“It’s all off now,” flashed through Jack’s mind.
There was not time to turn and run, not a second in which to think up a line of defence. Besides, had Jack been able to run, he certainly would not have fled and left Tom’s fate in uncertainty.
It was all over in an instant, and it could have had no other conclusion. Jack found himself lying on his back one minute and the next he was turned on his face and his hands tied behind him.
“What’s the meaning of all this?” he managed to gasp out indignantly. “I am Jack Chadwick. You fellows are going to get in a lot of trouble over this.”
“Oh, I guess not. Master Chadwick,” came a low, sneering voice not far from Jack’s ear, “I guess not.”
It was the familiar voice that Jack knew he had heard before. But where? For the life of him he could not imagine. Nor indeed was his mind in a condition right then to be at its clearest.
“Who are you?” demanded the boy. “What have you attacked us for?”
“Partly to get even for a certain occasion in which you interfered with my plans, and partly to trouble you for that money you have in your shoes.”
As a flash of lightning illumines a whole landscape, so did the first words of the other instantly recall to Jack why his voice had sounded so puzzlingly reminiscent. “A certain occasion on which you interfered with my plans!”
“You’re Adam Duke!” he gasped out.