The Grove of Doom

CHAPTER XII. THROUGH THE NIGHT

THAT same evening, at Lower Beechview, a small, tense group sat discussing the affairs of the late afternoon, up until the departure of Galbraith and Zachary Chittenden. The members of this conversing group were Harvey Chittenden, Mildred Chittenden, and Craig Ware.

Harvey was bitter in his remarks. Seated in the living room of his home, he voiced his animosity toward his father and his brothers, while Mildred sat hushed, and Ware solemnly smoked his pipe.

“Coming here to look for Wilbur!” sneered Harvey. “A fine excuse, I call that! I’ll tell you why they came here; they wanted to see what I was doing; they wanted to spy on me. First they sent Pearson; then maybe Wilbur sneaked around; at any rate, they became bold enough to walk right in on me during the day. If they come again — well, I’ll be ready for them.”

“I think you’re wrong to feel that way, Harvey,” observed Ware, in a frank tone. “Your father seemed very much perturbed, this afternoon. He seemed sure that some harm had befallen Wilbur. Remember, too, that Walter Pearson has disappeared. I do not wonder that your father is alarmed.”

“What do I care?” questioned Harvey. “If my father should disappear — and Zachary, too — it would not matter to me. I have suffered too long from my family’s persecution.”

“Harvey,” said Mildred mildly, “I cannot understand the malice that you display toward your only relations.”

Harvey Chittenden looked toward his wife. Mildred was very beautiful tonight. In the lamplight, her eyes shone clearly, and her raven hair glistened with an entrancing hue. An angry sentence died on Harvey’s lips. His manner softened, and he spoke quietly.

“It is not malice, Mildred,” he explained. “It is worry. All my life I have been beset by constant fear. I have always felt that Wilbur and Zachary would spare no effort to harm me.

“As for my father — if he could only see what I have suffered, I could feel deep affection for him. But circumstances have made him one with Wilbur and Zachary. The animosity that I have displayed is really a desire for self-protection. That is all.”

Craig Ware puffed at his pipe while Mildred nodded to indicate that she understood Harvey’s feelings.

“Self-protection,” repeated Harvey. “That is why, Craig, I talked with Jessup this afternoon, and arranged for him to keep the workmen on the premises. They appear to be good, capable fellows, and they are armed. I actually fear that someone may attack this place at night.”

“That is ridiculous,” responded Ware. “Nevertheless, Harvey, it is wise for you to keep your men, if it gives you any peace of mind. But I do not see any need of fearing prowlers.”

Instantly, Mildred’s mind reverted to the night when she had watched from the bench beside the shore.

She had seen two prowlers then. Had they come from Upper Beechview, through the grove?

The girl could picture the fiendish Chinaman, who called himself Lei Chang, and who had spoken of a mysterious Koon Woon. Was Koon Woon the phantom form in black? What terrible secret lay buried in that grove so close to Lower Beechview?

ODDLY enough, Harvey, replying to Craig Ware, was voicing thoughts that had entered Mildred’s mind, although his ideas were general, where hers had been specific.

“That woods beside the house,” Harvey was saying, “is a good place to keep away from. I don’t like it, and I would suggest that you and Mildred stay out of it. If any of those people on the hill” — his eyes glistened in unrestrained animosity — “should choose those trees as a place to hide, they could watch us here at mighty close range. I can’t help it, Craig, if I regard my brothers as snakes. They have shown themselves as nothing better than reptiles. Evil natures, such as theirs, seldom undergo a change.”

“Your father and your brother went into the grove,” remarked Ware quietly. “Your father seemed to have an idea that Wilbur might have lost his way there. They took Wilbur’s dog with them. A ferocious-looking beast, that dog, until I quieted it.”

New, fanciful thoughts were passing through Mildred’s mind. She remembered how Walter Pearson had gone into the grove — later to be declared missing. The girl shuddered as she thought of the proximity of those trees, ready to ensnare all venturers. She wondered if anything could have happened to either Galbraith Chittenden or his son Zachary.

All seemed so confusing; yet Mildred was afraid to voice her fears, and to tell what she had seen for fear of disturbing Harvey, who was already in a troubled state. He was on his feet now, pacing up and down the floor. At last he left the room without a word and went upstairs.

Craig Ware, puffing steadily at his pipe, would have been a good confidant for her fears; yet Mildred hesitated to speak to the kindly-faced showman. She realized that Ware felt great concern over Harvey, that his visit here was being extended purely through friendship. Why trouble him more? After all, her worries were vague ones. She had marked no recurrence of those disturbing events. Mildred felt a secret relief to know that the house was carefully guarded now.

“I hope matters will adjust themselves,” declared Mildred bravely. “If Harvey’s worries would only cease, we could really enjoy it here. It has been a shame, Craig, to spoil your vacation with all these troubles.”

The showman laughed and tapped the burned tobacco from the bowl of his pipe.

“No trouble to me,” he said. “I’m glad to be around, Mildred. I’m running up to Connecticut tomorrow to talk with the owners of an animal show. I’ll be away one night, but after that, I can stay as long as I’m needed. In a way, I don’t like to leave Harvey for a single day — because something might happen that would need my immediate assistance.”

“Jessup is here,” Mildred reminded him. “Also his workmen.”

“Yes,” agreed Ware, “and Jessup is a reliable man. I don’t know about the others, though they are capable workers.”

“Jessup is raising rabbits,” laughed Mildred. “Big ones, too — off in the rough ground behind the new garage. He was boxing some of them this afternoon. He said that he was shipping them away, and that better ones were coming to replace them.”

“Jessup is a man of many parts,” smiled Ware.

A CLOCK chimed eleven. The showman decided to retire. He went upstairs, and Mildred followed a few minutes later. She could hear Harvey, still awake in his room.

The girl went to her own room, and donned a dressing gown. She turned out the light and rested in bed, sleeplessly staring through the window at the moonlight, her mind revolving in endless thought.

The clock downstairs chimed twelve. More minutes passed; still, Mildred could not sleep. Something impelled her to go downstairs again. She crept softly from her room and descended; then went out on the porch. The sight of the bench over by the shore made her realize why she had come here.

Tonight was very much like the other night when she had watched the lawn and the grove from that secluded bench. Why not watch again tonight? If she could see nothing, her vague fears would be allayed; if new specters should appear, she would be able to study them more carefully and to report at length to Harvey in the morning.

Mildred went across the moon-bathed lawn, and reached the little bench. She rested there, watching, while long, placid minutes slipped by. The moon overhead was very nearly full. Its influence seemed powerful to Mildred. Could this moon be responsible for the strange phantom that she had seen?

Looking off toward the grove, Mildred saw lights far above the blackened beeches. Someone was awake in the house upon the hill.

Had Wilbur Chittenden returned?

Mildred shuddered. She thought of the grove. Walter Pearson had entered it; so, according to report, had Wilbur Chittenden. Last of all, Galbraith and Zachary had gone into that weird place. She looked toward the edge of the trees and — as on that other night — her whole being seemed to freeze.

From the grove a figure was emerging — the form of the crouching Chinaman, Lei Chang. The whole scene seemed like a grotesque flash-back to the former episode. The stooped man was moving toward the house. His pockmarked face shone yellow in the moonlight. The evil-visaged Oriental seemed more hideous than before!

The Chinaman stopped beside the house. He emitted his low, weird whistle. It was answered. Up the steps went Lei Chang. He silently entered the front door. Once again, Mildred followed and found her listening post beside the open window.

“Koon Woon — Koon Woon” — Mildred shuddered at the lilting tone she heard. “The Master — soon he will sleep. He will do more work — but he must sleep.”

An unheard response; then came an affirmative approval from the Chinaman.

“One week — yes — velly good. One week for The Master to wait. Velly good. Velly hungry tonight, though. Lei Chang must be good to The Master.”

Another pause; then Lei Chang added:

“Lei Chang bringee out. Leave where he find samee Koon Woon need. The Master he do work; Lei Chang see he getee what he need. Velly good.”

Through the door came the sinister yellow man. Mildred, hiding, watched him go back across the lawn.

Then, after a long pause, she crept into the house and listened at the stairs. She was positive that she could hear Harvey moving about.

WITH trembling nerves, Mildred forced herself to go back to the lawn. Again she sought the bench from which she could so safely watch. She looked toward the house, and out in back, she spied a moving figure. At first, she thought it might be the black-clad, shadowy phantom. Then she recognized the fact that it was a tall man.

Harvey?

Mildred could not tell.

Jessup?

The girl was not sure. The man was stooping, and now he seemed to be lifting a burden which was hidden by the blackness. The man was going to the grove!

Scarcely had the man entered the shadow of the trees before Mildred glanced above the woods and noted that the lights had been extinguished at Upper Beechview. Did this fact hold significance? Could someone — Lei Chang perhaps — have come from there?

No — somehow, Mildred was sure that the pock-faced man dwelt within the grove itself.

Now the tall man was coming from the trees. His form was very vague as he hurried back to the house.

He went out of sight in back. Then Mildred was surprised to see him come up out of the ground beside the building. For a moment the girl gasped; then she realized that the man had been in the cellar, and was coming through a door that led to the lawn. Again he moved swiftly toward the trees and Mildred was still confused as to his identity.

She expected the man to reappear; and he did, struggling with a new burden, a large, compact sack that he carried on his shoulders. He went into the cellar with this load and Mildred suddenly realized that this must be the exchange of which Lei Chang had spoken. Something had been taken to the grove; something had been brought back from it.

Mildred became suddenly conscious that she was not the only one who had watched this strange procedure. Her eyes were drawn automatically to a spot close to the grove. There, she saw the sight that made her tremble — not so much with fear, as with tense anticipation.

Close to the shadow of the beeches stood the tall being in black. Once again Mildred was observing that mysterious personage known as The Shadow. Waiting motionless, the sinister shape appeared like a chiseled statue. Long minutes passed before The Shadow moved; then, with gliding sweep, he went across the lawn, and his body merged with the side of the house directly by the cellar door.

MILDRED’S nerves could no longer stand the strain. She knew that the stranger of the night had entered the cellar, where the man from the house had gone. What if the man from the house were Harvey! Had he had time to leave the cellar before he had been followed?

Mildred tried to scream as she dashed across the lawn and up the steps; but her voice failed her. She rushed into the house and up the stairs. A figure blocked her path. She cried aloud now, as she seized the man who was moving out of her way.

“Harvey! Harvey!” she cried.

Harvey’s voice answered her within her very arms. It was her husband whom she had seen here in the darkness; it was he whom she had seized!

A light came on in the hall. Craig Ware, awakened by the noise, was standing in pajamas, blinking in bewildered fashion. Harvey, fully dressed, was glowering at Mildred angrily.

“What’s the matter?” he demanded. “Where were you?”

“Nothing” — Mildred was gasping — “I was just out on the lawn — walking about. I–I thought you were out there, Harvey.”

“Outside the house?” blurted Harvey. “I? You have been dreaming, Mildred.”

“But you are dressed—”

“Of course. I didn’t go to bed. I was in my room. I heard you rushing up the steps. I came out to see what was the matter.”

More men were arriving now — Jessup and his two companions, from the back of the house. Jessup was clad in trousers and pajama jacket; the others were in pajamas. Craig Ware met them and sent them back.

“It’s all right, boys,” he said quietly. “Mrs. Chittenden had a bad nightmare — that’s all.”

Harvey was darting back to his room. Mildred followed him. He turned on the light. Craig Ware joined them, and Mildred looked from one man to the other.

“You had better go back to bed,” said Harvey. “You have been dreaming Mildred.”

“I can’t, Harvey,” responded Mildred. “I must tell you what I really saw. Men walking on the lawn—”

“Don’t annoy me!” cried Harvey angrily. “You’ll drive me mad, with these wild imaginings!”

Mildred would not stop. Her whole being was terrorized with unexplained impressions.

“I’ve got to talk to you, Harvey!” the girl blurted. “You must answer me. You were up tonight. You must have seen — or heard. Tell me — Craig can listen, too. Who is Lei Chang? Lei Chang — the Chinaman who lives in the grove? Who is Koon Woon? Koon Woon — The Master? Is he the — the” — Mildred groped for a descriptive term, and found one — “is he the dark phantom?”

Harvey Chittenden leaped forward as though to clutch his wife’s throat. Craig Ware intervened. Harvey stepped back and clenched his fists, pounding them against his body.

“You’re driving me mad!” he exclaimed. “Can’t you understand? Isn’t there enough on my mind? Go back to bed! You have been dreaming!”

CRAIG WARE gently urged Mildred to the door. He spoke reassuringly to Harvey, and the young man quieted down. Craig closed the door, and accompanied Mildred to her room. The girl dropped her head upon the showman’s shoulder and began to weep.

“I shouldn’t have spoken, Craig,” she sobbed. “But I was not dreaming. Something terrible is threatening this place. I saw — I saw another man come from the house. A tall man — it must have been Harvey — he was the only one who was up—”

“Be calm,” soothed Ware. “Harvey may have gone outside to settle his nerves. He has been very troubled lately.”

“But you believe me, Craig—”

The showman nodded seriously in response to the girl’s pleading words. Mildred looked up and saw a worried expression on Ware’s face. She felt sure that he, too, was experiencing her fears that all was ill.

“Don’t worry,” declared Ware. “I’ll stay here tomorrow night, Mildred, and make my trip to Connecticut the next day. I’ll keep watch for the rest of this night. Tomorrow night, too. Jessup and his men can be on guard after that.”

“I really saw those persons,” Mildred said in a low, positive voice. “The Chinaman who talked to somebody, and called himself Lei Chang; the other creature who glided across the lawn, all in black—”

The girl stepped away and went into her room. She dropped upon the bed and lay there, weakly. Craig Ware went downstairs and lighted the lamp in the living room. Its glow was visible to Mildred, and it was comforting. But as she lay there, thinking, Mildred recalled Harvey’s anger.

She had thought that he was the man from the house who had gone to the woods. Perhaps that was wrong; but of one fact, Mildred was now convinced. The person to whom Lei Chang had talked must have been none other than her husband!

Her thoughts changed. She recalled the mysterious being clad in black. Where was he now? Was he in the cellar of this house? What had he done during the interval since she had seen him last?

Mildred would have been amazed had she known the proximity of The Shadow. Harvey and Craig Ware were not the only ones who had heard her outburst in Harvey’s room. Beyond the window had been a form in black — the figure of an unseen listener who had scaled the wall to hear.

Now, with every fact that Mildred had uttered firmly fixed in his mind, The Shadow was watching Lower Beechview from a spot that Mildred would never have suspected. The tall, spectral figure had become a blotted shape of black, resting upon the bench beside the shore.

From that spot, keen eyes were visualizing the scene as Mildred had described it. A soft, whispered laugh shuddered through the night air. The Shadow’s master mind was finding answers to the riddles that surrounded this place.

The keen eyes turned to the grove. There, they were focused steadily as they tried to penetrate the solid gloom. Within that grove lay mystery and doom, which even yet were taxing the mighty genius of The Shadow.

Things here had reached a stage of impasse. The answer to the mystery must come from another source.

The Shadow would have to draw upon his vast knowledge now.