"Don't get mad, Ralph; I was only joking. What are you going to do now?"
"The money must be somewhere in the chamber," said Conrad, suggestively.
"Probably it is, but it is concealed. I can't get at it without waking them up."
"If they drank the doctored whisky, it would be safe enough."
"I don't know whether they did drink it or not. They pretended to, but if they suspected me, they may have emptied it out of the window."
"Then you won't do anything?" asked Conrad, in evident disappointment.
"I will lock them in. I will see, at any rate, that they don't escape from the room. In the morning I will consider what is best to be done."
The woman breathed a sigh of relief. She was honest at heart, and felt no sympathy with her outlaw husband.
It was perhaps by way of consoling themselves for their disappointment that the two men resumed their drinking, and drank heavily.
"Go and get some more whisky, Sarah," said Ralph, for the pitcher was about empty.
The woman did so, but an idea had occurred to her. She was resolved to prevent the robbery of her guests, and to afford them a chance to escape.
She turned the tables upon her husband, and dropped into the whisky some of the same sleeping potion which had been intended for the two travelers.
Red Ralph and his accomplice were too much affected already to notice any peculiar taste in the whisky. They drank deep, getting more and more drowsy, until at last Ralph slipped from his chair to the floor, where he lay without sense or motion.
"Good-night, old fellow!" hiccoughed Conrad. "I'm with you," and he was soon lying beside his friend.
Sarah looked at the twain half remorsefully.
"Ought I to have done it?" she asked herself. "But there was no other way. I have perhaps saved my husband from prison, for the theft would surely have been found out. The man looked strong and resolute, and would not have allowed himself to be robbed without seeking to punish the robber."
She left the two men lying upon the floor, and sought her own bed.
"They won't wake till late," she reflected, "and I can let the travelers lie till morning. I won't deprive them of their night's rest."
She went upstairs and saw the key in the lock. "I guess I will leave it there," she said, "till morning."