CHAPTER XXIII THE FACE IN THE NIGHT

 Johnny Thompson possessed¹ a robust² body. Proper food, plenty of sleep, plain living and clean thinking had kept it so. Few there are who could have endured his harrowing experience in the tunnel without a prolonged visit to the hospital.

 

Johnny did not entirely³ escape. On the second day following, a low fever set in. His doctor ordered him to bed until the fever abated⁴. It lasted for an entire week. Such a week, for a person endowed with a boundless⁵ supply of nervous energy, was a great trial.

 

It did, however, give him time for thinking. And his thoughts were long, long thoughts.

 

Often he found them returning to the youth with the burning eyes. Over and over again he seemed to hear him say: “It is time for some who are honest, good and clean to die.”

 

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Curiously⁶ enough, it was while listening to the Voice, which came on exactly at ten o’clock each evening, that he thought oftenest of those words. There was something about the earnest tones of that mysterious unknown voice that reminded him of the nameless one. “And may he not be the same person?” he asked himself one night.

 

But when he thought of it more soberly, the thing seemed absurd. “In a city of millions, how could it be?” he asked himself. Then he dismissed the matter from his mind.

 

There were other matters requiring consideration. And these made him restless, impatient to be up and away. Some of his friends were in trouble. Curlie Carson had opened a registered mail sack; had made himself liable to arrest; might even yet be arrested and thrown into prison by the Federal authorities if the priceless package were not found and returned.

 

“And how is it to be found?” he asked himself. “Find the man who took it and make him confess, to be sure. How simple!”

 

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Strangely enough, while Johnny was still confined to his bed and might well have been thinking of this very matter, Grace Palmer received a letter which for a time puzzled her greatly.

 

Addressed to her at her home, it contained the simple statement:

 

“The man you are looking for will be at the turn of the breakwater on the island at ten o’clock P. M., Wednesday, this week.”

 

The note, which was unsigned, reached her on Tuesday. She racked her mind for its meaning. She had often gone to this man-made island, but never in search of a man.

 

“Except—” Her heart beat double time. “Except on that night with the young Air Mail pilot.

 

“I wonder—”

 

She went to the phone and got Curlie on the wire. She told him of the note.

 

“It’s a chance,” he said, growing quite excited. “Shall we go?”

 

“Yes.” She did not hesitate. “I’ll bring father’s gun.”

 

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“Gun? Oh, certainly!”

 

“You know,” she supplemented, “I am really a good shot. And we may need it.” They had reason later to regret not having used it on the offensive instead of on the defensive⁷ as they had feared they might be obliged to do.

 

They went to the island half an hour early. In a narrow space, just wide enough to afford them a place of concealment⁸, jammed between two huge squares of limestone⁹ with another as their resting place and a fourth forming a sort of fortification before them, they waited while Curlie’s watch ticked the half hour away.

 

The night was chill. There was no moon. For all that, a sort of half light reflected from the city’s street lights made it possible for them to see a moving object at some distance.

 

At exactly the hour of ten an object appeared on the narrow stretch of sand that lay beyond the breakwater.

 

From Curlie’s position it was impossible for him to tell whether it was a man or some prowling dog. He believed it to be a dog.

 

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The girl had placed a big, blue, long-barreled revolver on the rocks before them. The manner in which her nervous fingers gripped it, together with the rapid beating of her heart which he could feel through her shoulder pressed against his own, told him plainer than words that she believed it to be a man.

 

Some twenty feet of tumbled rocks lay between them and the sand. Having crossed the sand, the figure proceeded to clamber over the rocks. They lay directly in his path. Curlie drew in a long breath. With her free hand, the girl gripped his arm.

 

“She’s not really afraid,” he told himself in some surprise. “A college girl, a professor’s daughter, too, and a real sport!”

 

There was little time for further thought. The man, if man it was, was coming fast. Now he had covered a quarter of the distance, now half. Now—

 

Curlie’s lips were formed for the word, “Stop!” when one of those curious bits of circumstance which so often bring our lives to an abrupt¹⁰ turn, came to pass. The searchlight from some boat out on the lake played for just a fraction of a second on the spot.

 

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In that split second Curlie saw that the figure was that of a man; saw, too, that he was short and round shouldered, that his hair was curly and that his left ear was entirely missing.

 

So much for well trained eyes. No man may hope to be an Air Mail pilot unless he possesses such eyes.

 

A split second, then the light was gone. But what was far more startling, the figure, too, was gone.

 

“He—he’s not there!” the girl whispered.

 

Curlie placed his hand gently over her mouth.

 

For five full minutes, with the girl’s vibrant¹¹ shoulder against his own, he lay motionless. When he spoke¹² it was still in a whisper:

 

“You keep the place covered with the gun. I—I’m going over the rocks.”

 

For a moment her hand on his arm held him back. When her grip relaxed, he went over—and found not a trace of the man!

 

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“What a pity!” he exclaimed. “We had him in our power. Now he is gone. We should have covered him and made him surrender.”

 

“Yes,” she agreed, “we should have. But who would have thought he would disappear?”

 

“The light. I know. By the way,” he chuckled¹³, “what did we mean to do?”

 

“Yes. What? But was he the man?”

 

“Who knows?”

 

“And if he was, what could he be doing here?”

 

“Check,” said Curlie.

 

“Who wrote that letter, and why?” she asked again.

 

“Double check,” Curlie laughed. “Let’s go home.”

 

“Do you think that was the man who took the package?” Grace Palmer asked as they rode home.

 

“I think it may have been. I didn’t see his face clearly. It was too dark that morning. But his figure was much the same.”

 

204

“You had better tell your friend, Johnny Thompson, about this. Describe him. His ear was gone.”

 

“Cut clean off.”

 

Curlie did tell Johnny. Johnny told some one else, and something worth while came of it.

1 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

2 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 abated   

减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The worker's concern about cuts in the welfare funding has not abated. 工人们对削减福利基金的关心并没有减少。
• The heat has abated. 温度降低了。

5 boundless   

adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的

参考例句：

• The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep repose of nature.无边无际的森林在大自然静寂的怀抱中酣睡着。
• His gratitude and devotion to the Party was boundless.他对党无限感激、无限忠诚。

6 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

7 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

8 concealment   

n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒

参考例句：

• the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
• Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来，待危险过去后再出来。

9 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

10 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

11 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。