Copyright Story. The Hermit of the Bachalp.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue XVIII, 31 October 1903, Page 9

Copyright Story. The Hermit of the Bachalp.

IFrom the French of Paul Hervieu.)

By

ALYS MALLARD.

The remarkable railway from the FaulUorn had been opened for about three months, and the European press bed been most enthusiastic about the success oi the undertaking. The difficulties in the way of such a railway had hitherto appeared to be absolutely insurmountable, and now that all was in working order every tourist felt it to be hie duty to see this new wonder. On a certain evening the nine o’clock train had just arrived. There had been a fine drizzling ruin all day. and only about nine, or ten travellers had ventured to face the weather in the hope of the next day being fine, aud had made their way to the Alpenrcse Hotel in order to be ready for the sun rise in the morning. The platform of the little station was soon cleared: the Inspector had returned to his office an.l was settling lihn.’elf down to his long clay pipe, when, to bis surprise, the stationmaster arrived at his door. As it happened, these two oflicia’s were not on good terras with each other. hr the simple reason that they both received exactly the same salary, and were lodged in exactly the same sized cottage, and as each of them considered himself superior to the other, they both naturally felt themselves ill-used. “Wlist good luck brings you here. M. Linder?” asked the Inspector, trying to appear pleasant, “and what can. I do for yi u ?” “Oil. • • . as to what you ean do for me. . . . The fact is, tuy men have found a passenger murdered in a firstclass carriage.” M. Muller was just blowing back an obstinate puff of smoke, and be merely glanced questioningly at his colleague. “I suppose you are joking, M. Linder." he remarked. “It’s your business. . . . not mine,” replied the other, turning round and walking away. The Inspector began to feel rather tttieisy. and taking his eap down from its peg, hurried out of the office. A ghastly sight awaited him. On the stained cushions of a railway carriage a man was lying on his back. A ball had vassed through his right ear, and his sandv beard was covered with blood. Ho was dressed in Alpine costume, and on opening his bag M. Muller found a guide book in English and a large sum of money in English gold and bank notes. There were no papers to prove his identitv, and no weapon was to be found w hieh might suggest the idea of suicide, and yet what motive could there, have been for a crime since the victim had not been robbed? M. Muller was iu a state oi great- consternation. whilst M. Linder appeared to be comparatively at his ease. The Inspector gave orders that the strictest secrecy should be observed, as otherwise the shares in the new railway would go down. The body of the victim was then placed in a large cupboard which was used for lost luggage, and inquiries were made at the hotel as to the other travellers who had arrived by this train, but there appeared to be nothing suspicious about any of them. M. Muller then retired and spent the. best part of the night in writing a report which he sent off at day-break to tr.o Board of Directors. He had given all possible details and all the deductions which a Company has the right- to expect from an official who is paid at the rate of three shillings and sixpence a day. , 11. r The following morning the weather was all that, could be desired, and the. mid-day train brought a crowd of tourists who never doubted but that they would have a magnificent sunset to contemplate. i As it often happens in these regions.

which are the special domain of wind and clouds, the meteorological forecast > proved to be wrong, and a violent thunderstorm broke out in the afternoon covering the blue sky with heavy grey clouds. In spite of the electricity in the attiiosphcre. which influenced the working oi the telegraph, a message arrived a last, informing M. Muller that a delegate was being sent to investigate the terrible affair; and from that moment the Inspector’s face beamed onee more with satisfaction, and lie was able to breathe more fully. In the meantime all precautions were taken in order to prevent a similar catastrophe. A certain number of employees received orders to walk along the narrow platform outside the trains and to keep watch on all compartments in which there happened to be more than e-ne occupant, particularly if there were any thing suspicious looking about any of the passengers. n The awful drama of the previous evening seemed all the more unaceountab’e from the fact that owing to the rock on one side of the track and the precipice on the other, it would bare been utterly impossible for the criminal to have e» caped by jumping front the train: r. would have meant certain death. The Inspector had hie customary nan after -upper, and iusi before the evening train was signalled, he shut himself up iu his office, giving strict orders that he should not be interrupted in hie work, lie knew very well that the delegate, whose visit had been announced by telegram. would insist on seeing him. and his official soul revelled in the idea of being discovered buried, as it were, amongst his papers and do? m-ents like

the zetieu* «etv»at of tire Cvrapany tee was. As fate would Lave it. his little scheme fell tbrvugh, fur it was the station master who flung open the officadoor, without any attempt at an apology. “M. Mull- r." he cried, “there is certainly sometliing radically wrong as regards the inspection of this line!” The Inspector looked up with a sever* expression on his face, and crossing hi* arms leliberately fro*Re-i angrily. “What do you menu, M. Linder lie asked, haughtily. I mean tliat another murder La* been cuiumitled in the train ua the way here.” M. Muller uttered an oath. The situation was certainly getting intolerable. The second victim had been killed in the same way by a bail through hi* head, an.l the two officials were eonviuecl tlast the unfortunate man was no other than s member of the Board of Di-rect-.-rs of tue Conipanv. It is M. Goi-.ts.il,” said M. Muller. “Excuse r.ie,” objected M Linder, “f Leliere it is M. Kaufmann." AV<iereuj>-n, there was a warm discus, eion between the two rivals, wlfich would ptolrably have never come to an end if it had I’.r-t occurred to one of them to search the jKivl.ets of the murdered man. They found several letters, the envelopes cf which were al! addressed to M. Krug, vho was no other than the Manager of the Company. Amongst these envelopes was one which excited the curiosity of M. Muller. The handwriting was most extraordinary. very large, and with enormous capitals. In his excited state of mind the Inspcvtor opened this letter n.ec’-.ani-catlv, and his colleague, leaning forward, read it at the same time. The content* «ere as follows: September 3. “To the Manager, The mc-st abominable things are taking place on your line. You have no right to persevere iu so ridiculous an.l monstrous an enterprise, and this I venture to declare. '-igned* Serge O->trep:eff. Hermit of the Bachalp. Ami sc. the frightful mystery of tiiesa daily crimes was no secret to this stranger. The murderer had no doubt given some kind of warning of his intentions, and the dwelling of this important wit-

Bess waa comparatively near; it wi» the house that stood the nearest to the top cf the mountain, a massive-looking dwelling, built just on the site where the railroad crosses a short platform. Undoubtedly the first thing to be done in the investigation was to interview this man who had voluntarily constituted himself a witness in the affair, and M. Krug had evidently come hhosete with this intention. Although M. Muller's duty was thus clearly traced for him, he hesitated now to prove his zeal, for he did not relish the idea of paying a visit to the Hermit of the Bachalp. whose unsceability had become a tradition amongst the mountain population for some distance round. As to M. Linder, he would have been glad to prove his own worth at the expense of his colleague, but he was rather perplexed as to how to act, for he was wondering what the result would be for himself of any steps he might take. “Are you a man, M. Linder T” murmured the Inspector, at last shaking his head and winking in a knowing way. "31. Muller,” replied the station master, ‘ there are two of us. and we are both men.” Whereupon they shock hands with such gusto that the joints of their fingers fairly cracked. It was a cordial grasp such as hypocrites delight in when they seal a bargain together. The two men understood each other perfectly, and in a short time the telegraph wires were at work announcing the fatal news and assuring the company that the zeal of the officials had risen tc the c-ecasion. m. The following morning after breakfast Muller and Linder arranged their work •o that all might go on satisfactorily during their absence, and set cut together on their errand. The weather had not cleared up, and there were heavy showers, thunder storm* and gales of wind at intervals. After about an hour and a hairs descent. they crossed the railway, and continuing along the tank* of the Bachalp, reached the rough-locking dwelling, built ge an eminence and on strong foundations. They knocked at the doer several times. and a marmot raised an alarm from its burrow. "How extraordinary! ” remarked Muller. attempting a joke. "I should have thought little ladies cf that kind would have made themselves scarce here considering the progress of civil;sation.” “renoek again,” muttered M. Linder: “the only marmot we eare to see appears to have gone tc sleep.” He had scarcely finished speaking when the door was half opened, and a strange apparition presented itself. A tall figure muffied up in a long black Soak stood in the doerday. His face was pale and elean shaven, and on his head he were a seal skin cap. He stooped so much that hi* chin was under the neek-bond of his green shirt. As to the age of the individual, it eouid only be estimated by striking an average between the eyes. which were as keen and brilliant as those of a young man of twenty, and the wrinkles on his forehead, which bespoke some forty years at least. When the visitors had stated their names and profession, the Hermit steeped back, and lifting his chin, spat on the brick floor before speaking “Gentlemen," he said, in a dear, distinct voice, "although I have the most profound horror of your wretched undertaking, you are very welcome here.” Somewhat disconcerted by this strange reeepucn, Muller and lander did not feel inclined to enter Serge OetrepiefTs dwelling. but the latter ushered them in to a dark, bare-’.coking room on the ground®c<sr. where they took their seat* on some bexes. Their host closed the door, and as there was no window in the re-can, lighted two eandles, and turning to them, ■aid in a sneering tone: “I owe you an explanation, gentleHere he lowed and hi* guests also. "There is only one thing in the world that I hate .’ continued the Hermit, “and you *ha!l judge whether my hatred is not well-founded. I hate the railway. . . .For the last sixteen years I have had this feeling cf hatred, and it is after ail only natural. On the 2nd of September, 19—, I was going from St. Petersburg tc Moscow. It was pouring with gain, and it was dark when we left the

Tver station. We had not gene far when suddenly • Here he broke off and commenced walking up and down the room, evidently under the influence of some terrible recollection. Muller and Linder nodded their heads deferentially and put on an expression of sympathy. "As railway officials," continued the Russian presently, “you have probably seen plenty of collision*, and you know what a terrible havoc is the result. When I recovered consciousness I found myself lying on a moving heap all bespattered with blood. “When they began to dear the line it was a horrible Light. . . ghastly. . . leg* and arms with no one belonging to them. Hereupon he made a frightful grimace, and gesticulating wildly, seized his own arms and legs as though he were throwing them into the four corners of the room. The spectators of this extraordinary pantomime expressed their sympathy, and congratulated their host on his miraculous escape. "Heaven be praised!” he said, with a sigh, a melancholy smile playing over his Kps, "I had nothing but a wound on my head,’ and he put his finger to his right temple, under his sealskin eap. Peals of thunder could be heard from time to time, and at every peal the HerMzit frowned in a strange way. M. Linder did not feel perfectly at ease with his host, and decided to come to the point in order to get the business ever. “We took the liberty of coming,” he said. “my colleague and I”—Muiier nodded in ec-rroboraticn — “on account of your letter ” ‘‘Ha—-Hal” interrupted the Hermit, "you are very good to take the trouble for the sake of a letter from me.” Hereupon he came so sear that his nose almost touched Muller’s, and the latter was obliged to draw his head baek so that he almost lost his balance. “Lei me tell you,” continued the Russian, “that during the last sixteen years I have sent mere than three thousand letters, and I have never had an answer to one of them, not to one of them. Do you understand!” He then proceeded to tell his guests the story of his life since the accident. As soon as he was well, hi* one idea had been to leave the accursed country where he had suffered so much, and from that time forth he had never been able to see the railread without feeling the sensation of a sword entering his Sesh, and be could not hear a train rashing along without fancying that all his mus”ties were being stretched out. He had not been fortunate, though, in the choice cf his places of refuge, as no matter where he went his enemy had always pursued him. He bad tried India, Greece, tee Far West, and everywhere the railway had increased the links of its formidable chain, encircling all the land which had been conquered by the human race. After protesting in vain against thi* invasion of the enemy, Serge Ostrepieff had always been obliged to escape and to fly from place to place, until at last the idea struck him that he might establish for himself a place of refuge near the summit of a steep mountain. There, at least, he imagined, he should be safe, and he had begun to live again in a happy, peaceful, dreamy way, just as he had lived in his earlier days. Here he broke off for a moment in hi* story, and the tears came into hi* eyes. He wiped them away, and rut-bed his eyelashes in a nervous, irritable man*er. “One fine day,” he began again, steakirg quickly, in a hard, dry voice, “I saw the fiery serpent's head appear. It had tracked me out, and was making straight for me. That was rather too much! I refused to believe my own eyes, and rushing away shut myself up in'my house, and lived on all kinds of salted provisions; and in the dark, too, just like the fishermen in the Polar darkness. Gradually the reptile approached, reached my hiding-place, and then went on and on, higher and higher, over the mountains. I endured this terror for a year and a-ha If. “Are you quite sure that the making cf the line occupied so long a time in your neighbourhood!” asked Muller, who was always delighted when he eould correct any inaccuracy.

The Hermit looked straight at Muller, and then at Linder, with that expression of pride and pity peculiar to inventors

when they are exhibiting seme wonderful instrument hitherto unknown. He then took off his sealskin cap, and pointed to a whitish sear in the middle of a dry, bald patch on his head. Every stroke of the pickaxe, and of the hammer is numbered there, do you unde rstand!—there ” There was silence for a moment, and then Sere Ostrepieff burst into a convulsive fit of laughter. “It wasn't likely now. was it,” he began again, “ that I eould foresee that a locomotive wculd ever climb up o w er those rails! Only a person with the most outlandish ideas could have imagined that.” He bent his head forward, as though listening for something, and seemed as though he had eaught some distant sound. “Well, one day—just about this time— I heard a dull, heavy noise—it was like so-uething coming along toward* this house, and it was raining in the most infernal way, too. that day . Weil—the sound came nearer, and grew louder and louder — Pff—pff—bourn—bcum—bonm ” The narrator stamped up and down the room, whistling, and imitating with the most perfect exactitude, the noise of an express train. “Presently my house began to shake, and seemed to be moving along too—l was certain that there would be another eoHision —it was inevitable —I shrieked for help and wanted to rush out—but the wal& all round me were moving too quickly—l felt sure then that nothing couM be done, and I ffung myself down like this, with my arms round my head— Oh. my head —ny poor head !” The Hermit was crouching down in a comer of the room trembling all over, and meaning out in his distress that it was all so erue! and unjust. AH he asked for was seme little hiding place, some spot in the world where he eould live in pe.'ce. He had given up everything, and was willing to accept solitude and exile from hi* own country, and it was neither honourable nor just to continue persecuting him. Muller shook his head gravely in a way ■shich might mean that he either agreed or disagreed with the unfortunate man whilst lander took advantage of a pause to try to arrive at some eonduson: " You took the trouble to write to the Company informing them that abominable things take place on their line — those were votar verv words, I beBevs!” Just at this momeut the Russian was evidently preoceupied by some great anxiety, for he did not reply at once. ■■Exactly.” he murmured at last, in a very low voice as though he were listening intently for something—“yes, I have witnessed some most extraordinary and frightful things ever since the day when in sheer bravado I opened my shutters as the trains went by ” Muiier and Lir.d er looked at each other—the revelations for which they had been waiting so long were about to be made. At intervals the thunder could be heard rumbling as each peal was taken up by the mountain edsoes, but it was not to that Serge Ostrepieff was listening. He was leaning forward in his crouching position sc that his ear was nearly level with the ground. He had dropped his voice almost to a whisper when he spoke again. “Have you ever seen the carriages galloping along at night!—The red light of the lamps—How ghastly it all is! Then

underneath— creatures gliding along hk« phantoms—Where are they .11 going h their wild flight ’ They are’ not the same »ort of people as we are. What does it maiter to them if fire and pestilence reign in the countries which they pxs. through so indifferently! And if the devouring fire has broken out amongst them, why, they carry it along in uheir n.. d course ” A shudder of horror passed through him at this idea. “I have seen some of they lying still, like dead creatures —others, moving about as though they were fighting, and otters with their arms round each other—Then suddenly they disappear, and all i* silence—and I begin to doubt whether I have seen them or whether it is all a dream—whilst the dismal rain continues all the time just as it did that fata] n ight—Listen—listen ” The wind which was rising in the valley wafted along the sound of a horn. “We shall be very mueh obliged, sir, if you will kindly come to the point, said Muller, looking at his watch with a gesture cf impatience. "The evening train has just, left the Woldspit st-ticn, and we ought to have started back again some time ago in order to be at our post.” The Hermit paid no attention whatever to these words. He was rubbing his head and listening to a rumbling sound which could nc-w be heard in the distance, and as it grew more and mere distinct he became more and more excited. Suddenly, and without uttering a word, he left the room, and his heavy tread eould soon be heard making the wooden staircase, and then the planks of th. room overhead, creak. “Shall I tell you what my opinion is, M. Muller!” said the station master, with a certain amount of humiliation when the two men found themselves alone. “Certainly. By all means, M. Linder.” "Well, I fancy this poor gentleman has not quite all his reason.” "M. Linder, I agree with you.” Neither of the official* spoke for a minute or two, and the sound of the approaching loccmotive eould be heard more and more distinctly whilst in the room overhead there was perfect siler ce. The two men were most curious to knew what their host was doing, and after discussing the question, they decided to go in search of him. They mounted the stairs very quietly, and right in front of them found the dcoi of a room open, and eppeste that, a window which had been partially opened. A dark figure was standing in front cf this window. Suddenly, a stray moonbeam rested ca the barrel of a gun. Linder immediately stepped forward, and the Inspector had only just rime to seize him by the elbow. The noise of the engine drowned the creaking of the floor. "How imprudent!” whispered Mußear. “You don't know whether the gun is loaded or not. At least, do not compromise our safety!” The end of the sentence was lost in the report of a gun, fired from the window. Both officials rushed upon Serge <3=trepieff. who struggled energetically, brandishing at the same time his smoking weapon. “Assassin! Assassin!” they both yelled together. “What do you mean by that?” cried the Hermit. “3% ill you loose me! Hara done, I say! Are you both mad. gentlemen!”