A CATASTROPHE AVERTED
As Florence crouched in the dark corner of the deserted museum, many and
wild were the thoughts that sped through her mind. Could she do it? If
worse came to worst, could she strike the blow? She had the power; the
muscles of her arm, thanks to her splendid training, were as firm as
those of a man. Yes, she had the power, but could she do it? There could
be no mincing matters. "Strike first and ask questions after," that must
be her motto in such an extremity. There would be ample opportunity. A
beast always hunts with nose close to the ground. The man would be a fair
mark. The skate was as perfect a weapon as one might ask. Keen and
powerful as a sword, it would do its work well. Yet, after all, did she
have the nerve?
While this problem was revolving in her mind, the pit-pat of footsteps
grew more and more distinct. Her heart pounded fearfully. "He's
coming--coming--coming!" it seemed to be repeating over and over.
Then, suddenly, there flashed through her mind the consequences of the
blow she must strike. The man must be given no chance to fight; one blow
must render him unconscious. Whatever was done must be done well. But
after that, what? She could not leave him alone in this great, deserted
shell of a building. Neither could she await alone his return to
consciousness. No, that would never do. She would be obliged to seek aid.
From whom? The police, to be sure. But then there would be a court scene
and a story--just such a story as cub reporters dote on. She saw it all
in print: "Three girls living in a boat. One pursued by villain. An
Amazon, this modern girl, she brains him with her skate."
Yes, that would make a wonderful news story. And after that would come
such publicity as would put an end to their happy times aboard the O Moo.
That would mean the end of their schooldays, just when they were becoming
engrossed in their studies; when they had just begun to realize the vast
treasures of knowledge which was locked up in books and the brains of
wise men and which would be unlocked to them little by little, if only
they were able to remain at the university.
The whole thing was unthinkable. She must escape. She must not strike the
blow. There must be another way out. Yet she could think of none. Before
her was an iron railing, but to go over this meant a drop of twenty feet.
Beyond her at the end of the balcony, towered a brick wall; at her back,
an iron door. To her left there sounded ever more plainly the pit-pat of
tiptoeing feet.
"I must! I must!" she determined, her teeth set hard. "There is no other
way."
And yet, even as she expected to hear the shift of feet which told of a
turn on the balcony, some ten feet from where she cowered, the pit-pat
went steadily forward. She could not believe her ears. What had happened?
Then on the heels of this revelation, there followed another: The sound
of the footsteps was growing fainter. Of a sudden the truth dawned upon
her: The man was not on the balcony. He had not ascended the stairs. He
was still on the floor below. Her sense of location had been distorted by
the vast silence of the place. She was for the moment safe.
A wave of dizziness swept over her. She sank into a crumpled heap on the
floor. Reviving, she was seized with an almost uncontrollable desire to
laugh, but, clenching and unclenching her hands, she maintained an
unbroken silence. At length, her nerves in hand once more, she settled
down to watchful waiting. With eyes and ears alert, she caught every new
move of the prowler.
As the sound of his footsteps died away in the distance, she settled
herself to calmer thoughts. This place she was in was a vast cathedral of
gloom. When the moon went under a cloud, blotting out the broad circle of
light which fell from the vaulted dome, the darkness was so profound that
she felt she must scream or flee.
Yet there was something magnetic about the place. She might have been
held there even though she were not pursued. It was a place to dream of.
Some twenty-eight years before a hundred thousand people in a single day
had passed in and out along the aisles of this vast structure. That had
been in the days of its glory. All--the rich, the poor, the cultured, the
illiterate, the laborer, the street gamin--had peered at the marvels
displayed between its walls. And now--now two beings haunted its vast
corridors, the one pursuing the other. How strange life was!
A whiff of wind sweeping over the main floor sent a whirl of waste paper
flying in circles halfway to the ceiling. Two tiny red eyes peered at her
at a safe distance--then another and another.
"Rats," she whispered. "Three of them."
The pit-pat of feet became distinct again. Putting out her hand to grip
the skate, she discovered that her fingers were too stiff for service.
She had grown cold without sensing it. Rubbing her hands together, she
warmed them. Her limbs too had grown stiff. Rising silently, she went
through a series of exercises which sent the blood coursing through her
veins.
"Must get out of here some way," she told herself, "but how?"
Then suddenly she thought of the girls. They would be anxious about her,
might come out to seek her, only to fall into a trap.
A trap? She thought of Lucile, slim, nervous. Lucile hovering as she had
in the corner of that old Mission on that other night; thought too of the
things Lucile had seen there; admired the nerve she had displayed.
But what did it all mean? She could but feel that it all was connected in
some way; the note of warning tacked to the schooner; Lucile's experience
in the Mission and her present one, all fitted together in one.
What was it all about? Were they innocently checkmating, or appearing to
checkmate, some men in their attempt to perform some unlawful deed? Were
these persons moonshiners, gamblers, smugglers, or robbers living in the
dry dock? If so, who were they?
Again the sound of footsteps grew indistinct in the distance.
"Ought to be getting out of here," she told herself. "Getting
late--horribly late and--and cold. The girls will be searching for me.
There's an open window over there to my right. Terribly high up, but I
might make the ground though."
She listened intently, but caught no sound. Then stealthily, step by
step, she made her way toward the window.
Now she was fifty feet away from it, now thirty, now ten. And now--now
she dropped silently to the floor and crept to the opening. There was no
glass; she was glad of that. Flattening herself out, she peered over the
sill to the void below.
"Terribly far down. Easily thirty feet!" she breathed. "Two gratings;
rotten too, perhaps. Ground frozen too."
She reached far down and, gripping the top of the nearest window grating,
threw all her strength into an effort to wrench it free.
"That one's strong enough," she concluded; "but how about the other?"
Again she lay quite still, listening. In the distance she fancied she
caught the pit-pat again.
"Better try it while I've got a chance," she decided.
With the care and skill of a trained athlete she swung herself over the
window sill, clung to the grating with her toes; dropped down; gripped
the grating with her hands; slid her feet to the grating below; tested
that as best she could; trusted her weight to it; swung low; touched the
ground; then in her stocking-feet sped away toward the nearest street.
Arrived at a clump of bushes which skirted the street, she sat down and
drew on her shoes. Then with a loud "Whew!" she crossed the street and
made her way toward the O Moo over a roundabout but safe route, which led
her by the doors of closed shops and beneath huge apartments where some
of Chicago's thousands were sleeping.
Her mind, as she hurried on, was deep in the mystery and full of possible
plans as to the uncertain future.
"I suppose," she mumbled once, "we should give up the O Moo. Most people
would say it was a wild notion, this living on a ship, but what's one to
do? No rooms you can pay for, and who would give up a university
education without a fight? What have we done? What are these people
bothering us for anyway? What right have they? Who are they anyway?"
This cast her into deeper reflections. The face she had seen was not that
of Mark Pence. Whether it was one of the Orientals living on the scow, or
one of the fishermen living in their fishing smack, she could not tell.
She had never seen the fishermen. Even Marian had seen but two of them.
"Might not be any of these," she concluded with a shrug. "Might have been
some night prowler who will never come back."
* * * * * * * *
The two girls in the cabin of the O Moo had waited an hour. Lucile had
fallen half-asleep. Marian had lifted a trap door and had started the
small gasoline-driven generator which furnished them light and heat. The
engine was racing away with a faint pop-pop-pop, when Lucile sat up
suddenly.
"Marian," she exclaimed, "what did that boy say about the scow those
Chinese people live in?"
"Why," said Marian, wrinkling her brow, "he said something about going
down twenty feet."
"That seems strange, doesn't it?" Lucile considered for a moment.
"Yes, but then it was a winding stairway. Probably he isn't used to that
kind. Perhaps he just thought it was farther down than it really was.
I--"
"What was that?" exclaimed Lucile, starting up. There had come a muffled
sound from below, barely heard above the pop-pop of the engine.
In a second Marian had stopped the generator. Each girl strained her ears
to listen. It came again, this time more distinct; tap-tap-tap, a pause,
then a fourth tap.
"Florence!" exclaimed Lucile springing for the door.
Three taps, a halt, then a tap was the signal for lowering the
rope-ladder.
A moment later Florence was being dragged into the cabin and ordered to
give an account of herself.
"Sit down," she said. "It's rather a long story. When I'm through you'll
very likely be for leaving the O Moo in the morning, and I'm not so sure
but that is the right thing to do. The cruise of the O Moo," she laughed
a bit uncertainly, "gives some indication of turning out to be an
ill-fated voyage."
With Lucile and Marian listening intently Florence told her story.
"Florence," said Lucile, when she had finished, "do--do you suppose that
has anything to do with the old Mission affair I told you about?"
"Or the warning tacked on our hull?" suggested Marian.
"I don't know," said Florence thoughtfully, "It might. The point really
is, though, are we leaving in the morning?"
She was answered by an emphatic:
"No! No!"
"Do you know," said Lucile a few moments later as she sipped a cup of hot
chocolate and nibbled at a wafer, "I peeped into that room in the old
Mission yesterday. The shutter had been replaced but I could see through
the cracks. There really wasn't anything on the table. The candles and
crucifix were there, but nothing on the old table--not anything at all.
I--I must just have imagined that face."
"I'm not so sure," said Florence mysteriously.
"Oh!" exclaimed Lucile suddenly, "You were going to tell me the story
that face reminded you of--the story told by an old seaman."
"I will," said Florence, "but not to-night. Just look," she sprang to her
feet, "it's after three o'clock and to-day is already to-morrow."