Frank had dropped his sack alongside the other. Turning quickly he noticed the look Reddy cast, first at the pair of bags, and then at those who were now in complete possession.
“Sit down there with your friends!” Bob told the man who had run off with a part of the treasure.
Thus the quartette were ranged along the floor. Mr. Riley asked Frank to make use of some stout cord which he chanced to have in his pocket; and as none of the prisoners dared resist, the result was that inside of a few minutes all of them were rendered as helpless as the man Bob had brought back to the cabin.
“I want to shake hands with each of you boys,” he said, gravely, as he approached Frank; “and say that you’re sure a credit to Circle Ranch. If so be they run that way there, I’ll willingly accept the offer the Colonel makes me, an’ change bunks. And I reckon this boy from Kentucky is no more in the tenderfoot class after this!”
Reddy was still observing them with a queer expression on his face. It seemed as though the fellow might be trying hard to repress a grin. And considering how desperate his situation seemed, the fact that he could see any humor in things was indeed singular.
Perhaps, though, he was thinking how their victory must be incomplete because of the fact that one of the bags of treasure was still missing. That was what passed through Bob’s mind, at any rate, as he let his eye rest on the two sacks.
“Open one of these, while I take the other, Bob,” Frank said, as he dropped down on the floor beside the spoils.
Reddy’s grin grew still broader. He even tried to nudge Blaisdell with his elbow, although the effort proved a failure, owing to the fact that his arms were too securely bound to admit of any play.
Bob was only too willing to comply with the directions of his chum. He imagined that Frank wanted to learn whether the whole amount of stolen gold could have been crowded into two bags, instead of three; which was a possible way of dividing it, after their number had been reduced.
The first thing Bob thought, after he had dropped to the floor, and laid hands on the nearest bag, was the deception that existed about these things. For sixty pounds, perhaps nearer ninety, that little bag certainly felt light indeed. But then, possibly that might be only imagination.