He gave the required pull, and instantly a most surprising event came to pass. That jerk at the rope must have set a hair-trigger going, for there followed a sudden rattling noise, the loop was instantly tightened around his ankle, and in a trice Johnny was hanging head down, as helpless as a snared rabbit.
The scouts clapped their hands in glee.
"Great scheme, Johnny!"
"It sure does you credit!"
"My! what a cwack when your feet hit the limb!"
So the scouts kept giving their views, while Johnny swung there, vainly trying to reach up and catch hold of the limb, with the turkeys twittering, and showing more or less alarm.
"Elmer, git me daown outen this, please!" begged the prisoner.
"But how can we do it, Johnny, when we don't know the combination of the racket?" demanded Lil Artha.
"Foller the rope, and shove the hogshead up the rise agin!" explained the suspended boy, who was probably already beginning to feel the discomforts of "standing on his head."
Several of them rushed off, and sure enough they found the secret of the springing of the trap. Johnny's clever scheme was simple enough when once its secret had been disclosed.