Then "Red" and Dave lugged his limp body through several
rooms, out upon a back porch, finally dragging him down the steps and
along a cement drive way, letting him lie there a moment in the dark,
while one of them unlocked a door. The next instant he was carelessly
thrown inside, and the door forced back into place. He could hear Hogan
swear outside, and then the sound of both men's feet on the drive as
they departed.
With a struggle West managed to sit up, but could scarcely attempt more,
as his arms were bound closely to his sides. The darkness about him was
intense, and, with the disappearance of the two men up the steps, all
outside sounds had ceased. He knew he had been flung into the garage and
was resting there on the hard cement floor. He could neither feel nor see
any machine, nor was there probably the slightest prospect of his getting
out unaided. Those fellows would never have left him there without guard,
had they dreamed any escape was possible. The girl had affirmed the
building was constructed of stone, two feet thick. He stared around at
the impenetrable black wall completely defeated. Undoubtedly they had him
this time. He was weak from hunger, tired nearly to death; bruised and
battered until it seemed as though every muscle in his body throbbed with
pain. Yet his mind was not on these things, only incidentally; his
thought, his anxiety centred altogether on Natalie Coolidge.
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