CHAPTER XXTIMMY?
Nickie jumped up and held the lantern high over their heads. They looked down into the clearing but for a long time the black night and the screaming wind and rain obscured their vision. Skippy thought he saw something moving but he wasn’t sure.
Again a thin, piteous scream pierced the storm.Nickie—Kid?Can’t you guys hear me? It’sme—Timmy!“
“Timmy!” Skippy shouted. “What....”
“Listen,” came the cry, “I wanta tell you guys ... that’s why I come back ... I’m hurt—I don’t know how I found this place, honest! Somethin’ made my feet run this way so’s I could tell you ... he’s got no heart ... he’s....”
“We’ll come down, Timmy—in front!” Skippy shouted. “Downstairs!”
“It won’t do no good!” came the answer. “You can’t get out unless he leaves you—then beat it for your life!” There was a pause, then: “Frost ... where’s he?”
“He ain’t here, Timmy!” Nickie cried, finding his voice. He swung the lantern higher and then, for the first time, they could see the slight form swaying down by the evergreen tree.
“I just come back to tell you.” Timmy’s voice was a heart-rending sob. “He’s what I told you ... it’s a trick! He makes out somethin’s wrong with the car an’ he makes me get behind the wheel n’ tells me to step on the gas an’ come toward him. It’s dark an’ I see him standing there up the road.... I don’t know ... when I get most to him he jumps an’ it’s a bridge.... I go right over in the car!” He groaned audibly.
“We gotta get out an’ help you, Timmy!” Skippy cried.
“I’m goin’ right away—you can’t get out, you know you can’t!” After a pause, he cried: “Listen, it wasn’t no accident—I hit my head on the way down an’ in the water when I come up I yelled an’ I knew he was standin’ up on the bridge ... he wouldn’t help me ... he just stood waitin’ for me to drown I But I didn’t ... I grabbed a log an’ pushed myself up an’ he didn’t see me climb up....”
“Where’she?” Nickie called nervously.
“He was up there—on the bridge—when I sneaked away through the trees ... he acted like he was waitin’ for a car to come along. I didn’t meet any ... anyhow, all I could think of was to come here an’ tip you off.... I was sick.... I slep’ in the woods all day and ... I knew he wouldn’ be here—I knew he’d be lookin’ in the lake for me....Listen!”
The lantern swayed in Nickie’s trembling hand. The light flickered and sputtered with each fresh onslaught of the wind. Skippy held the top bar and pressed his face into the opening, his heart beating like a triphammer. There was a sound in the distance and the fear of what it might be caused him to gulp with dismay.
“It’s a car!” Timmy screamed. “A car!”
“What’d you come for, Timmy?” Nickie shouted frantically.
“Run! Hide!” Skippy was crying.
Timmy’s slim form seemed to be swaying uncertainly. He took a few steps nearer the great tree, acting as if he were bewildered.
Skippy no longer heard the sound and said so. Nickie agreed with him. They cried down to Timmy to hurry—to run, but the boy looked up at them vaguely and shrugged his shoulders mechanically.
“He’s too sick—too hurt!” Skippy cried, pulling at Nickie’s sleeve. “He don’t seem to move, he can’t!”
The lantern seemed to be making a desperate effort to light up the scene. Its rays struggled high over Nickie’s head and shone down almost brightly for a precious moment, down upon Timmy’s upturned face.
He was smiling ... or did they imagine it? His regular features slowly froze—froze into a horrified expression ... or were they imagining that too? And that arm that stole out from behind the great evergreen.... Suddenly, there was a muffled scream, a voice that sounded like Timmy’s.
Then the lantern light went out, leaving them in darkness.