第14章

"To-morrow you will know about the murder--every-one will know about it; and I will be missed; and there will be people who saw me in the car with them, for someone must have seen me.Oh, I can't face it! I want to die.I will die! I come of a good family.My father is a prominent man.I can't go back and stand the dis-grace and see him suffer, as he will suffer, for I was all he had--his only child.I can't bear to tell you my name --you will know it soon enough--but please find some way to let my father know all that I have told you--Iswear that it is the truth--by the memory of my dead mother, I swear it!"Bridge laid a hand upon the girl's shoulder."If you are telling us the truth," he said, "you have only a silly escapade with strange men upon your conscience.You must not talk of dying now--your duty is to your father.

If you take your own life it will be a tacit admission of guilt and will only serve to double the burden of sorrow and ignominy which your father is bound to feel when this thing becomes public, as it certainly must if a mur-der has been done.The only way in which you can atone for your error is to go back and face the conse-quences with him--do not throw it all upon him; that would be cowardly."The girl did not reply; but that the man's words had impressed her seemed evident.For a while each was occupied with his own thoughts; which were presently disturbed by the sound of footsteps upon the floor be-low--the muffled scraping of many feet followed a mo-ment later by an exclamation and an oath, the words coming distinctly through the loose and splintered floor-ing.

"Pipe the stiff," exclaimed a voice which The Oska-loosa Kid recognized immediately as that of Soup Face.

"The Kid musta croaked him," said another.

A laugh followed this evidently witty sally.

"The guy probably lamped the swag an' died of heart failure," suggested another.

The men were still laughing when the sound of a clanking chain echoed dismally from the cellar.In-stantly silence fell upon the newcomers upon the first floor, followed by a--"Wotinel's that?" Two of the men had approached the staircase and started to ascend it.

Slowly the uncanny clanking drew closer to the first floor.The girl on the bed turned toward Bridge.

"What is it?" she gasped.

"We don't know," replied the man."It followed us up here, or rather it chased us up; and then went down again just before you regained consciousness.I imagine we shall hear some interesting developments from be-low."

"It's The Sky Pilot and his gang," whispered The Os-kaloosa Kid.

"It's The Oskaloosa Kid," came a voice from below.

"But wot was that light upstairs then?" queried an-other.

"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--its 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 foot-steps 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 lis-tened breathlessly--hurling themselves against it in vio-lent effort to gain admission.

"Who are you and what do you want?" cried Bridge.

"Let us in! Let us in!" screamed two voices."Fer God'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 in-tervals upon the floor below.It seemed to the tense lis-teners 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 slow-ness which wrought more terribly upon tense nerves than would a sudden rush.

"The mills of the Gods 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.In-stantly two figures hurled themselves into the room but turned immediately to help Bridge resecure the door-way.

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 si-lence, 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 men-ace without.The girl sprang from the bed and crossed to the opposite side of the room.A flash of lightning illumi-nated the chamber for an instant and the roof of the ve-randah without.The girl noted the latter and the open window.