When ye meet a band o' robbers give 'em the sign an' tell 'em you want to join." He went on with the book and read how the robbers had hung a captive who had persecuted them and interfered with their sport.

The story explained how they put the rope around the neck of the captive and threw the other end of it over the limb of a tree and pulled the man into the air.
He stopped suddenly and demanded: "Is there a long rope here ?" I pointed to Uncle Peabody's hay rope hanging on a peg.
"Le's hang a captive," he proposed.
At first I did not comprehend his meaning.

He got the rope and threw its end over the big beam.

Our old shepherd dog had been nosing the mow near us for rats.

Amos caught the dog who, suspecting no harm, came passively to the rope's end.