ight
rustling in that very room, and his eyes flew open in a twinkling. He
started up, a cry of wonder surging to his lips, and being smothered
there.

Kate Kenyon stood within ten feet of him!

As Frank started up, the girl swiftly placed a finger on her lips,
warning him to be silent.

Frank sprang to his feet, and Barney Mulloy sat up, rubbing his eyes and
beginning to speak.

"Pwhat's th' matter now, me b'y? Are yez---- Howly shmoke!"

Barney clasped both hands over his mouth, having caught the warning
gestures from Frank and the girl. Still the exclamation had escaped his
lips, although it was not uttered loudly.

Swiftly Kate Kenyon flitted across the room, listening with her ear to
the door to hear any sound beyond. After some moments, she seemed
satisfied that the moonshiners had not been aroused by anything that had
happened within that room, and she came back, standing close to Frank,
and whispering:

"Ef you-uns will trust me, I judge I kin git yer out o' this scrape."

"Trust you!" exclaimed Frank, softly, as he caught her hand. "We have
you to thank for our lives! Kate--your pardon!--Miss Kenyon, how can we
ever repay you?"

"Don't stop ter talk 'bout that now," she said, with chilling
roughness. "Ef you-uns want ter live, an' yer want ter git erway frum
Wade Miller, git reddy ter foller me."

"We are ready."

"Begorra! we're waitin'!"

"But how are we to leave this room? How did you enter?"

She silently pointed to a dark opening in the corner, and they saw that
a small trapdoor was standing open.

"We kin git out that way," she said.

The boys wondered why they had not discovered the door when they
examined the place, but there was no time for investigation.

Kate Kenyon flitted lightly toward the opening. Pausing beside it, she
pointed downward, saying:

"Go ahead; I'll foller and close ther door."

The boys did not hesitate, for they placed perfect confidence in the
girl now. Barney dropped down in advance, and his feet found some rude
stone steps. In a moment he had disappeared, and then Frank followed.

As lightly as a fairy, Kate Kenyon dropped through the opening, closing
the door behind her.

The boys found themselves in absolute darkness, in some sort of a
narrow, underground place, and there they paused, awaiting their guide.

She came in a moment. Her hand touched Frank as she slipped past, and he
caught the perfume of wild flowers. To him she was like a beautiful wil