"We'll mount the horses we have taken, and march single file. I'll ride the horse taken here. Bring him to the door."
With quick springing step Brown entered the house where the husband and wife and the two lodgers were still shivering under the eye of the guard with drawn sword.
The leader's voice rang with a note of triumph.
"You people whose lives have been spared will stay in this house until sunrise. And the less you say about what's happened to-night the longer you'll live."
He turned to his guard.
"Come on."
Brown had just mounted his horse to lead the procession back to the camp in the ravine, when the first peal of thunder in a spring shower crashed overhead.
He glanced up and saw that the sky was being rapidly overcast by swiftly moving clouds. A few stars still glimmered directly above.
The storm without was an incident of slight importance. The rain would give him a chance to test the men inside. He ordered his followers to take refuge in the long shed under which Harris stabled the horses and vehicles of travelers.
He stationed a sentinel at the door of the house.