Leech called, and there was the slow tramp of several men in the passageway.
“Call them in here.”
Leech was becoming puzzled. But he could not keep down the hope that was dawning on his countenance. He called, and they approached the door. Steve did not even turn. He was keeping his eyes on a big gilt mirror that hung in front of him and showed both the door and Leech.
The men reached the door and knocked again; then opened it, and three men in United States uniform stood in the doorway. Steve’s hand left his pistol, and the eyes in the mirror were filled with a more amused smile as he glanced from them to Leech. A radiant joy sprang into Leech’s face. He gave a dive behind his desk, shouting, “Seize that man. Shoot him if he lifts his hand!”
Nothing of the kind, however, occurred. At a sign from Steve, the three men came inside the room and closed the door behind them.
“Come out, Leech. These are my men, not yours,” said Steve. “You are too big a coward to fool with; come out. Pull him out, one of you.” And the man nearest Leech caught him by the arm and dragged him up on his feet, gasping and white with returning terror as he saw the trick that had been played him.
“Did you think I was such a fool as that?” Steve asked, contemptuously. “Come, we have no more time to lose. Fetch him along, men.” He turned to the door, and the next moment Leech was seized and hustled out at a trot. The sight of a pistol in the hand of one of the men kept him quiet. At the door a gag was put into his mouth, a cap was pulled down over his eyes, and his arms were pinioned to his side. He was conscious that the lamps were extinguished, and the key turned in the lock behind him. Then he was borne to his gate, set on a horse, and carried off through the darkness at a gallop. He gave a groan of terror. “Remember Andy Stamper,” said one of the men, and Leech remembered well enough. How far they went the prisoner had no means of knowing. After awhile the gag was taken from his mouth; but he was told that the least outcry would mean his death. They travelled at a brisk gait all night, and he knew that he had several men in his escort; but though they at times talked together in undertones, they did not address him and were deaf to his speeches. Much of the journey was through woods, and several times they forded rivers, and toward the end they must have left all beaten tracks, for they rode through bushes so dense as almost to sweep him from his horse; then they descended a steep hill, forded a stream, and, a little later, Leech was lifted from his horse, borne, half-dead with fright and fatigue, into a house, down a flight of steps, and laid on a bed. One of the men who brought him in lighted a candle and gave him a drink of whiskey, which revived him; and Leech found that he was in a large room with stone walls, furnished simply, like a bedroom, and ventilated from the top.
The man who was left with him was a stranger to him, and, as he turned to go, Leech asked him to tell him where he was and what they were going to do with him. He felt that it was his last chance.
“Maybe keep you as a hostage, maybe not.”
“As a hostage?”