corruption had become itself corrupt. Faugh! It sickens me to think
of it. Every breath exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to
the place and intensified its loathsomeness.
Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought
our enterprise to an end, but this was no ordinary case, and the
high and terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a
strength which rose above merely physical considerations. After the
involuntary shrinking consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we
one and all set about our work as though that loathsome place were
a garden of roses.
We made an accurate examination of the place, the Professor
saying as we began, "The first thing is to see how many of the
boxes are left, we must then examine every hole and corner and
cranny and see if we cannot get some clue as to what has become of
the rest."
A glance was sufficient to show how many remained, for the great
earth chests were bulky, and there was no mistaking them.
There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a
fright, for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of
the vaulted door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and
for an instant my heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from
the shadow, I seemed to see the high lights of the Count's evil
face, the ridge of the nose, the red eyes, the red lips, the awful
pallor. It was only for a moment, for, as Lord Godalming said,"I
thought I saw a face, but it was only the shadows," and resumed his
inquiry, I turned my lamp in the direction, and stepped into the
passage. There was no sign of anyone, and as there were no corners,
no doors, no aperture of any kind, but only the solid walls of the
passage, there could be no hiding place even for him. I took it
that fear had helped imagination, and said nothing.
A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a
corner, which he was examining. We all followed his movements with
our eyes, for undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, andour eyes, for undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and
we saw a whole mass of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars.
We all instinctively drew back. The whole place was becoming alive
with rats.
For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming,
who was seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to
the great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described
from the outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in
the lock, drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then,
taking his little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low,
shrill call. It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the
yelping of dogs, and after about a minute three terriers came
dashing round the corner of the house. Unconsciously we had all
moved towards the door, and as we moved I noticed that the dust had
been much disturbed. The boxes which had been taken out had been
brought this way. But even in the minute that had elapsed the
number of the rats had vastly increased. They seemed to swarm over
the place all at once, till the lamplight, shining on their moving
dark bodies and glittering, baleful eyes, made the place look like
a bank of earth set with fireflies. The dogs dashed on, but at the
threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then,simultaneously
lifting their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion. The
rats were multiplying in thousands, and we moved out.
Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in,
placed him on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he
seemed to recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies.
They fled before him so fast that before he had shaken the life out
of a score, the other dogs, who had by now been lifted in the same
manner, had but small prey ere the whole mass had vanished.
With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had
departed, for the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they
made sudden darts at their prostrate foes, and turned them over andmade sudden darts at their prostrate foes, and turned them over and
over and tossed them in the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed
to find our spirits rise. Whether it was the purifying of the
deadly atmosphere by the opening of the chapel door, or the relief
which we experienced by finding ourselves in the open I know not,
but most certainly the shadow of dread seemed to slip from us like
a robe, and the occasion of our coming lost something of its grim
significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our resolution.
We closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and bringing the
dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found nothing
throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all
untouched save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit.
Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even
when we returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they
had been rabbit hunting in a summer wood.
The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the
front. Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall door from the
bunch, and locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key
into his pocket when he had done.
"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No
harm has come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have
ascertained how many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice
that this, our first, and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous,
step has been accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most
sweet Madam Mina or troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with
sights and sounds and smells of horror which she might never
forget. One lesson, too, we have learned, if it be allowable to
argue a particulari, that the brute beasts which are to the Count's
command are yet themselves not amenable to his spiritual power, for
look, these rats that would come to his call, just as from his
castle top he summon the wolves to your going and to that poor
mother's cry, though they come to him, they run pell-mell from the