rdered to march on.

"To where?" he asked.

"You'll see when you get there," answered Fetter. "Now move, or, by the
boots, I shoot you down where you stand!"

Seeing it would be worse than useless to resist, the young officer did
as ordered, and the whole party moved away from the water-course and
took to a trail leading back to the side of the mountain.

Presently they came upon a number of horses, and here they mounted.
There were two steeds without riders, and Captain Moore was ordered to
the back of one of these. All rode off in a bunch, the prisoner being
kept in the center of the party. He had been searched and his pistol
taken from him, also his pocket-knife, field-glass, and his money and
jewelry.

In less than quarter of an hour a split in the mountain side was gained.
To the rear was something of a cave, the entrance overgrown with brush
and vines. At the mouth of the cave the party came to a halt, and were
met by several other desperadoes.

"Now you can get down," said Gilroy. "Fetter, I guess we had better bind
his hands behind him."

"You are going to bind me?" queried Captain Moore.

"And why not? You are such a nice chap, captain, we don't want to part
with you just yet."

"Why are you going to keep me a prisoner?"

"Well, don't forget that we hold you responsible for that little mix-up
when we were after the quartermaster's money-bags."

"I only did my duty, Gilroy."

"Perhaps; but if it hadn't been for you and your men our gang would have
been about twenty thousand dollars richer than we are to-day."

"And I wouldn't have this lame arm," growled the fellow who had been
wounded.

"As I said before, I only did my duty," repeated the captain calmly.
"Even if I hadn't arrived, don't you suppose the quartermaster would
have done all he could to defend himself?"

"Certainly; but his party numbered only three. However, we won't talk
now. We have other things to do. Get into that cave. And don't try to
escape, or it will be the worse for you."

With a downcast heart the young officer entered the cave, which was an
old rendezvous of the desperadoes. Inside were a rude table and a couple
of benches, and he threw himself down on one of the latter. One of the
gang, Potts, put himself on guard outside, rifle in hand. The others
separated into two parties, and went off again.

"Can they be going after Joe and Darry, or after Benson?" was the
question the captain asked himself.

He waited until