ON PINE ISLAND AGAIN.
"Joe, what do you think this means?" asked Fred, as soon as the three
masked persons were out of hearing.
"It's a riddle to me, Fred. One thing is certain, they mean to keep us
prisoners."
"It doesn't look as if they did it in order to rob us," went on the
stout youth.
"I've been studying the thing over and I rather think the big fellow of
the crowd is Dan Marcy."
"I thought his voice sounded something like Marcy's myself. What of the
others?"
"I've been thinking one might be Si Voup. But he disguises his voice
pretty well--if it is Voup."
"Julius Cæsar!" cried Fred. "I wonder if such a thing could be
possible? What a plan to trip us up!"
"What are you talking about?"
"If one of that crowd is Si Voup it is more than likely they kidnapped
us so that we wouldn't be able to play that game of ball to-morrow."
At this statement the captain of the Lakeports grew more interested
than ever.
"I wonder if they really would resort to such a trick," he mused. "It
hardly seems possible. There isn't enough in it."
"I don't know about that. Remember, Si and his friends have been
betting pretty heavily on the result."
"That is true, and come to think of it he was very particular to have
it understood that the game must come off exactly at the appointed
time."
"It's a contemptible trick!" sniffed Fred. "When they come back I am
going to give them a piece of my mind."
"No, don't do that, for it may only get us into worse trouble. Act as
if you thought they were tramps. That will throw them more off their
guard than ever."
"If it's one of Si Voup's tricks he must have hired Dan Marcy to help
him."
"I guess Marcy was only too willing to help--to get square for what we
have done in the past against him. Another thing, Marcy may have money
on the game, too. I've heard that he often bets at race tracks and
other places."
By this time the three masked fellows were coming back and Joe and Fred
changed the subject.
"I suppose you brought us here to rob us," said Joe, boldly. "Well, you
won't get much out of me, for I haven't much with me."
"I've got forty cents and a broken watch with me," declared Fred.
"We ain't going to rob you, so you needn't git scared," said the big
fellow of the party.
"I suppose you brought us here for our health," said Fred,
sarcastically. "Very kind of you, I must say."
"If you talk like that, I'll switch you!" came from one of the others.
None of the masked fellows would say more. They busied themselves with
making the bonds which tied the boys to the tree roots more secure.
"Now we are going off for a little while," said the big fellow.
"Going to leave us here alone?" queried Joe.
"For awhile, yes."
"It isn't fair. Supposing some wild animal comes this way?"
"We won't be far off, and no animal is coming to hurt you, so you
needn't get scared."
With this remark, the masked fellows withdrew again, and Joe and Fred
heard them leave the gully altogether.
"It was Marcy as sure as fate!" declared Joe when they were alone.
"Yes, and I am pretty sure one of the others was Si Voup. But the third
fellow stumps me."
"Perhaps it is the new player Si got in Kyle Fenton's place--the chap
named Ike Boardman."
"Come to think of it, the voice did sound like Boardman's."
The time passed slowly, and as noon drew near both of the boys began to
feel hungry. They tried to loosen their bonds, but the cords only cut
deeper into their flesh.
"Perhaps we are to be starved out," said Fred.
It was not until two o'clock that the tallest of the masked fellows
came back, carrying a tin pail and a small square basket. In the basket
he had some sandwiches, crackers and cheese, and in the pail some
drinking water.
"Can't give you any course dinner," he said, roughly. "But I reckon
it's about as good as you deserve."
Putting down his pail and basket, he untied one hand of each boy, so
that he might help himself. The meal was a scant one, but everything
tasted good and they ate with a relish.
"How long do you expect us to remain standing up?" asked Fred, who was
growing tired.
"I'll 'tend to that, don't worry. Here, if you want some water now is
your chance for a drink. You can each have a cupful."
Both were thirsty and each took the cupful of water readily.
"Let me have some more, please?" pleaded Fred.
"Not now. It's too much bother to bring the stuff such a distance. You
can have another cupful at supper time," was the short answer.
As it was useless to argue, the two prisoners did not attempt to do
so. They waited to see what would be the next movement of their masked
captor. They saw him withdraw to a distance, and presently begin to
smoke a pipe through a small hole in the head covering he still wore.
"Say, I'm getting sleepy," declared Fred, quarter of an hour later.
"Well, I'm sleepy myself," answered Joe. He gave a long yawn. "It seems
to be coming on me all at once."
"That's the way with me." Fred also yawned. "Oh, dear, this is fierce!
Wonder what makes it?"
In ten minutes more both of the boys found it impossible to keep their
eyes open. They stretched themselves and shook their heads, but all to
no purpose.
"Fred, I believe we have been drugged!" murmured Joe at last.
"Drugged?"
"Yes. There was something in the eating or in that drinking water meant
to put us to sleep."
"The ras--rascals!" Fred yawned again. "I never--never--thought that
any--anybody----" And then his eyes closed and he sank into a stupor. A
moment later Joe went to sleep likewise, breathing heavily and with his
head hanging on his breast.
"Thought that would do the work," said the masked fellow to himself.
"Now it will be dead easy to keep them here until to-morrow night."
He approached both boys and examined each, to make certain that he was
not shamming. Then he cut their bonds and allowed them to slip down on
the ground. This done he hurried away, to return half an hour later
with several blankets.
"I'll have to watch 'em until morning, I reckon," the masked fellow
told himself. "Then, if they are still asleep, they can look after
themselves." Thus musing, he placed them on one blanket and covered
them with the other.
When Joe awoke it was with a dull feeling in his head which was far
from pleasant. He had been dreaming that he was far underground and
that all sorts of things were pressing upon him and that he could not
throw them off. His mouth was parched and his eyeballs ached as they
had never ached before.
"Oh, dear!" he murmured. "Oh, dear!" And then he tried to sit up, only
to fall back again. "Harry!" He fancied he might be at home in bed with
his brother beside him.
There was no answer to his call, and some minutes later he sat up
again. This time he opened his eyes long enough to stare around him. He
was on the ground, with a blanket partly over and partly under him. The
place was new to him, showing that he had been moved while he slept.
"Where in the world am I?" was the next question he asked himself.
"Where am I, and how did I get here?"
It was a good half hour before he could collect his scattered senses,
and then he remembered how he had gone to sleep in the gully. He was
now in the midst of some brushwood and a clump of tall pines. His
ankles were bound together and his hands were crossed in front of him
and also secured.
"Fred!" he called out. "Fred! Where are you?"
There was no answer, and now with an effort he struggled to his feet.
But he was still too dizzy to stand and he had to hold on to the bushes
for support.
"Fred must be somewheres around," he reasoned. "Unless they carried
him off and left me here all alone. Oh, my head!" And then he sat down
again.
But fortunately the weakness and dizziness did not last, and inside
of half an hour his brain was as clear as ever. He gazed thoughtfully
at the rope which bound his hands together in front of him. Then he
began to chew on the rope with his teeth and finally got it loose. To
liberate his ankles was his next move, and then he cut himself a heavy
stick with his jackknife.
"Now let those chaps come near me again and I'll give them something
they won't relish," he told himself.
For some time he did not know which way to turn. He noticed that the
sun was fairly high in the heavens and he wondered what time it could
be. His watch had stopped.
"I'd like to know if it is Friday afternoon or Saturday morning," he
muttered. "What a situation to be in! How am I to get back to Lakeport?
I'll never be able to get back in time to play that game!" And the
latter thought made him fairly groan.