Sube Cane Part 23

By the time that they had recovered from this shock, the floor had begun to feel very much harder, and after a little they decided to lie down and rest their heads on the mysterious bundles they had brought with them. Suddenly Gizzard sat up with a jerk.

"Say!" he gasped. "Now we _are_ up against it!"

"Up against what?" asked Sube languidly.

"We da.s.sent ring that bell!" Gizzard exclaimed in a tone of subdued alarm.

"Why not! I'd like to know!" demanded Sube, rising quickly to a sitting posture.

"With ol' Hank Morley waitin' right at the bottom of the ladder when we come down!"

Sube collapsed. "Gosh! I didn't think about that."

"The minute we begun to ring that bell," Gizzard enlarged, "he'd duck right to the bottom of the ladder, and he'd wait there for us if we stayed up here a week!" After a moment he added hoa.r.s.ely, "Prob'ly they'd starve us out!--Or else send Dan Lannon up after us!"

"Well," Sube responded weakly, "we can't get out _now_! We got to wait till ol' Hank goes home--"

"Yes, and we'll miss the bonfire!" whined Gizzard. "You got me into a _nice_ pickle this time!"

"Well, why didn't you think of it before?" was Sube's feeble defense.

"Why didn't _you_ think of it when you was thinkin' of the rest?"

returned Gizzard. Then contriving a particularly cruel thrust he added maliciously: "This'll be a _nice_ way to celebrate the ever-glorious Fourth!"

If Gizzard could have seen Sube's face he would have felt repaid for his efforts; but darkness prevented, and the depths of Sube's chagrin were never known.

"I'm layin' down now," was all he said.

Then Gizzard stabbed again. "This'll be a ever-glorious place to see that ever-glorious bonfire," he taunted.

"I wonder if those bats'll be comin' back pretty quick," Sube ventured by way of a chastened response.

"Well, if one of the ever-glorious little cusses ever comes flappin'

round _me_, I'll knock his ever-glorious brains out!" threatened Gizzard as he settled back on his comfortless pillow.

Sube made no reply. But as long as Gizzard was able to keep his eyes open he babbled of things ever-glorious. It was not long, however, before they both slept. And below them, stretched at full length on a pew in the church, Hank Morley also slept.

Midnight approached. A mammoth bonfire was laid in the street at the bank corner. Butch Bosworth and d.i.c.k Bissell took a turn past the Baptist Church and, observing the s.e.xton on guard before the door, pa.s.sed on. At the Presbyterian Church they found the coast apparently clear. The porch was vacant, and there was no light to be seen inside.

They were not long in locating the open cellar-window, through which they crawled and stealthily made their way to the gallery. And as the town clock began the stroke of twelve the Presbyterian church-bell set up such a pealing and clanging as it had never before been heard to utter.

In the nave of the church Hank Morley awoke with a start. He leaped to his feet and rushed to a small closet near the foot of the single stairway leading to the gallery, and, opening the door, caught up a lighted lantern. As he went clumping up the gallery stairs, the tumult in the steeple suddenly ceased. Two dark figures slunk from the vicinity of the bellrope and took refuge beneath the pews.

"Hands up!" ordered Hank, taking his stand at the head of the stairs and leveling a shining object at the marauders.

Two pairs of dirty hands went up instantly.

"Come out of there or I'll shoot!" cried Hank.

Butch and d.i.c.k rose up and stood cowering before him. Hank raised his lantern and scrutinized their guilty faces with his one good eye.

"I know ye both!" he announced at length. "Now march down that pair o'

stairs and wait for me at the bottom. No boltin', or I'll shoot!"

On reaching the foot of the stairs Hank stepped over to the front door, and lowering his shining weapon, stuck it into the keyhole and unlocked the door.

"Breakin' into a place what's locked, is _burglary_!" he told them crabbedly. "Did ye know that?"

The boys' answer, if indeed they made any, was swallowed up by the tumultuous booming of the church bell, which began at that moment with the unexpectedness of a thunderclap.

"What! Didn't I get all of ye?" cried Hank, starting for the stairs.

But there was no answer, for before Hank had taken two steps Butch and d.i.c.k were gone.

The same stroke of the bell that had brought Henry Morley out of his slumbers, had startled the two boys in the bell chamber almost out of their wits. For some moments they clung to each other in terror, not comprehending where they were or what was happening. That they were on the brink of destruction, neither one doubted. In such close quarters the vibration and reverberation were terrific. The sound was much more like the roar of a cannon than the joyful pealing of a church bell.

Gradually the situation dawned on them, but they dared not move for fear of being struck by the swinging bell. However, the moment the clamor ceased--which it soon did--Sube scrambled to his feet, and giving Gizzard a healthy prod with his foot, he cried:

"It was a fake! An ever-glorious fake, what you read in the paper!"

"I guess it was, all right," muttered Gizzard as he got up and began to investigate the condition of his eardrums by poking a finger into each ear. "It must of been!"

By the light of the bonfire which now was shining through the window-slats they could see that the bell was still swinging back and forth, but in too small an arc to cause the clapper to strike.

"They must of got tired!" cried Sube. "See! They're tryin' to ring it and can't. Let's jump onto the wheel and help 'em!"

"All right!" was Gizzard's prompt response.

"Now I'll jump on this side, and you jump on that side!" shouted Sube.

"We'll work it like a see-saw!"

As they rocked, the bell gathered momentum, and presently began to peal with the regularity of a clock. This was kept up for fully five minutes before they dropped off thoroughly exhausted.

"Woof!--Poof!--Woofoo-oo-oo!" puffed Sube. "Wonder who it was down below. Some of the kids prob'ly, or they wouldn't of got tired so quick."

"Whee-ee-ee-ew!" blew Gizzard. "Hot work!"

"Hey! I got a scheme!" Sube announced gleefully. "Let's put on our pajamas and scare those kids when we come down!"

Gizzard was not averse to this form of amus.e.m.e.nt, but he still clung to the old-fashioned nightgown.

"Better yet!" cried Sube. "That'll look more like a spook than my pajamas will! Pile into it!"

So, clad in their night-clothes they began to feel their way down the series of ladders in the inky-black steeple. Somehow they managed to reach the hatchway leading down into the gallery, and Sube, who was in the lead, was groping for the top of the ladder when Gizzard felt him suddenly recoil.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Oh, Lordy!" gasped Sube as he drew back into the loft.

Gizzard was alarmed. "What's the matter?" he repeated. "What is it?"