“Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how,of late, this monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally.How he has been making use of the zoöphagous patient to effect his entry into friend John’s home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we not see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone. And so he progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his hiding-place!But, my child, do not despair;this knowledge come to him just too late!Already all of his lairs but one be sterilise as for him;and before the sunset this shall be so.Then he have no place where he can move and hide.I delayed this morning that so we might be sure.Is there not more at stake for us than for him?Then why we not be even more careful than him?By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be well,friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us.To-day is our day, and we must go sure, if slow,and lose no chance. See!there are five of us when those absent ones return.”
Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door,the double postman’s knock of the telegraph boy.We all moved out to the hall with one impulse,and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to keep silence,stepped to the door and opened it.The boy handed in a despatch.The Professor closed the door again, and,after looking at the direction,opened it and read aloud.
“Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45,come from Carfax hurriedly and hastened towards the South.He seems to be going the round and may want to see you: Mina.”
There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker’s voice:--
“Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!” Van Helsing turned to him quickly and said:--
“God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear,and do not rejoice as yet;for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings. ”
“I care for nothing now,” he answered hotly,“except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation.I would sell my soul to do it!”
“Oh, hush, hush, my child!” said Van Helsing. “God does not purchase souls in this wise;and the Devil, though he may purchase,does not keep faith. But God is merciful and just,and knows your pain and your devotion to that dear Madam Mina.Think you, how her pain would be doubled,did she but hear your wild words.Do not fear any of us,we are all devoted to this cause,and to-day shall see the end.The time is coming for action;to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of man,and till sunset he may not change.It will take him time to arrive here--see,it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first.”
About half an hour after we had received Mrs.Harker’s telegram, there came a quiet,resolute knock at the hall door.It was just an ordinary knock,such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen,but it made the Professor’s heart and mine beat loudly.We looked at each other,and together moved out into the hall;we each held ready to use our various armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right. Van Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall:--
“It is all right. We found both places;six boxes in each and we destroyed them all!”
“Destroyed?” asked the Professor.
“For him!” We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:--
“There’s nothing to do but to wait here. If, however,he doesn’t turn up by five o’clock, we must start off;for it won’t do to leave Mrs.Harker alone after sunset.”
“He will be here before long now,” said Van Helsing,who had been consulting his pocket-book. “_Nota bene_,in Madam’s telegram he went south from Carfax,that means he went to cross the river,and he could only do so at slack of tide,which should be something before one o’clock.That he went south has a meaning for us.He is as yet only suspicious;and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went to Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your arms!Be ready!” He held up a warning hand as he spoke,for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door.
I could not but admire, even at such a moment,the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itself.In all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the world,Quincey Morris had always been the one to arrange the plan of action,and Arthur and I had been accustomed to obey him implicitly.Now, the old habit seemed to be renewed instinctively.With a swift glance around the room,he at once laid out our plan of attack, and,without speaking a word, with a gesture,placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker,and I were just behind the door,so that when it was opened the Professor could guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door. Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to move in front of the window. We waited in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least he feared it.