"Oh, make a 'spread eagle' of him on a hind wheel of the wagon till morning I suppose, an' then take him down to the timber an' hang him an' be done with him," he replied as he began to put the first part of this programme into execution. The "spread eagle" is made by requiring the prisoner to stand with his back against a hind wheel of a wagon; his arms are then stretched out on each side and tied by the wrists to the upper rim of the wheel, while his ankles, with feet spread apart, are tied in like manner to the bottom of the wheel. The prisoner can ease himself a little by sitting on the hub of the wheel, but this affords an insecure and uncomfortable seat. As soon as we had securely spread the big jayhawker on the wheel, Jack left me to watch him, with a caution to see that he did not work himself loose, while he unsaddled and picketed out the fine black horse he had captured. When this was accomplished he called Tom and me off to one side, far enough to be out of hearing of the prisoner, taking the precaution to place the light near the open tent door where it would shine on our "spread eagle," so that we could see if he made any effort to free himself, and then Jack gave us a detailed account of his trip. "When I got to a place in the timber where I could see the store, I saw that the jayhawkers' horses was all hitched to the fence an' I knew they was inside. Pretty soon they all comes out an' mounts, an' all except this man Tucker struck out toward their camp. After seein' them off, Tucker mounted an' struck off in a different direction, up the creek like. I couldn't make out what he was up to, but I thought I would go in an' have a chat with the storekeeper as soon as the coast was clear. I went in an' had quite a talk with the ol' man, an', sure enough, he had heard enough of their talk to make sure that their plan was about what Tom had guessed it would be. They would go back to their camp an' wait till after midnight, an' then mount an' take a circuit 'round our camp, pass, an' git ahead of us, an' lay for us in the timber at the crossing of the next creek, which the old man says is only a mile and a half from here. Tucker had concluded that while he sent his men back to camp he would ride over the route they intended to take an' look at the lay of the land so as to be able to place his men to the best advantage to get the drop on us. "In going to the place he had kept up the creek for a piece an' then circled 'round across the prairie to the little creek so's not to be seen or heard by any of us here; but in comin' back he had followed the main road, 'cause he knew it was too dark by that time for any of us to tell who he was as he passed along the road.