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diff --git a/old/7964.txt b/old/7964.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faad7b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7964.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5778 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mystery of Cloomber, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mystery of Cloomber + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Posting Date: March 11, 2009 [EBook #7964] +Release Date: April, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER *** + + + + +Produced by Lionel G. Sear + + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER + +By Arthur Conan Doyle + + +CONTENTS + +I THE HEGIRA OF THE WESTS FROM EDINBURGH + +II OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH A TENANT CAME TO CLOOMBER + +III OF OUR FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAJOR-GENERAL J. B. HEATHERSTONE + +IV OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD + +V HOW FOUR OF US CAME TO BE UNDER THE SHADOW OF CLOOMBER + +VI HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBER + +VII OF CORPORAL RUFUS SMITH AND HIS COMING TO CLOOMBER + +VIII STATEMENT OF ISRAEL STAKES + +IX NARRATIVE OF JOHN EASTERLING, F.R.C.P. EDIN. + +X OF THE LETTER WHICH CAME FROM THE HALL + +XI OF THE CASTING AWAY OF THE BARQUE "BELINDA" + +XII OF THE THREE FOREIGN MEN UPON THE COAST + +XIII IN WHICH I SEE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN BY FEW + +XIV OF THE VISITOR WHO RAN DOWN THE ROAD IN THE NIGHT-TIME + +XV THE DAY-BOOK OF JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE + +XVI AT THE HOLE OF CREE + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE HEGIRA OF THE WESTS FROM EDINBURGH + +I John Fothergill West, student of law in the University of St. Andrews, +have endeavoured in the ensuing pages to lay my statement before the +public in a concise and business-like fashion. + +It is not my wish to achieve literary success, nor have I any desire by +the graces of my style, or by the artistic ordering of my incidents, to +throw a deeper shadow over the strange passages of which I shall have +to speak. My highest ambition is that those who know something of the +matter should, after reading my account, be able to conscientiously +indorse it without finding a single paragraph in which I have either +added to or detracted from the truth. + +Should I attain this result, I shall rest amply satisfied with the +outcome of my first, and probably my last, venture in literature. + +It was my intention to write out the sequence of events in due order, +depending on trustworthy hearsay when I was describing that which was +beyond my own personal knowledge. I have now, however, through the +kind cooperation of friends, hit upon a plan which promises to be less +onerous to me and more satisfactory to the reader. This is nothing less +than to make use of the various manuscripts which I have by me bearing +upon the subject, and to add to them the first-hand evidence contributed +by those who had the best opportunities of knowing Major-General J. B. +Heatherstone. + +In pursuance of this design I shall lay before the public the testimony +of Israel Stakes, formerly coachman at Cloomber Hall, and of +John Easterling, F.R.C.P. Edin., now practising at Stranraer, in +Wigtownshire. To these I shall add a verbatim account extracted from +the journal of the late John Berthier Heatherstone, of the events which +occurred in the Thul Valley in the autumn of '41 towards the end of +the first Afghan War, with a description of the skirmish in the Terada +defile, and of the death of the man Ghoolab Shah. + +To myself I reserve the duty of filling up all the gaps and chinks which +may be left in the narrative. By this arrangement I have sunk from the +position of an author to that of a compiler, but on the other hand +my work has ceased to be a story and has expanded into a series of +affidavits. + +My Father, John Hunter West, was a well known Oriental and Sanskrit +scholar, and his name is still of weight with those who are interested +in such matters. He it was who first after Sir William Jones called +attention to the great value of early Persian literature, and his +translations from the Hafiz and from Ferideddin Atar have earned the +warmest commendations from the Baron von Hammer-Purgstall, of Vienna, +and other distinguished Continental critics. + +In the issue of the _Orientalisches Scienzblatt_ for January, 1861, +he is described as _"Der beruhmte und sehr gelhernte Hunter West von +Edinburgh"_--a passage which I well remember that he cut out and stowed +away, with a pardonable vanity, among the most revered family archives. + +He had been brought up to be a solicitor, or Writer to the Signet, as +it is termed in Scotland, but his learned hobby absorbed so much of his +time that he had little to devote to the pursuit of his profession. + +When his clients were seeking him at his chambers in George Street, he +was buried in the recesses of the Advocates' Library, or poring over +some mouldy manuscript at the Philosophical Institution, with his brain +more exercised over the code which Menu propounded six hundred years +before the birth of Christ than over the knotty problems of Scottish law +in the nineteenth century. Hence it can hardly be wondered at that +as his learning accumulated his practice dissolved, until at the very +moment when he had attained the zenith of his celebrity he had also +reached the nadir of his fortunes. + +There being no chair of Sanscrit in any of his native universities, and +no demand anywhere for the only mental wares which he had to dispose +of, we should have been forced to retire into genteel poverty, consoling +ourselves with the aphorisms and precepts of Firdousi, Omar Khayyam, and +others of his Eastern favourites, had it not been for the kindness +and liberality of his half-brother William Farintosh, the Laird of +Branksome, in Wigtownshire. + +This William Farintosh was the proprietor of a landed estate, the +acreage which bore, unfortunately, a most disproportional relation to +its value, for it formed the bleakest and most barren tract of land +in the whole of a bleak and barren shire. As a bachelor, however, his +expenses had been small, and he had contrived from the rents of his +scattered cottages, and the sale of the Galloway nags, which he bred +upon the moors, not only to live as a laird should, but to put by a +considerable sum in the bank. + +We had heard little from our kinsman during the days of our comparative +prosperity, but just as we were at our wit's end, there came a letter +like a ministering angel, giving us assurance of sympathy and succour. +In it the Laird of Branksome told us that one of his lungs had been +growing weaker for some time, and that Dr. Easterling, of Stranraer, had +strongly advised him to spend the few years which were left to him in +some more genial climate. He had determined, therefore to set out for +the South of Italy, and he begged that we should take up our residence +at Branksome in his absence, and that my father should act as his land +steward and agent at a salary which placed us above all fear of want. + +Our mother had been dead for some years, so that there were only myself, +my father, and my sister Esther to consult, and it may be readily +imagined that it did not take us long to decide upon the acceptance +of the laird's generous offer. My father started for Wigtown that very +night, while Esther and I followed a few days afterwards, bearing with +us two potato-sacksful of learned books, and such other of our household +effects that were worth the trouble and expense of transport. + + + +CHAPTER II. OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH A TENANT CAME TO CLOOMBER + +Branksome might have appeared a poor dwelling-place when compared with +the house of an English squire, but to us, after our long residence in +stuffy apartments, it was of regal magnificence. + +The building was broad-spread and low, with red-tiled roof, +diamond-paned windows, and a profusion of dwelling rooms with +smoke-blackened ceilings and oaken wainscots. In front was a small lawn, +girt round with a thin fringe of haggard and ill grown beeches, all +gnarled and withered from the effects of the sea-spray. Behind lay the +scattered hamlet of Branksome-Bere--a dozen cottages at most--inhabited +by rude fisher-folk who looked upon the laird as their natural +protector. + +To the west was the broad, yellow beach and the Irish Sea, while in all +other directions the desolate moors, greyish-green in the foreground +and purple in the distance, stretched away in long, low curves to the +horizon. + +Very bleak and lonely it was upon this Wigtown coast. A man might +walk many a weary mile and never see a living thing except the white, +heavy-flapping kittiwakes, which screamed and cried to each other with +their shrill, sad voices. + +Very lonely and very bleak! Once out of sight of Branksome and there +was no sign of the works of man save only where the high, white tower of +Cloomber Hall shot up, like a headstone of some giant grave, from amid +the firs and larches which girt it round. + +This great house, a mile or more from our dwelling, had been built by a +wealthy Glasgow merchant of strange tastes and lonely habits, but at +the time of our arrival it had been untenanted for many years, and stood +with weather-blotched walls and vacant, staring windows looking blankly +out over the hill side. + +Empty and mildewed, it served only as a landmark to the fishermen, for +they had found by experience that by keeping the laird's chimney and the +white tower of Cloomber in a line they could steer their way through +the ugly reef which raises its jagged back, like that of some sleeping +monster, above the troubled waters of the wind-swept bay. + +To this wild spot it was that Fate had brought my father, my sister, +and myself. For us its loneliness had no terrors. After the hubbub and +bustle of a great city, and the weary task of upholding appearances upon +a slender income, there was a grand, soul-soothing serenity in the long +sky-line and the eager air. Here at least there was no neighbour to pry +and chatter. + +The laird had left his phaeton and two ponies behind him, with the aid +of which my father and I would go the round of the estate doing such +light duties as fall to an agent, or "factor" as it was there called, +while our gentle Esther looked to our household needs, and brightened +the dark old building. + +Such was our simple, uneventful existence, until the summer night when +an unlooked-for incident occurred which proved to be the herald of those +strange doings which I have taken up my pen to describe. + +It had been my habit to pull out of an evening in the laird's skiff +and to catch a few whiting which might serve for our supper. On this +well-remembered occasion my sister came with me, sitting with her book +in the stern-sheets of the boat, while I hung my lines over the bows. + +The sun had sunk down behind the rugged Irish coast, but a long bank of +flushed cloud still marked the spot, and cast a glory upon the waters. +The whole broad ocean was seamed and scarred with crimson streaks. I had +risen in the boat, and was gazing round in delight at the broad panorama +of shore and sea and sky, when my sister plucked at my sleeve with a +little, sharp cry of surprise. + +"See, John," she cried, "there is a light in Cloomber Tower!" + +I turned my head and stared back at the tall, white turret which peeped +out above the belt of trees. As I gazed I distinctly saw at one of the +windows the glint of a light, which suddenly vanished, and then shone +out once more from another higher up. There it flickered for some time, +and finally flashed past two successive windows underneath before the +trees obscured our view of it. It was clear that some one bearing a lamp +or a candle had climbed up the tower stairs and had then returned into +the body of the house. + +"Who in the world can it be?" I exclaimed, speaking rather to myself +than to Esther, for I could see by the surprise upon her face that she +had no solution to offer. "Maybe some of the folk from Branksome-Bere +have wanted to look over the place." + +My sister shook her head. + +"There is not one of them would dare to set foot within the avenue +gates," she said. "Besides, John, the keys are kept by the house-agent +at Wigtown. Were they ever so curious, none of our people could find +their way in." + +When I reflected upon the massive door and ponderous shutters which +guarded the lower storey of Cloomber, I could not but admit the force +of my sister's objection. The untimely visitor must either have used +considerable violence in order to force his way in, or he must have +obtained possession of the keys. + +Piqued by the little mystery, I pulled for the beach, with the +determination to see for myself who the intruder might be, and what +were his intentions. Leaving my sister at Branksome, and summoning +Seth Jamieson, an old man-o'-war's-man and one of the stoutest of the +fishermen, I set off across the moor with him through the gathering +darkness. + +"It hasna a guid name after dark, yon hoose," remarked my companion, +slackening his pace perceptibly as I explained to him the nature of our +errand. "It's no for naething that him wha owns it wunna gang within a +Scotch mile o't." + +"Well, Seth, there is some one who has no fears about going into it," +said I, pointing to the great, white building which flickered up in +front of us through the gloom. + +The light which I had observed from the sea was moving backwards and +forward past the lower floor windows, the shutters of which had been +removed. I could now see that a second fainter light followed a few +paces behind the other. Evidently two individuals, the one with a +lamp and the other with a candle or rushlight, were making a careful +examination of the building. + +"Let ilka man blaw his ain parritch," said Seth Jamieson doggedly, +coming to a dead stop. "What is it tae us if a wraith or a bogle +minds tae tak' a fancy tae Cloomber? It's no canny tae meddle wi' such +things." + +"Why, man," I cried, "you don't suppose a wraith came here in a gig? +What are those lights away yonder by the avenue gates?" + +"The lamps o' a gig, sure enough!" exclaimed my companion in a less +lugubrious voice. "Let's steer for it, Master West, and speer where she +hails frae." + +By this time night had closed in save for a single long, narrow slit in +the westward. Stumbling across the moor together, we made our way into +the Wigtown Road, at the point where the high stone pillars mark the +entrance to the Cloomber avenue. A tall dog-cart stood in front of the +gateway, the horse browsing upon the thin border of grass which skirted +the road. + +"It's a' richt!" said Jamieson, taking a close look at the deserted +vehicle. "I ken it weel. It belongs tae Maister McNeil, the factor body +frae Wigtown--him wha keeps the keys." + +"Then we may as well have speech with him now that we are here," I +answered. "They are coming down, if I am not mistaken." + +As I spoke we heard the slam of the heavy door and within a few minutes +two figures, the one tall and angular, the other short and thick came +towards us through the darkness. They were talking so earnestly that +they did not observe us until they had passed through the avenue gate. + +"Good evening, Mr. McNeil," said I, stepping forward and addressing the +Wigtown factor, with whom I had some slight acquaintance. + +The smaller of the two turned his face towards me as I spoke, and showed +me that I was not mistaken in his identity, but his taller companion +sprang back and showed every sign of violent agitation. + +"What is this, McNeil?" I heard him say, in a gasping, choking voice. +"Is this your promise? What is the meaning of it?" + +"Don't be alarmed, General! Don't be alarmed!" said the little fat +factor in a soothing fashion, as one might speak to a frightened child. +"This is young Mr. Fothergill West, of Branksome, though what brings him +up here tonight is more than I can understand. However, as you are to be +neighbours, I can't do better than take the opportunity to introduce you +to each other. Mr. West, this is General Heatherstone, who is about to +take a lease of Cloomber Hall." + +I held out my hand to the tall man, who took it in a hesitating, +half-reluctant fashion. + +"I came up," I explained, "because I saw your lights in the windows, and +I thought that something might be wrong. I am very glad I did so, since +it has given me the chance of making the general's acquaintance." + +Whilst I was talking, I was conscious that the new tenant of Cloomber +Hall was peering at me very closely through the darkness. As I +concluded, he stretched out a long, tremulous arm, and turned the +gig-lamp in such a way as to throw a flood of light upon my face. + +"Good Heavens, McNeil!" he cried, in the same quivering voice as before, +"the fellow's as brown as chocolate. He's not an Englishman. You're not +an Englishman--you, sir?" + +"I'm a Scotchman, born and bred," said I, with an inclination to laugh, +which was only checked by my new acquaintance's obvious terror. + +"A Scotchman, eh?" said he, with a sigh of relief. "It's all one +nowadays. You must excuse me, Mr.--Mr. West. I'm nervous, infernally +nervous. Come along, McNeil, we must be back in Wigtown in less than an +hour. Good-night, gentlemen, good-night!" + +The two clambered into their places; the factor cracked his whip, +and the high dog-cart clattered away through the darkness, casting a +brilliant tunnel of yellow light on either side of it, until the rumble +of its wheels died away in the distance. + +"What do you think of our new neighbour, Jamieson?" I asked, after a +long silence. + +"'Deed, Mr. West, he seems, as he says himsel', to be vera nervous. +Maybe his conscience is oot o' order." + +"His liver, more likely," said I. "He looks as if he had tried his +constitution a bit. But it's blowing chill, Seth, my lad, and it's time +both of us were indoors." + +I bade my companion good-night, and struck off across the moors for the +cheery, ruddy light which marked the parlour windows of Branksome. + + + +CHAPTER III. OF OUR FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAJOR-GENERAL J. B. HEATHERSTONE + +There was, as may well be imagined, much stir amongst our small +community at the news that the Hall was to be inhabited once more, and +considerable speculation as to the new tenants, and their object in +choosing this particular part of the country for their residence. + +It speedily became apparent that, whatever their motives might be, they +had definitely determined upon a lengthy stay, for relays of plumbers +and of joiners came down from Wigtown, and there was hammering and +repairing going on from morning till night. + +It was surprising how quickly the signs of the wind and weather were +effaced, until the great, square-set house was all as spick-and-span +as though it had been erected yesterday. There were abundant signs that +money was no consideration to General Heatherstone, and that it was not +on the score of retrenchment that he had taken up his abode among us. + +"It may be that he is devoted to study," suggested my father, as we +discussed the question round the breakfast table. "Perhaps he has chosen +this secluded spot to finish some magnum opus upon which he is engaged. +If that is the case I should be happy to let him have the run of my +library." + +Esther and I laughed at the grandiloquent manner in which he spoke of +the two potato-sacksful of books. + +"It may be as you say," said I, "but the general did not strike me +during our short interview as being a man who was likely to have any +very pronounced literary tastes. If I might hazard a guess, I should say +that he is here upon medical advice, in the hope that the complete quiet +and fresh air may restore his shattered nervous system. If you had seen +how he glared at me, and the twitching of his fingers, you would have +thought it needed some restoring." + +"I do wonder whether he has a wife and a family," said my sister. "Poor +souls, how lonely they will be! Why, excepting ourselves, there is not a +family that they could speak to for seven miles and more." + +"General Heatherstone is a very distinguished soldier," remarked my +father. + +"Why, papa, however came you to know anything about him?" + +"Ah, my dears," said my father, smiling at us over his coffee-cup, "you +were laughing at my library just now, but you see it may be very useful +at times." As he spoke he took a red-covered volume from a shelf and +turned over the pages. "This is an Indian Army List of three +years back," he explained, "and here is the very gentleman we +want-'Heatherstone, J. B., Commander of the Bath,' my dears, and 'V.C.', +think of that, 'V.C.'--'formerly colonel in the Indian Infantry, 41st +Bengal Foot, but now retired with the rank of major-general.' In this +other column is a record of his services--'capture of Ghuznee and +defence of Jellalabad, Sobraon 1848, Indian Mutiny and reduction of +Oudh. Five times mentioned in dispatches.' I think, my dears, that we +have cause to be proud of our new neighbour." + +"It doesn't mention there whether he is married or not, I suppose?" +asked Esther. + +"No," said my father, wagging his white head with a keen appreciation +of his own humour. "It doesn't include that under the heading of 'daring +actions'--though it very well might, my dear, it very well might." + +All our doubts, however, upon this head were very soon set at rest, for +on the very day that the repairing and the furnishing had been completed +I had occasion to ride into Wigtown, and I met upon the way a carriage +which was bearing General Heatherstone and his family to their new home. +An elderly lady, worn and sickly-looking, was by his side, and opposite +him sat a young fellow about my own age and a girl who appeared to be a +couple of years younger. + +I raised my hat, and was about to pass them, when the general shouted to +his coachman to pull up, and held out his hand to me. I could see now +in the daylight that his face, although harsh and stern, was capable of +assuming a not unkindly expression. + +"How are you, Mr. Fothergill West?" he cried. "I must apologise to +you if I was a little brusque the other night--you will excuse an old +soldier who has spent the best part of his life in harness--All +the same, you must confess that you are rather dark-skinned for a +Scotchman." + +"We have a Spanish strain in our blood," said I, wondering at his +recurrence to the topic. + +"That would, of course, account for it," he remarked. "My dear," to his +wife, "allow me to introduce Mr. Fothergill West to you. This is my son +and my daughter. We have come here in search of rest, Mr. West--complete +rest." + +"And you could not possibly have come to a better place," said I. + +"Oh, you think so?" he answered. "I suppose it is very quiet indeed, and +very lonely. You might walk through these country lanes at night, I dare +say, and never meet a soul, eh?" + +"Well, there are not many about after dark," I said. + +"And you are not much troubled with vagrants or wandering beggars, eh? +Not many tinkers or tramps or rascally gipsies--no vermin of that sort +about?" + +"I find it rather cold," said Mrs. Heatherstone, drawing her thick +sealskin mantle tighter round her figure. "We are detaining Mr. West, +too." + +"So we are, my dear, so we are. Drive on, coachman. Good-day, Mr. West." + +The carriage rattled away towards the Hall, and I trotted thoughtfully +onwards to the little country metropolis. + +As I passed up the High Street, Mr. McNeil ran out from his office and +beckoned to me to stop. + +"Our new tenants have gone out," he said. "They drove over this +morning." + +"I met them on the way," I answered. + +As I looked down at the little factor, I could see that his face was +flushed and that he bore every appearance of having had an extra glass. + +"Give me a real gentleman to do business with," he said, with a burst of +laughter. "They understand me and I understand them. 'What shall I fill +it up for?' says the general, taking a blank cheque out o' his pouch and +laying it on the table. 'Two hundred,' says I, leaving a bit o' a margin +for my own time and trouble." + +"I thought that the landlord had paid you for that," I remarked. + +"Aye, aye, but it's well to have a bit margin. He filled it up and threw +it over to me as if it had been an auld postage stamp. That's the way +business should be done between honest men--though it wouldna do if one +was inclined to take an advantage. Will ye not come in, Mr. West, and +have a taste of my whisky?" + +"No, thank you," said I, "I have business to do." + +"Well, well, business is the chief thing. It's well not to drink in the +morning, too. For my own part, except a drop before breakfast to give +me an appetite, and maybe a glass, or even twa, afterwards to promote +digestion, I never touch spirits before noon. What d'ye think o' the +general, Mr. West?" + +"Why, I have hardly had an opportunity of judging," I answered. + +Mr. McNeil tapped his forehead with his forefinger. + +"That's what I think of him," he said in a confidential whisper, shaking +his head at me. "He's gone, sir, gone, in my estimation. Now what would +you take to be a proof of madness, Mr. West?" + +"Why, offering a blank cheque to a Wigtown house-agent," said I. + +"Ah, you're aye at your jokes. But between oorsel's now, if a man asked +ye how many miles it was frae a seaport, and whether ships come there +from the East, and whether there were tramps on the road, and whether +it was against the lease for him to build a high wall round the grounds, +what would ye make of it, eh?" + +"I should certainly think him eccentric," said I. + +"If every man had his due, our friend would find himsel' in a house with +a high wall round the grounds, and that without costing him a farthing," +said the agent. + +"Where then?" I asked, humouring his joke. + +"Why, in the Wigtown County Lunatic Asylum," cried the little man, with +a bubble of laughter, in the midst of which I rode on my way, leaving +him still chuckling over his own facetiousness. + +The arrival of the new family at Cloomber Hall had no perceptible effect +in relieving the monotony of our secluded district, for instead of +entering into such simple pleasures as the country had to offer, or +interesting themselves, as we had hoped, in our attempts to improve +the lot of our poor crofters and fisherfolk, they seemed to shun all +observation, and hardly ever to venture beyond the avenue gates. + +We soon found, too, that the factor's words as to the inclosing of the +grounds were founded upon fact, for gangs of workmen were kept hard at +work from early in the morning until late at night in erecting a high, +wooden fence round the whole estate. + +When this was finished and topped with spikes, Cloomber Park became +impregnable to any one but an exceptionally daring climber. It was as +if the old soldier had been so imbued with military ideas that, like my +Uncle Toby, he could not refrain even in times of peace from standing +upon the defensive. + +Stranger still, he had victualled the house as if for a siege, for +Begbie, the chief grocer of Wigtown, told me himself in a rapture +of delight and amazement that the general had sent him an order for +hundreds of dozens of every imaginable potted meat and vegetable. + +It may be imagined that all these unusual incidents were not allowed to +pass without malicious comment. Over the whole countryside and as far +away as the English border there was nothing but gossip about the new +tenants of Cloomber Hall and the reasons which had led them to come +among us. + +The only hypothesis, however, which the bucolic mind could evolve, was +that which had already occurred to Mr. McNeil, the factor--namely, that +the old general and his family were one and all afflicted with madness, +or, as an alternative conclusion, that he had committed some heinous +offence and was endeavouring to escape the consequences of his misdeeds. + +These were both natural suppositions under the circumstances, but +neither of them appeared to me to commend itself as a true explanation +of the facts. + +It is true that General Heatherstone's behaviour on the occasion of our +first interview was such as to suggest some suspicion of mental disease, +but no man could have been more reasonable or more courteous than he had +afterwards shown himself to be. + +Then, again, his wife and children led the same secluded life that he +did himself, so that the reason could not be one peculiar to his own +health. + +As to the possibility of his being a fugitive from justice, that theory +was even more untenable. Wigtownshire was bleak and lonely, but it was +not such an obscure corner of the world that a well-known soldier could +hope to conceal himself there, nor would a man who feared publicity set +every one's tongue wagging as the general had done. + +On the whole, I was inclined to believe that the true solution of the +enigma lay in his own allusion to the love of quiet, and that they +had taken shelter here with an almost morbid craving for solitude and +repose. We very soon had an instance of the great lengths to which this +desire for isolation would carry them. + +My father had come down one morning with the weight of a great +determination upon his brow. + +"You must put on your pink frock to-day, Esther," said he, "and you, +John, you must make yourself smart, for I have determined that the three +of us shall drive round this afternoon and pay our respects to Mrs. +Heatherstone and the general." + +"A visit to Cloomber," cried Esther, clapping her hands. + +"I am here," said my father, with dignity, "not only as the laird's +factor, but also as his kinsman. In that capacity I am convinced that he +would wish me to call upon these newcomers and offer them any politeness +which is in our power. At present they must feel lonely and friendless. +What says the great Firdousi? 'The choicest ornaments to a man's house +are his friends.'" + +My sister and I knew by experience that when the old man began to +justify his resolution by quotations from the Persian poets there was no +chance of shaking it. Sure enough that afternoon saw the phaeton at the +door, with my father perched upon the seat, with his second-best coat on +and a pair of new driving-gloves. + +"Jump in, my dears," he cried, cracking his whip briskly, "we shall show +the general that he has no cause to be ashamed of his neighbours." + +Alas! pride always goes before a fall. Our well-fed ponies and shining +harness were not destined that day to impress the tenants of Cloomber +with a sense of our importance. + +We had reached the avenue gate, and I was about to get out and open it, +when our attention was arrested by a very large wooden placard, which +was attached to one of the trees in such a manner that no one could +possibly pass without seeing it. On the white surface of this board was +printed in big, black letters the following hospitable inscription: + + GENERAL AND MRS. HEATHERSTONE + HAVE NO WISH + TO INCREASE + THE CIRCLE OF THEIR ACQUAINTANCE. + +We all sat gazing at this announcement for some moments in silent +astonishment. Then Esther and I, tickled by the absurdity of the thing, +burst out laughing, but my father pulled the ponies' heads round, and +drove home with compressed lips and the cloud of much wrath upon his +brow. I have never seen the good man so thoroughly moved, and I am +convinced that his anger did not arise from any petty feeling of injured +vanity upon his own part, but from the thought that a slight had been +offered to the Laird of Branksome, whose dignity he represented. + + + +CHAPTER IV. OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD + +If I had any personal soreness on account of this family snub, it was a +very passing emotion, and one which was soon effaced from my mind. + +It chanced that on the very next day after the episode I had occasion +to pass that way, and stopped to have another look at the obnoxious +placard. I was standing staring at it and wondering what could have +induced our neighbours to take such an outrageous step, when I became +suddenly aware of a sweet, girlish face which peeped out at me from +between the bars of the gate, and of a white hand which eagerly beckoned +me to approach. As I advanced to her I saw that it was the same young +lady whom I had seen in the carriage. + +"Mr. West," she said, in a quick whisper, glancing from side to side as +she spoke in a nervous, hasty manner, "I wish to apologise to you for +the indignity to which you and your family were subjected yesterday. +My brother was in the avenue and saw it all, but he is powerless to +interfere. I assure you, Mr. West, that if that hateful thing," pointing +up at the placard, "has given you any annoyance, it has given my brother +and myself far more." + +"Why, Miss Heatherstone," said I, putting the matter off with a laugh, +"Britain is a free country, and if a man chooses to warn off visitors +from his premises there is no reason why he should not." + +"It is nothing less than brutal," she broke out, with a petulant +stamp of the foot. "To think that your sister, too, should have such an +unprovoked insult offered to her! I am ready to sink with shame at the +very thought." + +"Pray do not give yourself one moment's uneasiness upon the subject," +said I earnestly, for I was grieved at her evident distress. "I am sure +that your father has some reason unknown to us for taking this step." + +"Heaven knows he has!" she answered, with ineffable sadness in her +voice, "and yet I think it would be more manly to face a danger than +to fly from it. However, he knows best, and it is impossible for us to +judge. But who is this?" she exclaimed, anxiously, peering up the dark +avenue. "Oh, it is my brother Mordaunt. Mordaunt," she said, as the +young man approached us, "I have been apologising to Mr. West for what +happened yesterday, in your name as well as my own." + +"I am very, very glad to have the opportunity of doing it in person," +said he courteously. "I only wish that I could see your sister and your +father as well as yourself, to tell them how sorry I am. I think you +had better run up to the house, little one, for it's getting near +tiffin-time. No--don't you go Mr. West. I want to have a word with you." + +Miss Heatherstone waved her hand to me with a bright smile, and tripped +up the avenue, while her brother unbolted the gate, and, passing +through, closed it again, locking it upon the outside. + +"I'll have a stroll down the road with you, if you have no objection. +Have a manilla." He drew a couple of cheroots from his pocket and +handed one to me. "You'll find they are not bad," he said. "I became a +connoisseur in tobacco when I was in India. I hope I am not interfering +with your business in coming along with you?" + +"Not at all," I answered, "I am very glad to have your company." + +"I'll tell you a secret," said my companion. "This is the first time +that I have been outside the grounds since we have been down here." + +"And your sister?" + +"She has never been out, either," he answered. "I have given the +governor the slip to-day, but he wouldn't half like it if he knew. It's +a whim of his that we should keep ourselves entirely to ourselves. At +least, some people would call it a whim, for my own part I have reason +to believe that he has solid grounds for all that he does--though +perhaps in this matter he may be a little too exacting." + +"You must surely find it very lonely," said I. "Couldn't you manage to +slip down at times and have a smoke with me? That house over yonder is +Branksome." + +"Indeed, you are very kind," he answered, with sparkling eyes. "I should +dearly like to run over now and again. With the exception of Israel +Stakes, our old coachman and gardener, I have not a soul that I can +speak to." + +"And your sister--she must feel it even more," said I, thinking in my +heart that my new acquaintance made rather too much of his own troubles +and too little of those of his companion. + +"Yes; poor Gabriel feels it, no doubt," he answered carelessly, "but +it's a more unnatural thing for a young man of my age to be cooped up in +this way than for a woman. Look at me, now. I am three-and-twenty next +March, and yet I have never been to a university, nor to a school for +that matter. I am as complete an ignoramus as any of these clodhoppers. +It seems strange to you, no doubt, and yet it is so. Now, don't you +think I deserve a better fate?" + +He stopped as he spoke, and faced round to me, throwing his palms +forward in appeal. + +As I looked at him, with the sun shining upon his face, he certainly did +seem a strange bird to be cooped up in such a cage. Tall and muscular, +with a keen, dark face, and sharp, finely cut features, he might have +stepped out of a canvas of Murillo or Velasquez. There were latent +energy and power in his firm-set mouth, his square eyebrows, and the +whole pose of his elastic, well-knit figure. + +"There is the learning to be got from books and the learning to be got +from experience," said I sententiously. "If you have less of your share +of the one, perhaps you have more of the other. I cannot believe you +have spent all your life in mere idleness and pleasure." + +"Pleasure!" he cried. "Pleasure! Look at this!" He pulled off his hat, +and I saw that his black hair was all decked and dashed with streaks of +grey. "Do you imagine that this came from pleasure?" he asked, with a +bitter laugh. + +"You must have had some great shock," I said, astonished at the sight, +"some terrible illness in your youth. Or perhaps it arises from a more +chronic cause--a constant gnawing anxiety. I have known men as young as +you whose hair was as grey." + +"Poor brutes!" he muttered. "I pity them." + +"If you can manage to slip down to Branksome at times," I said, "perhaps +you could bring Miss Heatherstone with you. I know that my father and my +sister would be delighted to see her, and a change, if only for an hour +or two, might do her good." + +"It would be rather hard for us both to get away together," he answered. +"However, if I see a chance I shall bring her down. It might be +managed some afternoon perhaps, for the old man indulges in a siesta +occasionally." + +We had reached the head of the winding lane which branches off from the +high road and leads to the laird's house, so my companion pulled up. + +"I must go back," he said abruptly, "or they will miss me. It's very +kind of you, West, to take this interest in us. I am very grateful to +you, and so will Gabriel be when she hears of your kind invitation. +It's a real heaping of coals of fire after that infernal placard of my +father's." + +He shook my hand and set off down the road, but he came running after me +presently, calling me to stop. + +"I was just thinking," he said, "that you must consider us a great +mystery up there at Cloomber. I dare say you have come to look upon +it as a private lunatic asylum, and I can't blame you. If you are +interested in the matter, I feel it is unfriendly upon my part not to +satisfy your curiosity, but I have promised my father to be silent about +it. And indeed if I were to tell you all that I know you might not +be very much the wiser after all. I would have you understand this, +however--that my father is as sane as you or I, and that he has very +good reasons for living the life which he does. I may add that his wish +to remain secluded does not arise from any unworthy or dishonourable +motives, but merely from the instinct of self-preservation." + +"He is in danger, then?" I ejaculated. + +"Yes; he is in constant danger." + +"But why does he not apply to the magistrates for protection?" I asked. +"If he is afraid of any one, he has only to name him and they will bind +him over to keep the peace." + +"My dear West," said young Heatherstone, "the danger with which +my father is threatened is one that cannot be averted by any human +intervention. It is none the less very real, and possibly very +imminent." + +"You don't mean to assert that it is supernatural," I said +incredulously. + +"Well, hardly that, either," he answered with hesitation. "There," he +continued, "I have said rather more than I should, but I know that you +will not abuse my confidence. Good-bye!" + +He took to his heels and was soon out of sight round a curve in the +country road. + +A danger which was real and imminent, not to be averted by human means, +and yet hardly supernatural--here was a conundrum indeed! + +I had come to look upon the inhabitants of the Hall as mere eccentrics, +but after what young Mordaunt Heatherstone had just told me, I could +no longer doubt that some dark and sinister meaning underlay all their +actions. The more I pondered over the problem, the more unanswerable did +it appear, and yet I could not get the matter out of my thoughts. + +The lonely, isolated Hall, and the strange, impending catastrophe which +hung over its inmates, appealed forcibly to my imagination. All that +evening, and late into the night, I sat moodily by the fire, pondering +over what I had heard, and revolving in my mind the various incidents +which might furnish me with some clue to the mystery. + + + +CHAPTER V. HOW FOUR OF US CAME TO BE UNDER THE SHADOW OF CLOOMBER + +I trust that my readers will not set me down as an inquisitive busybody +when I say that as the days and weeks went by I found my attention and +my thoughts more and more attracted to General Heatherstone and the +mystery which surrounded him. + +It was in vain that I endeavoured by hard work and a strict attention to +the laird's affairs to direct my mind into some more healthy channel. +Do what I would, on land or on the water, I would still find myself +puzzling over this one question, until it obtained such a hold upon me +that I felt it was useless for me to attempt to apply myself to anything +until I had come to some satisfactory solution of it. + +I could never pass the dark line of five-foot fencing, and the great +iron gate, with its massive lock, without pausing and racking my brain +as to what the secret might be which was shut in by that inscrutable +barrier. Yet, with all my conjectures and all my observations, I could +never come to any conclusion which could for a moment be accepted as an +explanation of the facts. + +My sister had been out for a stroll one night, visiting a sick peasant +or performing some other of the numerous acts of charity by which she +had made herself beloved by the whole countryside. + +"John," she said when she returned, "have you seen Cloomber Hall at +night?" + +"No," I answered, laying down the book which I was reading. "Not since +that memorable evening when the general and Mr. McNeil came over to make +an inspection." + +"Well, John, will you put your hat on and come a little walk with me?" + +I could see by her manner that something had agitated or frightened her. + +"Why, bless the girl!" cried I boisterously, "what is the matter? The +old Hall is not on fire, surely? You look as grave as if all Wigtown +were in a blaze." + +"Not quite so bad as that," she said, smiling. "But do come out, Jack. I +should very much like you to see it." + +I had always refrained from saying anything which might alarm my sister, +so that she knew nothing of the interest which our neighbours' doings +had for me. At her request I took my hat and followed her out into the +darkness. She led the way along a little footpath over the moor, which +brought us to some rising ground, from which we could look down upon the +Hall without our view being obstructed by any of the fir-trees which had +been planted round it. + +"Look at that!" said my sister, pausing at the summit of this little +eminence. + +Cloomber lay beneath us in a blaze of light. In the lower floors the +shutters obscured the illumination, but above, from the broad windows +of the second storey to the thin slits at the summit of the tower, there +was not a chink or an aperture which did not send forth a stream of +radiance. So dazzling was the effect that for a moment I was persuaded +that the house was on fire, but the steadiness and clearness of the +light soon freed me from that apprehension. It was clearly the result of +many lamps placed systematically all over the building. + +It added to the strange effect that all these brilliantly illuminated +rooms were apparently untenanted, and some of them, so far as we could +judge, were not even furnished. Through the whole great house there was +no sign of movement or of life--nothing but the clear, unwinking flood +of yellow light. + +I was still lost in wonder at the sight when I heard a short, quick sob +at my side. + +"What is it, Esther, dear?" I asked, looking down at my companion. + +"I feel so frightened. Oh, John, John, take me home, I feel so +frightened!" + +She clung to my arm, and pulled at my coat in a perfect frenzy of fear. + +"It's all safe, darling," I said soothingly. "There is nothing to fear. +What has upset you so?" + +"I am afraid of them, John; I am afraid of the Heatherstones. Why is +their house lit up like this every night? I have heard from others that +it is always so. And why does the old man run like a frightened hare if +any one comes upon him. There is something wrong about it, John, and it +frightens me." + +I pacified her as well as I could, and led her home with me, where I +took care that she should have some hot port negus before going to bed. +I avoided the subject of the Heatherstones for fear of exciting her, +and she did not recur to it of her own accord. I was convinced, however, +from what I had heard from her, that she had for some time back been +making her own observations upon our neighbours, and that in doing so +she had put a considerable strain upon her nerves. + +I could see that the mere fact of the Hall being illuminated at night +was not enough to account for her extreme agitation, and that it must +have derived its importance in her eyes from being one in a chain of +incidents, all of which had left a weird or unpleasant impression upon +her mind. + +That was the conclusion which I came to at the time, and I have reason +to know now that I was right, and that my sister had even more cause +than I had myself for believing that there was something uncanny about +the tenants of Cloomber. + +Our interest in the matter may have arisen at first from nothing higher +than curiosity, but events soon look a turn which associated us more +closely with the fortunes of the Heatherstone family. + +Mordaunt had taken advantage of my invitation to come down to the +laird's house, and on several occasions he brought with him his +beautiful sister. The four of us would wander over the moors together, +or perhaps if the day were fine set sail upon our little skiff and stand +off into the Irish Sea. + +On such excursions the brother and sister would be as merry and as happy +as two children. It was a keen pleasure to them to escape from their +dull fortress, and to see, if only for a few hours, friendly and +sympathetic faces round them. + +There could be but one result when four young people were brought +together in sweet, forbidden intercourse. Acquaintance-ship warmed into +friendship, and friendship flamed suddenly into love. + +Gabriel sits beside me now as I write, and she agrees with me that, dear +as is the subject to ourselves, the whole story of our mutual affection +is of too personal a nature to be more than touched upon in this +statement. Suffice it to say that, within a few weeks of our first +meeting Mordaunt Heatherstone had won the heart of my dear sister, and +Gabriel had given me that pledge which death itself will not be able to +break. + +I have alluded in this brief way to the double tie which sprang up +between the two families, because I have no wish that this narrative +should degenerate into anything approaching to romance, or that I should +lose the thread of the facts which I have set myself to chronicle. These +are connected with General Heatherstone, and only indirectly with my own +personal history. + +It is enough if I say that after our engagement the visits to Branksome +became more frequent, and that our friends were able sometimes to spend +a whole day with us when business had called the general to Wigtown, or +when his gout confined him to his room. + +As to our good father, he was ever ready to greet us with many small +jests and tags of Oriental poems appropriate to the occasion, for we had +no secrets from him, and he already looked upon us all as his children. + +There were times when on account of some peculiarly dark or restless fit +of the general's it was impossible for weeks on end for either Gabriel +or Mordaunt to get away from the grounds. The old man would even stand +on guard, a gloomy and silent sentinel, at the avenue gate, or pace up +and down the drive as though he suspected that attempts had been made to +penetrate his seclusion. + +Passing of an evening I have seen his dark, grim figure flitting about +in the shadow of the trees, or caught a glimpse of his hard, angular, +swarthy face peering out suspiciously at me from behind the bars. + +My heart would often sadden for him as I noticed his uncouth, nervous +movements, his furtive glances and twitching features. Who would have +believed that this slinking, cowering creature had once been a dashing +officer, who had fought the battles of his country and had won the palm +of bravery among the host of brave men around him? + +In spite of the old soldier's vigilance, we managed to hold +communication with our friends. + +Immediately behind the Hall there was a spot where the fencing had been +so carelessly erected that two of the rails could be removed without +difficulty, leaving a broad gap, which gave us the opportunity for +many a stolen interview, though they were necessarily short, for the +general's movements were erratic, and no part of the grounds was secure +from his visitations. + +How vividly one of these hurried meetings rises before me! It stands out +clear, peaceful, and distinct amid the wild, mysterious incidents which +were destined to lead up to the terrible catastrophe which has cast a +shade over our lives. + +I can remember that as I walked through the fields the grass was damp +with the rain of the morning, and the air was heavy with the smell of +the fresh-turned earth. Gabriel was waiting for me under the hawthorn +tree outside the gap, and we stood hand-in-hand looking down at the long +sweep of moorland and at the broad blue channel which encircled it with +its fringe of foam. + +Far away in the north-west the sun glinted upon the high peak of Mount +Throston. From where we stood we could see the smoke of the steamers as +they ploughed along the busy water-way which leads to Belfast. + +"Is it not magnificent?" Gabriel cried, clasping her hands round my arm. +"Ah, John, why are we not free to sail away over these waves together, +and leave all our troubles behind us on the shore?" + +"And what are the troubles which you would leave behind you, dear one?" +I asked. "May I not know them, and help you to bear them?" + +"I have no secrets from you, John," she answered. "Our chief trouble is, +as you may guess, our poor father's strange behaviour. Is it not a sad +thing for all of us that a man who has played such a distinguished part +in the world should skulk from one obscure corner of the country to +another, and should defend himself with locks and barriers as though he +were a common thief flying from justice? This is a trouble, John, which +it is out of your power to alleviate." + +"But why does he do it, Gabriel?" I asked. + +"I cannot tell," she answered frankly. "I only know that he imagines +some deadly danger to be hanging over his head, and that this danger was +incurred by him during his stay in India. What its nature may be I have +no more idea than you have." + +"Then your brother has," I remarked. "I am sure from the way in which he +spoke to me about it one day that he knows what it is, and that he looks +upon it as real." + +"Yes, he knows, and so does my mother," she answered, "but they have +always kept it secret from me. My poor father is very excited at +present. Day and night he is in an agony of apprehension, but it will +soon be the fifth of October, and after that he will be at peace." + +"How do you know that?" I asked in surprise. + +"By experience," she answered gravely. "On the fifth of October these +fears of his come to a crisis. For years back he has been in the habit +of locking Mordaunt and myself up in our rooms on that date, so that we +have no idea what occurs, but we have always found that he has been +much relieved afterwards, and has continued to be comparatively in peace +until that day begins to draw round again." + +"Then you have only ten days or so to wait," I remarked, for September +was drawing to a close. "By the way, dearest, why is it that you light +up all your rooms at night?" + +"You have noticed it, then?" she said. "It comes also from my father's +fears. He does not like to have one dark corner in the whole house. +He walks about a good deal at night, and inspects everything, from the +attics right down to the cellars. He has large lamps in every room and +corridor, even the empty ones, and he orders the servants to light them +all at dusk." + +"I am rather surprised that you manage to keep your servants," I said, +laughing. "The maids in these parts are a superstitious class, and +their imaginations are easily excited by anything which they don't +understand." + +"The cook and both housemaids are from London, and are used to our +ways. We pay them on a very high scale to make up for any inconvenience to +which they may be put. Israel Stakes, the coachman, is the only one who +comes from this part of the country, and he seems to be a stolid, honest +fellow, who is not easily scared." + +"Poor little girl," I exclaimed, looking down at the slim, graceful +figure by my side. "This is no atmosphere for you to live in. Why will +you not let me rescue you from it? Why won't you allow me to go straight +and ask the general for your hand? At the worst he could only refuse." + +She turned quite haggard and pale at the very thought. + +"For Heaven's sake, John," she cried earnestly, "do nothing of the kind. +He would whip us all away in the dead of the night, and within a week +we should be settling down again in some wilderness where we might never +have a chance of seeing or hearing from you again. Besides, he never +would forgive us for venturing out of the grounds." + +"I don't think that he is a hard-hearted man," I remarked. "I have seen +a kindly look in his eyes, for all his stern face." + +"He can be the kindest of fathers," she answered. "But he is terrible +when opposed or thwarted. You have never seen him so, and I trust you +never will. It was that strength of will and impatience of opposition +which made him such a splendid officer. I assure you that in India every +one thought a great deal of him. The soldiers were afraid of him, but +they would have followed him anywhere." + +"And had he these nervous attacks then?" + +"Occasionally, but not nearly so acutely. He seems to think that the +danger--whatever it may be--becomes more imminent every year. Oh, John, +it is terrible to be waiting like this with a sword over our heads--and +all the more terrible to me since I have no idea where the blow is to +come from." + +"Dear Gabriel," I said, taking her hand and drawing her to my side, +"look over all this pleasant countryside and the broad blue sea. Is it +not all peaceful and beautiful? In these cottages, with their red-tiled +roofs peeping out from the grey moor, there live none but simple, +God-fearing men, who toil hard at their crafts and bear enmity to no +man. Within seven miles of us is a large town, with every civilised +appliance for the preservation of order. Ten miles farther there is +a garrison quartered, and a telegram would at any time bring down a +company of soldiers. Now, I ask you, dear, in the name of common-sense, +what conceivable danger could threaten you in this secluded +neighbourhood, with the means of help so near? You assure me that the +peril is not connected with your father's health?" + +"No, I am sure of that. It is true that Dr. Easterling, of Stranraer, +has been over to see him once or twice, but that was merely for some +small indisposition. I can assure you that the danger is not to be +looked for in that direction." + +"Then I can assure you," said I, laughing, "that there is no danger +at all. It must be some strange monomania or hallucination. No other +hypothesis will cover the facts." + +"Would my father's monomania account for the fact of my brother's hair +turning grey and my mother wasting away to a mere shadow?" + +"Undoubtedly," I answered. "The long continued worry of the general's +restlessness and irritability would produce those effects on sensitive +natures." + +"No, no!" said she, shaking her head sadly, "I have been exposed to his +restlessness and irritability, but they have had no such effect upon +me. The difference between us lies in the fact that they know this awful +secret and I do not." + +"My dear girl," said I, "the days of family apparitions and that kind +of thing are gone. Nobody is haunted nowadays, so we can put that +supposition out of the question. Having done so, what remains? There is +absolutely no other theory which could even be suggested. Believe me, +the whole mystery is that the heat of India has been too much for your +poor father's brain." + +What she would have answered I cannot tell, for at that moment she gave +a start as if some sound had fallen upon her ear. As she looked round +apprehensively, I suddenly saw her features become rigid and her eyes +fixed and dilated. + +Following the direction of her gaze, I felt a sudden thrill of fear pass +through me as I perceived a human face surveying us from behind one of +the trees--a man's face, every feature of which was distorted by the +most malignant hatred and anger. Finding himself observed, he stepped +out and advanced towards us, when I saw that it was none other than the +general himself. His beard was all a-bristle with fury, and his deepset +eyes glowed from under their heavily veined lids with a most sinister +and demoniacal brightness. + + + +CHAPTER VI. HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBER + +"To your room, girl!" he cried in a hoarse, harsh voice, stepping in +between us and pointing authoritatively towards the house. + +He waited until Gabriel, with a last frightened glance at me, had +passed through the gap, and then he turned upon me with an expression so +murderous that I stepped back a pace or two, and tightened my grasp upon +my oak stick. + +"You-you--" he spluttered, with his hand twitching at his throat, as +though his fury were choking him. "You have dared to intrude upon my +privacy! Do you think I built this fence that all the vermin in the +country might congregate round it? Oh, you have been very near your +death, my fine fellow! You will never be nearer until your time comes. +Look at this!" He pulled a squat, thick pistol out of his bosom. "If +you had passed through that gap and set foot on my land I'd have let +daylight into you. I'll have no vagabonds here. I know how to treat +gentry of that sort, whether their faces are black or white." + +"Sir," said I, "I meant no harm by coming here, and I do not know how I +have deserved this extraordinary outburst. Allow me to observe, however, +that you are still covering me with your pistol, and that, as your hand +is rather tremulous, it is more than possible that it may go off. If +you don't turn the muzzle down I shall be compelled in self-defence to +strike you over the wrist with my stick." + +"What the deuce brought you here, then?" he asked, in a more composed +voice, putting his weapon back into his bosom. "Can't a gentleman live +quietly without your coming to peep and pry? Have you no business +of your own to look after, eh? And my daughter? how came you to know +anything of her? and what have you been trying to squeeze out of her? It +wasn't chance that brought you here." + +"No," said I boldly, "it was not chance which brought me here. I have +had several opportunities of seeing your daughter and of appreciating +her many noble qualities. We are engaged to be married to each other, +and I came up with the express intention of seeing her." + +Instead of blazing into a fury, as I had expected, the general gave a +long whistle of astonishment, and then leant up against the railings, +laughing softly to himself. + +"English terriers are fond of nosing worms," he remarked at last. "When +we brought them out to India they used to trot off into the jungle and +begin sniffing at what they imagined to be worms there. But the worm +turned out to be a venomous snake, and so poor doggy played no more. I +think you'll find yourself in a somewhat analogous position if you don't +look out." + +"You surely don't mean to cast an aspersion upon your own daughter?" I +said, flushing with indignation. + +"Oh, Gabriel is all right," he answered carelessly. "Our family is not +exactly one, however, which I should recommend a young fellow to marry +into. And pray how is it that I was not informed of this snug little +arrangement of yours?" + +"We were afraid, sir, that you might separate us," I replied, feeling +that perfect candour was the best policy under the circumstances. "It is +possible that we were mistaken. Before coming to any final decision, I +implore you to remember that the happiness of both of us is at stake. It +is in your power to divide our bodies, but our souls shall be for ever +united." + +"My good fellow," said the general, in a not unkindly tone, "you don't +know what you are asking for. There is a gulf between you and any one of +the blood of Heatherstone which can never be bridged over." + +All trace of anger had vanished now from his manner, and given place to +an air of somewhat contemptuous amusement. + +My family pride took fire at his words. "The gulf may be less than you +imagine," I said coldly. "We are not clodhoppers because we live in this +out-of-the-way place. I am of noble descent on one side, and my mother +was a Buchan of Buchan. I assure you that there is no such disparity +between us as you seem to imagine." + +"You misunderstand me," the general answered. "It is on our side that +the disparity lies. There are reasons why my daughter Gabriel should +live and die single. It would not be to your advantage to marry her." + +"But surely, sir," I persisted, "I am the best judge of my own interests +and advantages. Since you take this ground all becomes easy, for I do +assure you that the one interest which overrides all others is that I +should have the woman I love for my wife. If this is your only objection +to our match you may surely give us your consent, for any danger or +trial which I may incur in marrying Gabriel will not weigh with me one +featherweight." + +"Here's a young bantam!" exclaimed the old soldier, smiling at my +warmth. "It's easy to defy danger when you don't know what the danger +is." + +"What is it, then?" I asked, hotly. "There is no earthly peril which +will drive me from Gabriel's side. Let me know what it is and test me." + +"No, no. That would never do," he answered with a sigh, and then, +thoughtfully, as if speaking his mind aloud: "He has plenty of pluck and +is a well-grown lad, too. We might do worse than make use of him." + +He went on mumbling to himself with a vacant stare in his eyes as if he +had forgotten my presence. + +"Look here, West," he said presently. "You'll excuse me if I spoke +hastily a little time ago. It is the second time that I have had +occasion to apologise to you for the same offence. It shan't occur +again. I am rather over-particular, no doubt, in my desire for complete +isolation, but I have good reasons for insisting on the point. Rightly +or wrongly, I have got it into my head that some day there might be an +organised raid upon my grounds. If anything of the sort should occur I +suppose I might reckon upon your assistance?" + +"With all my heart." + +"So that if ever you got a message such as 'Come up,' or even +'Cloomber,' you would know that it was an appeal for help, and would +hurry up immediately, even if it were in the dead of the night?" + +"Most certainly I should," I answered. "But might I ask you what the +nature of the danger is which you apprehend?" + +"There would be nothing gained by your knowing. Indeed, you would hardly +understand it if I told you. I must bid you good day now, for I have +stayed with you too long. Remember, I count upon you as one of the +Cloomber garrison now." + +"One other thing, sir," I said hurriedly, for he was turning away, "I +hope that you will not be angry with your daughter for anything which I +have told you. It was for my sake that she kept it all secret from you." + +"All right," he said, with his cold, inscrutable smile. "I am not such +an ogre in the bosom of my family as you seem to think. As to this +marriage question, I should advise you as a friend to let it drop +altogether, but if that is impossible I must insist that it stand over +completely for the present. It is impossible to say what unexpected turn +events may take. Good-bye." + +He plunged into the wood and was quickly out of sight among the dense +plantation. + +Thus ended this extraordinary interview, in which this strange man +had begun by pointing a loaded pistol at my breast and had ended, +by partially acknowledging the possibility of my becoming his future +son-in-law. I hardly knew whether to be cast down or elated over it. + +On the one hand he was likely, by keeping a closer watch over his +daughter, to prevent us from communicating as freely as we had done +hitherto. Against this there was the advantage of having obtained an +implied consent to the renewal of my suit at some future date. On the +whole, I came to the conclusion as I walked thoughtfully home that I had +improved my position by the incident. + +But this danger--this shadowy, unspeakable danger--which appeared to +rise up at every turn, and to hang day and night over the towers of +Cloomber! Rack my brain as I would, I could not conjure up any solution +to the problem which was not puerile and inadequate. + +One fact struck me as being significant. Both the father and the son had +assured me, independently of each other, that if I were told what the +peril was, I would hardly realise its significance. How strange and +bizarre must the fear be which can scarcely be expressed in intelligible +language! + +I held up my hand in the darkness before I turned to sleep that night, +and I swore that no power of man or devil should ever weaken my love for +the woman whose pure heart I had had the good fortune to win. + + + +CHAPTER VII. OF CORPORAL RUFUS SMITH AND HIS COMING TO CLOOMBER + +In making this statement I have purposely couched it in bald and simple +language, for fear I should be accused of colouring my narrative for the +sake of effect. If, however, I have told my story with any approach to +realism, the reader will understand me when I say that by this time +the succession of dramatic incidents which had occurred had arrested +my attention and excited my imagination to the exclusion of all minor +topics. + +How could I plod through the dull routine of an agent's work, or +interest myself in the thatch of this tenant's bothy or the sails of +that one's boat, when my mind was taken up by the chain of events which +I have described, and was still busy seeking an explanation for them. + +Go where I would over the countryside, I could see the square, white +tower shooting out from among the trees, and beneath that tower this +ill-fated family were watching and waiting, waiting and watching--and +for what? That was still the question which stood like an impassable +barrier at the end of every train of thought. + +Regarded merely as an abstract problem, this mystery of the Heatherstone +family had a lurid fascination about it, but when the woman whom I +loved a thousandfold better than I did myself proved to be so deeply +interested in the solution, I felt that it was impossible to turn my +thoughts to anything else until it had been finally cleared up. + +My good father had received a letter from the laird, dated from Naples, +which told us that he had derived much benefit from the change, and that +he had no intention of returning to Scotland for some time. This was +satisfactory to all of us, for my father had found Branksome such an +excellent place for study that it would have been a sore trial to him +to return to the noise and tumult of a city. As to my dear sister and +myself, there were, as I have shown, stronger reasons still to make us +love the Wigtownshire moors. + +In spite of my interview with the general--or perhaps I might say on +account of it--I took occasion at least twice a day to walk towards +Cloomber and satisfy myself that all was well there. He had begun by +resenting my intrusion, but he had ended by taking me into a sort of +half-confidence, and even by asking my assistance, so I felt that I +stood upon a different footing with him than I had done formerly, and +that he was less likely to be annoyed by my presence. Indeed, I met him +pacing round the inclosure a few days afterwards, and his manner towards +me was civil, though he made no allusion to our former conversation. + +He appeared to be still in an extreme state of nervousness, starting +from time to time, and gazing furtively about him, with little +frightened, darting glances to the right and the left. I hoped that his +daughter was right in naming the fifth of October as the turning point +of his complaint, for it was evident to me as I looked at his gleaming +eyes and quivering hands, that a man could not live long in such a state +of nervous tension. + +I found on examination that he had had the loose rails securely fastened +so as to block up our former trysting-place, and though I prowled round +the whole long line of fencing, I was unable to find any other place +where an entrance could be effected. + +Here and there between the few chinks left in the barrier I could catch +glimpses of the Hall, and once I saw a rough-looking, middle-aged man +standing at a window on the lower floor, whom I supposed to be Israel +Stakes, the coachman. There was no sign, however, of Gabriel or of +Mordaunt, and their absence alarmed me. I was convinced that, unless +they were under some restraint, they would have managed to communicate +with my sister or myself. My fears became more and more acute as day +followed day without our seeing or hearing anything of them. + +One morning--it was the second day of October--I was walking towards the +Hall, hoping that I might be fortunate enough to learn some news of my +darling, when I observed a man perched upon a stone at the side of the +road. + +As I came nearer to him I could see that he was a stranger, and from his +dusty clothes and dilapidated appearance he seemed to have come from a +distance. He had a great hunch of bread on his knee and a clasp-knife +in his hand, but he had apparently just finished his breakfast, for he +brushed the crumbs off his lap and rose to his feet when he perceived +me. + +Noticing the great height of the fellow and that he still held his +weapon, I kept well to the other side of the road, for I knew that +destitution makes men desperate and that the chain that glittered on +my waistcoat might be too great a temptation to him upon this lonely +highway. I was confirmed in my fears when I saw him step out into the +centre of the road and bar my progress. + +"Well, my lad," I said, affecting an ease which I by no means felt, +"what can I do for you this morning?" + +The fellow's face was the colour of mahogany with exposure to the +weather, and he had a deep scar from the corner of his mouth to his ear, +which by no means improved his appearance. His hair was grizzled, but +his figure was stalwart, and his fur cap was cocked on one side so as to +give him a rakish, semi-military appearance. Altogether he gave me the +impression of being one of the most dangerous types of tramp that I had +ever fallen in with. + +Instead of replying to my question, he eyed me for some time in silence +with sullen, yellow-shot eyes, and then closed his knife with a loud +snick. + +"You're not a beak," he said, "too young for that, I guess. They had me +in chokey at Paisley and they had me in chokey at Wigtown, but by +the living thunder if another of them lays a hand on me I'll make him +remember Corporal Rufus Smith! It's a darned fine country this, where +they won't give a man work, and then lay him by the heels for having no +visible means of subsistence." + +"I am sorry to see an old soldier so reduced," said I. "What corps did +you serve in?" + +"H Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. Bad cess to the Service and every +one in it! Here I am nigh sixty years of age, with a beggarly pension of +thirty-eight pound ten--not enough to keep me in beer and baccy." + +"I should have thought thirty-eight pound ten a year would have been a +nice help to you in your old age," I remarked. + +"Would you, though?" he answered with a sneer, pushing his +weather-beaten face forward until it was within a foot of my own. + +"How much d'ye think that slash with a tulwar is worth? And my foot with +all the bones rattling about like a bagful of dice where the trail +of the gun went across it. What's that worth, eh? And a liver like a +sponge, and ague whenever the wind comes round to the east--what's the +market value of that? Would you take the lot for a dirty forty pound a +year--would you now?" + +"We are poor folk in this part of the country," I answered. "You would +pass for a rich man down here." + +"They are fool folk and they have fool tastes," said he, drawing a black +pipe from his pocket and stuffing it with tobacco. "I know what good +living is, and, by cripes! while I have a shilling in my pocket I like +to spend it as a shilling should be spent. I've fought for my country +and my country has done darned little for me. I'll go to the Rooshians, +so help me! I could show them how to cross the Himalayas so that it +would puzzle either Afghans or British to stop 'em. What's that secret +worth in St. Petersburg, eh, mister?" + +"I am ashamed to hear an old soldier speak so, even in jest," said I +sternly. + +"Jest, indeed!" he cried, with a great, roaring oath. "I'd have done it +years ago if the Rooshians had been game to take it up. Skobeloff +was the best of the bunch, but he's been snuffed out. However, that's +neither here nor there. What I want to ask you is whether you've ever +heard anything in this quarter of a man called Heatherstone, the same +who used to be colonel of the 41st Bengalis? They told me at Wigtown +that he lived somewhere down this way." + +"He lives in that large house over yonder," said I, pointing to Cloomber +Tower. "You'll find the avenue gate a little way down the road, but the +general isn't over fond of visitors." + +The last part of my speech was lost upon Corporal Rufus Smith; for the +instant that I pointed out the gate he set off hopping down the road. + +His mode of progression was the most singular I have ever seen, for he +would only put his right foot to the ground once in every half-dozen +strides, while he worked so hard and attained such a momentum with the +other limb that he got over the ground at an astonishing speed. + +I was so surprised that I stood in the roadway gazing after this hulking +figure until the thought suddenly struck me that some serious result +might come from a meeting between a man of such blunt speech and the +choleric, hot-headed general. I therefore followed him as he hopped +along like some great, clumsy bird, and overtook him at the avenue gate, +where he stood grasping the ironwork and peering through at the dark +carriage-drive beyond. + +"He's a sly old jackal," he said, looking round at me and nodding his +head in the direction of the Hall. "He's a deep old dog. And that's his +bungalow, is it, among the trees?" + +"That is his house," I answered; "but I should advise you to keep a more +civil tongue in your head if you intend to speak with the general. He is +not a man to stand any nonsense." + +"Right you are. He was always a hard nut to crack. But isn't this him +coming down the avenue?" + +I looked through the gate and saw that it was indeed the general, who, +having either seen us or been attracted by our voices, was hurrying down +towards us. As he advanced he would stop from time to time and peer at +us through the dark shadow thrown by the trees, as if he were irresolute +whether to come on or no. + +"He's reconnoitering!" whispered my companion with a hoarse chuckle. +"He's afraid--and I know what he's afraid of. He won't be caught in a +trap if he can help it, the old 'un. He's about as fly as they make 'em, +you bet!" + +Then suddenly standing on his tip-toes and waving his hand through the +bars of the gate, he shouted at the top of his voice: + +"Come on, my gallant commandant! Come on! The coast's clear, and no +enemy in sight." + +This familiar address had the effect of reassuring the general, for he +came right for us, though I could tell by his heightened colour that his +temper was at boiling point. + +"What, you here, Mr. West?" he said, as his eye fell upon me. "What is +it you want, and why have you brought this fellow with you?" + +"I have not brought him with me, sir," I answered, feeling rather +disgusted at being made responsible for the presence of the +disreputable-looking vagabond beside me. "I found him on the road here, +and he desired to be directed to you, so I showed him the way. I know +nothing of him myself." + +"What do you want with me, then?" the general asked sternly, turning to +my companion. + +"If you please, sir," said the ex-corporal, speaking in a whining voice, +and touching his moleskin cap with a humility which contrasted strangely +with the previous rough independence of his bearing, "I'm an old gunner +in the Queen's service, sir, and knowing your name by hearing it in +India I thought that maybe you would take me as your groom or gardener, +or give me any other place as happened to be vacant." + +"I am sorry that I cannot do anything for you, my man," the old soldier +answered impressively. + +"Then you'll give me a little just to help me on my way, sir," said the +cringing mendicant. "You won't see an old comrade go to the bad for the +sake of a few rupees? I was with Sale's brigade in the Passes, sir, and +I was at the second taking of Cabul." + +General Heatherstone looked keenly at the supplicant, but was silent +to his appeal. + +"I was in Ghuznee with you when the walls were all shook down by an +earthquake, and when we found forty thousand Afghans within gunshot of +us. You ask me about it, and you'll see whether I'm lying or not. We +went through all this when we were young, and now that we are old you +are to live in a fine bungalow, and I am to starve by the roadside. It +don't seem to me to be fair." + +"You are an impertinent scoundrel," said the general. "If you had been a +good soldier you would never need to ask for help. I shall not give you +a farthing." + +"One word more, sir," cried the tramp, for the other was turning away, +"I've been in the Tarada Pass." + +The old soldier sprang round as if the words had been a pistol-shot. + +"What--what d'ye mean?" he stammered. + +"I've been in the Tarada Pass, sir, and I knew a man there called +Ghoolab Shah." + +These last were hissed out in an undertone, and a malicious grin +overspread the face of the speaker. + +Their effect upon the general was extraordinary. He fairly staggered +back from the gateway, and his yellow countenance blanched to a livid, +mottled grey. For a moment he was too overcome to speak. At last he +gasped out: + +"Ghoolab Shah? Who are you who know Ghoolab Shah?" + +"Take another look," said the tramp, "your sight is not as keen as it +was forty years ago." + +The general took a long, earnest look at the unkempt wanderer in front +of him, and as he gazed I saw the light of recognition spring up in his +eyes. + +"God bless my soul!" he cried. "Why, it's Corporal Rufus Smith." + +"You've come on it at last," said the other, chuckling to himself. "I +was wondering how long it would be before you knew me. And, first +of all, just unlock this gate, will you? It's hard to talk through a +grating. It's too much like ten minutes with a visitor in the cells." + +The general, whose face still bore evidences of his agitation, undid the +bolts with nervous, trembling fingers. The recognition of Corporal Rufus +Smith had, I fancied, been a relief to him, and yet he plainly showed +by his manner that he regarded his presence as by no means an unmixed +blessing. + +"Why, Corporal," he said, as the gate swung open, "I have often wondered +whether you were dead or alive, but I never expected to see you again. +How have you been all these long years?" + +"How have I been?" the corporal answered gruffly. "Why, I have been +drunk for the most part. When I draw my money I lay it out in liquor, +and as long as that lasts I get some peace in life. When I'm cleaned out +I go upon tramp, partly in the hope of picking up the price of a dram, +and partly in order to look for you." + +"You'll excuse us talking about these private matters, West," the +general said, looking round at me, for I was beginning to move away. +"Don't leave us. You know something of this matter already, and may find +yourself entirely in the swim with us some of these days." + +Corporal Rufus Smith looked round at me in blank astonishment. + +"In the swim with us?" he said. "However did he get there?" + +"Voluntarily, voluntarily," the general explained, hurriedly sinking his +voice. "He is a neighbour of mine, and he has volunteered his help in +case I should ever need it." + +This explanation seemed, if anything, to increase the big stranger's +surprise. + +"Well, if that don't lick cock-fighting!" he exclaimed, contemplating me +with admiration. "I never heard tell of such a thing." + +"And now you have found me, Corporal Smith," said the tenant of +Cloomber, "what is it that you want of me?" + +"Why, everything. I want a roof to cover me, and clothes to wear, and +food to eat, and, above all, brandy to drink." + +"Well, I'll take you in and do what I can for you," said the general +slowly. "But look here, Smith, we must have discipline. I'm the general +and you are the corporal; I am the master and you are the man. Now, +don't let me have to remind you of that again." + +The tramp drew himself up to his full height and raised his right hand +with the palm forward in a military salute. + +"I can take you on as gardener and get rid of the fellow I have got. +As to brandy, you shall have an allowance and no more. We are not deep +drinkers at the Hall." + +"Don't you take opium, or brandy, or nothing yourself, sir?" asked +Corporal Rufus Smith. + +"Nothing," the general said firmly. + +"Well, all I can say is, that you've got more nerve and pluck than I +shall ever have. I don't wonder now at your winning that Cross in the +Mutiny. If I was to go on listening night after night to them things +without ever taking a drop of something to cheer my heart--why, it would +drive me silly." + +General Heatherstone put his hand up, as though afraid that his +companion might say too much. + +"I must thank you, Mr. West," he said, "for having shown this man my +door. I would not willingly allow an old comrade, however humble, to go +to the bad, and if I did not acknowledge his claim more readily it +was simply because I had my doubts as to whether he was really what he +represented himself to be. Just walk up to the Hall, Corporal, and I +shall follow you in a minute." + +"Poor fellow!" he continued, as he watched the newcomer hobbling up the +avenue in the ungainly manner which I have described. "He got a gun over +his foot, and it crushed the bones, but the obstinate fool would not let +the doctors take it off. I remember him now as a smart young soldier in +Afghanistan. He and I were associated in some queer adventures, which I +may tell you of some day, and I naturally feel sympathy towards him, and +would befriend him. Did he tell you anything about me before I came?" + +"Not a word," I replied. + +"Oh," said the general carelessly, but with an evident expression of +relief, "I thought perhaps he might have said something of old times. +Well, I must go and look after him, or the servants will be frightened, +for he isn't a beauty to look at. Good-bye!" + +With a wave of the hand the old man turned away from me and hurried +up the drive after this unexpected addition to his household, while I +strolled on round the high, black paling, peering through every chink +between the planks, but without seeing a trace either of Mordaunt or of +his sister. + +I have now brought this statement down to the coming of Corporal Rufus +Smith, which will prove to be the beginning of the end. + +I have set down soberly and in order the events which brought us to +Wigtownshire, the arrival of the Heatherstones at Cloomber, the many +strange incidents which excited first our curiosity and finally our +intense interest in that family, and I have briefly touched upon the +circumstances which brought my sister and myself into a closer and more +personal relationship with them. I think that there cannot be a better +moment than this to hand the narrative over to those who had means of +knowing something of what was going on inside Cloomber during the months +that I was observing it from without. + +Israel Stakes, the coachman, proved to be unable to read or write, but +Mr. Mathew Clark, the Presbyterian Minister of Stoneykirk, has copied +down his deposition, duly attested by the cross set opposite to his +name. The good clergyman has, I fancy, put some slight polish upon the +narrator's story, which I rather regret, as it might have been more +interesting, if less intelligible, when reported verbatim. It still +preserves, however, considerable traces of Israel's individuality, +and may be regarded as an exact record of what he saw and did while in +General Heatherstone's service. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. STATEMENT OF ISRAEL STAKES + + +(Copied and authenticated by the Reverend Mathew Clark, Presbyterian +Minister of Stoneykirk, in Wigtownshire) + +Maister Fothergill West and the meenister say that I maun tell all I can +aboot General Heatherstone and his hoose, but that I maunna say muckle +aboot mysel' because the readers wouldna care to hear aboot me or my +affairs. I am na sae sure o' that, for the Stakes is a family weel +kenned and respecked on baith sides o' the Border, and there's mony in +Nithsdale and Annandale as would be gey pleased to hear news o' the son +o' Archie Stakes, o' Ecclefechan. + +I maun e'en do as I'm tauld, however, for Mr. West's sake, hoping he'll +no forget me when I chance to hae a favour tae ask.(1) I'm no able tae +write mysel' because my feyther sent me oot to scare craws instead o' +sendin' me tae school, but on the ither hond he brought me up in the +preenciples and practice o' the real kirk o' the Covenant, for which may +the Lord be praised! + +It way last May twel'month that the factor body, Maister McNeil, cam +ower tae me in the street and speered whether I was in want o' a place +as a coachman and gairdner. As it fell oot I chanced tae be on the look +oot for something o' the sort mysel' at the time, but I wasna ower quick +to let him see that I wanted it. + +"Ye can tak it or leave it," says he sharp like. "It's a guid place, +and there's mony would be glad o't. If ye want it ye can come up tae my +office at twa the morn and put your ain questions tae the gentleman." + +That was a' I could get frae him, for he's a close man and a hard one at +a bargain--which shall profit him leetle in the next life, though he lay +by a store o' siller in this. When the day comes there'll be a hantle o' +factors on the left hand o' the throne, and I shouldna be surprised if +Maister McNeil found himsel' amang them. + +Weel, on the morn I gaed up to the office and there I foond the factor +and a lang, thin, dour man wi' grey hair and a face as brown and +crinkled as a walnut. He looked hard at me wi' a pair o' een that glowed +like twa spunks, and then he says, says he: + +"You've been born in these pairts, I understan'?" + +"Aye," says I, "and never left them neither." + +"Never been oot o' Scotland?" he speers. + +"Twice to Carlisle fair," says I, for I am a man wha loves the truth; +and besides I kenned that the factor would mind my gaeing there, for I +bargained fur twa steers and a stirk that he wanted for the stockin' o' +the Drumleugh Fairm. + +"I learn frae Maister McNeil," says General Heatherstone--for him it was +and nane ither--"that ye canna write." + +"Na," says I. + +"Nor read?" + +"Na," says I. + +"It seems tae me," says he, turnin' tae the factor, "that this is the +vera man I want. Servants is spoilt noo-a-days," says he, "by ower +muckle eddication. I hae nae doobt, Stakes, that ye will suit me well +enough. Ye'll hae three pund a month and a' foond, but I shall resairve +the right o' givin' ye twenty-four hoors' notice at any time. How will +that suit ye?" + +"It's vera different frae my last place," says I, discontented-like. + +And the words were true enough, for auld Fairmer Scott only gave me a +pund a month and parritch twice a day. + +"Weel, weel," says he, "maybe we'll gie ye a rise if ye suit. Meanwhile +here's the han'sel shillin' that Maister McNeil tells me it's the custom +tae give, and I shall expec' tae see ye at Cloomber on Monday." + +When the Monday cam roond I walked oot tae Cloomber, and a great muckle +hoose it is, wi' a hunderd windows or mair, and space enough tae hide +awa' half the parish. + +As tae gairdening, there was no gairden for me tae work at, and the +horse was never taken oot o' the stables frae week's end tae week's end. +I was busy enough for a' that, for there was a deal o' fencing tae +be put up, and one thing or anither, forbye cleanin' the knives and +brushin' the boots and such-like jobs as is mair fit for an auld wife +than for a grown man. + +There was twa besides mysel' in the kitchen, the cook Eliza, and Mary +the hoosemaid, puir, benighted beings baith o' them, wha had wasted a' +their lives in London, and kenned leetle aboot the warld or the ways o' +the flesh. + +I hadna muckle tae say to them, for they were simple folk who could +scarce understand English, and had hardly mair regard for their ain +souls than the tods on the moor. When the cook said she didna think +muckle o' John Knox, and the ither that she wouldna give saxpence tae +hear the discourse o' Maister Donald McSnaw o' the true kirk, I kenned +it was time for me tae leave them tae a higher Judge. + +There was four in family, the general, my leddy, Maister Mordaunt, +and Miss Gabriel, and it wasna long before I found that a' wasna just +exactly as it should be. My leddy was as thin and as white as a ghaist, +and many's the time as I've come on her and found her yammerin' and +greetin' all by hersel'. I've watched her walkin' up and doon in the +wood where she thought nane could see her and wringin' her honds like +one demented. + +There was the young gentleman, tae, and his sister--they baith seemed +to hae some trouble on their minds, and the general maist of a', for the +ithers were up ane day and down anither; but he was aye the same, wi' a +face as dour and sad as a felon when he feels the tow roond his neck. + +I speered o' the hussies in the kitchen whether they kenned what was +amiss wi' the family, but the cook she answered me back that it wasna +for her tae inquire into the affairs o' her superiors, and that it was +naething to her as long as she did her work and had her wages. They were +puir, feckless bodies, the twa o' them, and would scarce gie an answer +tae a ceevil question, though they could clack lood eneugh when they had +a mind. + +Weel, weeks passed into months and a' things grew waur instead o' +better in the Hall. The general he got mair nairvous, and his leddy +mair melancholy every day, and yet there wasna any quarrel or bickering +between them, for when they've been togither in the breakfast room +I used often tae gang round and prune the rose-tree alongside o' +the window, so that I couldna help hearin' a great pairt o' their +conversation, though sair against the grain. + +When the young folk were wi' them they would speak little, but when they +had gone they would aye talk as if some waefu' trial ere aboot to fa' +upon them, though I could never gather from their words what it was that +they were afeared o'. + +I've heard the general say mair than ance that he wasna frighted o' +death, or any danger that he could face and have done wi', but that it +was the lang, weary waitin' and the uncertainty that had taken a' the +strength and the mettle oot o' him. Then my leddy would console him and +tell him that maybe it wasna as bad as he thocht, and that a' would come +richt in the end--but a' her cheery words were clean throwed away upon +him. + +As tae the young folks, I kenned weel that they didna bide in the +groonds, and that they were awa' whenever they got a chance wi' Maister +Fothergill West tae Branksome, but the general was too fu' o' his ain +troubles tae ken aboot it, and it didna seem tae me that it was pairt +o' my duties either as coachman or as gairdner tae mind the bairns. +He should have lairnt that if ye forbid a lassie and a laddie to dae +anything it's just the surest way o' bringin' it aboot. The Lord foond +that oot in the gairden o' Paradise, and there's no muckle change +between the folk in Eden and the folk in Wigtown. + +There's ane thing that I havena spoke aboot yet, but that should be set +doon. + +The general didna share his room wi' his wife, but slept a' alane in a +chamber at the far end o' the hoose, as distant as possible frae every +one else. This room was aye lockit when he wasna in it, and naebody was +ever allowed tae gang into it. He would mak' his ain bed, and red it up +and dust it a' by himsel', but he wouldna so much as allow one o' us to +set fut on the passage that led tae it. + +At nicht he would walk a' ower the hoose, and he had lamps hung in every +room and corner, so that no pairt should be dark. + +Many's the time frae my room in the garret I've heard his futsteps +comin' and gangin', comin' and gangin' doon one passage and up anither +frae midnight till cockcraw. It was weary wark to lie listenin' tae his +clatter and wonderin' whether he was clean daft, or whether maybe he'd +lairnt pagan and idolatrous tricks oot in India, and that his conscience +noo was like the worm which gnaweth and dieth not. I'd ha' speered frae +him whether it wouldna ease him to speak wi' the holy Donald McSnaw, but +it might ha' been a mistake, and the general wasna a man that you'd care +tae mak' a mistake wi'. + +Ane day I was workin' at the grass border when he comes up and he says, +says he: + +"Did ye ever have occasion tae fire a pistol, Israel?" + +"Godsakes!" says I, "I never had siccan a thing in my honds in my life." + +"Then you'd best not begin noo," says he. "Every man tae his ain +weepon," he says. "Now I warrant ye could do something wi' a guid +crab-tree cudgel!" + +"Aye, could I," I answered blithely, "as well as ony lad on the Border." + +"This is a lonely hoose," says he, "and we might be molested by some +rascals. It's weel tae be ready for whatever may come. Me and you and my +son Mordaunt and Mr. Fothergill West of Branksome, who would come if he +was required, ought tae be able tae show a bauld face--what think ye?" + +"'Deed, sir," I says, "feastin' is aye better than fechtin'--but if +ye'll raise me a pund a month, I'll no' shirk my share o' either." + +"We won't quarrel ower that," says he, and agreed tae the extra twal' +pund a year as easy as though it were as many bawbees. Far be it frae me +tae think evil, but I couldna help surmisin' at the time that money that +was so lightly pairted wi' was maybe no' so very honestly cam by. + +I'm no' a curious or a pryin' mun by nature, but I was sair puzzled in +my ain mind tae tell why it was that the general walked aboot at nicht +and what kept him frae his sleep. + +Weel, ane day I was cleanin' doon the passages when my e'e fell on a +great muckle heap o' curtains and auld cairpets and sic' like things +that were piled away in a corner, no vera far frae the door o' the +general's room. A' o' a sudden a thocht came intae my heid and I says +tae mysel': + +"Israel, laddie," says I, "what's tae stop ye frae hidin' behind that +this vera nicht and seein' the auld mun when he doesna ken human e'e is +on him?" + +The mair I thocht o't the mair seemple it appeared, and I made up my +mind tae put the idea intae instant execution. + +When the nicht cam roond I tauld the women-folk that I was bad wi' the +jawache, and would gang airly tae my room. I kenned fine when ance I got +there that there was na chance o' ony ane disturbin' me, so I waited a +wee while, and then when a' was quiet, I slippit aff my boots and ran +doon the ither stair until I cam tae the heap o' auld clothes, and there +I lay doon wi' ane e'e peepin' through a kink and a' the rest covered up +wi' a great, ragged cairpet. + +There I bided as quiet as a mouse until the general passed me on his +road tae bed, and a' was still in the hoose. + +My certie! I wouldna gang through wi' it again for a' the siller at the +Union Bank of Dumfries, I canna think o't noo withoot feelin' cauld a' +the way doon my back. + +It was just awfu' lyin' there in the deid silence, waitin' and waitin' +wi' never a soond tae break the monotony, except the heavy tickin' o' an +auld clock somewhere doon the passage. + +First I would look doon the corridor in the one way, and syne I'd look +doon in t'ither, but it aye seemed to me as though there was something +coming up frae the side that I wasna lookin' at. I had a cauld sweat on +my broo, and my hairt was beatin' twice tae ilka tick o' the clock, and +what feared me most of a' was that the dust frae the curtains and things +was aye gettin' doon intae my lungs, and it was a' I could dae tae keep +mysel' frae coughin'. + +Godsakes! I wonder my hair wasna grey wi' a' that I went through. I +wouldna dae it again to be made Lord Provost o' Glasgie. + +Weel, it may have been twa o'clock in the mornin' or maybe a little +mair, and I was just thinkin' that I wasna tae see onything after +a'--and I wasna very sorry neither--when all o' a sudden a soond cam tae +my ears clear and distinct through the stillness o' the nicht. + +I've been asked afore noo tae describe that soond, but I've aye foond +that it's no' vera easy tae gie a clear idea o't, though it was unlike +any other soond that ever I hearkened tae. It was a shairp, ringin' +clang, like what could be caused by flippin' the rim o' a wineglass, but +it was far higher and thinner than that, and had in it, tae, a kind o' +splash, like the tinkle o' a rain-drop intae a water-butt. + +In my fear I sat up amang my cairpets, like a puddock among +gowan-leaves, and I listened wi' a' my ears. A' was still again noo, +except for the dull tickin' o' the distant clock. + +Suddenly the soond cam again, as clear, as shrill, as shairp as ever, +and this time the general heard it, for I heard him gie a kind o' groan, +as a tired man might wha has been roosed oot o' his sleep. + +He got up frae his bed, and I could make oot a rustling noise, as though +he were dressin' himsel', and presently his footfa' as he began tae walk +up and doon in his room. + +Mysakes! it didna tak lang for me tae drap doon amang the cairpets again +and cover mysel' ower. There I lay tremblin' in every limb, and sayin' +as mony prayers as I could mind, wi' my e'e still peepin' through the +keek-hole, and fixed upon the door o' the general's room. + +I heard the rattle o' the handle presently, and the door swung slowly +open. There was a licht burnin' in the room beyond, an' I could just +catch a glimpse o' what seemed tae me like a row o' swords stuck alang +the side o' the wa', when the general stepped oot and shut the door +behind him. He was dressed in a dressin' goon, wi' a red smokin'-cap +on his heid, and a pair o' slippers wi' the heels cut off and the taes +turned up. + +For a moment it cam into my held that maybe he was walkin' in his sleep, +but as he cam towards me I could see the glint o' the licht in his e'en, +and his face was a' twistin', like a man that's in sair distress o' +mind. On my conscience, it gies me the shakes noo when I think o' his +tall figure and his yelley face comin' sae solemn and silent doon the +lang, lone passage. + +I haud my breath and lay close watchin' him, but just as he cam tae +where I was my vera hairt stood still in my breast, for "ting!"--loud +and clear, within a yaird o' me cam the ringin', clangin' soond that I +had a'ready hairkened tae. + +Where it cam frae is mair than I can tell or what was the cause o't. It +might ha' been that the general made it, but I was sair puzzled tae tell +hoo, for his honds were baith doon by his side as he passed me. It cam +frae his direction, certainly, but it appeared tae me tae come frae ower +his heid, but it was siccan a thin, eerie, high-pitched, uncanny kind o' +soond that it wasna easy tae say just exactly where it did come frae. + +The general tuk nae heed o't, but walked on and was soon oot o' sicht, +and I didna lose a minute in creepin' oot frae my hidin' place and +scamperin' awa' back tae my room, and if a' the bogies in the Red Sea +were trapesin' up and doon the hale nicht through, I wud never put my +heid oot again tae hae a glimpse o' them. + +I didna say a word tae anybody aboot what I'd seen, but I made up my +mind that I wudna stay muckle langer at Cloomber Ha'. Four pund a month +is a good wage, but it isna enough tae pay a man for the loss o' his +peace o' mind, and maybe the loss o' his soul as weel, for when the deil +is aboot ye canna tell what sort o' a trap he may lay for ye, and though +they say that Providence is stronger than him, it's maybe as weel no' to +risk it. + +It was clear tae me that the general and his hoose were baith under some +curse, and it was fit that that curse should fa' on them that had earned +it, and no' on a righteous Presbyterian, wha had ever trod the narrow +path. + +My hairt was sair for young Miss Gabriel--for she was a bonnie and +winsome lassie--but for a' that, I felt that my duty was tae mysel' and +that I should gang forth, even as Lot ganged oot o' the wicked cities o' +the plain. + +That awfu' cling-clang was aye dingin' in my lugs, and I couldna bear +to be alane in the passages for fear o' hearin' it ance again. I only +wanted a chance or an excuse tae gie the general notice, and tae gang +back to some place where I could see Christian folk, and have the kirk +within a stone-cast tae fa' back upon. + +But it proved tae be ordained that, instead o' my saying the word, it +should come frae the general himsel'. + +It was ane day aboot the beginning of October, I was comin' oot o' the +stable, after giein' its oats tae the horse, when I seed a great muckle +loon come hoppin' on ane leg up the drive, mair like a big, ill-faured +craw than a man. + +When I clapped my een on him I thocht that maybe this was ane of the +rascals that the maister had been speakin' aboot, so withoot mair ado +I fetched oot my bit stick with the intention o' tryin' it upon the +limmer's heid. He seed me comin' towards him, and readin' my intention +frae my look maybe, or frae the stick in my hand, he pu'ed oot a lang +knife frae his pocket and swore wi' the most awfu' oaths that if I didna +stan' back he'd be the death o' me. + +Ma conscience! the words the chiel used was eneugh tae mak' the hair +stand straight on your heid. I wonder he wasna struck deid where he +stood. + +We were still standin' opposite each ither--he wi' his knife and me wi' +the stick--when the general he cam up the drive and foond us. Tae my +surprise he began tae talk tae the stranger as if he'd kenned him a' his +days. + +"Put your knife in your pocket, Corporal," says he. "Your fears have +turned your brain." + +"Blood an' wounds!" says the other. "He'd ha' turned my brain tae some +purpose wi' that muckle stick o' his if I hadna drawn my snickersnee. +You shouldna keep siccan an auld savage on your premises." + +The maister he frooned and looked black at him, as though he didna +relish advice comin' frae such a source. Then turnin' tae me--"You won't +be wanted after to-day, Israel," he says; "you have been a guid servant, +and I ha' naething tae complain of wi' ye, but circumstances have arisen +which will cause me tae change my arrangements." + +"Vera guid, sir," says I. + +"You can go this evening," says he, "and you shall have an extra month's +pay tae mak up t'ye for this short notice." + +Wi' that he went intae the hoose, followed by the man that he ca'ed the +corporal, and frae that day tae this I have never clapped een either on +the ane or the ither. My money was sent oot tae me in an envelope, +and havin' said a few pairtin' words tae the cook and the wench wi' +reference tae the wrath tae come and the treasure that is richer than +rubies, I shook the dust o' Cloomber frae my feet for ever. + +Maister Fothergill West says I maunna express an opeenion as tae what +cam aboot afterwards, but maun confine mysel' tae what I saw mysel'. Nae +doubt he has his reasons for this--and far be it frae me tae hint that +they are no' guid anes--but I maun say this, that what happened didna +surprise me. It was just as I expeckit, and so I said tae Maister Donald +McSnaw. + +I've tauld ye a' aboot it noo, and I havena a word tae add or tae +withdraw. I'm muckle obleeged tae Maister Mathew Clairk for puttin' +it a' doon in writin' for me, and if there's ony would wish tae speer +onything mair o' me I'm well kenned and respeckit in Ecclefechan, and +Maister McNeil, the factor o' Wigtown, can aye tell where I am tae be +foond. + + +(1) The old rascal was well paid for his trouble, so he need not have +made such a favour of it.--J.F.W. + + + +CHAPTER IX. NARRATIVE OF JOHN EASTERLING, F.R.C.P.EDIN. + + +Having given the statement of Israel Stakes _in extenso_, I shall append +a short memorandum from Dr. Easterling, now practising at Stranraer. +It is true that the doctor was only once within the walls of Cloomber +during its tenancy by General Heatherstone, but there were some +circumstances connected with this visit which made it valuable, +especially when considered as a supplement to the experiences which I +have just submitted to the reader. + +The doctor has found time amid the calls of a busy country practice +to jot down his recollections, and I feel that I cannot do better than +subjoin them exactly as they stand. + +I have very much pleasure in furnishing Mr. Fothergill West with an +account of my solitary visit to Cloomber Hall, not only on account +of the esteem which I have formed for that gentleman ever since his +residence at Branksome, but also because it is my conviction that the +facts in the case of General Heatherstone are of such a singular nature +that it is of the highest importance that they should be placed before +the public in a trustworthy manner. + +It was about the beginning of September of last year that I received +a note from Mrs. Heatherstone, of Cloomber Hall, desiring me to make a +professional call upon her husband, whose health, she said, had been for +some time in a very unsatisfactory state. + +I had heard something of the Heatherstones and of the strange seclusion +in which they lived, so that I was very much pleased at this opportunity +of making their closer acquaintance, and lost no time in complying with +her request. + +I had known the Hall in the old days of Mr. McVittie, the original +proprietor, and I was astonished on arriving at the avenue gate to +observe the changes which had taken place. + +The gate itself, which used to yawn so hospitably upon the road, was +now barred and locked, and a high wooden fence, with nails upon the +top, encircled the whole grounds. The drive itself was leaf-strewn and +uncared-for, and the whole place had a depressing air of neglect and +decay. + +I had to knock twice before a servant-maid opened the door and showed me +through a dingy hall into a small room, where sat an elderly, careworn +lady, who introduced herself as Mrs. Heatherstone. With her pale face, +her grey hair, her sad, colourless eyes, and her faded silk dress, she +was in perfect keeping with her melancholy surroundings. + +"You find us in much trouble, doctor," she said, in a quiet, refined +voice. "My poor husband has had a great deal to worry him, and his +nervous system for a long time has been in a very weak state. We came to +this part of the country in the hope that the bracing air and the quiet +would have a good effect upon him. Instead of improving, however, he +has seemed to grow weaker, and this morning he is in a high fever and a +little inclined to be delirious. The children and I were so frightened +that we sent for you at once. If you will follow me I will take you to +the general's bedroom." + +She led the way down a series of corridors to the chamber of the sick +man, which was situated in the extreme wing of the building. + +It was a carpetless, bleak-looking room, scantily furnished with a small +truckle bed, a campaigning chair, and a plain deal table, on which were +scattered numerous papers and books. In the centre of this table there +stood a large object of irregular outline, which was covered over with a +sheet of linen. + +All round the walls and in the corners were arranged a very choice and +varied collection of arms, principally swords, some of which were of +the straight pattern in common use in the British Army, while among +the others were scimitars, tulwars, cuchurries, and a score of other +specimens of Oriental workmanship. Many of these were richly mounted, +with inlaid sheaths and hilts sparkling with precious stones, so that +there was a piquant contrast between the simplicity of the apartment and +the wealth which glittered on the walls. + +I had little time, however, to observe the general's collection, since +the general himself lay upon the couch and was evidently in sore need of +my services. + +He was lying with his head turned half away from us. Breathing heavily, +and apparently unconscious of our presence. His bright, staring eyes and +the deep, hectic flush upon his cheek showed that his fever was at its +height. + +I advanced to the bedside, and, stooping over him, I placed my fingers +upon his pulse, when immediately he sprang up into the sitting position +and struck at me frenziedly with his clenched hands. I have never seen +such intensity of fear and horror stamped upon a human face as appeared +upon that which was now glaring up at me. + +"Bloodhound!" he yelled; "let me go--let me go, I say! Keep your hands +off me! Is it not enough that my life has been ruined? When is it all to +end? How long am I to endure it?" + +"Hush, dear, hush!" said his wife in a soothing voice, passing her +cool hand over his heated forehead. "This is Doctor Easterling, from +Stranraer. He has not come to harm you, but to do you good." + +The general dropped wearily back upon his pillow, and I could see by the +changed expression of his face that his delirium had left him, and that +he understood what had been said. + +I slipped my clinical thermometer into his armpit and counted his pulse +rate. It amounted to 120 per minute, and his temperature proved to be +104 degrees. Clearly it was a case of remittent fever, such as occurs in +men who have spent a great part of their lives in the tropics. + +"There is no danger," I remarked. "With a little quinine and arsenic we +shall very soon overcome the attack and restore his health." + +"No danger, eh?" he said. "There never is any danger for me. I am as +hard to kill as the Wandering Jew. I am quite clear in the head now, +Mary; so you may leave me with the doctor." + +Mrs. Heatherstone left the room--rather unwillingly, as I thought--and +I sat down by the bedside to listen to anything which my patient might +have to communicate. + +"I want you to examine my liver," he said when the door was closed. "I +used to have an abscess there, and Brodie, the staff-surgeon, said that +it was ten to one that it would carry me off. I have not felt much of it +since I left the East. This is where it used to be, just under the angle +of the ribs." + +"I can find the place," said I, after making a careful examination; +"but I am happy to tell you that the abscess has either been entirely +absorbed, or has turned calcareous, as these solitary abscesses will. +There is no fear of its doing you any harm now." + +He seemed to be by no means overjoyed at the intelligence. + +"Things always happen so with me," he said moodily. "Now, if another +fellow was feverish and delirious he would surely be in some danger, and +yet you will tell me that I am in none. Look at this, now." He bared +his chest and showed me a puckered wound over the region of the heart. +"That's where the jezail bullet of a Hillman went in. You would think +that was in the right spot to settle a man, and yet what does it do but +glance upon a rib, and go clean round and out at the back, without so +much as penetrating what you medicos call the pleura. Did ever you hear +of such a thing?" + +"You were certainly born under a lucky star," I observed, with a smile. + +"That's a matter of opinion," he answered, shaking his head. "Death +has no terrors for me, if it will but come in some familiar form, but I +confess that the anticipation of some strange, some preternatural form +of death is very terrible and unnerving." + +"You mean," said I, rather puzzled at his remark, "that you would prefer +a natural death to a death by violence?" + +"No, I don't mean that exactly," he answered. "I am too familiar with +cold steel and lead to be afraid of either. Do you know anything about +odyllic force, doctor?" + +"No, I do not," I replied, glancing sharply at him to see if there were +any signs of his delirium returning. His expression was intelligent, +however, and the feverish flush had faded from his cheeks. + +"Ah, you Western scientific men are very much behind the day in some +things," he remarked. "In all that is material and conducive to the +comfort of the body you are pre-eminent, but in what concerns the subtle +forces of Nature and the latent powers of the human spirit your best +men are centuries behind the humblest coolies of India. Countless +generations of beef-eating, comfort loving ancestors have given our +animal instincts the command over our spiritual ones. The body, which +should have been a mere tool for the use of the soul, has now become a +degrading prison in which it is confined. The Oriental soul and body are +not so welded together as ours are, and there is far less wrench when +they part in death." + +"They do not appear to derive much benefit from this peculiarity in +their organisation," I remarked incredulously. + +"Merely the benefit of superior knowledge," the general answered. "If +you were to go to India, probably the very first thing you would see in +the way of amusement would be a native doing what is called the mango +trick. Of course you have heard or read of it. The fellow plants a mango +seed, and makes passes over it until it sprouts and bears leaves and +fruit--all in the space of half-an-hour. It is not really a trick--it +is a power. These men know more than your Tyndalls or Huxleys do about +Nature's processes, and they can accelerate or retard her workings +by subtle means of which we have no conception. These low-caste +conjurers--as they are called--are mere vulgar dabblers, but the men who +have trod the higher path are as far superior to us in knowledge as we +are to the Hottentots or Patagonians." + +"You speak as if you were well acquainted with them," I remarked. + +"To my cost, I am," he answered. "I have been brought in contact with +them in a way in which I trust no other poor chap ever will be. But, +really, as regards odyllic force, you ought to know something of it, +for it has a great future before it in your profession. You should read +Reichenbach's 'Researches on Magnetism and Vital Force,' and Gregory's +'Letters on Animal Magnetism.' These, supplemented by the twenty-seven +Aphorisms of Mesmer, and the works of Dr. Justinus Kerner, of Weinsberg, +would enlarge your ideas." + +I did not particularly relish having a course of reading prescribed for +me on a subject connected with my own profession, so I made no comment, +but rose to take my departure. Before doing so I felt his pulse once +more, and found that the fever had entirely left him in the sudden, +unaccountable fashion which is peculiar to these malarious types of +disease. + +I turned my face towards him to congratulate him upon his improvement, +and stretched out my hand at the same time to pick my gloves from the +table, with the result that I raised not only my own property, but also +the linen cloth which was arranged over some object in the centre. + +I might not have noticed what I had done had I not seen an angry look +upon the invalid's face and heard him utter an impatient exclamation. +I at once turned, and replaced the cloth so promptly that I should +have been unable to say what was underneath it, beyond having a general +impression that it looked like a bride-cake. + +"All right, doctor," the general said good-humouredly, perceiving how +entirely accidental the incident was. "There is no reason why you should +not see it," and stretching out his hand, he pulled away the linen +covering for the second time. + +I then perceived that what I had taken for a bride-cake was really an +admirably executed model of a lofty range of mountains, whose snow-clad +peaks were not unlike the familiar sugar pinnacles and minarets. + +"These are the Himalayas, or at least the Surinam branch of them," he +remarked, "showing the principal passes between India and Afghanistan. +It is an excellent model. This ground has a special interest for me, +because it is the scene of my first campaign. There is the pass opposite +Kalabagh and the Thul valley, where I was engaged during the summer +of 1841 in protecting the convoys and keeping the Afridis in order. It +wasn't a sinecure, I promise you." + +"And this," said I, indicating a blood-red spot which had been marked +on one side of the pass which he had pointed out--"this is the scene of +some fight in which you were engaged." + +"Yes, we had a skirmish there," he answered, leaning forward and looking +at the red mark. "We were attacked by--" + +At this moment he fell back upon his pillow as if he had been shot, +while the same look of horror came over his face which I had observed +when I first entered the room. At the same instant there came, +apparently from the air immediately above his bed, a sharp, ringing, +tinkling sound, which I can only compare with the noise made by a +bicycle alarm, though it differed from this in having a distinctly +throbbing character. I have never, before or since, heard any sound +which could be confounded with it. + +I stared round in astonishment, wondering where it could have come from, +but without perceiving anything to which it could be ascribed. + +"It's all right, doctor," the general said with a ghastly smile. "It's +only my private gong. Perhaps you had better step downstairs and write +my prescription in the dining-room." + +He was evidently anxious to get rid of me, so I was forced to take my +departure, though I would gladly have stayed a little longer, in the +hope of learning something as to the origin of the mysterious sound. + +I drove away from the house with the full determination of calling again +upon my interesting patient, and endeavouring to elicit some further +particulars as to his past life and his present circumstances. I was +destined, however, to be disappointed, for I received that very evening +a note from the general himself, enclosing a handsome fee for my single +visit, and informing me that my treatment had done him so much good that +he considered himself to be convalescent, and would not trouble me to +see him again. + +This was the last and only communication which I ever received from the +tenant of Cloomber. + +I have been asked frequently by neighbours and others who were +interested in the matter whether he gave me the impression of insanity. +To this I must unhesitatingly answer in the negative. On the contrary, +his remarks gave me the idea of a man who had both read and thought +deeply. + +I observed, however, during our single interview, that his reflexes +were feeble, his arcus senilis well marked, and his arteries +atheromatous--all signs that his constitution was in an unsatisfactory +condition, and that a sudden crisis might be apprehended. + + + +CHAPTER X. OF THE LETTER WHICH CAME FROM THE HALL + +Having thrown this side-light upon my narrative, I can now resume the +statement of my own personal experiences. These I had brought down, as +the reader will doubtless remember, to the date of the arrival of the +savage-looking wanderer who called himself Corporal Rufus Smith. This +incident occurred about the beginning of the month of October, and I +find upon a comparison of dates that Dr. Easterling's visit to Cloomber +preceded it by three weeks or more. + +During all this time I was in sore distress of mind, for I had never +seen anything either of Gabriel or of her brother since the interview +in which the general had discovered the communication which was kept up +between us. I had no doubt that some sort of restraint had been placed +upon them; and the thought that we had brought trouble on their heads +was a bitter one both to my sister and myself. + +Our anxiety, however, was considerably mitigated by the receipt, a +couple of days after my last talk with the general, of a note from +Mordaunt Heatherstone. This was brought us by a little, ragged urchin, +the son of one of the fishermen, who informed us that it had been handed +to him at the avenue gate by an old woman--who, I expect, must have been +the Cloomber cook. + +"MY DEAREST FRIENDS," it ran, "Gabriel and I have grieved to think how +concerned you must be at having neither heard from nor seen us. The fact +is that we are compelled to remain in the house. And this compulsion is +not physical but moral. + +"Our poor father, who gets more and more nervous every day, has +entreated us to promise him that we will not go out until after the +fifth of October, and to allay his fears we have given him the desired +pledge. On the other hand, he has promised us that after the fifth--that +is, in less than a week--we shall be as free as air to come or go as we +please, so we have something to look forward to. + +"Gabriel says that she has explained to you that the governor is always +a changed man after this particular date, on which his fears reach a +crisis. He apparently has more reason than usual this year to anticipate +that trouble is brewing for this unfortunate family, for I have never +known him to take so many elaborate precautions or appear so thoroughly +unnerved. Who would ever think, to see his bent form and his shaking +hands, that he is the same man who used some few short years ago to +shoot tigers on foot among the jungles of the Terai, and would laugh at +the more timid sportsmen who sought the protection of their elephant's +howdah? + +"You know that he has the Victoria Cross, which he won in the streets +of Delhi, and yet here he is shivering with terror and starting at every +noise, in the most peaceful corner of the world. Oh, the pity of it. +West! Remember what I have already told you--that it is no fanciful or +imaginary peril, but one which we have every reason to suppose to be +most real. It is, however, of such a nature that it can neither be +averted nor can it profitably be expressed in words. If all goes well, +you will see us at Branksome on the sixth. + +"With our fondest love to both of you, I am ever, my dear friends, your +attached + +"MORDAUNT." + +This letter was a great relief to us as letting us know that the brother +and sister were under no physical restraint, but our powerlessness and +inability even to comprehend what the danger was which threatened those +whom we had come to love better than ourselves was little short of +maddening. + +Fifty times a day we asked ourselves and asked each other from what +possible quarter this peril was to be expected, but the more we thought +of it the more hopeless did any solution appear. + +In vain we combined our experiences and pieced together every word +which had fallen from the lips of any inmate of Cloomber which might be +supposed to bear directly or indirectly upon the subject. + +At last, weary with fruitless speculation, we were fain to try to drive +the matter from our thoughts, consoling ourselves with the reflection +that in a few more days all restrictions would be removed, and we should +be able to learn from our friends' own lips. + +Those few intervening days, however, would, we feared, be dreary, long +ones. And so they would have been, had it not been for a new and most +unexpected incident, which diverted our minds from our own troubles and +gave them something fresh with which to occupy themselves. + + + +CHAPTER XI. OF THE CASTING AWAY OF THE BARQUE "BELINDA" + +The third of October had broken auspiciously with a bright sun and a +cloudless sky. There had in the morning been a slight breeze, and a few +little white wreaths of vapour drifted here and there like the scattered +feathers of some gigantic bird, but, as the day wore on, such wind as +there was fell completely away, and the air became close and stagnant. + +The sun blazed down with a degree of heat which was remarkable so late +in the season, and a shimmering haze lay upon the upland moors and +concealed the Irish mountains on the other side of the Channel. + +The sea itself rose and fell in a long, heavy, oily roll, sweeping +slowly landward, and breaking sullenly with a dull, monotonous booming +upon the rock-girt shore. To the inexperienced all seemed calm and +peaceful, but to those who are accustomed to read Nature's warnings +there was a dark menace in air and sky and sea. + +My sister and I walked out in the afternoon, sauntering slowly along +the margin of the great, sandy spit which shoots out into the Irish Sea, +flanking upon one side the magnificent Bay of Luce, and on the other the +more obscure inlet of Kirkmaiden, on the shores of which the Branksome +property is situated. + +It was too sultry to go far, so we soon seated ourselves upon one of the +sandy hillocks, overgrown with faded grass-tufts, which extend along the +coast-line, and which form Nature's dykes against the encroachments of +the ocean. + +Our rest was soon interrupted by the scrunching of heavy boots upon the +shingle, and Jamieson, the old man-o'-war's man whom I have already had +occasion to mention, made his appearance, with the flat, circular net +upon his back which he used for shrimp-catching. He came towards us upon +seeing us, and said in his rough, kindly way that he hoped we would +not take it amiss if he sent us up a dish of shrimps for our tea at +Branksome. + +"I aye make a good catch before a storm," he remarked. + +"You think there is going to be a storm, then?" I asked. + +"Why, even a marine could see that," he answered, sticking a great wedge +of tobacco into his cheek. "The moors over near Cloomber are just white +wi' gulls and kittiewakes. What d'ye think they come ashore for except +to escape having all the feathers blown out o' them? I mind a day like +this when I was wi' Charlie Napier off Cronstadt. It well-nigh blew us +under the guns of the forts, for all our engines and propellers." + +"Have you ever known a wreck in these parts?" I asked. + +"Lord love ye, sir, it's a famous place for wrecks. Why, in that very +bay down there two o' King Philip's first-rates foundered wi' all hands +in the days o' the Spanish war. If that sheet o' water and the Bay o' +Luce round the corner could tell their ain tale they'd have a gey lot +to speak of. When the Jedgment Day comes round that water will be +just bubbling wi' the number o' folks that will be coming up frae the +bottom." + +"I trust that there will be no wrecks while we are here," said Esther +earnestly. + +The old man shook his grizzled head and looked distrustfully at the hazy +horizon. + +"If it blows from the west," he said, "some o' these sailing ships may +find it no joke to be caught without sea-room in the North Channel. +There's that barque out yonder--I daresay her maister would be glad +enough to find himsel' safe in the Clyde." + +"She seems to be absolutely motionless," I remarked, looking at the +vessel in question, whose black hull and gleaming sails rose and fell +slowly with the throbbing of the giant pulse beneath her. "Perhaps, +Jamieson, we are wrong, and there will be no storm after all." + +The old sailor chuckled to himself with an air of superior knowledge, +and shuffled away with his shrimp-net, while my sister and I walked +slowly homewards through the hot and stagnant air. + +I went up to my father's study to see if the old gentleman had any +instructions as to the estate, for he had become engrossed in a new work +upon Oriental literature, and the practical management of the property +had in consequence devolved entirely upon me. + +I found him seated at his square library table, which was so heaped with +books and papers that nothing of him was visible from the door except a +tuft of white hair. + +"My dear son," he said to me as I entered, "it is a great grief to me +that you are not more conversant with Sanscrit. When I was your age, I +could converse not only in that noble language, but also in the Tamulic, +Lohitic, Gangelic, Taic, and Malaic dialects, which are all offshoots +from the Turanian branch." + +"I regret extremely, sir," I answered, "that I have not inherited your +wonderful talents as a polyglot." + +"I have set myself a task," he explained, "which, if it could only be +continued from generation to generation in our own family until it was +completed, would make the name of West immortal. This is nothing less +than to publish an English translation of the Buddhist Djarmas, with a +preface giving an idea of the position of Brahminism before the coming +of Sakyamuni. With diligence it is possible that I might be able myself +to complete part of the preface before I die." + +"And pray, sir," I asked, "how long would the whole work be when it was +finished?" + +"The abridged edition in the Imperial Library of Pekin," said my father, +rubbing his hands together, "consists of 325 volumes of an average +weight of five pounds. Then the preface, which must embrace some +account of the Rig-veda, the Sama-veda, the Yagur-veda, and the +Atharva-veda, with the Brahmanas, could hardly be completed in less +than ten volumes. Now, if we apportion one volume to each year, there is +every prospect of the family coming to an end of its task about the date +2250, the twelfth generation completing the work, while the thirteenth +might occupy itself upon the index." + +"And how are our descendants to live, sir," I asked, with a smile, +"during the progress of this great undertaking:" + +"That's the worst of you, Jack," my father cried petulantly. "There is +nothing practical about you. Instead of confining your attention to the +working out of my noble scheme, you begin raising all sorts of absurd +objections. It is a mere matter of detail how our descendants live, so +long as they stick to the Djarmas. Now, I want you to go up to the bothy +of Fergus McDonald and see about the thatch, and Willie Fullerton has +written to say that his milk-cow is bad. You might took in upon your way +and ask after it." + +I started off upon my errands, but before doing so I took a look at the +barometer upon the wall. The mercury had sunk to the phenomenal point +of twenty-eight inches. Clearly the old sailor had not been wrong in his +interpretation of Nature's signs. + +As I returned over the moors in the evening, the wind was blowing in +short, angry puffs, and the western horizon was heaped with sombre +clouds which stretched their long, ragged tentacles right up to the +zenith. + +Against their dark background one or two livid, sulphur-coloured +splotches showed up malignant and menacing, while the surface of the +sea had changed from the appearance of burnished quicksilver to that of +ground glass. A low, moaning sound rose up from the ocean as if it knew +that trouble was in store for it. + +Far out in the Channel I saw a single panting, eager steam vessel making +its way to Belfast Lough, and the large barque which I had observed in +the morning still beating about in the offing, endeavouring to pass to +the northward. + +At nine o'clock a sharp breeze was blowing, at ten it had freshened into +a gale, and before midnight the most furious storm was raging which I +can remember upon that weather-beaten coast. + +I sat for some time in our small, oak-panelled sitting-room listening to +the screeching and howling of the blast and to the rattle of the gravel +and pebbles as they pattered against the window. Nature's grim orchestra +was playing its world-old piece with a compass which ranged from +the deep diapason of the thundering surge to the thin shriek of the +scattered shingle and the keen piping of frightened sea birds. + +Once for an instant I opened the lattice window, but a gust of wind and +rain came blustering through, bearing with it a great sheet of seaweed, +which flapped down upon the table. It was all I could do to close it +again with a thrust of my shoulder in the face of the blast. + +My sister and father had retired to their rooms, but my thoughts +were too active for sleep, so I continued to sit and to smoke by the +smouldering fire. + +What was going on in the Hall now, I wondered? What did Gabriel think of +the storm, and how did it affect the old man who wandered about in the +night? Did he welcome these dread forces of Nature as being of the same +order of things as his own tumultuous thoughts? + +It was only two days now from the date which I had been assured was to +mark a crisis in his fortunes. Would he regard this sudden tempest as +being in any way connected with the mysterious fate which threatened +him? + +Over all these things and many more I pondered as I sat by the glowing +embers until they died gradually out, and the chill night air warned me +that it was time to retire. + +I may have slept a couple of hours when I was awakened by someone +tugging furiously at my shoulder. Sitting up in bed, I saw by the dim +light that my father was standing half-clad by my bedside, and that it +was his grasp which I felt on my night-shirt. + +"Get up, Jack, get up!" he was crying excitedly. "There's a great ship +ashore in the bay, and the poor folk will all be drowned. Come down, my +boy, and let us see what we can do." + +The good old man seemed to be nearly beside himself with excitement and +impatience. I sprang from my bed, and was huddling on a few clothes, +when a dull, booming sound made itself heard above the howling of the +wind and the thunder of the breakers. + +"There it is again!" cried my father. "It is their signal gun, poor +creatures! Jamieson and the fishermen are below. Put your oil-skin coat +on and the Glengarry hat. Come, come, every second may mean a human +life!" + +We hurried down together and made our way to the beach, accompanied by a +dozen or so of the inhabitants of Branksome. + +The gale had increased rather than moderated, and the wind screamed all +round us with an infernal clamour. So great was its force that we had +to put our shoulders against it, and bore our way through it, while the +sand and gravel tingled up against our faces. + +There was just light enough to make out the scudding clouds and the +white gleam of the breakers, but beyond that all was absolute darkness. + +We stood ankle deep in the shingle and seaweed, shading our eyes with +our hands and peering out into the inky obscurity. + +It seemed to me as I listened that I could hear human voices loud +in intreaty and terror, but amid the wild turmoil of Nature it was +difficult to distinguish one sound from another. + +Suddenly, however, a light glimmered in the heart of the tempest, and +next instant the beach and sea and wide, tossing bay were brilliantly +illuminated by the wild glare of a signal light. + +The ship lay on her beam-ends right in the centre of the terrible Hansel +reef, hurled over to such an angle that I could see all the planking of +her deck. I recognised her at once as being the same three-masted barque +which I had observed in the Channel in the morning, and the Union +Jack which was nailed upside down to the jagged slump of her mizzen +proclaimed her nationality. + +Every spar and rope and writhing piece of cordage showed up hard and +clear under the vivid light which spluttered and flickered from the +highest portion of the forecastle. Beyond the doomed ship, out of the +great darkness came the long, rolling lines of big 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 we could distinctly see ten or a dozen +frightened seamen who, when the light revealed our presence, turned +their white faces towards us and waved their hands imploringly. The poor +wretches had evidently taken fresh hope from our presence, though it was +clear that their own boats had either been washed away or so damaged as +to render them useless. + +The sailors who clung to the rigging were not, however, the only +unfortunates on board. On the breaking poop there stood three men who +appeared to be both of a different race and nature from the cowering +wretches who implored our assistance. + +Leaning upon the shattered taff-rail they seemed to be conversing +together as quietly and unconcernedly as though they were unconscious of +the deadly peril which surrounded them. + +As the signal light flickered over them, we could see from the shore +that these immutable strangers wore red fezes, and that their faces were +of a swarthy, large-featured type, which proclaimed an Eastern origin. + +There was little time, however, for us to take note of such details. +The ship was breaking rapidly, and some effort must be made to save the +poor, sodden group of humanity who implored our assistance. + +The nearest lifeboat was in the Bay of Luce, ten long miles away, but +here was our own broad, roomy craft upon the shingle, and plenty of +brave fisher lads to form a crew. Six of us sprang to the oars, the +others pushed us off, and we fought our way through the swirling, raging +waters, staggering and recoiling before the great, sweeping billows, but +still steadily decreasing the distance between the barque and ourselves. + +It seemed, however, that our efforts were fated to be in vain. + +As we mounted upon a surge I saw a giant wave, topping all the others, +and coming after them like a driver following a flock, sweep down upon +the vessel, curling its great, green arch over the breaking deck. + +With a rending, riving sound the ship split in two where the terrible, +serrated back of the Hansel reef was sawing into her keel. The +after-part, with the broken mizzen and the three Orientals, sank +backwards into deep water and vanished, while the fore-half oscillated +helplessly about, retaining its precarious balance upon the rocks. + +A wail of fear went up from the wreck and was echoed from the beach, +but by the blessing of Providence she kept afloat until we made our way +under her bowsprit and rescued every man of the crew. + +We had not got half-way upon our return, however, when another great +wave swept the shattered forecastle off the reef, and, extinguishing the +signal light, hid the wild denouement from our view. + +Our friends upon the shore were loud in congratulation and praise, nor +were they backward in welcoming and comforting the castaways. They were +thirteen in all, as cold and cowed a set of mortals as ever slipped +through Death's fingers, save, indeed, their captain, who was a hardy, +robust man, and who made light of the affair. + +Some were taken off to this cottage and some to that, but the greater +part came back to Branksome with us, where we gave them such dry clothes +as we could lay our hands on, and served them with beef and beer by the +kitchen fire. The captain, whose name was Meadows, compressed his bulky +form into a suit of my own, and came down to the parlour, where he +mixed himself some grog and gave my father and myself an account of the +disaster. + +"If it hadn't been for you, sir, and your brave fellows," he said, +smiling across at me, "we should be ten fathoms deep by this time. As to +the _Belinda_, she was a leaky old tub and well insured, so neither the +owners nor I are likely to break our hearts over her." + +"I am afraid," said my father sadly, "that we shall never see your three +passengers again. I have left men upon the beach in case they should be +washed up, but I fear it is hopeless. I saw them go down when the vessel +split, and no man could have lived for a moment among that terrible +surge." + +"Who were they?" I asked. "I could not have believed that it was +possible for men to appear so unconcerned in the face of such imminent +peril." + +"As to who they are or were," the captain answered, puffing thoughtfully +at his pipe, "that is by no means easy to say. Our last port was +Kurrachee, in the north of India, and there we took them aboard as +passengers for Glasgow. Ram Singh was the name of the younger, and it is +only with him that I have come in contact, but they all appeared to be +quiet, inoffensive gentlemen. I never inquired their business, but I +should judge that they were Parsee merchants from Hyderabad whose trade +took them to Europe. I could never see why the crew should fear them, +and the mate, too, he should have had more sense." + +"Fear them!" I ejaculated in surprise. + +"Yes, they had some preposterous idea that they were dangerous +shipmates. I have no doubt if you were to go down into the kitchen now +you would find that they are all agreed that our passengers were the +cause of the whole disaster." + +As the captain was speaking the parlour door opened and the mate of +the barque, a tall, red-bearded sailor, stepped in. He had obtained a +complete rig-out from some kind-hearted fisherman, and looked in his +comfortable jersey and well-greased seaboots a very favourable specimen +of a shipwrecked mariner. + +With a few words of grateful acknowledgment of our hospitality, he drew +a chair up to the fire and warmed his great, brown hands before the +blaze. + +"What d'ye think now, Captain Meadows?" he asked presently, glancing up +at his superior officer. "Didn't I warn you what would be the upshot of +having those niggers on board the _Belinda_?" + +The captain leant back in his chair and laughed heartily. + +"Didn't I tell you?" he cried, appealing to us. "Didn't I tell you?" + +"It might have been no laughing matter for us," the other remarked +petulantly. "I have lost a good sea-kit and nearly my life into the +bargain." + +"Do I understand you to say," said I, "that you attribute your +misfortunes to your ill-fated passengers?" + +The mate opened his eyes at the adjective. + +"Why ill-fated, sir?" he asked. + +"Because they are most certainly drowned," I answered. + +He sniffed incredulously and went on warming his hands. + +"Men of that kind are never drowned," he said, after a pause. "Their +father, the devil, looks after them. Did you see them standing on the +poop and rolling cigarettes at the time when the mizzen was carried away +and the quarter-boats stove? That was enough for me. I'm not surprised +at you landsmen not being able to take it in, but the captain here, +who's been sailing since he was the height of the binnacle, ought to +know by this time that a cat and a priest are the worst cargo you can +carry. If a Christian priest is bad, I guess an idolatrous pagan one is +fifty times worse. I stand by the old religion, and be d--d to it!" + +My father and I could not help laughing at the rough sailor's very +unorthodox way of proclaiming his orthodoxy. The mate, however, was +evidently in deadly earnest, and proceeded to state his case, marking +off the different points upon the rough, red fingers of his left hand. + +"It was at Kurrachee, directly after they come that I warned ye," he +said reproachfully to the captain. "There was three Buddhist Lascars in +my watch, and what did they do when them chaps come aboard? Why, they +down on their stomachs and rubbed their noses on the deck--that's what +they did. They wouldn't ha' done as much for an admiral of the R'yal +Navy. They know who's who--these niggers do; and I smelt mischief +the moment I saw them on their faces. I asked them afterwards in your +presence, Captain, why they had done it, and they answered that the +passengers were holy men. You heard 'em yourself." + +"Well, there's no harm in that, Hawkins," said Captain Meadows. + +"I don't know that," the mate said doubtfully. "The holiest Christian +is the one that's nearest God, but the holiest nigger is, in my opinion, +the one that's nearest the devil. Then you saw yourself, Captain +Meadows, how they went on during the voyage, reading books that was +writ on wood instead o' paper, and sitting up right through the night to +jabber together on the quarter-deck. What did they want to have a chart +of their own for and to mark the course of the vessel every day?" + +"They didn't," said the captain. + +"Indeed they did, and if I did not tell you sooner it was because +you were always ready to laugh at what I said about them. They had +instruments o' their own--when they used them I can't say--but every day +at noon they worked out the latitude and longitude, and marked out the +vessel's position on a chart that was pinned on their cabin table. I saw +them at it, and so did the steward from his pantry." + +"Well, I don't see what you prove from that," the captain remarked, +"though I confess it is a strange thing." + +"I'll tell you another strange thing," said the mate impressively. "Do +you know the name of this bay in which we are cast away?" + +"I have learnt from our kind friends here that we are upon the +Wigtownshire coast," the captain answered, "but I have not heard the +name of the bay." + +The mate leant forward with a grave face. + +"It is the Bay of Kirkmaiden," he said. + +If he expected to astonish Captain Meadows he certainly succeeded, for +that gentleman was fairly bereft of speech for a minute or more. + +"This is really marvellous," he said, after a time, turning to us. +"These passengers of ours cross-questioned us early in the voyage as +to the existence of a bay of that name. Hawkins here and I denied all +knowledge of one, for on the chart it is included in the Bay of +Luce. That we should eventually be blown into it and destroyed is an +extraordinary coincidence." + +"Too extraordinary to be a coincidence," growled the mate. "I saw +them during the calm yesterday morning, pointing to the land over our +starboard quarter. They knew well enough that that was the port they +were making for." + +"What do you make of it all, then, Hawkins?" asked the captain, with a +troubled face. "What is your own theory on the matter?" + +"Why, in my opinion," the mate answered, "them three swabs have no more +difficulty in raising a gale o' wind than I should have in swallowing +this here grog. They had reasons o' their own for coming to this +God-forsaken--saving your presence, sirs--this God-forsaken bay, and +they took a short cut to it by arranging to be blown ashore there. +That's my idea o' the matter, though what three Buddhist priests could +find to do in the Bay of Kirkmaiden is clean past my comprehension." + +My father raised his eyebrows to indicate the doubt which his +hospitality forbade him from putting into words. + +"I think, gentlemen," he said, "that you are both sorely in need of rest +after your perilous adventures. If you will follow me I shall lead you +to your rooms." + +He conducted them with old-fashioned ceremony to the laird's best spare +bedroom, and then, returning to me in the parlour, proposed that we +should go down together to the beach and learn whether anything fresh +had occurred. + +The first pale light of dawn was just appearing in the east when we made +our way for the second time to the scene of the shipwreck. The gale had +blown itself out, but the sea was still very high, and all inside the +breakers was a seething, gleaming line of foam, as though the fierce old +ocean were gnashing its white fangs at the victims who had escaped from +its clutches. + +All along the beach fishermen and crofters were hard at work hauling up +spars and barrels as fast as they were tossed ashore. None of them had +seen any bodies, however, and they explained to us that only such things +as could float had any chance of coming ashore, for the undercurrent was +so strong that whatever was beneath the surface must infallibly be swept +out to sea. + +As to the possibility of the unfortunate passengers having been able to +reach the shore, these practical men would not hear of it for a moment, +and showed us conclusively that if they had not been drowned they must +have been dashed to pieces upon the rocks. + +"We did all that could be done," my father said sadly, as we returned +home. "I am afraid that the poor mate has had his reason affected by +the suddenness of the disaster. Did you hear what he said about Buddhist +priests raising a gale?" + +"Yes, I heard him," said I. "It was very painful to listen to him," said +my father. "I wonder if he would object to my putting a small mustard +plaster under each of his ears. It would relieve any congestion of +the brain. Or perhaps it would be best to wake him up and give him two +antibilious pills. What do you think, Jack?" + +"I think," said I, with a yawn, "that you had best let him sleep, and go +to sleep yourself. You can physic him in the morning if he needs it." + +So saying I stumbled off to my bedroom, and throwing myself upon the +couch was soon in a dreamless slumber. + + + +CHAPTER XII. OF THE THREE FOREIGN MEN UPON THE COAST + +It must have been eleven or twelve o'clock before I awoke, and it seemed +to me in the flood of golden light which streamed into my chamber that +the wild, tumultuous episodes of the night before must have formed part +of some fantastic dream. + +It was hard to believe that the gentle breeze which whispered so softly +among the ivy-leaves around my window was caused by the same element +which had shaken the very house a few short hours before. It was as if +Nature had repented of her momentary passion and was endeavouring to +make amends to an injured world by its warmth and its sunshine. A chorus +of birds in the garden below filled the whole air with their wonder and +congratulations. + +Down in the hall I found a number of the shipwrecked sailors, looking +all the better for their night's repose, who set up a buzz of pleasure +and gratitude upon seeing me. + +Arrangements had been made to drive them to Wigtown, whence they were to +proceed to Glasgow by the evening train, and my father had given orders +that each should be served with a packet of sandwiches and hard-boiled +eggs to sustain him on the way. + +Captain Meadows thanked us warmly in the name of his employers for the +manner in which we had treated them, and he called for three cheers from +his crew, which were very heartily given. He and the mate walked down +with us after we had broken our fast to have a last look at the scene of +the disaster. + +The great bosom of the bay was still heaving convulsively, and its waves +were breaking into sobs against the rocks, but there was none of that +wild turmoil which we had seen in the early morning. The long, emerald +ridges, with their little, white crests of foam, rolled slowly and +majestically in, to break with a regular rhythm--the panting of a tired +monster. + +A cable length from the shore we could see the mainmast of the barque +floating upon the waves, disappearing at times in the trough of the sea, +and then shooting up towards Heaven like a giant javelin, shining +and dripping as the rollers tossed it about. Other smaller pieces of +wreckage dotted the waters, while innumerable spars and packages were +littered over the sands. These were being drawn up and collected in +a place of safety by gangs of peasants. I noticed that 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 we could hear their raucous voices as they cried to +one another of what they saw. + +"She was a leaky old craft," said the captain, looking sadly out to sea, +"but there's always a feeling of sorrow when we see the last of a ship +we have sailed in. Well, well, she would have been broken up in any +case, and sold for firewood." + +"It looks a peaceful scene," I remarked. "Who would imagine that three +men lost their lives last night in those very waters?" + +"Poor fellows," said the captain, with feeling. "Should they be cast +up after our departure, I am sure, Mr. West, that you will have them +decently interred." + +I was about to make some reply when the mate burst into a loud guffaw, +slapping his thigh and choking with merriment. + +"If you want to bury them," he said, "you had best look sharp, or they +may clear out of the country. You remember what I said last night? Just +look at the top of that 'ere hillock, and tell me whether I was in the +right or not?" + +There was a high sand dune some little distance along the coast, and +upon the summit of this the figure was standing which had attracted the +mate's attention. The captain threw up his hands in astonishment as his +eyes rested upon it. + +"By the eternal," he shouted, "it's Ram Singh himself! Let us overhaul +him!" + +Taking to his heels in his excitement he raced along the beach, followed +by the mate and myself, as well as by one or two of the fishermen who +had observed the presence of the stranger. + +The latter, perceiving our approach, came down from his post of +observation and walked quietly in our direction, with his head sunk upon +his breast, like one who is absorbed in thought. + +I could not help contrasting our hurried and tumultuous advance with the +gravity and dignity of this lonely Oriental, nor was the matter mended +when he raised a pair of steady, thoughtful dark eyes and inclined his +head in a graceful, sweeping salutation. It seemed to me that we were +like a pack of schoolboys in the presence of a master. + +The stranger's broad, unruffled brow, his clear, searching gaze, +firm-set yet sensitive mouth, and clean-cut, resolute expression, all +combined to form the most imposing and noble presence which I had ever +known. I could not have imagined that such imperturbable calm and at +the same time such a consciousness of latent strength could have been +expressed by any human face. + +He was dressed in a brown velveteen coat, loose, dark trousers, with a +shirt that was cut low in the collar, so as to show the muscular, +brown neck, and he still wore the red fez which I had noticed the night +before. + +I observed with a feeling of surprise, as we approached him, that none +of these garments showed the slightest indication of the rough treatment +and wetting which they must have received during their wearer's +submersion and struggle to the shore. + +"So you are none the worse for your ducking," he said in a pleasant, +musical voice, looking from the captain to the mate. "I hope that your +poor sailors have found pleasant quarters." + +"We are all safe," the captain answered. "But we had given you up for +lost--you and your two friends. Indeed, I was just making arrangements +for your burial with Mr. West here." + +The stranger looked at me and smiled. + +"We won't give Mr. West that trouble for a little time yet," he +remarked; "my friends and I came ashore all safe, and we have found +shelter in a hut a mile or so along the coast. It is lonely down there, +but we have everything which we can desire." + +"We start for Glasgow this afternoon," said the captain; "I shall be +very glad if you will come with us. If you have not been in England +before you may find it awkward travelling alone." + +"We are very much indebted to you for your thoughtfulness," Ram Singh +answered; "but we will not take advantage of your kind offer. Since +Nature has driven us here we intend to have a look about us before we +leave." + +"As you like," the captain said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't +think you are likely to find very much to interest you in this hole of a +place." + +"Very possibly not," Ram Singh answered with an amused smile. "You +remember Milton's lines: + + 'The mind is its own place, and in itself + Can make a hell of Heaven, a heaven of Hell.' + +I dare say we can spend a few days here comfortably enough. Indeed, I +think you must be wrong in considering this to be a barbarous locality. +I am much mistaken if this young gentleman's father is not Mr. James +Hunter West, whose name is known and honoured by the pundits of India." + +"My father is, indeed, a well-known Sanscrit scholar," I answered in +astonishment. + +"The presence of such a man," observed the stranger slowly, "changes a +wilderness into a city. One great mind is surely a higher indication of +civilisation than are incalculable leagues of bricks and mortar. + +"Your father is hardly so profound as Sir William Jones, or so universal +as the Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, but he combines many of the virtues +of each. You may tell him, however, from me that he is mistaken in +the analogy which he has traced between the Samoyede and Tamulic word +roots." + +"If you have determined to honour our neighbourhood by a short stay," +said I, "you will offend my father very much if you do not put up with +him. He represents the laird here, and it is the laird's privilege, +according to our Scottish custom, to entertain all strangers of repute +who visit this parish." + +My sense of hospitality prompted me to deliver this invitation, though +I could feel the mate twitching at my sleeves as if to warn me that +the offer was, for some reason, an objectionable one. His fears were, +however, unnecessary, for the stranger signified by a shake of the head +that it was impossible for him to accept it. + +"My friends and I are very much obliged to you," he said, "but we have +our own reasons for remaining where we are. The hut which we occupy is +deserted and partly ruined, but we Easterns have trained ourselves to +do without most of those things which are looked upon as necessaries in +Europe, believing firmly in that wise axiom that a man is rich, not in +proportion to what he has, but in proportion to what he can dispense +with. A good fisherman supplies us with bread and with herbs, we have +clean, dry straw for our couches; what could man wish for more?" + +"But you must feel the cold at night, coming straight from the tropics," +remarked the captain. "Perhaps our bodies are cold sometimes. We +have not noticed it. We have all three spent many years in the Upper +Himalayas on the border of the region of eternal snow, so we are not +very sensitive to inconveniences of the sort." + +"At least," said I, "you must allow me to send you over some fish and +some meat from our larder." + +"We are not Christians," he answered, "but Buddhists of the higher +school. We do not recognise that man has a moral right to slay an ox or +a fish for the gross use of his body. He has not put life into them, and +has assuredly no mandate from the Almighty to take life from them save +under most pressing need. We could not, therefore, use your gift if you +were to send it." + +"But, sir," I remonstrated, "if in this changeable and inhospitable +climate you refuse all nourishing food your vitality will fail you--you +will die." + +"We shall die then," he answered, with an amused smile. "And now, +Captain Meadows, I must bid you adieu, thanking you for your kindness +during the voyage, and you, too, good-bye--you will command a ship of +your own before the year is out. I trust, Mr. West, that I may see you +again before I leave this part of the country. Farewell!" + +He raised his red fez, inclined his noble head with the stately grace +which characterised all his actions, and strode away in the direction +from which he had come. + +"Let me congratulate you, Mr. Hawkins," said the captain to the mate as +we walked homewards. "You are to command your own ship within the year." + +"No such luck!" the mate answered, with a pleased smile upon his +mahogany face, "still, there's no saying how things may come out. What +d'ye think of him, Mr. West?" + +"Why," said I, "I am very much interested in him. What a magnificent +head and bearing he has for a young man. I suppose he cannot be more +than thirty." + +"Forty," said the mate. + +"Sixty, if he is a day," remarked Captain Meadows. "Why, I have heard +him talk quite familiarly of the first Afghan war. He was a man then, +and that is close on forty years ago." + +"Wonderful!" I ejaculated. "His skin is as smooth and his eyes are as +clear as mine are. He is the superior priest of the three, no doubt." + +"The inferior," said the captain confidently. "That is why he does all +the talking for them. Their minds are too elevated to descend to mere +worldly chatter." + +"They are the strangest pieces of flotsam and jetsam that were ever +thrown upon this coast," I remarked. "My father will be mightily +interested in them." + +"Indeed, I think the less you have to do with them the better for you," +said the mate. "If I do command my own ship I'll promise you that I +never carry live stock of that sort on board of her. But here we are all +aboard and the anchor tripped, so we must bid you good-bye." + +The wagonette had just finished loading up when we arrived, and the +chief places, on either side of the driver, had been reserved for my two +companions, who speedily sprang into them. With a chorus of cheers the +good fellows whirled away down the road, while my father, Esther, and I +stood upon the lawn and waved our hands to them until they disappeared +behind the Cloomber woods, _en route_ for the Wigtown railway station. +Barque and crew had both vanished now from our little world, the only +relic of either being the heaps of _debris_ upon the beach, which were +to lie there until the arrival of an agent from Lloyd's. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. IN WHICH I SEE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN BY FEW + +At dinner that evening I mentioned to my father the episode of the three +Buddhist priests, and found, as I had expected, that he was very much +interested by my account of them. + +When, however, he heard of the high manner in which Ram Singh had spoken +of him, and the distinguished position which he had assigned him among +philologists, he became so excited that it was all we could do to +prevent him from setting off then and there to make his acquaintance. + +Esther and I were relieved and glad when we at last succeeded in +abstracting his boots and manoeuvring him to his bedroom, for the +exciting events of the last twenty-four hours had been too much for his +weak frame and delicate nerves. + +I was sitting at the open porch in the gloaming, turning over in my +mind the unexpected events which had occurred so rapidly--the gale, the +wreck, the rescue, and the strange character of the castaways--when my +sister came quietly over to me and put her hand in mine. + +"Don't you think, Jack," she said, in her low, sweet voice, "that we +are forgetting our friends over at Cloomber? Hasn't all this excitement +driven their fears and their danger out of our heads?" + +"Out of our heads, but never out of our hearts," said I, laughing. +"However, you are right, little one, for our attention has certainly +been distracted from them. I shall walk up in the morning and see if I +can see anything of them. By the way, to-morrow is the fateful 5th of +October--one more day, and all will be well with us." + +"Or ill," said my sister gloomily. + +"Why, what a little croaker you are, to be sure!" I cried. "What in the +world is coming over you?" + +"I feel nervous and low-spirited," she answered, drawing closer to my +side and shivering. "I feel as if some great peril were hanging over the +heads of those we love. Why should these strange men wish to stay upon +the coast?" + +"What, the Buddhists?" I said lightly. "Oh, these fellows have continual +feast-days and religious rites of all sorts. They have some very good +reason for staying, you may be sure." + +"Don't you think," said Esther, in an awe-struck whisper, "that it is +very strange that these priests should arrive here all the way from +India just at the present moment? Have you not gathered from all you +have heard that the general's fears are in some way connected with India +and the Indians?" + +The remark made me thoughtful. + +"Why, now that you mention it," I answered, "I have some vague +impression that the mystery is connected with some incident which +occurred in that country. I am sure, however, that your fears would +vanish if you saw Ram Singh. He is the very personification of wisdom +and benevolence. He was shocked at the idea of our killing a sheep, or +even a fish for his benefit--said he would rather die than have a hand +in taking the life of an animal." + +"It is very foolish of me to be so nervous," said my sister bravely. +"But you must promise me one thing, Jack. You will go up to Cloomber in +the morning, and if you can see any of them you must tell them of these +strange neighbours of ours. They are better able to judge than we are +whether their presence has any significance or not." + +"All right, little one," I answered, as we went indoors. "You have been +over-excited by all these wild doings, and you need a sound night's rest +to compose you. I'll do what you suggest, however, and our friends shall +judge for themselves whether these poor fellows should be sent about +their business or not." + +I made the promise to allay my sister's apprehensions, but in the bright +sunlight of morning it appeared less than absurd to imagine that our +poor vegetarian castaways could have any sinister intentions, or that +their advent could have any effect upon the tenant of Cloomber. + +I was anxious, myself, however, to see whether I could see anything of +the Heatherstones, so after breakfast I walked up to the Hall. In their +seclusion it was impossible for them to have learnt anything of the +recent events. I felt, therefore, that even if I should meet the general +he could hardly regard me as an intruder while I had so much news to +communicate. + +The place had the same dreary and melancholy appearance which always +characterised it. Looking through between the thick iron bars of the +main gateway there was nothing to be seen of any of the occupants. One +of the great Scotch firs had been blown down in the gale, and its long, +ruddy trunk lay right across the grass-grown avenue; but no attempt had +been made to remove it. + +Everything about the property had the same air of desolation and +neglect, with the solitary exception of the massive and impenetrable +fencing, which presented as unbroken and formidable an obstacle as ever +to the would-be trespasser. + +I walked round this barrier as far as our old trysting-place without +finding any flaw through which I could get a glimpse of the house, for +the fence had been repaired with each rail overlapping the last, so +as to secure absolute privacy for those inside, and to block those +peep-holes which I had formerly used. + +At the old spot, however, where I had had the memorable interview with +the general on the occasion when he surprised me with his daughter, I +found that the two loose rails had been refixed in such a manner that +there was a gap of two inches or more between them. + +Through this I had a view of the house and of part of the lawn in front +of it, and, though I could see no signs of life outside or at any of the +windows, I settled down with the intention of sticking to my post until +I had a chance of speaking to one or other of the inmates. Indeed, the +cold, dead aspect of the house had struck such a chill into my heart +that I determined to scale the fence at whatever risk of incurring +the general's displeasure rather than return without news of the +Heatherstones. + +Happily there was no need of this extreme expedient, for I had not been +there half-an-hour before I heard the harsh sound of an opening lock, +and the general himself emerged from the main door. + +To my surprise he was dressed in a military uniform, and that not the +uniform in ordinary use in the British Army. The red coat was strangely +cut and stained with the weather. The trousers had originally been +white, but had now faded to a dirty yellow. With a red sash across his +chest and a straight sword hanging from his side, he stood the living +example of a bygone type--the John Company's officer of forty years ago. + +He was followed by the ex-tramp, Corporal Rufus Smith, now well-clad and +prosperous, who limped along beside his master, the two pacing up and +down the lawn absorbed in conversation. I observed that from time to +time one or other of them would pause and glance furtively all about +them, as though guarding keenly against a surprise. I should have +preferred communicating with the general alone, but since there was no +dissociating him from his companion, I beat loudly on the fencing with +my stick to attract their attention. They both faced round in a moment, +and I could see from their gestures that they were disturbed and +alarmed. + +I then elevated my stick above the barrier to show them where the sound +proceeded from. At this the general began to walk in my direction with +the air of a man who is bracing himself up for an effort, but the other +caught him by the wrist and endeavoured to dissuade him. + +It was only when I shouted out my name and assured them that I was alone +that I could prevail upon them to approach. Once assured of my identity +the general ran eagerly towards me and greeted me with the utmost +cordiality. + +"This is truly kind of you, West," he said. "It is only at such times +as these that one can judge who is a friend and who not. It would not be +fair to you to ask you to come inside or to stay any time, but I am none +the less very glad to see you." + +"I have been anxious about you all," I said, "for it is some little +time since I have seen or heard from any of you. How have you all been +keeping?" + +"Why, as well as could be expected. But we will be better tomorrow--we +will be different men to-morrow, eh, Corporal?" + +"Yes, sir," said the corporal, raising his hand to his forehead in a +military salute. "We'll be right as the bank to-morrow." + +"The corporal and I are a little disturbed in our minds just now," the +general explained, "but I have no doubt that all will come right. After +all, there is nothing higher than Providence, and we are all in His +hands. And how have you been, eh?" + +"We have been very busy for one thing," said I. "I suppose you have +heard nothing of the great shipwreck?" + +"Not a word," the general answered listlessly. + +"I thought the noise of the wind would prevent you hearing the signal +guns. She came ashore in the bay the night before last--a great barque +from India." + +"From India!" ejaculated the general. + +"Yes. Her crew were saved, fortunately, and have all been sent on to +Glasgow." + +"All sent on!" cried the general, with a face as bloodless as a corpse. + +"All except three rather strange characters who claim to be Buddhist +priests. They have decided to remain for a few days upon the coast." + +The words were hardly out of my mouth when the general dropped upon his +knees with his long, thin arms extended to Heaven. + +"Thy will be done!" he cried in a cracking voice. "Thy blessed will be +done!" + +I could see through the crack that Corporal Rufus Smith's face had +turned to a sickly yellow shade, and that he was wiping the perspiration +from his brow. + +"It's like my luck!" he said. "After all these years, to come when I +have got a snug billet." + +"Never mind, my lad," the general said, rising, and squaring his +shoulders like a man who braces himself up for an effort. "Be it what +it may we'll face it as British soldiers should. D'ye remember at +Chillianwallah, when you had to run from your guns to our square, and +the Sikh horse came thundering down on our bayonets? We didn't flinch +then, and we won't flinch now. It seems to me that I feel better than I +have done for years. It was the uncertainty that was killing me." + +"And the infernal jingle-jangle," said the corporal. "Well, we all go +together--that's some consolation." + +"Good-bye, West," said the general. "Be a good husband to Gabriel, +and give my poor wife a home. I don't think she will trouble you long. +Good-bye! God bless you!" + +"Look here, General," I said, peremptorily breaking off a piece of wood +to make communication more easy, "this sort of thing has been going on +too long. What are these hints and allusions and innuendoes? It is time +we had a little plain speaking. What is it you fear? Out with it! Are +you in dread of these Hindoos? If you are, I am able, on my father's +authority, to have them arrested as rogues and vagabonds." + +"No, no, that would never do," he answered, shaking his head. "You will +learn about the wretched business soon enough. Mordaunt knows where to +lay his hand upon the papers bearing on the matter. You can consult him +about it to-morrow." + +"But surely," I cried, "if the peril is so imminent something may be +done to avert it. If you would but tell me what you fear I should know +how to act." + +"My dear friend," he said, "there is nothing to be done, so calm +yourself, and let things take their course. It has been folly on my part +to shelter myself behind mere barriers of wood and stone. The fact +is, that inaction was terrible to me, and I felt that to do anything, +however futile, in the nature of a precaution, was better than passive +resignation. My humble friend here and I have placed ourselves in a +position in which, I trust, no poor fellow will ever find himself +again. We can only recommend ourselves to the unfailing goodness of the +Almighty, and trust that what we have endured in this world may lessen +our atonement in the world to come. I must leave you now, for I have +many papers to destroy and much to arrange. Good-bye!" + +He pushed his hand through the hole which I had made, and grasped mine +in a solemn farewell, after which he walked back to the Hall with a firm +and decided step, still followed by the crippled and sinister corporal. + +I walked back to Branksome much disturbed by this interview, and +extremely puzzled as to what course I should pursue. + +It was evident now that my sister's suspicions were correct, and that +there was some very intimate connection between the presence of the +three Orientals and the mysterious peril which hung over the towers of +Cloomber. + +It was difficult for me to associate the noble-faced Ram Singh's gentle, +refined manner and words of wisdom with any deed of violence, yet now +that I thought of it I could see that a terrible capacity for wrath lay +behind his shaggy brows and dark, piercing eyes. + +I felt that of all men whom I had ever met he was the one whose +displeasure I should least care to face. But how could two men so +widely dissociated as the foul-mouthed old corporal of artillery and +the distinguished Anglo-Indian general have each earned the ill-will of +these strange castaways? And if the danger were a positive physical one, +why should he not consent to my proposal to have the three men placed +under custody--though I confess it would have gone much against my grain +to act in so inhospitable a manner upon such vague and shadowy grounds. + +These questions were absolutely unanswerable, and yet the solemn words +and the terrible gravity which I had seen in the faces of both the +old soldiers forbade me from thinking that their fears were entirely +unfounded. + +It was all a puzzle--an absolutely insoluble puzzle. + +One thing at least was clear to me--and that was that in the present +state of my knowledge, and after the general's distinct prohibition, +it was impossible for me to interfere in any way. I could only wait and +pray that, whatever the danger might be, it might pass over, or at least +that my dear Gabriel and her brother might be protected against it. + +I was walking down the lane lost in thought, and had got as far as the +wicket gate which opens upon the Branksome lawn, when I was surprised to +hear my father's voice raised in most animated and excited converse. + +The old man had been of late so abstracted from the daily affairs of the +world, and so absorbed in his own special studies, that it was difficult +to engage his attention upon any ordinary, mundane topic. Curious to +know what it was that had drawn him so far out of himself, I opened +the gate softly, and walking quietly round the laurel bushes, found him +sitting, to my astonishment, with none other than the very man who was +occupying my thoughts, Ram Singh, the Buddhist. + +The two were sitting upon a garden bench, and the Oriental appeared to +be laying down some weighty proposition, checking every point upon his +long, quivering, brown fingers, while my father, with his hands thrown +abroad and his face awry, was loud in protestation and in argument. + +So absorbed were they in their controversy, that I stood within a +hand-touch of them for a minute or more before they became conscious of +my presence. + +On observing me the priest sprang to his feet and greeted me with the +same lofty courtesy and dignified grace which had so impressed me the +day before. + +"I promised myself yesterday," he said, "the pleasure of calling upon +your father. You see I have kept my word. I have even been daring enough +to question his views upon some points in connection with the Sanscrit +and Hindoo tongues, with the result that we have been arguing for +an hour or more without either of us convincing the other. Without +pretending to as deep a theoretical knowledge as that which has made the +name of James Hunter West a household word among Oriental scholars, +I happen to have given considerable attention to this one point, and +indeed I am in a position to say that I know his views to be unsound. +I assure you, sir, that up to the year 700, or even later, Sanscrit was +the ordinary language of the great bulk of the inhabitants of India." + +"And I assure you, sir," said my father warmly, "that it was dead and +forgotten at that date, save by the learned, who used it as a vehicle +for scientific and religious works--just as Latin was used in the Middle +Ages long after it had ceased to be spoken by any European nation." + +"If you consult the puranas you will find," said Ram Singh, "that this +theory, though commonly received, is entirely untenable." + +"And if you will consult the Ramayana, and more particularly the +canonical books on Buddhist discipline," cried my father, "you will find +that the theory is unassailable." + +"But look at the Kullavagga," said our visitor earnestly. + +"And look at King Asoka," shouted my father triumphantly. "When, in the +year 300 before the Christian era--before, mind you--he ordered the laws +of Buddha to be engraved upon the rocks, what language did he employ, +eh? Was it Sanscrit?--no! And why was it not Sanscrit? Because the lower +orders of his subjects would not have been able to understand a word +of it. Ha, ha! That was the reason. How are you going to get round King +Asoka's edicts, eh?" + +"He carved them in the various dialects," Ram Singh answered. "But +energy is too precious a thing to be wasted in mere wind in this style. +The sun has passed its meridian, and I must return to my companions." + +"I am sorry that you have not brought them to see us," said my father +courteously. He was, I could see, uneasy lest in the eagerness of debate +he had overstepped the bounds of hospitality. + +"They do not mix with the world," Ram Singh answered, rising to +his feet. "They are of a higher grade than I, and more sensitive to +contaminating influences. They are immersed in a six months' meditation +upon the mystery of the third incarnation, which has lasted with few +intermissions from the time that we left the Himalayas. I shall not see +you again, Mr. Hunter West, and I therefore bid you farewell. Your old +age will be a happy one, as it deserves to be, and your Eastern studies +will have a lasting effect upon the knowledge and literature of your own +country. Farewell!" + +"And am I also to see no more of you?" I asked. + +"Unless you will walk with me along the sea-shore," he answered. "But +you have already been out this morning, and may be tired. I ask too much +of you." + +"Nay, I should be delighted to come," I responded from my heart, and we +set off together, accompanied for some little distance by my father, who +would gladly, I could see, have reopened the Sanscrit controversy, had +not his stock of breath been too limited to allow of his talking and +walking at the same time. + +"He is a learned man," Ram Singh remarked, after we had left him behind, +"but, like many another, he is intolerant towards opinions which differ +from his own. He will know better some day." + +I made no answer to this observation, and we trudged along for a time in +silence, keeping well down to the water's edge, where the sands afforded +a good foothold. + +The sand dunes which lined the coast formed a continuous ridge upon our +left, cutting us off entirely from all human observation, while on the +right the broad Channel stretched away with hardly a sail to break its +silvery uniformity. The Buddhist priest and I were absolutely alone with +Nature. + +I could not help reflecting that if he were really the dangerous man +that the mate affected to consider him, or that might be inferred from +the words of General Heatherstone, I had placed myself completely in his +power. + +Yet such was the majestic benignity of the man's aspect, and the +unruffled serenity of his deep, dark eyes, that I could afford in his +presence to let fear and suspicion blow past me as lightly as the breeze +which whistled round us. His face might be stern, and even terrible, but +I felt that he could never be unjust. + +As I glanced from time to time at his noble profile and the sweep of his +jet-black beard, his rough-spun tweed travelling suit struck me with +an almost painful sense of incongruity, and I re-clothed him in my +imagination with the grand, sweeping Oriental costume which is the +fitting and proper frame for such a picture--the only garb which does +not detract from the dignity and grace of the wearer. + +The place to which he led me was a small fisher cottage which had been +deserted some years before by its tenant, but still stood gaunt and +bare, with the thatch partly blown away and the windows and doors in +sad disrepair. This dwelling, which the poorest Scotch beggar would have +shrunk from, was the one which these singular men had preferred to the +proffered hospitality of the laird's house. A small garden, now a mass +of tangled brambles, stood round it, and through this my acquaintance +picked his way to the ruined door. He glanced into the house and then +waved his hand for me to follow him. + +"You have now an opportunity," he said, in a subdued, reverential voice, +"of seeing a spectacle which few Europeans have had the privilege of +beholding. Inside that cottage you will find two Yogis--men who are only +one remove from the highest plane of adeptship. They are both wrapped +in an ecstatic trance, otherwise I should not venture to obtrude your +presence upon them. Their astral bodies have departed from them, to be +present at the feast of lamps in the holy Lamasery of Rudok in Tibet. +Tread lightly lest by stimulating their corporeal functions you recall +them before their devotions are completed." + +Walking slowly and on tiptoe, I picked my way through the weed-grown +garden, and peered through the open doorway. + +There was no furniture in the dreary interior, nor anything to cover the +uneven floor save a litter of fresh straw in a corner. + +Among this straw two men were crouching, the one small and wizened, the +other large-boned and gaunt, with their legs crossed in Oriental fashion +and their heads sunk upon their breasts. Neither of them looked up, or +took the smallest notice of our presence. + +They were so still and silent that they might have been two bronze +statues but for the slow and measured rhythm of their breathing. Their +faces, however, had a peculiar, ashen-grey colour, very different from +the healthy brown of my companion's, and I observed, on stooping my +head, that only the whites of their eyes were visible, the balls being +turned upwards beneath the lids. + +In front of them upon a small mat lay an earthenware pitcher of water +and half-a-loaf of bread, together with a sheet of paper inscribed with +certain cabalistic characters. Ram Singh glanced at these, and then, +motioning to me to withdraw, followed me out into the garden. + +"I am not to disturb them until ten o'clock," he said. "You have now +seen in operation one of the grandest results of our occult philosophy, +the dissociation of spirit from body. Not only are the spirits of these +holy men standing at the present moment by the banks of the Ganges, but +those spirits are clothed in a material covering so identical with their +real bodies that none of the faithful will ever doubt that Lal Hoomi and +Mowdar Khan are actually among them. This is accomplished by our power +of resolving an object into its chemical atoms, of conveying these +atoms with a speed which exceeds that of lightning to any given spot, +and of there re-precipitating them and compelling them to retake their +original form. Of old, in the days of our ignorance, it was necessary to +convey the whole body in this way, but we have since found that it was +as easy and more convenient to transmit material enough merely to build +up an outside shell or semblance. This we have termed the astral body." + +"But if you can transmit your spirits so readily," I observed, "why +should they be accompanied by any body at all?" + +"In communicating with brother initiates we are able to employ our +spirits only, but when we wish to come in contact with ordinary mankind +it is essential that we should appear in some form which they can see +and comprehend." + +"You have interested me deeply in all that you have told me," I said, +grasping the hand which Ram Singh had held out to me as a sign that +our interview was at an end. "I shall often think of our short +acquaintance." + +"You will derive much benefit from it," he said slowly, still holding my +hand and looking gravely and sadly into my eyes. "You must remember that +what will happen in the future is not necessarily bad because it does +not fall in with your preconceived ideas of right. Be not hasty in your +judgments. There are certain great rules which must be carried out, at +whatever cost to individuals. Their operation may appear to you to be +harsh and cruel, but that is as nothing compared with the dangerous +precedent which would be established by not enforcing them. The ox and +the sheep are safe from us, but the man with the blood of the highest +upon his hands should not and shall not live." + +He threw up his arms at the last words with a fierce, threatening +gesture, and, turning away from me, strode back to the ruined hut. + +I stood gazing after him until he disappeared through the doorway, and +then started off for home, revolving in my mind all that I had heard, +and more particularly this last outburst of the occult philosopher. + +Far on the right I could see the tall, white tower of Cloomber standing +out clear-cut and sharp against a dark cloud-bank which rose behind it. +I thought how any traveller who chanced to pass that way would envy in +his heart the tenant of that magnificent building, and how little +they would guess the strange terrors, the nameless dangers, which were +gathering about his head. The black cloud-wrack was but the image, I +reflected, of the darker, more sombre storm which was about to burst. + +"Whatever it all means, and however it happens," I ejaculated, "God +grant that the innocent be not confounded with the guilty." + +My father, when I reached home, was still in a ferment over his learned +disputation with the stranger. + +"I trust, Jack," he said, "that I did not handle him too roughly. I +should remember that I am _in loco magistri_, and be less prone to argue +with my guests. Yet, when he took up this most untenable position, I +could not refrain from attacking him and hurling him out of it, which +indeed I did, though you, who are ignorant of the niceties of the +question, may have failed to perceive it. You observed, however, that my +reference to King Asoka's edicts was so conclusive that he at once rose +and took his leave." + +"You held your own bravely," I answered, "but what is your impression of +the man now that you have seen him?" + +"Why," said my father, "he is one of those holy men who, under the +various names of Sannasis, Yogis, Sevras, Qualanders, Hakims, and Cufis +have devoted their lives to the study of the mysteries of the Buddhist +faith. He is, I take it, a theosophist, or worshipper of the God of +knowledge, the highest grade of which is the adept. This man and his +companions have not attained this high position or they could not have +crossed the sea without contamination. It is probable that they are all +advanced chelas who hope in time to attain to the supreme honour of +adeptship." + +"But, father," interrupted my sister, "this does not explain why men of +such sanctity and attainments should choose to take up their quarters on +the shores of a desolate Scotch bay." + +"Ah, there you get beyond me," my father answered. "I may suggest, +however, that it is nobody's business but their own, so long as they +keep the peace and are amenable to the law of the land." + +"Have you ever heard," I asked, "that these higher priests of whom you +speak have powers which are unknown to us?" + +"Why, Eastern literature is full of it. The Bible is an Eastern book, +and is it not full of the record of such powers from cover to cover? +It is unquestionable that they have in the past known many of Nature's +secrets which are lost to us. I cannot say, however, from my own +knowledge that the modern theosophists really possess the powers that +they claim." + +"Are they a vindictive class of people?" I asked. "Is there any offence +among them which can only be expiated by death?" + +"Not that I know of," my father answered, raising his white eyebrows +in surprise. "You appear to be in an inquisitive humour this +afternoon--what is the object of all these questions? Have our Eastern +neighbours aroused your curiosity or suspicion in any way?" + +I parried the question as best I might, for I was unwilling to let the +old man know what was in my mind. No good purpose could come from his +enlightenment; his age and his health demanded rest rather than anxiety; +and indeed, with the best will in the world I should have found it +difficult to explain to another what was so very obscure to myself. For +every reason I felt that it was best that he should be kept in the dark. + +Never in all my experience had I known a day pass so slowly as did that +eventful 5th of October. In every possible manner I endeavoured to while +away the tedious hours, and yet it seemed as if darkness would never +arrive. + +I tried to read, I tried to write, I paced about the lawn, I walked to +the end of the lane, I put new flies upon my fishing-hooks, I began to +index my father's library--in a dozen ways I endeavoured to relieve the +suspense which was becoming intolerable. My sister, I could see, was +suffering from the same feverish restlessness. + +Again and again our good father remonstrated with us in his mild way for +our erratic behaviour and the continual interruption of his work which +arose from it. + +At last, however, the tea was brought, and the tea was taken, the +curtains were drawn, the lamps lit, and after another interminable +interval the prayers were read and the servants dismissed to their +rooms. My father compounded and swallowed his nightly jorum of toddy, +and then shuffled off to his room, leaving the two of us in the parlour +with our nerves in a tingle and our minds full of the most vague and yet +terrible apprehensions. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. OF THE VISITOR WHO RAN DOWN THE ROAD IN THE NIGHT-TIME + + +It was a quarter past ten o'clock by the parlour timepiece when my +father went off to his room, and left Esther and myself together. We +heard his slow steps dying away up the creaking staircase, until the +distant slamming of a door announced that he had reached his sanctum. + +The simple oil lamp upon the table threw a weird, uncertain light over +the old room, flickering upon the carved oak panelling, and casting +strange, fantastic shadows from the high-elbowed, straight-backed +furniture. My sister's white, anxious face stood out in the obscurity +with a startling exactness of profile like one of Rembrandt's portraits. + +We sat opposite to each other on either side of the table with no sound +breaking the silence save the measured ticking of the clock and the +intermittent chirping of a cricket beneath the grate. + +There was something awe-inspiring in the absolute stillness. The +whistling of a belated peasant upon the high road was a relief to us, +and we strained our ears to catch the last of his notes as he plodded +steadily homewards. + +At first we had made some pretence--she of knitting and I of +reading--but we soon abandoned the useless deception, and sat uneasily +waiting, starting and glancing at each other with questioning eyes +whenever the faggot crackled in the fire or a rat scampered behind the +wainscot. There was a heavy electrical feeling in the air, which weighed +us down with a foreboding of disaster. + +I rose and flung the hall door open to admit the fresh breeze of the +night. Ragged clouds swept across the sky, and the moon peeped out at +times between their hurrying fringes, bathing the whole countryside in +its cold, white radiance. From where I stood in the doorway I could see +the edge of the Cloomber wood, though the house itself was only +visible from the rising ground some little distance off. At my sister's +suggestion we walked together, she with her shawl over her head, as far +as the summit of this elevation, and looked out in the direction of the +Hall. + +There was no illumination of the windows tonight. From roof to basement +not a light twinkled in any part of the great building. Its huge mass +loomed up dark and sullen amid the trees which surrounded it, looking +more like some giant sarcophagus than a human habitation. + +To our overwrought nerves there was something of terror in its mere bulk +and its silence. We stood for some little time peering at it through the +darkness, and then we made our way back to the parlour again, where +we sat waiting--waiting, we knew not for what, and yet with absolute +conviction that some terrible experience was in store for us. + +It was twelve o'clock or thereabout when my sister suddenly sprang to +her feet and held up her fingers to bespeak attention. + +"Do you hear nothing?" she asked. + +I strained my ears, but without success. + +"Come to the door," she cried, with a trembling voice. "Now can you hear +anything?" + +In the deep silence of the night I distinctly heard a dull, murmuring, +clattering sound, continuous apparently, but very faint and low. + +"What is it?" I asked, in a subdued voice. + +"It's the sound of a man running towards us," she answered, and then, +suddenly dropping the last semblance of self-command, she fell upon +her knees beside the table and began praying aloud with that frenzied +earnestness which intense, overpowering fear can produce, breaking off +now and again into half-hysterical whimperings. + +I could distinguish the sound clearly enough now to know that her quick, +feminine perception had not deceived her, and that it was indeed caused +by a running man. + +On he came, and on down the high road, his footfalls ringing out clearer +and sharper every moment. An urgent messenger he must be, for he neither +paused nor slackened his pace. + +The quick, crisp rattle was changed suddenly to a dull, muffled murmur. +He had reached the point where sand had been recently laid down for +a hundred yards or so. In a few moments, however, he was back on hard +ground again and his flying feet came nearer and ever nearer. + +He must, I reflected, be abreast of the head of the lane now. Would he +hold on? Or would he turn down to Branksome? + +The thought had hardly crossed my mind when I heard by the difference of +the sound that the runner had turned the corner, and that his goal was +beyond all question the laird's house. + +Rushing down to the gate of the lawn, I reached it just as our visitor +dashed it open and fell into my arms. I could see in the moonlight that +it was none other than Mordaunt Heatherstone. + +"What has happened?" I cried. "What is amiss, Mordaunt?" + +"My father!" he gasped--"my father!" + +His hat was gone, his eyes dilated with terror, and his face as +bloodless as that of a corpse. I could feel that the hands which clasped +my arms were quivering and shaking with emotion. + +"You are exhausted," I said, leading him into the parlour. "Give +yourself a moment's rest before you speak to us. Be calm, man, you are +with your best friends." + +I laid him on the old horsehair sofa, while Esther, whose fears had all +flown to the winds now that something practical was to be done, dashed +some brandy into a tumbler and brought it to him. The stimulant had a +marvellous effect upon him, for the colour began to come back into his +pale cheeks and the light of recognition in his eyes. + +He sat up and took Esther's hand in both of his, like a man who is +waking out of some bad dream and wishes to assure himself that he is +really in safety. + +"Your father?" I asked. "What of him?" + +"He is gone." + +"Gone!" + +"Yes; he is gone; and so is Corporal Rufus Smith. We shall never set +eyes upon them again." + +"But where have they gone?" I cried. "This is unworthy of you, Mordaunt. +What right have we to sit here, allowing our private feelings to +overcome us, while there is a possibility of succouring your father? Up, +man! Let us follow him. Tell me only what direction he took." + +"It's no use," young Heatherstone answered, burying his face in +his hands. "Don't reproach me, West, for you don't know all the +circumstances. What can we do to reverse the tremendous and unknown laws +which are acting against us? The blow has long been hanging over us, and +now it has fallen. God help us!" + +"In Heaven's name tell me what has happened?" said I excitedly. "We must +not yield to despair." + +"We can do nothing until daybreak," he answered. "We shall then +endeavour to obtain some trace of them. It is hopeless at present." + +"And how about Gabriel and Mrs. Heatherstone?" I asked. "Can we +not bring them down from the Hall at once? Your poor sister must be +distracted with terror." + +"She knows nothing of it," Mordaunt answered. "She sleeps at the other +side of the house, and has not heard or seen anything. As to my poor +mother, she has expected some such event for so long a time that it has +not come upon her as a surprise. She is, of course, overwhelmed with +grief, but would, I think, prefer to be left to herself for the +present. Her firmness and composure should be a lesson to me, but I am +constitutionally excitable, and this catastrophe coming after our long +period of suspense deprived me of my very reason for a time." + +"If we can do nothing until the morning," I said, "you have time to tell +us all that has occurred." + +"I will do so," he answered, rising and holding his shaking hands to the +fire. "You know already that we have had reason for some time--for many +years in fact--to fear that a terrible retribution was hanging over my +father's head for a certain action of his early life. In this action he +was associated with the man known as Corporal Rufus Smith, so that the +fact of the latter finding his way to my father was a warning to us that +the time had come, and that this 5th of October--the anniversary of the +misdeed--would be the day of its atonement. I told you of our fears +in my letter, and, if I am not mistaken, my father also had some +conversation with you, John, upon the subject. When I saw yesterday +morning that he had hunted out the old uniform which he had always +retained since he wore it in the Afghan war, I was sure that the end was +at hand, and that our forebodings would be realised. + +"He appeared to be more composed in the afternoon than I have seen him +for years, and spoke freely of his life in India and of the incidents of +his youth. About nine o'clock he requested us to go up to our own rooms, +and locked us in there--a precaution which he frequently took when the +dark fit was upon him. It was always his endeavour, poor soul, to keep +us clear of the curse which had fallen upon his own unfortunate head. +Before parting from us he tenderly embraced my mother and Gabriel, +and he afterwards followed me to my room, where he clasped my hand +affectionately and gave into my charge a small packet addressed to +yourself." + +"To me?" I interrupted. + +"To you. I shall fulfill my commission when I have told you my story. I +conjured him to allow me to sit up with him and share any danger which +might arise, but he implored me with irresistible earnestness not to add +to his troubles by thwarting his arrangements. Seeing that I was really +distressing him by my pertinacity, I at last allowed him to close the +door and to turn the key upon the outside. I shall always reproach +myself for my want of firmness. But what can you do when your own father +refuses your assistance or co-operation? You cannot force yourself upon +him." + +"I am sure that you did all you could do," my sister said. + +"I meant to, dear Esther, but, God help me, it was hard to tell what +was right. He left me, and I heard his footsteps die away down the long +corridor. It was then about ten o'clock, or a little after. For a time +I paced up and down the room, and then, carrying the lamp to the head of +my bed, I lay down without undressing, reading St. Thomas a Kempis, and +praying from my heart that the night might pass safely over us. + +"I had at last fallen into a troubled sleep when I was suddenly aroused +by a loud, sonorous sound ringing in my ears. I sat up bewildered, but +all was silent again. The lamp was burning low, and my watch showed +me that it was going on to midnight. I blundered to my feet, and was +striking a match with the intention of lighting the candles, when the +sharp, vehement cry broke out again so loud and so clear that it might +have been in the very room with me. My chamber is in the front of the +house, while those of my mother and sister are at the back, so that I am +the only one who commands a view of the avenue. + +"Rushing to the window I drew the blind aside and looked out. You know +that the gravel-drive opens up so as to form a broad stretch immediately +in front of the house. Just in the centre of this clear space there +stood three men looking up at the house. + +"The moon shone full upon them, glistening on their upturned eyeballs, +and by its light I could see that they were swarthy-faced and +black-haired, of a type that I was familiar with among the Sikhs and +Afridis. Two of them were thin, with eager, aesthetic countenances, +while the third was kinglike and majestic, with a noble figure and +flowing beard." + +"Ram Singh!" I ejaculated. + +"What, you know of them?" exclaimed Mordaunt in great surprise. "You +have met them?" + +"I know of them. They are Buddhist priests," I answered, "but go on." + +"They stood in a line," he continued, "sweeping their arms upwards +and downwards, while their lips moved as if repeating some prayer or +incantation. Suddenly they ceased to gesticulate, and broke out for the +third time into the wild, weird, piercing cry which had roused me from +my slumber. Never shall I forget that shrill, dreadful summons swelling +and reverberating through the silent night with an intensity of sound +which is still ringing in my ears. + +"As it died slowly away, there was a rasping and creaking as of keys +and bolts, followed by the clang of an opening door and the clatter of +hurrying feet. From my window I saw my father and Corporal Rufus Smith +rush frantically out of the house hatless and unkempt, like men who are +obeying a sudden and overpowering impulse. The three strangers laid +no hands on them, but all five swept swiftly away down the avenue and +vanished among the trees. I am positive that no force was used, or +constraint of any visible kind, and yet I am as sure that my poor father +and his companion were helpless prisoners as if I had seen them dragged +away in manacles. + +"All this took little time in the acting. From the first summons which +disturbed my sleep to the last shadowy glimpse which I had of them +between the tree trunks could hardly have occupied more than five +minutes of actual time. So sudden was it, and so strange, that when the +drama was over and they were gone I could have believed that it was +all some terrible nightmare, some delusion, had I not felt that the +impression was too real, too vivid, to be imputed to fancy. + +"I threw my whole weight against my bedroom door in the hope of forcing +the lock. It stood firm for a while, but I flung myself upon it again +and again, until something snapped and I found myself in the passage. + +"My first thought was for my mother. I rushed to her room and turned +the key in her door. The moment that I did so she stepped out into the +corridor in her dressing-gown, and held up a warning finger. + +"'No noise, she said, Gabriel is asleep. They have been called away?' + +"'They have,' I answered. + +"'God's will be done!' she cried. 'Your poor father will be happier in +the next world than he has ever been in this. Thank Heaven that Gabriel +is asleep. I gave her chloral in her cocoa.' + +"'What am I to do?' I said distractedly. + +"'Where have they gone? How can I help him? We cannot let him go from +us like this, or leave these men to do what they will with him. Shall I +ride into Wigtown and arouse the police?' + +"'Anything rather than that,' my mother said earnestly. 'He has begged +me again and again to avoid it. My son, we shall never set eyes upon +your father again. You may marvel at my dry eyes, but if you knew as +I know the peace which death would bring him, you could not find it in +your heart to mourn for him. All pursuit is, I feel, vain, and yet some +pursuit there must be. Let it be as private as possible. We cannot serve +him better than by consulting his wishes.' + +"'But every minute is precious,' I cried. 'Even now he may be calling +upon us to rescue him from the clutches of those dark-skinned fiends.' + +"The thought so maddened me that I rushed out of the house and down to +the high road, but once there I had no indication in which direction to +turn. The whole wide moor lay before me, without a sign of movement +upon its broad expanse. I listened, but not a sound broke the perfect +stillness of the night. + +"It was then, my dear friends, as I stood, not knowing in which +direction to turn, that the horror and responsibility broke full upon +me. I felt that I was combating against forces of which I knew nothing. +All was strange and dark and terrible. + +"The thought of you, and of the help which I might look for from your +advice and assistance, was a beacon of hope to me. At Branksome, at +least, I should receive sympathy, and, above all, directions as to what +I should do, for my mind is in such a whirl that I cannot trust my own +judgment. My mother was content to be alone, my sister asleep, and +no prospect of being able to do anything until daybreak. Under those +circumstances what more natural than that I should fly to you as fast as +my feet would carry me? You have a clear head, Jack; speak out, man, and +tell me what I should do. Esther, what should I do?" + +He turned from one to the other of us with outstretched hands and eager, +questioning eyes. + +"You can do nothing while the darkness lasts," I answered. "We must +report the matter to the Wigtown police, but we need not send our +message to them until we are actually starting upon the search, so as to +comply with the law and yet have a private investigation, as your mother +wishes. John Fullarton, over the hill, has a lurcher dog which is as +good as a bloodhound. If we set him on the general's trail he will run +him down if he had to follow him to John o' Groat's." + +"It is terrible to wait calmly here while he may need our assistance." + +"I fear our assistance could under any circumstances do him little +good. There are forces at work here which are beyond human intervention. +Besides, there is no alternative. We have, apparently, no possible +clue as to the direction which they have taken, and for us to wander +aimlessly over the moor in the darkness would be to waste the strength +which may be more profitably used in the morning. It will be daylight +by five o'clock. In an hour or so we can walk over the hill together and +get Fullarton's dog." + +"Another hour!" Mordaunt groaned, "every minute seems an age." + +"Lie down on the sofa and rest yourself," said I. "You cannot serve your +father better than by laying up all the strength you can, for we may +have a weary trudge before us. But you mentioned a packet which the +general had intended for me." + +"It is here," he answered, drawing a small, flat parcel from his pocket +and handing it over to me, "you will find, no doubt, that it will +explain all which has been so mysterious." + +The packet was sealed at each end with black wax, bearing the impress +of the flying griffin, which I knew to be the general's crest. It +was further secured by a band of broad tape, which I cut with my +pocket-knife. Across the outside was written in bold handwriting: "J. +Fothergill West, Esq.," and underneath: "To be handed to that gentleman +in the event of the disappearance or decease of Major-General J. B. +Heatherstone, V.C., C.B., late of the Indian Army." + +So at last I was to know the dark secret which had cast a shadow over +our lives. Here in my hands I held the solution of it. + +With eager fingers I broke the seals and undid the wrapper. A note and a +small bundle of discoloured paper lay within. I drew the lamp over to me +and opened the former. It was dated the preceding afternoon, and ran in +this way: + +MY DEAR WEST,-- + +I should have satisfied your very natural curiosity on the subject which +we have had occasion to talk of more than once, but I refrained for your +own sake. I knew by sad experience how unsettling and unnerving it is +to be for ever waiting for a catastrophe which you are convinced must +befall, and which you can neither avert nor accelerate. + +Though it affects me specially, as being the person most concerned, I am +still conscious that the natural sympathy which I have observed in you, +and your regard for Gabriel's father, would both combine to render you +unhappy if you knew the hopelessness and yet the vagueness of the fate +which threatens me. I feared to disturb your mind, and I was therefore +silent, though at some cost to myself, for my isolation has not been the +least of the troubles which have weighed me down. + +Many signs, however, and chief among them the presence of the Buddhists +upon the coast as described by you this morning, have convinced me that +the weary waiting is at last over and that the hour of retribution is at +hand. Why I should have been allowed to live nearly forty years after my +offence is more than I can understand, but it is possible that those who +had command over my fate know that such a life is the greatest of all +penalties to me. + +Never for an hour, night or day, have they suffered me to forget that +they have marked me down as their victim. Their accursed astral bell has +been ringing my knell for two-score years, reminding me ever that there +is no spot upon earth where I can hope to be in safety. Oh, the peace, +the blessed peace of dissolution! Come what may on the other side of the +tomb, I shall at least be quit of that thrice terrible sound. + +There is no need for me to enter into the wretched business again, or +to detail at any length the events of October 5th, 1841, and the various +circumstances which led up to the death of Ghoolab Shah, the arch adept. + +I have torn a sheaf of leaves from my old journal, in which you will +find a bald account of the matter, and an independent narrative was +furnished by Sir Edward Elliott, of the Artillery, to the Star of India +some years ago--in which, however, the names were suppressed. + +I have reason to believe that many people, even among those who knew +India well, thought that Sir Edward was romancing, and that he had +evolved his incidents from his imagination. The few faded sheets which +I send you will show you that this is not the case, and that our men of +science must recognise powers and laws which can and have been used by +man, but which are unknown to European civilisation. + +I do not wish to whine or to whimper, but I cannot help feeling that I +have had hard measure dealt me in this world. I would not, God knows, +take the life of any man, far less an aged one, in cold blood. My temper +and nature, however, were always fiery and headstrong, and in action +when my blood is up, I have no knowledge of what I am about. Neither +the corporal nor I would have laid a finger upon Ghoolab Shah had we not +seen that the tribesmen were rallying behind him. Well, well, it is an +old story now, and there is no profit in discussing it. May no other +poor fellow ever have the same evil fortune! + +I have written a short supplement to the statements contained in my +journal for your information and that of any one else who may chance to +be interested in the matter. + +And now, adieu! Be a good husband to Gabriel, and, if your sister be +brave enough to marry into such a devil-ridden family as ours, by all +means let her do so. I have left enough to keep my poor wife in comfort. + +When she rejoins me I should wish it to be equally divided between the +children. If you hear that I am gone, do not pity, but congratulate + +Your unfortunate friend, + +JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE. + +I threw aside the letter and picked up the roll of blue foolscap which +contained the solution of the mystery. It was all ragged and frayed at +the inner edge, with traces of gum and thread still adhering to it, to +show that it had been torn out of a strongly bound volume. The ink with +which it had been written was faded somewhat, but across the head of the +first page was inscribed in bold, clear characters, evidently of later +date than the rest: "Journal of Lieutenant J. B. Heatherstone in the +Thull Valley during the autumn of 1841," and then underneath: + +This extract contains some account of the events of the first week of +October of that year, including the skirmish of the Terada ravine and +the death of the man Ghoolab Shah. + +I have the narrative lying before me now, and I copy it verbatim. If it +contains some matter which has no direct bearing upon the question +at issue, I can only say that I thought it better to publish what is +irrelevant than by cutting and clipping to lay the whole statement open +to the charge of having been tampered with. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE DAY-BOOK OF JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE + +Thull Valley, Oct. 1, 1841.--The Fifth Bengal and Thirty-third Queen's +passed through this morning on their way to the Front. Had tiffin with +the Bengalese. Latest news from home that two attempts had been made on +the Queen's life by semi-maniacs named Francis and Bean. + +It promises to be a hard winter. The snow-line has descended a thousand +feet upon the peaks, but the passes will be open for weeks to come, and, +even if they were blocked, we have established so many depots in the +country that Pollock and Nott will have no difficulty in holding their +own. They shall not meet with the fate of Elphinstone's army. One such +tragedy is enough for a century. + +Elliott of the Artillery, and I, are answerable for the safety of the +communications for a distance of twenty miles or more, from the mouth of +the valley to this side of the wooden bridge over the Lotar. Goodenough, +of the Rifles, is responsible on the other side, and Lieutenant-Colonel +Sidney Herbert of the Engineers, has a general supervision over both +sections. + +Our force is not strong enough for the work which has to be done. I have +a company and a half of our own regiment, and a squadron of Sowars, +who are of no use at all among the rocks. Elliott has three guns, but +several of his men are down with cholera, and I doubt if he has enough +to serve more than two. + +(Note: capsicum for cholera--tried it) + +On the other hand, each convoy is usually provided with some guard of +its own, though it is often absurdly inefficient. These valleys and +ravines which branch out of the main pass are alive with Afridis and +Pathans, who are keen robbers as well as religious fanatics. I wonder +they don't swoop down on some of our caravans. They could plunder them +and get back to their mountain fastnesses before we could interfere or +overtake them. Nothing but fear will restrain them. + +If I had my way I would hang one at the mouth of every ravine as a +warning to the gang. They are personifications of the devil to look at, +hawk-nosed, full-lipped, with a mane of tangled hair, and most Satanic +sneer. No news today from the Front. + +October 2.--I must really ask Herbert for another company at the very +least. I am convinced that the communications would be cut off if any +serious attack were made upon us. + +Now, this morning two urgent messages were sent me from two different +points more than sixteen miles apart, to say that there were signs of a +descent of the tribes. + +Elliott, with one gun and the Sowars, went to the farther ravine, while +I, with the infantry, hurried to the other, but we found it was a false +alarm. I saw no signs of the Hillmen, and though we were greeted by a +splutter of jezail bullets we were unable to capture any of the rascals. + +Woe betide them if they fall into my hands. I would give them as short +a shrift as ever a Highland cateran got from a Glasgow judge. These +continued alarms may mean nothing or they may be an indication that the +Hillmen are assembling and have some plan in view. + +We have had no news from the Front for some time, but to-day a convoy of +wounded came through with the intelligence that Nott had taken Ghuznee. +I hope he warmed up any of the black rascals that fell into his hands. + +No word of Pollock. + +An elephant battery came up from the Punjab, looking in very good +condition. There were several convalescents with it going up to rejoin +their regiments. Knew none of them except Mostyn of the Hussars and +young Blakesley, who was my fag at Charterhouse, and whom I have never +seen since. + +Punch and cigars _al fresco_ up to eleven o'clock. + +Letters to-day from Wills & Co. about their little bill forwarded on +from Delhi. Thought a campaign freed a man from these annoyances. Wills +says in his note that, since his written applications have been in +vain, he must call upon me in person. If he calls upon me now he will +assuredly be the boldest and most persevering of tailors. + +A line from Calcutta Daisy and another from Hobhouse to say that Matilda +comes in for all the money under the will. I am glad of it. + +October 3.--Glorious news from the Front today. Barclay, of the Madras +Cavalry, galloped through with dispatches. Pollock entered Cabul +triumphantly on the 16th of last month, and, better still, Lady Sale +has been rescued by Shakespear, and brought safe into the British camp, +together with the other hostages. _Te Deum laudamus!_ + +This should end the whole wretched business--this and the sack of the +city. I hope Pollock won't be squeamish, or truckle to the hysterical +party at home. The towns should be laid in ashes and the fields sown +with salt. Above all, the Residency and the Palace must come down. So +shall Burnes, McNaghten, and many another gallant fellow know that his +countrymen could avenge if they could not save him! + +It is hard when others are gaining glory and experience to be stuck in +this miserable valley. I have been out of it completely, bar a few petty +skirmishes. However, we may see some service yet. + +A jemidar of ours brought in a Hillman today, who says that the tribes +are massing in the Terada ravine, ten miles to the north of us, and +intend attacking the next convoy. We can't rely on information of this +sort, but there may prove to be some truth in it. Proposed to shoot our +informant, so as to prevent his playing the double traitor and reporting +our proceedings. Elliott demurred. + +If you are making war you should throw no chance away. I hate +half-and-half measures. The Children of Israel seem to have been the +only people who ever carried war to its logical conclusion--except +Cromwell in Ireland. Made a compromise at last by which the man is to +be detained as a prisoner and executed if his information prove to be +false. I only hope we get a fair chance of showing what we can do. + +No doubt these fellows at the Front will have C.B.'s and knighthoods +showering upon them thick and fast, while we poor devils, who have had +most of the responsibility and anxiety, will be passed over completely. +Elliott has a whitlow. + +The last convoy left us a large packet of sauces, but as they forgot to +leave anything to eat with them, we have handed them over to the Sowars, +who drink them out of their pannikins as if they were liqueurs. We hear +that another large convoy may be expected from the plains in the course +of a day or two. Took nine to four on Cleopatra for the Calcutta Cup. + +October 4.--The Hillmen really mean business this time, I think. We have +had two of our spies come in this morning with the same account about +the gathering in the Terada quarter. That old rascal Zemaun is at the +head of it, and I had recommended the Government to present him with +a telescope in return for his neutrality! There will be no Zemaun to +present it to if I can but lay hands upon him. + +We expect the convoy tomorrow morning, and need anticipate no attack +until it comes up, for these fellows fight for plunder, not for glory, +though, to do them justice, they have plenty of pluck when they get +started. I have devised an excellent plan, and it has Elliott's hearty +support. By Jove! if we can only manage it, it will be as pretty a ruse +as ever I heard of. + +Our intention is to give out that we are going down the valley to meet +the convoy and to block the mouth of a pass from which we profess to +expect an attack. Very good. We shall make a night-march to-night and +reach their camp. Once there I shall conceal my two hundred men in the +waggons and travel up with the convoy again. + +Our friends the enemy, having heard that we intended to go south, and +seeing the caravan going north without us, will naturally swoop down +upon it under the impression that we are twenty miles away. We shall +teach them such a lesson that they would as soon think of stopping a +thunderbolt as of interfering again with one of Her Britannic Majesty's +provision trains. I am all on thorns to be off. + +Elliott has rigged up two of his guns so ingeniously that they look more +like costermongers' barrows than anything else. To see artillery ready +for action in the convoy might arouse suspicion. The artillerymen will +be in the waggons next the guns, all ready to unlimber and open fire. +Infantry in front and rear. Have told our confidential and discreet +Sepoy servants the plan which we do not intend to adopt. N.B.--If you +wish a thing to be noised over a whole province always whisper it under +a vow of secrecy to your confidential native servant. + +8.45 P.M.--Just starting for the convoy. May luck go with us! + +October 5.--Seven o'clock in the evening. _Io triumphe!_ Crown us with +laurel--Elliott and myself! Who can compare with us as vermin killers? + +I have only just got back, tired and weary, stained with blood and +dust, but I have sat down before either washing or changing to have the +satisfaction of seeing our deeds set forth in black and white--if only +in my private log for no eye but my own. I shall describe it all fully +as a preparation for an official account, which must be drawn up when +Elliott gets back. Billy Dawson used to say that there were three +degrees of comparison--a prevarication, a lie, and an official account. +We at least cannot exaggerate our success, for it would be impossible to +add anything to it. + +We set out, then, as per programme, and came upon the camp near the head +of the valley. They had two weak companies of the 54th with them who +might no doubt have held their own with warning, but an unexpected rush +of wild Hillmen is a very difficult thing to stand against. With our +reinforcements, however, and on our guard, we might defy the rascals. + +Chamberlain was in command--a fine young fellow. We soon made him +understand the situation, and were all ready for a start by daybreak +though his waggons were so full that we were compelled to leave several +tons of fodder behind in order to make room for my Sepoys and for the +artillery. + +About five o'clock we inspanned, to use an Africanism, and by six we +were well on our way, with our escort as straggling and unconcerned as +possible--as helpless-looking a caravan as ever invited attack. + +I could soon see that it was to be no false alarm this time, and that +the tribes really meant business. + +From my post of observation, under the canvas screens of one of the +waggons, I could make out turbaned heads popping up to have a look at +us from among the rocks, and an occasional scout hurrying northward with +the news of our approach. + +It was not, however, until we came abreast of the Terada Pass, a gloomy +defile bounded by gigantic cliffs, that the Afridis began to show in +force, though they had ambushed themselves so cleverly that, had we not +been keenly on the look-out for them, we might have walked right into +the trap. As it was, the convoy halted, upon which the Hillmen, seeing +that they were observed, opened a heavy but ill-directed fire upon us. + +I had asked Chamberlain to throw out his men in skirmishing order, and +to give them directions to retreat slowly upon the waggons so as to draw +the Afridis on. The ruse succeeded to perfection. + +As the redcoats steadily retired, keeping behind cover as much as +possible, the enemy followed them up with yells of exultation, springing +from rock to rock, waving their jezails in the air, and howling like a +pack of demons. + +With their black, contorted, mocking faces, their fierce gestures, and +their fluttering garments, they would have made a study for any painter +who wished to portray Milton's conception of the army of the damned. + +From every side they pressed in until, seeing, as they thought, nothing +between them and victory, they left the shelter of the rocks and came +rushing down, a furious, howling throng, with the green banner of the +Prophet in their van. + +Now was our chance, and gloriously we utilised it. + +From every cranny and slit of the waggons came a blaze of fire, every +shot of which told among the close-packed mob. Two or three score rolled +over like rabbits and the rest reeled for a moment, and then, with their +chiefs at their head, came on again in a magnificent rush. + +It was useless, however, for undisciplined men to attempt to face such a +well-directed fire. The leaders were bowled over, and the others, after +hesitating for a few moments, turned and made for the rocks. + +It was our turn now to assume the offensive. The guns were unlimbered +and grape poured into them, while our little infantry force advanced at +the double, shooting and stabbing all whom they overtook. + +Never had I known the tide of battle turn so rapidly and so decisively. +The sullen retreat became a flight, and the flight a panic-stricken +rout, until there was nothing left of the tribesmen except a scattered, +demoralised rabble flying wildly to their native fastnesses for shelter +and protection. + +I was by no means inclined to let them off cheaply now that I had them +in my power. On the contrary, I determined to teach them such a lesson +that the sight of a single scarlet uniform would in future be a passport +in itself. + +We followed hard upon the track of the fugitives and entered the Terada +defile at their very heels. Having detached Chamberlain and Elliott with +a company on either side to protect my wings, I pushed on with my Sepoys +and a handful of artillerymen, giving the enemy no time to rally or +to recover themselves. We were so handicapped, however, by our stiff +European uniforms and by our want of practice in climbing, that we +should have been unable to overtake any of the mountaineers had it not +been for a fortunate accident. + +There is a smaller ravine which opens into the main pass, and in their +hurry and confusion some of the fugitives rushed down this. I saw sixty +or seventy of them turn down, but I should have passed them by and +continued in pursuit of the main body had not one of my scouts come +rustling up to inform me that the smaller ravine was a _cul-de-sac_, and +that the Afridis who had gone up it had no possible means of getting out +again except by cutting their way through our ranks. + +Here was an opportunity of striking terror into the tribes. Leaving +Chamberlain and Elliott to continue the pursuit of the main body, I +wheeled my Sepoys into the narrow path and proceeded slowly down it in +extended order, covering the whole ground from cliff to cliff. Not a +jackal could have passed us unseen. The rebels were caught like rats in +a trap. + +The defile in which we found ourselves was the most gloomy and majestic +that I have ever seen. On either side naked precipices rose sheer up +for a thousand feet or more, converging upon each other so as to leave a +very narrow slit of daylight above us, which was further reduced by the +feathery fringe of palm trees and aloes which hung over each lip of the +chasm. + +The cliffs were not more than a couple of hundred yards apart at the +entrance, but as we advanced they grew nearer and nearer, until a half +company in close order could hardly march abreast. + +A sort of twilight reigned in this strange valley, and the dim, +uncertain light made the great, basalt rocks loom up vague and +fantastic. There was no path, and the ground was most uneven, but I +pushed on briskly, cautioning my fellows to have their fingers on their +triggers, for I could see that we were nearing the point where the two +cliffs would form an acute angle with each other. + +At last we came in sight of the place. A great pile of boulders was +heaped up at the very end of the pass, and among these our fugitives +were skulking, entirely demoralised apparently, and incapable of +resistance. They were useless as prisoners, and it was out of the +question to let them go, so there was no choice but to polish them off. + +Waving my sword, I was leading my men on, when we had a most dramatic +interruption of a sort which I have seen once or twice on the boards of +Drury Lane, but never in real life. + +In the side of the cliff, close to the pile of stones where the Hillmen +were making their last stand, there was a cave which looked more like +the lair of some wild beast than a human habitation. + +Out of this dark archway there suddenly emerged an old man--such a +very, very old man that all the other veterans whom I have seen were +as chickens compared with him. His hair and beard were both as white +as snow, and each reached more than half-way to his waist. His face was +wrinkled and brown and ebony, a cross between a monkey and a mummy, and +so thin and emaciated were his shrivelled limbs that you would hardly +have given him credit for having any vitality left, were it not for his +eyes, which glittered and sparkled with excitement, like two diamonds in +a setting of mahogany. + +This apparition came rushing out of the cave, and, throwing himself +between the fugitives and our fellows, motioned us back with as +imperious a sweep of the hand as ever an emperor used to his slaves. + +"Men of blood," he cried, in a voice of thunder, speaking excellent +English, too--"this is a place for prayer and meditation, not for +murder. Desist, lest the wrath of the gods fall upon you." + +"Stand aside, old man," I shouted. "You will meet with a hurt if you +don't get out of the way." + +I could see that the Hillmen were taking heart, and that some of +my Sepoys were flinching, as if they did not relish this new enemy. +Clearly, I must act promptly if I wished to complete our success. + +I dashed forward at the head of the white artillerymen who had stuck to +me. The old fellow rushed at us with his arms out as if to stop us, but +it was not time to stick at trifles, so I passed my sword through his +body at the same moment that one of the gunners brought his carbine down +upon his head. He dropped instantly, and the Hillmen, at the sight of +his fall, set up the most unearthly howl of horror and consternation. + +The Sepoys, who had been inclined to hang back, came on again the +moment he was disposed of, and it did not take us long to consummate our +victory. Hardly a man of the enemy got out of the defile alive. + +What could Hannibal or Caesar have done more? Our own loss in the whole +affair has been insignificant--three killed and about fifteen wounded. +Got their banner, a green wisp of a thing with a sentence of the Koran +engraved upon it. + +I looked, after the action, for the old chap, but his body had +disappeared, though how or whither I have no conception. His blood be +upon his own head! He would be alive now if he had not interfered, as +the constables say at home, "with an officer in the execution of his +duty." + +The scouts tell me that his name was Ghoolab Shah, and that he was one +of the highest and holiest of the Buddhists. He had great fame in the +district as a prophet and worker of miracles--hence the hubbub when he +was cut down. They tell me that he was living in this very cave when +Tamerlane passed this way in 1399, with a lot more bosh of that sort. + +I went into the cave, and how any man could live in it a week is a +mystery to me, for it was little more than four feet high, and as damp +and dismal a grotto as ever was seen. A wooden settle and a rough +table were the sole furniture, with a lot of parchment scrolls with +hieroglyphics. + +Well, he has gone where he will learn that the gospel of peace and good +will is superior to all his Pagan lore. Peace go with him. + +Elliott and Chamberlain never caught the main body--I knew they +wouldn't--so the honours of the day rest with me. I ought to get a step +for it, anyhow, and perhaps, who knows? some mention in the _Gazette_. +What a lucky chance! I think Zemaun deserves his telescope after all for +giving it to me. Shall have something to eat now, for I am half starved. +Glory is an excellent thing, but you cannot live upon it. + +October 6, 11 A.M.--Let me try to set down as calmly and as accurately +as I can all that occurred last night. I have never been a dreamer or +a visionary, so I can rely upon my own senses, though I am bound to +say that if any other fellow had told me the same thing I should have +doubted him. I might even have suspected that I was deceived at the time +had I not heard the bell since. However, I must narrate what happened. + +Elliott was in my tent with me having a quiet cheroot until about ten +o'clock. I then walked the rounds with my jemidar, and having seen that +all was right I turned in a little before eleven. + +I was just dropping off to sleep, for I was dog-tired after the day's +work, when I was aroused by some slight noise, and, looking round, I saw +a man dressed in Asiatic costume standing at the entrance of my tent. He +was motionless when I saw him, and he had his eyes fixed upon me with a +solemn and stern expression. + +My first thought was that the fellow was some Ghazi or Afghan fanatic +who had stolen in with the intention of stabbing me, and with this idea +in my mind I had all the will to spring from my couch and defend myself, +but the power was unaccountably lacking. + +An overpowering languor and want of energy possessed me. Had I seen +the dagger descending upon my breast I could not have made an effort +to avert it. I suppose a bird when it is under the influence of a snake +feels very much as I did in the presence of this gloomy-faced stranger. +My mind was clear enough, but my body was as torpid as though I were +still asleep. + +I shut my eyes once or twice and tried to persuade myself that the whole +thing was a delusion, but every time that I opened them there was the +man still regarding me with the same stony, menacing stare. + +The silence became unendurable. I felt that I must overcome my languor +so far as to address him. I am not a nervous man, and I never knew +before what Virgil meant when he wrote "adhoesit faucibus ora." At last +I managed to stammer out a few words, asking the intruder who he was and +what he wanted. + +"Lieutenant Heatherstone," he answered, speaking slowly and gravely, +"you have committed this day the foulest sacrilege and the greatest +crime which it is possible for man to do. You have slain one of the +thrice blessed and reverend ones, an arch adept of the first degree, an +elder brother who has trod the higher path for more years than you +have numbered months. You have cut him off at a time when his labours +promised to reach a climax and when he was about to attain a height of +occult knowledge which would have brought man one step nearer to his +Creator. All this you have done without excuse, without provocation, at +a time when he was pleading the cause of the helpless and distressed. +Listen now to me, John Heatherstone. + +"When first the occult sciences were pursued many thousands of years +ago, it was found by the learned that the short tenure of human +existence was too limited to allow a man to attain the loftiest heights +of inner life. The inquirers of those days directed their energies in +the first place, therefore, to the lengthening of their own days in +order that they might have more scope for improvement. + +"By their knowledge of the secret laws of Nature they were enabled to +fortify their bodies against disease and old age. It only remained to +protect themselves against the assaults of wicked and violent men who +are ever ready to destroy what is wiser and nobler than themselves. +There was no direct means by which this protection could be effected, +but it was in some measure attained by arranging the occult forces in +such a way that a terrible and unavoidable retribution should await the +offender. + +"It was irrevocably ordained by laws which cannot be reversed that any +one who should shed the blood of a brother who had attained a certain +degree of sanctity should be a doomed man. Those laws are extant to this +day, John Heatherstone, and you have placed yourself in their power. +King or emperor would be helpless before the forces which you have +called into play. What hope, then, is there for you? + +"In former days these laws acted so instantaneously that the slayer +perished with his victim. It was judged afterwards that this prompt +retribution prevented the offender from having time to realise the +enormity of his offence. + +"It was therefore ordained that in all such cases the retribution should +be left in the hands of the _chelas_, or immediate disciples of the +holy man, with power to extend or shorten it at their will, exacting +it either at the time or at any future anniversary of the day when the +crime was committed. + +"Why punishment should come on those days only it does not concern +you to know. Suffice it that you are the murderer of Ghoolab Shah, +the thrice blessed, and that I am the senior of his three _chelas_ +commissioned to avenge his death. + +"It is no personal matter between us. Amid our studies we have no +leisure or inclination for personal matters. It is an immutable law, and +it is as impossible for us to relax it as it is for you to escape from +it. Sooner or later we shall come to you and claim your life in atonement +for the one which you have taken. + +"The same fate shall be meted out to the wretched soldier, Smith, who, +though less guilty than yourself, has incurred the same penalty by +raising his sacrilegious hand against the chosen of Buddha. If your +life is prolonged, it is merely that you may have time to repent of your +misdeed and to feel the full force of your punishment. + +"And lest you should be tempted to cast it out of your mind and to +forget it, our bell--our astral bell, the use of which is one of our +occult secrets--shall ever remind you of what have been and what is to +be. You shall hear it by day and you shall hear it by night, and it will +be a sign to you that do what you may and go where you will, you can +never shake yourself clear of the _chelas_ of Ghoolab Shah. + +"You will never see me more, accursed one, until the day when we come +for you. Live in fear, and in that anticipation which is worse than +death." + +With a menacing wave of the hand the figure turned and swept out of my +tent into the darkness. The instant that the fellow disappeared from my +sight I recovered from my lethargy which had fallen upon me. Springing +to my feet, I rushed to the opening and looked out. A Sepoy sentry was +standing leaning upon his musket, a few paces off. + +"You dog," I said in Hindustani. "What do you mean by letting people +disturb me in this way?" + +The man stared at me in amazement. "Has any one disturbed the sahib?" he +asked. + +"This instant--this moment. You must have seen him pass out of my tent." + +"Surely the Burra Sahib is mistaken," the man answered, respectfully but +firmly. "I have been here for an hour, and no one has passed from the +tent." + +Puzzled and disconcerted, I was sitting by the side of my couch +wondering whether the whole thing were a delusion, brought on by the +nervous excitement of our skirmish, when a new marvel overtook me. From +over my head there suddenly sounded a sharp, tinkling sound, like that +produced by an empty glass when flipped by the nail, only louder and +more intense. + +I looked up, but nothing was to be seen. I examined the whole interior +of the tent carefully, but without discovering any cause for the strange +sound. At last, worn out with fatigue, I gave the mystery up, and +throwing myself on the couch was soon fast asleep. + +When I awoke this morning I was inclined to put the whole of my +yesternight's experiences down to imagination, but I was soon disabused +of the idea, for I had hardly risen before the same strange sound was +repeated in my very ear as loudly, and to all appearance as causelesly, +as before. What it is or where it comes from I cannot conceive. I have +not heard it since. + +Can the fellow's threats have something in them and this be the warning +bell of which he spoke? Surely it is impossible. Yet his manner was +indescribably impressive. + +I have tried to set down what he said as accurately as I can, but I +fear I have omitted a good deal. What is to be the end of this strange +affair? I must go in for a course of religion and holy water. Not a word +to Chamberlain or Elliott. They tell me I am looking like a ghost this +morning. + +_Evening_.--Have managed to compare notes with Gunner Rufus Smith of the +Artillery, who knocked the old fellow over with the butt of his gun. His +experience has been the same as mine. He has heard the sound, too. What +is the meaning of it all? My brain is in a whirl. + +Oct. 10 (four days later).--God help us! + +This last laconic entry terminated the journal. It seemed to me that, +coming as it did after four days' complete silence, it told a clearer +tale of shaken nerve and a broken spirit than could any more elaborate +narrative. Pinned on to the journal was a supplementary statement which +had evidently been recently added by the general. + +"From that day to this," it said, "I have had no night or day free from +the intrusion of that dreadful sound with its accompanying train of +thought. Time and custom have brought me no relief, but on the contrary, +as the years pass over my head my physical strength decreases and my +nerves become less able to bear up against the continual strain. + +"I am a broken man in mind and body. I live in a state of tension, +always straining my ears for the hated sound, afraid to converse with +my fellows for fear of exposing my dreadful condition to them, with +no comfort or hope of comfort on this side of the grave. I should be +willing, Heaven knows, to die, and yet as each 5th of October comes +round, I am prostrated with fear because I do not know what strange and +terrible experience may be in store for me. + +"Forty years have passed since I slew Ghoolab Shah, and forty times +I have gone through all the horrors of death, without attaining the +blessed peace which lies beyond. + +"I have no means of knowing in what shape my fate will come upon me. I +have immured myself in this lonely country, and surrounded myself with +barriers, because in my weaker moments my instincts urge me to take some +steps for self-protection, but I know well in my heart how futile it +all is. They must come quickly now, for I grow old, and Nature will +forestall them unless they make haste. + +"I take credit to myself that I have kept my hands off the prussic-acid +or opium bottle. It has always been in my power to checkmate my occult +persecutors in that way, but I have ever held that a man in this world +cannot desert his post until he has been relieved in due course by the +authorities. I have had no scruples, however, about exposing myself to +danger, and, during the Sikh and Sepoy wars, I did all that a man could +do to court Death. He passed me by, however, and picked out many a young +fellow to whom life was only opening and who had everything to live for, +while I survived to win crosses and honours which had lost all relish +for me. + +"Well, well, these things cannot depend upon chance, and there is no +doubt some deep reason for it all. + +"One compensation Providence has made me in the shape of a true and +faithful wife, to whom I told my dreadful secret before the wedding, and +who nobly consented to share my lot. She has lifted half the burden from +my shoulders, but with the effect, poor soul, of crushing her own life +beneath its weight! + +"My children, too, have been a comfort to me. Mordaunt knows all, or +nearly all. Gabriel we have endeavoured to keep in the dark, though we +cannot prevent her from knowing that there is something amiss. + +"I should like this statement to be shown to Dr. John Easterling +of Stranraer. He heard on one occasion this haunting sound. My sad +experience may show him that I spoke truth when I said that there was +much knowledge in the world which has never found its way to England. + +"J. B. HEATHERSTONE." + +It was going on for dawn by the time that I had finished this +extraordinary narrative, to which my sister and Mordaunt Heatherstone +listened with the most absorbed attention. Already we could see through +the window that the stars had begun to fade and a grey light to appear +in the east. The crofter who owned the lurcher dog lived a couple of +miles off, so it was time for us to be on foot. Leaving Esther to tell +my father the story in such fashion as she might, we thrust some food in +our pockets and set off upon our solemn and eventful errand. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. AT THE HOLE OF CREE + +It was dark enough when we started to make it no easy matter to find our +way across the moors, but as we advanced it grew lighter and lighter, +until by the time we reached Fullarton's cabin it was broad daylight. + +Early as it was, he was up and about, for the Wigtown peasants are an +early rising race. We explained our mission to him in as few words as +possible, and having made his bargain--what Scot ever neglected that +preliminary?--he agreed not only to let us have the use of his dog but +to come with us himself. + +Mordaunt, in his desire for privacy, would have demurred at this +arrangement, but I pointed out to him that we had no idea what was in +store for us, and the addition of a strong, able-bodied man to our party +might prove to be of the utmost consequence. + +Again, the dog was less likely to give us trouble if we had its master +to control it. My arguments carried the day, and the biped accompanied +us as well as his four-footed companion. + +There was some little similarity between the two, for the man was a +towsy-headed fellow with a great mop of yellow hair and a straggling +beard, while the dog was of the long-haired, unkempt breed looking like +an animated bundle of oakum. + +All our way to the Hall its owner kept retailing instances of the +creature's sagacity and powers of scent, which, according to his +account, were little less than miraculous. His anecdotes had a poor +audience, I fear, for my mind was filled with the strange story which I +had been reading, while Mordaunt strode on with wild eyes and feverish +cheeks, without a thought for anything but the problem which we had to +solve. + +Again and again as we topped an eminence I saw him look eagerly round +him in the faint hope of seeing some trace of the absentee, but over the +whole expanse of moorland there was no sign of movement or of life. All +was dead and silent and deserted. + +Our visit to the Hall was a very brief one, for every minute now was +of importance. Mordaunt rushed in and emerged with an old coat of his +father's, which he handed to Fullarton, who held it out to the dog. + +The intelligent brute sniffed at it all over, then ran whining a little +way down the avenue, came back to sniff the coat again, and finally +elevating its stump of a tail in triumph, uttered a succession of sharp +yelps to show that it was satisfied that it had struck the trail. Its +owner tied a long cord to its collar to prevent it from going too fast +for us, and we all set off upon our search, the dog tugging and +straining at its leash in its excitement as it followed in the general's +footsteps. + +Our way lay for a couple of hundred yards along the high road, and then +passed through a gap in the hedge and on to the moor, across which we +were led in a bee-line to the northward. + +The sun had by this time risen above the horizon, and the whole +countryside looked so fresh and sweet, from the blue, sparkling sea to +the purple mountains, that it was difficult to realise how weird and +uncanny was the enterprise upon which we were engaged. + +The scent must have lain strongly upon the ground, for the dog never +hesitated nor stopped, dragging its master along at a pace which +rendered conversation impossible. + +At one place, in crossing a small stream, we seemed to get off the trail +for a few minutes, but our keen-nosed ally soon picked it up on the +other side and followed it over the trackless moor, whining and yelping +all the time in its eagerness. Had we not all three been fleet of foot +and long of wind, we could not have persisted in the continuous, rapid +journey over the roughest of ground, with the heather often well-nigh up +to our waists. + +For my own part, I have no idea now, looking back, what goal it was +which I expected to reach at the end of our pursuit. I can remember that +my mind was full of the vaguest and most varying speculations. + +Could it be that the three Buddhists had had a craft in readiness off +the coast, and had embarked with their prisoners for the East? The +direction of their track seemed at first to favour this supposition, +for it lay in the line of the upper end of the bay, but it ended by +branching off and striking directly inland. Clearly the ocean was not to +be our terminus. + +By ten o'clock we had walked close upon twelve miles, and were compelled +to call a halt for a few minutes to recover our breath, for the last +mile or two we had been breasting the long, wearying slope of the +Wigtown hills. + +From the summit of this range, which is nowhere more than a thousand +feet in height, we could see, looking northward, such a scene of +bleakness and desolation as can hardly be matched in any country. + +Right away to the horizon stretched the broad expanse of mud and of +water, mingled and mixed together in the wildest chaos, like a portion +of some world in the process of formation. Here and there on the +dun-coloured surface of this great marsh there had burst out patches of +sickly yellow reeds and of livid, greenish scum, which only served +to heighten and intensify the gloomy effect of the dull, melancholy +expanse. + +On the side nearest to us some abandoned peat-cuttings showed that +ubiquitous man had been at work there, but beyond these few petty scars +there was no sign anywhere of human life. Not even a crow nor a seagull +flapped its way over that hideous desert. + +This is the great Bog of Cree. It is a salt-water marsh formed by an +inroad of the sea, and so intersected is it with dangerous swamps and +treacherous pitfalls of liquid mud, that no man would venture through +it unless he had the guidance of one of the few peasants who retain the +secret of its paths. + +As we approached the fringe of rushes which marked its border, a foul, +dank smell rose up from the stagnant wilderness, as from impure water +and decaying vegetation--an earthy, noisome smell which poisoned the +fresh upland air. + +So forbidding and gloomy was the aspect of the place that our stout +crofter hesitated, and it was all that we could do to persuade him +to proceed. Our lurcher, however, not being subject to the delicate +impressions of our higher organisation, still ran yelping along with its +nose on the ground and every fibre of its body quivering with excitement +and eagerness. + +There was no difficulty about picking our way through the morass, for +wherever the five could go we three could follow. + +If we could have had any doubts as to our dog's guidance they would +all have been removed now, for in the soft, black, oozing soil we could +distinctly trace the tracks of the whole party. From these we could +see that they had walked abreast, and, furthermore, that each was about +equidistant from the other. Clearly, then, no physical force had been +used in taking the general and his companion along. The compulsion had +been psychical and not material. + +Once within the swamp, we had to be careful not to deviate from the +narrow track, which offered a firm foothold. + +On each side lay shallow sheets of stagnant water overlying a +treacherous bottom of semi-fluid mud, which rose above the surface +here and there in moist, sweltering banks, mottled over with occasional +patches of unhealthy vegetation. Great purple and yellow fungi had +broken out in a dense eruption, as though Nature were afflicted with a +foul disease, which manifested itself by this crop of plague spots. + +Here and there dark, crab-like creatures scuttled across our path, +and hideous, flesh-coloured worms wriggled and writhed amid the sickly +reeds. Swarms of buzzing, piping insects rose up at every step and +formed a dense cloud around our heads, settling on our hands and faces +and inoculating us with their filthy venom. Never had I ventured into so +pestilent and forbidding a place. + +Mordaunt Heatherstone strode on, however, with a set purpose upon his +swarthy brow, and we could but follow him, determined to stand by him +to the end of the adventure. As we advanced, the path grew narrower +and narrower until, as we saw by the tracks, our predecessors had been +compelled to walk in single file. Fullarton was leading us with the dog, +Mordaunt behind him, while I brought up the rear. The peasant had been +sulky and surly for a little time back, hardly answering when spoken to, +but he now stopped short and positively refused to go a step farther. + +"It's no' canny," he said, "besides I ken where it will lead us tae." + +"Where, then?" I asked. + +"Tae the Hole o' Cree," he answered. "It's no far frae here, I'm +thinking." + +"The Hole of Cree! What is that, then?" + +"It's a great, muckle hole in the ground that gangs awa' doon so deep +that naebody could ever reach the bottom. Indeed there are folk wha says +that it's just a door leadin' intae the bottomless pit itsel'." + +"You have been there, then?" I asked. + +"Been there!" he cried. "What would I be doin' at the Hole o' Cree? No, +I've never been there, nor any other man in his senses." + +"How do you know about it, then?" + +"My great-grandfeyther had been there, and that's how I ken," Fullarton +answered. "He was fou' one Saturday nicht and he went for a bet. He +didna like tae talk aboot it afterwards, and he wouldna tell a' what +befell him, but he was aye feared o' the very name. He's the first +Fullarton that's been at the Hole o' Cree, and he'll be the last for +me. If ye'll tak' my advice ye'll just gie the matter up and gang hame +again, for there's na guid tae be got oot o' this place." + +"We shall go on with you or without you," Mordaunt answered. "Let us +have your dog and we can pick you up on our way back." + +"Na, na," he cried, "I'll no' hae my dog scaret wi' bogles, and running +down Auld Nick as if he were a hare. The dog shall bide wi' me." + +"The dog shall go with us," said my companion, with his eyes blazing. +"We have no time to argue with you. Here's a five-pound note. Let us +have the dog, or, by Heaven, I shall take it by force and throw you in +the bog if you hinder us." + +I could realise the Heatherstone of forty years ago when I saw the +fierce and sudden wrath which lit up the features of his son. + +Either the bribe or the threat had the desired effect, for the fellow +grabbed at the money with one hand while with the other he surrendered +the leash which held the lurcher. Leaving him to retrace his steps, we +continued to make our way into the utmost recesses of the great swamp. + +The tortuous path grew less and less defined as we proceeded, and was +even covered in places with water, but the increasing excitement of the +hound and the sight of the deep footmarks in the mud stimulated us to +push on. At last, after struggling through a grove of high bulrushes, +we came on a spot the gloomy horror of which might have furnished Dante +with a fresh terror for his "Inferno." + +The whole bog in this part appeared to have sunk in, forming a great, +funnel-shaped depression, which terminated in the centre in a circular +rift or opening about forty feet in diameter. It was a whirlpool--a +perfect maelstrom of mud, sloping down on every side to this silent and +awful chasm. + +Clearly this was the spot which, under the name of the Hole of Cree, +bore such a sinister reputation among the rustics. I could not wonder at +its impressing their imagination, for a more weird or gloomy scene, or +one more worthy of the avenue which led to it, could not be conceived. + +The steps passed down the declivity which surrounded the abyss, and we +followed them with a sinking feeling in our hearts, as we realised that +this was the end of our search. + +A little way from the downward path was the return trail made by the +feet of those who had come back from the chasm's edge. Our eyes fell +upon these tracks at the same moment, and we each gave a cry of horror, +and stood gazing speechlessly at them. For there, in those blurred +footmarks, the whole drama was revealed. + +_Five had gone down, but only three had returned_. + +None shall ever know the details of that strange tragedy. There was no +mark of struggle nor sign of attempt at escape. We knelt at the edge of +the Hole and endeavoured to pierce the unfathomable gloom which shrouded +it. A faint, sickly exhalation seemed to rise from its depths, and there +was a distant hurrying, clattering sound as of waters in the bowels of +the earth. + +A great stone lay embedded in the mud, and this I hurled over, but we +never heard thud or splash to show that it had reached the bottom. + +As we hung over the noisome chasm a sound did at last rise to our ears +out of its murky depths. High, clear, and throbbing, it tinkled for an +instant out of the abyss, to be succeeded by the same deadly stillness +which had preceded it. + +I did not wish to appear superstitious, or to put down to extraordinary +causes that which may have a natural explanation. That one keen note may +have been some strange water sound produced far down in the bowels of +the earth. It may have been that or it may have been that sinister bell +of which I had heard so much. Be this as it may, it was the only sign +that rose to us from the last terrible resting-place of the two who had +paid the debt which had so long been owing. + +We joined our voices in a call with the unreasoning obstinacy with which +men will cling to hope, but no answer came back to us save a hollow +moaning from the depths beneath. Footsore and heart-sick, we retraced +our steps and climbed the slimy slope once more. + +"What shall we do, Mordaunt?" I asked, in a subdued voice. "We can but +pray that their souls may rest in peace." + +Young Heatherstone looked at me with flashing eyes. + +"This may be all according to occult laws," he cried, "but we shall see +what the laws of England have to say upon it. I suppose a _chela_ may be +hanged as well as any other man. It may not be too late yet to run them +down. Here, good dog, good dog--here!" + +He pulled the hound over and set it on the track of the three men. +The creature sniffed at it once or twice, and then, falling upon its +stomach, with bristling hair and protruding tongue, it lay shivering and +trembling, a very embodiment of canine terror. + +"You see," I said, "it is no use contending against those who have +powers at their command to which we cannot even give a name. There is +nothing for it but to accept the inevitable, and to hope that these poor +men may meet with some compensation in another world for all that they +have suffered in this." + +"And be free from all devilish religions and their murderous +worshippers!" Mordaunt cried furiously. + +Justice compelled me to acknowledge in my own heart that the murderous +spirit had been set on foot by the Christian before it was taken up by +the Buddhists, but I forbore to remark upon it, for fear of irritating +my companion. + +For a long time I could not draw him away from the scene of his father's +death, but at last, by repeated arguments and reasonings, I succeeded in +making him realise how useless and unprofitable any further efforts on +our part must necessarily prove, and in inducing him to return with me +to Cloomber. + +Oh, the wearisome, tedious journey! It had seemed long enough when we +had some slight flicker of hope, or at least of expectation, before us, +but now that our worst fears were fulfilled it appeared interminable. + +We picked up our peasant guide at the outskirts of the marsh, and having +restored his dog we let him find his own way home, without telling him +anything of the results of our expedition. We ourselves plodded all +day over the moors with heavy feet and heavier hearts until we saw the +ill-omened tower of Cloomber, and at last, as the sun was setting, found +ourselves once more beneath its roof. + +There is no need for me to enter into further details, nor to describe +the grief which our tidings conveyed to mother and to daughter. Their +long expectation of some calamity was not sufficient to prepare them for +the terrible reality. + +For weeks my poor Gabriel hovered between life and death, and though +she came round at last, thanks to the nursing of my sister and the +professional skill of Dr. John Easterling, she has never to this day +entirely recovered her former vigour. Mordaunt, too, suffered much +for some time, and it was only after our removal to Edinburgh that he +rallied from the shock which he had undergone. + +As to poor Mrs. Heatherstone, neither medical attention nor change of +air can ever have a permanent effect upon her. Slowly and surely, but +very placidly, she has declined in health and strength, until it is +evident that in a very few weeks at the most she will have rejoined her +husband and restored to him the one thing which he must have grudged to +leave behind. + +The Laird of Branksome came home from Italy restored in health, with the +result that we were compelled to return once more to Edinburgh. + +The change was agreeable to us, for recent events had cast a cloud over +our country life and had surrounded us with unpleasant associations. +Besides, a highly honourable and remunerative appointment in connection +with the University library had become vacant, and had, through the +kindness of the late Sir Alexander Grant, been offered to my father, +who, as may be imagined, lost no time in accepting so congenial a post. + +In this way we came back to Edinburgh very much more important people +than we left it, and with no further reason to be uneasy about the +details of housekeeping. But, in truth, the whole household has been +dissolved, for I have been married for some months to my dear Gabriel, +and Esther is to become Mrs. Heatherstone upon the 23rd of the month. If +she makes him as good a wife as his sister has made me, we may both set +ourselves down as fortunate men. + +These mere domestic episodes are, as I have already explained, +introduced only because I cannot avoid alluding to them. + +My object in drawing up this statement and publishing the evidence which +corroborates it, was certainly not to parade my private affairs before +the public, but to leave on record an authentic narrative of a most +remarkable series of events. This I have endeavoured to do in as +methodical a manner as possible, exaggerating nothing and suppressing +nothing. + +The reader has now the evidence before him, and can form his own +opinions unaided by me as to the causes of the disappearance and death +of Rufus Smith and of John Berthier Heatherstone, V.C., C.B. + +There is only one point which is still dark to me. Why the _chelas_ of +Ghoolab Shah should have removed their victims to the desolate Hole of +Cree instead of taking their lives at Cloomber, is, I confess, a mystery +to me. + +In dealing with occult laws, however, we must allow for our own complete +ignorance of the subject. Did we know more we might see that there was +some analogy between that foul bog and the sacrilege which had been +committed, and that their ritual and customs demanded that just such a +death was the one appropriate to the crime. + +On this point I should be sorry to be dogmatic, but at least we must +allow that the Buddhist priests must have had some very good cause for +the course of action which they so deliberately carried out. + +Months afterwards I saw a short paragraph in the _Star of India_ +announcing that three eminent Buddhists--Lal Hoomi, Mowdar Khan, and Ram +Singh--had just returned in the steamship _Deccan_ from a short trip +to Europe. The very next item was devoted to an account of the life and +services of Major-General Heatherstone, "who has lately disappeared from +his country house in Wigtownshire, and who, there is too much reason to +fear, has been drowned." + +I wonder if by chance there was any other human eye but mine which +traced a connection between these paragraphs. I never showed them to +my wife or to Mordaunt, and they will only know of their existence when +they read these pages. + +I don't know that there is any other point which needs clearing up. The +intelligent reader will have already seen the reasons for the general's +fear of dark faces, of wandering men (not knowing how his pursuers might +come after him), and of visitors (from the same cause and because his +hateful bell was liable to sound at all times). + +His broken sleep led him to wander about the house at night, and +the lamps which he burnt in every room were no doubt to prevent his +imagination from peopling the darkness with terrors. Lastly, his +elaborate precautions were, as he has himself explained, rather the +result of a feverish desire to do something than in the expectation that +he could really ward off his fate. + +Science will tell you that there are no such powers as those claimed +by the Eastern mystics. I, John Fothergill West, can confidently answer +that science is wrong. + +For what is science? Science is the consensus of opinion of scientific +men, and history has shown that it is slow to accept a truth. Science +sneered at Newton for twenty years. Science proved mathematically that +an iron ship could not swim, and science declared that a steamship could +not cross the Atlantic. + +Like Goethe's Mephistopheles, our wise professor's forte is "stets +verneinen." Thomas Didymus is, to use his own jargon, his prototype. Let +him learn that if he will but cease to believe in the infallibility +of his own methods, and will look to the East, from which all great +movements come, he will find there a school of philosophers and of +savants who, working on different lines from his own, are many thousand +years ahead of him in all the essentials of knowledge. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of Cloomber, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER *** + +***** This file should be named 7964.txt or 7964.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/6/7964/ + +Produced by Lionel G. 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Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Mystery of Cloomber + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7964] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER *** + + + + +Produced by Lionel G. Sear + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER + + +Sir Arthur Conan Doyle + + + + +CONTENTS + +I THE HEGIRA OF THE WESTS FROM EDINBURGH + +II OF THE STARNGE MANNER IN WHICH A TENANT CAME TO CLOOMBER + +III OF OUR FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAJOR-GENERAL J. B. HEATHERSTONE + +IV OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD + +V HOW FOUR OF US CAME TO BE UNDER THE SHADOW OF CLOOMBER + +VI HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBER + +VII OF CORPORAL RUFUS SMITH AND HIS COMING TO CLOOMBER + +VIII STATEMENT OF ISRAEL STAKES + +IX NARRATIVE OF JOHN EASTERLING, F.R.C.P. EDIN. + +X OF THE LETTER WHICH CAME FROM THE HALL + +XI OF THE CASTING AWAY OF THE BARQUE "BELINDA" + +XII OF THE THREE FOREIGN MEN UPON THE COAST + +XIII IN WHICH I SEE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN BY FEW + +XIV OF THE VISITOR WHO RAN DOWN THE ROAD IN THE NIGHT-TIME + +XV THE DAY-BOOK OF JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE + +XVI AT THE HOLE OF CREE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +THE HEGIRA OF THE WESTS FROM EDINBURGH + +I John Fothergill West, student of law in the University of St. Andrews, +have endeavoured in the ensuing pages to lay my statement before the +public in a concise and business-like fashion. + +It is not my wish to achieve literary success, nor have I any desire by +the graces of my style, or by the artistic ordering of my incidents, to +throw a deeper shadow over the strange passages of which I shall have to +speak. My highest ambition is that those who know something of the +matter should, after reading my account, be able to conscientiously +indorse it without finding a single paragraph in which I have either +added to or detracted from the truth. + +Should I attain this result, I shall rest amply satisfied with the +outcome of my first, and probably my last, venture in literature. + +It was my intention to write out the sequence of events in due order, +depending on trustworthy hearsay when I was describing that which was +beyond my own personal knowledge. I have now, however, through the kind +cooperation of friends, hit upon a plan which promises to be less +onerous to me and more satisfactory to the reader. This is nothing less +than to make use of the various manuscripts which I have by me bearing +upon the subject, and to add to them the first-hand evidence contributed +by those who had the best opportunities of knowing Major-General +J. B. Heatherstone. + +In pursuance of this design I shall lay before the public the testimony +of Israel Stakes, formerly coachman at Cloomber Hall, and of John +Easterling, F.R.C.P. Edin., now practising at Stranraer, in +Wigtownshire. To these I shall add a verbatim account extracted from +the journal of the late John Berthier Heatherstone, of the events which +occurred in the Thul Valley in the autumn of '41 towards the end of the +first Afghan War, with a description of the skirmish in the Terada +defile, and of the death of the man Ghoolab Shah. + +To myself I reserve the duty of filling up all the gaps and chinks which +may be left in the narrative. By this arrangement I have sunk from the +position of an author to that of a compiler, but on the other hand my +work has ceased to be a story and has expanded into a series of +affidavits. + +My Father, John Hunter West, was a well known Oriental and Sanskrit +scholar, and his name is still of weight with those who are interested +in such matters. He it was who first after Sir William Jones called +attention to the great value of early Persian literature, and his +translations from the Hafiz and from Ferideddin Atar have earned the +warmest commendations from the Baron von Hammer-Purgstall, of Vienna, +and other distinguished Continental critics. + +In the issue of the _Orientalisches_Scienzblatt_ for January, 1861, he +is described as _"Der_beruhmte_und_sehr_gelhernte_Hunter_West_von +Edinburgh"_--a passage which I well remember that he cut out and +stowed away, with a pardonable vanity, among the most revered family +archives. + +He had been brought up to be a solicitor, or Writer to the Signet, as it +is termed in Scotland, but his learned hobby absorbed so much of his +time that he had little to devote to the pursuit of his profession. + +When his clients were seeking him at his chambers in George Street, he +was buried in the recesses of the Advocates' Library, or poring over +some mouldy manuscript at the Philosophical Institution, with his brain +more exercised over the code which Menu propounded six hundred years +before the birth of Christ than over the knotty problems of Scottish law +in the nineteenth century. Hence it can hardly be wondered at that as +his learning accumulated his practice dissolved, until at the very +moment when he had attained the zenith of his celebrity he had also +reached the nadir of his fortunes. + +There being no chair of Sanscrit in any of his native universities, and +no demand anywhere for the only mental wares which he had to dispose of, +we should have been forced to retire into genteel poverty, consoling +ourselves with the aphorisms and precepts of Firdousi, Omar Khayyam, and +others of his Eastern favourites, had it not been for the kindness and +liberality of his half-brother William Farintosh, the Laird of +Branksome, in Wigtownshire. + +This William Farintosh was the proprietor of a landed estate, the +acreage which bore, unfortunately, a most disproportional relation to +its value, for it formed the bleakest and most barren tract of land in +the whole of a bleak and barren shire. As a bachelor, however, his +expenses had been small, and he had contrived from the rents of his +scattered cottages, and the sale of the Galloway nags, which he bred +upon the moors, not only to live as a laird should, but to put by a +considerable sum in the bank. + +We had heard little from our kinsman during the days of our comparative +prosperity, but just as we were at our wit's end, there came a letter +like a ministering angel, giving us assurance of sympathy and succour. +In it the Laird of Branksome told us that one of his lungs had been +growing weaker for some time, and that Dr. Easterling, of Stranraer, had +strongly advised him to spend the few years which were left to him in +some more genial climate. He had determined, therefore to set out for +the South of Italy, and he begged that we should take up our residence +at Branksome in his absence, and that my father should act as his land +steward and agent at a salary which placed us above all fear of want. + +Our mother had been dead for some years, so that there were only myself, +my father, and my sister Esther to consult, and it may be readily +imagined that it did not take us long to decide upon the acceptance of +the laird's generous offer. My father started for Wigtown that very +night, while Esther and I followed a few days afterwards, bearing with +us two potato-sacksful of learned books, and such other of our household +effects that were worth the trouble and expense of transport. + + + + +Chapter II + + +OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH A TENANT CAME TO CLOOMBER + +Branksome might have appeared a poor dwelling-place when compared with +the house of an English squire, but to us, after our long residence in +stuffy apartments, it was of regal magnificence. + +The building was broad-spread and low, with red-tiled roof, +diamond-paned windows, and a profusion of dwelling rooms with +smoke-blackened ceilings and oaken wainscots. In front was a small +lawn, girt round with a thin fringe of haggard and ill grown beeches, +all gnarled and withered from the effects of the sea-spray. Behind lay +the scattered hamlet of Branksome-Bere--a dozen cottages at most-- +inhabited by rude fisher-folk who looked upon the laird as their natural +protector. + +To the west was the broad, yellow beach and the Irish Sea, while in all +other directions the desolate moors, greyish-green in the foreground and +purple in the distance, stretched away in long, low curves to the +horizon. + +Very bleak and lonely it was upon this Wigtown coast. A man might walk +many a weary mile and never see a living thing except the white, heavy- +flapping kittiwakes, which screamed and cried to each other with their +shrill, sad voices. + +Very lonely and very bleak! Once out of sight of Branksome and there +was no sign of the works of man save only where the high, white tower of +Cloomber Hall shot up, like a headstone of some giant grave, from amid +the firs and larches which girt it round. + +This great house, a mile or more from our dwelling, had been built by a +wealthy Glasgow merchant of strange tastes and lonely habits, but at the +time of our arrival it had been untenanted for many years, and stood +with weather-blotched walls and vacant, staring windows looking blankly +out over the hill side. + +Empty and mildewed, it served only as a landmark to the fishermen, for +they had found by experience that by keeping the laird's chimney and the +white tower of Cloomber in a line they could steer their way through the +ugly reef which raises its jagged back, like that of some sleeping +monster, above the troubled waters of the wind-swept bay. + +To this wild spot it was that Fate had brought my father, my sister, and +myself. For us its loneliness had no terrors. After the hubbub and +bustle of a great city, and the weary task of upholding appearances upon +a slender income, there was a grand, soul-soothing serenity in the long +sky-line and the eager air. Here at least there was no neighbour to pry +and chatter. + +The laird had left his phaeton and two ponies behind him, with the aid +of which my father and I would go the round of the estate doing such +light duties as fall to an agent, or "factor" as it was there called, +while our gentle Esther looked to our household needs, and brightened +the dark old building. + +Such was our simple, uneventful existence, until the summer night when +an unlooked-for incident occurred which proved to be the herald of those +strange doings which I have taken up my pen to describe. + +It had been my habit to pull out of an evening in the laird's skiff and +to catch a few whiting which might serve for our supper. On this +well-remembered occasion my sister came with me, sitting with her book +in the stern-sheets of the boat, while I hung my lines over the bows. + +The sun had sunk down behind the rugged Irish coast, but a long bank of +flushed cloud still marked the spot, and cast a glory upon the waters. +The whole broad ocean was seamed and scarred with crimson streaks. I +had risen in the boat, and was gazing round in delight at the broad +panorama of shore and sea and sky, when my sister plucked at my sleeve +with a little, sharp cry of surprise. + +"See, John," she cried, "there is a light in Cloomber Tower!". + +I turned my head and stared back at the tall, white turret which peeped +out above the belt of trees. As I gazed I distinctly saw at one of the +windows the glint of a light, which suddenly vanished, and then shone +out once more from another higher up. There it flickered for some time, +and finally flashed past two successive windows underneath before the +trees obscured our view of it. It was clear that some one bearing a +lamp or a candle had climbed up the tower stairs and had then returned +into the body of the house. + +"Who in the world can it be?" I exclaimed, speaking rather to myself +than to Esther, for I could see by the surprise upon her face that she +had no solution to offer. "Maybe some of the folk from Branksome-Bere +have wanted to look over the place." + +My sister shook her head. + +"There is not one of them would dare to set foot within the avenue +gates," she said. "Besides, John, the keys are kept by the house-agent +at Wigtown. Were they ever so curious, none of our people could find +their way in" + +When I reflected upon the massive door and ponderous shutters which +guarded the lower storey of Cloomber, I could not but admit the force of +my sister's objection. The untimely visitor must either have used +considerable violence in order to force his way in, or he must have +obtained possession of the keys. + +Piqued by the little mystery, I pulled for the beach, with the +determination to see for myself who the intruder might be, and what were +his intentions. Leaving my sister at Branksome, and summoning Seth +Jamieson, an old man-o'-war's-man and one of the stoutest of the +fishermen, I set off across the moor with him through the gathering +darkness. + +"It hasna a guid name after dark, yon hoose," remarked my companion, +slackening his pace perceptibly as I explained to him the nature of our +errand. "It's no for naething that him wha owns it wunna gang within a +Scotch mile o't." + +"Well, Seth, there is some one who has no fears about going into it," +said I, pointing to the great, white building which flickered up in +front of us through the gloom. + +The light which I had observed from the sea was moving backwards and +forward past the lower floor windows, the shutters of which had been +removed. I could now see that a second fainter light followed a few +paces behind the other. Evidently two individuals, the one with a lamp +and the other with a candle or rushlight, were making a careful +examination of tile building. + +"Let ilka man blaw his ain parritch," said Seth Jamieson doggedly, +coming to a dead stop. "What is it tae us if a wraith or a bogle minds +tae tak' a fancy tae Cloomber? It's no canny tae meddle wi' such +things." + +"Why, man," I cried, "you don't suppose a wraith came here in a gig? +What are those lights away yonder by the avenue gates?" + +"The lamps o' a gig, sure enough!" exclaimed my companion in a less +lugubrious voice. "Let's steer for it, Master West, and speer where she +hails frae." + +By this time night had closed in save for a single long, narrow slit in +the westward. Stumbling across the moor together, we made our way into +the Wigtown Road, at the point where the high stone pillars mark the +entrance to the Cloomber avenue. A tall dog-cart stood in front of the +gateway, the horse browsing upon the thin border of grass which skirted +the road. + +"It's a' richt!" said Jamieson, taking a close look at the deserted +vehicle. "I ken it weel. It belongs tae Maister McNeil, the factor +body frae Wigtown--him wha keeps the keys." + +"Then we may as well have speech with him now that we are here," I +answered. "They are coming down, if I am not mistaken." + +As I spoke we heard the slam of the heavy door and within a few minutes +two figures, the one tall and angular, the other short and thick came +towards us through the darkness. They were talking so earnestly that +they did not observe us until they had passed through the avenue gate. + +"Good evening, Mr. McNeil," said I, stepping forward and addressing the +Wigtown factor, with whom I had some slight acquaintance. + +The smaller of the two turned his face towards me as I spoke, and showed +me that I was not mistaken in his identity, but his taller companion +sprang back and showed every sign of violent agitation. + +"What is this, McNeil?" I heard him say, in a gasping, choking voice. +"Is this your promise? What is the meaning of it?" + +"Don't be alarmed, General! Don't be alarmed!" said the little fat +factor in a soothing fashion, as one might speak to a frightened child. +"This is young Mr. Fothergill West, of Branksome, though what brings him +up here tonight is more than I can understand. However, as you are to +be neighbours, I can't do better than take the opportunity to introduce +you to each other. Mr. West, this is General Heatherstone, who is about +to take a lease of Cloomber Hall." + +I held out my hand to the tall man, who look it in a hesitating, +half-reluctant fashion. + +"I came up," I explained, "because I saw your lights in the windows, and +I bought that something might be wrong. I am very glad I did so, since +it has given me the chance of making the general's acquaintance." + +Whilst I was talking, I was conscious that the new tenant of Cloomber +Hall was peering at me very closely through the darkness. As I +concluded, he stretched out a long, tremulous arm, and turned the +gig-lamp in such a way as to throw a flood of light upon my face. + +"Good Heavens, McNeil!" he cried, in the same quivering voice as before, +"the fellow's as brown as chocolate. He's not an Englishman. You're +not an Englishman--you, sir?" + +"I'm a Scotchman, born and bred," said I, with an inclination to laugh, +which was only checked by my new acquaintance's obvious terror. + +"A Scotchman, eh?" said he, with a sigh of relief. "It's all one +nowadays. You must excuse me, Mr.--Mr. West. I'm nervous, infernally +nervous. Come along, McNeil, we must be back in Wigtown in less than an +hour. Good-night, gentlemen, good-night!" + +The two clambered into their places; the factor cracked his whip, and +the high dog-cart clattered away through the darkness, casting a +brilliant tunnel of yellow light on either side of it, until the rumble +of its wheels died away in the distance. + +"What do you think of our new neighbour, Jamieson?" I asked, after a +long silence. + +"'Deed, Mr. West, he seems, as he says himsel', to be vera nervous. +Maybe his conscience is oot o' order." + +"His liver, more likely," said I. "He looks as if he had tried his +constitution a bit. But it's blowing chill, Seth, my lad, and it's time +both of us were indoors." + +I bade my companion good-night, and struck off across the moors for the +cheery, ruddy light which marked the parlour windows of Branksome. + + + +CHAPTER III + +OF OUR FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAJOR-GENERAL J. B. HEATHERSTONE + +There was, as may well be imagined, much stir amongst our small +community at the news that the Hall was to be inhabited once more, and +considerable speculation as to the new tenants, and their object in +choosing this particular part of the country for their residence. + +It speedily became apparent that, whatever their motives might be, they +had definitely determined upon a lengthy stay, for relays of plumbers +and of joiners came down from Wigtown, and there was hammering and +repairing going on from morning till night. + +It was surprising how quickly the signs of the wind and weather were +effaced, until the great, square-set house was all as spick-and-span as +though it had been erected yesterday. There were abundant signs that +money was no consideration to General Heatherstone, and that it was not +on the score of retrenchment that he had taken up his abode among us. + +"It may be that he is devoted to study," suggested my father, as we +discussed the question round the breakfast table. "Perhaps he has chosen +this secluded spot to finish some magnum opus upon which he is engaged. +If that is the case I should be happy to let him have the run of my +library." + +Esther and I laughed at the grandiloquent manner in which he spoke of +the two potato-sacksful of books. + +"It may be as you say," said I, "but the general did not strike me +during our short interview as being a man who was likely to have any +very pronounced literary tastes. If I might hazard a guess, I should +say that he is here upon medical advice, in the hope that the complete +quiet and fresh air may restore his shattered nervous system. If you +had seen how he glared at me, and the twitching of his fingers, you +would have thought it needed some restoring." + +"I do wonder whether he has a wife and a family," said my sister. "Poor +souls, how lonely they will be! Why, excepting ourselves, there is not +a family that they could speak to for seven miles and more." + +"General Heatherstone is a very distinguished soldier," remarked my +father. + +"Why, papa, however came you to know anything about him?" + +"Ah, my dears," said my father, smiling at us over his coffee-cup, "you +were laughing at my library just now, but you see it may be very useful +at times." As he spoke he took a red-covered volume from a shelf and +turned over the pages. "This is an Indian Army List of three years +back," he explained, "and here is the very gentleman we want- +'Heatherstone, J. B., Commander of the Bath,' my dears, and 'V.C.', +think of that, 'V.C.'--'formerly colonel in the Indian Infantry, 41st +Bengal Foot, but now retired with the rank of major-general.' In this +other column is a record of his services--'capture of Ghuznee and +defence of Jellalabad, Sobraon 1848, Indian Mutiny and reduction of +Oudh. Five times mentioned in dispatches.' I think, my dears, that we +have cause to be proud of our new neighbour." + +"It doesn't mention there whether he is married or not, I suppose?" +asked Esther. + +"No," said my father, wagging his white head with a keen appreciation of +his own humour. "It doesn't include that under the heading of 'daring +actions'--though it very well might, my dear, it very well might." + +All our doubts, however, upon this head were very soon set at rest, for +on the very day that the repairing and the furnishing had been completed +I had occasion to ride into Wigtown, and I met upon the way a carriage +which was bearing General Heatherstone and his family to their new home. +An elderly lady, worn and sickly-looking, was by his side, and opposite +him sat a young fellow about my own age and a girl who appeared to be a +couple of years younger. + +I raised my hat, and was about to pass them, when the general shouted to +his coachman to pull up, and held out his hand to me. I could see now +in the daylight that his face, although harsh and stern, was capable of +assuming a not unkindly expression. + +"How are you, Mr. Fothergill West?" he cried. "I must apologise to you +if I was a little brusque the other night--you will excuse an old +soldier who has spent the best part of his life in harness--All the +same, you must confess that you are rather dark-skinned for a +Scotchman." + +"We have a Spanish strain in our blood," said I, wondering at his +recurrence to the topic. + +"That would, of course, account for it," he remarked. "My dear," to his +wife, "allow me to introduce Mr. Fothergill West to you. This is my son +and my daughter. We have come here in search of rest, Mr. West +--complete rest." + +"And you could not possibly have come to a better place," said I. + +"Oh, you think so?" he answered. "I suppose it is very quiet indeed, +and very lonely. You might walk through these country lanes at night, I +dare say, and never meet a soul, eh?" + +"Well, there are not many about after dark," I said. + +"And you are not much troubled with vagrants or wandering beggars, eh? +Not many tinkers or tramps or rascally gipsies--no vermin of that sort +about?" + +"I find it rather cold," said Mrs. Heatherstone, drawing her thick +sealskin mantle tighter round her figure. "We are detaining Mr. West, +too." + +"So we are, my dear, so we are. Drive on, coachman. Good-day, Mr. +West." + +The carriage rattled away towards the Hall, and I trotted thoughtfully +onwards to the little country metropolis. + +As I passed up the High Street, Mr. McNeil ran out from his office and +beckoned to me to stop. + +"Our new tenants have gone out," he said. "They drove over this morning." + +"I met them on the way," I answered. + +As I looked down at the little factor, I could see that his face was +flushed and that he bore every appearance of having had an extra glass. + +"Give me a real gentleman to do business with," he said, with a burst of +laughter. "They understand me and I understand them. 'What shall I +fill it up for?' says the general, taking a blank cheque out o' his +pouch and laying it on the table. 'Two hundred,' says I, leaving a bit +o' a margin for my own time and trouble." + +"I thought that the landlord had paid you for that," I remarked. + +"Aye, aye, but it's well to have a bit margin. He filled it up and +threw it over to me as if it had been an auld postage stamp. That's the +way business should be done between honest men--though it wouldna do if +one was inclined to take an advantage. Will ye not come in, Mr. West, +and have a taste of my whisky?" + +"No, thank you" said I, "I have business to do." + +"Well, well, business is the chief thing. It's well not to drink in +the morning, too. For my own part, except a drop before breakfast to +give me an appetite, and maybe a glass, or even twa, afterwards to +promote digestion, I never touch spirits before noon. What d'ye think +o' the general, Mr. West?" + +"Why, I have hardly had an opportunity of judging," I answered. + +Mr. McNeil tapped his forehead with his forefinger. + +"That's what I think of him," he said in a confidential whisper, shaking +his head at me. "He's gone, sir, gone, in my estimation. Now what +would you take to be a proof of madness, Mr. West?" + +"Why, offering a blank cheque to a Wigtown house-agent," said I. + +"Ah, you're aye at your jokes. But between oorsel's now, if a man asked +ye how many miles it was frae a seaport, and whether ships come there +from the East, and whether there were tramps on the road, and whether it +was against the lease for him to build a high wall round the grounds, +what would ye make of it, eh?" + +"I should certainly think him eccentric," said I. + +"If every man had his due, our friend would find himsel' in a house with +a high wall round the grounds, and that without costing him a farthing," +said the agent. + +"Where then?" I asked, humouring his joke. + +"Why, in the Wigtown County Lunatic Asylum," cried the little man, with +a bubble of laughter, in the midst of which I rode on my way, leaving +him still chuckling over his own facetiousness. + +The arrival of the new family at Cloomber Hall had no perceptible effect +in relieving the monotony of our secluded district, for instead of +entering into such simple pleasures as the country had to offer, or +interesting themselves, as we had hoped, in our attempts to improve the +lot of our poor crofters and fisherfolk, they seemed to shun all +observation, and hardly ever to venture beyond the avenue gates. + +We soon found, too, that the factor's words as to the inclosing of the +grounds were founded upon fact, for gangs of workmen were kept hard at +work from early in the morning until late at night in erecting a high, +wooden fence round the whole estate. + +When this was finished and topped with spikes, Cloomber Park became +impregnable to any one but an exceptionally daring climber. It was as +if the old soldier had been so imbued with military ideas that, like my +Uncle Toby, he could not refrain even in times of peace from standing +upon the defensive. + +Stranger still, he had victualled the house as if for a siege, for +Begbie, the chief grocer of Wigtown, told me himself in a rapture of +delight and amazement that the general had sent him an order for +hundreds of dozens of every imaginable potted meat and vegetable. + +It may be imagined that all these unusual incidents were not allowed to +pass without malicious comment. Over the whole countryside and as far +away as the English border there was nothing but gossip about the new +tenants of Cloomber Hall and the reasons which had led them to come +among us. + +The only hypothesis, however, which the bucolic mind could evolve, was +that which had already occurred to Mr. McNeil, the factor--namely, that +the old general and his family were one and all afflicted with madness, +or, as an alternative conclusion, that he had committed some heinous +offence and was endeavouring to escape the consequences of his misdeeds. + +These were both natural suppositions under the circumstances, but +neither of them appeared to me to commend itself as a true explanation +of the facts. + +It is true that General Heatherstone's behaviour on the occasion of our +first interview was such as to suggest some suspicion of mental disease, +but no man could have been more reasonable or more courteous than he had +afterwards shown himself to be. + +Then, again, his wife and children led the same secluded life that he +did himself, so that the reason could not be one peculiar to his own +health. + +As to the possibility of his being a fugitive from justice, that theory +was even more untenable. Wigtownshire was bleak and lonely, but it was +not such an obscure corner of the world that a well-known soldier could +hope to conceal himself there, nor would a man who feared publicity set +every one's tongue wagging as the general had done. + +On the whole, I was inclined to believe that the true solution of the +enigma lay in his own allusion to the love of quiet, and that they had +taken shelter here with an almost morbid craving for solitude and +repose. We very soon had an instance of the great lengths to which this +desire for isolation would carry them. + +My father had come down one morning with the weight of a great +determination upon his brow. + +"You must put on your pink frock to-day, Esther," said he, "and you, +John, you must make yourself smart, for I have determined that the three +of us shall drive round this afternoon and pay our respects to Mrs. +Heatherstone and the general." + +"A visit to Cloomber," cried Esther, clapping her hands. + +"I am here," said my father, with dignity, "not only as the laird's +factor, but also as his kinsman. In that capacity I am convinced that +he would wish me to call upon these newcomers and offer them any +politeness which is in our power. At present they must feel lonely and +friendless. What says the great Firdousi? 'The choicest ornaments to a +man's house are his friends.'" + +My sister and I knew by experience that when the old man began to +justify his resolution by quotations from the Persian poets there was no +chance of shaking it. Sure enough that afternoon saw the phaeton at the +door, with my father perched upon the seat, with his second-best coat on +and a pair of new driving-gloves. + +"Jump in, my dears," he cried, cracking his whip briskly, "we shall show +the general that he has no cause to be ashamed of his neighbours." + +Alas! pride always goes before a fall. Our well-fed ponies and shining +harness were not destined that day to impress the tenants of Cloomber +with a sense of our importance. + +We had reached the avenue gate, and I was about to get out and open it, +when our attention was arrested by a very large wooden placard, which +was attached to one of the trees in such a manner that no one could +possibly pass without seeing it. On the white surface of this board was +printed in big, black letters the following hospitable inscription: + + GENERAL AND MRS. HEATHERSTONE + HAVE NO WISH + TO INCREASE + THE CIRCLE OF THEIR ACQUAINTANCE. + +We all sat gazing at this announcement for some moments in silent +astonishment. Then Esther and I, tickled by the absurdity of the thing, +burst out laughing, but my father pulled the ponies' heads round, and +drove home with compressed lips and the cloud of much wrath upon his +brow. I have never seen the good man so thoroughly moved, and I am +convinced that his anger did not arise from any petty feeling of injured +vanity upon his own part, but from the thought that a slight had been +offered to the Laird of Branksome, whose dignity he represented. + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + + +OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD + +If I had any personal soreness on account of this family snub, it was a +very passing emotion, and one which was soon effaced from my mind. + +It chanced that on the very next day after the episode I had occasion to +pass that way, and stopped to have another look at the obnoxious +placard. I was standing staring at it and wondering what could have +induced our neighbours to take such an outrageous step, when I became +suddenly aware of a sweet, girlish face which peeped out at me from +between the bars of the gate, and of a white hand which eagerly beckoned +me to approach. As I advanced to her I saw that it was the same young +lady whom I had seen in the carriage. + +"Mr. West," she said, in a quick whisper, glancing from side to side as +she spoke in a nervous, hasty manner, "I wish to apologise to you for +the indignity to which you and your family were subjected yesterday. My +brother was in the avenue and saw it all, but he is powerless to +interfere. I assure you, Mr. West, that if that hateful thing," +pointing up at the placard, "has given you any annoyance, it has given +my brother and myself far more." + +"Why, Miss Heatherstone," said I, putting the matter off with a laugh, +"Britain is a free country, and if a man chooses to warn off visitors +from his premises there is no reason why he should not." + +"It is nothing less than brutal," she broke out, with a petulant stamp +of the foot. "To think that your sister, too, should have such a +unprovoked insult offered to her! I am ready to sink with shame at the +very thought." + +"Pray do not give yourself one moment's uneasiness upon the subject," +said I earnestly, for I was grieved at her evident distress. "I am sure +that your father has some reason unknown to us for taking this step." + +"Heaven knows he has!" she answered, with ineffable sadness in her +voice, "and yet I think it would be more manly to face a danger than to +fly from it. However, he knows best, and it is impossible for us to +judge. But who is this?" she exclaimed, anxiously, peering up the dark +avenue. "Oh, it is my brother Mordaunt. Mordaunt," she said, as the +young man approached us. "I have been apologising to Mr. West for what +happened yesterday, in your name as well as my own." + +"I am very, very glad to have the opportunity of doing it in person," +said he courteously. "I only wish that I could see your sister and your +father as well as yourself, to tell them how sorry I am. I think you +had better run up to the house, little one, for it's getting near +tiffin-time. No--don't you go Mr. West. I want to have a word with +you." + +Miss Heatherstone waved her hand to me with a bright smile, and tripped +up the avenue, while her brother unbolted the gate, and, passing +through, closed it again, locking it upon the outside. + +"I'll have a stroll down the road with you, if you have no objection. +Have a manilla." He drew a couple of cheroots from his pocket and +handed one to me. "You'll find they are not bad," he said. "I became +a connoisseur in tobacco when I was in India. I hope I am not +interfering with your business in coming along with you?" + +"Not at all," I answered "I am very glad to have your company." + +"I'll tell you a secret," said my companion. "This is the first time +that I have been outside the grounds since we have been down here." + +"And your sister?" + +"She has never been out, either," he answered. "I have given the +governor the slip to-day, but he wouldn't half like it if he knew. It's +a whim of his that we should keep ourselves entirely to ourselves. At +least, some people would call it a whim, for my own part I have reason +to believe that he has solid grounds for all that he does--though +perhaps in this matter he may be a little too exacting." + +"You must surely find it very lonely," said I. "Couldn't you manage to +slip down at times and have a smoke with me? That house over yonder is +Branksome." + +"Indeed, you are very kind," he answered, with sparkling eyes. "I +should dearly like to run over now and again. With the exception of +Israel Stakes, our old coachman and gardener, I have not a soul that I +can speak to." + +"And your sister--she must feel it even more," said I, thinking in my +heart that my new acquaintance made rather too much of his own troubles +and too little of those of his companion. + +"Yes; poor Gabriel feels it, no doubt," he answered carelessly, "but +it's a more unnatural thing for a young man of my age to be cooped up in +this way than for a woman. Look at me, now. I am three-and-twenty next +March, and yet I have never been to a university, nor to a school for +that matter. I am as complete an ignoramus as any of these clodhoppers. +It seems strange to you, no doubt, and yet it is so. Now, don't you +think I deserve a better fate?" + +He stopped as he spoke, and faced round to me, throwing his palms +forward in appeal. + +As I looked at him, with the sun shining upon his face, he certainly +did seem a strange bird to be cooped up in such a cage. Tall and +muscular, with a keen, dark face, and sharp, finely cut features, he +might have stepped out of a canvas of Murillo or Velasquez. There were +latent energy and power in his firm-set mouth, his square eyebrows, and +the whole pose of his elastic, well-knit figure. + +"There is the learning to be got from books and the learning to be got +from experience," said I sententiously. "If you have less of your share +of the one, perhaps you have more of the other. I cannot believe you +have spent all your life in mere idleness and pleasure." + +"Pleasure!" he cried. "Pleasure! Look at this!" He pulled off his hat, +and I saw that his black hair was all decked and dashed with streaks of +grey. "Do you imagine that this came from pleasure?" he asked, with a +bitter laugh. + +"You must have had some great shock," I said, astonished at the sight, +"some terrible illness in your youth. Or perhaps it arises from a more +chronic cause--a constant gnawing anxiety. I have known men as young as +you whose hair was as grey." + +"Poor brutes!" he muttered. "I pity them." + +"If you can manage to slip down to Branksome at times," I said, "perhaps +you could bring Miss Heatherstone with you. I know that my father and +my sister would be delighted to see her, and a change, if only for an +hour or two, might do her good." + +"It would be rather hard for us both to get away together," he answered, +"However, if I see a chance I shall bring her down. It might be managed +some afternoon perhaps, for the old man indulges in a siesta +occasionally." + +We had reached the head of the winding lane which branches off from the +high road and leads to the laird's house, so my companion pulled up. + +"I must go back," he said abruptly, "or they will miss me. It's very +kind of you, West, to take this interest in us. I am very grateful to +you, and so will Gabriel be when she hears of your kind invitation. +It's a real heaping of coals of fire after that infernal placard of my +father's." + +He shook my hand and set off down the road, but he came running after me +presently, calling me to stop. + +"I was just thinking," he said, "that you must consider us a great +mystery up there at Cloomber. I dare say you have come to look upon it +as a private lunatic asylum, and I can't blame you. If you are +interested in the matter, I feel it is unfriendly upon my part not to +satisfy your curiosity, but I have promised my father to be silent about +it. And indeed if I were to tell you all that I know you might not be +very much the wiser after all. I would have you understand this, +however--that my father is as sane as you or I, and that he has very +good reasons for living the life which he does. I may add that his wish +to remain secluded does not arise from any unworthy or dishonourable +motives, but merely from the instinct of self-preservation." + +"He is in danger, then?" I ejaculated. + +"Yes; he is in constant danger." + +"But why does he not apply to the magistrates for protection?" I asked. +"If he is afraid of any one, he has only to name him and they will bind +him over to keep the peace." + +"My dear West," said young Heatherstone, "the danger with which my +father is threatened is one that cannot be averted by any human +intervention. It is none the less very real, and possibly very +imminent." + +"You don't mean to assert that it is supernatural," I said +incredulously. + +"Well, hardly that, either," he answered with hesitation. "There." he +continued, "I have said rather more than I should, "but I know that you +will not abuse my confidence. Good-bye!" + +He look to his heels and was soon out of sight round a curve in the +country road. + +A danger which was real and imminent, not to be averted by human means, +and yet hardly supernatural--here was a conundrum indeed! + +I had come to look upon the inhabitants of the Hall as mere eccentrics, +but after what young Mordaunt Heatherstone had just told me, I could no +longer doubt that some dark and sinister meaning underlay all their +actions. The more I pondered over the problem, the more unanswerable +did it appear, and yet I could not get the matter out of my thoughts. + +The lonely, isolated Hall, and the strange, impending catastrophe which +hung over its inmates, appealed forcibly to my imagination. All that +evening, and late into the night, I sat moodily by the fire, pondering +over what I had heard, and revolving in my mind the various incidents +which might furnish me with some clue to the mystery. + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +HOW FOUR OF US CAME TO BE UNDER THE SHADOW OF CLOOMBER + +I trust that my readers will not set me down as an inquisitive busybody +when I say that as the days and weeks went by I found my attention and +my thoughts more and more attracted to General Heatherstone and the +mystery which surrounded him. + +It was in vain that I endeavoured by hard work and a strict attention to +the laird's affairs to direct my mind into some more healthy channel. +Do what I would, on land or on the water, I would still find myself +puzzling over this one question, until it obtained such a hold upon me +that I felt it was useless for me to attempt to apply myself to anything +until I had come to some satisfactory solution of it. + +I could never pass the dark line of five-foot fencing, and the great +iron gate, with its massive lock, without pausing and racking my brain +as to what the secret might be which was shut in by that inscrutable +barrier. Yet, with all my conjectures and all my observations, I could +never come to any conclusion which could for a moment be accepted as an +explanation of the facts. + +My sister had been out for a stroll one night, visiting a sick peasant +or performing some other of the numerous acts of charity by which she +had made herself beloved by the whole countryside. + +"John," she said when she returned, "have you seen Cloomber Hall at +night?" + +"No," I answered, laying down the book which I was reading. "Not since +that memorable evening when the general and Mr. McNeil came over to make +an inspection." + +"Well, John, will you put your hat on and come a little walk with me?" + +I could see by her manner that something had agitated or frightened her. + +"Why, bless the girl!" cried I boisterously, "what is the matter? The +old Hall is not on fire, surely? You look as grave as if all Wigtown +were in a blaze." + +"Not quite so bad as that," she said, smiling. "But do come out, Jack. +I should very much like you to see it." + +I had always refrained from saying anything which might alarm my sister, +so that she knew nothing of the interest which our neighbours' doings +had for me. At her request I took my hat and followed her out +into the darkness. She led the way along a little footpath over the +moor, which brought us to some rising ground, from which we could look +down upon the Hall without our view being obstructed by any of the +fir-trees which had been planted round it. + +"Look at that!" said my sister, pausing at the summit of this little +eminence. + +Cloomber lay beneath us in a blaze of light. In the lower floors the +shutters obscured the illumination, but above, from the broad windows of +the second storey to the thin slits at the summit of the tower, there +was not a chink or an aperture which did not send forth a stream of +radiance. So dazzling was the effect that for a moment I was persuaded +that the house was on fire, but the steadiness and clearness of the +light soon freed me from that apprehension. It was clearly the result +of many lamps placed systematically all over the building. + +It added to the strange effect that all these brilliantly illuminated +rooms were apparently untenanted, and some of them, so far as we could +judge, were not even furnished. Through the whole great house there was +no sign of movement or of life--nothing but the clear, unwinking flood +of yellow light. + +I was still lost in wonder at the sight when I heard a short, quick +sob at my side. + +"What is it, Esther, dear?" I asked, looking down at my companion. + +"I feel so frightened. Oh, John, John, take me home, I feel so +frightened!" + +She clung to my arm, and pulled at my coat in a perfect frenzy of fear. + +"It's all safe, darling," I said soothingly. "There is nothing to fear. +What has upset you so?" + +"I am afraid of them, John; I am afraid of the Heatherstones. Why is +their house lit up like this every night? I have heard from others that +it is always so. And why does the old man run like a frightened hare if +any one comes upon him. There is something wrong about it, John, and it +frightens me." + +I pacified her as well as I could, and led her home with me, where I +took care that she should have some hot port negus before going to bed. +I avoided the subject of the Heatherstones for fear of exciting her, and +she did not recur to it of her own accord. I was convinced, however, +from what I had heard from her, that she had for some time back been +making her own observations upon our neighbours, and that in doing so +she had put a considerable strain upon her nerves. + +I could see that the mere fact of the Hall being illuminated at night +was not enough to account for her extreme agitation, and that it must +have derived its importance in her eyes from being one in a chain of +incidents, all of which had left a weird or unpleasant impression upon +her mind. + +That was the conclusion which I came to at the time, and I have reason +to know now that I was right, and that my sister had even more cause +than I had myself for believing that there was something uncanny about +the tenants of Cloomber. + +Our interest in the matter may have arisen at first from nothing +higher than curiosity, but events soon look a turn which associated us +more closely with the fortunes of the Heatherstone family. + +Mordaunt had taken advantage of my invitation to come down to the +laird's house, and on several occasions he brought with him his +beautiful sister. The four of us would wander over the moors together, +or perhaps if the day were fine set sail upon our little skiff and stand +off into the Irish Sea. + +On such excursions the brother and sister would be as merry and as +happy as two children. It was a keen pleasure to them to escape from +their dull fortress, and to see, if only for a few hours, friendly and +sympathetic faces round them. + +There could be but one result when four young people were brought +together in sweet, forbidden intercourse. Acquaintance-ship warmed into +friendship, and friendship flamed suddenly into love. + +Gabriel sits beside me now as I write, and she agrees with me that, +dear as is the subject to ourselves, the whole story of our mutual +affection is of too personal a nature to be more than touched upon in +this statement. Suffice it to say that, within a few weeks of our first +meeting Mordaunt Heatherstone had won the heart of my clear sister, and +Gabriel had given me that pledge which death itself will not be able to +break. + +I have alluded in this brief way to the double tie which sprang up +between the two families, because I have no wish that this narrative +should degenerate into anything approaching to romance, or that I should +lose the thread of the facts which I have set myself to chronicle. +These are connected with General Heatherstone, and only indirectly with +my own personal history. + +It is enough if I say that after our engagement the visits to +Branksome became more frequent, and that our friends were able sometimes +to spend a whole day with us when business had called the general to +Wigtown, or when his gout confined him to his room. + +As to our good father, he was ever ready to greet us with many small +jests and tags of Oriental poems appropriate to the occasion, for we had +no secrets from him, and he already looked upon us all as his children. + +There were times when on account of some peculiarly dark or restless +fit of the general's it was impossible for weeks on end for either +Gabriel or Mordaunt to get away from the grounds. The old man would +even stand on guard, a gloomy and silent sentinel, at the avenue gate, +or pace up and down the drive as though he suspected that attempts had +been made to penetrate his seclusion. + +Passing of an evening I have seen his dark, grim figure flitting about +in the shadow of the trees, or caught a glimpse of his hard, angular, +swarthy face peering out suspiciously at me from behind the bars. + +My heart would often sadden for him as I noticed his uncouth, nervous +movements, his furtive glances and twitching features. Who would have +believed that this slinking, cowering creature had once been a dashing +officer, who had fought the battles of his country and had won the palm +of bravery among the host of brave men around him? + +In spite of the old soldier's vigilance, we managed to hold +communication with our friends. + +Immediately behind the Hall there was a spot where the fencing had +been so carelessly erected that two of the rails could be removed +without difficulty, leaving a broad gap, which gave us the opportunity +for many a stolen interview, though they were necessarily short, for the +general's movements were erratic, and no part of the grounds was secure +from his visitations. + +How vividly one of these hurried meetings rises before me! It stands +out clear, peaceful, and distinct amid the wild, mysterious incidents +which were destined to lead up to the terrible catastrophe which has +cast a shade over our lives. + +I can remember that as I walked through the fields the grass was damp +with the rain of the morning, and the air was heavy with the smell of +the fresh-turned earth. Gabriel was waiting for me under the hawthorn +tree outside the gap, and we stood hand-in-hand looking down at the long +sweep of moorland and at the broad blue channel which encircled it with +its fringe of foam. + +Far away in the north-west the sun glinted upon the high peak of Mount +Throston. From where we stood we could see the smoke of the steamers as +they ploughed along the busy water-way which leads to Belfast. + +"Is it not magnificent?" Gabriel cried, clasping her hands round my arm. +"Ah, John, why are we not free to sail away over these waves together, +and leave all our troubles behind us on the shore?" + +"And what are the troubles which you would leave behind you, dear one?" +I asked. "May I not know them, and help you to bear them?" + +"I have no secrets from you, John," she answered, "Our chief trouble is, +as you may guess, our poor father's strange behaviour. Is it not a +sad thing for all of us that a man who has played such a distinguished +part in the world should skulk from one obscure corner of the country to +another, and should defend himself with locks and barriers as though he +were a common thief flying from justice? This is a trouble, John, which +it is out of your power to alleviate." + +"But why does he do it, Gabriel?" I asked. + +"I cannot tell," she answered frankly. "I only know that he imagines +some deadly danger to be hanging over his head, and that this danger was +incurred by him during his stay in India. What its nature may be I have +no more idea than you have." + +"Then your brother has," I remarked. "I am sure from the way in which +he spoke to me about it one day that he knows what it is, and that he +looks upon it as real." + +"Yes, he knows, and so does my mother," she answered, "but they have +always kept it secret from me. My poor father is very excited at +present. Day and night he is in an agony of apprehension, but it will +soon be the fifth of October, and after that he will be at peace." + +"How do you know that?" I asked in surprise. + +"By experience," she answered gravely. "On the fifth of October these +fears of his come to a crisis. For years back he has been in the habit +of locking Mordaunt and myself up in our rooms on that date, so that we +have no idea what occurs, but we have always found that he has been much +relieved afterwards, and has continued to be comparatively in peace +until that day begins to draw round again." + +"Then you have only ten days or so to wait," I remarked, for September +was drawing to a close. "By the way, dearest, why is it that you light +up all your rooms at night?" + +"You have noticed it, then?" she said. "It comes also from my father's +fears. He does not like to have one dark corner in the whole house. He +walks about a good deal at night, and inspects everything, from the +attics right down to the cellars. He has large lamps in every room and +corridor, even the empty ones, and he orders the servants to light them +all at dusk." + +"I am rather surprised that you manage to keep your servants," I said, +laughing. "The maids in these parts are a superstitious class, and +their imaginations are easily excited by anything which they don't +understand." + +"The cook and both housemaids are from London, and are used to our +ways. We pay them on a very high scale to make up for any inconvenience +to which they may be put. Israel Stakes, the coachman, is the only one +who comes from this part of the country, and he seems to be a stolid, +honest fellow, who is not easily scared." + + "Poor little girl," I exclaimed, looking down at the slim, graceful +figure by my side. "This is no atmosphere for you to live in. Why +will you not let me rescue you from it? Why won't you allow me to go +straight and ask the general for your hand? At the worst he could only +refuse." + +She turned quite haggard and pale at the very thought. + +"For Heaven's sake, John," she cried earnestly, "do nothing of the +kind. He would whip us all away in the dead of the night, and within a +week we should be settling down again in some wilderness where we might +never have a chance of seeing or hearing from you again. Besides, he +never would forgive us for venturing out of the grounds." + +"I don't think that he is a hard-hearted man," I remarked. "I have +seen a kindly look in his eyes, for all his stern face." + +"He can be the kindest of fathers," she answered. "But he is terrible +when opposed or thwarted. You have never seen him so, and I trust you +never will. It was that strength of will and impatience of opposition +which made him such a splendid officer. I assure you that in India +every one thought a great deal of him. The soldiers were afraid of him, +but they would have followed him anywhere." + +"And had he these nervous attacks then?" + +"Occasionally, but not nearly so acutely. He seems to think that the +danger--whatever it may be--becomes more imminent every year. Oh, John, +it is terrible to be waiting like this with a sword over our heads--and +all the more terrible to me since I have no idea where the blow is to +come from." + +"Dear Gabriel," I said, taking her hand and drawing her to my side, +"look over all this pleasant countryside and the broad blue sea. Is it +not all peaceful and beautiful? In these cottages, with their red-tiled +roofs peeping out from the grey moor, there live none but simple, +God-fearing men, who toil hard at their crafts and bear enmity to no +man. Within seven miles of us is a large town, with every civilised +appliance for the preservation of order. Ten miles farther there is a +garrison quartered, and a telegram would at any time bring down a +company of soldiers. Now, I ask you, dear, in the name of common-sense, +what conceivable danger could threaten you in this secluded +neighbourhood, with the means of help so near? You assure me that the +peril is not connected with your father's health?" + +"No, I am sure of that. It is true that Dr. Easterling, of Stranraer. +has been over to see him once or twice, but that was merely for some +small indisposition. I can assure you that the danger is not to be +looked for in that direction." + +"Then I can assure you," said I, laughing, "that there is no danger at +all. It must be some strange monomania or hallucination. No other +hypothesis will cover the facts." + +"Would my father's monomania account for the fact of my brother's hair +turning grey and my mother wasting away to a mere shadow?" + +"Undoubtedly," I answered, "The long continued worry of the general's +restlessness and irritability would produce those effects on sensitive +natures." + +"No, no!" said she, shaking her head sadly, "I have been exposed to +his restlessness and irritability, but they have had no such effect upon +me. The difference between us lies in the fact that they know this +awful secret and I do not." + +"My dear girl," said I, "the days of family apparitions and that kind +of thing are gone. Nobody is haunted nowadays, so we can put that +supposition out of the question. Having done so, what remains? There +is absolutely no other theory which could even be suggested. Believe +me, the whole mystery is that the heat of India has been too much for +your poor father's brain." + +What she would have answered I cannot tell, for at that moment she gave +a start as if some sound had fallen upon her ear. As she looked round +apprehensively, I suddenly saw her features become rigid and her eyes +fixed and dilated. + +Following the direction of her gaze, I felt a sudden thrill of fear pass +through me as I perceived a human face surveying us from behind one of +the trees--a man's face, every feature of which was distorted by the +most malignant hatred and anger. Finding himself observed, he stepped +out and advanced towards us, when I saw that it was none other than the +general himself. His beard was all a-bristle with fury, and his deepset +eyes glowed from under their heavily veined lids with a most sinister +and demoniacal brightness. + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE +GARRISON OF CLOOMBER + +"To your room, girl!" he cried in a hoarse, harsh voice, stepping in +between us and pointing authoritatively towards the house. + +He waited until Gabriel, with a last frightened glance at me, had +passed through the gap, and then he turned upon me with an expression so +murderous that I stepped back a pace or two, and tightened my grasp upon +my oak stick. + +"You-you--" he spluttered, with his hand twitching at his throat, as +though his fury were choking him. "You have dared to intrude upon my +privacy! Do you think I built this fence that all the vermin in the +country might congregate round it? Oh, you have been very near your +death, my fine fellow! You will never be nearer until your time comes. +Look at this!" he pulled a squat, thick pistol out of his bosom. "If +you had passed through that gap and set foot on my land I'd have let +daylight into you. I'll have no vagabonds here. I know how to treat +gentry of that sort, whether their faces are black or white." + +"Sir," said I, "I meant no harm by coming here, and I do not know how +I have deserved this extraordinary outburst. Allow me to observe, +however, that you are still covering me with your pistol, and that, as +your hand is rather tremulous, it is more than possible that it may go +off. If you don't turn the muzzle down I shall be compelled in +self-defence to strike you over the wrist with my stick." + +"What the deuce brought you here, then?" he asked, in a more composed +voice, putting his weapon back into his bosom. "Can't a gentleman live +quietly without your coming to peep and pry? Have you no business of +your own to look after, eh? And my daughter? how came you to know +anything of her? and what have you been trying to squeeze out of her? +It wasn't chance that brought you here." + +"No," said I boldly, "it was not chance which brought me here. I have +had several opportunities of seeing your daughter and of appreciating +her many noble qualities. We are engaged to be married to each other, +and I came up with the express intention of seeing her." + +Instead of blazing into a fury, as I had expected, the general gave a +long whistle of astonishment, and then leant up against the railings, +laughing softly to himself. + +"English terriers are fond of nosing worms," he remarked at last. +"When we brought them out to India they used to trot off into the jungle +and begin sniffing at what, they imagined to be worms there. But the +worm turned out to be a venomous snake, and so poor doggy played no +more. I think you'll find yourself in a somewhat analogous position if +you don't look out." + +"You surely don't mean to cast an aspersion upon your own daughter?" I +said, flushing with indignation. + +"Oh, Gabriel is all right," he answered carelessly. "Our family is not +exactly one, however, which I should recommend a young fellow to marry +into. And pray how is it that I was not informed of this snug little +arrangement of yours?" + +"We were afraid, sir, that you might separate us," I replied, feeling +that perfect candour was the best policy under the circumstances. "It +is possible that we were mistaken. Before coming to any final decision, +I implore you to remember that the happiness of both of us is at stake. +It is in your power to divide our bodies, but our souls shall be for +ever united." + +"My good fellow," said the general, in a not unkindly tone, "you don't +know what you are asking for. There is a gulf between you and any one +of the blood of Heatherstone which can never be bridged over." + +All trace of anger had vanished now from his manner, and given place to +an air of somewhat contemptuous amusement. + +My family pride took fire at his words. "The gulf may be less than you +imagine," I said coldly. "We are not clodhoppers because we live in +this out-of-the-way place. I am of noble descent on one side, and my +mother was a Buchan of Buchan, I assure you that there is no such +disparity between us as you seem to imagine." + +"You misunderstand me," the general answered. "It is on our side that +the disparity lies. There are reasons why my daughter Gabriel should +live and die single. It would not be to your advantage to marry her." + +"But surely, sir," I persisted, "I am the best judge of my own +interests and advantages. Since you take this ground all becomes easy, +for I do assure you that the one interest which overrides all others is +that I should have the woman I love for my wife. If this is your only +objection to our match you may surely give us your consent, for any +danger or trial which I may incur in marrying Gabriel will not weigh +with me one featherweight." + +"Here's a young bantam!" exclaimed the old soldier, smiling at my +warmth. "It's easy to defy danger when you don't know what the danger +is." + +"What is it, then?" I asked, hotly. "There is no earthly peril which +will drive me from Gabriel's side. Let me know what it is and test me." + +"No, no. That would never do," he answered with a sigh, and then, +thoughtfully, as if speaking his mind aloud: "He has plenty of pluck and +is a well-grown lad, too. We might do worse than make use of him." + +He went on mumbling to himself with a vacant stare in his eyes as if +he had forgotten my presence. + +"Look here, West," he said presently. "You'll excuse me if I spoke +hastily a little time ago. It is the second time that I have had +occasion to apologise to you for the same offence. It shan't occur +again. I am rather over-particular, no doubt, in my desire for complete +isolation, but I have good reasons for insisting on the point. Rightly +or wrongly, I have got it into my head that some day there might be an +organised raid upon my grounds. If anything of the sort should occur I +suppose I might reckon upon your assistance?" + +"With all my heart." + +"So that if ever you got a message such as 'Come up,' or even +'Cloomber,' you would know that it was an appeal for help, and +would hurry up immediately, even if it were in the dead of the night?" + +"Most certainly I should," I answered. "But might I ask you what the +nature of the danger is which you apprehend?" + +"There would be nothing gained by your knowing. Indeed, you would +hardly understand it if I told you. I must bid you good day now, for I +have stayed with you too long. Remember, I count upon you as one of the +Cloomber garrison now." + +"One other thing, sir," I said hurriedly, for he was turning away," +I hope that you will not be angry with your daughter for anything which +I have told you. It was for my sake that she kept it all secret from +you." + +"All right," he said, with his cold, inscrutable smile. "I am not such +an ogre in the bosom of my family as you seem to think. As to this +marriage question, I should advise you as a friend to let it drop +altogether, but if that is impossible I must insist that it stand +over completely for the present. It is impossible to say what +unexpected turn events may take. Good-bye." + +He plunged into the wood and was quickly out of sight among the dense +plantation. + +Thus ended this extraordinary interview, in which this strange man had +begun by pointing a loaded pistol at my breast and had ended, by +partially acknowledging the possibility of my becoming his future son- +in-law. I hardly knew whether to be cast down or elated over it. + +On the one hand he was likely, by keeping a closer watch over his +daughter, to prevent us from communicating as freely as we had done +hitherto. Against this there was the advantage of having obtained +an implied consent to the renewal of my suit at some future date. On +the whole, I came to the conclusion as I walked thoughtfully home that I +had improved my position by the incident. + +But this danger--this shadowy, unspeakable danger--which appeared to +rise up at every turn, and to hang day and night over the towers of +Cloomber! Rack my brain as I would, I could not conjure up any solution +to the problem which was not puerile and inadequate. + +One fact struck me as being significant. Both the father and the son +had assured me, independently of each other, that if I were told what +the peril was, I would hardly realise its significance. How strange and +bizarre must the fear be which can scarcely be expressed in intelligible +language! + +I held up my hand in the darkness before I turned to sleep that night, +and I swore that no power of man or devil should ever weaken my love for +the woman whose pure heart I had had the good fortune to win. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +OF CORPORAL RUFUS SMITH AND HIS COMING TO CLOOMBER + +In making this statement I have purposely couched it in bald and +simple language, for fear I should be accused of colouring my narrative +for the sake of effect. If, however, I have told my story with any +approach to realism, the reader will understand me when I say that by +this time the succession of dramatic incidents which had occurred had +arrested my attention and excited my imagination to the exclusion of all +minor topics. + +How could I plod through the dull routine of an agent's work, or +interest myself in the thatch of this tenant's bothy or the sails of +that one's boat, when my mind was taken up by the chain of events which +I have described, and was still busy seeking an explanation for them. + +Go where I would over the countryside, I could see the square, white +tower shooting out from among the trees, and beneath that tower this +ill-fated family were watching and waiting, waiting and watching--and +for what? That was still the question which stood like an impassable +barrier at the end of every train of thought. + +Regarded merely as an abstract problem, this mystery of the Heatherstone +family had a lurid fascination about it, but when the woman whom I loved +a thousandfold better than I did myself proved to be so deeply +interested in the solution, I felt that it was impossible to turn my +thoughts to anything else until it had been finally cleared up. + +My good father had received a letter from the laird, dated from Naples, +which told us that he had derived much benefit from the change, and that +he had no intention of returning to Scotland for some time. This was +satisfactory to all of us, for my father had found Branksome such an +excellent place for study that it would have been a sore trial to +him to return to the noise and tumult of a city. As to my dear sister +and myself, there were, as I have shown, stronger reasons still to make +us love the Wigtownshire moors. + +In spite of my interview with the general--or perhaps I might say on +account of it--I took occasion at least twice a day to walk towards +Cloomber and satisfy myself that all was well there. He had begun by +resenting my intrusion, but he had ended by taking me into a sort of +half-confidence, and even by asking my assistance, so I felt that I +stood upon a different footing with him than I had done formerly, and +that he was less likely to be annoyed by my presence. Indeed, I met +him pacing round the inclosure a few days afterwards, and his manner +towards me was civil, though he made no allusion to our former +conversation. + +He appeared to be still in an extreme state of nervousness, starting +from time to time, and gazing furtively about him, with little +frightened, darting glances to the right and the left. I hoped that his +daughter was right in naming the fifth of October as the turning +point of his complaint, for it was evident to me as I looked at his +gleaming eyes and quivering hands, that a man could not live +long in such a state of nervous tension. + +I found on examination that he had had the loose rails securely +fastened so as to block up our former trysting-place, and though I +prowled round the whole long line of fencing, I was unable to find any +other place where an entrance could be effected. + +Here and there between the few chinks left in the barrier I could +catch glimpses of the Hall, and once I saw a rough-looking, middle-aged +man standing at a window on the lower floor, whom I supposed to be +Israel Stakes, the coachman. There was no sign, however, of Gabriel or +of Mordaunt, and their absence alarmed me. I was convinced that, unless +they were under some restraint, they would have managed to communicate +with my sister or myself. My fears became more and more acute as day +followed day without our seeing or hearing anything of them. + +One morning--it was the second day of October--I was walking towards +the Hall, hoping that I might be fortunate enough to learn some news of +my darling, when I observed a man perched upon a stone at the side of +the road. + +As I came nearer to him I could see that he was a stranger, and from +his dusty clothes and dilapidated appearance he seemed to have come from +a distance. He had a great hunch of bread on his knee and a clasp-knife +in his hand, but he had apparently just finished his breakfast, for he +brushed the crumbs off his lap and rose to his feet when he perceived +me. + +Noticing the great height of the fellow and that he still held his +weapon, I kept well to the other side of the road, for I knew that +destitution makes men desperate and that the chain that glittered on my +waistcoat might be too great a temptation to him upon this lonely +highway. I was confirmed in my fears when I saw him step out into the +centre of the road and bar my progress. + +"Well, my lad," I said, affecting an ease which I by no means felt, +"what can I do for you this morning?" + +The fellow's face was the colour of mahogany with exposure to the +weather, and he had a deep scar from the corner of his mouth to his ear, +which by no means improved his appearance. His hair was grizzled, but +his figure was stalwart, and his fur cap was cocked on one side so as to +give him a rakish, semi-military appearance. Altogether he gave +me the impression of being one of the most dangerous types of tramp that +I had ever fallen in with. + +Instead of replying to my question, he eyed me for some time in +silence with sullen, yellow-shot eyes, and then closed his knife with a +loud snick. + +"You're not a beak," he said, "too young for that, I guess. They had +me in chokey at Paisley and they had me in chokey at Wigtown, but by the +living thunder if another of them lays a hand on me I'll make him +remember Corporal Rufus Smith! It's a darned fine country this, where +they won't give a man work, and then lay him by the heels for having no +visible means of subsistence." + +"I am sorry to see an old soldier so reduced," said I. "What corps +did you serve in?" + +"H Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. Bad cess to the Service and every +one in it! Here I am nigh sixty years of age, with a beggarly pension +of thirty-eight pound ten--not enough to keep me in beer and baccy." + +"I should have thought thirty-eight pound ten a year would have been a +nice help to you in your old age," I remarked. + +"Would you, though?" he answered with a sneer, pushing his weather- +beaten face forward until it was within a foot of my own. + +"How much d'ye think that slash with a tulwar is worth? And my foot +with all the bones rattling about like a bagful of dice where the trail +of the gun went across it. What's that worth, eh? And a liver like a +sponge, and ague whenever the wind comes round to the east--what's the +market value of that? Would you take the lot for a dirty forty pound a +year--would you now?" + +"We are poor folk in this part of the country," I answered. "You would +pass for a rich man down here." + +"They are fool folk and they have fool tastes," said he, drawing a +black pipe from his pocket and stuffing it with tobacco. "I know what +good living is, and, by cripes! while I have a shilling in my pocket I +like to spend it as a shilling should be spent. I've fought for my +country and my country has done darned little for me. I'll go to the +Rooshians, so help me! I could show them how to cross the Himalayas so +that it would puzzle either Afghans or British to stop 'em. What's that +secret worth in St. Petersburg, eh, mister?" + +"I am ashamed to hear an old soldier speak so, even in jest," said I +sternly. + +"Jest, indeed!" He cried, with a great, roaring oath. "I'd have done +it years ago if the Rooshians had been game to take it up. Skobeloff +was the best of the bunch, but he's been snuffed out. However, that's +neither here nor there. What I want to ask you is whether you've ever +heard anything in this quarter of a man called Heatherstone, the same +who used to be colonel of the 41st Bengalis? They told me at Wigtown +that he lived somewhere down this way." + +"He lives in that large house over yonder," said I, pointing to +Cloomber Tower. "You'll find the avenue gate a little way down the +road, but the general isn't over fond of visitors." + +The last part of my speech was lost upon Corporal Rufus Smith; for the +instant that I pointed out the gate he set off hopping down the road. + +His mode of progression was the most singular I have ever seen, for He +would only put his right foot to the ground once in every half-dozen +strides, while he worked so hard and attained such a momentum with the +other limb that he got over the ground at an astonishing speed. + +I was so surprised that I stood in the roadway gazing after this +hulking figure until the thought suddenly struck me that some serious +result might come from a meeting between a man of such blunt speech and +the choleric, hot-headed general. I therefore followed him as he hopped +along like some great, clumsy bird, and overtook him at the avenue gate, +where he stood grasping the ironwork and peering through at the dark +carriage-drive beyond. + +"He's a sly old jackal," he said, looking round at me and nodding his +head in the direction of the Hall. "He's a deep old dog. And that's +his bungalow, is it, among the trees?" + +"That is his house," I answered; "but I should advise you to keep a +more civil tongue in your head if you intend to speak with the general. +He is not a man to stand any nonsense." + +"Right you are. He was always a hard nut to crack. But isn't this him +coming down the avenue?" + +I looked through the gate and saw that it was indeed the general, who, +having either seen us or been attracted by our voices, was hurrying down +towards us. As he advanced he would stop from time to time and peer at +us through the dark shadow thrown by the trees, as if he were irresolute +whether to come on or no. + +"He's reconnoitering!" whispered my companion with a hoarse chuckle. +"He's afraid--and I know what he's afraid of. He won't be caught in a +trap if he can help it, the old 'un. He's about as fly as they make +'em, you bet!" + +Then suddenly standing on his tip-toes and waving his hand through the +bars of the gate, he shouted at the top of his voice: + +"Come on, my gallant commandant! Come on! The coast's clear, and no +enemy in sight." + +This familiar address had the effect of reassuring the general, for he +came right for us, though I could tell by his heightened colour that his +temper was at boiling point. + +"What, you here, Mr. West?" he said, as his eye fell upon me. "What is +it you want, and why have you brought this fellow with you?" + +"I have not brought him with me, sir," I answered, feeling rather +disgusted at being made responsible for the presence of the +disreputable-looking vagabond beside me. "I found him on the road here, +and he desired to be directed to you, so I showed him the way. I know +nothing of him myself." + +"What do you want with me, then?" the general asked sternly, turning +to my companion. + +"If you please, sir," said the ex-corporal, speaking in a whining +voice, and touching his moleskin cap with a humility which contrasted +strangely with the previous rough independence of his bearing, "I'm an +old gunner in the Queen's service, sir, and knowing your name by hearing +it in India I thought that maybe you would take me as your groom or +gardener, or give me any other place as happened to be vacant." + +"I am sorry that I cannot do anything for you, my man," the old +soldier answered impressively. + +"Then you'll give me a little just to help me on my way, sir," said he +cringing mendicant. "You won't see an old comrade go to the bad for the +sake of a few rupees? I was with Sale's brigade in the Passes, sir, and +I was at the second taking of Cabul." + + General Heatherstone looked keenly at the supplicant, but was silent +to his appeal. + +"I was in Ghuznee with you when the walls were all shook down by an +earthquake, and when we found forty thousand Afghans within gunshot of +us. You ask me about it, and you'll see whether I'm lying or not. We +went through all this when we were young, and now that we are old you +are to live in a fine bungalow, and I am to starve by the roadside. It +don't seem to me to be fair." + +"You are an impertinent scoundrel," said the general. "If you had been +a good soldier you would never need to ask for help. I shall not give +you a farthing." + +"One word more, sir," cried the tramp, for the other was turning away, +"I've been in the Tarada Pass." + +The old soldier sprang round as if the words had been a pistol-shot. + +"What--what d'ye mean?" he stammered. "I've been in the Tarada Pass, +sir, and I knew a man there called Ghoolab Shah." + +These last were hissed out in an undertone, and a malicious grin +overspread the face of the speaker. + +Their effect upon the general was extraordinary. He fairly staggered +back from the gateway, and his yellow countenance blanched to a livid, +mottled grey. For a moment he was too overcome to speak. At last he +gasped out: + +"Ghoolab Shah' Who are you who know Ghoolab Shah?" + +"Take another look," said the tramp, "your sight is not as keen as it +was forty years ago." + +The general took a long, earnest look at the unkempt wanderer in front +of him, and as he gazed I saw the light of recognition spring up in his +eyes. + +"God bless my soul!" he cried. "Why, it's Corporal Rufus Smith." + +"You've come on it at last," said the other, chuckling to himself. +"I was wondering how long it would be before you knew me. And, first of +all, just unlock this gate, will you? It's hard to talk through a +grating. It's too much like ten minutes with a visitor in the cells." + +The general, whose face still bore evidences of his agitation, undid +the bolts with nervous, trembling fingers. The recognition of Corporal +Rufus Smith had, I fancied, been a relief to him, and yet he plainly +showed by his manner that he regarded his presence as by no means an +unmixed blessing. + +"Why, Corporal," he said, as the gate swung open, "I have often +wondered whether you were dead or alive, but I never expected to see you +again. How have you been all these long years?" + +"How have I been?" the corporal answered gruffly. "Why, I have been +drunk for the most part. When I draw my money I lay it out in liquor, +and as long as that lasts I get some peace in life. When I'm cleaned +out I go upon tramp, partly in the hope of picking up the price of a +dram, and partly in order to look for you." + +"You'll excuse us talking about these private matters, West," the +general said, looking round at me, for I was beginning to move away. +"Don't leave us. You know something of this matter already, and may +find yourself entirely in the swim with us some of these days." + +Corporal Rufus Smith looked round at me in blank astonishment. + +"In the swim with us?" he said. "However did he get there?" + +"Voluntarily, voluntarily," the general explained, hurriedly sinking +his voice. "He is a neighbour of mine, and he has volunteered his help +in case I should ever need it." + +This explanation seemed, if anything, to increase the big stranger's +surprise. + +"Well, if that don't lick cock-fighting!" he exclaimed, contemplating +me with admiration. "I never heard tell of such a thing." + +"And now you have found me, Corporal Smith," said the tenant of +Cloomber, "what is it that you want of me?" + +"Why, everything. I want a roof to cover me, and clothes to wear, and +food to eat, and, above all, brandy to drink." + +"Well, I'll take you in and do what I can for you," said the general +slowly. "But look here, Smith, we must have discipline. I'm the general +and you are the corporal; I am the master and you are the man. Now, +don't let me have to remind you of that again." + +The tramp drew himself up to his full height and raised his right hand +with the palm forward in a military salute. + +"I can take you on as gardener and get rid of the fellow I have got. +As to brandy, you shall have an allowance and no more. We are not deep +drinkers at the Hall." + +"Don't you take opium, or brandy, or nothing yourself, sir?" asked +Corporal Rufus Smith. + +"Nothing," the general said firmly. + +"Well, all I can say is, that you've got more nerve and pluck than I +shall ever have. I don't wonder now at your winning that Cross in the +Mutiny. If I was to go on listening night after night to them things +without ever taking a drop of something to cheer my heart--why, it would +drive me silly." + +General Heatherstone put his hand up, as though afraid that his +companion might say too much. + +"I must thank you, Mr. West," he said, "for having shown this man my +door. I would not willingly allow an old comrade, however humble, to go +to the bad, and if I did not acknowledge his claim more readily +it was simply because I had my doubts as to whether he was really what +he represented himself to be. Just walk up to the Hall, Corporal, and I +shall follow you in a minute." + +"Poor fellow!" he continued, as he watched the newcomer hobbling up +the avenue in the ungainly manner which I have described. "He got a gun +over his foot, and it crushed the bones, but the obstinate fool would +not let the doctors take it off. I remember him now as a smart young +soldier in Afghanistan. He and I were associated in some queer +adventures, which I may tell you of some day, and I naturally feel +sympathy towards him, and would befriend him. Did he tell you +anything about me before I came?" + +"Not a word," I replied. + +"Oh," said the general carelessly, but with an evident expression of +relief, "I thought perhaps he might have said something of old times. +Well, I must go and look after him, or the servants will be frightened, +for he isn't a beauty to look at. Good-bye!" + +With a wave of the hand the old man turned away from me and hurried up +the drive after this unexpected addition to his household, while I +strolled on round the high, black paling, peering through every chink +between the planks, but without seeing a trace either of Mordaunt or of +his sister. + +I have now brought this statement down to the coming of Corporal Rufus +Smith, which will prove to be the beginning of the end. + +I have set down soberly and in order the events which brought us to +Wigtownshire, the arrival of the Heatherstones at Cloomber, the many +strange incidents which excited first our curiosity and finally our +intense interest in that family, and I have briefly touched upon +the circumstances which brought my sister and myself into a closer and +more personal relationship with them. I think that there cannot be a +better moment than this to hand the narrative over to those who had +means of knowing something of what was going on inside Cloomber during +the months that I was observing it from without. + +Israel Stakes, the coachman, proved to be unable to read or write, but +Mr. Mathew Clark, the Presbyterian Minister of Stoneykirk, has copied +down his deposition, duly attested by the cross set opposite to his +name. The good clergyman has, I fancy, put some slight polish upon the +narrator's story, which I rather regret, as it might have been more +interesting, if less intelligible, when reported verbatim. It still +preserves, however, considerable traces of Israel's individuality, and +may be regarded as an exact record of what he saw and did while in +General Heatherstone's service. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +STATEMENT OF ISRAEL STAKES + + + +[Copied and authenticated by the Reverend Mathew Clark, Presbyterian +Minister of Stoneykirk, in Wigtownshire] + +Maister Fothergill West and the meenister say that I maun tell all I can +aboot General Heatherstone and his hoose, but that I maunna say muckle +aboot mysel' because the readers wouldna care to hear aboot me or my +affairs. I am na sae sure o' that, for the Stakes is a family weel +kenned and respecked on baith sides o' the Border, and there's mony +in Nithsdale and Annandale as would be gey pleased to hear news o' the +son o' Archie Stakes, o' Ecclefechan. + +I maun e'en do as I'm tauld, however, for Mr. West's sake, hoping he'll +no forget me when I chance to hae a favour tae ask.[1] I'm no able tae +write mysel' because my feyther sent me oot to scare craws instead o' +sendin' me tae school, but on the ither hond he brought me up in the +preenciples and practice o' the real kirk o' the Covenant, for which +may the Lord be praised! + +It way last May twel'month that the factor body, Maister McNeil, cam +ower tae me in the street and speered whether I was in want o' a place +as a coachman and gairdner. As it fell oot I chanced tae be on the look +oot for something o' the sort mysel' at the time, but I wasna ower quick +to let him see that I wanted it. + +"Ye can tak it or leave it," says he sharp like. "It's a guid place, +and there's mony would be glad o't. If ye want it ye can come up tae my +office at twa the morn and put your ain questions tae the gentleman." + +That was a' I could get frae him, for he's a close man and a hard one at +a bargain--which shall profit him leetle in the next life, though he lay +by a store o' siller in this. When the day comes there'll be a hantle +o' factors on the left hand o' the throne, and I shouldna be surprised +if Maister McNeil found himsel' amang them. + +Weel, on the morn I gaed up to the office and there I foond the factor +and a lang, thin, dour man wi' grey hair and a face as brown and +crinkled as a walnut. He looked hard at me wi' a pair o' een that +glowed like twa spunks, and then he says, says he: + +"You've been born in these pairts, I understan'?" + +"Aye," says I, "and never left them neither." + +"Never been oot o' Scotland?" he speers. + +"Twice to Carlisle fair," says I, for I am a man wha loves the truth; +and besides I kenned that the factor would mind my gaeing there, for I +bargained fur twa steers and a stirk that he wanted for the stockin' o' +the Drumleugh Fairm. + +"I learn frae Maister McNeil," says General Heatherstone--for him it was +and nane ither--"that ye canna write." + +"Na," says I. + +"Nor read?" + +"Na," says I. + +"It seems tae me," says he, turnin' tae the factor, "that this is the +vera man I want. Servants is spoilt noo-a-days," says he, "by ower +muckle eddication. I hae nae doobt, Stakes, that ye will suit me well +enough. Ye'll hae three pund a month and a' foond, but I shall resairve +the right o' givin' ye twenty-four hoors' notice at any time. How will +that suit ye?" + +"It's vera different frae my last place," says I, discontented-like. + +And the words were true enough, for auld Fairmer Scott only gave me a +pund a month and parritch twice a day. + +"Weel, weel," says he, "maybe we'll gie ye a rise if ye suit. Meanwhile +here's the han'sel shillin' that Maister McNeil tells me it's the custom +tae give, and I shall expec' tae see ye at Cloomber on Monday." + +When the Monday cam roond I walked oot tae Cloomber, and a great muckle +hoose it is, wi' a hunderd windows or mair, and space enough tae hide +awa' half the parish. + +As tae gairdening, there was no gairden for me tae work at, and the +horse was never taken oot o' the stables frae week's end tae week's +end. I was busy enough for a' that, for there was a deal o' fencing tae +be put up, and one thing or anither, forbye cleanin' the knives and +brushin' the boots and such-like jobs as is mair fit for an auld wife +than for a grown man. + +There was twa besides mysel' in the kitchen, the cook Eliza, and Mary +the hoosemaid, puir, benighted beings baith o' them, wha had wasted a' +their lives in London, and kenned leetle aboot the warld or the ways o' +the flesh. + +I hadna muckle tae say to them, for they were simple folk who could +scarce understand English, and had hardly mair regard for their ain +souls than the tods on the moor. When the cook said she didna think +muckle o' John Knox, and the ither that she wouldna give saxpence tae +hear the discourse o' Maister Donald McSnaw o' the true kirk, I kenned +it was time for me tae leave them tae a higher Judge. + +There was four in family, the general, my leddy, Maister Mordaunt, and +Miss Gabriel, and it wasna long before I found that a' wasna just +exactly as it should be. My leddy was as thin and as white as a ghaist, +and many's the time as I've come on her and found her yammerin' and +greetin' all by hersel'. I've watched her walkin' up and doon in the +wood where she thought nane could see her and wringin' her honds like +one demented. + +There was the young gentleman, tae, and his sister--they baith seemed to +hae some trouble on their minds, and the general maist of a', for the +ithers were up ane day and down anither; but he was aye the same, wi' a +face as dour and sad as a felon when he feels the tow roond his neck. + +I speered o' the hussies in the kitchen whether they kenned what was +amiss wi' the family, but the cook she answered me back that it wasna +for her tae inquire into the affairs o' her superiors, and that it was +naething to her as long as she did her work and had her wages. +They were puir, feckless bodies, the twa o' them, and would scarce gie +an answer tae a ceevil question, though they could clack lood eneugh +when they had a mind. + +Weel, weeks passed into months and a' things grew waur instead o' better +in the Hall. The general he got mair nairvous, and his leddy mair +melancholy every day, and yet there wasna any quarrel or bickering +between them, for when they've been togither in the breakfast room I +used often tae gang round and prune the rose-tree alongside o' the +window, so that I couldna help hearin' a great pairt o' their +conversation, though sair against the grain. + +When the young folk were wi' them they would speak little, but when they +had gone they would aye talk as if some waefu' trial ere aboot to fa' +upon them, though I could never gather from their words what it was +that they were afeared o'. + +I've heard the general say mair than ance that he wasna frighted o' +death, or any danger that he could face and have done wi', but that +it was the lang, weary waitin' and the uncertainty that had taken a' the +strength and the mettle oot o' him. Then my leddy would console him and +tell him that maybe it wasna as bad as he thocht, and that a' would come +richt in the end--but a' her cheery words were clean throwed away upon +him. + +As tae the young folks, I kenned weel that they didna bide in the +groonds, and that they were awa' whenever they got a chance wi' +Maister Fothergill West tae Branksome, but the general was too fu' o' +his ain troubles tae ken aboot it, and it didna seem tae me that +it was pairt o' my duties either as coachman or as gairdner tae mind the +bairns. He should have lairnt that if ye forbid a lassie and a laddie +to dae anything it's just the surest way o' bringin' it aboot. The Lord +foond that oot in the gairden o' Paradise, and there's no muckle change +between the folk in Eden and the folk in Wigtown. + +There's ane thing that I havena spoke aboot yet, but that should be set +doon. + +The general didna share his room wi' his wife, but slept a' alane in a +chamber at the far end o' the hoose, as distant as possible frae every +one else. This room was aye lockit when he wasna in it, and naebody was +ever allowed tae gang into it. He would mak' his ain bed, and red it up +and dust it a' by himsel', but he wouldna so much as allow one o' us to +set fut on the passage that led tae it. + +At nicht he would walk a' ower the hoose, and he had lamps hung in every +room and corner, so that no pairt should be dark. + +Many's the time frae my room in the garret I've heard his futsteps +comin' and gangin', comin' and gangin' doon one passage and up anither +frae midnight till cockcraw. It was weary wark to lie listenin' tae his +clatter and wonderin' whether he was clean daft, or whether maybe he'd +lairnt pagan and idolatrous tricks oot in India, and that his conscience +noo was like the worm which gnaweth and dieth not. I'd ha' speered frae +him whether it wouldna ease him to speak wi' the holy Donald McSnaw, but +it might ha' been a mistake, and the general wasna a man that you'd care +tae mak' a mistake wi'. + +Ane day I was workin' at the grass border when he comes up and he says, +says he: + +"Did ye ever have occasion tae fire a pistol, Israel?" + +"Godsakes!" says I, "I never had siccan a thing in my honds in my life." + +"Then you'd best not begin noo," says he. "Every man tae his ain +weepon," he says. "Now I warrant ye could do something wi' a guid +crab-tree cudgel!" + +"Aye, could I," I answered blithely, "as well as ony lad on the Border." + +"This is a lonely hoose," says he, "and we might be molested by some +rascals. It's weel tae be ready for whatever may come. Me and you and +my son Mordaunt and Mr. Fothergill West of Branksome, who would come if +he was required, ought tae be able tae show a bauld face--what think +ye?" + +"'Deed, sir," I says, "feastin' is aye better than fechtin'--but if +ye'll raise me a pund a month, I'll no' shirk my share o' either." + +"We won't quarrel ower that," says he, and agreed tae the extra twal' +pund a year as easy as though it were as many bawbees. Far be +it frae me tae think evil, but I couldna help surmisin' at the time that +money that was so lightly pairted wi' was maybe no' so very honestly cam +by. + +I'm no' a curious or a pryin' mun by nature, but I was sair puzzled in +my ain mind tae tell why it was that the general walked aboot at +nicht and what kept him frae his sleep. + +Weel, ane day I was cleanin' doon the passages when my e'e fell on a +great muckle heap o' curtains and auld cairpets and sic' like things +that were piled away in a corner, no vera far frae the door o' the +general's room. A' o' a sudden a thocht came intae my heid and I says +tae mysel': + +"Israel, laddie," says I, "what's tae stop ye frae hidin' behind that +this vera nicht and seein' the auld mun when he doesna ken human e'e is +on him?" + +The mair I thocht o't the mair seemple it appeared, and I made up my +mind tae put the idea intae instant execution. + +When the nicht cam roond I tauld the women-folk that I was bad wi' the +jawache, and would gang airly tae my room. I kenned fine when ance I +got there that there was na chance o' ony ane disturbin' me, so I waited +a wee while, and then when a' was quiet, I slippit aff my boots and ran +doon the ither stair until I cam tae the heap o' auld clothes, and there +I lay doon wi' ane e'e peepin' through a kink and a' the rest covered up +wi' a great, ragged cairpet. + +There I bided as quiet as a mouse until the general passed me on his +road tae bed, and a' was still in the hoose. + +My certie! I wouldna gang through wi' it again for a' the siller at the +Union Bank of Dumfries, I canna think o't noo withoot feelin' cauld a' +the way doon my back. + +It was just awfu' lyin' there in the deid silence, waitin' and waitin' +wi' never a soond tae break the monotony, except the heavy tickin' o' an +auld clock somewhere doon the passage. + +First I would look doon the corridor in the one way, and syne I'd look +doon in t'ither, but it aye seemed to me as though there was something +coming up frae the side that I wasna lookin' at. I had a cauld sweat on +my broo, and my hairt was beatin' twice tae ilka tick o' the clock, and +what feared me most of a' was that the dust frae the curtains and things +was aye gettin' doon intae my lungs, and it was a' I could dae tae keep +mysel' frae coughin'. + +Godsakes! I wonder my hair wasna grey wi' a' that I went through. I +wouldna dae it again to be made Lord Provost o' Glasgie. + +Weel, it may have been twa o'clock in the mornin' or maybe a little +mair, and I was just thinkin' that I wasna tae see onything after +a'--and I wasna very sorry neither--when all o' a sudden a soond cam tae +my ears clear and distinct through the stillness o' the nicht. + +I've been asked afore noo tae describe that soond, but I've aye foond +that it's no' vera easy tae gie a clear idea o't, though it was unlike +any other soond that ever I hearkened tae. It was a shairp, ringin' +clang, like what could be caused by flippin' the rim o' a +wineglass, but it was far higher and thinner than that, and had in it, +tae, a kind o' splash, like the tinkle o' a rain-drop intae a +water-butt. + +In my fear I sat up amang my cairpets, like a puddock among +gowan-leaves, and I listened wi' a' my ears. A' was still again +noo, except for the dull tickin' o' the distant clock. + +Suddenly the soond cam again, as clear, as shrill, as shairp as ever, +and this time the general heard it, for I heard him gie a kind +o' groan, as a tired man might wha has been roosed oot o' his sleep. + +He got up frae his bed, and I could make oot a rustling noise, as though +he were dressin' himsel', and presently his footfa' as he began tae walk +up and doon in his room. + +Mysakes! it didna tak lang for me tae drap doon amang the cairpets again +and cover mysel' ower. There I lay tremblin' in every limb, and sayin' +as mony prayers as I could mind, wi' my e'e still peepin' through the +keek-hole, and' fixed upon the door o' the general's room. + +I heard the rattle o' the handle presently, and the door swung slowly +open. There was a licht burnin' in the room beyond, an' I could just +catch a glimpse o' what seemed tae me like a row o' swords stuck alang +the side o' the wa', when the general stepped oot and shut the door +behind him. He was dressed in a dressin' goon, wi' a red smokin'-cap on +his heid, and a pair o' slippers wi' the heels cut off and the taes +turned up. + +For a moment it cam into my held that maybe he was walkin' in his sleep, +but as he cam towards me I could see the glint o' the licht in his e'en, +and his face was a' twistin', like a man that's in sair distress o' +mind. On my conscience, it gies me the shakes noo when I think o' his +tall figure and his yelley face comin' sae solemn and silent doon the +lang, lone passage. + +I haud my breath and lay close watchin' him, but just as he cam tae +where I was my vera hairt stood still in my breast, for "ting!"--loud +and clear, within a yaird o' me cam the ringin', clangin' soond that I +had a'ready hairkened tae. + +Where it cam frae is mair than I can tell or what was the cause o't. +It might ha' been that the general made it, but I was sair puzzled tae +tell hoo, for his honds were baith doon by his side as he passed me. +It cam frae his direction, certainly, but it appeared tae me tae come +frae ower his heid, but it was siccan a thin, eerie, high-pitched, +uncanny kind o' soond that it wasna easy tae say just exactly where it +did come frae. + +The general tuk nae heed o't, but walked on and was soon oot o' sicht, +and I didna lose a minute in creepin' oot frae my hidin' place and +scamperin' awa' back tae my room, and if a' the bogies in the Red Sea +were trapesin' up and doon the hale nicht through, I wud never put my +heid oot again tae hae a glimpse o' them. + +I didna say a word tae anybody aboot what I'd seen, but I made up my +mind that I wudna stay muckle langer at Cloomber Ha'. Four pund a month +is a good wage, but it isna enough tae pay a man for the loss o' his +peace o' mind, and maybe the loss o' his soul as weel, for when the deil +is aboot ye canna tell what sort o' a trap he may lay for ye, and though +they say that Providence is stronger than him, it's maybe as weel no' to +risk it. + +It was clear tae me that the general and his hoose were baith under some +curse, and it was fit that that curse should fa' on them that had earned +it, and no' on a righteous Presbyterian, wha had ever trod the narrow +path. + +My hairt was sair for young Miss Gabriel--for she was a bonnie and +winsome lassie--but for a' that, I felt that my duty was tae mysel' and +that I should gang forth, even as Lot ganged oot o' the wicked cities o' +the plain. + +That awfu' cling-clang was aye dingin' in my lugs, and I couldna bear to +be alane in the passages for fear o' hearin' it ance again. I only +wanted a chance or an excuse tae gie the general notice, and tae gang +back to some place where I could see Christian folk, and have the kirk +within a stone-cast tae fa' back upon. + +But it proved tae be ordained that, instead o' my saying the word, it +should come frae the general himsel'. + +It was ane day aboot the beginning of October, I was comin' oot o' the +stable, after giein' its oats tae the horse, when I seed a great muckle +loon come hoppin' on ane leg up the drive, mair like a big, ill-faured +craw than a man. + +When I clapped my een on him I thocht that maybe this was ane of the +rascals that the maister had been speakin' aboot, so withoot mair ado I +fetched oot my bit stick with the intention o' tryin' it upon the +limmer's heid. He seed me comin' towards him, and readin' my intention +frae my look maybe, or frae the stick in my hand, he pu'ed oot a lang +knife frae his pocket and swore wi' the most awfu' oaths that if I didna +stan' back he'd be the death o' me. + +Ma conscience! the words the chiel used was eneugh tae mak' the hair +stand straight on your heid. I wonder he wasna struck deid where he +stood. + +We were still standin' opposite each ither--he wi' his knife and me wi' +the stick--when the general he cam up the drive and foond us. Tae my +surprise he began tae talk tae the stranger as if he'd kenned him a' his +days. + +"Put your knife in your pocket, Corporal," says he. "Your fears have +turned your brain." + +"Blood an' wounds!" says the other. "He'd ha' turned my brain tae some +purpose wi' that muckle stick o' his if I hadna drawn my snickersnee. +You shouldna keep siccan an auld savage on your premises." + +The maister he frooned and looked black at him, as though he didna +relish advice comin' frae such a source. Then turnin' tae me--"You +won't be wanted after to-day, Israel," he says; "you have been a guid +servant, and I ha' naething tae complain of wi' ye, but circumstances +have arisen which will cause me tae change my arrangements." + +"Vera guid, sir," says I. + +"You can go this evening," says he, "and you shall have an extra month's +pay tae mak up t'ye for this short notice." + +Wi' that he went intae the hoose, followed by the man that he ca'ed the +corporal, and frae that day tae this I have never clapped een either on +the ane or the ither. My money was sent oot tae me in an envelope, and +havin' said a few pairtin' words tae the cook and the wench wi' +reference tae the wrath tae come and the treasure that is richer than +rubies, I shook the dust o' Cloomber frae my feet for ever. + +Maister Fothergill West says I maunna express an opeenion as tae what +cam aboot afterwards, but maun confine mysel' tae what I saw mysel'. +Nae doubt he has his reasons for this--and far be it frae me tae hint +that they are no' guid anes--but I maun say this, that what happened +didna surprise me. It was just as I expeckit, and so I said tae Maister +Donald McSnaw. + +I've tauld ye a' aboot it noo, and I havena a word tae add or tae +withdraw. I'm muckle obleeged tae Maister Mathew Clairk for puttin' it +a' doon in writin' for me, and if there's ony would wish tae speer +onything mair o' me I'm well kenned and respeckit in Ecclefechan, +and Maister McNeil, the factor o' Wigtown, can aye tell where I am tae +be foond. + + +[1] The old rascal was well paid for his trouble, so he need not have +made such a favour of it.--J.F.W. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +NARRATIVE OF JOHN EASTERLING, F.R.C.P.EDIN. + +Having given the statement of Israel Stakes _in extenso_, I shall append +a short memorandum from Dr. Easterling, now practising at Stranraer. +It is true that the doctor was only once within the walls of Cloomber +during its tenancy by General Heatherstone, but there were some +circumstances connected with this visit which made it valuable, +especially when considered as a supplement to the experiences which I +have just submitted to the reader. + +The doctor has found time amid the calls of a busy country practice to +jot down his recollections, and I feel that I cannot do better than +subjoin them exactly as they stand. + +I have very much pleasure in furnishing Mr. Fothergill West with an +account of my solitary visit to Cloomber Hall, not only on account of +the esteem which I have formed for that gentleman ever since his +residence at Branksome, but also because it is my conviction that the +facts in the case of General Heatherstone are of such a singular nature +that it is of the highest importance that they should be placed before +the public in a trustworthy manner. + +It was about the beginning of September of last year that I received a +note from Mrs. Heatherstone, of Cloomber Hall, desiring me to make a +professional call upon her husband, whose health, she said, had been for +some time in a very unsatisfactory state. + +I had heard something of the Heatherstones and of the strange seclusion +in which they lived, so that I was very much pleased at this opportunity +of making their closer acquaintance, and lost no time in complying with +her request. + +I had known the Hall in the old days of Mr. McVittie, the original +proprietor, and I was astonished on arriving at the avenue gate +to observe the changes which had taken place. + +The gate itself, which used to yawn so hospitably upon the road, was now +barred and locked, and a high wooden fence, with nails upon the top, +encircled the whole grounds. The drive itself was leaf-strewn and +uncared-for, and the whole place had a depressing air of neglect and +decay. + +I had to knock twice before a servant-maid opened the door and showed me +through a dingy hall into a small room, where sat an elderly, careworn +lady, who introduced herself as Mrs. Heatherstone. With her pale face, +her grey hair, her sad, colourless eyes, and her faded silk dress, she +was in perfect keeping with her melancholy surroundings. + +"You find us in much trouble, doctor," she said, in a quiet, refined +voice. "My poor husband has had a great deal to worry him, and his +nervous system for a long time has been in a very weak state. We came +to this part of the country in the hope that the bracing air and the +quiet would have a good effect upon him. Instead of improving, however, +he has seemed to grow weaker, and this morning he is in a high fever and +a little inclined to be delirious. The children and I were so +frightened that we sent for you at once. If you will follow me I will +take you to the general's bedroom." + +She led the way down a series of corridors to the chamber of the sick +man, which was situated in the extreme wing of the building. + +It was a carpetless, bleak-looking room, scantily furnished with a small +truckle bed, a campaigning chair, and a plain deal table, on which were +scattered numerous papers and books. In the centre of this table there +stood a large object of irregular outline, which was covered over with a +sheet of linen. + +All round the walls and in the corners were arranged a very choice and +varied collection of arms, principally swords, some of which were of the +straight pattern in common use in the British Army, while among the +others were scimitars, tulwars, cuchurries, and a score of other +specimens of Oriental workmanship. Many of these were richly mounted, +with inlaid sheaths and hilts sparkling with precious stones, so that +there was a piquant contrast between the simplicity of the apartment and +the wealth which glittered on the walls. + +I had little time, however, to observe the general's collection, since +the general himself lay upon the couch and was evidently in sore need of +my services. + +He was lying with his head turned half away from us. Breathing heavily, +and apparently unconscious of our presence. His bright, staring eyes +and the deep, hectic flush upon his cheek showed that his fever was at +its height. + +I advanced to the bedside, and, stooping over him, I placed my fingers +upon his pulse, when immediately he sprang up into the sitting position +and struck at me frenziedly with his clenched hands. I have never seen +such intensity of fear and horror stamped upon a human face as appeared +upon that that which was now glaring up at me. + +"Bloodhound!" he yelled; "let me go--let me go, I say! Keep your hands +off me! Is it not enough that my life has been ruined? When is it all +to end? How long am I to endure it?" + +"Hush, dear, hush!" said his wife in a soothing voice, passing her cool +hand over his heated forehead. "This is Doctor Easterling, from +Stranraer. He has not come to harm you, but to do you good." + +The general dropped wearily back upon his pillow, and I could see by the +changed expression of his face that his delirium had left him, and that +he understood what had been said. + +I slipped my clinical thermometer into his armpit and counted his pulse +rate. It amounted to 120 per minute, and his temperature proved to be +104 degrees. Clearly it was a case of remittent fever, such as occurs +in men who have spent a great part of their lives in the tropics. + +"There is no danger," I remarked. "With a little quinine and arsenic we +shall very soon overcome the attack and restore his health." + +"No danger, eh?" he said. "There never is any danger for me. I am as +hard to kill as the Wandering Jew. I am quite clear in the head now, +Mary; so you may leave me with the doctor." + +Mrs. Heatherstone left the room-rather unwillingly, as I thought--and I +sat down by the bedside to listen to anything which my patient might +have to communicate. + +"I want you to examine my liver," he said when the door was closed. +"I used to have an abscess there, and Brodie, the staff-surgeon, said +that it was ten to one that it would carry me off. I have not felt much +of it since I left the East. This is where it used to be, just under +the angle of the ribs." + +"I can find the place," said I, after making a careful examination; +"but I am happy to tell you that the abscess has either been entirely +absorbed, or has turned calcareous, as these solitary abscesses will. +There is no fear of its doing you any harm now." + +He seemed to be by no means overjoyed at the intelligence. + +"Things always happen so with me," he said moodily. "Now, if another +fellow was feverish and delirious he would surely be in some danger, and +yet you will tell me that I am in none. Look at this, now." He bared +his chest and showed me a puckered wound over the region of the heart. +"That's where the jezail bullet of a Hillman went in. You would think +that was in the right spot to settle a man, and yet what does it do but +glance upon a rib, and go clean round and out at the back, without so +much as penetrating what you medicos call the pleura. Did ever you hear +of such a thing?" + +"You were certainly born under a lucky star," I observed, with a smile. + +"That's a matter of opinion," he answered, shaking his head. "Death has +no terrors for me, if it will but come in some familiar form, but I +confess that the anticipation of some strange, some preternatural form +of death is very terrible and unnerving" + +"You mean," said I, rather puzzled at his remark, "that you would prefer +a natural death to a death by violence?" + +"No, I don't mean that exactly," he answered. "I am too familiar with +cold steel and lead to be afraid of either. Do you know anything about +odyllic force, doctor?" + +"No, I do not," I replied, glancing sharply at him to see if there were +any signs of his delirium returning. His expression was intelligent, +however, and the feverish flush had faded from his cheeks. + +"Ah, you Western scientific men are very much behind the day in some +things," he remarked. "In all that is material and conducive to the +comfort of the body you are pre-eminent, but in what concerns the subtle +forces of Nature and the latent powers of the human spirit your best men +are centuries behind the humblest coolies of India. Countless +generations of beef-eating, comfort loving ancestors have given our +animal instincts the command over our spiritual ones. The body, which +should have been a mere tool for the use of the soul, has now become a +degrading prison in which it is confined. The Oriental soul and body +are not so welded together as ours are, and there is far less wrench +when they part in death" + +"They do not appear to derive much benefit from this peculiarity in +their organisation," I remarked incredulously. + +"Merely the benefit of superior knowledge," the general answered. "If +you were to go to India, probably the very first thing you would see in +the way of amusement would be a native doing what is called the mango +trick. Of course you have heard or read of it. The fellow plants a +mango seed, and makes passes over it until it sprouts and bears leaves +and fruit--all in the space of half-an-hour. It is not really a trick-- +it is a power. These men know more than your Tyndalls or Huxleys do +about Nature's processes, and they can accelerate or retard her workings +by subtle means of which we have no conception. These low-caste +conjurers--as they are called--are mere vulgar dabblers, but the men who +have trod the higher path are as far superior to us in knowledge as we +are to the Hottentots or Patagonians." + +"You speak as if you were well acquainted with them," I remarked. + +"To my cost, I am," he answered. "I have been brought in contact with +them in a way in which I trust no other poor chap ever will be. But, +really, as regards odyllic force, you ought to know something of it, for +it has a great future before it in your profession. You should read +Reichcnbach's 'Researches on Magnetism and Vital Force,' and Gregory's +'Letters on Animal Magnetism.' These, supplemented by the twenty-seven +Aphorisms of Mesmer, and the works of Dr. Justinus Kerner, of Weinsberg, +would enlarge your ideas." + +I did not particularly relish having a course of reading prescribed for +me on a subject connected with my own profession, so I made no comment, +but rose to take my departure. Before doing so I felt his pulse once +more, and found that the fever had entirely left him in the sudden, +unaccountable fashion which is peculiar to these malarious types of +disease. + +I turned my face towards him to congratulate him upon his improvement, +and stretched out my hand at the same time to pick my gloves from the +table, with the result that I raised not only my own property, but also +the linen cloth which was arranged over some object in the centre. + +I might not have noticed what I had done had I not seen an angry look +upon the invalid's face and heard him utter an impatient exclamation. I +at once turned, and replaced the cloth so promptly that I should have +been unable to say what was underneath it, beyond having a general +impression that it looked like a bride-cake. + +"All right, doctor," the general said good-humouredly, perceiving how +entirely accidental the incident was. "There is no reason why you +should not see it," and stretching out his hand, he pulled away the +linen covering for the second time. + +I then perceived that what I had taken for a bride-cake was really an +admirably executed model of a lofty range of mountains, whose snow-clad +peaks were not unlike the familiar sugar pinnacles and minarets. + +"These are the Himalayas, or at least the Surinam branch of them," he +remarked, "showing the principal passes between India and Afghanistan. +It is an excellent model. This ground has a special interest for me, +because it is the scene of my first campaign. There is the pass +opposite Kalabagh and the Thul valley, where I was engaged during the +summer of 1841 in protecting the convoys and keeping the Afridis in +order. It wasn't a sinecure, I promise you." + +"And this," said I, indicating a blood-red spot which had been marked on +one side of the pass which he had pointed out--"this is the scene of +some fight in which you were engaged." + +"Yes, we had a skirmish there," he answered, leaning forward and looking +at the red mark. "We were attacked by--" + +At this moment he fell back upon his pillow as if he had been shot, +while the same look of horror came over his face which I had observed +when I first entered the room. At the same instant there came, +apparently from the air immediately above his bed, a sharp, ringing, +tinkling sound, which I can only compare with the noise made by a +bicycle alarm, though it differed from this in having a distinctly +throbbing character. I have never, before or since, heard any sound +which could be confounded with it. + +I stared round in astonishment, wondering where it could have come from, +but without perceiving anything to which it could be ascribed. + +"It's all right, doctor," the general said with a ghastly smile. "It's +only my private gong. Perhaps you had better step downstairs and write +my prescription in the dining-room." + +He was evidently anxious to get rid of me, so I was forced to take my +departure, though I would gladly have stayed a little longer, in the +hope of learning something as to the origin of the mysterious sound. + +I drove away from the house with the full determination of calling again +upon my interesting patient, and endeavouring to elicit some further +particulars as to his past life and his present circumstances. I was +destined, however, to be disappointed, for I received that very evening +a note from the general himself, enclosing a handsome fee for my single +visit, and informing me that my treatment had done him so much good that +he considered himself to be convalescent, and would not trouble me to +see him again. + +This was the last and only communication which I ever received from the +tenant of Cloomber. + +I have been asked frequently by neighbours and others who were +interested in the matter whether he gave me the impression of insanity. +To this I must unhesitatingly answer in the negative. On the contrary, +his remarks gave me the idea of a man who had both read and thought +deeply. + +I observed, however, during our single interview, that his reflexes were +feeble, his arcus senilis well marked, and his arteries atheromatous-- +all signs that his constitution was in an unsatisfactory condition, and +that a sudden crisis might be apprehended. + + + +CHAPTER X + + + +OF THE LETTER WHICH CAME FROM THE HALL + +Having thrown this side-light upon my narrative, I can now resume the +statement of my own personal experiences. These I had brought down, as +the reader will doubtless remember, to the date of the arrival of the +savage-looking wanderer who called himself Corporal Rufus Smith. This +incident occurred about the beginning of the month of October, and I +find upon a comparison of dates that Dr. Easterling's visit to Cloomber +preceded it by three weeks or more. + +During all this time I was in sore distress of mind, for I had never +seen anything either of Gabriel or of her brother since the interview in +which the general had discovered the communication which was kept up +between us. I had no doubt that some sort of restraint had been placed +upon them; and the thought that we had brought trouble on their heads +was a bitter one both to my sister and myself. + +Our anxiety, however, was considerably mitigated by the receipt, a +couple of days after my last talk with the general, of a note from +Mordaunt Heatherstone. This was brought us by a little, ragged urchin, +the son of one of the fishermen, who informed us that it had been handed +to him at the avenue gate by an old woman--who, I expect, must have +been the Cloomber cook. + +"MY DEAREST FRIENDS," it ran, "Gabriel and I have grieved to think how +concerned you must be at having neither heard from nor seen us. The +fact is that we are compelled to remain in the house. And this +compulsion is not physical but moral. + +"Our poor father, who gets more and more nervous every day, has +entreated us to promise him that we will not go out until after +the fifth of October, and to allay his fears we have given him the +desired pledge. On the other hand, he has promised us that after the +fifth--that is, in less than a week--we shall be as free as air to come +or go as we please, so we have something to look forward to. + +"Gabriel says that she has explained to you that the governor is always +a changed man after this particular date, on which his fears reach a +crisis. He apparently has more reason than usual this year to +anticipate that trouble is brewing for this unfortunate family, +for I have never known him to take so many elaborate precautions or +appear so thoroughly unnerved. Who would ever think, to see his +bent form and his shaking hands, that he is the same man who used some +few short years ago to shoot tigers on foot among the jungles +of the Terai, and would laugh at the more timid sportsmen who sought the +protection of their elephant's howdah? + +"You know that he has the Victoria Cross, which he won in the streets of +Delhi, and yet here he is shivering with terror and starting at every +noise, in the most peaceful corner of the world. Oh, the pity of it. +West! Remember what I have already told you--that it is no fanciful or +imaginary peril, but one which we have every reason to suppose to be +most real. It is, however, of such a nature that it can neither be +averted nor can it profitably be expressed in words. If all goes well, +you will see us at Branksome on the sixth. + +"With our fondest love to both of you, I am ever, my dear friends, your +attached + +"MORDAUNT." + +This letter was a great relief to us as letting us know that the brother +and sister were under no physical restraint, but our powerlessness +and inability even to comprehend what the danger was which threatened +those whom we had come to love better than ourselves was little short of +maddening. + +Fifty times a day we asked ourselves and asked each other from what +possible quarter this peril was to be expected, but the more we thought +of it the more hopeless did any solution appear. + +In vain we combined our experiences and pieced together every word which +had fallen from the lips of any inmate of Cloomber which might be +supposed to bear directly or indirectly upon the subject. + +At last, weary with fruitless speculation, we were fain to try to drive +the matter from our thoughts, consoling ourselves with the reflection +that in a few more days all restrictions would be removed, and we should +be able to learn from our friends' own lips. + +Those few intervening days, however, would, we feared, be dreary, long +ones. And so they would have been, had it not been for a new and most +unexpected incident, which diverted our minds from our own troubles +and gave them something fresh with which to occupy themselves. + + +CHAPTER XI + + + +OF THE CASTING AWAY OF THE BARQUE "BELINDA" + +The third of October had broken auspiciously with a bright sun and a +cloudless sky. There had in the morning been a slight breeze, and a few +little white wreaths of vapour drifted here and there like the scattered +feathers of some gigantic bird, but, as the day wore on, such wind as +there was fell completely away, and the air became close and stagnant. + +The sun blazed down with a degree of heat which was remarkable so late +in the season, and a shimmering haze lay upon the upland moors and +concealed the Irish mountains on the other side of the Channel. + +The sea itself rose and fell in a long, heavy, oily roll, sweeping +slowly landward, and breaking sullenly with a dull, monotonous +booming upon the rock-girt shore. To the inexperienced all seemed calm +and peaceful, but to those who are accustomed to read Nature's warnings +there was a dark menace in air and sky and sea. + +My sister and I walked out in the afternoon, sauntering slowly along the +margin of the great, sandy spit which shoots out into the Irish Sea, +flanking upon one side the magnificent Bay of Luce, and on the other the +more obscure inlet of Kirkmaiden, on the shores of which the Branksome +property is situated. + +It was too sultry to go far, so we soon seated ourselves upon one of the +sandy hillocks, overgrown with faded grass-tufts, which extend along the +coast-line, and which form Nature's dykes against the encroachments of +the ocean. + +Our rest was soon interrupted by the scrunching of heavy boots upon the +shingle, and Jamieson, the old man-o'-war's man whom I have already had +occasion to mention, made his appearance, with the flat, circular +net upon his back which he used for shrimp-catching. He came towards us +upon seeing us, and said in his rough, kindly way that he hoped we would +not take it amiss if he sent us up a dish of shrimps for our tea at +Branksome. + +"I aye make a good catch before a storm," he remarked. + +"You think there is going to be a storm, then?" I asked. + +"Why, even a marine could see that," he answered, sticking a great wedge +of tobacco into his cheek. "The moors over near Cloomber are just white +wi' gulls and kittiewakes. What d'ye think they come ashore for except +to escape having all the feathers blown out o' them? I mind a day like +this when I was wi' Charlie Napier off Cronstadt. It well-nigh blew us +under the guns of the forts, for all our engines and propellers." + +"Have you ever known a wreck in these parts?" I asked. + +"Lord love ye, sir, it's a famous place for wrecks. Why, in that very +bay down there two o' King Philip's first-rates foundered wi' all hands +in the days o' the Spanish war. If that sheet o' water and the Bay o' +Luce round the corner could tell their ain tale they'd have a gey lot to +speak of. When the Jedgment Day comes round that water will be just +bubbling wi' the number o' folks that will be coming up frae the +bottom." + +"I trust that there will be no wrecks while we are here," said Esther +earnestly. + +The old man shook his grizzled head and looked distrustfully at the hazy +horizon. + +"If it blows from the west," he said, "some o' these sailing ships may +find it no joke to be caught without sea-room in the North Channel. +There's that barque out yonder--I daresay her maister would be glad +enough to find himsel' safe in the Clyde." + +"She seems to be absolutely motionless," I remarked, looking at the +vessel in question, whose black hull and gleaming sails rose and +fell slowly with the throbbing of the giant pulse beneath her. +"Perhaps, Jamieson, we are wrong, and there will be no storm after all." + +The old sailor chuckled to himself with an air of superior knowledge, +and shuffled away with his shrimp-net, while my sister and I walked +slowly homewards through the hot and stagnant air. + +I went up to my father's study to see if the old gentleman had any +instructions as to the estate, for he had become engrossed in a new work +upon Oriental literature, and the practical management of the property +had in consequence devolved entirely upon me. + +I found him seated at his square library table, which was so heaped with +books and papers that nothing of him was visible from the door except a +tuft of white hair. + +"My dear son," he said to me as I entered, "it is a great grief to me +that you are not more conversant with Sanscrit. When I was your age, I +could converse not only in that noble language, but also in the Tamulic, +Lohitic, Gangelic, Taic, and Malaic dialects, which are all offshoots +from the Turanian branch." + +"I regret extremely, sir," I answered, "that I have not inherited your +wonderful talents as a polyglot." + +"I have set myself a task," he explained, "which, if it could only be +continued from generation to generation in our own family until it was +completed, would make the name of West immortal. This is nothing less +than to publish an English translation of the Buddhist Djarmas, with a +preface giving an idea of the position of Brahminism before the coming +of Sakyamuni. With diligence it is possible that I might be able myself +to complete part of the preface before I die." + +"And pray, sir," I asked, "how long would the whole work be when it was +finished?" + +"The abridged edition in the Imperial Library of Pekin," said my father, +rubbing his hands together, "consists of 325 volumes of an average +weight of five pounds. Then tile preface, which must embrace some +account of the Rig-veda, the Sama-veda, the Yagur-veda, and the Atharva- +veda, with the Brahmanas, could hardly be completed in less than +ten volumes. Now, if we apportion one volume to each year, there is +every prospect of the family coming to an end of its task about the +date 2250, the twelfth generation completing the work, while the +thirteenth might occupy itself upon the index." + +"And how are our descendants to live, sir," I asked, with a smile, +"during the progress of this great undertaking:'" + +"That's the worst of you, Jack," my father cried petulantly. "There is +nothing practical about you. Instead of confining your attention to the +working out of my noble scheme, you begin raising all sorts of absurd +objections. It is a mere matter of detail how our descendants live, so +long as they stick to the Djarmas. Now, I want you to go up to the +bothy of Fergus McDonald and see about the thatch, and Willie Fullerton +has written to say that his milk-cow is bad. You might took in upon +your way and ask after it." + +I started off upon my errands, but before doing so I took a look at the +barometer upon the wall. The mercury had sunk to the phenomenal point +of twenty-eight inches. Clearly the old sailor had not been wrong in +his interpretation of Nature's signs. + +As I returned over the moors in the evening, the wind was blowing in +short, angry puffs, and the western horizon was heaped with sombre +clouds which stretched their long, ragged tentacles right up to the +zenith. + +Against their dark background one or two livid, sulphur-coloured +splotches showed up malignant and menacing, while the surface of +the sea had changed from the appearance of burnished quicksilver to that +of ground glass. A low, moaning sound rose up from the ocean as if it +knew that trouble was in store for it. + +Far out in the Channel I saw a single panting, eager steam vessel making +ifs way to Belfast Lough, and the large barque which I had observed in +the morning still beating about in the offing, endeavouring to pass to +the northward. + +At nine o'clock a sharp breeze was blowing, at ten it had freshened into +a gale, and before midnight the most furious storm was raging which I +can remember upon that weather-beaten coast. + +I sat for some time in our small, oak-panelled sitting-room listening to +the screeching and howling of the blast and to the rattle of the gravel +and pebbles as they pattered against the window. Nature's grim +orchestra was playing its world-old piece with a compass which ranged +from the deep diapason of the thundering surge to the thin shriek of the +scattered shingle and the keen piping of frightened sea birds. + +Once for an instant I opened the lattice window, but a gust of wind and +rain came blustering through, bearing with it a great sheet of seaweed, +which flapped down upon the table. It was all I could do to close it +again with a thrust of my shoulder in the face of the blast. + +My sister and father had retired to their rooms, but my thoughts were +too active for sleep, so I continued to sit and to smoke by the +smouldering fire. + +What was going on in the Hall now, I wondered? What did Gabriel think +of the storm, and how did it affect the old man who wandered about in +the night? Did he welcome these dread forces of Nature as being of the +same order of things as his own tumultuous thoughts? + +It was only two days now from the date which I had been assured was to +mark a crisis in his fortunes. Would he regard this sudden tempest as +being in any way connected with the mysterious fate which threatened +him? + +Over all these things and many more I pondered as I sat by the glowing +embers until they died gradually out, and the chill night air warned me +that it was time to retire. + +I may have slept a couple of hours when I was awakened by some one +tugging furiously at my shoulder. Sitting up in bed, I saw by the dim +light that my father was standing half-clad by my bedside, and that it +was his grasp which I felt on my night-shirt. + +"Get up, Jack, get up!" he was crying excitedly. "There's a great ship +ashore in the bay, and the poor folk will all be drowned. Come down, my +boy, and let us see what we can do." + +The good old man seemed to be nearly beside himself with excitement and +impatience. I sprang from my bed, and was huddling on a few clothes, +when a dull, booming sound made itself heard above the howling of the +wind and the thunder of the breakers. + +"There it is again!" cried my father. "It is their signal gun, poor +creatures! Jamieson and the fishermen are below. Put your oil-skin +coat on and the Glengarry hat. Come, come, every second may mean a +human life!" + +We hurried down together and made our way to the beach, accompanied by a +dozen or so of the inhabitants of Branksome. + +The gale had increased rather than moderated, and the wind screamed all +round us with an infernal clamour. So great was its force that we had +to put our shoulders against it, and bore our way through it, while the +sand and gravel tingled up against our faces. + +There was just light enough to make out the scudding clouds and the +white gleam of the breakers, but beyond that all was absolute darkness. + +We stood ankle deep in the shingle and seaweed, shading our eyes with +our hands and peering out into the inky obscurity. + +It seemed to me as I listened that I could hear human voices loud in +intreaty and terror, but amid the wild turmoil of Nature it was +difficult to distinguish one sound from another. + +Suddenly, however, a light glimmered in the heart of the tempest, and +next instant the beach and sea and wide, tossing bay were brilliantly +illuminated by the wild glare of a signal light. + +The ship lay on her beam-ends right in the centre of the terrible Hansel +reef, hurled over to such an angle that I could see all the planking of +her deck. I recognised her at once as being the same three-masted +barque which I had observed in the Channel in the morning, and the Union +Jack which was nailed upside down to the jagged slump of her mizzen +proclaimed her nationality. + +Every spar and rope and writhing piece of cordage showed up hard and +clear under the vivid light which spluttered and flickered from +the highest portion of the forecastle. Beyond the doomed ship, out of +the great darkness came the long, rolling lines of big 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 we could distinctly see ten or a dozen +frightened seamen who, when the light revealed our presence, turned +their white faces towards us and waved their hands imploringly. The +poor wretches had evidently taken fresh hope from our presence, though +it was clear that their own boats had either been washed away or so +damaged as to render them useless. + +The sailors who clung to the rigging were not, however, the only +unfortunates on board. On the breaking poop there stood three men +who appeared to be both of a different race and nature from the cowering +wretches who implored our assistance. + +Leaning upon the shattered taff-rail they seemed to be conversing +together as quietly and unconcernedly as though they were unconscious of +the deadly peril which surrounded them. + +As the signal light flickered over them, we could see from the shore +that these immutable strangers wore red fezes, and that their faces +were of a swarthy, large-featured type, which proclaimed an Eastern +origin. + +There was little time, however, for us to take note of such details. +The ship was breaking rapidly, and some effort must be made to save the +poor, sodden group of humanity who implored our assistance. + +The nearest lifeboat was in the Bay of Luce, ten long miles away, but +here was our own broad, roomy craft upon the shingle, and plenty of +brave fisher lads to form a crew. Six of us sprang to the oars, the +others pushed us off, and we fought our way through the swirling, raging +waters, staggering and recoiling before the great, sweeping billows, +but still steadily decreasing the distance between the barque and +ourselves. + +It seemed, however, that our efforts were fated to be in vain. + +As we mounted upon a surge I saw a giant wave, topping all the others, +and coming after them like a driver following a flock, sweep down upon +the vessel, curling its great, green arch over the breaking deck. + +With a rending, riving sound the ship split in two where the terrible, +serrated back of the Hansel reef was sawing into her keel. The +after-part, with the broken mizzen and the three Orientals, sank +backwards into deep water and vanished, while the fore-half oscillated +helplessly about, retaining its precarious balance upon the rocks. + +A wail of fear went up from the wreck and was echoed from the beach, but +by the blessing of Providence she kept afloat until we made our way +under her bowsprit and rescued every man of the crew. + +We had not got half-way upon our return, however, when another great +wave swept the shattered forecastle off the reef, and, extinguishing the +signal light, hid the wild denouement from our view. + +Our friends upon the shore were loud in congratulation and praise, nor +were they backward in welcoming and comforting the castaways. They were +thirteen in all, as cold and cowed a set of mortals as ever slipped +through Death's fingers, save, indeed, their captain, who was a hardy, +robust man, and who made light of the affair. + +Some were taken off to this cottage and some to that, but the greater +part came back to Branksome with us, where we gave them such dry clothes +as we could lay our hands on, and served them with beef and beer by +the kitchen fire. The captain, whose name was Meadows, compressed his +bulky form into a suit of my own, and came down to the parlour, where he +mixed himself some grog and gave my father and myself an account of the +disaster. + +"If it hadn't been for you, sir, and your brave fellows," he said, +smiling across at me, "we should be ten fathoms deep by this time. +As to the _Belinda_, she was a leaky old tub and well insured, so +neither the owners nor I are likely to break our hearts over her." + +"I am afraid," said my father sadly, "that we shall never see your three +passengers again. I have left men upon the beach in case they should be +washed up, but I fear it is hopeless. I saw them go down when the +vessel split, and no man could have lived for a moment among that +terrible surge." + +"Who were they?" I asked. "I could not have believed that it was +possible for men to appear so unconcerned in the face of such imminent +peril." + +"As to who they are or were," the captain answered, puffing thoughtfully +at his pipe, "that is by no means easy to say. Our last port was +Kurrachee, in the north of India, and there we took them aboard as +passengers for Glasgow. Ram Singh was the name of the younger, and it +is only with him that I have come in contact, but they all appeared to +be quiet, inoffensive gentlemen. I never inquired their business, but I +should judge that they were Parsee merchants from Hyderabad whose trade +took them to Europe. I could never see why the crew should fear them, +and the mate, too, he should have had more sense." + +"Fear them I!" I ejaculated in surprise. + +"Yes, they had some preposterous idea that they were dangerous +shipmates. I have no doubt if you were to go down into the kitchen +now you would find that they are all agreed that our passengers were the +cause of the whole disaster." + +As the captain was speaking the parlour door opened and the mate of the +barque, a tall, red-bearded sailor, stepped in. He had obtained a +complete rig-out from some kind-hearted fisherman, and looked in his +comfortable jersey and well-greased seaboots a very favourable specimen +of a shipwrecked mariner. + +With a few words of grateful acknowledgment of our hospitality, he drew +a chair up to the fire and warmed his great, brown hands before the +blaze. + +"What d'ye think now, Captain Meadows?" he asked presently, glancing up +at his superior officer. "Didn't I warn you what would be the upshot of +having those niggers on board the _Belinda_?" + +The captain leant back in his chair and laughed heartily. + +"Didn't I tell you?" he cried, appealing to us. "Didn't I tell you?" + +"It might have been no laughing matter for us," the other remarked +petulantly. "I have lost a good sea-kit and nearly my life into the +bargain." + +"Do I understand you to say," said I, "that you attribute your +misfortunes to your ill-fated passengers?" + +The mate opened his eyes at the adjective. + +"Why ill-fated, sir?" he asked. + +"Because they are most certainly drowned," I answered. + +He sniffed incredulously and went on warming his hands. + +"Men of that kind are never drowned," he said, after a pause. "Their +father, the devil, looks after them. Did you see them standing on the +poop and rolling cigarettes at the time when the mizzen was carried away +and the quarter-boats stove? That was enough for me. I'm not surprised +at you landsmen not being able to take it in, but the captain here, +who's been sailing since he was the height of the binnacle, ought to +know by this time that a cat and a priest are the worst cargo you +can carry. If a Christian priest is bad, I guess an idolatrous pagan +one is fifty times worse. I stand by the old religion, and be d--d +to it!" + +My father and I could not help laughing at the rough sailor's very +unorthodox way of proclaiming his orthodoxy. The mate, however, was +evidently in deadly earnest, and proceeded to state his case, marking +off the different points upon the rough, red fingers of his left hand. + +"It was at Kurrachee, directly after they come that I warned ye," he +said reproachfully to the captain. "There was three Buddhist Lascars in +my watch, and what did they do when them chaps come aboard? Why, they +down on their stomachs and rubbed their noses on the deck--that's what +they did. They wouldn't ha' done as much for an admiral of the R'yal +Navy. They know who's who--these niggers do; and I smelt mischief +the moment I saw them on their faces. I asked them afterwards in your +presence, Captain, why they had done it, and they answered that the +passengers were holy men. You heard 'em yourself." + +"Well, there's no harm in that, Hawkins," said Captain Meadows. + +"I don't know that," the mate said doubtfully. "The holiest Christian is +the one that's nearest God, but the holiest nigger is, in my opinion, +the one that's nearest the devil. Then you saw yourself, Captain +Meadows, how they went on during the voyage, reading books that was writ +on wood instead o' paper, and sitting up right through the night to +jabber together on the quarter-deck. What did they want to have a +chart of their own for and to mark the course of the vessel every +day?" + +"They didn't," said the captain. + +"Indeed they did, and if I did not tell you sooner it was because you +were always ready to laugh at what I said about them. They had +instruments o' their own--when they used them I can't say--but every day +at noon they worked out the latitude and longitude, and marked out the +vessel's position on a chart that was pinned on their cabin table. +I saw them at it, and so did the steward from his pantry." + +"Well, I don't see what you prove from that," the captain remarked," +though I confess it is a strange thing." + +"I'll tell you another strange thing," said the mate impressively. +"Do you know the name of this bay in which we are cast away?" + +"I have learnt from our kind friends here that we are upon the +Wigtownshire coast," the captain answered, "but I have not heard +the name of the bay." + +The mate leant forward with a grave face. + +"It is the Bay of Kirkmaiden," he said. + +If he expected to astonish Captain Meadows he certainly succeeded, for +that gentleman was fairly bereft of speech for a minute or more. + +"This is really marvellous," he said, after a time, turning to us. +"These passengers of ours cross-questioned us early in tile voyage +as to the existence of a bay of that name. Hawkins here and I denied +all knowledge of one, for on the chart it is included in the Bay +of Luce. That we should eventually be blown into it and destroyed is an +extraordinary coincidence." + +"Too extraordinary to be a coincidence," growled the mate. "I saw them +during the calm yesterday morning, pointing to the land over our +starboard quarter. They knew well enough that that was the port they +were making for." + +"What do you make of it all, then, Hawkins?" asked the captain, with a +troubled face. "What is your own theory on the matter?" + +"Why, in my opinion," the mate answered, "them three swabs have no more +difficulty in raising a gale o' wind than I should have in swallowing +this here grog. They had reasons o' their own for coming to this +God-forsaken--saving your presence, sirs--this God-forsaken bay, and +they took a short cut to it by arranging to be blown ashore there. +That's my idea o' the matter, though what three Buddhist priests could +find to do in the Bay of Kirkmaiden is clean past my comprehension." + +My father raised his eyebrows to indicate the doubt which his +hospitality forbade him from putting into words. + +"I think, gentlemen," he said, "that you are both sorely in need of rest +after your perilous adventures. If you will follow me I shall lead you +to your rooms." + +He conducted them with old-fashioned ceremony to the laird's best spare +bedroom, and then, returning to me in the parlour, proposed that we +should go down together to the beach and learn whether anything fresh +had occurred. + +The first pale light of dawn was just appearing in the east when we made +our way for the second time to the scene of the shipwreck. The gale had +blown itself out, but the sea was still very high, and all inside the +breakers was a seething, gleaming line of foam, as though the fierce old +ocean were gnashing its white fangs at the victims who had escaped from +its clutches. + +All along the beach fishermen and crofters were hard at work hauling up +spars and barrels as fast as they were tossed ashore. None of them had +seen any bodies, however, and they explained to us that only such things +as could float had any chance of coming ashore, for the undercurrent was +so strong that whatever was beneath the surface must infallibly be swept +out to sea. + +As to the possibility of the unfortunate passengers having been able to +reach the shore, these practical men would not hear of it for a moment, +and showed us conclusively that if they had not been drowned they +must have been dashed to pieces upon the rocks. + +"We did all that could be done," my father said sadly, as we returned +home. "I am afraid that the poor mate has had his reason affected by the +suddenness of the disaster. Did you hear what he said about Buddhist +priests raising a gale?" + +"Yes, I heard him," said I. "It was very painful to listen to him," +said my father. "I wonder if he would object to my putting a small +mustard plaster under each of his ears. It would relieve any congestion +of the brain. Or perhaps it would be best to wake him up and give him +two antibilious pills. What do you think, Jack?" + +"I think," said I, with a yawn, "that you had best let him sleep, and go +to sleep yourself. You can physic him in the morning if he needs it." + +So saying I stumbled off to my bedroom, and throwing myself upon the +couch was soon in a dreamless slumber. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +OF THE THREE FOREIGN MEN UPON THE COAST + +It must have been eleven or twelve o'clock before I awoke, and it seemed +to me in the flood of golden light which streamed into my chamber that +the wild, tumultuous episodes of the night before must have formed part +of some fantastic dream. + +It was hard to believe that the gentle breeze which whispered so softly +among the ivy-leaves around my window was caused by the same element +which had shaken the very house a few short hours before. It was as +if Nature had repented of her momentary passion and was endeavouring to +make amends to an injured world by its warmth and its sunshine. A +chorus of birds in the garden below filled the whole air with their +wonder and congratulations. + +Down in the hall I found a number of the shipwrecked sailors, looking +all the better for their night's repose, who set up a buzz of +pleasure and gratitude upon seeing me. + +Arrangements had been made to drive them to Wigtown, whence they were to +proceed to Glasgow by the evening train, and my father had given orders +that each should be served with a packet of sandwiches and hard-boiled +eggs to sustain him on the way. + +Captain Meadows thanked us warmly in the name of his employers for the +manner in which we had treated them, and he called for three cheers from +his crew, which were very heartily given. He and the mate walked down +with us after we had broken our fast to have a last look at the scene of +the disaster. + +The great bosom of the bay was still heaving convulsively, and its waves +were breaking into sobs against the rocks, but there was none of that +wild turmoil which we had seen in the early morning. The long, emerald +ridges, with their little, white crests of foam, rolled slowly and +majestically in, to break with a regular rhythm--the panting of a tired +monster. + +A cable length from the shore we could see the mainmast of the barque +floating upon the waves, disappearing at times in the trough of the sea, +and then shooting up towards Heaven like a giant javelin, shining and +dripping as the rollers tossed it about. Other smaller pieces of +wreckage dotted the waters, while innumerable spars and packages were +littered over the sands. These were being drawn up and collected in a +place of safety by gangs of peasants. I noticed that 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 we could hear their raucous voices as they cried to +one another of what they saw. + +"She was a leaky old craft," said the captain, looking sadly out to sea, +"but there's always a feeling of sorrow when we see the last of a ship +we have sailed in. Well, well, she would have been broken up in any +case, and sold for firewood." + +"It looks a peaceful scene," I remarked. "Who would imagine that three +men lost their lives last night in those very waters?" + +"Poor fellows," said the captain, with feeling, "Should they be cast up +after our departure, I am sure, Mr. West, that you will have them +decently interred." + +I was about to make some reply when the mate burst into a loud guffaw, +slapping his thigh and choking with merriment. + +"If you want to bury them," he said, "you had best look sharp, or they +may clear out of the country. You remember what I said last night? +Just look at the top of that 'ere hillock, and tell me whether I was in +the right or not?" + +There was a high sand dune some little distance along the coast, and +upon the summit of this the figure was standing which had attracted the +mate's attention. The captain threw up his hands in astonishment as his +eyes rested upon it. + +"By the eternal," he shouted, "it's Ram Singh himself! Let us overhaul +him!" + +Taking to his heels in his excitement he raced along the beach, followed +by the mate and myself, as well as by one or two of the fishermen who +had observed the presence of the stranger. + +The latter, perceiving our approach, came down from his post of +observation and walked quietly in our direction, with his head sunk +upon his breast, like one who is absorbed in thought. + +I could not help contrasting our hurried and tumultuous advance with the +gravity and dignity of this lonely Oriental, nor was the matter mended +when he raised a pair of steady, thoughtful dark eyes and inclined his +head in a graceful, sweeping salutation. It seemed to me that we were +like a pack of schoolboys in the presence of a master. + +The stranger's broad, unruffled brow, his clear, searching gaze, +firm-set yet sensitive mouth, and clean-cut, resolute expression, all +combined to form the most imposing and noble presence which I had ever +known. I could not have imagined that such imperturbable calm and at +the same time such a consciousness of latent strength could have +been expressed by any human face. + +He was dressed in a brown velveteen coat, loose, dark trousers, with a +shirt that was cut low in the collar, so as to show the muscular, brown +neck, and he still wore the red fez which I had noticed the night +before. + +I observed with a feeling of surprise, as we approached him, that none +of these garments showed the slightest indication of the rough treatment +and wetting which they must have received during their wearer's +submersion and struggle to the shore. + +"So you are none the worse for your ducking," he said in a pleasant, +musical voice, looking from the captain to the mate. "I hope that your +poor sailors have found pleasant quarters." + +"We are all safe," the captain answered. "But we had given you up for +lost--you and your two friends. Indeed, I was just making arrangements +for your burial with Mr. West here." + +The stranger looked at me and smiled. + +"We won't give Mr. West that trouble for a little time yet," he +remarked; "my friends and I came ashore all safe, and we have found +shelter in a hut a mile or so along the coast. It is lonely down there, +but we have everything which we can desire." + +"We start for Glasgow this afternoon," said the captain; "I shall be +very glad if you will come with us. If you have not been in England +before you may find it awkward travelling alone." + +"We are very much indebted to you for your thoughtfulness," Ram Singh +answered; "but we will not take advantage of your kind offer. Since +Nature has driven us here we intend to have a look about us before we +leave." + +"As you like," the captain said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't +think you are likely to find very much to interest you in this hole of a +place." + +"Very possibly not," Ram Singh answered with an amused smile. "You +remember Milton's lines: + +'The mind is its own place, and in itself +Can make a hell of Heaven, a heaven of Hell.' + +I dare say we can spend a few days here comfortably enough. Indeed, I +think you must be wrong in considering this to be a barbarous locality. +I am much mistaken if this young gentleman's father is not Mr. +James Hunter West, whose name is known and honoured by the pundits of +India." + +"My father is, indeed, a well-known Sanscrit scholar," I answered in +astonishment. + +"The presence of such a man," observed the stranger slowly, "changes a +wilderness into a city. One great mind is surely a higher indication of +civilisation than are incalculable leagues of bricks and mortar. + +"Your father is hardly so profound as Sir William Jones, or so universal +as the Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, but he combines many of the virtues +of each. You may tell him, however, from me that he is mistaken in +the analogy which he has traced between the Samoyede and Tamulic word +roots." + +"If you have determined to honour our neighbourhood by a short stay," +said I, "you will offend my father very much if you do not put up with +him. He represents the laird here, and it is the laird's privilege, +according to our Scottish custom, to entertain all strangers of repute +who visit this parish." + +My sense of hospitality prompted me to deliver this invitation, though I +could feel the mate twitching at my sleeves as if to warn me that the +offer was, for some reason, an objectionable one. His fears were, +however, unnecessary, for the stranger signified by a shake of the head +that it was impossible for him to accept it. + +"My friends and I are very much obliged to you," he said, "but we have +our own reasons for remaining where we are. The hut which we occupy is +deserted and partly ruined, but we Easterns have trained ourselves +to do without most of those things which are looked upon as necessaries +in Europe, believing firmly in that wise axiom that a man is rich, not +in proportion to what he has, but in proportion to what he can dispense +with. A good fisherman supplies us with bread and with herbs, we have +clean, dry straw for our couches; what could man wish for more?" + +"But you must feel the cold at night, coming straight from the tropics," +remarked the captain. "Perhaps our bodies are cold sometimes. We have +not noticed it. We have all three spent many years in the +Upper Himalayas on the border of the region of eternal snow, so we are +not very sensitive to inconveniences of the sort." + +"At least," said I, "you must allow me to send you over some fish and +some meat from our larder." + +"We are not Christians," he answered, "but Buddhists of the higher +school. We do not recognise that man has a moral right to slay +an ox or a fish for the gross use of his body. He has not put life into +them, and has assuredly no mandate from the Almighty to take life from +them save under most pressing need. We could not, therefore, use your +gift if you were to send it." + +"But, sir," I remonstrated, "if in this changeable and inhospitable +climate you refuse all nourishing food your vitality will fail you--you +will die." + +"We shall die then," he answered, with an amused smile. "And now, +Captain Meadows, I must bid you adieu, thanking you for your kindness +during the voyage, and you, too, good-bye--you will command a ship of +your own before the year is out. I trust, Mr. West, that I may see you +again before I leave this part of the country. Farewell!" + +He raised his red fez, inclined his noble head with the stately grace +which characterised all his actions, and strode away in the direction +from which he had come. + +"Let me congratulate you, Mr. Hawkins," said the captain to the mate as +we walked homewards. "You are to command your own ship within the +year." + +"No such luck!" the mate answered, with a pleased smile upon his +mahogany face, "still, there's no saying how things may come +out. What d'ye think of him, Mr. West?" + +"Why," said I, "I am very much interested in him. What a magnificent +head and bearing he has for a young man. I suppose he cannot be more +than thirty." + +"Forty," said the mate. + +"Sixty, if he is a day," remarked Captain Meadows. "Why, I have heard +him talk quite familiarly of the first Afghan war. He was a man then, +and that is close on forty years ago." + +"Wonderful!" I ejaculated. "His skin is as smooth and his eyes are as +clear as mine are. He is the superior priest of the three, no doubt." + +"The inferior," said the captain confidently. "That is why he does all +the talking for them. Their minds are too elevated to descend to mere +worldly chatter." + +"They are the strangest pieces of flotsam and jetsam that were ever +thrown upon this coast," I remarked. "My father will be mightily +interested in them." + +"Indeed, I think the less you have to do with them the better for you," +said the mate. "If I do command my own ship I'll promise you that I +never carry live stock of that sort on board of her. But here we are +all aboard and the anchor tripped, so we must bid you good-bye." + +The wagonette had just finished loading up when we arrived, and the +chief places, on either side of the driver, had been reserved for my two +companions, who speedily sprang into them. With a chorus of cheers the +good fellows whirled away down the road, while my father, Esther, and I +stood upon the lawn and waved our hands to them until they disappeared +behind the Cloomber woods, _en_route_ for the Wigtown railway station. +Barque and crew had both vanished now from our little world, the only +relic of either being the heaps of _debris_ upon the beach, which were +to lie there until the arrival of an agent from Lloyd's. + + +CHAPTER XIII + + + +IN WHICH I SEE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN BY FEW + +At dinner that evening I mentioned to my father the episode of the three +Buddhist priests, and found, as I had expected, that he was very much +interested by my account of them. + +When, however, he heard of the high manner in which Ram Singh had spoken +of him, and the distinguished position which he had assigned him among +philologists, he became so excited that it was all we could do to +prevent him from setting off then and there to make his acquaintance. + +Esther and I were relieved and glad when we at last succeeded in +abstracting his boots and manoeuvring him to his bedroom, for the +exciting events of the last twenty-four hours had been too much for his +weak frame and delicate nerves. + +I was silting at the open porch in the gloaming, turning over in my mind +the unexpected events which had occurred so rapidly--the gale, the +wreck, the rescue, and the strange character of the castaways--when my +sister came quietly over to me and put her hand in mine. + +"Don't you think, Jack." she said, in her low, sweet voice, "that we are +forgetting our friends over at Cloomber? Hasn't all this excitement +driven their fears and their danger out of our heads?" + +"Out of our heads, but never out of our hearts," said I, laughing. +"However, you are right, little one, for our attention has certainly +been distracted from them. I shall walk up in the morning and see if I +can see anything of them. By the way, to-morrow is the fateful 5th of +October--one more day, and all will be well with us." + +"Or ill," said my sister gloomily. + +"Why, what a little croaker you are, to be sure!" I cried. "What in the +world is coming over you?" + +"I feel nervous and low-spirited," she answered, drawing closer to my +side and shivering. "I feel as if some great peril were hanging over +the heads of those we love. Why should these strange men wish to stay +upon the coast?" + +"What, the Buddhists?" I said lightly. "Oh, these fellows have +continual feast-days and religious rites of all sorts. They have +some very good reason for staying, you may be sure." + +"Don't you think," said Esther, in an awe-struck whisper, "that it is +very strange that these priests should arrive here all the way from +India just at the present moment? Have you not gathered from all you +have heard that the general's fears are in some way connected with India +and the Indians?" + +The remark made me thoughtful. + +"Why, now that you mention it," I answered, "I have some vague +impression that the mystery is connected with some incident which +occurred in that country. I am sure, however, that your fears would +vanish if you saw Ram Singh. He is the very personification of wisdom +and benevolence. He was shocked at the idea of our killing a sheep, or +even a fish for his benefit--said he would rather die than have a hand +in taking the life of an animal." + +"It is very foolish of me to be so nervous," said my sister bravely. +"But you must promise me one thing, Jack. You will go up to Cloomber in +the morning, and if you can see any of them you must tell them of these +strange neighbours of ours. They are better able to judge than we are +whether their presence has any significance or not." + +"All right, little one," I answered, as we went indoors. "You have been +over-excited by all these wild doings, and you need a sound night's rest +to compose you. I'll do what you suggest, however, and our friends +shall judge for themselves whether these poor fellows should be sent +about their business or not." + +I made the promise to allay my sister's apprehensions, but in the bright +sunlight of morning it appeared less than absurd to imagine that our +poor vegetarian castaways could have any sinister intentions, or that +their advent could have any effect upon the tenant of Cloomber. + +I was anxious, myself, however, to see whether I could see anything of +the Heatherstones, so after breakfast I walked up to the Hall. In their +seclusion it was impossible for them to have learnt anything of the +recent events. I felt, therefore, that even if I should meet the +general he could hardly regard me as an intruder while I had so much +news to communicate. + +The place had the same dreary and melancholy appearance which always +characterised it. Looking through between the thick iron bars of the +main gateway there was nothing to be seen of any of the occupants. +One of the great Scotch firs had been blown down in the gale, and its +long, ruddy trunk lay right across the grass-grown avenue; but no +attempt had been made to remove it. + +Everything about the property had the same air of desolation and +neglect, with the solitary exception of the massive and impenetrable +fencing, which presented as unbroken and formidable an obstacle as ever +to the would-be trespasser. + +I walked round this barrier as far as our old trysting-place without +finding any flaw through which I could get a glimpse of the house, for +the fence had been repaired with each rail overlapping the last, so as +to secure absolute privacy for those inside, and to block those +peep-holes which I had formerly used. + +At the old spot, however, where I had had the memorable interview with +the general on the occasion when he surprised me with his daughter, +I found that the two loose rails had been refixed in such a manner that +there was a gap of two inches or more between them. + +Through this I had a view of the house and of part of the lawn in front +of it, and, though I could see no signs of life outside or at any +of the windows, I settled down with the intention of sticking to my post +until I had a chance of speaking to one or other of the inmates. +Indeed, the cold, dead aspect of the house had struck such a chill into +my heart that I determined to scale the fence at whatever risk of +incurring the general's displeasure rather than return without news of +the Heatherstones. + +Happily there was no need of this extreme expedient, for I had not been +there half-an-hour before I heard the harsh sound of an opening lock, +and the general himself emerged from the main door. + +To my surprise he was dressed in a military uniform, and that not the +uniform in ordinary use in the British Army. The red coat was strangely +cut and stained with the weather. The trousers had originally been +white, but had now faded to a dirty yellow. With a red sash across his +chest and a straight sword hanging from his side, he stood the living +example of a bygone type--the John Company's officer of forty years ago. + +He was followed by the ex-tramp, Corporal Rufus Smith, now well-clad and +prosperous, who limped along beside his master, the two pacing up and +down the lawn absorbed in conversation. I observed that from time to +time one or other of them would pause and glance furtively all about +them, as though guarding keenly against a surprise. I should have +preferred communicating with the general alone, but since there was no +dissociating him from his companion, I beat loudly on the fencing with +my stick to attract their attention. They both faced round in a moment, +and I could see from their gestures that they were disturbed and +alarmed. + +I then elevated my stick above the barrier to show them where the sound +proceeded from. At this the general began to walk in my direction with +the air of a man who is bracing himself up for an effort, but the other +caught him by the wrist and endeavoured to dissuade him. + +It was only when I shouted out my name and assured them that I was alone +that I could prevail upon them to approach. Once assured of my identity +the general ran eagerly towards me and greeted me with the utmost +cordiality. + +"This is truly kind of you, West," he said. "It is only at such times +as these that one can judge who is a friend and who not. It would not +be fair to you to ask you to come inside or to stay any time, but I am +none the less very glad to see you." + +"I have been anxious about you all," I said, "for it is some little time +since I have seen or heard from any of you. How have you all been +keeping?" + +"Why, as well as could be expected. But we will be better tomorrow--we +will be different men to-morrow, eh, Corporal?" + +"Yes, sir," said the corporal, raising his hand to his forehead in a +military salute. "We'll be right as the bank to-morrow." + +"The corporal and I are a little disturbed in our minds just now," the +general explained, "but I have no doubt that all will come right. +After all, there is nothing higher than Providence, and we are all in +His hands. And how have you been, eh?" + +"We have been very busy for one thing," said I. "I suppose you have +heard nothing of the great shipwreck?" + +"Not a word," the general answered listlessly. + +"I thought the noise of the wind would prevent you hearing the signal +guns. She came ashore in the bay the night before last--a great barque +from India." + +"From India!" ejaculated the general. + +"Yes. Her crew were saved, fortunately, and have all been sent on to +Glasgow." + +"All sent on!" cried the general, with a face as bloodless as a corpse. + +"All except three rather strange characters who claim to be Buddhist +priests. They have decided to remain for a few days upon the coast." + +The words were hardly out of my mouth when the general dropped upon his +knees with his long, thin arms extended to Heaven. + +"Thy will be done!" he cried in a cracking voice. "Thy blessed will be +done!" + +I could see through the crack that Corporal Rufus Smith's face had +turned to a sickly yellow shade, and that he was wiping the perspiration +from his brow. + +"It's like my luck!" he said. "After all these years, to come when I +have got a snug billet." + +"Never mind, my lad," the general said, rising, and squaring his +shoulders like a man who braces himself up for an effort. "Be it +what it may we'll face it as British soldiers should. D'ye remember at +Chillianwallah, when you had to run from your guns to our square, and +the Sikh horse came thundering down on our bayonets? We didn't flinch +then, and we won't flinch now. It seems to me that I feel better than I +have done for years. It was the uncertainty that was killing me." + +"And the infernal jingle-jangle," said the corporal. "Well, we all go +together--that's some consolation." + +"Good-bye, West," said the general. "Be a good husband to Gabriel, and +give my poor wife a home. I don't think she will trouble you long. +Good-bye! God bless you!" + +"Look here, General," I said, peremptorily breaking off a piece of wood +to make communication more easy, "this sort of thing has been going on +too long. What are these hints and allusions and innuendoes? It is +time we had a little plain speaking. What is it you fear? Out with it! +Are you in dread of these Hindoos? If you are, I am able, on my +father's authority, to have them arrested as rogues and vagabonds." + +"No, no, that would never do," he answered, shaking his head. "You will +learn about the wretched business soon enough. Mordaunt knows where to +lay his hand upon the papers bearing on the matter. You can consult him +about it to-morrow." + +"But surely," I cried, "if the peril is so imminent something may be +done to avert it. If you would but tell me what you fear I should know +how to act." + +"My dear friend," he said, "there is nothing to be done, so calm +yourself, and let things take their course. It has been folly on my +part to shelter myself behind mere barriers of wood and stone. The fact +is, that inaction was terrible to me, and I felt that to do anything, +however futile, in the nature of a precaution, was better than passive +resignation. My humble friend here and I have placed ourselves in a +position in which, I trust, no poor fellow will ever find himself again. +We can only recommend ourselves to the unfailing goodness of the +Almighty, and trust that what we have endured in this world may +lessen our atonement in the world to come. I must leave you now, for I +have many papers to destroy and much to arrange. Good-bye!" + +He pushed his hand through the hole which I had made, and grasped mine +in a solemn farewell, after which he walked back to the Hall with a firm +and decided step, still followed by the crippled and sinister corporal. + +I walked back to Branksome much disturbed by this interview, and +extremely puzzled as to what course I should pursue. + +It was evident now that my sister's suspicions were correct, and that +there was some very intimate connection between the presence of the +three Orientals and the mysterious peril which hung over the towers of +Cloomber. + +It was difficult for me to associate the noble-faced Ram Singh's gentle, +refined manner and words of wisdom with any deed of violence, yet now +that I thought of it I could see that a terrible capacity for wrath lay +behind his shaggy brows and dark, piercing eyes. + +I felt that of all men whom I had ever met he was the one whose +displeasure I should least care to face. But how could two men +so widely dissociated as the foul-mouthed old corporal of artillery and +the distinguished Anglo-Indian general have each earned the ill-will of +these strange castaways? And if the danger were a positive physical +one, why should he not consent to my proposal to have the three men +placed under custody--though I confess it would have gone much against +my grain to act in so inhospitable a manner upon such vague and shadowy +grounds. + +These questions were absolutely unanswerable, and yet the solemn words +and the terrible gravity which I had seen in the faces of both the old +soldiers forbade me from thinking that their fears were entirely +unfounded. + +It was all a puzzle--an absolutely insoluble puzzle. + +One thing at least was clear to me--and that was that in the present +state of my knowledge, and after the general's distinct prohibition, it +was impossible for me to interfere in any way. I could only wait and +pray that, whatever the danger might be, it might pass over, or at least +that my dear Gabriel and her brother might be protected against it. + +I was walking down the lane lost in thought, and had got as far as the +wicket gate which opens upon the Branksome lawn, when I was surprised to +hear my father's voice raised in most animated and excited converse. + +The old man had been of late so abstracted from the daily affairs of the +world, and so absorbed in his own special studies, that it was difficult +to engage his attention upon any ordinary, mundane topic. Curious to +know what it was that had drawn him so far out of himself, I opened the +gate softly, and walking quietly round the laurel bushes, found him +sitting, to my astonishment, with none other than the very man who was +occupying my thoughts, Ram Singh, the Buddhist. + +The two were sitting upon a garden bench, and the Oriental appeared to +be laying down some weighty proposition, checking every point upon his +long, quivering, brown fingers, while my father, with his hands thrown +abroad and his face awry, was loud in protestation and in argument. + +So absorbed were they in their controversy, that I stood within a +hand-touch of them for a minute or more before they became conscious of +my presence. + +On observing me the priest sprang to his feet and greeted me with the +same lofty courtesy and dignified grace which had so impressed me the +day before. + +"I promised myself yesterday," he said, "the pleasure of calling upon +your father. You see I have kept my word. I have even been daring +enough to question his views upon some points in connection with the +Sanscrit and Hindoo tongues, with the result that we have been arguing +for an hour or more without either of us convincing the other. Without +pretending to as deep a theoretical knowledge as that which has made +the name of James Hunter West a household word among Oriental scholars, +I happen to have given considerable attention to this one point, and +indeed I am in a position to say that I know his views to be unsound. +I assure you, sir, that up to the year 700, or even later, Sanscrit was +the ordinary language of the great bulk of the inhabitants of India." + +"And I assure you, sir," said my father warmly, "that it was dead and +forgotten at that date, save by the learned, who used it as a vehicle +for scientific and religious works--just as Latin was used in the Middle +Ages long after it had ceased to be spoken by any European nation." + +"If you consult the puranas you will find," said Ram Singh, "that this +theory, though commonly received, is entirely untenable." + +"And if you will consult the Ramayana, and more particularly the +canonical books on Buddhist discipline," cried my father, "you +will find that the theory is unassailable." + +"But look at the Kullavagga," said our visitor earnestly. + +"And look at King Asoka," shouted my father triumphantly. "When, in the +year 300 before the Christian era--before, mind you--he ordered the laws +of Buddha to be engraved upon the rocks, what language did he employ, +eh? Was it Sanscrit?--no! And why was it not Sanscrit? Because the +lower orders of his subjects would not have been able to understand a +word of it. Ha, ha! That was the reason. How are you going to get +round King Asoka's edicts, eh?" + +"He carved them in the various dialects," Ram Singh answered. "But +energy is too precious a thing to be wasted in mere wind in this style. +The sun has passed its meridian, and I must return to my companions." + +"I am sorry that you have not brought them to see us," said my father +courteously. He was, I could see, uneasy lest in the eagerness of +debate he had overstepped the bounds of hospitality. + +"They do not mix with the world," Ram Singh answered, rising to his +feet. "They are of a higher grade than I, and more sensitive to +contaminating influences. They are immersed in a six months' meditation +upon the mystery of the third incarnation, which has lasted with few +intermissions from the time that we left the Himalayas. I shall not +see you again, Mr. Hunter West, and I therefore bid you farewell. Your +old age will be a happy one, as it deserves to be, and your Eastern +studies will have a lasting effect upon the knowledge and literature of +your own country. Farewell!" + +"And am I also to see no more of you?" I asked. + +"Unless you will walk with me along the sea-shore," he answered. "But +you have already been out this morning, and may be tired. I ask too +much of you." + +"Nay, I should be delighted to come," I responded from my heart, and we +set off together, accompanied for some little distance by my father, who +would gladly, I could see, have reopened the Sanscrit controversy, had +not his stock of breath been too limited to allow of his talking and +walking at the same time. + +"He is a learned man," Ram Singh remarked, after we had left him behind, +"but, like many another, he is intolerant towards opinions which differ +from his own. He will know better some day." + +I made no answer to this observation, and we trudged along for a time in +silence, keeping well down to the water's edge, where the sands afforded +a good foothold. + +The sand dunes which lined the coast formed a continuous ridge upon our +left, cutting us off entirely from all human observation, while on the +right the broad Channel stretched away with hardly a sail to break its +silvery uniformity. The Buddhist priest and I were absolutely alone +with Nature. + +I could not help reflecting that if he were really the dangerous man +that the mate affected to consider him, or that might be inferred from +the words of General Heatherstone, I had placed myself completely in his +power. + +Yet such was the majestic benignity of the man's aspect, and the +unruffled serenity of his deep, dark eyes, that I could afford in his +presence to let fear and suspicion blow past me as lightly as the breeze +which whistled round us. His face might be stern, and even terrible, +but I felt that he could never be unjust. + +As I glanced from time to time at his noble profile and the sweep of his +jet-black beard, his rough-spun tweed travelling suit struck me with an +almost painful sense of incongruity, and I re-clothed him in my +imagination with the grand, sweeping Oriental costume which is the +fitting and proper frame for such a picture--the only garb which does +not detract from the dignity and grace of the wearer. + +The place to which he led me was a small fisher cottage which had been +deserted some years before by its tenant, but still stood gaunt and +bare, with the thatch partly blown away and the windows and doors in sad +disrepair. This dwelling, which the poorest Scotch beggar would have +shrunk from, was the one which these singular men had preferred to the +proffered hospitality of the laird's house. A small garden, now a mass +of tangled brambles, stood round it, and through this my acquaintance +picked his way to the ruined door. He glanced into the house and then +waved his hand for me to follow him. + +"You have now an opportunity," he said, in a subdued, reverential voice, +"of seeing a spectacle which few Europeans have had the privilege of +beholding. Inside that cottage you will find two Yogis--men who are +only one remove from the highest plane of adeptship. They are both +wrapped in an ecstatic trance, otherwise I should not venture to +obtrude your presence upon them. Their astral bodies have departed from +them, to be present at the feast of lamps in the holy Lamasery of Rudok +in Tibet. Tread lightly lest by stimulating their corporeal functions +you recall them before their devotions are completed." + +Walking slowly and on tiptoe, I picked my way through the weed-grown +garden, and peered through the open doorway. + +There was no furniture in the dreary interior, nor anything to cover the +uneven floor save a litter of fresh straw in a corner. + +Among this straw two men were crouching, the one small and wizened, the +other large-boned and gaunt, with their legs crossed in Oriental fashion +and their heads sunk upon their breasts. Neither of them looked up, or +took the smallest notice of our presence. + +They were so still and silent that they might have been two bronze +statues but for the slow and measured rhythm of their breathing. Their +faces, however, had a peculiar, ashen-grey colour, very different from +the healthy brown of my companion's, and I observed, on, stooping my +head, that only the whites of their eyes were visible, the balls +being turned upwards beneath the lids. + +In front of them upon a small mat lay an earthenware pitcher of water +and half-a-loaf of bread, together with a sheet of paper inscribed with +certain cabalistic characters. Ram Singh glanced at these, and then, +motioning to me to withdraw, followed me out into the garden. + +"I am not to disturb them until ten o'clock," he said. "You have now +seen in operation one of the grandest results of our occult philosophy, +the dissociation of spirit from body. Not only are the spirits of these +holy men standing at the present moment by the banks of the Ganges, but +those spirits are clothed in a material covering so identical with their +real bodies that none of the faithful will ever doubt that Lal Hoomi and +Mowdar Khan are actually among them. This is accomplished by our power +of resolving an object into its 'chemical atoms, of conveying these +atoms with a speed which exceeds that of lightning to any given spot, +and of there re-precipitating them and compelling them to retake their +original form. Of old, in the days of our ignorance, it was necessary +to convey the whole body in this way, but we have since found that it +was as easy and more convenient to transmit material enough merely +to build up an outside shell or semblance. This we have termed the +astral body" + +"But if you can transmit your spirits so readily," I observed, "why +should they be accompanied by any body at all?" + +"In communicating with brother initiates we are able to employ our +spirits only, but when we wish to come in contact with ordinary +mankind it is essential that we should appear in some form which they +can see and comprehend." + +"You have interested me deeply in all that you have told me," I said, +grasping the hand which Ram Singh had held out to me as a sign that our +interview was at an end. "I shall often think of our short +acquaintance." + +"You will derive much benefit from it," he said slowly, still holding my +hand and looking gravely and sadly into my eyes. "You must remember +that what will happen in the future is not necessarily bad because it +does not fall in with your preconceived ideas of right. Be not hasty in +your judgments. There are certain great rules which must be carried +out, at whatever cost to individuals. Their operation may appear to you +to be harsh and cruel, but that is as nothing compared with the +dangerous precedent which would be established by not enforcing them. +The ox and the sheep are safe from us, but the man with the blood of the +highest upon his hands should not and shall not live." + +He threw up his arms at the last words with a fierce, threatening +gesture, and, turning away from me, strode back to the ruined hut. + +I stood gazing after him until he disappeared through the doorway, and +then started off for home, revolving in my mind all that I had heard, +and more particularly this last outburst of the occult philosopher. + +Far on the right I could see the tall, white tower of Cloomber standing +out clear-cut and sharp against a dark cloud-bank which rose behind it. +I thought how any traveller who chanced to pass that way would envy in +his heart the tenant of that magnificent building, and how little they +would guess the strange terrors, the nameless dangers, which were +gathering about his head. The black cloud-wrack was but the image, I +reflected, of the darker, more sombre storm which was about to burst. + +"Whatever it all means, and however it happens," I ejaculated, "God +grant that the innocent be not confounded with the guilty." + +My father, when I reached home, was still in a ferment over his learned +disputation with the stranger. + +"I trust, Jack," he said, "that I did not handle him too roughly. I +should remember that I am _in_loco_magistri_, and be less prone to argue +with my guests. Yet, when he took up this most untenable position, I +could not refrain from attacking him and hurling him out of it, which +indeed I did, though you, who are ignorant of the niceties of the +question, may have failed to perceive it. You observed, however, that +my reference to King Asoka's edicts was so conclusive that he at once +rose and took his leave." + +"You held your own bravely," I answered, "but what is your impression of +the man now that you have seen him?" "Why," said my father, "he is one +of those holy men who, under the various names of Sannasis, Yogis, +Sevras, Qualanders, Hakims, and Cufis have devoted their lives to the +study of the mysteries of the Buddhist faith. He is, I take it, a +theosophist, or worshipper of the God of knowledge, the highest grade of +which is the adept. This man and his companions have not attained this +high position or they could not have crossed the sea without +contamination. It is probable that they are all advanced chelas who +hope in time to attain to the supreme honour of adeptship." + +"But, father," interrupted my sister, "this does not explain why men of +such sanctity and attainments should choose to take up their quarters on +the shores of a desolate Scotch bay." + +"Ah, there you get beyond me," my father answered. "I may suggest, +however, that it is nobody's business but their own, so long as +they keep the peace and are amenable to the law of the land." + +"Have you ever heard," I asked, "that these higher priests of whom you +speak have powers which are unknown to us?" + +"Why, Eastern literature is full of it. The Bible is an Eastern book, +and is it not full of the record of such powers from cover to cover? +It is unquestionable that they have in the past known many of Nature's +secrets which are lost to us. I cannot say, however, from my +own knowledge that the modern theosophists really possess the powers +that they claim." + +"Are they a vindictive class of people?" I asked. "Is there any offence +among them which can only be expiated by death?" + +"Not that I know of," my father answered, raising his white eyebrows in +surprise. "You appear to be in an inquisitive humour this afternoon-- +what is the object of all these questions? Have our Eastern +neighbours aroused your curiosity or suspicion in any way?" + +I parried the question as best I might, for I was unwilling to let the +old man know what was in my mind. No good purpose could come from his +enlightenment; his age and his health demanded rest rather than anxiety; +and indeed, with the best will in the world I should have found it +difficult to explain to another what was so very obscure to myself. +For every reason I felt that it was best that he should be kept in the +dark. + +Never in all my experience had I known a day pass so slowly as did that +eventful 5th of October. In every possible manner I endeavoured to +while away the tedious hours, and yet it seemed as if darkness would +never arrive. + +I tried to read, I tried to write, I paced about the lawn, I walked to +the end of the lane, I put new flies upon my fishing-hooks, I began to +index my father's library--in a dozen ways I endeavoured to relieve the +suspense which was becoming intolerable. My sister, I could see, was +suffering from the same feverish restlessness. + +Again and again our good father remonstrated with us in his mild way for +our erratic behaviour and the continual interruption of his work which +arose from it. + +At last, however, the tea was brought, and the tea was taken, the +curtains were drawn, the lamps lit, and after another interminable +interval the prayers were read and the servants dismissed to their +rooms. My father compounded and swallowed his nightly jorum of +toddy, and then shuffled off to his room, leaving the two of us in the +parlour with our nerves in a tingle and our minds full of the most vague +and yet terrible apprehensions. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + + +OF THE VISITOR WHO RAN DOWN THE ROADIN THE NIGHT-TIME + + +It was a quarter past ten o'clock by the parlour timepiece when my +father went off to his room, and left Esther and myself together. +We heard his slow steps dying away up the creaking staircase, until the +distant slamming of a door announced that he had reached his +sanctum. + +The simple oil lamp upon the table threw a weird, uncertain light over +the old room, flickering upon the carved oak panelling, and casting +strange, fantastic shadows from the high-elbowed, straight-backed +furniture. My sister's white, anxious face stood out in the obscurity +with a startling exactness of profile like one of Rembrandt's portraits. + +We sat opposite to each other on either side of the table with no sound +breaking the silence save the measured ticking of the clock and +the intermittent chirping of a cricket beneath the grate. + +There was something awe-inspiring in the absolute stillness. +The whistling of a belated peasant upon the high road was a relief +to us, and we strained our ears to catch the last of his notes as he +plodded steadily homewards. + +At first we had made some pretence--she of knitting and I of reading-- +but we soon abandoned the useless deception, and sat uneasily waiting, +starting and glancing at each other with questioning eyes whenever the +faggot crackled in the fire or a rat scampered behind the wainscot. +There was a heavy electrical feeling in the air, which weighed us down +with a foreboding of disaster. + +I rose and flung the hall door open to admit the fresh breeze of the +night. Ragged clouds swept across the sky, and the moon peeped out at +times between their hurrying fringes, bathing the whole countryside in +its cold, white radiance. From where I stood in the doorway I could +see the edge of the Cloomber wood, though the house itself was only +visible from the rising ground some little distance off. At my sister's +suggestion we walked together, she with her shawl over her head, as far +as the summit of this elevation, and looked out in the direction of the +Hall. + +There was no illumination of the windows tonight. From roof to basement +not a light twinkled in any part of the great building. Its huge mass +loomed up dark and sullen amid the trees which surrounded it, looking +more like some giant sarcophagus than a human habitation. + +To our overwrought nerves there was something of terror in its mere bulk +and its silence. We stood for some little time peering at it through +the darkness, and then we made our way back to the parlour again, where +we sat waiting--waiting, we knew not for what, and yet with absolute +conviction that some terrible experience was in store for us. + +It was twelve o'clock or thereabout when my sister suddenly sprang to +her feet and held up her fingers to bespeak attention. + +"Do you hear nothing?" she asked. + +I strained my ears, but without success. + +"Come to the door," she cried, with a trembling voice. "Now can you hear +anything?" + +In the deep silence of the night I distinctly heard a dull, murmuring, +clattering sound, continuous apparently, but very faint and low. + +"What is it?" I asked, in a subdued voice. + +"It's the sound of a man running towards us," she answered, and then, +suddenly dropping the last semblance of self-command, she tell upon her +knees beside the table and began praying aloud with that frenzied +earnestness which intense, overpowering fear can produce, breaking off +now and again into half-hysterical whimperings. + +I could distinguish the sound clearly enough now to know that her quick, +feminine perception had not deceived her, and that it was indeed caused +by a running man. + +On he came, and on down the high road, his footfalls ringing out clearer +and sharper every moment. An urgent messenger he must be, for he +neither paused nor slackened his pace. + +The quick, crisp rattle was changed suddenly to a dull, muffled murmur. +He had reached the point where sand had been recently laid down for a +hundred yards or so. In a few moments, however, he was back on hard +ground again and his flying feet came nearer and ever nearer. + +He must, I reflected, be abreast of the head of the lane now. Would he +hold on? Or would he turn down to Branksome? + +The thought had hardly crossed my mind when I heard by the difference of +the sound that the runner had turned the corner, and that his goal was +beyond all question the laird's house. + +Rushing down to the gate of the lawn, I reached it just as our visitor +dashed it open and fell into my arms. I could see in the moonlight that +it was none other than Mordaunt Heatherstone. + +"What has happened?" I cried. "What is amiss, Mordaunt?" + +"My father!" he gasped--"my father!" + +His hat was gone, his eyes dilated with terror, and his face as +bloodless as that of a corpse. I could feel that the hands which +clasped my arms were quivering and shaking with emotion. + +"You are exhausted," I said, leading him into the parlour. "Give +yourself a moment's rest before you speak to us. Be calm, man, +you are with your best friends." + +I laid him on the old horsehair sofa, while Esther, whose fears had all +flown to the winds now that something practical was to be done, dashed +some brandy into a tumbler and brought it to him. The stimulant had a +marvellous effect upon him, for the colour began to come back into his +pale cheeks and the light of recognition in his eyes, + +He sat up and took Esther's hand in both of his, like a man who is +waking out of some bad dream and wishes to assure himself that he is +really in safety. + +"Your father?" I asked. "What of him?" + +"He is gone." + +"Gone!" + +"Yes; he is gone; and so is Corporal Rufus Smith. We shall never set +eyes upon them again." + +"But where have they gone?" I cried. "This is unworthy of you, +Mordaunt. What right have we to sit here, allowing our private +feelings to overcome us, while there is a possibility of succouring your +father? Up, man! Let us follow him. Tell me only what direction he +took." + +"It's no use," young Heatherstone answered, burying his face in his +hands. "Don't reproach me, West, for you don't know all the +circumstances. What can we do to reverse the tremendous and unknown +laws which are acting against us? The blow has long been hanging over +us, and now it has fallen. God help us!" + +"In Heaven's name tell me what has happened?" said I excitedly. "We +must not yield to despair." + +"We can do nothing until daybreak," he answered. "We shall then +endeavour to obtain some trace of them. It is hopeless at present." + +"And how about Gabriel and Mrs. Heatherstone?" I asked. "Can we not +bring them down from the Hall at once? Your poor sister must be +distracted with terror." + +"She knows nothing of it," Mordaunt answered. "She sleeps at the other +side of the house, and has not heard or seen anything. As to my poor +mother, she has expected some such event for so long a time that it has +not come upon her as a surprise. She is, of course, overwhelmed with +grief, but would, I think, prefer to be left to herself for the present. +Her firmness and composure should be a lesson to me, but I am +constitutionally excitable, and this catastrophe coming after our long +period of suspense deprived me of my very reason for a time." + +"If we can do nothing until the morning," I said, "you have time to tell +us all that has occurred." + +"I will do so," he answered, rising and holding his shaking hands to the +fire. "You know already that we have had reason for some time--for many +years in fact--to fear that a terrible retribution was hanging over +my father's head for a certain action of his early life. In this action +he was associated with the man known as Corporal Rufus Smith, so that +the fact of the latter finding his way to my father was a warning to us +that the time had come, and that this 5th of October--the anniversary of +the misdeed--would be the day of its atonement. I told you of our fears +in my letter, and, if I am not mistaken, my father also had some +conversation with you, John, upon the subject. When I saw yesterday +morning that he had hunted out the old uniform which he had always +retained since he wore it in the Afghan war, I was sure that the end was +at hand, and that our forebodings would be realised. + +"He appeared to be more composed in the afternoon than I have seen him +for years, and spoke freely of his life in India and of the incidents of +his youth. About nine o'clock he requested us to go up to our own +rooms, and locked us in there--a precaution which he frequently took +when the dark fit way upon him. It was always his endeavour, poor soul. +to keep us clear of the curse which had fallen upon his own unfortunate +head. Before parting from us he tenderly embraced my mother and +Gabriel, and he afterwards followed me to my room, where he clasped my +hand affectionately and gave into my charge a small packet addressed to +yourself." + +"To me?" I interrupted. + +"To you. I shall fulfill my commission when I have told you my story. +I conjured him to allow me to sit up with him and share any danger which +might arise, but he implored me with irresistible earnestness not to +add to his troubles by thwarting his arrangements. Seeing that I was +really distressing him by my pertinacity, I at last allowed him to close +the door and to turn the key upon the outside. I shall always reproach +myself for my want of firmness. But what can you do when your own +father refuses your assistance or co-operation? You cannot force +yourself upon him." + +"I am sure that you did all you could do," my sister said. + +"I meant to, dear Esther, but, God help me, it was hard to tell what was +right. He left me, and I heard his footsteps die away down the long +corridor. It was then about ten o'clock, or a little after. For a time +I paced up and down the room, and then, carrying the lamp to the head of +my bed, I lay down without undressing, reading St. Thomas a Kempis, and +praying from my heart that the night might pass safely over us. + +"I had at last fallen into a troubled sleep when I was suddenly aroused +by a loud, sonorous sound ringing in my ears. I sat up bewildered, but +all was silent again. The lamp was burning low, and my watch showed +me that it was going on to midnight. I blundered to my feet, and was +striking a match with the intention of lighting the candles, when the +sharp, vehement cry broke out again so loud and so clear that it might +have been in the very room with me. My chamber is in the front of the +house, while those of my mother and sister are at the back, so that I am +the only one who commands a view of the avenue. + +"Rushing to the window I drew the blind aside and looked out. You know +that the gravel-drive opens up so as to form a broad stretch immediately +in front of the house. Just in the centre of this clear space there +stood three men looking up at the house. + +"The moon shone full upon them, glistening on their upturned eyeballs, +and by its light I could see that they were swarthy-faced and +black-haired, of a type that I was familiar with among the Sikhs and +Afridis. Two of them were thin, with eager, aesthetic countenances, +while the third was kinglike and majestic, with a noble figure and +flowing beard." + +"Ram Singh!" I ejaculated. + +"What, you know of them?" exclaimed Mordaunt in great surprise. +"You have met them?" + +"I know of them. They are Buddhist priests," I answered, "but go on." + +"They stood in a line," he continued, "sweeping their arms upwards and +downwards, while their lips moved as if repeating some prayer or +incantation. Suddenly they ceased to gesticulate, and broke out for the +third time into the wild, weird, piercing cry which had roused me from +my slumber. Never shall I forget that shrill, dreadful summons swelling +and reverberating through the silent night with an intensity of sound +which is still ringing in my ears. + +"As it died slowly away, there was a rasping and creaking as of keys and +bolts, followed by the clang of an opening door and the clatter of +hurrying feet. From my window I saw my father and Corporal Rufus Smith +rush frantically out of the house hatless and unkempt, like men who are +obeying a sudden and overpowering impulse. The three strangers laid no +hands on them, but all five swept swiftly away down the avenue and +vanished among the trees. I am positive that no force was used, or +constraint of any visible kind, and yet I am as sure that my poor father +and his companion were helpless prisoners as it I bad seen them dragged +away in manacles. + +"All this took little time in the acting. From the first summons which +disturbed my sleep to the last shadowy glimpse which I had of them +between the tree trunks could hardly have occupied more than five +minutes of actual time. So sudden was it, and so strange, that when the +drama was over and they were gone I could have believed that it was all +some terrible nightmare, some delusion, had I not felt that the +impression was too real, too vivid, to be imputed to fancy. + +"I threw my whole weight against my bedroom door in the hope of forcing +the lock. It stood firm for a while, but I flung myself upon it again +and again, until something snapped and I found myself in the passage. + +"My first thought was for my mother, I rushed to her room and turned the +key in her door. The moment that I did so she stepped out into the +corridor in her dressing-gown, and held up a warning finger. + +"'No noise, she said,' Gabriel is asleep. They have been called away?' + +"'They have,' I answered. + +"'God's will be done!' she cried. 'Your poor father will be happier in +the next world than he has ever been in this. Thank Heaven that Gabriel +is asleep. I gave her chloral in her cocoa.' + +"'What am I to do?' I said distractedly. + +"'Where have they gone? How can I help him? We cannot let him go from us +like this, or leave these men to do what they will with him. Shall I +ride into Wigtown and arouse the police?' + +"'Anything rather than that', my mother said earnestly. 'He has begged +me again and again to avoid it. My son, we shall never set eyes upon +your father again. You may marvel at my dry eyes, but it you knew as I +know the peace which death would bring him, you could not find it in +your heart to mourn for him. All pursuit is, I feel, vain, and yet +some pursuit there must be. Let it be as private as possible. We +cannot serve him better than by consulting his wishes.' + +"'But every minute is precious,' I cried. 'Even now he may be calling +upon us to rescue him from the clutches of those dark-skinned fiends.' + +"The thought so maddened me that I rushed out of the house and down to +the high road, but once there I had no indication in which direction to +turn. The whole wide moor lay before me, without a sign of movement +upon its broad expanse. I listened, but not a sound broke the perfect +stillness of the night. + +"It was then, my dear friends, as I stood, not knowing in which +direction to turn, that the horror and responsibility broke full upon +me. I felt that I was combating against forces of which I knew nothing. +All was strange and dark and terrible. + +"The thought of you, and of the help which I might look for from your +advice and assistance, was a beacon of hope to me. At Branksome, at +least, I should receive sympathy, and, above all, directions as to what +I should do, for my mind is in such a whirl that I cannot trust my own +judgment. My mother was content to be alone, my sister asleep, and no +prospect of being able to do anything until daybreak. Under those +circumstances what more natural than that I should fly to you as fast as +my feet would carry me? You have a clear head, Jack; speak out, man, +and tell me what I should do. Esther, what should I do?" + +He turned from one to the other of us with outstretched hands and eager, +questioning eyes. + +"You can do nothing while the darkness lasts," I answered. "We must +report the matter to the Wigtown police, but we need not send our +message to them until we are actually starting upon the search, so as to +comply with the law and yet have a private investigation, as your mother +wishes. John Fullarton, over the hill, has a lurcher dog which is as +good as a bloodhound. If we set him on the general's trail he will run +him down if he had to follow him to John o' Groat's." + +"It is terrible to wait calmly here while he may need our assistance." + +"I fear our assistance could under any circumstances do him little good. +There are forces at work here which are beyond human intervention. +Besides, there is no alternative. We have, apparently, no possible clue +as to the direction which they have taken, and for us to wander +aimlessly over the moor in the darkness would be to waste the strength +which may be more profitably used in the morning. It will be daylight +by five o'clock. In an hour or so we can walk over the hill together +and get Fullarton's dog." + +"Another hour!" Mordaunt groaned, "every minute seems an age." + +"Lie down on the sofa and rest yourself," said I. "You cannot serve your +father better than by laying up all the strength you can, for we may +have a weary trudge before us. But you mentioned a packet which the +general had intended for me." + +"It is here," he answered, drawing a small, flat parcel from his pocket +and handing it over to me, "you will find, no doubt, that it will +explain all which has been so mysterious." + +The packet was sealed at each end with black wax, bearing the impress of +the flying griffin, which I knew to be the general's crest. It was +further secured by a band of broad tape, which I cut with my +pocket-knife. Across the outside was written in bold handwriting: +"J. Fothergill West, Esq.," and underneath: "To be handed to that +gentleman in the event of the disappearance or decease of Major-General +J. B. Heatherstone, V.C., C.B., late of the Indian Army." + +So at last I was to know the dark secret which had cast a shadow over +our lives. Here in my hands I held the solution of it. + +With eager fingers I broke the seals and undid the wrapper. A note and +a small bundle of discoloured paper lay within. I drew the lamp over to +me and opened the former. It was dated the preceding afternoon, and ran +in this way: + +MY DEAR WEST,-- + +I should have satisfied your very natural curiosity on the subject which +we have had occasion to talk of more than once, but I refrained for your +own sake. I knew by sad experience how unsettling and unnerving it is +to be for ever waiting for a catastrophe which you are convinced must +befall, and which you can neither avert nor accelerate. + +Though it affects me specially, as being the person most concerned, I am +still conscious that the natural sympathy which I have observed in you, +and your regard for Gabriel's father, would both combine to render you +unhappy if you knew the hopelessness and yet the vagueness of the fate +which threatens me. I feared to disturb your mind, and I was therefore +silent, though at some cost to myself, for my isolation has not been the +least of the troubles which have weighed me down. + +Many signs, however, and chief among them the presence of the Buddhists +upon the coast as described by you this morning, have convinced me that +the weary waiting is at last over and that the hour of retribution is at +hand. Why I should have been allowed to live nearly forty years after +my offence is more than I can understand, but it is possible that those +who had command over my fate know that such a life is the greatest of +all penalties to me. + +Never for an hour, night or day, have they suffered me to forget that +they have marked me down as their victim. Their accursed astral bell +has been ringing my knell for two-score years, reminding me ever that +there is no spot upon earth where I can hope to be in safety. Oh, the +peace, the blessed peace of dissolution! Come what may on the other +side of the tomb, I shall at least be quit of that thrice terrible +sound. + +There is no need for me to enter into the wretched business again, or to +detail at any length the events of October 5th, 1841, and the various +circumstances which led up to the death of Ghoolab Shah, the arch adept. + +I have torn a sheaf of leaves from my old journal, in which you will +find a bald account of the matter, and an independent narrative was +furnished by. Sir Edward Elliott, of the Artillery, to the Star of India +some years ago--in which, however, the names were suppressed. + +I have reason to believe that many people, even among those who knew +India well, thought that Sir Edward was romancing, and that he had +evolved his incidents from his imagination. The few faded sheets which +I send you will show you that this is not the case, and that our men of +science must recognise powers and laws which can and have been used by +man, but which are unknown to European civilisation. + +I do not wish to whine or to whimper, but I cannot help feeling that I +have had hard measure dealt me in this world. I would not, God knows, +take the life of any man, far less an aged one, in cold blood. My +temper and nature, however, were always fiery and headstrong, and in +action when my blood is up, I have no knowledge of what I am about. +Neither the corporal nor I would have laid a finger upon Ghoolab Shah +had we not seen that the tribesmen were rallying behind him. Well, +well, it is an old story now, and there is no profit in discussing it. +May no other poor fellow ever have the same evil fortune! + +I have written a short supplement to the statements contained in my +journal for your information and that of any one else who may chance to +be interested in the matter. + +And now, adieu! Be a good husband to Gabriel, and, if your sister be +brave enough to marry into such a devil-ridden family as ours, by all +means let her do so. I have left enough to keep my poor wife in +comfort. + +When she rejoins me I should wish it to be equally divided between the +children. If you hear that I am gone, do not pity, but congratulate + +Your unfortunate friend, + +JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE. + +I threw aside the letter and picked up the roll of blue foolscap which +contained the solution of the mystery. It was all ragged and frayed at +the inner edge, with traces of gum and thread still adhering to it, to +show that it had been torn out of a strongly bound volume. The ink with +which it had been written was faded somewhat, but across the head of the +first page was inscribed in bold, clear characters, evidently of later +date than the rest: "Journal of Lieutenant J. B. Heatherstone in the +Thull Valley during the autumn of 1841," and then underneath: + +This extract contains some account of the events of the first week of +October of that year, including the skirmish of the Terada ravine and +the death of the man Ghoolab Shah. + +I have the narrative lying before me now, and I copy it verbatim. If it +contains some matter which has no direct bearing upon the question at +issue, I can only say that I thought it better to publish what is +irrelevant than by cutting and clipping to lay the whole statement open +to the charge of having been tampered with. + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + +THE DAY-BOOK OF JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE + +Thull Valley, Oct. 1, 1841.--The Fifth Bengal and Thirty-third Queen's +passed through this morning on their way to the Front. Had tiffin with +the Bengalese. Latest news from home that two attempts had been made on +the Queen's life by semi-maniacs named Francis and Bean. + +It promises to be a hard winter. The snow-line has descended a thousand +feet upon the peaks, but the passes will be open for weeks to come, and, +even if they were blocked, we have established so many depots in the +country that Pollock and Nott will have no difficulty in holding their +own. They shall not meet with the fate of Elphinstone's army. One such +tragedy is enough for a century. + +Elliott of the Artillery, and I, are answerable for the safety of the +communications for a distance of twenty miles or more, from the mouth of +the valley to this side of the wooden bridge over the Lotar. +Goodenough, of the Rifles, is responsible on the other side, and +Lieutenant-Colonel Sidney Herbert of the Engineers, has a general +supervision over both sections. + +Our force is not strong enough for the work which has to be done. +I have a company and a half of our own regiment, and a squadron +of Sowars, who are of no use at all among the rocks. Elliott has three +guns, but several of his men are down with cholera, and I doubt +if he has enough to serve more than two. + +[Note: capsicum for cholera--tried it] + +On the other hand, each convoy is usually provided with some guard of +its own, though it is often absurdly inefficient. These valleys and +ravines which branch out of the main pass are alive with Afridis and +Pathans, who are keen robbers as well as religious fanatics. I wonder +they don't swoop down on some of our caravans. They could plunder them +and get back to their mountain fastnesses before we could interfere or +overtake them. Nothing but fear will restrain them. + +If I had my way I would hang one at the mouth of every ravine as a +warning to the gang. They are personifications of the devil to look at, +hawk-nosed, full-lipped, with a mane of tangled hair, and most Satanic +sneer. No news today from the Front. + +October 2.--I must really ask Herbert for another company at the very +least. I am convinced that the communications would be cut off if any +serious attack were made upon us. + +Now, this morning two urgent messages were sent me from two different +points more than sixteen miles apart, to say that there were signs of a +descent of the tribes. + +Elliott, with one gun and the Sowars, went to the farther ravine, while +I, with the infantry, hurried to the other, but we found it was a false +alarm. I saw no signs of the Hillmen, and though we were greeted by a +splutter of jezail bullets we were unable to capture any of the rascals. + +Woe betide them if they fall into my hands. I would give them as short +a shrift as ever a Highland cateran got from a Glasgow judge. These +continued alarms may mean nothing or they may be an indication that the +Hillmen are assembling and have some plan in view. + +We have had no news from the Front for some time, but to-day a convoy of +wounded came through with the intelligence that Nott had taken Ghuznee. +I hope he warmed up any of the black rascals that fell into his hands. + +No word of Pollock. + +An elephant battery came up from the Punjab, looking in very good +condition. There were several convalescents with it going up to rejoin +their regiments. Knew none of them except Mostyn of the Hussars and +young Blakesley, who was my fag at Charterhouse, and whom I have never +seen since. + +Punch and cigars _al_fresco_ up to eleven o'clock. + +Letters to-day from Wills & Co. about their little bill forwarded on +from Delhi. Thought a campaign freed a man from these annoyances. +Wills says in his note that, since his written applications have been in +vain, he must call upon me in person. If he calls upon me now he will +assuredly be the boldest and most persevering of tailors. + +A line from Calcutta Daisy and another from Hobhouse to say that Matilda +comes in for all the money under the will. I am glad of it. + +October 3.--Glorious news from the Front today. Barclay, of the Madras +Cavalry, galloped through with dispatches. Pollock entered Cabul +triumphantly on the 16th of last month, and, better still, Lady Sale has +been rescued by Shakespear, and brought safe into the British camp, +together with the other hostages. _Te_Deum_laudamus!_ + +This should end the whole wretched business--this and the sack of the +city. I hope Pollock won't be squeamish, or truckle to the hysterical +party at home. The towns should be laid in ashes and the fields sown +with salt. Above all, the Residency and the Palace must come down. +So shall Burnes, McNaghten, and many another gallant fellow know that +his countrymen could avenge if they could not save him! + +It is hard when others are gaining glory and experience to be stuck in +this miserable valley. I have been out of it completely, bar a few +petty skirmishes. However, we may see some service yet. + +A jemidar of ours brought in a Hillman today, who says that the tribes +are massing in the Terada ravine, ten miles to the north of us, and +intend attacking the next convoy. We can't rely on information of this +sort, but there may prove to be some truth in it. Proposed to shoot our +informant, so as to prevent his playing the double traitor and reporting +our proceedings. Elliott demurred. + +If you are making war you should throw no chance away. I hate half-and- +half measures. The Children of Israel seem to have been the only people +who ever carried war to its logical conclusion--except Cromwell in +Ireland. Made a compromise at last by which the man is to be detained +as a prisoner and executed if his information prove to be false. I only +hope we get a fair chance of showing what we can do. + +No doubt these fellows at the Front will have C.B.'s and knighthoods +showering upon them thick and fast, while we poor devils, who have had +most of the responsibility and anxiety, will be passed over completely. +Elliott has a whitlow. + +The last convoy left us a large packet of sauces, but as they forgot to +leave anything to eat with them, we have handed them over to the Sowars, +who drink them out of their pannikins as if they were liqueurs. We hear +that another large convoy may be expected from the plains in the course +of a day or two. Took nine to four on Cleopatra for the Calcutta Cup. + +October 4.--The Hillmen really mean business this time, I think. +We have had two of our spies come in this morning with the same +account about the gathering in the Terada quarter. That old rascal +Zemaun is at the head of it, and I had recommended the Government to +present him with a telescope in return for his neutrality! There will +be no Zemaun to present it to if I can but lay hands upon him. + +We expect the convoy tomorrow morning, and need anticipate no attack +until it comes up, for these fellows fight for plunder, not for glory, +though, to do them justice, they have plenty of pluck when they +get started. I have devised an excellent plan, and it has Elliott's +hearty support. By Jove! if we can only manage it, it will be as pretty +a ruse as ever I heard of. + +Our intention is to give out that we are going down the valley to meet +the convoy and to block the mouth of a pass from which we profess to +expect an attack. Very good. We shall make a night-march to-night and +reach their camp. Once there I shall conceal my two hundred men in the +waggons and travel up with the convoy again. + +Our friends the enemy, having heard that we intended to go south, and +seeing the caravan going north without us, will naturally swoop down +upon it under the impression that we are twenty miles away. We shall +teach them such a lesson that they would as soon think of stopping a +thunderbolt as of interfering again with one of Her Britannic Majesty's +provision trains. I am all on thorns to be off. + +Elliott has rigged up two of his guns so ingeniously that they look more +like costermongers' barrows than anything else. To see artillery ready +for action in the convoy might arouse suspicion. The artillerymen will +be in the waggons next the guns, all ready to unlimber and open fire. +Infantry in front and rear. Have told our confidential and discreet +Sepoy servants the plan which we do not intend to adopt. N.B.--If you +wish a thing to be noised over a whole province always whisper it under +a vow of secrecy to your confidential native servant. + +8.45 P.M.--Just starting for the convoy. May luck go with us! + +October 5.--Seven o'clock in the evening. _Io_triumphe!_ Crown us with +laurel--Elliott and myself! Who can compare with us as vermin killers? + +I have only just got back, tired and weary, stained with blood and dust, +but I have sat down before either washing or changing to have the +satisfaction of seeing our deeds set forth in black and white--if only +in my private log for no eye but my own. I shall describe it all fully +as a preparation for an official account, which must be drawn up when +Elliott gets back. Billy Dawson used to say that there were three +degrees of comparison--a prevarication, a lie, and an official account. +We at least cannot exaggerate our success, for it would be impossible to +add anything to it. + +We set out, then, as per programme, and came upon the camp near the head +of the valley. They had two weak companies of the 54th with them who +might no doubt have held their own with warning, but an unexpected +rush of wild Hillmen is a very difficult thing to stand against. +With our reinforcements, however, and on our guard, we might defy +the rascals. + +Chamberlain was in command--a fine young fellow. We soon made him +understand the situation, and were all ready for a start by daybreak +though his waggons were so full that we were compelled to leave +several tons of fodder behind in order to make room for my Sepoys and +for the artillery. + +About five o'clock we inspanned, to use an Africanism, and by six we +were well on our way, with our escort as straggling and unconcerned as +possible--as helpless-looking a caravan as ever invited attack. + +I could soon see that it was to be no false alarm this time, and that +the tribes really meant business. + +From my post of observation, under the canvas screens of one of the +waggons, I could make out turbaned heads popping up to have a look at us +from among the rocks, and an occasional scout hurrying northward with +the news of our approach. + +It was not, however, until we came abreast of the Terada Pass, a gloomy +defile bounded by gigantic cliffs, that the Afridis began to show in +force, though they had ambushed themselves so cleverly that, had we not +been keenly on the look-out for them, we might have walked right into +the trap. As it was, the convoy halted, upon which the Hillmen, seeing +that they were observed, opened a heavy but ill-directed fire upon us. + +I had asked Chamberlain to throw out his men in skirmishing order, and +to give them directions to retreat slowly upon the waggons so as to draw +the Afridis on. The ruse succeeded to perfection. + +As the redcoats steadily retired, keeping behind cover as much as +possible, the enemy followed them up with yells of exultation, springing +from rock to rock, waving their jezails in the air, and howling like a +pack of demons. + +With their black, contorted, mocking faces, their fierce gestures, and +their fluttering garments, they would have made a study for any painter +who wished to portray Milton's conception of the army of the damned. + +From every side they pressed in until, seeing, as they thought, nothing +between them and victory, they left the shelter of the rocks and came +rushing down, a furious, howling throng, with the green banner of the +Prophet in their van. + +Now was our chance, and gloriously we utilised it. + +From every cranny and slit of the waggons came a blaze of fire, every +shot of which told among the close-packed mob. Two or three score +rolled over like rabbits and the rest reeled for a moment, and then, +with their chiefs at their head, came on again in a magnificent rush. + +It was useless, however, for undisciplined men to attempt to face such a +well-directed fire. The leaders were bowled over, and the others, after +hesitating for a few moments, turned and made for the rocks. + +It was our turn now to assume the offensive. The guns were unlimbered +and grape poured into them, while our little infantry force advanced at +the double, shooting and stabbing all whom they overtook. + +Never had I known the tide of battle turn so rapidly and so decisively. +The sullen retreat became a flight, and the flight a panic-stricken +rout, until there was nothing left of the tribesmen except a scattered, +demoralised rabble flying wildly to their native fastnesses for shelter +and protection. + +I was by no means inclined to let them off cheaply now that I had them +in my power. On the contrary, I determined to teach them such a lesson +that the sight of a single scarlet uniform would in future be a passport +in itself. + +We followed hard upon the track of the fugitives and entered the Terada +defile at their very heels. Having detached Chamberlain and Elliott +with a company on either side to protect my wings, I pushed on with my +Sepoys and a handful of artillerymen, giving the enemy no time to rally +or to recover themselves. We were so handicapped, however, by our stiff +European uniforms and by our want of practice in climbing, that we +should have been unable to overtake any of the mountaineers had it +not been for a fortunate accident. + +There is a smaller ravine which opens into the main pass, and in their +hurry and confusion some of the fugitives rushed down this. I saw sixty +or seventy of them turn down, but I should have passed them by and +continued in pursuit of the main body had not one of my scouts come +rustling up to inform me that the smaller ravine was a _cul-de-sac_, +and that the Afridis who had gone up it had no possible means of getting +out again except by cutting their way through our ranks. + +Here was an opportunity of striking terror into the tribes. Leaving +Chamberlain and Elliott to continue the pursuit of the main body, +I wheeled my Sepoys into the narrow path and proceeded slowly down it in +extended order, covering the whole ground from cliff to cliff. Not a +jackal could have passed us unseen. The rebels were caught like rats in +a trap. + +The defile in which we found ourselves was the most gloomy and majestic +that I have ever seen. On either side naked precipices rose sheer up +for a thousand feet or more, converging upon each other so as to leave a +very narrow slit of daylight above us, which was further reduced by the +feathery fringe of palm trees and aloes which hung over each lip of +the chasm. + +The cliffs were not more than a couple of hundred yards apart at the +entrance, but as we advanced they grew nearer and nearer, until a half +company in close order could hardly march abreast. + +A sort of twilight reigned in this strange valley, and the dim, +uncertain light made the great, basalt rocks loom up vague and +fantastic. There was no path, and the ground was most uneven, but I +pushed on briskly, cautioning my fellows to have their fingers on +their triggers, for I could see that we were nearing the point where the +two cliffs would form an acute angle with each other. + +At last we came in sight of the place. A great pile of boulders was +heaped up at the very end of the pass, and among these our fugitives +were skulking, entirely demoralised apparently, and incapable of +resistance. They were useless as prisoners, and it was out of the +question to let them go, so there was no choice but to polish them off. + +Waving my sword, I was leading my men on, when we had a most dramatic +interruption of a sort which I have seen once or twice on the boards of +Drury Lane, but never in real life. + +In the side of the cliff, close to the pile of stones where the Hillmen +were making their last stand, there was a cave which looked more like +the lair of some wild beast than a human habitation. + +Out of this dark archway there suddenly emerged an old man--such a very, +very old man that all the other veterans whom I have seen were as +chickens compared with him. His hair and beard were both as white as +snow, and each reached more than half-way to his waist. His face was +wrinkled and brown and ebony, a cross between a monkey and a mummy, and +so thin and emaciated were his shrivelled limbs that you would hardly +have given him credit for having any vitality left, were it not for his +eyes, which glittered and sparkled with excitement, like two diamonds in +a setting of mahogany. + +This apparition came rushing out of the cave, and, throwing himself +between the fugitives and our fellows, motioned us back with as +imperious a sweep of the hand as ever an emperor used to his slaves. + +"Men of blood," he cried, in a voice of thunder, speaking excellent +English, too--"this is a place for prayer and meditation, not for +murder. Desist, lest the wrath of the gods fall upon you." + +"Stand aside, old man," I shouted. "You will meet with a hurt if you +don't get out of the way." + +I could see that the Hillmen were taking heart, and that some of my +Sepoys were flinching, as if they did not relish this new enemy. +Clearly, I must act promptly if I wished to complete our success. + +I dashed forward at the head of the white artillerymen who had stuck to +me. The old fellow rushed at us with his arms out as if to stop us, but +it was not time to stick at trifles, so I passed my sword through his +body at the same moment that one of the gunners brought his carbine down +upon his head. He dropped instantly, and the Hillmen, at the sight of +his fall, set up the most unearthly howl of horror and consternation. + +The Sepoys, who had been inclined to hang back, came on again the moment +he was disposed of, and it did not take us long to consummate our +victory. Hardly a man of the enemy got out of the defile alive. + +What could Hannibal or Caesar have done more? Our own loss in the whole +affair has been insignificant--three killed and about fifteen wounded. +Got their banner, a green wisp of a thing with a sentence of the Koran +engraved upon it. + +I looked, after the action, for the old chap, but his body had +disappeared, though how or whither I have no conception. His blood +be upon his own head! He would be alive now if he had not interfered, +as the constables say at home, "with an officer in the execution of his +duty." + +The scouts tell me that his name was Ghoolab Shah, and that he was one +of the highest and holiest of the Buddhists. He had great fame in the +district as a prophet and worker of miracles--hence the hubbub when +he was cut down. They tell me that he was living in this very cave when +Tamerlane passed this way in 1399, with a lot more bosh of that sort. + +I went into the cave, and how any man could live in it a week is a +mystery to me, for it was little more than four feet high, and as +damp and dismal a grotto as ever was seen. A wooden settle and a rough +table were the sole furniture, with a lot of parchment scrolls with +hieroglyphics. + +Well, he has gone where he will learn that the gospel of peace and good +will is superior to all his Pagan lore. Peace go with him. + +Elliott and Chamberlain never caught the main body--I knew they +wouldn't--so the honours of the day rest with me. I ought to get a step +for it, anyhow, and perhaps, who knows? some mention in the _Gazette_. +What a lucky chance! I think Zemaun deserves his telescope after all +for giving it to me. Shall have something to eat now, for I am half +starved. Glory is an excellent thing, but you cannot live upon it. + +October 6, 11 A.M.--Let me try to set down as calmly and as accurately +as I can all that occurred last night. I have never been a dreamer or a +visionary, so I can rely upon my own senses, though I am bound to say +that if any other fellow had told me the same thing I should have +doubted him. I might even have suspected that I was deceived at the +time had I not heard the bell since. However, I must narrate what +happened. + +Elliott was in my tent with me having a quiet cheroot until about ten +o'clock. I then walked the rounds with my jemidar, and having seen that +all was right I turned in a little before eleven. + +I was just dropping off to sleep, for I was dog-tired after the day's +work, when I was aroused by some slight noise, and, looking round, I saw +a man dressed in Asiatic costume standing at the entrance of my tent. +He was motionless when I saw him, and he had his eyes fixed upon me with +a solemn and stern expression. + +My first thought was that the fellow was some Ghazi or Afghan fanatic +who had stolen in with the intention of stabbing me, and with this idea +in my mind I had all the will to spring from my couch and defend myself, +but the power was unaccountably lacking. + +An overpowering languor and want of energy possessed me. Had I seen the +dagger descending upon my breast I could not have made an effort to +avert it. I suppose a bird when it is under the influence of a snake +feels very much as I did in the presence of this gloomy-faced stranger. +My mind was clear enough, but my body was as torpid as though I were +still asleep. + +I shut my eves once or twice and tried to persuade myself that the whole +thing was a delusion, but every time that I opened them there was the +man still regarding me with the same stony, menacing stare. + +The silence became unendurable. I felt that I must overcome my languor +so far as to address him. I am not a nervous man, and I never knew +before what Virgil meant when he wrote "adhoesit faucibus ora." +At last I managed to stammer out a few words, asking the intruder who he +was and what he wanted. + +"Lieutenant Heatherstone," he answered, speaking slowly and gravely, "you +have committed this day the foulest sacrilege and the greatest crime +which it is possible for man to do. You have slain one of the thrice +blessed and reverend ones, an arch adept of the first degree, an elder +brother who has trod the higher path for more years than you have +numbered months. You have cut him off at a time when his labours +promised to reach a climax and when he was about to attain a height of +occult knowledge which would have brought man one step nearer to his +Creator. All this you have done without excuse, without provocation, at +a time when he was pleading the cause of the helpless and distressed. +Listen now to me, John Heatherstone. + +"When first the occult sciences were pursued many thousands of years +ago, it was found by the learned that the short tenure of human +existence was too limited to allow a man to attain the loftiest heights +of inner life. The inquirers of those days directed their energies in +the first place, therefore, to the lengthening of their own days in +order that they might have more scope for improvement. + +"By their knowledge of the secret laws of Nature they were enabled to +fortify their bodies against disease and old age. It only remained to +protect themselves against the assaults of wicked and violent men who +are ever ready to destroy what is wiser and nobler than themselves. +There was no direct means by which this protection could be effected, +but it was in some measure attained by arranging the occult forces in +such a way that a terrible and unavoidable retribution should await the +offender. + +"It was irrevocably ordained by laws which cannot be reversed that any +one who should shed the blood of a brother who had attained a certain +degree of sanctity should be a doomed man. Those laws are extant to +this day, John Heatherstone, and you have placed yourself in their +power. King or emperor would be helpless before the forces which you +have called into play. What hope, then, is there for you? + +"In former days these laws acted so instantaneously that the slayer +perished with his victim. It was judged afterwards that this prompt +retribution prevented the offender from having time to realise the +enormity of his offence. + +"It was therefore ordained that in all such cases the retribution should +be left in the hands of the _chelas_, or immediate disciples of the holy +man, with power to extend or shorten it at their will, exacting it +either at the time or at any future anniversary of the day when the +crime was committed. + +"Why punishment should come on those days only it does not concern you +to know. Suffice it that you are the murderer of Ghoolab Shah, the +thrice blessed, and that I am the senior of his three _chelas_ +commissioned to avenge his death. + +"It is no personal matter between us. Amid our studies we have no +leisure or inclination for personal matters. It is an immutable law, +and it is as impossible for us to relax it as it is for you to escape +from it Sooner or later we shall come to you and claim your life in +atonement for the one which you have taken. + +"The same fate shall be meted out to the wretched soldier, Smith, who, +though less guilty than yourself, has incurred the same penalty by +raising his sacrilegious hand against the chosen of Buddha. If your +life is prolonged, it is merely that you may have time to repent of your +misdeed and to feel the full force of your punishment. + +"And lest you should be tempted to cast it out of your mind and to +forget it, our bell--our astral bell, the use of which is one of +our occult secrets--shall ever remind you of what have been and what is +to be. You shall hear it by day and you shall hear it by night, and it +will be a sign to you that do what you may and go where you will, you +can never shake yourself clear of the _chelas_ of Ghoolab Shah. + +"You will never see me more, accursed one, until the day when we come +for you. Live in fear, and in that anticipation which is worse than +death." + +With a menacing wave of the hand the figure turned and swept out of my +tent into the darkness. The instant that the fellow disappeared from +my sight I recovered from my lethargy which had fallen upon me. +Springing to my feet, I rushed to the opening and looked out. A Sepoy +sentry was standing leaning upon his musket, a few paces off. + +"You dog," I said in Hindustani. "What do you mean by letting people +disturb me in this way?" + +The man stared at me in amazement. "Has any one disturbed the sahib?" +he asked. + +"This instant--this moment. You must have seen him pass out of my +tent." + +"Surely the Burra Sahib is mistaken," the man answered, respectfully but +firmly. "I have been here for an hour, and no one has passed from the +tent." + +Puzzled and disconcerted, I was sitting by the side of my couch +wondering whether the whole thing were a delusion, brought on by +the nervous excitement of our skirmish, when a new marvel overtook me. +From over my head there suddenly sounded a sharp, tinkling sound, like +that produced by an empty glass when flipped by the nail, only louder +and more intense. + +I looked up, but nothing was to be seen. I examined the whole interior +of the tent carefully, but without discovering any cause for the strange +sound. At last, worn out with fatigue, I gave the mystery up, and +throwing myself on the couch was soon fast asleep. + +When I awoke this morning I was inclined to put the whole of my +yesternight's experiences down to imagination, but I was soon disabused +of the idea, for I had hardly risen before the same strange sound was +repeated in my very ear as loudly, and to all appearance as causelesly, +as before. What it is or where it comes from I cannot conceive. I have +not heard it since. + +Can the fellow's threats have something in them and this be the warning +bell of which he spoke? Surely it is impossible. Yet his manner was +indescribably impressive. + +I have tried to set down what he said as accurately as I can, but I fear +I have omitted a good deal. What is to be the end of this strange +affair? I must go in for a course of religion and holy water. Not a +word to Chamberlain or Elliott. They tell me I am looking like a ghost +this morning. + +_Evening_.--Have managed to compare notes with Gunner Rufus Smith of the +Artillery, who knocked the old fellow over with the butt of his gun. +His experience has been the same as mine. He has heard the sound, too. +What is the meaning of it all? My brain is in a whirl. + +Oct. 10 (four days later).--God help us! + +This last laconic entry terminated the journal. It seemed to me that, +coming as it did after four days' complete silence, it told a clearer +tale of shaken nerve and a broken spirit than could any more elaborate +narrative. Pinned on to the journal was a supplementary statement which +had evidently been recently added by the general. + +"From that day to this," it said, "I have had no night or day free from +the intrusion of that dreadful sound with its accompanying train of +thought. Time and custom have brought me no relief, but on the +contrary, as the years pass over my head my physical strength decreases +and my nerves become less able to bear up against the continual strain. + +"I am a broken man in mind and body. I live in a state of tension, +always straining my ears for the hated sound, afraid to converse +with my fellows for fear of exposing my dreadful condition to them, with +no comfort or hope of comfort on this side of the grave. I should +be willing. Heaven knows, to die, and yet as each 5th of October comes +round, I am prostrated with fear because I do not know what strange and +terrible experience may be in store for me. + +"Forty years have passed since I slew Ghoolab Shah, and forty times I +have gone through all the horrors of death, without attaining the +blessed peace which lies beyond. + +"I have no means of knowing in what shape my fate will come upon me. +I have immured myself in this lonely country, and surrounded myself with +barriers, because in my weaker moments my instincts urge me to take some +steps for self-protection, but I know well in my heart how futile it all +is. They must come quickly now, for I grow old, and Nature will +forestall them unless they make haste. + +"I take credit to myself that I have kept my hands off the prussic-acid +or opium bottle. It has always been in my power to checkmate my occult +persecutors in that way, but I have ever held that a man in this world +cannot desert his post until he has been relieved in due course by the +authorities. I have had no scruples, however, about exposing myself to +danger, and, during the Sikh and Sepoy wars, I did all that a man could +do to court Death. He passed me by, however, and picked out many a +young fellow to whom life was only opening and who had everything to +live for, while I survived to win crosses and honours which had lost all +relish for me. + +"Well, well, these things cannot depend upon chance, and there is no +doubt some deep reason for it all. + +"One compensation Providence has made me in the shape of a true and +faithful wife, to whom I told my dreadful secret before the wedding, and +who nobly consented to share my lot. She has lifted half the burden +from my shoulders, but with the effect, poor soul, of crushing her own +life beneath its weight! + +"My children, too, have been a comfort to me. Mordaunt knows all, or +nearly all. Gabriel we have endeavoured to keep in the dark, though we +cannot prevent her from knowing that there is something amiss. + +"I should like this statement to be shown to Dr. John Easterling", of +Stranraer. He heard on one occasion this haunting sound. My sad +experience may show him that I spoke truth when I said that there was +much knowledge in the world which has never found its way to England. + +"J. B. HEATHERSTONE." + +It was going on for dawn by the time that I had finished this +extraordinary narrative, to which my sister and Mordaunt Heatherstone +listened with the most absorbed attention. Already we could see through +the window that the stars had begun to fade and a grey light to appear +in the east. The crofter who owned the lurcher dog lived a couple of +miles off, so it was time for us to be on foot. Leaving Esther to tell +my father the story in such fashion as she might, we thrust some food in +our pockets and set off upon our solemn and eventful errand. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + + +AT THE HOLE OF CREE + +It was dark enough when we started to make it no easy matter to find our +way across the moors, but as we advanced it grew lighter and lighter, +until by the time we reached Fullarton's cabin it was broad daylight. + +Early as it was, he was up and about, for the Wigtown peasants are an +early rising race. We explained our mission to him in as few words as +possible, and having made his bargain--what Scot ever neglected that +preliminary?--he agreed not only to let us have the use of his dog but +to come with us himself. + +Mordaunt, in his desire for privacy, would have demurred at this +arrangement, but I pointed out to him that we had no idea what +was in store for us, and the addition of a strong, able-bodied man to +our party might prove to be of the utmost consequence. + +Again, the dog was less likely to give us trouble if we had its master +to control it. My arguments carried the day, and the biped accompanied +us as well as his four-footed companion. + +There was some little similarity between the two, for the man was a +towsy-headed fellow with a great mop of yellow hair and a straggling +beard, while the dog was of the long-haired, unkempt breed looking like +an animated bundle of oakum. + +All our way to the Hall its owner kept retailing instances of the +creature's sagacity and powers of scent, which, according to his +account, were little less than miraculous. His anecdotes had a poor +audience, I fear, for my mind was filled with the strange story which +I had been reading, while Mordaunt strode on with wild eyes and feverish +cheeks, without a thought for anything but the problem which +we had to solve. + +Again and again as we topped an eminence I saw him look eagerly round +him in the faint hope of seeing some trace of the absentee, but over the +whole expanse of moorland there was no sign of movement or of life. +All was dead and silent and deserted. + +Our visit to the Hall was a very brief one, for every minute now was of +importance. Mordaunt rushed in and emerged with an old coat of his +father's, which he handed to Fullarton, who held it out to the dog. + +The intelligent brute sniffed at it all over, then ran whining a little +way down the avenue, came back to sniff the coat again, and finally +elevating its stump of a tail in triumph, uttered a succession of sharp +yelps to show that it was satisfied that it had struck the trail. Its +owner tied a long cord to its collar to prevent it from going too fast +for us, and we all set off upon our search, the dog tugging and training +at its leash in its excitement as it followed in the general's +footsteps. + +Our way lay for a couple of hundred yards along the high road, and then +passed through a gap In the hedge and on to the moor, across which we +were led in a bee-line to the northward. + +The sun had by this time risen above the horizon, and the whole +countryside looked so fresh and sweet, from the blue, sparkling sea +to the purple mountains, that it was difficult to realise how weird and +uncanny was the enterprise upon which we were engaged. + +The scent must have lain strongly upon the ground, for the dog never +hesitated nor stopped, dragging its master along at a pace which +rendered conversation impossible. + +At one place, in crossing a small stream, we seemed to get off the trail +for a few minutes, but our keen-nosed ally soon picked it up on the +other side and followed it over the trackless moor, whining and yelping +all the time in its eagerness. Had we not all three been fleet of foot +and long of wind, we could not have persisted in the continuous, rapid +journey over the roughest of ground, with the heather often well-nigh up +to our waists. + +For my own part, I have no idea now, looking back, what goal it was +which I expected to reach at the end of our pursuit. I can remember +that my mind was full of the vaguest and most varying speculations. + +Could it be that the three Buddhists had had a craft in readiness off +the coast, and had embarked with their prisoners for the East? +The direction of their track seemed at first to favour this supposition, +for it lay in the line of the upper end of the bay, but it ended by +branching off and striking directly inland. Clearly the ocean was not +to be our terminus. + +By ten o'clock we had walked close upon twelve miles, and were compelled +to call a halt for a few minutes to recover our breath, for the last +mile or two we had been breasting the long, wearying slope of the +Wigtown hills. + +From the summit of this range, which is nowhere more than a thousand +feet in height, we could see, looking northward, such a scene of +bleakness and desolation as can hardly be matched in any country. + +Right away to the horizon stretched the broad expanse of mud and of +water, mingled and mixed together in the wildest chaos, like a portion +of some world in the process of formation. Here and there on the +dun-coloured surface of this great marsh there had burst out patches of +sickly yellow reeds and of livid, greenish scum, which only served to +heighten and intensify the gloomy effect of the dull, melancholy +expanse. + +On the side nearest to us some abandoned peat-cuttings showed that +ubiquitous man had been at work there, but beyond these few petty scars +there was no sign anywhere of human life. Not even a crow nor a +seagull flapped its way over that hideous desert. + +This is the great Bog of Cree. It is a salt-water marsh formed by an +inroad of the sea, and so intersected is it with dangerous swamps and +treacherous pitfalls of liquid mud, that no man would venture through it +unless he had the guidance of one of the few peasants who retain the +secret of its paths. + +As we approached the fringe of rushes which marked its border, a foul, +dank smell rose up from the stagnant wilderness, as from impure water +and decaying vegetation--an earthy, noisome smell which poisoned the +fresh upland air. + +So forbidding and gloomy was the aspect of the place that our stout +crofter hesitated, and it was all that we could do to persuade him to +proceed. Our lurcher, however, not being subject to the delicate +impressions of our higher organisation, still ran yelping along with its +nose on the ground and every fibre of its body quivering with excitement +and eagerness. + +There was no difficulty about picking our way through the morass, for +wherever the five could go we three could follow. + +If we could have had any doubts as to our dog's guidance they would all +have been removed now, for in the soft, black, oozing soil we could +distinctly trace the tracks of the whole party. From these we could see +that they had walked abreast, and, furthermore, that each was about +equidistant from the other. Clearly, then, no physical force had +been used in taking the general and his companion along. The compulsion +had been psychical and not material. + +Once within the swamp, we had to be careful not to deviate from the +narrow track, which offered a firm foothold. + +On each side lay shallow sheets of stagnant water overlying a +treacherous bottom of semi-fluid mud, which rose above the surface here +and there in moist, sweltering banks, mottled over with occasional +patches of unhealthy vegetation. Great purple and yellow fungi +had broken out in a dense eruption, as though Nature were afflicted with +a foul disease, which manifested itself by this crop of plague spots. + +Here and there dark, crab-like creatures scuttled across our path, and +hideous, flesh-coloured worms wriggled and writhed amid the sickly +reeds. Swarms of buzzing, piping insects rose up at every step and +formed a dense cloud around our heads, settling on our hands and faces +and inoculating us with their filthy venom. Never had I ventured into +so pestilent and forbidding a place. + +Mordaunt Heatherstone strode on, however, with a set purpose upon his +swarthy brow, and we could but follow him, determined to stand by him to +the end of the adventure. As we advanced, the path grew narrower and +narrower until, as we saw by the tracks, our predecessors had been +compelled to walk in single file. Fullarton was leading us with the +dog, Mordaunt behind him, while I brought up the rear. The peasant had +been sulky and surly for a little time back, hardly answering when +spoken to, but he now stopped short and positively refused to go a step +farther. + +"It's no' canny," he said, "besides I ken where it will lead us tae'" + +"Where, then?" I asked. + +"Tae the Hole o' Cree," he answered. "It's no far frae here, I'm +thinking." + +"The Hole of Cree! What is that, then?" + +"It's a great, muckle hole in the ground that gangs awa' doon so deep +that naebody could ever reach the bottom. Indeed there are folk wha +says that it's just a door leadin' intae the bottomless pit itsel'" + +"You have been there, then?" I asked. + +"Been there!" he cried. "What would I be doin' at the Hole o' Cree? No, +I've never been there, nor any other man in his senses." + +"How do you know about it, then?" + +"My great-grandfeyther had been there, and that's how I ken," Fullarton +answered. "He was fou' one Saturday nicht and he went for a bet. He +didna like tae talk aboot it afterwards, and he wouldna tell a' what +befell him, but he was aye feared o' the very name. He's the first +Fullarton that's been at the Hole o' Cree, and he'll be the last for me. +If ye'll tak' my advice ye'll just gie the matter up and gang name +again, for there's na guid tae be got oot o' this place." + +"We shall go on with you or without you," Mordaunt answered. "Let us +have your dog and we can pick you up on our way back." + +"Na, na," he cried, "I'll no' hae my dog scaret wi' bogles, and running +down Auld Nick as if he were a hare. The dog shall bide wi' me." + +"The dog shall go with us," said my companion, with his eyes blazing. +"We have no time to argue with you. Here's a five-pound note. Let us +have the dog, or, by Heaven, I shall take it by force and throw you in +the bog if you hinder us." + +I could realise the Heatherstone of forty years ago when I saw the +fierce and sudden wrath which lit up the features of his son. + +Either the bribe or the threat had the desired effect, for the fellow +grabbed at the money with one hand while with the other he surrendered +the leash which held the lurcher. Leaving him to retrace his steps, we +continued to make our way into the utmost recesses of the great swamp. + +The tortuous path grew less and less defined as we proceeded, and was +even covered in places with water, but the increasing excitement of the +hound and the sight of the deep footmarks in the mud stimulated us +to push on. At last, after struggling through a grove of high +bulrushes, we came on a spot the gloomy horror of which might have +furnished Dante with a fresh terror for his "Inferno." + +The whole bog in this part appeared to have sunk in, forming a great, +funnel-shaped depression, which terminated in the centre in a circular +rift or opening about forty feet in diameter. It was a whirlpool--a +perfect maelstrom of mud, sloping down on every side to this silent and +awful chasm. + +Clearly this was the spot which, under the name of the Hole of Cree, +bore such a sinister reputation among the rustics. I could not +wonder at its impressing their imagination, for a more weird or gloomy +scene, or one more worthy of the avenue which led to it, could not be +conceived. + +The steps passed down the declivity which surrounded the abyss, and we +followed them with a sinking feeling in our hearts, as we realised that +this was the end of our search. + +A little way from the downward path was the return trail made by the +feet of those who had come back from the chasm's edge. Our eyes fell +upon these tracks at the same moment, and we each gave a cry of horror, +and stood gazing speechlessly at them. For there, in those blurred +footmarks, the whole drama was revealed. + +_Five_had_gone_down,_but_only_three_had_returned_. + +None shall ever know the details of that strange tragedy. There was no +mark of struggle nor sign of attempt at escape. We knelt at the edge of +the Hole and endeavoured to pierce the unfathomable gloom which shrouded +it. A faint, sickly exhalation seemed to rise from its depths, and +there was a distant hurrying, clattering sound as of waters in the +bowels of the earth. + +A great stone lay embedded in the mud, and this I hurled over, but we +never heard thud or splash to show that it had reached the bottom. + +As we hung over the noisome chasm a sound did at last rise to our ears +out of its murky depths. High, clear, and throbbing, it tinkled for an +instant out of the abyss, to be succeeded by the same deadly stillness +which had preceded it. + +I did not wish to appear superstitious, or to put down to extraordinary +causes that which may have a natural explanation. That one keen note +may have been some strange water sound produced far down in the bowels +of the earth. It may have been that or it may have been that sinister +bell of which I had heard so much. Be this as it may, it was the only +sign that rose to us from the last terrible resting-place of the two who +had paid the debt which had so long been owing. + +We joined our voices in a call with the unreasoning obstinacy with which +men will cling to hope, but no answer came back to us save a hollow +moaning from the depths beneath. Footsore and heart-sick, we retraced +our steps and climbed the slimy slope once more. + +"What shall we do, Mordaunt?" I asked, in a subdued voice. "We can but +pray that their souls may rest in peace." + +Young Heatherstone looked at me with flashing eyes. + +"This may be all according to occult laws," he cried, "but we shall see +what the laws of England have to say upon it. I suppose a _chela_ may +be hanged as well as any other man. It may not be too late yet to run +them down. Here, good dog, good dog-here!" + +He pulled the hound over and set it on the track of the three men. +The creature sniffed at it once or twice, and then, falling upon its +stomach, with bristling hair and protruding tongue, it lay shivering and +trembling, a very embodiment of canine terror. + +"You see," I said, "it is no use contending against those who have +powers at their command to which we cannot even give a name. There is +nothing for it but to accept the inevitable, and to hope that these poor +men may meet with some compensation in another world for all that they +have suffered in this." + +"And be free from all devilish religions and their murderous +worshippers!" Mordaunt cried furiously. + +Justice compelled me to acknowledge in my own heart that the murderous +spirit had been set on foot by the Christian before it was taken up by +the Buddhists, but I forbore to remark upon it, for fear of irritating +my companion. + +For a long time I could not draw him away from the scene of his father's +death, but at last, by repeated arguments and reasonings, I succeeded in +making him realise how useless and unprofitable any further efforts on +our part must necessarily prove, and in inducing him to return with me +to Cloomber. + +Oh, the wearisome, tedious journey! It had seemed long enough when we +had some slight flicker of hope, or at least of expectation, before us, +but now that our worst fears were fulfilled it appeared interminable. + +We picked up our peasant guide at the outskirts of the marsh, and having +restored his dog we let him find his own way home, without telling him +anything of the results of our expedition. We ourselves plodded all +day over the moors with heavy feet and heavier hearts until we saw the +ill-omened tower of Cloomber, and at last, as the sun was setting, found +ourselves once more beneath its roof. + +There is no need for me to enter into further details, nor to describe +the grief which our tidings conveyed to mother and to daughter. +Their long expectation of some calamity was not sufficient to prepare +them for the terrible reality. + +For weeks my poor Gabriel hovered between life and death, and though she +came round al last, thanks to the nursing of my sister and the +professional skill of Dr. John Easterling, she has never to this day +entirely recovered her former vigour. Mordaunt, too, suffered much for +some time, and it was only after our removal to Edinburgh that he +rallied from the shock which he had undergone. + +As to poor Mrs. Heatherstone, neither medical attention nor change of +air can ever have a permanent effect upon her. Slowly and surely, but +very placidly, she has declined in health and strength, until it is +evident that in a very few weeks at the most she will have rejoined her +husband and restored to him the one thing which he must have grudged to +leave behind. + +The Laird of Branksome came home from Italy restored in health, with the +result that we were compelled to return once more to Edinburgh. + +The change was agreeable to us, for recent events had cast a cloud over +our country life and had surrounded us with unpleasant associations. +Besides, a highly honourable and remunerative appointment in connection +with the University library had become vacant, and had, through the +kindness of the late Sir Alexander Grant, been offered to my father, +who, as may be imagined, lost no time in accepting so congenial a post. + +In this way we came back to Edinburgh very much more important people +than we left it, and with no further reason to be uneasy about the +details of housekeeping. But, in truth, the whole household has been +dissolved, for I have been married for some months to my dear Gabriel, +and Esther is to become Mrs. Heatherstone upon the 23rd of the month. +If she makes him as good a wife as his sister has made me, we may both +set ourselves down as fortunate men. + +These mere domestic episodes are, as I have already explained, +introduced only because I cannot avoid alluding to them. + +My object in drawing up this statement and publishing the evidence which +corroborates it, was certainly not to parade my private affairs before +the public, but to leave on record an authentic narrative of a most +remarkable series of events. This I have endeavoured to do in as +methodical a manner as possible, exaggerating nothing and suppressing +nothing. + +The reader has now the evidence before him, and can form his own +opinions unaided by me as to the causes of the disappearance and death +of Rufus Smith and of John Berthier Heatherstone, V.C., C.B. + +There is only one point which is still dark to me. Why the _chelas_ of +Ghoolab Shah should have removed their victims to the desolate Hole of +Cree instead of taking their lives at Cloomber, is, I confess, a mystery +to me. + +In dealing with occult laws, however, we must allow for our own complete +ignorance of the subject. Did we know more we might see that there was +some analogy between that foul bog and the sacrilege which had been +committed, and that their ritual and customs demanded that just such a +death was the one appropriate to the crime. + +On this point I should be sorry to be dogmatic, but at least we must +allow that the Buddhist priests must have had some very good cause for +the course of action which they so deliberately carried out. + +Months afterwards I saw a short paragraph in the _Star_of_India_ +announcing that three eminent Buddhists--Lal Hoomi, Mowdar Khan, and Ram +Singh--had just returned in the steamship _Deccan_ from a short trip +to Europe. The very next item was devoted to an account of the life and +services of Major-General Heatherstone, "who has lately disappeared from +his country house in Wigtownshire, and who, there is too much reason to +fear, has been drowned." + +I wonder if by chance there was any other human eye but mine which +traced a connection between these paragraphs. I never showed them to my +wife or to Mordaunt, and they will only know of their existence when +they read these pages. + +I don't know that there is any other point which needs clearing up. +The intelligent reader will have already seen the reasons for the +general's fear of dark faces, of wandering men (not knowing how his +pursuers might come after him), and of visitors (from the +same cause and because his hateful bell was liable to sound at all +times). + +His broken sleep led him to wander about the house at night, and the +lamps which he burnt in every room were no doubt to prevent his +imagination from peopling the darkness with terrors. Lastly, his +elaborate precautions were, as he has himself explained, rather the +result of a feverish desire to do something than in the expectation that +he could really ward off his fate. + +Science will tell you that there are no such powers as those claimed by +the Eastern mystics. I, John Fothergill West, can confidently answer +that science is wrong. + +For what is science? Science is the consensus of opinion of scientific +men, and history has shown that it is slow to accept a truth. Science +sneered at Newton for twenty years. Science proved mathematically +that an iron ship could not swim, and science declared that a steamship +could not cross the Atlantic. + +Like Goethe's Mephistopheles, our wise professor's forte is +"stets verneinen." Thomas Didymus is, to use his own jargon, his +prototype. Let him learn that if he will but cease to believe in the +infallibility of his own methods, and will look to the East, from +which all great movements come, he will find there a school of +philosophers and of savants who, working on different lines from his +own, are many thousand years ahead of him in all the essentials of +knowledge. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of Cloomber, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER *** + +This file should be named cloom10.txt or cloom10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cloom11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cloom10a.txt + +Produced by Lionel G. Sear + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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