At first I inclined to slack off sail and beat about till the fog was liftedBut whiles, I thocht that if the Deil was minded to get us into the Black Sea quick, he was like to do it whether we would or noIf we had a quick voyage it would be no to our miscredit wi' the owners, or no hurt to our traffic, an' the Old Mon who had served his ain purpose wad be decently grateful to us for no hinderin' him This mixture of simplicity and cunning, of superstition and commercial reasoning, aroused Van Helsing, who said, "Mine friend, that Devil is more clever than he is thought by some, and he know when he meet his match!" The skipper was not displeased with the compliment, and went on, "When we got past the Bosphorus the men began to grumbleSome o' them, the Roumanians, came and asked me to heave overboard a big box which had been put on board by a queer lookin' old man just before we had started frae LondonI had seen them speer at the fellow, and put out their twa fingers when they saw him, to guard them against the evil eyeMan! but the supersteetion of foreigners is pairfectly rideeculous! I sent them aboot their business pretty quick, but as just after a fog closed in on us I felt a wee bit as they did anent something, though I wouldn't say it was again the big boxWell, on we went, and as the fog didn't let up for five days I joost let the wind carry us, for if the Deil wanted to get somewheres, well, he would fetch it up a'reetAn' if he didn't, well, we'd keep a sharp lookout anyhowSure eneuch, we had a fair way and deep water all the timeAnd two days ago, when the mornin' sun came through the fog, we found ourselves just in the river opposite GalatzThe Roumanians were wild, and wanted me right or wrong to take out the box and fling it in the riverI had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a handspikeAn' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the river DanubeThey had, mind ye, taken the box on the deck ready to fling in, and as it was marked Galatz via Varna, I thocht I'd let it lie till we discharged in the port an' get rid o't althegitherWe didn't do much clearin' that day, an' had to remain the nicht at anchorBut in the mornin', braw an' airly, an hour before sunup, a man came aboard wi' an order, written to him from England, to receive a box marked for one Count DraculaSure eneuch the matter was one ready to his handHe had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at itIf the Deil did have any luggage aboord the ship, I'm thinkin' it was nane ither than that same!" "What was the name of the man who took it?" asked DrVan Helsing with restrained eagerness "I'll be tellin' ye quick!" he answered, and stepping down to his cabin, produced a receipt signed "Immanuel Hildesheim Burgen-strasse 16 was the addressWe found out that this was all the Captain knew, so with thanks we came away We found Hildesheim in his office, a Hebrew of rather the Adelphi Theatre type, with a nose like a sheep, and a fezHis arguments were pointed with specie, we doing the punctuation, and with a little bargaining he told us what he knewThis turned out to be simple but importantHe had received a letter from Mrde Ville of London, telling him to receive, if possible before sunrise so as to avoid customs, a box which would arrive at Galatz in the Czarina CatherineThis he was to give in charge to a certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks who traded down the river to the portHe had been paid for his work by an English bank note, which had been duly cashed for gold at the Danube International BankWhen Skinsky had come to him, he had taken him to the ship and handed over the box, so as to save porterage We then sought for Skinsky, but were unable to find himOne of his neighbors, who did not seem to bear him any affection, said that he had gone away two days before, no one knew whitherThis was corroborated by his landlord, who had received by messenger the key of the house together with the rent due, in English moneyThis had been between ten and eleven o'clock last nightWe were at a standstill again Whilst we were talking one came running and breathlessly gasped out that the body of Skinsky had been found inside the wall of the churchyard of StPeter, and that the throat had been torn open as if by some wild animalThose we had been speaking with ran off to see the horror, the women crying shop out

Name:


Email:


Title:


Comments:

Security Image Code: