Poor Eltham we had placed in a nursing establishment, where his indescribable hurts could be properly tended: and his uncomplaining fortitude5 not infrequently made me thoroughly6 ashamed of myself. Needless to say, Smith had made such other arrangements as were necessary to safeguard the injured man, and these proved so successful that the malignant7 being whose plans they thwarted8 abandoned his designs upon the heroic clergyman and directed his attention elsewhere, as I must now proceed to relate.
Dusk always brought with it a cloud of apprehensions9, for darkness must ever be the ally of crime; and it was one night, long after the clocks had struck the mystic hour “when churchyards yawn,” that the hand of Dr. Fu-Manchu again stretched out to grasp a victim. I was dismissing a chance patient.
“Good night, Dr. Petrie,” he said.
“Good night, Mr. Forsyth,” I replied; and, having conducted my late visitor to the door, I closed and bolted it, switched off the light and went upstairs.
My patient was chief officer of one of the P. and O. boats. He had cut his hand rather badly on the homeward run, and signs of poisoning having developed, had called to have the wound treated, apologizing for troubling me at so late an hour, but explaining that he had only just come from the docks. The hall clock announced the hour of one as I ascended11 the stairs. I found myself wondering what there was in Mr. Forsyth’s appearance which excited some vague and elusive12 memory. Coming to the top floor, I opened the door of a front bedroom and was surprised to find the interior in darkness.
“Smith!” I called.
“Come here and watch!” was the terse13 response. Nayland Smith was sitting in the dark at the open window and peering out across the common. Even as I saw him, a dim silhouette14, I could detect that tensity in his attitude which told of high-strung nerves.
I joined him.
His masterful voice had the dry tone in it betokening17 excitement. I leaned on the ledge18 beside him and looked out. The blaze of stars almost compensated19 for the absence of the moon and the night had a quality of stillness that made for awe20. This was a tropical summer, and the common, with its dancing lights dotted irregularly about it, had an unfamiliar21 look to-night. The clump of nine elms showed as a dense22 and irregular mass, lacking detail.
Such moods as that which now claimed my friend are magnetic. I had no thought of the night’s beauty, for it only served to remind me that somewhere amid London’s millions was lurking23 an uncanny being, whose life was a mystery, whose very existence was a scientific miracle.
“Where’s your patient?” rapped Smith.
His abrupt24 query25 diverted my thoughts into a new channel. No footstep disturbed the silence of the highroad; where was my patient?
I craned from the window. Smith grabbed my arm.
“Don’t lean out,” he said.
I drew back, glancing at him surprisedly.
“For Heaven’s sake, why not?”
“I’ll tell you presently, Petrie. Did you see him?”
“I did, and I can’t make out what he is doing. He seems to have remained standing26 at the gate for some reason.”
“He has seen it!” snapped Smith. “Watch those elms.”
His hand remained upon my arm, gripping it nervously27. Shall I say that I was surprised? I can say it with truth. But I shall add that I was thrilled, eerily28; for this subdued29 excitement and alert watching of Smith could only mean one thing:
Fu-Manchu!
And that was enough to set me watching as keenly as he; to set me listening; not only for sounds outside the house but for sounds within. Doubts, suspicions, dreads30, heaped themselves up in my mind. Why was Forsyth standing there at the gate? I had never seen him before, to my knowledge, yet there was something oddly reminiscent about the man. Could it be that his visit formed part of a plot? Yet his wound had been genuine enough. Thus my mind worked, feverishly31; such was the effect of an unspoken thought—Fu-Manchu.
“There it is again, Petrie!” he whispered.
“Look, look!”
His words were wholly unnecessary. I, too, had seen it; a wonderful and uncanny sight. Out of the darkness under the elms, low down upon the ground, grew a vaporous blue light. It flared34 up, elfinish, then began to ascend10. Like an igneous35 phantom36, a witch flame, it rose, high—higher—higher, to what I adjudged to be some twelve feet or more from the ground. Then, high in the air, it died away again as it had come!
“For God’s sake, Smith, what was it?”
“Don’t ask me, Petrie. I have seen it twice. We—”
He paused. Rapid footsteps sounded below. Over Smith’s shoulder I saw Forsyth cross the road, climb the low rail, and set out across the common.
Smith sprang impetuously to his feet.
“We must stop him!” he said hoarsely37; then, clapping a hand to my mouth as I was about to call out—“Not a sound, Petrie!”
He ran out of the room and went blundering downstairs in the dark, crying:
“Out through the garden—the side entrance!”
I overtook him as he threw wide the door of my dispensing38 room. Through it he ran and opened the door at the other end. I followed him out, closing it behind me. The smell from some tobacco plants in a neighboring flower-bed was faintly perceptible; no breeze stirred; and in the great silence I could hear Smith, in front of me, tugging39 at the bolt of the gate.
Then he had it open, and I stepped out, close on his heels, and left the door ajar.
“We must not appear to have come from your house,” explained Smith rapidly. “I will go along the highroad and cross to the common a hundred yards up, where there is a pathway, as though homeward bound to the north side. Give me half a minute’s start, then you proceed in an opposite direction and cross from the corner of the next road. Directly you are out of the light of the street lamps, get over the rails and run for the elms!”
He thrust a pistol into my hand and was off.
While he had been with me, speaking in that incisive40, impetuous way of his, with his dark face close to mine, and his eyes gleaming like steel, I had been at one with him in his feverish32 mood, but now, when I stood alone, in that staid and respectable byway, holding a loaded pistol in my hand, the whole thing became utterly41 unreal.
It was in an odd frame of mind that I walked to the next corner, as directed; for I was thinking, not of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the great and evil man who dreamed of Europe and America under Chinese rule, not of Nayland Smith, who alone stood between the Chinaman and the realization42 of his monstrous43 schemes, not even of Karamaneh the slave girl, whose glorious beauty was a weapon of might in Fu-Manchu’s hand, but of what impression I must have made upon a patient had I encountered one then.
Such were my ideas up to the moment that I crossed to the common and vaulted44 into the field on my right. As I began to run toward the elms I found myself wondering what it was all about, and for what we were come. Fifty yards west of the trees it occurred to me that if Smith had counted on cutting Forsyth off we were too late, for it appeared to me that he must already be in the coppice.
I was right. Twenty paces more I ran, and ahead of me, from the elms, came a sound. Clearly it came through the still air—the eerie45 hoot46 of a nighthawk. I could not recall ever to have heard the cry of that bird on the common before, but oddly enough I attached little significance to it until, in the ensuing instant, a most dreadful scream—a scream in which fear, and loathing47, and anger were hideously48 blended—thrilled me with horror.
After that I have no recollection of anything until I found myself standing by the southernmost elm.
“Smith!” I cried breathlessly. “Smith! my God! where are you?”
As if in answer to my cry came an indescribable sound, a mingled49 sobbing50 and choking. Out from the shadows staggered a ghastly figure—that of a man whose face appeared to be streaked51. His eyes glared at me madly and he mowed52 the air with his hands like one blind and insane with fear.
I started back; words died upon my tongue. The figure reeled and the man fell babbling53 and sobbing at my very feet.
Inert54 I stood, looking down at him. He writhed55 a moment—and was still. The silence again became perfect. Then, from somewhere beyond the elms, Nayland Smith appeared. I did not move. Even when he stood beside me, I merely stared at him fatuously56.
“I let him walk to his death, Petrie,” I heard dimly. “God forgive me—God forgive me!”
The words aroused me.
“Smith”—my voice came as a whisper—“for one awful moment I thought—”
“So did some one else,” he rapped. “Our poor sailor has met the end designed for me, Petrie!”
At that I realized two things: I knew why Forsyth’s face had struck me as being familiar in some puzzling way, and I knew why Forsyth now lay dead upon the grass. Save that he was a fair man and wore a slight mustache, he was, in features and build, the double of Nayland Smith!
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1
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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2
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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3
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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5
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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6
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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7
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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8
thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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9
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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10
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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13
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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14
silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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15
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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16
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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17
betokening
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的现在分词 ) | |
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18
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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19
compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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20
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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21
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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22
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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23
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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24
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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25
query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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26
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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eerily
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| adv.引起神秘感或害怕地 | |
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29
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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30
dreads
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| n.恐惧，畏惧( dread的名词复数 )；令人恐惧的事物v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31
feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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32
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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33
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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34
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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35
igneous
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| adj.火的，火绒的 | |
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36
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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38
dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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39
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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40
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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41
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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42
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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43
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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44
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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45
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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46
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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47
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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48
hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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49
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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50
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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51
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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52
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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54
inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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55
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
fatuously
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| adv.愚昧地，昏庸地，蠢地 | |
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