“Larry Green,” he said briefly. “He's coming out next month, too, and we
are all fixed up proper. We are going to get the pile and then we're off
to South America, and you won't see us for dust.”
Though he employed all the colloquialisms which were common, his tone
was that of a man of education, and yet there was something in his
address which told John as clearly as though the man had confessed as
much, that he had never occupied any social position in life.
The warder's step on the stones outside reduced them to silence.
Suddenly his voice came up the stairs.
“Forty-three,” he called sharply, “I want you down here.”
John took his paint pot and brush and went clattering down the
uncarpeted stairs.
“Where's the other man?” asked the warder, in a low voice.
“He's upstairs in the back room.”
The warder stepped out of the door and looked left and right. Coming up
from Princetown was a big, grey car.
“Put down your paint pot,” he said.
His voice was shaking with excitement.
“I am going upstairs. When that car comes abreast of the gate, ask no
questions and jump into it. Get down into the bottom and pull a sack
over you, and do not get up until the car stops.”
The blood rushed to John Lexman's head, and he staggered.
“My God!” he whispered.
“Do as I tell you,” hissed the warder.
Like an automaton John put down his brushes, and walked slowly to the
gate. The grey car was crawling up the hill, and the face of the driver
was half enveloped in a big rubber mask. Through the two great goggles
John could see little to help him identify the man. As the machine came
up to the gate, he leapt into the tonneau and sank instantly to the
bottom. As he did so he felt the car leap forward underneath him. Now
it was going fast, now faster, now it rocked and swayed as it gathered
speed. He felt it sweeping down hill and up hill, and once he heard a
hollow rumble as it crossed a wooden bridge.
He could not detect from his hiding place in what direction they were
going, but he gathered they had switched off to the left and were making
for one of the wildest parts of the moor. Never once did he feel the car
slacken its pace, until, with a grind of brakes, it stopped suddenly.
“Get out,” said a voice.
John Lexman threw off the cover and leapt out and as he did so the car
turned and sped back the way it had come.
For a moment he thought he was alone, and looked around. Far away in
the distance he saw the grey bulk of Princetown Gaol. It was an accident
that he should see it, but it so happened that a ray of the sun fell
athwart it and threw it into relief.
He was alone on the moors! Where could he go?
He turned at the sound of a voice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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