Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room,winning a way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him.There was something so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman,that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was Harker, who,with a quick movement, threw himself before the door leading into the room in the front of the house.As the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face,showing the eye-teeth long and pointed;but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of lion-like disdain.His expression again changed as, with a single impulse, we all advanced upon him.It was a pity that we had not some better organised plan of attack,for even at the moment I wondered what we were to do.I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would avail us anything.Harker evidently meant to try the matter,for he had ready his great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him.The blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count’s leap back saved him.A second less and the trenchant blade had shorne through his heart. As it was,the point just cut the cloth of his coat,making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of gold fell out.The expression of the Count’s face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker,though I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again for another stroke.Instinctively I moved forward with a protective impulse,holding the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I felt a mighty power fly along my arm;and it was without surprise that I saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously by each one of us.It would be impossible to describe the expression of hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over the Count’s face.His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes,and the red scar on the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound.The next instant, with a sinuous dive he swept under Harker’s arm, ere his blow could fall, and,grasping a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room,threw himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling glass,he tumbled into the flagged area below.Through the sound of the shivering glass I could hear the “ting” of the gold,as some of the sovereigns fell on the flagging.
We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up the steps,crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door. There he turned and spoke to us:--
“You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like sheep in a butcher’s.You shall be sorry yet, each one of you!You think you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is just begun!I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already;and through them you and others shall yet be mine--my creatures,to do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah!” With a contemptuous sneer, he passed quickly through the door,and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut.The first of us to speak was the Professor, as,realising the difficulty of following him through the stable, we moved toward the hall.
“We have learnt something--much!Notwithstanding his brave words, he fears us; he fear time, he fear want!For if not, why he hurry so?His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money?You follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For me,I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he return.” As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket;took the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them,and swept the remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with a match.
Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard,and Harker had lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however,bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there was no sign of him.Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back of the house;but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart.
It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off.We had to recognise that our game was up;with heavy hearts we agreed with the Professor when he said:--
“Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do just now is done;and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need not despair. There is but one more earth-box,and we must try to find it; when that is done all may yet be well.” I could see that he spoke as bravely as he could to comfort Harker.The poor fellow was quite broken down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress--he was thinking of his wife.
With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker waiting us,with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her bravery and unselfishness.When she saw our faces, her own became as pale as death:for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:--
“I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!” As she spoke, she took her husband’s grey head in her hands and kissed it--“Lay your poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear!God will protect us if He so will it in His good intent.” The poor fellow groaned.There was no place for words in his sublime misery.
We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered us all up somewhat. It was,perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to hungry people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or the sense of companionship may have helped us;but anyhow we were all less miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope.True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed;and although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to threaten her husband,and red at others when his devotion to her was manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness.When we came to the part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly,she clung to her husband’s arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could protect him from any harm that might come.She said nothing, however, till the narration was all done,and matters had been brought right up to the present time.Then without letting go her husband’s hand she stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh,that I could give any idea of the scene; of that sweet, sweet, good,good woman in all the radiant beauty of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead,of which she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our teeth--remembering whence and how it came;her loving kindness against our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting;and we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and purity and faith, was outcast from God.
“Jonathan,” she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips it was so full of love and tenderness,“Jonathan dear, and you all my true, true friends,I want you to bear something in mind through all this dreadful time.I know that you must fight--that you must destroy even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter;but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all.Just think what will be his joy when he, too,is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality.You must be pitiful to him, too, though it may not hold your hands from his destruction.”
As she spoke I could see her husband’s face darken and draw together,as though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core.Instinctively the clasp on his wife’s hand grew closer, till his knuckles looked white.She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she must have suffered,but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing than ever.As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing his hand from hers as he spoke:--
“May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which we are aiming at.If beyond it I could send his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!”
“Oh, hush!oh, hush!in the name of the good God. Don’t say such things, Jonathan, my husband;or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long,long day of it--that... perhaps ... some day ... I, too, may need such pity;and that some other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me!Oh, my husband!my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought had there been another way;but I pray that God may not have treasured your wild words,except as the heart-broken wail of a very loving and sorely stricken man. Oh, God,let these poor white hairs go in evidence of what he has suffered,who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom so many sorrows have come.”
We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept openly. She wept, too,to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed. Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her,and putting his arms round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress.Van Helsing beckoned to us and we stole out of the room,leaving the two loving hearts alone with their God.
Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming of the Vampire,and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace. She tried to school herself to the belief,and, manifestly for her husband’s sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was,I think and believe, not without its reward.Van Helsing had placed at hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency.When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should sit up,dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady.The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us shall be off to bed as soon as we can.Godalming has already turned in, for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I, too, shall go to bed.
_Jonathan Harker’s Journal._
_3-4 October, close to midnight._--I thought yesterday would never end.There was over me a yearning for sleep,in some sort of blind belief that to wake would be to find things changed,and that any change must now be for the better. Before we parted,we discussed what our next step was to be, but we could arrive at no result.All we knew was that one earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where it was.If he chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and in the meantime!--the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of it even now. This I know:that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling.I love her a thousand times more for her sweet pity of last night,a pity that made my own hate of the monster seem despicable.Surely God will not permit the world to be the poorer by the loss of such a creature.This is hope to me. We are all drifting reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor. Thank God!Mina is sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be like,with such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so calm, within my seeing,since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of March.I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red sunset on her face,but somehow now I think it has a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy myself,though I am weary--weary to death. However, I must try to sleep;for there is to-morrow to think of, and there is no rest for me until....
* * * * *
_Later._--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awaked by Mina, who was sitting up in bed,with a startled look on her face. I could see easily, for we did not leave the room in darkness;she had placed a warning hand over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:--
“Hush!there is someone in the corridor!” I got up softly, and crossing the room, gently opened the door.
Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake.He raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:--
“Hush!go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all night. We don’t mean to take any chances!”
His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina.She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor,pale face as she put her arms round me and said softly:--
“Oh, thank God for good brave men!” With a sigh she sank back again to sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again.
* * * * *
_4 October, morning._--Once again during the night I was wakened by Mina.This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs,and the gas flame was like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:--
“Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured without my knowing it.He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest;the time is getting close.” I went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing me, he sprang to his feet.
“Is anything wrong?” he asked, in alarm.
“No,” I replied; “but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once.”
“I will go,” he said, and hurried into the Professor’s room.
In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his dressing-gown, and Mr.Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at the door asking questions.When the Professor saw Mina smile--a positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he said:--
“Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See!friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!” Then turning to her, he said, cheerfully: “And what am I do for you?For at this hour you do not want me for nothings.”
“I want you to hypnotise me!” she said. “Do it before the dawn, for I feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is short!” Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed.
Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her,from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn.Mina gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat like a trip hammer,for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still;only by the gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was alive.The Professor made a few more passes and then stopped,and I could see that his forehead was covered with great beads of perspiration.Mina opened her eyes; but she did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes,and her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to impose silence,the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. They came on tip-toe,closing the door behind them, and stood at the foot of the bed, looking on.Mina appeared not to see them. The stillness was broken by Van Helsing’s voice speaking in a low level tone which would not break the current of her thoughts: --
“Where are you?” The answer came in a neutral way:--
“I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own.” For several minutes there was silence.Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood staring at her fixedly;the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room was growing lighter;without taking his eyes from Mina’s face, Dr. Van Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind.I did so, and the day seemed just upon us. A red streak shot up,and a rosy light seemed to diffuse itself through the room.On the instant the Professor spoke again:--
“Where are you now?” The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it were as though she were interpreting something.I have heard her use the same tone when reading her shorthand notes.
“I do not know. It is all strange to me!”
“What do you see?”
“I can see nothing; it is all dark.”
“What do you hear?” I could detect the strain in the Professor’s patient voice.
“The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can hear them on the outside.”
“Then you are on a ship?” We all looked at each other, trying to glean something each from the other.We were afraid to think. The answer came quick:--
“Oh, yes!”
“What else do you hear?”
“The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the creaking of a chain,and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan falls into the rachet.”
“What are you doing?”
“I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!” The voice faded away into a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.
By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of day. Dr.Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina’s shoulders, and laid her head down softly on her pillow.She lay like a sleeping child for a few moments, and then, with a long sigh,awoke and stared in wonder to see us all around her. “Have I been talking in my sleep?” was all she said. She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling,though she was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the conversation, and she said:--
“Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!” Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor’s calm voice called them back: --
“Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor whilst she spoke.There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek?God be thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we know not.We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men,since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen!Alas, but that sentence is a puddle; is it not?We can know now what was in the Count’s mind, when he seize that money,though Jonathan’s so fierce knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear me, ESCAPE!He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men following like dogs after a fox,this London was no place for him. He have take his last earth-box on board a ship,and he leave the land. He think to escape, but no!we follow him. Tally Ho!as friend Arthur would say when he put on his red frock!Our old fox is wily; oh!so wily, and we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a little while.In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters between us which he do not want to pass,and which he could not if he would--unless the ship were to touch the land,and then only at full or slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to us.Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need,and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with us.” Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:--
“But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?” He took her hand and patted it as he replied:--
“Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all questions.” He would say no more, and we separated to dress.
After breakfast Mina repeated her question.He looked at her gravely for a minute and then said sorrowfully:--
“Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!” She grew paler as she asked faintly:--
“Why?”
“Because,” he answered solemnly, “he can live for centuries, and you are but mortal woman.Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark upon your throat.”
I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint.
CHAPTER XXIV
DR. SEWARD’S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING
This to Jonathan Harker.
You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our search--if I can call it so,for it is not search but knowing, and we seek confirmation only.But do you stay and take care of her to-day. This is your best and most holiest office.This day nothing can find him here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already,for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away;he have gone back to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well,as if a great hand of fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way,and that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the money;for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun go down. It was his last hope,save that he might hide in the tomb that he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him,keep open to him. But there was not of time.When that fail he make straight for his last resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_. He is clever, oh, so clever!he know that his game here was finish; and so he decide he go back home.He find ship going by the route he came, and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship,and whither bound; when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all.Then we will comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope.For it will be hope when you think it over: that all is not lost.This very creature that we pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London;and yet in one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is finite,though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. But we are strong,each in our purpose; and we are all more strong together. Take heart afresh,dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is but begun,and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high to watch over His children.Therefore be of much comfort till we return.
VAN HELSING.
_Jonathan Harker’s Journal._
_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing’s message in the phonograph,the poor girl brightened up considerably.Already the certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort;and comfort is strength to her. For my own part,now that his horrible danger is not face to face with us,it seems almost impossible to believe in it.Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem like a long-forgotten dream.Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright sunlight----
Alas!how can I disbelieve!In the midst of my thought my eye fell on the red scar on my poor darling’s white forehead.Whilst that lasts, there can be no disbelief.And afterwards the very memory of it will keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle,so we have been over all the diaries again and again. Somehow,although the reality seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less.There is something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting.Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may be!I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other yet of the future.It is better to wait till we see the Professor and the others after their investigations.
The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run for me again. It is now three o’clock.
_Mina Harker’s Journal._
_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr.Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker.
Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape: --
“As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania,I felt sure that he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea,since by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne ignotum pro magnifico_;and so with heavy hearts we start to find what ships leave for the Black Sea last night.He was in sailing ship, since Madam Mina tell of sails being set.These not so important as to go in your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go,by suggestion of Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd’s, where are note of all ships that sail,however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go out with the tide.She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from Doolittle’s Wharf for Varna,and thence on to other parts and up the Danube. ‘Soh!’ said I, ‘this is the ship whereon is the Count.’ So off we go to Doolittle’s Wharf,and there we find a man in an office of wood so small that the man look bigger than the office.From him we inquire of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much,and he red face and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same;and when Quincey give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up,and put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing,he still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us,and ask many men who are rough and hot;these be better fellows too when they have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom,and of others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean;but nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know.
“They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five o’clock comes a man so hurry.A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning.That he be all in black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the time.That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship sails for the Black Sea and for where.Some took him to the office and then to the ship,where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of gang-plank,and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when told that he will be pay well;and though he swear much at the first he agree to term.Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse and cart can be hired.He go there and soon he come again, himself driving cart on which a great box;this he himself lift down, though it take several to put it on truck for the ship.He give much talk to captain as to how and where his box is to be place;but the captain like it not and swear at him in many tongues,and tell him that if he like he can come and see where it shall be. But he say ‘no’;that he come not yet, for that he have much to do.Whereupon the captain tell him that he had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again, polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell him that he doesn’t want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship forms, he departed.
“No one knew where he went ‘or bloomin’ well cared,’ as they said,for they had something else to think of--well with blood again;for it soon became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as was expected.A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew, and grew;till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her.The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and blood; but he could do nothing.The water rose and rose; and he began to fear that he would lose the tide altogether.He was in no friendly mood, when just at full tide,the thin man came up the gang-plank again and asked to see where his box had been stowed.Then the captain replied that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and blood--were in hell.But the thin man did not be offend, and went down with the mate and saw where it was place,and came up and stood awhile on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him.Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and all was clear again.My friends of the thirst and the language that was of bloom and blood laughed,as they told how the captain’s swears exceeded even his usual polyglot,and was more than ever full of picturesque,when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up and down on the river that hour,he found that few of them had seen any of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However,the ship went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the river mouth.She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea.
“And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for our enemy is on the sea,with the fog at his command, on his way to the Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time,go she never so quick; and when we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there.Our best hope is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset;for then he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There are days for us,in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about where he go;for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us invoices and all papers that can be.The box we seek is to be landed in Varna, and to be given to an agent,one Ristics who will there present his credentials;and so our merchant friend will have done his part. When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so,he can telegraph and have inquiry made at Varna, we say ‘no’;for what is to be done is not for police or of the customs.It must be done by us alone and in our own way.”