Some time later in the night, when outside noises had almost died away, there came a loud clatter that awoke both the sleepers instantly. They bounced out on the floor in their pajamas, with Jack pulling the cord he had attached to the electric bulb, so that the room was magically illuminated.
The chair lay on its side, and just beyond Perk could see that their door was partly open; the key had been left in the lock, but skillful fingers must have manipulated it by means of slender-jawed pliers, showing the touch of a professional thief.
Straight toward the door the form of Perk was projected—a hungry lion could hardly have made a more pronounced leap at some four-legged game which he had been stalking.
Tearing open the door still wider, Perk thrust out his head, and looked up and down the hotel corridor. He fancied he could make out a dim figure far along the poorly lighted hall, but it vanished like a phantom even as he stared, evidently turning some corner.
But there were other sounds arising—doors all along the corridor were opening, and heads being projected, showing how the startling alarm had awakened numerous other sleepers, who may have imagined an earthquake was in process of occurring, though such a happening was utterly foreign to the metropolis on the Lower Mississippi.
Voices, too, were heard, from both masculine as well as feminine sources, as the aroused hotel guests endeavored to fathom the real meaning of the row.
Perk, seeing there was nothing doing, closed the door, and locked it again; after which he turned to his companion who had been watching his actions with more or less amusement.
“Consarn his picture,” growled the old fighter; “he got off scot free; I jest glimpsed him aturnin’ the first bend down the hall. Blamed shame I couldn’t come to grips with the yeller cub—I’d a given a heap to twist his neck some, you bet I would. Mebbe now I’d otter sit up the rest o’ the night to make certain, eh, boss?”
“Not the slightest need of such a thing, partner,” Jack assured him. “I’ll fix that door so it won’t be opened again in a hurry.”
With that he again took the stout chair, and placed it diagonally against the door, so that its top rested just under the knob; after that had been accomplished it must needs be a battering-ram that could burst in on them.