"I'd take 'em over tonight," answered Alf. The conversation, carried along upon those lines, lasted for half an hour, with the Judge dominating. One of the men said, finally, "Oh, for Lord's sake, Alf, shut up!" For a minute it seemed that the two men would fight, but the Judge quieted them. They called for drinks and cards, and commenced playing. Tom left the hole, and continued his investigations. With Joe on guard in the hall, there seemed to be no chance of warning Wilson and Shadrack. But perhaps Joe might leave for a moment. Then he could run down the hall, enter their room and spend the night, plotting out a way of escaping. He decided to remain at the hole, listening for Joe's voice. But first he barred the door with a chair. A half-hour passed. Then the door of the room downstairs opened with a bang. The man who had entered announced: "They've captured two of the engine stealers over at Julian's Gap! They confessed to it, but first they told a cock-and-bull yarn about coming from Fleming County, Kentucky, to join the Southern troops!" "What!" yelled the Judge. "There you are!" Alf shouted triumphantly. "Get 'em!" Tom jumped to his feet. There was no time to warn Wilson and Shadrack. He could hear the boots pounding up the stairs. He sprang to the window and threw it open. To jump on that mess of farm tools below him would probably mean a broken leg. Leaning far out, he reached around and pushed up the window of the next room, climbed in and closed his own window. Through the wall he could hear them banging at his door. CHAPTER SIXTEEN ESCAPING Tom stood in the center of the dark room and listened to the tumult in the corridor. They were pounding at the door of the room he had just deserted, wrenching at the knob. "Open up there!" yelled Alf. "Open up!" Then came a crash as the door splintered. Alf's voice sounded in rage of fury: "Gone!" Tom heard him bolt from the room and up the corridor, screaming: "Is he in there with the other two? Have you got them?" Then the Judge's voice: "We've got these two. Where's the other?" "Gone!" answered Alf. "Escaped! I told you...." "Joe!" boomed the Judge. "Here I am, sir." "Have you been here all the time?" "Yes, sir." "The dirty rat let him escape...." "Shut up, Alf! Have you been here all the time, Joe?" "Yes, sir. I've been right here, sir. I didn't leave for a second." Alf yelled: "Look out the window! He jumped out the window! Run around outside!" He came bounding down the hall again, entered the room, and threw open the window. Tom could see his head in the candle light. He shifted back closer to the wall, his heart pounding. "Look through them bushes," yelled Alf to the men who had run into the yard. He let the window slam shut and went up the hall. Then: "Where'd that other one go? Come on! Out with it! You know!" "Don't try any of that," said the Judge. "You're wasting your time. These men don't know anything about it. Joe was here in the corridor."