nt I wondered what we were to do. I did not myself know whether
our lethal weapons would avail us anything.

Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had ready his great
Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The blow was a
powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's leap back
saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had shorn through
his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat,
making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank notes and a stream
of gold fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish,
that for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the
terrible knife aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved
forward with a protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and Wafer in
my left hand. I felt a mighty power fly along my arm, and it was
without surprise that I saw the monster cower back before a similar
movement made spontaneously by each one of us. It would be impossible
to describe the expression of hate and baffled malignity, of anger and
hellish rage, which came over the Count's face. His waxen hue became
greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar
on the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound.
The next instant, with a sinuous dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere
his blow could fall, and grasping a handful of the money from the
floor, dashed across the room, threw himself at the window. Amid the
crash and glitter of the falling glass, he tumbled into the flagged
area below. Through the sound of the shivering glass I could hear the
"ting" of the gold, as some of the sovereigns fell on the flagging.

We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up
the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door.
There he turned and spoke to us.

"You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like
sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You
think you have left me without a place to rest, but I have more. My
revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my
side. Your girls that you all love are mine already. And through
them you and others shall yet be mine, my creatures, to do my bidding
and to be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah!"

With a contemptuous sneer, he passed quickly through the door, and we
heard the rusty bolt creak as he fastened it behind him. A door