“Sally Wyn! Where are you? Get to work! I’ll have no idling in my house!”
“Now Prim, there is one thing sure,” Terry whispered to her sister. “Bud Hyslop has proven that he is our enemy. We know now where he stands. I wish I knew whether Jim Heron is in on Bud’s scheme.”
As they neared the house Terry thought of a plan. She approached Jim Heron and asked him to take them to Harbor Grace. “Surely there’s a launch in Fish Cove,” she said.
“What do you want to go to Harbor Grace for?” demanded Jim suspiciously. “What are you going to do there?”
“I want to telegraph my father so he’ll know we’re all right.”
Jim Heron refused flatly and firmly. Terry insisted and Jim was not used to arguments with women. He lost his patience and stormed at them.
“Into the house you go!” he said, as he thrust them ahead of him through the door. “Now don’t you step your foot across the sill until I give you leave. And that won’t be until Bud returns. That’s his order!”
“Oh, now I see. Bud Hyslop told you to watch us and not let us get away. Is that it?” demanded Terry.
“Right you are, Miss! You caught my meaning. You’re my prisoners! And do you hear that, Sally Wyn? We’re not to let the girls out of our sight!”
Sally looked at the girls, her face was flushed, fear was in her dark eyes. She did not answer the man.
“Do you hear me?” Jim Heron shouted at her.
“Yes sir!” replied Sally, not daring to meet the glances of her new friends.
Jim Heron went outside and sat down on a rude bench before the door. He held his shotgun in his hand.
“Prisoners!” said Terry under her breath. “What do you know about that!” She looked around the room and what she saw was not reassuring for the old stone house looked very much like a prison.
But Terry was game. Her lip curled disdainfully.
“Prisoners, indeed!” she said with a shrug. “Just wait and see, Bud Hyslop!”
Although Terry was confident that it would be an easy matter to escape from the old stone house, she soon saw her mistake. For the building was originally a trading post of the early French explorers and had been built like a fort to withstand the raids of hostile Indians.
Terry examined the windows but the openings in the solid stone wall were nothing but narrow loopholes through which the shooting had been done in the early days. They were far too small for anyone to crawl through.