"BUST 'EM OUT"
"Jinnie, ain't we ever goin' back to Peggy?" Bobbie asked one day, his
eyes rolling upward. His small face was seamed with questioning
anxiety.
The girl drew him to her lap.
How many times Jinnie had asked that question of herself! How she
longed for Paradise Road, with its row of shacks, Peggy and the baby!
Bobby knew how she felt by the way she squeezed his hand.
"Ain't we?" he asked again.
"Some time," answered Jinnie limply.
"Did the black man say we could go, Jinnie?" the boy demanded.
Jinnie patted his head comfortingly.
"I hope he'll take us home soon," she remarked, trying to put full
assurance into her tones.
Bobbie zigzagged back to the divan, drew himself upon it, and Jinnie
knew by his abstracted manner that he was turning the matter over in
his busy little brain.
Two hours later, when Jordan Morse came in, the child was still
sitting in the same position, and the man beckoned the girl into the
other room.
"Grandoken's trial is to start this afternoon within an hour," he
informed her. "You'll be here to-day and to-morrow. You see the court
won't be long in proving the cobbler's guilt."
If he had expected her to cry, he was mistaken. She was past crying,
seemingly having shed all of her tears.
"He didn't do it," she averred stubbornly. "I know he didn't."
In justice to Lafe, she always reiterated this.
Morse gave a sinister laugh.
"What you know or don't know won't matter," he responded, and looking
at the angry, beautiful face, he ejaculated, "Thank God for that!"
Jinnie turned her back, but he requested her sharply to look at him.
"Have you told the boy where I'm going to take you?" he demanded, when
she was eyeing him disdainfully.
"No."
"I never knew a woman before who could hold her tongue," he commented
in sarcasm.
Jinnie didn't heed the compliment.
"When he asks you questions, what do you tell him?"
"That you will come for us soon."
"I will, all right."
Jinnie went nearer him.
"Where are you going to take him?"
Morse shrugged his shoulders.
"You'll know in time," said he.
How ominous his words were, and how his eyes narrowed as he looked at
her! She was thoroughly afraid of that tone in his voice. Her own fate
she was sure of, but Bobbie--desperation filled her soul. She would
beg Morse to let him go back to Peggy.
Lifting clasped hands, she walked very close to him.
"You're going to have all my money," she said with emphasis. "I've
done everything I can, and I'll make Bobbie promise not to say a word
to any one if you'll take him to Mrs. Grandoken."
Morse shook his head.
"Too dangerous," he replied, and he went out without a glance at the
blind boy on the divan.
Once more alone with Bobbie, Jinnie sat down to think. How could she
rescue him from this awful position? How get him back to Peggy?
Somehow she felt that if she could be sure the little boy was safe,
she could go away to the place Morse had described with at least a
little relief. That day Lafe's accusers were to try him before a
jury----. She had almost lost hope for the cobbler--he was lame, had
no friends, and was a Jew, one of the hated race. She knew how the
people of Bellaire despised the Jews. For Peggy she didn't worry so
much. Jordan Morse had given his solemn promise that, if Lafe died in
the electric chair--and she died to the world--he would be of
financial assistance to Peggy.
She sat studying Bobbie attentively. The child's face was pathetically
white and she could see the quick palpitation of his heart under his
jacket.
"I heard what the black man said, Jinnie," Bobbie blurted presently,
sinking in a little heap. "I mean when he had you in the other room a
little while ago. You was beggin' him to help me; wasn't you,
Jinnie?"
Jinnie went to him quickly and gathered him into her arms.
"Bobbie," she implored, "you must never let him know, never, never,
that you heard him talking. He might hurt you worse than he has."
Bobbie flashed his eyes questioningly in evident terror.
"What'd he hurt me more for? I ain't done nothin' to him."
"I guess because he's bad, dear," said Jinnie sadly.
"Then if he's bad, why do you stay here?" He clung to her tremulously.
"Take me away, Jinnie!"
"I can't!" lamented Jinnie. "I've told you, Bobbie, the door's
locked."
She could lovingly deceive him no longer.
How the little body trembled! How the fluttering hands sought her aid
in vain!
"My stars're all gone, Jinnie," sobbed Bobbie. "My beautiful stars! I
can't see any of 'em if I try. I'm awful 'fraid, honey dear. It's so
dark."
Jinnie tightened her arms about him, racking her brain for soothing
words.
"But Lafe's God is above the dark, Bobbie," she whispered reverently.
"We've got to believe it, dearie! God is back up there ... just up
there."
She took his slender forefinger and pointed upward.
"How does God look, Jinnie? Just how does he look?"
"I've never seen him," admitted the girl, "but I think, Bobbie, I
think he looks like Lafe. I know he smiles like him anyway."
"I'm glad," sighed the boy. "Then He'll help us, won't He? Lafe would
if he could. If you say He will, He will, Jinnie!"
Five tense minutes passed in silence. Then: "Sure we couldn't get out
of the window, dearie?" asked Bobbie.
"They're locked, too," answered the girl, low-toned.
"I'd bust 'em out," volunteered the boy, with sudden enthusiasm.
"But there's a deep gorge in front of every one, honey," replied
Jinnie sadly.
Yet Bobbie's words--"bust 'em out"--took hold of her grippingly, and
the thought of leaving that unbearable place was like a tonic to the
frantic girl. She crossed the room rapidly and examined the window
panes. But even if she could break them, as Bobbie suggested, the
water below would receive their bodies, and death would follow. If it
were a street, she might manage. Yet the sight of the flowing water,
the dark depths between the ragged rocks, did not send Bobbie's words,
"bust 'em out," from her mind. If they fell together, the boy would
never be tortured any more. To-morrow Jordan Morse would be in the
courtroom all day. To-morrow----God, dear God! She seemed to hear
Lafe's monotone, "There's always to-morrow, Jinnie."
She was called upon to think, to act alone in a tragic way. Of course
she would be killed if she jumped into the deep gorge with the child
and Happy Pete. She tried to think, to plan, but after the manner of
all believing sufferers, could only pray.
Bobbie need fear no evil! "Angels have been given charge over him, and
Bobbie shall not want," Jinnie whispered, her mind spinning around
like a child's top. A sudden faith boomed at the portals of her soul.
What was the use of asking help for Bobbie if she didn't have faith in
an answer?
To-day would bring forth a plan for to-morrow. To-morrow Bobbie would
be saved from Jordan Morse. To-morrow would end his terror in the
gorge house. To-morrow--she would be eighteen years old!
"Bobbie," she entreated, going to the child swiftly, "Bobbie, do you
remember any prayers Lafe taught you?"
The child bobbed his head.
"Sure," he concurred. "'Now I lay me' and 'Our Father which art in
Heaven.'... I know them, Jinnie."
"Then sit upon the divan again and say them over and over, and pray
for Lafe, and that you'll get out of here and be happy. You mustn't
tell Mr. Morse if he comes, but I'm going to try to get you out of the
window."
As she stood in the gathering gloom and peered into the water below,
Jinnie could hear the child lisping his small petitions.
At that moment a new faith came for herself. Lafe's angels would save
her, too, from Jordan Morse's revenge.
At ten-thirty the next morning Morse came. With trepidation Jinnie
heard him open the door. He was extremely nervous and stayed only a
few moments.
"I've got to be in court at eleven," he explained, "and I'll come for
you both about ten this evening. Be ready, you and the boy, and
remember what I told you!"
When they were alone once more, she sat down beside the blind child
and placed her arm around him.
"Bobbie, will you do exactly what I tell you?"
"Sure," responded Bobbie, cheerfully. "Are we goin' home?"
Without answering him, Jinnie said:
"Then take Happy Pete and don't move until I get back. Just pray and
pray and pray! That's all."
Happy Pete snuggled his head under Bobbie's arm and they both sat very
still. The boy scarcely dared to breathe, he was so anxious to please
his Jinnie.
The farthest window in the inner room door seemed to be the best one
to attack. If Morse surprised her, it would be easier to cover up her
work. With a frantic prayer on her lips, she took off her shoe and
gave the pane of glass one large, resounding blow. It cracked in two,
splinters not only flying into the room, but tumbling into the gorge
below. Then she hastily hammered away every particle of glass from the
frame, and, shoving her shoulders through, looked out and down. The
very air seemed filled with angels. They could and would save her and
Bobbie even in the water--even if they were within the suction of the
falls there, some distance below and beyond. Then her eyes swept over
the side of the building, and she discovered a stone ledge wide enough
for a human being to crawl along. Would she dare try it with her loved
ones? She distinctly remembered seeing a painter's paraphernalia in
the front, and they might be there still! The more she thought, the
greater grew her hope, and with this growing hope came a larger faith.
At least she'd find what was at the end of the building away off there
to the east.
To-day, yes, now!... She couldn't wait, for her uncle was coming
to-night. It must be now, this minute. She went back to Bobbie.
"I'm going to try it, darling," she told him, kissing his cheek. "Sit
right here until I get back. Hang to Petey. He might follow me."
Then cautiously she dragged her body through the hole in the window,
and began to crawl along the stone ledge. The roar of the water on the
rocks below made her dizzy. But over and over did she cry into God's
ever listening ear:
"He has given--he has given his angels--angels charge over thee."
Jinnie reached the corner of the building, and looked out over the
city. The ledge extended around the other side of the building, and
she turned the corner and went slowly onward. At the south end she
stopped still, glancing about.
Only one thing of any value was in the range of her vision. The two
long ropes she had seen long before were still hanging from the roof
and fastened securely to a large plank almost on the ground. It
brought to Jinnie's mind what Lafe had told her,--of Jimmie Malligan
who had been killed, and of how he himself had lost his legs.
Could she, by means of the rope, save the three precious things back
in that awful room--Bobbie, Happy Pete, and her fiddle?
To be once more under God's sun with the blue above gave her new
strength. Then she turned and crawled slowly back.
At the corner she grew faint-hearted. It must have been the gorge
below that made her breath come in catching sobs. But on and on she
went until through the window she could see Bobbie with Happy Pete
asleep in his arms. The child was still muttering over his little
prayers, his blind eyes rolling in bewildered anxiety.
Jinnie was very white when she sat down beside him. Putting her face
close to his, she brushed his cheek lovingly.
"Bobbie," she said, touching his hair with her lips, "how much do you
love Jinnie?"
"More'n all the world," replied Bobbie without hesitation.
"Then if you love me _that_ much, you'll do just what I tell you."
"Yes," Bobbie assured her under his breath.
Jinnie took a towel--she couldn't find a rope--and strapped the violin
to Bobbie's back.
"I've got to take my fiddle with me, dearie," she explained, "and I
can't carry it because I've got you. You can't carry it because you've
got to hold Happy Pete.... Now, then, come on!"
Jinnie drew the reluctant, trembling child to his feet and permitted
him to feel around the window-sash; she also held him tightly while he
measured the stone ledge with his fingers.
"I'm awful 'fraid," he moaned, drooping.
Jinnie feared he was going to have another fainting spell. To ward it
off, she said firmly:
"Bobbie, you want to see Lafe, don't you?"
"S'awful much," groaned Bobbie.
"Then don't hold your breath." She saw him stagger, and grasping him,
cried out "Breathe, Bobbie, breathe! We're going to Peggy."
Bobbie began to breathe naturally, and a beatific smile touched the
corners of his lips.
"I got so many stars to-day, Jinnie," he quavered, "one slipped right
down my throat."
"But you mustn't be scared again, Bobbie! If we stay, the black man'll
come back and shake you again and take us to some place that'll make
us both sick. You just keep on praying, and I will, too.... Now, then,
I'm going out, and when I say, 'Ready,' you crawl after me."
"What's that noise?" shivered Bobbie, clutching Happy Pete.
"It's water," answered Jinnie, "water in the gorge."
Bobbie's teeth chattered. "Do we have to jump in it?"
"No, I'm going to take you down a rope."
With that she crawled through the hole, and when once on the stone
ledge, she put her hand in on the boy's head.
"Lift up your leg and hang tight to Petey," she shuddered, and the
blind boy did as he was bidden, and Jinnie pulled him, with the dog
and fiddle, through the opening. She put him on his knees in front of
her with her arms tightly about him.
"Jinnie, Jinnie!" moaned Bobbie. "My heart's jumpin' out of my
mouth!"
Jinnie pressed her teeth together with all her might and main,
shivering so in terror that she almost lost the strength of her arms.
"Don't think about your heart," she implored, "and don't shake so!
Just think that you're going to Lafe and Peg."
Then they began their long, perilous journey to the corner of the
building. It must have taken twenty minutes. Jinnie had no means by
which to mark the time. She only knew how difficult it was to keep the
blind child moving, with the water below bellowing its stormy way down
the rock-hill to the lake. Happy Pete gave a weird little cry now and
then. But on and on they went, and at the corner Jinnie spoke:
"Bobbie, we've got to turn here. Let your body go just as I shove
it."
Limp was no word for Bobbie's body. He was dreadfully tired. His heart
thumped under Jinnie's arms like a battering-ram.
"Bobbie, don't breathe that way, don't!" she entreated.
"I can't help it, honey! my side hurts," he whispered. "But I'll go
where you take me, Jinnie dear."
The girl turned him carefully around the sharp ledge corner, and they
went on again. Her arms seemed almost paralyzed, but they clung to the
child ahead, and the child ahead clung to the little dog, who hung
very straight and inert in front of his body.
When they reached the south corner, Jinnie explained their next move
to Bobbie in this way:
"Now listen," she told him. "You get on my back with your legs under
my arms, hang to me like dear life, and keep Happy Pete between us.
Don't hurt him if you can help it."
They were within touch of one of the dangling ropes and far below
Jinnie saw the swaying plank to which it was fastened. Once on that
board, she could get to the ground.
Then she continued: "Now while I lean over, you get on my back."
As she guided his slender hands, she felt them cold within her own,
but in obedience to her command, Bobbie put his legs about her, one
arm around her neck, and with the other held Happy Pete.
"We won't fall, will we, Jinnie?" quavered the boy.
"No," said Jinnie, helping to settle him on her back.
Then she crawled closer to the rope, took up her skirt and placed it
about the rough hemp. She was afraid to use her bare hands. The rope
might cut and burn them so dreadfully that she'd have to let go. With
a wild inward prayer, she swung off into the air, with the boy, the
dog and the fiddle on her back, and began her downward slide. She
counted the windows as they passed, one, two, three, and then four.
Only a little distance more before she would be upon firm ground. As
her feet touched the plank, she glanced into the street and in that
awful moment saw Jordan Morse crossing the corner diagonally, within
but a few yards of where she stood, terrified.