"The house is on fire! The ship's sinking! The cars have run off the track! The boiler's burst, and the devil's to pay!" cried Black Donald, accompanying his words with vigorous punches of the poker into the ribs of the recumbent men. "What the foul fiend ails you, captain? Have you got the girl and drunk too much liquor on your wedding night?" asked one of the men. "No, Mac, I have not got the girl! On the contrary, the girl, blame her, has got three of my best men in custody! In one word, Hal, Dick and Steve are safely lodged in the county jail!" "What?" "Perdition!" "My eye!" "Here's a go!" were the simultaneous exclamations of the men as they sprang upon their feet. "In the fiend's name, captain, tell us all about it!" said Mac, anxiously. "I have no time to talk much, nor you to tarry long! It was all along of that blamed witch, Capitola!" said Black Donald, who then gave a rapid account of the adventure, and the manner in which Capitola entrapped and captured the burglars, together with the way in which he himself came by the information. "I declare, one can't help liking that girl! I should admire her even if she should put a rope about my neck!" said Mac. "She's a brick!" said another, with emphasis. "She's some pumpkins, now, I tell you!" assented a third. "I am more than ever resolved to get her into my possession! But in the mean time, lads, we must evacuate the Old Inn! It is getting too hot to hold us!" "Aye, captain!" "Aye, lads, listen! We must talk fast and act promptly; the poor fellows up there in jail are game, I know! They would not willingly peach, but they are badly wounded. If one of them should have to die, and be blessed with a psalm-singing parson to attend him, no knowing what he may be persuaded to confess! Therefore, let us quickly decide upon some new rendezvous that will be unsuspected, even by our poor caged birds! If any of you have any place in your eye, speak!" "We would rather hear what you have to say, captain," said Mac; and all the rest assented. "Well, then, you all know the Devil's Punch Bowl!" "Aye, do we, captain!" "Well, what you do not know--what nobody knows but myself is this--that about half-way down that awful chasm, in the side of the rock, is a hole, concealed by a clump of evergreens; that hole is the entrance to a cavern of enormous extent! Let that be our next rendezvous! And now, avaunt! Fly! Scatter! and meet me in the cavern to-night, at the usual hour! Listen--carry away all our arms, ammunition, disguises and provisions--so that no vestige of our presence may be left behind. As for dummy, if they can make her speak, the cutting out of her tongue was lost labor--vanish!" "But our pals in prison!" said Mac.