Chapter Chapter 28 · THE BREAKING OF THE STORM

. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM

When Lady Arabella had crept away in her usual noiseless fashion, the two

others remained for a while in their places on the turret roof: Caswall

because he had nothing to say, Mimi because she had much to say and

wished to put her thoughts in order. For quite a while--which seemed

interminable--silence reigned between them. At last Mimi made a

beginning--she had made up her mind how to act.

"Mr. Caswall," she said loudly, so as to make sure of being heard through

the blustering of the wind and the perpetual cracking of the electricity.

Caswall said something in reply, but his words were carried away on the

storm. However, one of her objects was effected: she knew now exactly

whereabout on the roof he was. So she moved close to the spot before she

spoke again, raising her voice almost to a shout.

"The wicket is shut. Please to open it. I can't get out."

As she spoke, she was quietly fingering a revolver which Adam had given

to her in case of emergency and which now lay in her breast. She felt

that she was caged like a rat in a trap, but did not mean to be taken at

a disadvantage, whatever happened. Caswall also felt trapped, and all

the brute in him rose to the emergency. In a voice which was raucous and

brutal--much like that which is heard when a wife is being beaten by her

husband in a slum--he hissed out, his syllables cutting through the

roaring of the storm:

"You came of your own accord--without permission, or even asking it. Now

you can stay or go as you choose. But you must manage it for yourself;

I'll have nothing to do with it."

Her answer was spoken with dangerous suavity

"I am going. Blame yourself if you do not like the time and manner of

it. I daresay Adam--my husband--will have a word to say to you about

it!"

"Let him say, and be damned to him, and to you too! I'll show you a

light. You shan't be able to say that you could not see what you were

doing."

As he spoke, he was lighting another piece of the magnesium ribbon, which

made a blinding glare in which everything was plainly discernible, down

to the smallest detail. This exactly suited Mimi. She took accurate

note of the wicket and its fastening before the glare had died away. She

took her revolver out and fired into the lock, which was shivered on the

instant, the pieces flying round in all directions, but happily without

causing hurt to anyone. Then she pushed the wicket open and ran down the

narrow stair, and so to the hall door. Opening this also, she ran down

the avenue, never lessening her speed till she stood outside the door of

Lesser Hill. The door was opened at once on her ringing.

"Is Mr. Adam Salton in?" she asked.

"He has just come in, a few minutes ago. He has gone up to the study,"

replied a servant.

She ran upstairs at once and joined him. He seemed relieved when he saw

her, but scrutinised her face keenly. He saw that she had been in some

concern, so led her over to the sofa in the window and sat down beside

her.

"Now, dear, tell me all about it!" he said.

She rushed breathlessly through all the details of her adventure on the

turret roof. Adam listened attentively, helping her all he could, and

not embarrassing her by any questioning. His thoughtful silence was a

great help to her, for it allowed her to collect and organise her

thoughts.

"I must go and see Caswall to-morrow, to hear what he has to say on the

subject."

"But, dear, for my sake, don't have any quarrel with Mr. Caswall. I have

had too much trial and pain lately to wish it increased by any anxiety

regarding you."

"You shall not, dear--if I can help it--please God," he said solemnly,

and he kissed her.

Then, in order to keep her interested so that she might forget the fears

and anxieties that had disturbed her, he began to talk over the details

of her adventure, making shrewd comments which attracted and held her

attention. Presently, _inter alia_, he said:

"That's a dangerous game Caswall is up to. It seems to me that that

young man--though he doesn't appear to know it--is riding for a fall!"

"How, dear? I don't understand."

"Kite flying on a night like this from a place like the tower of Castra

Regis is, to say the least of it, dangerous. It is not merely courting

death or other accident from lightning, but it is bringing the lightning

into where he lives. Every cloud that is blowing up here--and they all

make for the highest point--is bound to develop into a flash of

lightning. That kite is up in the air and is bound to attract the

lightning. Its cord makes a road for it on which to travel to earth.

When it does come, it will strike the top of the tower with a weight a

hundred times greater than a whole park of artillery, and will knock

Castra Regis into pieces. Where it will go after that, no one can tell.

If there should be any metal by which it can travel, such will not only

point the road, but be the road itself."

"Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air when such a thing is

taking place?" she asked.

"No, little woman. It would be the safest possible place--so long as one

was not in the line of the electric current."

"Then, do let us go outside. I don't want to run into any foolish

danger--or, far more, to ask you to do so. But surely if the open is

safest, that is the place for us."

Without another word, she put on again the cloak she had thrown off, and

a small, tight-fitting cap. Adam too put on his cap, and, after seeing

that his revolver was all right, gave her his hand, and they left the

house together.

"I think the best thing we can do will be to go round all the places

which are mixed up in this affair."

"All right, dear, I am ready. But, if you don't mind, we might go first

to Mercy. I am anxious about grandfather, and we might see that--as yet,

at all events--nothing has happened there."

So they went on the high-hung road along the top of the Brow. The wind

here was of great force, and made a strange booming noise as it swept

high overhead; though not the sound of cracking and tearing as it passed

through the woods of high slender trees which grew on either side of the

road. Mimi could hardly keep her feet. She was not afraid; but the

force to which she was opposed gave her a good excuse to hold on to her

husband extra tight.

At Mercy there was no one up--at least, all the lights were out. But to

Mimi, accustomed to the nightly routine of the house, there were manifest

signs that all was well, except in the little room on the first floor,

where the blinds were down. Mimi could not bear to look at that, to

think of it. Adam understood her pain, for he had been keenly interested

in poor Lilla. He bent over and kissed her, and then took her hand and

held it hard. Thus they passed on together, returning to the high road

towards Castra Regis.

At the gate of Castra Regis they were extra careful. When drawing near,

Adam stumbled upon the wire that Lady Arabella had left trailing on the

ground.

Adam drew his breath at this, and spoke in a low, earnest whisper:

"I don't want to frighten you, Mimi dear, but wherever that wire is there

is danger."

"Danger! How?"

"That is the track where the lightning will go; at any moment, even now

whilst we are speaking and searching, a fearful force may be loosed upon

us. Run on, dear; you know the way to where the avenue joins the

highroad. If you see any sign of the wire, keep away from it, for God's

sake. I shall join you at the gateway."

"Are you going to follow that wire alone?"

"Yes, dear. One is sufficient for that work. I shall not lose a moment

till I am with you."

"Adam, when I came with you into the open, my main wish was that we

should be together if anything serious happened. You wouldn't deny me

that right, would you, dear?"

"No, dear, not that or any right. Thank God that my wife has such a

wish. Come; we will go together. We are in the hands of God. If He

wishes, we shall be together at the end, whenever or wherever that may

be."

They picked up the trail of the wire on the steps and followed it down

the avenue, taking care not to touch it with their feet. It was easy

enough to follow, for the wire, if not bright, was self-coloured, and

showed clearly. They followed it out of the gateway and into the avenue

of Diana's Grove.

Here a new gravity clouded Adam's face, though Mimi saw no cause for

fresh concern. This was easily enough explained. Adam knew of the

explosive works in progress regarding the well-hole, but the matter had

been kept from his wife. As they stood near the house, Adam asked Mimi

to return to the road, ostensibly to watch the course of the wire,

telling her that there might be a branch wire leading somewhere else. She

was to search the undergrowth, and if she found it, was to warn him by

the Australian native "Coo-ee!"

Whilst they were standing together, there came a blinding flash of

lightning, which lit up for several seconds the whole area of earth and

sky. It was only the first note of the celestial prelude, for it was

followed in quick succession by numerous flashes, whilst the crash and

roll of thunder seemed continuous.

Adam, appalled, drew his wife to him and held her close. As far as he

could estimate by the interval between lightning and thunder-clap, the

heart of the storm was still some distance off, so he felt no present

concern for their safety. Still, it was apparent that the course of the

storm was moving swiftly in their direction. The lightning flashes came

faster and faster and closer together; the thunder-roll was almost

continuous, not stopping for a moment--a new crash beginning before the

old one had ceased. Adam kept looking up in the direction where the kite

strained and struggled at its detaining cord, but, of course, the dull

evening light prevented any distinct scrutiny.

At length there came a flash so appallingly bright that in its glare

Nature seemed to be standing still. So long did it last, that there was

time to distinguish its configuration. It seemed like a mighty tree

inverted, pendent from the sky. The whole country around within the

angle of vision was lit up till it seemed to glow. Then a broad ribbon

of fire seemed to drop on to the tower of Castra Regis just as the

thunder crashed. By the glare, Adam could see the tower shake and

tremble, and finally fall to pieces like a house of cards. The passing

of the lightning left the sky again dark, but a blue flame fell downward

from the tower, and, with inconceivable rapidity, running along the

ground in the direction of Diana's Grove, reached the dark silent house,

which in the instant burst into flame at a hundred different points.

At the same moment there rose from the house a rending, crashing sound of

woodwork, broken or thrown about, mixed with a quick scream so appalling

that Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was, felt his blood turn into

ice. Instinctively, despite the danger and their consciousness of it,

husband and wife took hands and listened, trembling. Something was going

on close to them, mysterious, terrible, deadly! The shrieks continued,

though less sharp in sound, as though muffled. In the midst of them was

a terrific explosion, seemingly from deep in the earth.

The flames from Castra Regis and from Diana's Grove made all around

almost as light as day, and now that the lightning had ceased to flash,

their eyes, unblinded, were able to judge both perspective and detail.

The heat of the burning house caused the iron doors to warp and collapse.

Seemingly of their own accord, they fell open, and exposed the interior.

The Saltons could now look through to the room beyond, where the well-

hole yawned, a deep narrow circular chasm. From this the agonised

shrieks were rising, growing ever more terrible with each second that

passed.

But it was not only the heart-rending sound that almost paralysed poor

Mimi with terror. What she saw was sufficient to fill her with evil

dreams for the remainder of her life. The whole place looked as if a sea

of blood had been beating against it. Each of the explosions from below

had thrown out from the well-hole, as if it had been the mouth of a

cannon, a mass of fine sand mixed with blood, and a horrible repulsive

slime in which were great red masses of rent and torn flesh and fat. As

the explosions kept on, more and more of this repulsive mass was shot up,

the great bulk of it falling back again. Many of the awful fragments

were of something which had lately been alive. They quivered and

trembled and writhed as though they were still in torment, a supposition

to which the unending scream gave a horrible credence. At moments some

mountainous mass of flesh surged up through the narrow orifice, as though

forced by a measureless power through an opening infinitely smaller than

itself. Some of these fragments were partially covered with white skin

as of a human being, and others--the largest and most numerous--with

scaled skin as of a gigantic lizard or serpent. Once, in a sort of lull

or pause, the seething contents of the hole rose, after the manner of a

bubbling spring, and Adam saw part of the thin form of Lady Arabella,

forced up to the top amid a mass of blood and slime, and what looked as

if it had been the entrails of a monster torn into shreds. Several times

some masses of enormous bulk were forced up through the well-hole with

inconceivable violence, and, suddenly expanding as they came into larger

space, disclosed sections of the White Worm which Adam and Sir Nathaniel

had seen looking over the trees with its enormous eyes of emerald-green

flickering like great lamps in a gale.

At last the explosive power, which was not yet exhausted, evidently

reached the main store of dynamite which had been lowered into the worm

hole. The result was appalling. The ground for far around quivered and

opened in long deep chasms, whose edges shook and fell in, throwing up

clouds of sand which fell back and hissed amongst the rising water. The

heavily built house shook to its foundations. Great stones were thrown

up as from a volcano, some of them, great masses of hard stone, squared

and grooved with implements wrought by human hands, breaking up and

splitting in mid air as though riven by some infernal power. Trees near

the house--and therefore presumably in some way above the hole, which

sent up clouds of dust and steam and fine sand mingled, and which carried

an appalling stench which sickened the spectators--were torn up by the

roots and hurled into the air. By now, flames were bursting violently

from all over the ruins, so dangerously that Adam caught up his wife in

his arms, and ran with her from the proximity of the flames.

Then almost as quickly as it had begun, the whole cataclysm ceased,

though a deep-down rumbling continued intermittently for some time. Then

silence brooded over all--silence so complete that it seemed in itself a

sentient thing--silence which seemed like incarnate darkness, and

conveyed the same idea to all who came within its radius. To the young

people who had suffered the long horror of that awful night, it brought

relief--relief from the presence or the fear of all that was

horrible--relief which seemed perfected when the red rays of sunrise shot

up over the far eastern sea, bringing a promise of a new order of things

with the coming day.

* * * * *

His bed saw little of Adam Salton for the remainder of that night. He

and Mimi walked hand in hand in the brightening dawn round by the Brow to

Castra Regis and on to Lesser Hill. They did so deliberately, in an

attempt to think as little as possible of the terrible experiences of the

night. The morning was bright and cheerful, as a morning sometimes is

after a devastating storm. The clouds, of which there were plenty in

evidence, brought no lingering idea of gloom. All nature was bright and

joyous, being in striking contrast to the scenes of wreck and

devastation, the effects of obliterating fire and lasting ruin.

The only evidence of the once stately pile of Castra Regis and its

inhabitants was a shapeless huddle of shattered architecture, dimly seen

as the keen breeze swept aside the cloud of acrid smoke which marked the

site of the once lordly castle. As for Diana's Grove, they looked in

vain for a sign which had a suggestion of permanence. The oak trees of

the Grove were still to be seen--some of them--emerging from a haze of

smoke, the great trunks solid and erect as ever, but the larger branches

broken and twisted and rent, with bark stripped and chipped, and the

smaller branches broken and dishevelled looking from the constant stress

and threshing of the storm.

Of the house as such, there was, even at the short distance from which

they looked, no trace. Adam resolutely turned his back on the

devastation and hurried on. Mimi was not only upset and shocked in many

ways, but she was physically "dog tired," and falling asleep on her feet.

Adam took her to her room and made her undress and get into bed, taking

care that the room was well lighted both by sunshine and lamps. The only

obstruction was from a silk curtain, drawn across the window to keep out

the glare. He sat beside her, holding her hand, well knowing that the

comfort of his presence was the best restorative for her. He stayed with

her till sleep had overmastered her wearied body. Then he went softly

away. He found his uncle and Sir Nathaniel in the study, having an early

cup of tea, amplified to the dimensions of a possible breakfast. Adam

explained that he had not told his wife that he was going over the

horrible places again, lest it should frighten her, for the rest and

sleep in ignorance would help her and make a gap of peacefulness between

the horrors.

Sir Nathaniel agreed.

"We know, my boy," he said, "that the unfortunate Lady Arabella is dead,

and that the foul carcase of the Worm has been torn to pieces--pray God

that its evil soul will never more escape from the nethermost hell."

They visited Diana's Grove first, not only because it was nearer, but

also because it was the place where most description was required, and

Adam felt that he could tell his story best on the spot. The absolute

destruction of the place and everything in it seen in the broad daylight

was almost inconceivable. To Sir Nathaniel, it was as a story of horror

full and complete. But to Adam it was, as it were, only on the fringes.

He knew what was still to be seen when his friends had got over the

knowledge of externals. As yet, they had only seen the outside of the

house--or rather, where the outside of the house once had been. The

great horror lay within. However, age--and the experience of age--counts.

A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place in the

time which had elapsed since the dawn. It would almost seem as if Nature

herself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred.

True, the utter ruin of the house was made even more manifest in the

searching daylight; but the more appalling destruction which lay beneath

was not visible. The rent, torn, and dislocated stonework looked worse

than before; the upheaved foundations, the piled-up fragments of masonry,

the fissures in the torn earth--all were at the worst. The Worm's hole

was still evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into the very

bowels of the earth. But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, of

torn, evil-smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent death,

were gone. Either some of the later explosions had thrown up from the

deep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had still

some cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass which stirred from

far below had helped to drag down and obliterate the items of horror. A

grey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste of the falling ruin,

covered everything, and, though ghastly itself, helped to mask something

still worse.

After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three men that

the turmoil far below had not yet ceased. At short irregular intervals

the hell-broth in the hole seemed as if boiling up. It rose and fell

again and turned over, showing in fresh form much of the nauseous detail

which had been visible earlier. The worst parts were the great masses of

the flesh of the monstrous Worm, in all its red and sickening aspect.

Such fragments had been bad enough before, but now they were infinitely

worse. Corruption comes with startling rapidity to beings whose

destruction has been due wholly or in part to lightning--the whole mass

seemed to have become all at once corrupt! The whole surface of the

fragments, once alive, was covered with insects, worms, and vermin of all

kinds. The sight was horrible enough, but, with the awful smell added,

was simply unbearable. The Worm's hole appeared to breathe forth death

in its most repulsive forms. The friends, with one impulse, moved to the

top of the Brow, where a fresh breeze from the sea was blowing up.

At the top of the Brow, beneath them as they looked down, they saw a

shining mass of white, which looked strangely out of place amongst such

wreckage as they had been viewing. It appeared so strange that Adam

suggested trying to find a way down, so that they might see it more

closely.

"We need not go down; I know what it is," Sir Nathaniel said. "The

explosions of last night have blown off the outside of the cliffs--that

which we see is the vast bed of china clay through which the Worm

originally found its way down to its lair. I can catch the glint of the

water of the deep quags far down below. Well, her ladyship didn't

deserve such a funeral--or such a monument."

* * * * *

The horrors of the last few hours had played such havoc with Mimi's

nerves, that a change of scene was imperative--if a permanent breakdown

was to be avoided.

"I think," said old Mr. Salton, "it is quite time you young people

departed for that honeymoon of yours!" There was a twinkle in his eye as

he spoke.

Mimi's soft shy glance at her stalwart husband, was sufficient answer.