"

Tom involuntarily increased his pace when he thought how pleasant a
sight it would be to his eyes to see his tormentor bound hand and foot,
and powerless to reply to his taunts, or to resist him if he concluded
to punish him for what he had done, and when he reached the store he
pushed the door open and entered without hesitation. He came to a
stand-still, however, before he had fairly crossed the threshold, and
his heart seemed to stop beating when his ear caught the sound of a
light foot-step. Tom was almost on the point of turning and running for
his life, but the remembrance of his "splendid idea," which he was on
the very eve of carrying into execution, restrained him. He listened,
but the sound was not repeated, and, calling all his courage to his aid,
he walked boldly across the store. As he passed his hands over the
counter they came in contact with the lantern, which blazed up when he
opened the slide. He turned the bull's eye toward every corner of the
store, almost expecting to see somebody advancing upon him, and he drew
a long breath of relief when he found that he was alone. Having
satisfied himself on this point, he glanced at the safe, emptied the
contents of the match box into his pocket, and then started toward the
office to look at Johnny Harding. As he approached the door, he was
surprised to see that the bed was empty. There lay the rope with which
Johnny had been confined, and the towel that had been used as a gag, but
Johnny himself was nowhere to be seen.

"This is very strange," thought Tom. "I understood the governor to say
that he was tied, hand and foot, to his bed."

Tom advanced one more step, which brought him just inside the door of
the office. He regretted, an instant afterward, that he had taken that
step, for, as he stood bending forward, holding the lantern aloft, and
looking toward the bed to assure himself that Johnny was really not
there, a pair of strong arms were suddenly thrown around his neck, his
heels flew up, and Tom found himself prostrate on the floor.

Although Johnny Harding stood as much in fear of bodily harm as any
body, he determined, in spite of the robbers' threats, that he would not
remain a passive prisoner. Even while the burglar was tying him, and his
companion was holding the revolver to his head, the clerk's brain was
busy with thoughts of escape. He was not foolish enough to imagine that
he could cope with two grown men, even under the most favorable