JACK TAKES A PRISONER 



oner; but ef you find yourself gittin' the least bit 

 drowsy you must get up an' walk about, for it 

 won't do for the sentry to go to sleep to-night." 



*'Why, fellows," whined the big jayhawker, 

 *'you shorely don't mean to leave me in this fix 

 all night, do you? I don't see how I can stan' it 

 so long." 



*'Well, as to that," said Jack with a fierce look 

 of assumed heartlessness, "ef it'd be any accom- 

 modation to you we might be able to rig up some 

 sort of a gallows out about the barn an' swing you 

 off to-night so's you wouldn't have to stan' there 

 all night. Come to think of it," he continued, 

 turning to Tom and me, "that would be a good 

 scheme for us as well as to put the prisoner out of 

 his misery, fer ef we hang him to-night instead of 

 waitin' till mornin' we'll save ourselves the trouble 

 of standing guard over him, an' that's quite an 

 item. What do you say to it.?" 



But Tom and I decided that with no better 

 light than a candle, which the wind might blow 

 out, the jayhawker might escape, and if he didn't 

 we would not be able to do a good job of hanging 

 with so poor a light. And the prisoner concluded 

 that he would try and worry through the night on 

 the wagon wheel rather than put us to so much 

 inconvenience. 



71 



