United States or Denmark ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Looking back, I am a little sorry for Mr MacGinnis. He was not a good man. His mode of speech was not pleasant, and his manners were worse than his speech. But, though he undoubtedly deserved all that was coming to him, it was nevertheless bad luck for him to be standing just there at just that moment.
I tried to reduce my mind to working order, to formulate some plan, but could not. Beyond the realization that I was in the tightest corner of my life, I seemed to have lost the power of thought. White resumed his monologue. 'You had me guessing, he admitted. 'I couldn't figure you out. First thing, of course, I thought you must be working in with Buck MacGinnis and his crowd.
I did not relish the idea of spending the night patrolling the grounds, but it was imperative that the house be protected. Then it occurred to me that the man for the vigil was Smooth Sam. If the arrival of Mr MacGinnis had complicated matters in one way, it had simplified them in another, for there was no more need for the secrecy which had been, till now, the basis of my plan of action.
I was turning towards my own classroom when I saw Audrey on the stairs and went to meet her. 'It's all right, I said. 'They've gone. 'Who was it? What did they want? 'It was a gentleman named MacGinnis and some friends. They came after Ogden Ford, but they didn't get him. 'Where is he? Where is Ogden? Before I could reply, babel broke loose.
This was certainly such an occasion. Daylight would bring us relief, for I did not suppose that even Buck MacGinnis would care to conduct a siege which might be interrupted by the arrival of tradesmen's carts; but while the darkness lasted we were completely cut off from the world. With the destruction of the telephone wire our only link with civilization had been snapped.
'I'd be delighted to do anything you wished, Mr MacGinnis, I said, 'but 'Aw, hire a hall! said Buck disgustedly. 'Step lively, den, an' we'll go t'roo de joint. I t'ought youse 'ud have had more sense, Sam, dan to play dis fool game when you know you're beat. You Shooting pains in my shoulders caused me to interrupt him. 'One moment, I said. 'I'm going to put my hands down.
The man with the pistol spoke. He sighted me I was standing with my back to the mantelpiece, parallel with the door made a sharp turn, and raised his weapon. 'Put 'em up, sport, he said. It was not the voice of Buck MacGinnis. I put my hands up. 'Say, which of dese is de Nugget? He half turned his head to the class. 'Which of youse kids is Ogden Ford? The class was beyond speech.
There is a moment when the pleasantest functions must come to an end. I was loath to part from Mr MacGinnis just when I was beginning, as it were, to do myself justice; but it was unavoidable. In another moment his ally would descend upon us, like some Homeric god swooping from a cloud, and I was not prepared to continue the battle against odds.
For their exclusive benefit an illustration from a weekly paper for boys had come to life, and they had no time to waste in being frightened. As for me, I was dazed. Motor bandits may terrorize France, and desperadoes hold up trains in America, but this was peaceful England. The fact that Buck MacGinnis was at large in the neighbourhood did not make the thing any the less incredible.
No schoolmaster enjoys seeing his pupils running risks of catching cold, and just then Mr Abney was especially definite on the subject. The Saturnalia which had followed Mr MacGinnis' nocturnal visit to the school had had the effect of giving violent colds to three lords, a baronet, and the younger son of an honourable.
Word Of The Day