"What shall we put in your mouth?" asked Jim, pausing and looking round after the binding was finished.
"Golly! I forgot all about that," was the reply.
Billy darted to the bureau and caught up a large hair-brush.
"How'll this do?" he asked, holding it up to view.
"It won't do at all," was the disgusted reply; "it's too big for my mouth."
"I don't know 'bout that; you've got the biggest mouth in school."
"We'll take a sheet off the bed," said Jim, beginning to tug at the coverlets.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Tom; "do you think you can cram a whole sheet in my mouth?"
"I have it," exclaimed Billy, running to the corner of the room and catching up a porcelain cuspidor; "this will just fit. Open your mouth, Tom, and give me a chance."
But at this juncture, when the perplexity threatened to upset everything, Billy Waylett solved the difficulty by whisking out his linen pocket-handkerchief.
"Now you're talking," remarked the pleased Tom; "why didn't we think of that before?"
It was curious, indeed, that they did not, and it was curious, too, in view of the cunning shown in other directions, that all three forgot a precaution which ought to have occurred to them.
A handkerchief was just the thing to be used to seal the mouth of the victim, but it should have come from the pocket of Tom Wagstaff instead of from Billy Waylett's.
Perhaps had the boys felt that abundance of time was at command, they would have thought of this necessity; but they were well aware that Maggie, the servant, was making good speed to the Town Hall, and that Mr. Wagstaff would not let the grass grow under his feet on his way home. Besides, too, the screams of the girl were likely to bring others to the spot before the coming of the owner of the house. The boys, therefore, had not a minute to throw away, and they did not idle their time.
The twisted handkerchief was pushed between the open jaws of the victim, like the bit in a horse's mouth, and then knotted and tied behind his head. Billy, who took charge of this little job, was not over-gentle, and more than once the victim protested. Little heed, however, was paid to him, and his words were but feeble mumblings when sifted through the meshes of the handkerchief.