[The Devil’s Own by Randall Parrish]@TWC D-Link book
The Devil’s Own

CHAPTER V
1/25


KIRBY SHOWS HIS HAND That scene, with all its surroundings, remains indelibly impressed upon my memory.

It will never fade while I live.

The long, narrow, dingy cabin of the little _Warrior_, its forward end unlighted and in shadow, the single swinging lamp, suspended to a blackened beam above where the table had stood, barely revealing through its smoky chimney the after portion showing a row of stateroom doors on either side, some standing ajar, and that crowd of excited men surging about the fallen body of Judge Beaucaire, unable as yet to fully realize the exact nature of what had occurred, but conscious of impending tragedy.

The air was thick and stifling with tobacco smoke, redolent of the sickening fumes of alcohol, and noisy with questioning voices, while above every other sound might be distinguished the sharp pulsations of the laboring engine just beneath our feet, the deck planks trembling to the continuous throbbing.

The overturned table and chairs, the motionless body of the fallen man, with Kirby standing erect just beyond, his face as clear-cut under the glare of light as a cameo, the revolver yet glistening in his extended hand, all composed a picture not easily forgotten.
Still, this impression was only that of a brief instant.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books