n Paul darted forward, reached under the
counter and felt an object that at once electrified the boy.

"Let's pull it out, Phil!" he urged. "It may be--"

Aided by Phil, Paul dragged forth a bound form, tied hand and foot with
improvised shreds of cloth, the mouth tightly gagged with a couple of
kerchiefs--in a word, Billy!

"Why, Billy, you poor boy!" exclaimed Phil, whipping out his knife and
in another minute releasing the cords that bound him and cutting loose
the cruel gag that had been so tightly forced into the lad's mouth that
the corners of his lips were bleeding.

They bore him out of the porch to a grassy place, where with a sudden
wriggle Billy sat upright, twisted his neck about, gulped a time or two,
then stared at his comrades as if astonished.

"D-didn't you hear me holler?" he asked. "But of course you didn't.
Before I was half awake they had me down out of that car trying to gag
and bind me."

"Who, Billy? Just what do you mean?"

"I mean those two chaps that caught me fast asleep under Paul's rug on
the back seat, taking forty winks when I ought to have kept wide awake."

"Two men?" Instantly Phil's thoughts ran back to the two strangers they
had seen at Feeney's who seemed so anxious to get away as soon as the
boys arrived with Nan.

"Would you know them if you saw them? Were they the two strangers we saw
at Feeney's? Think hard, Billy!"

"Confound 'em--they had on handkerchiefs that covered their faces, so I
could hardly tell. I didn't get more'n a glimpse or two along at first.
Then they pulled something over my head after gagging me so tight it
hurt. My mouth is sore now." Billy dubiously fingered the corners of his
mouth. "One thing I'm sure of. One of the men we saw at Feeney's had on
a visored gray cap and gray clothes. The other wore something darker. I
feel sure the gray-clad man was one of 'em. Of course I never got half a
glimpse of their faces."

"Recognize these handkerchiefs?" asked Phil, showing the ones used in
binding and gagging. "Two of 'em are bandanas: the others of a soiled,
nondescript variety that might have belonged to tramps of any sort."

By this time Billy was more himself, being pretty well recovered from
his recent manhandling. He was the first to think again of the Big Six.

"I'm all right now, fellows. Let's see what went with the car. They
stopped with me some distance from this old rookery. Gosh! If it wasn't
for the car, I'd like to take a look around!