Chapter VIII
PRISONERS
"What are you going to do with us?" Gale demanded, summoning as muchcourage to her voice as she could.
In the untidy, sparsely furnished room on the first floor of the cabinthe girls faced their abductors, three of the most dangerous, mostcrafty looking individuals they had ever seen. It was with a pang offear that both Gale and Valerie recognized the leader as one of thebandits who had robbed the bank in Coxton.
The leader leered at them with a wide grin. "You, my fine young ladies,are to be our safe ticket across the border."
"You mean--to hold us as hostages?" Gale asked.
"Call it anything you like," he retorted. "We're goin' to put theproposition up to your friends. If they don't agree, you don't go backto 'em--that's all."
"You wouldn't dare to harm us!" Gale said staunchly.
He laughed and exchanged glances with the other two men.
"Take 'em upstairs, Mike," he ordered, and stamped from the cabin.
None too gently one of the other outlaws pushed the girls before him towhere a makeshift ladder led to a loft above the first floor. Theyentered through a trap door and it was slammed shut after them. A rustybar slithered into place and they were prisoners.
Gale endeavored to stand upright and sat down again abruptly as her headbumped against a beam in the ceiling.
"Well, we've landed ourselves in a fine mess, haven't we?" she grumbled.
"What are we going to do, Gale?" Valerie asked.
Gale heard the tremble in Val's voice and frowned gloomily. It was allher fault that they were in this predicament. If she hadn't suggestedthe walk they wouldn't be here now, they would be back with theirfriends eating a good supper.
"The first thing seems to be to get loose," Gale said, keeping her voiceperfectly normal. "Can you get your hands out?"
"No," Val said after a few moments of futile struggling. "They made agood job of it."
"Back up against me," Gale directed, "and let me see if I can get therope off your hands first."
Valerie did as directed, but it was impossible. Not able to see the knotand working under such a handicap was too hard. Gale had to give it up.Below them everything was silent. Had the men really gone to the camp ofthe girls' friends as they said they intended to do? If so, there mustbe a way out of the valley other than climbing over all that newlyfallen rock and dirt. The landslide hadn't blocked them in then at anyrate! If once they got out of this cabin, Gale knew they would be allright. She had the means in her possession to guarantee safe conduct oftheir abductors--or so she thought.
In the wall just above their heads was a window, large enough for themto squeeze through Gale reflected when she saw it. Large enough tosqueeze through if once they got their hands free and could open it.
"Gale--even if we get free what will we do?" Valerie asked. "The windowwill be too high from the ground to jump. Then, too, those men will beback soon----"
"If we get free," Gale gritted through clenched teeth, tugging at therope, "things will be simple. I've got my revolver in my boot."
"You haven't!" Val gasped.
Gale laughed. "Sure I have. I haven't been without it since my unclegave it to me. I intended to save it for rattlesnakes--but now we've gotsomething else to use it on."
"You wouldn't actually shoot one of them, would you?" Val asked.
"What would you do?" Gale retorted. "With enough provocation, I s'pect Iwould. After all, they're bandits--and we're not exactly safe in theirhands."
"You're right!" Val said with sudden spirit. "Shoot the wholethree--they need it. I wonder when they will be back?" she addedtremulously.
Gale had gained her feet, keeping her head low this time so as not tobump it, and standing with her back to the window, her exploring fingershad encountered the window catch.
"Ouch!" she said suddenly.
"What's the matter?" Valerie demanded.
"This window catch--it's as sharp as a knife." Endeavoring to turn thecatch, her finger had been cut by the edge of the lock. "Sharp as aknife," she murmured again under her breath. "Hold everything, Val!" shecried excitedly.
It was an awkward, uncomfortable position Gale had to assume in order tobe able to work the edge of the rope that bound her hands together overthe catch. It was tiring and so slow, but it was accomplishing the task.The threads of the rope were being cut through and in a few moments shewould be free. When finally the rope fell away, her arms were stiff andher wrists sore from where the rope had cut into the flesh. Then it wasonly a matter of minutes until she had Val free, too.
"Listen!" Val said, rubbing her wrists to restore circulation.
The sound of heavy footsteps and the murmur of voices drifted up tothem. The three men reentered the room below and the girls held theirbreath. Almost subconsciously Gale secured her tiny revolver from thetop of her boot and grasped it ready in her hand. But the trap door didnot lift. No one came up to see if they were safe.
"What are we going to do now?" Valerie whispered frantically.
Gale went to the window and looked out. A porch had been added to thecabin and the roof sloped away from the window where she stood. With aprotesting squeak the window swung inward when she opened it. The girlswaited lest the faint noise attract the attention of their abductors.But the voices continued in their indistinguishable hum and in a minuteGale was through the window on the roof. She helped Valerie and the twoof them clung to the window sill. Inch by inch they eased themselvesover the short roof to the edge. There, Gale lay face downward and hungover.
"You'll fall!" Valerie hissed, holding firmly to her friend's belt.
"Shshsh," Gale cautioned. "Are you good at sliding down a pole? Well,whether you are or not, you're going to. I'll go first and catch you,"she added humorously. "But don't you fall on top of me!"
Gale restored her revolver to her boot and swung her legs over the edge.For once in her life, Gale was thoroughly glad for her athletic trainingand gymnastic ability. Cautiously she transferred her hold from the edgeof the porch roof to the pole around which her legs were locked. Shelowered herself inch by inch, with some little damage by splinters, tothe ground.
"All right!" she called up to Valerie.
Her friend's legs appeared over the edge and in another minute Val hadbegun her descent of the pole. In a short time she was beside Gale andthe two joined hands to run from the scene. But at the same moment, thecabin door was thrown open and slammed shut again behind the leader ofthe three men. He did not see the girls, but as they attempted to stepback into the shadow of the trees, Gale stepped on a twig. It cracked asloudly as a pistol report in the silence.
"Run, Val, toward the pass," Gale said, her hand on her friend's arm,urging her along.
"But you----" Val protested.
"I'm coming," Gale said. "Go on," she urged. "I'll stop him fromfollowing us."
The leader was coming toward them now, to investigate that mysteriousnoise among the trees.
"Who's there?" he called. "Stop or I'll shoot!"
But the girls sped off through the trees. A bullet whistled through theleaves above their heads and abruptly they zigzagged from their course.They could hear the bandit crashing after them. They stumbled on,covering the ground as rapidly as they could. Somewhere ahead was thepass that had been blocked that afternoon, but surely they could findsome way past or over it. Beyond the pass lay their friends and safety.The thought lent new vigor to them. Another bullet sped past them.
Gale whirled and fired point blank at the shadow of their pursuer. Agroan was her reward and the chase was effectively stopped. The shotshad summoned the other two men who were thrashing about in a vainattempt to find the cause of the shooting. By the time they discoveredtheir companion, the girls were farther away.
Val had reached the blocked pass and was already endeavoring to climb upand over the landslide when Gale caught up with her. Gale assisted herchum as much as she cou
ld, for she could see that Val was nearing theend of her endurance. They were forced to rest to catch their breathseveral times, and each time they feared that the three bandits would beon their heels. But silence seemed to have settled over the valley andthe cabin they had left behind. They heard nothing as they reached therise of ground and began their slippery slide down the other side.
Halfway down they met Tom and Jim, who were making an attempt to climbover the boulder and find the girls, and also to fathom the mystery ofthe shots they had heard.
By the time the four arrived at the camp, Tom and Jim were supportingValerie. The excitement had buoyed her up, but now that the suspense waspast, Val was utterly worn out.