Bart stopped promptly, and they sat there, motionless and listening. At first they heard no sound save the breathing of their mounts. Bart was about to speak, when Merry lifted his hand.
Straining their ears, they distinctly made out the sound of swift footsteps, which were approaching. Hodge gripped the butt of a revolver and drew it from its holster. A moment later the silence of the gloomy timber was broken by a sound that sent the blood leaping to their hearts.
“Help! Oh, oh—help!”
It was the cry of a child in great fear and distress.
CHAPTER X.
THE KIDNAPED GIRL.
“Choke off the kid, Bill! Are you crazy, to let her screech like that?”
The command came quick and sharp and suppressed.
“Hanged ef I like this yar business of chokin’ babbys! I wouldn’t mind ef she wuz a man.”
The retort was growled forth in a gruff bass voice. Two dark forms were seen coming along the path. One of them, the one in advance, carried in his arms a little girl of twelve.
The ruffians did not observe Frank and Bart until they were quite close. Then, of a sudden, as the big fellow in advance halted, uttering a startled oath, Merriwell’s clear voice rang out: