for the instant she
was inside the door, heavy as he was, she raised him in her arms, and
carried him into an adjoining room, where she closed the door behind
her, and deposited him upon a couch.

And then, still working with great rapidity, she pulled aside a rug that
was on the floor, and, having lifted a trapdoor, she again took him in
her arms, and descended through the opening in the floor to the depths
beneath it.

After a little she reappeared, and this time there was a grim smile upon
her face, while she replaced the rug over the trapdoor, and otherwise
rendered the room the same as it had been before the incident happened.

She passed coolly out upon the piazza, and for a time strode up and down
it in deep thought; but at last she raised her head quickly, and called
sharply to the sentinel who was pacing up and down in front of the
cottage.

"Send Handsome to me!" she ordered; and then she continued her pacing
until Handsome appeared.

Handsome belied his name terribly in the light of day, for an
uglier-looking chap could not be imagined; and yet, withal, there was a
gleam of humor in his eyes and at the corners of his mouth. She turned
to him abruptly.

"Where are the others of that bunch who were found with Dago?" she asked
sharply.

"Yonder," replied Handsome, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward
the glade beyond them.

"What do you think about them, Handsome?" she asked again.

"I haven't thought much about them," he replied. "They are about the
usual sort, I believe; no better and perhaps no worse."

"I am not so sure of that."

"No?" he asked, vaguely surprised.

"Handsome, I want you to take them, one by one, to the pool in the
woods, strip them, and scrub them with soap, and water, and sand, if
necessary. I want you to make sure that there is no suggestion of
disguise about any of the three. Do it at once--and when it is done, no
matter whether there is a question of disguise about any of them or not,
bring them to me."

Handsome departed without a word. It was plain that Black Madge was
accustomed to obedience. It was plain also that her suspicions were
thoroughly aroused; for now she paced up and down again restlessly, and
continued so to pace until almost an hour later Handsome stood before
her again.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Two of them were plainly disguised," he replied.

"And the other?" she demanded, frowning.

"The other, as plainly was not disguised."

"And the