hat he did not attempt to go beyond Dorothy's orders.

"Steady, Cricket!" she said softly. "Now young man," to her prisoner,
"I am going to do something very original. I am going to tie you to
that pretty tree."

"You are not!" he yelled, but she had her whip in her hand and she
raised it threateningly.

"I don't want to strike you," she said, "but you know prisoners must
obey. Just step over there a foot or two!"

There was such authority in her voice that the boy looked up
frightened.

"Don't hit me," he pleaded, "and I'll go!"

This was more than Dorothy expected, and as the lad moved to obey, she
raised, with her foot, the rope he had dropped with his disguise, and
grasped it in her hand with the riding crop.

"You see school girls learn a lot about 'team work,'" she said. "We
have to do it in all sorts of games."

"What are you going to do with me?" asked the boy, who actually seemed
more interested than frightened.

"Well, first I am going to make you secure. See, I just slip this rope
around you--you had it all ready with that slip knot," and she put it
over his head before he had a chance to protest. It fell over his
hands, and she pulled the cord tight. Then, as he was standing near
the tree, she dropped the rope to his feet, gave it a jerk, and
springing around the tree she had him secure with two turns of the
hemp, and a knot made after the style of one Nat had showed her how to
fashion.

The boy burst out laughing.

"You're all right!" he declared. "You beat me! Where did you learn?"

"Oh, I often played bandit with my brothers, but never with a stranger
before. Aren't you afraid? Don't you want to say your prayers?"

"I've forgotten them," he said with a smile. "Guess I forgot them when
I started in at this--the two don't hitch."

"Not exactly," and Dorothy was fixing the rope more tightly. "But you
did know some once. I can tell."

"How?" he asked.

"Because you don't swear. Didn't even when you cut your hand. How is
it?"

"Sore," he replied. "Please don't pass the rope over the bandage."

"I won't," answered Dorothy with some tenderness.

The humor of the situation was apparent to both of them.

Dorothy, however, was determined not to relent, she would hold him a
prisoner, she decided, until she found the boys. They would know best
what to do. Certainly such a desperado was unsafe to be at large.

"Are you going to make the fire now?" he asked, in a mocking tone.

"No, I am ju