CHAPTER XI.
A MYSTERY TO SOLVE.
Frank realized that some of the clothing from the bed had been torn offand flung over his head. He attempted to cast it aside, but it becametangled so he could not accomplish his purpose as readily as he wished,although he was not long in doing so.
Retreating, he was prepared for an assault, for it seemed that themasked unknown would follow up the advantage he had gained.
No assault came.
Frank paused and listened, and, to his amazement, he could hear no soundin the room. Still, he felt that the man must be there, awaiting for anopportunity to carry out the deadly purpose which had brought him intohis apartment at that hour.
It was not pleasant to stand there in the darkness, half expecting tofeel a knife buried between his shoulders at any instant.
Gradually Frank's eyes became accustomed to the semi-gloom of the room.Still, he could see nothing that lived and moved. Beyond him was thewindow, standing open as he had left it, the light wind gently movingthe draperies.
"Well," thought Merry, "I wonder how long the fellow will keep still.He'll have to make a move sometime."
He backed up against the door and stood there, facing the window.Placing a hand behind him, he took hold of the knob of the door, whichhe found was still locked securely. This assured him that the intruderhad not escaped in that direction.
Merry felt certain that the man was close at hand. He knew he couldunlock and unbolt the door and leap out quickly. He could slam the doorbehind him and lock it, thus penning the man in there. Then he coulddescend to the office and inform the clerk that he had captured aburglar.
Somehow, he did not feel like doing that; that seemed too much as if hewere running away. He did not fancy doing anything that seemed in theleast cowardly, even though it might be discreet.
Further than that, however, it was by no means certain that, even thoughhe locked and secured the door behind him after leaping out of the room,he could hold the intruder captive.
In some manner the man had entered that room without disturbing the lockor bolt on the door.
How had he entered?
Frank looked toward the open window, but he knew it opened upon the faceof the hotel, four stories from the level of the street, and thatsettled in his mind all doubts about the window, for he instantlydecided that it had not been possible for the masked unknown to get intothe room that way.
Had he been in some old colonial house he would have fancied the fellowhad gained admittance by means of a panel in the wall and a secretpassage; but he was in a modern hotel, and it was beyond the range ofprobability that there were secret passages or moving wall panels in thestructure.
These thoughts flitted through his mind swiftly as he stood there,trying to hear some sound that would tell him where the intruder was inthe room.
All was still.
Below in the street a cab rattled and rumbled along.
The silence was even more nerve-racking than the unexpected appearanceof the masked man had been. The mystery of the whole affair wasbeginning to impress Merry, and a mystery always aroused his curiosityto the highest pitch.
"Take your time, sir," he thought, as he leaned against the door andwaited. "I believe I can stand it as long as you can."
Near at hand the door of another room swiftly opened and closed. Thesound of hurried footsteps passed the door of Merriwell's room.
Frank was tempted to fling open his door and call to the man, but hehesitated about that till it was too late.
"Let him go," he thought. "Perhaps he would have been frightened todeath had I called him in here."
The push button by which he could call assistance from the office was inthe alcove. At this time of night it was not likely there would beanything but a tardy answer to his call should he make it.
But the electric button which turned on and ignited the gas was also inthe alcove.
Frank longed to reach that button. He longed to light the gas in orderto look around for the intruder.
Of course he could have lighted it with a match; but he realized thatsuch a thing might be just what the unknown hoped for and expected. Theman might be waiting for him to strike a match.
The minutes fled.
"Something must be done," Merry at last decided.
Then he resolved to leave the door, move slowly along the wall, reachthe button and light the gas--if possible.
With the silence of a creeping cat, he inched along. Every sense was onthe alert.
It took him a long time to come to the foot of the bed at the opening ofthe alcove, but he reached it at last. Was the masked man waiting forhim in the darkness of the alcove? It seemed certain that he could benowhere else in the room.
Frank hesitated, nerving himself for what might come. Surely it requiredcourage to enter that alcove.
He listened, wondering if he could hear the breathing of the mancrouching in the alcove.
He heard nothing.
Then every nerve and muscle seemed to grow taut in Merriwell's body,and, with one panther-like spring, he landed on the bed. In thetwinkling of an eye he was at the head of the bed, and his fingers foundthe push button.
Snap!--the gas came on, with a flare.
It showed him standing straight up on the bed, his hands clinched, readyfor anything that might follow.
Nothing followed.
Frank began to feel puzzled.
"Why in the name of everything peculiar doesn't he get into gear and dosomething--if he's going to do anything at all?" thought the youth onthe bed.
Again a bound carried him over the footboard and out into the middle ofthe room, where he whirled to face the alcove, his eyes flashing roundthe place.
The bed covering which had been flung over his head lay in the middle ofthe floor, where he had cast it aside.
Nothing stirred in the room. On a chair near at hand Frank could hearhis watch ticking in his pocket.
Then the intruder had not taken the watch, which was valuable.
Frank glanced toward his clothes. He had carefully placed them in acertain position when he undressed, and there they lay, as if they hadnot been touched or disturbed in the least.
"Queer burglar," meditated Merry. "Should have thought he'd gone throughmy clothes first thing."
But where was the fellow? There seemed but one place for him, and Frankstopped to look beneath the bed.
There was no one under the bed. The wardrobe door stood slightly ajar.
"Ah!" thought Frank. "At last! He must be in there, for there is noother place in this room where he could hide."
Without hesitation, Frank flung open the door of the wardrobe, saying:
"Come out, sir!"
But the wardrobe was empty, save of such clothing and things as Frankhad placed there with his own hands.
Merriwell fell back, beginning to feel very queer. He looked all aroundthe room, walking over to a sofa across a corner and looking behindthat. In the middle of the floor he stopped.
"This beats anything I ever came against!" he exclaimed. "Was it aspook?"
Then the pain in his throat, where those iron hands had threatened tocrush his windpipe, told him that it was no "spook."
"And it could not have been a dream," he decided. "I know there was aliving man in this room. How did he escape? That is one question. Whenit is answered, I shall know how he obtained admittance. And why did hecome here?"
Frank examined his clothes to make sure that nothing had been taken. Hesoon discovered that his watch, money and such valuables as he carriedabout with him every day, were there, not a thing having been disturbed.That settled one point in Frank's mind. The man had not entered thatroom for the purpose of robbery.
If not for robbery, what then?
It must have been for the purpose of wreaking some injury on Merriwellas he slept.
"I was warned by my feelings," Frank decided. "I was in deadly peril;there is no doubt of that."
Frank went to the win
dow and looked out. It seemed a foolish thing todo, for he had looked out and seen that there was not even a fire escapeto aid a person in gaining admittance to his room. The fire escape, hehad been told, was at the end of the corridor.
It was a night without a moon, but the electric lights shone in thestreet below. Something caused Merry to turn his head and look to hisleft.
What was that?
Close against the face of the outer wall something dangled.
A sudden eagerness seized him. He leaned far out of the window, doing soat no small risk, and reached along the wall toward the object. With thetip of his fingers he grasped it and drew it toward him.
It was a rope!
"The mystery is solved!" muttered Frank, with satisfaction. "Thisexplains how the fellow entered my room."
He shook the rope and looked upward. He could see that it ran over thesill of a window two stories above.
"Did he come down from there? Should have thought he would have selecteda window directly over this. And did he climb back up this swaying,loosely dangling rope?"
Frank wondered not a little. And then, as he was leaning out of hiswindow, the light of the street lamps showed him that a window beyondthe dangling rope, on a level with his, was standing open.
The sight gave Merry a new idea.
"I believe I understand how the trick was worked," he muttered.
"That must explain how the fellow was able to vanish so swiftly while myhead was covered by the bedclothes. With the aid of this rope, he swungout from his window and into mine. He could do it easily andnoiselessly. While my head was covered, he plunged out of the window,caught the rope, and swung back. That's it!"
Frank drew his head in quickly, but he still clung to the end of therope. This he drew in and lay over the sill.
"Yes," he decided, "that is the way the fellow escaped. He had the roperight here, so that he could catch it in a moment, and, grasping it, heplunged outward through the window. His momentum carried him rightacross and into the other window. It was a reckless thing to do, butperfectly practical."
Then he remembered how he had heard, while standing with his backagainst his own door, the door of an adjoining room open and close,followed by the sound of swift footsteps passing outside.
"That was when he left his room," Merry decided.
It did not take Frank long to resolve to explore that room--to seek forsome clew to the identity of the masked intruder.
With the aid of the rope, he could swing into the open window; with itsaid he could swing back to his own room.
He would do it.
Of course, Merry realized what a rash thing he was about to do. Ofcourse he understood that he might be rushing to the waiting arms of hislate antagonist.
Still he was not deterred. All his curiosity was aroused, and he wasbent on discovering the identity of the man, if such a thing werepossible.
He grasped the rope and climbed upon the window sill. Looking out, hecarefully calculated the distance to the next window and the momentum hewould require to take him there. Having decided this, he prepared tomake the swing.
And then, just at the very instant that he swung off from the windowsill, he heard a hoarse, triumphant laugh above.
He looked up.
Out of the window from which ran the rope, a man was leaning. In hishand was something on which the light from the street lamps glinted.
It was a knife!
With that knife the wretch, whose face was covered by a mask, gave aslash at the rope, just as Merry swung off from the sill.
With a twang, the rope parted!
It was sixty feet to the street below.
Frank fell.