“Why not get rid of those who would help them?” inquired Jean.
“I am, just as fast as I can. Everything was all right till these boys showed up to play amateur detective. Now we must make a grand cleanup and work fast. Things are getting too hot.”
“I, Jean LeBlanc, am giving you warning. The bes’ thing to do is to slip a knife in a place where it would do the most good. Every time they have cross my path, they have won, and Jean LeBlanc is not one who is easily beaten in anything.”
“Bah, you make me tired, LeBlanc. They may have had a little luck and a lot of help, or else you didn’t know how to do your work. I’m here to tell you that Gene Barrows will not be fooled.”
Dick had been sitting silently all this time, drinking in the conversation of the two men. They seemed not to be noticing him, and in a desperate attempt to make his escape, he darted for the door and succeeded in getting outside. But his triumph was short lived, for he had no more than attained the outside air, when he was seized by an iron grip by two men, and hauled ignominiously back into the office. He saw at once that his captors were LeBlanc’s brother, Baptiste, and the unknown chap who had been implicated with Baptiste in the attack on Howells.
Dick reddened with rage at the laughter of his enemies, and vowed to himself that somehow, somewhere, he would pay them for their taunts.
“Come, we are wasting time; the others may be back from their little spying expedition at any moment. Grab him, you two,” directed Barrows. Baptiste and the unknown, whose name Dick later learned was Fearon, seized him in no gentle grasp. One of them clasped a hard, dirty hand over his mouth to prevent any outcry, and they walked him across the camp to the storehouse.
Barrows produced the key and threw open the door. Once inside, the door was carefully closed, and Barrows produced a candle which he lighted. Dick was searched and his knife and matches were taken away.
Two heavy molasses barrels were rolled away, disclosing a trap in the floor. This was raised and a rude ladder was seen to lead below. Dick was mercilessly bundled down the hole, little care being taken as to whether or not he broke his neck as he slipped down the damp ladder.
Then he heard the clatter of the trap door as it fell, and he was left alone in the dark.