When he approached the spot where Alex stood the lad was facing the three men about.
“What’s doing?” he asked. “Likely pair and a half you have there! How did you manage it—the capture, I mean?”
“They just came and gave themselves up!” was the reply. “Got a rope or anything to tie ’em up with?”
“Nothing doing in that way,” answered Jule. The leader of the outlaws now appealed to the newcomer for release.
“This lad,” he said, “is inclined to take the incident which took place recently rather seriously. I can’t make him understand that it was all a joke.”
“Joke, was it?” asked Jule. “Well, the joke cost the life of your chum!”
And the boy related the scene he had just witnessed.
Just how it was done the boys never knew. One minute the three men stood facing the lads, the next they were crunching their way through the underbrush. And Alex had not fired a shot. He had been too busy listening to Jule’s recital of the scene in the forest.
The boys knew the outlaws would lose no time in making an effort to regain possession of the weapons, so they took to their heels.
“Why didn’t you shoot?” demanded Jule.