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Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming

dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was

like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:--

 

"Go, call the Professor. I want to see him at once."

 

"Why?" I asked.

 

"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured

without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I

shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close." I

went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing

me, he sprang to his feet.

 

"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm.

 

"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once."

 

"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room.

 

In two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his

dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward at

the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a

positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as he

said:--

 

"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan,

we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day!" Then

turning to her, he said, cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at

this hour you do not want me for nothings."

 

"I want you to hypnotise me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I

feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is

short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed.

 

Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her,

from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina

gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat

like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually

her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of

her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a few

more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was

covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she

did not seem the same woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and

her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to

impose silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in.

They came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the

foot of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The

stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone

which would not break the current of her thoughts:--

 

"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way:--

 

"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For several

minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor stood

staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room

was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van

Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed

just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse

itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke again:--

 

"Where are you now?" The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it

were as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the

same tone when reading her shorthand notes.

 

"I do not know. It is all strange to me!"

 

"What do you see?"

 

"I can see nothing; it is all dark."

 

"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient

voice.

 

"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can

hear them on the outside."

 

"Then you are on a ship?" We all looked at each other, trying to glean

something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came

quick:--

 

"Oh, yes!"

 

"What else do you hear?"

 

"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the

creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan

falls into the rachet."

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death!" The voice faded away into

a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.

 

By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of

day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her

head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a few

moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to see

us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said.

She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling, though she

was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the

conversation, and she said:--

 

"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late!" Mr.

Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the Professor's calm

voice called them back:--

 

"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor

whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in

your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God be

thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead us we

know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of men,

since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking

forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas, but

that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the

Count's mind, when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce

knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear

me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men

following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He

have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He

think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would

say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily, and

we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind in a

little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters

between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he

would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or

slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to

us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need,

and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with

us." Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:--

 

"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?" He

took her hand and patted it as he replied:--

 

"Ask me nothings as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all

questions." He would say no more, and we separated to dress.

 

After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for

a minute and then said sorrowfully:--

 

"Because my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him

even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!" She grew paler as

she asked faintly:--

 

"Why?"

 

"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are

but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark

upon your throat."

 

I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint.

 

 

CHAPTER XXIV

 

DR. SEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY, SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING

 

 

This to Jonathan Harker.

 

You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our

search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we

seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day.

This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him

here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already,

for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back

to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of

fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and

that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the

money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun

go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that

he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him.

But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last

resource--his last earth-work I might say did I wish _double entente_.

He is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and

so he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came,

and he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound;

when we have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will

comfort you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope

when you think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we

pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in

one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is

finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do.

But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong

together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is

but begun, and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high

to watch over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return.

 

VAN HELSING.

 

 

_Jonathan Harker's Journal._

 

_4 October._--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the

phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the

certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort;

and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that his horrible

danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to

believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem

like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air in the bright

sunlight----

 

Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on

the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts,

there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will

keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been

over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality

seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is

something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting.

Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may

be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other

yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and

the others after their investigations.

 

The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run

for me again. It is now three o'clock.

 

 

_Mina Harker's Journal._

 

_5 October, 5 p. m._--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van

Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan

Harker, Mina Harker.

 

Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to

discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:--

 

"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that

he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since

by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne

ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what

ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since

Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in

your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion of

Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail,

however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound ship go

out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail from

Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up the

Danube. 'Soh!' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off

we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office of wood

so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we inquire

of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he red face

and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when Quincey

give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up, and

put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing, he

still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and ask

many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when they

have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom, and of

others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but

nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know.

 

"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five

o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high nose

and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be all in

black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the

time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what ship

sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office and

then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore end of

gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain come, when

told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at the first he

agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him where horse

and cart can be hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself

driving cart on which a great box; this he himself lift down, though it

take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to

captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but the captain like

it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if he like he

can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no'; that he come not

yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain tell him that he

had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will leave the

place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then the thin

man smile and say that of course he must go when he think fit; but he

will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear again,

polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say that he

will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the

sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues tell

him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and also

with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after asking

where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase ship

forms, he departed.

 

"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for

they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon

became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as

was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it grew,

and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around her.

The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and

blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began to

fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood,

when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank again and

asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain replied

that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and

blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down

with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile

on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him.

Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away, and

all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language that was

of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's swears

exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of

picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were on movement up

and down on the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any

of fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship

went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the

river mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea.

 

"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for

our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the

Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when

we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope

is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then

he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There

are days for us, in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about

where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us

invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in

Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present

his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part.

When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and

have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no'; for what is to be done is not

for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own

way."

 

When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain

that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have the

best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance this

morning." I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should

pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that

he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing passion,

at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more

forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some

of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst

men:--

 

"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first,

and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm

already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short

time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in

darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my

dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or

in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his

own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life

of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the

work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do

what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have

been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of

nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in

some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for

all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical

world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither.

There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters

of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless,

there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of

occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in

himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike

time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain,

more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in

strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and

thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which

is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from,

and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have

infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for

good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do

no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and

so in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction,

shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together

that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the

world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters,

whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one

soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem

more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if

we fall, we fall in good cause." He paused and I said:--

 

"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven

from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from

which he has been hunted?"

 

"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall

adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has once

tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other prey, but prowl

unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a

tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he

is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go

over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be

beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again.

Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to

him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What

does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise for

him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task. He

find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He

study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old

ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a new

land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse that

he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help

him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at

the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone! from a

ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater

world of thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know

him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole

peoples. Oh, if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil,

what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours. But we

are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence, and our

efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believe not

even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest

strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons

to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls

for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the

honour and glory of God."

 

After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing

be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to

think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow, at breakfast, we are to

meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we

shall decide on some definite cause of action.

 

* * * * *

 

I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting

presence were removed from me. Perhaps...

 

My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the

mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still

unclean.

 

 

_Dr. Seward's Diary._

 

_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for

each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more

general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience

again.

 

It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let

any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even by

death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment. More

than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder whether

the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only when I

caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that I was

brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely revolving the

matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our

trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her

trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something

recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to

meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of

action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct

rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear

that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_

that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can

guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or

cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and

he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of

that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The

Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the

Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be a poison that distils

itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is

a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my

instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a

terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same

power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think

further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman!

 

Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others. I shall