雙語·波蘭吹號手 第十二章　埃爾茲別塔沒聽到中止音

XII. ELZBIETKA MISSES THE BROKEN NOTE

Very much earlier on this same eventful night a girlish figure emerged from the door leading to Alchemist Kreutz's lodgings, on the third floor of the building where Pan Andrew lived, and stole quietly down the steps to the second floor. Here she rapped three times. In a space of perhaps a minute, the door was thrown back a little, and Joseph's mother peered cautiously out through the crack.

Come in, child, she said heartily as she recognized Elzbietka's face.

What brings you out so late? she inquired a moment later, as she shot the heavy bolts back into place and secured the door. "Has the student Tring been troubling you or your uncle lately, or what is it? Sit there at the table where I was just finishing my sewing for the day and tell me the whole story."

Yes, answered the girl, "it is the student Tring. He and uncle are in the loft now, and I am somewhat frightened—they have been talking more queerly than ever all this evening."

You must stay with me here this night, the woman said. "It's a shame that such a scholar as your uncle should have anything to do with that student, Tring. I fear that young man very much. He seems to me like one who has grown old and then become young again. When he looks at me with those great dark eyes it seems as if he were thinking of terrible things—"

I will stay here, and gladly, Mother, she answered, for in these months of sweet acquaintanceship the affection of the woman and girl had become much like that which exists between mother and daughter, "but it is not that I fear anything, myself, from the student Tring. It is really my uncle's conduct these few weeks that troubles me, and more especially his conduct since that night when the men came here to steal. He is so changed!"

I have seen, Joseph's mother replied. "But has he ever been cruel to you?"

Oh, no! Never that. But he is not at all as he was when we first came here to live. Then he was full of merriment, ready to talk or laugh with me, eager to go somewhere or to see something that would be of pleasure to us both. Now he does not seem to think of me at all. He is always like one in a dream. Sometimes when I speak to him he does not seem to hear. Other times he answers my questions queerly, saying things that I had not thought of. He is caught up in something that I fear, and something that has little good in it.

It's the student Tring who has done all this.

Yes, I think that he has done much of it. They two are together every night, and they work together in the loft above my head. I can hear them moving about occasionally, though sometimes a terrible silence is all that there is.

My dear child, the woman laid her work by for the moment, "this is always your home here. Come here when there is anything to trouble you.... The little bed is always yours.... We, too, are greatly troubled as well, as perhaps you know. Pan Andrew has not been the same since that accursed night.... Yet if one had but sense, we havehere all that should make man happy: children, love, bread, and a house—why must men be always sighing and striving for that which they have not?"

We were so happy before, continued Elzbietka. "It seems to me that the student Trine, has some charm over my uncle which he cannot resist."

Heaven help us, exclaimed the woman, making the sign of the cross. "And have you any idea what is going on in the loft above you?"

None. The girl shuddered. "It is some terrible thing. Tonight both men spoke in such a peculiar way that I was frightened when they first came together. And ever since that they have been speaking more wildly, I think, than ever before. My uncle keeps saying, 'this will drive me mad,' and Tring says to him again, 'there is nothing of harm in it. Try once more.' Then again there is silence and my uncle speaks shortly, mad things—and I was frightened and came here."

My poor child.

Just before I came downstairs Tring was speaking to my uncle as if he were a common servant. And my uncle instead of being angry seemed to be trying to please the student. At last Tring said: 'This, now, you must do. You must learn the secret which will change brass into gold. Once you have gold, then you have the power to do all that man can do. You can go about over the earth and see all that there is to see, you can study with the most famous masters and buy all that you please.' He repeated over and over again the word 'gold,' and it seemed to me that while he was speaking my uncle was working at something, for he never answered a word.

The woman shook her head. "I have known of those who soughtto make gold out of baser metal. But no good ever befell them..." Then thinking that she needed to draw the girl's thoughts away from herself and her troubles, she said, "I am often lonely these nights when Joseph and his father are away. Yet I often listen for the sound of the trumpet in the church tower and I know that everything is well with them."

And I. Joseph begins at the second hour. We have a secret, he and I, and I always listen for him to play.

Bless your heart. Do you mean to say that you lie awake until the second hour?

I do when he is playing. For he is my best friend, and one should be loyal unto friends.

Can you tell when he is playing, and when the father?

I could easily at first. Now it is much harder, but I think that I could distinguish did I not know at what hours each played. His notes are not quite so pointed as the father's, but they are becoming more and more like them all the time.

The conversation ran to other matters, and it grew late. Finally, the woman made up a bed for the girl on a small couch which Joseph and his father had built. It was close to the outer door, and directly below the casement, over which a piece of tapestry hung; the window was open in this fair weather, and Elzbietka could easily hear noises from outside, especially the sound of the church bells and the trumpet, for the window faced in the direction of the tower. Joseph's mother retired to the second room, where she slept when Joseph was at the church, and Elzbietka, without undressing, for she feared lest the alchemist should call her suddenly, threw herself on the couch and tried to sleep.

She found sleep impossible. Visions of some terrible thing happening to her uncle and the student kept her thoughts boiling like water in a kettle. She kept remembering the words that other people had said, the remarks made by other students, the whispers up and down the lane that Pan Kreutz was engaged in some terrible work of black magic.

It was a superstitious age, an age when people believed that powers of evil could be called upon, like human beings, to perform certain dark deeds—that souls of the dead forever haunted certain lonely places on earth and would answer a question if one but knew how to address them. If a black cat crossed one's path, then bad luck was sure to follow; if an owl hooted at exactly midnight from the tower of some deserted church, then the witches were riding through the air on brooms or branches; if a dog howled in the night, it was a sign that someone living near by was about to die.

There were people who fostered such ideas for their own benefit. They were for the most part necromancers or magicians who took the gold of credulous ones for telling them of their own futures or for warding off some impending evil from them. Perhaps some few of these believed themselves honest; the greater number were thoroughly dishonest and unscrupulous, men who wore dark robes and practiced dark ways simply to frighten superstitious folk into giving them money. These magicians sold articles, called "tokens," which were guaranteed to keep away certain evils. A little ball of black stone would prevent the possessor from being bitten by snakes. The little yellow, glasslike substance created when lightning struck in sand and melted the fine particles was greatly valued; crumbled and taken internally, it would prevent stomach trouble. Worn aboutthe neck in a small bag, it would keep off lightning. Certain little bones from the bodies of cats, dogs, and hares had properties of benefit; the heart of a frog had many mystic qualities.

It was quite apparent in the case of the alchemist Kreutz that something was going on that was undermining his health and perhaps his reason. Such a change as had come over him was not at all normal in a man with such a strong body and mind as he possessed. And as Elzbietka lay awake thinking of one thing after another, she became a prey to many strange fears, among them this one: that Kreutz was no longer the master of his own soul, that somehow the student Tring had become the master of it, that Tring had discovered something in his studies which he was working out at the expense of the man who naturally should have been his teacher and master.

The trumpet had in the meanwhile sounded the first hour, but still she was not able to sleep. Her natural thoughts of her uncle and Tring were followed by a food of fanciful imaginings, and in them she saw the figures warped and distorted out of their natural proportions; persons who are sick and persons who carry troubles in their minds experience this frequently, at a time when the body is tired and aching for sleep and yet when the mind is overactive with worries. Her uncle, at one minute of normal and ordinary size, seemed at intervals to shrink or enlarge without warning; Tring was now a student of the collegiate type, now a nightmare of a thing with the head of a pumpkin that grew until the whole sky was filled with the darkness of his shadow. They were engaged in many nefarious enterprises: they were releasing great hordes of bats from baskets, bats that they had created out of old sandals; they were leapinginto the air and catching huge birds like eagles, which they were imprisoning under the roof of the loft; they were mixing fiery liquids that hissed and bubbled and foamed—they were doing a thousand things at once and all of them somehow of evil. For nearly an hour these phantoms of half sleep danced in her brain, and then suddenly the bell on the tower sounded twice.

The second hour, she exclaimed, the drowsy phantoms of her brain taking sudden flight.

The Heynal began. That is Joseph, she thought.

She was humming the tune, already following him note by note—she reached the place where the hymn ended, and ceased there, to wait until he began to play again from the second of the four windows. But the next second she realized to her vast amazement that Joseph had not stopped upon the broken note that came at the end of the Heynal, but had added a note or two and brought the little hymn to an end in the way that pieces of music usually end.

Elzbietka sat upright on the bed, although she was quite certain that some trick had been played upon her by her senses. Perhaps I was but half awake, she thought. I will listen more closely when he plays it the second time.

He began to play from the south side. This time she did not hum the tune over, but followed each note intently. When he had finished she realized that for the second time he had not stopped upon the broken note, but had gone ahead with the additional notes which made the Heynal sound like a finished piece of music and not one that was broken off.

The ending of the Heynal, showing the broken note.

The Heynal as Joseph played it, showing the notes which he added.

He is playing it wrongly, she repeated to herself.

He played next on the east side, but the wind carried the sound away this time. When he came to the last window, the window on the north, the sound came clearly to Elzbietka's ears. "This time I shall know," she said.

At first she thought that he was going to stop upon the broken note, for he hesitated there, but then he went on ahead, as if to say, "I know that I should stop here, but am not stopping," and added the extra notes which finished the strain, just as the young trumpeter would probably have finished it had he not been shot down by the Tartar bowman.

Elzbietka was off the bed and on her feet.... He had played it in such fashion deliberately! Joseph was far too good a trumpeter to make the same mistake at least three times.

But what—what—could it mean? That Joseph was in some trouble? But there was the great alarm bell, which once sounded would rouse the town in an incredibly short time. This bell was always employed in times of fire, invasion, defense, and such various events as riots, the visit of a foreign king, the declaration of war—

He certainly would not trifle with such a sacred thing as the Heynal for a mere pastime—therefore, why, why, why, did he not ring the bell?

There could be but one answer! The girl had half realized it with the very first false note of the first playing of the Heynal. This was a signal to her—to her, Elzbietka Kreutz! Joseph was in some strange, some unusual kind of distress! He counted upon her to remember the little secret that he had made in joking, he counted upon her to understand that he was in trouble. Why, perhaps he was even held by force—here her intuition actually leaped to the truth—perhaps some person was watching him so that he could not ring the bell!

Yes, it was for her ears that he was playing.

And she must act—she must help Joseph—at once—at once. Only, what was the wisest course? She could not bring herself to alarm the boy's mother—should she call her uncle? He was still with Johann Tring in the loft—the light was there and there had been no sound of the student descending. Both, she knew, would laugh at her fears and send her back to bed. Therefore she moved quietly from the couch across the floor to the door, where she threw back the bolts and drew the door open. Stepping across the threshold, she closed the door and ascended to her own lodging, where she procured the key to the outer door, and threw a cloak about her head and shoulders. In a very short time she was in the street.

At such an hour as this in the morning, it was dangerous for an unarmed man, and even more for an unarmed woman, to pass through the streets. Late roisterers were abroad, gamblers, drunkards, thieves, the very filth and scum of the city, were crouching in corners or picking the pockets of some man who had been struck down from behind. The city watch were preventive enough against crime if they responded in numbers large enough to cope with thieves and murderers who often worked in bands, but the law satisfied itselfwith treating most cruelly the few prisoners that fell into its clutches, and let the great majority of offenders go unmolested. Therefore a man's best friend in dark city streets, particularly at such a late hour as this, was his good sword or cudgel.

Once outside the building wall, Elzbietka breathed a prayer to her patron saint, the good Elizabeth, and observing in the bright light of the moon that the Street of the Pigeons was for the moment empty, kept her back close to the wall and edged her way slowly in the wall's shadow to the cross street at the left, through which she had planned to dart for St. Ann's Street, only a block distant. She was at the very corner and had climbed out from the sheltering buttress of the wall when there came the sound of men's voices from the Street of the Pigeons, directly behind her. Without turning about to see who was there, she darted around the corner into the cross street and broke into a run over its rough cobbles.

Someone, however, had seen her. She heard a voice cry, "Who is there?" and there was the sound of feet pursuing her.

A woman, as I live, she heard a pursuer say as she dashed ahead. The moon seemed to hang over the very head of the cross street, so that none of the buildings threw a shadow. The pursuers had already turned the corner from the Street of the Pigeons and came flying ahead in great leaps and bounds.

She thought of Tartars and Peter of the Button Face, but it was no such folk as that who followed her. This small company of men was but a band of rags and tatters, beggars and petty thieves and filthy cozeners, seeking only to fleece some passer-by of a few grosz in order to get drinks or a hard corner in which to sleep. A girl of her age was just such prey as these wretched people sought, for theycould plunder her without fear of harm, and her clothing or perhaps some bundle that she carried would bring a few coins for their need.

Stop! Stop! We are friends, the first of them called out. "We would not harm a woman in the street at such an hour. Listen, we will go with you where you are going." But the tone of the voice only made Elzbietka run the harder.

Into St. Ann's Street she turned at length, with the men close behind. Her one hope now was that Jan Kanty would answer his bell quickly, for if she did not slip inside almost immediately, the men following would catch up to her.

However, summons for help from Jan Kanty seldom waited long without an answer. He had been busy all that night with his writings, at which he worked incessantly, when he was not aiding some world-wrecked soul—writings which were to prove of inestimable value to the university and the whole world of culture after his death. Therefore the ringing of the bell took him but a few steps from his work. As he unlocked the door and flung it open, the girl darted by him and into the house.

It is I, Elzbietka Kreutz, she said. "Good father, I come with news that needs action, I think, and that immediately. But first close the door, since there are some pursuing me."

The scholar closed the door. If he felt astonishment at the sight of a young girl flying through the streets at such an hour, he did not show it. He was, as a matter of fact, used to all kinds of strange happenings. Even when the wretched beggars raced past the door, wondering what had become of their victim, he had an impulse to go out and talk to them and eventually share his purse with them, since he knew that it was only poverty and starvation that drove them tosuch extremes. But recognizing the girl's distress and her immediate need for him, he closed the door and led the way into his study.

What has happened, daughter? Has there been a robbery again in the house, or has thine uncle gotten himself into some difficulty? Something of the sort there is, I feel and know.

She recited her story as best she could, for she was short-breathed from running and from her anxiety for Joseph. If only he would not smile! If only he would not think that she had been dreaming! But the venerable scholar was far from smiling.

You are right, he exclaimed spiritedly, almost before she had finished her tale. "There is no time to wait. He is in some grave danger, which may the good God divert from him. Remain here, where you will be safe. I will at once send a servant of the university to call the watch, and will go with them myself to the tower. I fear something of evil has happened."

A few minutes later, thirty men of the city watch, in heavy armor, were marching upon the church. They found first the church watchman securely bound in the churchyard and released him. Then they entered the tower through the unlocked door and began silently and cautiously to climb the stairs.

In the meantime the band of Cossacks high up in the tower above had begun to grow weary of this excursion. At first the idea of an attack in midair, and in a church tower at that, had piqued their curiosity and aroused their thirst for adventure, since such an attack had heretofore been entirely outside their experience. And when, earlier in the evening, Peter had called for the ten volunteers he needed, not one man among them could be induced to remain behind.

But the affair had proved to be of a simplicity that had no appeal for men so bloodthirsty. In truth, so well had Peter's plans been laid, and so secure from intrusion did they feel in this lofty stronghold, and so irksome was the waiting for their leader, that they had succumbed one by one to the drowsiness of the early morning hour, and with the exception of the one man who stood guard over the trumpeter, they were sprawled out idly, or were dozing.

Therefore, men of the city watch, when they had crept noiselessly to the top, surprised them completely. In truth, they were captives before they were quite on their guard or realized what was happening. Pan Andrew's guard himself did not have time to carry out the leader's command—he was, in fact, made prisoner as he was upon the point of delivering a death blow.

While they were binding the last prisoner's arms, Joseph came running and leaping up the steps and threw himself into his father's embrace.

Father, Father, he shouted excitedly, "it was Elzbietka who did this." His eyes were shining as he thought about it. "Elzbietka-Elzbietka," he kept repeating. "She heard me sound the trumpet in a different fashion from the way I usually sound it, for tonight I did not stop the Heynal upon the broken note, but played several notes more. She ran through the night alone to Jan Kanty's and he aroused the city watch. I just met him at the foot of the stairs, and he told me the whole story."

Bless the girl, said the father, tears rising to his eyes. "And you, my son, how did you get free? I feared—"

The man who was dragging me toward our home heard the watch marching through the street, and when he realized that theywere going toward the church he took himself off like lightning into the darkness, without another thought for me. But Elzbietka is at the scholar's dwelling, in the university building, waiting. I must go to her quickly and tell her all, and thank her that we are alive this night.

Pan Andrew was busy with his own thoughts when the watch finally marched away with their prisoners.

The Great Tarnov Crystal! The Great Tarnov Crystal! That was what the Tartar said he had come for. Was it possible that the man had been telling the truth? For what other reason could he have surprised him thus in the tower? For what other reason the hurried expedition into the town with the boy, Joseph, and the instructions he had left with his men? If it had been revenge alone that the man was seeking, then he and Joseph would never have remained alive until now. But if the man had not obtained the crystal on the night of his attack upon his lodgings, then what in the name of heaven and earth had happened to it on that night, and where was the crystal now?

第十二章　埃爾茲別塔沒聽到中止音

就在這個多事的夜晚剛來臨的時候，一個女孩的身影從煉金術(shù)士克魯茲三樓的房間出來，悄悄地順著樓梯跑到了安德魯先生家所在的二樓。她輕敲了三次門，等了大概一分鐘后，門打開了一點(diǎn)，約瑟夫的母親透過門縫小心地向外瞧著。

“進(jìn)來吧，孩子?！闭J(rèn)出是埃爾茲別塔后，她熱情地說道。

“你怎么這么晚過來了？”安德魯太太把沉重的門閂放回原處，把門鎖好后，問道，“那個學(xué)生特林最近又在麻煩你和你叔叔了嗎？還是有別的事情？先在桌邊坐下吧，我正在做白天剩下的針線活呢，給我講講到底是怎么回事吧?！?/p>

“嗯，”埃爾茲別塔回答說，“都是那個學(xué)生特林。他和我叔叔現(xiàn)在就在閣樓里，我有些害怕——今天晚上，他們的對話比過去更奇怪。”

“今晚你就和我睡吧，”安德魯太太說道，“你叔叔這樣的學(xué)者竟然和特林那樣的人打交道，真不是什么好事。我很怕那個學(xué)生，我感覺他像個返老還童的人，他那雙深黑色的眼睛在看人的時候，好像總是在琢磨著可怕的事情?！?/p>

“我要留在這里，真是太好了，媽媽?！卑柶潉e塔高興地說道，這幾個月的親密相處中，女人和女孩之間的感情就像母女一樣親，“但是，我并不是害怕那個學(xué)生特林，而是我叔叔這幾個禮拜的舉動讓我擔(dān)心，更確切地說，自從有人闖進(jìn)院子偷東西的那天晚上之后，他就像變了一個人似的。”

“我也發(fā)現(xiàn)了，”安德魯太太接著她的話說道，“他對你不好了嗎？”

“哦不！我叔叔一直都對我很好！但他和我們剛來這里的時候完全不一樣了。那時候他總是很快樂，和我說說笑笑，總會帶我出去看看我倆都喜歡的東西。可現(xiàn)在他好像不怎么關(guān)心我了，整天昏昏沉沉的，有時候我和他說話，他就像沒聽見一樣。有時候，他也會回答我的問題，可總是說些我聽不懂的怪話。我真怕他是不是中邪了，被什么邪惡東西給迷惑了?！?/p>

“這肯定和那個特林有關(guān)?！?/p>

“對，我覺得主要就是因為他。他倆天天晚上都一起在上面的閣樓里做實驗。我能聽到他們偶爾走動，但有時候又是一片可怕的寂靜?！?/p>

“我的好孩子，”女人暫時放下手中的針線，“這里永遠(yuǎn)都是你的家。遇上煩心事，你隨時都可以過來……你可以睡那張小床……我們也總是遇到麻煩事，這你也許都知道。自從那個可怕的夜晚之后，安德魯先生也變了。如果用心感受，其實我們已經(jīng)擁有了所有讓人快樂的事情：孩子、愛、食物，還有房子——為什么人總是嘆息，非要追求那些自己沒有的東西呢？”

“我們以前是多么快樂啊，”埃爾茲別塔又接著說道，“我感覺那個特林好像掌握著一些我叔叔難以抵抗的魔力。”

“上帝保佑，”安德魯太太喊出聲來，比畫了一個十字，“那你知道他們在閣樓上干什么嗎？”

“不知道，”女孩聳了聳肩膀，“應(yīng)該是件可怕的事情。他們今晚見面時，說話的方式就很奇怪，讓我很害怕，之后他們的談話比以往任何時候都更加瘋狂。我叔叔一直在說‘這會把我逼瘋的！’然后特林又和他說‘這不會帶來任何傷害，再試一次?！笥质且黄聊?，然后我叔叔還說了一些短促的胡話。嚇得我就跑下來了?！?/p>

“可憐的孩子?！?/p>

“就在我下樓之前，我聽見特林像是對仆人一樣跟我叔叔說話。而我叔叔并沒有生氣，而且似乎還盡力取悅特林。最后特林還說‘你現(xiàn)在必須這么做，你必須要掌握把銅塊變成金子的秘密，只要有了金子，你就有能力做任何事。你可以周游世界，看遍一切，你可以跟隨著名的大師學(xué)習(xí)，能買到所有喜歡的東西?！槐橛忠槐榈刂貜?fù)著‘金子’這個詞。在他說話的時候，我叔叔默不作聲，我感覺他應(yīng)該是在做實驗?！?/p>

安德魯太太搖了搖頭。“我聽說有人嘗試過用賤金屬煉金，但結(jié)果都不好……”說完，她覺得不能再讓埃爾茲別塔思考這些難題了，于是說道，“這幾天約瑟夫和他父親晚上都不在，我常常感到孤獨(dú)。不過，我經(jīng)常會聽教堂塔樓吹號的聲音，那樣就知道他們安然無事?！?/p>

“我也是。約瑟夫兩點(diǎn)的時候開始吹號。我和約瑟夫之間有個秘密，我總是會聽他吹號。”

“天啊，孩子。你是說你每天夜里兩點(diǎn)還醒著嗎？”

“嗯，只要是約瑟夫吹號，我就會聽。他是我最好的朋友，朋友之間應(yīng)該忠誠?！?/p>

“你能聽出約瑟夫和他父親分別在什么時候吹號嗎？”

“一開始的時候，我輕易就能分出來，現(xiàn)在就有些難了，不過，我覺得即使不知道他們分別在什么時候吹號，我也能分辨出來。約瑟夫吹得沒有他父親吹得響亮，不過已經(jīng)吹得越來越像他父親了?！?/p>

她們又談了些其他的事情，一直聊到深夜。最后，安德魯太太在安德魯父子倆搭起的小沙發(fā)上鋪好了床，讓埃爾茲別塔睡在上面。小沙發(fā)離房門不遠(yuǎn)，就放在窗戶下方，窗上掛著簾子，這幾天天氣好，窗戶就一直開著，埃爾茲別塔能清楚地聽到外面的聲音，尤其是教堂的鐘聲和號聲，因為窗戶就正對著塔樓的方向。約瑟夫的母親回到了里面的房間，約瑟在教堂的時候，她就睡在那里。埃爾茲別塔擔(dān)心叔叔會突然來叫她，就沒有脫衣服，直接躺在沙發(fā)上，準(zhǔn)備睡覺。

埃爾茲別塔難以入睡，腦?？偸歉‖F(xiàn)著他叔叔遇到壞事的畫面，那個學(xué)生特林也讓她心神不寧，思緒就如同沸水一般翻滾著。她不斷想起人們的議論，學(xué)生們指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，街頭巷尾的人們都說克魯茲正在研究可怕的黑魔法。

在那個迷信的時代，人們相信邪惡的力量可以附到人的身上，讓人做些黑暗的事情。他們相信死者的靈魂一直都徘徊在某些沒人的地方，回答人們不會解答的問題。要是在路上遇到一只黑貓，就會面臨厄運(yùn)；如果一只貓頭鷹午夜時分盤旋在廢棄教堂的塔頂，那就是有巫師正騎著掃帚或樹枝穿過天空；如果有狗在深夜嚎叫，就暗示附近有人要死了。

還有些人為了個人的利益，故意散布迷信的說法。這些人主要是巫師和魔法師，他們通過給容易上當(dāng)?shù)娜藗兯忝蛘呦麨?zāi)騙取錢財。他們中一些人自以為誠實，但是大部分都是徹頭徹尾的騙子。他們穿著黑袍，用一些見不得人的辦法嚇唬那些迷信的人，讓他們破財免災(zāi)。這些魔法師兜售“符咒”，聲稱可以讓人免受厄運(yùn)。據(jù)說，小黑石球可以讓人不被蛇咬；那種閃電擊中沙灘融化了某些物質(zhì)后所形成的黃色玻璃一樣的物質(zhì)也有很高的價值，說是碾碎了內(nèi)服，能預(yù)防胃病，裝到小包掛到脖子上還能躲避閃電；從貓狗和兔子身上取出的小骨頭也有特殊的功效；還有青蛙的心臟也有神秘的作用等等。

再說煉金術(shù)士克魯茲，很明顯他正在進(jìn)行的工作不僅損壞他的健康，而且損害他的神志。他這樣身體強(qiáng)壯、思維理智的人發(fā)生了如此巨大的變化，肯定是不正常的。埃爾茲別塔躺在那里，思緒萬千，整個人都被紛繁的恐懼所占據(jù)。她擔(dān)心她叔叔已經(jīng)不再是他自己靈魂的主人了，他的靈魂已經(jīng)被特林所控制，特林在他的研究中有所發(fā)現(xiàn)，但為了這些發(fā)現(xiàn)，他利用了那個原本是他老師的人。

她想著想著，一點(diǎn)的號聲已經(jīng)吹響了，但她還是無法入睡。她對叔叔和特林的擔(dān)心變成了天馬行空的想象，她腦海中的人影已經(jīng)扭曲變形，失去了正常的比例。那些生病的人或是心事重重的人，在身體疲憊、昏昏欲睡而大腦卻因為擔(dān)心而高度活躍的時候，就常常出現(xiàn)這種幻覺。她叔叔的樣子剛才還和平常一樣，一會兒就縮成一團(tuán)，一會兒又突然變成龐然大物。那個特林一會兒是個學(xué)院學(xué)生的樣子，一會兒又變成了頂著南瓜頭的怪物，他的身子越變越大，整個天空都被他黑暗的影子所填滿。他們兩個人從事各種壞事：他們從籃子里放出許許多多用舊鞋變出的蝙蝠；他們跳到空中捕捉老鷹之類的大鳥，然后把它們關(guān)在閣樓的屋頂下；他們把冒著泡泡、嘶嘶作響、浮著泡沫的灼熱液體混合起來——他們在同一時間進(jìn)行著上千件事情，所有的事情都是邪惡的。幾乎一個小時了，這些迷糊中出現(xiàn)的幻影一直在埃爾茲別塔的腦海里跳來跳去。突然塔樓上的鐘響了兩次。

“兩點(diǎn)了。”她馬上打起精神，腦海中混亂的幻象一下子煙消云散了。

《海那圣歌》吹響了。這是約瑟夫在吹號呢，她心想著。

她哼著旋律，幾乎一個音符一個音符地跟著約瑟夫的號聲——到了曲子該停的地方，她停了下來，等著約瑟夫從第二扇窗戶吹奏。但是就在下一瞬間，她無比吃驚地意識到，約瑟夫并沒有在《海那圣歌》結(jié)尾處的中止音停止吹奏，而是又多吹了幾個音符，使這首小頌歌以其他音樂一樣的方式結(jié)尾。

埃爾茲別塔挺直身子坐在床上，她覺得這有可能是迷糊的腦袋在和她開玩笑。“或許是因為我還沒有完全清醒，”她心想著，“他吹第二遍的時候我得仔細(xì)聽聽。”

約瑟夫開始從南面的窗口吹奏。這次埃爾茲別塔沒有提前哼出曲子，而是仔細(xì)地跟在每一個音符的后面。曲子結(jié)束后，她意識到第二次約瑟夫也沒有在中止音處停下，而是繼續(xù)吹奏幾個音符，讓《海那圣歌》聽著像一首完整的曲子，而不是中間斷掉的樂章。

“他吹得不對。”埃爾茲別塔自言自語地說著。

接著是朝著東邊吹奏，但是這次風(fēng)把銅號聲吹遠(yuǎn)了。最后的一次號聲在北面的窗口吹響，號聲清晰地傳到埃爾茲別塔的耳邊。“這次我就能確定了?！彼f。

開始的時候，她以為約瑟夫會在中止音處停下，因為號聲在那里猶豫了一下，但之后，號聲繼續(xù)響起，仿佛在說：“我知道應(yīng)該在這里停止，但我不能停?！比缓笥旨由狭藥讉€音符，完成了整首曲子。如果故事中的那個年輕吹號手沒有被韃靼弓箭手射中的話，他就會這樣吹出完整的《海那圣歌》。

埃爾茲別塔跳下床，站了起來……約瑟夫是故意這么吹奏的！他是個稱職的號手，絕不可能三次都犯同樣的錯誤！

可是——這是什么意思呢？約瑟夫遇到了危險嗎？但教堂有警鐘呢，只要敲一下，整個城里的人都會很快醒來。遇到城里起火、外敵入侵、防御以及暴亂、外國國王訪問、戰(zhàn)爭等各種大事的時候，教堂的鐘聲都會響起呀——

約瑟夫絕不是那種把神圣的《海那圣歌》拿來消遣的人——那么，為什么？為什么？為什么他不拉動警鐘呢？

答案只有一個！在《海那圣歌》第一次響起，她聽到第一個吹錯的音符時，埃爾茲別塔就意識到了。這是給她的信號——給她的，埃爾茲別塔·克魯茲！約瑟夫一定遇上某種特殊的、不同尋常的危險了！他指望著她能想起那個他在玩笑間說出的小秘密，他指望她了解到他的處境。這是為什么？或許他被人扣住，身不由己——埃爾茲別塔的直覺已經(jīng)接近事情的真相——或許有人正監(jiān)視著他，讓他無法敲響警鐘。

對！約瑟夫這號聲就是吹給她聽的。

她必須行動，必須得幫助約瑟夫，馬上，立刻！只是，怎樣才是最明智的做法呢？她不能吵醒安德魯太太，那她該不該去叫她叔叔？他還和約翰·特林在閣樓里——閣樓還亮著燈，也沒聽到特林下來的聲音。她知道他們只會笑話她瞎擔(dān)心，然后送她上床休息。于是，她靜靜地離開沙發(fā)，穿過房間，走到門口，拉開門閂，打開了房門。她跨過門口，關(guān)上門后回自己的屋子拿上院門的鑰匙，披了件斗篷。不一會兒，她就到了街上。

凌晨這個時間走在街上，對于沒有武器的男人來說都很危險，更不要說是手無寸鐵的女孩了。因為這正是賭徒、酒鬼、竊賊出沒的時候，城里最為骯臟污穢的東西正潛伏在角落里，等待時機(jī)從背后襲擊路過的人，搶奪錢財。城里也有巡夜衛(wèi)兵，在大批出動打擊那些成群結(jié)伙的竊賊和殺人犯的時候，他們倒是有些作用，可法律僅僅能夠?qū)δ切┞淙敕ňW(wǎng)的人施展威嚴(yán)，大部分違法者還是逍遙法外。所以，在深夜的城市街道上，尤其是這樣晚的時候，人們最好的朋友就是一把利劍或一根棒子。

出了院墻，埃爾茲別塔就開始向她的守護(hù)神——圣女伊麗莎白禱告。在明亮的月光下，她看到此時的鴿子街空蕩蕩的，她背靠著墻根，在墻的陰影下緩緩地走向左手邊的十字街，打算從那里直奔一個街區(qū)之外的圣安街。她剛從扶壁的保護(hù)下走出來，正站在街角，這時從她身后的鴿子街傳來了男人的聲音。她不敢回頭看，徑直繞過街角沖進(jìn)了十字街，順著粗糙鵝卵石鋪就的地面奔跑起來。

不過，還是有人看見了她。她聽到一個聲音喊道：“誰在那里？”接著，就是一陣追她的腳步聲。

“一個女的，我敢打賭?！彼蚯皼_的時候聽到后面人這么說。月亮仿佛就掛在十字街的正上方，照得房屋連影子也沒有。追她的人已經(jīng)從鴿子街轉(zhuǎn)了過來，大步流星地在后面追趕。

這時候，她的腦海里想到了韃靼人和紐扣臉彼得，不過跟著她的人并不是這種暴徒，這幾個人只不過是幫穿著破衣爛衫的乞丐、小賊或者混混，目的只是向路人要些小錢買酒喝，或是能找個舒服的地方睡一覺。埃爾茲別塔這樣年紀(jì)的女孩正是他們尋找的對象，因為搶劫她不用擔(dān)心受傷，而且她的衣服或者包袱也許還能給他們換點(diǎn)錢花花。

“停下！停下！我們是朋友，”緊跟在她后面的人喊道，“我們不會在這時候傷害女人的！聽著，你到哪里，我們就跟你到哪里。”但這人說話的聲調(diào)，只令埃爾茲別塔跑得更快。

終于她右轉(zhuǎn)跑到了圣安街，后面的男人還緊追不舍。她現(xiàn)在唯一的希望就是揚(yáng)·康迪能趕快開門，如果她不能馬上躲進(jìn)屋里，后面的人就追上來了。

好在尋求揚(yáng)·康迪幫助的人從來不用等太久。他一晚上都在忙著寫作，如果沒有在幫助遇到生活困難的靈魂，他就筆耕不輟——后來證明，他的這些作品在他死后對克拉科夫大學(xué)和整個文化界都具有不可估量的影響。因此，門鈴聲響起后，他停下寫作，幾步就到了門口。他剛打開門，女孩就從他身邊沖了進(jìn)去。

“是我，埃爾茲別塔·克魯茲，”她說，“神父，我來這里，是因為有件事需要立刻行動，就是現(xiàn)在！不過你得先關(guān)上門，有人在追我。”

揚(yáng)·康迪關(guān)上了門，即便因為看到女孩大半夜飛奔幾條街來找自己而感到驚訝，他也沒有表現(xiàn)出來，說實話，他已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了各種突如其來的怪事。甚至在那些可憐的乞丐追到他家門口，好奇他們所追逐的人怎么就不見了的時候，他也有心出去和他們談?wù)?，再給他們些錢，因為他知道，這些人做出這種極端的事情，無非是因為貧窮和饑餓。不過，他意識到女孩的困境需要他立刻伸出援手，就關(guān)上了房門，把她帶到書房。

“發(fā)生什么了，孩子？是不是又有強(qiáng)盜闖進(jìn)你家了？難道是你叔叔遇到困難了？我覺得是這樣的事情?！?/p>

女孩盡自己最大努力，把故事講了出來，因為她一路奔跑，心里又擔(dān)心約瑟夫，說起話來氣喘吁吁的。但愿神父不會笑話她！不要認(rèn)為她在胡思亂想。不過，令人尊敬的神父沒有半點(diǎn)嘲笑的意思。

“你說得對，”她剛說完，揚(yáng)·康迪就精神振奮地說道，“時間不等人。約瑟夫一定是遇到大危險了，希望上帝能幫他渡過難關(guān)。孩子，你待在這里，這里很安全。我馬上派大學(xué)的仆役去喊衛(wèi)兵，然后親自和他們?nèi)ニ强纯础？峙率浅鍪铝恕！?/p>

幾分鐘之后，三十個全副武裝的衛(wèi)兵就朝著教堂的方向進(jìn)軍了。他們首先發(fā)現(xiàn)了被死死綁在墓地的教堂守門人，解救他之后，他們通過沒有上鎖的樓門，小心謹(jǐn)慎地登上了塔樓。

與此同時，塔樓上的哥薩克團(tuán)伙已經(jīng)開始對這次獵奇產(chǎn)生厭倦。起初，這個攻擊空中教堂塔樓的主意激起了他們的好奇心和冒險欲，因為他們從來沒有進(jìn)行過這種進(jìn)攻。所以，晚上早些時候，彼得叫十個人自愿跟他進(jìn)入教堂的時候，沒有人不爭先恐后的。

然而，沒想到這個任務(wù)竟然如此簡單，對于這些嗜血狂徒來說毫無吸引力。事實上，彼得的計劃是如此周密，這高聳的根據(jù)地是如此安全，但等待老大回來的過程是如此無聊，以至于在這凌晨時分，他們一個個都昏昏欲睡，除了一個人站在那里看守安德魯，其他人都懶洋洋地癱在地上，有的已經(jīng)開始打盹。

所以，當(dāng)一隊衛(wèi)兵悄無聲息地爬到塔頂時，這些暴徒都大吃一驚。他們還沒來得及反抗，甚至沒有意識到發(fā)生了什么，就成了俘虜。而那個看守安德魯?shù)娜烁緵]有時間執(zhí)行老大布置的命令——他剛剛準(zhǔn)備了結(jié)安德魯?shù)臅r候，就淪為了階下囚。

當(dāng)衛(wèi)兵正在捆綁最后一名罪犯的