People moving about downstairs - the murmur of voices. Then the very decided sound of some one mounting the stairs - doors opening and shutting - feet going up to the attics overhead. More noises from there.
Finally the steps came along the passage. Lombard's voice said:
"Vera? You all right?"
"Yes. What's happened?"
Blore's voice said:
"Will you let us in?"
Vera went to the door. She removed the chair, unlocked the door and slid back the bolt. She opened the door. The two men were breathing hard, their feet and the bottom of their trousers were soaking wet.
She said again:
"What's happened?"
Lombard said:
"Armstrong's disappeared..."
VII
Vera cried:
"What?"
Lombard said:
"Vanished clean off the island."
Blore concurred:
"Vanished - that's the word! Like some damned conjuring trick."
Vera said impatiently:
"Nonsense! He's hiding somewhere!"
Blore said:
"No, he isn't! I tell you, there's nowhere to hide on this island. It's as bare as your hand! There's moonlight outside. As clear as day it is. And he s not to be found."
Vera said:
"He doubled back into the house."
Blore said:
"We thought of that. We've searched the house too. You must have heard us. He's not here, I tell you. He's gone - clean vanished, vamoosed..."
Vera said incredulously:
"I don't believe it."
Lombard said:
"It's true, my dear."
He paused and then said:
"There's one other little fact. A pane in the dining-room window has been smashed - and there are only three little Indian boys on the table."
Chapter 15
Three people sat eating breakfast in the kitchen.
Outside, the sun shone. It was a lovely day.
The storm was a thing of the past.
And with the change in the weather, a change had come in the mood of the prisoners on the island.
They felt now like people just awakening from a nightmare. There was danger, yet, but it was danger in daylight. That paralyzing atmosphere of fear that had wrapped them round like a blanket yesterday while the wind howled outside was gone.
Lombard said:
"We'll try heliographing today with a mirror from the highest point of the island. Some bright lad wandering on the cliff will recognize SOS when he sees it, I hope. In the evening we could try a bonfire - only there isn't much wood - and anyway they might just think it was song and dance and merriment."
Vera said:
"Surely some one can read Morse. And then they'll come to take us off. Long before this evening."
Lombard said:
"The weather's cleared all right, but the sea hasn't gone down yet. Terrific swell on! They won't be able to get a boat near the island before tomorrow."
Vera cried:
"Another night in this place!"
Lombard shrugged his shoulders.
"May as well face it! Twenty-four hours will do it, I think. If we can last out that, we'll be all right."
Blore cleared his throat. He said:
"We'd better come to a clear understanding. What's happened to Armstrong?"
Lombard said:
"Well, we've got one piece of evidence. Only three little Indian boys left on the dinner-table. It looks as though Armstrong had got his quietus."
Vera said:
"Then why haven't you found his dead body?"
Blore said:
"Exactly."
Lombard shook his head. He said:
"It's damned odd - no getting over it."
Blore said doubtfully:
"It might have been thrown into the sea."
Lombard said sharply:
"By whom? You? Me? You saw him go out of the front door. You come along and find me in my room. We go out and search together. When the devil had I time to kill him and carry his body round the island?"
Blore said:
"I don't know. But I do know one thing."
Lombard said:
"What's that?"
Blore said:
"The revolver. It was your revolver. It's in your possession now. There's nothing to show that it hasn't been in your possession all along."
"Come now, Blore, we were all searched."
"Yes, you'd hidden it away before that happened. Afterwards you just took it back again."
"My good blockhead, I swear to you that it was put back in my drawer. Greatest surprise I ever had in my life when I found it there."
Blore said:
"You ask us to believe a thing like that! Why the devil should Armstrong, or any one else for that matter, put it back?"
Lombard raised his shoulders hopelessly.
"I haven't the least idea. It's just crazy. The last thing one would expect. There seems no point in it."
Blore agreed.
"No, there isn't. You might have thought of a better story."
"Rather proof that I'm telling the truth, isn't it?"
"I don't look at it that way."
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