It grew dark.  Outside they heard the murmur of voices for a time and then all became quiet.  Just before silence fell and snores became audible they heard the man on duty as their guard call for some coffee to keep by his side during the night.

“I’ll send that brat of a Wren to you with it directly,” they heard Beppo’s wife reply; “the little beast, it’ll do her good to work.”

Then came the sound of a slap and a sob.

The boys’ blood boiled.

“Oh, what wouldn’t I give to have Master Beppo in a twenty-four-foot ring,” breathed Roy.

“I think he’d look well decorating a tree,” grated out Jimsy viciously.

The night wore on, but the boys did not sleep.  Their tight bonds and worry over their situation prevented this.

All at once Roy’s attention was attracted by somebody raising the flap at the back of the tent.  Next something crawled in.  At first he thought it was a large dog.

But then came a whisper: 

“It’s me, Wren.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Hush, I’ve come to get you free.  You’ll take me with you, won’t you?”

“Of course; what a question to ask!  But how can you free us?”

“I’ve got a knife here.  I’ll cut those ropes in a minute.”

“But the guard outside?”

“I’ve fixed him.  Was it very wrong of me?  While Mother Beppo wasn’t looking I put some of the stuff in that coffee I brought him.”

[Illustration:  “I’d do anything for you.” said the child, as she rapidly cut the ropes.]

“Well, upon my word, Wren!  What sort of stuff?” gasped Jimsy.

“Oh, some sort of brown stuff.  I’ve seen Mother Beppo smoke it.  It makes her oh so sleepy.  So I gave some to him and he’s sound asleep now.”

“Must have been opium,” declared Roy.  “Wren, do you know that you are a very bad young lady?”

“I’d do anything for you.  You’re so good and kind to me,” said the child, as she rapidly cut the ropes.

For a time the boys, after being freed, just lay there, unable to move.  But after a while circulation set in and they began to move their limbs.  In half an hour the trio crept out of the tent and, crossing the “island,” traversed the trunk bridge.

“Wait a minute,” said Roy, when they reached the other side.

“What are you going to do?”

“Make that whole outfit prisoners till the officers of the law can get up here.”

He took a broken branch as a lever and with Jimsy’s assistance toppled the log down into the canon.

“Now I guess they’ll stay put for a while,” he said.

And they did.  That was why, when a posse came up to capture the band, they carried materials for building a bridge across the canon.  It may as well be said here that the band received heavy sentences, it being proved at their trial that they had made a practice of kidnapping children and then trying to collect ransoms for them.