The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack - Mark Hodder [57]
The animal skidded to a halt and reared before coming to rest in front of him, its sweat-flecked sides heaving.
Isabel reached up and pulled aside her veil.
"Hurry, Dick-you'll be late!" she urged, in her deep contralto voice.
From behind him he heard a distant noise, a clacking. He wanted to turn to see what it was but she stopped him.
"No! There's no time! You have to come with me!"
The sound was drawing closer.
"Dick! Come on!"
Now he noticed that there was a second horse, tethered to Isabel's. She gestured at it, urging him to mount.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
What was that? He started to turn.
"No, Dick! No!"
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
He twisted and looked up at the hill behind him. A freakish figure was bounding down it, approaching fast, taking huge leaps.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
The sound of its stilts hitting the rock.
Isabel screamed.
The thing gave an insane and triumphant yell, its red eyes blazing.
Burton awoke with a start and sat up.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
A moment's disorientation, then he recognised the sound: someone was hammering at the front door. He glanced at the pocket watch on his bedside table as he dragged himself out of the warm sheets. It was seven o'clock. He'd been asleep for less than two hours.
He threw his jubbah around himself, the long and loose outer garment he'd worn while on his pilgrimage to Mecca that he now used as a night robe, and headed down the stairs.
Mrs. Angell reached the front door before him and he could hear her indignant tones as he descended.
"Have you come to arrest him? No? Then your business can wait until a more civilised hour!" she was saying.
"I'm most dreadfully sorry, ma'am," came a male voice, "but it's a police emergency. Captain Burton's presence is required."
"Where?" demanded Burton as he reached the last flight of stairs and started down them.
"Ah, Captain!" exclaimed the visitor, a young constable, stepping into the hall.
"Sir!" objected Mrs. Angell.
"It's all right, Mother," said Burton. "Come in, Constable-?"
"Kapoor, sir."
"Come up to my study. Mrs. Angell, back to bed with you."
The old woman looked from one man to the other. "Should I make a pot of tea first?"
Burton glanced enquiringly at Kapoor but the constable shook his head and said, "There's no time, sir; but thank you, ma'am."
The landlady bobbed and returned to her basement domain while the two men climbed the stairs and entered the study.
Burton made to light the fire but the policeman stopped him with a gesture.
"Would you dress as fast as possible, please, Captain Burton? Spring Heeled Jack has attacked again!"
MARVEL'S WOOD
etective Inspector Trounce would like you at the scene as quickly as possible, Captain," said Constable Kapoor. "I have a rotorchair waiting for you outside."
"Where did the attack occur?" asked Burton.
"Near Chislehurst. I'll wait here, sir."
Without further ado, Burton raced up to his bedroom, poured water from a jug into a basin, and splashed it onto his face, scrubbing away the last vestiges of soot, before hurriedly dressing. His body was aching after having maintained an old man's posture for so many hours, and his mind felt sluggish from lack of sleep, though he knew from past experience that it would clear soon enough. He had the ability to defer sleep when necessary, often going for days at a time without any before then taking to his bed for a prolonged bout of unconsciousness.
He joined Constable Kapoor on the first landing and they descended to the hall, where Burton put on his overcoat and top hat and picked up his cane. At the policeman's recommendation, he wrapped a scarf around his throat. They left the house.
The sun had risen and was sending lazy shafts of light into the pale yellow fog. Black flakes were suspended in the pall, neither falling nor swirling about.
Two rotorchairs waited at the side of the road. Burton was surprised he hadn't heard them land but then