We must now return for a space to Inez and her captors. The unfortunate girl had but a very confused idea of where she was being conveyed. When the party reached the ranch she was taken from her horse, and carried rather than led, into the building.

She was taken down a narrow flight of steps into what appeared to her to be a subterranean apartment. And such, in fact it was, for the dwelling to which she had been taken had formerly been a portion of one of the old mission establishments, which are so numerous in California. The vaults beneath it, had doubtless been excavated as a place of retreat in case of attacks from hostile Indians, or as a depository for the sacred vessels of the church.

At length they reached the bottom of this subterranean flight of stairs, and then she was borne along a narrow passage of considerable length, the footsteps of her ruffianly abductor raising dismal and prolonged echoes. Her brain began to reel before the appalling idea that she was being carried into the bowels of the earth, perhaps to be immured for life in some dungeon, where the atmosphere would be close and damp—where moisture would trickle down the green and slimy walls—perhaps, to be deprived of life; or, maybe, and the thought made her shudder convulsively, subjected to the brutal lusts of some vile miscreant whose crimes had made him shrink into gloomy vaults from the light of day and the arm of retributive justice.

Her bearer seemed to be fatigued with her weight for he twice set her down and rested a few moments. At length the end of the journey appeared to be reached, and she was now laid down upon some blankets, and the gag removed from her mouth, and the covering from her head, and when she cast a glance of terrified apprehension around the place to which she had been brought she was alone and in profound and impenetrable darkness.

Almost frantically the unfortunate maiden gave vent to her long-suppressed emotions in a piercing shriek, and then sank into insensibility.

How long Inez lay in that state of insensibility which came upon her when she found herself alone and in utter darkness, in the place to which she had been borne, she had no means of ascertaining; but at length consciousness returned to the bewildered maiden by slow degrees. Back from the memory cells of her brain came the recollection of her retiring to bed the evening previous beneath her father’s roof, then the midnight abduction, the long and fearful ride, and her falling insensible in the dark and gloomy chamber in which she now was.

‘Where was she? Why was she brought there?’

She rose from the floor, and groping with her hands to avoid coming in contact with any projecting article of furniture, she made a few cautious steps in the direction of the door, by which she had been borne into the room by her abductor, but her hands encountered no tangible indication of an entrance.

The secret door, the darkness that seemed palpable, all must be parts of some infernal contrivance to shroud in secrecy and mystery some diabolical outrage, from the contemplation of the probable nature of which she shrank in horror. Through that concealed door which she could not discover, but which she yet knew to exist, the perpetrator would enter—those walls would shut in every sound, and deaden every shriek—that palpable darkness would veil the crime, and guard from the chance of future recognition the criminal! It was dreadful for one so innocent, so defenceless to stand there alone, enveloped in darkness, anticipating all that was horrible and revolting to her pure mind, and fearfully conscious of her utter powerlessness to evade her impending doom.

She clasped her hands, and though in darkness, her eyes wandered round the room, and could any one have seen her countenance at that moment, it would have been seen pale and impressed with an aspect of mingled wildness and despair. A new thought suddenly struck her, and partly stilled the tumult of her mind; she would pray—it was impossible, she thought, that God would forsake her, if she prayed to Him, for succor and deliverance. In obedience to this impulse, she knelt down upon the thick carpet, and prayed long and fervently that He whose name was Love, and whose attributes were Power, Wisdom, Justice and Mercy, would deliver her from the doom which was impending over her, whether that doom was a violent death, or dishonoring outrage, which she dreaded most. This act of devotion exercised a tranquillizing influence over her mind, and she rose from her knees considerably comforted and strengthened.

While Inez was still pondering upon her condition she heard a door open and close. The person who entered ignited a match and lit a lamp, and confronted the trembling girl. Judge of her horror when she recognized one of the villains whom she had seen engaged in burying the murdered man in the old adobe building. Although her knees trembled with fright she mustered courage enough to ask him, ‘What means this outrage, sir.’

‘It means this,’ said Blodget, for it was that miscreant himself who stood before her. ‘It means this,—that you take the oath which I shall administer, swearing in the most solemn terms never to reveal aught that has happened since you left the mission last evening. The second is, that you become my mistress.’

‘Then I reject your conditions with scorn and abhorrence!’ exclaimed Inez turning away.

‘Reflect well, my charmer,’ said the villain.

‘Cease, sir!’ exclaimed Inez. ‘Say no more! I reject your offers with disdain.’

‘I thought to find you more reasonable,’ said Blodget after a pause. ‘However, if you hold out a week, you will be the first who ever did. There are some slices of fowl and ham, and some bread, and a pint of wine, in the basket; and in the evening I shall visit you again.’

As he turned to leave the room, Inez bent her gaze steadily upon the door, in the hope of detecting the means by which it was opened, but it had only the appearance of a portion of the wall, revolving upon hinges, and undiscoverable on the inside when closed, from the uniform appearance which the entire wall then presented alike to the eye and the touch. The door again rolled noiselessly on its hinges, it closed with a click, and Inez was alone in the pitchy darkness of her prison.

Satisfied that there must be some means of acting upon the concealed mechanism connected with the door, she ran her hands over the inside, and pressed every square inch with her fingers, in the hope of touching something which would set in action the secret spring. This manipulation producing no result, she next treaded the floor near the door in the same manner, but still without making any discovery. It then occurred to her that the spring might be situated above her reach, and instantly mounting upon the wicker basket which Blodget had brought her, she felt over the upper part of the door, and the wall around and above it as far as she could reach.

An indescribable emotion of joy and hope thrilled through her bosom, as her fingers all at once encountered a small knob or button, about six feet from the floor, which yielded to the pressure, and acting on some concealed mechanism, caused the heavy door to revolve slowly and noiselessly upon its hinges. Stepping from the basket, she peered into the semi-obscurity of the lobby upon which the door opened, and discovering an ascending flight of stairs, she felt half inclined to venture up them; but on reflection, she thought such a step would be imprudent, and satisfied with possessing the means of opening the door at pleasure, she closed it to reflect, at leisure, upon the way in which she should make her discovery available for the purpose of escape.

The impression that the door which she had discovered was not the one by which she had been borne into the chamber by her abductor still lingering in her mind, she resolved to examine the opposite wall in the same manner; and, setting the basket against the wall, she stood upon it as before, and passed her hand over the wall in every direction. To her great joy she was not long in discovering a knob similar to that which communicated with the secret spring of the other door, and pressing upon it, a door opened like the one by which Blodget had entered, and the rush of cold air which fanned her cheek, and the continued darkness, called to her mind the recollection of the subterraneans through which she had been borne the preceding night.

She hesitated for a moment, and then she advanced her right foot cautiously, and found that she stood at the head of a flight of steps leading downward. She descended two or three, and then she returned to her chamber and closed the door, resolving to wait until night before venturing into the subterraneans, so fearful was she of having her evasion detected before her escape was complete, and of steps being taken to preclude the possibility of a second attempt. The cravings of her stomach now began to demand attention, and feeling that some degree of vigor would be required to enable her to complete her escape, she sat down, and taking the provisions from the basket, ate a portion of the bread and meat. She hesitated as she afterwards raised the wine to her lips, lest it should be drugged, but reflecting that such a step was little likely to be resorted to after the open violence to which she had been subjected on the preceding night, she took a small quantity, and then began to reflect upon the course which she should pursue.

By deferring her attempt to escape until night, as she had determined, she would be exposed, she now reflected, to a repetition of the outrage of the preceding night; and would likewise be less capable of ascertaining correctly the house in which she was a prisoner than she would be should she escape by daylight. She therefore opened the door by pressing upon the knob which communicated with the secret spring, and cautiously ascended the dark flight of stone stairs. She reached the top in safety, groped her way along a passage of considerable length, and at the end was involved in as pitchy a darkness as before.

At length she knocked her head against a flat stone which appeared to seal up the subterranean staircase, and almost reeled under the concussion; but recovering from the blow in a few moments, she endeavored to raise the stone by pressing upward with her hands and shoulders. The stone was heavy, but at length she succeeded in raising it on end, and when thus poised it was easily removed from the aperture, and she emerged into a large gloomy vault or cellar, which was little less dark than the stairs and passage which she had traversed, or the chamber from which she had escaped. The only light came from a rude doorway in one corner, where she could see the bottom of a flight of rough steps, towards which she hurried; but at the moment she put her foot upon the lowermost step she heard rough voices.

No sound from the underground chambers in which Inez was imprisoned could by any possibility reach the outside of the building, even had there been neighbors in the vicinity, but the place was far remote from any other human habitation. She had no means of marking the flight of time, and could not even distinguish between day and night. But her persecutor had told her that he should visit her again in the evening, and she resolved to be in readiness to fly the moment the first warning sound of his intrusion struck upon her listening ears. At length when she heard the click of the secret spring, she ascended with precipitation the stone stairs which led, as she thought, to liberty.

She had scarcely reached the top, when she heard hurried footsteps behind her, and, without casting a look backwards, she fled in terror along the subterranean passage. Her rapid footsteps were echoed by those of her pursuer. She had nearly reached the top of the stone stairs leading to the place in which she had found a lamp, and the means of lighting it, when she stumbled over a stone, or some other impediment, and fell prostrate upon the ground, a scream bursting from her lips, and the lamp falling from her hand.

By this untoward mischance, the lamp became extinguished, and before she could recover her feet, she heard the footsteps of her pursuer close at hand; and in another moment she felt herself clasped round the waist, and all her faculties succumbing to the force of terror, she became insensible.

It was Blodget who had pursued her, and he was greatly alarmed lest she should escape.

As he was bearing her insensible body into the chamber, a new cause of alarm presented itself. One of his accomplices in guilt rushed in to tell him that a party of horsemen, apparently Californians, had dismounted in a neighboring grove, and that two of their number were reconnoitering the ranch.

Blodget paused for a moment to think, and then speedily determined how to act.

The party of which the man spoke was composed of Monteagle, Joaquin, and a few Californians, who, after infinite pains, had discovered a clue to the course pursued by the capturers of Inez, and had traced them to the ranch in which she was a prisoner.—Joaquin and Blodget had approached the house in order to determine the best course to pursue in order to capture the villains and release Inez.

‘Listen,’ said Blodget to his accomplice. ‘If they find me here, I may be recognized and arrested, if not for this, for other trifling affairs, which may end in neck-stretching. They can have no proof of our carrying off the girl, unless the wench is found. That is not possible, as no one can have any suspicion of the underground room.—They will search the house, and finding their search in vain, must leave the place. I will try to get off unobserved through the ravine at the back of the ranch, and catch the first horse I can find and make for the city. Let me hear from you as soon as they go, and we will concert future measures about the girl. I will be at our old place in Jackson street.’

As the villain concluded speaking, he drew and cocked his revolver, and noiselessly moved from the back of the house towards the ravine of which he had spoken.

Hardly had the ruffian entered the ravine ere he was descried by Monteagle, whose party had been placed so as almost to surround the ranch.

‘Stop! or I fire,’ cried Monteagle.

Blodget burst through the thicket, and Monteagle leaped his horse after him, but the fugitive turned sharply round the moment the horse’s hoofs touched the turf, and discharged his revolver. The darkness and hurry in which he fired prevented him from taking aim, and Monteagle remained unscathed, but the bullet crashed through the head of the horse, and the animal reared up, and then fell upon its side and expired.

Blodget fled precipitately, and as soon as Monteagle could extricate himself from his dead horse, he rushed after him, calling loudly on his friends. Two of them followed him, but Blodget kept the advantage which he had gained by shooting the horse, and sped across the meadows with the swiftness of a hunted coyote. Beyond the ravine there was a high steep hill, thinly wooded, and on the farther side of the hill a thick and extensive wood. If he could gain this wood, he doubted not that he should be enabled to baffle his pursuers, and he made for the hill with the speed of a grayhound.

He threw a hurried look behind him as he reached the foot of the hill, and then dashed up the ascent, for he heard behind him the shouts of his pursuers and the voice of Monteagle urging the two men to come on faster. The hill was steep, and, except where a scanty vegetable soil had been formed during successive winters by the decay of moss and leaves, its rugged side was covered with smooth pebbles, in which the fugitive’s feet sunk and slipped as he toiled upward. Until Monteagle reached the hill, therefore, Blodget lost ground, but when his pursuers commenced the fatiguing ascent they were again upon an equality.

The pursuers and pursued were unable to see each other, and could only discover their relative positions by pausing to listen, and then only by such sounds as the slipping of pebbles under the feet, the rolling down of some displaced stone, the rustling of brambles and brakes, or the snapping of boughs. The hill became steeper as the robber and his pursuers approached the summit, and they had to grasp the boughs of dwarf oaks to assist them in the ascent, and sometimes to drag themselves over the smooth faces of bare brown rocks, polished by atmospheric influences, clinging to roots of trees which appeared above the soil, and inserting their toes into crevices, or setting them upon projecting points.

Near the summit Blodget paused to rest, to listen, and to look behind him; below him he heard the voices of his panting pursuers, the rustling of bushes and brakes, and the grating sound of their footsteps in the loose pebbles. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and then he resumed his clambering progress, still hoping to find a refuge in the wood on the other side. The summit of the hill was sharp and bare, the brown rock coming to the surface uncovered by the scantiest layer of soil, and its bald crest passed, he had little fear of his ultimate escape. A glen, or ravine, the sides of which were clothed with breaks or ferns, led from the summit down to the wood, and the shortest way of gaining access to the glen from the side which he was ascending, was through a gap or cleft in the rocky crest of the hill. In the bottom of this gap laid a large fragment of rock, nearly flat on the upper side, and rounded at the edges by the abrading influence of rain and fog; probably it had originally been disruptured from the crags which arose on either side, and remained in that position for ages. It partly overhung the steep acclivity which Blodget was now clambering up, and by pausing a few moments to recruit his strength, and then clinging with his fingers to the fissures in the rock, he drew himself up until he reached its top in safety.

He felt the stone move as he crawled over its smooth flat top on his hands and knees, and as he paused for a moment in obedience to the instinct of self-preservation, he heard some stones in which the large rock was imbedded, roll down the hill, chinking against the pebbles, and bounding onwards, until arrested in their course by the boughs or roots of dwarf oaks and wild lilacs which grew upon its side. It was clear that the impulsion which his weight had given to the stone, had displaced these small fragments, chipped from itself or the crags which it laid between when it first fell there, and he hesitated in the fear that in quitting the stone he should cause it to topple over, and be crushed by its falling upon him.

In this dilemma he determined to leap from the middle of it, in order to avoid overbalancing it, and, standing upright for a moment, he measured the leap with his eye as well as the darkness of the night would permit, and bounded forward like a mountain goat. He cleared the edge of the stone, and alighted in safety below it, on the other side of the hill; but again some fragments of rock rolled down, and he sprang aside, lest the whole ponderous mass should slip from its position and hurl him before it down the hill. But the massive rock moved not, and he sped down the hill with the speed of a deer.

Monteagle had made slower progress than the robber up the steepest part of the hill, and his companions did not engage in the chase with equal vigor. Hence they allowed Monteagle to keep the lead; and, on coming near the summit of the hill, they diverged from the track which he was following in order to reach the glen on the other side without passing over the large stone which has been described. Monteagle had caught a glimpse of Blodget as the dark figure of the latter was for a moment dimly defined against the lighter darkness of the sky, when he stood upon the stone to leap into the glen, and shouting, ‘There he is!’ he strained up the steep acclivity direct for the gap in the hill’s bare and rocky crest.

He was not aware until he reached it of the obstacle presented by the massive stone; but, as Blodget had passed over it, he thought he could do the same; and, clinging to it with both hands, drew himself up, and succeeded in reaching the flat top; but scarcely had he done so when there was a rustling fall of stones from beneath, the massive fragment of rock slid from its place, and a shriek of terror burst from the lips of Monteagle as he found himself falling backwards, and the stone with him.

His two friends heard the cry, and for a moment stood silent and motionless on the steep hill-side, with their hands still holding the boughs and roots which they had grasped to aid their ascent. They heard the great stone rush with a dull hoarse sound a few yards, and then bound down the hill, crashing through the dwarf oaks and clumps of lilac, snapping the tender trunks of the mountain trees, and grating over the loose pebbles which filled the channels made by the rapid descent of water during heavy rains; but that cry of horror and affright was not repeated, and in a few moments all was still upon the dark and lonely hill.

‘It is the great stone!’ said one with bated breath.

‘Poor fellow,’ ejaculated the other, with a shudder. ‘If it has fallen on him, he is crushed!’

‘Let us look for him,’ said the first. ‘Hush! I thought I heard a groan.’

They listened, but heard nothing, save the sighing of the night wind among the trees, and they went towards the spot from which Monteagle had fallen, and followed the track of the displaced stone, which was marked by broken boughs and torn herbage, down the hill. About fifty yards down they found our hero lying against a bush, which had arrested his further progress. The night was too dark for them to perceive the full extent of the injuries which he had received, but the inertness of the body when lifted from the ground, gave but faint hope that vitality remained. A rude litter was made of boughs, and the crushed body being placed upon it, was borne down the hill and across the meadows to a little ranch not far from the place.