"This side would be safer to fall from," said d.i.c.k. "On yours it"s the down-line rails. Tails up, dear! In three minutes it"ll be over or off.
Don"t shoot--only show you"re heeled, and look fierce."
He reached for the oily cloth in the rack. Catching her fascinated eyes fixed on him:
"Watch the window, will you," he snapped; and a sting of indignation at being so addressed gave Amaryllis the stimulant she needed.
It should be obedience now, but a royal exhibition of displeasure afterwards!
So, with the mouth and eyes of a G.o.ddess incensed, Amaryllis watched, in lofty silence, her rectangle of sunlight.
But from the preparations of d.i.c.k Bellamy dignity was altogether absent.
From the dirty cloth he unwrapped Mut-mut"s baag-nouk, slipped his right hand into its straps and rings, and sank to his knees on the floor of the carriage, facing the door and its open, unblinded window.
Leaning to his right, he lifted the corner blind away, bringing his left cheek against the gla.s.s; and from this spy-hole kept that eye on the point where the door of the next compartment should just show itself, were it opened at right-angles to the train in letting a man creep out upon the footboard.
And then, as he waited, came a dreadful thought: the door on this side of the compartment, the train running on the left-hand track, was hinged, of course, upon its forward jamb, and must therefore be pa.s.sed, by one creeping from the direction of the engine, before it could be opened so as to give entrance. On the other side the position was reversed.
Might not this advantage of the door defended only by the girl have been noted by the men on the other side of that part.i.tion?
And she? Her back was to the engine and her corner blind pulled down.
She would see nothing till her door began to open; and even had she nerve for killing, she could not shoot; for, in pity of her white hands, he had fixed the safety-catch of Melchard"s gun.
He pictured the moment"s wavering, and a struggle, ending, perhaps, in a double fall from the train.
While still his eye was steady at the loophole, his mind reached the decision to change his dispositions. But before he could move to rise the black, upright line of the enemy"s door swung slowly into his field of vision. His position at the window gave him a bare inch to see it in, but the sight lifted his fighting soul into the heaven of certain success.
Still watching, he saw that the door"s edge remained steady, fixed, he argued, by the hand of the man that watched his companion, too low for d.i.c.k"s line of sight, handing himself along by the bra.s.s rail, nearer and nearer.
While that door was held, Amaryllis was safe.
d.i.c.k sank back upon his haunches, bowing his bare head to bring it below the level of the open window.
There followed a stillness of waiting--stillness wrapped in the roar of the train.
A brushing sound on the door"s window-ledge!
Throwing his head backwards, d.i.c.k saw, without raising his head, thick, dirty fingers on the split sill.
Lightly he touched them with his left hand. A head came in sight, rising diagonally across the frame it entered; and as it rose, so rose d.i.c.k"s right hand, showing the steel blades of the Tiger"s Claw.
The white face was jerked backward, the black-nailed fingers lost hold, and with a choked scream the whole body fell outward from the train, describing a curve towards the rear which just carried it free of the ballast, to land sideways on the turf of the slope, and roll.
The bank was high and steep, and the body was still rolling, when d.i.c.k turned his head to the sound of a door closing. His remaining enemy had shut himself in.
"Got "em both," he said, facing Amaryllis, and dropping his greasy parcel once more in the rack.
"What"s happened? Oh, that horrid scream!" she said, shaking.
"Your brave villain"s taken a toss, darling," said d.i.c.k, sitting with an arm round her. "And the white-livered accomplice is dithering with funk in there." And he thumped the cushion of the part.i.tion. "We shall pull up at Todsmoor in a few minutes. Let"s compose ourselves. You must be asleep in your corner----"
He broke off, eyeing her face keenly; then finished his sentence tenderly with an "if you please, my dear."
The girl blushed gloriously.
"I hurt its tender feelings, didn"t I, when I barked?"
"Yes--for a moment. But it--it made me so angry, d.i.c.k, that I forgot to be frightened. You"re so clever! I believe you did it on purpose for that." And, when he smiled at her, "I won"t forgive you, then," she murmured. "I"ll just say thank you instead."
She kissed him.
There came a groan and a heavy sigh from Melchard.
"No, he"s not awake, nor near it," said d.i.c.k, when he had examined his patient. "But I"d better give him another dose. There"s going to be fun at Todsmoor, and I don"t want any Millsborough back-talk mixed up with it. Look out of that window while I physic him. It"s not nice to watch."
It was nasty enough to hear, thought Amaryllis.
By the time it was over the train was slowing down. Before it stopped d.i.c.k was out on the platform, and in two strides had caught the guard.
"There"s been an accident. Man fell out of this carriage--next to mine,"
he said, in a low voice, speaking now in the a.s.sured tones of a gentleman accustomed to obedience. "Don"t make a fuss. Fetch the station-master."
The bearded autocrat hesitated, eyeing this strange figure with the "officer"s sw.a.n.k," as he called it afterwards.
"I advise you to hurry," said d.i.c.k, his eyes opening a little wider.
The autocrat took the advice, and returned with another.
d.i.c.k was standing with his hand on the door of the compartment with one traveller--the remaining motor-cyclist.
"Look here, station-master," he said, beginning before the man could open his mouth; "I don"t want to leave you with a nasty job like this on your hands, without telling you what I know. I am Major Richard Bellamy of the R.A.F. Never mind my clothes. Take it I"ve been celebrating. At Harthborough I got into the next compartment with a lady, and a man I have befriended. I am looking after him. He"ll be all right to-morrow.
Just as we left--the train had actually started--two fellows in overalls jumped into _this_ compartment. Half-way between this and Harthborough we heard a row going on--the lady and I. It got worse and worse, and I looked out of the window just in time to see one of the pair fall out backwards."
Here d.i.c.k looked at his watch.
"Twelve minutes ago, it was. I took the time then. He hit the gra.s.s bank and rolled. Shouldn"t wonder if he"s all right. Probably alive, anyhow."
"Why didn"t you pull the communication cord?" asked the station-master, pompously stern.
Now d.i.c.k had forgotten the communication cord. But it would have been impossible for him to forget a few things he had once learned about railways.
He glanced at the guard, and found uneasiness in his eye.
"It"s a slip carriage," he said, smiling, tolerantly superior. "Was the connection made?" he asked, looking hard in the guard"s face.
The man flushed an awkward red. "No," he said. ""Tain"t worth the trouble for the little bit of a journey before we slip her."
"H"m!" said the station-master.