"'Tain't a very secure place," he returned. "Reckon I'll have to nail down some of the windows unless you'll give me your word not to run away."
"I'll promise nothing," was my reply. "I'm being treated unfairly, and I shall do as I think best."
"Then I'll fasten everything as tight as a drum," returned Booth.
Going below, he secured a hammer and some nails, with which he secured the windows and the scuttle on the roof.
"Reckon it's tight enough now," he said. "Just wait, Parsons, till I get him a bucket of water."
This was done, and then the two men left me, closing and locking the door of the enclosed staircase behind them.
The loft was empty, saving a nail keg that stood in one corner of the floor. Pulling this out, I sat down to think matters over.
Try my best I could not imagine what charge Mr. Aaron Woodward had brought against me. Yet such had been his earnestness that for the nonce everything else was driven from my mind.
The sounds of talking below interrupted my meditations. I recognized Kate's voice, and the next moment my sister stood beside me.
"Oh, Roger!" was all she could say, and catching me by the arm she burst into tears.