She left the door unfastened behind her. Elmer chuckled to himself under his breath, for he saw that in doing this the woman had not only left a way of speedy escape open for herself in case of necessity, but also a free passage for the scouts when the signal whistle blew.
CHAPTER XI.
RUN DOWN.
Straight across the floor of the shack glided the woman.
She was making a bee line for the string of beads with the little silver cross at the double end.
And the hidden scout could hear the low words of musical Italian flowing from her lips when she reached out an eager hand to seize upon the sacred article.
Now was his time.
The critical moment had arrived when he must proceed to spring his trap.
As silently as he could, then, Elmer arose to his feet. He was behind the woman and could never bring himself to believe that he had made even the slightest sound when rising.