“Hang it, Sneak, pull these burning sticks away from my knees!” said Joe, his face flushed with pain.
“I’ll be bursted with powder, if you didn’t like to git into a purty tight fix,” said Sneak, dashing down the consuming billets of wood.
“Now, Sneak, cut me loose, and then let’s run home as soon as possible.”
“I hain’t got my knife with me, or I wouldn’t ’ave been so long gitting loose myself,” said Sneak, slowly untying Joe’s hands.
“My goodness, how my arms ache!” said Joe, when his hands were released. “Now, Sneak, undo my feet, and then we’ll be off in a hurry.”
“I’ll be slit if your feet ain’t tied like mine was, in rich a hard knot that no mortal being can git it undone. I’ll take a chunk, and burn the tarnation string in two,” said Sneak, applying the fire.
“Take care you don’t burn me,” said Joe, looking at the operation with much concern.
Sneak’s plan of severing his companion’s bonds was successful. Joe sprang in delight from his place of confinement, and, without uttering another word, or pausing a single moment, the liberated companions retreated from grove with all possible expedition.
[ CHAPTER XV. ]
Glenn’s History.