the Count's game for him, and he
ran with his favouring wind through fogs and all till he brought
up blindfold at Galatz. That the Count's arrangements were well
made, has been proved. Hildesheim cleared the box, took it off,
and gave it to Skinsky. Skinsky took it, and here we lose the
trail. We only know that the box is somewhere on the water,
moving along. The customs and the octroi, if there be any, have
been avoided.

Now we come to what the Count must have done after his
arrival, on land, at Galatz.

The box was given to Skinsky before sunrise. At sunrise
the Count could appear in his own form. Here, we ask why
Skinsky was chosen at all to aid in the work? In my husband's
diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing with the Slovaks who trade
down the river to the port. And the man's remark, that the
murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general feeling
against his class. The Count wanted isolation.

My surmise is this, that in London the Count decided to get
back to his castle by water, as the most safe and secret
way. He was brought from the castle by Szgany, and probably they
delivered their cargo to Slovaks who took the boxes to Varna, for
there they were shipped to London. Thus the Count had knowledge
of the persons who could arrange this service. When the box was
on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he came out from his
box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to arranging
the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and
he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he
thought, by murdering his agent.

I have examined the map and find that the river most
suitable for the Slovaks to have ascended is either the
Pruth or the Sereth. I read in the typescript that in my
trance I heard cows low and water swirling level with my
ears and the creaking of wood. The Count in his box, then,
was on a river in an open boat, propelled probably either
by oars or poles, for the banks are near and it is working
against stream. There would be no such if floating down
stream.

Of course it may not be either the Sereth or the Pruth, but
we may possibly investigate further. Now of these two, the
Pruth is the more easily navigated, but the Sereth is, at
Fundu, joined by the Bistritza which runs up round the Borgo
Pass. The loop it makes is manifestly as close to Dracula's
castle as can be got by water.

MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL--CONTINUED

When I had done