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.She'd eat that, but not until Moss left.Eating in front of her captors would be like showing some kind of weakness.Her mama wouldn't approve of that.And Papa would want her to be brave.After all, she was a pirate's daughter."Go away," Minnie told the man.He shrugged, made a face at her, and left.Minnie waited until the key turned in the heavy door's lock before she did anything else.First she ate the porridge.Then she looked around her prison.She had to get out of here.She thought she knew how.The window was high and narrow, but she thought she could squeeze through it.She'd have to pile a chair on top of the table to reach it.There were sheets on the bed, and she found clothes in a tall old chest.She was a long way up, but she would only need to make a rope long enough to reach a window on one of the floors below.She should be able to sneak right out the front door.She could do it.It wouldn't be that difficult.She just wished it wasn't raining so hard outside.It was going to be wet and the wall might be a little slippery, but Minnie knew she couldn't let that stop her.Chapter 30There had been some loud discussion between the two of them about Sherrie's accompanying the rescue party.He had not been in favor of it.It might be dangerous.He did not want to encourage her penchant for adventure.She had countered that Minnie would be frightened, and that having her mother with her as soon as possible would do the child worlds of good.He hadn't liked it, but he had conceded the sense of her argument."Fine," she said with a decisive nod, before she went to fetch herself a gun."I'll get back up on the pedestal for you after I've got my baby home.""See that you do," he demanded.Now here they were: himself, Sherrie, Ira, and MacQuarrie.Hawton and Dabney had been set to watch Summers' property and monitor the madman's movements.Jhou Xa had gone off to call upon the aid of Rhu Limpok.For now Jack had persuaded MacQuarrie not to call in any help from the police or the government.Summers did have an unknown number of followers in high places, perhaps even at the highest levels.Word could filter back to him from agents he had planted in the bureaucracy.Now here they were in the rain, hidden on the edge of woods that surrounded Colbey Castle.Jack wanted to make sure it was full dark before approaching it.They had left Jack's carriage back on the main road, slipped over a low wall and through a narrow band of trees to this spot on the Colbey estate.The small castle was a great neo-gothic mess that sprouted gargoyles and towers, turrets and crenellations.Colbey's owner was out of the country.His wife and daughters were well-known devotees of Summers.The castle loomed menacingly in the gloom, an ugly, tasteless blot upon the countryside.The only light showing from where they stood was a faint glow high up in a tower window about five stories above the ground."I don't like the looks of it," Sherrie said worriedly, as she paced in front of him."The house is so dark and sinister.""And very nearly empty, by the looks of it," Jack answered, trying not to be distracted by her nervous pacing."That isn't sinister, it's useful."Jack watched in wonder at her control.He'd been aware of the tension and fear growing in her as they got closer to their goal.He had feared an explosion, or hysterics that would hamper the rescue, seeing how tightly she controlled her emotions.He put his hands on her shoulders."You are a wonder and a marvel," he told her."Now, let's get to work, shall we?""Right," Ira agreed."Come on, MacQuarrie," the American said, "you and I can go around to the back, while Sherrie and his lordship take the front."Jack and Sherrie waited a few moments, then cut straight across the wet lawn toward the front of Colbey Castle.They hurried, but were carefully alert to the possibility that Summers had some of his followers patrolling the grounds.They saw no one on the lawn, or the gravel drive when they crossed it, but there were two men standing guard at the front door."Wait here," Jack said, after he and Sherrie slipped behind a statue of a pair of battling knights.He meant it.Much to his surprise, she nodded and stayed put.It took him but a few moments and several quick, skilled blows to render the men before the door unconscious."Don't worry, they won't be going anywhere for a few hours.We'll be long gone by then." He started toward the door."Come on."She followed, but a shout for help from the side of the house halted them before they reached it."Minnie!" Sherrie's answered her daughter's call and ran in the direction the shout, had come from.Jack ran after her toward the base of the tower that hulked over the side of the house."Minnie, where are you?" Sherrie called, after she followed her child's voice as far as a heavily carved door at the base of the tower."Here!"The wall around the door was of rough stone that rose windowless to an overhanging ledge dominated by statues of fierce winged monsters.Sherrie looked around frantically."Where?" Jack tugged on her sleeve and pointed up."Minerva May!"she called, once she caught sight of her dangling daughter in the illumination of a bolt of far-off lighting."Come down off that gargoyle right now.Do you hear me?"Jack turned on her angrily."Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask if she's all right?" he demanded in a fierce whisper.Thunder punctuated his annoyance."She wouldn't be yelling like that if she wasn't fine," Sherrie explained to the concerned father.Her heart was racing with terror, but she took a moment to explain patiently to Jack, "If I act angry, she won't be quite so scared.If I seem to be annoyed, she'll think that she can't be in too much danger.Understand?"Jack nodded, then looked appalled."You've done this before?"She nodded."Just before she fell out the window of the raja's palace.It wasn't the fall I was worried about that time, but I was scared she'd annoy the raja's pet tigers when she landed in their enclosure.And then—""Stop! I can't bear to hear any more." He looked up and called to Minnie."Don't move.""I can't.My foot's stuck.""Well, just hold on, then.I'll be right up to get you.""The tower door's locked," Sherrie said."I already tried it.I don't think the spot where she landed can be reached from anywhere else in the house.See the rope dangling from the window?""I see it.She must have climbed down as far as she could and then gotten stuck
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