Up, up, up it came toward the first floor. The patter-
ing of the feet ceased. The clanking rose until the five
heard the scraping of the chain against the door frame
at the head of the cellar stairs. They heard it pass across
the floor toward the center of the room and then, loud
and piercing, there rang out against the silence of the
awful night a woman's shriek.
Instantly Bridge leaped to his feet. Without a word
he tore the bed from before the door.
"What are you doing?" cried the girl in a muffled
scream.
"I am going down to that woman," said Bridge, and
he drew the bolt, rusty and complaining, from its cor-
roded seat.
"No!" screamed the girl, and seconding her the youth
sprang to his feet and threw his arms about Bridge.
"Please! Please!" he cried. "Oh, please don't leave me."
The girl also ran to the man's side and clutched him
by the sleeve.
"Don't go!" she begged. "Oh, for God's sake, don't
leave us here alone!"
"You heard a woman scream didn't you?" asked
Bridge. "Do you suppose I can stay in up here when a
woman may be facing death a few feet below me?"
For answer the girl but held more tightly to his arm
while the youth slipped to the floor and embraced the
man's knees in a vicelike hold which he could not break
without hurting his detainer.
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