A fire burned in a big stone fireplace at one
end, filling the room with a suffocating smudge.
The room was almost dark, but Ted, from the corner into which he had
been flung, was soon able to make out that the men were cooking
something over the glowing embers, at the same time taking swigs from a
black bottle, and smoking reeking pipes of vile tobacco.
After the food was cooked they began to eat, but did not offer Ted any
of it, all the while making jokes at his expense, and vaguely hinting at
his fate.
Ted wished now that he had taken Stella's advice, and had not rushed in
so rashly. Had he waited for Bud and two or three of the boys to come to
his assistance, he could easily have caught the whole lot for their
cabin was in a perfect pocket from which they could not have escaped.
Who were these rough fellows with whom Checkers would not associate, for
Ted could hear his archenemy pacing up and down outside, and he had not
forgotten how he had addressed these men?
Probably they were only ordinary villains who did the dirty work planned
by the wiser heads of the syndicate.
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