CHAPTER X
THE CONTEST
A shrill whistle on the part of Claudius Brown speedily assembled his men about him in the room, and for a moment there was a half-formed determination in Hannah's mind to call to her mother to follow her in a precipitate flight from the house. The faces of the men, their evident anger at their failure to discover the man for whom they had been searching, as well as the reputation for cruelty and brutality which the band had already gained in the region, were all sufficient of themselves to alarm the two women. A second thought, however, quickly convinced the intrepid girl that to flee would reveal their weakness, and they would be no more likely to escape the ruffians than if they should remain in the house. Their very boldness thus far had protected them, and their best plan, she hastily decided, was to continue the effort to appear indifferent to the presence of the marauders, whatever their true feelings might be.
Accordingly, Hannah took her place beside
