An Oregon Girl Part 37

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 part.i.tion 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 part.i.tion 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, d.a.m.n 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, hoa.r.s.ely exclaiming, "G.o.d, 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 hoa.r.s.ely.

"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, hoa.r.s.e 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 hoa.r.s.ely:

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Eesa know a da way to fix 'em!"

Swiftly opening the part.i.tion 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, G.o.d 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 gla.s.s 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 ash.o.r.e, 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, a.s.sail 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 fas.h.i.+on, 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 gla.s.s 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 part.i.tion 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 part.i.tion 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 s.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sumed character.

He picked up the revolver that he had wrenched from Virginia, and which lay upon the floor, and his att.i.tude 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.