as closing up the kitchen."

"Do you suppose it's--Tex?"

"I don't know," retorted Buck through his clenched teeth. "What difference
does it make, anyhow? Some one hid there for a--a purpose. By God! What
fools we were not to make a search!"

"It seemed so darn sure they'd all beat it," faltered Bud. "Besides, I
don't guess any of us would of thought to look in that loft."

"Maybe not. It doesn't matter. We didn't." Stratton's voice was brittle.
"But if anything happens--"

"Have they locked up the whole house?" Jessup asked as Stratton paused.

"Yes, but what good'll that do with two able-bodied men set on getting in?
There isn't a door or shutter that wouldn't--"

"Two!" gasped Bud. "You didn't say--"

"Didn't I? It was just at the end. She was telling me about seeing the
face and locking up the house. Then all at once she broke off." Buck's
tone was calmer now, but it was the hard-won calm of determined will, and
every now and then there quivered through it a faint, momentary note that
told eloquently of the mingled dread and fury that were tearing his nerves
to pieces. "I asked what was the matter and she said to wait a minute. It
seemed like she stopped to listen for something. Then all of a sudden she
cried out that some one was riding up."

"It--it might not have been any of the gang," murmured Bud, voicing a hope
he did not feel.

"Who else would be likely to come at this time of night?" demanded
Stratton. "Lynch is on the outs with everybody around Perilla. They don't
go near the ranch unless they have to. It couldn't have been one of
Hardenberg's men; he's not expecting any one."

"Did--did she say anything else?" asked Jessup, after a brief pause.

Buck hesitated. "Only that she--was afraid, and wanted us to--come
quickly. Then the wire went dead as if it had been cut."

Silence fell, broken only by the thud of hoofs and the heavy breathing of
the two horses. Bud's slim, lithe figure had slumped a little in the
saddle, and his eyes were fixed unseeingly on the wide, flat sweep of
prairie unfolding before them, dim and mysterious under the brilliant
stars.

In his mind anxiety, rage, and apprehension contended with a dull, dead
hopelessness which lay upon his heart like lead. For something in Buck's
tone made him realize in a flash a situation which, strangely, he had
never even suspected. He wondered dully why he hadn't ever thought of it
before; perhaps because Buck was a new-comer who had se