CHAPTER I THE HEGIRA OF THE WESTS FROM EDINBURGH
I John Fothergill West student of law in the University of St Andrews have endeavoured in the ensuing pages to lay my statement before the public in a concise and businesslike fashion
It is not my wish to achieve literary success nor have I any desire by the graces of my style or by the artistic ordering of my incidents to throw a deeper shadow over the strange passages of which I shall have to speak My highest ambition is that those who know something of the matter should after reading my account be able to conscientiously indorse it without finding a single paragraph in which I have either added to or detracted from the truth
Should I attain this result I shall rest amply satisfied with the outcome of my first and probably my last venture in literature
It was my intention to write out the sequence of events in due order depending on trustworthy hearsay when I was describing that which was beyond my own personal knowledge I have now however through the kind cooperation of friends hit upon a plan which promises to be less onerous to me and more satisfactory to the reader This is nothing less than to make use of the various manuscripts which I have by me bearing upon the subject and to add to them the firsthand evidence contributed by those who had the best opportunities of knowing MajorGeneral J B Heatherstone
In pursuance of this design I shall lay before the public the testimony of Israel Stakes formerly coachman at Cloomber Hall and of John Easterling FRCP Edin now practising at Stranraer in Wigtownshire To these I shall add a verbatim account extracted from the journal of the late John Berthier Heatherstone of the events which occurred in the Thul Valley in the autumn of 41 towards the end of the first Afghan War with a description of the skirmish in the Terada defile and of the death of the man Ghoolab Shah
To myself I reserve the duty of filling up all the gaps and chinks which may be left in the narrative By this arrangement I have sunk from the position of an author to that of a compiler but on the other hand my work has ceased to be a story and has expanded into a series of affidavits
My Father John Hunter West was a well known Oriental and Sanskrit scholar and his name is still of weight with those who are interested in such matters He it was who first after Sir William Jones called attention to the great value of early Persian literature and his translations from the Hafiz and from Ferideddin Atar have earned the warmest commendations from the Baron von HammerPurgstall of Vienna and other distinguished Continental critics
In the issue of the Orientalisches Scienzblatt for January 1861 he is described as Der beruhmte und sehr gelhernte Hunter West von Edinburgh—a passage which I well remember that he cut out and stowed away with a pardonable vanity among the most revered family archives
He had been brought up to be a solicitor or Writer to the Signet as it is termed in Scotland but his learned hobby absorbed so much of his time that he had little to devote to the pursuit of his profession
When his clients were seeking him at his chambers in George Street he was buried in the recesses of the Advocates Library or poring over some mouldy manuscript at the Philosophical Institution with his brain more exercised over the code which Menu propounded six hundred years before the birth of Christ than over the knotty problems of Scottish law in the nineteenth century Hence it can hardly be wondered at that as his learning accumulated his practice dissolved until at the very moment when he had attained the zenith of his celebrity he had also reached the nadir of his fortunes
There being no chair of Sanscrit in any of his native universities and no demand anywhere for the only mental wares which he had to dispose of we should have been forced to retire into genteel poverty consoling ourselves with the aphorisms and precepts of Firdousi Omar Khayyam and others of his Eastern favourites had it not been for the kindness and liberality of his halfbrother William Farintosh the Laird of Branksome in Wigtownshire
This William Farintosh was the proprietor of a landed estate the acreage which bore unfortunately a most disproportional relation to its value for it formed the bleakest and most barren tract of land in the whole of a bleak and barren shire As a bachelor however his expenses had been small and he had contrived from the rents of his scattered cottages and the sale of the Galloway nags which he bred upon the moors not only to live as a laird should but to put by a considerable sum in the bank
We had heard little from our kinsman during the days of our comparative prosperity but just as we were at our wits end there came a letter like a ministering angel giving us assurance of sympathy and succour In it the Laird of Branksome told us that one of his lungs had been growing weaker for some time and that Dr Easterling of Stranraer had strongly advised him to spend the few years which were left to him in some more genial climate He had determined therefore to set out for the South of Italy and he begged that we should take up our residence at Branksome in his absence and that my father should act as his land steward and agent at a salary which placed us above all fear of want
Our mother had been dead for some years so that there were only myself my father and my sister Esther to consult and it may be readily imagined that it did not take us long to decide upon the acceptance of the lairds generous offer My father started for Wigtown that very night while Esther and I followed a few days afterwards bearing with us two potatosacksful of learned books and such other of our household effects that were worth the trouble and expense of transport
CHAPTER II OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH A TENANT CAME TO CLOOMBER
Branksome might have appeared a poor dwellingplace when compared with the house of an English squire but to us after our long residence in stuffy apartments it was of regal magnificence
The building was broadspread and low with redtiled roof diamondpaned windows and a profusion of dwelling rooms with smokeblackened ceilings and oaken wainscots In front was a small lawn girt round with a thin fringe of haggard and ill grown beeches all gnarled and withered from the effects of the seaspray Behind lay the scattered hamlet of BranksomeBere—a dozen cottages at most—inhabited by rude fisherfolk who looked upon the laird as their natural protector
To the west was the broad yellow beach and the Irish Sea while in all other directions the desolate moors greyishgreen in the foreground and purple in the distance stretched away in long low curves to the horizon
Very bleak and lonely it was upon this Wigtown coast A man might walk many a weary mile and never see a living thing except the white heavyflapping kittiwakes which screamed and cried to each other with their shrill sad voices
Very lonely and very bleak Once out of sight of Branksome and there was no sign of the works of man save only where the high white tower of Cloomber Hall shot up like a headstone of some giant grave from amid the firs and larches which girt it round
This great house a mile or more from our dwelling had been built by a wealthy Glasgow merchant of strange tastes and lonely habits but at the time of our arrival it had been untenanted for many years and stood with weatherblotched walls and vacant staring windows looking blankly out over the hill side
Empty and mildewed it served only as a landmark to the fishermen for they had found by experience that by keeping the lairds chimney and the white tower of Cloomber in a line they could steer their way through the ugly reef which raises its jagged back like that of some sleeping monster above the troubled waters of the windswept bay
To this wild spot it was that Fate had brought my father my sister and myself For us its loneliness had no terrors After the hubbub and bustle of a great city and the weary task of upholding appearances upon a slender income there was a grand soulsoothing serenity in the long skyline and the eager air Here at least there was no neighbour to pry and chatter
The laird had left his phaeton and two ponies behind him with the aid of which my father and I would go the round of the estate doing such light duties as fall to an agent or factor as it was there called while our gentle Esther looked to our household needs and brightened the dark old building
Such was our simple uneventful existence until the summer night when an unlookedfor incident occurred which proved to be the herald of those strange doings which I have taken up my pen to describe
It had been my habit to pull out of an evening in the lairds skiff and to catch a few whiting which might serve for our supper On this wellremembered occasion my sister came with me sitting with her book in the sternsheets of the boat while I hung my lines over the bows
The sun had sunk down behind the rugged Irish coast but a long bank of flushed cloud still marked the spot and cast a glory upon the waters The whole broad ocean was seamed and scarred with crimson streaks I had risen in the boat and was gazing round in delight at the broad panorama of shore and sea and sky when my sister plucked at my sleeve with a little sharp cry of surprise
See John she cried there is a light in Cloomber Tower
I turned my head and stared back at the tall white turret which peeped out above the belt of trees As I gazed I distinctly saw at one of the windows the glint of a light which suddenly vanished and then shone out once more from another higher up There it flickered for some time and finally flashed past two successive windows underneath before the trees obscured our view of it It was clear that some one bearing a lamp or a candle had climbed up the tower stairs and had then returned into the body of the house
Who in the world can it be I exclaimed speaking rather to myself than to Esther for I could see by the surprise upon her face that she had no solution to offer Maybe some of the folk from BranksomeBere have wanted to look over the place
My sister shook her head
There is not one of them would dare to set foot within the avenue gates she said Besides John the keys are kept by the houseagent at Wigtown Were they ever so curious none of our people could find their way in
When I reflected upon the massive door and ponderous shutters which guarded the lower storey of Cloomber I could not but admit the force of my sisters objection The untimely visitor must either have used considerable violence in order to force his way in or he must have obtained possession of the keys
Piqued by the little mystery I pulled for the beach with the determination to see for myself who the intruder might be and what were his intentions Leaving my sister at Branksome and summoning Seth Jamieson an old manowarsman and one of the stoutest of the fishermen I set off across the moor with him through the gathering darkness
It hasna a guid name after dark yon hoose remarked my companion slackening his pace perceptibly as I explained to him the nature of our errand Its no for naething that him wha owns it wunna gang within a Scotch mile ot
Well Seth there is some one who has no fears about going into it said I pointing to the great white building which flickered up in front of us through the gloom
The light which I had observed from the sea was moving backwards and forward past the lower floor windows the shutters of which had been removed I could now see that a second fainter light followed a few paces behind the other Evidently two individuals the one with a lamp and the other with a candle or rushlight were making a careful examination of the building
Let ilka man blaw his ain parritch said Seth Jamieson doggedly coming to a dead stop What is it tae us if a wraith or a bogle minds tae tak a fancy tae Cloomber Its no canny tae meddle wi such things
Why man I cried you dont suppose a wraith came here in a gig What are those lights away yonder by the avenue gates
The lamps o a gig sure enough exclaimed my companion in a less lugubrious voice Lets steer for it Master West and speer where she hails frae
By this time night had closed in save for a single long narrow slit in the westward Stumbling across the moor together we made our way into the Wigtown Road at the point where the high stone pillars mark the entrance to the Cloomber avenue A tall dogcart stood in front of the gateway the horse browsing upon the thin border of grass which skirted the road
Its a richt said Jamieson taking a close look at the deserted vehicle I ken it weel It belongs tae Maister McNeil the factor body frae Wigtown—him wha keeps the keys
Then we may as well have speech with him now that we are here I answered They are coming down if I am not mistaken
As I spoke we heard the slam of the heavy door and within a few minutes two figures the one tall and angular the other short and thick came towards us through the darkness They were talking so earnestly that they did not observe us until they had passed through the avenue gate
Good evening Mr McNeil said I stepping forward and addressing the Wigtown factor with whom I had some slight acquaintance
The smaller of the two turned his face towards me as I spoke and showed me that I was not mistaken in his identity but his taller companion sprang back and showed every sign of violent agitation
What is this McNeil I heard him say in a gasping choking voice Is this your promise What is the meaning of it
Dont be alarmed General Dont be alarmed said the little fat factor in a soothing fashion as one might speak to a frightened child This is young Mr Fothergill West of Branksome though what brings him up here tonight is more than I can understand However as you are to be neighbours I cant do better than take the opportunity to introduce you to each other Mr West this is General Heatherstone who is about to take a lease of Cloomber Hall
I held out my hand to the tall man who look it in a hesitating halfreluctant fashion
I came up I explained because I saw your lights in the windows and I bought that something might be wrong I am very glad I did so since it has given me the chance of making the generals acquaintance
Whilst I was talking I was conscious that the new tenant of Cloomber Hall was peering at me very closely through the darkness As I concluded he stretched out a long tremulous arm and turned the giglamp in such a way as to throw a flood of light upon my face
Good Heavens McNeil he cried in the same quivering voice as before the fellows as brown as chocolate Hes not an Englishman Youre not an Englishman—you sir
Im a Scotchman born and bred said I with an inclination to laugh which was only checked by my new acquaintances obvious terror
A Scotchman eh said he with a sigh of relief Its all one nowadays You must excuse me Mr—Mr West Im nervous infernally nervous Come along McNeil we must be back in Wigtown in less than an hour Goodnight gentlemen goodnight
The two clambered into their places the factor cracked his whip and the high dogcart clattered away through the darkness casting a brilliant tunnel of yellow light on either side of it until the rumble of its wheels died away in the distance
What do you think of our new neighbour Jamieson I asked after a long silence
Deed Mr West he seems as he says himsel to be vera nervous Maybe his conscience is oot o order
His liver more likely said I He looks as if he had tried his constitution a bit But its blowing chill Seth my lad and its time both of us were indoors
I bade my companion goodnight and struck off across the moors for the cheery ruddy light which marked the parlour windows of Branksome
CHAPTER III OF OUR FURTHER ACQUAINTANCE WITH MAJORGENERAL J B HEATHERSTONE
There was as may well be imagined much stir amongst our small community at the news that the Hall was to be inhabited once more and considerable speculation as to the new tenants and their object in choosing this particular part of the country for their residence
It speedily became apparent that whatever their motives might be they had definitely determined upon a lengthy stay for relays of plumbers and of joiners came down from Wigtown and there was hammering and repairing going on from morning till night
It was surprising how quickly the signs of the wind and weather were effaced until the great squareset house was all as spickandspan as though it had been erected yesterday There were abundant signs that money was no consideration to General Heatherstone and that it was not on the score of retrenchment that he had taken up his abode among us
It may be that he is devoted to study suggested my father as we discussed the question round the breakfast table Perhaps he has chosen this secluded spot to finish some magnum opus upon which he is engaged If that is the case I should be happy to let him have the run of my library
Esther and I laughed at the grandiloquent manner in which he spoke of the two potatosacksful of books
It may be as you say said I but the general did not strike me during our short interview as being a man who was likely to have any very pronounced literary tastes If I might hazard a guess I should say that he is here upon medical advice in the hope that the complete quiet and fresh air may restore his shattered nervous system If you had seen how he glared at me and the twitching of his fingers you would have thought it needed some restoring
I do wonder whether he has a wife and a family said my sister Poor souls how lonely they will be Why excepting ourselves there is not a family that they could speak to for seven miles and more
General Heatherstone is a very distinguished soldier remarked my father
Why papa however came you to know anything about him
Ah my dears said my father smiling at us over his coffeecup you were laughing at my library just now but you see it may be very useful at times As he spoke he took a redcovered volume from a shelf and turned over the pages This is an Indian Army List of three years back he explained and here is the very gentleman we wantHeatherstone J B Commander of the Bath my dears and VC think of that VC—formerly colonel in the Indian Infantry 41st Bengal Foot but now retired with the rank of majorgeneral In this other column is a record of his services—capture of Ghuznee and defence of Jellalabad Sobraon 1848 Indian Mutiny and reduction of Oudh Five times mentioned in dispatches I think my dears that we have cause to be proud of our new neighbour
It doesnt mention there whether he is married or not I suppose asked Esther
No said my father wagging his white head with a keen appreciation of his own humour It doesnt include that under the heading of daring actions—though it very well might my dear it very well might
All our doubts however upon this head were very soon set at rest for on the very day that the repairing and the furnishing had been completed I had occasion to ride into Wigtown and I met upon the way a carriage which was bearing General Heatherstone and his family to their new home An elderly lady worn and sicklylooking was by his side and opposite him sat a young fellow about my own age and a girl who appeared to be a couple of years younger
I raised my hat and was about to pass them when the general shouted to his coachman to pull up and held out his hand to me I could see now in the daylight that his face although harsh and stern was capable of assuming a not unkindly expression
How are you Mr Fothergill West he cried I must apologise to you if I was a little brusque the other night—you will excuse an old soldier who has spent the best part of his life in harness—All the same you must confess that you are rather darkskinned for a Scotchman
We have a Spanish strain in our blood said I wondering at his recurrence to the topic
That would of course account for it he remarked My dear to his wife allow me to introduce Mr Fothergill West to you This is my son and my daughter We have come here in search of rest Mr West—complete rest
And you could not possibly have come to a better place said I
Oh you think so he answered I suppose it is very quiet indeed and very lonely You might walk through these country lanes at night I dare say and never meet a soul eh
Well there are not many about after dark I said
And you are not much troubled with vagrants or wandering beggars eh Not many tinkers or tramps or rascally gipsies—no vermin of that sort about
I find it rather cold said Mrs Heatherstone drawing her thick sealskin mantle tighter round her figure We are detaining Mr West too
So we are my dear so we are Drive on coachman Goodday Mr West
The carriage rattled away towards the Hall and I trotted thoughtfully onwards to the little country metropolis
As I passed up the High Street Mr McNeil ran out from his office and beckoned to me to stop
Our new tenants have gone out he said They drove over this morning
I met them on the way I answered
As I looked down at the little factor I could see that his face was flushed and that he bore every appearance of having had an extra glass
Give me a real gentleman to do business with he said with a burst of laughter They understand me and I understand them What shall I fill it up for says the general taking a blank cheque out o his pouch and laying it on the table Two hundred says I leaving a bit o a margin for my own time and trouble
I thought that the landlord had paid you for that I remarked
Aye aye but its well to have a bit margin He filled it up and threw it over to me as if it had been an auld postage stamp Thats the way business should be done between honest men—though it wouldna do if one was inclined to take an advantage Will ye not come in Mr West and have a taste of my whisky
No thank you said I I have business to do
Well well business is the chief thing Its well not to drink in the morning too For my own part except a drop before breakfast to give me an appetite and maybe a glass or even twa afterwards to promote digestion I never touch spirits before noon What dye think o the general Mr West
Why I have hardly had an opportunity of judging I answered
Mr McNeil tapped his forehead with his forefinger
Thats what I think of him he said in a confidential whisper shaking his head at me Hes gone sir gone in my estimation Now what would you take to be a proof of madness Mr West
Why offering a blank cheque to a Wigtown houseagent said I
Ah youre aye at your jokes But between oorsels now if a man asked ye how many miles it was frae a seaport and whether ships come there from the East and whether there were tramps on the road and whether it was against the lease for him to build a high wall round the grounds what would ye make of it eh
I should certainly think him eccentric said I
If every man had his due our friend would find himsel in a house with a high wall round the grounds and that without costing him a farthing said the agent
Where then I asked humouring his joke
Why in the Wigtown County Lunatic Asylum cried the little man with a bubble of laughter in the midst of which I rode on my way leaving him still chuckling over his own facetiousness
The arrival of the new family at Cloomber Hall had no perceptible effect in relieving the monotony of our secluded district for instead of entering into such simple pleasures as the country had to offer or interesting themselves as we had hoped in our attempts to improve the lot of our poor crofters and fisherfolk they seemed to shun all observation and hardly ever to venture beyond the avenue gates
We soon found too that the factors words as to the inclosing of the grounds were founded upon fact for gangs of workmen were kept hard at work from early in the morning until late at night in erecting a high wooden fence round the whole estate
When this was finished and topped with spikes Cloomber Park became impregnable to any one but an exceptionally daring climber It was as if the old soldier had been so imbued with military ideas that like my Uncle Toby he could not refrain even in times of peace from standing upon the defensive
Stranger still he had victualled the house as if for a siege for Begbie the chief grocer of Wigtown told me himself in a rapture of delight and amazement that the general had sent him an order for hundreds of dozens of every imaginable potted meat and vegetable
It may be imagined that all these unusual incidents were not allowed to pass without malicious comment Over the whole countryside and as far away as the English border there was nothing but gossip about the new tenants of Cloomber Hall and the reasons which had led them to come among us
The only hypothesis however which the bucolic mind could evolve was that which had already occurred to Mr McNeil the factor—namely that the old general and his family were one and all afflicted with madness or as an alternative conclusion that he had committed some heinous offence and was endeavouring to escape the consequences of his misdeeds
These were both natural suppositions under the circumstances but neither of them appeared to me to commend itself as a true explanation of the facts
It is true that General Heatherstones behaviour on the occasion of our first interview was such as to suggest some suspicion of mental disease but no man could have been more reasonable or more courteous than he had afterwards shown himself to be
Then again his wife and children led the same secluded life that he did himself so that the reason could not be one peculiar to his own health
As to the possibility of his being a fugitive from justice that theory was even more untenable Wigtownshire was bleak and lonely but it was not such an obscure corner of the world that a wellknown soldier could hope to conceal himself there nor would a man who feared publicity set every ones tongue wagging as the general had done
On the whole I was inclined to believe that the true solution of the enigma lay in his own allusion to the love of quiet and that they had taken shelter here with an almost morbid craving for solitude and repose We very soon had an instance of the great lengths to which this desire for isolation would carry them
My father had come down one morning with the weight of a great determination upon his brow
You must put on your pink frock today Esther said he and you John you must make yourself smart for I have determined that the three of us shall drive round this afternoon and pay our respects to Mrs Heatherstone and the general
A visit to Cloomber cried Esther clapping her hands
I am here said my father with dignity not only as the lairds factor but also as his kinsman In that capacity I am convinced that he would wish me to call upon these newcomers and offer them any politeness which is in our power At present they must feel lonely and friendless What says the great Firdousi The choicest ornaments to a mans house are his friends
My sister and I knew by experience that when the old man began to justify his resolution by quotations from the Persian poets there was no chance of shaking it Sure enough that afternoon saw the phaeton at the door with my father perched upon the seat with his secondbest coat on and a pair of new drivinggloves
Jump in my dears he cried cracking his whip briskly we shall show the general that he has no cause to be ashamed of his neighbours
Alas pride always goes before a fall Our wellfed ponies and shining harness were not destined that day to impress the tenants of Cloomber with a sense of our importance
We had reached the avenue gate and I was about to get out and open it when our attention was arrested by a very large wooden placard which was attached to one of the trees in such a manner that no one could possibly pass without seeing it On the white surface of this board was printed in big black letters the following hospitable inscription
GENERAL AND MRS HEATHERSTONE
HAVE NO WISH
TO INCREASE
THE CIRCLE OF THEIR ACQUAINTANCE
We all sat gazing at this announcement for some moments in silent astonishment Then Esther and I tickled by the absurdity of the thing burst out laughing but my father pulled the ponies heads round and drove home with compressed lips and the cloud of much wrath upon his brow I have never seen the good man so thoroughly moved and I am convinced that his anger did not arise from any petty feeling of injured vanity upon his own part but from the thought that a slight had been offered to the Laird of Branksome whose dignity he represented
CHAPTER IV OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD
If I had any personal soreness on account of this family snub it was a very passing emotion and one which was soon effaced from my mind
It chanced that on the very next day after the episode I had occasion to pass that way and stopped to have another look at the obnoxious placard I was standing staring at it and wondering what could have induced our neighbours to take such an outrageous step when I became suddenly aware of a sweet girlish face which peeped out at me from between the bars of the gate and of a white hand which eagerly beckoned me to approach As I advanced to her I saw that it was the same young lady whom I had seen in the carriage
Mr West she said in a quick whisper glancing from side to side as she spoke in a nervous hasty manner I wish to apologise to you for the indignity to which you and your family were subjected yesterday My brother was in the avenue and saw it all but he is powerless to interfere I assure you Mr West that if that hateful thing pointing up at the placard has given you any annoyance it has given my brother and myself far more
Why Miss Heatherstone said I putting the matter off with a laugh Britain is a free country and if a man chooses to warn off visitors from his premises there is no reason why he should not
It is nothing less than brutal she broke out with a petulant stamp of the foot To think that your sister too should have such a unprovoked insult offered to her I am ready to sink with shame at the very thought
Pray do not give yourself one moments uneasiness upon the subject said I earnestly for I was grieved at her evident distress I am sure that your father has some reason unknown to us for taking this step
Heaven knows he has she answered with ineffable sadness in her voice and yet I think it would be more manly to face a danger than to fly from it However he knows best and it is impossible for us to judge But who is this she exclaimed anxiously peering up the dark avenue Oh it is my brother Mordaunt Mordaunt she said as the young man approached us I have been apologising to Mr West for what happened yesterday in your name as well as my own
I am very very glad to have the opportunity of doing it in person said he courteously I only wish that I could see your sister and your father as well as yourself to tell them how sorry I am I think you had better run up to the house little one for its getting near tiffintime No—dont you go Mr West I want to have a word with you
Miss Heatherstone waved her hand to me with a bright smile and tripped up the avenue while her brother unbolted the gate and passing through closed it again locking it upon the outside
Ill have a stroll down the road with you if you have no objection Have a manilla He drew a couple of cheroots from his pocket and handed one to me Youll find they are not bad he said I became a connoisseur in tobacco when I was in India I hope I am not interfering with your business in coming along with you
Not at all I answered I am very glad to have your company
Ill tell you a secret said my companion This is the first time that I have been outside the grounds since we have been down here
And your sister
She has never been out either he answered I have given the governor the slip today but he wouldnt half like it if he knew Its a whim of his that we should keep ourselves entirely to ourselves At least some people would call it a whim for my own part I have reason to believe that he has solid grounds for all that he does—though perhaps in this matter he may be a little too exacting
You must surely find it very lonely said I Couldnt you manage to slip down at times and have a smoke with me That house over yonder is Branksome
Indeed you are very kind he answered with sparkling eyes I should dearly like to run over now and again With the exception of Israel Stakes our old coachman and gardener I have not a soul that I can speak to
And your sister—she must feel it even more said I thinking in my heart that my new acquaintance made rather too much of his own troubles and too little of those of his companion
Yes poor Gabriel feels it no doubt he answered carelessly but its a more unnatural thing for a young man of my age to be cooped up in this way than for a woman Look at me now I am threeandtwenty next March and yet I have never been to a university nor to a school for that matter I am as complete an ignoramus as any of these clodhoppers It seems strange to you no doubt and yet it is so Now dont you think I deserve a better fate
He stopped as he spoke and faced round to me throwing his palms forward in appeal
As I looked at him with the sun shining upon his face he certainly did seem a strange bird to be cooped up in such a cage Tall and muscular with a keen dark face and sharp finely cut features he might have stepped out of a canvas of Murillo or Velasquez There were latent energy and power in his firmset mouth his square eyebrows and the whole pose of his elastic wellknit figure
There is the learning to be got from books and the learning to be got from experience said I sententiously If you have less of your share of the one perhaps you have more of the other I cannot believe you have spent all your life in mere idleness and pleasure
Pleasure he cried Pleasure Look at this He pulled off his hat and I saw that his black hair was all decked and dashed with streaks of grey Do you imagine that this came from pleasure he asked with a bitter laugh
You must have had some great shock I said astonished at the sight some terrible illness in your youth Or perhaps it arises from a more chronic cause—a constant gnawing anxiety I have known men as young as you whose hair was as grey
Poor brutes he muttered I pity them
If you can manage to slip down to Branksome at times I said perhaps you could bring Miss Heatherstone with you I know that my father and my sister would be delighted to see her and a change if only for an hour or two might do her good
It would be rather hard for us both to get away together he answered However if I see a chance I shall bring her down It might be managed some afternoon perhaps for the old man indulges in a siesta occasionally
We had reached the head of the winding lane which branches off from the high road and leads to the lairds house so my companion pulled up
I must go back he said abruptly or they will miss me Its very kind of you West to take this interest in us I am very grateful to you and so will Gabriel be when she hears of your kind invitation Its a real heaping of coals of fire after that infernal placard of my fathers
He shook my hand and set off down the road but he came running after me presently calling me to stop
I was just thinking he said that you must consider us a great mystery up there at Cloomber I dare say you have come to look upon it as a private lunatic asylum and I cant blame you If you are interested in the matter I feel it is unfriendly upon my part not to satisfy your curiosity but I have promised my father to be silent about it And indeed if I were to tell you all that I know you might not be very much the wiser after all I would have you understand this however—that my father is as sane as you or I and that he has very good reasons for living the life which he does I may add that his wish to remain secluded does not arise from any unworthy or dishonourable motives but merely from the instinct of selfpreservation
He is in danger then I ejaculated
Yes he is in constant danger
But why does he not apply to the magistrates for protection I asked If he is afraid of any one he has only to name him and they will bind him over to keep the peace
My dear West said young Heatherstone the danger with which my father is threatened is one that cannot be averted by any human intervention It is none the less very real and possibly very imminent
You dont mean to assert that it is supernatural I said incredulously
Well hardly that either he answered with hesitation There he continued I have said rather more than I should but I know that you will not abuse my confidence Goodbye
He look to his heels and was soon out of sight round a curve in the country road
A danger which was real and imminent not to be averted by human means and yet hardly supernatural—here was a conundrum indeed
I had come to look upon the inhabitants of the Hall as mere eccentrics but after what young Mordaunt Heatherstone had just told me I could no longer doubt that some dark and sinister meaning underlay all their actions The more I pondered over the problem the more unanswerable did it appear and yet I could not get the matter out of my thoughts
The lonely isolated Hall and the strange impending catastrophe which hung over its inmates appealed forcibly to my imagination All that evening and late into the night I sat moodily by the fire pondering over what I had heard and revolving in my mind the various incidents which might furnish me with some clue to the mystery
CHAPTER V HOW FOUR OF US CAME TO BE UNDER THE SHADOW OF CLOOMBER
I trust that my readers will not set me down as an inquisitive busybody when I say that as the days and weeks went by I found my attention and my thoughts more and more attracted to General Heatherstone and the mystery which surrounded him
It was in vain that I endeavoured by hard work and a strict attention to the lairds affairs to direct my mind into some more healthy channel Do what I would on land or on the water I would still find myself puzzling over this one question until it obtained such a hold upon me that I felt it was useless for me to attempt to apply myself to anything until I had come to some satisfactory solution of it
I could never pass the dark line of fivefoot fencing and the great iron gate with its massive lock without pausing and racking my brain as to what the secret might be which was shut in by that inscrutable barrier Yet with all my conjectures and all my observations I could never come to any conclusion which could for a moment be accepted as an explanation of the facts
My sister had been out for a stroll one night visiting a sick peasant or performing some other of the numerous acts of charity by which she had made herself beloved by the whole countryside
John she said when she returned have you seen Cloomber Hall at night
No I answered laying down the book which I was reading Not since that memorable evening when the general and Mr McNeil came over to make an inspection
Well John will you put your hat on and come a little walk with me
I could see by her manner that something had agitated or frightened her
Why bless the girl cried I boisterously what is the matter The old Hall is not on fire surely You look as grave as if all Wigtown were in a blaze
Not quite so bad as that she said smiling But do come out Jack I should very much like you to see it
I had always refrained from saying anything which might alarm my sister so that she knew nothing of the interest which our neighbours doings had for me At her request I took my hat and followed her out into the darkness She led the way along a little footpath over the moor which brought us to some rising ground from which we could look down upon the Hall without our view being obstructed by any of the firtrees which had been planted round it
Look at that said my sister pausing at the summit of this little eminence
Cloomber lay beneath us in a blaze of light In the lower floors the shutters obscured the illumination but above from the broad windows of the second storey to the thin slits at the summit of the tower there was not a chink or an aperture which did not send forth a stream of radiance So dazzling was the effect that for a moment I was persuaded that the house was on fire but the steadiness and clearness of the light soon freed me from that apprehension It was clearly the result of many lamps placed systematically all over the building
It added to the strange effect that all these brilliantly illuminated rooms were apparently untenanted and some of them so far as we could judge were not even furnished Through the whole great house there was no sign of movement or of life—nothing but the clear unwinking flood of yellow light
I was still lost in wonder at the sight when I heard a short quick sob at my side
What is it Esther dear I asked looking down at my companion
I feel so frightened Oh John John take me home I feel so frightened
She clung to my arm and pulled at my coat in a perfect frenzy of fear
Its all safe darling I said soothingly There is nothing to fear What has upset you so
I am afraid of them John I am afraid of the Heatherstones Why is their house lit up like this every night I have heard from others that it is always so And why does the old man run like a frightened hare if any one comes upon him There is something wrong about it John and it frightens me
I pacified her as well as I could and led her home with me where I took care that she should have some hot port negus before going to bed I avoided the subject of the Heatherstones for fear of exciting her and she did not recur to it of her own accord I was convinced however from what I had heard from her that she had for some time back been making her own observations upon our neighbours and that in doing so she had put a considerable strain upon her nerves
I could see that the mere fact of the Hall being illuminated at night was not enough to account for her extreme agitation and that it must have derived its importance in her eyes from being one in a chain of incidents all of which had left a weird or unpleasant impression upon her mind
That was the conclusion which I came to at the time and I have reason to know now that I was right and that my sister had even more cause than I had myself for believing that there was something uncanny about the tenants of Cloomber
Our interest in the matter may have arisen at first from nothing higher than curiosity but events soon look a turn which associated us more closely with the fortunes of the Heatherstone family
Mordaunt had taken advantage of my invitation to come down to the lairds house and on several occasions he brought with him his beautiful sister The four of us would wander over the moors together or perhaps if the day were fine set sail upon our little skiff and stand off into the Irish Sea
On such excursions the brother and sister would be as merry and as happy as two children It was a keen pleasure to them to escape from their dull fortress and to see if only for a few hours friendly and sympathetic faces round them
There could be but one result when four young people were brought together in sweet forbidden intercourse Acquaintanceship warmed into friendship and friendship flamed suddenly into love
Gabriel sits beside me now as I write and she agrees with me that dear as is the subject to ourselves the whole story of our mutual affection is of too personal a nature to be more than touched upon in this statement Suffice it to say that within a few weeks of our first meeting Mordaunt Heatherstone had won the heart of my dear sister and Gabriel had given me that pledge which death itself will not be able to break
I have alluded in this brief way to the double tie which sprang up between the two families because I have no wish that this narrative should degenerate into anything approaching to romance or that I should lose the thread of the facts which I have set myself to chronicle These are connected with General Heatherstone and only indirectly with my own personal history
It is enough if I say that after our engagement the visits to Branksome became more frequent and that our friends were able sometimes to spend a whole day with us when business had called the general to Wigtown or when his gout confined him to his room
As to our good father he was ever ready to greet us with many small jests and tags of Oriental poems appropriate to the occasion for we had no secrets from him and he already looked upon us all as his children
There were times when on account of some peculiarly dark or restless fit of the generals it was impossible for weeks on end for either Gabriel or Mordaunt to get away from the grounds The old man would even stand on guard a gloomy and silent sentinel at the avenue gate or pace up and down the drive as though he suspected that attempts had been made to penetrate his seclusion
Passing of an evening I have seen his dark grim figure flitting about in the shadow of the trees or caught a glimpse of his hard angular swarthy face peering out suspiciously at me from behind the bars
My heart would often sadden for him as I noticed his uncouth nervous movements his furtive glances and twitching features Who would have believed that this slinking cowering creature had once been a dashing officer who had fought the battles of his country and had won the palm of bravery among the host of brave men around him
In spite of the old soldiers vigilance we managed to hold communication with our friends
Immediately behind the Hall there was a spot where the fencing had been so carelessly erected that two of the rails could be removed without difficulty leaving a broad gap which gave us the opportunity for many a stolen interview though they were necessarily short for the generals movements were erratic and no part of the grounds was secure from his visitations
How vividly one of these hurried meetings rises before me It stands out clear peaceful and distinct amid the wild mysterious incidents which were destined to lead up to the terrible catastrophe which has cast a shade over our lives
I can remember that as I walked through the fields the grass was damp with the rain of the morning and the air was heavy with the smell of the freshturned earth Gabriel was waiting for me under the hawthorn tree outside the gap and we stood handinhand looking down at the long sweep of moorland and at the broad blue channel which encircled it with its fringe of foam
Far away in the northwest the sun glinted upon the high peak of Mount Throston From where we stood we could see the smoke of the steamers as they ploughed along the busy waterway which leads to Belfast
Is it not magnificent Gabriel cried clasping her hands round my arm Ah John why are we not free to sail away over these waves together and leave all our troubles behind us on the shore
And what are the troubles which you would leave behind you dear one I asked May I not know them and help you to bear them
I have no secrets from you John she answered Our chief trouble is as you may guess our poor fathers strange behaviour Is it not a sad thing for all of us that a man who has played such a distinguished part in the world should skulk from one obscure corner of the country to another and should defend himself with locks and barriers as though he were a common thief flying from justice This is a trouble John which it is out of your power to alleviate
But why does he do it Gabriel I asked
I cannot tell she answered frankly I only know that he imagines some deadly danger to be hanging over his head and that this danger was incurred by him during his stay in India What its nature may be I have no more idea than you have
Then your brother has I remarked I am sure from the way in which he spoke to me about it one day that he knows what it is and that he looks upon it as real
Yes he knows and so does my mother she answered but they have always kept it secret from me My poor father is very excited at present Day and night he is in an agony of apprehension but it will soon be the fifth of October and after that he will be at peace
How do you know that I asked in surprise
By experience she answered gravely On the fifth of October these fears of his come to a crisis For years back he has been in the habit of locking Mordaunt and myself up in our rooms on that date so that we have no idea what occurs but we have always found that he has been much relieved afterwards and has continued to be comparatively in peace until that day begins to draw round again
Then you have only ten days or so to wait I remarked for September was drawing to a close By the way dearest why is it that you light up all your rooms at night
You have noticed it then she said It comes also from my fathers fears He does not like to have one dark corner in the whole house He walks about a good deal at night and inspects everything from the attics right down to the cellars He has large lamps in every room and corridor even the empty ones and he orders the servants to light them all at dusk
I am rather surprised that you manage to keep your servants I said laughing The maids in these parts are a superstitious class and their imaginations are easily excited by anything which they dont understand
The cook and both housemaids are from London and are used to our ways We pay them on a very high scale to make up for any inconvenience to which they may be put Israel Stakes the coachman is the only one who comes from this part of the country and he seems to be a stolid honest fellow who is not easily scared
Poor little girl I exclaimed looking down at the slim graceful figure by my side This is no atmosphere for you to live in Why will you not let me rescue you from it Why wont you allow me to go straight and ask the general for your hand At the worst he could only refuse
She turned quite haggard and pale at the very thought
For Heavens sake John she cried earnestly do nothing of the kind He would whip us all away in the dead of the night and within a week we should be settling down again in some wilderness where we might never have a chance of seeing or hearing from you again Besides he never would forgive us for venturing out of the grounds
I dont think that he is a hardhearted man I remarked I have seen a kindly look in his eyes for all his stern face
He can be the kindest of fathers she answered But he is terrible when opposed or thwarted You have never seen him so and I trust you never will It was that strength of will and impatience of opposition which made him such a splendid officer I assure you that in India every one thought a great deal of him The soldiers were afraid of him but they would have followed him anywhere
And had he these nervous attacks then
Occasionally but not nearly so acutely He seems to think that the danger—whatever it may be—becomes more imminent every year Oh John it is terrible to be waiting like this with a sword over our heads—and all the more terrible to me since I have no idea where the blow is to come from
Dear Gabriel I said taking her hand and drawing her to my side look over all this pleasant countryside and the broad blue sea Is it not all peaceful and beautiful In these cottages with their redtiled roofs peeping out from the grey moor there live none but simple Godfearing men who toil hard at their crafts and bear enmity to no man Within seven miles of us is a large town with every civilised appliance for the preservation of order Ten miles farther there is a garrison quartered and a telegram would at any time bring down a company of soldiers Now I ask you dear in the name of commonsense what conceivable danger could threaten you in this secluded neighbourhood with the means of help so near You assure me that the peril is not connected with your fathers health
No I am sure of that It is true that Dr Easterling of Stranraer has been over to see him once or twice but that was merely for some small indisposition I can assure you that the danger is not to be looked for in that direction
Then I can assure you said I laughing that there is no danger at all It must be some strange monomania or hallucination No other hypothesis will cover the facts
Would my fathers monomania account for the fact of my brothers hair turning grey and my mother wasting away to a mere shadow
Undoubtedly I answered The long continued worry of the generals restlessness and irritability would produce those effects on sensitive natures
No no said she shaking her head sadly I have been exposed to his restlessness and irritability but they have had no such effect upon me The difference between us lies in the fact that they know this awful secret and I do not
My dear girl said I the days of family apparitions and that kind of thing are gone Nobody is haunted nowadays so we can put that supposition out of the question Having done so what remains There is absolutely no other theory which could even be suggested Believe me the whole mystery is that the heat of India has been too much for your poor fathers brain
What she would have answered I cannot tell for at that moment she gave a start as if some sound had fallen upon her ear As she looked round apprehensively I suddenly saw her features become rigid and her eyes fixed and dilated
Following the direction of her gaze I felt a sudden thrill of fear pass through me as I perceived a human face surveying us from behind one of the trees—a mans face every feature of which was distorted by the most malignant hatred and anger Finding himself observed he stepped out and advanced towards us when I saw that it was none other than the general himself His beard was all abristle with fury and his deepset eyes glowed from under their heavily veined lids with a most sinister and demoniacal brightness
CHAPTER VI HOW I CAME TO BE ENLISTED AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBER
To your room girl he cried in a hoarse harsh voice stepping in between us and pointing authoritatively towards the house
He waited until Gabriel with a last frightened glance at me had passed through the gap and then he turned upon me with an expression so murderous that I stepped back a pace or two and tightened my grasp upon my oak stick
Youyou— he spluttered with his hand twitching at his throat as though his fury were choking him You have dared to intrude upon my privacy Do you think I built this fence that all the vermin in the country might congregate round it Oh you have been very near your death my fine fellow You will never be nearer until your time comes Look at this he pulled a squat thick pistol out of his bosom If you had passed through that gap and set foot on my land Id have let daylight into you Ill have no vagabonds here I know how to treat gentry of that sort whether their faces are black or white
Sir said I I meant no harm by coming here and I do not know how I have deserved this extraordinary outburst Allow me to observe however that you are still covering me with your pistol and that as your hand is rather tremulous it is more than possible that it may go off If you dont turn the muzzle down I shall be compelled in selfdefence to strike you over the wrist with my stick
What the deuce brought you here then he asked in a more composed voice putting his weapon back into his bosom Cant a gentleman live quietly without your coming to peep and pry Have you no business of your own to look after eh And my daughter how came you to know anything of her and what have you been trying to squeeze out of her It wasnt chance that brought you here
No said I boldly it was not chance which brought me here I have had several opportunities of seeing your daughter and of appreciating her many noble qualities We are engaged to be married to each other and I came up with the express intention of seeing her
Instead of blazing into a fury as I had expected the general gave a long whistle of astonishment and then leant up against the railings laughing softly to himself
English terriers are fond of nosing worms he remarked at last When we brought them out to India they used to trot off into the jungle and begin sniffing at what they imagined to be worms there But the worm turned out to be a venomous snake and so poor doggy played no more I think youll find yourself in a somewhat analogous position if you dont look out
You surely dont mean to cast an aspersion upon your own daughter I said flushing with indignation
Oh Gabriel is all right he answered carelessly Our family is not exactly one however which I should recommend a young fellow to marry into And pray how is it that I was not informed of this snug little arrangement of yours
We were afraid sir that you might separate us I replied feeling that perfect candour was the best policy under the circumstances It is possible that we were mistaken Before coming to any final decision I implore you to remember that the happiness of both of us is at stake It is in your power to divide our bodies but our souls shall be for ever united
My good fellow said the general in a not unkindly tone you dont know what you are asking for There is a gulf between you and any one of the blood of Heatherstone which can never be bridged over
All trace of anger had vanished now from his manner and given place to an air of somewhat contemptuous amusement
My family pride took fire at his words The gulf may be less than you imagine I said coldly We are not clodhoppers because we live in this outoftheway place I am of noble descent on one side and my mother was a Buchan of Buchan I assure you that there is no such disparity between us as you seem to imagine
You misunderstand me the general answered It is on our side that the disparity lies There are reasons why my daughter Gabriel should live and die single It would not be to your advantage to marry her
But surely sir I persisted I am the best judge of my own interests and advantages Since you take this ground all becomes easy for I do assure you that the one interest which overrides all others is that I should have the woman I love for my wife If this is your only objection to our match you may surely give us your consent for any danger or trial which I may incur in marrying Gabriel will not weigh with me one featherweight
Heres a young bantam exclaimed the old soldier smiling at my warmth Its easy to defy danger when you dont know what the danger is
What is it then I asked hotly There is no earthly peril which will drive me from Gabriels side Let me know what it is and test me
No no That would never do he answered with a sigh and then thoughtfully as if speaking his mind aloud He has plenty of pluck and is a wellgrown lad too We might do worse than make use of him
He went on mumbling to himself with a vacant stare in his eyes as if he had forgotten my presence
Look here West he said presently Youll excuse me if I spoke hastily a little time ago It is the second time that I have had occasion to apologise to you for the same offence It shant occur again I am rather overparticular no doubt in my desire for complete isolation but I have good reasons for insisting on the point Rightly or wrongly I have got it into my head that some day there might be an organised raid upon my grounds If anything of the sort should occur I suppose I might reckon upon your assistance
With all my heart
So that if ever you got a message such as Come up or even Cloomber you would know that it was an appeal for help and would hurry up immediately even if it were in the dead of the night
Most certainly I should I answered But might I ask you what the nature of the danger is which you apprehend
There would be nothing gained by your knowing Indeed you would hardly understand it if I told you I must bid you good day now for I have stayed with you too long Remember I count upon you as one of the Cloomber garrison now
One other thing sir I said hurriedly for he was turning away I hope that you will not be angry with your daughter for anything which I have told you It was for my sake that she kept it all secret from you
All right he said with his cold inscrutable smile I am not such an ogre in the bosom of my family as you seem to think As to this marriage question I should advise you as a friend to let it drop altogether but if that is impossible I must insist that it stand over completely for the present It is impossible to say what unexpected turn events may take Goodbye
He plunged into the wood and was quickly out of sight among the dense plantation
Thus ended this extraordinary interview in which this strange man had begun by pointing a loaded pistol at my breast and had ended by partially acknowledging the possibility of my becoming his future soninlaw I hardly knew whether to be cast down or elated over it
On the one hand he was likely by keeping a closer watch over his daughter to prevent us from communicating as freely as we had done hitherto Against this there was the advantage of having obtained an implied consent to the renewal of my suit at some future date On the whole I came to the conclusion as I walked thoughtfully home that I had improved my position by the incident
But this danger—this shadowy unspeakable danger—which appeared to rise up at every turn and to hang day and night over the towers of Cloomber Rack my brain as I would I could not conjure up any solution to the problem which was not puerile and inadequate
One fact struck me as being significant Both the father and the son had assured me independently of each other that if I were told what the peril was I would hardly realise its significance How strange and bizarre must the fear be which can scarcely be expressed in intelligible language
I held up my hand in the darkness before I turned to sleep that night and I swore that no power of man or devil should ever weaken my love for the woman whose pure heart I had had the good fortune to win
CHAPTER VII OF CORPORAL RUFUS SMITH AND HIS COMING TO CLOOMBER
In making this statement I have purposely couched it in bald and simple language for fear I should be accused of colouring my narrative for the sake of effect If however I have told my story with any approach to realism the reader will understand me when I say that by this time the succession of dramatic incidents which had occurred had arrested my attention and excited my imagination to the exclusion of all minor topics
How could I plod through the dull routine of an agents work or interest myself in the thatch of this tenants bothy or the sails of that ones boat when my mind was taken up by the chain of events which I have described and was still busy seeking an explanation for them
Go where I would over the countryside I could see the square white tower shooting out from among the trees and beneath that tower this illfated family were watching and waiting waiting and watching—and for what That was still the question which stood like an impassable barrier at the end of every train of thought
Regarded merely as an abstract problem this mystery of the Heatherstone family had a lurid fascination about it but when the woman whom I loved a thousandfold better than I did myself proved to be so deeply interested in the solution I felt that it was impossible to turn my thoughts to anything else until it had been finally cleared up
My good father had received a letter from the laird dated from Naples which told us that he had derived much benefit from the change and that he had no intention of returning to Scotland for some time This was satisfactory to all of us for my father had found Branksome such an excellent place for study that it would have been a sore trial to him to return to the noise and tumult of a city As to my dear sister and myself there were as I have shown stronger reasons still to make us love the Wigtownshire moors
In spite of my interview with the general—or perhaps I might say on account of it—I took occasion at least twice a day to walk towards Cloomber and satisfy myself that all was well there He had begun by resenting my intrusion but he had ended by taking me into a sort of halfconfidence and even by asking my assistance so I felt that I stood upon a different footing with him than I had done formerly and that he was less likely to be annoyed by my presence Indeed I met him pacing round the inclosure a few days afterwards and his manner towards me was civil though he made no allusion to our former conversation
He appeared to be still in an extreme state of nervousness starting from time to time and gazing furtively about him with little frightened darting glances to the right and the left I hoped that his daughter was right in naming the fifth of October as the turning point of his complaint for it was evident to me as I looked at his gleaming eyes and quivering hands that a man could not live long in such a state of nervous tension
I found on examination that he had had the loose rails securely fastened so as to block up our former trystingplace and though I prowled round the whole long line of fencing I was unable to find any other place where an entrance could be effected
Here and there between the few chinks left in the barrier I could catch glimpses of the Hall and once I saw a roughlooking middleaged man standing at a window on the lower floor whom I supposed to be Israel Stakes the coachman There was no sign however of Gabriel or of Mordaunt and their absence alarmed me I was convinced that unless they were under some restraint they would have managed to communicate with my sister or myself My fears became more and more acute as day followed day without our seeing or hearing anything of them
One morning—it was the second day of October—I was walking towards the Hall hoping that I might be fortunate enough to learn some news of my darling when I observed a man perched upon a stone at the side of the road
As I came nearer to him I could see that he was a stranger and from his dusty clothes and dilapidated appearance he seemed to have come from a distance He had a great hunch of bread on his knee and a claspknife in his hand but he had apparently just finished his breakfast for he brushed the crumbs off his lap and rose to his feet when he perceived me
Noticing the great height of the fellow and that he still held his weapon I kept well to the other side of the road for I knew that destitution makes men desperate and that the chain that glittered on my waistcoat might be too great a temptation to him upon this lonely highway I was confirmed in my fears when I saw him step out into the centre of the road and bar my progress
Well my lad I said affecting an ease which I by no means felt what can I do for you this morning
The fellows face was the colour of mahogany with exposure to the weather and he had a deep scar from the corner of his mouth to his ear which by no means improved his appearance His hair was grizzled but his figure was stalwart and his fur cap was cocked on one side so as to give him a rakish semimilitary appearance Altogether he gave me the impression of being one of the most dangerous types of tramp that I had ever fallen in with
Instead of replying to my question he eyed me for some time in silence with sullen yellowshot eyes and then closed his knife with a loud snick
Youre not a beak he said too young for that I guess They had me in chokey at Paisley and they had me in chokey at Wigtown but by the living thunder if another of them lays a hand on me Ill make him remember Corporal Rufus Smith Its a darned fine country this where they wont give a man work and then lay him by the heels for having no visible means of subsistence
I am sorry to see an old soldier so reduced said I What corps did you serve in
H Battery Royal Horse Artillery Bad cess to the Service and every one in it Here I am nigh sixty years of age with a beggarly pension of thirtyeight pound ten—not enough to keep me in beer and baccy
I should have thought thirtyeight pound ten a year would have been a nice help to you in your old age I remarked
Would you though he answered with a sneer pushing his weatherbeaten face forward until it was within a foot of my own
How much dye think that slash with a tulwar is worth And my foot with all the bones rattling about like a bagful of dice where the trail of the gun went across it Whats that worth eh And a liver like a sponge and ague whenever the wind comes round to the east—whats the market value of that Would you take the lot for a dirty forty pound a year—would you now
We are poor folk in this part of the country I answered You would pass for a rich man down here
They are fool folk and they have fool tastes said he drawing a black pipe from his pocket and stuffing it with tobacco I know what good living is and by cripes while I have a shilling in my pocket I like to spend it as a shilling should be spent Ive fought for my country and my country has done darned little for me Ill go to the Rooshians so help me I could show them how to cross the Himalayas so that it would puzzle either Afghans or British to stop em Whats that secret worth in St Petersburg eh mister
I am ashamed to hear an old soldier speak so even in jest said I sternly
Jest indeed He cried with a great roaring oath Id have done it years ago if the Rooshians had been game to take it up Skobeloff was the best of the bunch but hes been snuffed out However thats neither here nor there What I want to ask you is whether youve ever heard anything in this quarter of a man called Heatherstone the same who used to be colonel of the 41st Bengalis They told me at Wigtown that he lived somewhere down this way
He lives in that large house over yonder said I pointing to Cloomber Tower Youll find the avenue gate a little way down the road but the general isnt over fond of visitors
The last part of my speech was lost upon Corporal Rufus Smith for the instant that I pointed out the gate he set off hopping down the road
His mode of progression was the most singular I have ever seen for He would only put his right foot to the ground once in every halfdozen strides while he worked so hard and attained such a momentum with the other limb that he got over the ground at an astonishing speed
I was so surprised that I stood in the roadway gazing after this hulking figure until the thought suddenly struck me that some serious result might come from a meeting between a man of such blunt speech and the choleric hotheaded general I therefore followed him as he hopped along like some great clumsy bird and overtook him at the avenue gate where he stood grasping the ironwork and peering through at the dark carriagedrive beyond
Hes a sly old jackal he said looking round at me and nodding his head in the direction of the Hall Hes a deep old dog And thats his bungalow is it among the trees
That is his house I answered but I should advise you to keep a more civil tongue in your head if you intend to speak with the general He is not a man to stand any nonsense
Right you are He was always a hard nut to crack But isnt this him coming down the avenue
I looked through the gate and saw that it was indeed the general who having either seen us or been attracted by our voices was hurrying down towards us As he advanced he would stop from time to time and peer at us through the dark shadow thrown by the trees as if he were irresolute whether to come on or no
Hes reconnoitering whispered my companion with a hoarse chuckle Hes afraid—and I know what hes afraid of He wont be caught in a trap if he can help it the old un Hes about as fly as they make em you bet
Then suddenly standing on his tiptoes and waving his hand through the bars of the gate he shouted at the top of his voice
Come on my gallant commandant Come on The coasts clear and no enemy in sight
This familiar address had the effect of reassuring the general for he came right for us though I could tell by his heightened colour that his temper was at boiling point
What you here Mr West he said as his eye fell upon me What is it you want and why have you brought this fellow with you
I have not brought him with me sir I answered feeling rather disgusted at being made responsible for the presence of the disreputablelooking vagabond beside me I found him on the road here and he desired to be directed to you so I showed him the way I know nothing of him myself
What do you want with me then the general asked sternly turning to my companion
If you please sir said the excorporal speaking in a whining voice and touching his moleskin cap with a humility which contrasted strangely with the previous rough independence of his bearing Im an old gunner in the Queens service sir and knowing your name by hearing it in India I thought that maybe you would take me as your groom or gardener or give me any other place as happened to be vacant
I am sorry that I cannot do anything for you my man the old soldier answered impressively
Then youll give me a little just to help me on my way sir said the cringing mendicant You wont see an old comrade go to the bad for the sake of a few rupees I was with Sales brigade in the Passes sir and I was at the second taking of Cabul
General Heatherstone looked keenly at the supplicant but was silent to his appeal
I was in Ghuznee with you when the walls were all shook down by an earthquake and when we found forty thousand Afghans within gunshot of us You ask me about it and youll see whether Im lying or not We went through all this when we were young and now that we are old you are to live in a fine bungalow and I am to starve by the roadside It dont seem to me to be fair
You are an impertinent scoundrel said the general If you had been a good soldier you would never need to ask for help I shall not give you a farthing
One word more sir cried the tramp for the other was turning away Ive been in the Tarada Pass
The old soldier sprang round as if the words had been a pistolshot
What—what dye mean he stammered Ive been in the Tarada Pass sir and I knew a man there called Ghoolab Shah
These last were hissed out in an undertone and a malicious grin overspread the face of the speaker
Their effect upon the general was extraordinary He fairly staggered back from the gateway and his yellow countenance blanched to a livid mottled grey For a moment he was too overcome to speak At last he gasped out
Ghoolab Shah Who are you who know Ghoolab Shah
Take another look said the tramp your sight is not as keen as it was forty years ago
The general took a long earnest look at the unkempt wanderer in front of him and as he gazed I saw the light of recognition spring up in his eyes
God bless my soul he cried Why its Corporal Rufus Smith
Youve come on it at last said the other chuckling to himself I was wondering how long it would be before you knew me And first of all just unlock this gate will you Its hard to talk through a grating Its too much like ten minutes with a visitor in the cells
The general whose face still bore evidences of his agitation undid the bolts with nervous trembling fingers The recognition of Corporal Rufus Smith had I fancied been a relief to him and yet he plainly showed by his manner that he regarded his presence as by no means an unmixed blessing
Why Corporal he said as the gate swung open I have often wondered whether you were dead or alive but I never expected to see you again How have you been all these long years
How have I been the corporal answered gruffly Why I have been drunk for the most part When I draw my money I lay it out in liquor and as long as that lasts I get some peace in life When Im cleaned out I go upon tramp partly in the hope of picking up the price of a dram and partly in order to look for you
Youll excuse us talking about these private matters West the general said looking round at me for I was beginning to move away Dont leave us You know something of this matter already and may find yourself entirely in the swim with us some of these days
Corporal Rufus Smith looked round at me in blank astonishment
In the swim with us he said However did he get there
Voluntarily voluntarily the general explained hurriedly sinking his voice He is a neighbour of mine and he has volunteered his help in case I should ever need it
This explanation seemed if anything to increase the big strangers surprise
Well if that dont lick cockfighting he exclaimed contemplating me with admiration I never heard tell of such a thing
And now you have found me Corporal Smith said the tenant of Cloomber what is it that you want of me
Why everything I want a roof to cover me and clothes to wear and food to eat and above all brandy to drink
Well Ill take you in and do what I can for you said the general slowly But look here Smith we must have discipline Im the general and you are the corporal I am the master and you are the man Now dont let me have to remind you of that again
The tramp drew himself up to his full height and raised his right hand with the palm forward in a military salute
I can take you on as gardener and get rid of the fellow I have got As to brandy you shall have an allowance and no more We are not deep drinkers at the Hall
Dont you take opium or brandy or nothing yourself sir asked Corporal Rufus Smith
Nothing the general said firmly
Well all I can say is that youve got more nerve and pluck than I shall ever have I dont wonder now at your winning that Cross in the Mutiny If I was to go on listening night after night to them things without ever taking a drop of something to cheer my heart—why it would drive me silly
General Heatherstone put his hand up as though afraid that his companion might say too much
I must thank you Mr West he said for having shown this man my door I would not willingly allow an old comrade however humble to go to the bad and if I did not acknowledge his claim more readily it was simply because I had my doubts as to whether he was really what he represented himself to be Just walk up to the Hall Corporal and I shall follow you in a minute
Poor fellow he continued as he watched the newcomer hobbling up the avenue in the ungainly manner which I have described He got a gun over his foot and it crushed the bones but the obstinate fool would not let the doctors take it off I remember him now as a smart young soldier in Afghanistan He and I were associated in some queer adventures which I may tell you of some day and I naturally feel sympathy towards him and would befriend him Did he tell you anything about me before I came
Not a word I replied
Oh said the general carelessly but with an evident expression of relief I thought perhaps he might have said something of old times Well I must go and look after him or the servants will be frightened for he isnt a beauty to look at Goodbye
With a wave of the hand the old man turned away from me and hurried up the drive after this unexpected addition to his household while I strolled on round the high black paling peering through every chink between the planks but without seeing a trace either of Mordaunt or of his sister
I have now brought this statement down to the coming of Corporal Rufus Smith which will prove to be the beginning of the end
I have set down soberly and in order the events which brought us to Wigtownshire the arrival of the Heatherstones at Cloomber the many strange incidents which excited first our curiosity and finally our intense interest in that family and I have briefly touched upon the circumstances which brought my sister and myself into a closer and more personal relationship with them I think that there cannot be a better moment than this to hand the narrative over to those who had means of knowing something of what was going on inside Cloomber during the months that I was observing it from without
Israel Stakes the coachman proved to be unable to read or write but Mr Mathew Clark the Presbyterian Minister of Stoneykirk has copied down his deposition duly attested by the cross set opposite to his name The good clergyman has I fancy put some slight polish upon the narrators story which I rather regret as it might have been more interesting if less intelligible when reported verbatim It still preserves however considerable traces of Israels individuality and may be regarded as an exact record of what he saw and did while in General Heatherstones service
CHAPTER VIII STATEMENT OF ISRAEL STAKES
Copied and authenticated by the Reverend Mathew Clark Presbyterian Minister of Stoneykirk in Wigtownshire
Maister Fothergill West and the meenister say that I maun tell all I can aboot General Heatherstone and his hoose but that I maunna say muckle aboot mysel because the readers wouldna care to hear aboot me or my affairs I am na sae sure o that for the Stakes is a family weel kenned and respecked on baith sides o the Border and theres mony in Nithsdale and Annandale as would be gey pleased to hear news o the son o Archie Stakes o Ecclefechan
I maun een do as Im tauld however for Mr Wests sake hoping hell no forget me when I chance to hae a favour tae ask1 Im no able tae write mysel because my feyther sent me oot to scare craws instead o sendin me tae school but on the ither hond he brought me up in the preenciples and practice o the real kirk o the Covenant for which may the Lord be praised
It way last May twelmonth that the factor body Maister McNeil cam ower tae me in the street and speered whether I was in want o a place as a coachman and gairdner As it fell oot I chanced tae be on the look oot for something o the sort mysel at the time but I wasna ower quick to let him see that I wanted it
Ye can tak it or leave it says he sharp like Its a guid place and theres mony would be glad ot If ye want it ye can come up tae my office at twa the morn and put your ain questions tae the gentleman
That was a I could get frae him for hes a close man and a hard one at a bargain—which shall profit him leetle in the next life though he lay by a store o siller in this When the day comes therell be a hantle o factors on the left hand o the throne and I shouldna be surprised if Maister McNeil found himsel amang them
Weel on the morn I gaed up to the office and there I foond the factor and a lang thin dour man wi grey hair and a face as brown and crinkled as a walnut He looked hard at me wi a pair o een that glowed like twa spunks and then he says says he
Youve been born in these pairts I understan
Aye says I and never left them neither
Never been oot o Scotland he speers
Twice to Carlisle fair says I for I am a man wha loves the truth and besides I kenned that the factor would mind my gaeing there for I bargained fur twa steers and a stirk that he wanted for the stockin o the Drumleugh Fairm
I learn frae Maister McNeil says General Heatherstone—for him it was and nane ither—that ye canna write
Na says I
Nor read
Na says I
It seems tae me says he turnin tae the factor that this is the vera man I want Servants is spoilt nooadays says he by ower muckle eddication I hae nae doobt Stakes that ye will suit me well enough Yell hae three pund a month and a foond but I shall resairve the right o givin ye twentyfour hoors notice at any time How will that suit ye
Its vera different frae my last place says I discontentedlike
And the words were true enough for auld Fairmer Scott only gave me a pund a month and parritch twice a day
Weel weel says he maybe well gie ye a rise if ye suit Meanwhile heres the hansel shillin that Maister McNeil tells me its the custom tae give and I shall expec tae see ye at Cloomber on Monday
When the Monday cam roond I walked oot tae Cloomber and a great muckle hoose it is wi a hunderd windows or mair and space enough tae hide awa half the parish
As tae gairdening there was no gairden for me tae work at and the horse was never taken oot o the stables frae weeks end tae weeks end I was busy enough for a that for there was a deal o fencing tae be put up and one thing or anither forbye cleanin the knives and brushin the boots and suchlike jobs as is mair fit for an auld wife than for a grown man
There was twa besides mysel in the kitchen the cook Eliza and Mary the hoosemaid puir benighted beings baith o them wha had wasted a their lives in London and kenned leetle aboot the warld or the ways o the flesh
I hadna muckle tae say to them for they were simple folk who could scarce understand English and had hardly mair regard for their ain souls than the tods on the moor When the cook said she didna think muckle o John Knox and the ither that she wouldna give saxpence tae hear the discourse o Maister Donald McSnaw o the true kirk I kenned it was time for me tae leave them tae a higher Judge
There was four in family the general my leddy Maister Mordaunt and Miss Gabriel and it wasna long before I found that a wasna just exactly as it should be My leddy was as thin and as white as a ghaist and manys the time as Ive come on her and found her yammerin and greetin all by hersel Ive watched her walkin up and doon in the wood where she thought nane could see her and wringin her honds like one demented
There was the young gentleman tae and his sister—they baith seemed to hae some trouble on their minds and the general maist of a for the ithers were up ane day and down anither but he was aye the same wi a face as dour and sad as a felon when he feels the tow roond his neck
I speered o the hussies in the kitchen whether they kenned what was amiss wi the family but the cook she answered me back that it wasna for her tae inquire into the affairs o her superiors and that it was naething to her as long as she did her work and had her wages They were puir feckless bodies the twa o them and would scarce gie an answer tae a ceevil question though they could clack lood eneugh when they had a mind
Weel weeks passed into months and a things grew waur instead o better in the Hall The general he got mair nairvous and his leddy mair melancholy every day and yet there wasna any quarrel or bickering between them for when theyve been togither in the breakfast room I used often tae gang round and prune the rosetree alongside o the window so that I couldna help hearin a great pairt o their conversation though sair against the grain
When the young folk were wi them they would speak little but when they had gone they would aye talk as if some waefu trial ere aboot to fa upon them though I could never gather from their words what it was that they were afeared o
Ive heard the general say mair than ance that he wasna frighted o death or any danger that he could face and have done wi but that it was the lang weary waitin and the uncertainty that had taken a the strength and the mettle oot o him Then my leddy would console him and tell him that maybe it wasna as bad as he thocht and that a would come richt in the end—but a her cheery words were clean throwed away upon him
As tae the young folks I kenned weel that they didna bide in the groonds and that they were awa whenever they got a chance wi Maister Fothergill West tae Branksome but the general was too fu o his ain troubles tae ken aboot it and it didna seem tae me that it was pairt o my duties either as coachman or as gairdner tae mind the bairns He should have lairnt that if ye forbid a lassie and a laddie to dae anything its just the surest way o bringin it aboot The Lord foond that oot in the gairden o Paradise and theres no muckle change between the folk in Eden and the folk in Wigtown
Theres ane thing that I havena spoke aboot yet but that should be set doon
The general didna share his room wi his wife but slept a alane in a chamber at the far end o the hoose as distant as possible frae every one else This room was aye lockit when he wasna in it and naebody was ever allowed tae gang into it He would mak his ain bed and red it up and dust it a by himsel but he wouldna so much as allow one o us to set fut on the passage that led tae it
At nicht he would walk a ower the hoose and he had lamps hung in every room and corner so that no pairt should be dark
Manys the time frae my room in the garret Ive heard his futsteps comin and gangin comin and gangin doon one passage and up anither frae midnight till cockcraw It was weary wark to lie listenin tae his clatter and wonderin whether he was clean daft or whether maybe hed lairnt pagan and idolatrous tricks oot in India and that his conscience noo was like the worm which gnaweth and dieth not Id ha speered frae him whether it wouldna ease him to speak wi the holy Donald McSnaw but it might ha been a mistake and the general wasna a man that youd care tae mak a mistake wi
Ane day I was workin at the grass border when he comes up and he says says he
Did ye ever have occasion tae fire a pistol Israel
Godsakes says I I never had siccan a thing in my honds in my life
Then youd best not begin noo says he Every man tae his ain weepon he says Now I warrant ye could do something wi a guid crabtree cudgel
Aye could I I answered blithely as well as ony lad on the Border
This is a lonely hoose says he and we might be molested by some rascals Its weel tae be ready for whatever may come Me and you and my son Mordaunt and Mr Fothergill West of Branksome who would come if he was required ought tae be able tae show a bauld face—what think ye
Deed sir I says feastin is aye better than fechtin—but if yell raise me a pund a month Ill no shirk my share o either
We wont quarrel ower that says he and agreed tae the extra twal pund a year as easy as though it were as many bawbees Far be it frae me tae think evil but I couldna help surmisin at the time that money that was so lightly pairted wi was maybe no so very honestly cam by
Im no a curious or a pryin mun by nature but I was sair puzzled in my ain mind tae tell why it was that the general walked aboot at nicht and what kept him frae his sleep
Weel ane day I was cleanin doon the passages when my ee fell on a great muckle heap o curtains and auld cairpets and sic like things that were piled away in a corner no vera far frae the door o the generals room A o a sudden a thocht came intae my heid and I says tae mysel
Israel laddie says I whats tae stop ye frae hidin behind that this vera nicht and seein the auld mun when he doesna ken human ee is on him
The mair I thocht ot the mair seemple it appeared and I made up my mind tae put the idea intae instant execution
When the nicht cam roond I tauld the womenfolk that I was bad wi the jawache and would gang airly tae my room I kenned fine when ance I got there that there was na chance o ony ane disturbin me so I waited a wee while and then when a was quiet I slippit aff my boots and ran doon the ither stair until I cam tae the heap o auld clothes and there I lay doon wi ane ee peepin through a kink and a the rest covered up wi a great ragged cairpet
There I bided as quiet as a mouse until the general passed me on his road tae bed and a was still in the hoose
My certie I wouldna gang through wi it again for a the siller at the Union Bank of Dumfries I canna think ot noo withoot feelin cauld a the way doon my back
It was just awfu lyin there in the deid silence waitin and waitin wi never a soond tae break the monotony except the heavy tickin o an auld clock somewhere doon the passage
First I would look doon the corridor in the one way and syne Id look doon in tither but it aye seemed to me as though there was something coming up frae the side that I wasna lookin at I had a cauld sweat on my broo and my hairt was beatin twice tae ilka tick o the clock and what feared me most of a was that the dust frae the curtains and things was aye gettin doon intae my lungs and it was a I could dae tae keep mysel frae coughin
Godsakes I wonder my hair wasna grey wi a that I went through I wouldna dae it again to be made Lord Provost o Glasgie
Weel it may have been twa oclock in the mornin or maybe a little mair and I was just thinkin that I wasna tae see onything after a—and I wasna very sorry neither—when all o a sudden a soond cam tae my ears clear and distinct through the stillness o the nicht
Ive been asked afore noo tae describe that soond but Ive aye foond that its no vera easy tae gie a clear idea ot though it was unlike any other soond that ever I hearkened tae It was a shairp ringin clang like what could be caused by flippin the rim o a wineglass but it was far higher and thinner than that and had in it tae a kind o splash like the tinkle o a raindrop intae a waterbutt
In my fear I sat up amang my cairpets like a puddock among gowanleaves and I listened wi a my ears A was still again noo except for the dull tickin o the distant clock
Suddenly the soond cam again as clear as shrill as shairp as ever and this time the general heard it for I heard him gie a kind o groan as a tired man might wha has been roosed oot o his sleep
He got up frae his bed and I could make oot a rustling noise as though he were dressin himsel and presently his footfa as he began tae walk up and doon in his room
Mysakes it didna tak lang for me tae drap doon amang the cairpets again and cover mysel ower There I lay tremblin in every limb and sayin as mony prayers as I could mind wi my ee still peepin through the keekhole and fixed upon the door o the generals room
I heard the rattle o the handle presently and the door swung slowly open There was a licht burnin in the room beyond an I could just catch a glimpse o what seemed tae me like a row o swords stuck alang the side o the wa when the general stepped oot and shut the door behind him He was dressed in a dressin goon wi a red smokincap on his heid and a pair o slippers wi the heels cut off and the taes turned up
For a moment it cam into my held that maybe he was walkin in his sleep but as he cam towards me I could see the glint o the licht in his een and his face was a twistin like a man thats in sair distress o mind On my conscience it gies me the shakes noo when I think o his tall figure and his yelley face comin sae solemn and silent doon the lang lone passage
I haud my breath and lay close watchin him but just as he cam tae where I was my vera hairt stood still in my breast for ting—loud and clear within a yaird o me cam the ringin clangin soond that I had aready hairkened tae
Where it cam frae is mair than I can tell or what was the cause ot It might ha been that the general made it but I was sair puzzled tae tell hoo for his honds were baith doon by his side as he passed me It cam frae his direction certainly but it appeared tae me tae come frae ower his heid but it was siccan a thin eerie highpitched uncanny kind o soond that it wasna easy tae say just exactly where it did come frae
The general tuk nae heed ot but walked on and was soon oot o sicht and I didna lose a minute in creepin oot frae my hidin place and scamperin awa back tae my room and if a the bogies in the Red Sea were trapesin up and doon the hale nicht through I wud never put my heid oot again tae hae a glimpse o them
I didna say a word tae anybody aboot what Id seen but I made up my mind that I wudna stay muckle langer at Cloomber Ha Four pund a month is a good wage but it isna enough tae pay a man for the loss o his peace o mind and maybe the loss o his soul as weel for when the deil is aboot ye canna tell what sort o a trap he may lay for ye and though they say that Providence is stronger than him its maybe as weel no to risk it
It was clear tae me that the general and his hoose were baith under some curse and it was fit that that curse should fa on them that had earned it and no on a righteous Presbyterian wha had ever trod the narrow path
My hairt was sair for young Miss Gabriel—for she was a bonnie and winsome lassie—but for a that I felt that my duty was tae mysel and that I should gang forth even as Lot ganged oot o the wicked cities o the plain
That awfu clingclang was aye dingin in my lugs and I couldna bear to be alane in the passages for fear o hearin it ance again I only wanted a chance or an excuse tae gie the general notice and tae gang back to some place where I could see Christian folk and have the kirk within a stonecast tae fa back upon
But it proved tae be ordained that instead o my saying the word it should come frae the general himsel
It was ane day aboot the beginning of October I was comin oot o the stable after giein its oats tae the horse when I seed a great muckle loon come hoppin on ane leg up the drive mair like a big illfaured craw than a man
When I clapped my een on him I thocht that maybe this was ane of the rascals that the maister had been speakin aboot so withoot mair ado I fetched oot my bit stick with the intention o tryin it upon the limmers heid He seed me comin towards him and readin my intention frae my look maybe or frae the stick in my hand he pued oot a lang knife frae his pocket and swore wi the most awfu oaths that if I didna stan back hed be the death o me
Ma conscience the words the chiel used was eneugh tae mak the hair stand straight on your heid I wonder he wasna struck deid where he stood
We were still standin opposite each ither—he wi his knife and me wi the stick—when the general he cam up the drive and foond us Tae my surprise he began tae talk tae the stranger as if hed kenned him a his days
Put your knife in your pocket Corporal says he Your fears have turned your brain
Blood an wounds says the other Hed ha turned my brain tae some purpose wi that muckle stick o his if I hadna drawn my snickersnee You shouldna keep siccan an auld savage on your premises
The maister he frooned and looked black at him as though he didna relish advice comin frae such a source Then turnin tae me—You wont be wanted after today Israel he says you have been a guid servant and I ha naething tae complain of wi ye but circumstances have arisen which will cause me tae change my arrangements
Vera guid sir says I
You can go this evening says he and you shall have an extra months pay tae mak up tye for this short notice
Wi that he went intae the hoose followed by the man that he caed the corporal and frae that day tae this I have never clapped een either on the ane or the ither My money was sent oot tae me in an envelope and havin said a few pairtin words tae the cook and the wench wi reference tae the wrath tae come and the treasure that is richer than rubies I shook the dust o Cloomber frae my feet for ever
Maister Fothergill West says I maunna express an opeenion as tae what cam aboot afterwards but maun confine mysel tae what I saw mysel Nae doubt he has his reasons for this—and far be it frae me tae hint that they are no guid anes—but I maun say this that what happened didna surprise me It was just as I expeckit and so I said tae Maister Donald McSnaw
Ive tauld ye a aboot it noo and I havena a word tae add or tae withdraw Im muckle obleeged tae Maister Mathew Clairk for puttin it a doon in writin for me and if theres ony would wish tae speer onything mair o me Im well kenned and respeckit in Ecclefechan and Maister McNeil the factor o Wigtown can aye tell where I am tae be foond
1 The old rascal was well paid for his trouble so he need not have made such a favour of it—JFW
CHAPTER IX NARRATIVE OF JOHN EASTERLING FRCPEDIN
Having given the statement of Israel Stakes in extenso I shall append a short memorandum from Dr Easterling now practising at Stranraer It is true that the doctor was only once within the walls of Cloomber during its tenancy by General Heatherstone but there were some circumstances connected with this visit which made it valuable especially when considered as a supplement to the experiences which I have just submitted to the reader
The doctor has found time amid the calls of a busy country practice to jot down his recollections and I feel that I cannot do better than subjoin them exactly as they stand
I have very much pleasure in furnishing Mr Fothergill West with an account of my solitary visit to Cloomber Hall not only on account of the esteem which I have formed for that gentleman ever since his residence at Branksome but also because it is my conviction that the facts in the case of General Heatherstone are of such a singular nature that it is of the highest importance that they should be placed before the public in a trustworthy manner
It was about the beginning of September of last year that I received a note from Mrs Heatherstone of Cloomber Hall desiring me to make a professional call upon her husband whose health she said had been for some time in a very unsatisfactory state
I had heard something of the Heatherstones and of the strange seclusion in which they lived so that I was very much pleased at this opportunity of making their closer acquaintance and lost no time in complying with her request
I had known the Hall in the old days of Mr McVittie the original proprietor and I was astonished on arriving at the avenue gate to observe the changes which had taken place
The gate itself which used to yawn so hospitably upon the road was now barred and locked and a high wooden fence with nails upon the top encircled the whole grounds The drive itself was leafstrewn and uncaredfor and the whole place had a depressing air of neglect and decay
I had to knock twice before a servantmaid opened the door and showed me through a dingy hall into a small room where sat an elderly careworn lady who introduced herself as Mrs Heatherstone With her pale face her grey hair her sad colourless eyes and her faded silk dress she was in perfect keeping with her melancholy surroundings
You find us in much trouble doctor she said in a quiet refined voice My poor husband has had a great deal to worry him and his nervous system for a long time has been in a very weak state We came to this part of the country in the hope that the bracing air and the quiet would have a good effect upon him Instead of improving however he has seemed to grow weaker and this morning he is in a high fever and a little inclined to be delirious The children and I were so frightened that we sent for you at once If you will follow me I will take you to the generals bedroom
She led the way down a series of corridors to the chamber of the sick man which was situated in the extreme wing of the building
It was a carpetless bleaklooking room scantily furnished with a small truckle bed a campaigning chair and a plain deal table on which were scattered numerous papers and books In the centre of this table there stood a large object of irregular outline which was covered over with a sheet of linen
All round the walls and in the corners were arranged a very choice and varied collection of arms principally swords some of which were of the straight pattern in common use in the British Army while among the others were scimitars tulwars cuchurries and a score of other specimens of Oriental workmanship Many of these were richly mounted with inlaid sheaths and hilts sparkling with precious stones so that there was a piquant contrast between the simplicity of the apartment and the wealth which glittered on the walls
I had little time however to observe the generals collection since the general himself lay upon the couch and was evidently in sore need of my services
He was lying with his head turned half away from us Breathing heavily and apparently unconscious of our presence His bright staring eyes and the deep hectic flush upon his cheek showed that his fever was at its height
I advanced to the bedside and stooping over him I placed my fingers upon his pulse when immediately he sprang up into the sitting position and struck at me frenziedly with his clenched hands I have never seen such intensity of fear and horror stamped upon a human face as appeared upon that that which was now glaring up at me
Bloodhound he yelled let me go—let me go I say Keep your hands off me Is it not enough that my life has been ruined When is it all to end How long am I to endure it
Hush dear hush said his wife in a soothing voice passing her cool hand over his heated forehead This is Doctor Easterling from Stranraer He has not come to harm you but to do you good
The general dropped wearily back upon his pillow and I could see by the changed expression of his face that his delirium had left him and that he understood what had been said
I slipped my clinical thermometer into his armpit and counted his pulse rate It amounted to 120 per minute and his temperature proved to be 104 degrees Clearly it was a case of remittent fever such as occurs in men who have spent a great part of their lives in the tropics
There is no danger I remarked With a little quinine and arsenic we shall very soon overcome the attack and restore his health
No danger eh he said There never is any danger for me I am as hard to kill as the Wandering Jew I am quite clear in the head now Mary so you may leave me with the doctor
Mrs Heatherstone left the roomrather unwillingly as I thought—and I sat down by the bedside to listen to anything which my patient might have to communicate
I want you to examine my liver he said when the door was closed I used to have an abscess there and Brodie the staffsurgeon said that it was ten to one that it would carry me off I have not felt much of it since I left the East This is where it used to be just under the angle of the ribs
I can find the place said I after making a careful examination but I am happy to tell you that the abscess has either been entirely absorbed or has turned calcareous as these solitary abscesses will There is no fear of its doing you any harm now
He seemed to be by no means overjoyed at the intelligence
Things always happen so with me he said moodily Now if another fellow was feverish and delirious he would surely be in some danger and yet you will tell me that I am in none Look at this now He bared his chest and showed me a puckered wound over the region of the heart Thats where the jezail bullet of a Hillman went in You would think that was in the right spot to settle a man and yet what does it do but glance upon a rib and go clean round and out at the back without so much as penetrating what you medicos call the pleura Did ever you hear of such a thing
You were certainly born under a lucky star I observed with a smile
Thats a matter of opinion he answered shaking his head Death has no terrors for me if it will but come in some familiar form but I confess that the anticipation of some strange some preternatural form of death is very terrible and unnerving
You mean said I rather puzzled at his remark that you would prefer a natural death to a death by violence
No I dont mean that exactly he answered I am too familiar with cold steel and lead to be afraid of either Do you know anything about odyllic force doctor
No I do not I replied glancing sharply at him to see if there were any signs of his delirium returning His expression was intelligent however and the feverish flush had faded from his cheeks
Ah you Western scientific men are very much behind the day in some things he remarked In all that is material and conducive to the comfort of the body you are preeminent but in what concerns the subtle forces of Nature and the latent powers of the human spirit your best men are centuries behind the humblest coolies of India Countless generations of beefeating comfort loving ancestors have given our animal instincts the command over our spiritual ones The body which should have been a mere tool for the use of the soul has now become a degrading prison in which it is confined The Oriental soul and body are not so welded together as ours are and there is far less wrench when they part in death
They do not appear to derive much benefit from this peculiarity in their organisation I remarked incredulously
Merely the benefit of superior knowledge the general answered If you were to go to India probably the very first thing you would see in the way of amusement would be a native doing what is called the mango trick Of course you have heard or read of it The fellow plants a mango seed and makes passes over it until it sprouts and bears leaves and fruit—all in the space of halfanhour It is not really a trick—it is a power These men know more than your Tyndalls or Huxleys do about Natures processes and they can accelerate or retard her workings by subtle means of which we have no conception These lowcaste conjurers—as they are called—are mere vulgar dabblers but the men who have trod the higher path are as far superior to us in knowledge as we are to the Hottentots or Patagonians
You speak as if you were well acquainted with them I remarked
To my cost I am he answered I have been brought in contact with them in a way in which I trust no other poor chap ever will be But really as regards odyllic force you ought to know something of it for it has a great future before it in your profession You should read Reichcnbachs Researches on Magnetism and Vital Force and Gregorys Letters on Animal Magnetism These supplemented by the twentyseven Aphorisms of Mesmer and the works of Dr Justinus Kerner of Weinsberg would enlarge your ideas
I did not particularly relish having a course of reading prescribed for me on a subject connected with my own profession so I made no comment but rose to take my departure Before doing so I felt his pulse once more and found that the fever had entirely left him in the sudden unaccountable fashion which is peculiar to these malarious types of disease
I turned my face towards him to congratulate him upon his improvement and stretched out my hand at the same time to pick my gloves from the table with the result that I raised not only my own property but also the linen cloth which was arranged over some object in the centre
I might not have noticed what I had done had I not seen an angry look upon the invalids face and heard him utter an impatient exclamation I at once turned and replaced the cloth so promptly that I should have been unable to say what was underneath it beyond having a general impression that it looked like a bridecake
All right doctor the general said goodhumouredly perceiving how entirely accidental the incident was There is no reason why you should not see it and stretching out his hand he pulled away the linen covering for the second time
I then perceived that what I had taken for a bridecake was really an admirably executed model of a lofty range of mountains whose snowclad peaks were not unlike the familiar sugar pinnacles and minarets
These are the Himalayas or at least the Surinam branch of them he remarked showing the principal passes between India and Afghanistan It is an excellent model This ground has a special interest for me because it is the scene of my first campaign There is the pass opposite Kalabagh and the Thul valley where I was engaged during the summer of 1841 in protecting the convoys and keeping the Afridis in order It wasnt a sinecure I promise you
And this said I indicating a bloodred spot which had been marked on one side of the pass which he had pointed out—this is the scene of some fight in which you were engaged
Yes we had a skirmish there he answered leaning forward and looking at the red mark We were attacked by—
At this moment he fell back upon his pillow as if he had been shot while the same look of horror came over his face which I had observed when I first entered the room At the same instant there came apparently from the air immediately above his bed a sharp ringing tinkling sound which I can only compare with the noise made by a bicycle alarm though it differed from this in having a distinctly throbbing character I have never before or since heard any sound which could be confounded with it
I stared round in astonishment wondering where it could have come from but without perceiving anything to which it could be ascribed
Its all right doctor the general said with a ghastly smile Its only my private gong Perhaps you had better step downstairs and write my prescription in the diningroom
He was evidently anxious to get rid of me so I was forced to take my departure though I would gladly have stayed a little longer in the hope of learning something as to the origin of the mysterious sound
I drove away from the house with the full determination of calling again upon my interesting patient and endeavouring to elicit some further particulars as to his past life and his present circumstances I was destined however to be disappointed for I received that very evening a note from the general himself enclosing a handsome fee for my single visit and informing me that my treatment had done him so much good that he considered himself to be convalescent and would not trouble me to see him again
This was the last and only communication which I ever received from the tenant of Cloomber
I have been asked frequently by neighbours and others who were interested in the matter whether he gave me the impression of insanity To this I must unhesitatingly answer in the negative On the contrary his remarks gave me the idea of a man who had both read and thought deeply
I observed however during our single interview that his reflexes were feeble his arcus senilis well marked and his arteries atheromatous—all signs that his constitution was in an unsatisfactory condition and that a sudden crisis might be apprehended
CHAPTER X OF THE LETTER WHICH CAME FROM THE HALL
Having thrown this sidelight upon my narrative I can now resume the statement of my own personal experiences These I had brought down as the reader will doubtless remember to the date of the arrival of the savagelooking wanderer who called himself Corporal Rufus Smith This incident occurred about the beginning of the month of October and I find upon a comparison of dates that Dr Easterlings visit to Cloomber preceded it by three weeks or more
During all this time I was in sore distress of mind for I had never seen anything either of Gabriel or of her brother since the interview in which the general had discovered the communication which was kept up between us I had no doubt that some sort of restraint had been placed upon them and the thought that we had brought trouble on their heads was a bitter one both to my sister and myself
Our anxiety however was considerably mitigated by the receipt a couple of days after my last talk with the general of a note from Mordaunt Heatherstone This was brought us by a little ragged urchin the son of one of the fishermen who informed us that it had been handed to him at the avenue gate by an old woman—who I expect must have been the Cloomber cook
MY DEAREST FRIENDS it ran Gabriel and I have grieved to think how concerned you must be at having neither heard from nor seen us The fact is that we are compelled to remain in the house And this compulsion is not physical but moral
Our poor father who gets more and more nervous every day has entreated us to promise him that we will not go out until after the fifth of October and to allay his fears we have given him the desired pledge On the other hand he has promised us that after the fifth—that is in less than a week—we shall be as free as air to come or go as we please so we have something to look forward to
Gabriel says that she has explained to you that the governor is always a changed man after this particular date on which his fears reach a crisis He apparently has more reason than usual this year to anticipate that trouble is brewing for this unfortunate family for I have never known him to take so many elaborate precautions or appear so thoroughly unnerved Who would ever think to see his bent form and his shaking hands that he is the same man who used some few short years ago to shoot tigers on foot among the jungles of the Terai and would laugh at the more timid sportsmen who sought the protection of their elephants howdah
You know that he has the Victoria Cross which he won in the streets of Delhi and yet here he is shivering with terror and starting at every noise in the most peaceful corner of the world Oh the pity of it West Remember what I have already told you—that it is no fanciful or imaginary peril but one which we have every reason to suppose to be most real It is however of such a nature that it can neither be averted nor can it profitably be expressed in words If all goes well you will see us at Branksome on the sixth
With our fondest love to both of you I am ever my dear friends your attached
MORDAUNT
This letter was a great relief to us as letting us know that the brother and sister were under no physical restraint but our powerlessness and inability even to comprehend what the danger was which threatened those whom we had come to love better than ourselves was little short of maddening
Fifty times a day we asked ourselves and asked each other from what possible quarter this peril was to be expected but the more we thought of it the more hopeless did any solution appear
In vain we combined our experiences and pieced together every word which had fallen from the lips of any inmate of Cloomber which might be supposed to bear directly or indirectly upon the subject
At last weary with fruitless speculation we were fain to try to drive the matter from our thoughts consoling ourselves with the reflection that in a few more days all restrictions would be removed and we should be able to learn from our friends own lips
Those few intervening days however would we feared be dreary long ones And so they would have been had it not been for a new and most unexpected incident which diverted our minds from our own troubles and gave them something fresh with which to occupy themselves
CHAPTER XI OF THE CASTING AWAY OF THE BARQUE BELINDA
The third of October had broken auspiciously with a bright sun and a cloudless sky There had in the morning been a slight breeze and a few little white wreaths of vapour drifted here and there like the scattered feathers of some gigantic bird but as the day wore on such wind as there was fell completely away and the air became close and stagnant
The sun blazed down with a degree of heat which was remarkable so late in the season and a shimmering haze lay upon the upland moors and concealed the Irish mountains on the other side of the Channel
The sea itself rose and fell in a long heavy oily roll sweeping slowly landward and breaking sullenly with a dull monotonous booming upon the rockgirt shore To the inexperienced all seemed calm and peaceful but to those who are accustomed to read Natures warnings there was a dark menace in air and sky and sea
My sister and I walked out in the afternoon sauntering slowly along the margin of the great sandy spit which shoots out into the Irish Sea flanking upon one side the magnificent Bay of Luce and on the other the more obscure inlet of Kirkmaiden on the shores of which the Branksome property is situated
It was too sultry to go far so we soon seated ourselves upon one of the sandy hillocks overgrown with faded grasstufts which extend along the coastline and which form Natures dykes against the encroachments of the ocean
Our rest was soon interrupted by the scrunching of heavy boots upon the shingle and Jamieson the old manowars man whom I have already had occasion to mention made his appearance with the flat circular net upon his back which he used for shrimpcatching He came towards us upon seeing us and said in his rough kindly way that he hoped we would not take it amiss if he sent us up a dish of shrimps for our tea at Branksome
I aye make a good catch before a storm he remarked
You think there is going to be a storm then I asked
Why even a marine could see that he answered sticking a great wedge of tobacco into his cheek The moors over near Cloomber are just white wi gulls and kittiewakes What dye think they come ashore for except to escape having all the feathers blown out o them I mind a day like this when I was wi Charlie Napier off Cronstadt It wellnigh blew us under the guns of the forts for all our engines and propellers
Have you ever known a wreck in these parts I asked
Lord love ye sir its a famous place for wrecks Why in that very bay down there two o King Philips firstrates foundered wi all hands in the days o the Spanish war If that sheet o water and the Bay o Luce round the corner could tell their ain tale theyd have a gey lot to speak of When the Jedgment Day comes round that water will be just bubbling wi the number o folks that will be coming up frae the bottom
I trust that there will be no wrecks while we are here said Esther earnestly
The old man shook his grizzled head and looked distrustfully at the hazy horizon
If it blows from the west he said some o these sailing ships may find it no joke to be caught without searoom in the North Channel Theres that barque out yonder—I daresay her maister would be glad enough to find himsel safe in the Clyde
She seems to be absolutely motionless I remarked looking at the vessel in question whose black hull and gleaming sails rose and fell slowly with the throbbing of the giant pulse beneath her Perhaps Jamieson we are wrong and there will be no storm after all
The old sailor chuckled to himself with an air of superior knowledge and shuffled away with his shrimpnet while my sister and I walked slowly homewards through the hot and stagnant air
I went up to my fathers study to see if the old gentleman had any instructions as to the estate for he had become engrossed in a new work upon Oriental literature and the practical management of the property had in consequence devolved entirely upon me
I found him seated at his square library table which was so heaped with books and papers that nothing of him was visible from the door except a tuft of white hair
My dear son he said to me as I entered it is a great grief to me that you are not more conversant with Sanscrit When I was your age I could converse not only in that noble language but also in the Tamulic Lohitic Gangelic Taic and Malaic dialects which are all offshoots from the Turanian branch
I regret extremely sir I answered that I have not inherited your wonderful talents as a polyglot
I have set myself a task he explained which if it could only be continued from generation to generation in our own family until it was completed would make the name of West immortal This is nothing less than to publish an English translation of the Buddhist Djarmas with a preface giving an idea of the position of Brahminism before the coming of Sakyamuni With diligence it is possible that I might be able myself to complete part of the preface before I die
And pray sir I asked how long would the whole work be when it was finished
The abridged edition in the Imperial Library of Pekin said my father rubbing his hands together consists of 325 volumes of an average weight of five pounds Then the preface which must embrace some account of the Rigveda the Samaveda the Yagurveda and the Atharvaveda with the Brahmanas could hardly be completed in less than ten volumes Now if we apportion one volume to each year there is every prospect of the family coming to an end of its task about the date 2250 the twelfth generation completing the work while the thirteenth might occupy itself upon the index
And how are our descendants to live sir I asked with a smile during the progress of this great undertaking
Thats the worst of you Jack my father cried petulantly There is nothing practical about you Instead of confining your attention to the working out of my noble scheme you begin raising all sorts of absurd objections It is a mere matter of detail how our descendants live so long as they stick to the Djarmas Now I want you to go up to the bothy of Fergus McDonald and see about the thatch and Willie Fullerton has written to say that his milkcow is bad You might took in upon your way and ask after it
I started off upon my errands but before doing so I took a look at the barometer upon the wall The mercury had sunk to the phenomenal point of twentyeight inches Clearly the old sailor had not been wrong in his interpretation of Natures signs
As I returned over the moors in the evening the wind was blowing in short angry puffs and the western horizon was heaped with sombre clouds which stretched their long ragged tentacles right up to the zenith
Against their dark background one or two livid sulphurcoloured splotches showed up malignant and menacing while the surface of the sea had changed from the appearance of burnished quicksilver to that of ground glass A low moaning sound rose up from the ocean as if it knew that trouble was in store for it
Far out in the Channel I saw a single panting eager steam vessel making ifs way to Belfast Lough and the large barque which I had observed in the morning still beating about in the offing endeavouring to pass to the northward
At nine oclock a sharp breeze was blowing at ten it had freshened into a gale and before midnight the most furious storm was raging which I can remember upon that weatherbeaten coast
I sat for some time in our small oakpanelled sittingroom listening to the screeching and howling of the blast and to the rattle of the gravel and pebbles as they pattered against the window Natures grim orchestra was playing its worldold piece with a compass which ranged from the deep diapason of the thundering surge to the thin shriek of the scattered shingle and the keen piping of frightened sea birds
Once for an instant I opened the lattice window but a gust of wind and rain came blustering through bearing with it a great sheet of seaweed which flapped down upon the table It was all I could do to close it again with a thrust of my shoulder in the face of the blast
My sister and father had retired to their rooms but my thoughts were too active for sleep so I continued to sit and to smoke by the smouldering fire
What was going on in the Hall now I wondered What did Gabriel think of the storm and how did it affect the old man who wandered about in the night Did he welcome these dread forces of Nature as being of the same order of things as his own tumultuous thoughts
It was only two days now from the date which I had been assured was to mark a crisis in his fortunes Would he regard this sudden tempest as being in any way connected with the mysterious fate which threatened him
Over all these things and many more I pondered as I sat by the glowing embers until they died gradually out and the chill night air warned me that it was time to retire
I may have slept a couple of hours when I was awakened by some one tugging furiously at my shoulder Sitting up in bed I saw by the dim light that my father was standing halfclad by my bedside and that it was his grasp which I felt on my nightshirt
Get up Jack get up he was crying excitedly Theres a great ship ashore in the bay and the poor folk will all be drowned Come down my boy and let us see what we can do
The good old man seemed to be nearly beside himself with excitement and impatience I sprang from my bed and was huddling on a few clothes when a dull booming sound made itself heard above the howling of the wind and the thunder of the breakers
There it is again cried my father It is their signal gun poor creatures Jamieson and the fishermen are below Put your oilskin coat on and the Glengarry hat Come come every second may mean a human life
We hurried down together and made our way to the beach accompanied by a dozen or so of the inhabitants of Branksome
The gale had increased rather than moderated and the wind screamed all round us with an infernal clamour So great was its force that we had to put our shoulders against it and bore our way through it while the sand and gravel tingled up against our faces
There was just light enough to make out the scudding clouds and the white gleam of the breakers but beyond that all was absolute darkness
We stood ankle deep in the shingle and seaweed shading our eyes with our hands and peering out into the inky obscurity
It seemed to me as I listened that I could hear human voices loud in intreaty and terror but amid the wild turmoil of Nature it was difficult to distinguish one sound from another
Suddenly however a light glimmered in the heart of the tempest and next instant the beach and sea and wide tossing bay were brilliantly illuminated by the wild glare of a signal light
The ship lay on her beamends right in the centre of the terrible Hansel reef hurled over to such an angle that I could see all the planking of her deck I recognised her at once as being the same threemasted barque which I had observed in the Channel in the morning and the Union Jack which was nailed upside down to the jagged slump of her mizzen proclaimed her nationality
Every spar and rope and writhing piece of cordage showed up hard and clear under the vivid light which spluttered and flickered from the highest portion of the forecastle Beyond the doomed ship out of the great darkness came the long rolling lines of big waves never ending never tiring with a petulant tuft of foam here and there upon their crests Each as it reached the broad circle of unnatural light appeared to gather strength and volume and to hurry on more impetuously until with a roar and a jarring crash it sprang upon its victim
Clinging to the weather shrouds we could distinctly see ten or a dozen frightened seamen who when the light revealed our presence turned their white faces towards us and waved their hands imploringly The poor wretches had evidently taken fresh hope from our presence though it was clear that their own boats had either been washed away or so damaged as to render them useless
The sailors who clung to the rigging were not however the only unfortunates on board On the breaking poop there stood three men who appeared to be both of a different race and nature from the cowering wretches who implored our assistance
Leaning upon the shattered taffrail they seemed to be conversing together as quietly and unconcernedly as though they were unconscious of the deadly peril which surrounded them
As the signal light flickered over them we could see from the shore that these immutable strangers wore red fezes and that their faces were of a swarthy largefeatured type which proclaimed an Eastern origin
There was little time however for us to take note of such details The ship was breaking rapidly and some effort must be made to save the poor sodden group of humanity who implored our assistance
The nearest lifeboat was in the Bay of Luce ten long miles away but here was our own broad roomy craft upon the shingle and plenty of brave fisher lads to form a crew Six of us sprang to the oars the others pushed us off and we fought our way through the swirling raging waters staggering and recoiling before the great sweeping billows but still steadily decreasing the distance between the barque and ourselves
It seemed however that our efforts were fated to be in vain
As we mounted upon a surge I saw a giant wave topping all the others and coming after them like a driver following a flock sweep down upon the vessel curling its great green arch over the breaking deck
With a rending riving sound the ship split in two where the terrible serrated back of the Hansel reef was sawing into her keel The afterpart with the broken mizzen and the three Orientals sank backwards into deep water and vanished while the forehalf oscillated helplessly about retaining its precarious balance upon the rocks
A wail of fear went up from the wreck and was echoed from the beach but by the blessing of Providence she kept afloat until we made our way under her bowsprit and rescued every man of the crew
We had not got halfway upon our return however when another great wave swept the shattered forecastle off the reef and extinguishing the signal light hid the wild denouement from our view
Our friends upon the shore were loud in congratulation and praise nor were they backward in welcoming and comforting the castaways They were thirteen in all as cold and cowed a set of mortals as ever slipped through Deaths fingers save indeed their captain who was a hardy robust man and who made light of the affair
Some were taken off to this cottage and some to that but the greater part came back to Branksome with us where we gave them such dry clothes as we could lay our hands on and served them with beef and beer by the kitchen fire The captain whose name was Meadows compressed his bulky form into a suit of my own and came down to the parlour where he mixed himself some grog and gave my father and myself an account of the disaster
If it hadnt been for you sir and your brave fellows he said smiling across at me we should be ten fathoms deep by this time As to the Belinda she was a leaky old tub and well insured so neither the owners nor I are likely to break our hearts over her
I am afraid said my father sadly that we shall never see your three passengers again I have left men upon the beach in case they should be washed up but I fear it is hopeless I saw them go down when the vessel split and no man could have lived for a moment among that terrible surge
Who were they I asked I could not have believed that it was possible for men to appear so unconcerned in the face of such imminent peril
As to who they are or were the captain answered puffing thoughtfully at his pipe that is by no means easy to say Our last port was Kurrachee in the north of India and there we took them aboard as passengers for Glasgow Ram Singh was the name of the younger and it is only with him that I have come in contact but they all appeared to be quiet inoffensive gentlemen I never inquired their business but I should judge that they were Parsee merchants from Hyderabad whose trade took them to Europe I could never see why the crew should fear them and the mate too he should have had more sense
Fear them I I ejaculated in surprise
Yes they had some preposterous idea that they were dangerous shipmates I have no doubt if you were to go down into the kitchen now you would find that they are all agreed that our passengers were the cause of the whole disaster
As the captain was speaking the parlour door opened and the mate of the barque a tall redbearded sailor stepped in He had obtained a complete rigout from some kindhearted fisherman and looked in his comfortable jersey and wellgreased seaboots a very favourable specimen of a shipwrecked mariner
With a few words of grateful acknowledgment of our hospitality he drew a chair up to the fire and warmed his great brown hands before the blaze
What dye think now Captain Meadows he asked presently glancing up at his superior officer Didnt I warn you what would be the upshot of having those niggers on board the Belinda
The captain leant back in his chair and laughed heartily
Didnt I tell you he cried appealing to us Didnt I tell you
It might have been no laughing matter for us the other remarked petulantly I have lost a good seakit and nearly my life into the bargain
Do I understand you to say said I that you attribute your misfortunes to your illfated passengers
The mate opened his eyes at the adjective
Why illfated sir he asked
Because they are most certainly drowned I answered
He sniffed incredulously and went on warming his hands
Men of that kind are never drowned he said after a pause Their father the devil looks after them Did you see them standing on the poop and rolling cigarettes at the time when the mizzen was carried away and the quarterboats stove That was enough for me Im not surprised at you landsmen not being able to take it in but the captain here whos been sailing since he was the height of the binnacle ought to know by this time that a cat and a priest are the worst cargo you can carry If a Christian priest is bad I guess an idolatrous pagan one is fifty times worse I stand by the old religion and be d—d to it
My father and I could not help laughing at the rough sailors very unorthodox way of proclaiming his orthodoxy The mate however was evidently in deadly earnest and proceeded to state his case marking off the different points upon the rough red fingers of his left hand
It was at Kurrachee directly after they come that I warned ye he said reproachfully to the captain There was three Buddhist Lascars in my watch and what did they do when them chaps come aboard Why they down on their stomachs and rubbed their noses on the deck—thats what they did They wouldnt ha done as much for an admiral of the Ryal Navy They know whos who—these niggers do and I smelt mischief the moment I saw them on their faces I asked them afterwards in your presence Captain why they had done it and they answered that the passengers were holy men You heard em yourself
Well theres no harm in that Hawkins said Captain Meadows
I dont know that the mate said doubtfully The holiest Christian is the one thats nearest God but the holiest nigger is in my opinion the one thats nearest the devil Then you saw yourself Captain Meadows how they went on during the voyage reading books that was writ on wood instead o paper and sitting up right through the night to jabber together on the quarterdeck What did they want to have a chart of their own for and to mark the course of the vessel every day
They didnt said the captain
Indeed they did and if I did not tell you sooner it was because you were always ready to laugh at what I said about them They had instruments o their own—when they used them I cant say—but every day at noon they worked out the latitude and longitude and marked out the vessels position on a chart that was pinned on their cabin table I saw them at it and so did the steward from his pantry
Well I dont see what you prove from that the captain remarked though I confess it is a strange thing
Ill tell you another strange thing said the mate impressively Do you know the name of this bay in which we are cast away
I have learnt from our kind friends here that we are upon the Wigtownshire coast the captain answered but I have not heard the name of the bay
The mate leant forward with a grave face
It is the Bay of Kirkmaiden he said
If he expected to astonish Captain Meadows he certainly succeeded for that gentleman was fairly bereft of speech for a minute or more
This is really marvellous he said after a time turning to us These passengers of ours crossquestioned us early in the voyage as to the existence of a bay of that name Hawkins here and I denied all knowledge of one for on the chart it is included in the Bay of Luce That we should eventually be blown into it and destroyed is an extraordinary coincidence
Too extraordinary to be a coincidence growled the mate I saw them during the calm yesterday morning pointing to the land over our starboard quarter They knew well enough that that was the port they were making for
What do you make of it all then Hawkins asked the captain with a troubled face What is your own theory on the matter
Why in my opinion the mate answered them three swabs have no more difficulty in raising a gale o wind than I should have in swallowing this here grog They had reasons o their own for coming to this Godforsaken—saving your presence sirs—this Godforsaken bay and they took a short cut to it by arranging to be blown ashore there Thats my idea o the matter though what three Buddhist priests could find to do in the Bay of Kirkmaiden is clean past my comprehension
My father raised his eyebrows to indicate the doubt which his hospitality forbade him from putting into words
I think gentlemen he said that you are both sorely in need of rest after your perilous adventures If you will follow me I shall lead you to your rooms
He conducted them with oldfashioned ceremony to the lairds best spare bedroom and then returning to me in the parlour proposed that we should go down together to the beach and learn whether anything fresh had occurred
The first pale light of dawn was just appearing in the east when we made our way for the second time to the scene of the shipwreck The gale had blown itself out but the sea was still very high and all inside the breakers was a seething gleaming line of foam as though the fierce old ocean were gnashing its white fangs at the victims who had escaped from its clutches
All along the beach fishermen and crofters were hard at work hauling up spars and barrels as fast as they were tossed ashore None of them had seen any bodies however and they explained to us that only such things as could float had any chance of coming ashore for the undercurrent was so strong that whatever was beneath the surface must infallibly be swept out to sea
As to the possibility of the unfortunate passengers having been able to reach the shore these practical men would not hear of it for a moment and showed us conclusively that if they had not been drowned they must have been dashed to pieces upon the rocks
We did all that could be done my father said sadly as we returned home I am afraid that the poor mate has had his reason affected by the suddenness of the disaster Did you hear what he said about Buddhist priests raising a gale
Yes I heard him said I It was very painful to listen to him said my father I wonder if he would object to my putting a small mustard plaster under each of his ears It would relieve any congestion of the brain Or perhaps it would be best to wake him up and give him two antibilious pills What do you think Jack
I think said I with a yawn that you had best let him sleep and go to sleep yourself You can physic him in the morning if he needs it
So saying I stumbled off to my bedroom and throwing myself upon the couch was soon in a dreamless slumber
CHAPTER XII OF THE THREE FOREIGN MEN UPON THE COAST
It must have been eleven or twelve oclock before I awoke and it seemed to me in the flood of golden light which streamed into my chamber that the wild tumultuous episodes of the night before must have formed part of some fantastic dream
It was hard to believe that the gentle breeze which whispered so softly among the ivyleaves around my window was caused by the same element which had shaken the very house a few short hours before It was as if Nature had repented of her momentary passion and was endeavouring to make amends to an injured world by its warmth and its sunshine A chorus of birds in the garden below filled the whole air with their wonder and congratulations
Down in the hall I found a number of the shipwrecked sailors looking all the better for their nights repose who set up a buzz of pleasure and gratitude upon seeing me
Arrangements had been made to drive them to Wigtown whence they were to proceed to Glasgow by the evening train and my father had given orders that each should be served with a packet of sandwiches and hardboiled eggs to sustain him on the way
Captain Meadows thanked us warmly in the name of his employers for the manner in which we had treated them and he called for three cheers from his crew which were very heartily given He and the mate walked down with us after we had broken our fast to have a last look at the scene of the disaster
The great bosom of the bay was still heaving convulsively and its waves were breaking into sobs against the rocks but there was none of that wild turmoil which we had seen in the early morning The long emerald ridges with their little white crests of foam rolled slowly and majestically in to break with a regular rhythm—the panting of a tired monster
A cable length from the shore we could see the mainmast of the barque floating upon the waves disappearing at times in the trough of the sea and then shooting up towards Heaven like a giant javelin shining and dripping as the rollers tossed it about Other smaller pieces of wreckage dotted the waters while innumerable spars and packages were littered over the sands These were being drawn up and collected in a place of safety by gangs of peasants I noticed that a couple of broadwinged gulls were hovering and skimming over the scene of the shipwreck as though many strange things were visible to them beneath the waves At times we could hear their raucous voices as they cried to one another of what they saw
She was a leaky old craft said the captain looking sadly out to sea but theres always a feeling of sorrow when we see the last of a ship we have sailed in Well well she would have been broken up in any case and sold for firewood
It looks a peaceful scene I remarked Who would imagine that three men lost their lives last night in those very waters
Poor fellows said the captain with feeling Should they be cast up after our departure I am sure Mr West that you will have them decently interred
I was about to make some reply when the mate burst into a loud guffaw slapping his thigh and choking with merriment
If you want to bury them he said you had best look sharp or they may clear out of the country You remember what I said last night Just look at the top of that ere hillock and tell me whether I was in the right or not
There was a high sand dune some little distance along the coast and upon the summit of this the figure was standing which had attracted the mates attention The captain threw up his hands in astonishment as his eyes rested upon it
By the eternal he shouted its Ram Singh himself Let us overhaul him
Taking to his heels in his excitement he raced along the beach followed by the mate and myself as well as by one or two of the fishermen who had observed the presence of the stranger
The latter perceiving our approach came down from his post of observation and walked quietly in our direction with his head sunk upon his breast like one who is absorbed in thought
I could not help contrasting our hurried and tumultuous advance with the gravity and dignity of this lonely Oriental nor was the matter mended when he raised a pair of steady thoughtful dark eyes and inclined his head in a graceful sweeping salutation It seemed to me that we were like a pack of schoolboys in the presence of a master
The strangers broad unruffled brow his clear searching gaze firmset yet sensitive mouth and cleancut resolute expression all combined to form the most imposing and noble presence which I had ever known I could not have imagined that such imperturbable calm and at the same time such a consciousness of latent strength could have been expressed by any human face
He was dressed in a brown velveteen coat loose dark trousers with a shirt that was cut low in the collar so as to show the muscular brown neck and he still wore the red fez which I had noticed the night before
I observed with a feeling of surprise as we approached him that none of these garments showed the slightest indication of the rough treatment and wetting which they must have received during their wearers submersion and struggle to the shore
So you are none the worse for your ducking he said in a pleasant musical voice looking from the captain to the mate I hope that your poor sailors have found pleasant quarters
We are all safe the captain answered But we had given you up for lost—you and your two friends Indeed I was just making arrangements for your burial with Mr West here
The stranger looked at me and smiled
We wont give Mr West that trouble for a little time yet he remarked my friends and I came ashore all safe and we have found shelter in a hut a mile or so along the coast It is lonely down there but we have everything which we can desire
We start for Glasgow this afternoon said the captain I shall be very glad if you will come with us If you have not been in England before you may find it awkward travelling alone
We are very much indebted to you for your thoughtfulness Ram Singh answered but we will not take advantage of your kind offer Since Nature has driven us here we intend to have a look about us before we leave
As you like the captain said shrugging his shoulders I dont think you are likely to find very much to interest you in this hole of a place
Very possibly not Ram Singh answered with an amused smile You remember Miltons lines
The mind is its own place and in itself
Can make a hell of Heaven a heaven of Hell
I dare say we can spend a few days here comfortably enough Indeed I think you must be wrong in considering this to be a barbarous locality I am much mistaken if this young gentlemans father is not Mr James Hunter West whose name is known and honoured by the pundits of India
My father is indeed a wellknown Sanscrit scholar I answered in astonishment
The presence of such a man observed the stranger slowly changes a wilderness into a city One great mind is surely a higher indication of civilisation than are incalculable leagues of bricks and mortar
Your father is hardly so profound as Sir William Jones or so universal as the Baron Von HammerPurgstall but he combines many of the virtues of each You may tell him however from me that he is mistaken in the analogy which he has traced between the Samoyede and Tamulic word roots
If you have determined to honour our neighbourhood by a short stay said I you will offend my father very much if you do not put up with him He represents the laird here and it is the lairds privilege according to our Scottish custom to entertain all strangers of repute who visit this parish
My sense of hospitality prompted me to deliver this invitation though I could feel the mate twitching at my sleeves as if to warn me that the offer was for some reason an objectionable one His fears were however unnecessary for the stranger signified by a shake of the head that it was impossible for him to accept it
My friends and I are very much obliged to you he said but we have our own reasons for remaining where we are The hut which we occupy is deserted and partly ruined but we Easterns have trained ourselves to do without most of those things which are looked upon as necessaries in Europe believing firmly in that wise axiom that a man is rich not in proportion to what he has but in proportion to what he can dispense with A good fisherman supplies us with bread and with herbs we have clean dry straw for our couches what could man wish for more
But you must feel the cold at night coming straight from the tropics remarked the captain Perhaps our bodies are cold sometimes We have not noticed it We have all three spent many years in the Upper Himalayas on the border of the region of eternal snow so we are not very sensitive to inconveniences of the sort
At least said I you must allow me to send you over some fish and some meat from our larder
We are not Christians he answered but Buddhists of the higher school We do not recognise that man has a moral right to slay an ox or a fish for the gross use of his body He has not put life into them and has assuredly no mandate from the Almighty to take life from them save under most pressing need We could not therefore use your gift if you were to send it
But sir I remonstrated if in this changeable and inhospitable climate you refuse all nourishing food your vitality will fail you—you will die
We shall die then he answered with an amused smile And now Captain Meadows I must bid you adieu thanking you for your kindness during the voyage and you too goodbye—you will command a ship of your own before the year is out I trust Mr West that I may see you again before I leave this part of the country Farewell
He raised his red fez inclined his noble head with the stately grace which characterised all his actions and strode away in the direction from which he had come
Let me congratulate you Mr Hawkins said the captain to the mate as we walked homewards You are to command your own ship within the year
No such luck the mate answered with a pleased smile upon his mahogany face still theres no saying how things may come out What dye think of him Mr West
Why said I I am very much interested in him What a magnificent head and bearing he has for a young man I suppose he cannot be more than thirty
Forty said the mate
Sixty if he is a day remarked Captain Meadows Why I have heard him talk quite familiarly of the first Afghan war He was a man then and that is close on forty years ago
Wonderful I ejaculated His skin is as smooth and his eyes are as clear as mine are He is the superior priest of the three no doubt
The inferior said the captain confidently That is why he does all the talking for them Their minds are too elevated to descend to mere worldly chatter
They are the strangest pieces of flotsam and jetsam that were ever thrown upon this coast I remarked My father will be mightily interested in them
Indeed I think the less you have to do with them the better for you said the mate If I do command my own ship Ill promise you that I never carry live stock of that sort on board of her But here we are all aboard and the anchor tripped so we must bid you goodbye
The wagonette had just finished loading up when we arrived and the chief places on either side of the driver had been reserved for my two companions who speedily sprang into them With a chorus of cheers the good fellows whirled away down the road while my father Esther and I stood upon the lawn and waved our hands to them until they disappeared behind the Cloomber woods en route for the Wigtown railway station Barque and crew had both vanished now from our little world the only relic of either being the heaps of debris upon the beach which were to lie there until the arrival of an agent from Lloyds
CHAPTER XIII IN WHICH I SEE THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN BY FEW
At dinner that evening I mentioned to my father the episode of the three Buddhist priests and found as I had expected that he was very much interested by my account of them
When however he heard of the high manner in which Ram Singh had spoken of him and the distinguished position which he had assigned him among philologists he became so excited that it was all we could do to prevent him from setting off then and there to make his acquaintance
Esther and I were relieved and glad when we at last succeeded in abstracting his boots and manoeuvring him to his bedroom for the exciting events of the last twentyfour hours had been too much for his weak frame and delicate nerves
I was silting at the open porch in the gloaming turning over in my mind the unexpected events which had occurred so rapidly—the gale the wreck the rescue and the strange character of the castaways—when my sister came quietly over to me and put her hand in mine
Dont you think Jack she said in her low sweet voice that we are forgetting our friends over at Cloomber Hasnt all this excitement driven their fears and their danger out of our heads
Out of our heads but never out of our hearts said I laughing However you are right little one for our attention has certainly been distracted from them I shall walk up in the morning and see if I can see anything of them By the way tomorrow is the fateful 5th of October—one more day and all will be well with us
Or ill said my sister gloomily
Why what a little croaker you are to be sure I cried What in the world is coming over you
I feel nervous and lowspirited she answered drawing closer to my side and shivering I feel as if some great peril were hanging over the heads of those we love Why should these strange men wish to stay upon the coast
What the Buddhists I said lightly Oh these fellows have continual feastdays and religious rites of all sorts They have some very good reason for staying you may be sure
Dont you think said Esther in an awestruck whisper that it is very strange that these priests should arrive here all the way from India just at the present moment Have you not gathered from all you have heard that the generals fears are in some way connected with India and the Indians
The remark made me thoughtful
Why now that you mention it I answered I have some vague impression that the mystery is connected with some incident which occurred in that country I am sure however that your fears would vanish if you saw Ram Singh He is the very personification of wisdom and benevolence He was shocked at the idea of our killing a sheep or even a fish for his benefit—said he would rather die than have a hand in taking the life of an animal
It is very foolish of me to be so nervous said my sister bravely But you must promise me one thing Jack You will go up to Cloomber in the morning and if you can see any of them you must tell them of these strange neighbours of ours They are better able to judge than we are whether their presence has any significance or not
All right little one I answered as we went indoors You have been overexcited by all these wild doings and you need a sound nights rest to compose you Ill do what you suggest however and our friends shall judge for themselves whether these poor fellows should be sent about their business or not
I made the promise to allay my sisters apprehensions but in the bright sunlight of morning it appeared less than absurd to imagine that our poor vegetarian castaways could have any sinister intentions or that their advent could have any effect upon the tenant of Cloomber
I was anxious myself however to see whether I could see anything of the Heatherstones so after breakfast I walked up to the Hall In their seclusion it was impossible for them to have learnt anything of the recent events I felt therefore that even if I should meet the general he could hardly regard me as an intruder while I had so much news to communicate
The place had the same dreary and melancholy appearance which always characterised it Looking through between the thick iron bars of the main gateway there was nothing to be seen of any of the occupants One of the great Scotch firs had been blown down in the gale and its long ruddy trunk lay right across the grassgrown avenue but no attempt had been made to remove it
Everything about the property had the same air of desolation and neglect with the solitary exception of the massive and impenetrable fencing which presented as unbroken and formidable an obstacle as ever to the wouldbe trespasser
I walked round this barrier as far as our old trystingplace without finding any flaw through which I could get a glimpse of the house for the fence had been repaired with each rail overlapping the last so as to secure absolute privacy for those inside and to block those peepholes which I had formerly used
At the old spot however where I had had the memorable interview with the general on the occasion when he surprised me with his daughter I found that the two loose rails had been refixed in such a manner that there was a gap of two inches or more between them
Through this I had a view of the house and of part of the lawn in front of it and though I could see no signs of life outside or at any of the windows I settled down with the intention of sticking to my post until I had a chance of speaking to one or other of the inmates Indeed the cold dead aspect of the house had struck such a chill into my heart that I determined to scale the fence at whatever risk of incurring the generals displeasure rather than return without news of the Heatherstones
Happily there was no need of this extreme expedient for I had not been there halfanhour before I heard the harsh sound of an opening lock and the general himself emerged from the main door
To my surprise he was dressed in a military uniform and that not the uniform in ordinary use in the British Army The red coat was strangely cut and stained with the weather The trousers had originally been white but had now faded to a dirty yellow With a red sash across his chest and a straight sword hanging from his side he stood the living example of a bygone type—the John Companys officer of forty years ago
He was followed by the extramp Corporal Rufus Smith now wellclad and prosperous who limped along beside his master the two pacing up and down the lawn absorbed in conversation I observed that from time to time one or other of them would pause and glance furtively all about them as though guarding keenly against a surprise I should have preferred communicating with the general alone but since there was no dissociating him from his companion I beat loudly on the fencing with my stick to attract their attention They both faced round in a moment and I could see from their gestures that they were disturbed and alarmed
I then elevated my stick above the barrier to show them where the sound proceeded from At this the general began to walk in my direction with the air of a man who is bracing himself up for an effort but the other caught him by the wrist and endeavoured to dissuade him
It was only when I shouted out my name and assured them that I was alone that I could prevail upon them to approach Once assured of my identity the general ran eagerly towards me and greeted me with the utmost cordiality
This is truly kind of you West he said It is only at such times as these that one can judge who is a friend and who not It would not be fair to you to ask you to come inside or to stay any time but I am none the less very glad to see you
I have been anxious about you all I said for it is some little time since I have seen or heard from any of you How have you all been keeping
Why as well as could be expected But we will be better tomorrow—we will be different men tomorrow eh Corporal
Yes sir said the corporal raising his hand to his forehead in a military salute Well be right as the bank tomorrow
The corporal and I are a little disturbed in our minds just now the general explained but I have no doubt that all will come right After all there is nothing higher than Providence and we are all in His hands And how have you been eh
We have been very busy for one thing said I I suppose you have heard nothing of the great shipwreck
Not a word the general answered listlessly
I thought the noise of the wind would prevent you hearing the signal guns She came ashore in the bay the night before last—a great barque from India
From India ejaculated the general
Yes Her crew were saved fortunately and have all been sent on to Glasgow
All sent on cried the general with a face as bloodless as a corpse
All except three rather strange characters who claim to be Buddhist priests They have decided to remain for a few days upon the coast
The words were hardly out of my mouth when the general dropped upon his knees with his long thin arms extended to Heaven
Thy will be done he cried in a cracking voice Thy blessed will be done
I could see through the crack that Corporal Rufus Smiths face had turned to a sickly yellow shade and that he was wiping the perspiration from his brow
Its like my luck he said After all these years to come when I have got a snug billet
Never mind my lad the general said rising and squaring his shoulders like a man who braces himself up for an effort Be it what it may well face it as British soldiers should Dye remember at Chillianwallah when you had to run from your guns to our square and the Sikh horse came thundering down on our bayonets We didnt flinch then and we wont flinch now It seems to me that I feel better than I have done for years It was the uncertainty that was killing me
And the infernal jinglejangle said the corporal Well we all go together—thats some consolation
Goodbye West said the general Be a good husband to Gabriel and give my poor wife a home I dont think she will trouble you long Goodbye God bless you
Look here General I said peremptorily breaking off a piece of wood to make communication more easy this sort of thing has been going on too long What are these hints and allusions and innuendoes It is time we had a little plain speaking What is it you fear Out with it Are you in dread of these Hindoos If you are I am able on my fathers authority to have them arrested as rogues and vagabonds
No no that would never do he answered shaking his head You will learn about the wretched business soon enough Mordaunt knows where to lay his hand upon the papers bearing on the matter You can consult him about it tomorrow
But surely I cried if the peril is so imminent something may be done to avert it If you would but tell me what you fear I should know how to act
My dear friend he said there is nothing to be done so calm yourself and let things take their course It has been folly on my part to shelter myself behind mere barriers of wood and stone The fact is that inaction was terrible to me and I felt that to do anything however futile in the nature of a precaution was better than passive resignation My humble friend here and I have placed ourselves in a position in which I trust no poor fellow will ever find himself again We can only recommend ourselves to the unfailing goodness of the Almighty and trust that what we have endured in this world may lessen our atonement in the world to come I must leave you now for I have many papers to destroy and much to arrange Goodbye
He pushed his hand through the hole which I had made and grasped mine in a solemn farewell after which he walked back to the Hall with a firm and decided step still followed by the crippled and sinister corporal
I walked back to Branksome much disturbed by this interview and extremely puzzled as to what course I should pursue
It was evident now that my sisters suspicions were correct and that there was some very intimate connection between the presence of the three Orientals and the mysterious peril which hung over the towers of Cloomber
It was difficult for me to associate the noblefaced Ram Singhs gentle refined manner and words of wisdom with any deed of violence yet now that I thought of it I could see that a terrible capacity for wrath lay behind his shaggy brows and dark piercing eyes
I felt that of all men whom I had ever met he was the one whose displeasure I should least care to face But how could two men so widely dissociated as the foulmouthed old corporal of artillery and the distinguished AngloIndian general have each earned the illwill of these strange castaways And if the danger were a positive physical one why should he not consent to my proposal to have the three men placed under custody—though I confess it would have gone much against my grain to act in so inhospitable a manner upon such vague and shadowy grounds
These questions were absolutely unanswerable and yet the solemn words and the terrible gravity which I had seen in the faces of both the old soldiers forbade me from thinking that their fears were entirely unfounded
It was all a puzzle—an absolutely insoluble puzzle
One thing at least was clear to me—and that was that in the present state of my knowledge and after the generals distinct prohibition it was impossible for me to interfere in any way I could only wait and pray that whatever the danger might be it might pass over or at least that my dear Gabriel and her brother might be protected against it
I was walking down the lane lost in thought and had got as far as the wicket gate which opens upon the Branksome lawn when I was surprised to hear my fathers voice raised in most animated and excited converse
The old man had been of late so abstracted from the daily affairs of the world and so absorbed in his own special studies that it was difficult to engage his attention upon any ordinary mundane topic Curious to know what it was that had drawn him so far out of himself I opened the gate softly and walking quietly round the laurel bushes found him sitting to my astonishment with none other than the very man who was occupying my thoughts Ram Singh the Buddhist
The two were sitting upon a garden bench and the Oriental appeared to be laying down some weighty proposition checking every point upon his long quivering brown fingers while my father with his hands thrown abroad and his face awry was loud in protestation and in argument
So absorbed were they in their controversy that I stood within a handtouch of them for a minute or more before they became conscious of my presence
On observing me the priest sprang to his feet and greeted me with the same lofty courtesy and dignified grace which had so impressed me the day before
I promised myself yesterday he said the pleasure of calling upon your father You see I have kept my word I have even been daring enough to question his views upon some points in connection with the Sanscrit and Hindoo tongues with the result that we have been arguing for an hour or more without either of us convincing the other Without pretending to as deep a theoretical knowledge as that which has made the name of James Hunter West a household word among Oriental scholars I happen to have given considerable attention to this one point and indeed I am in a position to say that I know his views to be unsound I assure you sir that up to the year 700 or even later Sanscrit was the ordinary language of the great bulk of the inhabitants of India
And I assure you sir said my father warmly that it was dead and forgotten at that date save by the learned who used it as a vehicle for scientific and religious works—just as Latin was used in the Middle Ages long after it had ceased to be spoken by any European nation
If you consult the puranas you will find said Ram Singh that this theory though commonly received is entirely untenable
And if you will consult the Ramayana and more particularly the canonical books on Buddhist discipline cried my father you will find that the theory is unassailable
But look at the Kullavagga said our visitor earnestly
And look at King Asoka shouted my father triumphantly When in the year 300 before the Christian era—before mind you—he ordered the laws of Buddha to be engraved upon the rocks what language did he employ eh Was it Sanscrit—no And why was it not Sanscrit Because the lower orders of his subjects would not have been able to understand a word of it Ha ha That was the reason How are you going to get round King Asokas edicts eh
He carved them in the various dialects Ram Singh answered But energy is too precious a thing to be wasted in mere wind in this style The sun has passed its meridian and I must return to my companions
I am sorry that you have not brought them to see us said my father courteously He was I could see uneasy lest in the eagerness of debate he had overstepped the bounds of hospitality
They do not mix with the world Ram Singh answered rising to his feet They are of a higher grade than I and more sensitive to contaminating influences They are immersed in a six months meditation upon the mystery of the third incarnation which has lasted with few intermissions from the time that we left the Himalayas I shall not see you again Mr Hunter West and I therefore bid you farewell Your old age will be a happy one as it deserves to be and your Eastern studies will have a lasting effect upon the knowledge and literature of your own country Farewell
And am I also to see no more of you I asked
Unless you will walk with me along the seashore he answered But you have already been out this morning and may be tired I ask too much of you
Nay I should be delighted to come I responded from my heart and we set off together accompanied for some little distance by my father who would gladly I could see have reopened the Sanscrit controversy had not his stock of breath been too limited to allow of his talking and walking at the same time
He is a learned man Ram Singh remarked after we had left him behind but like many another he is intolerant towards opinions which differ from his own He will know better some day
I made no answer to this observation and we trudged along for a time in silence keeping well down to the waters edge where the sands afforded a good foothold
The sand dunes which lined the coast formed a continuous ridge upon our left cutting us off entirely from all human observation while on the right the broad Channel stretched away with hardly a sail to break its silvery uniformity The Buddhist priest and I were absolutely alone with Nature
I could not help reflecting that if he were really the dangerous man that the mate affected to consider him or that might be inferred from the words of General Heatherstone I had placed myself completely in his power
Yet such was the majestic benignity of the mans aspect and the unruffled serenity of his deep dark eyes that I could afford in his presence to let fear and suspicion blow past me as lightly as the breeze which whistled round us His face might be stern and even terrible but I felt that he could never be unjust
As I glanced from time to time at his noble profile and the sweep of his jetblack beard his roughspun tweed travelling suit struck me with an almost painful sense of incongruity and I reclothed him in my imagination with the grand sweeping Oriental costume which is the fitting and proper frame for such a picture—the only garb which does not detract from the dignity and grace of the wearer
The place to which he led me was a small fisher cottage which had been deserted some years before by its tenant but still stood gaunt and bare with the thatch partly blown away and the windows and doors in sad disrepair This dwelling which the poorest Scotch beggar would have shrunk from was the one which these singular men had preferred to the proffered hospitality of the lairds house A small garden now a mass of tangled brambles stood round it and through this my acquaintance picked his way to the ruined door He glanced into the house and then waved his hand for me to follow him
You have now an opportunity he said in a subdued reverential voice of seeing a spectacle which few Europeans have had the privilege of beholding Inside that cottage you will find two Yogis—men who are only one remove from the highest plane of adeptship They are both wrapped in an ecstatic trance otherwise I should not venture to obtrude your presence upon them Their astral bodies have departed from them to be present at the feast of lamps in the holy Lamasery of Rudok in Tibet Tread lightly lest by stimulating their corporeal functions you recall them before their devotions are completed
Walking slowly and on tiptoe I picked my way through the weedgrown garden and peered through the open doorway
There was no furniture in the dreary interior nor anything to cover the uneven floor save a litter of fresh straw in a corner
Among this straw two men were crouching the one small and wizened the other largeboned and gaunt with their legs crossed in Oriental fashion and their heads sunk upon their breasts Neither of them looked up or took the smallest notice of our presence
They were so still and silent that they might have been two bronze statues but for the slow and measured rhythm of their breathing Their faces however had a peculiar ashengrey colour very different from the healthy brown of my companions and I observed on stooping my head that only the whites of their eyes were visible the balls being turned upwards beneath the lids
In front of them upon a small mat lay an earthenware pitcher of water and halfaloaf of bread together with a sheet of paper inscribed with certain cabalistic characters Ram Singh glanced at these and then motioning to me to withdraw followed me out into the garden
I am not to disturb them until ten oclock he said You have now seen in operation one of the grandest results of our occult philosophy the dissociation of spirit from body Not only are the spirits of these holy men standing at the present moment by the banks of the Ganges but those spirits are clothed in a material covering so identical with their real bodies that none of the faithful will ever doubt that Lal Hoomi and Mowdar Khan are actually among them This is accomplished by our power of resolving an object into its chemical atoms of conveying these atoms with a speed which exceeds that of lightning to any given spot and of there reprecipitating them and compelling them to retake their original form Of old in the days of our ignorance it was necessary to convey the whole body in this way but we have since found that it was as easy and more convenient to transmit material enough merely to build up an outside shell or semblance This we have termed the astral body
But if you can transmit your spirits so readily I observed why should they be accompanied by any body at all
In communicating with brother initiates we are able to employ our spirits only but when we wish to come in contact with ordinary mankind it is essential that we should appear in some form which they can see and comprehend
You have interested me deeply in all that you have told me I said grasping the hand which Ram Singh had held out to me as a sign that our interview was at an end I shall often think of our short acquaintance
You will derive much benefit from it he said slowly still holding my hand and looking gravely and sadly into my eyes You must remember that what will happen in the future is not necessarily bad because it does not fall in with your preconceived ideas of right Be not hasty in your judgments There are certain great rules which must be carried out at whatever cost to individuals Their operation may appear to you to be harsh and cruel but that is as nothing compared with the dangerous precedent which would be established by not enforcing them The ox and the sheep are safe from us but the man with the blood of the highest upon his hands should not and shall not live
He threw up his arms at the last words with a fierce threatening gesture and turning away from me strode back to the ruined hut
I stood gazing after him until he disappeared through the doorway and then started off for home revolving in my mind all that I had heard and more particularly this last outburst of the occult philosopher
Far on the right I could see the tall white tower of Cloomber standing out clearcut and sharp against a dark cloudbank which rose behind it I thought how any traveller who chanced to pass that way would envy in his heart the tenant of that magnificent building and how little they would guess the strange terrors the nameless dangers which were gathering about his head The black cloudwrack was but the image I reflected of the darker more sombre storm which was about to burst
Whatever it all means and however it happens I ejaculated God grant that the innocent be not confounded with the guilty
My father when I reached home was still in a ferment over his learned disputation with the stranger
I trust Jack he said that I did not handle him too roughly I should remember that I am in loco magistri and be less prone to argue with my guests Yet when he took up this most untenable position I could not refrain from attacking him and hurling him out of it which indeed I did though you who are ignorant of the niceties of the question may have failed to perceive it You observed however that my reference to King Asokas edicts was so conclusive that he at once rose and took his leave
You held your own bravely I answered but what is your impression of the man now that you have seen him Why said my father he is one of those holy men who under the various names of Sannasis Yogis Sevras Qualanders Hakims and Cufis have devoted their lives to the study of the mysteries of the Buddhist faith He is I take it a theosophist or worshipper of the God of knowledge the highest grade of which is the adept This man and his companions have not attained this high position or they could not have crossed the sea without contamination It is probable that they are all advanced chelas who hope in time to attain to the supreme honour of adeptship
But father interrupted my sister this does not explain why men of such sanctity and attainments should choose to take up their quarters on the shores of a desolate Scotch bay
Ah there you get beyond me my father answered I may suggest however that it is nobodys business but their own so long as they keep the peace and are amenable to the law of the land
Have you ever heard I asked that these higher priests of whom you speak have powers which are unknown to us
Why Eastern literature is full of it The Bible is an Eastern book and is it not full of the record of such powers from cover to cover It is unquestionable that they have in the past known many of Natures secrets which are lost to us I cannot say however from my own knowledge that the modern theosophists really possess the powers that they claim
Are they a vindictive class of people I asked Is there any offence among them which can only be expiated by death
Not that I know of my father answered raising his white eyebrows in surprise You appear to be in an inquisitive humour this afternoon—what is the object of all these questions Have our Eastern neighbours aroused your curiosity or suspicion in any way
I parried the question as best I might for I was unwilling to let the old man know what was in my mind No good purpose could come from his enlightenment his age and his health demanded rest rather than anxiety and indeed with the best will in the world I should have found it difficult to explain to another what was so very obscure to myself For every reason I felt that it was best that he should be kept in the dark
Never in all my experience had I known a day pass so slowly as did that eventful 5th of October In every possible manner I endeavoured to while away the tedious hours and yet it seemed as if darkness would never arrive
I tried to read I tried to write I paced about the lawn I walked to the end of the lane I put new flies upon my fishinghooks I began to index my fathers library—in a dozen ways I endeavoured to relieve the suspense which was becoming intolerable My sister I could see was suffering from the same feverish restlessness
Again and again our good father remonstrated with us in his mild way for our erratic behaviour and the continual interruption of his work which arose from it
At last however the tea was brought and the tea was taken the curtains were drawn the lamps lit and after another interminable interval the prayers were read and the servants dismissed to their rooms My father compounded and swallowed his nightly jorum of toddy and then shuffled off to his room leaving the two of us in the parlour with our nerves in a tingle and our minds full of the most vague and yet terrible apprehensions
CHAPTER XIV OF THE VISITOR WHO RAN DOWN THE ROAD IN THE NIGHTTIME
It was a quarter past ten oclock by the parlour timepiece when my father went off to his room and left Esther and myself together We heard his slow steps dying away up the creaking staircase until the distant slamming of a door announced that he had reached his sanctum
The simple oil lamp upon the table threw a weird uncertain light over the old room flickering upon the carved oak panelling and casting strange fantastic shadows from the highelbowed straightbacked furniture My sisters white anxious face stood out in the obscurity with a startling exactness of profile like one of Rembrandts portraits
We sat opposite to each other on either side of the table with no sound breaking the silence save the measured ticking of the clock and the intermittent chirping of a cricket beneath the grate
There was something aweinspiring in the absolute stillness The whistling of a belated peasant upon the high road was a relief to us and we strained our ears to catch the last of his notes as he plodded steadily homewards
At first we had made some pretence—she of knitting and I of reading—but we soon abandoned the useless deception and sat uneasily waiting starting and glancing at each other with questioning eyes whenever the faggot crackled in the fire or a rat scampered behind the wainscot There was a heavy electrical feeling in the air which weighed us down with a foreboding of disaster
I rose and flung the hall door open to admit the fresh breeze of the night Ragged clouds swept across the sky and the moon peeped out at times between their hurrying fringes bathing the whole countryside in its cold white radiance From where I stood in the doorway I could see the edge of the Cloomber wood though the house itself was only visible from the rising ground some little distance off At my sisters suggestion we walked together she with her shawl over her head as far as the summit of this elevation and looked out in the direction of the Hall
There was no illumination of the windows tonight From roof to basement not a light twinkled in any part of the great building Its huge mass loomed up dark and sullen amid the trees which surrounded it looking more like some giant sarcophagus than a human habitation
To our overwrought nerves there was something of terror in its mere bulk and its silence We stood for some little time peering at it through the darkness and then we made our way back to the parlour again where we sat waiting—waiting we knew not for what and yet with absolute conviction that some terrible experience was in store for us
It was twelve oclock or thereabout when my sister suddenly sprang to her feet and held up her fingers to bespeak attention
Do you hear nothing she asked
I strained my ears but without success
Come to the door she cried with a trembling voice Now can you hear anything
In the deep silence of the night I distinctly heard a dull murmuring clattering sound continuous apparently but very faint and low
What is it I asked in a subdued voice
Its the sound of a man running towards us she answered and then suddenly dropping the last semblance of selfcommand she tell upon her knees beside the table and began praying aloud with that frenzied earnestness which intense overpowering fear can produce breaking off now and again into halfhysterical whimperings
I could distinguish the sound clearly enough now to know that her quick feminine perception had not deceived her and that it was indeed caused by a running man
On he came and on down the high road his footfalls ringing out clearer and sharper every moment An urgent messenger he must be for he neither paused nor slackened his pace
The quick crisp rattle was changed suddenly to a dull muffled murmur He had reached the point where sand had been recently laid down for a hundred yards or so In a few moments however he was back on hard ground again and his flying feet came nearer and ever nearer
He must I reflected be abreast of the head of the lane now Would he hold on Or would he turn down to Branksome
The thought had hardly crossed my mind when I heard by the difference of the sound that the runner had turned the corner and that his goal was beyond all question the lairds house
Rushing down to the gate of the lawn I reached it just as our visitor dashed it open and fell into my arms I could see in the moonlight that it was none other than Mordaunt Heatherstone
What has happened I cried What is amiss Mordaunt
My father he gasped—my father
His hat was gone his eyes dilated with terror and his face as bloodless as that of a corpse I could feel that the hands which clasped my arms were quivering and shaking with emotion
You are exhausted I said leading him into the parlour Give yourself a moments rest before you speak to us Be calm man you are with your best friends
I laid him on the old horsehair sofa while Esther whose fears had all flown to the winds now that something practical was to be done dashed some brandy into a tumbler and brought it to him The stimulant had a marvellous effect upon him for the colour began to come back into his pale cheeks and the light of recognition in his eyes
He sat up and took Esthers hand in both of his like a man who is waking out of some bad dream and wishes to assure himself that he is really in safety
Your father I asked What of him
He is gone
Gone
Yes he is gone and so is Corporal Rufus Smith We shall never set eyes upon them again
But where have they gone I cried This is unworthy of you Mordaunt What right have we to sit here allowing our private feelings to overcome us while there is a possibility of succouring your father Up man Let us follow him Tell me only what direction he took
Its no use young Heatherstone answered burying his face in his hands Dont reproach me West for you dont know all the circumstances What can we do to reverse the tremendous and unknown laws which are acting against us The blow has long been hanging over us and now it has fallen God help us
In Heavens name tell me what has happened said I excitedly We must not yield to despair
We can do nothing until daybreak he answered We shall then endeavour to obtain some trace of them It is hopeless at present
And how about Gabriel and Mrs Heatherstone I asked Can we not bring them down from the Hall at once Your poor sister must be distracted with terror
She knows nothing of it Mordaunt answered She sleeps at the other side of the house and has not heard or seen anything As to my poor mother she has expected some such event for so long a time that it has not come upon her as a surprise She is of course overwhelmed with grief but would I think prefer to be left to herself for the present Her firmness and composure should be a lesson to me but I am constitutionally excitable and this catastrophe coming after our long period of suspense deprived me of my very reason for a time
If we can do nothing until the morning I said you have time to tell us all that has occurred
I will do so he answered rising and holding his shaking hands to the fire You know already that we have had reason for some time—for many years in fact—to fear that a terrible retribution was hanging over my fathers head for a certain action of his early life In this action he was associated with the man known as Corporal Rufus Smith so that the fact of the latter finding his way to my father was a warning to us that the time had come and that this 5th of October—the anniversary of the misdeed—would be the day of its atonement I told you of our fears in my letter and if I am not mistaken my father also had some conversation with you John upon the subject When I saw yesterday morning that he had hunted out the old uniform which he had always retained since he wore it in the Afghan war I was sure that the end was at hand and that our forebodings would be realised
He appeared to be more composed in the afternoon than I have seen him for years and spoke freely of his life in India and of the incidents of his youth About nine oclock he requested us to go up to our own rooms and locked us in there—a precaution which he frequently took when the dark fit way upon him It was always his endeavour poor soul to keep us clear of the curse which had fallen upon his own unfortunate head Before parting from us he tenderly embraced my mother and Gabriel and he afterwards followed me to my room where he clasped my hand affectionately and gave into my charge a small packet addressed to yourself
To me I interrupted
To you I shall fulfill my commission when I have told you my story I conjured him to allow me to sit up with him and share any danger which might arise but he implored me with irresistible earnestness not to add to his troubles by thwarting his arrangements Seeing that I was really distressing him by my pertinacity I at last allowed him to close the door and to turn the key upon the outside I shall always reproach myself for my want of firmness But what can you do when your own father refuses your assistance or cooperation You cannot force yourself upon him
I am sure that you did all you could do my sister said
I meant to dear Esther but God help me it was hard to tell what was right He left me and I heard his footsteps die away down the long corridor It was then about ten oclock or a little after For a time I paced up and down the room and then carrying the lamp to the head of my bed I lay down without undressing reading St Thomas a Kempis and praying from my heart that the night might pass safely over us
I had at last fallen into a troubled sleep when I was suddenly aroused by a loud sonorous sound ringing in my ears I sat up bewildered but all was silent again The lamp was burning low and my watch showed me that it was going on to midnight I blundered to my feet and was striking a match with the intention of lighting the candles when the sharp vehement cry broke out again so loud and so clear that it might have been in the very room with me My chamber is in the front of the house while those of my mother and sister are at the back so that I am the only one who commands a view of the avenue
Rushing to the window I drew the blind aside and looked out You know that the graveldrive opens up so as to form a broad stretch immediately in front of the house Just in the centre of this clear space there stood three men looking up at the house
The moon shone full upon them glistening on their upturned eyeballs and by its light I could see that they were swarthyfaced and blackhaired of a type that I was familiar with among the Sikhs and Afridis Two of them were thin with eager aesthetic countenances while the third was kinglike and majestic with a noble figure and flowing beard
Ram Singh I ejaculated
What you know of them exclaimed Mordaunt in great surprise You have met them
I know of them They are Buddhist priests I answered but go on
They stood in a line he continued sweeping their arms upwards and downwards while their lips moved as if repeating some prayer or incantation Suddenly they ceased to gesticulate and broke out for the third time into the wild weird piercing cry which had roused me from my slumber Never shall I forget that shrill dreadful summons swelling and reverberating through the silent night with an intensity of sound which is still ringing in my ears
As it died slowly away there was a rasping and creaking as of keys and bolts followed by the clang of an opening door and the clatter of hurrying feet From my window I saw my father and Corporal Rufus Smith rush frantically out of the house hatless and unkempt like men who are obeying a sudden and overpowering impulse The three strangers laid no hands on them but all five swept swiftly away down the avenue and vanished among the trees I am positive that no force was used or constraint of any visible kind and yet I am as sure that my poor father and his companion were helpless prisoners as it I bad seen them dragged away in manacles
All this took little time in the acting From the first summons which disturbed my sleep to the last shadowy glimpse which I had of them between the tree trunks could hardly have occupied more than five minutes of actual time So sudden was it and so strange that when the drama was over and they were gone I could have believed that it was all some terrible nightmare some delusion had I not felt that the impression was too real too vivid to be imputed to fancy
I threw my whole weight against my bedroom door in the hope of forcing the lock It stood firm for a while but I flung myself upon it again and again until something snapped and I found myself in the passage
My first thought was for my mother I rushed to her room and turned the key in her door The moment that I did so she stepped out into the corridor in her dressinggown and held up a warning finger
No noise she said Gabriel is asleep They have been called away
They have I answered
Gods will be done she cried Your poor father will be happier in the next world than he has ever been in this Thank Heaven that Gabriel is asleep I gave her chloral in her cocoa
What am I to do I said distractedly
Where have they gone How can I help him We cannot let him go from us like this or leave these men to do what they will with him Shall I ride into Wigtown and arouse the police
Anything rather than that my mother said earnestly He has begged me again and again to avoid it My son we shall never set eyes upon your father again You may marvel at my dry eyes but it you knew as I know the peace which death would bring him you could not find it in your heart to mourn for him All pursuit is I feel vain and yet some pursuit there must be Let it be as private as possible We cannot serve him better than by consulting his wishes
But every minute is precious I cried Even now he may be calling upon us to rescue him from the clutches of those darkskinned fiends
The thought so maddened me that I rushed out of the house and down to the high road but once there I had no indication in which direction to turn The whole wide moor lay before me without a sign of movement upon its broad expanse I listened but not a sound broke the perfect stillness of the night
It was then my dear friends as I stood not knowing in which direction to turn that the horror and responsibility broke full upon me I felt that I was combating against forces of which I knew nothing All was strange and dark and terrible
The thought of you and of the help which I might look for from your advice and assistance was a beacon of hope to me At Branksome at least I should receive sympathy and above all directions as to what I should do for my mind is in such a whirl that I cannot trust my own judgment My mother was content to be alone my sister asleep and no prospect of being able to do anything until daybreak Under those circumstances what more natural than that I should fly to you as fast as my feet would carry me You have a clear head Jack speak out man and tell me what I should do Esther what should I do
He turned from one to the other of us with outstretched hands and eager questioning eyes
You can do nothing while the darkness lasts I answered We must report the matter to the Wigtown police but we need not send our message to them until we are actually starting upon the search so as to comply with the law and yet have a private investigation as your mother wishes John Fullarton over the hill has a lurcher dog which is as good as a bloodhound If we set him on the generals trail he will run him down if he had to follow him to John o Groats
It is terrible to wait calmly here while he may need our assistance
I fear our assistance could under any circumstances do him little good There are forces at work here which are beyond human intervention Besides there is no alternative We have apparently no possible clue as to the direction which they have taken and for us to wander aimlessly over the moor in the darkness would be to waste the strength which may be more profitably used in the morning It will be daylight by five oclock In an hour or so we can walk over the hill together and get Fullartons dog
Another hour Mordaunt groaned every minute seems an age
Lie down on the sofa and rest yourself said I You cannot serve your father better than by laying up all the strength you can for we may have a weary trudge before us But you mentioned a packet which the general had intended for me
It is here he answered drawing a small flat parcel from his pocket and handing it over to me you will find no doubt that it will explain all which has been so mysterious
The packet was sealed at each end with black wax bearing the impress of the flying griffin which I knew to be the generals crest It was further secured by a band of broad tape which I cut with my pocketknife Across the outside was written in bold handwriting J Fothergill West Esq and underneath To be handed to that gentleman in the event of the disappearance or decease of MajorGeneral J B Heatherstone VC CB late of the Indian Army
So at last I was to know the dark secret which had cast a shadow over our lives Here in my hands I held the solution of it
With eager fingers I broke the seals and undid the wrapper A note and a small bundle of discoloured paper lay within I drew the lamp over to me and opened the former It was dated the preceding afternoon and ran in this way
MY DEAR WEST—
I should have satisfied your very natural curiosity on the subject which we have had occasion to talk of more than once but I refrained for your own sake I knew by sad experience how unsettling and unnerving it is to be for ever waiting for a catastrophe which you are convinced must befall and which you can neither avert nor accelerate
Though it affects me specially as being the person most concerned I am still conscious that the natural sympathy which I have observed in you and your regard for Gabriels father would both combine to render you unhappy if you knew the hopelessness and yet the vagueness of the fate which threatens me I feared to disturb your mind and I was therefore silent though at some cost to myself for my isolation has not been the least of the troubles which have weighed me down
Many signs however and chief among them the presence of the Buddhists upon the coast as described by you this morning have convinced me that the weary waiting is at last over and that the hour of retribution is at hand Why I should have been allowed to live nearly forty years after my offence is more than I can understand but it is possible that those who had command over my fate know that such a life is the greatest of all penalties to me
Never for an hour night or day have they suffered me to forget that they have marked me down as their victim Their accursed astral bell has been ringing my knell for twoscore years reminding me ever that there is no spot upon earth where I can hope to be in safety Oh the peace the blessed peace of dissolution Come what may on the other side of the tomb I shall at least be quit of that thrice terrible sound
There is no need for me to enter into the wretched business again or to detail at any length the events of October 5th 1841 and the various circumstances which led up to the death of Ghoolab Shah the arch adept
I have torn a sheaf of leaves from my old journal in which you will find a bald account of the matter and an independent narrative was furnished by Sir Edward Elliott of the Artillery to the Star of India some years ago—in which however the names were suppressed
I have reason to believe that many people even among those who knew India well thought that Sir Edward was romancing and that he had evolved his incidents from his imagination The few faded sheets which I send you will show you that this is not the case and that our men of science must recognise powers and laws which can and have been used by man but which are unknown to European civilisation
I do not wish to whine or to whimper but I cannot help feeling that I have had hard measure dealt me in this world I would not God knows take the life of any man far less an aged one in cold blood My temper and nature however were always fiery and headstrong and in action when my blood is up I have no knowledge of what I am about Neither the corporal nor I would have laid a finger upon Ghoolab Shah had we not seen that the tribesmen were rallying behind him Well well it is an old story now and there is no profit in discussing it May no other poor fellow ever have the same evil fortune
I have written a short supplement to the statements contained in my journal for your information and that of any one else who may chance to be interested in the matter
And now adieu Be a good husband to Gabriel and if your sister be brave enough to marry into such a devilridden family as ours by all means let her do so I have left enough to keep my poor wife in comfort
When she rejoins me I should wish it to be equally divided between the children If you hear that I am gone do not pity but congratulate
Your unfortunate friend
JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE
I threw aside the letter and picked up the roll of blue foolscap which contained the solution of the mystery It was all ragged and frayed at the inner edge with traces of gum and thread still adhering to it to show that it had been torn out of a strongly bound volume The ink with which it had been written was faded somewhat but across the head of the first page was inscribed in bold clear characters evidently of later date than the rest Journal of Lieutenant J B Heatherstone in the Thull Valley during the autumn of 1841 and then underneath
This extract contains some account of the events of the first week of October of that year including the skirmish of the Terada ravine and the death of the man Ghoolab Shah
I have the narrative lying before me now and I copy it verbatim If it contains some matter which has no direct bearing upon the question at issue I can only say that I thought it better to publish what is irrelevant than by cutting and clipping to lay the whole statement open to the charge of having been tampered with
CHAPTER XV THE DAYBOOK OF JOHN BERTHIER HEATHERSTONE
Thull Valley Oct 1 1841—The Fifth Bengal and Thirtythird Queens passed through this morning on their way to the Front Had tiffin with the Bengalese Latest news from home that two attempts had been made on the Queens life by semimaniacs named Francis and Bean
It promises to be a hard winter The snowline has descended a thousand feet upon the peaks but the passes will be open for weeks to come and even if they were blocked we have established so many depots in the country that Pollock and Nott will have no difficulty in holding their own They shall not meet with the fate of Elphinstones army One such tragedy is enough for a century
Elliott of the Artillery and I are answerable for the safety of the communications for a distance of twenty miles or more from the mouth of the valley to this side of the wooden bridge over the Lotar Goodenough of the Rifles is responsible on the other side and LieutenantColonel Sidney Herbert of the Engineers has a general supervision over both sections
Our force is not strong enough for the work which has to be done I have a company and a half of our own regiment and a squadron of Sowars who are of no use at all among the rocks Elliott has three guns but several of his men are down with cholera and I doubt if he has enough to serve more than two
Note capsicum for cholera—tried it
On the other hand each convoy is usually provided with some guard of its own though it is often absurdly inefficient These valleys and ravines which branch out of the main pass are alive with Afridis and Pathans who are keen robbers as well as religious fanatics I wonder they dont swoop down on some of our caravans They could plunder them and get back to their mountain fastnesses before we could interfere or overtake them Nothing but fear will restrain them
If I had my way I would hang one at the mouth of every ravine as a warning to the gang They are personifications of the devil to look at hawknosed fulllipped with a mane of tangled hair and most Satanic sneer No news today from the Front
October 2—I must really ask Herbert for another company at the very least I am convinced that the communications would be cut off if any serious attack were made upon us
Now this morning two urgent messages were sent me from two different points more than sixteen miles apart to say that there were signs of a descent of the tribes
Elliott with one gun and the Sowars went to the farther ravine while I with the infantry hurried to the other but we found it was a false alarm I saw no signs of the Hillmen and though we were greeted by a splutter of jezail bullets we were unable to capture any of the rascals
Woe betide them if they fall into my hands I would give them as short a shrift as ever a Highland cateran got from a Glasgow judge These continued alarms may mean nothing or they may be an indication that the Hillmen are assembling and have some plan in view
We have had no news from the Front for some time but today a convoy of wounded came through with the intelligence that Nott had taken Ghuznee I hope he warmed up any of the black rascals that fell into his hands
No word of Pollock
An elephant battery came up from the Punjab looking in very good condition There were several convalescents with it going up to rejoin their regiments Knew none of them except Mostyn of the Hussars and young Blakesley who was my fag at Charterhouse and whom I have never seen since
Punch and cigars al fresco up to eleven oclock
Letters today from Wills Co about their little bill forwarded on from Delhi Thought a campaign freed a man from these annoyances Wills says in his note that since his written applications have been in vain he must call upon me in person If he calls upon me now he will assuredly be the boldest and most persevering of tailors
A line from Calcutta Daisy and another from Hobhouse to say that Matilda comes in for all the money under the will I am glad of it
October 3—Glorious news from the Front today Barclay of the Madras Cavalry galloped through with dispatches Pollock entered Cabul triumphantly on the 16th of last month and better still Lady Sale has been rescued by Shakespear and brought safe into the British camp together with the other hostages Te Deum laudamus
This should end the whole wretched business—this and the sack of the city I hope Pollock wont be squeamish or truckle to the hysterical party at home The towns should be laid in ashes and the fields sown with salt Above all the Residency and the Palace must come down So shall Burnes McNaghten and many another gallant fellow know that his countrymen could avenge if they could not save him
It is hard when others are gaining glory and experience to be stuck in this miserable valley I have been out of it completely bar a few petty skirmishes However we may see some service yet
A jemidar of ours brought in a Hillman today who says that the tribes are massing in the Terada ravine ten miles to the north of us and intend attacking the next convoy We cant rely on information of this sort but there may prove to be some truth in it Proposed to shoot our informant so as to prevent his playing the double traitor and reporting our proceedings Elliott demurred
If you are making war you should throw no chance away I hate halfandhalf measures The Children of Israel seem to have been the only people who ever carried war to its logical conclusion—except Cromwell in Ireland Made a compromise at last by which the man is to be detained as a prisoner and executed if his information prove to be false I only hope we get a fair chance of showing what we can do
No doubt these fellows at the Front will have CBs and knighthoods showering upon them thick and fast while we poor devils who have had most of the responsibility and anxiety will be passed over completely Elliott has a whitlow
The last convoy left us a large packet of sauces but as they forgot to leave anything to eat with them we have handed them over to the Sowars who drink them out of their pannikins as if they were liqueurs We hear that another large convoy may be expected from the plains in the course of a day or two Took nine to four on Cleopatra for the Calcutta Cup
October 4—The Hillmen really mean business this time I think We have had two of our spies come in this morning with the same account about the gathering in the Terada quarter That old rascal Zemaun is at the head of it and I had recommended the Government to present him with a telescope in return for his neutrality There will be no Zemaun to present it to if I can but lay hands upon him
We expect the convoy tomorrow morning and need anticipate no attack until it comes up for these fellows fight for plunder not for glory though to do them justice they have plenty of pluck when they get started I have devised an excellent plan and it has Elliotts hearty support By Jove if we can only manage it it will be as pretty a ruse as ever I heard of
Our intention is to give out that we are going down the valley to meet the convoy and to block the mouth of a pass from which we profess to expect an attack Very good We shall make a nightmarch tonight and reach their camp Once there I shall conceal my two hundred men in the waggons and travel up with the convoy again
Our friends the enemy having heard that we intended to go south and seeing the caravan going north without us will naturally swoop down upon it under the impression that we are twenty miles away We shall teach them such a lesson that they would as soon think of stopping a thunderbolt as of interfering again with one of Her Britannic Majestys provision trains I am all on thorns to be off
Elliott has rigged up two of his guns so ingeniously that they look more like costermongers barrows than anything else To see artillery ready for action in the convoy might arouse suspicion The artillerymen will be in the waggons next the guns all ready to unlimber and open fire Infantry in front and rear Have told our confidential and discreet Sepoy servants the plan which we do not intend to adopt NB—If you wish a thing to be noised over a whole province always whisper it under a vow of secrecy to your confidential native servant
845 PM—Just starting for the convoy May luck go with us
October 5—Seven oclock in the evening Io triumphe Crown us with laurel—Elliott and myself Who can compare with us as vermin killers
I have only just got back tired and weary stained with blood and dust but I have sat down before either washing or changing to have the satisfaction of seeing our deeds set forth in black and white—if only in my private log for no eye but my own I shall describe it all fully as a preparation for an official account which must be drawn up when Elliott gets back Billy Dawson used to say that there were three degrees of comparison—a prevarication a lie and an official account We at least cannot exaggerate our success for it would be impossible to add anything to it
We set out then as per programme and came upon the camp near the head of the valley They had two weak companies of the 54th with them who might no doubt have held their own with warning but an unexpected rush of wild Hillmen is a very difficult thing to stand against With our reinforcements however and on our guard we might defy the rascals
Chamberlain was in command—a fine young fellow We soon made him understand the situation and were all ready for a start by daybreak though his waggons were so full that we were compelled to leave several tons of fodder behind in order to make room for my Sepoys and for the artillery
About five oclock we inspanned to use an Africanism and by six we were well on our way with our escort as straggling and unconcerned as possible—as helplesslooking a caravan as ever invited attack
I could soon see that it was to be no false alarm this time and that the tribes really meant business
From my post of observation under the canvas screens of one of the waggons I could make out turbaned heads popping up to have a look at us from among the rocks and an occasional scout hurrying northward with the news of our approach
It was not however until we came abreast of the Terada Pass a gloomy defile bounded by gigantic cliffs that the Afridis began to show in force though they had ambushed themselves so cleverly that had we not been keenly on the lookout for them we might have walked right into the trap As it was the convoy halted upon which the Hillmen seeing that they were observed opened a heavy but illdirected fire upon us
I had asked Chamberlain to throw out his men in skirmishing order and to give them directions to retreat slowly upon the waggons so as to draw the Afridis on The ruse succeeded to perfection
As the redcoats steadily retired keeping behind cover as much as possible the enemy followed them up with yells of exultation springing from rock to rock waving their jezails in the air and howling like a pack of demons
With their black contorted mocking faces their fierce gestures and their fluttering garments they would have made a study for any painter who wished to portray Miltons conception of the army of the damned
From every side they pressed in until seeing as they thought nothing between them and victory they left the shelter of the rocks and came rushing down a furious howling throng with the green banner of the Prophet in their van
Now was our chance and gloriously we utilised it
From every cranny and slit of the waggons came a blaze of fire every shot of which told among the closepacked mob Two or three score rolled over like rabbits and the rest reeled for a moment and then with their chiefs at their head came on again in a magnificent rush
It was useless however for undisciplined men to attempt to face such a welldirected fire The leaders were bowled over and the others after hesitating for a few moments turned and made for the rocks
It was our turn now to assume the offensive The guns were unlimbered and grape poured into them while our little infantry force advanced at the double shooting and stabbing all whom they overtook
Never had I known the tide of battle turn so rapidly and so decisively The sullen retreat became a flight and the flight a panicstricken rout until there was nothing left of the tribesmen except a scattered demoralised rabble flying wildly to their native fastnesses for shelter and protection
I was by no means inclined to let them off cheaply now that I had them in my power On the contrary I determined to teach them such a lesson that the sight of a single scarlet uniform would in future be a passport in itself
We followed hard upon the track of the fugitives and entered the Terada defile at their very heels Having detached Chamberlain and Elliott with a company on either side to protect my wings I pushed on with my Sepoys and a handful of artillerymen giving the enemy no time to rally or to recover themselves We were so handicapped however by our stiff European uniforms and by our want of practice in climbing that we should have been unable to overtake any of the mountaineers had it not been for a fortunate accident
There is a smaller ravine which opens into the main pass and in their hurry and confusion some of the fugitives rushed down this I saw sixty or seventy of them turn down but I should have passed them by and continued in pursuit of the main body had not one of my scouts come rustling up to inform me that the smaller ravine was a culdesac and that the Afridis who had gone up it had no possible means of getting out again except by cutting their way through our ranks
Here was an opportunity of striking terror into the tribes Leaving Chamberlain and Elliott to continue the pursuit of the main body I wheeled my Sepoys into the narrow path and proceeded slowly down it in extended order covering the whole ground from cliff to cliff Not a jackal could have passed us unseen The rebels were caught like rats in a trap
The defile in which we found ourselves was the most gloomy and majestic that I have ever seen On either side naked precipices rose sheer up for a thousand feet or more converging upon each other so as to leave a very narrow slit of daylight above us which was further reduced by the feathery fringe of palm trees and aloes which hung over each lip of the chasm
The cliffs were not more than a couple of hundred yards apart at the entrance but as we advanced they grew nearer and nearer until a half company in close order could hardly march abreast
A sort of twilight reigned in this strange valley and the dim uncertain light made the great basalt rocks loom up vague and fantastic There was no path and the ground was most uneven but I pushed on briskly cautioning my fellows to have their fingers on their triggers for I could see that we were nearing the point where the two cliffs would form an acute angle with each other
At last we came in sight of the place A great pile of boulders was heaped up at the very end of the pass and among these our fugitives were skulking entirely demoralised apparently and incapable of resistance They were useless as prisoners and it was out of the question to let them go so there was no choice but to polish them off
Waving my sword I was leading my men on when we had a most dramatic interruption of a sort which I have seen once or twice on the boards of Drury Lane but never in real life
In the side of the cliff close to the pile of stones where the Hillmen were making their last stand there was a cave which looked more like the lair of some wild beast than a human habitation
Out of this dark archway there suddenly emerged an old man—such a very very old man that all the other veterans whom I have seen were as chickens compared with him His hair and beard were both as white as snow and each reached more than halfway to his waist His face was wrinkled and brown and ebony a cross between a monkey and a mummy and so thin and emaciated were his shrivelled limbs that you would hardly have given him credit for having any vitality left were it not for his eyes which glittered and sparkled with excitement like two diamonds in a setting of mahogany
This apparition came rushing out of the cave and throwing himself between the fugitives and our fellows motioned us back with as imperious a sweep of the hand as ever an emperor used to his slaves
Men of blood he cried in a voice of thunder speaking excellent English too—this is a place for prayer and meditation not for murder Desist lest the wrath of the gods fall upon you
Stand aside old man I shouted You will meet with a hurt if you dont get out of the way
I could see that the Hillmen were taking heart and that some of my Sepoys were flinching as if they did not relish this new enemy Clearly I must act promptly if I wished to complete our success
I dashed forward at the head of the white artillerymen who had stuck to me The old fellow rushed at us with his arms out as if to stop us but it was not time to stick at trifles so I passed my sword through his body at the same moment that one of the gunners brought his carbine down upon his head He dropped instantly and the Hillmen at the sight of his fall set up the most unearthly howl of horror and consternation
The Sepoys who had been inclined to hang back came on again the moment he was disposed of and it did not take us long to consummate our victory Hardly a man of the enemy got out of the defile alive
What could Hannibal or Caesar have done more Our own loss in the whole affair has been insignificant—three killed and about fifteen wounded Got their banner a green wisp of a thing with a sentence of the Koran engraved upon it
I looked after the action for the old chap but his body had disappeared though how or whither I have no conception His blood be upon his own head He would be alive now if he had not interfered as the constables say at home with an officer in the execution of his duty
The scouts tell me that his name was Ghoolab Shah and that he was one of the highest and holiest of the Buddhists He had great fame in the district as a prophet and worker of miracles—hence the hubbub when he was cut down They tell me that he was living in this very cave when Tamerlane passed this way in 1399 with a lot more bosh of that sort
I went into the cave and how any man could live in it a week is a mystery to me for it was little more than four feet high and as damp and dismal a grotto as ever was seen A wooden settle and a rough table were the sole furniture with a lot of parchment scrolls with hieroglyphics
Well he has gone where he will learn that the gospel of peace and good will is superior to all his Pagan lore Peace go with him
Elliott and Chamberlain never caught the main body—I knew they wouldnt—so the honours of the day rest with me I ought to get a step for it anyhow and perhaps who knows some mention in the Gazette What a lucky chance I think Zemaun deserves his telescope after all for giving it to me Shall have something to eat now for I am half starved Glory is an excellent thing but you cannot live upon it
October 6 11 AM—Let me try to set down as calmly and as accurately as I can all that occurred last night I have never been a dreamer or a visionary so I can rely upon my own senses though I am bound to say that if any other fellow had told me the same thing I should have doubted him I might even have suspected that I was deceived at the time had I not heard the bell since However I must narrate what happened
Elliott was in my tent with me having a quiet cheroot until about ten oclock I then walked the rounds with my jemidar and having seen that all was right I turned in a little before eleven
I was just dropping off to sleep for I was dogtired after the days work when I was aroused by some slight noise and looking round I saw a man dressed in Asiatic costume standing at the entrance of my tent He was motionless when I saw him and he had his eyes fixed upon me with a solemn and stern expression
My first thought was that the fellow was some Ghazi or Afghan fanatic who had stolen in with the intention of stabbing me and with this idea in my mind I had all the will to spring from my couch and defend myself but the power was unaccountably lacking
An overpowering languor and want of energy possessed me Had I seen the dagger descending upon my breast I could not have made an effort to avert it I suppose a bird when it is under the influence of a snake feels very much as I did in the presence of this gloomyfaced stranger My mind was clear enough but my body was as torpid as though I were still asleep
I shut my eyes once or twice and tried to persuade myself that the whole thing was a delusion but every time that I opened them there was the man still regarding me with the same stony menacing stare
The silence became unendurable I felt that I must overcome my languor so far as to address him I am not a nervous man and I never knew before what Virgil meant when he wrote adhoesit faucibus ora At last I managed to stammer out a few words asking the intruder who he was and what he wanted
Lieutenant Heatherstone he answered speaking slowly and gravely you have committed this day the foulest sacrilege and the greatest crime which it is possible for man to do You have slain one of the thrice blessed and reverend ones an arch adept of the first degree an elder brother who has trod the higher path for more years than you have numbered months You have cut him off at a time when his labours promised to reach a climax and when he was about to attain a height of occult knowledge which would have brought man one step nearer to his Creator All this you have done without excuse without provocation at a time when he was pleading the cause of the helpless and distressed Listen now to me John Heatherstone
When first the occult sciences were pursued many thousands of years ago it was found by the learned that the short tenure of human existence was too limited to allow a man to attain the loftiest heights of inner life The inquirers of those days directed their energies in the first place therefore to the lengthening of their own days in order that they might have more scope for improvement
By their knowledge of the secret laws of Nature they were enabled to fortify their bodies against disease and old age It only remained to protect themselves against the assaults of wicked and violent men who are ever ready to destroy what is wiser and nobler than themselves There was no direct means by which this protection could be effected but it was in some measure attained by arranging the occult forces in such a way that a terrible and unavoidable retribution should await the offender
It was irrevocably ordained by laws which cannot be reversed that any one who should shed the blood of a brother who had attained a certain degree of sanctity should be a doomed man Those laws are extant to this day John Heatherstone and you have placed yourself in their power King or emperor would be helpless before the forces which you have called into play What hope then is there for you
In former days these laws acted so instantaneously that the slayer perished with his victim It was judged afterwards that this prompt retribution prevented the offender from having time to realise the enormity of his offence
It was therefore ordained that in all such cases the retribution should be left in the hands of the chelas or immediate disciples of the holy man with power to extend or shorten it at their will exacting it either at the time or at any future anniversary of the day when the crime was committed
Why punishment should come on those days only it does not concern you to know Suffice it that you are the murderer of Ghoolab Shah the thrice blessed and that I am the senior of his three chelas commissioned to avenge his death
It is no personal matter between us Amid our studies we have no leisure or inclination for personal matters It is an immutable law and it is as impossible for us to relax it as it is for you to escape from it Sooner or later we shall come to you and claim your life in atonement for the one which you have taken
The same fate shall be meted out to the wretched soldier Smith who though less guilty than yourself has incurred the same penalty by raising his sacrilegious hand against the chosen of Buddha If your life is prolonged it is merely that you may have time to repent of your misdeed and to feel the full force of your punishment
And lest you should be tempted to cast it out of your mind and to forget it our bell—our astral bell the use of which is one of our occult secrets—shall ever remind you of what have been and what is to be You shall hear it by day and you shall hear it by night and it will be a sign to you that do what you may and go where you will you can never shake yourself clear of the chelas of Ghoolab Shah
You will never see me more accursed one until the day when we come for you Live in fear and in that anticipation which is worse than death
With a menacing wave of the hand the figure turned and swept out of my tent into the darkness The instant that the fellow disappeared from my sight I recovered from my lethargy which had fallen upon me Springing to my feet I rushed to the opening and looked out A Sepoy sentry was standing leaning upon his musket a few paces off
You dog I said in Hindustani What do you mean by letting people disturb me in this way
The man stared at me in amazement Has any one disturbed the sahib he asked
This instant—this moment You must have seen him pass out of my tent
Surely the Burra Sahib is mistaken the man answered respectfully but firmly I have been here for an hour and no one has passed from the tent
Puzzled and disconcerted I was sitting by the side of my couch wondering whether the whole thing were a delusion brought on by the nervous excitement of our skirmish when a new marvel overtook me From over my head there suddenly sounded a sharp tinkling sound like that produced by an empty glass when flipped by the nail only louder and more intense
I looked up but nothing was to be seen I examined the whole interior of the tent carefully but without discovering any cause for the strange sound At last worn out with fatigue I gave the mystery up and throwing myself on the couch was soon fast asleep
When I awoke this morning I was inclined to put the whole of my yesternights experiences down to imagination but I was soon disabused of the idea for I had hardly risen before the same strange sound was repeated in my very ear as loudly and to all appearance as causelesly as before What it is or where it comes from I cannot conceive I have not heard it since
Can the fellows threats have something in them and this be the warning bell of which he spoke Surely it is impossible Yet his manner was indescribably impressive
I have tried to set down what he said as accurately as I can but I fear I have omitted a good deal What is to be the end of this strange affair I must go in for a course of religion and holy water Not a word to Chamberlain or Elliott They tell me I am looking like a ghost this morning
Evening—Have managed to compare notes with Gunner Rufus Smith of the Artillery who knocked the old fellow over with the butt of his gun His experience has been the same as mine He has heard the sound too What is the meaning of it all My brain is in a whirl
Oct 10 four days later—God help us
This last laconic entry terminated the journal It seemed to me that coming as it did after four days complete silence it told a clearer tale of shaken nerve and a broken spirit than could any more elaborate narrative Pinned on to the journal was a supplementary statement which had evidently been recently added by the general
From that day to this it said I have had no night or day free from the intrusion of that dreadful sound with its accompanying train of thought Time and custom have brought me no relief but on the contrary as the years pass over my head my physical strength decreases and my nerves become less able to bear up against the continual strain
I am a broken man in mind and body I live in a state of tension always straining my ears for the hated sound afraid to converse with my fellows for fear of exposing my dreadful condition to them with no comfort or hope of comfort on this side of the grave I should be willing Heaven knows to die and yet as each 5th of October comes round I am prostrated with fear because I do not know what strange and terrible experience may be in store for me
Forty years have passed since I slew Ghoolab Shah and forty times I have gone through all the horrors of death without attaining the blessed peace which lies beyond
I have no means of knowing in what shape my fate will come upon me I have immured myself in this lonely country and surrounded myself with barriers because in my weaker moments my instincts urge me to take some steps for selfprotection but I know well in my heart how futile it all is They must come quickly now for I grow old and Nature will forestall them unless they make haste
I take credit to myself that I have kept my hands off the prussicacid or opium bottle It has always been in my power to checkmate my occult persecutors in that way but I have ever held that a man in this world cannot desert his post until he has been relieved in due course by the authorities I have had no scruples however about exposing myself to danger and during the Sikh and Sepoy wars I did all that a man could do to court Death He passed me by however and picked out many a young fellow to whom life was only opening and who had everything to live for while I survived to win crosses and honours which had lost all relish for me
Well well these things cannot depend upon chance and there is no doubt some deep reason for it all
One compensation Providence has made me in the shape of a true and faithful wife to whom I told my dreadful secret before the wedding and who nobly consented to share my lot She has lifted half the burden from my shoulders but with the effect poor soul of crushing her own life beneath its weight
My children too have been a comfort to me Mordaunt knows all or nearly all Gabriel we have endeavoured to keep in the dark though we cannot prevent her from knowing that there is something amiss
I should like this statement to be shown to Dr John Easterling of Stranraer He heard on one occasion this haunting sound My sad experience may show him that I spoke truth when I said that there was much knowledge in the world which has never found its way to England
J B HEATHERSTONE
It was going on for dawn by the time that I had finished this extraordinary narrative to which my sister and Mordaunt Heatherstone listened with the most absorbed attention Already we could see through the window that the stars had begun to fade and a grey light to appear in the east The crofter who owned the lurcher dog lived a couple of miles off so it was time for us to be on foot Leaving Esther to tell my father the story in such fashion as she might we thrust some food in our pockets and set off upon our solemn and eventful errand
CHAPTER XVI AT THE HOLE OF CREE
It was dark enough when we started to make it no easy matter to find our way across the moors but as we advanced it grew lighter and lighter until by the time we reached Fullartons cabin it was broad daylight
Early as it was he was up and about for the Wigtown peasants are an early rising race We explained our mission to him in as few words as possible and having made his bargain—what Scot ever neglected that preliminary—he agreed not only to let us have the use of his dog but to come with us himself
Mordaunt in his desire for privacy would have demurred at this arrangement but I pointed out to him that we had no idea what was in store for us and the addition of a strong ablebodied man to our party might prove to be of the utmost consequence
Again the dog was less likely to give us trouble if we had its master to control it My arguments carried the day and the biped accompanied us as well as his fourfooted companion
There was some little similarity between the two for the man was a towsyheaded fellow with a great mop of yellow hair and a straggling beard while the dog was of the longhaired unkempt breed looking like an animated bundle of oakum
All our way to the Hall its owner kept retailing instances of the creatures sagacity and powers of scent which according to his account were little less than miraculous His anecdotes had a poor audience I fear for my mind was filled with the strange story which I had been reading while Mordaunt strode on with wild eyes and feverish cheeks without a thought for anything but the problem which we had to solve
Again and again as we topped an eminence I saw him look eagerly round him in the faint hope of seeing some trace of the absentee but over the whole expanse of moorland there was no sign of movement or of life All was dead and silent and deserted
Our visit to the Hall was a very brief one for every minute now was of importance Mordaunt rushed in and emerged with an old coat of his fathers which he handed to Fullarton who held it out to the dog
The intelligent brute sniffed at it all over then ran whining a little way down the avenue came back to sniff the coat again and finally elevating its stump of a tail in triumph uttered a succession of sharp yelps to show that it was satisfied that it had struck the trail Its owner tied a long cord to its collar to prevent it from going too fast for us and we all set off upon our search the dog tugging and training at its leash in its excitement as it followed in the generals footsteps
Our way lay for a couple of hundred yards along the high road and then passed through a gap In the hedge and on to the moor across which we were led in a beeline to the northward
The sun had by this time risen above the horizon and the whole countryside looked so fresh and sweet from the blue sparkling sea to the purple mountains that it was difficult to realise how weird and uncanny was the enterprise upon which we were engaged
The scent must have lain strongly upon the ground for the dog never hesitated nor stopped dragging its master along at a pace which rendered conversation impossible
At one place in crossing a small stream we seemed to get off the trail for a few minutes but our keennosed ally soon picked it up on the other side and followed it over the trackless moor whining and yelping all the time in its eagerness Had we not all three been fleet of foot and long of wind we could not have persisted in the continuous rapid journey over the roughest of ground with the heather often wellnigh up to our waists
For my own part I have no idea now looking back what goal it was which I expected to reach at the end of our pursuit I can remember that my mind was full of the vaguest and most varying speculations
Could it be that the three Buddhists had had a craft in readiness off the coast and had embarked with their prisoners for the East The direction of their track seemed at first to favour this supposition for it lay in the line of the upper end of the bay but it ended by branching off and striking directly inland Clearly the ocean was not to be our terminus
By ten oclock we had walked close upon twelve miles and were compelled to call a halt for a few minutes to recover our breath for the last mile or two we had been breasting the long wearying slope of the Wigtown hills
From the summit of this range which is nowhere more than a thousand feet in height we could see looking northward such a scene of bleakness and desolation as can hardly be matched in any country
Right away to the horizon stretched the broad expanse of mud and of water mingled and mixed together in the wildest chaos like a portion of some world in the process of formation Here and there on the duncoloured surface of this great marsh there had burst out patches of sickly yellow reeds and of livid greenish scum which only served to heighten and intensify the gloomy effect of the dull melancholy expanse
On the side nearest to us some abandoned peatcuttings showed that ubiquitous man had been at work there but beyond these few petty scars there was no sign anywhere of human life Not even a crow nor a seagull flapped its way over that hideous desert
This is the great Bog of Cree It is a saltwater marsh formed by an inroad of the sea and so intersected is it with dangerous swamps and treacherous pitfalls of liquid mud that no man would venture through it unless he had the guidance of one of the few peasants who retain the secret of its paths
As we approached the fringe of rushes which marked its border a foul dank smell rose up from the stagnant wilderness as from impure water and decaying vegetation—an earthy noisome smell which poisoned the fresh upland air
So forbidding and gloomy was the aspect of the place that our stout crofter hesitated and it was all that we could do to persuade him to proceed Our lurcher however not being subject to the delicate impressions of our higher organisation still ran yelping along with its nose on the ground and every fibre of its body quivering with excitement and eagerness
There was no difficulty about picking our way through the morass for wherever the five could go we three could follow
If we could have had any doubts as to our dogs guidance they would all have been removed now for in the soft black oozing soil we could distinctly trace the tracks of the whole party From these we could see that they had walked abreast and furthermore that each was about equidistant from the other Clearly then no physical force had been used in taking the general and his companion along The compulsion had been psychical and not material
Once within the swamp we had to be careful not to deviate from the narrow track which offered a firm foothold
On each side lay shallow sheets of stagnant water overlying a treacherous bottom of semifluid mud which rose above the surface here and there in moist sweltering banks mottled over with occasional patches of unhealthy vegetation Great purple and yellow fungi had broken out in a dense eruption as though Nature were afflicted with a foul disease which manifested itself by this crop of plague spots
Here and there dark crablike creatures scuttled across our path and hideous fleshcoloured worms wriggled and writhed amid the sickly reeds Swarms of buzzing piping insects rose up at every step and formed a dense cloud around our heads settling on our hands and faces and inoculating us with their filthy venom Never had I ventured into so pestilent and forbidding a place
Mordaunt Heatherstone strode on however with a set purpose upon his swarthy brow and we could but follow him determined to stand by him to the end of the adventure As we advanced the path grew narrower and narrower until as we saw by the tracks our predecessors had been compelled to walk in single file Fullarton was leading us with the dog Mordaunt behind him while I brought up the rear The peasant had been sulky and surly for a little time back hardly answering when spoken to but he now stopped short and positively refused to go a step farther
Its no canny he said besides I ken where it will lead us tae
Where then I asked
Tae the Hole o Cree he answered Its no far frae here Im thinking
The Hole of Cree What is that then
Its a great muckle hole in the ground that gangs awa doon so deep that naebody could ever reach the bottom Indeed there are folk wha says that its just a door leadin intae the bottomless pit itsel
You have been there then I asked
Been there he cried What would I be doin at the Hole o Cree No Ive never been there nor any other man in his senses
How do you know about it then
My greatgrandfeyther had been there and thats how I ken Fullarton answered He was fou one Saturday nicht and he went for a bet He didna like tae talk aboot it afterwards and he wouldna tell a what befell him but he was aye feared o the very name Hes the first Fullarton thats been at the Hole o Cree and hell be the last for me If yell tak my advice yell just gie the matter up and gang name again for theres na guid tae be got oot o this place
We shall go on with you or without you Mordaunt answered Let us have your dog and we can pick you up on our way back
Na na he cried Ill no hae my dog scaret wi bogles and running down Auld Nick as if he were a hare The dog shall bide wi me
The dog shall go with us said my companion with his eyes blazing We have no time to argue with you Heres a fivepound note Let us have the dog or by Heaven I shall take it by force and throw you in the bog if you hinder us
I could realise the Heatherstone of forty years ago when I saw the fierce and sudden wrath which lit up the features of his son
Either the bribe or the threat had the desired effect for the fellow grabbed at the money with one hand while with the other he surrendered the leash which held the lurcher Leaving him to retrace his steps we continued to make our way into the utmost recesses of the great swamp
The tortuous path grew less and less defined as we proceeded and was even covered in places with water but the increasing excitement of the hound and the sight of the deep footmarks in the mud stimulated us to push on At last after struggling through a grove of high bulrushes we came on a spot the gloomy horror of which might have furnished Dante with a fresh terror for his Inferno
The whole bog in this part appeared to have sunk in forming a great funnelshaped depression which terminated in the centre in a circular rift or opening about forty feet in diameter It was a whirlpool—a perfect maelstrom of mud sloping down on every side to this silent and awful chasm
Clearly this was the spot which under the name of the Hole of Cree bore such a sinister reputation among the rustics I could not wonder at its impressing their imagination for a more weird or gloomy scene or one more worthy of the avenue which led to it could not be conceived
The steps passed down the declivity which surrounded the abyss and we followed them with a sinking feeling in our hearts as we realised that this was the end of our search
A little way from the downward path was the return trail made by the feet of those who had come back from the chasms edge Our eyes fell upon these tracks at the same moment and we each gave a cry of horror and stood gazing speechlessly at them For there in those blurred footmarks the whole drama was revealed
Five had gone down but only three had returned
None shall ever know the details of that strange tragedy There was no mark of struggle nor sign of attempt at escape We knelt at the edge of the Hole and endeavoured to pierce the unfathomable gloom which shrouded it A faint sickly exhalation seemed to rise from its depths and there was a distant hurrying clattering sound as of waters in the bowels of the earth
A great stone lay embedded in the mud and this I hurled over but we never heard thud or splash to show that it had reached the bottom
As we hung over the noisome chasm a sound did at last rise to our ears out of its murky depths High clear and throbbing it tinkled for an instant out of the abyss to be succeeded by the same deadly stillness which had preceded it
I did not wish to appear superstitious or to put down to extraordinary causes that which may have a natural explanation That one keen note may have been some strange water sound produced far down in the bowels of the earth It may have been that or it may have been that sinister bell of which I had heard so much Be this as it may it was the only sign that rose to us from the last terrible restingplace of the two who had paid the debt which had so long been owing
We joined our voices in a call with the unreasoning obstinacy with which men will cling to hope but no answer came back to us save a hollow moaning from the depths beneath Footsore and heartsick we retraced our steps and climbed the slimy slope once more
What shall we do Mordaunt I asked in a subdued voice We can but pray that their souls may rest in peace
Young Heatherstone looked at me with flashing eyes
This may be all according to occult laws he cried but we shall see what the laws of England have to say upon it I suppose a chela may be hanged as well as any other man It may not be too late yet to run them down Here good dog good doghere
He pulled the hound over and set it on the track of the three men The creature sniffed at it once or twice and then falling upon its stomach with bristling hair and protruding tongue it lay shivering and trembling a very embodiment of canine terror
You see I said it is no use contending against those who have powers at their command to which we cannot even give a name There is nothing for it but to accept the inevitable and to hope that these poor men may meet with some compensation in another world for all that they have suffered in this
And be free from all devilish religions and their murderous worshippers Mordaunt cried furiously
Justice compelled me to acknowledge in my own heart that the murderous spirit had been set on foot by the Christian before it was taken up by the Buddhists but I forbore to remark upon it for fear of irritating my companion
For a long time I could not draw him away from the scene of his fathers death but at last by repeated arguments and reasonings I succeeded in making him realise how useless and unprofitable any further efforts on our part must necessarily prove and in inducing him to return with me to Cloomber
Oh the wearisome tedious journey It had seemed long enough when we had some slight flicker of hope or at least of expectation before us but now that our worst fears were fulfilled it appeared interminable
We picked up our peasant guide at the outskirts of the marsh and having restored his dog we let him find his own way home without telling him anything of the results of our expedition We ourselves plodded all day over the moors with heavy feet and heavier hearts until we saw the illomened tower of Cloomber and at last as the sun was setting found ourselves once more beneath its roof
There is no need for me to enter into further details nor to describe the grief which our tidings conveyed to mother and to daughter Their long expectation of some calamity was not sufficient to prepare them for the terrible reality
For weeks my poor Gabriel hovered between life and death and though she came round al last thanks to the nursing of my sister and the professional skill of Dr John Easterling she has never to this day entirely recovered her former vigour Mordaunt too suffered much for some time and it was only after our removal to Edinburgh that he rallied from the shock which he had undergone
As to poor Mrs Heatherstone neither medical attention nor change of air can ever have a permanent effect upon her Slowly and surely but very placidly she has declined in health and strength until it is evident that in a very few weeks at the most she will have rejoined her husband and restored to him the one thing which he must have grudged to leave behind
The Laird of Branksome came home from Italy restored in health with the result that we were compelled to return once more to Edinburgh
The change was agreeable to us for recent events had cast a cloud over our country life and had surrounded us with unpleasant associations Besides a highly honourable and remunerative appointment in connection with the University library had become vacant and had through the kindness of the late Sir Alexander Grant been offered to my father who as may be imagined lost no time in accepting so congenial a post
In this way we came back to Edinburgh very much more important people than we left it and with no further reason to be uneasy about the details of housekeeping But in truth the whole household has been dissolved for I have been married for some months to my dear Gabriel and Esther is to become Mrs Heatherstone upon the 23rd of the month If she makes him as good a wife as his sister has made me we may both set ourselves down as fortunate men
These mere domestic episodes are as I have already explained introduced only because I cannot avoid alluding to them
My object in drawing up this statement and publishing the evidence which corroborates it was certainly not to parade my private affairs before the public but to leave on record an authentic narrative of a most remarkable series of events This I have endeavoured to do in as methodical a manner as possible exaggerating nothing and suppressing nothing
The reader has now the evidence before him and can form his own opinions unaided by me as to the causes of the disappearance and death of Rufus Smith and of John Berthier Heatherstone VC CB
There is only one point which is still dark to me Why the chelas of Ghoolab Shah should have removed their victims to the desolate Hole of Cree instead of taking their lives at Cloomber is I confess a mystery to me
In dealing with occult laws however we must allow for our own complete ignorance of the subject Did we know more we might see that there was some analogy between that foul bog and the sacrilege which had been committed and that their ritual and customs demanded that just such a death was the one appropriate to the crime
On this point I should be sorry to be dogmatic but at least we must allow that the Buddhist priests must have had some very good cause for the course of action which they so deliberately carried out
Months afterwards I saw a short paragraph in the Star of India announcing that three eminent Buddhists—Lal Hoomi Mowdar Khan and Ram Singh—had just returned in the steamship Deccan from a short trip to Europe The very next item was devoted to an account of the life and services of MajorGeneral Heatherstone who has lately disappeared from his country house in Wigtownshire and who there is too much reason to fear has been drowned
I wonder if by chance there was any other human eye but mine which traced a connection between these paragraphs I never showed them to my wife or to Mordaunt and they will only know of their existence when they read these pages
I dont know that there is any other point which needs clearing up The intelligent reader will have already seen the reasons for the generals fear of dark faces of wandering men not knowing how his pursuers might come after him and of visitors from the same cause and because his hateful bell was liable to sound at all times
His broken sleep led him to wander about the house at night and the lamps which he burnt in every room were no doubt to prevent his imagination from peopling the darkness with terrors Lastly his elaborate precautions were as he has himself explained rather the result of a feverish desire to do something than in the expectation that he could really ward off his fate
Science will tell you that there are no such powers as those claimed by the Eastern mystics I John Fothergill West can confidently answer that science is wrong
For what is science Science is the consensus of opinion of scientific men and history has shown that it is slow to accept a truth Science sneered at Newton for twenty years Science proved mathematically that an iron ship could not swim and science declared that a steamship could not cross the Atlantic
Like Goethes Mephistopheles our wise professors forte is stets verneinen Thomas Didymus is to use his own jargon his prototype Let him learn that if he will but cease to believe in the infallibility of his own methods and will look to the East from which all great movements come he will find there a school of philosophers and of savants who working on different lines from his own are many thousand years ahead of him in all the essentials of knowledge
THE END