as he fled.

It was Joshua Owen, aided by his bullying nephew, Dan Jaggers, who had
made this sudden, treacherous assault. That both were well prepared for
the miserable trick was shown by the speed with which they tied the
hands of the helpless boys behind them.

"Now, bring _your_ prize along," directed Owen, jubilantly, as he picked
up Hal Hastings, bearing that youth on his shoulder.

Jaggers, though not a giant, was strong enough to do the same with Jack
Benson. Further and further into the thicket they bore their captives,
pausing only once, to gag their charges as soon as the latter showed a
disposition to yell.

At last the rascally pair halted in the depths of the woods, dumping
their human burdens on the ground.

"You're not the lightest thing I ever carried," growled Josh Owen,
panting somewhat, as he reached for his pipe and filled it.

"Now!" clicked Dan Jaggers, shaking a dirty, heavy fist over Jack's face.
"I can pay you back for that black eye, and all the other mean things
you done to me, you sneak!"

"Oh, we'll pay ye both back," gritted Owen, lighting his pipe and puffing.
"An' say! I hear ye're both slated for the launchin' of the 'Pollard'
to-morrow, and that ye're to have a try as members of the crew. Well,
ye won't be at the launching! Take it from me that, if ye ever git back
to Dunhaven, 'twon't be for many a day yet. We've got a fine place to
hide ye, near here. Nobody'll ever find ye, even if they take the
trouble t'look. And, as the days go by, Dan and me will take plenty of
chance t'show ye just how we feel about ye. We'll pay ye back, with
loads of interest, younkers, for the mean things ye've done to us!"

As if to emphasize his spite, Owen gave each of them a kick as he stood
over the boys, glaring down at them.

In the minds of Jack and Hal, torment was raging. Ordinarily, it would
have been bad enough to be certain of missing the launching of the
submarine boat, and of possibly losing their places in the crew. But
now, a far greater terror assailed them. They had collected the eight
hundred dollars. If they failed to appear and to turn it over, Jacob
Farnum would have the best reason in the world for believing them
defaulters.

"Wondering what I'm going to do t'ye, to square matters, ain't ye?"
demanded Dan Jaggers, bending over and glaring into Jack's eyes. "Well,
go on guessin'. My hate's that great that I'm goin' ter take plenty o'
time to think it over 'f