the passage from the kitchen, snatched
the weapon from her hand, and flung her roughly into a chair.

Her aunt's half-stifled cry stung Mary like a lash and roused her from the
almost hypnotic state in which, wide-eyed and terrified, she had been
watching Lynch's swift advance.

"Oh!" she cried furiously. "You--you beast!"

He was within a few feet of her now, and moved by the double impulse of
fear and anger, her finger pressed the trigger. But there was no response,
and too late the girl realized that she had failed to cock the weapon. In
another moment Lynch had wrenched it from her hand.

CHAPTER XXXI

GONE

Motionless in his saddle, save for an occasional restless stamp of his
horse, Bud Jessup waited patiently in front of the adobe shack at Las
Vegas camp. His face was serious and thoughtful, and his glance was fixed
on the open door through which came the broken, indistinguishable murmur
of Buck Stratton's voice. Once, thinking he heard an unusual sound, the
youngster turned his head alertly and stared westward through the shadows.
But a moment later his eyes flashed back to that narrow, black oblong, and
he resumed his uneasy pondering as to what Buck might possibly be finding
out.

Suddenly he gave a start as Stratton's voice, harsh, startled, came to him
distinctly.

"Mary! Mary! Why don't you answer? What's happened?"

The words were punctuated by a continuous rattle, and ended abruptly with
the clatter of metal against metal.

"Hell!" rasped Buck, in a hoarse, furious voice with an undercurrent of
keen apprehension that made Bud's nerves tingle. "The wire's been cut!"

An instant later he appeared, running. Snatching the reins, he gained the
saddle in a single bound, jerked his horse around, and was off across the
pasture.

"Come on!" he shouted back over one shoulder. "There's trouble at the
ranch."

Bud dug spurs into his cayuse and followed, but it was some minutes before
he managed to catch up with his friend.

"What is it?" he cried anxiously. "What's wrong? Have the Mannings--"

"They've gone, as I thought," snapped Stratton. "The two women are alone.
But that isn't the worst." A sudden spasm of uncontrolled fury rose in his
throat and choked him momentarily. "There's some one hidden in the loft
over the harness-room," he managed to finish hoarsely.

Bud stared at him in dismay. "Who the devil--"

"I don't know. She just got a glimpse of a--a face in the window while she
w