"Does the cord hurt you like that? Will you promise to be quiet if I loosen up those leg cords a bit? But mind you, none of your shenanigan, if I do!" "No--no--no--course not!" Thus the man mumbled, his breath coming and going tremulously, but his wet eyes, resting on Billy appealingly, suddenly changed their expression as Billy's head bent down over the cord, and a swift, crafty gleam shot from under his treacherous brows, while Worth was bending over the confined legs. Meantime Phil, trusting to Billy's watchfulness, was fully occupied with the wheel and the brakes, for right here was a bad bit of going. In manipulating the cord so as to loosen it a little--not too much--and while, in order to deceive Billy, the fellow kept up his groaning, Billy's fingers were all needed. He hastily tucked under his arm the tube for a moment, as he contended with a stubborn portion of the knot. Watching both the condition of the loosening knot and noting that no one else seemed to be regarding them, the man shoved his legs apart. At the same time he seized the tube with both hands, jerking it from the arms of Worth. Then, springing to his feet, he raised the tube upward--all in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. With one shoulder he pushed Billy heavily, so that the boy dropped back into his seat just as Quinn levelled a quick blow across the tonneau at Phil, still busy at the wheel. The blow came as a complete surprise to the latter, still fully occupied with the wheel and the brakes. Fortunately Phil happened to bend forward in shifting gears, and the blow aimed for Phil's head fell glancingly along his shoulder. Even then the force was temporarily paralyzing. The boy shrunk still further forward under the blow, the movement causing him to press his foot on the brake. Hence they began to slow towards a stop. With his faculties still shaken, he mechanically threw on the halting gear, thus bringing the car to a gradual stop. Meanwhile Billy, seeing at once how he had been duped, raised up so forcibly that he bumped against the prisoner, who was trying to throw himself from the tonneau to the ground, his legs now being practically loose. "Ha, you will, eh?" gasped Worth. "I'll show you!" Reaching forth he grabbed a leg of the leaping fugitive, holding on for dear life, so that instead of alighting on his feet, the fellow actually fell forward over the tonneau with his head and arms dragging along with the car. Reaching the earth, the man managed to wrench free from Billy's clutch and finally kick himself loose, though with his arms still bound. Meantime Phil, having recovered, was already climbing from the car, and as the man scrambled to his feet he started in pursuit. "After him, Phil!" shouted Worth, bursting through the tonneau door. "He fooled me! Don't give up! I'm behind you!"