Within a minute after their arrival at the plant, the gang had Nick
securely bound to a common wooden chair, when they condescended to
remove the gag from his mouth.
"He may shout himself hoarse here, if he likes," growled Kilgore. "There
will be none to hear him."
Then he hurried Pylotte and Matt Stall back to the Venner house, to
land Chick Carter.
Left alone with Nick, Cervera darted to the stone door in the solid
wall, and secured it within.
There was murder in her glittering eyes when she shot the heavy bolts
into their iron sockets.
CHAPTER XX.
THE BOOT ON THE OTHER LEG.
In the heat of action and excitement ten minutes are as nothing.
The time seems longer, however, when one sits waiting in a motionless
carriage, enveloped in the gloom of night, with grim distrust and
uncertainty acting like spurs in the sides of one's impatience.
Before five minutes had fairly passed, after Nick's departure, Spotty
Dalton had suffered his misgivings to the very limit of his endurance.
Chick sat mentally counting the passing seconds, then scoring each
departed minute with his fingers, of which he had exhausted four and a
thumb, the entire complement of one hand; and all the while his eyes
were riveted with intense vigilance upon the growling ruffian on the
seat above him.
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