CHAPTER X.
GIVING HIM ANOTHER CHANCE.
"HEY! what was that, Con!" Elmer heard the shorter man say, inside theplace.
"Oh, we're found out! It's all over, Phil!" gasped the other fellow, ina sudden panic.
"Shut up, yuh fool! Reckon as how 'twar only the night wind. Here's thecan; take hold and we'll kerry her out! I jest gotter do it, now!"
That was enough for the boy outside. He understood that they must be atthe farther end of the little house, and evidently bending over theobject of their solicitude. His chance had come!
Elmer had already taken hold of the door, and laid out his plan ofcampaign. He expected every act to dovetail with the others, so as toform a complete whole. And not more than two seconds must elapse afterhe once started to move, before he finished his work.
Slam went the door shut. A low cry from within told how the nervous Conhad given expression to his alarm. Utterly regardless of consequences,now that he had made a start, Elmer slapped the hasp over the stoutstaple, and then feeling for the hanging nail proceeded to drop it intoits place.
Things worked like a charm. The nail was shot into place in even lesstime than Elmer had anticipated. He only hoped that the staples ateither end of the hasp were clinched. Then, if the imprisoned men threwtheir weight against the door, it was not so apt to give.
Elmer did not wait to hear what happened after he had shot his bolt. Heexpected a great commotion would begin immediately, and the determinedPhil start to using any tool upon which his groping hands might alightin the endeavor to batter his way to freedom.
"Now for the house and the colonel!" was what Elmer thought, as,turning, he made a bee line for the front door, out of which he hadpassed not more than fifteen minutes before.
The first thing he knew he was pounding at the panel, after havingpressed the electric button. On either side of the door were long panesof stained glass; and while the boy could not have recognized anyonecoming in answer to his summons, he did discover that there was a lightwithin the broad hall. This would tend to prove that the colonel couldnot have gone up to his room.
Yes, now he could see some one issue from the library, and advancetoward the door. Oh, if he would only hurry! From the direction of thetool house came sounds of heavy pounding. Doubtless the imprisonedrascals, fearing that they had been caught in a trap, were trying tosmash their way out. What if they should strike a light, and that oilcatch on fire! Perhaps there was gasoline stored in the place as well askerosene!
Now the colonel was unlocking the door. It was something unusual to havesuch a loud summons beaten upon the panels of his front door; but whilesome men might have shown signs of timidity, this old traveler, seasonedto adventure, was opening up without the first symptom of alarm.
As the door flew open he looked keenly at the figure before him.
"What, you, Elmer, my boy!" he exclaimed. "Why, what has happened? Ihope you did not take a nasty header off your wheel?"
"No, no, sir, it wasn't that!" cried the scout, hardly knowing what tosay first, so as to impress the gentleman with the seriousness of theoccasion. "Some men--they mean to burn your house--the two who escapedfrom the lock-up, Phil Lally and Con!"
"What's that?" exclaimed the colonel, stiffening up instantly andshowing all the signs that mark the conduct of an old war horse atscenting battle smoke. "How do you know this, my boy?"
"I heard them talking--my wheel was punctured, and I put it in the toolhouse. Then I followed them. They were going to get kerosene to use.They stepped into the tool house, and I slammed the door shut on them,and fastened it! Listen, sir, that pounding you hear is them trying toget out!"
"Well, well, did I ever!" ejaculated the astonished gentleman. "Waithere just a minute till I can get something."
He turned and ran into his library as though he were nearer thirty yearsof age than seventy. In the excitement of the moment he had forgottenthat time had silvered his head and given him twitches of rheumatism.The colonel was young again, and ready to respond to the call of duty.
Elmer listened. He could hear that terrible pounding keeping up from theback of the house, and understood what it meant. Oh, how he hoped thatin the darkness Phil could not see to wield his ax effectively, andmight thus fail to cut a way out! For it seemed as though part of thevictory would be lost if those two rascals secured their freedom.
Perhaps the colonel was gone a full minute. It seemed ten to the waitingboy, who was wrongly figuring time by the rapid pulsations of his heart.
Then he became aware of the fact that once more the gentleman had joinedhim, and that he was busily engaged pushing some cartridges into ashotgun he carried.
"Here, Elmer, take this!" he exclaimed, thrusting the weapon into thehands of the scout. "I know you are used to handling firearms, or Iwouldn't ask you to do it. Now, come with me, please, and we'll see ifwe can't influence those two fire-makers to be good!"
Down the steps he ran, so that Elmer was even put to it to keep at hisheels. At least the prisoners of the tool house could not have as yetmanaged to effect their escape, for the battering sounds stillcontinued, accompanied by loud excited cries.
Quickly the two hurried along, until they arrived on the scene ofaction.
"Look, sir, there's another of them coming!" cried Elmer, pointing to askulking figure among the bushes, indistinctly seen.
"Here, you, come out of that; we've got you covered, and you can'tescape!" exclaimed the colonel, who was gripping something that shonelike steel in his right hand, and which Elmer guessed must be a pistolof some sort.
"Don't shoot, kunnel!" cried a quivering voice; "'deed, an' Isurrenders, suh! I reckon I's pow'ful glad yuh kim. I's Sam, suh, yuhman Sam! Please don' pull de triggah ob dat gun, Mars Kunnel!"
It was the coachman who had driven Elmer and Mark on the occasion of thelatter's being summoned to an interview with the old traveler.
"Here, go and get a lantern at once, Sam, and run for all you're worth!"called the old gentleman. "Meanwhile, the rest of us will surround thetool house, and be ready to give them a volley if they succeed inbreaking out!"
Sam had already turned and hurried away toward the stables, where hemust have been sitting in his room at the time the row broke out, thatdrew him toward the scene of the disturbance.
Of course, the last remark of the colonel's had been made with theintention of its being overheard by the men who were fastened inside theouthouse. The sounds of pounding had suddenly ceased as the colored manstarted to answer the command of the colonel, and those within couldeasily hear every word uttered.
A silence followed that was only broken by low groans within. Doubtlessthe more timid rascal was repenting of having been led into thisdangerous game of seeking revenge. The dreadful penalty meted out tohouse burners loomed up before his horrified eyes. The only pity wasthat he had not allowed himself to see this earlier, and resistedtemptation.
"Hello!"
That was Phil calling. His heavy voice seemed to express all the signsof acknowledged defeat. Elmer waited to see what the colonel would do,nor was he kept long in suspense.
"This time you're caught in a trap like a rat, Phil Lally," remarked theold gentleman. "I'm sorry for you, more than sorry for your poor oldmother; but since you took to drink this was bound to be your end. Itcame quicker than I thought, I admit, but you've got nobody to blamesave yourself."
An intense silence followed, broken only by occasional low whines fromthe weaker rascal. Then Phil called out again.
"Well, I reckon yuh speaks only the truth, kunnel. I allers had a job uptuh the time I took tuh drinkin'. Sense then hard luck has folleredclost tuh my heels. An' now I sure knows it's got me. I'd like one morechanct tuh try an' do better; but I reckon it's too late, an' I'll havetuh grin an' bear it."
Elmer heard him give a big sigh. Somehow the sound affected the boy morethan he would have believed possible. He had supposed that Phil must bejust naturally a bad man, wicked all the way through. Now he rea
lizedthat it all came through his one weakness, a love for strong drink.
The colonel moved up a step closer to the door. Elmer wondered whetherhe meant to throw open the barrier and hold the two scoundrels up asthey came forth. But he mistook the action of the old gentleman.
"Phil!" he said, quietly.
"Yes, sir," answered the gruff tones from within, but no longer filledwith a savage brutality, for Elmer could detect a quaver as of strongemotion. Perhaps it may have been the mention of that old mother whoseheart would be broken when her boy was sent to prison for a long term.And somehow Elmer found himself hanging on the next words of thegentleman with an eagerness which he could hardly understand--for itseemed to him that a human soul was trembling in the balance.
"Listen to me, Phil," continued the colonel. "What if I gave you onemore chance to make good; do you think you could keep your pledge, ifyou gave it to me, never to take a single drop again as long as youlive? Are you strong enough to do this for the sake of that old motherof yours?"
There was an inarticulate sound from within. It might have been Philtalking to himself; but Elmer was more inclined to believe somethingelse--that the strong man was almost overwhelmed by the magnanimity ofthe gentleman whom he had once served, and whose kindness of the past hehad returned so meanly.
"How about it, Phil?" continued the colonel. "Shall I 'phone in to townand have the police come out here to take you into custody, or are youready to put your signature to a pledge for me to hold?"
"I'll do it, kunnel, I'll do it, and thank yuh a thousand times for thechanct!" broke out the man. "Oh, what a crazy fool I was to go agin thebest friend I ever had! I'll sign anything yuh arsks me tuh, an' I'llkeep it, too, or die atryin'!"
"I'm glad to hear you say that, Phil," went on the colonel, with a lowlaugh. "You were a good gardener up to the time you began to booze andneglect your work My new man proved a failure, and I've let him go. Thejob's open, Phil!"
"For me?" cried the man, as though utterly unable to believe his ears."D'ye mean, kunnel, yu'd dar take me back agin, arter the way I beenactin'?"
"Oh, we'll try and forget all that, Phil. It wasn't you, but the devilyou took inside, that made you act that way. And since you're nevergoing to give way to the tempter again I guess I'll risk the chances."
He raised his hand and removed the big nail, just as Sam came runningup, bearing a lighted lantern in his ebony grip. As the door opened afigure issued forth. It was the short man, and his head was bowed on hischest, which seemed to be heaving convulsively, either because of hisrecent exertions with the ax, or through some emotion.
"Is that straight, kunnel, an' do yuh mean to fergive me?" he asked,humbly, as he stood there before the old gentleman.
"For the sake of your old mother, yes, I'm going to give you anotherchance, Phil. And let's hope you can make good. I'm not one bit afraid,if only you stick to your word. And to prove it, here's my hand!"
The man seized it eagerly. He was shaking with emotion now, and somehowElmer felt his own eyes grow moist; for he realized that he was lookingon one of the tragedies of life right then and there; and the thoughtthat he had had a hand in bringing this finish about, and making therepentance of Phil possible, thrilled the Boy Scout strangely.
No one paid any attention to the skulking figure that slipped out fromthe open door of the tool house, and ran hastily off. Of course it wasPhil's confederate, the timid Con Stebbins, who, seeing an opening forescape, had hastened to avail himself of it.