The boys paused before the elevator, which seemed to be standing ready with the door open.  “Will she go in?” asked Abraham.

“I’m afraid not,” answered Joe.  “Well have to carry her downstairs.”  Sahwah shuddered.  Would she go down head first or feet first?  They carried her head first and she was dizzy with the rush of blood to her head before the two long flights were accomplished.  At the foot of the last flight they laid the statue down.  The hall was in total darkness.

“What are you doing?” asked the voice of Joe.  Abraham was apparently producing something from somewhere.  In a minute Joe was laughing.  “Good stunt,” he said approvingly.  “Where did you get them?”

“Swiped them out of Room 22, where all the stuff for the play is.”  Joe flashed a small pocket electric light and by its glimmer Sahwah could see him adjusting a false beard—­the one that was to be worn by the villain in the play.  Abraham was apparently disguising himself in a similar fashion.  This accomplished they picked up the statue again and carried it down the half flight of stairs to the back entrance of the school.  For some mysterious reason this door was open.  Just outside stood an automobile truck.  At the back of the school lay the wide athletic field, extending for several acres.  The nearest street was all of four blocks away.  In the darkness it was impossible to see across this stretch of space and distinguish the actions of the two conspirators in the event people should be passing along this street.  Even if the truck itself were seen that would cause no comment, for deliveries were constantly being made at the rear entrance of the school.

The statue was lifted into the truck, covered with a piece of canvas, and Joe and Abraham sprang to the driver’s seat and started the machine.  Sahwah very nearly suffocated under that canvas.  Fortunately the ride was a short one.  In about seven or eight minutes she felt the bump as they turned into a driveway, and then the truck came to a stop.  The boys jumped down from the seat, opened a door which slid back with a scraping noise like a barn door and then lifted the statue from the truck and carried it into a building.  From the light of their pocket flashes Sahwah could make out that she was in a barn, which was evidently unused.  It was entirely empty.  Setting the statue in a corner, the boys went out, closing the door after them.  Sahwah was left in total darkness, and in a ten times worse position than she had been in before.  On the stage at school there was some hope of the statue’s being opened eventually, but here she could remain for weeks before being discovered.  Sahwah began to wonder just how long she could hold out before she starved.  She was hungry already.