At eight o'clock Mary had gone to Helen's.
"If I'm not back at ten, I sha'n't be home tonight," she had told
Hutchins as she left the house.
At half past eight Archey called, full of the topic which had been
started that afternoon. Hutchins told him what Mary had said.
"All right," he said. "I'll wait." He left his car under the porte
cochère, and went upstairs to chat with Miss Cordelia and Miss Patty.
At twenty to ten, Hutchins was looking through the hall window up the
drive when he saw a figure running toward the house. The door-bell
rang--a loud, insistent peal.
Hutchins opened the door and saw a man standing there, shabby and
spattered with mud.
"Is Miss Spencer in?"
"No; she's out."
The hall light shone on the visitor's face and he stared hard at the
butler. "Hutch," he said in a quieter voice, "don't you remember me?"
"N-n-no, sir; I think not, sir," said the other--and he, too, began to
stare.
"Don't you remember the day I fell out of the winesap tree, and you
carried me in, and the next week I tried to climb on top of that hall
clock, and knocked it over, and you tried to catch it, and it knocked you
over, too?"
The butler's lips moved, but at first he couldn't speak.
"Is it you, Master Paul?" he whispered at last, as though he were seeing
a visitor from the other world. And again "Is it you, Master Paul?"
"You know it is. Listen, now. Pull yourself together. We've got to get to
the dam before ten o'clock, or they'll blow it up. Put your hat on. Have
you a car here?"
In the hall the clock chimed a quarter to ten. The tone of its bell
seemed to act as a spur to them both.
"There's a young gentleman here," said Hutchins, suddenly turning. "I'll
run and get him right away."
As they speeded along the road which led to the bridge above the dam,
Paul told what he had heard--Archey in the front seat listening as well
as he could.
"He didn't come right out and say so," Paul rapidly explained, "but he
dropped hints that a blind man could see. I met him on a train
yesterday--a Russian--a fanatic--proud of what he's done--!
"As nearly as I can make it out, they have got a boat leaning against the
dam with five hundred pounds of TNT in it--or hanging under it--I don't
know which--
"There is a battery in the boat, and clockwork to set the whole thing off
at ten o'clock tonight. He didn't come right out and say so, you
understand, and I may be making a fool of myself. But if I am--God knows,
it won't be the first time ... Anyhow we'll soon know."
It was a circuitous road that led to the dam. The rain was pouring again,
the streets deserted. Once they were held up at a railroad crossing....
The clock in the car pointed at five minutes to ten when their headlights
finally fell upon the bridge. As they drew nearer they could hear nothing
in the darkness but the thunder of the water. The bridge was a low one
and only twenty yards up the stream from the falls; but though they
strained their eyes to the uttermost they couldn't see as far as the dam.
"I'll turn one of the headlights," said Archey, "and we'll drive over
slow."
The lamp, turned at an angle, swept over the edge of the dam like a
searchlight. Half way over the bridge the car stopped. They had found
what they were looking for.
"Why doesn't it go over?" shouted Archey, jumping out.
"Anchored to a tree up the bend, I guess," Paul shouted back. "They must
have played her down the stream after dark."
Nearly over the dam was a boat painted black and covered with tarpaulin.
"The explosive is probably hanging from a chain underneath," thought
Paul. "The current would hold it tight against the mason-work."
"We ought to have brought some help," shouted Archey, suddenly realizing.
"If that dam breaks, it will sweep away the factory and part of the
town.... What are you going to do?"
Paul had dropped his hat in the stream below the bridge and was watching
to see where it went over the crest. It swept over the edge a few feet to
the right of the boat.
He moved up a little and tried next by dropping his coat. This caught
fairly against the boat. Then before they knew what he was doing, he had
climbed over the rail of the bridge and had dropped into the swiftly
moving water below.
"Done it!" gasped Hutchins.
Paul's arms were clinging around the bow of the boat. He twisted his
body, the current helping him, and gained the top of the tarpaulin. Under
the spotlight thrown by the car, it was like a scene from some epic
drama, staged by the gods for their own amusement--man against the
elements, courage against the unknown-life against death.
"He's feeling for his knife," thought Archey. "He's got it!"
Paul ran his blade around the cloth and had soon tossed the tarpaulin
over the dam. Then he made a gesture of helplessness. From the bridge,
they could see that the stern of the boat was heavily boxed in.
"It's under there!" groaned Hutchins. "He can't get to it!"
Archey ran to the car for a hammer, but Paul had climbed to the bow and
was looking at the ring in which was fastened the cable that held the
boat in place. The strain of the current had probably weakened this, for
the next thing they saw--Paul was tugging at the cable with all his
strength, worrying it from side to side, kicking at the bow with the
front of his heel, evidently trying to pull the ring from its socket.
"If that gives way, the whole thing goes over," cried Archey. "I'll throw
him the hammer."
Even as he spoke the ring suddenly came out of the bow; and thrown off
his balance by his own effort, Paul went over the side of the boat and in
the same moment had disappeared from view.
"Gone ..." gasped Hutchins. "And now that's going after him...."
The boat was lurching forward--unsteadily--unevenly--
"Something chained to the bottom, all right," thought Archey, all eyes to
see, the hammer still in his hand. As they watched, the boat tipped
forward--lurched--vanished--followed quickly by two cylindrical objects
which, in the momentary glimpse they caught of them, had the appearance
of steel barrels.
The two on the bridge were still looking at each other, when Archey
thought to glance at the clock in his car.
It was on the stroke of ten.
"That may go off yet if the thing holds together," shouted Archey. "It
was built good and strong...."
They stood there for a minute looking down into the darkness and were
just on the point of turning back to the car when an explosion arose from
the racing waters far below the dam....
Presently the wind, blowing up stream, drenched their faces with
spray.... Splinters of rock and sand began to fall....