There was no need of the exhortation. The man was fairly flying over the ground, making for the thicket beyond.
Roberts heard footsteps behind him and glanced over his shoulder in time to see that his danger was by no means over. It seemed as if his shout must have alarmed the whole house. Half a dozen men had poured out of the doorway and were in full pursuit of the fugitives. The nearest of them, who had been rushing up to join in the fight as Roberts turned, were only a few yards behind.
Roberts knew that all depended upon his being able to get away into the thicket, for he was by no means strong enough for a long race. The other man seemed able to run faster, and was leaving his rescuer behind.
“Oh, if I only had my revolver!” he said to himself.
As it was, he expected some of the men to fire upon him. Before there was time for this, however, the race was over and lost. To the edge of the bushes was a matter of only a few seconds; the first man disappeared and Roberts followed, when suddenly a tangled vine in his path caught his foot and brought him to earth with a blow so violent that it almost stunned him. Not two seconds later Roberts felt a heavy body fling itself upon him and heard a voice crying out in the now too familiar French.
He tried to struggle to his feet once more to grapple with his assailant, but his efforts were in vain, for the latter’s cries had brought several more to the spot, and before he was able to realize it Roberts was again a helpless prisoner.
His cries were stopped by one of the men flinging his coat about his head; then two others picked him up by the arms and feet and set out to carry him.
He was so breathless and dazed by what had occurred that he was scarcely able to realize his plight. Once more a prisoner in the hands of the mysterious Frenchman!
“Of course, they will take me straight back to the house,” he thought, and in this he found that he was not mistaken. From the sounds that reached his ears he knew that a crowd had gathered about those who were carrying him, and suddenly, above all the excited cries, Roberts heard a voice that he recognized as that of the master.
“Vous l’avez?” he cried excitedly. “Bien!”