CHAPTER III.--THE MUSICIANS OF BREMEN.
Nancy could not keep from trembling slightly as she heard the carpanting at a little distance and realized that perhaps a moment of realdanger was near, in spite of their joking. Elinor, too, felt very muchlike giving away to a few tremors, but she reproached herself for suchweak behavior and held her body as rigid as a stone image while she saidsternly in her mind:
"My knees are not at all weak. It's only the position I am lying in thatmakes them feel queer."
A sound as though a heavy foot had been placed on the step outside washeard and then a voice which Billie recognized as that of the one-eyedman said:
"Well, young lady, I suppose you have had about enough of this? We havekept our word, you see, which I judge you found on the paper, as you arestill here."
There was a short silence. Evidently Charlie nodded assent to thesupposition and the motion gave full satisfaction, for the voice wenton, "Has any one been around, miss? You didn't hear the sound of anyvoices, did you, while we were gone? We saw some people in the field aswe left. Did they come this way? Speak up, miss."
Not a heart on the attic floor but thumped as the one-eyed man askedthese questions. They had never thought of Charlie's voice, which wasabout as deep as a full grown man's!
A perfectly death-like stillness reigned for a moment. It was plain thatCharlie was not going to trust his voice.
"Do not be frightened, Senorita," put in the thin man. "You may speakwithout fear. Do not weep. Perhaps she did see something. It was not theghost of the dead man who hanged himself in here, was it?" he added in alow voice.
"Hold your tongue," said the other man. "Speak up, young woman. Have youno voice left? You'll not have strength enough to run the car if you goon like this."
A deep sob reached the ears of the listeners overhead.
Then the alarming thought came to Ben: How was Charlie to run the motorcar in case the men insisted on his leaving first? Plainly, it wasnecessary to get rid of these men somehow. Then they would all make adash, and he would crank up while Billie jumped in and started the car.
"I'll have to hear the sound of your voice before I go," insisted theone-eyed man. "I want to hear you give me your sacred word of honor tokeep this little loan of your car a secret. If we find that you havetold, and we'll know it if you have, you and your family will regret it,that's all. We know how to take our revenge, don't we, Pedro? So speakup, young woman, and say the words. I promise----"
Another deep sob.
"Come, come. Hold up your head and let me see your face. Say, Pedro,look here; it doesn't seem quite the same as it did half an hour ago,somehow. Strike a light!"
There was great but noiseless commotion in the attic! What if the menshould lift Charlie's veil!
Since Mary had mentioned "The Musicians of Bremen" an idea had beenforming in Ben's mind and he now hastily communicated it in a lowwhisper to his neighbor who passed it quickly down the line.
Just as the thin man outside exclaimed in a high sharp tone, "Why, it'sa boy!" Ben whispered, "Ready!"
Immediately the attic was filled with a pandemonium of noise,--thebarking of a dog, cries, and screams! It was a truly terrifyingcombination, Mary's shrill shriek rising weirdly above the other soundsas though from one in mortal agony.
The two men outside were startled in spite of themselves and dashed awayon an uncontrollable impulse, the thin man shouting, "The ghost of thedead man! His evil spirit haunts us!"
"Good work, Ben," called Charlie softly, after a moment. "Come out,quick! They've gone around back of the house. You can come this way, buthurry!"
The adventure had been so exciting and was so quickly over that thegirls hardly realized where they were when they found themselves infront of the house, standing in a half-bewildered group in the deepeningtwilight.
"Nobody shall take any more chances for my motor car," whispered Billie."You have all risked your lives enough as it is, and I'm deeplygrateful. The men may be around there by the machine, so let's make abreak for the fields and go straight home."
"No," replied Ben stoutly; "it would be best for you girls to get away,but Charlie and I will finish the job. Those fellows are cowards, anyway, and----"
"But you can't run the car," said Billie, rapidly putting on her things,which Charlie had discarded with a sigh of relief. "I'll have to stay.The other girls must go, though."
The discussion, however, was ended by Charlie, who had skipped off toreconnoiter and now appeared running at full speed around the side ofthe house.
"Come on, let's all go," he said. "They've gone, but they might comeback."
Without a word, the others followed him and jumped into the car, whileBen, who knew a little about motors, began to crank up the machine.Suddenly a voice spoke out of the darkness:
"This looks like a nice little party. Get out of that car, every one ofyou, or I'll shoot," and the sinister looking one-armed man, whoappeared to have sprung up from the earth, stood at the side of theautomobile with his pistol pointed straight at Billie. "Did youimagine," he continued, "that a parcel of children could fool a man likeme?"
There was no reply to the question. Mary and Nancy were so limp withfear they could not have lifted a little finger if there had been adozen pistols pointing at them. Elinor might have slipped a ramrod downher back, so stiffly and proudly did she hold herself in that fearfulmoment. Billie had turned white as a sheet, but she still had strengthenough left to make a move to get out when Ben, whose stubborn naturewould not even now give up the fight, raised his overgrown, boyishfigure from the ground where he had been kneeling, and with a quickmotion pressed a piece of glittering steel to the man's forehead.
"Drop that pistol, or you're a dead man," he said in the deepest chesttones he could produce. His voice was still in the tenor stage.
Not even a gentleman of fortune who had lost an eye and an arm in pastdangerous adventures could quite keep from shrinking at this extremelyunpleasant sensation produced by cold steel against his face, andwithout a word of protest he dropped the pistol in the road.
"Now, back off," said Ben, "and don't stop until you get as far as thattree over there."
The man retreated, cursing under his breath, and in another instant theywere off in the dark.
"We forgot to pick up his pistol," exclaimed Charlie, as three shotsrang out in quick succession.
"But Ben has one," said Billie, feeling somehow that she had known thesenice brave boys for a long time, instead of three-quarters of an hour.
"That was only a monkey wrench," answered Charlie, laughing.
And Billie was moved with admiration and respect for the slow-speaking,quiet boy, who had twice in so short a time outwitted two very dangerousand experienced adventurers.
It was a splendid ride in the darkness. The fresh salt air swept theirfaces and set their blood to tingling with a new enjoyment. They hadjust been through a most dangerous and exciting experience, these youngpeople, and Nancy and Mary were not ashamed to admit that they at leasthad been very much frightened. But people who have lived always by thesea are used to looking danger calmly in the face.
Half a mile beyond the quiet little harbor of West Haven a lighthousestood on a small, rocky promontory, and from the shore on a calm daycould be seen rows of sharp-pointed rocks thrust out of the water likegreat black teeth waiting to devour any chance ship which might be blownagainst them. In bad weather the water about the Black Reefs, as theywere called, was lashed and churned into fury and sometimes after agreat storm groups of people might be seen hurrying up the cliff path tothe life-saving station, while out in the ocean, stuck fast to the teethof the Black Reefs was a pretty three-masted schooner, perhaps, or astained and scarred old freight ship, looking very small and helpless inits terrible plight.
Billie, herself, was the only person in the motor car who had not seen ashipwreck on the Black Reefs. She had never even seen one of theSeptember storms when the sea rolled itself into mountainous waves anddashed ag
ainst the cliffs of West Haven.
As they neared the town, Billie slowed down the motor and turned tospeak to her new friends.
"I can't even try to thank all of you for what you have done for me, butI want to tell you that I think you are the bravest, nicest boys andgirls in the whole world, and it was just to be with you that I cameback to West Haven to go to school. I was very unhappy to-day because Iwas afraid that Nancy and Mary and Elinor had forgotten me and thesplendid times we had together one summer when I was a little girl----"
"Oh, Billie, we hadn't forgotten you," broke in Nancy. "We thought whenyou joined Belle Rogers' crowd that you----"
"But I didn't join them," Billie interrupted, laughing. "They kidnappedme and never let me out of their sight the whole time. I had almost madeup my mind to write to papa to let me go to boarding school, after all.I wanted to know some real girls. I have never had a chance before, youknow, and when I talked it over with papa, we decided that all of youwere the nicest real girls we had ever known, and I just thought I wouldspend the winter with Cousin Helen and meet you again, while papa was inRussia."
The three girls blushed with pleasure at this gratifying compliment.
"We were just as glad to see you, too, Billie," said Elinor. "It was alla foolish mistake. But we shall be friends now, and you must join theBlue Birds. It's the Sophomore Club, and we have lots of fun."
"Thank you, I'd love to," answered Billie, as gratefully and modestly asif she had been paid the highest honor in the land. "I've beenthinking," she added, "that we'd better keep all this business aboutthese men secret. You know Cousin Helen; if she hears about it, we'llprobably have to store the motor car. She'll never let me out of hersight again."
"We'll keep it secret," cried the others in a chorus.
So this very sensational adventure, which would certainly have spreadlike wildfire through the town of West Haven once it got out, remained aprofound secret.
Some good came of it, however, since it served to unite four oldfriends. But we have not seen the last of the mysterious individuals whoborrowed Billie's motor car.