knew that both Tolnay and Mr Howard carried revolvers in case of emergencies; and besides, was there not the gun of the Bohemian's unfortunate grandfather, which, after all, might go off at the right moment?
The prostrate beech-tree was bathed in moonlight; and, sitting on the trunk, they saw the figure of Dr Komers. He did not perceive them until they were close; then he rose hurriedly, and came to meet them.
"At last! I could not imagine where you were."
"We could not imagine where you were," said Kurt.
"I missed the Bohemian, but managed to find my way back here and seeing all the things about – plaids and so on – I concluded that my best course was to wait patiently."
"Ah, you don't know what you have missed!" said Gretchen.
And then, with much question and answer, and more or less excited narrative, the lawyer's ignorance was enlightened. The Bohemian knelt on the ground, strapping up the basket which had carried their provisions.
"It is a positive pity that you have not seen it," admitted Mr Howard. "I am bound to confess that we have nothing which beats it in its own line of horrors within the seas of Great Britain."
"Is it far from here?" asked Vincenz.
"Not three minutes' walk."
"There is no particular necessity for seeing it to-night, is there?" asked Kurt; "it is not going to close up just yet, I fancy."
Vincenz looked doubtful. As a matter of personal taste, he did not care much whether he did or did not see a black hole which was supposed to have no bottom. He took no special interest in either geological or historical researches. This black hole, however, this Gaura Dracului which had played so great a part this summer, was not quite like any other black hole. He had assisted in the search for weeks past; it was an object of interest to Adalbert Mohr; above all, it was an interest to Gretchen. The position was a tantalising one. To be the only one of the party who should come back without having seen the spot to be so near, and to go away ignorant, – it was enough to excite even a hitherto slumbering curiosity.
"Three minutes there," said Mr Howard, with his watch in his hand, "three minutes back, and one minute to stand and shiver at the edge, – seven minutes in all. We are so late already that seven minutes are neither here nor there. It will take us about that to pack up our things."
"You had better make up your mind quick, one way or the other," remarked Kurt; "but if I were you, I should take it on trust."
"So should I," said Gretchen, as she flung her shawl around her. "It is so dark too, it would scarcely be safe. Dr Komers, do not go."
She had spoken low, but both Vincenz and Tolnay had heard her distinctly, and they both turned their heads towards her. For one instant Vincenz felt his heart leap up with a sort of wild hope, but it sank down again in the next.
"I am an old fool," thought Vincenz; "it is only that she is in a hurry to get home."
"Don't go," said another voice beside him: it was Tolnay's, and there was again in it that mocking tone with which he loved to torment the lawyer. But the mockery to-night was not as light and laughing as was Tolnay's wont.
"And why should I not go?"
"Because you would see nothing; and besides – it would not be safe."
