wrathful Darrin was standing.

"Well, of all the-----" began Tom wonderingly.

"Outrages!" finished Darry angrily.

Prescott laughed outright.

"I suppose I must be a comical-looking object," admitted Dave
Darrin ruefully. "But just wait until I lay my hands on the rascal
who played this trick on me! Oh, I'll make him ache for his
smartness."

Though Darrin had an unusually quick temper, he generally had
it under excellent control. Now, however, he was so indignant
that he fairly sputtered, and the humorous side of the situation
did not appeal to him.

What Dick saw was that Dave stood with his back to the trunk of
the tree. Around Darry's neck a noose was fast. Back of the
prisoner the rope had been wrapped once around the trunk of the
tree. Next, several folds of rope had been passed both around
Darrin and the tree trunk in such fashion that the boy's arms
were pinioned fast to his sides. In addition, a single turn of
rope had been taken around each arm. Finally, the rope had been
knotted several times at the opposite side of the tree from that
on which Darrin stood.

"You must have stood pretty patiently for anyone to be able to
tie you up in that artistic fashion!" blurted Tom Reade.