" I wonder where our grey-beard may stay so long. I have not seen his holy face since our last fun.
" Take my word, brother, he sits by the fireside and chants penitential hymns. The fellow is of no further use to our community, we must send him to the devil.
" Let him alone, my boys, he has rendered us many good services, has saved many of our brave companions from the hangman's ruthless fangs; don't grudge him a little rest, he will soon return and bring us joyful tidings.
" He has procured us many a golden booty; has, by his cunning, extricated us from many neck-breaking difficulties; it would be ungrateful to be angry with him. What would become of our noble band if he did not guide our arm by his sage counsels?
" Bravely spoken, my lad, he is a good sort of a fellow; it is a thousand pities that he begins to grow old and infirm.
" Let him grow old and infirm, if he but escapes the gallows.
"Here somebody was locking the door of an adjoining room, a hollow bustle and humming ensued, and the robbers (for such they must have been) were going to withdraw.
"Shall we break in upon the scoundrels?" whispered the Austrian to me.
"By what means?" replied I, shrugging up my shoulders.
"Through the garden, or the adjoining wing of the castle," resumed he.
"But the danger," said I, --"Is not so great as you fancy," interrupted the Austrian; "yet it will be better to force the gentlemen to open the door; if they should refuse to do it, then it will be time enough to surprise them in the court-yard, for I do not think it prudent to venture on the staircase, because they would then have too much advantage over us."
"Now all was silent in the cellar, till after a short pause a new conversation began.
" I say, brother, what shall we do with the officer's servant we have entrapped? The dog is good for nothing, and we are in danger that he will betray us one time or other.
" Let us knock his brains out.
" Let us give him his liberty.
" Or sell him to a recruiting officer.
" We will take thy advice, brother Rasch, and set him at liberty. If his master has saved his life, the servant may share the same fortune with him; but first the blockhead shall swear a terrible oath never to betray us, else I will break his rascally neck.
" Well spoken, Captain, let us break the scoundrel's neck if he refuses to swear.
"Now we heard them ascend the staircase with a terrible noise, and instantly the Austrian knocked with his hands and feet against the door; a momentary silence ensued.
"Open the door, ye miscreants!" roared my friend with a thundering voice. "Open the door, ye rascals," exclaimed I and my fellow adventurers, but before the hollow sound of our voices had ceased re-echoing through the vaulted passage where we were standing, the whole crew was running up stairs with a tremendous noise, and we hurried with all possible speed through the long winding passage, with pistols cocked, but before we could reach the end of the subterraneous avenue, we heard the trampling of horses, which soon was dying away at a distance. A gust of wind had extinguished our torches, but the light of the moon was shining so clear that we soon beheld an opening in the garden wall leading to the field, where we could see at a small distance, a numerous troop of horsemen galloping away at a furious rate. On our return we observed that the horsemen had taken their flight through the garden, which appeared to have been their common in and outlet since the burning down of the village.
"I left the residence of these robbers very much dissatisfied; the Austrian, on the contrary, was highly pleased, representing to me that we should not know much more of the matter than we had heard, even if we had surprised them; that I did wrong if I complained of having been disappointed, being now informed of my servant's fate, and the mystery of the castle; and that every wish of taking personal vengeance on these miscreants was not becoming men like ourselves, because the hangman would have been defrauded of his perquisites if we had killed some of them.
"All we could do," added he, "would be to give notice of what we have seen and heard to the magistrates of the next town; but I fear the gang is too numerous than that they could be taken prisoners; besides, they will take care not to suffer themselves to be entrapped; and if the magistrates were to take cognizance of our denunciation, and should fail in their attempt to destroy the whole crew, they perhaps would be made a second example of the revengeful daring spirit of these lawless wretches, and pay dearly for having enacted the laws against them. Remember the agony of grief you felt when you beheld the horrid consequences of opposition against these outlaws, in viewing the ruins of the village which but lately has fallen a victim to their cruel resentment, and then tell me whether it is advisable to inform against them? We had better leave their punishment to that supreme Judge who certainly will overtake them with his vengeance when their measure shall be full."
"I returned to our inn at the next village, comforted by the seasonable reasoning of my worthy friend, and I never shall forget the wise instructions he gave me on the way; I never shall forget his tender exhortations to take care not to follow the first impulse of the moment, but always to listen attentively to the voice of reason before I should engage in any undertaking, and to bridle the youthful ardour of heedlessness by prudence and cool reflection.
"We entered our inn at two o'clock in the morning, and we were met by the landlord, who had been very uneasy at our staying away so long, because many murders had been committed lately within the environs of the village. We told him we had taken a walk, but having missed our way, had strayed about until the dawn of day had assisted us in finding our way back. He appeared to believe our words and we went to rest.
"We awoke at eight o'clock, and departed at nine for F----, where our absence had not been much taken notice of, those secret journeys being very common among recruiting officers; yet some of my friends puzzled themselves very much by various conjectures about the reasons of my connexion with the Austrian; but neither we nor our trusty serjeants communicated our adventure to anyone of our acquaintance.
"During our absence a strange accident had happened to one of our comrades, which had made every one wish for the return of the Austrian, and no sooner were we arrived before all the officers repaired to my room to inform us of it.
"The officer who lodged at the haunted inn, coming home against midnight three days ago, sat down to finish a letter to his Colonel. As soon as it had struck twelve o'clock, he heard a tremendous rap at the door, which he did not mind at first, but continued writing. A second rap, more violent than the first, disturbed him soon after, but he still took little notice of it. A third, not unlike a clap of thunder, ensued after a short pause, the door of his apartment flew open, and a white figure was going to enter the room.
"Fearless," these are his own words, "did I start up, unsheath my sword and run towards the phantom; it retreated, but I pursued, and pierced it with my sword, it gave a hollow scream, but what further happened I cannot tell; I awoke as if from a deluding dream, and was lying stretched on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by a great number of people with lighted candles; terrible pains had seized me, and my sword was still in my hand."
"When the narrator had finished his wonderful tale, I perceived visible marks of its authenticity on his face, and inquired whether he had been hurt by the fall. He told me he had suffered no material injury except a few bruises.
"The Austrian began now to question him.
"Have you perceived anything uncommon before that strange accident happened?"
".--Nothing at all except an insignificant noise, after twelve o'clock.
".--Have you, perhaps, before you met with that misfortune, been thinking on my tale of Volkert's exploits?
".--(Vexed) I was writing to my Colonel; how could I therefore think on that fellow? Or do you think it impossible that any one besides you can experience things the possibility of which you have proved by facts?
"The Austrian, apparently lost in profound
meditation, gave him no answer, but was walking up and down in solemn silence.
"Our companions acquainted us now with the purport of their visit, signifying a desire to encounter the kingdom of spirits and hobgoblins in pleno corpore, under the command of my serious friend. Thinking the veteran would relish their proposal as little as myself, I thought it would be agreeable to him, if I could prevail on the spirited sons of Mars not to urge the matter further, addressing them in a jocose manner:--
"Gentlemen, it seems you do not consider that these airy disturbers of nocturnal rest are not fond of large companies; or do you suppose the apparition, which I suspect to be a female one, a second Semiramis?"
"However, it was in vain to attempt persuading them to drop the adventure, their imagination having been heated too much by the Austrian's tale, as that they would give up their design. Turning their backs against me, highly displeased with my harangue, they solicited my friend with the greatest impetuosity to comply with their request. He inquired whether Lieutenant N---- was still an inhabitant of the haunted inn, and being told that the valiant son of Mars had removed to another lodging the next morning after the nocturnal encounter, he refused flatly to yield to their entreaties, telling them he was sure the apparition would give them the slip.
"Well, well," exclaimed the undaunted warriors, "we will run the risk and watch the ghost, though we should sit up ten nights for it; we are determined to unfold that mystery."
"So saying they left the room in great hurry.
"What do you think of the matter?" said I, when the visitors had left us.
"Nothing," replied he, with much sang froid, shrugging up his shoulders.
"But the ghost," said I.
"Is an offspring of their childish fancy," replied the Austrian.
"The fall of Lieutenant N----?" asked I.
"Is very natural," replied the Austrian; "I could cite you more than one hundred incidents corroborating the truth, that people have a very confused idea when their senses are tied up by fear and anxiety. As soon as cool reflection gives way to the horrors of a disordered fancy, we are but too apt to create phantoms and spectres around us, we do not see what really exists, but what we fear to behold."
"I could oppose nothing to this reasoning of his, founded so strongly on experience, and suspected the courage of our valiant Lieutenant very much, having no doubt but his fear had made him miss the staircase; I therefore took no farther notice of our bravado and his companions, not caring what would be the finale of their trifling adventure. My friend was likewise quite unconcerned about the matter, and, without mentioning it any farther, we went about our business.
"When night invited us to rest from the toils of the day, we dedicated the remaining hours to the mutual enjoyment of hallowed friendship's cheerful bliss.
"Eight days of peaceful happiness were now elapsed, when Lieutenant N---- entered my apartment one morning, with a countenance exhibiting the strongest marks of horror.
"I come to you," said he, "because I apprehend a second refusal from your friend, if you do not support my request."
"Asking him whether he intended to apply once more to my friend to encounter the ghost, he replied, it was his intention to try his fortune once more with my obstinate friend.
"Then you must excuse me," exclaimed I, peevishly.
"Having stared at me awhile in profound silence, he began walking up and down the room, and at last seated himself by my side, resuming, in a cool and tranquil tone, "Hear what I am going to say before you refuse to intercede with your friend, and I will acknowledge myself to be unworthy of your confidence if you persist any longer in your resolution, not to speak in my behalf to your worthy friend."
"The solemn manner in which he pronounced the last words engaged my attention, and made me apprehend to hear a tale of horror. Having moved my chair closer to his he went on.
"You know what I and my friends intended to do; we have executed our design. All our efforts to make the ghost appear proved abortive at first; in vain did we watch, make a noise, search every corner of the house, and try to provoke the spirit for three nights; we could neither hear nor see anything uncommon."
"I was going to interrupt him, and to argue the imprudence of their proceedings, but he squeezed my hand gently, and begged me not to interrupt his narrative.
"The fourth night appeared," thus he continued after an awful pause, "it still makes my blood freeze when I recollect the horrible scene of terror my eye beheld in that night of dreadful note. We all repaired to the abode of that airy disturber of the stillness of night, taking our residence in a lonely hall, in the apartment. We sat down to the inviting punch bowl after eleven o'clock, as we had done the preceding nights, filling our pipes and cursing the cowardice of the spectre, seemingly afraid of meeting an assembly of hardy soldiers; but it took ample vengeance on our forwardness, in so horrid a manner, that one must have been an eye-witness of its ire, if one will form a just idea of our situation.
"Our impatience increased as the punch began to heat our blood, we took the candles from the table, unsheathed our swords, and began to search every corner of the house and the cellar without success. My friends looked gloomy, the clouds of dissatisfaction were hovering over their brows, and a storm was gathering, which perhaps would have ended in a serious quarrel, if it had not been for the Austrian's tale, which, as yet, had sheltered me against their boiling anger, and from the suspicion of being an impostor or a coward. They began ridiculing the landlord and myself on account of our self-created fright, as they called it, declaring all we had heard and seen to be a mere phantom, the offspring of a deluded fancy; however, they were soon convinced of the truth of our narration, in a most shocking manner.
"We were ascending the staircase, and the foremost had not yet reached the last step, when a sudden hollow noise arose. It was not unlike the howling of the tempest rushing through the chinks of an old ruinous building. The noise carried something frightful with it, which cannot be expressed by words. My hair rose up like bristles, an irresistible horror made my blood run chill, and my ridiculing friends became as serious as if a magic wand had touched them, gazing at each other in dumb astonishment. The dismal noise continued a few seconds, and then every thing was as silent as the grave.
"We pursued our way to the hall, and retook our seats, wondering what could have caused that dreadful howling, and one of the company opened the window to see whether a tempest had gathered in the air, but the sky was clear, and not the least wind blowing. Sensations of unspeakable awe thrilled our souls, the fumes of punch evaporated, and solemn stillness swayed all around; nothing was heard save the violent palpitations of the heart, the chattering of our poor landlord's teeth, and the knocking together of his trembling knees.
"A few moments more of profound silence, and then the dismal howling arose again with redoubled force; a sudden violent gust of wind threw the windows open, and the door from its hinges, extinguishing all the candles; a tremendous clap of thunder shook the house, a terrible flash of lightning hissed through the room, and prostrated us to the ground; a hideous lamenting noise assailed our ears, and lifting up my head I beheld the phantom that once had frightened me, advancing with a threatening grin; grisly was its shape, and its eyes rolling like two flaming comets.
"I was the first who recovered the use of his senses, and, calling in vain for the landlord, my companions started up, and we found the poor fellow prostrate on the floor, half frantic with terror. At length he also recovered a little from his fright, and after many persuasions ventured down stairs, accompanied by me, to strike a light. Everybody in the house was snoring, except our crest-fallen fellow adventurers, who exhibited a rueful ghastly group, being all as pale as ashes. Looking at our watches we saw it was past two o'clock, sat an hour longer without perceiving any thing farther, and returned against morning to our respective lodgings.
"I would not have troubled you with an account of this strange incident if an accident was not connected wit
h it, which has happened last night.
"My recruiting business having called me abroad yesterday, I returned in the afternoon; in the dusk of evening I entered a thicket in a gloomy pensive mood, all around was lonely and buried in profound silence; no sound was heard except the dismal dirge of the screech-owl, and the shrill chirping of the amorous cricket. At length I heard a whispering within a small distance, and cocking one of my pistols, I rode on with the greatest circumspection. At once I saw a manly figure coming out of the thicket, but could not distinguish his dress; advancing a little farther, I beheld somebody in a peasant's garb, walking on briskly and talking to himself. As I came up with him I observed a black wallet on his back, and a thick branch of a tree in his hand, serving him instead of a walking cane. He seemed to take no notice of me, pursuing his way with hasty steps, and still muttering between his teeth. I saluted him but he gave me no answer.
"Whither art thou going, good friend?" exclaimed I.
"To men!" replied he, to my utter astonishment.
"Very likely to F----," resumed I.
"Yes," said he, "there are men."
"Supposing him to be a lunatic, I passed him, pursuing my way in a brisk trot; when I came out of the thicket I saw that I was nearer the town than I thought, and made my horse quicken his pace; but how was I astonished when I beheld again the same figure walking before me.
"Old gentleman," exclaimed I, "it seems thou knowest the road better than I do."
"I think so myself," added he drily; "and I believe I know many things better than you do."
"Strange being," resumed I, "who art thou?"
"A friend of wisdom!" was his answer.
"Thy wisdom," replied I, "must be as odd as thyself! But pray what dost thou call wisdom?"
"What you do not understand," was his reply.
"Hearing the words friend of wisdom, I was suddenly struck with a suspicion which my readers will easily guess, and that suspicion was strengthened when the narrator informed me of his definition of wisdom. I strongly suspected that he was the same person I had met in the Black Forest, under the garb of a pilgrim, and I hardly could refrain from exclaiming, "Art thou here, impostor?"
The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror) Page 125
