MORE LIGHT
There was a curious, eager flush on Ralph Ravenspur's face. He rose from
his seat and paced the room restlessly. Those long fingers were
incessantly clutching at something vague and unseen. And, at the same
time, he was following the story that Geoffrey had to tell with the
deepest attention.
"What does it mean, uncle?" the young man asked at length.
"I cannot tell you," Ralph replied. His tones were hard and cold. "There
are certain things no mortal can understand unless----; but I must not
go into that. It may be that you have touched the fringe of the
mystery----"
"I am certain that we are on the verge of a discovery!" Geoffrey cried
eagerly. "I am sure that stuff those strangers were making was the same
as the drug or whatever it was that came so near to making an end of my
grandfather. If I knew what to do!"
"Nothing--do nothing, as you hope for the future!"
The words came hissing from Ralph's lips. He felt his way across to
Geoffrey and laid a grip on his arm that seemed to cut like a knife.
"Forget it!" he whispered. "Fight down the recollection of the whole
thing; do nothing based upon your discovery. I cannot say more, but I am
going to give you advice worth much gold. Promise me that you will
forget this matter; that you will not mention it to a soul. Promise!"
Geoffrey promised, somewhat puzzled and dazed. Did Ralph know
everything, or was he as ignorant as the rest?
"I will do what you like," said Geoffrey. "But it is very hard. Can't
you tell me a little more? I am brave and strong."
"Courage and strength have nothing to do with it. A nation could do
nothing in this case. I am going to London to-day."
"You are going to London alone?"
"Why not? I came here from the other side of the world alone. I have to
see a doctor about my eyes. No, there is no hope that I can ever recover
my sight again; but it is possible to allay the pain they give me."
Ralph departed. A dogcart deposited him at Biston Junction, and then the
servant saw him safely into the London train. But presently Ralph
alighted and a porter guided him to a cab. A little later and the blind
man was knocking at the door of a cottage in the poorer portion of the
town.
A short, stocky man, with a seafaring air, opened the door.
"Is it you, Elphick?" Ralph asked.
The short man with the resolute face and keen, gray eyes exclaimed with
pleasure:
"So you've got back at last, sir. Come in, sir. I am alone here as you
know. I knew you'd want me before long."
Ralph Ravenspur felt his way to a chair. James Elphick stood watching
him with something more than pleasure in his eyes.
"We have no time to spare," Ralph exclaimed. "We must be in London
to-night, James. I am going up to see Dr. Tchigorsky."
"Dr. Tchigorsky!" Elphick exclaimed. "Didn't I always say as how he'd
get through? The man who'd get the best of him ain't born yet. But it
means danger, sir. Nothing we ever carried out with the doctor was
anything else."
"Danger you do not dream of," Ralph said impressively. "But I cannot
discuss this with you, James. You are coming with me to London. Get the
disguise out and let me see if your hand still retains its cunning."
Apparently it had, for an hour later there walked from the cottage
toward the station an elderly, stout man, with white hair and beard and
whiskers. His eyes were guarded by tinted glasses; the complexion of the
face was singularly clear and ruddy. All trace of those cruel
criss-cross lines had gone. Wherever Elphick had learned his art, he had
not failed to learn it thoroughly.
"It's perfect; though I say it as shouldn't," he remarked. "It's no use,
sir; you can't get on without me. If I'd gone with you to Lassa, all
that horrible torture business would never have happened."
Ralph Ravenspur smiled cautiously. The stiff dressing on his face made a
smile difficult in any case.
"At all events, I shall want you now," he said.
It was nearly seven when the express tram reached Euston. Ralph stood on
the great bustling, echoing, platform as if waiting for something. An
exclamation from Elphick attracted his attention.
"There's the doctor as large as life!" he said.
"Tchigorsky!" Ralph cried. "Surely not in his natural guise. Oh, this is
reckless folly! Does he court defeat at the outset of our enterprise?"
Tchigorsky bustled up. For some reason or other he chose to appear in
his natural guise. Not till they were in the cab did Ravenspur venture
to expostulate.
"Much learning has made you mad," he said bitterly.
"Not a bit of it," the Russian responded. "Unfortunately for me the
priests of Lassa have discovered that I am deeply versed in their
secrets. Not that they believe for a moment that Tchigorsky and the
Russian who walked the valley of the Red Death are one and the same.
They deem me to be the recipient of that unhappy man's early
discoveries. But your identity remains a secret. The cleverest eyes in
the world could never penetrate your disguise."
"It comforts me to hear that," Ralph replied. "Everything depends upon
my identity being concealed. Once it is discovered, every Ravenspur is
doomed. But I cannot understand why you escape recognition at the hands
of the foe."
A bitter smile came over Tchigorsky's face.
"Can you not?" he said. "If you had your eyes you would understand. Man,
I have been actually in the company of those who flung me into the
valley of the Red Death and they have not known me. After that I stood
in the presence of my own mother, and she asked who I was.
"The marks on my face? Well, there are plenty of explorers who have been
victims to the wire helmet and have never dreamt of entering Lassa. I am
a broken, decrepit wreck, I who was once so proud of my inches. The
horrors of that one day have changed me beyond recognition. But you
know."
Ralph shuddered from head to foot. A cold moisture stood on his
forehead.
"Don't," he whispered. "Don't speak of it. When the recollection comes
over me I have to hold on to my senses as a shipwrecked sailor clings to
a plank. Never mind the past--the future has peril and danger enough.
You know why I am here?"
"To save your house from the curse upon it. To bring the East and West
together, and tell of the vilest conspiracy the world has ever seen. Do
you know who the guilty creature is, whose hand is actually striking the
blow?"
"I think so; in fact I am sure of it. But who would believe my
accusation?"
"Who, indeed! But we shall be in a position to prove our case, now that
the secrets of the prison-house lie before us. We have three to fear."
"Yes, yes," said Ralph. "The two Bonzes--who have actually been seen
near Ravenspur--and the Princess Zara. Could she recognize me?"
Ralph asked the question in almost passionate entreaty.
"I am certain she could not," Tchigorsky replied. "Come, victory shall
be ours yet. Here we are at my house at last. By the way, you must have
a name. You shall be my cousin Nicholas Tchigorsky, a clever savant,
who, by reason of a deplorable accident, has become both blind and dumb.
Allons."