e now as fast as thy feet will
take thee."

After that, though she was never totally unconscious, she was only dimly
aware of what happened to her. She certainly felt herself lifted off the
ground and carried for some considerable distance. What seemed to her a
long, long time afterwards she became aware that she was lying on her
back and that there was a smell of sweet hay and fresh straw around her.
Close to her ear there was the sound of a woman moaning. The scarf still
covered her face, but it had been loosened so that she could breathe,
and presently when she opened her eyes, she found that the scarf only
covered her mouth.

As she lay on her back she could see nothing above her. She was not cold
for the straw around her formed a warm bed, and her cloak had been
carefully arranged so as to cover her completely, whilst her feet were
wrapped up snugly in a rug.

It was only when complete consciousness returned to her that she
realized that she was lying in an object that moved: she became
conscious of the jingling of harness and of occasional unpleasant
jolting, whilst the darkness overhead was obviously caused by the roof
of a vehicle.

She tried to raise herself on her elbow, but she discovered that loose,
though quite efficient bonds held her pinioned down; her arms, however,
were free and she put out her hand in the direction whence came the
muffled sound of a woman moaning.

"Lord! God Almighty! Lord in Heaven!" and many more appeals of a like
character escaped the lips of Gilda's companion in misfortune.

"Maria! Is it thou?" said Gilda in a whisper. Her hand went groping in
the dark until it encountered firstly a cloak, then an arm and finally a
head apparently also enveloped in a cloth.

"Lord God Almighty!" sighed the other woman feebly through the drapery.
"Is it mejuffrouw?"

"Yes, Maria, it is I!" whispered Gilda, "whither are they taking us,
thinkest thou?"

"To some lonely spot where they can conveniently murder us!" murmured
Maria with a moan of anguish.

"But what became of Piet and Jakob?"

"Murdered probably. The cowards could not defend us."

Gilda strained her ears to listen. She hoped by certain sounds to make
out at least in which direction she was being carried away. Above the
rattle and jingle of the harness she could hear at times the measured
tramp of horses trotting in the rear, and she thought at one time that
the sleigh went over the wooden bridge on the Spaarne and then u