It was too dark for them to see what the obstruction was, and they bounced and jumped against the wire meshes like fish in a net.
"Cut it with your jackknife!" Harvey whispered to Alfred; and then both boys got out their knives and sawed away at the meshes--with no success whatever! By that time Jim and Asa had entered the pound, and shouting with laughter, each grabbed a boy by the ankle and hauled him down from the wall.

At about that time, too, the old Squire arrived on the scene, bringing a rope and a new horsewhip.

I myself had been sleeping soundly, and was slow to wake.

Even grandmother Ruth and the girls were ahead of me, and when I rushed out, they were standing at the orchard gate, listening in considerable excitement to the commotion at the old pound.
When I reached the place Jim and Asa--with Addison looking on--had tied the rogues together, and were haling them up through the orchard.
"Take 'em to the barn, Squire!" Jim shouted.

"Shut the big doors, so the neighbors can't hear 'em holler, and then give it to 'em good!" "Yes, give it to 'em, Squire!" Asa exclaimed.