Quick as a flash, Jasper Wilde's two men seized Jay Gardiner from behind
and pinioned his arms, Wilde the while excitedly explaining something in
German to them.
Doctor Gardiner, as we have explained, was an athletic young man. He
could easily have disposed of Wilde, and probably a companion; but it is
little wonder that the three men soon succeeded in overpowering him,
while Wilde, with one awful blow, knocked him into insensibility ere he
had time to refute the charge his antagonist had made against him.
"Take him to my private wine-cellar!" commanded Wilde, excitedly. "He's
a fellow we've been trying to catch around here for some time. He's a
thief, I tell you!"
The men obeyed their employer's command, little dreaming it was an
innocent man they were consigning to a living tomb.
It was an hour afterward ere consciousness returned to Jay Gardiner. For
a moment he was dazed, bewildered; then the recollection of the
encounter, and the terrible blow he had received over the temple,
recurred to him.
Where was he? The darkness and silence of death reigned. The air was
musty. He lay upon a stone flagging through which the slime oozed.
Like a flash he remembered the words of Jasper Wilde.
"Take him to my private wine-cellar until I have time to attend to him."
Yes, that was where he must be--in Wilde's wine-cellar.
While he was cogitating over this scene, an iron door at the further end
of the apartment opened, and a man, carrying a lantern, hastily entered
the place, and stood on the threshold for a moment.
Doctor Gardiner saw at once that it was Jasper Wilde.
"Come to, have you?" cried Wilde, swinging the light in his face. "Well,
how do you like your quarters, my handsome, aristocratic doctor, eh?"
"How dare you hold me a prisoner here?" demanded Jay Gardiner, striking
the floor with his manacled hands. "Release me at once, I say!"
A sneering laugh broke from Wilde's thin lips.
"_Dare!_" he repeated, laying particular stress upon the word. "We
Wildes dare anything when there is a pretty girl like beautiful
Bernardine concerned in it."
"You scoundrel!" cried Jay Gardiner, "if I were but free from these
shackles, I would teach you the lesson of your life!"
"A pinioned man is a fool to make threats," sneered Wilde. "But come,
now. Out with it, curse you! Where is Bernardine?--where have you hidden
her?"
"I refuse to answer your question," replied Jay Gardiner, coolly. "I
know where she is, but that knowledge shall never be imparted to you
without her consent."
"I will wring it from your lips, curse you!" cried Wilde, furiously. "I
will torture you here, starve you here, until you go mad and are glad to
speak."
"Even though you _kill_ me, you shall not learn from my lips the
whereabouts of Bernardine Moore!" exclaimed Jay Gardiner, hoarsely.
As the hours dragged their slow lengths by, exhausted nature asserted
itself, and despite the hunger and burning thirst he endured, and the
pain in his head, sleep--
"Tired Nature's sweet restorer--balmy sleep"--
came to him.
Suddenly the door opened, and Jasper Wilde, still carrying a lantern,
looked in.
"It is morning again," he said. "How have you passed the night, my
handsome doctor? I see the rodents have not eaten you. I shouldn't have
been the least surprised if they had. I assure you, I wonder they could
have abstained from such a feast."
"You fiend incarnate!" cried Jay Gardiner, hoarsely. "Remove these
shackles, and meet me as man to man. Only a dastardly coward bullies a
man who can not help himself."
"Still defiant, my charming doctor!" laughed Wilde. "I marvel at that. I
supposed by this time you would be quite willing to give me the
information I desired."
Jay Gardiner could not trust himself to speak, his indignation was so
great.
"_Au revoir_ again," sneered Wilde. "The day will pass and the night
will follow, in the natural course of events. To-morrow, at this hour, I
shall look in on you again, my handsome doctor. Look out for the
rodents. Bless me! they are dashing over the floor. I must fly!"
Again the door closed, and with a groan Jay Gardiner could not repress,
he sunk to the floor, smiting it with his manacled hands, and wondering
how soon this awful torture would end.