The mystery was explained, but in a manner that left him small room for satisfaction. Above him a square opening had appeared in the ceiling; two ugly, bearded faces were leaning over the edge and strong hands were grasping a thick rope. In a frenzy of fear and desperation he cast the old woman from him and tore violently at the rope.
They were drawing hard from above; his toes were barely touching the floor; he was strangling. Frantically he grasped the rope, lifting himself from the floor in the effort to loosen the noose with his free hand. A hoa.r.s.e laugh broke upon his dinning ears, the leering faces drew nearer; and then, as everything went black, a heavy, yet merciful blow fell upon his head. As consciousness left him, he felt himself rushing dizzily upward, grasped by powerful hands and whisked through the opening into air so hot and stiffling that his last thought was of the fires of h.e.l.l.
Not many minutes pa.s.sed before consciousness, which had been but partially lost, returned to him. The ringing sensation remained in his head, but he was no longer choking. The noose had been removed from his neck; the rope itself was now serving as a bond for his hands and feet, a fact that impressed itself upon him when he tried to rise. For some time he lay perfectly still, urging his senses into play: wondering where he was and what had happened to him.
It was pitch dark and the air was hot and close. Not a sound came to his throbbing cars. With characteristic irrepressibility he began to swear softly, but articulately. Proof that his profanity was mild--one might say genteel--came in an instant. A gruff voice, startlingly near at hand, interrupted him.
"Spit it out, young feller! Swear like a man, not like a d.a.m.n canary bird."
Truxton tried hard to pierce the darkness, a strange thrill pa.s.sing through his veins. The hidden speaker was unquestionably an American.
"What the devil does all this mean?" demanded the captive. "Where am I?"
"It means business, and you"re here, that"s where you are," was the sarcastic answer.
"Are you an American?"
"No. I"m a Chinaman."
"Oh, come off! Answer square."
"Well, I was born in Newport." As an afterthought: "Kentucky."
"You"re in a d.a.m.ned nice business, I"ll say that for you," growled Truxton. "Who is responsible for this outrage?"
He heard the man yawn prodigiously. "Depends on what you call an outrage."
"This is the d.a.m.nedest high-handed outrage I"ve ever--"
"Better save your breath, young feller. You won"t have it very long, so save what you can of it."
Truxton was silent for a moment, a.n.a.lysing this unique remark. "You mean I am to stop breathing altogether?"
"Something like that."
"Why?"
"I don"t know."
"You don"t know? Well, who does?"
"You"ll find out when the boss gets good and ready."
"You are a fine American!"
"Look here, young feller, I"ve been polite to you, so don"t get gay.
I"ll come over there and kick your jaw in."
"Come ahead. Anything to break the monotony."
"Didn"t you get enough of the hangman"s knot and the sandbag? Want more, eh? Well, if I wasn"t so darned comfortable I"d come over there and give it to you. Now don"t rile me!"
"I deserve to be kicked for being such a blithering fool as to get into this mess. Come on and kick me."
"You wanted to get a poke at the old man"s eye, did ye? By thunder, that"s like an American. Never satisfied to let things alone. See what it got you into?"
"The old man"s eye? What old man?"
"That"s for you to find out, if you can. You"ve made a h.e.l.l of a poor start at it."
"You"re a good-natured scoundrel"
"Thanks for them kind words."
"Well, what are you going to do with me? I don"t like the air in here.
It"s awful. How long do I stay here?"
"Say, you"re a gritty little man. I like your nerve. Too bad we ain"t on the same side. I"ll tell you this: you won"t be here long. How would the old girl down there put it? You"re going on a long voyage. That"s it.
But first we"ll get out of this rat hole, just as soon as them other guys come back from the cave. You"ll get fresh air purty soon. Now, don"t talk any more. I"m through gossipin"!"
"How do you, an American, happen to be mixed up in a deal like this?"
"It"s healthier work than makin" barrels at--I was goin" to say Sing Sing, but I hear they"ve changed the name. I prefer outdoor work."
"Fugitive, eh?"
"You might call it that. I"m wanted in seven States. The demand for me is great."
Truxton saw that he could get nothing out of the satirical rascal, so fell to speculating for himself. That he was still in the loft above the hovel was more or less clear to him. His mind, now active, ran back to the final scene in the kitchen. The trap-door in the ceiling, evidently a sliding arrangement, explained the mysterious disappearance of the owner of the eye; he had been whisked up through the aperture by confederates and the trap-door closed before it could be discovered. The smoking kettle no longer puzzled him, now that he knew of the secret room above the kitchen; a skilfully concealed blow-pipe could have produced the phenomenon. The s.p.a.ce in which he was now lying, half suffocated, was doubtless a part of the cleverly designed excavation at the back of the hovel, the lower half being the kitchen, the upper an actual gateway to the open air somewhere in the mountainside.
That he had fallen into the hands of a band of conspirators was also quite clear to him. Whether they were brigands or more important operators against the Crown, he was, of course, in no position to decide. Time would tell.
It was enough that they expected to kill him, sooner or later. This, in itself, was sufficient to convince him that he was not to be held for ransom, but to be disposed of for reasons best known to his captors.
Like a shot the warning of Olga Platanova flashed into his brain. Here, then, was the proof that she actually knew of the peril he was in. But why should he be an object of concern to these men, whoever they were?
His guard had mentioned "the old man." Good heavens, could he mean Spantz? The cold perspiration was standing on King"s brow. Spantz! He recalled the wickedness in the armourer"s face. But why should Spantz wish him evil? Again intuition, encouraged by memory, supplied him with a possible, even plausible explanation.
The Anarchists! The Reds! Olga was an avowed Anarchist; she was almost a prisoner in the house of her uncle. Truxton"s guard sat up suddenly and felt for his weapon when the captive let out a bitter oath of understanding and rage.
"By gad, they think I am a detective!" he added, light coming to him with a rush.
"What"s that?" snapped the other. Truxton could almost feel the other"s body grow tense despite the s.p.a.ce between them. "Are you a detective?
Are you? By G.o.d, if you are, I"ll finish you up right here. You--"
"No! They"re on the wrong scent. By Jove, the laugh"s on old man Spantz."
"Oho! So you _do_ know what"s up, then? Spantz, eh? Well, what you"ve guessed at or found out won"t make much difference, my fine young fellow. They"ve got you, and you"ll be worse off than Danny Deever in the mornin"! h.e.l.lo! Here they come. Now we"ll get out of this infernal bake-oven. Say, do you know, you"ve been cuddlin" up against a j"int of warm stove pipe for nearly an hour? Sh!"
The glimmer of a light came bobbing up from somewhere behind Truxton; he could see the flickering shadows on the wall. Two men crept into the room a moment later. One of them carried a lantern; the other turned King"s body over with his foot.