by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XXXI THE CREEPING SPOT
In the shack on Grand Avenue, Drew Lane stirred uneasily in his sleep. Heawoke at last. With that feeling which so often comes to us in the middleof the night, that something is not right, he sat up in bed.
He stared about him. Johnny's cot was empty. He could not understand. Hethrew on a light. Johnny was not in the room. He went to the door andlooked out. He was nowhere to be seen.
The creaking of the door awakened the veteran detective.
"What's wrong?" he asked sleepily.
"Johnny's gone."
"Gone?"
"Nowhere to be seen."
"Gone!" Newton Mills sprang out of bed. He began to walk the floor.
"Gone! I should have warned him. That's the trouble with a boy. There areso many things he must be told. Judgment; that's what a boy lacks.Judgment comes only with years of experience. Gone; and the bullets gonewith him! They have him. They have the bullets. The case is lost!"
"I wouldn't say that exactly." Drew Lane spoke in a quiet, even voice."He must have left the shack for something. They must have got him. Thatis unfortunate. Will they get the bullets? I doubt it. Johnny is anunusual boy. I haven't lived with him all this time without knowing that.
"And if the bullets are gone, we have a witness, Rosy."
"If she lives."
"She must live. Life is too beautiful for such a girl to part with it sosoon."
"And yet it has ended for many at her age."
The two men fell into silence.
"I'll call up headquarters," said Drew at last. "The night chief willsend some men over to question old Mask Face, who says his name is JimmieMcGowan. They'll make him tell where the gang hangs out. We'll get Johnnyback yet."
Jimmie McGowan was one person who talked only when he chose to talk. Themen from the Detective Bureau learned nothing of any importance from him.
* * * * * * * *
In the meantime Joyce Mills, in her bus boy costume, was creeping throughthe weeds down a one-time cattle lane that led away from the barn towardthe wheatfield.
Once she reached the field, she rose on hands and knees to crawl toward awheat shock. She was nearing the dark shadow cast by one of these shockswhen a shot rang out.
Dropping flat in the shadows, she waited and listened, breathless. Sheheard the blood beating in her temples. It was like the ticking of awatch in the dark.
Creeping around the shock, she started toward another. She had justreached the second shadow when she heard a gruff voice say:
"What you shoot at?"
"Something dark moving out there. Dog, maybe."
"Wolf, maybe."
"Might be."
Again the girl's blood raced. Would they come to search for her?
An idea occurred to her. These shocks were like miniature tents. Thebundles were long. They were set two and two, one against the other. Theshocks were long. There was room for a slim person like herself to creepin there without disturbing a single bundle.
No sooner thought than done. Wriggling like a snake, she worked her wayinto the center of the shock. She lay there, head upon one arm, quitestill.
The day had been warm. The night air was chill. The earth beneath theshock and the shock itself were still warm. How cosy it was! What a sweetplace for a few pleasant dreams. The night was well on. She felt the needof sleep.
"But I must not sleep!" she whispered fiercely. "I must get away. SomehowI must get to the city."
For half an hour she lay there wide-awake. No further sound came to her.Without doubt the dark spot had been forgotten.
She crept from beneath the shock. She crawled from the shadow to anothershadow, and another, until the barn was far away. At last she sprang toher feet and ran for a cornfield.
Once in the cornfield she was safe. The corn was above her head. Ten menon horseback could not have found her there.
By following a row of corn she came at last to a fence and a road.
She tramped the road for an hour. Then a truck driver gave her a lift. Hestared at her strange costume, but thought of course that she was a boy.
He was on his way to the city. Did his truck carry flour, melons, greencorn, or moonshine? The girl will never know because she did not ask. Shecurled back in one corner of the seat and went fast asleep.