第96章

He's going to make a try for Dutchy's sparklers to-night.We'll let him go the limit, and we don't either of us make a move till he's pinched them, and then we get him with the goods on him.He can't get away; he hasn't a hope! There's only two ways of getting in here or getting out--this door and window here, and a window that's down there at the back.You guard this, and I'll take care of the other end.Savvy?""Right!" Lannigan answered grimly."Go ahead!"There was the sound of footsteps moving forward, then a vicious bump, the scraping of some object along the floor, and a muffled curse from Whitey Mack.

"Use your flashlight!" advised the inspector, in a guarded voice.

"I haven't got one, damn it!", growled Whitey Mack."It's all right.I'll get along."Again the steps, but more warily now, as though the man were cautiously feeling ahead of him for possible obstacles.Jimmie Dale for a moment held his breath.He could have reached out and touched the man as the other passed.Whitey Mack went on until he had taken up a position against the rear wall.Jimmie Dale heard him as he brushed against it.

Then silence fell.He was between them now.Stretched full length on the floor, Jimmie Dale raised the lower portion of the canvas away from in front of his face.He could see nothing; the place was in Stygian blackness; but it had been close and stifling, and, at least, it gave him more air.

The minutes dragged by--each more interminable than the one that had gone before.Not a movement, not a sound, and then, through the stillness, very faint at first, came the regular, repressed breathing of Whitey Mack, who was much the nearer of the two men.

And, once noticeable, almost imperceptible as it was it seemed to pervade the room and fill it with a strange, ominous resonance that rose and fell until the blackness palpitated with it.

Slowly, very slowly, Jimmie Dale's hand crept into his pocket--and crept out again with his automatic.He lay motionless once more.

Time in any concrete sense ceased to exist.Fancied shapes began to assume form in the darkness.By the door, Lannigan stirred uneasily, shifting his position slightly.

Was it hours--was it only minutes? It seemed to ring through the nerve-racking stillness like the shriek of a hurtling shell--and it was only a whisper.

"Watch yourself, Lannigan," whispered Whitey Mack."He's coming now through the yard! Don't move till I start something.Let him get his paws on the sparklers."Silence again.And then a low rasping at the window, like the gnawing of a rat; then, inch by inch, the sash was lifted.There was the sound as of a body forcing its way over the sill cautiously, then a step upon the floor inside, another, and still another.The figure of a man loomed up suddenly against the glow of a flashlight as he threw the round, white ray inquisitively here and there over the rear wall.And now he appeared to be counting the boards.One, two, three--ten.His hand ran up and down the tenth board.Again and again he repeated the operation, and something like the snarl of a baited beast echoed through the room.He half turned to snatch at something in his pocket, and the light for a moment showed a black-bearded, lowering face, partially hidden by a peaked cap that was pulled far down over his eyes.

There was the rip and tear of rending wood, as a steel jimmy, in lieu of the spring the man evidently could not find, bit in between the boards, a muttered oath of satisfaction, and a portion of the wall slid back, disclosing what looked like a metal-lined cupboard.

He reached in, seized one of a dozen little boxes, and wrenched off the cover.A blue, scintillating gleam seemed to leap out to meet the white ray of the flashlight.The man chuckled hoarsely, and began to cram the rest of the boxes into his pockets.

Jimmie Dale stirred.On hands and knees he was creeping now from beneath the workbench.Something caught and tore behind him--the canvas curtain.And at the sound, with a sharp cry, the man at the wall whirled, the light went out, and he sprang toward the window.

Jimmie Dale gained his feet and leaped forward.A revolver shot cut a lane of fire through the blackness; and, above the roar of the report, Whitey Mack's voice in a fierce yell:

"It's all right, Lannigan! I got him! No--HELL!" There was a terrific crash of breaking glass."He's got away!""Not yet, he hasn't!" gritted Jimmie Dale between his teeth, and his clubbed revolver swung crashing to the head of a dark form in front of him.

There was a half sigh, half moan.The form slid limply to the floor.Lannigan was floundering down the shop, leaping obstacles in a mad rush, his flashlight picking out the way.