CHAPTER XXIV.
ON PINE ISLAND AGAIN.
"Joe, what do you think this means?" asked Fred, as soon as the three masked persons were out of hearing.
"It's a riddle to me, Fred. One thing is certain, they mean to keep us prisoners."
"It doesn't look as if they did it in order to rob us," went on the stout youth.
"I've been studying the thing over and I rather think the big fellow of the crowd is Dan Marcy."
"I thought his voice sounded something like Marcy's myself. What of the others?"
"I've been thinking one might be Si Voup. But he disguises his voice pretty well—if it is Voup."
"Julius Cæsar!" cried Fred. "I wonder if such a thing could be possible? What a plan to trip us up!"
"What are you talking about?"
"If one of that crowd is Si Voup it is more than likely they kidnapped us so that we wouldn't be able to play that game of ball to-morrow."
At this statement the captain of the Lakeports grew more interested than ever.
"I wonder if they really would resort to such a trick," he mused. "It hardly seems possible. There isn't enough in it."
"I don't know about that. Remember, Si and his friends have been betting pretty heavily on the result."
"That is true, and come to think of it he was very particular to have it understood that the game must come off exactly at the appointed time."
"It's a contemptible trick!" sniffed Fred. "When they come back I am going to give them a piece of my mind."
"No, don't do that, for it may only get us into worse trouble. Act as if you thought they were tramps. That will throw them more off their guard than ever."
"If it's one of Si Voup's tricks he must have hired Dan Marcy to help him."
"I guess Marcy was only too willing to help—to get square for what we have done in the past against him. Another thing, Marcy may have money on the game, too. I've heard that he often bets at race tracks and other places."
By this time the three masked fellows were coming back and Joe and Fred changed the subject.
"I suppose you brought us here to rob us," said Joe, boldly. "Well, you won't get much out of me, for I haven't much with me."
"I've got forty cents and a broken watch with me," declared Fred.
"We ain't going to rob you, so you needn't git scared," said the big fellow of the party.
"I suppose you brought us here for our health," said Fred, sarcastically. "Very kind of you, I must say."
"If you talk like that, I'll switch you!" came from one of the others.
None of the masked fellows would say more. They busied themselves with making the bonds which tied the boys to the tree roots more secure.
"Now we are going off for a little while," said the big fellow.
"Going to leave us here alone?" queried Joe.
"For awhile, yes."
"It isn't fair. Supposing some wild animal comes this way?"
"We won't be far off, and no animal is coming to hurt you, so you needn't get scared."
With this remark, the masked fellows withdrew again, and Joe and Fred heard them leave the gully altogether.
"It was Marcy as sure as fate!" declared Joe when they were alone.
"Yes, and I am pretty sure one of the others was Si Voup. But the third fellow stumps me."
"Perhaps it is the new player Si got in Kyle Fenton's place—the chap named Ike Boardman."
"Come to think of it, the voice did sound like Boardman's."
The time passed slowly, and as noon drew near both of the boys began to feel hungry. They tried to loosen their bonds, but the cords only cut deeper into their flesh.
"Perhaps we are to be starved out," said Fred.
It was not until two o'clock that the tallest of the masked fellows came back, carrying a tin pail and a small square basket. In the basket he had some sandwiches, crackers and cheese, and in the pail some drinking water.
"Can't give you any course dinner," he said, roughly. "But I reckon it's about as good as you deserve."
Putting down his pail and basket, he untied one hand of each boy, so that he might help himself. The meal was a scant one, but everything tasted good and they ate with a relish.
"How long do you expect us to remain standing up?" asked Fred, who was growing tired.
"I'll 'tend to that, don't worry. Here, if you want some water now is your chance for a drink. You can each have a cupful."
Both were thirsty and each took the cupful of water readily.
"Let me have some more, please?" pleaded Fred.
"Not now. It's too much bother to bring the stuff such a distance. You can have another cupful at supper time," was the short answer.
As it was useless to argue, the two prisoners did not attempt to do so. They waited to see what would be the next movement of their masked captor. They saw him withdraw to a distance, and presently begin to smoke a pipe through a small hole in the head covering he still wore.
"Say, I'm getting sleepy," declared Fred, quarter of an hour later.
"Well, I'm sleepy myself," answered Joe. He gave a long yawn. "It seems to be coming on me all at once."
"That's the way with me." Fred also yawned. "Oh, dear, this is fierce! Wonder what makes it?"
In ten minutes more both of the boys found it impossible to keep their eyes open. They stretched themselves and shook their heads, but all to no purpose.
"Fred, I believe we have been drugged!" murmured Joe at last.
"Drugged?"
"Yes. There was something in the eating or in that drinking water meant to put us to sleep."
"The ras—rascals!" Fred yawned again. "I never—never—thought that any—anybody——" And then his eyes closed and he sank into a stupor. A moment later Joe went to sleep likewise, breathing heavily and with his head hanging on his breast.
"Thought that would do the work," said the masked fellow to himself. "Now it will be dead easy to keep them here until to-morrow night."
He approached both boys and examined each, to make certain that he was not shamming. Then he cut their bonds and allowed them to slip down on the ground. This done he hurried away, to return half an hour later with several blankets.
"I'll have to watch 'em until morning, I reckon," the masked fellow told himself. "Then, if they are still asleep, they can look after themselves." Thus musing, he placed them on one blanket and covered them with the other.
When Joe awoke it was with a dull feeling in his head which was far from pleasant. He had been dreaming that he was far underground and that all sorts of things were pressing upon him and that he could not throw them off. His mouth was parched and his eyeballs ached as they had never ached before.
"Oh, dear!" he murmured. "Oh, dear!" And then he tried to sit up, only to fall back again. "Harry!" He fancied he might be at home in bed with his brother beside him.
There was no answer to his call, and some minutes later he sat up again. This time he opened his eyes long enough to stare around him. He was on the ground, with a blanket partly over and partly under him. The place was new to him, showing that he had been moved while he slept.
"Where in the world am I?" was the next question he asked himself. "Where am I, and how did I get here?"
It was a good half hour before he could collect his scattered senses, and then he remembered how he had gone to sleep in the gully. He was now in the midst of some brushwood and a clump of tall pines. His ankles were bound together and his hands were crossed in front of him and also secured.
"Fred!" he called out. "Fred! Where are you?"
There was no answer, and now with an effort he struggled to his feet. But he was still too dizzy to stand and he had to hold on to the bushes for support.
"Fred must be somewheres around," he reasoned. "Unless they carried him off and left me here all alone. Oh, my head!" And then he sat down again.
But fortunately the weakness and dizziness did not last, and inside of half an hour his brain was as clear as ever. He gazed thoughtfully at the rope which bound his hands together in front of him. Then he began to chew on the rope with his teeth and finally got it loose. To liberate his ankles was his next move, and then he cut himself a heavy stick with his jackknife.
"Now let those chaps come near me again and I'll give them something they won't relish," he told himself.
For some time he did not know which way to turn. He noticed that the sun was fairly high in the heavens and he wondered what time it could be. His watch had stopped.
"I'd like to know if it is Friday afternoon or Saturday morning," he muttered. "What a situation to be in! How am I to get back to Lakeport? I'll never be able to get back in time to play that game!" And the latter thought made him fairly groan.