affection to young Jack.

But he did not wish to reward the miscreants for ill-treating the
unfortunate lads.

At length he came to the conclusion that he would persist in his
resolve to have the boys back before he parted with any money at all.

Accordingly he wrote another note to the brigands.

This he dispatched by the same means as the former note.

"Release the two lads. Restore them to us, and the ransom of a king
shall be yours. Fix upon any sum, however great, provided that it be
within my means to pay it, and you shall not ask twice. Moreover, I
shall do nothing more to molest you or interfere with you in any way.
Play false, or harm a hair of my boys' heads, and beware. You may know
that Jack Harkaway is not the man to make an enemy of."

The answer to this was not long in coming.

An ugly scrawl upon a dirty piece of paper, and with it was a small
parcel.

"We despise your threats, and laugh you to scorn. That you may know how
little we are to be trifled with, we send you their ears in proof that
we have kept our word. By this hour to-morrow the two boys die, unless
you pay down the sum as fixed upon by us, both in manner and in
amount."