Everybody listened intently. The four uniformed guards had been cautioned to keep out of sight, and the shadows engulfed them. Had any one peered from a window he would have been able to see nothing, unless in some manner he managed to glimpse that little group on the stone step before the door.
But some person was certainly moving inside, for even Blake heard sounds indicating such a thing. The officer waited a minute, and then again thumped lustily on the panel. A glimmer of light was seen, telling them that some one approached; then came the sound of a key turned in the lock, after which the door swung partly open, revealing a man standing there, holding a lighted lamp.
CHAPTER XIV
A SUCCESSFUL ROUND-UP
“Don’t drop that lamp if you value your life!” called out Captain Barclay, as he immediately covered the startled man with a weapon.
“That’s him, Captain—it’s Luther Gregory!” shrilled Blake, forgetting that as the captain lived in Oakvale he must also have known the other in times gone by.
Luther Gregory it was for a fact, and Hugh, upon discovering this, felt a wave of relief rushing over him. He believed they were going to meet with success in their undertaking, and that all would come out well.
“What’s all this mean?” exclaimed the man who held the lamp.
Hugh immediately started to relieve him of the light, for he was afraid that a sudden desperate move toward escape might be inaugurated by the plotter dropping the lamp, and causing either an explosion, or darkness to cover the scene.
“Only that you are under arrest, Gregory, charged with unlawfully taking an enlisted man out of camp against his will.”
With that the captain summoned one of the guards and placed him at the side of the prisoner. When Luther Gregory saw this he laughed and shrugged his shoulders after the fashion of a reckless man who, having played for high stakes, sees his castles in the air falling in ruins, and cares little what becomes of him.