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follow on the track. I note this whilst Godalming is getting ready. We

have our arms. The Szgany must look out if they mean fight. Oh, if only

Morris and Seward were with us. We must only hope! If I write no more

Good-bye, Mina! God bless and keep you.

 

 

_Dr. Seward's Diary._

 

_5 November._--With the dawn we saw the body of Szgany before us dashing

away from the river with their leiter-wagon. They surrounded it in a

cluster, and hurried along as though beset. The snow is falling lightly

and there is a strange excitement in the air. It may be our own

feelings, but the depression is strange. Far off I hear the howling of

wolves; the snow brings them down from the mountains, and there are

dangers to all of us, and from all sides. The horses are nearly ready,

and we are soon off. We ride to death of some one. God alone knows who,

or where, or what, or when, or how it may be....

 

 

_Dr. Van Helsing's Memorandum._

 

_5 November, afternoon._--I am at least sane. Thank God for that mercy

at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful. When I left

Madam Mina sleeping within the Holy circle, I took my way to the castle.

The blacksmith hammer which I took in the carriage from Veresti was

useful; though the doors were all open I broke them off the rusty

hinges, lest some ill-intent or ill-chance should close them, so that

being entered I might not get out. Jonathan's bitter experience served

me here. By memory of his diary I found my way to the old chapel, for I

knew that here my work lay. The air was oppressive; it seemed as if

there was some sulphurous fume, which at times made me dizzy. Either

there was a roaring in my ears or I heard afar off the howl of wolves.

Then I bethought me of my dear Madam Mina, and I was in terrible plight.

The dilemma had me between his horns.

 

Her, I had not dare to take into this place, but left safe from the

Vampire in that Holy circle; and yet even there would be the wolf! I

resolve me that my work lay here, and that as to the wolves we must

submit, if it were God's will. At any rate it was only death and

freedom beyond. So did I choose for her. Had it but been for myself the

choice had been easy, the maw of the wolf were better to rest in than

the grave of the Vampire! So I make my choice to go on with my work.

 

I knew that there were at least three graves to find--graves that are

inhabit; so I search, and search, and I find one of them. She lay in her

Vampire sleep, so full of life and voluptuous beauty that I shudder as

though I have come to do murder. Ah, I doubt not that in old time, when

such things were, many a man who set forth to do such a task as mine,

found at the last his heart fail him, and then his nerve. So he delay,

and delay, and delay, till the mere beauty and the fascination of the

wanton Un-Dead have hypnotise him; and he remain on and on, till sunset

come, and the Vampire sleep be over. Then the beautiful eyes of the fair

woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a

kiss--and man is weak. And there remain one more victim in the Vampire

fold; one more to swell the grim and grisly ranks of the Un-Dead!...

 

There is some fascination, surely, when I am moved by the mere presence

of such an one, even lying as she lay in a tomb fretted with age and

heavy with the dust of centuries, though there be that horrid odour such

as the lairs of the Count have had. Yes, I was moved--I, Van Helsing,

with all my purpose and with my motive for hate--I was moved to a

yearning for delay which seemed to paralyse my faculties and to clog my

very soul. It may have been that the need of natural sleep, and the

strange oppression of the air were beginning to overcome me. Certain it

was that I was lapsing into sleep, the open-eyed sleep of one who yields

to a sweet fascination, when there came through the snow-stilled air a

long, low wail, so full of woe and pity that it woke me like the sound

of a clarion. For it was the voice of my dear Madam Mina that I heard.

 

Then I braced myself again to my horrid task, and found by wrenching

away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark one. I dared not

pause to look on her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should

begin to be enthrall; but I go on searching until, presently, I find in

a high great tomb as if made to one much beloved that other fair sister

which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather herself out of the atoms of

the mist. She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so

exquisitely voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls

some of my sex to love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl

with new emotion. But God be thanked, that soul-wail of my dear Madam

Mina had not died out of my ears; and, before the spell could be wrought

further upon me, I had nerved myself to my wild work. By this time I had

searched all the tombs in the chapel, so far as I could tell; and as

there had been only three of these Un-Dead phantoms around us in the

night, I took it that there were no more of active Un-Dead existent.

There was one great tomb more lordly than all the rest; huge it was, and

nobly proportioned. On it was but one word

 

DRACULA.

 

This then was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire, to whom so many more

were due. Its emptiness spoke eloquent to make certain what I knew.

Before I began to restore these women to their dead selves through my

awful work, I laid in Dracula's tomb some of the Wafer, and so banished

him from it, Un-Dead, for ever.

 

Then began my terrible task, and I dreaded it. Had it been but one, it

had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had

been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet

Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived

through centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the

years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives....

 

Oh, my friend John, but it was butcher work; had I not been nerved by

thoughts of other dead, and of the living over whom hung such a pall of

fear, I could not have gone on. I tremble and tremble even yet, though

till all was over, God be thanked, my nerve did stand. Had I not seen

the repose in the first place, and the gladness that stole over it just

ere the final dissolution came, as realisation that the soul had been

won, I could not have gone further with my butchery. I could not have

endured the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of

writhing form, and lips of bloody foam. I should have fled in terror and

left my work undone. But it is over! And the poor souls, I can pity them

now and weep, as I think of them placid each in her full sleep of death

for a short moment ere fading. For, friend John, hardly had my knife

severed the head of each, before the whole body began to melt away and

crumble in to its native dust, as though the death that should have come

centuries agone had at last assert himself and say at once and loud "I

am here!"

 

Before I left the castle I so fixed its entrances that never more can

the Count enter there Un-Dead.

 

When I stepped into the circle where Madam Mina slept, she woke from her

sleep, and, seeing, me, cried out in pain that I had endured too much.

 

"Come!" she said, "come away from this awful place! Let us go to meet my

husband who is, I know, coming towards us." She was looking thin and

pale and weak; but her eyes were pure and glowed with fervour. I was

glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the

fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep.

 

And so with trust and hope, and yet full of fear, we go eastward to meet

our friends--and _him_--whom Madam Mina tell me that she _know_ are

coming to meet us.

 

 

_Mina Harker's Journal._

 

_6 November._--It was late in the afternoon when the Professor and I

took our way towards the east whence I knew Jonathan was coming. We did

not go fast, though the way was steeply downhill, for we had to take

heavy rugs and wraps with us; we dared not face the possibility of being

left without warmth in the cold and the snow. We had to take some of our

provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we

could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of

habitation. When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy

walking and sat down to rest. Then we looked back and saw where the

clear line of Dracula's castle cut the sky; for we were so deep under

the hill whereon it was set that the angle of perspective of the

Carpathian mountains was far below it. We saw it in all its grandeur,

perched a thousand feet on the summit of a sheer precipice, and with

seemingly a great gap between it and the steep of the adjacent mountain

on any side. There was something wild and uncanny about the place. We

could hear the distant howling of wolves. They were far off, but the

sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was

full of terror. I knew from the way Dr. Van Helsing was searching about

that he was trying to seek some strategic point, where we would be less

exposed in case of attack. The rough roadway still led downwards; we

could trace it through the drifted snow.

 

In a little while the Professor signalled to me, so I got up and joined

him. He had found a wonderful spot, a sort of natural hollow in a rock,

with an entrance like a doorway between two boulders. He took me by the

hand and drew me in: "See!" he said, "here you will be in shelter; and

if the wolves do come I can meet them one by one." He brought in our

furs, and made a snug nest for me, and got out some provisions and

forced them upon me. But I could not eat; to even try to do so was

repulsive to me, and, much as I would have liked to please him, I could

not bring myself to the attempt. He looked very sad, but did not

reproach me. Taking his field-glasses from the case, he stood on the top

of the rock, and began to search the horizon. Suddenly he called out:--

 

"Look! Madam Mina, look! look!" I sprang up and stood beside him on the

rock; he handed me his glasses and pointed. The snow was now falling

more heavily, and swirled about fiercely, for a high wind was beginning

to blow. However, there were times when there were pauses between the

snow flurries and I could see a long way round. From the height where we

were it was possible to see a great distance; and far off, beyond the

white waste of snow, I could see the river lying like a black ribbon in

kinks and curls as it wound its way. Straight in front of us and not far

off--in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before--came a

group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a

long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail

wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. Outlined against the

snow as they were, I could see from the men's clothes that they were

peasants or gypsies of some kind.

 

On the cart was a great square chest. My heart leaped as I saw it, for I

felt that the end was coming. The evening was now drawing close, and

well I knew that at sunset the Thing, which was till then imprisoned

there, would take new freedom and could in any of many forms elude all

pursuit. In fear I turned to the Professor; to my consternation,

however, he was not there. An instant later, I saw him below me. Round

the rock he had drawn a circle, such as we had found shelter in last

night. When he had completed it he stood beside me again, saying:--

 

"At least you shall be safe here from _him_!" He took the glasses from

me, and at the next lull of the snow swept the whole space below us.

"See," he said, "they come quickly; they are flogging the horses, and

galloping as hard as they can." He paused and went on in a hollow

voice:--

 

"They are racing for the sunset. We may be too late. God's will be

done!" Down came another blinding rush of driving snow, and the whole

landscape was blotted out. It soon passed, however, and once more his

glasses were fixed on the plain. Then came a sudden cry:--

 

"Look! Look! Look! See, two horsemen follow fast, coming up from the

south. It must be Quincey and John. Take the glass. Look before the snow

blots it all out!" I took it and looked. The two men might be Dr. Seward

and Mr. Morris. I knew at all events that neither of them was Jonathan.

At the same time I _knew_ that Jonathan was not far off; looking around

I saw on the north side of the coming party two other men, riding at

break-neck speed. One of them I knew was Jonathan, and the other I took,

of course, to be Lord Godalming. They, too, were pursuing the party with

the cart. When I told the Professor he shouted in glee like a schoolboy,

and, after looking intently till a snow fall made sight impossible, he

laid his Winchester rifle ready for use against the boulder at the

opening of our shelter. "They are all converging," he said. "When the

time comes we shall have gypsies on all sides." I got out my revolver

ready to hand, for whilst we were speaking the howling of wolves came

louder and closer. When the snow storm abated a moment we looked again.

It was strange to see the snow falling in such heavy flakes close to us,

and beyond, the sun shining more and more brightly as it sank down

towards the far mountain tops. Sweeping the glass all around us I could

see here and there dots moving singly and in twos and threes and larger

numbers--the wolves were gathering for their prey.

 

Every instant seemed an age whilst we waited. The wind came now in

fierce bursts, and the snow was driven with fury as it swept upon us in

circling eddies. At times we could not see an arm's length before us;

but at others, as the hollow-sounding wind swept by us, it seemed to

clear the air-space around us so that we could see afar off. We had of

late been so accustomed to watch for sunrise and sunset, that we knew

with fair accuracy when it would be; and we knew that before long the

sun would set. It was hard to believe that by our watches it was less

than an hour that we waited in that rocky shelter before the various

bodies began to converge close upon us. The wind came now with fiercer

and more bitter sweeps, and more steadily from the north. It seemingly

had driven the snow clouds from us, for, with only occasional bursts,

the snow fell. We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each

party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did

not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they

seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower

and lower on the mountain tops.

 

Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind

our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined

that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our

presence.

 

All at once two voices shouted out to: "Halt!" One was my Jonathan's,

raised in a high key of passion; the other Mr. Morris' strong resolute

tone of quiet command. The gypsies may not have known the language, but

there was no mistaking the tone, in whatever tongue the words were

spoken. Instinctively they reined in, and at the instant Lord Godalming

and Jonathan dashed up at one side and Dr. Seward and Mr. Morris on the

other. The leader of the gypsies, a splendid-looking fellow who sat his

horse like a centaur, waved them back, and in a fierce voice gave to his

companions some word to proceed. They lashed the horses which sprang

forward; but the four men raised their Winchester rifles, and in an

unmistakable way commanded them to stop. At the same moment Dr. Van

Helsing and I rose behind the rock and pointed our weapons at them.

Seeing that they were surrounded the men tightened their reins and drew

up. The leader turned to them and gave a word at which every man of the

gypsy party drew what weapon he carried, knife or pistol, and held

himself in readiness to attack. Issue was joined in an instant.

 

The leader, with a quick movement of his rein, threw his horse out in

front, and pointing first to the sun--now close down on the hill

tops--and then to the castle, said something which I did not understand.

For answer, all four men of our party threw themselves from their horses

and dashed towards the cart. I should have felt terrible fear at seeing

Jonathan in such danger, but that the ardour of battle must have been

upon me as well as the rest of them; I felt no fear, but only a wild,

surging desire to do something. Seeing the quick movement of our

parties, the leader of the gypsies gave a command; his men instantly

formed round the cart in a sort of undisciplined endeavour, each one

shouldering and pushing the other in his eagerness to carry out the

order.

 

In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring

of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was

evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun

should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the

levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor

the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their

attention. Jonathan's impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his

purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they

cowered, aside and let him pass. In an instant he had jumped upon the

cart, and, with a strength which seemed incredible, raised the great

box, and flung it over the wheel to the ground. In the meantime, Mr.

Morris had had to use force to pass through his side of the ring of

Szgany. All the time I had been breathlessly watching Jonathan I had,

with the tail of my eye, seen him pressing desperately forward, and had

seen the knives of the gypsies flash as he won a way through them, and

they cut at him. He had parried with his great bowie knife, and at first

I thought that he too had come through in safety; but as he sprang

beside Jonathan, who had by now jumped from the cart, I could see that

with his left hand he was clutching at his side, and that the blood was

spurting through his fingers. He did not delay notwithstanding this, for

as Jonathan, with desperate energy, attacked one end of the chest,

attempting to prize off the lid with his great Kukri knife, he attacked

the other frantically with his bowie. Under the efforts of both men the

lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and

the top of the box was thrown back.

 

By this time the gypsies, seeing themselves covered by the Winchesters,

and at the mercy of Lord Godalming and Dr. Seward, had given in and made

no resistance. The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the

shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow. I saw the Count

lying within the box upon the earth, some of which the rude falling from

the cart had scattered over him. He was deathly pale, just like a waxen

image, and the red eyes glared with the horrible vindictive look which I

knew too well.

 

As I looked, the eyes saw the sinking sun, and the look of hate in them

turned to triumph.

 

But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife.

I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat; whilst at the same

moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.

 

It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the

drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from

our sight.

 

I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final

dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never

could have imagined might have rested there.

 

The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone

of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the

setting sun.

 

The gypsies, taking us as in some way the cause of the extraordinary

disappearance of the dead man, turned, without a word, and rode away as

if for their lives. Those who were unmounted jumped upon the

leiter-wagon and shouted to the horsemen not to desert them. The wolves,

which had withdrawn to a safe distance, followed in their wake, leaving

us alone.

 

Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his

hand pressed to his side; the blood still gushed through his fingers. I

flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the

two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his

head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand

in that of his own which was unstained. He must have seen the anguish of

my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said:--

 

"I am only too happy to have been of any service! Oh, God!" he cried

suddenly, struggling up to a sitting posture and pointing to me, "It was

worth for this to die! Look! look!"

 

The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams

fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse

the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all

as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger. The dying man

spoke:--

 

"Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! the snow is not

more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!"

 

And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a

gallant gentleman.

 

 

NOTE

 

 

Seven years ago we all went through the flames; and the happiness of

some of us since then is, we think, well worth the pain we endured. It

is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same

day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the

secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into

him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together; but

we call him Quincey.

 

In the summer of this year we made a journey to Transylvania, and went

over the old ground which was, and is, to us so full of vivid and

terrible memories. It was almost impossible to believe that the things

which we had seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears were

living truths. Every trace of all that had been was blotted out. The

castle stood as before, reared high above a waste of desolation.

 

When we got home we were talking of the old time--which we could all

look back on without despair, for Godalming and Seward are both happily

married. I took the papers from the safe where they had been ever since

our return so long ago. We were struck with the fact, that in all the

mass of material of which the record is composed, there is hardly one

authentic document; nothing but a mass of typewriting, except the later

note-books of Mina and Seward and myself, and Van Helsing's memorandum.

We could hardly ask any one, even did we wish to, to accept these as

proofs of so wild a story. Van Helsing summed it all up as he said, with

our boy on his knee:--

 

"We want no proofs; we ask none to believe us! This boy will some day

know what a brave and gallant woman his mother is. Already he knows her

sweetness and loving care; later on he will understand how some men so

loved her, that they did dare much for her sake."

 

JONATHAN HARKER.

 

THE END

 

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Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

 

in a very simply way=> in a very simple way {pg 68}

 

"The Westminister Gazette," 25 September.=> "The Westminster Gazette,"

25 September. {pg 165}

 

It have told him=> She have told him {pg 169}

 

from md sight=> from my sight {pg}184

 

Goldaming=> Godalming {pg 226}

 

I I did not want to hinder him=> I did not want to hinder him {pg 267}

 

They lay in a sort of or-orderly=> They lay in a sort of orderly {pg

279}

 

Translyvania=> Transylvania {pg 294}

 

this mrrning from Dardanelles=> this morning from Dardanelles {pg 313}

 

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker

 

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