Page:Arthur Stringer - The Hand of Peril.djvu/141

 pockets. Then he turned the vanquished man over, pushing him towards the head of the stairs. One final shove, as the inert figure balanced there, sent Morello rolling down the wide stairway. A moment later the conqueror had darted back into the room.

"Git into that corner!" Kestner could hear him cry out. The cry brought Kestner back to the doorway, with his own revolver in his hand.

"Git back there, quick!" barked the housebreaker, accentuating the command with an oath. Then he stood, squint-eyed in front of her, staring at the white column of her throat, at the torn front of her dressing-gown, at the quick rise and fall of her bosom.

"No wonder th' guinney fell f'r yuh," he said with a contemplative bark of a laugh.

"What do you want?" she asked, pure terror in her voice by this time.

"Wat do I want?" repeated the man with the revolver. "First t'ing I want some o' the money that's rottin' round this house. Then I want"—He broke off with a raucous and mirthless cackle of a laugh.

"There's no money here."

"No money?" he mocked. "Not a cent t' play th' ponies wit', day after day, I s'pose? Honey-bird, I got me tip straight, an' I'm goin' to git me haul."

She struggled to achieve an appearance of calmness. But her hand was shaking as she looked at the watch hanging by its slender gold chain from her neck. "Unless you get that haul in five minutes there will be other people in this house!"

The man's response to that threat was both quick and decisive.