o be in such a fix."

At this point the Grammar School boys came out on the highway.

"Better each put a few stones in your pockets, fellows," advised Dick
Prescott, stooping. "If we should meet any one we don't want to meet,
stones might not prove such bad ammunition. Now, Greg, start in and tell
us what happened."

"You know that big clump of bushes near the landing at Payson's?" asked
young Holmes.

"Yes."

"Well, Saturday afternoon I landed, tied the canoe and then, with a
gunny sack on my arm, started toward the orchard. Just as I was going by
the bushes I heard a little noise. Before I could turn I was thrown
flat. Then a man was on top of me, holding my nose ground into the
dirt."

"Dexter? Driggs?" questioned Prescott.

"I couldn't see who it was. Next thing my own gunny sack was forced over
my head. I could feel, now, that there were two men working over me.
Then my hands were yanked behind me and tied. Next my feet. I forgot to
say that when I was thrown I was hurled in among the bushes. Well, after
I had been bound a dark cloth of some kind was passed around the sack
over my eyes."

"Didn't you holler?" asked Dan, his mouth wide open.

"Yes. While the cloth was being tied tight I thought it was time to
start in to yell. At the first sound a pair of hands gripped me around
the throat. Whee! I thought I was being hanged, certainly! I must have
been black in the face when that scoundrel let up on choking me. Well, I
took the choking as a hint that I wasn't expected to make any noise.
After that I was thrown on my back, but I couldn't see anything. One
man, who had rather soft hands----"

"Dexter," guessed Dick.

"Most likely. Well, he sat with one hand across my throat, and I didn't
think it was my time to yell, so I lay quiet. After a while I heard a
wagon coming along. Then I was lifted into the wagon and a lot of old
sacking was thrown over the whole length of my body. I guess it was the
same sacking that you found me lying on in the cave. Then the wagon
started and I had a long ride. At last we branched off into what I guess
was a sort of bridle path. Not so very long after the wagon stopped and
I was lifted down to my feet. I walked a little way, guided by one of
the men, and then they lifted me up and carried me. Then I felt them
poking me through that tunnel. After that I saw some kind of a light,
dimly, through the cloths over my head, and then I was thrown down where
you found me. The lig