“I most certainly do! The idea is positively--silly!” and Tom had the nerve to laugh in the faces of his enemies. “We’ll make you sweat for this!” declared Whalen. “We’ll----” “Better let the boss work the game,” suggested Murker. In spite of his evil face, and the fact that he was just as guilty in the matter as the others, he seemed of a more conciliatory spirit. “Yes, you keep out of this,” commanded the professor to the former employee of the school. “I know what I’m doing.” Tom wondered what the next move would be. He did not have to wait long to find out. “Well, if you won’t sign this now, you will later,” said Skeel, as he folded the letter and put it into his pocket. “Take him to the dark room,” he ordered. “Maybe he’ll come to his senses there. And don’t give him too much bread and water,” and the man laughed as he gave this order. “A little starving will bring some results, perhaps. Lock him up, and bring me the key.” “All right, you’re the boss,” assented Murker. “I’m in this thing now, and I’m going to stick it out, but I wish----” “You’re right; you’re going to stick!” interrupted Skeel. “You’re in it as deep as I am, and you can’t get out!” Murker did not finish what he started to say. He shrugged his shoulders and seemed resigned to what was to come. Tom disliked him the least of the three, though the man’s face was not in his favor. “Shall we tie him up again?” asked Whalen. “Yes, and tie him good and tight, too. Don’t mind how you draw those cords. The more trouble we make now, the less we’ll have to make later. Tie him up and put him away where he can cool off,” and Professor Skeel laughed mockingly. For an instant a desperate resolve came into Tom’s mind to make a rush and a break for liberty. But the idea was dismissed almost as soon as it was formed. What chance would he stand with three full-grown men to oppose him? The door was locked, and Tom’s feet were still bound. He had a knife in his pocket, but to reach it, and cut the ropes on his ankles would take time, and in that time he would easily be overpowered by his captors. It was out of the question now. “But I’m going to escape, if it’s at all possible,” Tom declared to himself. “And when I do get out of here----” But he could not finish his thought. His gun and mackinaw had been taken away from him, and now when Whalen roughly seized him, and put the ropes on his wrists, Skeel said: “Search his pockets. Take what money he has and any sort of weapons. Then lock him up!” Tom did have considerable money on him, and this was soon out of his pockets, and in that of the professor. Tom’s knife and other possessions were also removed. Then he was lifted up, carried to another room, and roughly thrust into sort of a closet that was very dark. Tom fell heavily to the floor. His mackinaw was tossed in to him. “He can use that for a blanket--we’re short of covering,” he heard Skeel say. “We don’t want him to be too comfortable, anyhow.”