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The Blue Germ Martin Swayne

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The Blue Germ Martin Swayne THE SWAYNE omia tal y THE BLUE GERM MARTIN SWAYNE CNIV. W CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS A19GCLK9 THE BLUE GERM BY MARTIN SWAYNE Author of "The Sporting Instinct," "In Mesopotamia," etc. NEW XHJT YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY Copyright, 1918, By George H. Doran Company Printed in the United States of America TO J. E. H. W. 2133411 CONTENTS CHAPTEE PAGtf I. BLACK MAGIC ....... 11 ii. SARAKOFF'S MANIFESTO ..... 15 III. THE BUTTERFLIES ...... 24 IV. THE SIX TUBES ....... 31 V. THE GREAT AQUEDUCT ..... 39 VI. THE ATTITUDE OF MR. THORNDUCK . 42 VII. LEONORA ........ 49 Vni. THE BLUE DISEASE ...... 67 IX. THE MAN FROM BIRMINGHAM ... 76 X. THE ILLNESS OF MR. ANNOT .... 88 XI. THE RESURRECTION ...... 99 xii. MR. CLUTTERBUCK'S OPINION . 110 XIII. THE DEAD IMMORTAL ..... 119 XIV. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF IMMORTALITY . 132 XV. THE TERRIBLE FEAR ...... 141 XVI. THE VISIT OF THE HOME SECRETARY . 153 XVH. CLUTTERBUCK'S ODD BEHAVIOUR . 165 XVIII. IMMORTAL LOVE ....... 170 XIX. THE MEETING AT THE QUEEN*S HALL . 186 XX. THE WAY BACK ....... 197 XXI. JASON ......... 205 vii vm CONTENTS CHAPTBB PAQK xxn. THE FIRST MURDERS 215 XXIII. AT DOWNING STREET 225 XXIV. NIGHT OF AN IMMORTAL 233 XXV. OUR FLIGHT 238 xxvi. ON THE SPANIARD'S WALK .... 24-5 xxvn. LEONORA'S VOICE 254 XXVm. THE KILLING OF DESIRE 261 XXIX. THE REVOLT OF THE YOUNG .... 269 XXX. THE GREAT SLEEP . 282 THE BLUE GERM THE BLUE GERM CHAPTER I BLACK MAGIC HAD just finished breakfast, and deeply I perplexed had risen from the table in or- der to get a box of matches to light a cigarette, when my black cat got between my feet and tripped me up. I fell forwards, making a clutch at the table- cloth. My forehead struck the corner of the fender and the last thing I remembered was a crash of falling crockery. Then all became darkness. My parlour-maid found me lying face downwards on the hearth-rug ten minutes later. My cat was sitting near my head, blinking contentedly at the fire. A little blood was oozing from a wound above my left eye. They carried me up to my bedroom and 11 12 THE BLUE GERM sent for my colleague, Wilfred Hammer, who lived next door. For three days I lay insensi- ble, and Hammer came in continually, when- ever he could spare the time from his patients, and brooded over me. On the fourth day I began to move about in my bed, restless and muttering, and Hammer told me afterwards that I seemed to be talking of a black cat. On the night of the fourth day I suddenly opened my eyes. My perplexity had left me. An idea, clear as crystal, was now in my mind. From that moment my confinement to bed was a source of impatience to me. Hammer, large, fair, square-headed, and imperturbable, insisted on complete rest, and I chafed under the restraint. I had only one desire to get up, slip down to St. Dane's Hospital in my car, mount the bare stone steps that led up to the laboratory and begin work at once. "Let me up, Hammer," I implored. "My dear fellow, you're semi-delirious." "I must get up," I muttered. He laughed slowly. "Not for another week or two, Harden. How is the black cat?" "That cat is a wizard." BLACK MAGIC 13 I lay watching him between half-closed eye- lids. "He gave me the idea." "He gave you a nasty concussion," said Hammer. "It was probably the only way to the idea," I answered. "I tell you the cat is a wizard. He did it on purpose. He's a black magi- cian." Hammer laughed again, and went towards the door. "Then the idea must be black magic," he said. I smiled painfully, for my head was throb- bing. But I was happier then than I had ever been, for I had solved the problem that had haunted my brain for ten years. "There's no such thing as black magic," I said. Three weeks later I beheld the miracle. It was wrought on the last day of December, in the laboratory of the hospital, high above the gloom and squalor of the city. The miracle occurred within a brilliant little circle of light, and I saw it with my eye glued to a microscope. 14 THE BLUE GERM It passed off swiftly and quietly, and though I expected it, I was filled with a great wonder and amazement. To a lay mind the amazement with which I beheld the miracle will require explanation. I had witnessed the transformation of one germ into another; a thing which is similar to a man seeing a flock of sheep on a hill-side change suddenly into a herd of cattle. For many minutes I continued to move the slide in an aimless way with trembling fingers. My tem- perament is earthy; it had once occurred to me quite seriously that if I saw a miracle I would probably go mad under the strain. Now that I had seen one, after the first flash of realization my mind was listless and dull, and all feeling of surprise had died away. The black rods floated with slow motion in the minute currents of fluid I had introduced. The faint roar of London came up from far below; the clock ticked steadily and the micro- scope lamp shone with silent radiance. And I, Richard Harden, sat dangling my short legs on the high stool, thinking and thinking. That night I wrote to Professor Sarakoff. A month later I was on my way to Russia. CHAPTER II SARAKOFF'S MANIFESTO recollection of my meeting with Sara- THEkoff remains vividly in my mind. I was shown into a large bare room, heated by an immense stove like an iron pagoda. The floor was of light yellow polished wood; the walls were white-washed, and covered with pencil marks. A big table covered with papers and books stood at one end. At the other, through an open doorway, there was a glimpse of a laboratory. Sarakoff stood in the centre of the room, his hands deep in his pockets, his pipe sending up clouds of smoke, his tall muscular frame tilted back. His eyes were fixed on an extraordinary object that crawled slowly over the polished floor. It was a gigantic tortoise a specimen of Testudo elephantopus a huge cumbersome brute. Its ancient, scaly head was thrust out and its eyes gleamed with a kind of sharp intelligence. The surface of 15 16 THE BLUE GERM its vast and massive shell was covered over with scribbles in white chalk notes made by Sara- koff who was in the habit of jotting down fig- ures and formulae on anything near at hand. As there was only one chair in the room, Sarakoff eventually thrust me into it, while he sat down on the great beast whom he called Belshazzar and told me over and over again how glad he was to see me. And this warmth of his was pleasant to me. "Are you experimenting on Belshazzar?" I asked at length. He nodded, and smiled enigmatically. "He is two hundred years old," he said. "I want to get at his secret." That was the first positive proof I got of the line of research Sarakoff was intent upon, al- though, reading between the lines of his many publications, I had guessed something of it. In every way, Sarakoff was a complete con- trast to me. Tall, lean, black-bearded and deep-voiced, careless of public opinion and prodigal in ideas, he was just my antithesis. He was possessed of immense energy. His tousled black hair, moustaches and beard seemed to bristle with it; it shone in his pale SARAKOFF'S MANIFESTO 17 blue eyes. He was full of sudden violence, flinging test-tubes across the laboratory, shout- ing strange songs, striding about snapping his fingers. There was no repose in him. At first I was a little afraid of him, but the feeling wore off. He spoke English fluently, because when a boy he had been at school in London. I will not enter upon a detailed account of our conversation that first morning in Russia, when the snow lay thick on the roofs of the city, and the ferns of frost sparkled on the window-panes of the laboratory. Briefly, we found ourselves at one over many problems of human research, and I congratulated myself on the fact that in communicating the account of the miracle at St. Dane's Hospital to Sara- koff alone, I had done wisely. He was won- derfully enthusiastic. "That discovery of yours has furnished the key to the great riddle I had set myself," he exclaimed, striding to and fro. "We will as- tonish the world, my friend. It is only a ques- tion of time." "But what is the riddle you speak of?" I asked. "I will tell you soon. Have patience!" he 18 THE BLUE GERM cried. He came towards me impulsively and shook my hand. "We shall find it beyond a doubt, and we will call it the Sarakoff-Har- den Bacillus ! What do you think of that ?" I was somewhat mystified. He sat down again on the back of the tortoise, smoking in his ferocious manner and smiling and nodding to himself. I thought it best to let him disclose his plans in his own way, and kept back the many eager questions that rose to my lips. "It seems to me,'* said Sarakoff suddenly, "that England would be the best place to try the experiment.
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