he farmer bent lower, and thrust his lantern so that its light would
fall upon the face of the boy. Immediately he uttered a grunt, for it was
plain that he had recognized his captive.

"So, it's ye, is it, Paul Morrison? This is some surprise, seein' as
ye're the last boy I'd expect to be up ter sech meanness. What d'ye think
yer father'll say w'en he hears 'bout this?"

"I guess he'll laugh, and say it was about the cutest trick ever played
on you, Mr. Growdy," came the immediate answer; "but please get me down
from this. Perhaps the blood will all run to my head. Tie my hands if you
want, and fix it so I can't run away; but I couldn't stand this long."

"So ye think yer father'd larf, do ye? I never wud 'a' b'lieved Doctor
Morrison was the kind o' man to encourage practical jokes on anybody,"
grumbled the old man, plainly at a loss to understand what was meant.

"Well, he isn't, and I'd be sorry to have him know I was guilty of such
a thing. But you're barking up the wrong tree, Mr. Growdy, I give you my
word we none of us had any trick in mind when we came here to-night."

"Then what took you in my dooryard here; for I heard a pack runnin' away
when I kim out of the house? Tell me that, Paul," insisted the farmer;
but the hand that held that cruel looking whip had fallen to his side,
which was a good sign.

"I'll be only too glad to do so if you let me up. Tie my hands, my legs
too if you want, sir; but I'm getting dizzy from having my head below
my heels."

Peleg stooped still closer. He again held the lantern down so that he
could look into the face of his prisoner; after which he did something
that Paul had hardly expected--bent over, seized the rope connected with
the laden hogshead, and pulling hard succeeded in casting the loop that
had just encircled Paul's ankles, over a post of the fence.

"Get up, Paul!" he said, grimly, yet with a flicker of curiosity in his
wrinkled face; as though a dim suspicion that there might be something
out of the ordinary back of this, had begun to take possession of his
mind.

Paul regained his feet, a little wobbly to be sure, for he had
experienced a bad fall, and his head felt rather tender where it had
come in contact with the hard ground.

"Thank you, Mr. Growdy. And now I'm going to tell you something. Perhaps
you will find it hard to believe me, and again you may not just
appreciate our way of taking matters in our own hands, when the request
of the women of St