The Lonely House Part 11

"Herr Foligno has gone back to the dome alone. He is to wait there until we come."

"Lower the second rope to me; I wish to examine it."

After a minute the rope hovered above us; Franz seized it, unfastened it from the other rope to which it was tied and examined it narrowly by the light of the lantern.

"It is sound and uninjured. I feared the rascal might have cut this through secretly; but he has not dared to do so. Now we can allow ourselves to be pulled up without delay."

Ra.s.sak was ordered to pull the rope up again and then to throw down to us the broken one. This was done. Franz cut a piece from the broken end with his knife and gave it to me, saying:

"Keep it with the one you have, Herr Professor."

After which he busied himself with preparations for my rescue. These he made with great care, trying the strength of the rope which he tied about me and of the loop in which I seated myself. Although I protested and declared that I could now care for myself perfectly, he used the piece of old rope to keep me steady as I ascended, holding it firmly below to prevent any swaying of the other. Thus I reached the top of the rock in safety, although my short ascent had caused almost intolerable pain in my sprained ankle, and when Ra.s.sak received me in his powerful arms above, I could not move the injured foot. I tried to stand up and to walk, but it was quite impossible. Ra.s.sak was forced to take me on his broad shoulders and carry me back to the dome. The Captain and Bela carried their lanterns in advance; without their light he could scarcely have made his way along the narrow path through the rocks. Franz was obliged to wait on the platform for some minutes before being drawn up.

We found the Judge seated on a block of stone at the entrance of the rocky way beneath the dome. He sprang up as we approached.

"Thank G.o.d, Herr Professor!" he cried, throwing his arm kindly about me for my support, as Ra.s.sak placed me on the ground. He pushed aside several large stones to make a comfortable bed for me. He even took off his coat and put it upon the rock that I might have a softer resting place. He was full of kind attention, far exceeding the Captain, who congratulated me in a few simple words and expressed his joy upon my escape; nevertheless I had a strange sensation, akin to fear, when he, with Ra.s.sak and Bela, returned through the narrow way to rescue Franz and I was left alone in the vault with the Judge. Involuntarily I put my hand in my breast pocket where was the trusty companion of all my excursions, my revolver. I could not but recall Franz Schorn's words on the platform, and the impression which they had made upon me was deepened when my hand met the small pieces of rope. I dreaded to see the fading light of the last lantern disappear in the narrow pathway. I was miserably uncomfortable in the s.p.a.cious dark vault, where the light of a single lantern cast a ray of light so weak as only to enhance the black darkness of the place.

The Judge seated himself close beside me, and when the Captain vanished in the narrow path he seized my hand.

"Herr Professor," he said, modulating his voice to the lowest whisper, "I have been a.s.sailed by a horrible suspicion as I sat here. I feared I never should see you again. Was the accident which befell you occasioned by chance? If the rope was strong enough to sustain the heavy weight of Schorn, how could it break with the much lesser strain of your weight? Tell me, Herr Professor, does Franz Schorn know that you have told me of his meeting you in the forest on the day of the murder?"

"No."

"Then what I feared is but too certain. You saw him in the neighbourhood of the Lonely House on that day. The only witness against him must die. While he stood beneath us on the rocky platform he loosened the rope and cut it so that it parted as we were lowering you.

We will examine the rope; there must be traces of a cut in it."

Schorn had brought against this man the very accusation which was now brought against himself. He could have had no cause for his supposition, whilst the reason adduced by the Judge was not without probability.

"Perhaps you will object," the Judge continued, "that he has saved your life; that without his aid you must have fallen into the chasm. He need not have stretched out his hand if he had wished to murder you. This thought also occurred to me, but, upon reflection, I find that my suspicion is only strengthened by your rescue. Perhaps his movement was involuntary--an impulse of the moment to seize a falling man--but, again, perhaps your rescue is only part of a cunning scheme. He makes sure that you never could decide to speak a word against the saviour of your life; he does not know that this word is already spoken. He thought, therefore, that he could save your life and yet attain his purpose without burdening his soul with a second murder. Indeed, should suspicion arise that the rope did not break accidentally, he might easily cast it upon another. Why else did he demand that I should take no part in drawing you up? He wished to arouse suspicion of me in your mind and in the Captain's. None could attach to him, were it discovered later that the rope had actually been cut, if he saved your life, and he will not fail to remind you that it was at the risk of his own. He is a thorough villain and incredibly cunning. I fear I shall have many difficulties to overcome before establis.h.i.+ng the proof of his guilt and revealing him as the murderer of old Pollenz."

The Judge's words produced a deep impression on me. Had not everything that he set forth actually happened? One thing was certain--the rope had been cut. Whose was the blame? The Judge's--who could have no interest in plunging me into the abyss? Why should he attempt to take my life? Franz Schorn's--who had saved my life at the risk of his own?

However the Judge might endeavour to disparage the danger to which he had exposed himself, I knew better. I had felt him stagger as he leaned over beyond the rock and dragged me toward him. The success of this hazardous action was due to his physical strength and good luck; it was little short of a miracle that he had not been dragged down to the depths with me. Where lay the truth? In vain I pondered; I could not fathom it.

Voices were heard coming through the narrow pathway, and the Captain, Ra.s.sak, Bela, and last of all, Schorn, appeared. Franz gave me a kindly nod; of the Judge he took not the smallest notice, but resumed his command and the guidance of the expedition. He directed the porters to strap together the ladders, of which we had hitherto made no use, and upon them placed the jackets of the men of the party, forming a litter for me. Ra.s.sak and Bela then bore me from beneath the vault to the entrance of the cave. I suffered intolerably; only when we had again entered the forest and my kind companions were able to make my litter softer with boughs and branches of trees did I find any relief from the torture I was enduring.

In this melancholy wise we returned to Luttach, and thus ended my investigation of an unexplored Ukraine cave.

CHAPTER XI.

FORCED SECLUSION.

I was confined to my lofty bed in my chamber in the inn for three days.

The doctor insisted I must stay there with cold compresses upon my foot until the inflammation had entirely disappeared, and then a week at least must be spent in my room with the injured leg stretched out before me, nor could I dream of undertaking any further excursions until two weeks at least had elapsed.

This was a melancholy prospect. Two weeks of imprisonment in the bare, low-ceiled guest-chamber No. 2; while out of doors the sun was s.h.i.+ning and calling me to wanderings in the forest and on the mountains. But what cannot be cured must be endured.

I could not complain of ennui. Of society I had more than enough; I sometimes longed to be alone for an hour to reflect upon my remarkable adventures, but I had visitors in unbroken succession, and until late in the evening I was not left for a moment to myself.

All the gentlemen whom I had met about the round table in the dining-room came to testify in the friendliest manner their sympathy, and to beg me to relate my adventures, while Mizka and Frau Franzka by turns saw to my comfort, attending most carefully to the compresses upon my ankle. I could not have been more kindly and attentively cared for than in the Slavonic inn in Ukraine. But it was almost too much of a good thing. Their perpetual attention became burdensome, and the constant stream of visitors wearied me. To tell the same thing over and over again was not very amusing, especially as a number of my auditors--Weber, Gunther, Meyer, Mosic, and the notary, Deitrich--did not seem to give full credence to my story; that is, with regard to my rescue by Franz Schorn. They put all sorts of questions to me with regard to what had pa.s.sed on the platform of rock, questions which I could not or would not answer, for, of course, I said not a word of the rope's bearing traces of having been cut, although this seemed to be just the very point to which they wished to lead me.

Through the Clerk, Herr Von Einern, I at last learned the reason for their persistent questions. He expressed his indignation at the account which Herr Foligno had given on the evening of our adventure. It was eminently devised to arouse in his hearers a suspicion that in some manner Franz Schorn was to blame for my accident. He did not speak explicitly, but as unwilling to blame Schorn; he would leave that to me, who had sustained the injury; but in speaking thus he had contrived to increase the desire of those present to hear more.

The Captain confirmed his statement, but was indignant not only with Franz Schorn, but with the conduct of the Judge himself. He would not forgive Schorn for accusing Herr Foligno to me, apparently without any reason, while he found the revenge taken by the Judge unworthy and mean. In his opinion there had simply been an unfortunate accident; the rope had been cut by some sharp projection in the rocks; Franz had certainly risked his life to save mine, but this did not justify him in what he had said of the Judge, which made Herr Foligno the direct cause of the fall.

In the end I positively could not tell what to think of the affair. My hara.s.sing doubt was corroborated by a visit in the evening from the Judge. He had seen me during the day, but only for a few minutes at a time, to express his sympathy and to ask after my welfare, saying nothing during these short visits concerning my adventure; but in the evening he paid me a longer call, begging permission to bestow his society upon me for a while and to drink his wine in my room instead of in the dining-room below. He settled himself comfortably beside me, informing Mizka and Frau Franzka that he would a.s.sume the care of me during the evening and change my compresses. I tried to prevent this, but he would take no refusal, and rendered his services with a.s.siduous precision. It was quite touching to see how careful he was to avoid giving me the least pain, and how he antic.i.p.ated my every wish.

I could not but be grateful, but I was not comfortable in his society, for as soon as Mizka and Frau Franzka had left the room he took the opportunity to express himself most clearly with regard to our adventure and Franz Schorn. He informed me that he had received a telegram from Laibach announcing that the investigating Judge and the Attorney General would visit Luttach on the morrow to conduct personally further inquiries, desirous of hearing from my own lips the manner of my meeting with Franz Schorn on the day of the murder. He coupled this information with the desire that I should not withhold from the gentlemen what I thought with regard to Franz Schorn's connection with my accident.

When I refused point blank to do this and declared that I suspected Franz of nothing, that I was convinced that accident only had caused the breaking of the rope, he became very indignant at such ill-judged forbearance.

"I cannot understand you, Herr Professor," he said angrily. "Suspicion is almost become certainty. Schorn has betrayed himself by superfluous caution. It is a common experience among lawyers that the criminal often furnishes the clue to his discovery by excess of caution, and this has been Schorn's case. To destroy all traces of a cut in the rope he has cut off both ends of the break and thrown them away in the cave.

Perhaps they can still be found; but should this not be the case, the fact of his so disposing of them tells against him. What other aim could he have in thus destroying all traces of the cut?"

"But he did not throw them away. He cut them off in my presence and gave them to me. Here they are," I replied, taking the ends of rope from my breast pocket.

I spoke and acted without thought, as I felt the moment the words were out of my mouth and I perceived their effect upon my hearer. He started from his chair as if from an electric shock and took instant possession of the ends of rope.

"He gave them to you," he cried, "and why? Ah! now I understand it all.

Conscious of his guilt, he feared discovery, and bethought himself, in his over-caution, to inform you of what had been done. Suspicion must be thrown upon another, and I was that other. Tell me frankly, Herr Professor--I have a right to ask it--tell me, did he not hint to you that I had cut the rope?"

I had acted like a fool and was now painfully embarra.s.sed. I was obliged to confess to him that his suspicion was correct. He instantly grew excessively angry.

"What doubly detestable villainy," he cried, "refinement of rascality--to throw suspicion on me and to adduce as proof the cut which his own knife had made, and which, of course, he knew well enough where to find! Of course I know that his words did not make the smallest impression on you. Nevertheless they anger me beyond expression. I did not credit even the villain that he is with such rascality, but it shall react upon himself. These two fragments shall bear witness against him. I shall give them to the Attorney General to-morrow."

"Indeed you will not," I replied firmly. "I owe my life to Franz Schorn. Without his aid I should now be lying dead in the depths of the cave. I do not know whether a knife or a sharp stone worked the mischief, but I do know that Schorn risked his own life for mine. This is solely my affair. My life was imperilled and I surely have the right to demand that no evil shall be said of him who preserved it."

"Will you deny me the right to clear myself from all suspicion? This can be done only by proving that Schorn himself cut the rope."

"No one has suspected you except Franz Schorn, and to me alone has he expressed his suspicion. I am sure that the breaking of the rope was an accident. I shall not allow suspicion to attach to any one, either to you or to Schorn. I require of you to return to me the pieces of rope and to be silent to the Attorney General concerning the whole matter; the affair concerns myself alone."

Herr Foligno made many objections to my demand. I found it difficult to soothe him; he was so indignant with Schorn for showing me the ends as proof against him. He burned with the desire for revenge for such an insult, and I succeeded only with great trouble and much entreaty in persuading him to be silent and to return to me the ends of rope.

He remained until far into the night--a civility I could easily have dispensed with. I was not comfortable in his society. I tried in vain to talk on indifferent subjects; he persisted in returning to the adventure in the cave and always with an attempt to cast further suspicion upon Schorn. His hatred for Franz and his indignation at what Franz had said to me was so great that he could think of nothing else.

He would have tormented me, I believe, until daybreak with his accusations and his discussions of the matter; but at last I frankly told him that I had need of repose, and then he bade me good-night.

CHAPTER XII.

AN ARREST.

I had to undergo a long examination. The investigating Judge and the Attorney General came from Laibach. Immediately after receiving Herr Foligno's deposition, they determined to take the very uncomfortable journey to Luttach to hear for themselves from witnesses on the spot all that was known regarding Franz Schorn's actions and whereabouts during the last few weeks. The investigating Judge told me of this with all the courtesy of an Austrian official. With entire lack of reserve, he informed me that although Herr Foligno's carefully prepared paper was quite sufficient to attach suspicion to Schorn, it did not at all suffice to convince him of the young man's guilt. He requested me to tell everything that I knew of Schorn and to hold back nothing out of regard for the man who, as he had already heard in Adelsberg, had saved my life. It was my duty to tell not only the truth, but the whole truth.

The Judge was a handsome, kindly man, so courteous that he would not have me summoned for my examination to the court house, but took down my deposition in my room. Yet with all his amiability and in spite of the sympathy which he apparently felt for Franz Schorn, his inquiries were frightfully searching; he forced me to tell him more than I wished to.