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第17节

classic mystery and detective stories-第17节

小说: classic mystery and detective stories 字数: 每页4000字

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pointed out to the woman his coffer; to the men the fuel stowed in

the outhouse。  Both were borne away and placed within the litter。

Meanwhile I took from the table; on which it was carelessly thrown;

the light hatchet that I habitually carried with me in my rambles。



〃Do you think that you need that idle weapon?〃 said Margrave。  〃Do

you fear the good faith of my swarthy attendants?〃



〃Nay; take the hatchet yourself; its use is to sever the gold from

the quartz in which we may find it imbedded; or to clear; as this

shovel; which will also be needed; from the slight soil above it;

the ore that the mine in the mountain flings forth; as the sea

casts its waifs on the sands。〃



〃Give me your hand; fellow laborer!〃 said Margrave; joyfully。  〃Ah;

there is no faltering terror in this pulse!  I was not mistaken in

the man。  What rests; but the place and the hour?I shall live; I

shall live!〃





III





Margrave now entered the litter; and the Veiled Woman drew the

black curtains round him。  I walked on; as the guide; some yards in

advance。  The air was still; heavy; and parched with the breath of

the Australasian sirocco。



We passed through the meadow lands; studded with slumbering flocks;

we followed the branch of the creek; which was linked to its source

in the mountains by many a trickling waterfall; we threaded the

gloom of stunted; misshapen trees; gnarled with the stringy bark

which makes one of the signs of the strata that nourish gold; and

at length the moon; now in all her pomp of light; mid…heaven among

her subject stars; gleamed through the fissures of the cave; on

whose floor lay the relics of antediluvian races; and rested in one

flood of silvery splendor upon the hollows of the extinct volcano;

with tufts of dank herbage; and wide spaces of paler sward;

covering the gold belowgold; the dumb symbol of organized

Matter's great mystery; storing in itself; according as Mind; the

informer of Matter; can distinguish its uses; evil and good; bane

and blessing。



Hitherto the Veiled Woman had remained in the rear; with the white…

robed; skeletonlike image that had crept to my side unawares with

its noiseless step。  Thus; in each winding turn of the difficult

path at which the convoy following behind me came into sight; I had

seen; first; the two gayly dressed; armed men; next the black;

bierlike litter; and last the Black…veiled Woman and the White…

robed Skeleton。



But now; as I halted on the tableland; backed by the mountain and

fronting the valley; the woman left her companion; passed by the

litter and the armed men; and paused by my side; at the mouth of

the moonlit cavern。



There for a moment she stood; silent; the procession below mounting

upward laboriously and slow; then she turned to me; and her veil

was withdrawn。



The face on which I gazed was wondrously beautiful; and severely

awful。  There was neither youth nor age; but beauty; mature and

majestic as that of a marble Demeter。



〃Do you believe in that which you seek?〃 she asked in her foreign;

melodious; melancholy accents。



〃I have no belief;〃 was my answer。  〃True science has none。  True

science questions all things; takes nothing upon credit。  It knows

but three states of the minddenial; conviction; and that vast

interval between the two which is not belief but suspense of

judgment。〃



The woman let fall her veil; moved from me; and seated herself on a

crag above that cleft between mountain and creek; to which; when I

had first discovered the gold that the land nourished; the rain

from the clouds had given the rushing life of the cataract; but

which now; in the drought and the hush of the skies; was but a dead

pile of stones。



The litter now ascended the height: its bearers halted; a lean hand

tore the curtains aside; and Margrave descended leaning; this time;

not on the Black…veiled Woman; but on the White…robed Skeleton。



There; as he stood; the moon shone full on his wasted form; on his

face; resolute; cheerful; and proud; despite its hollowed outlines

and sicklied hues。  He raised his head; spoke in the language

unknown to me; and the armed men and the litter bearers grouped

round him; bending low; their eyes fixed on the ground。  The Veiled

Woman rose slowly and came to his side; motioning away; with a mute

sign; the ghastly form on which he leaned; and passing round him

silently; instead; her own sustaining arm。  Margrave spoke again a

few sentences; of which I could not even guess the meaning。  When

he had concluded; the armed men and the litter bearers came nearer

to his feet; knelt down; and kissed his hand。  They then rose; and

took from the bierlike vehicle the coffer and the fuel。  This done;

they lifted again the litter; and again; preceded by the armed men;

the procession descended down the sloping hillside; down into the

valley below。



Margrave now whispered; for some moments; into the ear of the

hideous creature who had made way for the Veiled Woman。  The grim

skeleton bowed his head submissively; and strode noiselessly away

through the long grassesthe slender stems; trampled under his

stealthy feet; relifting themselves as after a passing wind。  And

thus he; too; sank out of sight down into the valley below。  On the

tableland of the hill remained only we threeMargrave; myself; and

the Veiled Woman。



She had reseated herself apart; on the gray crag above the dried

torrent。  He stood at the entrance of the cavern; round the sides

of which clustered parasital plants; with flowers of all colors;

some among them opening their petals and exhaling their fragrance

only in the hours of night; so that; as his form filled up the jaws

of the dull arch; obscuring the moonbeam that strove to pierce the

shadows that slept within; it stood nowwan and blightedas I had

seen it first; radiant and joyous; literally 〃framed in blooms。〃





IV





〃So;〃 said Margrave; turning to me; 〃under the soil that spreads

around us lies the gold which to you and to me is at this moment of

no value; except as a guide to its twin…bornthe regenerator of

life!〃



〃You have not yet described to me the nature of the substance which

we are to explore; nor the process by which the virtues you impute

to it are to be extracted。〃



〃Let us first find the gold; and instead of describing the life…

amber; so let me call it; I will point it out to your own eyes。  As

to the process; your share in it is so simple that you will ask me

why I seek aid from a chemist。  The life…amber; when found; has but

to be subjected to heat and fermentation for six hours; it will be

placed in a small caldron which that coffer contains; over the fire

which that fuel will feed。  To give effect to the process; certain

alkalies and other ingredients are required; but these are

prepared; and mine is the task to commingle them。  From your

science as chemist I need and ask naught。  In you I have sought

only the aid of a man。〃



〃If that be so; why; indeed; seek me at all?  Why not confide in

those swarthy attendants; who doubtless are slaves to your orders?〃



〃Confide in slaves; when the first task enjoined to them would be

to discover; and refrain from purloining gold!  Seven such

unscrupulous knaves; or even one such; and I; thus defenseless and

feeble!  Such is not the work that wise masters confide to fierce

slaves。  But that is the least of the reasons which exclude them

from my choice; and fix my choice of assistant on you。  Do you

forget what I told you of the danger which the Dervish declared no

bribe I could offer could tempt him a second time to brave?〃



〃I remember now; those words had passed away from my mind。〃



〃And because they had passed away from your mind; I chose you for

my comrade。  I need a man by whom danger is scorned。〃



〃But in the process of which you tell me I see no possible danger

unless the ingredients you mix in your caldron have poisonous

fumes。〃



〃It is not that。  The ingredients I use are not poisons。〃



〃What other danger; except you dread your own Eastern slaves?  But;

if so; why lead them to these solitudes; and; if so; why not bid me

be armed?〃



〃The Eastern slaves; fulfilling my commands; wait for my summons;

where their eyes cannot see what we do。  The danger is of a kind in

which the boldest son of the East would be more craven; perhaps;

that the daintiest Sybarite of Europe; who would shrink from a

panther and laugh at a ghost。  In the creed of the Dervish; and of

all who adventure into that realm of Nature which is closed to

philosophy and open to magic; there are races in the magnitude of

space unseen as animalcules in the world of a drop。  For the tribes

of the drop science has its microscope。  Of the host of yon azure

Infinite magic gains sight; and through them gains command over

fluid conductors that link all the parts of creation。  Of these

races; some are wholly in

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