Part 13 (2/2)

I wiped away the b.l.o.o.d.y froth that oozed from the gaping mouth, and tried to compose decently the contorted figure. I covered the face.

Then I started on my last mission, for now I knew the door. I had bought the knowledge dearly, and I meant to use it for my own purpose, careless of what violence might be necessary to accomplish my end.

When I entered Brande's state-room I found the electric light full on.

He was seated at a writing-table with his head resting on his arms, which hung crossways over the desk. The sleeper breathed so deeply it was evident that the effect of the morphia was still strong upon him.

One hand clutched a folded parchment. His fingers clasped it nervelessly, and I had only to force them open one by one in order to withdraw the ma.n.u.script. As I did this, he moaned and moved in his chair. I had no fear of his awaking. My hand shook as I unfolded the parchment which I unconsciously handled as carefully as though the thing itself were as deadly as the destruction which might be wrought by its direction.

To me the whole doc.u.ment was a ma.s.s of unintelligible formulae. My rusty university education could make nothing of it. But I could not waste time in trying to solve the puzzle, for I did not know what moment some other visitor might arrive to see how Brande fared. I first examined with a pocket microscope the ink of the ma.n.u.script, and then making a scratch with Brande's pen on a page of my note-book, I compared the two.

The colours were identical. It was the same ink.

In several places where a narrow s.p.a.ce had been left vacant, I put 1 in front of the figures which followed. I had no reason for making this particular alteration, save that the figure 1 is more easily forged than any other, and the forgery is consequently more difficult to detect. My additions, when the ink was dry, could only have been discovered by one who was informed that the doc.u.ment had been tampered with. It was probable that a drawer which stood open with the keys in the lock was the place where Brande kept this paper; where he would look for it on awaking. I locked it in the drawer and put the keys into his pocket.

There was something still to do with the sleeping man, whose brain compa.s.sed such marvellous powers. His telepathic faculty must be destroyed. I must keep him seriously ill, without killing him. As long as he remained alive his friends would never question his calculations, and the fiasco which was possible under any circ.u.mstances would then be a.s.sured. I had with me an Eastern drug, which I had bought from an Indian fakir once in Murzapoor. The man was an impostor, whose tricks did not impose on me. But the drug, however he came by it, was reliable.

It was a poison which produced a mild form of cerebritis that dulled but did not deaden the mental powers. It acted almost identically whether administered sub-cutaneously or, of course in a larger dose, internally.

I brought it home with the intention of giving it to a friend who was interested in vivisection. I did not think that I myself should be the first and last to experiment with it. It served my purpose well.

The moment I p.r.i.c.ked his skin, Brande moved in his seat. My hand was on his throat. He nestled his head down again upon his arms, and drew a deep breath. Had he moved again that breath would have been his last. I had been so wrought upon by what I had already done that night, I would have taken his life without the slightest hesitation, if the sacrifice seemed necessary.

When my operation was over, I left the room and moved silently along the corridor till I came to the ladder leading to the deck. Edith Metford was waiting for me as we had arranged. She was s.h.i.+vering in spite of the awful heat.

”Have you done it?” she whispered.

”I have,” I answered, without saying how much I had done. ”Now you must retire--and rest easy. The formula won't work. I have put both it and Brande himself out of gear.”

”Thank G.o.d!” she gasped, and then a sudden faintness came over her. It pa.s.sed quickly, and as soon as she was sufficiently restored, I begged her to go below. She pleaded that she could not sleep, and asked me to remain with her upon the deck. ”It would be absurd to suppose that either of us could sleep this night,” she very truly said. On which I was obliged to tell her plainly that she must go below. I had more to do.

”Can I help?” she asked anxiously.

”No. If you could, I would ask you, for you are a brave girl. I have something now to get through which is not woman's work.”

”Your work is my work,” she answered. ”What is it?”

”I have to lower a body overboard without anyone observing me.”

There was no time for discussion, so I told her at once, knowing that she would not give way otherwise. She started at my words, but said firmly:

”How will you do that un.o.bserved by the 'watch'? Go down and bring up your--bring it up. I will keep the men employed.” She went forward, and I turned again to the companion.

When I got back to Rockingham's cabin I took a sheet of paper and wrote, ”Heat--Mad!” making no attempt to imitate his writing. I simply scrawled the words with a rough pen in the hope that they would pa.s.s as a message from a man who was hysterical when he wrote them. Then I turned to the berth and took up the body. It was not a pleasant thing to do. But it must be done.

I was a long time reaching the deck, for the arms and legs swung to and fro, and I had to move cautiously lest they should knock against the woodwork I had to pa.s.s. I got it safely up and hurried aft with it.

Edith, I knew, would contrive to keep the men on watch engaged until I had disposed of my burden. I picked up a coil of rope and made it fast to the dead man's neck. Taking one turn of the rope round a boat-davit, I pushed the thing over the rail. I intended to let go the rope the moment the weight attached to it was safely in the sea, and so lowered away silently, paying out the line without excessive strain owing to the support of the davit round which I had wound it. I had not to wait so long as that, for just as the body was dangling over the foaming wake of the steamer, a little streak of moonlight shot out from behind a bank of cloud and lighted the vessel with a sudden gleam. I was startled by this, and held on, fearing that some watching eye might see my curious movements. For a minute I leaned over the rail and watched the track of the steamer as though I had come on deck for the air. There was a quick rush near the vessel's quarter. Something dark leaped out of the water, and there was a sharp snap--a crunch. The lower limbs were gone in the jaws of a shark. I let go the rope in horror, and the body dropped splas.h.i.+ng into that hideous fis.h.i.+ng-ground. Sick to death I turned away.

”Get below quickly,” Edith Metford said in my ear. ”They heard the splash, slight as it was, and are coming this way.” Her warning was nearly a sob.

<script>