Charles Sheffield - The Amazing Dr. Darwin

“And you have found gold?”

Pole grimaced. “Pox on it, you would ask me that. Never, not a pinch big enough to cover a whore’s modesty. But luck can change any time. This may be it.”

Richard Thaxton pushed his fingers through his black, bushy hair, and smiled at Jacob Pole indulgently. “I’ve often wondered what would take a man to the top of Cross Fell in midwinter. I think I’ve found out. One thing I’ll wager, you’ll not get Dr. Darwin to go with you. He’s carrying a bit too much weight for that sort of enterprise.”

As he spoke, they heard the clump of footsteps on the stairs above them. Thaxton at once fell silent and his manner became tense and somber. When Erasmus Darwin entered, Thaxton raised his eyebrows questioningly but did not speak.

“Sane as I am,” said Darwin at once, smiling. “And a good deal saner than Jacob.”

“—or than you, Richard,” added Anna Thaxton, coming in lightly behind Darwin. She was a thin, dark-haired woman, with high cheekbones and sparkling grey eyes. She crossed the room and put her arms around her husband. “As soon as Dr. Darwin had convinced himself that I was sane, he confessed to me that he was not really here to test me for a consumptive condition, but to determine my mental state. Now”—she smiled smugly—“he wants to do some tests on you , my love.”

Richard Thaxton pressed his wife to him as though he meant to crack her ribs. Then her final words penetrated, and he looked at her in astonishment.

“Me! You’re joking. I’ve seen no fiends.”

“Exactly,” said Darwin. He moved over to the table by the study window, where an array of food dishes had been laid out. “You saw nothing. For the past hour, I have been testing your wife’s sight and hearing. Both are phenomenally acute, especially at low levels. Now I want to know about yours.”

“But others were present when Anna saw her fiends. Surely we are not all blind and deaf.”

“Certainly, all are not. But Anna tells me that when she saw and heard her mysteries on Cross Fell, it was night and you alone were with her upstairs. You saw and heard nothing. Then when you brought others, they also saw and heard nothing. But they came from lighted rooms downstairs. It takes many minutes for human eyes to acquire their full night vision—and it is hard for a room full of people, no matter how they try, to remain fully silent. So, I say again, how good are your eyes and ears?”

“I tell you, they are excellent!” exclaimed Thaxton.

“And I tell you, they are indifferently good!” replied Anna Thaxton. “Who cannot tell a rook from a blackbird at thirty paces, or count the sheep on Cross Fell?”

They still held each other close, arguing across each other’s shoulder. Darwin looked on with amusement, quietly but systematically helping himself to fruit, clotted cream, Stilton cheese and West Indian sweetmeats from the side table. “Come, Mr. Thaxton,” he said at last. “Surely you are not more prepared to believe that your wife is mad, than believe yourself a little myopic? Shortsightedness is no crime.”

Thaxton shrugged. “All right. All right.” He held his wife at arms’ length, his hands on her shoulders. “Anna, I’ve never won an argument with you yet, and if Dr. Darwin is on your side I may as well surrender early. Do your tests. But if you are right, what does that mean?”

Darwin munched on a candied quince, and rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. “Why, then we no longer have a medical problem, but something much more intriguing and pleasant. You see, it means that Anna is really seeing something up on Cross Fell, when the Helm sits on the upland. And that is most interesting to me—be it fiends, fairies, hobgoblins, or simple human skullduggery. Come, my equipment for the tests is upstairs. It will take about an hour, and we should be finished well before dinner.”

As they left, Jacob Pole went again to the window. The Helm had grown. It stood now like a great, grey animal, crouching at the top of Cross Fell and menacing the nearer lowlands. Pole sighed.

“Human skullduggery?” he said to Anna Thaxton. “I hope not. I’ll take fiends, goblins and all—if the Treasure of Odirex is up there with them. Better ghouls and gold together, than neither one.”

“Tonight? You must be joking!”

“And why not tonight, Mr. Thaxton? The Helm sits on the fell, the night is clear, and the moon is rising. What better time for Anna’s nocturnal visitants?”

Richard Thaxton looked with concern at Darwin’s bulk, uncertain how to phrase his thought. “Do you think it wise, for a man your age—”

“—forty-six,” said Darwin.

“—your age, to undergo exertion on the fell, at night? You are not so young, and the effort will be great. You are not—lissom; and it—”

“I’m fat,” said Darwin. “I regard that as healthy. Good food wards off disease. This world has a simple rule: eat or be eaten. I am not thin, and less agile than a younger man, but I have a sound constitution, and no ailment but a persistent gout. Jacob and I will have no problem.”

“Colonel Pole also?”

“Try and stop him. Right, Jacob? He’s been lusting to get up on that fell, ever since he heard the magic word ‘treasure,’ back in Lichfield. Like a youth, ready to mount his first—er—horse.”

“I’ve noticed that,” said Anna Thaxton. She smiled at Darwin. “And thank you, Doctor, for tempering your simile for a lady’s ears. Now, if your mind is set on Cross Fell tonight, you will need provisions. What should they be?”

Darwin bowed his head, and smiled his ruined smile. “I have always observed, Mrs. Thaxton, that in practical decision-making, men cannot compare with women. We will need food, shielded lamps, warm blankets, and tinder and flint.”

“No weapons, or crucifix?” asked Richard Thaxton.

“Weapons, on Cross Fell at night, would offer more danger to us than to anyone else. As for the crucifix, it has been my experience that it has great influence—on those who are already convinced of its powers. Now, where on the fell should we take up our position?”

“If you are going,” said Thaxton suddenly, “then I will go with you. I could not let you wander the fell, alone.”

“No. You must stay here. I do not think that we will need help, but if I am wrong we rely on you to summon and lead it. Remain here with Anna. We will signal you—three lantern flashes from us will be a call for help, four a sign that all is well. Now, where should we position ourselves? Out of sight, but close to the lights you saw.”

“Come to the window,” said Anna Thaxton. “See where the spur juts out, like the beak of an eagle? That is your best waiting point. The lights show close there, when the fiends of the fell appear. They return there, before dawn. You will not be able to see the actual point of their appearance from the spur. Keep a watch on our bedroom. I will show a light there if the fiends appear. When that happens, skirt the spur, following westward. After a quarter of a mile or so the lights on the fell should be visible to you.”

As she was speaking, the sound of the dinner gong rang through the house.

“I hope,” she continued, “that you will be able to eat something, although I know you must be conscious of the labors and excitement of the coming night.”

Erasmus Darwin regarded her with astonishment. “Something? Mrs. Thaxton, I have awaited the dinner bell for the past hour, with the liveliest anticipation. I am famished. Pray, lead the way. We can discuss our preparations further while we dine.”

“We should have brought a timepiece with us, Erasmus. I wonder what the time is. We must have been here three or four hours already.”