The Crimson Flash Part 25

Dimly in the half light, he saw what followed. Turning all his attention to this new enemy, the counterfeiter appeared to seize the dwarf by the heels and dash him with terrible force against the ground.

Then, almost instantly, a great, brown bulk lumbered in out of the blackness, and at that instant, with a gurgling cry, the counterfeiter appeared to rise in air to be sent crashing again and again against the side of the embankment.

"Jo-Jo, the French elephant, Tom Stick's friend!" cried Johnny, leaping to his feet to bend over the prostrate form of his little defender.

Two attendants came hurrying up.

"It's Tom Stick," explained Johnny. "That other fellow's dead. The big bull elephant killed him. And right it was. He deserved it. Look after Tom. I've got to find the twins and the black cat."

Once more, after recovering his automatic, which had been thrown from him in the first a.s.sault of the counterfeiter, he leaped away into the dark.

He was not a moment too soon, for as he dropped down from a pile of tumbled bales of canvas he came face to face with the twins. They were standing wild-eyed, transfixed. Not ten yards away and within leaping distance, his tail lashing, his white fangs gleaming, was the great black cat.

With uncommon coolness Johnny grasped his automatic and, taking careful aim at the spot between the creature's fiery eyes, grasped the handle tight. There came a metallic click, but no report. The gun had jammed--was utterly useless. With a cry of consternation, Johnny dropped the gun and reached for his clasp knife. Thus poorly armed, he was about to rush at the man-eater, when there came the sudden glare of red light as it played upon the great cat.

"The crimson flash! Thank G.o.d!" he murmured.

But the next instant he remembered the words of Pant, when he had told of his jungle experience: "He did not fear my charm; he leaped!"

What now would be the outcome? It was a time of terrible suspense.

Johnny's breath came in little gasps. One of the twins had dropped to the ground.

There was not long to wait. Whirling, the cat leaped away to the right.

Then, for the first time, Johnny saw that the crimson flash came directly from a dark bulk, a clump of bushes close to the track. There had been no time for tricks, Pant had flashed it direct, and he was there now. The great cat would be upon him in another minute.

Even as he sprang after the cat, Johnny thought for the first time of the magic perfume, the cat-lick Pant had given him. Drawing this from his pocket, he uncorked it as he ran. He was not a second too soon. Already the beast's fangs were at Pant's throat.

With mad hope beating at his heart, Johnny dashed a few drops of the precious perfume at the beast's head.

Prepared as he was for miracles, he was astounded at the result. The wild beast became at once a mere house kitten rolling upon the ground. Over and over he tumbled, while Pant, limping painfully, crept away.

Throwing a glance about him, Johnny saw Tom Stick's house to the right of him, and remembered how it had been built around a cage.

"Door's still on the hinges and open," he muttered. "If I only can!"

Six steps he took, and with each step, spilled a drop of the precious fluid. Then, with a breathless leap, he was inside the dwarf's house.

Dashing the vial against the wall, he caught his breath at the thought that the cat might trap him here; then with a wilder leap than before, he cleared the door and breathed the outer air.

He was not a second too soon. Hot on the trail of that burst of perfume, the cat flashed past him and into the house that was a cage.

Johnny banged the door shut and barred it, then sank down upon the ground for a quiet breath.

Soon he rose and, making his way to the bushes, examined the spot where the black cat had pinned Pant to the ground.

As he flashed a light about, he uttered a low exclamation, and stooping, picked up the bent and lenseless ruins of Pant's gla.s.ses. He dropped these a second later to gather up a ma.s.s of fine wires and strangely tangled tubes and peculiar instruments. These he crammed into his jacket pocket, and, having cast one more glance about him, hastened away to find the twins.

CHAPTER XVIII HOW JOHNNY GOT THE RING

The first red streaks of dawn were appearing as Johnny sat down on the beam of a railroad bridge a quarter of a mile from the wreck.

It had been a strange, wild night. Many startling things had happened; many mysteries had been solved. Now that these mysteries were uncovered he had come down here to think.

Tom Stick was not one of the counterfeiters; he knew that now. Neither was the steam kettle cook, nor the conman with the ragged ear. The real culprits had attempted to cast the guilt upon them, that was all. The arch criminal, Black McCree, was dead. Jo-Jo, the elephant, had thrashed the life out of him when McCree had attempted to murder his master, the midget clown. The fat accomplice of Black McCree had confessed that his partner was that notorious criminal. He had denied having any knowledge of the working of that strange color-photo camera. Black McCree had chosen to take that secret with him to the other world. Pant had turned the whole matter over to two of his a.s.sistants and had disappeared. That the remains of the camera could be pieced together was doubtful.

In the struggle with Black McCree, Tom Stick had been beaten into unconsciousness, and had suffered severe bruises, but would be back at his work in two or three weeks.

The twins had been taken to a near-by farm house, where they were safe for the night. Fortunately, their ponies had come out of the wreck uninjured. In an hour or two Johnny would accompany them to their grandparents' home. Should he return to the circus? He doubted it. The mystery of the whereabouts of the diamond ring was yet unsolved. Gwen had had it. So had Millie. He half blamed himself for not demanding the right to keep it when it was in his own hand. But Gwen was such a good sport.

He had hoped a more appropriate time might come. Now he believed he would go to his former employer and make the best of an unbelievable story. He made a wry face at thought of it.

But Pant? He had disappeared again. Johnny had not seen him after the fight with the black cat. Mother Kelly had dressed his wounds, which were slight, and he had vanished.

At thought of Pant, Johnny dug into his pocket and drew forth the ma.s.s of wires, tubes and instruments which he had picked up on the spot where the cat had attacked Pant.

He toyed with this ma.s.s musingly. He thought it had dropped from Pant's pocket. "Some part of the counterfeiters' equipment," was his mental comment. Twisting the wires about, he turned a thumb-screw here, pushed a tiny lever there, pressed a bulb--when, of a sudden, his eyes were struck by a blinding flash of blood red light.

His unnerved fingers released the ma.s.s of wires, tubes and instruments, and the next instant his startled eyes saw it disappear beneath the muddy waters of the river.

"The crimson flash!" he moaned. "And I had the secret of it here within my grasp!"

For a time he considered the possibilities of recovering it, then dismissed the thought as futile.

Then for a while he sat there speculating on the strange phenomenon of the crimson flash. How had Pant achieved these wonders? Where had he worn this ma.s.s of delicate instruments? There were times when the flash had come and gone with the speed of the blink of an eye. Perhaps the switch had been attached to Pant's eyelid. Such things had been done. Yet, all this was speculation. Johnny shook his mind free from it. Speculation is always futile.

He was about to rise and return to the wreck, which was even now a.s.suming the appearance of a train again, when he heard footsteps approaching.

It was Gwen. Johnny rose to meet her as she came toward him.

"Sit down, Mr. Clown," she smiled. "I want to talk."

"You're a good old clown," she smiled again, as they seated themselves, "even if you did come near breaking your neck."

"Somebody fired the balloons with arrows shot from an air rifle."

"What!"

"Sure. I thought it was Tom Stick, but it wasn't. He saved my life last night. Guess someone must have stolen his air rifle to pull the trick."

"As I was about to say," continued Gwen, "you're a good old clown, and just for that I want to give you something. So, 'open your mouth and shut your eyes, and I'll give you something to make you wise.'"

"Steady there," warned Johnny, as he cupped his hands solidly together.

"If it's of any value don't drop it. I've lost one secret in the river already."

"It's valuable, all right."