“You are not badly hurt,” volunteered The Oskaloosa Kid. “Bridge couldn't find a mark on you—the bullet must have missed you.”
“He was holding me over the edge of the car when he fired.” The girl's voice reflected the physical shudder3 which ran through her frame at the recollection. “Then he threw me out almost simultaneously4. I suppose he thought that he could not miss at such close range.” For a time she was silent again, sitting stiffly erect5. Bridge could feel rather than see wide, tense eyes staring out through the darkness upon scenes, horrible perhaps, that were invisible to him and the Kid.
Suddenly the girl turned and threw herself face downward upon the bed. “O, God!” she moaned. “Father! Father! It will kill you—no one will believe me—they will think that I am bad. I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I've been a silly little fool; but I have never been a bad girl—and—-and—I had nothing to do with that awful thing that happened to-night.”
Bridge and the boy realized that she was not talking to them—that for the moment she had lost sight of their presence—she was talking to that father whose heart would be breaking with the breaking of the new day, trying to convince him that his little girl had done no wrong.
“I may die,” she said. “I want to die. I do not see how I can go on living after last night; but if I do die I want my father to know that I had nothing to do with it and that they tried to kill me because I wouldn't promise to keep still. It was the little one who murdered him—the one they called 'Jimmie' and 'The Oskaloosa Kid.' The big one drove the car—his name was 'Terry.' After they killed him I tried to jump out—I had been sitting in front with Terry—and then they dragged me over into the tonneau and later—the Oskaloosa Kid tried to kill me too, and threw me out.”
“To-morrow you will know about the murder—everyone will know about it; and I will be missed; and there will be people who saw me in the car with them, for someone must have seen me. Oh, I can't face it! I want to die. I will die! I come of a good family. My father is a prominent man. I can't go back and stand the disgrace and see him suffer, as he will suffer, for I was all he had—his only child. I can't bear to tell you my name—you will know it soon enough—but please find some way to let my father know all that I have told you—I swear that it is the truth—by the memory of my dead mother, I swear it!”
Bridge laid a hand upon the girl's shoulder. “If you are telling us the truth,” he said, “you have only a silly escapade with strange men upon your conscience. You must not talk of dying now—your duty is to your father. If you take your own life it will be a tacit admission of guilt8 and will only serve to double the burden of sorrow and ignominy which your father is bound to feel when this thing becomes public, as it certainly must if a murder has been done. The only way in which you can atone9 for your error is to go back and face the consequences with him—do not throw it all upon him; that would be cowardly.”
The girl did not reply; but that the man's words had impressed her seemed evident. For a while each was occupied with his own thoughts; which were presently disturbed by the sound of footsteps upon the floor below—the muffled10 scraping of many feet followed a moment later by an exclamation11 and an oath, the words coming distinctly through the loose and splintered flooring.
“Pipe the stiff,” exclaimed a voice which The Oskaloosa Kid recognized immediately as that of Soup Face.
“The guy probably lamped the swag an' died of heart failure,” suggested another.
The men were still laughing when the sound of a clanking chain echoed dismally16 from the cellar. Instantly silence fell upon the newcomers upon the first floor, followed by a—“Wotinel's that?” Two of the men had approached the staircase and started to ascend17 it. Slowly the uncanny clanking drew closer to the first floor. The girl on the bed turned toward Bridge.
“We don't know,” replied the man. “It followed us up here, or rather it chased us up; and then went down again just before you regained20 consciousness. I imagine we shall hear some interesting developments from below.”
“It's The Sky Pilot and his gang,” whispered The Oskaloosa Kid.
“It's The Oskaloosa Kid,” came a voice from below.
“An' wot croaked this guy here?” asked a third. “It wasn't nothin' nice—did you get the expression on his mug an' the red foam22 on his lips? I tell youse there's something in this house beside human bein's. I know the joint—it's hanted—they's spooks in it. Gawd! there it is now,” as the clanking rose to the head of the cellar stairs; and those above heard a sudden rush of footsteps as the men broke for the open air—all but the two upon the stairway. They had remained too long and now, their retreat cut off, they scrambled23, cursing and screaming, to the second floor.
Along the hallway they rushed to the closed door at the end—the door of the room in which the three listened breathlessly—hurling themselves against it in violent effort to gain admission.
“Who are you and what do you want?” cried Bridge.
“Let us in! Let us in!” screamed two voices. “Fer God's sake let us in. Can't you hear IT? It'll be comin' up here in a minute.”
The sound of the dragging chain could be heard at intervals24 upon the floor below. It seemed to the tense listeners above to pause beside the dead man as though hovering25 in gloating exultation26 above its gruesome prey27 and then it moved again, this time toward the stairway where they all heard it ascending28 with a creepy slowness which wrought29 more terribly upon tense nerves than would a sudden rush.
“The mills of the Gods grind slowly,” quoted Bridge.
“Oh, don't!” pleaded The Oskaloosa Kid.
“Let us in,” screamed the men without. “Fer the luv o' Mike have a heart! Don't leave us out here! IT's comin'! IT's comin'!”
“Oh, let the poor things in,” pleaded the girl on the bed. She was, herself, trembling with terror.
“No funny business, now, if I let you in,” commanded Bridge.
“On the square,” came the quick and earnest reply.
The THING had reached the head of the stairs when Bridge dragged the bed aside and drew the bolt. Instantly two figures hurled30 themselves into the room but turned immediately to help Bridge resecure the doorway31.
Just as it had done before, when Bridge and The Oskaloosa Kid had taken refuge there with the girl, the THING moved down the hallway to the closed door. The dragging chain marked each foot of its advance. If it made other sounds they were drowned by the clanking of the links over the time roughened flooring.
Within the room the five were frozen into utter silence, and beyond the door an equal quiet prevailed for a long minute; then a great force made the door creak and a weird32 scratching sounded high up upon the old fashioned panelling. Bridge heard a smothered33 gasp19 from the boy beside him, followed instantly by a flash of flame and the crack of a small caliber34 automatic; The Oskaloosa Kid had fired through the door.
Bridge seized the boy's arm and wrenched35 the weapon from him. “Be careful!” he cried. “You'll hurt someone. You didn't miss the girl much that time—she's on the bed right in front of the door.”
The Oskaloosa Kid pressed closer to the man as though he sought protection from the unknown menace without. The girl sprang from the bed and crossed to the opposite side of the room. A flash of lightning illuminated36 the chamber37 for an instant and the roof of the verandah without. The girl noted38 the latter and the open window.
“Look!” she cried. “Suppose it went out of another window upon this porch. It could get us so easily that way!”
“Shut up, you fool!” whispered one of the two newcomers. “It might hear you.” The girl subsided39 into silence.
There was no sound from the hallway.
“I reckon you croaked IT,” suggested the second newcomer, hopefully; but, as though the THING without had heard and understood, the clanking of the chain recommenced at once; but now it was retreating along the hallway, and soon they heard it descending40 the stairs.
Sighs of relief escaped more than a single pair of lips. “IT didn't hear me,” whispered the girl.
“If you're so nervy why don't you go down an' see wot it is?” asked one of the late arrivals.
“I believe I shall,” replied Bridge and pulled the bed away from the door.
Instantly a chorus of protests arose, the girl and The Oskaloosa Kid being most insistent42. What was the use? What good could he accomplish? It might be nothing; yet on the other hand what had brought death so horribly to the cold clay on the floor below? At last their pleas prevailed and Bridge replaced the bed before the door.
For two hours the five sat about the room waiting for daylight. There could be no sleep for any of them. Occasionally they spoke, usually advancing and refuting suggestions as to the identity of the nocturnal prowler below-stairs. The THING seemed to have retreated again to the cellar, leaving the upper floor to the five strangely assorted43 prisoners and the first floor to the dead man.
During the brief intervals of conversation the girl repeated snatches of her story and once she mentioned The Oskaloosa Kid as the murderer of the unnamed victim. The two men who had come last pricked44 up their ears at this and Bridge felt the boy's hand just touch his arm as though in mute appeal for belief and protection. The man half smiled.
“We seen The Oskaloosa Kid this evenin',” volunteered one of the newcomers.
“You did?” exclaimed the girl. “Where?”
“He'd just pulled off a job in Oakdale an' had his pockets bulgin' wid sparklers an' kale. We was follerin' him an' when we seen your light up here we t'ought it was him.”
The Oskaloosa Kid shrank closer to Bridge. At last he recognized the voice of the speaker. While he had known that the two were of The Sky Pilot's band he had not been sure of the identity of either; but now it was borne in upon him that at least one of them was the last person on earth he cared to be cooped up in a small, unlighted room with, and a moment later when one of the two rolled a 'smoke' and lighted it he saw in the flare45 of the flame the features of both Dopey Charlie and The General. The Oskaloosa Kid gasped once more for the thousandth time that night.
It had been Dopey Charlie who lighted the cigaret46 and in the brief illumination his friend The General had grasped the opportunity to scan the features of the other members of the party. Schooled by long years of repression47 he betrayed none of the surprise or elation48 he felt when he recognized the features of The Oskaloosa Kid.
If The General was elated The Oskaloosa Kid was at once relieved and terrified. Relieved by ocular proof that he was not a murderer and terrified by the immediate12 presence of the two who had sought his life.
His cigaret drawing well Dopey Charlie resumed: “This Oskaloosa Kid's a bad actor,” he volunteered. “The little shrimp49 tried to croak13 me; but he only creased50 my ribs51. I'd like to lay my mits on him. I'll bet there won't be no more Oskaloosa Kid when I get done wit him.”
The boy drew Bridge's ear down toward his own lips. “Let's go,” he said. “I don't hear anything more downstairs, or maybe we could get out on this roof and slide down the porch pillars.”
Bridge laid a strong, warm hand on the small, cold one of his new friend.
“Don't worry, Kid,” he said. “I'm for you.”
The two other men turned quickly in the direction of the speaker.
“Is de Kid here?” asked Dopey Charlie.
“He is, my degenerate52 friend,” replied Bridge; “and furthermore he's going to stay here and be perfectly53 safe. Do you grasp me?”
“Who are you?” asked The General.
“That is a long story,” replied Bridge; “but if you chance to recall Dink and Crumb54 you may also be able to visualize55 one Billy Burke and Billy Byrne and his side partner, Bridge. Yes? Well, I am the side partner.”
Before the yeggman could make reply the girl spoke up quickly. “This man cannot be The Oskaloosa Kid,” she said. “It was The Oskaloosa Kid who threw me from the car.”
“How do you know he ain't?” queried The General. “Youse was knocked out when these guys picks you up. It's so dark in here you couldn't reco'nize no one. How do you know this here bird ain't The Oskaloosa Kid, eh?”
“I have heard both these men speak,” replied the girl; “their voices were not those of any men I have known. If one of them is The Oskaloosa Kid then there must be two men called that. Strike a match and you will see that you are mistaken.”
The General fumbled56 in an inside pocket for a package of matches carefully wrapped against possible damage by rain. Presently he struck one and held the light in the direction of The Kid's face while he and the girl and Dopey Charlie leaned forward to scrutinize57 the youth's features.
“It's him all right,” said Dopey Charlie.
“You bet it is,” seconded The General.
“Why he's only a boy,” ejaculated the girl. “The one who threw me from the machine was a man.”
“Well, this one said he was The Oskaloosa Kid,” persisted The General.
“It's too bad he didn't kill you,” remarked Bridge pleasantly. “You're a thief and probably a murderer into the bargain—you tried to kill this boy just before he shot you.”
“Well wot's he?” demanded Dopey Charlie. “He's a thief—he said he was—look in his pockets—they're crammed59 wid swag, an' he's a gun-man, too, or he wouldn't be packin' a gat. I guess he ain't got nothin' on me.”
The darkness hid the scarlet60 flush which mounted to the boy's cheeks—so hot that he thought it must surely glow redly through the night. He waited in dumb misery61 for Bridge to demand the proof of his guilt. Earlier in the evening he had flaunted62 the evidence of his crime in the faces of the six hobos; but now he suddenly felt a great shame that his new found friend should believe him a house-breaker.
But Bridge did not ask for any substantiation63 of Charlie's charges, he merely warned the two yeggmen that they would have to leave the boy alone and in the morning, when the storm had passed and daylight had lessened64 the unknown danger which lurked65 below-stairs, betake themselves upon their way.
“And while we're here together in this room you two must sit over near the window,” he concluded. “You've tried to kill the boy once to-night; but you're not going to try it again—I'm taking care of him now.”
“You gotta crust, bo,” observed Dopey Charlie, belligerently66. “I guess me an' The General'll sit where we damn please, an' youse can take it from me on the side that we're goin' to have ours out of The Kid's haul. If you tink you're goin' to cop the whole cheese you got another tink comin'.”
“You are banking,” replied Bridge, “on the well known fact that I never carry a gun; but you fail to perceive, owing to the Stygian gloom which surrounds us, that I have the Kid's automatic in my gun hand and that the business end of it is carefully aiming in your direction.”
“Cheese it,” The General advised his companion; and the two removed themselves to the opposite side of the apartment, where they whispered, grumblingly67, to one another.
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收听单词发音
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1
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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6
spoke
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| 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 | |
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7
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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8
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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croak
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| vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚 | |
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croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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25
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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caliber
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| n.能力；水准 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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41
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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44
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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45
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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46
cigaret
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| n.（cigarette）香烟，纸烟，卷烟 | |
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47
repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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48
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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49
shrimp
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| n.虾，小虾；矮小的人 | |
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50
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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51
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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52
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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53
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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54
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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55
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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56
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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57
scrutinize
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| n.详细检查，细读 | |
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58
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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59
crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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60
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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61
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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62
flaunted
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| v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的过去式和过去分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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63
substantiation
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| n. 实体化, 证实, 证明 | |
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64
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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65
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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66
belligerently
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67
grumblingly
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| 喃喃报怨着，发牢骚着 | |
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