No More Learning

Van Helsing shook his
head: "I fear not. This land is very different from yours or mine; even
if we did have a special, it would probably not arrive as soon as our
regular train. Moreover, we have something to prepare. We must think.
Now let us organize. You, friend Arthur, go to the train and get the
tickets and arrange that all be ready for us to go in the morning. Do
you, friend Jonathan, go to the agent of the ship and get from him
letters to the agent in Galatz, with authority to make search the ship
just as it was here. Quincey Morris, you see the Vice-Consul, and get
his aid with his fellow in Galatz and all he can do to make our way
smooth, so that no times be lost when over the Danube. John will stay
with Madam Mina and me, and we shall consult. For so if time be long you
may be delayed; and it will not matter when the sun set, since I am here
with Madam to make report. "

"And I," said Mrs. Harker brightly, and more like her old self than she
had been for many a long day, "shall try to be of use in all ways, and
shall think and write for you as I used to do. Something is shifting
from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late! "
The three younger men looked happier at the moment as they seemed to
realise the significance of her words; but Van Helsing and I, turning to
each other, met each a grave and troubled glance. We said nothing at the
time, however.

When the three men had gone out to their tasks Van Helsing asked Mrs.
Harker to look up the copy of the diaries and find him the part of
Harker's journal at the castle. She went away to get it; when the door
was shut upon her he said to me:--

"We mean the same! speak out! "

"There is some change. It is a hope that makes me sick, for it may
deceive us. "

"Quite so. Do you know why I asked her to get the manuscript? "

"No! " said I, "unless it was to get an opportunity of seeing me alone. "

"You are in part right, friend John, but only in part. I want to tell
you something. And oh, my friend, I am taking a great--a terrible--risk;
but I believe it is right. In the moment when Madam Mina said those
words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration come to me. In
the trance of three days ago the Count sent her his spirit to read her
mind; or more like he took her to see him in his earth-box in the ship
with water rushing, just as it go free at rise and set of sun. He learn
then that we are here; for she have more to tell in her open life with
eyes to see and ears to hear than he, shut, as he is, in his coffin-box.
Now he make his most effort to escape us. At present he want her not.
He is sure with his so great knowledge that she will come at his call;
but he cut her off--take her, as he can do, out of his own power, that
so she come not to him. Ah! there I have hope that our man-brains that
have been of man so long and that have not lost the grace of God, will
come higher than his child-brain that he in his tomb for centuries, that
grow not yet to our stature, and that do only work selfish and therefore
small. Here comes Madam Mina; not a word to her of her trance! She know
it not; and it would overwhelm her and make despair just when we want
all her hope, all her courage; when most we want all her great brain
which is trained like man's brain, but is of sweet woman and have a
special power which the Count give her, and which he may not take away
altogether--though he think not so. Hush! let me speak, and you shall
learn. Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits. I fear, as I never
feared before. We can only trust the good God. Silence! here she comes! "

I thought that the Professor was going to break down and have hysterics,
just as he had when Lucy died, but with a great effort he controlled
himself and was at perfect nervous poise when Mrs. Harker tripped into
the room, bright and happy-looking and, in the doing of work, seemingly
forgetful of her misery. As she came in, she handed a number of sheets
of typewriting to Van Helsing. He looked over them gravely, his face
brightening up as he read. Then, holding the pages between his finger
and thumb, he said:--

"Friend John, to you with so much of experience already--and you too,
dear Madam Mina, that are young--here is a lesson: do not fear ever to
think. A half-thought has been buzzing often in my brain, but I fear to
let him loose his wings. Here now, with more knowledge, I go back to
where that half-thought come from, and I find that he be no half-thought
at all; that he be a whole thought, though so young that he is not yet
strong to use his little wings. Nay, like the "Ugly Duck" of my friend
Hans Andersen, he be no duck-thought at all, but a big swan-thought that
sail nobly on big wings, when the time come for him to try them. See I
read here what Jonathan have written:--

"That other of his race who, in a later age, again and again, brought
his forces over the Great River into Turkey Land; who, when he was
beaten back, came again, and again, and again, though he had to come
alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered,
since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph. "

"What does this tell us? Not much! no! The Count's child-thought see
nothing; therefore he speak so free. Your man-thought see nothing; my
man-thought see nothing, till just now. No! But there comes another
word from some one who speak without thought because she too know not
what it mean--what it _might_ mean. Just as there are elements which
rest, yet when in nature's course they move on their way and they
touch--then pouf! and there comes a flash of light, heaven's wide,
that blind and kill and destroy some; but that show up all earth
below for leagues and leagues. Is it not so? Well, I shall explain.
To begin, have you ever study the philosophy of crime? 'Yes' and
'No. ' You, John, yes; for it is a study of insanity. You, no, Madam
Mina; for crime touch you not--not but once. Still, your mind works
true, and argues not _a particulari ad universale_. There is this
peculiarity in criminals. It is so constant, in all countries and
at all times, that even police, who know not much from philosophy,
come to know it empirically, that _it is_. That is to be empiric. The
criminal always work at one crime--that is the true criminal who seems
predestinate to crime, and who will of none other. This criminal has
not full man-brain. He is clever and cunning and resourceful; but
he be not of man-stature as to brain. He be of child-brain in much.
Now this criminal of ours is predestinate to crime also; he too have
child-brain, and it is of the child to do what he have done. The little
bird, the little fish, the little animal learn not by principle, but
empirically; and when he learn to do, then there is to him the ground
to start from to do more. '_Dos pou sto_,' said Archimedes. 'Give me
a fulcrum, and I shall move the world! ' To do once, is the fulcrum
whereby child-brain become man-brain; and until he have the purpose to
do more, he continue to do the same again every time, just as he have
done before! Oh, my dear, I see that your eyes are opened, and that to
you the lightning flash show all the leagues," for Mrs. Harker began to
clap her hands, and her eyes sparkled. He went on:--

"Now you shall speak. Tell us two dry men of science what you see with
those so bright eyes. " He took her hand and held it whilst she spoke.
His finger and thumb closed on her pulse, as I thought instinctively and
unconsciously, as she spoke:--

"The Count is a criminal and of criminal type. Nordau and Lombroso
would so classify him, and _qua_ criminal he is of imperfectly formed
mind. Thus, in a difficulty he has to seek resource in habit. His past
is a clue, and the one page of it that we know--and that from his own
lips--tells that once before, when in what Mr. Morris would call a
'tight place,' he went back to his own country from the land he had
tried to invade, and thence, without losing purpose, prepared himself
for a new effort. He came again, better equipped for his work; and won.
So he came to London to invade a new land. He was beaten, and when all
hope of success was lost, and his existence in danger, he fled back over
the sea to his home; just as formerly he had fled back over the Danube
from Turkey land. "

"Good, good! oh, you so clever lady! " said Van Helsing,
enthusiastically, as he stooped and kissed her hand. A moment later
he said to me, as calmly as though we had been having a sick-room
consultation:--

"Seventy-two only; and in all this excitement. I have hope. " Turning to
her again, he said with keen expectation:--

"But go on. Go on! there is more to tell if you will. Be not afraid;
John and I know. I do in any case, and shall tell you if you are right.
Speak, without fear! "

"I will try to; but you will forgive me if I seem egotistical. "

"Nay! fear not, you must be egotist, for it is of you that we think. "

"Then, as he is criminal he is selfish; and as his intellect is small
and his action is based on selfishness, he confines himself to one
purpose. That purpose is remorseless. As he fled back over the Danube,
leaving his forces to be cut to pieces, so now he is intent on being
safe, careless of all. So, his own selfishness frees my soul somewhat of
the terrible power which he acquired over me on that dreadful night. I
felt it, Oh! I felt it. Thank God for His great mercy! My soul is freer
than it has been since that awful hour; and all that haunts me is a
fear lest in some trance or dream he may have used my knowledge for his
ends. " The Professor stood up:--

"He has so used your mind; and by it he has left us here in Varna,
whilst the ship that carried him rushed through enveloping fog up to
Galatz, where, doubtless, he had made preparation for escaping from
us. But his child-mind only saw so far; and it may be that, as ever is
in God's Providence, the very thing that the evil doer most reckoned
on for his selfish good, turns out to be his chiefest harm. The hunter
is taken in his own snare, as the great Psalmist says. For now that he
think he is free from every trace of us all, and that he has escaped us
with so many hours to him, then his selfish child-brain will whisper him
to sleep. He think, too, that as he cut himself off from knowing your
mind, there can be no knowledge of him to you; there is where he fail!
That terrible baptism of blood which he give you makes you free to go to
him in spirit, as you have as yet done in your times of freedom, when
the sun rise and set. At such times you go by my volition and not by
his; and this power to good of you and others, you have won from your
suffering at his hands. This is now all more precious that he know it
not, and to guard himself have even cut himself off from his knowledge
of our where. We, however, are not all selfish, and we believe that God
is with us through all this blackness, and these many dark hours. We
shall follow him; and we shall not flinch; even if we peril ourselves
that we become like him. Friend John, this has been a great hour; and it
have done much to advance us on our way. You must be scribe and write
him all down, so that when the others return from their work you can
give it to them; then they shall know as we do. "

And so I have written it whilst we wait their return, and Mrs. Harker
has written with her typewriter all since she brought the MS. to us.




CHAPTER XXVI.

/Dr. Seward's Diary. /


_29 October. _--This is written in the train from Varna to Galatz. Last
night we all assembled a little before the time of sunset. Each of us
had done his work as well as he could; so far as thought, and endeavour,
and opportunity go, we are prepared for the whole of our journey, and
for our work when we get to Galatz. When the usual time came round Mrs.
Harker prepared herself for her hypnotic effort; and after a longer and
more strenuous effort on the part of Van Helsing than has been usually
necessary, she sank into the trance. Usually she speaks on a hint; but
this time the Professor had to ask her questions, and to ask them pretty
resolutely, before we could learn anything; at last her answer came:--

"I can see nothing; we are still; there are no waves lapping, but only
a steady swirl of water softly running against the hawser. I can hear
men's voices calling, near and far, and the roll and creak of oars in
the rowlocks. A gun is fired somewhere; the echo of it seems far away.
There is tramping of feet overhead, and ropes and chains are dragged
along. What is this? There is a gleam of light; I can feel the air
blowing upon me. "

Here she stopped. She had risen, as if impulsively, from where she lay
on the sofa, and raised both her hands, palms upwards, as if lifting
a weight. Van Helsing and I looked at each other with understanding.
Quincey raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at her intently, whilst
Harker's hand instinctively closed round the hilt of his kukri. There
was a long pause. We all knew that the time when she could speak was
passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything. Suddenly she
sat up, and, as she opened her eyes, said sweetly:--

"Would none of you like a cup of tea? You must all be so tired! " We
could only make her happy, and so acquiesced. She bustled off to get
tea; when she had gone Van Helsing said:--

"You see, my friends. _He_ is close to land; he has left his
earth-chest. But he has yet to get on shore. In the night he may lie
hidden somewhere; but if he be not carried on shore, or if the ship do
not touch it, he cannot achieve the land. In such case he can, if it be
in the night, change his form and can jump or fly on shore, as he did at
Whitby. But if the day come before he get on shore, then, unless he be
carried he cannot escape. And if he be carried, then the customs men may
discover what the box contains. Thus, in fine, if he escape not on shore
to-night, or before dawn, there will be the whole day lost to him. We
may then arrive in time; for if he escape not at night we shall come on
him in daytime, boxed up and at our mercy; for he dare not be his true
self, awake and visible, lest he be discovered. "

There was no more to be said, so we waited in patience until the dawn;
at which time we might learn more from Mrs. Harker.

Early this morning we listened, with breathless anxiety, for her
response in her trance. The hypnotic stage was even longer in coming
than before; and when it came the time remaining until full sunrise
was so short that we began to despair. Van Helsing seemed to throw his
whole soul into the effort; at last, in obedience to his will she made
reply:--

"All is dark. I hear lapping water, level with me, and some creaking as
of wood on wood. " She paused, and the red sun shot up. We must wait till
to-night.

And so it is that we are travelling towards Galatz in an agony of
expectation. We are due to arrive between two and three in the morning;
but already, at Bucharest, we are three hours late, so we cannot
possibly get in till well after sun-up. Thus we shall have two more
hypnotic messages from Mrs. Harker; either or both may possibly throw
more light on what is happening.

_Later. _--Sunset has come and gone. Fortunately it came at a time
when there was no distraction; for had it occurred whilst we were at a
station, we might not have secured the necessary calm and isolation.
Mrs. Harker yielded to the hypnotic influence even less readily than
this morning. I am in fear that her power of reading the Count's
sensations may die away, just when we want it most. It seems to me that
her imagination is beginning to work. Whilst she has been in the trance
hitherto she has confined herself to the simplest of facts. If this goes
on it may ultimately mislead us. If I thought that the Count's power
over her would die away equally with her power of knowledge it would be
a happy thought; but I am afraid that it may not be so. When she did
speak, her words were enigmatical:--

"Something is going out; I can feel it pass me like a cold wind. I can
hear, far off, confused sounds--as of men talking in strange tongues,
fierce-falling water, and the howling of wolves. " She stopped, and a
shudder ran through her, increasing in intensity for a few seconds,
till, at the end, she shook as though in a palsy. She said no more, even
in answer to the Professor's imperative questioning. When she woke from
the trance, she was cold, and exhausted, and languid; but her mind was
all alert. She could not remember anything, but asked what she had said;
when she was told, she pondered over it deeply for a long time and in
silence.

_30 October, 7 a. m. _--We are near Galatz now, and I may not have time to
write later. Sunrise this morning was anxiously looked for by us all.
Knowing of the increasing difficulty of procuring the hypnotic trance,
Van Helsing began his passes earlier than usual. They produced no
effect, however, until the regular time, when she yielded with a still
greater difficulty, only a minute before the sun rose. The Professor
lost no time in his questioning; her answer came with equal quickness:--

"All is dark.
I hear the water swirling by, level with my ears, and the
creaking of wood on wood. Cattle low far off. There is another sound, a
queer one like--" she stopped and grew white, and whiter still.

"Go on; Go on! Speak, I command you! " said Van Helsing in an agonized
voice. At the same time there was despair in his eyes, for the risen
sun was reddening even Mrs. Harker's pale face. She opened her eyes,
and we all started as she said, sweetly and seemingly with the utmost
concern:--

"Oh, Professor, why ask me to do what you know I can't? I don't remember
anything. " Then, seeing the look of amazement on our faces, she said,
turning from one to the other with a troubled look:--

"What have I said? What have I done? I know nothing, only that I was
lying here, half asleep, and I heard you say 'go on! speak, I command
you! ' It seemed so funny to hear you order me about, as if I were a bad
child! "

"Oh, Madam Mina," he said sadly, "it is proof, if proof be needed,
of how I love and honour you, when a word for your good, spoken more
earnest than ever, can seem so strange because it is to order her whom I
am proud to obey! "

The whistles are sounding; we are nearing Galatz. We are on fire with
anxiety and eagerness.


_Mina Harker's Journal. _

_30 October. _--Mr. Morris took me to the hotel where our rooms had been
ordered by telegraph, he being the one who could best be spared, since
he does not speak any foreign language. The forces were distributed
much as they had been at Varna, except that Lord Godalming went to the
Vice-Consul as his rank might serve as an immediate guarantee of some
sort to the official, we being in extreme hurry. Jonathan and the two
doctors went to the shipping agent to learn particulars of the arrival
of the _Czarina Catherine_.

_Later. _--Lord Godalming has returned. The Consul is away, and the
Vice-Consul sick; so the routine work has been attended to by a clerk.
He was very obliging, and offered to do anything in his power.


_Jonathan Harker's Journal. _

_30 October. _--At nine o'clock Dr. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and I
called on Messrs Mackenzie & Steinkoff, the agents of the London firm
of Hapgood. They had received a wire from London, in answer to Lord
Godalming's telegraphed request, asking them to show us any civility
in their power. They were more than kind and courteous, and took us
at once on board the _Czarina Catherine_, which lay at anchor out in
the river harbour. There we saw the captain, Donelson by name, who told
us of his voyage. He said that in all his life he had never had so
favourable a run.

"Man! " he said, "but it made us afeared, for we expeckit that we should
have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the
average. It's no canny to run frae London to the Black Sea wi' a wind
ahint ye, as though the Deil himself were blawin' on yer sail for his
ain purpose. An' a' the time we could no speer a thing. Gin we were nigh
a ship, or a port, or a headland, a fog fell on us and travelled wi' us,
till when after it had lifted and we looked out, the deil a thing could
we see. We ran by Gibraltar wi'oot bein' able to signal; an' till we
came to the Dardanelles and had to wait to get our permit to pass, we
never were within hail o' aught. At first I inclined to slack off sail
and beat about till the fog was lifted; but whiles, I thocht that if
the Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to
do it whether we would or no. If we had a quick voyage it would be no
to our miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic; an' the Old
Mon who had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no
hinderin' him. " This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition
and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said:--

"Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some; and
he know when he meet his match! " The skipper was not displeased with the
compliment, and went on:--

"When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumble; some o' them,
the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had
been put on board by a queer-lookin' old man just before we had started
frae London. I had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa
fingers when they saw him, to guard against the evil eye. Man! but the
supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot
their business pretty quick; but as just after a fog closed in on us,
I felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it
was agin the big box. Well, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up
for five days I joost let the wind carry us; for if the Deil wanted to
get somewheres--well, he would fetch it up a'reet. An' if he didn't,
well, we'd keep a sharp look out anyhow. Sure enuch, we had a fair way
and deep water all the time; and two days ago, when the mornin' sun
came through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite
Galatz. The Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take
out the box and fling it in the river. I had to argy wi' them aboot it
wi' a handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck, wi' his
head in his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye,
the property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in
the river Danube. They had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to
fling in, and as it was marked Galatz _via_ Varna, I thocht I'd let it
lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't athegither. We didn't
do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchor; but in
the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sun-up, a man came aboord
wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box marked for
one Count Dracula. Sure enuch the matter was one ready to his hand. He
had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the dam' thing, for
I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it. If the Deil did have any
luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither than that same! "

"What was the name of the man who took it? " asked Dr. Van Helsing, with
restrained eagerness.

"I'll be tellin' ye quick! " he answered, and, stepping down to his
cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim. " Burgen-strasse
16 was the address. We found out that this was all the captain knew; so
with thanks we came away.

We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi
type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fez. His arguments were pointed
with specie--we doing the punctuation--and with a little bargaining
he told us what he knew. This turned out to be simple but important.
He had received a letter from Mr. de Ville of London, telling him to
receive, if possible before sunrise, so as to avoid customs, a box
which would arrive at Galatz in the _Czarina Catherine_. This he was to
give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with Slovaks who
traded down the river to the port. He had been paid for his work by an
English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube
International Bank. When Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to
the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage. That was all
he knew.

We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find him. One of his
neighbours, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had
gone away two days before, no one knew whither. This was corroborated
by his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house
together with the rent due, in English money. This had been between ten
and eleven o'clock last night. We were at a standstill again.

Whilst we were talking, one came running and breathlessly gasped
out that the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the
churchyard of St. Peter, and that the throat had been torn open as if
by some wild animal. Those we had been speaking with ran off to see the
horror, the women crying out, "This is the work of a Slovak! " We hurried
away lest we should have been in some way drawn into the affair, and so
detained.

As we came home we could arrive at no definite conclusion. We were all
convinced that the box was on its way, by water, to somewhere; but where
that might be we would have to discover. With heavy hearts we came home
to the hotel to Mina.

When we met together, the first thing was to consult as to taking Mina
again into our confidence. Things are getting desperate, and it is at
least a chance, though a hazardous one. As a preliminary step, I was
released from my promise to her.


_Mina Harker's Journal. _

_30 October, evening. _--They were so tired and worn-out and dispirited
that there was nothing to be done till they had some rest; so I asked
them all to lie down for half an hour whilst I should enter everything
up to the moment. I feel so grateful to the man who invented the
"Traveller's" typewriter, and to Mr. Morris for getting this one for me.
I should have felt quite astray doing the work if I had to write with a
pen. . . .

It is all done; poor dear, dear Jonathan, what he must have suffered,
what must he be suffering now. He lies on the sofa hardly seeming to
breathe, and his whole body appears in collapse. His brows are knit;
his face is drawn with pain. Poor fellow, maybe he is thinking, and I
can see his face all wrinkled up with the concentration of his thoughts.
Oh! if I could only help at all. . . . I shall do what I can. . . .

I have asked Dr. Van Helsing, and he has got me all the papers that
I have not yet seen. . . . Whilst they are resting, I shall go over all
carefully, and perhaps I may arrive at some conclusion. I shall try to
follow the Professor's example, and think without prejudice on the facts
before me. . . .

I do believe that under God's Providence I have made a discovery. I
shall get the maps and look over them. . . .

I am more than ever sure that I am right. My new conclusion is ready,
so I shall get our party together and read it. They can judge it; it is
well to be accurate, and every minute is precious.


_Mina Harker's Memorandum. _

(Entered in her Journal. )

_Ground of inquiry. _--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own
place.

(_a_) He must be _brought back_ by some one. This is evident; for, had
he power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or
wolf, or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or
interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be--confined
as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box.

(_b_) _How is he to be taken? _--Here a process of exclusion may help us.
By road, by rail, by water?

1. _By Road. _--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving a
city.

(_x_) There are people; and people are curious, and investigate. A hint,
a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him.

(_y_) There are, or there might be, customs and octroi officers to pass.

(_z_) His pursuers might follow. This is his greatest fear; and in order
to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even
his victim--me!

2. _By Rail. _--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to
take its chance of being delayed; and delay would be fatal, with enemies
on the track. True, he might escape at night; but where would he be, if
left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not
what he intends; and he does not mean to risk it.

3. _By Water. _--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most
danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night; even
then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were
he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless; and he would
indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land; but if it were
unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would
still be desperate.

We know from the record that he was on the water; so what we have to do
is to ascertain _what_ water.

The first thing is to realise exactly what he has done as yet; we may,
then, get a light on what his later task is to be.

_Firstly. _--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part
of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had
to arrange as best he could.

_Secondly_ we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we
know of, what he has done here.

As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent
invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of
exit from England; his immediate and sole purpose then was to escape.
The proof of this is the letter of instructions sent to Immanuel
Hildesheim to clear and take away the box _before sunrise_. There is
also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. This we must only guess at;
but there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to
Hildesheim.

That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The _Czarina Catherine_
made a phenomenally quick journey--so much so that Captain Donelson's
suspicions were aroused; but his superstition united with his canniness
played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favouring wind
through fogs and all till he brought up blindfold at Galatz. That the
Count's arrangements were well made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared
the box, took it off, and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it--and here
we lose the trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water,
moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have been
avoided.

Now we come to what the Count must have done after his arrival--_on
land_, at Galatz.

The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise the Count could
appear in his own form. Here, we ask why Skinsky was chosen at all to
aid in the work? In my husband's diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing
with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port; and the man's
remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general
feeling against his class. The Count wanted isolation.

My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his
Castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from
the Castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks
who took the boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London.
Thus the Count had knowledge of the persons who could arrange this
service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he
came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to
arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and
he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought,
by murdering his agent.

I have examined the map, and find that the river most suitable for the
Slovaks to have ascended is either the Pruth or the Sereth. I read in
the typescript that in my trance I heard cows low and water swirling
level with my ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then,
was on a river in an open boat--propelled probably either by oars or
poles, for the banks are near and it is working against stream. There
would be no such sound if floating down stream.

Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but we may
possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the Pruth is the more
easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at Fundu, joined by the Bistritza,
which runs up round the Borgo Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as
close to Dracula's Castle as can be got by water.


_Mina Harker's Journal--continued. _

When I had done reading, Jonathan took me in his arms and kissed me. The
others kept shaking me by both hands, and Dr. Van Helsing said:--

"Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have seen where
we were blinded.