l."

Sally was clutching at his arm in wild affright.

"I--I heard the same noise, too!" she cried, with bated breath, "and,
oh! Mr. Lamont, it _did_ sound like a footstep creeping cautiously
toward us! I was just about to speak to you of it."

Five, ten minutes passed in utter silence. Victor Lamont made no effort
to talk to her. This was one of the times when talking sentiment would
not have been diplomatic.

"Oh, Mr. Lamont!" cried Sally, clinging to him in the greatest terror, "I
am sure we both could not have been mistaken. There _is_ some one skulking
about under the shadow of those trees--one--two--three--persons; I see
them distinctly."

"You are right," he whispered, catching her trembling, death-cold hands
in his, and adding, with a groan of despair: "Heaven help us! what can
we do? Without a weapon of any kind, I am no match for a trio of
desperadoes!"

Young Mrs. Gardiner was too terrified to reply. She could not have
uttered a word if her life had depended upon it.

At that instant the vehicle was surrounded by three masked figures. The
light from a bull's-eye lantern was flashed in Sally's face as the door
was thrown violently back, and a harsh voice cried out, as a rough hand
grasped her:

"Just hand over those jewels, lady, and be nimble, too, or we'll tear
'em off you! Egg, you relieve the gent of his money and valuables."

"Help! help! help!" cried Sally, struggling frantically; but the man who
had hold of her arm only laughed, declaring she had a good pair of
lungs.

Victor Lamont made a pretense of making a valiant struggle to come to
her rescue. But what could he do, with two revolvers held close to his
head, but stand and deliver.

Then the magnificent Gardiner diamonds, with their slender golden
fastenings, were torn from her, and were soon pocketed by the desperado,
who had turned a revolver upon her.

"Thanks, and good-bye, fair lady," laughed the trio, retreating.

But Sally had not heard. She had fallen back on the seat of the coach in
a dead faint.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Seeing that his victim had lost consciousness, the man paused in his
work, and turned around to Lamont with a loud laugh.

"A capital night's work," he declared. "You ought to have made good your
time by having three or four simpletons like this one, who wears
expensive jewels, fall in love with you."

It was fully an hour after Victor Lamont's accomplices--for such they
were--had retreated, that Sa