Just then an order was given by someone, and they rode off, and left Leech with the drops of sweat standing out on his forehead. The sound of their trampling died away, and there fell a deep silence, broken for a little while by the faint sound of a distant footstep, which Leech believed to be that of his captor and guard; and after a short time even this died out, and Leech went back to his bed, trembling with fright, and, finally, sank into a fitful slumber.
He had not been asleep a great while when there was again a sound of horses trampling. Leech sprang up once more, in an agony of terror. He heard a challenge from above—“Halt, there!”—from some one who seemed to be a guard, and then a colloquy, in which he could distinguish his name; and then his guard seemed to yield. After a short interval he heard the footsteps of several men coming down the stair that led to his door, and there was a short consultation outside. He heard someone say, “This is the place Steve said he is in; I know it.”
They tried the door, and then a voice called him, “Leech, Leech—Colonel Leech!” He was afraid to answer. He was almost dead with fright. It called again; and this time he was glad he had not answered, for he heard one of the men say, “He forgot to give me the key. We’ll break in the door. Wait, I’ll get an axe.”
He went up the stair, and Leech could hear the other waiting outside. Leech was sure now that his last hour had come. In his terror he ran to the chimney and attempted to climb up in it. It was too narrow, however; and all he could do was to get up in it a little way and draw up his feet. Here he stuck, wedged in, paralyzed with terror, while he heard the blows outside under which the door was giving way.
Presently the door was smashed in, and Leech could see the light of the torch, or whatever it was, flashed upon the floor, and could hear the voices of the men.
“He isn’t in here,” he heard one say, and his heart revived a little; but the next second it sank, for he heard the searchers say, “There is his bed. He has been in it; so he must be here somewhere.” They approached the chimney, and one of them held his torch up.
“Here he is,” he laughed. “Come out, Colonel.”
He did not wait for Leech to move, but, reaching up, caught him by the leg and pulled him down amid a cloud of dust and soot. Leech must have presented a strange appearance, for the men, who were masked, burst out laughing. Leech began to pray for his life, but the men only laughed.
“Come on, Colonel. We’ll present you to your friends as you are,” said one of them, the smaller. “You ought to be pleased with your looks, for you look just like one of your friends. You wouldn’t know yourself from a nigger.”
Leech recognized Andy Stamper, and knew he was lost. Andy had escaped. He began to beg him, and to make him all sorts of promises, which Andy cut short.