A to Z Classics - Bram Stoker - The Complete Novels

“‘Now, keep yer wits about ye, if ye can. Ye’ll get lashins iv dhrink whin we get back, but remember ye promised to go over the ground where yer father showed ye that the Frinchmin wint wid the gun-carriage an’ the horses. Where was it now that he tuk ye?’ Moynahan evidently made an effort to think and speak:

“‘It was just about this shpot wheer he seen thim first. They crast over the sthrame — there wor no bridge thin nigher nor Galway — an’ wint up the side ivthe hill sthraight up.’

“‘Now, couldn’t ye folia the way yer father showed ye? Jist think. It’s all dark, and there’s nothin’ that ye know to confuse ye — no threes what has growed up since thin. Thry an’ remimber, an’ ye’ll have lashins iv dhrink this night, an’ half the goold whin we find it.’

“‘I can go. I can show the shpot. Come on.’ He made a sudden bolt down into the river, which was running unusually high. The current almost swept him away; but Murdock was beside him in a moment, crying out:

“‘Go an; the wather isn’t deep! don’t be afeerd! I’m wid ye.’ When I heard this, I ran around and across the bridge, and was waiting behind the hedge on the road when they came up again. The two men went up the Hill straight for perhaps a hundred yards, I still close to them; then Moynahan stopped:

“‘Here’s about the shpot me father tould me that he seen the min whin the moon shone out. Thin they went aff beyant,’ and he pointed to the south. The struggle through the stream had evidently sobered him somewhat, for he spoke much more clearly.

“‘Come on thin,’ cried Murdock, and they moved off.

“‘Here’s wheer they wint to, thin,’ said Moynahan, as he stopped on the south side of the Hill — as I knew it to be from the louder sound of the surf which was borne in by the western gale. ‘Here they wor, jist about here, an’ me father wint away to hide from thim beside the big shtone at the Shleenanaher so that they wouldn’t see him’ Then he paused, and went on in quite a different voice:

“‘There, now I’ve tould ye enough for wan night. Come home, for it’s chilled to the harrt I am, an’ shtarved wid the cowld. Come home; I’ll tell no more this night.’ The next sound I heard was the popping of a cork, and then the voice of Murdock in a cheery tone:

“‘Here, take a sup of this, ould man. It’s chilled we both are, an’ cramped wid cowld. Take a good dhraw, ye must want it if ye’re as bad as lam!’ The gurgle that followed showed that he had obeyed orders; this was confirmed within an incredibly short time by his voice as he spoke again.

“‘Me father hid there beyant. Come on.’ We all, each in his own way, moved down to the Shleenanaher, and stood there. Moynahan spoke first.

“‘From here, he seen them jist over the ridge iv the hill. I can go there now; come on.’ He hurried up the slope, Murdock holding on to him. I followed, now crouching low, for there was but little shelter here. Moynahan stopped and said:

“‘It was just here.’

“‘How do ye know?’ asked Murdock, doubtfully.

“‘How do I know! Hasn’t me father been over the shpot wid me a score iv times; aye, an’ a hundhred times afore that be himself. It was here, I tell ye, that he seen the min wid the gun-carriage for the last time. Do ye want to arguey it?’

“‘Not me,’ said Murdock; and as he spoke I saw him stoop, for as I was at the time lying on the ground, I could see his outline against the dark sky. He was looking away from me, and as I looked, too, I could see him start as he whispered to himself:

“‘Be God, but it’s thrue! There’s the gun-carriage.’ There it was, Art, true enough before my eyes, not ten feet away on the edge of the bog. Moynahan went on:

“‘Me father tould me that the mountain was different at that time; the bog only kem down about as low as this. Musha! but it’s the quare lot it has shifted since thin!’ There was a pause, broken by Murdock, who spoke in a hoarse, hard voice:

“‘An’ where did he see them nixt?’ Moynahan seemed to be getting drunker and drunker, as was manifest in his later speech; his dose of whiskey had no doubt been a good one.

“‘He seen them next to the north beyant — higher up towards Murdock’s house.’

“‘Towards Murdock’s house! Ye mane Joyce’s.’

“‘No, I mane Black Murdock’s; the wan he had before he robbed Joyce. But, begor, he done himself! It’s on Joyce’s ground the money is. He’s a naygur, anyhow — Black Murdock, the Gombeen — bloody end to him!’ and he relapsed into silence. I could hear Murdock grind his teeth; then, after a pause, he spoke as the bottle popped again.

“‘Have a sup; it’ll kape out the cowld.’ Moynahan took the bottle.

“‘Here’s death and damnation to Black Gombeen!’ and the gurgling was heard again.

“‘Come, now, show me the shpot where yer father last saw the min!’ Murdock spoke authoritatively, and the other responded mechanically, and ran rather than walked, along the side of the Hill. Suddenly he stopped.

“‘Here’s the shpot!’ he said, and incontinently tumbled down.

“‘Git up! Wake up!’ shouted Murdock in his ear. But the whiskey had done its work; the man slept, breathing heavily and stentoriously, heedless of the storm and the drenching rain. Murdock gathered a few stones and placed them together; I could hear the sound as they touched each other. Then he, too, took a pull at the bottle, and sat down beside Moynahan. I moved off a little, and when I came to a whin bush got behind it for a little shelter, and raising myself, looked round. We were quite close to the edge of the bog, about half-way between Joyce’s house and Murdock’s, and well in on Joyce’s land. I was not satisfied as to what Murdock would do, so I waited.

“Fully an hour went by without any stir, and then I heard Murdock trying to awaken old Moynahan. I got down on the ground again and crawled over close to them. I heard Murdock shake the old man, and shout in his ear; presently the latter awoke, and the Gombeen Man gave him another dose of whiskey. This seemed to revive him a little as well as to complete his awakening.

“‘Musha, but it’s cowld l am!’ he shivered.

“‘Begor it is. Git up and come home,’ said Murdock, and he dragged the old man to his feet.

“‘Hould me up, Murtagh,’ said the latter; ‘I’m that cowld I can’t shtand, an’ me legs is like shtones: I can’t feel them at all, at all!’

“‘All right,’ said the other; ‘walk on a little bit — sthraight — as ye’re goin’ now; I’ll just shtop to cork the bottle.’

“From my position I could see their movements, and as I am a living man, Art, I saw Murdock turn him with his face to the bog, and send him to walk straight to his death!”

“Good God, Dick, are you quite certain?”

“I haven’t the smallest doubt on my mind. I wish I could have, for it’s a terrible thing to remember. That attempt to murder in the dark and the storm, comes between me and sleep. Moreover, Murdock’s action the instant after showed only too clearly what he intended. He turned quickly away, and I could hear him mutter as he moved past me on his way down the Hill:

“‘He’ll not throuble me now, curse him! an’ his share won’t be required,’ and then he laughed a low, horrible laugh, slow and harsh, and as though to himself; and I heard him say:

“‘An’ whin I do get the chist, Miss Norah, ye’II be the nixt!’”

My blood began to boil as I heard of the villain’s threat.

“Where is he Dick? He must deal with me for that.”

“Steady, Art, steady!” and Dick laid his hand on me.

“Go on,” I said.

“I couldn’t go after him, for I had to watch Moynahan, whom I followed close, and I caught hold of as soon as I thought Murdock was too far to see me. I was only just in time, for as I touched him he staggered, lurched forward, and was actually beginning to sink in the bog. It was a tone of those spots where the rock runs sheer down into the morass. It took all my strength to pull him out, and when I did get him on the rock he sank down again into his drunken sleep. I thought the wisest thing I could do was to go to Joyce’s for help; and as, thanks to my experiments with the magnets all those weeks, I knew the ground fairly well, I was able to find my way — although the task was a slow and difficult one.