"It"s The Sky Pilot and his gang," whispered The Oskaloosa Kid.
"It"s The Oskaloosa Kid," came a voice from below.
"But wot was that light upstairs then?" queried another.
"An" wot croaked this guy here?" asked a third. "It wasn"t nothin"
nice--did you get the expression on his mug an" the red foam on his lips? I tell youse there"s something in this house beside human bein"s.
I know the joint--it"s hanted--they"s spooks in it. Gawd! there it is now," as the clanking rose to the head of the cellar stairs; and those above heard a sudden rush of footsteps as the men broke for the open air--all but the two upon the stairway. They had remained too long and now, their retreat cut off, they scrambled, cursing and screaming, to the second floor.
Along the hallway they rushed to the closed door at the end--the door of the room in which the three listened breathlessly--hurling themselves against it in violent effort to gain admission.
"Who are you and what do you want?" cried Bridge.
"Let us in! Let us in!" screamed two voices. "Fer G.o.d"s sake let us in.
Can"t you hear IT? It"ll be comin" up here in a minute."
The sound of the dragging chain could be heard at intervals upon the floor below. It seemed to the tense listeners above to pause beside the dead man as though hovering in gloating exultation above its gruesome prey and then it moved again, this time toward the stairway where they all heard it ascending with a creepy slowness which wrought more terribly upon tense nerves than would a sudden rush.
"The mills of the G.o.ds grind slowly," quoted Bridge.
"Oh, don"t!" pleaded The Oskaloosa Kid.
"Let us in," screamed the men without. "Fer the luv o" Mike have a heart! Don"t leave us out here! IT"s comin"! IT"s comin"!"
"Oh, let the poor things in," pleaded the girl on the bed. She was, herself, trembling with terror.
"No funny business, now, if I let you in," commanded Bridge.
"On the square," came the quick and earnest reply.
The THING had reached the head of the stairs when Bridge dragged the bed aside and drew the bolt. Instantly two figures hurled themselves into the room but turned immediately to help Bridge resecure the doorway.
Just as it had done before, when Bridge and The Oskaloosa Kid had taken refuge there with the girl, the THING moved down the hallway to the closed door. The dragging chain marked each foot of its advance. If it made other sounds they were drowned by the clanking of the links over the time roughened flooring.
Within the room the five were frozen into utter silence, and beyond the door an equal quiet prevailed for a long minute; then a great force made the door creak and a weird scratching sounded high up upon the old fashioned panelling. Bridge heard a smothered gasp from the boy beside him, followed instantly by a flash of flame and the crack of a small caliber automatic; The Oskaloosa Kid had fired through the door.
Bridge seized the boy"s arm and wrenched the weapon from him. "Be careful!" he cried. "You"ll hurt someone. You didn"t miss the girl much that time--she"s on the bed right in front of the door."
The Oskaloosa Kid pressed closer to the man as though he sought protection from the unknown menace without. The girl sprang from the bed and crossed to the opposite side of the room. A flash of lightning illuminated the chamber for an instant and the roof of the verandah without. The girl noted the latter and the open window.
"Look!" she cried. "Suppose it went out of another window upon this porch. It could get us so easily that way!"
"Shut up, you fool!" whispered one of the two newcomers. "It might hear you." The girl subsided into silence.
There was no sound from the hallway.
"I reckon you croaked IT," suggested the second newcomer, hopefully; but, as though the THING without had heard and understood, the clanking of the chain recommenced at once; but now it was retreating along the hallway, and soon they heard it descending the stairs.
Sighs of relief escaped more than a single pair of lips. "IT didn"t hear me," whispered the girl.
Bridge laughed. "We"re a nice lot of babies seeing things at night," he scoffed.
"If you"re so nervy why don"t you go down an" see wot it is?" asked one of the late arrivals.
"I believe I shall," replied Bridge and pulled the bed away from the door.
Instantly a chorus of protests arose, the girl and The Oskaloosa Kid being most insistent. What was the use? What good could he accomplish?
It might be nothing; yet on the other hand what had brought death so horribly to the cold clay on the floor below? At last their pleas prevailed and Bridge replaced the bed before the door.
For two hours the five sat about the room waiting for daylight. There could be no sleep for any of them. Occasionally they spoke, usually advancing and refuting suggestions as to the ident.i.ty of the nocturnal prowler below-stairs. The THING seemed to have retreated again to the cellar, leaving the upper floor to the five strangely a.s.sorted prisoners and the first floor to the dead man.
During the brief intervals of conversation the girl repeated s.n.a.t.c.hes of her story and once she mentioned The Oskaloosa Kid as the murderer of the unnamed victim. The two men who had come last p.r.i.c.ked up their ears at this and Bridge felt the boy"s hand just touch his arm as though in mute appeal for belief and protection. The man half smiled.
"We seen The Oskaloosa Kid this evenin"," volunteered one of the newcomers.
"You did?" exclaimed the girl. "Where?"
"He"d just pulled off a job in Oakdale an" had his pockets bulgin" wid sparklers an" kale. We was follerin" him an" when we seen your light up here we t"ought it was him."
The Oskaloosa Kid shrank closer to Bridge. At last he recognized the voice of the speaker. While he had known that the two were of The Sky Pilot"s band he had not been sure of the ident.i.ty of either; but now it was borne in upon him that at least one of them was the last person on earth he cared to be cooped up in a small, unlighted room with, and a moment later when one of the two rolled a "smoke" and lighted it he saw in the flare of the flame the features of both Dopey Charlie and The General. The Oskaloosa Kid gasped once more for the thousandth time that night.
It had been Dopey Charlie who lighted the cigaret and in the brief illumination his friend The General had grasped the opportunity to scan the features of the other members of the party. Schooled by long years of repression he betrayed none of the surprise or elation he felt when he recognized the features of The Oskaloosa Kid.
If The General was elated The Oskaloosa Kid was at once relieved and terrified. Relieved by ocular proof that he was not a murderer and terrified by the immediate presence of the two who had sought his life.
His cigaret drawing well Dopey Charlie resumed: "This Oskaloosa Kid"s a bad actor," he volunteered. "The little shrimp tried to croak me; but he only creased my ribs. I"d like to lay my mits on him. I"ll bet there won"t be no more Oskaloosa Kid when I get done wit him."
The boy drew Bridge"s ear down toward his own lips. "Let"s go," he said.
"I don"t hear anything more downstairs, or maybe we could get out on this roof and slide down the porch pillars."
Bridge laid a strong, warm hand on the small, cold one of his new friend.
"Don"t worry, Kid," he said. "I"m for you."
The two other men turned quickly in the direction of the speaker.
"Is de Kid here?" asked Dopey Charlie.
"He is, my degenerate friend," replied Bridge; "and furthermore he"s going to stay here and be perfectly safe. Do you grasp me?"
"Who are you?" asked The General.
"That is a long story," replied Bridge; "but if you chance to recall d.i.n.k and Crumb you may also be able to visualize one Billy Burke and Billy Byrne and his side partner, Bridge. Yes? Well, I am the side partner."
Before the yeggman could make reply the girl spoke up quickly. "This man cannot be The Oskaloosa Kid," she said. "It was The Oskaloosa Kid who threw me from the car."
"How do you know he ain"t?" queried The General. "Youse was knocked out when these guys picks you up. It"s so dark in here you couldn"t reco"nize no one. How do you know this here bird ain"t The Oskaloosa Kid, eh?"
"I have heard both these men speak," replied the girl; "their voices were not those of any men I have known. If one of them is The Oskaloosa Kid then there must be two men called that. Strike a match and you will see that you are mistaken."