CHAPTER VI.

A VICTIM OF STRATEGY.

Almost at the same moment, it came to the active mind of Dory Dornwood that the burglars might have gone to the bay, and embarked in a boat. They were as likely to do this as they were to take to the road. He had heard nothing since the sound of the voice startled him, and the villains might be two or three miles from him by this time. It would not be pleasant for him, at the breakfast-table the next morning, to relate that he had got on the track of the robbers, and then entirely lost the clew to them.

The thought of such a state of things annoyed him; and he decided that he should rather be shot, or at least be shot at, than subject himself to this degree of humiliation. But it was best to be prudent, even after he had decided to be shot at rather than be inactive any longer; and he walked some distance beyond the cart-path, to the northward.

He was intent upon settling the first problem,--whether or not the burglars had retreated by the road during his absence in the other direction. He lighted a match; but his examination of the roadway revealed no prints of human feet, and even those of horses had been obliterated by the heavy rain. He investigated several points of the road, and looked carefully on each side of the driveway, without finding a mark.

Returning to the junction of the roads, he made new calculations of the probable action of the marauders. He was reasonably confident, that, as they had not taken to the road, they were still in the woods. They must be strangers to the locality, and were not likely to attempt to find their way through the woods in the intense darkness which prevailed under the trees. Possibly they were waiting, like himself, for the daylight.

Dory did not believe they could get away unless they took to the lake, or departed by the road, at least until it was light enough for them to pick their way through the woods. He was covering the road, and he believed that he had got the matter down fine enough to leave them only the lake as an avenue of escape.

The wind was now blowing a violent gale; and even the most experienced boatman in those waters would not think of going out in a small boat, unless it was to save life. Kingsland Bay was fully sheltered, for it was not more than half a mile wide at its greatest breadth. They could not get out into the lake while the present tempest raged; and if they tried to get away in any other direction, they must aim for the road, for the Little Beaver River cut off their retreat between the highway and the lake.

Dory's head had been very level so far; and when he stated his theory in detail to his uncle, the principal, he fully approved his logic. He resumed his seat on the fence. He had hardly done so before he caught a faint gleam of light in the woods in the direction of the lake. A moment later he discovered a more decided appearance of a light. The villains were getting reckless, he thought; and possibly they concluded that the pursuers had abandoned the chase, as they saw no more of them.

Encouraged by these appearances, Dory continued to wait. At the end of half an hour he was astonished to see a light in the road, not twenty rods from him, and in the direction of Beech Hill. At first he concluded that it was the lantern from the school, and that some one or a party had started to find him.

The light was moving; but it was not approaching him, as it would be if his supposition were correct. It was certainly moving in the direction of Beech Hill, and it must be from the dark-lantern of the robbers. If this was the case, they were certainly taking a great deal of care to show it to him.

He could not see the person who carried the moving light, or tell whether he was alone, or not. Just then it looked to Dory as though he was losing the game he had been playing so patiently. He left the fence again. By the side of the road was a quantity of hoop-poles, and he stumbled over them. He took one of them, and cut it in two; for it was best to have a club, though he did not expect to have to use it.

Somehow the weapon seemed to add to his strength, though it was no match for a revolver. From the evidence of the light, he concluded that not more than one, if either, of the men remained in the woods. It looked as though the robbers were arranging a new combination, and Dory decided to make sure that he did not leave one of the villains behind him if he followed the light.

It was but a short distance to the head of the bay, and a visit to the shore would not detain him ten minutes. He followed the cart-path, proceeding very cautiously. But he reached the shore without seeing or hearing any thing. It was beginning to be a little lighter.

Drawn up on a little beach he discovered a boat. This could belong only to the burglars. But why had they taken to the road, and started off in the direction of the school, instead of departing in their boat? But they must certainly return to the boat, and finally escape in it. The painter was made fast to a tree; and Dory lost no time in casting it off, and shoving the boat as far as he could from the shore.

He had closed that avenue of escape, and he started for the road. Before he had gone twenty steps, he found himself in the embrace of a man, who had fallen upon him in the rear. His club was useless; and the attack was wholly unexpected, for he had been fully satisfied that the robbers were both retreating by the road.

Dory struggled with all his might, but he was taken at an utter disadvantage. A puny assailant might overcome a giant in this manner if he were quick enough. The man had drawn his arms behind him, and was pounding him in the back with his knees.

"Lay hold of him, Chuck!" shouted the assailant, out of breath. "What are you about?"

"I am getting the rope ready," replied the other, as the first one succeeded in bringing Dory to the ground. "Hold on to him, Angy, and I will soon fix him so that he will keep quiet."

Dory struggled till he found that resistance was useless; and then he submitted, though his spirit chafed violently at the necessity. He realized that he was only one against two, taken by surprise at that, and he could do nothing. He lay upon the wet ground till his captors had bound his arms behind him, and then they assisted him to his feet.

The prisoner had done a great deal of thinking during the last hour or more, and, so far as he was personally concerned, he had done it for nothing. The situation was decidedly unfortunate for him, and he could not help thinking that the marauders were making it worse for themselves.

As soon as they had lifted Dory to his feet, one of them gave a prolonged whistle upon some instrument. There were two of them at the shore, and the prisoner was confident there had been no more than two in the office. If there had been three who passed over the road, he could not have failed to discover their tracks. He had looked in several places, and always with the same result; and he concluded that one of the party had remained with the boat while the others went to "make the break."

By this time it was perfectly evident to Dory that the lantern in the road was a decoy,--a trick to make the pursuers believe that the robbers had returned to the vicinity of Beech Hill. Unhappily for him, the plan had been successful, and he had fallen into the trap. But the marauders had reached the shore where their boat awaited them, and there had been nothing to prevent them from embarking. In the darkness they could easily have made their escape. Dory was unable to explain the action of his captors in this respect.

"We are all right now," said one of the burglars, when they had bound the prisoner. "Do you suppose Mack heard that whistle, Angy?"

"Of course he did, Chuck," replied the one addressed as Angy.

"The wind makes a tremendous noise," suggested Chuck. "I will walk up to that road, if you like, and see if he is coming."

"We are in no hurry, for we can't get out of this bay. It is blowing a hurricane," added Angy.

"But Mack may get into hot water if he goes too far in that direction. They have rung an alarm-bell, and the whole town will turn out: there will be a crowd of them this way before long."

"All right, then: go up to the road, for that light may give them a clew to us," added Angy.

Chuck started up the cart-path, and there was now light enough for him to see his way so that he could move at a rapid pace. Dory looked about him, and strained his muscles a little to ascertain the strength of the cords with which he was bound. It was still too dark for him to see the face of the robber remaining with him; and if he had seen him, he would not have recognized him, for he had not seen him face to face before.

Chuck was not gone ten minutes before he returned with Mack, who had used the dark-lantern in the road. They came back in a hurry, and both of them seemed to be in a flurry. If they were professional burglars, they certainly lacked the coolness of long practice. The dark-lantern had been put out, and Dory could not see the faces of any of the trio.

"They are after us!" exclaimed Mack, with no little trepidation in his manner.

"Of course they are after us," replied Angy, who appeared to be the chief of the party. "The whole neighborhood will be out, for they rung that bell long enough and loud enough to wake the dead. But we are all right now, and you needn't vex your gizzard about any thing."

"But it is daylight, and it will soon be light enough to show us up to all the world," added Mack.

"Dry up, Mack! I am running this machine, and I shall see you through," replied Angy sharply.

The leader took the prisoner by the collar of his coat, and led him to the boat, which the wind had driven back to the beach. He was placed in the bow, while Angy seated himself in the stern. The other two took the oars, and the boat was shoved off.