The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  vessels from which the sound of boiling still proceeded .

  After we had gone, as I thought, a few miles, Signor Davelli

  changed the direction of the paddles and swept round in a long-

  ish curve, until the forward part of the car was turned to our start-

  ing point . When we had travelled about half way back he turned

  the valve again and refilled the balloons, and then he stopped the

  paddles and we lay floating in the air, rising very slowly and gently.

  Then he bade me look to the west and say if I saw anything . I could

  see nothing at all, the day was quite cloudless . Then he bade me

  look downward, but still to the west . Then I saw a shadow, as I

  thought, of a great bird, but I could see no bird to east the shadow .

  The sun was now declining a little, and he bade me turn and look

  downward again, but now to the east . Then I saw the shadow of our

  own car, and although the point of view was not the same, there

  was no room to doubt but that the other shadow was cast by a car

  like ours . The moment I saw the likeness my old Welsh experience

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  came with a flash to my mind. These were just the same queer sort

  of shadows that I had seen long ago at Penruddock the day James

  Redpath had disappeared; yes, and surely the evening before the

  day we reached the valley, the evening of the day that we lost poor

  Gioro I had seen just the same sort of shadow . And— Could it be?

  Yes, it surely was—the dreadful face that I recognised yesterday

  was no other than James Redpath’s own! How it was that I did not

  identify him before I do not know, but now I knew very surely that I

  had seen himself indeed . Such was the tumult of mixed feelings that

  now took possession of me that although we moved rapidly forward

  again until we had passed quite over the valley and then wheeled

  round once more, I took no notice of our movements until I found

  that we were descending to the spot where we had started, the front

  of the car facing southward as before . I looked at Signor Davelli,

  and I read in his face an expression of gratified pride and a strong

  sense of power . There was nothing repulsive in his aspect now, at

  least nothing repulsive to me . I felt also that I was being somehow

  dominated by his will, and that I was not altogether unwilling that it

  should be so . I felt certainly some remnant of the horror with which

  I had looked yesterday on his face and the faces of his men, but I

  was conscious that my horror was rapidly merging into simple won-

  der . I felt something of the sort of awe which the suspected presence

  of the supernatural produces in most minds; but the feeling which

  dominated for the present all other feelings in me was a devouring

  curiosity . Just then the sacred allegory of the Fall passed before my

  mind rather as if presented than recalled . In my mind’s eye I saw the

  very Tree itself which was to be desired to make one wise, and the

  legend written under it—

  “Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum;”

  but neither device nor motto seemed to have any other effect upon

  me than to stimulate my curiosity .

  Just then we touched ground, and I started, as if coming to my

  senses, and looked over at Jack . His face was partly turned away,

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  and I could see little more than his side face . He wore an abstracted

  air, such as I had never seen him wear before . There was also a

  sweetness and earnestness of expression about him which were cer-

  tainly not foreign to his face, but which I had never before seen

  there in such intense degree . Strange to say, there came upon me for

  the moment a sort of contempt for his understanding which seemed

  strongly o repel me from him . This, I have now no doubt, was pro-

  duced by some evil influence acting I know not how, for assuredly

  there was nothing in my knowledge of him that it could build upon,

  and all that happened after justified it, if possible, even less. Just

  then he turned and looked upon me, and there was in his eyes so

  much care and kindness, kindness to me and care on my account,

  that my heart was touched and awakened at once . I cannot analyze

  or account for the effect which this look produced on me; I can only

  say that as I stepped from the car the tumult of mixed feelings, which

  so disturbed me, seemed to pass away like a bad dream that might or

  might not return .

  After a few words of courteous inquiry as to our necessities and

  comforts, Signor Davelli made an appointment to meet us next day

  on the square where we had met this morning; and then we parted

  from him for the night, and Jack and I slowly returned to our place .

  “Jack,” said I, as we were going down, “what do you think of it

  all?”

  “We won’t talk of it now,” he replied, “we are too tired, and per-

  haps excited; we had better sleep over it . To-morrow we must rise

  early, look out a quiet place, and talk the matter all round .”

  Nothing more but some words of course passed between us until

  the morning .

  CHAPTER VIII

  SIGNOR DAVELLI

  Early the next morning Jack and I were ready for a scramble over

  the cliff . We wished to have a quiet talk together, and we wished

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  further, although we had not yet named the wish one to another, to

  ascertain as far as possible whether or not we were in effect prison-

  ers . There was one fact which told heavily against any such notion .

  That was the large quantity of portable provisions which had been

  deliberately put in our way . For we could each carry, without in-

  convenience, enough to last us for a long time, quite long enough

  to enable us to push westward as far as the coast, or to go back

  eastward as far as he wire. Nevertheless, I was firmly of opinion that

  we would not be permitted to escape, and that if we attempted to our

  lives would not be worth much . As I learned afterwards, Jack was

  of the same opinion . The events of this morning removed doubt on

  the subject .

  We found quite a practicable ascent of the cliff on the side of the

  stair which was further from the platform . And, after climbing this,

  we found a fairly even space of several hundred yards, and then an

  easy descent upon the other side . We did not, however, attempt the

  descent, but sat down and talked . Jack began—

  “Bob,” he said, “we must keep cool, for we are playing for very

  high stakes .”

  “For life and death, you think .”

  “More than that, perhaps . I wonder what selling your soul meant

  in the old times?”

  “I suppose,” I said, “whatever else it meant, it meant acting dis-

  honourably or treacherously for the sake of some personal gain .”

  “But some fellows have sold their souls who could never be per-

  suaded to act either treacherously or dishonourably for the sake of

  any personal gain .”

  “I dare say,” said I, not seeing nor caring what he was driving at .

 
; “Now, Bob, if I were the devil, and if I wanted to get you to sell

  me your soul, I know what I should do .”

  I was getting a little vexed, but I replied simply—“Well, what

  would you do?”

  “I would endeavour to pique your curiosity, and then I would

  show you that you could gratify it by putting yourself in my power,

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  and then I would have your body even if you still insisted on keep-

  ing your soul .”

  “And which do you think it would be?”

  “Well, I should have to be satisfied with your body, except in one

  event .”

  “And, pray, what would that be?”

  “I might by the exhibition of some special or unaccounted-for

  power gain such influence over you as to get you to put your con-

  science at my disposal . Then you would be mine soul and body .”

  I was beginning to get vexed partly because I suppose I saw more

  truth in what he said than I liked, so I said shortly—

  “What do you mean just now by all this?”

  “I think; our friend, the signor, is the devil himself . I don’t mean

  any fee-faw-fum . I dare say there are a good many other men as

  much devils as he is, but he has all the power which great and spe-

  cial practical knowledge gives a man, and he is as full of malice as

  an egg is full of meat, and he is up to some very big villainy and,

  what is more to the purpose, he has a design upon you .”

  “He has done us no harm that I can see .”

  “He has done us a great deal of harm; he is persuading you to

  trust yourself to him, and he is worthy of no trust whatever, d—n

  him .”

  Now this from Jack was rather startling; for he was not in the

  least prone to use bad language . I never heard “the Englishman’s

  prayer” from his lips before or since . But his earnestness irritated me

  more than his profanity surprised me .

  “Don’t you see,” I said rather sullenly, “that if your hypothesis is

  correct your prayer is rather superfluous?”

  “Well, yes, it is superfluous,” he said with a harsh laugh quite

  unlike him; “he is damned already sure enough .”

  “I don’t see much sign of damnation about him,” I said, “not if

  misery be an essential park of damnation .”

  “Well, yes, the misery that comes of malice, and if ever malice

  and misery were written in a man’s face, they were written in his

  yesterday when they missed those men . And mark me,” Jack added,

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  raising his voice, “his damnation has got something to do with the

  loss of those men .”

  I was now getting very angry, so I rose to my feet and said hast-

  ily—” If we have nothing to talk about, don’t you think that we may

  as well go back?”

  Jack rose and said, “No, Bob, we’ll not go back yet awhile . Don’t

  be vexed with me, old fellow . You are in more danger than I am, but

  your danger is mine .” As he said this I saw the same expression on

  his face which I had seen yesterday, an expression of kindness and

  anxiety, and it had much the same effect on me now .

  “Jack,” I said, “forgive me, I declare I believe you are partly

  right; I believe there is some devilish influence at work trying to

  set me against you . I caught myself yesterday despising you for not

  being clever, and there were two devils in that, for you are twice as

  clever as I am, and even if yea were not you are ten times as good .”

  “Ah Bob, my boy, there is plenty of reason to suspect me of stu-

  pidity without supposing that the devil is in the dance .

  ‘Nec deus (or diabolus) intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus .’

  You see I have a stock verse or two to quote at a pinch . But al-

  though I don’t see as far, perhaps, into the game as you, it may be

  that just for that reason I see the near points a little more clearly .

  Now sit down again and tell me what you think of it all .”

  We didn’t sit but kept walking up and down . “I don’t know what

  to think,” I said; “I was nearly sure yesterday that I was either mad

  or dreaming, but I have given over thinking that . I suppose there

  is a desperate and widely spread conspiracy against civilised soci-

  ety, and that these men are in it . You talk about fee-faw-fum, but I

  remembered some things yesterday while we were in that car that

  made me feel as if the whole world were nothing but what you call

  fee-faw-fum .”

  “What were they, Bob?”

  I told him all that I have written in the first two chapters of this

  book . He listened most attentively, and made me repeat two or three

  times over parts of the conversation between the two doctors . But

  when I wound up my story by telling him that I had recognised

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  James Redpath among the men on the platform, he stopped sud-

  denly, turned right round and looked at me . “Good heavens!” he

  said . And then after a pause, “Do you think that you saw him carried

  away that morning from your Welsh village?”

  “I didn’t see him, but I have little doubt that I saw the shadow of

  the car in which he was carried away .”

  “Do you think that we have stumbled on your friend Dr . Leop-

  old’s non-human intelligence? and that there is a manufactory of

  black death or plague somewhere in the neighbourhood?”

  “I have hardly a doubt of these men’s malignity, but there is one

  thing I am surer of . Now that I am here I want to know all about the

  matter—and I mean to . Mr . Leopold may have stumbled upon half

  a truth .”

  “Well, my position is just the reverse of yours . I am curious

  enough about the matter, but I am so sure of these men’s desperate

  malignity that my first wish is that we should make our escape from

  this place . And mind,” he went on to say, “if you want to burst them

  up that is the way to do it . If you and I get back to civilisation others

  will soon be on our track . And once there is a settlement of English

  colonists near here these men will be played out, and they know it .

  Don’t you remember what the fellow himself said? He said that they

  could keep the blacks at a distance, but that it does not suit them to

  carry on their work—whatever it is—in the presence of civilised

  men!”

  “I remember,” said I; “but if you are right, depend upon it they

  have made up their minds that you and I will never leave this place

  alive .”

  “Not quite that,” said he, “or they would have murdered us be-

  fore now .”

  “Well, they were going to do so twice .”

  “Yes, but Signor Niccolo restrained them . You see Signor Nic-

  colo has a design upon you; he wants to make you one of his men .

  He doesn’t care much about me, but he is willing to throw me into

  the bargain . Now if you and I refuse to join him our lives will be the

  forfeit .”

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  “And if we don’ refuse?”

  “Why then,” said he, “more than our l
ives .”

  “Well then,” said I, “what in the name of common sense do you

  think they are?”

  “Well,” he replied, “I don’t altogether agree with Dr . Leopold .

  I can’t quite believe in the ‘non-human’ business; these men are

  flesh and blood safe enough; though I confess I am startled to see so

  much applied science, so much in advance of ours, in the possession

  of men of such malignity as these are .” He paused for a moment

  and then proceeded . “What you said just now is most likely right .

  They belong most likely to some brotherhood of conspirators, some

  advanced guard of nihilists, or the like, who propose to make war

  upon civilised society .”

  “What do you advise?”

  “For all reasons the sooner we get away the better . My proposi-

  tion is that we fill our pockets with these cakes of theirs and make a

  bolt of it the very first opportunity.”

  “Do you think we shall find an opportunity?”

  “Well, the event will show . We may have to start in the dark and

  for a while to travel by night . But you see these cakes of theirs are

  meat and drink, and we can make a bee-line for the wire .”

  “Don’t you think they will track us?”

  “I doubt if they will be able . Their intelligence is very high, and

  their modes of procedure are very artificial; and the best trackers are

  men of mere instinct . Still I wish we could get hold of one of their

  cars; if we could, a few hours’ start would save us .”

  “Look to the right,” I said, “we are watched and followed now .”

  By this time the sun had risen a little way, the sky was dear, and

  here and there, slowly moving along the face of the cliff below us,

  were several shadows of the sort I have already more than once de-

  scribed . These plainly indicated the presence of several of the cars at

  no great distance from the ground, and at a lower level than the cliff

  on which we stood . Whether there were any or how many at a higher

  level no one could say just yet, and on the left everything lay still

  in shadow . We walked in the same direction, quickening our steps

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  a little, the cliff all the while sloping downward slowly . Presently

  the sun was at a higher level than the ground we walked on, and

  the number of the shadows greatly increased, and there were very