He was startled, but his senses came quick as Captain Ben growled, “Not a breath from you, you devil, or out goes your brains. Drop, an’ crawl to rear.”
The outlaw dropped upon all fours and crawled to the rear, the men all the while covering him with their muskets.
The moment he reached the line, he was seized by seven or eight strong hands. Captain Ben was there as quick.
“Gag him.—Not a whimper from you, either!”
The outlaw yielded as he felt a bayonet prick his side and saw a musket lifted above his head ready to stave his skull.
“Bind his hands behind him,” continued the Captain. “Tie his feet—tie his legs above his knees, and muffle him.”
Then they tore the outlaw’s hat into shreds, and with rough hands stuffed these shreds into his mouth around the gag-stick.
Meanwhile, Captain Ben crept to the top of the hill and peered over. No one else was stirring on board the schooner.
The outlaw that was now lying at the bottom of the hollow, bound so that he could not move, gagged and so nearly choked that he could give no alarm, was doubtless the last watch, who at daylight, seeing that all was well, had taken it into his head to stroll over to the ocean side, and see what was doing there.
“This devil out of the way and no one else stirring, there is every chance of surprising the outlaws before they turn out,” thought Captain Ben.