s cabin before those raiders came. The two had
already started for Beardstown."

She sat upright, all lassitude gone from her body, leaning eagerly toward
me, her eyes alight with interest.

"Gone! Rene escaped them!" she exclaimed, her voice choking, "Oh, tell
me that again. Was the girl sure?"

"Quite sure; she had cooked them breakfast and talked with Rene
afterwards. She saw and spoke with both the women before they left in a
wagon. They were on the Underground, bound for Canada, and safety."

"Thank God! Oh, I thank God!" Her face sank until it was concealed
within her hands. When it lifted again the eyes were brimming with tears.

"I am so glad--so glad," she said simply. "Now I am strong enough to
hear the rest, Lieutenant Knox. You must tell me."

"There is not so much to tell, that I am cock-sure about." I began
slowly. "Kirby had you securely hidden away somewhere on the second
deck, while this Clark girl had been locked into a stateroom above. I
possessed such a growth of beard and was altogether so disreputable
looking as to be mistaken for a roustabout by the boat's officers, who
set me at work to earn my passage. In this way I managed to talk with
Elsie, but failed to locate your quarters. The only glimpse I gained of
you was when you were being taken ashore. Then I followed, and a little
later succeeded in getting you out of Kirby's hands. That is about all."

"Oh, no, it is not--you--you came too late."

"Too late! Perhaps I may know what you mean."

"Do you? Surely not to blame me! I--I wish to tell you, Lieutenant
Knox, but--but I scarcely know how. It is all so dim, indistinct in my
own mind--and yet I remember. I am trying so hard to recall how it all
happened, but nothing remains clear in my mind. Have I been drugged?"

"Without question. We have been riding all night and you were strapped
to your horse. Probably you have no recollection of this?"

She shook her head in bewilderment, gazing about as though noting the
strange surroundings for the first time.

"No; the last I remember I was with Kirby and another man. He--he was
dressed like a minister, but--but he was half drunk, and once he swore at
me. The place where we were was a little shack in the side of a hill,
with stone walls. Kirby took me there from the steamer, together with a
man he called Rale--Jack Rale. They locked me in and left me alone until
after dark. Then this other man, who dressed lik