Part 6 (1/2)
The General fue of e 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 scrutinize the youth's features
”It's hiht,” 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
”An' he shot rowled Dopey Charlie
”It's too bad he didn't kill you,” ree pleasantly ”You're a thief and probably a ain--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 craun-ot nothin' on me”
The darkness hid the scarlet flush which ht it ht He waited in duuilt
Earlier in the evening he had flaunted the evidence of his crireat shame that his new found friend should believe hie did not ask for any substantiation of Charlie's charges, he men that they would have to leave the boy alone and in the ht had lessened the unknown danger which lurked below-stairs, betake theether in this room you two must sit over near the ,” he concluded ”You've tried to kill the boy once to-night; but you're not going to try it again--I'otta crust, bo,” observed Dopey Charlie, belligerently ”I guess me an' The General'll sit where we damn please, an' youse can take it frooin' to have ours out of The Kid's haul
If you tink you're goin' to cop the whole cheese you got another tink coe, ”on the well known fact that I never carry a gun; but you fail to perceive, owing to the Stygian glooun hand and that the business end of it is carefully ai in your direction”
”Cheese it,” The General advised his companion; and the two removed themselves to the opposite side of the apartly, to one another
The girl, the boy, and Bridge waited as patiently as they could for the coht and planning against the future Bridge advised the girl to return at once to her father; but this she resolutely refused to do, ade to face her friends even though her father ht acco that his mother was dead and that he could not return hoe could not find it in his heart to refuse him, for the man realized that the boyish waif possessed a subtile attraction, as forceful as it was inexplicable Not since he had followed the open road in coht care to 'Pal' before The Kid crossed his path on the dark and storilist, and MAN, Bridge had found a physical and e was muscled as a Greek God, while the stocky Byrne, metamorphosed by the fire of a woman's love, possessed all the chivalry of the care free tra the evidences of his cultural birthright
In the youth Bridge found an intellectual equal with the added charm of a physical dependent The man did not attempt to fathoed cowardice; he merely knew that he would not have had the youth otherwise if he could have changed hination of surfeited disgust; but in the case of The Oskaloosa Kid he realized a certain artless char for the youth, so brazen and unaffected was the boy's admission of his terror of both the real and the unreal irl also ell bred was quite evident to Bridge, while both the girl and the youth realized the refinee companion and protector which Fate had ordered for them, while they also saw in one another social counterparts of theed its slow course, the three came to trust each other e train of circuether--the thief, thea period of thoughtful silence when the night was darkest just before the dawn and the rain had settled to a dis or by thunder that the five occupants of the roo sound fro fall of a child's feet upon the uncarpeted boards in the rooidity, the five sat straining every faculty to catch the minutest sound from the black void where the dead led with the inexplicable footsteps, the hollow reverberation fro of the chain behind the nah the interht
Up, up, up it ca of the feet ceased The clanking rose until the five heard the scraping of the chain against the door frame at the head of the cellar stairs They heard it pass across the floor toward the center of the rooainst the silence of the awful night a woe leaped to his feet Without a word he tore the bed froirl in adown to that wo, froirl, and seconding her the youth sprang to his feet and threw his are
”Please! Please!” he cried ”Oh, please don't leave irl also ran to the o!” she begged ”Oh, for God's sake, don't leave us here alone!”