The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair Part 19

He did not finish the sentence, for at that moment Long Jim stepped directly in front of him, as he asked:

"Did you leave anything here, my son?"

"No--I--I--that is--you see----"

Sam was so frightened that he could not say another word. It seemed as if his tongue was swollen to twice its natural size, while his throat was parched and dry, and to make bad matters worse, he had entirely neglected to invent a plausible excuse for his presence there in case of an interruption.

"I asked if you'd left anything here?" Long Jim repeated, very mildly.

"Well--well---- You see I jest come down to--to---- I thought, perhaps, I might find something, but it's time I was gettin' back to the fair, 'cause the folks will be needin' me."

As he spoke he attempted to back toward the door, but before taking half a dozen steps a cry of fear burst from his lips, for a heavy hand was laid with no gentle force on his s.h.i.+rt collar, and he staggered forward helplessly.

"That's an invitation for you to hold on a bit, an' have a little conversation with two gentlemen who are mighty curious to know why you came here," Long Jim said, grimly. "You're goin' to tell us the whole partic'lars, or there won't be enough left of you to be seen under a microscope."

Sam made no reply. He was literally dazed with fear, and just at that moment he thought the life of a detective very disagreeable.

"Come, speak up, an' be quick about it," the man cried, fiercely. "We've got no time to waste on sich cubs as you, an' in about two minutes you'll get worse'n we served out the other night."

"That wasn't me follerin' you from the museum tent," Sam said, quickly, thinking possibly this fact might work in his favor.

"Who was it?"

"Teddy an' Dan."

"Who is Dan?"

"A feller who works for the Stevens Arms Company up at the fair."

"Why did they follow us?"

"Teddy wanted to get back the money he gave you to buy a cane-board with."

"If he knows what's wise for him he'll stop any such rackets, or he may get more'n he bargains for."

Then the second man, who still held firmly to Sam's collar, asked, as he shook his prisoner vigorously:

"How did you know we had been here?"

"Us fellers saw you come down in a boat."

"So all three are in the secret, eh?"

Sam's only thought was that he might possibly save his own skin, and he replied in the affirmative, although he must have known that by such answer he was destroying his friends' chances of recovering the goods.

"Where are the fools now?" Long Jim asked, angrily.

"Up at the fair."

"What do they intend to do?"

"Get somebody to arrest you."

"Then we've got to skip mighty lively, Phil," and Long Jim looked up at his companion.

"Yes; but if my advice had been follered we wouldn't be in this sc.r.a.pe.

You was the only one the cubs knew, an' by keepin' out of sight we mighter finished the work that's been laid out. You're so pig-headed that a yoke of oxen couldn't keep you in hidin'."

"There's no use fightin' about it now; for we've got to get a move on us in short order. It won't do to let this boy have a chance to give the alarm."

"Of course not. Lash him up somewhere so he can't make a noise, an' his chums will come before he starves to death."

"Don't do that!" Sam cried, in an agony of terror. "I won't say a word about your catchin' me here, an' I'll do anything you say."

"Oh, you're a nice plum to make promises, ain't you. It didn't take much persuadin' to make you go back on your friends, an' that's enough to show whether you can be trusted. Get the rope out of the boat, Phil, an'

then we'll make ready for a long jump."

Phil obeyed, grumbling as he went because his partner had refused to take his advice, thus plunging both of them into danger, and Long Jim turned his attention to the prisoner once more.

"Before we leave this part of the country for good I'm goin' to give you somethin' to remember us by so's you won't go 'round stickin' your nose into other people's business agin."

"What are you goin' to do?" Sam asked, his face growing even paler than before.

"Give you the worst floggin' a boy ever had. I'd do it now if there wasn't so much work to be got through."

Sam had sufficient sense to know that all his pleadings for mercy would be in vain, and he held his peace until Phil returned with a long coil of rope which had been used as a boat's painter.

One of the beams at the end of the barn served as a post to which to lash the prisoner, and here the amateur detective was made fast in such a skillful manner that he could not so much as move his arms.

"Shall we gag him now?" Phil asked, and Long Jim replied:

"No, there's time enough.

"He can't make any one hear if he yells his best, an' I've got a little business to settle before he's trussed up for good."

CHAPTER XVI.

_MISSING._

When Dan informed Teddy that Sam was missing, and suggested the possibility of the burglars having gotten him in their power, both the boys were decidedly alarmed; but the matter ceased to appear as serious after it had been discussed in all its bearings.

"Long Jim wouldn't have dared to spirit him away when there are so many people around," Teddy said, after a long silence, during which he was trying to imagine what Sam might have done. "Besides, what would be the good of taking him if we were left behind?"

"Perhaps they count on hauling us in, too."