"G.o.d forgive me!" prayed the ex-navy man as his arm whipped up.
There were two quick reports. At the second, Veltman stopped, half turned, threw his arms widely outward, and vanished in a blinding glare, accompanied by a gigantic _snap!_ as if a mountain of rock had been riven in twain.
To Hal it seemed that the universe had disintegrated in that concussion. Blackness surrounded him. He was on the floor, half crouching, and, to his surprise, unhurt. Groping his way to the window he leaned out above an appalling silence. It endured only a moment. Then rose the terrible clamor of a mob in panic-stricken flight, above an insistent undertone of groans, sobs, and prayers.
"I had to kill him," muttered Dr. Elliot"s shaking voice at Hal"s ear.
"There was just the one chance before he could throw his bomb."
Every light in the building had gone out. Guiding himself by the light of matches, Hal hurried across to his den. He heard Esme"s voice before he could make her out, standing near the door. "Is any one hurt?"
Hal breathed a great sigh. "You"re all right, then! We don"t know how bad it is."
"An explosion?"
"Veltman threw a bomb. He"s killed."
"Boy-ee!" called Dr. Surtaine.
"Here, Dad. You"re safe?"
"Yes."
"Thank G.o.d! Careful with that match! The place is strewn with papers."
Men from below came hurrying in with candles, which are part of every newspaper"s emergency equipment. They reported no serious injuries to the staff or the equipment. Although the plate-gla.s.s window had been shattered into a million fragments and the inner fortification toppled over, the precious press had miraculously escaped injury. But in a strewn circle, outside, lay rent corpses, and the wounded pitifully striving to crawl from that shambles.
With the steadiness which comes to nerves racked to the point of collapse, Hal made the rounds of the building. Two men in the pressroom were slightly hurt. Their fellows would look after them. Wayne, with his men, was already in the street, combining professional duty with first aid. The scattered and stricken mob had begun to sift back, only a subdued and curious crowd now. Then came the ambulances and the belated police, systematizing the work.
Quarter of an hour had pa.s.sed when Dr. Surtaine, Esme Elliot, her uncle--much surprised at finding her there--and Hal stood in the editorial office, hardly able yet to get their bearings.
"I shall give myself up to the authorities," decided Dr. Elliot. He was deadly pale, but of unshaken nerve.
"Why?" cried Hal. "It was no fault of yours."
"Rules of the game. Well, young man, you have a paper to get out for to-morrow, though the heavens fall. Good-night."
Hal gripped at his hand. "I don"t know how to thank you--" he began.
"Don"t try, then," was the gruff retort. "Where"s Mac?"
He turned to McGuire Ellis"s desk to bid that st.u.r.dy toiler good-night.
There, dimly seen through the flickering candlelight, the undisputed Short-Distance Slumber Champion of the World sat, his head on his arms, in his familiar and favorite att.i.tude of s.n.a.t.c.hing a few moments"
respite from a laborious existence.
"Will you _look_ at _that!_" cried the physician in utmost amazement.
At the sight a wild surge of mirth overwhelmed Hal"s hair-trigger nerves. He began to laugh, with strange, quick catchings of the breath: to laugh tumultuously, rackingly, unendurably.
"Stop it!" shouted Dr. Elliot, and smote him a sledge-blow between the shoulders.
For the moment the hysteria was jarred out of Hal. He gasped, gurgled, and took a step toward his a.s.sistant.
"Hey, Mac! Wake up! You"ve spilled your ink."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "DON"T GO NEAR HIM. DON"T LOOK"]
Before he could speak or move further, Esme Elliot"s arms were about him. Her face was close to his. He could feel the strong pressure of her breast against him as she forced him back.
"No, no!" she was pleading, in a swift half-whisper. "Don"t go near him.
Don"t look. _Please_ don"t. Come away."
He set her aside. A candlelight flared high. From Ellis"s desk trickled a little stream. Dr. Elliot was already bending over the slackened form.
"So it wasn"t ink," said Hal slowly. "Is he dead, Dr. Elliot?"
"No," snapped the other. "Esme, bandages! Quick! Your petticoat! That"ll do. Get another candle. Dr. Surtaine, help me lift him. There! Surtaine, bring water. _Do you hear?_ Hurry!"
When Hal returned, uncle and niece were working with silent deftness over Ellis, who lay on the floor. The wounded man opened his eyes upon his employer"s agonized face.
"Did he get the press?" he gasped.
"Keep quiet," ordered the Doctor. "Don"t speak."
"Did he get the press?" insisted Ellis obstinately.
"Mac! Mac!" half sobbed Hal, bending over him. "I thought you were dead." And his tears fell on the blood-streaked face.
"Don"t be young," growled Ellis faintly. "Did--he--get--the--press?"
"No."
The wounded man"s eyes closed. "All right," he murmured.
Up to the time that the ambulance surgeons came to carry Ellis away, Dr.
Elliot was too busy with him even to be questioned. Only after the still burden had pa.s.sed through the door did he turn to Hal.
"A piece of metal carried away half the back of his neck," he said. "And we let him sit there, bleeding his life away!"
"Is there any chance?" demanded Hal.
"I doubt if they"ll get him to the hospital alive."
"The best man in Worthington!" said Hal pa.s.sionately. "Oh!" He shook his clenched fists at the outer darkness. "I"ll make somebody pay for this."
Esme"s hand fell upon his arm. "Do you want me to stay?" she asked.
"No. You must go home. It"s been a terrible thing for you."