destroy him. That,
which has wrought such woe to you and yours. Be not afraid for Madam
Mina. She will be my care, if I may. I am old. My legs are not so
quick to run as once. And I am not used to ride so long or to pursue
as need be, or to fight with lethal weapons. But I can be of other
service. I can fight in other way. And I can die, if need be, as
well as younger men. Now let me say that what I would is this. While
you, my Lord Godalming and friend Jonathan go in your so swift little
steamboat up the river, and whilst John and Quincey guard the bank
where perchance he might be landed, I will take Madam Mina right into
the heart of the enemy's country. Whilst the old fox is tied in his
box, floating on the running stream whence he cannot escape to land,
where he dares not raise the lid of his coffin box lest his Slovak
carriers should in fear leave him to perish, we shall go in the track
where Jonathan went, from Bistritz over the Borgo, and find our way to
the Castle of Dracula. Here, Madam Mina's hypnotic power will surely
help, and we shall find our way, all dark and unknown otherwise, after
the first sunrise when we are near that fateful place. There is much
to be done, and other places to be made sanctify, so that that nest of
vipers be obliterated."

Here Jonathan interrupted him hotly, "Do you mean to say, Professor
Van Helsing, that you would bring Mina, in her sad case and tainted as
she is with that devil's illness, right into the jaws of his
deathtrap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or Hell!"

He became almost speechless for a minute, and then went on, "Do you
know what the place is? Have you seen that awful den of hellish
infamy, with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every
speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo?
Have you felt the Vampire's lips upon your throat?"

Here he turned to me, and as his eyes lit on my forehead he threw up
his arms with a cry, "Oh, my God, what have we done to have this
terror upon us?" and he sank down on the sofa in a collapse of misery.

The Professor's voice, as he spoke in clear, sweet tones, which seemed
to vibrate in the air, calmed us all.

"Oh, my friend, it is because I would save Madam Mina from that awful
place that I would go. God forbid that I should take her into that
place. There is work, wild work, to be done before that place can be
purify. Remember that we are in terrible straits. If the