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diff --git a/294-0.txt b/294-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3154cb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/294-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8593 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other +Tales, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other Tales + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Release Date: July 10, 2008 [EBook #294] +[Last updated: April 30, 2022] + +Language: English + +Produced by: Mike Lough and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLE-STAR +AND OTHER TALES *** + + + + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLESTAR + +AND OTHER TALES. + +By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle + + + TO + MY FRIEND + MAJOR-GENERAL A. W. DRAYSON + AS A SLIGHT TOKEN + OF + MY ADMIRATION FOR HIS GREAT + AND AS YET UNRECOGNISED SERVICES TO ASTRONOMY + This little Volume + IS + DEDICATED + + + + + +PREFACE For the use of some of the following Tales I am indebted to the +courtesy of the Proprietors of “Cornhill,” “Temple Bar,” “Belgravia,” + “London Society,” “Cassell’s,” and “The Boys’ Own Paper.” + +A. CONAN DOYLE, M.D. + + + +CONTENTS. + + THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLE-STAR + J. HABAKUK JEPHSON’S STATEMENT + THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT + THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL + THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX + JOHN HUXFORD’S HIATUS + A LITERARY MOSAIC + JOHN BARRINGTON COWLES + THE PARSON OF JACKMAN’S GULCH + THE RING OF THOTH + + + + + +THE CAPTAIN OF THE “POLE-STAR.” + + [Being an extract from the singular journal of JOHN + M’ALISTER RAY, student of medicine.] + + +September 11th.--Lat. 81 degrees 40’ N.; long. 2 degrees E. Still +lying-to amid enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away to the +north of us, and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot be smaller +than an English county. To the right and left unbroken sheets extend +to the horizon. This morning the mate reported that there were signs of +pack ice to the southward. Should this form of sufficient thickness +to bar our return, we shall be in a position of danger, as the food, I +hear, is already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and +the nights are beginning to reappear. + +This morning I saw a star twinkling just over the fore-yard, the first +since the beginning of May. There is considerable discontent among the +crew, many of whom are anxious to get back home to be in time for the +herring season, when labour always commands a high price upon the Scotch +coast. As yet their displeasure is only signified by sullen countenances +and black looks, but I heard from the second mate this afternoon that +they contemplated sending a deputation to the Captain to explain their +grievance. I much doubt how he will receive it, as he is a man of fierce +temper, and very sensitive about anything approaching to an infringement +of his rights. I shall venture after dinner to say a few words to him +upon the subject. I have always found that he will tolerate from me what +he would resent from any other member of the crew. Amsterdam Island, +at the north-west corner of Spitzbergen, is visible upon our starboard +quarter--a rugged line of volcanic rocks, intersected by white seams, +which represent glaciers. It is curious to think that at the present +moment there is probably no human being nearer to us than the Danish +settlements in the south of Greenland--a good nine hundred miles as the +crow flies. A captain takes a great responsibility upon himself when he +risks his vessel under such circumstances. No whaler has ever remained +in these latitudes till so advanced a period of the year. + +9 P.M,--I have spoken to Captain Craigie, and though the result has been +hardly satisfactory, I am bound to say that he listened to what I had to +say very quietly and even deferentially. When I had finished he put on +that air of iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his +face, and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin +for some minutes. At first I feared that I had seriously offended him, +but he dispelled the idea by sitting down again, and putting his hand +upon my arm with a gesture which almost amounted to a caress. There +was a depth of tenderness too in his wild dark eyes which surprised +me considerably. “Look here, Doctor,” he said, “I’m sorry I ever took +you--I am indeed--and I would give fifty pounds this minute to see you +standing safe upon the Dundee quay. It’s hit or miss with me this time. +There are fish to the north of us. How dare you shake your head, sir, +when I tell you I saw them blowing from the masthead?”--this in a sudden +burst of fury, though I was not conscious of having shown any signs of +doubt. “Two-and-twenty fish in as many minutes as I am a living man, +and not one under ten foot.[1] Now, Doctor, do you think I can leave the +country when there is only one infernal strip of ice between me and my +fortune? If it came on to blow from the north to-morrow we could fill +the ship and be away before the frost could catch us. If it came on to +blow from the south--well, I suppose the men are paid for risking their +lives, and as for myself it matters but little to me, for I have more to +bind me to the other world than to this one. I confess that I am sorry +for you, though. I wish I had old Angus Tait who was with me last +voyage, for he was a man that would never be missed, and you--you said +once that you were engaged, did you not?” + + +[Footnote 1: A whale is measured among whalers not by the length of its +body, but by the length of its whalebone.] + + +“Yes,” I answered, snapping the spring of the locket which hung from my +watch-chain, and holding up the little vignette of Flora. + +“Curse you!” he yelled, springing out of his seat, with his very beard +bristling with passion. “What is your happiness to me? What have I to do +with her that you must dangle her photograph before my eyes?” I almost +thought that he was about to strike me in the frenzy of his rage, but +with another imprecation he dashed open the door of the cabin and rushed +out upon deck, leaving me considerably astonished at his extraordinary +violence. It is the first time that he has ever shown me anything but +courtesy and kindness. I can hear him pacing excitedly up and down +overhead as I write these lines. + +I should like to give a sketch of the character of this man, but it +seems presumptuous to attempt such a thing upon paper, when the idea in +my own mind is at best a vague and uncertain one. Several times I have +thought that I grasped the clue which might explain it, but only to be +disappointed by his presenting himself in some new light which would +upset all my conclusions. It may be that no human eye but my own shall +ever rest upon these lines, yet as a psychological study I shall attempt +to leave some record of Captain Nicholas Craigie. + +A man’s outer case generally gives some indication of the soul within. +The Captain is tall and well-formed, with dark, handsome face, and a +curious way of twitching his limbs, which may arise from nervousness, or +be simply an outcome of his excessive energy. His jaw and whole cast +of countenance is manly and resolute, but the eyes are the distinctive +feature of his face. They are of the very darkest hazel, bright and +eager, with a singular mixture of recklessness in their expression, and +of something else which I have sometimes thought was more allied with +horror than any other emotion. Generally the former predominated, but on +occasions, and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined, the +look of fear would spread and deepen until it imparted a new character +to his whole countenance. It is at these times that he is most subject +to tempestuous fits of anger, and he seems to be aware of it, for I have +known him lock himself up so that no one might approach him until his +dark hour was passed. He sleeps badly, and I have heard him shouting +during the night, but his cabin is some little distance from mine, and I +could never distinguish the words which he said. + +This is one phase of his character, and the most disagreeable one. It +is only through my close association with him, thrown together as we +are day after day, that I have observed it. Otherwise he is an agreeable +companion, well-read and entertaining, and as gallant a seaman as ever +trod a deck. I shall not easily forget the way in which he handled the +ship when we were caught by a gale among the loose ice at the beginning +of April. I have never seen him so cheerful, and even hilarious, as he +was that night, as he paced backwards and forwards upon the bridge amid +the flashing of the lightning and the howling of the wind. He has told +me several times that the thought of death was a pleasant one to him, +which is a sad thing for a young man to say; he cannot be much more than +thirty, though his hair and moustache are already slightly grizzled. +Some great sorrow must have overtaken him and blighted his whole life. +Perhaps I should be the same if I lost my Flora--God knows! I think if +it were not for her that I should care very little whether the wind blew +from the north or the south to-morrow. + +There, I hear him come down the companion, and he has locked himself up +in his room, which shows that he is still in an unamiable mood. And so +to bed, as old Pepys would say, for the candle is burning down (we have +to use them now since the nights are closing in), and the steward has +turned in, so there are no hopes of another one. + +September 12th.--Calm, clear day, and still lying in the same position. +What wind there is comes from the south-east, but it is very slight. +Captain is in a better humour, and apologised to me at breakfast for his +rudeness. He still looks somewhat distrait, however, and retains that +wild look in his eyes which in a Highlander would mean that he was +“fey”--at least so our chief engineer remarked to me, and he has some +reputation among the Celtic portion of our crew as a seer and expounder +of omens. + +It is strange that superstition should have obtained such mastery over +this hard-headed and practical race. I could not have believed to what +an extent it is carried had I not observed it for myself. We have had a +perfect epidemic of it this voyage, until I have felt inclined to serve +out rations of sedatives and nerve-tonics with the Saturday allowance +of grog. The first symptom of it was that shortly after leaving Shetland +the men at the wheel used to complain that they heard plaintive cries +and screams in the wake of the ship, as if something were following it +and were unable to overtake it. This fiction has been kept up during the +whole voyage, and on dark nights at the beginning of the seal-fishing +it was only with great difficulty that men could be induced to do +their spell. No doubt what they heard was either the creaking of the +rudder-chains, or the cry of some passing sea-bird. I have been fetched +out of bed several times to listen to it, but I need hardly say that I +was never able to distinguish anything unnatural. + +The men, however, are so absurdly positive upon the subject that it is +hopeless to argue with them. I mentioned the matter to the Captain once, +but to my surprise he took it very gravely, and indeed appeared to be +considerably disturbed by what I told him. I should have thought that he +at least would have been above such vulgar delusions. + +All this disquisition upon superstition leads me up to the fact that Mr. +Manson, our second mate, saw a ghost last night--or, at least, says that +he did, which of course is the same thing. It is quite refreshing to +have some new topic of conversation after the eternal routine of bears +and whales which has served us for so many months. Manson swears the +ship is haunted, and that he would not stay in her a day if he had any +other place to go to. Indeed the fellow is honestly frightened, and I +had to give him some chloral and bromide of potassium this morning to +steady him down. He seemed quite indignant when I suggested that he had +been having an extra glass the night before, and I was obliged to pacify +him by keeping as grave a countenance as possible during his +story, which he certainly narrated in a very straight-forward and +matter-of-fact way. + +“I was on the bridge,” he said, “about four bells in the middle watch, +just when the night was at its darkest. There was a bit of a moon, but +the clouds were blowing across it so that you couldn’t see far from the +ship. John M‘Leod, the harpooner, came aft from the foc’sle-head and +reported a strange noise on the starboard bow. + +“I went forrard and we both heard it, sometimes like a bairn crying and +sometimes like a wench in pain. I’ve been seventeen years to the country +and I never heard seal, old or young, make a sound like that. As we +were standing there on the foc’sle-head the moon came out from behind +a cloud, and we both saw a sort of white figure moving across the ice +field in the same direction that we had heard the cries. We lost sight +of it for a while, but it came back on the port bow, and we could just +make it out like a shadow on the ice. I sent a hand aft for the rifles, +and M‘Leod and I went down on to the pack, thinking that maybe it might +be a bear. When we got on the ice I lost sight of M‘Leod, but I pushed +on in the direction where I could still hear the cries. I followed them +for a mile or maybe more, and then running round a hummock I came right +on to the top of it standing and waiting for me seemingly. I don’t +know what it was. It wasn’t a bear any way. It was tall and white and +straight, and if it wasn’t a man nor a woman, I’ll stake my davy it +was something worse. I made for the ship as hard as I could run, and +precious glad I was to find myself aboard. I signed articles to do my +duty by the ship, and on the ship I’ll stay, but you don’t catch me on +the ice again after sundown.” + +That is his story, given as far as I can in his own words. I fancy what +he saw must, in spite of his denial, have been a young bear erect upon +its hind legs, an attitude which they often assume when alarmed. In +the uncertain light this would bear a resemblance to a human figure, +especially to a man whose nerves were already somewhat shaken. Whatever +it may have been, the occurrence is unfortunate, for it has produced a +most unpleasant effect upon the crew. Their looks are more sullen than +before, and their discontent more open. The double grievance of being +debarred from the herring fishing and of being detained in what they +choose to call a haunted vessel, may lead them to do something rash. +Even the harpooners, who are the oldest and steadiest among them, are +joining in the general agitation. + +Apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition, things are looking +rather more cheerful. The pack which was forming to the south of us has +partly cleared away, and the water is so warm as to lead me to believe +that we are lying in one of those branches of the gulf-stream which run +up between Greenland and Spitzbergen. There are numerous small Medusae +and sealemons about the ship, with abundance of shrimps, so that there +is every possibility of “fish” being sighted. Indeed one was seen +blowing about dinner-time, but in such a position that it was impossible +for the boats to follow it. + +September 13th.--Had an interesting conversation with the chief mate, +Mr. Milne, upon the bridge. It seems that our Captain is as great an +enigma to the seamen, and even to the owners of the vessel, as he has +been to me. Mr. Milne tells me that when the ship is paid off, upon +returning from a voyage, Captain Craigie disappears, and is not seen +again until the approach of another season, when he walks quietly +into the office of the company, and asks whether his services will be +required. He has no friend in Dundee, nor does any one pretend to be +acquainted with his early history. His position depends entirely upon +his skill as a seaman, and the name for courage and coolness which +he had earned in the capacity of mate, before being entrusted with a +separate command. The unanimous opinion seems to be that he is not a +Scotchman, and that his name is an assumed one. Mr. Milne thinks that he +has devoted himself to whaling simply for the reason that it is the most +dangerous occupation which he could select, and that he courts death in +every possible manner. He mentioned several instances of this, one of +which is rather curious, if true. It seems that on one occasion he +did not put in an appearance at the office, and a substitute had to +be selected in his place. That was at the time of the last Russian and +Turkish war. When he turned up again next spring he had a puckered wound +in the side of his neck which he used to endeavour to conceal with his +cravat. Whether the mate’s inference that he had been engaged in the war +is true or not I cannot say. It was certainly a strange coincidence. + +The wind is veering round in an easterly direction, but is still very +slight. I think the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday. As far +as the eye can reach on every side there is one wide expanse of spotless +white, only broken by an occasional rift or the dark shadow of a +hummock. To the south there is the narrow lane of blue water which is +our sole means of escape, and which is closing up every day. The Captain +is taking a heavy responsibility upon himself. I hear that the tank of +potatoes has been finished, and even the biscuits are running short, +but he preserves the same impassible countenance, and spends the greater +part of the day at the crow’s nest, sweeping the horizon with his glass. +His manner is very variable, and he seems to avoid my society, but there +has been no repetition of the violence which he showed the other night. + +7.30 P.M.--My deliberate opinion is that we are commanded by a madman. +Nothing else can account for the extraordinary vagaries of Captain +Craigie. It is fortunate that I have kept this journal of our voyage, as +it will serve to justify us in case we have to put him under any sort +of restraint, a step which I should only consent to as a last resource. +Curiously enough it was he himself who suggested lunacy and not mere +eccentricity as the secret of his strange conduct. He was standing upon +the bridge about an hour ago, peering as usual through his glass, while +I was walking up and down the quarterdeck. The majority of the men were +below at their tea, for the watches have not been regularly kept of +late. Tired of walking, I leaned against the bulwarks, and admired the +mellow glow cast by the sinking sun upon the great ice fields which +surround us. I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I had +fallen by a hoarse voice at my elbow, and starting round I found that +the Captain had descended and was standing by my side. He was staring +out over the ice with an expression in which horror, surprise, and +something approaching to joy were contending for the mastery. In +spite of the cold, great drops of perspiration were coursing down his +forehead, and he was evidently fearfully excited. + +His limbs twitched like those of a man upon the verge of an epileptic +fit, and the lines about his mouth were drawn and hard. + +“Look!” he gasped, seizing me by the wrist, but still keeping his +eyes upon the distant ice, and moving his head slowly in a horizontal +direction, as if following some object which was moving across the field +of vision. “Look! There, man, there! Between the hummocks! Now coming +out from behind the far one! You see her--you MUST see her! There still! +Flying from me, by God, flying from me--and gone!” + +He uttered the last two words in a whisper of concentrated agony which +shall never fade from my remembrance. Clinging to the ratlines he +endeavoured to climb up upon the top of the bulwarks as if in the hope +of obtaining a last glance at the departing object. His strength was not +equal to the attempt, however, and he staggered back against the saloon +skylights, where he leaned panting and exhausted. His face was so livid +that I expected him to become unconscious, so lost no time in leading +him down the companion, and stretching him upon one of the sofas in the +cabin. I then poured him out some brandy, which I held to his lips, and +which had a wonderful effect upon him, bringing the blood back into his +white face and steadying his poor shaking limbs. He raised himself up +upon his elbow, and looking round to see that we were alone, he beckoned +to me to come and sit beside him. + +“You saw it, didn’t you?” he asked, still in the same subdued awesome +tone so foreign to the nature of the man. + +“No, I saw nothing.” + +His head sank back again upon the cushions. “No, he wouldn’t without the +glass,” he murmured. “He couldn’t. It was the glass that showed her to +me, and then the eyes of love--the eyes of love. + +“I say, Doc, don’t let the steward in! He’ll think I’m mad. Just bolt the +door, will you!” + +I rose and did what he had commanded. + +He lay quiet for a while, lost in thought apparently, and then raised +himself up upon his elbow again, and asked for some more brandy. + +“You don’t think I am, do you, Doc?” he asked, as I was putting the +bottle back into the after-locker. “Tell me now, as man to man, do you +think that I am mad?” + +“I think you have something on your mind,” I answered, “which is +exciting you and doing you a good deal of harm.” + +“Right there, lad!” he cried, his eyes sparkling from the effects of the +brandy. “Plenty on my mind--plenty! But I can work out the latitude and +the longitude, and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms. You +couldn’t prove me mad in a court of law, could you, now?” It was curious +to hear the man lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his +own sanity. + +“Perhaps not,” I said; “but still I think you would be wise to get home +as soon as you can, and settle down to a quiet life for a while.” + +“Get home, eh?” he muttered, with a sneer upon his face. “One word for +me and two for yourself, lad. Settle down with Flora--pretty little +Flora. Are bad dreams signs of madness?” + +“Sometimes,” I answered. + +“What else? What would be the first symptoms?” + +“Pains in the head, noises in the ears flashes before the eyes, +delusions”---- + +“Ah! what about them?” he interrupted. “What would you call a delusion?” + +“Seeing a thing which is not there is a delusion.” + +“But she WAS there!” he groaned to himself. “She WAS there!” and rising, +he unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps to his +own cabin, where I have no doubt that he will remain until to-morrow +morning. His system seems to have received a terrible shock, whatever it +may have been that he imagined himself to have seen. The man becomes a +greater mystery every day, though I fear that the solution which he has +himself suggested is the correct one, and that his reason is affected. +I do not think that a guilty conscience has anything to do with his +behaviour. The idea is a popular one among the officers, and, I believe, +the crew; but I have seen nothing to support it. He has not the air of +a guilty man, but of one who has had terrible usage at the hands of +fortune, and who should be regarded as a martyr rather than a criminal. + +The wind is veering round to the south to-night. God help us if it +blocks that narrow pass which is our only road to safety! Situated as +we are on the edge of the main Arctic pack, or the “barrier” as it +is called by the whalers, any wind from the north has the effect of +shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape, while a wind +from the south blows up all the loose ice behind us and hems us in +between two packs. God help us, I say again! + +September 14th.--Sunday, and a day of rest. My fears have been +confirmed, and the thin strip of blue water has disappeared from the +southward. Nothing but the great motionless ice fields around us, with +their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles. There is a deathly silence +over their wide expanse which is horrible. No lapping of the waves +now, no cries of seagulls or straining of sails, but one deep universal +silence in which the murmurs of the seamen, and the creak of their boots +upon the white shining deck, seem discordant and out of place. Our only +visitor was an Arctic fox, a rare animal upon the pack, though common +enough upon the land. He did not come near the ship, however, but after +surveying us from a distance fled rapidly across the ice. This was +curious conduct, as they generally know nothing of man, and being of an +inquisitive nature, become so familiar that they are easily captured. +Incredible as it may seem, even this little incident produced a bad +effect upon the crew. “Yon puir beastie kens mair, ay, an’ sees mair nor +you nor me!” was the comment of one of the leading harpooners, and the +others nodded their acquiescence. It is vain to attempt to argue against +such puerile superstition. They have made up their minds that there is +a curse upon the ship, and nothing will ever persuade them to the +contrary. + +The Captain remained in seclusion all day except for about half an hour +in the afternoon, when he came out upon the quarterdeck. I observed that +he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the vision of yesterday had +appeared, and was quite prepared for another outburst, but none such +came. He did not seem to see me although I was standing close beside +him. Divine service was read as usual by the chief engineer. It is a +curious thing that in whaling vessels the Church of England Prayer-book +is always employed, although there is never a member of that Church +among either officers or crew. Our men are all Roman Catholics or +Presbyterians, the former predominating. Since a ritual is used which +is foreign to both, neither can complain that the other is preferred +to them, and they listen with all attention and devotion, so that the +system has something to recommend it. + +A glorious sunset, which made the great fields of ice look like a lake +of blood. I have never seen a finer and at the same time more weird +effect. Wind is veering round. If it will blow twenty-four hours from +the north all will yet be well. + +September 15th.--To-day is Flora’s birthday. Dear lass! it is well that +she cannot see her boy, as she used to call me, shut up among the ice +fields with a crazy captain and a few weeks’ provisions. No doubt she +scans the shipping list in the Scotsman every morning to see if we are +reported from Shetland. I have to set an example to the men and look +cheery and unconcerned; but God knows, my heart is very heavy at times. + +The thermometer is at nineteen Fahrenheit to-day. There is but little +wind, and what there is comes from an unfavourable quarter. Captain is +in an excellent humour; I think he imagines he has seen some other omen +or vision, poor fellow, during the night, for he came into my room early +in the morning, and stooping down over my bunk, whispered, “It wasn’t a +delusion, Doc; it’s all right!” After breakfast he asked me to find out +how much food was left, which the second mate and I proceeded to do. It +is even less than we had expected. Forward they have half a tank full +of biscuits, three barrels of salt meat, and a very limited supply of +coffee beans and sugar. In the after-hold and lockers there are a good +many luxuries, such as tinned salmon, soups, haricot mutton, &c., but +they will go a very short way among a crew of fifty men. There are two +barrels of flour in the store-room, and an unlimited supply of tobacco. +Altogether there is about enough to keep the men on half rations for +eighteen or twenty days--certainly not more. When we reported the +state of things to the Captain, he ordered all hands to be piped, +and addressed them from the quarterdeck. I never saw him to better +advantage. With his tall, well-knit figure, and dark animated face, he +seemed a man born to command, and he discussed the situation in a cool +sailor-like way which showed that while appreciating the danger he had +an eye for every loophole of escape. + +“My lads,” he said, “no doubt you think I brought you into this fix, if +it is a fix, and maybe some of you feel bitter against me on account of +it. But you must remember that for many a season no ship that comes to +the country has brought in as much oil-money as the old Pole-Star, +and every one of you has had his share of it. You can leave your wives +behind you in comfort while other poor fellows come back to find their +lasses on the parish. If you have to thank me for the one you have to +thank me for the other, and we may call it quits. We’ve tried a bold +venture before this and succeeded, so now that we’ve tried one and +failed we’ve no cause to cry out about it. If the worst comes to the +worst, we can make the land across the ice, and lay in a stock of +seals which will keep us alive until the spring. It won’t come to that, +though, for you’ll see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are +out. At present every man must go on half rations, share and share +alike, and no favour to any. Keep up your hearts and you’ll pull through +this as you’ve pulled through many a danger before.” These few +simple words of his had a wonderful effect upon the crew. His former +unpopularity was forgotten, and the old harpooner whom I have already +mentioned for his superstition, led off three cheers, which were +heartily joined in by all hands. + +September 16th.--The wind has veered round to the north during the +night, and the ice shows some symptoms of opening out. The men are in +a good humour in spite of the short allowance upon which they have been +placed. Steam is kept up in the engine-room, that there may be no delay +should an opportunity for escape present itself. The Captain is in +exuberant spirits, though he still retains that wild “fey” expression +which I have already remarked upon. This burst of cheerfulness puzzles +me more than his former gloom. I cannot understand it. I think I +mentioned in an early part of this journal that one of his oddities is +that he never permits any person to enter his cabin, but insists upon +making his own bed, such as it is, and performing every other office for +himself. To my surprise he handed me the key to-day and requested me to +go down there and take the time by his chronometer while he measured +the altitude of the sun at noon. It is a bare little room, containing +a washing-stand and a few books, but little else in the way of luxury, +except some pictures upon the walls. The majority of these are small +cheap oleographs, but there was one water-colour sketch of the head of a +young lady which arrested my attention. It was evidently a portrait, and +not one of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors particularly +affect. No artist could have evolved from his own mind such a curious +mixture of character and weakness. The languid, dreamy eyes, with their +drooping lashes, and the broad, low brow, unruffled by thought or care, +were in strong contrast with the clean-cut, prominent jaw, and the +resolute set of the lower lip. Underneath it in one of the corners was +written, “M. B., aet. 19.” That any one in the short space of nineteen +years of existence could develop such strength of will as was stamped +upon her face seemed to me at the time to be well-nigh incredible. She +must have been an extraordinary woman. Her features have thrown such +a glamour over me that, though I had but a fleeting glance at them, I +could, were I a draughtsman, reproduce them line for line upon this page +of the journal. I wonder what part she has played in our Captain’s +life. He has hung her picture at the end of his berth, so that his eyes +continually rest upon it. Were he a less reserved man I should make +some remark upon the subject. Of the other things in his cabin there +was nothing worthy of mention--uniform coats, a camp-stool, small +looking-glass, tobacco-box, and numerous pipes, including an oriental +hookah--which, by-the-bye, gives some colour to Mr. Milne’s story about +his participation in the war, though the connection may seem rather a +distant one. + +11.20 P.M.--Captain just gone to bed after a long and interesting +conversation on general topics. When he chooses he can be a most +fascinating companion, being remarkably well-read, and having the power +of expressing his opinion forcibly without appearing to be dogmatic. I +hate to have my intellectual toes trod upon. He spoke about the nature +of the soul, and sketched out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon +the subject in a masterly manner. He seems to have a leaning for +metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras. In discussing them we +touched upon modern spiritualism, and I made some joking allusion to +the impostures of Slade, upon which, to my surprise, he warned me most +impressively against confusing the innocent with the guilty, and argued +that it would be as logical to brand Christianity as an error because +Judas, who professed that religion, was a villain. He shortly afterwards +bade me good-night and retired to his room. + +The wind is freshening up, and blows steadily from the north. The nights +are as dark now as they are in England. I hope to-morrow may set us free +from our frozen fetters. + +September 17th.--The Bogie again. Thank Heaven that I have strong +nerves! The superstition of these poor fellows, and the circumstantial +accounts which they give, with the utmost earnestness and +self-conviction, would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways. +There are many versions of the matter, but the sum-total of them all is +that something uncanny has been flitting round the ship all night, +and that Sandie M’Donald of Peterhead and “lang” Peter Williamson of +Shetland saw it, as also did Mr. Milne on the bridge--so, having three +witnesses, they can make a better case of it than the second mate did. +I spoke to Milne after breakfast, and told him that he should be above +such nonsense, and that as an officer he ought to set the men a better +example. He shook his weather-beaten head ominously, but answered with +characteristic caution, “Mebbe aye, mebbe na, Doctor,” he said; “I didna +ca’ it a ghaist. I canna’ say I preen my faith in sea-bogles an’ the +like, though there’s a mony as claims to ha’ seen a’ that and waur. I’m +no easy feared, but maybe your ain bluid would run a bit cauld, mun, if +instead o’ speerin’ aboot it in daylicht ye were wi’ me last night, an’ +seed an awfu’ like shape, white an’ gruesome, whiles here, whiles there, +an’ it greetin’ and ca’ing in the darkness like a bit lambie that hae +lost its mither. Ye would na’ be sae ready to put it a’ doon to auld +wives’ clavers then, I’m thinkin’.” I saw it was hopeless to reason with +him, so contented myself with begging him as a personal favour to call +me up the next time the spectre appeared--a request to which he acceded +with many ejaculations expressive of his hopes that such an opportunity +might never arise. + +As I had hoped, the white desert behind us has become broken by many +thin streaks of water which intersect it in all directions. Our latitude +to-day was 80 degrees 52’ N., which shows that there is a strong +southerly drift upon the pack. Should the wind continue favourable it +will break up as rapidly as it formed. At present we can do nothing but +smoke and wait and hope for the best. I am rapidly becoming a fatalist. +When dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice a man can be +nothing else. Perhaps it was the wind and sand of the Arabian deserts +which gave the minds of the original followers of Mahomet their tendency +to bow to kismet. + +These spectral alarms have a very bad effect upon the Captain. I feared +that it might excite his sensitive mind, and endeavoured to conceal the +absurd story from him, but unfortunately he overheard one of the men +making an allusion to it, and insisted upon being informed about it. As +I had expected, it brought out all his latent lunacy in an exaggerated +form. I can hardly believe that this is the same man who discoursed +philosophy last night with the most critical acumen and coolest +judgment. He is pacing backwards and forwards upon the quarterdeck like +a caged tiger, stopping now and again to throw out his hands with a +yearning gesture, and stare impatiently out over the ice. He keeps up a +continual mutter to himself, and once he called out, “But a little time, +love--but a little time!” Poor fellow, it is sad to see a gallant seaman +and accomplished gentleman reduced to such a pass, and to think that +imagination and delusion can cow a mind to which real danger was but the +salt of life. Was ever a man in such a position as I, between a demented +captain and a ghost-seeing mate? I sometimes think I am the only really +sane man aboard the vessel--except perhaps the second engineer, who is +a kind of ruminant, and would care nothing for all the fiends in the Red +Sea so long as they would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools. + +The ice is still opening rapidly, and there is every probability of +our being able to make a start to-morrow morning. They will think I +am inventing when I tell them at home all the strange things that have +befallen me. + +12 P.M.--I have been a good deal startled, though I feel steadier now, +thanks to a stiff glass of brandy. I am hardly myself yet, however, as +this handwriting will testify. The fact is, that I have gone through +a very strange experience, and am beginning to doubt whether I was +justified in branding every one on board as madmen because they +professed to have seen things which did not seem reasonable to my +understanding. Pshaw! I am a fool to let such a trifle unnerve me; and +yet, coming as it does after all these alarms, it has an additional +significance, for I cannot doubt either Mr. Manson’s story or that of +the mate, now that I have experienced that which I used formerly to +scoff at. + +After all it was nothing very alarming--a mere sound, and that was all. +I cannot expect that any one reading this, if any one ever should read +it, will sympathise with my feelings, or realise the effect which it +produced upon me at the time. Supper was over, and I had gone on deck +to have a quiet pipe before turning in. The night was very dark--so dark +that, standing under the quarter-boat, I was unable to see the officer +upon the bridge. I think I have already mentioned the extraordinary +silence which prevails in these frozen seas. In other parts of the +world, be they ever so barren, there is some slight vibration of the +air--some faint hum, be it from the distant haunts of men, or from the +leaves of the trees, or the wings of the birds, or even the faint rustle +of the grass that covers the ground. One may not actively perceive the +sound, and yet if it were withdrawn it would be missed. It is only here +in these Arctic seas that stark, unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself +upon you in all its gruesome reality. You find your tympanum straining +to catch some little murmur, and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental +sound within the vessel. In this state I was leaning against the +bulwarks when there arose from the ice almost directly underneath me a +cry, sharp and shrill, upon the silent air of the night, beginning, +as it seemed to me, at a note such as prima donna never reached, and +mounting from that ever higher and higher until it culminated in a long +wail of agony, which might have been the last cry of a lost soul. The +ghastly scream is still ringing in my ears. Grief, unutterable grief, +seemed to be expressed in it, and a great longing, and yet through it +all there was an occasional wild note of exultation. It shrilled out +from close beside me, and yet as I glared into the darkness I could +discern nothing. I waited some little time, but without hearing any +repetition of the sound, so I came below, more shaken than I have ever +been in my life before. As I came down the companion I met Mr. Milne +coming up to relieve the watch. “Weel, Doctor,” he said, “maybe that’s +auld wives’ clavers tae? Did ye no hear it skirling? Maybe that’s a +supersteetion? What d’ye think o’t noo?” I was obliged to apologise to +the honest fellow, and acknowledge that I was as puzzled by it as he +was. Perhaps to-morrow things may look different. At present I dare +hardly write all that I think. Reading it again in days to come, when +I have shaken off all these associations, I should despise myself for +having been so weak. + +September 18th.--Passed a restless and uneasy night, still haunted by +that strange sound. The Captain does not look as if he had had much +repose either, for his face is haggard and his eyes bloodshot. I have +not told him of my adventure of last night, nor shall I. He is already +restless and excited, standing up, sitting down, and apparently utterly +unable to keep still. + +A fine lead appeared in the pack this morning, as I had expected, and we +were able to cast off our ice-anchor, and steam about twelve miles in a +west-sou’-westerly direction. We were then brought to a halt by a +great floe as massive as any which we have left behind us. It bars our +progress completely, so we can do nothing but anchor again and wait +until it breaks up, which it will probably do within twenty-four hours, +if the wind holds. Several bladder-nosed seals were seen swimming in the +water, and one was shot, an immense creature more than eleven feet long. +They are fierce, pugnacious animals, and are said to be more than +a match for a bear. Fortunately they are slow and clumsy in their +movements, so that there is little danger in attacking them upon the +ice. + +The Captain evidently does not think we have seen the last of our +troubles, though why he should take a gloomy view of the situation is +more than I can fathom, since every one else on board considers that we +have had a miraculous escape, and are sure now to reach the open sea. + +“I suppose you think it’s all right now, Doctor?” he said, as we sat +together after dinner. + +“I hope so,” I answered. + +“We mustn’t be too sure--and yet no doubt you are right. We’ll all be +in the arms of our own true loves before long, lad, won’t we? But we +mustn’t be too sure--we mustn’t be too sure.” + +He sat silent a little, swinging his leg thoughtfully backwards and +forwards. “Look here,” he continued; “it’s a dangerous place this, even +at its best--a treacherous, dangerous place. I have known men cut off +very suddenly in a land like this. A slip would do it sometimes--a +single slip, and down you go through a crack, and only a bubble on the +green water to show where it was that you sank. It’s a queer thing,” + he continued with a nervous laugh, “but all the years I’ve been in this +country I never once thought of making a will--not that I have anything +to leave in particular, but still when a man is exposed to danger he +should have everything arranged and ready--don’t you think so?” + +“Certainly,” I answered, wondering what on earth he was driving at. + +“He feels better for knowing it’s all settled,” he went on. “Now if +anything should ever befall me, I hope that you will look after things +for me. There is very little in the cabin, but such as it is I should +like it to be sold, and the money divided in the same proportion as the +oil-money among the crew. The chronometer I wish you to keep yourself +as some slight remembrance of our voyage. Of course all this is a mere +precaution, but I thought I would take the opportunity of speaking +to you about it. I suppose I might rely upon you if there were any +necessity?” + +“Most assuredly,” I answered; “and since you are taking this step, I may +as well”---- + +“You! you!” he interrupted. “YOU’RE all right. What the devil is the +matter with YOU? There, I didn’t mean to be peppery, but I don’t like +to hear a young fellow, that has hardly began life, speculating about +death. Go up on deck and get some fresh air into your lungs instead of +talking nonsense in the cabin, and encouraging me to do the same.” + +The more I think of this conversation of ours the less do I like it. Why +should the man be settling his affairs at the very time when we seem to +be emerging from all danger? There must be some method in his madness. +Can it be that he contemplates suicide? I remember that upon one +occasion he spoke in a deeply reverent manner of the heinousness of the +crime of self-destruction. I shall keep my eye upon him, however, and +though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his cabin, I shall at least +make a point of remaining on deck as long as he stays up. + +Mr. Milne pooh-poohs my fears, and says it is only the “skipper’s little +way.” He himself takes a very rosy view of the situation. According +to him we shall be out of the ice by the day after to-morrow, pass Jan +Meyen two days after that, and sight Shetland in little more than a +week. I hope he may not be too sanguine. His opinion may be fairly +balanced against the gloomy precautions of the Captain, for he is an old +and experienced seaman, and weighs his words well before uttering them. + + ***** + +The long-impending catastrophe has come at last. I hardly know what to +write about it. The Captain is gone. He may come back to us again alive, +but I fear me--I fear me. It is now seven o’clock of the morning of the +19th of September. I have spent the whole night traversing the great +ice-floe in front of us with a party of seamen in the hope of coming +upon some trace of him, but in vain. I shall try to give some account of +the circumstances which attended upon his disappearance. Should any +one ever chance to read the words which I put down, I trust they will +remember that I do not write from conjecture or from hearsay, but that +I, a sane and educated man, am describing accurately what actually +occurred before my very eyes. My inferences are my own, but I shall be +answerable for the facts. + +The Captain remained in excellent spirits after the conversation which +I have recorded. He appeared to be nervous and impatient, however, +frequently changing his position, and moving his limbs in an aimless +choreic way which is characteristic of him at times. In a quarter of an +hour he went upon deck seven times, only to descend after a few hurried +paces. I followed him each time, for there was something about his face +which confirmed my resolution of not letting him out of my sight. He +seemed to observe the effect which his movements had produced, for he +endeavoured by an over-done hilarity, laughing boisterously at the very +smallest of jokes, to quiet my apprehensions. + +After supper he went on to the poop once more, and I with him. The night +was dark and very still, save for the melancholy soughing of the wind +among the spars. A thick cloud was coming up from the north-west, and the +ragged tentacles which it threw out in front of it were drifting across +the face of the moon, which only shone now and again through a rift in +the wrack. The Captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards, and then +seeing me still dogging him, he came across and hinted that he thought +I should be better below--which, I need hardly say, had the effect of +strengthening my resolution to remain on deck. + +I think he forgot about my presence after this, for he stood silently +leaning over the taffrail, and peering out across the great desert of +snow, part of which lay in shadow, while part glittered mistily in +the moonlight. Several times I could see by his movements that he was +referring to his watch, and once he muttered a short sentence, of which +I could only catch the one word “ready.” I confess to having felt an +eerie feeling creeping over me as I watched the loom of his tall figure +through the darkness, and noted how completely he fulfilled the idea of +a man who is keeping a tryst. A tryst with whom? Some vague perception +began to dawn upon me as I pieced one fact with another, but I was +utterly unprepared for the sequel. + +By the sudden intensity of his attitude I felt that he saw something. +I crept up behind him. He was staring with an eager questioning gaze +at what seemed to be a wreath of mist, blown swiftly in a line with +the ship. It was a dim, nebulous body, devoid of shape, sometimes more, +sometimes less apparent, as the light fell on it. The moon was dimmed +in its brilliancy at the moment by a canopy of thinnest cloud, like the +coating of an anemone. + +“Coming, lass, coming,” cried the skipper, in a voice of unfathomable +tenderness and compassion, like one who soothes a beloved one by some +favour long looked for, and as pleasant to bestow as to receive. + +What followed happened in an instant. I had no power to interfere. + +He gave one spring to the top of the bulwarks, and another which took +him on to the ice, almost to the feet of the pale misty figure. He +held out his hands as if to clasp it, and so ran into the darkness with +outstretched arms and loving words. I still stood rigid and motionless, +straining my eyes after his retreating form, until his voice died away +in the distance. I never thought to see him again, but at that moment +the moon shone out brilliantly through a chink in the cloudy heaven, and +illuminated the great field of ice. Then I saw his dark figure already +a very long way off, running with prodigious speed across the frozen +plain. That was the last glimpse which we caught of him--perhaps +the last we ever shall. A party was organised to follow him, and I +accompanied them, but the men’s hearts were not in the work, and nothing +was found. Another will be formed within a few hours. I can hardly +believe I have not been dreaming, or suffering from some hideous +nightmare, as I write these things down. + +7.30 P.M.--Just returned dead beat and utterly tired out from a second +unsuccessful search for the Captain. The floe is of enormous extent, for +though we have traversed at least twenty miles of its surface, there has +been no sign of its coming to an end. The frost has been so severe of +late that the overlying snow is frozen as hard as granite, otherwise we +might have had the footsteps to guide us. The crew are anxious that we +should cast off and steam round the floe and so to the southward, for +the ice has opened up during the night, and the sea is visible upon the +horizon. They argue that Captain Craigie is certainly dead, and that +we are all risking our lives to no purpose by remaining when we have an +opportunity of escape. Mr. Milne and I have had the greatest difficulty +in persuading them to wait until to-morrow night, and have been +compelled to promise that we will not under any circumstances delay our +departure longer than that. We propose therefore to take a few hours’ +sleep, and then to start upon a final search. + +September 20th, evening.--I crossed the ice this morning with a party of +men exploring the southern part of the floe, while Mr. Milne went off +in a northerly direction. We pushed on for ten or twelve miles without +seeing a trace of any living thing except a single bird, which fluttered +a great way over our heads, and which by its flight I should judge to +have been a falcon. The southern extremity of the ice field tapered away +into a long narrow spit which projected out into the sea. When we came +to the base of this promontory, the men halted, but I begged them to +continue to the extreme end of it, that we might have the satisfaction +of knowing that no possible chance had been neglected. + +We had hardly gone a hundred yards before M’Donald of Peterhead cried +out that he saw something in front of us, and began to run. We all got a +glimpse of it and ran too. At first it was only a vague darkness against +the white ice, but as we raced along together it took the shape of a +man, and eventually of the man of whom we were in search. He was lying +face downwards upon a frozen bank. Many little crystals of ice and +feathers of snow had drifted on to him as he lay, and sparkled upon his +dark seaman’s jacket. As we came up some wandering puff of wind caught +these tiny flakes in its vortex, and they whirled up into the air, +partially descended again, and then, caught once more in the current, +sped rapidly away in the direction of the sea. To my eyes it seemed but +a snow-drift, but many of my companions averred that it started up in +the shape of a woman, stooped over the corpse and kissed it, and then +hurried away across the floe. I have learned never to ridicule any man’s +opinion, however strange it may seem. Sure it is that Captain Nicholas +Craigie had met with no painful end, for there was a bright smile upon +his blue pinched features, and his hands were still outstretched as +though grasping at the strange visitor which had summoned him away into +the dim world that lies beyond the grave. + +We buried him the same afternoon with the ship’s ensign around him, and +a thirty-two pound shot at his feet. I read the burial service, while +the rough sailors wept like children, for there were many who owed much +to his kind heart, and who showed now the affection which his strange +ways had repelled during his lifetime. He went off the grating with a +dull, sullen splash, and as I looked into the green water I saw him go +down, down, down until he was but a little flickering patch of white +hanging upon the outskirts of eternal darkness. Then even that faded +away, and he was gone. There he shall lie, with his secret and his +sorrows and his mystery all still buried in his breast, until that great +day when the sea shall give up its dead, and Nicholas Craigie come out +from among the ice with the smile upon his face, and his stiffened arms +outstretched in greeting. I pray that his lot may be a happier one in +that life than it has been in this. + +I shall not continue my journal. Our road to home lies plain and clear +before us, and the great ice field will soon be but a remembrance of +the past. It will be some time before I get over the shock produced by +recent events. When I began this record of our voyage I little thought +of how I should be compelled to finish it. I am writing these final +words in the lonely cabin, still starting at times and fancying I hear +the quick nervous step of the dead man upon the deck above me. I entered +his cabin to-night, as was my duty, to make a list of his effects in +order that they might be entered in the official log. All was as it +had been upon my previous visit, save that the picture which I have +described as having hung at the end of his bed had been cut out of its +frame, as with a knife, and was gone. With this last link in a strange +chain of evidence I close my diary of the voyage of the Pole-Star. + + +[NOTE by Dr. John M’Alister Ray, senior.--I have read over the strange +events connected with the death of the Captain of the Pole-Star, as +narrated in the journal of my son. That everything occurred exactly as +he describes it I have the fullest confidence, and, indeed, the +most positive certainty, for I know him to be a strong-nerved and +unimaginative man, with the strictest regard for veracity. Still, the +story is, on the face of it, so vague and so improbable, that I was long +opposed to its publication. Within the last few days, however, I have +had independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light +upon it. I had run down to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the British +Medical Association, when I chanced to come across Dr. P----, an old +college chum of mine, now practising at Saltash, in Devonshire. Upon my +telling him of this experience of my son’s, he declared to me that he +was familiar with the man, and proceeded, to my no small surprise, to +give me a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that +given in the journal, except that he depicted him as a younger man. +According to his account, he had been engaged to a young lady of +singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast. During his absence at +sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror.] + + + + +J. HABAKUK JEPHSON’S STATEMENT. + +In the month of December in the year 1873, the British ship Dei Gratia +steered into Gibraltar, having in tow the derelict brigantine Marie +Celeste, which had been picked up in latitude 38 degrees 40’, longitude +17 degrees 15’ W. There were several circumstances in connection with +the condition and appearance of this abandoned vessel which excited +considerable comment at the time, and aroused a curiosity which has +never been satisfied. What these circumstances were was summed up in an +able article which appeared in the Gibraltar Gazette. The curious can +find it in the issue for January 4, 1874, unless my memory deceives me. +For the benefit of those, however, who may be unable to refer to the +paper in question, I shall subjoin a few extracts which touch upon the +leading features of the case. + +“We have ourselves,” says the anonymous writer in the Gazette, “been +over the derelict Marie Celeste, and have closelY questioned the officers +of the Dei Gratia on every point which might throw light on the affair. +They are of opinion that she had been abandoned several days, or perhaps +weeks, before being picked up. The official log, which was found in the +cabin, states that the vessel sailed from Boston to Lisbon, starting +upon October 16. It is, however, most imperfectly kept, and affords +little information. There is no reference to rough weather, and, indeed, +the state of the vessel’s paint and rigging excludes the idea that she +was abandoned for any such reason. She is perfectly watertight. No signs +of a struggle or of violence are to be detected, and there is absolutely +nothing to account for the disappearance of the crew. There are several +indications that a lady was present on board, a sewing-machine being +found in the cabin and some articles of female attire. These probably +belonged to the captain’s wife, who is mentioned in the log as having +accompanied her husband. As an instance of the mildness of the weather, +it may be remarked that a bobbin of silk was found standing upon +the sewing-machine, though the least roll of the vessel would have +precipitated it to the floor. The boats were intact and slung upon the +davits; and the cargo, consisting of tallow and American clocks, was +untouched. An old-fashioned sword of curious workmanship was discovered +among some lumber in the forecastle, and this weapon is said to exhibit +a longitudinal striation on the steel, as if it had been recently wiped. +It has been placed in the hands of the police, and submitted to Dr. +Monaghan, the analyst, for inspection. The result of his examination +has not yet been published. We may remark, in conclusion, that Captain +Dalton, of the Dei Gratia, an able and intelligent seaman, is of opinion +that the Marie Celeste may have been abandoned a considerable distance +from the spot at which she was picked up, since a powerful current runs +up in that latitude from the African coast. He confesses his inability, +however, to advance any hypothesis which can reconcile all the facts of +the case. In the utter absence of a clue or grain of evidence, it is to +be feared that the fate of the crew of the Marie Celeste will be added +to those numerous mysteries of the deep which will never be solved until +the great day when the sea shall give up its dead. If crime has been +committed, as is much to be suspected, there is little hope of bringing +the perpetrators to justice.” + +I shall supplement this extract from the Gibraltar Gazette by quoting +a telegram from Boston, which went the round of the English papers, and +represented the total amount of information which had been collected +about the Marie Celeste. “She was,” it said, “a brigantine of 170 tons +burden, and belonged to White, Russell & White, wine importers, of this +city. Captain J. W. Tibbs was an old servant of the firm, and was a man +of known ability and tried probity. He was accompanied by his wife, aged +thirty-one, and their youngest child, five years old. The crew consisted +of seven hands, including two coloured seamen, and a boy. There were +three passengers, one of whom was the well-known Brooklyn specialist on +consumption, Dr. Habakuk Jephson, who was a distinguished advocate +for Abolition in the early days of the movement, and whose pamphlet, +entitled “Where is thy Brother?” exercised a strong influence on public +opinion before the war. The other passengers were Mr. J. Harton, a +writer in the employ of the firm, and Mr. Septimius Goring, a half-caste +gentleman, from New Orleans. All investigations have failed to throw +any light upon the fate of these fourteen human beings. The loss of Dr. +Jephson will be felt both in political and scientific circles.” + +I have here epitomised, for the benefit of the public, all that has been +hitherto known concerning the Marie Celeste and her crew, for the past +ten years have not in any way helped to elucidate the mystery. I have +now taken up my pen with the intention of telling all that I know of the +ill-fated voyage. I consider that it is a duty which I owe to society, +for symptoms which I am familiar with in others lead me to believe +that before many months my tongue and hand may be alike incapable of +conveying information. Let me remark, as a preface to my narrative, that +I am Joseph Habakuk Jephson, Doctor of Medicine of the University +of Harvard, and ex-Consulting Physician of the Samaritan Hospital of +Brooklyn. + +Many will doubtless wonder why I have not proclaimed myself before, +and why I have suffered so many conjectures and surmises to pass +unchallenged. Could the ends of justice have been served in any way by +my revealing the facts in my possession I should unhesitatingly have +done so. It seemed to me, however, that there was no possibility of such +a result; and when I attempted, after the occurrence, to state my case +to an English official, I was met with such offensive incredulity that +I determined never again to expose myself to the chance of such an +indignity. I can excuse the discourtesy of the Liverpool magistrate, +however, when I reflect upon the treatment which I received at the hands +of my own relatives, who, though they knew my unimpeachable character, +listened to my statement with an indulgent smile as if humouring the +delusion of a monomaniac. This slur upon my veracity led to a quarrel +between myself and John Vanburger, the brother of my wife, and +confirmed me in my resolution to let the matter sink into oblivion--a +determination which I have only altered through my son’s solicitations. +In order to make my narrative intelligible, I must run lightly over one +or two incidents in my former life which throw light upon subsequent +events. + +My father, William K. Jephson, was a preacher of the sect called +Plymouth Brethren, and was one of the most respected citizens of Lowell. +Like most of the other Puritans of New England, he was a determined +opponent to slavery, and it was from his lips that I received those +lessons which tinged every action of my life. While I was studying +medicine at Harvard University, I had already made a mark as an advanced +Abolitionist; and when, after taking my degree, I bought a third share +of the practice of Dr. Willis, of Brooklyn, I managed, in spite of my +professional duties, to devote a considerable time to the cause which I +had at heart, my pamphlet, “Where is thy Brother?” (Swarburgh, Lister & +Co., 1859) attracting considerable attention. + +When the war broke out I left Brooklyn and accompanied the 113th New +York Regiment through the campaign. I was present at the second battle +of Bull’s Run and at the battle of Gettysburg. Finally, I was severely +wounded at Antietam, and would probably have perished on the field had +it not been for the kindness of a gentleman named Murray, who had me +carried to his house and provided me with every comfort. Thanks to his +charity, and to the nursing which I received from his black domestics, +I was soon able to get about the plantation with the help of a stick. It +was during this period of convalescence that an incident occurred which +is closely connected with my story. + +Among the most assiduous of the negresses who had watched my couch +during my illness there was one old crone who appeared to exert +considerable authority over the others. She was exceedingly attentive +to me, and I gathered from the few words that passed between us that +she had heard of me, and that she was grateful to me for championing her +oppressed race. + +One day as I was sitting alone in the verandah, basking in the sun, and +debating whether I should rejoin Grant’s army, I was surprised to see +this old creature hobbling towards me. After looking cautiously around +to see that we were alone, she fumbled in the front of her dress and +produced a small chamois leather bag which was hung round her neck by a +white cord. + +“Massa,” she said, bending down and croaking the words into my ear, +“me die soon. Me very old woman. Not stay long on Massa Murray’s +plantation.” + +“You may live a long time yet, Martha,” I answered. “You know I am a +doctor. If you feel ill let me know about it, and I will try to cure +you.” + +“No wish to live--wish to die. I’m gwine to join the heavenly host.” + Here she relapsed into one of those half-heathenish rhapsodies in which +negroes indulge. “But, massa, me have one thing must leave behind me +when I go. No able to take it with me across the Jordan. That one thing +very precious, more precious and more holy than all thing else in the +world. Me, a poor old black woman, have this because my people, very +great people, ‘spose they was back in the old country. But you cannot +understand this same as black folk could. My fader give it me, and his +fader give it him, but now who shall I give it to? Poor Martha hab no +child, no relation, nobody. All round I see black man very bad man. +Black woman very stupid woman. Nobody worthy of the stone. And so I say, +Here is Massa Jephson who write books and fight for coloured folk--he +must be good man, and he shall have it though he is white man, and +nebber can know what it mean or where it came from.” Here the old woman +fumbled in the chamois leather bag and pulled out a flattish black +stone with a hole through the middle of it. “Here, take it,” she said, +pressing it into my hand; “take it. No harm nebber come from anything +good. Keep it safe--nebber lose it!” and with a warning gesture the old +crone hobbled away in the same cautious way as she had come, looking +from side to side to see if we had been observed. + +I was more amused than impressed by the old woman’s earnestness, and was +only prevented from laughing during her oration by the fear of hurting +her feelings. When she was gone I took a good look at the stone which +she had given me. It was intensely black, of extreme hardness, and oval +in shape--just such a flat stone as one would pick up on the seashore if +one wished to throw a long way. It was about three inches long, and an +inch and a half broad at the middle, but rounded off at the extremities. +The most curious part about it were several well-marked ridges which ran +in semicircles over its surface, and gave it exactly the appearance of a +human ear. Altogether I was rather interested in my new possession, +and determined to submit it, as a geological specimen, to my friend +Professor Shroeder of the New York Institute, upon the earliest +opportunity. In the meantime I thrust it into my pocket, and rising from +my chair started off for a short stroll in the shrubbery, dismissing the +incident from my mind. + +As my wound had nearly healed by this time, I took my leave of Mr. +Murray shortly afterwards. The Union armies were everywhere victorious +and converging on Richmond, so that my assistance seemed unnecessary, +and I returned to Brooklyn. There I resumed my practice, and married the +second daughter of Josiah Vanburger, the well-known wood engraver. In +the course of a few years I built up a good connection and acquired +considerable reputation in the treatment of pulmonary complaints. I +still kept the old black stone in my pocket, and frequently told the +story of the dramatic way in which I had become possessed of it. I also +kept my resolution of showing it to Professor Shroeder, who was much +interested both by the anecdote and the specimen. He pronounced it to +be a piece of meteoric stone, and drew my attention to the fact that its +resemblance to an ear was not accidental, but that it was most carefully +worked into that shape. A dozen little anatomical points showed that the +worker had been as accurate as he was skilful. “I should not wonder,” + said the Professor, “if it were broken off from some larger statue, +though how such hard material could be so perfectly worked is more than +I can understand. If there is a statue to correspond I should like to +see it!” So I thought at the time, but I have changed my opinion since. + +The next seven or eight years of my life were quiet and uneventful. + +Summer followed spring, and spring followed winter, without any +variation in my duties. As the practice increased I admitted J. S. +Jackson as partner, he to have one-fourth of the profits. The continued +strain had told upon my constitution, however, and I became at last so +unwell that my wife insisted upon my consulting Dr. Kavanagh Smith, who +was my colleague at the Samaritan Hospital. + +That gentleman examined me, and pronounced the apex of my left lung to +be in a state of consolidation, recommending me at the same time to go +through a course of medical treatment and to take a long sea-voyage. + +My own disposition, which is naturally restless, predisposed me strongly +in favour of the latter piece of advice, and the matter was clinched +by my meeting young Russell, of the firm of White, Russell & White, who +offered me a passage in one of his father’s ships, the Marie Celeste, +which was just starting from Boston. “She is a snug little ship,” he +said, “and Tibbs, the captain, is an excellent fellow. There is nothing +like a sailing ship for an invalid.” I was very much of the same opinion +myself, so I closed with the offer on the spot. + +My original plan was that my wife should accompany me on my travels. +She has always been a very poor sailor, however, and there were strong +family reasons against her exposing herself to any risk at the time, so +we determined that she should remain at home. I am not a religious or an +effusive man; but oh, thank God for that! As to leaving my practice, I +was easily reconciled to it, as Jackson, my partner, was a reliable and +hard-working man. + +I arrived in Boston on October 12, 1873, and proceeded immediately to +the office of the firm in order to thank them for their courtesy. As +I was sitting in the counting-house waiting until they should be +at liberty to see me, the words Marie Celeste suddenly attracted my +attention. I looked round and saw a very tall, gaunt man, who was +leaning across the polished mahogany counter asking some questions of +the clerk at the other side. His face was turned half towards me, and +I could see that he had a strong dash of negro blood in him, being +probably a quadroon or even nearer akin to the black. His curved +aquiline nose and straight lank hair showed the white strain; but the +dark restless eye, sensuous mouth, and gleaming teeth all told of his +African origin. His complexion was of a sickly, unhealthy yellow, and as +his face was deeply pitted with small-pox, the general impression was so +unfavourable as to be almost revolting. When he spoke, however, it +was in a soft, melodious voice, and in well-chosen words, and he was +evidently a man of some education. + +“I wished to ask a few questions about the Marie Celeste,” he repeated, +leaning across to the clerk. “She sails the day after to-morrow, does +she not?” + +“Yes, sir,” said the young clerk, awed into unusual politeness by the +glimmer of a large diamond in the stranger’s shirt front. + +“Where is she bound for?” + +“Lisbon.” + +“How many of a crew?” + +“Seven, sir.” + +“Passengers?” + +“Yes, two. One of our young gentlemen, and a doctor from New York.” + +“No gentleman from the South?” asked the stranger eagerly. + +“No, none, sir.” + +“Is there room for another passenger?” + +“Accommodation for three more,” answered the clerk. + +“I’ll go,” said the quadroon decisively; “I’ll go, I’ll engage my +passage at once. Put it down, will you--Mr. Septimius Goring, of New +Orleans.” + +The clerk filled up a form and handed it over to the stranger, pointing +to a blank space at the bottom. As Mr. Goring stooped over to sign it +I was horrified to observe that the fingers of his right hand had been +lopped off, and that he was holding the pen between his thumb and the +palm. I have seen thousands slain in battle, and assisted at every +conceivable surgical operation, but I cannot recall any sight which gave +me such a thrill of disgust as that great brown sponge-like hand with +the single member protruding from it. He used it skilfully enough, +however, for, dashing off his signature, he nodded to the clerk and +strolled out of the office just as Mr. White sent out word that he was +ready to receive me. + +I went down to the Marie Celeste that evening, and looked over my +berth, which was extremely comfortable considering the small size of the +vessel. Mr. Goring, whom I had seen in the morning, was to have the one +next mine. Opposite was the captain’s cabin and a small berth for Mr. +John Harton, a gentleman who was going out in the interests of the firm. +These little rooms were arranged on each side of the passage which led +from the main-deck to the saloon. The latter was a comfortable room, +the panelling tastefully done in oak and mahogany, with a rich +Brussels carpet and luxurious settees. I was very much pleased with the +accommodation, and also with Tibbs the captain, a bluff, sailor-like +fellow, with a loud voice and hearty manner, who welcomed me to the ship +with effusion, and insisted upon our splitting a bottle of wine in his +cabin. He told me that he intended to take his wife and youngest child +with him on the voyage, and that he hoped with good luck to make Lisbon +in three weeks. We had a pleasant chat and parted the best of friends, +he warning me to make the last of my preparations next morning, as he +intended to make a start by the midday tide, having now shipped all +his cargo. I went back to my hotel, where I found a letter from my wife +awaiting me, and, after a refreshing night’s sleep, returned to the +boat in the morning. From this point I am able to quote from the journal +which I kept in order to vary the monotony of the long sea-voyage. If +it is somewhat bald in places I can at least rely upon its accuracy in +details, as it was written conscientiously from day to day. + +October 16.--Cast off our warps at half-past two and were towed out into +the bay, where the tug left us, and with all sail set we bowled along at +about nine knots an hour. I stood upon the poop watching the low land of +America sinking gradually upon the horizon until the evening haze hid it +from my sight. A single red light, however, continued to blaze balefully +behind us, throwing a long track like a trail of blood upon the water, +and it is still visible as I write, though reduced to a mere speck. The +Captain is in a bad humour, for two of his hands disappointed him at +the last moment, and he was compelled to ship a couple of negroes +who happened to be on the quay. The missing men were steady, reliable +fellows, who had been with him several voyages, and their non-appearance +puzzled as well as irritated him. Where a crew of seven men have to work +a fair-sized ship the loss of two experienced seamen is a serious one, +for though the negroes may take a spell at the wheel or swab the decks, +they are of little or no use in rough weather. Our cook is also a black +man, and Mr. Septimius Goring has a little darkie servant, so that we +are rather a piebald community. The accountant, John Harton, promises to +be an acquisition, for he is a cheery, amusing young fellow. Strange how +little wealth has to do with happiness! He has all the world before him +and is seeking his fortune in a far land, yet he is as transparently +happy as a man can be. Goring is rich, if I am not mistaken, and so am +I; but I know that I have a lung, and Goring has some deeper trouble +still, to judge by his features. How poorly do we both contrast with the +careless, penniless clerk! + +October 17.--Mrs. Tibbs appeared upon deck for the first time this +morning--a cheerful, energetic woman, with a dear little child just able +to walk and prattle. Young Harton pounced on it at once, and carried +it away to his cabin, where no doubt he will lay the seeds of future +dyspepsia in the child’s stomach. Thus medicine doth make cynics of us +all! The weather is still all that could be desired, with a fine fresh +breeze from the west-sou’-west. The vessel goes so steadily that you +would hardly know that she was moving were it not for the creaking of +the cordage, the bellying of the sails, and the long white furrow in our +wake. Walked the quarter-deck all morning with the Captain, and I think +the keen fresh air has already done my breathing good, for the exercise +did not fatigue me in any way. Tibbs is a remarkably intelligent man, +and we had an interesting argument about Maury’s observations on ocean +currents, which we terminated by going down into his cabin to consult +the original work. There we found Goring, rather to the Captain’s +surprise, as it is not usual for passengers to enter that sanctum unless +specially invited. He apologised for his intrusion, however, pleading +his ignorance of the usages of ship life; and the good-natured sailor +simply laughed at the incident, begging him to remain and favour us with +his company. Goring pointed to the chronometers, the case of which +he had opened, and remarked that he had been admiring them. He has +evidently some practical knowledge of mathematical instruments, as he +told at a glance which was the most trustworthy of the three, and also +named their price within a few dollars. He had a discussion with the +Captain too upon the variation of the compass, and when we came back to +the ocean currents he showed a thorough grasp of the subject. Altogether +he rather improves upon acquaintance, and is a man of decided culture +and refinement. His voice harmonises with his conversation, and both are +the very antithesis of his face and figure. + +The noonday observation shows that we have run two hundred and twenty +miles. Towards evening the breeze freshened up, and the first mate +ordered reefs to be taken in the topsails and top-gallant sails in +expectation of a windy night. I observe that the barometer has fallen to +twenty-nine. I trust our voyage will not be a rough one, as I am a poor +sailor, and my health would probably derive more harm than good from +a stormy trip, though I have the greatest confidence in the Captain’s +seamanship and in the soundness of the vessel. Played cribbage with Mrs. +Tibbs after supper, and Harton gave us a couple of tunes on the violin. + +October 18.--The gloomy prognostications of last night were not +fulfilled, as the wind died away again, and we are lying now in a long +greasy swell, ruffled here and there by a fleeting catspaw which is +insufficient to fill the sails. The air is colder than it was yesterday, +and I have put on one of the thick woollen jerseys which my wife knitted +for me. Harton came into my cabin in the morning, and we had a cigar +together. He says that he remembers having seen Goring in Cleveland, +Ohio, in ‘69. He was, it appears, a mystery then as now, wandering +about without any visible employment, and extremely reticent on his own +affairs. The man interests me as a psychological study. At breakfast +this morning I suddenly had that vague feeling of uneasiness which comes +over some people when closely stared at, and, looking quickly up, I +met his eyes bent upon me with an intensity which amounted to ferocity, +though their expression instantly softened as he made some conventional +remark upon the weather. Curiously enough, Harton says that he had +a very similar experience yesterday upon deck. I observe that Goring +frequently talks to the coloured seamen as he strolls about--a trait +which I rather admire, as it is common to find half-breeds ignore their +dark strain and treat their black kinsfolk with greater intolerance than +a white man would do. His little page is devoted to him, apparently, +which speaks well for his treatment of him. Altogether, the man is a +curious mixture of incongruous qualities, and unless I am deceived in +him will give me food for observation during the voyage. + +The Captain is grumbling about his chronometers, which do not register +exactly the same time. He says it is the first time that they have ever +disagreed. We were unable to get a noonday observation on account of the +haze. By dead reckoning, we have done about a hundred and seventy miles +in the twenty-four hours. The dark seamen have proved, as the skipper +prophesied, to be very inferior hands, but as they can both manage the +wheel well they are kept steering, and so leave the more experienced men +to work the ship. These details are trivial enough, but a small thing +serves as food for gossip aboard ship. The appearance of a whale in the +evening caused quite a flutter among us. From its sharp back and forked +tail, I should pronounce it to have been a rorqual, or “finner,” as they +are called by the fishermen. + +October 19.--Wind was cold, so I prudently remained in my cabin all day, +only creeping out for dinner. Lying in my bunk I can, without moving, +reach my books, pipes, or anything else I may want, which is one +advantage of a small apartment. My old wound began to ache a little +to-day, probably from the cold. Read “Montaigne’s Essays” and nursed +myself. Harton came in in the afternoon with Doddy, the Captain’s child, +and the skipper himself followed, so that I held quite a reception. + +October 20 and 21.--Still cold, with a continual drizzle of rain, and +I have not been able to leave the cabin. This confinement makes me feel +weak and depressed. Goring came in to see me, but his company did not +tend to cheer me up much, as he hardly uttered a word, but contented +himself with staring at me in a peculiar and rather irritating manner. +He then got up and stole out of the cabin without saying anything. I am +beginning to suspect that the man is a lunatic. I think I mentioned that +his cabin is next to mine. The two are simply divided by a thin wooden +partition which is cracked in many places, some of the cracks being +so large that I can hardly avoid, as I lie in my bunk, observing his +motions in the adjoining room. Without any wish to play the spy, I see +him continually stooping over what appears to be a chart and working +with a pencil and compasses. I have remarked the interest he displays +in matters connected with navigation, but I am surprised that he should +take the trouble to work out the course of the ship. However, it is a +harmless amusement enough, and no doubt he verifies his results by those +of the Captain. + +I wish the man did not run in my thoughts so much. I had a nightmare on +the night of the 20th, in which I thought my bunk was a coffin, that I +was laid out in it, and that Goring was endeavouring to nail up the +lid, which I was frantically pushing away. Even when I woke up, I could +hardly persuade myself that I was not in a coffin. As a medical man, I +know that a nightmare is simply a vascular derangement of the cerebral +hemispheres, and yet in my weak state I cannot shake off the morbid +impression which it produces. + +October 22.--A fine day, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and a fresh +breeze from the sou’-west which wafts us gaily on our way. There has +evidently been some heavy weather near us, as there is a tremendous +swell on, and the ship lurches until the end of the fore-yard nearly +touches the water. Had a refreshing walk up and down the quarter-deck, +though I have hardly found my sea-legs yet. Several small +birds--chaffinches, I think--perched in the rigging. + +4.40 P.M.--While I was on deck this morning I heard a sudden explosion +from the direction of my cabin, and, hurrying down, found that I had +very nearly met with a serious accident. Goring was cleaning a revolver, +it seems, in his cabin, when one of the barrels which he thought was +unloaded went off. The ball passed through the side partition and +imbedded itself in the bulwarks in the exact place where my head usually +rests. I have been under fire too often to magnify trifles, but there is +no doubt that if I had been in the bunk it must have killed me. Goring, +poor fellow, did not know that I had gone on deck that day, and must +therefore have felt terribly frightened. I never saw such emotion in a +man’s face as when, on rushing out of his cabin with the smoking pistol +in his hand, he met me face to face as I came down from deck. Of +course, he was profuse in his apologies, though I simply laughed at the +incident. + +11 P.M.--A misfortune has occurred so unexpected and so horrible that +my little escape of the morning dwindles into insignificance. Mrs. Tibbs +and her child have disappeared--utterly and entirely disappeared. I can +hardly compose myself to write the sad details. + +About half-past eight Tibbs rushed into my cabin with a very white face +and asked me if I had seen his wife. I answered that I had not. He then +ran wildly into the saloon and began groping about for any trace of her, +while I followed him, endeavouring vainly to persuade him that his fears +were ridiculous. We hunted over the ship for an hour and a half without +coming on any sign of the missing woman or child. Poor Tibbs lost +his voice completely from calling her name. Even the sailors, who are +generally stolid enough, were deeply affected by the sight of him as +he roamed bareheaded and dishevelled about the deck, searching with +feverish anxiety the most impossible places, and returning to them again +and again with a piteous pertinacity. The last time she was seen was +about seven o’clock, when she took Doddy on to the poop to give him a +breath of fresh air before putting him to bed. There was no one there +at the time except the black seaman at the wheel, who denies having seen +her at all. The whole affair is wrapped in mystery. My own theory +is that while Mrs. Tibbs was holding the child and standing near the +bulwarks it gave a spring and fell overboard, and that in her convulsive +attempt to catch or save it, she followed it. I cannot account for the +double disappearance in any other way. It is quite feasible that such a +tragedy should be enacted without the knowledge of the man at the wheel, +since it was dark at the time, and the peaked skylights of the saloon +screen the greater part of the quarter-deck. Whatever the truth may be +it is a terrible catastrophe, and has cast the darkest gloom upon our +voyage. The mate has put the ship about, but of course there is not the +slightest hope of picking them up. The Captain is lying in a state of +stupor in his cabin. I gave him a powerful dose of opium in his coffee +that for a few hours at least his anguish may be deadened. + +October 23.--Woke with a vague feeling of heaviness and misfortune, but +it was not until a few moments’ reflection that I was able to recall +our loss of the night before. When I came on deck I saw the poor skipper +standing gazing back at the waste of waters behind us which contains +everything dear to him upon earth. I attempted to speak to him, but he +turned brusquely away, and began pacing the deck with his head sunk upon +his breast. Even now, when the truth is so clear, he cannot pass a boat +or an unbent sail without peering under it. He looks ten years older +than he did yesterday morning. Harton is terribly cut up, for he was +fond of little Doddy, and Goring seems sorry too. At least he has shut +himself up in his cabin all day, and when I got a casual glance at him +his head was resting on his two hands as if in a melancholy reverie. I +fear we are about as dismal a crew as ever sailed. How shocked my wife +will be to hear of our disaster! The swell has gone down now, and we +are doing about eight knots with all sail set and a nice little breeze. +Hyson is practically in command of the ship, as Tibbs, though he does +his best to bear up and keep a brave front, is incapable of applying +himself to serious work. + +October 24.--Is the ship accursed? Was there ever a voyage which began +so fairly and which changed so disastrously? Tibbs shot himself through +the head during the night. I was awakened about three o’clock in the +morning by an explosion, and immediately sprang out of bed and rushed +into the Captain’s cabin to find out the cause, though with a terrible +presentiment in my heart. Quickly as I went, Goring went more quickly +still, for he was already in the cabin stooping over the dead body of +the Captain. It was a hideous sight, for the whole front of his face +was blown in, and the little room was swimming in blood. The pistol was +lying beside him on the floor, just as it had dropped from his hand. He +had evidently put it to his mouth before pulling the trigger. Goring +and I picked him reverently up and laid him on his bed. The crew had all +clustered into his cabin, and the six white men were deeply grieved, for +they were old hands who had sailed with him many years. There were dark +looks and murmurs among them too, and one of them openly declared that +the ship was haunted. Harton helped to lay the poor skipper out, and +we did him up in canvas between us. At twelve o’clock the foreyard was +hauled aback, and we committed his body to the deep, Goring reading the +Church of England burial service. The breeze has freshened up, and we +have done ten knots all day and sometimes twelve. The sooner we reach +Lisbon and get away from this accursed ship the better pleased shall I +be. I feel as though we were in a floating coffin. + +Little wonder that the poor sailors are superstitious when I, an +educated man, feel it so strongly. + +October 25.--Made a good run all day. Feel listless and depressed. + +October 26.--Goring, Harton, and I had a chat together on deck in the +morning. Harton tried to draw Goring out as to his profession, and his +object in going to Europe, but the quadroon parried all his questions +and gave us no information. Indeed, he seemed to be slightly offended +by Harton’s pertinacity, and went down into his cabin. I wonder why +we should both take such an interest in this man! I suppose it is his +striking appearance, coupled with his apparent wealth, which piques our +curiosity. Harton has a theory that he is really a detective, that he +is after some criminal who has got away to Portugal, and that he chooses +this peculiar way of travelling that he may arrive unnoticed and +pounce upon his quarry unawares. I think the supposition is rather a +far-fetched one, but Harton bases it upon a book which Goring left +on deck, and which he picked up and glanced over. It was a sort of +scrap-book it seems, and contained a large number of newspaper cuttings. +All these cuttings related to murders which had been committed at +various times in the States during the last twenty years or so. The +curious thing which Harton observed about them, however, was that they +were invariably murders the authors of which had never been brought +to justice. They varied in every detail, he says, as to the manner of +execution and the social status of the victim, but they uniformly wound +up with the same formula that the murderer was still at large, though, +of course, the police had every reason to expect his speedy capture. +Certainly the incident seems to support Harton’s theory, though it +may be a mere whim of Gorings, or, as I suggested to Harton, he may be +collecting materials for a book which shall outvie De Quincey. In any +case it is no business of ours. + +October 27, 28.--Wind still fair, and we are making good progress. +Strange how easily a human unit may drop out of its place and be +forgotten! Tibbs is hardly ever mentioned now; Hyson has taken +possession of his cabin, and all goes on as before. Were it not for +Mrs. Tibbs’s sewing-machine upon a side-table we might forget that the +unfortunate family had ever existed. Another accident occurred on board +to-day, though fortunately not a very serious one. One of our white +hands had gone down the afterhold to fetch up a spare coil of rope, when +one of the hatches which he had removed came crashing down on the top of +him. He saved his life by springing out of the way, but one of his feet +was terribly crushed, and he will be of little use for the remainder of +the voyage. He attributes the accident to the carelessness of his negro +companion, who had helped him to shift the hatches. The latter, however, +puts it down to the roll of the ship. Whatever be the cause, it reduces +our shorthanded crew still further. This run of ill-luck seems to be +depressing Harton, for he has lost his usual good spirits and joviality. +Goring is the only one who preserves his cheerfulness. I see him still +working at his chart in his own cabin. His nautical knowledge would be +useful should anything happen to Hyson--which God forbid! + +October 29, 30.--Still bowling along with a fresh breeze. All quiet and +nothing of note to chronicle. + +October 31.--My weak lungs, combined with the exciting episodes of the +voyage, have shaken my nervous system so much that the most trivial +incident affects me. I can hardly believe that I am the same man who +tied the external iliac artery, an operation requiring the nicest +precision, under a heavy rifle fire at Antietam. I am as nervous as a +child. I was lying half dozing last night about four bells in the middle +watch trying in vain to drop into a refreshing sleep. There was no light +inside my cabin, but a single ray of moonlight streamed in through the +port-hole, throwing a silvery flickering circle upon the door. As I lay +I kept my drowsy eyes upon this circle, and was conscious that it was +gradually becoming less well-defined as my senses left me, when I was +suddenly recalled to full wakefulness by the appearance of a small +dark object in the very centre of the luminous disc. I lay quietly and +breathlessly watching it. Gradually it grew larger and plainer, and then +I perceived that it was a human hand which had been cautiously inserted +through the chink of the half-closed door--a hand which, as I observed +with a thrill of horror, was not provided with fingers. The door swung +cautiously backwards, and Goring’s head followed his hand. It appeared +in the centre of the moonlight, and was framed as it were in a ghastly +uncertain halo, against which his features showed out plainly. It seemed +to me that I had never seen such an utterly fiendish and merciless +expression upon a human face. His eyes were dilated and glaring, his +lips drawn back so as to show his white fangs, and his straight black +hair appeared to bristle over his low forehead like the hood of a cobra. +The sudden and noiseless apparition had such an effect upon me that I +sprang up in bed trembling in every limb, and held out my hand towards +my revolver. I was heartily ashamed of my hastiness when he explained +the object of his intrusion, as he immediately did in the most courteous +language. He had been suffering from toothache, poor fellow! and had +come in to beg some laudanum, knowing that I possessed a medicine chest. +As to a sinister expression he is never a beauty, and what with my state +of nervous tension and the effect of the shifting moonlight it was easy +to conjure up something horrible. I gave him twenty drops, and he went +off again with many expressions of gratitude. I can hardly say how much +this trivial incident affected me. I have felt unstrung all day. + +A week’s record of our voyage is here omitted, as nothing eventful +occurred during the time, and my log consists merely of a few pages of +unimportant gossip. + +November 7.--Harton and I sat on the poop all the morning, for the +weather is becoming very warm as we come into southern latitudes. We +reckon that we have done two-thirds of our voyage. How glad we shall +be to see the green banks of the Tagus, and leave this unlucky ship for +ever! I was endeavouring to amuse Harton to-day and to while away the +time by telling him some of the experiences of my past life. Among +others I related to him how I came into the possession of my black +stone, and as a finale I rummaged in the side pocket of my old shooting +coat and produced the identical object in question. He and I were +bending over it together, I pointing out to him the curious ridges upon +its surface, when we were conscious of a shadow falling between us and +the sun, and looking round saw Goring standing behind us glaring over +our shoulders at the stone. For some reason or other he appeared to be +powerfully excited, though he was evidently trying to control himself +and to conceal his emotion. He pointed once or twice at my relic with +his stubby thumb before he could recover himself sufficiently to ask +what it was and how I obtained it--a question put in such a brusque +manner that I should have been offended had I not known the man to be an +eccentric. I told him the story very much as I had told it to Harton. He +listened with the deepest interest, and then asked me if I had any idea +what the stone was. I said I had not, beyond that it was meteoric. He +asked me if I had ever tried its effect upon a negro. I said I had not. +“Come,” said he, “we’ll see what our black friend at the wheel thinks +of it.” He took the stone in his hand and went across to the sailor, +and the two examined it carefully. I could see the man gesticulating and +nodding his head excitedly as if making some assertion, while his face +betrayed the utmost astonishment, mixed I think with some reverence. +Goring came across the deck to us presently, still holding the stone in +his hand. “He says it is a worthless, useless thing,” he said, “and fit +only to be chucked overboard,” with which he raised his hand and would +most certainly have made an end of my relic, had the black sailor behind +him not rushed forward and seized him by the wrist. Finding himself +secured Goring dropped the stone and turned away with a very bad grace +to avoid my angry remonstrances at his breach of faith. The black +picked up the stone and handed it to me with a low bow and every sign of +profound respect. The whole affair is inexplicable. I am rapidly coming +to the conclusion that Goring is a maniac or something very near +one. When I compare the effect produced by the stone upon the sailor, +however, with the respect shown to Martha on the plantation, and the +surprise of Goring on its first production, I cannot but come to the +conclusion that I have really got hold of some powerful talisman which +appeals to the whole dark race. I must not trust it in Goring’s hands +again. + +November 8, 9.--What splendid weather we are having! Beyond one little +blow, we have had nothing but fresh breezes the whole voyage. These two +days we have made better runs than any hitherto. + +It is a pretty thing to watch the spray fly up from our prow as it cuts +through the waves. The sun shines through it and breaks it up into a +number of miniature rainbows--“sun-dogs,” the sailors call them. I stood +on the fo’csle-head for several hours to-day watching the effect, and +surrounded by a halo of prismatic colours. + +The steersman has evidently told the other blacks about my wonderful +stone, for I am treated by them all with the greatest respect. Talking +about optical phenomena, we had a curious one yesterday evening which +was pointed out to me by Hyson. This was the appearance of a triangular +well-defined object high up in the heavens to the north of us. He +explained that it was exactly like the Peak of Teneriffe as seen from +a great distance--the peak was, however, at that moment at least five +hundred miles to the south. It may have been a cloud, or it may have +been one of those strange reflections of which one reads. The weather +is very warm. The mate says that he never knew it so warm in these +latitudes. Played chess with Harton in the evening. + +November 10.--It is getting warmer and warmer. Some land birds came and +perched in the rigging today, though we are still a considerable way +from our destination. The heat is so great that we are too lazy to do +anything but lounge about the decks and smoke. Goring came over to me +to-day and asked me some more questions about my stone; but I answered +him rather shortly, for I have not quite forgiven him yet for the cool +way in which he attempted to deprive me of it. + +November 11, 12.--Still making good progress. I had no idea Portugal was +ever as hot as this, but no doubt it is cooler on land. Hyson himself +seemed surprised at it, and so do the men. + +November 13.--A most extraordinary event has happened, so extraordinary +as to be almost inexplicable. Either Hyson has blundered wonderfully, +or some magnetic influence has disturbed our instruments. Just about +daybreak the watch on the fo’csle-head shouted out that he heard the +sound of surf ahead, and Hyson thought he saw the loom of land. The ship +was put about, and, though no lights were seen, none of us doubted that +we had struck the Portuguese coast a little sooner than we had expected. +What was our surprise to see the scene which was revealed to us at break +of day! As far as we could look on either side was one long line of +surf, great, green billows rolling in and breaking into a cloud of foam. +But behind the surf what was there! Not the green banks nor the +high cliffs of the shores of Portugal, but a great sandy waste which +stretched away and away until it blended with the skyline. To right and +left, look where you would, there was nothing but yellow sand, heaped +in some places into fantastic mounds, some of them several hundred feet +high, while in other parts were long stretches as level apparently as a +billiard board. Harton and I, who had come on deck together, looked +at each other in astonishment, and Harton burst out laughing. Hyson +is exceedingly mortified at the occurrence, and protests that the +instruments have been tampered with. There is no doubt that this is the +mainland of Africa, and that it was really the Peak of Teneriffe which +we saw some days ago upon the northern horizon. At the time when we saw +the land birds we must have been passing some of the Canary Islands. If +we continued on the same course, we are now to the north of Cape Blanco, +near the unexplored country which skirts the great Sahara. All we can +do is to rectify our instruments as far as possible and start afresh for +our destination. + +8.30 P.M.--Have been lying in a calm all day. The coast is now about a +mile and a half from us. Hyson has examined the instruments, but cannot +find any reason for their extraordinary deviation. + +This is the end of my private journal, and I must make the remainder of +my statement from memory. There is little chance of my being mistaken +about facts which have seared themselves into my recollection. That very +night the storm which had been brewing so long burst over us, and I came +to learn whither all those little incidents were tending which I had +recorded so aimlessly. Blind fool that I was not to have seen it sooner! +I shall tell what occurred as precisely as I can. + +I had gone into my cabin about half-past eleven, and was preparing to go +to bed, when a tap came at my door. On opening it I saw Goring’s little +black page, who told me that his master would like to have a word with +me on deck. I was rather surprised that he should want me at such a late +hour, but I went up without hesitation. I had hardly put my foot on the +quarter-deck before I was seized from behind, dragged down upon my back, +and a handkerchief slipped round my mouth. I struggled as hard as I +could, but a coil of rope was rapidly and firmly wound round me, and I +found myself lashed to the davit of one of the boats, utterly powerless +to do or say anything, while the point of a knife pressed to my throat +warned me to cease my struggles. The night was so dark that I had +been unable hitherto to recognise my assailants, but as my eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, and the moon broke out through the clouds that +obscured it, I made out that I was surrounded by the two negro sailors, +the black cook, and my fellow-passenger Goring. Another man was +crouching on the deck at my feet, but he was in the shadow and I could +not recognise him. + +All this occurred so rapidly that a minute could hardly have elapsed +from the time I mounted the companion until I found myself gagged and +powerless. It was so sudden that I could scarce bring myself to realise +it, or to comprehend what it all meant. I heard the gang round me +speaking in short, fierce whispers to each other, and some instinct told +me that my life was the question at issue. Goring spoke authoritatively +and angrily--the others doggedly and all together, as if disputing his +commands. Then they moved away in a body to the opposite side of +the deck, where I could still hear them whispering, though they were +concealed from my view by the saloon skylights. + +All this time the voices of the watch on deck chatting and laughing at +the other end of the ship were distinctly audible, and I could see them +gathered in a group, little dreaming of the dark doings which were going +on within thirty yards of them. Oh! that I could have given them one +word of warning, even though I had lost my life in doing it! but it was +impossible. The moon was shining fitfully through the scattered clouds, +and I could see the silvery gleam of the surge, and beyond it the vast +weird desert with its fantastic sand-hills. Glancing down, I saw that +the man who had been crouching on the deck was still lying there, and +as I gazed at him, a flickering ray of moonlight fell full upon his +upturned face. Great Heaven! even now, when more than twelve years +have elapsed, my hand trembles as I write that, in spite of distorted +features and projecting eyes, I recognised the face of Harton, the +cheery young clerk who had been my companion during the voyage. It +needed no medical eye to see that he was quite dead, while the twisted +handkerchief round the neck, and the gag in his mouth, showed the +silent way in which the hell-hounds had done their work. The clue which +explained every event of our voyage came upon me like a flash of light +as I gazed on poor Harton’s corpse. Much was dark and unexplained, but I +felt a great dim perception of the truth. + +I heard the striking of a match at the other side of the skylights, and +then I saw the tall, gaunt figure of Goring standing up on the bulwarks +and holding in his hands what appeared to be a dark lantern. He lowered +this for a moment over the side of the ship, and, to my inexpressible +astonishment, I saw it answered instantaneously by a flash among the +sand-hills on shore, which came and went so rapidly, that unless I +had been following the direction of Goring’s gaze, I should never have +detected it. Again he lowered the lantern, and again it was answered +from the shore. He then stepped down from the bulwarks, and in doing so +slipped, making such a noise, that for a moment my heart bounded with +the thought that the attention of the watch would be directed to +his proceedings. It was a vain hope. The night was calm and the ship +motionless, so that no idea of duty kept them vigilant. Hyson, who after +the death of Tibbs was in command of both watches, had gone below to +snatch a few hours’ sleep, and the boatswain who was left in charge was +standing with the other two men at the foot of the foremast. Powerless, +speechless, with the cords cutting into my flesh and the murdered man at +my feet, I awaited the next act in the tragedy. + +The four ruffians were standing up now at the other side of the deck. +The cook was armed with some sort of a cleaver, the others had knives, +and Goring had a revolver. They were all leaning against the rail and +looking out over the water as if watching for something. I saw one of +them grasp another’s arm and point as if at some object, and following +the direction I made out the loom of a large moving mass making towards +the ship. As it emerged from the gloom I saw that it was a great canoe +crammed with men and propelled by at least a score of paddles. As it +shot under our stern the watch caught sight of it also, and raising +a cry hurried aft. They were too late, however. A swarm of gigantic +negroes clambered over the quarter, and led by Goring swept down the +deck in an irresistible torrent. All opposition was overpowered in a +moment, the unarmed watch were knocked over and bound, and the sleepers +dragged out of their bunks and secured in the same manner. + +Hyson made an attempt to defend the narrow passage leading to his cabin, +and I heard a scuffle, and his voice shouting for assistance. There +was none to assist, however, and he was brought on to the poop with the +blood streaming from a deep cut in his forehead. He was gagged like the +others, and a council was held upon our fate by the negroes. I saw our +black seamen pointing towards me and making some statement, which was +received with murmurs of astonishment and incredulity by the savages. +One of them then came over to me, and plunging his hand into my pocket +took out my black stone and held it up. He then handed it to a man who +appeared to be a chief, who examined it as minutely as the light would +permit, and muttering a few words passed it on to the warrior beside +him, who also scrutinised it and passed it on until it had gone from +hand to hand round the whole circle. The chief then said a few words +to Goring in the native tongue, on which the quadroon addressed me in +English. At this moment I seem to see the scene. The tall masts of the +ship with the moonlight streaming down, silvering the yards and bringing +the network of cordage into hard relief; the group of dusky warriors +leaning on their spears; the dead man at my feet; the line of +white-faced prisoners, and in front of me the loathsome half-breed, +looking in his white linen and elegant clothes a strange contrast to his +associates. + +“You will bear me witness,” he said in his softest accents, “that I am +no party to sparing your life. If it rested with me you would die as +these other men are about to do. I have no personal grudge against +either you or them, but I have devoted my life to the destruction of the +white race, and you are the first that has ever been in my power and has +escaped me. You may thank that stone of yours for your life. These poor +fellows reverence it, and indeed if it really be what they think it +is they have cause. Should it prove when we get ashore that they are +mistaken, and that its shape and material is a mere chance, nothing can +save your life. In the meantime we wish to treat you well, so if there +are any of your possessions which you would like to take with you, you +are at liberty to get them.” As he finished he gave a sign, and a couple +of the negroes unbound me, though without removing the gag. I was +led down into the cabin, where I put a few valuables into my pockets, +together with a pocket-compass and my journal of the voyage. They then +pushed me over the side into a small canoe, which was lying beside the +large one, and my guards followed me, and shoving off began paddling for +the shore. We had got about a hundred yards or so from the ship when +our steersman held up his hand, and the paddlers paused for a moment +and listened. Then on the silence of the night I heard a sort of dull, +moaning sound, followed by a succession of splashes in the water. That +is all I know of the fate of my poor shipmates. Almost immediately +afterwards the large canoe followed us, and the deserted ship was left +drifting about--a dreary, spectre-like hulk. Nothing was taken from her +by the savages. The whole fiendish transaction was carried through as +decorously and temperately as though it were a religious rite. + +The first grey of daylight was visible in the east as we passed through +the surge and reached the shore. Leaving half-a-dozen men with the +canoes, the rest of the negroes set off through the sand-hills, leading +me with them, but treating me very gently and respectfully. It was +difficult walking, as we sank over our ankles into the loose, shifting +sand at every step, and I was nearly dead beat by the time we reached +the native village, or town rather, for it was a place of considerable +dimensions. The houses were conical structures not unlike bee-hives, +and were made of compressed seaweed cemented over with a rude form of +mortar, there being neither stick nor stone upon the coast nor anywhere +within many hundreds of miles. As we entered the town an enormous crowd +of both sexes came swarming out to meet us, beating tom-toms and howling +and screaming. On seeing me they redoubled their yells and assumed a +threatening attitude, which was instantly quelled by a few words shouted +by my escort. A buzz of wonder succeeded the war-cries and yells of the +moment before, and the whole dense mass proceeded down the broad central +street of the town, having my escort and myself in the centre. + +My statement hitherto may seem so strange as to excite doubt in the +minds of those who do not know me, but it was the fact which I am now +about to relate which caused my own brother-in-law to insult me by +disbelief. I can but relate the occurrence in the simplest words, and +trust to chance and time to prove their truth. In the centre of this +main street there was a large building, formed in the same primitive way +as the others, but towering high above them; a stockade of beautifully +polished ebony rails was planted all round it, the framework of the door +was formed by two magnificent elephant’s tusks sunk in the ground on +each side and meeting at the top, and the aperture was closed by a +screen of native cloth richly embroidered with gold. We made our way +to this imposing-looking structure, but, on reaching the opening in the +stockade, the multitude stopped and squatted down upon their hams, while +I was led through into the enclosure by a few of the chiefs and +elders of the tribe, Goring accompanying us, and in fact directing the +proceedings. On reaching the screen which closed the temple--for such it +evidently was--my hat and my shoes were removed, and I was then led in, +a venerable old negro leading the way carrying in his hand my stone, +which had been taken from my pocket. The building was only lit up by +a few long slits in the roof, through which the tropical sun poured, +throwing broad golden bars upon the clay floor, alternating with +intervals of darkness. + +The interior was even larger than one would have imagined from the +outside appearance. The walls were hung with native mats, shells, and +other ornaments, but the remainder of the great space was quite empty, +with the exception of a single object in the centre. This was the figure +of a colossal negro, which I at first thought to be some real king or +high priest of titanic size, but as I approached it I saw by the way in +which the light was reflected from it that it was a statue admirably cut +in jet-black stone. I was led up to this idol, for such it seemed to be, +and looking at it closer I saw that though it was perfect in every other +respect, one of its ears had been broken short off. The grey-haired +negro who held my relic mounted upon a small stool, and stretching up +his arm fitted Martha’s black stone on to the jagged surface on the side +of the statue’s head. There could not be a doubt that the one had been +broken off from the other. The parts dovetailed together so accurately +that when the old man removed his hand the ear stuck in its place for +a few seconds before dropping into his open palm. The group round +me prostrated themselves upon the ground at the sight with a cry of +reverence, while the crowd outside, to whom the result was communicated, +set up a wild whooping and cheering. + +In a moment I found myself converted from a prisoner into a demi-god. +I was escorted back through the town in triumph, the people pressing +forward to touch my clothing and to gather up the dust on which my foot +had trod. One of the largest huts was put at my disposal, and a banquet +of every native delicacy was served me. I still felt, however, that I +was not a free man, as several spearmen were placed as a guard at the +entrance of my hut. All day my mind was occupied with plans of escape, +but none seemed in any way feasible. On the one side was the great arid +desert stretching away to Timbuctoo, on the other was a sea untraversed +by vessels. The more I pondered over the problem the more hopeless did +it seem. + +I little dreamed how near I was to its solution. + +Night had fallen, and the clamour of the negroes had died gradually +away. I was stretched on the couch of skins which had been provided +for me, and was still meditating over my future, when Goring walked +stealthily into the hut. My first idea was that he had come to complete +his murderous holocaust by making away with me, the last survivor, and +I sprang up upon my feet, determined to defend myself to the last. +He smiled when he saw the action, and motioned me down again while he +seated himself upon the other end of the couch. + +“What do you think of me?” was the astonishing question with which he +commenced our conversation. + +“Think of you!” I almost yelled. “I think you the vilest, most unnatural +renegade that ever polluted the earth. If we were away from these black +devils of yours I would strangle you with my hands!” + +“Don’t speak so loud,” he said, without the slightest appearance +of irritation. “I don’t want our chat to be cut short. So you would +strangle me, would you!” he went on, with an amused smile. “I suppose I +am returning good for evil, for I have come to help you to escape.” + +“You!” I gasped incredulously. + +“Yes, I,” he continued. + +“Oh, there is no credit to me in the matter. I am quite consistent. +There is no reason why I should not be perfectly candid with you. I wish +to be king over these fellows--not a very high ambition, certainly, but +you know what Caesar said about being first in a village in Gaul. Well, +this unlucky stone of yours has not only saved your life, but has turned +all their heads so that they think you are come down from heaven, and +my influence will be gone until you are out of the way. That is why I am +going to help you to escape, since I cannot kill you”--this in the most +natural and dulcet voice, as if the desire to do so were a matter of +course. + +“You would give the world to ask me a few questions,” he went on, after +a pause; “but you are too proud to do it. Never mind, I’ll tell you one +or two things, because I want your fellow white men to know them when +you go back--if you are lucky enough to get back. About that cursed +stone of yours, for instance. These negroes, or at least so the legend +goes, were Mahometans originally. While Mahomet himself was still alive, +there was a schism among his followers, and the smaller party moved away +from Arabia, and eventually crossed Africa. They took away with them, in +their exile, a valuable relic of their old faith in the shape of a large +piece of the black stone of Mecca. The stone was a meteoric one, as you +may have heard, and in its fall upon the earth it broke into two pieces. +One of these pieces is still at Mecca. The larger piece was carried away +to Barbary, where a skilful worker modelled it into the fashion which +you saw to-day. These men are the descendants of the original seceders +from Mahomet, and they have brought their relic safely through all their +wanderings until they settled in this strange place, where the desert +protects them from their enemies.” + +“And the ear?” I asked, almost involuntarily. + +“Oh, that was the same story over again. Some of the tribe wandered away +to the south a few hundred years ago, and one of them, wishing to have +good luck for the enterprise, got into the temple at night and carried +off one of the ears. There has been a tradition among the negroes ever +since that the ear would come back some day. The fellow who carried +it was caught by some slaver, no doubt, and that was how it got +into America, and so into your hands--and you have had the honour of +fulfilling the prophecy.” + +He paused for a few minutes, resting his head upon his hands, waiting +apparently for me to speak. When he looked up again, the whole +expression of his face had changed. His features were firm and set, and +he changed the air of half levity with which he had spoken before for +one of sternness and almost ferocity. + +“I wish you to carry a message back,” he said, “to the white race, +the great dominating race whom I hate and defy. Tell them that I have +battened on their blood for twenty years, that I have slain them +until even I became tired of what had once been a joy, that I did this +unnoticed and unsuspected in the face of every precaution which their +civilisation could suggest. There is no satisfaction in revenge when +your enemy does not know who has struck him. I am not sorry, therefore, +to have you as a messenger. There is no need why I should tell you +how this great hate became born in me. See this,” and he held up his +mutilated hand; “that was done by a white man’s knife. My father was +white, my mother was a slave. When he died she was sold again, and I, a +child then, saw her lashed to death to break her of some of the little +airs and graces which her late master had encouraged in her. My young +wife, too, oh, my young wife!” a shudder ran through his whole frame. +“No matter! I swore my oath, and I kept it. From Maine to Florida, and +from Boston to San Francisco, you could track my steps by sudden deaths +which baffled the police. I warred against the whole white race as they +for centuries had warred against the black one. At last, as I tell you, +I sickened of blood. Still, the sight of a white face was abhorrent to +me, and I determined to find some bold free black people and to throw +in my lot with them, to cultivate their latent powers, and to form +a nucleus for a great coloured nation. This idea possessed me, and I +travelled over the world for two years seeking for what I desired. At +last I almost despaired of finding it. There was no hope of regeneration +in the slave-dealing Soudanese, the debased Fantee, or the Americanised +negroes of Liberia. I was returning from my quest when chance brought me +in contact with this magnificent tribe of dwellers in the desert, and I +threw in my lot with them. Before doing so, however, my old instinct of +revenge prompted me to make one last visit to the United States, and I +returned from it in the Marie Celeste. + +“As to the voyage itself, your intelligence will have told you by this +time that, thanks to my manipulation, both compasses and chronometers +were entirely untrustworthy. I alone worked out the course with correct +instruments of my own, while the steering was done by my black friends +under my guidance. I pushed Tibbs’s wife overboard. What! You look +surprised and shrink away. Surely you had guessed that by this time. I +would have shot you that day through the partition, but unfortunately +you were not there. I tried again afterwards, but you were awake. I shot +Tibbs. I think the idea of suicide was carried out rather neatly. +Of course when once we got on the coast the rest was simple. I had +bargained that all on board should die; but that stone of yours upset my +plans. I also bargained that there should be no plunder. No one can +say we are pirates. We have acted from principle, not from any sordid +motive.” + +I listened in amazement to the summary of his crimes which this strange +man gave me, all in the quietest and most composed of voices, as though +detailing incidents of every-day occurrence. I still seem to see him +sitting like a hideous nightmare at the end of my couch, with the single +rude lamp flickering over his cadaverous features. + +“And now,” he continued, “there is no difficulty about your escape. +These stupid adopted children of mine will say that you have gone back +to heaven from whence you came. The wind blows off the land. I have +a boat all ready for you, well stored with provisions and water. I am +anxious to be rid of you, so you may rely that nothing is neglected. +Rise up and follow me.” + +I did what he commanded, and he led me through the door of the hut. + +The guards had either been withdrawn, or Goring had arranged matters +with them. We passed unchallenged through the town and across the sandy +plain. Once more I heard the roar of the sea, and saw the long white +line of the surge. Two figures were standing upon the shore arranging +the gear of a small boat. They were the two sailors who had been with us +on the voyage. + +“See him safely through the surf,” said Goring. The two men sprang in +and pushed off, pulling me in after them. With mainsail and jib we ran +out from the land and passed safely over the bar. Then my two companions +without a word of farewell sprang overboard, and I saw their heads like +black dots on the white foam as they made their way back to the shore, +while I scudded away into the blackness of the night. Looking back I +caught my last glimpse of Goring. He was standing upon the summit of a +sand-hill, and the rising moon behind him threw his gaunt angular figure +into hard relief. He was waving his arms frantically to and fro; it may +have been to encourage me on my way, but the gestures seemed to me at +the time to be threatening ones, and I have often thought that it was +more likely that his old savage instinct had returned when he realised +that I was out of his power. Be that as it may, it was the last that I +ever saw or ever shall see of Septimius Goring. + +There is no need for me to dwell upon my solitary voyage. I steered as +well as I could for the Canaries, but was picked up upon the fifth day +by the British and African Steam Navigation Company’s boat Monrovia. +Let me take this opportunity of tendering my sincerest thanks to Captain +Stornoway and his officers for the great kindness which they showed me +from that time till they landed me in Liverpool, where I was enabled to +take one of the Guion boats to New York. + +From the day on which I found myself once more in the bosom of my family +I have said little of what I have undergone. The subject is still an +intensely painful one to me, and the little which I have dropped +has been discredited. I now put the facts before the public as they +occurred, careless how far they may be believed, and simply writing them +down because my lung is growing weaker, and I feel the responsibility of +holding my peace longer. I make no vague statement. Turn to your map of +Africa. There above Cape Blanco, where the land trends away north and +south from the westernmost point of the continent, there it is that +Septimius Goring still reigns over his dark subjects, unless retribution +has overtaken him; and there, where the long green ridges run swiftly in +to roar and hiss upon the hot yellow sand, it is there that Harton lies +with Hyson and the other poor fellows who were done to death in the +Marie Celeste. + + + + +THE GREAT KEINPLATZ EXPERIMENT. + +Of all the sciences which have puzzled the sons of men, none had such +an attraction for the learned Professor von Baumgarten as those which +relate to psychology and the ill-defined relations between mind and +matter. A celebrated anatomist, a profound chemist, and one of the first +physiologists in Europe, it was a relief for him to turn from these +subjects and to bring his varied knowledge to bear upon the study of +the soul and the mysterious relationship of spirits. At first, when as a +young man he began to dip into the secrets of mesmerism, his mind seemed +to be wandering in a strange land where all was chaos and darkness, +save that here and there some great unexplainable and disconnected fact +loomed out in front of him. As the years passed, however, and as the +worthy Professor’s stock of knowledge increased, for knowledge begets +knowledge as money bears interest, much which had seemed strange and +unaccountable began to take another shape in his eyes. New trains of +reasoning became familiar to him, and he perceived connecting links +where all had been incomprehensible and startling. + +By experiments which extended over twenty years, he obtained a basis +of facts upon which it was his ambition to build up a new exact science +which should embrace mesmerism, spiritualism, and all cognate subjects. +In this he was much helped by his intimate knowledge of the more +intricate parts of animal physiology which treat of nerve currents and +the working of the brain; for Alexis von Baumgarten was Regius Professor +of Physiology at the University of Keinplatz, and had all the resources +of the laboratory to aid him in his profound researches. + +Professor von Baumgarten was tall and thin, with a hatchet face and +steel-grey eyes, which were singularly bright and penetrating. Much +thought had furrowed his forehead and contracted his heavy eyebrows, so +that he appeared to wear a perpetual frown, which often misled people +as to his character, for though austere he was tender-hearted. He +was popular among the students, who would gather round him after his +lectures and listen eagerly to his strange theories. Often he would call +for volunteers from amongst them in order to conduct some experiment, so +that eventually there was hardly a lad in the class who had not, at one +time or another, been thrown into a mesmeric trance by his Professor. + +Of all these young devotees of science there was none who equalled +in enthusiasm Fritz von Hartmann. It had often seemed strange to his +fellow-students that wild, reckless Fritz, as dashing a young fellow +as ever hailed from the Rhinelands, should devote the time and trouble +which he did in reading up abstruse works and in assisting the Professor +in his strange experiments. The fact was, however, that Fritz was a +knowing and long-headed fellow. Months before he had lost his heart +to young Elise, the blue-eyed, yellow-haired daughter of the lecturer. +Although he had succeeded in learning from her lips that she was not +indifferent to his suit, he had never dared to announce himself to her +family as a formal suitor. Hence he would have found it a difficult +matter to see his young lady had he not adopted the expedient of making +himself useful to the Professor. By this means he frequently was asked +to the old man’s house, where he willingly submitted to be experimented +upon in any way as long as there was a chance of his receiving one +bright glance from the eyes of Elise or one touch of her little hand. + +Young Fritz von Hartmann was a handsome lad enough. There were broad +acres, too, which would descend to him when his father died. To many +he would have seemed an eligible suitor; but Madame frowned upon his +presence in the house, and lectured the Professor at times on his +allowing such a wolf to prowl around their lamb. To tell the truth, +Fritz had an evil name in Keinplatz. Never was there a riot or a duel, +or any other mischief afoot, but the young Rhinelander figured as a +ringleader in it. No one used more free and violent language, no one +drank more, no one played cards more habitually, no one was more idle, +save in the one solitary subject. + +No wonder, then, that the good Frau Professorin gathered her Fräulein +under her wing, and resented the attentions of such a _mauvais sujet_. As +to the worthy lecturer, he was too much engrossed by his strange studies +to form an opinion upon the subject one way or the other. + +For many years there was one question which had continually obtruded +itself upon his thoughts. All his experiments and his theories turned +upon a single point. A hundred times a day the Professor asked himself +whether it was possible for the human spirit to exist apart from +the body for a time and then to return to it once again. When the +possibility first suggested itself to him his scientific mind had +revolted from it. It clashed too violently with preconceived ideas +and the prejudices of his early training. Gradually, however, as he +proceeded farther and farther along the pathway of original research, +his mind shook off its old fetters and became ready to face any +conclusion which could reconcile the facts. There were many things +which made him believe that it was possible for mind to exist apart +from matter. At last it occurred to him that by a daring and original +experiment the question might be definitely decided. + +“It is evident,” he remarked in his celebrated article upon invisible +entities, which appeared in the Keinplatz wochenliche Medicalschrift +about this time, and which surprised the whole scientific world--“it +is evident that under certain conditions the soul or mind does separate +itself from the body. In the case of a mesmerised person, the body lies +in a cataleptic condition, but the spirit has left it. Perhaps you reply +that the soul is there, but in a dormant condition. I answer that +this is not so, otherwise how can one account for the condition of +clairvoyance, which has fallen into disrepute through the knavery of +certain scoundrels, but which can easily be shown to be an undoubted +fact. I have been able myself, with a sensitive subject, to obtain an +accurate description of what was going on in another room or another +house. How can such knowledge be accounted for on any hypothesis save +that the soul of the subject has left the body and is wandering through +space? For a moment it is recalled by the voice of the operator and +says what it has seen, and then wings its way once more through the air. +Since the spirit is by its very nature invisible, we cannot see these +comings and goings, but we see their effect in the body of the subject, +now rigid and inert, now struggling to narrate impressions which could +never have come to it by natural means. There is only one way which I +can see by which the fact can be demonstrated. Although we in the flesh +are unable to see these spirits, yet our own spirits, could we separate +them from the body, would be conscious of the presence of others. It is +my intention, therefore, shortly to mesmerise one of my pupils. I shall +then mesmerise myself in a manner which has become easy to me. After +that, if my theory holds good, my spirit will have no difficulty in +meeting and communing with the spirit of my pupil, both being separated +from the body. I hope to be able to communicate the result of this +interesting experiment in an early number of the Keinplatz wochenliche +Medicalschrift.” + +When the good Professor finally fulfilled his promise, and published an +account of what occurred, the narrative was so extraordinary that it was +received with general incredulity. The tone of some of the papers was +so offensive in their comments upon the matter that the angry savant +declared that he would never open his mouth again or refer to the +subject in any way--a promise which he has faithfully kept. This +narrative has been compiled, however, from the most authentic sources, +and the events cited in it may be relied upon as substantially correct. + +It happened, then, that shortly after the time when Professor von +Baumgarten conceived the idea of the above-mentioned experiment, he was +walking thoughtfully homewards after a long day in the laboratory, when +he met a crowd of roystering students who had just streamed out from a +beer-house. At the head of them, half-intoxicated and very noisy, was +young Fritz von Hartmann. The Professor would have passed them, but his +pupil ran across and intercepted him. + +“Heh! my worthy master,” he said, taking the old man by the sleeve, and +leading him down the road with him. “There is something that I have to +say to you, and it is easier for me to say it now, when the good beer is +humming in my head, than at another time.” + +“What is it, then, Fritz?” the physiologist asked, looking at him in +mild surprise. + +“I hear, mein herr, that you are about to do some wondrous experiment in +which you hope to take a man’s soul out of his body, and then to put it +back again. Is it not so?” + +“It is true, Fritz.” + +“And have you considered, my dear sir, that you may have some difficulty +in finding some one on whom to try this? Potztausend! Suppose that the +soul went out and would not come back. That would be a bad business. Who +is to take the risk?” + +“But, Fritz,” the Professor cried, very much startled by this view of +the matter, “I had relied upon your assistance in the attempt. Surely +you will not desert me. Consider the honour and glory.” + +“Consider the fiddlesticks!” the student cried angrily. “Am I to be paid +always thus? Did I not stand two hours upon a glass insulator while +you poured electricity into my body? Have you not stimulated my phrenic +nerves, besides ruining my digestion with a galvanic current round my +stomach? Four-and-thirty times you have mesmerised me, and what have I +got from all this? Nothing. And now you wish to take my soul out, as you +would take the works from a watch. It is more than flesh and blood can +stand.” + +“Dear, dear!” the Professor cried in great distress. “That is very true, +Fritz. I never thought of it before. If you can but suggest how I can +compensate you, you will find me ready and willing.” + +“Then listen,” said Fritz solemnly. “If you will pledge your word that +after this experiment I may have the hand of your daughter, then I am +willing to assist you; but if not, I shall have nothing to do with it. +These are my only terms.” + +“And what would my daughter say to this?” the Professor exclaimed, after +a pause of astonishment. + +“Elise would welcome it,” the young man replied. “We have loved each +other long.” + +“Then she shall be yours,” the physiologist said with decision, “for you +are a good-hearted young man, and one of the best neurotic subjects +that I have ever known--that is when you are not under the influence of +alcohol. My experiment is to be performed upon the fourth of next month. +You will attend at the physiological laboratory at twelve o’clock. It +will be a great occasion, Fritz. Von Gruben is coming from Jena, and +Hinterstein from Basle. The chief men of science of all South Germany +will be there. + +“I shall be punctual,” the student said briefly; and so the two parted. +The Professor plodded homeward, thinking of the great coming event, +while the young man staggered along after his noisy companions, with +his mind full of the blue-eyed Elise, and of the bargain which he had +concluded with her father. + +The Professor did not exaggerate when he spoke of the widespread +interest excited by his novel psychophysiological experiment. Long +before the hour had arrived the room was filled by a galaxy of talent. +Besides the celebrities whom he had mentioned, there had come from +London the great Professor Lurcher, who had just established his +reputation by a remarkable treatise upon cerebral centres. Several great +lights of the Spiritualistic body had also come a long distance to +be present, as had a Swedenborgian minister, who considered that the +proceedings might throw some light upon the doctrines of the Rosy Cross. + +There was considerable applause from this eminent assembly upon +the appearance of Professor von Baumgarten and his subject upon the +platform. The lecturer, in a few well-chosen words, explained what his +views were, and how he proposed to test them. “I hold,” he said, “that +when a person is under the influence of mesmerism, his spirit is for the +time released from his body, and I challenge any one to put forward +any other hypothesis which will account for the fact of clairvoyance. +I therefore hope that upon mesmerising my young friend here, and +then putting myself into a trance, our spirits may be able to commune +together, though our bodies lie still and inert. After a time nature +will resume her sway, our spirits will return into our respective +bodies, and all will be as before. With your kind permission, we shall +now proceed to attempt the experiment.” + +The applause was renewed at this speech, and the audience settled down +in expectant silence. With a few rapid passes the Professor mesmerised +the young man, who sank back in his chair, pale and rigid. He then took +a bright globe of glass from his pocket, and by concentrating his gaze +upon it and making a strong mental effort, he succeeded in throwing +himself into the same condition. It was a strange and impressive sight +to see the old man and the young sitting together in the same cataleptic +condition. Whither, then, had their souls fled? That was the question +which presented itself to each and every one of the spectators. + +Five minutes passed, and then ten, and then fifteen, and then fifteen +more, while the Professor and his pupil sat stiff and stark upon the +platform. During that time not a sound was heard from the assembled +savants, but every eye was bent upon the two pale faces, in search of +the first signs of returning consciousness. Nearly an hour had elapsed +before the patient watchers were rewarded. A faint flush came back to +the cheeks of Professor von Baumgarten. The soul was coming back once +more to its earthly tenement. Suddenly he stretched out his long thin +arms, as one awaking from sleep, and rubbing his eyes, stood up from +his chair and gazed about him as though he hardly realised where he was. +“Tausend Teufel!” he exclaimed, rapping out a tremendous South German +oath, to the great astonishment of his audience and to the disgust of +the Swedenborgian. “Where the Henker am I then, and what in thunder +has occurred? Oh yes, I remember now. One of these nonsensical mesmeric +experiments. There is no result this time, for I remember nothing at all +since I became unconscious; so you have had all your long journeys for +nothing, my learned friends, and a very good joke too;” at which the +Regius Professor of Physiology burst into a roar of laughter and slapped +his thigh in a highly indecorous fashion. The audience were so enraged +at this unseemly behaviour on the part of their host, that there might +have been a considerable disturbance, had it not been for the judicious +interference of young Fritz von Hartmann, who had now recovered from +his lethargy. Stepping to the front of the platform, the young man +apologised for the conduct of his companion. “I am sorry to say,” he +said, “that he is a harum-scarum sort of fellow, although he appeared so +grave at the commencement of this experiment. He is still suffering from +mesmeric reaction, and is hardly accountable for his words. As to the +experiment itself, I do not consider it to be a failure. It is very +possible that our spirits may have been communing in space during this +hour; but, unfortunately, our gross bodily memory is distinct from our +spirit, and we cannot recall what has occurred. My energies shall now be +devoted to devising some means by which spirits may be able to recollect +what occurs to them in their free state, and I trust that when I have +worked this out, I may have the pleasure of meeting you all once again +in this hall, and demonstrating to you the result.” This address, coming +from so young a student, caused considerable astonishment among the +audience, and some were inclined to be offended, thinking that he +assumed rather too much importance. The majority, however, looked upon +him as a young man of great promise, and many comparisons were made as +they left the hall between his dignified conduct and the levity of +his professor, who during the above remarks was laughing heartily in a +corner, by no means abashed at the failure of the experiment. + +Now although all these learned men were filing out of the lecture-room +under the impression that they had seen nothing of note, as a matter of +fact one of the most wonderful things in the whole history of the world +had just occurred before their very eyes Professor von Baumgarten had +been so far correct in his theory that both his spirit and that of his +pupil had been for a time absent from his body. But here a strange and +unforeseen complication had occurred. In their return the spirit of +Fritz von Hartmann had entered into the body of Alexis von Baumgarten, +and that of Alexis von Baumgarten had taken up its abode in the frame of +Fritz von Hartmann. Hence the slang and scurrility which issued from +the lips of the serious Professor, and hence also the weighty words +and grave statements which fell from the careless student. It was an +unprecedented event, yet no one knew of it, least of all those whom it +concerned. + +The body of the Professor, feeling conscious suddenly of a great +dryness about the back of the throat, sallied out into the street, still +chuckling to himself over the result of the experiment, for the soul of +Fritz within was reckless at the thought of the bride whom he had won so +easily. His first impulse was to go up to the house and see her, but on +second thoughts he came to the conclusion that it would be best to stay +away until Madame Baumgarten should be informed by her husband of the +agreement which had been made. He therefore made his way down to the +Grüner Mann, which was one of the favourite trysting-places of the +wilder students, and ran, boisterously waving his cane in the air, into +the little parlour, where sat Spiegler and Müller and half a dozen other +boon companions. + +“Ha, ha! my boys,” he shouted. “I knew I should find you here. Drink +up, every one of you, and call for what you like, for I’m going to stand +treat to-day.” + +Had the green man who is depicted upon the signpost of that well-known +inn suddenly marched into the room and called for a bottle of wine, +the students could not have been more amazed than they were by this +unexpected entry of their revered professor. They were so astonished +that for a minute or two they glared at him in utter bewilderment +without being able to make any reply to his hearty invitation. + +“Donner und Blitzen!” shouted the Professor angrily. “What the deuce +is the matter with you, then? You sit there like a set of stuck pigs +staring at me. What is it, then?” + +“It is the unexpected honour,” stammered Spiegel, who was in the chair. + +“Honour--rubbish!” said the Professor testily. “Do you think that just +because I happen to have been exhibiting mesmerism to a parcel of old +fossils, I am therefore too proud to associate with dear old friends +like you? Come out of that chair, Spiegel my boy, for I shall preside +now. Beer, or wine, or shnapps, my lads--call for what you like, and put +it all down to me.” + +Never was there such an afternoon in the Grüner Mann. The foaming +flagons of lager and the green-necked bottles of Rhenish circulated +merrily. By degrees the students lost their shyness in the presence of +their Professor. As for him, he shouted, he sang, he roared, he balanced +a long tobacco-pipe upon his nose, and offered to run a hundred yards +against any member of the company. The Kellner and the barmaid whispered +to each other outside the door their astonishment at such proceedings on +the part of a Regius Professor of the ancient university of Kleinplatz. +They had still more to whisper about afterwards, for the learned man +cracked the Kellner’s crown, and kissed the barmaid behind the kitchen +door. + +“Gentlemen,” said the Professor, standing up, albeit somewhat +totteringly, at the end of the table, and balancing his high +old-fashioned wine glass in his bony hand, “I must now explain to you +what is the cause of this festivity.” + +“Hear! hear!” roared the students, hammering their beer glasses against +the table; “a speech, a speech!--silence for a speech!” + +“The fact is, my friends,” said the Professor, beaming through his +spectacles, “I hope very soon to be married.” + +“Married!” cried a student, bolder than the others “Is Madame dead, +then?” + +“Madame who?” + +“Why, Madame von Baumgarten, of course.” + +“Ha, ha!” laughed the Professor; “I can see, then, that you know all +about my former difficulties. No, she is not dead, but I have reason to +believe that she will not oppose my marriage.” + +“That is very accommodating of her,” remarked one of the company. + +“In fact,” said the Professor, “I hope that she will now be induced to +aid me in getting a wife. She and I never took to each other very much; +but now I hope all that may be ended, and when I marry she will come and +stay with me.” + +“What a happy family!” exclaimed some wag. + +“Yes, indeed; and I hope you will come to my wedding, all of you. I +won’t mention names, but here is to my little bride!” and the Professor +waved his glass in the air. + +“Here’s to his little bride!” roared the roysterers, with shouts of +laughter. “Here’s her health. Sie soll leben--Hoch!” And so the fun +waxed still more fast and furious, while each young fellow followed the +Professor’s example, and drank a toast to the girl of his heart. + +While all this festivity had been going on at the Grüner Mann, a very +different scene had been enacted elsewhere. Young Fritz von Hartmann, +with a solemn face and a reserved manner, had, after the experiment, +consulted and adjusted some mathematical instruments; after which, +with a few peremptory words to the janitors, he had walked out into the +street and wended his way slowly in the direction of the house of the +Professor. As he walked he saw Von Althaus, the professor of anatomy, in +front of him, and quickening his pace he overtook him. + +“I say, Von Althaus,” he exclaimed, tapping him on the sleeve, “you were +asking me for some information the other day concerning the middle coat +of the cerebral arteries. Now I find----” + +“Donnerwetter!” shouted Von Althaus, who was a peppery old fellow. “What +the deuce do you mean by your impertinence! I’ll have you up before the +Academical Senate for this, sir;” with which threat he turned on +his heel and hurried away. Von Hartmann was much surprised at this +reception. “It’s on account of this failure of my experiment,” he said +to himself, and continued moodily on his way. + +Fresh surprises were in store for him, however. He was hurrying along +when he was overtaken by two students. These youths, instead of raising +their caps or showing any other sign of respect, gave a wild whoop of +delight the instant that they saw him, and rushing at him, seized him +by each arm and commenced dragging him along with them. + +“Gott in himmel!” roared Von Hartmann. “What is the meaning of this +unparalleled insult? Where are you taking me?” + +“To crack a bottle of wine with us,” said the two students. “Come along! +That is an invitation which you have never refused.” + +“I never heard of such insolence in my life!” cried Von Hartmann. “Let +go my arms! I shall certainly have you rusticated for this. Let me go, I +say!” and he kicked furiously at his captors. + +“Oh, if you choose to turn ill-tempered, you may go where you like,” the +students said, releasing him. “We can do very well without you.” + +“I know you. I’ll pay you out,” said Von Hartmann furiously, and +continued in the direction which he imagined to be his own home, much +incensed at the two episodes which had occurred to him on the way. + +Now, Madame von Baumgarten, who was looking out of the window and +wondering why her husband was late for dinner, was considerably +astonished to see the young student come stalking down the road. As +already remarked, she had a great antipathy to him, and if ever he +ventured into the house it was on sufferance, and under the protection +of the Professor. Still more astonished was she, therefore, when she +beheld him undo the wicket-gate and stride up the garden path with the +air of one who is master of the situation. + +She could hardly believe her eyes, and hastened to the door with all her +maternal instincts up in arms. From the upper windows the fair Elise had +also observed this daring move upon the part of her lover, and her heart +beat quick with mingled pride and consternation. + +“Good day, sir,” Madame Baumgarten remarked to the intruder, as she +stood in gloomy majesty in the open doorway. + +“A very fine day indeed, Martha,” returned the other. “Now, don’t stand +there like a statue of Juno, but bustle about and get the dinner ready, +for I am well-nigh starved.” + +“Martha! Dinner!” ejaculated the lady, falling back in astonishment. + +“Yes, dinner, Martha, dinner!” howled Von Hartmann, who was becoming +irritable. “Is there anything wonderful in that request when a man +has been out all day? I’ll wait in the dining-room. Anything will do. +Schinken, and sausage, and prunes--any little thing that happens to be +about. There you are, standing staring again. Woman, will you or will +you not stir your legs?” + +This last address, delivered with a perfect shriek of rage, had the +effect of sending good Madame Baumgarten flying along the passage and +through the kitchen, where she locked herself up in the scullery and +went into violent hysterics. In the meantime Von Hartmann strode into +the room and threw himself down upon the sofa in the worst of tempers. + +“Elise!” he shouted. “Confound the girl! Elise!” + +Thus roughly summoned, the young lady came timidly downstairs and into +the presence of her lover. “Dearest!” she cried, throwing her arms round +him, “I know this is all done for my sake! It is a <i>ruse</i> in order to see +me.” + +Von Hartmann’s indignation at this fresh attack upon him was so great +that he became speechless for a minute from rage, and could only glare +and shake his fists, while he struggled in her embrace. When he at last +regained his utterance, he indulged in such a bellow of passion that the +young lady dropped back, petrified with fear, into an armchair. + +“Never have I passed such a day in my life,” Von Hartmann cried, +stamping upon the floor. “My experiment has failed. Von Althaus has +insulted me. Two students have dragged me along the public road. My wife +nearly faints when I ask her for dinner, and my daughter flies at me and +hugs me like a grizzly bear.” + +“You are ill, dear,” the young lady cried. “Your mind is wandering. You +have not even kissed me once.” + +“No, and I don’t intend to either,” Von Hartmann said with decision. +“You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Why don’t you go and fetch my +slippers, and help your mother to dish the dinner?” + +“And is it for this,” Elise cried, burying her face in her +handkerchief--“is it for this that I have loved you passionately for +upwards of ten months? Is it for this that I have braved my mother’s +wrath? Oh, you have broken my heart; I am sure you have!” and she sobbed +hysterically. + +“I can’t stand much more of this,” roared Von Hartmann furiously. +“What the deuce does the girl mean? What did I do ten months ago which +inspired you with such a particular affection for me? If you are really +so very fond, you would do better to run away down and find the schinken +and some bread, instead of talking all this nonsense.” + +“Oh, my darling!” cried the unhappy maiden, throwing herself into the +arms of what she imagined to be her lover, “you do but joke in order to +frighten your little Elise.” + +Now it chanced that at the moment of this unexpected embrace Von +Hartmann was still leaning back against the end of the sofa, which, +like much German furniture, was in a somewhat rickety condition. It also +chanced that beneath this end of the sofa there stood a tank full of +water in which the physiologist was conducting certain experiments +upon the ova of fish, and which he kept in his drawing-room in order +to insure an equable temperature. The additional weight of the maiden, +combined with the impetus with which she hurled herself upon him, caused +the precarious piece of furniture to give way, and the body of the +unfortunate student was hurled backwards into the tank, in which his +head and shoulders were firmly wedged, while his lower extremities +flapped helplessly about in the air. This was the last straw. +Extricating himself with some difficulty from his unpleasant position, +Von Hartmann gave an inarticulate yell of fury, and dashing out of the +room, in spite of the entreaties of Elise, he seized his hat and rushed +off into the town, all dripping and dishevelled, with the intention +of seeking in some inn the food and comfort which he could not find at +home. + +As the spirit of Von Baumgarten encased in the body of Von Hartmann +strode down the winding pathway which led down to the little town, +brooding angrily over his many wrongs, he became aware that an elderly +man was approaching him who appeared to be in an advanced state of +intoxication. Von Hartmann waited by the side of the road and watched +this individual, who came stumbling along, reeling from one side of +the road to the other, and singing a student song in a very husky and +drunken voice. At first his interest was merely excited by the fact +of seeing a man of so venerable an appearance in such a disgraceful +condition, but as he approached nearer, he became convinced that he knew +the other well, though he could not recall when or where he had met him. +This impression became so strong with him, that when the stranger came +abreast of him he stepped in front of him and took a good look at his +features. + +“Well, sonny,” said the drunken man, surveying Von Hartmann and swaying +about in front of him, “where the Henker have I seen you before? I know +you as well as I know myself. Who the deuce are you?” + +“I am Professor von Baumgarten,” said the student. “May I ask who you +are? I am strangely familiar with your features.” + +“You should never tell lies, young man,” said the other. “You’re +certainly not the Professor, for he is an ugly snuffy old chap, and you +are a big broad-shouldered young fellow. As to myself, I am Fritz von +Hartmann at your service.” + +“That you certainly are not,” exclaimed the body of Von Hartmann. “You +might very well be his father. But hullo, sir, are you aware that you +are wearing my studs and my watch-chain?” + +“Donnerwetter!” hiccoughed the other. “If those are not the trousers for +which my tailor is about to sue me, may I never taste beer again.” + +Now as Von Hartmann, overwhelmed by the many strange things which had +occurred to him that day, passed his hand over his forehead and cast his +eyes downwards, he chanced to catch the reflection of his own face in a +pool which the rain had left upon the road. To his utter astonishment he +perceived that his face was that of a youth, that his dress was that of +a fashionable young student, and that in every way he was the antithesis +of the grave and scholarly figure in which his mind was wont to dwell. +In an instant his active brain ran over the series of events which had +occurred and sprang to the conclusion. He fairly reeled under the blow. + +“Himmel!” he cried, “I see it all. Our souls are in the wrong bodies. +I am you and you are I. My theory is proved--but at what an expense! +Is the most scholarly mind in Europe to go about with this frivolous +exterior? Oh the labours of a lifetime are ruined!” and he smote his +breast in his despair. + +“I say,” remarked the real Von Hartmann from the body of the Professor, +“I quite see the force of your remarks, but don’t go knocking my body +about like that. You received it in excellent condition, but I perceive +that you have wet it and bruised it, and spilled snuff over my ruffled +shirt-front.” + +“It matters little,” the other said moodily. “Such as we are so must we +stay. My theory is triumphantly proved, but the cost is terrible.” + +“If I thought so,” said the spirit of the student, “it would be hard +indeed. What could I do with these stiff old limbs, and how could I woo +Elise and persuade her that I was not her father? No, thank Heaven, in +spite of the beer which has upset me more than ever it could upset my +real self, I can see a way out of it.” + +“How?” gasped the Professor. + +“Why, by repeating the experiment. Liberate our souls once more, and +the chances are that they will find their way back into their respective +bodies.” + +No drowning man could clutch more eagerly at a straw than did Von +Baumgarten’s spirit at this suggestion. In feverish haste he dragged his +own frame to the side of the road and threw it into a mesmeric trance; +he then extracted the crystal ball from the pocket, and managed to bring +himself into the same condition. + +Some students and peasants who chanced to pass during the next hour +were much astonished to see the worthy Professor of Physiology and +his favourite student both sitting upon a very muddy bank and both +completely insensible. Before the hour was up quite a crowd had +assembled, and they were discussing the advisability of sending for an +ambulance to convey the pair to hospital, when the learned savant opened +his eyes and gazed vacantly around him. For an instant he seemed to +forget how he had come there, but next moment he astonished his audience +by waving his skinny arms above his head and crying out in a voice of +rapture, “Gott sei gedanket! I am myself again. I feel I am!” Nor was +the amazement lessened when the student, springing to his feet, burst +into the same cry, and the two performed a sort of _pas de joie_ in the +middle of the road. + +For some time after that people had some suspicion of the sanity of both +the actors in this strange episode. When the Professor published his +experiences in the Medicalschrift as he had promised, he was met by an +intimation, even from his colleagues, that he would do well to have +his mind cared for, and that another such publication would certainly +consign him to a madhouse. The student also found by experience that it +was wisest to be silent about the matter. + +When the worthy lecturer returned home that night he did not receive +the cordial welcome which he might have looked for after his strange +adventures. On the contrary, he was roundly upbraided by both his female +relatives for smelling of drink and tobacco, and also for being absent +while a young scapegrace invaded the house and insulted its occupants. +It was long before the domestic atmosphere of the lecturer’s house +resumed its normal quiet, and longer still before the genial face of +Von Hartmann was seen beneath its roof. Perseverance, however, conquers +every obstacle, and the student eventually succeeded in pacifying the +enraged ladies and in establishing himself upon the old footing. He +has now no longer any cause to fear the enmity of Madame, for he is +Hauptmann von Hartmann of the Emperor’s own Uhlans, and his loving wife +Elise has already presented him with two little Uhlans as a visible sign +and token of her affection. + + + + +THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL. + + +On the fourth day of March, in the year 1867, being at that time in +my five-and-twentieth year, I wrote down the following words in my +note-book--the result of much mental perturbation and conflict:-- + +“The solar system, amidst a countless number of other systems as large +as itself, rolls ever silently through space in the direction of the +constellation of Hercules. The great spheres of which it is composed +spin and spin through the eternal void ceaselessly and noiselessly. Of +these one of the smallest and most insignificant is that conglomeration +of solid and of liquid particles which we have named the earth. It +whirls onwards now as it has done before my birth, and will do after my +death--a revolving mystery, coming none know whence, and going none know +whither. Upon the outer crust of this moving mass crawl many mites, +of whom I, John M‘Vittie, am one, helpless, impotent, being dragged +aimlessly through space. Yet such is the state of things amongst us that +the little energy and glimmering of reason which I possess is entirely +taken up with the labours which are necessary in order to procure +certain metallic disks, wherewith I may purchase the chemical elements +necessary to build up my ever-wasting tissues, and keep a roof over me +to shelter me from the inclemency of the weather. I thus have no thought +to expend upon the vital questions which surround me on every side. +Yet, miserable entity as I am, I can still at times feel some degree of +happiness, and am even--save the mark!--puffed up occasionally with a +sense of my own importance.” + +These words, as I have said, I wrote down in my note-book, and they +reflected accurately the thoughts which I found rooted far down in my +soul, ever present and unaffected by the passing emotions of the hour. +At last, however, came a time when my uncle, M‘Vittie of Glencairn, +died--the same who was at one time chairman of committees of the House +of Commons. He divided his great wealth among his many nephews, and I +found myself with sufficient to provide amply for my wants during the +remainder of my life, and became at the same time owner of a bleak tract +of land upon the coast of Caithness, which I think the old man must have +bestowed upon me in derision, for it was sandy and valueless, and he had +ever a grim sense of humour. Up to this time I had been an attorney in +a midland town in England. Now I saw that I could put my thoughts into +effect, and, leaving all petty and sordid aims, could elevate my mind +by the study of the secrets of nature. My departure from my English home +was somewhat accelerated by the fact that I had nearly slain a man in +a quarrel, for my temper was fiery, and I was apt to forget my own +strength when enraged. There was no legal action taken in the matter, +but the papers yelped at me, and folk looked askance when I met them. +It ended by my cursing them and their vile, smoke-polluted town, and +hurrying to my northern possession, where I might at last find peace and +an opportunity for solitary study and contemplation. I borrowed from +my capital before I went, and so was able to take with me a choice +collection of the most modern philosophical instruments and books, +together with chemicals and such other things as I might need in my +retirement. + +The land which I had inherited was a narrow strip, consisting mostly of +sand, and extending for rather over two miles round the coast of Mansie +Bay, in Caithness. Upon this strip there had been a rambling, grey-stone +building--when erected or wherefore none could tell me--and this I had +repaired, so that it made a dwelling quite good enough for one of my +simple tastes. One room was my laboratory, another my sitting-room, and +in a third, just under the sloping roof, I slung the hammock in which +I always slept. There were three other rooms, but I left them vacant, +except one which was given over to the old crone who kept house for me. +Save the Youngs and the M‘Leods, who were fisher-folk living round at +the other side of Fergus Ness, there were no other people for many miles +in each direction. In front of the house was the great bay, behind it +were two long barren hills, capped by other loftier ones beyond. There +was a glen between the hills, and when the wind was from the land it +used to sweep down this with a melancholy sough and whisper among the +branches of the fir-trees beneath my attic window. + +I dislike my fellow-mortals. Justice compels me to add that they appear +for the most part to dislike me. I hate their little crawling ways, +their conventionalities, their deceits, their narrow rights and wrongs. +They take offence at my brusque outspokenness, my disregard for their +social laws, my impatience of all constraint. Among my books and my +drugs in my lonely den at Mansie I could let the great drove of +the human race pass onwards with their politics and inventions and +tittle-tattle, and I remained behind stagnant and happy. Not stagnant +either, for I was working in my own little groove, and making progress. +I have reason to believe that Dalton’s atomic theory is founded upon +error, and I know that mercury is not an element. + +During the day I was busy with my distillations and analyses. Often I +forgot my meals, and when old Madge summoned me to my tea I found my +dinner lying untouched upon the table. At night I read Bacon, Descartes, +Spinoza, Kant--all those who have pried into what is unknowable. +They are all fruitless and empty, barren of result, but prodigal of +polysyllables, reminding me of men who, while digging for gold, have +turned up many worms, and then exhibit them exultantly as being what +they sought. At times a restless spirit would come upon me, and I would +walk thirty and forty miles without rest or breaking fast. On these +occasions, when I used to stalk through the country villages, gaunt, +unshaven, and dishevelled, the mothers would rush into the road and +drag their children indoors, and the rustics would swarm out of their +pot-houses to gaze at me. I believe that I was known far and wide as the +“mad laird o’ Mansie.” It was rarely, however, that I made these raids +into the country, for I usually took my exercise upon my own beach, +where I soothed my spirit with strong black tobacco, and made the ocean +my friend and my confidant. + +What companion is there like the great restless, throbbing sea? What +human mood is there which it does not match and sympathise with? There +are none so gay but that they may feel gayer when they listen to its +merry turmoil, and see the long green surges racing in, with the glint +of the sunbeams in their sparkling crests. But when the grey waves toss +their heads in anger, and the wind screams above them, goading them on +to madder and more tumultuous efforts, then the darkest-minded of men +feels that there is a melancholy principle in Nature which is as gloomy +as his own thoughts. When it was calm in the Bay of Mansie the surface +would be as clear and bright as a sheet of silver, broken only at one +spot some little way from the shore, where a long black line projected +out of the water looking like the jagged back of some sleeping monster. +This was the top of the dangerous ridge of rocks known to the fishermen +as the “ragged reef o’ Mansie.” When the wind blew from the east the +waves would break upon it like thunder, and the spray would be tossed +far over my house and up to the hills behind. The bay itself was a bold +and noble one, but too much exposed to the northern and eastern gales, +and too much dreaded for its reef, to be much used by mariners. There +was something of romance about this lonely spot. I have lain in my boat +upon a calm day, and peering over the edge I have seen far down the +flickering, ghostly forms of great fish--fish, as it seemed to me, such +as naturalist never knew, and which my imagination transformed into the +genii of that desolate bay. Once, as I stood by the brink of the waters +upon a quiet night, a great cry, as of a woman in hopeless grief, rose +from the bosom of the deep, and swelled out upon the still air, now +sinking and now rising, for a space of thirty seconds. This I heard with +my own ears. + +In this strange spot, with the eternal hills behind me and the eternal +sea in front, I worked and brooded for more than two years unpestered +by my fellow men. By degrees I had trained my old servant into habits of +silence, so that she now rarely opened her lips, though I doubt not that +when twice a year she visited her relations in Wick, her tongue during +those few days made up for its enforced rest. I had come almost to +forget that I was a member of the human family, and to live entirely +with the dead whose books I pored over, when a sudden incident occurred +which threw all my thoughts into a new channel. + +Three rough days in June had been succeeded by one calm and peaceful +one. There was not a breath of air that evening. The sun sank down in +the west behind a line of purple clouds, and the smooth surface of the +bay was gashed with scarlet streaks. Along the beach the pools left by +the tide showed up like gouts of blood against the yellow sand, as if +some wounded giant had toilfully passed that way, and had left these +red traces of his grievous hurt behind him. As the darkness closed +in, certain ragged clouds which had lain low on the eastern horizon +coalesced and formed a great irregular cumulus. The glass was still low, +and I knew that there was mischief brewing. About nine o’clock a +dull moaning sound came up from the sea, as from a creature who, much +harassed, learns that the hour of suffering has come round again. At ten +a sharp breeze sprang up from the eastward. At eleven it had increased +to a gale, and by midnight the most furious storm was raging which I +ever remember upon that weather-beaten coast. + +As I went to bed the shingle and seaweed were pattering up against my +attic window, and the wind was screaming as though every gust were a +lost soul. By that time the sounds of the tempest had become a lullaby +to me. I knew that the grey walls of the old house would buffet it out, +and for what occurred in the world outside I had small concern. Old +Madge was usually as callous to such things as I was myself. It was +a surprise to me when, about three in the morning, I was awoke by the +sound of a great knocking at my door and excited cries in the wheezy +voice of my house-keeper. I sprang out of my hammock, and roughly +demanded of her what was the matter. + +“Eh, maister, maister!” she screamed in her hateful dialect. “Come doun, +mun; come doun! There’s a muckle ship gaun ashore on the reef, and the +puir folks are a’ yammerin’ and ca’in’ for help--and I doobt they’ll a’ +be drooned. Oh, Maister M‘Vittie, come doun!” + +“Hold your tongue, you hag!” I shouted back in a passion. “What is it to +you whether they are drowned or not? Get back to your bed and leave me +alone.” I turned in again and drew the blankets over me. “Those men out +there,” I said to myself, “have already gone through half the horrors of +death. If they be saved they will but have to go through the same once +more in the space of a few brief years. It is best therefore that they +should pass away now, since they have suffered that anticipation which +is more than the pain of dissolution.” With this thought in my mind I +endeavoured to compose myself to sleep once more, for that philosophy +which had taught me to consider death as a small and trivial incident +in man’s eternal and everchanging career, had also broken me of much +curiosity concerning worldly matters. On this occasion I found, however, +that the old leaven still fermented strongly in my soul. I tossed from +side to side for some minutes endeavouring to beat down the impulses of +the moment by the rules of conduct which I had framed during months of +thought. Then I heard a dull roar amid the wild shriek of the gale, +and I knew that it was the sound of a signal-gun. Driven by an +uncontrollable impulse, I rose, dressed, and having lit my pipe, walked +out on to the beach. + +It was pitch dark when I came outside, and the wind blew with such +violence that I had to put my shoulder against it and push my way along +the shingle. My face pringled and smarted with the sting of the gravel +which was blown against it, and the red ashes of my pipe streamed away +behind me, dancing fantastically through the darkness. I went down to +where the great waves were thundering in, and shading my eyes with +my hands to keep off the salt spray, I peered out to sea. I could +distinguish nothing, and yet it seemed to me that shouts and great +inarticulate cries were borne to me by the blasts. Suddenly as I gazed I +made out the glint of a light, and then the whole bay and the beach were +lit up in a moment by a vivid blue glare. They were burning a coloured +signal-light on board of the vessel. There she lay on her beam ends +right in the centre of the jagged reef, hurled over to such an +angle that I could see all the planking of her deck. She was a large +two-masted schooner, of foreign rig, and lay perhaps a hundred and +eighty or two hundred yards from the shore. Every spar and rope and +writhing piece of cordage showed up hard and clear under the livid +light which sputtered and flickered from the highest portion of the +forecastle. Beyond the doomed ship out of the great darkness came the +long rolling lines of black waves, never ending, never tiring, with +a petulant tuft of foam here and there upon their crests. Each as it +reached the broad circle of unnatural light appeared to gather strength +and volume, and to hurry on more impetuously until, with a roar and +a jarring crash, it sprang upon its victim. Clinging to the weather +shrouds I could distinctly see some ten or twelve frightened seamen, +who, when their light revealed my presence, turned their white faces +towards me and waved their hands imploringly. I felt my gorge rise +against these poor cowering worms. Why should they presume to shirk the +narrow pathway along which all that is great and noble among mankind has +travelled? There was one there who interested me more than they. He was +a tall man, who stood apart from the others, balancing himself upon the +swaying wreck as though he disdained to cling to rope or bulwark. +His hands were clasped behind his back and his head was sunk upon his +breast, but even in that despondent attitude there was a litheness +and decision in his pose and in every motion which marked him as a man +little likely to yield to despair. Indeed, I could see by his occasional +rapid glances up and down and all around him that he was weighing every +chance of safety, but though he often gazed across the raging surf to +where he could see my dark figure upon the beach, his self-respect or +some other reason forbade him from imploring my help in any way. He +stood, dark, silent, and inscrutable, looking down on the black sea, and +waiting for whatever fortune Fate might send him. + +It seemed to me that that problem would very soon be settled. As I +looked, an enormous billow, topping all the others, and coming after +them, like a driver following a flock, swept over the vessel. Her +foremast snapped short off, and the men who clung to the shrouds were +brushed away like a swarm of flies. With a rending, riving sound the +ship began to split in two, where the sharp back of the Mansie reef was +sawing into her keel. The solitary man upon the forecastle ran rapidly +across the deck and seized hold of a white bundle which I had already +observed but failed to make out. As he lifted it up the light fell upon +it, and I saw that the object was a woman, with a spar lashed across her +body and under her arms in such a way that her head should always rise +above water. He bore her tenderly to the side and seemed to speak for a +minute or so to her, as though explaining the impossibility of remaining +upon the ship. Her answer was a singular one. I saw her deliberately +raise her hand and strike him across the face with it. He appeared to +be silenced for a moment or so by this, but he addressed her again, +directing her, as far as I could gather from his motions, how she should +behave when in the water. She shrank away from him, but he caught her in +his arms. He stooped over her for a moment and seemed to press his lips +against her forehead. Then a great wave came welling up against the side +of the breaking vessel, and leaning over he placed her upon the summit +of it as gently as a child might be committed to its cradle. I saw her +white dress flickering among the foam on the crest of the dark billow, +and then the light sank gradually lower, and the riven ship and its +lonely occupant were hidden from my eyes. + +As I watched those things my manhood overcame my philosophy, and I felt +a frantic impulse to be up and doing. I threw my cynicism to one side as +a garment which I might don again at leisure, and I rushed wildly to my +boat and my sculls. She was a leaky tub, but what then? Was I, who had +cast many a wistful, doubtful glance at my opium bottle, to begin now to +weigh chances and to cavil at danger. I dragged her down to the sea with +the strength of a maniac and sprang in. For a moment or two it was a +question whether she could live among the boiling surge, but a dozen +frantic strokes took me through it, half full of water but still afloat. +I was out on the unbroken waves now, at one time climbing, climbing +up the broad black breast of one, then sinking down, down on the other +side, until looking up I could see the gleam of the foam all around me +against the dark heavens. Far behind me I could hear the wild wailings +of old Madge, who, seeing me start, thought no doubt that my madness had +come to a climax. As I rowed I peered over my shoulder, until at last on +the belly of a great wave which was sweeping towards me I distinguished +the vague white outline of the woman. Stooping over, I seized her as she +swept by me, and with an effort lifted her, all sodden with water, into +the boat. There was no need to row back, for the next billow carried us +in and threw us upon the beach. I dragged the boat out of danger, and +then lifting up the woman I carried her to the house, followed by my +housekeeper, loud with congratulation and praise. + +Now that I had done this thing a reaction set in upon me. I felt that +my burden lived, for I heard the faint beat of her heart as I pressed +my ear against her side in carrying her. Knowing this, I threw her down +beside the fire which Madge had lit, with as little sympathy as though +she had been a bundle of fagots. I never glanced at her to see if she +were fair or no. For many years I had cared little for the face of a +woman. As I lay in my hammock upstairs, however, I heard the old woman +as she chafed the warmth back into her, crooning a chorus of, “Eh, the +puir lassie! Eh, the bonnie lassie!” from which I gathered that this +piece of jetsam was both young and comely. + + +The morning after the gale was peaceful and sunny. As I walked along the +long sweep of sand I could hear the panting of the sea. It was heaving +and swirling about the reef, but along the shore it rippled in gently +enough. There was no sign of the schooner, nor was there any wreckage +upon the beach, which did not surprise me, as I knew there was a great +undertow in those waters. A couple of broad-winged gulls were hovering +and skimming over the scene of the shipwreck, as though many strange +things were visible to them beneath the waves. At times I could hear +their raucous voices as they spoke to one another of what they saw. + +When I came back from my walk the woman was waiting at the door for me. +I began to wish when I saw her that I had never saved her, for here was +an end of my privacy. She was very young--at the most nineteen, with a +pale somewhat refined face, yellow hair, merry blue eyes, and shining +teeth. Her beauty was of an ethereal type. She looked so white and light +and fragile that she might have been the spirit of that storm-foam from +out of which I plucked her. She had wreathed some of Madge’s garments +round her in a way which was quaint and not unbecoming. As I strode +heavily up the pathway, she put out her hands with a pretty child-like +gesture, and ran down towards me, meaning, as I surmise, to thank me for +having saved her, but I put her aside with a wave of my hand and passed +her. At this she seemed somewhat hurt, and the tears sprang into +her eyes, but she followed me into the sitting-room and watched me +wistfully. “What country do you come from?” I asked her suddenly. + +She smiled when I spoke, but shook her head. + +“Francais?” I asked. “Deutsch?” “Espagnol?”--each time she shook her +head, and then she rippled off into a long statement in some tongue of +which I could not understand one word. + +After breakfast was over, however, I got a clue to her nationality. + +Passing along the beach once more, I saw that in a cleft of the ridge a +piece of wood had been jammed. I rowed out to it in my boat, and brought +it ashore. It was part of the sternpost of a boat, and on it, or rather +on the piece of wood attached to it, was the word “Archangel,” painted +in strange, quaint lettering. + +“So,” I thought, as I paddled slowly back, “this pale damsel is a +Russian. A fit subject for the White Czar and a proper dweller on +the shores of the White Sea!” It seemed to me strange that one of her +apparent refinement should perform so long a journey in so frail +a craft. When I came back into the house, I pronounced the word +“Archangel” several times in different intonations, but she did not +appear to recognise it. + +I shut myself up in the laboratory all the morning, continuing a +research which I was making upon the nature of the allotropic forms of +carbon and of sulphur. When I came out at mid-day for some food she was +sitting by the table with a needle and thread, mending some rents in her +clothes, which were now dry. I resented her continued presence, but I +could not turn her out on the beach to shift for herself. Presently she +presented a new phase of her character. Pointing to herself and then +to the scene of the shipwreck, she held up one finger, by which I +understood her to be asking whether she was the only one saved. I nodded +my head to indicate that she was. On this she sprang out of the chair +with a cry of great joy, and holding the garment which she was mending +over her head, and swaying it from side to side with the motion of her +body, she danced as lightly as a feather all round the room, and then +out through the open door into the sunshine. As she whirled round +she sang in a plaintive shrill voice some uncouth barbarous chant, +expressive of exultation. I called out to her, “Come in, you young +fiend, come in and be silent!” but she went on with her dance. Then she +suddenly ran towards me, and catching my hand before I could pluck +it away, she kissed it. While we were at dinner she spied one of my +pencils, and taking it up she wrote the two words “Sophie Ramusine” upon +a piece of paper, and then pointed to herself as a sign that that was +her name. She handed the pencil to me, evidently expecting that I would +be equally communicative, but I put it in my pocket as a sign that I +wished to hold no intercourse with her. + +Every moment of my life now I regretted the unguarded precipitancy with +which I had saved this woman. What was it to me whether she had lived +or died? I was no young, hot-headed youth to do such things. It was bad +enough to be compelled to have Madge in the house, but she was old +and ugly, and could be ignored. This one was young and lively, and so +fashioned as to divert attention from graver things. Where could I send +her, and what could I do with her? If I sent information to Wick it +would mean that officials and others would come to me and pry, and peep, +and chatter--a hateful thought. It was better to endure her presence +than that. + +I soon found that there were fresh troubles in store for me. There is no +place safe from the swarming, restless race of which I am a member. In +the evening, when the sun was dipping down behind the hills, casting +them into dark shadow, but gilding the sands and casting a great glory +over the sea, I went, as is my custom, for a stroll along the beach. +Sometimes on these occasions I took my book with me. I did so on this +night, and stretching myself upon a sand-dune I composed myself to read. +As I lay there I suddenly became aware of a shadow which interposed +itself between the sun and myself. Looking round, I saw to my great +surprise a very tall, powerful man, who was standing a few yards off, +and who, instead of looking at me, was ignoring my existence completely, +and was gazing over my head with a stern set face at the bay and the +black line of the Mansie reef. His complexion was dark, with black hair, +and short, curling beard, a hawk-like nose, and golden earrings in his +ears--the general effect being wild and somewhat noble. He wore a +faded velveteen jacket, a red-flannel shirt, and high sea boots, coming +half-way up his thighs. I recognised him at a glance as being the same +man who had been left on the wreck the night before. + +“Hullo!” I said, in an aggrieved voice. “You got ashore all right, +then?” + +“Yes,” he answered, in good English. “It was no doing of mine. The waves +threw me up. I wish to God I had been allowed to drown!” + +There was a slight foreign lisp in his accent which was rather pleasing. +“Two good fishermen, who live round yonder point, pulled me out and +cared for me; yet I could not honestly thank them for it.” + +“Ho! ho!” thought I, “here is a man of my own kidney. Why do you wish to +be drowned?” I asked. + +“Because,” he cried, throwing out his long arms with a passionate, +despairing gesture, “there--there in that blue smiling bay, lies my +soul, my treasure--everything that I loved and lived for.” + +“Well, well,” I said. “People are ruined every day, but there’s no use +making a fuss about it. Let me inform you that this ground on which +you walk is my ground, and that the sooner you take yourself off it the +better pleased I shall be. One of you is quite trouble enough.” + +“One of us?” he gasped. + +“Yes--if you could take her off with you I should be still more +grateful.” + +He gazed at me for a moment as if hardly able to realise what I said, +and then with a wild cry he ran away from me with prodigious speed and +raced along the sands towards my house. Never before or since have +I seen a human being run so fast. I followed as rapidly as I could, +furious at this threatened invasion, but long before I reached the house +he had disappeared through the open door. I heard a great scream +from the inside, and as I came nearer the sound of a man’s bass voice +speaking rapidly and loudly. When I looked in the girl, Sophie Ramusine, +was crouching in a corner, cowering away, with fear and loathing +expressed on her averted face and in every line of her shrinking form. +The other, with his dark eyes flashing, and his outstretched hands +quivering with emotion, was pouring forth a torrent of passionate +pleading words. He made a step forward to her as I entered, but she +writhed still further away, and uttered a sharp cry like that of a +rabbit when the weasel has him by the throat. + +“Here!” I said, pulling him back from her. “This is a pretty to-do! +What do you mean? Do you think this is a wayside inn or place of public +accommodation?” + +“Oh, sir,” he said, “excuse me. This woman is my wife, and I feared that +she was drowned. You have brought me back to life.” + +“Who are you?” I asked roughly. + +“I am a man from Archangel,” he said simply; “a Russian man.” + +“What is your name?” + +“Ourganeff.” + +“Ourganeff!--and hers is Sophie Ramusine. She is no wife of yours. She +has no ring.” + +“We are man and wife in the sight of Heaven,” he said solemnly, looking +upwards. “We are bound by higher laws than those of earth.” As he spoke +the girl slipped behind me and caught me by the other hand, pressing it +as though beseeching my protection. “Give me up my wife, sir,” he went +on. “Let me take her away from here.” + +“Look here, you--whatever your name is,” I said sternly; “I don’t want +this wench here. I wish I had never seen her. If she died it would be +no grief to me. But as to handing her over to you, when it is clear she +fears and hates you, I won’t do it. So now just clear your great body +out of this, and leave me to my books. I hope I may never look upon your +face again.” + +“You won’t give her up to me?” he said hoarsely. + +“I’ll see you damned first!” I answered. + +“Suppose I take her,” he cried, his dark face growing darker. + +All my tigerish blood flushed up in a moment. I picked up a billet of +wood from beside the fireplace. “Go,” I said, in a low voice; “go quick, +or I may do you an injury.” He looked at me irresolutely for a moment, +and then he left the house. He came back again in a moment, however, and +stood in the doorway looking in at us. + +“Have a heed what you do,” he said. “The woman is mine, and I shall have +her. When it comes to blows, a Russian is as good a man as a Scotchman.” + +“We shall see that,” I cried, springing forward, but he was already +gone, and I could see his tall form moving away through the gathering +darkness. + +For a month or more after this things went smoothly with us. I never +spoke to the Russian girl, nor did she ever address me. Sometimes when +I was at work in my laboratory she would slip inside the door and sit +silently there watching me with her great eyes. At first this intrusion +annoyed me, but by degrees, finding that she made no attempt to distract +my attention, I suffered her to remain. Encouraged by this concession, +she gradually came to move the stool on which she sat nearer and nearer +to my table, until after gaining a little every day during some weeks, +she at last worked her way right up to me, and used to perch herself +beside me whenever I worked. In this position she used, still without +ever obtruding her presence in any way, to make herself very useful +by holding my pens, test-tubes, or bottles, and handing me whatever I +wanted, with never-failing sagacity. By ignoring the fact of her being +a human being, and looking upon her as a useful automatic machine, +I accustomed myself to her presence so far as to miss her on the few +occasions when she was not at her post. I have a habit of talking aloud +to myself at times when I work, so as to fix my results better in my +mind. The girl must have had a surprising memory for sounds, for she +could always repeat the words which I let fall in this way, without, of +course, understanding in the least what they meant. I have often been +amused at hearing her discharge a volley of chemical equations and +algebraic symbols at old Madge, and then burst into a ringing laugh when +the crone would shake her head, under the impression, no doubt, that she +was being addressed in Russian. + +She never went more than a few yards from the house, and indeed never +put her foot over the threshold without looking carefully out of each +window in order to be sure that there was nobody about. By this I +knew that she suspected that her fellow-countryman was still in the +neighbourhood, and feared that he might attempt to carry her off. She +did something else which was significant. I had an old revolver with +some cartridges, which had been thrown away among the rubbish. She found +this one day, and at once proceeded to clean it and oil it. She hung +it up near the door, with the cartridges in a little bag beside it, and +whenever I went for a walk, she would take it down and insist upon my +carrying it with me. In my absence she would always bolt the door. +Apart from her apprehensions she seemed fairly happy, busying herself +in helping Madge when she was not attending upon me. She was wonderfully +nimble-fingered and natty in all domestic duties. + +It was not long before I discovered that her suspicions were well +founded, and that this man from Archangel was still lurking in the +vicinity. Being restless one night I rose and peered out of the window. +The weather was somewhat cloudy, and I could barely make out the line +of the sea, and the loom of my boat upon the beach. As I gazed, however, +and my eyes became accustomed to the obscurity, I became aware that +there was some other dark blur upon the sands, and that in front of +my very door, where certainly there had been nothing of the sort the +preceding night. As I stood at my diamond-paned lattice still peering +and peeping to make out what this might be, a great bank of clouds +rolled slowly away from the face of the moon, and a flood of cold, clear +light was poured down upon the silent bay and the long sweep of its +desolate shores. Then I saw what this was which haunted my doorstep. It +was he, the Russian. He squatted there like a gigantic toad, with his +legs doubled under him in strange Mongolian fashion, and his eyes fixed +apparently upon the window of the room in which the young girl and the +housekeeper slept. The light fell upon his upturned face, and I saw +once more the hawk-like grace of his countenance, with the single +deeply-indented line of care upon his brow, and the protruding beard +which marks the passionate nature. My first impulse was to shoot him +as a trespasser, but, as I gazed, my resentment changed into pity and +contempt. “Poor fool,” I said to myself, “is it then possible that you, +whom I have seen looking open-eyed at present death, should have your +whole thoughts and ambition centred upon this wretched slip of a girl--a +girl, too, who flies from you and hates you. Most women would love +you--were it but for that dark face and great handsome body of +yours--and yet you must needs hanker after the one in a thousand who +will have no traffic with you.” As I returned to my bed I chuckled much +to myself over this thought. I knew that my bars were strong and my +bolts thick. It mattered little to me whether this strange man spent his +night at my door or a hundred leagues off, so long as he was gone by the +morning. As I expected, when I rose and went out there was no sign of +him, nor had he left any trace of his midnight vigil. + +It was not long, however, before I saw him again. I had been out for a +row one morning, for my head was aching, partly from prolonged stooping, +and partly from the effects of a noxious drug which I had inhaled the +night before. I pulled along the coast some miles, and then, feeling +thirsty, I landed at a place where I knew that a fresh water stream +trickled down into the sea. This rivulet passed through my land, but the +mouth of it, where I found myself that day, was beyond my boundary line. +I felt somewhat taken aback when rising from the stream at which I had +slaked my thirst I found myself face to face with the Russian. I was +as much a trespasser now as he was, and I could see at a glance that he +knew it. + +“I wish to speak a few words to you,” he said gravely. + +“Hurry up, then!” I answered, glancing at my watch. “I have no time to +listen to chatter.” + +“Chatter!” he repeated angrily. “Ah, but there. You Scotch people are +strange men. Your face is hard and your words rough, but so are those +of the good fishermen with whom I stay, yet I find that beneath it all +there lie kind honest natures. No doubt you are kind and good, too, in +spite of your roughness.” + +“In the name of the devil,” I said, “say your say, and go your way. +I am weary of the sight of you.” + +“Can I not soften you in any way?” he cried. “Ah, see--see here”--he +produced a small Grecian cross from inside his velvet jacket. “Look at +this. Our religions may differ in form, but at least we have some common +thoughts and feelings when we see this emblem.” + +“I am not so sure of that,” I answered. + +He looked at me thoughtfully. + +“You are a very strange man,” he said at last. “I cannot understand you. +You still stand between me and Sophie. It is a dangerous position to +take, sir. Oh, believe me, before it is too late. If you did but know +what I have done to gain that woman--how I have risked my body, how +I have lost my soul! You are a small obstacle to some which I have +surmounted--you, whom a rip with a knife, or a blow from a stone, would +put out of my way for ever. But God preserve me from that,” he cried +wildly. “I am deep--too deep--already. Anything rather than that.” + +“You would do better to go back to your country,” I said, “than to skulk +about these sand-hills and disturb my leisure. When I have proof that +you have gone away I shall hand this woman over to the protection of the +Russian Consul at Edinburgh. Until then, I shall guard her myself, and +not you, nor any Muscovite that ever breathed, shall take her from me.” + +“And what is your object in keeping me from Sophie?” he asked. “Do you +imagine that I would injure her? Why, man, I would give my life freely +to save her from the slightest harm. Why do you do this thing?” + +“I do it because it is my good pleasure to act so,” I answered. “I give +no man reasons for my conduct.” + +“Look here!” he cried, suddenly blazing into fury, and advancing towards +me with his shaggy mane bristling and his brown hands clenched. “If I +thought you had one dishonest thought towards this girl--if for a moment +I had reason to believe that you had any base motive for detaining +her--as sure as there is a God in Heaven I should drag the heart out of +your bosom with my hands.” The very idea seemed to have put the man in +a frenzy, for his face was all distorted and his hands opened and shut +convulsively. I thought that he was about to spring at my throat. + +“Stand off,” I said, putting my hand on my pistol. “If you lay a finger +on me I shall kill you.” + +He put his hand into his pocket, and for a moment I thought he was about +to produce a weapon too, but instead of that he whipped out a cigarette +and lit it, breathing the smoke rapidly into his lungs. + +No doubt he had found by experience that this was the most effectual way +of curbing his passions. + +“I told you,” he said in a quieter voice, “that my name is +Ourganeff--Alexis Ourganeff. I am a Finn by birth, but I have spent my +life in every part of the world. I was one who could never be still, nor +settle down to a quiet existence. After I came to own my own ship there +is hardly a port from Archangel to Australia which I have not entered. +I was rough and wild and free, but there was one at home, sir, who was +prim and white-handed and soft-tongued, skilful in little fancies and +conceits which women love. This youth by his wiles and tricks stole from +me the love of the girl whom I had ever marked as my own, and who up to +that time had seemed in some sort inclined to return my passion. I had +been on a voyage to Hammerfest for ivory, and coming back unexpectedly +I learned that my pride and treasure was to be married to this +soft-skinned boy, and that the party had actually gone to the church. +In such moments, sir, something gives way in my head, and I hardly know +what I do. I landed with a boat’s crew--all men who had sailed with me +for years, and who were as true as steel. We went up to the church. They +were standing, she and he, before the priest, but the thing had not been +done. I dashed between them and caught her round the waist. My men beat +back the frightened bridegroom and the lookers on. We bore her down to +the boat and aboard our vessel, and then getting up anchor we sailed +away across the White Sea until the spires of Archangel sank down behind +the horizon. She had my cabin, my room, every comfort. I slept among +the men in the forecastle. I hoped that in time her aversion to me +would wear away, and that she would consent to marry me in England or +in France. For days and days we sailed. We saw the North Cape die away +behind us, and we skirted the grey Norwegian coast, but still, in spite +of every attention, she would not forgive me for tearing her from that +pale-faced lover of hers. Then came this cursed storm which shattered +both my ship and my hopes, and has deprived me even of the sight of the +woman for whom I have risked so much. Perhaps she may learn to love me +yet. You, sir,” he said wistfully, “look like one who has seen much of +the world. Do you not think that she may come to forget this man and to +love me?” + +“I am tired of your story,” I said, turning away. “For my part, I think +you are a great fool. If you imagine that this love of yours will pass +away you had best amuse yourself as best you can until it does. If, on +the other hand, it is a fixed thing, you cannot do better than cut your +throat, for that is the shortest way out of it. I have no more time to +waste on the matter.” With this I hurried away and walked down to the +boat. I never looked round, but I heard the dull sound of his feet upon +the sands as he followed me. + +“I have told you the beginning of my story,” he said, “and you shall +know the end some day. You would do well to let the girl go.” + +I never answered him, but pushed the boat off. When I had rowed some +distance out I looked back and saw his tall figure upon the yellow +sand as he stood gazing thoughtfully after me. When I looked again some +minutes later he had disappeared. + +For a long time after this my life was as regular and as monotonous as +it had been before the shipwreck. At times I hoped that the man from +Archangel had gone away altogether, but certain footsteps which I saw +upon the sand, and more particularly a little pile of cigarette ash +which I found one day behind a hillock from which a view of the house +might be obtained, warned me that, though invisible, he was still in +the vicinity. My relations with the Russian girl remained the same as +before. Old Madge had been somewhat jealous of her presence at first, +and seemed to fear that what little authority she had would be taken +away from her. By degrees, however, as she came to realise my utter +indifference, she became reconciled to the situation, and, as I have +said before, profited by it, as our visitor performed much of the +domestic work. + +And now I am coming near the end of this narrative of mine, which I have +written a great deal more for my own amusement than for that of any one +else. The termination of the strange episode in which these two Russians +had played a part was as wild and as sudden as the commencement. The +events of one single night freed me from all my troubles, and left me +once more alone with my books and my studies, as I had been before their +intrusion. Let me endeavour to describe how this came about. + +I had had a long day of heavy and wearying work, so that in the evening +I determined upon taking a long walk. When I emerged from the house +my attention was attracted by the appearance of the sea. It lay like a +sheet of glass, so that never a ripple disturbed its surface. Yet +the air was filled with that indescribable moaning sound which I have +alluded to before--a sound as though the spirits of all those who lay +beneath those treacherous waters were sending a sad warning of coming +troubles to their brethren in the flesh. The fishermen’s wives along +that coast know the eerie sound, and look anxiously across the waters +for the brown sails making for the land. When I heard it I stepped back +into the house and looked at the glass. It was down below 29 degrees. +Then I knew that a wild night was coming upon us. + +Underneath the hills where I walked that evening it was dull and chill, +but their summits were rosy-red, and the sea was brightened by the +sinking sun. There were no clouds of importance in the sky, yet the +dull groaning of the sea grew louder and stronger. I saw, far to the +eastward, a brig beating up for Wick, with a reef in her topsails. It +was evident that her captain had read the signs of nature as I had done. +Behind her a long, lurid haze lay low upon the water, concealing the +horizon. “I had better push on,” I thought to myself, “or the wind may +rise before I can get back.” + +I suppose I must have been at least half a mile from the house when I +suddenly stopped and listened breathlessly. My ears were so accustomed +to the noises of nature, the sighing of the breeze and the sob of the +waves, that any other sound made itself heard at a great distance. +I waited, listening with all my ears. Yes, there it was again--a +long-drawn, shrill cry of despair, ringing over the sands and echoed +back from the hills behind me--a piteous appeal for aid. It came from +the direction of my house. I turned and ran back homewards at the top +of my speed, ploughing through the sand, racing over the shingle. In my +mind there was a great dim perception of what had occurred. + +About a quarter of a mile from the house there is a high sand-hill, from +which the whole country round is visible. When I reached the top of this +I paused for a moment. There was the old grey building--there the boat. +Everything seemed to be as I had left it. Even as I gazed, however, the +shrill scream was repeated, louder than before, and the next moment a +tall figure emerged from my door, the figure of the Russian sailor. Over +his shoulder was the white form of the young girl, and even in his haste +he seemed to bear her tenderly and with gentle reverence. I could hear +her wild cries and see her desperate struggles to break away from him. +Behind the couple came my old housekeeper, staunch and true, as the aged +dog, who can no longer bite, still snarls with toothless gums at the +intruder. She staggered feebly along at the heels of the ravisher, +waving her long, thin arms, and hurling, no doubt, volleys of Scotch +curses and imprecations at his head. I saw at a glance that he was +making for the boat. A sudden hope sprang up in my soul that I might be +in time to intercept him. I ran for the beach at the top of my speed. As +I ran I slipped a cartridge into my revolver. This I determined should +be the last of these invasions. + +I was too late. By the time I reached the water’s edge he was a hundred +yards away, making the boat spring with every stroke of his powerful +arms. I uttered a wild cry of impotent anger, and stamped up and down +the sands like a maniac. He turned and saw me. Rising from his seat +he made me a graceful bow, and waved his hand to me. It was not a +triumphant or a derisive gesture. Even my furious and distempered mind +recognised it as being a solemn and courteous leave-taking. Then he +settled down to his oars once more, and the little skiff shot away out +over the bay. The sun had gone down now, leaving a single dull, red +streak upon the water, which stretched away until it blended with the +purple haze on the horizon. Gradually the skiff grew smaller and smaller +as it sped across this lurid band, until the shades of night gathered +round it and it became a mere blur upon the lonely sea. Then this vague +loom died away also and darkness settled over it--a darkness which +should never more be raised. + +And why did I pace the solitary shore, hot and wrathful as a wolf whose +whelp has been torn from it? Was it that I loved this Muscovite girl? +No--a thousand times no. I am not one who, for the sake of a white skin +or a blue eye, would belie my own life, and change the whole tenor of my +thoughts and existence. My heart was untouched. But my pride--ah, there +I had been cruelly wounded. + +To think that I had been unable to afford protection to the helpless +one who craved it of me, and who relied on me! It was that which made my +heart sick and sent the blood buzzing through my ears. + +That night a great wind rose up from the sea, and the wild waves +shrieked upon the shore as though they would tear it back with them into +the ocean. The turmoil and the uproar were congenial to my vexed spirit. +All night I wandered up and down, wet with spray and rain, watching the +gleam of the white breakers and listening to the outcry of the storm. +My heart was bitter against the Russian. I joined my feeble pipe to the +screaming of the gale. “If he would but come back again!” I cried with +clenched hands; “if he would but come back!” + +He came back. When the grey light of morning spread over the eastern +sky, and lit up the great waste of yellow, tossing waters, with the +brown clouds drifting swiftly over them, then I saw him once again. A +few hundred yards off along the sand there lay a long dark object, +cast up by the fury of the waves. It was my boat, much shattered and +splintered. A little further on, a vague, shapeless something was +washing to and fro in the shallow water, all mixed with shingle and with +seaweed. I saw at a glance that it was the Russian, face downwards and +dead. I rushed into the water and dragged him up on to the beach. It was +only when I turned him over that I discovered that she was beneath him, +his dead arms encircling her, his mangled body still intervening between +her and the fury of the storm. It seemed that the fierce German Sea +might beat the life from him, but with all its strength it was unable to +tear this one-idea’d man from the woman whom he loved. There were signs +which led me to believe that during that awful night the woman’s fickle +mind had come at last to learn the worth of the true heart and strong +arm which struggled for her and guarded her so tenderly. Why else should +her little head be nestling so lovingly on his broad breast, while her +yellow hair entwined itself with his flowing beard? Why too should there +be that bright smile of ineffable happiness and triumph, which death +itself had not had power to banish from his dusky face? I fancy that +death had been brighter to him than life had ever been. + +Madge and I buried them there on the shores of the desolate northern +sea. They lie in one grave deep down beneath the yellow sand. Strange +things may happen in the world around them. Empires may rise and may +fall, dynasties may perish, great wars may come and go, but, heedless +of it all, those two shall embrace each other for ever and aye, in +their lonely shrine by the side of the sounding ocean. I sometimes have +thought that their spirits flit like shadowy sea-mews over the wild +waters of the bay. No cross or symbol marks their resting-place, but old +Madge puts wild flowers upon it at times, and when I pass on my daily +walk and see the fresh blossoms scattered over the sand, I think of the +strange couple who came from afar, and broke for a little space the dull +tenor of my sombre life. + + + + +THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX. + +“All aboard?” said the captain. + +“All aboard, sir!” said the mate. + +“Then stand by to let her go.” + +It was nine o’clock on a Wednesday morning. The good ship _Spartan_ was +lying off Boston Quay with her cargo under hatches, her passengers +shipped, and everything prepared for a start. The warning whistle had +been sounded twice; the final bell had been rung. Her bowsprit was +turned towards England, and the hiss of escaping steam showed that all +was ready for her run of three thousand miles. She strained at the warps +that held her like a greyhound at its leash. + +I have the misfortune to be a very nervous man. A sedentary literary +life has helped to increase the morbid love of solitude which, even in +my boyhood, was one of my distinguishing characteristics. As I stood +upon the quarter-deck of the Transatlantic steamer, I bitterly cursed +the necessity which drove me back to the land of my forefathers. The +shouts of the sailors, the rattle of the cordage, the farewells of my +fellow-passengers, and the cheers of the mob, each and all jarred upon +my sensitive nature. I felt sad too. An indescribable feeling, as of +some impending calamity, seemed to haunt me. The sea was calm, and the +breeze light. There was nothing to disturb the equanimity of the most +confirmed of landsmen, yet I felt as if I stood upon the verge of a +great though indefinable danger. I have noticed that such presentiments +occur often in men of my peculiar temperament, and that they are not +uncommonly fulfilled. There is a theory that it arises from a species of +second-sight, a subtle spiritual communication with the future. I well +remember that Herr Raumer, the eminent spiritualist, remarked on one +occasion that I was the most sensitive subject as regards supernatural +phenomena that he had ever encountered in the whole of his wide +experience. Be that as it may, I certainly felt far from happy as I +threaded my way among the weeping, cheering groups which dotted the +white decks of the good ship _Spartan_. Had I known the experience which +awaited me in the course of the next twelve hours I should even then at +the last moment have sprung upon the shore, and made my escape from the +accursed vessel. + +“Time’s up!” said the captain, closing his chronometer with a snap, and +replacing it in his pocket. “Time’s up!” said the mate. There was a last +wail from the whistle, a rush of friends and relatives upon the land. +One warp was loosened, the gangway was being pushed away, when there was +a shout from the bridge, and two men appeared, running rapidly down +the quay. They were waving their hands and making frantic gestures, +apparently with the intention of stopping the ship. “Look sharp!” + shouted the crowd. + +“Hold hard!” cried the captain. “Ease her! stop her! Up with the +gangway!” and the two men sprang aboard just as the second warp parted, +and a convulsive throb of the engine shot us clear of the shore. There +was a cheer from the deck, another from the quay, a mighty fluttering of +handkerchiefs, and the great vessel ploughed its way out of the harbour, +and steamed grandly away across the placid bay. + +We were fairly started upon our fortnight’s voyage. There was a general +dive among the passengers in quest of berths and luggage, while a +popping of corks in the saloon proved that more than one bereaved +traveller was adopting artificial means for drowning the pangs of +separation. I glanced round the deck and took a running inventory of my +_compagnons de voyage_. They presented the usual types met with upon +these occasions. There was no striking face among them. I speak as +a connoisseur, for faces are a specialty of mine. I pounce upon a +characteristic feature as a botanist does on a flower, and bear it away +with me to analyse at my leisure, and classify and label it in my little +anthropological museum. There was nothing worthy of me here. Twenty +types of young America going to “Yurrup,” a few respectable middle-aged +couples as an antidote, a sprinkling of clergymen and professional men, +young ladies, bagmen, British exclusives, and all the _olla podrida_ of +an ocean-going steamer. I turned away from them and gazed back at the +receding shores of America, and, as a cloud of remembrances rose +before me, my heart warmed towards the land of my adoption. A pile of +portmanteaus and luggage chanced to be lying on one side of the deck, +awaiting their turn to be taken below. With my usual love for solitude I +walked behind these, and sitting on a coil of rope between them and the +vessel’s side, I indulged in a melancholy reverie. + +I was aroused from this by a whisper behind me. “Here’s a quiet place,” + said the voice. “Sit down, and we can talk it over in safety.” + +Glancing through a chink between two colossal chests, I saw that the +passengers who had joined us at the last moment were standing at +the other side of the pile. They had evidently failed to see me as I +crouched in the shadow of the boxes. The one who had spoken was a tall +and very thin man with a blue-black beard and a colourless face. His +manner was nervous and excited. His companion was a short plethoric +little fellow, with a brisk and resolute air. He had a cigar in his +mouth, and a large ulster slung over his left arm. They both glanced +round uneasily, as if to ascertain whether they were alone. “This is +just the place,” I heard the other say. They sat down on a bale of goods +with their backs turned towards me, and I found myself, much against my +will, playing the unpleasant part of eavesdropper to their conversation. + +“Well, Müller,” said the taller of the two, “we’ve got it aboard right +enough.” + +“Yes,” assented the man whom he had addressed as Müller, “it’s safe +aboard.” + +“It was rather a near go.” + +“It was that, Flannigan.” + +“It wouldn’t have done to have missed the ship.” + +“No, it would have put our plans out.” + +“Ruined them entirely,” said the little man, and puffed furiously at his +cigar for some minutes. + +“I’ve got it here,” he said at last. + +“Let me see it.” + +“Is no one looking?” + +“No, they are nearly all below.” + +“We can’t be too careful where so much is at stake,” said Müller, as he +uncoiled the ulster which hung over his arm, and disclosed a dark object +which he laid upon the deck. One glance at it was enough to cause me to +spring to my feet with an exclamation of horror. Luckily they were so +engrossed in the matter on hand that neither of them observed me. Had +they turned their heads they would infallibly have seen my pale face +glaring at them over the pile of boxes. + +From the first moment of their conversation a horrible misgiving had +come over me. It seemed more than confirmed as I gazed at what lay +before me. It was a little square box made of some dark wood, and ribbed +with brass. I suppose it was about the size of a cubic foot. It +reminded me of a pistol-case, only it was decidedly higher. There was +an appendage to it, however, on which my eyes were riveted, and which +suggested the pistol itself rather than its receptacle. This was a +trigger-like arrangement upon the lid, to which a coil of string was +attached. Beside this trigger there was a small square aperture through +the wood. The tall man, Flannigan, as his companion called him, applied +his eye to this, and peered in for several minutes with an expression of +intense anxiety upon his face. + +“It seems right enough,” he said at last. + +“I tried not to shake it,” said his companion. + +“Such delicate things need delicate treatment. Put in some of the +needful, Müller.” + +The shorter man fumbled in his pocket for some time, and then produced a +small paper packet. He opened this, and took out of it half a handful +of whitish granules, which he poured down through the hole. A curious +clicking noise followed from the inside of the box, and both the men +smiled in a satisfied way. + +“Nothing much wrong there,” said Flannigan. + +“Right as a trivet,” answered his companion. + +“Look out! here’s some one coming. Take it down to our berth. It +wouldn’t do to have any one suspecting what our game is, or, worse +still, have them fumbling with it, and letting it off by mistake.” + +“Well, it would come to the same, whoever let it off,” said Müller. + +“They’d be rather astonished if they pulled the trigger,” said the +taller, with a sinister laugh. “Ha, ha! fancy their faces! It’s not a +bad bit of workmanship, I flatter myself.” + +“No,” said Müller. “I hear it is your own design, every bit of it, isn’t +it?” + +“Yes, the spring and the sliding shutter are my own.” + +“We should take out a patent.” + +And the two men laughed again with a cold harsh laugh, as they took up +the little brass-bound package, and concealed it in Müller’s voluminous +overcoat. + +“Come down, and we’ll stow it in our berth,” said Flannigan. “We won’t +need it until to-night, and it will be safe there.” + +His companion assented, and the two went arm-in-arm along the deck and +disappeared down the hatchway, bearing the mysterious little box away +with them. The last words I heard were a muttered injunction from +Flannigan to carry it carefully, and avoid knocking it against the +bulwarks. + +How long I remained sitting on that coil of rope I shall never know. The +horror of the conversation I had just overheard was aggravated by the +first sinking qualms of sea-sickness. The long roll of the Atlantic +was beginning to assert itself over both ship and passengers. I felt +prostrated in mind and in body, and fell into a state of collapse, +from which I was finally aroused by the hearty voice of our worthy +quartermaster. + +“Do you mind moving out of that, sir?” he said. “We want to get this +lumber cleared off the deck.” + +His bluff manner and ruddy healthy face seemed to be a positive insult +to me in my present condition. Had I been a courageous or a muscular +man I could have struck him. As it was, I treated the honest sailor to a +melodramatic scowl which seemed to cause him no small astonishment, +and strode past him to the other side of the deck. Solitude was what I +wanted--solitude in which I could brood over the frightful crime which +was being hatched before my very eyes. One of the quarter-boats was +hanging rather low down upon the davits. An idea struck me, and climbing +on the bulwarks, I stepped into the empty boat and lay down in the +bottom of it. Stretched on my back, with nothing but the blue sky above +me, and an occasional view of the mizen as the vessel rolled, I was at +least alone with my sickness and my thoughts. + +I tried to recall the words which had been spoken in the terrible +dialogue I had overheard. Would they admit of any construction but the +one which stared me in the face? My reason forced me to confess that +they would not. I endeavoured to array the various facts which formed +the chain of circumstantial evidence, and to find a flaw in it; but +no, not a link was missing. There was the strange way in which our +passengers had come aboard, enabling them to evade any examination of +their luggage. The very name of “Flannigan” smacked of Fenianism, +while “Müller” suggested nothing but socialism and murder. Then their +mysterious manner; their remark that their plans would have been ruined +had they missed the ship; their fear of being observed; last, but not +least, the clenching evidence in the production of the little square +box with the trigger, and their grim joke about the face of the man who +should let it off by mistake--could these facts lead to any conclusion +other than that they were the desperate emissaries of some body, +political or otherwise, who intended to sacrifice themselves, their +fellow-passengers, and the ship, in one great holocaust? The whitish +granules which I had seen one of them pour into the box formed no doubt +a fuse or train for exploding it. I had myself heard a sound come from +it which might have emanated from some delicate piece of machinery. But +what did they mean by their allusion to to-night? Could it be that they +contemplated putting their horrible design into execution on the very +first evening of our voyage? The mere thought of it sent a cold shudder +over me, and made me for a moment superior even to the agonies of +sea-sickness. + +I have remarked that I am a physical coward. I am a moral one also. It +is seldom that the two defects are united to such a degree in the one +character. I have known many men who were most sensitive to bodily +danger, and yet were distinguished for the independence and strength of +their minds. In my own case, however, I regret to say that my quiet +and retiring habits had fostered a nervous dread of doing anything +remarkable or making myself conspicuous, which exceeded, if possible, +my fear of personal peril. An ordinary mortal placed under the +circumstances in which I now found myself would have gone at once to the +Captain, confessed his fears, and put the matter into his hands. To me, +however, constituted as I am, the idea was most repugnant. The thought +of becoming the observed of all observers, cross-questioned by a +stranger, and confronted with two desperate conspirators in the +character of a denouncer, was hateful to me. Might it not by some remote +possibility prove that I was mistaken? What would be my feelings if +there should turn out to be no grounds for my accusation? No, I would +procrastinate; I would keep my eye on the two desperadoes and dog them +at every turn. Anything was better than the possibility of being wrong. + +Then it struck me that even at that moment some new phase of the +conspiracy might be developing itself. The nervous excitement seemed +to have driven away my incipient attack of sickness, for I was able to +stand up and lower myself from the boat without experiencing any return +of it. I staggered along the deck with the intention of descending into +the cabin and finding how my acquaintances of the morning were +occupying themselves. Just as I had my hand on the companion-rail, I was +astonished by receiving a hearty slap on the back, which nearly shot me +down the steps with more haste than dignity. + +“Is that you, Hammond?” said a voice which I seemed to recognise. + +“God bless me,” I said, as I turned round, “it can’t be Dick Merton! +Why, how are you, old man?” + +This was an unexpected piece of luck in the midst of my perplexities. +Dick was just the man I wanted; kindly and shrewd in his nature, and +prompt in his actions, I should have no difficulty in telling him my +suspicions, and could rely upon his sound sense to point out the best +course to pursue. Since I was a little lad in the second form at +Harrow, Dick had been my adviser and protector. He saw at a glance that +something had gone wrong with me. + +“Hullo!” he said, in his kindly way, “what’s put you about, Hammond? You +look as white as a sheet. _Mal de mer_, eh?” + +“No, not that altogether,” said I. “Walk up and down with me, Dick; I +want to speak to you. Give me your arm.” + +Supporting myself on Dick’s stalwart frame, I tottered along by his +side; but it was some time before I could muster resolution to speak. + +“Have a cigar,” said he, breaking the silence. + +“No, thanks,” said I. “Dick, we shall be all corpses to-night.” + +“That’s no reason against your having a cigar now,” said Dick, in his +cool way, but looking hard at me from under his shaggy eyebrows as he +spoke. He evidently thought that my intellect was a little gone. + +“No,” I continued, “it’s no laughing matter; and I speak in sober +earnest, I assure you. I have discovered an infamous conspiracy, +Dick, to destroy this ship and every soul that is in her;” and I then +proceeded systematically, and in order, to lay before him the chain of +evidence which I had collected. “There, Dick,” I said, as I concluded, +“what do you think of that? and, above all, what am I to do?” + +To my astonishment he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. + +“I’d be frightened,” he said, “if any fellow but you had told me as +much. You always had a way, Hammond, of discovering mares’ nests. I like +to see the old traits breaking out again. Do you remember at school how +you swore there was a ghost in the long room, and how it turned out to +be your own reflection in the mirror. Why, man,” he continued, “what +object would any one have in destroying this ship? We have no great +political guns aboard. On the contrary, the majority of the passengers +are Americans. Besides, in this sober nineteenth century, the most +wholesale murderers stop at including themselves among their victims. +Depend upon it, you have misunderstood them, and have mistaken a +photographic camera, or something equally innocent, for an infernal +machine.” + +“Nothing of the sort, sir,” said I, rather touchily “You will learn to +your cost, I fear, that I have neither exaggerated nor misinterpreted a +word. As to the box, I have certainly never before seen one like it. It +contained delicate machinery; of that I am convinced, from the way in +which the men handled it and spoke of it.” + +“You’d make out every packet of perishable goods to be a torpedo,” said +Dick, “if that is to be your only test.” + +“The man’s name was Flannigan,” I continued. + +“I don’t think that would go very far in a court of law,” said Dick; +“but come, I have finished my cigar. Suppose we go down together and +split a bottle of claret. You can point out these two Orsinis to me if +they are still in the cabin.” + +“All right,” I answered; “I am determined not to lose sight of them all +day. Don’t look hard at them, though, for I don’t want them to think +that they are being watched.” + +“Trust me,” said Dick; “I’ll look as unconscious and guileless as a +lamb;” and with that we passed down the companion and into the saloon. + +A good many passengers were scattered about the great central table, +some wrestling with refractory carpet bags and rug-straps, some having +their luncheon, and a few reading and otherwise amusing themselves. The +objects of our quest were not there. We passed down the room and peered +into every berth, but there was no sign of them. “Heavens!” thought I, +“perhaps at this very moment they are beneath our feet, in the hold or +engine-room, preparing their diabolical contrivance!” It was better to +know the worst than to remain in such suspense. + +“Steward,” said Dick, “are there any other gentlemen about?” + +“There’s two in the smoking-room, sir,” answered the steward. + +The smoking-room was a little snuggery, luxuriously fitted up, and +adjoining the pantry. We pushed the door open and entered. A sigh of +relief escaped from my bosom. The very first object on which my eye +rested was the cadaverous face of Flannigan, with its hard-set mouth +and unwinking eye. His companion sat opposite to him. They were both +drinking, and a pile of cards lay upon the table. They were engaged in +playing as we entered. I nudged Dick to show him that we had found +our quarry, and we sat down beside them with as unconcerned an air +as possible. The two conspirators seemed to take little notice of our +presence. I watched them both narrowly. The game at which they were +playing was “Napoleon.” Both were adepts at it, and I could not help +admiring the consummate nerve of men who, with such a secret at their +hearts, could devote their minds to the manipulating of a long suit or +the finessing of a queen. Money changed hands rapidly; but the run of +luck seemed to be all against the taller of the two players. At last he +threw down his cards on the table with an oath, and refused to go on. + +“No, I’m hanged if I do,” he said; “I haven’t had more than two of a +suit for five hands.” + +“Never mind,” said his comrade, as he gathered up his winnings; “a few +dollars one way or the other won’t go very far after to-night’s work.” + +I was astonished at the rascal’s audacity, but took care to keep my eyes +fixed abstractedly upon the ceiling, and drank my wine in as unconscious +a manner as possible. I felt that Flannigan was looking towards me with +his wolfish eyes to see if I had noticed the allusion. He whispered +something to his companion which I failed to catch. It was a caution, I +suppose, for the other answered rather angrily-- + +“Nonsense! Why shouldn’t I say what I like? Over-caution is just what +would ruin us.” + +“I believe you want it not to come off,” said Flannigan. + +“You believe nothing of the sort,” said the other, speaking rapidly and +loudly. “You know as well as I do that when I play for a stake I like to +win it. But I won’t have my words criticised and cut short by you or any +other man. I have as much interest in our success as you have--more, I +hope.” + +He was quite hot about it, and puffed furiously at his cigar for some +minutes. The eyes of the other ruffian wandered alternately from Dick +Merton to myself. I knew that I was in the presence of a desperate man, +that a quiver of my lip might be the signal for him to plunge a weapon +into my heart, but I betrayed more self-command than I should have given +myself credit for under such trying circumstances. As to Dick, he was as +immovable and apparently as unconscious as the Egyptian Sphinx. + +There was silence for some time in the smoking-room, broken only by the +crisp rattle of the cards, as the man Müller shuffled them up before +replacing them in his pocket. He still seemed to be somewhat flushed and +irritable. Throwing the end of his cigar into the spittoon, he glanced +defiantly at his companion and turned towards me. + +“Can you tell me, sir,” he said, “when this ship will be heard of +again?” + +They were both looking at me; but though my face may have turned a +trifle paler, my voice was as steady as ever as I answered-- + +“I presume, sir, that it will be heard of first when it enters +Queenstown Harbour.” + +“Ha, ha!” laughed the angry little man, “I knew you would say that. +Don’t you kick me under the table, Flannigan, I won’t stand it. I know +what I am doing. You are wrong, sir,” he continued, turning to me, +“utterly wrong.” + +“Some passing ship, perhaps,” suggested Dick. + +“No, nor that either.” + +“The weather is fine,” I said; “why should we not be heard of at our +destination.” + +“I didn’t say we shouldn’t be heard of at our destination. Possibly we +may not, and in any case that is not where we shall be heard of first.” + +“Where then?” asked Dick. + +“That you shall never know. Suffice it that a rapid and mysterious +agency will signal our whereabouts, and that before the day is out. Ha, +ha!” and he chuckled once again. + +“Come on deck!” growled his comrade; “you have drunk too much of that +confounded brandy-and-water. It has loosened your tongue. Come away!” + and taking him by the arm he half led him, half forced him out of the +smoking-room, and we heard them stumbling up the companion together, and +on to the deck. + +“Well, what do you think now?” I gasped, as I turned towards Dick. He +was as imperturbable as ever. + +“Think!” he said; “why, I think what his companion thinks, that we have +been listening to the ravings of a half-drunken man. The fellow stunk of +brandy.” + +“Nonsense, Dick I you saw how the other tried to stop his tongue.” + +“Of course he did. He didn’t want his friend to make a fool of himself +before strangers. Maybe the short one is a lunatic, and the other his +private keeper. It’s quite possible.” + +“O Dick, Dick,” I cried, “how can you be so blind! Don’t you see that +every word confirmed our previous suspicion?” + +“Humbug, man!” said Dick; “you’re working yourself into a state of +nervous excitement. Why, what the devil do you make of all that nonsense +about a mysterious agent which would signal our whereabouts?” + +“I’ll tell you what he meant, Dick,” I said, bending forward and +grasping my friend’s arm. “He meant a sudden glare and a flash seen far +out at sea by some lonely fisherman off the American coast. That’s what +he meant.” + +“I didn’t think you were such a fool, Hammond,” said Dick Merton +testily. “If you try to fix a literal meaning on the twaddle that every +drunken man talks, you will come to some queer conclusions. Let us +follow their example, and go on deck. You need fresh air, I think. +Depend upon it, your liver is out of order. A sea-voyage will do you a +world of good.” + +“If ever I see the end of this one,” I groaned, “I’ll promise never +to venture on another. They are laying the cloth, so it’s hardly worth +while my going up. I’ll stay below and unpack my things.” + +“I hope dinner will find you in a more pleasant state of mind,” said +Dick; and he went out, leaving me to my thoughts until the clang of the +great gong summoned us to the saloon. + +My appetite, I need hardly say, had not been improved by the incidents +which had occurred during the day. I sat down, however, mechanically at +the table, and listened to the talk which was going on around me. There +were nearly a hundred first-class passengers, and as the wine began to +circulate, their voices combined with the clash of the dishes to form +a perfect Babel. I found myself seated between a very stout and nervous +old lady and a prim little clergyman; and as neither made any advances I +retired into my shell, and spent my time in observing the appearance of +my fellow-voyagers. I could see Dick in the dim distance dividing his +attentions between a jointless fowl in front of him and a self-possessed +young lady at his side. Captain Dowie was doing the honours at my end, +while the surgeon of the vessel was seated at the other. I was glad to +notice that Flannigan was placed almost opposite to me. As long as I had +him before my eyes I knew that, for the time at least, we were safe. He +was sitting with what was meant to be a sociable smile on his grim face. +It did not escape me that he drank largely of wine--so largely that even +before the dessert appeared his voice had become decidedly husky. His +friend Müller was seated a few places lower down. He ate little, and +appeared to be nervous and restless. + +“Now, ladies,” said our genial Captain, “I trust that you will consider +yourselves at home aboard my vessel. I have no fears for the gentlemen. +A bottle of champagne, steward. Here’s to a fresh breeze and a quick +passage! I trust our friends in America will hear of our safe arrival in +eight days, or in nine at the very latest.” + +I looked up. Quick as was the glance which passed between Flannigan and +his confederate, I was able to intercept it. There was an evil smile +upon the former’s thin lips. + +The conversation rippled on. Politics, the sea, amusements, religion, +each was in turn discussed. I remained a silent though an interested +listener. It struck me that no harm could be done by introducing the +subject which was ever in my mind. It could be managed in an off-hand +way, and would at least have the effect of turning the Captain’s +thoughts in that direction. I could watch, too, what effect it would +have upon the faces of the conspirators. + +There was a sudden lull in the conversation. The ordinary subjects of +interest appeared to be exhausted. The opportunity was a favourable one. + +“May I ask, Captain,” I said, bending forward and speaking very +distinctly, “what you think of Fenian manifestoes?” + +The Captain’s ruddy face became a shade darker from honest indignation. + +“They are poor cowardly things,” he said, “as silly as they are wicked.” + +“The impotent threats of a set of anonymous scoundrels,” said a +pompous-looking old gentleman beside him. + +“O Captain!” said the fat lady at my side, “you don’t really think they +would blow up a ship?” + +“I have no doubt they would if they could. But I am very sure they shall +never blow up mine.” + +“May I ask what precautions are taken against them?” asked an elderly +man at the end of the table. + +“All goods sent aboard the ship are strictly examined,” said Captain +Dowie. + +“But suppose a man brought explosives aboard with him?” I suggested. + +“They are too cowardly to risk their own lives in that way.” + +During this conversation Flannigan had not betrayed the slightest +interest in what was going on. He raised his head now and looked at the +Captain. + +“Don’t you think you are rather underrating them?” he said. “Every +secret society has produced desperate men--why shouldn’t the Fenians +have them too? Many men think it a privilege to die in the service of a +cause which seems right in their eyes, though others may think it wrong.” + +“Indiscriminate murder cannot be right in anybody’s eyes,” said the +little clergyman. + +“The bombardment of Paris was nothing else,” said Flannigan; “yet the +whole civilised world agreed to look on with folded arms, and change +the ugly word ‘murder’ into the more euphonious one of ‘war.’ It seemed +right enough to German eyes; why shouldn’t dynamite seem so to the +Fenian?” + +“At any rate their empty vapourings have led to nothing as yet,” said +the Captain. + +“Excuse me,” returned Flannigan, “but is there not some room for doubt +yet as to the fate of the _Dotterel_? I have met men in America who +asserted from their own personal knowledge that there was a coal torpedo +aboard that vessel.” + +“Then they lied,” said the Captain. “It was proved conclusively at the +court-martial to have arisen from an explosion of coal-gas--but we had +better change the subject, or we may cause the ladies to have a restless +night;” and the conversation once more drifted back into its original +channel. + +During this little discussion Flannigan had argued his point with a +gentlemanly deference and a quiet power for which I had not given him +credit. I could not help admiring a man who, on the eve of a desperate +enterprise, could courteously argue upon a point which must touch him so +nearly. He had, as I have already mentioned, partaken of a considerable +quantity of wine; but though there was a slight flush upon his pale +cheek, his manner was as reserved as ever. He did not join in the +conversation again, but seemed to be lost in thought. + +A whirl of conflicting ideas was battling in my own mind. What was I to +do? Should I stand up now and denounce them before both passengers and +Captain? Should I demand a few minutes’ conversation with the latter in +his own cabin, and reveal it all? For an instant I was half resolved to +do it, but then the old constitutional timidity came back with redoubled +force. After all there might be some mistake. Dick had heard the +evidence and had refused to believe in it. I determined to let things go +on their course. A strange reckless feeling came over me. Why should I +help men who were blind to their own danger? Surely it was the duty of +the officers to protect us, not ours to give warning to them. I drank +off a couple of glasses of wine, and staggered upon deck with the +determination of keeping my secret locked in my own bosom. + +It was a glorious evening. Even in my excited state of mind I could not +help leaning against the bulwarks and enjoying the refreshing breeze. +Away to the westward a solitary sail stood out as a dark speck against +the great sheet of flame left by the setting sun. I shuddered as I +looked at it. It was grand but appalling. A single star was twinkling +faintly above our mainmast, but a thousand seemed to gleam in the water +below with every stroke of our propeller. The only blot in the fair +scene was the great trail of smoke which stretched away behind us like +a black slash upon a crimson curtain. It was hard to believe that +the great peace which hung over all Nature could be marred by a poor +miserable mortal. + +“After all,” I thought, as I gazed into the blue depths beneath me, “if +the worst comes to the worst, it is better to die here than to linger in +agony upon a sick-bed on land.” A man’s life seems a very paltry thing +amid the great forces of Nature. All my philosophy could not prevent my +shuddering, however, when I turned my head and saw two shadowy figures +at the other side of the deck, which I had no difficulty in recognising. +They seemed to be conversing earnestly, but I had no opportunity of +overhearing what was said; so I contented myself with pacing up and +down, and keeping a vigilant watch upon their movements. + +It was a relief to me when Dick came on deck. Even an incredulous +confidant is better than none at all. + +“Well, old man,” he said, giving me a facetious dig in the ribs, “we’ve +not been blown up yet.” + +“No, not yet,” said I; “but that’s no proof that we are not going to +be.” + +“Nonsense, man!” said Dick; “I can’t conceive what has put this +extraordinary idea into your head. I have been talking to one of your +supposed assassins, and he seems a pleasant fellow enough; quite a +sporting character, I should think, from the way he speaks.” + +“Dick,” I said, “I am as certain that those men have an infernal +machine, and that we are on the verge of eternity, as if I saw them +putting the match to the fuse.” + +“Well, if you really think so,” said Dick, half awed for the moment by +the earnestness of my manner, “it is your duty to let the Captain know +of your suspicions.” + +“You are right,” I said; “I will. My absurd timidity has prevented my +doing so sooner. I believe our lives can only be saved by laying the +whole matter before him.” + +“Well, go and do it now,” said Dick; “but for goodness’ sake don’t mix +me up in the matter.” + +“I’ll speak to him when he comes off the bridge,” I answered; “and in +the meantime I don’t mean to lose sight of them.” + +“Let me know of the result,” said my companion; and with a nod he +strolled away in search, I fancy, of his partner at the dinner-table. + +Left to myself, I bethought me of my retreat of the morning, and +climbing on the bulwark I mounted into the quarter-boat, and lay down +there. In it I could reconsider my course of action, and by raising my +head I was able at any time to get a view of my disagreeable neighbours. + +An hour passed, and the Captain was still on the bridge. He was talking +to one of the passengers, a retired naval officer, and the two were deep +in debate concerning some abstruse point in navigation. I could see the +red tips of their cigars from where I lay. It was dark now, so dark that +I could hardly make out the figures of Flannigan and his accomplice. +They were still standing in the position which they had taken up after +dinner. A few of the passengers were scattered about the deck, but +many had gone below. A strange stillness seemed to pervade the air. The +voices of the watch and the rattle of the wheel were the only sounds +which broke the silence. + +Another half-hour passed. The Captain was still upon the bridge. It +seemed as if he would never come down. My nerves were in a state of +unnatural tension, so much so that the sound of two steps upon the deck +made me start up in a quiver of excitement. I peered over the edge of +the boat, and saw that our suspicious passengers had crossed from the +other side, and were standing almost directly beneath me. The light of a +binnacle fell full upon the ghastly face of the ruffian Flannigan. Even +in that short glance I saw that Müller had the ulster, whose use I knew +so well, slung loosely over his arm. I sank back with a groan. It seemed +that my fatal procrastination had sacrificed two hundred innocent lives. + +I had read of the fiendish vengeance which awaited a spy. I knew that +men with their lives in their hands would stick at nothing. All I could +do was to cower at the bottom of the boat and listen silently to their +whispered talk below. + +“This place will do,” said a voice. + +“Yes, the leeward side is best.” + +“I wonder if the trigger will act?” + +“I am sure it will.” + +“We were to let it off at ten, were we not?” + +“Yes, at ten sharp. We have eight minutes yet.” There was a pause. Then +the voice began again-- + +“They’ll hear the drop of the trigger, won’t they?” + +“It doesn’t matter. It will be too late for any one to prevent its going +off.” + +“That’s true. There will be some excitement among those we have left +behind, won’t there?” + +“Rather. How long do you reckon it will be before they hear of us?” + +“The first news will get in at about midnight at earliest.” + +“That will be my doing.” + +“No, mine.” + +“Ha, ha! we’ll settle that.” + +There was a pause here. Then I heard Müller’s voice in a ghastly +whisper, “There’s only five minutes more.” + +How slowly the moments seemed to pass! I could count them by the +throbbing of my heart. + +“It’ll make a sensation on land,” said a voice. + +“Yes, it will make a noise in the newspapers.” + +I raised my head and peered over the side of the boat. There seemed no +hope, no help. Death stared me in the face, whether I did or did not +give the alarm. The Captain had at last left the bridge. The deck was +deserted, save for those two dark figures crouching in the shadow of the +boat. + +Flannigan had a watch lying open in his hand. + +“Three minutes more,” he said. “Put it down upon the deck.” + +“No, put it here on the bulwarks.” + +It was the little square box. I knew by the sound that they had placed +it near the davit, and almost exactly under my head. + +I looked over again. Flannigan was pouring something out of a paper into +his hand. It was white and granular--the same that I had seen him use in +the morning. It was meant as a fuse, no doubt, for he shovelled it +into the little box, and I heard the strange noise which had previously +arrested my attention. + +“A minute and a half more,” he said. “Shall you or I pull the string?” + +“I will pull it,” said Müller. + +He was kneeling down and holding the end in his hand. Flannigan stood +behind with his arms folded, and an air of grim resolution upon his +face. + +I could stand it no longer. My nervous system seemed to give way in a +moment. + +“Stop!” I screamed, springing to my feet. “Stop misguided and +unprincipled men!” + +They both staggered backwards. I fancy they thought I was a spirit, with +the moonlight streaming down upon my pale face. + +I was brave enough now. I had gone too far to retreat. + +“Cain was damned,” I cried, “and he slew but one; would you have the +blood of two hundred upon your souis?” + +“He’s mad!” said Flannigan. “Time’s up. Let it off, Müller.” I sprang +down upon the deck. + +“You shan’t do it!” I said. + +“By what right do you prevent us?” + +“By every right, human and divine.” + + +“It’s no business of yours. Clear out of this.” + +“Never!” said I. + +“Confound the fellow! There’s too much at stake to stand on ceremony. +I’ll hold him, Müller, while you pull the trigger.” + +Next moment I was struggling in the herculean grasp of the Irishman. +Resistance was useless; I was a child in his hands. + +He pinned me up against the side of the vessel, and held me there. + +“Now,” he said, “look sharp. He can’t prevent us.” + +I felt that I was standing on the verge of eternity. Half-strangled in +the arms of the taller ruffian, I saw the other approach the fatal box. +He stooped over it and seized the string. I breathed one prayer when I +saw his grasp tighten upon it. Then came a sharp snap, a strange rasping +noise. The trigger had fallen, the side of the box flew out, and let +off--TWO GREY CARRIER PIGEONS! + +Little more need be said. It is not a subject on which I care to dwell. +The whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd. Perhaps the best +thing I can do is to retire gracefully from the scene, and let the +sporting correspondent of the New York Herald fill my unworthy place. +Here is an extract clipped from its columns shortly after our departure +from America:-- + +“Pigeon-flying Extraordinary.--A novel match has been brought off last +week between the birds of John H. Flannigan, of Boston, and Jeremiah +Müller, a well-known citizen of Lowell. Both men have devoted much time +and attention to an improved breed of bird, and the challenge is an +old-standing one. The pigeons were backed to a large amount, and there +was considerable local interest in the result. The start was from the +deck of the Transatlantic steamship _Spartan_, at ten o’clock on the +evening of the day of starting, the vessel being then reckoned to be +about a hundred miles from the land. The bird which reached home first +was to be declared the winner. Considerable caution had, we believe, to +be observed, as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing +off of sporting events aboard their vessels. In spite of some little +difficulty at the last moment, the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten +o’clock. + +“Müller’s bird arrived in Lowell in an extreme state of exhaustion on the +following morning, while Flannigan’s has not been heard of. The backers +of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing, however, that the whole +affair has been characterised by extreme fairness. The pigeons were +confined in a specially invented trap, which could only be opened by +the spring. It was thus possible to feed them through an aperture in the +top, but any tampering with their wings was quite out of the question. +A few such matches would go far towards popularising pigeon-flying in +America, and form an agreeable variety to the morbid exhibitions of +human endurance which have assumed such proportions during the last few +years.” + + + + +JOHN HUXFORD’S HIATUS. + +Strange it is and wonderful to mark how upon this planet of ours the +smallest and most insignificant of events set a train of consequences in +motion which act and react until their final results are portentous and +incalculable. Set a force rolling, however small; and who can say where +it shall end, or what it may lead to! Trifles develop into tragedies, +and the bagatelle of one day ripens into the catastrophe of the next. +An oyster throws out a secretion to surround a grain of sand, and so a +pearl comes into being; a pearl diver fishes it up, a merchant buys +it and sells it to a jeweller, who disposes of it to a customer. The +customer is robbed of it by two scoundrels who quarrel over the booty. +One slays the other, and perishes himself upon the scaffold. Here is +a direct chain of events with a sick mollusc for its first link, and a +gallows for its last one. Had that grain of sand not chanced to wash in +between the shells of the bivalve, two living breathing beings with all +their potentialities for good and for evil would not have been blotted +out from among their fellows. Who shall undertake to judge what is +really small and what is great? + +Thus when in the year 1821 Don Diego Salvador bethought him that if it +paid the heretics in England to import the bark of his cork oaks, it +would pay him also to found a factory by which the corks might be cut +and sent out ready made, surely at first sight no very vital human +interests would appear to be affected. Yet there were poor folk who +would suffer, and suffer acutely--women who would weep, and men who +would become sallow and hungry-looking and dangerous in places of which +the Don had never heard, and all on account of that one idea which had +flashed across him as he strutted, cigarettiferous, beneath the grateful +shadow of his limes. So crowded is this old globe of ours, and so +interlaced our interests, that one cannot think a new thought without +some poor devil being the better or the worse for it. + +Don Diego Salvador was a capitalist, and the abstract thought soon took +the concrete form of a great square plastered building wherein a couple +of hundred of his swarthy countrymen worked with deft nimble fingers at +a rate of pay which no English artisan could have accepted. Within a few +months the result of this new competition was an abrupt fall of prices +in the trade, which was serious for the largest firms and disastrous +for the smaller ones. A few old-established houses held on as they were, +others reduced their establishments and cut down their expenses, while +one or two put up their shutters and confessed themselves beaten. In +this last unfortunate category was the ancient and respected firm of +Fairbairn Brothers of Brisport. + +Several causes had led up to this disaster, though Don Diego’s debut as +a corkcutter had brought matters to a head. When a couple of generations +back the original Fairbairn had founded the business, Brisport was a +little fishing town with no outlet or occupation for her superfluous +population. Men were glad to have safe and continuous work upon any +terms. All this was altered now, for the town was expanding into the +centre of a large district in the west, and the demand for labour and +its remuneration had proportionately increased. Again, in the old days, +when carriage was ruinous and communication slow, the vintners of Exeter +and of Barnstaple were glad to buy their corks from their neighbour of +Brisport; but now the large London houses sent down their travellers, +who competed with each other to gain the local custom, until profits +were cut down to the vanishing point. For a long time the firm had been +in a precarious position, but this further drop in prices settled the +matter, and compelled Mr. Charles Fairbairn, the acting manager, to +close his establishment. + +It was a murky, foggy Saturday afternoon in November when the hands +were paid for the last time, and the old building was to be finally +abandoned. Mr. Fairbairn, an anxious-faced, sorrow-worn man, stood on +a raised dais by the cashier while he handed the little pile of +hardly-earned shillings and coppers to each successive workman as the +long procession filed past his table. It was usual with the employees to +clatter away the instant that they had been paid, like so many children +let out of school; but to-day they waited, forming little groups over +the great dreary room, and discussing in subdued voices the misfortune +which had come upon their employers, and the future which awaited +themselves. When the last pile of coins had been handed across the +table, and the last name checked by the cashier, the whole throng +faced silently round to the man who had been their master, and waited +expectantly for any words which he might have to say to them. + +Mr. Charles Fairbairn had not expected this, and it embarrassed him. He +had waited as a matter of routine duty until the wages were paid, but +he was a taciturn, slow-witted man, and he had not foreseen this sudden +call upon his oratorical powers. He stroked his thin cheek nervously +with his long white fingers, and looked down with weak watery eyes at +the mosaic of upturned serious faces. + +“I am sorry that we have to part, my men,” he said at last in a +crackling voice. “It’s a bad day for all of us, and for Brisport too. +For three years we have been losing money over the works. We held on in +the hope of a change coming, but matters are going from bad to worse. +There’s nothing for it but to give it up before the balance of our +fortune is swallowed up. I hope you may all be able to get work of some +sort before very long. Good-bye, and God bless you!” + +“God bless you, sir! God bless you!” cried a chorus of rough voices. +“Three cheers for Mr. Charles Fairbairn!” shouted a bright-eyed, smart +young fellow, springing up upon a bench and waving his peaked cap in the +air. The crowd responded to the call, but their huzzas wanted the true +ring which only a joyous heart can give. Then they began to flock out +into the sunlight, looking back as they went at the long deal tables and +the cork-strewn floor--above all at the sad-faced, solitary man, +whose cheeks were flecked with colour at the rough cordiality of their +farewell. + +“Huxford,” said the cashier, touching on the shoulder the young fellow +who had led the cheering; “the governor wants to speak to you.” + +The workman turned back and stood swinging his cap awkwardly in front of +his ex-employer, while the crowd pushed on until the doorway was clear, +and the heavy fog-wreaths rolled unchecked into the deserted factory. + +“Ah, John!” said Mr. Fairbairn, coming suddenly out of his reverie and +taking up a letter from the table. “You have been in my service since +you were a boy, and you have shown that you merited the trust which I +have placed in you. From what I have heard I think I am right in saying +that this sudden want of work will affect your plans more than it will +many of my other hands.” + +“I was to be married at Shrovetide,” the man answered, tracing a pattern +upon the table with his horny forefinger. “I’ll have to find work +first.” + +“And work, my poor fellow, is by no means easy to find. You see you have +been in this groove all your life, and are unfit for anything else. +It’s true you’ve been my foreman, but even that won’t help you, for +the factories all over England are discharging hands, and there’s not a +vacancy to be had. It’s a bad outlook for you and such as you.” + +“What would you advise, then, sir?” asked John Huxford. + +“That’s what I was coming to. I have a letter here from Sheridan and +Moore, of Montreal, asking for a good hand to take charge of a workroom. +If you think it will suit you, you can go out by the next boat. The +wages are far in excess of anything which I have been able to give you.” + +“Why, sir, this is real kind of you,” the young workman said earnestly. +“She--my girl--Mary, will be as grateful to you as I am. I know what you +say is right, and that if I had to look for work I should be likely to +spend the little that I have laid by towards housekeeping before I found +it. But, sir, with your leave I’d like to speak to her about it before I +made up my mind. Could you leave it open for a few hours?” + +“The mail goes out to-morrow,” Mr. Fairbairn answered. “If you decide to +accept you can write tonight. Here is their letter, which will give you +their address.” + +John Huxford took the precious paper with a grateful heart. An hour ago +his future had been all black, but now this rift of light had broken in +the west, giving promise of better things. He would have liked to have +said something expressive of his feelings to his employer, but the +English nature is not effusive, and he could not get beyond a +few choking awkward words which were as awkwardly received by his +benefactor. With a scrape and a bow, he turned on his heel, and plunged +out into the foggy street. + +So thick was the vapour that the houses over the way were only a vague +loom, but the foreman hurried on with springy steps through side streets +and winding lanes, past walls where the fishermen’s nets were drying, +and over cobble-stoned alleys redolent of herring, until he reached a +modest line of whitewashed cottages fronting the sea. At the door of one +of these the young man tapped, and then without waiting for a response, +pressed down the latch and walked in. + +An old silvery-haired woman and a young girl hardly out of her teens +were sitting on either side of the fire, and the latter sprang to her +feet as he entered. + +“You’ve got some good news, John,” she cried, putting her hands upon his +shoulders, and looking into his eyes. “I can tell it from your step. Mr. +Fairbairn is going to carry on after all.” + +“No, dear, not so good as that,” John Huxford answered, smoothing back +her rich brown hair; “but I have an offer of a place in Canada, with +good money, and if you think as I do, I shall go out to it, and you can +follow with the granny whenever I have made all straight for you at the +other side. What say you to that, my lass?” + +“Why, surely, John, what you think is right must be for the best,” said +the girl quietly, with trust and confidence in her pale plain face and +loving hazel eyes. “But poor granny, how is she to cross the seas?” + +“Oh, never mind about me,” the old woman broke in cheerfully. “I’ll be +no drag on you. If you want granny, granny’s not too old to travel; and +if you don’t want her, why she can look after the cottage, and have an +English home ready for you whenever you turn back to the old country.” + +“Of course we shall need you, granny,” John Huxford said, with a cheery +laugh. “Fancy leaving granny behind! That would never do! Mary! But +if you both come out, and if we are married all snug and proper at +Montreal, we’ll look through the whole city until we find a house +something like this one, and we’ll have creepers on the outside just +the same, and when the doors are shut and we sit round the fire on the +winter’s nights, I’m hanged if we’ll be able to tell that we’re not at +home. Besides, Mary, it’s the same speech out there, and the same king +and the same flag; it’s not like a foreign country.” + +“No, of course not,” Mary answered with conviction. She was an orphan +with no living relation save her old grandmother, and no thought in life +but to make a helpful and worthy wife to the man she loved. Where these +two were she could not fail to find happiness. If John went to Canada, +then Canada became home to her, for what had Brisport to offer when he +was gone? + +“I’m to write to-night then and accept?” the young man asked. “I knew +you would both be of the same mind as myself, but of course I couldn’t +close with the offer until we had talked it over. I can get started in a +week or two, and then in a couple of months I’ll have all ready for you +on the other side.” + +“It will be a weary, weary time until we hear from you, dear John,” said +Mary, clasping his hand; “but it’s God’s will, and we must be patient. +Here’s pen and ink. You can sit at the table and write the letter which +is to take the three of us across the Atlantic.” Strange how Don Diego’s +thoughts were moulding human lives in the little Devon village. + +The acceptance was duly despatched, and John Huxford began immediately +to prepare for his departure, for the Montreal firm had intimated that +the vacancy was a certainty, and that the chosen man might come out +without delay to take over his duties. In a very few days his scanty +outfit was completed, and he started off in a coasting vessel for +Liverpool, where he was to catch the passenger ship for Quebec. + +“Remember, John,” Mary whispered, as he pressed her to his heart upon +the Brisport quay, “the cottage is our own, and come what may, we have +always that to fall back upon. If things should chance to turn out badly +over there, we have always a roof to cover us. There you will find me +until you send word to us to come.” + +“And that will be very soon, my lass,” he answered cheerfully, with a +last embrace. “Good-bye, granny, good-bye.” The ship was a mile and more +from the land before he lost sight of the figures of the straight slim +girl and her old companion, who stood watching and waving to him from +the end of the grey stone quay. It was with a sinking heart and a vague +feeling of impending disaster that he saw them at last as minute specks +in the distance, walking townward and disappearing amid the crowd who +lined the beach. + +From Liverpool the old woman and her granddaughter received a letter +from John announcing that he was just starting in the barque St. +Lawrence, and six weeks afterwards a second longer epistle informed them +of his safe arrival at Quebec, and gave them his first impressions of +the country. After that a long unbroken silence set in. Week after week +and month after month passed by, and never a word came from across the +seas. A year went over their heads, and yet another, but no news of the +absentee. Sheridan and Moore were written to, and replied that though +John Huxford’s letter had reached them, he had never presented himself, +and they had been forced to fill up the vacancy as best they could. +Still Mary and her grandmother hoped against hope, and looked out +for the letter-carrier every morning with such eagerness, that the +kind-hearted man would often make a detour rather than pass the two +pale anxious faces which peered at him from the cottage window. At last, +three years after the young foreman’s disappearance, old granny died, +and Mary was left alone, a broken sorrowful woman, living as best she +might on a small annuity which had descended to her, and eating her +heart out as she brooded over the mystery which hung over the fate of +her lover. + +Among the shrewd west-country neighbours there had long, however, ceased +to be any mystery in the matter. Huxford arrived safely in Canada--so +much was proved by his letter. Had he met with his end in any sudden +way during the journey between Quebec and Montreal, there must have +been some official inquiry, and his luggage would have sufficed to have +established his identity. Yet the Canadian police had been communicated +with, and had returned a positive answer that no inquest had been held, +or any body found, which could by any possibility be that of the young +Englishman. The only alternative appeared to be that he had taken the +first opportunity to break all the old ties, and had slipped away to the +backwoods or to the States to commence life anew under an altered name. +Why he should do this no one professed to know, but that he had done it +appeared only too probable from the facts. Hence many a deep growl of +righteous anger rose from the brawny smacksmen when Mary with her pale +face and sorrow-sunken head passed along the quays on her way to her +daily marketing; and it is more than likely that if the missing man had +turned up in Brisport he might have met with some rough words or rougher +usage, unless he could give some very good reason for his strange +conduct. This popular view of the case never, however, occurred to the +simple trusting heart of the lonely girl, and as the years rolled by her +grief and her suspense were never for an instant tinged with a doubt as +to the good faith of the missing man. From youth she grew into middle +age, and from that into the autumn of her life, patient, long-suffering, +and faithful, doing good as far as lay in her power, and waiting humbly +until fate should restore either in this world or the next that which it +had so mysteriously deprived her of. + +In the meantime neither the opinion held by the minority that John +Huxford was dead, nor that of the majority, which pronounced him to be +faithless, represented the true state of the case. Still alive, and of +stainless honour, he had yet been singled out by fortune as her victim +in one of those strange freaks which are of such rare occurrence, and so +beyond the general experience, that they might be put by as incredible, +had we not the most trustworthy evidence of their occasional +possibility. + +Landing at Quebec, with his heart full of hope and courage, John +selected a dingy room in a back street, where the terms were less +exorbitant than elsewhere, and conveyed thither the two boxes which +contained his worldly goods. After taking up his quarters there he had +half a mind to change again, for the landlady and the fellow-lodgers +were by no means to his taste; but the Montreal coach started within a +day or two, and he consoled himself by the thought that the discomfort +would only last for that short time. Having written home to Mary to +announce his safe arrival, he employed himself in seeing as much of the +town as was possible, walking about all day, and only returning to his +room at night. + +It happened, however, that the house on which the unfortunate youth had +pitched was one which was notorious for the character of its inmates. +He had been directed to it by a pimp, who found regular employment +in hanging about the docks and decoying new-comers to this den. +The fellow’s specious manner and proffered civility had led the +simple-hearted west-countryman into the toils, and though his instinct +told him that he was in unsafe company, he refrained, unfortunately, +from at once making his escape. He contented himself with staying out +all day, and associating as little as possible with the other inmates. +From the few words which he did let drop, however, the landlady gathered +that he was a stranger without a single friend in the country to inquire +after him should misfortune overtake him. + +The house had an evil reputation for the hocussing of sailors, which +was done not only for the purpose of plundering them, but also to supply +outgoing ships with crews, the men being carried on board insensible, +and not coming to until the ship was well down the St. Lawrence. This +trade caused the wretches who followed it to be experts in the use of +stupefying drugs, and they determined to practise their arts upon +their friendless lodger, so as to have an opportunity of ransacking his +effects, and of seeing what it might be worth their while to purloin. +During the day he invariably locked his door and carried off the key in +his pocket, but if they could render him insensible for the night they +could examine his boxes at their leisure, and deny afterwards that he +had ever brought with him the articles which he missed. It happened, +therefore, upon the eve of Huxford’s departure from Quebec, that he +found, upon returning to his lodgings, that his landlady and her two +ill-favoured sons, who assisted her in her trade, were waiting up for +him over a bowl of punch, which they cordially invited him to share. +It was a bitterly cold night, and the fragrant steam overpowered any +suspicions which the young Englishman may have entertained, so he +drained off a bumper, and then, retiring to his bedroom, threw himself +upon his bed without undressing, and fell straight into a dreamless +slumber, in which he still lay when the three conspirators crept into +his chamber, and, having opened his boxes, began to investigate his +effects. + +It may have been that the speedy action of the drug caused its effect to +be evanescent, or, perhaps, that the strong constitution of the victim +threw it off with unusual rapidity. Whatever the cause, it is certain +that John Huxford suddenly came to himself, and found the foul trio +squatted round their booty, which they were dividing into the two +categories of what was of value and should be taken, and what was +valueless and might therefore be left. With a bound he sprang out of +bed, and seizing the fellow nearest him by the collar, he slung him +through the open doorway. His brother rushed at him, but the young +Devonshire man met him with such a facer that he dropped in a heap +upon the ground. Unfortunately, the violence of the blow caused him to +overbalance himself, and, tripping over his prostrate antagonist, he +came down heavily upon his face. Before he could rise, the old hag +sprang upon his back and clung to him, shrieking to her son to bring the +poker. John managed to shake himself clear of them both, but before he +could stand on his guard he was felled from behind by a crashing blow +from an iron bar, which stretched him senseless upon the floor. + +“You’ve hit too hard, Joe,” said the old woman, looking down at the +prostrate figure. “I heard the bone go.” + +“If I hadn’t fetched him down he’d ha’ been too many for us,” said the +young villain sulkily. + +“Still, you might ha’ done it without killing him, clumsy,” said his +mother. She had had a large experience of such scenes, and knew the +difference between a stunning blow and a fatal one. + +“He’s still breathing,” the other said, examining him; “the back o’ his +head’s like a bag o’ dice though. The skull’s all splintered. He can’t +last. What are we to do?” + +“He’ll never come to himself again,” the other brother remarked. “Sarve +him right. Look at my face! Let’s see, mother; who’s in the house?” + +“Only four drunk sailors.” + +“They wouldn’t turn out for any noise. It’s all quiet in the street. +Let’s carry him down a bit, Joe, and leave him there. He can die there, +and no one think the worse of us.” + +“Take all the papers out of his pocket, then,” the mother suggested; +“they might help the police to trace him. His watch, too, and his +money--L3 odd; better than nothing. Now carry him softly and don’t +slip.” + +Kicking off their shoes, the two brothers carried the dying man down +stairs and along the deserted street for a couple of hundred yards. +There they laid him among the snow, where he was found by the night +patrol, who carried him on a shutter to the hospital. He was duly +examined by the resident surgeon, who bound up the wounded head, but +gave it as his opinion that the man could not possibly live for more +than twelve hours. + +Twelve hours passed, however, and yet another twelve, but John Huxford +still struggled hard for his life. When at the end of three days he was +found to be still breathing, the interest of the doctors became aroused +at his extraordinary vitality, and they bled him, as the fashion was in +those days, and surrounded his shattered head with icebags. It may have +been on account of these measures, or it may have been in spite of +them, but at the end of a week’s deep trance the nurse in charge was +astonished to hear a gabbling noise, and to find the stranger sitting up +upon the couch and staring about him with wistful, wondering eyes. +The surgeons were summoned to behold the phenomenon, and warmly +congratulated each other upon the success of their treatment. + +“You have been on the brink of the grave, my man,” said one of them, +pressing the bandaged head back on to the pillow; “you must not excite +yourself. What is your name?” + +No answer, save a wild stare. + +“Where do you come from?” + +Again no answer. + +“He is mad,” one suggested. “Or a foreigner,” said another. “There were +no papers on him when he came in. His linen is marked ‘J. H.’ Let us try +him in French and German.” + +They tested him with as many tongues as they could muster among them, +but were compelled at last to give the matter over and to leave their +silent patient, still staring up wild-eyed at the whitewashed hospital +ceiling. + +For many weeks John lay in the hospital, and for many weeks efforts were +made to gain some clue as to his antecedents, but in vain. He showed, +as the time rolled by, not only by his demeanour, but also by the +intelligence with which he began to pick up fragments of sentences, like +a clever child learning to talk, that his mind was strong enough in the +present, though it was a complete blank as to the past. The man’s memory +of his whole life before the fatal blow was entirely and absolutely +erased. He neither knew his name, his language, his home, his business, +nor anything else. The doctors held learned consultations upon him, +and discoursed upon the centre of memory and depressed tables, deranged +nerve-cells and cerebral congestions, but all their polysyllables began +and ended at the fact that the man’s memory was gone, and that it was +beyond the power of science to restore it. During the weary months of +his convalescence he picked up reading and writing, but with the return +of his strength came no return of his former life. England, Devonshire, +Brisport, Mary, Granny--the words brought no recollection to his mind. +All was absolute darkness. At last he was discharged, a friendless, +tradeless, penniless man, without a past, and with very little to look +to in the future. His very name was altered, for it had been necessary +to invent one. John Huxford had passed away, and John Hardy took his +place among mankind. Here was a strange outcome of a Spanish gentleman’s +tobacco-inspired meditations. + +John’s case had aroused some discussion and curiosity in Quebec, so that +he was not suffered to drift into utter helplessness upon emerging from +the hospital. A Scotch manufacturer named M‘Kinlay found him a post +as porter in his establishment, and for a long time he worked at seven +dollars a week at the loading and unloading of vans. In the course of +years it was noticed, however, that his memory, however defective as +to the past, was extremely reliable and accurate when concerned with +anything which had occurred since his accident. From the factory he was +promoted into the counting-house, and the year 1835 found him a junior +clerk at a salary of L120 a year. Steadily and surely John Hardy fought +his way upward from post to post, with his whole heart and mind devoted +to the business. In 1840 he was third clerk, in 1845 he was second, and +in 1852 he became manager of the whole vast establishment, and second +only to Mr. M‘Kinlay himself. + +There were few who grudged John this rapid advancement, for it was +obviously due to neither chance nor favouritism, but entirely to his +marvellous powers of application and industry. From early morning until +late in the night he laboured hard in the service of his employer, +checking, overlooking, superintending, setting an example to all of +cheerful devotion to duty. As he rose from one post to another his +salary increased, but it caused no alteration in his mode of living, +save that it enabled him to be more open-handed to the poor. He +signalised his promotion to the managership by a donation of L1000 to +the hospital in which he had been treated a quarter of a century before. +The remainder of his earnings he allowed to accumulate in the business, +drawing a small sum quarterly for his sustenance, and still residing +in the humble dwelling which he had occupied when he was a warehouse +porter. In spite of his success he was a sad, silent, morose man, +solitary in his habits, and possessed always of a vague undefined +yearning, a dull feeling of dissatisfaction and of craving which never +abandoned him. Often he would strive with his poor crippled brain to +pierce the curtain which divided him from the past, and to solve the +enigma of his youthful existence, but though he sat many a time by the +fire until his head throbbed with his efforts, John Hardy could never +recall the least glimpse of John Huxford’s history. + +On one occasion he had, in the interests of the firm, to journey to +Quebec, and to visit the very cork factory which had tempted him to +leave England. Strolling through the workroom with the foreman, John +automatically, and without knowing what he was doing, picked up a square +piece of the bark, and fashioned it with two or three deft cuts of his +penknife into a smooth tapering cork. His companion picked it out of his +hand and examined it with the eye of an expert. “This is not the first +cork which you have cut by many a hundred, Mr. Hardy,” he remarked. +“Indeed you are wrong,” John answered, smiling; “I never cut one before +in my life.” “Impossible!” cried the foreman. “Here’s another bit of +cork. Try again.” John did his best to repeat the performance, but +the brains of the manager interfered with the trained muscles of the +corkcutter. The latter had not forgotten their cunning, but they needed +to be left to themselves, and not directed by a mind which knew nothing +of the matter. Instead of the smooth graceful shape, he could produce +nothing but rough-hewn clumsy cylinders. “It must have been chance,” + said the foreman, “but I could have sworn that it was the work of an old +hand!” + +As the years passed John’s smooth English skin had warped and crinkled +until he was as brown and as seamed as a walnut. His hair, too, after +many years of iron-grey, had finally become as white as the winters of +his adopted country. Yet he was a hale and upright old man, and when he +at last retired from the manager-ship of the firm with which he had been +so long connected, he bore the weight of his seventy years lightly and +bravely. He was in the peculiar position himself of not knowing his own +age, as it was impossible for him to do more than guess at how old he +was at the time of his accident. + +The Franco-German War came round, and while the two great rivals were +destroying each other, their more peaceful neighbours were quietly +ousting them out of their markets and their commerce. Many English ports +benefited by this condition of things, but none more than Brisport. +It had long ceased to be a fishing village, but was now a large and +prosperous town, with a great breakwater in place of the quay on which +Mary had stood, and a frontage of terraces and grand hotels where +all the grandees of the west country came when they were in need of +a change. All these extensions had made Brisport the centre of a busy +trade, and her ships found their way into every harbour in the world. +Hence it was no wonder, especially in that very busy year of 1870, +that several Brisport vessels were lying in the river and alongside the +wharves of Quebec. + +One day John Hardy, who found time hang a little on his hands since his +retirement from business, strolled along by the water’s edge listening +to the clanking of the steam winches, and watching the great barrels +and cases as they were swung ashore and piled upon the wharf. He had +observed the coming in of a great ocean steamer, and having waited until +she was safely moored, he was turning away, when a few words fell upon +his ear uttered by some one on board a little weather-beaten barque +close by him. It was only some commonplace order that was bawled out, +but the sound fell upon the old man’s ears with a strange mixture of +disuse and familiarity. He stood by the vessel and heard the seamen at +their work, all speaking with the same broad, pleasant jingling accent. +Why did it send such a thrill through his nerves to listen to it? He sat +down upon a coil of rope and pressed his hands to his temples, drinking +in the long-forgotten dialect, and trying to piece together in his mind +the thousand half-formed nebulous recollections which were surging up in +it. Then he rose, and walking along to the stern he read the name of +the ship, The Sunlight, Brisport. Brisport! Again that flush and tingle +through every nerve. Why was that word and the men’s speech so familiar +to him? He walked moodily home, and all night he lay tossing and +sleepless, pursuing a shadowy something which was ever within his reach, +and yet which ever evaded him. + +Early next morning he was up and down on the wharf listening to the +talk of the west-country sailors. Every word they spoke seemed to him to +revive his memory and bring him nearer to the light. From time to time +they paused in their work, and seeing the white-haired stranger sitting +so silently and attentively, they laughed at him and broke little jests +upon him. And even these jests had a familiar sound to the exile, as +they very well might, seeing that they were the same which he had heard +in his youth, for no one ever makes a new joke in England. So he sat +through the long day, bathing himself in the west-country speech, and +waiting for the light to break. + +And it happened that when the sailors broke off for their mid-day meal, +one of them, either out of curiosity or good nature, came over to the +old watcher and greeted him. So John asked him to be seated on a log by +his side, and began to put many questions to him about the country from +which he came, and the town. All which the man answered glibly enough, +for there is nothing in the world that a sailor loves to talk of so much +as of his native place, for it pleases him to show that he is no mere +wanderer, but that he has a home to receive him whenever he shall choose +to settle down to a quiet life. So the seaman prattled away about the +Town Hall and the Martello Tower, and the Esplanade, and Pitt Street and +the High Street, until his companion suddenly shot out a long eager arm +and caught him by the wrist. “Look here, man,” he said, in a low quick +whisper. “Answer me truly as you hope for mercy. Are not the streets +that run out of the High Street, Fox Street, Caroline Street, and George +Street, in the order named?” “They are,” the sailor answered, shrinking +away from the wild flashing eyes. And at that moment John’s memory came +back to him, and he saw clear and distinct his life as it had been and +as it should have been, with every minutest detail traced as in letters +of fire. Too stricken to cry out, too stricken to weep, he could only +hurry away homewards wildly and aimlessly; hurry as fast as his aged +limbs would carry him, as if, poor soul! there were some chance yet of +catching up the fifty years which had gone by. Staggering and tremulous +he hastened on until a film seemed to gather over his eyes, and throwing +his arms into the air with a great cry, “Oh, Mary, Mary! Oh, my lost, +lost life!” he fell senseless upon the pavement. + +The storm of emotion which had passed through him, and the mental shock +which he had undergone, would have sent many a man into a raging fever, +but John was too strong-willed and too practical to allow his strength +to be wasted at the very time when he needed it most. Within a few days +he realised a portion of his property, and starting for New York, caught +the first mail steamer to England. Day and night, night and day, he +trod the quarter-deck, until the hardy sailors watched the old man with +astonishment, and marvelled how any human being could do so much upon +so little sleep. It was only by this unceasing exercise, by wearing +down his vitality until fatigue brought lethargy, that he could prevent +himself from falling into a very frenzy of despair. He hardly dared ask +himself what was the object of this wild journey? What did he expect? +Would Mary be still alive? She must be a very old woman. If he could but +see her and mingle his tears with hers he would be content. Let her +only know that it had been no fault of his, and that they had both been +victims to the same cruel fate. The cottage was her own, and she had +said that she would wait for him there until she heard from him. Poor +lass, she had never reckoned on such a wait as this. + +At last the Irish lights were sighted and passed, Land’s End lay like +a blue fog upon the water, and the great steamer ploughed its way along +the bold Cornish coast until it dropped its anchor in Plymouth Bay. John +hurried to the railway station, and within a few hours he found +himself back once more in his native town, which he had quitted a poor +corkcutter, half a century before. + +But was it the same town? Were it not for the name engraved all over +the station and on the hotels, John might have found a difficulty in +believing it. The broad, well-paved streets, with the tram lines laid +down the centre, were very different from the narrow winding lanes which +he could remember. The spot upon which the station had been built was +now the very centre of the town, but in the old days it would have been +far out in the fields. In every direction, lines of luxurious villas +branched away in streets and crescents bearing names which were new +to the exile. Great warehouses, and long rows of shops with glittering +fronts, showed him how enormously Brisport had increased in wealth as +well as in dimensions. It was only when he came upon the old High Street +that John began to feel at home. It was much altered, but still it was +recognisable, and some few of the buildings were just as he had left +them. There was the place where Fairbairn’s cork works had been. It was +now occupied by a great brand-new hotel. And there was the old grey Town +Hall. The wanderer turned down beside it, and made his way with eager +steps but a sinking heart in the direction of the line of cottages which +he used to know so well. + +It was not difficult for him to find where they had been. The sea at +least was as of old, and from it he could tell where the cottages +had stood. But alas, where were they now! In their place an imposing +crescent of high stone houses reared their tall front to the beach. John +walked wearily down past their palatial entrances, feeling heart-sore +and despairing, when suddenly a thrill shot through him, followed by a +warm glow of excitement and of hope, for, standing a little back from +the line, and looking as much out of place as a bumpkin in a ballroom, +was an old whitewashed cottage, with wooden porch and walls bright with +creeping plants. He rubbed his eyes and stared again, but there it stood +with its diamond-paned windows and white muslin curtains, the very same +down to the smallest details, as it had been on the day when he last saw +it. Brown hair had become white, and fishing hamlets had changed into +cities, but busy hands and a faithful heart had kept granny’s cottage +unchanged and ready for the wanderer. + +And now, when he had reached his very haven of rest, John Huxford’s +mind became more filled with apprehension than ever, and he came over so +deadly sick, that he had to sit down upon one of the beach benches +which faced the cottage. An old fisherman was perched at one end of it, +smoking his black clay pipe, and he remarked upon the wan face and sad +eyes of the stranger. + +“You have overtired yourself,” he said. “It doesn’t do for old chaps +like you and me to forget our years.” + +“I’m better now, thank you,” John answered. “Can you tell me, friend, +how that one cottage came among all those fine houses?” + +“Why,” said the old fellow, thumping his crutch energetically upon +the ground, “that cottage belongs to the most obstinate woman in all +England. That woman, if you’ll believe me, has been offered the price +of the cottage ten times over, and yet she won’t part with it. They have +even promised to remove it stone by stone, and put it up on some more +convenient place, and pay her a good round sum into the bargain, but, +God bless you! she wouldn’t so much as hear of it.” + +“And why was that?” asked John. + +“Well, that’s just the funny part of it. It’s all on account of a +mistake. You see her spark went away when I was a youngster, and she’s +got it into her head that he may come back some day, and that he won’t +know where to go unless the cottage is there. Why, if the fellow were +alive he would be as old as you, but I’ve no doubt he’s dead long ago. +She’s well quit of him, for he must have been a scamp to abandon her as +he did.” + +“Oh, he abandoned her, did he?” + +“Yes--went off to the States, and never so much as sent a word to +bid her good-bye. It was a cruel shame, it was, for the girl has been +a-waiting and a-pining for him ever since. It’s my belief that it’s +fifty years’ weeping that blinded her.” + +“She is blind!” cried John, half rising to his feet. + +“Worse than that,” said the fisherman. “She’s mortal ill, and not +expected to live. Why, look ye, there’s the doctor’s carriage a-waiting +at her door.” + +At this evil tidings old John sprang up and hurried over to the cottage, +where he met the physician returning to his brougham. + +“How is your patient, doctor?” he asked in a trembling voice. + +“Very bad, very bad,” said the man of medicine pompously. “If she +continues to sink she will be in great danger; but if, on the other +hand, she takes a turn, it is possible that she may recover,” with which +oracular answer he drove away in a cloud of dust. + +John Huxford was still hesitating at the doorway, not knowing how to +announce himself, or how far a shock might be dangerous to the sufferer, +when a gentleman in black came bustling up. + +“Can you tell me, my man, if this is where the sick woman is?” he asked. + +John nodded, and the clergyman passed in, leaving the door half open. +The wanderer waited until he had gone into the inner room, and then +slipped into the front parlour, where he had spent so many happy hours. +All was the same as ever, down to the smallest ornaments, for Mary had +been in the habit whenever anything was broken of replacing it with +a duplicate, so that there might be no change in the room. He stood +irresolute, looking about him, until he heard a woman’s voice from the +inner chamber, and stealing to the door he peeped in. + +The invalid was reclining upon a couch, propped up with pillows, and her +face was turned full towards John as he looked round the door. He could +have cried out as his eyes rested upon it, for there were Mary’s pale, +plain, sweet homely features as smooth and as unchanged as though she +were still the half child, half woman, whom he had pressed to his heart +on the Brisport quay. Her calm, eventless, unselfish life had left none +of those rude traces upon her countenance which are the outward emblems +of internal conflict and an unquiet soul. A chaste melancholy had +refined and softened her expression, and her loss of sight had been +compensated for by that placidity which comes upon the faces of the +blind. With her silvery hair peeping out beneath her snow-white cap, and +a bright smile upon her sympathetic face, she was the old Mary improved +and developed, with something ethereal and angelic superadded. + +“You will keep a tenant in the cottage,” she was saying to the +clergyman, who sat with his back turned to the observer. “Choose some +poor deserving folk in the parish who will be glad of a home free. And +when he comes you will tell him that I have waited for him until I have +been forced to go on, but that he will find me on the other side still +faithful and true. There’s a little money too--only a few pounds--but I +should like him to have it when he comes, for he may need it, and then +you will tell the folk you put in to be kind to him, for he will be +grieved, poor lad, and to tell him that I was cheerful and happy up to +the end. Don’t let him know that I ever fretted, or he may fret too.” + +Now John listened quietly to all this from behind the door, and more +than once he had to put his hand to his throat, but when she had +finished, and when he thought of her long, blameless, innocent life, and +saw the dear face looking straight at him, and yet unable to see him, it +became too much for his manhood, and he burst out into an irrepressible +choking sob which shook his very frame. And then occurred a strange +thing, for though he had spoken no word, the old woman stretched out her +arms to him, and cried, “Oh, Johnny, Johnny! Oh dear, dear Johnny, +you have come back to me again,” and before the parson could at all +understand what had happened, those two faithful lovers were in each +other’s arms, weeping over each other, and patting each other’s silvery +heads, with their hearts so full of joy that it almost compensated for +all that weary fifty years of waiting. + +It is hard to say how long they rejoiced together. It seemed a very +short time to them and a very long one to the reverend gentleman, +who was thinking at last of stealing away, when Mary recollected his +presence and the courtesy which was due to him. “My heart is full of +joy, sir,” she said; “it is God’s will that I should not see my Johnny, +but I can call his image up as clear as if I had my eyes. Now stand up, +John, and I will let the gentleman see how well I remember you. He is as +tall, sir, as the second shelf, as straight as an arrow, his face brown, +and his eyes bright and clear. His hair is well-nigh black, and his +moustache the same--I shouldn’t wonder if he had whiskers as well by +this time. Now, sir, don’t you think I can do without my sight?” The +clergyman listened to her description, and looking at the battered, +white-haired man before him, he hardly knew whether to laugh or to cry. + +But it all proved to be a laughing matter in the end, for, whether it +was that her illness had taken some natural turn, or that John’s return +had startled it away, it is certain that from that day Mary steadily +improved until she was as well as ever. “No special license for me,” + John had said sturdily. “It looks as if we were ashamed of what we are +doing, as though we hadn’t the best right to be married of any two folk +in the parish.” So the banns were put up accordingly, and three times +it was announced that John Huxford, bachelor, was going to be united +to Mary Howden, spinster, after which, no one objecting, they were duly +married accordingly. “We may not have very long in this world,” said old +John, “but at least we shall start fair and square in the next.” + +John’s share in the Quebec business was sold out, and gave rise to a +very interesting legal question as to whether, knowing that his name +was Huxford, he could still sign that of Hardy, as was necessary for +the completion of the business. It was decided, however, that on his +producing two trustworthy witnesses to his identity all would be right, +so the property was duly realised and produced a very handsome fortune. +Part of this John devoted to building a pretty villa just outside +Brisport, and the heart of the proprietor of Beach Terrace leaped within +him when he learned that the cottage was at last to be abandoned, and +that it would no longer break the symmetry and impair the effect of his +row of aristocratic mansions. + +And there in their snug new home, sitting out on the lawn in the +summer-time, and on either side of the fire in the winter, that worthy +old couple continued for many years to live as innocently and as happily +as two children. Those who knew them well say that there was never a +shadow between them, and that the love which burned in their aged hearts +was as high and as holy as that of any young couple who ever went to the +altar. And through all the country round, if ever man or woman were in +distress and fighting against hard times, they had only to go up to the +villa to receive help, and that sympathy which is more precious than +help. So when at last John and Mary fell asleep in their ripe old age, +within a few hours of each other, they had all the poor and the needy +and the friendless of the parish among their mourners, and in talking +over the troubles which these two had faced so bravely, they learned +that their own miseries also were but passing things, and that faith and +truth can never miscarry, either in this existence or the next. + + + + +CYPRIAN OVERBECK WELLS--A LITERARY MOSAIC. + +From my boyhood I have had an intense and overwhelming conviction that +my real vocation lay in the direction of literature. I have, however, +had a most unaccountable difficulty in getting any responsible person +to share my views. It is true that private friends have sometimes, after +listening to my effusions, gone the length of remarking, “Really, Smith, +that’s not half bad!” or, “You take my advice, old boy, and send that +to some magazine!” but I have never on these occasions had the moral +courage to inform my adviser that the article in question had been sent +to well-nigh every publisher in London, and had come back again with a +rapidity and precision which spoke well for the efficiency of our postal +arrangements. + +Had my manuscripts been paper boomerangs they could not have returned +with greater accuracy to their unhappy dispatcher. Oh, the vileness +and utter degradation of the moment when the stale little cylinder of +closely written pages, which seemed so fresh and full of promise a +few days ago, is handed in by a remorseless postman! And what moral +depravity shines through the editor’s ridiculous plea of “want of +space!” But the subject is a painful one, and a digression from the +plain statement of facts which I originally contemplated. + +From the age of seventeen to that of three-and-twenty I was a literary +volcano in a constant state of eruption. Poems and tales, articles and +reviews, nothing came amiss to my pen. From the great sea-serpent to the +nebular hypothesis, I was ready to write on anything or everything, and +I can safely say that I seldom handled a subject without throwing new +lights upon it. Poetry and romance, however, had always the greatest +attractions for me. How I have wept over the pathos of my heroines, and +laughed at the comicalities of my buffoons! Alas! I could find no one +to join me in my appreciation, and solitary admiration for one’s self, +however genuine, becomes satiating after a time. My father remonstrated +with me too on the score of expense and loss of time, so that I was +finally compelled to relinquish my dreams of literary independence and +to become a clerk in a wholesale mercantile firm connected with the West +African trade. + +Even when condemned to the prosaic duties which fell to my lot in the +office, I continued faithful to my first love. I have introduced pieces +of word-painting into the most commonplace business letters which have, +I am told, considerably astonished the recipients. My refined sarcasm +has made defaulting creditors writhe and wince. Occasionally, like the +great Silas Wegg, I would drop into poetry, and so raise the whole tone +of the correspondence. Thus what could be more elegant than my rendering +of the firm’s instructions to the captain of one of their vessels. It +ran in this way:-- + + “From England, Captain, you must steer a + Course directly to Madeira, + Land the casks of salted beef, + Then away to Teneriffe. + Pray be careful, cool, and wary + With the merchants of Canary. + When you leave them make the most + Of the trade winds to the coast. + Down it you shall sail as far + As the land of Calabar, + And from there you’ll onward go + To Bonny and Fernando Po”---- + + +and so on for four pages. The captain, instead of treasuring up this +little gem, called at the office next day, and demanded with quite +unnecessary warmth what the thing meant, and I was compelled to +translate it all back into prose. On this, as on other similar +occasions, my employer took me severely to task--for he was, you see, a +man entirely devoid of all pretensions to literary taste! + +All this, however, is a mere preamble, and leads up to the fact that +after ten years or so of drudgery I inherited a legacy which, though +small, was sufficient to satisfy my simple wants. Finding myself +independent, I rented a quiet house removed from the uproar and bustle +of London, and there I settled down with the intention of producing some +great work which should single me out from the family of the Smiths, +and render my name immortal. To this end I laid in several quires of +foolscap, a box of quill pens, and a sixpenny bottle of ink, and having +given my housekeeper injunctions to deny me to all visitors, I proceeded +to look round for a suitable subject. + +I was looking round for some weeks. At the end of that time I found that +I had by constant nibbling devoured a large number of the quills, and +had spread the ink out to such advantage, what with blots, spills, and +abortive commencements, that there appeared to be some everywhere except +in the bottle. As to the story itself, however, the facility of my youth +had deserted me completely, and my mind remained a complete blank; nor +could I, do what I would, excite my sterile imagination to conjure up a +single incident or character. + +In this strait I determined to devote my leisure to running rapidly +through the works of the leading English novelists, from Daniel Defoe +to the present day, in the hope of stimulating my latent ideas and of +getting a good grasp of the general tendency of literature. For some +time past I had avoided opening any work of fiction because one of the +greatest faults of my youth had been that I invariably and unconsciously +mimicked the style of the last author whom I had happened to read. +Now, however, I made up my mind to seek safety in a multitude, and by +consulting _all_ the English classics to avoid?? the danger of imitating +any one too closely. I had just accomplished the task of reading through +the majority of the standard novels at the time when my narrative +commences. + +It was, then, about twenty minutes to ten on the night of the fourth of +June, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, that, after disposing of a +pint of beer and a Welsh rarebit for my supper, I seated myself in +my arm-chair, cocked my feet upon a stool, and lit my pipe, as was my +custom. Both my pulse and my temperature were, as far as I know, normal +at the time. I would give the state of the barometer, but that +unlucky instrument had experienced an unprecedented fall of forty-two +inches--from a nail to the ground--and was not in a reliable condition. +We live in a scientific age, and I flatter myself that I move with the +times. + +Whilst in that comfortable lethargic condition which accompanies both +digestion and poisoning by nicotine, I suddenly became aware of the +extraordinary fact that my little drawing-room had elongated into a +great salon, and that my humble table had increased in proportion. Round +this colossal mahogany were seated a great number of people who were +talking earnestly together, and the surface in front of them was strewn +with books and pamphlets. I could not help observing that these persons +were dressed in a most extraordinary mixture of costumes, for those at +the end nearest to me wore peruke wigs, swords, and all the fashions of +two centuries back; those about the centre had tight knee-breeches, high +cravats, and heavy bunches of seals; while among those at the far side +the majority were dressed in the most modern style, and among them +I saw, to my surprise, several eminent men of letters whom I had the +honour of knowing. There were two or three women in the company. I +should have risen to my feet to greet these unexpected guests, but all +power of motion appeared to have deserted me, and I could only lie still +and listen to their conversation, which I soon perceived to be all about +myself. + +“Egad!” exclaimed a rough, weather-beaten man, who was smoking a long +churchwarden pipe at my end of the table, “my heart softens for him. +Why, gossips, we’ve been in the same straits ourselves. Gadzooks, never +did mother feel more concern for her eldest born than I when Rory Random +went out to make his own way in the world.” + +“Right, Tobias, right!” cried another man, seated at my very elbow. + +“By my troth, I lost more flesh over poor Robin on his island, than had +I the sweating sickness twice told. The tale was well-nigh done when in +swaggers my Lord of Rochester--a merry gallant, and one whose word in +matters literary might make or mar. ‘How now, Defoe,’ quoth he, ‘hast a +tale on hand?’ ‘Even so, your lordship,’ I returned. ‘A right merry one, +I trust,’ quoth he. ‘Discourse unto me concerning thy heroine, a comely +lass, Dan, or I mistake.’ ‘Nay,’ I replied, ‘there is no heroine in the +matter.’ ‘Split not your phrases,’ quoth he; ‘thou weighest every word +like a scald attorney. Speak to me of thy principal female character, +be she heroine or no.’ ‘My lord,’ I answered, ‘there is no female +character.’ ‘Then out upon thyself and thy book too!’ he cried. ‘Thou +hadst best burn it!’--and so out in great dudgeon, whilst I fell to +mourning over my poor romance, which was thus, as it were, sentenced to +death before its birth. Yet there are a thousand now who have read of +Robin and his man Friday, to one who has heard of my Lord of Rochester.” + +“Very true, Defoe,” said a genial-looking man in a red waistcoat, who +was sitting at the modern end of the table. “But all this won’t help our +good friend Smith in making a start at his story, which, I believe, was +the reason why we assembled.” + +“The Dickens it is!” stammered a little man beside him, and everybody +laughed, especially the genial man, who cried out, “Charley Lamb, +Charley Lamb, you’ll never alter. You would make a pun if you were +hanged for it.” + +“That would be a case of haltering,” returned the other, on which +everybody laughed again. + +By this time I had begun to dimly realise in my confused brain the +enormous honour which had been done me. The greatest masters of fiction +in every age of English letters had apparently made a rendezvous beneath +my roof, in order to assist me in my difficulties. There were many faces +at the table whom I was unable to identify; but when I looked hard +at others I often found them to be very familiar to me, whether from +paintings or from mere description. Thus between the first two speakers, +who had betrayed themselves as Defoe and Smollett, there sat a dark, +saturnine corpulent old man, with harsh prominent features, who I was +sure could be none other than the famous author of Gulliver. There were +several others of whom I was not so sure, sitting at the other side of +the table, but I conjecture that both Fielding and Richardson were among +them, and I could swear to the lantern-jaws and cadaverous visage of +Lawrence Sterne. Higher up I could see among the crowd the high forehead +of Sir Walter Scott, the masculine features of George Eliott, and the +flattened nose of Thackeray; while amongst the living I recognised James +Payn, Walter Besant, the lady known as “Ouida,” Robert Louis Stevenson, +and several of lesser note. Never before, probably, had such an +assemblage of choice spirits gathered under one roof. + +“Well,” said Sir Walter Scott, speaking with a pronounced accent, “ye +ken the auld proverb, sirs, ‘Ower mony cooks,’ or as the Border minstrel +sang-- + + ‘Black Johnstone wi’ his troopers ten + Might mak’ the heart turn cauld, + But Johnstone when he’s a’ alane + Is waur ten thoosand fauld.’ + +The Johnstones were one of the Redesdale families, second cousins of the +Armstrongs, and connected by marriage to----” + +“Perhaps, Sir Walter,” interrupted Thackeray, “you would take the +responsibility off our hands by yourself dictating the commencement of a +story to this young literary aspirant.” + +“Na, na!” cried Sir Walter; “I’ll do my share, but there’s Chairlie over +there as full o’ wut as a Radical’s full o’ treason. He’s the laddie to +give a cheery opening to it.” + +Dickens was shaking his head, and apparently about to refuse the honour, +when a voice from among the moderns--I could not see who it was for the +crowd--said: + +“Suppose we begin at the end of the table and work round, any one +contributing a little as the fancy seizes him?” + +“Agreed! agreed!” cried the whole company; and every eye was turned +on Defoe, who seemed very uneasy, and filled his pipe from a great +tobacco-box in front of him. + +“Nay, gossips,” he said, “there are others more worthy----” But he +was interrupted by loud cries of “No! no!” from the whole table; and +Smollett shouted out, “Stand to it, Dan--stand to it! You and I and the +Dean here will make three short tacks just to fetch her out of harbour, +and then she may drift where she pleases.” Thus encouraged, Defoe +cleared his throat, and began in this way, talking between the puffs of +his pipe:-- + +“My father was a well-to-do yeoman of Cheshire, named Cyprian Overbeck, +but, marrying about the year 1617, he assumed the name of his wife’s +family, which was Wells; and thus I, their eldest son, was named Cyprian +Overbeck Wells. The farm was a very fertile one, and contained some of +the best grazing land in those parts, so that my father was enabled to +lay by money to the extent of a thousand crowns, which he laid out in an +adventure to the Indies with such surprising success that in less than +three years it had increased fourfold. Thus encouraged, he bought a +part share of the trader, and, fitting her out once more with such +commodities as were most in demand (viz., old muskets, hangers and +axes, besides glasses, needles, and the like), he placed me on board +as supercargo to look after his interests, and despatched us upon our +voyage. + +“We had a fair wind as far as Cape de Verde, and there, getting into +the north-west trade-winds, made good progress down the African coast. +Beyond sighting a Barbary rover once, whereat our mariners were in sad +distress, counting themselves already as little better than slaves, we +had good luck until we had come within a hundred leagues of the Cape +of Good Hope, when the wind veered round to the southward and blew +exceeding hard, while the sea rose to such a height that the end of the +mainyard dipped into the water, and I heard the master say that though +he had been at sea for five-and-thirty years he had never seen the like +of it, and that he had little expectation of riding through it. On this +I fell to wringing my hands and bewailing myself, until the mast going +by the board with a crash, I thought that the ship had struck, and +swooned with terror, falling into the scuppers and lying like one +dead, which was the saving of me, as will appear in the sequel. For the +mariners, giving up all hope of saving the ship, and being in momentary +expectation that she would founder, pushed off in the long-boat, whereby +I fear that they met the fate which they hoped to avoid, since I +have never from that day heard anything of them. For my own part, on +recovering from the swoon into which I had fallen, I found that, by the +mercy of Providence, the sea had gone down, and that I was alone in the +vessel. At which last discovery I was so terror-struck that I could but +stand wringing my hands and bewailing my sad fate, until at last taking +heart, I fell to comparing my lot with that of my unhappy camerados, on +which I became more cheerful, and descending to the cabin, made a meal +off such dainties as were in the captain’s locker.” + +Having got so far, Defoe remarked that he thought he had given them +a fair start, and handed over the story to Dean Swift, who, after +premising that he feared he would find himself as much at sea as Master +Cyprian Overbeck Wells, continued in this way:-- + +“For two days I drifted about in great distress, fearing that there +should be a return of the gale, and keeping an eager look-out for my +late companions. Upon the third day, towards evening, I observed to +my extreme surprise that the ship was under the influence of a very +powerful current, which ran to the north-east with such violence that +she was carried, now bows on, now stern on, and occasionally drifting +sideways like a crab, at a rate which I cannot compute at less than +twelve or fifteen knots an hour. For several weeks I was borne away in +this manner, until one morning, to my inexpressible joy, I sighted an +island upon the starboard quarter. The current would, however, have +carried me past it had I not made shift, though single-handed, to +set the flying-jib so as to turn her bows, and then clapping on the +sprit-sail, studding-sail, and fore-sail, I clewed up the halliards upon +the port side, and put the wheel down hard a-starboard, the wind being +at the time north-east-half-east.” + +At the description of this nautical manoeuvre I observed that Smollett +grinned, and a gentleman who was sitting higher up the table in the +uniform of the Royal Navy, and who I guessed to be Captain Marryat, +became very uneasy and fidgeted in his seat. + +“By this means I got clear of the current and was able to steer within +a quarter of a mile of the beach, which indeed I might have approached +still nearer by making another tack, but being an excellent swimmer, I +deemed it best to leave the vessel, which was almost waterlogged, and to +make the best of my way to the shore. + +“I had had my doubts hitherto as to whether this new-found country was +inhabited or no, but as I approached nearer to it, being on the summit +of a great wave, I perceived a number of figures on the beach, +engaged apparently in watching me and my vessel. My joy, however, was +considerably lessened when on reaching the land I found that the figures +consisted of a vast concourse of animals of various sorts who were +standing about in groups, and who hurried down to the water’s edge to +meet me. I had scarce put my foot upon the sand before I was surrounded +by an eager crowd of deer, dogs, wild boars, buffaloes, and other +creatures, none of whom showed the least fear either of me or of each +other, but, on the contrary, were animated by a common feeling of +curiosity, as well as, it would appear, by some degree of disgust.” + +“A second edition,” whispered Lawrence Sterne to his neighbour; +“Gulliver served up cold.” + +“Did you speak, sir?” asked the Dean very sternly, having evidently +overheard the remark. + +“My words were not addressed to you, sir,” answered Sterne, looking +rather frightened. + +“They were none the less insolent,” roared the Dean. “Your reverence +would fain make a Sentimental Journey of the narrative, I doubt not, and +find pathos in a dead donkey--though faith, no man can blame thee for +mourning over thy own kith and kin.” + +“Better that than to wallow in all the filth of Yahoo-land,” returned +Sterne warmly, and a quarrel would certainly have ensued but for the +interposition of the remainder of the company. As it was, the Dean +refused indignantly to have any further hand in the story, and Sterne +also stood out of it, remarking with a sneer that he was loth to fit a +good blade on to a poor handle. Under these circumstances some further +unpleasantness might have occurred had not Smollett rapidly taken up the +narrative, continuing it in the third person instead of the first:-- + +“Our hero, being considerably alarmed at this strange reception, lost +little time in plunging into the sea again and regaining his vessel, +being convinced that the worst which might befall him from the elements +would be as nothing compared to the dangers of this mysterious island. +It was as well that he took this course, for before nightfall his ship +was overhauled and he himself picked up by a British man-of-war, the +Lightning, then returning from the West Indies, where it had formed part +of the fleet under the command of Admiral Benbow. Young Wells, being a +likely lad enough, well-spoken and high-spirited, was at once entered on +the books as officer’s servant, in which capacity he both gained great +popularity on account of the freedom of his manners, and found an +opportunity for indulging in those practical pleasantries for which he +had all his life been famous. + +“Among the quartermasters of the Lightning there was one named Jedediah +Anchorstock, whose appearance was so remarkable that it quickly +attracted the attention of our hero. He was a man of about fifty, dark +with exposure to the weather, and so tall that as he came along the +‘tween decks he had to bend himself nearly double. The most striking +peculiarity of this individual was, however, that in his boyhood some +evil-minded person had tattooed eyes all over his countenance with such +marvellous skill that it was difficult at a short distance to pick out +his real ones among so many counterfeits. On this strange personage +Master Cyprian determined to exercise his talents for mischief, the more +so as he learned that he was extremely superstitious, and also that +he had left behind him in Portsmouth a strong-minded spouse of whom he +stood in mortal terror. With this object he secured one of the sheep +which were kept on board for the officers’ table, and pouring a can of +rumbo down its throat, reduced it to a state of utter intoxication. He +then conveyed it to Anchorstock’s berth, and with the assistance of some +other imps, as mischievous as himself, dressed it up in a high nightcap +and gown, and covered it over with the bedclothes. + +“When the quartermaster came down from his watch our hero met him at +the door of his berth with an agitated face. ‘Mr. Anchorstock,’ said he, +‘can it be that your wife is on board?’ ‘Wife!’ roared the astonished +sailor. ‘Ye white-faced swab, what d’ye mean?’ ‘If she’s not here in the +ship it must be her ghost,’ said Cyprian, shaking his head gloomily. +‘In the ship! How in thunder could she get into the ship? Why, master, +I believe as how you’re weak in the upper works, d’ye see? to as much +as think o’ such a thing. My Poll is moored head and starn, behind the +point at Portsmouth, more’n two thousand mile away.’ ‘Upon my word,’ +said our hero, very earnestly, ‘I saw a female look out of your cabin +not five minutes ago.’ ‘Ay, ay, Mr. Anchorstock,’ joined in several +of the conspirators. ‘We all saw her--a spanking-looking craft with +a dead-light mounted on one side.’ ‘Sure enough,’ said Anchorstock, +staggered by this accumulation of evidence, ‘my Polly’s starboard eye +was doused for ever by long Sue Williams of the Hard. But if so be as +she be there I must see her, be she ghost or quick;’ with which the +honest sailor, in much perturbation and trembling in every limb, began +to shuffle forward into the cabin, holding the light well in front of +him. It chanced, however, that the unhappy sheep, which was quietly +engaged in sleeping off the effects of its unusual potations, was +awakened by the noise of this approach, and finding herself in such an +unusual position, sprang out of the bed and rushed furiously for the +door, bleating wildly, and rolling about like a brig in a tornado, +partly from intoxication and partly from the night-dress which impeded +her movements. As Anchorstock saw this extraordinary apparition bearing +down upon him, he uttered a yell and fell flat upon his face, convinced +that he had to do with a supernatural visitor, the more so as the +confederates heightened the effect by a chorus of most ghastly groans +and cries. + +“The joke had nearly gone beyond what was originally intended, for +the quartermaster lay as one dead, and it was only with the greatest +difficulty that he could be brought to his senses. To the end of +the voyage he stoutly asserted that he had seen the distant Mrs. +Anchorstock, remarking with many oaths that though he was too woundily +scared to take much note of the features, there was no mistaking the +strong smell of rum which was characteristic of his better half. + +“It chanced shortly after this to be the king’s birthday, an event which +was signalised aboard the Lightening by the death of the commander under +singular circumstances. This officer, who was a real fair-weather +Jack, hardly knowing the ship’s keel from her ensign, had obtained his +position through parliamentary interest, and used it with such tyranny +and cruelty that he was universally execrated. So unpopular was he that +when a plot was entered into by the whole crew to punish his misdeeds +with death, he had not a single friend among six hundred souls to warn +him of his danger. It was the custom on board the king’s ships that upon +his birthday the entire ship’s company should be drawn up upon deck, +and that at a signal they should discharge their muskets into the air +in honour of his Majesty. On this occasion word had been secretly passed +round for every man to slip a slug into his firelock, instead of the +blank cartridge provided. On the boatswain blowing his whistle the men +mustered upon deck and formed line, whilst the captain, standing well in +front of them, delivered a few words to them. ‘When I give the word,’ he +concluded, ‘you shall discharge your pieces, and by thunder, if any man +is a second before or a second after his fellows I shall trice him up to +the weather rigging!’ With these words he roared ‘Fire!’ on which every +man levelled his musket straight at his head and pulled the trigger. +So accurate was the aim and so short the distance, that more than five +hundred bullets struck him simultaneously, blowing away his head and a +large portion of his body. There were so many concerned in this matter, +and it was so hopeless to trace it to any individual, that the officers +were unable to punish any one for the affair--the more readily as the +captain’s haughty ways and heartless conduct had made him quite as +hateful to them as to the men whom they commanded. + +“By his pleasantries and the natural charm of his manners our hero so +far won the good wishes of the ship’s company that they parted with +infinite regret upon their arrival in England. Filial duty, however, +urged him to return home and report himself to his father, with which +object he posted from Portsmouth to London, intending to proceed thence +to Shropshire. As it chanced, however, one of the horses sprained his +off foreleg while passing through Chichester, and as no change could +be obtained, Cyprian found himself compelled to put up at the Crown and +Bull for the night. + +“Ods bodikins!” continued Smollett, laughing, “I never could pass a +comfortable hostel without stopping, and so, with your permission, I’ll +e’en stop here, and whoever wills may lead friend Cyprian to his further +adventures. Do you, Sir Walter, give us a touch of the Wizard of the +North.” + +With these words Smollett produced a pipe, and filling it at Defoe’s +tobacco-pot, waited patiently for the continuation of the story. + +“If I must, I must,” remarked the illustrious Scotchman, taking a pinch +of snuff; “but I must beg leave to put Mr. Wells back a few hundred +years, for of all things I love the true mediaeval smack. To proceed +then:-- + +“Our hero, being anxious to continue his journey, and learning that it +would be some time before any conveyance would be ready, determined +to push on alone mounted on his gallant grey steed. Travelling was +particularly dangerous at that time, for besides the usual perils which +beset wayfarers, the southern parts of England were in a lawless and +disturbed state which bordered on insurrection. The young man, however, +having loosened his sword in his sheath, so as to be ready for every +eventuality, galloped cheerily upon his way, guiding himself to the best +of his ability by the light of the rising moon. + +“He had not gone far before he realised that the cautions which had been +impressed upon him by the landlord, and which he had been inclined to +look upon as self-interested advice, were only too well justified. At +a spot where the road was particularly rough, and ran across some marsh +land, he perceived a short distance from him a dark shadow, which his +practised eye detected at once as a body of crouching men. Reining up +his horse within a few yards of the ambuscade, he wrapped his cloak +round his bridle-arm and summoned the party to stand forth. + +“‘What ho, my masters!’ he cried. ‘Are beds so scarce, then, that ye +must hamper the high road of the king with your bodies? Now, by St. +Ursula of Alpuxerra, there be those who might think that birds who fly +o’ nights were after higher game than the moorhen or the woodcock!’ + +“‘Blades and targets, comrades!’ exclaimed a tall powerful man, +springing into the centre of the road with several companions, and +standing in front of the frightened horse. ‘Who is this swashbuckler +who summons his Majesty’s lieges from their repose? A very soldado, o’ +truth. Hark ye, sir, or my lord, or thy grace, or whatsoever title your +honour’s honour may be pleased to approve, thou must curb thy tongue +play, or by the seven witches of Gambleside thou may find thyself in but +a sorry plight.’ + +“‘I prythee, then, that thou wilt expound to me who and what ye are,’ +quoth our hero, ‘and whether your purpose be such as an honest man may +approve of. As to your threats, they turn from my mind as your caitiffly +weapons would shiver upon my hauberk from Milan.’ + +“‘Nay, Allen,’ interrupted one of the party, addressing him who seemed +to be their leader; ‘this is a lad of mettle, and such a one as our +honest Jack longs for. But we lure not hawks with empty hands. Look ye, +sir, there is game afoot which it may need such bold hunters as thyself +to follow. Come with us and take a firkin of canary, and we will find +better work for that glaive of thine than getting its owner into broil +and bloodshed; for, by my troth! Milan or no Milan, if my curtel axe +do but ring against that morion of thine it will be an ill day for thy +father’s son.’ + +“For a moment our hero hesitated as to whether it would best become his +knightly traditions to hurl himself against his enemies, or whether it +might not be better to obey their requests. Prudence, mingled with a +large share of curiosity, eventually carried the day, and dismounting +from his horse, he intimated that he was ready to follow his captors. + +“‘Spoken like a man!’ cried he whom they addressed as Allen. ‘Jack Cade +will be right glad of such a recruit. Blood and carrion! but thou hast +the thews of a young ox; and I swear, by the haft of my sword, that it +might have gone ill with some of us hadst thou not listened to reason!’ + +“‘Nay, not so, good Allen--not so,’ squeaked a very small man, who had +remained in the background while there was any prospect of a fray, +but who now came pushing to the front. ‘Hadst thou been alone it might +indeed have been so, perchance, but an expert swordsman can disarm +at pleasure such a one as this young knight. Well I remember in the +Palatinate how I clove to the chine even such another--the Baron von +Slogstaff. He struck at me, look ye, so; but I, with buckler and blade, +did, as one might say, deflect it; and then, countering in carte, I +returned in tierce, and so--St. Agnes save us! who comes here?’ + +“The apparition which frightened the loquacious little man was +sufficiently strange to cause a qualm even in the bosom of the knight. +Through the darkness there loomed a figure which appeared to be of +gigantic size, and a hoarse voice, issuing apparently some distance +above the heads of the party, broke roughly on the silence of the night. + +“‘Now out upon thee, Thomas Allen, and foul be thy fate if thou hast +abandoned thy post without good and sufficient cause. By St. Anselm +of the Holy Grove, thou hadst best have never been born than rouse +my spleen this night. Wherefore is it that you and your men are +trailing over the moor like a flock of geese when Michaelmas is near?’ + +“‘Good captain,’ said Allen, doffing his bonnet, an example followed by +others of the band, ‘we have captured a goodly youth who was pricking +it along the London road. Methought that some word of thanks were meet +reward for such service, rather than taunt or threat.’ + +“‘Nay, take it not to heart, bold Allen,’ exclaimed their leader, who +was none other than the great Jack Cade himself. ‘Thou knowest of old +that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that +unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land. And +you,’ he continued, turning suddenly upon our hero, ‘are you ready +to join the great cause which will make England what it was when the +learned Alfred reigned in the land? Zounds, man, speak out, and pick not +your phrases.’ + +“‘I am ready to do aught which may become a knight and a gentleman,’ +said the soldier stoutly. + +“‘Taxes shall be swept away!’ cried Cade excitedly--‘the impost and +the anpost--the tithe and the hundred-tax. The poor man’s salt-box and +flour-bin shall be as free as the nobleman’s cellar. Ha! what sayest +thou?’ + +“‘It is but just,’ said our hero. + +“‘Ay, but they give us such justice as the falcon gives the leveret!’ +roared the orator. ‘Down with them, I say--down with every man of them! +Noble and judge, priest and king, down with them all!’ + +“‘Nay,’ said Sir Overbeck Wells, drawing himself up to his full height, +and laying his hand upon the hilt of his sword, ‘there I cannot follow +thee, but must rather defy thee as traitor and faineant, seeing that +thou art no true man, but one who would usurp the rights of our master +the king, whom may the Virgin protect!’ + +“At these bold words, and the defiance which they conveyed, the rebels +seemed for a moment utterly bewildered; but, encouraged by the hoarse +shout of their leader, they brandished their weapons and prepared to +fall upon the knight, who placed himself in a posture for defence and +awaited their attack. + +“There now!” cried Sir Walter, rubbing his hands and chuckling, “I’ve +put the chiel in a pretty warm corner, and we’ll see which of you +moderns can take him oot o’t. Ne’er a word more will ye get frae me to +help him one way or the other.” + +“You try your hand, James,” cried several voices, and the author in +question had got so far as to make an allusion to a solitary horseman +who was approaching, when he was interrupted by a tall gentleman a +little farther down with a slight stutter and a very nervous manner. + +“Excuse me,” he said, “but I fancy that I may be able to do something +here. Some of my humble productions have been said to excel Sir Walter +at his best, and I was undoubtedly stronger all round. I could picture +modern society as well as ancient; and as to my plays, why Shakespeare +never came near ‘The Lady of Lyons’ for popularity. There is this +little thing----” (Here he rummaged among a great pile of papers in +front of him). “Ah! that’s a report of mine, when I was in India! Here +it is. No, this is one of my speeches in the House, and this is my +criticism on Tennyson. Didn’t I warm him up? I can’t find what I wanted, +but of course you have read them all--‘Rienzi,’ and ‘Harold,’ and +‘The Last of the Barons.’ Every schoolboy knows them by heart, as poor +Macaulay would have said. Allow me to give you a sample:-- + +“In spite of the gallant knight’s valiant resistance the combat was too +unequal to be sustained. His sword was broken by a slash from a brown +bill, and he was borne to the ground. He expected immediate death, but +such did not seem to be the intention of the ruffians who had captured +him. He was placed upon the back of his own charger and borne, bound +hand and foot, over the trackless moor, in the fastnesses of which the +rebels secreted themselves. + +“In the depths of these wilds there stood a stone building which had +once been a farm-house, but having been for some reason abandoned had +fallen into ruin, and had now become the headquarters of Cade and +his men. A large cowhouse near the farm had been utilised as sleeping +quarters, and some rough attempts had been made to shield the principal +room of the main building from the weather by stopping up the gaping +apertures in the walls. In this apartment was spread out a rough meal +for the returning rebels, and our hero was thrown, still bound, into an +empty outhouse, there to await his fate.” + +Sir Walter had been listening with the greatest impatience to Bulwer +Lytton’s narrative, but when it had reached this point he broke in +impatiently. + +“We want a touch of your own style, man,” he said. “The +animal-magnetico-electro-hysterical-biological-mysterious sort of story +is all your own, but at present you are just a poor copy of myself, and +nothing more.” + +There was a murmur of assent from the company, and Defoe remarked, +“Truly, Master Lytton, there is a plaguey resemblance in the style, +which may indeed be but a chance, and yet methinks it is sufficiently +marked to warrant such words as our friend hath used.” + +“Perhaps you will think that this is an imitation also,” said Lytton +bitterly, and leaning back in his chair with a morose countenance, he +continued the narrative in this way:-- + +“Our unfortunate hero had hardly stretched himself upon the straw with +which his dungeon was littered, when a secret door opened in the wall +and a venerable old man swept majestically into the apartment. The +prisoner gazed upon him with astonishment not unmixed with awe, for on +his broad brow was printed the seal of much knowledge--such knowledge as +it is not granted to the son of man to know. He was clad in a long white +robe, crossed and chequered with mystic devices in the Arabic character, +while a high scarlet tiara marked with the square and circle enhanced +his venerable appearance. ‘My son,’ he said, turning his piercing and +yet dreamy gaze upon Sir Overbeck, ‘all things lead to nothing, and +nothing is the foundation of all things. Cosmos is impenetrable. Why +then should we exist?’ + +“Astounded at this weighty query, and at the philosophic demeanour of +his visitor, our hero made shift to bid him welcome and to demand his +name and quality. As the old man answered him his voice rose and fell in +musical cadences, like the sighing of the east wind, while an ethereal +and aromatic vapour pervaded the apartment. + +“‘I am the eternal non-ego,’ he answered. ‘I am the concentrated +negative--the everlasting essence of nothing. You see in me that +which existed before the beginning of matter many years before the +commencement of time. I am the algebraic _x_ which represents the +infinite divisibility of a finite particle.’ + +“Sir Overbeck felt a shudder as though an ice-cold hand had been placed +upon his brow. ‘What is your message?’ he whispered, falling prostrate +before his mysterious visitor. + +“‘To tell you that the eternities beget chaos, and that the immensities +are at the mercy of the divine ananke. Infinitude crouches before a +personality. The mercurial essence is the prime mover in spirituality, +and the thinker is powerless before the pulsating inanity. The cosmical +procession is terminated only by the unknowable and unpronounceable’---- + +“May I ask, Mr. Smollett, what you find to laugh at?” + +“Gad zooks, master,” cried Smollett, who had been sniggering for some +time back. “It seems to me that there is little danger of any one +venturing to dispute that style with you.” + +“It’s all your own,” murmured Sir Walter. + +“And very pretty, too,” quoth Lawrence Sterne, with a malignant grin. +“Pray sir, what language do you call it?” + +Lytton was so enraged at these remarks, and at the favour with which +they appeared to be received, that he endeavoured to stutter out some +reply, and then, losing control of himself completely, picked up all his +loose papers and strode out of the room, dropping pamphlets and speeches +at every step. This incident amused the company so much that they +laughed for several minutes without cessation. Gradually the sound of +their laughter sounded more and more harshly in my ears, the lights +on the table grew dim and the company more misty, until they and their +symposium vanished away altogether. I was sitting before the embers of +what had been a roaring fire, but was now little more than a heap of +grey ashes, and the merry laughter of the august company had changed +to the recriminations of my wife, who was shaking me violently by the +shoulder and exhorting me to choose some more seasonable spot for my +slumbers. So ended the wondrous adventures of Master Cyprian Overbeck +Wells, but I still live in the hopes that in some future dream the great +masters may themselves finish that which they have begun. + + + + +JOHN BARRINGTON COWLES. + +It might seem rash of me to say that I ascribe the death of my poor +friend, John Barrington Cowles, to any preternatural agency. I am aware +that in the present state of public feeling a chain of evidence would +require to be strong indeed before the possibility of such a conclusion +could be admitted. + +I shall therefore merely state the circumstances which led up to this +sad event as concisely and as plainly as I can, and leave every reader +to draw his own deductions. Perhaps there may be some one who can throw +light upon what is dark to me. + +I first met Barrington Cowles when I went up to Edinburgh University to +take out medical classes there. My landlady in Northumberland Street +had a large house, and, being a widow without children, she gained a +livelihood by providing accommodation for several students. + +Barrington Cowles happened to have taken a bedroom upon the same floor +as mine, and when we came to know each other better we shared a small +sitting-room, in which we took our meals. In this manner we originated +a friendship which was unmarred by the slightest disagreement up to the +day of his death. + +Cowles’ father was the colonel of a Sikh regiment and had remained in +India for many years. He allowed his son a handsome income, but seldom +gave any other sign of parental affection--writing irregularly and +briefly. + +My friend, who had himself been born in India, and whose whole +disposition was an ardent tropical one, was much hurt by this neglect. +His mother was dead, and he had no other relation in the world to supply +the blank. + +Thus he came in time to concentrate all his affection upon me, and to +confide in me in a manner which is rare among men. Even when a stronger +and deeper passion came upon him, it never infringed upon the old +tenderness between us. + +Cowles was a tall, slim young fellow, with an olive, Velasquez-like +face, and dark, tender eyes. I have seldom seen a man who was more +likely to excite a woman’s interest, or to captivate her imagination. +His expression was, as a rule, dreamy, and even languid; but if in +conversation a subject arose which interested him he would be all +animation in a moment. On such occasions his colour would heighten, his +eyes gleam, and he could speak with an eloquence which would carry his +audience with him. + +In spite of these natural advantages he led a solitary life, avoiding +female society, and reading with great diligence. He was one of the +foremost men of his year, taking the senior medal for anatomy, and the +Neil Arnott prize for physics. + +How well I can recollect the first time we met her! Often and often I +have recalled the circumstances, and tried to remember what the exact +impression was which she produced on my mind at the time. + +After we came to know her my judgment was warped, so that I am curious +to recollect what my unbiassed{sic} instincts were. It is hard, however, +to eliminate the feelings which reason or prejudice afterwards raised in +me. + +It was at the opening of the Royal Scottish Academy in the spring of +1879. My poor friend was passionately attached to art in every form, and +a pleasing chord in music or a delicate effect upon canvas would give +exquisite pleasure to his highly-strung nature. We had gone together to +see the pictures, and were standing in the grand central salon, when I +noticed an extremely beautiful woman standing at the other side of the +room. In my whole life I have never seen such a classically perfect +countenance. It was the real Greek type--the forehead broad, very low, +and as white as marble, with a cloudlet of delicate locks wreathing +round it, the nose straight and clean cut, the lips inclined to +thinness, the chin and lower jaw beautifully rounded off, and yet +sufficiently developed to promise unusual strength of character. + +But those eyes--those wonderful eyes! If I could but give some faint +idea of their varying moods, their steely hardness, their feminine +softness, their power of command, their penetrating intensity suddenly +melting away into an expression of womanly weakness--but I am speaking +now of future impressions! + +There was a tall, yellow-haired young man with this lady, whom I at once +recognised as a law student with whom I had a slight acquaintance. + +Archibald Reeves--for that was his name--was a dashing, handsome young +fellow, and had at one time been a ringleader in every university +escapade; but of late I had seen little of him, and the report was that +he was engaged to be married. His companion was, then, I presumed, his +fiancee. I seated myself upon the velvet settee in the centre of the +room, and furtively watched the couple from behind my catalogue. + +The more I looked at her the more her beauty grew upon me. She was +somewhat short in stature, it is true; but her figure was perfection, +and she bore herself in such a fashion that it was only by actual +comparison that one would have known her to be under the medium height. + +As I kept my eyes upon them, Reeves was called away for some reason, +and the young lady was left alone. Turning her back to the pictures, she +passed the time until the return of her escort in taking a deliberate +survey of the company, without paying the least heed to the fact that +a dozen pair of eyes, attracted by her elegance and beauty, were bent +curiously upon her. With one of her hands holding the red silk cord +which railed off the pictures, she stood languidly moving her eyes from +face to face with as little self-consciousness as if she were looking at +the canvas creatures behind her. Suddenly, as I watched her, I saw her +gaze become fixed, and, as it were, intense. I followed the direction of +her looks, wondering what could have attracted her so strongly. + +John Barrington Cowles was standing before a picture--one, I think, by +Noel Paton--I know that the subject was a noble and ethereal one. +His profile was turned towards us, and never have I seen him to such +advantage. I have said that he was a strikingly handsome man, but at +that moment he looked absolutely magnificent. It was evident that he had +momentarily forgotten his surroundings, and that his whole soul was in +sympathy with the picture before him. His eyes sparkled, and a dusky +pink shone through his clear olive cheeks. She continued to watch him +fixedly, with a look of interest upon her face, until he came out of his +reverie with a start, and turned abruptly round, so that his gaze met +hers. She glanced away at once, but his eyes remained fixed upon her for +some moments. The picture was forgotten already, and his soul had come +down to earth once more. + +We caught sight of her once or twice before we left, and each time I +noticed my friend look after her. He made no remark, however, until we +got out into the open air, and were walking arm-in-arm along Princes +Street. + +“Did you notice that beautiful woman, in the dark dress, with the white +fur?” he asked. + +“Yes, I saw her,” I answered. + +“Do you know her?” he asked eagerly. “Have you any idea who she is?” + +“I don’t know her personally,” I replied. “But I have no doubt I could +find out all about her, for I believe she is engaged to young Archie +Reeves, and he and I have a lot of mutual friends.” + +“Engaged!” ejaculated Cowles. + +“Why, my dear boy,” I said, laughing, “you don’t mean to say you are so +susceptible that the fact that a girl to whom you never spoke in your +life is engaged is enough to upset you?” + +“Well, not exactly to upset me,” he answered, forcing a laugh. “But I +don’t mind telling you, Armitage, that I never was so taken by any +one in my life. It wasn’t the mere beauty of the face--though that was +perfect enough--but it was the character and the intellect upon it. I +hope, if she is engaged, that it is to some man who will be worthy of +her.” + +“Why,” I remarked, “you speak quite feelingly. It is a clear case of +love at first sight, Jack. However, to put your perturbed spirit at +rest, I’ll make a point of finding out all about her whenever I meet any +fellow who is likely to know.” + +Barrington Cowles thanked me, and the conversation drifted off into +other channels. For several days neither of us made any allusion to +the subject, though my companion was perhaps a little more dreamy +and distraught than usual. The incident had almost vanished from my +remembrance, when one day young Brodie, who is a second cousin of mine, +came up to me on the university steps with the face of a bearer of +tidings. + +“I say,” he began, “you know Reeves, don’t you?” + +“Yes. What of him?” + +“His engagement is off.” + +“Off!” I cried. “Why, I only learned the other day that it was on.” + +“Oh, yes--it’s all off. His brother told me so. Deucedly mean of Reeves, +you know, if he has backed out of it, for she was an uncommonly nice +girl.” + +“I’ve seen her,” I said; “but I don’t know her name.” + +“She is a Miss Northcott, and lives with an old aunt of hers in +Abercrombie Place. Nobody knows anything about her people, or where she +comes from. Anyhow, she is about the most unlucky girl in the world, +poor soul!” + +“Why unlucky?” + +“Well, you know, this was her second engagement,” said young Brodie, who +had a marvellous knack of knowing everything about everybody. “She was +engaged to Prescott--William Prescott, who died. That was a very +sad affair. The wedding day was fixed, and the whole thing looked as +straight as a die when the smash came.” + +“What smash?” I asked, with some dim recollection of the circumstances. + +“Why, Prescott’s death. He came to Abercrombie Place one night, and +stayed very late. No one knows exactly when he left, but about one +in the morning a fellow who knew him met him walking rapidly in the +direction of the Queen’s Park. He bade him good night, but Prescott +hurried on without heeding him, and that was the last time he was ever +seen alive. Three days afterwards his body was found floating in +St. Margaret’s Loch, under St. Anthony’s Chapel. No one could ever +understand it, but of course the verdict brought it in as temporary +insanity.” + +“It was very strange,” I remarked. + +“Yes, and deucedly rough on the poor girl,” said Brodie. “Now that this +other blow has come it will quite crush her. So gentle and ladylike she +is too!” + +“You know her personally, then!” I asked. + +“Oh, yes, I know her. I have met her several times. I could easily +manage that you should be introduced to her.” + +“Well,” I answered, “it’s not so much for my own sake as for a friend of +mine. However, I don’t suppose she will go out much for some little time +after this. When she does I will take advantage of your offer.” + +We shook hands on this, and I thought no more of the matter for some +time. + +The next incident which I have to relate as bearing at all upon the +question of Miss Northcott is an unpleasant one. Yet I must detail it as +accurately as possible, since it may throw some light upon the sequel. +One cold night, several months after the conversation with my second +cousin which I have quoted above, I was walking down one of the +lowest streets in the city on my way back from a case which I had been +attending. It was very late, and I was picking my way among the dirty +loungers who were clustering round the doors of a great gin-palace, when +a man staggered out from among them, and held out his hand to me with a +drunken leer. The gaslight fell full upon his face, and, to my intense +astonishment, I recognised in the degraded creature before me my former +acquaintance, young Archibald Reeves, who had once been famous as one +of the most dressy and particular men in the whole college. I was so +utterly surprised that for a moment I almost doubted the evidence of +my own senses; but there was no mistaking those features, which, though +bloated with drink, still retained something of their former comeliness. +I was determined to rescue him, for one night at least, from the company +into which he had fallen. + +“Holloa, Reeves!” I said. “Come along with me. I’m going in your +direction.” + +He muttered some incoherent apology for his condition, and took my arm. +As I supported him towards his lodgings I could see that he was not only +suffering from the effects of a recent debauch, but that a long course +of intemperance had affected his nerves and his brain. His hand when I +touched it was dry and feverish, and he started from every shadow which +fell upon the pavement. He rambled in his speech, too, in a manner which +suggested the delirium of disease rather than the talk of a drunkard. + + +When I got him to his lodgings I partially undressed him and laid him +upon his bed. His pulse at this time was very high, and he was evidently +extremely feverish. He seemed to have sunk into a doze; and I was about +to steal out of the room to warn his landlady of his condition, when he +started up and caught me by the sleeve of my coat. + +“Don’t go!” he cried. “I feel better when you are here. I am safe from +her then.” + +“From her!” I said. “From whom?” + +“Her! her!” he answered peevishly. “Ah! you don’t know her. She is the +devil! Beautiful--beautiful; but the devil!” + +“You are feverish and excited,” I said. “Try and get a little sleep. You +will wake better.” + +“Sleep!” he groaned. “How am I to sleep when I see her sitting down +yonder at the foot of the bed with her great eyes watching and watching +hour after hour? I tell you it saps all the strength and manhood out of +me. That’s what makes me drink. God help me--I’m half drunk now!” + +“You are very ill,” I said, putting some vinegar to his temples; “and +you are delirious. You don’t know what you say.” + +“Yes, I do,” he interrupted sharply, looking up at me. “I know very +well what I say. I brought it upon myself. It is my own choice. But I +couldn’t--no, by heaven, I couldn’t--accept the alternative. I couldn’t +keep my faith to her. It was more than man could do.” + +I sat by the side of the bed, holding one of his burning hands in mine, +and wondering over his strange words. He lay still for some time, and +then, raising his eyes to me, said in a most plaintive voice-- + +“Why did she not give me warning sooner? Why did she wait until I had +learned to love her so?” + +He repeated this question several times, rolling his feverish head from +side to side, and then he dropped into a troubled sleep. I crept out of +the room, and, having seen that he would be properly cared for, left +the house. His words, however, rang in my ears for days afterwards, and +assumed a deeper significance when taken with what was to come. + +My friend, Barrington Cowles, had been away for his summer holidays, and +I had heard nothing of him for several months. When the winter session +came on, however, I received a telegram from him, asking me to secure +the old rooms in Northumberland Street for him, and telling me the train +by which he would arrive. I went down to meet him, and was delighted to +find him looking wonderfully hearty and well. + +“By the way,” he said suddenly, that night, as we sat in our chairs +by the fire, talking over the events of the holidays, “you have never +congratulated me yet!” + +“On what, my boy?” I asked. + +“What! Do you mean to say you have not heard of my engagement?” + +“Engagement! No!” I answered. “However, I am delighted to hear it, and +congratulate you with all my heart.” + +“I wonder it didn’t come to your ears,” he said. “It was the queerest +thing. You remember that girl whom we both admired so much at the +Academy?” + +“What!” I cried, with a vague feeling of apprehension at my heart. “You +don’t mean to say that you are engaged to her?” + +“I thought you would be surprised,” he answered. “When I was staying +with an old aunt of mine in Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire, the Northcotts +happened to come there on a visit, and as we had mutual friends we soon +met. I found out that it was a false alarm about her being engaged, and +then--well, you know what it is when you are thrown into the society of +such a girl in a place like Peterhead. Not, mind you,” he added, “that I +consider I did a foolish or hasty thing. I have never regretted it for +a moment. The more I know Kate the more I admire her and love her. +However, you must be introduced to her, and then you will form your own +opinion.” + +I expressed my pleasure at the prospect, and endeavoured to speak as +lightly as I could to Cowles upon the subject, but I felt depressed +and anxious at heart. The words of Reeves and the unhappy fate of young +Prescott recurred to my recollection, and though I could assign no +tangible reason for it, a vague, dim fear and distrust of the woman +took possession of me. It may be that this was foolish prejudice and +superstition upon my part, and that I involuntarily contorted her future +doings and sayings to fit into some half-formed wild theory of my +own. This has been suggested to me by others as an explanation of my +narrative. They are welcome to their opinion if they can reconcile it +with the facts which I have to tell. + +I went round with my friend a few days afterwards to call upon Miss +Northcott. I remember that, as we went down Abercrombie Place, our +attention was attracted by the shrill yelping of a dog--which noise +proved eventually to come from the house to which we were bound. We +were shown upstairs, where I was introduced to old Mrs. Merton, Miss +Northcott’s aunt, and to the young lady herself. She looked as beautiful +as ever, and I could not wonder at my friend’s infatuation. Her face +was a little more flushed than usual, and she held in her hand a heavy +dog-whip, with which she had been chastising a small Scotch terrier, +whose cries we had heard in the street. The poor brute was cringing up +against the wall, whining piteously, and evidently completely cowed. + +“So Kate,” said my friend, after we had taken our seats, “you have been +falling out with Carlo again.” + +“Only a very little quarrel this time,” she said, smiling charmingly. +“He is a dear, good old fellow, but he needs correction now and then.” + Then, turning to me, “We all do that, Mr. Armitage, don’t we? What a +capital thing if, instead of receiving a collective punishment at the +end of our lives, we were to have one at once, as the dogs do, when we +did anything wicked. It would make us more careful, wouldn’t it?” + +I acknowledged that it would. + +“Supposing that every time a man misbehaved himself a gigantic hand +were to seize him, and he were lashed with a whip until he fainted”--she +clenched her white fingers as she spoke, and cut out viciously with +the dog-whip--“it would do more to keep him good than any number of +high-minded theories of morality.” + +“Why, Kate,” said my friend, “you are quite savage to-day.” + +“No, Jack,” she laughed. “I’m only propounding a theory for Mr. +Armitage’s consideration.” + +The two began to chat together about some Aberdeenshire reminiscence, +and I had time to observe Mrs. Merton, who had remained silent during +our short conversation. She was a very strange-looking old lady. What +attracted attention most in her appearance was the utter want of colour +which she exhibited. Her hair was snow-white, and her face extremely +pale. Her lips were bloodless, and even her eyes were of such a light +tinge of blue that they hardly relieved the general pallor. Her dress +was a grey silk, which harmonised with her general appearance. She had a +peculiar expression of countenance, which I was unable at the moment to +refer to its proper cause. + +She was working at some old-fashioned piece of ornamental needlework, +and as she moved her arms her dress gave forth a dry, melancholy +rustling, like the sound of leaves in the autumn. There was something +mournful and depressing in the sight of her. I moved my chair a little +nearer, and asked her how she liked Edinburgh, and whether she had been +there long. + +When I spoke to her she started and looked up at me with a scared look +on her face. Then I saw in a moment what the expression was which I had +observed there. It was one of fear--intense and overpowering fear. It +was so marked that I could have staked my life on the woman before +me having at some period of her life been subjected to some terrible +experience or dreadful misfortune. + +“Oh, yes, I like it,” she said, in a soft, timid voice; “and we have +been here long--that is, not very long. We move about a great deal.” She +spoke with hesitation, as if afraid of committing herself. + +“You are a native of Scotland, I presume?” I said. + +“No--that is, not entirely. We are not natives of any place. We are +cosmopolitan, you know.” She glanced round in the direction of Miss +Northcott as she spoke, but the two were still chatting together near +the window. Then she suddenly bent forward to me, with a look of intense +earnestness upon her face, and said-- + +“Don’t talk to me any more, please. She does not like it, and I shall +suffer for it afterwards. Please, don’t do it.” + +I was about to ask her the reason for this strange request, but when she +saw I was going to address her, she rose and walked slowly out of the +room. As she did so I perceived that the lovers had ceased to talk and +that Miss Northcott was looking at me with her keen, grey eyes. + +“You must excuse my aunt, Mr. Armitage,” she said; “she is odd, and +easily fatigued. Come over and look at my album.” + +We spent some time examining the portraits. Miss Northcott’s father and +mother were apparently ordinary mortals enough, and I could not detect +in either of them any traces of the character which showed itself in +their daughter’s face. There was one old daguerreotype, however, which +arrested my attention. It represented a man of about the age of forty, +and strikingly handsome. He was clean shaven, and extraordinary power +was expressed upon his prominent lower jaw and firm, straight mouth. +His eyes were somewhat deeply set in his head, however, and there was a +snake-like flattening at the upper part of his forehead, which detracted +from his appearance. I almost involuntarily, when I saw the head, +pointed to it, and exclaimed-- + +“There is your prototype in your family, Miss Northcott.” + +“Do you think so?” she said. “I am afraid you are paying me a very bad +compliment. Uncle Anthony was always considered the black sheep of the +family.” + +“Indeed,” I answered; “my remark was an unfortunate one, then.” + +“Oh, don’t mind that,” she said; “I always thought myself that he was +worth all of them put together. He was an officer in the Forty-first +Regiment, and he was killed in action during the Persian War--so he died +nobly, at any rate.” + +“That’s the sort of death I should like to die,” said Cowles, his dark +eyes flashing, as they would when he was excited; “I often wish I had +taken to my father’s profession instead of this vile pill-compounding +drudgery.” + +“Come, Jack, you are not going to die any sort of death yet,” she said, +tenderly taking his hand in hers. + +I could not understand the woman. There was such an extraordinary +mixture of masculine decision and womanly tenderness about her, with +the consciousness of something all her own in the background, that she +fairly puzzled me. I hardly knew, therefore, how to answer Cowles +when, as we walked down the street together, he asked the comprehensive +question-- + +“Well, what do you think of her?” + +“I think she is wonderfully beautiful,” I answered guardedly. + +“That, of course,” he replied irritably. “You knew that before you +came!” + +“I think she is very clever too,” I remarked. + +Barrington Cowles walked on for some time, and then he suddenly turned +on me with the strange question-- + +“Do you think she is cruel? Do you think she is the sort of girl who +would take a pleasure in inflicting pain?” + +“Well, really,” I answered, “I have hardly had time to form an opinion.” + +We then walked on for some time in silence. + +“She is an old fool,” at length muttered Cowles. “She is mad.” + +“Who is?” I asked. + +“Why, that old woman--that aunt of Kate’s--Mrs. Merton, or whatever her +name is.” + +Then I knew that my poor colourless friend had been speaking to Cowles, +but he never said anything more as to the nature of her communication. + +My companion went to bed early that night, and I sat up a long time by +the fire, thinking over all that I had seen and heard. I felt that there +was some mystery about the girl--some dark fatality so strange as to +defy conjecture. I thought of Prescott’s interview with her before +their marriage, and the fatal termination of it. I coupled it with poor +drunken Reeves’ plaintive cry, “Why did she not tell me sooner?” and +with the other words he had spoken. Then my mind ran over Mrs. Merton’s +warning to me, Cowles’ reference to her, and even the episode of the +whip and the cringing dog. + +The whole effect of my recollections was unpleasant to a degree, and yet +there was no tangible charge which I could bring against the woman. It +would be worse than useless to attempt to warn my friend until I had +definitely made up my mind what I was to warn him against. He would +treat any charge against her with scorn. What could I do? How could I +get at some tangible conclusion as to her character and antecedents? No +one in Edinburgh knew them except as recent acquaintances. She was an +orphan, and as far as I knew she had never disclosed where her former +home had been. Suddenly an idea struck me. Among my father’s friends +there was a Colonel Joyce, who had served a long time in India upon the +staff, and who would be likely to know most of the officers who had been +out there since the Mutiny. I sat down at once, and, having trimmed the +lamp, proceeded to write a letter to the Colonel. I told him that I was +very curious to gain some particulars about a certain Captain Northcott, +who had served in the Forty-first Foot, and who had fallen in the +Persian War. I described the man as well as I could from my recollection +of the daguerreotype, and then, having directed the letter, posted it +that very night, after which, feeling that I had done all that could be +done, I retired to bed, with a mind too anxious to allow me to sleep. + + + + +PART II. + +I got an answer from Leicester, where the Colonel resided, within two +days. I have it before me as I write, and copy it verbatim. + + +“DEAR BOB,” it said, “I remember the man well. I was with him at +Calcutta, and afterwards at Hyderabad. He was a curious, solitary sort +of mortal; but a gallant soldier enough, for he distinguished himself at +Sobraon, and was wounded, if I remember right. He was not popular in +his corps--they said he was a pitiless, cold-blooded fellow, with +no geniality in him. There was a rumour, too, that he was a +devil-worshipper, or something of that sort, and also that he had +the evil eye, which, of course, was all nonsense. He had some strange +theories, I remember, about the power of the human will and the effects +of mind upon matter. + +“How are you getting on with your medical studies? Never forget, my boy, +that your father’s son has every claim upon me, and that if I can serve +you in any way I am always at your command.--Ever affectionately yours, + +“EDWARD JOYCE. + +“P.S.--By the way, Northcott did not fall in action. He was killed after +peace was declared in a crazy attempt to get some of the eternal fire +from the sun-worshippers’ temple. There was considerable mystery about +his death.” + + +I read this epistle over several times--at first with a feeling of +satisfaction, and then with one of disappointment. I had come on some +curious information, and yet hardly what I wanted. He was an eccentric +man, a devil-worshipper, and rumoured to have the power of the evil eye. +I could believe the young lady’s eyes, when endowed with that cold, grey +shimmer which I had noticed in them once or twice, to be capable of any +evil which human eye ever wrought; but still the superstition was +an effete one. Was there not more meaning in that sentence which +followed--“He had theories of the power of the human will and of the +effect of mind upon matter”? I remember having once read a quaint +treatise, which I had imagined to be mere charlatanism at the time, of +the power of certain human minds, and of effects produced by them at a +distance. + +Was Miss Northcott endowed with some exceptional power of the sort? + +The idea grew upon me, and very shortly I had evidence which convinced +me of the truth of the supposition. + +It happened that at the very time when my mind was dwelling upon this +subject, I saw a notice in the paper that our town was to be visited by +Dr. Messinger, the well-known medium and mesmerist. Messinger was a man +whose performance, such as it was, had been again and again pronounced +to be genuine by competent judges. He was far above trickery, and had +the reputation of being the soundest living authority upon the strange +pseudo-sciences of animal magnetism and electro-biology. Determined, +therefore, to see what the human will could do, even against all the +disadvantages of glaring footlights and a public platform, I took a +ticket for the first night of the performance, and went with several +student friends. + +We had secured one of the side boxes, and did not arrive until after the +performance had begun. I had hardly taken my seat before I recognised +Barrington Cowles, with his fiancee and old Mrs. Merton, sitting in the +third or fourth row of the stalls. They caught sight of me at almost +the same moment, and we bowed to each other. The first portion of the +lecture was somewhat commonplace, the lecturer giving tricks of pure +legerdemain, with one or two manifestations of mesmerism, performed +upon a subject whom he had brought with him. He gave us an exhibition of +clairvoyance too, throwing his subject into a trance, and then demanding +particulars as to the movements of absent friends, and the whereabouts +of hidden objects all of which appeared to be answered satisfactorily. +I had seen all this before, however. What I wanted to see now was the +effect of the lecturer’s will when exerted upon some independent member +of the audience. + +He came round to that as the concluding exhibition in his performance. +“I have shown you,” he said, “that a mesmerised subject is entirely +dominated by the will of the mesmeriser. He loses all power of +volition, and his very thoughts are such as are suggested to him by +the master-mind. The same end may be attained without any preliminary +process. A strong will can, simply by virtue of its strength, take +possession of a weaker one, even at a distance, and can regulate the +impulses and the actions of the owner of it. If there was one man in +the world who had a very much more highly-developed will than any of the +rest of the human family, there is no reason why he should not be +able to rule over them all, and to reduce his fellow-creatures to the +condition of automatons. Happily there is such a dead level of mental +power, or rather of mental weakness, among us that such a catastrophe +is not likely to occur; but still within our small compass there are +variations which produce surprising effects. I shall now single out one +of the audience, and endeavour ‘by the mere power of will’ to compel him +to come upon the platform, and do and say what I wish. Let me assure you +that there is no collusion, and that the subject whom I may select is +at perfect liberty to resent to the uttermost any impulse which I may +communicate to him.” + +With these words the lecturer came to the front of the platform, and +glanced over the first few rows of the stalls. No doubt Cowles’ dark +skin and bright eyes marked him out as a man of a highly nervous +temperament, for the mesmerist picked him out in a moment, and fixed his +eyes upon him. I saw my friend give a start of surprise, and then settle +down in his chair, as if to express his determination not to yield +to the influence of the operator. Messinger was not a man whose head +denoted any great brain-power, but his gaze was singularly intense and +penetrating. Under the influence of it Cowles made one or two spasmodic +motions of his hands, as if to grasp the sides of his seat, and then +half rose, but only to sink down again, though with an evident effort. I +was watching the scene with intense interest, when I happened to catch +a glimpse of Miss Northcott’s face. She was sitting with her eyes fixed +intently upon the mesmerist, and with such an expression of concentrated +power upon her features as I have never seen on any other human +countenance. Her jaw was firmly set, her lips compressed, and her face +as hard as if it were a beautiful sculpture cut out of the whitest +marble. Her eyebrows were drawn down, however, and from beneath them her +grey eyes seemed to sparkle and gleam with a cold light. + +I looked at Cowles again, expecting every moment to see him rise and +obey the mesmerist’s wishes, when there came from the platform a short, +gasping cry as of a man utterly worn out and prostrated by a prolonged +struggle. Messinger was leaning against the table, his hand to his +forehead, and the perspiration pouring down his face. “I won’t go on,” + he cried, addressing the audience. “There is a stronger will than +mine acting against me. You must excuse me for to-night.” The man +was evidently ill, and utterly unable to proceed, so the curtain +was lowered, and the audience dispersed, with many comments upon the +lecturer’s sudden indisposition. + +I waited outside the hall until my friend and the ladies came out. +Cowles was laughing over his recent experience. + +“He didn’t succeed with me, Bob,” he cried triumphantly, as he shook my +hand. “I think he caught a Tartar that time.” + +“Yes,” said Miss Northcott, “I think that Jack ought to be very proud of +his strength of mind; don’t you! Mr. Armitage?” + +“It took me all my time, though,” my friend said seriously. “You can’t +conceive what a strange feeling I had once or twice. All the strength +seemed to have gone out of me--especially just before he collapsed +himself.” + +I walked round with Cowles in order to see the ladies home. He walked in +front with Mrs. Merton, and I found myself behind with the young lady. +For a minute or so I walked beside her without making any remark, and +then I suddenly blurted out, in a manner which must have seemed somewhat +brusque to her-- + +“You did that, Miss Northcott.” + +“Did what?” she asked sharply. + +“Why, mesmerised the mesmeriser--I suppose that is the best way of +describing the transaction.” + +“What a strange idea!” she said, laughing. “You give me credit for a +strong will then?” + +“Yes,” I said. “For a dangerously strong one.” + +“Why dangerous?” she asked, in a tone of surprise. + +“I think,” I answered, “that any will which can exercise such power +is dangerous--for there is always a chance of its being turned to bad +uses.” + +“You would make me out a very dreadful individual, Mr. Armitage,” she +said; and then looking up suddenly in my face--“You have never liked me. +You are suspicious of me and distrust me, though I have never given you +cause.” + +The accusation was so sudden and so true that I was unable to find any +reply to it. She paused for a moment, and then said in a voice which was +hard and cold-- + +“Don’t let your prejudice lead you to interfere with me, however, or say +anything to your friend, Mr. Cowles, which might lead to a difference +between us. You would find that to be very bad policy.” + +There was something in the way she spoke which gave an indescribable air +of a threat to these few words. + +“I have no power,” I said, “to interfere with your plans for the future. +I cannot help, however, from what I have seen and heard, having fears +for my friend.” + +“Fears!” she repeated scornfully. “Pray what have you seen and heard. +Something from Mr. Reeves, perhaps--I believe he is another of your +friends?” + +“He never mentioned your name to me,” I answered, truthfully enough. +“You will be sorry to hear that he is dying.” As I said it we passed +by a lighted window, and I glanced down to see what effect my words had +upon her. She was laughing--there was no doubt of it; she was laughing +quietly to herself. I could see merriment in every feature of her face. +I feared and mistrusted the woman from that moment more than ever. + +We said little more that night. When we parted she gave me a quick, +warning glance, as if to remind me of what she had said about the danger +of interference. Her cautions would have made little difference to me +could I have seen my way to benefiting Barrington Cowles by anything +which I might say. But what could I say? I might say that her former +suitors had been unfortunate. I might say that I believed her to be +a cruel-hearted woman. I might say that I considered her to possess +wonderful, and almost preternatural powers. What impression would any +of these accusations make upon an ardent lover--a man with my friend’s +enthusiastic temperament? I felt that it would be useless to advance +them, so I was silent. + +And now I come to the beginning of the end. Hitherto much has been +surmise and inference and hearsay. It is my painful task to relate now, +as dispassionately and as accurately as I can, what actually occurred +under my own notice, and to reduce to writing the events which preceded +the death of my friend. + +Towards the end of the winter Cowles remarked to me that he intended +to marry Miss Northcott as soon as possible--probably some time in the +spring. He was, as I have already remarked, fairly well off, and the +young lady had some money of her own, so that there was no pecuniary +reason for a long engagement. “We are going to take a little house out +at Corstorphine,” he said, “and we hope to see your face at our table, +Bob, as often as you can possibly come.” I thanked him, and tried to +shake off my apprehensions, and persuade myself that all would yet be +well. + +It was about three weeks before the time fixed for the marriage, that +Cowles remarked to me one evening that he feared he would be late that +night. “I have had a note from Kate,” he said, “asking me to call about +eleven o’clock to-night, which seems rather a late hour, but perhaps she +wants to talk over something quietly after old Mrs. Merton retires.” + +It was not until after my friend’s departure that I suddenly recollected +the mysterious interview which I had been told of as preceding the +suicide of young Prescott. Then I thought of the ravings of poor Reeves, +rendered more tragic by the fact that I had heard that very day of +his death. What was the meaning of it all? Had this woman some baleful +secret to disclose which must be known before her marriage? Was it some +reason which forbade her to marry? Or was it some reason which forbade +others to marry her? I felt so uneasy that I would have followed Cowles, +even at the risk of offending him, and endeavoured to dissuade him from +keeping his appointment, but a glance at the clock showed me that I was +too late. + +I was determined to wait up for his return, so I piled some coals upon +the fire and took down a novel from the shelf. My thoughts proved more +interesting than the book, however, and I threw it on one side. An +indefinable feeling of anxiety and depression weighed upon me. Twelve +o’clock came, and then half-past, without any sign of my friend. It +was nearly one when I heard a step in the street outside, and then a +knocking at the door. I was surprised, as I knew that my friend always +carried a key--however, I hurried down and undid the latch. As the +door flew open I knew in a moment that my worst apprehensions had been +fulfilled. Barrington Cowles was leaning against the railings outside +with his face sunk upon his breast, and his whole attitude expressive +of the most intense despondency. As he passed in he gave a stagger, and +would have fallen had I not thrown my left arm around him. Supporting +him with this, and holding the lamp in my other hand, I led him slowly +upstairs into our sitting-room. He sank down upon the sofa without a +word. Now that I could get a good view of him, I was horrified to see +the change which had come over him. His face was deadly pale, and his +very lips were bloodless. His cheeks and forehead were clammy, his eyes +glazed, and his whole expression altered. He looked like a man who had +gone through some terrible ordeal, and was thoroughly unnerved. + +“My dear fellow, what is the matter?” I asked, breaking the silence. +“Nothing amiss, I trust? Are you unwell?” + +“Brandy!” he gasped. “Give me some brandy!” + +I took out the decanter, and was about to help him, when he snatched it +from me with a trembling hand, and poured out nearly half a tumbler of +the spirit. He was usually a most abstemious man, but he took this off +at a gulp without adding any water to it. + +It seemed to do him good, for the colour began to come back to his face, +and he leaned upon his elbow. + +“My engagement is off, Bob,” he said, trying to speak calmly, but with a +tremor in his voice which he could not conceal. “It is all over.” + +“Cheer up!” I answered, trying to encourage him. + +“Don’t get down on your luck. How was it? What was it all about?” + +“About?” he groaned, covering his face with his hands. “If I did +tell you, Bob, you would not believe it. It is too dreadful--too +horrible--unutterably awful and incredible! O Kate, Kate!” and he rocked +himself to and fro in his grief; “I pictured you an angel and I find you +a----” + +“A what?” I asked, for he had paused. + +He looked at me with a vacant stare, and then suddenly burst out, waving +his arms: “A fiend!” he cried. “A ghoul from the pit! A vampire soul +behind a lovely face! Now, God forgive me!” he went on in a lower tone, +turning his face to the wall; “I have said more than I should. I have +loved her too much to speak of her as she is. I love her too much now.” + +He lay still for some time, and I had hoped that the brandy had had the +effect of sending him to sleep, when he suddenly turned his face towards +me. + +“Did you ever read of wehr-wolves?” he asked. + +I answered that I had. + +“There is a story,” he said thoughtfully, “in one of Marryat’s books, +about a beautiful woman who took the form of a wolf at night and +devoured her own children. I wonder what put that idea into Marryat’s +head?” + +He pondered for some minutes, and then he cried out for some more +brandy. There was a small bottle of laudanum upon the table, and I +managed, by insisting upon helping him myself, to mix about half a +drachm with the spirits. He drank it off, and sank his head once more +upon the pillow. “Anything better than that,” he groaned. “Death is +better than that. Crime and cruelty; cruelty and crime. Anything is +better than that,” and so on, with the monotonous refrain, until at last +the words became indistinct, his eyelids closed over his weary eyes, and +he sank into a profound slumber. I carried him into his bedroom without +arousing him; and making a couch for myself out of the chairs, I +remained by his side all night. + +In the morning Barrington Cowles was in a high fever. For weeks he +lingered between life and death. The highest medical skill of Edinburgh +was called in, and his vigorous constitution slowly got the better of +his disease. I nursed him during this anxious time; but through all his +wild delirium and ravings he never let a word escape him which explained +the mystery connected with Miss Northcott. Sometimes he spoke of her +in the tenderest words and most loving voice. At others he screamed out +that she was a fiend, and stretched out his arms, as if to keep her off. +Several times he cried that he would not sell his soul for a beautiful +face, and then he would moan in a most piteous voice, “But I love her--I +love her for all that; I shall never cease to love her.” + +When he came to himself he was an altered man. His severe illness +had emaciated him greatly, but his dark eyes had lost none of their +brightness. They shone out with startling brilliancy from under +his dark, overhanging brows. His manner was eccentric and +variable--sometimes irritable, sometimes recklessly mirthful, but never +natural. He would glance about him in a strange, suspicious manner, like +one who feared something, and yet hardly knew what it was he dreaded. He +never mentioned Miss Northcott’s name--never until that fatal evening of +which I have now to speak. + +In an endeavour to break the current of his thoughts by frequent change +of scene, I travelled with him through the highlands of Scotland, and +afterwards down the east coast. In one of these peregrinations of ours +we visited the Isle of May, an island near the mouth of the Firth of +Forth, which, except in the tourist season, is singularly barren and +desolate. Beyond the keeper of the lighthouse there are only one or +two families of poor fisher-folk, who sustain a precarious existence by +their nets, and by the capture of cormorants and solan geese. This grim +spot seemed to have such a fascination for Cowles that we engaged a room +in one of the fishermen’s huts, with the intention of passing a week +or two there. I found it very dull, but the loneliness appeared to be a +relief to my friend’s mind. He lost the look of apprehension which had +become habitual to him, and became something like his old self. + +He would wander round the island all day, looking down from the summit +of the great cliffs which gird it round, and watching the long green +waves as they came booming in and burst in a shower of spray over the +rocks beneath. + +One night--I think it was our third or fourth on the island--Barrington +Cowles and I went outside the cottage before retiring to rest, to enjoy +a little fresh air, for our room was small, and the rough lamp caused +an unpleasant odour. How well I remember every little circumstance +in connection with that night! It promised to be tempestuous, for the +clouds were piling up in the north-west, and the dark wrack was drifting +across the face of the moon, throwing alternate belts of light and shade +upon the rugged surface of the island and the restless sea beyond. + +We were standing talking close by the door of the cottage, and I was +thinking to myself that my friend was more cheerful than he had been +since his illness, when he gave a sudden, sharp cry, and looking round +at him I saw, by the light of the moon, an expression of unutterable +horror come over his features. His eyes became fixed and staring, as +if riveted upon some approaching object, and he extended his long thin +forefinger, which quivered as he pointed. + +“Look there!” he cried. “It is she! It is she! You see her there coming +down the side of the brae.” He gripped me convulsively by the wrist as +he spoke. “There she is, coming towards us!” + +“Who?” I cried, straining my eyes into the darkness. + +“She--Kate--Kate Northcott!” he screamed. “She has come for me. Hold me +fast, old friend. Don’t let me go!” + +“Hold up, old man,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Pull yourself +together; you are dreaming; there is nothing to fear.” + +“She is gone!” he cried, with a gasp of relief. “No, by heaven! there +she is again, and nearer--coming nearer. She told me she would come for +me, and she keeps her word.” + +“Come into the house,” I said. His hand, as I grasped it, was as cold as +ice. + +“Ah, I knew it!” he shouted. “There she is, waving her arms. She is +beckoning to me. It is the signal. I must go. I am coming, Kate; I am +coming!” + +I threw my arms around him, but he burst from me with superhuman +strength, and dashed into the darkness of the night. I followed him, +calling to him to stop, but he ran the more swiftly. When the moon +shone out between the clouds I could catch a glimpse of his dark figure, +running rapidly in a straight line, as if to reach some definite goal. +It may have been imagination, but it seemed to me that in the flickering +light I could distinguish a vague something in front of him--a +shimmering form which eluded his grasp and led him onwards. I saw his +outlines stand out hard against the sky behind him as he surmounted the +brow of a little hill, then he disappeared, and that was the last ever +seen by mortal eye of Barrington Cowles. + +The fishermen and I walked round the island all that night with +lanterns, and examined every nook and corner without seeing a trace +of my poor lost friend. The direction in which he had been running +terminated in a rugged line of jagged cliffs overhanging the sea. At one +place here the edge was somewhat crumbled, and there appeared marks upon +the turf which might have been left by human feet. We lay upon our faces +at this spot, and peered with our lanterns over the edge, looking down +on the boiling surge two hundred feet below. As we lay there, suddenly, +above the beating of the waves and the howling of the wind, there rose +a strange wild screech from the abyss below. The fishermen--a naturally +superstitious race--averred that it was the sound of a woman’s laughter, +and I could hardly persuade them to continue the search. For my own part +I think it may have been the cry of some sea-fowl startled from its nest +by the flash of the lantern. However that may be, I never wish to hear +such a sound again. + +And now I have come to the end of the painful duty which I have +undertaken. I have told as plainly and as accurately as I could the +story of the death of John Barrington Cowles, and the train of events +which preceded it. I am aware that to others the sad episode seemed +commonplace enough. Here is the prosaic account which appeared in the +Scotsman a couple of days afterwards:-- + + +“Sad Occurrence on the Isle of May.--The Isle of May has been the scene +of a sad disaster. Mr. John Barrington Cowles, a gentleman well known +in University circles as a most distinguished student, and the present +holder of the Neil Arnott prize for physics, has been recruiting his +health in this quiet retreat. The night before last he suddenly left his +friend, Mr. Robert Armitage, and he has not since been heard of. It +is almost certain that he has met his death by falling over the cliffs +which surround the island. Mr. Cowles’ health has been failing for some +time, partly from over study and partly from worry connected with family +affairs. By his death the University loses one of her most promising +alumni.” + + +I have nothing more to add to my statement. I have unburdened my mind of +all that I know. I can well conceive that many, after weighing all +that I have said, will see no ground for an accusation against Miss +Northcott. They will say that, because a man of a naturally excitable +disposition says and does wild things, and even eventually commits +self-murder after a sudden and heavy disappointment, there is no reason +why vague charges should be advanced against a young lady. To this, +I answer that they are welcome to their opinion. For my own part, I +ascribe the death of William Prescott, of Archibald Reeves, and of John +Barrington Cowles to this woman with as much confidence as if I had seen +her drive a dagger into their hearts. + +You ask me, no doubt, what my own theory is which will explain all these +strange facts. I have none, or, at best, a dim and vague one. That Miss +Northcott possessed extraordinary powers over the minds, and through the +minds over the bodies, of others, I am convinced, as well as that her +instincts were to use this power for base and cruel purposes. That some +even more fiendish and terrible phase of character lay behind this--some +horrible trait which it was necessary for her to reveal before +marriage--is to be inferred from the experience of her three lovers, +while the dreadful nature of the mystery thus revealed can only be +surmised from the fact that the very mention of it drove from her those +who had loved her so passionately. Their subsequent fate was, in my +opinion, the result of her vindictive remembrance of their desertion of +her, and that they were forewarned of it at the time was shown by the +words of both Reeves and Cowles. Above this, I can say nothing. I lay +the facts soberly before the public as they came under my notice. I have +never seen Miss Northcott since, nor do I wish to do so. If by the words +I have written I can save any one human being from the snare of those +bright eyes and that beautiful face, then I can lay down my pen with the +assurance that my poor friend has not died altogether in vain. + + + + +ELIAS B. HOPKINS, THE PARSON OF JACKMAN’S GULCH. + +He was known in the Gulch as the Reverend Elias B. Hopkins, but it was +generally understood that the title was an honorary one, extorted by his +many eminent qualities, and not borne out by any legal claim which he +could adduce. “The Parson” was another of his sobriquets, which was +sufficiently distinctive in a land where the flock was scattered and the +shepherds few. To do him justice, he never pretended to have received +any preliminary training for the ministry, or any orthodox qualification +to practise it. “We’re all working in the claim of the Lord,” he +remarked one day, “and it don’t matter a cent whether we’re hired for +the job or whether we waltzes in on our own account,” a piece of rough +imagery which appealed directly to the instincts of Jackman’s Gulch. +It is quite certain that during the first few months his presence had a +marked effect in diminishing the excessive use both of strong drinks +and of stronger adjectives which had been characteristic of the little +mining settlement. Under his tuition, men began to understand that +the resources of their native language were less limited than they had +supposed, and that it was possible to convey their impressions with +accuracy without the aid of a gaudy halo of profanity. + +We were certainly in need of a regenerator at Jackman’s Gulch about +the beginning of ‘53. Times were flush then over the whole colony, but +nowhere flusher than there. Our material prosperity had had a bad effect +upon our morals. The camp was a small one, lying rather better than a +hundred and twenty miles to the north of Ballarat, at a spot where a +mountain torrent finds its way down a rugged ravine on its way to join +the Arrowsmith River. History does not relate who the original Jackman +may have been, but at the time I speak of the camp it contained a +hundred or so adults, many of whom were men who had sought an asylum +there after making more civilised mining centres too hot to hold +them. They were a rough, murderous crew, hardly leavened by the few +respectable members of society who were scattered among them. + +Communication between Jackman’s Gulch and the outside world was +difficult and uncertain. A portion of the bush between it and Ballarat +was infested by a redoubtable outlaw named Conky Jim, who, with a small +band as desperate as himself, made travelling a dangerous matter. It +was customary, therefore, at the Gulch, to store up the dust and nuggets +obtained from the mines in a special store, each man’s share being +placed in a separate bag on which his name was marked. A trusty man, +named Woburn, was deputed to watch over this primitive bank. When the +amount deposited became considerable, a waggon was hired, and the +whole treasure was conveyed to Ballarat, guarded by the police and by +a certain number of miners, who took it in turn to perform the office. +Once in Ballarat, it was forwarded on to Melbourne by the regular gold +waggons. By this plan the gold was often kept for months in the Gulch +before being despatched, but Conky Jim was effectually checkmated, as +the escort party were far too strong for him and his gang. He appeared, +at the time of which I write, to have forsaken his haunts in disgust, +and the road could be traversed by small parties with impunity. + +Comparative order used to reign during the daytime at Jackman’s Gulch, +for the majority of the inhabitants were out with crowbar and pick among +the quartz ledges, or washing clay and sand in their cradles by the +banks of the little stream. As the sun sank down, however, the claims +were gradually deserted, and their unkempt owners, clay-bespattered and +shaggy, came lounging into camp, ripe for any form of mischief. Their +first visit was to Woburn’s gold store, where their clean-up of the day +was duly deposited, the amount being entered in the storekeeper’s book, +and each miner retaining enough to cover his evening’s expenses. After +that, all restraint was at an end, and each set to work to get rid +of his surplus dust with the greatest rapidity possible. The focus of +dissipation was the rough bar, formed by a couple of hogsheads spanned +by planks, which was dignified by the name of the “Britannia Drinking +Saloon.” Here Nat Adams, the burly bar-keeper, dispensed bad whisky +at the rate of two shillings a noggin, or a guinea a bottle, while his +brother Ben acted as croupier in a rude wooden shanty behind, which had +been converted into a gambling hell, and was crowded every night. There +had been a third brother, but an unfortunate misunderstanding with a +customer had shortened his existence. “He was too soft to live long,” + his brother Nathaniel feelingly observed, on the occasion of his +funeral. “Many’s the time I’ve said to him, ‘If you’re arguin’ a pint +with a stranger, you should always draw first, then argue, and then +shoot, if you judge that he’s on the shoot.’ Bill was too purlite. +He must needs argue first and draw after, when he might just as well +have kivered his man before talkin’ it over with him.” This amiable +weakness of the deceased Bill was a blow to the firm of Adams, which +became so short-handed that the concern could hardly be worked without +the admission of a partner, which would mean a considerable decrease in +the profits. + +Nat Adams had had a roadside shanty in the Gulch before the discovery +of gold, and might, therefore, claim to be the oldest inhabitant. +These keepers of shanties were a peculiar race, and at the cost of a +digression it may be interesting to explain how they managed to amass +considerable sums of money in a land where travellers were few and far +between. It was the custom of the “bushmen,” i.e., bullock-drivers, +sheep tenders, and the other white hands who worked on the sheep-runs up +country, to sign articles by which they agreed to serve their master for +one, two, or three years at so much per year and certain daily rations. +Liquor was never included in this agreement, and the men remained, per +force, total abstainers during the whole time. The money was paid in a +lump sum at the end of the engagement. When that day came round, +Jimmy, the stockman, would come slouching into his master’s office, +cabbage-tree hat in hand. + +“Morning, master!” Jimmy would say. “My time’s up. I guess I’ll draw my +cheque and ride down to town.” + +“You’ll come back, Jimmy?” + +“Yes, I’ll come back. Maybe I’ll be away three weeks, maybe a month. I +want some clothes, master, and my bloomin’ boots are well-nigh off my +feet.” + +“How much, Jimmy?” asks his master, taking up his pen. + +“There’s sixty pound screw,” Jimmy answers thoughtfully; “and you mind, +master, last March, when the brindled bull broke out o’ the paddock. Two +pound you promised me then. And a pound at the dipping. And a pound when +Millar’s sheep got mixed with ourn;” and so he goes on, for bushmen can +seldom write, but they have memories which nothing escapes. + +His master writes the cheque and hands it across the table. “Don’t get +on the drink, Jimmy,” he says. + +“No fear of that, master,” and the stockman slips the cheque into his +leather pouch, and within an hour he is ambling off upon his long-limbed +horse on his hundred-mile journey to town. + +Now Jimmy has to pass some six or eight of the above-mentioned roadside +shanties in his day’s ride, and experience has taught him that if he +once breaks his accustomed total abstinence, the unwonted stimulant has +an overpowering effect upon his brain. Jimmy shakes his head warily as +he determines that no earthly consideration will induce him to partake +of any liquor until his business is over. His only chance is to avoid +temptation; so, knowing that there is the first of these houses some +half-mile ahead, he plunges into a byepath through the bush which will +lead him out at the other side. + +Jimmy is riding resolutely along this narrow path, congratulating +himself upon a danger escaped, when he becomes aware of a sunburned, +black-bearded man who is leaning unconcernedly against a tree beside the +track. This is none other than the shanty-keeper, who, having observed +Jimmy’s manoeuvre in the distance, has taken a short cut through the +bush in order to intercept him. + +“Morning, Jimmy!” he cries, as the horseman comes up to him. + +“Morning, mate; morning!” + +“Where are ye off to to-day then?” + +“Off to town,” says Jimmy sturdily. + +“No, now--are you though? You’ll have bully times down there for a bit. +Come round and have a drink at my place. Just by way of luck.” + +“No,” says Jimmy, “I don’t want a drink.” + +“Just a little damp.” + +“I tell ye I don’t want one,” says the stockman angrily. + +“Well, ye needn’t be so darned short about it. It’s nothin’ to me +whether you drinks or not. Good mornin’.” + +“Good mornin’,” says Jimmy, and has ridden on about twenty yards when he +hears the other calling on him to stop. + +“See here, Jimmy!” he says, overtaking him again. “If you’ll do me a +kindness when you’re up in town I’d be obliged.” + +“What is it?” + +“It’s a letter, Jim, as I wants posted. It’s an important one too, an’ +I wouldn’t trust it with every one; but I knows you, and if you’ll take +charge on it it’ll be a powerful weight off my mind.” + +“Give it here,” Jimmy says laconically. + +“I hain’t got it here. It’s round in my caboose. Come round for it with +me. It ain’t more’n quarter of a mile.” + +Jimmy consents reluctantly. When they reach the tumble-down hut the +keeper asks him cheerily to dismount and to come in. + +“Give me the letter,” says Jimmy. + +“It ain’t altogether wrote yet, but you sit down here for a minute and +it’ll be right,” and so the stockman is beguiled into the shanty. + +At last the letter is ready and handed over. “Now, Jimmy,” says the +keeper, “one drink at my expense before you go.” + +“Not a taste,” says Jimmy. + +“Oh, that’s it, is it?” the other says in an aggrieved tone. “You’re too +damned proud to drink with a poor cove like me. Here--give us back that +letter. I’m cursed if I’ll accept a favour from a man whose too almighty +big to have a drink with me.” + +“Well, well, mate, don’t turn rusty,” says Jim. “Give us one drink an’ +I’m off.” + +The keeper pours out about half a pannikin of raw rum and hands it to +the bushman. The moment he smells the old familiar smell his longing for +it returns, and he swigs it off at a gulp. His eyes shine more brightly +and his face becomes flushed. The keeper watches him narrowly. “You can +go now, Jim,” he says. + +“Steady, mate, steady,” says the bushman. “I’m as good a man as you. If +you stand a drink I can stand one too, I suppose.” So the pannikin is +replenished, and Jimmy’s eyes shine brighter still. + +“Now, Jimmy, one last drink for the good of the house,” says the keeper, +“and then it’s time you were off.” The stockman has a third gulp from +the pannikin, and with it all his scruples and good resolutions vanish +for ever. + +“Look here,” he says somewhat huskily, taking his cheque out of his +pouch. “You take this, mate. Whoever comes along this road, ask ’em what +they’ll have, and tell them it’s my shout. Let me know when the money’s +done.” + +So Jimmy abandons the idea of ever getting to town, and for three weeks +or a month he lies about the shanty in a state of extreme drunkenness, +and reduces every wayfarer upon the road to the same condition. At last +one fine morning the keeper comes to him. “The coin’s done, Jimmy,” he +says; “it’s about time you made some more.” So Jimmy has a good wash to +sober him, straps his blanket and his billy to his back, and rides off +through the bush to the sheeprun, where he has another year of sobriety, +terminating in another month of intoxication. + +All this, though typical of the happy-go-lucky manners of the +inhabitants, has no direct bearing upon Jackman’s Gulch, so we must +return to that Arcadian settlement. Additions to the population there +were not numerous, and such as came about the time of which I speak were +even rougher and fiercer than the original inhabitants. In particular, +there came a brace of ruffians named Phillips and Maule, who rode into +camp one day, and started a claim upon the other side of the stream. +They outgulched the Gulch in the virulence and fluency of their +blasphemy, in the truculence of their speech and manner, and in their +reckless disregard of all social laws. They claimed to have come from +Bendigo, and there were some amongst us who wished that the redoubted +Conky Jim was on the track once more, as long as he would close it to +such visitors as these. After their arrival the nightly proceedings at +the Britannia bar and at the gambling hell behind it became more riotous +than ever. Violent quarrels, frequently ending in bloodshed, were of +constant occurrence. The more peaceable frequenters of the bar began +to talk seriously of lynching the two strangers who were the principal +promoters of disorder. Things were in this unsatisfactory condition +when our evangelist, Elias B. Hopkins, came limping into the camp, +travel-stained and footsore, with his spade strapped across his back, +and his Bible in the pocket of his moleskin jacket. + +His presence was hardly noticed at first, so insignificant was the man. +His manner was quiet and unobtrusive, his face pale, and his figure +fragile. On better acquaintance, however, there was a squareness and +firmness about his clean-shaven lower jaw, and an intelligence in his +widely-opened blue eyes, which marked him as a man of character. He +erected a small hut for himself, and started a claim close to that +occupied by the two strangers who had preceded him. This claim was +chosen with a ludicrous disregard for all practical laws of mining, and +at once stamped the newcomer as being a green hand at his work. It was +piteous to observe him every morning as we passed to our work, digging +and delving with the greatest industry, but, as we knew well, without +the smallest possibility of any result. He would pause for a moment as +we went by, wipe his pale face with his bandanna handkerchief, and +shout out to us a cordial morning greeting, and then fall to again +with redoubled energy. By degrees we got into the way of making a +half-pitying, half-contemptuous inquiry as to how he got on. “I hain’t +struck it yet, boys,” he would answer cheerily, leaning on his spade, +“but the bedrock lies deep just hereabouts, and I reckon we’ll get among +the pay gravel to-day.” Day after day he returned the same reply with +unvarying confidence and cheerfulness. + +It was not long before he began to show us the stuff that was in him. +One night the proceedings were unusually violent at the drinking saloon. +A rich pocket had been struck during the day, and the striker was +standing treat in a lavish and promiscuous fashion which had reduced +three parts of the settlement to a state of wild intoxication. A +crowd of drunken idlers stood or lay about the bar, cursing, swearing, +shouting, dancing, and here and there firing their pistols into the air +out of pure wantonness. From the interior of the shanty behind there +came a similar chorus. Maule, Phillips, and the roughs who followed them +were in the ascendant, and all order and decency was swept away. + +Suddenly, amid this tumult of oaths and drunken cries, men became +conscious of a quiet monotone which underlay all other sounds and +obtruded itself at every pause in the uproar. Gradually first one man +and then another paused to listen, until there was a general cessation +of the hubbub, and every eye was turned in the direction whence this +quiet stream of words flowed. There, mounted upon a barrel, was Elias +B. Hopkins, the newest of the inhabitants of Jackman’s Gulch, with a +good-humoured smile upon his resolute face. + +He held an open Bible in his hand, and was reading aloud a passage taken +at random--an extract from the Apocalypse, if I remember right. The +words were entirely irrelevant and without the smallest bearing upon the +scene before him, but he plodded on with great unction, waving his left +hand slowly to the cadence of his words. + +There was a general shout of laughter and applause at this apparition, +and Jackman’s Gulch gathered round the barrel approvingly, under the +impression that this was some ornate joke, and that they were about +to be treated to some mock sermon or parody of the chapter read. When, +however, the reader, having finished the chapter, placidly commenced +another, and having finished that rippled on into another one, the +revellers came to the conclusion that the joke was somewhat too +long-winded. The commencement of yet another chapter confirmed this +opinion, and an angry chorus of shouts and cries, with suggestions as to +gagging the reader or knocking him off the barrel, rose from every side. +In spite of roars and hoots, however, Elias B. Hopkins plodded away at +the Apocalypse with the same serene countenance, looking as ineffably +contented as though the babel around him were the most gratifying +applause. Before long an occasional boot pattered against the barrel or +whistled past our parson’s head; but here some of the more orderly of +the inhabitants interfered in favour of peace and order, aided curiously +enough by the afore-mentioned Maule and Phillips, who warmly espoused +the cause of the little Scripture reader. “The little cus has got +grit in him,” the latter explained, rearing his bulky red-shirted form +between the crowd and the object of its anger. “His ways ain’t our ways, +and we’re all welcome to our opinions, and to sling them round from +barrels or otherwise if so minded. What I says and Bill says is, that +when it comes to slingin’ boots instead o’ words it’s too steep by +half, an’ if this man’s wronged we’ll chip in an’ see him righted.” This +oratorical effort had the effect of checking the more active signs of +disapproval, and the party of disorder attempted to settle down once +more to their carouse, and to ignore the shower of Scripture which was +poured upon them. The attempt was hopeless. The drunken portion fell +asleep under the drowsy refrain, and the others, with many a sullen +glance at the imperturbable reader, slouched off to their huts, leaving +him still perched upon the barrel. Finding himself alone with the more +orderly of the spectators, the little man rose, closed his book, after +methodically marking with a lead pencil the exact spot at which he +stopped, and descended from his perch. “To-morrow night, boys,” he +remarked in his quiet voice, “the reading will commence at the 9th verse +of the 15th chapter of the Apocalypse,” with which piece of information, +disregarding our congratulations, he walked away with the air of a man +who has performed an obvious duty. + +We found that his parting words were no empty threat. Hardly had the +crowd begun to assemble next night before he appeared once more upon the +barrel and began to read with the same monotonous vigour, tripping over +words! muddling up sentences, but still boring along through chapter +after chapter. Laughter, threats, chaff--every weapon short of actual +violence--was used to deter him, but all with the same want of success. +Soon it was found that there was a method in his proceedings. When +silence reigned, or when the conversation was of an innocent nature, the +reading ceased. A single word of blasphemy, however, set it going again, +and it would ramble on for a quarter of an hour or so, when it stopped, +only to be renewed upon similar provocation. The reading was pretty +continuous during that second night, for the language of the opposition +was still considerably free. At least it was an improvement upon the +night before. + +For more than a month Elias B. Hopkins carried on this campaign. There +he would sit, night after night, with the open book upon his knee, and +at the slightest provocation off he would go, like a musical box when +the spring is touched. The monotonous drawl became unendurable, but +it could only be avoided by conforming to the parson’s code. A chronic +swearer came to be looked upon with disfavour by the community, since +the punishment of his transgression fell upon all. At the end of a +fortnight the reader was silent more than half the time, and at the end +of the month his position was a sinecure. + +Never was a moral revolution brought about more rapidly and more +completely. Our parson carried his principle into private life. I have +seen him, on hearing an unguarded word from some worker in the gulches, +rush across, Bible in hand, and perching himself upon the heap of +red clay which surmounted the offender’s claim, drawl through the +genealogical tree at the commencement of the New Testament in a most +earnest and impressive manner, as though it were especially appropriate +to the occasion. In time, an oath became a rare thing amongst us. +Drunkenness was on the wane too. Casual travellers passing through the +Gulch used to marvel at our state of grace, and rumours of it went as +far as Ballarat, and excited much comment therein. + +There were points about our evangelist which made him especially fitted +for the work which he had undertaken. A man entirely without redeeming +vices would have had no common basis on which to work, and no means of +gaining the sympathy of his flock. As we came to know Elias B. Hopkins +better, we discovered that in spite of his piety there was a leaven of +old Adam in him, and that he had certainly known unregenerate days. +He was no teetotaler. On the contrary, he could choose his liquor with +discrimination, and lower it in an able manner. He played a masterly +hand at poker, and there were few who could touch him at “cut-throat +euchre.” He and the two ex-ruffians, Phillips and Maule, used to play +for hours in perfect harmony, except when the fall of the cards elicited +an oath from one of his companions. At the first of these offences +the parson would put on a pained smile, and gaze reproachfully at the +culprit. At the second he would reach for his Bible, and the game was +over for the evening. He showed us he was a good revolver shot too, for +when we were practising at an empty brandy bottle outside Adams’ bar, he +took up a friend’s pistol and hit it plumb in the centre at twenty-four +paces. There were few things he took up that he could not make a show at +apparently, except gold-digging, and at that he was the veriest duffer +alive. It was pitiful to see the little canvas bag, with his name +printed across it, lying placid and empty upon the shelf at Woburn’s +store, while all the other bags were increasing daily, and some had +assumed quite a portly rotundity of form, for the weeks were slipping +by, and it was almost time for the gold-train to start off for Ballarat. +We reckoned that the amount which we had stored at the time represented +the greatest sum which had ever been taken by a single convoy out of +Jackman’s Gulch. + +Although Elias B. Hopkins appeared to derive a certain quiet +satisfaction from the wonderful change which he had effected in the +camp, his joy was not yet rounded and complete. There was one thing for +which he still yearned. He opened his heart to us about it one evening. + +“We’d have a blessing on the camp, boys,” he said, “if we only had a +service o’ some sort on the Lord’s day. It’s a temptin’ o’ Providence +to go on in this way without takin’ any notice of it, except that maybe +there’s more whisky drunk and more card playin’ than on any other day.” + +“We hain’t got no parson,” objected one of the crowd. + + +“Ye fool!” growled another, “hain’t we got a man as is worth any three +parsons, and can splash texts around like clay out o’ a cradle. What +more d’ye want?” + +“We hain’t got no church!” urged the same dissentient. + +“Have it in the open air,” one suggested. + +“Or in Woburn’s store,” said another. + +“Or in Adams’ saloon.” + +The last proposal was received with a buzz of approval, which showed +that it was considered the most appropriate locality. + +Adams’ saloon was a substantial wooden building in the rear of the +bar, which was used partly for storing liquor and partly for a gambling +saloon. It was strongly built of rough-hewn logs, the proprietor rightly +judging, in the unregenerate days of Jackman’s Gulch, that hogsheads of +brandy and rum were commodities which had best be secured under lock and +key. A strong door opened into each end of the saloon, and the interior +was spacious enough, when the table and lumber were cleared away, +to accommodate the whole population. The spirit barrels were heaped +together at one end by their owner, so as to make a very fair imitation +of a pulpit. + +At first the Gulch took but a mild interest in the proceedings, but +when it became known that Elias B. Hopkins intended, after reading the +service, to address the audience, the settlement began to warm up to +the occasion. A real sermon was a novelty to all of them, and one coming +from their own parson was additionally so. Rumour announced that it +would be interspersed with local hits, and that the moral would be +pointed by pungent personalities. Men began to fear that they would be +unable to gain seats, and many applications were made to the brothers +Adams. It was only when conclusively shown that the saloon could contain +them all with a margin that the camp settled down into calm expectancy. + +It was as well that the building was of such a size, for the assembly +upon the Sunday morning was the largest which had ever occurred in +the annals of Jackman’s Gulch. At first it was thought that the whole +population was present, but a little reflection showed that this was +not so. Maule and Phillips had gone on a prospecting journey among the +hills, and had not returned as yet, and Woburn, the gold-keeper, was +unable to leave his store. Having a very large quantity of the +precious metal under his charge, he stuck to his post, feeling that the +responsibility was too great to trifle with. With these three exceptions +the whole of the Gulch, with clean red shirts, and such other additions +to their toilet as the occasion demanded, sauntered in a straggling line +along the clayey pathway which led up to the saloon. + +The interior of the building had been provided with rough benches, and +the parson, with his quiet good-humoured smile, was standing at the door +to welcome them. “Good morning, boys,” he cried cheerily, as each group +came lounging up. “Pass in; pass in. You’ll find this is as good a +morning’s work as any you’ve done. Leave your pistols in this barrel +outside the door as you pass; you can pick them out as you come out +again, but it isn’t the thing to carry weapons into the house of peace.” + His request was good-humouredly complied with, and before the last of +the congregation filed in, there was a strange assortment of knives +and firearms in this depository. When all had assembled, the doors +were shut, and the service began--the first and the last which was ever +performed at Jackman’s Gulch. + +The weather was sultry and the room close, yet the miners listened with +exemplary patience. There was a sense of novelty in the situation which +had its attractions. To some it was entirely new, others were wafted +back by it to another land and other days. Beyond a disposition which +was exhibited by the uninitiated to applaud at the end of certain +prayers, by way of showing that they sympathised with the sentiments +expressed, no audience could have behaved better. There was a murmur +of interest, however, when Elias B. Hopkins, looking down on the +congregation from his rostrum of casks, began his address. + +He had attired himself with care in honour of the occasion. He wore a +velveteen tunic, girt round the waist with a sash of china silk, a pair +of moleskin trousers, and held his cabbage-tree hat in his left hand. +He began speaking in a low tone, and it was noticed at the time that he +frequently glanced through the small aperture which served for a window +which was placed above the heads of those who sat beneath him. + +“I’ve put you straight now,” he said, in the course of his address; +“I’ve got you in the right rut if you will but stick in it.” Here he +looked very hard out of the window for some seconds. “You’ve learned +soberness and industry, and with those things you can always make up any +loss you may sustain. I guess there isn’t one of ye that won’t remember +my visit to this camp.” He paused for a moment, and three revolver shots +rang out upon the quiet summer air. “Keep your seats, damn ye!” roared +our preacher, as his audience rose in excitement. “If a man of ye moves +down he goes! The door’s locked on the outside, so ye can’t get out +anyhow. Your seats, ye canting, chuckle-headed fools! Down with ye, ye +dogs, or I’ll fire among ye!” + +Astonishment and fear brought us back into our seats, and we sat staring +blankly at our pastor and each other. Elias B. Hopkins, whose whole face +and even figure appeared to have undergone an extraordinary alteration, +looked fiercely down on us from his commanding position, with a +contemptuous smile on his stern face. + +“I have your lives in my hands,” he remarked; and we noticed as he spoke +that he held a heavy revolver in his hand, and that the butt of another +one protruded from his sash. “I am armed and you are not. If one of you +moves or speaks he is a dead man. If not, I shall not harm you. You must +wait here for an hour. Why, you FOOLS” (this with a hiss of contempt +which rang in our ears for many a long day), “do you know who it is that +has stuck you up? Do you know who it is that has been playing it upon +you for months as a parson and a saint? Conky Jim, the bushranger, ye +apes. And Phillips and Maule were my two right-hand men. They’re off +into the hills with your gold----Ha! would ye?” This to some restive +member of the audience, who quieted down instantly before the fierce eye +and the ready weapon of the bushranger. “In an hour they will be clear +of any pursuit, and I advise you to make the best of it, and not to +follow, or you may lose more than your money. My horse is tethered +outside this door behind me. When the time is up I shall pass through +it, lock it on the outside, and be off. Then you may break your way out +as best you can. I have no more to say to you, except that ye are the +most cursed set of asses that ever trod in boot-leather.” + +We had time to endorse mentally this outspoken opinion during the long +sixty minutes which followed; we were powerless before the resolute +desperado. It is true that if we made a simultaneous rush we might bear +him down at the cost of eight or ten of our number. But how could such +a rush be organised without speaking, and who would attempt it without a +previous agreement that he would be supported? There was nothing for +it but submission. It seemed three hours at the least before the ranger +snapped up his watch, stepped down from the barrel, walked backwards, +still covering us with his weapon, to the door behind him, and then +passed rapidly through it. We heard the creaking of the rusty lock, and +the clatter of his horse’s hoofs, as he galloped away. + +It has been remarked that an oath had, for the last few weeks, been a +rare thing in the camp. We made up for our temporary abstention during +the next half-hour. Never was heard such symmetrical and heartfelt +blasphemy. When at last we succeeded in getting the door off its hinges +all sight of both rangers and treasure had disappeared, nor have we ever +caught sight of either the one or the other since. Poor Woburn, true to +his trust, lay shot through the head across the threshold of his empty +store. The villains, Maule and Phillips, had descended upon the camp +the instant that we had been enticed into the trap, murdered the keeper, +loaded up a small cart with the booty, and got safe away to some wild +fastness among the mountains, where they were joined by their wily +leader. + +Jackman’s Gulch recovered from this blow, and is now a flourishing +township. Social reformers are not in request there, however, and +morality is at a discount. It is said that an inquest has been held +lately upon an unoffending stranger who chanced to remark that in so +large a place it would be advisable to have some form of Sunday service. +The memory of their one and only pastor is still green among the +inhabitants, and will be for many a long year to come. + + + + +THE RING OF THOTH. + +Mr. John Vansittart Smith, F.R.S., of 147-A Gower Street, was a man +whose energy of purpose and clearness of thought might have placed +him in the very first rank of scientific observers. He was the +victim, however, of a universal ambition which prompted him to aim at +distinction in many subjects rather than preeminence in one. + +In his early days he had shown an aptitude for zoology and for botany +which caused his friends to look upon him as a second Darwin, but when +a professorship was almost within his reach he had suddenly discontinued +his studies and turned his whole attention to chemistry. Here his +researches upon the spectra of the metals had won him his fellowship in +the Royal Society; but again he played the coquette with his subject, +and after a year’s absence from the laboratory he joined the Oriental +Society, and delivered a paper on the Hieroglyphic and Demotic +inscriptions of El Kab, thus giving a crowning example both of the +versatility and of the inconstancy of his talents. + +The most fickle of wooers, however, is apt to be caught at last, and +so it was with John Vansittart Smith. The more he burrowed his way +into Egyptology the more impressed he became by the vast field which it +opened to the inquirer, and by the extreme importance of a subject which +promised to throw a light upon the first germs of human civilisation and +the origin of the greater part of our arts and sciences. So struck was +Mr. Smith that he straightway married an Egyptological young lady who +had written upon the sixth dynasty, and having thus secured a sound +base of operations he set himself to collect materials for a work which +should unite the research of Lepsius and the ingenuity of Champollion. +The preparation of this magnum opus entailed many hurried visits to the +magnificent Egyptian collections of the Louvre, upon the last of which, +no longer ago than the middle of last October, he became involved in a +most strange and noteworthy adventure. + +The trains had been slow and the Channel had been rough, so that the +student arrived in Paris in a somewhat befogged and feverish condition. +On reaching the Hotel de France, in the Rue Laffitte, he had thrown +himself upon a sofa for a couple of hours, but finding that he was +unable to sleep, he determined, in spite of his fatigue, to make his way +to the Louvre, settle the point which he had come to decide, and take +the evening train back to Dieppe. Having come to this conclusion, he +donned his greatcoat, for it was a raw rainy day, and made his way +across the Boulevard des Italiens and down the Avenue de l’Opera. Once +in the Louvre he was on familiar ground, and he speedily made his way to +the collection of papyri which it was his intention to consult. + +The warmest admirers of John Vansittart Smith could hardly claim for him +that he was a handsome man. His high-beaked nose and prominent chin had +something of the same acute and incisive character which distinguished +his intellect. He held his head in a birdlike fashion, and birdlike, +too, was the pecking motion with which, in conversation, he threw out +his objections and retorts. As he stood, with the high collar of his +greatcoat raised to his ears, he might have seen from the reflection in +the glass-case before him that his appearance was a singular one. Yet it +came upon him as a sudden jar when an English voice behind him exclaimed +in very audible tones, “What a queer-looking mortal!” + +The student had a large amount of petty vanity in his composition which +manifested itself by an ostentatious and overdone disregard of all +personal considerations. He straightened his lips and looked rigidly at +the roll of papyrus, while his heart filled with bitterness against the +whole race of travelling Britons. + +“Yes,” said another voice, “he really is an extraordinary fellow.” + +“Do you know,” said the first speaker, “one could almost believe that by +the continual contemplation of mummies the chap has become half a mummy +himself?” + +“He has certainly an Egyptian cast of countenance,” said the other. + +John Vansittart Smith spun round upon his heel with the intention of +shaming his countrymen by a corrosive remark or two. To his surprise +and relief, the two young fellows who had been conversing had their +shoulders turned towards him, and were gazing at one of the Louvre +attendants who was polishing some brass-work at the other side of the +room. + +“Carter will be waiting for us at the Palais Royal,” said one tourist to +the other, glancing at his watch, and they clattered away, leaving the +student to his labours. + +“I wonder what these chatterers call an Egyptian cast of countenance,” + thought John Vansittart Smith, and he moved his position slightly in +order to catch a glimpse of the man’s face. He started as his eyes fell +upon it. It was indeed the very face with which his studies had made +him familiar. The regular statuesque features, broad brow, well-rounded +chin, and dusky complexion were the exact counterpart of the innumerable +statues, mummy-cases, and pictures which adorned the walls of the +apartment. + +The thing was beyond all coincidence. The man must be an Egyptian. + +The national angularity of the shoulders and narrowness of the hips were +alone sufficient to identify him. + +John Vansittart Smith shuffled towards the attendant with some intention +of addressing him. He was not light of touch in conversation, and found +it difficult to strike the happy mean between the brusqueness of the +superior and the geniality of the equal. As he came nearer, the man +presented his side face to him, but kept his gaze still bent upon his +work. Vansittart Smith, fixing his eyes upon the fellow’s skin, was +conscious of a sudden impression that there was something inhuman and +preternatural about its appearance. Over the temple and cheek-bone +it was as glazed and as shiny as varnished parchment. There was no +suggestion of pores. One could not fancy a drop of moisture upon that +arid surface. From brow to chin, however, it was cross-hatched by a +million delicate wrinkles, which shot and interlaced as though Nature +in some Maori mood had tried how wild and intricate a pattern she could +devise. + +“Ou est la collection de Memphis?” asked the student, with the awkward +air of a man who is devising a question merely for the purpose of +opening a conversation. + +“C’est la,” replied the man brusquely, nodding his head at the other +side of the room. + +“Vous etes un Egyptien, n’est-ce pas?” asked the Englishman. + +The attendant looked up and turned his strange dark eyes upon his +questioner. They were vitreous, with a misty dry shininess, such as +Smith had never seen in a human head before. As he gazed into them he +saw some strong emotion gather in their depths, which rose and deepened +until it broke into a look of something akin both to horror and to +hatred. + +“Non, monsieur; je suis Francais.” The man turned abruptly and bent +low over his polishing. The student gazed at him for a moment in +astonishment, and then turning to a chair in a retired corner behind +one of the doors he proceeded to make notes of his researches among +the papyri. His thoughts, however refused to return into their +natural groove. They would run upon the enigmatical attendant with the +sphinx-like face and the parchment skin. + +“Where have I seen such eyes?” said Vansittart Smith to himself. “There +is something saurian about them, something reptilian. There’s the +membrana nictitans of the snakes,” he mused, bethinking himself of his +zoological studies. “It gives a shiny effect. But there was something +more here. There was a sense of power, of wisdom--so I read them--and +of weariness, utter weariness, and ineffable despair. It may be all +imagination, but I never had so strong an impression. By Jove, I must +have another look at them!” He rose and paced round the Egyptian rooms, +but the man who had excited his curiosity had disappeared. + +The student sat down again in his quiet corner, and continued to work +at his notes. He had gained the information which he required from the +papyri, and it only remained to write it down while it was still fresh +in his memory. For a time his pencil travelled rapidly over the paper, +but soon the lines became less level, the words more blurred, and +finally the pencil tinkled down upon the floor, and the head of the +student dropped heavily forward upon his chest. + +Tired out by his journey, he slept so soundly in his lonely post behind +the door that neither the clanking civil guard, nor the footsteps of +sightseers, nor even the loud hoarse bell which gives the signal for +closing, were sufficient to arouse him. + +Twilight deepened into darkness, the bustle from the Rue de Rivoli waxed +and then waned, distant Notre Dame clanged out the hour of midnight, and +still the dark and lonely figure sat silently in the shadow. It was +not until close upon one in the morning that, with a sudden gasp and an +intaking of the breath, Vansittart Smith returned to consciousness. +For a moment it flashed upon him that he had dropped asleep in +his study-chair at home. The moon was shining fitfully through the +unshuttered window, however, and, as his eye ran along the lines of +mummies and the endless array of polished cases, he remembered clearly +where he was and how he came there. The student was not a nervous man. +He possessed that love of a novel situation which is peculiar to his +race. Stretching out his cramped limbs, he looked at his watch, and +burst into a chuckle as he observed the hour. The episode would make an +admirable anecdote to be introduced into his next paper as a relief +to the graver and heavier speculations. He was a little cold, but +wide awake and much refreshed. It was no wonder that the guardians had +overlooked him, for the door threw its heavy black shadow right across +him. + +The complete silence was impressive. Neither outside nor inside was +there a creak or a murmur. He was alone with the dead men of a dead +civilisation. What though the outer city reeked of the garish nineteenth +century! In all this chamber there was scarce an article, from the +shrivelled ear of wheat to the pigment-box of the painter, which had +not held its own against four thousand years. Here was the flotsam and +jetsam washed up by the great ocean of time from that far-off empire. +From stately Thebes, from lordly Luxor, from the great temples of +Heliopolis, from a hundred rifled tombs, these relics had been brought. +The student glanced round at the long silent figures who flickered +vaguely up through the gloom, at the busy toilers who were now so +restful, and he fell into a reverent and thoughtful mood. An unwonted +sense of his own youth and insignificance came over him. Leaning back in +his chair, he gazed dreamily down the long vista of rooms, all +silvery with the moonshine, which extend through the whole wing of the +widespread building. His eyes fell upon the yellow glare of a distant +lamp. + +John Vansittart Smith sat up on his chair with his nerves all on edge. +The light was advancing slowly towards him, pausing from time to time, +and then coming jerkily onwards. The bearer moved noiselessly. In the +utter silence there was no suspicion of the pat of a footfall. An idea +of robbers entered the Englishman’s head. He snuggled up further into +the corner. The light was two rooms off. Now it was in the next chamber, +and still there was no sound. With something approaching to a thrill of +fear the student observed a face, floating in the air as it were, behind +the flare of the lamp. The figure was wrapped in shadow, but the light +fell full upon the strange eager face. There was no mistaking the +metallic glistening eyes and the cadaverous skin. It was the attendant +with whom he had conversed. + +Vansittart Smith’s first impulse was to come forward and address him. A +few words of explanation would set the matter clear, and lead doubtless +to his being conducted to some side door from which he might make his +way to his hotel. As the man entered the chamber, however, there +was something so stealthy in his movements, and so furtive in his +expression, that the Englishman altered his intention. This was clearly +no ordinary official walking the rounds. The fellow wore felt-soled +slippers, stepped with a rising chest, and glanced quickly from left +to right, while his hurried gasping breathing thrilled the flame of +his lamp. Vansittart Smith crouched silently back into the corner and +watched him keenly, convinced that his errand was one of secret and +probably sinister import. + +There was no hesitation in the other’s movements. He stepped lightly and +swiftly across to one of the great cases, and, drawing a key from his +pocket, he unlocked it. From the upper shelf he pulled down a mummy, +which he bore away with him, and laid it with much care and solicitude +upon the ground. By it he placed his lamp, and then squatting down +beside it in Eastern fashion he began with long quivering fingers to +undo the cerecloths and bandages which girt it round. As the crackling +rolls of linen peeled off one after the other, a strong aromatic odour +filled the chamber, and fragments of scented wood and of spices pattered +down upon the marble floor. + +It was clear to John Vansittart Smith that this mummy had never been +unswathed before. The operation interested him keenly. He thrilled all +over with curiosity, and his birdlike head protruded further and further +from behind the door. When, however, the last roll had been removed from +the four-thousand-year-old head, it was all that he could do to stifle +an outcry of amazement. First, a cascade of long, black, glossy tresses +poured over the workman’s hands and arms. A second turn of the bandage +revealed a low, white forehead, with a pair of delicately arched +eyebrows. A third uncovered a pair of bright, deeply fringed eyes, and +a straight, well-cut nose, while a fourth and last showed a sweet, full, +sensitive mouth, and a beautifully curved chin. The whole face was one +of extraordinary loveliness, save for the one blemish that in the centre +of the forehead there was a single irregular, coffee-coloured splotch. +It was a triumph of the embalmer’s art. Vansittart Smith’s eyes grew +larger and larger as he gazed upon it, and he chirruped in his throat +with satisfaction. + +Its effect upon the Egyptologist was as nothing, however, compared with +that which it produced upon the strange attendant. He threw his hands +up into the air, burst into a harsh clatter of words, and then, hurling +himself down upon the ground beside the mummy, he threw his arms round +her, and kissed her repeatedly upon the lips and brow. “Ma petite!” he +groaned in French. “Ma pauvre petite!” His voice broke with emotion, and +his innumerable wrinkles quivered and writhed, but the student observed +in the lamplight that his shining eyes were still as dry and tearless +as two beads of steel. For some minutes he lay, with a twitching face, +crooning and moaning over the beautiful head. Then he broke into a +sudden smile, said some words in an unknown tongue, and sprang to his +feet with the vigorous air of one who has braced himself for an effort. + +In the centre of the room there was a large circular case which +contained, as the student had frequently remarked, a magnificent +collection of early Egyptian rings and precious stones. To this the +attendant strode, and, unlocking it, he threw it open. On the ledge at +the side he placed his lamp, and beside it a small earthenware jar which +he had drawn from his pocket. He then took a handful of rings from the +case, and with a most serious and anxious face he proceeded to smear +each in turn with some liquid substance from the earthen pot, holding +them to the light as he did so. He was clearly disappointed with the +first lot, for he threw them petulantly back into the case, and drew out +some more. One of these, a massive ring with a large crystal set in it, +he seized and eagerly tested with the contents of the jar. Instantly +he uttered a cry of joy, and threw out his arms in a wild gesture which +upset the pot and sent the liquid streaming across the floor to the very +feet of the Englishman. The attendant drew a red handkerchief from his +bosom, and, mopping up the mess, he followed it into the corner, where +in a moment he found himself face to face with his observer. + +“Excuse me,” said John Vansittart Smith, with all imaginable politeness; +“I have been unfortunate enough to fall asleep behind this door.” + +“And you have been watching me?” the other asked in English, with a most +venomous look on his corpse-like face. + +The student was a man of veracity. “I confess,” said he, “that I have +noticed your movements, and that they have aroused my curiosity and +interest in the highest degree.” + +The man drew a long flamboyant-bladed knife from his bosom. “You have +had a very narrow escape,” he said; “had I seen you ten minutes ago, I +should have driven this through your heart. As it is, if you touch me or +interfere with me in any way you are a dead man.” + +“I have no wish to interfere with you,” the student answered. “My +presence here is entirely accidental. All I ask is that you will have +the extreme kindness to show me out through some side door.” He spoke +with great suavity, for the man was still pressing the tip of his dagger +against the palm of his left hand, as though to assure himself of its +sharpness, while his face preserved its malignant expression. + +“If I thought----” said he. “But no, perhaps it is as well. What is your +name?” + +The Englishman gave it. + +“Vansittart Smith,” the other repeated. “Are you the same Vansittart +Smith who gave a paper in London upon El Kab? I saw a report of it. Your +knowledge of the subject is contemptible.” + +“Sir!” cried the Egyptologist. + +“Yet it is superior to that of many who make even greater pretensions. +The whole keystone of our old life in Egypt was not the inscriptions or +monuments of which you make so much, but was our hermetic philosophy and +mystic knowledge, of which you say little or nothing.” + +“Our old life!” repeated the scholar, wide-eyed; and then suddenly, +“Good God, look at the mummy’s face!” + +The strange man turned and flashed his light upon the dead woman, +uttering a long doleful cry as he did so. The action of the air had +already undone all the art of the embalmer. The skin had fallen away, +the eyes had sunk inwards, the discoloured lips had writhed away from +the yellow teeth, and the brown mark upon the forehead alone showed that +it was indeed the same face which had shown such youth and beauty a few +short minutes before. + +The man flapped his hands together in grief and horror. Then mastering +himself by a strong effort he turned his hard eyes once more upon the +Englishman. + +“It does not matter,” he said, in a shaking voice. “It does not +really matter. I came here to-night with the fixed determination to +do something. It is now done. All else is as nothing. I have found my +quest. The old curse is broken. I can rejoin her. What matter about her +inanimate shell so long as her spirit is awaiting me at the other side +of the veil!” + +“These are wild words,” said Vansittart Smith. He was becoming more and +more convinced that he had to do with a madman. + +“Time presses, and I must go,” continued the other. “The moment is at +hand for which I have waited this weary time. But I must show you out +first. Come with me.” + +Taking up the lamp, he turned from the disordered chamber, and led the +student swiftly through the long series of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and +Persian apartments. At the end of the latter he pushed open a small door +let into the wall and descended a winding stone stair. The Englishman +felt the cold fresh air of the night upon his brow. There was a door +opposite him which appeared to communicate with the street. To the right +of this another door stood ajar, throwing a spurt of yellow light across +the passage. “Come in here!” said the attendant shortly. + +Vansittart Smith hesitated. He had hoped that he had come to the end +of his adventure. Yet his curiosity was strong within him. He could not +leave the matter unsolved, so he followed his strange companion into the +lighted chamber. + +It was a small room, such as is devoted to a concierge. A wood fire +sparkled in the grate. At one side stood a truckle bed, and at the other +a coarse wooden chair, with a round table in the centre, which bore the +remains of a meal. As the visitor’s eye glanced round he could not but +remark with an ever-recurring thrill that all the small details of +the room were of the most quaint design and antique workmanship. The +candlesticks, the vases upon the chimney-piece, the fire-irons, the +ornaments upon the walls, were all such as he had been wont to associate +with the remote past. The gnarled heavy-eyed man sat himself down upon +the edge of the bed, and motioned his guest into the chair. + +“There may be design in this,” he said, still speaking excellent +English. “It may be decreed that I should leave some account behind as a +warning to all rash mortals who would set their wits up against workings +of Nature. I leave it with you. Make such use as you will of it. I speak +to you now with my feet upon the threshold of the other world. + +“I am, as you surmised, an Egyptian--not one of the down-trodden race +of slaves who now inhabit the Delta of the Nile, but a survivor of that +fiercer and harder people who tamed the Hebrew, drove the Ethiopian back +into the southern deserts, and built those mighty works which have been +the envy and the wonder of all after generations. It was in the reign +of Tuthmosis, sixteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, that +I first saw the light. You shrink away from me. Wait, and you will see +that I am more to be pitied than to be feared. + +“My name was Sosra. My father had been the chief priest of Osiris in +the great temple of Abaris, which stood in those days upon the Bubastic +branch of the Nile. I was brought up in the temple and was trained in +all those mystic arts which are spoken of in your own Bible. I was +an apt pupil. Before I was sixteen I had learned all which the wisest +priest could teach me. From that time on I studied Nature’s secrets for +myself, and shared my knowledge with no man. + +“Of all the questions which attracted me there were none over which I +laboured so long as over those which concern themselves with the nature +of life. I probed deeply into the vital principle. The aim of medicine +had been to drive away disease when it appeared. It seemed to me that a +method might be devised which should so fortify the body as to prevent +weakness or death from ever taking hold of it. It is useless that I +should recount my researches. You would scarce comprehend them if I +did. They were carried out partly upon animals, partly upon slaves, and +partly on myself. Suffice it that their result was to furnish me with a +substance which, when injected into the blood, would endow the body with +strength to resist the effects of time, of violence, or of disease. It +would not indeed confer immortality, but its potency would endure for +many thousands of years. I used it upon a cat, and afterwards drugged +the creature with the most deadly poisons. That cat is alive in Lower +Egypt at the present moment. There was nothing of mystery or magic in +the matter. It was simply a chemical discovery, which may well be made +again. + +“Love of life runs high in the young. It seemed to me that I had broken +away from all human care now that I had abolished pain and driven death +to such a distance. With a light heart I poured the accursed stuff into +my veins. Then I looked round for some one whom I could benefit. There +was a young priest of Thoth, Parmes by name, who had won my goodwill by +his earnest nature and his devotion to his studies. To him I whispered +my secret, and at his request I injected him with my elixir. I should +now, I reflected, never be without a companion of the same age as +myself. + +“After this grand discovery I relaxed my studies to some extent, but +Parmes continued his with redoubled energy. Every day I could see him +working with his flasks and his distiller in the Temple of Thoth, but +he said little to me as to the result of his labours. For my own part, +I used to walk through the city and look around me with exultation as +I reflected that all this was destined to pass away, and that only I +should remain. The people would bow to me as they passed me, for the +fame of my knowledge had gone abroad. + +“There was war at this time, and the Great King had sent down his +soldiers to the eastern boundary to drive away the Hyksos. A Governor, +too, was sent to Abaris, that he might hold it for the King. I had heard +much of the beauty of the daughter of this Governor, but one day as +I walked out with Parmes we met her, borne upon the shoulders of her +slaves. I was struck with love as with lightning. My heart went out from +me. I could have thrown myself beneath the feet of her bearers. This was +my woman. Life without her was impossible. I swore by the head of Horus +that she should be mine. I swore it to the Priest of Thoth. He turned +away from me with a brow which was as black as midnight. + +“There is no need to tell you of our wooing. She came to love me even +as I loved her. I learned that Parmes had seen her before I did, and had +shown her that he too loved her, but I could smile at his passion, for +I knew that her heart was mine. The white plague had come upon the city +and many were stricken, but I laid my hands upon the sick and nursed +them without fear or scathe. She marvelled at my daring. Then I told her +my secret, and begged her that she would let me use my art upon her. + +“‘Your flower shall then be unwithered, Atma,’ I said. ‘Other things +may pass away, but you and I, and our great love for each other, shall +outlive the tomb of King Chefru.’ + +“But she was full of timid, maidenly objections. ‘Was it right?’ she +asked, ‘was it not a thwarting of the will of the gods? If the great +Osiris had wished that our years should be so long, would he not himself +have brought it about?’ + +“With fond and loving words I overcame her doubts, and yet she +hesitated. It was a great question, she said. She would think it over +for this one night. In the morning I should know her resolution. Surely +one night was not too much to ask. She wished to pray to Isis for help +in her decision. + +“With a sinking heart and a sad foreboding of evil I left her with her +tirewomen. In the morning, when the early sacrifice was over, I hurried +to her house. A frightened slave met me upon the steps. Her mistress +was ill, she said, very ill. In a frenzy I broke my way through the +attendants, and rushed through hall and corridor to my Atma’s chamber. +She lay upon her couch, her head high upon the pillow, with a pallid +face and a glazed eye. On her forehead there blazed a single angry +purple patch. I knew that hell-mark of old. It was the scar of the white +plague, the sign-manual of death. + +“Why should I speak of that terrible time? For months I was mad, +fevered, delirious, and yet I could not die. Never did an Arab thirst +after the sweet wells as I longed after death. Could poison or steel +have shortened the thread of my existence, I should soon have rejoined +my love in the land with the narrow portal. I tried, but it was of no +avail. The accursed influence was too strong upon me. One night as I lay +upon my couch, weak and weary, Parmes, the priest of Thoth, came to my +chamber. He stood in the circle of the lamplight, and he looked down +upon me with eyes which were bright with a mad joy. + +“‘Why did you let the maiden die?’ he asked; ‘why did you not strengthen +her as you strengthened me?’ + +“‘I was too late,’ I answered. ‘But I had forgot. You also loved her. +You are my fellow in misfortune. Is it not terrible to think of the +centuries which must pass ere we look upon her again? Fools, fools, that +we were to take death to be our enemy!’ + +“‘You may say that,’ he cried with a wild laugh; ‘the words come well +from your lips. For me they have no meaning.’ + +“‘What mean you?’ I cried, raising myself upon my elbow. ‘Surely, +friend, this grief has turned your brain.’ His face was aflame with joy, +and he writhed and shook like one who hath a devil. + +“‘Do you know whither I go?’ he asked. + +“‘Nay,’ I answered, ‘I cannot tell.’ + +“‘I go to her,’ said he. ‘She lies embalmed in the further tomb by the +double palm-tree beyond the city wall.’ + +“‘Why do you go there?’ I asked. + +“‘To die!’ he shrieked, ‘to die! I am not bound by earthen fetters.’ + +“‘But the elixir is in your blood,’ I cried. + +“‘I can defy it,’ said he; ‘I have found a stronger principle which will +destroy it. It is working in my veins at this moment, and in an hour I +shall be a dead man. I shall join her, and you shall remain behind.’ + +“As I looked upon him I could see that he spoke words of truth. The +light in his eye told me that he was indeed beyond the power of the +elixir. + +“‘You will teach me!’ I cried. + +“‘Never!’ he answered. + +“‘I implore you, by the wisdom of Thoth, by the majesty of Anubis!’ + +“‘It is useless,’ he said coldly. + +“‘Then I will find it out,’ I cried. + +“‘You cannot,’ he answered; ‘it came to me by chance. There is one +ingredient which you can never get. Save that which is in the ring of +Thoth, none will ever more be made. + +“‘In the ring of Thoth!’ I repeated; ‘where then is the ring of Thoth?’ + +“‘That also you shall never know,’ he answered. ‘You won her love. +Who has won in the end? I leave you to your sordid earth life. My +chains are broken. I must go!’ He turned upon his heel and fled from the +chamber. In the morning came the news that the Priest of Thoth was dead. + +“My days after that were spent in study. I must find this subtle poison +which was strong enough to undo the elixir. From early dawn to midnight +I bent over the test-tube and the furnace. Above all, I collected the +papyri and the chemical flasks of the Priest of Thoth. Alas! they taught +me little. Here and there some hint or stray expression would raise hope +in my bosom, but no good ever came of it. Still, month after month, I +struggled on. When my heart grew faint I would make my way to the tomb +by the palm-trees. There, standing by the dead casket from which the +jewel had been rifled, I would feel her sweet presence, and would +whisper to her that I would rejoin her if mortal wit could solve the +riddle. + +“Parmes had said that his discovery was connected with the ring of +Thoth. I had some remembrance of the trinket. It was a large and weighty +circlet, made, not of gold, but of a rarer and heavier metal brought +from the mines of Mount Harbal. Platinum, you call it. The ring had, +I remembered, a hollow crystal set in it, in which some few drops of +liquid might be stored. Now, the secret of Parmes could not have to do +with the metal alone, for there were many rings of that metal in the +Temple. Was it not more likely that he had stored his precious poison +within the cavity of the crystal? I had scarce come to this conclusion +before, in hunting through his papers, I came upon one which told me +that it was indeed so, and that there was still some of the liquid +unused. + +“But how to find the ring? It was not upon him when he was stripped +for the embalmer. Of that I made sure. Neither was it among his private +effects. In vain I searched every room that he had entered, every box, +and vase, and chattel that he had owned. I sifted the very sand of the +desert in the places where he had been wont to walk; but, do what I +would, I could come upon no traces of the ring of Thoth. Yet it may be +that my labours would have overcome all obstacles had it not been for a +new and unlooked-for misfortune. + +“A great war had been waged against the Hyksos, and the Captains of the +Great King had been cut off in the desert, with all their bowmen and +horsemen. The shepherd tribes were upon us like the locusts in a dry +year. From the wilderness of Shur to the great bitter lake there was +blood by day and fire by night. Abaris was the bulwark of Egypt, but +we could not keep the savages back. The city fell. The Governor and the +soldiers were put to the sword, and I, with many more, was led away into +captivity. + +“For years and years I tended cattle in the great plains by the +Euphrates. My master died, and his son grew old, but I was still as far +from death as ever. At last I escaped upon a swift camel, and made my +way back to Egypt. The Hyksos had settled in the land which they had +conquered, and their own King ruled over the country. Abaris had been +torn down, the city had been burned, and of the great Temple there was +nothing left save an unsightly mound. Everywhere the tombs had been +rifled and the monuments destroyed. Of my Atma’s grave no sign was +left. It was buried in the sands of the desert, and the palm-trees +which marked the spot had long disappeared. The papers of Parmes and the +remains of the Temple of Thoth were either destroyed or scattered far +and wide over the deserts of Syria. All search after them was vain. + +“From that time I gave up all hope of ever finding the ring or +discovering the subtle drug. I set myself to live as patiently as +might be until the effect of the elixir should wear away. How can you +understand how terrible a thing time is, you who have experience only of +the narrow course which lies between the cradle and the grave! I know it +to my cost, I who have floated down the whole stream of history. I was +old when Ilium fell. I was very old when Herodotus came to Memphis. I +was bowed down with years when the new gospel came upon earth. Yet you +see me much as other men are, with the cursed elixir still sweetening my +blood, and guarding me against that which I would court. Now at last, at +last I have come to the end of it! + +“I have travelled in all lands and I have dwelt with all nations. Every +tongue is the same to me. I learned them all to help pass the weary +time. I need not tell you how slowly they drifted by, the long dawn +of modern civilisation, the dreary middle years, the dark times of +barbarism. They are all behind me now, I have never looked with the eyes +of love upon another woman. Atma knows that I have been constant to her. + +“It was my custom to read all that the scholars had to say upon Ancient +Egypt. I have been in many positions, sometimes affluent, sometimes +poor, but I have always found enough to enable me to buy the journals +which deal with such matters. Some nine months ago I was in San +Francisco, when I read an account of some discoveries made in the +neighbourhood of Abaris. My heart leapt into my mouth as I read it. +It said that the excavator had busied himself in exploring some tombs +recently unearthed. In one there had been found an unopened mummy with +an inscription upon the outer case setting forth that it contained +the body of the daughter of the Governor of the city in the days of +Tuthmosis. It added that on removing the outer case there had been +exposed a large platinum ring set with a crystal, which had been laid +upon the breast of the embalmed woman. This, then was where Parmes +had hid the ring of Thoth. He might well say that it was safe, for no +Egyptian would ever stain his soul by moving even the outer case of a +buried friend. + +“That very night I set off from San Francisco, and in a few weeks I +found myself once more at Abaris, if a few sand-heaps and crumbling +walls may retain the name of the great city. I hurried to the Frenchmen +who were digging there and asked them for the ring. They replied that +both the ring and the mummy had been sent to the Boulak Museum at Cairo. +To Boulak I went, but only to be told that Mariette Bey had claimed them +and had shipped them to the Louvre. I followed them, and there at last, +in the Egyptian chamber, I came, after close upon four thousand years, +upon the remains of my Atma, and upon the ring for which I had sought so +long. + +“But how was I to lay hands upon them? How was I to have them for my +very own? It chanced that the office of attendant was vacant. I went +to the Director. I convinced him that I knew much about Egypt. In my +eagerness I said too much. He remarked that a Professor’s chair would +suit me better than a seat in the Conciergerie. I knew more, he said, +than he did. It was only by blundering, and letting him think that he +had over-estimated my knowledge, that I prevailed upon him to let me +move the few effects which I have retained into this chamber. It is my +first and my last night here. + +“Such is my story, Mr. Vansittart Smith. I need not say more to a man of +your perception. By a strange chance you have this night looked upon the +face of the woman whom I loved in those far-off days. There were many +rings with crystals in the case, and I had to test for the platinum to +be sure of the one which I wanted. A glance at the crystal has shown me +that the liquid is indeed within it, and that I shall at last be able +to shake off that accursed health which has been worse to me than the +foulest disease. I have nothing more to say to you. I have unburdened +myself. You may tell my story or you may withhold it at your pleasure. +The choice rests with you. I owe you some amends, for you have had a +narrow escape of your life this night. I was a desperate man, and not +to be baulked in my purpose. Had I seen you before the thing was done, +I might have put it beyond your power to oppose me or to raise an alarm. +This is the door. It leads into the Rue de Rivoli. Good night!” + +The Englishman glanced back. For a moment the lean figure of Sosra +the Egyptian stood framed in the narrow doorway. The next the door had +slammed, and the heavy rasping of a bolt broke on the silent night. + +It was on the second day after his return to London that Mr. John +Vansittart Smith saw the following concise narrative in the Paris +correspondence of the Times:-- + +“Curious Occurrence in the Louvre.--Yesterday morning a strange +discovery was made in the principal Egyptian Chamber. The ouvriers who +are employed to clean out the rooms in the morning found one of the +attendants lying dead upon the floor with his arms round one of the +mummies. So close was his embrace that it was only with the utmost +difficulty that they were separated. One of the cases containing +valuable rings had been opened and rifled. The authorities are of +opinion that the man was bearing away the mummy with some idea of +selling it to a private collector, but that he was struck down in the +very act by long-standing disease of the heart. It is said that he was a +man of uncertain age and eccentric habits, without any living relations +to mourn over his dramatic and untimely end.” + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAPTAIN OF THE POLE-STAR +AND OTHER TALES *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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