The Mystery on the Mississippi

mind gentleness, Elena! Think what they have done to us! Think what their actions have cost us!”
    “Don’t you dare touch Honey!” Trixie cried. “She had nothing to do with the papers. I don’t know what they mean, but they must be terribly important and very dangerous to make you do what you’re doing. Don’t you dare touch Honey!” she cried again as Mr. Aguilera seized Honey’s arms.
    “Silence!” Lontard ordered.
    “You’ll be sorry for what you’re doing!” Trixie warned. “If we’re hurt, our parents will track you down to the far corners of the earth.”
    At this, Lontard laughed again, wickedly and cruelly. “Then let your parents find you. They will look for you, maybe, in the weeds of the river down there, eh?”
    Honey cried out pitifully, “Oh, Trixie, do, tell them where to find the papers. They’ll kill you! Oh, Trixie!”
    “Trust me, Honey,” Trixie begged. To Lontard she said, “You’re far too smart to think you’ll go unpunished. Our relatives and friends will never rest till they hunt you out.”
    “Find me?” Lontard laughed sarcastically. “You weak, cowardly Americans couldn’t find the letter A in the alphabet. You’re a bunch of spineless idiots.”
    “You can’t say that!” Trixie shouted defiantly. “If you dare to touch us, to harm us, you’ll suffer all the days of your life, and they’ll be few and short.”
    “Let them go!” Mrs. Aguilera said. “I’ve been in this country longer than you have, Pierre. I know the penalty for kidnapping... and for murder!”
    “You evidently do not know, or have forgotten, my power and who is behind me,” Lontard answered coldly. “I am afraid of no one. I am Pierre Lontard! As for letting them go, have you lost your mind? We would abandon everything we have worked for. Is that your wish? We would give up all we have planned, all we have risked lives and fortunes to acquire. Is that what you want now?” He spat contemptuously.
    “Even if you do not care for the fortune that is waiting for us,” he went on scornfully, “what about our lives? With two smart girls like these alive, how far could we get? Nowhere. No, Elena Aguilera. Proceed! Waste no more time. Keep your pity for yourself. You make me sick! Let them go? When did Lontard ever do that? Never! Tie them! Gag them!
    We must get going immediately.”
    Mr. and Mrs. Aguilera, spurred on by Lontard, seized the girls, crossed their arms behind their backs, and bound them. Then they pushed them roughly to the floor and tied their ankles together.
    This done, they rolled the girls over and bound their mouths. “There! Is that satisfactory?” Juan Aguilera asked his master.
    “It will keep them from interfering for a while,” Lontard said grimly. “Perhaps forever. Much depends upon what we find, and how quickly we find it, at the motel. We must go immediately. There is always the danger that the boys may have tried to communicate with the girls after the exhibit was over. You can still hear what I am saying, young ladies. I shall give you one last chance to tell me where the papers are, or you will be left here until it is our desire to return. Nod your head, Trixie, if you are ready to talk to me.”
    Trixie did not move.
    Lontard took out his watch. “I shall wait sixty seconds for your answer.”
    Trixie did not move.
    “Speak, girls,” Mrs. Aguilera pleaded. “Make some motion that you will do as he asks. He can be very cruel.”
    Neither Trixie nor Honey moved.
    Lontard counted the seconds with a motion of his long forefinger, then, with a growl, clicked shut the cover of his foreign-looking watch.
    “Now you deserve no consideration, and you will get none. Come!” he told his confederates. He put out the flash lantern and pushed Mr. and Mrs. Aguilera ahead of him through the door. Outside, the rusty key scraped ominously as Lontard turned it in the lock.
    Trixie could hear quick steps descending the rickety stairs and walking across the plank to shore, then nothing. No sound. No light. No hope. Nothing but black darkness.
    Bumping her bruised body, Trixie tried to move herself closer to Honey. She mumbled through the tight gag, and Honey mumbled back. In this way, she was able to locate her friend and finally to feel her nearness. There was some comfort in that.
    Through the cracked and broken windows of the pilothouse, Trixie could hear the lapping of waves against the low-hanging willows.
    Out on the river, there was nothing but