`What we goin' to do?' asked the younger man, who was striding up and down the room.
`Yu might try settin' down an' shuttin' yore face for a start,' said his friend sardonically. `Yo're actin' like a scared hen.'
`Yu ain't actin' at all--that's why I'm askin',' retorted the other hotly, but he nevertheless took the hint.
`What d'yu make of it?' asked Job.
`I figure it's Tarman,' replied the outlaw slowly. `Mebbe he thinks he can crowd Simon into concludin' the sale, or he's forcin' the girl to marry him. There's another possibility--it may be a ruse to skin yore ranch o' folks an' pull off a big raid. Yu sent all yore boys on the hunt?'
`Every darn one barrin' the cook,' Leeming said. `That last's a chance I gonta take. I'm leaving for the Y Z now; too bad yu fellers can't take a hand.'
`We're aimin' to,' Green said. `Where'd yu cache our hosses?'
`In the old stable at the end o' this place--it ain't been used for years. There's a door into it from the house. Take anythin' yu needs.'
It was characteristic of the man that he asked no questions as to their movements and made no attempt to dissuade them; in local phraseology, it was a case of letting every man skin his own meat.
No sooner had he gone than the others followed. Packing up a supply of food, they found their mounts, and by keeping the ranch-house between themselves and the bunkhouse got away unobserved by the solitary cook, who was enjoying an unlooked-for holiday smoking and reading in his bunk. Not until they were clear away did Larry ask where they were going.
`We'll ride straight to the Crossed Dumb-bell. If we find she's there, yu can fetch Job an' his boys an' we'll clean up the bunch.'
The younger man had no objections to offer and they crossed the intervening Y Z range at a good speed, headed again for the trail which skirted the Sandy Parlour desert. They passed groups of cattle but saw no riders, and the line-house was deserned. Green smiled grimly.
`Looks like they ain't afraid o' warwhoop rustlers no more,' he commented. `All the same, Job shouldn't 'a' left the Frying Pan wide open; Tarman ain't the kind to miss a chance like that.'
`Huh! We know where to find the cows anyways,' said his companion. `We'll get 'em back when the showdown comes, yu bet, yu.'
`An' it won't be long now,' Green responded. `If Tarman has Miss Norry, he's overplayed his hand. Even Hatchett's won't stand for that, an' Job has friends there too.'
They pressed steadily on, mile after mile, keeping for the most part to the trail used by the rustlers; only now and then they saved distance by leaving it and forcing their way through a wood or brush-filled gully which was more direct and possible for horsemen not hampered with a herd of cattle. Around them the birds sang, the sunlight filtered through the foliage and tiny streams whispered merrily on their way to join larger ones. Among the patches of big timber the solitude was complete and the hoofs of the horses made no sound on the thick carpet of pine needles.
Green had no eyes for the beauty through which they passed; outwardly calm, he was inwardly consumed with rage at the thought that Noreen might be at the mercy of a man like Tarman, and his one aim was to get to her as quickly as possible. Since his companion was equally eager they wasted no more time than was necessary over their meals. So it came about that it was still light when they neared their destination and halted to settle upon a plan of procedure. Securely hidden in the thick undergrowth, they could see the ranch buildings a few hundred yards away. Two spirals of smoke showed that they were occupied, and the number of ponies in the corral suggested that most of the men were about. Slipping from his own mount, Green cautiously worked his way to a position from which he could view the animals in the enclosure. Presently he was back again, his face hard with anger.
`Her hoss is there an' it's a safe bet the girl is in the ranch-house, where the foreman lives,' he said. `I'm goin' to get her. If yu don't hear nothin' from me in an hour, fork yore cayuse an' fetch Job an' the boys.'
Larry demurred. `We'd stand a better chance if both of us tackled the job. This messenger-play don't appeal none to me.'
`Don't yu ever use that head for anythin' but keepin' yore ears apart?' asked his friend sarcastically. `No, it ain't a bit o' good yu cussin' me, yu gotta do as I say, she's the on'y trail out. So long, an' don't yu come bustin' in if yu hear guns goin'. Head for the Y Z, pronto.'
`But, see here--' began Larry, and then discovered he was talking to the empty air. `Blamed idjut,' he concluded, and sat down to wait.
Green crawled to a point where the bushes most nearly approached the buildings, and then, in the deepening dusk, darted across the open space and gained the rear of the ranch-house. The door proved to be latched only and cat-footing along a passage, he came to another door, partly open, from which a gleam of light shone. Peeping in, he saw Jeffs sitting at the table, laboriously inscribing figures on a sheet of paper before him. Apparently the task was both a pleasant and engrossing one for he was smiling, and did not notice the gradual opening of the door and the entry of a visitor.
`Stick 'em up,' came a curt command.
With a jerk the foreman's head lifted, and his hands quickly followed when he saw the weapon and realised who held it. `Sudden?' he gasped.
`All o' that,' responded Green grimly. `Now, speak low an' talk straight. Where's Miss Petter?'
`Never heard of her,' replied Jeffs sullenly.
`Don't lie,' Green told him. `Yo're about two seconds from hell right now. Come clean or
The tone betrayed no anger but there was a cold deadliness in it which told the other that he must speak or die. He was a brave man and had gambled his life on a chance many a time, but here there was no chance.
`There's a skirt upstairs in a back room,' he admitted. `Some-thin' Spider took a fancy to, I s'pose. I dunno who she is.' `Stand up an' face the wall,' Green said shortly.
Stripped of his weapons, gagged, and tied securely in his chair, Jeffs still eyed his captor's movement with a sardonic expression which, had Green noted it, might have aroused his suspicion, but his mind was too full of his purpose. Having fixed the prisoner to his satisfaction, he set out in search of the girl. The first two rooms he came to were open and empty, but the door of the third was locked.
`Yu there, Miss Norry?' he asked, in low voice.
`Yes,' came the reply. `Who is that?'
He told her, with a warning to stand clear while he burst the door open. One thrust from his powerful shoulder broke the flimsy lock, and the light of a guttering candle disclosed her sitting on a ramshackle bed, her bound hands before her.
`No time to talk,' he said, as he severed her bonds, stuffing a curse when he saw where the thong had chafed her wrists. `We gotta get outa this. Larry's waitin' with the hosses.'
Cautioning the girl to follow him as quietly as possible he stole down the stairs. All went well until he had nearly reached the bottom and then his foot caught in a rope and he pitched headlong down the last few steps. As he fell, two men sprang upon him and a jarring blow on the head knocked the senses out of him.
He returned to consciousness to find himself in the room where he had left Jeffs a prisoner, but now the position was reversed, for his own wrists and ankles were tightly bound. As the mist caused by the blow he had received cleared from his brain, he realised the extent of the disaster which had befallen him, and how it had come about. Evidently after he had gone upstairs, Taxman and his gang had come upon the scene, and finding the foreman, had laid a trap. They were all there, these men who hated him, and were now watching him with malignant amusement. The girl was not present. Tarman greeted him with a mocking bow.