“Seize those rebels,” he said to the men. “Stand still, you young devils,” he cried to the surprised lads, “or I’ll fire,” and he leveled a pistol at each.
In another minute they were surrounded, dragged from the room into the hall, carried bodily up the stairway, and thrust into a back chamber, whose windows were covered with heavy shutters securely fastened on the outside. Then the door was closed and locked.
“I have you at last,” an exulting voice called from without. “You may fool Sarah, but you cannot fool David.”
In the gloom the prisoners gazed into each other’s faces for some time before either uttered a word. Then Joe exclaimed:
“I never heard of a thing like this afore, Late! Here you an’ me have put ourselves right into that old man’s hands. I reckon he’s the grandpa those boys told about.”
“I reckon he is,” his comrade replied. “Do you s’pose they’ll take these clothes from us?”
“I hope not. I never had such a good suit before.”
The day passed; night came, as the prisoners could tell by peering through the cracks in the window shutters.
“Will they starve us?” Joe asked. “I’m as hungry as when we first came here.”
“So’m I,” Late replied. “I wonder if there’s any way out.”