"Say, that was a nice cute trick you played on us poor fellers that night, Frank. We've been gruntin' about it ever since; and when we see you go past up the road we just made up our minds that if you came back we'd gobble you. We don't feel none too friendly for you, boy, and that's a fact. What d'ye suppose we aim to do with you, hey?" demanded Martin, a little savagely.
"I'm sure I don't know. Try to frighten me, perhaps, and then let me go," was Frank's answer.
But though he tried to appear unconcerned, Frank was quivering with anxiety concerning the possible motives of these men. He believed that they would not hesitate over committing any crime, once their ugly natures had been fully aroused.
"See here," he said, hoping to convince them that they had nothing to gain by injuring him, and much to lose, "don't you think you've carried this far enough. I'm not the one to be easily frightened; and what good can it do you to make me a prisoner in this way? I'd only be a burden when you have to skip out lively, after the alarm is given, and the search begins."
"That don't skeer us at all, boy. Me and my pard we just wanter know where you put that boodle you got from us? Tell us how we can lay our grip on that again, and we'll be glad to let you loose," replied Martin.
Frank was worried. Could it be possible they expected that he had taken all that stolen stuff to his own home, to have his father keep it until the same was claimed by the storekeeper up at Fordham?
"Why, didn't you know that the police took charge of that jewelry, to hold it until the man proved property? That's the truth, every word of it. You can't mean to say you dreamed I had it all this while? Why, that's silly," he remarked.
"Is it? Well, perhaps it might be better for you if you had kept your fingers on the stuff, then," remarked Martin, significantly.
Frank relapsed into silence. He wanted to think over the situation and see if he could form any plan that offered a solution to the puzzle of how he was going to get away from this dangerous couple.
All this while they had been going deeper into the big woods, which stretched off toward the southwest for a good two miles. The men walked as though they had some idea of where they were going. From this Frank judged that they had found some sort of hiding-place back here.