This was the bedroom, in which the demon slept as peacefully as a knight in his moated castle.
Having thus, “by slow degrees, by fits and starts,” cooped Will up in the Demon’s Cave, description may rest awhile and the narrative may be resumed.
The demon laid our hero gently on the bed, and then, for the first time, he spoke to him. “Poor boy!” he said, in a not unpleasant tone. “Perhaps you did not wish to do me any harm, but I shall keep you here till—”
He stopped abruptly.
There was nothing threatening in this, yet Will trembled. His thoughts were doubtless of Henry.
The demon turned and left the room, fastening the door behind him. Then he left the cave, taking the precaution of fastening the outside door, also.
“There was another one,” he murmured; “I must see to him.”
Swiftly he retraced his steps round the tree, and arrived at the scene of conflict not more than five minutes after he had borne Will away. But Henry was nowhere to be found! He had vanished, leaving nothing, not even a drop of blood, behind him!
“Was there another?” the demon asked himself, dubiously. “What is it? Have I dreamed, or is this some new device of the enemy?”
Seeing the pistol which Will had discharged, he picked it up and returned to the cave, not making the slightest effort to look for the missing knight-errant.