CHAPTER XVII "GET THAT BLACK CAT"
At the first shock of the wreck, Johnny Thompson and Pant were thrownwith such violence against the express car door that the lock was sprung,and they were pitched head foremost among the surprised andpanic-stricken counterfeiters.
Pant was the first to regain his wits. The car, like many others, hadcareened to one side and lay there motionless. The instruments in theroom had been tossed about. Everyone was splashed with a stinging fluidwhich came from the vats. The peculiar instrument which had occupied thecenter of the room, and was undoubtedly the color-photo camera, aninstrument of priceless value, had apparently sustained little injury.Pant seized upon this and was about to dash through the door with it,when the large man with the black moustache wrenched it from his grasp,and, poising it for an instant in his right hand, hurled it at Pant'shead. Leaping to one side, Pant barely escaped the blow. There was acrash, followed by the tinkle of glass and metal instruments.
The next moment the big man shot suddenly upward and fell back with agroan. Johnny's good right hand had got him under the chin. Two of themen leaped from the door and fled. The one remaining sprang at Pant, butwas at once borne down by Johnny.
"Tear some of those wires from the wall," panted Johnny. "We'll tie themand drag them out."
The fat man, who was completely within their power, was soon tied, thencarried out of the car to the embankment.
"Now for the other," puffed Johnny.
They dodged back into the car. To their astonishment, they found that theother man had escaped.
"Gone!" muttered Pant.
"Faked unconsciousness."
"And he was the prize bird of them all."
"Too bad!"
Suddenly Pant appeared to remember something.
"Johnny," he whispered in a tense whisper, "Johnny, get that black cat!"
Catching his breath, Johnny sprang from the car.
"Wait," whispered Pant. From his pocket he had drawn a tiny vial.
"That," he whispered, "may help you. It's what they call cat-lick inIndia. An old Hindu gave it to me after I had captured the big black cat.He said it was like catnip to the cat. When a tiger or leopard smelledit, if he could get near the spot where a drop had been spilled he forgothis savageness, and laid down to roll in it. I'm not sure. It soundsqueer. Try it if you must."
"You got some?"
"Sure."
"I'll go up track; you go down."
"Right! And Johnny," Pant repeated, "get the black cat!"
Johnny had scarcely turned from the car when he almost ran into somebody.
"Gwen!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What you doing out here? Don't youknow half the beasts are loose? Listen to that?"
The long drawn out roar of a lion sounded above the wail of darkies, theneighing of ponies, and the trumpeting of bull elephants.
"I know, Johnny, but Johnny, nothing half so terrible could ever havebeen dreamed of!"
"The wreck? I know. Some people are almost sure to have been killed."
"But the twins?"
"Where are they?"
"I don't know. They were in the car with me when the shock came. Theywere telling me about--all about you. They got away while I was freeingmyself from the seats. Went to find you and their ponies. Oh, Johnny, wemust find them quick!"
"Yes," Johnny answered, "but watch out for the black cat, the leopard.He's a man-eater from the jungle."
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "And I saw him not a minute ago. He's loose from hiscage. He was crouching in the corner of the wreck. I caught the gleam ofhis eyes."
"Where?"
"Back there."
Johnny started forward.
"Johnny, you won't go?"
"I must."
"You'll be killed."
"I've got to get him first." He drew an automatic from his pocket. Thenhe walked steadily forward, his keen eyes studying every dark corner ofthe wreck.
Down the train lengths lights were flashing. The keepers were searchingout the cages, striving to retain those animals which had not yetescaped, and to locate those that were free. The wooden cars of anancient design which carried the animals had been torn and crushed, piledupon one another, until the wreck at this point resembled a kindlingpile. Here one heard the splintering of boards, as some beast attemptedto free himself, and here the crash of torn-up planks told that someloyal elephant strove to free his mate. The whole scene was one of wildconfusion. Wildest, most terrifying of all, came the occasional challengeof a great cat of the jungle, now free to do the bidding of his own wildwill.
* * * * * * * *
Hardly had Gwen turned, after Johnny had hurried away, than she uttered acry of dismay. Creeping toward her, his wild eyes gleaming, was a gaunt,yellow tiger. For a second she was paralyzed with fear. And in thatsecond the cat made progress--now he was ten yards away, now eight, nowfive.
What should she do? To turn, to attempt to flee seemed futile. A tigercould run much faster than she. He might leap as she turned. Her heartstood still. Cold perspiration came out upon her brow.
Just when hope seemed gone a strange thing happened; a thing which hadhappened once before under very different circumstances; a crimson flashleaped out from the darkness and played upon the tawny coat of the tiger.Blinded, terrified, the beast shrank back, yet the light still playedfull upon him. Leaping and flaring like the light of a fire, it held theanimal at bay until the keepers came with chains and led him away.
* * * * * * * *
When the twins jumped out of the car window to go in search of JohnnyThompson and their ponies, they stumbled down the embankment to climblaboriously up again, and make their way tripping and falling aroundwrecked cars, from which came weird, wild sounds of animals fighting forfreedom.
Suddenly from beneath Marjory's feet there sounded a queer chatter. Thensomething clawed at her legs. With a wild scream, she shook it from her.It was a monkey that had escaped from his broken cage. Others could beheard chattering to the right of them. Leaping forward they were startledby a great bulk that loomed unexpectedly before them in the dark.
"An elephant!" screamed Margaret.
For a minute they hesitated; the next, they leaped to one side and,having passed the elephant, continued on down the track. Always to theleft of them there loomed the overturned cars. All at once, from beneaththe wheels of one of these there came a piercing scream. At the sameinstant they caught the gleam of two red balls of fire glaring at themout of the blackness. Some fierce, wild creature was lurking there. Andhe moved. Stealthily he made his way toward them. Now he was away fromthe cars. A black spot, he glided forward, his glaring eyes seeming togrow larger and larger as he advanced.
Seized with a sudden paralysis of fear, the twins stood rooted in theirtracks.
* * * * * * * *
With a little gasp Gwen sank upon the ground. She looked in vain for thecrimson flash. It was gone. And now, for the first time she realized thatshe did not know the direction whence it had come.
After leaving Gwen, Johnny Thompson made his way cautiously along theuneven embankment. Now his eye caught a gleam that appeared to come fromthe great cat's eyes. It proved but the reflection of some polishedobject. Again he heard a rattle among splintered boards, only to find acolored roustabout climbing from the pile of broken lumber under which hehad been buried. Johnny was just beginning to believe that he had missedboth the black beast and the twins when something leaped at him out ofthe darkness.
It took him but a second to realize that this was not a wild beast, but aman; the king of the counterfeiters.
Taken by surprise, he went down with the man upon his back. At the sameinstant he caught the gleam of a knife in the outlaw's hand. There couldbe not one shadow of doubt that he meant murder.
A terrible struggle followed. The man, fully fifty pounds heavier thanJohnny, was at the same time agile
and strong. Now the knife was poisedin air, only to be dashed to the ground. Now Johnny secured ahalf-nelson. Now his hold was broken. And now Johnny was thrown to earthwith such force as to render him half unconscious. Struggling against aterrible dizziness, he fought but feebly. The end seemed to have come.
But, at that moment, there came a shrill voice:
"I'm here, Johnny Thompson! I'm here!"
One moment the knife poised above his chest; the next a diminutive figureattached itself to the arm that held the knife and sent it whirling toone side.
"Tom Stick, the midget clown!" gasped Johnny, renewing his struggle forfreedom.
Dimly in the half light, he saw what followed. Turning all his attentionto this new enemy, the counterfeiter appeared to seize the dwarf by theheels and dash him with terrible force against the ground.
Then, almost instantly, a great, brown bulk lumbered in out of theblackness, and at that instant, with a gurgling cry, the counterfeiterappeared to rise in air to be sent crashing again and again against theside of the embankment.
"Jo-Jo, the French elephant, Tom Stick's friend!" cried Johnny, leapingto his feet to bend over the prostrate form of his little defender.
Two attendants came hurrying up.
"It's Tom Stick," explained Johnny. "That other fellow's dead. The bigbull elephant killed him. And right it was. He deserved it. Look afterTom. I've got to find the twins and the black cat."
Once more, after recovering his automatic, which had been thrown from himin the first assault of the counterfeiter, he leaped away into the dark.
He was not a moment too soon, for as he dropped down from a pile oftumbled bales of canvas he came face to face with the twins. They werestanding wild-eyed, transfixed. Not ten yards away and within leapingdistance, his tail lashing, his white fangs gleaming, was the great blackcat.
With uncommon coolness Johnny grasped his automatic and, taking carefulaim at the spot between the creature's fiery eyes, grasped the handletight. There came a metallic click, but no report. The gun hadjammed--was utterly useless. With a cry of consternation, Johnny droppedthe gun and reached for his clasp knife. Thus poorly armed, he was aboutto rush at the man-eater, when there came the sudden glare of red lightas it played upon the great cat.
"The crimson flash! Thank God!" he murmured.
But the next instant he remembered the words of Pant, when he had told ofhis jungle experience: "He did not fear my charm; he leaped!"
What now would be the outcome? It was a time of terrible suspense.Johnny's breath came in little gasps. One of the twins had dropped to theground.
There was not long to wait. Whirling, the cat leaped away to the right.Then, for the first time, Johnny saw that the crimson flash came directlyfrom a dark bulk, a clump of bushes close to the track. There had been notime for tricks, Pant had flashed it direct, and he was there now. Thegreat cat would be upon him in another minute.
Even as he sprang after the cat, Johnny thought for the first time of themagic perfume, the cat-lick Pant had given him. Drawing this from hispocket, he uncorked it as he ran. He was not a second too soon. Alreadythe beast's fangs were at Pant's throat.
With mad hope beating at his heart, Johnny dashed a few drops of theprecious perfume at the beast's head.
Prepared as he was for miracles, he was astounded at the result. The wildbeast became at once a mere house kitten rolling upon the ground. Overand over he tumbled, while Pant, limping painfully, crept away.
Throwing a glance about him, Johnny saw Tom Stick's house to the right ofhim, and remembered how it had been built around a cage.
"Door's still on the hinges and open," he muttered. "If I only can!"
Six steps he took, and with each step, spilled a drop of the preciousfluid. Then, with a breathless leap, he was inside the dwarf's house.Dashing the vial against the wall, he caught his breath at the thoughtthat the cat might trap him here; then with a wilder leap than before, hecleared the door and breathed the outer air.
He was not a second too soon. Hot on the trail of that burst of perfume,the cat flashed past him and into the house that was a cage.
Johnny banged the door shut and barred it, then sank down upon the groundfor a quiet breath.
Soon he rose and, making his way to the bushes, examined the spot wherethe black cat had pinned Pant to the ground.
As he flashed a light about, he uttered a low exclamation, and stooping,picked up the bent and lenseless ruins of Pant's glasses. He droppedthese a second later to gather up a mass of fine wires and strangelytangled tubes and peculiar instruments. These he crammed into his jacketpocket, and, having cast one more glance about him, hastened away to findthe twins.
CHAPTER XVIII HOW JOHNNY GOT THE RING
The first red streaks of dawn were appearing as Johnny sat down on thebeam of a railroad bridge a quarter of a mile from the wreck.
It had been a strange, wild night. Many startling things had happened;many mysteries had been solved. Now that these mysteries were uncoveredhe had come down here to think.
Tom Stick was not one of the counterfeiters; he knew that now. Neitherwas the steam kettle cook, nor the conman with the ragged ear. The realculprits had attempted to cast the guilt upon them, that was all. Thearch criminal, Black McCree, was dead. Jo-Jo, the elephant, had thrashedthe life out of him when McCree had attempted to murder his master, themidget clown. The fat accomplice of Black McCree had confessed that hispartner was that notorious criminal. He had denied having any knowledgeof the working of that strange color-photo camera. Black McCree hadchosen to take that secret with him to the other world. Pant had turnedthe whole matter over to two of his assistants and had disappeared. Thatthe remains of the camera could be pieced together was doubtful.
In the struggle with Black McCree, Tom Stick had been beaten intounconsciousness, and had suffered severe bruises, but would be back athis work in two or three weeks.
The twins had been taken to a near-by farm house, where they were safefor the night. Fortunately, their ponies had come out of the wreckuninjured. In an hour or two Johnny would accompany them to theirgrandparents' home. Should he return to the circus? He doubted it. Themystery of the whereabouts of the diamond ring was yet unsolved. Gwen hadhad it. So had Millie. He half blamed himself for not demanding the rightto keep it when it was in his own hand. But Gwen was such a good sport.He had hoped a more appropriate time might come. Now he believed he wouldgo to his former employer and make the best of an unbelievable story. Hemade a wry face at thought of it.
But Pant? He had disappeared again. Johnny had not seen him after thefight with the black cat. Mother Kelly had dressed his wounds, which wereslight, and he had vanished.
At thought of Pant, Johnny dug into his pocket and drew forth the mass ofwires, tubes and instruments which he had picked up on the spot where thecat had attacked Pant.
He toyed with this mass musingly. He thought it had dropped from Pant'spocket. "Some part of the counterfeiters' equipment," was his mentalcomment. Twisting the wires about, he turned a thumb-screw here, pushed atiny lever there, pressed a bulb--when, of a sudden, his eyes were struckby a blinding flash of blood red light.
His unnerved fingers released the mass of wires, tubes and instruments,and the next instant his startled eyes saw it disappear beneath the muddywaters of the river.
"The crimson flash!" he moaned. "And I had the secret of it here withinmy grasp!"
For a time he considered the possibilities of recovering it, thendismissed the thought as futile.
Then for a while he sat there speculating on the strange phenomenon ofthe crimson flash. How had Pant achieved these wonders? Where had he wornthis mass of delicate instruments? There were times when the flash hadcome and gone with the speed of the blink of an eye. Perhaps the switchhad been attached to Pant's eyelid. Such things had been done. Yet, allthis was speculation. Johnny shook his mind free from it. Speculation isalways futile.
He was about to rise
and return to the wreck, which was even now assumingthe appearance of a train again, when he heard footsteps approaching.
It was Gwen. Johnny rose to meet her as she came toward him.
"Sit down, Mr. Clown," she smiled. "I want to talk."
"You're a good old clown," she smiled again, as they seated themselves,"even if you did come near breaking your neck."
"Somebody fired the balloons with arrows shot from an air rifle."
"What!"
"Sure. I thought it was Tom Stick, but it wasn't. He saved my life lastnight. Guess someone must have stolen his air rifle to pull the trick."
"As I was about to say," continued Gwen, "you're a good old clown, andjust for that I want to give you something. So, 'open your mouth and shutyour eyes, and I'll give you something to make you wise.'"
"Steady there," warned Johnny, as he cupped his hands solidly together."If it's of any value don't drop it. I've lost one secret in the riveralready."
"It's valuable, all right."
Johnny felt something touch his hand. The instant his fingers closed uponit, he knew what it was.
"The ring!" he exclaimed.
"Yes; that's it," she laughed. "The twins told me all about it lastnight. Of course we didn't know it was yours, or we wouldn't have keptit. When we first found it, we three girls thought it was glass. When wediscovered it was a real diamond, we were already in Chicago and didn'tknow what to do, so we just kept it, and took turns wearing it. ButJohnny, when you had it in your hands that day, why didn't you keep it?"
"That's what I don't know," smiled Johnny. "I guess you were such a goodsport I hated to lose you as a friend, and I hoped a better time wouldcome."
"It has come, Johnny; but something tells me I am the one to lose a pal.You'll leave the circus?"
"Yes," Johnny admitted reluctantly. "I guess I'm going to do that."
"It's always the way with a person who is used to living in a house,"sighed Gwen. "The circus is for circus people. Anyway, I can wish yougood luck!"
They rose. She put out her hand. He gripped it heartily.
"And Johnny, if ever the big top calls to you, just remember the outfitI'm with, and there'll be a job waiting for you. I'll want you for myclown."
She turned and walked rapidly away.
Johnny watched her for a moment, then, crossing the bridge, made his waytoward the farm house where the twins were awaiting him. He would escortthem back to a safe dwelling place; the ring should be returned to them,and if possible, he was resolved that the circus career of themillionaire twins should be a secret shared only by those to whom it wasalready known.
* * * * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
--Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text--this e-text is in the public domain in the country of publication.
--Typographical errors were corrected without comment.
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