"Now we"ll take dat ring," said Nuggs, pointing to the article on Tom"s little finger.
"So I have fallen in with a lot of thieves, eh?" said the boy.
"Well, if you want the ring you can fight for it."
"Shut up!" roared Dan Baxter, and struck him across the mouth, causing Tom"s under lip to bleed. The boy tried to retaliate, but his bonds held him fast.
While one tramp held his hand the other possessed himself of the ring. The ring contained an opal of which Tom was very proud, and to part with the article made the young cadet feel pretty bad.
"You will rue this night"s work," he muttered. "I"ll see you in prison for it."
"Don"t waste your breath in threatening," cried Baxter.
"All right, Baxter, wait and see. I"ll put you where your father is."
The bully"s face reddened. "Will you shut up, or do you want another crack on the mouth?"
"It"s only a coward who would strike a person when he is helpless."
"Coward or not, I want you to keep a civil tongue in your head."
"Perhaps you imagine we don"t know who tried to wreck the stage,"
went on Tom pointedly.
"Wreck a stage? I know nothing of such a thing."
"You know all about it. And we"ll prove it too--when you are under arrest."
"I won"t talk to you!" howled Baxter.
"Come with me," he added to the tramps, and then the three quitted the building, leaving Torn to his reflections, which were dismal enough.
"I"m in a pickle and no mistake," he murmured. "What will they do with me next?"
Hour after hour went by and still Tom was left alone. In the meantime Baxter had held a long conversation with the tramps and had formed a compact with them, paying them the ten dollars as agreed.
The sun was shining brightly when at last Dan Baxter re-entered the old building.
"Getting hungry, I suppose," he remarked, with a wicked grin.
"Not particularly so," answered Tom coldly. He was hungry, but he was not going to admit it.
"I suppose you would like to have your liberty," went on the bully.
"Don"t ask superfluous questions, Baxter. Let us get down to business. Why did you make me a prisoner, and what are you going to do with me?"
"I made you a prisoner because I felt like doing so," growled the big youth.
"And what do you propose to do next?"
"Teach you a lesson that you won"t forget all your life, Tom Rover."
"Thank you for nothing."
"I haven"t forgotten how you and your brothers handled me out in Africa--and here, too, for that matter."
"You deserved what you got, Dan Baxter. Some persons would have had you sent to prison for your actions."
"Bah! You don"t know what you are talking about. What were you doing out so late last night?"
"None of your business."
"Were you over to the Stanhopes" place?"
"Perhaps I was and perhaps I wasn"t."
"Don"t get mulish. Remember that you are absolutely in my power."
"And what if I was at the Stanhopes" place? Haven"t I a perfect right to go there?"
"Did you meet anybody there?"
"Yes, I did. I met your particular friend, Josiah Crabtree."
Baxter"s face fell. "And what--that is what did you have to say to each other?"
"Crabtree tried to rob the widow--and I believe you were outside waiting for him," Tom continued suddenly.
"Nonsense."
At this moment Stumpy Nuggs came in.
"There"s a man comin" dis way!" he said excitedly, "Wot shall we do?"
"A man!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Baxter, in alarm. "I"ll go out and see if I know him."
He left the building with the tramp. The newcomer was approaching along the gully path. As he drew closer Baxter recognized Josiah Crabtree.
"Baxter!" exclaimed the former teacher, as, he carne up. "This is fortunate; I was afraid you had been captured."
"And I was afraid you were in the same box," rejoined Baxter.
"I had a hard time of it to get away. I got lost in the woods and had to remain out in the cold all night."
"Then you didn"t succeed in getting what you wanted, or in seeing Mrs. Stanhope?"
"No. Those confounded Rover boys turned up, and I had to--ahem--leave in a hurry. But who are these two men?" and Josiah Crabtree looked apprehensively at the tramps.
"They are all right, Crabtree. They helped me do a slick thing last night."