d off if he dares to look crosswise!"

I knew Jim's musket must be empty, since he had not had time to recharge it after firing that which served as an alarm; but I took the chances of the fact being discovered, and turned with the lantern held high above my head to view the scene.

Near at hand Darius was kneeling on the British officer's chest, industriously engaged in strapping the latter's arms to his body with the prisoner's waist-belt.

In the distance Jerry and Josiah knelt beside a form which was stretched out frightfully limp, as if life had departed; but I observed that they were securing the man's hands and feet with portions of his trousers.

Beyond them a short distance was a second Britisher, tied tightly with what appeared to be strips torn from his own clothing, and midway[Pg 74] between them and Darius, was a third body, evidently that of the man who had attacked me; but he remained motionless, and, having heard the blow which struck him down, I could well understand why he did not give any very violent signs of life.

It did not appear that I was needed elsewhere, therefore I turned my attention to the miller, who was standing like a statue, not daring to lift a finger lest Jim should "blow off the top of his head."

"Come here," I said to him. "Come here while my friend trusses you up in proper fashion. What can you find there to tie him with, Jim?"

"Plenty," Jim cried gleefully as he picked up from the floor a couple of bags and began cutting them into strips. "Here's enough an' to spare, of what is better than rope."

The venture had come to a most successful end, providing there were no others in the vicinity whose love for the British would prompt them to interfere, and I was amazed, even amid the excitement of victory, that we had come off ahead when it seemed certain the en