No Man's Island

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XXI

  TRAPPED

  Meanwhile, what had happened to Warrender?

  On entering the cottage by way of the tunnel and the cellar, he wentupstairs to make a careful survey of the surroundings, saw no sign ofthe enemy, and hurried across the island to the pram, in which hecrossed the river unobserved. In less than ten minutes he was back atthe cottage with the hammer and chisel taken from his motor-boat. As hewas on the point of re-opening the trap, he found that the electrictorch showed a much feebler light than before, and if it gave out beforeMr. Pratt was brought away, the flight through the tunnel might bedangerously delayed. It seemed worth while to pay another rapid visitto the camp for the purpose of getting a small hand lamp or a couple ofcandles. Laying the hammer and chisel under the staircase, he went upagain, once more crossed the island, found one candle in the motorboat,and returned without delay.

  It happened, however, that as he left the cottage on this secondjourney, Rush and his big flat-faced companion were approaching it fromthe south. Unseen themselves, they caught sight of Warrender as heemerged from the entrance, watched him until he had disappeared into thethicket, waited a few minutes, then entered the cottage and descended tothe cellar. They had no light, and Warrender had taken the precautionof carefully replacing the flagstone; but in his haste he had omitted toclose the upright slab beneath the lowest step, leaving open the accessto the handgrips. Rush was suspicious. The gap might have been leftopen, of course, by one of the confederates; on the other hand, it waspossible that the secret passage had been discovered by the boy he hadseen leaving the cottage. The boy might return, and Rush allowed hiscuriosity to delay the visit to the tower on which he had been summoned.It was an error of judgment that had important consequences.

  He posted himself with his companion in a remote corner of the cellar,and waited.

  Some ten minutes later, Warrender came down the steps. He flashed historch to light the opening, retrieved the hammer and chisel, and laidthem down on the flagstone while he inserted his arm in the gap to turnthe hand-grips. All the time his back was towards the men lurkingwithin twenty feet of him. As he sprawled over the stone, there was asudden noise behind him. Hastily withdrawing his hand, he half rose, buttoo late. Seized by powerful hands and taken at a disadvantage, he washelpless. His torch fell into the gap, and in the darkness he wasdragged up the stairs between his captors.

  "Cotched 'en!" chuckled Rush, as they lugged him through the hall."What'll we do with 'en, Sibelius?"

  "Kill!" said the Finn. "Throw in river!"

  "No, no, that won't do!" said Rush. "He bain't alone. There's theother young devils. It bain't safe. I think of my neck. No; we'll take'en down to the hut and tie 'en up; he'll be out of harm's way there,and in a few hours it won't matter."

  Like most Englishmen in speaking to a foreigner, he shouted, and theFinn warned him to speak more quietly: the prisoner would hear all hesaid.

  "What do it matter?" laughed Rush. "Let 'en hear--by the time hisfriends find 'en we'll be far away. Curious 'tis, that we've cotched'en the very last day. If it'd a been yesterday, we might have _had_ tokill 'en. We'll stuff up his mouth, though; t'others may be about."

  Pulling Warrender's handkerchief from his pocket, he rolled it up, andthrust it between the lad's teeth. Warrender ruefully reflected thatjust in such a way had Jensen been gagged that morning. Then the menhauled him through the thicket towards the point of the island whereRush moored his boat.

  "I say, Sibelius," remarked Rush, when they were half-way there, "Ireckon we'd better not take 'en to the hut after all. 'Twill take time,and we don't know where his mates be. Better go and tell the boss allabout it; he'd be fair mad if anything spoilt his game the last moment."

  "What we do, then?" asked the Finn.

  "We'll truss 'en up: plenty of rope in the boat; and put 'en in amongthe bushes. He'll be snug enough there."

  He chuckled. Dismayed at the prospect opened before him, Warrender, whohad hitherto offered no resistance, made a sudden dive towards theground, at the same time throwing out his leg in an attempt to trip thebulkier of his captors. But though he succeeded in freeing one arm, andcausing the Finn to stumble, he had no time to wrench himself fromRush's grip before the other man had recovered his balance and seizedhim in a clutch of iron.

  "Best come quiet!" growled Rush, "or there's no saying what we might doto you. I've got a tender heart," he chuckled, "but my mate 'ud as soonkill a man as a rat."

  Arrived at the boat, they threw him into the bottom, and the Finn heldhim down while Rush swiftly roped his arms and legs together. Then theycarried him a few yards into the thicket, and laid him down in a spotwhere he was completely hidden from any one who might pass within arm'slength of him.

  "RUSH SWIFTLY ROPED HIS ARMS AND LEGS TOGETHER."]

  "Now we'll traipse through to the tower," said Rush. "He'll take a dealof finding, I'm thinking!"

  The men struck away towards the ruins, satisfied that their victim couldnot escape, and that his hiding-place was not likely to be discovereduntil discovery mattered nothing. They had not noticed, however, thatwhile the trussing was in progress, Warrender's cap had fallen off, andnow lay between two of the thwarts of the boat.

  Pratt, hurrying along the tunnel with the hammer and chisel, and knowingthat he was pursued, felt that he had done rightly in not making aprolonged search for Warrender. His sole pre-occupation now was thenecessity of outstripping his pursuers by an interval sufficient toallow him time to block up their ingress to the tower. If Armstrong wasstill unmolested, and Mr. Pratt could be set free, the three werecapable of dealing with the two men in the tunnel, and might make goodtheir escape before Gradoff and his confederates at the tower door hadany inkling of the true situation.

  He soon understood that he was gaining on the men behind; but hepresently became aware that, not far ahead of him, daylight seemed tohave percolated into the tunnel. For a moment he was nonplussed untilhe remembered the dry well. It then occurred to him in a flash thatsome one must have removed the boards that had lain across the top ofthe well, and he was seized with a misgiving. Had Gradoff, unable toobtain admittance to the tower, bethought himself of this opening intothe tunnel from above, and lowered one or more of his men, who hadalready made their way to the end, and perhaps overpowered Armstrong?

  Taking advantage of the faint illumination of the tunnel, he quickenedhis pace. In a moment or two he saw to his consternation a man swingdown the well, and on reaching the ground, begin to release himself fromthe rope that was looped under his arms. It was not a time forhesitation. Pratt dashed forward, flung himself against the man beforehe was free from the rope, and drove him doubled up against the wall.The man yelled; from the top of the well forty feet above them cameexcited shouts; and out of the tunnel behind sounded hoarsereverberating cries from the pursuers, who must have seen what hadhappened. Pratt plunged into the tunnel beyond, and, sprinting alongwith reckless haste, arrived in a few minutes breathless at the end,where the flagstone was still raised as he had left it.

  He sprang up, slammed down the flagstone behind him, and let out a lustycry for Armstrong to join him.

  "They're after me--at least three of them!" he exclaimed, as Armstrongcame leaping down the stairs. "Help me to lug these boxes on to theflagstone."

  The crates and boxes ranged along the wall were empty, and their weightalone would not have sufficed to resist the pressure of determined menbelow. But the roof was low-pitched, and the boys saw that by pilingbox upon box they could create an obstruction which would defy allefforts to remove it. With feverish haste they dragged the boxes acrossthe floor, and had already placed them one upon another when they heardfootsteps beneath, and felt a movement of the flagstone.

  "Another box will do it," said Armstrong. "You must heave it up while Istand on the stone."

  He placed himself on the half of the stone that moved upwards
as itrevolved, and bore down with all his weight. Pratt pulled over a fourthbox, and, standing on the projecting edge of that which formed the baseof the pile, managed with some difficulty to shove it on to the top,where a space of no more than two or three inches separated it from theroof.

  "Good man!" said Armstrong, stepping off the stone.

  The pressure below raised it perhaps three inches, then it stuck.

  "We'll put another pile on each side, to make all secure," saidArmstrong. "Then I think we needn't worry."

  With less haste they erected the buttress piles, listening grimly to thehoarse curses of Rush, and shriller cries from a foreigner by whosevoice they recognised the Italian chauffeur. In a few minutes theirwork was done. Short of an explosion, nothing could dislodge the jam ofboxes between the flagstone and the roof.

  Panting from the strain of their exertions, they went up into the tower.

  "Where's Phil?" asked Armstrong.

  "I don't know," replied Pratt, going on to relate rapidly his discoveryat the end of the tunnel.

  "They've got him, I expect," said Armstrong. "Though I can't make outhow they came to leave this hammer and chisel."

  "What has happened here?" asked Pratt.

  "Nothing. Gradoff and the others waited outside for a bit, talkingquietly. I couldn't understand what they said. Then Gradoff sent thechauffeur towards the house, and by and by went off himself in thedirection of the river, leaving the two strangers behind. Evidently hehad sent the chauffeur for a rope. Perhaps he thought Jensen had drunkhimself silly, and decided to let a man down the well--a much shorterway than going across to the island and entering by the tunnel. Thefat's in the fire now. If we release your uncle we can't get him away."

  "No," replied Pratt, looking through the chink in the boards. "Herethey come: Gradoff, Rod, the Pole, the whole gang except the fellowsbelow. It strikes me we are squarely trapped."

  Looking towards the prisoner on the floor, Armstrong fancied he caught amalignant gleam in the man's eyes.

  "On the whole," he said quietly, "I'm inclined to agree with you."