"Now, boys," commanded the captain, "lift up his rascally arms! Cross his hands over his back! That's right—excuse me for being in the way—tie them tight!"
"Yes, and his feet too, the villain!" cried the boys in great excitement, tying knot after knot with Herculean jerks.
The prisoner changed his tone.
"Oh—oh!" he moaned, "spare a poor sick man—I was but walking in my sleep."
"Ugh!" grunted Lambert, still tugging away at the rope, "asleep, were you? well, we'll wake you up."
The man muttered fierce oaths between his teeth—then cried in a piteous voice, "Unbind me, good young masters! I have five little children at home. By Saint Bavon I swear to give you each a ten-guilder piece if you will but free me!"
"Ha! ha!" laughed Peter.
"Ha! ha!" laughed the other boys.
Then came threats—threats that made Ludwig fairly shudder, though he continued to bind and tie with re-doubled energy.
"Hold up! mynheer house-breaker," said Van Mounen in a warning voice. "That knife is very near your throat. If you make the captain nervous, there is no telling what may happen."