The passage to the island was unusually long that day. A strong
head-wind had sprung up; the boat was overloaded with passengers and
horses, and they were obliged to tack, cautiously. Conversation among
the passengers, most of whom were land-owners and farmers on the
island, turned almost exclusively upon the races which were to take
place in a few days, and would be the most brilliant ones that had ever
been seen. Horses were to come from Silesia, and even Hungary; Prince
Prora would probably have taken part in them himself, if he had been
admitted. The great public prize was increased to a thousand thalers,
but the principal race would be the one between the gentlemen riders.
It had at first been supposed that not three of the twenty-four horses
registered would appear, since even in May, six, from fear of Herr
Brandow's Brownlock, had already paid the forfeit for failing to fulfil
their contract; but now the tables were turned, now all wanted to be
allowed a place, for it was notorious that Brownlock could not cross
the marsh, and then he would be obliged to give up the lead to go round
it, and could not recover it again, since there was only one very
slight impediment between the bog and the winning-post, and on a free
course the other horses could easily cope with him.
So the men, putting their heads together, talked eagerly among
themselves, while rain and spray dashed over their broad shoulders, and
Gotthold pondered over the letter he carried in his pocket. "Brownlock
can't cross the bog, Brandow says so himself;" he had another motive
for saying so besides that of stimulating his opponent's desire to bet,
as one of the speakers had suggested.
At last the boat reached the opposite shore. Gotthold hurried to the
inn to get a carriage to take him to Prora. Herr Peter's three
carriages were all away, but one would soon return, nay, ought to have
been back now; but he could not depend upon the grooms; the only
reliable one he had ever had got married about three weeks ago, one
Jochen Prebrow from Dollan, that is, not the estate, but the smithy,
near which the accident had lately happened of which the gentleman had
probably heard.
"Why, good gracious!" exclaimed Herr Peters, "it's you yourself. I
should hardly have known you. You look much paler and thinner than you
did three weeks ago, when you passed through here with the Herr
Assessor and Herr Wollnow. I was talking the matter over with Herr
Brandow a few hours ago. It's a pity you missed the twelve o'clock
boat, or you might have gone on with Herr Brandow, who always has his
own horses here to meet him. There is no trace of Hinrich Scheel yet;
no doubt the fellow has been on his way to America for the last three
weeks."
Herr Peters was now obliged to attend to his other guests, whose tall,
broad figures crowded the large coffee-room. Gotthold had already seen
curious glances directed towards him; probably Herr Peters had pointed
him out as the hero of the accident on Dollan moor, which had caused a
great deal of talk on, its own account, and now that Brandow's name was
in every mouth, was more discussed than ever. So he left the room,
which reeked with tobacco-smoke, and wandered about in the pouring
rain, until at last, after an hour of impatient waiting, the promised
carriage arrived--an old rickety chaise, to which fortunately a pair of
fresh horses was harnessed. Herr Peters came out to take leave of him,
and say that in consequence of the great demand, he could not have the
carriage at the usual price. Gotthold consented to the shameless
extortion, and would have given even more to get on.
"I saw what was in the wind at once," said Herr Peters to his guests;
"Brandow two hours ago, and now he. Mark my words; they are after
Scheel."
"Nonsense," said a fat farmer; "he's gone where the pepper grows long
ago."
"I think he has taken his life," observed another.
"Or had it taken," growled a third.
They again put their heads together, even more eagerly than before.
That Hinrich Scheel had not reaped the fruits of his crime alone, nay,
possibly, had been wholly cheated out of them, was an opinion which had
obtained a firm hold upon the public mind, although the rumor had not
assumed a definite form. This time also people either could not or
would not mention any names; on the contrary, the affair grew darker
and darker the longer they talked it over, and the more frequently the
thick little glasses filled with a greenish liquid were emptied. Herr
Peters looked on well satisfied; it might be doubtful which of the
disputants would first call for a bowl of his famous mulled wine; but
that the call would be made within the next five minutes was perfectly
certain. Herr Peters had already made a signal through the little
window that opened into the kitchen to his daughter, who was standing
by the hearth.
Meantime Gotthold drove on through the pouring rain, which shrouded the
whole landscape in a gray veil that grew denser and denser hour by
hour. The wind whistled through the chinks in the leathern curtains,
which had been buttoned down to protect the occupants of the chaise
from the storm; the crazy old vehicle creaked and groaned
whenever--which happened only too often--the wheels on the right or
left slipped into the holes of the rough road; but the horses were
powerful, and the driver, who expected a liberal fee, was willing, so
it rolled forward with tolerable speed, although by no means rapidly
enough to suit Gotthold's increasing impatience.
Yet he was compelled to acknowledge to himself, and did so again and
again, that there was no sensible reason for his haste, that nothing
depended upon one hour more or less, nay, that another hour, which
might perhaps mature some definite resolution in his mind, would be
welcome. Yet, even while he said so, he leaned forward to shout to the
driver that the road was perfectly smooth here, and he might drive
faster.
Then he leaned back again into the corner of his little damp prison,
drew out Wollnow's letter and gazed at it as if he could not believe
any one could write such words as those in a hand so firm, characters
so large and clear. And for the second time he read:
"What I have to tell you to-day, my dear friend, is so bad that the
most skilful preamble would not make it better. So without any
introduction: the upsetting of the carriage on the moor was no unlucky
accident, but a shameful crime, of which Brandow was the instigator.
Secondly, the money was stolen. The originator of the theft, which
might be termed murder, was Brandow again; he was probably present at
the time, or else appeared on the scene directly after; at any rate,
the fruits of the robbery fell into his hands. Whether the two crimes
may to a certain extent be considered one--I mean whether the first was
committed that the second might be executed, or whether the second was
perpetrated on the spur of the moment, after the first had been
performed--I do not know, and probably no one ever will, since it is to
be feared that a third terrible crime has resulted from the first two.
"Who betrayed this horror to me? That which is so often the betrayer of
crimes--chance.
"A chance than which nothing could be more accidental.
"The money in the packet consisted of hundred, fifty, and twenty-five
thaler notes. I had myself, as you know, counted and put up the amount;
but of course that would not enable me to positively swear to the
identity of any one of the bills, even if it came back to me again.
With one, however, I am in a position to do so; the note is once more
in my hands, and I can prove in whose possession it has been in the
mean time.
"I was obliged to pay out this bill ten years ago at a very critical
time--it was the last money I possessed, and in a humorous freak I
marked on it the words, 'a lucky journey,' and the date in small,
almost microscopical characters, on the upper right-hand corner of its
face. Four years ago this same note came back to me. I honored my old
friend with the word 'welcome,' which, together with the date, I
wrote on the left-hand upper corner of the back, and gave it, as a
luck-penny, a place in my pocket-book, where it remained until three
weeks ago. You will remember that ready money was rather scarce with
me, and I took advantage of the opportunity to punish myself for my
superstitious feelings by adding this note to the rest.
"Now, this bill, to whose identity I can swear, Herr Redebas received
from Brandow on the day after the accident, as a part of the gambling
debt due that afternoon; he left the money in his desk without touching
it, until he made me a payment yesterday in which was this very note. I
asked Herr Redebas--without telling him my reasons--whether he could
swear to this statement if necessary; he answered in some little
astonishment, but very positively, that he was ready to do so at any
moment.
"Brandow, as is well known, had related here and there, that is, had
intentionally spread the report, that the five thousand thalers he paid
Herr Redebas at noon had been received in the morning from Jacob
Demminer, a produce dealer in this place, as part payment on account of
the seven thousand for which he had sold his wheat to him. This
statement had nothing improbable in and of itself, and as Jacob
Demminer bears the reputation of doing any business by which money can
be made, even that of a receiver of stolen goods, there was certainly
the shadow of a possibility that the master had received in the
morning, in payment for his wheat, the very money of which the man had
robbed our friend the night before, and thought he had placed in safety
with the worthy Jacob, with whom he had perhaps had business dealings
for a long time. I say, there is the shadow of a possibility, for the
time was rather short; still, we do not yet know where and how Hinrich
Scheel spent the rest of the night, so it might have been.
"The worthy Jacob, however, had not this affair at least on his
conscience, but the business Brandow wished to transact with him did
not take place either. To be sure Brandow was here that morning, and
also in the dark hole Jacob calls his counting-room; he took money away
with him, too, but only two thousand thalers, and not for this year's
wheat, which he had sold to Jacob months before, but for the next
year's harvest. He was obliged to sell at any price, in order to be
able to show the money at this time, and he could name any sum without
fearing that the worthy Jacob would contradict a customer with whom he
did such profitable business. The discovery of this trick was also
effected by chance, in the person of a poor young Jew, who had worked
several years for the worthy Jacob, and gained his confidence, until
now his conscience, or I know not what, suddenly urged him to pour out
his heart to me, and implore me to save him from this den of crime.
"Let us recapitulate. Brandow, who on the day of the accident was known
to be destitute of money, and received only two thousand thalers the
following morning, pays Herr Redebas, at noon, five thousand at one
stroke; and among this money is the hundred-thaler note which was in
the package that disappeared at the time of the accident.
"Disappeared! Why not lost, found, but not restored to its owner?
"Then it would still have been stolen. But from the beginning it was
both a theft and robbery.
"Remember that you felt the package in the Assessor's coat-pocket after
you left Dollan; that you no longer felt it at the smithy, and yet the
coat you had buttoned was still fastened. This, to be sure, is no
positive proof--nay, the latter circumstance at first even seems to be
against my supposition. Why, it might be said, should a thief so
cunning in all other respects intentionally incur an additional risk?
But people may try to be too cunning; and it certainly was not known
that you had kept your eye on the package all the evening, and
afterwards, when you buttoned the Assessor's coat, even had it under
your hand. The defender of the accused will, of course, doubt the
correctness of this statement, will--but we are not in a court of
justice. To me the fact is plain: the Assessor had the money with him
at the time of the fall; afterwards, when the two Prebrows raised the
poor fellow, while Henrich Scheel stood by with the lantern, he no
longer had it--that is, it had been stolen during the interval.
"By whom?
"Undoubtedly by this very Hinrich Scheel, but very, very probably not
by him alone.
"Can Brandow have been present at the time?
"He has taken no little trouble to prove his alibi, even before any
proof was asked, and evidently began the affair cunningly enough. He
rode here by the way of Neuenhof, Lankenitz, and Faschwitz--that is a
fact; the people in the villages heard him dash through; he even took
time to talk to several persons he met. If he rode the whole way he
cannot have been present at the time the deed was committed; even the
best rider on the fastest horse could not do that. But suppose he did
not ride the whole way--suppose he turned into the road just above
Neuenhof--suppose the spectral horseman whom you saw in your vision
dashing across the morass had been a veritable rider of flesh and
blood, and this rider had been Carl Brandow.
"You say that is impossible. What is impossible to a man pursued by the
furies, if he has a horse under him like the much-praised Brownlock?
"Brandow rode Brownlock that night; the groom at the Fuerstenhof swore
it, after he saw the racer, day before yesterday, on his way to Sundin.
And when a man like Brandow rides a horse which in itself represents a
small fortune, and on which, moreover, he has bet thousands, on such a
night, over such roads, at such a pace, he must have been in a great
hurry.
"He must have been in a very great hurry, or, my dear friend, you would
not have escaped with your life; you certainly would not have been
spared. A man whom people dash headlong over a precipice sixty feet
high they silence entirely, if they are not in too great a hurry.
"Yet, as I said before, this will probably remain a mystery, even to a
wiser judge than Justizrath von Zadenig. One of those who were there
will never betray it, and the other can no longer do so.
"As I returned from B. I met Brandow; he may easily have learned from
my coachman that I had been talking to the Justizrath for an hour. He
rode towards home at full gallop; an hour after the lawyer arrived with
the gendarme, but did not find Hinrich Scheel, although people had seen
him about all the forenoon; and he even took his master's horse when he
came home. The master was very, very anxious that the missing man
should be found; he even directed the search himself; he--"
"I will not protract this horrible supposition farther; it is the only
one which occurs in my story, all the others are facts--facts which cry
aloud to heaven--which ought not, must not remain unpunished. I know,
my dearest friend, you'll think as I do, though every fibre of your
heart must quiver at the thought that you--you--
"I shall come to Sundin with my wife day after to-morrow. We will then
discuss, not what is to be done--there can be no doubt about that; but
the how is certainly to be considered."
Gotthold put the letter back in his pocket, and gazed out into the
cheerless, rain-blurred landscape so fixedly, that he scarcely heard a
carriage, which, coming from Prora, passed by on the other side of the
road. It was still a half hour's ride to Prora, but it seemed an
eternity to the impatient traveller. At last the carriage stopped
before Wollnow's house.