ht complexion and blue
eyes; and, though good-natured and hard to arouse, when once in earnest,
as now, like all men of his stamp, he both looked, and was, fully
capable of carrying his menaces into execution. The imprisoned
functionary did not at all like the expression of his eye, he quailed
before it in fear and shame. He was, however, resolved not to yield,
except upon the greatest extremity.

"Come," said Grayson, producing materials for writing; "here are pen,
ink, and paper: are you willing to write as I dictate?"

"No," said Driscol, doggedly.

"We'll see if I can't make you willing, then," muttered his captor; and,
going to the other end of the cabin, he took down a coil of rope, which
hung upon a peg, and returned to his captive. Forming a noose at one
end, he placed it about Driscol's neck, and threw the other end over a
beam which supported the roof.

"Are you going to murder me?" demanded the official in alarm.

"Yes," answered Grayson, drawing the loose end down, and tightening the
noose about Driscol's throat.

"You'll suffer for this," said the lieutenant furiously.

"That won't help _you_ much," coolly replied Grayson, tugging at the
rope, until one leg of the chair gave signs of rising from the floor,
and Driscol's face exhibited unmistakable symptoms of incipient
strangulation.

"Stop! stop!" he exclaimed, in a voice reduced to a mere wheeze--and
Grayson "eased off" to hear him.

"Won't anything else satisfy you but a written certificate?" he
asked--speaking with difficulty, and making motions as if endeavoring to
swallow something too large to pass the gate of his throat.

"Nothing but that," answered Grayson, decidedly; "and if you don't give
it to me, when your regulator friends arrive, instead of me, they will
find you, swinging from this beam by the neck!" And, seeing his victim
hesitate, he again tugged at the rope, until the same signs were
exhibited as before--only a little more apparently.

"Ho--hold, Grayson!" begged the frightened and strangling lieutenant;
and, as his executioner again relaxed a little, he continued: "Just let
me up, and I'll do anything you want."

"That is to say," laughed Grayson, "you would rather take the chances of
a fight, than be hung up like a sheep-stealing dog! Let you up, indeed!"
And once more he dragged the rope down more vigorously than ever.

"I--didn't--mean that--indeed!" gulped the unhappy official, this time
almost strangled in earnest.