Four Flush Island

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1935, Page 14

Four Flush Island

(by

CHAPTER XXIX. CALLING THE BLUFF. Natalie looked long and earnestly. For a moment she could distinguish nothing out of the ordinary, but as her eyes grew accustomed to the glasses there appeared above the stunted trees of the island opposite a tiny cloud of smoke. It was only for a moment that it lingered before the dawn breeze dispelled it. Nevertheless it had been there. “Camp fire,” she pronounced, handing the glasses back to Tim, who looked eagerly through them. Tim’s fqce showed his excitement. “Yes,” he confirmed. “They’re fed up with cold grub, and have taken a chance on getting up early not to be spotted.” He surrendered the glasses again. “Wait; I’ll fetch Kit.” “Given themselvep away at last, have they?” Kit said as they entered the shack. “Thought they would, sooner or later. That hog Platt could no more keep away from a hot meal than a hound dog could side-step a plate of liver . . . That’s smoke, all right,” he stated definitely after only a cursory glance. He laid the glasses on the broad window-sill. “Well, now we know exactly where we are. I should just hate to storm a stronghold with.no one there to defend it.” “Is that what you propose doing?” Natalie asked him.

“If they don’t come soon there’s nothing else for it,” he said. “We can’t carry on like this indefinitely.” Remembering the reception which Johnnie Bill had given the criminals on the occasion of their last attempted raid, Natalie looked dubious. “But you won’t have an earthly,” she protested. “If Platt is really desperate, he’ll just shoot you from cover as you pull in to the beach. As a matter of fact,” she added shrewdly. “I shouldn’t be surprised if that’s what he’s out for.” She cast a glance in the direction of Tamrack Island, from which by jiow an unmistakeable spiral of smoke was assembling into a cloud above the trees. “To me that looks a little too obvious to

be 'quite accidental,” she concluded. Kit smiled in the way that was his habit'when the odds were against him. “All the better,” he said. “If it’s a challenge it’s up to us to call the bluff.” “But how t will you know if it’s a challenge or nM?” Betty inquired. x

“By seeing if there’s smoke to-morrow and the next day,” Kit said. “If so we’ll take a chance and pay ’em a call.” Half an hour later the smoke died away, and the island showed no more signs of human occupancy. With the coming of night they had expected to see the twinkling of a 'fire, but none was visible. At the same time the following morning, however, the, smoke was there again.

“What do you make of it, Tim?” Kit asked. I

Tim said, after a rather prolonged pause for reflection:

“Is it, do you think, that they’ve made the smudge oh purpose, and want us to think it’s accidental—to kind of make us think we’re goin’ to take ’em by surprise —as Natalie said?” Kit removed the pipe from his mouth and pointed it. directly at Tim. “That,” he said, “is precisely what I do think. >1 asked because I wondered if the same thought had occurred to you. It amounts to this; either they’re plumb careless or they’re putting up a bluff. And where their own safety’s concerned I’ve never yet known Platt or Stagsden to take a single chance that could be avoided.” They were joined by the girls, who had overheard the conversation through the doorway between the living-room and kitchen. “

From what had been said it was apparent to Natalie that the period of inaction was at an end, and for some reason, the thought troubled her. Not fear for herself exactly—though she was frank to admit that the personal element could not wholly be ruled out —but for Kit in a fight in which there would be no quarter, and in which all the odds would be against him. “Give them another day to show their hand, Kit,” she pleaded against the determination she read in his face. His expression faded to one of a different nature as he met her eyes; this time she could read only an appreciation of her care for him in a look that caused the breath to catch in . her throat. “That’s all right, Natalie,” he said reassuringly. “If nothing happens to change our plans we’ll fix the raid for tomorrow night.” During the next twenty-four hours she waited tremulously 'but apart from the

usual feather of smoke in the early morning there was no sign, at all. The next evening, with the swiftness of the Far North the night fell suddenly. A spate of clouds swimming sullenly obliterated moon and stars alike, so that the darkness was complete. “It’ll stay like this until the storm breaks,” Kit announced, .weatherwise from long experience, “and when the rain comes there’s going to be a pretty long spell of it. If the weather to-night had been delivered to our own specification it couldn’t have been more to the good.” “Dandy!” Tim agreed shortly, for he was never very ready with small-talk. “What time do 'we start, and what’re the Operation Orders?”

The answer came readily. Since his decision to take the initiative Kit had done a considerable amount of thinking. “We paddle along the beach for five hundred yards or so before we cut across to the island. That’ll bring us to a point about a quarter of a mile from their camp—or at any rate from where we saw the smoke. Then, as quietly as we can, and I guess both of us know how to move without publicity, we’ll work in their direction. When we get—within distant—well, we’ll just rush ’em . . . How’s that?” he asked. ' ; Tim shrugged his shoulders. “It’s all right for me,” he said. “It’s crude but effective—if it comes off.”

“It’s up to us to see it does,” Kit said. “If we work the job right, within a couple of hours those two birds’ll be wearing irons.” Natalie watched the small preparations with apprehension. Everything was going to be all right, of course; that night was to bring peace to her and to the island. From thenceforward she would be able to settle down and develop her claim without threat of interference. It was only then she realised how heavy was the load from which the arrest of the gangsters would relieve her. The thought cheered her until the moment Kit strapped on his revolver holster. There was something ominous and sinister in the curving butt that protruded so readily to his hand; it brought home the chances that the forthcoming show might not be so one-sided as Kit’s assurances would have her believe. The slightest miscalculation in plan or unexpected noise in the approach—and how two comparatively heavy men could hope to make their way over that dry and crackling ground without broadcasting their presence she could not imagine—and instantly the odds would be reversed in favour of their quarry. When everything was prepared Kit came to her as she stood leaning against the table. Betty, her face unusually serious, was with Tim at the door between the two rooms. During the time of the preparations her manner had bean

L. C. Douthwaite)

light and matter-of-fact enough. It was only at this moment of starting she allowed her feelings to become apparent. Kit’s smile was very tender as Natalie's eyes met his.

’ “My dear.” he said, “believe me there’s J nothing to worry about. It’s just an ordinary arrest —like scores of others I’ve ' made and, praise the pigs, shall make ’ again.” ! She did not believe him. He had told her much of his work, and this was no “pulling-in” of a half-breed Indian on ’ the jag or a young trapper taking furs out of season. The men they were after now were killers; their record proved it. “You will be careful, Kit, won’t you?” she said, tremulously; adding, so softly 1 that until he spoke she was not sure he ' had caught the words, “for my sake.” ! • For the second time he caught her to him and kissed her. This time she did not attempt to release herself. “For your sake,” he said, “I’d face a herd of mad elephants and come back without a scratch.” Betty kissed Tim and urged him gently outside. “Bye, Betty,” Kit said over his shoulder as he passed. “Good huntin’ Kit,” Betty flung back cheerfully, and waited until the door closed before breaking down. “I’m frightened,” she admitted, in response to Natalie’s attempt at consolation. “Scared stiff right through and through . . . And so are you,” she accused in a shaking voice. “I know,” admitted Natalie, and they both laughed. It had been calculated that if all went well the two would be back within a couple of hours. The greater part of this time would be occupied in negotiating the distance between the point of landing and the enemy camp. From that moment progress would be slow. The first notification of success would be the throb of the canoe engine on the return journey. What Natalie dreaded, and within a quarter of an’ hour of Kit’s departure strained her ears to listen for, was the sound of firing. For perhaps half an hour they sat at the window gazing intently through the unresponsive darkness. Then, as suddenly as it was unexpected, came the sound of a stealthy movement behind them. Almost before they had time to turn, a voice, sleek, but< charged with threatening, said very distinctly: “Hands up, young ladies—right about your heads, please!” / ■ ■ CHAPTER XXX. A COUNTER SURPRISE. • Transformed by his crumpled jean clothing and ten day’s beard from the camouflaged mendacity of the city, to a starke and undisguised ruffianism which the polished baldness of his head and a sickly sunburn rendered only more grotesque, his unsocked feet thrust nakedly into weatherworn mocassins from which the beadwork hung in untidy shreds, his obesity straining against the unbelted band of his trousers, and a long-barrelled automatic clutched in a dirty untended hand, Platt was a nightmare figure; menacing, terrifying. “Stick ’em right up,” he said again from somewhere at the back of his throat. And as Betty drew a deep breath: “If you’re thinkin’ of shoutingjust don’t!” The two pairs of hands went up. There was nothing else for it. By every indication the man meant business. Looking at him, Natalie’s heart sank. The old self-complacency was gone. The little eyes beneath the ‘ penthouse brows had a hunted look; the Ups were downdrawn in a snarl like those of a distrustful dog. Yet in spite of liis aggression the man looked as it were deflated, as if a long built-up security had suddenly crashed, leaving him clamouring for alternative safeguard. Behind him was Stagsden; leering, but not unapprehensive, filling to wound any skin but his own. As the girls hands went up, however, he pressed forward. He paused in front of Natalie, a length of thin rope in his hand. “Botlj of you,” Platt instructed, “turn right around—with your faces to the wall.” It was here that Betty showed a flash of spirit. “What’s the big f idea, Platt?” she demanded in a voice which humiliation rendered- not quite within control. “Turn round!” shouted Platt, and his voice was not under control. Stagsden bound Betty’s hands behind her. Then he said to Natalie, and his voice was more ingratiating: “Sorry, but it’s you now,” and bound her —rather lingeringly, it struck her furiously. _ As is not unusual with the highlystrung, danger, now that it was near, found her curiously unafraid. Unafraid, • that is, for her own safety. But for Kit she was sick with apprehension. “What have you done with Champneys

and Saville?” she asked shakily over her shoulder, and was rewarded with a laugh that for the moment seemed literally to turn her sick.

“Done with ’em, my dear?” the gross , man returned, and now that he had his victims powerless he had resumed something of the old artificial good humour. “Done with ’em?”. He chuckled fatly from somewhere deep down in his body. “Not a thing, my dear! Not a single thing at all.” There was a pause before he added; “Except, of course, just to borrow their canoe.” Too intent to realise the risk she ran in doing so, Natalie swung round to face him. To her surprise he made a motion with his pistol barrel that Betty might do the same. It was characteristic that now he had them helpless he was inclined to stress his leniency. ' “Fine scheme that of Champneyg!” Platt taunted. “Brainy. Only, like all yeller-legs he don’t give any person else the credit for havin’ any. Even the despised criminal classes do a bit of thinkin’—in their spare time.” “You should know,” said Natalie viciously, and a look flashed across his face that was not beautiful. “Not bein’ what you’d call witty myself,” he said slowly, “I can’t say I care for it in others. It don’t seem to go with me, somehow. So if I was you, sister, I’d just kind of check the tendency. For so long as we’re together, if anything comes into your ‘bean’ that kind of reflects on my pers’nal character or appearance I’d just nip it off before it ripens. Think what you like—l don’t mind thinkin’ and I can’t stop it—only don’t say it. I may be all kinds of a crook, but I like to broadcast my own material.” From his manner he might have been a schoolmaster laying down a code of conduct to some backward and undisciplined child. “That’s funny,” said Natalie slowly. He looked at her speculatively. She suspected that the Bloomsbury hotel interview had tended rather to puzzle him, and that his present attitude was an attempt to establish a moral as well as a physical advantage. “What’s funny?” he snapped. She smiled. “That’s just what other skunks do,” she said—“broadcast their own material.” Betty broke in loyally: “Don’t insult our dumb friends by calling that a skunk,” she said, and laughed. His big face flushed to purple, and he took a quick step towards them. Then