Night was falling fast, and soon the rapidly receding lights along the
American coast were lost in the mist on the horizon.




CHAPTER V.

WHERE AM I?

(Notes by Simon Hart, the Engineer.)


Where am I? What has happened since the sudden aggression of which I
was the victim near the pavilion.

I had just quitted the doctor, and was about to mount the steps, close
the door and resume my post beside Thomas Roch when several men
sprang upon me and knocked me down. Who are they? My eyes having been
bandaged I was unable to recognize them. I could not cry for help,
having been gagged. I could make no resistance, for they had bound me
hand and foot. Thus powerless, I felt myself lifted and carried about
one hundred paces, then hoisted, then lowered, then laid down.

Where? Where?

And Thomas Roch, what has become of him? It must have been he rather
than I they were after. I was but Gaydon, the warder. None suspected
that I was Simon Hart, the engineer, nor could they have suspected my
nationality. Why, therefore, should they have desired to kidnap a mere