VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CLXXII. [sic] [Chapter 190] THE VAMPYRE DISCOVERED. -- THE ESCAPE ON THE THAMES. "Enjoy myself!" muttered the young Lake, "enjoy myself! That may be his idea of staying here vampyre-catching, but it ain't mine. What a fool I was to consent to come here, to be sure, and all alone too. Eh, what was that? Oh! I'm all of a shake. I though I heard somebody, but I suppose it was nothing. Oh dear, what a disagreeable affair this is; what an infernal fool I am, to be sure. Eh? eh?" The hair on his head nearly stood up as he heard, or fancied he heard, a low grown. He shook so while he arose from his seat that he was glad to sit down again as quickly as he possibly could, for he found his strength evaporating along with the Dutch courage, or rather as it should be called, French courage, that had been instilled into him by the brandy. "What shall I do," he gasped, "what shall I do? Oh, what will become of me? I'm in for a row, I'm in for it to a certainty; I-- I think I'll call the old man.["] He did not, however, call his father, whom he designated the old man, more familiarly than respectfully, but as all continued now quiet, he thought he would wait until the next alarm, at all events, before he made a piece of work and thoroughly exhibited his own pusillanimity. "It may be nothing" he said, "after all, perhaps only the wind coming through some chink in a door or window. Lord bless us, I've read of such things in romances till my blood had turned to curds and whey. There was the Bloody Spectre of the Tub of Blood, or the Smashed Gore. Eh? eh? I thought somebody spoke. No, no-- oh, its [sic] all what do they call it, imagination, that's what it is, and the sooner I get the job over the better, so I'll just pop on the cloak, and do the business." With trembling hands Mr. Lake junior drew the cloak from under the table and put it on, bringing the collar of it right up to the top of his head, so that but a small portion of his head was at all visible when he was thus equipped, and he certainly might look like a vampyre, for he did not look like anything human by any means. "Now, I wonder if she's asleep," he muttered as he laid his hand gently on the lock of the door, "if she ain't, it would be a pity; but still I can say, I only wanted to know how she was, so I'll just make the trial at all events. Here goes." He opened the door of the bedroom a very short distance, and said, -- "Hist! hist! are you awake, eh? eh? What did you say? -- nothing, oh, she's asleep, and now here goes-- upon my life when one comes to think of it, it ain't by any means a bad plan. But just before I begin, I'll have another drain," [sic] About two-thirds of a glass of brandy-and-water were in the tumbler on the table, and that he tossed down at once, and feeling very much fortified by laying in such a stratum of courage, he drew up the cloak to its proper vampyre-like position, as he considered it, and advanced two steps within the chamber of the sleeping girl. She was sleeping, and slightly moaning in her sleep. It was a great satisfaction to young master Lake, to hear her so moaning, for it convinced him that such were the sounds which he previously heard, and which had gone near to terrifying him out of his project. He had no compunction whatever regarding the amount of alarm which this dastardly project was likely to give to Miss Lake. No, all he looked to and thought of was himself. A light was burning in the chamber, and that according to the directions of his father he blew out, and then groping his ways towards the bed, he laid his hands upon the young girl's face, and said, -- "The vampyre! the vampyre has come! -- blood, blood, blood! -- the vampyre!" She awoke with a cry of terror as usual, and then master Lake moved off to the door, and said in his natural voice, "I'll protect you-- I'm coming-- I'll soon clear the room of the vampyre. Come on, you wretch! Oh, I'll do for him. Take that-- and that-- and that." Then he commenced kicking about the chairs, and nearly upset the washing-stand, all by way of making the necessary disturbance, and convincing his cousin what a sanguinary conflict he was having with the vampyre. In the midst of this something laid hold of him by the ears and whiskers on each side of his head, and the door swinging open, his own light that was upon the table in the corridor shone upon a hideous countenance within half an inch of his own. The long fang-like teeth of which, with the lips retracted from them, were horrible to look upon, and a voice like the growl of an enraged hyena said, -- "What want you with the vampyre, rash fool? He is here." Master Lake was absolutely petrified with horror and astonishment. The hair bristled up upon his head. His eyes opened the width of saucers, and when in a low voice the vampyre said again, -- "What want you, reptile, with the vampyre?" he let his feet slide from under him, and had he not been upheld by the horrible being who grasped him, he would have fallen. Bang went a pistol out of the corridor, and the vampyre uttered a cry and let go his hold of Lake, who then fell, and being out of the way, showed his father standing on the threshold of his own door, with a pistol in his hand recently discharged, and another apparently ready. In another moment the vampyre kicked the insensible form of young Lake out of the way, and shut himself in the girl's bedroom. The father heard him lock the door, and although he instantly sent another pistol shot through the panelling, he heard no sound indicating its having done any execution. "Help, help, help," he cried, "help here. The vampyre, the vampyre, the vampyre!" All this had not taken above two or three minutes, and the whole house was now alarmed by the sound of fire-arms, and as nobody had completely undressed themselves to go to bed since the first alarm of the vampyre, the landlord and several of the waiters, and the night watchman ran with all speed to the spot, looking full of consternation, and all asking questions together. "Force the door, force the door," cried Mr. Lake, "a hammer, a hatchet, anything, so that we may get the door forced; the vampyre is inside." "Oh lor!" cried one of the waiters who had gone close to the door, but who now made a precipitate retreat, treading upon the stomach of young Lake as he did so. "If you'll pay for the door, Sir," said the landlord, "I'll soon have it open." "Damn it, I'll pay for twenty doors." The landlord took a short run at the door, probably he knew its weakness, and burst it open at once. There was the pause of about a moment, and then Mr. Lake, snatching up the candle, the light of which had first revealed the hideous features of the vampyre to his son, rushed into the room. In these cases all that is wanted is a leader, so he was promptly enough followed. The state of affairs was evident at a glance. The young lady had fainted, and the window was wide open, indicating the mode of retreat of the vampire. "I thought you told us," said Mr. Lake "that this window was too far from the ground to anticipate any danger from----" "Yes, so I did, sir. But don't you see he could easy enough jump off the sill on to those leads there. Nobody could get in by the window, but anybody that wasn't afraid could get out. But we have him, sir, we have him now as sure as a gun." "Have him. How?" "Why don't you see sir, there's nothing but high walls. He must be among our stables, and he can't get out, for I have the keys of the outer doors myself, we shall not lose him now, sir, I'm not a little thankful for it. Come on, everybody, round to the stables, and nothing now can prevent us catching him if he is flesh and blood. Come on, come on." By this time Mrs. Lake had reached the scene of action, and although the first thing she did was to tumble, sprawling, over her hopeful son, who lay in the door-way of his cousin's chamber, she gathered herself up again, and remained in charge of Annette [sic] and the chamber, while Mr. Lake accompanied the landlord and the waiters to the stables of the hotel, which were surrounded by high walls and only to be approached by a pair of large gates, which were quite satisfactorily fastened, and there was not a chink large enough for a cat to get through. The landlord had the keys, and he opened a small wicket in one of the large gates. "Now be careful," he said, "for fear he bounces out." At this everybody but Mr. Lake, who to do him but justice, had certainly the quality of courage, looked as alarmed as possible, but he said, -- "I have re-loaded my pistols, and he shall not escape me." The wicket was opened, and in an instant out walked Mr. Black! He appeared at first somewhat agitated, but speedily recovered his self-possession, and looking at the group, he said, -- "Have you caught him? I have been upon the look out, notwithstanding my indisposition, and jumped out of the bedroom window after him; I cannot see him anywhere. Have you caught him." "Yes," cried Mr. Lake, "I saw you in the room when I fired at you-- _you_ are the vampyre!["] He made a rush forward as he spoke, but Mr. Black got dexterously out of the way, and seizing the landlord by the hair of the head he cast him so fairly in Mr. Lake's way that they both fell down together; with amazing rapidity the vampyre then fled from the spot. "After him, after him," cried Mr. Lake, as he scrambled to his feet, "don't let him escape, after him, whatever you do; alarm the whole city, rather than let the monster elude you. This way-- this way, I see him. Follow me, a vampyre, a vampyre; help-- help, seize him, a vampyre!" "Fire," cried the landlord, and he too ran. But all the running was in vain, the vampyre had fairly got the start of them, and he took good care to keep it, for with the most wonderful fleetness he ran on, until, to his great relief, he found his pursuers were distanced. He made his way to the Strand, and diving down one of the narrow streets terminated by the river, and at the end of which was a landing place, he called aloud, -- "Boat, boat!" An old waterman answered the hail. "Where to, your honour?" "Up the river, I will tell you where to land me, row quick, and row well, and you may name your own fare, without a chance of its being questioned." "That's the customer for me," said the waterman. -+- Next Time: The Plot Discovered. -- The Letter Left at the Hotel by the Vampyre. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | This Varney the Vampyre e-text was entered by members of the | | Science Fiction Round Table #1 (SFRT1) on the Genie online | | service. | | The Varney Project, a reincarnation of this "penny dreadful" bit | | of fiction, was begun in November of 1993 by James Macdonald and | | should take about four years for re-serialization. | | These chapters are being posted once a week to the Round Table | | Bulletin Board and are also being placed in the Round Table File | | Library. | | For further information concerning Varney e-texts, please send | | email to: | | h.liu@juno.com | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ ============================================================================== The Varney Project Chapter 190 Ver 1.00 08/16/1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ General notes on this chapter Source: H.Liu entry from the Arno edition, 1970, text is reprint of 1847 edition Drop capital: No Figures in source: 1 Page numbers in source: 759-761 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CLXXII. The young Lake eventually screws up enough courage, some by way of brandy, and he begins to carry out the evil plot to terrify the poor Annetta. He dons the cloak, enters her room and announces loudly that he is the vampyre and has returned. As Annetta awakes and screams, the young Lake retreats to the door and announces in his own voice how he will vanquish the vampyre and drive him off, and begins to simulate a scuffle. His act, however, is interrupted by the REAL vampyre, who seizes the young Lake and holds him in the door way. The light in the hall shows the hideous countenance of the dread vampyre but this confrontation is then interrupted by a pistol shot fired by Mr. Lake. The vampyre then throws young Lake to the floor and locks himself in Annetta's room. A crowd now gathers, and the landlord eventually breaks in the door, but it is apparent that the vampyre has escaped through the window. Out into the stables area the chase continues, as the vampyre should be trapped in that area. Just as they enter from the outer gates, Mr. Black appears, claiming to also be on the trail of the nighttime intruder. But this time, Mr. Lake recognizes Mr. Black as the one he shot upstairs, and after a bit of a scuffle, the vampyre now makes his escape away from the hotel. He cuts down an alley towards the river, and hails a waterman to give him a ride, and an escape, up river. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 08/16/1997 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================