Guy Boothby

“ When I woke my hunger was more excruciating than ever. I rose from my bed and went in to look at Nikola, only to find that extraordinary man occupied in his favourite way, working out abstruse problems on the floor of his room. I did not disturb him but returned to my own apartment and fell to pacing the floor like a caged beast. I told myself that if I did not get something to eat pretty soon I should do something desperate. ”

“ We shall have to accustom ourselves to all sorts of peculiar virtues, and all the time we must keep our eyes wide open so that we may make the most of every chance that offers.”
“I don't mind the virtues,” I answered, “but am sorry for what you say about the meals, for to tell you the honest truth at the present moment I am simply starving.”
“It can't be helped,” replied Nikola. “Even if we don't get anything till to-morrow we shall have to grin and bear it.”
I groaned and went back to my room. ”

“ I have faced danger perhaps more often than most men, and I don't think my worst enemy could accuse me of cowardice, but I feel bound to confess that I was nervous. And who would not have been?
Nikola passed on ahead of me without looking to right or left, his head bent and his whole attitude suggestive of deep devotion and piety. When we reached the last ante-room we were told to wait. The monk disappeared and for nearly five minutes did not put in an appearance again. ”

“ The canon, to employ an American term, stretched to right and left of us, as far as the eye could reach, in unbroken grandeur. Certainly on the side upon which we stood the cliff sloped enough for a careful man to climb down, but across the ravine it rose a sheer precipice for fully 1500 feet, and though I examined it carefully I could not see a single place where even a goat could find a footing.
“It would take us a week to go round,” said Nikola when he had carefully examined it, “and starving as we are we should be dead before we got half way.” ”

“ Before setting off he carefully examined the strap by which his treasured medicine-chest was fastened round his neck, then with a nod of farewell to me knelt down upon the edge of the cliff, took the rope in his hands and began his descent. I have spent more pleasurable moments in my life than watching the strain upon that root. Of the coats themselves I had little fear; they were of the best silk and, save where the sleeves joined the body, were woven in one piece. However the root held, and presently I heard Nikola calling to me to follow him. ”

“ I had no desire to be left behind so I followed close at Nikola's heels.
We ascended first a long flight of steps, threaded the same corridor we had entered by, mounted another flight of stairs, crossed a large hall, and finally reached what was evidently a small ante-chamber. Here we were told to wait while the dwarf passed through a curtain and spoke to someone within. When he emerged again he drew back the covering of the doorway and signed us to enter. We complied with his request, to discover a rather larger apartment, which was guarded by a monk in the usual dress. ”

“ I answered, “which is the very reverse of pleasing.”
“Hush!” said Nikola; “someone is coming now.”
As he spoke a curtain in the chancel was drawn aside and a man, dressed in the same fashion as those we had seen at their devotions a few minutes since, came down the steps towards us. When he reached the place where we stood he bowed and beckoned to us with his finger to follow him. This we did up the steps by which he had descended and passed the curtain. On the other side was another flight of steps leading to a long corridor, on either hand of which were many small cells. ”

“ If this was to be the fare of the monastery, I argued, by the time we left it I should be reduced to a skeleton.
When I had finished my meal the long streak of light which had been under the window when we arrived and had gradually crossed the floor was now some feet up the opposite wall. A little later it vanished altogether. The room was left in total darkness, and I can assure you my spirits were as heavy as lead. I returned to Nikola's apartment not in the best of humours.
“This is very pleasant,” I said ironically. Are they never going to receive us properly?” ”

“ I answered.
“One thing, Bruce, before we go any farther,” he said, not heeding my remark, “you must remember that this place is not like an ordinary Shamanist or Buddhist monastery where things are carried on slipshod fashion. Here every man practises the most rigid self-denial possible, and among other things I have no doubt the meals will prove totally inadequate. ”

“ As we reached the topmost step the dwarf who had met us in the valley and headed the procession up the stairs signed to his followers to fall back on either hand and then led the way between them to a small square of masonry at the top of two steps situated in the centre of the vast building. ”

“ But as it is within the sphere of practical politics, as they say, that we may break our necks on the way down, we had better postpone further argument until we know that we have arrived at the bottom with our lives. ”