“Well, sir, as we are not combatants, I don’t see how we are to make him a prisoner of war,” said Ned.
“Neither do I. We shall have to let him go, I suppose.”
“And his pair of friends, too, sir?” asked Stanley, shaking his mighty fist at the cowering Hank Harkins.
“Yes, let them go, too. You have horses, general?”
“Yes,” rejoined the other sullenly.
“Good thing,” whispered Herc. “That means ours are safe.”
“You mean they would steal them?” asked Ned.
“In a minute. Those fellows would take pennies from a blind man.”
“I half believe even that about them, too,” laughed Ned, as the general, followed by the others, slunk out of the room. They had not received their weapons back, and none of the Americans had made it possible for them to ask for them. Presently the clatter of hoofs outside announced their departure.