DEAD IN THE FOREST
When Alex and Jule were seized they naturally put up a hard fight, but the men who had attacked them were muscular, and, besides, had the advantage of taking the lads by surprise, so they were compelled to submit to the indignity of being searched.
After they came to their feet again, and after their heads had stopped whirling, Alex’s first motion was toward his pistol pocket. Then he remembered that the automatic had been left on board the Rambler. They were absolutely without weapons of any kind.
The outlaw saw the motion and smiled grimly.
“So,” he said, “you carried weapons. Some fancy little toy, I presume. What would you say to a weapon like this?”
As he spoke he displayed a revolver of enormous size. It was, however, patterned after an old model, and not at all similar to the improved automatics carried by the boys.
Alex, however, pretended great admiration for the gun and asked the privilege of taking it into his hands.
“I’d like to have one like it,” he declared. “How much do they cost?”
All this, of course, to draw the attention of the outlaws away from Jule, who was getting ready to spring Peter Pratt.
“What does this mean?” asked Jule, in as hoarse a voice as he was able to assume.