"No--why should I?" was the quick reply. "If I told you who I was you would at once know why I have made you a captive here. No; you shall hear all in good time, but that will not be until I am ready.
"Now," went on his captor, after a period of silence, "I shall have to bind and blindfold you again."
"Why?" asked Mark, in some alarm.
"Because I don"t want you to see how I get in and out of this room, and that"s the only way I can guard my secret. Though if you promise not to remove the bandage from your eyes within five minutes from the time I leave you, I will not have to tie your hands and feet. After I am gone you may take the handkerchief off, but when you hear me rap on the wall, ready to come back again, you must once more blindfold yourself.
Otherwise I shall have to tie you up."
Mark considered a moment. It was not pleasant to be tied with the cruel ropes, and he felt that in time he could penetrate the mystery of how the room opened, even if he did not see his jailer enter and leave.
"I promise," he said finally.
"That"s good. It simplifies matters. Now you can blindfold yourself, and I trust to your honor. You may remove the bandage in five minutes, but when you hear me knock, you must replace it until I am in the apartment. Then you can take it off again."
There was little choice but to obey, and Mark tied the handkerchief over his eyes. He listened intently, heard the man moving about the room, felt the wind on his cheeks, and then came silence.
He waited until he thought five minutes had pa.s.sed, and then took off the bandage. The candle was burning where the man had set it, but the fellow himself was gone. He had taken with him the broken dishes, and remains of the food Mark had not eaten. The gla.s.s and a pitcher of water stood on a broken table, and Mark took a big drink.
"Now to see if I can"t get out of this place," he murmured to himself.
Mark had invented many pieces of apparatus, and he was considered a good mechanician. Consequently he went about his task in a systematic manner. He examined the walls carefully by the candle, which he carried in his hand, but no opening was apparent.
"Of course, there must be some secret spring to press," said the lad.
"That"s how he gets in and out. A section of the wall moves, but where it is I can"t see. It will take time. I must look at every inch."
He was in the midst of his investigations when there sounded on the wall back of him three raps.
"Ha! At least, that tells me where the opening is," thought the lad.
"It"s on that side, but now I have to put that blamed bandage on. Well, I may be able to escape yet."
True to his promise, he blindfolded himself well, and presently he heard a noise, felt a draught of air, and he knew his captor was in the room.
"You can now take off the handkerchief," said the man. "I have brought you some more bags for bed clothing. It isn"t much, but it is all I have. They will keep you warm tonight."
"Are you going to imprison me over night?" asked Mark.
"Yes, and I"ll stay here with you. No one can find us here. The secret room is well hidden. But first I have another matter that needs attention. I am going to ask you a question."
"What?" asked the captive, wondering what strange request the mentally unbalanced man would make now.
The man leaned forward and whispered something in Mark"s ear, as if he was afraid the very walls would hear.
"I"ll not do it!" cried the youth. "I"ll never aid you to deceive my friends, for that is your object. I"ll never do it!"
"Then I shall have to use force," was the determined response. "You may take your choice!"
Poor Mark did not know what to do, yet there was little he could choose between. The man had him in his power, yet the lad was terribly afraid of the result of the daring scheme which he knew was in the mind of the lunatic, for such he believed the man to be.
"Will you not give up this plan?" begged Mark. "I know Professor Henderson will pay you any sum in reason to let me go. You can become a rich man."
"I don"t want riches--I want revenge!" exclaimed the man. And he glared at Mark, while throughout the dismal, deserted house there sounded the rattle and bang of the flapping shutters.
CHAPTER X
MARK"S STRANGE ACTIONS
Jack Darrow fairly burst into the big shed where the two scientists were at work over the ruined motor. They looked up at his excitable entrance, and Mr. Henderson called out:
"Why, Jack, what"s the matter?"
"Quite a lot, I"m afraid," answered the lad, and there was that in his voice which alarmed the professors.
"What do you mean?" inquired Mr. Roumann, laying aside some of the damaged motor plates.
"Mark"s gone!" gasped Jack.
"Gone! Where?" exclaimed Mr. Henderson.
"I don"t know, but he went to the deserted house, where we thought the mysterious man was hiding, and since then I can"t find him."
Then the frightened lad proceeded to explain what he and Mark had undertaken, and the outcome of it; how his chum had failed to meet him at the rendezvous, and how Jack had searched through the old house without result.
"There"s but one thing to do," declared Professor Henderson, when he had listened to the story. "We must go back there and make a more thorough search."
"What--to-night?" exclaimed the German.
"Surely. Why not? We can"t leave Mark there all alone. He may be hurt, or in trouble."
"That"s what I think," said Jack. "I"ll tell Washington and Andy, and we"ll go back and hunt for him. Poor Mark! If he had only waited for me, perhaps this would never have happened, and if I hadn"t stopped at the dog-fight maybe Mark would have waited for me. Well, it"s too late to worry about that now. The thing is to find him; and I guess we can."
Jack would not stop longer than to s.n.a.t.c.h a hasty bite of supper before he joined the searching party. Washington and he carried lanterns, while Andy Sudds had his trusty rifle, and the two professors brought up in the rear, armed with stout clubs, for Jack"s account of the affair made them think that perhaps they might have to deal with a violent man.
"Hadn"t you better notify the police?" suggested Andy. "A couple of constables would be some help."
"Not very much," declared Jack. "Besides, there are only two in Bayside, and it"s hard to locate either one when you want them. I guess we can manage alone."
"Yes, I would rather not notify the police if it can be avoided," said Professor Henderson.
The searching party hurried along the country highway, which was now deserted, as it was quite dark. Their lanterns flashed from side to side, but they had no hope of getting any trace of Mark until they came to the old barn, at least, though Jack wished several times that he might meet his chum running toward them along the road.
They reached the barn in due course, and while Washington, Jack and Andy began a search of it, the two scientists went up to the house of the man who owned it and enlisted his aid. They asked him if he had seen Mark around that afternoon, but the farmer had not.
"But me an" my hired man"ll come out and help you hunt through the barn," he said. "I remember once, when I was a lad, that my brother fell off the hay mow and lay unconscious in a manger for five hours before we found him. Maybe that"s what"s happened to this young man,"
suggested Mr. Hampton, which was the farmer"s name.