Kat and Copy-Cat/Chapter 7
THE following days were bitter ones for Dick and the epithets which he applied to himself were far from complimentary. In fact, so occupied was he with his misery because of Evalani, that he almost forgot about his encounter with Carter McKnight upon the mountain, and quite neglected to give consideration to what might have been the immediate purpose of the attempted attack. Eventually, however, having about worn out every possible line of suffering and self-recrimination which he could evolve from the situation, he gradually began to return to a more normal attitude toward life; and with this return came the recollection of the event upon the mountain; and the memory of the cowering figure which he had left beside the trail to contemplate the absurd little couplet which he had quoted, even brought a semblance of a grin to his gloomy countenance. And with this came an interest in reviewing the episode and its import. To his mind it seemed quite evident that McKnight's only object must have been to get him out of the way in order to eliminate his interference with his designs upon Evalani and her child. And more strongly than ever was he inclined to the view that McKnight feared that his mother would adopt the child and thus cut him out of a possible inheritance, which easily accounted for Kat Morton's interest, if she were really engaged to McKnight, as report seemed to have it conclusively. This seemed to him the most logical solution to the mystery; and if it were true, then it behooved him to take good care of his self-assumed charges, since he was convinced that the persons involved were absolutely without compunction or conscience as long as their selfish interests were threatened by the continued life of the little boy. Of course he had found no opportunity to tell Evalani about his encounter with McKnight. At first he had intended to do so and had rather anticipated hearing her laughter at the fiasco; but now, in view of the still pending danger to her boy, he thought it wiser not to worry and frighten her by retailing the event; although for a moment he had contemplated it as a possible excuse for making a specific demand for an interview with her, on the score that he had information which it was necessary that she should know, in view of the safety of her child. He knew that this would bring about the desired conference, in the course of which he would have an opportunity to say the things which his very soul was crying out for her to understand;—but now that he had weighed the matter, he could not do it; for it was perfectly evident that the knowledge that danger had come to him through her, would only add to her unhappiness, whether she cared for him or not; and would also frighten her more for the safety of the youngster whom Dick had firmly resolved to protect at any cost. And so, much as he longed to see her, he was forced to forego what seemed like the only possible opening for bringing about an interview, and try to content himself with keeping a close watch upon his charges, and speculating upon some other opening for bringing about the longed-for meeting.
A dozen times a day he went cautiously and brushed aside the ironwood tassels, hoping against hope that he might find that the canvas curtain had been rolled up again; but always it presented the same dull grey impenetrable wall between him and his hopes, and he would wander back to his typewriter and sit gazing out across the valley and cursing his ill fortune. He could not blame her for shutting him out of her life. He had deserved it. And not only that, but in the face of the humiliation which he had put upon one of her proud nature, she could not have done otherwise. It seemed as if he could not have wanted her to do otherwise. She could not be Evalani and bow to such an affront; but just the same, the consciousness of that blank grey wall beyond the ironwoods, was the cause of untold suffering.
And so, after three days of isolation, he determined to write to her, and he spent two days at his type-writer draughting the letter over and over again, telling her all about everything; and then tearing it up and taking a fresh sheet, which always met the same fate. Until at last, abandoning in despair the effort to tell her anything in this way, he flung himself down at his desk and scribbled hurriedly:—
"I love you, and that love is the proudest and dearest thing in my life.
"Will you let me see you and tell you?"
That was all. Neither beginning nor signature; only the words thrust into an envelope and addressed to her and given to Moto to deliver upon the instant, lest he should recall it and be back again in the treadmill of indecision.
Moto impassively received the envelope with orders to wait for an answer, and Dick fell to pacing the lanai while he awaited his fate. But Moto returned empty-handed. "Fong say no answer," he stated, woodenly.
"Was she there? Did she read it?" asked Dick, tensely.
"Ye-es," said Moto. "I speak Fong, did she read, or shall I come bime-by for answer. He say no, she read all right, she say no answer. Thas all."
Dick returned to his pacing, his ears alert. Perhaps she would come and call to him through the ironwoods. Surely, surely she could not absolutely ignore such a plea as that. But no call came. After an hour he went softly and brushed aside the sheltering boughs; perhaps the curtain had gone up and he had not heard. But no, there was still only the grey wall like a dense curtain of fog hanging between them, and no sound came from beyond it. And yet, yes, he did hear something, coming faintly through the barrier—it was Evalani singing the little boy to sleep with one of the old Hawaiian melodies. He stood still, his head bent against the soft green boughs and closed his eyes for a few moments; and then he let the tassels fall back into place and returned to his pacing of the lanai, his heart heavy and brooding and his soul sick with longing and discouragement, and his ability to plan and hope practically dead.
However, the next morning he went back, doggedly, to work. He had only one remaining possibility. He would keep an eye upon the curve of the road, as he could see it from his desk; and if Evalani should go forth for a walk, as had been her practice, he would watch for her return, and when he saw her round the curve, he would go out and intercept her as she passed his house. They had never made a practice of walking together; for once when he had proposed it, she had shaken her head and said quietly that she thought it would not be wise; and he had instantly seen that she was right, since the road was sufficiently traveled to make it more than likely that they would meet motorists from town; and surely Evalani had suffered enough from malicious tongues so that he must not selfishly add the least shadow of motive for further gossip. And so now, should he see her, he must not follow her; but could only await her return to say the few words which he must say or continue to suffer untold agonies of mind.
For several days she failed to appear; and then, one afternoon, rather later than had been usual, he saw the flick of her yellow frock as she came out upon the curve and faced the mountain wind which ruffled her hair and tossed the fragrant lei of stephanotis and mulang blossoms which she so loved to wear about her neck. In the old days, she always used to turn at this point and wave to him, and he watched, hoping against hope, that she would do so today; but she did not turn her head, only kept steadily on and rounded the curve without a backward glance. It seemed to him, even at that distance, that she looked more frail and less buoyant than of old, and met the wind with less resistance of her slender form. Also, he missed seeing her strain at the leash of the big police dog, for he no longer accompanied her upon these walks since the stealing of the little boy; being left to guard the home whenever she was abroad; and someway it seemed to Dick that his absence made her seem pathetically alone upon the wild mountain road with the tangles of jungle growth reaching up from below and the weird, swaying branches of great trees and vines swinging down from overhead.
Dick's heart began to thump a bit heavily. Inside of half an hour she would return. Inside of half an hour he would have talked to her once more. Inside of half an hour he would know whether she could ever forgive him, or whether she was irrevocably offended. He found himself growing decidedly nervous. He dared not get up and pace the lanai, his usual solace in time of stress, lest she might pass while his back was turned; for the curve of road which was visible from his chair was a very short space indeed and it would take her only a moment to pass it. And all that he could do was to sit with his eyes glued to that little space, and call upon his gods to send him good fortune in this one all-important moment of his life.
The time seemed interminably long, and he glanced at his watch. Not quite half an hour, she would soon be coming now; and he half rose in his chair, that he might be ready upon the instant of her appearance, to dash out through his garden, so that there might be no possible chance for her to pass before he could intercept her. But eventually, as she did not come, he sank back into his seat, still watching with strained eyes. He tried to interest himself in the occasional cars which passed, making the loop up one side of the mountain and down the other, but found the occupation empty. The half-hour passed, then three-quarters, and she had not come. He began to be anxious. There was no other way for her to come back, for though there were many trails farther up the mountain, and also down below, yet upon this particular ridge the roadway filled the entire knife-edge, leaving no space for a trail, though just at the curve there was a little hillock which one might ascend, but one must come down into the road again in plain sight; so there had been no way for her to have passed, unless he had slept on the watch, which he was only too positive that he had not. And yet she never stayed out so long as this. He looked at his watch again. It was the time that she always gave the little boy his supper; for he knew all of her little home schedule, and she never missed attending to that, herself.
He got up and went to the door anxiously, determined to brave Fong and inquire if she had come in; but when he passed through the break in the hedge, he found Fong standing in the road gazing toward the curve as intently as he had been doing. "Has Mrs. Malua come back from her walk?" he asked the man, sharply.
Fong turned, his gaunt face looking particularly grim. "No," he said; "She no come home. No good. I no like. She no stop so long before. I no like."
"All right, I'll go and find her;" said Dick, briskly; "You watch little boy good;" and he started on the run up the road and around the curve; not minding this time if she were to see him running to find her. But around the curve there was no sign of Evalani, nor around the next curve, nor the next. And then, where a trail cut into the road, from one of the other ridges, he halted. Had she taken the trail, or kept to the road? He had heard her say that she was fond of the trail, and so, on the strength of that, he turned into it, running over the soft ground and among the ferns and vines until he came out upon the road once more, beyond a wide turn where it made the grade. Again he hesitated and again he took the trail until he reached its next intersection with the road. And still there was no sign of Evalani. Perhaps she might have passed him on the way home, by keeping to the road while he was on the trail. If so, she would be at home by now; and he turned and ran back down the trail and along the now deserted road, toward home, trying to keep down his anxiety, and yet filled with a deadly fear. The sun was setting. He must find her before darkness fell.
As he turned the last curve his heart sank, for there still stood Fong in the road, and Dick's gesture of inquiry was answered by only a shake of the head; so he turned sharply back again, to search that part of the road which he had missed while on the trail. She might have sprained her ankle or been hurt in some other way and, being Evalani, she would not have asked a passing motorist for a lift. He might find her waiting for him beside the road. She would know that he would come for her; and his heart swelled with a momentary joy at the thought of her waiting there in the dusk for him. At last, waiting for him to come for her.
But again when he had covered the ground up to the point to which he had first come, there was no sign of her; and now, thoroughly frightened at the idea of approaching darkness before he had found her, he turned to go back for his car, thinking to reach more quickly the farthest possible point to which her walk might have taken her. And it was while running back down the road, having just passed the point where the trail comes out from the forest, that he suddenly stopped stock still and stood turning his head this way and that and straining his eyes in the gloaming; for he had caught a sweet, passing whiff of mulang fragrance, and remembered the lei which he had seen the wind whipping about Evalani's neck. And yet she was nowhere in sight and there was no spot near at hand where she might be screened from view. He went back a few feet, scanning the sides of the road; and then suddenly he sprang forward and snatched from the grass beside the way a fragrant rope of white flowers. Not a circular lei, as she had worn it about her neck; but a straight rope with a broken string and a crushed space as if a rude hand had grasped it and torn it away from her neck and flung it aside, where the fragrance of its crushed flowers had called to him from the ground. And yet, in that instant he did not read it in that way. He felt that it was Evalani's own hand which had broken the string and flung it down, had flung it down as a message to him, as a cry to him for help in her emergency; and thrusting it into his bosom he whirled in his steps and went racing madly back down the mountain road, knowing that Evalani had been carried away, had been stolen from him; and with all of the rage of a devastated mate, he sprang to the task of finding his love and wreaking his vengeance.
The white figure of Fong was still in the road when he rounded the curve toward the bungalows, but he did not stop for explanations; only called out; "I'll find her! Tell Grandma I'll find her all right!" as he dashed into the house and to his room, grasped his revolver and a flashlight, and was out again. But quick as he was, the old Chinaman already had the car out of the garage and sprang out of it with incredible agility as Dick reached it; and in another moment Dick was speeding away down the mountain, sure that whoever had taken the girl had gone on around the loop and down the Round Top road, and that the only place to find clue of her would be somewhere among those flickering lights beginning to blink out, down below in the town.
There being practically no cars out at this hour, Dick had a clear way for all of the speed which he dared upon this crooked, winding road, and also it afforded him a free mind to work upon the question before him—the question of where to begin his search—and as usual his mind reverted to Bert Sands and her clear little head, ready to grasp every phase of a situation at the first glance and reacting instantly with some wise suggestion for action. And therefore, at the first possible point he dashed for a telephone and called her number, praying that she might be at home.
Jack Sands answered the call. Dick was brief. "Dick Harris speaking," he said; "They've got Evalani. Ask Bert what to do."
Almost instantly Jack replied, half laughing, "Bert's half way to the garage. She says to go to an isolated bungalow on the beach, a few miles beyond Waimea Canyon. Go Leilehua way. I'm coming, too. Run easy in town; don't let the speed-cop get you. Go to it!"
Dick was back in his car in a flash, and then out through town, keeping as much as possible to the less traveled streets and with difficulty holding in his car, giving thanks for Jack's warning, since to be held up now would be maddening.
It was dark by the time that he was clear of the town and running through Moanalua gardens; but fortunately the dangerous roads about the gulches beyond, were not over-full of traffic; and then when at last he reached the straighter stretches along Schofield Barracks he again gave thanks that the worst of the trip, some twenty miles, was over and nothing untoward had happened, to delay him; but still he dared not speed too much lest he should be stopped and detained perilously.
And now he began to wonder whether he should find the right house. The orders were indefinite; and anyway, how did Bert know where to direct him? Might he not be on a wild-goose chase out here, after all, while something terrible might be happening to Evalani somewhere nearer to town? But, on the other hand, if he did not come here, where should he go? The police would mean publicity and also delay while they went over the ground which he had already covered. No, he would follow this up as far as it went; and then if it did not lead to anything, he would at least have Bert at hand to take counsel with, and plan some other quick line of search.
His car spun along as fast as he would let it, seeming almost like a live thing, over-eager to be about its master's business, answering his touch like a thoroughbred, and yet always alert for every bit of rein that he would give it. He found himself talking to it as they went, praising it, even soothing it with a word as just beyond Haleiwa a small car went careening by, evidently in the hands of a drunken driver, and swerved almost against their fender, requiring a quick turn of Dick's hand to avoid it.
Past Waimea Canyon and the house called haunted, and then along the road as close to the beach as he could get, straining his eyes through the gloom as buildings or trees loomed between him and the sea; and then at last, standing out by itself between the road and the heavy surf which was beating up as it beats nowhere else on Oahu, he saw the dark outlines of a bungalow with a low stone wall about it.
He swerved up to the entrance and stopped his car and sat still for a moment and listened. The house was dark, and the only sound was the heavy beat and swash of the surf and a singing sound of sand as the water washed back from the steep beach. He gripped his revolver and his flashlight and jumped out of the car and went up the walk which crossed the little sandy garden where a few newly planted coconut trees attested to the fact that it was not a deserted place, but probably merely a week-end home for some Honolulu city dweller.
He stepped up onto the lanai in the darkness and listened again, but there was no near at hand sound. He tried the two doors, without turning on his light, and found both of them locked. He leaned close to one and put his ear against it, listening intently and trying to shut out the tumult of the sea. Not a sound came from within. The same silence met him at the other door. He returned to the first and leaning close to it he called softly "Evalani!" But there came no answer. He stood still, debating what to do. There seemed to be no one here, and yet this must be the house. It answered the meager description at every point. He would return to the road and wait there for Bert and Jack. As he passed the other door he stopped beside it again and called "Evalani!" and bent his head to listen. There came no answer; and yet vaguely it seemed to him that he heard something within the room—a movement, a rustle, a mere consciousness of life, he could scarcely tell. He called again, and again came the indefinite response. In an instant he had put his shoulder to the door and it sprang open with a bang and a crash and his flash-light suddenly splashed upon the figure of Evalani upon the floor, gagged and bound with wide strips of white cloth which wound about her like the wrappings of a mummy.
On the moment he was down beside her, loosening the gag and cutting wildly at the wrapping bandages, while the girl lay limp, her wide eyes gleaming up at him in the rays of the flash-light which lay on the floor by her head. And all the time he was talking to her brokenly. "Darling, my darling! I've found you! My God, I thought that I'd never find you! Oh, sweetheart, you'll never escape me again, never! You're mine!" And he drew her released form into his arms, covering her face with kisses and holding her as if he would never let her go again. He could not tell whether she responded to any of his caresses or not,—perhaps he had not time to notice, so engrossed was he in the fact that he had found her and that he had her in his arms at last,—that she had been in terrible danger, had suffered, and he had not been there to defend her.
Presently he found that she was trying to speak and he bent his ear to hear. "My baby! Is my baby safe?" she whispered.
"Absolutely safe!" he assured her, eagerly.
She heaved a deep sigh of relief. Then a shudder swept over her form. "Take me away!" she whispered, fearfully.
He gathered her up in his arms and carried her out to his car and carefully placed her in the seat. Then as he turned to go around to his own side, the lights of an automobile flashed into view and Dick sprang into his seat and clutched his revolver as a car swept alongside and stopped; but in an instant Bert Sands' clear voice called: "Have you got her, all right?"
"Yes," said Dick, hoarsely, "I've got her."
"Did you kill the fellow?" asked Jack.
"He wasn't there," said Dick. "She was gagged and trussed up and all alone."
"Howcum?" inquired Jack.
"Don't know. She isn't able to talk yet."
Evalani stirred and raised her head slightly from the back of the seat. "He went back to Haleiwa for more liquor," she whispered. "He—he said that he wasn't quite drunk enough to kill me. He was afraid. He is coming back," and she dropped her head again with a moan, and began shivering as if with the cold.
Dick passed on what she said. "All right," responded Bert. "Here, take this rug and wrap it around her good and tight, and then make for home. Go back by way of the Pali. It's a lot longer, but that way we won't meet him, and we don't want to mess things up publicly if we can help it."
"I'd like to meet him!" said Dick, through his clenched teeth and fingering his gun.
"Don't be a fool!" said Bert. "Take care of your lady now and think of your revenge later on. Now go along and we'll follow fairly close, so that if he tries to go after you, we can hold him up. What sort of a car is he driving, do you know?"
Dick again passed on Evalani's whispered words. "A little two-door car, she says, blue with a grey line. A drive-yourself rented for the occasion, I suppose. All right, we'll get going. Thanks beyond words." And stopping only long enough to wrap Evalani tenderly in the warm rug and draw her close to him, he turned out into the road and headed for the long drive around the windward side of the Island.
For a long time no word was spoken. The car hummed evenly along and Evalani lay huddled against his shoulder, seemingly in a half stupor, though now and then a long shiver or shudder quivered over her form. At last she moved her head slightly and put her hands to her throat. "Can I do anything for you?" asked Dick, bending closer.
Her head moved in a negative. "No," she whispered. "It's only—that my throat hurts."
"Of course it does," sympathized Dick. "There ought to have been some way to get you something hot before we started, but it didn't seem wise to go back to Haleiwa, and there is no other place until we get clear to town. If anything cool would help you, perhaps we might find some ginger ale at one of the little shops along the road."
But at this Evalani started up in a panic. "Oh, no!" she cried, in terror. "Don't stop anywhere! Oh, please don't! Just get me home as quickly as you can. Only just get me home to my baby, that's all I want."
Dick put a hand over the clenched fingers in her lap. "All right, sweetheart," he said, tenderly, as if to a child. "That is just what we are doing,—going home as fast as ever we can. Only don't worry, and we'll be there pronto. Try to rest a little if you can."
For a time Evalani was quiet and then weariness and fear took hold upon her again, and presently she began to sob heavily, shivering the while. Dick slowed the car down a little and bent over her again. "Listen, dear," he said, "there's a long stretch of smooth road along here and I'm going to drive with one hand;" and his strong right arm went tenderly around the cowering form and drew her close to him. "Now," he said, "we're going to have you warm and comfy in just about three minutes. Come, snuggle your head up against my shoulder and see how safe you'll feel." And obediently Evalani cuddled up in the warm arm which held her and the big woolly rug in such a strong and protecting grip. And presently she stopped shivering and rested against him quietly, excepting for the occasional painful swallowing in an effort to relieve the swollen and aching throat. And the car continued to spin steadily on as before.
Somewhat later Dick heard the peculiar call of Bert's horn which indicated that she wanted to communicate, and he slowed down again and in a moment the Sands' car slid in alongside and Jack leaned out and tossed some oranges into the seat beside Evalani. "Bert thought that you would be thirsty," he said, "and so we got these at that Pa-ke shop back there. Eat them if you can; they'll do you good. There wasn't anything else possible in the place." And without waiting for thanks, the car dropped back into its position of rear guard.
Evalani came out from the enveloping arm sufficiently to reach for one of the oranges, and although at first it seemed difficult for her to swallow even the juice, yet presently its subtle, stimulating quality began to have its effect and in a few minutes she nestled back again with a sigh of relief. "I feel so much better," she said, in a voice more nearly like her own.
"Well, don't talk!" said Dick, authoritatively. "Just rest until we get home."
"All right, only I want to know about things. Please tell me how you found me."
"Wait until we get home, dear," said Dick, coaxingly. "Just rest now, please."
"But it won't tire me to listen," pleaded Evalani. "It will tire me much more to worry and wonder."
"All right," Dick tightened his arm a little. "Do you happen to notice any perfume about where your head is resting?" he inquired.
Evalani sniffed, doubtfully. "Yes," she said, "I've kept thinking that I smelled mulang, but I supposed that it was because my mind was wandering."
"Nothing of the kind," declared Dick. "That blessed lei is right there inside of my coat, and has been there ever since I picked it up."
"And so you really found it?" whispered Evalani, softly.
"Surely! You left it for me, didn't you?"
"Yes. I thought that you would come to look for me."
"Thought!" reproached Dick.
Evalani rubbed her cheek against the coat. "I knew that you would," she said. And then, "But I can't understand. How did you manage to trace me?"
"Oh, as usual," said Dick, "I went after Bert Sands. All of the credit goes to her."
"But how did she know?" questioned Evalani. "How did she ever guess where he would take me?"
"Search me!" said Dick. "Bert seems to have a sort of Cosmic Consciousness; she knows everything."
By this time they had reached the foot of the Pali and Dick, much to his regret, realized that this was a case of both hands to the wheel, and reluctantly he released the now nearly recovered Evalani, who sat up quite brightly and inquired whether he was not at all interested in what her own experience had been; and to his protest that she ought not to talk, only to rest, she replied that it would do her a lot more good to talk it all out to him than to sit still and think about it to herself and get the shivers again. Whereupon Dick told her to go ahead, but that if she started to shivering, he would begin to drive with one hand again even though they should be upon the raggedest edge of the narrowest part of the road. "Now," said he, "to begin with, how did that man ever manage to get a lively girl like you into the car and gag and tie her up that way, and all on a fairly well traveled road and in broad daylight?"
"Well," said Evalani, "it was like this: I had just come out of the trail onto the road and turned back toward home, when the little car drew up beside me and the door opened and out jumped Carter McKnight, and as he did so, Kat Morton leaned forward from the back seat and spoke to me."
"Kat Morton!" exclaimed Dick; "Do you mean that she actually took part in this—that she was there and helped to tie you up?"
"Exactly that," said Evalani. "But wait until I get to that part. Of course I wasn't frightened, only angry; for, as you say, it was broad daylight and a certain number of cars passing all the time. As soon as I grasped who it was, I actually saw red, just remembering what they had tried to do to my boy; and I didn't mince words in what I had to say to them. But Kat was creamy-er than ever and only smiled and said that it was all because I didn't understand, had been misinformed; and for me to get into the car and she would explain everything to me, how a dreadful mistake had been made and how sorry she was. But I wouldn't hear a word to it, and just went on with what I had to say. I know Kat Morton. I went to Punahou School with her for years and years. But Kat kept saying that she was so sorry and that she wanted to explain and wouldn't I please get into the car to talk, because if anyone should go by they would be curious and would gossip about my looking so angry and fussing so. I refused point-blank to get into the car and said that I didn't want to hear any of her lying explanations, and I turned to go. And Carter McKnight was standing close behind me, and just as I turned, he suddenly thrust the gag into my mouth and tightened it and flung me forward into the car and Kat threw a rug over my head before I could get to my feet. McKnight bundled my feet in and shut the door and started up the car and Kat—actually, Kat sat on me!"
Here Evalani even laughed a little. "I know," she said, "it sounds funny; but it was a long way from being funny then, I can tell you. There I was, huddled in the bottom of the car with the gag in my mouth and the rug wrapped all over me and Kat sitting on top of me and saying in her creamy voice; 'This is your own mistake. If you had gotten in quietly, we wouldn't have had to be rough with you; but you would make us do it, and so it is your own fault, and not ours.' And she sat just as heavy as she could, too!
"It was at the moment when he thrust the gag into my mouth that I tore off the lei. He had crushed the flowers against my face and the idea flashed through my mind of trying to leave it for you as a message; and so I yanked at the string and in struggling with him, tried to drop it outside of the car but couldn't be sure whether I had succeeded or whether it was still in the folds of the rug."
"Your quick thinking certainly saved you," commented Dick. "I would probably still be searching Tantalus for you, if it had not been for that."
Evalani went on. "Of course I didn't know where we were going, down there in the dark. I had noticed at first that the curtains of the car were down, and although I could hear automobiles passing and hear the horns, I was absolutely helpless. I did kick some, though, for my feet were partly out of the rug; and by-and-by they ran off into some blind road or the driveway of some unoccupied house—anyway it was quiet and no cars passing, though of course I couldn't see anything—and there they got out those bandages, they were lengths torn from a sheet, and McKnight tied my feet; and then they lifted the rug, and I was almost smothered from the gag and the heat and the wool of the rug. Oh, it was awful! And then they tied my hands. I tried to fight, but it wasn't any use, against the two of them and I so exhausted, anyway. Kat has her fingernails manicured to sharp points, just like claws, and they hurt my arms dreadfully when she would clutch me to make me hold still while McKnight tightened the bandages." The girl rubbed her arms and cringed. "They are sore yet," she said; "All bruised and so cut and scratched with those terrible nails."
Dick was driving ahead doggedly, his teeth clenched. "God!" he said, "I wish I had that man's neck in my fingers!"
Evalani continued. "When they had me all tied up, then McKnight went back to the wheel and started up the car again, and Kat sat and smiled at me just as if she were entertaining me at an afternoon tea. And oh, the things that she said!"
"What did she say?" asked Dick, grimly.
The girl was silent for a moment. "Well," she said at last, "it didn't really matter much what she said; for I knew that they meant to kill me, and all that I could think of was what would happen to my baby when they had gotten me out of the way. That was the awful part of it. Kat knew that would torture me more than anything else and so she kept harping upon that point. She said that I could rest assured that if anything ever happened to me, they would look after little David, and that it would really be a very good thing, because they knew much better than I what would be best for him and that I might be very sure that they would do it."
"I suppose," hazarded Dick, "that she meant to insinuate that with you out of the way, they would have the boy at their mercy and could do away with him so that McKnight's mother could not adopt him and cut Carter and his lady-love out of part of her fortune. Wasn't that it?"
Evalani was silent again. "I suppose," she said, noncommittally, "that your idea might seem plausible. But anyway, the point was that they were going to get me out of the way, and after that they could do as they pleased."
"But did Kat go the whole way with you?"
"No. We went down the Round Top road. I could see enough through the wind-shield, after the rug was off of my head, to keep track of where we were. I don't know why they didn't blindfold me. Perhaps it was because Kat liked to watch my eyes while she tortured me. When we got down into the outskirts of town, he let Kat out, so that she could go home by street-car; but before she went, she gave my wrist a parting grip with her sharp nails and said, 'Good-bye. I hope that you will have a nice long joy-ride.' And after she was out, she looked back through the open door and bowed and smiled her creamy smile, as if she were saying good afternoon to her dearest friend.
"As soon as she was gone, McKnight began to drink every few minutes. He had taken a good deal before I met them, I could tell; and then several more drinks after I was out from under the rug; and I could see that he was trying to drink himself into proper shape to carry out their plans. The man is a coward at heart and he was desperately scared at what was before him and was trying to drink in sufficient courage to carry him through. Of course I didn't know where we were headed for; but I had a lot of time to think while we were driving over the road, and I concluded that he was aiming to find some isolated spot where my body would not be discovered before he had a chance to do away with David and then get off on the Malolo, which sails Friday. She makes the trip in four days, and if he could get to the Coast before he was suspected and held up by cable, he would be pretty sure to make his escape safely. And I suppose that is why he went to that lonesome week-end house. That made the chances good that I would not be found before Sunday, and even possibly not until a week later. But if they found me the Sunday after the Malolo sailed, it would still be two or three days before the police machinery got to work sufficiently to bring him under suspicion, if they ever did come to suspect him at all, and by that time he would probably be beyond catching. At least that is the way I had it worked out."
"Very likely you're right," said Dick, grimly. "Well, there's going to be a day of reckoning, and I'll be there when it comes, you can wager on that. Go on, what next, when you got to the house? He didn't hurt you, did he."
"No, no!" said Evalani, quickly. "He was very drunk by then, maudlin drunk, and he carried me in and dumped me down like a bag of meal. He evidently had a key to the house, for he put me down on the lanai while he unlocked the door, and then he dragged me in and flopped me onto the floor and then sat down beside me and began to cry. Yes, actually to cry, in that drunken, maudlin way; saying that he had got to kill me there in the dark and he hated to kill a woman, and that people were always making him do the dirty work and kill women and little children, and he wouldn't ever be able to sleep again as long as he lived, because he knew that I would haunt him, and then he began begging me to promise him that I wouldn't haunt him; but of course I was gagged and couldn't do any talking or promising. And then finally he tried to screw up his courage and leaned over and took a grip upon my throat with his two hands." Again a shudder shook her form.
Dick uttered an exclamation and drew her into the shelter of his arm once more, and after hiding her face for a moment against his shoulder, she went on. "Well, even then he couldn't make his courage hold out. His fingers turned flabby and dropped off and he began to cry again and talk about his poor dead brother and wish that he was there to do it for him. 'Jim would do it,' he said. 'If Jim was here he'd do it for me all right. He'd take a drink of booze and then he'd wade right in and do it; that's what he'd do.' And that made him think of the liquor and he got out his bottle and it was empty, and that made him cry again; and he said that he would have to go back to Haleiwa and get some more, and then he'd be all right. 'Why,' he said, 'I'll take a big drink, one good, big drink, and then I won't have any trouble at all. That's what I'll do. I'll get the booze and then come back here and finish you up fine. Now you wait and I'll come back;' and he stumbled out and locked the door and I heard him start up the car outside and drive away up the road."
"Yes," said Dick, "And I suppose that was the car that nearly ran into me just this side of Haleiwa. He came within a hair's breadth of side-swiping me off of the road. My Lord, I wish I'd known who it was then!"
"No," said Evalani, "It's better as it is!"
"Do you suppose that he was too drunk to come back?" asked Dick.
"No," said Evalani, "He'd have come back. I'm sure that he would have come back. He was maudlin, but just enough so to be tenacious of his purpose. I don't believe that he would have drunk anything more until he got back; and then he would have, as he said, taken a big drink and tried to do it on the first flash of the liquor in his brain. No, he will have been back to the house by now, and I suppose that he is somewhere drunkenly searching for me along the road."
Dick drew her close. "Well," he said, "He isn't going to find you. You are going to be taken care of from now on, and no back talk. In just about three days—"
But Evalani put a small hand over his mouth. "Wait," she said, "Please don't talk of anything like that now. My head isn't clear enough tonight to know how to be wise. All that I want to think about now is just that I am safe and that my boy is safe."
By this time they had long ago passed the top of the Pali and now many lights were glimmering before them as they ran down the long, smooth road toward town. At a little out-of-the-way cafe Dick stopped and brought her out a cup of steaming hot coffee and a sandwich; and then away they spun again to start the long climb back to the little bungalows on Tantalus.
As they rounded the curve below the houses, late as it was, there stood the white figure of Fong, still in the road. He started forward as the car came into sight. "You got Missi Malua?" His voice soared and cracked under the stress.
"Yes, Fong, I'm here!" called Evalani. "Is David all right?"
Fong stood still and his voice dropped again to its habitual monotone. "Baby all ri'," he said, and turned and went back through the hedge.
Dick helped Evalani out and found that she could stand on her feet, and even walk, though with considerable stiffness. For a moment he took her into his arms. "Tonight and tomorrow morning you must rest," he said. "Tomorrow afternoon, at four o'clock, I am coming to see you and we are going to talk about a great many things, and I am going to do the most of the talking, and about all that you will have to do will be to agree. Now, good-night, Sweetheart," and for one long moment their lips met and all the sweetness of a lifetime seemed concentrated in that one moment of exquisite contact.