the reader was here interrupted by a loud voice crying out in the verandah:
“donnerwetter! what has become of mr. grenits?”
“that’s our pole,” said van rheijn, folding up the letter he was reading and replacing it in his pocket. “there is nothing specially interesting in the end of william’s letter, and i do not [394]think it advisable to allow a private communication of this kind to spread beyond our own little circle.”
the door opened and dr. murowski entered. having shaken hands with the prisoner and greeted the other gentlemen, he said in a queer lingo of his own, made up of dutch, german, and polish, but which we will not attempt to reproduce:
“rather behind time, i fear, gentlemen, rather behind time, but donnerwetter—!”
“come, come, doctor,” said van beneden with a laugh, “no strong language if you please. i daresay you fell in with miss van bemmelen on the green.”
the doctor reddened up to the very roots of his hair, as he replied in some confusion:
“well, yes, i did meet her—”
“in that case, my dear fellow,” continued van beneden, “you need not trouble yourself to make any apology at all, where there is a lady in the case—”
“stuff and nonsense!” broke in murowski, “i wasn’t in her company for five minutes!”
“if that be the case, doctor,” said van rheijn, “we must ask you why you have kept us so long. you knew we were all here waiting for you.”
“oh, never mind,” put in grashuis with a smile, “don’t press him too hard—our learned friend has probably been hunting some other pretty little butterfly!”
“yes, i can see him,” continued van beneden, “net in hand, running after some splendid sphynx.”
“indeed,” growled murowski, “you seem to have a pretty lively imagination. sphynx indeed! a funny kind of sphynx has been after me!”
van rheijn laughed aloud. “now, come,” said he, “illustrious countryman of sobieski, of poniatowski, and so many other worthies in ski, let us have your news—for news you evidently have to tell us. let us have it. but, mind you, whatever excuse you may have to make—it will have to be a a good one.”
“as i was strolling about the green enjoying the music,” began the doctor, “my chief called me aside and said he wanted to see me at his quarters as soon as ever the concert was over.”
“well, what of that?” cried the friends.
“a request of this kind,” rejoined the pole, “is, as you know, gentlemen, tantamount to a positive order.” [395]
“yes, yes,” cried van rheijn, full of curiosity, “we grant you that; but what important communication had he to make to you?”
“no doubt some case of pneumato—” began van beneden.
but murowski did not give him time to complete his sentence.
“he simply wanted to tell me that i am to be transferred to another station.”
“you are going to leave us?” exclaimed the friends in a breath.
“yes, gentlemen, so it seems—you see i have been a very long time settled in this place,” grumbled murowski, “it must be quite five months and a half.”
“well, and where are they going to send you to?”
“to gombong, it appears.”
“they might very easily have packed you off to a worse place,” said van rheijn, “to singkelen, for instance, or to atjeh.”
“oh, i have no doubt you are quite right there,” sighed murowski, “but where on earth is gombong? you must excuse my ignorance, gentlemen,” continued he, with a smile, “the study of indian geography is, i fear, somewhat neglected in poland.”
“gombong,” exclaimed van rheijn, “is in bagelen.”
“indeed,” replied the pole, “i am much obliged to you for the information; but where may bagelen be?”
“bagelen,” said the embryo-controller, with a certain sense of superiority, pointing in the required direction, “bagelen is only just over there.”
“not over the sea then?” cried murowski, evidently much relieved.
“no, no, my dear fellow, not a bit of it; a carriage will take you there very comfortably. but, why don’t you ask van nerekool, he has but just returned from the very place. he knows all about it. why! he lost his heart there!”
“lost his heart? at gombong?” asked murowski, looking from one to the other with a puzzled air.
“not exactly at gombong; but at all events very close by, at karang anjer. do you know miss van gulpendam?”
“pretty miss van gulpendam! of course i do,” exclaimed the doctor.
“very well then, miss van gulpendam has gone to karang anjer, and she has taken our friend’s heart along with her.”
“that’s smart,” replied the pole, quite mistaking the meaning of the word he employed.
“oh, you think so?” asked grashuis, drily. [396]
this conversation, as may well be supposed, was highly distasteful to van nerekool. he hastened to put an end to it by saying:
“gentlemen, i vote we begin to think of our experiment.”
“ah, you are right,” exclaimed the doctor, “our experientia by all means; experientia optima rerum magistra you know. by-the-bye, did you receive the parcel i sent you?”
“oh, yes,” answered grenits, “you will find it safe on that little table yonder.”
thereupon murowski produced his instruments; a couple of thermometers, a hygrometer, an aneroid barometer, a stethoscope, and a small chemical balance.
while he was arranging these, van rheijn opened the other parcel, which contained a bedoedan and a small box of tjandoe.
“i say,” cried van beneden, who was the first to open the little box, “precious nasty stuff this looks!”
murowski took the box from him, examined the contents, and then falling at once into a lecturing tone, he began:
“opium is an amorphous, sticky substance which, being of a gummy nature, is not fissile but plastic. it is of a dark brown colour, possesses a faint sweetish smell, and is somewhat oily to the touch. its chief constituents are morphine and narcotine, in the absence of these the drug has no value.”
“but,” interrupted van beneden somewhat impatiently, “which of us is to submit to the experiment?”
“the best plan to settle that question,” said van rheijn, “would be, i think, to draw lots.”
“very good,” put in murowski, “providing you allow me to stand out, as i shall have to watch the experiment.”
“now, i think,” suggested grenits, “you had better let me make the trial.”
“why you, rather than anyone of us?”
“why, because, being a prisoner,” replied grenits, “i have plenty of time on my hands to get over the effects of the debauch.”
“you are quite right,” said van rheijn, “i never thought of that—i must be at my office as usual to-morrow morning.”
“and i,” continued van beneden, “i have to be in court, on setrosmito’s business, you know.”
“of course, of course!” cried all in chorus, “not one of us must, on any account, miss that trial.”
“very good,” said grenits, “we are all agreed then that i am to be the smoker.” [397]
“it is very kind of you, theodoor, to make the offer.”
“all right, i am quite ready to begin.”
“very likely,” interrupted murowski, “but that is more than i am.”
“no, and i am not ready yet,” said edward van rheijn.
thereupon, assuming the most severe professional gravity, the worthy pole commenced carefully to weigh out the stock of opium, which he found came to 142 grains. this fact he noted down in his pocket-book.
“you had better add,” said van rheijn, “that there are twenty-five matas.”
“twenty-five what?” asked murowski, again with a puzzled look.
“twenty-five matas,” repeated van rheijn.
“matas!” exclaimed the doctor. “what? eyes?”
the general burst of merriment which followed the question served only to augment the doctor’s surprise.
“eyes!” laughed van rheijn, “no, no, nothing of the kind. the government table of opium weights runs thus: 1 pikoe = 100 katties, 1 kattie = 16 ta?ls, 1 ta?l = 10 tji, and 1 tji = 10 matas, and therefore—”
“all right, all right!” cried murowski, as he joined in the laugh, “now i see it.”
“but, gentlemen,” he continued, “we must look sharp, the sun has set.”
it was nearly a quarter past six and, in the month of august, the sun in java sets some time before that hour.
murowski requested grenits to have the lamps lighted, and when the servant had brought in the lights, the pole continued:
“now then, grenits, get your clothes off!”
“what is that for?” asked theodoor.
“my dear fellow,” replied the doctor, “i must have you in pyjamas; for i shall have narrowly to watch the action of the chest.”
grenits retired to his bedroom, and in a few minutes returned clad in his ordinary night clothing. the doctor then made him lie down on the divan, he felt his pulse, examined his tongue, sounded him with the stethoscope, and carefully took his temperature. during these preliminaries the countenance of murowski wore a look of stern solemnity which, no doubt, ought to have impressed the spectators with the feelings of respect and awe due to a high priest of science; but which, unfortunately, only served to excite their merriment. even grenits himself could hardly repress a smile. [398]
“what in the world is the good of all that hocus-pocus?” whispered august van beneden to grashuis.
“why are you lawyers,” rejoined the other, “always fencing with scraps of latin? it is the correct thing, i suppose. it is a trick of the trade.”
at length grenits said: “well, doctor, is my carcase in pretty good order?”
“perfect,” replied murowski, “perfectly normal; i must have a look at the barometer, and then our experiment may begin at once.”
the barometer recorded 745 m.m., and the doctor made a note of the reading.
“there, now,” he said to grenits, “i am quite ready—no, no, wait a bit—there is something else. when did you last partake of food?”
“at half-past twelve,” replied grenits, “the usual dinner.”
“thank you,” said the doctor, and looking at his watch he continued, “it is now half-past six—just six hours ago. did you partake of anything in the way of spirits?”
“no, nothing of the kind,” answered grenits, “nothing but a little pale ale.”
the doctor then placed his thermometers in position under the patient’s arms.
while all this was doing, van rheijn was busily employed dividing the opium into twenty-five equal parts. then he lit the lamps, and, warming the bits of opium at the flame of the little lamp to make them soft, he kneaded into each of them some very finely cut javanese tobacco, and then rolled them into small round pills. his friends looked on with some surprise at the dexterity with which he performed these manipulations; for he had not told them that, previously, he had asked lim ho to show him how the thing ought to be done. this lesson the wily chinaman had been only too willing to give him. “who knows,” thought he, with a grin, “perhaps the europeans may take a fancy to the delicacy.” when edward had prepared his pills, he produced the bedoedan. it consisted of a tolerably thick bamboo stem some nine or ten inches in length, highly polished and of a beautiful light-brown tint. this stem was open at one end and sealed at the other. very near to the closed end and at right angles to the stem, a small earthenware bowl was inserted into the wood.
“it is a spick-span brand new one, i can assure you,” said van rheijn to theodoor, “i bought it myself for this very occasion.” [399]
“thank heaven for that!” cried grenits. “just fancy if one of those old sots had been sucking and slobbering at it! bah! it makes me sick to think of it.”
“that shows how innocent you are,” rejoined van rheijn, “your real lover of opium, your ‘feinschmecker,’ prizes an old pipe very highly. when the stem is thoroughly saturated and the bowl thickly encrusted with juice, the smoke must be indeed delicious.”
thus saying, edward put one of the little pills into the bowl and handed the pipe, thus loaded, to his friend, while he drew the little table with the lamp within easy reach of the smoker.
grenits lay stretched out at full length on the divan, the front of his kabaai was wide open, so that the action of the chest was plainly visible, and his head rested on a somewhat hard pillow.
“now,” remarked grashuis, “there is only one thing lacking, and that is the greasy filthy pillow we saw in the den at kaligaweh.”
“much obliged to you, leendert,” laughed grenits. “i would not for the world touch the beastly thing—this pillow will do perfectly well.”
thus speaking, he turned his face to the lamp, applied his mouth to the stem of his bedoedan, and, trying to imitate as closely as he could the proceedings he had witnessed at kaligaweh, he was about to apply the bowl to the flame.
“hold hard!” cried murowski, “don’t be in a hurry, one moment.”
with these words he took theodoor’s pulse and held it for fully a minute looking the while carefully at his watch. then he once again applied the stethoscope, examined the thermometers, replaced them, and finally, in his notebook he wrote: pulse 72, respiration 24, temperature 99?.
“that’s it,” said he, “now then puff away to your heart’s content.”
with one steady long pull grenits sucked the flame of the lamp into the bowl. as the opium-ball kindled, a faint sweetish odour began to pervade the apartment, a smell somewhat suggestive of warm blood and treacle.
“swallow it, swallow it!” cried van rheijn.
this, however, was more easily said than done. grenits made an effort to swallow the nasty smoke; but then a violent fit of coughing compelled him to open his mouth and blow out the fumes into the room, augmenting thereby the nauseous smell which already pervaded the apartment. [400]
“poeah! poeah!” cried grenits, puffing and coughing.
“what do you feel? what do you taste?” asked murowski.
“i am half choked with coughing,” stammered grenits, “and i have a nasty sweetish taste in my mouth. i cannot describe it.”
this first draw had been a deep one; the madat-ball was entirely consumed; van rheijn slipped another opium-ball into the pipe.
“now, this time,” said he, “you must try to swallow the smoke; you have done so often enough when you have blown the smoke of a cigar from your nose.”
poor grenits made another attempt. this time he did actually inhale the fumes and succeeded in retaining them for some seconds, after which he allowed them slowly to curl out at his nostrils.
dr. murowski made a note in his pocket-book, pulse 70, respiration 25, temperature normal.
being asked again what he felt, grenits answered: “i feel nothing; but the sweet taste has gone and now it tastes rather bitter.”
after the third pipe, theodoor complained that his head felt heavy and said he wanted to go to sleep. this drowsiness seemed to increase with the fourth and fifth pipes; but, as yet, grenits was well able to resist it. he returned sensible answers to the questions put to him by his friends; but remarked that his faculties seemed to be clouded and that he had to reflect for some considerable time before he could grasp the meaning of a question, and that he could not readily frame an answer. he was able, however, to sit upright, and could even walk up and down the room without support.
dr. murowski watched him carefully and after the sixth pipe he found, that the drowsy feeling was still increasing, that the pulse was at 70 while the respiration had risen to 28.
the eighth pipe produced further drowsiness, but yet theodoor was able to tell the time by the clock.
with the ninth pipe, his speech became thick and his utterance indistinct; and when the doctor pressed him very hard, he said that his tongue seemed as if it were increasing in volume.
after the tenth pipe, the patient began to complain of a bitter taste in his mouth, and said he felt giddy. the doctor at once grasped his hand; but pulse and respiration both remained unaltered. [401]
after the eleventh, grenits could no longer raise himself unaided from the divan, and, when he tried to walk had to be supported, so tottering and uncertain were his steps.
after the twelfth pipe, which he smoked very slowly, a remarkable change came over the patient. theodoor was now lying with his eyes closed; but every now and then he opened them and there was now a brightness in his look which offered a strange contrast to his former dull and heavy expression. his sensations, he declared, were highly pleasurable; but he could give no description of his feelings.
“charles, charles,” he faintly cried, “give us a little music,” and he turned slightly to van nerekool. the latter at once sat down at the piano and began very softly to play chopin’s variations on airs from don giovanni. the ecstatic expression on the smoker’s face showed that he took in every chord and every note.
“go on playing,” he murmured, as soon as charles left off, “more music—more smoke—give me the pipe.”
this ecstatic state went on increasing with the thirteenth pipe and with it also the craving for opium grew more intense.
theodoor now began to laugh; he stretched out and waved his arms—the most pleasant pictures were evidently floating through his brain. when murowski asked him what made him laugh he replied, with a fresh burst of unnatural merriment: “i don’t know, i don’t know!”
presently he requested van nerekool to play him a certain passage from schumann’s manfred. in this state of ecstasy the patient remained while he smoked his fourteenth and fifteenth pipes. the fixed smile did not leave his features; but now he ceased to reply to the questions of his friends. he also grew restless by degrees and no longer lay still as before.
after the sixteenth pipe grenits complained of having to leave off smoking while the pipe was being refilled. he grew fretful and found fault with van rheijn for not having supplied another bedoedan, for then, he said, the experiment might have gone on without interruption. dr. murowski observed that the pulse was at 72 and the respiration at 28; that the conjunctiva was much bloodshot and the eyelids heavy and drooping.
after the seventeenth pipe the smoker suddenly started up and attempted to walk; but, after a few steps, fell down and was unable to rise. his friends carried him back to the divan. he begged hard to be allowed to go on smoking and, as the [402]doctor declared there was no danger whatever, the request was complied with.
the eighteenth pipe brought back the state of ecstasy which, for awhile, seemed to have left the patient. every now and then he opened his eyes wide and seemed to follow some flying image.
with the twentieth pipe these symptoms merely increased, and when murowski asked him how he felt he replied:
“oh! i feel so happy; i never felt anything like it before.”
the doctor made the following note: sclerotica much inflamed, pulse 70, respiration 25, temperature 100·04, satyriasis setting in. upon being asked if he wanted anything, he replied:
“i don’t want anything—nothing at all—leave me alone. the pipe! give me the pipe! that edward, that edward! does he want the thing to fail altogether?”
the next instant he exclaimed: “oh! if this be mohammed’s paradise, let me go on smoking for ever! the pipe! the pipe!”
“is it not high time,” asked van nerekool anxiously, “to put a stop to this? the poor fellow will, i fear, do himself some serious mischief.”
“no, no, no,” cried the pole. “don’t be alarmed, i answer for him, there is not the slightest danger. his pulse is perfectly regular, the breathing has quickened somewhat; but there is only a rise of ·3 in the temperature. it would be a pity not to go on now, this experiment is most important to science.”
after the twenty-first pipe, grenits seemed to lose all control over himself. he lay still, almost motionless; but every word he uttered, every look and every gesture betrayed what was passing within. this continued until the twenty-fourth pipe had been smoked. murowski then again asked him how he felt, and he answered pretty quietly:
“oh! i am at peace, at rest. delightful! delightful!”
but this was far from satisfying our pole. with his right forefinger on the patient’s pulse and his left hand spread out on his breast, he kept on asking him again and again, “what kind of feeling is it?”
theodoor, however, did not reply. by this time he was heaving and panting with excitement. his arms and hands were stretched out clutching convulsively at some phantom of his brain. his face wore a look of unutterable bliss which filled the bystanders at once with amazement and horror. [403]
“doctor, doctor!” muttered van nerekool, “let us put an end to this. look at him, look at him. it is disgusting!”
but the pole would not give in.
“there is no danger, none whatever!” he cried; “we must go on now, we must go on!”
with the tough tenacity of the man of science bent upon fathoming some natural phenomenon, he eagerly watched theodoor’s slightest movement. he was desperately anxious to make the patient speak out. “grenits!” he cried, “grenits, do you hear me; tell me, do you hear me?”
then he forced up the eyelids, and with his finger sharply filliped his nose as he kept on crying, trembling with impatience: “do you hear me, grenits, do you hear?”
grenits muttered a few incoherent words as he restlessly tossed about on the divan.
“do you hear me?” persisted the doctor. “tell me, can you understand?”
“oh, yes, yes,” at length muttered grenits, “do leave me alone!”
in his eagerness the doctor bent over his patient, he did not for an instant take his eyes from his face. just then the friend was transformed wholly into the man of science who, entirely mastered by the passionate desire of unravelling some secret of nature, might become capable of practising vivisection even upon his fellow-man.
“oh do tell me,” passionately implored the doctor, “do tell me what you feel!”
“what i feel?” muttered theodoor vaguely. “oh it is delightful, delightful—more delicious than—”
“this is too bad!” shouted van nerekool, “abominable! i can’t stand this any longer!” and, snatching the pipe out of grenits’ hand, he stamped on it with his foot. then he seized the box in which there remained but a single pill of opium and violently flung it and its contents out of the window.
“that’s right, quite right!” cried grashuis and van beneden in a breath.
“it is a pity, a thousand pities,” complained murowski.
but even he had very soon to change his tone, as the condition of grenits now began seriously to alarm even the medical man. the smoker’s pulse had fallen to 62, and his respiration to 24, while the temperature had risen to 101·40.
grenits moreover was now growing very restless, and was pouring forth a torrent of libidinous and incoherent ejaculations. [404]his eyes were bloodshot, his face much swollen, his skin was hot and dry, while the hands were damp with clammy sweat. incessantly he kept on clamouring for opium. “the pipe, give me the pipe! van rheijn, the pipe!” he almost yelled, and this amidst a string of loose and frantic exclamations.
murowski, now beginning to fear that the experiment might have been carried too far, endeavoured to make him drink some of the strong coffee which had been kept ready for the purpose, by pouring it down his throat with a spoon. he bathed his head with iced water, and every now and then, made him sniff strong smelling salts. thus, with considerable difficulty, the doctor at length succeeded in somewhat quieting his patient. the coffee, especially, seemed to have a soothing effect. at first grenits violently resisted all attempts to make him swallow it; but presently, of his own accord he began to ask for it, and the beverage had the most sobering effect. gradually the excitement began to abate, the patient’s voice became more natural and subdued, and his utterances less wild. at length grenits fell into a deep sleep.
murowski took out his pocket-book and wrote: pulse 70, respiration 24, temperature 100.
“normal,” said he with a sigh of relief, “quite normal! however, i shall not leave him to-night.” the gaoler was very easily persuaded to allow the doctor to remain with his patient for that night, and grenits slept for thirty-three hours. when he at length awoke he found that, with the exception of a feeling of exhaustion and a pretty severe headache, he was none the worse of his opium-debauch. even these unpleasant sensations, however, left him as soon as he had taken a bath, and then he became ravenously hungry so that his attendant had some difficulty in serving him quickly and plentifully enough.
three days after these events murowski was on his way to his new station. it was his intention to expand his notes into a full account of what he had witnessed, and to send his paper on the effects of opium smoking to one of the scientific publications in germany.
the experiment in the prison at santjoemeh had one good effect, at least, upon those who were assembled to witness it: it served namely, to confirm the opinions they already held with regard to the use of opium. it would not be true to say that van rheijn had ever stood up as a defender of the use of the drug; yet he had always striven to find some argument in [405]palliation of the government system; but now even he was completely converted.
with poor theodoor grenits the events of that evening were, for a long time, a very sore point; and he never could bear the slightest allusion made to his antics while under the spell of the poppy-juice.
“may i be hanged!” he cried, “if ever again i touch a bedoedan, however seductive and pleasant may be the images it calls up.” and then, turning to his friends, he said, “gentlemen, i beg you will do me the great favour of never, in the slightest manner, alluding to the past; and,” continued he enthusiastically, “let us now join hands and solemnly declare war—war to the knife against the opium trade.”
