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My father was out of spirits that evening. On coming in he told us that
there had been another case very similar to the two fatal ones which
had lately occurred. The sister of a young peasant on his estate, only
a mile away, was very ill, had been, as she described it, attacked very
nearly in the same way, and was now... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Are you afraid, dearest?”
“I should be very much if I fancied there was any real danger of my
being attacked as those poor people were.”
“You are afraid to die?”
“Yes, every one is.”
“But to die as lovers may—to die together, so that they may live
together.
Girls are caterpillars while they live in the world, to be f... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
My father had a list in his hand, from which he read, as the artist
rummaged out the corresponding numbers. I don’t know that the pictures
were very good, but they were, undoubtedly, very old, and some of them
very curious also. They had, for the most part, the merit of being now
seen by me, I may say, for the first t... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
1698. I am descended from the Karnsteins; that is, mamma was.”
“Ah!” said the lady, languidly, “so am I, I think, a very long descent,
very ancient. Are there any Karnsteins living now?”
“None who bear the name, I believe. The family were ruined, I believe,
in some civil wars, long ago, but the ruins of the castle are... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“You look ill, Carmilla; a little faint. You certainly must take some
wine,” I said.
“Yes. I will. I’m better now. I shall be quite well in a few minutes.
Yes, do give me a little wine,” answered Carmilla, as we approached the
door.
“Let us look again for a moment; it is the last time, perhaps, I shall
see the moonlig... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
She answered “No.”
He then asked whether she knew where a letter would reach her at
present.
“I cannot tell,” she answered ambiguously, “but I have been thinking of
leaving you; you have been already too hospitable and too kind to me. I
have given you an infinity of trouble, and I should wish to take a
carriage tomorr... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
But I am under vows, no nun half so awfully, and I dare not tell my
story yet, even to you. The time is very near when you shall know
everything. You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always
selfish; the more ardent the more selfish. How jealous I am you cannot
know. You must come with me, loving me, to d... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
The precautions of nervous people are infectious, and persons of a like
temperament are pretty sure, after a time, to imitate them. I had
adopted Carmilla’s habit of locking her bedroom door, having taken into
my head all her whimsical alarms about midnight invaders and prowling
assassins. I had also adopted her preca... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
I was now relieved, and able to breathe and move. My first thought was
that Carmilla had been playing me a trick, and that I had forgotten to
secure my door. I hastened to it, and found it locked as usual on the
inside. I was afraid to open it—I was horrified. I sprang into my bed
and covered my head up in the bedclot... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Carmilla came down rather later than usual that day.
“I was so frightened last night,” she said, so soon as were together,
“and I am sure I should have seen something dreadful if it had not been
for that charm I bought from the poor little hunchback whom I called
such hard names. I had a dream of something black comin... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“It has been fumigated or immersed in some drug, and is an antidote
against the malaria,” she answered.
“Then it acts only on the body?”
“Certainly; you don’t suppose that evil spirits are frightened by bits
of ribbon, or the perfumes of a druggist’s shop? No, these complaints,
wandering in the air, begin by trying th... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Certain vague and strange sensations visited me in my sleep. The
prevailing one was of that pleasant, peculiar cold thrill which we feel
in bathing, when we move against the current of a river. This was soon
accompanied by dreams that seemed interminable, and were so vague that
I could never recollect their scenery an... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Carmilla complained of dreams and feverish sensations, but by no means
of so alarming a kind as mine. I say that mine were extremely alarming.
Had I been capable of comprehending my condition, I would have invoked
aid and advice on my knees. The narcotic of an unsuspected influence
was acting upon me, and my perceptio... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
We called her by name; but there was still no reply. We looked round
the room. Everything was undisturbed. It was exactly in the state in
which I had left it on bidding her good night. But Carmilla was gone.
VIII.
Search
At sight of the room, perfectly undisturbed except for our violent
entrance, we began to cool a ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
I ran to her in an ecstasy of joy; I kissed and embraced her again and
again. I ran to the bell and rang it vehemently, to bring others to the
spot who might at once relieve my father’s anxiety.
“Dear Carmilla, what has become of you all this time? We have been in
agonies of anxiety about you,” I exclaimed. “Where hav... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Perfectly, my dear child. I need not approach the topics on which she
desires our silence. Now, the marvel of last night consists in your
having been removed from your bed and your room, without being wakened,
and this removal having occurred apparently while the windows were
still secured, and the two doors locked u... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“I wish my poor Laura was looking more like herself”; and he sighed.
So our alarms were happily ended, and Carmilla restored to her friends.
IX.
The Doctor
As Carmilla would not hear of an attendant sleeping in her room, my
father arranged that a servant should sleep outside her door, so that
she would not attempt to... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Accordingly I approached, for the first time a little alarmed; for,
although I felt very weak, I did not feel ill; and strength, one always
fancies, is a thing that may be picked up when we please.
My father held out his hand to me, as I drew near, but he was looking
at the doctor, and he said:
“It certainly is very o... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Certainly,” said my father.
He called Madame to him, and said:
“I find my young friend here far from well. It won’t be of any great
consequence, I hope; but it will be necessary that some steps be taken,
which I will explain by-and-by; but in the meantime, Madame, you will
be so good as not to let Miss Laura be alone... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
About half an hour after my father came in—he had a letter in his
hand—and said:
“This letter had been delayed; it is from General Spielsdorf. He might
have been here yesterday, he may not come till tomorrow or he may be
here today.”
He put the open letter into my hand; but he did not look pleased, as he
used when a g... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Passing the drawbridge we turn to the right, and follow the road over
the steep Gothic bridge, westward, to reach the deserted village and
ruined castle of Karnstein.
No sylvan drive can be fancied prettier. The ground breaks into gentle
hills and hollows, all clothed with beautiful wood, totally destitute
of the comp... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“I should tell you all with pleasure,” said the General, “but you would
not believe me.”
“Why should I not?” he asked.
“Because,” he answered testily, “you believe in nothing but what
consists with your own prejudices and illusions. I remember when I was
like you, but I have learned better.”
“Try me,” said my father; ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
My father looked at him again, but this time not with a glance of
suspicion—with an eye, rather, of keen intelligence and alarm.
“The house of Karnstein,” he said, “has been long extinct: a hundred
years at least. My dear wife was maternally descended from the
Karnsteins. But the name and title have long ceased to exi... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
XI.
The Story
With all my heart,” said the General, with an effort; and after a short
pause in which to arrange his subject, he commenced one of the
strangest narratives I ever heard.
“My dear child was looking forward with great pleasure to the visit you
had been so good as to arrange for her to your charming daugh... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Had the young lady not worn a mask, I could, of course, have been much
more certain upon the question whether she was really watching my poor
darling.
I am now well assured that she was.
“We were now in one of the salons. My poor dear child had been dancing,
and was resting a little in one of the chairs near the door;... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“In the meantime, availing myself of the license of a masquerade, I put
not a few questions to the elder lady.
“‘You have puzzled me utterly,’ I said, laughing. ‘Is that not enough?
Won’t you, now, consent to stand on equal terms, and do me the kindness
to remove your mask?’
“‘Can any request be more unreasonable?’ sh... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“‘Will Madame la Comtesse permit me to say a very few words which may
interest her?’
“The lady turned quickly to him, and touched her lip in token of
silence; she then said to me, ‘Keep my place for me, General; I shall
return when I have said a few words.’
“And with this injunction, playfully given, she walked a litt... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“She went on to make her petition, and it was in the tone of a person
from whom such a request amounted to conferring, rather than seeking a
favor.
This was only in manner, and, as it seemed, quite unconsciously. Than
the terms in which it was expressed, nothing could be more deprecatory.
It was simply that I would co... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Her last charge to me was that no attempt was to be made to learn more
about her than I might have already guessed, until her return. Our
distinguished host, whose guest she was, knew her reasons.
“‘But here,’ she said, ‘neither I nor my daughter could safely remain
for more than a day. I removed my mask imprudently ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“She sighed, and looked in my face. She was so beautiful that I
relented. I was sorry I had for a moment repented of my hospitality,
and I determined to make her amends for the unavowed churlishness of my
reception.
“The young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in persuading me to
return to the grounds, where th... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“There could be no doubt, notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy, that
our young friend had turned up; and so she had. Would to heaven we had
lost her!
“She told my poor child a story to account for her having failed to
recover us for so long. Very late, she said, she had got to the
housekeeper’s bedroom in despair of ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Lastly came sensations. One, not unpleasant, but very peculiar, she
said, resembled the flow of an icy stream against her breast. At a
later time, she felt something like a pair of large needles pierce her,
a little below the throat, with a very sharp pain. A few nights after,
followed a gradual and convulsive sense o... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“We have a portrait, at home, of Mircalla, the Countess Karnstein;
should you like to see it?” asked my father.
“Time enough, dear friend,” replied the General. “I believe that I have
seen the original; and one motive which has led me to you earlier than
I at first intended, was to explore the chapel which we are now
... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
He could not tell us anything of these monuments; but there was an old
man, he said, a ranger of this forest, at present sojourning in the
house of the priest, about two miles away, who could point out every
monument of the old Karnstein family; and, for a trifle, he undertook
to bring him back with him, if we would l... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“This Moravian nobleman had authority from the then head of the family
to remove the tomb of Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, which he did
effectually, so that in a little while its site was quite forgotten.”
“Can you point out where it stood?” asked the General, eagerly.
The forester shook his head, and smiled.
“Not a s... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“This consultation, then, left me precisely where I was. I walked out
into the grounds, all but distracted. The doctor from Gratz, in ten or
fifteen minutes, overtook me. He apologized for having followed me, but
said that he could not conscientiously take his leave without a few
words more. He told me that he could n... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Being myself wholly skeptical as to the existence of any such portent
as the vampire, the supernatural theory of the good doctor furnished,
in my opinion, but another instance of learning and intelligence oddly
associated with some one hallucination. I was so miserable, however,
that, rather than try nothing, I acted... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
In this solitude, having just listened to so strange a story,
connected, as it was, with the great and titled dead, whose monuments
were moldering among the dust and ivy round us, and every incident of
which bore so awfully upon my own mysterious case—in this haunted spot,
darkened by the towering foliage that rose on... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
She then began to call “Carmilla,” through every door and passage and
from the windows, but no answer came.
“She called herself Carmilla?” asked the General, still agitated.
“Carmilla, yes,” I answered.
“Aye,” he said; “that is Millarca. That is the same person who long ago
was called Mircalla, Countess Karnstein. Dep... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
They sauntered together down the side aisle, opposite to the spot where
I was standing, conversing as they went; then they began measuring
distances by paces, and finally they all stood together, facing a piece
of the sidewall, which they began to examine with great minuteness;
pulling off the ivy that clung over it, ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
The sinister absence of Carmilla made the remembrance of the scene more
horrible to me. The arrangements for the night were singular. Two
servants, and Madame were to sit up in my room that night; and the
ecclesiastic with my father kept watch in the adjoining dressing room.
The priest had performed certain solemn rit... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Here then, were all the admitted signs and proofs of vampirism. The
body, therefore, in accordance with the ancient practice, was raised,
and a sharp stake driven through the heart of the vampire, who uttered
a piercing shriek at the moment, in all respects such as might escape
from a living person in the last agony. ... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
How they escape from their graves and return to them for certain hours
every day, without displacing the clay or leaving any trace of
disturbance in the state of the coffin or the cerements, has always
been admitted to be utterly inexplicable. The amphibious existence of
the vampire is sustained by daily renewed slumb... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
“Assume, at starting, a territory perfectly free from that pest. How
does it begin, and how does it multiply itself? I will tell you. A
person, more or less wicked, puts an end to himself. A suicide, under
certain circumstances, becomes a vampire. That specter visits living
people in their slumbers; they die, and almo... | Carmilla | Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan | 1814 | 1873 | ['en'] | 9985 | {'Vampires -- Fiction', 'Young women -- Fiction'} | PG10007 | |
Elisa Williams, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed Proofreaders
THE MYSTERY
BY
STEWART EDWARD WHITE
AND
SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS
_Illustrations by Will Crawford_
1907
CONTENTS
PART ONE
THE SEA RIDDLE
I. DESERT SEAS
II. THE "LAUGHING LASS"
III. THE DEATH SHIP
IV. THE SECOND PRIZE CREW
V. THE DISAPPEARAN... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
On the cruiser's quarter-deck the officers lined the starboard rail.
Their interest was focussed on the derelict.
"Looks like a heavy job," said Ives, one of the junior lieutenants.
"These floaters that lie with deck almost awash will stand more hammering
than a mud fort."
"Wish they'd let us put some six-inch shells ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Ives turned to the ship's surgeon, Trendon, a grizzled and brief-spoken
veteran, who had at his finger's tips all the lore of all the waters
under the reign of the moon.
"What does the information bureau of the Seven Seas know about it?"
"Lost three years ago--spring of 1901--got into ice field off the tip of
the Aleu... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Well, there was the _Laughing Lass_."
"How did you happen to hit on her?" asked Barnett quickly.
"Why not, sir? It naturally came into my head. She was last seen
somewhere about this part of the world, wasn't she?" After a moment's
hesitation he added: "From something I heard ashore I judge we've a
commission to keep... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Every time a ship sets out from San Francisco without publishing to all
the world just what her business is, all the world thinks it's one of
those wild-goose hunts," observed Ives.
"Yes," agreed Barnett. "Flora and fauna of some unknown island would be
much more in the Schermerhorn line of traffic. Not unlikely that... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"The quartermaster reports the compass behaving queerly," he said.
Three minutes later the captain was on the bridge. The great ship had
swung, and they were speeding direct for the phenomenon. But within a few
minutes the light had died out.
"Another sea mystery to add to our list," said Billy Edwards. "Did anyone
ev... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Just cast an eye on the charts," said Billy Edwards. "Full of E. D.'s
and P. D.'s all over the shop. Every one of 'em volcanic."
"E. D.'s and P. D.'s?" queried the paymaster.
"Existence doubtful, and position doubtful," explained the ensign. "Every
time the skipper of one of these wandering trade ships gets a speck i... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Expectant minds do not lend themselves to sound slumber. All night the
officers of the _Wolverine_ slept on the verge of waking, but it was
not until dawn that the cry of "Sail-ho!" sent them all hurrying to their
clothes. Ordinarily officers of the U.S. Navy do not scuttle on deck like
a crowd of curious schoolgirls,... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Yes, sir."
"Aren't we going to run up to her?" asked McGuire, turning in surprise to
Edwards.
"And take the risk of getting a hole punched in our pretty paint, with
her running amuck that way? Not much!"
Up came the signal quartermaster to get his orders, and there ensued a
one-sided conversation in the pregnant lang... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Eighty to ninety feet."
"Say 150 tons. And she's a two-masted schooner, isn't she?" continued
Ives, insinuatingly.
"She certainly is."
"Well, I've a hunch that that ship is a lucky find for any ship, but
particularly for this ship."
"Great Caesar!" cried the ensign excitedly. "Do you think it's
_her_?"
A buzz of elec... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
III
THE DEATH SHIP
Billy Edwards came on deck with a line of irritation right-angling the
furrows between his eyes.
"Go ahead," the quarter-deck bade him, seeing him aflush with
information.
"The captain won't believe me," blurted out Edwards.
"Is it as bad as that?" asked Barnett, smiling.
"It certainly is," replie... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Did you look at the wheel, Billy?" asked Ives.
"Did I! There's another thing. Wheel's all right, but compass is no good
at all. It's regularly bewitched."
"What about the log, then?"
"Couldn't find it anywhere. Hunted high, low, jack, and the game;
everywhere except in the big, brass-bound chest I found in the captai... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Why, I actually believe old Trendon is excited."
For two hours after the departure of the captain and Trendon there were
dull times on the quarter-deck of the _Wolverine_. Then the surgeon
came back to them.
"Billy was right," he said.
"But he didn't tell us anything," cried Ives. "He didn't clear up the
mystery."
"T... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"It's poison, I suppose," said the first officer.
"And a mighty subtle sort," agreed Trendon. "Don't like the looks of it."
He shook a solemn head. "Don't like it for a damn."
IV
THE SECOND PRIZE CREW
In semi-tropic Pacific weather the unexpected so seldom happens as to be
a negligible quantity. The _Wolverine_ met ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Worrying about the schooner. Hope Billy Edwards saw or heard or felt
that squall coming," replied Forsythe, giving expression to the anxiety
that all felt.
"He's a good sailor man," said Ives, "and that's a staunch little
schooner, by the way she handled herself."
"Oh, it will be all right," said Carter confidently. ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
For perhaps fifteen minutes the glow continued. It seemed to be nearer at
hand than on the former sighting; but it took no comprehensible form.
Then it died away and all was blackness again. But the officers of the
_Wolverine_ had long been in troubled slumber before the sensitive
compass regained its exact balance, a... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Been deserted since early last night," said Trendon hoarsely.
"How can you tell that?" asked Barnett.
"Both sails reefed down. Ready for that squall. Been no weather since to
call for reefs. Must have quit her during the squall."
"Then they jumped," cried Carter, "for I saw her boats. It isn't
believable."
"Neither w... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
[Illustration: A man who was a bit of a mechanic was set to work to open
the chest]
Congdon was sent for.
"You're ordered aboard the schooner for the night, Congdon," said the
captain.
"Yes, sir."
"Is there any reason why you do not wish to go?"
The man hesitated, looking miserable. Finally he blurted out, not without... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Wish I could tell you. Might help to unravel our tangle." He shook his
head in sudden, unwonted passion.
"Evidently there's something criminal in her record," said Barnett,
frowning at the fusty schooner astern. "Otherwise the name wouldn't be
painted out."
"Painted out long ago. See how rusty it is. Schermerhorn's w... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Yes, sir," said Barnett. "That seems to vitiate that explanation."
"I thank you, gentlemen, for the promptitude of your offers," continued
the captain. "In this respect you make my duty the more difficult. I
shall accept Mr. Ives because of his familiarity with sailing craft and
with these seas." His eyes ranged the ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
For several hours the rain fell and the gale howled. Then the sky swiftly
cleared, and with the clearing there rose a great cry of amaze from stem
to stern of the _Wolverine_. For far toward the western horizon
appeared such a prodigy as the eye of no man aboard that ship had ever
beheld. From a belt of marvellous, gl... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Slowly the great mass of steel swung to the unknown. For an hour the
unknown guided her. Then fell blackness, sudden, complete. After that
radiance the dazzled eye could make out no stars, but the look-out's
keen vision discerned something else.
"Ship afire," he shouted hoarsely.
"Where away?"
"Two points to leeward, ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Rides too high for a spar or anything of that sort," said the junior
lieutenant.
"She's a small boat," came in the clear tones of the lookout, "driftin'
down."
"Anyone in her?" asked Carter.
"Can't make out yet, sir. No one's in charge though, sir."
Captain Parkinson appeared and Carter pointed out the speck to him.
... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Ives or McGuire," suggested Forsythe, in low tones.
"Or Billy Edwards," amended Carter.
"Not Edwards," said Trendon.
"How do you know?" demanded Forsythe.
"Dory was aboard when we found her the second time, after Edwards had
left."
"Can you make out which of the men are in her?" hailed the captain.
"Don't think it's ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Oh, their coffin was their ship, and their grave it was the sea:
_Blow high, blow low, what care we!_
And the quarter that we gave them was to sink them in the sea:
_Down on the coast of the high Barbaree-ee._"
Long-drawn, like the mockery of a wail, the minor cadence wavered through
the stillness, and di... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Can't give any account of himself yet," said the surgeon. "Weak and not
rightly conscious."
"What ails him?"
"Enough. Gash in his scalp. Fever. Thirst and exhaustion. Nervous shock,
too, I think."
"How came he aboard the _Laughing Lass_?" "Does he know anything of
Billy?" "Was he a stow-away?" "Did you ask him about ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The navy man straightened up as from a blow under the jaw.
"Be careful what you are about," warned Trendon, addressing his superior
officer sharply, for Barnett had all but let his charge drop. His face
was a puckered mask of amaze and incredulity.
"Did you hear him speak my name--or am I dreaming?" he half whispered.... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The officers looked at each other. "Go on," said Trendon to his
companion.
"We put a crew aboard in command of an ensign," continued Barnett, "and
picked up the schooner the next night, deserted. You must know about it.
Where is Billy Edwards?"
"Never heard of him," whispered the other.
"Ives and McGuire, then. They w... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Waked up, eh. Come on, Barnett. Help me boost him on deck."
The two officers disappeared to return in a moment arm-in-arm with Ralph
Slade.
Nearly twenty-four hours' rest and skilful treatment had done wonders. He
was still a trifle weak and uncertain, was still a little glad to lean on
the arms of his companions, bu... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"I haven't set eyes on the _Laughing Lass_ for--well, I don't know
how long, but it's five days anyway, perhaps more," replied Slade.
They stared at him incredulously.
"Oh, I see!" he burst out suddenly; "there were twin dories on the
schooner. The other one's still there, I suppose. Did you find her on the
stern davi... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The officers unconsciously relaxed into attitudes of greater ease.
Overhead the lamps swayed gently to the swell. The dull throb of the
screw pulsated. Stewards clad in white moved noiselessly, filling the
glasses, deferentially striking lights for the smokers, clearing away the
last dishes of the repast.
"I'm a repor... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The reporter grinned assent.
"After the old man had turned him down for good, Slade fished down in his
warbag and hauled out an old tattered document from an oilskin case.
'Hold on a minute,' said he, 'you old shellback. I've proved to you that
I can write; and I've proved to you that I have fought, and now here I'll
... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
My curiosity, or professional instinct, whichever you please, was all
aroused. I flattened myself against the wall.
The first remark I lost. The reply came to me in a shrill falsetto. So
grotesque was the effect of this treble from a bulk so squat and broad
and hairy as the silhouette before me that I almost laughed a... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Now as to pay--how mooch iss your boat worth?"
I could almost follow the man's thoughts as he pondered how much he dared
ask.
"Well, you see, for a proposition like that--don't know where we're
going, when we're going to get back,--and them gunboats--how would a
hundred and twenty-five a month strike you?"
"Double it... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Accordingly I was out early the next morning. I had not much to go by;
schooners are as plenty as tadpoles in San Francisco harbour. However, I
was sure I could easily recognise that falsetto voice; and I knew where
the supplies were to be purchased. Adams & Marsh are a large firm, and
cautious. I knew better than to ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The captain mounted the gangplank with a steadiness that disproved my
first suspicion of his having been on a drunk. He glanced aloft, cast a
speculative eye on the stevedores trooping across the waist of the ship,
and ascended to the quarter-deck where the mate stood leaning over the
rail and uttering directed curses... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The mate said something again.
"It don't matter if we ain't under way. That has nothing to do with it.
The quarter-deck is clean, if the waist ain't, and nobody but a damn
misbegotten son-of-a-sea-lawyer would spit on deck anyhow!" From this
Captain Selover went on into a good old-fashioned deep-sea "cussing out,"
to ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
A little after two o'clock a cab drove to the after gangplank and
stopped. From it alighted a young man of whom I shall later have occasion
to tell you more, followed by Dr. Schermerhorn. The young man carried
only a light leather "serviette," such as students use abroad; while the
doctor fairly staggered under the we... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"You need a mate," said I.
He looked me over.
"Perhaps," he admitted. "Where's your man?"
"Right here," said I.
His eyes widened a little. Otherwise he showed no sign of surprise. I
cursed my clothes.
Fortunately I had my master's certificate with me--I'd passed
fresh-water on the Great Lakes--I always carry that sort... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"All right," he laughed, "I _sabe_. Eagen it is."
"I'll be aboard at six," said I. "I've got to make some arrangements."
"Wish you could help with the lading," said he. "Still, I can get along.
Want any advance money?"
"No," I replied; then I remembered that I was supposed to be broke.
"Yes," I amended.
He gave me ten... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The _Laughing Lass_ was one of the prettiest little schooners I ever
saw. Were it not for the lines of her bilges and the internal arrangement
of her hold, it might be imagined she had been built originally as a
pleasure yacht. Even the rake of her masts, a little forward of the
plumb, bore out this impression, which ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
I stood for a moment at the foot of the companion accustoming my eyes to
the gloom. After a moment, with a shock of surprise, I made out a shining
pair of bead-points gazing at me unblinkingly from the shadow under the
bitts. Slowly the man defined himself, as a shape takes form in a fog. He
was leaning forward in an ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
We stared at each other, I fascinated by something, some spell of the
ship, which I have never been able to explain to myself--nor even
describe. It was a mystery, a portent, a premonition such as overtakes a
man sometimes in the dark passageways of life. I cannot tell you of it,
nor make you believe--let it pass----
... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
He tossed aside a book he had been holding in his left hand. I recognised
the fat little paper duodecimo with amusement, and some wonder. The only
other copy I had ever laid my eyes on is in the Astor Library. It is
somewhat of a rarity, called _The Secret of Alchemy, or the Grand
Doctrine of Transmutation Fully Expla... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
An embarrassed pause fell.
"Who are you, anyway?" bluntly demanded the man with the steel hook.
"My name is Eagen," I replied; "I've the berth of mate. Which of these
bunks are empty?"
They indicated what I desired with just a trace of sullenness. I
understood well enough their resentment at having a ship's officer
qu... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
The lights of shore had sunk; the _Laughing Lass_ staggered and
leaped joyously with the glory of the open sea. She seemed alone on the
bosom of the ocean; and for the life of me I could not but feel that I
was embarked on some desperate adventure. The notion was utterly
illogical; that I knew well. In sober thought, ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"You are the mate?" he drawled.
"Since I am on the quarter-deck," I snapped back at him.
He eyed me thoughtfully, while he rolled with one hand a corn-husk
Mexican cigarette.
"Do you know where you are going?" he inquired at length.
"Depends on the moral character of my future actions," I rejoined tartly.
He allowed a... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
He puffed.
"What does he pay you?" he asked.
"Enough," I replied.
"More than enough, by a good deal, I'll bet," he rejoined. "The old fool!
He ought to have left it to me. What is this craft? Have you ever sailed
on her before?"
"No."
"Have any of the crew?"
I replied that I believed all of them were Selover's men. He... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
At the mess hour I stood in doubt. However, I was informed by the
captain's falsetto that I was to eat in the cabin. As the only other
officer, I ate alone, after the others had finished, helping myself from
the dishes left on the table. It was a handsome cabin, well kept, with
white woodwork spotlessly clean, leather... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"But the room forward----?" I broke in.
"Well, you see, last season we were pearl fishing."
"But you needed only your diver and your crew," I objected.
"There was the matter of a Japanese gunboat or so," he explained.
"Poaching!" I cried.
"So some call it. The shells are there. The islands are not inhabited. I
do not ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
"Well, where are we bound, anyway?"
The dirty, unkempt, dishevelled figure stiffened.
"Mr. Eagen," its falsetto shrilled, "you are mate of this vessel. Your
duty is to see that my orders as to sailing are carried out. Beyond that
you do not go. As to navigation, and latitude and longitude and where the
hell we are, th... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
No one knew where we were going, nor why. The doctor puzzled them, and
the quantity of his belongings.
"It ain't pearls," said Handy Solomon. "You can kiss the Book on that,
for we ain't a diver among us. It ain't Chinks, for we are cruising
sou'-sou'-west. Likely it's trade,--trade down in the Islands."
We were all b... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
As to the reading, it was of the sort usual to seamen, cowboys,
lumbermen, and miners. Thrackles had a number of volumes of very cheap
love stories. Pulz had brought some extraordinary garish detective
stories. The others contributed sensational literature with paper covers
adorned lithographically. By the usual incon... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Thus one evening at the close of our day-watch on deck, he approached
Handy Solomon. It was at the end of ten days, on no one of which had the
seaman failed to tinker away at his steel claw. Darrow balanced in front
of him with a thin smile.
"Too bad it doesn't work, my amiable pirate," said he. "It would be so
handy ... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
Perdosa protested that he had had nothing to do with it, but Captain
Selover, enraged as always when his precious deck was soiled, would
not listen. Finally the Mexican grew sulky and turned away as though
refusing to hear more. The captain thereupon felled him to the deck,
and began brutally to kick him in the face a... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 | |
To this he received no reply. The men sullenly assisted each other.
Then they went immediately on deck and to work.
After this taste of his quality, Captain Selover enjoyed a quiet ship.
We made good time, but for a long while nothing happened. Finally the
monotony was broken by an incident.
One evening before the nig... | The Mystery | Adams, Samuel Hopkins | 1871 | 1958 | ['en'] | 27 | {'Science fiction'} | PG10008 |
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