TRYING TO ESCAPE
“Oh, Dave, don’t go!” cried Jessie, as he walked toward the door, and
she caught him by the arm.
“I don’t think I’d trust myself out there alone, Dave,” cautioned Roger
in a low voice. “I think the best thing we can do under the present
circumstances is to stick together.”
Dave hesitated. He realized that what his chum said might be true. Then
his hand went into the pocket where he had his automatic pistol.
“I’ve got this, Roger. I think I can defend myself,” he said.
“Oh, Dave, I’d hate to see any shooting!” whispered his sister.
“There won’t be any shooting unless they start things,” he answered.
“Say, Dave Porter, are you coming out or not?” demanded the voice of the
person in the corridor.
“Is that you, Nick Jasniff?” asked our hero quickly, for he was quite
sure that he recognized the voice.
“Who told you I was Nick Jasniff?” grumbled the fellow outside.
“Never mind that now, Jasniff. What do you want?”
“You are making a mistake about me, Dave Porter. I want you to come
outside so I can talk to you.”
“Is the door unlocked?”
“It is. But don’t you try any funny work, because we are well armed, and
we don’t intend to take any chances so far as you and Roger Morr are
concerned.”
With caution Dave opened the door several inches, and peered out into
the corridor. He saw the disguised person he suspected of being Nick
Jasniff standing there, and behind him were several others, evidently
gypsies.
“This is a fine piece of business for you to be in, Jasniff,” he said
sharply. For a close look at the face in front of him had convinced him
that the rascal was really the fellow who had escaped from prison.
“Humph, you needn’t preach to me, Dave Porter! I guess I’ve now got you
just where I want you!” answered Nick Jasniff, seeing it would be
useless to deny his identity any longer.
“That remains to be seen. Fellows like you always get to the end of
their rope sooner or later.”
“We won’t waste words on that just now, Porter. What I want to know is,
did you and Morr come here alone or are there others hiding in the
woods?”
“Do you think I’d be fool enough to tell you our plans?” demanded Dave.
“You’ll tell me everything, Porter, and do it pretty quick!” snarled
Nick Jasniff, flying into a sudden rage. “Don’t you see that you are
entirely in our hands, and that we can do as we please with all of you?
Unless you tell me everything I want to know, we are coming in there and
take those two girls away and leave you two fellows here, bound and
gagged. Then, if nobody comes to rescue you, you can starve to death. Do
you get me?”
“Oh, Dave! don’t let them do anything like that!” pleaded Jessie, who
had been listening over his shoulder to what was said.
“Don’t worry about their binding and gagging us—at least not while we
are armed,” put in Roger.
“See here, Jasniff, you can talk all you please, but we do not intend to
let you carry out your threats,” said Dave. “Both Morr and I are well
armed, and we know how to shoot. In a very short time this place will be
completely surrounded and you will be made prisoners.”
“It isn’t so!” cried the former bully of Oak Hall; but the tone of his
voice showed his uneasiness.
“It may be so!” cried one of the gypsies quickly. “Remember, Carmenaldo
did not return. That looks bad.”
The gypsies began to whisper among themselves, and then one of them
pulled Jasniff back.
“We had better go out again and take another look around,” he said in a
hoarse whisper. “That young man may speak the truth, and we do not want
to run any chances of being captured in such a game as this. If we find
the woods clear, we can then come back and settle with these intruders.”
“All right, have your own way,” grumbled Jasniff. “Just the same, I
think they came here alone. Didn’t I see them alone at that hotel?”
The gypsies were evidently too disturbed to argue the matter further,
and they pushed forward and closed the door in Dave’s face. Then those
inside the room heard the lock fastened once more and heard the gypsies
tramp away and down the stairs.
“Oh, Dave, I’m so glad you didn’t get into a fight!” cried Jessie, her
face showing momentary relief.
“While they are gone let us see if we can escape by way of the opening
in the top of the closet,” suggested Roger.
“Hush, not so loud!” whispered Dave. “One of the gypsies or Nick Jasniff
may still be in the corridor listening.”
“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” returned the senator’s son in an equally
low voice. “Let the two girls stay here and do some pretty loud talking.
That will cover up any noise that we may make in the closet. Then, if
there is a chance to get out, we’ll have to lay a plan as to just how to
do it.”
This suggestion was carried out, and the two girls began to talk
hurriedly and in a loud tone of voice close to the door leading to the
corridor. In the meantime, Dave and Roger went to the closet, and both
made an investigation of the ceiling. Here, as stated before, one board
was loose, and they soon managed to pry up another.
“Now boost me up, Roger, and I’ll investigate further,” said our hero.
Dave presently found himself in a dark place directly under the sloping
roof of the bungalow. In its highest part, the roof was but four feet
from the flooring, so he had to stoop as he felt his way around. He soon
came to a sort of hatchway; the cover to this he raised cautiously.
Below was a vacant room which had once been used as a bed-chamber.
Around the opening where Dave stood was a mass of discarded household
things and several packages of magazines which had evidently been
brought up to the little garret-like opening by means of a ladder, but
now the ladder was missing.
Our hero lit a match, and this brief illumination showed him several
large bundles of magazines still tied together with some old rope. He
quickly possessed himself of the rope, and found it still usable. Then
he went back to the closet where Roger awaited him, and told of what he
had discovered.
“Do you think we can make our escape that way?” questioned the senator’s
son eagerly.
“I don’t know about that, Roger. We might try.”
The matter was discussed for several minutes with the girls, and all
decided that they had better do what they could to secure their freedom
without delay. Dave brought down one of the boards from the flooring
above, and setting the bench up endways placed one end of the board upon
it, thus making a sort of gangplank. Up this he and Roger assisted the
girls, and then followed to the little garret-like enclosure above.
“Now I think I had better go down into that other room first and look
around,” said our hero, and let himself down by means of the rope which
he had found and which he fastened to a staple at the side of the
hatchway.
Once below, Dave tiptoed his way around cautiously. There was a window
to the room, and this looked out on the top of a little porch, beyond
which were a number of trees. Then he went to the door and opened it
cautiously. He saw a little corridor opening into that which led to the
stairs. From below came a murmur of voices.
“I don’t think we can get away by going below,” he explained to the
others, after they had joined him; “but that looks pretty good to me,”
and he pointed out of the window to the roof of the porch and the trees
so close at hand.
“Oh, that’ll be easy if they don’t catch sight of us getting down,”
answered Roger quickly.
The glass of the window was gone; nevertheless, they had to raise the
lower sash before any of them could get out on the roof of the porch.
This was much dilapidated, and creaked as they stepped upon it.
“Oh, Dave! you don’t suppose it will break down with us?” cried Jessie.
“Jump for the trees if it starts to go,” he answered, and the words had
barely left his lips when the old porch began to sag. A moment later it
collapsed completely, sending all of the young people to the ground.
It was a most unexpected tumble. As they went down Dave made a grab for
Jessie and did what he could to save her from getting hurt. Both landed
in some bushes, and Laura and Roger came down beside them.
With the sudden collapse of the porch, there was a cry of alarm in the
lower part of the bungalow, and some person, evidently one of the
gypsies, set up a yell from somewhere among the trees.
“Come!” cried Dave, as he pulled Jessie to her feet. “We’ve no time to
spare! Let us get out of sight as quickly as possible!”
He glanced over his shoulder, to see that Roger had Laura by the arm and
was forcing her along. All four ran among the trees, not knowing,
however, in which direction they were heading.
“Oh, Dave, they are after us!” panted Jessie.
Our hero glanced back and saw that several gypsies and Nick Jasniff had
just emerged from the bungalow, some with pistols and others with clubs
in their hands.
“This way, quick!” he exclaimed, and pointed to a little gully but a few
feet away.
He and Jessie leaped into this, and Roger and Laura immediately
followed. The hollow was filled with weeds and brushwood.
“Say, can’t we hide here?” asked Roger.
“They’d be after us in a minute, Roger,” answered Dave. “Come on!” and
he pushed his way down along the hollow until they reached the tiny
watercourse which flowed from the spring near the roadway. Here was a
heavy clump of trees, some of the branches close to the ground.
“Now then, up you go!” cried Dave, and he and Roger assisted the two
girls into the nearest tree branches. Then the young men hauled
themselves up.
“Now climb up as high as you can,” directed Dave to Jessie and his
sister. And then all four went up the tree a distance of twenty feet or
more.
“Where did they go?” cried someone who stood close to the watercourse.
“I don’t know. But they must be somewhere in this vicinity,” answered
the voice of Nick Jasniff.
Hardly daring to breathe, the four in the tree listened to what was
taking place below. They heard Nick Jasniff and several of the gypsies
tramping around, first in one direction and then in another.
“Are you sure they all got away?” questioned one of the gypsies, of
another who had just arrived.
“Yes. The room was empty and we have searched the house thoroughly.”
“Then I guess the game is up,” growled a third.
“What’s the use of giving up so soon?” grumbled Nick Jasniff. “I believe
they are hiding around here somewhere, and I don’t believe there is
anybody else near. I think the best thing you can do, Bopeppo, is to
call in all those other fellows and begin a search for them. Eight of us
ought to be able to handle two fellows and two girls without much
trouble.”
After that Jasniff and Bopeppo moved around again through the woods in
the immediate vicinity of the bungalow. One of them had discovered where
the party of four had jumped into the gully leading to the watercourse,
and now he set up a sudden shout:
“They came this way! Here are their footprints!”
“Where do they lead to, Vazala?” questioned Nick Jasniff eagerly.
“They lead to right here!” answered Carlos Vazala, pointing to some
impressions in the damp ground and some overturned stones.
“I bet they went up into these trees!” cried Jasniff. He raised his
voice. “If you are up there you might as well come down,” he commanded.
“If you don’t, we’ll come up there and bring you down.”