Dugan laughed, showing his yellow teeth.

“Oh, I’ve got ye!” he declared, triumphantly—“I’ve got ye foul this time!”

“It looks that way,” admitted Frank, coolly. “Now you have me, what are you going to do with me?”

“Don’t git anxious; you’ll find out soon enough.”

Frank was watching the man narrowly, hoping to catch him off his guard, and the smuggler seemed to realize this, for he said:

“Don’t try any tricks. You can get your pistol out mighty quick, but I can pull a trigger before you can pull the pistol. I’ll drop you where you stand if you try it!”

Frank started in to talk to the man, hoping to obtain an advantage that way, but again Dugan seemed to read his thoughts.

“It won’t work, young feller. Keep them hands up. I don’t want to shoot you here, but I’ll do it quicker than you can spit if you make one false move. Steady, now.”

Frank heard a step at his back, but he could not look round. He knew Dugan was not alone, and, a moment later he was grasped by a pair of masculine hands.

Dugan advanced, still holding his rifle ready for use.

Frank’s hands were wrenched back behind him and held thus. Then, while Dugan held the muzzle of the rifle[141] within two feet of the head of the captured lad, Merry’s wrists were securely tied by a stout cord.

“Make the knots solid, Huck,” directed the smuggler. “This chap is pretty slippery.”

“Oh, I’ll fix him so he’ll not slip us,” was the assurance of the man behind Frank.

The voice caused Merriwell to start, for it sounded natural.

“It can’t be!” thought Merry. “I am deceived!”

Soon he was tied so that he could not move his hands, and then Dugan lowered the rifle, laughing again in his evil, triumphant manner.

“You didn’t know the kind of man you was dealing with when you hit me,” he said. “As you are no more than a boy, I thought I’d let you off by taking your rifle, which I was bound to have anyhow; but, now that you have followed me here, I’ll put you where you’ll never worry your friends again.”

Frank understood the meaning of the man, and he fully realized the peril of his position. That Dugan meant to murder him he had no doubt, and now he was sorry that he had not made some kind of effort when he came face to face with the man, even though he had been shot down at once.

He turned to look at the man who had come up behind him, and he saw Elder Jones! But what a change in the appearance of the man! No longer was he the sleepy, long-faced, ministerial-appearing person Frank had seen on the boat. His black clothes had been cast aside, and he[142] was roughly dressed, like Dugan, his trousers being tucked into his boots.

This person gave Frank a vicious look of hatred.

“So it is you!” exclaimed the captive. “Well, I must say this is queer business for a minister of the gospel!”

“Bah!” exclaimed Jones. “You are a fool!”

“Possibly you are right,” was Merry’s calm admission. “I acknowledge I am beginning to feel rather foolish just now. It is somewhat disgusting to think I could be trapped so easily.”

“You thought you were cutting lots of ice with Hilda Dugan,” said Jones, tauntingly; “but she was pumping you, and she found out the things we wanted to know. When she made an appointment for you to meet her on this island it was for the purpose of trapping you just as you were trapped.”

These words gave Merry a shock, but he refused to believe them. He did not wish to think the beautiful girl could be so treacherous. Besides that, it was a blow to his self-esteem to think that he had been deceived thus easily.

“I do not believe it!” he said, firmly. “She would not do such a thing!”

“That shows how much of a fool you are. Do you think she would betray her own father to a stranger like you? You must be a chump! She never intended to meet you here.”

“Still I refuse to believe it!”

“Waugh! Who cares!” growled Dugan. “We’ve got ye, and we’ll fix ye so you’ll never worry anybody again.[143] We can’t stand here and chin all the afternoon with ye. Face around. So. Now march.”

Back along the path Frank marched, with his hands tied behind his back, his ruffianly captors following him. Now he knew Elder Jones was no true minister, but was an impostor. Without doubt Jon............