He lay quiet an instant, resting. He didn't wish to risk the success of
his expedition by fatiguing himself now. He wanted his full strength and
breath for any crisis that he should meet in the room where Linda was
confined.
Many times, he knew, skulking figures had been concealed in this garden.
Probably the Turners, in the days of the blood-feud, had often waited in
its shadows for a sight of some one of their enemies in a lighted
window. Old ghosts dwelt in it; he could see their shadows waver out of
the corner of his eyes. Or perhaps it was only the shadow of the
brambles, blown by the wind.
Once his heart leaped into his throat at a sharp crack of brush beside
him; and he could scarcely restrain a muscular jerk that might have
revealed his position. But when he turned his head he could see nothing
but the coverts and the moon above them. A garden snake, or perhaps a
blind mole, had made the sound.
Four minutes later he was within one dozen feet of the designated
window. There was a stretch of moonlight between, but he passed it
quickly. And now he stood in bold relief against the moonlit house-wall.
He was in perfectly plain sight of any one on the hill behind. Possibly
his distant form might have been discerned from the window of one of the
lesser houses occupied by Simon's kin. But he was too close to the wall
to be visible from the windows of Simon's house, except by a deliberate
scrutiny. And the window slipped up noiselessly in his hands.
He was considerably surprised. He had expected this window to be locked.
Some way, he felt less hopeful of success. He recalled in his mind the
directions that Linda had left, wondering if he had come to the wrong
window. But there was no chance of a mistake in this regard; it was the
northernmost window in the east wing. However, she had said that she
would be confined in an interior room, and possibly the Turners had seen
no need of barriers other than its locked door. Probably they had not
even anticipated that Bruce would attempt a rescue.
He leaped lightly upward and slipped silently into the room. Except for
the moonlit square on the floor it was quite in darkness. It seemed to
him that even in the night hours over a camp fire he had never known
such silence as this that pressed about him now.
He stood a moment, hardly breathing. But he decided it was not best to
strike a match. There were no enemies here, or they certainly would have
accosted him when he raised the window; and a match might reveal his
presence to some one in an adjoining room. He rested his hand against
the wall, then moved slowly around the room. He knew that by this
course he would soon encounter the door that led into the interior
rooms.
In a moment he found it. He stood waiting. He turned the knob gently;
then softly pulled. But the door was locked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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