Escape!

The boys felt cramped and awkward in their sprawling positions. The bonds cut into their wrists and ankles. Each one worked to release his hands, but the task was difficult. But even if they did untie themselves, what could they do? Pete, the gangster, sat near by with his gun in his lap. The slightest move on their part and he would shoot at them. They realized that they were in a very bad predicament.

The gangster began his preaching again. “Now if you kids had minded your own business,” he said, “as you should have, you wouldn’t get into this thing. You should have been out playing baseball or swimming instead of snooping around. And what do you get for it? I don’t know what the boss is going to do to you. He may even dump you and that’ll be too bad because you’re still kids.” He shook his head in dismay. “You should have minded your own business.”

He put away his knife and leaned back in his chair. Taking the handle of his gun in his hand, he glanced at the boys who seemed to be pretty safely tied up, and then he closed his eyes.

Waiting a few minutes, the boys continued working on their bonds. Soon Pete began to snore. Now, if he only slept soundly for a short while so that they could work undisturbed! But the effort to free their hands was a very tiring process and in ten minutes they had not accomplished anything. Paul thought of a method. Noiselessly he began to edge up to his friend. Pete moved and the boys ceased their activity. He slept on, and Paul finally managed to creep up to Jack. Placing themselves back to back, Paul began to work on his friend’s bonds.

In the meanwhile, a shadow appeared at the other end of the cellar which seemed to have descended the stairs through the trap door. He was so noiseless that even the boys did not hear his footsteps. He crept forward like a cat, a veritable shadow. Nearer and nearer he came to the sleeping form of the gangster.

Paul decided to rest his fingers for a moment and to look up at Pete to see if the gangster was still sound asleep. Doing so, he noticed the approaching form. His heart sank. Nudging his friend, Jack also looked up and together they watched the approaching form. What was he up to? Was he friend or foe? The man put a finger to his lips and motioned to the boys to keep utter quiet. It mystified them. Was he after all a friend? And all the while they had taken him for a foe.

The boys flushed with excitement and followed every stealthy move of Mr. Grey, for it was he. When he was within about a yard of Pete, he threw himself upon the gangster. The gun clattered to the ground. The gangster uttered a shriek, but the next moment his face was buried into the floor and his hands were being tied in the back with rope that Mr. Grey took out of his pocket. Following that, Pete’s feet were tied. The gangster tried to turn to see who his assailant was but Mr. Grey kept his face turned toward the floor. Then Mr. Grey gagged and blindfolded the gangster and left him lying in a heap where he was.

The boys were breathless; they couldn’t imagine what the man was up to. With one bound he was at their side and untying their bonds. “It’s a lucky thing I got here in time,” he muttered.

He helped them to their feet and motioned for them to follow him. He ran up the stairs and through the trap door. “Now run for your lives,” he told them.

The boys hesitated. Paul said, “We want to thank you for saving our lives and—”

The man cut him short with a wave of his hand. “No time to lose,” he whispered rapidly. “Go.”

“Who are you?” asked Jack.

The man shook his head and pushed them through the door. “Go,” he commanded them for a second time.

The boys went out of the house and signalled to Ken to follow them. But he needed no signal. He was on the alert, waiting for them and frantic with worry. He jumped out of his hiding place and joined his two friends. “I thought you were goners, sure,” he cried.

They sprinted away down the street. “What do you mean?” asked Jack as they ran.

“I saw Mr. Grey enter the house and—”

Jack stopped dead in his tracks. “Say!” he exclaimed, “where did he disappear to? Did you notice, Paul?”

Paul shook his head. “No,” he answered. “I guess we were so excited we didn’t notice.”

“What happened?” asked Ken.

“Tell you later,” answered Paul. “Finish what you started to say.”

“Well, as I was saying I saw Mr. Grey enter the house and I became frantic. I whistled and whistled but evidently you didn’t hear me. I couldn’t imagine what might happen to you and I couldn’t think of anything to do or how to help. I waited and it seemed to me like a year. I was already preparing to go down there myself when you two came out.”

“Nothing else happened?” asked Jack.

“Nothing else,” was the reply. “Wasn’t that enough?”

They slowed down to a walk as they approached Main Street. “Now tell me what happened to you,” said Ken.

“Plenty happened,” remarked Paul, “but let’s wait until we get to the garage where we can discuss the whole thing.”

At their destination, they sat down to rest. Paul and Jack heaved a sigh of relief. “What a close shave!” exclaimed Paul.

“Well, tell me, what happened?” asked Ken.

Between them, the two boys narrated the events that befell them while Ken gasped and could hardly believe it. When the story was all told, he exclaimed, “Say, this thing is getting to be dangerous. We have to do something about it.”

“Yes,” agreed Paul. “And we have to do it quickly. In all likelihood, those gangsters are going to return to that cellar, if they haven’t already. Seeing that we escaped, they will probably try to get away by tonight.”

“We have to move fast then,” added Jack.

“But what are we going to do?” asked Ken. “What can we do?”

Paul leaned forward and whispered to his companions, “The police!” It struck them all at once that lately they had not thought of the police who might have saved them a lot of trouble and who were the most logical people to tell. Paul continued, “We have to tell the police right away before it is too late.”

“But wait a minute,” remarked Jack. “Do you think they will believe us. They are liable to think that we are inventing it all.”

“We have to convince them, that’s all there is to it.”

“We most surely do,” added Ken. “There is nothing we can do ourselves.”

“Oh, yes, there are lots of things we could do ourselves if we only thought of it,” commented Jack. “I don’t know how wise it is to tell the police. They may just take us for a bunch of crazy kids.”

“As I said,” repeated Paul, “we have to convince them.”

“I wonder how Mr. Grey fits into the situation. I would give a penny to know,” said Jack.

“So would we all,” commented Paul. “But we don’t have any time to lose, so let’s get going.”

“Do you think we will be able to see Chief Bates himself?” asked Jack.

“I think I can manage that,” replied Ken. “He knows me and I’ll ask to see him.”

“All right, let’s go,” said Jack.