Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-09-05

know that rough hands were being laid
on the women they loved, while they
were powerless for help or defense.
Chester ground his teeth and strained
ut his bonds until they cut into his
coat sleeve. The veins in Diapers
neck and forehead swelled, and he
| grew purple in the face with suppress
ed rage.
"You internal villains!" he roared,
and then could hive bitten his tongue
in half, for Mt that instant the voice of
Florence Granniss became audible as
she appeared ut the car door leading
the little procession of four.
Their cnptors had forborne to PIN
Ion the ladies' arms, but they were
blindfolded like the rest, nor were they
| suffered to come near their natural pro-
| tectors.
II can't stand this" exclaimed Ches-
ter, us he started to run after the wo-
men, the bandage having dropped from
his eyes during his contortions. But
he was speedily yanked backward and
downward by one of the desperadoes.
who proceeded to sit on his chest unit!
| Dallon himself came up an inquired:
whats the rowT'
| "Gettin q little obstropolus, thats
| allp' was the response.
"Set him up" was the command
And then, addressing himself to Dra-
| Der and Chester, the captain of the
gang thus spoke:
you needn't be afeared that we're
goln to harm them ladies' O yourn-
leastways, not yet! We've got q little
matter O business to settle with you
men first, and we're goin where we
kin talk quiet and confidential like"
| IF you harm hair of their heads
you shall pay dearly" exclaimed Chess
ter hotly, and in the same breath John
| Draper uttered the words:
"As sure as there's a God in heaven
you shall suffer for this, you hound"
A sneering laugh was the only re-
sponse as the chief rascal gave the sig
nal to march. The bandages We're
! carefully looked to, and then the entire
party set out In single file, prisoner
between every two robbers, the ladies
and the maid heading the column, with
Jim Dallon in front.
They proceeded thus in silence and
by devious way for more than an
hour, though 1t seemed like four. The
road was rugged, and Its general trend
was upward. In fact. they were as
cending the bed of dried up water
course. The pace was necessarily slow,
for the ladies being ahead they could
not proceed very fast and frequently
had to be helped and half carried over
the rougher places. Both Florence and
Madge at first indignantly spurned all
such assistance, but when Dallon turn
ed and said, 'If they kick, boys, just
carry 'em!" they decided to accept the
lesser Of the two evils. AS for Mrs.
Hurst, she was too dazed and displrit-
ed to offer any resistance.
At length a halt was called. Each
captive was half lifted, hauled or
boosted up what seemed like steep
bank, and then, moving forward again,
their tired and weary feet sank into q
| carpet of soft sand. A few PAGES more
and the bandages were removed from
their eyes, and, looking about them,
our friends discovered that they We're
all reunited and that they were stand
ing In large and airy cavern down
| whose side meandered little brook
and dimly lighted from the entrance,
which was fringed with bushes around
Its upper edges.
Both Florence and Madge sprang to-
ward their natural protectors with ex-
clamations Of sympathy. Mrs. Hurst
sank YEARLY down on the dry sand,
| while Reuben Filley looked grimly and
sulkily about him. The game was up,
he thought, SO far us he was concern
ed. 1t mattered. not to him what be-
came of the rest So he leaned modify
against the rocky wall of the cave, bit
ing his mustache.
Soon fire was kindled, and sundry
tin cups OF wretched coffee were hand
ed around. together with some half
baked "aapjacks," from which, how
ever, the ladies turned in disgust,
while Gustave muttered French invec-
tves on the rough and barbarous cook
cry. This apology for meal being end
ed, the men were hidden to take their
places In line again and We're marched
to the upper end Of the grotto, the la
dies being kept strongly guarded near
the entrance.
When they We're well out of earshot,
Jim Dallon proceeded to unfold his
'Tittle matter O. business"
Is... ,l