CHAPTER XX
WE FIND THE PASSAGE
I MOVED back down the hall, retaining within my hands the carbine wrenched from her grasp. It was not easy to lock her in as a prisoner, to treat her as a dangerous enemy, and yet there was no other way. From all appearances the cavalrymen below were fully capable of defending the house from any open attack; while, judging from all I could see and hear, the besieging party did not greatly outnumber our own, although their numbers were increasing, as Colonel Donald's irregulars gathered in about us like hawks to their prey. But the real danger existed in a secret attack from the rear, and I alone suspected this possibility. Our safety lay in discovery of the hidden entrance and our preparation to defend it. More than this, the grim secret of the murder appeared to centre there also. I could not divorce from my thought the conviction that along that passage would be found evidence that I was innocent of the crimes of the past night. And Jean Denslow had attempted to prevent investigation, not from any desire to injure me, but to help Donald, and to aid the Confederacy. There was nothing for it but to treat her as an enemy, unpleasant though I found the task.
What surprised me was the slowness with which those
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