Page:Last Cruise of the Spitfire.djvu/142

132 "Now open the trap, Lowell, and we'll chuck him down in the hold," exclaimed Captain Hannock.

"He may yell, Captain."

"That's so. Tie a cloth over his mouth."

The boatswain procured a towel, and stuffing part of it in my mouth fastened it around my neck.

Then a trap door in the cabin floor was opened, and I was lowered upon the cargo below.

"Now you can stay there till you come to your senses," observed Captain Hannock.

Then the trap was closed, and I was left to my fate.

Fortunately for me the distance I was dropped was not great or I might have been severely injured. I struck upon a packing-case and lay there helplessly. I overheard my captors move about the cabin for some time, and then all was quiet.

The gag in my mouth nearly choked me, but try my best I could not dislodge it. The ropes about my body, especially those that were tightened around my ankles, hurt me not a little, but all my efforts to loosen them only appeared to draw them closer, until, had I been able to do so, I would have cried out from pain.

As I have said once before, the darkness in the hold was intense, and try my best I could not see a thing. Had there been a light I might not