"And the Danites know where we are hidden!"
"Thot"s pwhat she says, av ye read it roight."
"It is very comforting to know it! Uric Dugan fears Old Solitary, but there are others who do not."
"It"s the others we nade to be afeared av, me lad."
"You are right. We must be constantly on our guard. Both of us must not sleep at the same time; we must take turns at sleeping. In that way we should be able to know when they try to come upon us, and we will sell our lives as dearly as possible."
"Av we"ve got to doie, Oi"d loike to wipe out the gang av spalpanes down there."
"Were they other than the murderous wretches they are, I should feel pity for them; but, as it is, there is no pity in my heart. It is a just retribution that they are outcast from their fellow-creatures, are forced to hide like hunted beasts, that they live in terror each day and each night of their lives."
"But this will nivver tell us who our friends are thot have entered th"
snare, Frankie."
"No; nor do I know how we are to find out."
"Th" girrul----"
"Is descending."
It was true. Having accomplished her purpose in climbing up there, Miskel was descending. She was as sure-footed and agile as a mountain goat, and it was a pleasure to watch her.
"Frankie, she is a jool! An" do yez soay her fayther is ould Uric Dugan hissilf?"
"So she told me."
"It"s a shame! Av it weren"t fer thot, Oi"d thry me hand at makin" a mash on th" loikes av her."
Frank was silent; he seemed to be thinking.
"I have it!" he finally cried, striking his hands together.
"Kape it," advised Barney. "It"s th" ounly thing ye"re loikely to get around this place, my laddybuck."
"By my friends she must have meant Walter Clyde and his companions, Graves and Kerney. They have had time to cruise down the river, and they are here. I"ll wager that I am right!"
"Ye may be. But soay! Look down there. So hilp me, there come some ay th" spalpanes, an" they have a prisoner!"
Barney was right. Several Danites were entering the pocket, conducting in their midst a captive. He was a small man, with red hair and whiskers.
"Heavens above!" gasped Frank, thunderstruck. "It"s Professor Scotch!"
CHAPTER XXI.
HUMAN BEASTS.
It was indeed the little professor, who had, in some unaccountable manner, fallen captive to the Danites.
How it had happened the boys could not conceive.
"Be jabez! thot bates me!" gurgled Barney Mulloy, his eyes bulging.
"It"s hundreds av moiles from here Oi thought th" professor wur this minute."
"And I thought the same," said Frank. "How it comes that he is here I cannot understand."
"It"s a moighty bad sc.r.a.pe he is in, me b"y."
"That is right. Now I know what Miskel meant when she said my friends had arrived and were already in the snare."
"The profissor makes but wan, an" she said "friends.""
"That is right. She must have meant Clyde and the others. That would make it appear that the professor came with them."
"Sure."
"In that case, where are Clyde and the two explorers, Graves and Kerney?
Have they been killed already?"
"It moight seem thot way."
"It appears likely; but, if such is the case, I cannot understand why Professor Scotch was spared."
"No more can Oi, Frankie."
The boys were at their wits" end, and they were in an intensely agitated frame of mind.
Suddenly Frank clutched Barney"s arm, pointing down into the pocket, and crying:
"Look! look! the professor has broken away! He is running for his life!
But he cannot escape! They are hot after him."
It was true. The little man had made a desperate break for liberty, but it was folly to do so, as the Danites soon overtook him. One of them, a stout man, with a short white beard, held a revolver in his hand. He reversed the weapon, grasping it by the barrel, and struck the professor down with the b.u.t.t.
The sight made Frank"s blood boil.
"I will remember that wretch!" grated the boy, his eyes glowing. "If we do not get out of here, I may be able to square a score with him!"
Barney was scarcely less wrought up.
"Poor profissor!" he exclaimed. "It"s loikely the divvils will finish him now."
The Danites stood over the man, who had fallen on his face, and lay in a huddled heap. They were talking loudly and making excited gestures. It was plain that they were discussing the advisability of dispatching Professor Scotch without delay, and, judging from his movements, the man with the short white beard was for finishing him without delay. Twice the man pointed his revolver at the prostrate figure, and twice a younger man seemed to urge him to spare the unlucky man"s life.