His large black eyes burned with a hateful triumph, not unmixed with the baser passions, and his first care was to remove the rifle from Huldah’s feeble grasp.
Then, precisely as Spagano had done a few hours before, he lifted her from the ground; but held her at arms’ length that he might enjoy her horror and surprise at finding herself captive again.
Huldah opened her eyes with a spasmodic start, and the bright color of life deserted her cheeks.
“Captain Strong, what does this mean? and how came you here?” she cried, staring into his face, covered with a fiendish smile.
“I boated it, girl,” he answered; “but I can’t tell all now. We’ll continue my voyage, and when I get the craft under way again, I’ll tell a little story.”
“But whither are you going?”
“’Tis very natural that you should put that question, seeing that I’m Captain Strong, and you Huldah Armstrong,” he said, with a light chuckle. “I’m going to Detroit, I guess, and you’re going along.”
“No, no! Is it possible, Captain Strong, that you possess the inhumanity of the savage?”
“It is, if you would think so. But we’re losing time here. I want to overtake the barges; they’re traveling slowly, being heavily loaded, and I guess we can come up with them at the mouth of the Huron.”
With the last word he started toward the river with his prize, and presently, with her hands fastened upon her back, the settler’s child faced the captain in the craft.