"Then unfasten these handcuffs, and I'll guarantee to give you that amount within the next three days."
"More likely you'd give me a clip over the head. But even if I was certain of having the money, you couldn't get away, so walk on briskly and don't let me hear you speak again."
Joe glanced savagely around at the boy, and there was that in his face which told what desperate chances he would take in order to effect his escape.
"He's studying mischief," Jet said to himself, "and I've got to look sharp, or find myself in the soup as I was this morning."
At the best it was a difficult task to walk at any degree of speed through the woods; but the labor was more than doubled by having a prisoner over whom it was necessary to keep the strictest watch.
CHAPTER XV
ASSISTANCE
During the first hour Jet thought it would be impossible for him to hold out to reach the town; but the knowledge of what the result would be, not only to himself, but to those whom he had left behind, enabled him to battle against the fatigue which threatened to overpower him.
Not a word had been spoken since Joe made the proposition to purchase his liberty, until fully an hour passed, and then he said in a meek tone: