Instead of following Anne, he poised on the crosswise timber.
“Hold the candle a minute,� he said. “Quick! And steady!�
He dragged back the poles he had pulled aside.
“Put out the light,� he said. “I’ll stay here and watch. If they don’t step on the poles, they’ll never find us.�
“Oh, Dick! If——�
“Hush! They’re coming!�
They crouched down in silence, listening fearfully to the footsteps and voices that came nearer and nearer. Three men, the foremost one carrying a lantern, stopped in the main room of the mine. Dick saw them clearly; they were Solomon Gabe, Cæsar, and Isham.
Solomon Gabe was moaning over and over: “Uh, my boy! Dey’ll git you, dey’ll git you! My boy! my boy!�
Cæsar spoke with impatient harshness: “Shet up! Is all yore senses wandered off, so you can’t see nothin’ but chain gangs an’ gallowses? I tell you, I’m goin’ to git off. If you’d got any spondulix from dat white man dat said he had gallon tin buckets o’ money—— Well, I’m gwine in dat post office to-night. I’m bleeged to have money. Den dat daybreak train.�
“What you drug me here for?� asked Isham’s frightened voice. “I got nothin’ to do wid you an’ yore desertin’. You come to my house an’——�