"Dr. Medjora, I cannot yet believe that you will succeed in this horrible experiment; but if you do, of course I would not harm others by arousing useless suspicions. If you escape from the law, you need have no fear of what I should do."
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Again he consulted his watch. "Twenty minutes gone, and still no alteration. What if I should fail? No! No! Failure is impossible! Mr. Barnes, another matter. My son is my natural heir, but I do not wish him to know it. Even without your story, Judge Dudley might hesitate to let Leon marry his daughter, if he knows him to be son of mine. There may be a doubt against me lurking in some corner of his brain, which would be vivified if he learned my secret. You will not reveal it?"
"No!"
"I thank you. The boy will not suffer. I have left a will in his favor, and there is another paper making him the guardian of my estates should I lose my reason. You see I have contemplated my experiment for a long time, and all my preparations are complete. The Judge has arranged to give Leon my name legally. So all will be well! All will be well! All my plans successful! I lose my reason without complaint! But, time is passing, and my reason remains! A horrible thought comes over me! I have made a mistake! By all the eternal torments, I have made a mistake, and here I am chained up so that it is impossible for me to rectify the error! They say I am an egotist, yet I have so little remembered my own mental superiority, that I actually have thought that a dose of Sanatoxine which would unseat the reason of an ordinary man, would effect me. Fool! Fool! Fool! How could I forget that I, Emanuel Medjora, the Wizard, am not as other men? How can my reason be destroyed by so small a dose as that which I have taken? But stop! There may be yet one chance! There may be more in the phial! Where is it?" His excitement increased as he gave vent to his thoughts aloud, as though Mr. Barnes were not present. Now he looked eagerly about, and at last saw the bottle at some distance from him on the floor. Mr. Barnes also saw it, and stepped forward to pick it up. Instantly the Doctor sprang towards him, grasping the hammer which had lain within his reach.
"Touch that phial at your peril!" he screamed. "I will brain you as mercilessly as I would a rat! That phial is mine! Its contents are mine! Valuable only to me and to science! My experiment must succeed! It must! It must! It shall!"
Glaring at Mr. Barnes, who stood back awed by his threatening attitude, the Doctor moved towards the bottle, but, as he stooped to reach for it, the chains tightened and impeded his progress.
"The chains! I had forgotten the chains! Ha! I have never forgotten before! Perhaps my reason is yielding already! No! No! I feel that I have full sway over all my faculties! I must have that phial!"
He stooped to his knees, and stretched and writhed and twisted, in his efforts to reach the bottle. But ever it was just beyond his grasp.
"I will have it! I will! I will!" he muttered, gritting his teeth with such force that one of them was broken. But he took no heed of the accident. Down on his back he turned, and, by a wriggling motion, soon lay extended at full length, his feet reaching as far as the chains about the wrists permitted, his arms being stretched backward beyond his shoulders. He could now reach the bottle with his feet, but it was impossible for him to see it, the position of his arms rendering it very difficult for him to hold his head and shoulders high enough from the floor, so that his own body would not impede his vision. However, he did accomplish his purpose, and Mr. Barnes was amazed to see him at last clutch the phial with his two feet. Then began a series of contortions which were painful to see. With the utmost care the Doctor drew his feet slowly up, dragging the phial nearer and nearer, meanwhile crying out in a sort of hysteria:
"It is mine! I will have it! I will succeed! The Wizard never failed!
Never! Never! No! No! Never! Never!"
Once, as he moved his feet, the phial slipped from them and rolled away again.
"Come back!" he shrieked. "Come back! Stop! Stop!" he cried, as though addressing a living thing. It ceased to roll, and with a cry of joy he found that he could still reach it. Again he slowly worked it towards him. Inch by inch he managed the coveted phial, until at last he assumed another position. Springing up from the floor he reached backward with one foot and touched it.
"Now it is mine! Mine! Mine!" His voice was shrill, and there was a passionate tone of exultation that smote Mr. Barnes to the heart. It was terrible to stand by and see the desperate effort which this man made to accomplish that from which all men shrink in horror. Slowly the Doctor proceeded with his task, until at last he was able to reach the phial with his hands. Swiftly stooping, as a hawk descends upon its prey, he grasped the little bottle.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! I have it! It is mine! The Wizard never fails!"
His laugh of joy had scarcely died away, before he uttered a most terrific shriek, and threw the phial from him, crying:
"Empty! Great God! It is empty!"
He stood silent and motionless for a moment. Then his eyes turned in the direction of Mr. Barnes, and he glared at him in such a way that the detective felt uncomfortable. Suddenly he burst forth with a tirade of abusive language.
"You! You are the cause of all this! You are the prying miscreant that has made all my trouble! I will have your life! I will drag you into the crypt of my great ancestor, and tear out your heart on the stone of sacrifice that still exists in there!"
He dashed forward with such force that the chains, reaching their limit suddenly, jerked him back so violently that he fell. As he did so his hand chanced to touch the hammer, which he had laid aside while trying to secure the bottle. With a shriek of joy that made Mr. Barnes shiver, he sprang up, holding the hammer aloft.
"I am chained! Chained! But you shall not escape! Take that!"
Swiftly he hurled the hammer, but Mr. Barnes, suspecting his purpose, dropped to his knees, and the missile went harmlessly over his head.
"Balked! Balked! I have failed! But I am the Wizard and I will succeed! Ha! Ha! Ha!" His laugh now filled the room. "You wonder how! I am chained and you think that you are safe! Ha! Ha! Ha! You are a fool! You do not know me! I am Emanuel Medjora! I am powerful. I will rend these chains, and then your life shall pay!"
He turned, and wrapping the chains around his two arms, he braced his feet against the floor, and tugged with all his might.
He pulled, and swayed from side to side. He savagely jerked the chains, and then again he grasped one with both hands, but his efforts appeared to be in vain. But so much power did he display, that, as his back was turned, Mr. Barnes decided that it would be safer to prepare for flight. He therefore cautiously advanced towards the door, and there paused, ready, however, to dart out on the instant should it be necessary.
Still the Doctor tugged and jerked and rattled the chains, shrieking and laughing demoniacally at intervals. Presently, with a shout of triumph, he did burst one of the chains. Turning towards Mr. Barnes, he shouted:
"You see! I am the Wizard! I do what I please! You did not think that I could break it! Ha! Ha! Ha! You do not know Emanuel Medjora! He accomplishes what he wills! The will controls the muscles, and the mind controls the will! But now through my brain a liquid fire courses that makes my mind doubly powerful! I feel that I am getting stronger every moment! In another second I will snap this last chain as easily as you would break a cord! Then, then, – Ha! Ha! Ha! I'll have your heart out! Ha! Ha! Ha! I have an idea! I'll kill you now!"
He rushed forward as far as the remaining chain would permit, and extending the other arm, to which dangled the end of the chain which he had broken, he drew it back and then switched the dangling links viciously towards Mr. Barnes, narrowly missing him. As he saw that even now he could not reach the detective, he uttered a cry of rage, and again and again endeavored to strike him with the dangling chain. But it was useless. Mr. Barnes was beyond his reach. Finally, with a cry of despair, the Doctor threw himself in a heap upon the floor, now weeping, now laughing, and shrieking madly:
"They say I am a Wizard! Ha! Ha! Ha! A Wizard! I a Wizard, and I cannot kill a man! Such a simple thing, and yet I cannot do it! A Wizard! I a Wizard! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
His Sanatoxine experiment had proven successful. Dr. Emanuel Medjora was a maniac!