"Don't care if I do," returned the boy, with equal coolness, "but in order for me to be thoroughly comfortable, it will be necessary for me to have my hands free."
"Sorry I can't accommodate ye just now, but I want to have a talk with yer first. Set down."
Frank obeyed.
"Well," he observed, "I suppose I might as well, as long as I do not seem to have much to say about it; but I'd like to know what this little game is."
"Thought you'd be kinder curious," said the man, with a hoarse laugh. "Well, ye see, it's this way. We've heard so much about you that we thought we'd kinder like the pleasure of your company for a day or two, and so we brought you over here."
A day or two! Frank gasped for breath, as a sudden light dawned upon him.
If he were held there for a single day he would not appear at Madison Square Garden to take part in the tournament!
"This is the work of my enemies!" he mentally cried. "They have hired these ruffians to kidnap and hold me till the tournament is over! Cæsar's ghost! I never dreamed such a thing could be done in this quiet part of the New England States!"