Henson took his weary way in the direction of Brighton. He had but a few pounds he could call his own, and not nearly enough to get away from the country, and at any moment he might be arrested. He was afraid to go back to his lodgings for fear of Merritt. That Merritt would kill him if he got the chance he felt certain. And Merritt was one of those dogged, patient types who can wait any time for the gratification of their vengeance.
Merritt was pretty certain to be hanging about for his opportunity. On the whole the best thing would be to walk straight to the Central Brighton Station and take the first train in the morning to town. There he could see Gates--who as yet knew nothing--and from him it would be possible to borrow a hundred or two, and then get away. And there were others besides Gates.
Henson trudged away for a mile or so over the downs. Then he came down from the summit of the castle he was building with a rude shock to earth again. A shadow seemed to rise from the ground, a heavy clutch was on his shoulder, and a hoa.r.s.e voice was in his ear.
"Got you!" the voice said. "I knew they"d kick you out yonder, and I guessed you"d sneak home across the downs. And I"ve fairly copped you!"
Henson"s knees knocked together. Physically he was a far stronger and bigger man than Merritt, but he was taken unawares, and his nerves had been sadly shaken of late.
Merritt forced him backwards until he lay on the turf with his antagonist kneeling on his chest. He dared not struggle, he dared not exert himself.
Presently he might get a chance, and if he did it would go hard with James Merritt.
"What are you going to do?" he gasped.
Merritt drew a big, jagged stone towards him with one foot.
"I"m going to bash your brains out with this," he said, hoa.r.s.ely. His eyes were gleaming, and in the dim light his mouth was set like a steel trap. "I"m going to have a little chat with you first, and then down this comes on the top of your skull, and it"ll smash you like a bloomin"
eggsh.e.l.l. Your time"s come, Henson. Say your prayers."
"I can"t," Henson whined. "And what have I done?"
Merritt rocked heavily on the other"s breastbone, almost stifling him.
"Wot?" he said, scoffingly. The pleasing mixture of gin and fog in his throat rendered him more hideously hoa.r.s.e than usual. "Not make up a prayer! And you a regular dab at all that game! Why, I"ve seen the women snivellin" like babies when you"ve been ladlin" it out. Heavens, what a chap you would be on the patter! How you would kid the chaplain!"
"Merritt, you"re crushing the life out of me."
Merritt ceased his rocking for a moment, and the laughter died out of his gleaming eyes.
"I don"t want to be prematoor," he said. "Yes, you"d make a lovely chaplain"s pet, but I can"t spare you. I"m going to smash that "ere wily brain of yours, so as it won"t be useful any more. I"ll teach you to put the narks on to a poor chap like myself."
"Merritt, I swear to you that I never--"
"You can swear till you"re black in the face, and you can keep on swearing till you"re lily-white again, and then it won"t be any good. You gave me away to Taylor because you were afraid I should do you harm at Littimer Castle. That Daisy Bell of a girl there told me so."
Henson groaned. It was not the least part of his humiliation that a mere girl got the better of him in this way. And what on earth had she known of Reuben Taylor? But the fact remained that she had known, and that she had warned Merritt of his danger. It was the one unpardonable crime in Henson"s decalogue, the one thing Merritt could not forgive.
Henson"s time was come. He did not need anyone to tell him that. Unless something in the nature of a miracle happened, he was a dead man in a few moments; and life had never seemed quite so sweet as it tasted at the present time.
"You gave me away for no reason at all," Merritt went on. "I"m a pretty bad lot, but I never rounded on a pal yet, and never shall. More than one of them have served me bad, but I always let them go their own way, and I"ve been a good and faithful servant to you--"
"It was not you," Henson gurgled, "that I wrote that letter about, but--"
"Chuck it," Merritt said, furiously. "Tell me any more of your lies and I"ll smash your jaw in for you. It _was_ me. I spotted Scotter in Moreton Wells within a day or two. And Mr. Scotter had come for me. And I got past Bronson in Brighton by the skin of my teeth. I turned into your lodgings under his very eyes almost. Before this time to-morrow I shall be arrested. But I"m going to have my vengeance first."
The last words came with intense deliberation. There was no mistaking their significance. Henson deemed it wise to try another tack.
"I was wrong," he said, humbly. "I am very, very sorry; I lost my nerve and got frightened, Merritt. But there is time yet. You always make more money with me than with anybody else. And I"m going abroad presently."
"Oh, you"re going abroad, are you?" Merritt said, slowly. "Going to travel in a Pullman car and put up at all the Courts of Europe. And I"m coming as chief secretary to the Grand Panjandrum himself. Sound an alluring kind of programme."
"I"ll give you a hundred pounds to get away with if you will--"
"Got a hundred pounds of my own in my pocket at the present moment," was the unexpected reply. "As you gave me away, consequently I gave you away to his lordship, and he planked down a hundred canaries like the swell that he is. So I don"t want your company or your money. And I"m going to finish you right away."
The big stone was poised over Henson"s head. He could see the jagged part, and in imagination feel it go smashing into his brain. The time for action had come. He s.n.a.t.c.hed at Merritt"s right arm and drew the knotted fingers down. The next instant and he had bitten Merritt"s thumb to the bone. With a cry of rage and pain the stone was dropped. Henson s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and fairly lifted Merritt off his chest with a blow under the chin.
Merritt rolled over on the gra.s.s, and Henson was on his feet in an instant. The great stone went down perilously near to Merritt"s head.
Still snarling and frothing from the pain Merritt stumbled to his feet and dashed a blow blindly at the other.
In point of size and strength there was only one in it. Had Henson stood up to his opponent on equal terms there could only have been one issue.
But his nerves were shattered, he was nothing like the man he had been two months ago. At the first onslaught he turned and fled towards the town, leaving Merritt standing there in blank amazement.
"Frightened of me," he muttered. "But this ain"t the way it"s going to finish."
He darted off in hot pursuit; he raced across a rising shoulder of the hill and cut off Henson"s retreat. The latter turned and scurried back in the direction of Long-dean Grange, with Merritt hot on his heels. He could not shake the latter off.
Merritt was plodding doggedly on, pretty sure of his game. He was hard as nails, whereas good living and a deal of drinking, quite in a gentlemanly way, had told heavily on Henson. Unless help came unexpectedly Henson was still in dire peril. There was just a chance that a villager might be about; but Longdean was more or less a primitive place, and most of the houses there had been in darkness for hours.
His foot slipped, he stumbled, and Merritt, with a whoop of triumph, was nearly upon him. But it was only a stagger, and he was soon going again.
Still, Merritt was close behind him; Henson could almost feel his hot breath on his neck. And he was breathing heavily and distressfully himself, whilst he could hear how steadily Merritt"s lungs were working.
He could see the lights of Longdean Grange below him; but they seemed a long way off, whilst that steady pursuit behind had something relentless and nerve-destroying about it.
They were pounding through the village now. Henson gave vent to one cry of distress, but nothing came of it but the mocking echo of his own voice from a distant belt of trees. Merritt shot out a short, sneering laugh.
He had not expected flagrant cowardice like this. He made a sudden spurt forward and caught Henson by the tail of his coat.
With a howl of fear the latter tore himself away, and Merritt reeled backwards. He came down heavily over a big stone, and at the same moment Henson trod on a hedge-stake. He grabbed it up and half turned upon his foe. But the sight of Merritt"s grim face was too much for him, and he turned and resumed his flight once more.
He yelled again as he reached the lodge-gates, but the only response was the barking and howling of the dogs in the thick underwood beyond. There was no help for it. Doubtless the deaf old lodge-keeper had been in bed hours ago. Even the dogs were preferable to Merritt. Henson scrambled headlong over the wall and crashed through the thickets beyond.
Merritt pulled up, panting with his exertion.
"Gone to cover," he muttered. "I don"t fancy I"ll follow. The dogs there might have a weakness for tearing my throat out and Henson will keep, I"ll just hang about here till daylight and wait for my gentleman. And I"ll follow him to the end of the earth."
Meanwhile Henson blundered on blindly, fully under the impression that Merritt was still upon his trail. One of the hounds, a puppy three parts grown, rose and playfully pulled at his coat. It was sheer play, but at the same time it was a terrible handicap, and in his fear Henson lost all his horror of the dogs.
"Loose, you brute," he panted. "Let go, I say. Very well, take that!"
He paused and brought the heavy stake down full on the dog"s muzzle.
There was a snarling scream of pain, and the big pup sprang for his a.s.sailant. An old, grey hound came up and seemed to take in the situation at a glance. With a deep growl he bounded at Henson and caught him by the throat. Before the ponderous impact of that fine free spring Henson went down heavily to the ground.
"Help!" he gurgled. "Help! help! help!"
The worrying teeth had been firmly fixed, the ponderous weight pressed all the breath from Henson"s distressed lungs. He gurgled once again, gave a little shuddering sigh, and the world dwindled to a thick sheet of blinding darkness.