"Shall Ah wait fo" yo"?" asked the old colored driver.
"Yes, wait for me," directed Jack, briefly.
"Yeah; wait fo" de gemmun. He"s all right," volunteered the mulatto.
"Mebbe yo" kin see some voodoo wo"k, too, ef yo"s int"rested," hinted the guide, in a whisper, as he fitted a key to a lock, and swung a door open.
In a hallway stood a lighted lantern, which the guide picked up.
"Now, go quiet-lak, on tip-toe. Sh!" cautioned the guide, himself moving stealthily into the nearest room. Jack Benson began to feel secretly awestruck and "creepy," though he was too full of grit to betray the fact.
At the further end of the room the guide, holding the lantern behind his body as though by accident, threw open another door.
"Pa.s.s right on through dis room, ahead ob me, sah," begged the guide, respectfully.
But Jack drew back, instinctively, out of the darkness.
"Don" yo", a w"ite man, be "fraid ob ole voodoo house," advised the mulatto, still speaking respectfully.
Afraid? Of course not. Relying on his muscle and his agility, Jack stepped ahead. By a sudden jerk of his arm the mulatto guide shook out the flame in the lantern.
"Here, you! What are you about?" growled Jack Benson, wheeling like a flash upon his escort.
"Go "long, yo" w"ite trash!" jeered the mulatto. He gave the boy a sudden, forceful shove.
Jack Benson, under the impetus of that push, staggered ahead, seeking to recover his balance. Without a doubt he would have done so, but, just then, the floor under his feet ended. With a yell of dismay, the submarine boy tottered, then plunged down, alighting on a bed of soft dirt many feet below.
CHAPTER VII: JACK FINDS SOMETHING "NEW," ALL RIGHT
Jack Benson was on his feet in an instant. An angrier boy it would have been hard to find.
From overhead came the sound of a loud guffaw.
"Oh, you infernal scoundrel!" raged the submarine boy, shaking his fist in the dark.
"W"at am de matter wid yo", w"ite trash?" came the jeering query.
"Let me get my hands on you, and I"ll show you!" quivered Benson.
"Yah! Listen to yo"! Yo" wait er minute, an" Ah"ll show yo" a light."
Gr-r-r-r! Gr-r-r-r! That sound from overhead was not pleasant. Jack, in the few seconds that were left to him, could only guess as to the cause of the sounds. Then, some fifteen feet over his head, a tiny flame sputtered.
This match-end was carried to the wick of the lantern that the yellowish guide had been carrying, and now the light illumined the place into which Jack Benson had fallen.
That place was a square-shaped pit, with boarded sides. Up above, on a shelf of flooring, knelt the late guide, grinning down with a look of infernal glee. On either side of the mulatto stood a heavy-jowled bull-dog. Both brutes peered down, showing their teeth in a way to make a timid man"s blood run cold.
"Put those dogs back and come down here," challenged Jack, shaking his fist. "Come down, and I"ll teach you a few things, you rascal!"
"Don" yo" shake yo" fist at me, or dem dawgs will sure jump down and tackle yo"," grinned the guide, gripping at the collars of the brutes, which, truly, showed signs of intending to spring below.
Jack fell back, his hands dropping to his sides. Had there been but one dog, the submarine boy, with all his grit forced to the surface, might have chosen to face the brute, hoping to despatch it with a well-aimed kick. But with two dogs, both intent on "getting" him, young Benson knew that he would stand the fabled chance of a snow-flake on a red-hot stove.
"Dat"s right, gemmun, yo" keep cool," observed the mulatto, mockingly.
"You"ve decoyed me-trapped me here with a mess of lies," flung back Captain Jack, angrily. "What"s your game?"
"Dis am a free lodgin" house-ho, ho, ho!" chuckled the late guide. "Ah"s gwine gib yo" er place to sleep fo" de night. Yo" sho"ly must feel "bleeged to me-ho, ho, ho!"
"You lied to me about Sam Truax!"
"Yeah! Ah done foun" dat was de name ob a gemmun in yo" pahty dat wasn"t wid yo". Truax do as well as any odder name-yah! Now, Ah"s gwine leab yo"
heah t" git a sleep. Ah"ll toss down some blankets. "Pose yo"se"f and gwine ter sleep, honey. Don"t try to clim" up outer dat, or dem dawgs"ll sho"ly jump down at yo". Keep quiet, an" go ter sleep, an" de dawgs done lay heah an" jest watch. But don" try nuffin" funny, or de dawgs"ll sho"ly bring trubble to yo". Dem is trained dawgs-train" fo" dis business ob mine. Ho, ho, ho!"
Mulatto and light vanished, but enraged, baffled, helpless Captain Jack could hear the two dogs moving about ere they settled down on the shelf of flooring overhead.
"No matter how much of a liar that rascal is, he didn"t lie to me about the dogs," reflected Jack, his temper cooling, but his bitterness increasing. "They"re fighting dogs, and one wrong move would bring them bounding down here on me-the two together. Ugh-gh!"
After a few moments the mulatto reappeared with a light and tossed down three heavy blankets.
"Now, Ah"s gwine leave yo" fo" de night," clacked the late guide. "Ef yo"
done feel lonesome, yo" jes" whistle de dawgs down to yo". Dey"ll come!"
While the light was still there Benson, in raging silence, gathered the blankets and arranged them.
"Roll up one fo" a pillow, under yo" haid," grinned the mulatto. "Dat"s all right, sah. Now, good night, Ma.r.s.e Benson. Ef yo" feel lonesome, Ma.r.s.e Benson, jes" whistle fo" de dawgs. _Dey"ll come!_"
The light vanished while the mulatto"s sinister words were ringing in the boy"s ears. Would the dogs jump down? Jack knew they would, at the first false move or sound on his part. He huddled softly, stealthily, on the blankets, there in the darkness.
As he lay there, thinking, Benson"s sense of admiration gradually got to the surface.
"Well, of all the slick man-traps!" he gasped. "I never heard of anything more clever. Nor was there ever a bigger idiot than I, to walk stupidly into this same trap! What"s the game, I wonder? Robbery, it must be. And I have a watch, some other little valuables and nearly a hundred and fifty dollars in money on me. Oh, I"m the sleek, fat goose for plucking!"
Lying there, in enforced stillness, Jack Benson, after an hour or so, actually fell asleep. A good, healthy sleeper at all times, he slumbered on through the night. Once he awoke, just a trifle chilled. He heard one of the dogs snoring overhead. Crawling under one of the blankets, Benson went to sleep again.
"Hey, yo", Ma.r.s.e Benson. It am mawnin". Time yo" was wakin" up an" movin"
erlong!"
It was the voice of the same mulatto, calling down into the pit. Again the rays of the lantern illumined the darkness. Both bull-dogs displayed their ferocious muzzles over the edge of the pit. Jack sat up cautiously, not caring to attract unfriendly interest from the dogs.
"Ah want yo" to take off all yo" clothes "cept yo" undahclothes, an" den Ah"ll let down a string fo" yo" to tie "em to," declared the mulatto, grinning. "Yo" needn"t try ter slip yo" wallet, nor nuffin" outer mah sight, cause Ah"ll be watchin". Now, git a hurry on, Ma.r.s.e Benson, or Ah"ll done push dem dawgs ober de aidge ob dis flooring."
Jack hesitated only a moment. Then, with a grunt of rage, he began removing his outer garments. Down came a twine, to the lower end of which the boy made fast his garments, one after another. His money and valuables went up in the pockets, for the sharp eyes of the mulatto could not have been eluded by any amateur slight-of-hand.
"Now, yo" cap an" yo" shoes," directed the grinning monster above.