The leader of the marauders hesitated, and then took a single step in the descent; he halted there. "I only want to say"-- "Say nothing more! Come down, or you are a dead man in another second!" added Deck, still calm and resolute. [Illustration: "COME DOWN, OR YOU ARE A DEAD MAN." _Page 64._] "Go down, Cap!" said several of his followers as they retired from the dangerous locality at the head of the stairs. The captain did not hesitate any longer, but descended the steps very slowly, as though he was marching at his own funeral. "Win, bring all the cords and straps you can find. We shall want a lot of them," said Deck in a low tone to the guide. "Bugler, go with him and help him bring them." "This is not fair play," said the captain as he landed in the hall. "No more talk!" "What are you going to do with me?" demanded Coonly. "You are my prisoner, and I intend to secure you properly. Give me your sword and pistols." "I'll see you in"-- "Life!" called Deck, as he saw the stalwart sergeant near the front door. "Here, Leftenant!" replied Life as he strode into the hall and made the military salute to his officer. "Disarm this man!" said Deck, pointing to the ruffian leader. The tall sergeant seized Coonly by the collar of his coat with his left hand, held him out as though he had been a small boy, unbuckled his sword-belt, and took two revolvers from his pockets with his right. The captain was a middling-sized man, and he struggled in the gripe of the powerful Kentuckian; but he might as well have attempted to resist Hercules himself. "Now bind his arms behind him," continued Deck. "I protest, Lieutenant, against this brutal treatment!" stormed the prisoner in a loud voice. "All right; protest as much as you please, but don't make too much noise about it, or I shall be obliged to have you gagged." This hint quieted him; and with the aid of the bugler he was secured as the officer had ordered. CHAPTER V LIEUTENANT LYON ENCOUNTERS ANOTHER ENEMY Surrounded by double their own number of soldiers, armed with the best weapons, the marauders imprisoned in the upper story of the mansion could not help realizing that their situation was hopeless. They had not offered to come to the assistance of Captain Coonly when he was in the gripe of the stalwart sergeant; for the carbines of the cavalrymen still covered them, and they saw that they would be shot down if they attempted to descend the stairs without orders, or fired upon their assailants in the hall. The captain was conducted into the sitting-room, and a man was placed at the door to keep watch of him. But he was harmless by this time; as Win expressed it, "the fun had all gone out of him." Deck began to think he had spent time enough over the affair; and he was in a hurry to return to the Millersville Road.