Page:Adventures of Susan Hopley (Volume 1).pdf/303

288 "The pain was so intense, that to move was impossible, and there he sat, cursing his hard fate, and as anxious to be discovered by some passenger, as he had been a moment before to avoid observation.

"A heavy half hour he had passed in this painful situation, when he was cheered by hearing the voices of persons approaching by the way he had come, and he made an effort to get upon his feet to ask their assistance; but before he could accomplish his purpose, a man suddenly leaped over the wall, who the moment he set his eyes upon him, called out, 'Here he is, the rascal, crouching in a ditch,' and immediately seized him by the collar.

"'Bring the fellow along!' cried two others, looking over; and without mercy they roughly pulled him out of the ditch.

"In vain he attempted to explain his situation, and the accident he had met with; not a word would they listen to; but reckless of his expostulations and the pain they were inflicting, they dragged him over the wall and back across the fields to the house he had so lately escaped from; where flinging him into a dark closet, two of them departed, leaving the third to keep guard at the door, with strict injunctions, rather to take his life than let him away.