Dr. Mabuse, master of mystery a novel
moment, and I have taken the gag from your mouth so that my ears may
enjoy the shriek with which you fall twelve thousand feet down to your
own world!”
Wenk heard his voice, and it sounded like thunder rolling along after
the lightning flash. He saw that Mabuse was loosening the bonds that
held his legs. He tugged and tore at them. Suddenly his legs were
free. For a moment they fell, then the leash that was bound round his
hips held them again, and the hands were now busy with this. In a few
seconds it was untied.
In his further fall Wenk’s body regained an upright position, held only
by the noose which bound his chest to the wall of the car. He suddenly
felt that his hands were free, and at this feeling he was fired with a
sudden hope. In the midst of his phantasies there surged upwards like a
fairy story the recollection of the Countess’s beauty and sympathy. He
had never forgotten her, and now in the last moment of his life, when
she herself was so close to him, his feeling for her, exalted to an
undying and compassionate brotherhood, was wafted as a cloud beyond the
savage and brutal murderer, to envelop the frail human being beside him
with indomitable pride and courage.
Wenk saw her eyes, fluttering like birds shot down in the clear blue
ether, glance for a moment beyond and above Mabuse’s eager bent
head.... He saw her hands, tearing off their fur gloves, cling white
and trembling to Mabuse’s shoulder as she strove to drag him back from
his deadly intent.
But Mabuse shook the woman off, and raised his hands with mad rage
to untie the last noose. He tore undone the first of its fastenings,
making Wenk’s body sink deeper, and beat away Wenk’s hands, which were
seeking to maintain a grip on the edge of the car, with his closed
fists.
Then one last defiance of fate, arising from the will to live, lent
strength to Wenk’s voice as he shouted in the air, “He is the murderer
of Count Told. He made him cheat at cards! He put the razor into his
hands that he might cut his throat!”
A fist struck at his mouth, and blood spurted from it, yet at this last
moment of his life it seemed as if his very blood were tasting the
sweetness of a noble spirit. Then a final effort was made to release
him from the bond that held him. A fearful weight pressed on his head,
rolled over his body to press him downward. The weight of it was
immeasurable, black, imbued with the swiftness of a raging storm. But
all at once the iron weight was removed. A part of it became detached
from the aeroplane, unrecognizable, and sank. Wenk’s hands held the
edge of the car as in a vice. The aeroplane hovered and swayed as if
drunken with the high clear air.
* * * * *
This is what had happened:
When Count Told’s name rang through the air, as if thrown from
measureless space, it seemed to the Countess as if she were awaking
from a dream at the bottom of a swamp. Since the night when she had
been torn from her husband and chained to Mabuse’s wicked will, she had
never spoken his name, nor even thought of it. The memory had crept
into her inmost being and hidden itself away, deep in the welter in
which her life was inextricably bound. It had been forced there by
the diabolic power of Mabuse’s lust for domination, and the wife had
suffered it in a kind of subconscious self-defence. Were it not so,
she would have been absolutely and entirely without escape from the
werwolf.
There within her the name had lain and waited and watched until now it
arose again to provide her with a way of escape.
Wenk’s last words had brought it forth from the subconscious recesses
once more. The Countess had received it as a direct weapon against the
secret power of this man who had so long taken forcible possession of
her will and her entire person. She suddenly came to herself, and all
that was frozen within her melted. The gloom and darkness in which she
lay bound grew lighter, and it was day within.
Then, too, she regained all the proud youthful force of her
disposition. She fell into a God-given fury, and her muscles were
endowed with unconquerable strength and vigour. Her hands and her heart
were like iron, and she seized the first weapon to hand, the heavy
screw-wrench, striking the murderer from behind, and dealing a terrific
blow upon his skull.
Mabuse, judged and condemned, lost his balance, and fell over Wenk into
the depths below, which instantly swallowed him up.
* * * * *
Wenk reached a thwart with his legs, raised himself up at lightning
speed, the knots at his breast breaking of themselves. He fell into
the car. The aeroplane was already swaying in space, but Wenk seized
the throttle and righted it. It flew on, and after he had found his
whereabouts he shut off the engines and allowed it to descend to earth
and glide along the shore.
He landed on the sand-dunes of the East Frisian coast. He helped the
Countess out of the machine. She was pale, but fully conscious. She
fell down before him, pressing her hands to her face.
He raised her, saying, “We have saved each other’s lives. Let us keep
silent, and strive to forget. We part here!”
But the Countess answered, “No. I have nothing to conceal and nothing
to forget. The blood that I have shed was entirely evil. I have saved
him from himself and mankind from him. Who can bear witness against me?”
Wenk looked at her, dumb with astonishment, but slowly he understood.
Then he was seized with awe. He wanted to say, “How proud, how
courageous she is!” but his heart glowed within him. He spread out his
arms in a gesture of self-abandonment and appeal. Life, his regained
youth and vigour, came over him like a flood, and at the same moment
the love which had been shaken by so many vicissitudes, but had never
yet found its fulfilment, regained its sway over him.
Then they ascended the dunes together, to seek the nearest village and
return to daily life.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.