it was impossible to +gauge anything as to its size, yet at the same time so strangely close, +that when the grey radiance from its mightily broken visage, august and +mournful, beat down upon his soul, pulsing like some dark star with the +powers of spiritual evil, he felt almost as though he were looking into +a face no farther removed from him in space than the face of any one of +the Brothers who stood by his side.</p> + +<p>And then the room filled and trembled with sounds that Harris understood +full well were the failing voices of others who had preceded him in a +long series down the years. There came first a plain, sharp cry, as of a +man in the last anguish, choking for his breath, and yet, with the very +final expiration of it, breathing the name of the Worship—of the dark +Being who rejoiced to hear it. The cries of the strangled; the short, +running gasp of the suffocated; and the smothered gurgling of the +tightened throat, all these, and more, echoed back and forth between the +walls, the very walls in which he now stood a prisoner, a sacrificial +victim. The cries, too, not alone of the broken bodies, but—far +worse—of beaten, broken souls. And as the ghastly chorus rose and fell, +there came also the faces of the lost and unhappy creatures to whom they +belonged, and, against that curtain of pale grey light, he saw float +past him in the air, an array of white and piteous human countenances +that seemed to beckon and gibber at him as though he were already one of +themselves.</p> + +<p>Slowly, too, as the voices rose, and the pallid crew sailed past, that +giant form of grey descended from the sky and approached the room that +contained the worshippers and their prisoner. Hands rose and sank about +him in the darkness, and he felt that he was being draped in other +garments than his own; a circlet of ice seemed to run about his head, +while round the waist, enclosing the fastened arms, he felt a girdle +tightly drawn. At last, about his very throat, there ran a soft and +silken touch which, better than if there had been full light, and a +mirror held to his face, he understood to be the cord of sacrifice—and +of death.</p> + +<p>At this moment the Brothers, still prostrate upon the floor, began again +their mournful, yet impassioned chanting, and as they did so a strange +thing happened. For, apparently without moving or altering its position, +the huge Figure seemed, at once and suddenly, to be inside the room, +almost beside him, and to fill the space around him to the exclusion of +all else.</p> + +<p>He was now beyond all ordinary sensations of fear, only a drab feeling +as of death—the death of the soul—stirred in his heart. His thoughts +no longer even beat vainly for escape. The end was near, and he knew it.</p> + +<p>The dreadfully chanting voices rose about him in a wave: "We worship! We +adore! We offer!" The sounds filled his ears and hammered, almost +meaningless, upon his brain.</p> + +<p>Then the majestic grey face turned slowly downwards upon him, and his +very soul passed outwards and seemed to become absorbed in the sea of +those anguished eyes. At the same moment a dozen hands forced him to his +knees, and in the air before him he saw the arm of Kalkmann upraised, +and felt the pressure about his throat grow strong.</p> + +<p>It was in this awful moment, when he had given up all hope, and the help +of gods or men seemed beyond question, that a strange thing happened. +For before his fading and terrified vision there slid, as in a dream of +light,—yet without apparent rhyme or reason—wholly unbidden and +unexplained,—the face of that other man at the supper table of the +railway inn. And the sight, even mentally, of that strong, wholesome, +vigorous English face, inspired him suddenly with a new courage.</p> + +<p>It was but a flash of fading vision before he sank into a dark and +terrible death, yet, in some inexplicable way, the sight of that face +stirred in him unconquerable hope and the certainty of deliverance. It +was a face of power, a face, he now realised, of simple goodness such as +might have been seen by men of old on the shores of Galilee; a face, by +heaven, that could conquer even the devils of outer space.</p> + +<p>And, in his despair and abandonment, he called upon it, and called with +no uncertain accents. He found his voice in this overwhelming moment to +some purpose; though the words he actually used, and whether they were +in German or English, he could never remember. Their effect, +nevertheless, was instantaneous. The Brothers understood, and that grey +Figure of evil understood.</p> + +<p>For a second the confusion was terrific. There came a great shattering +sound. It seemed that the very earth trembled. But all Harris remembered +afterwards was that voices rose about him in the clamour of terrified +alarm—</p> + +<p>"A man of power is among us! A man of God!"</p> + +<p>The vast sound was repeated—the rushing through space as of huge +projectiles—and he sank to the floor of the room, unconscious. The +entire scene had vanished, vanished like smoke over the roof of a +cottage when the wind blows.</p> + +<p>And, by his side, sat down a slight un-German figure,—the figure of the +stranger at the inn,—the man who had the "rather wonderful eyes."</p> + +<br><hr style="width: 45%;"><br> + +<p>When Harris came to himself he felt cold. He was lying under the open +sky, and the cool air of field and forest was blowing upon his face. He +sat up and looked about him. The memory of the late scene was still +horribly in his mind, but no vestige of it remained. No walls or ceiling +enclosed him; he was no longer in a room at all. There were no lamps +turned low, no cigar smoke, no black forms of sinister worshippers, no +tremendous grey Figure hovering beyond the windows.</p> + +<p>Open space was about him, and he was lying on a pile of bricks and +mortar, his clothes soaked with dew, and the kind stars shining brightly +overhead. He was lying, bruised and shaken, among the heaped-up débris +of a ruined building.</p> + +<p>He stood up and stared about him. There, in the shadowy distance, lay +the surrounding forest, and here, close at hand, stood the outline of +the village buildings. But, underfoot, beyond question, lay nothing but +the broken heaps of stones that betokened a building long since crumbled +to dust. Then he saw that the stones were blackened, and that great +wooden beams, half burnt, half rotten, made lines through the general +débris. He stood, then, among the ruins of a burnt and shattered +building, the weeds and nettles proving conclusively that it had lain +thus for many years.</p> + +<p>The moon had already set behind the encircling forest, but the stars +that spangled the heavens threw enough light to enable him to make quite +sure of what he saw. Harris, the silk merchant, stood among these broken +and burnt stones and shivered.</p> + +<p>Then he suddenly became aware that out of the gloom a figure had risen +and stood beside him. Peering at him, he thought he recognised the face +of the stranger at the railway inn.</p> + +<p>"Are <i>you</i> real?" he asked in a voice he hardly recognised as his own.</p> + +<p>"More than real—I'm friendly," replied the stranger; "I followed you up +here from the inn."</p> + +<p>Harris stood and stared for several minutes without adding anything. His +teeth chattered. The least sound made him start; but the simple words in +his own language, and the tone in which they were uttered, comforted him +inconceivably.</p> + +<p>"You're English too, thank God," he said inconsequently. "These German +devils—" He broke off and put a hand to his eyes. "But what's become +of them all—and the room—and—and—" The hand travelled down to his +throat and moved nervously round his neck. He drew a long, long breath +of relief. "Did I dream everything—everything?" he said distractedly.</p> + +<p>He stared wildly about him, and the stranger moved forward and took his +arm. "Come," he said soothingly, yet with a trace of command in the +voice, "we will move away from here. The high-road, or even the woods +will be more to your taste, for we are standing now on one of the most +haunted—and most terribly haunted—spots of the whole world."</p> + +<p>He guided his companion's stumbling footsteps over the broken masonry +until they reached the path, the nettles stinging their hands, and +Harris feeling his way like a man in a dream. Passing through the +twisted iron railing they reached the path, and thence made their way to +the road, shining white in the night. Once safely out of the ruins, +Harris collected himself and turned to look back.</p> + +<p>"But, how is it possible?" he exclaimed, his voice still shaking. "How +can it be possible? When I came in here I saw the building in the +moonlight. They opened the door. I saw the figures and heard the voices +and touched, yes touched their very hands, and saw their damned black +faces, saw them far more plainly than I see you now." He was deeply +bewildered. The glamour was still upon his eyes with a degree of reality +stronger than the reality even of normal life. "Was I so utterly +deluded?"</p> + +<p>Then suddenly the words of the stranger, which he had only half heard or +understood, returned to him.</p> + +<p>"Haunted?" he asked, looking hard at him; "haunted, did you say?" He +paused in the roadway and stared into the darkness where the building of +the old school had first appeared to him. But the stranger hurried him +forward.</p> + +<p>"We shall talk more safely farther on," he said. "I followed you from +the inn the moment I realised where you had gone. When I found you it +was eleven o'clock—"</p> + +<p>"Eleven o'clock," said Harris, remembering with a shudder.</p> + +<p>"—I saw you drop. I watched over you till you recovered consciousness +of your own accord, and now—now I am here to guide you safely back to +the inn. I have broken the spell—the glamour—"</p> + +<p>"I owe you a great deal, sir," interrupted Harris again, beginning to +understand something of the stranger's kindness, "but I don't understand +it all. I feel dazed and shaken." His teeth still chattered, and spells +of violent shivering passed over him from head to foot. He found that he +was clinging to the other's arm. In this way they passed beyond the +deserted and crumbling village and gained the high-road that led +homewards through the forest.</p> + +<p>"That school building has long been in ruins," said the man at his side +presently; "it was burnt down by order of the Elders of the community at +least ten years ago. The village has been uninhabited ever since. But +the simulacra of certain ghastly events that took place under that roof +in past days still continue. And the 'shells' of the chief participants +still enact there the dreadful deeds that led to its final destruction, +and to the desertion of the whole settlement. They were +devil-worshippers!"</p> + +<p>Harris listened with beads of perspiration on his forehead that did not +come alone from their leisurely pace through the cool night. Although he +had seen this man but once before in his life, and had never before +exchanged so much as a word with him, he felt a degree of confidence and +a subtle sense of safety and well-being in his presence that were the +most healing influences he could possibly have wished after the +experience he had been through. For all that, he still felt as if he +were walking in a dream, and though he heard every word that fell from +his companion's lips, it was only the next day that the full import of +all he said became fully clear to him. The presence of this quiet +stranger, the man with the wonderful eyes which he felt now, rather than +saw, applied a soothing anodyne to his shattered spirit that healed him +through and through. And this healing influence, distilled from the dark +figure at his side, satisfied his first imperative need, so that he +almost forgot to realise how strange and opportune it was that the man +should be there at all.</p> + +<p>It somehow never occurred to him to ask his name, or to feel any undue +wonder that one passing tourist should take so much trouble on behalf of +another. He just walked by his side, listening to his quiet words, and +allowing himself to enjoy the very wonderful experience after his recent +ordeal, of being helped, strengthened, blessed. Only once, remembering +vaguely something of his reading of years ago, he turned to the man +beside him, after some more than usually remarkable words, and heard +himself, almost involuntarily it seemed, putting the question: "Then are +you a Rosicrucian, sir, perhaps?" But the stranger had ignored the +words, or possibly not heard them, for he continued with his talk as +though unconscious of any interruption, and Harris became aware that +another somewhat unusual picture had taken possession of his mind, as +they walked there side by side through the cool reaches of the forest, +and that he had found his imagination suddenly charged with the +childhood memory of Jacob wrestling with an angel,—wrestling all night +with a being of superior quality whose strength eventually became his +own.</p> + +<p>"It was your abrupt conversation with the priest at supper that first +put me upon the track of this remarkable occurrence," he heard the +man's quiet voice beside him in the darkness, "and it was from him I +learned after you left the story of the devil-worship that became +secretly established in the heart of this simple and devout little +community."</p> + +<p>"Devil-worship! Here—!" Harris stammered, aghast.</p> + +<p>"Yes—here;—conducted secretly for years by a group of Brothers before +unexplained disappearances in the neighbourhood led to its discovery. +For where could they have found a safer place in the whole wide world +for their ghastly traffic and perverted powers than here, in the very +precincts—under cover of the very shadow of saintliness and holy +living?"</p> + +<p>"Awful, awful!" whispered the silk merchant, "and when I tell you the +words they used to me—"</p> + +<p>"I know it all," the stranger said quietly. "I saw and heard everything. +My plan first was to wait till the end and then to take steps for their +destruction, but in the interest of your personal safety,"—he spoke +with the utmost gravity and conviction,—"in the interest of the safety +of your soul, I made my presence known when I did, and before the +conclusion had been reached—"</p> + +<p>"My safety! The danger, then, was real. They were alive and—" Words +failed him. He stopped in the road and turned towards his companion, the +shining of whose eyes he could just make out in the gloom.</p> + +<p>"It was a concourse of the shells of violent men, spiritually developed +but evil men, seeking after death—the death of the body—to prolong +their vile and unnatural existence. And had they accomplished their +object you, in turn, at the death of your body, would have passed into +their power and helped to swell their dreadful purposes."</p> + +<p>Harris made no reply. He was trying hard to concentrate his mind upon +the sweet and common things of life. He even thought of silk and St. +Paul's Churchyard and the faces of his partners in business.</p> + +<p>"For you came all prepared to be caught," he heard the other's voice +like some one talking to him from a distance; "your deeply introspective +mood had already reconstructed the past so vividly, so intensely, that +you were <i>en rapport</i> at once with any forces of those days that chanced +still to be lingering. And they swept you up all unresistingly."</p> + +<p>Harris tightened his hold upon the stranger's arm as he heard. At the +moment he had room for one emotion only. It did not seem to him odd that +this stranger should have such intimate knowledge of his mind.</p> + +<p>"It is, alas, chiefly the evil emotions that are able to leave their +photographs upon surrounding scenes and objects," the other added, "and +who ever heard of a place haunted by a noble deed, or of beautiful and +lovely ghosts revisiting the glimpses of the moon? It is unfortunate. +But the wicked passions of men's hearts alone seem strong enough to +leave pictures that persist; the good are ever too lukewarm."</p> + +<p>The stranger sighed as he spoke. But Harris, exhausted and shaken as he +was to the very core, paced by his side, only half listening. He moved +as in a dream still. It was very wonderful to him, this walk home under +the stars in the early hours of the October morning, the peaceful forest +all about them, mist rising here and there over the small clearings, and +the sound of water from a hundred little invisible streams filling in +the pauses of the talk. In after life he always looked back to it as +something magical and impossible, something that had seemed too +beautiful, too curiously beautiful, to have been quite true. And, though +at the time he heard and understood but a quarter of what the stranger +said, it came back to him afterwards, staying with him till the end of +his days, and always with a curious, haunting sense of unreality, as +though he had enjoyed a wonderful dream of which he could recall only +faint and exquisite portions.</p> + +<p>But the horror of the earlier experience was effectually dispelled; and +when they reached the railway inn, somewhere about three o'clock in the +morning, Harris shook the stranger's hand gratefully, effusively, +meeting the look of those rather wonderful eyes with a full heart, and +went up to his room, thinking in a hazy, dream-like way of the words +with which the stranger had brought their conversation to an end as they +left the confines of the forest—</p> + +<p>"And if thought and emotion can persist in this way so long after the +brain that sent them forth has crumbled into dust, how vitally important +it must be to control their very birth in the heart, and guard them with +the keenest possible restraint."</p> + +<p>But Harris, the silk merchant, slept better than might have been +expected, and with a soundness that carried him half-way through the +day. And when he came downstairs and learned that the stranger had +already taken his departure, he realised with keen regret that he had +never once thought of asking his name.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he signed the visitors' book," said the girl in reply to his +question.</p> + +<p>And he turned over the blotted pages and found there, the last entry, in +a very delicate and individual handwriting—</p> + +<p>"<i>John Silence</i>, London."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<a name="CASE_V:_THE_CAMP_OF_THE_DOG"></a><h2>CASE II: THE CAMP OF THE DOG</h2> +<br> + +<p>I</p> + +<p>Islands of all shapes and sizes troop northward from Stockholm by the +hundred, and the little steamer that threads their intricate mazes in +summer leaves the traveller in a somewhat bewildered state as regards +the points of the compass when it reaches the end of its journey at +Waxholm. But it is only after Waxholm that the true islands begin, so to +speak, to run wild, and start up the coast on their tangled course of a +hundred miles of deserted loveliness, and it was in the very heart of +this delightful confusion that we pitched our tents for a summer +holiday. A veritable wilderness of islands lay about us: from the mere +round button of a rock that bore a single fir, to the mountainous +stretch of a square mile, densely wooded, and bounded by precipitous +cliffs; so close together often that a strip of water ran between no +wider than a country lane, or, again, so far that an expanse stretched +like the open sea for miles.</p> + +<p>Although the larger islands boasted farms and fishing stations, the +majority were uninhabited. Carpeted with moss and heather, their +coast-lines showed a series of ravines and clefts and little sandy bays, +with a growth of splendid pine-woods that came down to the water's edge +and led the eye through unknown depths of shadow and mystery into the +very heart of primitive forest.</p> + +<p>The particular islands to which we had camping rights by virtue of +paying a nominal sum to a Stockholm merchant lay together in a +picturesque group far beyond the reach of the steamer, one being a mere +reef with a fringe of fairy-like birches, and two others, cliff-bound +monsters rising with wooded heads out of the sea. The fourth, which we +selected because it enclosed a little lagoon suitable for anchorage, +bathing, night-lines, and what-not, shall have what description is +necessary as the story proceeds; but, so far as paying rent was +concerned, we might equally well have pitched our tents on any one of a +hundred others that clustered about us as thickly as a swarm of bees.</p> + +<p>It was in the blaze of an evening in July, the air clear as crystal, the +sea a cobalt blue, when we left the steamer on the borders of +civilisation and sailed away with maps, compasses, and provisions for +the little group of dots in the Skägård that were to be our home for the +next two months. The dinghy and my Canadian canoe trailed behind us, +with tents and dunnage carefully piled aboard, and when the point of +cliff intervened to hide the steamer and the Waxholm hotel we realised +for the first time that the horror of trains and houses was far behind +us, the fever of men and cities, the weariness of streets and confined +spaces. The wilderness opened up on all sides into endless blue reaches, +and the map and compasses were so frequently called into requisition +that we went astray more often than not and progress was enchantingly +slow. It took us, for instance, two whole days to find our +crescent-shaped home, and the camps we made on the way were so +fascinating that we left them with difficulty and regret, for each +island seemed more desirable than the one before it, and over all lay +the spell of haunting peace, remoteness from the turmoil of the world, +and the freedom of open and desolate spaces.</p> + +<p>And so many of these spots of world-beauty have I sought out and dwelt +in, that in my mind remains only a composite memory of their faces, a +true map of heaven, as it were, from which this particular one stands +forth with unusual sharpness because of the strange things that happened +there, and also, I think, because anything in which John Silence played +a part has a habit of fixing itself in the mind with a living and +lasting quality of vividness.</p> + +<p>For the moment, however, Dr. Silence was not of the party. Some private +case in the interior of Hungary claimed his attention, and it was not +till later—the 15th of August, to be exact—that I had arranged to meet +him in Berlin and then return to London together for our harvest of +winter work. All the members of our party, however, were known to him +more or less well, and on this third day as we sailed through the narrow +opening into the lagoon and saw the circular ridge of trees in a gold +and crimson sunset before us, his last words to me when we parted in +London for some unaccountable reason came back very sharply to my +memory, and recalled the curious impression of prophecy with which I had +first heard them:</p> + +<p>"Enjoy your holiday and store up all the force you can," he had said as +the train slipped out of Victoria; "and we will meet in Berlin on the +15th—unless you should send for me sooner."</p> + +<p>And now suddenly the words returned to me so clearly that it seemed I +almost heard his voice in my ear: "Unless you should send for me +sooner"; and returned, moreover, with a significance I was wholly at a +loss to understand that touched somewhere in the depths of my mind a +vague sense of apprehension that they had all along been intended in the +nature of a prophecy.</p> + +<p>In the lagoon, then, the wind failed us this July evening, as was only +natural behind the shelter of the belt of woods, and we took to the +oars, all breathless with the beauty of this first sight of our island +home, yet all talking in somewhat hushed voices of the best place to +land, the depth of water, the safest place to anchor, to put up the +tents in, the most sheltered spot for the camp-fires, and a dozen things +of importance that crop up when a home in the wilderness has actually to +be made.</p> + +<p>And during this busy sunset hour of unloading before the dark, the souls +of my companions adopted the trick of presenting themselves very vividly +anew before my mind, and introducing themselves afresh.</p> + +<p>In reality, I suppose, our party was in no sense singular. In the +conventional life at home they certainly seemed ordinary enough, but +suddenly, as we passed through these gates of the wilderness, I saw them +more sharply than before, with characters stripped of the atmosphere of +men and cities. A complete change of setting often furnishes a +startlingly new view of people hitherto held for well-known; they +present another facet of their personalities. I seemed to see my own +party almost as new people—people I had not known properly hitherto, +people who would drop all disguises and henceforth reveal themselves as +they really were. And each one seemed to say: "Now you will see me as I +am. You will see me here in this primitive life of the wilderness +without clothes. All my masks and veils I have left behind in the abodes +of men. So, look out for surprises!"</p> + +<p>The Reverend Timothy Maloney helped me to put up the tents, long +practice making the process easy, and while he drove in pegs and +tightened ropes, his coat off, his flannel collar flying open without a +tie, it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was cut out for +the life of a pioneer rather than the church. He was fifty years of age, +muscular, blue-eyed and hearty, and he took his share of the work, and +more, without shirking. The way he handled the axe in cutting down +saplings for the tent-poles was a delight to see, and his eye in judging +the level was unfailing.</p> + +<p>Bullied as a young man into a lucrative family living, he had in turn +bullied his mind into some semblance of orthodox beliefs, doing the +honours of the little country church with an energy that made one think +of a coal-heaver tending china; and it was only in the past few years +that he had resigned the living and taken instead to cramming young men +for their examinations. This suited him better. It enabled him, too, to +indulge his passion for spells of "wild life," and to spend the summer +months of most years under canvas in one part of the world or another +where he could take his young men with him and combine "reading" with +open air.</p> + +<p>His wife usually accompanied him, and there was no doubt she enjoyed +the trips, for she possessed, though in less degree, the same joy of the +wilderness that was his own distinguishing characteristic. The only +difference was that while he regarded it as the real life, she regarded +it as an interlude. While he camped out with his heart and mind, she +played at camping out with her clothes and body. None the less, she made +a splendid companion, and to watch her busy cooking dinner over the fire +we had built among the stones was to understand that her heart was in +the business for the moment and that she was happy even with the detail.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Maloney at home, knitting in the sun and believing that the world +was made in six days, was one woman; but Mrs. Maloney, standing with +bare arms over the smoke of a wood fire under the pine trees, was +another; and Peter Sangree, the Canadian pupil, with his pale skin, and +his loose, though not ungainly figure, stood beside her in very +unfavourable contrast as he scraped potatoes and sliced bacon with +slender white fingers that seemed better suited to hold a pen than a +knife. She ordered him about like a slave, and he obeyed, too, with +willing pleasure, for in spite of his general appearance of debility he +was as happy to be in camp as any of them.</p> + +<p>But more than any other member of the party, Joan Maloney, the daughter, +was the one who seemed a natural and genuine part of the landscape, who +belonged to it all just in the same way that the trees and the moss and +the grey rocks running out into the water belonged to it. For she was +obviously in her right and natural setting, a creature of the wilds, a +gipsy in her own home.</p> + +<p>To any one with a discerning eye this would have been more or less +apparent, but to me, who had known her during all the twenty-two years +of her life and was familiar with the ins and outs of her primitive, +utterly un-modern type, it was strikingly clear. To see her there made +it impossible to imagine her again in civilisation. I lost all +recollection of how she looked in a town. The memory somehow evaporated. +This slim creature before me, flitting to and fro with the grace of the +woodland life, swift, supple, adroit, on her knees blowing the fire, or +stirring the frying-pan through a veil of smoke, suddenly seemed the +only way I had ever really seen her. Here she was at home; in London she +became some one concealed by clothes, an artificial doll overdressed and +moving by clockwork, only a portion of her alive. Here she was alive all +over.</p> + +<p>I forget altogether how she was dressed, just as I forget how any +particular tree was dressed, or how the markings ran on any one of the +boulders that lay about the Camp. She looked just as wild and natural +and untamed as everything else that went to make up the scene, and more +than that I cannot say.</p> + +<p>Pretty, she was decidedly not. She was thin, skinny, dark-haired, and +possessed of great physical strength in the form of endurance. She had, +too, something of the force and vigorous purpose of a man, tempestuous +sometimes and wild to passionate, frightening her mother, and puzzling +her easy-going father with her storms of waywardness, while at the same +time she stirred his admiration by her violence. A pagan of the pagans +she was besides, and with some haunting suggestion of old-world pagan +beauty about her dark face and eyes. Altogether an odd and difficult +character, but with a generosity and high courage that made her very +lovable.</p> + +<p>In town life she always seemed to me to feel cramped, bored, a devil in +a cage, in her eyes a hunted expression as though any moment she dreaded +to be caught. But up in these spacious solitudes all this disappeared. +Away from the limitations that plagued and stung her, she would show at +her best, and as I watched her moving about the Camp I repeatedly found +myself thinking of a wild creature that had just obtained its freedom +and was trying its muscles.</p> + +<p>Peter Sangree, of course, at once went down before her. But she was so +obviously beyond his reach, and besides so well able to take care of +herself, that I think her parents gave the matter but little thought, +and he himself worshipped at a respectful distance, keeping admirable +control of his passion in all respects save one; for at his age the eyes +are difficult to master, and the yearning, almost the devouring, +expression often visible in them was probably there unknown even to +himself. He, better than any one else, understood that he had fallen in +love with something most hard of attainment, something that drew him to +the very edge of life, and almost beyond it. It, no doubt, was a secret +and terrible joy to him, this passionate worship from afar; only I think +he suffered more than any one guessed, and that his want of vitality was +due in large measure to the constant stream of unsatisfied yearning that +poured for ever from his soul and body. Moreover, it seemed to me, who +now saw them for the first time together, that there was an unnamable +something—an elusive quality of some kind—that marked them as +belonging to the same world, and that although the girl ignored him she +was secretly, and perhaps unknown to herself, drawn by some attribute +very deep in her own nature to some quality equally deep in his.</p> + +<p>This, then, was the party when we first settled down into our two +months' camp on the island in the Baltic Sea. Other figures flitted from +time to time across the scene, and sometimes one reading man, sometimes +another, came to join us and spend his four hours a day in the +clergyman's tent, but they came for short periods only, and they went +without leaving much trace in my memory, and certainly they played no +important part in what subsequently happened.</p> + +<p>The weather favoured us that night, so that by sunset the tents were up, +the boats unloaded, a store of wood collected and chopped into lengths, +and the candle-lanterns hung round ready for lighting on the trees. +Sangree, too, had picked deep mattresses of balsam boughs for the +women's beds, and had cleared little paths of brushwood from their tents +to the central fireplace. All was prepared for bad weather. It was a +cosy supper and a well-cooked one that we sat down to and ate under the +stars, and, according to the clergyman, the only meal fit to eat we had +seen since we left London a week before.</p> + +<p>The deep stillness, after that roar of steamers, trains, and tourists, +held something that thrilled, for as we lay round the fire there was no +sound but the faint sighing of the pines and the soft lapping of the +waves along the shore and against the sides of the boat in the lagoon. +The ghostly outline of her white sails was just visible through the +trees, idly rocking to and fro in her calm anchorage, her sheets +flapping gently against the mast. Beyond lay the dim blue shapes of +other islands floating in the night, and from all the great spaces about +us came the murmur of the sea and the soft breathing of great woods. The +odours of the wilderness—smells of wind and earth, of trees and water, +clean, vigorous, and mighty—were the true odours of a virgin world +unspoilt by men, more penetrating and more subtly intoxicating than any +other perfume in the whole world. Oh!—and dangerously strong, too, no +doubt, for some natures!</p> + +<p>"Ahhh!" breathed out the clergyman after supper, with an indescribable +gesture of satisfaction and relief. "Here there is freedom, and room for +body and mind to turn in. Here one can work and rest and play. Here one +can be alive and absorb something of the earth-forces that never get +within touching distance in the cities. By George, I shall make a +permanent camp here and come when it is time to die!"</p> + +<p>The good man was merely giving vent to his delight at being under +canvas. He said the same thing every year, and he said it often. But it +more or less expressed the superficial feelings of us all. And when, a +little later, he turned to compliment his wife on the fried potatoes, +and discovered that she was snoring, with her back against a tree, he +grunted with content at the sight and put a ground-sheet over her feet, +as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to fall asleep +after dinner, and then moved back to his own corner, smoking his pipe +with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>And I, smoking mine too, lay and fought against the most delicious +sleep imaginable, while my eyes wandered from the fire to the stars +peeping through the branches, and then back again to the group about me. +The Rev. Timothy soon let his pipe go out, and succumbed as his wife had +done, for he had worked hard and eaten well. Sangree, also smoking, +leaned against a tree with his gaze fixed on the girl, a depth of +yearning in his face that he could not hide, and that really distressed +me for him. And Joan herself, with wide staring eyes, alert, full of the +new forces of the place, evidently keyed up by the magic of finding +herself among all the things her soul recognised as "home," sat rigid by +the fire, her thoughts roaming through the spaces, the blood stirring +about her heart. She was as unconscious of the Canadian's gaze as she +was that her parents both slept. She looked to me more like a tree, or +something that had grown out of the island, than a living girl of the +century; and when I spoke across to her in a whisper and suggested a +tour of investigation, she started and looked up at me as though she +heard a voice in her dreams.</p> + +<p>Sangree leaped up and joined us, and without waking the others we three +went over the ridge of the island and made our way down to the shore +behind. The water lay like a lake before us still coloured by the +sunset. The air was keen and scented, wafting the smell of the wooded +islands that hung about us in the darkening air. Very small waves +tumbled softly on the sand. The sea was sown with stars, and everywhere +breathed and pulsed the beauty of the northern summer night. I confess I +speedily lost consciousness of the human presences beside me, and I have +little doubt Joan did too. Only Sangree felt otherwise, I suppose, for +presently we heard him sighing; and I can well imagine that he absorbed +the whole wonder and passion of the scene into his aching heart, to +swell the pain there that was more searching even than the pain at the +sight of such matchless and incomprehensible beauty.</p> + +<p>The splash of a fish jumping broke the spell.</p> + +<p>"I wish we had the canoe now," remarked Joan; "we could paddle out to +the other islands."</p> + +<p>"Of course," I said; "wait here and I'll go across for it," and was +turning to feel my way back through the darkness when she stopped me in +a voice that meant what it said.</p> + +<p>"No; Mr. Sangree will get it. We will wait here and cooee to guide him."</p> + +<p>The Canadian was off in a moment, for she had only to hint of her wishes +and he obeyed.</p> + +<p>"Keep out from shore in case of rocks," I cried out as he went, "and +turn to the right out of the lagoon. That's the shortest way round by +the map."</p> + +<p>My voice travelled across the still waters and woke echoes in the +distant islands that came back to us like people calling out of space. +It was only thirty or forty yards over the ridge and down the other side +to the lagoon where the boats lay, but it was a good mile to coast round +the shore in the dark to where we stood and waited. We heard him +stumbling away among the boulders, and then the sounds suddenly ceased +as he topped the ridge and went down past the fire on the other side.</p> + +<p>"I didn't want to be left alone with him," the girl said presently in a +low voice. "I'm always afraid he's going to say or do something—" She +hesitated a moment, looking quickly over her shoulder towards the ridge +where he had just disappeared—"something that might lead to +unpleasantness."</p> + +<p>She stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> frightened, Joan!" I exclaimed, with genuine surprise. "This is a +new light on your wicked character. I thought the human being who could +frighten you did not exist." Then I suddenly realised she was talking +seriously—looking to me for help of some kind—and at once I dropped +the teasing attitude.</p> + +<p>"He's very far gone, I think, Joan," I added gravely. "You must be kind +to him, whatever else you may feel. He's exceedingly fond of you."</p> + +<p>"I know, but I can't help it," she whispered, lest her voice should +carry in the stillness; "there's something about him that—that makes me +feel creepy and half afraid."</p> + +<p>"But, poor man, it's not his fault if he is delicate and sometimes looks +like death," I laughed gently, by way of defending what I felt to be a +very innocent member of my sex.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it's not that I mean," she answered quickly; "it's something I +feel about him, something in his soul, something he hardly knows +himself, but that may come out if we are much together. It draws me, I +feel, tremendously. It stirs what is wild in me—deep down—oh, very +deep down,—yet at the same time makes me feel afraid."</p> + +<p>"I suppose his thoughts are always playing about you," I said, "but he's +nice-minded and—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently, "I can trust myself absolutely +with him. He's gentle and singularly pure-minded. But there's something +else that—" She stopped again sharply to listen. Then she came up close +beside me in the darkness, whispering—</p> + +<p>"You know, Mr. Hubbard, sometimes my intuitions warn me a little too +strongly to be ignored. Oh, yes, you needn't tell me again that it's +difficult to distinguish between fancy and intuition. I know all that. +But I also know that there's something deep down in that man's soul that +calls to something deep down in mine. And at present it frightens me. +Because I cannot make out what it is; and I know, I <i>know</i>, he'll do +something some day that—that will shake my life to the very bottom." +She laughed a little at the strangeness of her own description.</p> + +<p>I turned to look at her more closely, but the darkness was too great to +show her face. There was an intensity, almost of suppressed passion, in +her voice that took me completely by surprise.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Joan," I said, a little severely; "you know him well. He's +been with your father for months now."</p> + +<p>"But that was in London; and up here it's different—I mean, I feel that +it may be different. Life in a place like this blows away the restraints +of the artificial life at home. I know, oh, I know what I'm saying. I +feel all untied in a place like this; the rigidity of one's nature +begins to melt and flow. Surely <i>you</i> must understand what I mean!"</p> + +<p>"Of course I understand," I replied, yet not wishing to encourage her in +her present line of thought, "and it's a grand experience—for a short +time. But you're overtired to-night, Joan, like the rest of us. A few +days in this air will set you above all fears of the kind you mention."</p> + +<p>Then, after a moment's silence, I added, feeling I should estrange her +confidence altogether if I blundered any more and treated her like a +child—</p> + +<p>"I think, perhaps, the true explanation is that you pity him for loving +you, and at the same time you feel the repulsion of the healthy, +vigorous animal for what is weak and timid. If he came up boldly and +took you by the throat and shouted that he would force you to love +him—well, then you would feel no fear at all. You would know exactly +how to deal with him. Isn't it, perhaps, something of that kind?"</p> + +<p>The girl made no reply, and when I took her hand I felt that it trembled +a little and was cold.</p> + +<p>"It's not his love that I'm afraid of," she said hurriedly, for at this +moment we heard the dip of a paddle in the water, "it's something in his +very soul that terrifies me in a way I have never been terrified +before,—yet fascinates me. In town I was hardly conscious of his +presence. But the moment we got away from civilisation, it began to +come. He seems so—so <i>real</i> up here. I dread being alone with him. It +makes me feel that something must burst and tear its way out—that he +would do something—or I should do something—I don't know exactly what +I mean, probably,—but that I should let myself go and scream—"</p> + +<p>"Joan!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed," she laughed shortly; "I shan't do anything silly, +but I wanted to tell you my feelings in case I needed your help. When I +have intuitions as strong as this they are never wrong, only I don't +know yet what it means exactly."</p> + +<p>"You must hold out for the month, at any rate," I said in as +matter-of-fact a voice as I could manage, for her manner had somehow +changed my surprise to a subtle sense of alarm. "Sangree only stays the +month, you know. And, anyhow, you are such an odd creature yourself that +you should feel generously towards other odd creatures," I ended lamely, +with a forced laugh.</p> + +<p>She gave my hand a sudden pressure. "I'm glad I've told you at any +rate," she said quickly under her breath, for the canoe was now gliding +up silently like a ghost to our feet, "and I'm glad you're here, too," +she added as we moved down towards the water to meet it.</p> + +<p>I made Sangree change into the bows and got into the steering seat +myself, putting the girl between us so that I could watch them both by +keeping their outlines against the sea and stars. For the intuitions of +certain folk—women and children usually, I confess—I have always felt +a great respect that has more often than not been justified by +experience; and now the curious emotion stirred in me by the girl's +words remained somewhat vividly in my consciousness. I explained it in +some measure by the fact that the girl, tired out by the fatigue of many +days' travel, had suffered a vigorous reaction of some kind from the +strong, desolate scenery, and further, perhaps, that she had been +treated to my own experience of seeing the members of the party in a new +light—the Canadian, being partly a stranger, more vividly than the rest +of us. But, at the same time, I felt it was quite possible that she had +sensed some subtle link between his personality and her own, some +quality that she had hitherto ignored and that the routine of town life +had kept buried out of sight. The only thing that seemed difficult to +explain was the fear she had spoken of, and this I hoped the wholesome +effects of camp-life and exercise would sweep away naturally in the +course of time.</p> + +<p>We made the tour of the island without speaking. It was all too +beautiful for speech. The trees crowded down to the shore to hear us +pass. We saw their fine dark heads, bowed low with splendid dignity to +watch us, forgetting for a moment that the stars were caught in the +needled network of their hair. Against the sky in the west, where still +lingered the sunset gold, we saw the wild toss of the horizon, shaggy +with forest and cliff, gripping the heart like the motive in a symphony, +and sending the sense of beauty all a-shiver through the mind—all these +surrounding islands standing above the water like low clouds, and like +them seeming to post along silently into the engulfing night. We heard +the musical drip-drip of the paddle, and the little wash of our waves on +the shore, and then suddenly we found ourselves at the opening of the +lagoon again, having made the complete circuit of our home.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Timothy had awakened from sleep and was singing to himself; +and the sound of his voice as we glided down the fifty yards of enclosed +water was pleasant to hear and undeniably wholesome. We saw the glow of +the fire up among the trees on the ridge, and his shadow moving about as +he threw on more wood.</p> + +<p>"There you are!" he called aloud. "Good again! Been setting the +night-lines, eh? Capital! And your mother's still fast asleep, Joan."</p> + +<p>His cheery laugh floated across the water; he had not been in the least +disturbed by our absence, for old campers are not easily alarmed.</p> + +<p>"Now, remember," he went on, after we had told our little tale of travel +by the fire, and Mrs. Maloney had asked for the fourth time exactly +where her tent was and whether the door faced east or south, "every one +takes their turn at cooking breakfast, and one of the men is always out +at sunrise to catch it first. Hubbard, I'll toss you which you do in the +morning and which I do!" He lost the toss. "Then I'll catch it," I said, +laughing at his discomfiture, for I knew he loathed stirring porridge. +"And mind you don't burn it as you did every blessed time last year on +the Volga," I added by way of reminder.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Maloney's fifth interruption about the door of her tent, and her +further pointed observation that it was past nine o'clock, set us +lighting lanterns and putting the fire out for safety.</p> + +<p>But before we separated for the night the clergyman had a time-honoured +little ritual of his own to go through that no one had the heart to deny +him. He always did this. It was a relic of his pulpit habits. He glanced +briefly from one to the other of us, his face grave and earnest, his +hands lifted to the stars and his eyes all closed and puckered up +beneath a momentary frown. Then he offered up a short, almost inaudible +prayer, thanking Heaven for our safe arrival, begging for good weather, +no illness or accidents, plenty of fish, and strong sailing winds.</p> + +<p>And then, unexpectedly—no one knew why exactly—he ended up with an +abrupt request that nothing from the kingdom of darkness should be +allowed to afflict our peace, and no evil thing come near to disturb us +in the night-time.</p> + +<p>And while he uttered these last surprising words, so strangely unlike +his usual ending, it chanced that I looked up and let my eyes wander +round the group assembled about the dying fire. And it certainly seemed +to me that Sangree's face underwent a sudden and visible alteration. He +was staring at Joan, and as he stared the change ran over it like a +shadow and was gone. I started in spite of myself, for something oddly +concentrated, potent, collected, had come into the expression usually so +scattered and feeble. But it was all swift as a passing meteor, and when +I looked a second time his face was normal and he was looking among the +trees.</p> + +<p>And Joan, luckily, had not observed him, her head being bowed and her +eyes tightly closed while her father prayed.</p> + +<p>"The girl has a vivid imagination indeed," I thought, half laughing, as +I lit the lanterns, "if her thoughts can put a glamour upon mine in this +way"; and yet somehow, when we said good-night, I took occasion to give +her a few vigorous words of encouragement, and went to her tent to make +sure I could find it quickly in the night in case anything happened. In +her quick way the girl understood and thanked me, and the last thing I +heard as I moved off to the men's quarters was Mrs. Maloney crying that +there were beetles in her tent, and Joan's laughter as she went to help +her turn them out.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the island was silent as the grave, but for the +mournful voices of the wind as it sighed up from the sea. Like white +sentries stood the three tents of the men on one side of the ridge, and +on the other side, half hidden by some birches, whose leaves just +shivered as the breeze caught them, the women's tents, patches of +ghostly grey, gathered more closely together for mutual shelter and +protection. Something like fifty yards of broken ground, grey rock, moss +and lichen, lay between, and over all lay the curtain of the night and +the great whispering winds from the forests of Scandinavia.</p> + +<p>And the very last thing, just before floating away on that mighty wave +that carries one so softly off into the deeps of forgetfulness, I again +heard the voice of John Silence as the train moved out of Victoria +Station; and by some subtle connection that met me on the very threshold +of consciousness there rose in my mind simultaneously the memory of the +girl's half-given confidence, and of her distress. As by some wizardry +of approaching dreams they seemed in that instant to be related; but +before I could analyse the why and the wherefore, both sank away out of +sight again, and I was off beyond recall.</p> + +<p>"Unless you should send for me sooner."</p> +<br> + +<p>II</p> + +<p>Whether Mrs. Maloney's tent door opened south or east I think she never +discovered, for it is quite certain she always slept with the flap +tightly fastened; I only know that my own little "five by seven, all +silk" faced due east, because next morning the sun, pouring in as only +the wilderness sun knows how to pour, woke me early, and a moment later, +with a short run over soft moss and a flying dive from the granite +ledge, I was swimming in the most sparkling water imaginable.</p> + +<p>It was barely four o'clock, and the sun came down a long vista of blue +islands that led out to the open sea and Finland. Nearer by rose the +wooded domes of our own property, still capped and wreathed with smoky +trails of fast-melting mist, and looking as fresh as though it was the +morning of Mrs. Maloney's Sixth Day and they had just issued, clean and +brilliant, from the hands of the great Architect.</p> + +<p>In the open spaces the ground was drenched with dew, and from the sea a +cool salt wind stole in among the trees and set the branches trembling +in an atmosphere of shimmering silver. The tents shone white where the +sun caught them in patches. Below lay the lagoon, still dreaming of the +summer night; in the open the fish were jumping busily, sending musical +ripples towards the shore; and in the air hung the magic of +dawn—silent, incommunicable.</p> + +<p>I lit the fire, so that an hour later the clergyman should find good +ashes to stir his porridge over, and then set forth upon an examination +of the island, but hardly had I gone a dozen yards when I saw a figure +standing a little in front of me where the sunlight fell in a pool among +the trees.</p> + +<p>It was Joan. She had already been up an hour, she told me, and had +bathed before the last stars had left the sky. I saw at once that the +new spirit of this solitary region had entered into her, banishing the +fears of the night, for her face was like the face of a happy denizen of +the wilderness, and her eyes stainless and shining. Her feet were bare, +and drops of dew she had shaken from the branches hung in her +loose-flying hair. Obviously she had come into her own.</p> + +<p>"I've been all over the island," she announced laughingly, "and there +are two things wanting."</p> + +<p>"You're a good judge, Joan. What are they?"</p> + +<p>"There's no animal life, and there's no—water."</p> + +<p>"They go together," I said. "Animals don't bother with a rock like this +unless there's a spring on it."</p> + +<p>And as she led me from place to place, happy and excited, leaping +adroitly from rock to rock, I was glad to note that my first impressions +were correct. She made no reference to our conversation of the night +before. The new spirit had driven out the old. There was no room in her +heart for fear or anxiety, and Nature had everything her own way.</p> + +<p>The island, we found, was some three-quarters of a mile from point to +point, built in a circle, or wide horseshoe, with an opening of twenty +feet at the mouth of the lagoon. Pine-trees grew thickly all over, but +here and there were patches of silver birch, scrub oak, and +considerable colonies of wild raspberry and gooseberry bushes. The two +ends of the horseshoe formed bare slabs of smooth granite running into +the sea and forming dangerous reefs just below the surface, but the rest +of the island rose in a forty-foot ridge and sloped down steeply to the +sea on either side, being nowhere more than a hundred yards wide.</p> + +<p>The outer shore-line was much indented with numberless coves and bays +and sandy beaches, with here and there caves and precipitous little +cliffs against which the sea broke in spray and thunder. But the inner +shore, the shore of the lagoon, was low and regular, and so well +protected by the wall of trees along the ridge that no storm could ever +send more than a passing ripple along its sandy marges. Eternal shelter +reigned there.</p> + +<p>On one of the other islands, a few hundred yards away—for the rest of +the party slept late this first morning, and we took to the canoe—we +discovered a spring of fresh water untainted by the brackish flavour of +the Baltic, and having thus solved the most important problem of the +Camp, we next proceeded to deal with the second—fish. And in half an +hour we reeled in and turned homewards, for we had no means of storage, +and to clean more fish than may be stored or eaten in a day is no wise +occupation for experienced campers.</p> + +<p>And as we landed towards six o'clock we heard the clergyman singing as +usual and saw his wife and Sangree shaking out their blankets in the +sun, and dressed in a fashion that finally dispelled all memories of +streets and civilisation.</p> + +<p>"The Little People lit the fire for me," cried Maloney, looking natural +and at home in his ancient flannel suit and breaking off in the middle +of his singing, "so I've got the porridge going—and this time it's +<i>not</i> burnt."</p> + +<p>We reported the discovery of water and held up the fish.</p> + +<p>"Good! Good again!" he cried. "We'll have the first decent breakfast +we've had this year. Sangree'll clean 'em in no time, and the Bo'sun's +Mate—"</p> + +<p>"Will fry them to a turn," laughed the voice of Mrs. Maloney, appearing +on the scene in a tight blue jersey and sandals, and catching up the +frying-pan. Her husband always called her the Bo'sun's Mate in Camp, +because it was her duty, among others, to pipe all hands to meals.</p> + +<p>"And as for you, Joan," went on the happy man, "you look like the spirit +of the island, with moss in your hair and wind in your eyes, and sun and +stars mixed in your face." He looked at her with delighted admiration. +"Here, Sangree, take these twelve, there's a good fellow, they're the +biggest; and we'll have 'em in butter in less time than you can say +Baltic island!"</p> + +<p>I watched the Canadian as he slowly moved off to the cleaning pail. His +eyes were drinking in the girl's beauty, and a wave of passionate, +almost feverish, joy passed over his face, expressive of the ecstasy of +true worship more than anything else. Perhaps he was thinking that he +still had three weeks to come with that vision always before his eyes; +perhaps he was thinking of his dreams in the night. I cannot say. But I +noticed the curious mingling of yearning and happiness in his eyes, and +the strength of the impression touched my curiosity. Something in his +face held my gaze for a second, something to do with its intensity. That +so timid, so gentle a personality should conceal so virile a passion +almost seemed to require explanation.</p> + +<p>But the impression was momentary, for that first breakfast in Camp +permitted no divided attentions, and I dare swear that the porridge, the +tea, the Swedish "flatbread," and the fried fish flavoured with points +of frizzled bacon, were better than any meal eaten elsewhere that day in +the whole world.</p> + +<p>The first clear day in a new camp is always a furiously busy one, and we +soon dropped into the routine upon which in large measure the real +comfort of every one depends. About the cooking-fire, greatly improved +with stones from the shore, we built a high stockade consisting of +upright poles thickly twined with branches, the roof lined with moss and +lichen and weighted with rocks, and round the interior we made low +wooden seats so that we could lie round the fire even in rain and eat +our meals in peace. Paths, too, outlined themselves from tent to tent, +from the bathing places and the landing stage, and a fair division of +the island was decided upon between the quarters of the men and the +women. Wood was stacked, awkward trees and boulders removed, hammocks +slung, and tents strengthened. In a word, Camp was established, and +duties were assigned and accepted as though we expected to live on this +Baltic island for years to come and the smallest detail of the Community +life was important.</p> + +<p>Moreover, as the Camp came into being, this sense of a community +developed, proving that we were a definite whole, and not merely +separate human beings living for a while in tents upon a desert island. +Each fell willingly into the routine. Sangree, as by natural selection, +took upon himself the cleaning of the fish and the cutting of the wood +into lengths sufficient for a day's use. And he did it well. The pan of +water was never without a fish, cleaned and scaled, ready to fry for +whoever was hungry; the nightly fire never died down for lack of +material to throw on without going farther afield to search.</p> + +<p>And Timothy, once reverend, caught the fish and chopped down the trees. +He also assumed responsibility for the condition of the boat, and did it +so thoroughly that nothing in the little cutter was ever found wanting. +And when, for any reason, his presence was in demand, the first place to +look for him was—in the boat, and there, too, he was usually found, +tinkering away with sheets, sails, or rudder and singing as he tinkered.</p> + +<p>'Nor was the "reading" neglected; for most mornings there came a sound +of droning voices form the white tent by the raspberry bushes, which +signified that Sangree, the tutor, and whatever other man chanced to be +in the party at the time, were hard at it with history or the classics.</p> + +<p>And while Mrs. Maloney, also by natural selection, took charge of the +larder and the kitchen, the mending and general supervision of the rough +comforts, she also made herself peculiarly mistress of the megaphone +which summoned to meals and carried her voice easily from one end of the +island to the other; and in her hours of leisure she daubed the +surrounding scenery on to a sketching block with all the honesty and +devotion of her determined but unreceptive soul.</p> + +<p>Joan, meanwhile, Joan, elusive creature of the wilds, became I know not +exactly what. She did plenty of work in the Camp, yet seemed to have no +very precise duties. She was everywhere and anywhere. Sometimes she +slept in her tent, sometimes under the stars with a blanket. She knew +every inch of the island and kept turning up in places where she was +least expected—for ever wandering about, reading her books in sheltered +corners, making little fires on sunless days to "worship by to the +gods," as she put it, ever finding new pools to dive and bathe in, and +swimming day and night in the warm and waveless lagoon like a fish in a +huge tank. She went bare-legged and bare-footed, with her hair down and +her skirts caught up to the knees, and if ever a human being turned into +a jolly savage within the compass of a single week, Joan Maloney was +certainly that human being. She ran wild.</p> + +<p>So completely, too, was she possessed by the strong spirit of the place +that the little human fear she had yielded to so strangely on our +arrival seemed to have been utterly dispossessed. As I hoped and +expected, she made no reference to our conversation of the first +evening. Sangree bothered her with no special attentions, and after all +they were very little together. His behaviour was perfect in that +respect, and I, for my part, hardly gave the matter another thought. +Joan was ever a prey to vivid fancies of one kind or another, and this +was one of them. Mercifully for the happiness of all concerned, it had +melted away before the spirit of busy, active life and deep content +that reigned over the island. Every one was intensely alive, and peace +was upon all.</p> + +<br><hr style="width: 45%;"><br> + +<p>Meanwhile the effect of the camp-life began to tell. Always a searching +test of character, its results, sooner or later, are infallible, for it +acts upon the soul as swiftly and surely as the hypo bath upon the +negative of a photograph. A readjustment of the personal forces takes +place quickly; some parts of the personality go to sleep, others wake +up: but the first sweeping change that the primitive life brings about +is that the artificial portions of the character shed themselves one +after another like dead skins. Attitudes and poses that seemed genuine +in the city drop away. The mind, like the body, grows quickly hard, +simple, uncomplex. And in a camp as primitive and close to nature as +ours was, these effects became speedily visible.</p> + +<p>Some folk, of course, who talk glibly about the simple life when it is +safely out of reach, betray themselves in camp by for ever peering about +for the artificial excitements of civilisation which they miss. Some get +bored at once; some grow slovenly; some reveal the animal in most +unexpected fashion; and some, the select few, find themselves in very +short order and are happy.</p> + +<p>And, in our little party, we could flatter ourselves that we all +belonged to the last category, so far as the general effect was +concerned. Only there were certain other changes as well, varying with +each individual, and all interesting to note.</p> + +<p>It was only after the first week or two that these changes became +marked, although this is the proper place, I think, to speak of them. +For, having myself no other duty than to enjoy a well-earned holiday, I +used to load my canoe with blankets and provisions and journey forth on +exploration trips among the islands of several days together; and it was +on my return from the first of these—when I rediscovered the party, so +to speak—that these changes first presented themselves vividly to me, +and in one particular instance produced a rather curious impression.</p> + +<p>In a word, then, while every one had grown wilder, naturally wilder, +Sangree, it seemed to me, had grown much wilder, and what I can only +call unnaturally wilder. He made me think of a savage.</p> + +<p>To begin with, he had changed immensely in mere physical appearance, and +the full brown cheeks, the brighter eyes of absolute health, and the +general air of vigour and robustness that had come to replace his +customary lassitude and timidity, had worked such an improvement that I +hardly knew him for the same man. His voice, too, was deeper and his +manner bespoke for the first time a greater measure of confidence in +himself. He now had some claims to be called nice-looking, or at least +to a certain air of virility that would not lessen his value in the eyes +of the opposite sex.</p> + +<p>All this, of course, was natural enough, and most welcome. But, +altogether apart from this physical change, which no doubt had also been +going forward in the rest of us, there was a subtle note in his +personality that came to me with a degree of surprise that almost +amounted to shock.</p> + +<p>And two things—as he came down to welcome me and pull up the +canoe—leaped up in my mind unbidden, as though connected in some way I +could not at the moment divine—first, the curious judgment formed of +him by Joan; and secondly, that fugitive expression I had caught in his +face while Maloney was offering up his strange prayer for special +protection from Heaven.</p> + +<p>The delicacy of manner and feature—to call it by no milder term—which +had always been a distinguishing characteristic of the man, had been +replaced by something far more vigorous and decided, that yet utterly +eluded analysis. The change which impressed me so oddly was not easy to +name. The others—singing Maloney, the bustling Bo'sun's Mate, and Joan, +that fascinating half-breed of undine and salamander—all showed the +effects of a life so close to nature; but in their case the change was +perfectly natural and what was to be expected, whereas with Peter +Sangree, the Canadian, it was something unusual and unexpected.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to explain how he managed gradually to convey to my +mind the impression that something in him had turned savage, yet this, +more or less, is the impression that he did convey. It was not that he +seemed really less civilised, or that his character had undergone any +definite alteration, but rather that something in him, hitherto dormant, +had awakened to life. Some quality, latent till now—so far, at least, +as we were concerned, who, after all, knew him but slightly—had stirred +into activity and risen to the surface of his being.</p> + +<p>And while, for the moment, this seemed as far as I could get, it was but +natural that my mind should continue the intuitive process and +acknowledge that John Silence, owing to his peculiar faculties, and the +girl, owing to her singularly receptive temperament, might each in a +different way have divined this latent quality in his soul, and feared +its manifestation later.</p> + +<p>On looking back to this painful adventure, too, it now seems equally +natural that the same process, carried to its logical conclusion, should +have wakened some deep instinct in me that, wholly without direction +from my will, set itself sharply and persistently upon the watch from +that very moment. Thenceforward the personality of Sangree was never +far from my thoughts, and I was for ever analysing and searching for the +explanation that took so long in coming.</p> + +<p>"I declare, Hubbard, you're tanned like an aboriginal, and you look like +one, too," laughed Maloney.</p> + +<p>"And I can return the compliment," was my reply, as we all gathered +round a brew of tea to exchange news and compare notes.</p> + +<p>And later, at supper, it amused me to observe that the distinguished +tutor, once clergyman, did not eat his food quite as "nicely" as he did +at home—he devoured it; that Mrs. Maloney ate more, and, to say the +least, with less delay, than was her custom in the select atmosphere of +her English dining-room; and that while Joan attacked her tin plateful +with genuine avidity, Sangree, the Canadian, bit and gnawed at his, +laughing and talking and complimenting the cook all the while, and +making me think with secret amusement of a starved animal at its first +meal. While, from their remarks about myself, I judged that I had +changed and grown wild as much as the rest of them.</p> + +<p>In this and in a hundred other little ways the change showed, ways +difficult to define in detail, but all proving—not the coarsening +effect of leading the primitive life, but, let us say, the more direct +and unvarnished methods that became prevalent. For all day long we were +in the bath of the elements—wind, water, sun—and just as the body +became insensible to cold and shed unnecessary clothing, the mind grew +straightforward and shed many of the disguises required by the +conventions of civilisation.</p> + +<p>And in each, according to temperament and character, there stirred the +life-instincts that were natural, untamed, and, in a sense—savage.</p> +<br> + +<p>III</p> + +<p>So it came about that I stayed with our island party, putting off my +second exploring trip from day to day, and I think that this far-fetched +instinct to watch Sangree was really the cause of my postponement.</p> + +<p>For another ten days the life of the Camp pursued its even and +delightful way, blessed by perfect summer weather, a good harvest of +fish, fine winds for sailing, and calm, starry nights. Maloney's selfish +prayer had been favourably received. Nothing came to disturb or perplex. +There was not even the prowling of night animals to vex the rest of Mrs. +Maloney; for in previous camps it had often been her peculiar affliction +that she heard the porcupines scratching against the canvas, or the +squirrels dropping fir-cones in the early morning with a sound of +miniature thunder upon the roof of her tent. But on this island there +was not even a squirrel or a mouse. I think two toads and a small and +harmless snake were the only living creatures that had been discovered +during the whole of the first fortnight. And these two toads in all +probability were not two toads, but one toad.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, came the terror that changed the whole aspect of the +place—the devastating terror.</p> + +<p>It came, at first, gently, but from the very start it made me realise +the unpleasant loneliness of our situation, our remote isolation in this +wilderness of sea and rock, and how the islands in this tideless Baltic +ocean lay about us like the advance guard of a vast besieging army. Its +entry, as I say, was gentle, hardly noticeable, in fact, to most of us: +singularly undramatic it certainly was. But, then, in actual life this +is often the way the dreadful climaxes move upon us, leaving the heart +undisturbed almost to the last minute, and then overwhelming it with a +sudden rush of horror. For it was the custom at breakfast to listen +patiently while each in turn related the trivial adventures of the +night—how they slept, whether the wind shook their tent, whether the +spider on the ridge pole had moved, whether they had heard the toad, and +so forth—and on this particular morning Joan, in the middle of a little +pause, made a truly novel announcement:</p> + +<p>"In the night I heard the howling of a dog," she said, and then flushed +up to the roots of her hair when we burst out laughing. For the idea of +there being a dog on this forsaken island that was only able to support +a snake and two toads was distinctly ludicrous, and I remember Maloney, +half-way through his burnt porridge, capping the announcement by +declaring that he had heard a "Baltic turtle" in the lagoon, and his +wife's expression of frantic alarm before the laughter undeceived her.</p> + +<p>But the next morning Joan repeated the story with additional and +convincing detail.</p> + +<p>"Sounds of whining and growling woke me," she said, "and I distinctly +heard sniffing under my tent, and the scratching of paws."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Timothy! Can it be a porcupine?" exclaimed the Bo'sun's Mate with +distress, forgetting that Sweden was not Canada.</p> + +<p>But the girl's voice had sounded to me in quite another key, and looking +up I saw that her father and Sangree were staring at her hard. They, +too, understood that she was in earnest, and had been struck by the +serious note in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Rubbish, Joan! You are always dreaming something or other wild," her +father said a little impatiently.</p> + +<p>"There's not an animal of any size on the whole island," added Sangree +with a puzzled expression. He never took his eyes from her face.</p> + +<p>"But there's nothing to prevent one swimming over," I put in briskly, +for somehow a sense of uneasiness that was not pleasant had woven itself +into the talk and pauses. "A deer, for instance, might easily land in +the night and take a look round—"</p> + +<p>"Or a bear!" gasped the Bo'sun's Mate, with a look so portentous that we +all welcomed the laugh.</p> + +<p>But Joan did not laugh. Instead, she sprang up and called to us to +follow.</p> + +<p>"There," she said, pointing to the ground by her tent on the side farthest +from her mother's; "there are the marks close to my head. You can +see for yourselves."</p> + +<p>We saw plainly. The moss and lichen—for earth there was hardly any—had +been scratched up by paws. An animal about the size of a large dog it +must have been, to judge by the marks. We stood and stared in a row.</p> + +<p>"Close to my head," repeated the girl, looking round at us. Her face, I +noticed, was very pale, and her lip seemed to quiver for an instant. +Then she gave a sudden gulp—and burst into a flood of tears.</p> + +<p>The whole thing had come about in the brief space of a few minutes, and +with a curious sense of inevitableness, moreover, as though it had all +been carefully planned from all time and nothing could have stopped it. +It had all been rehearsed before—had actually happened before, as the +strange feeling sometimes has it; it seemed like the opening movement in +some ominous drama, and that I knew exactly what would happen next. +Something of great moment was impending.</p> + +<p>For this sinister sensation of coming disaster made itself felt from the +very beginning, and an atmosphere of gloom and dismay pervaded the +entire Camp from that moment forward.</p> + +<p>I drew Sangree to one side and moved away, while Maloney took the +distressed girl into her tent, and his wife followed them, energetic and +greatly flustered.</p> + +<p>For thus, in undramatic fashion, it was that the terror I have spoken of +first attempted the invasion of our Camp, and, trivial and unimportant +though it seemed, every little detail of this opening scene is +photographed upon my mind with merciless accuracy and precision. It +happened exactly as described. This was exactly the language used. I see +it written before me in black and white. I see, too, the faces of all +concerned with the sudden ugly signature of alarm where before had been +peace. The terror had stretched out, so to speak, a first tentative +feeler toward us and had touched the hearts of each with a horrid +directness. And from this moment the Camp changed.</p> + +<p>Sangree in particular was visibly upset. He could not bear to see the +girl distressed, and to hear her actually cry was almost more than he +could stand. The feeling that he had no right to protect her hurt him +keenly, and I could see that he was itching to do something to help, and +liked him for it. His expression said plainly that he would tear in a +thousand pieces anything that dared to injure a hair of her head.</p> + +<p>We lit our pipes and strolled over in silence to the men's quarters, and +it was his odd Canadian expression "Gee whiz!" that drew my attention to +a further discovery.</p> + +<p>"The brute's been scratching round my tent too," he cried, as he pointed +to similar marks by the door and I stooped down to examine them. We both +stared in amazement for several minutes without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Only I sleep like the dead," he added, straightening up again, "and so +heard nothing, I suppose."</p> + +<p>We traced the paw-marks from the mouth of his tent in a direct line +across to the girl's, but nowhere else about the Camp was there a sign +of the strange visitor. The deer, dog, or whatever it was that had twice +favoured us with a visit in the night, had confined its attentions to +these two tents. And, after all, there was really nothing out of the way +about these visits of an unknown animal, for although our own island was +destitute of life, we were in the heart of a wilderness, and the +mainland and larger islands must be swarming with all kinds of +four-footed creatures, and no very prolonged swimming was necessary to +reach us. In any other country it would not have caused a moment's +interest—interest of the kind we felt, that is. In our Canadian camps +the bears were for ever grunting about among the provision bags at +night, porcupines scratching unceasingly, and chipmunks scuttling over +everything.</p> + +<p>"My daughter is overtired, and that's the truth of it," explained +Maloney presently when he rejoined us and had examined in turn the other +paw-marks. "She's been overdoing it lately, and camp-life, you know, +always means a great excitement to her. It's natural enough, if we take +no notice she'll be all right." He paused to borrow my tobacco pouch and +fill his pipe, and the blundering way he filled it and spilled the +precious weed on the ground visibly belied the calm of his easy +language. "You might take her out for a bit of fishing, Hubbard, like a +good chap; she's hardly up to the long day in the cutter. Show her some +of the other islands in your canoe, perhaps. Eh?"</p> + +<p>And by lunch-time the cloud had passed away as suddenly, and as +suspiciously, as it had come.</p> + +<p>But in the canoe, on our way home, having till then purposely ignored +the subject uppermost in our minds, she suddenly spoke to me in a way +that again touched the note of sinister alarm—the note that kept on +sounding and sounding until finally John Silence came with his great +vibrating presence and relieved it; yes, and even after he came, too, +for a while.</p> + +<p>"I'm ashamed to ask it," she said abruptly, as she steered me home, her +sleeves rolled up, her hair blowing in the wind, "and ashamed of my +silly tears too, because I really can't make out what caused them; but, +Mr. Hubbard, I want you to promise me not to go off for your long +expeditions—just yet. I beg it of you." She was so in earnest that she +forgot the canoe, and the wind caught it sideways and made us roll +dangerously. "I have tried hard not to ask this," she added, bringing +the canoe round again, "but I simply can't help myself."</p> + +<p>It was a good deal to ask, and I suppose my hesitation was plain; for +she went on before I could reply, and her beseeching expression and +intensity of manner impressed me very forcibly.</p> + +<p>"For another two weeks only—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sangree leaves in a fortnight," I said, seeing at once what she was +driving at, but wondering if it was best to encourage her or not.</p> + +<p>"If I knew you were to be on the island till then," she said, her face +alternately pale and blushing, and her voice trembling a little, "I +should feel so much happier."</p> + +<p>I looked at her steadily, waiting for her to finish.</p> + +<p>"And safer," she added almost in a whisper; "especially—at night, I +mean."</p> + +<p>"Safer, Joan?" I repeated, thinking I had never seen her eyes so soft +and tender. She nodded her head, keeping her gaze fixed on my face.</p> + +<p>It was really difficult to refuse, whatever my thoughts and judgment may +have been, and somehow I understood that she spoke with good reason, +though for the life of me I could not have put it into words.</p> + +<p>"Happier—and safer," she said gravely, the canoe giving a dangerous +lurch as she leaned forward in her seat to catch my answer. Perhaps, +after all, the wisest way was to grant her request and make light of it, +easing her anxiety without too much encouraging its cause.</p> + +<p>"All right, Joan, you queer creature; I promise," and the instant look +of relief in her face, and the smile that came back like sunlight to her +eyes, made me feel that, unknown to myself and the world, I was capable +of considerable sacrifice after all.</p> + +<p>"But, you know, there's nothing to be afraid of," I added sharply; and +she looked up in my face with the smile women use when they know we are +talking idly, yet do not wish to tell us so.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> don't feel afraid, I know," she observed quietly.</p> + +<p>"Of course not; why should I?"</p> + +<p>"So, if you will just humour me this once I—I will never ask anything +foolish of you again as long as I live," she said gratefully.</p> + +<p>"You have my promise," was all I could find to say.</p> + +<p>She headed the nose of the canoe for the lagoon lying a quarter of a +mile ahead, and paddled swiftly; but a minute or two later she paused +again and stared hard at me with the dripping paddle across the thwarts.</p> + +<p>"You've not heard anything at night yourself, have you?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I never hear anything at night," I replied shortly, "from the moment I +lie down till the moment I get up."</p> + +<p>"That dismal howling, for instance," she went on, determined to get it +out, "far away at first and then getting closer, and stopping just +outside the Camp?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Because, sometimes I think I almost dreamed it."</p> + +<p>"Most likely you did," was my unsympathetic response.</p> + +<p>"And you don't think father has heard it either, then?"</p> + +<p>"No. He would have told me if he had."</p> + +<p>This seemed to relieve her mind a little. "I know mother hasn't," she +added, as if speaking to herself, "for she hears nothing—ever."</p> + +<br><hr style="width: 45%;"><br> + +<p>It was two nights after this conversation that I woke out of deep sleep +and heard sounds of screaming. The voice was really horrible, breaking +the peace and silence with its shrill clamour. In less than ten seconds +I was half dressed and out of my tent. The screaming had stopped +abruptly, but I knew the general direction, and ran as fast as the +darkness would allow over to the women's quarters, and on getting close +I heard sounds of suppressed weeping. It was Joan's voice. And just as I +came up I saw Mrs. Maloney, marvellously attired, fumbling with a +lantern. Other voices became audible in the same moment behind me, and +Timothy Maloney arrived, breathless, less than half dressed, and +carrying another lantern that had gone out on the way from being banged +against a tree. Dawn was just breaking, and a chill wind blew in from +the sea. Heavy black clouds drove low overhead.</p> + +<p>The scene of confusion may be better imagined than described. Questions +in frightened voices filled the air against this background of +suppressed weeping. Briefly—Joan's silk tent had been torn, and the +girl was in a state bordering upon hysterics. Somewhat reassured by our +noisy presence, however,—for she was plucky at heart,—she pulled +herself together and tried to explain what had happened; and her broken +words, told there on the edge of night and morning upon this wild island +ridge, were oddly thrilling and distressingly convincing.</p> + +<p>"Something touched me and I woke," she said simply, but in a voice +still hushed and broken with the terror of it, "something pushing +against the tent; I felt it through the canvas. There was the same +sniffing and scratching as before, and I felt the tent give a little as +when wind shakes it. I heard breathing—very loud, very heavy +breathing—and then came a sudden great tearing blow, and the canvas +ripped open close to my face."</p> + +<p>She had instantly dashed out through the open flap and screamed at the +top of her voice, thinking the creature had actually got into the tent. +But nothing was visible, she declared, and she heard not the faintest +sound of an animal making off under cover of the darkness. The brief +account seemed to exercise a paralysing effect upon us all as we +listened to it. I can see the dishevelled group to this day, the wind +blowing the women's hair, and Maloney craning his head forward to +listen, and his wife, open-mouthed and gasping, leaning against a pine +tree.</p> + +<p>"Come over to the stockade and we'll get the fire going," I said; +"that's the first thing," for we were all shaking with the cold in our +scanty garments. And at that moment Sangree arrived wrapped in a blanket +and carrying his gun; he was still drunken with sleep.</p> + +<p>"The dog again," Maloney explained briefly, forestalling his questions; +"been at Joan's tent. Torn it, by Gad! this time. It's time we did +something." He went on mumbling confusedly to himself.</p> + +<p>Sangree gripped his gun and looked about swiftly in the darkness. I saw +his eyes aflame in the glare of the flickering lanterns. He made a +movement as though to start out and hunt—and kill. Then his glance fell +on the girl crouching on the ground, her face hidden in her hands, and +there leaped into his features an expression of savage anger that +transformed them. He could have faced a dozen lions with a walking stick +at that moment, and again I liked him for the strength of his anger, his +self-control, and his hopeless devotion.</p> + +<p>But I stopped him going off on a blind and useless chase.</p> + +<p>"Come and help me start the fire, Sangree," I said, anxious also to +relieve the girl of our presence; and a few minutes later the ashes, +still growing from the night's fire, had kindled the fresh wood, and +there was a blaze that warmed us well while it also lit up the +surrounding trees within a radius of twenty yards.</p> + +<p>"I heard nothing," he whispered; "what in the world do you think it is? +It surely can't be only a dog!"</p> + +<p>"We'll find that out later," I said, as the others came up to the +grateful warmth; "the first thing is to make as big a fire as we can."</p> + +<p>Joan was calmer now, and her mother had put on some warmer, and less +miraculous, garments. And while they stood talking in low voices +Maloney and I slipped off to examine the tent. There was little enough +to see, but that little was unmistakable. Some animal had scratched up +the ground at the head of the tent, and with a great blow of a powerful +paw—a paw clearly provided with good claws—had struck the silk and +torn it open. There was a hole large enough to pass a fist and arm +through.</p> + +<p>"It can't be far away," Maloney said excitedly. "We'll organise a hunt +at once; this very minute."</p> + +<p>We hurried back to the fire, Maloney talking boisterously about his +proposed hunt. "There's nothing like prompt action to dispel alarm," he +whispered in my ear; and then turned to the rest of us.</p> + +<p>"We'll hunt the island from end to end at once," he said, with +excitement; "that's what we'll do. The beast can't be far away. And the +Bo'sun's Mate and Joan must come too, because they can't be left alone. +Hubbard, you take the right shore, and you, Sangree, the left, and I'll +go in the middle with the women. In this way we can stretch clean across +the ridge, and nothing bigger than a rabbit can possibly escape us." He +was extraordinarily excited, I thought. Anything affecting Joan, of +course, stirred him prodigiously. "Get your guns and we'll start the +drive at once," he cried. He lit another lantern and handed one each to +his wife and Joan, and while I ran to fetch my gun I heard him singing +to himself with the excitement of it all.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the dawn had come on quickly. It made the flickering lanterns +look pale. The wind, too, was rising, and I heard the trees moaning +overhead and the waves breaking with increasing clamour on the shore. In +the lagoon the boat dipped and splashed, and the sparks from the fire +were carried aloft in a stream and scattered far and wide.</p> + +<p>We made our way to the extreme end of the island, measured our distances +carefully, and then began to advance. None of us spoke. Sangree and I, +with cocked guns, watched the shore lines, and all within easy touch and +speaking distance. It was a slow and blundering drive, and there were +many false alarms, but after the best part of half an hour we stood on +the farther end, having made the complete tour, and without putting up +so much as a squirrel. Certainly there was no living creature on that +island but ourselves.</p> + +<p>"I know what it is!" cried Maloney, looking out over the dim expanse of +grey sea, and speaking with the air of a man making a discovery; "it's a +dog from one of the farms on the larger islands"—he pointed seawards +where the archipelago thickened—"and it's escaped and turned wild. Our +fires and voices attracted it, and it's probably half starved as well as +savage, poor brute!"</p> + +<p>No one said anything in reply, and he began to sing again very low to +himself.</p> + +<p>The point where we stood—a huddled, shivering group—faced the wider +channels that led to the open sea and Finland. The grey dawn had broken +in earnest at last, and we could see the racing waves with their angry +crests of white. The surrounding islands showed up as dark masses in the +distance, and in the east, almost as Maloney spoke, the sun came up with +a rush in a stormy and magnificent sky of red and gold. Against this +splashed and gorgeous background black clouds, shaped like fantastic and +legendary animals, filed past swiftly in a tearing stream, and to this +day I have only to close my eyes to see again that vivid and hurrying +procession in the air. All about us the pines made black splashes +against the sky. It was an angry sunrise. Rain, indeed, had already +begun to fall in big drops.</p> + +<p>We turned, as by a common instinct, and, without speech, made our way +back slowly to the stockade, Maloney humming snatches of his songs, +Sangree in front with his gun, prepared to shoot at a moment's notice, +and the women floundering in the rear with myself and the extinguished +lanterns.</p> + +<p>Yet it was only a dog!</p> + +<p>Really, it was most singular when one came to reflect soberly upon it +all. Events, say the occultists, have souls, or at least that +agglomerate life due to the emotions and thoughts of all concerned in +them, so that cities, and even whole countries, have great astral shapes +which may become visible to the eye of vision; and certainly here, the +soul of this drive—this vain, blundering, futile drive—stood somewhere +between ourselves and—laughed.</p> + +<p>All of us heard that laugh, and all of us tried hard to smother the +sound, or at least to ignore it. Every one talked at once, loudly, and +with exaggerated decision, obviously trying to say something plausible +against heavy odds, striving to explain naturally that an animal might +so easily conceal itself from us, or swim away before we had time to +light upon its trail. For we all spoke of that "trail" as though it +really existed, and we had more to go upon than the mere marks of paws +about the tents of Joan and the Canadian. Indeed, but for these, and the +torn tent, I think it would, of course, have been possible to ignore the +existence of this beast intruder altogether.</p> + +<p>And it was here, under this angry dawn, as we stood in the shelter of +the stockade from the pouring rain, weary yet so strangely excited—it +was here, out of this confusion of voices and explanations, that—very +stealthily—the ghost of something horrible slipped in and stood among +us. It made all our explanations seem childish and untrue; the false +relation was instantly exposed. Eyes exchanged quick, anxious glances, +questioning, expressive of dismay. There was a sense of wonder, of +poignant distress, and of trepidation. Alarm stood waiting at our +elbows. We shivered.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, as we looked into each other's faces, came the long, +unwelcome pause in which this new arrival established itself in our +hearts.</p> + +<p>And, without further speech, or attempt at explanation, Maloney moved +off abruptly to mix the porridge for an early breakfast; Sangree to +clean the fish; myself to chop wood and tend the fire; Joan and her +mother to change their wet garments; and, most significant of all, to +prepare her mother's tent for its future complement of two.</p> + +<p>Each went to his duty, but hurriedly, awkwardly, silently; and this new +arrival, this shape of terror and distress stalked, viewless, by the +side of each.</p> + +<p>"If only I could have traced that dog," I think was the thought in the +minds of all.</p> + +<p>But in Camp, where every one realises how important the individual +contribution is to the comfort and well-being of all, the mind speedily +recovers tone and pulls itself together.</p> + +<p>During the day, a day of heavy and ceaseless rain, we kept more or less +to our tents, and though there were signs of mysterious conferences +between the three members of the Maloney family, I think that most of us +slept a good deal and stayed alone with his thoughts. Certainly, I did, +because when Maloney came to say that his wife invited us all to a +special "tea" in her tent, he had to shake me awake before I realised +that he was there at all.</p> + +<p>And by supper-time we were more or less even-minded again, and almost +jolly. I only noticed that there was an undercurrent of what is best +described as "jumpiness," and that the merest snapping of a twig, or +plop of a fish in the lagoon, was sufficient to make us start and look +over our shoulders. Pauses were rare in our talk, and the fire was never +for one instant allowed to get low. The wind and rain had ceased, but +the dripping of the branches still kept up an excellent imitation of a +downpour. In particular, Maloney was vigilant and alert, telling us a +series of tales in which the wholesome humorous element was especially +strong. He lingered, too, behind with me after Sangree had gone to bed, +and while I mixed myself a glass of hot Swedish punch, he did a thing I +had never known him do before—he mixed one for himself, and then asked +me to light him over to his tent. We said nothing on the way, but I felt +that he was glad of my companionship.</p> + +<p>I returned alone to the stockade, and for a long time after that kept +the fire blazing, and sat up smoking and thinking. I hardly knew why; +but sleep was far from me for one thing, and for another, an idea was +taking form in my mind that required the comfort of tobacco and a +bright fire for its growth. I lay against a corner of the stockade +seat, listening to the wind whispering and to the ceaseless drip-drip of +the trees. The night, otherwise, was very still, and the sea quiet as a +lake. I remember that I was conscious, peculiarly conscious, of this +host of desolate islands crowding about us in the darkness, and that we +were the one little spot of humanity in a rather wonderful kind of +wilderness.</p> + +<p>But this, I think, was the only symptom that came to warn me of highly +strung nerves, and it certainly was not sufficiently alarming to destroy +my peace of mind. One thing, however, did come to disturb my peace, for +just as I finally made ready to go, and had kicked the embers of the +fire into a last effort, I fancied I saw, peering at me round the +farther end of the stockade wall, a dark and shadowy mass that might +have been—that strongly resembled, in fact—the body of a large animal. +Two glowing eyes shone for an instant in the middle of it. But the next +second I saw that it was merely a projecting mass of moss and lichen in +the wall of our stockade, and the eyes were a couple of wandering sparks +from the dying ashes I had kicked. It was easy enough, too, to imagine I +saw an animal moving here and there between the trees, as I picked my +way stealthily to my tent. Of course, the shadows tricked me.</p> + +<p>And though it was after one o'clock, Maloney's light was still burning, +for I saw his tent shining white among the pines.</p> + +<p>It was, however, in the short space between consciousness and +sleep—that time when the body is low and the voices of the submerged +region tell sometimes true—that the idea which had been all this while +maturing reached the point of an actual decision, and I suddenly +realised that I had resolved to send word to Dr. Silence. For, with a +sudden wonder that I had hitherto been so blind, the unwelcome +conviction dawned upon me all at once that some dreadful thing was +lurking about us on this island, and that the safety of at least one of +us was threatened by something monstrous and unclean that was too +horrible to contemplate. And, again remembering those last words of his +as the train moved out of the platform, I understood that Dr. Silence +would hold himself in readiness to come.</p> + +<p>"Unless you should send for me sooner," he had said.</p> + +<br><hr style="width: 45%;"><br> + +<p>I found myself suddenly wide awake. It is impossible to say what woke +me, but it was no gradual process, seeing that I jumped from deep sleep +to absolute alertness in a single instant. I had evidently slept for an +hour and more, for the night had cleared, stars crowded the sky, and a +pallid half-moon just sinking into the sea threw a spectral light +between the trees.</p> + +<p>I went outside to sniff the air, and stood upright. A curious +impression that something was astir in the Camp came over me, and when I +glanced across at Sangree's tent, some twenty feet away, I saw that it +was moving. He too, then, was awake and restless, for I saw the canvas +sides bulge this way and that as he moved within.</p> + +<p>The flap pushed forward. He was coming out, like myself, to sniff +the air; and I was not surprised, for its sweetness after the rain was +intoxicating. And he came on all fours, just as I had done. I saw a head +thrust round the edge of the tent.</p> + +<p>And then I saw that it was not Sangree at all. It was an animal. And the +same instant I realised something else too—it was <i>the</i> animal; and its +whole presentment for some unaccountable reason was unutterably malefic.</p> + +<p>A cry I was quite unable to suppress escaped me, and the creature turned +on the instant and stared at me with baleful eyes. I could have dropped +on the spot, for the strength all ran out of my body with a rush. +Something about it touched in me the living terror that grips and +paralyses. If the mind requires but the tenth of a second to form an +impression, I must have stood there stockstill for several seconds while +I seized the ropes for support and stared. Many and vivid impressions +flashed through my mind, but not one of them resulted in action, because +I was in instant dread that the beast any moment would leap in my +direction and be upon me. Instead, however, after what seemed a vast +period, it slowly turned its eyes from my face, uttered a low whining +sound, and came out altogether into the open.</p> + +<p>Then, for the first time, I saw it in its entirety and noted two things: +it was about the size of a large dog, but at the same time it was +utterly unlike any animal that I had ever seen. Also, that the quality +that had impressed me first as being malefic was really only its +singular and original strangeness. Foolish as it may sound, and +impossible as it is for me to adduce proof, I can only say that the +animal seemed to me then to be—not real.</p> + +<p>But all this passed through my mind in a flash, almost subconsciously, +and before I had time to check my impressions, or even properly verify +them, I made an involuntary movement, catching the tight rope in my hand +so that it twanged like a banjo string, and in that instant the creature +turned the corner of Sangree's tent and was gone into the darkness.</p> + +<p>Then, of course, my senses in some measure returned to me, and I +realised only one thing: it had been inside his tent!</p> + +<p>I dashed out, reached the door in half a dozen strides, and looked in. +The Canadian, thank God! lay upon his bed of branches. His arm was +stretched outside, across the blankets, the fist tightly clenched, and +the body had an appearance of unusual rigidity that was alarming. On his +face there was an expression of effort, almost of painful effort, so far +as the uncertain light permitted me to see, and his sleep seemed to be +very profound. He looked, I thought, so stiff, so unnaturally stiff, and +in some indefinable way, too, he looked smaller—shrunken.</p> + +<p>I called to him to wake, but called many times in vain. Then I decided +to shake him, and had already moved forward to do so vigorously when +there came a sound of footsteps padding softly behind me, and I felt a +stream of hot breath burn my neck as I stooped. I turned sharply. The +tent door was darkened and something silently swept in. I felt a rough +and shaggy body push past me, and knew that the animal had returned. It +seemed to leap forward between me and Sangree—in fact, to leap upon +Sangree, for its dark body hid him momentarily from view, and in that +moment my soul turned sick and coward with a horror that rose from the +very dregs and depths of life, and gripped my existence at its central +source.</p> + +<p>The creature seemed somehow to melt away into him, almost as though it +belonged to him and were a part of himself, but in the same +instant—that instant of extraordinary confusion and terror in my +mind—it seemed to pass over and behind him, and, in some utterly +unaccountable fashion, it was gone. And the Canadian woke and sat up +with a start.</p> + +<p>"Quick! You fool!" I cried, in my excitement, "the beast has been in +your tent, here at your very throat while you sleep like the dead. Up, +man! Get your gun! Only this second it disappeared over there behind +your head. Quick! or Joan—!"</p> + +<p>And somehow the fact that he was there, wide-awake now, to corroborate +me, brought the additional conviction to my own mind that this was no +animal, but some perplexing and dreadful form of life that drew upon my +deeper knowledge, that much reading had perhaps assented to, but that +had never yet come within actual range of my senses.</p> + +<p>He was up in a flash, and out. He was trembling, and very white. We +searched hurriedly, feverishly, but found only the traces of paw-marks +passing from the door of his own tent across the moss to the women's. +And the sight of the tracks about Mrs. Maloney's tent, where Joan now +slept, set him in a perfect fury.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what it is, Hubbard, this beast?" he hissed under his +breath at me; "it's a damned wolf, that's what it is—a wolf lost among +the islands, and starving to death—desperate. So help me God, I believe +it's that!"</p> + +<p>He talked a lot of rubbish in his excitement. He declared he would +sleep by day and sit up every night until he killed it. Again his rage +touched my admiration; but I got him away before he made enough noise to +wake the whole Camp.</p> + +<p>"I have a better plan than that," I said, watching his face closely. "I +don't think this is anything we can deal with. I'm going to send for the +only man I know who can help. We'll go to Waxholm this very morning and +get a telegram through."</p> + +<p>Sangree stared at me with a curious expression as the fury died out of +his face and a new look of alarm took its place.</p> + +<p>"John Silence," I said, "will know—"</p> + +<p>"You think it's something—of that sort?" he stammered.</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p>There was a moment's pause. "That's worse, far worse than anything +material," he said, turning visibly paler. He looked from my face to the +sky, and then added with sudden resolution, "Come; the wind's rising. +Let's get off at once. From there you can telephone to Stockholm and get +a telegram sent without delay."</p> + +<p>I sent him down to get the boat ready, and seized the opportunity myself +to run and wake Maloney. He was sleeping very lightly, and sprang up the +moment I put my head inside his tent. I told him briefly what I had +seen, and he showed so little surprise that I caught myself wondering +for the first time whether he himself had seen more going on than he had +deemed wise to communicate to the rest of us.</p> + +<p>He agreed to my plan without a moment's hesitation, and my last words to +him were to let his wife and daughter think that the great psychic +doctor was coming merely as a chance visitor, and not with any +professional interest.</p> + +<p>So, with frying-pan, provisions, and blankets aboard, Sangree and I +sailed out of the lagoon fifteen minutes later, and headed with a good +breeze for the direction of Waxholm and the borders of civilisation.</p> +<br> + +<p>IV</p> + +<p>Although nothing John Silence did ever took me, properly speaking, by +surprise, it was certainly unexpected to find a letter from Stockholm +waiting for me. "I have finished my Hungary business," he wrote, "and am +here for ten days. Do not hesitate to send if you need me. If you +telephone any morning from Waxholm I can catch the afternoon steamer."</p> + +<p>My years of intercourse with him were full of "coincidences" of this +description, and although he never sought to explain them by claiming +any magical system of communication with my mind, I have never doubted +that there actually existed some secret telepathic method by which he +knew my circumstances and gauged the degree of my need. And that this +power was independent of time in the sense that it saw into the future, +always seemed to me equally apparent.</p> + +<p>Sangree was as much relieved as I was, and within an hour of sunset that +very evening we met him on the arrival of the little coasting steamer, +and carried him off in the dinghy to the camp we had prepared on a +neighbouring island, meaning to start for home early next morning.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, when supper was over and we were smoking round the fire, +"let me hear your story." He glanced from one to the other, smiling.</p> + +<p>"You tell it, Mr. Hubbard," Sangree interrupted abruptly, and went off a +little way to wash the dishes, yet not so far as to be out of earshot. +And while he splashed with the hot water, and scraped the tin plates +with sand and moss, my voice, unbroken by a single question from Dr. +Silence, ran on for the next half-hour with the best account I could +give of what had happened.</p> + +<p>My listener lay on the other side of the fire, his face half hidden by a +big sombrero; sometimes he glanced up questioningly when a point needed +elaboration, but he uttered no single word till I had reached the end, +and his manner all through the recital was grave and attentive. +Overhead, the wash of the wind in the pine branches filled in the +pauses; the darkness settled down over the sea, and the stars came out +in thousands, and by the time I finished the moon had risen to flood the +scene with silver. Yet, by his face and eyes, I knew quite well that the +doctor was listening to something he had expected to hear, even if he +had not actually anticipated all the details.</p> + +<p>"You did well to send for me," he said very low, with a significant +glance at me when I finished; "very well,"—and for one swift second his +eye took in Sangree,—"for what we have to deal with here is nothing +more than a werewolf—rare enough, I am glad to say, but often very sad, +and sometimes very terrible."</p> + +<p>I jumped as though I had been shot, but the next second was heartily +ashamed of my want of control; for this brief remark, confirming as it +did my own worst suspicions, did more to convince me of the gravity of +the adventure than any number of questions or explanations. It seemed to +draw close the circle about us, shutting a door somewhere that locked us +in with the animal and the horror, and turning the key. Whatever it was +had now to be faced and dealt with.</p> + +<p>"No one has been actually injured so far?" he asked aloud, but in a +matter-of-fact tone that lent reality to grim possibilities.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, no!" cried the Canadian, throwing down his dishcloths +and coming forward into the circle of firelight. "Surely there can be no +question of this poor starved beast injuring anybody, can there?"</p> + +<p>His hair straggled untidily over his forehead, and there was a gleam in +his eyes that was not all reflection from the fire. His words made me +turn sharply. We all laughed a little short, forced laugh.</p> + +<p>"I trust not, indeed," Dr. Silence said quietly. "But what makes you +think the creature is starved?" He asked the question with his eyes +straight on the other's face. The prompt question explained to me why I +had started, and I waited with just a tremor of excitement for the +reply.</p> + +<p>Sangree hesitated a moment, as though the question took him by surprise. +But he met the doctor's gaze unflinchingly across the fire, and with +complete honesty.</p> + +<p>"Really," he faltered, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "I can +hardly tell you. The phrase seemed to come out of its own accord. I have +felt from the beginning that it was in pain and—starved, though why I +felt this never occurred to me till you asked."</p> + +<p>"You really know very little about it, then?" said the other, with a +sudden gentleness in his voice.</p> + +<p>"No more than that," Sangree replied, looking at him with a puzzled +expression that was unmistakably genuine. "In fact, nothing at all, +really," he added, by way of further explanation.</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," I heard the doctor murmur under his breath, but so +low that I only just caught the words, and Sangree missed them +altogether, as evidently he was meant to do.</p> + +<p>"And now," he cried, getting on his feet and shaking himself with a +characteristic gesture, as though to shake out the horror and the +mystery, "let us leave the problem till to-morrow and enjoy this wind +and sea and stars. I've been living lately in the atmosphere of many +people, and feel that I want to wash and be clean. I propose a swim and +then bed. Who'll second me?" And two minutes later we were all diving +from the boat into cool, deep water, that reflected a thousand moons as +the waves broke away from us in countless ripples.</p> + +<p>We slept in blankets under the open sky, Sangree and I taking the +outside places, and were up before sunrise to catch the dawn wind. +Helped by this early start we were half-way home by noon, and then the +wind shifted to a few points behind us so that we fairly ran. In and out +among a thousand islands, down narrow channels where we lost the wind, +out into open spaces where we had to take in a reef, racing along under +a hot and cloudless sky, we flew through the very heart of the +bewildering and lonely scenery.</p> + +<p>"A real wilderness," cried Dr. Silence from his seat in the bows where +he held the jib sheet. His hat was off, his hair tumbled in the wind, +and his lean brown face gave him the touch of an Oriental. Presently he +changed places with Sangree, and came down to talk with me by the +tiller.</p> + +<p>"A wonderful region, all this world of islands," he said, waving his +hand to the scenery rushing past us, "but doesn't it strike you there's +something lacking?"</p> + +<p>"It's—hard," I answered, after a moment's reflection. "It has a +superficial, glittering prettiness, without—" I hesitated to find the +word I wanted.</p> + +<p>John Silence nodded his head with approval.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," he said. "The picturesqueness of stage scenery that is not +real, not alive. It's like a landscape by a clever painter, yet without +true imagination. Soulless—that's the word you wanted."</p> + +<p>"Something like that," I answered, watching the gusts of wind on the +sails. "Not dead so much, as without soul. That's it."</p> + +<p>"Of course," he went on, in a voice calculated, it seemed to me, not to +reach our companion in the bows, "to live long in a place like +this—long and alone—might bring about a strange result in some men."</p> + +<p>I suddenly realised he was talking with a purpose and pricked up my +ears.</p> + +<p>"There's no life here. These islands are mere dead rocks pushed up from +below the sea—not living land; and there's nothing really alive on +them. Even the sea, this tideless, brackish sea, neither salt water nor +fresh, is dead. It's all a pretty image of life without the real heart +and soul of life. To a man with too strong desires who came here and +lived close to nature, strange things might happen."</p> + +<p>"Let her out a bit," I shouted to Sangree, who was coming aft. "The +wind's gusty and we've got hardly any ballast."</p> + +<p>He went back to the bows, and Dr. Silence continued—</p> + +<p>"Here, I mean, a long sojourn would lead to deterioration, to +degeneration. The place is utterly unsoftened by human influences, by +any humanising associations of history, good or bad. This landscape has +never awakened into life; it's still dreaming in its primitive sleep."</p> + +<p>"In time," I put in, "you mean a man living here might become brutal?"</p> + +<p>"The passions would run wild, selfishness become supreme, the instincts +coarsen and turn savage probably."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"In other places just as wild, parts of Italy for instance, where there +are other moderating influences, it could not happen. The character +might grow wild, savage too in a sense, but with a human wildness one +could understand and deal with. But here, in a hard place like this, it +might be otherwise." He spoke slowly, weighing his words carefully.</p> + +<p>I looked at him with many questions in my eyes, and a precautionary cry +to Sangree to stay in the fore part of the boat, out of earshot.</p> + +<p>"First of all there would come callousness to pain, and indifference to +the rights of others. Then the soul would turn savage, not from +passionate human causes, or with enthusiasm, but by deadening down into +a kind of cold, primitive, emotionless savagery—by turning, like the +landscape, soulless."</p> + +<p>"And a man with strong desires, you say, might change?"</p> + +<p>"Without being aware of it, yes; he might turn savage, his instincts and +desires turn animal. And if"—he lowered his voice and turned for a +moment towards the bows, and then continued in his most weighty +manner—"owing to delicate health or other predisposing causes, his +Double—you know what I mean, of course—his etheric Body of Desire, or +astral body, as some term it—that part in which the emotions, passions +and desires reside—if this, I say, were for some constitutional reason +loosely joined to his physical organism, there might well take place an +occasional projection—"</p> + +<p>Sangree came aft with a sudden rush, his face aflame, but whether with +wind or sun, or with what he had heard, I cannot say. In my surprise I +let the tiller slip and the cutter gave a great plunge as she came +sharply into the wind and flung us all together in a heap on the bottom. +Sangree said nothing, but while he scrambled up and made the jib sheet +fast my companion found a moment to add to his unfinished sentence the +words, too low for any ear but mine—</p> + +<p>"Entirely unknown to himself, however."</p> + +<p>We righted the boat and laughed, and then Sangree produced the map and +explained exactly where we were. Far away on the horizon, across an open +stretch of water, lay a blue cluster of islands with our crescent-shaped +home among them and the safe anchorage of the lagoon. An hour with this +wind would get us there comfortably, and while Dr. Silence and Sangree +fell into conversation, I sat and pondered over the strange suggestions +that had just been put into my mind concerning the "Double," and the +possible form it might assume when dissociated temporarily from the +physical body.</p> + +<p>The whole way home these two chatted, and John Silence was as gentle and +sympathetic as a woman. I did not hear much of their talk, for the wind +grew occasionally to the force of a hurricane and the sails and tiller +absorbed my attention; but I could see that Sangree was pleased and +happy, and was pouring out intimate revelations to his companion in the +way that most people did—when John Silence wished them to do so.</p> + +<p>But it was quite suddenly, while I sat all intent upon wind and sails, +that the true meaning of Sangree's remark about the animal flared up in +me with its full import. For his admission that he knew it was in pain +and starved was in reality nothing more or less than a revelation of his +deeper self. It was in the nature of a confession. He was speaking of +something that he knew positively, something that was beyond question or +argument, something that had to do directly with himself. "Poor starved +beast" he had called it in words that had "come out of their own +accord," and there had not been the slightest evidence of any desire to +conceal or explain away. He had spoken instinctively—from his heart, +and as though about his own self.</p> + +<p>And half an hour before sunset we raced through the narrow opening of +the lagoon and saw the smoke of the dinner-fire blowing here and there +among the trees, and the figures of Joan and the Bo'sun's Mate running +down to meet us at the landing-stage.</p> +<br> + +<p>V</p> + +<p>Everything changed from the moment John Silence set foot on that island; +it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, some +great arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravity +increased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves a +subtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure—this deserted bit +of sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands—somehow turned sombre. +An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, crept +unbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and took +the sparkle from the sunshine and the sea.</p> + +<p>I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted, +as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert. The figures +from the background of the stage moved forward a little into the +light—nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrival +intensified the whole affair.</p> + +<p>And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, it +is clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it from +the very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange divining +powers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon the +scene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongst +us, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no need +to ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such an +atmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for he +took no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of us +floundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true diviner +of souls.</p> + +<p>I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at the +time, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how he +would deal with it. And the conversations I can reproduce almost +verbatim, for, according to my invariable habit, I kept full notes of +all he said.</p> + +<p>To Mrs. Maloney, foolish and dazed; to Joan, alarmed, yet plucky; and to +the clergyman, moved by his daughter's distress below his usual shallow +emotions, he gave the best possible treatment in the best possible way, +yet all so easily and simply as to make it appear naturally spontaneous. +For he dominated the Bo'sun's Mate, taking the measure of her ignorance +with infinite patience; he keyed up Joan, stirring her courage and +interest to the highest point for her own safety; and the Reverend +Timothy he soothed and comforted, while obtaining his implicit +obedience, by taking him into his confidence, and leading him gradually +to a comprehension of the issue that was bound to follow.</p> + +<p>And Sangree—here his wisdom was most wisely calculated—he neglected +outwardly because inwardly he was the object of his unceasing and most +concentrated attention. Under the guise of apparent indifference his +mind kept the Canadian under constant observation.</p> + +<p>There was a restless feeling in the Camp that evening and none of us +lingered round the fire after supper as usual. Sangree and I busied +ourselves with patching up the torn tent for our guest and with finding +heavy stones to hold the ropes, for Dr. Silence insisted on having it +pitched on the highest point of the island ridge, just where it was most +rocky and there was no earth for pegs. The place, moreover, was midway +between the men's and women's tents, and, of course, commanded the most +comprehensive view of the Camp.</p> + +<p>"So that if your dog comes," he said simply, "I may be able to catch him +as he passes across."</p> + +<p>The wind had gone down with the sun and an unusual warmth lay over the +island that made sleep heavy, and in the morning we assembled at a late +breakfast, rubbing our eyes and yawning. The cool north wind had given +way to the warm southern air that sometimes came up with haze and +moisture across the Baltic, bringing with it the relaxing sensations +that produced enervation and listlessness.</p> + +<p>And this may have been the reason why at first I failed to notice that +anything unusual was about, and why I was less alert than normally; for +it was not till after breakfast that the silence of our little party +struck me and I discovered that Joan had not yet put in an appearance. +And then, in a flash, the last heaviness of sleep vanished and I saw +that Maloney was white and troubled and his wife could not hold a plate +without trembling.</p> + +<p>A desire to ask questions was stopped in me by a swift glance from Dr. +Silence, and I suddenly understood in some vague way that they were +waiting till Sangree should have gone. How this idea came to me I cannot +determine, but the soundness of the intuition was soon proved, for the +moment he moved off to his tent, Maloney looked up at me and began to +speak in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"You slept through it all," he half whispered.</p> + +<p>"Through what?" I asked, suddenly thrilled with the knowledge that +something dreadful had happened.</p> + +<p>"We didn't wake you for fear of getting the whole Camp up," he went on, +meaning, by the Camp, I supposed, Sangree. "It was just before dawn when +the screams woke me."</p> + +<p>"The dog again?" I asked, with a curious sinking of the heart.</p> + +<p>"Got right into the tent," he went on, speaking passionately but very +low, "and woke my wife by scrambling all over her. Then she realised +that Joan was struggling beside her. And, by God! the beast had torn her +arm; scratched all down the arm she was, and bleeding."</p> + +<p>"Joan injured?" I gasped.</p> + +<p>"Merely scratched—this time," put in John Silence, speaking for the +first time; "suffering more from shock and fright than actual wounds."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it a mercy the doctor was here?" said Mrs. Maloney, looking as if +she would never know calmness again. "I think we should both have been +killed."</p> + +<p>"It has been a most merciful escape," Maloney said, his pulpit voice +struggling with his emotion. "But, of course, we cannot risk another—we +must strike Camp and get away at once—"</p> + +<p>"Only poor Mr. Sangree must not know what has happened. He is so +attached to Joan and would be so terribly upset," added the Bo'sun's +Mate distractedly, looking all about in her terror.</p> + +<p>"It is perhaps advisable that Mr. Sangree should not know what has +occurred," Dr. Silence said with quiet authority, "but I think, for the +safety of all concerned, it will be better not to leave the island just +now." He spoke with great decision and Maloney looked up and followed +his words closely.</p> + +<p>"If you will agree to stay here a few days longer, I have no doubt we +can put an end to the attentions of your strange visitor, and +incidentally have the opportunity of observing a most singular and +interesting phenomenon—"</p> + +<p>"What!" gasped Mrs. Maloney, "a phenomenon?—you mean that you know what +it is?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite certain I know what it is," he replied very low, for we +heard the footsteps of Sangree approaching, "though I am not so certain +yet as to the best means of dealing with it. But in any case it is not +wise to leave precipitately—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Timothy, does he think it's a devil—?" cried the Bo'sun's Mate in +a voice that even the Canadian must have heard.</p> + +<p>"In my opinion," continued John Silence, looking across at me and the +clergyman, "it is a case of modern lycanthropy with other complications +that may—" He left the sentence unfinished, for Mrs. Maloney got up +with a jump and fled to her tent fearful she might hear a worse thing, +and at that moment Sangree turned the corner of the stockade and came +into view.</p> + +<p>"There are footmarks all round the mouth of my tent," he said with +excitement. "The animal has been here again in the night. Dr. Silence, +you really must come and see them for yourself. They're as plain on the +moss as tracks in snow."</p> + +<p>But later in the day, while Sangree went off in the canoe to fish the +pools near the larger islands, and Joan still lay, bandaged and resting, +in her tent, Dr. Silence called me and the tutor and proposed a walk to +the granite slabs at the far end. Mrs. Maloney sat on a stump near her +daughter, and busied herself energetically with alternate nursing and +painting.</p> + +<p>"We'll leave you in charge," the doctor said with a smile that was meant +to be encouraging, "and when you want us for lunch, or anything, the +megaphone will always bring us back in time."</p> + +<p>For, though the very air was charged with strange emotions, every one +talked quietly and naturally as with a definite desire to counteract +unnecessary excitement.</p> + +<p>"I'll keep watch," said the plucky Bo'sun's Mate, "and meanwhile I find +comfort in my work." She was busy with the sketch she had begun on the +day after our arrival. "For even a tree," she added proudly, pointing to +her little easel, "is a symbol of the divine, and the thought makes me +feel safer." We glanced for a moment at a daub which was more like the +symptom of a disease than a symbol of the divine—and then took the path +round the lagoon.</p> + +<p>At the far end we made a little fire and lay round it in the shadow of a +big boulder. Maloney stopped his humming suddenly and turned to his +companion.</p> + +<p>"And what do you make of it all?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," replied John Silence, making himself comfortable +against the rock, "it is of human origin, this animal; it is undoubted +lycanthropy."</p> + +<p>His words had the effect precisely of a bombshell. Maloney listened as +though he had been struck.</p> + +<p>"You puzzle me utterly," he said, sitting up closer and staring at him.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," replied the other, "but if you'll listen to me for a few +moments you may be less puzzled at the end—or more. It depends how much +you know. Let me go further and say that you have underestimated, or +miscalculated, the effect of this primitive wild life upon all of you."</p> + +<p>"In what way?" asked the clergyman, bristling a trifle.</p> + +<p>"It is strong medicine for any town-dweller, and for some of you it has +been too strong. One of you has gone wild." He uttered these last words +with great emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Gone savage," he added, looking from one to the other.</p> + +<p>Neither of us found anything to reply.</p> + +<p>"To say that the brute has awakened in a man is not a mere metaphor +always," he went on presently.</p> + +<p>"Of course not!"</p> + +<p>"But, in the sense I mean, may have a very literal and terrible +significance," pursued Dr. Silence. "Ancient instincts that no one +dreamed of, least of all their possessor, may leap forth—"</p> + +<p>"Atavism can hardly explain a roaming animal with teeth and claws and +sanguinary instincts," interrupted Maloney with impatience.</p> + +<p>"The term is of your own choice," continued the doctor equably, "not +mine, and it is a good example of a word that indicates a result while +it conceals the process; but the explanation of this beast that haunts +your island and attacks your daughter is of far deeper significance than +mere atavistic tendencies, or throwing back to animal origin, which I +suppose is the thought in your mind."</p> + +<p>"You spoke just now of lycanthropy," said Maloney, looking bewildered +and anxious to keep to plain facts evidently; "I think I have come +across the word, but really—really—it can have no actual significance +to-day, can it? These superstitions of mediaeval times can hardly—"</p> + +<p>He looked round at me with his jolly red face, and the expression of +astonishment and dismay on it would have made me shout with laughter at +any other time. Laughter, however, was never farther from my mind than +at this moment when I listened to Dr. Silence as he carefully suggested +to the clergyman the very explanation that had gradually been forcing +itself upon my own mind.</p> + +<p>"However mediaeval ideas may have exaggerated the idea is not of much +importance to us now," he said quietly, "when we are face to face with a +modern example of what, I take it, has always been a profound fact. For +the moment let us leave the name of any one in particular out of the +matter and consider certain possibilities."</p> + +<p>We all agreed with that at any rate. There was no need to speak of +Sangree, or of any one else, until we knew a little more.</p> + +<p>"The fundamental fact in this most curious case," he went on, "is that +the 'Double' of a man—"</p> + +<p>"You mean the astral body? I've heard of that, of course," broke in +Maloney with a snort of triumph.</p> + +<p>"No doubt," said the other, smiling, "no doubt you have;—that this +Double, or fluidic body of a man, as I was saying, has the power under +certain conditions of projecting itself and becoming visible to others. +Certain training will accomplish this, and certain drugs likewise; +illnesses, too, that ravage the body may produce temporarily the result +that death produces permanently, and let loose this counterpart of a +human being and render it visible to the sight of others.</p> + +<p>"Every one, of course, knows this more or less to-day; but it is not so +generally known, and probably believed by none who have not witnessed +it, that this fluidic body can, under certain conditions, assume other +forms than human, and that such other forms may be determined by the +dominating thought and wish of the owner. For this Double, or astral +body as you call it, is really the seat of the passions, emotions and +desires in the psychical economy. It is the Passion Body; and, in +projecting itself, it can often assume a form that gives expression to +the overmastering desire that moulds it; for it is composed of such +tenuous matter that it lends itself readily to the moulding by thought +and wish."</p> + +<p>"I follow you perfectly," said Maloney, looking as if he would much +rather be chopping firewood elsewhere and singing.</p> + +<p>"And there are some persons so constituted," the doctor went on with +increasing seriousness, "that the fluid body in them is but loosely +associated with the physical, persons of poor health as a rule, yet +often of strong desires and passions; and in these persons it is easy +for the Double to dissociate itself during deep sleep from their system, +and, driven forth by some consuming desire, to assume an animal form and +seek the fulfilment of that desire."</p> + +<p>There, in broad daylight, I saw Maloney deliberately creep closer to the +fire and heap the wood on. We gathered in to the heat, and to each +other, and listened to Dr. Silence's voice as it mingled with the swish +and whirr of the wind about us, and the falling of the little waves.</p> + +<p>"For instance, to take a concrete example," he resumed; "suppose some +young man, with the delicate constitution I have spoken of, forms an +overpowering attachment to a young woman, yet perceives that it is not +welcomed, and is man enough to repress its outward manifestations. In +such a case, supposing his Double be easily projected, the very +repression of his love in the daytime would add to the intense force of +his desire when released in deep sleep from the control of his will, +and his fluidic body might issue forth in monstrous or animal shape and +become actually visible to others. And, if his devotion were dog-like in +its fidelity, yet concealing the fires of a fierce passion beneath, it +might well assume the form of a creature that seemed to be half dog, +half wolf—"</p> + +<p>"A werewolf, you mean?" cried Maloney, pale to the lips as he listened.</p> + +<p>John Silence held up a restraining hand. "A werewolf," he said, "is a +true psychical fact of profound significance, however absurdly it may +have been exaggerated by the imaginations of a superstitious peasantry +in the days of unenlightenment, for a werewolf is nothing but the +savage, and possibly sanguinary, instincts of a passionate man scouring +the world in his fluidic body, his passion body, his body of desire. As +in the case at hand, he may not know it—"</p> + +<p>"It is not necessarily deliberate, then?" Maloney put in quickly, with +relief.</p> + +<p>"—It is hardly ever deliberate. It is the desires released in sleep +from the control of the will finding a vent. In all savage races it has +been recognised and dreaded, this phenomenon styled 'Wehr Wolf,' but +to-day it is rare. And it is becoming rarer still, for the world grows +tame and civilised, emotions have become refined, desires lukewarm, and +few men have savagery enough left in them to generate impulses of such +intense force, and certainly not to project them in animal form."</p> + +<p>"By Gad!" exclaimed the clergyman breathlessly, and with increasing +excitement, "then I feel I must tell you—what has been given to me in +confidence—that Sangree has in him an admixture of savage blood—of Red +Indian ancestry—"</p> + +<p>"Let us stick to our supposition of a man as described," the doctor +stopped him calmly, "and let us imagine that he has in him this +admixture of savage blood; and further, that he is wholly unaware of his +dreadful physical and psychical infirmity; and that he suddenly finds +himself leading the primitive life together with the object of his +desires; with the result that the strain of the untamed wild-man in his +blood—"</p> + +<p>"Red Indian, for instance," from Maloney.</p> + +<p>"Red Indian, perfectly," agreed the doctor; "the result, I say, that +this savage strain in him is awakened and leaps into passionate life. +What then?"</p> + +<p>He looked hard at Timothy Maloney, and the clergyman looked hard at him.</p> + +<p>"The wild life such as you lead here on this island, for instance, +might quickly awaken his savage instincts—his buried instincts—and +with profoundly disquieting results."</p> + +<p>"You mean his Subtle Body, as you call it, might issue forth +automatically in deep sleep and seek the object of its desire?" I said, +coming to Maloney's aid, who was finding it more and more difficult to +get words.</p> + +<p>"Precisely;—yet the desire of the man remaining utterly unmalefic—pure +and wholesome in every sense—"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" I heard the clergyman gasp.</p> + +<p>"The lover's desire for union run wild, run savage, tearing its way out +in primitive, untamed fashion, I mean," continued the doctor, striving +to make himself clear to a mind bounded by conventional thought and +knowledge; "for the desire to possess, remember, may easily become +importunate, and, embodied in this animal form of the Subtle Body which +acts as its vehicle, may go forth to tear in pieces all that obstructs, +to reach to the very heart of the loved object and seize it. <i>Au fond</i>, +it is nothing more than the aspiration for union, as I said—the +splendid and perfectly clean desire to absorb utterly into itself—"</p> + +<p>He paused a moment and looked into Maloney's eyes.</p> + +<p>"To bathe in the very heart's blood of the one desired," he added with +grave emphasis.</p> + +<p>The fire spurted and crackled and made me start, but Maloney found +relief in a genuine shudder, and I saw him turn his head and look about +him from the sea to the trees. The wind dropped just at that moment and +the doctor's words rang sharply through the stillness.</p> + +<p>"Then it might even kill?" stammered the clergyman presently in a hushed +voice, and with a little forced laugh by way of protest that sounded +quite ghastly.</p> + +<p>"In the last resort it might kill," repeated Dr. Silence. Then, after +another pause, during which he was clearly debating how much or how +little it was wise to give to his audience, he continued: "And if the +Double does not succeed in getting back to its physical body, that +physical body would wake an imbecile—an idiot—or perhaps never wake at +all."</p> + +<p>Maloney sat up and found his tongue.</p> + +<p>"You mean that if this fluid animal thing, or whatever it is, should be +prevented getting back, the man might never wake again?" he asked, with +shaking voice.</p> + +<p>"He might be dead," replied the other calmly. The tremor of a positive +sensation shivered in the air about us.</p> + +<p>"Then isn't that the best way to cure the fool—the brute—?" thundered +the clergyman, half rising to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Certainly it would be an easy and undiscoverable form of murder," was +the stern reply, spoken as calmly as though it were a remark about the +weather.</p> + +<p>Maloney collapsed visibly, and I gathered the wood over the fire and +coaxed up a blaze.</p> + +<p>"The greater part of the man's life—of his vital forces—goes out with +this Double," Dr. Silence resumed, after a moment's consideration, "and +a considerable portion of the actual material of his physical body. So +the physical body that remains behind is depleted, not only of force, +but of matter. You would see it small, shrunken, dropped together, just +like the body of a materialising medium at a seance. Moreover, any mark +or injury inflicted upon this Double will be found exactly reproduced by +the phenomenon of repercussion upon the shrunken physical body lying in +its trance—"</p> + +<p>"An injury inflicted upon the one you say would be reproduced also on +the other?" repeated Maloney, his excitement growing again.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly," replied the other quietly; "for there exists all the time +a continuous connection between the physical body and the Double—a +connection of matter, though of exceedingly attenuated, possibly of +etheric, matter. The wound <i>travels</i>, so to speak, from one to the +other, and if this connection were broken the result would be death."</p> + +<p>"Death," repeated Maloney to himself, "death!" He looked anxiously at +our faces, his thoughts evidently beginning to clear.</p> + +<p>"And this solidity?" he asked presently, after a general pause; "this +tearing of tents and flesh; this howling, and the marks of paws? You +mean that the Double—?"</p> + +<p>"Has sufficient material drawn from the depleted body to produce +physical results? Certainly!" the doctor took him up. "Although to +explain at this moment such problems as the passage of matter through +matter would be as difficult as to explain how the thought of a mother +can actually break the bones of the child unborn."</p> + +<p>Dr. Silence pointed out to sea, and Maloney, looking wildly about him, +turned with a violent start. I saw a canoe, with Sangree in the +stern-seat, slowly coming into view round the farther point. His hat was +off, and his tanned face for the first time appeared to me—to us all, I +think—as though it were the face of some one else. He looked like a +wild man. Then he stood up in the canoe to make a cast with the rod, and +he looked for all the world like an Indian. I recalled the expression of +his face as I had seen it once or twice, notably on that occasion of the +evening prayer, and an involuntary shudder ran down my spine.</p> + +<p>At that very instant he turned and saw us where we lay, and his face +broke into a smile, so that his teeth showed white in the sun. He +looked in his element, and exceedingly attractive. He called out +something about his fish, and soon after passed out of sight into the +lagoon.</p> + +<p>For a time none of us said a word.</p> + +<p>"And the cure?" ventured Maloney at length.</p> + +<p>"Is not to quench this savage force," replied Dr. Silence, "but to steer +it better, and to provide other outlets. This is the solution of all +these problems of accumulated force, for this force is the raw material +of usefulness, and should be increased and cherished, not by separating +it from the body by death, but by raising it to higher channels. The +best and quickest cure of all," he went on, speaking very gently and +with a hand upon the clergyman's arm, "is to lead it towards its object, +provided that object is not unalterably hostile—to let it find rest +where—"</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly, and the eyes of the two men met in a single glance +of comprehension.</p> + +<p>"Joan?" Maloney exclaimed, under his breath.</p> + +<p>"Joan!" replied John Silence.</p> + +<br><hr style="width: 45%;"><br> + +<p>We all went to bed early. The day had been unusually warm, and after +sunset a curious hush descended on the island. Nothing was audible but +that faint, ghostly singing which is inseparable from a pinewood even on +the stillest day—a low, searching sound, as though the wind had hair +and trailed it o'er the world.</p> + +<p>With the sudden cooling of the atmosphere a sea fog began to form. It +appeared in isolated patches over the water, and then these patches slid +together and a white wall advanced upon us. Not a breath of air stirred; +the firs stood like flat metal outlines; the sea became as oil. The +whole scene lay as though held motionless by some huge weight in the +air; and the flames from our fire—the largest we had ever made—rose +upwards, straight as a church steeple.</p> + +<p>As I followed the rest of our party tent-wards, having kicked the embers +of the fire into safety, the advance guard of the fog was creeping +slowly among the trees, like white arms feeling their way. Mingled with +the smoke was the odour of moss and soil and bark, and the peculiar +flavour of the Baltic, half salt, half brackish, like the smell of an +estuary at low water.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say why it seemed to me that this deep stillness +masked an intense activity; perhaps in every mood lies the suggestion of +its opposite, so that I became aware of the contrast of furious energy, +for it was like moving through the deep pause before a thunderstorm, and +I trod gently lest by breaking a twig or moving a stone I might set the +whole scene into some sort of tumultuous movement. Actually, no doubt, +it was nothing more than a result of overstrung nerves.</p> + +<p>There was no more question of undressing and going to bed than there was +of undressing and going to bathe. Some sense in me was alert and +expectant. I sat in my tent and waited. And at the end of half an hour +or so my waiting was justified, for the canvas suddenly shivered, and +some one tripped over the ropes that held it to the earth. John Silence +came in.</p> + +<p>The effect of his quiet entry was singular and prophetic: it was just as +though the energy lying behind all this stillness had pressed forward to +the edge of action. This, no doubt, was merely the quickening of my own +mind, and had no other justification; for the presence of John Silence +always suggested the near possibility of vigorous action, and as a +matter of fact, he came in with nothing more than a nod and a +significant gesture.</p> + +<p>He sat down on a corner of my ground-sheet, and I pushed the blanket +over so that he could cover his legs. He drew the flap of the tent after +him and settled down, but hardly had he done so when the canvas shook a +second time, and in blundered Maloney.</p> + +<p>"Sitting in the dark?" he said self-consciously, pushing his head +inside, and hanging up his lantern on the ridge-pole nail. "I just +looked in for a smoke. I suppose—"</p> + +<p>He glanced round, caught the eye of Dr. Silence, and stopped. He put his +pipe back into his pocket and began to hum softly—that underbreath +humming of a nondescript melody I knew so well and had come to hate.</p> + +<p>Dr. Silence leaned forward, opened the lantern and blew the light out. +"Speak low," he said, "and don't strike matches. Listen for sounds and +movements about the Camp, and be ready to follow me at a moment's +notice." There was light enough to distinguish our faces easily, and I +saw Maloney glance again hurriedly at both of us.</p> + +<p>"Is the Camp asleep?" the doctor asked presently, whispering.</p> + +<p>"Sangree is," replied the clergyman, in a voice equally low. "I can't +answer for the women; I think they're sitting up."</p> + +<p>"That's for the best." And then he added: "I wish the fog would thin a +bit and let the moon through; later—we may want it."</p> + +<p>"It is lifting now, I think," Maloney whispered back. "It's over the +tops of the trees already."</p> + +<p>I cannot say what it was in this commonplace exchange of remarks that +thrilled. Probably Maloney's swift acquiescence in the doctor's mood had +something to do with it; for his quick obedience certainly impressed me +a good deal. But, even without that slight evidence, it was clear that +each recognised the gravity of the occasion, and understood that sleep +was impossible and sentry duty was the order of the night.</p> + +<p>"Report to me," repeated John Silence once again, "the least sound, and +do nothing precipitately."</p> + +<p>He shifted across to the mouth of the tent and raised the flap, +fastening it against the pole so that he could see out. Maloney stopped +humming and began to force the breath through his teeth with a kind of +faint hissing, treating us to a medley of church hymns and popular songs +of the day.</p> + +<p>Then the tent trembled as though some one had touched it.</p> + +<p>"That's the wind rising," whispered the clergyman, and pulled the flap +open as far as it would go. A waft of cold damp air entered and made us +shiver, and with it came a sound of the sea as the first wave washed its +way softly along the shores.</p> + +<p>"It's got round to the north," he added, and following his voice came a +long-drawn whisper that rose from the whole island as the trees sent +forth a sighing response. "The fog'll move a bit now. I can make out a +lane across the sea already."</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said Dr. Silence, for Maloney's voice had risen above a whisper, +and we settled down again to another long period of watching and +waiting, broken only by the occasional rubbing of shoulders against the +canvas as we shifted our positions, and the increasing noise of waves on +the outer coast-line of the island. And over all whirred the murmur of +wind sweeping the tops of the trees like a great harp, and the faint +tapping on the tent as drops fell from the branches with a sharp pinging +sound.</p> + +<p>We had sat for something over an hour in this way, and Maloney and I +were finding it increasingly hard to keep awake, when suddenly Dr. +Silence rose to his feet and peered out. The next minute he was gone.</p> + +<p>Relieved of the dominating presence, the clergyman thrust his face close +into mine. "I don't much care for this waiting game," he whispered, "but +Silence wouldn't hear of my sitting up with the others; he said it would +prevent anything happening if I did."</p> + +<p>"He knows," I answered shortly.</p> + +<p>"No doubt in the world about that," he whispered back; "it's this +'Double' business, as he calls it, or else it's obsession as the Bible +describes it. But it's bad, whichever it is, and I've got my Winchester +outside ready cocked, and I brought this too." He shoved a pocket Bible +under my nose. At one time in his life it had been his inseparable +companion.</p> + +<p>"One's useless and the other's dangerous," I replied under my breath, +conscious of a keen desire to laugh, and leaving him to choose. "Safety +lies in following our leader—"</p> + +<p>"I'm not thinking of myself," he interrupted sharply; "only, if anything +happens to Joan to-night I'm going to shoot first—and pray afterwards!"</p> + +<p>Maloney put the book back into his hip-pocket, and peered out of the +doorway. "What is he up to now, in the devil's name, I wonder!" he +added; "going round Sangree's tent and making gestures. How weird he +looks disappearing in and out of the fog."</p> + +<p>"Just trust him and wait," I said quickly, for the doctor was already on +his way back. "Remember, he has the knowledge, and knows what he's +about. I've been with him through worse cases than this."</p> + +<p>Maloney moved back as Dr. Silence darkened the doorway and stooped to +enter.</p> + +<p>"His sleep is very deep," he whispered, seating himself by the door +again. "He's in a cataleptic condition, and the Double may be released +any minute now. But I've taken steps to imprison it in the tent, and it +can't get out till I permit it. Be on the watch for signs of movement." +Then he looked hard at Maloney. "But no violence, or shooting, remember, +Mr. Maloney, unless you want a murder on your hands. Anything done to +the Double acts by repercussion upon the physical body. You had better +take out the cartridges at once."</p> + +<p>His voice was stern. The clergyman went out, and I heard him emptying +the magazine of his rifle. When he returned he sat nearer the door than +before, and from that moment until we left the tent he never once took +his eyes from the figure of Dr. Silence, silhouetted there against sky +and canvas.</p> + +<p>And, meanwhile, the wind came steadily over the sea and opened the mist +into lanes and clearings, driving it about like a living thing.</p> + +<p>It must have been well after midnight when a low booming sound drew my +attention; but at first the sense of hearing was so strained that it was +impossible exactly to locate it, and I imagined it was the thunder of +big guns far out at sea carried to us by the rising wind. Then Maloney, +catching hold of my arm and leaning forward, somehow brought the true +relation, and I realised the next second that it was only a few feet +away.</p> + +<p>"Sangree's tent," he exclaimed in a loud and startled whisper.</p> + +<p>I craned my head round the corner, but at first the effect of the fog +was so confusing that every patch of white driving about before the wind +looked like a moving tent and it was some seconds before I discovered +the one patch that held steady. Then I saw that it was shaking all over, +and the sides, flapping as much as the tightness of the ropes allowed, +were the cause of the booming sound we had heard. Something alive was +tearing frantically about inside, banging against the stretched canvas +in a way that made me think of a great moth dashing against the walls +and ceiling of a room. The tent bulged and rocked.</p> + +<p>"It's trying to get out, by Jupiter!" muttered the clergyman, rising to +his feet and turning to the side where the unloaded rifle lay. I sprang +up too, hardly knowing what purpose was in my mind, but anxious to be +prepared for anything. John Silence, however, was before us both, and +his figure slipped past and blocked the doorway of the tent. And there +was some quality in his voice next minute when he began to speak that +brought our minds instantly to a state of calm obedience.</p> + +<p>"First—the women's tent," he said low, looking sharply at Maloney, "and +if I need your help, I'll call."</p> + +<p>The clergyman needed no second bidding. He dived past me and was out in +a moment. He was labouring evidently under intense excitement. I watched +him picking his way silently over the slippery ground, giving the moving +tent a wide berth, and presently disappearing among the floating shapes +of fog.</p> + +<p>Dr. Silence turned to me. "You heard those footsteps about half an hour +ago?" he asked significantly.</p> + +<p>"I heard nothing."</p> + +<p>"They were extraordinarily soft—almost the soundless tread of a wild +creature. But now, follow me closely," he added, "for we must waste no +time if I am to save this poor man from his affliction and lead his +werewolf Double to its rest. And, unless I am much mistaken"—he +peered at me through the darkness, whispering with the utmost +distinctness—"Joan and Sangree are absolutely made for one another. And +I think she knows it too—just as well as he does."</p> + +<p>My head swam a little as I listened, but at the same time something +cleared in my brain and I saw that he was right. Yet it was all so weird +and incredible, so remote from the commonplace facts of life as +commonplace people know them; and more than once it flashed upon me that +the whole scene—people, words, tents, and all the rest of it—were +delusions created by the intense excitement of my own mind somehow, and +that suddenly the sea-fog would clear off and the world become normal +again.</p> + +<p>The cold air from the sea stung our cheeks sharply as we left the close +atmosphere of the little crowded tent. The sighing of the trees, the +waves breaking below on the rocks, and the lines and patches of mist +driving about us seemed to create the momentary illusion that the whole +island had broken loose and was floating out to sea like a mighty raft.</p> + +<p>The doctor moved just ahead of me, quickly and silently; he was making +straight for the Canadian's tent where the sides still boomed and shook +as the creature of sinister life raced and tore about impatiently +within. A little distance from the door he paused and held up a hand to +stop me. We were, perhaps, a dozen feet away.</p> + +<p>"Before I release it, you shall see for yourself," he said, "that the +reality of the werewolf is beyond all question. The matter of which it +is composed is, of course, exceedingly attenuated, but you are partially +clairvoyant—and even if it is not dense enough for normal sight you +will see something."</p> + +<p>He added a little more I could not catch. The fact was that the +curiously strong vibrating atmosphere surrounding his person somewhat +confused my senses. It was the result, of course, of his intense +concentration of mind and forces, and pervaded the entire Camp and all +the persons in it. And as I watched the canvas shake and heard it boom +and flap I heartily welcomed it. For it was also protective.</p> + +<p>At the back of Sangree's tent stood a thin group of pine trees, but in +front and at the sides the ground was comparatively clear. The flap was +wide open and any ordinary animal would have been out and away without +the least trouble. Dr. Silence led me up to within a few feet, evidently +careful not to advance beyond a certain limit, and then stooped down and +signalled to me to do the same. And looking over his shoulder I saw the +interior lit faintly by the spectral light reflected from the fog, and +the dim blot upon the balsam boughs and blankets signifying Sangree; +while over him, and round him, and up and down him, flew the dark mass +of "something" on four legs, with pointed muzzle and sharp ears plainly +visible against the tent sides, and the occasional gleam of fiery eyes +and white fangs.</p> + +<p>I held my breath and kept utterly still, inwardly and outwardly, for +fear, I suppose, that the creature would become conscious of my +presence; but the distress I felt went far deeper than the mere sense of +personal safety, or the fact of watching something so incredibly active +and real. I became keenly aware of the dreadful psychic calamity it +involved. The realisation that Sangree lay confined in that narrow space +with this species of monstrous projection of himself—that he was +wrapped there in the cataleptic sleep, all unconscious that this thing +was masquerading with his own life and energies—added a distressing +touch of horror to the scene. In all the cases of John Silence—and they +were many and often terrible—no other psychic affliction has ever, +before or since, impressed me so convincingly with the pathetic +impermanence of the human personality, with its fluid nature, and with +the alarming possibilities of its transformations.</p> + +<p>"Come," he whispered, after we had watched for some minutes the frantic +efforts to escape from the circle of thought and will that held it +prisoner, "come a little farther away while I release it."</p> + +<p>We moved back a dozen yards or so. It was like a scene in some +impossible play, or in some ghastly and oppressive nightmare from which +I should presently awake to find the blankets all heaped up upon my +chest.</p> + +<p>By some method undoubtedly mental, but which, in my confusion and +excitement, I failed to understand, the doctor accomplished his purpose, +and the next minute I heard him say sharply under his breath, "It's out! +Now watch!"</p> + +<p>At this very moment a sudden gust from the sea blew aside the mist, so +that a lane opened to the sky, and the moon, ghastly and unnatural as +the effect of stage limelight, dropped down in a momentary gleam upon +the door of Sangree's tent, and I perceived that something had moved +forward from the interior darkness and stood clearly defined upon the +threshold. And, at the same moment, the tent ceased its shuddering and +held still.</p> + +<p>There, in the doorway, stood an animal, with neck and muzzle thrust +forward, its head poking into the night, its whole body poised in that +attitude of intense rigidity that precedes the spring into freedom, the +running leap of attack. It seemed to be about the size of a calf, leaner +than a mastiff, yet more squat than a wolf, and I can swear that I saw +the fur ridged sharply upon its back. Then its upper lip slowly lifted, +and I saw the whiteness of its teeth.</p> + +<p>Surely no human being ever stared as hard as I did in those next few +minutes. Yet, the harder I stared the clearer appeared the amazing and +monstrous apparition. For, after all, it was Sangree—and yet it was not +Sangree. It was the head and face of an animal, and yet it was the face +of Sangree: the face of a wild dog, a wolf, and yet his face. The eyes +were sharper, narrower, more fiery, yet they were his eyes—his eyes run +wild; the teeth were longer, whiter, more pointed—yet they were his +teeth, his teeth grown cruel; the expression was flaming, terrible, +exultant—yet it was his expression carried to the border of +savagery—his expression as I had already surprised it more than once, +only dominant now, fully released from human constraint, with the mad +yearning of a hungry and importunate soul. It was the soul of Sangree, +the long suppressed, deeply loving Sangree, expressed in its single and +intense desire—pure utterly and utterly wonderful.</p> + +<p>Yet, at the same time, came the feeling that it was all an illusion. I +suddenly remembered the extraordinary changes the human face can undergo +in circular insanity, when it changes from melancholia to elation; and I +recalled the effect of hascheesh, which shows the human countenance in +the form of the bird or animal to which in character it most +approximates; and for a moment I attributed this mingling of Sangree's +face with a wolf to some kind of similar delusion of the senses. I was +mad, deluded, dreaming! The excitement of the day, and this dim light of +stars and bewildering mist combined to trick me. I had been amazingly +imposed upon by some false wizardry of the senses. It was all absurd and +fantastic; it would pass.</p> + +<p>And then, sounding across this sea of mental confusion like a bell +through a fog, came the voice of John Silence bringing me back to a +consciousness of the reality of it all—</p> + +<p>"Sangree—in his Double!"</p> + +<p>And when I looked again more calmly, I plainly saw that it was indeed +the face of the Canadian, but his face turned animal, yet mingled with +the brute expression a curiously pathetic look like the soul seen +sometimes in the yearning eyes of a dog,—the face of an animal shot +with vivid streaks of the human.</p> + +<p>The doctor called to him softly under his breath—</p> + +<p>"Sangree! Sangree, you poor afflicted creature! Do you know me? Can you +understand what it is you're doing in your 'Body of Desire'?"</p> + +<p>For the first time since its appearance the creature moved. Its ears +twitched and it shifted the weight of its body on to the hind legs. +Then, lifting its head and muzzle to the sky, it opened its long jaws +and gave vent to a dismal and prolonged howling.</p> + +<p>But, when I heard that howling rise to heaven, the breath caught and +strangled in my throat and it seemed that my heart missed a beat; for, +though the sound was entirely animal, it was at the same time entirely +human. But, more than that, it was the cry I had so often heard in the +Western States of America where the Indians still fight and hunt and +struggle—it was the cry of the Redskin!</p> + +<p>"The Indian blood!" whispered John Silence, when I caught his arm for +support; "the ancestral cry."</p> + +<p>And that poignant, beseeching cry, that broken human voice, mingling +with the savage howl of the brute beast, pierced straight to my very +heart and touched there something that no music, no voice, passionate or +tender, of man, woman or child has ever stirred before or since for one +second into life. It echoed away among the fog and the trees and lost +itself somewhere out over the hidden sea. And some part of +myself—something that was far more than the mere act of intense +listening—went out with it, and for several minutes I lost +consciousness of my surroundings and felt utterly absorbed in the pain +of another stricken fellow-creature.</p> + +<p>Again the voice of John Silence recalled me to myself.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" he said aloud. "Hark!"</p> + +<p>His tone galvanised me afresh. We stood listening side by side.</p> + +<p>Far across the island, faintly sounding through the trees and brushwood, +came a similar, answering cry. Shrill, yet wonderfully musical, shaking +the heart with a singular wild sweetness that defies description, we +heard it rise and fall upon the night air.</p> + +<p>"It's across the lagoon," Dr. Silence cried, but this time in full tones +that paid no tribute to caution. "It's Joan! She's answering him!"</p> + +<p>Again the wonderful cry rose and fell, and that same instant the animal +lowered its head, and, muzzle to earth, set off on a swift easy canter +that took it off into the mist and out of our sight like a thing of wind +and vision.</p> + +<p>The doctor made a quick dash to the door of Sangree's tent, and, +following close at his heels, I peered in and caught a momentary glimpse +of the small, shrunken body lying upon the branches but half covered by +the blankets—the cage from which most of the life, and not a little of +the actual corporeal substance, had escaped into that other form of life +and energy, the body of passion and desire.</p> + +<p>By another of those swift, incalculable processes which at this stage of +my apprenticeship I failed often to grasp, Dr. Silence reclosed the +circle about the tent and body.</p> + +<p>"Now it cannot return till I permit it," he said, and the next second +was off at full speed into the woods, with myself close behind him. I +had already had some experience of my companion's ability to run swiftly +through a dense wood, and I now had the further proof of his power +almost to see in the dark. For, once we left the open space about the +tents, the trees seemed to absorb all the remaining vestiges of light, +and I understood that special sensibility that is said to develop in the +blind—the sense of obstacles.</p> + +<p>And twice as we ran we heard the sound of that dismal howling drawing +nearer and nearer to the answering faint cry from the point of the +island whither we were going.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, the trees fell away, and we emerged, hot and breathless, +upon the rocky point where the granite slabs ran bare into the sea. It +was like passing into the clearness of open day. And there, sharply +defined against sea and sky, stood the figure of a human being. It was +Joan.</p> + +<p>I at once saw that there was something about her appearance that was +singular and unusual, but it was only when we had moved quite close that +I recognised what caused it. For while the lips wore a smile that lit +the whole face with a happiness I had never seen there before, the eyes +themselves were fixed in a steady, sightless stare as though they were +lifeless and made of glass.</p> + +<p>I made an impulsive forward movement, but Dr. Silence instantly dragged +me back.</p> + +<p>"No," he cried, "don't wake her!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" I replied aloud, struggling in his grasp.</p> + +<p>"She's asleep. It's somnambulistic. The shock might injure her +permanently."</p> + +<p>I turned and peered closely into his face. He was absolutely calm. I +began to understand a little more, catching, I suppose, something of his +strong thinking.</p> + +<p>"Walking in her sleep, you mean?"</p> + +<p>He nodded. "She's on her way to meet him. From the very beginning he +must have drawn her—irresistibly."</p> + +<p>"But the torn tent and the wounded flesh?"</p> + +<p>"When she did not sleep deep enough to enter the somnambulistic trance +he missed her—he went instinctively and in all innocence to seek her +out—with the result, of course, that she woke and was terrified—"</p> + +<p>"Then in their heart of hearts they love?" I asked finally.</p> + +<p>John Silence smiled his inscrutable smile. "Profoundly," he answered, +"and as simply as only primitive souls can love. If only they both come +to realise it in their normal waking states his Double will cease these +nocturnal excursions. He will be cured, and at rest."</p> + +<p>The words had hardly left his lips when there was a sound of rustling +branches on our left, and the very next instant the dense brushwood +parted where it was darkest and out rushed the swift form of an animal +at full gallop. The noise of feet was scarcely audible, but in that +utter stillness I heard the heavy panting breath and caught the swish of +the low bushes against its sides. It went straight towards Joan—and as +it went the girl lifted her head and turned to meet it. And the same +instant a canoe that had been creeping silently and unobserved round the +inner shore of the lagoon, emerged from the shadows and defined itself +upon the water with a figure at the middle thwart. It was Maloney.</p> + +<p>It was only afterwards I realised that we were invisible to him where we +stood against the dark background of trees; the figures of Joan and the +animal he saw plainly, but not Dr. Silence and myself standing just +beyond them. He stood up in the canoe and pointed with his right arm. I +saw something gleam in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Stand aside, Joan girl, or you'll get hit," he shouted, his voice +ringing horribly through the deep stillness, and the same instant a +pistol-shot cracked out with a burst of flame and smoke, and the figure +of the animal, with one tremendous leap into the air, fell back in the +shadows and disappeared like a shape of night and fog. Instantly, then, +Joan opened her eyes, looked in a dazed fashion about her, and pressing +both hands against her heart, fell with a sharp cry into my arms that +were just in time to catch her.</p> + +<p>And an answering cry sounded across the lagoon—thin, wailing, piteous. +It came from Sangree's tent.</p> + +<p>"Fool!" cried Dr. Silence, "you've wounded him!" and before we could +move or realise quite what it meant, he was in the canoe and half-way +across the lagoon.</p> + +<p>Some kind of similar abuse came in a torrent from my lips, too—though I +cannot remember the actual words—as I cursed the man for his +disobedience and tried to make the girl comfortable on the ground. But +the clergyman was more practical. He was spreading his coat over her and +dashing water on her face.</p> + +<p>"It's not Joan I've killed at any rate," I heard him mutter as she +turned and opened her eyes and smiled faintly up in his face. "I swear +the bullet went straight."</p> + +<p>Joan stared at him; she was still dazed and bewildered, and still +imagined herself with the companion of her trance. The strange lucidity +of the somnambulist still hung over her brain and mind, though outwardly +she appeared troubled and confused.</p> + +<p>"Where has he gone to? He disappeared so suddenly, crying that he was +hurt," she asked, looking at her father as though she did not recognise +him. "And if they've done anything to him—they have done it to me +too—for he is more to me than—"</p> + +<p>Her words grew vaguer and vaguer as she returned slowly to her normal +waking state, and now she stopped altogether, as though suddenly aware +that she had been surprised into telling secrets. But all the way back, +as we carried her carefully through the trees, the girl smiled and +murmured Sangree's name and asked if he was injured, until it finally +became clear to me that the wild soul of the one had called to the wild +soul of the other and in the secret depths of their beings the call had +been heard and understood. John Silence was right. In the abyss of her +heart, too deep at first for recognition, the girl loved him, and had +loved him from the very beginning. Once her normal waking consciousness +recognised the fact they would leap together like twin flames, and his +affliction would be at an end; his intense desire would be satisfied; he +would be cured.</p> + +<p>And in Sangree's tent Dr. Silence and I sat up for the remainder of the +night—this wonderful and haunted night that had shown us such strange +glimpses of a new heaven and a new hell—for the Canadian tossed upon +his balsam boughs with high fever in his blood, and upon each cheek a +dark and curious contusion showed, throbbing with severe pain although +the skin was not broken and there was no outward and visible sign of +blood.</p> + +<p>"Maloney shot straight, you see," whispered Dr. Silence to me after the +clergyman had gone to his tent, and had put Joan to sleep beside her +mother, who, by the way, had never once awakened. "The bullet must have +passed clean through the face, for both cheeks are stained. He'll wear +these marks all his life—smaller, but always there. They're the most +curious scars in the world, these scars transferred by repercussion from +an injured Double. They'll remain visible until just before his death, +and then with the withdrawal of the subtle body they will disappear +finally."</p> + +<p>His words mingled in my dazed mind with the sighs of the troubled +sleeper and the crying of the wind about the tent. Nothing seemed to +paralyse my powers of realisation so much as these twin stains of +mysterious significance upon the face before me.</p> + +<p>It was odd, too, how speedily and easily the Camp resigned itself again +to sleep and quietness, as though a stage curtain had suddenly dropped +down upon the action and concealed it; and nothing contributed so +vividly to the feeling that I had been a spectator of some kind of +visionary drama as the dramatic nature of the change in the girl's +attitude.</p> + +<p>Yet, as a matter of fact, the change had not been so sudden and +revolutionary as appeared. Underneath, in those remoter regions of +consciousness where the emotions, unknown to their owners, do secretly +mature, and owe thence their abrupt revelation to some abrupt +psychological climax, there can be no doubt that Joan's love for the +Canadian had been growing steadily and irresistibly all the time. It had +now rushed to the surface so that she recognised it; that was all.</p> + +<p>And it has always seemed to me that the presence of John Silence, so +potent, so quietly efficacious, produced an effect, if one may say so, +of a psychic forcing-house, and hastened incalculably the bringing +together of these two "wild" lovers. In that sudden awakening had +occurred the very psychological climax required to reveal the passionate +emotion accumulated below. The deeper knowledge had leaped across and +transferred itself to her ordinary consciousness, and in that shock the +collision of the personalities had shaken them to the depths and shown +her the truth beyond all possibility of doubt.</p> + +<p>"He's sleeping quietly now," the doctor said, interrupting my +reflections. "If you will watch alone for a bit I'll go to Maloney's +tent and help him to arrange his thoughts." He smiled in anticipation of +that "arrangement." "He'll never quite understand how a wound on the +Double can transfer itself to the physical body, but at least I can +persuade him that the less he talks and 'explains' to-morrow, the sooner +the forces will run their natural course now to peace and quietness."</p> + +<p>He went away softly, and with the removal of his presence Sangree, +sleeping heavily, turned over and groaned with the pain of his broken +head.</p> + +<p>And it was in the still hour just before the dawn, when all the islands +were hushed, the wind and sea still dreaming, and the stars visible +through clearing mists, that a figure crept silently over the ridge and +reached the door of the tent where I dozed beside the sufferer, before I +was aware of its presence. The flap was cautiously lifted a few inches +and in looked—Joan.</p> + +<p>That same instant Sangree woke and sat up on his bed of branches. He +recognised her before I could say a word, and uttered a low cry. It was +pain and joy mingled, and this time all human. And the girl too was no +longer walking in her sleep, but fully aware of what she was doing. I +was only just able to prevent him springing from his blankets.</p> + +<p>"Joan, Joan!" he cried, and in a flash she answered him, "I'm here—I'm +with you always now," and had pushed past me into the tent and flung +herself upon his breast.</p> + +<p>"I knew you would come to me in the end," I heard him whisper.</p> + +<p>"It was all too big for me to understand at first," she murmured, "and +for a long time I was frightened—"</p> + +<p>"But not now!" he cried louder; "you don't feel afraid now of—of +anything that's in me—"</p> + +<p>"I fear nothing," she cried, "nothing, nothing!"</p> + +<p>I led her outside again. She looked steadily into my face with eyes +shining and her whole being transformed. In some intuitive way, +surviving probably from the somnambulism, she knew or guessed as much as +I knew.</p> + +<p>"You must talk to-morrow with John Silence," I said gently, leading her +towards her own tent. "He understands everything."</p> + +<p>I left her at the door, and as I went back softly to take up my place of +sentry again with the Canadian, I saw the first streaks of dawn lighting +up the far rim of the sea behind the distant islands.</p> + +<p>And, as though to emphasise the eternal closeness of comedy to tragedy, +two small details rose out of the scene and impressed me so vividly that +I remember them to this very day. For in the tent where I had just left +Joan, all aquiver with her new happiness, there rose plainly to my ears +the grotesque sounds of the Bo'sun's Mate heavily snoring, oblivious of +all things in heaven or hell; and from Maloney's tent, so still was the +night, where I looked across and saw the lantern's glow, there came to +me, through the trees, the monotonous rising and falling of a human +voice that was beyond question the sound of a man praying to his God.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> +<a name="CASE_VI:_A_VICTIM_OF_HIGHER_SPACE"></a><h2>CASE III: A VICTIM OF HIGHER SPACE</h2> +<br> + +<p>"There's a hextraordinary gentleman to see you, sir," said the new man.</p> + +<p>"Why 'extraordinary'?" asked Dr. Silence, drawing the tips of his thin +fingers through his brown beard. His eyes twinkled pleasantly. "Why +'extraordinary,' Barker?" he repeated encouragingly, noticing the +perplexed expression in the man's eyes.</p> + +<p>"He's so—so thin, sir. I could hardly see 'im at all—at first. He was +inside the house before I could ask the name," he added, remembering +strict orders.</p> + +<p>"And who brought him here?"</p> + +<p>"He come alone, sir, in a closed cab. He pushed by me before I could say +a word—making no noise not what I could hear. He seemed to move so soft +like—"</p> + +<p>The man stopped short with obvious embarrassment, as though he had +already said enough to jeopardise his new situation, but trying hard to +show that he remembered the instructions and warnings he had received +with regard to the admission of strangers not properly accredited.</p> + +<p>"And where is the gentleman now?" asked Dr. Silence, turning away to +conceal his amusement.</p> + +<p>"I really couldn't exactly say, sir. I left him standing in the 'all—"</p> + +<p>The doctor looked up sharply. "But why in the hall, Barker? Why not in +the waiting-room?" He fixed his piercing though kindly eyes on the man's +face. "Did he frighten you?" he asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"I think he did, sir, if I may say so. I seemed to lose sight of him, as +it were—" The man stammered, evidently convinced by now that he had +earned his dismissal. "He come in so funny, just like a cold wind," he +added boldly, setting his heels at attention and looking his master full +in the face.</p> + +<p>The doctor made an internal note of the man's halting description; he +was pleased that the slight signs of psychic intuition which had induced +him to engage Barker had not entirely failed at the first trial. Dr. +Silence sought for this qualification in all his assistants, from +secretary to serving man, and if it surrounded him with a somewhat +singular crew, the drawbacks were more than compensated for on the whole +by their occasional flashes of insight.</p> + +<p>"So the gentleman made you feel queer, did he?"</p> + +<p>"That was it, I think, sir," repeated the man stolidly.</p> + +<p>"And he brings no kind of introduction to me—no letter or anything?" +asked the doctor, with feigned surprise, as though he knew what was +coming.</p> + +<p>The man fumbled, both in mind and pockets, and finally produced an +envelope.</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon, sir," he said, greatly flustered; "the gentleman handed +me this for you."</p> + +<p>It was a note from a discerning friend, who had never yet sent him a +case that was not vitally interesting from one point or another.</p> + +<p>"Please see the bearer of this note," the brief message ran, "though I +doubt if even you can do much to help him."</p> + +<p>John Silence paused a moment, so as to gather from the mind of the +writer all that lay behind the brief words of the letter. Then he looked +up at his servant with a graver expression than he had yet worn.</p> + +<p>"Go back and find this gentleman," he said, "and show him into the green +study. Do not reply to his question, or speak more than actually +necessary; but think kind, helpful, sympathetic thoughts as strongly as +you can, Barker. You remember what I told you about the importance of +<i>thinking</i>, when I engaged you. Put curiosity out of your mind, and +think gently, sympathetically, affectionately, if you can."</p> + +<p>He smiled, and Barker, who had recovered his composure in the doctor's +presence, bowed silently and went out.</p> + +<p>There were two different reception-rooms in Dr. Silence's house. One +(intended for persons who imagined they needed spiritual assistance when +really they were only candidates for the asylum) had padded walls, and +was well supplied with various concealed contrivances by means of which +sudden violence could be instantly met and overcome. It was, however, +rarely used. The other, intended for the reception of genuine cases of +spiritual distress and out-of-the-way afflictions of a psychic nature, +was entirely draped and furnished in a soothing deep green, calculated +to induce calmness and repose of mind. And this room was the one in +which Dr. Silence interviewed the majority of his "queer" cases, and the +one into which he had directed Barker to show his present caller.</p> + +<p>To begin with, the arm-chair in which the patient was always directed to +sit, was nailed to the floor, since its immovability tended to impart +this same excellent characteristic to the occupant. Patients invariably +grew excited when talking about themselves, and their excitement tended +to confuse their thoughts and to exaggerate their language. The +inflexibility of the chair helped to counteract this. After repeated +endeavours to drag it forward, or push it back, they ended by resigning +themselves to sitting quietly. And with the futility of fidgeting there +followed a calmer state of mind.</p> + +<p>Upon the floor, and at intervals in the wall immediately behind, were +certain tiny green buttons, practically unnoticeable, which on being +pressed permitted a soothing and persuasive narcotic to rise invisibly +about the occupant of the chair. The effect upon the excitable patient +was rapid, admirable, and harmless. The green study was further provided +with a secret spy-hole; for John Silence liked when possible to observe +his patient's face before it had assumed that mask the features of the +human countenance invariably wear in the presence of another person. A +man sitting alone wears a psychic expression; and this expression is the +man himself. It disappears the moment another person joins him. And Dr. +Silence often learned more from a few moments' secret observation of a +face than from hours of conversation with its owner afterwards.</p> + +<p>A very light, almost a dancing, step followed Barker's heavy tread +towards the green room, and a moment afterwards the man came in and +announced that the gentleman was waiting. He was still pale and his +manner nervous.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Barker" the doctor said kindly; "if you were not psychic +the man would have had no effect upon you at all. You only need training +and development. And when you have learned to interpret these feelings +and sensations better, you will feel no fear, but only a great +sympathy."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; thank you, sir!" And Barker bowed and made his escape, while +Dr. Silence, an amused smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, +made his way noiselessly down the passage and put his eye to the +spy-hole in the door of the green study.</p> + +<p>This spy-hole was so placed that it commanded a view of almost the +entire room, and, looking through it, the doctor saw a hat, gloves, and +umbrella lying on a chair by the table, but searched at first in vain +for their owner.</p> + +<p>The windows were both closed and a brisk fire burned in the grate. There +were various signs—signs intelligible at least to a keenly intuitive +soul—that the room was occupied, yet so far as human beings were +concerned, it was empty, utterly empty. No one sat in the chairs; no one +stood on the mat before the fire; there was no sign even that a patient +was anywhere close against the wall, examining the Bocklin +reproductions—as patients so often did when they thought they were +alone—and therefore rather difficult to see from the spy-hole. +Ordinarily speaking, there was no one in the room. It was undeniable.</p> + +<p>Yet Dr. Silence was quite well aware that a human being <i>was</i> in the +room. His psychic apparatus never failed in letting him know the +proximity of an incarnate or discarnate being. Even in the dark he could +tell that. And he now knew positively that his patient—the patient who +had alarmed Barker, and had then tripped down the corridor with that +dancing footstep—was somewhere concealed within the four walls +commanded by his spy-hole. He also realised—and this was most +unusual—that this individual whom he desired to watch knew that he was +being watched. And, further, that the stranger himself was also +watching! In fact, that it was he, the doctor, who was being +observed—and by an observer as keen and trained as himself.</p> + +<p>An inkling of the true state of the case began to dawn upon him, and he +was on the verge of entering—indeed, his hand already touched the +door-knob—when his eye, still glued to the spy-hole, detected a slight +movement. Directly opposite, between him and the fireplace, something +stirred. He watched very attentively and made certain that he was not +mistaken. An object on the mantelpiece—it was a blue vase—disappeared +from view. It passed out of sight together with the portion of the +marble mantelpiece on which it rested. Next, that part of the fire and +grate and brass fender immediately below it vanished entirely, as though +a slice had been taken clean out of them.</p> + +<p>Dr. Silence then understood that something between him and these objects +was slowly coming into being, something that concealed them and +obstructed his vision by inserting itself in the line of sight between +them and himself.</p> + +<p>He quietly awaited further results before going in.</p> + +<p>First he saw a thin perpendicular line tracing itself from just above +the height of the clock and continuing downwards till it reached the +woolly fire-mat. This line grew wider, broadened, grew solid. It was no +shadow; it was something substantial. It defined itself more and more. +Then suddenly, at the top of the line, and about on a level with the +face of the clock, he saw a round luminous disc gazing steadily at him. +It was a human eye, looking straight into his own, pressed there against +the spy-hole. And it was bright with intelligence. Dr. Silence held his +breath for a moment—and stared back at it.</p> + +<p>Then, like some one moving out of deep shadow into light, he saw the +figure of a man come sliding sideways into view, a whitish face +following the eye, and the perpendicular line he had first observed +broadening out and developing into the complete figure of a human being. +It was the patient. He had apparently been standing there in front of +the fire all the time. A second eye had followed the first, and both of +them stared steadily at the spy-hole, sharply concentrated, yet with a +sly twinkle of humour and amusement that made it impossible for the +doctor to maintain his position any longer.</p> + +<p>He opened the door and went in quickly. As he did so he noticed for the +first time the sound of a German band coming in gaily through the open +ventilators. In some intuitive, unaccountable fashion the music +connected itself with the patient he was about to interview. This sort +of prevision was not unfamiliar to him. It always explained itself +later.</p> + +<p>The man, he saw, was of middle age and of very ordinary appearance; so +ordinary, in fact, that he was difficult to describe—his only +peculiarity being his extreme thinness. Pleasant—that is, +good—vibrations issued from his atmosphere and met Dr. Silence as he +advanced to greet him, yet vibrations alive with currents and discharges +betraying the perturbed and disordered condition of his mind and brain. +There was evidently something wholly out of the usual in the state of +his thoughts. Yet, though strange, it was not altogether distressing; it +was not the impression that the broken and violent atmosphere of the +insane produces upon the mind. Dr. Silence realised in a flash that here +was a case of absorbing interest that might require all his powers to +handle properly.</p> + +<p>"I was watching you through my little peep-hole—as you saw," he began, +with a pleasant smile, advancing to shake hands. "I find it of the +greatest assistance sometimes—"</p> + +<p>But the patient interrupted him at once. His voice was hurried and had +odd, shrill changes in it, breaking from high to low in unexpected +fashion. One moment it thundered, the next it almost squeaked.</p> + +<p>"I understand without explanation," he broke in rapidly. "You get the +true note of a man in this way—when he thinks himself unobserved. I +quite agree. Only, in my case, I fear, you saw very little. My case, as +you of course grasp, Dr. Silence, is extremely peculiar, uncomfortably +peculiar. Indeed, unless Sir William had positively assured me—"</p> + +<p>"My friend has sent you to me," the doctor interrupted gravely, with a +gentle note of authority, "and that is quite sufficient. Pray, be +seated, Mr.—"</p> + +<p>"Mudge—Racine Mudge," returned the other.</p> + +<p>"Take this comfortable one, Mr. Mudge," leading him to the fixed chair, +"and tell me your condition in your own way and at your own pace. My +whole day is at your service if you require it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge moved towards the chair in question and then hesitated.</p> + +<p>"You will promise me not to use the narcotic buttons," he said, before +sitting down. "I do not need them. Also I ought to mention that anything +you think of vividly will reach my mind. That is apparently part of my +peculiar case." He sat down with a sigh and arranged his thin legs and +body into a position of comfort. Evidently he was very sensitive to the +thoughts of others, for the picture of the green buttons had only +entered the doctor's mind for a second, yet the other had instantly +snapped it up. Dr. Silence noticed, too, that Mr. Mudge held on tightly +with both hands to the arms of the chair.</p> + +<p>"I'm rather glad the chair is nailed to the floor," he remarked, as he +settled himself more comfortably. "It suits me admirably. The fact +is—and this is my case in a nutshell—which is all that a doctor of +your marvellous development requires—the fact is, Dr. Silence, I am a +victim of Higher Space. That's what's the matter with me—Higher Space!"</p> + +<p>The two looked at each other for a space in silence, the little patient +holding tightly to the arms of the chair which "suited him admirably," +and looking up with staring eyes, his atmosphere positively trembling +with the waves of some unknown activity; while the doctor smiled kindly +and sympathetically, and put his whole person as far as possible into +the mental condition of the other.</p> + +<p>"Higher Space," repeated Mr. Mudge, "that's what it is. Now, do you +think you can help me with <i>that</i>?"</p> + +<p>There was a pause during which the men's eyes steadily searched down +below the surface of their respective personalities. Then Dr. Silence +spoke.</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure I can help," he answered quietly; "sympathy must always +help, and suffering always owns my sympathy. I see you have suffered +cruelly. You must tell me all about your case, and when I hear the +gradual steps by which you reached this strange condition, I have no +doubt I can be of assistance to you."</p> + +<p>He drew a chair up beside his interlocutor and laid a hand on his +shoulder for a moment. His whole being radiated kindness, intelligence, +desire to help.</p> + +<p>"For instance," he went on, "I feel sure it was the result of no mere +chance that you became familiar with the terrors of what you term Higher +Space; for Higher Space is no mere external measurement. It is, of +course, a spiritual state, a spiritual condition, an inner development, +and one that we must recognise as abnormal, since it is beyond the reach +of the world at the present stage of evolution. Higher Space is a +mythical state."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried the other, rubbing his birdlike hands with pleasure, "the +relief it is to be able to talk to some one who can understand! Of +course what you say is the utter truth. And you are right that no mere +chance led me to my present condition, but, on the other hand, prolonged +and deliberate study. Yet chance in a sense now governs it. I mean, my +entering the condition of Higher Space seems to depend upon the chance +of this and that circumstance. For instance, the mere sound of that +German band sent me off. Not that all music will do so, but certain +sounds, certain vibrations, at once key me up to the requisite pitch, +and off I go. Wagner's music always does it, and that band must have +been playing a stray bit of Wagner. But I'll come to all that later. +Only first, I must ask you to send away your man from the spy-hole."</p> + +<p>John Silence looked up with a start, for Mr. Mudge's back was to the +door, and there was no mirror. He saw the brown eye of Barker glued to +the little circle of glass, and he crossed the room without a word and +snapped down the black shutter provided for the purpose, and then heard +Barker snuffle away along the passage.</p> + +<p>"Now," continued the little man in the chair, "I can begin. You have +managed to put me completely at my ease, and I feel I may tell you my +whole case without shame or reserve. You will understand. But you must +be patient with me if I go into details that are already familiar to +you—details of Higher Space, I mean—and if I seem stupid when I have +to describe things that transcend the power of language and are really +therefore indescribable."</p> + +<p>"My dear friend," put in the other calmly, "that goes without saying. To +know Higher Space is an experience that defies description, and one is +obliged to make use of more or less intelligible symbols. But, pray, +proceed. Your vivid thoughts will tell me more than your halting words."</p> + +<p>An immense sigh of relief proceeded from the little figure half lost in +the depths of the chair. Such intelligent sympathy meeting him half-way +was a new experience to him, and it touched his heart at once. He leaned +back, relaxing his tight hold of the arms, and began in his thin, +scale-like voice.</p> + +<p>"My mother was a Frenchwoman, and my father an Essex bargeman," he said +abruptly. "Hence my name—Racine and Mudge. My father died before I ever +saw him. My mother inherited money from her Bordeaux relations, and when +she died soon after, I was left alone with wealth and a strange freedom. +I had no guardian, trustees, sisters, brothers, or any connection in the +world to look after me. I grew up, therefore, utterly without education. +This much was to my advantage; I learned none of that deceitful rubbish +taught in schools, and so had nothing to unlearn when I awakened to my +true love—mathematics, higher mathematics and higher geometry. These, +however, I seemed to know instinctively. It was like the memory of what +I had deeply studied before; the principles were in my blood, and I +simply raced through the ordinary stages, and beyond, and then did the +same with geometry. Afterwards, when I read the books on these subjects, +I understood how swift and undeviating the knowledge had come back to +me. It was simply memory. It was simply <i>re-collecting</i> the memories of +what I had known before in a previous existence and required no books to +teach me."</p> + +<p>In his growing excitement, Mr. Mudge attempted to drag the chair forward +a little nearer to his listener, and then smiled faintly as he resigned +himself instantly again to its immovability, and plunged anew into the +recital of his singular "disease."</p> + +<p>"The audacious speculations of Bolyai, the amazing theories of +Gauss—that through a point more than one line could be drawn parallel +to a given line; the possibility that the angles of a triangle are +together <i>greater</i> than two right angles, if drawn upon immense +curvatures—the breathless intuitions of Beltrami and Lobatchewsky—all +these I hurried through, and emerged, panting but unsatisfied, upon the +verge of my—my new world, my Higher Space possibilities—in a word, my +disease!</p> + +<p>"How I got there," he resumed after a brief pause, during which he +appeared to be listening intently for an approaching sound, "is more +than I can put intelligibly into words. I can only hope to leave your +mind with an intuitive comprehension of the possibility of what I say.</p> + +<p>"Here, however, came a change. At this point I was no longer absorbing +the fruits of studies I had made before; it was the beginning of new +efforts to learn for the first time, and I had to go slowly and +laboriously through terrible work. Here I sought for the theories and +speculations of others. But books were few and far between, and with the +exception of one man—a 'dreamer,' the world called him—whose audacity +and piercing intuition amazed and delighted me beyond description, I +found no one to guide or help.</p> + +<p>"You, of course, Dr. Silence, understand something of what I am driving +at with these stammering words, though you cannot perhaps yet guess what +depths of pain my new knowledge brought me to, nor why an acquaintance +with a new development of space should prove a source of misery and +terror."</p> + +<p>Mr. Racine Mudge, remembering that the chair would not move, did the +next best thing he could in his desire to draw nearer to the attentive +man facing him, and sat forward upon the very edge of the cushions, +crossing his legs and gesticulating with both hands as though he saw +into this region of new space he was attempting to describe, and might +any moment tumble into it bodily from the edge of the chair and +disappear form view. John Silence, separated from him by three paces, +sat with his eyes fixed upon the thin white face opposite, noting +every word and every gesture with deep attention.</p> + +<p>"This room we now sit in, Dr. Silence, has one side open to space—to +Higher Space. A closed box only <i>seems</i> closed. There is a way in and +out of a soap bubble without breaking the skin."</p> + +<p>"You tell me no new thing," the doctor interposed gently.</p> + +<p>"Hence, if Higher Space exists and our world borders upon it and lies +partially in it, it follows necessarily that we see only portions of all +objects. We never see their true and complete shape. We see their three +measurements, but not their fourth. The new direction is concealed from +us, and when I hold this book and move my hand all round it I have not +really made a complete circuit. We only perceive those portions of any +object which exist in our three dimensions; the rest escapes us. But, +once we learn to see in Higher Space, objects will appear as they +actually are. Only they will thus be hardly recognisable!</p> + +<p>"Now, you may begin to grasp something of what I am coming to."</p> + +<p>"I am beginning to understand something of what you must have suffered," +observed the doctor soothingly, "for I have made similar experiments +myself, and only stopped just in time—"</p> + +<p>"You are the one man in all the world who can hear and understand, <i>and</i> +sympathise," exclaimed Mr. Mudge, grasping his hand and holding it +tightly while he spoke. The nailed chair prevented further excitability.</p> + +<p>"Well," he resumed, after a moment's pause, "I procured the implements +and the coloured blocks for practical experiment, and I followed the +instructions carefully till I had arrived at a working conception of +four-dimensional space. The tessaract, the figure whose boundaries are +cubes, I knew by heart. That is to say, I knew it and saw it mentally, +for my eye, of course, could never take in a new measurement, or my +hands and feet handle it.</p> + +<p>"So, at least, I thought," he added, making a wry face. "I had reached +the stage, you see, when I could imagine in a new dimension. I was able +to conceive the shape of that new figure which is intrinsically +different to all we know—the shape of the tessaract. I could perceive +in four dimensions. When, therefore, I looked at a cube I could see all +its sides at once. Its top was not foreshortened, nor its farther side +and base invisible. I saw the whole thing out flat, so to speak. And +this tessaract was bounded by cubes! Moreover, I also saw its +content—its insides."</p> + +<p>"You were not yourself able to enter this new world," interrupted Dr. +Silence.</p> + +<p>"Not then. I was only able to conceive intuitively what it was like and +how exactly it must look. Later, when I slipped in there and saw objects +in their entirety, unlimited by the paucity of our poor three +measurements, I very nearly lost my life. For, you see, space does not +stop at a single new dimension, a fourth. It extends in all possible new +ones, and we must conceive it as containing any number of new +dimensions. In other words, there is no space at all, but only a +spiritual condition. But, meanwhile, I had come to grasp the strange +fact that the objects in our normal world appear to us only partially."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge moved farther forward till he was balanced dangerously on the +very edge of the chair. "From this starting point," he resumed, "I began +my studies and experiments, and continued them for years. I had money, +and I was without friends. I lived in solitude and experimented. My +intellect, of course, had little part in the work, for intellectually it +was all unthinkable. Never was the limitation of mere reason more +plainly demonstrated. It was mystically, intuitively, spiritually that I +began to advance. And what I learnt, and knew, and did is all impossible +to put into language, since it all describes experiences transcending +the experiences of men. It is only some of the results—what you would +call the symptoms of my disease—that I can give you, and even these +must often appear absurd contradictions and impossible paradoxes.</p> + +<p>"I can only tell you, Dr. Silence"—his manner became exceedingly +impressive—"that I reached sometimes a point of view whence all the +great puzzle of the world became plain to me, and I understood what they +call in the Yoga books 'The Great Heresy of Separateness'; why all great +teachers have urged the necessity of man loving his neighbour as +himself; how men are all really one; and why the utter loss of self is +necessary to salvation and the discovery of the true life of the soul."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment and drew breath.</p> + +<p>"Your speculations have been my own long ago," the doctor said quietly. +"I fully realise the force of your words. Men are doubtless not separate +at all—in the sense they imagine—"</p> + +<p>"All this about the very much Higher Space I only dimly, very dimly, +conceived, of course," the other went on, raising his voice again by +jerks; "but what did happen to me was the humbler accident of—the +simpler disaster—oh, dear, how shall I put it—?"</p> + +<p>He stammered and showed visible signs of distress.</p> + +<p>"It was simply this," he resumed with a sudden rush of words, "that, +accidentally, as the result of my years of experiment, I one day slipped +bodily into the next world, the world of four dimensions, yet without +knowing precisely how I got there, or how I could get back again. I +discovered, that is, that my ordinary three-dimensional body was but an +expression—a projection—of my higher four-dimensional body!</p> + +<p>"Now you understand what I meant much earlier in our talk when I spoke +of chance. I cannot control my entrance or exit. Certain people, certain +human atmospheres, certain wandering forces, thoughts, desires even—the +radiations of certain combinations of colour, and above all, the +vibrations of certain kinds of music, will suddenly throw me into a +state of what I can only describe as an intense and terrific inner +vibration—and behold I am off! Off in the direction at right angles to +all our known directions! Off in the direction the cube takes when it +begins to trace the outlines of the new figure! Off into my breathless +and semi-divine Higher Space! Off, <i>inside myself</i>, into the world of +four dimensions!"</p> + +<p>He gasped and dropped back into the depths of the immovable chair.</p> + +<p>"And there," he whispered, his voice issuing from among the cushions, +"there I have to stay until these vibrations subside, or until they do +something which I cannot find words to describe properly or intelligibly +to you—and then, behold, I am back again. First, that is, I disappear. +Then I reappear."</p> + +<p>"Just so," exclaimed Dr. Silence, "and that is why a few—"</p> + +<p>"Why a few moments ago," interrupted Mr. Mudge, taking the words out of +his mouth, "you found me gone, and then saw me return. The music of that +wretched German band sent me off. Your intense thinking about me brought +me back—when the band had stopped its Wagner. I saw you approach the +peep-hole and I saw Barker's intention of doing so later. For me no +interiors are hidden. I see inside. When in that state the content of +your mind, as of your body, is open to me as the day. Oh, dear, oh, +dear, oh, dear!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge stopped and again mopped his brow. A light trembling ran over +the surface of his small body like wind over grass. He still held +tightly to the arms of the chair.</p> + +<p>"At first," he presently resumed, "my new experiences were so vividly +interesting that I felt no alarm. There was no room for it. The alarm +came a little later."</p> + +<p>"Then you actually penetrated far enough into that state to experience +yourself as a normal portion of it?" asked the doctor, leaning forward, +deeply interested.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge nodded a perspiring face in reply.</p> + +<p>"I did," he whispered, "undoubtedly I did. I am coming to all that. It +began first at night, when I realised that sleep brought no loss of +consciousness—"</p> + +<p>"The spirit, of course, can never sleep. Only the body becomes +unconscious," interposed John Silence.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we know that—theoretically. At night, of course, the spirit is +active elsewhere, and we have no memory of where and how, simply +because the brain stays behind and receives no record. But I found +that, while remaining conscious, I also retained memory. I had attained +to the state of continuous consciousness, for at night I regularly, with +the first approaches of drowsiness, entered <i>nolens volens</i> the +four-dimensional world.</p> + +<p>"For a time this happened regularly, and I could not control it; though +later I found a way to regulate it better. Apparently sleep is +unnecessary in the higher—the four-dimensional—body. Yes, perhaps. But +I should infinitely have preferred dull sleep to the knowledge. For, +unable to control my movements, I wandered to and fro, attracted, owing +to my partial development and premature arrival, to parts of this new +world that alarmed me more and more. It was the awful waste and drift of +a monstrous world, so utterly different to all we know and see that I +cannot even hint at the nature of the sights and objects and beings in +it. More than that, I cannot even remember them. I cannot now picture +them to myself even, but can recall only the <i>memory of the impression</i> +they made upon me, the horror and devastating terror of it all. To be in +several places at once, for instance—"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly," interrupted John Silence, noticing the increase of the +other's excitement, "I understand exactly. But now, please, tell me a +little more of this alarm you experienced, and how it affected you."</p> + +<p>"It's not the disappearing and reappearing <i>per se</i> that I mind," +continued Mr. Mudge, "so much as certain other things. It's seeing +people and objects in their weird entirety, in their true and complete +shapes, that is so distressing. It introduces me to a world of monsters. +Horses, dogs, cats, all of which I loved; people, trees, children; all +that I have considered beautiful in life—everything, from a human face +to a cathedral—appear to me in a different shape and aspect to all I +have known before. I cannot perhaps convince you why this should be +terrible, but I assure you that it is so. To hear the human voice +proceeding from this novel appearance which I scarcely recognise as a +human body is ghastly, simply ghastly. To see inside everything and +everybody is a form of insight peculiarly distressing. To be so confused +in geography as to find myself one moment at the North Pole, and the +next at Clapham Junction—or possibly at both places simultaneously—is +absurdly terrifying. Your imagination will readily furnish other details +without my multiplying my experiences now. But you have no idea what it +all means, and how I suffer."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge paused in his panting account and lay back in his chair. He +still held tightly to the arms as though they could keep him in the +world of sanity and three measurements, and only now and again released +his left hand in order to mop his face. He looked very thin and white +and oddly unsubstantial, and he stared about him as though he saw into +this other space he had been talking about.</p> + +<p>John Silence, too, felt warm. He had listened to every word and had made +many notes. The presence of this man had an exhilarating effect upon +him. It seemed as if Mr. Racine Mudge still carried about with him +something of that breathless Higher-Space condition he had been +describing. At any rate, Dr. Silence had himself advanced sufficiently +far along the legitimate paths of spiritual and psychic transformations +to realise that the visions of this extraordinary little person had a +basis of truth for their origin.</p> + +<p>After a pause that prolonged itself into minutes, he crossed the room +and unlocked a drawer in a bookcase, taking out a small book with a red +cover. It had a lock to it, and he produced a key out of his pocket and +proceeded to open the covers. The bright eyes of Mr. Mudge never left +him for a single second.</p> + +<p>"It almost seems a pity," he said at length, "to cure you, Mr. Mudge. +You are on the way to discovery of great things. Though you may lose +your life in the process—that is, your life here in the world of three +dimensions—you would lose thereby nothing of great value—you will +pardon my apparent rudeness, I know—and you might gain what is +infinitely greater. Your suffering, of course, lies in the fact that you +alternate between the two worlds and are never wholly in one or the +other. Also, I rather imagine, though I cannot be certain of this from +any personal experiments, that you have here and there penetrated even +into space of more than four dimensions, and have hence experienced the +terror you speak of."</p> + +<p>The perspiring son of the Essex bargeman and the woman of Normandy bent +his head several times in assent, but uttered no word in reply.</p> + +<p>"Some strange psychic predisposition, dating no doubt from one of your +former lives, has favoured the development of your 'disease'; and the +fact that you had no normal training at school or college, no leading by +the poor intellect into the culs-de-sac falsely called knowledge, has +further caused your exceedingly rapid movement along the lines of direct +inner experience. None of the knowledge you have foreshadowed has come +to you through the senses, of course."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge, sitting in his immovable chair, began to tremble slightly. A +wind again seemed to pass over his surface and again to set it curiously +in motion like a field of grass.</p> + +<p>"You are merely talking to gain time," he said hurriedly, in a shaking +voice. "This thinking aloud delays us. I see ahead what you are coming +to, only please be quick, for something is going to happen. A band is +again coming down the street, and if it plays—if it plays Wagner—I +shall be off in a twinkling."</p> + +<p>"Precisely. I will be quick. I was leading up to the point of how to +effect your cure. The way is this: You must simply learn to <i>block the +entrances</i>."</p> + +<p>"True, true, utterly true!" exclaimed the little man, dodging about +nervously in the depths of the chair. "But how, in the name of space, is +that to be done?"</p> + +<p>"By concentration. They are all within you, these entrances, although +outer cases such as colour, music and other things lead you towards +them. These external things you cannot hope to destroy, but once the +entrances are blocked, they will lead you only to bricked walls and +closed channels. You will no longer be able to find the way."</p> + +<p>"Quick, quick!" cried the bobbing figure in the chair. "How is this +concentration to be effected?"</p> + +<p>"This little book," continued Dr. Silence calmly, "will explain to you +the way." He tapped the cover. "Let me now read out to you certain +simple instructions, composed, as I see you divine, entirely from my own +personal experiences in the same direction. Follow these instructions +and you will no longer enter the state of Higher Space. The entrances +will be blocked effectively."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mudge sat bolt upright in his chair to listen, and John Silence +cleared his throat and began to read slowly in a very distinct voice.</p> + +<p>But before he had uttered a dozen words, something happened. A sound of +street music entered the room through the open ventilators, for a band +had begun to play in the stable mews at the back of the house—the March +from <i>Tannhäuser</i>. Odd as it may seem that a German band should twice +within the space of an hour enter the same mews and play Wagner, it was +nevertheless the fact.</p> + +<p>Mr. Racine Mudge heard it. He uttered a sharp, squeaking cry and twisted +his arms with nervous energy round the chair. A piteous look that was +not far from tears spread over his white face. Grey shadows followed +it—the grey of fear. He began to struggle convulsively.</p> + +<p>"Hold me fast! Catch me! For God's sake, keep me here! I'm on the rush +already. Oh, it's frightful!" he cried in tones of anguish, his voice as +thin as a reed.</p> + +<p>Dr. Silence made a plunge forward to seize him, but in a flash, before +he could cover the space between them, Mr. Racine Mudge, screaming and +struggling, seemed to shoot past him into invisibility. He disappeared +like an arrow from a bow propelled at infinite speed, and his voice no +longer sounded in the external air, but seemed in some curious way to +make itself heard somewhere within the depths of the doctor's own being. +It was almost like a faint singing cry in his head, like a voice of +dream, a voice of vision and unreality.</p> + +<p>"Alcohol, alcohol!" it cried, "give me alcohol! It's the quickest way. +Alcohol, before I'm out of reach!"</p> + +<p>The doctor, accustomed to rapid decisions and even more rapid action, +remembered that a brandy flask stood upon the mantelpiece, and in less +than a second he had seized it and was holding it out towards the space +above the chair recently occupied by the visible Mudge. Then, before his +very eyes, and long ere he could unscrew the metal stopper, he saw the +contents of the closed glass phial sink and lessen as though some one +were drinking violently and greedily of the liquor within.</p> + +<p>"Thanks! Enough! It deadens the vibrations!" cried the faint voice in +his interior, as he withdrew the flask and set it back upon the +mantelpiece. He understood that in Mudge's present condition one side of +the flask was open to space and he could drink without removing the +stopper. He could hardly have had a more interesting proof of what he +had been hearing described at such length.</p> + +<p>But the next moment—the very same moment it almost seemed—the German +band stopped midway in its tune—and there was Mr. Mudge back in his +chair again, gasping and panting!</p> + +<p>"Quick!" he shrieked, "stop that band! Send it away! Catch hold of me! +Block the entrances! Block the entrances! Give me the red book! Oh, oh, +oh-h-h-h!!!"</p> + +<p>The music had begun again. It was merely a temporary interruption. The +<i>Tannhäuser</i> March started again, this time at a tremendous pace that +made it sound like a rapid two-step as though the instruments played +against time.</p> + +<p>But the brief interruption gave Dr. Silence a moment in which to collect +his scattering thoughts, and before the band had got through half a bar, +he had flung forward upon the chair and held Mr. Racine Mudge, the +struggling little victim of Higher Space, in a grip of iron. His arms +went all round his diminutive person, taking in a good part of the chair +at the same time. He was not a big man, yet he seemed to smother Mudge +completely.</p> + +<p>Yet, even as he did so, and felt the wriggling form underneath him, it +began to melt and slip away like air or water. The wood of the arm-chair +somehow disentangled itself from between his own arms and those of +Mudge. The phenomenon known as the passage of matter through matter took +place. The little man seemed actually to get mixed up in his own being. +Dr. Silence could just see his face beneath him. It puckered and grew +dark as though from some great internal effort. He heard the thin, reedy +voice cry in his ear to "Block the entrances, block the entrances!" and +then—but how in the world describe what is indescribable?</p> + +<p>John Silence half rose up to watch. Racine Mudge, his face distorted +beyond all recognition, was making a marvellous inward movement, as +though doubling back upon himself. He turned funnel-wise like water in a +whirling vortex, and then appeared to break up somewhat as a reflection +breaks up and divides in a distorting convex mirror. He went neither +forward nor backwards, neither to the right nor the left, neither up nor +down. But he went. He went utterly. He simply flashed away out of sight +like a vanishing projectile.</p> + +<p>All but one leg! Dr. Silence just had the time and the presence of mind +to seize upon the left ankle and boot as it disappeared, and to this he +held on for several seconds like grim death. Yet all the time he knew it +was a foolish and useless thing to do.</p> + +<p>The foot was in his grasp one moment, and the next it seemed—this was +the only way he could describe it—inside his own skin and bones, and at +the same time outside his hand and all round it. It seemed mixed up in +some amazing way with his own flesh and blood. Then it was gone, and he +was tightly grasping a draught of heated air.</p> + +<p>"Gone! gone! gone!" cried a thick, whispering voice, somewhere deep +within his own consciousness. "Lost! lost! lost!" it repeated, growing +fainter and fainter till at length it vanished into nothing and the last +signs of Mr. Racine Mudge vanished with it.</p> + +<p>John Silence locked his red book and replaced it in the cabinet, which +he fastened with a click, and when Barker answered the bell he inquired +if Mr. Mudge had left a card upon the table. It appeared that he had, +and when the servant returned with it, Dr. Silence read the address and +made a note of it. It was in North London.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mudge has gone," he said quietly to Barker, noticing his expression +of alarm.</p> + +<p>"He's not taken his 'at with him, sir."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mudge requires no hat where he is now," continued the doctor, +stooping to poke the fire. "But he may return for it—"</p> + +<p>"And the humbrella, sir."</p> + +<p>"And the umbrella."</p> + +<p>"He didn't go out <i>my</i> way, sir, if you please," stuttered the amazed +servant, his curiosity overcoming his nervousness.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mudge has his own way of coming and going, and prefers it. If he +returns by the door at any time remember to bring him instantly to me, +and be kind and gentle with him and ask no questions. Also, remember, +Barker, to think pleasantly, sympathetically, affectionately of him +while he is away. Mr. Mudge is a very suffering gentleman."</p> + +<p>Barker bowed and went out of the room backwards, gasping and feeling +round the inside of his collar with three very hot fingers of one hand.</p> + +<p>It was two days later when he brought in a telegram to the study. Dr. +Silence opened it, and read as follows:</p> + +<span style="layout-flow: horizontal; margin-left: 1em;">"Bombay. Just slipped out again. All safe. Have blocked</span><br> +<span style="layout-flow: horizontal; margin-left: 1em;">entrances. Thousand thanks. Address Cooks, London.—MUDGE."</span><br> + +<p>Dr. Silence looked up and saw Barker staring at him bewilderingly. It +occurred to him that somehow he knew the contents of the telegram.</p> + +<p>"Make a parcel of Mr. Mudge's things," he said briefly, "and address +them Thomas Cook & Sons, Ludgate Circus. And send them there exactly a +month from to-day and marked 'To be called for.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Barker, leaving the room with a deep sigh and a hurried +glance at the waste-paper basket where his master had dropped the pink +paper.</p> + + + + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three More John Silence Stories +by Algernon Blackwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 10659-h.htm or 10659-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/5/10659/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Three More John Silence Stories + +Author: Algernon Blackwood + +Release Date: January 9, 2004 [EBook #10659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +Three More John Silence Stories + +BY ALGERNON BLACKWOOD + + + + +To M.L.W. The Original of John Silence + +and + +My Companion in Many Adventures + + + + +Contents + +Case I: Secret Worship + +Case II: The Camp of the Dog + +Case III: A Victim of Higher Space + + + + +CASE I: SECRET WORSHIP + + +Harris, the silk merchant, was in South Germany on his way home from a +business trip when the idea came to him suddenly that he would take the +mountain railway from Strassbourg and run down to revisit his old school +after an interval of something more than thirty years. And it was to +this chance impulse of the junior partner in Harris Brothers of St. +Paul's Churchyard that John Silence owed one of the most curious cases +of his whole experience, for at that very moment he happened to be +tramping these same mountains with a holiday knapsack, and from +different points of the compass the two men were actually converging +towards the same inn. + +Now, deep down in the heart that for thirty years had been concerned +chiefly with the profitable buying and selling of silk, this school had +left the imprint of its peculiar influence, and, though perhaps unknown +to Harris, had strongly coloured the whole of his subsequent existence. +It belonged to the deeply religious life of a small Protestant community +(which it is unnecessary to specify), and his father had sent him there +at the age of fifteen, partly because he would learn the German +requisite for the conduct of the silk business, and partly because the +discipline was strict, and discipline was what his soul and body needed +just then more than anything else. + +The life, indeed, had proved exceedingly severe, and young Harris +benefited accordingly; for though corporal punishment was unknown, there +was a system of mental and spiritual correction which somehow made the +soul stand proudly erect to receive it, while it struck at the very root +of the fault and taught the boy that his character was being cleaned and +strengthened, and that he was not merely being tortured in a kind of +personal revenge. + +That was over thirty years ago, when he was a dreamy and impressionable +youth of fifteen; and now, as the train climbed slowly up the winding +mountain gorges, his mind travelled back somewhat lovingly over the +intervening period, and forgotten details rose vividly again before him +out of the shadows. The life there had been very wonderful, it seemed to +him, in that remote mountain village, protected from the tumults of the +world by the love and worship of the devout Brotherhood that ministered +to the needs of some hundred boys from every country in Europe. Sharply +the scenes came back to him. He smelt again the long stone corridors, +the hot pinewood rooms, where the sultry hours of summer study were +passed with bees droning through open windows in the sunshine, and +German characters struggling in the mind with dreams of English +lawns--and then the sudden awful cry of the master in German-- + +"Harris, stand up! You sleep!" + +And he recalled the dreadful standing motionless for an hour, book in +hand, while the knees felt like wax and the head grew heavier than a +cannon-ball. + +The very smell of the cooking came back to him--the daily _Sauerkraut_, +the watery chocolate on Sundays, the flavour of the stringy meat served +twice a week at _Mittagessen_; and he smiled to think again of the +half-rations that was the punishment for speaking English. The very +odour of the milk-bowls,--the hot sweet aroma that rose from the soaking +peasant-bread at the six-o'clock breakfast,--came back to him pungently, +and he saw the huge _Speisesaal_ with the hundred boys in their school +uniform, all eating sleepily in silence, gulping down the coarse bread +and scalding milk in terror of the bell that would presently cut them +short--and, at the far end where the masters sat, he saw the narrow slit +windows with the vistas of enticing field and forest beyond. + +And this, in turn, made him think of the great barnlike room on the top +floor where all slept together in wooden cots, and he heard in memory +the clamour of the cruel bell that woke them on winter mornings at five +o'clock and summoned them to the stone-flagged _Waschkammer_, where boys +and masters alike, after scanty and icy washing, dressed in complete +silence. + +From this his mind passed swiftly, with vivid picture-thoughts, to other +things, and with a passing shiver he remembered how the loneliness of +never being alone had eaten into him, and how everything--work, meals, +sleep, walks, leisure--was done with his "division" of twenty other boys +and under the eyes of at least two masters. The only solitude possible +was by asking for half an hour's practice in the cell-like music rooms, +and Harris smiled to himself as he recalled the zeal of his violin +studies. + +Then, as the train puffed laboriously through the great pine forests +that cover these mountains with a giant carpet of velvet, he found the +pleasanter layers of memory giving up their dead, and he recalled with +admiration the kindness of the masters, whom all addressed as Brother, +and marvelled afresh at their devotion in burying themselves for years +in such a place, only to leave it, in most cases, for the still rougher +life of missionaries in the wild places of the world. + +He thought once more of the still, religious atmosphere that hung over +the little forest community like a veil, barring the distressful world; +of the picturesque ceremonies at Easter, Christmas, and New Year; of the +numerous feast-days and charming little festivals. The _Beschehr-Fest_, +in particular, came back to him,--the feast of gifts at Christmas,--when +the entire community paired off and gave presents, many of which had +taken weeks to make or the savings of many days to purchase. And then he +saw the midnight ceremony in the church at New Year, with the shining +face of the _Prediger_ in the pulpit,--the village preacher who, on the +last night of the old year, saw in the empty gallery beyond the organ +loft the faces of all who were to die in the ensuing twelve months, and +who at last recognised himself among them, and, in the very middle of +his sermon, passed into a state of rapt ecstasy and burst into a torrent +of praise. + +Thickly the memories crowded upon him. The picture of the small village +dreaming its unselfish life on the mountain-tops, clean, wholesome, +simple, searching vigorously for its God, and training hundreds of boys +in the grand way, rose up in his mind with all the power of an +obsession. He felt once more the old mystical enthusiasm, deeper than +the sea and more wonderful than the stars; he heard again the winds +sighing from leagues of forest over the red roofs in the moonlight; he +heard the Brothers' voices talking of the things beyond this life as +though they had actually experienced them in the body; and, as he sat in +the jolting train, a spirit of unutterable longing passed over his +seared and tired soul, stirring in the depths of him a sea of emotions +that he thought had long since frozen into immobility. + +And the contrast pained him,--the idealistic dreamer then, the man of +business now,--so that a spirit of unworldly peace and beauty known only +to the soul in meditation laid its feathered finger upon his heart, +moving strangely the surface of the waters. + +Harris shivered a little and looked out of the window of his empty +carriage. The train had long passed Hornberg, and far below the streams +tumbled in white foam down the limestone rocks. In front of him, dome +upon dome of wooded mountain stood against the sky. It was October, and +the air was cool and sharp, woodsmoke and damp moss exquisitely mingled +in it with the subtle odours of the pines. Overhead, between the tips of +the highest firs, he saw the first stars peeping, and the sky was a +clean, pale amethyst that seemed exactly the colour all these memories +clothed themselves with in his mind. + +He leaned back in his corner and sighed. He was a heavy man, and he had +not known sentiment for years; he was a big man, and it took much to +move him, literally and figuratively; he was a man in whom the dreams of +God that haunt the soul in youth, though overlaid by the scum that +gathers in the fight for money, had not, as with the majority, utterly +died the death. + +He came back into this little neglected pocket of the years, where so +much fine gold had collected and lain undisturbed, with all his +semispiritual emotions aquiver; and, as he watched the mountain-tops +come nearer, and smelt the forgotten odours of his boyhood, something +melted on the surface of his soul and left him sensitive to a degree he +had not known since, thirty years before, he had lived here with his +dreams, his conflicts, and his youthful suffering. + +A thrill ran through him as the train stopped with a jolt at a tiny +station and he saw the name in large black lettering on the grey stone +building, and below it, the number of metres it stood above the level of +the sea. + +"The highest point on the line!" he exclaimed. "How well I remember +it--Sommerau--Summer Meadow. The very next station is mine!" + +And, as the train ran downhill with brakes on and steam shut off, he put +his head out of the window and one by one saw the old familiar landmarks +in the dusk. They stared at him like dead faces in a dream. Queer, sharp +feelings, half poignant, half sweet, stirred in his heart. + +"There's the hot, white road we walked along so often with the two +Brueder always at our heels," he thought; "and there, by Jove, is the +turn through the forest to '_Die Galgen_,' the stone gallows where they +hanged the witches in olden days!" + +He smiled a little as the train slid past. + +"And there's the copse where the Lilies of the Valley powdered the +ground in spring; and, I swear,"--he put his head out with a sudden +impulse--"if that's not the very clearing where Calame, the French boy, +chased the swallow-tail with me, and Bruder Pagel gave us half-rations +for leaving the road without permission, and for shouting in our mother +tongues!" And he laughed again as the memories came back with a rush, +flooding his mind with vivid detail. + +The train stopped, and he stood on the grey gravel platform like a man +in a dream. It seemed half a century since he last waited there with +corded wooden boxes, and got into the train for Strassbourg and home +after the two years' exile. Time dropped from him like an old garment +and he felt a boy again. Only, things looked so much smaller than his +memory of them; shrunk and dwindled they looked, and the distances +seemed on a curiously smaller scale. + +He made his way across the road to the little Gasthaus, and, as he went, +faces and figures of former schoolfellows,--German, Swiss, Italian, +French, Russian,--slipped out of the shadowy woods and silently +accompanied him. They flitted by his side, raising their eyes +questioningly, sadly, to his. But their names he had forgotten. Some of +the Brothers, too, came with them, and most of these he remembered by +name--Bruder Roest, Bruder Pagel, Bruder Schliemann, and the bearded face +of the old preacher who had seen himself in the haunted gallery of those +about to die--Bruder Gysin. The dark forest lay all about him like a sea +that any moment might rush with velvet waves upon the scene and sweep +all the faces away. The air was cool and wonderfully fragrant, but with +every perfumed breath came also a pallid memory.... + +Yet, in spite of the underlying sadness inseparable from such an +experience, it was all very interesting, and held a pleasure peculiarly +its own, so that Harris engaged his room and ordered supper feeling well +pleased with himself, and intending to walk up to the old school that +very evening. It stood in the centre of the community's village, some +four miles distant through the forest, and he now recollected for the +first time that this little Protestant settlement dwelt isolated in a +section of the country that was otherwise Catholic. Crucifixes and +shrines surrounded the clearing like the sentries of a beleaguering +army. Once beyond the square of the village, with its few acres of field +and orchard, the forest crowded up in solid phalanxes, and beyond the +rim of trees began the country that was ruled by the priests of another +faith. He vaguely remembered, too, that the Catholics had showed +sometimes a certain hostility towards the little Protestant oasis that +flourished so quietly and benignly in their midst. He had quite +forgotten this. How trumpery it all seemed now with his wide experience +of life and his knowledge of other countries and the great outside +world. It was like stepping back, not thirty years, but three hundred. + +There were only two others besides himself at supper. One of them, a +bearded, middle-aged man in tweeds, sat by himself at the far end, and +Harris kept out of his way because he was English. He feared he might be +in business, possibly even in the silk business, and that he would +perhaps talk on the subject. The other traveller, however, was a +Catholic priest. He was a little man who ate his salad with a knife, yet +so gently that it was almost inoffensive, and it was the sight of "the +cloth" that recalled his memory of the old antagonism. Harris mentioned +by way of conversation the object of his sentimental journey, and the +priest looked up sharply at him with raised eyebrows and an expression +of surprise and suspicion that somehow piqued him. He ascribed it to his +difference of belief. + +"Yes," went on the silk merchant, pleased to talk of what his mind was +so full, "and it was a curious experience for an English boy to be +dropped down into a school of a hundred foreigners. I well remember the +loneliness and intolerable Heimweh of it at first." His German was very +fluent. + +The priest opposite looked up from his cold veal and potato salad and +smiled. It was a nice face. He explained quietly that he did not belong +here, but was making a tour of the parishes of Wurttemberg and Baden. + +"It was a strict life," added Harris. "We English, I remember, used to +call it _Gefaengnisleben_--prison life!" + +The face of the other, for some unaccountable reason, darkened. After a +slight pause, and more by way of politeness than because he wished to +continue the subject, he said quietly-- + +"It was a flourishing school in those days, of course. Afterwards, I +have heard--" He shrugged his shoulders slightly, and the odd look--it +almost seemed a look of alarm--came back into his eyes. The sentence +remained unfinished. + +Something in the tone of the man seemed to his listener uncalled for--in +a sense reproachful, singular. Harris bridled in spite of himself. + +"It has changed?" he asked. "I can hardly believe--" + +"You have not heard, then?" observed the priest gently, making a gesture +as though to cross himself, yet not actually completing it. "You have +not heard what happened there before it was abandoned--?" + +It was very childish, of course, and perhaps he was overtired and +overwrought in some way, but the words and manner of the little priest +seemed to him so offensive--so disproportionately offensive--that he +hardly noticed the concluding sentence. He recalled the old bitterness +and the old antagonism, and for a moment he almost lost his temper. + +"Nonsense," he interrupted with a forced laugh, "_Unsinn_! You must +forgive me, sir, for contradicting you. But I was a pupil there myself. +I was at school there. There was no place like it. I cannot believe that +anything serious could have happened to--to take away its character. The +devotion of the Brothers would be difficult to equal anywhere--" + +He broke off suddenly, realising that his voice had been raised unduly +and that the man at the far end of the table might understand German; +and at the same moment he looked up and saw that this individual's eyes +were fixed upon his face intently. They were peculiarly bright. Also +they were rather wonderful eyes, and the way they met his own served in +some way he could not understand to convey both a reproach and a +warning. The whole face of the stranger, indeed, made a vivid impression +upon him, for it was a face, he now noticed for the first time, in whose +presence one would not willingly have said or done anything unworthy. +Harris could not explain to himself how it was he had not become +conscious sooner of its presence. + +But he could have bitten off his tongue for having so far forgotten +himself. The little priest lapsed into silence. Only once he said, +looking up and speaking in a low voice that was not intended to be +overheard, but that evidently _was_ overheard, "You will find it +different." Presently he rose and left the table with a polite bow that +included both the others. + +And, after him, from the far end rose also the figure in the tweed suit, +leaving Harris by himself. + +He sat on for a bit in the darkening room, sipping his coffee and +smoking his fifteen-pfennig cigar, till the girl came in to light the +oil lamps. He felt vexed with himself for his lapse from good manners, +yet hardly able to account for it. Most likely, he reflected, he had +been annoyed because the priest had unintentionally changed the pleasant +character of his dream by introducing a jarring note. Later he must seek +an opportunity to make amends. At present, however, he was too impatient +for his walk to the school, and he took his stick and hat and passed out +into the open air. + +And, as he crossed before the Gasthaus, he noticed that the priest and +the man in the tweed suit were engaged already in such deep conversation +that they hardly noticed him as he passed and raised his hat. + +He started off briskly, well remembering the way, and hoping to reach +the village in time to have a word with one of the Brueder. They might +even ask him in for a cup of coffee. He felt sure of his welcome, and +the old memories were in full possession once more. The hour of return +was a matter of no consequence whatever. + +It was then just after seven o'clock, and the October evening was +drawing in with chill airs from the recesses of the forest. The road +plunged straight from the railway clearing into its depths, and in a +very few minutes the trees engulfed him and the clack of his boots fell +dead and echoless against the serried stems of a million firs. It was +very black; one trunk was hardly distinguishable from another. He walked +smartly, swinging his holly stick. Once or twice he passed a peasant on +his way to bed, and the guttural "Gruss Got," unheard for so long, +emphasised the passage of time, while yet making it seem as nothing. A +fresh group of pictures crowded his mind. Again the figures of former +schoolfellows flitted out of the forest and kept pace by his side, +whispering of the doings of long ago. One reverie stepped hard upon the +heels of another. Every turn in the road, every clearing of the forest, +he knew, and each in turn brought forgotten associations to life. He +enjoyed himself thoroughly. + +He marched on and on. There was powdered gold in the sky till the moon +rose, and then a wind of faint silver spread silently between the earth +and stars. He saw the tips of the fir trees shimmer, and heard them +whisper as the breeze turned their needles towards the light. The +mountain air was indescribably sweet. The road shone like the foam of a +river through the gloom. White moths flitted here and there like silent +thoughts across his path, and a hundred smells greeted him from the +forest caverns across the years. + +Then, when he least expected it, the trees fell away abruptly on both +sides, and he stood on the edge of the village clearing. + +He walked faster. There lay the familiar outlines of the houses, sheeted +with silver; there stood the trees in the little central square with the +fountain and small green lawns; there loomed the shape of the church +next to the Gasthof der Bruedergemeinde; and just beyond, dimly rising +into the sky, he saw with a sudden thrill the mass of the huge school +building, blocked castlelike with deep shadows in the moonlight, +standing square and formidable to face him after the silences of more +than a quarter of a century. + +He passed quickly down the deserted village street and stopped close +beneath its shadow, staring up at the walls that had once held him +prisoner for two years--two unbroken years of discipline and +homesickness. Memories and emotions surged through his mind; for the +most vivid sensations of his youth had focused about this spot, and it +was here he had first begun to live and learn values. Not a single +footstep broke the silence, though lights glimmered here and there +through cottage windows; but when he looked up at the high walls of the +school, draped now in shadow, he easily imagined that well-known faces +crowded to the windows to greet him--closed windows that really +reflected only moonlight and the gleam of stars. + +This, then, was the old school building, standing foursquare to the +world, with its shuttered windows, its lofty, tiled roof, and the spiked +lightning-conductors pointing like black and taloned fingers from the +corners. For a long time he stood and stared. Then, presently, he came +to himself again, and realised to his joy that a light still shone in +the windows of the Bruderstube. + +He turned from the road and passed through the iron railings; then +climbed the twelve stone steps and stood facing the black wooden door +with the heavy bars of iron, a door he had once loathed and dreaded with +the hatred and passion of an imprisoned soul, but now looked upon +tenderly with a sort of boyish delight. + +Almost timorously he pulled the rope and listened with a tremor of +excitement to the clanging of the bell deep within the building. And the +long-forgotten sound brought the past before him with such a vivid sense +of reality that he positively shivered. It was like the magic bell in +the fairy-tale that rolls back the curtain of Time and summons the +figures from the shadows of the dead. He had never felt so sentimental +in his life. It was like being young again. And, at the same time, he +began to bulk rather large in his own eyes with a certain spurious +importance. He was a big man from the world of strife and action. In +this little place of peaceful dreams would he, perhaps, not cut +something of a figure? + +"I'll try once more," he thought after a long pause, seizing the iron +bell-rope, and was just about to pull it when a step sounded on the +stone passage within, and the huge door slowly swung open. + +A tall man with a rather severe cast of countenance stood facing him in +silence. + +"I must apologise--it is somewhat late," he began a trifle pompously, +"but the fact is I am an old pupil. I have only just arrived and really +could not restrain myself." His German seemed not quite so fluent as +usual. "My interest is so great. I was here in '70." + +The other opened the door wider and at once bowed him in with a smile of +genuine welcome. + +"I am Bruder Kalkmann," he said quietly in a deep voice. "I myself was a +master here about that time. It is a great pleasure always to welcome a +former pupil." He looked at him very keenly for a few seconds, and then +added, "I think, too, it is splendid of you to come--very splendid." + +"It is a very great pleasure," Harris replied, delighted with his +reception. + +The dimly lighted corridor with its flooring of grey stone, and the +familiar sound of a German voice echoing through it,--with the peculiar +intonation the Brothers always used in speaking,--all combined to lift +him bodily, as it were, into the dream-atmosphere of long-forgotten +days. He stepped gladly into the building and the door shut with the +familiar thunder that completed the reconstruction of the past. He +almost felt the old sense of imprisonment, of aching nostalgia, of +having lost his liberty. + +Harris sighed involuntarily and turned towards his host, who returned +his smile faintly and then led the way down the corridor. + +"The boys have retired," he explained, "and, as you remember, we keep +early hours here. But, at least, you will join us for a little while in +the _Bruderstube_ and enjoy a cup of coffee." This was precisely what +the silk merchant had hoped, and he accepted with an alacrity that he +intended to be tempered by graciousness. "And to-morrow," continued the +Bruder, "you must come and spend a whole day with us. You may even find +acquaintances, for several pupils of your day have come back here as +masters." + +For one brief second there passed into the man's eyes a look that made +the visitor start. But it vanished as quickly as it came. It was +impossible to define. Harris convinced himself it was the effect of a +shadow cast by the lamp they had just passed on the wall. He dismissed +it from his mind. + +"You are very kind, I'm sure," he said politely. "It is perhaps a +greater pleasure to me than you can imagine to see the place again. +Ah,"--he stopped short opposite a door with the upper half of glass and +peered in--"surely there is one of the music rooms where I used to +practise the violin. How it comes back to me after all these years!" + +Bruder Kalkmann stopped indulgently, smiling, to allow his guest a +moment's inspection. + +"You still have the boys' orchestra? I remember I used to play 'zweite +Geige' in it. Bruder Schliemann conducted at the piano. Dear me, I can +see him now with his long black hair and--and--" He stopped abruptly. +Again the odd, dark look passed over the stern face of his companion. +For an instant it seemed curiously familiar. + +"We still keep up the pupils' orchestra," he said, "but Bruder +Schliemann, I am sorry to say--" he hesitated an instant, and then +added, "Bruder Schliemann is dead." + +"Indeed, indeed," said Harris quickly. "I am sorry to hear it." He was +conscious of a faint feeling of distress, but whether it arose from the +news of his old music teacher's death, or--from something else--he could +not quite determine. He gazed down the corridor that lost itself among +shadows. In the street and village everything had seemed so much smaller +than he remembered, but here, inside the school building, everything +seemed so much bigger. The corridor was loftier and longer, more +spacious and vast, than the mental picture he had preserved. His +thoughts wandered dreamily for an instant. + +He glanced up and saw the face of the Bruder watching him with a smile +of patient indulgence. + +"Your memories possess you," he observed gently, and the stern look +passed into something almost pitying. + +"You are right," returned the man of silk, "they do. This was the most +wonderful period of my whole life in a sense. At the time I hated +it--" He hesitated, not wishing to hurt the Brother's feelings. + +"According to English ideas it seemed strict, of course," the other said +persuasively, so that he went on. + +"--Yes, partly that; and partly the ceaseless nostalgia, and the +solitude which came from never being really alone. In English schools +the boys enjoy peculiar freedom, you know." + +Bruder Kalkmann, he saw, was listening intently. + +"But it produced one result that I have never wholly lost," he +continued self-consciously, "and am grateful for." + +"_Ach! Wie so, denn?_" + +"The constant inner pain threw me headlong into your religious life, so +that the whole force of my being seemed to project itself towards the +search for a deeper satisfaction--a real resting-place for the soul. +During my two years here I yearned for God in my boyish way as perhaps I +have never yearned for anything since. Moreover, I have never quite lost +that sense of peace and inward joy which accompanied the search. I can +never quite forget this school and the deep things it taught me." + +He paused at the end of his long speech, and a brief silence fell +between them. He feared he had said too much, or expressed himself +clumsily in the foreign language, and when Bruder Kalkmann laid a hand +upon his shoulder, he gave a little involuntary start. + +"So that my memories perhaps do possess me rather strongly," he added +apologetically; "and this long corridor, these rooms, that barred and +gloomy front door, all touch chords that--that--" His German failed +him and he glanced at his companion with an explanatory smile and +gesture. But the Brother had removed the hand from his shoulder and was +standing with his back to him, looking down the passage. + +"Naturally, naturally so," he said hastily without turning round. +"_Es ist doch selbstverstaendlich_. We shall all understand." + +Then he turned suddenly, and Harris saw that his face had turned most +oddly and disagreeably sinister. It may only have been the shadows again +playing their tricks with the wretched oil lamps on the wall, for the +dark expression passed instantly as they retraced their steps down the +corridor, but the Englishman somehow got the impression that he had said +something to give offence, something that was not quite to the other's +taste. Opposite the door of the _Bruderstube_ they stopped. Harris +realised that it was late and he had possibly stayed talking too long. +He made a tentative effort to leave, but his companion would not hear of +it. + +"You must have a cup of coffee with us," he said firmly as though he +meant it, "and my colleagues will be delighted to see you. Some of them +will remember you, perhaps." + +The sound of voices came pleasantly through the door, men's voices +talking together. Bruder Kalkmann turned the handle and they entered a +room ablaze with light and full of people. + +"Ah,--but your name?" he whispered, bending down to catch the reply; +"you have not told me your name yet." + +"Harris," said the Englishman quickly as they went in. He felt nervous +as he crossed the threshold, but ascribed the momentary trepidation to +the fact that he was breaking the strictest rule of the whole +establishment, which forbade a boy under severest penalties to come near +this holy of holies where the masters took their brief leisure. + +"Ah, yes, of course--Harris," repeated the other as though he remembered +it. "Come in, Herr Harris, come in, please. Your visit will be immensely +appreciated. It is really very fine, very wonderful of you to have come +in this way." + +The door closed behind them and, in the sudden light which made his +sight swim for a moment, the exaggeration of the language escaped his +attention. He heard the voice of Bruder Kalkmann introducing him. He +spoke very loud, indeed, unnecessarily,--absurdly loud, Harris thought. + +"Brothers," he announced, "it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce +to you Herr Harris from England. He has just arrived to make us a little +visit, and I have already expressed to him on behalf of us all the +satisfaction we feel that he is here. He was, as you remember, a pupil +in the year '70." + +It was a very formal, a very German introduction, but Harris rather +liked it. It made him feel important and he appreciated the tact that +made it almost seem as though he had been expected. + +The black forms rose and bowed; Harris bowed; Kalkmann bowed. Every one +was very polite and very courtly. The room swam with moving figures; the +light dazzled him after the gloom of the corridor, there was thick cigar +smoke in the atmosphere. He took the chair that was offered to him +between two of the Brothers, and sat down, feeling vaguely that his +perceptions were not quite as keen and accurate as usual. He felt a +trifle dazed perhaps, and the spell of the past came strongly over him, +confusing the immediate present and making everything dwindle oddly to +the dimensions of long ago. He seemed to pass under the mastery of a +great mood that was a composite reproduction of all the moods of his +forgotten boyhood. + +Then he pulled himself together with a sharp effort and entered into the +conversation that had begun again to buzz round him. Moreover, he +entered into it with keen pleasure, for the Brothers--there were perhaps +a dozen of them in the little room--treated him with a charm of manner +that speedily made him feel one of themselves. This, again, was a very +subtle delight to him. He felt that he had stepped out of the greedy, +vulgar, self-seeking world, the world of silk and markets and +profit-making--stepped into the cleaner atmosphere where spiritual +ideals were paramount and life was simple and devoted. It all charmed +him inexpressibly, so that he realised--yes, in a sense--the degradation +of his twenty years' absorption in business. This keen atmosphere under +the stars where men thought only of their souls, and of the souls of +others, was too rarefied for the world he was now associated with. He +found himself making comparisons to his own disadvantage,--comparisons +with the mystical little dreamer that had stepped thirty years before +from the stern peace of this devout community, and the man of the world +that he had since become,--and the contrast made him shiver with a keen +regret and something like self-contempt. + +He glanced round at the other faces floating towards him through tobacco +smoke--this acrid cigar smoke he remembered so well: how keen they were, +how strong, placid, touched with the nobility of great aims and +unselfish purposes. At one or two he looked particularly. He hardly knew +why. They rather fascinated him. There was something so very stern and +uncompromising about them, and something, too, oddly, subtly, familiar, +that yet just eluded him. But whenever their eyes met his own they held +undeniable welcome in them; and some held more--a kind of perplexed +admiration, he thought, something that was between esteem and deference. +This note of respect in all the faces was very flattering to his vanity. + +Coffee was served presently, made by a black-haired Brother who sat in +the corner by the piano and bore a marked resemblance to Bruder +Schliemann, the musical director of thirty years ago. Harris exchanged +bows with him when he took the cup from his white hands, which he +noticed were like the hands of a woman. He lit a cigar, offered to him +by his neighbour, with whom he was chatting delightfully, and who, in +the glare of the lighted match, reminded him sharply for a moment of +Bruder Pagel, his former room-master. + +"_Es ist wirklich merkwuerdig_," he said, "how many resemblances I see, +or imagine. It is really _very_ curious!" + +"Yes," replied the other, peering at him over his coffee cup, "the spell +of the place is wonderfully strong. I can well understand that the old +faces rise before your mind's eye--almost to the exclusion of ourselves +perhaps." + +They both laughed presently. It was soothing to find his mood understood +and appreciated. And they passed on to talk of the mountain village, its +isolation, its remoteness from worldly life, its peculiar fitness for +meditation and worship, and for spiritual development--of a certain +kind. + +"And your coming back in this way, Herr Harris, has pleased us all so +much," joined in the Bruder on his left. "We esteem you for it most +highly. We honour you for it." + +Harris made a deprecating gesture. "I fear, for my part, it is only a +very selfish pleasure," he said a trifle unctuously. + +"Not all would have had the courage," added the one who resembled +Bruder Pagel. + +"You mean," said Harris, a little puzzled, "the disturbing memories--?" + +Bruder Pagel looked at him steadily, with unmistakable admiration and +respect. "I mean that most men hold so strongly to life, and can give up +so little for their beliefs," he said gravely. + +The Englishman felt slightly uncomfortable. These worthy men really made +too much of his sentimental journey. Besides, the talk was getting a +little out of his depth. He hardly followed it. + +"The worldly life still has _some_ charms for me," he replied smilingly, +as though to indicate that sainthood was not yet quite within his grasp. + +"All the more, then, must we honour you for so freely coming," said the +Brother on his left; "so unconditionally!" + +A pause followed, and the silk merchant felt relieved when the +conversation took a more general turn, although he noted that it never +travelled very far from the subject of his visit and the wonderful +situation of the lonely village for men who wished to develop their +spiritual powers and practise the rites of a high worship. Others joined +in, complimenting him on his knowledge of the language, making him feel +utterly at his ease, yet at the same time a little uncomfortable by the +excess of their admiration. After all, it was such a very small thing to +do, this sentimental journey. + +The time passed along quickly; the coffee was excellent, the cigars soft +and of the nutty flavour he loved. At length, fearing to outstay his +welcome, he rose reluctantly to take his leave. But the others would not +hear of it. It was not often a former pupil returned to visit them in +this simple, unaffected way. The night was young. If necessary they +could even find him a corner in the great _Schlafzimmer_ upstairs. He +was easily persuaded to stay a little longer. Somehow he had become the +centre of the little party. He felt pleased, flattered, honoured. + +"And perhaps Bruder Schliemann will play something for us--now." + +It was Kalkmann speaking, and Harris started visibly as he heard the +name, and saw the black-haired man by the piano turn with a smile. For +Schliemann was the name of his old music director, who was dead. Could +this be his son? They were so exactly alike. + +"If Bruder Meyer has not put his Amati to bed, I will accompany him," +said the musician suggestively, looking across at a man whom Harris had +not yet noticed, and who, he now saw, was the very image of a former +master of that name. + +Meyer rose and excused himself with a little bow, and the Englishman +quickly observed that he had a peculiar gesture as though his neck had a +false join on to the body just below the collar and feared it might +break. Meyer of old had this trick of movement. He remembered how the +boys used to copy it. + +He glanced sharply from face to face, feeling as though some silent, +unseen process were changing everything about him. All the faces seemed +oddly familiar. Pagel, the Brother he had been talking with, was of +course the image of Pagel, his former room-master, and Kalkmann, he now +realised for the first time, was the very twin of another master whose +name he had quite forgotten, but whom he used to dislike intensely in +the old days. And, through the smoke, peering at him from the corners of +the room, he saw that all the Brothers about him had the faces he had +known and lived with long ago--Roest, Fluheim, Meinert, Rigel, Gysin. + +He stared hard, suddenly grown more alert, and everywhere saw, or +fancied he saw, strange likenesses, ghostly resemblances,--more, the +identical faces of years ago. There was something queer about it all, +something not quite right, something that made him feel uneasy. He shook +himself, mentally and actually, blowing the smoke from before his eyes +with a long breath, and as he did so he noticed to his dismay that every +one was fixedly staring. They were watching him. + +This brought him to his senses. As an Englishman, and a foreigner, he +did not wish to be rude, or to do anything to make himself foolishly +conspicuous and spoil the harmony of the evening. He was a guest, and a +privileged guest at that. Besides, the music had already begun. Bruder +Schliemann's long white fingers were caressing the keys to some purpose. + +He subsided into his chair and smoked with half-closed eyes that yet saw +everything. + +But the shudder had established itself in his being, and, whether he +would or not, it kept repeating itself. As a town, far up some inland +river, feels the pressure of the distant sea, so he became aware that +mighty forces from somewhere beyond his ken were urging themselves up +against his soul in this smoky little room. He began to feel exceedingly +ill at ease. + +And as the music filled the air his mind began to clear. Like a lifted +veil there rose up something that had hitherto obscured his vision. The +words of the priest at the railway inn flashed across his brain +unbidden: "You will find it different." And also, though why he could +not tell, he saw mentally the strong, rather wonderful eyes of that +other guest at the supper-table, the man who had overheard his +conversation, and had later got into earnest talk with the priest. He +took out his watch and stole a glance at it. Two hours had slipped by. +It was already eleven o'clock. + +Schliemann, meanwhile, utterly absorbed in his music, was playing a +solemn measure. The piano sang marvellously. The power of a great +conviction, the simplicity of great art, the vital spiritual message of +a soul that had found itself--all this, and more, were in the chords, +and yet somehow the music was what can only be described as +impure--atrociously and diabolically impure. And the piece itself, +although Harris did not recognise it as anything familiar, was surely +the music of a Mass--huge, majestic, sombre? It stalked through the +smoky room with slow power, like the passage of something that was +mighty, yet profoundly intimate, and as it went there stirred into each +and every face about him the signature of the enormous forces of which +it was the audible symbol. The countenances round him turned sinister, +but not idly, negatively sinister: they grew dark with purpose. He +suddenly recalled the face of Bruder Kalkmann in the corridor earlier in +the evening. The motives of their secret souls rose to the eyes, and +mouths, and foreheads, and hung there for all to see like the black +banners of an assembly of ill-starred and fallen creatures. Demons--was +the horrible word that flashed through his brain like a sheet of fire. + +When this sudden discovery leaped out upon him, for a moment he lost his +self-control. Without waiting to think and weigh his extraordinary +impression, he did a very foolish but a very natural thing. Feeling +himself irresistibly driven by the sudden stress to some kind of action, +he sprang to his feet--and screamed! To his own utter amazement he stood +up and shrieked aloud! + +But no one stirred. No one, apparently, took the slightest notice of his +absurdly wild behaviour. It was almost as if no one but himself had +heard the scream at all--as though the music had drowned it and +swallowed it up--as though after all perhaps he had not really screamed +as loudly as he imagined, or had not screamed at all. + +Then, as he glanced at the motionless, dark faces before him, something +of utter cold passed into his being, touching his very soul.... All +emotion cooled suddenly, leaving him like a receding tide. He sat down +again, ashamed, mortified, angry with himself for behaving like a fool +and a boy. And the music, meanwhile, continued to issue from the white +and snakelike fingers of Bruder Schliemann, as poisoned wine might issue +from the weirdly fashioned necks of antique phials. + +And, with the rest of them, Harris drank it in. + +Forcing himself to believe that he had been the victim of some kind of +illusory perception, he vigorously restrained his feelings. Then the +music presently ceased, and every one applauded and began to talk at +once, laughing, changing seats, complimenting the player, and behaving +naturally and easily as though nothing out of the way had happened. The +faces appeared normal once more. The Brothers crowded round their +visitor, and he joined in their talk and even heard himself thanking the +gifted musician. + +But, at the same time, he found himself edging towards the door, nearer +and nearer, changing his chair when possible, and joining the groups +that stood closest to the way of escape. + +"I must thank you all _tausendmal_ for my little reception and the great +pleasure--the very great honour you have done me," he began in decided +tones at length, "but I fear I have trespassed far too long already on +your hospitality. Moreover, I have some distance to walk to my inn." + +A chorus of voices greeted his words. They would not hear of his +going,--at least not without first partaking of refreshment. They +produced pumpernickel from one cupboard, and rye-bread and sausage from +another, and all began to talk again and eat. More coffee was made, +fresh cigars lighted, and Bruder Meyer took out his violin and began to +tune it softly. + +"There is always a bed upstairs if Herr Harris will accept it," said +one. + +"And it is difficult to find the way out now, for all the doors are +locked," laughed another loudly. + +"Let us take our simple pleasures as they come," cried a third. "Bruder +Harris will understand how we appreciate the honour of this last visit +of his." + +They made a dozen excuses. They all laughed, as though the politeness of +their words was but formal, and veiled thinly--more and more thinly--a +very different meaning. + +"And the hour of midnight draws near," added Bruder Kalkmann with a +charming smile, but in a voice that sounded to the Englishman like the +grating of iron hinges. + +Their German seemed to him more and more difficult to understand. He +noted that they called him "Bruder" too, classing him as one of +themselves. + +And then suddenly he had a flash of keener perception, and realised with +a creeping of his flesh that he had all along misinterpreted--grossly +misinterpreted all they had been saying. They had talked about the +beauty of the place, its isolation and remoteness from the world, its +peculiar fitness for certain kinds of spiritual development and +worship--yet hardly, he now grasped, in the sense in which he had taken +the words. They had meant something different. Their spiritual powers, +their desire for loneliness, their passion for worship, were not the +powers, the solitude, or the worship that _he_ meant and understood. He +was playing a part in some horrible masquerade; he was among men who +cloaked their lives with religion in order to follow their real purposes +unseen of men. + +What did it all mean? How had he blundered into so equivocal a +situation? Had he blundered into it at all? Had he not rather been led +into it, deliberately led? His thoughts grew dreadfully confused, and +his confidence in himself began to fade. And why, he suddenly thought +again, were they so impressed by the mere fact of his coming to revisit +his old school? What was it they so admired and wondered at in his +simple act? Why did they set such store upon his having the courage to +come, to "give himself so freely," "unconditionally" as one of them had +expressed it with such a mockery of exaggeration? + +Fear stirred in his heart most horribly, and he found no answer to any +of his questionings. Only one thing he now understood quite clearly: it +was their purpose to keep him here. They did not intend that he should +go. And from this moment he realised that they were sinister, formidable +and, in some way he had yet to discover, inimical to himself, inimical +to his life. And the phrase one of them had used a moment ago--"this +_last_ visit of his"--rose before his eyes in letters of flame. + +Harris was not a man of action, and had never known in all the course of +his career what it meant to be in a situation of real danger. He was not +necessarily a coward, though, perhaps, a man of untried nerve. He +realised at last plainly that he was in a very awkward predicament +indeed, and that he had to deal with men who were utterly in earnest. +What their intentions were he only vaguely guessed. His mind, indeed, +was too confused for definite ratiocination, and he was only able to +follow blindly the strongest instincts that moved in him. It never +occurred to him that the Brothers might all be mad, or that he himself +might have temporarily lost his senses and be suffering under some +terrible delusion. In fact, nothing occurred to him--he realised +nothing--except that he meant to escape--and the quicker the better. A +tremendous revulsion of feeling set in and overpowered him. + +Accordingly, without further protest for the moment, he ate his +pumpernickel and drank his coffee, talking meanwhile as naturally and +pleasantly as he could, and when a suitable interval had passed, he rose +to his feet and announced once more that he must now take his leave. He +spoke very quietly, but very decidedly. No one hearing him could doubt +that he meant what he said. He had got very close to the door by this +time. + +"I regret," he said, using his best German, and speaking to a hushed +room, "that our pleasant evening must come to an end, but it is now +time for me to wish you all good-night." And then, as no one said +anything, he added, though with a trifle less assurance, "And I thank +you all most sincerely for your hospitality." + +"On the contrary," replied Kalkmann instantly, rising from his chair and +ignoring the hand the Englishman had stretched out to him, "it is we who +have to thank you; and we do so most gratefully and sincerely." + +And at the same moment at least half a dozen of the Brothers took up +their position between himself and the door. + +"You are very good to say so," Harris replied as firmly as he could +manage, noticing this movement out of the corner of his eye, "but really +I had no conception that--my little chance visit could have afforded you +so much pleasure." He moved another step nearer the door, but Bruder +Schliemann came across the room quickly and stood in front of him. His +attitude was uncompromising. A dark and terrible expression had come +into his face. + +"But it was _not_ by chance that you came, Bruder Harris," he said so +that all the room could hear; "surely we have not misunderstood your +presence here?" He raised his black eyebrows. + +"No, no," the Englishman hastened to reply, "I was--I am delighted to be +here. I told you what pleasure it gave me to find myself among you. Do +not misunderstand me, I beg." His voice faltered a little, and he had +difficulty in finding the words. More and more, too, he had difficulty +in understanding _their_ words. + +"Of course," interposed Bruder Kalkmann in his iron bass, "_we_ have not +misunderstood. You have come back in the spirit of true and unselfish +devotion. You offer yourself freely, and we all appreciate it. It is +your willingness and nobility that have so completely won our veneration +and respect." A faint murmur of applause ran round the room. "What we +all delight in--what our great Master will especially delight in--is the +value of your spontaneous and voluntary--" + +He used a word Harris did not understand. He said "_Opfer_." The +bewildered Englishman searched his brain for the translation, and +searched in vain. For the life of him he could not remember what it +meant. But the word, for all his inability to translate it, touched his +soul with ice. It was worse, far worse, than anything he had imagined. +He felt like a lost, helpless creature, and all power to fight sank out +of him from that moment. + +"It is magnificent to be such a willing--" added Schliemann, sidling +up to him with a dreadful leer on his face. He made use of the same +word--"_Opfer_." + +"God! What could it all mean?" "Offer himself!" "True spirit of +devotion!" "Willing," "unselfish," "magnificent!" _Opfer, Opfer, Opfer!_ +What in the name of heaven did it mean, that strange, mysterious word +that struck such terror into his heart? + +He made a valiant effort to keep his presence of mind and hold his +nerves steady. Turning, he saw that Kalkmann's face was a dead white. +Kalkmann! He understood that well enough. _Kalkmann_ meant "Man of +Chalk": he knew that. But what did "_Opfer_" mean? That was the real key +to the situation. Words poured through his disordered mind in an endless +stream--unusual, rare words he had perhaps heard but once in his +life--while "_Opfer_," a word in common use, entirely escaped him. What +an extraordinary mockery it all was! + +Then Kalkmann, pale as death, but his face hard as iron, spoke a few low +words that he did not catch, and the Brothers standing by the walls at +once turned the lamps down so that the room became dim. In the half +light he could only just discern their faces and movements. + +"It is time," he heard Kalkmann's remorseless voice continue just behind +him. "The hour of midnight is at hand. Let us prepare. He comes! He +comes; Bruder Asmodelius comes!" His voice rose to a chant. + +And the sound of that name, for some extraordinary reason, was +terrible--utterly terrible; so that Harris shook from head to foot as he +heard it. Its utterance filled the air like soft thunder, and a hush +came over the whole room. Forces rose all about him, transforming the +normal into the horrible, and the spirit of craven fear ran through all +his being, bringing him to the verge of collapse. + +_Asmodelius! Asmodelius!_ The name was appalling. For he understood at +last to whom it referred and the meaning that lay between its great +syllables. At the same instant, too, he suddenly understood the meaning +of that unremembered word. The import of the word "_Opfer_" flashed upon +his soul like a message of death. + +He thought of making a wild effort to reach the door, but the weakness +of his trembling knees, and the row of black figures that stood between, +dissuaded him at once. He would have screamed for help, but remembering +the emptiness of the vast building, and the loneliness of the situation, +he understood that no help could come that way, and he kept his lips +closed. He stood still and did nothing. But he knew now what was coming. + +Two of the Brothers approached and took him gently by the arm. + +"Bruder Asmodelius accepts you," they whispered; "are you ready?" + +Then he found his tongue and tried to speak. "But what have I to do with +this Bruder Asm--Asmo--?" he stammered, a desperate rush of words +crowding vainly behind the halting tongue. + +The name refused to pass his lips. He could not pronounce it as they +did. He could not pronounce it at all. His sense of helplessness then +entered the acute stage, for this inability to speak the name produced +a fresh sense of quite horrible confusion in his mind, and he became +extraordinarily agitated. + +"I came here for a friendly visit," he tried to say with a great effort, +but, to his intense dismay, he heard his voice saying something quite +different, and actually making use of that very word they had all used: +"I came here as a willing _Opfer_," he heard his own voice say, "and _I +am quite ready_." + +He was lost beyond all recall now! Not alone his mind, but the very +muscles of his body had passed out of control. He felt that he was +hovering on the confines of a phantom or demon-world,--a world in which +the name they had spoken constituted the Master-name, the word of +ultimate power. + +What followed he heard and saw as in a nightmare. + +"In the half light that veils all truth, let us prepare to worship and +adore," chanted Schliemann, who had preceded him to the end of the room. + +"In the mists that protect our faces before the Black Throne, let us +make ready the willing victim," echoed Kalkmann in his great bass. + +They raised their faces, listening expectantly, as a roaring sound, like +the passing of mighty projectiles, filled the air, far, far away, very +wonderful, very forbidding. The walls of the room trembled. + +"He comes! He comes! He comes!" chanted the Brothers in chorus. + +The sound of roaring died away, and an atmosphere of still and utter +cold established itself over all. Then Kalkmann, dark and unutterably +stern, turned in the dim light and faced the rest. + +"Asmodelius, our _Hauptbruder_, is about us," he cried in a voice that +even while it shook was yet a voice of iron; "Asmodelius is about us. +Make ready." + +There followed a pause in which no one stirred or spoke. A tall Brother +approached the Englishman; but Kalkmann held up his hand. + +"Let the eyes remain uncovered," he said, "in honour of so freely giving +himself." And to his horror Harris then realised for the first time that +his hands were already fastened to his sides. + +The Brother retreated again silently, and in the pause that followed all +the figures about him dropped to their knees, leaving him standing +alone, and as they dropped, in voices hushed with mingled reverence and +awe, they cried, softly, odiously, appallingly, the name of the Being +whom they momentarily expected to appear. + +Then, at the end of the room, where the windows seemed to have +disappeared so that he saw the stars, there rose into view far up +against the night sky, grand and terrible, the outline of a man. A kind +of grey glory enveloped it so that it resembled a steel-cased statue, +immense, imposing, horrific in its distant splendour; while, at the same +time, the face was so spiritually mighty, yet so proudly, so austerely +sad, that Harris felt as he stared, that the sight was more than his +eyes could meet, and that in another moment the power of vision would +fail him altogether, and he must sink into utter nothingness. + +So remote and inaccessible hung this figure that it was impossible to +gauge anything as to its size, yet at the same time so strangely close, +that when the grey radiance from its mightily broken visage, august and +mournful, beat down upon his soul, pulsing like some dark star with the +powers of spiritual evil, he felt almost as though he were looking into +a face no farther removed from him in space than the face of any one of +the Brothers who stood by his side. + +And then the room filled and trembled with sounds that Harris understood +full well were the failing voices of others who had preceded him in a +long series down the years. There came first a plain, sharp cry, as of a +man in the last anguish, choking for his breath, and yet, with the very +final expiration of it, breathing the name of the Worship--of the dark +Being who rejoiced to hear it. The cries of the strangled; the short, +running gasp of the suffocated; and the smothered gurgling of the +tightened throat, all these, and more, echoed back and forth between the +walls, the very walls in which he now stood a prisoner, a sacrificial +victim. The cries, too, not alone of the broken bodies, but--far +worse--of beaten, broken souls. And as the ghastly chorus rose and fell, +there came also the faces of the lost and unhappy creatures to whom they +belonged, and, against that curtain of pale grey light, he saw float +past him in the air, an array of white and piteous human countenances +that seemed to beckon and gibber at him as though he were already one of +themselves. + +Slowly, too, as the voices rose, and the pallid crew sailed past, that +giant form of grey descended from the sky and approached the room that +contained the worshippers and their prisoner. Hands rose and sank about +him in the darkness, and he felt that he was being draped in other +garments than his own; a circlet of ice seemed to run about his head, +while round the waist, enclosing the fastened arms, he felt a girdle +tightly drawn. At last, about his very throat, there ran a soft and +silken touch which, better than if there had been full light, and a +mirror held to his face, he understood to be the cord of sacrifice--and +of death. + +At this moment the Brothers, still prostrate upon the floor, began again +their mournful, yet impassioned chanting, and as they did so a strange +thing happened. For, apparently without moving or altering its position, +the huge Figure seemed, at once and suddenly, to be inside the room, +almost beside him, and to fill the space around him to the exclusion of +all else. + +He was now beyond all ordinary sensations of fear, only a drab feeling +as of death--the death of the soul--stirred in his heart. His thoughts +no longer even beat vainly for escape. The end was near, and he knew it. + +The dreadfully chanting voices rose about him in a wave: "We worship! We +adore! We offer!" The sounds filled his ears and hammered, almost +meaningless, upon his brain. + +Then the majestic grey face turned slowly downwards upon him, and his +very soul passed outwards and seemed to become absorbed in the sea of +those anguished eyes. At the same moment a dozen hands forced him to his +knees, and in the air before him he saw the arm of Kalkmann upraised, +and felt the pressure about his throat grow strong. + +It was in this awful moment, when he had given up all hope, and the help +of gods or men seemed beyond question, that a strange thing happened. +For before his fading and terrified vision there slid, as in a dream of +light,--yet without apparent rhyme or reason--wholly unbidden and +unexplained,--the face of that other man at the supper table of the +railway inn. And the sight, even mentally, of that strong, wholesome, +vigorous English face, inspired him suddenly with a new courage. + +It was but a flash of fading vision before he sank into a dark and +terrible death, yet, in some inexplicable way, the sight of that face +stirred in him unconquerable hope and the certainty of deliverance. It +was a face of power, a face, he now realised, of simple goodness such as +might have been seen by men of old on the shores of Galilee; a face, by +heaven, that could conquer even the devils of outer space. + +And, in his despair and abandonment, he called upon it, and called with +no uncertain accents. He found his voice in this overwhelming moment to +some purpose; though the words he actually used, and whether they were +in German or English, he could never remember. Their effect, +nevertheless, was instantaneous. The Brothers understood, and that grey +Figure of evil understood. + +For a second the confusion was terrific. There came a great shattering +sound. It seemed that the very earth trembled. But all Harris remembered +afterwards was that voices rose about him in the clamour of terrified +alarm-- + +"A man of power is among us! A man of God!" + +The vast sound was repeated--the rushing through space as of huge +projectiles--and he sank to the floor of the room, unconscious. The +entire scene had vanished, vanished like smoke over the roof of a +cottage when the wind blows. + +And, by his side, sat down a slight un-German figure,--the figure of the +stranger at the inn,--the man who had the "rather wonderful eyes." + + * * * * * + +When Harris came to himself he felt cold. He was lying under the open +sky, and the cool air of field and forest was blowing upon his face. He +sat up and looked about him. The memory of the late scene was still +horribly in his mind, but no vestige of it remained. No walls or ceiling +enclosed him; he was no longer in a room at all. There were no lamps +turned low, no cigar smoke, no black forms of sinister worshippers, no +tremendous grey Figure hovering beyond the windows. + +Open space was about him, and he was lying on a pile of bricks and +mortar, his clothes soaked with dew, and the kind stars shining brightly +overhead. He was lying, bruised and shaken, among the heaped-up debris +of a ruined building. + +He stood up and stared about him. There, in the shadowy distance, lay +the surrounding forest, and here, close at hand, stood the outline of +the village buildings. But, underfoot, beyond question, lay nothing but +the broken heaps of stones that betokened a building long since crumbled +to dust. Then he saw that the stones were blackened, and that great +wooden beams, half burnt, half rotten, made lines through the general +debris. He stood, then, among the ruins of a burnt and shattered +building, the weeds and nettles proving conclusively that it had lain +thus for many years. + +The moon had already set behind the encircling forest, but the stars +that spangled the heavens threw enough light to enable him to make quite +sure of what he saw. Harris, the silk merchant, stood among these broken +and burnt stones and shivered. + +Then he suddenly became aware that out of the gloom a figure had risen +and stood beside him. Peering at him, he thought he recognised the face +of the stranger at the railway inn. + +"Are _you_ real?" he asked in a voice he hardly recognised as his own. + +"More than real--I'm friendly," replied the stranger; "I followed you up +here from the inn." + +Harris stood and stared for several minutes without adding anything. His +teeth chattered. The least sound made him start; but the simple words in +his own language, and the tone in which they were uttered, comforted him +inconceivably. + +"You're English too, thank God," he said inconsequently. "These German +devils--" He broke off and put a hand to his eyes. "But what's become +of them all--and the room--and--and--" The hand travelled down to his +throat and moved nervously round his neck. He drew a long, long breath +of relief. "Did I dream everything--everything?" he said distractedly. + +He stared wildly about him, and the stranger moved forward and took his +arm. "Come," he said soothingly, yet with a trace of command in the +voice, "we will move away from here. The high-road, or even the woods +will be more to your taste, for we are standing now on one of the most +haunted--and most terribly haunted--spots of the whole world." + +He guided his companion's stumbling footsteps over the broken masonry +until they reached the path, the nettles stinging their hands, and +Harris feeling his way like a man in a dream. Passing through the +twisted iron railing they reached the path, and thence made their way to +the road, shining white in the night. Once safely out of the ruins, +Harris collected himself and turned to look back. + +"But, how is it possible?" he exclaimed, his voice still shaking. "How +can it be possible? When I came in here I saw the building in the +moonlight. They opened the door. I saw the figures and heard the voices +and touched, yes touched their very hands, and saw their damned black +faces, saw them far more plainly than I see you now." He was deeply +bewildered. The glamour was still upon his eyes with a degree of reality +stronger than the reality even of normal life. "Was I so utterly +deluded?" + +Then suddenly the words of the stranger, which he had only half heard or +understood, returned to him. + +"Haunted?" he asked, looking hard at him; "haunted, did you say?" He +paused in the roadway and stared into the darkness where the building of +the old school had first appeared to him. But the stranger hurried him +forward. + +"We shall talk more safely farther on," he said. "I followed you from +the inn the moment I realised where you had gone. When I found you it +was eleven o'clock--" + +"Eleven o'clock," said Harris, remembering with a shudder. + +"--I saw you drop. I watched over you till you recovered consciousness +of your own accord, and now--now I am here to guide you safely back to +the inn. I have broken the spell--the glamour--" + +"I owe you a great deal, sir," interrupted Harris again, beginning to +understand something of the stranger's kindness, "but I don't understand +it all. I feel dazed and shaken." His teeth still chattered, and spells +of violent shivering passed over him from head to foot. He found that he +was clinging to the other's arm. In this way they passed beyond the +deserted and crumbling village and gained the high-road that led +homewards through the forest. + +"That school building has long been in ruins," said the man at his side +presently; "it was burnt down by order of the Elders of the community at +least ten years ago. The village has been uninhabited ever since. But +the simulacra of certain ghastly events that took place under that roof +in past days still continue. And the 'shells' of the chief participants +still enact there the dreadful deeds that led to its final destruction, +and to the desertion of the whole settlement. They were +devil-worshippers!" + +Harris listened with beads of perspiration on his forehead that did not +come alone from their leisurely pace through the cool night. Although he +had seen this man but once before in his life, and had never before +exchanged so much as a word with him, he felt a degree of confidence and +a subtle sense of safety and well-being in his presence that were the +most healing influences he could possibly have wished after the +experience he had been through. For all that, he still felt as if he +were walking in a dream, and though he heard every word that fell from +his companion's lips, it was only the next day that the full import of +all he said became fully clear to him. The presence of this quiet +stranger, the man with the wonderful eyes which he felt now, rather than +saw, applied a soothing anodyne to his shattered spirit that healed him +through and through. And this healing influence, distilled from the dark +figure at his side, satisfied his first imperative need, so that he +almost forgot to realise how strange and opportune it was that the man +should be there at all. + +It somehow never occurred to him to ask his name, or to feel any undue +wonder that one passing tourist should take so much trouble on behalf of +another. He just walked by his side, listening to his quiet words, and +allowing himself to enjoy the very wonderful experience after his recent +ordeal, of being helped, strengthened, blessed. Only once, remembering +vaguely something of his reading of years ago, he turned to the man +beside him, after some more than usually remarkable words, and heard +himself, almost involuntarily it seemed, putting the question: "Then are +you a Rosicrucian, sir, perhaps?" But the stranger had ignored the +words, or possibly not heard them, for he continued with his talk as +though unconscious of any interruption, and Harris became aware that +another somewhat unusual picture had taken possession of his mind, as +they walked there side by side through the cool reaches of the forest, +and that he had found his imagination suddenly charged with the +childhood memory of Jacob wrestling with an angel,--wrestling all night +with a being of superior quality whose strength eventually became his +own. + +"It was your abrupt conversation with the priest at supper that first +put me upon the track of this remarkable occurrence," he heard the +man's quiet voice beside him in the darkness, "and it was from him I +learned after you left the story of the devil-worship that became +secretly established in the heart of this simple and devout little +community." + +"Devil-worship! Here--!" Harris stammered, aghast. + +"Yes--here;--conducted secretly for years by a group of Brothers before +unexplained disappearances in the neighbourhood led to its discovery. +For where could they have found a safer place in the whole wide world +for their ghastly traffic and perverted powers than here, in the very +precincts--under cover of the very shadow of saintliness and holy +living?" + +"Awful, awful!" whispered the silk merchant, "and when I tell you the +words they used to me--" + +"I know it all," the stranger said quietly. "I saw and heard everything. +My plan first was to wait till the end and then to take steps for their +destruction, but in the interest of your personal safety,"--he spoke +with the utmost gravity and conviction,--"in the interest of the safety +of your soul, I made my presence known when I did, and before the +conclusion had been reached--" + +"My safety! The danger, then, was real. They were alive and--" Words +failed him. He stopped in the road and turned towards his companion, the +shining of whose eyes he could just make out in the gloom. + +"It was a concourse of the shells of violent men, spiritually developed +but evil men, seeking after death--the death of the body--to prolong +their vile and unnatural existence. And had they accomplished their +object you, in turn, at the death of your body, would have passed into +their power and helped to swell their dreadful purposes." + +Harris made no reply. He was trying hard to concentrate his mind upon +the sweet and common things of life. He even thought of silk and St. +Paul's Churchyard and the faces of his partners in business. + +"For you came all prepared to be caught," he heard the other's voice +like some one talking to him from a distance; "your deeply introspective +mood had already reconstructed the past so vividly, so intensely, that +you were _en rapport_ at once with any forces of those days that chanced +still to be lingering. And they swept you up all unresistingly." + +Harris tightened his hold upon the stranger's arm as he heard. At the +moment he had room for one emotion only. It did not seem to him odd that +this stranger should have such intimate knowledge of his mind. + +"It is, alas, chiefly the evil emotions that are able to leave their +photographs upon surrounding scenes and objects," the other added, "and +who ever heard of a place haunted by a noble deed, or of beautiful and +lovely ghosts revisiting the glimpses of the moon? It is unfortunate. +But the wicked passions of men's hearts alone seem strong enough to +leave pictures that persist; the good are ever too lukewarm." + +The stranger sighed as he spoke. But Harris, exhausted and shaken as he +was to the very core, paced by his side, only half listening. He moved +as in a dream still. It was very wonderful to him, this walk home under +the stars in the early hours of the October morning, the peaceful forest +all about them, mist rising here and there over the small clearings, and +the sound of water from a hundred little invisible streams filling in +the pauses of the talk. In after life he always looked back to it as +something magical and impossible, something that had seemed too +beautiful, too curiously beautiful, to have been quite true. And, though +at the time he heard and understood but a quarter of what the stranger +said, it came back to him afterwards, staying with him till the end of +his days, and always with a curious, haunting sense of unreality, as +though he had enjoyed a wonderful dream of which he could recall only +faint and exquisite portions. + +But the horror of the earlier experience was effectually dispelled; and +when they reached the railway inn, somewhere about three o'clock in the +morning, Harris shook the stranger's hand gratefully, effusively, +meeting the look of those rather wonderful eyes with a full heart, and +went up to his room, thinking in a hazy, dream-like way of the words +with which the stranger had brought their conversation to an end as they +left the confines of the forest-- + +"And if thought and emotion can persist in this way so long after the +brain that sent them forth has crumbled into dust, how vitally important +it must be to control their very birth in the heart, and guard them with +the keenest possible restraint." + +But Harris, the silk merchant, slept better than might have been +expected, and with a soundness that carried him half-way through the +day. And when he came downstairs and learned that the stranger had +already taken his departure, he realised with keen regret that he had +never once thought of asking his name. + +"Yes, he signed the visitors' book," said the girl in reply to his +question. + +And he turned over the blotted pages and found there, the last entry, in +a very delicate and individual handwriting-- + +"_John Silence_, London." + + + + +CASE II: THE CAMP OF THE DOG + + +I + +Islands of all shapes and sizes troop northward from Stockholm by the +hundred, and the little steamer that threads their intricate mazes in +summer leaves the traveller in a somewhat bewildered state as regards +the points of the compass when it reaches the end of its journey at +Waxholm. But it is only after Waxholm that the true islands begin, so to +speak, to run wild, and start up the coast on their tangled course of a +hundred miles of deserted loveliness, and it was in the very heart of +this delightful confusion that we pitched our tents for a summer +holiday. A veritable wilderness of islands lay about us: from the mere +round button of a rock that bore a single fir, to the mountainous +stretch of a square mile, densely wooded, and bounded by precipitous +cliffs; so close together often that a strip of water ran between no +wider than a country lane, or, again, so far that an expanse stretched +like the open sea for miles. + +Although the larger islands boasted farms and fishing stations, the +majority were uninhabited. Carpeted with moss and heather, their +coast-lines showed a series of ravines and clefts and little sandy bays, +with a growth of splendid pine-woods that came down to the water's edge +and led the eye through unknown depths of shadow and mystery into the +very heart of primitive forest. + +The particular islands to which we had camping rights by virtue of +paying a nominal sum to a Stockholm merchant lay together in a +picturesque group far beyond the reach of the steamer, one being a mere +reef with a fringe of fairy-like birches, and two others, cliff-bound +monsters rising with wooded heads out of the sea. The fourth, which we +selected because it enclosed a little lagoon suitable for anchorage, +bathing, night-lines, and what-not, shall have what description is +necessary as the story proceeds; but, so far as paying rent was +concerned, we might equally well have pitched our tents on any one of a +hundred others that clustered about us as thickly as a swarm of bees. + +It was in the blaze of an evening in July, the air clear as crystal, the +sea a cobalt blue, when we left the steamer on the borders of +civilisation and sailed away with maps, compasses, and provisions for +the little group of dots in the Skaegard that were to be our home for the +next two months. The dinghy and my Canadian canoe trailed behind us, +with tents and dunnage carefully piled aboard, and when the point of +cliff intervened to hide the steamer and the Waxholm hotel we realised +for the first time that the horror of trains and houses was far behind +us, the fever of men and cities, the weariness of streets and confined +spaces. The wilderness opened up on all sides into endless blue reaches, +and the map and compasses were so frequently called into requisition +that we went astray more often than not and progress was enchantingly +slow. It took us, for instance, two whole days to find our +crescent-shaped home, and the camps we made on the way were so +fascinating that we left them with difficulty and regret, for each +island seemed more desirable than the one before it, and over all lay +the spell of haunting peace, remoteness from the turmoil of the world, +and the freedom of open and desolate spaces. + +And so many of these spots of world-beauty have I sought out and dwelt +in, that in my mind remains only a composite memory of their faces, a +true map of heaven, as it were, from which this particular one stands +forth with unusual sharpness because of the strange things that happened +there, and also, I think, because anything in which John Silence played +a part has a habit of fixing itself in the mind with a living and +lasting quality of vividness. + +For the moment, however, Dr. Silence was not of the party. Some private +case in the interior of Hungary claimed his attention, and it was not +till later--the 15th of August, to be exact--that I had arranged to meet +him in Berlin and then return to London together for our harvest of +winter work. All the members of our party, however, were known to him +more or less well, and on this third day as we sailed through the narrow +opening into the lagoon and saw the circular ridge of trees in a gold +and crimson sunset before us, his last words to me when we parted in +London for some unaccountable reason came back very sharply to my +memory, and recalled the curious impression of prophecy with which I had +first heard them: + +"Enjoy your holiday and store up all the force you can," he had said as +the train slipped out of Victoria; "and we will meet in Berlin on the +15th--unless you should send for me sooner." + +And now suddenly the words returned to me so clearly that it seemed I +almost heard his voice in my ear: "Unless you should send for me +sooner"; and returned, moreover, with a significance I was wholly at a +loss to understand that touched somewhere in the depths of my mind a +vague sense of apprehension that they had all along been intended in the +nature of a prophecy. + +In the lagoon, then, the wind failed us this July evening, as was only +natural behind the shelter of the belt of woods, and we took to the +oars, all breathless with the beauty of this first sight of our island +home, yet all talking in somewhat hushed voices of the best place to +land, the depth of water, the safest place to anchor, to put up the +tents in, the most sheltered spot for the camp-fires, and a dozen things +of importance that crop up when a home in the wilderness has actually to +be made. + +And during this busy sunset hour of unloading before the dark, the souls +of my companions adopted the trick of presenting themselves very vividly +anew before my mind, and introducing themselves afresh. + +In reality, I suppose, our party was in no sense singular. In the +conventional life at home they certainly seemed ordinary enough, but +suddenly, as we passed through these gates of the wilderness, I saw them +more sharply than before, with characters stripped of the atmosphere of +men and cities. A complete change of setting often furnishes a +startlingly new view of people hitherto held for well-known; they +present another facet of their personalities. I seemed to see my own +party almost as new people--people I had not known properly hitherto, +people who would drop all disguises and henceforth reveal themselves as +they really were. And each one seemed to say: "Now you will see me as I +am. You will see me here in this primitive life of the wilderness +without clothes. All my masks and veils I have left behind in the abodes +of men. So, look out for surprises!" + +The Reverend Timothy Maloney helped me to put up the tents, long +practice making the process easy, and while he drove in pegs and +tightened ropes, his coat off, his flannel collar flying open without a +tie, it was impossible to avoid the conclusion that he was cut out for +the life of a pioneer rather than the church. He was fifty years of age, +muscular, blue-eyed and hearty, and he took his share of the work, and +more, without shirking. The way he handled the axe in cutting down +saplings for the tent-poles was a delight to see, and his eye in judging +the level was unfailing. + +Bullied as a young man into a lucrative family living, he had in turn +bullied his mind into some semblance of orthodox beliefs, doing the +honours of the little country church with an energy that made one think +of a coal-heaver tending china; and it was only in the past few years +that he had resigned the living and taken instead to cramming young men +for their examinations. This suited him better. It enabled him, too, to +indulge his passion for spells of "wild life," and to spend the summer +months of most years under canvas in one part of the world or another +where he could take his young men with him and combine "reading" with +open air. + +His wife usually accompanied him, and there was no doubt she enjoyed +the trips, for she possessed, though in less degree, the same joy of the +wilderness that was his own distinguishing characteristic. The only +difference was that while he regarded it as the real life, she regarded +it as an interlude. While he camped out with his heart and mind, she +played at camping out with her clothes and body. None the less, she made +a splendid companion, and to watch her busy cooking dinner over the fire +we had built among the stones was to understand that her heart was in +the business for the moment and that she was happy even with the detail. + +Mrs. Maloney at home, knitting in the sun and believing that the world +was made in six days, was one woman; but Mrs. Maloney, standing with +bare arms over the smoke of a wood fire under the pine trees, was +another; and Peter Sangree, the Canadian pupil, with his pale skin, and +his loose, though not ungainly figure, stood beside her in very +unfavourable contrast as he scraped potatoes and sliced bacon with +slender white fingers that seemed better suited to hold a pen than a +knife. She ordered him about like a slave, and he obeyed, too, with +willing pleasure, for in spite of his general appearance of debility he +was as happy to be in camp as any of them. + +But more than any other member of the party, Joan Maloney, the daughter, +was the one who seemed a natural and genuine part of the landscape, who +belonged to it all just in the same way that the trees and the moss and +the grey rocks running out into the water belonged to it. For she was +obviously in her right and natural setting, a creature of the wilds, a +gipsy in her own home. + +To any one with a discerning eye this would have been more or less +apparent, but to me, who had known her during all the twenty-two years +of her life and was familiar with the ins and outs of her primitive, +utterly un-modern type, it was strikingly clear. To see her there made +it impossible to imagine her again in civilisation. I lost all +recollection of how she looked in a town. The memory somehow evaporated. +This slim creature before me, flitting to and fro with the grace of the +woodland life, swift, supple, adroit, on her knees blowing the fire, or +stirring the frying-pan through a veil of smoke, suddenly seemed the +only way I had ever really seen her. Here she was at home; in London she +became some one concealed by clothes, an artificial doll overdressed and +moving by clockwork, only a portion of her alive. Here she was alive all +over. + +I forget altogether how she was dressed, just as I forget how any +particular tree was dressed, or how the markings ran on any one of the +boulders that lay about the Camp. She looked just as wild and natural +and untamed as everything else that went to make up the scene, and more +than that I cannot say. + +Pretty, she was decidedly not. She was thin, skinny, dark-haired, and +possessed of great physical strength in the form of endurance. She had, +too, something of the force and vigorous purpose of a man, tempestuous +sometimes and wild to passionate, frightening her mother, and puzzling +her easy-going father with her storms of waywardness, while at the same +time she stirred his admiration by her violence. A pagan of the pagans +she was besides, and with some haunting suggestion of old-world pagan +beauty about her dark face and eyes. Altogether an odd and difficult +character, but with a generosity and high courage that made her very +lovable. + +In town life she always seemed to me to feel cramped, bored, a devil in +a cage, in her eyes a hunted expression as though any moment she dreaded +to be caught. But up in these spacious solitudes all this disappeared. +Away from the limitations that plagued and stung her, she would show at +her best, and as I watched her moving about the Camp I repeatedly found +myself thinking of a wild creature that had just obtained its freedom +and was trying its muscles. + +Peter Sangree, of course, at once went down before her. But she was so +obviously beyond his reach, and besides so well able to take care of +herself, that I think her parents gave the matter but little thought, +and he himself worshipped at a respectful distance, keeping admirable +control of his passion in all respects save one; for at his age the eyes +are difficult to master, and the yearning, almost the devouring, +expression often visible in them was probably there unknown even to +himself. He, better than any one else, understood that he had fallen in +love with something most hard of attainment, something that drew him to +the very edge of life, and almost beyond it. It, no doubt, was a secret +and terrible joy to him, this passionate worship from afar; only I think +he suffered more than any one guessed, and that his want of vitality was +due in large measure to the constant stream of unsatisfied yearning that +poured for ever from his soul and body. Moreover, it seemed to me, who +now saw them for the first time together, that there was an unnamable +something--an elusive quality of some kind--that marked them as +belonging to the same world, and that although the girl ignored him she +was secretly, and perhaps unknown to herself, drawn by some attribute +very deep in her own nature to some quality equally deep in his. + +This, then, was the party when we first settled down into our two +months' camp on the island in the Baltic Sea. Other figures flitted from +time to time across the scene, and sometimes one reading man, sometimes +another, came to join us and spend his four hours a day in the +clergyman's tent, but they came for short periods only, and they went +without leaving much trace in my memory, and certainly they played no +important part in what subsequently happened. + +The weather favoured us that night, so that by sunset the tents were up, +the boats unloaded, a store of wood collected and chopped into lengths, +and the candle-lanterns hung round ready for lighting on the trees. +Sangree, too, had picked deep mattresses of balsam boughs for the +women's beds, and had cleared little paths of brushwood from their tents +to the central fireplace. All was prepared for bad weather. It was a +cosy supper and a well-cooked one that we sat down to and ate under the +stars, and, according to the clergyman, the only meal fit to eat we had +seen since we left London a week before. + +The deep stillness, after that roar of steamers, trains, and tourists, +held something that thrilled, for as we lay round the fire there was no +sound but the faint sighing of the pines and the soft lapping of the +waves along the shore and against the sides of the boat in the lagoon. +The ghostly outline of her white sails was just visible through the +trees, idly rocking to and fro in her calm anchorage, her sheets +flapping gently against the mast. Beyond lay the dim blue shapes of +other islands floating in the night, and from all the great spaces about +us came the murmur of the sea and the soft breathing of great woods. The +odours of the wilderness--smells of wind and earth, of trees and water, +clean, vigorous, and mighty--were the true odours of a virgin world +unspoilt by men, more penetrating and more subtly intoxicating than any +other perfume in the whole world. Oh!--and dangerously strong, too, no +doubt, for some natures! + +"Ahhh!" breathed out the clergyman after supper, with an indescribable +gesture of satisfaction and relief. "Here there is freedom, and room for +body and mind to turn in. Here one can work and rest and play. Here one +can be alive and absorb something of the earth-forces that never get +within touching distance in the cities. By George, I shall make a +permanent camp here and come when it is time to die!" + +The good man was merely giving vent to his delight at being under +canvas. He said the same thing every year, and he said it often. But it +more or less expressed the superficial feelings of us all. And when, a +little later, he turned to compliment his wife on the fried potatoes, +and discovered that she was snoring, with her back against a tree, he +grunted with content at the sight and put a ground-sheet over her feet, +as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to fall asleep +after dinner, and then moved back to his own corner, smoking his pipe +with great satisfaction. + +And I, smoking mine too, lay and fought against the most delicious +sleep imaginable, while my eyes wandered from the fire to the stars +peeping through the branches, and then back again to the group about me. +The Rev. Timothy soon let his pipe go out, and succumbed as his wife had +done, for he had worked hard and eaten well. Sangree, also smoking, +leaned against a tree with his gaze fixed on the girl, a depth of +yearning in his face that he could not hide, and that really distressed +me for him. And Joan herself, with wide staring eyes, alert, full of the +new forces of the place, evidently keyed up by the magic of finding +herself among all the things her soul recognised as "home," sat rigid by +the fire, her thoughts roaming through the spaces, the blood stirring +about her heart. She was as unconscious of the Canadian's gaze as she +was that her parents both slept. She looked to me more like a tree, or +something that had grown out of the island, than a living girl of the +century; and when I spoke across to her in a whisper and suggested a +tour of investigation, she started and looked up at me as though she +heard a voice in her dreams. + +Sangree leaped up and joined us, and without waking the others we three +went over the ridge of the island and made our way down to the shore +behind. The water lay like a lake before us still coloured by the +sunset. The air was keen and scented, wafting the smell of the wooded +islands that hung about us in the darkening air. Very small waves +tumbled softly on the sand. The sea was sown with stars, and everywhere +breathed and pulsed the beauty of the northern summer night. I confess I +speedily lost consciousness of the human presences beside me, and I have +little doubt Joan did too. Only Sangree felt otherwise, I suppose, for +presently we heard him sighing; and I can well imagine that he absorbed +the whole wonder and passion of the scene into his aching heart, to +swell the pain there that was more searching even than the pain at the +sight of such matchless and incomprehensible beauty. + +The splash of a fish jumping broke the spell. + +"I wish we had the canoe now," remarked Joan; "we could paddle out to +the other islands." + +"Of course," I said; "wait here and I'll go across for it," and was +turning to feel my way back through the darkness when she stopped me in +a voice that meant what it said. + +"No; Mr. Sangree will get it. We will wait here and cooee to guide him." + +The Canadian was off in a moment, for she had only to hint of her wishes +and he obeyed. + +"Keep out from shore in case of rocks," I cried out as he went, "and +turn to the right out of the lagoon. That's the shortest way round by +the map." + +My voice travelled across the still waters and woke echoes in the +distant islands that came back to us like people calling out of space. +It was only thirty or forty yards over the ridge and down the other side +to the lagoon where the boats lay, but it was a good mile to coast round +the shore in the dark to where we stood and waited. We heard him +stumbling away among the boulders, and then the sounds suddenly ceased +as he topped the ridge and went down past the fire on the other side. + +"I didn't want to be left alone with him," the girl said presently in a +low voice. "I'm always afraid he's going to say or do something--" She +hesitated a moment, looking quickly over her shoulder towards the ridge +where he had just disappeared--"something that might lead to +unpleasantness." + +She stopped abruptly. + +"_You_ frightened, Joan!" I exclaimed, with genuine surprise. "This is a +new light on your wicked character. I thought the human being who could +frighten you did not exist." Then I suddenly realised she was talking +seriously--looking to me for help of some kind--and at once I dropped +the teasing attitude. + +"He's very far gone, I think, Joan," I added gravely. "You must be kind +to him, whatever else you may feel. He's exceedingly fond of you." + +"I know, but I can't help it," she whispered, lest her voice should +carry in the stillness; "there's something about him that--that makes me +feel creepy and half afraid." + +"But, poor man, it's not his fault if he is delicate and sometimes looks +like death," I laughed gently, by way of defending what I felt to be a +very innocent member of my sex. + +"Oh, but it's not that I mean," she answered quickly; "it's something I +feel about him, something in his soul, something he hardly knows +himself, but that may come out if we are much together. It draws me, I +feel, tremendously. It stirs what is wild in me--deep down--oh, very +deep down,--yet at the same time makes me feel afraid." + +"I suppose his thoughts are always playing about you," I said, "but he's +nice-minded and--" + +"Yes, yes," she interrupted impatiently, "I can trust myself absolutely +with him. He's gentle and singularly pure-minded. But there's something +else that--" She stopped again sharply to listen. Then she came up close +beside me in the darkness, whispering-- + +"You know, Mr. Hubbard, sometimes my intuitions warn me a little too +strongly to be ignored. Oh, yes, you needn't tell me again that it's +difficult to distinguish between fancy and intuition. I know all that. +But I also know that there's something deep down in that man's soul that +calls to something deep down in mine. And at present it frightens me. +Because I cannot make out what it is; and I know, I _know_, he'll do +something some day that--that will shake my life to the very bottom." +She laughed a little at the strangeness of her own description. + +I turned to look at her more closely, but the darkness was too great to +show her face. There was an intensity, almost of suppressed passion, in +her voice that took me completely by surprise. + +"Nonsense, Joan," I said, a little severely; "you know him well. He's +been with your father for months now." + +"But that was in London; and up here it's different--I mean, I feel that +it may be different. Life in a place like this blows away the restraints +of the artificial life at home. I know, oh, I know what I'm saying. I +feel all untied in a place like this; the rigidity of one's nature +begins to melt and flow. Surely _you_ must understand what I mean!" + +"Of course I understand," I replied, yet not wishing to encourage her in +her present line of thought, "and it's a grand experience--for a short +time. But you're overtired to-night, Joan, like the rest of us. A few +days in this air will set you above all fears of the kind you mention." + +Then, after a moment's silence, I added, feeling I should estrange her +confidence altogether if I blundered any more and treated her like a +child-- + +"I think, perhaps, the true explanation is that you pity him for loving +you, and at the same time you feel the repulsion of the healthy, +vigorous animal for what is weak and timid. If he came up boldly and +took you by the throat and shouted that he would force you to love +him--well, then you would feel no fear at all. You would know exactly +how to deal with him. Isn't it, perhaps, something of that kind?" + +The girl made no reply, and when I took her hand I felt that it trembled +a little and was cold. + +"It's not his love that I'm afraid of," she said hurriedly, for at this +moment we heard the dip of a paddle in the water, "it's something in his +very soul that terrifies me in a way I have never been terrified +before,--yet fascinates me. In town I was hardly conscious of his +presence. But the moment we got away from civilisation, it began to +come. He seems so--so _real_ up here. I dread being alone with him. It +makes me feel that something must burst and tear its way out--that he +would do something--or I should do something--I don't know exactly what +I mean, probably,--but that I should let myself go and scream--" + +"Joan!" + +"Don't be alarmed," she laughed shortly; "I shan't do anything silly, +but I wanted to tell you my feelings in case I needed your help. When I +have intuitions as strong as this they are never wrong, only I don't +know yet what it means exactly." + +"You must hold out for the month, at any rate," I said in as +matter-of-fact a voice as I could manage, for her manner had somehow +changed my surprise to a subtle sense of alarm. "Sangree only stays the +month, you know. And, anyhow, you are such an odd creature yourself that +you should feel generously towards other odd creatures," I ended lamely, +with a forced laugh. + +She gave my hand a sudden pressure. "I'm glad I've told you at any +rate," she said quickly under her breath, for the canoe was now gliding +up silently like a ghost to our feet, "and I'm glad you're here, too," +she added as we moved down towards the water to meet it. + +I made Sangree change into the bows and got into the steering seat +myself, putting the girl between us so that I could watch them both by +keeping their outlines against the sea and stars. For the intuitions of +certain folk--women and children usually, I confess--I have always felt +a great respect that has more often than not been justified by +experience; and now the curious emotion stirred in me by the girl's +words remained somewhat vividly in my consciousness. I explained it in +some measure by the fact that the girl, tired out by the fatigue of many +days' travel, had suffered a vigorous reaction of some kind from the +strong, desolate scenery, and further, perhaps, that she had been +treated to my own experience of seeing the members of the party in a new +light--the Canadian, being partly a stranger, more vividly than the rest +of us. But, at the same time, I felt it was quite possible that she had +sensed some subtle link between his personality and her own, some +quality that she had hitherto ignored and that the routine of town life +had kept buried out of sight. The only thing that seemed difficult to +explain was the fear she had spoken of, and this I hoped the wholesome +effects of camp-life and exercise would sweep away naturally in the +course of time. + +We made the tour of the island without speaking. It was all too +beautiful for speech. The trees crowded down to the shore to hear us +pass. We saw their fine dark heads, bowed low with splendid dignity to +watch us, forgetting for a moment that the stars were caught in the +needled network of their hair. Against the sky in the west, where still +lingered the sunset gold, we saw the wild toss of the horizon, shaggy +with forest and cliff, gripping the heart like the motive in a symphony, +and sending the sense of beauty all a-shiver through the mind--all these +surrounding islands standing above the water like low clouds, and like +them seeming to post along silently into the engulfing night. We heard +the musical drip-drip of the paddle, and the little wash of our waves on +the shore, and then suddenly we found ourselves at the opening of the +lagoon again, having made the complete circuit of our home. + +The Reverend Timothy had awakened from sleep and was singing to himself; +and the sound of his voice as we glided down the fifty yards of enclosed +water was pleasant to hear and undeniably wholesome. We saw the glow of +the fire up among the trees on the ridge, and his shadow moving about as +he threw on more wood. + +"There you are!" he called aloud. "Good again! Been setting the +night-lines, eh? Capital! And your mother's still fast asleep, Joan." + +His cheery laugh floated across the water; he had not been in the least +disturbed by our absence, for old campers are not easily alarmed. + +"Now, remember," he went on, after we had told our little tale of travel +by the fire, and Mrs. Maloney had asked for the fourth time exactly +where her tent was and whether the door faced east or south, "every one +takes their turn at cooking breakfast, and one of the men is always out +at sunrise to catch it first. Hubbard, I'll toss you which you do in the +morning and which I do!" He lost the toss. "Then I'll catch it," I said, +laughing at his discomfiture, for I knew he loathed stirring porridge. +"And mind you don't burn it as you did every blessed time last year on +the Volga," I added by way of reminder. + +Mrs. Maloney's fifth interruption about the door of her tent, and her +further pointed observation that it was past nine o'clock, set us +lighting lanterns and putting the fire out for safety. + +But before we separated for the night the clergyman had a time-honoured +little ritual of his own to go through that no one had the heart to deny +him. He always did this. It was a relic of his pulpit habits. He glanced +briefly from one to the other of us, his face grave and earnest, his +hands lifted to the stars and his eyes all closed and puckered up +beneath a momentary frown. Then he offered up a short, almost inaudible +prayer, thanking Heaven for our safe arrival, begging for good weather, +no illness or accidents, plenty of fish, and strong sailing winds. + +And then, unexpectedly--no one knew why exactly--he ended up with an +abrupt request that nothing from the kingdom of darkness should be +allowed to afflict our peace, and no evil thing come near to disturb us +in the night-time. + +And while he uttered these last surprising words, so strangely unlike +his usual ending, it chanced that I looked up and let my eyes wander +round the group assembled about the dying fire. And it certainly seemed +to me that Sangree's face underwent a sudden and visible alteration. He +was staring at Joan, and as he stared the change ran over it like a +shadow and was gone. I started in spite of myself, for something oddly +concentrated, potent, collected, had come into the expression usually so +scattered and feeble. But it was all swift as a passing meteor, and when +I looked a second time his face was normal and he was looking among the +trees. + +And Joan, luckily, had not observed him, her head being bowed and her +eyes tightly closed while her father prayed. + +"The girl has a vivid imagination indeed," I thought, half laughing, as +I lit the lanterns, "if her thoughts can put a glamour upon mine in this +way"; and yet somehow, when we said good-night, I took occasion to give +her a few vigorous words of encouragement, and went to her tent to make +sure I could find it quickly in the night in case anything happened. In +her quick way the girl understood and thanked me, and the last thing I +heard as I moved off to the men's quarters was Mrs. Maloney crying that +there were beetles in her tent, and Joan's laughter as she went to help +her turn them out. + +Half an hour later the island was silent as the grave, but for the +mournful voices of the wind as it sighed up from the sea. Like white +sentries stood the three tents of the men on one side of the ridge, and +on the other side, half hidden by some birches, whose leaves just +shivered as the breeze caught them, the women's tents, patches of +ghostly grey, gathered more closely together for mutual shelter and +protection. Something like fifty yards of broken ground, grey rock, moss +and lichen, lay between, and over all lay the curtain of the night and +the great whispering winds from the forests of Scandinavia. + +And the very last thing, just before floating away on that mighty wave +that carries one so softly off into the deeps of forgetfulness, I again +heard the voice of John Silence as the train moved out of Victoria +Station; and by some subtle connection that met me on the very threshold +of consciousness there rose in my mind simultaneously the memory of the +girl's half-given confidence, and of her distress. As by some wizardry +of approaching dreams they seemed in that instant to be related; but +before I could analyse the why and the wherefore, both sank away out of +sight again, and I was off beyond recall. + +"Unless you should send for me sooner." + + +II + +Whether Mrs. Maloney's tent door opened south or east I think she never +discovered, for it is quite certain she always slept with the flap +tightly fastened; I only know that my own little "five by seven, all +silk" faced due east, because next morning the sun, pouring in as only +the wilderness sun knows how to pour, woke me early, and a moment later, +with a short run over soft moss and a flying dive from the granite +ledge, I was swimming in the most sparkling water imaginable. + +It was barely four o'clock, and the sun came down a long vista of blue +islands that led out to the open sea and Finland. Nearer by rose the +wooded domes of our own property, still capped and wreathed with smoky +trails of fast-melting mist, and looking as fresh as though it was the +morning of Mrs. Maloney's Sixth Day and they had just issued, clean and +brilliant, from the hands of the great Architect. + +In the open spaces the ground was drenched with dew, and from the sea a +cool salt wind stole in among the trees and set the branches trembling +in an atmosphere of shimmering silver. The tents shone white where the +sun caught them in patches. Below lay the lagoon, still dreaming of the +summer night; in the open the fish were jumping busily, sending musical +ripples towards the shore; and in the air hung the magic of +dawn--silent, incommunicable. + +I lit the fire, so that an hour later the clergyman should find good +ashes to stir his porridge over, and then set forth upon an examination +of the island, but hardly had I gone a dozen yards when I saw a figure +standing a little in front of me where the sunlight fell in a pool among +the trees. + +It was Joan. She had already been up an hour, she told me, and had +bathed before the last stars had left the sky. I saw at once that the +new spirit of this solitary region had entered into her, banishing the +fears of the night, for her face was like the face of a happy denizen of +the wilderness, and her eyes stainless and shining. Her feet were bare, +and drops of dew she had shaken from the branches hung in her +loose-flying hair. Obviously she had come into her own. + +"I've been all over the island," she announced laughingly, "and there +are two things wanting." + +"You're a good judge, Joan. What are they?" + +"There's no animal life, and there's no--water." + +"They go together," I said. "Animals don't bother with a rock like this +unless there's a spring on it." + +And as she led me from place to place, happy and excited, leaping +adroitly from rock to rock, I was glad to note that my first impressions +were correct. She made no reference to our conversation of the night +before. The new spirit had driven out the old. There was no room in her +heart for fear or anxiety, and Nature had everything her own way. + +The island, we found, was some three-quarters of a mile from point to +point, built in a circle, or wide horseshoe, with an opening of twenty +feet at the mouth of the lagoon. Pine-trees grew thickly all over, but +here and there were patches of silver birch, scrub oak, and +considerable colonies of wild raspberry and gooseberry bushes. The two +ends of the horseshoe formed bare slabs of smooth granite running into +the sea and forming dangerous reefs just below the surface, but the rest +of the island rose in a forty-foot ridge and sloped down steeply to the +sea on either side, being nowhere more than a hundred yards wide. + +The outer shore-line was much indented with numberless coves and bays +and sandy beaches, with here and there caves and precipitous little +cliffs against which the sea broke in spray and thunder. But the inner +shore, the shore of the lagoon, was low and regular, and so well +protected by the wall of trees along the ridge that no storm could ever +send more than a passing ripple along its sandy marges. Eternal shelter +reigned there. + +On one of the other islands, a few hundred yards away--for the rest of +the party slept late this first morning, and we took to the canoe--we +discovered a spring of fresh water untainted by the brackish flavour of +the Baltic, and having thus solved the most important problem of the +Camp, we next proceeded to deal with the second--fish. And in half an +hour we reeled in and turned homewards, for we had no means of storage, +and to clean more fish than may be stored or eaten in a day is no wise +occupation for experienced campers. + +And as we landed towards six o'clock we heard the clergyman singing as +usual and saw his wife and Sangree shaking out their blankets in the +sun, and dressed in a fashion that finally dispelled all memories of +streets and civilisation. + +"The Little People lit the fire for me," cried Maloney, looking natural +and at home in his ancient flannel suit and breaking off in the middle +of his singing, "so I've got the porridge going--and this time it's +_not_ burnt." + +We reported the discovery of water and held up the fish. + +"Good! Good again!" he cried. "We'll have the first decent breakfast +we've had this year. Sangree'll clean 'em in no time, and the Bo'sun's +Mate--" + +"Will fry them to a turn," laughed the voice of Mrs. Maloney, appearing +on the scene in a tight blue jersey and sandals, and catching up the +frying-pan. Her husband always called her the Bo'sun's Mate in Camp, +because it was her duty, among others, to pipe all hands to meals. + +"And as for you, Joan," went on the happy man, "you look like the spirit +of the island, with moss in your hair and wind in your eyes, and sun and +stars mixed in your face." He looked at her with delighted admiration. +"Here, Sangree, take these twelve, there's a good fellow, they're the +biggest; and we'll have 'em in butter in less time than you can say +Baltic island!" + +I watched the Canadian as he slowly moved off to the cleaning pail. His +eyes were drinking in the girl's beauty, and a wave of passionate, +almost feverish, joy passed over his face, expressive of the ecstasy of +true worship more than anything else. Perhaps he was thinking that he +still had three weeks to come with that vision always before his eyes; +perhaps he was thinking of his dreams in the night. I cannot say. But I +noticed the curious mingling of yearning and happiness in his eyes, and +the strength of the impression touched my curiosity. Something in his +face held my gaze for a second, something to do with its intensity. That +so timid, so gentle a personality should conceal so virile a passion +almost seemed to require explanation. + +But the impression was momentary, for that first breakfast in Camp +permitted no divided attentions, and I dare swear that the porridge, the +tea, the Swedish "flatbread," and the fried fish flavoured with points +of frizzled bacon, were better than any meal eaten elsewhere that day in +the whole world. + +The first clear day in a new camp is always a furiously busy one, and we +soon dropped into the routine upon which in large measure the real +comfort of every one depends. About the cooking-fire, greatly improved +with stones from the shore, we built a high stockade consisting of +upright poles thickly twined with branches, the roof lined with moss and +lichen and weighted with rocks, and round the interior we made low +wooden seats so that we could lie round the fire even in rain and eat +our meals in peace. Paths, too, outlined themselves from tent to tent, +from the bathing places and the landing stage, and a fair division of +the island was decided upon between the quarters of the men and the +women. Wood was stacked, awkward trees and boulders removed, hammocks +slung, and tents strengthened. In a word, Camp was established, and +duties were assigned and accepted as though we expected to live on this +Baltic island for years to come and the smallest detail of the Community +life was important. + +Moreover, as the Camp came into being, this sense of a community +developed, proving that we were a definite whole, and not merely +separate human beings living for a while in tents upon a desert island. +Each fell willingly into the routine. Sangree, as by natural selection, +took upon himself the cleaning of the fish and the cutting of the wood +into lengths sufficient for a day's use. And he did it well. The pan of +water was never without a fish, cleaned and scaled, ready to fry for +whoever was hungry; the nightly fire never died down for lack of +material to throw on without going farther afield to search. + +And Timothy, once reverend, caught the fish and chopped down the trees. +He also assumed responsibility for the condition of the boat, and did it +so thoroughly that nothing in the little cutter was ever found wanting. +And when, for any reason, his presence was in demand, the first place to +look for him was--in the boat, and there, too, he was usually found, +tinkering away with sheets, sails, or rudder and singing as he tinkered. + +'Nor was the "reading" neglected; for most mornings there came a sound +of droning voices form the white tent by the raspberry bushes, which +signified that Sangree, the tutor, and whatever other man chanced to be +in the party at the time, were hard at it with history or the classics. + +And while Mrs. Maloney, also by natural selection, took charge of the +larder and the kitchen, the mending and general supervision of the rough +comforts, she also made herself peculiarly mistress of the megaphone +which summoned to meals and carried her voice easily from one end of the +island to the other; and in her hours of leisure she daubed the +surrounding scenery on to a sketching block with all the honesty and +devotion of her determined but unreceptive soul. + +Joan, meanwhile, Joan, elusive creature of the wilds, became I know not +exactly what. She did plenty of work in the Camp, yet seemed to have no +very precise duties. She was everywhere and anywhere. Sometimes she +slept in her tent, sometimes under the stars with a blanket. She knew +every inch of the island and kept turning up in places where she was +least expected--for ever wandering about, reading her books in sheltered +corners, making little fires on sunless days to "worship by to the +gods," as she put it, ever finding new pools to dive and bathe in, and +swimming day and night in the warm and waveless lagoon like a fish in a +huge tank. She went bare-legged and bare-footed, with her hair down and +her skirts caught up to the knees, and if ever a human being turned into +a jolly savage within the compass of a single week, Joan Maloney was +certainly that human being. She ran wild. + +So completely, too, was she possessed by the strong spirit of the place +that the little human fear she had yielded to so strangely on our +arrival seemed to have been utterly dispossessed. As I hoped and +expected, she made no reference to our conversation of the first +evening. Sangree bothered her with no special attentions, and after all +they were very little together. His behaviour was perfect in that +respect, and I, for my part, hardly gave the matter another thought. +Joan was ever a prey to vivid fancies of one kind or another, and this +was one of them. Mercifully for the happiness of all concerned, it had +melted away before the spirit of busy, active life and deep content +that reigned over the island. Every one was intensely alive, and peace +was upon all. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile the effect of the camp-life began to tell. Always a searching +test of character, its results, sooner or later, are infallible, for it +acts upon the soul as swiftly and surely as the hypo bath upon the +negative of a photograph. A readjustment of the personal forces takes +place quickly; some parts of the personality go to sleep, others wake +up: but the first sweeping change that the primitive life brings about +is that the artificial portions of the character shed themselves one +after another like dead skins. Attitudes and poses that seemed genuine +in the city drop away. The mind, like the body, grows quickly hard, +simple, uncomplex. And in a camp as primitive and close to nature as +ours was, these effects became speedily visible. + +Some folk, of course, who talk glibly about the simple life when it is +safely out of reach, betray themselves in camp by for ever peering about +for the artificial excitements of civilisation which they miss. Some get +bored at once; some grow slovenly; some reveal the animal in most +unexpected fashion; and some, the select few, find themselves in very +short order and are happy. + +And, in our little party, we could flatter ourselves that we all +belonged to the last category, so far as the general effect was +concerned. Only there were certain other changes as well, varying with +each individual, and all interesting to note. + +It was only after the first week or two that these changes became +marked, although this is the proper place, I think, to speak of them. +For, having myself no other duty than to enjoy a well-earned holiday, I +used to load my canoe with blankets and provisions and journey forth on +exploration trips among the islands of several days together; and it was +on my return from the first of these--when I rediscovered the party, so +to speak--that these changes first presented themselves vividly to me, +and in one particular instance produced a rather curious impression. + +In a word, then, while every one had grown wilder, naturally wilder, +Sangree, it seemed to me, had grown much wilder, and what I can only +call unnaturally wilder. He made me think of a savage. + +To begin with, he had changed immensely in mere physical appearance, and +the full brown cheeks, the brighter eyes of absolute health, and the +general air of vigour and robustness that had come to replace his +customary lassitude and timidity, had worked such an improvement that I +hardly knew him for the same man. His voice, too, was deeper and his +manner bespoke for the first time a greater measure of confidence in +himself. He now had some claims to be called nice-looking, or at least +to a certain air of virility that would not lessen his value in the eyes +of the opposite sex. + +All this, of course, was natural enough, and most welcome. But, +altogether apart from this physical change, which no doubt had also been +going forward in the rest of us, there was a subtle note in his +personality that came to me with a degree of surprise that almost +amounted to shock. + +And two things--as he came down to welcome me and pull up the +canoe--leaped up in my mind unbidden, as though connected in some way I +could not at the moment divine--first, the curious judgment formed of +him by Joan; and secondly, that fugitive expression I had caught in his +face while Maloney was offering up his strange prayer for special +protection from Heaven. + +The delicacy of manner and feature--to call it by no milder term--which +had always been a distinguishing characteristic of the man, had been +replaced by something far more vigorous and decided, that yet utterly +eluded analysis. The change which impressed me so oddly was not easy to +name. The others--singing Maloney, the bustling Bo'sun's Mate, and Joan, +that fascinating half-breed of undine and salamander--all showed the +effects of a life so close to nature; but in their case the change was +perfectly natural and what was to be expected, whereas with Peter +Sangree, the Canadian, it was something unusual and unexpected. + +It is impossible to explain how he managed gradually to convey to my +mind the impression that something in him had turned savage, yet this, +more or less, is the impression that he did convey. It was not that he +seemed really less civilised, or that his character had undergone any +definite alteration, but rather that something in him, hitherto dormant, +had awakened to life. Some quality, latent till now--so far, at least, +as we were concerned, who, after all, knew him but slightly--had stirred +into activity and risen to the surface of his being. + +And while, for the moment, this seemed as far as I could get, it was but +natural that my mind should continue the intuitive process and +acknowledge that John Silence, owing to his peculiar faculties, and the +girl, owing to her singularly receptive temperament, might each in a +different way have divined this latent quality in his soul, and feared +its manifestation later. + +On looking back to this painful adventure, too, it now seems equally +natural that the same process, carried to its logical conclusion, should +have wakened some deep instinct in me that, wholly without direction +from my will, set itself sharply and persistently upon the watch from +that very moment. Thenceforward the personality of Sangree was never +far from my thoughts, and I was for ever analysing and searching for the +explanation that took so long in coming. + +"I declare, Hubbard, you're tanned like an aboriginal, and you look like +one, too," laughed Maloney. + +"And I can return the compliment," was my reply, as we all gathered +round a brew of tea to exchange news and compare notes. + +And later, at supper, it amused me to observe that the distinguished +tutor, once clergyman, did not eat his food quite as "nicely" as he did +at home--he devoured it; that Mrs. Maloney ate more, and, to say the +least, with less delay, than was her custom in the select atmosphere of +her English dining-room; and that while Joan attacked her tin plateful +with genuine avidity, Sangree, the Canadian, bit and gnawed at his, +laughing and talking and complimenting the cook all the while, and +making me think with secret amusement of a starved animal at its first +meal. While, from their remarks about myself, I judged that I had +changed and grown wild as much as the rest of them. + +In this and in a hundred other little ways the change showed, ways +difficult to define in detail, but all proving--not the coarsening +effect of leading the primitive life, but, let us say, the more direct +and unvarnished methods that became prevalent. For all day long we were +in the bath of the elements--wind, water, sun--and just as the body +became insensible to cold and shed unnecessary clothing, the mind grew +straightforward and shed many of the disguises required by the +conventions of civilisation. + +And in each, according to temperament and character, there stirred the +life-instincts that were natural, untamed, and, in a sense--savage. + + +III + +So it came about that I stayed with our island party, putting off my +second exploring trip from day to day, and I think that this far-fetched +instinct to watch Sangree was really the cause of my postponement. + +For another ten days the life of the Camp pursued its even and +delightful way, blessed by perfect summer weather, a good harvest of +fish, fine winds for sailing, and calm, starry nights. Maloney's selfish +prayer had been favourably received. Nothing came to disturb or perplex. +There was not even the prowling of night animals to vex the rest of Mrs. +Maloney; for in previous camps it had often been her peculiar affliction +that she heard the porcupines scratching against the canvas, or the +squirrels dropping fir-cones in the early morning with a sound of +miniature thunder upon the roof of her tent. But on this island there +was not even a squirrel or a mouse. I think two toads and a small and +harmless snake were the only living creatures that had been discovered +during the whole of the first fortnight. And these two toads in all +probability were not two toads, but one toad. + +Then, suddenly, came the terror that changed the whole aspect of the +place--the devastating terror. + +It came, at first, gently, but from the very start it made me realise +the unpleasant loneliness of our situation, our remote isolation in this +wilderness of sea and rock, and how the islands in this tideless Baltic +ocean lay about us like the advance guard of a vast besieging army. Its +entry, as I say, was gentle, hardly noticeable, in fact, to most of us: +singularly undramatic it certainly was. But, then, in actual life this +is often the way the dreadful climaxes move upon us, leaving the heart +undisturbed almost to the last minute, and then overwhelming it with a +sudden rush of horror. For it was the custom at breakfast to listen +patiently while each in turn related the trivial adventures of the +night--how they slept, whether the wind shook their tent, whether the +spider on the ridge pole had moved, whether they had heard the toad, and +so forth--and on this particular morning Joan, in the middle of a little +pause, made a truly novel announcement: + +"In the night I heard the howling of a dog," she said, and then flushed +up to the roots of her hair when we burst out laughing. For the idea of +there being a dog on this forsaken island that was only able to support +a snake and two toads was distinctly ludicrous, and I remember Maloney, +half-way through his burnt porridge, capping the announcement by +declaring that he had heard a "Baltic turtle" in the lagoon, and his +wife's expression of frantic alarm before the laughter undeceived her. + +But the next morning Joan repeated the story with additional and +convincing detail. + +"Sounds of whining and growling woke me," she said, "and I distinctly +heard sniffing under my tent, and the scratching of paws." + +"Oh, Timothy! Can it be a porcupine?" exclaimed the Bo'sun's Mate with +distress, forgetting that Sweden was not Canada. + +But the girl's voice had sounded to me in quite another key, and looking +up I saw that her father and Sangree were staring at her hard. They, +too, understood that she was in earnest, and had been struck by the +serious note in her voice. + +"Rubbish, Joan! You are always dreaming something or other wild," her +father said a little impatiently. + +"There's not an animal of any size on the whole island," added Sangree +with a puzzled expression. He never took his eyes from her face. + +"But there's nothing to prevent one swimming over," I put in briskly, +for somehow a sense of uneasiness that was not pleasant had woven itself +into the talk and pauses. "A deer, for instance, might easily land in +the night and take a look round--" + +"Or a bear!" gasped the Bo'sun's Mate, with a look so portentous that we +all welcomed the laugh. + +But Joan did not laugh. Instead, she sprang up and called to us to +follow. + +"There," she said, pointing to the ground by her tent on the side farthest +from her mother's; "there are the marks close to my head. You can +see for yourselves." + +We saw plainly. The moss and lichen--for earth there was hardly any--had +been scratched up by paws. An animal about the size of a large dog it +must have been, to judge by the marks. We stood and stared in a row. + +"Close to my head," repeated the girl, looking round at us. Her face, I +noticed, was very pale, and her lip seemed to quiver for an instant. +Then she gave a sudden gulp--and burst into a flood of tears. + +The whole thing had come about in the brief space of a few minutes, and +with a curious sense of inevitableness, moreover, as though it had all +been carefully planned from all time and nothing could have stopped it. +It had all been rehearsed before--had actually happened before, as the +strange feeling sometimes has it; it seemed like the opening movement in +some ominous drama, and that I knew exactly what would happen next. +Something of great moment was impending. + +For this sinister sensation of coming disaster made itself felt from the +very beginning, and an atmosphere of gloom and dismay pervaded the +entire Camp from that moment forward. + +I drew Sangree to one side and moved away, while Maloney took the +distressed girl into her tent, and his wife followed them, energetic and +greatly flustered. + +For thus, in undramatic fashion, it was that the terror I have spoken of +first attempted the invasion of our Camp, and, trivial and unimportant +though it seemed, every little detail of this opening scene is +photographed upon my mind with merciless accuracy and precision. It +happened exactly as described. This was exactly the language used. I see +it written before me in black and white. I see, too, the faces of all +concerned with the sudden ugly signature of alarm where before had been +peace. The terror had stretched out, so to speak, a first tentative +feeler toward us and had touched the hearts of each with a horrid +directness. And from this moment the Camp changed. + +Sangree in particular was visibly upset. He could not bear to see the +girl distressed, and to hear her actually cry was almost more than he +could stand. The feeling that he had no right to protect her hurt him +keenly, and I could see that he was itching to do something to help, and +liked him for it. His expression said plainly that he would tear in a +thousand pieces anything that dared to injure a hair of her head. + +We lit our pipes and strolled over in silence to the men's quarters, and +it was his odd Canadian expression "Gee whiz!" that drew my attention to +a further discovery. + +"The brute's been scratching round my tent too," he cried, as he pointed +to similar marks by the door and I stooped down to examine them. We both +stared in amazement for several minutes without speaking. + +"Only I sleep like the dead," he added, straightening up again, "and so +heard nothing, I suppose." + +We traced the paw-marks from the mouth of his tent in a direct line +across to the girl's, but nowhere else about the Camp was there a sign +of the strange visitor. The deer, dog, or whatever it was that had twice +favoured us with a visit in the night, had confined its attentions to +these two tents. And, after all, there was really nothing out of the way +about these visits of an unknown animal, for although our own island was +destitute of life, we were in the heart of a wilderness, and the +mainland and larger islands must be swarming with all kinds of +four-footed creatures, and no very prolonged swimming was necessary to +reach us. In any other country it would not have caused a moment's +interest--interest of the kind we felt, that is. In our Canadian camps +the bears were for ever grunting about among the provision bags at +night, porcupines scratching unceasingly, and chipmunks scuttling over +everything. + +"My daughter is overtired, and that's the truth of it," explained +Maloney presently when he rejoined us and had examined in turn the other +paw-marks. "She's been overdoing it lately, and camp-life, you know, +always means a great excitement to her. It's natural enough, if we take +no notice she'll be all right." He paused to borrow my tobacco pouch and +fill his pipe, and the blundering way he filled it and spilled the +precious weed on the ground visibly belied the calm of his easy +language. "You might take her out for a bit of fishing, Hubbard, like a +good chap; she's hardly up to the long day in the cutter. Show her some +of the other islands in your canoe, perhaps. Eh?" + +And by lunch-time the cloud had passed away as suddenly, and as +suspiciously, as it had come. + +But in the canoe, on our way home, having till then purposely ignored +the subject uppermost in our minds, she suddenly spoke to me in a way +that again touched the note of sinister alarm--the note that kept on +sounding and sounding until finally John Silence came with his great +vibrating presence and relieved it; yes, and even after he came, too, +for a while. + +"I'm ashamed to ask it," she said abruptly, as she steered me home, her +sleeves rolled up, her hair blowing in the wind, "and ashamed of my +silly tears too, because I really can't make out what caused them; but, +Mr. Hubbard, I want you to promise me not to go off for your long +expeditions--just yet. I beg it of you." She was so in earnest that she +forgot the canoe, and the wind caught it sideways and made us roll +dangerously. "I have tried hard not to ask this," she added, bringing +the canoe round again, "but I simply can't help myself." + +It was a good deal to ask, and I suppose my hesitation was plain; for +she went on before I could reply, and her beseeching expression and +intensity of manner impressed me very forcibly. + +"For another two weeks only--" + +"Mr. Sangree leaves in a fortnight," I said, seeing at once what she was +driving at, but wondering if it was best to encourage her or not. + +"If I knew you were to be on the island till then," she said, her face +alternately pale and blushing, and her voice trembling a little, "I +should feel so much happier." + +I looked at her steadily, waiting for her to finish. + +"And safer," she added almost in a whisper; "especially--at night, I +mean." + +"Safer, Joan?" I repeated, thinking I had never seen her eyes so soft +and tender. She nodded her head, keeping her gaze fixed on my face. + +It was really difficult to refuse, whatever my thoughts and judgment may +have been, and somehow I understood that she spoke with good reason, +though for the life of me I could not have put it into words. + +"Happier--and safer," she said gravely, the canoe giving a dangerous +lurch as she leaned forward in her seat to catch my answer. Perhaps, +after all, the wisest way was to grant her request and make light of it, +easing her anxiety without too much encouraging its cause. + +"All right, Joan, you queer creature; I promise," and the instant look +of relief in her face, and the smile that came back like sunlight to her +eyes, made me feel that, unknown to myself and the world, I was capable +of considerable sacrifice after all. + +"But, you know, there's nothing to be afraid of," I added sharply; and +she looked up in my face with the smile women use when they know we are +talking idly, yet do not wish to tell us so. + +"_You_ don't feel afraid, I know," she observed quietly. + +"Of course not; why should I?" + +"So, if you will just humour me this once I--I will never ask anything +foolish of you again as long as I live," she said gratefully. + +"You have my promise," was all I could find to say. + +She headed the nose of the canoe for the lagoon lying a quarter of a +mile ahead, and paddled swiftly; but a minute or two later she paused +again and stared hard at me with the dripping paddle across the thwarts. + +"You've not heard anything at night yourself, have you?" she asked. + +"I never hear anything at night," I replied shortly, "from the moment I +lie down till the moment I get up." + +"That dismal howling, for instance," she went on, determined to get it +out, "far away at first and then getting closer, and stopping just +outside the Camp?" + +"Certainly not." + +"Because, sometimes I think I almost dreamed it." + +"Most likely you did," was my unsympathetic response. + +"And you don't think father has heard it either, then?" + +"No. He would have told me if he had." + +This seemed to relieve her mind a little. "I know mother hasn't," she +added, as if speaking to herself, "for she hears nothing--ever." + + * * * * * + +It was two nights after this conversation that I woke out of deep sleep +and heard sounds of screaming. The voice was really horrible, breaking +the peace and silence with its shrill clamour. In less than ten seconds +I was half dressed and out of my tent. The screaming had stopped +abruptly, but I knew the general direction, and ran as fast as the +darkness would allow over to the women's quarters, and on getting close +I heard sounds of suppressed weeping. It was Joan's voice. And just as I +came up I saw Mrs. Maloney, marvellously attired, fumbling with a +lantern. Other voices became audible in the same moment behind me, and +Timothy Maloney arrived, breathless, less than half dressed, and +carrying another lantern that had gone out on the way from being banged +against a tree. Dawn was just breaking, and a chill wind blew in from +the sea. Heavy black clouds drove low overhead. + +The scene of confusion may be better imagined than described. Questions +in frightened voices filled the air against this background of +suppressed weeping. Briefly--Joan's silk tent had been torn, and the +girl was in a state bordering upon hysterics. Somewhat reassured by our +noisy presence, however,--for she was plucky at heart,--she pulled +herself together and tried to explain what had happened; and her broken +words, told there on the edge of night and morning upon this wild island +ridge, were oddly thrilling and distressingly convincing. + +"Something touched me and I woke," she said simply, but in a voice +still hushed and broken with the terror of it, "something pushing +against the tent; I felt it through the canvas. There was the same +sniffing and scratching as before, and I felt the tent give a little as +when wind shakes it. I heard breathing--very loud, very heavy +breathing--and then came a sudden great tearing blow, and the canvas +ripped open close to my face." + +She had instantly dashed out through the open flap and screamed at the +top of her voice, thinking the creature had actually got into the tent. +But nothing was visible, she declared, and she heard not the faintest +sound of an animal making off under cover of the darkness. The brief +account seemed to exercise a paralysing effect upon us all as we +listened to it. I can see the dishevelled group to this day, the wind +blowing the women's hair, and Maloney craning his head forward to +listen, and his wife, open-mouthed and gasping, leaning against a pine +tree. + +"Come over to the stockade and we'll get the fire going," I said; +"that's the first thing," for we were all shaking with the cold in our +scanty garments. And at that moment Sangree arrived wrapped in a blanket +and carrying his gun; he was still drunken with sleep. + +"The dog again," Maloney explained briefly, forestalling his questions; +"been at Joan's tent. Torn it, by Gad! this time. It's time we did +something." He went on mumbling confusedly to himself. + +Sangree gripped his gun and looked about swiftly in the darkness. I saw +his eyes aflame in the glare of the flickering lanterns. He made a +movement as though to start out and hunt--and kill. Then his glance fell +on the girl crouching on the ground, her face hidden in her hands, and +there leaped into his features an expression of savage anger that +transformed them. He could have faced a dozen lions with a walking stick +at that moment, and again I liked him for the strength of his anger, his +self-control, and his hopeless devotion. + +But I stopped him going off on a blind and useless chase. + +"Come and help me start the fire, Sangree," I said, anxious also to +relieve the girl of our presence; and a few minutes later the ashes, +still growing from the night's fire, had kindled the fresh wood, and +there was a blaze that warmed us well while it also lit up the +surrounding trees within a radius of twenty yards. + +"I heard nothing," he whispered; "what in the world do you think it is? +It surely can't be only a dog!" + +"We'll find that out later," I said, as the others came up to the +grateful warmth; "the first thing is to make as big a fire as we can." + +Joan was calmer now, and her mother had put on some warmer, and less +miraculous, garments. And while they stood talking in low voices +Maloney and I slipped off to examine the tent. There was little enough +to see, but that little was unmistakable. Some animal had scratched up +the ground at the head of the tent, and with a great blow of a powerful +paw--a paw clearly provided with good claws--had struck the silk and +torn it open. There was a hole large enough to pass a fist and arm +through. + +"It can't be far away," Maloney said excitedly. "We'll organise a hunt +at once; this very minute." + +We hurried back to the fire, Maloney talking boisterously about his +proposed hunt. "There's nothing like prompt action to dispel alarm," he +whispered in my ear; and then turned to the rest of us. + +"We'll hunt the island from end to end at once," he said, with +excitement; "that's what we'll do. The beast can't be far away. And the +Bo'sun's Mate and Joan must come too, because they can't be left alone. +Hubbard, you take the right shore, and you, Sangree, the left, and I'll +go in the middle with the women. In this way we can stretch clean across +the ridge, and nothing bigger than a rabbit can possibly escape us." He +was extraordinarily excited, I thought. Anything affecting Joan, of +course, stirred him prodigiously. "Get your guns and we'll start the +drive at once," he cried. He lit another lantern and handed one each to +his wife and Joan, and while I ran to fetch my gun I heard him singing +to himself with the excitement of it all. + +Meanwhile the dawn had come on quickly. It made the flickering lanterns +look pale. The wind, too, was rising, and I heard the trees moaning +overhead and the waves breaking with increasing clamour on the shore. In +the lagoon the boat dipped and splashed, and the sparks from the fire +were carried aloft in a stream and scattered far and wide. + +We made our way to the extreme end of the island, measured our distances +carefully, and then began to advance. None of us spoke. Sangree and I, +with cocked guns, watched the shore lines, and all within easy touch and +speaking distance. It was a slow and blundering drive, and there were +many false alarms, but after the best part of half an hour we stood on +the farther end, having made the complete tour, and without putting up +so much as a squirrel. Certainly there was no living creature on that +island but ourselves. + +"I know what it is!" cried Maloney, looking out over the dim expanse of +grey sea, and speaking with the air of a man making a discovery; "it's a +dog from one of the farms on the larger islands"--he pointed seawards +where the archipelago thickened--"and it's escaped and turned wild. Our +fires and voices attracted it, and it's probably half starved as well as +savage, poor brute!" + +No one said anything in reply, and he began to sing again very low to +himself. + +The point where we stood--a huddled, shivering group--faced the wider +channels that led to the open sea and Finland. The grey dawn had broken +in earnest at last, and we could see the racing waves with their angry +crests of white. The surrounding islands showed up as dark masses in the +distance, and in the east, almost as Maloney spoke, the sun came up with +a rush in a stormy and magnificent sky of red and gold. Against this +splashed and gorgeous background black clouds, shaped like fantastic and +legendary animals, filed past swiftly in a tearing stream, and to this +day I have only to close my eyes to see again that vivid and hurrying +procession in the air. All about us the pines made black splashes +against the sky. It was an angry sunrise. Rain, indeed, had already +begun to fall in big drops. + +We turned, as by a common instinct, and, without speech, made our way +back slowly to the stockade, Maloney humming snatches of his songs, +Sangree in front with his gun, prepared to shoot at a moment's notice, +and the women floundering in the rear with myself and the extinguished +lanterns. + +Yet it was only a dog! + +Really, it was most singular when one came to reflect soberly upon it +all. Events, say the occultists, have souls, or at least that +agglomerate life due to the emotions and thoughts of all concerned in +them, so that cities, and even whole countries, have great astral shapes +which may become visible to the eye of vision; and certainly here, the +soul of this drive--this vain, blundering, futile drive--stood somewhere +between ourselves and--laughed. + +All of us heard that laugh, and all of us tried hard to smother the +sound, or at least to ignore it. Every one talked at once, loudly, and +with exaggerated decision, obviously trying to say something plausible +against heavy odds, striving to explain naturally that an animal might +so easily conceal itself from us, or swim away before we had time to +light upon its trail. For we all spoke of that "trail" as though it +really existed, and we had more to go upon than the mere marks of paws +about the tents of Joan and the Canadian. Indeed, but for these, and the +torn tent, I think it would, of course, have been possible to ignore the +existence of this beast intruder altogether. + +And it was here, under this angry dawn, as we stood in the shelter of +the stockade from the pouring rain, weary yet so strangely excited--it +was here, out of this confusion of voices and explanations, that--very +stealthily--the ghost of something horrible slipped in and stood among +us. It made all our explanations seem childish and untrue; the false +relation was instantly exposed. Eyes exchanged quick, anxious glances, +questioning, expressive of dismay. There was a sense of wonder, of +poignant distress, and of trepidation. Alarm stood waiting at our +elbows. We shivered. + +Then, suddenly, as we looked into each other's faces, came the long, +unwelcome pause in which this new arrival established itself in our +hearts. + +And, without further speech, or attempt at explanation, Maloney moved +off abruptly to mix the porridge for an early breakfast; Sangree to +clean the fish; myself to chop wood and tend the fire; Joan and her +mother to change their wet garments; and, most significant of all, to +prepare her mother's tent for its future complement of two. + +Each went to his duty, but hurriedly, awkwardly, silently; and this new +arrival, this shape of terror and distress stalked, viewless, by the +side of each. + +"If only I could have traced that dog," I think was the thought in the +minds of all. + +But in Camp, where every one realises how important the individual +contribution is to the comfort and well-being of all, the mind speedily +recovers tone and pulls itself together. + +During the day, a day of heavy and ceaseless rain, we kept more or less +to our tents, and though there were signs of mysterious conferences +between the three members of the Maloney family, I think that most of us +slept a good deal and stayed alone with his thoughts. Certainly, I did, +because when Maloney came to say that his wife invited us all to a +special "tea" in her tent, he had to shake me awake before I realised +that he was there at all. + +And by supper-time we were more or less even-minded again, and almost +jolly. I only noticed that there was an undercurrent of what is best +described as "jumpiness," and that the merest snapping of a twig, or +plop of a fish in the lagoon, was sufficient to make us start and look +over our shoulders. Pauses were rare in our talk, and the fire was never +for one instant allowed to get low. The wind and rain had ceased, but +the dripping of the branches still kept up an excellent imitation of a +downpour. In particular, Maloney was vigilant and alert, telling us a +series of tales in which the wholesome humorous element was especially +strong. He lingered, too, behind with me after Sangree had gone to bed, +and while I mixed myself a glass of hot Swedish punch, he did a thing I +had never known him do before--he mixed one for himself, and then asked +me to light him over to his tent. We said nothing on the way, but I felt +that he was glad of my companionship. + +I returned alone to the stockade, and for a long time after that kept +the fire blazing, and sat up smoking and thinking. I hardly knew why; +but sleep was far from me for one thing, and for another, an idea was +taking form in my mind that required the comfort of tobacco and a +bright fire for its growth. I lay against a corner of the stockade +seat, listening to the wind whispering and to the ceaseless drip-drip of +the trees. The night, otherwise, was very still, and the sea quiet as a +lake. I remember that I was conscious, peculiarly conscious, of this +host of desolate islands crowding about us in the darkness, and that we +were the one little spot of humanity in a rather wonderful kind of +wilderness. + +But this, I think, was the only symptom that came to warn me of highly +strung nerves, and it certainly was not sufficiently alarming to destroy +my peace of mind. One thing, however, did come to disturb my peace, for +just as I finally made ready to go, and had kicked the embers of the +fire into a last effort, I fancied I saw, peering at me round the +farther end of the stockade wall, a dark and shadowy mass that might +have been--that strongly resembled, in fact--the body of a large animal. +Two glowing eyes shone for an instant in the middle of it. But the next +second I saw that it was merely a projecting mass of moss and lichen in +the wall of our stockade, and the eyes were a couple of wandering sparks +from the dying ashes I had kicked. It was easy enough, too, to imagine I +saw an animal moving here and there between the trees, as I picked my +way stealthily to my tent. Of course, the shadows tricked me. + +And though it was after one o'clock, Maloney's light was still burning, +for I saw his tent shining white among the pines. + +It was, however, in the short space between consciousness and +sleep--that time when the body is low and the voices of the submerged +region tell sometimes true--that the idea which had been all this while +maturing reached the point of an actual decision, and I suddenly +realised that I had resolved to send word to Dr. Silence. For, with a +sudden wonder that I had hitherto been so blind, the unwelcome +conviction dawned upon me all at once that some dreadful thing was +lurking about us on this island, and that the safety of at least one of +us was threatened by something monstrous and unclean that was too +horrible to contemplate. And, again remembering those last words of his +as the train moved out of the platform, I understood that Dr. Silence +would hold himself in readiness to come. + +"Unless you should send for me sooner," he had said. + + * * * * * + +I found myself suddenly wide awake. It is impossible to say what woke +me, but it was no gradual process, seeing that I jumped from deep sleep +to absolute alertness in a single instant. I had evidently slept for an +hour and more, for the night had cleared, stars crowded the sky, and a +pallid half-moon just sinking into the sea threw a spectral light +between the trees. + +I went outside to sniff the air, and stood upright. A curious +impression that something was astir in the Camp came over me, and when I +glanced across at Sangree's tent, some twenty feet away, I saw that it +was moving. He too, then, was awake and restless, for I saw the canvas +sides bulge this way and that as he moved within. + +The flap pushed forward. He was coming out, like myself, to sniff +the air; and I was not surprised, for its sweetness after the rain was +intoxicating. And he came on all fours, just as I had done. I saw a head +thrust round the edge of the tent. + +And then I saw that it was not Sangree at all. It was an animal. And the +same instant I realised something else too--it was _the_ animal; and its +whole presentment for some unaccountable reason was unutterably malefic. + +A cry I was quite unable to suppress escaped me, and the creature turned +on the instant and stared at me with baleful eyes. I could have dropped +on the spot, for the strength all ran out of my body with a rush. +Something about it touched in me the living terror that grips and +paralyses. If the mind requires but the tenth of a second to form an +impression, I must have stood there stockstill for several seconds while +I seized the ropes for support and stared. Many and vivid impressions +flashed through my mind, but not one of them resulted in action, because +I was in instant dread that the beast any moment would leap in my +direction and be upon me. Instead, however, after what seemed a vast +period, it slowly turned its eyes from my face, uttered a low whining +sound, and came out altogether into the open. + +Then, for the first time, I saw it in its entirety and noted two things: +it was about the size of a large dog, but at the same time it was +utterly unlike any animal that I had ever seen. Also, that the quality +that had impressed me first as being malefic was really only its +singular and original strangeness. Foolish as it may sound, and +impossible as it is for me to adduce proof, I can only say that the +animal seemed to me then to be--not real. + +But all this passed through my mind in a flash, almost subconsciously, +and before I had time to check my impressions, or even properly verify +them, I made an involuntary movement, catching the tight rope in my hand +so that it twanged like a banjo string, and in that instant the creature +turned the corner of Sangree's tent and was gone into the darkness. + +Then, of course, my senses in some measure returned to me, and I +realised only one thing: it had been inside his tent! + +I dashed out, reached the door in half a dozen strides, and looked in. +The Canadian, thank God! lay upon his bed of branches. His arm was +stretched outside, across the blankets, the fist tightly clenched, and +the body had an appearance of unusual rigidity that was alarming. On his +face there was an expression of effort, almost of painful effort, so far +as the uncertain light permitted me to see, and his sleep seemed to be +very profound. He looked, I thought, so stiff, so unnaturally stiff, and +in some indefinable way, too, he looked smaller--shrunken. + +I called to him to wake, but called many times in vain. Then I decided +to shake him, and had already moved forward to do so vigorously when +there came a sound of footsteps padding softly behind me, and I felt a +stream of hot breath burn my neck as I stooped. I turned sharply. The +tent door was darkened and something silently swept in. I felt a rough +and shaggy body push past me, and knew that the animal had returned. It +seemed to leap forward between me and Sangree--in fact, to leap upon +Sangree, for its dark body hid him momentarily from view, and in that +moment my soul turned sick and coward with a horror that rose from the +very dregs and depths of life, and gripped my existence at its central +source. + +The creature seemed somehow to melt away into him, almost as though it +belonged to him and were a part of himself, but in the same +instant--that instant of extraordinary confusion and terror in my +mind--it seemed to pass over and behind him, and, in some utterly +unaccountable fashion, it was gone. And the Canadian woke and sat up +with a start. + +"Quick! You fool!" I cried, in my excitement, "the beast has been in +your tent, here at your very throat while you sleep like the dead. Up, +man! Get your gun! Only this second it disappeared over there behind +your head. Quick! or Joan--!" + +And somehow the fact that he was there, wide-awake now, to corroborate +me, brought the additional conviction to my own mind that this was no +animal, but some perplexing and dreadful form of life that drew upon my +deeper knowledge, that much reading had perhaps assented to, but that +had never yet come within actual range of my senses. + +He was up in a flash, and out. He was trembling, and very white. We +searched hurriedly, feverishly, but found only the traces of paw-marks +passing from the door of his own tent across the moss to the women's. +And the sight of the tracks about Mrs. Maloney's tent, where Joan now +slept, set him in a perfect fury. + +"Do you know what it is, Hubbard, this beast?" he hissed under his +breath at me; "it's a damned wolf, that's what it is--a wolf lost among +the islands, and starving to death--desperate. So help me God, I believe +it's that!" + +He talked a lot of rubbish in his excitement. He declared he would +sleep by day and sit up every night until he killed it. Again his rage +touched my admiration; but I got him away before he made enough noise to +wake the whole Camp. + +"I have a better plan than that," I said, watching his face closely. "I +don't think this is anything we can deal with. I'm going to send for the +only man I know who can help. We'll go to Waxholm this very morning and +get a telegram through." + +Sangree stared at me with a curious expression as the fury died out of +his face and a new look of alarm took its place. + +"John Silence," I said, "will know--" + +"You think it's something--of that sort?" he stammered. + +"I am sure of it." + +There was a moment's pause. "That's worse, far worse than anything +material," he said, turning visibly paler. He looked from my face to the +sky, and then added with sudden resolution, "Come; the wind's rising. +Let's get off at once. From there you can telephone to Stockholm and get +a telegram sent without delay." + +I sent him down to get the boat ready, and seized the opportunity myself +to run and wake Maloney. He was sleeping very lightly, and sprang up the +moment I put my head inside his tent. I told him briefly what I had +seen, and he showed so little surprise that I caught myself wondering +for the first time whether he himself had seen more going on than he had +deemed wise to communicate to the rest of us. + +He agreed to my plan without a moment's hesitation, and my last words to +him were to let his wife and daughter think that the great psychic +doctor was coming merely as a chance visitor, and not with any +professional interest. + +So, with frying-pan, provisions, and blankets aboard, Sangree and I +sailed out of the lagoon fifteen minutes later, and headed with a good +breeze for the direction of Waxholm and the borders of civilisation. + + +IV + +Although nothing John Silence did ever took me, properly speaking, by +surprise, it was certainly unexpected to find a letter from Stockholm +waiting for me. "I have finished my Hungary business," he wrote, "and am +here for ten days. Do not hesitate to send if you need me. If you +telephone any morning from Waxholm I can catch the afternoon steamer." + +My years of intercourse with him were full of "coincidences" of this +description, and although he never sought to explain them by claiming +any magical system of communication with my mind, I have never doubted +that there actually existed some secret telepathic method by which he +knew my circumstances and gauged the degree of my need. And that this +power was independent of time in the sense that it saw into the future, +always seemed to me equally apparent. + +Sangree was as much relieved as I was, and within an hour of sunset that +very evening we met him on the arrival of the little coasting steamer, +and carried him off in the dinghy to the camp we had prepared on a +neighbouring island, meaning to start for home early next morning. + +"Now," he said, when supper was over and we were smoking round the fire, +"let me hear your story." He glanced from one to the other, smiling. + +"You tell it, Mr. Hubbard," Sangree interrupted abruptly, and went off a +little way to wash the dishes, yet not so far as to be out of earshot. +And while he splashed with the hot water, and scraped the tin plates +with sand and moss, my voice, unbroken by a single question from Dr. +Silence, ran on for the next half-hour with the best account I could +give of what had happened. + +My listener lay on the other side of the fire, his face half hidden by a +big sombrero; sometimes he glanced up questioningly when a point needed +elaboration, but he uttered no single word till I had reached the end, +and his manner all through the recital was grave and attentive. +Overhead, the wash of the wind in the pine branches filled in the +pauses; the darkness settled down over the sea, and the stars came out +in thousands, and by the time I finished the moon had risen to flood the +scene with silver. Yet, by his face and eyes, I knew quite well that the +doctor was listening to something he had expected to hear, even if he +had not actually anticipated all the details. + +"You did well to send for me," he said very low, with a significant +glance at me when I finished; "very well,"--and for one swift second his +eye took in Sangree,--"for what we have to deal with here is nothing +more than a werewolf--rare enough, I am glad to say, but often very sad, +and sometimes very terrible." + +I jumped as though I had been shot, but the next second was heartily +ashamed of my want of control; for this brief remark, confirming as it +did my own worst suspicions, did more to convince me of the gravity of +the adventure than any number of questions or explanations. It seemed to +draw close the circle about us, shutting a door somewhere that locked us +in with the animal and the horror, and turning the key. Whatever it was +had now to be faced and dealt with. + +"No one has been actually injured so far?" he asked aloud, but in a +matter-of-fact tone that lent reality to grim possibilities. + +"Good heavens, no!" cried the Canadian, throwing down his dishcloths +and coming forward into the circle of firelight. "Surely there can be no +question of this poor starved beast injuring anybody, can there?" + +His hair straggled untidily over his forehead, and there was a gleam in +his eyes that was not all reflection from the fire. His words made me +turn sharply. We all laughed a little short, forced laugh. + +"I trust not, indeed," Dr. Silence said quietly. "But what makes you +think the creature is starved?" He asked the question with his eyes +straight on the other's face. The prompt question explained to me why I +had started, and I waited with just a tremor of excitement for the +reply. + +Sangree hesitated a moment, as though the question took him by surprise. +But he met the doctor's gaze unflinchingly across the fire, and with +complete honesty. + +"Really," he faltered, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "I can +hardly tell you. The phrase seemed to come out of its own accord. I have +felt from the beginning that it was in pain and--starved, though why I +felt this never occurred to me till you asked." + +"You really know very little about it, then?" said the other, with a +sudden gentleness in his voice. + +"No more than that," Sangree replied, looking at him with a puzzled +expression that was unmistakably genuine. "In fact, nothing at all, +really," he added, by way of further explanation. + +"I am glad of that," I heard the doctor murmur under his breath, but so +low that I only just caught the words, and Sangree missed them +altogether, as evidently he was meant to do. + +"And now," he cried, getting on his feet and shaking himself with a +characteristic gesture, as though to shake out the horror and the +mystery, "let us leave the problem till to-morrow and enjoy this wind +and sea and stars. I've been living lately in the atmosphere of many +people, and feel that I want to wash and be clean. I propose a swim and +then bed. Who'll second me?" And two minutes later we were all diving +from the boat into cool, deep water, that reflected a thousand moons as +the waves broke away from us in countless ripples. + +We slept in blankets under the open sky, Sangree and I taking the +outside places, and were up before sunrise to catch the dawn wind. +Helped by this early start we were half-way home by noon, and then the +wind shifted to a few points behind us so that we fairly ran. In and out +among a thousand islands, down narrow channels where we lost the wind, +out into open spaces where we had to take in a reef, racing along under +a hot and cloudless sky, we flew through the very heart of the +bewildering and lonely scenery. + +"A real wilderness," cried Dr. Silence from his seat in the bows where +he held the jib sheet. His hat was off, his hair tumbled in the wind, +and his lean brown face gave him the touch of an Oriental. Presently he +changed places with Sangree, and came down to talk with me by the +tiller. + +"A wonderful region, all this world of islands," he said, waving his +hand to the scenery rushing past us, "but doesn't it strike you there's +something lacking?" + +"It's--hard," I answered, after a moment's reflection. "It has a +superficial, glittering prettiness, without--" I hesitated to find the +word I wanted. + +John Silence nodded his head with approval. + +"Exactly," he said. "The picturesqueness of stage scenery that is not +real, not alive. It's like a landscape by a clever painter, yet without +true imagination. Soulless--that's the word you wanted." + +"Something like that," I answered, watching the gusts of wind on the +sails. "Not dead so much, as without soul. That's it." + +"Of course," he went on, in a voice calculated, it seemed to me, not to +reach our companion in the bows, "to live long in a place like +this--long and alone--might bring about a strange result in some men." + +I suddenly realised he was talking with a purpose and pricked up my +ears. + +"There's no life here. These islands are mere dead rocks pushed up from +below the sea--not living land; and there's nothing really alive on +them. Even the sea, this tideless, brackish sea, neither salt water nor +fresh, is dead. It's all a pretty image of life without the real heart +and soul of life. To a man with too strong desires who came here and +lived close to nature, strange things might happen." + +"Let her out a bit," I shouted to Sangree, who was coming aft. "The +wind's gusty and we've got hardly any ballast." + +He went back to the bows, and Dr. Silence continued-- + +"Here, I mean, a long sojourn would lead to deterioration, to +degeneration. The place is utterly unsoftened by human influences, by +any humanising associations of history, good or bad. This landscape has +never awakened into life; it's still dreaming in its primitive sleep." + +"In time," I put in, "you mean a man living here might become brutal?" + +"The passions would run wild, selfishness become supreme, the instincts +coarsen and turn savage probably." + +"But--" + +"In other places just as wild, parts of Italy for instance, where there +are other moderating influences, it could not happen. The character +might grow wild, savage too in a sense, but with a human wildness one +could understand and deal with. But here, in a hard place like this, it +might be otherwise." He spoke slowly, weighing his words carefully. + +I looked at him with many questions in my eyes, and a precautionary cry +to Sangree to stay in the fore part of the boat, out of earshot. + +"First of all there would come callousness to pain, and indifference to +the rights of others. Then the soul would turn savage, not from +passionate human causes, or with enthusiasm, but by deadening down into +a kind of cold, primitive, emotionless savagery--by turning, like the +landscape, soulless." + +"And a man with strong desires, you say, might change?" + +"Without being aware of it, yes; he might turn savage, his instincts and +desires turn animal. And if"--he lowered his voice and turned for a +moment towards the bows, and then continued in his most weighty +manner--"owing to delicate health or other predisposing causes, his +Double--you know what I mean, of course--his etheric Body of Desire, or +astral body, as some term it--that part in which the emotions, passions +and desires reside--if this, I say, were for some constitutional reason +loosely joined to his physical organism, there might well take place an +occasional projection--" + +Sangree came aft with a sudden rush, his face aflame, but whether with +wind or sun, or with what he had heard, I cannot say. In my surprise I +let the tiller slip and the cutter gave a great plunge as she came +sharply into the wind and flung us all together in a heap on the bottom. +Sangree said nothing, but while he scrambled up and made the jib sheet +fast my companion found a moment to add to his unfinished sentence the +words, too low for any ear but mine-- + +"Entirely unknown to himself, however." + +We righted the boat and laughed, and then Sangree produced the map and +explained exactly where we were. Far away on the horizon, across an open +stretch of water, lay a blue cluster of islands with our crescent-shaped +home among them and the safe anchorage of the lagoon. An hour with this +wind would get us there comfortably, and while Dr. Silence and Sangree +fell into conversation, I sat and pondered over the strange suggestions +that had just been put into my mind concerning the "Double," and the +possible form it might assume when dissociated temporarily from the +physical body. + +The whole way home these two chatted, and John Silence was as gentle and +sympathetic as a woman. I did not hear much of their talk, for the wind +grew occasionally to the force of a hurricane and the sails and tiller +absorbed my attention; but I could see that Sangree was pleased and +happy, and was pouring out intimate revelations to his companion in the +way that most people did--when John Silence wished them to do so. + +But it was quite suddenly, while I sat all intent upon wind and sails, +that the true meaning of Sangree's remark about the animal flared up in +me with its full import. For his admission that he knew it was in pain +and starved was in reality nothing more or less than a revelation of his +deeper self. It was in the nature of a confession. He was speaking of +something that he knew positively, something that was beyond question or +argument, something that had to do directly with himself. "Poor starved +beast" he had called it in words that had "come out of their own +accord," and there had not been the slightest evidence of any desire to +conceal or explain away. He had spoken instinctively--from his heart, +and as though about his own self. + +And half an hour before sunset we raced through the narrow opening of +the lagoon and saw the smoke of the dinner-fire blowing here and there +among the trees, and the figures of Joan and the Bo'sun's Mate running +down to meet us at the landing-stage. + + +V + +Everything changed from the moment John Silence set foot on that island; +it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, some +great arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravity +increased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves a +subtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure--this deserted bit +of sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands--somehow turned sombre. +An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, crept +unbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and took +the sparkle from the sunshine and the sea. + +I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted, +as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert. The figures +from the background of the stage moved forward a little into the +light--nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrival +intensified the whole affair. + +And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, it +is clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it from +the very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange divining +powers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon the +scene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongst +us, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no need +to ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such an +atmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for he +took no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of us +floundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true diviner +of souls. + +I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at the +time, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how he +would deal with it. And the conversations I can reproduce almost +verbatim, for, according to my invariable habit, I kept full notes of +all he said. + +To Mrs. Maloney, foolish and dazed; to Joan, alarmed, yet plucky; and to +the clergyman, moved by his daughter's distress below his usual shallow +emotions, he gave the best possible treatment in the best possible way, +yet all so easily and simply as to make it appear naturally spontaneous. +For he dominated the Bo'sun's Mate, taking the measure of her ignorance +with infinite patience; he keyed up Joan, stirring her courage and +interest to the highest point for her own safety; and the Reverend +Timothy he soothed and comforted, while obtaining his implicit +obedience, by taking him into his confidence, and leading him gradually +to a comprehension of the issue that was bound to follow. + +And Sangree--here his wisdom was most wisely calculated--he neglected +outwardly because inwardly he was the object of his unceasing and most +concentrated attention. Under the guise of apparent indifference his +mind kept the Canadian under constant observation. + +There was a restless feeling in the Camp that evening and none of us +lingered round the fire after supper as usual. Sangree and I busied +ourselves with patching up the torn tent for our guest and with finding +heavy stones to hold the ropes, for Dr. Silence insisted on having it +pitched on the highest point of the island ridge, just where it was most +rocky and there was no earth for pegs. The place, moreover, was midway +between the men's and women's tents, and, of course, commanded the most +comprehensive view of the Camp. + +"So that if your dog comes," he said simply, "I may be able to catch him +as he passes across." + +The wind had gone down with the sun and an unusual warmth lay over the +island that made sleep heavy, and in the morning we assembled at a late +breakfast, rubbing our eyes and yawning. The cool north wind had given +way to the warm southern air that sometimes came up with haze and +moisture across the Baltic, bringing with it the relaxing sensations +that produced enervation and listlessness. + +And this may have been the reason why at first I failed to notice that +anything unusual was about, and why I was less alert than normally; for +it was not till after breakfast that the silence of our little party +struck me and I discovered that Joan had not yet put in an appearance. +And then, in a flash, the last heaviness of sleep vanished and I saw +that Maloney was white and troubled and his wife could not hold a plate +without trembling. + +A desire to ask questions was stopped in me by a swift glance from Dr. +Silence, and I suddenly understood in some vague way that they were +waiting till Sangree should have gone. How this idea came to me I cannot +determine, but the soundness of the intuition was soon proved, for the +moment he moved off to his tent, Maloney looked up at me and began to +speak in a low voice. + +"You slept through it all," he half whispered. + +"Through what?" I asked, suddenly thrilled with the knowledge that +something dreadful had happened. + +"We didn't wake you for fear of getting the whole Camp up," he went on, +meaning, by the Camp, I supposed, Sangree. "It was just before dawn when +the screams woke me." + +"The dog again?" I asked, with a curious sinking of the heart. + +"Got right into the tent," he went on, speaking passionately but very +low, "and woke my wife by scrambling all over her. Then she realised +that Joan was struggling beside her. And, by God! the beast had torn her +arm; scratched all down the arm she was, and bleeding." + +"Joan injured?" I gasped. + +"Merely scratched--this time," put in John Silence, speaking for the +first time; "suffering more from shock and fright than actual wounds." + +"Isn't it a mercy the doctor was here?" said Mrs. Maloney, looking as if +she would never know calmness again. "I think we should both have been +killed." + +"It has been a most merciful escape," Maloney said, his pulpit voice +struggling with his emotion. "But, of course, we cannot risk another--we +must strike Camp and get away at once--" + +"Only poor Mr. Sangree must not know what has happened. He is so +attached to Joan and would be so terribly upset," added the Bo'sun's +Mate distractedly, looking all about in her terror. + +"It is perhaps advisable that Mr. Sangree should not know what has +occurred," Dr. Silence said with quiet authority, "but I think, for the +safety of all concerned, it will be better not to leave the island just +now." He spoke with great decision and Maloney looked up and followed +his words closely. + +"If you will agree to stay here a few days longer, I have no doubt we +can put an end to the attentions of your strange visitor, and +incidentally have the opportunity of observing a most singular and +interesting phenomenon--" + +"What!" gasped Mrs. Maloney, "a phenomenon?--you mean that you know what +it is?" + +"I am quite certain I know what it is," he replied very low, for we +heard the footsteps of Sangree approaching, "though I am not so certain +yet as to the best means of dealing with it. But in any case it is not +wise to leave precipitately--" + +"Oh, Timothy, does he think it's a devil--?" cried the Bo'sun's Mate in +a voice that even the Canadian must have heard. + +"In my opinion," continued John Silence, looking across at me and the +clergyman, "it is a case of modern lycanthropy with other complications +that may--" He left the sentence unfinished, for Mrs. Maloney got up +with a jump and fled to her tent fearful she might hear a worse thing, +and at that moment Sangree turned the corner of the stockade and came +into view. + +"There are footmarks all round the mouth of my tent," he said with +excitement. "The animal has been here again in the night. Dr. Silence, +you really must come and see them for yourself. They're as plain on the +moss as tracks in snow." + +But later in the day, while Sangree went off in the canoe to fish the +pools near the larger islands, and Joan still lay, bandaged and resting, +in her tent, Dr. Silence called me and the tutor and proposed a walk to +the granite slabs at the far end. Mrs. Maloney sat on a stump near her +daughter, and busied herself energetically with alternate nursing and +painting. + +"We'll leave you in charge," the doctor said with a smile that was meant +to be encouraging, "and when you want us for lunch, or anything, the +megaphone will always bring us back in time." + +For, though the very air was charged with strange emotions, every one +talked quietly and naturally as with a definite desire to counteract +unnecessary excitement. + +"I'll keep watch," said the plucky Bo'sun's Mate, "and meanwhile I find +comfort in my work." She was busy with the sketch she had begun on the +day after our arrival. "For even a tree," she added proudly, pointing to +her little easel, "is a symbol of the divine, and the thought makes me +feel safer." We glanced for a moment at a daub which was more like the +symptom of a disease than a symbol of the divine--and then took the path +round the lagoon. + +At the far end we made a little fire and lay round it in the shadow of a +big boulder. Maloney stopped his humming suddenly and turned to his +companion. + +"And what do you make of it all?" he asked abruptly. + +"In the first place," replied John Silence, making himself comfortable +against the rock, "it is of human origin, this animal; it is undoubted +lycanthropy." + +His words had the effect precisely of a bombshell. Maloney listened as +though he had been struck. + +"You puzzle me utterly," he said, sitting up closer and staring at him. + +"Perhaps," replied the other, "but if you'll listen to me for a few +moments you may be less puzzled at the end--or more. It depends how much +you know. Let me go further and say that you have underestimated, or +miscalculated, the effect of this primitive wild life upon all of you." + +"In what way?" asked the clergyman, bristling a trifle. + +"It is strong medicine for any town-dweller, and for some of you it has +been too strong. One of you has gone wild." He uttered these last words +with great emphasis. + +"Gone savage," he added, looking from one to the other. + +Neither of us found anything to reply. + +"To say that the brute has awakened in a man is not a mere metaphor +always," he went on presently. + +"Of course not!" + +"But, in the sense I mean, may have a very literal and terrible +significance," pursued Dr. Silence. "Ancient instincts that no one +dreamed of, least of all their possessor, may leap forth--" + +"Atavism can hardly explain a roaming animal with teeth and claws and +sanguinary instincts," interrupted Maloney with impatience. + +"The term is of your own choice," continued the doctor equably, "not +mine, and it is a good example of a word that indicates a result while +it conceals the process; but the explanation of this beast that haunts +your island and attacks your daughter is of far deeper significance than +mere atavistic tendencies, or throwing back to animal origin, which I +suppose is the thought in your mind." + +"You spoke just now of lycanthropy," said Maloney, looking bewildered +and anxious to keep to plain facts evidently; "I think I have come +across the word, but really--really--it can have no actual significance +to-day, can it? These superstitions of mediaeval times can hardly--" + +He looked round at me with his jolly red face, and the expression of +astonishment and dismay on it would have made me shout with laughter at +any other time. Laughter, however, was never farther from my mind than +at this moment when I listened to Dr. Silence as he carefully suggested +to the clergyman the very explanation that had gradually been forcing +itself upon my own mind. + +"However mediaeval ideas may have exaggerated the idea is not of much +importance to us now," he said quietly, "when we are face to face with a +modern example of what, I take it, has always been a profound fact. For +the moment let us leave the name of any one in particular out of the +matter and consider certain possibilities." + +We all agreed with that at any rate. There was no need to speak of +Sangree, or of any one else, until we knew a little more. + +"The fundamental fact in this most curious case," he went on, "is that +the 'Double' of a man--" + +"You mean the astral body? I've heard of that, of course," broke in +Maloney with a snort of triumph. + +"No doubt," said the other, smiling, "no doubt you have;--that this +Double, or fluidic body of a man, as I was saying, has the power under +certain conditions of projecting itself and becoming visible to others. +Certain training will accomplish this, and certain drugs likewise; +illnesses, too, that ravage the body may produce temporarily the result +that death produces permanently, and let loose this counterpart of a +human being and render it visible to the sight of others. + +"Every one, of course, knows this more or less to-day; but it is not so +generally known, and probably believed by none who have not witnessed +it, that this fluidic body can, under certain conditions, assume other +forms than human, and that such other forms may be determined by the +dominating thought and wish of the owner. For this Double, or astral +body as you call it, is really the seat of the passions, emotions and +desires in the psychical economy. It is the Passion Body; and, in +projecting itself, it can often assume a form that gives expression to +the overmastering desire that moulds it; for it is composed of such +tenuous matter that it lends itself readily to the moulding by thought +and wish." + +"I follow you perfectly," said Maloney, looking as if he would much +rather be chopping firewood elsewhere and singing. + +"And there are some persons so constituted," the doctor went on with +increasing seriousness, "that the fluid body in them is but loosely +associated with the physical, persons of poor health as a rule, yet +often of strong desires and passions; and in these persons it is easy +for the Double to dissociate itself during deep sleep from their system, +and, driven forth by some consuming desire, to assume an animal form and +seek the fulfilment of that desire." + +There, in broad daylight, I saw Maloney deliberately creep closer to the +fire and heap the wood on. We gathered in to the heat, and to each +other, and listened to Dr. Silence's voice as it mingled with the swish +and whirr of the wind about us, and the falling of the little waves. + +"For instance, to take a concrete example," he resumed; "suppose some +young man, with the delicate constitution I have spoken of, forms an +overpowering attachment to a young woman, yet perceives that it is not +welcomed, and is man enough to repress its outward manifestations. In +such a case, supposing his Double be easily projected, the very +repression of his love in the daytime would add to the intense force of +his desire when released in deep sleep from the control of his will, +and his fluidic body might issue forth in monstrous or animal shape and +become actually visible to others. And, if his devotion were dog-like in +its fidelity, yet concealing the fires of a fierce passion beneath, it +might well assume the form of a creature that seemed to be half dog, +half wolf--" + +"A werewolf, you mean?" cried Maloney, pale to the lips as he listened. + +John Silence held up a restraining hand. "A werewolf," he said, "is a +true psychical fact of profound significance, however absurdly it may +have been exaggerated by the imaginations of a superstitious peasantry +in the days of unenlightenment, for a werewolf is nothing but the +savage, and possibly sanguinary, instincts of a passionate man scouring +the world in his fluidic body, his passion body, his body of desire. As +in the case at hand, he may not know it--" + +"It is not necessarily deliberate, then?" Maloney put in quickly, with +relief. + +"--It is hardly ever deliberate. It is the desires released in sleep +from the control of the will finding a vent. In all savage races it has +been recognised and dreaded, this phenomenon styled 'Wehr Wolf,' but +to-day it is rare. And it is becoming rarer still, for the world grows +tame and civilised, emotions have become refined, desires lukewarm, and +few men have savagery enough left in them to generate impulses of such +intense force, and certainly not to project them in animal form." + +"By Gad!" exclaimed the clergyman breathlessly, and with increasing +excitement, "then I feel I must tell you--what has been given to me in +confidence--that Sangree has in him an admixture of savage blood--of Red +Indian ancestry--" + +"Let us stick to our supposition of a man as described," the doctor +stopped him calmly, "and let us imagine that he has in him this +admixture of savage blood; and further, that he is wholly unaware of his +dreadful physical and psychical infirmity; and that he suddenly finds +himself leading the primitive life together with the object of his +desires; with the result that the strain of the untamed wild-man in his +blood--" + +"Red Indian, for instance," from Maloney. + +"Red Indian, perfectly," agreed the doctor; "the result, I say, that +this savage strain in him is awakened and leaps into passionate life. +What then?" + +He looked hard at Timothy Maloney, and the clergyman looked hard at him. + +"The wild life such as you lead here on this island, for instance, +might quickly awaken his savage instincts--his buried instincts--and +with profoundly disquieting results." + +"You mean his Subtle Body, as you call it, might issue forth +automatically in deep sleep and seek the object of its desire?" I said, +coming to Maloney's aid, who was finding it more and more difficult to +get words. + +"Precisely;--yet the desire of the man remaining utterly unmalefic--pure +and wholesome in every sense--" + +"Ah!" I heard the clergyman gasp. + +"The lover's desire for union run wild, run savage, tearing its way out +in primitive, untamed fashion, I mean," continued the doctor, striving +to make himself clear to a mind bounded by conventional thought and +knowledge; "for the desire to possess, remember, may easily become +importunate, and, embodied in this animal form of the Subtle Body which +acts as its vehicle, may go forth to tear in pieces all that obstructs, +to reach to the very heart of the loved object and seize it. _Au fond_, +it is nothing more than the aspiration for union, as I said--the +splendid and perfectly clean desire to absorb utterly into itself--" + +He paused a moment and looked into Maloney's eyes. + +"To bathe in the very heart's blood of the one desired," he added with +grave emphasis. + +The fire spurted and crackled and made me start, but Maloney found +relief in a genuine shudder, and I saw him turn his head and look about +him from the sea to the trees. The wind dropped just at that moment and +the doctor's words rang sharply through the stillness. + +"Then it might even kill?" stammered the clergyman presently in a hushed +voice, and with a little forced laugh by way of protest that sounded +quite ghastly. + +"In the last resort it might kill," repeated Dr. Silence. Then, after +another pause, during which he was clearly debating how much or how +little it was wise to give to his audience, he continued: "And if the +Double does not succeed in getting back to its physical body, that +physical body would wake an imbecile--an idiot--or perhaps never wake at +all." + +Maloney sat up and found his tongue. + +"You mean that if this fluid animal thing, or whatever it is, should be +prevented getting back, the man might never wake again?" he asked, with +shaking voice. + +"He might be dead," replied the other calmly. The tremor of a positive +sensation shivered in the air about us. + +"Then isn't that the best way to cure the fool--the brute--?" thundered +the clergyman, half rising to his feet. + +"Certainly it would be an easy and undiscoverable form of murder," was +the stern reply, spoken as calmly as though it were a remark about the +weather. + +Maloney collapsed visibly, and I gathered the wood over the fire and +coaxed up a blaze. + +"The greater part of the man's life--of his vital forces--goes out with +this Double," Dr. Silence resumed, after a moment's consideration, "and +a considerable portion of the actual material of his physical body. So +the physical body that remains behind is depleted, not only of force, +but of matter. You would see it small, shrunken, dropped together, just +like the body of a materialising medium at a seance. Moreover, any mark +or injury inflicted upon this Double will be found exactly reproduced by +the phenomenon of repercussion upon the shrunken physical body lying in +its trance--" + +"An injury inflicted upon the one you say would be reproduced also on +the other?" repeated Maloney, his excitement growing again. + +"Undoubtedly," replied the other quietly; "for there exists all the time +a continuous connection between the physical body and the Double--a +connection of matter, though of exceedingly attenuated, possibly of +etheric, matter. The wound _travels_, so to speak, from one to the +other, and if this connection were broken the result would be death." + +"Death," repeated Maloney to himself, "death!" He looked anxiously at +our faces, his thoughts evidently beginning to clear. + +"And this solidity?" he asked presently, after a general pause; "this +tearing of tents and flesh; this howling, and the marks of paws? You +mean that the Double--?" + +"Has sufficient material drawn from the depleted body to produce +physical results? Certainly!" the doctor took him up. "Although to +explain at this moment such problems as the passage of matter through +matter would be as difficult as to explain how the thought of a mother +can actually break the bones of the child unborn." + +Dr. Silence pointed out to sea, and Maloney, looking wildly about him, +turned with a violent start. I saw a canoe, with Sangree in the +stern-seat, slowly coming into view round the farther point. His hat was +off, and his tanned face for the first time appeared to me--to us all, I +think--as though it were the face of some one else. He looked like a +wild man. Then he stood up in the canoe to make a cast with the rod, and +he looked for all the world like an Indian. I recalled the expression of +his face as I had seen it once or twice, notably on that occasion of the +evening prayer, and an involuntary shudder ran down my spine. + +At that very instant he turned and saw us where we lay, and his face +broke into a smile, so that his teeth showed white in the sun. He +looked in his element, and exceedingly attractive. He called out +something about his fish, and soon after passed out of sight into the +lagoon. + +For a time none of us said a word. + +"And the cure?" ventured Maloney at length. + +"Is not to quench this savage force," replied Dr. Silence, "but to steer +it better, and to provide other outlets. This is the solution of all +these problems of accumulated force, for this force is the raw material +of usefulness, and should be increased and cherished, not by separating +it from the body by death, but by raising it to higher channels. The +best and quickest cure of all," he went on, speaking very gently and +with a hand upon the clergyman's arm, "is to lead it towards its object, +provided that object is not unalterably hostile--to let it find rest +where--" + +He stopped abruptly, and the eyes of the two men met in a single glance +of comprehension. + +"Joan?" Maloney exclaimed, under his breath. + +"Joan!" replied John Silence. + + * * * * * + +We all went to bed early. The day had been unusually warm, and after +sunset a curious hush descended on the island. Nothing was audible but +that faint, ghostly singing which is inseparable from a pinewood even on +the stillest day--a low, searching sound, as though the wind had hair +and trailed it o'er the world. + +With the sudden cooling of the atmosphere a sea fog began to form. It +appeared in isolated patches over the water, and then these patches slid +together and a white wall advanced upon us. Not a breath of air stirred; +the firs stood like flat metal outlines; the sea became as oil. The +whole scene lay as though held motionless by some huge weight in the +air; and the flames from our fire--the largest we had ever made--rose +upwards, straight as a church steeple. + +As I followed the rest of our party tent-wards, having kicked the embers +of the fire into safety, the advance guard of the fog was creeping +slowly among the trees, like white arms feeling their way. Mingled with +the smoke was the odour of moss and soil and bark, and the peculiar +flavour of the Baltic, half salt, half brackish, like the smell of an +estuary at low water. + +It is difficult to say why it seemed to me that this deep stillness +masked an intense activity; perhaps in every mood lies the suggestion of +its opposite, so that I became aware of the contrast of furious energy, +for it was like moving through the deep pause before a thunderstorm, and +I trod gently lest by breaking a twig or moving a stone I might set the +whole scene into some sort of tumultuous movement. Actually, no doubt, +it was nothing more than a result of overstrung nerves. + +There was no more question of undressing and going to bed than there was +of undressing and going to bathe. Some sense in me was alert and +expectant. I sat in my tent and waited. And at the end of half an hour +or so my waiting was justified, for the canvas suddenly shivered, and +some one tripped over the ropes that held it to the earth. John Silence +came in. + +The effect of his quiet entry was singular and prophetic: it was just as +though the energy lying behind all this stillness had pressed forward to +the edge of action. This, no doubt, was merely the quickening of my own +mind, and had no other justification; for the presence of John Silence +always suggested the near possibility of vigorous action, and as a +matter of fact, he came in with nothing more than a nod and a +significant gesture. + +He sat down on a corner of my ground-sheet, and I pushed the blanket +over so that he could cover his legs. He drew the flap of the tent after +him and settled down, but hardly had he done so when the canvas shook a +second time, and in blundered Maloney. + +"Sitting in the dark?" he said self-consciously, pushing his head +inside, and hanging up his lantern on the ridge-pole nail. "I just +looked in for a smoke. I suppose--" + +He glanced round, caught the eye of Dr. Silence, and stopped. He put his +pipe back into his pocket and began to hum softly--that underbreath +humming of a nondescript melody I knew so well and had come to hate. + +Dr. Silence leaned forward, opened the lantern and blew the light out. +"Speak low," he said, "and don't strike matches. Listen for sounds and +movements about the Camp, and be ready to follow me at a moment's +notice." There was light enough to distinguish our faces easily, and I +saw Maloney glance again hurriedly at both of us. + +"Is the Camp asleep?" the doctor asked presently, whispering. + +"Sangree is," replied the clergyman, in a voice equally low. "I can't +answer for the women; I think they're sitting up." + +"That's for the best." And then he added: "I wish the fog would thin a +bit and let the moon through; later--we may want it." + +"It is lifting now, I think," Maloney whispered back. "It's over the +tops of the trees already." + +I cannot say what it was in this commonplace exchange of remarks that +thrilled. Probably Maloney's swift acquiescence in the doctor's mood had +something to do with it; for his quick obedience certainly impressed me +a good deal. But, even without that slight evidence, it was clear that +each recognised the gravity of the occasion, and understood that sleep +was impossible and sentry duty was the order of the night. + +"Report to me," repeated John Silence once again, "the least sound, and +do nothing precipitately." + +He shifted across to the mouth of the tent and raised the flap, +fastening it against the pole so that he could see out. Maloney stopped +humming and began to force the breath through his teeth with a kind of +faint hissing, treating us to a medley of church hymns and popular songs +of the day. + +Then the tent trembled as though some one had touched it. + +"That's the wind rising," whispered the clergyman, and pulled the flap +open as far as it would go. A waft of cold damp air entered and made us +shiver, and with it came a sound of the sea as the first wave washed its +way softly along the shores. + +"It's got round to the north," he added, and following his voice came a +long-drawn whisper that rose from the whole island as the trees sent +forth a sighing response. "The fog'll move a bit now. I can make out a +lane across the sea already." + +"Hush!" said Dr. Silence, for Maloney's voice had risen above a whisper, +and we settled down again to another long period of watching and +waiting, broken only by the occasional rubbing of shoulders against the +canvas as we shifted our positions, and the increasing noise of waves on +the outer coast-line of the island. And over all whirred the murmur of +wind sweeping the tops of the trees like a great harp, and the faint +tapping on the tent as drops fell from the branches with a sharp pinging +sound. + +We had sat for something over an hour in this way, and Maloney and I +were finding it increasingly hard to keep awake, when suddenly Dr. +Silence rose to his feet and peered out. The next minute he was gone. + +Relieved of the dominating presence, the clergyman thrust his face close +into mine. "I don't much care for this waiting game," he whispered, "but +Silence wouldn't hear of my sitting up with the others; he said it would +prevent anything happening if I did." + +"He knows," I answered shortly. + +"No doubt in the world about that," he whispered back; "it's this +'Double' business, as he calls it, or else it's obsession as the Bible +describes it. But it's bad, whichever it is, and I've got my Winchester +outside ready cocked, and I brought this too." He shoved a pocket Bible +under my nose. At one time in his life it had been his inseparable +companion. + +"One's useless and the other's dangerous," I replied under my breath, +conscious of a keen desire to laugh, and leaving him to choose. "Safety +lies in following our leader--" + +"I'm not thinking of myself," he interrupted sharply; "only, if anything +happens to Joan to-night I'm going to shoot first--and pray afterwards!" + +Maloney put the book back into his hip-pocket, and peered out of the +doorway. "What is he up to now, in the devil's name, I wonder!" he +added; "going round Sangree's tent and making gestures. How weird he +looks disappearing in and out of the fog." + +"Just trust him and wait," I said quickly, for the doctor was already on +his way back. "Remember, he has the knowledge, and knows what he's +about. I've been with him through worse cases than this." + +Maloney moved back as Dr. Silence darkened the doorway and stooped to +enter. + +"His sleep is very deep," he whispered, seating himself by the door +again. "He's in a cataleptic condition, and the Double may be released +any minute now. But I've taken steps to imprison it in the tent, and it +can't get out till I permit it. Be on the watch for signs of movement." +Then he looked hard at Maloney. "But no violence, or shooting, remember, +Mr. Maloney, unless you want a murder on your hands. Anything done to +the Double acts by repercussion upon the physical body. You had better +take out the cartridges at once." + +His voice was stern. The clergyman went out, and I heard him emptying +the magazine of his rifle. When he returned he sat nearer the door than +before, and from that moment until we left the tent he never once took +his eyes from the figure of Dr. Silence, silhouetted there against sky +and canvas. + +And, meanwhile, the wind came steadily over the sea and opened the mist +into lanes and clearings, driving it about like a living thing. + +It must have been well after midnight when a low booming sound drew my +attention; but at first the sense of hearing was so strained that it was +impossible exactly to locate it, and I imagined it was the thunder of +big guns far out at sea carried to us by the rising wind. Then Maloney, +catching hold of my arm and leaning forward, somehow brought the true +relation, and I realised the next second that it was only a few feet +away. + +"Sangree's tent," he exclaimed in a loud and startled whisper. + +I craned my head round the corner, but at first the effect of the fog +was so confusing that every patch of white driving about before the wind +looked like a moving tent and it was some seconds before I discovered +the one patch that held steady. Then I saw that it was shaking all over, +and the sides, flapping as much as the tightness of the ropes allowed, +were the cause of the booming sound we had heard. Something alive was +tearing frantically about inside, banging against the stretched canvas +in a way that made me think of a great moth dashing against the walls +and ceiling of a room. The tent bulged and rocked. + +"It's trying to get out, by Jupiter!" muttered the clergyman, rising to +his feet and turning to the side where the unloaded rifle lay. I sprang +up too, hardly knowing what purpose was in my mind, but anxious to be +prepared for anything. John Silence, however, was before us both, and +his figure slipped past and blocked the doorway of the tent. And there +was some quality in his voice next minute when he began to speak that +brought our minds instantly to a state of calm obedience. + +"First--the women's tent," he said low, looking sharply at Maloney, "and +if I need your help, I'll call." + +The clergyman needed no second bidding. He dived past me and was out in +a moment. He was labouring evidently under intense excitement. I watched +him picking his way silently over the slippery ground, giving the moving +tent a wide berth, and presently disappearing among the floating shapes +of fog. + +Dr. Silence turned to me. "You heard those footsteps about half an hour +ago?" he asked significantly. + +"I heard nothing." + +"They were extraordinarily soft--almost the soundless tread of a wild +creature. But now, follow me closely," he added, "for we must waste no +time if I am to save this poor man from his affliction and lead his +werewolf Double to its rest. And, unless I am much mistaken"--he +peered at me through the darkness, whispering with the utmost +distinctness--"Joan and Sangree are absolutely made for one another. And +I think she knows it too--just as well as he does." + +My head swam a little as I listened, but at the same time something +cleared in my brain and I saw that he was right. Yet it was all so weird +and incredible, so remote from the commonplace facts of life as +commonplace people know them; and more than once it flashed upon me that +the whole scene--people, words, tents, and all the rest of it--were +delusions created by the intense excitement of my own mind somehow, and +that suddenly the sea-fog would clear off and the world become normal +again. + +The cold air from the sea stung our cheeks sharply as we left the close +atmosphere of the little crowded tent. The sighing of the trees, the +waves breaking below on the rocks, and the lines and patches of mist +driving about us seemed to create the momentary illusion that the whole +island had broken loose and was floating out to sea like a mighty raft. + +The doctor moved just ahead of me, quickly and silently; he was making +straight for the Canadian's tent where the sides still boomed and shook +as the creature of sinister life raced and tore about impatiently +within. A little distance from the door he paused and held up a hand to +stop me. We were, perhaps, a dozen feet away. + +"Before I release it, you shall see for yourself," he said, "that the +reality of the werewolf is beyond all question. The matter of which it +is composed is, of course, exceedingly attenuated, but you are partially +clairvoyant--and even if it is not dense enough for normal sight you +will see something." + +He added a little more I could not catch. The fact was that the +curiously strong vibrating atmosphere surrounding his person somewhat +confused my senses. It was the result, of course, of his intense +concentration of mind and forces, and pervaded the entire Camp and all +the persons in it. And as I watched the canvas shake and heard it boom +and flap I heartily welcomed it. For it was also protective. + +At the back of Sangree's tent stood a thin group of pine trees, but in +front and at the sides the ground was comparatively clear. The flap was +wide open and any ordinary animal would have been out and away without +the least trouble. Dr. Silence led me up to within a few feet, evidently +careful not to advance beyond a certain limit, and then stooped down and +signalled to me to do the same. And looking over his shoulder I saw the +interior lit faintly by the spectral light reflected from the fog, and +the dim blot upon the balsam boughs and blankets signifying Sangree; +while over him, and round him, and up and down him, flew the dark mass +of "something" on four legs, with pointed muzzle and sharp ears plainly +visible against the tent sides, and the occasional gleam of fiery eyes +and white fangs. + +I held my breath and kept utterly still, inwardly and outwardly, for +fear, I suppose, that the creature would become conscious of my +presence; but the distress I felt went far deeper than the mere sense of +personal safety, or the fact of watching something so incredibly active +and real. I became keenly aware of the dreadful psychic calamity it +involved. The realisation that Sangree lay confined in that narrow space +with this species of monstrous projection of himself--that he was +wrapped there in the cataleptic sleep, all unconscious that this thing +was masquerading with his own life and energies--added a distressing +touch of horror to the scene. In all the cases of John Silence--and they +were many and often terrible--no other psychic affliction has ever, +before or since, impressed me so convincingly with the pathetic +impermanence of the human personality, with its fluid nature, and with +the alarming possibilities of its transformations. + +"Come," he whispered, after we had watched for some minutes the frantic +efforts to escape from the circle of thought and will that held it +prisoner, "come a little farther away while I release it." + +We moved back a dozen yards or so. It was like a scene in some +impossible play, or in some ghastly and oppressive nightmare from which +I should presently awake to find the blankets all heaped up upon my +chest. + +By some method undoubtedly mental, but which, in my confusion and +excitement, I failed to understand, the doctor accomplished his purpose, +and the next minute I heard him say sharply under his breath, "It's out! +Now watch!" + +At this very moment a sudden gust from the sea blew aside the mist, so +that a lane opened to the sky, and the moon, ghastly and unnatural as +the effect of stage limelight, dropped down in a momentary gleam upon +the door of Sangree's tent, and I perceived that something had moved +forward from the interior darkness and stood clearly defined upon the +threshold. And, at the same moment, the tent ceased its shuddering and +held still. + +There, in the doorway, stood an animal, with neck and muzzle thrust +forward, its head poking into the night, its whole body poised in that +attitude of intense rigidity that precedes the spring into freedom, the +running leap of attack. It seemed to be about the size of a calf, leaner +than a mastiff, yet more squat than a wolf, and I can swear that I saw +the fur ridged sharply upon its back. Then its upper lip slowly lifted, +and I saw the whiteness of its teeth. + +Surely no human being ever stared as hard as I did in those next few +minutes. Yet, the harder I stared the clearer appeared the amazing and +monstrous apparition. For, after all, it was Sangree--and yet it was not +Sangree. It was the head and face of an animal, and yet it was the face +of Sangree: the face of a wild dog, a wolf, and yet his face. The eyes +were sharper, narrower, more fiery, yet they were his eyes--his eyes run +wild; the teeth were longer, whiter, more pointed--yet they were his +teeth, his teeth grown cruel; the expression was flaming, terrible, +exultant--yet it was his expression carried to the border of +savagery--his expression as I had already surprised it more than once, +only dominant now, fully released from human constraint, with the mad +yearning of a hungry and importunate soul. It was the soul of Sangree, +the long suppressed, deeply loving Sangree, expressed in its single and +intense desire--pure utterly and utterly wonderful. + +Yet, at the same time, came the feeling that it was all an illusion. I +suddenly remembered the extraordinary changes the human face can undergo +in circular insanity, when it changes from melancholia to elation; and I +recalled the effect of hascheesh, which shows the human countenance in +the form of the bird or animal to which in character it most +approximates; and for a moment I attributed this mingling of Sangree's +face with a wolf to some kind of similar delusion of the senses. I was +mad, deluded, dreaming! The excitement of the day, and this dim light of +stars and bewildering mist combined to trick me. I had been amazingly +imposed upon by some false wizardry of the senses. It was all absurd and +fantastic; it would pass. + +And then, sounding across this sea of mental confusion like a bell +through a fog, came the voice of John Silence bringing me back to a +consciousness of the reality of it all-- + +"Sangree--in his Double!" + +And when I looked again more calmly, I plainly saw that it was indeed +the face of the Canadian, but his face turned animal, yet mingled with +the brute expression a curiously pathetic look like the soul seen +sometimes in the yearning eyes of a dog,--the face of an animal shot +with vivid streaks of the human. + +The doctor called to him softly under his breath-- + +"Sangree! Sangree, you poor afflicted creature! Do you know me? Can you +understand what it is you're doing in your 'Body of Desire'?" + +For the first time since its appearance the creature moved. Its ears +twitched and it shifted the weight of its body on to the hind legs. +Then, lifting its head and muzzle to the sky, it opened its long jaws +and gave vent to a dismal and prolonged howling. + +But, when I heard that howling rise to heaven, the breath caught and +strangled in my throat and it seemed that my heart missed a beat; for, +though the sound was entirely animal, it was at the same time entirely +human. But, more than that, it was the cry I had so often heard in the +Western States of America where the Indians still fight and hunt and +struggle--it was the cry of the Redskin! + +"The Indian blood!" whispered John Silence, when I caught his arm for +support; "the ancestral cry." + +And that poignant, beseeching cry, that broken human voice, mingling +with the savage howl of the brute beast, pierced straight to my very +heart and touched there something that no music, no voice, passionate or +tender, of man, woman or child has ever stirred before or since for one +second into life. It echoed away among the fog and the trees and lost +itself somewhere out over the hidden sea. And some part of +myself--something that was far more than the mere act of intense +listening--went out with it, and for several minutes I lost +consciousness of my surroundings and felt utterly absorbed in the pain +of another stricken fellow-creature. + +Again the voice of John Silence recalled me to myself. + +"Hark!" he said aloud. "Hark!" + +His tone galvanised me afresh. We stood listening side by side. + +Far across the island, faintly sounding through the trees and brushwood, +came a similar, answering cry. Shrill, yet wonderfully musical, shaking +the heart with a singular wild sweetness that defies description, we +heard it rise and fall upon the night air. + +"It's across the lagoon," Dr. Silence cried, but this time in full tones +that paid no tribute to caution. "It's Joan! She's answering him!" + +Again the wonderful cry rose and fell, and that same instant the animal +lowered its head, and, muzzle to earth, set off on a swift easy canter +that took it off into the mist and out of our sight like a thing of wind +and vision. + +The doctor made a quick dash to the door of Sangree's tent, and, +following close at his heels, I peered in and caught a momentary glimpse +of the small, shrunken body lying upon the branches but half covered by +the blankets--the cage from which most of the life, and not a little of +the actual corporeal substance, had escaped into that other form of life +and energy, the body of passion and desire. + +By another of those swift, incalculable processes which at this stage of +my apprenticeship I failed often to grasp, Dr. Silence reclosed the +circle about the tent and body. + +"Now it cannot return till I permit it," he said, and the next second +was off at full speed into the woods, with myself close behind him. I +had already had some experience of my companion's ability to run swiftly +through a dense wood, and I now had the further proof of his power +almost to see in the dark. For, once we left the open space about the +tents, the trees seemed to absorb all the remaining vestiges of light, +and I understood that special sensibility that is said to develop in the +blind--the sense of obstacles. + +And twice as we ran we heard the sound of that dismal howling drawing +nearer and nearer to the answering faint cry from the point of the +island whither we were going. + +Then, suddenly, the trees fell away, and we emerged, hot and breathless, +upon the rocky point where the granite slabs ran bare into the sea. It +was like passing into the clearness of open day. And there, sharply +defined against sea and sky, stood the figure of a human being. It was +Joan. + +I at once saw that there was something about her appearance that was +singular and unusual, but it was only when we had moved quite close that +I recognised what caused it. For while the lips wore a smile that lit +the whole face with a happiness I had never seen there before, the eyes +themselves were fixed in a steady, sightless stare as though they were +lifeless and made of glass. + +I made an impulsive forward movement, but Dr. Silence instantly dragged +me back. + +"No," he cried, "don't wake her!" + +"What do you mean?" I replied aloud, struggling in his grasp. + +"She's asleep. It's somnambulistic. The shock might injure her +permanently." + +I turned and peered closely into his face. He was absolutely calm. I +began to understand a little more, catching, I suppose, something of his +strong thinking. + +"Walking in her sleep, you mean?" + +He nodded. "She's on her way to meet him. From the very beginning he +must have drawn her--irresistibly." + +"But the torn tent and the wounded flesh?" + +"When she did not sleep deep enough to enter the somnambulistic trance +he missed her--he went instinctively and in all innocence to seek her +out--with the result, of course, that she woke and was terrified--" + +"Then in their heart of hearts they love?" I asked finally. + +John Silence smiled his inscrutable smile. "Profoundly," he answered, +"and as simply as only primitive souls can love. If only they both come +to realise it in their normal waking states his Double will cease these +nocturnal excursions. He will be cured, and at rest." + +The words had hardly left his lips when there was a sound of rustling +branches on our left, and the very next instant the dense brushwood +parted where it was darkest and out rushed the swift form of an animal +at full gallop. The noise of feet was scarcely audible, but in that +utter stillness I heard the heavy panting breath and caught the swish of +the low bushes against its sides. It went straight towards Joan--and as +it went the girl lifted her head and turned to meet it. And the same +instant a canoe that had been creeping silently and unobserved round the +inner shore of the lagoon, emerged from the shadows and defined itself +upon the water with a figure at the middle thwart. It was Maloney. + +It was only afterwards I realised that we were invisible to him where we +stood against the dark background of trees; the figures of Joan and the +animal he saw plainly, but not Dr. Silence and myself standing just +beyond them. He stood up in the canoe and pointed with his right arm. I +saw something gleam in his hand. + +"Stand aside, Joan girl, or you'll get hit," he shouted, his voice +ringing horribly through the deep stillness, and the same instant a +pistol-shot cracked out with a burst of flame and smoke, and the figure +of the animal, with one tremendous leap into the air, fell back in the +shadows and disappeared like a shape of night and fog. Instantly, then, +Joan opened her eyes, looked in a dazed fashion about her, and pressing +both hands against her heart, fell with a sharp cry into my arms that +were just in time to catch her. + +And an answering cry sounded across the lagoon--thin, wailing, piteous. +It came from Sangree's tent. + +"Fool!" cried Dr. Silence, "you've wounded him!" and before we could +move or realise quite what it meant, he was in the canoe and half-way +across the lagoon. + +Some kind of similar abuse came in a torrent from my lips, too--though I +cannot remember the actual words--as I cursed the man for his +disobedience and tried to make the girl comfortable on the ground. But +the clergyman was more practical. He was spreading his coat over her and +dashing water on her face. + +"It's not Joan I've killed at any rate," I heard him mutter as she +turned and opened her eyes and smiled faintly up in his face. "I swear +the bullet went straight." + +Joan stared at him; she was still dazed and bewildered, and still +imagined herself with the companion of her trance. The strange lucidity +of the somnambulist still hung over her brain and mind, though outwardly +she appeared troubled and confused. + +"Where has he gone to? He disappeared so suddenly, crying that he was +hurt," she asked, looking at her father as though she did not recognise +him. "And if they've done anything to him--they have done it to me +too--for he is more to me than--" + +Her words grew vaguer and vaguer as she returned slowly to her normal +waking state, and now she stopped altogether, as though suddenly aware +that she had been surprised into telling secrets. But all the way back, +as we carried her carefully through the trees, the girl smiled and +murmured Sangree's name and asked if he was injured, until it finally +became clear to me that the wild soul of the one had called to the wild +soul of the other and in the secret depths of their beings the call had +been heard and understood. John Silence was right. In the abyss of her +heart, too deep at first for recognition, the girl loved him, and had +loved him from the very beginning. Once her normal waking consciousness +recognised the fact they would leap together like twin flames, and his +affliction would be at an end; his intense desire would be satisfied; he +would be cured. + +And in Sangree's tent Dr. Silence and I sat up for the remainder of the +night--this wonderful and haunted night that had shown us such strange +glimpses of a new heaven and a new hell--for the Canadian tossed upon +his balsam boughs with high fever in his blood, and upon each cheek a +dark and curious contusion showed, throbbing with severe pain although +the skin was not broken and there was no outward and visible sign of +blood. + +"Maloney shot straight, you see," whispered Dr. Silence to me after the +clergyman had gone to his tent, and had put Joan to sleep beside her +mother, who, by the way, had never once awakened. "The bullet must have +passed clean through the face, for both cheeks are stained. He'll wear +these marks all his life--smaller, but always there. They're the most +curious scars in the world, these scars transferred by repercussion from +an injured Double. They'll remain visible until just before his death, +and then with the withdrawal of the subtle body they will disappear +finally." + +His words mingled in my dazed mind with the sighs of the troubled +sleeper and the crying of the wind about the tent. Nothing seemed to +paralyse my powers of realisation so much as these twin stains of +mysterious significance upon the face before me. + +It was odd, too, how speedily and easily the Camp resigned itself again +to sleep and quietness, as though a stage curtain had suddenly dropped +down upon the action and concealed it; and nothing contributed so +vividly to the feeling that I had been a spectator of some kind of +visionary drama as the dramatic nature of the change in the girl's +attitude. + +Yet, as a matter of fact, the change had not been so sudden and +revolutionary as appeared. Underneath, in those remoter regions of +consciousness where the emotions, unknown to their owners, do secretly +mature, and owe thence their abrupt revelation to some abrupt +psychological climax, there can be no doubt that Joan's love for the +Canadian had been growing steadily and irresistibly all the time. It had +now rushed to the surface so that she recognised it; that was all. + +And it has always seemed to me that the presence of John Silence, so +potent, so quietly efficacious, produced an effect, if one may say so, +of a psychic forcing-house, and hastened incalculably the bringing +together of these two "wild" lovers. In that sudden awakening had +occurred the very psychological climax required to reveal the passionate +emotion accumulated below. The deeper knowledge had leaped across and +transferred itself to her ordinary consciousness, and in that shock the +collision of the personalities had shaken them to the depths and shown +her the truth beyond all possibility of doubt. + +"He's sleeping quietly now," the doctor said, interrupting my +reflections. "If you will watch alone for a bit I'll go to Maloney's +tent and help him to arrange his thoughts." He smiled in anticipation of +that "arrangement." "He'll never quite understand how a wound on the +Double can transfer itself to the physical body, but at least I can +persuade him that the less he talks and 'explains' to-morrow, the sooner +the forces will run their natural course now to peace and quietness." + +He went away softly, and with the removal of his presence Sangree, +sleeping heavily, turned over and groaned with the pain of his broken +head. + +And it was in the still hour just before the dawn, when all the islands +were hushed, the wind and sea still dreaming, and the stars visible +through clearing mists, that a figure crept silently over the ridge and +reached the door of the tent where I dozed beside the sufferer, before I +was aware of its presence. The flap was cautiously lifted a few inches +and in looked--Joan. + +That same instant Sangree woke and sat up on his bed of branches. He +recognised her before I could say a word, and uttered a low cry. It was +pain and joy mingled, and this time all human. And the girl too was no +longer walking in her sleep, but fully aware of what she was doing. I +was only just able to prevent him springing from his blankets. + +"Joan, Joan!" he cried, and in a flash she answered him, "I'm here--I'm +with you always now," and had pushed past me into the tent and flung +herself upon his breast. + +"I knew you would come to me in the end," I heard him whisper. + +"It was all too big for me to understand at first," she murmured, "and +for a long time I was frightened--" + +"But not now!" he cried louder; "you don't feel afraid now of--of +anything that's in me--" + +"I fear nothing," she cried, "nothing, nothing!" + +I led her outside again. She looked steadily into my face with eyes +shining and her whole being transformed. In some intuitive way, +surviving probably from the somnambulism, she knew or guessed as much as +I knew. + +"You must talk to-morrow with John Silence," I said gently, leading her +towards her own tent. "He understands everything." + +I left her at the door, and as I went back softly to take up my place of +sentry again with the Canadian, I saw the first streaks of dawn lighting +up the far rim of the sea behind the distant islands. + +And, as though to emphasise the eternal closeness of comedy to tragedy, +two small details rose out of the scene and impressed me so vividly that +I remember them to this very day. For in the tent where I had just left +Joan, all aquiver with her new happiness, there rose plainly to my ears +the grotesque sounds of the Bo'sun's Mate heavily snoring, oblivious of +all things in heaven or hell; and from Maloney's tent, so still was the +night, where I looked across and saw the lantern's glow, there came to +me, through the trees, the monotonous rising and falling of a human +voice that was beyond question the sound of a man praying to his God. + + + + +CASE III: A VICTIM OF HIGHER SPACE + + +"There's a hextraordinary gentleman to see you, sir," said the new man. + +"Why 'extraordinary'?" asked Dr. Silence, drawing the tips of his thin +fingers through his brown beard. His eyes twinkled pleasantly. "Why +'extraordinary,' Barker?" he repeated encouragingly, noticing the +perplexed expression in the man's eyes. + +"He's so--so thin, sir. I could hardly see 'im at all--at first. He was +inside the house before I could ask the name," he added, remembering +strict orders. + +"And who brought him here?" + +"He come alone, sir, in a closed cab. He pushed by me before I could say +a word--making no noise not what I could hear. He seemed to move so soft +like--" + +The man stopped short with obvious embarrassment, as though he had +already said enough to jeopardise his new situation, but trying hard to +show that he remembered the instructions and warnings he had received +with regard to the admission of strangers not properly accredited. + +"And where is the gentleman now?" asked Dr. Silence, turning away to +conceal his amusement. + +"I really couldn't exactly say, sir. I left him standing in the 'all--" + +The doctor looked up sharply. "But why in the hall, Barker? Why not in +the waiting-room?" He fixed his piercing though kindly eyes on the man's +face. "Did he frighten you?" he asked quickly. + +"I think he did, sir, if I may say so. I seemed to lose sight of him, as +it were--" The man stammered, evidently convinced by now that he had +earned his dismissal. "He come in so funny, just like a cold wind," he +added boldly, setting his heels at attention and looking his master full +in the face. + +The doctor made an internal note of the man's halting description; he +was pleased that the slight signs of psychic intuition which had induced +him to engage Barker had not entirely failed at the first trial. Dr. +Silence sought for this qualification in all his assistants, from +secretary to serving man, and if it surrounded him with a somewhat +singular crew, the drawbacks were more than compensated for on the whole +by their occasional flashes of insight. + +"So the gentleman made you feel queer, did he?" + +"That was it, I think, sir," repeated the man stolidly. + +"And he brings no kind of introduction to me--no letter or anything?" +asked the doctor, with feigned surprise, as though he knew what was +coming. + +The man fumbled, both in mind and pockets, and finally produced an +envelope. + +"I beg pardon, sir," he said, greatly flustered; "the gentleman handed +me this for you." + +It was a note from a discerning friend, who had never yet sent him a +case that was not vitally interesting from one point or another. + +"Please see the bearer of this note," the brief message ran, "though I +doubt if even you can do much to help him." + +John Silence paused a moment, so as to gather from the mind of the +writer all that lay behind the brief words of the letter. Then he looked +up at his servant with a graver expression than he had yet worn. + +"Go back and find this gentleman," he said, "and show him into the green +study. Do not reply to his question, or speak more than actually +necessary; but think kind, helpful, sympathetic thoughts as strongly as +you can, Barker. You remember what I told you about the importance of +_thinking_, when I engaged you. Put curiosity out of your mind, and +think gently, sympathetically, affectionately, if you can." + +He smiled, and Barker, who had recovered his composure in the doctor's +presence, bowed silently and went out. + +There were two different reception-rooms in Dr. Silence's house. One +(intended for persons who imagined they needed spiritual assistance when +really they were only candidates for the asylum) had padded walls, and +was well supplied with various concealed contrivances by means of which +sudden violence could be instantly met and overcome. It was, however, +rarely used. The other, intended for the reception of genuine cases of +spiritual distress and out-of-the-way afflictions of a psychic nature, +was entirely draped and furnished in a soothing deep green, calculated +to induce calmness and repose of mind. And this room was the one in +which Dr. Silence interviewed the majority of his "queer" cases, and the +one into which he had directed Barker to show his present caller. + +To begin with, the arm-chair in which the patient was always directed to +sit, was nailed to the floor, since its immovability tended to impart +this same excellent characteristic to the occupant. Patients invariably +grew excited when talking about themselves, and their excitement tended +to confuse their thoughts and to exaggerate their language. The +inflexibility of the chair helped to counteract this. After repeated +endeavours to drag it forward, or push it back, they ended by resigning +themselves to sitting quietly. And with the futility of fidgeting there +followed a calmer state of mind. + +Upon the floor, and at intervals in the wall immediately behind, were +certain tiny green buttons, practically unnoticeable, which on being +pressed permitted a soothing and persuasive narcotic to rise invisibly +about the occupant of the chair. The effect upon the excitable patient +was rapid, admirable, and harmless. The green study was further provided +with a secret spy-hole; for John Silence liked when possible to observe +his patient's face before it had assumed that mask the features of the +human countenance invariably wear in the presence of another person. A +man sitting alone wears a psychic expression; and this expression is the +man himself. It disappears the moment another person joins him. And Dr. +Silence often learned more from a few moments' secret observation of a +face than from hours of conversation with its owner afterwards. + +A very light, almost a dancing, step followed Barker's heavy tread +towards the green room, and a moment afterwards the man came in and +announced that the gentleman was waiting. He was still pale and his +manner nervous. + +"Never mind, Barker" the doctor said kindly; "if you were not psychic +the man would have had no effect upon you at all. You only need training +and development. And when you have learned to interpret these feelings +and sensations better, you will feel no fear, but only a great +sympathy." + +"Yes, sir; thank you, sir!" And Barker bowed and made his escape, while +Dr. Silence, an amused smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, +made his way noiselessly down the passage and put his eye to the +spy-hole in the door of the green study. + +This spy-hole was so placed that it commanded a view of almost the +entire room, and, looking through it, the doctor saw a hat, gloves, and +umbrella lying on a chair by the table, but searched at first in vain +for their owner. + +The windows were both closed and a brisk fire burned in the grate. There +were various signs--signs intelligible at least to a keenly intuitive +soul--that the room was occupied, yet so far as human beings were +concerned, it was empty, utterly empty. No one sat in the chairs; no one +stood on the mat before the fire; there was no sign even that a patient +was anywhere close against the wall, examining the Bocklin +reproductions--as patients so often did when they thought they were +alone--and therefore rather difficult to see from the spy-hole. +Ordinarily speaking, there was no one in the room. It was undeniable. + +Yet Dr. Silence was quite well aware that a human being _was_ in the +room. His psychic apparatus never failed in letting him know the +proximity of an incarnate or discarnate being. Even in the dark he could +tell that. And he now knew positively that his patient--the patient who +had alarmed Barker, and had then tripped down the corridor with that +dancing footstep--was somewhere concealed within the four walls +commanded by his spy-hole. He also realised--and this was most +unusual--that this individual whom he desired to watch knew that he was +being watched. And, further, that the stranger himself was also +watching! In fact, that it was he, the doctor, who was being +observed--and by an observer as keen and trained as himself. + +An inkling of the true state of the case began to dawn upon him, and he +was on the verge of entering--indeed, his hand already touched the +door-knob--when his eye, still glued to the spy-hole, detected a slight +movement. Directly opposite, between him and the fireplace, something +stirred. He watched very attentively and made certain that he was not +mistaken. An object on the mantelpiece--it was a blue vase--disappeared +from view. It passed out of sight together with the portion of the +marble mantelpiece on which it rested. Next, that part of the fire and +grate and brass fender immediately below it vanished entirely, as though +a slice had been taken clean out of them. + +Dr. Silence then understood that something between him and these objects +was slowly coming into being, something that concealed them and +obstructed his vision by inserting itself in the line of sight between +them and himself. + +He quietly awaited further results before going in. + +First he saw a thin perpendicular line tracing itself from just above +the height of the clock and continuing downwards till it reached the +woolly fire-mat. This line grew wider, broadened, grew solid. It was no +shadow; it was something substantial. It defined itself more and more. +Then suddenly, at the top of the line, and about on a level with the +face of the clock, he saw a round luminous disc gazing steadily at him. +It was a human eye, looking straight into his own, pressed there against +the spy-hole. And it was bright with intelligence. Dr. Silence held his +breath for a moment--and stared back at it. + +Then, like some one moving out of deep shadow into light, he saw the +figure of a man come sliding sideways into view, a whitish face +following the eye, and the perpendicular line he had first observed +broadening out and developing into the complete figure of a human being. +It was the patient. He had apparently been standing there in front of +the fire all the time. A second eye had followed the first, and both of +them stared steadily at the spy-hole, sharply concentrated, yet with a +sly twinkle of humour and amusement that made it impossible for the +doctor to maintain his position any longer. + +He opened the door and went in quickly. As he did so he noticed for the +first time the sound of a German band coming in gaily through the open +ventilators. In some intuitive, unaccountable fashion the music +connected itself with the patient he was about to interview. This sort +of prevision was not unfamiliar to him. It always explained itself +later. + +The man, he saw, was of middle age and of very ordinary appearance; so +ordinary, in fact, that he was difficult to describe--his only +peculiarity being his extreme thinness. Pleasant--that is, +good--vibrations issued from his atmosphere and met Dr. Silence as he +advanced to greet him, yet vibrations alive with currents and discharges +betraying the perturbed and disordered condition of his mind and brain. +There was evidently something wholly out of the usual in the state of +his thoughts. Yet, though strange, it was not altogether distressing; it +was not the impression that the broken and violent atmosphere of the +insane produces upon the mind. Dr. Silence realised in a flash that here +was a case of absorbing interest that might require all his powers to +handle properly. + +"I was watching you through my little peep-hole--as you saw," he began, +with a pleasant smile, advancing to shake hands. "I find it of the +greatest assistance sometimes--" + +But the patient interrupted him at once. His voice was hurried and had +odd, shrill changes in it, breaking from high to low in unexpected +fashion. One moment it thundered, the next it almost squeaked. + +"I understand without explanation," he broke in rapidly. "You get the +true note of a man in this way--when he thinks himself unobserved. I +quite agree. Only, in my case, I fear, you saw very little. My case, as +you of course grasp, Dr. Silence, is extremely peculiar, uncomfortably +peculiar. Indeed, unless Sir William had positively assured me--" + +"My friend has sent you to me," the doctor interrupted gravely, with a +gentle note of authority, "and that is quite sufficient. Pray, be +seated, Mr.--" + +"Mudge--Racine Mudge," returned the other. + +"Take this comfortable one, Mr. Mudge," leading him to the fixed chair, +"and tell me your condition in your own way and at your own pace. My +whole day is at your service if you require it." + +Mr. Mudge moved towards the chair in question and then hesitated. + +"You will promise me not to use the narcotic buttons," he said, before +sitting down. "I do not need them. Also I ought to mention that anything +you think of vividly will reach my mind. That is apparently part of my +peculiar case." He sat down with a sigh and arranged his thin legs and +body into a position of comfort. Evidently he was very sensitive to the +thoughts of others, for the picture of the green buttons had only +entered the doctor's mind for a second, yet the other had instantly +snapped it up. Dr. Silence noticed, too, that Mr. Mudge held on tightly +with both hands to the arms of the chair. + +"I'm rather glad the chair is nailed to the floor," he remarked, as he +settled himself more comfortably. "It suits me admirably. The fact +is--and this is my case in a nutshell--which is all that a doctor of +your marvellous development requires--the fact is, Dr. Silence, I am a +victim of Higher Space. That's what's the matter with me--Higher Space!" + +The two looked at each other for a space in silence, the little patient +holding tightly to the arms of the chair which "suited him admirably," +and looking up with staring eyes, his atmosphere positively trembling +with the waves of some unknown activity; while the doctor smiled kindly +and sympathetically, and put his whole person as far as possible into +the mental condition of the other. + +"Higher Space," repeated Mr. Mudge, "that's what it is. Now, do you +think you can help me with _that_?" + +There was a pause during which the men's eyes steadily searched down +below the surface of their respective personalities. Then Dr. Silence +spoke. + +"I am quite sure I can help," he answered quietly; "sympathy must always +help, and suffering always owns my sympathy. I see you have suffered +cruelly. You must tell me all about your case, and when I hear the +gradual steps by which you reached this strange condition, I have no +doubt I can be of assistance to you." + +He drew a chair up beside his interlocutor and laid a hand on his +shoulder for a moment. His whole being radiated kindness, intelligence, +desire to help. + +"For instance," he went on, "I feel sure it was the result of no mere +chance that you became familiar with the terrors of what you term Higher +Space; for Higher Space is no mere external measurement. It is, of +course, a spiritual state, a spiritual condition, an inner development, +and one that we must recognise as abnormal, since it is beyond the reach +of the world at the present stage of evolution. Higher Space is a +mythical state." + +"Oh!" cried the other, rubbing his birdlike hands with pleasure, "the +relief it is to be able to talk to some one who can understand! Of +course what you say is the utter truth. And you are right that no mere +chance led me to my present condition, but, on the other hand, prolonged +and deliberate study. Yet chance in a sense now governs it. I mean, my +entering the condition of Higher Space seems to depend upon the chance +of this and that circumstance. For instance, the mere sound of that +German band sent me off. Not that all music will do so, but certain +sounds, certain vibrations, at once key me up to the requisite pitch, +and off I go. Wagner's music always does it, and that band must have +been playing a stray bit of Wagner. But I'll come to all that later. +Only first, I must ask you to send away your man from the spy-hole." + +John Silence looked up with a start, for Mr. Mudge's back was to the +door, and there was no mirror. He saw the brown eye of Barker glued to +the little circle of glass, and he crossed the room without a word and +snapped down the black shutter provided for the purpose, and then heard +Barker snuffle away along the passage. + +"Now," continued the little man in the chair, "I can begin. You have +managed to put me completely at my ease, and I feel I may tell you my +whole case without shame or reserve. You will understand. But you must +be patient with me if I go into details that are already familiar to +you--details of Higher Space, I mean--and if I seem stupid when I have +to describe things that transcend the power of language and are really +therefore indescribable." + +"My dear friend," put in the other calmly, "that goes without saying. To +know Higher Space is an experience that defies description, and one is +obliged to make use of more or less intelligible symbols. But, pray, +proceed. Your vivid thoughts will tell me more than your halting words." + +An immense sigh of relief proceeded from the little figure half lost in +the depths of the chair. Such intelligent sympathy meeting him half-way +was a new experience to him, and it touched his heart at once. He leaned +back, relaxing his tight hold of the arms, and began in his thin, +scale-like voice. + +"My mother was a Frenchwoman, and my father an Essex bargeman," he said +abruptly. "Hence my name--Racine and Mudge. My father died before I ever +saw him. My mother inherited money from her Bordeaux relations, and when +she died soon after, I was left alone with wealth and a strange freedom. +I had no guardian, trustees, sisters, brothers, or any connection in the +world to look after me. I grew up, therefore, utterly without education. +This much was to my advantage; I learned none of that deceitful rubbish +taught in schools, and so had nothing to unlearn when I awakened to my +true love--mathematics, higher mathematics and higher geometry. These, +however, I seemed to know instinctively. It was like the memory of what +I had deeply studied before; the principles were in my blood, and I +simply raced through the ordinary stages, and beyond, and then did the +same with geometry. Afterwards, when I read the books on these subjects, +I understood how swift and undeviating the knowledge had come back to +me. It was simply memory. It was simply _re-collecting_ the memories of +what I had known before in a previous existence and required no books to +teach me." + +In his growing excitement, Mr. Mudge attempted to drag the chair forward +a little nearer to his listener, and then smiled faintly as he resigned +himself instantly again to its immovability, and plunged anew into the +recital of his singular "disease." + +"The audacious speculations of Bolyai, the amazing theories of +Gauss--that through a point more than one line could be drawn parallel +to a given line; the possibility that the angles of a triangle are +together _greater_ than two right angles, if drawn upon immense +curvatures--the breathless intuitions of Beltrami and Lobatchewsky--all +these I hurried through, and emerged, panting but unsatisfied, upon the +verge of my--my new world, my Higher Space possibilities--in a word, my +disease! + +"How I got there," he resumed after a brief pause, during which he +appeared to be listening intently for an approaching sound, "is more +than I can put intelligibly into words. I can only hope to leave your +mind with an intuitive comprehension of the possibility of what I say. + +"Here, however, came a change. At this point I was no longer absorbing +the fruits of studies I had made before; it was the beginning of new +efforts to learn for the first time, and I had to go slowly and +laboriously through terrible work. Here I sought for the theories and +speculations of others. But books were few and far between, and with the +exception of one man--a 'dreamer,' the world called him--whose audacity +and piercing intuition amazed and delighted me beyond description, I +found no one to guide or help. + +"You, of course, Dr. Silence, understand something of what I am driving +at with these stammering words, though you cannot perhaps yet guess what +depths of pain my new knowledge brought me to, nor why an acquaintance +with a new development of space should prove a source of misery and +terror." + +Mr. Racine Mudge, remembering that the chair would not move, did the +next best thing he could in his desire to draw nearer to the attentive +man facing him, and sat forward upon the very edge of the cushions, +crossing his legs and gesticulating with both hands as though he saw +into this region of new space he was attempting to describe, and might +any moment tumble into it bodily from the edge of the chair and +disappear form view. John Silence, separated from him by three paces, +sat with his eyes fixed upon the thin white face opposite, noting +every word and every gesture with deep attention. + +"This room we now sit in, Dr. Silence, has one side open to space--to +Higher Space. A closed box only _seems_ closed. There is a way in and +out of a soap bubble without breaking the skin." + +"You tell me no new thing," the doctor interposed gently. + +"Hence, if Higher Space exists and our world borders upon it and lies +partially in it, it follows necessarily that we see only portions of all +objects. We never see their true and complete shape. We see their three +measurements, but not their fourth. The new direction is concealed from +us, and when I hold this book and move my hand all round it I have not +really made a complete circuit. We only perceive those portions of any +object which exist in our three dimensions; the rest escapes us. But, +once we learn to see in Higher Space, objects will appear as they +actually are. Only they will thus be hardly recognisable! + +"Now, you may begin to grasp something of what I am coming to." + +"I am beginning to understand something of what you must have suffered," +observed the doctor soothingly, "for I have made similar experiments +myself, and only stopped just in time--" + +"You are the one man in all the world who can hear and understand, _and_ +sympathise," exclaimed Mr. Mudge, grasping his hand and holding it +tightly while he spoke. The nailed chair prevented further excitability. + +"Well," he resumed, after a moment's pause, "I procured the implements +and the coloured blocks for practical experiment, and I followed the +instructions carefully till I had arrived at a working conception of +four-dimensional space. The tessaract, the figure whose boundaries are +cubes, I knew by heart. That is to say, I knew it and saw it mentally, +for my eye, of course, could never take in a new measurement, or my +hands and feet handle it. + +"So, at least, I thought," he added, making a wry face. "I had reached +the stage, you see, when I could imagine in a new dimension. I was able +to conceive the shape of that new figure which is intrinsically +different to all we know--the shape of the tessaract. I could perceive +in four dimensions. When, therefore, I looked at a cube I could see all +its sides at once. Its top was not foreshortened, nor its farther side +and base invisible. I saw the whole thing out flat, so to speak. And +this tessaract was bounded by cubes! Moreover, I also saw its +content--its insides." + +"You were not yourself able to enter this new world," interrupted Dr. +Silence. + +"Not then. I was only able to conceive intuitively what it was like and +how exactly it must look. Later, when I slipped in there and saw objects +in their entirety, unlimited by the paucity of our poor three +measurements, I very nearly lost my life. For, you see, space does not +stop at a single new dimension, a fourth. It extends in all possible new +ones, and we must conceive it as containing any number of new +dimensions. In other words, there is no space at all, but only a +spiritual condition. But, meanwhile, I had come to grasp the strange +fact that the objects in our normal world appear to us only partially." + +Mr. Mudge moved farther forward till he was balanced dangerously on the +very edge of the chair. "From this starting point," he resumed, "I began +my studies and experiments, and continued them for years. I had money, +and I was without friends. I lived in solitude and experimented. My +intellect, of course, had little part in the work, for intellectually it +was all unthinkable. Never was the limitation of mere reason more +plainly demonstrated. It was mystically, intuitively, spiritually that I +began to advance. And what I learnt, and knew, and did is all impossible +to put into language, since it all describes experiences transcending +the experiences of men. It is only some of the results--what you would +call the symptoms of my disease--that I can give you, and even these +must often appear absurd contradictions and impossible paradoxes. + +"I can only tell you, Dr. Silence"--his manner became exceedingly +impressive--"that I reached sometimes a point of view whence all the +great puzzle of the world became plain to me, and I understood what they +call in the Yoga books 'The Great Heresy of Separateness'; why all great +teachers have urged the necessity of man loving his neighbour as +himself; how men are all really one; and why the utter loss of self is +necessary to salvation and the discovery of the true life of the soul." + +He paused a moment and drew breath. + +"Your speculations have been my own long ago," the doctor said quietly. +"I fully realise the force of your words. Men are doubtless not separate +at all--in the sense they imagine--" + +"All this about the very much Higher Space I only dimly, very dimly, +conceived, of course," the other went on, raising his voice again by +jerks; "but what did happen to me was the humbler accident of--the +simpler disaster--oh, dear, how shall I put it--?" + +He stammered and showed visible signs of distress. + +"It was simply this," he resumed with a sudden rush of words, "that, +accidentally, as the result of my years of experiment, I one day slipped +bodily into the next world, the world of four dimensions, yet without +knowing precisely how I got there, or how I could get back again. I +discovered, that is, that my ordinary three-dimensional body was but an +expression--a projection--of my higher four-dimensional body! + +"Now you understand what I meant much earlier in our talk when I spoke +of chance. I cannot control my entrance or exit. Certain people, certain +human atmospheres, certain wandering forces, thoughts, desires even--the +radiations of certain combinations of colour, and above all, the +vibrations of certain kinds of music, will suddenly throw me into a +state of what I can only describe as an intense and terrific inner +vibration--and behold I am off! Off in the direction at right angles to +all our known directions! Off in the direction the cube takes when it +begins to trace the outlines of the new figure! Off into my breathless +and semi-divine Higher Space! Off, _inside myself_, into the world of +four dimensions!" + +He gasped and dropped back into the depths of the immovable chair. + +"And there," he whispered, his voice issuing from among the cushions, +"there I have to stay until these vibrations subside, or until they do +something which I cannot find words to describe properly or intelligibly +to you--and then, behold, I am back again. First, that is, I disappear. +Then I reappear." + +"Just so," exclaimed Dr. Silence, "and that is why a few--" + +"Why a few moments ago," interrupted Mr. Mudge, taking the words out of +his mouth, "you found me gone, and then saw me return. The music of that +wretched German band sent me off. Your intense thinking about me brought +me back--when the band had stopped its Wagner. I saw you approach the +peep-hole and I saw Barker's intention of doing so later. For me no +interiors are hidden. I see inside. When in that state the content of +your mind, as of your body, is open to me as the day. Oh, dear, oh, +dear, oh, dear!" + +Mr. Mudge stopped and again mopped his brow. A light trembling ran over +the surface of his small body like wind over grass. He still held +tightly to the arms of the chair. + +"At first," he presently resumed, "my new experiences were so vividly +interesting that I felt no alarm. There was no room for it. The alarm +came a little later." + +"Then you actually penetrated far enough into that state to experience +yourself as a normal portion of it?" asked the doctor, leaning forward, +deeply interested. + +Mr. Mudge nodded a perspiring face in reply. + +"I did," he whispered, "undoubtedly I did. I am coming to all that. It +began first at night, when I realised that sleep brought no loss of +consciousness--" + +"The spirit, of course, can never sleep. Only the body becomes +unconscious," interposed John Silence. + +"Yes, we know that--theoretically. At night, of course, the spirit is +active elsewhere, and we have no memory of where and how, simply +because the brain stays behind and receives no record. But I found +that, while remaining conscious, I also retained memory. I had attained +to the state of continuous consciousness, for at night I regularly, with +the first approaches of drowsiness, entered _nolens volens_ the +four-dimensional world. + +"For a time this happened regularly, and I could not control it; though +later I found a way to regulate it better. Apparently sleep is +unnecessary in the higher--the four-dimensional--body. Yes, perhaps. But +I should infinitely have preferred dull sleep to the knowledge. For, +unable to control my movements, I wandered to and fro, attracted, owing +to my partial development and premature arrival, to parts of this new +world that alarmed me more and more. It was the awful waste and drift of +a monstrous world, so utterly different to all we know and see that I +cannot even hint at the nature of the sights and objects and beings in +it. More than that, I cannot even remember them. I cannot now picture +them to myself even, but can recall only the _memory of the impression_ +they made upon me, the horror and devastating terror of it all. To be in +several places at once, for instance--" + +"Perfectly," interrupted John Silence, noticing the increase of the +other's excitement, "I understand exactly. But now, please, tell me a +little more of this alarm you experienced, and how it affected you." + +"It's not the disappearing and reappearing _per se_ that I mind," +continued Mr. Mudge, "so much as certain other things. It's seeing +people and objects in their weird entirety, in their true and complete +shapes, that is so distressing. It introduces me to a world of monsters. +Horses, dogs, cats, all of which I loved; people, trees, children; all +that I have considered beautiful in life--everything, from a human face +to a cathedral--appear to me in a different shape and aspect to all I +have known before. I cannot perhaps convince you why this should be +terrible, but I assure you that it is so. To hear the human voice +proceeding from this novel appearance which I scarcely recognise as a +human body is ghastly, simply ghastly. To see inside everything and +everybody is a form of insight peculiarly distressing. To be so confused +in geography as to find myself one moment at the North Pole, and the +next at Clapham Junction--or possibly at both places simultaneously--is +absurdly terrifying. Your imagination will readily furnish other details +without my multiplying my experiences now. But you have no idea what it +all means, and how I suffer." + +Mr. Mudge paused in his panting account and lay back in his chair. He +still held tightly to the arms as though they could keep him in the +world of sanity and three measurements, and only now and again released +his left hand in order to mop his face. He looked very thin and white +and oddly unsubstantial, and he stared about him as though he saw into +this other space he had been talking about. + +John Silence, too, felt warm. He had listened to every word and had made +many notes. The presence of this man had an exhilarating effect upon +him. It seemed as if Mr. Racine Mudge still carried about with him +something of that breathless Higher-Space condition he had been +describing. At any rate, Dr. Silence had himself advanced sufficiently +far along the legitimate paths of spiritual and psychic transformations +to realise that the visions of this extraordinary little person had a +basis of truth for their origin. + +After a pause that prolonged itself into minutes, he crossed the room +and unlocked a drawer in a bookcase, taking out a small book with a red +cover. It had a lock to it, and he produced a key out of his pocket and +proceeded to open the covers. The bright eyes of Mr. Mudge never left +him for a single second. + +"It almost seems a pity," he said at length, "to cure you, Mr. Mudge. +You are on the way to discovery of great things. Though you may lose +your life in the process--that is, your life here in the world of three +dimensions--you would lose thereby nothing of great value--you will +pardon my apparent rudeness, I know--and you might gain what is +infinitely greater. Your suffering, of course, lies in the fact that you +alternate between the two worlds and are never wholly in one or the +other. Also, I rather imagine, though I cannot be certain of this from +any personal experiments, that you have here and there penetrated even +into space of more than four dimensions, and have hence experienced the +terror you speak of." + +The perspiring son of the Essex bargeman and the woman of Normandy bent +his head several times in assent, but uttered no word in reply. + +"Some strange psychic predisposition, dating no doubt from one of your +former lives, has favoured the development of your 'disease'; and the +fact that you had no normal training at school or college, no leading by +the poor intellect into the culs-de-sac falsely called knowledge, has +further caused your exceedingly rapid movement along the lines of direct +inner experience. None of the knowledge you have foreshadowed has come +to you through the senses, of course." + +Mr. Mudge, sitting in his immovable chair, began to tremble slightly. A +wind again seemed to pass over his surface and again to set it curiously +in motion like a field of grass. + +"You are merely talking to gain time," he said hurriedly, in a shaking +voice. "This thinking aloud delays us. I see ahead what you are coming +to, only please be quick, for something is going to happen. A band is +again coming down the street, and if it plays--if it plays Wagner--I +shall be off in a twinkling." + +"Precisely. I will be quick. I was leading up to the point of how to +effect your cure. The way is this: You must simply learn to _block the +entrances_." + +"True, true, utterly true!" exclaimed the little man, dodging about +nervously in the depths of the chair. "But how, in the name of space, is +that to be done?" + +"By concentration. They are all within you, these entrances, although +outer cases such as colour, music and other things lead you towards +them. These external things you cannot hope to destroy, but once the +entrances are blocked, they will lead you only to bricked walls and +closed channels. You will no longer be able to find the way." + +"Quick, quick!" cried the bobbing figure in the chair. "How is this +concentration to be effected?" + +"This little book," continued Dr. Silence calmly, "will explain to you +the way." He tapped the cover. "Let me now read out to you certain +simple instructions, composed, as I see you divine, entirely from my own +personal experiences in the same direction. Follow these instructions +and you will no longer enter the state of Higher Space. The entrances +will be blocked effectively." + +Mr. Mudge sat bolt upright in his chair to listen, and John Silence +cleared his throat and began to read slowly in a very distinct voice. + +But before he had uttered a dozen words, something happened. A sound of +street music entered the room through the open ventilators, for a band +had begun to play in the stable mews at the back of the house--the March +from _Tannhaeuser_. Odd as it may seem that a German band should twice +within the space of an hour enter the same mews and play Wagner, it was +nevertheless the fact. + +Mr. Racine Mudge heard it. He uttered a sharp, squeaking cry and twisted +his arms with nervous energy round the chair. A piteous look that was +not far from tears spread over his white face. Grey shadows followed +it--the grey of fear. He began to struggle convulsively. + +"Hold me fast! Catch me! For God's sake, keep me here! I'm on the rush +already. Oh, it's frightful!" he cried in tones of anguish, his voice as +thin as a reed. + +Dr. Silence made a plunge forward to seize him, but in a flash, before +he could cover the space between them, Mr. Racine Mudge, screaming and +struggling, seemed to shoot past him into invisibility. He disappeared +like an arrow from a bow propelled at infinite speed, and his voice no +longer sounded in the external air, but seemed in some curious way to +make itself heard somewhere within the depths of the doctor's own being. +It was almost like a faint singing cry in his head, like a voice of +dream, a voice of vision and unreality. + +"Alcohol, alcohol!" it cried, "give me alcohol! It's the quickest way. +Alcohol, before I'm out of reach!" + +The doctor, accustomed to rapid decisions and even more rapid action, +remembered that a brandy flask stood upon the mantelpiece, and in less +than a second he had seized it and was holding it out towards the space +above the chair recently occupied by the visible Mudge. Then, before his +very eyes, and long ere he could unscrew the metal stopper, he saw the +contents of the closed glass phial sink and lessen as though some one +were drinking violently and greedily of the liquor within. + +"Thanks! Enough! It deadens the vibrations!" cried the faint voice in +his interior, as he withdrew the flask and set it back upon the +mantelpiece. He understood that in Mudge's present condition one side of +the flask was open to space and he could drink without removing the +stopper. He could hardly have had a more interesting proof of what he +had been hearing described at such length. + +But the next moment--the very same moment it almost seemed--the German +band stopped midway in its tune--and there was Mr. Mudge back in his +chair again, gasping and panting! + +"Quick!" he shrieked, "stop that band! Send it away! Catch hold of me! +Block the entrances! Block the entrances! Give me the red book! Oh, oh, +oh-h-h-h!!!" + +The music had begun again. It was merely a temporary interruption. The +_Tannhaeuser_ March started again, this time at a tremendous pace that +made it sound like a rapid two-step as though the instruments played +against time. + +But the brief interruption gave Dr. Silence a moment in which to collect +his scattering thoughts, and before the band had got through half a bar, +he had flung forward upon the chair and held Mr. Racine Mudge, the +struggling little victim of Higher Space, in a grip of iron. His arms +went all round his diminutive person, taking in a good part of the chair +at the same time. He was not a big man, yet he seemed to smother Mudge +completely. + +Yet, even as he did so, and felt the wriggling form underneath him, it +began to melt and slip away like air or water. The wood of the arm-chair +somehow disentangled itself from between his own arms and those of +Mudge. The phenomenon known as the passage of matter through matter took +place. The little man seemed actually to get mixed up in his own being. +Dr. Silence could just see his face beneath him. It puckered and grew +dark as though from some great internal effort. He heard the thin, reedy +voice cry in his ear to "Block the entrances, block the entrances!" and +then--but how in the world describe what is indescribable? + +John Silence half rose up to watch. Racine Mudge, his face distorted +beyond all recognition, was making a marvellous inward movement, as +though doubling back upon himself. He turned funnel-wise like water in a +whirling vortex, and then appeared to break up somewhat as a reflection +breaks up and divides in a distorting convex mirror. He went neither +forward nor backwards, neither to the right nor the left, neither up nor +down. But he went. He went utterly. He simply flashed away out of sight +like a vanishing projectile. + +All but one leg! Dr. Silence just had the time and the presence of mind +to seize upon the left ankle and boot as it disappeared, and to this he +held on for several seconds like grim death. Yet all the time he knew it +was a foolish and useless thing to do. + +The foot was in his grasp one moment, and the next it seemed--this was +the only way he could describe it--inside his own skin and bones, and at +the same time outside his hand and all round it. It seemed mixed up in +some amazing way with his own flesh and blood. Then it was gone, and he +was tightly grasping a draught of heated air. + +"Gone! gone! gone!" cried a thick, whispering voice, somewhere deep +within his own consciousness. "Lost! lost! lost!" it repeated, growing +fainter and fainter till at length it vanished into nothing and the last +signs of Mr. Racine Mudge vanished with it. + +John Silence locked his red book and replaced it in the cabinet, which +he fastened with a click, and when Barker answered the bell he inquired +if Mr. Mudge had left a card upon the table. It appeared that he had, +and when the servant returned with it, Dr. Silence read the address and +made a note of it. It was in North London. + +"Mr. Mudge has gone," he said quietly to Barker, noticing his expression +of alarm. + +"He's not taken his 'at with him, sir." + +"Mr. Mudge requires no hat where he is now," continued the doctor, +stooping to poke the fire. "But he may return for it--" + +"And the humbrella, sir." + +"And the umbrella." + +"He didn't go out _my_ way, sir, if you please," stuttered the amazed +servant, his curiosity overcoming his nervousness. + +"Mr. Mudge has his own way of coming and going, and prefers it. If he +returns by the door at any time remember to bring him instantly to me, +and be kind and gentle with him and ask no questions. Also, remember, +Barker, to think pleasantly, sympathetically, affectionately of him +while he is away. Mr. Mudge is a very suffering gentleman." + +Barker bowed and went out of the room backwards, gasping and feeling +round the inside of his collar with three very hot fingers of one hand. + +It was two days later when he brought in a telegram to the study. Dr. +Silence opened it, and read as follows: + + "Bombay. Just slipped out again. All safe. Have blocked + entrances. Thousand thanks. Address Cooks, London.--MUDGE." + +Dr. Silence looked up and saw Barker staring at him bewilderingly. It +occurred to him that somehow he knew the contents of the telegram. + +"Make a parcel of Mr. Mudge's things," he said briefly, "and address +them Thomas Cook & Sons, Ludgate Circus. And send them there exactly a +month from to-day and marked 'To be called for.'" + +"Yes, sir," said Barker, leaving the room with a deep sigh and a hurried +glance at the waste-paper basket where his master had dropped the pink +paper. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three More John Silence Stories +by Algernon Blackwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE MORE JOHN SILENCE STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 10659.txt or 10659.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/5/10659/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dave Morgan and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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