MRS1 The Under Dogs (31 page)

I whispered to my mistress: "I am not much disguised. Remember, two of the men of the gang know me."

"They were outside men," she answered. "They do not come to the house."

There were two rooms in this little tenement. Black Kate forced us to wait in the first, while she manipulated the secret door within. But her carelessness in revealing the entrance from the street was additional evidence of her determination never to allow me to leave the house again. I shivered. I had confidence in my mistress, but just the same it is staggering even to learn that somebody desires your death.

She held the door or panel, or whatever it was, back, for us to pass through. It was too dark for me to see how it was contrived. I heard it slide shut behind us. We passed through the second little house, across the flagged yard, and down four steps into a dark room, that I knew must be the kitchen where so much had happened. As we entered, some one lit a flaring gas-jet and I beheld a meagre, ill-favoured youth with sandy hair, who could be no other than Skinny Sam.

His eyes opened wide at the sight of me. Black Kate whispered something to him, and he quickly lowered his eyes. Black Kate led the way out of the kitchen; Jessie followed; I was behind Jessie; and Sam last. The narrow hall outside the kitchen was dark. I was half aware of a door being opened beside me, then I was seized and violently thrust through it. An instinct, quicker than a lightning flash, warned me that there were stairs on the other side of that door. I made a wild pass for the stair rail, and just succeeded in saving myself. Heavens! what a narrow escape! It turned me a little sick. The door was slammed shut, and a bolt shot.

My impulse was to fling myself against the door and shout, but I restrained it, for fear of spoiling my mistress's game. She knew where I was, and she would take her own measures. It was a hideous moment. Listening with my ear pressed to the crack of the door, I heard a scuffle outside. I heard Black Kate's voice, low and excited:

"Hold her arms! Hold her arms! It's in her stocking!"

Then I heard my mistress's voice raised high:

"Bill! Bill!"

That gave me my cue. I added my shouts to hers.

I had the unspeakable relief of hearing a heavy body come half tumbling down through the house. As it rounded the stairs a growling voice demanded:

"What the hell's the matter here?"

"Canada Annie," replied my mistress, panting. "They threw her down cellar."

"That woman is a spy!" said Black Kate stridently. "She knows all about our affairs. It's a matter of life and death to us!"

"She's no more a spy than I am!" said my mistress indignantly. "She helped me to-night. You wouldn't protect me."

"You had no business to ring in an outsider!" cried Kate.

Bill said to Sam, I suppose: "Get out of the way!" The bolt was shot back and the door opened.

"You'll pay dear for this, you fool!" cried Kate to Bill, half beside herself.

"Well, anyhow," he growled, "she don't go down cellar till there's been a proper inquiry."

We all went upstairs in a confused manner. Bill had Jessie by the arm, and I pressed close behind them. We went into the room over the kitchen, and somebody lit the gas. A cheerless untidy room, with a dining-table covered with a hideously dirty red cloth. The light revealed Bill enveloped in a voluminous bathrobe, his hair standing on end, a figure at once comic and terrible. Black Kate's face was livid with rage. Other men came running downstairs in various states of undress. I recognised them all from my mistress's descriptions; the big lout, Fingy Silo; Pap, the decayed ex-convict; the neat little Abell; and finally the terrier-like figure of Tim Helder.

All wanted to know what was the matter.

"Matter enough!" cried Black Kate. "Jessie has let this stranger in on the secrets of the organisation. What am I goin' to do with her? Let her go so she can tell what she knows? I leave it to you, men."

Old habit was strong with them. The thought of the "organisation" had entered into their very souls. All scowled at me and muttered—even Bill.

Jessie saw that her influence over them was slipping. "You all know me," she cried. "I will answer for this girl as for myself!"

But Tim Helder shook his head. "You took too much on yourself, my girl," he said.

"I say—to the cellar with her," said Black Kate. "We can't afford to take any chances."

"You're right!" cried Sam loudly.

The others seemed half inclined to agree. If I had been a man, I expect I would have received short shrift at their hands. But in the eyes of all of them, except Sam, I could perceive a certain reluctance to hurt a woman.

"Who's goin' to do it?" muttered Fingy Silo.

"I will," said Black Kate, with a gloating look at me that made my blood run cold.

Fingy turned away with an indifferent shrug.

My mistress was not at all dismayed. "She helped me bring in half a million to-night," she said coolly. "Is that nothing? I say, test her out, and if she makes good, take her in with us."

"That's not for you to say!" cried Black Kate furiously.

"No harm in givin' her a show," growled Bill.

"No!" cried Tim Helder. "The more women, the more trouble!"

"You all know the orders," cried Black Kate. "Strike instantly at anything that threatens the organisation. That's how it's always been preserved."

"Put it up to the boss," said Jessie.

Black Kate's expression changed. Staring hard at Jessie, she pulled down the corners of her mouth in a derisive and hateful smile. "I've no objection to doing that," she said. "I'll call him up first thing in the morning."

"You ain't helpin' your friend none by that," said Bill uneasily to Jessie. "The boss, he picks his people wherever he has a mind to. He ain't goin' to stand to have one shoved down his throat."

"I'll take my chance of that," said Jessie, boldly bluffing. "When he hears who she is and what she's done, he'll be glad to get her."

Several of the men smiled rather pityingly at Jessie.

"Get back to your beds," said Black Kate.

There was no great haste to obey her.

"Whadya mean, brought in half a million?" Bill Combs asked of Jessie with strong curiosity.

By way of answer, Jessie retired into a corner of the room, and turned her back on them.

"Get out!" cried Black Kate furiously, trying to shepherd them with her arms. "You all know you got no concern with each other's jobs."

But Jessie already had it out. She whipped around, holding the tiara aloft in her two hands. "Look, boys, look! The Russian Crown jewels!"

Black Kate made a vicious snatch at it, but Jessie coolly held it out of her reach. Kate collided with Bill, who thrust her indifferently to one side. "No harm to take a look," he growled.

Meanwhile Jessie was crying: "Look! Look! Look," and exhibiting the treasure all around.

The glittering bauble in Jessie's hands cast a spell on everybody in the room. All else was forgotten. Even I forgot my perilous situation when I looked at it. How can I describe it? It was as if dozens of particoloured little suns were rising out of Jessie's hands. The thing had a truly infernal beauty. But it was not its beauty which cast the spell. The hearts of these rough men were hard to beauty. It was the spell of immeasurable riches which lighted the shine of cupidity in their eyes, and caused their lips to part, and their breath to come quickly. Gleaming black pearls as big as sparrows' eggs; flashing diamonds; rubies like dragon's eyes, and the cold fire of enormous emeralds, greener than the sea. Broken, awestruck exclamations came from their lips.

"My God! look at that!"

"I never seen the like of that before."

"Nor will you ever see its like again!"

"God, Jess, you're a wizard!"

"Put it in your hair, Jess! Nobody's got a better right!"

Jessie put it in her hair, and turned herself about, smiling at them gaily. From across the room Black Kate and Sam watched the scene with bitter faces.

Jessie cunningly sought to work up the men's cupidity. "The paper said it was worth half a million," she said. "And they said Walbridge Sterry got it at a bargain, because there wasn't half a dozen men in the world with the money to put into such a thing. Taken down and sold separately it would bring half as much again. That in the middle's the biggest emerald in the world."

"Let me have it in my hand for once, Fuzzy-Wuz," begged Fingy.

"And me.... And me!" from the others.

"Sure," said Jessie, "I regard every one of us as having a share in it."

It was passed around from hand to hand.

"When you're ready to hand it over...." said Black Kate, from between tight lips.

Jessie took it back into her own hands. "Half a million, at the least," she said to the men. "And I brought it in, with the help of Annie there. It's my job. And I guess it's a big job, even for this big organisation."

"You're dead right!" somebody said.

"Well," said Jessie meaningly. "Are we going to divide or stick? It's up to you, boys? Shall I hand it over to her on her say-so?"

"No!" cried Abell and Fingy simultaneously. And "No! ... No!" Bill and Tim came in with a moment later. Pap said nothing, but at least he ranged himself on their side of the room.

"What does this mean?" demanded Kate, white to the lips.

"It means we're going to stick together hereafter," said Jessie.

"Are you going to hand over that stuff, or ain't yeh?"

"I'm willing to hand it over on certain conditions."

"Yes, just a few reasonable conditions," said Tim Helder.

"A conspiracy, eh?" cried Kate. "I said this girl was dangerous. You, Bill, this is where your craze for her peroxide hair has landed you. Anybody could see you're dippy about her. You're too old for love, Bill, your wits is softened."

"That may be," said Bill undisturbed. "But I'm on'y one."

"She's got you all locoed!" cried Kate furiously. "All of you's ready to let her twist you round her pinky. My God! what a set of fools you are, standin' there! You, Tim, and you, Bill, at least you are old enough in the organisation to know what will happen. What's this emerald crown to the boss? Less than nothing at all. But the organisation is everything. It's not the first time you have seen some fool operative try to make trouble amongst the others. What happens, eh? What happens?"

"Same old line of talk!" interrupted Jessie. "And all designed to split us up."

Black Kate essayed to laugh. "Suppose there are a half dozen of you in this! What do you count against the whole power of the organisation?"

"We count this much," said Jessie. "All these dozens of other operatives are just scouts and runners-up for us. We're the principals of the show. And if the boss steps on us, his business stops, see? If it breaks, it will be his doing, not ours. We're strong for the organisation. We on'y ask to be treated like human beings."

All the men signified their approval.

As the discussion went on, Black Kate cooled off. From the first day she had hated Jessie with all the power of her soul, and up to this time Jessie had always succeeded in putting her in the wrong. Now Black Kate felt that her feeling was justified; Jessie was giving her a handle to use against her, and the older woman had a sweet foretaste of triumph.

"Well, what are your conditions?" asked Kate.

"A fair division of the stuff," said Jessie. "So much to the one that brings it in, and so much to a general fund for all of us."

"How you going to secure those conditions?" asked Black Kate, with a sneer.

"This is a business organisation, isn't it?" said Jessie. "You're always telling me so. It ought to be run on business principles then. We want a contract with the organisation."

Black Kate laughed outright; nevertheless, Jessie's word was cunningly chosen. "Contract," was a slogan, a rallying-cry. Every one of the men took it up.

"We want a contract. We want to know what we can expect!"

One by one Kate tried to detach them. "It's no use talkin' to you, Bill; you're cracked about the girl. But you, Tim, I never saw a skirt come around you before. For your own good, I ask you to keep out of this. Let them run their heads into a noose if they want."

"I want a contract," said Tim obstinately.

Kate turned to the next, who was Fingy. "You're a young man," she said, "with your future before you. What you want to queer it like this for? This girl's got nothing for you. When there's mutiny in the air like this, that's the time for a young fellow to get on, by sticking to the organisation."

"Nothin' doin'," said Fingy.

"You, Abell," she went on to the next; "the boss was talkin' to me about you a couple of days ago. 'Abell's done well,' says he; 'he's entitled to a vacation.'"

"You're lying!" said Abell contemptuously.

"And you, Pap," said Kate, with a curling lip; "what you want, a contract for cooking? You ain't entitled to any percentages nohow. There's nothing in this for you. You must have set your heart on dying behind the bars."

Pap, livid and sweating with terror, was incapable of answering her. However, he made no move to desert his associates. They gathered close around him to give him courage.

Kate shrugged. "Well, I done my best to keep you from committing suicide," she said. "You're bent on it. All right. I'll call up the boss. I guess this is important enough to wake him out of his sleep." She paused at the door of the room and turned. "If any one of you wants to save himself from the general clean-up, let him speak now.... It's your last chance."

There was complete silence in the room.

With a laugh, Kate went on out.

Sam was still in the room, and the others gathered in a close group in the corner by one of the windows. The feelings of solidarity and defiance had roused all the men to a pleasant state of excitement. Jessie worked amongst them to stimulate it, and keep them up to the mark.

Kate returned to the room, smiling still. "He's coming right over," she said. "You ought to be flattered. He'll be here inside ten minutes."

A significant silence fell on Jessie's followers. She was aware of a shiver of apprehension passing through them. On the other hand, Kate and Sam were gleeful. It was nothing to Jessie. She had gained her point. A great satisfaction filled her.