nt anchorage almost anywhere close in!

I listened again. The sound of the rattling row-lock ceased and I
heard the grinding of a boat's bottom on the gravel somewhere in the
vicinity of Jake's cove.

I stood in indecision for some minutes, then I decided that I would
find out what these men were up to. I put on my clothes without haste,
picked up a broken axe-handle that lay near the doorway and started
noiselessly down the back path in the direction of Meaghan's shack,
reaching there about half an hour after I had first detected the boat.
When I came to the clearing, I saw a light in the cabin. As I drew
closer, I heard the sound of hoarse voices. Stepping cautiously, I
went up to the window and peered through.

I saw four strange men there. The lower parts of their faces were
masked by handkerchiefs in real highwaymen fashion.

With a dirty neckcloth stuffed into his mouth, old Jake was sitting on
a chair and tied securely to it by ropes. Mike, his faithful old dog,
was lying at his feet in a puddle of blood.

The liquor keg in the corner had been broached, and I could see that,
already, the men had been drinking. Jake's brass-bound chest had been
dragged to the middle of the floor and the man who appeared to be the
leader of the gang was sitting astride of it, with a cup of liquor in
his hand, laughing boisterously.

My anger rose furiously.

"The low skunks," I growled, gripping my improvised club as I tip-toed
quietly to the door, hoping to rush in, injure some of them and
stampede the others before they would know by how many they were being
attacked.

I was gently turning the handle, when something crashed down on my
head. I stumbled into the shack, sprawled upon the floor, strange
voices sang in my ears and everything became blurred.

It could have been only a few minutes later when I revived. I was in
Jake's cabin, and was trussed with ropes, hands and feet, to one of the
wooden uprights of the old Klondiker's home-made bed. I could feel
something warm, oozy and clammy, making its way from my hair, down the
back of my neck.

I opened my eyes wide, and reason enough came to me to close them
quickly again. Then I opened them once more, cautiously and narrowly.

Five strange men were now in the cabin, which was cloudy with tobacco
smoke. The carousal had increased rather than otherwise. The men were
gathered round Jake, laughing and cursing in wild derision. They were
not interested in