Why she was
not permitted to walk she did not know then or afterward. It is
possible, even likely, that the men thought their charge was
unconscious. She did nothing to cause them to think otherwise. Again
they passed among trees, Sam's companions following in his footprints as
before. Another halt and a brief command for Davy to go ahead and see
that the coast was clear came after a long and tortuous struggle through
the underbrush. Twice they seemed to have lost their bearings in the
darkness, but eventually they came into the open.
"Here we are!" grunted Sam as they hurried across the clearing. "A hard
night's work, pals, but I guess we're in Easy Street now. Go ahead,
Davy, an' open the trap!"
Davy swore a mighty but sibilant oath and urged his thick, ugly figure
ahead of the others.
A moment later the desperadoes and their victim passed through a door
and into a darkness even blacker than that outside. Davy was pounding
carefully upon the floor of the room in which they stood. Suddenly a
faint light spread throughout the room and a hoarse, raucous voice
whispered:
"Have you got her?"
"Get out of the way--we're near froze," responded Davy gruffly.
"Get down there, Bill, and take her; I'm tired carryin' this hundred and
twenty pounder," growled Sam.
The next instant Rosalie was conscious of being lowered through a trap
door in the floor, and then of being borne rapidly through a long,
narrow passage, lighted fitfully by the rays of a lantern in the hands
of a fourth and as yet unseen member of the band.
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