PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT.
The spot was fearfully lonely. Roy realized this to the full. Brave as the
lad was, he felt suddenly chilled and creepy. Besides, the utter mystery
that enveloped the affair was gruelling to the mind.
"Now be still," pleaded the late guide, as Roy, full of fight, jumped to
his feet and flung off the detaining hold which had been laid on him.
"Yep. We don't want to hurt you," chimed in another voice, the voice of
the powerful, stockily-built man who had thrown him, "be reasonable and
quiet now, and you'll come to no harm. If not----" he drew a pistol and
presented it at the boy's head.
The hint was rough but effectual. Roy saw that it would be mere folly to
attempt resistance.
"What's the meaning of this rough behavior?" he asked in a steady voice,
mentally resigning himself to the inevitable.
"You just come with us for a little while," said the gruff-voiced one.
"Don't worry; we ain't goin' ter harm you. You'll git loose agin after a
while. Don't worry about that."
This assurance, though mysterious, was more or less comforting. But Roy
resented the utter mystery of the affair.
"But what's it all for?" he protested. "Is Mortlake at the back of it;
or--"
"Now, you come along, young feller," said a gruff voice, "don't axe no
questions and you won't git told no lies, see?"
Roy saw.
"Well, go ahead, since I'm in your power," he said. "But I warn you it
will go hard with you if ever I am able to set justice on your track."
"Hard words break no bones, guv'ner," came from the gruff-voiced man, who
was none other than Joey Eccles, disguised with a big beard. The man who
had escorted Roy into the trap was, in truth, a former workman at the
Mortlake factory, who had been discharged for incompetency. He had applied
at the plant to be taken on again, being well-nigh desperate with hunger,
and Mortlake had assigned him to the present task, for which, if the truth
be told, he had no great liking.
"Where do you want me to go?" was Roy's next question, as neither of his
captors had yet made a move.
"We'll show you fast enough, young guv'ner," said Joey through his beard.
"Come on, this way."
He caught hold of Roy's arm and began piloting him along a path, or rather
cow track, that ran across the meadow. It was now almost dark, and Roy,
after they had gone a few steps, was only able to make out the dark
outlines of what seemed to be a small hut on the edge of a dense woods
lying directly ahead of them.
"I suppose that's our destination," thought the boy. "Well, they have not
attempted any violence, and I guess if they had meant me any physical
harm they would have attacked me when they first trapped me. But what does
all this mean? That's the question."
Nothing more was said as the three, the captors and the prisoner, tramped
across the dewy grass. As they drew closer to the building Roy had
descried, he saw that it was a dilapidated looking affair. Shutters hung
crazily from a single hinge, broken window-panes looked disconsolately
out. In the roof was a yawning gap, from which a great owl flapped as they
drew closer. Evidently the place had not been occupied as a dwelling for
many years.
The door, however, was open, and, with the pistol still menacing him, Roy
was marched by his captors into the moldy, smelling place.
Handing his pistol to the other man, gruff-voice--otherwise Joey
Eccles--struck a match. Carefully screening it from the draughts which
swept through the rickety building, he led the way into a bare room in
which was a tumble-down table and two boxes to serve as seats. A pack of
greasy cards lay on the table-top, showing that Joey had been passing his
time at solitaire.
This fact showed Roy that the plot had been carefully concocted, and that
the trap was all ready to be sprung much earlier in the day. Only a brain
like Mortlake's, he reasoned, could have thought out such an intricate
plan. And yet, what could be Mortlake's object?
"Now, then," announced Joey, when he had lighted the tin kerosene lamp,
"I'll show you to your quarters, Master Prescott."
A chill ran through Roy at the words. What could be coming now? With his
pistol in his hand, Joey gently urged Roy into a rear room, his companion
following with the lamp. Once in the room, Joey stepped forward, and,
stooping down, raised a trap door in the centre of the floor. A rank,
musty smell rushed up as he opened it.
"Thar's your abode for the next three or four hours," he said with a grin
to Roy and pointing downward.
The boy shuddered.
"Not in there?" he said.
"Them's our orders," said Joey shortly. "There's a ladder there now. You
can climb down on that. Don't be scared. It's only a cellar, and
guaranteed snake-proof. When the time comes, we'll lower the ladder to you
again, an' git you out."
Roy looked desperately about him. Unarmed, he knew that he did not stand a
chance against his burly captives, but had it not been for the fact that
one of them had a pistol, he would have, even then, attempted to make a
break for liberty. But as it was--hopeless!
He nodded as Joey pointed downward into the dark, rank hole, and, with an
inward prayer, he slowly descended the ladder. The instant his feet
touched the ground, Joey, who had been holding the lamp above the
trapdoor, ordered his companion to pull up the ladder.
The next moment it was gone, and the trapdoor was slammed to with an
ominous crash.
Roy was enveloped in pitchy darkness. Suddenly, through the gloom, he
heard a sound. It was the rasp of a padlock being inserted in the door
above him. Then came a sharp click, and the boy knew that hope of escape
from above had been cut off. If the men kept their promise, they would
release him in their own good time, and that was all he had to buoy him up
in that black pit.
But Roy, as those who have followed his and Peggy's adventures know, was
not the boy to weakly give way to despair before he had exhausted every
possible hope, and not even then.
But in the darkness he did bitterly reproach himself for falling into the
rascals' trap so blindly.
"Well, of all the prize idiots in the world," he broke forth under his
breath in the blackness, "commend me to you, Roy Prescott. If you'd
thought it over before you started--looked before you leaped--this would
never have happened. Anybody but a chump could have seen that, on the face
of it, the whole thing was a scheme to entice you away. Oh, you bonehead!
You ninny!"
The boy felt better after this outbreak. He even smiled as he thought how
neatly he had walked into the spider's web. Then he shifted his position
and prepared to think. But, as he moved his foot struck something. A
wallet, it felt like; he reached down, and, by dint of feeling about,
managed to get his fingers on it.
The leather was still warm, and Roy realized that it must have been
dropped into the cellar from the bearded man's pocket when he leaned over
to see if Roy had reached the bottom of the ladder.
"Queer find," thought the boy. "I'll keep it. Maybe there's something in
it that may result in bringing those rascals to justice."
He thrust it into his pocket and thought no more of it. His mind was busy
on other things just then. If only he had a match! He felt in all his
pockets without result, and was about giving up in despair, when, in the
lining of his coat, he felt several lucifers. They had slipped through a
hole in his pocket.
"Gee whiz! How lucky that Aunt Sally forgot to mend that pocket," thought
the boy, eagerly thrusting his fingers through the aperture and drawing
out a dozen or more matches.
"These may stand me in good stead, now. But I don't want to waste them.
Guess I'll just light one to see what kind of a place I'm in, and then
trust to the sense of touch if I see any means of escape."
There was a scratch and a splutter, and the match flared bravely. Its
yellow rays illumined a cellar very much like any other cellar. It was
walled with stonework, well cemented, and there were two or three small
windows at the sides. But these, which at first filled Roy with a flush of
hope, proved, on examination, to have been bricked up, and solidly, too.
"Nothing doing there," he muttered, and turned his attention to the rear
of the underground place where there was a flight of steps leading up to a
horizontal door, which, evidently, opened on the outerworld. But this door
was secured on the under side by a rusty padlock of formidable dimensions.
Roy tried it. It was solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, as the advertisements
say.
"Stuck!" he muttered disappointedly; and yet: "Hold on! What about that
pocket tool kit I had when I started out on the auto? Hooray! Those chaps
forgot to search me. Thought it was too much trouble, I guess. Now for a
sharp file! Good! here's one! Now, then, if the luck holds, I'll be free
in not much more than a long jiffy!"
These thoughts shot through Roy's brain, as he selected a file from his
fortunate find, and began working away at the hasp of the padlock. Above
him he could hear the low grumbling growl of the voices of his guardians.
But they came very faintly.
"Lucky thing they are in the front room," thought Roy, as he worked on,
"otherwise, they might hear this."
At last the file had cut far enough into the hasp for Roy's strong fingers
to be able to bend the metal apart. With a beating heart, he replaced the
little tool in its case and pulled the ring of the padlock out of the
hasp. Then he gave an upward shove, but very gently. For all he knew, the
door he was pushing upward might open in another room. But when it gaped,
an inch only, Roy saw the faint radiance of a clouded moon. A gust of
fresh, clean air blew in his face, as if welcoming him from his noisome
depths. An instant later, with throbbing pulses and flushed cheeks, Roy
stood out in the open. Above him light clouds raced across the moon,
alternately obscuring and revealing the luminary of the night.
But Roy didn't linger. He crept across the field, keeping close to a
tall, dark hedge-row till he reached the automobile. As he had guessed,
neither of his captors knew how to run it, and it stood just where he had
left it.
"Glory be!" thought the boy, climbing in, "I'm all right, now. I don't
know where this road goes to, and it's too narrow to turn round, but I'll
keep straight on and I'm bound to land somewhere."
He turned on the gasoline and set the spark. But the engine didn't move.
"Queer," thought Roy.
He got out and walked round to the front and then the rear of the car.
There was a strong smell of gasoline there. Stooping down, he found the
ground was saturated with the fuel. What had happened was plain enough.
The cunning rascals who had captured him had drained the tank of gasoline.
The auto was as helpless as if it had not had an engine in it at all.
"Well, this is a fine fix," thought Roy. "However, there's nothing for it
now, but to keep on. Those ruffians are cleverer than I gave them credit
for."
Stealing softly toward the woods, the boy sped into their dark shadows.
Aided by the flickering light of the moon, he made good progress through
the gloomy depths. He did not dare to slacken his pace till he had
traveled at least half a mile. Then he let his footsteps lag.
"Not much chance of their discovering me now, even if they have awakened
to the fact that I have escaped," he said to himself, as he strode on.
Suddenly he emerged on a strip of road that somehow had a familiar look.
He was still looking about when a strange thing happened.
There came the sound of rapid footsteps approaching him, and the quick
breathing of an almost spent runner. Then came a sound as if somebody was
scuffling not far from him and suddenly a voice he knew well rang out:
"Prescott, you young scoundrel, I'll get you yet!"
The voice was that of Lieut. Bradbury.
"Well, how under the sun does Lieut. Bradbury know that I'm here?"
marvelled the amazed boy, stopping short.
At the same instant, from the direction in which the naval officer's shout
had come, a slender dark figure came racing toward him.