"
"Then kindly guess that I can't wait here simply for the pleasure of
talking with Master Haines."
"I shan't try to do that, my rebellious friend. When Jim gets ready---"
Walter half turned to see what part the Indian was to play in this
interview, and as he did so the fellow's arms were around him, pinioning
his own to his side.
"What is the meaning of this?" he cried, angrily, as he tried in vain to
release himself.
"It means, Master Neal, that I wish to see the message you carry," and
Haines, dismounting, hastily searched the prisoner's pockets.
"You have found yourself mistaken as sadly as when you believed the king
would give you the dirty work of selling stamped paper," Walter said, with
a laugh, noting the look of disappointment on Haines's face when he failed
to find any document.
"You have been intrusted to deliver the message by word of mouth, and it
will serve my purpose as well if I prevent you from calling on that
seditious Revere. Here, Jim, tie him to a tree with this," and Haines drew
from his saddle-bags a piece of stout rope.
It was in vain Walter struggled; taken at a disadvantage as he had been,
he was powerless, and in a few moments was bound securely to a tree, while
his captors threw themselves on the ground in front of him, as if to make
a long stay.
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