The Salvation of Miss Lucretia. Ted Dunagan

to get up and stand on this chain so it’ll quit wiggling around on me. Soon as I get through this link, I’ll cut you loose. These chains are old and rusty, and it ain’t too hard to cut through ’em.”

      As I struggled to get up, I suddenly caught the smell of fresh-baked biscuits. My nose led my eyes to a big plate of them sitting within reach on the floor at our feet. There was another plate beside it with a Mason jar of blackberry jam and a spoon on it.

      Poudlum followed my eyes and said, “It was all here when I woke up. Don’t touch it or you’ll probably be back in the same shape as we was last night.”

      “What you think we ought to do when we get loose?”

      “I think we ought to hightail it out of here and get back to Mister Autrey’s house. Him and Mister Curvin will know what to do.”

      “But what about our dogs and our rifles?”

      “We got to let ’em go for right now and go get some help. We done bit off more than we can chew.”

      Poudlum was right, I surmised, and I stood up and put my foot on the chain to steady it so he could finish cutting it. But it was not to be, because at that moment the door burst open and a wild woman suddenly appeared before us.

      Chapter 5

      Miss Lucretia

      I was astounded and afraid at the same time because of her appearance and the suddenness of it. When the door slammed against the wall with a loud bang, there she was!

      On his knees looking up at her with his eyes as big as saucers, Poudlum froze with the hacksaw blade in mid-stroke. Me, I just about jumped out of my skin. I felt like I had hit both funny bones at the same time and was tingling all over.

      She wore a dress that looked like it had been made by sewing flour sacks together. The dress came down to her ankles. Below the hem of the dress she wore a pair of old brogans that had seen better days.

      Her hair was as wild as the wind and stuck out in all directions like thick, tangled barbed wire, the color of dark rust.

      Hung around her neck was a leather throng adorned with pieces of bones in varying sizes. The bones rattled with her every move.