Somehow these words caused to rise before his mental vision a vivid picture of the meeting on High Bluff. He saw Hop Sullivan standing at the edge of the bluff, eagerly tearing open a package that was supposed to contain a thousand dollars in banknotes. He saw the moon dive through a flotilla of clouds and burst forth to shine brightly just as Sullivan ripped the package open. Again he heard the man’s snarl of disappointment on discovering the contents of that package. Then followed the deadly impulse that caused him to leap forward and thrust Sullivan over the brink of High Bluff with a terrible push.
He saw the doomed wretch whirl over in the air and heard the splash that rose from Rapid River as the man’s body struck it. Then once more the moon veiled her face in horror behind a heavy cloud.
Hammerswell remembered how he had dropped on hands and knees at the edge of the bluff and stared downward into the chasm through which the swirling river hurried toward the falls below. He remembered all too plainly that, as the tiny cloud passed from the face of the moon, he caught a glimpse of a white, ghastly face rising for a moment in the current, saw two helpless hands upflung, and then saw nothing more save the triumphant water that had quenched a human life.
But the memory of what followed was distressing and harassing. When he rose to his feet, muttering his satisfaction over his frightful deed, Luke Grimes had confronted him on that spot. Through it all Grimes had been hidden near at hand, where he could hear and see what transpired. Grimes was armed with a pistol, and, fearing the man who had destroyed Sullivan, he kept it cocked and ready in his hand. Hammerswell remembered how he had been compelled to acquiesce to the terms proposed by the engineer. He had maintained his determination to deceive Grimes, leading the fellow at last to agree to a scheme by which Merriwell was to be put out of baseball. The engineer promised to break Dick’s arm.
Then came the trip of Grimes to Fairhaven Island and the burning of the naphtha launch on which he crossed from the mainland. His life had been saved by Dick and Brad Buckhart.
On the island the engineer was recognized as the fellow who had once made a vicious attack on young Merriwell, and when he attempted to escape the villagers arose in a mob and pursued him. He was captured and dragged beneath a tree, with a noose about his neck and a rope flung over a stout limb.
Only by the swift work of Dick Merriwell and his comrades was Grimes saved. He was turned over to an officer and locked up.
On arriving at Fairhaven that day Hammerswell was informed of all that had taken place, and he lost not a moment in hastening to the lockup.
In a manner never satisfactorily explained, Luke Grimes escaped from the lockup while Benton Hammerswell was talking to the guard.
The fugitive was hotly pursued, but made his way out of town to the north, where he was cornered in a swamp and finally found himself stuck fast in the mire.