Ground of inquiry.

MINA HARKER'S MEMORANDUM

(ENTERED IN HER JOURNAL)

Ground of inquiry.--Count Dracula's problem is to get back to his own place.

(a)

He must be brought back by some one. This is evident. For had he power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, or bat, or in some other way. He evidently fears discovery or interference, in the state of helplessness in which he must be, confined as he is between dawn and sunset in his wooden box.

(b)

How is he to be taken?--Here a process of exclusions may help us. By road, by rail, by water?

1. By Road.--There are endless difficulties, especially in leaving the city.

(x)

There are people. And people are curious, and investigate. A hint, a surmise, a doubt as to what might be in the box, would destroy him.

(y)

There are, or there may be, customs and octroi officers to pass.

(z)

His pursuers might follow. This is his highest fear. And in order to prevent his being betrayed he has repelled, so far as he can, even his victim, me!

2.

By Rail.--There is no one in charge of the box. It would have to take its chance of being delayed, and delay would be fatal, with enemies on the track. True, he might escape at night. But what would he be, if left in a strange place with no refuge that he could fly to? This is not what he intends, and he does not mean to risk it.

3.

By Water.--Here is the safest way, in one respect, but with most danger in another. On the water he is powerless except at night. Even then he can only summon fog and storm and snow and his wolves. But were he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless, and he would indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land, but if it were unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would still be desperate.

We know from the record that he was on the water, so what we have to do is to ascertain what water.

The first thing is to realize exactly what he has done as yet. We may, then, get a light on what his task is to be.

Firstly.--We must differentiate between what he did in London as part of his general plan of action, when he was pressed for moments and had to arrange as best he could.

Secondly we must see, as well as we can surmise it from the facts we know of, what he has done here.

As to the first, he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of exit from England. His immediate and sole purpose then was to escape. The proof of this, is the letter of instructions sent ot Immanuel Hildesheim to clear and take away the box before sunrise. There is also the instruction to Petrof Skinsky. These we must only guess at, but there must have been some letter or message, since Skinsky came to Hildesheim.

That, so far, his plans were successful we know. The Czarina Catherine made a phenomenally quick journey. So much so that Captain Donelson's suspicions were aroused. But his superstition united with his canniness played the Count's game for him, and he ran with his favoring 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.

Comments

[Most Significant]

There are so many errors and misleading statements in Mina's "memorandum" that it really demands examination. There are two main possibilities: 1) it is a deliberate piece of disinformation and misdirection, either by the Count acting through Mina or by Mina herself; 2) Mina is befuddled, due to fatigue, stress, or some lingering ill-affects of the Count's influence.

"(a) He must be brought back by some one. This is evident. For had he power to move himself as he wished he could go either as man, or wolf, or bat, or in some other way."

Mina has apparently forgotten that the Count travelled from Whitby to London by rail (17 August). He also helped his hired labourer to load boxes at Carfax and to unload them at the Piccadilly house, which both startled and alarmed Van Helsing (Jonathan, 2 October; Seward, 3 October). Mina herself saw the Count leave Carfax in the daytime, and sent a telegram to the Piccadilly house (Jonathan, 3 October). He wasn't carted from Purfleet to Piccadilly in a box, so why does Mina now assert that he can only be carried by someone else? Is she confused by the fact that he cannot go more than a day's travel without his home soil to rest in? Or by Van Helsing's repeated assertion that he must be carried across running water?

[Most Significant]

"On the water...were he wrecked, the living water would engulf him, helpless, and he would indeed be lost. He could have the vessel drive to land, but if it were unfriendly land, wherein he was not free to move, his position would still be desperate."

In short, all three options that Mina lists--road, rail, and river--have serious drawbacks. However, Mina reported hearing swirling water and creaking wood when in trance, which strongly suggests a river boat.

[Most Significant]

“In my husband’s diary, Skinsky is mentioned as dealing with the Slovaks who trade down the river to the port…”

Klinger (470 n30) states "there is no mention of Skinsky in the portions of Harker's journal reproduced in the narrative". However, Mina has just read Jonathan’s journal for the previous day, which mentions a “certain Petrof Skinsky, who dealt with the Slovaks who traded down the river to the port.” This is the diary entry that she is referring to, not his much earlier Castle Dracula journal entries.

[Most Significant]

"...he evidently intended to arrive at Galatz, and sent invoice to Varna to deceive us lest we should ascertain his means of exit from England."

Or he made plans for both contingencies, Varna and Galatz, to better evade any pursuers.

[Most Significant]

"And the man’s remark, that the murder was the work of a Slovak, showed the general feeling against his class."

Not necessarily. The woman (not man—another indication that Mina’s usual attention to detail has slipped) may have known that Skinsky was in trouble with one or more Slovaks. When the Count paid him, he could have used that money to settle up with his landlord and leave Galatz until things cooled off. Otherwise, pay off the landlord and return his key? Van Helsing and the others are placing a lot of trust in a second- or third-hand report. Since they never saw the body, they don't know if the dead man was really Skinsky, or if the throat was actually torn open by an animal or just slashed with a knife.

Why would the Count pay Skinsky, then kill him after he had had time to send a messenger paying his landlord and returning the key? If the Count was covering his tracks, surely he would have hidden Skinsky's body, and killed Hildesheim too?