them and the safe anchorage of the lagoon. An hour with thiswind would get us there comfortably, and while Dr. Silence and Sangreefell into conversation, I sat and pondered over the strange suggestionsthat had just been put into my mind concerning the "Double," and thepossible form it might assume when dissociated temporarily from thephysical body.
The whole way home these two chatted, and John Silence was as gentle andsympathetic as a woman. I did not hear much of their talk, for the windgrew occasionally to the force of a hurricane and the sails and tillerabsorbed my attention; but I could see that Sangree was pleased andhappy, and was pouring out intimate revelations to his companion in theway that most people did--when John Silence wished them to do so.
But it was quite suddenly, while I sat all intent upon wind and sails,that the true meaning of Sangree's remark about the animal flared up inme with its full import. For his admission that he knew it was in painand starved was in reality nothing more or less than a revelation of hisdeeper self. It was in the nature of a confession. He was speaking ofsomething that he knew positively, something that was beyond question orargument, something that had to do directly with himself. "Poor starvedbeast" he had called it in words that had "come out of their ownaccord," and there had not been the slightest evidence of any desire toconceal or explain away. He had spoken instinctively--from his heart,and as though about his own self.
And half an hour before sunset we raced through the narrow opening ofthe lagoon and saw the smoke of the dinner-fire blowing here and thereamong the trees, and the figures of Joan and the Bo'sun's Mate runningdown to meet us at the landing-stage.
V
Everything changed from the moment John Silence set foot on that island;it was like the effect produced by calling in some big doctor, somegreat arbiter of life and death, for consultation. The sense of gravityincreased a hundredfold. Even inanimate objects took upon themselves asubtle alteration, for the setting of the adventure--this deserted bitof sea with its hundreds of uninhabited islands--somehow turned sombre.An element that was mysterious, and in a sense disheartening, creptunbidden into the severity of grey rock and dark pine forest and tookthe sparkle from the sunshine and the sea.
I, at least, was keenly aware of the change, for my whole being shifted,as it were, a degree higher, becoming keyed up and alert. The figuresfrom the background of the stage moved forward a little into thelight--nearer to the inevitable action. In a word this man's arrivalintensified the whole affair.
And, looking back down the years to the time when all this happened, itis clear to me that he had a pretty sharp idea of the meaning of it fromthe very beginning. How much he knew beforehand by his strange diviningpowers, it is impossible to say, but from the moment he came upon thescene and caught within himself the note of what was going on amongstus, he undoubtedly held the true solution of the puzzle and had no needto ask questions. And this certitude it was that set him in such anatmosphere of power and made us all look to him instinctively; for hetook no tentative steps, made no false moves, and while the rest of usfloundered he moved straight to the climax. He was indeed a true divinerof souls.
I can now read into his behaviour a good deal that puzzled me at thetime, for though I had dimly guessed the solution, I had no idea how hewould deal with it. And the conversations I can reproduce almostverbatim, for, according to my invariable habit, I kept full notes ofall he said.
To Mrs. Maloney, foolish and dazed; to Joan, alarmed, yet plucky; and tothe clergyman, moved by his daughter's distress below his usual shallowemotions, he gave the best possible treatment in the best possible way,yet all so easily and simply as to make it appear naturally spontaneous.For he dominated the Bo'sun's Mate, taking the measure of her ignorancewith infinite patience; he keyed up Joan, stirring her courage andinterest to the highest point for her own safety; and the ReverendTimothy he soothed and comforted, while obtaining his implicitobedience, by taking him into his confidence, and leading him graduallyto a comprehension of the issue that was bound to follow.
And Sangree--here his wisdom was most wisely calculated--he neglectedoutwardly because inwardly he was the object of his unceasing and mostconcentrated attention. Under the guise of apparent indifference hismind kept the Canadian under constant observation.
There was a restless feeling in the Camp that evening and none of uslingered round the fire after supper as usual. Sangree and I busiedourselves with patching up the torn tent for our guest and with findingheavy stones to hold the ropes, for Dr. Silence insisted on having itpitched on the highest point of the island ridge, just where it was mostrocky and there was no earth for pegs. The place, moreover, was midwaybetween the men's and women's tents, and, of course, commanded the mostcomprehensive view of the Camp.
"So that if your dog comes," he said simply, "I may be able to catch himas he passes across."
The wind had gone down with the sun and an unusual warmth lay over theisland that made sleep heavy, and in the morning we assembled at a latebreakfast, rubbing our eyes and yawning. The cool north wind had givenway to the warm southern air that sometimes came up with haze andmoisture across the Baltic, bringing with it the relaxing sensationsthat produced enervation and listlessness.
And this may have been the reason why at first I failed to notice thatanything unusual was about, and why I was less alert than normally; forit was not till after breakfast that the silence of our little partystruck me and I discovered that Joan had not yet put in an appearance.And then, in a flash, the last heaviness of sleep vanished and I sawthat Maloney was white and troubled and his wife could not hold a platewithout trembling.
A desire to ask questions was stopped in me by a swift glance from Dr.Silence, and I suddenly understood in some vague way that they werewaiting till Sangree should have gone. How this idea came to me I cannotdetermine, but the soundness of the intuition was soon proved, for themoment he moved off to his tent, Maloney looked up at me and began tospeak in a low voice.
"You slept through it all," he half whispered.
"Through what?" I asked, suddenly thrilled with the knowledge thatsomething dreadful had happened.
"We didn't wake you for fear of getting the whole Camp up," he went on,meaning, by the Camp, I supposed, Sangree. "It was just before dawn whenthe screams woke me."
"The dog again?" I asked, with a curious sinking of the heart.
"Got right into the tent," he went on, speaking passionately but verylow, "and woke my wife by scrambling all over her. Then she realisedthat Joan was struggling beside her. And, by God! the beast had torn herarm; scratched all down the arm she was, and bleeding."
"Joan injured?" I gasped.
"Merely scratched--this time," put in John Silence, speaking for thefirst time; "suffering more from shock and fright than actual wounds."
"Isn't it a mercy the doctor was here?" said Mrs. Maloney, looking as ifshe would never know calmness again. "I think we should both have beenkilled."
"It has been a most merciful escape," Maloney said, his pulpit voicestruggling with his emotion. "But, of course, we cannot risk another--wemust strike Camp and get away at once--"
"Only poor Mr. Sangree must not know what has happened. He is soattached to Joan and would be so terribly upset," added the Bo'sun'sMate distractedly, looking all about in her terror.
"It is perhaps advisable that Mr. Sangree should not know what hasoccurred," Dr. Silence said with quiet authority, "but I think, for thesafety of all concerned, it will be better not to leave the island justnow." He spoke with great decision and Maloney looked up and followedhis words closely.
"If you will agree to stay here a few days longer, I have no doubt wecan put an end to the attentions of your strange visitor, andincidentally have the opportunity of observing a most singular andinteresting phenomenon--"
"What!" gasped Mrs. Maloney, "a phenomenon?--you mean that you know whatit is?"
"I am quite certain I know what it is," he replied very low, for weheard the footsteps of Sangree approaching, "though I am not so certa
inyet as to the best means of dealing with it. But in any case it is notwise to leave precipitately--"
"Oh, Timothy, does he think it's a devil--?" cried the Bo'sun's Mate ina voice that even the Canadian must have heard.
"In my opinion," continued John Silence, looking across at me and theclergyman, "it is a case of modern lycanthropy with other complicationsthat may--" He left the sentence unfinished, for Mrs. Maloney got upwith a jump and fled to her tent fearful she might hear a worse thing,and at that moment Sangree turned the corner of the stockade and cameinto view.
"There are footmarks all round the mouth of my tent," he said withexcitement. "The animal has been here again in the night. Dr. Silence,you really must come and