HALLOWEEN Boxed Set: 200+ Horror Classics & Supernatural Mysteries. Джек Лондон
wet night, and the wind blew, and we heard the sound of his horse's hoofs for some time; however, I shut the door and went in, thinking over in my own mind what would be the gain of my own exertions.
* * * * *
'Well, at the appointed time, I borrowed a chaise cart, a covered one, with what you call a head to it, and I trotted to town in it. At the appointed time, I was at the corner of Grosvenor-street; it was late, and yet I waited there an hour or more before I saw anyone.
'I walked into a little house to get a glass of spirits to keep up the warmth of the body, and when I came out again, I saw someone standing at my horse's head. I immediately went up.
'"Oh, you are here," he said.
'"Yes, I am," said I, "I have been here the Lord knows how long. Are you ready?"
'"Yes, I am come," said he, as he got into the cart, "come to the place I shall tell you - I shall only get her into the cart, and you must do the rest."
'"You'll come back with me: I shall want help on the road, and I have no one with me."
'"Yes, I will come with you, and manage the girl, but you must drive, and take all the casualties of the road, for I shall have enough to do to hold her, and keep her from screaming, when she does awake."
'"What! is she asleep?"
'"I have given her a small dose of laudanum, which will cause her to sleep comfortably for an hour or two, but the cold air and disturbance will most probably awaken her first."
'"Throw something over her, and keep her warm, and have something ready to thrust into her mouth, in case she takes to screaming, and then you are all right."
'"Good," he replied: "now wait here. I am going to yon house. When I've entered, and disappeared several minutes, you may quietly drive up, and take your station on the other side of the lamp-post."
'As he spoke he got out, and walked to a large house which he entered softly, and left the door ajar; and after he had gone in, I walked the horse quietly up to the lamp-post, and as I placed it, the horse and front of the cart were completely in the dark.
'I had scarcely got up to the spot, when the door opened, and he looked out to see if anybody was passing. I gave him the word, and out he came, leaving the door, and came with what looked like a bundle of clothes, but which was the young girl and some clothes he had brought with him.
'"Give her to me," said I, "and jump up and take the reins; go on as quickly as you can.
'I took the girl in my arms, and handed her into the back part of the chaise, while he jumped up, and drove away. I placed the young girl in an easy position upon some hay, and stuffed the clothes under her, so as to prevent the jolting from hurting her.
"Well," said I, "you may as well come back here, and sit beside her: she is all right. You seem rather in a stew.~~
'"Why, I have run with her in my arms, and altogether it has flurried me."
'"You had better have some brandy," said I.
'"No, no! don't stop."
'"Pooh, pooh!" I replied, pulling up, "here is the last house we shall come to, to have a good stiff tumbler of hot brandy and water. Come, have you any change, about a sovereign will do, because I shall want change on the road? Come, be quick."
'He handed me a sovereign, saying, "Don't you think it's dangerous to stop - we may be watched, or she may wake."
'"Not a bit of it. She snores too loudly to wake just yet, and you'll faint without the cordial; so keep a good look-out upon the wench, and you will recover your nerves again."
'As I spoke, I jumped out, and got two glasses of brandy and water, hot, strong, and sweet. I had in about two minutes made out of the house.
'"Here," said I, "drink - drink it all up - it will bring the eyes out of your head."
'I spoke the truth, for what with my recommendation and his nervousness and haste, he drank about half of it at a gulp.
'I shall never forget his countenance. Ha! ha! ha! I can't keep my mirth to myself. Just imagine the girl inside a covered cart, all dark, so dark that you could hardly see the outlines of the shadow of a man -and then imagine, if you can, a pair of keen eyes, that shone in the dark like cat's eyes, suddenly give out a flash of light, and then turn round in their sockets, showing the whites awfully, and then listen to the fall of the glass, and see him grasp his throat with one hand, and thrust the other hand into his stomach.
'There was a queer kind of voice came from his throat, and then something like a curse and a groan escaped him.
'"Damn it," said I; "what is the matter now - you've supped all the liquor - you are very nervous - you had better have another dose."
'"No more - no more," he said, faintly and huskily, "no more, for God's sake no more. I am almost choked, my throat is scalded, and my entrails on fire."
"I told you it was hot," said I.
'"Yes, hot, boiling - go on. I'm mad with pain - push on.
'"Will you have any water or anything to cool your throat?" said I.
'"No, no - go on.
'"Yes," said I, "but the brandy and water is hot; however, it's going down very fast now - very fast indeed, here is the last mouthful"; and as I said so, I gulped it down, returned with the one glass, and then paid for the damage.
'This did not occupy five minutes, and away we came along the road at a devil of a pace, and we were all right enough; my friend behind me got over his scald, though he had a very sore gullet, and his intestines were in a very uncomfortable state; but he was better.
'Away we rattled, the ground rattling to the horse's hoofs and the wheels of the vehicle, the young girl still remaining in the same state of insensibility in which she had first been brought out.
'No doubt she had taken a stronger dose of the opium than she was willing to admit. That was nothing to me, but made it all the better, because she gave the less trouble, and made it safer.
'We got here easy enough, drove slap up to the door, which was opened in an instant, jumped out, took the girl, and carried her in.
'When once these doors are shut upon anyone, they may rest assured that it is quite a settled thing, and they don't get out very easy, save in a wooden surtout; indeed, I never lost a boarder by any other means; we always keep one connection, and they are usually so well satisfied, that they never take anyone away from us.
'Well, well! I carried her indoors, and left her in a room by herself on a bed. She was a nice girl - a handsome girl, I suppose people would call her, and had a low, sweet and plaintive voice. But enough of this!
'"She's all right," said I, when I returned to this room. "It's all right - I have left her."
'"She isn't dead?" he enquired, with much terror.
'"Oh! no, no! she is only asleep, and has not woke up yet from the effects of the laudanum. Will you now give me one year's pay in advance?"
"Yes," he replied, as he handed the money, and the remainder of the bonds. "Now, how am I to do about getting back to London tonight?"
'"You had better remain here."
'"Oh, no! I should go mad too, if I were to remain here; I must leave here soon.
'"Well, will you go to the village inn?"
'"How far is that off?"
'"About a mile - you'll reach it easy enough; I'll drive you over for the matter of that, and leave you there. I shall take the cart there."
"Very well, let it be so; I will go. Well, well, I am glad it is all over, and the sooner it is over for ever, the better. I am truly sorry for her, but it cannot be helped. It will kill her, I have no doubt; but that is all the better; she will escape the misery consequent upon her departure, and release us from a weight of care."
'"So