The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™
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here. The Emperor I have brought through four or five illnesses, and
if anything is wrong he always sends for me .”
“But he might get the awful form of diphtheria!”
“Very likely,” Label said coolly . “All these things are in the hands
of Providence . I know that man’s constitution to a hair, and if he gets
the disease I shall pull him through for certain . I should like him to
have it .”
“In the name of all that is practical, why?”
“To startle the public,” Label cried . He was mounted on his
hobby now . He paced up and down the room in a whirl of tobacco
smoke . “It would bring the matter home to everybody . Then perhaps
something will be done . I preach and preach in vain . Only the Lan-
cet backs me up at all . Many times I have asked for a quarter of a
million of money, so that I can found a school for the electrical treat-
ment of germ diseases . I want to destroy all malaria . All dirt in bulk,
every bit of refuse that is likely to breed fever and the like, should
be treated by electricity . I would take huge masses of deadly scourge
and mountains of garbage, and render them innocent by the electric
current . But no; that costs money, and your poverty-stricken Gov-
ernment cannot afford it . Given a current of 10,000 volts a year or
two ago, and I could have rendered this one of the healthiest places
in England . You only wanted to run those high voltage wires into the
THE DUST OF DEATH, by Fred M. White | 1279
earth here and there, and behold the millions are slain, wiped out,
gone for ever . Perhaps I will get it now .”
* * * *
London was beginning to get uneasy . There had been outbreaks
before, but they were of the normal type . People, for instance, are
not so frightened of smallpox as they used to be . Modern science has
learnt to grapple with the fell disease and rob it of half its terrors .
But this new and virulent form of diphtheria was another matter .
Hubert sat over his dinner that night, making mental calculations .
There were nearly a thousand houses of varying sizes in Devonshire
Park . Would it be necessary to abandon these? He took down a large
scale map of London, and hastily marked in blue pencil those areas
which had developed rapidly of recent years . In nearly all of these
a vast amount of artificial ground had been necessary. Hubert was
appalled as he calculated the number of jerry-built erections in these
districts .
A servant came in and laid The Evening Wire upon the table .
Hubert glanced at it . Nothing had been lost in the way of sensation .
The story of the Emperor’s visit to the district had been given great
prominence . An inquiry at Buckingham Palace had elicited the fact
that the story was true .
Well, perhaps no harm would come of it. Hubert finished a cigar
and prepared to go out. As he flung the paper aside a paragraph in
the stop press column—a solitary paragraph like an inky island in a
sea of white—caught his eye .
“No alarm need be experienced as to the danger encountered by
the Emperor of Asturia, but we are informed that His Majesty is
prevented from dining at Marlborough House tonight owing to a
slight cold and sore throat caught, it is stated, in the draughts at
Charing Cross Station . The Emperor will go down to Cowes as ar-
ranged tomorrow .”
Hubert shook his head doubtfully . The slight cold and sore throat
were ominous . His mind dwelt upon the shadow of trouble as he
made his way to the hospital . There had been two fresh cases during
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the evening and the medical staff were looking anxious and worried .
They wanted assistance badly, and Hubert gave his to the full .
It was nearly eleven before Hubert staggered home . In the main
business street of the suburb a news-shop was still open .
A flaming placard attracted the doctor’s attention. It struck him
like a blow .
“Alarming illness of the Asturian Emperor . His Majesty stricken
down by the new disease . Latest bulletin from Buckingham Palace .”
Almost mechanically Hubert bought a paper . There was not much
beyond the curt information that the Emperor was dangerously ill .
Arrived home Hubert found a telegram awaiting him . He tore it
open . The message was brief but to the point .
“Have been called in to Buckingham Palace, Label’s diphtheria
certain . Shall try and see you tomorrow morning . Label .”
London was touched deeply and sincerely . A great sovereign had
come over here in the most friendly fashion to show his good feeling
for a kindred race . On the very start of a round of pleasure he had
been stricken down like this .
The public knew all the details from the progress of that fate-
ful uniform to the thrilling eight o’clock bulletin when the life of
Rudolph III was declared to be in great danger . They knew that Dr .
Label had been sent for post haste . The big German was no longer
looked upon as a clever crank, but the one man who might be able
to save London from a terrible scourge . And from lip to lip went
the news that over two hundred cases of the new disease had now
broken out in Devonshire Park .
People knew pretty well what it was and what was the cause now .
Label’s warning had come home with a force that nobody had ex-
pected . He had stolen away quite late for half-an-hour to his own
house and there had been quite free with the pressmen . He extenu-
ated nothing . The thing was bad, and it was going to be worse . So far
as he could see, something of this kind w as inevitable . If Londoners
were so blind as to build houses on teeming heaps of filth, why,
London must be prepared to take the consequences .
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Hubert knew nothing of this . He had fallen back utterly exhaust-
ed in his chair with the idea of taking a short rest—for nearly three
hours he had been fast asleep . Somebody was shaking him roughly .
He struggled back to the consciousness that Label was bending over
him .“Well, you are a nice fellow,” the German grumbled .
“I was dead beat and worn out,” Hubert said apologetically .
“How is the Emperor?”
“His Majesty is doing as well as I can expect . It is a very bad
case, however . I have left him in competent hands, so that I could
run down here . They were asking for you at the hospital, presuming
that you were busy somewhere . The place is full, and so arc four
houses in the nearest terrace .”
“Spreading like that?” Hubert exclaimed .
“Spreading like that! By this time tomorrow we shall have a
thousand cases on our hands . The authorities are doing everything
they can to help us, fresh doctors and nurses and stores are coming
in all the time .”
“You turn people out of their houses to make way then?”
Label smiled grimly . He laid his hand on Hubert’s shoulder, and
piloted him into the roadway . The place seemed to be aliv
e with
cabs and vehicles of all kinds . It was as if all the inhabitants of Dev-
onshire Park were going away for their summer holidays simultane-
ously . The electric arcs shone down on white and frightened faces
where joyous gaiety should have been . Here and there a child slept
peacefully, but on the whole it was a sorry exodus .
“There you are,” Label said grimly. “It is a night flight from the
plague. It has been going on for hours. It would have been finished
now but for the difficulty in getting conveyances. Most of the cab-
men are avoiding the place as if it were accursed . But money can
command everything, hence the scene that you see before you .”
Hubert stood silently watching the procession . There was very
little luggage on any of the cabs or conveyances . Families were go-
ing wholesale . Devonshire Park for the most part was an exceed-
ingly prosperous district, so that the difficulties of emigration were
THE DUST OF DEATH, by Fred M. White | 1282
not great . In their panic the people were abandoning everything in
the wild flight for life and safety.
Then he went in again to rest before the unknown labours of to-
morrow . Next morning he anxiously opened his morning paper .
It was not particularly pleasant reading beyond the information
that the health of the Emperor of Asturia was mentioned, and that
he had passed a satisfactory night . As to the rest, the plague was
spreading. There were two hundred and fifty cases in Devonshire
Park . Label’s sayings had come true at last; it was a fearful vindica-
tion of his prophecy . And the worst of it was that no man could
possibly say where it was going to end .
* * * *
Strange as it may seem, London’s anxiety as to the welfare of
one man blinded all to the great common danger . For the moment
Devonshire Park was forgotten . The one centre of vivid interest was
Buckingham Palace .
For three days crowds collected there until at length Label and
his colleagues were in a position to issue a bulletin that gave some-
thing more than hope . The Emperor of Asturia was going to recover .
Label was not the kind of man to say so unless he was pretty sure of
his ground .
It was not till this fact had soaked itself into the public mind
that attention was fully turned to the danger that threatened London .
Devonshire Park was practically in quarantine . All those who could
get away had done so, and those who had remained were confined to
their own particular district, and provisioned on a system . The new
plague was spreading fast .
In more than one quarter the suggestion was made that all houses
in certain localities should be destroyed, and the ground thoroughly
cleansed and disinfected . It would mean a loss of millions of money,
but in the scare of the moment London cared nothing for that .
At the end of a week there were seven thousand cases of the
new form of diphtheria under treatment . Over one thousand cases a
day came in . Devonshire Park was practically deserted save for the
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poorer quarters, whence the victims came . It seemed strange to see
fine houses abandoned to the first comer who had the hardihood to
enter . Devonshire Park was a stricken kingdom within itself, and the
Commune of terror reigned .
Enterprising journalists penetrated the barred area and wrote ar-
ticles about it . One of the fraternity bolder than the rest passed a day
and night in one of these deserted palatial residences, and gave his
sensations to the Press . Within a few hours most of the villas were
inhabited again! There were scores of men and women in the slums
who have not the slightest fear of disease—they are too familiar with
it for that—and they came creeping westward in search of shelter .
The smiling paradise had become a kind of Tom Tiddlers ground, a
huge estate in Chancery .
Nobody had troubled, the tenants were busy finding pure quarters
elsewhere, the owners of the property were fighting public opin-
ion to save what in many cases was their sole source of income . If
Devonshire Park had to be razed to the ground many a wealthy man
would be ruined .
It was nearly the end of the first week before this abnormal state
of affairs was fully brought home to Hubert . He had been harassed
and worried and worn by want of sleep, but tired as he was he did
not fail to notice the number of poorer patients who dribbled regu-
larly into the terrace of houses that now formed the hospital . There
was something about them that suggested any district rather than
Devonshire Park .
“What does it mean, Walker?” he asked one of his doctors .
Walker had just come in from his hour’s exercise, heated and
excited .
“It’s a perfect scandal,” he cried. “The police are fighting shy of
us altogether . I’ve just been up to the station and they tell me it is
a difficult matter to keep competent of officers in the district. All
along Frinton Hill and Eversley Gardens the houses are crowded
with outcasts . They have drifted here from the East End and are
making some of those splendid residences impossible .”
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Hubert struggled into his hat and coat, and went out . It was ex-
actly as Walker had said. Here was a fine residence with stables
and greenhouses and the like, actually occupied by Whitechapel
at its worst . A group of dingy children played on the lawn, and a
woman with the accumulated grime of weeks on her face was hang-
ing something that passed for washing out of an upper window . The
flower beds were trampled down, a couple of attenuated donkeys
browsed on the lawn .
Hubert strolled up to the house fuming . Two men were sprawling
on a couple of morocco chairs smoking filthy pipes. They looked
up at the newcomer with languid curiosity . They appeared quite to
appreciate the fact that they were absolutely masters of the situation .
“What are you doing here?” Hubert demanded .
“If you’re the owner well and good,” was the reply . “If not, you
take an’ ’ook it . We know which side our bread’s buttered .”
There was nothing for it but to accept this philosophical sugges-
tion . Hubert swallowed his rising indignation and departed . There
were other evidences of the ragged invasion as he went down the
road . Here and there a house was closed and the blinds down; but it
was an exception rather than the rule .
Hubert walked away till he could find a cab, and was driven off to
Scotland Yard in a state of indignation . The view of the matter rather
startled the officials there.
“We have been so busy,” the Chief Inspector said; “but the matter
shall be attended to . Dr . Label was here yesterday, and at his sug-
gestion we are having the whole force electrically treated—a kind of
electrical hardening of the throat . The doctor claims that his recent
treatment is as effic
acious against the diphtheria as vaccination is
against smallpox . It is in all the papers today . All London will be
going mad over the new remedy tomorrow .”
Hubert nodded thoughtfully . The electric treatment seemed the
right thing . Label had shown him what an effect the application of
the current had had on the teeming mass of matter taken from the
road cutting . He thought it over until he fell asleep in his cab on the
way back to his weary labours .
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* * * *
London raged for the new remedy . The electric treatment for
throat troubles is no new thing . In this case it was simple and pain-
less, and it had been guaranteed by one of the popular heroes of the
hour . A week before Label had been regarded as a crank and a fad-
dist; now people were ready to swear by him . Had he not prophesied
this vile disease for years, and was he not the only man who had a
remedy? And the Emperor of Asturia was mending rapidly .
Had Label bidden the people to stand on their heads for an hour
a day as a sovereign specific they would have done so gladly. Every
private doctor and every public institution was worked to death . At
the end of ten days practically all London had been treated . There
was nothing for it now but to wait patiently for the result .
Another week passed and then suddenly the inrush of cases be-
gan to drop . The average at the end of the second week was down to
eighty per day . On the seventeenth and eighteenth days there were
only four cases altogether and in each instance they proved to be
patients who had not submitted themselves to the treatment .
The scourge was over . Two days elapsed and there were no fresh
cases whatever . Some time before a strong posse of police had
swamped down upon Devonshire Park and cleared all the slum peo-
ple out of their luxurious quarters . One or two of the bolder dwellers
in that once favoured locality began to creep back . Now that they
were inoculated there seemed little to fear .
But Label had something to say about that . He felt that he was
free to act now, he had his royal patient practically off his hands . A
strong Royal Commission had been appointed by Parliament to go
at once thoroughly into the matter .
“And I am the first witness called,” he chuckled to Hubert as