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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crack of Doom, by Robert Cromie
+
+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: The Crack of Doom
+
+Author: Robert Cromie
+
+Release Date: September 8, 2008 [EBook #26563]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRACK OF DOOM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Clarke, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
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+
+
+            THE CRACK OF DOOM
+
+
+                   BY
+
+              ROBERT CROMIE
+ _Author of "A Plunge into Space," etc._
+
+
+            _SECOND EDITION_
+
+
+                 LONDON
+            DIGBY, LONG & CO.
+ 18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+                  1895
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The rough notes from which this narrative has been constructed were
+given to me by the man who tells the story. For obvious reasons I have
+altered the names of the principals, and I hereby pass on the assurance
+which I have received, that the originals of such as are left alive can
+be found if their discovery be thought desirable. This alteration of
+names, the piecing together of somewhat disconnected and sometimes
+nearly indecipherable memoranda, and the reduction of the mass to
+consecutive form, are all that has been required of me or would have
+been permitted to me. The expedition to Labrador mentioned by the
+narrator has not returned, nor has it ever been definitely traced. He
+does not undertake to prove that it ever set out. But he avers that all
+which is hereafter set down is truly told, and he leaves it to mankind
+to accept the warning which it has fallen to him to convey, or await the
+proof of its sincerity which he believes the end of the century will
+produce.
+
+                                                        ROBERT CROMIE.
+
+BELFAST, _May, 1895_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAP.                                  PAGE
+
+     I. THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE!             1
+
+    II. A STRANGE EXPERIMENT               10
+
+   III. "IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE"           21
+
+    IV. GEORGE DELANY--DECEASED            32
+
+     V. THE MURDER CLUB                    41
+
+    VI. A TELEPATHIC TELEGRAM              51
+
+   VII. GUILTY!                            62
+
+  VIII. THE WOKING MYSTERY                 72
+
+    IX. CUI BONO?                          81
+
+     X. FORCE--A REMEDY                    93
+
+    XI. MORITURI TE SALUTANT              104
+
+   XII. "NO DEATH--SAVE IN LIFE"          111
+
+  XIII. MISS METFORD'S PLAN               123
+
+   XIV. ROCKINGHAM TO THE SHARKS          133
+
+    XV. "IF NOT TOO LATE"                 146
+
+   XVI. £5000 TO DETAIN THE SHIP          160
+
+  XVII. "THIS EARTH SHALL DIE"            174
+
+ XVIII. THE FLIGHT                        184
+
+   XIX. THE CATASTROPHE                   197
+
+    XX. CONCLUSION                        208
+
+
+
+
+THE CRACK OF DOOM
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE!
+
+
+"The Universe is a mistake!"
+
+Thus spake Herbert Brande, a passenger on the _Majestic_, making for
+Queenstown Harbour, one evening early in the past year. Foolish as the
+words may seem, they were partly influential in leading to my terrible
+association with him, and all that is described in this book.
+
+Brande was standing beside me on the starboard side of the vessel. We
+had been discussing a current astronomical essay, as we watched the hazy
+blue line of the Irish coast rise on the horizon. This conversation was
+interrupted by Brande, who said, impatiently:
+
+"Why tell us of stars distant so far from this insignificant little
+world of ours--so insignificant that even its own inhabitants speak
+disrespectfully of it--that it would take hundreds of years to telegraph
+to some of them, thousands to others, and millions to the rest? Why
+limit oneself to a mere million of years for a dramatic illustration,
+when there is a star in space distant so far from us that if a telegram
+left the earth for it this very night, and maintained for ever its
+initial velocity, it would never reach that star?"
+
+He said this without any apparent effort after rhetorical effect; but
+the suddenness with which he had presented a very obvious truism in a
+fresh light to me made the conception of the vastness of space
+absolutely oppressive. In the hope of changing the subject I replied:
+
+"Nothing is gained by dwelling on these scientific speculations. The
+mind is only bewildered. The Universe is inexplicable."
+
+"The Universe!" he exclaimed. "That is easily explained. The Universe is
+a mistake!"
+
+"The greatest mistake of the century, I suppose," I added, somewhat
+annoyed, for I thought Brande was laughing at me.
+
+"Say, of Time, and I agree with you," he replied, careless of my
+astonishment.
+
+I did not answer him for some moments.
+
+This man Brande was young in years, but middle-aged in the expression of
+his pale, intellectual face, and old--if age be synonymous with
+knowledge--in his ideas. His knowledge, indeed, was so exhaustive that
+the scientific pleasantries to which he was prone could always be
+justified, dialectically at least, by him when he was contradicted.
+Those who knew him well did not argue with him. I was always stumbling
+into intellectual pitfalls, for I had only known him since the steamer
+left New York.
+
+As to myself, there is little to be told. My history prior to my
+acquaintance with Brande was commonplace. I was merely an active,
+athletic Englishman, Arthur Marcel by name. I had studied medicine, and
+was a doctor in all but the degree. This certificate had been dispensed
+with owing to an unexpected legacy, on receipt of which I determined to
+devote it to the furtherance of my own amusement. In the pursuit of this
+object, I had visited many lands and had become familiar with most of
+the beaten tracks of travel. I was returning to England after an absence
+of three years spent in aimless roaming. My age was thirty-one years,
+and my salient characteristic at the time was to hold fast by anything
+that interested me, until my humour changed. Brande's conversational
+vagaries had amused me on the voyage. His extraordinary comment on the
+Universe decided me to cement our shipboard acquaintance before reaching
+port.
+
+"That explanation of yours," I said, lighting a fresh cigar, and
+returning to a subject which I had so recently tried to shelve, "isn't
+it rather vague?"
+
+"For the present it must serve," he answered absently.
+
+To force him into admitting that his phrase was only a thoughtless
+exclamation, or induce him to defend it, I said:
+
+"It does not serve any reasonable purpose. It adds nothing to knowledge.
+As it stands, it is neither academic nor practical."
+
+Brande looked at me earnestly for a moment, and then said gravely:
+
+"The academic value of the explanation will be shown to you if you will
+join a society I have founded; and its practicalness will soon be made
+plain whether you join or not."
+
+"What do you call this club of yours?" I asked.
+
+"We do not call it a club. We call it a Society--the _Cui Bono_
+Society," he answered coldly.
+
+"I like the name," I returned. "It is suggestive. It may mean
+anything--or nothing."
+
+"You will learn later that the Society means something; a good deal, in
+fact."
+
+This was said in the dry, unemotional tone which I afterwards found was
+the only sign of displeasure Brande ever permitted himself to show. His
+arrangements for going on shore at Queenstown had been made early in the
+day, but he left me to look for his sister, of whom I had seen very
+little on the voyage. The weather had been rough, and as she was not a
+good sailor, I had only had a rare glimpse of a very dark and handsome
+girl, whose society possessed for me a strange attraction, although we
+were then almost strangers. Indeed, I regretted keenly, as the time of
+our separation approached, having registered my luggage (consisting
+largely of curios and mementoes of my travels, of which I was very
+careful) for Liverpool. My own time was valueless, and it would have
+been more agreeable to me to continue the journey with the Brandes, no
+matter where they went.
+
+There was a choppy sea on when we reached the entrance to the harbour,
+so the _Majestic_ steamed in between the Carlisle and Camden forts, and
+on to the man-of-war roads, where the tender met us. By this time,
+Brande and his sister were ready to go on shore; but as there was a
+heavy mail to be transhipped, we had still an hour at our disposal. For
+some time we paced the deck, exchanging commonplaces on the voyage and
+confidences as to our future plans. It was almost dark, but not dark
+enough to prevent us from seeing those wonderfully green hills which
+landlock the harbour. To me the verdant woods and hills were delightful
+after the brown plains and interminable prairies on which I had spent
+many months. As the lights of Queenstown began to speck the slowly
+gathering gloom, Miss Brande asked me to point out Rostellan Castle. It
+could not be seen from the vessel, but the familiar legend was easily
+recalled, and this led us to talk about Irish tradition with its weird
+romance and never failing pathos. This interested her. Freed now from
+the lassitude of sea-sickness, the girl became more fascinating to me
+every moment. Everything she said was worth listening to, apart from the
+charming manner in which it was said.
+
+To declare that she was an extremely pretty girl would not convey the
+strange, almost unearthly, beauty of her face--as intellectual as her
+brother's--and of the charm of her slight but exquisitely moulded
+figure. In her dark eyes there was a sympathy, a compassion, that was
+new to me. It thrilled me with an emotion different from anything that
+my frankly happy, but hitherto wholly selfish life had known. There was
+only one note in her conversation which jarred upon me. She was apt to
+drift into the extraordinary views of life and death which were
+interesting when formulated by her eccentric brother, but pained me
+coming from her lips. In spite of this, the purpose I had contemplated
+of joining Brande's Society--evoked as it had been by his own whimsical
+observation--now took definite form. I would join that Society. It would
+be the best way of keeping near to Natalie Brande.
+
+Her brother returned to us to say that the tender was about to leave the
+ship. He had left us for half an hour. I did not notice his absence
+until he himself announced it. As we shook hands, I said to him:
+
+"I have been thinking about that Society of yours. I mean to join it."
+
+"I am very glad," he replied. "You will find it a new sensation, quite
+outside the beaten track, which you know so well."
+
+There was a shade of half-kindly contempt in his voice, which missed me
+at the moment. I answered gaily, knowing that he would not be offended
+by what was said in jest:
+
+"I am sure I shall. If all the members are as mad as yourself, it will
+be the most interesting experience outside Bedlam that any man could
+wish for."
+
+I had a foretaste of that interest soon.
+
+As Miss Brande was walking to the gangway, a lamp shone full upon her
+gypsy face. The blue-black hair, the dark eyes, and a deep red rose she
+wore in her bonnet, seemed to me an exquisite arrangement of harmonious
+colour. And the thought flashed into my mind very vividly, however
+trivial it may seem here, when written down in cold words: "The queen of
+women, and the queen of flowers." That is not precisely how my thought
+ran, but I cannot describe it better. The finer subtleties of the brain
+do not bear well the daylight of language.
+
+Brande drew her back and whispered to her. Then the sweet face, now
+slightly flushed, was turned to me again.
+
+"Oh, thank you for that pretty thought," she said with a pleasant smile.
+"You are too flattering. The 'queen of flowers' is very true, but the
+'queen of women!' Oh, no!" She made a graceful gesture of dissent, and
+passed down the gangway.
+
+As the tender disappeared into the darkness, a tiny scrap of lace waved,
+and I knew vaguely that she was thinking of me. But how she read my
+thought so exactly I could not tell.
+
+That knowledge it has been my fate to gain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A STRANGE EXPERIMENT.
+
+
+Soon after my arrival in London, I called on Brande, at the address he
+had given me in Brook Street. He received me with the pleasant
+affability which a man of the world easily assumes, and his apology for
+being unable to pass the evening with me in his own house was a model of
+social style. The difficulty in the way was practically an
+impossibility. His Society had a meeting on that evening, and it was
+imperative that he should be present.
+
+"Why not come yourself?" he said. "It is what we might call a guest
+night. That is, visitors, if friends of members, are admitted, and as
+this privilege may not be again accorded to outsiders, you ought to come
+before you decide finally to join us. I must go now, but Natalie" (he
+did not say "Miss Brande") "will entertain you and bring you to the
+hall. It is very near--in Hanover Square."
+
+"I shall be very glad indeed to bring Miss Brande to the hall," I
+answered, changing the sentence in order to correct Brande's too
+patronising phrase.
+
+"The same thing in different words, is it not? If you prefer it that
+way, please have it so." His imperturbability was unaffected.
+
+Miss Brande here entered the room. Her brother, with a word of renewed
+apology, left us, and presently I saw him cross the street and hail a
+passing hansom.
+
+"You must not blame him for running off," Miss Brande said. "He has much
+to think of, and the Society depends almost wholly on himself."
+
+I stammered out that I did not blame him at all, and indeed my
+disclaimer was absolutely true. Brande could not have pleased me better
+than he had done by relieving us of his company.
+
+Miss Brande made tea, which I pretended to enjoy in the hope of pleasing
+her. Over this we talked more like old and well proven friends than mere
+acquaintances of ten days' standing. Just once or twice the mysterious
+chord which marred the girl's charming conversation was touched. She
+immediately changed the subject on observing my distress. I say
+distress, for a weaker word would not fittingly describe the emotion I
+felt whenever she blundered into the pseudo-scientific nonsense which
+was her brother's favourite affectation. At least, it seemed nonsense to
+me. I could not well foresee then that the theses which appeared to be
+mere theoretical absurdities, would ever be proven--as they have
+been--very terrible realities. On subjects of ordinary educational
+interest my hostess displayed such full knowledge of the question and
+ease in dealing with it, that I listened, fascinated, as long as she
+chose to continue speaking. It was a novel and delightful experience to
+hear a girl as handsome as a pictorial masterpiece, and dressed like a
+court beauty, discourse with the knowledge, and in the language, of the
+oldest philosopher. But this was only one of the many surprising
+combinations in her complex personality. My noviciate was still in its
+first stage.
+
+The time to set out for the meeting arrived all too soon for my
+inclination. We decided to walk, the evening being fine and not too
+warm, and the distance only a ten minutes' stroll. At a street crossing,
+we met a crowd unusually large for that neighbourhood. Miss Brande
+again surprised me. She was watching the crowd seething and swarming
+past. Her dark eyes followed the people with a strange wondering,
+pitying look which I did not understand. Her face, exquisite in its
+expression at all times, was now absolutely transformed, beatified.
+Brande had often spoken to me of mesmerism, clairvoyance, and similar
+subjects, and it occurred to me that he had used his sister as a medium,
+a clairvoyante. Her brain was not, therefore, under normal control. I
+determined instantly to tell him on the first opportunity that if he did
+not wish to see the girl permanently injured, he would have to curtail
+his hypnotic influence.
+
+"It is rather a stirring sight," I said so sharply to Miss Brande that
+she started. I meant to startle her, but did not succeed as far as I
+wished.
+
+"It is a very terrible sight," she answered.
+
+"Oh, there is no danger," I said hastily, and drew her hand over my arm.
+
+"Danger! I was not thinking of danger."
+
+As she did not remove her hand, I did not infringe the silence which
+followed this, until a break in the traffic allowed us to cross the
+street. Then I said:
+
+"May I ask what you were thinking of just now, Miss Brande?"
+
+"Of the people--their lives--their work--their misery!"
+
+"I assure you many are very happy," I replied. "You take a morbid view.
+Misery is not the rule. I am sure the majority are happy."
+
+"What difference does that make?" the girl said with a sigh. "What is
+the end of it all--the meaning of it all? Their happiness! _Cui Bono?_"
+
+We walked on in silence, while I turned over in my mind what she had
+said. I could come to no conclusion upon it save that my dislike for her
+enigmatic aberrations was becoming more intense as my liking for the
+girl herself increased. To change the current of her thoughts and my
+own, I asked her abruptly:
+
+"Are you a member of the _Cui Bono_ Society?"
+
+"I! Oh, no. Women are not allowed to join--for the present."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," I said heartily, "and I hope the rule will
+continue in force."
+
+She looked at me in surprise. "Why should you mind? You are joining
+yourself."
+
+"That is different. I don't approve of ladies mixing themselves up in
+these curious and perhaps questionable societies."
+
+My remark amused her. Her eyes sparkled with simple fun. The change in
+her manner was very agreeable to me.
+
+"I might have expected that." To my extreme satisfaction she now looked
+almost mischievous. "Herbert told me you were a little--"
+
+"A little what?"
+
+"Well, a little--you won't be vexed? That is right. He said a
+little--mediĉval."
+
+This abated my appreciation of her sense of humour, and I maintained a
+dignified reticence, which unhappily she regarded as mere sullenness,
+until we reached the Society's room.
+
+The place was well filled, and the company, in spite of the
+extravagantly modern costumes of the younger women, which I cannot
+describe better than by saying that there was little difference in it
+from that of ordinary male attire, was quite conventional in so far as
+the interchange of ordinary courtesies went. When, however, any member
+of the Society mingled with a group of visitors, the conversation was
+soon turned into a new channel. Secrets of science, which I had been
+accustomed to look upon as undiscoverable, were bandied about like the
+merest commonplaces of education. The absurdity of individuality and the
+subjectivity of the emotions were alike insisted on without notice of
+the paradox, which to me appeared extreme. The Associates were
+altruistic for the sake of altruism, not for the sake of its
+beneficiaries. They were not pantheists, for they saw neither universal
+good nor God, but rather evil in all things--themselves included. Their
+talk, however, was brilliant, and, with allowance for its jarring
+sentiments, it possessed something of the indefinable charm which
+followed Brande. My reflections on this identity of interest were
+interrupted by the man himself. After a word of welcome he said:
+
+"Let me show you our great experiment; that which touches the high-water
+mark of scientific achievement in the history of humanity. It is not
+much in itself, but it is the pioneer of many marvels."
+
+He brought me to a metal stand, on which a small instrument constructed
+of some white metal was placed. A large number of wires were connected
+with various portions of it, and these wires passed into the side-wall
+of the building.
+
+In appearance, this marvel of micrology, so far as the eye-piece and
+upper portions went, was like an ordinary microscope, but its magnifying
+power was to me unbelievable. It magnified the object under examination
+many thousand times more than the most powerful microscope in the world.
+
+I looked through the upper lens, and saw a small globe suspended in the
+middle of a tiny chamber filled with soft blue light, or transparent
+material. Circling round this globe four other spheres revolved in
+orbits, some almost circular, some elliptical, some parabolic. As I
+looked, Brande touched a key, and the little globules began to fly more
+rapidly round their primary, and make wider sweeps in their revolutions.
+Another key was pressed, and the revolving spheres slowed down and drew
+closer until I could scarcely distinguish any movement. The globules
+seemed to form a solid ball.
+
+"Attend now!" Brande exclaimed.
+
+He tapped the first key sharply. A little grey cloud obscured the blue
+light. When it cleared away, the revolving globes had disappeared.
+
+"What do you think of it?" he asked carelessly.
+
+"What is it? What does it mean? Is it the solar system or some other
+system illustrated in miniature? I am sorry for the misadventure."
+
+"You are partly correct," Brande replied. "It is an illustration of a
+planetary system, though a small one. But there was no misadventure. I
+caused the somewhat dangerous result you witnessed, the wreckage not
+merely of the molecule of marsh gas you were examining--which any
+educated chemist might do as easily as I--but the wreckage of its
+constituent atoms. This is a scientific victory which dwarfs the work of
+Helmholtz, Avogadro, or Mendelejeff. The immortal Dalton himself" (the
+word "immortal" was spoken with a sneer) "might rise from his grave to
+witness it."
+
+"Atoms--molecules! What are you talking about?" I asked, bewildered.
+
+"You were looking on at the death of a molecule--a molecule of marsh
+gas, as I have already said. It was caused by a process which I would
+describe to you if I could reduce my own life work--and that of every
+scientific amateur who has preceded me since the world began--into half
+a dozen sentences. As that would be difficult, I must ask you to accept
+my personal assurance that you witnessed a fact, not a fiction of my
+imagination."
+
+"And your instrument is so perfect that it not only renders molecules
+and atoms but their diffusion visible? It is a microscopic
+impossibility. At least it is amazing."
+
+"Pshaw!" Brande exclaimed impatiently. "My instrument does certainly
+magnify to a marvellous extent, but not by the old device of the simple
+microscope, which merely focussed a large area of light rays into a
+small one. So crude a process could never show an atom to the human eye.
+I add much to that. I restore to the rays themselves the luminosity
+which they lost in their passage through our atmosphere. I give them
+back all their visual properties, and turn them with their full etheric
+blaze on the object under examination. Great as that achievement is, I
+deny that it is amazing. It may amaze a Papuan to see his eyelash
+magnified to the size of a wire, or an uneducated Englishman to see a
+cheese-mite magnified to the size of a midge. It should not amaze you
+to see a simple process a little further developed."
+
+"Where does the danger you spoke of come in?" I asked with a pretence of
+interest. Candidly, I did not believe a single word that Brande had
+said.
+
+"If you will consult a common text-book on the physics of the ether," he
+replied, "you will find that one grain of matter contains sufficient
+energy, if etherised, to raise a hundred thousand tons nearly two miles.
+In face of such potentiality it is not wise to wreck incautiously even
+the atoms of a molecule."
+
+"And the limits to this description of scientific experiment? Where are
+they?"
+
+"There are no limits," Brande said decisively. "No man can say to
+science 'thus far and no farther.' No man ever has been able to do so.
+No man ever shall!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+"IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE."
+
+
+Amongst the letters lying on my breakfast-table a few days after the
+meeting was one addressed in an unfamiliar hand. The writing was bold,
+and formed like a man's. There was a faint trace of a perfume about the
+envelope which I remembered. I opened it first.
+
+It was, as I expected, from Miss Brande. Her brother had gone to their
+country place on the southern coast. She and her friend, Edith Metford,
+were going that day. Their luggage was already at the station. Would I
+send on what I required for a short visit, and meet them at eleven
+o'clock on the bridge over the Serpentine? It was enough for me. I
+packed a large portmanteau hastily, sent it to Charing Cross, and spent
+the time at my disposal in the park, which was close to my hotel.
+
+Although the invitation I had received gave me pleasure, I could not
+altogether remove from my mind a vague sense of disquietude concerning
+Herbert Brande and his Society. The advanced opinions I had heard, if
+extreme, were not altogether alarming. But the mysterious way in which
+Brande himself had spoken about the Society, and the still more
+mysterious air which some of the members assumed when directly
+questioned as to its object, suggested much. Might it not be a
+revolutionary party engaged in a grave intrigue--a branch of some
+foreign body whose purpose was so dangerous that ordinary disguises were
+not considered sufficiently secure? Might they not have adopted the
+jargon and pretended to the opinions of scientific faddists as a cloak
+for designs more sinister and sincere? The experiment I witnessed might
+be almost a miracle or merely a trick. Thinking it over thus, I could
+come to no final opinion, and when I asked myself aloud, "What are you
+afraid of?" I could not answer my own question. But I thought I would
+defer joining the Society pending further information.
+
+A few minutes before eleven, I walked towards the bridge over the
+Serpentine. No ladies appeared to be on it. There were only a couple of
+smartly dressed youths there, one smoking a cigarette. I sauntered about
+until one of the lads, the one who was not smoking, looked up and
+beckoned to me. I approached leisurely, for it struck me that the boy
+would have shown better breeding if he had come toward me, considering
+my seniority.
+
+"I am sorry I did not notice you sooner. Why did you not come on when
+you saw us?" the smallest and slimmest youth called to me.
+
+"In the name of--Miss--Miss--" I stammered.
+
+"Brande; you haven't forgotten my name, I hope," Natalie Brande said
+coolly. "This is my friend, Edith Metford. Metford, this is Arthur
+Marcel."
+
+"How do you do, Marcel? I am glad to meet you; I have heard 'favourable
+mention' of you from the Brandes," the second figure in knickerbockers
+said pleasantly.
+
+"How do you do, sir--madam--I mean--Miss--" I blundered, and then in
+despair I asked Miss Brande, "Is this a tableau vivant? What is the
+meaning of these disguises?" My embarrassment was so great that my
+discourteous question may be pardoned.
+
+"Our dress! Surely you have seen women rationally dressed before!" Miss
+Brande answered complacently, while the other girl watched my
+astonishment with evident amusement.
+
+This second girl, Edith Metford, was a frank, handsome young woman, but
+unlike the spirituelle beauty of Natalie Brande. She was perceptibly
+taller than her friend, and of fuller figure. In consequence, she
+looked, in my opinion, to even less advantage in her eccentric costume,
+or rational dress, than did Miss Brande.
+
+"Rationally dressed! Oh, yes. I know the divided skirt, but--"
+
+Miss Metford interrupted me. "Do you call the divided skirt atrocity
+rational dress?" she asked pointedly.
+
+"Upon my honour I do not," I answered.
+
+These girls were too advanced in their ideas of dress for me. Nor did I
+feel at all at my ease during this conversation, which did not, however,
+appear to embarrass them. I proposed hastily to get a cab, but they
+demurred. It was such a lovely day, they preferred to walk, part of the
+way at least. I pointed out that there might be drawbacks to this
+amendment of my proposal.
+
+"What drawbacks?" Miss Metford asked.
+
+"For instance, isn't it probable we shall all be arrested by the
+police?" I replied.
+
+"Rubbish! We are not in Russia," both exclaimed.
+
+"Which is lucky for you," I reflected, as we commenced what was to me a
+most disagreeable walk. I got them into a cab sooner than they wished.
+At the railway station I did not offer to procure their tickets. To do
+so, I felt, would only give offence. Critical glances followed us as we
+went to our carriage. Londoners are becoming accustomed to varieties, if
+not vagaries, in ladies' costumes, but the dress of my friends was
+evidently a little out of the common even for them. Miss Metford was
+just turning the handle of a carriage door, when I interposed, saying,
+"This is a smoking compartment."
+
+"So I see. I am going to smoke--if you don't object?"
+
+"I don't suppose it would make any difference if I did," I said, with
+unconscious asperity, for indeed this excess of free manners was jarring
+upon me. The line dividing it from vulgarity was becoming so thin I was
+losing sight of the divisor. Yet no one, even the most fastidious,
+could associate vulgarity with Natalie Brande. There remained an air of
+unassumed sincerity about herself and all her actions, including even
+her dress, which absolutely excluded her from hostile criticism. I could
+not, however, extend that lenient judgment to Miss Metford. The girls
+spoke and acted--as they had dressed themselves--very much alike. Only,
+what seemed to me in the one a natural eccentricity, seemed in the other
+an unnatural affectation.
+
+I saw the guard passing, and, calling him over, gave him half-a-crown to
+have the compartment labelled, "Engaged."
+
+Miss Brande, who had been looking out of the window, absently asked my
+reason for this precaution. I replied that I wanted the compartment
+reserved for ourselves. I certainly did not want any staring and
+otherwise offensive fellow-passengers.
+
+"We don't want all the seats," she persisted.
+
+"No," I admitted. "We don't want the extra seats. But I thought you
+might like the privacy."
+
+"The desire for privacy is an archaic emotion," Miss Metford remarked
+sententiously, as she struck a match.
+
+"Besides, it is so selfish. We may be crowding others," Miss Brande said
+quietly.
+
+I was glad she did not smoke.
+
+"I don't want that now," I said to a porter who was hurrying up with a
+label. To the girls I remarked a little snappishly, "Of course you are
+quite right. You must excuse my ignorance."
+
+"No, it is not ignorance," Miss Brande demurred. "You have been away so
+much. You have hardly been in England, you told me, for years, and--"
+
+"And progress has been marching in my absence," I interrupted.
+
+"So it seems," Miss Metford remarked so significantly that I really
+could not help retorting with as much emphasis, compatible with
+politeness, as I could command:
+
+"You see I am therefore unable to appreciate the New Woman, of whom I
+have heard so much since I came home."
+
+"The conventional New Woman is a grandmotherly old fossil," Miss Metford
+said quietly.
+
+This disposed of me. I leant back in my seat, and was rigidly silent.
+
+Miles of green fields stippled with daisies and bordered with long
+lines of white and red hawthorn hedges flew past. The smell of new-mown
+hay filled the carriage with its sweet perfume, redolent of old
+associations. My long absence dwindled to a short holiday. The world's
+wide highways were far off. I was back in the English fields. My slight
+annoyance passed away. I fell into a pleasant day-dream, which was
+broken by a soft voice, every undulation of which I already knew by
+heart.
+
+"I am afraid you think us very advanced," it murmured.
+
+"Very," I agreed, "but I look to you to bring even me up to date."
+
+"Oh, yes, we mean to do that, but we must proceed very gradually."
+
+"You have made an excellent start," I put in.
+
+"Otherwise you would only be shocked."
+
+"It is quite possible." I said this with so much conviction that the two
+burst out laughing at me. I could not think of anything more to add, and
+I felt relieved when, with a warning shriek, the train dashed into a
+tunnel. By the time we had emerged again into the sunlight and the
+solitude of the open landscape I had ready an impromptu which I had
+been working at in the darkness. I looked straight at Miss Metford and
+said:
+
+"After all, it is very pleasant to travel with girls like you."
+
+"Thank you!"
+
+"You did not show any hysterical fear of my kissing you in the tunnel."
+
+"Why the deuce would you do that?" Miss Metford replied with great
+composure, as she blew a smoke ring.
+
+When we reached our destination I braced myself for another disagreeable
+minute or two. For if the great Londoners thought us quaint, surely the
+little country station idlers would swear we were demented. We crossed
+the platform so quickly that the wonderment we created soon passed. Our
+luggage was looked after by a servant, to whose care I confided it with
+a very brief description. The loss of an item of it did not seem to me
+of as much importance as our own immediate departure.
+
+Brande met us at his hall door. His house was a pleasant one, covered
+with flowering creeping plants, and surrounded by miniature forests. In
+front there was a lake four hundred yards in width. Close-shaven lawns
+bordered it. They were artificial products, no doubt, but they were
+artificial successes--undulating, earth-scented, fresh rolled every
+morning. Here there was an isolated shrub, there a thick bank of
+rhododendrons. And the buds, bursting into floral carnival, promised
+fine contrasts when their full splendour was come. The lake wavelets
+tinkled musically on a pebbly beach.
+
+Our host could not entertain us in person. He was busy. The plea was
+evidently sincere, notwithstanding that the business of a country
+gentleman--which he now seemed to be--is something less exacting than
+busy people's leisure. After a short rest, and an admirably-served
+lunch, we were dismissed to the woods for our better amusement.
+
+Thereafter followed for me a strangely peaceful, idyllic day--all save
+its ending. Looking back on it, I know that the sun which set that
+evening went down on the last of my happiness. But it all seems trivial
+now.
+
+My companions were accomplished botanists, and here, for the first time,
+I found myself on common ground with both. We discussed every familiar
+wild flower as eagerly as if we had been professed field naturalists. In
+walking or climbing my assistance was neither requisitioned nor
+required. I did not offer, therefore, what must have been unwelcome when
+it was superfluous.
+
+We rested at last under the shade of a big beech, for the afternoon sun
+was rather oppressive. It was a pleasant spot to while away an hour. A
+purling brook went babbling by, singing to itself as it journeyed to the
+sea. Insects droned about in busy flight. There was a perfume of
+honeysuckle wafted to us on the summer wind, which stirred the
+beech-tree and rustled its young leaves lazily, so that the sunlight
+peeped through the green lattice-work and shone on the faces of these
+two handsome girls, stretched in graceful postures on the cool sward
+below--their white teeth sparkling in its brilliance, while their soft
+laughter made music for me. In the fulness of my heart, I said aloud:
+
+"It is a good thing to be alive."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+GEORGE DELANY--DECEASED.
+
+
+"It is a good thing to be alive," Natalie Brande repeated slowly,
+gazing, as it were, far off through her half-closed eyelids. Then
+turning to me and looking at me full, wide-eyed, she asked: "A good
+thing for how many?"
+
+"For all; for everything that is alive."
+
+"Faugh! For few things that are alive. For hardly anything. You say it
+is a good thing to be alive. How often have you said that in your life?"
+
+"All my life through," I answered stoutly. My constitution was a good
+one, and I had lived healthily, if hardily. I voiced the superfluous
+vitality of a well nourished body.
+
+"Then you do not know what it is to feel for others."
+
+There was a scream in the underwood near us. It ended in a short,
+choking squeak. The girl paled, but she went on with outward calm.
+
+"That hawk or cat feels as you do. I wonder what that young rabbit
+thinks of life's problem?"
+
+"But we are neither hawks nor cats, nor even young rabbits," I answered
+warmly. "We can not bear the burthens of the whole animal world. Our own
+are sufficient for us."
+
+"You are right. They are more than sufficient."
+
+I had made a false move, and so tried to recover my lost ground. She
+would not permit me. The conversation which had run in pleasant channels
+for two happy hours was ended. Thenceforth, in spite of my obstructive
+efforts, subjects were introduced which could not be conversed on but
+must be discussed. On every one Miss Brande took the part of the weak
+against the strong, oblivious of every consideration of policy and even
+ethics, careful only that she championed the weak because of their
+weakness. Miss Metford abetted her in this, and went further in their
+joint revolt against common sense. Miss Brande was argumentative,
+pleading. Miss Metford was defiant. Between the two I fared ill.
+
+Of course the Woman question was soon introduced, and in this I made the
+best defence of time-honoured customs of which I was capable. But my
+outworks fell down as promptly before the voices of these young women as
+did the walls of Jericho before the blast of a ram's horn. Nothing that
+I had cherished was left to me. Woman no longer wanted man's protection.
+("Enslavement" they called it.) Why should she, when in the evolution of
+society there was not now, or presently would not be, anything from
+which to protect her? ("Competing slaveowners" was what they said.) When
+you wish to behold protectors you must postulate dangers. The first are
+valueless save as a preventive of the second. Both evils will be
+conveniently dispensed with. All this was new to me, most of my thinking
+life having been passed in distant lands, where the science of ethics is
+codified into a simple statute--the will of the strongest.
+
+When my dialectical humiliation was within one point of completion, Miss
+Metford came to my rescue. For some time she had looked on at my
+discomfiture with a good-natured neutrality, and when I was
+metaphorically in my last ditch, she arose, stretched her shapely
+figure, flicked some clinging grass blades from her suit, and declared
+it was time to return. Brande was a man of science, but as such he was
+still amenable to punctuality in the matter of dinner.
+
+On the way back I was discreetly silent. When we reached the house I
+went to look for Herbert Brande. He was engaged in his study, and I
+could not intrude upon him there. To do so would be to infringe the only
+rigid rule in his household. Nor had I an opportunity of speaking to him
+alone until after dinner, when I induced him to take a turn with me
+round the lake. I smoked strong cigars, and made one of these my excuse.
+
+The sun was setting when we started, and as we walked slowly the
+twilight shadows were deepening fast by the time we reached the further
+shore. Brande was in high spirits. Some new scientific experiment, I
+assumed, had come off successfully. He was beside himself. His
+conversation was volcanic. Now it rumbled and roared with suppressed
+fires. Anon, it burst forth in scintillating flashes and shot out
+streams of quickening wit. I have been his auditor in the three great
+epochs of his life, but I do not think that anything that I have
+recollected of his utterances equals the bold impromptus, the masterly
+handling of his favourite subject, the Universe, which fell from him on
+that evening. I could not answer him. I could not even follow him, much
+less suppress him. But I had come forth with a specific object in view,
+and I would not be gainsaid. And so, as my business had to be done
+better that it should be done quickly. Taking advantage of a pause which
+he made, literally for breath, I commenced abruptly:
+
+"I want to speak to you about your sister."
+
+He turned on me surprised. Then his look changed to one of such complete
+contempt, and withal his bearing suggested so plainly that he knew
+beforehand what I was going to say, that I blurted out defiantly, and
+without stopping to choose my words:
+
+"I think it an infernal shame that you, her brother, should allow her to
+masquerade about with this good-natured but eccentric Metford girl--I
+should say Miss Metford."
+
+"Why so?" he asked coldly.
+
+"Because it is absurd; and because it isn't decent."
+
+"My dear Abraham," Brande said quietly, "or is your period so recent as
+that of Isaac or Jacob? My sister pleases herself in these matters, and
+has every right to do so."
+
+"She has not. You are her brother."
+
+"Very well, I am her brother. She has no right to think for herself; no
+right to live save by my permission. Then I graciously permit her to
+think, and I allow her to live."
+
+"You'll be sorry for this nonsense sooner or later--and don't say I
+didn't warn you." The absolute futility of my last clause struck me
+painfully at the moment, but I could not think of any way to better it.
+It was hard to reason with such a man, one who denied the fundamental
+principles of family life. I was thinking over what to say next, when
+Brande stopped and put his hand, in a kindly way, upon my shoulder.
+
+"My good fellow," he said, "what does it matter? What do the actions of
+my sister signify more than the actions of any other man's sister? And
+what about the Society? Have you made up your mind about joining?"
+
+"I have. I made it up twice to-day," I answered. "I made it up in the
+morning that I would see yourself and your Society to the devil before I
+would join it. Excuse my bluntness; but you are so extremely candid
+yourself you will not mind."
+
+"Certainly, I do not mind bluntness. Rudeness is superfluous."
+
+"And I made it up this evening," I said, a little less aggressively,
+"that I would join it if the devil himself were already in it, as I half
+suspect he is."
+
+"I like that," Brande said gravely. "That is the spirit I want in the
+man who joins me."
+
+To which I replied: "What under the sun is the object of this Society of
+yours?"
+
+"Proximately to complete our investigations--already far advanced--into
+the origin of the Universe."
+
+"And ultimately?"
+
+"I cannot tell you now. You will not know that until you join us."
+
+"And if your ultimate object does not suit me, I can withdraw?"
+
+"No, it would then be too late."
+
+"How so? I am not morally bound by an oath which I swear without full
+knowledge of its consequences and responsibilities."
+
+"Oath! The oath you swear! You swear no oath. Do you fancy you are
+joining a society of Rechabites or Carmelites, or mediĉval rubbish of
+that kind. Don't keep so painstakingly behind the age."
+
+I thought for a moment over what this mysterious man had said, over the
+hidden dangers in which his mad chimeras might involve the most innocent
+accomplice. Then I thought of that dark-eyed, sweet-voiced, young girl,
+as she lay on the green grass under the beech-tree in the wood and
+out-argued me on every point. Very suddenly, and, perhaps, in a manner
+somewhat grandiose, I answered him:
+
+"I will join your Society for my own purpose, and I will quit it when I
+choose."
+
+"You have every right," Brande said carelessly. "Many have done the same
+before you."
+
+"Can you introduce me to any one who has done so?" I asked, with an
+eagerness that could not be dissembled.
+
+"I am afraid I can not."
+
+"Or give me an address?"
+
+"Oh yes, that is simple." He turned over a note-book until he found a
+blank page. Then he drew the pencil from its loop, put the point to his
+lips, and paused. He was standing with his back to the failing light, so
+I could not see the expression of his mobile face. When he paused, I
+knew that no ordinary doubt beset him. He stood thus for nearly a
+minute. While he waited, I watched a pair of swans flit ghost-like over
+the silken surface of the lake. Between us and a dark bank of wood the
+lights of the house flamed red. The melancholy even-song of a blackbird
+wailed out from a shrubbery beside us. Then Herbert Brande wrote in his
+note-book, and tearing out the page, he handed it to me, saying: "That
+is the address of the last man who quitted us."
+
+The light was now so dim I had to hold the paper close to my eyes in
+order to read the lines. They were these--
+
+    GEORGE DELANY,
+      Near Saint Anne's Chapel,
+            Woking Cemetery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE MURDER CLUB.
+
+
+"Delany was the last man who quitted us--you see I use your expression
+again. I like it," Brande said quietly, watching me as he spoke.
+
+I stood staring at the slip of paper which I held in my hand for some
+moments before I could reply. When my voice came back, I asked hoarsely:
+
+"Did this man, Delany, die suddenly after quitting the Society?"
+
+"He died immediately. The second event was contemporaneous with the
+first."
+
+"And in consequence of it?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Have all the members who retired from your list been equally
+short-lived?"
+
+"Without any exception whatever."
+
+"Then your Society, after all your high-flown talk about it, is only a
+vulgar murder club," I said bitterly.
+
+"Wrong in fact, and impertinent in its expression. It is not a murder
+club, and--well, you are the first to discover its vulgarity."
+
+"I call things by their plain names. You may call your Society what you
+please. As to my joining it in face of what you have told me--"
+
+"Which is more than was ever told to any man before he joined--to any
+man living or dead. And more, you need not join it yet unless you still
+wish to do so. I presume what I have said will prevent you."
+
+"On the contrary, if I had any doubt, or if there was any possibility of
+my wavering before this interview, there is none now. I join at once."
+
+He would have taken my hand, but that I could not permit. I left him
+without another word, or any form of salute, and returned to the house.
+I did not appear again in the domestic circle that evening, for I had
+enough upon my mind without further burdening myself with social
+pretences.
+
+I sat in my room and tried once more to consider my position. It was
+this: for the sake of a girl whom I had only met some score of times;
+who sometimes acted, talked, dressed after a fashion suggestive of
+insanity; who had glorious dark eyes, a perfect figure, and an
+exquisitely beautiful face--but I interrupt myself. For the sake of this
+girl, and for the manifestly impossible purpose of protecting her from
+herself as well as others, I had surrendered myself to the probable
+vengeance of a band of cut-throats if I betrayed them, and to the
+certain vengeance of the law if I did not. Brande, notwithstanding his
+constant scepticism, was scrupulously truthful. His statement of fact
+must be relied upon. His opinions were another matter. As nothing
+practical resulted from my reflections, I came to the conclusion that I
+had got into a pretty mess for the sake of a handsome face. I regretted
+this result, but was glad of the cause of it. On this I went to bed.
+
+Next morning I was early astir, for I must see Natalie Brande without
+delay, and I felt sure she would be no sluggard on that splendid summer
+day. I tried the lawn between the house and the lake shore. I did not
+find her there. I found her friend Miss Metford. The girl was sauntering
+about, swinging a walking-cane carelessly. She was still rationally
+dressed, but I observed with relief that the rational part of her
+costume was more in the nature of the divided skirt than the plain
+knickerbockers of the previous day. She accosted me cheerfully by my
+surname, and not to be outdone by her, I said coolly:
+
+"How d'ye do, Metford?"
+
+"Very well, thanks. I suppose you expected Natalie? You see you have
+only me."
+
+"Delighted," I was commencing with a forced smile, when she stopped me.
+
+"You look it. But that can't be helped. Natalie saw you going out, and
+sent me to meet you. I am to look after you for an hour or so. You join
+the Society this evening, I hear. You must be very pleased--and
+flattered."
+
+I could not assent to this, and so remained silent. The girl chattered
+on in her own outspoken manner, which, now that I was growing accustomed
+to it, I did not find as unpleasant as at first. One thing was evident
+to me. She had no idea of the villainous nature of Brande's Society. She
+could not have spoken so carelessly if she shared my knowledge of it.
+While she talked to me, I wondered if it was fair to her--a likeable
+girl, in spite of her undesirable affectations of advanced opinion,
+emancipation or whatever she called it--was it fair to allow her to
+associate with a band of murderers, and not so much as whisper a word of
+warning? No doubt, I myself was associating with the band; but I was not
+in ignorance of the responsibility thereby incurred.
+
+"Miss Metford," I said, without heeding whether I interrupted her, "are
+you in the secret of this Society?"
+
+"I? Not at present. I shall be later on."
+
+I stopped and faced her with so serious an expression that she listened
+to me attentively.
+
+"If you will take my earnest advice--and I beg you not to neglect
+it--you will have nothing to do with it or any one belonging to it."
+
+"Not even Brande--I mean Natalie? Is she dangerous?"
+
+I disregarded her mischief and continued: "If you can get Miss Brande
+away from her brother and his acquaintances," (I had nearly said
+accomplices,) "and keep her away, you would be doing the best and
+kindest thing you ever did in your life."
+
+Miss Metford was evidently impressed by my seriousness, but, as she
+herself said very truly, it was unlikely that she would be able to
+interfere in the way I suggested. Besides, my mysterious warning was
+altogether too vague to be of any use as a guide for her own action,
+much less that of her friend. I dared not speak plainer. I could only
+repeat, in the most emphatic words, my anxiety that she would think
+carefully over what I had said. I then pretended to recollect an
+engagement with Brande, for I was in such low spirits I had really
+little taste for any company.
+
+She was disappointed, and said so in her usual straightforward way. It
+was not in the power of any gloomy prophecy to oppress her long. The
+serious look which my words had brought on her face passed quickly, and
+it was in her natural manner that she bade me good-morning, saying:
+
+"It is rather a bore, for I looked forward to a pleasant hour or two
+taking you about."
+
+I postponed my breakfast for want of appetite, and, as Brande's house
+was the best example of Liberty Hall I had ever met with, I offered no
+apology for my absence during the entire day when I rejoined my host and
+hostess in the evening. The interval I spent in the woods, thinking
+much and deciding nothing.
+
+After dinner, Brande introduced me to a man whom he called Edward Grey.
+Natalie conducted me to the room in which they were engaged. From the
+mass of correspondence in which this man Grey was absorbed, and the
+litter of papers about him, it was evident that he must have been in the
+house long before I made his acquaintance.
+
+Grey handed me a book, which I found to be a register of the names of
+the members of Brande's Society, and pointed out the place for my
+signature.
+
+When I had written my name on the list I said to Brande: "Now that I
+have nominated myself, I suppose you'll second me?"
+
+"It is not necessary," he answered; "you are already a member. Your
+remark to Miss Metford this morning made you one of us. You advised her,
+you recollect, to beware of us."
+
+"That girl!" I exclaimed, horrified. "Then she is one of your spies? Is
+it possible?"
+
+"No, she is not one of our spies. We have none, and she knew nothing of
+the purpose for which she was used."
+
+"Then I beg to say that you have made a d--d shameful use of her."
+
+In the passion of the moment I forgot my manners to my host, and formed
+the resolution to denounce the Society to the police the moment I
+returned to London. Brande was not offended by my violence. There was
+not a trace of anger in his voice as he said:
+
+"Miss Metford's information was telepathically conveyed to my sister."
+
+"Then it was your sister--"
+
+"My sister knows as little as the other. In turn, I received the
+information telepathically from her, without the knowledge of either. I
+was just telling Grey of it when you came into the room."
+
+"And," said Grey, "your intention to go straight from this house to
+Scotland Yard, there to denounce us to the police, has been
+telepathically received by myself."
+
+"My God!" I cried, "has a man no longer the right to his own thoughts?"
+
+Grey went on without noticing my exclamation: "Any overt or covert
+action on your part, toward carrying out your intention, will be
+telepathically conveyed to us, and our executive--" He shrugged his
+shoulders.
+
+"I know," I said, "Woking Cemetery, near Saint Anne's Chapel. You have
+ground there."
+
+"Yes, we have to dispense with--"
+
+"Say murder."
+
+"Dispense with," Grey repeated sharply, "any member whose loyalty is
+questionable. This is not our wish; it is our necessity. It is the only
+means by which we can secure the absolute immunity of the Society
+pending the achievement of its object. To dispense with any living man
+we have only to will that he shall die."
+
+"And now that I am a member, may I ask what is this object, the secret
+of which you guard with such fiendish zeal?" I demanded angrily.
+
+"The restoration of a local etheric tumour to its original formation."
+
+"I am already weary of this jargon from Brande," I interrupted. "What do
+you mean?"
+
+"We mean to attempt the reduction of the solar system to its elemental
+ether."
+
+"And you will accomplish this triviality by means of Huxley's comet, I
+suppose?"
+
+I could scarcely control my indignation. This fooling, as I thought it,
+struck me as insulting. Neither Brande nor Grey appeared to notice my
+keen resentment. Grey answered me in a quiet, serious tone.
+
+"We shall attempt it by destroying the earth. We may fail in the
+complete achievement of our design, but in any case we shall at least be
+certain of reducing this planet to the ether of which it is composed."
+
+"Of course, of course," I agreed derisively. "You will at least make
+sure of that. You have found out how to do it too, I have no doubt?"
+
+"Yes," said Grey, "we have found out."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A TELEPATHIC TELEGRAM.
+
+
+I left the room and hurried outside without any positive plan for my
+movements. My brain was in such a whirl I could form no connected train
+of thought. These men, whose conversation was a jargon fitting only for
+lunatics, had proved that they could read my mind with the ease of a
+telegraph operator taking a message off a wire. That they, further,
+possessed marvellous, if not miraculous powers, over occult natural
+forces could hardly be doubted. The net in which I had voluntarily
+entangled myself was closing around me. An irresistible impulse to
+fly--to desert Natalie and save myself--came over me. I put this aside
+presently. It was both unworthy and unwise. For whither should I fly?
+The ends of the earth would not be far enough to save me, the depths of
+the sea would not be deep enough to hide me from those who killed by
+willing that their victim should die.
+
+On the other hand, if my senses had only been hocussed, and Messrs.
+Brande and Grey were nothing better than clever tricksters, the park
+gate was far enough, and the nearest policeman force enough, to save me
+from their vengeance. But the girl--Natalie! She was clairvoyante. They
+practised upon her. My diagnosis of the strange seeing-without-sight
+expression of her eyes was then correct. And it was clear to me that
+whatsoever or whomsoever Brande and Grey believed or disbelieved in,
+they certainly believed in themselves. They might be relied on to spare
+nothing and no one in their project, however ridiculous or mad their
+purpose might be. What then availed my paltry protection when the girl
+herself was a willing victim, and the men omnipotent? Nevertheless, if I
+failed eventually to serve her, I could at least do my best.
+
+It was clear that I must stand by Natalie Brande.
+
+While I was thus reflecting, the following conversation took place
+between Brande and Grey. I found a note of it in a diary which Brande
+kept desultorily. He wrote this up so irregularly no continuous
+information can be gleaned from it as to his life. How the diary came
+into my hands will be seen later. The memorandum is written thus:--
+
+_Grey_--Our new member? Why did you introduce him? You say he cannot
+help with money. It is plain he cannot help with brains.
+
+_Brande_--He interests Natalie. He is what the uneducated call
+good-natured. He enjoys doing unselfish things, unaware that it is for
+the selfish sake of the agreeable sensation thereby secured. Besides, I
+like him myself. He amuses me. To make him a member was the only safe
+way of keeping him so much about us. But Natalie is the main reason. I
+am afraid of her wavering in spite of my hypnotic influence. In a girl
+of her intensely emotional nature the sentiment of hopeless love will
+create profound melancholy. Dominated by that she is safe. It seems
+cruel at first sight. It is not really so. It is not cruel to reconcile
+her to a fate she cannot escape. It is merciful. For the rest, what does
+it matter? It will be all the same in--
+
+_Grey_--This day six months.
+
+_Brande_--I believe I shivered. Heredity has much to answer for.
+
+That is the whole of the entry. I did not read the words until the hand
+that wrote them was dust.
+
+Natalie professed some disappointment when I announced my immediate
+return to town. I was obliged to manufacture an excuse for such a hasty
+departure, and so fell back on an old engagement which I had truly
+overlooked, and which really called me away. But it would have called
+long enough without an answer if it had not been for Brande himself, his
+friend Grey, and their insanities. My mind was fixed on one salient
+issue: how to get Natalie Brande out of her brother's evil influence.
+This would be better compassed when I myself was outside the scope of
+his extraordinary influence. And so I went without delay.
+
+For some time after my return to London, I went about visiting old
+haunts and friends. I soon tired of this. The haunts had lost their
+interest. The friends were changed, or I was changed. I could not resume
+the friendships which had been interrupted. The chain of connection had
+been broken and the links would not weld easily. So, after some futile
+efforts to return to the circle I had long deserted, I desisted and
+accepted my exclusion with serenity. I am not sure that I desired the
+old relationships re-established. And as my long absence had prevented
+any fresh shoots of friendship being grafted, I found myself alone in
+London. I need say no more.
+
+One evening I was walking through the streets in a despondent mood, as
+had become my habit. By chance I read the name of a street into which I
+had turned to avoid a more crowded thoroughfare. It was that in which
+Miss Metford lived. I knew that she had returned to town, for she had
+briefly acquainted me with the fact on a postcard written some days
+previously.
+
+Here was a chance of distraction. This girl's spontaneous gaiety, which
+I found at first displeasing, was what I wanted to help me to shake off
+the gloomy incubus of thought oppressing me. It was hardly within the
+proprieties to call upon her at such an hour, but it could not matter
+very much, when the girl's own ideas were so unconventional. She had
+independent means, and lived apart from her family in order to be rid of
+domestic limitations. She had told me that she carried a
+latch-key--indeed she had shown it to me with a flourish of triumph--and
+that she delighted in free manners. Free manners, she was careful to
+add, did not mean bad manners. To my mind the terms were synonymous.
+When opposite her number I decided to call, and, having knocked at the
+door, was told that Miss Metford was at home.
+
+"Hallo, Marcel! Glad to see you," she called out, somewhat stridently
+for my taste. Her dress was rather mannish, as usual. In lieu of her
+out-door tunic she wore a smoking-jacket. When I entered she was sitting
+in an arm-chair, with her feet on a music-stool. She arose so hastily
+that the music-stool was overturned, and allowed to lie where it fell.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked, concerned. "Have you seen a ghost?"
+
+"I think I have seen many ghosts of late," I said, "and they have not
+been good company. I was passing your door, and I have come in for
+comfort."
+
+She crossed the room and poured out some whisky from a decanter which
+was standing on a side-board. Then she opened a bottle of soda-water
+with a facility which suggested practice. I was relieved to think that
+it was not Natalie who was my hostess. Handing me the glass, she said
+peremptorily:
+
+"Drink that. That is right. Give me the glass. Now smoke. Do I allow
+smoking here? Pah! I smoke here myself."
+
+I lit a cigar and sat down beside her. The clouds began to lift from my
+brain and float off in the blue smoke wreaths. We talked on ordinary
+topics without my once noticing how deftly they had been introduced by
+Miss Metford. I never thought of the flight of time until a chime from a
+tiny clock on the mantelpiece--an exquisite sample of the tasteful
+furniture of the whole room--warned me that my visit had lasted two
+hours. I arose reluctantly.
+
+She rallied me on my ingratitude. I had come in a sorry plight. I was
+now restored. She was no longer useful, therefore I left her. And so on,
+till I said with a solemnity no doubt lugubrious:
+
+"I am most grateful, Miss Metford. I cannot tell you how grateful I am.
+You would not understand--"
+
+"Oh, please leave my poor understanding alone, and tell me what has
+happened to you. I should like to hear it. And what is more, I like
+you." She said this so carelessly, I did not feel embarrassed. "Now,
+then, the whole story, please." Saying which, she sat down again.
+
+"Do you really know nothing more of Brande's Society than you admitted
+when I last spoke to you about it?" I asked, without taking the chair
+she pushed over to me.
+
+"This is all I know," she answered, in the rhyming voice of a young
+pupil declaiming a piece of a little understood and less cared for
+recitation. "The society has very interesting evenings. Brande shows one
+beautiful experiments, which, I daresay, would be amazingly instructive
+if one were inclined that way, which I am not. The men are mostly
+long-haired creatures with spectacles. Some of them are rather
+good-looking. All are wholly mad. And my friend--I mean the only girl I
+could ever stand as a friend--Natalie Brande, is crazy about them."
+
+"Nothing more than that?"
+
+"Nothing more."
+
+The clock now struck the hour of nine, the warning chime for which had
+startled me.
+
+"Is there anything more than that?" Miss Metford asked with some
+impatience.
+
+I thought for a moment. Unless my own senses had deceived me that
+evening in Brande's house, I ran a great risk of sharing George Delany's
+fate if I remained where I was much longer. And suppose I told her all
+I knew, would not that bring the same danger upon her too? So I had to
+answer:
+
+"I cannot tell you. I am a member now."
+
+"Then you must know more than any mere outsider like myself. I suppose
+it would not be fair to ask you. Anyhow, you will come back and see me
+soon. By the way, what is your address?"
+
+I gave her my address. She wrote it down on a silver-cased tablet, and
+remarked:
+
+"That will be all right. I'll look you up some evening."
+
+As I drove to my hotel, I felt that the mesmeric trick, or whatever
+artifice had been practised upon me by Brande and Grey, had now assumed
+its true proportion. I laughed at my fears, and was thankful that I had
+not described them to the strong-minded young woman to whose kindly
+society I owed so much. What an idiot she would have thought me!
+
+A servant met me in the hall.
+
+"Telegram, sir. Just arrived at this moment."
+
+I took the telegram, and went upstairs with it unopened in my hand. A
+strange fear overcame me. I dared not open the envelope. I knew
+beforehand who the sender was, and what the drift of the message would
+be. I was right. It was from Brande.
+
+    "I beg you to be more cautious. Your discussion with Miss M. this
+    evening might have been disastrous. I thought all was over at nine
+    o'clock.
+
+                                                             "BRANDE."
+
+I sat down stupefied. When my senses returned, I looked at the table
+where I had thrown the telegram. It was not there, nor in the room. I
+rang for the man who had given it to me, and he came immediately.
+
+"About that telegram you gave me just now, Phillips--"
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," the man interrupted, "I did not give you any
+telegram this evening."
+
+"I mean when you spoke to me in the hall."
+
+"Yes, sir. I said 'good-night,' but you took no notice. Excuse me, sir,
+I thought you looked strange."
+
+"Oh, I was thinking of something else. And I remember now, it was
+Johnson who gave me the telegram."
+
+"Johnson left yesterday, sir."
+
+"Then it was yesterday I was thinking of. You may go, Phillips."
+
+So Brande's telepathic power was objective as well as subjective. My own
+brain, unaccustomed to be impressed by another mind "otherwise than
+through the recognised channels of sense," had supplied the likeliest
+authority for its message. The message was duly delivered, but the
+telegram was a delusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+GUILTY!
+
+
+As to protecting Natalie Brande from her brother and the fanatics with
+whom he associated, it was now plain that I was powerless. And what
+guarantee had I that she herself was unaware of his nefarious purpose;
+that she did not sympathise with it? This last thought flashed upon me
+one day, and the sting of pain that followed it was so intolerable, I
+determined instantly to prove its falsity or truth.
+
+I telegraphed to Brande that I was running down to spend a day or two
+with him, and followed my message without waiting for a reply. I have
+still a very distinct recollection of that journey, notwithstanding much
+that might well have blotted it from my memory. Every mile sped over
+seemed to mark one more barrier passed on my way to some strange fate;
+every moment which brought me nearer this incomprehensible girl with
+her magical eyes was an epoch of impossibility against my ever
+voluntarily turning back. And now that it is all over, I am glad that I
+went on steadfastly to the end.
+
+Brande received me with the easy affability of a man to whom good
+breeding had ceased to be a habit, and had become an instinct. Only once
+did anything pass between us bearing on the extraordinary relationship
+which he had established with me--the relation of victor and victim, I
+considered it. We had been left together for a few moments, and I said
+as soon as the others were out of hearing distance:
+
+"I got your message."
+
+"I know you did," he replied. That was all. There was an awkward pause.
+It must be broken somehow. Any way out of the difficulty was better than
+to continue in it.
+
+"Have you seen this?" I asked, handing Brande a copy of a novel which I
+had picked up at a railway bookstall. When I say that it was new and
+popular, it will be understood that it was indecent.
+
+He looked at the title, and said indifferently: "Yes, I have seen it,
+and in order to appreciate this class of fiction fairly, I have even
+tried to read it. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I thought it would be in your line. It is very advanced." I
+said this to gain time.
+
+"Advanced--advanced? I am afraid I do not comprehend. What do you mean
+by 'advanced'? And how could it be in my line. I presume you mean by
+that, on my plane of thought?"
+
+"By 'advanced,' I mean up-to-date. What do you mean by it?"
+
+"If I used the word at all, I should mean educated, evolved. Is this
+evolved? Is it even educated? It is not always grammatical. It has no
+style. In motive, it ante-dates Boccaccio."
+
+"You disapprove of it."
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Then you approve it, notwithstanding your immediate condemnation?"
+
+"By no means. I neither approve nor disapprove. It only represents a
+phase of humanity--the deliberate purpose of securing money or notoriety
+to the individual, regardless of the welfare of the community. There is
+nothing to admire in that. It would be invidious to blame it when the
+whole social scheme is equally wrong and contemptible. By the way, what
+interest do you think the wares of any literary pander, of either sex,
+could possess for me, a student--even if a mistaken one--of science?"
+
+"I did not think the book would possess the slightest interest for you,
+and I suppose you are already aware of that?"
+
+"Ah no! My telepathic power is reserved for more serious purposes. Its
+exercise costs me too much to expend it on trifles. In consequence I do
+not know why you mentioned the book."
+
+To this I answered candidly, "I mentioned it in order to get myself out
+of a conversational difficulty--without much success."
+
+Natalie was reserved with me at first. She devoted herself unnecessarily
+to a boy named Halley who was staying with them. Grey had gone to
+London. His place was taken by a Mr. Rockingham, whom I did not like.
+There was something sinister in his expression, and he rarely spoke save
+to say something cynical, and in consequence disagreeable. He had "seen
+life," that is, everything deleterious to and destructive of it. His
+connection with Brande was clearly a rebound, the rebound of disgust.
+There was nothing creditable to him in that. My first impression of him
+was thus unfavourable. My last recollection of him is a fitting item in
+the nightmare which contains it.
+
+The youth Halley would have interested me under ordinary circumstances.
+His face was as handsome and refined as that of a pretty girl. His
+figure, too, was slight and his voice effeminate. But there my own
+advantage, as I deemed it, over him ceased. Intellectually, he was a
+pupil of Brande's who did his master credit. Having made this discovery
+I did not pursue it. My mind was fixed too fast upon a definite issue to
+be more than temporarily interested in the epigrams of a peachy-cheeked
+man of science.
+
+The afternoon was well advanced before I had an opportunity of speaking
+to Natalie. When it came, I did not stop to puzzle over a choice of
+phrases.
+
+"I wish to speak to you alone on a subject of extreme importance to me,"
+I said hurriedly. "Will you come with me to the sea-shore? Your time, I
+know, is fully occupied. I would not ask this if my happiness did not
+depend upon it."
+
+The philosopher looked on me with grave, kind eyes. But the woman's
+heart within her sent the red blood flaming to her cheeks. It was then
+given to me to fathom the lowest depth of boorish stupidity I had ever
+sounded.
+
+"I don't mean that," I cried, "I would not dare--"
+
+The blush on her cheek burnt deeper as she tossed her head proudly back,
+and said straight out, without any show of fence or shadow of
+concealment:
+
+"It was my mistake. I am glad to know that I did you an injustice. You
+are my friend, are you not?"
+
+"I believe I have the right to claim that title," I answered.
+
+"Then what you ask is granted. Come." She put her hand boldly into mine.
+I grasped the slender fingers, saying:
+
+"Yes, Natalie, some day I will prove to you that I am your friend."
+
+"The proof is unnecessary," she replied, in a low sad voice.
+
+We started for the sea. Not a word was spoken on the way. Nor did our
+eyes meet. We were in a strange position. It was this: the man who had
+vowed he was the woman's friend--who did not intend to shirk the proof
+of his promise, and never did gainsay it--meant to ask the woman,
+before the day was over, to clear herself of knowingly associating with
+a gang of scientific murderers. The woman had vaguely divined his
+purpose, and could not clear herself.
+
+When we arrived at the shore we occupied ourselves inconsequently. We
+hunted little fishes until Natalie's dainty boots were dripping. We
+examined quaint denizens of the shallow water until her gloves were
+spoilt. We sprang from rock to rock and evaded the onrush of the foaming
+waves. We made aqueducts for inter-communication between deep pools. We
+basked in the sunshine, and listened to the deep moan of the sounding
+sea, and the solemn murmur of the shells. We drank in the deep breath of
+the ocean, and for a brief space we were like happy children.
+
+The end came soon to this ephemeral happiness. It was only one of those
+bright coins snatched from the niggard hand of Time which must always be
+paid back with usurious charges. We paid with cruel interest.
+
+Standing on a flat rock side by side, I nerved myself to ask this girl
+the same question I had asked her friend, Edith Metford, how much she
+knew of the extraordinary and preposterous Society--as I still tried to
+consider it--which Herbert Brande had founded. She looked so frank, so
+refined, so kind, I hardly dared to put my brutal question to an
+innocent girl, whom I had seen wince at the suffering of a maimed bird,
+and pale to the lips at the death-cry of a rabbit. This time there was
+no possibility of untoward consequence in the question save to
+myself--for surely the girl was safe from her own brother. And I myself
+preferred to risk the consequences rather than endure longer the thought
+that she belonged voluntarily to a vile murder club. Yet the question
+would not come. A simple thing brought it out. Natalie, after looking
+seaward silently for some minutes, said simply:
+
+"How long are we to stand here, I wonder?"
+
+"Until you answer this question. How much do you know about your
+brother's Society, which I have joined to my own intense regret?"
+
+"I am sorry you regret having joined," she replied gravely.
+
+"You would not be sorry," said I, "if you knew as much about it as I
+do," forgetting that I had still no answer to my question, and that the
+extent of her knowledge was unknown to me.
+
+"I believe I do know as much as you." There was a tremor in her voice
+and an anxious pleading look in her eyes. This look maddened me. Why
+should she plead to me unless she was guilty? I stamped my foot upon the
+rock without noticing that in so doing I kicked our whole collection of
+shells into the water.
+
+There was something more to ask, but I stood silent and sullen. The
+woods above the beach were choral with bird-voices. They were hateful to
+me. The sea song of the tumbling waves was hideous. I cursed the yellow
+sunset light glaring on their snowy crests. A tiny hand was laid upon my
+arm. I writhed under its deadly if delicious touch. But I could not put
+it away, nor keep from turning to the sweet face beside me, to mark once
+more its mute appeal--now more than mere appeal; it was supplication
+that was in her eyes. Her red lips were parted as though they voiced an
+unspoken prayer. At last a prayer did pass from them to me.
+
+"Do not judge me until you know me better. Do not hate me without cause.
+I am not wicked, as you think. I--I--I am trying to do what I think is
+right. At least, I am not selfish or cruel. Trust me yet a little
+while."
+
+I looked at her one moment, and then with a sob I clasped her in my
+arms, and cried aloud:
+
+"My God! to name murder and that angel face in one breath! Child, you
+have been befooled. You know nothing."
+
+For a second she lingered in my embrace. Then she gently put away my
+arms, and looking up at me, said fearlessly but sorrowfully:
+
+"I cannot lie--even for your love. I know _all_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE WOKING MYSTERY.
+
+
+She knew all. Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
+My arms fell from her. I drew back shuddering. I dared not look in her
+lying eyes, which cried pity when her base heart knew no mercy. Surely
+now I had solved the maddening puzzle which the character of this girl
+had, so far, presented to me. Yet the true solution was as far from me
+as ever. Indeed, I could not well have been further from it than at that
+moment.
+
+As we walked back, Natalie made two or three unsuccessful attempts to
+lure me out of the silence which was certainly more eloquent on my part
+than any words I could have used. Once she commenced:
+
+"It is hard to explain--"
+
+I interrupted her harshly. "No explanation is possible."
+
+On that she put her handkerchief to her eyes, and a half-suppressed sob
+shook her slight figure. Her grief distracted me. But what could I say
+to assuage it?
+
+At the hall door I stopped and said, "Good-bye."
+
+"Are you not coming in?"
+
+There was a directness and emphasis in the question which did not escape
+me.
+
+"I?" The horror in my own voice surprised myself, and assuredly did not
+pass without her notice.
+
+"Very well; good-bye. We are not exactly slaves of convention here, but
+you are too far advanced in that direction even for me. This is your
+second startling departure from us. I trust you will spare me the
+humiliation entailed by the condescension of your further acquaintance."
+
+"Give me an hour!" I exclaimed aghast. "You do not make allowance for
+the enigma in which everything is wrapped up. I said I was your friend
+when I thought you of good report. Give me an hour--only an hour--to say
+whether I will stand by my promise, now that you yourself have claimed
+that your report is not good but evil. For that is really what you have
+protested. Do I ask too much? or is your generosity more limited even
+than my own?"
+
+"Ah, no! I would not have you think that. Take an hour, or a year--an
+hour only if you care for my happiness."
+
+"Agreed," said I. "I will take the hour. Discretion can have the year."
+
+So I left her. I could not go indoors. A roof would smother me. Give me
+the open lawns, the leafy woods, the breath of the summer wind. Away,
+then, to the silence of the coming night. For an hour leave me to my
+thoughts. Her unworthiness was now more than suspected. It was admitted.
+My misery was complete. But I would not part with her; I could not.
+Innocent or guilty, she was mine. I must suffer with her or for her. The
+resolution by which I have abided was formed as I wandered lonely
+through the woods.
+
+When I reached my room that night I found a note from Brande. To receive
+a letter from a man in whose house I was a guest did not surprise me. I
+was past that stage. There was nothing mysterious in the letter, save
+its conclusion. It was simply an invitation to a public meeting of the
+Society, which was to be held on that day week in the hall in Hanover
+Square, and the special feature in the letter--seeing that it did not
+vanish like the telegram, but remained an ordinary sheet of paper--lay
+in its concluding sentence. This urged me to allow nothing to prevent my
+attendance. "You will perhaps understand thereafter that we are neither
+political plotters nor lunatics, as you have thought."
+
+Thought! The man's mysterious power was becoming wearisome. It was too
+much for me. I wished that I had never seen his face.
+
+As I lay sleepless in my bed, I recommenced that interminable
+introspection which, heretofore, had been so barren of result. It was
+easy to swear to myself that I would stand by Natalie Brande, that I
+would never desert her. But how should my action be directed in order
+that by its conduct I might prevail upon the girl herself to surrender
+her evil associates? I knew that she regarded me with affection. And I
+knew also that she would not leave her brother for my sake. Did she
+sympathise with his nefarious schemes, or was she decoyed into them like
+myself?
+
+Decoyed! That was it!
+
+I sprang from the bed, beside myself with delight. Now I had not merely
+a loophole of escape from all these miseries; I had a royal highway.
+Fool, idiot, blind mole that I was, not to perceive sooner that easy
+solution of the problem! No wonder that she was wounded by my unworthy
+doubts. And she had tried to explain, but I would not listen! I threw
+myself back and commenced to weave all manner of pleasant fancies round
+the salvation of this girl from her brother's baneful influence, and the
+annihilation of his Society, despite its occult powers, by mine own
+valour. The reaction was too great. Instead of constructing marvellous
+counterplots, I fell sound asleep.
+
+Next day I found Natalie in a pleasant morning-room to which I was
+directed. She wore her most extreme--and, in consequence, most
+exasperating--rational costume. When I entered the room she pushed a
+chair towards me, in a way that suggested Miss Metford's worst manner,
+and lit a cigarette, for the express purpose, I felt, of annoying me.
+
+"I have come," I said somewhat shamefacedly, "to explain."
+
+"And apologise?"
+
+"Yes, to apologise. I made a hideous mistake. I have suffered for it as
+much as you could wish."
+
+"Wish you to suffer!" She flung away her cigarette. Her dark eyes opened
+wide in unassumed surprise. And that curious light of pity, which I had
+so often wondered at, came into them. "I am very sorry if you have
+suffered," she said, with convincing earnestness.
+
+"How could I doubt you? Senseless fool that I was to suppose for one
+moment that you approved of what you could not choose but know--"
+
+At this her face clouded.
+
+"I am afraid you are still in error. What opinion have you formed which
+alters your estimate of me?"
+
+"The only opinion possible: that you have unwillingly learned the secret
+of your brother's Society; but, like myself--you see no way to--to--"
+
+"To what purpose?"
+
+"To destroy it."
+
+"I am not likely to attempt that."
+
+"No, it would be impossible, and the effort would cost your life."
+
+"That is not my reason." She arose and stood facing me. "I do not like
+to lose your esteem. You know already that I will not lie to retain it.
+I approve of the Society's purpose."
+
+"And its actions?"
+
+"They are inevitable. Therefore I approve also of its actions. I shall
+not ask you to remain now, for I see that you are again horrified; as is
+natural, considering your knowledge--or, pardon me for saying so, your
+want of knowledge. I shall be glad to see you after the lecture to which
+you are invited. You will know a little more then; not all, perhaps, but
+enough to shake your time-dishonoured theories of life--and death."
+
+I bowed, and left the room without a word. It was true, then, that she
+was mad like the others, or worse than mad--a thousand times worse! I
+said farewell to Brande, as his guest, for the last time. Thenceforward
+I would meet him as his enemy--his secret enemy as far as I could
+preserve my secrecy with such a man; his open enemy when the proper time
+should come.
+
+In the railway carriage I turned over some letters and papers which I
+found in my pockets, not with deliberate intention, but to while away
+the time. One scrap startled me. It was the sheet on which Brande had
+written the Woking address, and on reading it over once more, a thought
+occurred to me which I acted on as soon as possible. I could go to
+Woking and find out something about the man Delany. So long as my
+inquiries were kept within the limits of the strictest discretion,
+neither Brande nor any of his executive could blame me for seeking
+convincing evidence of the secret power they claimed.
+
+On my arrival in London, I drove immediately to the London Necropolis
+Company's station and caught the funeral train which runs to Brookwood
+cemetery. With Saint Anne's Chapel as my base, I made short excursions
+hither and thither, and stood before a tombstone erected to the memory
+of George Delany, late of the Criminal Investigation Department,
+Scotland Yard. This was a clue which I could follow, so I hurried back
+to town and called on the superintendent of the department.
+
+Yes, I was told, Delany had belonged to the department. He had been a
+very successful officer in ferreting out foreign Anarchists and
+evil-doers. His last movement was to join a Society of harmless cranks
+who met in Hanover Square. No importance was attached to this in the
+department. It could not have been done in the way of business, although
+Delany pretended that it was. He had dropped dead in the street as he
+was leaving his cab to enter the office with information which must have
+appeared to him important--to judge from the cabman's evidence as to his
+intense excitement and repeated directions for faster driving. There was
+an inquest and a post-mortem, but "death from natural causes" was the
+verdict. That was all. It was enough for me.
+
+I had now sufficient evidence, and was finally convinced that the
+Society was as dangerous as it was demented.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CUI BONO?
+
+
+When I arrived at the Society's rooms on the evening for which I had an
+invitation, I found them pleasantly lighted. The various scientific
+diagrams and instruments had been removed, and comfortable arm-chairs
+were arranged so that a free passage was available, not merely to each
+row, but to each chair. The place was full when I entered, and soon
+afterwards the door was closed and locked. Natalie Brande and Edith
+Metford were seated beside each other. An empty chair was on Miss
+Metford's right. She saw me standing at the door and nodded toward the
+empty seat which she had reserved for me. When I reached it she made a
+movement as if to forestall me and leave me the middle chair. I
+deprecated this by a look which was intentionally so severe that she
+described it later as a malignant scowl.
+
+I could not at the moment seat myself voluntarily beside Natalie Brande
+with the exact and final knowledge which I had learnt at Scotland Yard
+only one week old. I could not do it just then, although I did not mean
+to draw back from what I had undertaken--to stand by her, innocent or
+guilty. But I must have time to become accustomed to the sensation which
+followed this knowledge. Miss Metford's fugitive attempts at
+conversation pending the commencement of the lecture were disagreeable
+to me.
+
+There was a little stir on the platform. The chairman, in a few words,
+announced Herbert Brande. "This is the first public lecture," he said,
+"which has been given since the formation of the Society, and in
+consequence of the fact that a number of people not scientifically
+educated are present, the lecturer will avoid the more esoteric phases
+of his subject, which would otherwise present themselves in his
+treatment of it, and confine himself to the commonplaces of scientific
+insight. The title of the lecture is identical with that of our
+Society--_Cui Bono?_"
+
+Brande came forward unostentatiously and placed a roll of paper on the
+reading-desk. I have copied the extracts which follow from this
+manuscript. The whole essay, indeed, remains with me intact, but it is
+too long--and it would be immaterial--to reproduce it all in this
+narrative. I cannot hope either to reproduce the weird impressiveness of
+the lecturer's personality, his hold over his audience, or my own
+emotions in listening to this man--whom I had proved, not only from his
+own confession, but by the strongest collateral evidence, to be a
+callous and relentless murderer--to hear him glide with sonorous voice
+and graceful gesture from point to point in his logical and terrible
+indictment of suffering!--the futility of it, both in itself and that by
+which it was administered! No one could know Brande without finding
+interest, if not pleasure, in his many chance expressions full of
+curious and mysterious thought. I had often listened to his
+extemporaneous brain pictures, as the reader knows, but I had never
+before heard him deliberately formulate a planned-out system of thought.
+And such a system! This is the gospel according to Brande.
+
+"In the verbiage of primitive optimism a misleading limitation is placed
+on the significance of the word Nature and its inflections. And the
+misconception of the meaning of an important word is as certain to lead
+to an inaccurate concept as is the misstatement of a premise to precede
+a false conclusion. For instance, in the aphorism, variously rendered,
+'what is natural is right,' there is an excellent illustration of the
+misapplication of the word 'natural.' If the saying means that what is
+natural is just and wise, it might as well run 'what is natural is
+wrong,' injustice and unwisdom being as natural, _i.e._, a part of
+Nature, as justice and wisdom. Morbidity and immorality are as natural
+as health and purity. Not more so, but not less so. That 'Nature is made
+better by no mean but Nature makes that mean,' is true enough. It is
+inevitably true. The question remains, in making that mean, has she
+really made anything that tends toward the final achievement of
+universal happiness? I say she has not.
+
+"The misuse of a word, it may be argued, could not prove a serious
+obstacle to the growth of knowledge, and might be even interesting to
+the student of etymology. But behind the misuse of the word 'natural'
+there is a serious confusion of thought which must be clarified before
+the mass of human intelligence can arrive at a just appreciation of the
+verities which surround human existence, and explain it. To this end it
+is necessary to get rid of the archaic idea of Nature as a paternal,
+providential, and beneficent protector, a successor to the 'special
+providence,' and to know the true Nature, bond-slave as she is of her
+own eternal persistence of force; that sole primary principle of which
+all other principles are only correlatives; of which the existence of
+matter is but a cognisable evidence.
+
+"The optimist notion, therefore, that Nature is an all-wise designer, in
+whose work order, system, wisdom, and beauty are prominent, does not
+fare well when placed under the microscope of scientific research.
+
+"Order?
+
+"There is no order in Nature. Her armies are but seething mobs of
+rioters, destroying everything they can lay hands on.
+
+"System?
+
+"She has no system, unless it be a _reductio ad absurdum_, which only
+blunders on the right way after fruitlessly trying every other
+conceivable path. She is not wise. She never fills a pail but she spills
+a hogshead. All her works are not beautiful. She never makes a
+masterpiece but she smashes a million 'wasters' without a care. The
+theory of evolution--her gospel--reeks with ruffianism, nature-patented
+and promoted. The whole scheme of the universe, all material existence
+as it is popularly known, is founded upon and begotten of a system of
+everlasting suffering as hideous as the fantastic nightmares of
+religious maniacs. The Spanish Inquisitors have been regarded as the
+most unnatural monsters who ever disgraced the history of mankind. Yet
+the atrocities of the Inquisitors, like the battlefields of Napoleon and
+other heroes, were not only natural, but they have their prototypes in
+every cubic inch of stagnant water, or ounce of diseased tissue. And
+stagnant water is as natural as sterilised water; and diseased tissue is
+as natural as healthy tissue. Wholesale murder is Nature's first law.
+She creates only to kill, and applies the rule as remorselessly to the
+units in a star-drift as to the tadpoles in a horse-pond.
+
+"It seems a far cry from a star-drift to a horse-pond. It is so in
+distance and magnitude. It is not in the matter of constituents. In
+ultimate composition they are identical. The great nebula in Andromeda
+is an aggregation of atoms, and so is the river Thames. The only
+difference between them is the difference in the arrangement and
+incidence of these atoms and in the molecular motion of which they are
+the first but not the final cause. In a pint of Thames water, we know
+that there is bound up a latent force beside which steam and
+electricity are powerless in comparison. To release that force it is
+only necessary to apply the sympathetic key; just as the heated point of
+a needle will explode a mine of gunpowder and lay a city in ashes. That
+force is asleep. The atoms which could give it reality are at rest, or,
+at least, in a condition of _quasi_-rest. But in the stupendous mass of
+incandescent gas which constitutes the nebula of Andromeda, every atom
+is madly seeking rest and finding none; whirling in raging haste,
+battling with every other atom in its field of motion, impinging upon
+others and influencing them, being impinged upon and influenced by them.
+That awful cauldron exemplifies admirably the method of progress
+stimulated by suffering. It is the embryo of a new Sun and his planets.
+After many million years of molecular agony, when his season of fission
+had come, he will rend huge fragments from his mass and hurl them
+helpless into space, there to grow into his satellites. In their turn
+they may reproduce themselves in like manner before their true planetary
+life begins, in which they shall revolve around their parent as solid
+spheres. Follow them further and learn how beneficent Nature deals with
+them.
+
+"After the lapse of time-periods which man may calculate in figures, but
+of which his finite mind cannot form even a true symbolic conception,
+the outer skin of the planet cools--rests. Internal troubles prevail for
+longer periods still; and these, in their unsupportable agony, bend and
+burst the solid strata overlying; vomit fire through their self-made
+blow-holes, rear mountains from the depths of the sea, then dash them in
+pieces.
+
+"Time strides on austere.
+
+"The globe still cools. Life appears upon it. Then begins anew the old
+strife, but under conditions far more dreadful, for though it be founded
+on atomic consciousness, the central consciousness of the heterogeneous
+aggregation of atoms becomes immeasurably more sentient and susceptible
+with every step it takes from homogenesis. This internecine war must
+continue while any creature great or small shall remain alive upon the
+world that bore it.
+
+"By slow degrees the mighty milestones in the protoplasmic march are
+passed. Plants and animals are now busy, murdering and devouring each
+other--the strong everywhere destroying the weak. New types appear. Old
+types disappear. Types possessing the greatest capacity for murder
+progress most rapidly, and those with the least recede and determine.
+The neolithic man succeeds the palĉolithic man, and sharpens the stone
+axe. Then to increase their power for destruction, men find it better to
+hunt in packs. Communities appear. Soon each community discovers that
+its own advantage is furthered by confining its killing, in the main, to
+the members of neighbouring communities. Nations early make the same
+discovery. And at last, as with ourselves, there is established a race
+with conscience enough to know that it is vile, and intelligence enough
+to know that it is insignificant.[1] But what profits this? In the
+fulness of its time the race shall die. Man will go down into the pit,
+and all his thoughts will perish. The uneasy consciousness which, in
+this obscure corner, has for a brief space broken the silence of the
+Universe, will be at rest. Matter will know itself no longer. Life and
+death and love, stronger than death, will be as though they never had
+been. Nor will anything that _is_ be better or be worse for all that
+the labour, genius, devotion, and suffering of man have striven through
+countless generations to effect.
+
+    [1] From this sentence to the end of the paragraph Brande draws
+    freely, for the purpose of his own argument, on Mr. Balfour's
+    "Naturalism and Ethics."--_Ed._
+
+"The roaring loom of Time weaves on. The globe cools out. Life
+mercifully ceases from upon its surface. The atmosphere and water
+disappear. It rests. It is dead.
+
+"But for its vicarious service in influencing more youthful planets
+within its reach, that dead world might as well be loosed at once from
+its gravitation cable and be turned adrift into space. Its time has not
+yet come. It will not come until the great central sun of the system to
+which it belongs has passed laboriously through all his stages of
+stellar life and died out also. Then when that dead sun, according to
+the impact theory, blunders across the path of another sun, dead and
+blind like himself, its time will come. The result of that impact will
+be a new star nebula, with all its weary history before it; a history of
+suffering, in which a million years will not be long enough to write a
+single page.
+
+"Here we have a scientific parallel to the hell of superstition which
+may account for the instinctive origin of the smoking flax and the fire
+which shall never be quenched. We know that the atoms of which the
+human body is built up are atoms of matter. It follows that every atom
+in every living body will be present in some form at that final impact
+in which the solar system will be ended in a blazing whirlwind which
+will melt the earth with its fervent heat. There is not a molecule or
+cell in any creature alive this day which will not in its ultimate
+constituents endure the long agony, lasting countless ĉons of centuries,
+wherein the solid mass of this great globe will be represented by a rush
+of incandescent gas, stupendous in itself, but trivial in comparison
+with the hurricane of flame in which it will be swallowed up and lost.
+
+"And when from that hell a new star emerges, and new planets in their
+season are born of him, and he and they repeat, as they must repeat, the
+ceaseless, changeless, remorseless story of the universe, every atom in
+this earth will take its place, and fill again functions identical with
+those which it, or its fellow, fills now. Life will reappear, develop,
+determine, to be renewed again as before. And so on for ever.
+
+"Nature has known no rest. From the beginning--which never was--she has
+been building up only to tear down again. She has been fabricating
+pretty toys and trinkets, that cost her many a thousand years to forge,
+only to break them in pieces for her sport. With infinite painstaking
+she has manufactured man only to torture him with mean miseries in the
+embryonic stages of his race, and in his higher development to madden
+him with intellectual puzzles. Thus it will be unto the end--which never
+shall be. For there is neither beginning nor end to her unvarying
+cycles. Whether the secular optimist be successful or unsuccessful in
+realising his paltry span of terrestrial paradise, whether the pĉans he
+sings about it are prophetic dithyrambs or misleading myths, no
+Christian man need fear for his own immortality. That is well assured.
+In some form he will surely be raised from the dead. In some shape he
+will live again. But, _Cui bono_?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FORCE--A REMEDY.
+
+
+"Get me out of this, I am stifled--ill," Miss Metford said, in a low
+voice to me.
+
+As we were hurrying from the room, Brande and his sister, who had joined
+him, met us. The fire had died out of his eyes. His voice had returned
+to its ordinary key. His demeanour was imperturbable, sphinx-like. I
+murmured some words about the eloquence of the lecture, but interrupted
+myself when I observed his complete indifference to my remarks, and
+said,
+
+"Neither praise nor blame seems to affect you, Brande."
+
+"Certainly not," he answered calmly. "You forget that there is nothing
+deserving of either praise or blame."
+
+I knew I could not argue with him, so we passed on. Outside, I offered
+to find a cab for Miss Metford, and to my surprise she allowed me to do
+so. Her self-assertive manner was visibly modified. She made no pretence
+of resenting this slight attention, as was usual with her in similar
+cases. Indeed, she asked me to accompany her as far as our ways lay
+together. But I felt that my society at the time could hardly prove
+enlivening. I excused myself by saying candidly that I wished to be
+alone.
+
+My own company soon became unendurable. In despair I turned into a music
+hall. The contrast between my mental excitement and the inanities of the
+stage was too acute, so this resource speedily failed me. Then I betook
+myself to the streets again. Here I remembered a letter Brande had put
+into my hand as I left the hall. It was short, and the tone was even
+more peremptory than his usual arrogance. It directed me to meet the
+members of the Society at Charing Cross station at two o'clock on the
+following day. No information was given, save that we were all going on
+a long journey; that I must set my affairs in such order that my absence
+would not cause any trouble, and the letter ended, "Our experiments are
+now complete. Our plans are matured. Do not fail to attend."
+
+"Fail to attend!" I muttered. "If I am not the most abject coward on the
+earth I will attend--with every available policeman in London." The
+pent-up wrath and impotence of many days found voice at last. "Yes,
+Brande," I shouted aloud, "I will attend, and you shall be sorry for
+having invited me."
+
+"But I will not be sorry," said Natalie Brande, touching my arm.
+
+"You here!" I exclaimed, in great surprise, for it was fully an hour
+since I left the hall, and my movements had been at haphazard since
+then.
+
+"Yes, I have followed you for your own sake. Are you really going to
+draw back now?"
+
+"I must."
+
+"Then I must go on alone."
+
+"You will not go on alone. You will remain, and your friends shall go on
+without you--go to prison without you, I mean."
+
+"Poor boy," she said softly, to herself. "I wonder if I would have
+thought as I think now if I had known him sooner? I suppose I should
+have been as other women, and their fools' paradise would have been
+mine--for a little while."
+
+The absolute hopelessness in her voice pierced my heart. I pleaded
+passionately with her to give up her brother and all the maniacs who
+followed him. For the time I forgot utterly that the girl, by her own
+confession, was already with them in sympathy as well as in deed.
+
+She said to me: "I cannot hold back now. And you? You know you are
+powerless to interfere. If you will not come with me, I must go alone.
+But you may remain. I have prevailed on Herbert and Grey to permit
+that."
+
+"Never," I answered. "Where you go, I go."
+
+"It is not really necessary. In the end it will make no difference. And
+remember, you still think me guilty."
+
+"Even so, I am going with you--guilty."
+
+Now this seemed to me a very ordinary speech, for who would have held
+back, thinking her innocent? But Natalie stopped suddenly, and, looking
+me in the face, said, almost with a sob:
+
+"Arthur, I sometimes wish I had known you sooner. I might have been
+different." She was silent for a moment. Then she said piteously to me:
+"You will not fail me to-morrow?"
+
+"No, I will not fail you to-morrow," I answered.
+
+She pressed my hand gratefully, and left me without any explanation as
+to her movements in the meantime.
+
+I hurried to my hotel to set my affairs in order before joining Brande's
+expedition. The time was short for this. Fortunately there was not much
+to do. By midnight I had my arrangements nearly complete. At the time,
+the greater part of my money was lying at call in a London bank. This I
+determined to draw in gold the next day. I also had at my banker's some
+scrip, and I knew I could raise money on that. My personal effects and
+the mementos of my travels, which lay about my rooms in great confusion,
+must remain where they were. As to the few friends who still remained to
+me, I did not write to them. I could not well describe a project of
+which I knew nothing, save that it was being carried out by dangerous
+lunatics, or, at least, by men who were dangerous, whether their madness
+was real or assumed. Nor could I think of any reasonable excuse for
+leaving England after so long an absence without a personal visit to
+them. It was best, then, to disappear without a word. Having finished my
+dispositions, I changed my coat for a dressing-gown and sat down by the
+window, which I threw open, for the summer night was warm. I sat long,
+and did not leave my chair until the morning sun was shining on my face.
+
+When I got to Charing Cross next day, a group of fifty or sixty people
+were standing apart from the general crowd and conversing with
+animation. Almost the whole strength of the Society was assembled to see
+a few of us off, I thought. In fact, they were all going. About a dozen
+women were in the party, and they were dressed in the most extravagant
+rational costumes. Edith Metford was amongst them. I drew her aside, and
+apologised for not having called to wish her farewell; but she stopped
+me.
+
+"Oh, it's all right; I am going too. Don't look so frightened."
+
+This was more than I could tolerate. She was far too good a girl to be
+allowed to walk blindfold into the pit I had digged for myself with full
+knowledge. I said imperatively:
+
+"Miss Metford, you shall not go. I warned you more than once--and warned
+you, I firmly believe, at the risk of my life--against these people. You
+have disregarded the advice which it may yet cost me dear to have given
+you."
+
+"To tell you the truth," she said candidly, "I would not go an inch if
+it were not for yourself. I can't trust you with them. You'd get into
+mischief. I don't mean with Natalie Brande, but the others; I don't like
+them. So I am coming to look after you."
+
+"Then I shall speak to Brande."
+
+"That would be useless. I joined the Society this morning."
+
+This she said seriously, and without anything of the spirit of bravado
+which was one of her faults. That ended our dispute. We exchanged a
+meaning look as our party took their seats. There was now, at any rate,
+one human being in the Society to whom I could speak my mind.
+
+We travelled by special train. Our ultimate destination was a fishing
+village on the southern coast, near Brande's residence. Here we found a
+steam yacht of about a thousand tons lying in the harbour with steam up.
+
+The vessel was a beautiful model. Her lines promised great speed, but
+the comfort of her passengers had been no less considered by her builder
+when he gave her so much beam and so high a freeboard. The ship's
+furniture was the finest I had ever seen, and I had crossed every great
+ocean in the world. The library, especially, was more suggestive of a
+room in the British Museum than the batch of books usually carried at
+sea. But I have no mind to enter on a detailed description of a
+beautiful pleasure ship while my story waits. I only mention the general
+condition of the vessel in evidence of the fact which now struck me for
+the first time--Brande must have unlimited money. His mode of life in
+London and in the country, notwithstanding his pleasant house, was in
+the simplest style. From the moment we entered his special train at
+Charing Cross, he flung money about him with wanton recklessness.
+
+As we made our way through the crowd which was hanging about the quay,
+an unpleasant incident occurred. Miss Brande, with Halley and
+Rockingham, became separated from Miss Metford and myself and went on in
+front of us. We five had formed a sub-section of the main body, and were
+keeping to ourselves when the unavoidable separation took place. A
+slight scream in front caused Miss Metford and myself to hurry forward.
+We found the others surrounded by a gang of drunken sailors, who had
+stopped them. A red-bearded giant, frenzied with drink, had seized
+Natalie in his arms. His abettor, a swarthy Italian, had drawn his
+knife, and menaced Halley and Rockingham. The rest of the band looked
+on, and cheered their chiefs. Halley was white to the lips; Rockingham
+was perfectly calm, or, perhaps, indifferent. He called for a policeman.
+Neither interfered. I did not blame Rockingham; he was a man of the
+world, so nothing manly could be expected of him. But Halley's cowardice
+disgusted me.
+
+I rushed forward and caught the Italian from behind, for his knife was
+dangerous. Seizing him by the collar and waist, I swung him twice, and
+then flung him from me with all my strength. He spun round two or three
+times, and then collided with a stack of timber. His head struck a beam,
+and he fell in his tracks without a word. The red-haired giant instantly
+released Natalie and put up his hands. The man's attitude showed that he
+knew nothing of defence. I swept his guard aside, and struck him
+violently on the neck close to the ear. I was a trained boxer; but I had
+never before struck a blow in earnest, or in such earnest, and I hardly
+knew my own strength. The man went down with a grunt like a pole-axed
+ox, and lay where he fell. To a drunken sailor lad, who seemed anxious
+to be included in this matter, I dealt a stinging smack on the face
+with my open hand that satisfied him straightway. The others did not
+molest me. Turning from the crowd, I found Edith Metford looking at me
+with blazing eyes.
+
+"Superb! Marcel, I am proud of you!" she cried.
+
+"Oh! Edith, how can you say that?" Natalie Brande exclaimed, still
+trembling. "Such dreadful violence! The poor men knew no better."
+
+"Poor fiddlesticks! It is well for you that Marcel is a man of violence.
+He's worth a dozen sheep like--"
+
+"Like whom, Miss Metford?" Rockingham asked, glaring at her so viciously
+that I interposed with a hasty entreaty that all should hurry to the
+ship. I did not trust the man.
+
+Miss Metford was not so easily suppressed. She said leisurely, "I meant
+to say like you, and this over-nervous but otherwise admirable boy. If
+you think 'sheep' derogatory, pray make it 'goats.'"
+
+I hurried them on board. Brande welcomed us at the gangway. The vessel
+was his own, so he was as much at home on the ship as in his country
+house. I had an important letter to write, and very little time for the
+task. It was not finished a moment too soon, for the moment the last
+passenger and the last bale of luggage was on board, the captain's
+telegraph rang from the bridge, and the _Esmeralda_ steamed out to sea.
+My letter, however, was safe on shore. The land was low down upon the
+horizon before the long summer twilight deepened slowly into night. Then
+one by one the shadowy cliffs grew dim, dark, and disappeared. We saw no
+more of England until after many days of gradually culminating horror.
+The very night which was our first at sea did not pass without a strange
+adventure, which happened, indeed, by an innocent oversight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+MORITURI TE SALUTANT.
+
+
+We had been sitting on deck chairs smoking and talking for a couple of
+hours after the late dinner, which was served as soon as the vessel was
+well out to sea, when Brande came on deck. He was hailed with
+enthusiasm. This did not move him, or even interest him. I was careful
+not to join in the acclamations produced by his presence. He noticed
+this, and lightly called me recalcitrant. I admitted the justice of the
+epithet, and begged him to consider it one which would always apply to
+me with equal force. He laughed at this, and contrasted my gloomy fears
+with the excellent arrangements which he had made for my comfort. I
+asked him what had become of Grey. I thought it strange that this man
+should be amongst the absentees.
+
+"Oh, Grey! He goes to Labrador."
+
+"To Labrador! What takes him to Labrador?"
+
+"The same purpose which takes us to the Arafura Sea," Brande answered,
+and passed on.
+
+Presently there was a slight stir amongst the people, and the word was
+passed round that Brande was about to undertake some interesting
+experiment for the amusement of his guests. I hurried aft along with
+some other men with whom I had been talking, and found Miss Brande and
+Miss Metford standing hand in hand. Natalie's face was very white, and
+the only time I ever saw real fear upon it was at that moment. I thought
+the incident on the quay had unnerved her more than was apparent at the
+time, and that she was still upset by it. She beckoned to me, and when I
+came to her she seized my hand. She was trembling so much her words were
+hardly articulate. Miss Metford was concerned for her companion's
+nervousness; but otherwise indifferent; while Natalie stood holding our
+hands in hers like a frightened child awaiting the firing of a cannon.
+
+"He's going to let off something, a rocket, I suppose," Miss Metford
+said to me. "Natalie seems to think he means to sink the ship."
+
+"He does not mean to do so. He might, if an accident occurred."
+
+"Is he going to fire a mine?" I asked.
+
+"No, he is going to etherize a drop of water." Natalie said this so
+seriously, we had no thought of laughter, incongruous as the cause of
+her fears might seem.
+
+At that moment Brande addressed us from the top of the deckhouse, and
+explained that, in order to illustrate on a large scale the most recent
+discovery in natural science, he was about to disintegrate a drop of
+water, at present encased in a hollow glass ball about the size of a
+pea, which he held between his thumb and forefinger. An electric light
+was turned upon him so that we could all see the thing quite plainly. He
+explained that there was a division in the ball; one portion of it
+containing the drop of water, and the other the agent by which, when the
+dividing wall was eaten through by its action, the atoms of the water
+would be resolved into the ultimate ether of which they were composed.
+As the disintegrating agent was powerless in salt water, we might all
+feel assured that no great catastrophe would ensue.
+
+Before throwing the glass ball overboard, a careful search for the
+lights of ships was made from east to west, and north to south.
+
+There was not a light to be seen anywhere. Brande threw the ball over
+the side. We were going under easy steam at the time, but the moment he
+left the deckhouse "full speed ahead" was rung from the bridge, and the
+_Esmeralda_ showed us her pace. She literally tore through the water
+when the engines were got full on.
+
+Before we had gone a hundred yards a great cry arose. A little fleet of
+French fishing-boats with no lights up had been lying very close to us
+on the starboard bow. There they were, boatfuls of men, who waved
+careless adieus to us as we dashed past.
+
+Brande was moved for a moment. Then he shrugged his shoulders and
+muttered, "It can't be helped now." We all felt that these simple words
+might mean much. To test their full portent I went over to him, Natalie
+still holding my hand with trembling fingers.
+
+"Can't you do anything for them?" I asked.
+
+"You mean, go back and sink this ship to keep them company?"
+
+"No; but warn them to fly."
+
+"It would be useless. In this breeze they could not sail a hundred
+yards in the time allowed, and three miles is the nearest point of
+safety. I could not say definitely, as this is the first time I have
+ever tried an experiment so tremendous; but I believe that if we even
+slowed to half speed, it would be dangerous, and if we stopped, the
+_Esmeralda_ would go to the bottom to-night, as certainly as the sun
+will rise to-morrow."
+
+Natalie moaned in anguish on hearing this. I said to her sternly:
+
+"I thought you approved of all these actions?"
+
+"This serves no purpose. These men may not even have a painless death,
+and the reality is more awful than I thought."
+
+Every face was turned to that point in the darkness toward which the
+foaming wake of the _Esmeralda_ stretched back. Not a word more was
+spoken until Brande, who was standing, watch in hand, beside the light
+from the deckhouse, came aft and said:
+
+"You will see the explosion in ten seconds."
+
+He could not have spoken more indifferently if the catastrophe he had
+planned was only the firing of a penny squib.
+
+Then the sea behind us burst into a flame, followed by the sound of an
+explosion so frightful that we were almost stunned by it. A huge mass
+of water, torn up in a solid block, was hurled into the air, and there
+it broke into a hundred roaring cataracts. These, in the brilliant
+search light from the ship which was now turned upon them full, fell
+like cataracts of liquid silver into the seething cauldron of water that
+raged below. The instant the explosion was over, our engines were
+reversed, and the _Esmeralda_ went full speed astern. The waves were
+still rolling in tumultuous breakers when we got back. We might as well
+have gone on.
+
+The French fishing fleet had disappeared.
+
+I could not help saying to Brande before we turned in:
+
+"You expect us, I suppose, to believe that the explosion was really
+caused by a drop of water?"
+
+"Etherized," he interrupted. "Certainly I do. You don't believe it--on
+what grounds?"
+
+"That it is unbelievable."
+
+"Pshaw! You deny a fact because you do not understand it. Ignorance is
+not evidence."
+
+"I say it is impossible."
+
+"You do not wish to believe it possible. Wishes are not proofs."
+
+Without pursuing the argument, I said to him:
+
+"It is fortunate that the accident took place at sea. There will be no
+inquests."
+
+"Oh! I am sorry for the accident. As for the men, they might have had a
+worse fate. It is better than living in life-long misery as they do.
+Besides, both they and the fishes that will eat them will soon be
+numbered amongst the things that have been."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+"NO DEATH--SAVE IN LIFE."
+
+
+For some days afterwards our voyage was uneventful, and the usual
+shipboard amusements were requisitioned to while away the tedious hours.
+The French fishing fleet was never mentioned. We got through the Bay
+with very little knocking about, and passed the Rock without calling. I
+was not disappointed, for there was slight inducement for going ashore,
+oppressed as I was with the ever-present incubus of dread. At intervals
+this feeling became less acute, but only to return, strengthened by its
+short absences. After a time my danger sense became blunted. The nervous
+system became torpid under continuous stress, and refused to pass on the
+sensations with sufficient intensity to the brain; or the weary brain
+was asleep at its post and did not heed the warnings. I could think no
+more.
+
+And this reminds me of something which I must tell about young Halley.
+For several days after the voyage began, the boy avoided me. I knew his
+reason for doing this. I myself did not blame him for his want of
+physical courage, but I was glad that he himself was ashamed of it.
+
+Halley came to me one morning and said:
+
+"I wish to speak to you, Marcel. I _must_ speak to you. It is about that
+miserable episode on the evening we left England. I acted like a cad.
+Therefore I must be a cad. I only want to tell you that I despise myself
+as much as you can. And that I envy you. I never thought that I should
+envy a man simply because he had no nervous system."
+
+"Who is this man without a nervous system of whom you speak?" I asked
+coldly. I was not sorry that I had an opportunity of reading him a
+lesson which might be placed opposite the many indignities which had
+been put upon me, in the form mainly of shoulder shrugs, brow
+elevations, and the like.
+
+"You, of course. I mean no offence--you are magnificent. I am honest in
+saying that I admire you. I wish I was like you in height, weight,
+muscle--and absence of nervous system."
+
+"You would keep your own brain, I suppose?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, I would keep that."
+
+"And I will keep my own nervous system," I replied. "And the difference
+between mine and yours is this: that whereas my own danger sense is, or
+was, as keen as your own, I have my reserve of nerve force--or had
+it--which might be relied on to tide me over a sudden emergency. This
+reserve you have expended on your brain. There are two kinds of cowards;
+the selfish coward who cares for no interest save his own; the unselfish
+coward who cares nothing for himself, but who cannot face a danger
+because he dare not. And there are two kinds of brave men; the nerveless
+man you spoke of, who simply faces danger because he does not appreciate
+it, and the man who faces danger because, although he fears it he dares
+it. I have no difficulty in placing you in this list."
+
+"You place me--"
+
+"A coward because you cannot help it. You are merely out of harmony with
+your environment. You ought to bring a supply of 'environment' about
+with you, seeing that you cannot manufacture it off-hand like myself. I
+wish to be alone. Good-day."
+
+"Before I go, Marcel, I will say this." There were tears in his eyes.
+"These people do not really know you, with all their telepathic power.
+You are not--not--"
+
+"Not as great a fool as they think. Thank you. I mean to prove that to
+them some day."
+
+With that I turned away from him, although I felt that he would have
+gladly stayed longer with me.
+
+While the _Esmeralda_ was sweeping over the long swells of the
+Mediterranean, I heard Brande lecture for the second time. It was a
+fitting interlude between his first and third addresses. I might
+classify them thus--the first, critical; the second, constructive; the
+third, executive. His third speech was the last he made in the world.
+
+We were assembled in the saloon. It would have been pleasanter on the
+upper deck, owing to the heat, but the speaker could not then have been
+easily heard in the noise of the wind and waves. I could scarcely
+believe that it was Brande who arose to speak, so changed was his
+expression. The frank scepticism, which had only recently degenerated
+into a cynicism, still tempered with a half kindly air of easy
+superiority, was gone. In its place there was a look of concentrated
+and relentless purpose which dominated the man himself and all who saw
+him. He began in forcible and direct sentences, with only a faintly
+reminiscent eloquence which was part of himself, and from which he could
+not without a conscious effort have freed his style. But the whole
+bearing of the man had little trace in it of the dilettante academician
+whom we all remembered.
+
+"When I last addressed this Society," he began, "I laboured under a
+difficulty in arriving at ultimate truth which was of my own
+manufacture. I presupposed, as you will remember, the indestructibility
+of the atom, and, in logical consequence I was bound to admit the
+conservation of suffering, the eternity of misery. But on that evening
+many of my audience were untaught in the rudiments of ultimate thought,
+and some were still sceptical of the _bona fides_ of our purpose, and
+our power to achieve its object. To them, in their then ineptitude, what
+I shall say now would have been unintelligible. For in the same way that
+the waves of light or sound exceeding a certain maximum can not be
+transferred to the brain by dull eyes and ears, my thought pulsations
+would have escaped those auditors by virtue of their own
+irresponsiveness. To-night I am free from the limitation which I then
+suffered, because there are none around me now who have not sufficient
+knowledge to grasp what I shall present.
+
+"You remember that I traced for you the story of evolution in its
+journey from the atom to the star. And I showed you that the hypothesis
+of the indestructibility of the atom was simply a creed of cruelty writ
+large. I now proceed on the lines of true science to show you how that
+hypothesis is false; that as the atom _is_ destructible--as you have
+seen by our experiments (the last of which resulted in a climax not
+intended by me)--the whole scheme of what is called creation falls to
+pieces. As the atom was the first etheric blunder, so the material
+Universe is the grand etheric mistake.
+
+"In considering the marvellous and miserable succession of errors
+resulting from the meretricious atomic remedy adopted by the ether to
+cure its local sores, it must first be said of the ether itself that
+there is too much of it. Space is not sufficient for it. Thus, the
+particles of ether--those imponderable entities which vibrate through a
+block of marble or a disc of hammered steel with only a dulled, not an
+annihilated motion, are by their own tumultuous plenty packed closer
+together than they wish. I say wish, for if all material consciousness
+and sentiency be founded on atomic consciousness, then in its turn
+atomic consciousness is founded upon, and dependent on, etheric
+consciousness. These particles of ether, therefore, when too closely
+impinged upon by their neighbours, resent the impact, and in doing so
+initiate etheric whirlwinds, from whose vast perturbances stupendous
+drifts set out. In their gigantic power these avalanches crush the
+particles which impede them, force the resisting medium out of its
+normal stage, destroy the homogeneity of its constituents, and mass them
+into individualistic communities whose vibrations play with greater
+freedom when they synchronise. The homogeneous etheric tendencies recede
+and finally determine.
+
+"Behold a miracle! An atom is born!
+
+"By a similar process--which I may liken to that of putting off an evil
+day which some time must be endured--the atoms group themselves into
+molecules. In their turn the molecules go forth to war, capturing or
+being captured; the vibrations of the slaves always being forced to
+synchronise with those of their conquerors. The nucleus of the gas of a
+primal metal is now complete, and the foundation of a solar
+system--paltry molecule of the Universe as it is--is laid. Thereafter,
+the rest is easily followed. It is described in your school books, and
+must not occupy me now.
+
+"But one word I will interpolate which may serve to explain a curious
+and interesting human belief. You are aware of how, in times past, men
+of absolutely no scientific insight held firmly to the idea that an
+elixir of life and a philosopher's stone might be discovered, and that
+these two objects were nearly always pursued contemporaneously. That is
+to my mind an extraordinary example of the force of atomic
+consciousness. The idea itself was absolutely correct; but the men who
+followed it had slight knowledge of its unity, and none whatever of its
+proper pursuit. They would have worked on their special lines to
+eternity before advancing a single step toward their object. And this
+because they did not know what life was, and death was, and what the
+metals ultimately signified which they, blind fools, so unsuccessfully
+tried to transmute. But we know more than they. We have climbed no doubt
+in the footholds they have carved, and we have gained the summit they
+only saw in the mirage of hope. For we know that there is no life, no
+death, no metals, no matter, no emotions, no thoughts; but that all
+that we call by these names is only the ether in various conditions.
+Life! I could live as long as this earth will submit to human existence
+if I had studied that paltry problem. Metals! The ship in which you sail
+was bought with gold manufactured in my crucibles.
+
+"The unintelligent--or I should say the grossly ignorant--have long held
+over the heads of the pioneers of science these two great charges: No
+man has ever yet transmuted a metal; no man has ever yet proved the
+connecting link between organic and inorganic life. I say _life_, for I
+take it that this company admits that a slab of granite is as much alive
+as any man or woman I see before me. But I have manufactured gold, and I
+could have manufactured protoplasm if I had devoted my life to that
+object. My studies have been almost wholly on the inorganic plane. Hence
+the 'philosopher's stone' came in my way, but not the 'elixir of life.'
+The molecules of protoplasm are only a little more complex than the
+molecules of hydrogen or nitrogen or iron or coal. You may fuse iron,
+vaporise water, intermix the gases; but the molecules of all change
+little in such metamorphosis. And you may slay twenty thousand men at
+Waterloo or Sedan, or ten thousand generations may be numbered with the
+dust, and not an ounce of protoplasm lies dead. All molecules are merely
+arrangements of atoms made under different degrees of pressure and of
+different ages. And all atoms are constructed of identical
+constituents--the ether, as I have said. Therefore the ether, which was
+from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, which is the same
+yesterday, to-day, and for ever, is the origin of force, of matter, of
+life.
+
+"_It is alive!_
+
+"Its starry children are so many that the sands of the sea-shore may not
+be used as a similitude for their multitude; and they extend so far that
+distance may not be named in relation to them. They are so high above us
+and so deep below us that there is neither height nor depth in them.
+There is neither east nor west in them, nor north and south in them. Nor
+is there beginning or end to them. Time drops his scythe and stands
+appalled before that dreadful host. Number applies not to its eternal
+multitudes. Distance is lost in boundless space. And from all the stars
+that stud the caverns of the Universe, there swells this awful chorus:
+Failure! failure and futility! And the ether is to blame!
+
+"Heterogeneous suffering is more acute than homogeneous, because the
+agony is intensified by being localised; because the comfort of the
+comfortable is purchasable only by the multiplied misery of the
+miserable; because aristocratic leisure requires that the poor should be
+always with it. There is, therefore, no gladness without its
+overbalancing sorrow. There is no good without intenser evil. There is
+no death save in life.
+
+"Back, then, from this ill-balanced and unfair long-suffering, this
+insufficient existence. Back to Nirvana--the ether! And I will lead the
+way.
+
+"The agent I will employ has cost me all life to discover. It will
+release the vast stores of etheric energy locked up in the huge atomic
+warehouse of this planet. I shall remedy the grand mistake only to a
+degree which it would be preposterous to call even microscopic; but when
+I have done what I can, I am blameless for the rest. In due season the
+whole blunder will be cured by the same means that I shall use, and all
+the hideous experiment will be over, and everlasting rest or
+_quasi_-rest will supersede the magnificent failure of material
+existence. This earth, at least, and, I am encouraged to hope, the whole
+solar system, will by my instrumentality be restored to the ether from
+which it never should have emerged. Once before, in the history of our
+system, an effort similar to mine was made, unhappily without success.
+
+"This time we shall not fail!"
+
+A low murmur rose from the audience as the lecturer concluded, and a
+hushed whisper asked:
+
+"Where was that other effort made?"
+
+Brande faced round momentarily, and said quietly but distinctly:
+
+"On the planet which was where the Asteroids are now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MISS METFORD'S PLAN.
+
+
+We coaled at Port Said like any ordinary steamer. Although I had more
+than once made the Red Sea voyage, I had never before taken the
+slightest interest in the coaling of the vessel on which I was a
+passenger. This time everything was different. That which interested me
+before seemed trivial now. And that which had before seemed trivial was
+now absorbing. I watched the coaling--commonplace as the spectacle
+was--with vivid curiosity. The red lights, the sooty demons at work,
+every bag of coals they carried, and all the coal dust clouds they
+created, were fitting episodes in a voyage such as ours. We took an
+enormous quantity of coal on board. I remained up most of the night in a
+frame of mind which I thought none might envy. I myself would have made
+light of it had I known what was still in store for the _Esmeralda_ and
+her company. It was nearly morning when I turned in. When I awoke we
+were nearing the Red Sea.
+
+On deck, the conversation of our party was always eccentric, but this
+must be said for it: there was sometimes a scintillating brilliance in
+it that almost blinded one to its extreme absurdity. The show of high
+spirits which was very general was, in the main, unaffected. For the
+rest it was plainly assumed. But those who assumed their parts did so
+with a histrionic power which was all the more surprising when it is
+remembered that the origin of their excellent playing was centred in
+their own fears. I preserved a neutral attitude. I did not venture on
+any overt act of insubordination. That would have only meant my
+destruction, without any counter-balancing advantage in the way of
+baulking an enterprise in which I was a most unwilling participator. And
+to pretend what I did not feel was a task which I had neither stomach to
+undertake nor ability to carry out successfully. In consequence I kept
+my own counsel--and that of Edith Metford.
+
+Brande was the most easily approached maniac I had ever met. His
+affability continued absolutely consistent. I took advantage of this to
+say to him on a convenient opportunity: "Why did you bring these people
+with you? They must all be useless, and many of them little better than
+a nuisance!"
+
+"Marcel, you are improving. Have you attained the telepathic power? You
+have read my mind." This was said with a pleasant smile.
+
+"I can not read your mind," I answered; "I only diagnose."
+
+"Your diagnosis is correct. I answer you in a sentence. They are all
+sympathetic, and human sympathy is necessary to me until my purpose is
+fulfilled."
+
+"You do not look to me for any measure of this sympathy, I trust?"
+
+"I do not. You are antipathetic."
+
+"I am."
+
+"But necessary, all the same."
+
+"So be it, until the proper time shall come."
+
+"It will never come," Brande said firmly.
+
+"We shall see," I replied as firmly as himself.
+
+Next evening as we were steaming down the blue waters--deep blue they
+always seemed to me--of the Red Sea, I was sitting on the foredeck
+smoking and trying to think. I did not notice how the time passed. What
+seemed to me an hour at most, must have been three or four. With the
+exception of the men of the crew who were on duty, I was alone, for the
+heat was intense, and most of our people were lying in their cabins
+prostrated in spite of the wind-sails which were spread from every port
+to catch the breeze. My meditations were as usual gloomy and despondent.
+They were interrupted by Miss Metford. She joined me so noiselessly that
+I was not aware of her presence until she laid her hand on my arm. I
+started at her touch, but she whispered a sharp warning, so full of
+suppressed emotion that I instantly recovered a semblance of unconcern.
+
+The girl was very white and nervous. This contrast from her usual
+equanimity was disquieting. She clung to me hysterically as she gasped:
+
+"Marcel, it is a mercy I have found you alone, and that there is one
+sane man in this shipful of lunatics."
+
+"I am afraid you are not altogether right," I said, as I placed a seat
+for her close to mine. "I can hardly be sane when I am a voluntary
+passenger on board this vessel."
+
+"Do you really think they mean what they say?" she asked hurriedly,
+without noticing my remark.
+
+"I really think they have discovered the secret of extraordinary natural
+forces, so powerful and so terrible that no one can say what they may or
+may not accomplish. And that is the reason I begged you not to come on
+this voyage."
+
+"What was the good of asking me not to come without giving me some
+reason?"
+
+"Had I done so, they might have killed you as they have done others
+before."
+
+"You might have chanced that, seeing that it will probably end that
+way."
+
+"And they would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+I wondered at the sudden intensity of the girl's sharp gasp when I said
+this, and marvelled too, how she, who had always been so mannish,
+nestled close to me and allowed her head to sink down on my shoulder. I
+pitied the strong-willed, self-reliant nature which had given way under
+some strain of which I had yet to be told. So I stooped and touched her
+cheek with my lips in a friendly way, at which she looked up to me with
+half-closed eyes, and whispered in a voice strangely soft and womanish
+for her:
+
+"If they must kill us, I wish they would kill us now."
+
+I stroked her soft cheek gently, and urged a less hopeless view. "Even
+if the worst come, we may as well live as long as we can."
+
+Whereupon to my surprise she, having shot one quick glance into my eyes,
+put my arm away and drew her chair apart from mine. Her head was turned
+away from me, but I could not but notice that her bosom rose and fell
+swiftly. Presently she faced round again, lit a cigarette, put her hands
+in the pocket of her jacket, and her feet on another chair, and said
+indifferently:
+
+"You are right. Even if the worst must come, we may as well live as long
+as we can."
+
+This sudden change in her manner surprised me. I knew I had no art in
+dealing with women, so I let it pass without comment, and looked out at
+the glassy sea.
+
+After some minutes of silence, the girl spoke to me again.
+
+"Do you know anything of the actual plans of these maniacs?"
+
+"No. I only know their preposterous purpose."
+
+"Well, I know how it is to be done. Natalie was restless last night--you
+know that we share the same cabin--and she raved a bit. I kept her in
+her berth by sheer force, but I allowed her to talk."
+
+This was serious. I drew my chair close to Miss Metford's and whispered,
+"For heaven's sake, speak low." Then I remembered Brande's power, and
+wrung my hands in helpless impotence. "You forget Brande. At this moment
+he is taking down every word we say."
+
+"He's doing nothing of the sort."
+
+"But you forget--"
+
+"I don't forget. By accident I put morphia in the tonic he takes, and he
+is now past telepathy for some hours at least. He's sound asleep. I
+suppose if I had not done it by accident he would have known what I was
+doing, and so have refused the medicine. Anyhow, accident or no
+accident, I have done it."
+
+"Thank God!" I cried.
+
+"And this precious disintegrating agent! They haven't it with them, it
+seems. To manufacture it in sufficient quantity would be impossible in
+any civilised country without fear of detection or interruption. Brande
+has the prescription, formula--what do you call it?--and if you could
+get the paper and--"
+
+"Throw it overboard!"
+
+"Rubbish! They would work it all out again."
+
+"What then?" I whispered.
+
+"Steal the paper and--wouldn't it do to put in an extra _x_ or _y_, or
+stick a couple of additional figures into any suitable vacancy? Don't
+you think they'd go on with the scheme and--"
+
+"And?"
+
+"And make a mess of it!"
+
+"Miss Metford," I said, rising from my chair, "I mean Metford, I know
+you like to be addressed as a man--or used to like it."
+
+"Yes, I used to," she assented coldly.
+
+"I am going to take you in my arms and kiss you."
+
+"I'm hanged if you are!" she exclaimed, so sharply that I was suddenly
+abashed. My intended familiarity and its expression appeared grotesque,
+although a few minutes before she was so friendly. But I could not waste
+precious time in studying a girl's caprices, so I asked at once:
+
+"How can I get this paper?"
+
+"I said _steal_ it, if you recollect." Her voice was now hard, almost
+harsh. "You can get it in Brande's cabin, if you are neither afraid nor
+jealous."
+
+"I am not much afraid, and I will try it. What do you mean by jealous?"
+
+"I mean, would you, to save Natalie Brande--for they will certainly
+succeed in blowing themselves up, if nobody else--consent to her
+marrying another man, say that young lunatic Halley, who is always
+dangling after her when you are not?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, after some thought. For Halley's attentions to
+Natalie had been so marked, the plainly inconsequent mention of him in
+this matter did not strike me. "If that is necessary to save her, of
+course I would consent to it. Why do you ask? In my place you would do
+the same."
+
+"No. I'd see the ship and all its precious passengers at the bottom of
+the sea first."
+
+"Ah! but you are not a man."
+
+"Right! and what's more, I'm glad of it." Then looking down at the
+rational part of her costume, she added sharply, "I sha'n't wear these
+things again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ROCKINGHAM TO THE SHARKS.
+
+
+At one o'clock in the morning I arose, dressed hurriedly, drew on a pair
+of felt slippers, and put a revolver in my pocket. It was then time to
+put Edith Metford's proposal to the proof, and she would be waiting for
+me on deck to hear whether I had succeeded in it. We had parted a couple
+of hours before on somewhat chilling terms. I had agreed to follow her
+suggestion, but I could not trouble my tired brain by guesses at the
+cause of her moods.
+
+It was very dark. There was only enough light to enable me to find my
+way along the corridor, off which the state-rooms occupied by Brande and
+his immediate lieutenants opened. All the sleepers were restless from
+the terrible heat. As I stole along, a muffled word, a sigh, or a
+movement in the berths, made me pause at every step with a beating
+heart. Having listened till all was quiet, I moved on again noiselessly.
+I was almost at the end of the corridor. So intent had I been on
+preserving perfect silence, it did not sooner occur to me that I was
+searching for any special door. I had forgotten Brande's number!
+
+I could no more think of it than one can recall the name of a
+half-forgotten acquaintance suddenly encountered in the street. It might
+have been fourteen, or forty-one; or a hundred and fifty. Every number
+was as likely as it was unlikely. I tried vainly to concentrate my mind.
+The result was nothing. The missing number gave no clue. To enter the
+wrong room in that ship at that hour meant death for me. Of that I was
+certain. To leave the right room unentered gave away my first chance in
+the unequal battle with Brande. Then, as I knew that my first chance
+would probably be my last, if not availed of, I turned to the nearest
+door and quietly tried the handle. The door was not locked. I entered
+the state-room.
+
+"What do you want?" It was Halley's voice that came from the berth.
+
+"Pardon me," I whispered, "a mistake. The heat, you know. Went on deck,
+and have blundered into your room."
+
+"Oh, all right. Who are you?"
+
+"Brande."
+
+"Good-night. You did not blunder far;" this sleepily.
+
+I went out and closed the door quietly. I had gained something. I was
+within one door of my destination, for I knew that Halley was berthed
+between Rockingham and Brande. But I did not know on which side Brande's
+room was, and I dared not ask. I tried the next door going forward. It
+opened like the other. I went in.
+
+"Hallo there!" This time no sleepy or careless man challenged me. It was
+Rockingham's voice.
+
+"May I not enter my own room?" I whispered.
+
+"This is not your room. You are?" Rockingham sprang up in his berth, but
+before he could leave it I was upon him.
+
+"I am Arthur Marcel. And this iron ring which I press against your left
+ear is the muzzle of my revolver. Speak, move, breathe above your
+natural breath and your brains go through that porthole. Now, loose your
+hold of my arm and come with me."
+
+"You fool!" hissed Rockingham. "You dare not fire. You know you dare
+not."
+
+He was about to call out, but my left hand closed on his throat, and a
+gurgling gasp was all that issued from him.
+
+I laid down the revolver and turned the ear of the strangling man close
+to my mouth. I had little time to think; but thought flies fast when
+such deadly peril menaces the thinker as that which I must face if I
+failed to make terms with the man who was in my power. I knew that
+notwithstanding his intensely disagreeable nature, if he gave his
+promise either by spoken word or equivalent sign, I could depend upon
+him. There were no liars in Brande's Society. But the word I could not
+trust him to say. I must have his sign. I whispered:
+
+"You know I do not wish to kill you. I shall never have another happy
+day if you force me to it. I have no choice. You must yield or die. If
+you will yield and stand by me rather than against me in what shall
+follow, choose life by taking your right hand from my wrist and touching
+my left shoulder. I will not hurt you meanwhile. If you choose death,
+touch me with your left."
+
+The sweat stood on my forehead in big beads as I waited for his choice.
+It was soon made. He unlocked his left hand and placed it firmly on my
+right shoulder.
+
+He had chosen death.
+
+So the man was only a physical coward--or perhaps he had only made a
+choice of alternatives.
+
+I said slowly and in great agony, "May God have mercy on your soul--and
+mine!" on which the muscles in my left arm stiffened. The big biceps--an
+heirloom of my athletic days--thickened up, and I turned my eyes away
+from the dying face, half hidden by the darkness. His struggles were
+very terrible, but with my weight upon his lower limbs, and my grasp
+upon his windpipe, that death-throe was as silent as it was horrible.
+The end came slowly. I could not bear the horror of it longer. I must
+finish it and be done with it. I put my right arm under the man's
+shoulders and raised the upper part of his body from the berth. Then a
+desperate wrench with my left arm, and there was a dull crack like the
+snapping of a dry stick. It was over. Rockingham's neck was broken.
+
+I wiped away the bloody froth that oozed from the gaping mouth, and
+tried to compose decently the contorted figure. I covered the face.
+Then I started on my last mission, for now I knew the door. I had
+bought the knowledge dearly, and I meant to use it for my own purpose,
+careless of what violence might be necessary to accomplish my end.
+
+When I entered Brande's state-room I found the electric light full on.
+He was seated at a writing-table with his head resting on his arms,
+which hung crossways over the desk. The sleeper breathed so deeply it
+was evident that the effect of the morphia was still strong upon him.
+One hand clutched a folded parchment. His fingers clasped it
+nervelessly, and I had only to force them open one by one in order to
+withdraw the manuscript. As I did this, he moaned and moved in his
+chair. I had no fear of his awaking. My hand shook as I unfolded the
+parchment which I unconsciously handled as carefully as though the thing
+itself were as deadly as the destruction which might be wrought by its
+direction.
+
+To me the whole document was a mass of unintelligible formulĉ. My rusty
+university education could make nothing of it. But I could not waste
+time in trying to solve the puzzle, for I did not know what moment some
+other visitor might arrive to see how Brande fared. I first examined
+with a pocket microscope the ink of the manuscript, and then making a
+scratch with Brande's pen on a page of my note-book, I compared the two.
+The colours were identical. It was the same ink.
+
+In several places where a narrow space had been left vacant, I put 1 in
+front of the figures which followed. I had no reason for making this
+particular alteration, save that the figure 1 is more easily forged than
+any other, and the forgery is consequently more difficult to detect. My
+additions, when the ink was dry, could only have been discovered by one
+who was informed that the document had been tampered with. It was
+probable that a drawer which stood open with the keys in the lock was
+the place where Brande kept this paper; where he would look for it on
+awaking. I locked it in the drawer and put the keys into his pocket.
+
+There was something still to do with the sleeping man, whose brain
+compassed such marvellous powers. His telepathic faculty must be
+destroyed. I must keep him seriously ill, without killing him. As long
+as he remained alive his friends would never question his calculations,
+and the fiasco which was possible under any circumstances would then be
+assured. I had with me an Eastern drug, which I had bought from an
+Indian fakir once in Murzapoor. The man was an impostor, whose tricks
+did not impose on me. But the drug, however he came by it, was reliable.
+It was a poison which produced a mild form of cerebritis that dulled but
+did not deaden the mental powers. It acted almost identically whether
+administered sub-cutaneously or, of course in a larger dose, internally.
+I brought it home with the intention of giving it to a friend who was
+interested in vivisection. I did not think that I myself should be the
+first and last to experiment with it. It served my purpose well.
+
+The moment I pricked his skin, Brande moved in his seat. My hand was on
+his throat. He nestled his head down again upon his arms, and drew a
+deep breath. Had he moved again that breath would have been his last. I
+had been so wrought upon by what I had already done that night, I would
+have taken his life without the slightest hesitation, if the sacrifice
+seemed necessary.
+
+When my operation was over, I left the room and moved silently along the
+corridor till I came to the ladder leading to the deck. Edith Metford
+was waiting for me as we had arranged. She was shivering in spite of the
+awful heat.
+
+"Have you done it?" she whispered.
+
+"I have," I answered, without saying how much I had done. "Now you must
+retire--and rest easy. The formula won't work. I have put both it and
+Brande himself out of gear."
+
+"Thank God!" she gasped, and then a sudden faintness came over her. It
+passed quickly, and as soon as she was sufficiently restored, I begged
+her to go below. She pleaded that she could not sleep, and asked me to
+remain with her upon the deck. "It would be absurd to suppose that
+either of us could sleep this night," she very truly said. On which I
+was obliged to tell her plainly that she must go below. I had more to
+do.
+
+"Can I help?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"No. If you could, I would ask you, for you are a brave girl. I have
+something now to get through which is not woman's work."
+
+"Your work is my work," she answered. "What is it?"
+
+"I have to lower a body overboard without anyone observing me."
+
+There was no time for discussion, so I told her at once, knowing that
+she would not give way otherwise. She started at my words, but said
+firmly:
+
+"How will you do that unobserved by the 'watch'? Go down and bring up
+your--bring it up. I will keep the men employed." She went forward, and
+I turned again to the companion.
+
+When I got back to Rockingham's cabin I took a sheet of paper and wrote,
+"Heat--Mad!" making no attempt to imitate his writing. I simply scrawled
+the words with a rough pen in the hope that they would pass as a message
+from a man who was hysterical when he wrote them. Then I turned to the
+berth and took up the body. It was not a pleasant thing to do. But it
+must be done.
+
+I was a long time reaching the deck, for the arms and legs swung to and
+fro, and I had to move cautiously lest they should knock against the
+woodwork I had to pass. I got it safely up and hurried aft with it.
+Edith, I knew, would contrive to keep the men on watch engaged until I
+had disposed of my burden. I picked up a coil of rope and made it fast
+to the dead man's neck. Taking one turn of the rope round a boat-davit,
+I pushed the thing over the rail. I intended to let go the rope the
+moment the weight attached to it was safely in the sea, and so lowered
+away silently, paying out the line without excessive strain owing to the
+support of the davit round which I had wound it. I had not to wait so
+long as that, for just as the body was dangling over the foaming wake of
+the steamer, a little streak of moonlight shot out from behind a bank of
+cloud and lighted the vessel with a sudden gleam. I was startled by
+this, and held on, fearing that some watching eye might see my curious
+movements. For a minute I leaned over the rail and watched the track of
+the steamer as though I had come on deck for the air. There was a quick
+rush near the vessel's quarter. Something dark leaped out of the water,
+and there was a sharp snap--a crunch. The lower limbs were gone in the
+jaws of a shark. I let go the rope in horror, and the body dropped
+splashing into that hideous fishing-ground. Sick to death I turned
+away.
+
+"Get below quickly," Edith Metford said in my ear. "They heard the
+splash, slight as it was, and are coming this way." Her warning was
+nearly a sob.
+
+We hurried down the companion as fast as we dared, and listened to the
+comments of the watch above. They were soon satisfied that nothing of
+importance had occurred, and resumed their stations.
+
+Before we parted on that horrible night, Edith said in a trembling
+voice, "You have done your work like a brave man."
+
+"Say rather, like a forger and murderer," I answered.
+
+"No," she maintained. "Many men before you have done much worse in a
+good cause. You are not a forger. You are a diplomat. You are not a
+murderer. You are a hero."
+
+But I, being new to this work of slaughter and deception, could only
+deprecate her sympathy and draw away. I felt that my very presence near
+her was pollution. I was unclean, and I told her that I was so.
+Whereupon, without hesitation, she put her arms round my neck, and said
+clinging closely to me:
+
+"You are not unclean--you are free from guilt. And--Arthur--I will kiss
+you now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+"IF NOT TOO LATE!"
+
+
+When I came on deck next morning the coast of Arabia was rising, a thin
+thread of hazy blue between the leaden grey of the sea and the soft grey
+of the sky. The morning was cloudy, and the blazing sunlight was veiled
+in atmospheric gauze. I had hardly put my foot on deck when Natalie
+Brande ran to meet me. I hung back guiltily.
+
+"I thought you would never come. There is dreadful news!" she cried.
+
+I muttered some incoherent words, to which she did not attend, but went
+on hurriedly:
+
+"Rockingham has thrown himself overboard in a hysterical fit, brought on
+by the heat. The sailors heard the splash--"
+
+"I know they did." This escaped me unawares, and I instantly
+prevaricated, "I have been told about that."
+
+"Do you know that Herbert is ill?"
+
+I could have conscientiously answered this question affirmatively also.
+Her sudden sympathy for human misadventure jarred upon me, as it had
+done once before, when I thought of the ostensible object of the cruise.
+I said harshly:
+
+"Then Rockingham is at rest, and your brother is on the road to it." It
+was a brutal speech. It had a very different effect to that which I
+intended.
+
+"True," she said. "But think of the awful consequences if, now that
+Rockingham is gone, Herbert should be seriously ill."
+
+"I do think of it," I said stiffly. Indeed, I could hardly keep from
+adding that I had provided for it.
+
+"You must come to him at once. I have faith in you." This gave me a
+twinge. "I have no faith in Percival" (the ship's doctor).
+
+"You are nursing your brother?" I said with assumed carelessness.
+
+"Of course."
+
+"What is Percival giving him?"
+
+She described the treatment, and as this was exactly what I myself would
+have prescribed to put my own previous interference right, I promised to
+come at once, saying:
+
+"It is quite evident that Percival does not understand the case."
+
+"That is exactly what I thought," Natalie agreed, leading me to Brande's
+cabin. I found his vitality lower than I expected, and he was very
+impatient. The whole purpose of his life was at stake, dependent on his
+preserving a healthy body, on which, in turn, a vigorous mind depends.
+
+"How soon can you get me up?" he asked sharply, when my pretended
+examination was over.
+
+"I should say a month at most."
+
+"That would be too long," he cried. "You must do it in less."
+
+"It does not depend on me--"
+
+"It does depend on you. I know life itself. You know the paltry science
+of organic life. I have had no time for such trivial study. Get me well
+within three days, or--"
+
+"I am attending."
+
+"By the hold over my sister's imagination which I have gained, I will
+kill her on the fourth morning from now."
+
+"You will--_not_."
+
+"I tell you I will," Brande shrieked, starting up in his berth. "I could
+do it now."
+
+"You could--_not_."
+
+"Man, do you know what you are saying? You to bandy words with me! A
+clod-brained fool to dare a man of science! Man of science forsooth!
+Your men of science are to me as brain-benumbed, as brain-bereft, as
+that fly which I crush--thus!"
+
+The buzzing insect was indeed dead. But I was something more than a fly.
+At last I was on a fair field with this scientific magician or madman.
+And on a fair field I was not afraid of him.
+
+"You are agitating yourself unnecessarily and injuriously," I said in my
+best professional manner. "And if you persist in doing so you will make
+my one month three."
+
+In a voice of undisguised scorn, Brande exclaimed, without noticing my
+interruption:
+
+"Bearded by a creature whose little mind is to me like the open page of
+a book to read when the humour seizes me." Then with a fierce glance at
+me he cried:
+
+"I have read your mind before. I can read it now."
+
+"You can--_not_."
+
+He threw himself back in his berth and strove to concentrate his mind.
+For nearly five minutes he lay quite still, and then he said gently:
+
+"You are right. Have you, then, a higher power than I?"
+
+"No; a lower!"
+
+"A lower! What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that I have merely paralysed your brain--that for many months to
+come it will not be restored to its normal power--that it will never
+reach its normal power again unless I choose."
+
+"Then all is lost--lost--lost!" he wailed out. "The end is as far off,
+and the journey as long, and the way as hard, as if I had never striven.
+And the tribute of human tears will be exacted to the uttermost. My life
+has been in vain!"
+
+The absolute agony in his voice, the note of almost superhuman suffering
+and despair, was so intense, that, without thinking of what it was this
+man was grieving over, I found myself saying soothingly:
+
+"No, no! Nothing is lost. It is only your own overstrained nervous
+system which sends these fantastic nightmares to your brain. I will soon
+make you all right if you will listen to reason."
+
+He turned to me with the most appealing look which I had ever seen in
+human eyes save once before--when Natalie pleaded with me.
+
+"I had forgotten," he said, "the issue now lies in your hands. Choose
+rightly. Choose mercy."
+
+"I will," I answered shortly, for his request brought me back with a
+jerk to his motive.
+
+"Then you will get me well as soon as your skill can do it?"
+
+"I will keep you in your present condition until I have your most solemn
+assurance that you will neither go farther yourself nor instigate others
+to go farther with this preposterous scheme of yours."
+
+"Bah!" Brande ejaculated contemptuously, and lay back with a sudden
+content. "My brain is certainly out of order, else I should not have
+forgotten--until your words recalled it--the Labrador expedition."
+
+"The Labrador expedition?"
+
+"Yes. On the day we sailed for the Arafura Sea, Grey started with
+another party for Labrador. If we fail to act before the 31st December,
+in the year 1900, he will proceed. And the end of the century will be
+the date of the end of the earth. I will signal to him now."
+
+His face changed suddenly. For a moment I thought he was dead. Then the
+dreadful fact came home to me. He was telegraphing telepathically to
+Grey. So the murder that was upon my soul had been done in vain. Then
+another life must be taken. Better a double crime than one resultless
+tragedy. I was spared this.
+
+Brande opened his eyes wearily, and sighed as if fatigued. The effort,
+short as it was, must have been intense. He was prostrated. His voice
+was low, almost a whisper, as he said:
+
+"You have succeeded beyond belief. I cannot even signal him, much less
+exchange ideas." With that he turned his face from me, and instantly
+fell into a deep sleep.
+
+I left the cabin and went on deck. As usual, it was fairly sprinkled
+over with the passengers, but owing to the strong head-wind caused by
+the speed of the steamer, there was a little nook in the bow where there
+was no one to trouble me with unwelcome company.
+
+I sat down on an arm of the starboard anchor and tried to think. The
+game which seemed so nearly won had all to be played over again from the
+first move. If I had killed Brande--which surely would have been
+justifiable--the other expedition would go on from where he left off.
+And how should I find them? And who would believe my story when I got
+back to England?
+
+Brande must go on. His attempt to wreck the earth, even if the power he
+claimed were not overrated, would fail. For if the compounds of a common
+explosive must be so nicely balanced as they require to be, surely the
+addition of the figures which I had made in his formula would upset the
+balance of constituents in an agent so delicate, though so powerful, as
+that which he had invented. When the master failed, it was more than
+probable that the pupil would distrust the invention, and return to
+London for fresh experiments. Then a clean sweep must be made of the
+whole party. Meantime, it was plain that Brande must be allowed the
+opportunity of failing. And this it would be my hazardous duty to
+superintend.
+
+I returned to Brande's cabin with my mind made up. He was awake, and
+looked at me eagerly, but waited for me to speak. Our conversation was
+brief, for I had little sympathy with my patient, and the only anxiety I
+experienced about his health was the hope that he would not die until
+he had served my purpose.
+
+"I have decided to get you up," I said curtly.
+
+"You have decided well," he answered, with equal coldness.
+
+That was the whole interview--on which so much depended.
+
+After this I did not speak to Brande on any subject but that of his
+symptoms, and before long he was able to come on deck. The month I spoke
+of as the duration of his illness was an intentional exaggeration on my
+part.
+
+Rockingham was forgotten with a suddenness and completeness that was
+almost ghastly. The Society claimed to have improved the old maxim to
+speak nothing of the dead save what is good. Of the dead they spoke not
+at all. It is a callous creed, but in this instance it pleased me well.
+
+We did not touch at Aden, and I was glad of it. The few attractions of
+the place, the diving boys and the like, may be a relief in ordinary sea
+voyages, but I was too much absorbed in my experiment on Brande to bear
+with patience any delay which served to postpone the crisis of my
+scheme. I had treated him well, so far as his bodily health went, but I
+deliberately continued to tamper with his brain, so that any return of
+his telepathic power was thus prevented. Indeed, Brande himself was not
+anxious for such return. The power was always exercised at an extreme
+nervous strain, and it was now, he said, unnecessary to his purpose.
+
+In consequence of this determination, I modified the already minute
+doses of the drug I was giving him. This soon told with advantage on his
+health. His physical improvement partly restored his confidence in me,
+so that he followed my instructions faithfully. He evidently recognised
+that he was in my power; that if I did not choose to restore him fully
+no other man could.
+
+Of the ship's officers, Anderson, who was in command, and Percival, the
+doctor, were men of some individuality. The captain was a good sailor
+and an excellent man of business. In the first capacity, he was firm,
+exacting, and scrupulously conscientious. In the second, his conscience
+was more elastic when he saw his way clear to his own advantage. He had
+certain rigid rules of conduct which he prided himself on observing to
+the letter, without for a moment suspecting that their _raison d'etre_
+lay in his own interests. His commercial morality only required him to
+keep within the law. His final contract with myself was, I admit,
+faithfully carried out, but the terms of it would not have discredited
+the most predatory business man in London town.
+
+Percival was the opposite pole of such a character. He was a clever man,
+who might have risen in his profession but for his easy-going indolence.
+I spent many an hour in his cabin. He was a sportsman and a skilled
+_raconteur_. His anecdotes helped to while the weary time away. He
+exaggerated persistently, but this did not disturb me. Besides, if in
+his narratives he lengthened out the hunt a dozen miles and increased
+the weight of the fish to an impossible figure, made the brace a dozen
+and the ten-ton boat a man-of-war, it was not because he was
+deliberately untruthful. He looked back on his feats through the
+telescope of a strongly magnifying memory. It was more agreeable to me
+to hear him boast his prowess than have him inquire after the health and
+treatment of my patient Brande. On this matter he was naturally very
+curious, and I very reticent.
+
+That Brande did not entirely trust me was evident from his confusion
+when I surprised him once reading his formula. His anxiety to convince
+me that it was only a commonplace memorandum was almost ludicrous. I was
+glad to see him anxious about that document. The more carefully he
+preserved it, and the more faithfully he adhered to its conditions, the
+better for my experiment. A sense of security followed this incident. It
+did not last long. It ended that evening.
+
+After a day of almost unendurable heat, I went on deck for a breath of
+air. We were well out in the Indian Ocean, and soundings were being
+attempted by some of our naturalists. I sat alone and watched the sun
+sink down into the glassy ocean on which our rushing vessel was the only
+thing that moved. As the darkness of that hot, still night gathered,
+weird gleams of phosphorus broke from the steamer's bows and streamed
+away behind us in long lines of flashing spangles. Where the swell
+caused by the passage of the ship rose in curling waves, these, as they
+splashed into mimic breakers, burst into showers of flamboyant light.
+The water from the discharge-pipe poured down in a cascade, that shone
+like silver. Every turn of the screw dashed a thousand flashes on either
+side, and the heaving of the lead was like the flight of a meteor, as it
+plunged with a luminous trail far down into the dark unfathomable depths
+below.
+
+My name was spoken softly. Natalie Brande stood beside me. The spell was
+complete. The unearthly glamour of the magical scene had been compassed
+by her. She had called it forth and could disperse it by an effort of
+her will. I wrenched my mind free from the foolish phantasmagoria.
+
+"I have good news," Natalie said in a low voice. Her tones were soft,
+musical; her manner caressing. Happiness was in her whole bearing,
+tenderness in her eyes. Dread oppressed me. "Herbert is now well again."
+
+"He has been well for some time," I said, my heart beating fast.
+
+"He is not thoroughly restored even yet. But this evening he was able to
+receive a message from me by the thought waves. He thinks you are
+plotting injury to him. His brain is not yet sufficiently strong to show
+how foolish this fugitive fancy is. Perhaps you would go to him. He is
+troubling himself over this. You can set his mind at rest."
+
+"I can--and will--if I am not too late," I answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+£5000 TO DETAIN THE SHIP.
+
+
+Brande was asleep when I entered his cabin. His writing-table was
+covered with scraps of paper on which he had been scribbling. My name
+was on every scrap, preceded or followed by an unfinished sentence,
+thus: "Marcel is thinking-- When I was ill, Marcel thought-- Marcel
+means to--" All these I gathered up carefully and put in my pocket. Then
+I inoculated him with as strong a solution of the drug I was using on
+him as was compatible with the safety of his life. Immediate danger
+being thus averted, I determined to run no similar risk again.
+
+For many days after this our voyage was monotonous. The deadly secret
+shared by Edith Metford and myself drew us gradually nearer to each
+other as time passed. She understood me, or, at least, gave me the
+impression that she understood me. Little by little that capricious mood
+which I have heretofore described changed into one of enduring
+sympathy. With one trivial exception, this lasted until the end. But for
+her help my mind would hardly have stood the strain of events which were
+now at hand, whose livid shadows were projected in the rising fire of
+Brande's relentless eyes.
+
+Brande appeared to lose interest gradually in his ship's company. He
+became daily more and more absorbed in his own thoughts. Natalie was
+ever gentle, even tender. But I chafed at the impalpable barrier which
+was always between us. Sometimes I thought that she would willingly have
+ranged herself on my side. Some hidden power held her back. As to the
+others, I began to like the boy Halley. He was lovable, if not athletic.
+His devotion to Natalie, which never waned, did not now trouble me. It
+was only a friendship, and I welcomed it. Had it been anything more, it
+was not likely that he would have prevailed against the will of a man
+who had done murder for his mistress. We steamed through the Malay
+Archipelago, steering north, south, east, west, as if at haphazard,
+until only the navigating officers and the director of the Society knew
+how our course lay. We were searching for an island about the bearings
+of which, it transpired, some mistake had been made. I do not know
+whether the great laureate ever sailed these seas. But I know that his
+glorious islands of flowers and islands of fruit, with all their
+luscious imagery, were here eclipsed by our own islands of foliage. The
+long lagoons, the deep blue bays, the glittering parti-coloured fish
+that swam in visible shoals deep down amidst the submerged coral groves
+over which we passed, the rich-toned sea-weeds and brilliant anemones,
+the yellow strands and the steep cliffs, the riotous foliage that swept
+down from the sky to the blue of the sea; all these natural beauties
+seemed to cry to me with living voices--to me bound on a cruise of
+universal death.
+
+After a long spell of apparently aimless but glorious steaming, a small
+island was sighted on our port bow. The _Esmeralda_ was steered directly
+for it, and we dropped anchor in a deep natural harbour on its southern
+shore. Preparations for landing had been going on during the day, and
+everything was ready for quitting the ship.
+
+It was here that my first opportunity for making use of the gold I had
+brought with me occurred. Anderson was called up by Brande, who made
+him a short complimentary speech, and finished it by ordering his
+officer to return to England, where further instructions would be given
+him. This order was received in respectful silence. Captain Anderson had
+been too liberally treated to demur if the _Esmeralda_ had been ordered
+to the South Pole.
+
+Brande went below for a few minutes, and as soon as he had disappeared I
+went forward to Anderson and hailed him nervously, for there was not a
+moment to spare.
+
+"Anderson," I said hurriedly, "you must have noticed that Mr. Brande is
+an eccentric--"
+
+"Pardon me, sir; it is not my business to comment upon my owner."
+
+"I did not ask you to comment upon him, sir," I said sharply. "It is I
+who shall comment upon him, and it is for you to say whether you will
+undertake to earn my money by waiting in this harbour till I am ready to
+sail back with you to England."
+
+"Have you anything more to say, sir?" Anderson asked stiffly.
+
+"I presume I have said enough."
+
+"If you have nothing more to say I must ask you to leave the bridge,
+and if it were not that you are leaving the ship this moment, I would
+caution you not to be impertinent to me again."
+
+He blew his whistle, and a steward ran forward.
+
+"Johnson, see Mr. Marcel's luggage over the side at once." To me he said
+shortly: "Quit my ship, sir."
+
+This trivial show of temper, which, indeed, had been provoked by my own
+hasty speech, turned my impatience into fury.
+
+"Before I quit your ship," I said, with emphasis, "I will tell you how
+you yourself will quit it. You will do so between two policemen if you
+land in England, and between two marines if you think of keeping on the
+high seas. Before we started, I sent a detailed statement of this ship,
+the nature of this nefarious voyage, and the names of the passengers--or
+as many as I knew--to a friend who will put it in proper hands if
+anything befalls me. Go back without me and explain the loss of that
+French fishing fleet which was sunk the very night we sailed. It is an
+awkward coincidence to be explained by a man who returns from an unknown
+voyage having lost his entire list of passengers. You cannot be aware
+of what this man Brande intends, or you would at least stand by us as
+long as your own safety permitted. In any case you cannot safely return
+without us."
+
+Anderson, after reflecting for a moment, apologised for his peremptory
+words, and agreed to stand by night and day, with fires banked, until I,
+and all whom I could prevail upon to return with me, got back to his
+vessel. There was no danger of his running short of coal. A ship that
+was practically an ocean liner in coal ballast would be a considerable
+time in burning out her own cargo. But he insisted on a large money
+payment in advance. I had foolishly mentioned that I had a little over
+£5000 in gold. This he claimed on the plea that "in duty to himself"--a
+favourite phrase of his--he could not accept less. But I think his sense
+of duty was limited only by the fact that I had hardly another penny in
+the world. Under the circumstances he might have waived all
+remuneration. As he was firm, and as I had no time to haggle, I agreed
+to give him the money. Our bargain was only completed when Brande
+returned to the deck.
+
+It was strange that on an island like that on which we were landing
+there should be a regular army of natives waiting to assist us with our
+baggage, and the saddled horses which were in readiness were out of
+place in a primeval wilderness. An Englishman came forward, and,
+saluting Brande, said all was ready for the start to the hills. This
+explained the puzzle. An advance agent had made everything comfortable.
+For Brande, his sister, and Miss Metford the best appointed horses were
+selected. I, as physician to the chief, had one. The main body had to
+make the journey on foot, which they did by very easy stages, owing to
+the heat and the primitive track which formed the only road. Their
+journey was not very long--perhaps ten miles in a direct line.
+
+Mounted as we were, it was often necessary to stoop to escape the dense
+masses of parasitic growth which hung in green festoons from every
+branch of the trees on either side. Under this thick shade all the
+riotous vegetation of the tropics had fought for life and struggled for
+light and air till the wealth of their luxuriant death had carpeted the
+underwood with a thick deposit of steaming foliage. As we ascended the
+height, every mile in distance brought changes in the botanical
+growths, which might have passed unnoticed by the ordinary observer or
+ignorant pioneer. All were noted and commented on by Brande, whose eye
+was still as keen as his brain had once been brilliant. His usual staid
+demeanour changed suddenly. He romped ahead of us like a schoolboy out
+for a holiday. Unlike a schoolboy, however, he was always seeking new
+items of knowledge and conveying them to us with unaffected pleasure. He
+was more like a master who had found new ground and new material for his
+class. Natalie gave herself up like him to this enjoyment of the moment.
+Edith Metford and I partly caught the glamour of their infectious
+good-humour. But with both of us it was tempered by the knowledge of
+what was in store.
+
+When we arrived at our destination we dismounted, at Brande's request,
+and tied our horses to convenient branches. He went forward, and,
+pushing aside the underwood with both hands, motioned to us to follow
+him till he stopped on a ledge of rock which overtopped a hollow in the
+mountain. The gorge below was the most beautiful glade I ever looked
+upon.
+
+It was a paradise of foliage. Here and there a fallen tree had formed a
+picturesque bridge over the mountain stream which meandered through it.
+Far down below there was a waterfall, where gorgeous tree-ferns rose in
+natural bowers, while others further still leant over the lotus-covered
+stream, their giant leaves trailing in the slow-moving current. Tangled
+masses of bracken rioted in wild abundance over a velvety green sod,
+overshadowed by waving magnolias. Through the trees bright-plumaged
+birds were flitting from branch to branch in songless flight, flashing
+their brilliant colours through the sunny leaves. In places the water
+splashed over moss-grown rocks into deep pools. Every drifting spray of
+cloud threw over the dell a new light, deepening the shadows under the
+great ferns.
+
+It was here in this glorious fairyland; here upon this island, where
+before us no white foot had ever trod; whose nameless people represented
+the simplest types of human existence, that Herbert Brande was to put
+his devilish experiment to the proof. I marvelled that he should have
+selected so fair a spot for so terrible a purpose. But the papers which
+I found later amongst the man's effects on the _Esmeralda_ explain much
+that was then incomprehensible to me.
+
+Our camp was quickly formed, and our life was outwardly as happy as if
+we had been an ordinary company of tourists. I say outwardly, because,
+while we walked and climbed and collected specimens of botanical or
+geological interest, there remained that latent dread which always
+followed us, and dominated the most frivolous of our people, on all of
+whom a new solemnity had fallen. For myself, the fact that the hour of
+trial for my own experiment was daily drawing closer and more
+inevitable, was sufficient to account for my constant and extreme
+anxiety.
+
+Brande joined none of our excursions. He was always at work in his
+improvised laboratory. The boxes of material which had been brought from
+the ship nearly filled it from floor to roof, and from the speed with
+which these were emptied, it was evident that their contents had been
+systematised before shipment. In place of the varied collection of
+substances there grew up within the room a cone of compound matter in
+which all were blended. This cone was smaller, Brande admitted, than
+what he had intended. The supply of subordinate fulminates, though
+several times greater than what was required, proved to be considerably
+short. But as he had allowed himself a large margin--everything being
+on a scale far exceeding the minimum which his calculations had pointed
+to as sufficient--this deficiency did not cause him more than a
+temporary annoyance. So he worked on.
+
+When we had been three weeks on the island I found the suspense greater
+than I could bear. The crisis was at hand, and my heart failed me. I
+determined to make a last appeal to Natalie, to fly with me to the ship.
+Edith Metford would accompany us. The rest might take the risk to which
+they had consented.
+
+I found Natalie standing on the high rock whence the most lovely view of
+the dell could be obtained, and as I approached her silently she was not
+aware of my presence until I laid my hand on her shoulder.
+
+"Natalie," I said wistfully, for the girl's eyes were full of tears, "do
+you mind if I withdraw now from this enterprise, in which I cannot be of
+the slightest use, and of which I most heartily disapprove?"
+
+"The Society would not allow you to withdraw. You cannot do so without
+its permission, and hope to live within a thousand miles of it," she
+answered gravely.
+
+"I should not care to live within ten thousand miles of it. I should try
+to get and keep the earth's diameter between myself and it."
+
+She looked up with an expression of such pain that my heart smote me.
+"How about me? I cannot live without you now," she said softly.
+
+"Don't live without me. Come with me. Get rid of this infamous
+association of lunatics, whose object they themselves cannot really
+appreciate, and whose means are murder--"
+
+But there she stopped me. "My brother could find me out at the uttermost
+ends of the earth if I forsook him, and you know I do not mean to
+forsake him. For yourself--do not try to desert. It would make no
+difference. Do not believe that any consideration would cause me
+willingly to give you a moment's pain, or that I should shrink from
+sacrificing myself to save you." With one of her small white hands she
+gently pressed my head towards her. Her lips touched my forehead, and
+she whispered: "Do not leave me. It will soon be over now. I--I--need
+you."
+
+As I was returning dejected after my fruitless appeal to Natalie, I met
+Edith Metford, to whom I had unhappily mentioned my proposal for an
+escape.
+
+"Is it arranged? When do we start?" she asked eagerly.
+
+"It is not arranged, and we do not start," I answered in despair.
+
+"You told me you would go with her or without her," she cried
+passionately. "It is shameful--unmanly."
+
+"It is certainly both if I really said what you tell me. I was not
+myself at the moment, and my tongue must have slandered me. I stay to
+the end. But you will go. Captain Anderson will receive you--"
+
+"How am I to be certain of that?"
+
+"I paid him for your passage, and have his receipt."
+
+"And you really think I would go and leave--leave--"
+
+"Natalie? I think you would be perfectly justified."
+
+At this the girl stamped her foot passionately on the ground and burst
+into tears. Nor would she permit any of the slight caresses I offered.
+I thought her old caprices were returning. She flung my arm rudely from
+her and left me bewildered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+"THIS EARTH SHALL DIE."
+
+
+My memory does not serve me well in the scenes which immediately
+preceded the closing of the drama in which Brande was chief actor. It is
+doubtless the transcendental interest of the final situation which
+blunts my recollection of what occurred shortly before it. I did not
+abate one jot of my determination to fight my venture out unflinching,
+but my actions were probably more automatic than reasoned, as the time
+of our last encounter approached. On the whole, the fight had been a
+fair one. Brande had used his advantage over me for his own purpose as
+long as it remained with him. I used the advantage as soon as it passed
+to me for mine. The conditions had thus been equalised when, for the
+third and last time, I was to hear him address his Society.
+
+This time the man was weak in health. His vitality was ebbing fast, but
+his marvellous inspiration was strong within him, and, supported by it,
+he battled manfully with the disease which I had manufactured for him.
+His lecture-room was the fairy glen; his canopy the heavens.
+
+I cannot give the substance of this address, or any portion of it,
+verbatim as on former occasions, for I have not the manuscript. I doubt
+if Brande wrote out his last speech. Methodical as were his habits it is
+probable that his final words were not premeditated. They burst from him
+in a delirium that could hardly have been studied. His fine frenzy could
+not well have originated from considered sentences, although his
+language, regarded as mere oratory, was magnificent. It was appalling in
+the light through which I read it.
+
+He stood alone upon the rock which overtopped the dell. We arranged
+ourselves in such groups as suited our inclinations, upon some rising
+ground below. The great trees waved overhead, low murmuring. The
+waterfall splashed drearily. Below, not a whisper was exchanged. Above,
+the man poured out his triumphant death-song in sonorous periods.
+Below, great fear was upon all. Above, the madman exulted wildly.
+
+At first his voice was weak. As he went on it gained strength and depth.
+He alluded to his first address, in which he had hinted that the
+material Universe was not quite a success; to his second, in which he
+had boldly declared it was an absolute failure. This, his third
+declaration, was to tell us that the remedy as far as he, a mortal man,
+could apply it, was ready. The end was at hand. That night should see
+the consummation of his life-work. To-morrow's sun would rise--if it
+rose at all--on the earth restored to space.
+
+A shiver passed perceptibly over the people, prepared as they were for
+this long foreseen announcement. Edith Metford, who stood by me on my
+left, slipped her hand into mine and pressed my fingers hard. Natalie
+Brande, on my right, did not move. Her eyes were dilated and fixed on
+the speaker. The old clairvoyante look was on her face. Her dark pupils
+were blinded save to their inward light. She was either unconscious or
+only partly conscious. Now that the hour had come, they who had believed
+their courage secure felt it wither. They, the people with us, begged
+for a little longer time to brace themselves for the great crisis--the
+plunge into an eternity from which there would be no resurrection,
+neither of matter nor of mind.
+
+Brande heeded them not.
+
+"This night," said he, with culminating enthusiasm, "the cloud-capped
+towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, shall dissolve. To
+this great globe itself--this paltry speck of less account in space than
+a dew-drop in an ocean--and all its sorrow and pain, its trials and
+temptations, all the pathos and bathos of our tragic human farce, the
+end is near. The way has been hard, and the journey overlong, and the
+burden often beyond man's strength. But that long-drawn sorrow now shall
+cease. The tears will be wiped away. The burden will fall from weary
+shoulders. For the fulness of time has come. This earth shall die! And
+death is peace.
+
+"I stand," he cried out in a strident voice, raising his arm aloft, "I
+may say, with one foot on sea and one on land, for I hold the elemental
+secret of them both. And I swear by the living god--Science
+incarnate--that the suffering of the centuries is over, that for this
+earth and all that it contains, from this night and for ever, _Time
+will be no more!_"
+
+A great cry rose from the people. "Give us another day--only another
+day!"
+
+But Brande made answer: "It is now too late."
+
+"Too late!" the people wailed.
+
+"Yes, too late. I warned you long ago. Are you not yet ready? In two
+hours the disintegrating agent will enter on its work. No human power
+could stop it now. Not if every particle of the material I have
+compounded were separated and scattered to the winds. Before I set my
+foot upon this rock I applied the key which will release its inherent
+energy. I myself am powerless."
+
+"Powerless," sobbed the auditors.
+
+"Powerless! And if I had ten thousand times the power which I have
+called forth from the universal element, I would use it towards the
+issue I have forecast."
+
+Thereupon he turned away. Doom sounded in his words. The hand of Death
+laid clammy fingers on us. Edith Metford's strength failed at last. It
+had been sorely tested. She sank into my arms.
+
+"Courage, true heart, our time has come," I whispered. "We start for the
+steamer at once. The horses are ready." My arrangements had been already
+made. My plan had been as carefully matured as any ever made by Brande
+himself.
+
+"How many horses?"
+
+"Three. One for you; another for Natalie; the third for myself. The rest
+must accept the fate they have selected."
+
+The girl shuddered as she said, "But your interference with the formula?
+You are sure it will destroy the effect?"
+
+"I am certain that the particular result on which Brande calculates will
+not take place. But short of that, he has still enough explosive matter
+stored to cause an earthquake. We are not safe within a radius of fifty
+miles. It will be a race against time."
+
+"Natalie will not come."
+
+"Not voluntarily. You must think of some plan. Your brain is quick. We
+have not a moment to lose. Ah, there she is! Speak to her."
+
+Natalie was crossing the open ground which led from the glen to Brande's
+laboratory. She did not observe us till Edith called to her. Then she
+approached hastily and embraced her friend with visible emotion. Even to
+me she offered her cheek without reserve.
+
+"Natalie," I said quickly, "there are three horses saddled and waiting
+in the palm grove. The _Esmeralda_ is still lying in the harbour where
+we landed. You will come with us. Indeed, you have no choice. You must
+come if I have to carry you to your horse and tie you to the saddle. You
+will not force me to put that indignity upon you. To the horses, then!
+Come!"
+
+For answer she called her brother loudly by his name. Brande immediately
+appeared at the door of his laboratory, and when he perceived from whom
+the call had come he joined us.
+
+"Herbert," said Natalie, "our friend is deserting us. He must still
+cling to the thought that your purpose may fail, and he expects to
+escape on horseback from the fate of the earth. Reason with him yet a
+little further."
+
+"There is no time to reason," I interrupted. "The horses are ready. This
+girl (pointing as I spoke to Edith Metford) takes one, I another, and
+you the third--whether your brother agrees or not."
+
+"Surely you have not lost your reason? Have you forgotten the drop of
+water in the English Channel?" Brande said quietly.
+
+"Brande," I answered, "the sooner you induce your sister to come with me
+the better; and the sooner you induce these maniac friends of yours to
+clear out the better, for your enterprise will fail."
+
+"It is as certain as the law of gravitation. With my own hand I mixed
+the ingredients according to the formula."
+
+"And," said I, "with my own hand I altered your formula."
+
+Had Brande's heart stopped beating, his face could not have become more
+distorted and livid. He moved close to me, and, glaring into my eyes,
+hissed out:
+
+"You altered my formula?"
+
+"I did," I answered recklessly. "I multiplied your figures by ten where
+they struck me as insufficient."
+
+"When?"
+
+I strode closer still to him and looked him straight in the eyes while I
+spoke.
+
+"That night in the Red Sea, when Edith Metford, by accident, mixed
+morphia in your medicine. The night I injected a subtle poison, which I
+picked up in India once, into your blood while you slept, thereby
+baffling some of the functions of your extraordinary brain. The night
+when in your sleep you stirred once, and had you stirred twice, I would
+have killed you, then and there, as ruthlessly as you would kill mankind
+now. The night I did kill your lieutenant, Rockingham, and throw his
+body overboard to the sharks."
+
+Brande did not speak for a moment. Then he said in a gentle,
+uncomplaining voice:
+
+"So it now devolves on Grey. The end will be the same. The Labrador
+expedition will succeed where I have failed." To Natalie: "You had
+better go. There will only be an explosion. The island will probably
+disappear. That will be all."
+
+"Do you remain?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. I perish with my failure."
+
+"Then I perish with you. And you, Marcel, save yourself--you coward!"
+
+I started as if struck in the face. Then I said to Edith: "Be careful to
+keep to the track. Take the bay horse. I saddled him for myself, but you
+can ride him safely. Lose no time, and ride hard for the coast."
+
+"Arthur Marcel," she answered, so softly that the others did not hear,
+"your work in the world is not yet over. There is the Labrador
+expedition. Just now, when my strength failed, you whispered 'courage.'
+Be true to yourself! Half an hour is gone."
+
+At length some glimmer of human feeling awoke in Brande. He said in a
+low, abstracted voice: "My life fittingly ends now. To keep you,
+Natalie, would only be a vulgar murder." The old will power seemed to
+come back to him. He looked into the girl's eyes, and said slowly and
+sternly: "Go! I command it."
+
+Without another word he turned away from us. When he had disappeared
+into the laboratory, Natalie sighed, and said dreamily:
+
+"I am ready. Let us go."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE FLIGHT.
+
+
+I led the girls hurriedly to the horses. When they were mounted on the
+ponies, I gave the bridle-reins of the bay horse--whose size and
+strength were necessary for my extra weight--to Edith Metford, and asked
+her to wait for me until I announced Brande's probable failure to the
+people, and advised a _sauve qui peut_.
+
+Hard upon my warning there followed a strange metamorphosis in the
+crowd, who, after the passing weakness at the lecture, had fallen back
+into stoical indifference, or it may have been despair. The possibility
+of escape galvanized them into the desire for life. Cries of distress,
+and prayers for help, filled the air. Men and women rushed about like
+frightened sheep without concert or any sensible effort to escape,
+wasting in futile scrambles the short time remaining to them. For
+another half hour had now passed, and in sixty minutes the earthquake
+would take place.
+
+"Follow us!" I shouted, as with my companions I rode slowly through the
+camp. "Keep the track to the sea. I shall have the steamer's boats ready
+for all who may reach the shore alive."
+
+"The horses! Seize the horses!" rose in a loud shout, and the mob flung
+themselves upon us, as though three animals could carry all.
+
+When I saw the rush, I called out: "Sit firm, Natalie; I am going to
+strike your horse." Saying which I struck the pony a sharp blow with my
+riding-whip crossways on the flank. It bounded like a deer, and then
+dashed forward down the rough pathway.
+
+"Now you, Edith!" I struck her pony in the same way; but it only reared
+and nearly threw her. It could not get away. Already hands were upon
+both bridle-reins. There was no help for it. I pulled out my revolver
+and fired once, twice, and thrice--for I missed the second shot--and
+then the maddened animal sprang forward, released from the hands that
+held it.
+
+It was now time to look to myself. I was in the midst of a dozen maniacs
+mad with fear. I kicked in my spurs desperately, and the bay lashed out
+his hind feet. One hoof struck young Halley on the forehead. He fell
+back dead, his skull in fragments. But the others refused to break the
+circle. Then I emptied my weapon on them, and my horse plunged through
+the opening, followed by despairing execrations. The moment I was clear,
+I returned my revolver to its case, and settled myself in the saddle,
+for, borne out of the proper path as I had been, there was a stiff bank
+to leap before I could regain the track to the shore. Owing to the
+darkness the horse refused to leap, and I nearly fell over his head.
+With a little scrambling I managed to get back into my seat, and then
+trotted along the bank for a hundred yards. At this point the bank
+disappeared, and there was nothing between me now and the open track to
+the sea.
+
+Once upon the path, I put the bay to a gallop, and very soon overtook a
+man and a woman hurrying on. They were running hand in hand, the man a
+little in front dragging his companion on by force. It was plain to me
+that the woman could not hold out much longer. The man, Claude Lureau,
+hailed me as I passed.
+
+"Help us, Marcel. Don't ride away from us."
+
+"I cannot save both," I answered, pulling up.
+
+"Then save Mademoiselle Véret. I'll take my chance."
+
+This blunt speech moved me, the more especially as the man was French. I
+could not allow him to point the way of duty to me--an Englishman.
+
+"Assist her up, then. Now, Mademoiselle, put your arms round me and hold
+hard for your life. Lureau, you may hold my stirrup if you agree to
+loose it when you tire."
+
+"I will do so," he promised.
+
+Hampered thus, I but slowly gained on Natalie and Edith, whose ponies
+had galloped a mile before they could be stopped.
+
+"Forward, forward!" I shouted when within hail. "Don't wait for me. Ride
+on at top speed. Lash your ponies with the bridle-reins."
+
+We were all moving on now at an easy canter, for I could not go fast so
+long as Lureau held my stirrup, and the girls in front did not seem
+anxious to leave me far behind. Besides, the tangled underwood and
+overhanging creepers rendered hard riding both difficult and dangerous.
+The ponies were hard held, but notwithstanding this my horse fell back
+gradually in the race, and the hammering of the hoofs in front grew
+fainter. The breath of the runner at my stirrup came in great sobs. He
+was suffocating, but he struggled on a little longer. Then he threw up
+his hand and gasped:
+
+"I am done. Go on, Marcel. You deserve to escape. Don't desert the
+girl."
+
+"May God desert me if I do," I answered. "And do you keep on as long as
+you can. You may reach the shore after all."
+
+"Go on--save her!" he gasped, and then from sheer exhaustion fell
+forward on his face.
+
+"Sit still, Mademoiselle," I cried, pulling the French girl's arms round
+me in time to prevent her from throwing herself purposely from the
+horse. Then I drove in my spurs hard, and, being now released from
+Lureau's grasp, I overtook the ponies.
+
+For five minutes we all rode on abreast. And then the darkness began to
+break, and a strange dawn glimmered over the tree-tops, although the
+hour of midnight was still to come. A wild, red light, like that of a
+fiery sunset in a hazy summer evening, spread over the night sky. The
+quivering stars grew pale. Constellation after constellation, they were
+blotted out until the whole arc of heaven was a dull red glare. The
+horses were dismayed by this strange phenomenon, and dashed the froth
+from their foaming muzzles as they galloped now without stress of spur
+at their best speed. Birds that could not sing found voice, and
+chattered and shrieked as they dashed from tree to tree in aimless
+flight. Enormous bats hurtled in the air, blinded by the unusual light.
+From the dense undergrowth strange denizens of the woods, disturbed in
+their nightly prowl, leaped forth and scurried squealing between the
+galloping hoofs, reckless of anything save their own fear. Everything
+that was alive upon the island was in motion, and fear was the motor of
+them all.
+
+So far, we saw no natives. Their absence did not surprise me, for I had
+no time for thought. It was explained later.
+
+Edith Metford's pony soon became unmanageable in its fright. I unbuckled
+one spur and gave it to her, directing her to hold it in her hand, for
+of course she could not strap it to her boot, and drive it into the
+animal when he swerved. She took the spur, and as her pony, in one of
+his side leaps, nearly bounded off the path, she struck him hard on the
+ribs. He bolted and flew on far ahead of us.
+
+The light grew stronger.
+
+But that the rays were red, it would now have been as bright as day. We
+were chasing our shadows, so the light must be directly behind us.
+Mademoiselle Véret first noticed this, and drew my attention to it. I
+looked back, and my heart sank at the sight. In the terror it inspired,
+I regretted having burthened myself with the girl I had sworn to save.
+
+The island was on fire!
+
+"It is the end of the world," Mademoiselle Véret said with a shudder.
+She clung closer to me. I could feel her warm breath upon my cheek. The
+unmanly regret, which for a moment had touched me, passed.
+
+The ponies now seemed to find out that their safety lay in galloping
+straight on, rather than in scared leaps from side to side. They
+stretched themselves like race horses, and gave my bay, with his double
+burthen, a strong lead. The pace became terrible considering the nature
+of the ground we covered.
+
+At last the harbour came in view. But my horse, I knew, could not last
+another mile, and the shore was still distant two or three. I spurred
+him hard and drew nearly level with the ponies, so that my voice could
+be heard by both their riders.
+
+"Ride on," I shouted, "and hail the steamer, so that there may be no
+delay when I come up. This horse is blown, and will not stand the pace.
+I am going to ease him. You will go on board at once, and send the boat
+back for us." Then I eased the bay, but in spite of this I immediately
+overtook Edith Metford, who had pulled up.
+
+My reproaches she cut short by saying, "If that horse does the distance
+at all it will be by getting a lead all the way. And I am going to give
+it to him." So we started together.
+
+Natalie was waiting for us a little further on. I spoke to her, but she
+did not answer. From the moment that Brande had commanded her to
+accompany us, her manner had remained absolutely passive. What I
+ordered, she obeyed. That was all. Instead of being alarmed by the
+horrors of the ride, she did not seem to be even interested. I had not
+leisure, however, to reflect on this. For the first time in the whole
+race she spoke to us.
+
+"Would it not be better if Edith rode on?" she said. "I can take her
+place. It seems useless to sacrifice her. It does not matter to me. I
+cannot now be afraid."
+
+"I am afraid; but I remain," Edith said resolutely.
+
+The ground under us began to heave. Whole acres of it swayed disjointed.
+We were galloping on oscillating fragments, which trembled beneath us
+like floating logs under boys at play. To jump these cracks--sometimes
+an upward bank, sometimes a deep drop, in addition to the width of the
+seam, had to be taken--pumped out the failing horses, and the hope that
+was left to us disappeared utterly.
+
+The glare of the red light behind waxed fiercer still, and a low
+rumbling as of distant thunder began to mutter round us. The air became
+difficult to breathe. It was no longer air, but a mephitic stench that
+choked us with disgusting fumes. Then a great shock shook the land, and
+right in front of us a seam opened that must have been fully fifteen
+feet in width. Natalie was the first to see it. She observed it too late
+to stop.
+
+In the same mechanical way as she had acted before, she settled herself
+in the saddle, struck the pony with her hand, and raced him at the
+chasm. He cleared it with little to spare. Edith's took it next with
+less. Then my turn came. Before I could shake up my tired horse,
+Mademoiselle Véret said quickly:
+
+"Monsieur has done enough. He will now permit me to alight. This time
+the horse cannot jump over with both."
+
+"He shall jump over with both, Mademoiselle, or he shall jump in," I
+answered. "Don't look down when we are crossing."
+
+The horse just got over, but he came to his knees, and we fell forward
+over his shoulder. The girl's head struck full on a slab of rock, and a
+faint moan was all that told me she was alive as I arose half stunned to
+my feet. My first thought was for the horse, for on him all depended. He
+was uninjured, apparently, but hardly able to stand from the shock and
+the stress of fatigue.
+
+Edith Metford had dismounted and caught him; she was holding the bridle
+in her left hand, and winced as if in pain when I accidentally brushed
+against her right shoulder. I tied the horse to a young palm, and
+begged the girl to ride on. She obeyed me reluctantly. Natalie had to
+assist her to remount, so she must have been injured. When I saw her
+safely in her saddle, I ran back to Mademoiselle Véret.
+
+The chasm was fast widening. From either side great fragments were
+breaking off and falling in with a roar of loose rocks crashing
+together, till far down the sound was dulled into a hollow boom. This
+ended in low guttural, which growled up from an abysmal depth.
+Mademoiselle Véret, or her dead body, lay now on the very edge of the
+seam, and I had to harden my heart before I could bring myself to
+venture close to it. But I had given my word, and there were no
+conditions in the promise when I made it.
+
+I was spared the ordeal. Just as I stepped forward, the slab of rock on
+which the girl lay broke off in front of me, and, tipping up, overturned
+itself into the chasm. Far below I could see the shimmer of the girl's
+dress as her body went plunging down into that awful pit. And
+remembering her generous courage and offer of self-sacrifice, I felt
+tears rise in my eyes. But there was no time for tears.
+
+I leaped on the bay, and got him into something approaching a gallop,
+shouting at the others to keep on, for they were now returning. When I
+came up with them, Edith Metford said with a shiver:
+
+"The girl?"
+
+"Is at the bottom of the pit. Ride on."
+
+We gained the shore at last; and our presence there produced the
+explanation of the absence of the natives on the pathway to the sea.
+They were there before us. Lying prostrate on the beach in hundreds,
+they raised their bodies partly from the sands, like a resurrection of
+the already dead, and there then rang out upon the night air a sound
+such as my ears had never before heard in my life, such as, I pray God,
+they may never listen to again. I do not know what that dreadful
+death-wail meant in words, only that it touched the lowest depths of
+human horror. All along the beach that fearful chorus of the damned
+wailed forth, and echoed back from rock and cliff. The cry for mercy
+could not be mistaken--the supplication blended with despair. They were
+praying to us--their evil spirits, for this wrong had been wrought them
+by our advent, if not by ourselves.
+
+I cannot dwell upon the scene. I could not describe it. I would not if I
+could.
+
+The steamer was still in her berth; her head was pointed seawards. Loud
+orders rang over the water. The roar of the chain running out through
+the hawse-hole and the heavy splash could not be mistaken. Anderson had
+slipped his cable. Then the chime of the telegraph on the bridge was
+followed almost instantly by the first smashing stroke of the propeller.
+
+The _Esmeralda_ was under weigh!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE CATASTROPHE.
+
+
+The _Esmeralda_ was putting out to sea when I thought of a last
+expedient to draw the attention of her captain. Filling my revolver with
+cartridges which I had loose in my pockets, I fired all the chambers as
+fast as I could snap the trigger.
+
+My signals were heard, and Anderson proved true to his bargain. He
+immediately reversed his engines, and, when he had backed in as close as
+he thought safe, sent a boat ashore for us. We got into it without any
+obstruction from the cowering natives, who only shrank from us in
+horror, now that their prayers had failed to move us. The moment our
+boat was made fast to the steamer's davit ropes and we were pulled out
+of the water, "full speed ahead" was rung from the bridge. We were
+raised to the deck while the vessel was getting up speed.
+
+I crawled up the ladder to the bridge feebly, for I was becoming stiff
+from the bruises of the fall from my horse. Anderson received me coldly,
+and listened indifferently to my thanks. An agreement such as ours
+hardly prepared me for his loyalty.
+
+"Oh, as to that," he interrupted, "when I make a bargain my word is my
+bond. On this occasion I am inclined to think the indenture will be a
+final one."
+
+His bargain was a hard one, but, having made it, he abided faithfully by
+its conditions. He was honest, therefore, in his own way.
+
+"How far can you get out in fifteen minutes?" I asked.
+
+"We may make six or seven knots. But what is the good of that? There
+will be an earthquake on that island on a liberal scale--on such a scale
+that this ship would have very little chance in the wave that will
+follow us if we were fifty miles at sea."
+
+"You have taken every precaution, of course--"
+
+Anderson here looked at me contemptuously, and, with an air of sarcastic
+admiration, he said:
+
+"You have guessed it at the first try. That is precisely what I have
+done."
+
+"Pshaw! don't take offence at trifles at a time like this," I said
+testily. "If you knew as much about that earthquake as I do, you would
+be in no humour for bandying phrases."
+
+"Might I ask how much you do know about it? You could not have foreseen
+the trouble more clearly if you had made it yourself."
+
+"I did not make it myself, but I know the means which the man who did
+employed, and but for me that earthquake would have wrecked this earth."
+
+Anderson made no direct answer to this, but he said earnestly:
+
+"You will now go below, sir. You are done up. Roberts will take you to
+the doctor."
+
+"I am not done up, and I mean to see it out," I retorted doggedly. My
+nervous system was completely unhinged, and a fit of stupid obstinacy
+came on me which rendered any interference with my actions intolerable.
+
+"Then you cannot see it out upon my bridge," Anderson said. The
+determined tone in which he spoke only added to my impotent wrath.
+
+"Very well, I will return to the deck, and if any of your men should
+attempt to interfere with me he will do so at his peril." With that, I
+slung my revolver round so as to have it ready to my hand. I was beside
+myself. My conduct was already bad enough, but I made it worse before I
+left the bridge.
+
+"And if you, Anderson, disobey my orders--my orders, do you hear?--an
+explosion such as took place in the middle of the English channel shall
+take place in the middle of this ship."
+
+"For God's sake leave the bridge. I want my wits about me, and I have no
+intention of earning another exhibition of your devilries."
+
+"Then be careful not to trouble me again." Thus after having passed
+through much danger with a spirit not unbecoming--as I hope--an English
+gentleman, I acted, when the worst was passed, like a peevish schoolboy.
+I am ashamed of my conduct in this small matter, and trust it will pass
+without much notice in the narrative of events of greater moment.
+
+On deck, Natalie Brande, Edith Metford, and Percival were standing
+together, their eyes fixed on the island. Edith's face was deathly
+white, even in the ruddy glow which was now over land and sea. When I
+saw her pallor, my evil temper passed away.
+
+"It would be impossible for you to be quite well," I said to her
+anxiously; "but has anything happened since I left you? You are very
+pale."
+
+"Oh no," she answered, "I'm all right; a little faint after that ride. I
+shall be better soon."
+
+Natalie turned her weird eyes on me and said in the hollow voice we had
+heard once before--when she spoke to us on the island--"That is her way
+of telling you that your horse broke her right arm when she caught him
+for you. She held him, you remember, with her left hand. The doctor has
+set the limb. She will not suffer long."
+
+"Heaven help us, this awful night," Edith cried. "How do you know that,
+Natalie?"
+
+"I know much now, but I shall know more soon." After this she would not
+speak again.
+
+With every pound of steam on that the _Esmeralda's_ boilers would bear
+without bursting, we were now plunging through the great rollers of the
+Arafura Sea. Everything had indeed been done to put the vessel in trim.
+She was cleared for action, so to speak. And a gallant fight she made
+when the issue was knit. When the hour of midnight must be near at
+hand, I looked at my watch. It was one minute to twelve o'clock.
+
+Thirty seconds more!
+
+The stupendous corona of flame which hung over the island was pierced by
+long lines of smoke that stretched far above the glare and clutched with
+sooty fingers at the stars, now fitfully coming back to view at our
+distance. The rumbling of internal thunder waxed louder.
+
+Fifteen seconds now!
+
+Fearful peals rent the atmosphere. Vast tongues of flame protruded
+heavenward. The elements must be melting in that fervent heat. The
+blazing bowels of the earth were pouring forth.
+
+Twelve, midnight!
+
+A reverberation thundered out which shook the solid earth, and a roaring
+hell-breath of flame and smoke belched up so awful in its dread
+magnificence that every man who saw it and lived to tell his story might
+justly have claimed to have seen perdition. In that hurricane of
+incandescent matter the island was blotted out for ever from the map of
+this world.
+
+Notwithstanding the speed of the _Esmeralda_ she was a sloth when
+compared with the speed of the wave from such an earthquake. From the
+glare of the illumination to perfect darkness the contrast was sudden
+and extreme. But the blackness of the ocean was soon whitened by the
+snowy plumes of the avalanche of water which was now racing us, far
+astern as yet, but gaining fast. I, who had no business about the ship
+requiring my presence in any special part, decided to wait on deck and
+lash myself to the forward, which would be practically the lee-side of a
+deckhouse. Edith Metford we prevailed on to go below, that she might not
+run the risk of further injury to her fractured arm. As she left us she
+whispered to me, "So Natalie will be with you at the end, and I--" a sob
+stopped her. And it came into my mind at that moment that this girl had
+acted very nobly, and that I had hardly appreciated her and all that she
+had done for me.
+
+Natalie refused to leave the deck. I lashed her securely beside me.
+Together we awaited the end. When the roar of the following wave came
+close, so close that the voices of the officers of the ship could be no
+longer heard, Natalie spoke. The hollow sound was no longer in her
+voice. Her own soft sweet tones had come back.
+
+"Arthur," she asked, "is this the end?"
+
+"I fear it is," I answered, speaking close to her ear so that she might
+hear.
+
+"Then we have little time, and I have something which I must say, which
+you must promise me to remember when--when--I am no longer with you."
+
+"You will be always with me while we live. I think I deserve that at
+last."
+
+"Yes, you deserve that and more. I will be with you while I live, but
+that will not be for long."
+
+I was about to interrupt her when she put her soft little hand upon my
+lips and said:
+
+"Listen, there is very little time. It is all a mistake. I mean Herbert
+was wrong. He might as well have let me have my earthly span of
+happiness or folly--call it what you will."
+
+"You see that now--thank God!"
+
+"Yes, but I see it too late, I did not know it until--until I was dead.
+Hush!" Again I tried to interrupt her, for I thought her mind was
+wandering. "I died psychically with Herbert. That was when we first saw
+the light on the island. Since then I have lived mechanically, but it
+has only been life in so low a form that I do not now know what has
+happened between that time and this. And I could not now speak as I am
+speaking save by a will power which is costing me very dear. But it is
+the only voice you could hear. I do not therefore count the cost. My
+brother's brain so far overmatched my own that it first absorbed and
+finally destroyed my mental vitality. This influence removed, I am a
+rudderless ship at sea--bound to perish."
+
+"May his torments endure for ever. May the nethermost pit of hell
+receive him!" I said with a groan of agony.
+
+But Natalie said: "Hush! I might have lingered on a little longer, but I
+chose to concentrate the vital force which would have lasted me a few
+more senile years into the minutes necessary for this message from me to
+you--a message I could not have given you if he were not dead. And I am
+dying so that you may hear it. Dying! My God! I am already dead."
+
+She seemed to struggle against some force that battled with her, and the
+roar of many waters was louder around us before she was able to speak
+again.
+
+"Bend lower, Arthur; my strength is failing, and I have not yet said
+that for which I am here. Lower still.
+
+"I said it is all a mistake--a hideous mistake. Existence as we know it
+is ephemeral. Suffering is ephemeral. There is nothing everlasting but
+love. There is nothing eternal but mind. Your mind is mine. Your love is
+mine. Your human life may belong to whomsoever you will it. It ought to
+belong to that brave girl below. I do not grudge it to her, for I have
+_you_. We two shall be together through the ages--for ever and for ever.
+Heart of my heart, you have striven manfully and well, and if you did
+not altogether succeed in saving my flesh from premature corruption, be
+satisfied in that you have my soul. Ah!"
+
+She pressed her hands to her head as if in dreadful pain. When she spoke
+again her voice came in short gasps.
+
+"My brain is reeling. I do not know what I am saying," she cried,
+distraught. "I do not know whether I am saying what is true or only what
+I imagine to be true. I know nothing but this. I was mesmerised. I have
+been so for two years. But for that I would have been happy in your
+love--for I was a woman before this hideous influence benumbed me. They
+told me it was only a fool's paradise that I missed. But I only know
+that I have missed it. Missed it--and the darkness of death is upon me."
+
+She ceased to speak. A shudder convulsed her, and then her head sank
+gently on my shoulder.
+
+At that moment the great wave broke over the vessel, whirling her
+helpless like a cork on the ripples of a mill pond; lashing her with
+mighty strokes; sweeping in giant cataracts from stern to stem;
+smashing, tearing everything; deluging her with hissing torrents;
+crushing her with avalanches of raging foam. Then the ocean tornado
+passed on and left the _Esmeralda_ behind, with half the crew disabled
+and many lost, her decks a mass of wreckage, her masts gone. The
+crippled ship barely floated. When the last torrent of spray passed, and
+I was able to look to Natalie, her head had drooped down on her breast.
+I raised her face gently and looked into her wide open eyes.
+
+She was dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Taking up my girl's body in my arms, I stumbled over the
+wreck-encumbered deck, and bore it to the state-room she had occupied on
+the outward voyage. Percival was too busy attending to wounded sailors
+to be interrupted. His services, I knew, were useless now, but I wanted
+him to refute or corroborate a conviction which my own medical knowledge
+had forced upon me. The thought was so repellent, I clung to any hope
+which might lead to its dispersion. I waited alone with my dead.
+
+Percival came after an hour, which seemed to me an eternity. He
+stammered out some incoherent words of sympathy as soon as he looked in
+my face. But this was not the purpose for which I had detached him from
+his pressing duties elsewhere. I made a gesture towards the dead girl.
+He attended to it immediately. I watched closely and took care that the
+light should be on his face, so that I might read his eyes rather than
+listen to his words.
+
+"She has fainted!" he exclaimed, as he approached the rigid figure. I
+said nothing until he turned and faced me. Then I read his eyes. He said
+slowly: "You are aware, Marcel, that--that she is dead?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"That she has been dead--several hours?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"But let me think. It was only an hour--"
+
+"No; do not think," I interrupted. "There are things in this voyage
+which will not bear to be thought of. I thank you for coming so soon.
+You will forgive me for troubling you when you have so much to do
+elsewhere. And now leave us alone. I mean, leave me alone."
+
+He pressed my hand, and went away without a word. I am that man's
+friend.
+
+They buried her at sea.
+
+I was happily unconscious at the time, and so was spared that scene.
+Edith Metford, weak and suffering as she was, went through it all. She
+has told me nothing about it, save that it was done. More than that I
+could not bear. And I have borne much.
+
+The voyage home was a dreary episode. There is little more to tell, and
+it must be told quickly. Percival was kind, but it distressed me to find
+that he now plainly regarded me as weak-minded from the stress of my
+trouble. Once, in the extremity of my misery, I began a relation of my
+adventures to him, for I wanted his help. The look upon his face was
+enough for me. I did not make the same mistake again.
+
+To Anderson I made amends for my extravagant display of temper. He
+received me more kindly than I expected. I no longer thought of the
+money that had passed between us. And, to do him tardy justice, I do not
+think he thought of it either. At least he did not offer any of it back.
+His scruples, I presume, were conscientious. Indeed, I was no longer
+worth a man's enmity. Sympathy was now the only indignity that could be
+put upon me. And Anderson did not trespass in that direction. My misery
+was, I thought, complete. One note must still be struck in that long
+discord of despair.
+
+We were steaming along the southern coast of Java. For many hours the
+rugged cliffs and giant rocks which fence the island against the
+onslaught of the Indian Ocean had passed before us as in review, and
+we--Edith Metford and I--sat on the deck silently, with many thoughts in
+common, but without the interchange of a spoken word. The stern,
+forbidding aspect of that iron coast increased the gloom which had
+settled on my brain. Its ramparts of lonely sea-drenched crags depressed
+me below the mental zero that was now habitual with me. The sun went
+down in a red glare, which moved me not. The short twilight passed
+quickly, but I noticed nothing. Then night came. The restless sea
+disappeared in darkness. The grand march past of the silent stars began.
+But I neither knew nor cared.
+
+A soft whisper stirred me.
+
+"Arthur, for God's sake rouse yourself! You are brooding a great deal
+too much. It will destroy you."
+
+Listlessly I put my hand in hers, and clasped her fingers gently.
+
+"Bear with me!" I pleaded.
+
+"I will bear with you for ever. But you must fight on. You have not won
+yet."
+
+"No, nor ever shall. I have fought my last fight. The victory may go to
+whosoever desires it."
+
+On this she wept. I could not bear that she should suffer from my
+misery, and so, guarding carefully her injured arm, I drew her close to
+me. And then, out of the darkness of the night, far over the solitude of
+the sea, there came to us the sound of a voice. That voice was a woman's
+wail. The girl beside me shuddered and drew back. I did not ask her if
+she had heard. I knew she had heard.
+
+We arose and stood apart without any explanation. From that moment a
+caress would have been a sacrilege. I did not hear that weird sound
+again, nor aught else for an hour or more save the bursting of the
+breakers on the crags of Java.
+
+I kept no record of the commonplaces of our voyage thereafter. It only
+remains for me to say that I arrived in England broken in health and
+bankrupt in fortune. Brande left no money. His formula for the
+transmutation of metals is unintelligible to me. I can make no use of
+it.
+
+Edith Metford remains my friend. To part utterly after what we have
+undergone together is beyond our strength. But between us there is a
+nameless shadow, reminiscent of that awful night in the Arafura Sea,
+when death came very near to us. And in my ears there is always the echo
+of that voice which I heard by the shores of Java when the misty
+borderland between life and death seemed clear.
+
+My story is told. I cannot prove its truth, for there is much in it to
+which I am the only living witness. I cannot prove whether Herbert
+Brande was a scientific magician possessed of _all_ the powers he
+claimed, or merely a mad physicist in charge of a new and terrible
+explosive; nor whether Edward Grey ever started for Labrador. The
+burthen of the proof of this last must be borne by others--unless it be
+left to Grey himself to show whether my evidence is false or true. If
+it be left to him, a few years will decide the issue.
+
+I am content to wait.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+LONDON: DIGBY, LONG AND CO., PUBLISHERS, 18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET
+STREET, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+ROBERT CROMIE'S BOOKS
+
+_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS_
+
+
+A PLUNGE INTO SPACE
+
+WITH PREFACE BY JULES VERNE
+
+_Times._--The story is written with considerable liveliness, the
+scientific jargon is sufficiently perplexing, and the characters are
+sketched with some humour.
+
+_Chronicle._--A strange, weird, mysterious story that holds the reader
+spell-bound, from the first page to the last.
+
+_Athenĉum._--Mr. Cromie's Utopia is charming, and the quasi-scientific
+detail of the expedition is given with so much integrity that we hardly
+wonder at the marvellous results accomplished.
+
+_Truth._--A very clever description of a flight through space to Mars
+... the book is extremely interesting and suggestive; especially,
+perhaps, where it attacks the theories of Mr. George and "Looking
+Backwards."
+
+_Court Journal._--Mr. Robert Cromie's remarkably clever and entertaining
+volume is told with much of the vivid fancy of a Jules Verne--with
+remarkable picturesqueness, and the experiences of mortals in Mars are
+described with considerable humour.
+
+_Review of Reviews._--An unquestionably interesting story. The
+adventures of the hero and his friends are in no small degree thrilling.
+
+_Glasgow Herald._--The imagination is brilliant, the scientific details
+are skilfully worked in, the dialogues and descriptions are lively and
+interesting, and the pictures of Martian life and scenery are
+remarkable--a decidedly clever book.
+
+
+FOR ENGLAND'S SAKE
+
+_Academy._--There is not a dull page in the story.
+
+_Army and Navy Gazette._--A capital little story of military life, full
+of bright word-painting.
+
+_Literary World._--This exciting chapter in the history of the future is
+written with a great deal of enthusiasm, and a great deal of common
+sense to boot.
+
+_Irish Times._--The plot is well conceived, and the interest throughout
+is well maintained.
+
+_Belfast Northern Whig._--The author displays much constructive and
+descriptive power. He is most felicitous in his word pictures of
+scenery, and imparts a fascinating dash to his military scenes.
+
+_Belfast Morning News._--Deeply interesting without being sensational,
+this charming story of love and war is sure to appeal with force to a
+large circle of readers.
+
+_Liverpool Daily Post._--A well-told story of life and love in troublous
+times in India.
+
+
+IN SOUTHERN SEAS
+
+WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH W. R. RINGLAND.
+
+_Athenĉum._--A bright, compact, and highly readable narrative, full of
+incidents, and illustrated with clever little vignettes.
+
+_Newcastle Chronicle._--A really charming book--deeply interesting, and
+full of capital drawings.
+
+_Scotsman._--A very well-written narrative of a trip, and as such, about
+as good as it could be.
+
+_Spectator._--A pleasant little book of travel.
+
+_Leeds Mercury._--The author relies on vivid description, pointed and
+racy pictures, and lively and striking incident for interest.
+
+_Saturday Review._--Brightly written, and yet more brightly illustrated.
+
+
+_The foregoing Books may be had through_ DIGBY, LONG & CO., 18 BOUVERIE
+STREET, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+_MAY 1895_
+
+SUPPLEMENTARY LIST
+
+DIGBY, LONG & CO.'S
+
+NEW NOVELS, STORIES, Etc.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_IN ONE VOLUME_, Price 6s.
+
+NEW NOVEL BY DR ARABELLA KENEALY.
+
+ THE HONOURABLE MRS SPOOR. By the Author of "Some Men are such
+   Gentlemen," "Dr Janet of Harley Street," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+   6_s._                                                    [_Just out._
+
+NEW NOVEL BY ANNIE THOMAS (Mrs PENDER CUDLIP).
+
+ FALSE PRETENCES. By the Author of "Allerton Towers," "That Other
+   Woman," "Kate Valliant," "A Girl's Folly," etc., etc. Crown 8vo,
+   cloth, 6_s._                                       [_Second Edition._
+
+    The _WORLD_ says:--"Miss Annie Thomas has rarely drawn a character
+    so cleverly as that of the false and scheming Mrs Colraine."
+
+NEW NOVEL BY DR ARABELLA KENEALY.
+
+ SOME MEN ARE SUCH GENTLEMEN. By the Author of "Dr Janet of Harley
+   Street," "Molly and Her Man-o'-War," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+   With a Frontispiece.                                [_Fifth Edition._
+
+    The _ACADEMY_ says:--"We take up a book by Miss Arabella Kenealy
+    confidently expecting to be amused, and in her latest work we are
+    not disappointed. The story is so brightly written that our interest
+    is never allowed to flag. The heroine, Lois Clinton, is sweet and
+    womanly.... The tale is told with spirit and vivacity, and shows no
+    little skill in its descriptive passages."
+
+    The _PALL MALL GAZETTE_ says:--"A book to be read breathlessly from
+    beginning to end. It is decidedly original ... its vivid interest.
+    The picture of the girl is admirably drawn. The style is bright and
+    easy."
+
+    _TRUTH_ says:--"Its heroine is at once original and charming."
+
+NEW NOVEL BY DORA RUSSELL.
+
+ THE OTHER BOND. By the Author of "A Hidden Chain," "A Country
+   Sweetheart," "The Drift of Fate," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+                                                       [_Third Edition._
+
+    The _ATHENĈUM_ on Miss Russell's Works, says:--"Miss Russell writes
+    easily and well, and she has the gift of making her characters
+    describe themselves by their dialogue, which is bright and natural."
+
+NEW NOVEL BY L. T. MEADE.
+
+ A LIFE FOR A LOVE. By the Author of "The Medicine Lady," "A Soldier of
+   Fortune," "In an Iron Grip," etc., etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ With
+   a Frontispiece by Hal Hurst.              [_Third Edition. Just out._
+
+    The _DAILY TELEGRAPH_ says:--"This thrilling tale. The plot is
+    worked out with remarkable ingenuity. The book abounds in clever and
+    graphic characterisation."
+
+NEW NOVEL BY FLORENCE MARRYAT.
+
+ THE BEAUTIFUL SOUL. By the Author of "A Fatal Silence," "There is no
+   Death," etc., etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._         [_Fourth Edition._
+
+    The _GUARDIAN_ says:--"We read the book with real pleasure and
+    interest.... In Felecia Hetherington, Miss Marryat has drawn a
+    really fine character, and has given her what she claims for her in
+    the title, a beautiful soul."
+
+    The _WORLD_ says:--"An entertaining and animated story.... One of
+    the most lovable women to whom novel readers have been introduced."
+
+ UNE CULOTTE: An Impossible Story of Modern Oxford. By "TIVOLI," Author
+   of "A Defender of the Faith." With Illustrations by A. W. COOPER.
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._                            [_Second Edition._
+
+    The _DAILY CHRONICLE_ says:--"The book is full of funny things. The
+    story is a screaming farce, and will furnish plenty of amusement."
+
+ THE VENGEANCE OF MEDEA. By EDITH GRAY WHEELWRIGHT. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+   6_s._
+
+    The _WESTERN DAILY MERCURY_ says:--"Miss Wheelwright has introduced
+    several delightful characters, and produced a work which will add to
+    her reputation. The dialogue is especially well written."
+
+ A RUINED LIFE. By EMILY ST CLAIR. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE_ says:--"A powerful story developed with
+    considerable dramatic skill and remarkable fervour."
+
+ THE WESTOVERS. By ALGERNON RIDGEWAY. Author of "Westover's Ward,"
+   "Diana Fontaine," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _GLASGOW HERALD_ says:--"'The Westovers' is a clever book."
+
+ THE FLAMING SWORD. Being an Account of the Extraordinary Adventures
+   and Discoveries of Dr PERCIVAL in the Wilds of Africa. Written by
+   Himself. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _SPEAKER_ says:--"Mr Rider Haggard himself has not imagined more
+    wonderful things than those which befell Dr Percival and his
+    friends."
+
+    The _LITERARY WORLD_ says:--"Out-Haggards Haggard."
+
+ IN DUE SEASON. By AGNES GOLDWIN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _ACADEMY_ says:--"Her novel is well written, it flows easily,
+    its situations are natural, its men and women are real."
+
+ HIS LAST AMOUR. By MONOPOLE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _GLASGOW HERALD_ says:--"The story is unfolded with considerable
+    skill, and the interest of the reader is not allowed to flag."
+
+ AN UNKNOWN POWER. By CHARLES E. R. BELLAIRS. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _BELFAST NORTHERN WHIG_ says:--"From start to finish the
+    reader's attention is never allowed to flag. The characters are
+    drawn with considerable fidelity to life. The plot is original, and
+    its developments well worked out."
+
+NEW NOVEL BY GERTRUDE L. WARREN.
+
+ THE MYSTERY OF HAZELGROVE. By GERTRUDE L. WARREN. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+   6_s._                                                    [_Just out._
+
+NEW NOVEL BY ALICE MAUD MEADOWS.
+
+ WHEN THE HEART IS YOUNG. By the Author of "The Romance of a Madhouse,"
+   etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6_s._                       [_Fourth Edition._
+
+A NEW AUSTRALIAN NOVEL.
+
+ RECOGNITION. A Mystery of the Coming Colony. By SYDNEY H. WRIGHT.
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._                                   [_Shortly._
+
+A NEW SPORTING STORY.
+
+ WITH THE BANKSHIRE HOUNDS. By M. F. H. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+                                                            [_Just out._
+
+ SOME PASSAGES IN PLANTAGENET PAUL'S LIFE. By HIMSELF. Crown 8vo,
+   cloth, 6_s._                                             [_Just out._
+
+ DRIFTING. By MARSTON MOORE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._        [_Just out._
+
+ CONEYCREEK. By M. LAWSON. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._          [_Just out._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_IN THREE VOLUMES_, Price 31s. 6d.
+
+BY DORA RUSSELL.
+
+ A HIDDEN CHAIN. By the Author of "Footprints in the Snow," "The Other
+   Bond," etc., etc. In Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31_s._ 6_d._
+                                                      [_Second Edition._
+
+BY JEAN MIDDLEMASS.
+
+ THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT DUNRAVEN. By the Author of "A Girl in a
+   Thousand," etc. In Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31_s._ 6_d._
+                                                      [_Second Edition._
+
+BY PERCY ROSS.
+
+ THE ECCENTRICS. By the Author of "A Comedy without Laughter," "A
+   Misguidit Lassie," "A Professor of Alchemy," etc. In Three Volumes,
+   crown 8vo, cloth, 31_s._ 6_d._
+
+BY GILBERTA M. F. LYON.
+
+ ABSENT YET PRESENT. By the Author of "For Good or Evil." In Three
+   Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31_s._ 6_d._
+
+BY MADELINE CRICHTON.
+
+ LIKE A SISTER. In Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31_s._ 6_d._
+                                                      [_Second Edition._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_IN ONE VOLUME_, Price 3s. 6d.
+
+NEW BOOK BY THE AUTHOR OF "A PLUNGE INTO SPACE."
+
+ THE CRACK OF DOOM. By ROBERT CROMIE, Author of "For England's Sake,"
+   etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+   [***] The first Large Edition was exhausted before publication.
+                      SECOND EDITION now ready.
+
+ HER LOVING SLAVE. By HUME NISBET, author of "The Jolly Roger," "Bail
+   Up," etc., etc. In Handsome Pictorial Binding, with Illustrations by
+   the Author. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._           [_Third Edition._
+
+ HIS EGYPTIAN WIFE. By HILTON HILL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ With
+   Frontispiece.
+
+   [***] Published simultaneously in London and New York.
+
+ A SON OF NOAH. By MARY ANDERSON, author of "Othello's Occupation."
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._                       [_Fifth Edition._
+
+ THE LAST CRUISE OF THE TEAL. By LEIGH RAY. In handsome pictorial
+   binding. Illustrated throughout. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+                                                      [_Second Edition._
+
+    The _NATIONAL OBSERVER_ says:--"It is long since we have lighted on
+    so good a story of adventure."
+
+ HIS TROUBLESOME SISTER. By EVA TRAVERS EVERED POOLE, Author of many
+   Popular Stories. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _BIRMINGHAM POST_ says:--"An interesting and well-constructed
+    story. The characters are strongly drawn, the plot is well devised,
+    and those who commence the book will be sure to finish it."
+
+ THE BOW AND THE SWORD. A Romance. By E. C. ADAMS, M.A. With 16
+   full-page drawings by MATTHEW STRETCH. Crown 8vo, pictorial cloth,
+   3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _MORNING POST_ says:--"The author reconstructs cleverly the life
+    of one of the most cultivated nations of antiquity, and describes
+    both wars and pageants with picturesque vigour. The illustrations
+    are well executed."
+
+ THE MAID OF HAVODWEN. By JOHN FERRARS. Author of "Claud Brennan."
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _DUNDEE ADVERTISER_ says:--"A charming story of Welsh life and
+    character.... Deeply interesting.... Of unusual attractiveness."
+
+ PATHS THAT CROSS. By MARK TREHERN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _DAILY TELEGRAPH_ says:--"Cleverly sketched characters. The book
+    is enlivened throughout with innumerable light touches of quaint and
+    spontaneous humour."
+
+ A TALE OF TWO CURATES. By Rev. JAMES COPNER, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+   3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _DUNDEE ADVERTISER_ says:--"Simply but graphically narrated."
+
+ THE WRONG OF FATE. By LILLIAS LOBENHOFFER, Author of "Bairnie," etc.
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _LONDON STAR_ says:--"A well-written and clever novel, excellent
+    studies of Scotch character."
+
+    The _SCOTSMAN_ says:--"Shows considerable power."
+
+ STUDIES IN MINIATURE. By A TITULAR VICAR. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._
+   6_d._
+
+    The _MANCHESTER COURIER_ says:--"Brightly and cleverly written."
+
+    The _BELFAST NEWS LETTER_ says:--"Very readable, characters
+    admirably drawn."
+
+ SPUNYARN. By N. J. PRESTON. Crown 8vo, pictorial cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
+                                                            [_Just out._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_IN ONE VOLUME_, Price 2s. 6d.
+
+ LOST! £100 REWARD. By MIRIAM YOUNG, Author of "The Girl Musician."
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _WEEKLY SUN_ says:--"The interest is well sustained throughout,
+    and the incidents are most graphically described."
+
+ CLENCHED ANTAGONISMS. By LEWIS IRAM. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _SATURDAY REVIEW_ says:--"'Clenched Antagonisms' is a powerful
+    and ghastly narrative of the triumph of force over virtue. The book
+    gives a striking illustration of the barbarous incongruities that
+    still exist in the midst of an advanced civilisation."
+
+ FOR MARJORY'S SAKE: A Story of South Australian Country Life. By Mrs
+   JOHN WATERHOUSE. In handsome cloth binding, with Illustrations.
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._
+
+    _The LITERARY WORLD_ says:--"A delightful little volume, fresh and
+    dainty, and with the pure, free air of Australian country parts
+    blowing through it ... gracefully told ... the writing is graceful
+    and easy."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_IN ONE VOLUME, PAPER COVER_, Price 1s.
+
+ A STOCK EXCHANGE ROMANCE. By BRACEBRIDGE HEMYNG, Author of "The
+   Stockbroker's Wife," "Called to the Bar," etc., etc. Edited by
+   GEORGE GREGORY. Crown 8vo, picture cover, 1_s._ (TENTH THOUSAND.)
+
+ OUR DISCORDANT LIFE. By ADAM D'HÉRISTAL. Crown 8vo, picture cover,
+   1_s._
+
+ A POLICE SERGEANT'S SECRET. By KILSYTH STELLIER, Author of "Taken by
+   Force." Crown 8vo, picture cover, 1_s._ (FIFTH THOUSAND.)
+
+ IRISH STEW. By JAMES J. MORAN, Author of "A Deformed Idol," "The
+   Dunferry Risin'," "Runs in the Blood," etc. Crown 8vo, lithographed
+   cover, price 1_s._
+
+    The _WEEKLY SUN_ says:--"MR MORAN is the 'Barrie' of Ireland.... In
+    a remote district in the west of Ireland he has created an Irish
+    Thrums."
+
+ LA LECSINSKA. A Powerful and Clever Novel. By HARRIET BUCKLEY. Crown
+   8vo, paper cover, 1_s._                                  [_Just out._
+
+ THAT OTHER FELLOW. An Original and Absorbing Novel. By Mrs LOUISA LE
+   BAILLY. Crown 8vo, paper cover, 1_s._                    [_Just out._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DIGBY'S POPULAR NOVEL SERIES.
+
+ _In Handsome Cloth Binding, Gold Lettered, Cr. 8vo, 320 pp.
+ Price 2s. 6d. each, or in Picture Boards, Price 2s. each._
+
+     BY JEAN MIDDLEMASS.     |     BY DR. A. KENEALY.
+ THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT      | Dr JANET OF HARLEY STREET. By
+   DUNRAVEN. By the Author   |   the Author of "Molly and
+   of "A Girl in a           |   her Man-o'-War," etc.
+   Thousand," etc. (SECOND   |   (SEVENTH EDITION.) With
+   EDITION.)                 |   Portrait.
+                             |
+      BY DORA RUSSELL.       |       BY HUME NISBET.
+ A HIDDEN CHAIN. By the      | THE JOLLY ROGER. By the
+   Author of "Footprints in  |   Author of "Bail Up," etc.
+   the Snow," etc. (SECOND   |   With Illustrations by the
+   EDITION.)                 |   Author. (FIFTH EDITION.)
+
+    NOTE.--Other Works in the same Series in due course.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MISCELLANEOUS.
+
+ A HISTORY OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY FROM ITS INCEPTION TO THE
+   PRESENT TIME. By G. A. SEKON. Revised by F. G. SAUNDERS, Chairman of
+   the Great Western Railway. Demy 8vo, 390 pages, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._
+   With numerous Illustrations.
+
+   [***] _Illustrated Prospectus, post free._         [_Second Edition._
+
+    The _TIMES_, April 12th, 1895.--"Mr Sekon's volume is full of
+    interest, and constitutes an important chapter in the history of
+    railway development in England."
+
+    The _STANDARD_ (Leader), April 4th, 1895.--"An excellent addition to
+    the literature of our iron roads."
+
+    The _DAILY TELEGRAPH_, April 13th, 1895.--"Mr G. A. Sekon has
+    performed a service to the public. His book is full of interest, and
+    is evidently the result of a great deal of painstaking inquiry....
+    His book is made all the more valuable by several pictures of
+    engines, collisions, the Saltash Bridge, the Old Bath Station and
+    the Box Tunnel; and it will be welcomed by all interested in the
+    history and extraordinary expansion of our iron roadways."
+
+ THREE EMPRESSES. Josephine, Marie-Louise, Eugénie. By CAROLINE GEARY,
+   Author of "In Other Lands," etc. With portraits. Cr. 8vo, cloth,
+   6_s._ (SECOND EDIT.)
+
+    The _PALL MALL GAZETTE_ says:--"This charming book.... Gracefully
+    and graphically written, the story of each Empress is clearly and
+    fully told.... This delightful book."
+
+ WINTER AND SUMMER EXCURSIONS IN CANADA. By C. L. JOHNSTONE, Author of
+   "Historical Families of Dumfriesshire," etc. With Illustrations.
+   Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+
+    The _DAILY NEWS_ says:--"Not for a long while have we read a book of
+    its class which deserves so much confidence. Intending settlers
+    would do well to study Mr Johnstone's book."
+
+ THE AUTHOR'S MANUAL. By PERCY RUSSELL. With Prefatory Remarks by Mr
+   GLADSTONE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ net. (EIGHTH AND CHEAPER
+   EDITION.) With portrait.
+
+    The _WESTMINSTER REVIEW_ says:--"... Mr Russell's book is a very
+    complete manual and guide for journalist and author. It is not a
+    merely practical work--it is literary and appreciative of literature
+    in its best sense; ... we have little else but praise for the
+    volume."
+
+ A GUIDE TO BRITISH AND AMERICAN NOVELS. From the Earliest Period to
+   the end of 1894. By PERCY RUSSELL, Author of "The Author's Manual,"
+   etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3_s._ 6_d._ net. (SECOND EDITION
+   CAREFULLY REVISED.)
+
+    The _SPECTATOR_ says:--"Mr Russell's familiarity with every form of
+    novel is amazing, and his summaries of plots and comments thereon
+    are as brief and lucid as they are various."
+
+ SIXTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE AS AN IRISH LANDLORD. Memoirs of JOHN
+   HAMILTON, D.L. of St Ernan's, Donegal. Edited, with Introduction, by
+   the Rev. H. C. WHITE, late Chaplain, Paris. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
+   With Portrait.
+
+    The _TIMES_ says:--"Much valuable light on the real history of
+    Ireland, and of the Irish agrarian question in the present century
+    is thrown by a very interesting volume entitled 'Sixty Years'
+    Experience as an Irish Landlord.'... This very instructive volume."
+
+ NIGH ON SIXTY YEARS AT SEA. By ROBERT WOOLWARD ("Old Woolward"). Crown
+   8vo, cloth, 6_s._ With Portrait. (SECOND EDITION.)
+
+    The _TIMES_ says:--"Very entertaining reading. Captain Woolward
+    writes sensibly and straightforwardly, and tells his story with the
+    frankness of an old salt. He has a keen sense of humour, and his
+    stories are endless and very entertaining."
+
+ WHOSE FAULT? The Story of a Trial at _Nisi Prius_. By ELLIS J. DAVIS,
+   Barrister-at-Law. In handsome pictorial binding. Crown 8vo, cloth,
+   3_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _TIMES_ says:--"An ingenious attempt to convey to the lay mind
+    an accurate and complete idea of the origin and progress and all the
+    essential circumstances of an ordinary action at law. The idea is
+    certainly a good one, and is executed in very entertaining
+    fashion.... Mr Davis's instructive little book."
+
+ BORODIN AND LISZT. I.--Life and Works of a Russian Composer.
+   II.--Liszt, as sketched in the Letters of Borodin. By ALFRED HABETS.
+   Translated with a Preface by ROSA NEWMARCH. With Portraits and
+   Fac-similes.                                             [_Just out._
+
+ FRAGMENTS FROM VICTOR HUGO'S LEGENDS AND LYRICS. By CECILIA ELIZABETH
+   MEETKERKE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _WORLD_ says:--"The most admirable rendering of French poetry
+    into English that has come to our knowledge since Father Prout's
+    translation of 'La Chant du Cosaque.'"
+
+BY THE AUTHOR OF "SONG FAVOURS."
+
+ MINUTIĈ. By CHARLES WILLIAM DALMON. Royal 16mo, cloth elegant, price
+   2_s._ 6_d._
+
+    The _ACADEMY_ says:--"His song has a rare and sweet note. The little
+    book has colour and fragrance, and is none the less welcome because
+    the fragrance is delicate, evanescent; the colours of white and
+    silver grey and lavender, rather than brilliant and exuberant.... Mr
+    Dalmon's genuine artistry. In his sonnets he shows a deft touch,
+    particularly in the fine one, 'Ecce Ancilla Domini.' Yet, after all,
+    it is in the lyrics that he is most individual.... Let him take
+    heart, for surely the song that he has to sing is worth singing."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[***] _A complete Catalogue of Novels, Travels, Biographies, Poems,
+etc., with a critical or descriptive notice of each, free by post on
+application._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ LONDON: DIGBY, LONG & CO., PUBLISHERS,
+ _18 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C._
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+    Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. [***] has been used
+    to represent an inverted asterism.
+
+    Based on the text in the Preface and the concluding lines of the
+    last chapter, the date in the sentence:
+
+        "If we fail to act before the 31st December, in the year 2000,
+        he will proceed." (p. 151)
+
+    has been amended to the year 1900, bearing in mind the story takes
+    place towards the end of the 19th century.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crack of Doom, by Robert Cromie
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRACK OF DOOM ***
+
+***** This file should be named 26563-8.txt or 26563-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/5/6/26563/
+
+Produced by David Clarke, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
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