“You utter a sound, you jade, and I’ll silence you with a blow,” he threatened fiercely.
Gasping for breath, with abject fear now manifest in her evil eyes, the woman ceased struggling, and Chick quickly handcuffed her arms behind her and forced her into a small closet near by.
“Now tell me the truth,” he said sternly. “Who else is in the house, and where——”
“You’ll get nothing from me,” the woman snarled between her teeth, glaring at him with impotent fury.
“Won’t I?” snapped Chick. “I’ll not wait, then, to argue the point.”
Seizing a towel from the shelf in the closet, he quickly tied it over the woman’s mouth, then closed the closet door and locked it, removing the key.
Knowing that he had no time to lose, and apprehending that others might return to the house at any moment, Chick then hurried through a narrow adjoining hall and up two flights of stairs, all the while with eyes and ears alert, and his revolver ready for instant use.
There was no one to oppose him, however, and half a minute brought him to the door of the attic room. It was closed and locked, but a key hung on a nail in the casing. As he removed it, a girlish voice from within the room cried affrightedly:
“Who’s there?”
Chick recognized the voice, and his face lighted. He flung open the door and entered, saying heartily: