ne to come down the stairs?" demanded Captain Coonly.

"Then I shall interpret your reply to mean that you prefer to fight out
this matter."

"But you have us"--

"I have you, and I propose to keep you. No more talk! Come down-stairs,
Captain Coonly, or I will order my men to fire!"

The leader of the marauders hesitated, and then took a single step in
the descent; he halted there.

"I only want to say"--

"Say nothing more! Come down, or you are a dead man in another second!"
added Deck, still calm and resolute.

[Illustration: "COME DOWN, OR YOU ARE A DEAD MAN." _Page 64._]

"Go down, Cap!" said several of his followers as they retired from the
dangerous locality at the head of the stairs.

The captain did not hesitate any longer, but descended the steps very
slowly, as though he was marching at his own funeral.

"Win, bring all the cords and straps you can find. We shall want a lot
of them," said Deck in a low tone to the guide. "Bugler, go with him
and help him bring them."

"This is not fair play," said the captain as he landed in the hall.

"No more talk!"

"What are you going to do with me?" demanded Coonly.

"You are my prisoner, and I intend to secure you properly. Give me your
sword and pistols."

"I'll see you in"--

"Life!" called Deck, as he saw the stalwart sergeant near the front
door.

"Here, Leftenant!" replied Life as he strode into the hall and made the
military salute to his officer.

"Disarm this man!" said Deck, pointing to the ruffian leader.

The tall sergeant seized Coonly by the collar of his coat with his left
hand, held him out as though he had been a small boy, unbuckled his
sword-belt, and took two revolvers from his pockets with his right. The
captain was a middling-sized man, and he struggled in the gripe of the
powerful Kentuckian; but he might as well have attempted to resist
Hercules himself.

"Now bind his arms behind him," continued Deck.

"I protest, Lieutenant, against this brutal treatment!" stormed the
prisoner in a loud voice.

"All right; protest as much as you please, but don't make too much
noise about it, or I shall be obliged to have you gagged."

This hint quieted him; and with the aid of the bugler he was secured as
the officer had ordered.

CHAPTER V

LIEUTENANT LYON ENCOUNTERS ANOTHER ENEMY

Surrounded by double their own number of soldiers, armed with the best
weapons, the marauders imprisoned in the upper story of the mansion