, they ordered Bill to see that his bonds were tight
and then to put him in the "inner room" he had spoken of. Bill gave the
ropes a savage yank, found they were tight and then led Jack to a green
door at the farther end of the large room. Jack had a glimpse of a
square room with a broad fireplace at one end and a small window. It
appeared to be used as a storehouse of some kind, for it was half filled
with bags, apparently containing potatoes. In one corner stood a
grindstone operated by a treadle. Then the door was shut with a bang,
and he was left to his own, none-too-pleasant reflections. Outside he
could hear the buzz of voices. But he couldn't catch much of what was
being said. Once he heard Jarrow say:

"You're too soft with the boy. A good lashing with a black-snake would
bring him to his senses quick enough."

"I'd like to lay it on," he heard Donald chime in.

At last they appeared to grow sleepy. Jack heard a key turned in the
lock of the inner room that he occupied and not long thereafter came the
sound of snores. Evidently nobody was on guard, the men who had captured
him thinking that there was no chance of the boy's escape.

"Now's my chance," thought Jack. "If only I could get my hands free, I
might be able to do something. But, as it is, I'm helpless."

His heart sank once more, as he thought bitterly of the predicament into
which his own foolhardiness had drawn him.

CHAPTER XV.

BILLY TAKES THE TRAIL.

"What's the matter?"

Just as Jack stole out of the house Billy Raynor sat bolt upright in bed
and asked himself that question. He was on the other side of the
cottage, and, like Jack a few minutes before, he too heard the cautious
footsteps of the marauders, as they crept round the cottage,
reconnoitering.

"Somebody's up to mischief," thought the boy. "It may only be common
thieves, or it may be that rascally outfit. I'll go and rouse Jack.
Perhaps we can get after them."

He tiptoed across the main room of the cottage to Jack's door. Inside
the room he struck a match. He almost cried out aloud when he saw that
the bed was empty and that there was no sign of his chum.

"Where can he be?" thought the lad. "Surely he has not gone after that
gang single-handed."

Raynor hastened to his own room, slipped on some clothes, and went to
the door. Far up on the hillside a lantern was twinkling like some
fallen star.

"That's mighty odd," reflected the lad. "I guess I'll take a look up