And
suppose they should carry him off before the others arrived?
I had Hamby's two revolvers in my pocket. Should we use them, or
not? The thought hit me all of a sudden; and apparently it hit Old
Joe at the same moment. "Give me those guns, Billy," he whispered,
and I put them obediently into his hands, and he went quickly into
the rear rooms. At the end of a minute, he returned, saying, "I
unloaded them and threw them out of the back window." And even as he
spoke, the silence of the night outside was shattered by the scream
of that siren, which served to warn people out of the way when T-S
was moving his companies about "on location."
I went up to Carpenter. I didn't enjoy telling him a lie; in fact, I
had an idea that one couldn't lie to him successfully. But I tried
it. "Mr. Carpenter, Hamby left a message; he had to go downstairs,
and said he wanted to see you. Would you come down and meet him?"
"Ah, yes!" said Carpenter. And he walked to the door and down the
stairs without another word.
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