“A good coat of tar and feathers is just what your system needs.”
“We’ll paint you up so artistically that, even your own mother won’t know you.”
“Not if I can help it,” muttered Jerry, under his breath.
A great mass of wood had been collected, and this gave a roaring fire and also afforded a good light for the workers.
On each side of the fire a notched stick was driven into the ground. A third stick was laid across the top, just beyond the flames. From this upper stick the pot of tar was suspended by an iron chain.
The heat soon began to tell on the tar. As it softened it could be smelled a long distance off.
“How do you like that smell?” asked Peters of Jerry.
“Oh, it’s a good enough smell,” replied our hero, as coolly as he could.
“Never had a dose of tar before, did you?”
“Not much, he can’t,” put in another, and now Jerry felt sure that the speaker was Wash Crosby.
The masked boy started back and denied his identity. But it was plain to see he was much put out.
“I know you, Peters, Crosby, Banner and Graves,” went on Jerry. “And I’ll discover who you other two fellows are before I leave here, too.”
“Fiddlesticks!” shouted one of the boys by the fire who was stirring the tar.
“I’ve got it,” spoke up another, and he held up the stump of an old whitewash brush.
At a signal from Peters the crowd of masked boys withdrew to the side of the fire.
Here a long talk followed. It was so low that Jerry could not hear a word.
Peters was making the crowd solemnly promise that they would not inform upon each other, no matter what happened.
“If we stick together, Upton can prove nothing,” he said. “He has no witnesses.”
“We want to get square, and this is the chance of our lives to do it.”
“We can give him the tar and feathers and then leave him tied up in such a fashion that he can get free, but not before we have had a chance to make good our escape and get home and to bed.”
“It will teach Lakeporters a good lesson,” put in one of the unknowns. “My! but ain’t I down on every one of ’em.”
In the meanwhile the young oarsman was trying his best to work himself free of his bonds. He felt that unless he escaped he would surely be tarred and feathered.
He tugged at the ropes around his body, and after a hard struggle he managed to free his left arm.