There was nothing for it now but to wait. And yet it seemed a desperate
thing to do. Weary and blown as Doris was, it would have seemed better
to have gone on and on--anything to put distance between Cyril and the
death that surely awaited them back there. It seemed impossible that
so long a time as this could have elapsed before the tell-tale rope of
sheets should have been discovered. Already she was sure that Wentz and
his men must be on the way in a machine or on horses, perhaps which
would cover the distance they had traveled in less than a quarter of
the time. She thought that she heard the sound of a machine in the
distance and the voices of men. She pleaded with him to go on, but he
only smiled at her.
“You must do what I say, Doris,” he said, and then paused, listening.
“They’re coming,” he whispered.
She _had_ heard the sound of a machine. “From which direction?” she
gasped.
“There,” and he pointed across the gully.
“They’ll be here in a moment. Listen to me! Walk quickly to your right,
across the road to that large stone. Stop!” She obeyed wonderingly.
“Now cross the road again, using those rocks as stepping stones.” She
did it, bewildered, pausing on a ledge of rocks that formed a part of
the crag. “Now follow the line of the rocks into the bushes. Fifty feet
from the road, hidden among the shrubbery, you’ll find a cleft in the
rocks. Climb it and you’ll come out here,” and he pointed upward just
above the road. “Wait for me there. I’ll come in a moment.”
And as she hesitated, he caught her by the elbows and shoved her along
the ledge backwards. “Go! Do you hear? I’ll have no refusal.”
There was no denying the accent of command in his voice or the quick
flash of his eye. Never until von Stromberg had badgered her today
had a man spoken to her in this tone before. But she loved him for it,
rejoiced in his strength--the primitive instinct of woman to obey.
When she had gone, Hammersley quickly crossed the stream and took
a position behind a thick bush, listening to the exhaust of the
approaching machine, but listening and looking, too, in the opposite
direction for sounds of his pursuers. A searchlight made fantastic
shapes among the leaves and long shadows suddenly shot out along the
road.
Hammersley had drawn his automatic from his pocket and was fingering
it coolly. He put his fingers over his eyes, so that the light would
not mar his familiarity with the darkness. He did not know how many
men opposed him and did not seem to care. The main thing now was to
keep his eye undimmed and his hand steady. The machine came, slowed
down and stopped while a guttural exclamation came from the driver. The
searchlight focused downward into the rocks of the gully. Screening his
eyes from its light with a hand, Hammersley peered out at the occupants
of the car. There were two men--better than three, but not so good as
one. The man at the wheel rose and got down just beside him, moving
forward to remove the obstacles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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