CHAPTER NINETEEN
Even from where I was lying I could almost feel Gloria’s
intense excitement. She knelt on the grass, her fists clenched and gripped tightly between her thighs, her face white and her eyes glittering. She seemed scarcely to breathe as she watched the two men moving towards the farmhouse with an intent savagery that was h0rrible to see.
Joe held a short length of lead piping in his hand. He
walked a little ahead of Louis, his great shoulders hunched,
his head thrust forward.
Louis kept the knife out of sight, down by his side. He
took short, mincing steps, hesitant in his attitude and uncertain of himself.
They got as far as the moss-covered drive when the front
door opened and Dix came into the sunlight. He came out
slowly, his hand outstretched, groping his eyes half closed.
Both Joe and Louis came to an abrupt stop.
Dix stood in the doorway, peering at them.
“Is that you, Joe?”
“Yes,” Joe said. “I was just coming to see if you were
awake.” He began to move forward again, keeping the length of lead piping out of sight.
“Stay where you are, Joe!” Dix snapped, a rasp in his
voice.
Joe stopped.
“What’s up? What’s the matter?”
“Just stay where you are. Where’s Glorie?”
“Over by the trees. She’s having a sleep.”
He began to move forward again, and Louis began to
circle away to come in on Dix from the side.
Dix suddenly showed his teeth in a mirthless grin. His
hand slipped inside his coat and he pulled out the heavy .45.
“Keep your distance, you two!”
Joe laughed.
“That peashooters not going to help you now, Ed.”
“You’ll get a slug in the gut if you come another foot
nearer,” Dix said, and snapped back the safety catch.
“Okay,” Louis,” Joe shouted. “Let’s take him!”
He jumped forward, swinging his length of pipe. Louis
broke into a run. He held the short stabbing knife thrust
forward. There was a wild, frightened expression on his face.
Gloria sprang to her feet.
“Watch them, Ed!” she screamed.
I saw Dix’s finger turn white as he took up the slack on
the trigger. Joe was within six feet of him, rushing at him like a charging bull, his right hand flashing up.
I waited for the click of the hammer and to see Dix’s
expression change. I waited to see him struck down and to
see Louis stab him to death. My heart beat so violently I felt
suffocated.
The crash of gunfire when it came was so unexpected
that I half started to my feet, but dropped back into my hiding-place as the realization flashed into my mind that Dix’s gun wasn’t empty and that Gloria had trapped these two into attacking him.
Dix’s heavy .45 spurted flame. The noise of the, shot
echoed round the silent farm like a thunder clap.
Joe stopped running as if he had slammed against a
brick wall. The front of his forehead disappeared into a spongy mess of blood and hair. He fell face forward and rolled over, his hands twitching. The lead pipe pitched at Dix’s feet
Dix swung round towards Louis. There was a dev!lish
expression of glee on his face.
Louis had stopped moving as Joe fell.
For a second or so the shock of seeing Joe fall paralysed him. Then he swung round, his face twisted in a grimace of fear and rage. He began running madly towards Gloria.
“You btch!” he screamed at her, waving his knife as he
ran.
“You double-crossing btch!”
Gloria watched him come, her hands over her bre@st, her
face pale and tense.
Louis hadn’t taken more than a dozen strides when Dix
lifted the .45 and fired again.
The top of Louis’s head flew off. He plunged forward,
blood spurting from his scalp as he measured his length not
more than four or five feet from where Gloria stood. She
jumped back, shuddering, and hid her face in her hands.
“Well, we made it,” Dix cried, grinning. “The suckers fell
for it. Godd@m it! I thought they would be smarter than that.”
He walked over to Joe, bent and looked at him. Then he
walked over to Louis, kicked him over on to his back and
looked at him.
“That’s it.” he said. “Now there are only two of Glorie.”
She came over to him.
“I was scared, Ed. You let them get too close.”
He grinned.
“I couldn’t afford to miss them.” He put his arm round her
and gave her a little hug. “Did you see the way Joe looked at
me? He thought I was blind and defenceless! Did you see the
expression in his eyes when be died?” He laughed savagely. “I
wouldn’t have believed he could have been such a goddam
sucker!”
“Do you think anyone heard the shooting?” Gloria asked
anxiously.
“If anyone did they’d think it was a poacher. There’s no
one within a mile of this place. You’d better take it easy. Go and sit down, kid. You’re looking as white as a ghost. I’ll get these stiffs out of the way.”
She pulled herself together with an effort.
“I’m all right,” she said sharply. “I’m not soft. I’ll help you, Ed. You know I’ll do anything for you.”
He grinned at her.
“I believe you d@mn well would, you little dope.”
“Ed! Kss me.”
“I’ll do more than that in a moment. Let’s get these stiffs
out of the way.”
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