Tad stood there for a while, wondering what time of night it was and how late it would be before the outlaws went to sleep. He was afraid they might stay a long time over their liquor. Climbing down past the window of the room in which they sat seemed a foolhardy plan, but Tad grew restless at the thought of a long wait. At last he decided to go back to his hole in the floor and listen to their talk. Treading lightly but swiftly, he retraced his steps. The garret was as dark as pitch, but he believed he knew his way. He must be nearing the place now. And even as this thought crossed his mind he stepped directly into the opening. There was a crackle of breaking lath and a crash of plaster, and Tad’s foot went through the ceiling of the room beneath. He withdrew it instantly and stood there trembling, his heart pounding with terror and with fury at his own clumsiness. A sound of startled swearing came from below, and through the aperture he caught a glimpse of flushed faces staring upward. For a long moment they stood so. Then the faces disappeared and there was a rush of feet through the hallway leading to the stairs. Only one course lay open for Tad, and he took it. Darting across the garret, he scrambled through the window and let himself down, his hands gripping the sill, till his feet touched the ledge above the ground floor window. Would they see him? He had no way of telling how many had stayed in the room below. But he could already hear shouts at the top of the stairs, and some one was fumbling at the bolt. With a deep intake of breath the boy let go one hand, swung outward and jumped. CHAPTER XIV The ten-foot drop to the ground jarred Tad from head to toe but did not really hurt him. He was up in an instant, and without even a backward glance at the house he made for the trees across the road. As he started to run he tripped over something bulky in the grass and saw with a shudder that it was the body of the man called Carson, still and cold, a ray of moonlight falling on his white, upturned face. Tad sped onward, cleared the road in a long leap, in order to leave no track in the dust, and plunged into the brush on the farther side. The dark wall of leaves closed behind him, and he knew that for the moment at least he was beyond the outlaws’ reach, but he did not slacken speed. Tumbling over fallen logs, diving headforemost through thickets, dashing forward wherever an opening showed between the tree trunks, he kept on. Weak as he was from scanty food and lack of sleep, he must have traveled a good half mile through the woods before he fell, too exhausted to pick himself up.