“He says you kill two men.” “But they attacked us,” said Sidney; “we only defended ourselves. We did not take anything that belonged to them. We left their guns and horses and everything. Tell him that.” There was another conference and the man turned again to Sidney. “He says you have trial, maybe next week.” “Holy smoke!” exclaimed Raymond in horror, “they wouldn’t keep us in this filthy place till next week?” “Maybe next week, maybe longer.” The chief had waited patiently, smiling blandly, but he apparently thought the conversation had lasted long enough, for he gave a command to his deputies, and the man repeated:-- “He says we search you now.” The task they had before them must have been an unaccustomed one, for they were particularly awkward about it, and not at all thorough. The boys’ purses they found at once, and the chief himself took immediate charge of them, but Raymond’s revolver was the only other article which they seemed to think it worth while to remove. The money which the boys carried concealed beneath their clothes was not discovered, and the only attention they gave to the blankets was to make joking remarks and laugh when the rolls were noticed hanging from the window bars. The boys could imagine that the men were commenting on the comfortable night they would pass if they attempted to sleep on their suspended beds. When the search was concluded, the chief and his assistants left the room without further word. “I wish I’d used my revolver before they took it,” said Raymond as the door closed and the bolt slid into place. “I could easily have shot all three.” “And that would have been a specially foolish thing to do,” said Sidney. “Well, it would have been specially satisfactory, if it was foolish.” “I’m glad, though,” said Sidney, “that we didn’t take any such desperate step as that. It is much better to wait till night and see if we can’t get out through the window, as I believe we can.” “Those fellows are so stupid,” said Raymond, “that I don’t believe they would know enough to stop us if they saw us climbing out of the window. Think of their not finding the rest of our money! It’s lucky for us they didn’t.” The day wore on past noon, and the boys took a lunch from their knapsacks. Though the lunch was extremely simple, consisting mainly of dry bread, they were able to occupy considerable time in disposing of it, for very careful mastication was necessary in order to swallow the food without water, of which there was none. Aside from that diversion there was nothing whatever for them to do while they waited the arrival of night. The window looked out against a blank wall, only a few feet away, and gave them no view of the village. The door was so extremely thick that it allowed no sound to penetrate. Though it opened on the street, the boys could distinguish no noise of passing feet, and what appeared strange to them was that the only noise they heard seemed to come from the roof.