“Write as I dictate,” she ordered.
Here Shirley protested.
“What is it you wish me to write?” she asked.
“You’ll hear quick enough,” was the reply. “Write.”
Shirley replaced the pen gently on the table.
“Not until you tell me what you want me to write, and to whom,” she replied quietly.
The others looked at her in surprise, then conversed a few moments in Spanish. At last Mrs. Sebastian said:
“The letter is to your father and to Colonel Ashton. It will contain a demand for $20,000—$10,000 apiece—for your return.”
Shirley rose suddenly to her feet and gave a cry of amazement.
“You mean that we are to be held for ransom?” she exclaimed in unbelief.