“I had to. Cody is catching on. If he should find you in here it would land me, along with you--see? So I’ve got to get you out of here. He’ll raid this place again, in better fashion, before another twenty-four hours; and I reckon you don’t want him to ketch you in here any more than I do. That’s the way I look at it. If he should find you occupyin’ that room where you’ve been--and at the same time unearth the baron and the woman down below, I reckon it would be me for the jail, along with the rest of the bunch.” It was singular, the influence the fat saloon keeper had over these men. Benson was the brainier man, yet he seemed willing to obey the saloon keeper’s orders. The five men went down into the cellar, taking the back-cellar stairs, and carrying a lamp. The place was nearly filled with barrels and casks, some empty, others containing liquors of various kinds. Two of these casks the men rolled out of the way, under the saloon keeper’s instructions, when a small door was revealed. This he opened. By stooping, the men passed through it into a small room. In that room the light of the lamp showed the baron and the woman, both trussed up in a painful manner. The baron began to rave as soon as he saw them, for the stolid Dutch patience had at last given away. “Cut it out, my friend,” said Uncle Sam. “You’re goin’ with me. If you do right, you’ll be treated right. But we ain’t goin’ to have any howling, understand, either here or on the street.” The German stared up at him, blinking his eyes in the unfamiliar light. “Take a good look at me,” the man said, with a laugh; “maybe you’ll be able to recognize me hereafter.” “You ar-re vun tuyfel!” the baron spat at him. “Think so? All my friends say that I’m a perfect angel.” The woman had not a word to say; she seemed chilled by her position, and filled with hopelessness. By one of the back doors of the Casino the prisoners were got out into a dark street. Four men were in charge of them--Uncle Sam, White-eyed Moses, Benson, and Juniper Joe. The ropes had been removed from the ankles of the prisoners, but their hands were still tied; and they had been told that if they tried to escape, or call for help, they would be killed without mercy. In that darkest hour before dawn the whole population of Blossom Range appeared to be asleep. Not a person was encountered in any of the dark, back streets through which the party passed. When the cabin of Uncle Sam was reached, on the crest of the hill called Folly Mountain, the darkness still held. “I reckon we’d better not have a lamp,” said Uncle Sam. “Its light might attract attention. I can strike a match, and use that; and put it right out. So, in with you.” The baron and the woman went into the cabin without resisting. In fact, the baron seemed to have resigned himself to his fate quite as fully as the woman.