He blinked at me, and stuttered a moment before he could find his
voice. "Sorry to disturb you, sir," he said, in a low, shaky tone, "but
something has happened to His Highness. Better come up, in a hurry.
Queeck, sir."
I stood uncertain for a moment, and happening to glance toward the
window, I saw Pat was watching us. I signaled to her, as best I could,
to come inside without alarming Jane. Once she was in, I told her
what Niki had just reported, and instructed her to go quickly to the
library and notify Henry.
I hurried upstairs then to the State Apartment, with Niki at my heels,
wondering what could have happened to the Prince. The bedroom door was
slightly ajar; I pushed it open and walked in. Crouching on the edge
of the big double bed, amid disordered sheets and pillows, was that
enormous creature from Mars, glowering at the Prince, who was stretched
out on the floor beside the bed.
I tried to rouse the Prince, but he made no response, remaining stiff
and rigid. His eyes were wide open and staring; on his face was fixed a
look of utter terror.
Then I recalled what Olinski had told me about his suffering from his
family's hereditary affliction. Some shock, or unusual excitement,
and--pouf!--he was out. But I said nothing of this at that time.
According to the doctor, who accompanied Henry to the apartment, he
had collapsed from shock and fright. But the doctor had only time for
a preliminary examination on account of the frenzied actions of the
creature in the bed. It took the combined strength of Henry and Niki to
hold him while the doctor administered a hypodermic. Soon he was in the
lethargy of a dose of morphia.
By that time, I had summoned the two chauffeurs, who carried the
unconscious Prince to the Blue Room, and put him to bed. We were
all hoping that he would awaken soon, so he could tell us what had
occurred, but we were disappointed. He remained in a strange stupor,
and the chauffeurs took turns sitting up with him that night.
Niki had no explanation to offer except that he had gone into the
adjoining room for a few minutes, closing the door behind him very
softly so as not to arouse the sleeping guest. He had not heard the
Prince enter the bedroom, and his first intimation that any one was
there came with a piercing, blood-curdling cry, and then a heavy thud
on the floor. He had rushed back into the bedroom to find just what I
had found when first entering the bedroom.
Hearing this, I was entirely convinced that some horror had closed
down on Prince Matani after he had entered the bedroom. I pictured
him, taking in the whole scene at a glance, the monstrous creature in
the bed, where he had expected to find a small chimpanzee, or baboon,
and becoming, as it were, petrified with horror. And there must have
been some reason for the sudden murderous fury of our Martian patient.
Whatever it was, I felt the Prince was lucky to have saved his neck.
Taking it all in all, I was puzzled. The incident disturbed all of us.
Pat looked anxious and tired at dinner, and went to her apartment very
early in the evening.
Luckily, the presence of the police guard in the castle grounds had
relieved my apprehensions; even at that, I was unable to sleep. Several
times during the night, I got up and went to the Prince's room, to
inquire about his condition. On my last call, about four in the
morning, George, the chauffeur, informed me that the Prince appeared to
be sleeping naturally, so I urged him to get a little sleep himself.
With some sense of relief, I finally went to sleep myself. Imagine my
surprise, on awakening a few hours later, to find that the Prince had
gone. Niki, an early riser, reported to me that he had seen the Prince
steal quietly from his bedroom before any one else was up, and go
downstairs. It appeared likely that he had telephoned from his room to
the village for a taxi-cab, without arousing George, for he drove away
a few minutes after coming downstairs. He acted like a crazy man, Niki
said.