Three John Silence Stories
Page 36
about mypath--for--safety." The voice dwindled and failed, dying away intosomething almost like a cry of distress.
"Now, watch closely," said Dr. Silence, speaking loud, "for after thecry will come the Fire!"
I began to tremble involuntarily; an awful change had come withoutwarning into the air; my legs grew weak as paper beneath my weight and Ihad to support myself by leaning on the table. Colonel Wragge, I saw,was also leaning forward with a kind of droop. The shapes of fire hadvanished all, but his face was lit by the red lamps and the pale,shifting moonlight rose behind him like mist.
We were both gazing at the bowl, now almost empty; the Colonel stoopedso low I feared every minute he would lose his balance and drop into it;and the shadow, that had so long been in process of forming, now atlength began to assume material outline in the air before us.
Then John Silence moved forward quickly. He took his place between usand the shadow. Erect, formidable, absolute master of the situation, Isaw him stand there, his face calm and almost smiling, and fire in hiseyes. His protective influence was astounding and incalculable. Even theabhorrent dread I felt at the sight of the creature growing into lifeand substance before us, lessened in some way so that I was able to keepmy eyes fixed on the air above the bowl without too vivid a terror.
But as it took shape, rising out of nothing as it were, and growingmomentarily more defined in outline, a period of utter and wonderfulsilence settled down upon the building and all it contained. A hush ofages, like the sudden centre of peace at the heart of the travellingcyclone, descended through the night, and out of this hush, as out ofthe emanations of the steaming blood, issued the form of the ancientbeing who had first sent the elemental of fire upon its mission. It grewand darkened and solidified before our eyes. It rose from just beyondthe table so that the lower portions remained invisible, but I saw theoutline limn itself upon the air, as though slowly revealed by therising of a curtain. It apparently had not then quite concentrated tothe normal proportions, but was spread out on all sides into space,huge, though rapidly condensing, for I saw the colossal shoulders, theneck, the lower portion of the dark jaws, the terrible mouth, and thenthe teeth and lips--and, as the veil seemed to lift further upon thetremendous face--I saw the nose and cheek bones. In another moment Ishould have looked straight into the eyes--
But what Dr. Silence did at that moment was so unexpected, and took meso by surprise, that I have never yet properly understood its nature,and he has never yet seen fit to explain in detail to me. He utteredsome sound that had a note of command in it--and, in so doing, steppedforward and intervened between me and the face. The figure, just nearingcompleteness, he therefore hid from my sight--and I have always thoughtpurposely hid from my sight.
"The fire!" he cried out. "The fire! Beware!"
There was a sudden roar as of flame from the very mouth of the pit, andfor the space of a single second all grew light as day. A blinding flashpassed across my face, and there was heat for an instant that seemed toshrivel skin, and flesh, and bone. Then came steps, and I heard ColonelWragge utter a great cry, wilder than any human cry I have ever known.The heat sucked all the breath out of my lungs with a rush, and theblaze of light, as it vanished, swept my vision with it into envelopingdarkness.
When I recovered the use of my senses a few moments later I saw thatColonel Wragge with a face of death, its whiteness strangely stained,had moved closer to me. Dr. Silence stood beside him, an expression oftriumph and success in his eyes. The next minute the soldier tried toclutch me with his hand. Then he reeled, staggered, and, unable to savehimself, fell with a great crash upon the brick floor.
After the sheet of flame, a wind raged round the building as though itwould lift the roof off, but then passed as suddenly as it came. And inthe intense calm that followed I saw that the form had vanished, and thedoctor was stooping over Colonel Wragge upon the floor, trying to lifthim to a sitting position.
"Light," he said quietly, "more light. Take the shades off."
Colonel Wragge sat up and the glare of the unshaded lamps fell upon hisface. It was grey and drawn, still running heat, and there was a look inthe eyes and about the corners of the mouth that seemed in this shortspace of time to have added years to its age. At the same time, theexpression of effort and anxiety had left it. It showed relief.
"Gone!" he said, looking up at the doctor in a dazed fashion, andstruggling to his feet. "Thank God! it's gone at last." He stared roundthe laundry as though to find out where he was. "Did it control me--takepossession of me? Did I talk nonsense?" he asked bluntly. "After theheat came, I remember nothing--"
"You'll feel yourself again in a few minutes," the doctor said. To myinfinite horror I saw that he was surreptitiously wiping sundry darkstains from the face. "Our experiment has been a success and--"
He gave me a swift glance to hide the bowl, standing between me and ourhost while I hurriedly stuffed it down under the lid of the nearestcauldron.
"--and none of us the worse for it," he finished.
"And fires?" he asked, still dazed, "there'll be no more fires?"
"It is dissipated--partly, at any rate," replied Dr. Silence cautiously.
"And the man behind the gun," he went on, only half realising what hewas saying, I think; "have you discovered _that?_"
"A form materialised," said the doctor briefly. "I know for certain nowwhat the directing intelligence was behind it all."
Colonel Wragge pulled himself together and got upon his feet. The wordsconveyed no clear meaning to him yet. But his memory was returninggradually, and he was trying to piece together the fragments into aconnected whole. He shivered a little, for the place had grown suddenlychilly. The air was empty again, lifeless.
"You feel all right again now," Dr. Silence said, in the tone of a manstating a fact rather than asking a question.
"Thanks to you--both, yes." He drew a deep breath, and mopped his face,and even attempted a smile. He made me think of a man coming from thebattlefield with the stains of fighting still upon him, but scornful ofhis wounds. Then he turned gravely towards the doctor with a questionin his eyes. Memory had returned and he was himself again.
"Precisely what I expected," the doctor said calmly; "a fire-elementalsent upon its mission in the days of Thebes, centuries before Christ,and tonight, for the first time all these thousands of years, releasedfrom the spell that originally bound it."
We stared at him in amazement, Colonel Wragge opening his lips for wordsthat refused to shape themselves.
"And, if we dig," he continued significantly, pointing to the floorwhere the blackness had poured up, "we shall find some undergroundconnection--a tunnel most likely--leading to the Twelve Acre Wood. Itwas made by--your predecessor."
"A tunnel made by my brother!" gasped the soldier. "Then my sistershould know--she lived here with him--" He stopped suddenly.
John Silence inclined his head slowly. "I think so," he said quietly."Your brother, no doubt, was as much tormented as you have been," hecontinued after a pause in which Colonel Wragge seemed deeplypreoccupied with his thoughts, "and tried to find peace by burying it inthe wood, and surrounding the wood then, like a large magic circle, withthe enchantments of the old formulae. So the stars the man sawblazing--"
"But burying what?" asked the soldier faintly, stepping backwardstowards the support of the wall.
Dr. Silence regarded us both intently for a moment before he replied. Ithink he weighed in his mind whether to tell us now, or when theinvestigation was absolutely complete.
"The mummy," he said softly, after a moment; "the mummy that yourbrother took from its resting place of centuries, and broughthome--here."
Colonel Wragge dropped down upon the nearest chair, hanging breathlesslyon every word. He was far too amazed for speech.
"The mummy of some important person--a priest most likely--protectedfrom disturbance and desecration by the ceremonial magic of the time.For they understood how to attach to the mummy, to lock up with it inthe tomb, an elemental for
ce that would direct itself even after agesupon any one who dared to molest it. In this case it was an elemental offire."
Dr. Silence crossed the floor and turned out the lamps one by one. Hehad nothing more to say for the moment. Following his example, I foldedthe table together and took up the chairs, and our host, still dazed andsilent, mechanically obeyed him and moved to the door.
We removed all traces of the experiment, taking the empty bowl back tothe house concealed beneath an ulster.
The air was cool and fragrant as we walked to the house, the starsbeginning to fade overhead and a fresh wind of early morning blowing upout of the east where the sky was already hinting of the coming day. Itwas after five o'clock.
Stealthily we entered the front hall and