"I will, then!"

"And you will not!"

"Then there's treason in the League, and I'll ferret it out."

"Do so, by all means!"

She was gaining the victory again, and he changed his tactics.

"I care but little who you may have in league with you, so long as you are here in my power. No one can enter this room without my consent, and in it I am safe even from the attack of an army without. Here you are my prisoner; you think you are safe in the other apartment with the door locked and bolted on the inside, but you are not. There is a secret pa.s.sage to the room, of which you are in total ignorance. I can avail myself of it at any moment: and you will some time be compelled to sleep. Don't you see I have you, now?"

This was sheer folly; for it was evidently his best policy to have kept the knowledge of the secret pa.s.sage to himself if he expected to avail himself of it; but he was for inflicting all the pain he could, and this he fancied would be a deep thrust.

"I thank you, villain, for this timely piece of information; and be a.s.sured I shall not fail to be prepared for your reception, should you dare to intrude into my presence while there."

"Hooty-tooty! as if I am not to be master in my own house! Well, well; flatter yourself with foolish fancies if you will; but know that your destiny is fixed. You shall never leave this cave, except as my wife. This is your fate, and you may as well make up your mind to it at once. I will have no more words with you at present, but will leave you to reflect on what I have said, with the hope that a little calm thought will show you the folly of resistance, the certainty of your fate and the wisdom of a peaceful acquiescence therein."

Saying which, he left the cave, as much vanquished as victor, though with a firm resolve to carry his purpose, even if he had to disable her first, by shooting her through the arm, with a pistol, in order to overcome her!

CHAPTER XV.

BILL AND d.i.c.k--HORSE-STEALING--ANTI-THIEF LEAGUE.

On leaving the cave, after the interview with Eveline, Bill and d.i.c.k resorted to a place where they were in the habit of holding consultations on their own affairs, arrived at which, Bill produced the note which Eveline gave him, from his pocket, and at once perused it. A dark scowl gathered on his face as he read, and when he had mastered the doc.u.ment, an exclamation broke from his lips to this effect:

"Infernal villain and coward!"

"What now?" queried d.i.c.k, not a little surprised at his companion's violent language.

"What do you think?"

"That's a pretty question to ask! as if I could know anything contained in that paper, when I've never seen it except in your hand."

"This rascal, for whom we have been working these three months, wants to get clear of us, so soon as he has obtained from us all the aid he desires."

"What, _Duffel_?"

"Yes, Duffel."

d.i.c.k stood a moment, as if in doubt whether to believe Bill's words or not; at length he inquired:

"How do you know this?"

"Why, here it is, in his own hand-writing."

That he wants to betray us?"

"No--yes--that is, he wants to get us out of the way!"

"How?"

"By fair means or foul; he don't seem to care which. But I will read his words," and Bill read the billet to his accomplice.

"So he's afeard of us!" commented d.i.c.k. "Well, it ain't much wonder that he is. Ef I had as many crimes to account for as he has, and others knew of my guilt, I'd be skeered, too."

"See here, d.i.c.k, what the d----l does he mean by wanting us to hurry off that affair with Duval?"

"Fool! can't you see nothin'? Why, he wants us to kill a member of the Order, and then have us shot as traitors!"

"Egad! plain enough, truly. Well, Mr. Duval, you may pa.s.s this time; we'll pitch into higher game. What do you say, d.i.c.k?"

"Say? Why, that this friend of ours will have to git up mighty airly in the mornin', ef he finds us nappin'."

"Let me tell you, it is no very pleasant fix, this, that we are in. Duffel fears we will betray him, and is resolved to prevent it by having us killed. That's the 'long and short' of the matter; and he has fifty men at his back, all sworn to obey his orders. He can accuse us of treason, try, condemn, and have us shot, in the shortest possible time. Now, how are we to help ourselves?"

"Well, we can't be tried till the next regular meeting of the League, and it is more than two weeks till that time. We can watch his movements, and, ef need be, kill him or give him over into the hands of the law on a charge of murder."

"Yes, give him over to justice, and who is to prove him guilty, unless it be ourselves, and then we would have the whole League down upon us in quick time! a pretty way, indeed, to get rid of him. True, we might kill him at our next meeting in the 'swamp' and then be hung for it, which would be a poor recompense for our trouble and bad pay for taking the life of such a dastard. No, I am for revenge--a revenge that will thwart his designs, and save us from his power at the same time."

"But how are you going to accomplish so much? that's the rub."

"See here; on the back of this note, Miss Mandeville writes a few lines, asking our aid, and promising a reward for any service we may be willing and able to render her. My plan is this: To take the lady from the cave, which will be the deepest blow we can strike the villain, and then--"

"Well that'll do for the present. I want to know, before you go any further, how you are to git the gal out without the _key_, which, I take it, Duffel is very careful to secure about his own person?"

"Key! the deuce!" replied Bill, taken aback, for a moment, by the query. "I hadn't thought of that, but it's no difference; my plans are not alf made out in the details yet; but this is no bar to them; for I'd like to see the lock that Bill Mitchel can't make a key to fit, if he has a fair chance. I can make a false key in a day that will open the door to the captain's room. So that difficulty is settled."

"And now for the rest of your plan."

"Well, when we get all ready, I'll just drop a note to some of the vigilance men, and tell them when and where they can find Duffel taking care of a stolen horse. This will save us from the malice of any of his confederates, as they will not suspect us, and place Duffel in the hands of the officers of the government; and he will not get away soon, I'm thinking!"

"So you expect to have Duffel captured about the same time you are liberating his gal. Well, that's pretty sharp; I think you have not wasted your time in Duffel's service, and after all, ought to thank him for giving you such good lessons in plotting. But you have left one loophole yet, for all that."

"What is it?"

"I've been tryin' to think what you will do with the gal when she's brought out of the cave. She'll have to tell where she's been, and that'll fix all of us."

"I have that matter all settled. It won't do to take the girl home, that's certain; and this is my plan for action on that score: You see I have been thinking this matter over in my mind before to-day. I didn't know but we should have a split with Duffel on the Duval affair, and I was preparing for such a state of things in case it did come. As I have told you before, I know where there is a magnificent cave for our purpose in the mountains of Virginia, to which it has been my determination to retreat, should anything go wrong here. Well, I intend to take this young lady along with us to that cave."

"Dang the women! I don't like to be bothered with 'em. Ef you are goin' to that place, why not let the gal go home and 'blow' all she's a mind to? It wouldn't hurt _us_, ef she did let out the secret."

"It might, though. Some of the members of the League might chance to find us hereafter, and inform on us out of revenge."

"But we can swear the gal to keep still about who let her out."