The men had been ashore, had found the rope cut in several places, and
the dog gone. The circumstances were so suspicious and frought with so
much danger to them, that they decided upon the immediate removal of
the child. On their return toward the cabin, Rutley discovered a faint
glimmer of light within, and in a whisper, called Jack's attention to
it.
"I am sure I blew it out," Jack whispered, alarmed.
"Do you think the child awakened and struck a match?" again whispered
Rutley.
"No; no matches within her reach. Perhaps Virginia has come. Hello! A
strange boat here."
"The light moves," continued Rutley, in a whisper.
"I will get out here," whispered Jack, and he sprang out of the boat
quietly onto the platform. "Take the boat to the other end of the
cabin."
As he opened the door, the profile of the women and child appeared,
dimly outlined by the match light held in Virginia's hand.
As she staggered back, surprised and terrified, for the moment, Jack
pushed his way in, closed the door, bolted and locked it, and put the
key in his pocket. Then he struck a match and lighted the lamp.
[Illustration: "Virginia drew back with a slight terrified exclamation,
'Oh!' Jack Shore stood in the doorway."]
After surveying the group, he gruffly laughed.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Signora make a da bold a break in a da house, eh?
Ha, ha, ha, ha. Eesa try tak a Daize from a da nicey home, eh? Ha, ha,
ha, ha."
"Yes," she replied, without hesitation or a qualm of fear in her
voice. "That was my intention, but the devil's emissary has blocked
it."
Without a trace of fear, quietly and strangely free from agitation,
Constance made her way to the door, and laid her hand on the bolt to
unfasten it.
Jack took hold of her small, round wrist, turned her about and pushed
her back a few paces. "Note a beez in a da hurry, Signora."
"Who are you?" she timidly asked.
"Ha, ha, ha, hic, Eesa compan-e-on say I beez a da devil," Jack
laughed jeeringly.
"Oh, very well," she replied, mildly. "The devil is always hungry for
someone. Who do you want now?"
"A Daize, a da Daize. Yous a lak a me, eh, a Daize?"
"No, no; the devil shall not have my heart. My precious darling now."
And Constance shrank from him, pressing the little form tighter to her
breast.
"But you may have money," she indifferently added.
Jack smiled and bowed obsequiously.
"Ten-na years eesa sella da banans, turnoppsis, carrottsis,
cababbages--mak a da mon, naw! Now eesa steal a da kid, do anyting for
a mak a da mon. Da mon, da mon," he repeated slowly three times, with
deep-toned Dago emphasis. "Then eesa-go back a da sunny Italia," a
phrase that escaped his lips as though shot from a rapid firer.
In the meantime Rutley had entered from the other door, locked it, and
softly crept to the partition door, where he stood listening and
noting, through the small glass panel, the situation within.
Scorning preliminaries, Virginia said:
"I have brought you all that I could get. Take it!" And she laid a
package of crisp banknotes on the table. Jack's eyes bulged and
glistened at the sight of so much money within his grasp. He eagerly
picked up the package, which was fastened in the middle by a band of
paper, flipped the ends of the banknotes back and forth with his
finger, then proceeded to count the money. His action was
business-like.
Without unfastening the band, he held one end of the package firmly
down on the table with the knuckles of his left hand, doubled the
other end back, and held it with his fingers and let each note slip
back separately to a flat position on the table, until he counted them
all.
Meanwhile Virginia had gently pushed Constance to the seat, and as she
watched him she muttered, as though speaking to herself: "I could get
no more than ten thousand dollars. If that will not satisfy him, then
let fate come to the rescue, for a life hangs on the issue tonight."
"Turnoppsis, Carrottsis, Ca-babbages, Ta-rah-rah. Eesa fat a da pack,"
said Jack, as he thrust the package of money inside his vest. "Saw da
ood, hic"--But it appearing loose and risky to keep it there, he took
it out, rolled it up and forced it in his trousers' back pocket.
"Black a da boots, hic." Still feeling dissatisfied with the security
of either pocket he at last put it in the inside pocket of his coat,
hanging near the lamp over the table. And then he turned to Virginia.
"Eesa part a da mon? Hic. Much a beez a da tanks, Signora."
"You will now liberate the child?" she pleaded, in faltering speech.
"Ta-rah-rah! You sa fetch a me only a da half!" exclaimed Jack,
feigning surprise at her request.
"Yousa da rich. Gotta da mon a plent. Go, Signora, get a moores a da
mon. Leave a Daize a da here."
"Mr. Golda, I'll not stay. I am going home with mamma!" and Dorothy
pouted indignantly.
Seeing him obdurate, and fearing the effect of a forcible separation
from her mother now so fondly clasped in her arms, Virginia resolved
to try persuasion once more, before putting into execution the plans
she had matured as a last and desperate resort. With blanched face,
its very seriousness compelling attention, she said, in a faltering
voice:
"If your heart is human you cannot look upon that stricken mother
without feeling that in the last great day the Judge of all will judge
you as you now deal with her."
He turned from her without a word, derision betrayed in his face,
contempt in his action. It, however, placed Jack in a dilemma. There
the mother, for whom he felt a kindly interest, quietly resting with
her lost darling in her arms, yet ever and anon a scared, haunted look
flitted from her eyes.
He looked at the girl a moment, then broke into low, derisive
laughter.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha. Eesa fine a da lady. He, he, he, he. Signora beez a
da accomplice ova da conspirator to break a up a da brodder's home,
eh? Signora good a da lady."
"Ha, ha, ha, ha," and suddenly lowering his voice, said:
"Turnoppsis, Carrottsis, Ca-babbages," then paused and picked up the
bottle to take a drink. "If the child goes home now," he thought,
"Phil gets no reward; no," and he set the bottle down on the table
with a bang, without taking the premeditated drink.
"No, Ma sees a Daize a beez a da safe. Ma sees no a da harm come a
Daize."
"I have brought you all the money I could obtain, and now I demand
that you release the child," Virginia said, firmly.
"Eesa be damn! Yous a fetch a me a da mon, a da rest, ten a thous, an
an--a Daise beez a da liber. Eesa da late a now, Signora. Much a bet
for a youse a da go home, hic."
Virginia's blanched but resolute face indicated that the critical
moment had arrived. Then her voice quivered slightly, as with
suppressed, quiet dignity, she said: "I shall give you no more."
The declaration aroused Constance. She looked up. "Yes, oh, yes; give
him more!" she exclaimed, in plaintive alarm. "He shall have a
million, two million; I will get it for him."
The extravagant offer, the soft, troubled, pensive stare, caused Jack
to straighten up and gaze directly at her.
Virginia's alert eyes at once caught the superstitious fear that had
suddenly betrayed itself in his face.
"Don't you see her mind is giving way!" she exclaimed, and while he
stood staring at Constance, she seized the occasion as one favorable
for escape.
"Come dear," she urged, "he will not stop us now."
"It is dangerous," was the soft, helpless reply. "The clouds are
thickening, and the storm will soon burst."
"Courage, dear, the clouds will soon roll by. Come," Virginia urged,
half lifting her to her feet.
"Oh, very well, we must go," was the indifferent response.
A step forward, and again that timid, startled, fawn-like terror
overcame her. "Oh, dear," she plaintively exclaimed, "the boat rocks;
hold fast to me, sweetheart." And she halted with a swinging motion,
as though her limbs were incapable of firmly sustaining her.
With distended eyes. Jack stared at her. "Heavens!" he thought; "I
cannot separate that poor mother from her child. I cannot do it. If
Phil wants the reward he must take the child home himself."
The thought was scarcely developed when the voice of his partner rang
out from the other room, hoarse, disguised, and peremptory:
"What's the matter with you? Separate them! Take the kid and turn the
woman out."
Then it was Virginia realized that she had two men to deal with
instead of one.
Undaunted, her courage arose to the occasion. She had come prepared
for trouble of a most serious nature, and in her determination to
succeed, it mattered little, now that she had shaken off the first
trembling of fear, whether one or more men stood in her way.
She stepped over close to Jack, bent forward and looked up sideways in
his face, a magnetic fire scintillating from her eyes that seemed to
pierce his inmost thought, and slowly drew his gaze to her. Under the
spell Jack forgot his assumed character, for once he forgot to use the
Dago dialect.
"Don't look at me in that way; it was not all my work," he said,
apologetically.
He had spoken in plain English. Yet in Virginia's tensely excited
frame of mind it passed unchallenged.
"You acknowledge a share in it. And if you lay a hand on her child,
I'll call down upon you the blasphemy of a madhouse."
The art she employed to play upon his heightened imagination was
intensely eloquent, and exquisitely enacted. On the impulse of the
moment the threat served to unnerve him completely and had Jack been
the only one to deal with, their escape at that moment would have been
certain.
A prey to his own secret superstition, though openly ridiculed
theosophy, Jack stood spellbound, his fear distorted by the influence
of the liquor he had drunk.
True, Rutley had braced him some, but Virginia threw about him a glow
of such awesome consequences that he again weakened and unconsciously
repeated under his breath: "The curse of a madhouse! Oh, I can't do
it! I'm a bit human yet."
Then came a second roar from Rutley, impatient and contemptuous.
"Separate them, you chicken-hearted knave! Separate them, damn you,
and be quick about it, too!" A slight jar at that moment struck the
cabin.
Jack came out of his semi-trance with a shudder and, recovering his
nerve, seemed to be disgusted at his momentary weakness, and forthwith
he attempted to get between the women and the cabin door, addressing
the child:
"A Daize a mus stay a dare. Yous a lak a me, eh a Daize?"
"Wretch, stand back!" Virginia commanded. She realized that the
supreme moment had come.
Jack leered at her. Without further heed he addressed the child:
"A Daize, yous a da know I beez a kind to you," and he took hold of
her arms. "Let a da go Eesa say hic. Let a da go da kid."
"No, no!" Constance cried, as she resisted his effort to separate
them. "You shall not have my darling! You shall not take her again."
"Take your villainous hands off!" ordered Virginia, and at the same
time she dealt him a stinging blow in the face, which caused him to
loose his hold on Dorothy and stagger back.
At that moment, too, he was startled by footsteps on the roof. He
paused with a confused idea whether the sound on the roof had not
really emanated from Rutley in the other room. Concluding in favor of
the latter, he continued: "Yous a da defy a me eh, hic, sacramente!
Eesa mak a da let a go da kid, or eesa break a da arm."
Meanwhile Virginia had placed herself between Constance and Jack and,
drawing a revolver from under her jacket, leveled it at him.
Utterly reckless of her own danger, and her eyes ablaze with daring
she exclaimed in a voice low and thrilling with intense determination,
"Stand where you are, you vile epitome of a man! Dare try to bar our
way out, and witness heaven, I'll rid the earth of a scoundrel too
long infesting it!"
A quaking pause followed, more trying to her nerves than the peril of
the situation itself, and she backed toward the door.
Her action provoked an exclamation from Jack. "God, the girl's game!"
He stood mentally measuring the space that separated them, while a
cunning leer developed on his face. He was about to spring, when Sam's
shuffling on the roof became distinct.
"Another accomplice! God protect the child!" murmured Virginia. And
then in the moment of her dismay, Jack sprang forward and grasped her
pistol hand. She fired, but the excitement had unnerved her, and the
bullet went wide of its mark.
In the struggle that ensued he forced her down on her knees, wrenched
the weapon from her hand. As he was placing it in his pocket, it
slipped from his grasp and slid along the floor, where it lay beyond
his reach, near the partition door. Then he leered at her, and
pinioned her hands behind her. "Now kiss a da me."
Notwithstanding the danger of her position, she managed to suppress
her terror, and she exclaimed defiantly, "Never!" and with one
concentrated desperate effort in which all the suppleness, strength
and agility of youth were called into action, succeeded in breaking
his grasp, and sprang to her feet.
Deprived of her revolver, yet she had foreseen such a contingency, and
had provided a last means of defense. She produced a small dagger from
her corsage. Her fingers tightened convulsively around the handle, and
she said in a trembling voice:
"Back, you ruffian! The point is poisoned! Beware!"
The action was so quick, and the blade glittered aloft with such
deadly intent, that Jack leaped back.
Meanwhile Rutley's attention had been absorbed by the struggle going
on between Jack and Virginia, but when he heard the footsteps on the
roof his alarm became manifest. "I must get the child at once, or all
will be lost," he muttered.
Hastily taking a handkerchief from his pocket, he tied it about the
lower part of his face, then he swung open the partition door and
entered, the same instant that Jack had forced Virginia to her knees.
Without a pause, he promptly made for Constance, grasped the child and
tried to tear her from her mother.
Constance, too affrighted to scream, resisted with all her might.
"Let go, damn you--let go, or I'll drown her!" and with savage hands he
wrenched Dorothy away from her. Trying to escape with Dorothy in his
arms, Rutley confronted Virginia.
"Release her!" she demanded.
He looked at the dagger, quivering ominously in her hand, and Dorothy
dropped from his nerveless hands and he jumped back beside Jack,
hoarsely exclaiming, "God, she's a tartar!"
"Run to your mother, Dorothy! To the boat, Constance, quick!" urged
Virginia, as she stood erect, fearless and tragic between the men and
their prey.
"Are we curs to be daunted by this Oregon girl, this slip of a woman?"
exclaimed Rutley hoarsely.
"Beware! The edge is sharp, the poison deadly!" cautioned Virginia, in
a voice that thrilled and which left no doubt as to her determination
to use the weapon to the limit of her ability.
Jack laughed--laughed low, hoarse and sarcastically. "He, he, he, he,
he. Scarce da fine a lady--wid a da white a nice a hand. Mak-a eem all
a da carmine, eh? He, he, he, he, he, he."
She made no reply, yet there darted from her eyes a lightning flash of
desperate purpose.
Rutley clearly understood the sign and, leaning over close to Jack,
whispered: "We must get the knife from her at all hazards."
"Signora, good a da lady, eh! Mak a da bloody fista, eh!" Jack leered
as he concentrated his gaze upon the girlish form drawn up to her
fullest height before him.
Again he laughed low and hoarsely:
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Eesa know a da way to fix 'em!"
Swiftly opening the partition door, he thrust in his hand, pulled a
covering off from the bunk, then after closing the door, he proceeded
rapidly to tie the corners together, muttering meanwhile, "Eesa mak a
da loop, lak a da bag. See! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"
To Virginia the trap appeared so simple and ingenious, its application
so promising of success, that as she watched its preparation her heart
leaped to the opportunity presented as a last chance.
"Attack them now--attack them now!" urged her judgment with startling
force. Louder it seemed to grow, till at last, maddened by the very
repugnance of its conception, a sickening sense of fear overpowered
her, her nerves suddenly collapsed, and she seemed to lose the power
of action.
Having completed the snare, which had taken only a few moments to
prepare. Jack bent forward, showing the white of his teeth as a wolf
of its fangs when about to spring on its prey.
"Now together!" he whispered.
Virginia saw her danger and realized the crisis of all her efforts to
make atonement for the wrong she had caused Constance was at hand.
Again the affrighted despairing cry burst in an audible whisper from
her lips.
"Help! Help! Oh, God in heaven, help!" Just what Jack would have done
in his fury it is impossible to say, for the liquor had frenzied him,
and Virginia's stubborn resistance had aroused in him a latent devil.
His intention, whatever it may have been, was frustrated by Sam, who
at that moment smashed in the window, covered him with his revolver
and shouted, "Throw up your hands!"
The crash of broken glass arrested Jack's attention, and upon looking
around he discovered the muzzle of a large caliber revolver thrust
through the broken window and leveled straight at him.
So sudden was the surprise, so unexpected and imminent the danger,
that he automatically flung up his hands.
Upon crossing the island, after leaving Thorpe and the detective at
the edge of the wood, Sam had immediately boarded the launch, and
stowing the dog in a comfortable position on cotton waste in the
"fo-castle," directed the engineer to proceed to the north end of the
island.
On arriving at the point agreed upon, aside from the cabin's range of
city lights, Sam got into a small boat, provided for the occasion, and
pushed ashore, after having conveyed Thorpe and the detective on board
the launch.
A consultation was held, and it was arranged that the detective and
Smith, who had remained in the launch, should go in the small boat,
assail the south door and cut off escape in that direction, while
Thorpe and Sam in the launch would take a position at the main door of
the cabin.
After securing an axe from the launch, the detective and Smith
proceeded as quickly as possible on their mission. Instead of rowing,
they paddled along, Indian fashion, the dip of the blades scarcely
disturbing the silence that enveloped them. The launch steamed slowly
along in the boat's wake, and just as noiselessly, and was the first
to touch one of the logs which supported the cabin.
They heard voices within that seemed feminine and familiar to both Sam
and Thorpe, though uncertain on account of the low tone.
As prearranged, Sam stealthily clambered up on the roof and crawled to
the starboard side, where he lay flat on his stomach, and peered head
down, in through the loose curtained four-paned window. What he saw
prompted him to instantaneous action, and the crash of broken glass
followed.
Rutley immediately grasped the situation as one fraught with the
gravest peril. He saw that Sam's revolver covered Jack, and saw, too,
that a few feet nearer the partition door would place him in a
position out of line of Sam's aim, as the small cupboard, beside the
window, formed an angle that sheltered that part of the room. On the
instant, therefore, he leaped toward the partition door. As he sprang
toward the door, his eyes fastened on Jack's coat. To secure the
package of money from its pocket was, for his deft fingers, but the
work of a moment; then into the sleeping room he darted and closed the
door.
While Jack's hands were up, Thorpe called from the outside to open the
door. At the same time he shook it violently, and began to batter it
with the axe.
During this time Constance stood with her back to the wall, her arms
straight down by her side, with the palms of her hands flattened
against the boards, as one seeks support at times on a ship at sea.
She appeared insensible alike to fear or position. Yet the horror of
the affair shone in her distended eyes.
"The boat rocks, the storm is upon us," she muttered.
At the moment Smith commenced to batter the other door of the cabin,
Jack took the chance, and sprang to one side, out of line of Sam's
revolver.
"It's the police!" he exclaimed wildly, and in the panic that seized
him he quite forgot his assumed character.
He picked up the revolver that he had wrenched from Virginia, and
which lay upon the floor, and his attitude became so threatening and
malignant as to cause her to utter a slight terrified scream.
Even Dorothy's large innocent eyes blazed, and she struck at him in
defense of Virginia. "Mr. Golda, you're a bad, bad man."
The child's voice raised in Jack a "forlorn hope," for he muttered,
"Dorothy shall be my guarantee of escape."
Simultaneously the door flew open under Thorpe's blows, and he stood
in the entrance.
"Oh, papa, papa!" cried Dorothy, as she ran toward him.
Seeing his opportunity, Jack desperately clutched the child with his
left hand. Swinging Dorothy in front of him, and before her father, he
pointed the revolver at her head, and in that position addressed him
in a sort of screeching yell, "Stop!"
Thorpe stood horror-stricken. His heart leaped to his throat. "My God!
madman, what will you do?" he hoarsely exclaimed, and motioned as if
to rescue the child.
With a tighter clutch, and a more maddening menace, Jack again
addressed him, "Stop, not a step nearer!" And to emphasize his
purpose, he placed the muzzle of the revolver close to her head.
Observing the desperate peril in which Dorothy was placed, and with a
courage born of horror and despair, Virginia stole to Jack's back, and
with a wild frantic scream of "Save her!" seized his pistol hand
between both her own, and in the struggle that immediately ensued, and
in which all her strength was exerted, the weapon fell to the floor.
And then Sam tore open the broken window, swung himself through to the
floor, and instantly grappled with Jack.
Virginia's attack forced Jack to release Dorothy, who was immediately
gathered in her father's arms.
"Safe, my blessed child, safe!" he fervently exclaimed.
And then poor Virginia, courageous, strong-minded, kind-hearted,
passionate Virginia, having sustained the frightful nervous strain
till the last moment, swayed, and sank to the floor in a swoon.
Meanwhile Constance stood beside the cabin door, staring at the men in
a dazed and vacant manner. She had heard Virginia, and repeated
mechanically, "Save Dorothy!" and now repeated after Mr. Thorpe, in
tones as though a very dear voice had kindled a spark calling back
loving recollections. She drew her hand across her brow, as though
trying to clear away some web that obscured her memory, and stared at
her husband like one suddenly awakened from a dream. A moment after
and she whispered with awe in her voice, "John! John!"
Almost immediately Rutley had returned to the room without the child,
but with Jack's money, the door near him was being battered. He at
once concluded that the game was up, and his own safety necessitated
an immediate escape. How? He must decide at once.
How many surrounded the cabin? Ha! If he only knew, and then the hatch
occurred to him.
He knew the big logs upon which the cabin was built raised it some ten
or twelve inches above water. There lay his way--out--quick. He lifted
the cover, and silently sank beneath the floor between the logs.
Then he let the trap door fall back in position above him, just as the
cabin door gave way and the detective entered, followed by Smith, who
handled an axe.
It was then that Constance seemed to recover suddenly her reason, for
she rushed toward her husband with outstretched arms, exclaiming in a
voice fraught with rapturous thanksgiving, "John! John and Dorothy!"
An inexpressible joy shone in her eyes.
But her advance was met with a cold, stern frown and a backward wave
of the hand. Not a word escaped him.
For a moment she stood irresolute; then she passed the tips of her
fingers across her brow again and again--"Oh, this horrible dream that
I cant' shake off!" Again she seemed to recover her reason and her
voice, soft and sobbing, said, "John, you don't believe me shameless
and debased, do you? You can't believe it, for it is false, false, I
say! and the boat won't clear from it! Let me help"--and her voice
hardening, she went on--"Give me a paddle. We must escape. Save
Dorothy!" and she threw out her hands to him appealingly.
A swift compassionate look swept across Thorpe's face. The first doubt
of his wife's guilt had seized upon his brain, and he said chokingly,
"My God, is it possible my wife is innocent?"
He had half turned around to her, but on remembering the ring, his
face again set stern, then without another word he waved her back with
a single motion of his hand.
But the sound of his voice had once more stirred up a filament of
intelligence and she sobbed, "John! John!" She got no further. She saw
him turn away and, placing her hand to her side, trembled, and with a
moan on her lips, sank down beside Virginia.
And at that moment the detective appeared in the partition doorway and
was followed closely by Smith, who, upon seeing the prostrate woman,
senseless on the floor, at once concluded a foul crime had been
committed, and exclaimed, with horror and rage on his face:
"Oh, the murtherin' blackguard!"
In the struggle Jack broke from Sam and stooped to pick up the
revolver. But Sam, coached in Texas, had him covered with his own
revolver in a twinkling, and with the characteristic side movement of
his head, said with a grin of satisfaction, "If you touch it, I'll
send a bullet through your brain!"