Part 36 (2/2)

Couldn't let you monopolize him--absolutely not, Mr. Guard! Do you think I was hiding out that noon only by luck and chance? No, no! I saw you monkeying with the chimney door that forenoon. I saw how you were hopping around and I got a good look at your face. Says I to myself, Tom not being handy, 'There's something to be pulled off, and I'll make sure how it is pulled.' That's how I happened to be on the business side of that s.h.i.+eld, Mr. Guard. It was good work. It leaves our friend pretty comfortable, so far as the d.i.c.ks are concerned. Tom and I have got to keep dodging 'em. We didn't have your advantages, you know--Tom and I didn't! We simply did the best we could in getting out--realizing the value of time.”

The short man was employing a patronizing tone, as if accomplis.h.i.+ng an escape from state prison was merely a matter of election of methods. All of the guard's official pride was in arms. He advanced on the convict and shook a finger under his nose. ”How did you get out? You don't dare to tell me. It was an accident. You didn't use any brains. You don't dare to tell, I say!”

”Oh yes, I do!” The convict was placid. ”I'll tell you because you'll never dare to open your mouth on the matter. Furthermore, you've got to understand the position Tom and I are in right now in regard to a third party. That party is a trusty--he gets out in three months from now and has been having the run of the corridors as a repair man.”

Wagg growled something.

”Oh yes, he will!” a.s.severated the convict. ”He'll come out on time!

A fine show of yourself you'll make trying to dutch him. The pen is mightier than the sword, but inside a prison pen the little screw driver has 'em all faded when a trusty is the repair man. Cell door, tier door, attic door--all attended to; ventilator grating likewise. Rope in ventilator, up rope--out goes rope and down rope! Roof, wall, drop! Rear window of second-hand shop. Outfit! Hike! Good start, till morning shows the cot dummies! Truss rods of Wagner freight, blind baggage to Levant on the 'tween-days train. Into the bush--and here!”

”With this added by me,” put in the other convict. ”That trusty was a pal in the old days. He understands his friends' financial interest is in this thing, and how we needed to get out sudden to tend to that interest. We have given him our word. He took that word like it was a certified check. And he's going to cash in on that word!”

”He sure is!” declared the short man. ”We pa.s.s words instead of checks in our business, and a man who lets his promise go to protest is crabbed for keeps. We have incurred obligations so as to get in at the split.”

He spread out his palm and tapped a digit into the center of it.

”Cash--here!”

”Strictly on a business basis, of course,” said the tall man. ”We don't call for a special split for that trusty. It's a personal debt incurred by Bill and me. We ask n.o.body to pay our personal debts. All we ask is that debts due us be paid. And we're drawing a sight draft on you gents.

Bill and I are probably only a few jumps ahead of the d.i.c.ks. Where's the coin?”

He brutally thrust the question at Vaniman. The young man turned to Wagg, seeking support in that crisis, believing that the affair could be held on the basis of two against two in the interests of further dilatory tactics. Wagg had been showing indignant protest against the demands of the interlopers. But his corrugated face was smoothed suddenly. He had evidently decided to cash in on the new basis. ”That's what I want to know--and what I have been trying to find out. Where's the coin?”

The realignment--three against one--was menacing. Vaniman surveyed the faces--the glowering demanding countenances, the eyes in which money l.u.s.t gleamed. He knew that the men were in a mood where the truth would serve him in sad stead. He had no knack as a liar. He understood how little chance he had of convincing those shrewd knaves by his inept falsehoods in that extremity. He had already meditated on the plan of running away from Wagg. His reasons for escaping from this intolerable baiting were now threefold.

”It's too near sunset for a job that will take us a long way through the woods,” he blurted.

”I'll admit I'm so tired I can't count money till I've had a night's sleep,” confessed the short man. ”But you make your promise now and here, Mr. Cas.h.i.+er. When?” He emphasized the last word.

”To-morrow!”

”A promissory note--dated and delivered. Don't let it go to protest.

That's language you can understand, Mr. Bankman.”

Vaniman walked off toward the cabin and the three men followed him.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE SHOW-DOWN

His troubles and his trials had not wholly dulled youth's sense of the ludicrous in Vaniman. He sat down that evening to the meal that had been prepared by Guard Wagg, late of the state prison, for three fugitive convicts, also late of that inst.i.tution. The chimney of the kerosene lamp was smoky and the light was dim, therefore Vaniman's grin was hidden from his companions. Undoubtedly it would have produced no especial wonderment in them if they had noted his cheerful visage. They were decidedly cheerful, themselves. Mr. Wagg was no longer exhibiting the official side of his nature; he was receiving compliments on his biscuits. The three who had aligned themselves against Vaniman seemed to be getting along in a very friendly fas.h.i.+on, being bound by a common interest.

From biscuits in hand the conversation pa.s.sed to the prison fare in retrospect. Wagg admitted that the fare was a disgrace to the state.

From that point it was easy to go on and agree with the short man and the tall man that the prison was mismanaged generally and that a man was lucky in being able to get away from such a place--no matter whether he was a guard or a prisoner. The incongruous friendliness increased Vaniman's amus.e.m.e.nt.

He looked at the two knaves who had recently enlightened their victim in such a matter-of-fact manner. He admitted that the comedy overbalanced the tragedy, in view of the fact that the job had resolved itself into petty sneak-thievery. Taking into consideration the trick money they had found, there was considerable farce in the affair. However, Vaniman, looking ahead to the threatening to-morrow, perceived tragedy looming again.

Victim, criminals, guard of the criminals, they were breaking bread in a temporary comrades.h.i.+p of a bizarre nature--a money quest. But that money interest which bound them of an evening would be a disastrous problem on the morrow, if one man attempted to stand out against three.

The one man made up his mind that there was a risky resource for him--to flee and take his chances alone in the woods; he had decided to put his own personal interpretation on the promise, ”To-morrow!”

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