"Perhaps I guessed as much."
"Then kindly guess that I can't wait here simply for the pleasure of talking with Master Haines."
"I shan't try to do that, my rebellious friend. When Jim gets ready—"
Walter half turned to see what part the Indian was to play in this interview, and as he did so the fellow's arms were around him, pinioning his own to his side.
"What is the meaning of this?" he cried, angrily, as he tried in vain to release himself.
"It means, Master Neal, that I wish to see the message you carry," and Haines, dismounting, hastily searched the prisoner's pockets.
"You have found yourself mistaken as sadly as when you believed the king would give you the dirty work of selling stamped paper," Walter said, with a laugh, noting the look of disappointment on Haines's face when he failed to find any document.
"You have been intrusted to deliver the message by word of mouth, and it will serve my purpose as well if I prevent you from calling on that seditious Revere. Here, Jim, tie him to a tree with this," and Haines drew from his saddle-bags a piece of stout rope.
It was in vain Walter struggled; taken at a disadvantage as he had been, he was powerless, and in a few moments was bound securely to a tree, while his captors threw themselves on the ground in front of him, as if to make a long stay.
"If you repeat what you were told to say to Revere, I will see to it that you are made more comfortable," Haines said, after a long pause.