f the
jailer, while it occasioned the alarm, had the effect, in one
particular, of neutralizing its evil consequences. The two who had
already penetrated the apartment, had net yet risen from their knees--in
the dim light of the lamp, they remained unseen--they were crouching,
indeed, directly under the lamp, the rays of which lighted dimly the
extremes, rather than the centre of the cell. They lay in the way of the
outlaw, as he sprang, and, as he dashed forward from his couch toward
the passage-way, his feet were caught by the Georgian who had first
entered, and so great was the impetus of his first awakening effort,
that he was precipitated with a severe fall over the second of the
party; and, half stunned, yet still striking furiously, the dirk of
Rivers found a bloodless sheath in the earthen floor of the cell. In a
moment, the two were upon him, and by the mere weight of their bodies
alone, they kept him down.

"Surrender, Guy! we're too much for you, old fellow!"

There was a short struggle. Meanwhile, Brooks, the jailer, joined the
party.

"We're _three_ on you, and there's more without."

The outlaw was fixed to the ground, beneath their united weight, as
firmly as if the mountain itself was on him. As soon as he became
conscious of the inutility of further struggle--and he could now move
neither hand nor foot--he ceased all further effort; like a wise man
economizing his strength for future occasions. Without difficulty the
captors bound him fast, then dragged him through the narrow entrance,
the long rocky gorges which they had traversed, until they all emerged
into the serene light of heaven, at the entrance of the cavern.

Here the idiot boy encountered them, now coming forward boldly, and
staring in the face of the captive with a confidence which he had never
known before. He felt that his fangs were drawn; and his survey of the
person his mother had taught him so to dread, was as curious as that
which he would have taken of some foreign monster. As he continued this
survey, Rivers, with a singular degree of calmness for such a time, and
such circumstances, addressed him thus:--

"So, Chub, this is your work;--you have brought enemies to my home, boy!
Why have you done this? What have I done to you, but good? I gave bread
to your mother and yourself!"

"Psho! Chub is to have his own bread, his own corn, and 'taters, too,
and a whole jug of whiskey."

"Ah! you have sold yourself for these, then, t