CHAPTER VII.
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jack Everson found matters exceedingly interesting.
When he informed his friends that he would rejoin them in the course ofa few minutes the possibility of anything interfering with his promisedid not occur to him. That danger threatened every member of thelittle company may be set down as self-evident, but what could happento disturb him in the brief interval spent in running up the slope,dashing into the house and back again to the river's side?
Such were his thoughts as he entered the shadows and hurriedlyapproached the front veranda. Although he had reached this spot withinthe preceding twenty-four hours the evening meal and the preparationsfor flight had given him sufficient knowledge of the interior to removeall difficulty in going straight to the table in the dining-room andtaking the forgotten revolver therefrom.
The first tingle of misgiving came to the young man when he was closeto the porch and about to step upon it. He remembered that it washimself who had extinguished the lamp on the table as the three wereabout to pass into the hall and out of doors, but lo! a light wasshining from that very room. What could it mean?
"That's deuced queer," he thought, coming to an abrupt halt; "I screweddown that lamp and blew into the chimney in the orthodox fashion, so itcouldn't have been that I unconsciously left the wick burning."
At this juncture he made another significant discovery. The front doorwhich he had seen Dr. Marlowe close was partly open. The inference wasinevitable: some one was in the house. In the brief time that hadpassed one or more persons had entered and were busy at that moment inthe interior. Perhaps they had been watching among the shadows on theoutside for the occupants to leave the way open for them to pass within.
Prudence dictated that Jack Everson should not linger another moment.Indeed, he ought to have counted himself fortunate that he had made hisdiscovery in time to save himself from running into a trap. He shouldreturn to his friends with the alarming news and help them in gettingaway with the utmost haste possible. But Jack did nothing of the sort.
The chief cause of his lingering was his desire to obtain the revolverbelonging to Miss Marlowe. Recalling the paucity of firearms among thepeople on the boat he felt that a single weapon could be ill spared.But above and beyond this cold truth was a vague, shuddering suspicion,amounting to a belief, that the young woman would soon need that veryweapon; that, without it she would become another of the unspeakablevictims of the fiends who made the Sepoy Mutiny one of the most hideousblots that darken the pages of history. He compressed his lips andswore that the revolver should be recovered, if the thing werepossible, failing in which he would compel her to take his own.
The first thing was to learn whether there was more than one person inthe house and what business had brought them there. His own return wasnot expected, so that that advantage was in his favor. He steppedlightly upon the veranda and, like a burglar in his stocking feet,passed across the porch and pushed back the door far enough to admithim. This required but a few inches, and the hinges gave out not theslightest creak. The entrance to the dining-room was closed, so thatall was darkness, but he plainly saw the yellow thread along the edgesof the door, caused by the lamp in the room beyond.
Once within the hall he listened intently, but could not detect theslightest sound within the building. He had already drawn hisrevolver, and held it ready for instant use. Knowing the value ofseconds, he began moving along the hall toward the door, which was onlya few paces distant, and had passed half the space when a mutteredexecration escaped him, for his foot struck some object that was kickedthe remaining length of the hall with a clatter that he verily believedmust have been heard by his friends on the boat.
No use now for precaution. Determined to have the other weapon, butnot unmindful of the peril involved, he strode the few remaining stepsand hastily shoved open the door of the dining-room. If a foe wasthere with the revolver he was quite likely to hold it levelled at theintruder, because of which Jack, when he burst into the room, held hisown weapon pointed, so as to prevent any enemy from "getting the drop"on him.
For one moment the young man believed it was all a mistake and that,despite the precaution taken upon leaving the house, he had notextinguished the lamp, whose wick had recovered its vigor, but thesuspicion was hardly formed when he knew there was no foundation forit. In the first place no lamp ever acts that way, and, the front doorhaving been closed, could not open of itself. More convincing than allwas the fact that Mary Marlowe's revolver, which had brought him back,was missing.
Diagonally across the dining-room from where Jack Everson stood was thedoor leading to the rear of the house. This was open for three or fourinches, and while searching the apartment with all the keenness of hispowerful vision, he distinctly saw it move. The distance was no morethan an inch, but he was not mistaken, and knew it had been drawn thatmuch nearer shut. Since no air was stirring the conclusion wasinevitable that some one was on the other side who was aware of theentrance of the American.
The position of the lamp on the table threw the crevice caused by theslight opening of the door in shadow, and all was blank darknessbeyond. But, looking in that direction, Jack caught the gleam of apair of eyes, peering from the gloom like the orbs of a jungle tigergathering himself for a spring. Nothing could be seen but the glow ofthe eyes, that seemed to have something of the phosphorescence of thecat species, but he could not mistake the meaning of what he saw.
Jack had partly lowered his revolver, after the first glance around theroom, but it now came to a level again with the suddenness of lightningand was pointed straight at the gleaming eyes, as he spoke in a low,deadly tone:
"Come forth or I'll send a bullet through your infernal brain!"
Never was man more fairly caught. In the language of the West, JackEverson had the drop on him, and none could be more alive to the factthan the fellow who was thus taken at disadvantage. It was meritedpunishment for his foolhardiness in inviting his own discomfiture. Atfirst the chances of the two were equal, but the white man was morealive to the situation.
The Asiatic showed his appreciation of the situation by steppingforward into the lamplight.
Incredible as it may seem, he not only held a pistol in his right hand,but it was half raised and pointed at Jack Everson.