| Show BANNER SERIAL FICTION She Painted Her Face race 4 II- dwy a of 01 fate tove ad r igue Puy fy YATES O O. O or J Y CHAPTER L IX LX Continued 20 0 20 s For an instant there was dead deac silence ThenIs ThenIs ThenIs Then Then- Is that you Elgar he be cried cried- and brought my heart into my mouth I had bad meant to approach him forthwith as Elgar would have approached approached ap ap- ap him bearing the dressing dressing- case But now Elgar's failure to answer would tell teIl him that something some some- something thing was wrong and once his suspicions suspicions sus sus- j J were roused It would be but buta 0 a matter of moments before he be discovered discovered dis dis- covered the truth And my lady was still within range In a flash I had bad whipped to where I had laid her down As I stooped stooped- Mother of God God Godl screeched Vir Vir- Virgil gil and glI-and and told me he be knew we wc were gone My hands bands encountered nothing Elizabeth was was not there Being bound she could not have moved yet she was not there For an instant instant instant in in- stant my heart beart stood still and then I saw that because of U tile the e darkness I 1 must be a foot or so out I felt to the right to the left I took a apace apace apace pace forward and stepped on a rotten stick Its snap declared my presence and I shot a glance at the car ear I could of course course see nothing except the beam of outs its lights Virgil Vir Vir- gil was quiet as death Death The man was armed and Elizabeth lay hereabouts Hereabouts but where I fell on my hands and knees and began to crawl sweeping the cobbles before me with one of T my hands It was just about here here here- I knew it More to the right perhaps perhaps per per- haps No Then I 1 must have passed her I made my way back As I went I cast to and fro fro fro- frantically And then my hand brushed something the something the sole sale of her shoe My heart leaped UP un to en and then fell fel down ow into hell i It was not her shoe It was that of the man I had killed killed from from whose side I had set out to find her a moment moment mo mo- ment ago I What that discovery meant took a year from mylie my life or it meant that before the darkness I was a broken reed and when I looked to the headlights headlights headlights head head- lights to get my bearings afresh their beam bea was gone CHAPTER X XI XI XI I shook the sweat from my eyes and tried to think wh what t to io do And since my thoughts were frenzied and mostly poisoned by the knowledge of what I ought to have bave done I will not recite them here but will wiIl state what upon reflection if if indeed you youcan youcan can give it that I name I set out to do I set out to find Percy Virgil and began to steal forward to where I believed the car was Now I had seen Elgar coming oming because because because be be- cause he was silhouetted against the dusk which was keeping the world without And since I had no wish to offer to Virgil the target which Elgar had offer offered d to me I dropped to the cobbles and once more began began began be be- gan to crawl To say that I watched and prayed means nothing at all I moved like any shadow and listened with all my might Elizabeths Elizabeth's life might depend on my hearing the tile enemy move and I made the slowest progress progress progress ress ress because my own advance was bound to embarrass my ear I tried to keep the direction I hoped was right by glancing up at the ridgepoles ridgepoles ridge ridge- poles from time to time tune but the tile court was so broad that they gave me but little help and after a mine minute minute min min- ute or two I 1 could be sure of el nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing except that I was not not heading away from the house And then I heard Virgil move The man was away away to my right and his foot had touched ed something that stirred stirred stirred-I I think perhaps a Binder finder flinder fin Bin der of broken sl slate te I shall never forget that almost imperceptible sound that stood up out cut of the thc silence e to make me a post finger-post for it was so slight yet commanded the balance of life and death With a hammering heart I turned kat at once to my right no longer pausto paus- paus ling to listen but using the utmost care to deny to Virgil the cue he had given to me o Before I had covered six feet my outstretched hand met something that did not belong to the court It might have been a silk tassel And then I knew I was touching Elizabeths Elizabeth's hair I could have we wept t for relief Now had I not been sure that Virgil Virgil Virgil Vir Vir- gil was near I would have picked her up and run for the woods but buthe buthe buthe he must have have heard me moving and almost at on once e have seen me against the dusk and then we should have been at his mercy because he was armed And so I determined that we must both stay where we were unless and until something happened to make it t less dangerous to move To show her that it was I I Ir IJ J r p smoothed her hair and hed he'd her hands tight light in hi mine Then very gently I cased the knot from her herc c throat and lifted the cord from her neck Then I began to unfasten the cord which was binding her wrists Her blessed hands bands were free and her fingers as though to thank me were fast about mine when something something some some- thing moved upon her directly below below be be- low my face It was was a sliding movement move II ment upon the breast of her frock As it moved I felt her stiffen and so I knew It had nothing to do with her and when I put down a hand and I found that tha t it was the halter which had been about her neck As I touched It It moved again again- and told me the truth Percy Virgil was feeling the other end I For once my brain worked quick quick- ly Virgil had found the ilie cord and knew what it was And now he was testing it to it-to to see if it both ends were free If I gradually took the strain he hc would believe it still fast to Elizabeth's Elizabeths Elizabeths Elizabeth's Elizabeths Elizabeth's Eliza Eliza- beths beth's neck and would lead himself up to his quarry hand band over hand Up to his helpless quarry Up to his doom I took the loop in hi my hand and andset andset set out to play my fish He came with a rush at the last and with both of his hands on the cord he had no chance Before the man knew where he was I had his wrists His hands were empty No doubt when he e found the cord he be had put his pistol away Be that as it may he was finished The snake was scotched Of course he fought like a mad mad- man And I I-I I I laughed in his face tace It n was he that had lent me a strength which was not of this world I think If it I had pleased I could have torn his arms from their sockets and tossed them across the court i I I let him fight in silence And when he was spent I spoke to Elizabeth Eliza Eliza- Elizabeth beth lying two paces away Stay where you are my lady and take out your gag She answered at once Im quite all right she an an- Im standing now Then listen said I I. I I want you to leave the court When youre you're clear of it wait for me I may be bea a little while because of this cursed cursed curs curs- dark ed Very well said Elizabeth shak shak- ily fly I heard beard her turn and start moving moving ing towards the mouth of the court Come said I I to VirgiL Lets look ook for the sepulcher With that I turned him about without loosing his wrists Now I mea meant t to find that well if it it took me an hour and a half hal and so as Is often the way I found it almost at once At least I found the he car which was near enough enough- or rather my prisoner found it it by fouling one of its wings Slowly I I steered him round it And so a few moments later we stood by bylie bythe bythe the lie side of the welL well- To be sure I circled this brushing brush brush- ing ng the parapets parapet's side and counting the three stone statues of men men-at- arms with arms with Virgil always moving before me because I had hold of his wrists And then I turned him hum round and bent him over its edge Im going to kill you I r said because I know its it's not safe to let et you live If it was safe Id I'd thrash you ou within an inch of your life ife and then call caU in the police and give jive them the inch that was left But you have t taught me tonight that while you are still in hi being your cousin will always go in hi danger danger danger dan dan- ger of death And so for once in a way Ill I'll take a leaf out of your book and go all lengths The man said nothing at all but butI I could feel him tr trembling under my hand As I I. I bent him over the depths I knew he be was bracing his knees against the parapets parapet's wall and God knows mows I did not blame him for as I leaned over above him the awful breath of the water smote my face It was chill yet heavy and reeked of death and decay and it offered so dreadful an earnest of what was to come that for one instant I flinched from rom thrusting a fellow creature to such a doom I suppose that he felt me falter for tor or he threw his hIs' weight on to his knees in one final desperate effort to hold himself back This to no avail For the parapet parapet parapet para para- pet crumbled before him and we went down together into the well I do not know how far I went down but I know that my lungs were bursting before I came up and the first thing I clearly remember remember remember ber was scrabbling upon a wall that was coated with slime and finding a crack too small to admit my fin fin- ger Then I heard Virgil rise beside me for me-for for of of course I 1 had let him go and go-and and that restored in hi an instant instant instant in in- stant the wits I had lost I missed his throat in the darkness darkness darkness dark dark- ness but but found his wrist but both bothof of us knew that tha t. t the he odds were now more equal than they had been in inthe inthe inthe the court With a frightful laugh he flung an arm round my neck and I had just time to draw breath before that hellish water once more closed over our heads beads I tore away his arm but before I could seize his throat his arm was back on my neck Again I cast it off orr and forced his wrists together Into one hand but as we rose again he locked his legs about mine and threw his weight down And then I thought I Iwas Iwas Iwas was done for though at last I had managed to seize his throat I could not kick us up to the surface nor spare spare a hand to deal with the grip of his legs Unless I could kill him quickly I put forth all my strength and my fingers sank into his throat as though it were dough The blood was pounding in my temples and I felt that my senses were were swaying for want of air when all of a sudden his limbs and his body went slack and andI J I knew I was free And then I was back on the surface and was blowing like any grampus and thanking God for forthe forthe forthe the gift of that tainted air Now whether in hi fact I l' killed Virgil Virgil Vir Vir- gil or whether he drowned himself in an effort to end my life lie I never shall know but I know that the man was dead or else had lost his senses and so was presently drowned for though he rose rose beside me he never moved and I think that after a little he sank for good Though my case was not so bad it was evil enough I was not wholly exhausted but the struggle had snapped my strength and I badly needed the respite I could not take As was to tobe tobe tobe be expected the walls of the well were smooth and though I proved them all round dislodging slugs and slime and all manner of filth I could find no sort of handhold to which I could cling There were cracks In plenty between the blocks of stone of which the walls had been built for either they had not been cemented or else the cement was gone but they were too small for formy formy formy my fingers and there was nothing else All AU the time my strength was failing fail ing for the deadly chill of the water water wa ter was laying hold of my muscles and stealing into my blood and though I did what t I could to hold it at bay the realization that I must very soon sink began as an ill ill- mannered bully to thrust aside my efforts to think what to do to be saved To show how desperate I was I wasted the last of my strength In a frantic effort to find Elizabeths Elizabeth's key this this with the mad Idea of thrusting thrusting thrusting thrust thrust- ing it into a crack and so creating a projection to which I could cling and though I suppose a more utterly utterly ut ut- ut terly futile design was never conceived con conn as luck would have it it actually saved my life To get a hand Into my pocket was very hard but the moment my fingers were in they closed upon something which I had not known was there And that was the humble humble humble hum hum- ble tool which once already that night had sav saved d two lives It was the screw-driver screw indeed In a twinkling I had the screwdriver screwdriver screw screw- driver out and had pressed its blade into a crack perhaps some eight or orten orten orten ten inches above my head Praying that the steel was honest I gradually let the handle take some of my weight and when I found that it would hold me I let it take more But for the help of the water it must have bent or broken beneath my weight but the two to together together to to- gether bore me mc and gave me just that respite my weary muscles re And what was still more important it gave me a definite hope that though my plight was serious se serious rious I might in hi the end be saved And then I heard beard Elizabeth calling calling calling call call- ing my name For a moment I thought very fast Then Then- Lie Lle down I yelled Lie down and crawl slowly forward Im I'm down downin in the well but lie down The parapets parapet's parapets parapet's parapets parapet's para para- pets pet's gone Perhaps two minutes went by and then a fragment of mortar fell down by my side still Stop I screamed Stay Youre You're right on the edge Elizabeth answered at once Im quite all right my darling What shall I do I wonder how bow many women so I placed would so have comported themselves No wailing walling no useless I inquiries no bubbling statements of how she came to be there Only the eager question What question What shall I Ido Ido Ido do And I was ready enough Whilst she was approaching I had bad not been wasting my time Find the car I said When youve you've found her switch on her lights Then back her slowly towards towards towards to to- wards the mouth of the court Her lights will show you the cord that I took wok from your neck Take that and the pieces that bound your ankles and wrists Then back the car again till you see your dressing Put that into the car and then drive slowly forward until your lights are shining full on the welL When youve you've done that come back and Ill I'll tell you some more All AU right How long she was gone I cannot pretend to say but she must have been very quick for though the time tune passed slowly at the m moment ment at which I pictured her finding the case the rim of the the well above me grew suddenly bright Then she must have dipped the lamps for forthe forthe forthe the light came down down to to reveal a n ladder of dogs driven into the wall of the well Some wells have ladders like ke that to the waters water's edge and at once I left my handhold and swimming swimming swimming swim- swim ming beneath the ladder stretched up my hand band But the dogs did not come so low For all that I Iwas Iwas Iwas was sure that they could not be far faraway faraway faraway away because a ladder is useless unless it runs down for some dis tance As I returned to my screw screwdriver screw er er- er Yes Richard said Elizabeth quietly Tie Tic all the cord together and add the strap Then open the tool-box tool and take the tool-kit tool out If there are tire tire levers levers there I want them most If |
