"I fancy I will let you alone," panted Bob, "after I am square with you. Take that!" And as the man got up, Bob slapped him with such force in the mouth that Farvel's teeth rattled. "You are a brute, and ought to be in jail."
"Tell us your story, Bob," said Robert Menden, and the tale was speedily forthcoming. Farvel tried several times to interrupt, but was not allowed.
"We'll make him our prisoner now," said old Jacob, grimly. "It ain't safe to leave him roamin' around loose."
"Me a prisoner!" gasped Joseph Farvel. "I rather guess not!"
"Yes, tie him up," said Bob. "We can set him free later on, when we hand him over to the authorities."
Farvel fumed and used language not fit to transcribe to these pages. But this availed him nothing, and soon his hands were bound as tightly as Bob's had been.
"Now march!" ordered old Jacob.
"Where to?"
"March, an' ye'll find out soon enough. Forward, or I'll boot ye!" and the old tar looked so fierce that Farvel moved off without further parley.
The course of the party was directly for the cave entrance. Arriving here, a consultation was held, and it was decided to take Farvel to a grove some distance to the left. Here the rascal was fastened to a cedar tree.