was to take off his boots. He
then felt his way along the wall to the front window, for it was
so intensely dark inside and outside, that not a thing was visible.
Reaching the window, he put his head out and looked down. He could
see nothing. All was the very blackness of darkness. He looked up
to the sky. All there was blackness also and darkness. Then he
looked down again. If he had only some means of getting down, he
could venture the descent; but he had nothing. There were no sheets
here for him to tie together; he could not make a rope out of that
straw strong enough to bear his weight. To jump down was not to be
thought of, for he knew very well that at least twenty feet separated
him from the ground.

He turned away from the window in despair, and groping his way back
to his rude bed, he sat upon the straw, and gave himself up to his
gloomy and despondent thoughts.

CHAPTER VIII.

_The worn-out Captive.--Light Slumbers.--Fearful Wakening.--The
stealthy Step.--The overmastering. Horror.--The lone Boy confronted
by his Enemy.--The hungry Eyes.--Is it real, or a Nightmare?--The
supreme Moment._

The darkness of the night and the impossibility of escape filled
Bob with the most gloomy and distressing thoughts, which at first
quite Overcame him. But at length other thoughts came, which were
of a less distressing character. His mind once more reverted to
the idea that he was held for ransom, and that for the present, at
least, he was in safety; and not only so, but well cared for. These
people certainly had given him of their best. They had made him
share at the common meal, and though this bed of straw was not very
elegant, it was at least comfortable, and was no worse than they
themselves used to sleep upon.

He flung himself down upon the straw, and found that it was a
soft and a refreshing couch. Far better was this fresh straw
than any formal bed could have been, for in such a house as that,
a mattress or a bed would certainly have been hideous thing, as
dirty, as greasy, and as squalid as the people of the house. On
the whole, Bob was pleased with his bed of straw, and with its
clean, fresh smell.

Escape being thus cut off for the present, Bob's frame of mind grew
more placid. As long as he entertained the idea of immediate flight,
his mind was constantly on the strain; but now, when that idea had
been dismissed, he grew calmer, and thought over his circumstances
with more deliberation. He rem