THE SIEGE BEGINS
The unexpected appearance of the three strangers stupefied Ned, but Bug turned like a flash and started to run. Two of the men instantly overhauled him and threw him roughly to the ground, while a third hastily opened the slide of a dark lantern that was strapped to his waist and cast a flood of light upon the scene.
Ned uttered a gasp of amazement. The man with the lantern was Mose Hocker.
The recognition was mutual.
"You here!" cried Hocker in a pained voice. "I didn't expect this. Is it possible that you lads came down to my cabin and stole the gun and the boat? I wouldn't have believed it of you without the evidence of my own eyes."
"And this here's the same feller I had locked up in the smoke house," exclaimed one of Bug's captors. "I'll bet he don't steal any more chickens for a while."
Ned stood pale and agitated before his accuser—quite at a loss for words to explain.
"I'm sorry for you," resumed Hocker, "but I must do my duty an' hand you over to constable Jeffries. Where are the rest of your party?"
The words came with a rush now as Ned eagerly denied his guilt and explained away the incriminating circumstances.
Then, while the others clustered about him, he commenced the story at the beginning, and went through with it thread by thread.