Varney the Vampire; Or, the Feast of Blood
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CHAPTER LXXIX.
THE VAMPYRE'S DANGER.--THE LAST REFUGE.--THE RUSE OF HENRY BANNERWORTH.
Yet knowing to what deeds of violence the passions of a lawless mob willsometimes lead them, and having the experience of what had beenattempted by the alarmed and infuriated populace on a former occasion,against the Hall, Henry Bannerworth was, reasonably enough, not withouthis fears that something might occur of a nature yet highly dangerous tothe stability of his ancient house.
He did not actually surmount the fence, but he crept so close to it,that he could get over in a moment, if he wished; and, if any one shouldmove or speak on the other side, he should be quite certain to hearthem.
For a few moments all was still, and then suddenly he heard some onesay, in a low voice,
"Hist! hist! did you hear nothing?"
"I thought I did," said another; "but I now am doubtful."
"Listen again."
"What," thought Henry, "can be the motives of these men lying secretedhere? It is most extraordinary what they can possibly want, unless theyare brewing danger for the Hall."
Most cautiously now he raised himself, so that his eyes could just lookover the fence, and then, indeed, he was astonished.
He had expected to see two or three persons, at the utmost; what was hissurprise! to find a compact mass of men crouching down under the gardenwall, as far as his eye could reach.
For a few moments, he was so surprised, that he continued to gaze on,heedless of the danger there might be from a discovery that he wasplaying the part of a spy upon them.
When, however, his first sensations of surprise were over, he cautiouslyremoved to his former position, and, just as he did, so, he heard thosewho had before spoken, again, in low tones, breaking the stillness ofthe night.
"I am resolved upon it," said one; "I am quite determined. I will,please God, rid the country of that dreadful man."
"Don't call him a man," said the oilier.
"Well, well; it is a wrong name to apply to a vampyre."
"It is Varney, after all, then," said Henry. Bannerworth, tohimself;--"it is his life that they seek. What can be done to savehim?--for saved he shall be if I can compass such an object. I feel thatthere is yet a something in his character which is entitled toconsideration, and he shall not be savagely murdered while I have an armto raise in his defence. But if anything is now to be done, it must bedone by stratagem, for the enemy are, by far, in too great force to bepersonally combatted with."
Henry resolved to take the advice of his friends, and with that view hewent silently and quietly back to where they were, and communicated tothem the news that he had so unexpectedly discovered.
They were all much surprised, and then the doctor said,
"You may depend, that since the disappointment of the mob in thedestruction of this place, they have had their eye upon Varney. He hasbeen dogged here by some one, and then by degrees that assemblage hassought the spot."
"He's a doomed man, then," remarked the admiral; "for what can save himfrom a determined number of persons, who, by main force, will overcomeus, let us make what stand we may in his defence."
"Is there no hiding-place in the house," said Charles, "where you might,after warning him of his danger, conceal him?"
"There are plenty, but of what avail would that be, if they burn downthe Hall, which in all probability they will!"
"None, certainly."
"There is but one chance," said Henry, "and that is to throw them offthe scent, and induce them to think that he whom they seek is not here;I think that may possibly be done by boldness."
"But how!"
"I will go among them and make the effort."
He at once left the friends, for he felt that there might be no time tolose, and hastening to the same part of the wall, over which he hadlooked so short a time before, he clambered over it, and cried, in aloud voice,
"Stop the vampyre! stop the vampyre!"
"Where, where?" shouted a number of persons at once, turning their eyeseagerly towards the spot where Henry stood.
"There, across the fields," cried Henry. "I have lain in wait for himlong; but he has eluded me, and is making his way again towards the oldruins, where I am sure he has some hiding-place that he thinks willelude all search. There, I see his dusky form speeding onwards."
"Come on," cried several; "to the ruins! to the ruins! We'll smoke himout if he will not come by fair means: we must have him, dead or alive."
"Yes, to the ruins!" shouted the throng of persons, who up to this timehad preserved so cautious a silence, and, in a few moments more, HenryBannerworth had the satisfaction of finding that his ruse had beenperfectly successful, for Bannerworth Hall and its vicinity werecompletely deserted, and the mob, in a straggling mass, went over hedgeand ditch towards those ruins in which there was nothing to reward theexertions they might choose to make in the way of an exploration ofthem, but the dead body of the villain Marchdale, who had come there toso dreadful, but so deserved a death.