Doctor Nikola (Windsor Magazine, 1896)/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI.
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
HOUR after hour I sat upon my bed-place surrendering my mind completely to the consideration of our terrible position. We were caught like rats in a trap, and, as far as I could see, the only thing left to us now was to continue our resemblance to those animals by dying gamely. For fear lest my pluck should give way I would not think of Gladys at all, and when I found I could no longer drive my thoughts into any other channel, I went into the adjoining room to see what Nikola was doing. To my surprise I found him pacing quietly up and down, just as calm and collected as if he were waiting for dinner in a London drawing-room.
It looks as if another three hours,” he said, “will see the curtain rung down upon our comedy.”
“Tragedy, I should call it,” I answered bitterly.
“Isn't it rather difficult to define where one begins and the other ends?” he asked, as if desirous of starting an argument. “Plato says”
“Oh, confound Plato!” I answered sharply. “What I want to know is how you are going to prevent our being put to death at daybreak.”
“I have no intention that we shall be,” said Nikola.
“But how are you going to prevent it?” I inquired.
“I have not the remotest notion,” he answered, “but all the same I do intend to prevent it. The unfortunate part of it all is that we are left so much in the dark and can have no idea where the execution will take place. If that were once settled we could arrange things more definitely. However, do not bother yourself about it; go to your bed and leave it all to me.”
I went back into my own room and laid myself down upon my bed as he commanded. One thought followed another, and presently, however singular it may seem, I fell fast asleep. I dreamt that I was once more walking upon the wall in Pekin with my sweetheart. I saw her dear face looking up into mine, and I felt the pressure of her little hand upon my arm. Then suddenly from over the parapet of the wall in front of us appeared the man who had discovered my identity in the Llamaserai, he was brandishing a knife, and I was in the act of springing forward to seize him when I felt my shoulder rudely shaken and woke up to discover a man leaning over me.
It was one of the monks who had conducted us to the room, and on seeing that I was awake he signed that I should get up. By this time a second had brought Nikola from his room, and as soon as we were ready we were marched out into the corridor, where we found another dozen men waiting.
“It seems a pity to have disturbed us so early,” said Nikola as we fell into our places and began to march up the long passages, “especially as I was just perfecting a most admirable scheme which I feel sure would have saved us.”
“You are too late now,” I answered bitterly.
“So it would appear,” said Nikola, and strode on without further comment.
It was not a nice sensation that march through those long silent corridors, with only the backs of the men in front and the glare of the torches blazing up to the roof to be seen, and only the steady tramp, tramp, of our feet to be heard. What the time was I had no idea, nor could I tell to what place we were being conducted. We ascended one stair and descended another, passed through large and small caves and threaded endless corridors, till I lost all count of our direction. At last we came to a halt at the foot of the smallest staircase I had yet seen in the monastery. We waited for a few moments, then ascended it and arrived at a narrow landing, at the end of which was a large door. Here our procession again halted for a few moments, then the doors were unbarred and thrown open and an icy blast rushed in. Outside we could see the battlements which were built on the sheer side of the cliff. It was broad daylight, and from where we stood we could plainly distinguish the mountains across the valley.
Oar guides beat their torches against the wall till the flames were extinguished and then stood at attention; from their preparations we could see that the arrival of some person of importance was anxiously expected.
All this time my heart was beating like a wheat-flail against my ribs and my teeth were chattering in my head beyond control. As they had brought us up here it was evident we were going to be thrown over the cliff as at first proposed. I glanced round me to see if it would be possible to make a fight for it, but one glimpse showed how utterly futile such an attempt would be.
While I was arguing this out in my own mind our guards had somewhat relaxed their stiffness, then they came suddenly to attention, and next moment, evidently at a signal from the other side, we were marched out through the door.
Waiting on the battlements for us were the two great men of the monastery, and as soon as we made our appearance they signed to our guides to bring us closer to them. The old man was the first to speak.
“O men of the West! ye have heard your sentence,” he said in a low solemn voice. “Ye have brought it upon yourselves, and now ye have only to say whether there is any reason why the decree should not be put into execution.”
I looked at Nikola, but he only shook his head. Hard as I tried I could not discover sufficient reason myself, so I followed his example.
“Then let it be so,” said the old man, who had noticed our hesitation; “there is nothing else to be done now save to carry oat the work.”
We were then ordered to stand back, and, until I heard another commotion on the stairs, I was at a loss to understand why we were not immediately disposed of. Then a second procession of monks appeared upon the battlements escorting a third prisoner. He was a tall burly fellow, and from the way in which he was dressed and shaved I gathered had been a monk. He made his appearance with evident reluctance, and when he arrived at the top of the steps had to be dragged up to face the two. Their interview was short and very much to the point.
“You have murdered one of your own brethren,” said the old man, still in the same sepulchral tone in which he had addressed us. “Have you anything to say why the sentence of death passed upon you should not be carried into effect?”
In answer the man first blustered, then became stolid, and finally howled outright. I watched him with a curiosity which at any other time I should have deemed impossible. Then at a signal from the old man four stalwart monks rushed forward and, having seized him, dragged him to the edge of the battlement. The poor wretch struggled and screamed, but he was like a child in the hands of those who held him. Closer and closer they drew to the edge. Then there was an interval of fierce struggling, a momentary pause, a wild cry, and next moment the man had disappeared over the edge, falling in a sheer drop quite fifteen hundred feet into the valley below. As he vanished from our sight my heart seemed to stand still In another minute it would be our turn.
I looked up at the blue sky above our heads, across which white clouds were hurrying; I looked across the valley to where the snow-capped peaks showed up on the other side, then at the battlements of the monastery, and last at the crowd of black figures surrounding us. In a flash all my past life seemed to rise before my eyes. I saw myself a little boy again walking in an English garden with my pretty mother, with my playfellows at school, at sea, on the Australian gold-fields, and so on through almost every phase of my life up to the moment of our arrival at the place where we now stood. I looked at Nikola, but his pale face showed no sign of emotion. I will stake my life that he was as cool at that awful moment as when I first saw him in Shanghai. Presently the old man came forward again.
“If you have aught to say—any last request to make—there is still time to do it,” he said.
“I have a request to make,” answered Nikola. “Since we must die, is it not a waste of good material to cast us over that cliff? I have heard it said that my skull is an extraordinary one, while my companion here boasts such a body as I would give worlds to anatomise. I have no desire to die, as you may suppose; but if nothing will satisfy you save to kill us, pray let us die in the interests of science.”
The old man, on hearing this singular request, betrayed signs of astonishment for the first time.
“You are a brave man,” he said.
“One must reconcile oneself to the inevitable,” said Nikola coolly. “Have you any objection to urge?”
“I will give it consideration,” said the old man. “In the meantime you may consider that your lives are spared to you for the time being.”
Thereupon our guards were called up again and we were once more marched back to our room. Arriving there, and when the monks had departed to take up their positions at the top of the staircase as before, Nikola said—
“If we escape from this place you will never be able to assert that science has done nothing for you. At least it has saved your life.”
“But if they are going to scoop your brains out and cut me up,” I said with an attempt at jocularity I was far from feeling, “I must say I fail to see how it is going to be any benefit to us.”
“Let me explain,” said Nikola. “If they are going to use us in the manner you describe, they cannot do so before to-morrow morning, for I happen to know that their operating-room is undergoing alterations, and as I am a conscientious surgeon myself I should be very loath to spoil my specimens by any undue hurry. So you see we have at any rate all to-night to perfect our plan of escape.”
“But have you a plan?” I asked anxiously.
“Maturing somewhere in the back of my head,” said Nikola.
“And you think it will come to anything?”
“That is beyond my power to say,” he answered; “but the chances are certainly in our favour.”
Nothing would induce him to say any more, and presently he went back into his own room, where he began to busy himself with his precious medicine-chest, which I saw he had taken care to hide.
“My little friend,” he said, patting and fondling it as a father would his favourite offspring, “I almost thought we were destined to part company; now it remains with you to save your master's life.”
Then turning to me he bade me leave him alone, and in obedience to his wish I left him and went back to my own room.
How we survived the anxiety of that day I cannot possibly tell; such another period of waiting I never remember. One moment I felt confident that Nikola would carry through his plan and that we should get out and away to the coast in safety, the next I could not see how it could possibly succeed, the odds were so heavy against us.
Almost punctually our midday meal was served to us, then the ray of light upon the floor began to spread out, reached the opposite wall, climbed it, and finally disappeared altogether.
About seven o'clock Nikola came in to me.
“Look here, Bruce,” he said with unusual animation, “I've been thinking this matter out and I believe I've hit on a plan that will save us if anything can. In half an hour the monk will arrive with our evening meal. He will place the bowl upon the floor over there and then turn his back on you while he puts his torch in that bracket upon the wall yonder. I will have a sponge of chloroform ready for him, and directly he turns it must be clapped over his nose. Once he's unconscious you must slip on his dress and go out again and make your way up the steps. There are two men stationed on the other side, and the door between us and them is locked. I have noticed that the man who brings us our food simply knocks upon it and it is opened. You will do as he does, thus, and as you pass out will drop this gold coin.” (Here he gave me some money.) “One of the men will be certain to stoop to pick it up; as he goes down you must manage by hook or crook to chloroform the other. I shall be behind you and I will attend to his companion.”
“It seems a desperate scheme.”
“We are desperate men!” said Nikola.
“And when we have secured them both?” I asked.
“I shall put on one of their robes,” said Nikola, “and we will then make our escape as quickly as possible. Luck must do the rest for us. Are you prepared to attempt so much?”
“To get out of this place I would undertake anything,” I answered.
“Very good then,” he said. “We must now wait for the appearance of the man. Let us hope it won't be long before he comes.”
For nearly three-quarters of an hour we waited without hearing any sign of the monk. The minutes seemed long as years, and I don't think I ever felt more relieved in my life than when I heard the door at the top of the stairs open and the sound of sandalled feet coming down the steps.
“Are you quite ready?” whispered Nikola, taking up his sponge and returning to his own room.
“Quite ready,” I answered.
The man came nearer, the glare of his torch preceding him. At last he entered carrying a light in one hand and a large bowl in the other. The latter he put down upon the floor and having done so, turned to place the torch in the socket fastened to the wall. He had hardly lifted his arm before I saw Nikola creep out of the adjoining room, holding in his hand a small sponge. Closer and closer he approached the unsuspecting monk, and then, having measured his distance, with a great spring threw himself upon the man and clapped the sponge upon his nose and mouth. The man fought hard, but Nikola held him like a vice, while I was standing near to render him any assistance he might need. Then little by little his struggles ceased, and presently he lay in Nikola's arms as helpless as if he were dead.
“That is one man accounted for,” said Nikola quietly, as he laid the body down upon the floor; “now for the others. Slip on this man's dress as quickly as you can.”
I did as he bade me, and as soon as I was ready placed the peculiar black covering over the upper part of my face and head, and was prepared to carry out the rest of the scheme. In the face of this excitement I felt as happy as a child; it was the creepy, crawly, supernatural business that shook my nerve. When it came to straightforward matter-of-fact fighting I was not afraid of anything.
Carrying the money in my hand as we had arranged, I left the room and proceeded up the steps, Nikola following half a dozen yards or so behind me. Arriving at the gate I rapped upon it with my knuckles and it was immediately opened. Two men were leaning on either side of it, and as I passed through I took care that the one on the right should see the money in my hand. As if by accident I dropped it and it rolled away beyond his feet. Instantly he stooped and made a grab for it. Seeing this I wheeled round upon the other man, and before he could divine my intention had him locked in a tight embrace, and the sponge which Nikola had given me, and which I had been carrying in my left hand, pressed tight upon his month and nostrils. But though I had him at a disadvantage he proved no easy capture. In stature he must have been nearly six feet, was broad in proportion, and, like all the men in the place, in most perfect training. I tried to keep the sponge upon his face in such a way that it must take immediate effect; this however I found to be almost impossible, for he drew his head aside and rushed in upon me with such ferocity that we were soon struggling for our lives upon the floor. For some strange reason, what I cannot tell, that fight seemed to be the most enjoyable three minutes I have ever spent in my life.
Over and over we rolled upon the stone floor, each fighting for the other's throat, him like a vice.” Presently he had hold of me in such a way that it seemed impossible I could ever cast him off, but summoning all my energies to my assistance I did it, and at last got the upper hand. Throwing my leg over him I seated myself upon his chest, and then—having nothing else to do it with—I drew back my right arm and let him have three blows with the whole strength of my fist.
Written in black and white in cold blood it looks a trifle bloodthirsty, but you must remember we were fighting for our lives, and if by any chance he gave the alarm nothing on earth could possibly save us from death. I had therefore to make the most of the only opportunity I had of silencing him.
As soon as he was unconscious I looked round for Nikola. He was kneeling by the body of the other man, who was lying face downwards upon the floor as if dead.
“I would give five pounds,” said Nikola casually as he rose to his feet, “for this man's skull. Just look, it goes up at the back of his head like a tom cat. It is my luck all over to come across a specimen like this when I can't make use of it.”
As he spoke he ran his first finger and thumb caressingly up and down the man's poll.
“I've got a bottle in my museum in Port Said,” he said regretfully, “which would take him beautifully.”
Then with a swiftness extraordinary he picked up the sponge which he had used upon the last man and went across to my adversary. For thirty seconds he held it upon his nose and mouth, then throwing it into a corner, divested the man of his garments and attired himself in them.
“Now,” he said, when he had made his toilet to his own satisfaction, “we must be off. They change their guards at midnight, and it is already twenty minutes past eleven.”
So saying he led the way down the corridor, I following at his heels. We had not reached the end of it however before Nikola bade me wait for him while he went back. When he rejoined me I asked him in a whisper what he had been doing.
“Nothing very much,” he answered. “I wanted to convince myself as to a carious malformation of the occipital bone in that man's skull. I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but if we get out alive I might never have had another chance of examining such a complete case.”
Having said this, this extraordinary votary of science condescended to continue our escape. Leaving the long corridor which led into the small passage where the guards were now lying insensible behind us, we turned to our left hand, ascended a flight of steps, followed another small passage, and then came to a sudden standstill at a spot where four roads met.
“Where on earth are we?” inquired Nikola looking round him. “This place reminds me of the Hampton Court maze.”
“Hark! what is that?”
We listened, and by doing so discovered that the dull booming noise we heard was the subterranean waterfall which we had seen on the occasion of our visit to the large cave.
“We are altogether out of our course,” I said.
“On the other hand,” answered Nikola, “we are not close enough to it yet.”
“What on earth do you mean by that?” I asked.
“My dear Bruce,” he said, “tell me this: why are we in this place? Did we not come here to obtain possession of their secrets? Well, as we are saying good-bye to them to-night, after adventuring so much do you suppose I am going to leave empty handed? If so you are very much in error. Why, to do that would be to have failed altogether in what we had set out to attempt; and though Nikola often boasts you must admit he seldom fails in what he undertakes to do. Don't say any more, but come along with me.”
Turning into a passage on his right he led the way down some more steps. Here the torches, which had hitherto been burning brightly in their sockets, gave evidence that they were almost at their last flicker.
“If we don't look sharp,” said Nikola, “we shall have to carry out our errand in the dark, and that will be undesirable for more reasons than one.”
From the place where we now stood we could hear the roar of the waterfall quite distinctly and could just make out further to our left the entrance to the great cave. To our delight there were no guards stationed there, so we were able to pass in unmolested. Taking what remained of a torch from a socket near the door we entered together. A more uncanny place than that great cave as it revealed itself to us by the light of our solitary torch no man can imagine. The little flickering flame showed us the damp walls, the roof covered with stalactites, and the great pillars towering up and up until they were lost in the higher darkness. Innumerable bats fluttered down the aisles, their wings filling the air with ghostly whisperings, while over all was that peculiar charnel-house smell that I had noticed on the occasion of our previous visit, and which nothing could ever properly describe.
“The door down to the catacombs is at this end,” said Nikola, leading the way up the central aisle; “let us find it.”
I followed him and together we made towards that end of the cave furthest from the great doors. The entrance once found we had only to follow the steps and pass down into the queer sort of crypt I have before described. By the light of our torch we could discern the swathed figures in the niches. Nikola however had small attention for them; he was too busily occupied endeavouring to discover the spring in the central pillar to think of anything else. When he found it he pressed it and the door opened. Then down the ladder we crept into the anteroom where I had waited on that awful night. I can tell you one thing very candidly, I would far rather have engaged a dozen of the strongest monks in that monastery single-handed than have followed my chief down into that room. But he would not let me draw back and so we pushed on together. All around us were the mysterious treasures of the monastery, with every sort of implement for every sort of chemistry known to the fertile brain of man. At the further end was a large wooden coffer exquisitely carved. This was padlocked in three places and looked as if it would offer a stubborn resistance to anyone who might attempt to break it. But Nikola was a man hard to beat, and he solved the difficulty in a very simple fashion. Unfastening his loose upper garment he unstrapped his invaluable medicine-chest and placed it on the floor, then choosing a small but sharp surgeons' saw he fell to work upon the wood surrounding the staple. In less than ten minutes he had lifted the lid and the chest stood open. Then with all the speed we were masters of we set to work to take out the things it contained—small phials, antique parchment prescriptions, a thousand sorts of drugs, and finally a small book written in Sanscrit and most quaintly bound. This Nikola stowed away in one of his many voluminous pockets, and when he had made a selection of the other things announced that it was time for us to turn back. Just as he said this the torch, which had all the time been burning lower and lower, gave a final flicker and went out altogether. We were left in the dark in this awful cave.
“This is most unfortunate,” said the ever philosophical Nikola. “However, as it can't be cured we must make the best of it.”
I answered nothing, but waited for my leader to propose some plan. After a few moments the darkness seemed to make little or no difference to Nikola. He took me by the hand and led me straight through the cave into the antechamber.
“Look out,” he said, “here is the ladder.”
And true enough as he spoke my shins made its acquaintance. Strange is the force of habit; the pain was a sharp one, and though I was buried in the centre of a mountain, surrounded by the dead men of a dozen centuries, I employed exactly the same epithet to express my feelings as I should have done had a passing hansom splashed my boots opposite the Mansion House.
Leaving the lower regions we climbed the ladder and reached the crypt, passed up the stairs into the great cave, made our way across that, and then, Nikola still leading, found the tunnel and passed through it as safely as if we had been lighted by a hundred link-men.
“Our next business endeavour must be to find out how we are to get out of the building itself,” said Nikola as we reached the four cross passages again; “and as I have no notion how the land lies it looks rather more serious. Let us try this passage first.”
As quickly as was possible under the circumstances we made our way up the stairs indicated, passed the great waterfall, sped along two or three corridors, had several near escapes from being observed, and at last to our astonishment reached the great hall where we had been received on the day of our arrival.
At the same instant there was a sound of a great noise in the monastery, the ringing of a deep-toned bell, with the shouting of many voices and the tramping of hundreds of feet.
“They are after us,” said Nikola. “It's evident our flight has been discovered. Now if we cannot find a way out we are done for completely.”
The noise was every moment coming closer, and any instant we might expect our pursuers to come into view. Like rats in a strange barn hearing the approach of a terrier, we dashed this way and that hunting for an exit. At last we discovered the steps leading from the great hall into the valley below. Down these we flew at the top of our speed, every moment risking a fall which would inevitably break our necks. Almost too giddy to stand we at last reached the bottom, only to find a painful surprise in store for us. The door was shut and guarded by a stalwart monk. Together we might have silenced him, but he would have been certain to cry out, and even in the event of his not doing so his inanimate body upon the ground would have been certain to give a clue to our escape. We could not carry him with us, so what was to be done?
Nikola however was as usual equal to the occasion. Bringing his piercing eyes to bear upon the man he said slowly—
“Look me in the face,” and then pointed his finger at him while one might have counted ten. His eyes seemed to glitter like diamonds in his head. The monk fell under his influence immediately.
“Open that door!” said Nikola in a commanding voice. The man mechanically obeyed. “Now sit down!”
The man seated himself upon his bench, still unable to withdraw his eyes from Nikola's face.
“You will fall asleep,” said Nikola, “and when you wake you will have forgotten that we have passed this way. Remember that is my order. Now sleep!”
As he spoke Nikola waved his white hands backwards and forwards before the man's face, his eyes gradually closed, and in less time than it takes to tell he was fast asleep. As soon as Nikola had assured himself that the sleep was genuine he signed to me to give him the key, and when the door was unlocked we passed through it and closed it after us; then we ran down the valley as hard as we could go.