y Street bending
over him.

"Polly!" he gasped. "Then they didn't get you, after all?"

"Is he killed?" The girl's voice was sharp and hard.

"No, he ain't," Penhallow's hearty voice broke in. "It takes more than one
bullet to kill a tough bird like Scotty."

Marc opened his eyes, grinned feebly and shut them again, not before he
had seen Polly's anxious face bending over him.

"They--Pachuca didn't----"

"Not a bit of it, old man," Hard broke in. Then to Polly: "We thought
Pachuca had carried you off."

Polly stared at him in horror. "Carried me off?" she gasped. "Were those
men----" she paused, dazed. Hard explained.

Sam Penhallow in the meantime had tackled his prospective son-in-law.

"Where'd they get him, Ed?"

"Shoulder. Don't look to me like no vital spot."

"Well, we ain't all got our vitals as protected as you have, Ed," replied
the sheriff, scathingly. "What was you up here for, anyhow?"

"Scott got it into his head that his girl had been kidnapped by Mexicans
and he got us up here after three of 'em. Looks to me, Father-in-law, like
he'd picked the wrong kidnapper."

"That'll do, Ed; fat folks was made to look funny, not to talk smart.
Here, let's get this boy bandaged up before he bleeds to death."

Polly, white and frightened, looked on as Penhallow's experienced hands
tore up a shirt and made it into a bandage. The wound looked very vital to
her and she would have given up hope a dozen times if it hadn't been for
Penhallow's cheerful monologue.

"That's the idea! Say, you boys better guess what this girl and I got in
that Ford. We've been after treasure. Oh, you're waking up, are you?" as
Scott opened his eyes. "I thought you would. You won't josh your wife much
about Gasca and his hidden gold, I'm thinkin'."

"It's all my fault," wept the girl. "If I'd only told you where I was
going this wouldn't have happened. Oh, Marc, I'm so sorry!"

"Well, you ain't the only one that's sorry, I reckon," grinned Merriam.
"That Mexican ain't going to do much ridin' for a while by the looks of
him."

"Humph!" Penhallow and Hard lifted Scott gently into the car. "Don't worry
about him. He's had this coming to him for some time by all accounts and
the worst of it is his hide's probably so tough he won't know it's been
punctured." Penhallow spat disgustedly.

* * * * *

The return of the two cars, the one with the treasure and the other with
the missing