"And what would happen if they found me--us?" he persisted, feeling
vaguely for some hint.
"Ah!" Her breath caught. "Hush!" She laid her fingers over the lips of
his mask.
Van Dam yielded to an ungovernable impulse and kissed them through the
stiff, harsh cloth, whereat she said in wonderment:
"Heaven guard us! You are actually laughing. That you are wild, I knew;
but--you are--you act very strangely, m'sieu."
"Perhaps I'm intoxicated," he murmured, and pressed her slender waist
meaningly; whereupon she seemed to feel his arm for the first time. She
drew away, but as she disengaged his embrace her hand encountered his.
"It is wet--bloody--where you struck the Black Wolf."
"That was a good wallop, wasn't it?" Van Dam chuckled, with
satisfaction, while she felt for her handkerchief and dabbled at his
bruised knuckles. "I wondered if I could put him out."
Then they ceased whispering, for some one was entering the stable
beneath them. After a time the stairs creaked to a heavy tread, a hand
tried the door, and they could feel a presence within arm's-length. They
stood motionless, not daring even to shift their weight upon the crazy
floor, until the fellow began to explore the other portion of the loft.
"That is the Spider himself," breathed the girl, close to Van Dam's ear.
"He thinks he has me in his web; but--"
"Yes?"
"I would die before I married him."
A sudden dislike for spiders in general awoke in Roly's breast.
"I hate him. I would kill him if I dared, but he frightens me--" She
broke off and caught at her companion, gasping: "God! What are you
doing?"
He had turned the key softly and was opening the door. To be quite
truthful, Roly Van Dam did not know exactly what he intended doing, but
some reckless impulse moved him to action. He was invaded by a sudden
desire to lay hands upon this Spider person who went about terrorizing
pretty girls. Having been reared to a habit of doing exactly as impulse
dictated, he felt no hesitation now. Away back in his mind, however,
something told him calmly that he had gone quite mad, that the magic of
adventure had sent his wits a-flying and had played havoc with his
common sense. And a change really had come over him with the very
beginning of this enterprise, although he had not stopped to notice it.
The flaring rage that had answered to the Wolf's assault upon the girl,
the joyful sensation of setting his fist into the fellow's face, the
excitement of the flight and the pursuit, had all combined to upset his
equilibrium. Then, too, the presence of this bewitching creature close
beside him in the darkness, the pressure of her body in his arms, the
scent of her warm breath--all this helped to completely electrify him.
He felt the dawning of new and utterly absurd desires. Away with
discretion! To the winds with prudence! This maiden's cause was his.
Here was the one glad moment of his life.
"François!" he called in a low voice. He slipped the girl's hand from
his arm, thrust her back into the shadows, and stepped out upon the
landing.
"_Oui!_ In a moment!" The Spider came stumbling toward him. "She is not
here." Van Dam saw a tall man in a domino like his own. "_Sacré!_ She
has disappeared; and that devil's spawn is with her. You found no trace
in the yard below?"
"Sst! Listen," breathed Roly. He sank his fingers into his palms and
measured the distance carefully. Then, as François turned his head
attentively, Roly braced himself and swung. It may have been due to the
uncertain light, or to the narrow eyelet-holes through which he peered;
at any rate, Van Dam's blow went short.
The Spider uttered a cry of fury and surprise. Roly felt himself hugged
by a pair of thin, iron-muscled arms; then his hands felt in beneath the
man's disguise, and the cry changed to a gurgle. They strained and
rocked against each other briefly; the floor sagged and creaked; the
door behind them flew open. François was groping with one free hand at
his waist; but his domino was like a shirt, and he could not find that
for which his hungry fingers searched. As for Van Dam, a delicious
ferocity was flaming through his veins. Here was an enemy bent upon his
quick destruction. No game he had ever played was half so exhilarating
as this. He could feel the fellow writhe and the breath bursting through
beneath his fingers; he could feel the man's cords harden until they
were like wire. Strange to say, with every wrench and every surge his
own abysmal fury increased. But the Spider was no weakling; he fought
desperately until, in a burst of blind anger that was like some diabolic
glee, Van Dam lifted him bodily and hurled him at the opening in the
floor. The fellow missed his footing, clawed wildly, then fell backward
headlong into the light below. The next instant Van Dam, too, had lost
his balance and followed, bumping from step to step until he fetched up
at the foot with a jar that drove the breath out of him.
He sat up in a moment, still dazed; then he heard a rustle, and beheld
above him a pair of frightened, dark eyes gazing into his. Although he
could see nothing of the girl's face--she had replaced her mask--he knew
that she was racked with anxiety.
"Are you killed?" she queried.
"No; just abominably twisted," he said. Then, with a wry face: "Ouch!
That was an awful bump." As he felt himself over gingerly he stopped
short at the sight of his mask lying crumpled beside him. He realized
that the jig was up and began to formulate an explanation of his
deception, only to hear her exclaim, tremulously:
"God be praised! You are unhurt."
He sat still, staring at her, amazed that no outburst followed her
glimpse of his face.
"How did you dare--?" She turned to the figure of François, which Roly
discovered motionless an arm's-length away.
The Spider was sprawled loosely in the litter. His head was twisted upon
his shoulders in a peculiar way, and his mask, having slipped to the
back, stared upward with a placid, waxlike smile that was horrible under
the circumstances.
Still lost in wonderment, Van Dam arose, dusted off his clothing, and
picked up his own disguise. Was it possible that she did not know the
person she had gone to meet? It seemed so, indeed, for she was hanging
upon him anxiously, as if still doubting his safety, while she half
sobbed her admiration of his bravery and her gratitude at his escape.
Roly began to fear he had been imposed upon, after all, else how could
she fail to realize that he was an utter stranger? But the girl's
honesty was compelling; he found that he could not doubt the sincerity
of her gaze.
He felt an unaccountable lack of compunction regarding the Spider. In
fact, he experienced a sense of satisfaction at the completeness of his
victory over the ruffian, and she seemed to share the feeling.
He heard her urging him to make haste, and before he had fully regained
his wits he found himself following her out into the sunlight.
Underneath the wagon-shed she guided him, around behind it and into a
narrow three-foot space, the left side of which was bounded by a board
fence about head-high.
"Quick!" she cried, eagerly. "Once we are on the other side we may
escape. The others are somewhere close by."