us. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said Willie.
"And don't talk to anyone," Burton again cautioned him.
A few minutes later Burton left Oakdale with his two lieutenants and acouple of the local policemen, the car turning south toward Payson andmoving at ever accelerating speed as it left the town streets behind itand swung smoothly onto the country road.
*****
It was after midnight when four men cautiously approached the old mill.There was no light nor any sign of life within as they crept silentlythrough the doorless doorway. Columbus Blackie was in the lead. Heflashed a quick light around the interior revealing four forms stretchedupon the floor, deep in slumber. Into the blacker shadows of the far endof the room the man failed to shine his light for the first flash hadshown him those whom he sought. Picking out their quarry the intrudersmade a sudden rush upon the sleepers.
Bridge awoke to find two men attempting to rain murderous blows uponhis head. Wiry, strong and full of the vigor of a clean life, he pittedagainst their greater numbers and cowardly attack a defense which wasinfinitely more strenuous than they had expected.
Columbus Blackie leaped for The Oskaloosa Kid, while The Sky Pilotseized upon Abigail Prim. No one paid any attention to Giova, nor, withthe noise and confusion, did the intruders note the sudden clanking ofa chain from out the black depths of the room's further end, or thesplintering of a half decayed studding.
Soup Face entangling himself about Bridge's legs succeeded in throwingthe latter to the floor while Dirty Eddie kicked viciously at theprostrate man's head. The Sky Pilot seized Abigail Prim about the waistand dragged her toward the doorway and though the girl fought valiantlyto free herself her lesser muscles were unable to cope successfullywith those of the man. Columbus Blackie found his hands full with TheOskaloosa Kid. Again and again the youth struck him in the face; butthe man persisted, beating down the slim hands and striking viciouslyat body and head until, at last, the boy, half stunned though stillstruggling, was dragged from the room.
Simultaneously a series of frightful growls reverberated through thedeserted mill. A huge body catapulted into the midst of the fighters.Abigail Prim screamed. "The bear!" she cried. "The bear is loose!"
Dirty Eddie was the first to feel the weight of Beppo's wrath. His footdrawn back to implant a vicious kick in Bridge's face he paused at thegirl's scream and at the same moment a huge thing reared up before him.Just for an instant he sensed the terrifying presence of some frightfulcreature, caught the reflected gleam of two savage eyes and felt thehot breath from distended jaws upon his cheek, then Beppo swung a singleterrific blow which caught the man upon the side of the head to spin himacross the floor and drop him in a crumpled heap against the wall, witha fractured skull. Dirty Eddie was out. Soup Face, giving voice toa scream more bestial than human, rose to his feet and fled in theopposite direction.
Beppo paused and looked about. He discovered Bridge lying upon the floorand sniffed at him. The man lay perfectly quiet. He had heard that oftentimes a bear will not molest a creature which it thinks dead. Be that asit may Beppo chanced at that moment to glance toward the doorway. There,silhouetted against the lesser darkness without, he saw the figures ofColumbus Blackie and The Oskaloosa Kid and with a growl he charged them.The two were but a few paces outside the doorway when the full weight ofthe great bear struck Columbus Blackie between the shoulders. Downwent the man and as he fell he released his hold upon the youth whoimmediately turned and ran for the road.
The momentum of the bear carried him past the body of his intendedvictim who, frightened but uninjured, scrambled to his feet and dashedtoward the rear of the mill in the direction of the woods and distantswamp. Beppo, recovering from his charge, wheeled in time to catch aglimpse of his quarry after whom he made with all the awkwardness thatwas his birthright and with the speed of a race horse.
Columbus Blackie, casting a terrified glance rearward, saw his Nemesisflashing toward him, and dodged around a large tree. Again Beppo shotpast the man while the latter, now shrieking for help, raced madly in anew direction.
Bridge had arisen and come out of the mill. He called aloud for TheOskaloosa Kid. Giova answered him from a small tree. "Climb!" she cried."Climb a tree! Ever'one climb a small tree. Beppo he go mad. He keelever'one. Run! Climb! He keel me. Beppo he got evil-eye."
Along the road from the north came a large touring car, swinging fromside to side in its speed. Its brilliant headlights illuminated the roadfar ahead. They picked out The Sky Pilot and Abigail Prim, they foundThe Oskaloosa Kid climbing a barbed wire fence and then with complainingbrakes the car came to a sudden stop. Six men leaped from the machineand rounded up the three they had seen. Another came running towardthem. It was Soup Face, so thoroughly terrified that he would gladlyhave embraced a policeman in uniform, could the latter have offered himprotection.
A boy accompanied the newcomers. "There he is!" he screamed, pointing atThe Oskaloosa Kid. "There he is! And you've got Miss Prim, too, and whendo I get the reward?"
"Shut up!" said one of the men.
"Watch this bunch," said Burton to one of his lieutenants, "while wego after the rest of them. There are some over by the mill. I can hearthem."
From the woods came a fear-filled scream mingled with the savage growlsof a beast.
"It's the bear," shrilled Willie Case, and ran toward the automobile.
Bridge ran forward to meet Burton. "Get that girl and the kid into yourmachine and beat it!" he cried. "There's a bear loose here, a regulardevil of a bear. You can't do a thing unless you have rifles. Have you?"
"Who are you?" asked the detective.
"He's one of the gang," yelled Willie Case from the fancied security ofthe tonneau. "Seize him!" He wanted to add: "My men"; but somehow hisnerve failed him at the last moment; however he had the satisfaction ofthinking it.
Bridge was placed in the car with Abigail Prim, The Oskaloosa Kid,Soup Face and The Sky Pilot. Burton sent the driver back to assist inguarding them; then he with the remaining three, two of whom were armedwith rifles, advanced toward the mill. Beyond it they heard the growlingof the bear at a little distance in the wood; but the man no longer madeany outcry. From a tree Giova warned them back.
"Come down!" commanded Burton, and sent her back to the car.
The driver turned his spot light upon the wood beyond the mill andpresently there came slowly forward into its rays the lumbering bulk ofa large bear. The light bewildered him and he paused, growling. His leftshoulder was partially exposed.
"Aim for his chest, on the left side," whispered Burton. The two menraised their rifles. There were two reports in close succession. Beppofell forward without a sound and then rolled over on his side. Giovacovered her face with her hands and sobbed.
"He ver' bad, ugly bear," she said brokenly; "but he all I have tolove."
Bridge extended a hand and patted her bowed head. In the eyes of TheOskaloosa Kid there glistened something perilously similar to tears.
In the woods back of the mill Burton and his men found the mangledremains of Columbus Blackie, and when they searched the interior of thestructure they brought forth the unconscious Dirty Eddie. As the caralready was taxed to the limit of its carrying capacity Burton left twoof his men to march The Kid and Bridge to the Payson jail, taking theothers with him to Oakdale. He was also partially influenced in thisdecision by the fear that mob violence would be done the principals byOakdale's outraged citizens. At Payson he stopped long enough at thetown jail to arrange for the reception of the two prisoners, to notifythe coroner of the death of Columbus Blackie and the whereabouts of hisbody and to place Dirty Eddie in the hospital. He then telephoned JonasPrim that his daughter was safe and would be returned to him in lessthan an hour.
By the time Bridge and The Oskaloosa Kid reached Payson the town wasin an uproar. A threatening crowd met them a block from the jail; butBurton's men were armed with rifles which they succeeded in convincingthe mob they would use if their priso
ners were molested. The telephone,however, had carried the word to Oakdale; so that before Burton arrivedthere a dozen automobile loads of indignant citizens were racing southtoward Payson.
Bridge and The Oskaloosa Kid were hustled into the single cell of thePayson jail. A bench ran along two sides of the room. A single barredwindow let out upon the yard behind the structure. The floor waslittered with papers, and a single electric light bulb relieved thegloom of the unsavory place.
The Oskaloosa Kid sank, trembling, upon one of the hard benches. Bridgerolled a cigaret. At his feet lay a copy of that day's Oakdale Tribune.A face looked up from the printed page into his eyes. He stooped andtook up the paper. The entire front page was devoted to the variouscrimes which had turned peaceful Oakdale inside out in the past twentyfour
The Oakdale Affair Page 22
