Chapter XXIV: Cornered

Cole turned to the window and verified his impression that the shutters were strong enough to bar their exit in that direction. For a few moments he stood there, listening to the remote booming of the waves, the fretful whine of the wind, the creaking and groaning of timbers in the old house. With these sounds there mingled another, a faint but ecstatic humming and whirring that seemed to come from some subterranean crypt.

“Gold!” it seemed to say with a dull, sinister intonation. “Gold!”

Cole shrugged and moved away. Next he hurled himself against the door, but its solid resistance told him the effort was useless. The doctor stood in the middle of the room, pulling thoughtfully at his black beard and now and then sending Miss Brownell a glance out of his strange, flashing eyes.

“You handled the professor superbly,” Cole told him. “He is guessing now, and when a man is guessing he is at a distinct disadvantage.”

The doctor smiled musingly. “But don’t build too high hopes on his state of mind,” he cautioned. “It is best not to underrate the enemy’s resources.”

“What about that choice morsel you handed him in regard to an electronic reaction?” Cole wanted to know. “Anything in it?”

“Absolutely nothing. But it sounded impressive enough to give the professor something to worry about. As for Doctor Price, he wouldn’t have recognized an electron if he had seen one with the naked eye. I hardly expected Carmody to swallow it, but he did. When you tell a fib, it is always best to tell the kind that the other fellow is prepared to believe.”

Cole laughed; there was something irresistible about the doctor’s stoicism. “I hope,” he fervently declared, “that the swallowing of that electron will give the professor a severe attack of cramps. What do you propose to do next, Latham?”

“Heroics were never in my line,” the doctor asserted in a tone that was meant to be cynical. “When one is caught, the thing to do is to yield as gracefully as possible. I suggest we surrender to the enemy. Why stand on pride when one is headed for a tumble?”

“In other words, you mean to build up a magnificent bluff on the electron Carmody swallowed?”

“Precisely,” said Latham, casting a sidelong glance at Miss Brownell.

The girl got up, limped uncertainly across the floor, and placed a hand on the physician’s arm.

“You are a good man, Doctor Latham,” she murmured. “You are quite transparent, however. You intend to keep up this bluff, as you call it, until I am at a safe distance. You fail to consider what is going to happen to you and Mr. Cole when they discover you have tricked them.”

“Oh, we will cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Latham with an air of profound assurance.

“You aren’t candid with me,” the girl protested. “You know they will kill you both as soon as they realize they have been imposed upon. You intend to sacrifice yourself for my sake. I won’t have it!”

“Now, Miss Brownell——”

“I won’t accept such a sacrifice,” she declared vehemently. “That’s absolutely final.”

Latham gazed at her in an embarrassed way. He tried to smile, but it was a pathetic effort. “Youth is always that way,” he declared. “Always butting its head against stone walls. Don’t you see, Miss Brownell, that——”

“No, I don’t,” she interrupted. “And, so you won’t be tempted to give it for my sake, let me tell you that I intend to fight this crowd of cowardly ruffians till the end. Even if you should surrender, I would not, so your sacrifice would be in vain.”

Latham stroked his beard reflectively. A flippant remark was on the tip of his tongue, but he seemed unable to utter it. He assisted the girl back to her chair.

Cole had watched them in silence. Something stirred gently within him as he witnessed the scene between the doctor and the girl. There was a touch of the sublime in the physician’s determination to sacrifice himself for the object of his hopeless devotion. But to Cole it all seemed very futile. He doubted strongly that the leader of the gang would accept Latham’s terms. Knowing that she had discovered several important things in regard to the organization’s activities, they would not be likely to let the girl out of their clutches. Their logical move would be an effort to obtain by other means the secret which they supposed was in Latham’s possession. Nevertheless, the little drama enacted before his eyes touched him deeply. Now he shrugged off his hopeless feeling and strode briskly across the floor.

“It isn’t time to sing the funeral hymn just yet,” he declared. “There is another fight in us still. I propose that we——”

What he had to propose was not made clear, for the door opened, and with his usual stiff and dignified gait Professor Carmody walked once more into the room. He had dropped his mock affability and carried himself with a stern and dignified air.

“I have talked with the chief,” he announced, addressing Doctor Latham. “The arrangement you suggested is flatly impossible.”

“Just as I thought,” muttered Cole under his breath.

“You can see for yourself how unreasonable it is,” Carmody went on in an argumentative tone. “Miss Brownell is in possession of information which, if used against us, might harm us greatly. Under the circumstances it would be extreme folly on our part to permit her to leave this place for the present.”

“Then what do you propose?” asked the doctor.

“That you listen to reason. In a few days, a week or two at most, our present enterprise will be finished, and we shall be in a position where nothing can hurt us. You, Latham, can hasten developments, if you wish, by giving us the formula you have worked out. It isn’t essential, but we prefer to make use of it. The sooner you choose to oblige us, the sooner you and your friends will be permitted to depart.”

The doctor regarded him with a half-humorous, half-contemptuous gaze. “Is that all?”

“By no means. If you decide to accommodate us, you shall share in the golden harvest we soon expect to reap. Think of it, Latham. By complying with a simple request you will make yourself enormously wealthy. Never before in the world’s history was such a magnificent reward offered for a comparatively small service. Never since——”

“You are waxing rhapsodical, professor,” interrupted Latham curtly. “I am always suspicious of a man who makes flowery promises. Will you tell me in plain words—the plainer the better—what will happen if I should reject your magnanimous offer?”

“I do not like to contemplate it,” said Carmody, his face full of sadness. “Especially in view of Miss Brownell’s connection with the matter. But you will not do anything so foolish, Latham. Remember that we are powerful enough to get what we want, and that we do not hesitate to use extreme measures when necessary. We can bend even such a stubborn will as yours. I am waiting for your answer. Will you give us the formula voluntarily, or must we resort to unpleasant forms of coercion?”

Maintaining a firm hold on his pistol, he struck an expectant attitude. Cole, who had remained a silent but attentive listener, could see that Latham’s position in the scientific world, together with the work he had previously done for the organization, had convinced the professor that he really possessed a formula that would be of great value to the gang. Latham, on the other hand, seemed in a quandary as to how he might best use his precarious advantage. Already it was slipping away from him, and soon, unless an unforeseen development came to his rescue, it might be turned against him.

“You are taking a long time,” complained the professor.

“It is a weighty question,” rejoined Latham.

“Perhaps I can help you to arrive at a decision,” said Carmody, a faint, cruel smile parting his bloodless lips. Suddenly he shifted the aim of the pistol so that the barrel pointed straight to Miss Brownell. “I believe you are a man of your word, Latham. I shall count ten. Unless you give me a favorable reply before I reach ten, Miss Brownell will go to a better world.”

The sardonic grin that had twisted the doctor’s lips froze into a ghastly look of horror. Miss Brownell straightened a little in her chair, her face turned a shade paler, but there was no fear in the eyes she leveled at the professor. Critical as the moment was, Cole’s dominant sensation was admiration for her courage.

Carmody began to count in his thin, brassy voice: “One—two—three—four——”

Cole gazed narrowly into his face, as impassive as if carved out of wood. There seemed to be no doubt but what Carmody meant to carry out his monstrous threat. He flexed his muscles for a spring while the professor went on counting.

“——five—six—seven—eight——”

Cole lunged forward, staking everything on the chance of snatching the murderous weapon from the professor’s hand, but Doctor Latham acted even more quickly. With a sudden bound he crossed the floor and placed himself directly in front of the chair in which the girl sat. For a moment the pistol pointed straight at his midriff; then, with an exclamation of baffled rage, Carmody lowered the weapon.

“Fool!” he snarled. “Step out of the way this instant, or I’ll kill both of you.” Once more the pistol rose in his hand.

Very calmly, while Cole marveled at his audacity, Latham took a case from his pocket and with ostentatious serenity lighted a cigarette.

“Fire away,” he said coolly, folding his arms across his chest and smoking with an air of perfect content.

Carmody regarded him with a baleful glare, then abruptly changed his mind and started backing toward the door. He slammed it behind him with unnecessary vigor, and they heard the bolt slide in the lock. Latham flung away his cigarette.

“Whew!” he exclaimed. “That was fairly exciting. I didn’t like the way Carmody looked when he left us, though. The old rat has something up his sleeve.”

Cole nodded, wondering at the meaning of the professor’s hasty exit. “Our only hope is to spar for time, and we have been fairly successful so far,” he remarked. “That was a neat maneuver, Latham.”

“It was splendid!” exclaimed the girl, and Cole noted a new expression in her wide, lustrous eyes as she fixed them on the physician. “But you mustn’t do it again,” she added firmly. “He might shoot next time.”

“How is the foot?” inquired Latham.

“Better—much better. I think I can step down on it now.”

“You had better not try as yet,” said the physician with a professional air. “Cole and I may challenge you to a foot race by and by, and you must preserve your energies.”

She merely smiled at this, and again Cole noted the new, tender expression in her face. He was about to frame a remark, but just then the door opened. Two burly, hard-faced men, each with an automatic in his hand, entered the room.

“The big chief wants to see you,” announced one of them. “This way.” He pointed toward the open door.

Cole glanced narrowly at the weapon in his hand, then decided that at the present moment resistance would be worse than useless. There were other lives besides his own to be considered. Evidently the same thought had occurred to the doctor. After a moment’s hesitation and an exchange of glances with Cole, he took the girl in his arms and carried her out followed by Cole.

One of the armed men, walking at the head of the little procession, opened the door.

“In there,” he directed. “Step lively!”

He gave Cole an ungentle shove with his automatic, and the three prisoners walked through the door.