?Well, now, I hopes you?re done,? said Aunt Chloe, who had been busy in pulling out a rude box of a trundle-bed; ?and now, you Mose and you Pete, get into thar; for we?s goin? to have the meetin? ?O mother, we don?t wanterWe wants to sit up to meetin?,?meetin?s is so curis ?La, Aunt Chloe, shove it under, and let ?em sit up,? said Mas?r George, decisively, giving a push to the rude machine Aunt Chloe, having thus saved appearances, seemed highly delighted to push the thing under, saying, as she did so, ?Well, mebbe ?t will do ?em some good The house now resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to consider the accommodations and arrangements for the meeting ?What we?s to do for cheers, now, I declar I don?t know,? said Aunt ChloeAs the meeting had been held at Uncle Tom?s weekly, for an indefinite length of time, without any more ?cheers,? there seemed some encouragement to hope that a way would be discovered at present ?Old Uncle Peter sung both de legs out of dat oldest cheer, last week,? suggested Mose ?You go long! I?ll boun? you pulled ?em out; some o? your shines,? said Aunt Chloe ?Well, it?ll stand, if it only keeps jam up agin de wall!? said Mose ?Den Uncle Peter mus?n?t sit in it, cause he al?ays hitches when he gets a singingHe hitched pretty nigh across de room, t? other night,? said Pete ?Good Lor! get him in it, then,? said Mose, ?and den he?d begin, ?Come saints?and sinners, hear me tell,? and den down he?d go,??and Mose imitated precisely the nasal tones of the old man, tumbling on the floor, to illustrate the supposed catastrophe ?Come now, be decent, can?t ye?? said Aunt Chloe; ?an?t yer shamed?? Mas?r George, however, joined the offender in the laugh, and declared decidedly that Mose was a ?buster So the maternal admonition seemed rather to fail of effect ?Well, ole man,? said Aunt Chloe, ?you?ll have to tote in them ar bar?ls ?Mother?s bar?ls is like dat ar widder?s, Mas?r George was reading ?bout, in de good book,?dey never fails,? said Mose, aside to Peter ?I?m sure one on ?em caved in last week,? said Pete, ?and let ?em all down in de middle of de singin?; dat ar was failin?, warnt it?? During this aside between Mose and Pete, two empty casks had been rolled into the cabin, and being secured from rolling, by stones on each side, boards were laid across them, which arrangement, together with the turning down of certain tubs and pails, and the disposing of the rickety chairs, at last completed the preparation ?Mas?r George is such a beautiful reader, now, I know he?ll stay to read for us,? said Aunt Chloe; ??pears like ?t will be so much more interestin? George very readily consented, for your boy is always ready for anything that makes him of importance The room was soon filled with a motley assemblage, from the old gray-headed patriarch of eighty, to the young girl and lad of fifteenA little harmless gossip ensued on various themes, such as where old Aunt Sally got her new red headkerchief, and how ?Missis was a going to give Lizzy that spotted muslin gown, when she?d got her new berage made up;? and how Mas?r Shelby was thinking of buying a new sorrel colt, that was going to prove an addition to the glories of the placeA few of the worshippers belonged to families hard by, who had got permission to attend, and who brought in various choice scraps of information, about the sayings and doings at the house and on the place, which circulated as freely as the same sort of small change does in higher circles After a while the singing commenced, to the evident delight of all presentNot even all the disadvantage of nasal intonation could prevent the effect of the naturally fine voices, in airs at once wild and spiritedThe words were sometimes the well-known and common hymns sung in the churches about, and sometimes of a wilder, more indefinite character, picked up at camp-meetings The chorus of one of them, which ran as follows, was sung with great energy and unction: ?Die on the field of battle, Die on the field of battle, Glory in my soul Another special favorite had oft repeated the words? ?O, I?m going to glory,?won?t you come along with me? Don?t you see the angels beck?ning, and a calling me away? Don?t you see the golden city and the everlasting day?? There were others, which made incessant mention of ?Jordan?s banks,? and ?Canaan?s fields,? and the ?New Jerusalem;? for the negro mind, impassioned and imaginative, always attaches itself to hymns and expressions of a vivid and pictorial nature; and, as they sung, some laughed, and some cried, and some clapped hands, or shook hands rejoicingly with each other, as if they had fairly gained the other side of the river Various exhortations, or relations of experience, followed, and intermingled with the singingOne old gray-headed woman, long past work, but much revered as a sort of chronicle of the past, rose, and leaning on her staff, said??Well, chil?en! Well, I?m mighty glad to hear ye all and see ye all once more, ?cause I don?t know when I?ll be gone to glory; but I?ve done got ready, chil?en; ?pears like I?d got my little bundle all tied up, and my bonnet on, jest a waitin? for the stage to come along and take me home; sometimes, in the night, I think I hear the wheels a rattlin?, and I?m lookin? out all the time; now, you jest be ready too, for I tell ye all, chil?en,? she said striking her staff hard on the floor, ?dat ar glory is a mighty thing! It?s a mighty thing, chil?en,?you don?no nothing about it,?it?s wonderful And the old creature sat down, with streaming tears, as wholly overcome, while the whole circle struck up? ?O Canaan, bright Canaan I?m bound for the land of Canaan Mas?r George, by request, read the last chapters of Revelation, often interrupted by such exclamations as ?The sakes now!? ?Only hear that!? ?Jest think on ?t!? ?Is all that a comin? sure enough?? George, who was a bright boy, and well trained in religious things by his mother, finding himself an object of general admiration, threw in expositions of his own, from time to time, with a commendable seriousness and gravity, for which he was admired by the young and blessed by the old; and it was agreed, on all hands, that ?a minister couldn?t lay it off better than he did; that ??t was reely ?mazin?!? Uncle Tom was a sort of patriarch in religious matters, in the neighborhoodHaving, naturally, an organization in which the morale was strongly predominant, together with a greater breadth and cultivation of mind than obtained among his companions, he was looked up to with great respect, as a sort of minister among them; and the simple, hearty, sincere style of his exhortations might have edified even better educated personsBut it was in prayer that he especially excelledNothing could exceed the touching simplicity, the childlike earnestness, of his prayer, enriched with the language of Scripture, which seemed so entirely to have wrought itself into his being, as to have become a part of himself, and to drop from his lips unconsciously; in the language of a pious old negro, he ?prayed right up And so much did his prayer always work on the devotional feelings of his audiences, that there seemed often a danger that it would be lost altogether in the abundance of the responses which broke out everywhere around him While this scene was passing in the cabin of the man, one quite otherwise passed in the halls of the masterShelby were seated together in the dining room afore-named, at a table covered with papers and writing utensilsShelby was busy in counting some bundles of bills, which, as they were counted, he pushed over to the trader, who counted them shop likewise

"I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travelTrue, I know the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them "Indeed," I said, "You speak excellently "Not so," he answered"Well, I know that, did I move and speak in your London, none there are who would not know me for a strangerThat is not enough for meThe common people know me, and I am masterBut a stranger in a strange land, he is no oneMen know him not, and to know not is to care not forI am content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he sees me, or pauses in his speaking if he hears my words, 'Ha, ha! A stranger!' I have been so long master that I would be master still, or at least that none other should be master of meYou come to me not alone as agent of my friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in LondonYou shall, I trust, rest here with me a while, so that by our talking I may learn the English intonationAnd I would that you tell me when I make error, even of the smallest, in my speakingI am sorry that I had to be away so long today, but you will, I know forgive one who has so many important affairs in hand Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might come into that room when I choseHe answered, "Yes, certainly," and added "You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to goThere is reason that all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand I said I was sure of this, and then he went on "We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not EnglandOur ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange thingsNay, from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of what strange things there may be This led to much conversation, and as it was evident that he wanted to talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding things that had already happened to me or come within my noticeSometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by pretending not to understand, but generally he answered all I asked most franklyThen as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as for instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue flamesHe then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a certain night of the year, last night, in fact, when all evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway, a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed "That treasure has been hidden," he went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be but little doubtFor it was the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and the TurkWhy, there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invadersIn the old days there were stirring times, when the Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet them, men and women, the aged and the children too, and waited their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep destruction on them with their artificial avalanchesWhen the invader was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been sheltered in the friendly soil "But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangelyHe answered: "Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only appear on one night, and on that night no man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doorsAnd, dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to doWhy, even the peasant that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight even for his own workEven you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?" "There you are right," I said"I know no more than the dead where even to look for them Then we drifted into other matters "Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you have procured for me With an apology for my remissness, I went into my own room to get the papers from my shop bag

-No news yet of the ship's arrivalHarker's hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible that we may get news at any momentWe men are all in a fever of excitement, except Harker, who is calmHis hands are cold as ice, and an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife which he now always carries with himIt will be a bad lookout for the Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by that stern, ice-cold hand! Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about MrsAbout noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not likeAlthough we kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about itShe had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know that she was sleepingWhen, however, her husband mentioned casually that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to her room to see for ourselvesShe was breathing naturally and looked so well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than anything elsePoor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good-Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had been for daysAt sunset she made the usual hypnotic reportWherever he may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destinationTo his doom, I trust! 26 October-Another day and no tidings of the Czarina CatherineShe ought to be here by nowThat she is still journeying somewhere is apparent, for MrsHarker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the sameIt is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fogSome of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog both to north and south of the portWe must continue our watching, as the ship may now be signalled any moment 27 October, NoonNo news yet of the ship we wait forHarker reported last night and this morning as usual"Lapping waves and rushing water," though she added that "the waves were very faint The telegrams from London have been the same, "no further report Van Helsing is terribly anxious, and told me just now that he fears the Count is escaping us He added significantly, "I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina'sSouls and memories can do strange things during trance I was about to ask him more, but Harker just then came in, and he held up a warning handWe must try tonight at sunset to make her speak more fully when in her hypnotic stateRufus Smith, London, to Lord Godalming, care HVice Consul, Varna "Czarina Catherine reported entering Galatz at one o'clock todaySEWARD'S DIARY 28 October-When the telegram came announcing the arrival in Galatz I do not think it was such a shock to any of us as might have been expectedTrue, we did not know whence, or how, or when, the bolt would comeBut I think we all expected that something strange would happenThe day of arrival at Varna made us individually satisfied that things would not be just as we had expectedWe only waited to learn where the change would shop occur

If we are wrecked, mayhap this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understandIf not? well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trustGod and the Blessed Virgin and the Saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty? Of course the verdict was an open oneThere is no evidence to adduce, and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now none to sayThe folk here hold almost universally that the captain is simply a hero, and he is to be given a public funeralAlready it is arranged that his body is to be taken with a train of boats up the Esk for a piece and then brought back to Tate Hill Pier and up the abbey steps, for he is to be buried in the churchyard on the cliffThe owners of more than a hundred boats have already given in their names as wishing to follow him to the grave No trace has ever been found of the great dog, at which there is much mourning, for, with public opinion in its present state, he would, I believe, be adopted by the townTomorrow will see the funeral, and so will end this one more 'mystery of the sea' MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL 8 August-Lucy was very restless all night, and I too, could not sleepThe storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the chimney pots, it made me shudderWhen a sharp puff came it seemed to be like a distant gunStrangely enough, Lucy did not wake, but she got up twice and dressed herselfFortunately, each time I awoke in time and managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bedIt is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her life Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see if anything had happened in the nightThere were very few people about, and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the mouth of the harbour, like a bullying man going through a crowdSomehow I felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on landBut, oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully anxious about himIf I only knew what to do, and could do anything! 10 August-The funeral of the poor sea captain today was most touchingEvery boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the churchyardLucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst the cortege of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down againWe had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the wayThe poor fellow was laid to rest near our seat so that we stood on it, when the time came and saw everything Poor Lucy seemed much upsetShe was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that her dreaming at night is telling on herShe is quite odd in one thingShe will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness, or if there be, she does not understand it herself There is an additional cause in that poor MrSwales was found dead this morning on our seat, his neck being brokenHe had evidently, as the doctor said, fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudderPoor dear old man! Lucy is so sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other people doJust now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals One of the men who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dogThe dog is always with himThey are both quiet persons, and I never saw the man angry, nor heard the dog barkDuring the service the dog would not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few yards off, barking and howlingIts master spoke to it gently, and then harshly, and then shop angrily

MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL 8 August-Lucy was very restless all night, and I too, could not sleepThe storm was fearful, and as it boomed loudly among the chimney pots, it made me shudderWhen a sharp puff came it seemed to be like a distant gunStrangely enough, Lucy did not wake, but she got up twice and dressed herselfFortunately, each time I awoke in time and managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bedIt is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her life Early in the morning we both got up and went down to the harbour to see if anything had happened in the nightThere were very few people about, and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the mouth of the harbour, like a bullying man going through a crowdSomehow I felt glad that Jonathan was not on the sea last night, but on landBut, oh, is he on land or sea? Where is he, and how? I am getting fearfully anxious about himIf I only knew what to do, and could do anything! 10 August-The funeral of the poor sea captain today was most touchingEvery boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the churchyardLucy came with me, and we went early to our old seat, whilst the cortege of boats went up the river to the Viaduct and came down againWe had a lovely view, and saw the procession nearly all the wayThe poor fellow was laid to rest near our seat so that we stood on it, when the time came and saw everything Poor Lucy seemed much upsetShe was restless and uneasy all the time, and I cannot but think that her dreaming at night is telling on herShe is quite odd in one thingShe will not admit to me that there is any cause for restlessness, or if there be, she does not understand it herself There is an additional cause in that poor MrSwales was found dead this morning on our seat, his neck being brokenHe had evidently, as the doctor said, fallen back in the seat in some sort of fright, for there was a look of fear and horror on his face that the men said made them shudderPoor dear old man! Lucy is so sweet and sensitive that she feels influences more acutely than other people doJust now she was quite upset by a little thing which I did not much heed, though I am myself very fond of animals One of the men who came up here often to look for the boats was followed by his dogThe dog is always with himThey are both quiet persons, and I never saw the man angry, nor heard the dog barkDuring the service the dog would not come to its master, who was on the seat with us, but kept a few yards off, barking and howlingIts master spoke to it gently, and then harshly, and then angrilyBut it would neither come nor cease to make a noiseIt was in a fury, with its eyes savage, and all its hair bristling out like a cat's tail when puss is on the war path Finally the man too got angry, and jumped down and kicked the dog, and then took it by the scruff of the neck and half dragged and half threw it on the tombstone on which the seat is fixedThe moment it touched the stone the poor thing began to trembleIt did not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, to comfort it Lucy was full of pity, too, but she did not attempt to touch the dog, but looked at it in an agonised sort of wayI greatly fear that she is of too super sensitive a nature to go through the world without troubleShe will be dreaming of this tonight, I am sureThe whole agglomeration of things, the ship steered into port by a dead man, his attitude, tied to the wheel with a crucifix and beads, the touching funeral, the dog, now furious and now in terror, will all afford material for her shop dreams