us any civility in their power. They were more than kind and
courteous, and took us at once on board the Czarina Catherine,
which lay at anchor out in the river harbor. There we saw the
Captain, Donelson by name, who told us of his voyage. He said that
in all his life he had never had so favorable a run.
"Man!" he said, "but it made us afeard, for we expect it that we
should have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to
keep up the average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black
Sea wi' a wind ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on
yer sail for his ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a
thing. Gin we were nigh a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog
fell on us and travelled wi' us, till when after it had lifted and
we looked out, the deil a thing could we see. We ran by Gibraltar
wi' oot bein' able to signal. An' til we came to the Dardanelles
and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we never were within
hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail and beat about
till the fog was lifted. But whiles, I thocht that if the Deil was
minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it
whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no to
our miscredit wi'the owners, or no hurt to our traffic, an' the Old
Mon who had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us
for no hinderin' him."
This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition and
commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said,"Mine friend,
that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some, and he know
when he meet his match!"
The skipper was not displeased with the compliment, and went on,
"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble. Some o'
them, the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big
box which had been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just
before we had started frae London. I had seen them speer at the
fellow, and put out their twa fingers when they saw him, to guardfellow, and put out their twa fingers when they saw him, to guard
them against the evil eye. Man! but the supersteetion of foreigners
is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot their business pretty
quick, but as just after a fog closed in on us I felt a wee bit as
they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was again the
big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for five
days I joost let the wind carry us, for if the Deil wanted to get
somewheres, well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't,
well, we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhow. Sure eneuch, we had a fair
way and deep water all the time. And two days ago, when the mornin'
sun came through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river
opposite Galatz. The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or
wrong to take out the box and fling it in the river. I had to argy
wi' them aboot it wi' a handspike. An' when the last o' them rose
off the deck wi' his head in his hand, I had convinced them that,
evil eye or no evil eye, the property and the trust of my owners
were better in my hands than in the river Danube. They had, mind
ye, taken the box on the deck ready to fling in, and as it was
marked Galatz via Varna, I thocht I'd let it lie till we discharged
in the port an' get rid o't althegither. We didn't do much clearin'
that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor. But in the
mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sunup, a man came aboard
wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box marked
for one Count Dracula. Sure eneuch the matter was one ready to his
hand. He had his papers a' reet, an' gla d I was to be rid o' the
dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the
Deil did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane
ither than that same!"
"What was the name of the man who took it?" asked Dr. Van
Helsing with restrained eagerness.
"I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and stepping down to
his cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim."his cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim."
Burgen-strasse 16 was the address. We found out that this was all
the Captain knew, so with thanks we came away.
We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the
Adelphi Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His
arguments were pointed with specie, we doing the punctuation, and
with a little bargaining he told us what he knew. This turned out
to be simple but important. He had received a letter from Mr. de
Ville of London, telling him to receive, if possible before sunrise
so as to avoid customs, a box which would arrive at Galatz in the
Czarina Catherine. This he was to give in charge to a certain
Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks who traded down the
river to the port. He had been paid for his work by an English bank
note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube
International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him
to the ship and handed over the box, so as to save parterage. That
was all he knew.
We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of
his neighbors, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said
that he had gone away two days before,no one knew whither. This was
corroborated by his landlord, who had received by messenger the key
of the house together with the rent due, in English money. This had
been between ten and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a
standstill again.
Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped
out that the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the
churchyard of St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as
if by some wild animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to
see the horror, the women crying out. "This is the work of a
Slovak!" We hurried away lest we should have been in some way drawn
into the affair, and so detained.
As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We
were all convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to