Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/182

168 you! Let him up, boys, but don't leave go of his arms."

"I've got the pistol George kicked out of his hand," said Sandy Griswold.

"Hand it here, then. Now, will you be good, you two? It's Columbia for yours, straight. Any more straps handy?" continued Frank briskly.

He had some specks of blood on his face, but did not seem to notice so small a thing as this in the general excitement of the hour. As luck would have it a second boy found that he had a strap around his waist he could spare; and accordingly Joey was accommodated in the same manner his larger companion had been.

A madder pair of rascals it would have been hard to find anywhere. To be captured at all was bad enough, but the idea of a parcel of boys accomplishing what all the police chiefs had been unable to do was humiliating.

"I see what it is," grumbled Martin, with a shrug of his broad shoulders to signify disgust; "you're one of them fellers that's born under a lucky star, Frank Allen. Things just naturally come your way all the time. We was big fools to have anything to do with you. Joey here suggested it first."

"Aw! go hang yourself, Martin! Didn't you say how we might squeeze some valuable news outen the kid if we grabbed him? Anyhow, it don't much