m one of the lamps fell full upon his
face. Helen recognized it. Her surmise as to his identity was not a
mistake.

A minute later the automobile was traveling at a high rate of speed
over the streets. Ten minutes later it passed the city limits and was
kicking the three inches of snow up along a country highway. On, on it
sped, one mile, two miles, on, on, until the probable distance Helen
was unable to conjecture, on, on, over smooth roads and rough roads,
up hill and down hill, into the mountains. Then suddenly "Bill," who
sat in the seat beside her, pulled a light-weight muffler from his
pocket and tied it over Helen's eyes, saying coarsely:

"Not that I'm afraid you'll do any mischief with those pretty eyes of
yours, but we may as well guard against accidents. You couldn't trace
this route again, anyway, could you?"

Helen did not attempt to answer with either a shake or a nod of her
head. She was disappointed at the act of her captor in blindfolding
her, for she had been watching their course as closely as possible in
order to photograph it upon her mind for future reference.

Jake was a good driver--that much must be said for him; and yet, after
they struck the mountain road the progress was much slower. From the
time when her eyes were bandaged, Helen's only means of determining
the character of the road over which they were traveling was the speed
or slowness of the automobile. Nor could she compute satisfactorily
the time that passed during the rest of the trip.

But it ended at last. The machine stopped, Helen knew not where, and
she was assisted out by the two men, who led her, still blindfolded,
along a fairly smooth trail, up the side of a mountain or steep hill,
then along a fairly level stretch, until at last the prisoner knew
that she was passing under a canopy or roof of some sort, for there
was no snow under foot. Moreover their footfalls produced a sound,
somewhat of the nature of a soft resonant reverberation of a million
tiny echoes.

But presently they were out in the open again, as evidenced by the
snow and the brisker atmosphere, and Helen shrewdly observed to
herself:

"That was a tunnel, I bet anything."

Two hundred feet farther up another gentle incline they reached a
place of habitation and entered. Helen had no idea as to the
appearance of the exterior, but when the bandage was removed from her
eyes, and she was able to look about her, she made a clever surmise,
not very far fro