LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

is forty years old, of middle height, with lank limbs, and an exceedingly spare frame; he is wrapped in a long, blood-red pelisse, lined with black fur; his complexion, fair by nature is bronzed by the wandering life he has led from childhood; his hair, of that dead yellow peculiar to certain races of the Polar countries, falls straight and stiff down his shoulders; and his thin, sharp, hooked nose, and prominent cheek-bones, surmount a long beard, bleached almost to whiteness. Peculiarly marking the physiognomy of this man is the wide open eye, with its tawny pupil ever encircled by a rim of white. This fixed, extraordinary look, exercises a real fascination over animals—which, however, does not prevent the Prophet from also employing, to tame them, the terrible arsenal around him.

      Seated at a table, he has just opened the false bottom of a box, filled with chaplets and other toys, for the use of the devout. Beneath this false bottom, secured by a secret lock, are several sealed envelopes, with no other address than a number, combined with a letter of the alphabet. The Prophet takes one of these packets, conceals it in the pocket of his pelisse, and, closing the secret fastening of the false bottom, replaces the box upon a shelf.

      This scene occurs about four o'clock in the afternoon, in the White

       Falcon, the only hostelry in the little village of Mockern, situated near

       Leipsic, as you come from the north towards France.

      After a few moments, the loft is shaken by a hoarse roaring from below.

      "Judas! be quiet!" exclaims the Prophet, in a menacing tone, as he turns his head towards the trap door.

      Another deep growl is heard, formidable as distant thunder.

      "Lie down, Cain!" cries Morok, starting from his seat.

      A third roar, of inexpressible ferocity, bursts suddenly on the ear.

      "Death! Will you have done," cries the Prophet, rushing towards the trap door, and addressing a third invisible animal, which bears this ghastly name.

      Notwithstanding the habitual authority of his voice—notwithstanding his reiterated threats—the brute-tamer cannot obtain silence: on the contrary, the barking of several dogs is soon added to the roaring of the wild beasts. Morok seizes a pike, and approaches the ladder; he is about to descend, when he sees some one issuing from the aperture.

      The new-comer has a brown, sun-burnt face; he wears a gray hat, bell crowned and broad-brimmed, with a short jacket, and wide trousers of green cloth; his dusty leathern gaiters show that he has walked some distance; a game-bag is fastened by straps to his back.

      "The devil take the brutes!" cried he, as he set foot on the floor; "one would think they'd forgotten me in three days. Judas thrust his paw through the bars of his cage, and Death danced like a fury. They don't know me any more, it seems?"

      This was said in German. Morok answered in the same language, but with a slightly foreign accent.

      "Good or bad news, Karl?" he inquired, with some uneasiness.

      "Good news."

      "You've met them!"

      "Yesterday; two leagues from Wittenberg."

      "Heaven be praised!" cried Morok, clasping his hands with intense satisfaction.

      "Oh, of course, 'tis the direct road from Russia to France, 'twas a thousand to one that we should find them somewhere between Wittenberg and Leipsic."

      "And the description?"

      "Very close: two young girls in mourning; horse, white; the old man has long moustache, blue forage-cap; gray topcoat and a Siberian dog at his heels."

      "And where did you leave them?"

      "A league hence. They will be here within the hour."

      "And in this inn—since it is the only one in the village," said Morok, with a pensive air.

      "And night drawing on," added Karl.

      "Did you get the old man to talk?"

      "Him!—you don't suppose it!"

      "Why not?"

      "Go, and try yourself."

      "And for what reason?"

      "Impossible."

      "Impossible—why?"

      "You shall know all about it. Yesterday, as if I had fallen in with them by chance, I followed them to the place where they stopped for the night. I spoke in German to the tall old man, accosting him, as is usual with wayfarers, 'Good-day, and a pleasant journey, comrade!' But, for an answer, he looked askant at me, and pointed with, the end of his stick to the other side of the road."

      "He is a Frenchman, and, perhaps, does not understand German."

      "He speaks it, at least as well as you; for at the inn I heard him ask the host for whatever he and the young girls wanted."

      "And did you not again attempt to engage him in conversation?"

      "Once only; but I met with such a rough reception, that for fear of making mischief, I did not try again. Besides, between ourselves, I can tell you this man has a devilish ugly look; believe me, in spite of his gray moustache, he looks so vigorous and resolute, though with no more flesh on him than a carcass, that I don't know whether he or my mate Giant Goliath, would have the best of it in a struggle. I know not your plans: only take care, master—take care!"

      "My black panther of Java was also very vigorous and very vicious," said

       Morok, with a grim, disdainful, smile.

      "What, Death? Yes; in truth; and she is vigorous and vicious as ever.

       Only to you she is almost mild."

      "And thus I will break this tall old man; notwithstanding his strength and surliness."

      "Humph! humph! be on your guard, master. You are clever, you are as brave as any one; but, believe me, you will never make a lamb out of the old wolf that will be here presently."

      "Does not my lion, Cain—does not my tiger, Judas, crouch in terror before me?"

      "Yes, I believe you there—because you have means—"

      "Because I have faith: that is all—and it is all," said Morok, imperiously interrupting Karl, and accompanying these words with such a look, that the other hung his head and was silent.

      "Why should not he whom the Lord upholds in his struggle with wild beasts, be also upheld in his struggle with men, when those men are perverse and impious?" added the Prophet, with a triumphant, inspired air.

      Whether from belief in his master's conviction, or from inability to engage in a controversy with him on so delicate a subject, Karl answered the Prophet, humbly: "you are wiser than I am, master; what you do must be well done."

      "Did you follow this old man and these two young girls all day long?" resumed the Prophet, after a moment's silence.

      "Yes; but at a distance. As I know the country well, I sometimes cut across a valley, sometimes over a hill, keeping my eye upon the road, where they were always to be seen. The last time I saw them, I was hid behind the water-mill by the potteries. As they were on the highway for this place, and night was drawing on, I quickened my pace to get here before them, and be the bearer of what you call good news."

      "Very good—yes—very good: and you shall be rewarded; for if these people had escaped me—"

      The Prophet started, and did not conclude the sentence. The expression of his face, and the tones of his voice, indicated the importance of the intelligence which had just been brought him.

      "In truth," rejoined Karl, "it may be worth attending to; for that Russian courier, all plastered with lace, who came, without slacking bridle, from St. Petersburg to Leipsic, only to see you, rode so fast, perhaps, for the purpose—"

      Morok abruptly interrupted Karl, and said:

Скачать книгу