nd him. Ned turned just
in time to see the figure of a man leaping upon him. The boy went
down under the crushing weight, the cry that rose to his lips smothered
by a stinging blow in the face.

Ned lost consciousness. Everything turned suddenly black about him.

CHAPTER IV

TAD BUTLER MAKES A DISCOVERY

Dusk was already settling over the mountains when Ned Butler fell
beneath the powerful onslaught of the mountaineer. Without an instant's
hesitation the fellow picked up the boy, starting down the side of
the galley with his burden. The man ran along carrying the lad as
easily as if he had been a child.

Reaching a secluded spot near the west fork the fellow put his burden
down, then built a little fire under a thick growth of pines, whose
tops served to break up the smoke and scatter it, thus greatly lessening
the chances of discovery.

It was a few minutes later that Ned regained consciousness. His captor,
watching him narrowly, had placed Ned against a tree, passed a piece
of rope about the boy's body, pinioning his arms to his sides,
securing the rope at the other side of the tree. Then the fellow
had squatted down with rifle across his knees.

Ned saw a powerfully-built, wiry man, whose lean face and deep-sunken
eyes created a most unfavorable impression. Even under more pleasing
circumstances this man would have caused Ned to give him a wide berth.
Discovering that he had been bound Ned's face flushed angrily. Even
then he did not realize that his position was a perilous one.

"You untie me and let me go, or it'll be the worse for you," threatened
Rector.

"I reckon I've got you this time," grinned the mountaineer.

"I know you. You're the fellow who has been shooting at us. You will
get what is coming to you when my friends find out what you have done
to me. What do you think I am anyway?"

"That's what I reckoned to find out," answered the man. "Who be you?"

"That's what I am asking you."

"I reckon I ain't answering fool questions."

"Why did you shoot at us?"

"Did I?"

"You know you did."
z
"What's your name?" asked the mountaineer, evading the question.

"My name is Rector---Ned Rector."

"Where you from?"

"Missouri."

"What you doing here?"

"Maybe I am traveling for my health," answered Ned with a half sneer.
He was not advancing his own cause by his attitude.

"I reckon you'll answer my questions and without putting on any
trimmings either," announced