Chapter XXXII--'To Be God and Able to Do Things'

by Bram Stoker

　　When the swimmer saw the light he looked up; even at the distancethey could see the lift of his face; but he did not seem to realisethat there was any intention in the lighting, or that it was createdfor his benefit. He was manifestly spent with his tremendousexertions, and with his long heavy swim in the turbulent sea.Stephen's heart went out to him in a wave of infinite pity. Shetried to use the trumpet. But simple as it is, a trumpet needs skillor at least practice in its use; she could only make anunintelligible sound, and not much even of that. One of the youngmen said:'Let me try it, my lady!' She handed him the trumpet and he in turnused with a will. But it was of no avail; even his strong lungs andlusty manhood availed nothing in the teeth of that furious gale. Theroof and the whole house was now well alight, and the flame roaredand leapt. Stephen began to make gestures bidding the swimmer, incase he might see her and understand, move round the rocks. But hemade no change in his direction, and was fast approaching a point inthe tide-race whence to avoid the sunken rocks would be animpossibility. The old whaler, accustomed to use all his wits intimes of difficulty, said suddenly:'How can he understand when we're all between him and the light. Weare only black shadows to him; all he can see are waving arms!' Hissons caught his meaning and were already dashing towards the burninghouse. They came back with piles of blazing wood and threw them downon the very edge of the cliff; brought more and piled them up,flinging heaps of straw on the bonfire and pouring on oil and pitchtill the flames rose high. Stephen saw what was necessary and stoodout of the way, but close to the old whaler, where the light fell onboth of their faces as they looked in the direction of the swimmer.Stephen's red dress itself stood out like a flame. The gale tearingup the front of the cliff had whirled away her hat; in the stress ofthe wind her hair was torn from its up-pinning and flew wide, itselflike leaping flame.Her gestures as she swept her right arm round, as thoughdemonstrating the outward curve of a circle, or raising the handabove her head motioned with wide palm and spread fingers 'back!back!' seemed to have reached the swimmer's intelligence. He halfrose in the water and looked about. As if seeing something that herealised, he sank back again and began swim frantically out to sea.A great throb of joy made Stephen almost faint. At last she had beenable to do something to help this gallant man. In half a minute hisefforts seemed to tell in his race for life. He drew sufficientlyfar from dangerous current for there to be a hope that he might besaved if he could last out the stress to come.The fishermen kept watch in silent eagerness; and in their presenceStephen felt a comfort, though, like her, they could do nothing atpresent.When the swimmer had passed sufficiently far out to be clear of therocks, the fire began to lose its flame, though not its intensity.It would be fiery still for hours to come, and of great heat; but theflames ceased to leap, and in the moderated light Stephen only sawthe white face for one more instant ere it faded out of her ken,when, turning, the man looked towards the light and made a gesturewhich she did not understand: for he put for an instant both handsbefore his face.Just then there was a wild noise on the cliff. The rocket-cart drawnby sixteen splendid horses, some of them hunters, came tearing up theslope, and with it many men on horseback afoot. Many of the runnerswere the gentlemen who had given their horses for the good work.As the coastguards jumped from the cart, and began to get out therocket stand, the old whaler pointed out the direction where theswimmer's head could still be seen. Some of the sailors could see ittoo; though to Stephen and the laymen it was invisible. The chiefboatman shook his head:'No use throwing a line there! Even if he got it we could never draghim alive through these rocks. He would be pounded to death beforetwenty fathom!' Stephen's heart grew cold as she listened. Was thisthe end? Then with a bitter cry she wailed:'Oh! can nothing be done? Can nothing be done? Can no boat comefrom the other side of the point? Must such a brave man be lost!'and her tears began to flow.One of the young men who had just arrived, a neighbouring squire, aproved wastrel but a fine horseman, who had already regarded Stephenat the few occasions of their meeting with eyes of manifestadmiration, spoke up:'Don't cry, Lady de Lannoy. There's a chance for him yet. I'll seewhat I can do.''Bless you! oh! bless you!' she cried impulsively as she caught hishand. Then came the chill of doubt. 'But what can you do?' sheadded despairingly.'Hector and I may be able to do something together.' Turning to oneof the fishermen he asked:'Is there any way down to the water in the shelter of the point?''Ay! ay! sir,' came the ready answer. 'There's the path as we getdown by to our boats.''Come on, then!' he said. 'Some of you chaps show us a light on theway down. If Hector can manage the scramble there's a chance. Yousee,' he said, turning again to Stephen, 'Hector can swim like afish. When he was a racer I trained him in the sea so that none ofthe touts could spy out his form. Many's the swim we've hadtogether; and in rough water too, though in none so wild as this!''But it is a desperate chance for you!' said Stephen, woman-likedrawing somewhat back from a danger she had herself evoked. Theyoung man laughed lightly:'What of that! I may do one good thing before I die. That finefellow's life is worth a hundred of my wasted one! Here! some of youfellows help me with Hector. We must take him from the cart and geta girth on him instead of the saddle. We shall want something tohold on to without pulling his head down by using the bridle.'He, followed by some others, ran to the rocket-cart where the horsesstood panting, their steam rising in a white cloud in the glow of theburning house. In an incredibly short time the horse was ready withonly the girth. The young squire took him by the mane and hefollowed eagerly; he had memories of his own. As they passed closeto Stephen the squire said to one of his friends:'Hold him a minute, Jack!' He ran over to Stephen and looked at herhard:'Good-bye! Wish me luck; and give us light!' Tears were in her eyesand a flush on her cheek as she took his hand and clasped it hard:'Oh, you brave man! God bless you!' He stooped suddenly andimpulsively kissed the back of her hand lightly and was gone. For afleeting moment she was angry. No man had kissed her hand before;but the thought of his liberty was swept away by another:'Little enough when he may be going to his death!'It was a sight to see that man and horse, surrounded by an eagercrowd of helpers, scrambling down the rough zigzag, cut and worn inthe very face of the cliff. They stumbled, and slipped; pebbles andbroken rock fell away under their feet. Alone close to the bonfirestood Stephen, following every movement with racing blood and beatingheart. The bonfire was glowing; a constant stream of men and womenwere dragging and hauling all sorts of material for its increase.The head of the swimmer could be seen, rising and falling amid thewaves beyond the Skyres.When about twenty feet from the water-level the path jutted out toone side left of the little beach whereon the sea now broke fiercely.This was a place where men watched, and whence at times they fishedwith rods; the broad rock overhung the water. The fire above, thoughit threw shadows, made light enough for everything. The squire heldup his hand.'Stop! We can take off this rock, if the water is deep enough. Howmuch is it?''Ten fathoms sheer.''Good!' He motioned to them all to keep back. Then threw off allhis clothes except shirt and trousers. For an instant he pattedHector and then sprang upon his back. Holding him by the mane heurged him forward with a cry. The noble animal did not hesitate aninstant. He knew that grasp of the mane; that cry; that dig of thespurless heels. He sprang forward with wide dilated nostrils, andfrom the edge of the jutting rock jumped far out into the sea. Manand horse disappeared for a few seconds, but rose safely. The manslid from the horse's back; and, holding by the girth with one hand,swam beside him out to sea in the direction the swimmer must come onrounding the sunken rocks.A wild cheer broke from all on the cliff above and those alreadyscrambling back up the zigzag. Stephen kept encouraging the men tobring fuel to the bonfire:'Bring everything you can find; the carts, the palings, the roofs,the corn, the dried fish; anything and everything that will burn. Wemust have light; plenty of light! Two brave men's lives are at stakenow!'The whole place was a scene of activity. Stephen stood on the edgeof the cliff with the old whaler and the chief boatman and some ofthe women. The rest of the coastguards were by orders of their chiefrigging up a whip which they thought might be necessary to hoist themen up from the water, if they could ever get close enough. One ofthe young men who had ridden with the rocket-cart kept tight hold ofHector's bridle; he knew it would be wanted if the horse ever had achance of landing.When Harold turned away from the dazzling blue lights on the pier,and saw the far white line of the cliffs beyond the bay, his heartsank within him. Even his great strength and hardihood, won by workand privation in the far North-West, had been already taxed in themany days of the battling with the gale when all on board who couldlend a hand were taken into service. Again by the frantic struggleof the last hour or two, when the ship ran shoreward at the utmost ofher speed in the last hope of beaching in time to save life. Finallyin that grim struggle to draw the life-line shoreward. The cold andthen the great heat, and on top of it the chill of the long swim,seemed to have struck at him. Alone on the dark sea, for soon thecurrent and his own exertions were taking him away from the rocks,the light of the burning ship was ceasing to be effective. It wasjust enough to hinder his vision; looking from the patch of lightwhich bathed the light and him he could just see far off the whitewater which marked the cliff fronts, and on the edge of his horizonthe grim moving white wall where the waves broke on the headland.On and on he toiled. His limbs were becoming more cramped with thecold and the terrible strain of swimming in such waves. But stillthe brave heart bore him up; and resolutely, sternly he forcedhimself afresh to the effort before him. He reasoned that wherethere was such a headland standing out so stark into the sea thereought to be some shelter in its lee. If he could pass it he mightfind calmer water and even a landing-place beyond.Here at least was hope. He would try to round the point at any rate.Now he drew so close that the great rocks seemed to tower vast abovehim. He was not yet close enough to feel as though lapped in theirshadow; but even the overcast sky seemed full of light above the lineof the cliff. There was a strange roaring, rushing sound around him.He thought that it was not merely the waves dashing on the rocks, butthat partly it came from his own ears; that his ebbing strength wasfeeling the frantic struggle which he was making. The end wascoming, he thought; but still he kept valiantly on, set and silent,as is the way with brave men.Suddenly from the top of the cliff a bright light flashed. He lookedat it sideways as he fought his way on, and saw the light rise andfall and flicker as the flames leaped. High over him he sawfantastic figures which seemed to dance on the edge of the highcliff. They had evidently noticed him, and were making signals ofsome sort; but what the motions were he could not see or understand,for they were but dark silhouettes, edged with light, against thebackground of fire. The only thing he could think was that theymeant to encourage him, and so he urged himself to further effort.It might be that help was at hand!Several times as he turned his head sideways he saw the figures andthe light, but not so clearly; it was as though the light waslessening in power. When again he looked he saw a new fire leap outon the edge of the cliff, and some figures to the right of it. Theywere signalling in some way. So, pausing in his swimming, he rose alittle from the water and looked at them.A thrill shot through him, and a paralysing thought that he must havegone mad. With his wet hand he cleared his eyes, though the touchingthem pained him terribly, and for an instant saw clearly:There on the edge of the cliff, standing beside some men and wavingher arms in a wild sweep as though motioning frantically 'Keep out!keep out!' was a woman. Instinctively he glanced to his left and sawa white waste of leaping water, through which sharp rocks rose likemonstrous teeth. On the instant he saw the danger, and made outseaward, swimming frantically to clear the dangerous spot before thecurrent would sweep him upon the rocks.But the woman! As one remembers the last sight when the lightninghas banished sight, so that vision seemed burned into his brain. Awoman with a scarlet riding-habit and masses of long red hair blowingin the gale like leaping flame! Could there be two such persons inthe world? No! no! It was a vision! A vision of the woman heloved, come to save him in the direst moment of great peril!His heart beat with new hope; only the blackness of the stormy seawas before him as he strove frantically on.Presently when he felt the current slacken, for he had been swimmingacross it and could feel its power, he turned and looked back. As hedid so he murmured aloud:'A dream! A vision! She came to warn me!' For as he looked all haddisappeared. Cliff and coastline, dark rocks and leaping seas,blazing fire, and the warning vision of the woman he loved.Again he looked where the waste of sea churning amongst the sunkenrocks had been. He could hear the roaring of waters, the thunder ofgreat waves beating on the iron-bound coast; but nothing could hesee. He was alone on the wild sea; in the dark.Then truly the swift shadow of despair fell upon him.'Blind Blind!' he moaned, and for the moment, stricken with despair,sank into the trough of the waves. But the instinctive desire forlife recalled him. Once more he fought his way up to the surface,and swam blindly, desperately on. Seeing nothing, he did not knowwhich way he was going. He might have heard better had his eyes beenable to help his ears; but in the sudden strange darkness all thesenses were astray. In the agony of his mind he could not even feelthe pain of his burnt face; the torture of his eyes had passed. Butwith the instinct of a strong man he kept on swimming blindly,desperately.It seemed as if ages of untold agony had gone by, when he heard avoice seemingly beside him:'Lay hold here! Catch the girth!' The voice came muffled by windand wave. His strength was now nearly at its last.The shock of his blindness and the agony of the moments that hadpassed had finished his exhaustion. But a little longer and he musthave sunk into his rest. But the voice and the help it promisedrallied him for a moment. He had hardly strength to speak, but hemanaged to gasp out:'Where? where? Help me! I am blind!' A hand took his and guided itto a tightened girth. Instinctively his fingers closed round it, andhe hung on grimly. His senses were going fast. He felt as if it wasall a strange dream. A voice here in the sea! A girth! A horse; hecould hear its hard breathing.The voice came again.'Steady! Hold on! My God! he's fainted! I must tie him on!' Heheard a tearing sound, and something was wound round his wrists.Then his nerveless fingers relaxed their hold; and all passed intooblivion.