A panel in the door crushed in. The sole of a boot appeared and
vanished. Then an arm reached in, groping, touched the plank propped
under the door knob, wrenched and tugged until it fell. Immediately the
attic became filled with men. It was time. Karlov had Cutty in his arms.
This turn in the affair roused Kitty. Presently she saw men in a snarl,
heaving and billowing, with a sudden subsidence. The snarl untangled
itself; men began to step back and produce pocketlamps. Kitty saw
Cutty's face, battered and bloody, appear and disappear in a flash. She
saw Karlov's, too, as he was pulled to his feet, his hands manacled.
Again she saw Cutty. With shaking hand he was trying to attach the loose
end of his collar to the button. The absurdity of it!
"Take him away. But don't be rough with him. He's only a poor devil of a
madman," said Cutty.
Karlov turned and calmly spat into Cutty's face. A dozen fists were
raised, but Cutty intervened.
"No! Let him be. Just take him away and lock him up. He's a rough road
to travel. And hustle a comfortable car for me to go home in. Not a word
to the newspapers. This isn't a popular raid."
As soon as the attic was cleared Cutty limped over to Molly Conover's
daughter. The poor innocent! The way she was holding that head was an
illumination. With a reassuring smile--an effort, for his lips were
puffed and burning--he knelt and put his hand on Hawksley's heart.
"Done in, Kitty; that's all."
"He isn't dead?"
"Lord, no! He had nine lives, this chap, and only one of 'em missing to
date. But I had no right to let him come. I thought he was fairly fit,
but he wasn't. Saved my life, though. Kitty, your Johnny Two-Hawks is
a real man; how real I did not know until to-night. He has earned his
American citizenship. Fights like he fiddles--on all four strings. All
our troubles are at an end; so buck up."
"Alive? He is alive?"
The wild joy in her voice! "Yes, ma'am; and we two can regularly thank
him for being alive also. That lunge gave me my chance. He's only
stunned. Perhaps he'll need a nurse again. Anyhow, he'll be coming round
in a minute or two. I'll wager the first thing he does is to smile. I
should."
Suddenly Kitty grew strangely shy. She became conscious of her anomalous
position. She had promised to marry Cutty, promised herself that she
would be his true wife--and here she was, holding another man's head
to her heart as if it were the most precious head in all the world.
She could not put that head upon the floor at once; that would be a
confession of her embarrassment; and yet she could not continue to hold
Hawksley while Cutty eyed her with semi-humorous concern. Cutty was
merciful, however. "Let me hold him while you make a pillow out of your
coat." After he had laid Hawksley's head on the coat he said: "He'll
come about quicker this way. We've had some excitement, haven't we?"