I stood for an instant trying to peer into the darkness. But I could see nothing, and I released the handle of the door and began to feel my way along the wall toward where the window should be.
Then I stopped and stood motionless.
The door had closed softly behind me.
I listened for a moment, and sudden panic took me by the throat, for the room was alive all around me. There were faint rustling sounds from two or three directions, though I could not place them exactly in the now complete darkness. And I knew instinctively that I had walked into a trap. But before I could make any plan I was blinking in a glare of light and looking into the muzzle of a revolver, in the steady hand of Vining. A quick glance, as my hands went up, revealed two other men, one on either side, closing in on me. Vining laughed at my expression.
“This is kind of you, Clayton,” he drawled at last. “And no mask on this time. Well, well, truss him up, you fellows, and I’ll whistle for the car.” He addressed me again: “My poor friend, this kind of thing is really not in your line. Why, you made no better showing than the redoubtable Moore, here.”
I glanced aside and behind him. Against the farther wall, bound and gagged, lay Moore.
Chapter XII.
Disaster!
I stood motionless, my hands above my head, staring at Moore and taking in the situation. Then I became aware that Vining was speaking again.
“Wait a minute,” he was saying. “You, Felix, whistle for the car from the window there, while I keep this fool covered.” Then he went on to me: “You thought you’d mix yourself up with something that didn’t concern you, didn’t you? Well, you’re going to get your fill of that before we’re through with you. I had already made arrangements to dispose of you, my dear Clayton, but when we took your friend Moore into custody, I happened to find his note to you, and I added a word or two myself, as I thought it as well to dispose of you both at the same time. Your efforts to interest yourself in us were amusing for a while. But they have gone far enough.”
I paid no particular attention to this tirade. One of the other men had been struggling with the rusty fastenings of the window, and now he got it up and stuck his head out and whistled. I glanced toward Moore. He had twisted his head so that he could see me, and as I caught his eye he contrived to signal with his head for me to get out. His generosity was the last straw. On a sudden my rage boiled over and I went completely berserk. Vining’s second companion, a thin, dark-visaged fellow, stood almost beside me, and I dropped my hands, swung round to him and let him have it on the point of the jaw. He went down full length, with a crash that shook the house.