"We won't be far off, and no animal is coming to hurt you, so you needn't get scared."
With this remark, the masked fellows withdrew again, and Joe and Fred heard them leave the gully altogether.
"It was Marcy as sure as fate!" declared Joe when they were alone.
"Yes, and I am pretty sure one of the others was Si Voup. But the third fellow stumps me."
"Perhaps it is the new player Si got in Kyle Fenton's place—the chap named Ike Boardman."
"Come to think of it, the voice did sound like Boardman's."
The time passed slowly, and as noon drew near both of the boys began to feel hungry. They tried to loosen their bonds, but the cords only cut deeper into their flesh.
"Perhaps we are to be starved out," said Fred.
It was not until two o'clock that the tallest of the masked fellows came back, carrying a tin pail and a small square basket. In the basket he had some sandwiches, crackers and cheese, and in the pail some drinking water.
"Can't give you any course dinner," he said, roughly. "But I reckon it's about as good as you deserve."