e said, wrinkling his face
into an ugly smile. "I have a very particular engagement about twenty
miles from here, and it was my first intention to start away this
morning. But seein' as the rain is still coming down I have changed my
mind and will give you the pleasure of my company fur a few hours
longer.

"The fact is I've taken quite a fancy to you chaps--quite a decided
fancy. There's one young gentleman in your party I'm 'specially anxious
to see. I've had a cherished memento of him fur the last ten days, and
it's quite a load on my mind because I haven't given him anything in
return. It keeps me from sleepin' sound at nights."

Here Mr. Moxley threw out his right leg, and turned the trousers up a
few inches, revealing half a dozen red scars on his ankle.

"That's the memento I speak of," he said. "It's a purty one, isn't it?"

There was a breathless pause. The boys turned pale before the ferocious
glance of the scoundrel. The mystery was clear as daylight now.

Their captor was none other than Bug Batters's desperate companion. From
sheer love of revenge he must have been tracking the Jolly Rovers ever
since that momentous night nearly two weeks previous.

Moxley gloated over the consternation and the dread that were depicted
on the faces of his prisoners. He did not speak for a moment, but gazed
at the boys with a cruel smile that was more terrible than a
manifestation of anger.

"Well," he said finally, "I reckon you know who I am by this time. I'll
give you just five minutes to point out the lad who peppered me with
salt. If you're sensible chaps you'll do it without hesitation. If you
try to make a fool out of me I'll serve you all the same way I intend to
serve him. I'm a fair minded man, and don't want to punish the innocent
with the guilty if I kin help it."

The boys looked at one another without speaking. If Randy was a shade
paler than the others it escaped the notice of Mr. Moxley, although he
was scanning all the faces intently, with a view to picking out the
guilty one by his own powers of perception.

"The allotted time is slipping away," he said grimly. "The right party
had better speak up quick. Oh! you needn't look out of the windows. No
one comes near this place in the summer, and there ain't a house within
three quarters of a mile. I've got you right in my power, and there
ain't no hope of escape."

"I hardly think you will get the information you want," said Ned in a
firm but husky