"We caught 'em right enough," muttered Jasniff. "The tree came down just in time."
"Ar—are they hu—hurt much!" faltered Nat Poole. His face was as white as death itself.
"They are certainly knocked out," answered Nick Jasniff, coolly.
"Oh, I hope they ain't dead!" gasped Poole, his knees beginning to shake.
"They are not dead," announced Gus Plum, who was bending over the fallen youths. "They are stunned, that's all." And he breathed a short sigh of relief, for he had been fearful of serious results.
"We had better get away, before they come to their senses and recognize us," went on Poole, who was the most timid-hearted of the unworthy trio.
While they were deliberating they heard the whistle of a locomotive on the railroad and soon a long train of empty freight cars came into view. Then, when about half the train had gone by, the cars came to a sudden halt, brought to a stop because of a danger signal at the crossing.
"What's the freight train stopping for?" asked Plum.
"Don't ask me," answered Nick Jasniff. "But I say," he added suddenly. "The very thing!"
"What?"