DRACULA
Bram
Stoker
CHAPTER
XXVII.
MINA
HARKER'S JOURNAL.
1 November.- All day long we have travelled, and at a good
speed. The horses seem to
know that they are being kindly treated, for they go willingly their
full stage at best speed. We have now had so many changes and find the
same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to think 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 well to make
the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea; and off we
go. It is a lovely country; full of beauties of all imaginable kinds,
and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of
nice qualities. They are very, very superstitious. In the first house
where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my
forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to
keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting
an extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can't abide garlic.
Ever since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and
so have escaped their suspicions. We are travelling fast, and as we
have no driver with us to carry tales, we go ahead of scandal; but I
daresay that fear of the evil eye will follow hard behind us all the
way. The Professor seems tireless; all day he would not take any rest,
though he made me sleep for a long spell. At sunset time he hypnotised
me, and he says that I answered as usual "darkness, lapping water
and creaking wood;" so our enemy is still on the river. I am
afraid to think of Jonathan, but somehow I have now no fear for him,
or for myself I write this 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 and grey, but his mouth is set as firmly as a
conqueror's; even in his sleep he is instinct with resolution. When we
have well started I must make him rest whilst I drive. I shall tell
him that we have days before us, and he must not break down when most
of all his strength will be needed... All is ready; we are off
shortly.
2 November, morning.- I was successful, and we took turns
driving all night; now the day is on us, bright though cold. There is
a strange heaviness in the air- I say heaviness for want of a better
word; I mean that it oppresses us both. It is very cold, and only our
warm furs keep us comfortable. At dawn Van Helsing hypnotised me; he
says I answered "darkness, creaking wood and roaring water,"
so the river is changing as they ascend. I do hope that my darling
will not run any chance of danger- more than need be; but we are in
God's hands.
2 November, night.- All day long driving. The country gets
wilder as we go, and the great spurs of the Carpathians, which at
Veresti seemed so far from us and so low on the horizon, now seem to
gather round us and tower in front. We both seem in good spirits; I
think we make an effort 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.
The houses are very few here now, and the Professor says that
the last horses we got will have to go on with us, as we may not be
able to change. He got two in addition to the two we changed, so that
now we have a rude four-in-hand. The dear horses are patient and good,
and they give us no trouble. We are not worried with other travellers,
and so even I can drive. We shall get to the Pass in daylight; we do
not want to arrive before. So we take it easy, and have each a long
rest in turn. Oh, what will to-morrow bring to us? We go to seek the
place where my poor darling suffered so much. God grant that we may be
guided aright, and that 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 His sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall
be until He may deign to let me stand forth in His sight as one of
those who have not incurred His wrath.
Memorandum by Abraham Van Helsing.
4 November.- This to my old and true friend John Seward, M.D.,
of Purfleet, London, in case I may not see him. It may explain. It is
morning, and I write by a fire which all the night I have kept alive-
Madam Mina aiding me. It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey heavy
sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all winter as
the ground is hardening to receive it. It seems to have affected Madam
Mina; she has been so heavy of head all day that she was not like
herself. She sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps! She, who is usual so
alert, have done literally nothing all the day; she even have lost her
appetite. She make no entry into her little diary, she who write so
faithful 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 refresh
and restore her, for now she is all sweet and bright as ever. At
sunset I try to hypnotise her, but alas! with no effect; the power has
grown less 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, I must, in my cumbrous old fashion, that so each day of
us may not go unrecorded.
We got to the Borgo Pass just after sunrise yesterday morning.
When I saw the signs of the dawn I got ready for the hypnotism. We
stopped our carriage, and got down so that there might be no
disturbance. I made a couch with furs, and Madam Mina, lying down,
yield herself as usual, but more slow and more short time than ever,
to the hypnotic sleep. As before, came the answer: "darkness and
the swirling of water." Then she woke, 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 new guiding 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 my Jonathan travelled it and wrote of his
travel?"
At first I think somewhat strange, but soon I see that there be
only one such by-road. It is used but little, and very different from
the coach road from the Bukovina to Bistritz, which is more wide and
hard, and more of use.
So we came down this road; when we meet other ways- not always
were we sure that they were roads at all, for they be neglect and
light snow have fallen- the horses know and they only. I give rein to
them, and they go on so patient. By-and-by we find all the things
which Jonathan have note in that wonderful diary of him. Then we go on
for long, long hours and hours. At the first, I tell Madam Mina to
sleep; she try, and she succeed. She sleep all the time; till at the
last, I feel myself to suspicious grow, and attempt to wake her. But
she sleep on, and I may not wake her though I try. I do not wish to
try too hard lest I harm her; for I know that she have suffer much,
and sleep at times be all-in-all to her. I think I drowse myself, for
all of sudden I feel guilt, as though I have done something; I find
myself bolt up, with the reins in my hand, and the good horses go
along jog, jog, just as ever. I look down and find Madam Mina still
sleep. It is now not far off sunset time, 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 though it were the end of the
world.
Then I arouse Madam Mina. This time she wake with not much
trouble, and then I try to put her to hypnotic sleep. But she sleep
not, being as though I were not. Still I try and try, till all at once
I find her and myself 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 we first enter the Count's house. I am
amaze, and not at ease then; but she is so bright and tender and
thoughtful for me that I forget all fear. I light a fire, for we have
brought supply of wood with us, and she prepare 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 go to help her, but she smile,
and tell me that she have eat already- that she was so hungry that she
would not wait. I like it not, and I have grave doubts; but I fear to
affright her, and so I am silent of it. She help me and I eat alone;
and then we wrap in fur and lie beside the fire, and I tell her to
sleep while I watch. But presently I forget all of watching; and when
I sudden remember that I watch, I find her lying quiet, but awake, and
looking at me with so bright eyes. Once, twice more the same occur,
and I get much sleep till before morning. When I wake I try to
hypnotise her; but alas! though she shut her eyes obedient, she may
not sleep. The sun rise up, and up, and up; and then sleep come to her
too late, but so heavy that she will not wake. I have to lift her up,
and place her sleeping in the carriage when I have harnessed the
horses and made all ready. Madam still sleep, and sleep; and she look
in her sleep more healthy and more redder than before. And I like it
not. And I am afraid, afraid, afraid!- I am afraid of all things-even
to think; but I must go on my way. The stake we play for is life and
death, or more than these, and we must not flinch.
5 November, morning.- Let me be accurate in everything, for
though you and I have seen some strange things together, you may at
the first think that I, Van Helsing, am mad- that the many horrors and
the so long strain on nerves has at the last turn my brain.
All yesterday we travel, ever getting closer to the mountains,
and moving into a more and more wild and desert land. There are great,
frowning precipices and much falling water, and Nature seem to have
held sometime her carnival. Madam Mina still sleep and sleep; and
though I did have hunger and appeased it, I could not waken her-even
for food. I began to fear that the fatal spell of the place was upon
her, tainted as she is with that Vampire baptism. "Well,"
said I to myself, "if it be that she sleep all the day, it shall
also be that I do not sleep at night." As we travel on the rough
road, for a road of an ancient and imperfect kind there was, I held
down my head and slept. Again I waked with a sense of guilt and of
time passed, and found Madam Mina still sleeping, and the sun low
down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning mountains seemed
further away, and we were near the top of a steep-rising hill, on
summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell of 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- for
even after down-sun the heavens reflected the gone sun on the snow,
and all was for a time in a great twilight- I took out the horses and
fed them in what shelter I could. Then I make a fire; and near it I
make Madam Mina, now awake and more charming than ever, sit
comfortable amid her rugs. I got ready food: but she would not eat,
simply saying that she had not hunger. I did not press her, knowing
her unavailingness. But I myself eat, for I must needs now be strong
for all. Then, with the fear on me of what might be, I drew a ring so
big for her comfort, round where Madam Mina sat; and over the ring I
passed some of the wafer, and I broke it fine so that all was well
guarded. She sat still all the time- so still as one dead; and she
grew whiter and ever whiter till the snow was not more pale; and no
word she said. But when I drew near, she clung to me, and I could know
that the poor soul shook her from head to feet with a tremor that was
pain to feel. I said to her presently, when she had grown more quiet:-
"Will you not come over to the fire?" for I wished to
make a test of what she could. She rose obedient, but when she have
made a step she stopped, and stood as one stricken.
"Why not go on?" I asked. She shook her head, and,
coming back, sat down in her place. Then, looking at me with open
eyes, as of one waked from sleep, she said simply:-
"I cannot!" and remained silent. I rejoiced, for I
knew that what she could not, none of those that we dreaded could.
Though there might be danger to her body, yet her soul was safe!
Presently the horses began to scream, and tore at their tethers
till I came to them and quieted them. When they did feel my hands on
them, they whinnied low as in joy, and licked at my hands and were
quiet for a time. Many times through the night did I come to them,
till it arrive to the cold hour when all nature is at lowest; and
every time my coming was with quiet of them. In the cold hour the fire
began to die, and I was about stepping forth to replenish it, for now
the snow came in flying sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the
dark there was a light of some kind, as there ever is over snow; and
it seemed as though the snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took
shape as of women with trailing garments. All was in dead, grim
silence only that the horses whinnied and cowered, as if in terror of
the worst. I began to fear- horrible fears; but then came to me the
sense of safety in that ring wherein I stood. I began, too, to think
that my imaginings were of the night, and the gloom, and the unrest
that I have gone through, and all the terrible anxiety. It was as
though my memories of all Jonathan's horrid experience were befooling
me; for the snow flakes and the mist began to wheel and circle round,
till I could get as though a shadowy glimpse of those women that would
have kissed him. And then the horses cowered lower and lower, and
moaned in terror as men do in pain. Even the madness of fright was not
to them, so that they could break away. I feared for my dear Madam
Mina when these weird figures drew near and circled round. I looked at
her, but she sat calm, and smiled at me; when I would have stepped to
the fire to replenish it, she caught me and held me back, and
whispered, like a voice that one hears in a dream, so low it was:-
"No! No! Do not go without. Here you are safe!" I
turned to her, and looking in her eyes, said:-
"But you? It is for you that I fear!" whereat she
laughed- a laugh, low and unreal, and said:-
"Fear for me! Why fear for me? None safer in all the world
from them than I am," and as I wondered at the meaning of her
words, a puff of wind 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 the wheeling figures of mist and snow came closer, but
keeping ever without the Holy circle. Then they began to materialise,
till- if God have not take away my reason, for I saw it through my
eyes- there were before me in actual flesh the same three women that
Jonathan saw in the room, when they would have kissed his throat. I
knew the swaying round forms, the bright hard eyes, the white teeth,
the ruddy colour, the voluptuous lips. They smiled ever at poor dear
Madam Mina; and as their laugh came through the silence of the night,
they twined their arms and pointed to her, and said in those so sweet
tingling tones that Jonathan said were of the intolerable sweetness of
the water-glasses:-
"Come, sister. Come to us. Come! Come!" in fear I
turned to my poor Madam Mina, and my heart with gladness leapt like
flame; for oh! the terror in her sweet eyes, the repulsion, the
horror, told a story to my heart that was all of hope. God be thanked
she was not, yet, of them. I seized some of the firewood which was by
me, and holding out some of the Wafer, advanced on them towards the
fire. They drew back before me, and laughed their low horrid laugh. I
fed the fire, and feared them not; for I knew that we were safe within
our protections. They could not approach me, whilst so armed, nor
Madam Mina whilst she remained within the ring, which she could not
leave no more than they could enter. The horses had ceased to moan,
and lay still on the ground; the snow fell on them softly, and they
grew whiter. I knew that there was for the poor beasts no more of
terror.
And so we remained till the red of the dawn began to fall
through the snow-gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and
terror, but when 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 the whirling mist and snow; the wreaths of transparent gloom
moved away towards the castle, and were lost.
Instinctively, with the dawn coming, I turned to Madam Mina,
intending to hypnotise her, but she lay in a deep and sudden sleep,
from which I could not wake her. I tried to hypnotise through her
sleep, but she made no response, none at all; and the day broke. I
fear yet to stir. I have made my fire and have seen the horses, they
are all dead. To-day I have much to do here, and I keep waiting till
the sun is up high; for there may be places where I must go, where
that sunlight, though snow and mist obscure it, will be to me a
safety.
I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my
terrible work. Madam Mina still sleeps; and, God be thanked she is
calm in her sleep...
Jonathan Harker's Journal.
4 November, evening.- The accident to the launch has been a
terrible thing 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 we follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is
getting ready. We have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean
fight. Oh, if only Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope!
if I write no more Good-bye Mina! God bless and keep you.
Dr. Seward's Diary.
5 November.- With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us
dashing away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded
it in a cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is
falling lightly and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may
be our own feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the
howling of wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and
there are dangers 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
mercy at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I
left Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the
castle. The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from
Veresti was useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off
the rusty hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close
them, so that being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter
experience served me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to
the old chapel, for I knew that here my work lay. The air was
oppressive; it seemed as if there was some sulphurous fume, which at
times made me dizzy. Either there 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
the Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf!
I resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must
submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and
freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself
the choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in
than the 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 are inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She
lay in her vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I
shudder as though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in
old time, when such 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 the wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain
on, and on, till sunset come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the
beautiful eyes of the fair woman open and look love, and the
voluptuous mouth present to a kiss- and man is weak. And there remain
one more victim in the Vampire fold; 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
presence of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with
age and heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid
odour such as 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 a yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties
and to clog my very soul. It may have been that the need of natural
sleep, and the strange oppression of the air were beginning to
overcome me. Certain it was that I was lapsing into sleep, the
open-eyed sleep of one who yields to a sweet fascination, when there
came through the snow-stilled air a long, low wail, so full of woe and
pity that it woke me like the sound of 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
wrenching away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one.
I dared not pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once
more I should begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until,
presently, I find in a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved
that other fair sister which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather
herself out of the atoms of the mist. She was so fair to look on, so
radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct
of man in me, which calls some of my sex to love and to protect one of
hers, made my head whirl with new emotion. But God be thanked, that
soul-wall of my dear Madam Mina had not died out of my ears; and,
before the spell could be wrought further upon me, I had nerved myself
to my wild work. By this time I had searched all the tombs in the
chapel, so far as I could tell; and as there had been only three of
these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the night, 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, and nobly proportioned. On it
was but one word
DRACULA.
This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so
many more were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what
I knew. Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves
through my awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and
so banished him from it, Un-Dead, for ever.
Then began my terrible task, and, I dreaded it. Had it been but
one, it had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more
after I had been through a deed of horror, for if it was terrible with
the sweet Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who
had survived through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the
passing of the years; 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 by thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung
such a pall of fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble
even yet, though till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did
stand. Had I not seen the repose in the first place, and the gladness
that stole over it just ere the final dissolution came, as realisation
that the soul had been won, I could not have gone further with my
butchery. I could not
have endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the
plunging of writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled
in terror and left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls,
I can pity them now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her
full sleep of death, for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John,
hardly had my knife severed the head of each, before the whole body
began to melt away and crumble into its native dust, as though the
death that should have come centuries agone had at last assert himself
and say at once and loud "I am here!"
Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never
more can the Count enter there Un-dead.
When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke
from her sleep, 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 my husband who is, I know, coming towards
us." She was looking thin and pale and weak; but her eyes were
pure and glowed with fervour. I was glad to see her paleness and her
illness, for my mind was full of the fresh horror of that ruddy
vampire sleep.
And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go
eastward to meet our friends- and him- whom Madam Mina tell me that
she know are coming to meet us.
Mina Harker's Journal.
6 November.- it was late in the afternoon when the Professor
and I took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming.
We did not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to
take heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility
of being left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take
some of our provisions too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and,
so far as we could see through the snowfall, there was not even the
sign of habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with
the heavy walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw
where the clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so
deep under the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective
of the Carpathian mountains was far below it.
We saw it in all its grandeur, perched a thousand feet on the
summit of a sheer precipice, and with seemingly a great gap between it
and the steep of the adjacent mountain on any side. There was
something wild and uncanny about the place. We could hear the distant
howling of wolves. They were far off, but the sound, even though
coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was full of terror. I
knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about that he was
trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less exposed in
case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we could trace
it through the drifted snow.
In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up
and joined him. 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 the hand and drew me in. "See!" he
said, "here you will be in shelter, and if the wolves do come I
can meet them one by one." He brought in our furs, and made a
snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and forced them upon me.
But I could not eat; to even try to do so was repulsive to me, and,
much as I would have liked to please him, I could not bring myself to
the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not reproach me. Taking his
field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top of 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 the rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow
was now falling more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high
wind was beginning to blow. However there were times when there were
pauses between the snow flurries and I could see a long way round.
From the height where we were it was possible to see a great distance;
and far off, beyond the white waste of snow, I could see the river
lying like a black ribbon in kinks and curls as it wound its way.
Straight in front of us and not far off- in fact so near that I
wondered we had not noticed before- came a group of mounted men
hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a long leiter-wagon
which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail wagging, with each
stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the snow as they were,
I could see from the men's clothes that they were peasants or gypsies
of some kind.
On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw
it, for I felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing
close, and well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then
imprisoned there, would take new freedom and could in any of many
forms elude all pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor, to my
consternation, however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him
below me. Round the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found
shelter in last night. When he had completed it he stood beside me
again, saying:-
"At least you shall be safe here from him!" He took
the glasses from me, 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, and galloping as hard as they can."
He paused and went on in a hollow voice:-
"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's
will be done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow,
and the whole landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and
once more his glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden
cry:-
"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming
up from the south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look,
before the snow blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two
men might be Dr. Seward
and 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 around I saw on the north side of the coming party two other
men, riding at break-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 with the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted
in glee like a schoolboy, and, after looking intently till a snow fall
made sight impossible, he laid his Winchester rifle ready for use
against the boulder at the opening of our shelter. "They are all
converging," he said. "When the time comes we shall have the
gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver ready to hand, for
whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came louder 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 down towards the far
mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could see here and
there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger numbers-the
wolves were gathering for their prey.
Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now
in fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon
us in circling 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 to clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off.
We had of late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset,
that we knew with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that
before long the sun would set.
It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less than an
hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various bodies
began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer and
more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly had
driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts, the
snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each party,
the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did not
seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they
seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped
lower and lower on the mountain tops.
Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down
behind our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was
determined that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware
of our presence.
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 resolute tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not
have known the language, but there was no mistaking the tone, in
whatever tongue the words were spoken. Instinctively they reined in,
and at the instant Lord Godalming and Jonathan dashed up at one side
and Dr. Seward and Mr.
Morris on the other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid looking
fellow who sat his horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a
fierce voice gave to his companions some word to proceed. They lashed
the horses which sprang forward; but the four men raised their
Winchester rifles, and in an unmistakable way commanded them to stop.
At the same moment Dr. Van Helsing and I rose behind the rock and
pointed our weapons at them. Seeing that they were surrounded the men
tightened their reins and drew up. The leader turned to them and gave
a word at which every man of the gypsy party drew what weapon he
carried, knife or pistol, and held himself in readiness to attack.
Issue was joined in an instant.
The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse
out in front, and pointing first to the sun- now close down on the
hill tops- and then to the castle, said something which I did not
understand. For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves
from their horses and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt
terrible fear at seeing Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour
of battle must have been upon 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 our parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a
command; his men instantly formed round the cart in a sort of
undisciplined endeavour, each one shouldering and pushing the other in
his eagerness to carry out the order.
In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of
the ring of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the
cart; it was evident that they were bent on finishing their task
before the sun should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder
them. Neither the
levelled weapons or the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, or
the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their
attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his
purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they
cowered aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the
cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great
box, 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 of
Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had,
with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and
had seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them,
and they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at
first I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he
sprang beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could
see that with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the
blood was spurting through his fingers. He did not delay
notwithstanding this, for as Jonathan with desperate energy, attacked
one end of the chest, attempting to prize off the lid with his great
Kukri knife, he attacked the other frantically with his bowie. Under
the efforts of both men the lid began to yield; the nails drew with a
quick screeching sound, and the 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 made no further resistance. The sun was almost down on
the mountain tops, and the shadows of the whole group fell long upon
the snow. I saw the Count lying within the box upon the earth, some of
which the rude falling from the cart had scattered over him. He was
deathly pale, just like a waxen image, and the red eyes glared with
the horrible vindictive look which I knew too well.
As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate
in them turned 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 same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.
It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in
the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed
from our sight.
I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of
final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I
never could have imagined might have rested there.
The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and
every stone of its broken battlements was articulated against the
light of the setting sun.
The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the
extraordinary disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word,
and rode away as if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped
upon the leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them.
The wolves, which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their
wake, leaving us alone.
Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow,
holding his hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through
his fingers. I flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me
back; so did the two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the
wounded man laid back his head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took,
with a feeble effort, my hand in that of his own which was unstained.
He must have seen the anguish of my 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 cried suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and
pointing to me, "It was worth for this to die! Look! look!"
The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red
gleams fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With
one impulse the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest
"Amen" broke from all as their eyes followed the pointing of
his finger. The dying man spoke:-
"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See!
the snow is not more stainless than her forehead The curse has passed
away!"
And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died,
a gallant gentleman.
NOTE.
Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the
happiness of some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain
we endured. It is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's
birthday is the same day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His
mother holds, I know, the secret belief that some of our brave
friend's spirit has passed into him. His bundle of names links all our
little band of men together, but we call him Quincey.
In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania,
and went over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid
and terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the
things which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears
were living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out.
The castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation.
When we got home we were talking of the old time- which we
could all look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are
both happily married. I took the papers from the safe where they had
been ever since our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact,
that in all the mass of material of which the record is composed,
there is hardly one authentic document; nothing but a mass of
type-writing, except the later note-books of Mina and Seward and
myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum. We could hardly ask any one,
even did we wish to, to accept these as proofs of so wild a story. Van
Helsing summed it all up as he said, with our boy on his knee:-
"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy
will some day know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is.
Already he knows her sweetness and loving care; later on he will
understand how some men so loved her, that they did dare much for her
sake."
Jonathan
Harker.
THE
END
