by Robert Reed
Montauk .
“I’ll go have a horse saddled for you,” he broke off, turned and
strode long-legged off toward the stable .
WINGS OF THE BLACK DEATH, by Norvell Page | 195
He was gone a considerable while, and Nita began to stroll down
toward the red-painted barn herself before he came out of its dim-
ness frowning .
“Something seems to have happened to all my good horses,”
he said angrily . “It looks as if that new groom has gotten poisoned
weeds in with their hay . I’ve only got one to offer you, Nita, and
he won’t be very spirited . It’s an old one I got for Katherine . She
doesn’t like them lively .”
Nita nodded carelessly . “I’m sorry about your horses,” she said .
“If it wasn’t that I’d set my heart on a ride — ”
“Quite all right,” said Pugh, and the stable boy led out a dappled
gray horse to whose back he assisted Nita . Apollo threw up his head
and frisked about like a puppy .
Suddenly the horse reared on its hind legs, pawing the air, whin-
nied shrilly and flopped flat on its back. Only Nita’s long experience
and her swift leap saved her . She sprawled as her feet hit the ground,
but she was up instantly .
The horse jerked up its head from the ground, tried to maneuver
its legs, flopped back and, breathing hoarsely a few times, died. Nita
stared at it with startled eyes, then walked about its head, cried out
and pointed at the gray forehead .
“A bullet hole!” she gasped . “Someone shot the horse!”
Chapter 17
The Cave of the Pigeons
MacDonald Pugh was stunned for a moment . Then he crossed
to Nita’s side and stared down at the horse’s head . Fury seized him,
and his clenched teeth showed between his lips . But mingled with
his anger was bewilderment .
“But why in the devil — ”
Nita knew the answer, but could not tell him . She knew now
that the clue she sought was in the country about Pugh’s place . She
did not know by what devious means Wentworth had fathomed the
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secret, but following in his intended footsteps, she had found danger .
And that explained anew why he had asked her to feign a quarrel .
It had been, too, at the same time he had announced his intention of
coming to this place . And now, coming here, she found the horses
poisoned . When she tried to ride the one that remained, it was shot!
Could anything be clearer than that?
“I’ll get the police on the trail of whoever dared to do that!” Pugh
swore . “It’s damnable, shooting down a dumb beast like that . And
he might very well have killed you, too!”
Nita laughed a little shakily .
“That thought has just this minute occurred to me,” she said .
She walked slowly away toward the house, frowning thought-
fully down at the grass . Death had brushed her, but she was the more
determined to investigate . She knew a thrill of excitement . This was
how Dick had dared!
While Pugh stormed into the house, she had her Renault wheeled
out and, climbing in, summoned Apollo to join her . It was only a few
miles to Dick’s estate, and he kept a stable there .
A half hour later, mounted on a thoroughbred that paced exuber-
antly across the fields, Nita loped off into the woods toward Pugh’s
place . Evidently his house was watched and near there she might
pick up the trail of the man who had shot the horse . She wondered
if it was because she, revealed now as the sweetheart of the Spider,
was at the house that it was watched. She hoped fiercely that it was
so . In the pocket of her jodhpurs rested the weight of an automatic .
In the woods somewhere lay danger . But there also lay the trail to the
man who had placed the onus of the Black Death upon the Spider .
Her excitement communicated itself to her horse . Its stride
lengthened with the shaken reins and she whisked through the
woods . Then abruptly she hauled back on the bit, brought the animal
curveting to a halt .
On the opposite hill, perhaps a mile away, she had seen the brown
flanks of another horse. She urged her own mount into the shrubbery
and, rising in the stirrups, peered beneath a shading palm at that
distant hill . The late afternoon sun probed its rays into the foliage
WINGS OF THE BLACK DEATH, by Norvell Page | 197
of the hill opposite, and once more she saw movement there, saw a
horse with a man upon its back move across a small clearing .
Excitement raced through her veins and she felt her breath quick-
en . As she had told Pugh, this was no time for riding . It was late .
Besides the land ahead, was on Wentworth’s own estate and beyond
was Pugh’s . There was no stable nearby from which the horse might
come . The man must be a trespasser, and that meant—
Softly Nita called Apollo to her side and, keeping him close,
pushed down the shadowed hillside toward the trail the mounted
man followed .
All about her was the sunset beauty of summer woods . An ori-
ole’s evening warble was soft in the hollow . A faint breeze fanned
her nostrils with the damp sweet odor of the rich earth . Somewhere
near at hand a red squirrel chattered . But Nita noticed none of these
things . Low upon her horse’s neck, ready to clamp a hand upon its
nose if, approaching the other animal, it sought to whinny, she urged
forward upon the trail she hoped would lead her to the lair of the
Black Death .
When she reached the spot where she had seen the mounted man,
there was no trace of him except the hoofprints of his mount in the
soft mold . Calling Apollo softly, she dismounted and indicated the
trail . Then she stripped a silk neckerchief, tied it to make a long
leash and, fastening it to the dog’s collar, remounted and urged him
on the hunt .
Apollo tugged at the restraining silk, snuffed the ground and
loped off through the woods . Nita was hard put to follow, but the
hoofs of the thoroughbred were nearly soundless on the damp earth .
She laid low upon its neck, and branches whipped past with the
speed of her passage .
Small, bending trees switched her arms and brambles scratched
her . She scarcely felt them, for Apollo strained steadily on the leash,
dragging forward upon the hunt, his tawny body a perfect, power-
ful machine, running silently as he had been trained . Not until he
sighted his quarry would he give tongue .
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Many times Nita had ridden to the hounds, raced beside Dick for
the honor of the brush . She had taken the hurdles with courage, but
never had the chase been over such terrain as this . Up hill and down,
a striding leap across a ravine, a choppy jump over a log, a poise
and a twist sideways about a tree . Finally the frail leash parted in her
hand and Apollo was off, a tawny flash.
Then, indeed, the race became furious . She shook out the reins,
and the gallant hunter beneath her respond
ed . She could feel the
marvelous power of his stretch and recover . Wind sang in her ears .
The branches became whips now . They stung her shoulders, ripped
at the silk of her blouse . She jammed her hat tighter about her ears,
crouched lower and let the horse run .
She spotted Apollo only occasionally now, but dared not call him
back . At this furious pace, they must be rapidly overtaking the man
ahead . Then suddenly she pulled strongly on the reins, brought her
horse to a sliding halt . There it was, the deep rich bay of Apollo giv-
ing tongue . He had sighted the quarry!
Nita’s breath was quick, her face intent, the lovely blue eyes nar-
rowed with an expression of hate that would have shocked many of
the friends who knew her in their conventional drawing rooms . Here
was no society girl out for a canter . Here was a woman whose lover
had been torn from her in disgrace, a woman upon the trail of her
lover’s foes!
Nita swung to the ground and led the horse into a dense clump
of birches where the shadows were gathering swiftly She loosened
its cinches and, touching the gun in her pocket, moved swiftly off
through the dusk of the woods .
Above, red sunset still tinged the treetops . But here below the dy-
ing light filtered through but dimly. Nita’s blouse was torn. The right
sleeve had been ripped loose at the shoulder and slit half its length .
There was a scratch across the smooth white flesh, and the stinging
red slash of a branch had marred her cheek . But there was a smile on
her twisted lips and her eyes were bright and keen .
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Ahead of her Apollo still gave tongue . Suddenly his deep bay
broke off in snarling anger, then all was silent . The Great Dane was
never noisy when he fought .
Nita broke into a run . The gun was in her hand now, clenched
ready in a white fist. She sprang across a narrow stream, stumbled,
recovered and raced on . The grade ahead was steep . Her run slowed
to a rapid walk, and even that became difficult to maintain.
Footing was uncertain now, and the light was almost gone . Nita
tripped over a vine, sprang up silently and hurried on . Her lips were
open and her lungs panted for air . Ahead, through the trunks of the
trees, she could see the crest of the hill against the sky, and it was
empty of life . A great rocky eminence thrust upward just below its
top and its jagged peak was like the masked face of a man .
Nita halted, tried to still her laboring breath, to listen . The eve-
ning hush had fallen upon the woods . The birds were silent . The in-
sects had not yet taken up the orchestration of the night . Faint wind
rustled through the leaves with a sound like men whispering . That
was all . Yet somewhere near here, Apollo had bayed, had snarled in
anger and charged .
More cautiously now, her eyes questing through the blackening
night, Nita advanced . Had the great dog triumphed, bowled over the
man she trailed! Or had her faithful Apollo been killed? Was that
man even now lying in ambush for her among the shrubs and great
fragments of rocks, that tumbled from that peak which was near at
hand now, were strewn across her path?
The pulsing of her blood was a throbbing excitement in Nita’s
ears . She thrust the gun ahead of her and pushed on, jerked to a sud-
den halt . What was that sound!
It was soft and gentle, yet seemed to have strong volume . Hear-
ing it, Nita wondered why she had not detected it before . It was such
a sound as a church full of people might make whispering a prayer
together. Each one made little sound, but together, the volume filled
the vast vault of the building . But this was without sibilance . It was
all round vowels in two tones, a — a cooing!
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And in a flash, Nita knew. Somewhere near her, together in the
blackness, were vast numbers of pigeons! Kirkpatrick had spoken of
pigeons in connection with the Black Death . Wentworth had sought
a clue here, and she had followed a suspicious man to a hiding place
that was filled with pigeons!
There could be one answer only to this . She had stumbled on the
secret spot from which the Plague Master loosed the dread Black
Death upon the city, sending the doom of thousands on the homing
wings of flocks of pigeons.
A strong shudder shook Nita . Here all about her was probably
the contagion of this terrible new form of the Bubonic Plague which
killed so horribly. But Nita did not turn and flee from the terror of
that discovery as another woman might have done, as indeed many
men would . Instead, her face became drawn with the intensity
of her determination . Holding the gun ready, she moved forward
again — toward the cooing of the pigeons, toward the lair of the
Black Death!
As she advanced, the soft, gentle sound grew louder . It was fan-
tastic that their muted voices meant a horrible death . Yet she realized
how efficient was the plan this monster had devised. For who would
suspect that death hovered on their wings? Who but the Spider!
And who, discovering how the Master of the Plague operated,
could turn aside the swift, homing flight of a flock. As well try to shut
the air from the city! A few might be killed; a flock might be turned
aside for a while . But ultimately even their dying wings would speed
them to their habitation in the city, and the Black Plague would stride
grimly through the streets, touching this man and that, clutching its
strangling fingers about a baby’s throat.
Grimly Nita resolved that if she died in doing it, she would de-
stroy these messengers of death, checkmate the Black Death . It was
for the Spider .
“Dick,” the girl murmured . “Dick .”
And as if that word had been a magic talisman, it gave her
strength . She moved on .
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Then the shadow of a rock seemed to come to life! Nita fired as
quick as thought, and a man cursed . Footsteps sounded behind her .
She whirled, gun ready, too late!
Steel bands seemed to clamp about her arms from behind . Her
wrists were pinioned at her sides . The automatic was wrenched from
her hand . On the back of her neck was the panting of a man’s hot
breath .
“I’ve got the little hell-cat!” a hoarse voice grated in her ear .
“The she-devil!” cursed another voice . “She got me in the arm .”
Footsteps approached, and a shadow loomed before her . A hand
slapped her face violently, and she gasped at the pain .
“Lay off that!” the man behind her rasped . Another blow . Nita
kicked out with her riding boot, and a man howled in agony . The
shadow danced before her .
“Good for you, baby,” said the man who gripped her .
She struck backward at him with her boot . But her heel thumped
against a rock and the man laughed — then snarled.
“Cut it out, Bill,” he or
dered . “Served you right . Now lay off that
and help me tie her up .”
Ropes bit into her wrists then . The man she had kicked yanked
them savagely tight, cursing at the pain his arm caused him .
“Hurt you bad, Bill?” asked the man who still held her from be-
hind .
“Not as bad as I thought,” the man grumbled, trapping her kick-
ing feet and tying those, too . “Bullet just burned my arm .”
He finished binding her and the two men, one at her feet, one
with his hands beneath her arms, carried her through the darkness
toward the sound of the pigeons, until the cooing became like the
washing of soft waves that blurred all other sound .
Echoes clapped back the footsteps of the men then . They rang
hollowly, and she realized that she had been carried into a cave . Her
feet were dropped, she heard a match scratch, and an end of candle
flickered into yellow light.
She stared about her . The walls were lined with coops of pigeons .
The stench was sickening . The men who had captured her were
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roughly dressed, and handkerchiefs hid their faces . One had blood
on his left sleeve, and he glared at her hatefully .
Nita was suddenly aware of her torn blouse, of the low V of the
collar which had been ripped . Suddenly the other man strode across
to the one he called Bill .
“None of that,” he snapped . “We gotta wait and see what the boss
says do . You get out and make sure that dog is dead . You hit him an
awful wallop, but them things are tough to kill .”
Bill glared at him . “And leave you in here with her, huh? I ain’t
quite that big a fool!”
The two men glowered at each other . Then the larger man, the
one who had captured Nita, shrugged his shoulders .
“Okay,” he said, “We’ll both go .”
They clumped off together, first blowing out the candle, and the
echoing cave brought back their voices to her .
“Damn!” said one, “I’ll be glad when we don’t have to hear these
damned pigeons all the time .”
“It won’t be long,” the other muttered . “We’ll turn them loose
before long . Then we’ll see about the girl .”
“How long?”
“The plane with the money takes off at dawn . And about three
hours after that — ”
The man’s voice trailed off into the distance, but there floated