Doctor Nikola (Windsor Magazine, 1896)/Chapter 14
CHAPTER XIV.
AN ORDEAL.
When we left our rooms on this occasion we turned to the right hand instead of to the left and proceeded, by means of another flight of stairs, to a long corridor running below that in which we had hitherto dwelt. Whereabouts in the monastery this particular passage was situated, and how its bearings lay with regard to the staircase by which we had ascended from the valley on the previous day, I could not discover. Like all the others however it was innocent of daylight, was lighted by enormous torches, which again were upheld by iron brackets fixed into the walls. Once during our march an opportunity was vouchsafed me of examining these walls for myself, when to my astonishment I discovered that they were not hewn out of the rock as I supposed, but were built of dressed stone of a description resembling granite. This being so I realised for the first time that the cells and the corridors were the work of human hands, but how long it could have taken the builders to complete such an enormous task was a calculation beyond my powers, and the more I thought of it the further off I seemed to be from arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. But to return to my narrative.
From the corridor we passed down another long flight of steps, then across a narrow landing, after which came another staircase. As we reached this our ears were assailed with a loud noise resembling distant thunder.
“What sound is that?” asked Nikola of our guide.
The man did not answer, but leading us along a side passage stopped at a certain spot and, holding his torch above his head, bade us look.
For a moment the dancing flame prevented us from seeing anything. Then our eyes became more accustomed to the light, and to our horrified amazement we discovered that we were standing on the very brink of an enormous precipice. At our feet the wind, which must have come in through some passage from the open air, tore and shrieked, while across the way, not more than twelve yards distant, fell the waters of a magnificent cataract. Picture to yourself that great volume of water crashing, roaring, tearing down through the darkness into the very bowels of the earth. The fall must have been tremendous for no spray came up to us. All we could see was that mass of black water tearing past us. We stood and looked, open mouthed, and when our wonder and curiosity were satisfied as much as it ever would be, turned and followed our guide back to the place where we had been standing when we first heard the noise. At the other end of this landing was a large stone archway, more like a tunnel than anything else, and at its mouth stood a monk. The dwarf went forward to him and said something in a low voice, whereupon he took a torch from the wall at his side and signed to us to follow him. The dwarf returned to the higher regions, while we plunged deeper still below the surface of the earth. Whether we were really as deep down as we imagined, or whether the dampness was caused by some leakage from the cataract we had just seen, I cannot say; at any rate the walls and floors were all streaming wet.
The passage, or tunnel, as I have more fittingly termed it, was a long one, at least fifty feet from entrance to exit. When we had passed through it we found ourselves in the biggest cave I have yet had the luck to come across; indeed so large was it that in the half dark it was with the utmost difficulty I could see across it. Our guide led us through the first transept into the main aisle and then left us. No sign of furniture of any kind, either stool, altar or dais, was to be seen, and as far as we could judge there was not a living soul present. The only sound to be heard was the faint dripping of water which seemed to come from every part of the cave.
“This is eerie enough to suit anyone,” I said to Nikola. “1 don't know that I altogether care about it. I hope the performance will soon commence.”
“Hush!” he said. “Be careful what you say, for you don't know who may overhear you.”
He had hardly spoken before the first mysterious incident of the evening occurred. We were standing facing that end of the cavern which had been on our right when we entered. The light was fairly good in that particular spot, and I am prepared to swear that at that instant, to the best of my knowledge, there was not a human being between ourselves and the wall. Yet as we looked a shadow seemed to rise out of the ground before us; it came closer and closer, and as it came it took human shape, and presently we recognised the second of the two men who had interviewed us on the previous evening. He may have made his appearance from behind a pillar, cleverly arranged for the purpose, or he may have risen from a trap-door in the floor. Though personally I consider both these things unlikely, the fact however remains, come he did.
“By your own desire,” he said, addressing Nikola, “you are here that the secrets of our order may be revealed to you. There is still time to draw back if you would.”
“I have no desire to draw back,” Nikola answered firmly.
“So be it,” said the man. “Then follow me.”
Nikola moved forward, and I was about to follow him when the man ahead of us turned, and pointing to me said—
“Come no farther! It is not meet that you should see things one of your training could not understand!”
Nikola faced me and said quietly, “Remain.”
When he had given this order he followed the other along the cave and presently disappeared from my sight.
For some minutes I stood idly where they had left me, listening to the dripping of the water in the distant parts of the cave, watching the movements of the bats as they flitted swiftly up and down the gloomy aisles, and wondering into what mysteries Nikola was about to be initiated. The silence was most oppressive, and every moment that I waited it seemed to grow worse. To say that I was disappointed at being thus shelved at the most important point of our adventure would not express my feelings at all. Besides, I wanted to be at Nikola's right hand should any trouble occur.
As I waited the desire to know more of what my leader was doing grew upon me. I felt that come what might I must see for myself the mysteries to which he had been summoned. No one, I argued, would be any the wiser, and even if by chance they did discover that I had followed them I felt I could trust to my own impudence and powers of invention to explain my presence there. My mind was no sooner made up than I set off down the cave in the direction in which they had disappeared. Arriving at the further end I discovered before me another small passage from which led still another flight of steps. Softly I picked my way down them, at the same time trying to reason out in my own mind how deep in the mountain I could be, but as usual I could arrive at no conclusion that satisfied me.
Arriving at the bottom of the steps I found myself in a sort of crypt supported on pillars and surrounded on all sides by tiers of niches, or shelves, cut, after the fashion of the Roman catacombs, in the solid rock. This dismal place was lighted by three torches, and by their aid I was able to discern in each niche what looked like a human figure swaddled up in many wrappings. Not without a feeling of awe I left the steps by which I had descended and began to look about among the pillars for a doorway through which I might pass below into the room where Nikola was engaged with the Great Ones of the mountains. But though I searched for nearly ten minutes not a sign of any entrance could I discover. All things considered, I was in a curious position. I had left my station in the larger cave and, in spite of orders to the contrary, had followed to witness what was not intended for my eyes; in that case, supposing the door at the top were shut, and I could find no exit here, I should be caught like a rat in a trap, while I should have disobeyed the strict command of the man who had summoned Nikola, and I should also have incurred the blame of Nikola himself. Remembering how he had dealt with those who had offended him before, I resolved in my own mind that it would be better for me to turn back while I had the chance. But just as I was about to do so something curious about the base of one of the pillars to the right of where I stood caught my eye. It was either a crack magnified by the uncertain light from the torches, or else it was a doorway cleverly constructed in the stone-work, and which had been improperly closed. I went over to it and, inserting the blade of my knife, pulled. It opened, immediately revealing the fact that the entire pillar was hollow and, what was more important to me, contained a short wooden ladder which led down into still another crypt below.
In an instant my resolution to go back to the upper cave was forgotten. An opportunity was presented to my hand, and come what might I was going to make the most of it. Pulling the door open to its full extent I crept in and went softly down the ladder. When I reached the bottom I found myself in almost total darkness. For a moment I was at a loss to understand why this should be, seeing that I could plainly hear voices; then I saw that the place in which I stood was a sort of ante-chamber to a room beyond. My sandals made no noise on the stone floor, and for this reason I was able to creep up to the entrance of the inner room without exciting attention. What a sight it was that met my eyes.
The apartment itself was not more than 50 feet long by 30 wide. But instead of being like all the other places through which I had passed, an ordinary cave, this one was floored and wainscoted with woodwork of enormous age. How high it was I could not guess for the walls went up and up until I lost them in complete darkness. Of furniture the room boasted but little; there was however a long and queer-shaped table at the further end, another near the door, and a tripod brazier on the left hand side. The latter contained a mass of live coal, and as there was some sort of forced draught behind it they roared like a blacksmith's forge.
Nikola, when I entered, was holding what looked like a phial in his left hand. The two black-hooded men I had expected to find there I could not see, but standing by Nikola's side were two men dressed in totally different fashion.
The taller of the pair was a middle-aged man, almost bald, boasting a pleasant, slightly Semitic cast of countenance, and a short black beard. His companion, evidently the chief, was altogether different. To begin with he was the oldest man I have ever seen in my life able to get about. He was small and shrivelled almost beyond belief, his skin was as yellow as parchment, and his bones, whenever he moved, looked as if they must certainly cut through their covering. His countenance bore unmistakable traces of having once been extremely handsome, and was now full of intellectual beauty; at the same time however I could not help feeling certain that it was not the face of an Asiatic. Like his companion he also wore a beard, but in his case it was long and snow-white, which added materially to his venerable appearance.
“My son,” he was saying, addressing himself to Nikola, “hitherto you have seen the extent to which the human powers can be cultivated by a life of continual prayer and self-denial. Now it remains for you to learn to what extent our sect has benefited by earthly wisdom. There are those among us who have given up their whole lives to the study of the frailties and imperfections of this human frame. The wonders of medicine and all the arts of healing have come down to us from a time that dates from before the apotheosis of the ever-blessed Buddha. Day and night, generation after generation, century after century in these caves those of our faith have been studying and adding to the knowledge which our forefathers possessed. Every fresh discovery of the Western, or Eastern world is known to us, and to the implements with which our forefathers worked we have added everything helpful that man has since invented. In the whole world there are none who hold the secret of life and death in their hands as we do. Would you have an example? There is a case at present in the monastery.”
As he spoke he struck a gong hanging upon the wall, and almost before the sound had died away a man entered clad in the usual garb of a monk. The old fellow said something to him which I did not catch and immediately he retired by the way he had come. Five minutes later he reappeared followed by another monk. Between them they bore a stretcher on which lay the figure of a man. The old man signed to them to place it in the centre of the apartment, which they did and retired.
As soon as they had departed Nikola was invited to examine the person upon the stretcher. He did so, almost forgetting in his excitement the rôle he was called upon to play. For nearly five minutes he bent over the man who lay like a log, then he rose and turned to his companions.
“A complete case of paralysis,” he said.
“You are satisfied that it is complete?” inquired the old man.
“Perfectly satisfied,” said Nikola.
“That being so, pay heed, for you are about to witness the power which the wisdom of all ages has given us.”
Turning to his companion he took from his hand a small iron ladle. This he placed upon the brazier, pouring into it about a tablespoonful of the mixture contained in the phial, which up to then Nikola had been holding in his hand. As the ladle became heated, the liquid, whatever it may have been, threw off a tiny vapour, which, when it reached my nostrils, reminded me somewhat of a mixture of sandal-wood and camphor.
By the time this potion was ready for use the second man had divested the patient of his garments. What remained of the medicine was thereupon forced into his month, that and his nostrils were immediately bound up, and when he had lost consciousness, which he did in less than a minute, he was anointed from head to toe with some penetrating unguent. Just as the liquid when heating on the brazier had done, this ointment threw off a faint vapour, which seemed to hang about the body, rising into the air to the height of about three inches. For something like five minutes this exhalation continued, then it began to die away, and when it had done so another quantity of the ungent was applied, after which the two men kneaded the body in the style adopted for massage. So far the colour of the man's skin had been a sort of zinc white, now it gradually assumed the appearance of that of a healthy man. Once more the massage treatment was begun, and when it was finished the limbs began to twitch in a spasmodic fashion. At the end of half an hour the bandage was removed from the mouth and nostrils, the plugs from the ears, and the man, who had hitherto been like one asleep, opened his eyes.
“Move your arms,” said the old man with an air of command.
The patient promptly did as he was commanded.
“Lift your legs.”
He complied with the order.
“Stand upon your feet”
He rose from the stretcher and stood before them, as strong and hearty a man as you could wish to see.
“Now go and give thanks,” said the old man with impressive sternness. Then turning to Nikola he continued—
“You have seen our powers. Could any man in the Western world do as much?”
“Nay, they are as worms without the necessary knowledge,” said Nikola. “But I praise Buddha for the man's relief.”
“Praise to whom praise is due,” said the old fellow. “Now, having seen so much it is fitting that you go further, and to do so it is necessary that we put aside the curtain that divides life from death. Art thou afraid?”
“Nay,” said Nikola, “I have no fear.”
“It is well said,” remarked the elder man, and again he struck the gong.
When the monk appeared in answer he said something hurriedly and the man immediately withdrew. In less than five minutes he returned bringing with him another stretcher, upon which was placed the dead body of a man. When the monk had withdrawn the old man said to Nikola—
“Gaze upon this person, my son; his earthly pilgrimage is over; he died of old age to-day. He was one of our lay brethren, and a devout and holy man. It is meet that he should conduct you, of whose piety we have heard so much, into our greater inner land of knowledge. Examine him for yourself and see if the spirit of life has really passed out of him.”
Nikola bent over the bier and did as he was requested. At the end of his examination he said quietly—
“It is even as you say; the brother's life is really departed from him.”
“You are absolutely certain of that you say?” inquired the second man.
“I am certain,” said Nikola.
“Very good,” returned the other; “then I will once more show you what our science can do.”
He placed himself at the man's feet and for a few moments shut his eyes. Though I craned my head round to see I could not tell what he was doing. After a few moments he swayed himself backwards and forwards, seemed to breathe with difficulty, and finally became almost rigid. After a long pause he opened his eyes, raised his right arm and pointed with his forefinger at the dead man's face. As he did so to my horror I saw the eyes open! Again he shut his eyes and seemed to pray, then opening them once more he pointed at the right arm, whereupon the dead man lifted it and folded it on his breast, then at his left, which followed suit. When both the white hands were folded on the corpse's breast he turned to Nikola and said—
“Is there aught in your learning can give you the power to do that?”
“There is nothing,” said Nikola, whom I could see was as much amazed as I was.
“Bat impossible though it may seem, our power does not end there,” said the old man.
“O, wonderful father! what further can you teach me?” asked Nikola.
The man did not answer, but again closed his eyes for a few moments. Then extending both hands towards the dead man, he cried in a loud voice—
“Ye who are dead, arise!”
And then—but I do not expect that you will believe me when I tell it—that man who had been ten hours dead rose little by little from his bier and at last stood before us. I continued to watch what happened. I saw Nikola start forward as if carried out of himself. I saw the second man extend his arm to push him back, and then the corpse fell in a heap upon the floor. The two men instantly sprang forward, lifted it up, and placed it upon the stretcher again.
“Are you satisfied?” inquired the old man.
“I am filled with wonder. Is it possible that I can see more?” said Nikola.
“You would see more?” asked the old man in a sepulchral tone. “Then as a last proof of our power you shall see the dead of our faith of all the ages stand before you.”
With that he took from a bag hanging round his waist a handful of what looked like dried herbs. These he threw upon the fire, and almost instantly the room was filled with a dense smoke. For perhaps five minutes I could see nothing, then it drew slowly off, and little by little I saw that the room was filled with men. They were of all ages, and apparently of all nations. Some were Chinese, some were Cingalese, some were Thibetans, while one or two were certainly Aryans, and, for all I knew to the contrary, might once have been English. The room was filled with them, but there was something plainly unsubstantial about them. They moved to and fro without sound, yet with regular movements. I watched them, and as I watched a terror, such as I had never known in my life before, came over me. I felt that if I did not get out of the room at once I should fall upon the floor in a fit. In this state I made my way towards the door by which I had entered, fled up the ladder, through the crypt, and then across the cave to the place where I had stood when Nikola had left me, and then fell fainting upon the floor.
How long I remained in this swoon I cannot tell, but when I came to myself again I was still alone.
It must have been an hour later when Nikola joined me. The monk that had brought us into the hall accompanied him and led us towards the tunnel. There the dwarf received us and conducted us back to our apartments.
When we were once safely there Nikola, without vouchsafing me a word, retired into the inner room. I was too dazed and, I will confess, too frightened by what I had seen to feel equal to interviewing him, so I left him alone.
Presently however he came back into my room, and crossing to where I sat on my bed placed his hand kindly upon my shoulder. I looked up into his face and saw that it was even paler than usual.
“Bruce,” he said, not without a little touch of regret in his voice, “how was it that you did not do what you were told?”
“It was my cursed curiosity,” I said bitterly. “But do not think I am not sorry. I would give ten thousand pounds down not to have seen what I saw in that room.”
“But you have seen, and nothing will ever take away that knowledge from you. You will carry that with you to the grave.”
“The grave,” I answered bitterly. “What hope is there even in the grave after what we have seen to-night. Oh, for heaven's sake, Nikola, let us get out of this place to-night if possible.”
“So you are afraid, are you?” he answered. “I did not think you would turn coward, Bruce.”
“In this I am a coward,” I answered. “Give me something to do, something human to fight, some tangible danger to face, and I am your man. But I am not fit to fight against the invisible.”
“Come, come, cheer up!” said Nikola. “Things are progressing splendidly with us. Our identity has not been questioned; we have been received by the heads of the sect as the people we pretend to be, and to-morrow I am to be raised to the rank of one of the Three. The remaining secrets will then be revealed to me, and when I have discovered all I want to know we will go back to civilisation once more. Think of what I may have achieved by this time to-morrow. I tell you, Bruce, such an opportunity might never come to a Western man again. It will be invaluable to me. Think of this and then it will help your pluck to go through with it to the end!”
“If I am not asked to see such things as I saw to-night it may,” I answered, “but not unless.”
“You must do me the credit to remember you were not asked to see it?”
“I know that, and I have paid severely for my disobedience.”
“Then let us say no more about it. Remember, Bruce, I trust you.”
“You need have no fear,” I said, after a pause lasting a few moments. “I will go through with it, come what may.”
“I thank you. Good-night.”
So saying Nikola retired to his room and I laid myself down upon my bed, but, you may be sure, not to sleep.