“That’s right! Hands up! That’s the game you made us play a short time ago!”
Alex could hardly conceal a grin of triumph as the outlaws hastened to obey the command.
“Take the weapons from your pockets and throw them on the ground!” was the next order.
“Oh, see here, kid, isn’t this going too far?” said the leader, with a smile. “We were only joking with you.”
“That’s all right,” was the reply. “But, you see, I’m not joking with you. Throw the weapons down!”
The words were spoken so peremptorily that the outlaws lost no time in complying, and the weapons clattered to the ground together. Alex at once took possession of them.
In the meantime Jule was making as good time as was possible, hampered, as he was, by the dog, who insisted on stopping every few rods to note the progress made by his pursuer. The fight was not yet all out of the dog.
At last he stopped abruptly and refused to budge. While Jule was doing his best to force him along the sound of pursuing footsteps ceased. The boy listened intently, but could hear nothing of either Alex or the men he believed to be in pursuit.
“What’s coming off now?” he mused. “If this is a trick, I’m in bad, being without weapons and with this confounded dog on my hands. Captain Joe, why can’t you behave yourself?”
Captain Joe gave an extra tug at the collar and broke away, disappearing almost immediately in the thick underbrush, with Jule in hot pursuit and a trail of blood showing where the dog had gone.