None too gently one of the other outlaws pushed the girls before him to where a makeshift ladder led to a loft above the first floor. They entered through a trap door and it was slammed shut after them. A rusty bar slithered into place and they were prisoners.
Gale endeavored to stand upright and sat down again abruptly as her head bumped against a beam in the ceiling.
“Well, we’ve landed ourselves in a fine mess, haven’t we?” she grumbled.
“What are we going to do, Gale?” Valerie asked.
Gale heard the tremble in Val’s voice and frowned gloomily. It was all her fault that they were in this predicament. If she hadn’t suggested the walk they wouldn’t be here now, they would be back with their friends eating a good supper.
“The first thing seems to be to get loose,” Gale said, keeping her voice perfectly normal. “Can you get your hands out?”
“No,” Val said after a few moments of futile struggling. “They made a good job of it.”
“Back up against me,” Gale directed, “and let me see if I can get the rope off your hands first.”
Valerie did as directed, but it was impossible. Not able to see the knot and working under such a handicap was too hard. Gale had to give it up. Below them everything was silent. Had the men really gone to the camp of the girls’ friends as they said they intended to do? If so, there must be a way out of the valley other than climbing over all that newly fallen rock and dirt. The landslide hadn’t blocked them in then at any rate! If once they got out of this cabin, Gale knew they would be all right. She had the means in her possession to guarantee safe conduct of their abductors--or so she thought.
In the wall just above their heads was a window, large enough for them to squeeze through Gale reflected when she saw it. Large enough to squeeze through if once they got their hands free and could open it.