Dick turned to look, when all at once there was a splash and Charley went headlong into the lake, pushed by a man who had stolen noiselessly up behind them, while Dick was seized by two others and swung violently around.
“Throw him after the other one!” cried one of the men. “Let ’em both go down into the pot!”
CHAPTER XVIII.
OLD P. D. LOOKS DOWN OVER THE ROCKS.
Charley was floundering around in the whirl of waters, struggling for dear life to prevent being dragged down into the boiling pot.
Dick was engaged in a struggle of another sort. He was making it decidedly hot for the men who had tackled him, kicking and turning and twisting. They tried hard to throw him over the edge of the bank and might have succeeded if another man had not come running out of the mouth of the canyon, shouting:
“No, no! Don’t pitch him in! Let the other go to thunder, but I want this one, as I told you before.”
It was Tony. As Dick recognized him he was suddenly stretched upon the ground by a stunning blow between the eyes that one of his captors found a chance to get in.
It nearly knocked the breath out of his body and his wits went with it for the moment.
When he came to himself again Tony had him by the collar and was lifting him up, while three tough-looking specimens stood around ready to help.
The Boiling Pot had stopped boiling now and Charley was nowhere to be seen.