CHAPTER VI.
THE DEMON GUIDE; OR, THE GNOME OF THE MOUNTAIN.--THE GEOLOGIST'S STORY.
Some twenty years ago, when I was on a scientific tour in the mountainsof Switzerland with a friend of mine, who travelled with the same objectas myself, a strange incident occurred to me, which I have never beenable satisfactorily to explain. We journeyed in each other's companydaily, each carrying with him a geologist's hammer and a lighttravelling bag slung round one shoulder, for the purpose of collectingspecimens of various minerals, fossils, etc., that we might find duringour march.
We jogged along merrily enough together, each day bringing home somerare specimen or other. We were both in full vigour of health, and bothcapital climbers. Mountain air and exercise had given us marvellousappetites, and I never remember being in better spirits in my life. Aswe were not pushed for time or money, and were on a scientificexpedition instead of what is called a pleasure trip, it was less ourobject to scour large tracts of country than to stroll leisurely throughthe district, making observations by the way.
Travelling, therefore, both with the same object, and not obliged tohurry onward, we had nothing to try our tempers, as ordinary touristshave, who travel in company and usually fall out with each other by theway because one with short wind can't keep up with his longer-windedcompanion.
Nothing, perhaps, is more trying to the temper than being obliged tokeep pace with a well-trained mountaineer if you yourself happen to beout of training. To see him striding on ahead with the most perfect easeand enjoyment, whilst you are toiling and sweating, and puffing andgasping in the rear, parched with thirst and ready to drop with fatigue;perhaps knee deep in snow, plunging about like a porpoise, in thefrantic attempt to keep up with your well-trained companion.
Why, the treadmill is a joke to it! How you curse your folly for comingto visit such barbarous places, and how you internally vow never toleave home again. How inconsiderate of your companion to leave you sofar behind, as if you did not belong to his party. He seems to ignoreyou, and you feel the slight. He ought to keep pace with you, not youwith him, you think.
How you hate him for his rude health and long wind; and should he so farforget himself as to add insult to injury by bawling after you to "comeon," and not "lag behind;" or call you by some such name as "slowcoach," "stick-in-the-mud," or other choice epithet, oh, then it is notto be borne. Your ire is raised beyond due bounds. You could stab himif you only had him near enough, and a weapon handy.
If any of my friends who content themselves with taking their daily walkof a mile or so on level ground fancy that this is an exaggeration ofthe state of a man's feelings when the body is tired out and the nerveson the stretch, I recommend him to try a trip in some mountainousdistrict when out of training, and to choose as companion somewell-trained son of the mountains.
As I observed before, gentlemen, my friend and I were not wont to fallout in this way with one another, and we took our journey very easily,chipping out a fossil here and a crystal there, conversing the while onsecondary and tertiary formations, volcanic eruptions, alluvialdeposits, debris, quartz, and marl, mica, slate, talc, calc, etc., etc.
Thus we journeyed on together day after day for weeks, until we foundthat the face of the country changed suddenly. Two mountain rangesbranched off almost at right angles from one another.
My friend and I resolved to separate, and each to explore in a differentdirection, and to meet again in about a fortnight.
We accordingly parted, and I commenced exploring a wild track ofmountainous country alone. Charmed with the wild beauty of the scene, aswell as interested in its geological structure, I suffered my footstepsto lead me onward until hunger stole upon me. I had eaten nothing sincethe morning, and it was now getting late. One day at home without foodis bad enough, but it is not to be compared with a day spent in themountains, walking and climbing all the time.
I looked out for a chalet, but there was none visible. Meanwhile it grewdark, and I found myself benighted. There was not even a shed to restunder, so I was obliged to repose my weary limbs upon the cold, damp,rock, with such shelter from the night air as the dark pine treesafforded.
It was a strange, wild, scene the spot where I encamped. Thespectre-like pines stretched forth their weird branches, drooping withbearded moss, like phantom Druids invoking a curse over this scene ofdesolation. The moon, peeping fitfully through the black clouds, lit upthe glaciers on the mountain opposite. Here and there was a great pinetorn up by the roots, or over-hanging the abyss below. Immense clumps ofrock, grown over with dank moss, were interspersed through the dark pineforest. A small stream trickled over the large stones, pursuing itszig-zag course till it reached the valley below.
The howling of the wind and the occasional thunder of the avalanche fromsome neighbouring mountain lent a kind of terror to the scene, which Ishould have enjoyed, had I been in a more comfortable frame of mind.But, with the gnawing pains of hunger and the horrible feeling of doubtas to whether I should ever meet with any traces of civilisation where Imight recruit my wasted energies, the beauty of the spot was shut fromme, and I found it only a cold, damp, disagreeable retreat.
It was yet early in the night when I took up my quarters here, but itwas dark and cloudy, and I put up at this place, despairing of finding amore hospitable lodging, on account of the darkness, besides which I wastired out. I had reposed in my uncomfortable quarters for, it might be,two or three hours, though without sleeping, when the clouds began todisperse and the sky was calm and serene, the moon bright and clear, soI thought I would leave my camping place and venture a little further,in the vague hope of finding some hospitable chalet where I might obtainfire and food.
I was now considerably rested from my fatigue, but the pangs of hungergrew ever more intense. I wandered on and on, till the pines grew lessthick, and a wide extended view opened before me, when I fancied that Idescried afar off in the valley a light. My heart began to revive. As Istrode onward I saw below me a small lake, over which frowned darktoppling crags. The moon shone brightly over all.
Still keeping the distant chalet in sight, I could think of little elsethan the meal which would await me on my arrival; but while glancingcasually over the lake illumined by the moonbeams, and the cliff thatoverhung it, my eye was suddenly arrested by an object, apparently ahuman being, clambering up a height that I should have imaginedinaccessible to any mortal man. It literally overhung the lake.
At first I thought my eyes deceived me, but as I looked I was more andmore convinced that it was a human being performing this feat. I hadheard much of the daring of the Swiss mountaineers, but this beatanything I ever heard of, for the cliff, besides over-hanging, wascomparatively smooth, being of slate, and there appeared nothing to holdon by.
"Could it really be a human being?" I asked myself. If so, it was sohideously misshapen as hardly to deserve the title. In spite of myhunger, I panted awhile in breathless anxiety to observe the course ofthis creature.
"Surely some madman," thought I, "tired of his life."
Every moment I expected to see his foot slip and to hear a splash in thelake below; but no, the being, whatever it was, crawled steadily upwardslike a huge spider, till it gained the summit of the cliff. I then lostsight of it. A few steps further on led me to the spot the climber hadreached, when soon among the lengthened shadows of the pines, I descrieda shadow which was not that of a tree.
I approached, and as the moon lit up the object in my path, I beheld asight that made my blood freeze to look upon. It was one of thosehideous cretins which inhabit the valleys of all mountainous countries.
I started, and the idiot, who gazed at me vacantly at first, seemed tohave sense enough to be aware of the impression he had made, and to takea fiendish delight in the effect that he had produced. The aspect ofthis being was the most frightful of anything I had ever seen in humanshape. He could not have exceeded four feet in height, but the breadthof his shoulders was such as to make his figure a complete square. Hisneck
was short, and his head, which was enormous, was covered over withscant sandy hair. The complexion was ghastly; the lips thin and livid,the nose flat and spreading, and the eyes, which were an immensedistance apart, pale green and fishy; the face was round and broad, andthough generally idiotic in expression, was lit up at times with a lookof intelligence, mixed with the most preternatural cunning andmalignity. The muscular development of the upper part of this strangefigure was prodigious, and the arms were so long that the fingers allbut touched the ground, but the legs were extremely short and misshapen,the feet being monstrous. His back was round as a camel's, and from histhroat down to his waist hung a huge goitre, which gave a still moredisgusting look to his _tout ensemble_; added to this, his ears werelarge and shaggy, his fingers short and stunted, the palms of his handshard and horny. He was dressed after the usual fashion of the Swisspeasantry in that part of Switzerland, but his clothes were so patchedand tattered, that the masterpiece was barely discernible.
I gazed for some moments in silent horror at the spectacle before me,when the monster blocking up my path clapped his hands suddenly on histhighs, and burst into a loud discordant laugh, exhibiting two rows ofblack, uneven teeth. My blood curdled as the echo of those fiendishtones broke on my ear. I recoiled, but, mastering my fear, I said in hisown native tongue--or, rather, in better German than is spoken among thepeasantry--"Well, my friend, does my appearance amuse you? Are strangersso rare in your country that they are found worthy of so much notice?"
The idiot gazed at me awhile with vacant stare, then pointed to hismouth, to signify that he was dumb.
"Poor wretch," I muttered to myself; "and yet he seems to understand alittle."
I thought I would ask him by signs where he lived. I read by his eye,which suddenly grew intelligent, much to my surprise, that he understoodmy question, and he answered by gestures, which seemed to say, "My homeis here, there, and everywhere. On the black mountain top, in the pineforest, by the still lake--anywhere where there is earth and sky."
"Poor wanderer," thought I; "houseless, like myself, and yet howinfinitely more contented. Who knows but that that stunted form maycontain the soul of a philosopher." "Idiot," I said, with all possiblemeekness in my outward bearing, "I am hungry. Can you lead me to achalet where I may get food and shelter?"
He nodded his head.
"Bravo!" said I. "Lead on."
The dwarf gave me a peculiar look, which I understood to mean, "Whatwill you give me if I show you the way?"
"Oh, don't be afraid," said I; "I'll pay you well; only make haste; I'mstarving."
I put my finger in my waistcoat pocket to make him comprehend that I waswilling to reward him, but he glanced contemptuously at my gesture, and,thrusting his hand into his pocket, he brought out a handful ofgood-sized gold nuggets, which he threw towards me with a disdainfulair.
I was amazed, and seeing them glitter in the moonlight, I stopped topick them up. At this the creature burst out again into a loud laugh. Ifelt somewhat abashed at this reproof of my covetousness from one whoevidently despised filthy lucre himself, but I consoled my consciencewith the thought that I looked upon the nuggets more from a geologist'spoint of view than from a miser's.
"Where did he find the gold?" I asked myself. "Could it really be agreat philosopher who stood before me, who despised the yellow metal, orwas it an idiot who did not know the value of it?"
These reflections of mine were silent. Nevertheless, the cripple gave meto understand with a nod of his head and an unmistakable look in hiseye, that he very well understood what they were worth to such men asmyself; but with another gesture he expressed that for himself he wasabove it.
"Indeed," said I, "then what would you of me, if not gold?"
He gave me a malicious smile, and nodded his head slightly, but Iunderstood not the gesture.
I was impatient, and wanted to put an end to our mummery, so I said,"Come, lead on; I am hungry. Since you despise gold, I suppose you willdo so much for me as an act of friendship?"
He grinned from ear to ear and nodded.
"It is well," said I, and I followed my guide.
We began slowly to descend the mountain, my guide running nimbly on infront, then standing still at intervals and beckoning to me. This hecontinued to do until we arrived at the foot of the mountain, and Iremember feeling an irresistible and unaccountable impulse to follow myguide more quickly than before.
As the steel is attracted to the magnet, so I felt irresistiblyattracted towards the monster. It was as if he possessed some strangemagnetic power over me, for whenever he lifted up his finger to beckonto me I felt it impossible to resist following him.
I thought the feeling might be fancy at first, and I attributed myquickened pace against my own will to the impetus given by the steepdeclivity of the mountain, but afterwards I found that it was exactlythe same on level ground.
We walked on further, till we found ourselves at the foot of a glacier,where stood the chalet which I sought.
I knocked and entered, and was welcomed by the owner of the hut, amiddle-aged and portly dame with a goitre that hung over her breast, andsome young children with incipient goitres.
I told the hostess that I was a hungry traveller, and asked her to giveme the best that she had in the house.
Whilst waiting for my supper I warmed myself by the fire and scrutinisedthe inmates of the cottage. The children seemed very healthy, and notbad looking, if they had not been all disfigured with the family goitre,which they all inherited in a greater or less degree. They seemed to begreat friends with my guide, gambolling around him and buffeting himunmercifully.
At length my supper arrived, consisting of poached eggs, cold sausageand ham, Swiss cheese, stale bread, and some sort of spirit drunk in themountains. Having concluded my repast, I lit a pipe, and, drawing up mychair to the fire, entered into conversation with mine hostess.
"This is your son, I presume?" asked I of the landlady, pointing to myguide.
"No, sir," she replied; "he is only a poor cretin that I have taken inout of charity, as the children are fond of him. They say in these partsthat it is lucky to have an idiot in the house, so, having none in myfamily, I took in this poor afflicted being; though, as to being lucky,all the luck which I've known since----"
The hostess suddenly stopped in her conversation, and her face becamelocked and rigid without any apparent reason.
I looked in the direction of the cripple, and observed his glance fixedon the hostess. It was a glance which nearly took my breath away. Nowonder the landlady paused in her conversation. It was as if hepossessed the gift of the evil eye. The magnetic influence he had overher completely closed her mouth.
Curious to know whether the landlady was really under a spell, Iresumed.
"And this unfortunate, besides being idiotic, is he also deaf and dumb?"
The landlady seemed to awake suddenly, as from a dream, and replied,"Alas! yes, sir; no one has ever heard him utter a sound, or even----"
Here she paused again, and again I noticed the creature's glance fixedupon her.
"It is very strange," I observed, following up the conversation, "for Imyself this evening have discoursed with him by signs, and so far frombeing idiotic, I must say that I found him very intelligent."
"Ah, yes, sir," she rejoined; "and if you should want a guide to-morrow,you could not do better than take him. No one knows the mountains herebetter than he."
"Indeed," I replied; "then he cannot be altogether an idiot."
"Well, as to that, sir, I fancy at times he is more knave than fool.Indeed, I cannot quite make him out. He is an odd being. No onehereabouts knows who his parents were, or how he came in these parts."
Again the landlady ceased suddenly, as before, and I noticed again thatthe creature's eye was fixed upon her.
"What a very mysterious personage," I resumed, affecting not to noticethe magnetic spell the worthy dame appeared to be under. "I aminterested in this odd creature. Tell me more of him."
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Mine hostess was unable to reply.
"Why do you pause?" I asked. "Why do you not answer?"
The creature's eye was upon me now, and I experienced a curioussensation, as if my voice was suddenly taken away from me, that I had nopower to move a limb; in fact, that I was completely in the power ofthis horrible imp; but rousing myself, I determined to combat againstthis spell, and I succeeded in stammering a few words with the utmostdifficulty. But that fearful eye was again upon me, and my tongue wascompletely tied; my limbs grew stiff and paralysed, and so I remainedfor some minutes, till the eye was removed.
"What can this strange feeling be which has just come over me?" I asked."I never felt so in all my life before."
The cretin's eye vacillated between me and the dame, as if to forbidfurther conversation. Feeling tired, and not caring for furtherdiscourse, as well as glad of an excuse to escape from my friend, whosemysterious power over myself I had already experienced and thereforecould not deny, I thought I would take rest until the morning, so Iasked for a candle, and was shown into a small chamber with a heap ofstraw in one corner of it. I partly undressed, and fell asleep.
Thus I reposed till an early hour in the morning, though still dark,when I was suddenly awakened by a terrific snore. I started up, andremained in a sitting position. A pause, then again there was a long,deep-drawn, unmistakable repetition of the same. I fixed my eyes on thespot whence the sound proceeded, and perceived, as well as the darknesswould permit, a heap upon the floor in the opposite corner of theapartment.
Who could it be? I was about to strike a light to satisfy my curiosity,though I had but little doubt it was my friend of the previous evening,when the sleeper, to my surprise, began talking in his sleep; and myill-favoured friend, it seemed, was dumb.
My hand was arrested in the act of striking a light, as the speakerbegan talking loud and fast and in a very peculiar strain. I was curiousto hear more of his conversation; accordingly I refrained at presentfrom striking a light, as the sound might awaken him, and listenedattentively.
I wondered much what could be the subject of the sleeper's dream. I grewmore and more puzzled at his words. It is impossible for me to give youone hundredth part of his conversation here, even if time permitted;for his utterance was so rapid that he would have outstripped anyshorthand writer.
Some part of his strange colloquy, however, I have retained, as Ifancied that in it I found reference to myself.
"Fools!" he cried with vehemence; "I tell you the prize is sure. I havehim in my power, he _cannot_ escape me. Ye who prize blood rather thangold, make ready the chasm to receive him. He is one of those fools whodelight in danger, and he will follow me. What think ye? He seeks chasmsand grottoes for the insane pleasure of burdening himself with the drosswhich we beings of a higher order tread under foot. Crystals, fossils,shining stones, the ore of different metals, especially gold and suchtrumpery, are trifles that his mind (if such it may be called) revelsin.
"Do you not believe me, my friends? Ha! ha! I wonder not at yourdisbelief; ye whose sublime philosophy is nourished in the peacefulbowels of the earth, and who are therefore unable to comprehend howthere can exist an order of beings so totally degraded and soapproaching the brute, nay, so far surpassing even the brutes themselvesin the grossness of its appetites, as to yearn for the very stones whichform the pavement and the walls of our subterranean palaces.
"Ye, my friends, who never issue from your cells to visit that outerworld, because, forsooth, your eyesight is not formed by nature toendure the glare which illumines the surface of this globe, how is itpossible that ye should believe that there exist without intelligencesso stunted and depraved? But I tell you, my brothers in philosophy, thatthis fool belongs to a race of maniacs, who have long attempted toinvade our peaceful shores, and even succeeded so far as to penetratenearly to the roofs of our dwellings--let us be thankful that theirframes are not suited to endure our genial element below--with muchlabour, and for the sole purpose of obtaining metal or some such rubbishout of which they form----
"Tush! I do but waste time in attempting to enumerate the countless usesto which these madmen turn our paving stones. When ye are more atleisure, if ye are content, I will relate to you some of the incredibleabsurdities of those insects which crawl upon the outward surface of ourglobe.
"At present, my brother gnomes, we have a great work before us; ourwants must be satisfied, and we must adopt the means to satisfy them. Wethirst for blood, and we must have it. This fool loves to feast his eyesupon gold, and gold he shall see by the stratum. He but barters hisblood for gold, after the fashion of his own vile race. What else can heexpect from us?
"It is not often, my friends, that we have a feast of blood. Only nowand then when some stray traveller falls into a crevice or impudentlyapproaches too near to the craters of Vesuvius and Etna, till he getssuffocated by the fumes and falls senseless into our maws.
"Happily for us, we are not so constituted as to need sustenance to theextent of those gross gormandisers of the upper world who, would youbelieve it, my comrades, find it necessary to devour food three or fourtimes a day.
"Ah! well you may open your august eyes at the mention of a vice sobrutally preposterous. Thus it is to be sons of clay. We, who are morefinely organised beings, of an essence more ethereal, are content toallow ages to pass before we indulge our appetites with a full meal; yetwe, too, my brethren, need sustenance sometimes.
"Again we are suffering from the pangs of hunger, and we must besatisfied. Patience, my fellow sages and students of those sublime andabstruse sciences ignored by the gross intellects of our reptileneighbours, patience, for to-morrow I bring you a feast of blood. I havebrought you blood before, and I will do so again. It is for this that Ihave taken upon me the base form of one of the vilest among their ownvile race.
"My own comely shape by which I am known here below is ill-suited tobrook the atmosphere of the surface world; therefore, partly to excitecompassion, and consequently disarm suspicion, I have adopted aloathsome disguise, through which even ye, my friends, would fail torecognise me. At this moment, while I am speaking, the filthy clay thatfor your sakes I shall don to-morrow lies in the chamber of the victim.
"I am so far able to free myself from it as to speak with you in thespirit, but I much fear that the sympathy which to some extent mustexist between my spirit and the fulsome mask that awaits me in the worldabove, may so influence the organs of the foul body as to cause it tocorrespond audibly to the voice of my spirit, and so alarm the victim inwhose chamber it sleeps, and scare him into flight.
"Therefore my discourse must be brief. There is no time to be lost. Atonce ye must commence to stir up the internal fires in this earth'scentre, and cause a powerful earthquake. The external crust which thesemortals inhabit must crack and gape into chasms. I will lead him intothe mountains to-morrow when he will be your prey; till then, farewell."
No sooner had the orator concluded his harangue than I began to feel acurious sensation. It was as if the floor on which I had been lying werelifted up under me, and I felt myself rolling from side to side, much inthe same manner as if I were at sea. This motion continued andincreased, and was accompanied by a low rumbling sound. After a timethis grew louder, and I heard an explosion, and then a heavy crash, asif the mountains were being riven asunder, and were now topplingheadlong into the valleys, sweeping away whole villages with a forceinconceivable.
The whole chalet rocked like an open boat in a storm. I was panicstruck, and trembled in every limb. It was then really true all that Ihad seen and heard; it was no disordered dream. The gnomes were reallyat work.
Louder and louder grew the rumbling. Crash followed upon crash. All theinmates of the chalet were aroused, and screams of women and childrenresounded from every quarter. I sprang to my feet, hurriedly donned mycoat and boots, and rushed out of the hut, but my fiendish companion wasat my heels.
Upon gaining the outside of the cottage I found the face of the countrymuch changed
. Huge crags had been loosened, and tumbled quite close tous. Many chalets had been completely crushed under them, and as far asthe eye could see all was one scene of desolation.
The terror and the consternation of my poor hostess was pitiable. Shegathered her children together as a hen gathers her chickens under herwings, and remained stupefied with despair.
As for myself, having escaped the danger of being crushed alive, my onlythought now was to escape my tormentor in the best way I could. Theearthquake was at an end, so I strode on in the direction I had followedon the previous day, taking advantage of the momentary absence of thedwarf, who had entered the hut for some purpose or other, and imaginedfor a moment that I should not be overtaken. Alas! vain hope; hardly hadI proceeded for ten minutes, when I heard steps behind me, and lo! therewas the hideous elf running after me on all fours, his physicalconformation rendering this mode of progression the easiest. I started,and my blood ran cold.
"What do you want?" I asked, angrily, still striding on.
But it was useless. Raising himself on his short legs, he beckoned tome, and I immediately felt myself spellbound.
"Follow me," he signed with a gesture.
"I do not want a guide," I replied. "I am neither in search of crystals,fossils, nor of shining stones; no, nor even of gold."
"Never mind," he seemed to say; "come all the same; I will show you whatthe earthquake has done."
"I am much obliged to you; but I have seen enough of the earthquake, andI repeat I do not want a guide."
"I do not want your money; I will follow you for friendship," heappeared to say.
"Not even for friendship," I said; "I prefer to walk alone."
"What!" he intimated, "when you can get a companion for nothing?"
"Don't you see, my good man," said I, "that your presence is a bore tome--that I'd rather be alone?"
"Nevertheless, yesterday evening you were glad enough of a guide, and Iasked you for no reward for my trouble," he seemed to say with his eye.
"It is false," I replied; "I did not want a guide. I could have foundthe hut myself."
"That is ungrateful," he said, in his dumb manner. "Did you not ask me?"
"If I asked you," I replied, "I did so for the sake of not passing youwithout a word; besides, I offered you money, and you refused it. Iwon't be under any obligation to you," said I. "Here, take your nuggets;I want them not," and I threw them at him. "I'll have nothing to do withone who feigns to be dumb in the daytime, and yet can talk well enoughat night."
The cretin gazed scrutinisingly at me for some time, as much as to say,"Ha! ha! my friend, you have overheard my discourse. I thought as much,but no matter; escape me if you can."
He then walked rapidly on in front of me with his short legs, every nowand then beckoning to me with his long arms, and I immediately feltmyself impelled by a power not my own, and found myself forced to followthe wretch in spite of all my efforts.
"I will not, I will _not_ follow you like a victim to the altar," Icried, straining every nerve to control myself. "Vile gnome, thou shalt_not_ feast on _my_ blood!"
The fiend nodded his huge head slowly with a complacent smile, as if tosay, "We shall see, we shall see."
On, and still on, up, further up the mountain, through thick pineforests and gigantic clumps of rock the demon guide led his unresistingprey. Breathless, footsore, over the most impassable places therelentless fiend magnetically dragged me after him; at a rate, too, thatthoroughly surprised me; until, to my horror, I found myself close to adeep chasm formed in the rock by the late earthquake.
The demon halted, and now speaking for the first time since our walktogether, he asked with a malicious smile if I desired any fossils orany gold, observing that all sorts of curiosities were to be found downthere. He then made a strange gesture with his hand towards my face, andI suddenly perceived I was under a spell.
I had no memory of anything that had happened up to that time. I bore nomalice against my guide; on the contrary, he appeared to me my bestfriend. He did not even seem any longer ugly in my eyes, and when heasked me if I would descend into the chasm, I replied cheerfully.
"Yes; but how shall we manage it?"
"I have brought a rope on purpose," said my friend.
"Bravo!" said I.
He then began to unwind a long rope from his waist, and adjusted itunderneath my shoulders.
I then descended gradually, my companion holding the rope and letting itout by degrees, until I had descended a very considerable distance, whenhe fastened the other end to a stump. I then began chipping out variousgeological specimens, and experienced an intense delight in my novelsituation.
Soon, however, while busily occupied in extracting a bone of anichthyosaurus, I was interrupted by a cry of many voices from below.
"Secure the victim! Down with him, down with him! Our feast of blood isat hand."
Then followed a hungry roar, as of wild beasts unfed. The charm wasbroken in an instant, and I awoke to a sense of my awful position. Todrop my hammer and clamber up the rope as fast as I could was my firststep; but what was my horror, when, on raising my eyes aloft, I descriedthe fiend in the act of deliberately cutting the rope. How fortunate Ihappened to look upwards just at that moment.
The rope was already half cut through; in another moment I must havebeen launched into the abyss, to be devoured by the bloodthirstymonsters below. There was no time to lose; I was desperate, so thrustingone foot into a chink in the walls of the chasm, I looked about foranother, then for some projecting stone to grasp hold of, and thus byslow degrees, at the imminent peril of my life, I climbed up until Igained the ledge of the chasm.
It was a terrific struggle for life. The rope was of immense length,and, deep as I had descended, there was yet an immeasurable gulf belowme. The darkness of the chasm prevented the gnome above from seeing hisvictim, though I could see him well enough. When he severed the rope heknew none other than that I had already been precipitated into the mawsof the gnomes below. When, therefore, lacerated and exhausted, Ireappeared at the top, the utmost consternation and chagrin were visiblein the features of the wretch. Too astonished, perhaps, to think ofworking another charm upon me, the ogre pounced upon me like a tiger onhis prey, and a terrific tussle ensued--a tussle for life and death.
I soon found I was no match for my misshapen, but powerful, adversary. Iwas soon worsted. Every moment I expected to be my last.
"Can the Almighty allow the fiends to triumph over His own?" I askedmyself, in my dying moments.
I offered up a short prayer, and gave myself up for lost. Suddenly acrash. A huge mass of rock above me had loosened. The demon let go hishold to save himself, but it was too late.
The deformed body of the cretin lay crushed beneath the weight of theenormous fragment.
I myself escaped with but a slight graze on the head and shoulder. Had Ibeen one whit less active, I must have shared the fate of my guide. Fora moment I stood rooted to the spot, stupefied, bewildered; then,offering up a prayer of thanksgiving for my miraculous salvation, Ideparted on my way rejoicing.
The last sounds which rang in my ears were the voices of the hungrygnomes, calling out, "Give us our victim; we famish."
But I heeded them not, and continued my journey with a buoyant step. Ihad a long and tedious walk before me. At sundown, however, I reachedthe hotel from which I had started.
My friend, of course, had not arrived, as I had returned before thetime specified. I know not how it was, whether from the effects ofover-fatigue or excessive fright, but I was seized immediately upon myarrival with a prolonged illness. A leech was sent for, the best thatthe mountains could produce, and after feeling my pulse and looking atmy tongue, shook his head gravely. He asked me the symptoms of my case,and to what I attributed it. I told him the story that I have justretailed to you, gentlemen; but he only shook his head again, and saidthat I was in a high state of fever, that these ravings were but theoffspring of delirium, that I had been deluded by my senses
, etc. But Iknew better, for previous to meeting with the monster I had neverenjoyed better health in my life.
* * * * *
Need the reader be told that at the conclusion of this narrative theprofessor was greeted with murmurs of applause from his gratifiedaudience?
"Well, Helen," said our artist, to his fair neighbour, "what do youthink of the professor's story?"
The maiden blushed, and smilingly replied in a low voice, that she likedit very much, and then added, "And are there really those horridwhat-ye-call-ums that eat up poor gentlemen all alive?"
"So the professor says," replied Mr. Oldstone. "You would not doubt hisword, would you?"
"Oh, no, not for a moment, sir," said the girl; "but how dreadful; I'msure I shall dream horribly to-night."
"Oh, no, you won't, my dear," said Mr. Crucible. "Don't be afraid; and,I say, Miss Helen, don't you think you could tell us a story? I am sureMr. Blackdeed, who comes next on the list, will yield his turn to you."
"Oh, certainly," said the tragedian; "only too happy; besides, it is notevery day our club is honoured by a lady."
"There now, lass," said Captain Toughyarn, "if I may be allowed to putin my marling spike, that's the prettiest little compliment you'veshipped this many a day. Come, sail along. What! afraid to set sailalongside big ships like ours? Bah! When I was a little craft of yourtonnage I did not want so much towing when asked for a yarn."
"The Captain's nautical language confuses the young lady," observed Mr.Hardcase.
"Come, don't blush like that, Helen," said Dr. Bleedem, "or I shallthink you've got the scarlet fever, and shall be obliged to bleed you."
"Fairest of thy sex," said little Mr. Jollytoast, going down on one kneebefore the maiden and placing his hand on his heart in the manner of astage lover, which added to the girl's confusion ten-fold; "say not nay,prithee, say not nay."
"Come, Jollytoast," said Parnassus, "see you not that she will not becourted by importunities. Give the muse time for inspiration."
The members desisted from further persecution, and a slight pauseensued, which was broken by McGuilp, who, squeezing the maiden's hand,whispered, "For my sake, Helen."
The girl blushed deeper still, looked down, and a subdued sigh mighthave been noticed by the observer.
At length she looked up imploringly, and said, "But what story shall Itell? I know none."
"Oh, nonsense! Come, think," said various members at once.
The girl appeared thoughtful for some moments, then, after giving ahalf-bashful smile at our artist, turned towards the company, and said,"I will tell you one that my grandmother told me when I was a littlething, if you would care to hear it."
"Too delighted, Helen," said several voices.
The maiden, blushing slightly, and looking down, timidly began herstory.
Tales of the Wonder Club, Volume I Page 7