We were moving cautiously along within sight of the river when Nalte suddenly touched my arm and pointed toward the opposite bank, at the same time dragging me down behind a shrub.
Just opposite us a corpse had washed ashore; and a short distance below, two others. They were our pursuers. As we watched, they slowly crawled to their feet; then the one we had first seen called to the others, who presently joined him. The three corpses talked together, pointing and gesticulating. It was horrible. I felt my skin creep.
What would they do? Would they continue the search or would they return to the castle? If the former, they would have to cross the river; and they must already have learned that there was little likelihood of their being able to do that. But that was attributing to dead brains the power to reason! It seemed incredible. I asked Nalte what she thought about it.
"It is a mystery to me," she replied. "They converse, and they appear to reason. At first I thought they were motivated through the hypnotic influence of Skor's mind solely—that they thought his thoughts, as it were; but they take independent action when Skor is away, as you have seen them do to-day, which refutes that theory. Skor says that they do reason. He has stimulated their nervous systems into the semblance of life, though no blood flows in their veins; but the past experiences of their lives before they died are less potent in influencing their judgments than the new system of conduct and ethics that Skor has instilled into their dead brains. He admits that the specimens he has at the castle are very dull; but that, he insists, is because they were dull people in life."
The dead men conversed for some time and then started slowly up river in the direction of the castle, and it was with a sigh of relief that we saw them disappear.
"Now we must try to find a good place to cross," I said. "I wish to search the other side for some sign of Duare. She must have left footprints in the soft earth."
"There is a ford somewhere down river," said Nalte. "When Skor captured me we crossed it on our way to the castle. I do not know just where it is, but it cannot be far."
We had descended the river some two miles from the point at which we had seen the dead man emerge upon the opposite bank, without seeing any sign of a crossing, when I heard faintly a familiar cackling that seemed to come from across the river and farther down.
"Do you hear that?" I asked Nalte.