e, and her eyes closed.
She felt a terrifying weakness, against which she battled with what
strength she could summon. She dared not swoon, and so leave herself
wholly helpless within the power of this man. She was white and
trembling, but by force of will she held herself from falling, though
her muscles seemed fluid as milk, and blackness whirled before her
eyes.

Nevertheless, Hodges was not minded to have a fainting woman on his
hands. His prisoner's appearance alarmed him, and he hurried to a
corner of the cave, whence he quickly returned with a cup half-full of
whiskey. This he held to Plutina's lips. She accepted the service, for
she could not lift a hand, so great was her weakness. She swallowed a
part of the draught, and the strong liquor warmed and strengthened
her. She was so far restored soon as to understand Hodges' closing
sentence, for he had been mumbling at her.

"Ye hain't so damned skittish as ye was yistiddy," he jeered.

Plutina had no spirit to reply. She could only sit in abject
lassitude, content to feel the glow of the stimulant creeping through
her veins. For a time, her thoughts were stilled by the bodily torpor.
She welcomed the respite, glad to rest from the horror of her plight.
She heard the raucous voice of the outlaw booming in her ears, but she
paid no heed. She saw Garry Hawks come into the cavern, waddling under
the burden of the rope-ladder, which he carried clumsily by reason of
the wound in his arm. She observed that the outlaw said something to
his minion, putting his lips close to the fellow's ear, lest he be
overheard. But she felt no curiosity as to the purport of this secret
utterance, nor did she take interest when, immediately afterward, she
beheld the wounded man get down on all fours and crawl out of sight
through the hole in the opposite side of the cave.

Little by little, the prisoner's forces came back to her. Of a sudden,
she aroused with a start, as though she had been asleep, albeit
without any consciousness of having slept. She felt a new alertness
now through all her members, and her brain was clear. Along with this
well-being came again appreciation of the dreadfulness of her case.
She grew rigid under the shock of dire realization, tensing her
muscles, without volition, as if to repel attack. Her eyes went
fearfully to Hodges, who sprawled at ease on a heap of spruce boughs
across the cavern from her. The man was puffing lazily at a corncob
pipe. The rank,