Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/277

ANOTHER MURDER Somers proved to be the one, and now the fiend has disappeared again."

"How far did you go?"

"Half way to the other ladder. We have n't time to search now, or we shall be too late to save ourselves. It is almost daylight."

There was a moment of silence, the men breathing heavily from excitement, casting uneasy glances about them, and nervously clutching their carbines. I saw faces peering down at us through the open trap.

"Take the body up the ladder, and I will hold the lantern so you can see," I commanded, my determination made.

They went at the gruesome job reluctantly, yet evidently glad enough to get out of the hole, two of them lifting from above, with Masterson helping below. As the Corporal's legs disappeared I mounted close behind, holding the lantern beneath and laying hold of the trap before I extinguished the light. It was with a distinct feeling of relief that I closed the heavy door and stood upon it. I felt a new man as I straightened in the upper air, the heavy breathing of the troopers, closely pressed together in the narrow space, alone telling me of their presence.

"O'Brien!"

"Yis, sor."

"Everything right here?"

"Jist about as ye left it, sor, only the Colonel seems to have got part of his senses back, an' the other fellow swore so loud I bucked him with a bit o' rag. Av ye'll [ 263 ]