The impression that the door which she had discovered was not the one by which she had been borne into the chamber by her abductor still lingering in her mind, she resolved to examine the opposite wall in the same manner; and, setting the basket against the wall, she stood upon it as before, and passed her hand over the wall in every direction. To her great joy she was not long in discovering a knob similar to that which communicated with the secret spring of the other door, and pressing upon it, a door opened like the one by which Blodget had entered, and the rush of cold air which fanned her cheek, and the continued darkness, called to her mind the recollection of the subterraneans through which she had been borne the preceding night.
She hesitated for a moment, and then she advanced her right foot cautiously, and found that she stood at the head of a flight of steps leading downward. She descended two or three, and then she returned to her chamber and closed the door, resolving to wait until night before venturing into the subterraneans, so fearful was she of having her evasion detected before her escape was complete, and of steps being taken to preclude the possibility of a second attempt. The cravings of her stomach now began to demand attention, and feeling that some degree of vigor would be required to enable her to complete her escape, she sat down, and taking the provisions from the basket, ate a portion of the bread and meat. She hesitated as she afterwards raised the wine to her lips, lest it should be drugged, but reflecting that such a step was little likely to be resorted to after the open violence to which she had been subjected on the preceding night, she took a small quantity, and then began to reflect upon the course which she should pursue.
By deferring her attempt to escape until night, as she had determined, she would be exposed, she now reflected, to a repetition of the outrage of the preceding night; and would likewise be less capable of ascertaining correctly the house in which she was a prisoner than she would be should she escape by daylight. She therefore opened the door by pressing upon the knob which communicated with the secret spring, and cautiously ascended the dark flight of stone stairs. She reached the top in safety, groped her way along a passage of considerable length, and at the end was involved in as pitchy a darkness as before.
At length she knocked her head against a flat stone which appeared to seal up the subterranean staircase, and almost reeled under the concussion; but recovering from the blow in a few moments, she endeavored to raise the stone by pressing upward with her hands and shoulders. The stone was heavy, but at length she succeeded in raising it on end, and when thus poised it was easily removed from the aperture, and she emerged into a large gloomy vault or cellar, which was little less dark than the stairs and passage which she had traversed, or the chamber from which she had escaped. The only light came from a rude doorway in one corner, where she could see the bottom of a flight of rough steps, towards which she hurried; but at the moment she put her foot upon the lowermost step she heard rough voices.
No sound from the underground chambers in which Inez was imprisoned could by any possibility reach the outside of the building, even had there been neighbors in the vicinity, but the place was far remote from any other human habitation. She had no means of marking the flight of time, and could not even distinguish between day and night. But her persecutor had told her that he should visit her again in the evening, and she resolved to be in readiness to fly the moment the first warning sound of his intrusion struck upon her listening ears. At length when she heard the click of the secret spring, she ascended with precipitation the stone stairs which led, as she thought, to liberty.
She had scarcely reached the top, when she heard hurried footsteps behind her, and, without casting a look backwards, she fled in terror along the subterranean passage. Her rapid footsteps were echoed by those of her pursuer. She had nearly reached the top of the stone stairs leading to the place in which she had found a lamp, and the means of lighting it, when she stumbled over a stone, or some other impediment, and fell prostrate upon the ground, a scream bursting from her lips, and the lamp falling from her hand.
By this untoward mischance, the lamp became extinguished, and before she could recover her feet, she heard the footsteps of her pursuer close at hand; and in another moment she felt herself clasped round the waist, and all her faculties succumbing to the force of terror, she became insensible.
It was Blodget who had pursued her, and he was greatly alarmed lest she should escape.
As he was bearing her insensible body into the chamber, a new cause of alarm presented itself. One of his accomplices in guilt rushed in to tell him that a party of horsemen, apparently Californians, had dismounted in a neighboring grove, and that two of their number were reconnoitering the ranch.
Blodget paused for a moment to think, and then speedily determined how to act.