Percy Keese Fitzhugh

“ Blistered and peeling from long years of neglect and with its shutters closed like so many pairs of sleeping eyes the structure presented a picture of abject loneliness.
Unkempt grass and weeds grew up to the high stoop; there was no porch. Behind the house and a little to the left, Skippy glimpsed a barn that was also in disrepair. Notwithstanding this, he supposed that Barker and Frost parked their car in it.
“No bulls’ll turn you kids up here,” Frost said, as if reading their thoughts. He turned a leathern-looking face toward Skippy, smiling out of shrewd eyes. ”

“ A full stomach does much toward comforting the harassed human being, and Nickie was no exception to the rule. The keen look of defiance came back into his eyes and he settled back in his chair, quite forgetting for the time that the man who had so generously fed him, was the man whom he had expected would kill him.
Skippy’s full stomach, while giving him much comfort, did not disarm him completely. He sat back in his chair, noting Nickie’s peaceful face beside him and Devlin’s mask-like countenance across the table. ”

“ And then noonday arrived, with the sun hot and mocking directly over the tops of the trees. Below in Devil’s Bog was a steaming heat that seemed to hiss out of the black, miry ground and every stir of air soon lost its freshness in the dank smell of the place.
Toward mid-afternoon Nickie lost his head a little. “S’pose we shouldn’t get out, kid?” he cried. “S’pose we should go on like this for days—we’d starve—we’d be eaten up with them mosquitoes or somethin’.”
Skippy tried to laugh. “I’d rather be eaten up with somethin’, Nickie—honest!” ”

“ Devlin had evidently made rapid strides in criminality. He had taken on a partner and whatever his mystery racket was, the fact that he trafficked in these convicted boys, evidently for gain, robbed him completely of the superficial glamour his adventurous life might have previously given him. ”

“ He was now on the trail, he told himself, though, to be sure, the least false move might prove fatal (a phrase which he had read in a detective story) for the eye of the starter was still upon him and he did not look the more kindly on Skippy because of the liquefied chocolate which now decorated the border of the boy’s mouth. His spirit mounted when he had attained the safety of a gorgeous elevator where every thrill of its dizzy ascent brought him nearer to the famous detective agency’s offices. ”

“ Gee whiz, you want me there to trap him like, huh?”
“I want you to be there to help me to prepare the trap, kid. None of my men can palm themselves off as kids and it seems that Devlin has been playing up to kids only. That’s why you’re going to Delafield. You’re going to help me find out why he’s been acting so generous when I know that he isn’t the type of man to do anything like that without there being money in it somewhere. Dean Devlin never did anything for nothing. ”

“ Dean Devlin is a notorious swindler and blackmailer and though he can cause plenty of excitement when he’s on the trail, I’ve never heard of him laying a hand on anybody. He’s after money, not people.”
“Gee whiz,” Skippy said stoutly, “I wouldn’t be afraid anyhow!”
“That’s why I’ve taken an interest in you, kid. All you want is nerve—courage enough to go through with your part, and keep your mind and eyes on all that Dean Devlin does and says. You’ve got a job and I might as well warn you that how well you do it will determine your permanent employment by this company. ”

“ Again a thin, piteous scream pierced the storm. Nickie—Kid? Can’t you guys hear me? It’s me—Timmy!“
“Timmy!” Skippy shouted. “What....”
“Listen,” came the cry, “I wanta tell you guys ... that’s why I come back ... I’m hurt—I don’t know how I found this place, honest! Somethin’ made my feet run this way so’s I could tell you ... he’s got no heart ... he’s....”
“We’ll come down, Timmy—in front!” Skippy shouted. “Downstairs!”
“It won’t do no good!” came the answer. “You can’t get out unless he leaves you—then beat it for your life!” There was a pause, then: “Frost ... where’s he?” ”

“ Skippy gasped. “Gee, you mean you’re gonna lemme be a detec——”
“Listen, kid,” the man interposed kindly, “get that detective idea out of your head until you’re—well say, twenty-four years old anyhow. You have to learn, kid, and it takes long, hard years—it’s just another kind of school. But right now I can use a kid like you—you can be of some use to me. If you do your work right—keep your eyes open, your mouth shut and remember everything, I might consider you for the job as office boy at fifteen dollars a week. ”

“ Nickie was straining himself to the very utmost until he had worked them away sufficiently for them to get their bodies through the window. Skippy was feverishly engaged in swinging his lariat over to the evergreen tree to the accompaniment of joyous shouts. ”

“ Fallon got safely to the ground first, and as Skippy followed he noticed great curls of thick smoke pouring out from the shutters on the lower floor.
Somebody shouted, “We’ll get in at him the same way the kids came out, hey, Conne—through the attic?”
“Don’t bother!” Mr. Conne was saying in his brusque manner. “We’ll take no chances on losing any lives. Let Dean Devlin roast. He deserves it now—and hereafter too.”
Skippy was delighted that he was having his hand shaken by the greatest detective in his country. It was the longest handshake he had ever experienced. ”

“ He looked at Skippy and shook his head. “If there’s two more weeks like this, kid, you’ll need your strength—see. I’m sick, too, but I feel I gotta eat no matter what, so I wash every mouthful down with this rotten coffee. No matter how rotten coffee is, it’s better’n tastin’ them blamed beans and bacon.”
Skippy was trying out this sound advice when they heard the familiar sound of a car chugging into the clearing. Nickie put down his coffee cup with a bang and before either one of them could make any comment, they heard Devlin rushing out of his room and down the stairway. ”

“ It was a disheartening sight that the light disclosed, for nothing but trees and swamp seemed to surround them and they could see no road or trail.
Skippy had been to the top of the tree, but it was not high enough for a lookout. “There’s so many other trees higher’n this, it can’t be done,” he said, disappointed. “An’ how we gonna climb those high trees when they can’t be climbed, huh?”
Nickie shrugged his shoulders. “The next thing we gotta think of is chow.”
Skippy grinned. “We got lots of mud—nothing but. Gee whiz, I’m hungry.” ”

“ Nickie nodded thoughtfully. “Anythin’ you say, kid, an’ I’m stringin’ along. Even if you’re only a kid, that bean of yours works all day.”
Skippy warmed to Nickie for that tribute and he felt less afraid. It gave him a sense of strength to know that he had such an ally for he realized that he could do little alone.
Devlin called them gruffly to breakfast and the food wasn’t bad. It would have been almost pleasant, Skippy ventured to remark, if they only had more light in the kitchen. Nickie agreed to this, but Timmy seemed in a daze. ”

“ Nickie Fallon whispered suddenly as if guessing his thoughts. “Looks like we’re miles from nowhere. This guy Barker knows his hide-outs, hah?”
“Mm,” said Skippy. “Gee, we wouldn’t know howta get back home if we wanted to, huh?”
“Frost says we can’t an’ what’s more we ain’t to try, in case we get thinkin’ we’re smarter than him or Barker is. He says kids like us ’ud run right into the bulls an’ that ’ud make it bad for them—see? Him an’ Barker’d do a long stretch if we squealed that they helped us crash. So Frost says they ain’t takin’ no chances on lettin’ us think we can get anywheres alone. ”

“ He went a coupla weeks ago. I been alone since, wonderin’ an’ worryin’ when my turn’d come an’ what it’d be!” Timmy took a deep breath and almost sobbed. “If it’s a killin’ job—I ain’t goin’ through. I ain’t gonna pull no trigger on nobody for Barker or nobody else!”
“Me, neither!” Nickie asserted flatly. “Looks like Barker springs us ’cause it’s easier than springin’ older guys in the big house. Then he gets us for a job an’ if anybody’s grabbed it’ll be us ’cause the law figures us future criminals anyway—see? Ten to one he dopes it we won’t squeal ’cause he’s did us a favor.” ”

“ Nickie interposed, aroused by the commotion and sitting up rubbing his eyes.
Timmy’s protest was almost a sob. “I’m tellin’ you it was real-like! We’re ridin’ along in the dark an’ it’s lightnin’ an’ I’m gettin’ wet an’ I shiver. All of a sudden it don’t look like Devlin sittin’ beside me no more—it’s like a ghost without no body—just big, starin’ eyes like Devlin’s—then I’m wise he’s a killer—see? But he’s gonna kill me!” Timmy crawled up on his cot and sat down, still trembling. “Somehow I don’t remember what happened after that till I feel like I’m runnin’ an’ that Devlin’s chasin’ me. ”

“ Meanwhile, Skippy was aware that his role of John Doe, thief, had become almost too realistic to be comfortable. His morning wait in the courtroom had seemed interminable. The heat was oppressive, the court procedure tiresome and he felt not a little regret that he had not urged Mr. Conne to have his aunt come and give him the bit of encouragement he needed to go on with his part in the reformatory. He thought of his dead father, of Big Joe Tully who had lost his life saving the Airedale, Mugs, which he had given to Skippy. And Mugs too was gone, killed by an auto. ”