"Not at all," said the doctor, firmly. "That was my suggestion, and I repeat it. We alone are holding out. What chance have we ever to carry our cause through to success?"
Colonel Hetherill looked around at his men as if he feared the effect of those words upon them. They were impassive, though I inferred from what Grace had said that several were beginning to share the doctor's way of thinking.
"Your answer," said the colonel to Dr. Ambrose, "is sufficient proof of treasonable designs. The answer itself I consider treason. I will hear no more."
He promptly dissolved the court, ordered Dr. Ambrose and myself to be locked up again, and refused to listen to anything his daughter wished to say. What further steps he took I did not know then, for under escort I passed on to my room and was out of sight and hearing.
That evening Grace came to my room again, and, as before, she was visibly under the influence of strong emotion.
"You must escape again to-night," she said, "and this time you must not be overtaken. I have arranged everything, and it will be easy enough for you to reach the mountains."
"What will become of Dr. Ambrose?" I asked.
"We will save him, too, though I do not yet know how," she said.
The doctor had taken his risk partly on my account, and I did not feel like abandoning him in danger. I am willing to admit also that I wanted to see how events at Fort Defiance would culminate. So I refused to leave the fort. My refusal greatly disturbed Grace, and she begged me to go. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes luminous, and she looked very beautiful.
"Would you have me think of myself alone?" I asked. "It is true that I seem to have brought trouble here, but I can't cure it by slipping away to-night. I mean to stay."
She had nothing more to say, but one look she gave me seemed to approve of my decision. She left the room hastily, and I did not hear the key turn in the lock. I tried the door, and found that it was not locked. Through neglect or intention, I was free to go about Fort Defiance, and I inferred that the colonel's affairs in truth were in a critical state, if so little attention was paid to me. I looked out in the hall, but saw no one. I walked lightly to the top of the stair-case, but, hearing voices below, concluded it would be best to return to my room. From the window I saw that the drawbridge was up, and I doubted the chances of escape, even had I wished it.