V
How long a time Roberts remained unconscious after he had been overpowered in the room of the mysterious house it was impossible for him to say. When his senses returned to him he was in a sort of stupor. As one half awake he became conscious of being carried about by someone.
He was too dazed to think about his situation or to realize what had occurred to him, nor was he even conscious of the lapse of time; but gradually his senses came back to him more and more, to a recognition of his terrible plight in the hands of mysterious enemies in the midst of that wild country.
With what little strength he had he tried to raise himself, and found that both his hands and feet were tightly bound; also a bandage was tied tightly about his eyes, so that he could not see anything. He was too weak to make any outcry, and could only give himself up helplessly to his captors.
Several times he heard people speaking in his neighborhood, but as the language was still French he obtained no clue as to what had happened to him in the meantime.
“At any rate,” he thought, “it is something to be alive—that is more than I expected.”
It was not long after this he was picked up again by two men, who apparently carried him down a flight of steps. By this time Roberts had recovered his wits and was anxiously trying to discover any signs as to his whereabouts.
He heard the door open, and then a fresh breeze told him that he was being carried out of the house.
“I wonder what in the world is going to happen to me now,” he thought to himself.
Again he made an effort to free his hands, but it was of no use with the little strength he had. His head was aching, and he was completely exhausted by the ordeal through which he had passed.
From the footsteps of the men who were carrying him he made out that they were passing next down a gravel walk. At the same time, nearby, he heard what he took to be the stamping of horses. “Perhaps it is the same place where they took me in before,” he thought. However, that did him no good, as he had been brought to the house in the darkness of a stormy night and had seen nothing of the neighborhood.
His surmise was correct, however, for the men raised him and placed him in a carriage. Two of them sprang in and the horses started rapidly down the road.
Then was repeated the same experience as before, the long ride over the roughest of roads. Roberts was completely helpless, and was flung this way and that upon the seat. Perhaps the jarring helped to revive his faculties, however, for when the trip was over he was fully alert.
During the ride the two men who were in the carriage whispered to each other occasionally; but the conversation was in French, as before, and the American could understand nothing. It was a weary journey, but it came to an end at last. The carriage stopped, the two men sprang out, and then again he felt himself lifted and carried away.
“I will pretty soon know what is going to happen to me,” he muttered to himself.
He was taken only a short distance before he was set down by the two men, who stepped aside and held a whispered conversation. Then suddenly he heard them walking away again, and a minute or two later he heard the carriage start. It sped rapidly away, and in a half-minute more was out of hearing, the American being left alone in absolute silence and without any further clue as to what was taking place or where he was.
He lay there for fully half an hour, waiting impatiently for the next development. He grew more and more impatient, and finally summoned all his strength in an effort to free his hands. “Perhaps it will do me no good,” he thought, “but I would like everlastingly to make a fight for it.”
His astonishment may be imagined when, at the very first effort, the rope which bound him parted and left his hands free!
He was scarcely able to realize it for a moment, and lay with his hands still behind his back, trying to grasp the fact that he was at liberty, or partially so, at any rate. His heart gave a great bound of joy. There was no doubt, however, that his enemies were nearby, and the thought made him cautious.
Slowly and silently he raised his hands to his head and grasped the handkerchief which still bound his eyes. It was only loosely tied, and a single pull was sufficient to remove it. The eagerness with which he glanced about him may be imagined. The first sight that met his eyes was the stars; then, realizing that in the darkness he was not so likely to be observed, he bent swiftly forward to the rope that bound his feet.
This, too, he found but loosely tied, and it took him but a few seconds to loosen it, after which he turned his head anxiously and glanced about him. He found himself, apparently, in the midst of an open country, in the shadow of a tall tree. What surprised him most of all was the fact that he saw nothing to indicate that anyone was near.
“They do not seem very careful to guard me,” Roberts thought, “after all the pains they took to capture me.”
However, there was no time to spend in debating that question. His only thought was to make the most of his opportunity and escape from that spot as quickly as possible.
He raised himself and began silently to make his way along the ground. He was still weak, but for all that he managed to make good time. As he crept along he found that he was on a road, and his first impulse was to reach the thicket at one side. Once in the shade of this he rose to his feet, considerably emboldened by his success. He still saw no one and heard no sounds to indicate that his escape had been discovered, so he set out somewhat more boldly, creeping through the underbrush.
He was almost beside himself with delight at his sudden and unexpected good fortune. He knew that every step he took was carrying him more and more to safety, for the nature of the country told him that it would be almost impossible for his enemies, whoever they might be, to find him again. “It was a terrible experience,” he thought to himself. “This end of it seems almost like an anti-climax.”
When he was far enough away to be sure that there was no danger of his steps being heard he broke into a run, nor did he stop until he was completely exhausted.
By that time he knew that he had put fully half a mile of the dense jungle between himself and any possible pursuers. He sat down on the ground to recover his breath and think over the strange situation.
“Perhaps I shall never come to an explanation,” he thought, “or find out what that strange Frenchman wanted with me.”
As he turned the matter over in his mind, however, there was one thing about which he made up his mind definitely, and that was that if he ever succeeded in reaching his cousin, he would never cease his efforts to find out all about that mysterious house, and to inform the proper authorities about the unfortunate captive who was detained there. “I guess I will have a hard time finding him, though,” Roberts thought. “Perhaps I have only exchanged one danger for another, as I have pretty well lost myself in this thicket.”
It was just then he chanced to notice that a heavy package had been stuffed into one of the pockets of his coat. He found it was a paper parcel, which he took out and examined with not a little curiosity. He found that his enemies, as if anticipating his escape, had provided him with a supply of food!
Again he put his hand to his pocket, and, discovering something else, proceeded to examine it. There were two pieces of paper, and he struck a match to examine them. One, as he found to his utter consternation, was a French bank-note of the value of five hundred francs!
That discovery almost overwhelmed him. He sat gazing in silent wonder at the paper until the match went out. Then he struck another and proceeded to examine the other piece of paper, which he found was a note addressed to him in English:
Sir—It was all mistake. We thought you were somebody other. We are sorry. We inclose money to pay you for your time and loss of——
As Roberts read the last word he gave a gasp. Then he swung his hand up to his head and found to his horror that the statement of the letter was only too true. The word was hair, and every particle of it had been shaved from his head!
If anything had been needed to complete Roberts’s amazement at his strange adventure, this would have done it. He sat where he was for fully five minutes, alternately feeling for his missing locks and examining the bank-note and the lunch.
“All a mistake!” he muttered to himself. “Took me for someone else!”
The first thought that came to Roberts after that was a renewal of his resolution to probe the mystery to the bottom.
“Mistake or no mistake,” he thought, “those villains intended a horrible fate for someone—and they have got that other wretched prisoner in there yet. I am going to find out what it means or die in the attempt!”
And it was with determination in his mind that Henry Roberts at last raised himself to his feet once more. He tucked the note and bank-bill away in his pocket and wrapped up the food.
“At first, I thought it might have been poisoned,” he observed, “but I guess that is not very likely under the circumstances. It may come in very handy, for all I can tell.”
He had now made up his mind that there was no longer any chance of his being pursued, and he saw very plainly that his enemies had taken him to the lonely spot and left him with the intention of allowing him to free himself, as he had done.
“However, they probably took pains to lose me,” he thought, “so that I could not come back to revenge myself.”
As this thought entered his mind, Roberts instinctively put his hand to his back-pocket where his revolver had been. Sure enough, he found that it had not been returned to him.
“A wise precaution!” he muttered.
His first purpose now was, of course, to get back to the road, so that he might find some kind of habitation.
“I must get to the mines, and get my cousin to help me,” he thought.
The task seemed likely to be a difficult one, for in the darkness Roberts had no way of telling which way he had come. It was by no means a pleasant prospect, that of getting lost in the jungle country.
“If I had only thought to examine my pockets before I did all that running!” he exclaimed.
He could not help laughing at the thought of his wild dash and the extreme caution and anxiety with which he had freed himself. However, his amusement did not last very long; for once more the terrified cries of the unfortunate prisoner crossed his mind. The last words which he had heard from the man were still ringing in his ears.
“Twenty years!”
He started to make his way back through the jungle in the direction where he hoped to find the road he had left. He trudged on for a considerable time, getting more and more involved in the tangled vines of that swampy region. Finally he concluded that there was nothing else for him to do but wait until the dawn. There was no means of telling what wild animals might be near, and he was haunted with the fear of disturbing some serpent. At last he determined on climbing one of the high trees. From this vantage point he found that he had not much longer to wait. Already the first streaks of dawn were visible in the east.
His tree was one of the tallest in the dense forest, and as soon as it was light he caught sight of a slight opening in the trees, where he discovered the long-sought road, winding up the hillside in front. Without a minute’s hesitation he climbed to the ground and set out through the thicket. No shipwrecked mariner was ever more relieved at the sight of land. “If I get to the road, I am pretty sure to find someone in the end.”
Twice he took the precaution to climb a tree to make sure that he was on the right track, and at last he came out upon the thoroughfare. A single glance was sufficient to tell him that a carriage had passed over it since the recent heavy rain, and he concluded that this was the road over which he had been taken.
He sat down for a short while to rest and think over the situation. “I am going to set out and walk until I come to some place,” he decided finally. “The only question is in which direction to go.”
He had nothing to guide him, and he finally decided haphazard and set out tramping. He found out that the fresh air and the excitement of his escape had served to remove almost all the effects of his recent unpleasant experience.
“I have lost nothing,” he thought, “except my hair and my baggage!”
The latter had been taken into the mysterious house, and that was the last Roberts had seen of it; as he thought the matter over, however, he concluded that in all probability the Frenchmen had left it with him when they drove away. “And I ran away and left it!” he laughed. “Anyway, I have got a hundred dollars to pay for it.”
The road was so rough as to be almost as difficult as the thicket. Winding in and out through the dense jungle, sometimes completely covered by the interlacing trees and vines, it seemed as if it might run on forever.
“But there must be some house along it!” the man muttered grimly. “If I can only find somebody to direct me to the mines!”
The sun rose until at last it was beating down fiercely upon the traveler. It was long after high noon when at last he made out the first sign that he had gained anything by his mountain journey. There came one hill much higher than the rest; as he reached the summit and glanced around him, he saw a slender column of smoke rising from the midst of the dark trees.
“A house at last!” he cried, and set swiftly forward.
He kept his wits about him, however, not forgetting that he was in the midst of a strange country. As he descended the hill the smoke passed out of sight, and he did not again observe it until he was almost upon the house from which it proceeded.
He took the precaution to turn from the road and make his way through the thicket, where the tropical vegetation was so dense about him that he could see nothing in front of him even, when various sounds led him to believe that he was almost upon the house. And so it was that suddenly, without the slightest warning, he came to the end of the bushes, and the building rose before his very eyes.
From a spot a few yards to one side the road still stretched onward, but it had broadened out into a smooth avenue, lined on either side with great forest trees. Beneath them was a well-kept lawn, and perhaps a hundred yards beyond at the end of the avenue was a building, a great mansion, three stories high, and built of handsome stone.
A single glance at it, and the American staggered back with a gasp. It was the house of his recent adventure!