"Oh, there are a few women in this hole," answered Merry. "Perhaps others have come in."
They reached the first hut and paused where they could peer along the street, if such it could be called, for the huts had been built here and there, so that the road between them zig-zagged like a drunken man.
In the very center of the place was the building, somewhat larger than its neighbors, from which came the sounds of revelry. Doors and windows were wide open. The music having stopped, there might be heard a hum of voices, and then the wild, reckless laugh of a woman floated out upon the night air.
Frank shuddered a little as he heard the sound, which, to his ears, was more pitiful and appalling than any cry of distress that could fall from female lips.
"Poor creature!" he thought. "To what depths has she fallen!"
They went forward again, slipping around a corner, and Merry stumbled and fell over the body of a man that was lying prone on the ground.
"Hold on!" he whispered. "Let's see what we have here. It's a man, but I wonder if he is living or dead."
He knelt and felt for the man's heart.
"Living all right," he declared; "but dead in one sense—dead drunk! Whew! what a vile smell of liquor!"