indeed a change. See! Friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam
Mina, as of old, back to us today!" Then turning to her, he said
cheerfully, "And what am I to do for you? For at this hour you do
not want me for nothing."
"I want you to hypnotize 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 tiptoe, 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?"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 ratchet."
"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 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 we can look back wesomewhat. Blind after the manner of men, since 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 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 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 nothing 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.