Part 22 (2/2)
”Who is it, and what was he doing?” asked Mr. Colton hoa.r.s.ely.
”It's under him, sir, and he was a-lighting of it.”
As he spoke, Sergeant Joe approached the form and with a shove of his foot pushed it over. It rolled slightly, unbent, and now lay at full length, facing them. Josie picked up the flashlight and turned it upon the face.
”Oh!” she cried aloud, and s.h.i.+vered anew, but was not surprised.
”I guess,” said Joe slowly, ”they'll have to get another school superintendent.”
”But what's it all about? What did he do?” demanded Kauffman excitedly.
Joe took the light from Josie's hand and turned it upon a curious object that until now had been hidden by the dead man's body.
”It's a infernal machine, sir, an' I ain't sure, even yet, that it won't go off an' blow us all up. He was leanin' down an' bendin' over it, twisting that dial you see, when on a sudden I spotted him. I didn't stop to think. My Cap'n used to say 'Act first an' think afterwards,' an' that's what I did. I didn't know till now it was the school boss, but it wouldn't have made any difference. I done my duty as I saw it, an' I hope I did it right, Mr. Colton.”
Kauffman was already stooping over the machine, examining it with a skilled mechanical eye.
”It's ticking!” he said, and began turning the dial backward to zero.
The ticking stopped. Then the inventor stood, up and with his handkerchief wiped the perspiration from his face.
”Gott!” he exclaimed, ”this is no joke. We've all been too near death to feel comfortable.”
”This is horrible!” said Mr. Colton, ”I can't yet believe that Dyer could be guilty of so fiendish an act.”
”I can,” a.s.serted Josie grimly, ”and it isn't the first time he has planned murder, either. Dyer was responsible for the explosion at the airplane factory.”
Footsteps were heard. Out of the darkness between the group of buildings appeared two men, Crissey and Addison.
”Are we too late, Miss O'Gorman?” asked Crissey.
”Yes,” she replied. ”How did you lose track of Dyer?”
”He's a slippery fellow,” said Addison, ”and threw us off the scent.
But finally we traced him here and--”
”And there he is,” concluded Josie in a reproachful tone.
Crissey caught sight of the machine.
”Great Caesar!” he exclaimed, ”who saved you?”
”I did,” answered Joe, putting the revolver in his hip pocket, ”but I wish you'd had the job, stranger.”
CHAPTER XXIV AFTER THE CRISIS
Mrs. Charleworth drove Josie, who was sobbing nervously and quite bereft of her usual self-command, to Colonel Hathaway's residence. The woman was unnerved, too, and had little to say on the journey.
The old colonel had retired, but Mary Louise was still up, reading a book, and she was shocked when Josie came running in and threw herself into her friend's arms, crying and laughing by turns, hysterically.
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