The lamp was loosened from the wheel and turned on the flat tire, and both boys got close to find the puncture. Presently Pepper detected a small, sharp thorn sticking in the rubber. It had made a hole like that of a pin.
“I’ll wind a piece of tape around it,” said Andy. “That will hold till we get to the Hall, I guess,” and he brought out the bicycle tape from his repair bag.
Both boys were hard at work, bending over the wheel in the dim light of the lamp, when they were startled by hearing voices close to them. On both sides of the road were trees and bushes and the spot was certainly a lonely one.
“Somebody is coming—” began Pepper, when two figures stepped into the road and confronted the cadets.
The boys were amazed and alarmed, and with good reason. The figures were those of big boys or men, and each wore a green hood and a green mask which entirely concealed his face and head. More than this, each wore gloves with the finger-tips missing. Both carried heavy clubs in their hands.
For the moment the boys were so astonished they neither spoke nor moved. Then both leaped up and confronted the newcomers.
“We have them!” said one of the masked figures. “We have them at last.”
“Yes, we have them,” answered the other.
“Do you surrender?” demanded the first speaker of Andy and Pepper.
“Surrender? What for?” Pepper managed to ask.