CHAPTER XXI
STACY SEEKS A CHANGE
When Stacy Brown awakened from the sleep into which his captors had put him, he was lying across the back of a horse.
At first the fat boy didn’t know what had occurred; then he recalled that there had been a struggle in his tent and that a hand on his throat had nearly choked him to death. A few seconds after that he lost consciousness. And now he was being carried away on horseback. “Let me up! Let me up!” he shouted.
A prod from a heavy boot caused him to utter a loud howl.
“Shut up!” commanded the man behind him in the saddle on the same horse.
“Le—let me up and I will. I’ll yell all the way if you don’t,” persisted Stacy.
The boy’s hands were bound to his sides, and his ankles were tied together.
For reasons of his own, the rider halted the horse and dismounted. He then released the boy’s ankles, and slightly loosened the leather thongs that hound his arms, but there he stopped.
“Aren’t you going to untie me?” demanded Stacy.
“Hold your tongue. You’ll be lucky if I don’t clout you over the head. You hang onto me now. If you try any tricks I’ll finish you with a bullet between the eyes.”