Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules Verne
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by the collar.
“But you have!” said Jonas.
“Yes! yes!” replied the company unanimously.
The doctor, pressed on all sides, did not know how to escape. Ah! how much he regretted that he had so imprudently committed himself by his rodomontades.
Never had he imagined they would have been taken seriously, or that he would have to account for them in person. And now there was no chance of escape without becoming the laughing-stock of Werst; and in all the Vulkan district they would badger him unmercifully. He decided to accept the inevitable with a good grace.
“Well, since you wish it,” he said, “I will go with Nic Deck, although it will be useless.”
“Well done, Patak!” shouted all the company at the “King Mathias.”
“And when shall we start, forester?” asked Doctor Patak, affecting to speak in a tone of indifference which poorly disguised his poltroonery.
“To-morrow morning,” said Nic Deck.
These last words were followed by a long silence which showed how real were the feelings of Master Koltz and the others. The glasses were empty, so were the pots, but no one rose, no one thought of leaving the place although it was late, nor of returning home. It occurred to Jonas that there was a good opportunity for serving another round of schnapps and rakiou.
Suddenly a voice was heard distinctly amid the general silence, and these words were slowly pronounced,—
“Nicolas Deck, do not go to the castle to-morrow! Do not go there, or misfortune will happen to you.”
Who was it said this? Whence came the voice which no one knew, and which seemed to come from an invisible mouth? It could not be a voice from a phantom, a supernatural voice, a voice from another world.
Terror was at its height. The men dared not look at one another; they dared not even utter a word.
The bravest—and that evidently was Nic Deck—endeavoured to discover what it all meant. It was evident that the words had been uttered in the room. The forester went up to the box and opened it.
Nobody.
He then looked into the rooms which opened into the saloon.
Nobody.
He opened the door, went outside, ran along the terrace to the main street of Werst.
Nobody.
A few minutes afterwards Master Koltz, Magister Hermod, Doctor Patak, Nic Deck, Shepherd Frik, and the others had left the inn and its keeper Jonas, who hastened to double-lock the door.
That night, as if they had been menaced by some apparition, the inhabitants of Werst strongly barricaded themselves in their houses.
Terror reigned in the village.
CHAPTER V.
In the morning Nic Deck and Doctor Patak prepared to start at nine o’clock. The forester’s intention was to ascend the Vulkan and take the shortest way to the suspicious castle.
After the phenomenon of the smoke on the donjon, after the phenomenon of the voice heard in the saloon of the “King Mathias,” we need not be astonished at the people being as if deranged. Some of the Tsiganes already spoke of leaving the district. During the night nothing else had been spoken of at home—and in a low voice. Could there be any doubt that it was the Chort who had spoken in so threatening a way to the young forester? At Jonas’s inn there had been about fifty people, and these the most worthy of belief, who had all heard the strange words. To suppose that they had all been duped by some illusion of the senses was inadmissible. There could be no doubt that Nic Deck had been formally warned that misfortune would overtake him if he persisted in his intention of visiting the Castle of the Carpathians.
And yet the young forester was preparing to leave Werst, and without being forced to do so. In fact, whatever advantage Master Koltz might gain in clearing up the mystery of the castle, whatever interest the village might have in knowing what was taking place, a powerful effort had been made to get Nic Deck to go back on his word. Weeping and in despair, with her beautiful eyes wet with tears, Miriota had besought him not to persist in this adventure. After the warning given by the voice it was a serious matter; it was a mad adventure. On the eve of his marriage Nic Deck was about to risk his life in the attempt, and his betrothed clung to his knees to prevent him, but all in vain.
Neither the objurgations of his friends, nor the tears of Miriota had any effect on the young forester.
And no one was surprised at it. They knew his indomitable character, his tenacity, his obstinacy, if you will. He had said he would go to the Castle of the Carpathians, and nothing would stop him; not even the threat which had been addressed straight to him. Yes! he would go to the castle even if he never returned.
When the hour of parting came, Nic Deck pressed Miriota for the last time to his heart, while the poor girl made the sign of the thumb and two first fingers, according to Roumanian custom, which is an emblem of the Holy Trinity.
And Doctor Patak? Well, Doctor Patak had tried to get out of it, but without success. All that could be said he had said. All the objections imaginable he had mentioned. He tried to entrench himself behind the formal injunction not to go to the castle, which had been so distinctly heard.
“That menace only concerns me,” said Nic Deck.
“But if anything happens to you, forester,” said Doctor Patak, “shall I get away without injury?”
“Injury or not, you have promised to come with me to the castle, and you will come because I am going.”
Seeing that nothing would prevent his keeping his promise, the people of Werst had resolved to help the forester. It was better that Nic Deck should not enter alone on this affair. And, much to his disgust, the doctor, feeling that he could not go back, that it would compromise his position in the village, that it would be a disgrace for him to go back after all his boastings, resigned himself to the adventure with terror in his soul, and fully resolved to profit by the least obstacle on the road to make his companion turn back.
Nic Deck and Doctor Patak set out, and Master Koltz, Magister Hermod, Frik, and Jonas accompanied them up to a turning out of the main road, where they stopped.
Here Master Koltz for the last time brought his telescope—which he was never without—to bear on the castle. There was now no smoke from the donjon chimney, and it would have been easy to see it on the clear horizon of a beautiful spring morning. Were they to conclude that the guests, natural or supernatural, of the castle had vanished on finding that the forester took no heed of their threats? Some of them thought so, and therein appeared a decisive reason for bringing the adventure to a satisfactory termination. And so they all shook hands, and Nic Deck, dragging the doctor away with him, disappeared round the hill.
The young forester was in full visiting costume, laced cap with large peak, belted vest with a cutlass in its sheath, baggy trousers, iron-shod boots, cartridge-belt at his waist, and long gun on his shoulder. He had the deserved reputation of being a first-rate shot, and in default of ghosts it was as well to be prepared for robbers, or even bears with evil intentions.
The doctor had armed himself with an old flint pistol, which missed fire three times out of five. He also carried a hatchet which his companion had given him in case it was necessary to cut a way through the thick underwoods of Plesa. He wore a large country hat, and was buttoned up in a thick travelling cape, and shod with big iron-soled boots; but this heavy costume would not have stopped him from running away if opportunity presented itself.
Both he and Nic Deck carried a few provisions in their wallets, so as to prolong the exploration if