VAIN EFFORTS.
Of the five confederates who had been at the hut with Rezonoff,
two--Vance and Minowsky--accompanied him in the automobile, while
Pepernik, under his orders, returned to the rooming house to serve as a
“stalking horse” against the police, and lead them off the trail.
This left Matschka and Simmons to guard the prisoners, each man taking a
relief of three hours, with Matschka accepting the first turn at sentry
duty.
It was a period of quiet in the hut, broken only by the mutterings and
tossings of Simmons as he slept somewhat restlessly, rolled up in a
blanket over in the corner.
Matschka, silently alert, sat on a box smoking innumerable cigarettes,
but never letting his glance drift from the captives, who shifted about
uneasily in the effort to relieve the chafing of the cords at their
wrists and ankles, the while they feverishly revolved methods of escape.
One conclusion was very speedily reached by both of them: That it would
not be wise to make the attempt under the eye of their present sentinel.
He steadfastly declined to be drawn into conversation by them, or to
have his attention diverted in any way, and his discernment was almost
uncanny. Let one or the other of them feel even the slightest slackening
of his bonds, and immediately Matschka was there to tighten up the
knots.
They soon decided, therefore, to defer active measures until Simmons
took the watch, and in the meantime devote all their energies to
devising an effective plan of escape.
Eagerly each sought to recall all the tales of the old Indian fighters
which are handed down in the service, with their details of almost
miraculous deliverance from similar situations, but none of the
expedients used seemed adaptable to their present plight.
Many prisoners, bound hand and foot, have managed even under the
watchful eyes of a guard to extricate themselves from their fetters and
get away; but it has always been due, Grail gloomily reflected, to some
slip-up or oversight on the part of their captors--a pocketknife
overlooked in the search of the prisoner’s person, a carelessly tied
knot, or a convenient sharp stone against which to fray the ropes. With
them, however, no such fortuitous circumstance existed so far as Grail
could see; and he was satisfied from Cato’s expression that his
companion was equally baffled by their plight.
They were simply tied up hard and fast, and in such thorough and
scientific fashion that to slip or unloose their fastenings with any one
watching them was practically an impossibility. Nevertheless, Grail did
not despair. There must be some way out of the dilemma, he believed, and
industriously he set himself to find it.
So the time passed away, with both Cato and him vainly cudgeling their
brains, until at last four o’clock arrived, and with it Matschka roused
up Simmons and himself rolled over into the blanket.
The deserter yawned, stretched himself, and walked over to the door, to
gaze out into the gray morning mists which enveloped the bottoms.
“B-r-r!” he muttered, shivering from the chill dampness as he returned
to take his seat on the box. “That air is as cold and clammy as the
touch of a dead man’s hand.”
Cato, seeing evidence of a desire to talk in this, promptly encouraged
it.
“Feeling seedy, anyhow, aren’t you?” he said. “You didn’t seem to be
sleeping very well.”
“Sleep?” Simmons laughed harshly. “I haven’t been seeing anything but
the staring eyes of that yellow-faced Jap all night long.” He shivered
again.
“Never killed a man, did you, sarge?” he resumed, after a pause. “Well,
don’t! Believe me, it’s a nasty business--kind of turns you sick, when
they crumple up and flop down all limp, like that Jap did on the stairs.
And that straw hat of his!” he exclaimed. “It sounded to me like a load
of brick, bumping from step to step, clean to the bottom. I couldn’t
understand why everybody in the house didn’t come running out to see
what was the matter.
“What else could I do, though?” he burst out in a sort of petulant
defense. “As I told the boss, I had to get him, or he’d have got the
whole shooting match of us. It was just the same way with Captain Grail
there. I hadn’t nothing against him in the world, but I knew where he
was going when he ordered out the dirigible, and it was up to me to stop
him any way I could. Take it from me, though,” he added, “the Jap had us
nearer right than even Captain Grail. He had the whole thing figured
down to detailed plans and specifications.”
“How did he come to let you get him, then?” inquired Cato, noticing out
of the corner of his eye that Grail was slowly working one foot free.
“Ah, that was where I worked it fine!” Simmons boastfully wagged his
head. “Them little brown fellows is smooth, sarge, but for once I was
just a shade smoother. You see, when I started on my get-away, I headed
straight for Matschka’s room to make my change; and as I bolted into the
house and up the stairs, who should I see but this Sasaku just coming
out. I knew he’d recognize me from the way he dived back into his room;
but I pretended not to notice anything, and went on up to Matschka’s
joint. That was a sort of general hang-out for the crowd, you
understand, and all of us had a key to the door.”
“Yes,” interposed the sergeant encouragingly, as he sedulously kept his
glance away from Grail; “what then?”
“Let’s see, where was I? Oh, sure, I remember now; I was in Matschka’s,
and the Jap was in his own room, across the hall. Well, I didn’t lose
any time skinning out of my uniform, but all the same I had my door
ajar, and I kept listening, and pretty soon, just as I expected, I heard
him come sneaking over to get an eyeful. I acted like I hadn’t a
suspicion in the world, but I was saying to myself: ‘If that guy ever
gets out and telephones to Grail that he’s seen me here, I’ll be doing a
stretch at Leavenworth sure, and all the while I was opening the knife
in my pocket. Then, when I heard his steps turn away from the door, and
head for the stairs, I turned like a flash and was after him. The door
was open a crack, as I told you, and I had on rubber soles, so he never
heard me. I caught him just at the top step, and let him have it between
the shoulder blades, and he went down without even a squeak. Then I
grabbed a letter that he had in his hand, and blew.”
“A letter?” repeated Cato. “To whom?”
“To Captain Grail. And, believe me, it was some letter, too. The chief
was inclined to be peevish when I got over here, and told him what I’d
done. But you bet he didn’t have another word to say after he’d taken a
squint at that letter. The Jap had the whole game doped out, with all
our names and everything else; and he----”
“Hello, there!” he exclaimed sharply, happening unfortunately to turn
just as Grail was slipping his foot free from its tether. “Oh, no; I
guess you won’t!” And, diving forward, he speedily retied the confining
knots more securely than ever. An hour and a half’s patient effort had
gone for naught.