"Perhaps so, but I don't feel sure of it."
The outlaw's predicament did not appear to interfere with his appetite. He ate his dinner with evident relish, and left nothing on the plate. When he had completed his meal, Luke called the farmer and requested him to tie his wrists again.
"You can do it better than I," he said. "Besides, I shall need to stand guard."
I was well that he did so, for John Fox, if there had been the least chance of success, would have overpowered the farmer and effected his escape. But with the eye of Luke Robbins upon him, and the pistol in his hand ready to go off at an instant's notice, there was nothing to do but to submit to being rebound.
CHAPTER XII.
THE OUTLAW'S ESCAPE.
The outlaw was left for several hours alone in the attic of the farmer's house. He felt far from comfortable, and he experienced great mortification at the thought that he had been captured by a Quaker.
"I might as well have been captured by a woman," he said to himself. "I shall never hold up my head again--that is," he added, after a pause, "unless I circumvent him and get away."
Fox dragged himself to the window and looked out.