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The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock `
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my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, `
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when the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something `
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which I could hardly hear, it was spoken so quietly and in so low a `
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tone, I thought it was "An hour less than the time." Then turning to `
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me, he spoke in German worse than my own. `
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`
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"There is no carriage here. The Herr is not expected after all. He `
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will now come on to Bukovina, and return tomorrow or the next day, `
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better the next day." Whilst he was speaking the horses began to `
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neigh and snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them `
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up. Then, amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a `
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universal crossing of themselves, a caleche, with four horses, drove `
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up behind us, overtook us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see `
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from the flash of our lamps as the rays fell on them, that the horses `
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were coal-black and splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man, `
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with a long brown beard and a great black hat, which seemed to hide `
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his face from us. I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright `
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eyes, which seemed red in the lamplight, as he turned to us. `
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He said to the driver, "You are early tonight, my friend." `
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The man stammered in reply, "The English Herr was in a hurry." `
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To which the stranger replied, "That is why, I suppose, you wished him `
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to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend. I know too `
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much, and my horses are swift." `
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As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, `
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with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of `
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my companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore". `
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"Denn die Todten reiten Schnell." ("For the dead travel fast.") `
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The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a `
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gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time `
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putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. "Give me the Herr's `
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luggage," said the driver, and with exceeding alacrity my bags were `
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handed out and put in the caleche. Then I descended from the side of `
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the coach, as the caleche was close alongside, the driver helping me `
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with a hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel. His strength must `
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have been prodigious. `
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Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we swept `
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into the darkness of the pass. As I looked back I saw the steam from `
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the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected `
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against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. `
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Then the driver cracked his whip and called to his horses, and off `
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they swept on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I `
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felt a strange chill, and a lonely feeling come over me. But a cloak `
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was thrown over my shoulders, and a rug across my knees, and the `
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driver said in excellent German--"The night is chill, mein Herr, and `
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my master the Count bade me take all care of you. There is a flask of `
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slivovitz (the plum brandy of the country) underneath the seat, if you `
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should require it." `
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I did not take any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the `
`
same. I felt a little strangely, and not a little frightened. I `
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think had there been any alternative I should have taken it, instead `
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of prosecuting that unknown night journey. The carriage went at a `
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hard pace straight along, then we made a complete turn and went along `
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another straight road. It seemed to me that we were simply going over `
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and over the same ground again, and so I took note of some salient `
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point, and found that this was so. I would have liked to have asked `
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the driver what this all meant, but I really feared to do so, for I `
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thought that, placed as I was, any protest would have had no effect in `
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case there had been an intention to delay. `
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By-and-by, however, as I was curious to know how time was passing, I `
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struck a match, and by its flame looked at my watch. It was within a `
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few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I suppose `
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the general superstition about midnight was increased by my recent `
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experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. `
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Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road, a `
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long, agonized wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by `
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another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind `
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which now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which `
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seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination `
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could grasp it through the gloom of the night. `
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At the first howl the horses began to strain and rear, but the driver `
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spoke to them soothingly, and they quieted down, but shivered and `
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sweated as though after a runaway from sudden fright. Then, far off `
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in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder `
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and a sharper howling, that of wolves, which affected both the horses `
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and myself in the same way. For I was minded to jump from the caleche `
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and run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the `
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driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting. `
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In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to the sound, `
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and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able to descend `
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and to stand before them. `
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He petted and soothed them, and whispered something in their ears, as `
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I have heard of horse-tamers doing, and with extraordinary effect, for `
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under his caresses they became quite manageable again, though they `
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still trembled. The driver again took his seat, and shaking his `
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reins, started off at a great pace. This time, after going to the far `
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side of the Pass, he suddenly turned down a narrow roadway which ran `
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sharply to the right. `
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Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over `
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the roadway till we passed as through a tunnel. And again great `
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frowning rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in `
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shelter, we could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled `
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through the rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as `
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we swept along. It grew colder and colder still, and fine, powdery `
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snow began to fall, so that soon we and all around us were covered `
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with a white blanket. The keen wind still carried the howling of the `
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dogs, though this grew fainter as we went on our way. The baying of `
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the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing `
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round on us from every side. I grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses `
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shared my fear. The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed. `
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He kept turning his head to left and right, but I could not see `
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anything through the darkness. `
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`
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Suddenly, away on our left I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The `
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driver saw it at the same moment. He at once checked the horses, and, `
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jumping to the ground, disappeared into the darkness. I did not know `
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what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer. But `
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while I wondered, the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a `
`
word took his seat, and we resumed our journey. I think I must have `
`
fallen asleep and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be `
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repeated endlessly, and now looking back, it is like a sort of awful `
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nightmare. Once the flame appeared so near the road, that even in the `
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darkness around us I could watch the driver's motions. He went `
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rapidly to where the blue flame arose, it must have been very faint, `
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for it did not seem to illumine the place around it at all, and `
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gathering a few stones, formed them into some device. `
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Once there appeared a strange optical effect. When he stood between `
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me and the flame he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly `
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flicker all the same. This startled me, but as the effect was only `
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momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me straining through the `
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darkness. Then for a time there were no blue flames, and we sped `
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onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the wolves around us, `
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as though they were following in a moving circle. `
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At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he `
`
had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble `
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worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see `
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any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether. `
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But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared `
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behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its `
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light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling `
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red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a `
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hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than `
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even when they howled. For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of `
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fear. It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such `
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horrors that he can understand their true import. `
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All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had `
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some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared, and `
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looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to `
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see. But the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side, `
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and they had perforce to remain within it. I called to the coachman `
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to come, for it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break `
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out through the ring and to aid his approach, I shouted and beat the `
`
side of the caleche, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from the `
`
side, so as to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came `
`
there, I know not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious `
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command, and looking towards the sound, saw him stand in the roadway. `
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As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable `
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obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still. Just then a `
`
heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again `
`
in darkness. `
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`
`
When I could see again the driver was climbing into the caleche, and `
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the wolves disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a `
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dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The `
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time seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost `
`
complete darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. `
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`
`
We kept on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in `
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the main always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact `
`
that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the `
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courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came `
`
no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line `
`
against the sky. `
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CHAPTER 2 `
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Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued `
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`
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5 May.--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully `
`
awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In `
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the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several `
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dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed `
`
bigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by `
`
daylight. `
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`
`
When the caleche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand `
`
to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious `
`
strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have `
`
crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took my traps, and placed them `
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on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and `
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