His speech was cut off. And that instant I was enveloped in a cloth, held about me with strong arms; and I felt a pressure on my mouth.
To struggle, I soon found to be useless. Many hands seemed to be holding me, and I was picked off the ground, my bearers pattering along at a rate.
Presently we came to a stop, and I was tumbled into some kind of a wagon, as the creak of the wheels told me. And there was a body jostling me in the wagon-bed—Ray.
CHAPTER XII
IN CAPTIVITY—THE MESSAGE
Here was a mishap entirely unexpected. And it flashed on me that here at last was the explanation of the enigmatic part of the talk Marat heard the night before. That some of us were keeping an eye on him in town, Duran had known; and "the big one" whose absence was desired, was doubtless Norris. And, "there need be no noise," Duran had said. Verily the capture could not have been effected with less.
Where we were to be taken, and what was to be done to us, filled my mind. There was something in the talk last night about a place to meet. And—"We must not leave them behind here," Duran had said. So then the captors were to meet the others at some appointed place, and the captured were not to be left behind. What could that mean other than that we were to be finally taken aboard the schooner Orion.
The thing cleared in my mind. Duran counted on the Pearl refusing to sail without Ray and myself—that our friends would remain and seek us, even at the risk of losing the trail of Duran. And so the Orion would sail away to the mine without fear of discovery. The thought of defeat in the thing we had so much suffered for, caused my heart to sink. I had no real fear that our lives were in danger. Duran had but the one thought now—to save the gold. Now that at last there were those who had penetrated to his lair in the hills, he would not add zest to the pursuit of himself by a needless crime, a crime that would be easily laid to his door.
The wagon went bumping along over the rough road, shaking us thoroughly, while these thoughts were passing in my mind. Hot as was the night, I was almost stifled by this thing over my head, reinforced by the tight binder on my mouth.