A NARROW ESCAPE.
Hal came to himself with a shiver. Where was he, and what had happened?
For a moment he could not collect his scattered senses. Then the cold water in the vat reached his mouth and nose, and he gave a gulp.
He put out his hands. They were tight in the sack. With a struggle he stood up. The water in the vat reached his waist, and it was icy cold.
Presently the string of the sack gave way, and he pulled the article off of him. Then he realized what had happened up in the tenement, and felt the blood trickling over his forehead.
"They have put me here thinking I was dead," he thought. "I wonder what sort of a place this is?"
He stepped around in the water, and applied some of it to his head. This stopped the flow of blood, and appeared to clear his brain.
It was semi-dark in the vat, but presently his eyes grew accustomed to this, and he saw where he was.
He gave a shiver. The top of the vat was fully three feet above his reach. What if he could not get out? He would soon perish from the extreme cold.
The vat was some ten or twelve feet in diameter, and Hal walked around the bottom in hopes of finding some spot higher than that upon which he was standing.
In this he was disappointed. The bottom of the vat was perfectly level. By the time he had discovered this fact, he was shivering so he could hardly stand upright.
He jumped up several times in hopes of getting out by that means. But though his hands once touched the upper edge of the vat, he could gain no hold, and immediately slipped back again.
"Help! help!" he cried.
Then he listened. There was no reply. Macklin and Ferris had returned to the tenement.
"I'm all alone," he muttered to himself. "I will die here, and no one will ever know what became of me."
This thought filled Hal with despair, and he again cried out, louder than before.
The cry went echoing through the vast and gloomy building, but there was no response.
"This will never do," thought the youth. "Must I die like a rat in a trap?"
The very thought was maddening, and again he essayed to reach the top of the vat.
It was utterly useless.
"The building must be deserted," he said to himself. "And I suppose it is too far to the street for any one to hear my call."
Five minutes passed. Hal was getting weaker fast. Oh, how his head ached!
Filled with something akin to desperation, Hal cried out again, this time at the very top of his lungs. A deep and profound silence followed.
"It's no use," he thought. "This is some old building that no one will visit all winter. I suppose Ferris and that Macklin think——"
He held his breath. What was that sound overhead?
He strained his ears. Yes, it was footsteps!
"Help! help! Come down in the cellar!" he cried.
Again and again his voice rang out, and the footsteps came closer. Then his heart seemed to stop beating. Supposing it should be Ferris or Macklin returning?
"What's the trouble?" suddenly cried a voice from the stairs in the corner.
"Help me out of the vat!" replied Hal. "Quick! I am freezing to death!"
"Wall, I swan!" ejaculated the voice.
Then came more footsteps, and an elderly man, carrying a lantern, appeared at the edge of the vat.
"Give me your hand," he said, setting down the lantern. "This is a nice fix ter git into."
He leaned down, and Hal held up his hand. The new-comer grasped the youth's wrist, and in a moment Hal was upon the cellar floor.
"Oh, thank you!" chattered Hal. "I—I—couldn't have stood it another minute."
"'Most froze, be you?" returned the man. "Here, strip off that coat of yourn and put on mine. That's a most all-fired cold bath. How did you git in?"
"I was pushed in," replied Hal. He tried to pull off his coat, but had not the strength. "Will you help me?"
"Of course." In a twinkle the man had the coat off, and his own on Hal's shivering form. "Belong around here?"
"No."
"Then come with me. I live right across the way, and I'll soon warm you up. It's lucky I came over to see if everything was all right. I'm looking after the place till spring."
The man took up his lantern once more and led the way up stairs and across the street. The two entered a neat-looking tenement, and the man took Hal to a set of rooms on the second floor.
A hot fire was blazing in the kitchen, and drawing up a chair the man motioned for Hal to sit down.
"Maybe the old woman kin lend you some clothes," said the man. "But I allow as how you may be better off, if you let the wet ones dry onto you. It may save you from a spell of sickness."
"I am doing very nicely now," replied Hal. "I am used to some pretty tough knocks," he added, and he spoke the truth, for life at the Fairham poor-house had been anything but easy.
At that moment, the door opened, and a girl rushed in. She looked at Hal, and then gave a cry of surprise.
"Hullo! What brings you here?" she asked.
"What's that?" put in the man.
"He saved me from getting a beating," said the girl. "Didn't you?"
Hal turned and looked at the girl. It was the same that Ferris had attacked at the entrance to the alley.
He smiled and nodded.
"It was awful good of you," she went on. "He's a brave man, pop."
"Who was going to beat you?"
The girl gave her version of the affair. The man listened attentively, and then turned to Hal.
"I'm doubly glad I did you that service," he said. "Katie is my only girl, and I don't want her abused. May I ask your name?"
"Hal Carson."
"Mine is McCabe."
"McCabe!" cried Hal. "Are you Jack McCabe's father?"
"I am. Do you know my boy?"
"Do I? He saved my life only the other night."
"So it was you he saved?" exclaimed McCabe.
"Yes."
"He told me about it. It seems you have enemies."
"Yes."
"And they are the ones who pushed you into the vat?"
"One of them did, aided by a chum."
"You have been struck on the head. Here, let me bind it up. I suppose you are in no hurry to go?"
"No, sir."
McCabe brought out a handkerchief and a strip of cloth, and bound up the wound, which was but a slight one.
"You ought to have the pair of them arrested," he said.
"I have my reasons for not doing so," replied Hal. "But you may rest assured their time will come."
"They must be villains."
"They are. But, Mr. McCabe, let me thank you for what you have done."
"Oh, don't say a word!"
"I shall never forget it. But for you I might at this moment be dead."
"I only hope you down the rascals, every one of them. Now, I must go and finish looking after the place. Come along, Katie. We'll be back in quarter of an hour. You had better take off your shoes and warm your feet in the oven."
"Thank you."
McCabe and his daughter departed. After they were gone, Hal locked the door and took off part of his clothing, and also did as the man had advised.
The roaring fire soon dried the clothing and warmed Hal through and through. As soon as he heard McCabe's footsteps on the stairs he rearranged his toilet.
"Katie says she saw the fellow that wanted to hit her down in the street just now," said McCabe.
Hal jumped up.
"Which way did he go?"
"Over toward Park Row."
The youth thought for a moment.
"Mr. McCabe."
"What is it, Mr. Carson?"
"Will you do me a great favor?"
"Let's hear what it is."
"Please keep the fact that you saved me a secret."
"A secret?" cried the old watchman, in considerable astonishment.
"Yes, sir."
"What for?"
"I have my reasons for it."
"The villains that attacked you ought to be punished. They ought to be in the hands of the police this blessed minute."
"You are right, ordinarily speaking, but I have work to do before I have them locked up."
"Well, I'll do as you say."
"You see, I want to have them believe that I am really done for."
"I see."
"If they think that, I can follow them up wherever they go quite easily."
"I don't see how. If they see yer——"
"I will be disguised."
"Oh! Goin' ter play a kind of detective part, be you?"
"That is what it amounts to, I suppose."
"It's a great plan, Mr. Carson. You have a long head on yer shoulders."
And the old man chuckled.
"Thank you. Then I can depend or you to——"
"I won't say a blessed word."
"And please caution Katie."
"All right. I will, sir."
"Thank you."
"But when you get through I'll expect to learn how you come out," said McCabe, hastily.
"You can rest assured that I will let you know the full particulars. And I am not going to forget what you have done for me, either."
"Shoo! that's all right. And say——"
At that moment Katie came flying into the apartment, her tangled hair floating in all directions.
"He's downstairs and coming up!" she cried, shrilly.
"Who?" questioned her father, while Hal stood still in wonder.
"The tall boy who hit me."
"Dick Ferris!" muttered Hal under his breath. "What can he want here?"