TREASON
On their return to after her Virginia talked a great to Horn about the who had her, until the man that she was more in him than good for his own plans.
He had now from him the last of his for his employer, and thus had to use every means his power to win Professor Maxon's daughter, and with her the of which he would be hers should her father, through some mishap, meet death he return to and his will, a which Horn he might have to should he the girl against her father's wishes, and thus the man's mad, but no less dear project.
He that he must let the girl the in which she stood, and turn her of protection from her father to himself. He that the step in Virginia's in her father would be to every detail of the which Professor Maxon had to such successful their upon the island.
The girl's own gave him the lead he needed.
"Where that have come from that set upon me in the and nearly killed Sing?" she asked.
For a moment Horn was silent, in well to reply to her query.
"I cannot tell you, Miss Maxon," he said sadly, "how much I should to be the one to your father's commands, and you upon this and other which nearer to your personal than you can possibly guess; but I that after the of this day that I must all you—you cannot again be to the from which you were only by a miracle."
"I cannot what you hint at, Dr. Horn," said Virginia, "but if to to me will my father's I that you silent."
"You do not understand," in the man, "you cannot the that I have upon this island, or the that are to come. Could you of what in store for you, you would death than the future. I have been to your father, Virginia, but were you not blind, or indifferent, you would long since have that your means more to me than my to him—more to me than my life or my honor.
"You asked where the came from that you today. I shall tell you. It is one of a dozen that your father has in his to solve the problem of life. He has solved it; but, God, at what a price in misshapen, soulless, monsters!"
The girl looked up at him, stricken.
"Do you to say that my father in a attempt to the functions of God that thing?" she asked in a low, voice, "and that there are others like it upon the island?"
"In the next to yours there are a dozen others," Horn, "nor would it be easy to say which is the most and repulsive. They are of humanity—without and almost without brain."
"God!" the girl, her in her hands, "he has gone mad; he has gone mad."
"I that he is mad," said Horn, "nor you it for a moment were I to tell you the worst."
"The worst!" the girl. "What be than that which you already have divulged? Oh, how you have permitted it?"
"There is much than I have told you, Virginia. So much that I can my to the words, but you must be told. I would be more than your father were I to keep it from you, for my brain, at least, is not crazed. Virginia, you have in your mind a picture of the thing that you off into the jungle?"
"Yes," and as the girl a her frame.
Von Horn her arm as he on, as though to support and protect her the that he was about to administer.
"Virginia," he said in a very low voice, "it is your father's to you to one of his creatures."
The girl from him with an angry cry.
"It is not true!" she exclaimed. "It is not true. Oh, Dr. Horn how you tell me such a and terrible untruth."
"As God is my judge, Virginia," and the man as he spoke, "it is the truth. Your father told me it in so many when I asked his permission to pay to you myself—you are to Number Thirteen when his education is complete."
"I shall die first!" she cried.
"Why not accept me instead?" the man.
For a moment Virginia looked into his as though to read his soul.
"Let me have time to it, Doctor," she replied. "I do not know that I for you in that way at all."
"Think of Number Thirteen," he suggested. "It should not be difficult to decide."
"I not you to a fate," the girl. "I am not that cowardly—but let me think it over. There can be no danger, I am sure."
"One can tell," Horn, "what strange, new may enter a mind to this moment's action or the next."
"Where we wed?" asked Virginia.
"The Ithaca would us to Singapore, and when we returned you would be under my legal protection and safe."
"I shall think about it from every angle," she answered sadly, "and now good night, my dear friend," and with a she entered her quarters.
For the next month Professor Maxon was Number Thirteen. He the man his most hopes, so that the progress was little of uncanny.
Von Horn this time to upon Virginia the for a and in the of his proposal; but when it came time to the issue the girl it to to his request—she that she loved him, but somehow she not say the word that would make her his for life.
Bududreen, the Malay was by desires, though of a different nature, for he had his upon the main that was to him by the great chest, and also upon the which him upon of the girl to Rajah Muda Saffir. The that he no safe means for these ends was all that had protected either from his machinations.
The presence of the of the of had to the Malay and he used this knowledge as an to and in the and under his command. By a in the partition their from the one he had to the view of his men the so close to them. The mate, of course, had no of the true of these monsters, but his knowledge of the that they had not been upon the when the Ithaca and that it would have been for them to have and the without having been by himself or some of his company, was to him in their presence to some and power.
This the willingly, and with it Bududreen's that Professor Maxon had power to them all into atrocities. The once started size and as it progressed. The professor's was to an eye, and every by any of the was upon their employer's Satanic influence. There was but one from the of such a curse—the death of its author; and when Bududreen that they had this point, and were the method of procedure, he added all that was needed to the of by that should anything to the white men he would owner of their belongings, the chest, and that the of each of the would be generous.
Von Horn was the only in Bududreen's path. With the natural of the Malay he this American who moved without a of about his hips; and it was at just this moment that the doctor played into the hands of his subordinate, much to the latter's elation.
Von Horn had of Virginia by peaceful court, and had about to to when he was in his by a with the girl's father.
He and the were talking in the of the progress of Number Thirteen toward a complete of English and the and manners of society, in which Horn had been his to train the giant. The the and Horn had been over by Professor Maxon's to Number Thirteen as soon as the man was able to comprehend—in the meantime it had been necessary to keep Horn out of the when the was in his own room off the larger one.
Von Horn had been particularly anxious, for the of plans he had in mind, to a with Number Thirteen, to a of with the man, and had left no to this result. To this end he had time with Number Thirteen, him in English and in the of association.
"He is splendidly, Doctor," Professor Maxon had said. "It will be but a of a day or so when I can him to Virginia, but we must be that she has no of his until has a sure them."
"And if that should not occur?" questioned Horn.
"I should that they voluntarily," the professor, the to his at the of possible to his plan, "but if not, then they shall be by the of my authority—they to me, and soul."
"You will wait for the final of your until you return with them to civilization, I presume," said Horn.
"And why?" returned the professor. "I can them here myself—it would be the way—yes, that is what I shall do."
It was this on the part of Professor Maxon that Horn to act at once. Further, it a for his act.
Shortly after their talk the older man left the workshop, and Horn took the opportunity to the second move of his campaign. Number Thirteen was near a window which let upon the court, with the of English. Von Horn approached him.
"You are along nicely, Jack," he said kindly, looking over the other's and using the name which had been at his to a more to their relations with the man.
"Yes," the other, looking up with a smile. "Professor Maxon says that in another day or two I may come and live in his own house, and again meet his daughter. It almost too good to be true that I shall actually live under the same with her and see her every day—sit at the same table with her—and walk with her among the trees and flowers that our meeting. I wonder if she will me. I wonder if she will be as to see me again as I shall be to see her."
"Jack," said Horn, sadly, "I am there is a terrible and for you. It me that it should be so, but it only to tell you, what Professor Maxon either not know or has forgotten, that his will not look with upon you when she your origin.
"You are not as other men. You are but the accident of a laboratory experiment. You have no soul, and the is all that man above the beasts. Jack, boy, you are not a being—you are not a beast. The world, and Miss Maxon is of the world, will look upon you as a terrible to be shunned—a in the of than the order of brutes.
"Look," and the man pointed through the window toward the group of that about the of mystery. "You are of the same as those, you differ from them only in the of your and features, and the of your brain. There is no place in the world for them, for you.
"I am sorry that it is so. I am sorry that I should have to be the one to tell you; but it is that you know it now from a friend than that you meet the truth when you least it, and possibly from the of one like Miss Maxon for you might have a affection."
As Horn spoke the on the man's more and more hopeless, and when he had he his into his open palms, and as a statue. No his great frame, there was no of the terrible that him inwardly—only in the was and hopelessness.
The older man not a cold smile—it had had more than he had hoped.
"Don't take it too hard, my boy," he continued. "The world is wide. It would be easy to a thousand places where your would be neither questioned. You might be very happy and there are a hundred thousand girls as and sweet as Virginia Maxon—remember that you have another, so you can judge."
"Why did he me into the world?" the man suddenly. "It was wicked—wicked—terribly and wicked."
"I agree with you," said Horn quickly, another possibility that would make his plans easier. "It was wicked, and it is still more to continue the work and still other into the world to be the and of fate."
"He to do that?" asked the youth.
"Unless he is stopped," Horn.
"He must be stopped," the other. "Even if it were necessary to kill him."
Von Horn was satisfied with the turn events had taken. He his and on his toward the campong.
"If he had me as he has you, and those others," with a toward the of mystery, "I should not be long in a decision." And with that he passed out, the door unlatched.
Von Horn to the south and out Bududreen. Motioning the Malay to him they walked across the and entered the out of and of the camp. Sing, in the north end of the saw them depart, and a little.
"Bududreen," said Horn, when the two had a safe from the enclosures, "there is no need of matters—something must be done at once. I do not know how much you know of the work that Professor Maxon has been in since we this island; but it has been and it must go no further. You have the in the next to yours?"
"I have seen," Bududreen, with a shudder.
"Professor Maxon to one of these to his daughter," Horn continued. "She loves me and we wish to escape—can I on you and your men to us? There is a in the which we must take along too, and I can you that you all will be well for your work. We to Professor Maxon here with the he has created."
Bududreen a smile—it was too to be true.
"It will be work, Captain," he answered. "We should all be were we caught."
"There will be no of that, Bududreen, for there will be no one to our secret."
"There will be the Professor Maxon," the Malay. "Some day he will from the island, and then we shall all hang."
"He will escape," Horn, "his own will see to that. They are already to the he has against them, and when once they are there will be no safety for any of us. If you wish to the at all it will be best for you to accept my and while your yet upon your shoulders. Were we to to the that he now he would not only but he would take steps to make it for any of us to leave, to the Ithaca. The man is mad—quite mad—Bududreen, and we cannot longer our own to his and whims."
The Malay was fast, and Horn have what through the of that semi-barbarous brain he would have himself safely in the American prison where he belonged.
"When do you wish to sail?" asked the Malay.
"Tonight," Horn, and together they their plans. An hour later the second with six men into the toward the harbor. They, with the three on watch, were to the in for departure.
After the Horn sat on the with Virginia Maxon until the Professor came from the to retire for the night. As he passed them he stopped for a word with Horn, taking him out of the girl's hearing.
"Have you noticed anything in the of Thirteen?" asked the older man. "He was and this evening, and at times there was a strange, wild light in his as he looked at me. Can it be possible that, after all, his brain is defective? It would be terrible. My work would have gone for naught, for I can see no way in which I can upon him."
"I will go and have a talk with him later," said Horn, "so if you us moving about in the workshop, or out here in the think nothing of it. I may take him for a long walk. It is possible that the hard study and close to that little have been too upon his brain and nerves. A long walk each may him around all right."
"Splendid—splendid," the professor. "You may be right. Do it by all means, my dear doctor," and there was a touch of the old, friendly, which had been so long missing, that almost Horn to a of for the act of that he was on the of perpetrating.
As Professor Maxon entered the house Horn returned to Virginia and that they take a walk the retiring. The girl to the plan, and a moment later them through the toward the southern end of the camp. In the dark of the leading to the men's a crouched. The girl did not see it, but as they came opposite it Horn twice, and then the two passed on toward the of the jungle.
