"Don't be afeared for me, Massa Bob," said Clip.
The staircase led into the main room below, so that, as Bob said, it was necessary to pass through it.
Entering the room on tip-toe, they witnessed a reassuring, but disgusting spectacle. Joe Springer was stretched out on the floor on his back, breathing heavily; while his wife, seated in a chair, rested her head on the kitchen table. She, too, seemed to be in a drunken stupor.
The little girl regarded the woman nervously, remembering the harsh treatment she had received from her.
There was one more ordeal, and one more danger to run. The outer door was locked, but the key was in the lock. There was a creaking sound as Bob turned it. But he opened the door successfully, and once more they breathed freely in the clear air of morning. As the door opened they heard a muttered sound from Joe Springer. It sounded like "more whisky!" He was probably dreaming of his potations of the previous night.
Bob hurried along his two companions till they had reached a point some half a mile distant from the place of their imprisonment. Then he thought it best to question the little girl.
[Illustration: LITTLE MAUD'S ESCAPE FROM HER ABDUCTORS.]
"Don't you know my name?" asked the child, in surprise. "My name is Maud."
"Pearson--my name is Maud Lilian Pearson."
"Just as I thought, Clip," said Bob, triumphantly. "This is the little girl that was stolen from her parents in St. Louis."
"Yes; my papa lives in St. Louis. Will you take me to him?"
"Yes, Maud. Only be a good little girl, and do as I tell you."
"And you won't let that ugly woman take me away?"
"No; we will hide you away from her. Did she treat you badly?"
"Yes; she shook me, and said she would whip me. She said she was my aunt; but it isn't true."
Maud thereupon described the man whom we know as Brown, the abler one of the confederates who had stolen the ferry-boat.
"I wonder whether our boat is gone?" said Bob.
"Mebbe we can see from the hill," suggested Clip.
There was a small elevation near by. Bob ascended it, and looked towards the point where his boat had been tied up. There was no sign of it. It had disappeared. Though still early, Brown and Minton, fearing interference, had cut loose about four o'clock, and were, by this time, several miles on their way to the great city.