im over the head
should he show fight. The attack had come in the dark, the gas lamp and
the lantern having been extinguished when the party from the
_Josephine_ drew close.

Merrick had prepared himself for his nefarious work, and in a twinkling
he had Dick's hands bound behind him and had a gag placed in the
youth's mouth. Then he had the lad bound fast to a nearby tree.

In the meantime Tom and Sam were sleeping soundly. The two brothers lay
each with a hand close to the other, and with caution Merrick and his
party tied the two hands together. Then they tied the lads' feet, so
that they could not run.

"What's the meaning of this?" cried Tom, struggling to rise, as did
Sam.

"It means you are prisoners!" cried Tad Sobber, who had had small part
in the operations, but who was ready to do all the "crowing" possible.

"Prisoners!" gasped Sam. "Where is Dick?" he added.

"Also a prisoner," said Tad, with a chuckle. "You thought you had
fooled us nicely, but I guess we have turned the tables on you."

"I suspected you Rovers," said Sid Merrick.

"Really!" answered Tom, sarcastically. "You acted it!"

"See here, don't you get funny, young man. Please remember you are in
our power."

"And we'll do some shooting, if we have to," added Tad, bombastically.

"Tad, I guess I can do the talking for this crowd," said his uncle.

"You were afraid of the ghosts, Tad," said Sam. "You must have run
about a mile!" And the youngest Rover grinned in spite of the
predicament he was in.

"You shut up!" roared Tad Sobber, and exhibited some of the brutality
that had made him so hated at Putnam Hall by raising his foot and
kicking Sam in the side.

"Stop!" cried the youngest Rover, in pain. "What a brute you are!"

"Leave my brother alone!" came from Tom. "A fine coward you are, to
kick him when he is a prisoner! You wouldn't dare to try it if he was
free."

"I wouldn't, eh? I want you to understand I'm not afraid of anybody,"
blustered Tad. "I am----"

"Tad, be quiet," cried his uncle. "I am fully capable of managing this
affair. Don't kick him again."

"Yes, but look here, Uncle Sid, they----"

"I will take care of things," cried Sid Merrick, and so sharply that
his nephew at once subsided. But on the sly he shook his fist at both
Tom and Sam.

"Maybe we had better make sure that nobody else is around," suggested
Shelley, who had been Merrick's best aide in the capture.

"All right, look around if you want to,"