Seeing his danger, Dick whipped out a pistol and shot the lantern out of the big man’s hand, making a sudden dash for the door. As he reached it, however, some one came in, there was a collision and Dick and the newcomer fell to the floor with a crash.

“Hallo! can’t you see where you’re going?” the fellow yelled, and Dick recognized his voice as that of the man who had been, abusing the boy farther up the street.

The spy, Jeb and others now rushed forward, lights were procured and Dick was surrounded and made a prisoner.

“H’m! that’s the rebel that said I shouldn’t spend my own boy’s money,” the newcomer muttered “I owe him a grudge and I’ll pay it, too. No rebel strikes me for nothing!”

“You know him, do you, Fletch?” asked Hughson.

“Yes, I know him. I didn’t know he was Dick Slater, but I know him, and I’ve got a grudge against him and I’m going to settle it. You was counting on taking him to the general, I suppose?”

“Yes, but get him out of the way. Some one might come in.”

Dick was taken into a rear room where there was not much light and bound hand and foot. At length he heard footsteps in the passage outside, and then the door was opened and two men came in, followed by a boy carrying a lantern in his hand. The men picked Dick up and carried him out, but not before he had seen the boy’s face, and the boy had seen him and had given him a swift look of intelligence. The boy was the one he had befriended, and however he happened to be here, whether he was leagued with these evil men or not, Dick knew that he would help him. The boy went ahead, down a flight of stairs to a damp cellar, and along a passage to some place where there was a damp smell and foul odors from the swamps along the river.

“Set him down, Bill,” said one of the men, and Dick was placed on the ground on his back.

“Go after the bag, Tom,” one man said, “or send your pop and the rest here.”

“Won’t do it!” said the boy “Dad will beat me. Go yourself. I will watch him.”

“Go on, Jeb.”

“Go yourself, or come along. Tom ain’t used to these things, and the old man will lick him, too. Knows you’re here, does he, boy?”

“No, he don’t. Safest place for me is the grog shop when he has no money, ’cause he won’t come there.”

“He’ll be here all right, then,” with a laugh “He wouldn’t miss seein’ the rebel chucked into the water. Come on, Bill. Here, give us your lantern, Tom.”

“All right,” and Dick knew by the gathering shadows that the men were going away.

Then the boy suddenly kneeled at his side and said in a hoarse whisper and with great excitement:

“I found out where you was, Captain, and made up my mind to save you I’ve got a knife and will cut the ropes. Wish I had the lantern. Never mind, I can feel. Can you roll over?”

“Yes, I guess so,” but at that moment there were other footsteps and more lights and hoarse voices.

“Never mind, Captain, I’ll do it yet!” hissed the boy “I’ll do it if I have to kill dad and the lot of ’em.”

Then the spy, the boy’s father, the landlord, and the men who had brought Dick to the place, came up and the boy slunk back into the darkness and awaited his time.

“Got the bag there, Bill?”

“Yes; here it is.”

Two of the men picked Dick up, while another held the sack open and drew it over his feet. The boy came up, and Dick felt a keen bladed knife put between his hands and for an instant saw the face of the boy.

“Here, get out of the way!”

“Hold him steady, Jeb!”

“Don’t be so long there with that sack!”

“Hurry up, there, he’s as heavy as lead!”

The sack was drawn up over Dick’s head and tied tight with a stout rope, the men then carrying him between them to the end of the passage and up some steps. One or two tested the rope to see that it was all right and then the men holding Dick gave the sack a swing or two and cast it well out upon the water, where it struck with a splash and then sank. Dick could hold his breath for nearly two minutes and he knew that he would not need all that. While the men were swinging him he clutched the handle of the knife, turned the blade down and began to cut through the sack. When he began to sink he moved his hands toward his head and cut a straight gash in the sack. Then he moved his hands the other way and began to kick vigorously, so as to loosen the sack. Then, as he began to think he could hold his breath no longer, he felt himself rising, the sack fell away from him, and in a few moments he shot up to the surface alongside some huge object which he recognized as the hull of a vessel. Then he lay on his back and floated, and, holding the knife in his teeth, cut the cords that bound his wrists and his hands were free.

Swimming noiselessly alongside the vessel, which was anchored in the river, he reached the fore chains. He was now free to use both hands and feet, and the next thing to do was to get to shore. He had his knife which Tom had given him and this he resolved to keep till he was safely out of all his dangers. Making his way around the anchored vessel, he set out for shore, guided by the few lights along the water and in the taverns. Suddenly he heard the sound of oars and then of voices.

“How did he get hold of a knife?” asked Hughson.

“I dunno, but he’ll have to float and we ought to find him,” replied Jeb.

The sack had been drawn ashore, and the slash in it discovered and now the men were trying to find Dick. The boat was coming directly toward him, and in a few moments he could distinguish its outlines dimly and see the forms of three men in it rowing directly toward him. Then he sank well down and swam right under the boat, coming up a yard or so beyond it as it went on toward the middle of the river.