CHAPTER XXVII
MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL
_1 November._--All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. Thehorses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they gowillingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so manychanges and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged tothink that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic;he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them wellto make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; andoff we go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginablekinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem fullof nice qualities. They are _very, very_ superstitious. In the firsthouse where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on myforehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, tokeep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting anextra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic. Eversince then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so haveescaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we have nodriver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I daresaythat fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the way. TheProfessor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest, though hemade me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised me, and hesays that I answered as usual darkness, lapping water and creakingwood; so our enemy is still on the river. I am afraid to think ofJonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him, or for myself. I writethis whilst we wait in a farmhouse for the horses to be got ready. Dr.Van Helsing is sleeping, Poor dear, he looks very tired and old andgrey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a conqueror's; even in his sleephe is instinct with resolution. When we have well started I must makehim rest whilst I drive. I shall tell him that we have days before us,and we must not break down when most of all his strength will beneeded.... All is ready; we are off shortly.
* * * * *
_2 November, morning._--I was successful, and we took turns driving allnight; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is a strangeheaviness in the air--I say heaviness for want of a better word; I meanthat it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our warm furs keepus comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he says I answereddarkness, creaking wood and roaring water, so the river is changing asthey ascend. I do hope that my darling will not run any chance ofdanger--more than need be; but we are in God's hands.
* * * * *
_2 November, night._--All day long driving. The country gets wilder aswe go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at Veresti seemedso far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to gather round usand tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I think we make aneffort each to cheer the other; in the doing so we cheer ourselves. Dr.Van Helsing says that by morning we shall reach the Borgo Pass. Thehouses are very few here now, and the Professor says that the last horsewe got will have to go on with us, as we may not be able to change. Hegot two in addition to the two we changed, so that now we have a rudefour-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good, and they give us notrouble. We are not worried with other travellers, and so even I candrive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do not want to arrivebefore. So we take it easy, and have each a long rest in turn. Oh, whatwill to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the place where my poordarling suffered so much. God grant that we may be guided aright, andthat He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both,and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in Hissight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deignto let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurredHis wrath.
_Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing._
_4 November._--This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D., ofPurfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It ismorning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have keptalive--Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the greyheavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for allwinter as the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to haveaffected Madam Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she wasnot like herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She who is usualso alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have losther appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write sofaithful at every pause. Something whisper to me that all is not well.However, to-night she is more _vif_. Her long sleep all day have refreshand restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At sunsetI try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has grownless and less with each day, and to-night it fail me altogether. Well,God's will be done--whatever it may be, and whithersoever it may lead!
Now to the historical, for as Madam Mina write not in her stenography, Imust, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of us may not gounrecorded.
We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning. When Isaw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We stopped ourcarriage, and got down so that there might be no disturbance. I made acouch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down, yield herself as usual, butmore slow and more short time than ever, to the hypnotic sleep. Asbefore, came the answer: darkness and the swirling of water. Then shewoke, bright and radiant and we go on our way and soon reach the Pass.At this time and place, she become all on fire with zeal; some newguiding power be in her manifested, for she point to a road and say:--
This is the way.
How know you it? I ask.
Of course I know it, she answer, and with a pause, add: Have not myJonathan travelled it and wrote of his travel?
At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be only onesuch by-road. It is used but little, and very different from the coachroad from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and hard, andmore of use.
So we came down this road; when we meet other ways--not always were wesure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and light snowhave fallen--the horses know and they only. I give rein to them, andthey go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things which Jonathanhave note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on for long, longhours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to sleep; she try, andshe succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the last, I feel myself tosuspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But she sleep on, and I maynot wake her though I try. I do not wish to try too hard lest I harmher; for I know that she have suffer much, and sleep at times beall-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for all of sudden I feelguilt, as though I have done something; I find myself bolt up, with thereins in my hand, and the good horses go along jog, jog, just as ever. Ilook down and find Madam Mina still sleep. It is now not far off sunsettime, and over the snow the light of the sun flow in big yellow flood,so that we throw great long shadow on where the mountain rise so steep.For we are going up, and up; and all is oh! so wild and rocky, as thoughit were the end of the world.
Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much trouble, andthen I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep not, being asthough I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once I find her andmyself in dark; so I look round, and find that the sun have gone down.Madam Mina laugh, and I turn and look at her. She is now quite awake,and look so well as I never saw her since that night at Carfax when wefirst enter the Count's house. I am amaze, and not at ease then; but sheis so bright and tender and thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. Ilight a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and sheprepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter,to feed. Then when I return to the fire she have my supper ready. I goto help her; but she smile, and tell me that she have eat already--thatshe was so hungry that she would not wait. I like it not, and I havegrave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it. Shehelp me and I eat alone; and then we wrap in fur and lie beside thefire, and I tell her to sleep while I watch. But presently I forget allof watching; and when I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lyingquiet, but awake, and looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twicemore the same occur, and I get much sleep till before morning. When Iwake I try to hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyesobedient, she may not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and thensleep come to her too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I haveto lift her up, and place her sleeping in the carriage when I haveharnessed the horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and she lookin her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like itnot. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!--I am afraid of all things--evento think but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life anddeath, or more than these, and we must not flinch.
* * * * *
_5 November, morning._--Let me be accurate in everything, for though youand I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first thinkthat I, Van Helsing, am mad--that the many horrors and the so longstrain on nerves has at the last turn my brain.
All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains, andmoving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great,frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have heldsometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and though Idid have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her--even for food. Ibegan to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon her, tainted asshe is with that Vampire baptism. Well, said I to myself, if it bethat she sleep all the day, it shall also be that I do not sleep atnight. As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient andimperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I wakedwith a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina stillsleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowningmountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of asteep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tellof in his diary. At once I exulted and feared; for now, for good or ill,the end was near.
I woke Madam Mina, and again tried to hypnotise her; but alas!unavailing till too late. Then, ere the great dark came upon us--foreven after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow, andall was for a time in a great twilight--I took out the horses and fedthem in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I makeMadam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit comfortable amidher rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying thatshe had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing her unavailingness. ButI myself eat, for I must needs now be strong for all. Then, with thefear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so big for her comfort, roundwhere Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I passed some of the wafer, andI broke it fine so that all was well guarded. She sat still all thetime--so still as one dead; and she grew whiter and ever whiter till thesnow was not more pale; and no word she said. But when I drew near, sheclung to me, and I could know that the poor soul shook her from head tofeet with a tremor that was pain to feel. I said to her presently, whenshe had grown more quiet:--
Will you not come over to the fire? for I wished to make a test ofwhat she could. She rose obedient, but when she have made a step shestopped, and stood as one stricken.
Why not go on? I asked. She shook her head, and, coming back, satdown in her place. Then, looking at me with open eyes, as of one wakedfrom sleep, she said simply:--
I cannot! and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I knew that what shecould not, none of those that we dreaded could. Though there might bedanger to her body, yet her soul was safe!
Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers till Icame to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on them, theywhinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were quiet for atime. Many times through the night did I come to them, till it arrive tothe cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and every time my coming waswith quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I wasabout stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flyingsweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light ofsome kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though thesnow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women withtrailing garments. All was in dead, grim silence only that the horseswhinnied and cowered, as if in terror of the worst. I began tofear--horrible fears; but then came to me the sense of safety in thatring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think that my imaginings were ofthe night, and the gloom, and the unrest that I have gone through, andall the terrible anxiety. It was as though my memories of all Jonathan'shorrid experience were befooling me; for the snow flakes and the mistbegan to wheel and circle round, till I could get as though a shadowyglimpse of those women that would have kissed him. And then the horsescowered lower and lower, and moaned in terror as men do in pain. Eventhe madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away. Ifeared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near andcircled round. I looked at her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; whenI would have stepped to the fire to replenish it, she caught me and heldme back, and whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so lowit was:--
No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe! I turned to her, andlooking in her eyes, said:--
But you? It is for you that I fear! whereat she laughed--a laugh, lowand unreal, and said:--
Fear for _me_! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world from themthan I am, and as I wondered at the meaning of her words, a puff ofwind made the flame leap up, and I see the red scar on her forehead.Then, alas! I knew. Did I not, I would soon have learned, for thewheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but keeping ever withoutthe Holy circle. Then they began to materialise till--if God have nottake away my reason, for I saw it through my eyes--there were before mein actual flesh the same three women that Jonathan saw in the room, whenthey would have kissed his throat. I knew the swaying round forms, thebright hard eyes, the white teeth, the ruddy colour, the voluptuouslips. They smiled ever at poor dear Madam Mina; and as their laugh camethrough the silence of the night, they twined their arms and pointed toher, and said in those so sweet tingling tones that Jonathan said wereof the intolerable sweetness of the water-glasses:--
Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come! In fear I turned to my poorMadam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like flame; for oh! theterror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the horror, told a story to myheart that was all of hope. God be thanked she was not, yet, of them. Iseized some of the firewood which was by me, and holding out some of theWafer, advanced on them towards the fire. They drew back before me, andlaughed their low horrid laugh. I fed the fire, and feared them not; forI knew that we were safe within our protections. They could notapproach, me, whilst so armed, nor Madam Mina whilst she remained withinthe ring, which she could not leave no more than they could enter. Thehorses had ceased to moan, and lay still on the ground; the snow fell onthem softly, and they grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poorbeasts no more of terror.
And so we remained till the red of the dawn to fall through thesnow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror; butwhen that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again.At the first coming of the dawn the horrid figures melted in thewhirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom moved awaytowards the castle, and were lost.
Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina, intendingto hypnotise her; but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep, from which Icould not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her sleep, but she madeno response, none at all; and the day broke. I fear yet to stir. I havemade my fire and have seen the horses, they are all dead. To-day I havemuch to do here, and I keep waiting till the sun is up high; for theremay be places where I must go, where that sunlight, though snow and mistobscure it, will be to me a safety.
I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terriblework. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked! she is calm in hersleep....
_Jonathan Harker's Journal._
_4 November, evening._--The accident to the launch has been a terriblething for us. Only for it we should have overtaken the boat long ago;and by now my dear Mina would have been free. I fear to think of her,off on the wolds near that horrid place. We have got horses, and wefollow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. Wehave our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if onlyMorris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no moreGood-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you.
_Dr. Seward's Diary._
_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashingaway from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in acluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightlyand there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our ownfeelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling ofwolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there aredangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready,and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who,or where, or what, or when, or how it may be....
_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._
_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercyat all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I leftMadam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle.The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti wasuseful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rustyhinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so thatbeing entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience servedme here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for Iknew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as ifthere was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Eitherthere was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves.Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight.The dilemma had me between his horns.
Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from theVampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! Iresolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we mustsubmit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death andfreedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself thechoice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in thanthe grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work.
I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that areinhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in herVampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder asthough I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, whensuch things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine,found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay,and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of thewanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunsetcome, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fairwoman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to akiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampirefold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!...
There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presenceof such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age andheavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour suchas the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing,with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to ayearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog myvery soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and thestrange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain itwas that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yieldsto a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air along, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the soundof a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard.
Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenchingaway tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared notpause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I shouldbegin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find ina high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sisterwhich, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms ofthe mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, soexquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which callssome of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirlwith new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear MadamMina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wroughtfurther upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I hadsearched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and asthere had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in thenight, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent.There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, andnobly proportioned. On it was but one word
DRACULA.
This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many morewere due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew.Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through myawful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banishedhim from it, Un-Dead, for ever.
Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, ithad been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I hadbeen through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweetMiss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survivedthrough centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of theyears; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives....
Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved bythoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall offear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, thoughtill all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seenthe repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it justere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had beenwon, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not haveendured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging ofwrithing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror andleft my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity themnow and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of deathfor a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knifesevered the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away andcrumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have comecenturies agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud Iam here!
Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more canthe Count enter there Un-Dead.
When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from hersleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much.
Come! she said, come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet myhusband who is, I know, coming towards us. She was looking thin andpale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I wasglad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of thefresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep.
And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meetour friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ arecoming to meet us.
_Mina Harker's Journal._
_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and Itook our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We didnot go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to takeheavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of beingleft without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of ourprovisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as wecould see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign ofhabitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavywalking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where theclear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep underthe hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of theCarpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur,perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and withseemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountainon any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. Wecould hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but thesound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, wasfull of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching aboutthat he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be lessexposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; wecould trace it through the drifted snow.
In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joinedhim. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock,with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by thehand and drew me in: See! he said, here you will be in shelter; andif the wolves do come I can meet them one by one. He brought in ourfurs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions andforced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so wasrepulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I couldnot bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did notreproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the topof the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:--
Look! Madam Mina, look! look! I sprang up and stood beside him on therock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now fallingmore heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginningto blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between thesnow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where wewere it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond thewhite waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon inkinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not faroff--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came agroup of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, along leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tailwagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against thesnow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they werepeasants or gypsies of some kind.
On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for Ifelt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, andwell I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisonedthere, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude allpursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation,however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Roundthe rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in lastnight. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:--
At least you shall be safe here from _him_! He took the glasses fromme, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us.See, he said, they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, andgalloping as hard as they can. He paused and went on in a hollowvoice:--
They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will bedone! Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the wholelandscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more hisglasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:--
Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from thesouth. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snowblots it all out! I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Sewardand Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan.At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking aroundI saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding atbreak-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took,of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party withthe cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy,and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, helaid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at theopening of our shelter. They are all converging, he said. When thetime comes we shall have gypsies on all sides. I got out my revolverready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves camelouder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again.It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us,and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank downtowards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I couldsee here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and largernumbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey.
Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now infierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us incircling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us;but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed toclear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had oflate been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knewwith fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long thesun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was lessthan an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the variousbodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercerand more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seeminglyhad driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts,the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of eachparty, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued didnot seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; theyseemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lowerand lower on the mountain tops.
Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behindour rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determinedthat they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of ourpresence.
All at once two voices shouted out to: Halt! One was my Jonathan's,raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolutetone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, butthere was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words werespoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalmingand Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on theother. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat hishorse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to hiscompanions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprangforward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in anunmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. VanHelsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them.Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drewup. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of thegypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and heldhimself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant.
The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out infront, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hilltops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand.For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horsesand dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeingJonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have beenupon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild,surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of ourparties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantlyformed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each oneshouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out theorder.
In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ringof men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it wasevident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sunshould set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither thelevelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, northe howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract theirattention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of hispurpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively theycowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon thecart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the greatbox, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr.Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring ofSzgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had,with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and hadseen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, andthey cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at firstI thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprangbeside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see thatwith his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood wasspurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, foras Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest,attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attackedthe other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men thelid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, andthe top of the box was thrown back.
By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters,and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and madeno resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and theshadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Countlying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling fromthe cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxenimage, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which Iknew too well.
As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in themturned to triumph.
But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife.I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the samemoment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.
It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in thedrawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed fromour sight.
I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of finaldissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I nevercould have imagined might have rested there.
The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stoneof its broken battlements was articulated against the light of thesetting sun.
The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinarydisappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away asif for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon theleiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves,which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leavingus alone.
Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding hishand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. Iflew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did thetwo doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back hishead on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my handin that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish ofmy heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:--
I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God! he criedsuddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, It wasworth for this to die! Look! look!
The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleamsfell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulsethe men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest Amen broke from allas their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying manspoke:--
Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is notmore stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!
And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, agallant gentleman.