THE prisoner, whom Mark had left securely bound, was standing in front of the mouth of the passage-way, trying to peer through the darkness that obscured it, and over his shoulder we could see the faces of the rest of the Dragoons, and also the scowling visages of Luke Redman and Pete, the half-breed. The robber was angrier than ever, and was swearing loudly.

“It’s lucky I thought to send Barney around here, ain’t it?” we heard him say. “Them boys would have been out an’ gone in five minutes more. They’re smarter than the hull lot on us put together. What’s to be done?”

“Let’s hide in these yere bushes an’ ketch ’em when they come out,” suggested Barney. “Jake, s’pose you go in thar an’ lay down 294ag’in like you was tied, so they won’t know thar’s any thing wrong.”

“Wal, now, s’pose you go yourself,” retorted Jake. “You’re mighty willin’ to send other fellows into danger, hain’t you? None on us ain’t a-goin’ in thar to face the buckshot in them guns. Send the dogs in, pap; that’s the way to bring ’em out.”

Luke Redman was prompt to act upon this suggestion. He set up a shout, and in a few seconds the hounds appeared and crowded into the mouth of the passage-way; while Mark, Tom and I stationed ourselves side by side and cocked both barrels of our guns in readiness to give them a warm reception.

But we soon found that we had nothing to fear from them. They made the passage echo with their baying, and acted fiercely enough to tear a regiment of men in pieces, but not one of them could be induced to advance a single step beyond the opening.

Luke scolded, urged and threatened in vain. Becoming highly enraged at last, he jumped among them, and kicking right and left with his heavy boots, cleared the mouth of 295the passage as quickly as a volley from our double-barrels would have done.

Having disposed of the dogs, Luke stormed about at a great rate, shaking his fists in the air and stamping the ground with fury.

“We had oughter been on our way to the river long ago,” said he. “The hull settlement will be gallopin’ through these woods in less’n an hour, an’ if we’re here then, we’re booked for the lock-up, sure. But I ain’t a-goin’ to stir one step till I get that money. Call the dogs ag’in, Barney, an’ I’ll go in with ’em. I reckon they’ll foller me. What’s that ar’?”

As Luke Redman asked this question, the savage scowl vanished and his face grew white with terror. For a moment he and his companions stood as if they had been rooted to the ground, casting frightened glances through the cane on all sides of them, and then with a common impulse they scattered right and left, and were out of sight in a twinkling.

We were not long in finding out what had caused their alarm, for just then the clear, ringing blast of a hunting-horn echoed through the woods, followed by a chorus of the same 296kind of music, which, coming from all directions, told us that the island was surrounded. Hounds yelped, men shouted, the tramping of horses’ hoofs came faintly to our ears, and then five dogs, my own faithful Zip among the number, dashed past the mouth of the passage-way, closely followed by Sandy, Duke and Herbert.

“Hurrah!” we all shouted at once. “We’re safe now. The settlers have come at last.”

Mark and the young Indian sprang down the passage, and I was about to follow them when Tom laid his hand on my arm.

“Joe,” said he, “I will give this valise and gun into your care, and will thank you to see that they are restored to their owners. I know you will do this much for me, for it is the last favor I shall ask of you.”

I took the articles in question as Tom handed them to me, and when I raised my eyes to look at him, he was gone. He had jumped past me, dashed out of the passage, and disappeared into the bushes before I could say a word to him.

297I was not long in following him. Holding the guns over my shoulder with one hand, and grasping the valise with the other, I ran out into the cane just in time to place myself in the way of some swiftly moving body, which struck me with such force that I was whirled through the air as if I had been thrown from the cow-catcher of a locomotive. The guns flew out of my hand, but involuntarily I tightened my grasp on the valise.

“Aha!” exclaimed a gruff voice; “things is comin’ out all right, arter all. The money is mine an’ so is the mar’.”

Almost as soon as I touched the ground, I raised myself on my elbow, and when I had taken a single glance at the horse standing before me, I comprehended the situation.

It was Black Bess, and the man who was dismounting from her was Luke Redman.

He had by some means succeeded in securing the horse and eluding the settlers, and was riding at full speed through the cane, when I had run directly in his path and been knocked down—a circumstance which the outlaw regarded 298as favorable to himself, although it turned out exactly the reverse.

He probably imagined that I was badly injured by the hard fall I had received, and he must have been astonished at the determined resistance he met with when he rushed up to me and attempted to take the valise out of my hand.

I have no idea how long the struggle continued, for my brain was in a great whirl, and I took no note of time. All I knew was that I must hold fast to that money.

I was dragged about through the cane, beaten on the head by Luke Redman’s hard fist, and when at last he tore the valise from my grasp, I threw my arms about his legs and pitched him headlong on the ground.

Just as this happened, I heard a furious crashing in the cane, several dark objects bounded over me and commenced a desperate battle with my antagonist, cries of pain and ejaculations of surprise rang in my ears, and then all was blank to me. Some of the settlers, with their dogs, had arrived just in time.

It was dark when my consciousness returned. 299At first I did not know where I was or what was the matter with me, but gradually the remembrance of the scenes through which I had passed during the afternoon came back to me, and I started up in alarm, expecting to find myself once more a prisoner in the hands of the robber band.

A single look, however, was enough to satisfy me that I was among friends, and that I had nothing to fear. I was lying on a blanket in front of............