Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/245

Rh pressing, for the news must be spreading now; and don't forget two of the best magazine blunderbusses loaded with ten charges each; and if you forget to put in the bullets, look out for the bastinado!'

'For the love of Heaven, my honoured master——' said the alarmed and affectionate servant.

'You rascal!' roared the Doctor, 'be off—obey my commands, see that you forget nothing. Go in, Ubertus; the Demon has ordered out his balloon; you have only a few hours left; if he should come for you before this business is settled, we may go and jump into the Dark River. Go in, sir, I beg of you!'

I went in accordingly, and threw myself upon a couch which I knew would not sting me; but if it did not, my own thoughts did. What could this extraordinary personage mean by his dog-kennel, and his coil of wire? Patience! patience! I should soon know. In the meantime, let my thoughts be pleasant. I anticipated certain death. No power on earth could save me now, unless—but I count it almost blasphemy to breathe that Name, a Name holy above all names, that is so often blasphemously spoken by the most unclean lips. To die was nothing; I had nearly attained man's allotted period; but to die in that pit of darkness, to be cast out, to be abandoned to wretchedness and despair! I could not endure the thought, and yet I must await the bitter end. 'Courage—hope—hope—courage!' These words I repeated to myself about five hundred times.

After the lapse of two or three hours, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and a strange servant, whom I had not seen before, entered the room. He was a grim, stern old man, with a hooked nose, a cramped, low forehead, and eyes like small round shells of mother-of-pearl. He was a most extraordinary object, like the ghost of a Chinese Mandarin very far gone in his dotage. He