"A prisoner in the old house yonder."
At this information Josiah Crabtree was much astonished, and begged for the particulars of the affair, which were speedily forthcoming.
"And now you have him a prisoner, what do you propose to do?" asked the former teacher.
"I'll soon show you," growled Baxter. "I'm going to do him up brown—or rather, black. See here."
He led the way back to the gully and pointed to a pot of tar and a brush which rested by it.
"It is tar!" cried Crabtree.
"Exactly."
"And you are—ahem—going to give him a coat of that?"
"Yes. Doesn't he deserve it?"
"To be sure he does. I will assist you," answered the former teacher readily, with a malicious gleam in his fishy eyes. "I wish you had all three boys here, to tar them with the same brush."