ices. Mr. Bradby, however, passed that over and proceeded to the
business of the evening.

"Now please keep your hands in the same position," Mr. Bradby continued.
"You've got quite a lot of valuables in those saddle-bags of yours, and
I'm going to annex them. And don't any of you move a hand or foot or
you'll be shot before you can say 'Jack Robinson.' There's men in plenty
in among those trees, so don't play any hanky-panky tricks if you value
your lives."

The scared horsemen with one accord glanced toward the trees that
fringed the road. Mr. Bradby had stage-managed the affair with such
consummate skill that they could only see the dim forms of several
horses. The shadows were cast so that it was impossible to say how many
there were; as far as the captives were concerned a regiment of cavalry
might have been massed behind the trees for all they could say to the
contrary. They had a feeling that unseen eyes watched them and invisible
firearms covered their every movement. A solitary ray of moonlight,
glinting for an instant on one of Cumshaw's revolvers lent color to this
suggestion, so like wise men they surrendered to the inevitable and
allowed the explosive Mr. Bradby to relieve them first of all of their
weapons, and, when he had "drawn their teeth," as he succinctly
expressed it, to rifle their saddle-bags for the little packages of gold
that it was their mission to guard with their lives. Life at all times
is dearer than gold, and the men realised that they were in a trap from
which there was only one way of escape. They submitted meekly to their
fate, saw the saddle-bags rifled without a word of protest, and,
deceived by the shadows, watched what they took to be half a dozen men
at least loading up with the gold. It speaks well for the dominant
personality of Mr. Bradby that no one seemed to have suspected that only
two men were concerned in the hold-up, despite the fact that they really
only saw one man and the shadowy outline of another.

"Turn round, all of you!" Mr. Bradby commanded when the transfer had
been completed. "Turn round and keep your hands in the air!"

Obediently, albeit clumsily, since they could not use their hands, the
horsemen wheeled their mounts around, and Mr. Bradby surveyed the scene
with satisfaction.

"You all look nice from the rear," he remarked. "Some of you've got real
fine backs. Just you keep like that now and see what the fairies'll send
you."

So silently that he mig