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diff --git a/26563-h/26563-h.htm b/26563-h/26563-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce4743b --- /dev/null +++ b/26563-h/26563-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7261 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Crack of Doom, by Robert Cromie + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {clear: both; font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 33%; margin: 2em auto; clear: both;} + .tb {width: 45%; margin: .5em auto;} + table,.bk1 {margin: 1em auto;} + .td1 {text-align: left; padding-right: 6em; padding-left: 1em;} + .td2,.p4 {text-align: right;} + .td3,.td4 {width: 20em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; font-size: small; vertical-align: top;} + .td4 {border-left: black solid 1px;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: small; font-style: normal; text-align: right; text-indent: 0em;} + .blockquot {margin: 1em 10%;} + .center,h1,h2,.p2,.p3,.p5,.p6,.ad1 {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: 0.25em; font-size: .8em;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: .25em 1em; text-align: justify;} + a:link, a:visited {text-decoration: none;} + .p2 {margin-top: -1em; margin-bottom: 6em;} + .p3 {line-height: 1.5; font-size: large;} + .p4 {margin-right: 2em;} + .p5,.p7 {margin-top: 2em;} + .p6 {margin-top: 4em;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + h1 {margin-bottom: 2em;} + h2 {line-height: 2;} + .ft0 {font-size: medium;} + .ft1 {font-size: x-large;} + .sp1 {margin-left: 2em;} + .sp2 {margin-left: 6em;} + .bk1 {width: 16em; text-align: left;} + .ad1 {margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .25em;} + .bk2 {margin: .25em 0;} + .bk2 p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;} + .ad2 {padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + .ad3 {text-indent: 1em; font-size: small;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +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 +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1><big>THE CRACK OF DOOM</big></h1> + +<h2><span class="ft0">BY</span><br /> +ROBERT CROMIE</h2> +<p class="p2"><i>Author of "A Plunge into Space," etc.</i></p> + +<p class="p2"><i>SECOND EDITION</i></p> + +<p class="p3">LONDON<br /> +<big>DIGBY, LONG & CO.</big><br /> +<small>18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.</small><br /> +<small>1895</small></p> + +<hr /> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> + +<p class="p4">ROBERT CROMIE.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Belfast</span>, <i>May, 1895</i>.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class="td2"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td class="td2" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">I.</td><td class="td1">THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE!</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">II.</td><td class="td1">A STRANGE EXPERIMENT</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">III.</td><td class="td1">"IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE"</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">IV.</td><td class="td1">GEORGE DELANY—DECEASED</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">V.</td><td class="td1">THE MURDER CLUB</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VI.</td><td class="td1">A TELEPATHIC TELEGRAM</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VII.</td><td class="td1">GUILTY!</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">VIII.</td><td class="td1">THE WOKING MYSTERY</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">IX.</td><td class="td1">CUI BONO?</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">X.</td><td class="td1">FORCE—A REMEDY</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XI.</td><td class="td1">MORITURI TE SALUTANT</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XII.</td><td class="td1">"NO DEATH—SAVE IN LIFE"</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIII.</td><td class="td1">MISS METFORD'S PLAN</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIV.</td><td class="td1">ROCKINGHAM TO THE SHARKS</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XV.</td><td class="td1">"IF NOT TOO LATE"</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVI.</td><td class="td1">£5000 TO DETAIN THE SHIP</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVII.</td><td class="td1">"THIS EARTH SHALL DIE"</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XVIII.</td><td class="td1">THE FLIGHT</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XIX.</td><td class="td1">THE CATASTROPHE</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">XX.</td><td class="td1">CONCLUSION</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h1>THE CRACK OF DOOM</h1> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<small>THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE!</small></h2> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">The</span> Universe is a mistake!"</p> + +<p>Thus spake Herbert Brande, a passenger on the +<i>Majestic</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Why tell us of stars distant so far from this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +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?"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Nothing is gained by dwelling on these scientific +speculations. The mind is only bewildered. +The Universe is inexplicable."</p> + +<p>"The Universe!" he exclaimed. "That is easily +explained. The Universe is a mistake!"</p> + +<p>"The greatest mistake of the century, I suppose," +I added, somewhat annoyed, for I thought +Brande was laughing at me.</p> + +<p>"Say, of Time, and I agree with you," he +replied, careless of my astonishment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<p>I did not answer him for some moments.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"For the present it must serve," he answered +absently.</p> + +<p>To force him into admitting that his phrase +was only a thoughtless exclamation, or induce him +to defend it, I said:</p> + +<p>"It does not serve any reasonable purpose. It +adds nothing to knowledge. As it stands, it is +neither academic nor practical."</p> + +<p>Brande looked at me earnestly for a moment, +and then said gravely:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What do you call this club of yours?" I +asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We do not call it a club. We call it a Society—the +<i>Cui Bono</i> Society," he answered coldly.</p> + +<p>"I like the name," I returned. "It is +suggestive. It may mean anything—or nothing."</p> + +<p>"You will learn later that the Society means +something; a good deal, in fact."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was a choppy sea on when we reached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +the entrance to the harbour, so the <i>Majestic</i> +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.</p> + +<p>To declare that she was an extremely pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking about that Society of +yours. I mean to join it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am very glad," he replied. "You will find +it a new sensation, quite outside the beaten track, +which you know so well."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I had a foretaste of that interest soon.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Brande drew her back and whispered to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +Then the sweet face, now slightly flushed, was +turned to me again.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That knowledge it has been my fate to gain.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<small>A STRANGE EXPERIMENT.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Soon</span> 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.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"The same thing in different words, is it +not? If you prefer it that way, please have +it so." His imperturbability was unaffected.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"It is a very terrible sight," she answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is no danger," I said hastily, and +drew her hand over my arm.</p> + +<p>"Danger! I was not thinking of danger."</p> + +<p>As she did not remove her hand, I did not +infringe the silence which followed this, until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +a break in the traffic allowed us to cross the +street. Then I said:</p> + +<p>"May I ask what you were thinking of just +now, Miss Brande?"</p> + +<p>"Of the people—their lives—their work—their +misery!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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! +<i>Cui Bono?</i>"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Are you a member of the <i>Cui Bono</i> Society?"</p> + +<p>"I! Oh, no. Women are not allowed to +join—for the present."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to hear it," I said heartily, +"and I hope the rule will continue in force."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>She looked at me in surprise. "Why should +you mind? You are joining yourself."</p> + +<p>"That is different. I don't approve of ladies +mixing themselves up in these curious and perhaps +questionable societies."</p> + +<p>My remark amused her. Her eyes sparkled +with simple fun. The change in her manner was +very agreeable to me.</p> + +<p>"I might have expected that." To my extreme +satisfaction she now looked almost mischievous. +"Herbert told me you were a little—"</p> + +<p>"A little what?"</p> + +<p>"Well, a little—you won't be vexed? That +is right. He said a little—mediæval."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He brought me to a metal stand, on which a +small instrument constructed of some white metal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Attend now!" Brande exclaimed.</p> + +<p>He tapped the first key sharply. A little grey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +cloud obscured the blue light. When it cleared +away, the revolving globes had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it?" he asked carelessly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Atoms—molecules! What are you talking +about?" I asked, bewildered.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +magnified to the size of a midge. It should +not amaze you to see a simple process a little +further developed."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And the limits to this description of scientific +experiment? Where are they?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<small>"IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE."</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Amongst</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Although the invitation I had received gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>A few minutes before eleven, I walked towards +the bridge over the Serpentine. No ladies appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"In the name of—Miss—Miss—" I stammered.</p> + +<p>"Brande; you haven't forgotten my name, I +hope," Natalie Brande said coolly. "This is my +friend, Edith Metford. Metford, this is Arthur +Marcel."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our dress! Surely you have seen women +rationally dressed before!" Miss Brande answered +complacently, while the other girl watched my +astonishment with evident amusement.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Rationally dressed! Oh, yes. I know the +divided skirt, but—"</p> + +<p>Miss Metford interrupted me. "Do you call +the divided skirt atrocity rational dress?" she +asked pointedly.</p> + +<p>"Upon my honour I do not," I answered.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What drawbacks?" Miss Metford asked.</p> + +<p>"For instance, isn't it probable we shall all be +arrested by the police?" I replied.</p> + +<p>"Rubbish! We are not in Russia," both exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"So I see. I am going to smoke—if you +don't object?"</p> + +<p>"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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>I saw the guard passing, and, calling him over, +gave him half-a-crown to have the compartment +labelled, "Engaged."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"We don't want all the seats," she persisted.</p> + +<p>"No," I admitted. "We don't want the extra +seats. But I thought you might like the +privacy."</p> + +<p>"The desire for privacy is an archaic emotion," +Miss Metford remarked sententiously, as she +struck a match.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Besides, it is so selfish. We may be crowding +others," Miss Brande said quietly.</p> + +<p>I was glad she did not smoke.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"And progress has been marching in my absence," +I interrupted.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"You see I am therefore unable to appreciate +the New Woman, of whom I have heard so much +since I came home."</p> + +<p>"The conventional New Woman is a grandmotherly +old fossil," Miss Metford said quietly.</p> + +<p>This disposed of me. I leant back in my seat, +and was rigidly silent.</p> + +<p>Miles of green fields stippled with daisies and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you think us very advanced," it +murmured.</p> + +<p>"Very," I agreed, "but I look to you to bring +even me up to date."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we mean to do that, but we must proceed +very gradually."</p> + +<p>"You have made an excellent start," I put +in.</p> + +<p>"Otherwise you would only be shocked."</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +which I had been working at in the darkness. I +looked straight at Miss Metford and said:</p> + +<p>"After all, it is very pleasant to travel with +girls like you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you!"</p> + +<p>"You did not show any hysterical fear of my +kissing you in the tunnel."</p> + +<p>"Why the deuce would you do that?" Miss +Metford replied with great composure, as she blew +a smoke ring.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +my assistance was neither requisitioned nor required. +I did not offer, therefore, what must +have been unwelcome when it was superfluous.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"It is a good thing to be alive."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<small>GEORGE DELANY—DECEASED.</small></h2> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">It</span> 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?"</p> + +<p>"For all; for everything that is alive."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Then you do not know what it is to feel +for others."</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That hawk or cat feels as you do. I wonder +what that young rabbit thinks of life's problem?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are right. They are more than sufficient."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Of course the Woman question was soon introduced, +and in this I made the best defence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +man of science, but as such he was still amenable +to punctuality in the matter of dinner.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"I want to speak to you about your sister."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why so?" he asked coldly.</p> + +<p>"Because it is absurd; and because it isn't +decent."</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She has not. You are her brother."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certainly, I do not mind bluntness. Rudeness +is superfluous."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I like that," Brande said gravely. "That is +the spirit I want in the man who joins +me."</p> + +<p>To which I replied: "What under the sun is +the object of this Society of yours?"</p> + +<p>"Proximately to complete our investigations—already +far advanced—into the origin of the +Universe."</p> + +<p>"And ultimately?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you now. You will not know +that until you join us."</p> + +<p>"And if your ultimate object does not suit +me, I can withdraw?"</p> + +<p>"No, it would then be too late."</p> + +<p>"How so? I am not morally bound by an +oath which I swear without full knowledge of +its consequences and responsibilities."</p> + +<p>"Oath! The oath you swear! You swear no +oath. Do you fancy you are joining a society +of Rechabites or Carmelites, or mediæval rubbish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +of that kind. Don't keep so painstakingly behind +the age."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"I will join your Society for my own purpose, +and I will quit it when I choose."</p> + +<p>"You have every right," Brande said carelessly. +"Many have done the same before +you."</p> + +<p>"Can you introduce me to any one who has +done so?" I asked, with an eagerness that could +not be dissembled.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I can not."</p> + +<p>"Or give me an address?"</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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—</p> + +<div class="bk1"><span class="smcap">George Delany</span>,<br /> +<span class="sp1">Near Saint Anne's Chapel,</span><br /> +<span class="sp2">Woking Cemetery.</span></div> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<small>THE MURDER CLUB.</small></h2> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Delany</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Did this man, Delany, die suddenly after +quitting the Society?"</p> + +<p>"He died immediately. The second event +was contemporaneous with the first."</p> + +<p>"And in consequence of it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"Have all the members who retired from your +list been equally short-lived?"</p> + +<p>"Without any exception whatever."</p> + +<p>"Then your Society, after all your high-flown +talk about it, is only a vulgar murder club," +I said bitterly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wrong in fact, and impertinent in its expression. +It is not a murder club, and—well, +you are the first to discover its vulgarity."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"How d'ye do, Metford?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, thanks. I suppose you expected +Natalie? You see you have only me."</p> + +<p>"Delighted," I was commencing with a forced +smile, when she stopped me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Miss Metford," I said, without heeding whether +I interrupted her, "are you in the secret of this +Society?"</p> + +<p>"I? Not at present. I shall be later on."</p> + +<p>I stopped and faced her with so serious an +expression that she listened to me attentively.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Not even Brande—I mean Natalie? Is she +dangerous?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Miss Metford was evidently impressed by my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"It is rather a bore, for I looked forward to +a pleasant hour or two taking you about."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +the evening. The interval I spent in the woods, +thinking much and deciding nothing.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That girl!" I exclaimed, horrified. "Then +she is one of your spies? Is it possible?"</p> + +<p>"No, she is not one of our spies. We have +none, and she knew nothing of the purpose for +which she was used."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then I beg to say that you have made a +d—d shameful use of her."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Miss Metford's information was telepathically +conveyed to my sister."</p> + +<p>"Then it was your sister—"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"My God!" I cried, "has a man no longer +the right to his own thoughts?"</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know," I said, "Woking Cemetery, near +Saint Anne's Chapel. You have ground there."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we have to dispense with—"</p> + +<p>"Say murder."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"The restoration of a local etheric tumour to +its original formation."</p> + +<p>"I am already weary of this jargon from +Brande," I interrupted. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"We mean to attempt the reduction of the +solar system to its elemental ether."</p> + +<p>"And you will accomplish this triviality by +means of Huxley's comet, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>I could scarcely control my indignation. This +fooling, as I thought it, struck me as insulting. +Neither Brande nor Grey appeared to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +notice my keen resentment. Grey answered me +in a quiet, serious tone.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Grey, "we have found out."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<small>A TELEPATHIC TELEGRAM.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">I left</span> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +enough to hide me from those who killed by +willing that their victim should die.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was clear that I must stand by Natalie +Brande.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +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:—</p> + +<p><i>Grey</i>—Our new member? Why did you introduce +him? You say he cannot help with +money. It is plain he cannot help with brains.</p> + +<p><i>Brande</i>—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—</p> + +<p><i>Grey</i>—This day six months.</p> + +<p><i>Brande</i>—I believe I shivered. Heredity has +much to answer for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>That is the whole of the entry. I did not read +the words until the hand that wrote them was +dust.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" she asked, concerned. +"Have you seen a ghost?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Drink that. That is right. Give me the glass. +Now smoke. Do I allow smoking here? Pah! +I smoke here myself."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"I am most grateful, Miss Metford. I cannot +tell you how grateful I am. You would not +understand—"</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Nothing more than that?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more."</p> + +<p>The clock now struck the hour of nine, the +warning chime for which had startled me.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything more than that?" Miss +Metford asked with some impatience.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +suppose I told her all I knew, would not that +bring the same danger upon her too? So I had to +answer:</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you. I am a member now."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I gave her my address. She wrote it down on a +silver-cased tablet, and remarked:</p> + +<p>"That will be all right. I'll look you up some +evening."</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>A servant met me in the hall.</p> + +<p>"Telegram, sir. Just arrived at this moment."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +beforehand who the sender was, and what the +drift of the message would be. I was right. It +was from Brande.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"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.</p> +<p class="p4">"<span class="smcap">Brande</span>."</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"About that telegram you gave me just now, +Phillips—"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," the man interrupted, +"I did not give you any telegram this evening."</p> + +<p>"I mean when you spoke to me in the hall."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I said 'good-night,' but you took no +notice. Excuse me, sir, I thought you looked +strange."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was thinking of something else. And I +remember now, it was Johnson who gave me the +telegram."</p> + +<p>"Johnson left yesterday, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then it was yesterday I was thinking of. You +may go, Phillips."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<small>GUILTY!</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"I got your message."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>He looked at the title, and said indifferently: +"Yes, I have seen it, and in order to appreciate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +this class of fiction fairly, I have even tried to +read it. Why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>"Because I thought it would be in your line. +It is very advanced." I said this to gain time.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"By 'advanced,' I mean up-to-date. What +do you mean by it?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You disapprove of it."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Then you approve it, notwithstanding your +immediate condemnation?"</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +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?"</p> + +<p>"I did not think the book would possess the +slightest interest for you, and I suppose you are +already aware of that?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>To this I answered candidly, "I mentioned it +in order to get myself out of a conversational +difficulty—without much success."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +him is a fitting item in the nightmare which +contains it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +given to me to fathom the lowest depth of boorish +stupidity I had ever sounded.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that," I cried, "I would not +dare—"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"It was my mistake. I am glad to know that +I did you an injustice. You are my friend, are +you not?"</p> + +<p>"I believe I have the right to claim that title," +I answered.</p> + +<p>"Then what you ask is granted. Come." She +put her hand boldly into mine. I grasped the +slender fingers, saying:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Natalie, some day I will prove to you +that I am your friend."</p> + +<p>"The proof is unnecessary," she replied, in a +low sad voice.</p> + +<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"How long are we to stand here, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"Until you answer this question. How much +do you know about your brother's Society, which +I have joined to my own intense regret?"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you regret having joined," she +replied gravely.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>I looked at her one moment, and then with a +sob I clasped her in my arms, and cried aloud:</p> + +<p>"My God! to name murder and that angel face +in one breath! Child, you have been befooled. +You know nothing."</p> + +<p>For a second she lingered in my embrace. Then +she gently put away my arms, and looking up at +me, said fearlessly but sorrowfully:</p> + +<p>"I cannot lie—even for your love. I know <i>all</i>."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<small>THE WOKING MYSTERY.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">She</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"It is hard to explain—"</p> + +<p>I interrupted her harshly. "No explanation is +possible."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>At the hall door I stopped and said, "Good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Are you not coming in?"</p> + +<p>There was a directness and emphasis in the +question which did not escape me.</p> + +<p>"I?" The horror in my own voice surprised +myself, and assuredly did not pass without her +notice.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +too much? or is your generosity more limited even +than my own?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, no! I would not have you think that. +Take an hour, or a year—an hour only if you +care for my happiness."</p> + +<p>"Agreed," said I. "I will take the hour. Discretion +can have the year."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>Thought! The man's mysterious power was +becoming wearisome. It was too much for me. +I wished that I had never seen his face.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>Decoyed! That was it!</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I have come," I said somewhat shamefacedly, +"to explain."</p> + +<p>"And apologise?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, to apologise. I made a hideous mistake. +I have suffered for it as much as you +could wish."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>At this her face clouded.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you are still in error. What +opinion have you formed which alters your estimate +of me?"</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"To what purpose?"</p> + +<p>"To destroy it."</p> + +<p>"I am not likely to attempt that."</p> + +<p>"No, it would be impossible, and the effort +would cost your life."</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And its actions?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>I had now sufficient evidence, and was finally +convinced that the Society was as dangerous as +it was demented.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<small>CUI BONO?</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> 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.</p> + +<p>I could not at the moment seat myself voluntarily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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—<i>Cui Bono?</i>"</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +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>i.e.</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Order?</p> + +<p>"There is no order in Nature. Her armies are +but seething mobs of rioters, destroying everything +they can lay hands on.</p> + +<p>"System?</p> + +<p>"She has no system, unless it be a <i>reductio ad +absurdum</i>, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +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 <i>quasi</i>-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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Time strides on austere.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +Types possessing the greatest capacity +for murder progress most rapidly, and those +with the least recede and determine. The neolithic +man succeeds the palæolithic 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.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +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 <i>is</i> be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +better or be worse for all that the labour, genius, +devotion, and suffering of man have striven +through countless generations to effect.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> 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."—<i>Ed.</i></p></div> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +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 æons 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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +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 pæans 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, <i>Cui bono</i>?"</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.<br /> +<small>FORCE—A REMEDY.</small></h2> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Get</span> me out of this, I am stifled—ill," Miss +Metford said, in a low voice to me.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>"Neither praise nor blame seems to affect you, +Brande."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," he answered calmly. "You +forget that there is nothing deserving of either +praise or blame."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But I will not be sorry," said Natalie +Brande, touching my arm.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have followed you for your own +sake. Are you really going to draw back now?"</p> + +<p>"I must."</p> + +<p>"Then I must go on alone."</p> + +<p>"You will not go on alone. You will remain, +and your friends shall go on without you—go +to prison without you, I mean."</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Never," I answered. "Where you go, I go."</p> + +<p>"It is not really necessary. In the end it will +make no difference. And remember, you still +think me guilty."</p> + +<p>"Even so, I am going with you—guilty."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No, I will not fail you to-morrow," I answered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>She pressed my hand gratefully, and left me +without any explanation as to her movements in +the meantime.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right; I am going too. Don't look +so frightened."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth," she said candidly, "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall speak to Brande."</p> + +<p>"That would be useless. I joined the Society +this morning."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Superb! Marcel, I am proud of you!" she +cried.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Edith, how can you say that?" Natalie +Brande exclaimed, still trembling. "Such dreadful +violence! The poor men knew no better."</p> + +<p>"Poor fiddlesticks! It is well for you that +Marcel is a man of violence. He's worth a dozen +sheep like—"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.'"</p> + +<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +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 <i>Esmeralda</i> 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.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +<small>MORITURI TE SALUTANT.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Grey! He goes to Labrador."</p> + +<p>"To Labrador! What takes him to Labrador?"</p> + +<p>"The same purpose which takes us to the +Arafura Sea," Brande answered, and passed on.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He does not mean to do so. He might, if +an accident occurred."</p> + +<p>"Is he going to fire a mine?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Before throwing the glass ball overboard, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +careful search for the lights of ships was made +from east to west, and north to south.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Esmeralda</i> +showed us her pace. She literally tore through +the water when the engines were got full on.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Can't you do anything for them?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"You mean, go back and sink this ship to keep +them company?"</p> + +<p>"No; but warn them to fly."</p> + +<p>"It would be useless. In this breeze they could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +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 +<i>Esmeralda</i> would go to the bottom to-night, as +certainly as the sun will rise to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Natalie moaned in anguish on hearing this. I +said to her sternly:</p> + +<p>"I thought you approved of all these actions?"</p> + +<p>"This serves no purpose. These men may not +even have a painless death, and the reality is more +awful than I thought."</p> + +<p>Every face was turned to that point in the darkness +toward which the foaming wake of the +<i>Esmeralda</i> 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:</p> + +<p>"You will see the explosion in ten seconds."</p> + +<p>He could not have spoken more indifferently if +the catastrophe he had planned was only the firing +of a penny squib.</p> + +<p>Then the sea behind us burst into a flame, +followed by the sound of an explosion so frightful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +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 <i>Esmeralda</i> went full speed astern. The +waves were still rolling in tumultuous breakers +when we got back. We might as well have gone +on.</p> + +<p>The French fishing fleet had disappeared.</p> + +<p>I could not help saying to Brande before we +turned in:</p> + +<p>"You expect us, I suppose, to believe that the +explosion was really caused by a drop of water?"</p> + +<p>"Etherized," he interrupted. "Certainly I do. +You don't believe it—on what grounds?"</p> + +<p>"That it is unbelievable."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! You deny a fact because you do not +understand it. Ignorance is not evidence."</p> + +<p>"I say it is impossible."</p> + +<p>"You do not wish to believe it possible. Wishes +are not proofs."</p> + +<p>Without pursuing the argument, I said to him:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is fortunate that the accident took place at +sea. There will be no inquests."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +<small>"NO DEATH—SAVE IN LIFE."</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">For</span> 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.</p> + +<p>And this reminds me of something which I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Halley came to me one morning and said:</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak to you, Marcel. I <i>must</i> +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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You would keep your own brain, I suppose?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I would keep that."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You place me—"</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"Not as great a fool as they think. Thank you. +I mean to prove that to them some day."</p> + +<p>With that I turned away from him, although I +felt that he would have gladly stayed longer with +me.</p> + +<p>While the <i>Esmeralda</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>bona fides</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>is</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Behold a miracle! An atom is born!</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>life</i>, 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"<i>It is alive!</i></p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +this awful chorus: Failure! failure and futility! +And the ether is to blame!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Back, then, from this ill-balanced and unfair +long-suffering, this insufficient existence. Back +to Nirvana—the ether! And I will lead the +way.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>quasi</i>-rest +will supersede the magnificent failure of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"This time we shall not fail!"</p> + +<p>A low murmur rose from the audience as the +lecturer concluded, and a hushed whisper asked:</p> + +<p>"Where was that other effort made?"</p> + +<p>Brande faced round momentarily, and said +quietly but distinctly:</p> + +<p>"On the planet which was where the Asteroids +are now."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +<small>MISS METFORD'S PLAN.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +<i>Esmeralda</i> and her company. It was nearly +morning when I turned in. When I awoke we +were nearing the Red Sea.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Brande was the most easily approached maniac +I had ever met. His affability continued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +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!"</p> + +<p>"Marcel, you are improving. Have you +attained the telepathic power? You have read +my mind." This was said with a pleasant +smile.</p> + +<p>"I can not read your mind," I answered; "I +only diagnose."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You do not look to me for any measure of +this sympathy, I trust?"</p> + +<p>"I do not. You are antipathetic."</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"But necessary, all the same."</p> + +<p>"So be it, until the proper time shall come."</p> + +<p>"It will never come," Brande said firmly.</p> + +<p>"We shall see," I replied as firmly as himself.</p> + +<p>Next evening as we were steaming down the +blue waters—deep blue they always seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The girl was very white and nervous. This +contrast from her usual equanimity was disquieting. +She clung to me hysterically as she +gasped:</p> + +<p>"Marcel, it is a mercy I have found you alone, +and that there is one sane man in this shipful +of lunatics."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you are not altogether right," I +said, as I placed a seat for her close to mine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +"I can hardly be sane when I am a voluntary +passenger on board this vessel."</p> + +<p>"Do you really think they mean what they +say?" she asked hurriedly, without noticing my +remark.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What was the good of asking me not to +come without giving me some reason?"</p> + +<p>"Had I done so, they might have killed you +as they have done others before."</p> + +<p>"You might have chanced that, seeing that +it will probably end that way."</p> + +<p>"And they would certainly have killed me."</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"If they must kill us, I wish they would kill +us now."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"You are right. Even if the worst must come, +we may as well live as long as we can."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After some minutes of silence, the girl spoke +to me again.</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything of the actual plans +of these maniacs?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No. I only know their preposterous purpose."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"He's doing nothing of the sort."</p> + +<p>"But you forget—"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Thank God!" I cried.</p> + +<p>"And this precious disintegrating agent! They +haven't it with them, it seems. To manufacture +it in sufficient quantity would be impossible in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +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—"</p> + +<p>"Throw it overboard!"</p> + +<p>"Rubbish! They would work it all out +again."</p> + +<p>"What then?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Steal the paper and—wouldn't it do to put +in an extra <i>x</i> or <i>y</i>, or stick a couple of additional +figures into any suitable vacancy? Don't you +think they'd go on with the scheme and—"</p> + +<p>"And?"</p> + +<p>"And make a mess of it!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I used to," she assented coldly.</p> + +<p>"I am going to take you in my arms and kiss +you."</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +in studying a girl's caprices, so I asked at +once:</p> + +<p>"How can I get this paper?"</p> + +<p>"I said <i>steal</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"I am not much afraid, and I will try it. What +do you mean by jealous?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"No. I'd see the ship and all its precious +passengers at the bottom of the sea first."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but you are not a man."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +<small>ROCKINGHAM TO THE SHARKS.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" It was Halley's voice +that came from the berth.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," I whispered, "a mistake. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +heat, you know. Went on deck, and have blundered +into your room."</p> + +<p>"Oh, all right. Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"Brande."</p> + +<p>"Good-night. You did not blunder far;" this +sleepily.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hallo there!" This time no sleepy or careless +man challenged me. It was Rockingham's +voice.</p> + +<p>"May I not enter my own room?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"This is not your room. You are?" Rockingham +sprang up in his berth, but before he could +leave it I was upon him.</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You fool!" hissed Rockingham. "You dare not +fire. You know you dare not."</p> + +<p>He was about to call out, but my left hand +closed on his throat, and a gurgling gasp was all +that issued from him.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The sweat stood on my forehead in big beads as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +I waited for his choice. It was soon made. He +unlocked his left hand and placed it firmly on my +right shoulder.</p> + +<p>He had chosen death.</p> + +<p>So the man was only a physical coward—or +perhaps he had only made a choice of alternatives.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>To me the whole document was a mass of +unintelligible formulæ. 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When my operation was over, I left the room +and moved silently along the corridor till I came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Have you done it?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Can I help?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Your work is my work," she answered. "What +is it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have to lower a body overboard without +anyone observing me."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +hideous fishing-ground. Sick to death I turned +away.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Before we parted on that horrible night, Edith +said in a trembling voice, "You have done your +work like a brave man."</p> + +<p>"Say rather, like a forger and murderer," I +answered.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +that I was so. Whereupon, without hesitation, +she put her arms round my neck, and said clinging +closely to me:</p> + +<p>"You are not unclean—you are free from guilt. +And—Arthur—I will kiss you now."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +<small>"IF NOT TOO LATE!"</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> 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.</p> + +<p>"I thought you would never come. There is +dreadful news!" she cried.</p> + +<p>I muttered some incoherent words, to which +she did not attend, but went on hurriedly:</p> + +<p>"Rockingham has thrown himself overboard in +a hysterical fit, brought on by the heat. The +sailors heard the splash—"</p> + +<p>"I know they did." This escaped me unawares, +and I instantly prevaricated, "I have been told +about that."</p> + +<p>"Do you know that Herbert is ill?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"True," she said. "But think of the awful +consequences if, now that Rockingham is gone, +Herbert should be seriously ill."</p> + +<p>"I do think of it," I said stiffly. Indeed, I +could hardly keep from adding that I had provided +for it.</p> + +<p>"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).</p> + +<p>"You are nursing your brother?" I said with +assumed carelessness.</p> + +<p>"Of course."</p> + +<p>"What is Percival giving him?"</p> + +<p>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:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is quite evident that Percival does not +understand the case."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"How soon can you get me up?" he asked +sharply, when my pretended examination was over.</p> + +<p>"I should say a month at most."</p> + +<p>"That would be too long," he cried. "You +must do it in less."</p> + +<p>"It does not depend on me—"</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"I am attending."</p> + +<p>"By the hold over my sister's imagination +which I have gained, I will kill her on the +fourth morning from now."</p> + +<p>"You will—<i>not</i>."</p> + +<p>"I tell you I will," Brande shrieked, starting +up in his berth. "I could do it now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You could—<i>not</i>."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>In a voice of undisguised scorn, Brande exclaimed, +without noticing my interruption:</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"I have read your mind before. I can read it +now."</p> + +<p>"You can—<i>not</i>."</p> + +<p>He threw himself back in his berth and strove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +to concentrate his mind. For nearly five minutes +he lay quite still, and then he said gently:</p> + +<p>"You are right. Have you, then, a higher +power than I?"</p> + +<p>"No; a lower!"</p> + +<p>"A lower! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten," he said, "the issue now lies +in your hands. Choose rightly. Choose mercy."</p> + +<p>"I will," I answered shortly, for his request +brought me back with a jerk to his motive.</p> + +<p>"Then you will get me well as soon as your +skill can do it?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The Labrador expedition?"</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +would not die until he had served my purpose.</p> + +<p>"I have decided to get you up," I said +curtly.</p> + +<p>"You have decided well," he answered, with +equal coldness.</p> + +<p>That was the whole interview—on which so +much depended.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +to the letter, without for a moment suspecting +that their <i>raison d'etre</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>raconteur</i>. 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"He has been well for some time," I said, +my heart beating fast.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +He is troubling himself over this. You can set +his mind at rest."</p> + +<p>"I can—and will—if I am not too late," I +answered.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +<small>£5000 TO DETAIN THE SHIP.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brande</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>After a long spell of apparently aimless but +glorious steaming, a small island was sighted on +our port bow. The <i>Esmeralda</i> 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.</p> + +<p>It was here that my first opportunity for making +use of the gold I had brought with me occurred.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +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 <i>Esmeralda</i> had been ordered to the South +Pole.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Anderson," I said hurriedly, "you must have +noticed that Mr. Brande is an eccentric—"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, sir; it is not my business to +comment upon my owner."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Have you anything more to say, sir?" Anderson +asked stiffly.</p> + +<p>"I presume I have said enough."</p> + +<p>"If you have nothing more to say I must ask<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>He blew his whistle, and a steward ran forward.</p> + +<p>"Johnson, see Mr. Marcel's luggage over the +side at once." To me he said shortly: "Quit +my ship, sir."</p> + +<p>This trivial show of temper, which, indeed, +had been provoked by my own hasty speech, +turned my impatience into fury.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was strange that on an island like that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was a paradise of foliage. Here and there a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Esmeralda</i> explain much that was +then incomprehensible to me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>As I was returning dejected after my fruitless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +appeal to Natalie, I met Edith Metford, to whom +I had unhappily mentioned my proposal for an +escape.</p> + +<p>"Is it arranged? When do we start?" she +asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"It is not arranged, and we do not start," I +answered in despair.</p> + +<p>"You told me you would go with her or without +her," she cried passionately. "It is shameful—unmanly."</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>"How am I to be certain of that?"</p> + +<p>"I paid him for your passage, and have his +receipt."</p> + +<p>"And you really think I would go and leave—leave—"</p> + +<p>"Natalie? I think you would be perfectly +justified."</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +I thought her old caprices were returning. She +flung my arm rudely from her and left me bewildered.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +<small>"THIS EARTH SHALL DIE."</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">My</span> 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +in sonorous periods. Below, great fear was upon +all. Above, the madman exulted wildly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Brande heeded them not.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +it contains, from this night and for ever, <i>Time +will be no more!</i>"</p> + +<p>A great cry rose from the people. "Give us +another day—only another day!"</p> + +<p>But Brande made answer: "It is now too +late."</p> + +<p>"Too late!" the people wailed.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Powerless," sobbed the auditors.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"How many horses?"</p> + +<p>"Three. One for you; another for Natalie; +the third for myself. The rest must accept the +fate they have selected."</p> + +<p>The girl shuddered as she said, "But your interference +with the formula? You are sure it will +destroy the effect?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Natalie will not come."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Natalie was crossing the open ground which +led from the glen to Brande's laboratory. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Natalie," I said quickly, "there are three horses +saddled and waiting in the palm grove. The +<i>Esmeralda</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Surely you have not lost your reason? Have +you forgotten the drop of water in the English +Channel?" Brande said quietly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It is as certain as the law of gravitation. With +my own hand I mixed the ingredients according to +the formula."</p> + +<p>"And," said I, "with my own hand I altered +your formula."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"You altered my formula?"</p> + +<p>"I did," I answered recklessly. "I multiplied +your figures by ten where they struck me as insufficient."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>I strode closer still to him and looked him +straight in the eyes while I spoke.</p> + +<p>"That night in the Red Sea, when Edith Metford, +by accident, mixed morphia in your medicine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>Brande did not speak for a moment. Then he +said in a gentle, uncomplaining voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you remain?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I perish with my failure."</p> + +<p>"Then I perish with you. And you, Marcel, +save yourself—you coward!"</p> + +<p>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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Without another word he turned away from +us. When he had disappeared into the laboratory, +Natalie sighed, and said dreamily:</p> + +<p>"I am ready. Let us go."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +<small>THE FLIGHT.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">I led</span> 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 <i>sauve qui peut</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +another half hour had now passed, and in sixty +minutes the earthquake would take place.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The horses! Seize the horses!" rose in a +loud shout, and the mob flung themselves upon +us, as though three animals could carry all.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>It was now time to look to myself. I was +in the midst of a dozen maniacs mad with fear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Help us, Marcel. Don't ride away from us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I cannot save both," I answered, pulling up.</p> + +<p>"Then save Mademoiselle Véret. I'll take my +chance."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I will do so," he promised.</p> + +<p>Hampered thus, I but slowly gained on Natalie +and Edith, whose ponies had galloped a mile before +they could be stopped.</p> + +<p>"Forward, forward!" I shouted when within +hail. "Don't wait for me. Ride on at top speed. +Lash your ponies with the bridle-reins."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"I am done. Go on, Marcel. You deserve to +escape. Don't desert the girl."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Go on—save her!" he gasped, and then from +sheer exhaustion fell forward on his face.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>So far, we saw no natives. Their absence did +not surprise me, for I had no time for thought. +It was explained later.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The light grew stronger.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The island was on fire!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +on this. For the first time in the whole race +she spoke to us.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid; but I remain," Edith said resolutely.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Monsieur has done enough. He will now permit +me to alight. This time the horse cannot +jump over with both."</p> + +<p>"He shall jump over with both, Mademoiselle, or +he shall jump in," I answered. "Don't look down +when we are crossing."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"The girl?"</p> + +<p>"Is at the bottom of the pit. Ride on."</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>I cannot dwell upon the scene. I could not describe +it. I would not if I could.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The <i>Esmeralda</i> was under weigh!</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +<small>THE CATASTROPHE.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Esmeralda</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>His bargain was a hard one, but, having made +it, he abided faithfully by its conditions. He +was honest, therefore, in his own way.</p> + +<p>"How far can you get out in fifteen minutes?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You have taken every precaution, of course—"</p> + +<p>Anderson here looked at me contemptuously, +and, with an air of sarcastic admiration, he +said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You have guessed it at the first try. That +is precisely what I have done."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Anderson made no direct answer to this, but +he said earnestly:</p> + +<p>"You will now go below, sir. You are done up. +Roberts will take you to the doctor."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Then you cannot see it out upon my bridge," +Anderson said. The determined tone in which +he spoke only added to my impotent wrath.</p> + +<p>"Very well, I will return to the deck, and if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +land and sea. When I saw her pallor, my evil +temper passed away.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Oh no," she answered, "I'm all right; a little +faint after that ride. I shall be better soon."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Heaven help us, this awful night," Edith +cried. "How do you know that, Natalie?"</p> + +<p>"I know much now, but I shall know more +soon." After this she would not speak again.</p> + +<p>With every pound of steam on that the +<i>Esmeralda's</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +of midnight must be near at hand, I looked at +my watch. It was one minute to twelve o'clock.</p> + +<p>Thirty seconds more!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Fifteen seconds now!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Twelve, midnight!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the speed of the <i>Esmeralda</i> +she was a sloth when compared with the speed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Arthur," she asked, "is this the end?"</p> + +<p>"I fear it is," I answered, speaking close to her +ear so that she might hear.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You will be always with me while we live. I +think I deserve that at last."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you deserve that and more. I will be +with you while I live, but that will not be for +long."</p> + +<p>I was about to interrupt her when she put her +soft little hand upon my lips and said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You see that now—thank God!"</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>"May his torments endure for ever. May the +nethermost pit of hell receive him!" I said with a +groan of agony.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Bend lower, Arthur; my strength is failing, +and I have not yet said that for which I am here. +Lower still.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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 <i>you</i>. 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!"</p> + +<p>She pressed her hands to her head as if in +dreadful pain. When she spoke again her voice +came in short gasps.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +know that I have missed it. Missed it—and the +darkness of death is upon me."</p> + +<p>She ceased to speak. A shudder convulsed her, +and then her head sank gently on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Esmeralda</i> 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.</p> + +<p>She was dead.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +<small>CONCLUSION.</small></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Taking</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"That she has been dead—several hours?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"But let me think. It was only an hour—"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He pressed my hand, and went away without a +word. I am that man's friend.</p> + +<p>They buried her at sea.</p> + +<p>I was happily unconscious at the time, and so +was spared that scene. Edith Metford, weak and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +One note must still be struck in that long +discord of despair.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A soft whisper stirred me.</p> + +<p>"Arthur, for God's sake rouse yourself! You +are brooding a great deal too much. It will +destroy you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>Listlessly I put my hand in hers, and clasped +her fingers gently.</p> + +<p>"Bear with me!" I pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I will bear with you for ever. But you must +fight on. You have not won yet."</p> + +<p>"No, nor ever shall. I have fought my last +fight. The victory may go to whosoever desires +it."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I kept no record of the commonplaces of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>all</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +himself to show whether my evidence is false or +true. If it be left to him, a few years will decide +the issue.</p> + +<p>I am content to wait.</p> + +<p class="p5">THE END.</p> + +<p class="p6"><small>LONDON: DIGBY, LONG AND CO., PUBLISHERS, 18 BOUVERIE STREET, +FLEET STREET, E.C.</small></p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center"><span class="ft1"><big>ROBERT CROMIE'S BOOKS</big></span></p> + +<p class="p5"><i>OPINIONS OF THE PRESS</i></p> + +<p class="p6"><span class="ft1">A PLUNGE INTO SPACE</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">With Preface by Jules Verne</span></p> + +<p class="p7"><i>Times.</i>—The story is written with considerable liveliness, the scientific +jargon is sufficiently perplexing, and the characters are sketched with +some humour.</p> + +<p><i>Chronicle.</i>—A strange, weird, mysterious story that holds the reader +spell-bound, from the first page to the last.</p> + +<p><i>Athenæum.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Truth.</i>—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."</p> + +<p><i>Court Journal.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Review of Reviews.</i>—An unquestionably interesting story. The +adventures of the hero and his friends are in no small degree thrilling.</p> + +<p><i>Glasgow Herald.</i>—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.</p> + +<p class="p6"><span class="ft1">FOR ENGLAND'S SAKE</span></p> + +<p class="p7"><i>Academy.</i>—There is not a dull page in the story.</p> + +<p><i>Army and Navy Gazette.</i>—A capital little story of military life, full +of bright word-painting.</p> + +<p><i>Literary World.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Irish Times.</i>—The plot is well conceived, and the interest throughout +is well maintained.</p> + +<p><i>Belfast Northern Whig.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Belfast Morning News.</i>—Deeply interesting without being sensational, +this charming story of love and war is sure to appeal with force +to a large circle of readers.</p> + +<p><i>Liverpool Daily Post.</i>—A well-told story of life and love in troublous +times in India.</p> + +<p class="p6"><span class="ft1">IN SOUTHERN SEAS</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Written in Collaboration With W. R. Ringland.</span></p> + +<p class="p7"><i>Athenæum.</i>—A bright, compact, and highly readable narrative, full +of incidents, and illustrated with clever little vignettes.</p> + +<p><i>Newcastle Chronicle.</i>—A really charming book—deeply interesting, +and full of capital drawings.</p> + +<p><i>Scotsman.</i>—A very well-written narrative of a trip, and as such, about +as good as it could be.</p> + +<p><i>Spectator.</i>—A pleasant little book of travel.</p> + +<p><i>Leeds Mercury.</i>—The author relies on vivid description, pointed and +racy pictures, and lively and striking incident for interest.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday Review.</i>—Brightly written, and yet more brightly illustrated.</p> + +<p class="p5"><i>The foregoing Books may be had through</i> <span class="smcap">Digby, Long & Co., 18 Bouverie +Street, Fleet Street, London, E.C.</span></p> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_1" id="Page_ad_1">{1}</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p class="td2"><i><big>MAY 1895</big></i></p> + +<p class="ft1"><b><span class="u">SUPPLEMENTARY LIST</span></b></p> + +<p class="p3"><span class="ft1"><big>DIGBY, LONG & CO.'S<br /> +NEW NOVELS, STORIES, Etc.</big></span></p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="ad1"><big><i>IN ONE VOLUME</i>, Price <b>6s.</b></big></p> +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY DR ARABELLA KENEALY.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Honourable Mrs Spoor.</big></b> By the Author of +"Some Men are such Gentlemen," "Dr Janet of +Harley Street," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY ANNIE THOMAS (Mrs <span class="smcap">Pender Cudlip</span>).</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>False Pretences.</big></b> By the Author of "Allerton +Towers," "That Other Woman," "Kate Valliant," +"A Girl's Folly," etc., etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WORLD</i> says:—"Miss Annie Thomas has rarely drawn a character so +cleverly as that of the false and scheming Mrs Colraine."</p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY DR ARABELLA KENEALY.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Some Men are such Gentlemen.</big></b> By the Author +of "Dr Janet of Harley Street," "Molly and Her +Man-o'-War," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i> With a +Frontispiece.</p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Fifth Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>ACADEMY</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>PALL MALL GAZETTE</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="ad3"><i>TRUTH</i> says:—"Its heroine is at once original and charming."</p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY DORA RUSSELL.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Other Bond.</big></b> By the Author of "A Hidden +Chain," "A Country Sweetheart," "The Drift of +Fate," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Third Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>ATHENÆUM</i> 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."</p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY L. T. MEADE.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Life for a Love.</big></b> By the Author of "The Medicine +Lady," "A Soldier of Fortune," "In an Iron Grip," +etc., etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i> With a Frontispiece +by Hal Hurst.</p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Third Edition. Just out.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DAILY TELEGRAPH</i> says:—"This thrilling tale. The plot is worked +out with remarkable ingenuity. The book abounds in clever and graphic +characterisation."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_2" id="Page_ad_2">{2}</a></span></p> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY FLORENCE MARRYAT.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Beautiful Soul.</big></b> By the Author of "A Fatal +Silence," "There is no Death," etc., etc. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Fourth Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>GUARDIAN</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WORLD</i> says:—"An entertaining and animated story.... One of the +most lovable women to whom novel readers have been introduced."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Une Culotte:</big></b> An Impossible Story of Modern +Oxford. By "<span class="smcap">Tivoli</span>," Author of "A Defender +of the Faith." With Illustrations by A. W. <span class="smcap">Cooper</span>. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DAILY CHRONICLE</i> says:—"The book is full of funny things. The +story is a screaming farce, and will furnish plenty of amusement."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Vengeance of Medea.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Edith Gray +Wheelwright</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WESTERN DAILY MERCURY</i> says:—"Miss Wheelwright has introduced +several delightful characters, and produced a work which will add to her +reputation. The dialogue is especially well written."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Ruined Life.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Emily St Clair</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE</i> says:—"A powerful story developed with +considerable dramatic skill and remarkable fervour."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Westovers.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Algernon Ridgeway.</span> Author +of "Westover's Ward," "Diana Fontaine," etc. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>GLASGOW HERALD</i> says:—"'The Westovers' is a clever book."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Flaming Sword.</big></b> Being an Account of the +Extraordinary Adventures and Discoveries of Dr +<span class="smcap">Percival</span> in the Wilds of Africa. Written by Himself. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>SPEAKER</i> says:—"Mr Rider Haggard himself has not imagined more +wonderful things than those which befell Dr Percival and his friends."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>LITERARY WORLD</i> says:—"Out-Haggards Haggard."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>In Due Season.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Agnes Goldwin</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>ACADEMY</i> says:—"Her novel is well written, it flows easily, its situations +are natural, its men and women are real."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>His Last Amour.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Monopole</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>GLASGOW HERALD</i> says:—"The story is unfolded with considerable +skill, and the interest of the reader is not allowed to flag."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_3" id="Page_ad_3">{3}</a></span></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>An Unknown Power.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Charles E. R. Bellairs</span>. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>BELFAST NORTHERN WHIG</i> 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."</p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY GERTRUDE L. WARREN.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Mystery of Hazelgrove.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Gertrude L. +Warren</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1">NEW NOVEL BY ALICE MAUD MEADOWS.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>When the Heart is Young.</big></b> By the Author of +"The Romance of a Madhouse," etc. Crown 8vo, +cloth. 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Fourth Edition.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1">A NEW AUSTRALIAN NOVEL.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Recognition.</big></b> A Mystery of the Coming Colony. By +<span class="smcap">Sydney H. Wright</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Shortly.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1">A NEW SPORTING STORY.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>With the Bankshire Hounds.</big></b> By M. F. H. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Some Passages in Plantagenet Paul's Life.</big></b> +By <span class="smcap">Himself</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Drifting.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Marston Moore</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Coneycreek.</big></b> By M. <span class="smcap">Lawson</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="ad1"><big><i>IN THREE VOLUMES</i>, Price <b>31s. 6d.</b></big></p> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">By</span> DORA RUSSELL.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Hidden Chain.</big></b> By the Author of "Footprints in +the Snow," "The Other Bond," etc., etc. In Three +Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">By</span> JEAN MIDDLEMASS.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Mystery of Clement Dunraven.</big></b> By the +Author of "A Girl in a Thousand," etc. In Three +Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">By</span> PERCY ROSS.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Eccentrics.</big></b> By the Author of "A Comedy +without Laughter," "A Misguidit Lassie," "A Professor +of Alchemy," etc. In Three Volumes, crown +8vo, cloth, 31<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_4" id="Page_ad_4">{4}</a></span></p> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">By</span> GILBERTA M. F. LYON.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Absent Yet Present.</big></b> By the Author of "For Good +or Evil." In Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 31<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p></div> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">By</span> MADELINE CRICHTON.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Like a Sister.</big></b> In Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, +31<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="ad1"><big><i>IN ONE VOLUME</i>, Price <b>3s. 6d.</b></big></p> + +<p class="ad1"><span class="smcap">NEW BOOK by the AUTHOR of "A PLUNGE INTO SPACE."</span></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Crack of Doom.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Robert Cromie</span>, Author +of "For England's Sake," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, +3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><small><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> The first Large Edition was exhausted before publication.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Second Edition</span> now ready.</small></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Her Loving Slave.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Hume Nisbet</span>, author of "The +Jolly Roger," "Bail Up," etc., etc. In Handsome +Pictorial Binding, with Illustrations by the Author. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Third Edition.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>His Egyptian Wife.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Hilton Hill</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> With Frontispiece.</p> + +<p class="center"><small><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> Published simultaneously in London and New York.</small></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Son of Noah.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Mary Anderson</span>, author of +"Othello's Occupation." Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Fifth Edition.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Last Cruise of the Teal.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Leigh Ray</span>. +In handsome pictorial binding. Illustrated throughout. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Second Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>NATIONAL OBSERVER</i> says:—"It is long since we have lighted on so +good a story of adventure."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>His Troublesome Sister.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Eva Travers Evered +Poole</span>, Author of many Popular Stories. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>BIRMINGHAM POST</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Bow and the Sword.</big></b> A Romance. By E. C. +<span class="smcap">Adams</span>, M.A. With 16 full-page drawings by <span class="smcap">Matthew +Stretch</span>. Crown 8vo, pictorial cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>MORNING POST</i> 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."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_5" id="Page_ad_5">{5}</a></span></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Maid of Havodwen.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">John Ferrars</span>. +Author of "Claud Brennan." Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DUNDEE ADVERTISER</i> says:—"A charming story of Welsh life and +character.... Deeply interesting.... Of unusual attractiveness."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Paths that Cross.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Mark Trehern</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DAILY TELEGRAPH</i> says:—"Cleverly sketched characters. The book +is enlivened throughout with innumerable light touches of quaint and spontaneous +humour."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Tale of Two Curates.</big></b> By Rev. <span class="smcap">James Copner</span>, +M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DUNDEE ADVERTISER</i> says:—"Simply but graphically narrated."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Wrong of Fate.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Lillias Lobenhoffer</span>, +Author of "Bairnie," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>LONDON STAR</i> says:—"A well-written and clever novel, excellent +studies of Scotch character."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>SCOTSMAN</i> says:—"Shows considerable power."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Studies in Miniature.</big></b> By A <span class="smcap">Titular Vicar</span>. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>MANCHESTER COURIER</i> says:—"Brightly and cleverly written."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>BELFAST NEWS LETTER</i> says:—"Very readable, characters admirably +drawn."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Spunyarn.</big></b> By N. J. <span class="smcap">Preston</span>. Crown 8vo, pictorial +cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="ad1"><big><i>IN ONE VOLUME</i>, Price <b>2s. 6d.</b></big></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Lost! £100 Reward.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Miriam Young</span>, Author +of "The Girl Musician." Crown 8vo, cloth, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WEEKLY SUN</i> says:—"The interest is well sustained throughout, and +the incidents are most graphically described."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Clenched Antagonisms.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Lewis Iram</span>. Crown +8vo, cloth, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>SATURDAY REVIEW</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>For Marjory's Sake</big></b>: A Story of South Australian +Country Life. By Mrs <span class="smcap">John Waterhouse</span>. In +handsome cloth binding, with Illustrations. Crown +8vo, cloth, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3"><i>The LITERARY WORLD</i> 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."</p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_6" id="Page_ad_6">{6}</a></span></p> + +<p class="ad1"><big><i>IN ONE VOLUME, PAPER COVER</i>, Price <b>1s.</b></big></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Stock Exchange Romance.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Bracebridge +Hemyng</span>, Author of "The Stockbroker's Wife," "Called +to the Bar," etc., etc. Edited by <span class="smcap">George Gregory</span>. +Crown 8vo, picture cover, 1<i>s.</i> (<span class="smcap">Tenth Thousand.</span>)</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Our Discordant Life.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Adam D'Héristal</span>. +Crown 8vo, picture cover, 1<i>s.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Police Sergeant's Secret.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Kilsyth Stellier</span>, +Author of "Taken by Force." Crown 8vo, picture +cover, 1<i>s.</i> (<span class="smcap">Fifth Thousand</span>.)</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Irish Stew.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">James J. Moran</span>, Author of "A +Deformed Idol," "The Dunferry Risin'," "Runs in +the Blood," etc. Crown 8vo, lithographed cover, +price 1<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WEEKLY SUN</i> says:—"<span class="smcap">Mr Moran</span> is the 'Barrie' of Ireland.... In a +remote district in the west of Ireland he has created an Irish Thrums."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>La Lecsinska.</big></b> A Powerful and Clever Novel. By +<span class="smcap">Harriet Buckley</span>. Crown 8vo, paper cover, 1<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>That Other Fellow.</big></b> An Original and Absorbing +Novel. By Mrs <span class="smcap">Louisa Le Bailly</span>. Crown 8vo, +paper cover, 1<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="ft1">DIGBY'S POPULAR NOVEL SERIES.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>In Handsome Cloth Binding, Gold Lettered, Cr. 8vo, 320 pp.<br /> +Price 2s. 6d. each, or in Picture Boards, Price <b>2s.</b> each.</i></p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + +<tr><td class="td3"><div class="bk2"><p class="center"><b>BY JEAN MIDDLEMASS.</b></p> +<p class="ad2">THE MYSTERY OF CLEMENT +DUNRAVEN. By +the Author of "A Girl in a +Thousand," etc. (<span class="smcap">Second +Edition.</span>)</p></div></td> + +<td class="td4"><div class="bk2"><p class="center"><b>BY DR. A. KENEALY.</b></p> +<p class="ad2">Dr JANET OF HARLEY +STREET. By the Author +of "Molly and her Man-o'-War," +etc. (<span class="smcap">Seventh Edition.</span>) +With Portrait.</p></div></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="td3"><div class="bk2"><p class="center"><b>BY DORA RUSSELL.</b></p> +<p class="ad2">A HIDDEN CHAIN. By +the Author of "Footprints in +the Snow," etc. (<span class="smcap">Second +Edition.</span>)</p></div></td> + +<td class="td4"><div class="bk2"><p class="center"><b>BY HUME NISBET.</b></p> +<p class="ad2">THE JOLLY ROGER. By +the Author of "Bail Up," etc. +With Illustrations by the +Author. (<span class="smcap">Fifth Edition.</span>)</p></div></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—Other Works in the same Series in due course.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_7" id="Page_ad_7">{7}</a></span></p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="ft1"><b>MISCELLANEOUS.</b></span></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A History of the Great Western Railway +from Its Inception to the Present Time.</big></b> +By <span class="smcap">G. A. Sekon</span>. Revised by <span class="smcap">F. G. Saunders</span>, +Chairman of the Great Western Railway. Demy 8vo, +390 pages, cloth, 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> With numerous Illustrations.</p> + +<p class="center"><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>Illustrated Prospectus, post free.</i> [<i>Second Edition.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>TIMES</i>, April 12th, 1895.—"Mr Sekon's volume is full of interest, and +constitutes an important chapter in the history of railway development in +England."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>STANDARD</i> (Leader), April 4th, 1895.—"An excellent addition to the +literature of our iron roads."</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DAILY TELEGRAPH</i>, 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Three Empresses.</big></b> Josephine, Marie-Louise, Eugénie. +By <span class="smcap">Caroline Geary</span>, Author of "In Other Lands," +etc. With portraits. Cr. 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i> (<span class="smcap">Second Edit.</span>)</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>PALL MALL GAZETTE</i> says:—"This charming book.... Gracefully +and graphically written, the story of each Empress is clearly and fully told.... This +delightful book."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Winter and Summer Excursions in Canada.</big></b> +By C. L. <span class="smcap">Johnstone</span>, Author of "Historical Families +of Dumfriesshire," etc. With Illustrations. Crown +8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>DAILY NEWS</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>The Author's Manual.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Percy Russell</span>. With +Prefatory Remarks by Mr <span class="smcap">Gladstone</span>. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> net. (<span class="smcap">Eighth and Cheaper Edition.</span>) +With portrait.</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WESTMINSTER REVIEW</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>A Guide to British and American Novels.</big></b> +From the Earliest Period to the end of 1894. By +<span class="smcap">Percy Russell</span>, Author of "The Author's Manual," +etc. Crown 8vo, cloth. Price 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> net. (<span class="smcap">Second +Edition carefully revised.</span>)</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>SPECTATOR</i> 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."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ad_8" id="Page_ad_8">{8}</a></span></p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Sixty Years' Experience as an Irish Landlord.</big></b> +Memoirs of <span class="smcap">John Hamilton</span>, D.L. of St Ernan's, +Donegal. Edited, with Introduction, by the Rev. H. +C. <span class="smcap">White</span>, late Chaplain, Paris. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i> +With Portrait.</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>TIMES</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Nigh on Sixty Years at Sea.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Robert Woolward</span> +("Old Woolward"). Crown 8vo, cloth, 6<i>s.</i> +With Portrait. (<span class="smcap">Second Edition.</span>)</p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>TIMES</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Whose Fault?</big></b> The Story of a Trial at <i>Nisi Prius</i>. +By <span class="smcap">Ellis J. Davis</span>, Barrister-at-Law. In handsome +pictorial binding. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>TIMES</i> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Borodin and Liszt.</big></b> I.—Life and Works of a Russian +Composer. II.—Liszt, as sketched in the Letters of +Borodin. By <span class="smcap">Alfred Habets</span>. Translated with +a Preface by <span class="smcap">Rosa Newmarch</span>. With Portraits and +Fac-similes.</p> + +<p class="td2">[<i>Just out.</i></p></div> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Fragments from Victor Hugo's Legends and +Lyrics.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Cecilia Elizabeth Meetkerke</span>. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>WORLD</i> 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.'"</p></div> + +<p class="ad1">BY THE AUTHOR OF "SONG FAVOURS."</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="ad2"><b><big>Minutiæ.</big></b> By <span class="smcap">Charles William Dalmon</span>. Royal +16mo, cloth elegant, price 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p class="ad3">The <i>ACADEMY</i> 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."</p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="ad3"><big><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup> <i>A complete Catalogue of Novels, Travels, Biographies, +Poems, etc., with a critical or descriptive notice of each, free +by post on application.</i></big></p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="center"><b>London: DIGBY, LONG & CO., Publishers,</b><br /> +<i>18 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C.</i></p></div> + +<div class="trn"><p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Inconsistent hyphenation has been standardised. +Based on the text in the Preface and the concluding lines of the +last chapter, the date in the sentence:</p> + +<p class="sp1"><small>"If we fail to act before the 31st December, in the year 2000, +he will proceed." (p. <a href="#Page_151">151</a>)</small></p> + +<p>has been amended to the year 1900, bearing in mind the story takes +place towards the end of the 19th century.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 26563-h.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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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