A Cousin's Conspiracy Part 20

"You've got the advantage of me," he said. "I am bound and helpless, while you are free and are armed. Still you are afraid of me."

"Why should I be?" asked Mason, but his tone was not firm.

"Yes, why should you be? I'll tell you. If ever I have you where I am now I'll give you fifteen minutes to say your prayers."

"Oh, what a terrible man!" said Mrs. Mason with a shudder. "You wouldn't kill him?"

"Yes, I would. But there is one way of escape."

"What is that?"

"Loose these bonds and let me go before your Quaker friend comes down and your life will be safe, and your wife's."

Ezekiel Mason shook his head feebly.

"I don't dare to do it," he said.

"Do as you please, but the time will come when you will be sorry that you refused. What are you afraid of? You are armed, while I have no weapon."

"I am afraid of Luke."

"You needn't be. He would find fault with you, but that would be all."

Ezekiel Mason was weak, but not weak enough to yield to the persuasions of his prisoner. Besides, he knew that Luke would come down from the attic directly.

In fact, he was already close at hand. He brought in his hand the cut fragments of the cord with which the outlaw had originally been bound.

"This tells the story," he said, holding up the rope so that the farmer and his wife could see it. "This rope has been cut. The man has a knife."

John Fox darted a malignant look at him, but said nothing.

"You are smart, John Fox," Luke went on, "smarter than I thought. Where is your knife?"

John Fox did not reply.

Luke Robbins knelt down and thrust his hand unceremoniously into the outlaw's pocket.

He drew out the knife which had done him so much service.

"This will be safer with me than with you," he said.

"Would you rob me?" demanded the outlaw.

"Yes, of anything it is not proper for you to have."

To John Fox the disappointment was bitter. He was, if anything, more securely tied than before, and it would be quite impossible to loosen the rope or free himself without the help of the knife. His hope of getting loose during the night and killing Luke was at an end.

"Did he say anything while I was upstairs?" asked Luke.

"Yes."

"What was it?"

"He wanted me to set him free."

"Did he offer you money?"

"No, but he threatened that he would some time take my life."

"He is a terrible man!" said Mrs. Mason, shuddering. "I shall not feel safe to-night with him in the house."

"I don't propose to let him stay in the house all night."

The prisoner, the farmer and his wife looked at Luke inquiringly.

"I think, farmer," said Luke, "you'd better harness up and we will take our friend to the jail in Crampton."

"What, to-night?"

"Yes; the sooner he is safely disposed of the better; at any rate we will have shifted the responsibility to the authorities."

"Yes, it will be better," said Mrs. Mason in a tone of relief.

The buggy was made ready, and the outlaw was packed in the back part of it. Toward nightfall the warden of the prison at Crampton was startled by the arrival of the farmer and Luke bringing with them the notorious outlaw whose name was in every mouth. He hardly knew whether to be sorry or glad, for no prison yet had been secure enough to hold him.

"I will leave my name," said Luke, "and I shall hereafter claim the reward for his capture."

CHAPTER XIV

ERNEST HAS AN ADVENTURE

Luke Robbins remained at the farmhouse till the middle of the next day. At that hour the sum of money which Mason had withdrawn from the bank was transferred to the party for whom it was intended, and Luke's mission was at an end.

He received from the farmer the stipulated five dollars, and started on his return to Emmonsville, Ezekiel Mason driving him the greater part of the way.

Luke arrived at the bank half-an-hour before it closed and reported his success, including the capture of John Fox. He was congratulated on his success, but noticed that the officers of the bank looked grave.

"Is anything the matter?" he asked.

"Yes," answered the cashier. "At one o'clock yesterday we sent your young friend Ernest with a thousand dollars in United States bonds to the bank at Lee's Falls, and we have received no tidings from him."

"What do you fear?" asked Luke hurriedly.

"We fear that he may have been captured by some of the Fox gang, and be in confinement, or else----"