Dracula Chapter 1

And as we drove by I could see the green grass under the trees spangled with the fallen petals.

There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was still thirsty.

All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind.

I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd, so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out.

Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of greyness which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys.

I found my smattering of German very useful here, indeed, I don’t know how I should be able to get on without it.

The Castle.—The gray of the morning has passed, and the sun is high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are mixed.

But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair.

Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets, and round hats, and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque.

And then he added, with what he evidently meant for grim pleasantry—for he looked round to catch the approving smile of the rest—"And you may have enough of such matters before you go to sleep."

I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"—Satan, "Pokol"—hell, "stregoica"—witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"—both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire.

4 May—I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and pretended that he could not understand my German.

At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease.

But the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side, and they had perforce to remain within it.

Some of them were just like the peasants at home or those I saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets, and round hats, and home-made trousers; but others were very picturesque.

As the evening fell it began to get very cold, and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the Pass, the dark firs stood out here and there against the background of late-lying snow.

As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still.

In and out amongst these green hills of what they call here the "Mittel Land" ran the road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve, or was shut out by the straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the hillsides like tongues of flame.

Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the top of steep hills such as we see in old missals; sometimes we ran by rivers and streams which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side of them to be subject to great floods.

In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able to descend and to stand before them.

This was all so strange and uncanny that a dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move.

At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts of attire.

I dined on what they called "robber steak"—bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks, and roasted over the fire, in simple style of the London cat’s meat!

Finally, she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting.

The time seemed interminable as we swept on our way, now in almost moon, so that we were again in darkness.

Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions.

One of my companions touched my arm as we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered peak of a mountain, which seemed, as we wound on our serpentine way, to be right before us.

But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair.

Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered the whole front of the boxseat,--"gotza" they call them—cracked his big whip over his four small horses, which ran abreast, and we set off on our journey.

I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns.

Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the road.

Now and again we passed a leiter-wagon—the ordinary peasants’s cart—with its long, snakelike vertebra, calculated to suit the inequalities of the road.

They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet, but of course there were petticoats under them.

Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of greyness which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys.

The road was rugged, but still we seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste.

Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water.

I shall never forget the last glimpse which I had of the inn yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the centre of the yard.

I tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go.

At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease.

Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets.

At three tomorrow the diligence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you.

The wine was Golden Mediasch, which produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable.

It seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground again, and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was so.

Right and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly.

There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom—apple, plum, pear, cherry.

At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost 13,000 people, the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease.

This was emphasized by the fact that the snowy mountain-top still held the sunset, and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink.

Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway?

Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.

At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts of attire.

Whilst he was speaking the horses began to neigh and snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up.

Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water.

Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the road.

"Give me the Herr’s luggage," said the driver, and with exceeding alacrity my bags were handed out and put in the caleche.

He petted and soothed them, and whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse-tamers doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became quite manageable again, though they still trembled.

This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it.