The Bandbox

by Louis Joseph Vance

  XVII

  HOLOCAUST

  For a period of perhaps twenty seconds the man and the girl remainedmoveless, eyeing one another; she on the floor, pale, stunned andpitiful, for the instant bereft of every sense save that of terror; hein the doorway, alert, fully the master of his concentrated faculties,swayed by two emotions only--a malignant temper bred of the night'ssuccession of reverses capped by the drunkenness of his caretaker, andan equally malignant sense of triumph that he had returned in time tocrush the girl's attempt to escape.

  He threw the door wide open and took a step into the room, putting awayhis pistol.

  "So--" he began in a cutting voice.

  But his movement had acted as the shock needed to rouse the girl out ofher stupor of despair. With a cry she gathered herself together andjumped to her feet. He put forth a hand as if to catch her, and sheleaped back. Her skirts swept the lamp on the floor and overturned itwith a splintering crash. Instinctively she sprang away--in the nick oftime.

  She caught a look of surprise and fright in the eyes of the man as theyglared past her in the ghastly glow of the flickering wick, and tookadvantage of this momentary distraction to leap past him. As she did sothere was a slight explosion. A sheet of flaming kerosene spread overthe floor and licked the chairboarding.

  Ismay jumped back, mouthing curses; the girl had already slipped out ofthe room. Turning, he saw her flying through the hall toward the maindoor. In a fit of futile, childish spite, unreasonable and unreasoning,he whipped out his pistol and sent a bullet after her.

  She heard it whine near her head and crash through the glass panes ofthe door. And she heard herself cry out in a strange voice. The nextinstant she had flung open the door and thrown herself out, across theveranda and down the steps. Then turning blindly to the left, instinctguiding her to seek temporary safety by hiding in the wilderness of thedunes, she blundered into somebody's arms.

  She was caught and held fast despite her struggles to free herself: towhich, believing herself to be in the hands of Mrs. Clover or herhusband, she gave all her strength.

  At the same time the first-floor windows of the hotel were illumined byan infernal glare. All round her there was lurid light, settingeverything in sharp relief. The face of the man who held her wassuddenly revealed; and it was her father's.... She had left him insidethe building and now ... She was assailed with a terrifying fear thatshe had gone mad. In a frenzy she wrenched herself free; but only to becaught in other arms.

  A voice she knew said soothingly: "There, Miss Searle--you're all rightnow...."

  Staff's voice and, when she twisted to look, Staff's face, friendly andreassuring!

  "Don't be afraid," he was saying; "we'll take care of you now--yourfather and I."

  "My father!" she gasped. "My father is in there!"

  "No," said Iff at her side. "Believe me, he isn't. That, dear, is yourfondly affectionate Uncle Arbuthnot--and between the several of us Idon't mind telling you that he's stood in my shoes for the last time."

  "But I don't," she stammered--"I don't understand--"

  "You will in a minute," Staff told her gently. At the same time helifted his voice. "Look out, Iff--look out!"

  He strove to put himself between the girl and danger, making a shield ofhis body. But with a supple movement she eluded him.

  She saw in the doorway of the burning house the man she had thought tobe her father. The other man, he whose daughter she really was, hadstarted to run toward the veranda steps. The man in the doorway flung uphis hand and, clear and vicious above the crackling of the flames, sheheard the short song of a Colt automatic--six shots, so close upon oneanother that they were as one prolonged.

  There was a spatter of bullets in the sandy ground about them; and then,with scarcely an appreciable interval, a second flutter of an automatic.This time the reports came from the pistol in Iff's hand. He wasstanding in full glare at the bottom of the veranda steps, aiming withgreat composure and precision.

  The figure in the doorway reeled as if struck by an axe, swung half-wayround and tottered back into the house. The little man below the verandasteps delayed only long enough to pluck out the empty clip from the buttof his pistol and slip another, loaded, into its place. Then withcat-like agility he sprang up the steps and dived into the furnace-likeinterior of the hotel. A third stuttering series of reports salutedthis action, and then there was a short pause ended by a single shot.

  "Come," said Staff. He took her arm gently. "Come away...."

  Shuddering, she suffered him to lead her a little distance into thedunes. Here he released her.

  "If you won't mind being left alone a few minutes," he said, "I'll goback and see what's happened. You'll be perfectly safe here, I fancy."

  "Please," she said breathlessly--"do go. Yes, please."

  She urged him with frantic gestures....

  He hurried back to the front of the hotel. By now it was burning like abonfire; already, short as had been the time since the overturning ofthe lamp, the entire ground floor with the exception of one wing was aroaring welter of flames, while the fire had leaped up the mainstaircase and set its signals in the windows of the upper story.

  Iff was standing at some distance from the main entrance, having pushedhis way through the tangle of undergrowth to escape the scorching heatthat emanated from the building. He caught sight of Staff approachingand waved a hand to him.

  "Greetings!" he cried cheerfully, raising his voice to make it heardabove the voice of the conflagration.

  "Where's Nelly?"

  Staff explained. "But what about Ismay?" he demanded.

  Iff grinned and hung his head as if embarrassed, rubbing a handkerchiefover the smoke-stained fingers of his right hand.

  "I got him," he said simply.

  "You left him in there?"

  The little man nodded without reply and turned alertly to engage Mrs.Clover, who was bearing down upon them in the first stages of hysterics.But at sight of Iff she pulled up and calmed herself a trifle.

  "Oh, sir," she cried, "I'm so glad you're safe, sir! I was asleep in thekitchen when the fire broke out--and then I thought I heard pistolshots--and I didn't know but somethin' had happened to you--"

  "No," said Iff coolly; "you can see I'm all right."

  "And Eph, sir? Where's my husband?" she shrieked.

  "Oh," said Iff, at length identifying the woman. "You'll find him downat the dock--dead drunk in the motor-boat," he told her. "If I were youI'd go to him right away."

  "But whatever will we do for a place to sleep tonight?"

  "Help yourself," Iff replied with a generous wave of his hand "You'veall Pennymint to ask shelter of, if you can manage to make your husbandrun the boat across."

  "But you--what'll you do?"

  "I've another boat handy," Iff explained. "We'll go in that."

  "And will you rebuild, sir?"

  "No," he said gravely, "I don't think so. I fancy this is the last timeI'll ever set foot on Wreck Island. Now clear out," he added with asharp change of manner, "and see if you can't sober that drunken foolup."

  Abashed, the woman cringed and turned away. Presently she broke into aclumsy run and vanished in the direction of the landing-stage.

  "You've accepted the identity of Ismay," commented Staff disapprovingly,as they moved off together to rejoin Eleanor.

  "For the last time," said the little man. "Until I get aboard Bascom'sboat again, only. It's the easiest way."

  "How do you mean?"

  Iff nodded at the blazing building. "That wipes out all scores," hereplied. "What they find of Cousin Artie when that cools off won't beenough to hold an inquest over; he will be simply thought to havedisappeared, since I won't return to this place. And that's theeasiest way: we don't got any use for inquests at the wind-up of thisgiddy dime-novel!"

  The light of the great fire illumined not only all theisland, but the waters for miles around

  _Page 319_]

 
* * * * *

  The light of the great fire illumined not only all the island but thewaters for miles around. As Bascom's boat drew away, its owner calledStaff's attention to a covey of sails, glowing pink against the darkbackground of the mainland as they stood across the arm of the Sound forthe island.

  "Neighbours," said Mr. Bascom; "comin' for to see if they can lend ahand or snatch a souvenir or so, mebbe."

  Staff nodded, with little interest. Out of the corners of his eyes hecould see Iff and his daughter, on the opposite side of the boat. Iffwas talking to her in a gentle, subdued voice strangely unlike hiscustomary acrid method of expression. He had an arm round his daughter'sshoulders; her head rested on his....

  Staff looked away, back at the shining island. He could not grudge thelittle man his hour. His own would come, in time....

  THE END

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  Transcriber's Notes:

  Spaced contractions in the original publication have been joined except where they would probably have been pronounced as two words.

  The following changes have been made for consistency: page 132, "downstairs" changed to "down-stairs" page 136, "desklamp" changed to "desk-lamp" page 151, "stupified" changed to "stupefied" page 205, "up-town" changed to "uptown" page 212, "bell-boy" changed to "bellboy" page 239, "newel post" changed to "newel-post" page 269, "kitchen-porch" changed to "kitchen porch" page 272, "strongbox" changed to "strong-box" page 298, "P. M." changed to "P.M."

  page 92, "Manver's lips" changed to "Manvers' lips".

  page 126, "How-d-'you-do" changed to "How-d'-you-do".

  page 127, closing single quote changed to double quote: "But he can't have left the ship!"

  page 150, period added at end of sentence, "and came hastily over to the table beside which he was standing."

  page 206, ";" added in "this morning; Jane".

  page 284, missing " added at end of note.

  Book list at end: Apparent typesetting errors noticed by the transcriber were fixed as follows: "Bar 20" changed to "Bar-20" "Mulfird" changed to "Mulford" (for Bar-20 Days) closing quote added to "Uncle William" (for Happy Island) "Ellery H. Clarke" changed to "Ellery H. Clark" (for Loaded Dice) "Get-Rick-Quick-Wallingford" changed to "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" 'author of the "Broad Higway"' changed to '"author of "The Broad Highway"' (for My Lady Caprice) "Louis Joseh Vance" changed to "Louis Joseph Vance" (for Pool of Flame)

  End of Transcriber's Notes