Skip's, replied:
"That's so. You fellers what ain't doing anything pick 'em up."
"Who's got the rope?"
"I have."
"Why not throw him in an' run the chances? It's too bad to lose what cost half a dollar."
"There's time enough to fix that after we've got him to the shaft."
"Hold your tongues, or somebody will hear us!" Skip whispered, angrily, as his companions thus discussed the preliminaries.
Then came a long time of silence broken by the footsteps of the party, or the loud breathing of those who were carrying the burden.
Several times Fred tried to give an alarm; but his mouth was held so firmly that not a sound could escape his lips, and after a while he contented himself with simply trying to form some idea of the direction in which he was being taken.
When the party had carried him for ten or fifteen minutes a halt was made, and then his captors took the precaution of enveloping his head in a coat, which shut out every sound, save the loudly uttered remarks of the regulators.
He heard Skip berating one of the party, because some reference was made to their destination, and then ensued a noisy discussion as to what should be done with him.
"If he don't turn up to-morrer mornin' old Donovan will swear we took him off, an' there'll be a heap of trouble for all hands," one of the boys suggested.
"What of that? Nobody can say we did it, an' after he's had one night of it, I reckon he'll be willin' to do as we say."
"But how'll he get out?"
"That's for him to say. We'll show him what it is to go agin our crowd, an' the rest is his business."
Then Fred was borne forward again until it seemed as if fully half a mile had been traversed, when the regulators halted for the second time.
The wrappings were removed from his head, and as nearly as the prisoner could tell he was some distance from the breaker; at the mouth of what appeared to be an abandoned shaft.
"Now, look here," Skip Miller said, as he stood before his prisoner. "You've taken it into your head that us reg'lators don't 'mount to nothin'; but by to-morrer mornin' you'll think different. What we say we mean an' don't you forget it. If you'd been man enough to do like every other feller it would 'a been all right; but instead of that you go babyin' to old Donovan, an' we don't 'low sich funny business."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Show what the reg'lators 'mount to. When you come out of this I reckon you'll be willin' to pay up like a man, an' join us."
"It will have to be a pretty stiff dose to make me do anything of the kind," Fred said, angrily.
"That's jest what this is goin' to be. We're lettin' you off of a poundin' so's to show what can be done, an' if you say so much as a word to old Donovan we'll pretty near kill you."
"I shall talk to whoever I please."
"Not after you come out of this. Don't think we'll allers let you off so cheap, an' at the first show of tellin' what's been done to-night we'll give you another lesson."
Fred realized that it was useless to bandy words with those who held him so completely in their power, and understanding also that he could do nothing to better his condition, held his peace.
Skip showed himself to be an adept in the business of subduing refractory breaker boys, by giving his orders promptly, and in such a manner as would soonest accomplish the work. Under his energetic directions Fred's hands were soon tied behind his back, a gag was fastened in his mouth, and the rope placed under his arms.
"Now raise him up, an' you needn't be careful about lettin' him drop. The sooner he gets to the bottom the quicker we can go back to the store. Put the bundles near the mouth of the shaft, an' in a couple of days somebody will find him."
"It'll go rough with us if he tells who left him here," one of the party suggested.
"There's no danger of that. Before he gets out he'll know what it means to fool with us."
Fred remained passive. He could not believe these boys would dare to do anything very serious. And to attempt resistance would accomplish no possible good.
"Raise him up!" Skip shouted, and in another instant Fred was hanging over what appeared to be a deep hole, to be dropped with a suddenness and force which, for the time being, deprived him of consciousness.
While he lay at the bottom of the shaft the regulators placed the parcels taken from the store, in such a manner as to make it appear that he had fallen in by accident, and when this had been done they went swiftly toward the settlement, regardless of whether their victim lived or died.
CHAPTER III
IN THE SHAFT
Mrs. Byram had no suspicion that her son might be exposed to any danger until after he had been absent an hour, and then the remembrance of the threats made by Skip Miller and his friends caused her the deepest anxiety. Fred would not have staid at the store longer than was absolutely necessary, and the fear of foul play had hardly gained possession of her mind before she was on her way to search for him.
The company's clerk had but just finished explaining that the new breaker boy left there with his purchases some time previous, when Donovan entered in time to hear the widow say:
"I do not understand why he should remain away so long, for he must know I would be troubled concerning him."
"Didn't your boy stay in the house after I left him at the gate, Mrs. Byram?" the breaker boss asked.
Mrs. Byram explained why Fred ventured out, and the man appeared to be disturbed in mind.
"This is just the time when he oughter kept his nose inside. Them young ruffians are likely to do any mischief."
"Then you believe something serious has happened."
"I didn't say quite that; but it won't do much harm to have a look for him. You go home, an' I'll call there in an hour." Then turning to some of the loungers, he asked, "Has anybody seen Skip Miller lately?"
"You're allers tryin' to make out that he's at the bottom of everything that goes wrong," Skip's father, who entered at this moment, said in a surly tone.
"If he ain't, it's not for lack of willingness. Do you know where he is?"
"Home, where he's been for an hour or more."
Donovan looked hard at the speaker, and Miller retorted:
"If you don't believe me, it won't take long to find out for yourself."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. Mrs. Byram, I will see you again in less than an hour."
With these words the breaker boss left the store, and Fred's mother walked slowly home, the anxiety in her heart growing more intense each moment.
Two hours passed before Donovan returned and announced his inability to find the missing boy.
"I did think Skip might have had a hand in it," he said; "but I reckon he's
