“Another one of those steaks,” Jack sighed with joyful anticipation, as he sat down at the table.
“I’ve eaten some pretty good steaks in my lifetime,” Rex declared a little later, “but, honestly, Mrs. Slocum, I never knew till now what a really good steak was.”
The woman flushed with pleasure at the words of praise.
“And I’ve eaten French fried before,” Jack declared, “but these, Oh, boy, these are in a class all by themselves.”
As soon as they had finished, the prisoners were fed one at a time, their hands being freed for the moment and then securely fastened.
By eight o’clock they were ready to start. The two prisoners had snow-shoes and these were tied to their backs. Then their feet were untied but their hands were kept securely fastened behind their backs.
“Think I’ll go along with you,” Jeb Slocum said, as they were about to start. “I got to go in a day or two, and I’d like the job of lodging a complaint against these fellers.”
The boys expressed their pleasure at having his company, and after bidding Mrs. Slocum goodbye Bob turned to the two prisoners, who were standing sullenly a few feet away.
“Now you two listen to me,” he began. “We’re going to take you down to Jackman and turn you over to the police. It’s not safe to have men of your stripe loose about the country. Now we’ve got some pretty good persuaders here and we know how to use them; and if you try to get away we won’t hesitate to shoot,” and he held out one of the guns so that they could see it.
The men made no reply, but Bob fancied he caught a queer look in the eyes of Jake as he glanced at the hunchback.