CHAPTER XXVI.
A FIENDISH ACT.
"Like some lone bird Without a mate, My lonely heart is desolate; I look around And cannot trace, a friendly smile, a welcome face. Even in crowds I'm still alone, because I cannot love but one."
Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening,nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength.
He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty.
Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoothim down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that hadbeen laid out for him.
Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid severalplans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act ofHalloran's.
Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerablymystified.
"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale oremaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems toagree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end thisvigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to myliking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know howhe got on.
"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made thediscovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed himin limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hastento communicate with me, apprising me of the fact.
"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to thebackbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and isliving off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, tenchances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence.
"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; andit is nightfall and no sign of any one."
The next day and the next passed in the same fashion.
By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated.
"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I donot see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will notlast many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physicalpossibility."
In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner.
Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely tobreathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of theboarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale becauseof his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour.
"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it isperfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come atlast."
Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the doorto after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion.
"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now thathe is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty trampI'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to therailway station, and hungry as a bear at that."
Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of adoubt that he was actually dying.
And again he was thoroughly deceived.
"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safebetween him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it;that's certain."
On the threshold he halted.
"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past allrecognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot.Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way.
"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover hisidentity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay!that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime."
He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the earsof Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps thesecond time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The wordsfell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he wasbound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in thefloor.
For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart,but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts.
And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried outhis intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. Thehorrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even byexerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself.
With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment.
And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled aboutfor matches, seemingly without finding any.
"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but theyare not here now."
After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming:
"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should alwaysknow where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A wholebunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!"
For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparentlydragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was pilingpieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze.
His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought.
The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity.
Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches,quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze.
With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain,but it resisted his every effort.
"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, theveins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, theperspiration pouring down his face like rain.
For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outerroom.
Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder whichbound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant.
The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respitefrom the horrible fate which awaited him.
What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentionsto set fire to the cabin?
It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty wasalmost unbearable.
In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match inhand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than waituntil he was journeying toward the railway station.
He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once,and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him thefact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way.
"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, andspringing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package atonce, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor.
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