He led his prisoner to a clump of bushes a dozen feet distant. Here they conversed in low, eager tones for nearly a quarter of an hour.

Jerry and Hamp looked on with some curiosity and suspicion. They were afraid that Raikes was coaxing Sparwick to turn traitor.

But the end of the palaver did not confirm this supposition. When the men returned, their relations were evidently the same as before. Raikes looked moody and downcast. Sparwick's impa.s.sive face told nothing. The latter handed the two letters to Jerry.

"Put 'em in your pocket," he said, "an' take good care of them. We're going to start right away."

"Where for?" Jerry asked.

"To rescue your pardner," was the reply. "I've got everything in shape.

This rascal here hes concluded ter help us out, an' I've promised he shan't be prosecuted. He'll take us straight to Bogle an' the lad.

We're goin' to save Mr. Larkins a cool ten thousand dollars."

This glib speech quite banished any lingering suspicion that Jerry or Hamp may have felt. They were highly elated by the news, and they helped to pack up with alacrity. In a short time the little party was on the march.

They headed straight back through the spruce woods. Raikes sullenly led the way, and Sparwick followed at his heels with a loaded rifle. The boys brought up the rear, dragging the sleds.

At the end of an hour they entered a low and tangled swamp. They went on through a maze of gloomy, intersecting paths. The boys were surprised to recognize the place.

"I thought this swamp was inaccessible," said Hamp.

"It were always reckoned so," replied Sparwick; "but it seems kind o'

different now."

"Do you mean to say that this is where Brick is confined?" asked Jerry.

"Accordin' to the prisoner's statement that's the case," said Sparwick, "an' I don't reckon he'd lie about it. I've got a bullet ready fur the first sign of deceivin'. Do you hear that, old man?"

This last was addressed to Raikes. He neither replied nor turned around.

He went steadily on, twisting to right and left through the tortuous windings of the swamp.

It was more than an hour later when the party came in sight of the clearing and the cabin. From the top of the roof a pillar of blue smoke curled slowly upward. The boys were startled and amazed. They eagerly examined their weapons.

"Will we likely have much of a fight?" asked Jerry.

"Not a bit," exclaimed Sparwick, scornfully. "Put up them weapons. We're four ag'in one. Do you think Joe Bogle's fool enough to resist. It'll all go our own way, lads."

Raikes was now half-way across the clearing. The others followed closely in his footsteps. Jerry and Hamp saw the cabin door thrown open. They heard a hoa.r.s.e shout from within.

"It's all right, Joe," Raikes answered. "No shootin'."

Sparwick paused, and drove the boys into the cabin ahead of him. He followed with the sleds.

Jerry and Hamp stared eagerly at their surroundings. They saw Bogle leaning against the table with a savage and wondering expression on his face. Then they spied some one else, and heard a familiar voice call them by name. The next instant they were kneeling on the bed beside Brick, trying to clasp his fettered hands.

"We've come to save you," declared Jerry. "Your troubles are over now.

Your father won't have to pay that money, either. Sparwick is helping us, you know. We told him that you would give him five hundred dollars if he saved you. That's why----"

The sentence was broken off short, for just then Bogle strode forward.

His face blazed with anger. He clapped one hand on Raikes' shoulder.

"What the deuce does this mean, Silas?" he demanded, hotly. "Have you lost your senses? Why did you turn back, and bring this rabble here? Do you want to ruin everything?"

There was a brief pause. The boys looked on with thrilling and anxious interest. They expected to see Raikes seize and overpower his comrade.

Imagine their surprise, then, when Raikes leaned over, and whispered a few words into Bogle's ear. The two strolled amicably to the farthest end of the cabin, where they sat down on a bench, and began to talk in low tones.

Sparwick propped himself carelessly against the door, with his hands in his pockets. He studiously kept his eyes averted from the bed. As for the three lads--well, they were not a little puzzled by such strange proceedings. They were at a loss to account for them.

"I hope what you told me is true," whispered Brick. "It don't look much as if Bogle was a prisoner, though."

"No; it don't," admitted Jerry. "I'm afraid there's a hitch somewhere."

"Perhaps Raikes hasn't turned traitor, after all," suggested Hamp.

"I mean that he may have fooled Sparwick."

"I'm afraid you two fellows are the ones that were fooled," said Brick. "It looks very much as though Sparwick had gone over to Raikes and Bogle. Perhaps they promised him more money."

Jerry and Hamp exchanged quick, meaning glances. It suddenly flashed upon them that Brick's suspicion was absolutely true.

Just then Jerry caught Sparwick's eye. He beckoned him to approach. But Sparwick pretended not to see. He looked the other way.

Before the boys could utter another word, Raikes and Bogle rose from the bench, and came across the room. Raikes paused in front of Sparwick, and said something to him. Bogle came on to the bed. His face wore a sneering smile of satisfaction.

"Give me those letters," he demanded of Jerry.

The lad hesitated. With a savage oath Bogle clinched his fist.

"The letters?" he repeated, "quick!"

Jerry realized his helplessness. He took the letters from his pocket, and handed them to the ruffian.

"You're a mean, lying traitor, Kyle Sparwick," he cried, angrily.

"None of that," exclaimed Bogle. "Keep a civil tongue in your head, or you will be sorry." He struck Jerry roughly on the face. Then he took their rifles from the two lads.

"Stay where you are," he added. "Don't move."

The boys cowered before the ruffian's fierce words and manner.

Bogle crossed the room, and put the weapons on a shelf over the fireplace. He strolled leisurely to the table, and perched himself on the edge. Raikes and Sparwick drew a bench up to the opposite side, and sat down.

"You've come here uninvited, Sparwick," said Bogle. "And I'm not any too glad to see you. You have chosen to meddle with an affair that was none of your business. I don't blame Raikes, for he did the best thing possible under the circ.u.mstances. You had the drop on him, and he knew it."

"It's fair enough, as far as I kin see," replied Sparwick, uneasily.

"You an' I are old friends, Joe Bogle, an' there's no reason why I shouldn't have a hand at such rich pickin's--especially when I've earned the right."

"Earned it?" sneered Bogle.