“Well?”
“I should cheat the gallows of its due. Here, farmer!”
Ezekiel Mason, pale and trembling, was standing on the threshold.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Go and get another rope.”
The farmer left the house, and going to an outhouse returned with a stout clothes-line.
“Tie him again while I hold him,” was Luke’s command. “Tie him as securely as before—more so, if possible. How did you get loose?”
“Find out for yourself!” said the outlaw sullenly.
“I mean to, and I don’t intend that you shall escape a second time.”
Meanwhile John Fox was execrating his folly in not escaping when he had the chance. If he had not waited for the revolver and money he might by this time have been out of danger.