"How do I know——?" he began objecting.
"You don't. But, by the time I get through with you, you will. Only this ain't the time, see? Come now, step lively, like they say in New York. Put this party away, out o' sight. No matter how crampin' the place. An' be quick about it!"
The young man gazed about his booth helplessly, shook his head, then got upon his feet. He drew a key from his pocket, as if acting under hypnotic suggestion.
"I'm taking your word for it," he grumbled. "If it gets me into trouble——"
"I'll get you out," answered Martha confidently.
Without further ado he led them through the waiting-room, unlocked the baggage-room door and, in the semi-darkness, he and Martha walled their captive in behind a barricade of freight and baggage.
"Try to be contented till train-time," Mrs. Slawson admonished Ellen. "Don't you be scared. We won't forget you, nor we won't let your stepfather get you, 'less it's over this young-man-here's dead body an'——"
"Oh, I say!" objected the telegraph-operator plaintively.
Martha shook her head at him. "I only wanted to cheer her up," she whispered, as they passed out into the waiting-room, he locking the door behind them.
Sam came forward to meet her.