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A Royal Engineer in the Low Countries

A Cavalry Surgeon at Waterloo

With the Third Guards during the Peninsular War

The First and Last Campaigns of the Great War

Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Vincent O'Sullivan

Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Algernon Blackwood

Narratives of the Anglo-Zulu War

and many others

The Complete Dr Nikola—Man of Mystery

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The Complete Dr Nikola—Man of Mystery
Leonaur Original
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Author(s): Guy Boothby
Date Published: 2009/03
Page Count: 416
Softcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-617-5
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-618-2

The first volume of the complete adventures of Dr.Nikola

The dark, intense visage of Dr.Nikola is a clear indication of the nature of the man. This is a highly intellectual being whose life and studies have taken him far beyond the limits of conventional academia or the laws of normal society. This is a driven man, ruthless, dangerous, mysterious and a delver into mysteries—obsessed with discovering the secret of eternal life for himself. His own objectives govern all and sudden death is no stranger. Guy Boothby's Dr.Nikola adventures continue to fascinate readers and enthusiasts of crime and mystery fiction because—in the manner of Raffles, the gentleman cracksman—here is character far removed from the uncompromising goodness of Holmes and Watson or the uncompromising evil of Professor Moriarty. Nikola is a complex personality—an anti-hero to continually surprise us, to dislike, fear, intrigue and admire by turns. Leonaur have brought the complete Dr.Nikola stories together in two complementing volumes available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket. The two books in this first volume are A Bid for Fortune & Dr Nikola Returns.

“Of all the filthy places I have ever seen—and I have had the ill-luck to discover a good many in my time—that one eclipsed them all. The room was at most ten feet long by seven wide, had a window at the far end, and the door, through which I had entered, opposite it. The bed-place was stretched between the door and the window, and was a horrible exhibition. On it, propped up by pillows and evidently in the last stage of collapse, was the man called China Pete, whom I had last seen walking out of the dock at the Supreme Court a couple of months before. When we were alone together he pointed to a box near the bed and signified that I should seat myself. I did so, at the same time taking occasion to express my sorrow at finding him in this lamentable condition. He made no reply to my civilities, but after a little pause found strength enough to whisper, ‘See if there’s anybody at the door.’ I went across, opened the door and looked into the passage, but save the boy, who was now sitting on the top step of the stairs at the other end, there was not a soul in sight. I told him this and having again closed the door, sat down on the box and waited for him to speak.<br>
“‘You did me a good turn, Mr Wetherell, over that trial,’ the invalid said at last, ‘and I couldn’t make it worth your while.’<br>
“‘Oh, you mustn’t let that worry you,’ I answered soothingly. ‘You would have paid me if you had been able.’<br>
“‘Perhaps I should, perhaps I shouldn’t, anyhow I didn’t, and I want to make it up to you now. Feel under my pillow and bring out what you find there.’<br>
“I did as he directed me and brought to light a queer little wooden stick about three and a half inches long, made of some heavy timber and covered all over with Chinese inscriptions; at one end was a tiny bit of heavy gold cord much tarnished. I gave it to him and he looked at it fondly.<br>
“‘Do you know the value of this little stick?’ he asked after a while.<br>
“‘I have no possible notion,’ I replied.<br>
“‘Make a guess,’ he said.<br>
“To humour him I guessed five pounds. He laughed with scorn.<br>
“‘Five pounds! O ye gods! Why, as a bit of stick it’s not worth five pence, but for what it really is there is not money enough in the world to purchase it. If I could get about again I would make myself the richest and most powerful man on earth with it. If you could only guess one particle of the dangers I’ve been through to get it you would die of astonishment. And the sarcasm of it all is that now I’ve got it I can’t make use of it. On six different occasions the priests of the Llamaserai in Peking have tried to murder me to get hold of it. I brought it down from the centre of China disguised as a wandering beggar. That business connected with the murder of the Chinaman on board the ship, against which you defended me, was on account of it. And now I lie here dying like a dog, with the key to over ten millions in my hand. Nikola has tried for five years to obtain it, without success however. He little dreams I’ve got it after all. If he did I’d be a dead man by this time.’<br>
“‘Who is this Nikola then?’ I asked.<br>
“‘Dr Nikola? Well, he’s Nikola, and that’s all I can tell you. If you’re a wise man you’ll want to know no more. Ask the Chinese mothers nursing their almond-eyed spawn in Peking who he is; ask the Japanese, ask the Malays, the Hindus, the Burmese, the coal porters in Port Said, the Buddhist priests of Ceylon; ask the King of Corea, the men up in Tibet, the Spanish priests in Manilla, or the Sultan of Borneo, the ministers of Siam, or the French in Saigon—they’ll all know Dr Nikola and his cat, and, take my word for it, they fear him.’<br>
“I looked at the little stick in my hand and wondered if the man had gone mad.<br>
“‘What do you wish me to do with this?’ I asked.<br>
“‘Take it away with you,’ he answered, ‘and guard it like your life, and when you have occasion, use it. Remember you have in your hand what will raise a million men and the equivalent of over ten mil—’<br>
“At this point a violent fit of coughing seized him and nearly tore him to pieces. I lifted him up a little in the bed, but before I could take my hands away a stream of blood had gushed from his lips. Like a flash of thought I ran to the door to call the girl, the boy on the stairs re-echoed my shout, and in less time than it takes to tell the woman was in the room. But we were too late—China Pete was dead.