“oh, dave, don’t go!” cried jessie, as he walked toward the door, and she caught him by the arm.
“i don’t think i’d trust myself out there alone, dave,” cautioned roger in a low voice. “i think the best thing we can do under the present circumstances is to stick together.”
dave hesitated. he realized that what his chum said might be true. then his hand went into the pocket where he had his automatic pistol.
“i’ve got this, roger. i think i can defend myself,” he said.
“oh, dave, i’d hate to see any shooting!” whispered his sister.
“there won’t be any shooting unless they start things,” he answered.
“say, dave porter, are you coming out or not?” demanded the voice of the person in the corridor.
“is that you, nick jasniff?” asked our hero quickly, for he was quite sure that he recognized the voice.
287“who told you i was nick jasniff?” grumbled the fellow outside.
“never mind that now, jasniff. what do you want?”
“you are making a mistake about me, dave porter. i want you to come outside so i can talk to you.”
“is the door unlocked?”
“it is. but don’t you try any funny work, because we are well armed, and we don’t intend to take any chances so far as you and roger morr are concerned.”
with caution dave opened the door several inches, and peered out into the corridor. he saw the disguised person he suspected of being nick jasniff standing there, and behind him were several others, evidently gypsies.
“this is a fine piece of business for you to be in, jasniff,” he said sharply. for a close look at the face in front of him had convinced him that the rascal was really the fellow who had escaped from prison.
“humph, you needn’t preach to me, dave porter! i guess i’ve now got you just where i want you!” answered nick jasniff, seeing it would be useless to deny his identity any longer.
“that remains to be seen. fellows like you always get to the end of their rope sooner or later.”
288“we won’t waste words on that just now, porter. what i want to know is, did you and morr come here alone or are there others hiding in the woods?”
“do you think i’d be fool enough to tell you our plans?” demanded dave.
“you’ll tell me everything, porter, and do it pretty quick!” snarled nick jasniff, flying into a sudden rage. “don’t you see that you are entirely in our hands, and that we can do as we please with all of you? unless you tell me everything i want to know, we are coming in there and take those two girls away and leave you two fellows here, bound and gagged. then, if nobody comes to rescue you, you can starve to death. do you get me?”
“oh, dave! don’t let them do anything like that!” pleaded jessie, who had been listening over his shoulder to what was said.
“don’t worry about their binding and gagging us—at least not while we are armed,” put in roger.
“see here, jasniff, you can talk all you please, but we do not intend to let you carry out your threats,” said dave. “both morr and i are well armed, and we know how to shoot. in a very short time this place will be completely surrounded and you will be made prisoners.”
“it isn’t so!” cried the former bully of oak 289hall; but the tone of his voice showed his uneasiness.
“it may be so!” cried one of the gypsies quickly. “remember, carmenaldo did not return. that looks bad.”
the gypsies began to whisper among themselves, and then one of them pulled jasniff back.
“we had better go out again and take another look around,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “that young man may speak the truth, and we do not want to run any chances of being captured in such a game as this. if we find the woods clear, we can then come back and settle with these intruders.”
“all right, have your own way,” grumbled jasniff. “just the same, i think they came here alone. didn’t i see them alone at that hotel?”
the gypsies were evidently too disturbed to argue the matter further, and they pushed forward and closed the door in dave’s face. then those inside the room heard the lock fastened once more and heard the gypsies tramp away and down the stairs.
“oh, dave, i’m so glad you didn’t get into a fight!” cried jessie, her face showing momentary relief.
“while they are gone let us see if we can escape by way of the opening in the top of the closet,” suggested roger.
290“hush, not so loud!” whispered dave. “one of the gypsies or nick jasniff may still be in the corridor listening.”
“i’ll tell you what let’s do,” returned the senator’s son in an equally low voice. “let the two girls stay here and do some pretty loud talking. that will cover up any noise that we may make in the closet. then, if there is a chance to get out, we’ll have to lay a plan as to just how to do it.”
this suggestion was carried out, and the two girls began to talk hurriedly and in a loud tone of voice close to the door leading to the corridor. in the meantime, dave and roger went to the closet, and both made an investigation of the ceiling. here, as stated before, one board was loose, and they soon managed to pry up another.
“now boost me up, roger, and i’ll investigate further,” said our hero.
dave presently found himself in a dark place directly under the sloping roof of the bungalow. in its highest part, the roof was but four feet from the flooring, so he had to stoop as he felt his way around. he soon came to a sort of hatchway; the cover to this he raised cautiously. below was a vacant room which had once been used as a bed-chamber. around the opening where dave stood was a mass of discarded household things and several packages of magazines which had evidently been brought up to the little garret-like opening by 291means of a ladder, but now the ladder was missing.
our hero lit a match, and this brief illumination showed him several large bundles of magazines still tied together with some old rope. he quickly possessed himself of the rope, and found it still usable. then he went back to the closet where roger awaited him, and told of what he had discovered.
“do you think we can make our escape that way?” questioned the senator’s son eagerly.
“i don’t know about that, roger. we might try.”
the matter was discussed for several minutes with the girls, and all decided that they had better do what they could to secure their freedom without delay. dave brought down one of the boards from the flooring above, and setting the bench up endways placed one end of the board upon it, thus making a sort of gangplank. up this he and roger assisted the girls, and then followed to the little garret-like enclosure above.
“now i think i had better go down into that other room first and look around,” said our hero, and let himself down by means of the rope which he had found and which he fastened to a staple at the side of the hatchway.
once below, dave tiptoed his way around cautiously. there was a window to the room, and this looked out on the top of a little porch, beyond 292which were a number of trees. then he went to the door and opened it cautiously. he saw a little corridor opening into that which led to the stairs. from below came a murmur of voices.
“i don’t think we can get away by going below,” he explained to the others, after they had joined him; “but that looks pretty good to me,” and he pointed out of the window to the roof of the porch and the trees so close at hand.
“oh, that’ll be easy if they don’t catch sight of us getting down,” answered roger quickly.
the glass of the window was gone; nevertheless, they had to raise the lower sash before any of them could get out on the roof of the porch. this was much dilapidated, and creaked as they stepped upon it.
“oh, dave! you don’t suppose it will break down with us?” cried jessie.
“jump for the trees if it starts to go,” he answered, and the words had barely left his lips when the old porch began to sag. a moment later it collapsed completely, sending all of the young people to the ground.
it was a most unexpected tumble. as they went down dave made a grab for jessie and did what he could to save her from getting hurt. both landed in some bushes, and laura and roger came down beside them.
with the sudden collapse of the porch, there 293was a cry of alarm in the lower part of the bungalow, and some person, evidently one of the gypsies, set up a yell from somewhere among the trees.
“come!” cried dave, as he pulled jessie to her feet. “we’ve no time to spare! let us get out of sight as quickly as possible!”
he glanced over his shoulder, to see that roger had laura by the arm and was forcing her along. all four ran among the trees, not knowing, however, in which direction they were heading.
“oh, dave, they are after us!” panted jessie.
our hero glanced back and saw that several gypsies and nick jasniff had just emerged from the bungalow, some with pistols and others with clubs in their hands.
“this way, quick!” he exclaimed, and pointed to a little gully but a few feet away.
he and jessie leaped into this, and roger and laura immediately followed. the hollow was filled with weeds and brushwood.
“say, can’t we hide here?” asked roger.
“they’d be after us in a minute, roger,” answered dave. “come on!” and he pushed his way down along the hollow until they reached the tiny watercourse which flowed from the spring near the roadway. here was a heavy clump of trees, some of the branches close to the ground.
“now then, up you go!” cried dave, and he and roger assisted the two girls into the nearest 294tree branches. then the young men hauled themselves up.
“now climb up as high as you can,” directed dave to jessie and his sister. and then all four went up the tree a distance of twenty feet or more.
“where did they go?” cried someone who stood close to the watercourse.
“i don’t know. but they must be somewhere in this vicinity,” answered the voice of nick jasniff.
hardly daring to breathe, the four in the tree listened to what was taking place below. they heard nick jasniff and several of the gypsies tramping around, first in one direction and then in another.
“are you sure they all got away?” questioned one of the gypsies, of another who had just arrived.
“yes. the room was empty and we have searched the house thoroughly.”
“then i guess the game is up,” growled a third.
“what’s the use of giving up so soon?” grumbled nick jasniff. “i believe they are hiding around here somewhere, and i don’t believe there is anybody else near. i think the best thing you can do, bopeppo, is to call in all those other fellows and begin a search for them. eight of us ought to be able to handle two fellows and two girls without much trouble.”
295after that jasniff and bopeppo moved around again through the woods in the immediate vicinity of the bungalow. one of them had discovered where the party of four had jumped into the gully leading to the watercourse, and now he set up a sudden shout:
“they came this way! here are their footprints!”
“where do they lead to, vazala?” questioned nick jasniff eagerly.
“they lead to right here!” answered carlos vazala, pointing to some impressions in the damp ground and some overturned stones.
“i bet they went up into these trees!” cried jasniff. he raised his voice. “if you are up there you might as well come down,” he commanded. “if you don’t, we’ll come up there and bring you down.”
