s to the other man, he will not reply, nor will he come to your
assistance. He is gagged and tied, and into the bargain may become at
any time the victim of wild beasts."

The moment she had said it, Tish realized that it was but too true, and
she grew thoughtful. Aggie, too, was far from comfortable. She said
later that she was uncertain what to do. Tish had said to fire if they
whistled again. The question in her mind was, had it been said purely
for effect or did Tish mean it? After all, the men were not real
bandits, she reflected, although guilty of theft, even if only for
advertising purposes. She was greatly disturbed, and as agitation always
causes a return of her hay fever, she began to sneeze violently.

Until then the men had been quiet, if furious. But now they fell into
abject terror, imploring Tish, whom they easily recognized as the
leader, to take the revolvers from her.

But Tish only said: "No fatalities, Aggie, please. Point at an arm or a
leg until the spasm subsides."

Her tone was quite gentle.

Heretofore this has been a plain narrative, dull, I fear, in many
places. But I come now to a not unexciting incident--which for a time
placed Tish and myself in an unpleasant position.

I refer to the escape of the man we had tied.

We held a brief discussion as to what to do with our prisoners until
morning, a discussion which Tish solved with her usual celerity by
cutting from the saddles which lay round the fire a number of those
leather thongs with which such saddles are adorned and which are used in
case of necessity to strap various articles to the aforesaid saddles.

With these thongs we tied them, not uncomfortably, but firmly, their
hands behind them and their feet fastened together. Then, as the night
grew cold, Tish suggested that we shove them near the fire, which we
did.

The young lady, however, offered a more difficult problem. We
compromised by giving her her freedom, but arranging for one of our
number to keep her covered with a revolver.

"You needn't be so thoughtful," she said angrily, and with a total lack
of appreciation of Tish's considerate attitude. "I'd rather be tied,
especially if the Moslem with the hay fever is going to hold the gun."

It was at that moment that we heard a whistle from across the stream,
and each of the prostrate men raised his head eagerly. Before Tish could
interfere one of them had whistled three times sharply, probably a
danger signal.

With