one-eyed, bearded stranger she had seen in Hope. He beckoned to her.
'C'mon,' he said hoarsely, but the girl shrank back.
'Where?' she asked nervously. 'Is this a trap?'
'Shore it's a trap an' I'm takin' yu outofit,' he retorted. 'Glad yu done what I whispered to yu through the logs there.'
'So it was you,' she breathed, still doubtful.
The man nodded, and noting that yet she hesitated, said quietly, 'I'm takin' yu to a friend. If yu'd rather wait for Black Bart--'
'No, no, I'll come with you,' she replied hurriedly.
He led the way through the pines to another hut very similar to the one they had left, and unlocking the door, motioned her to enter. Standing facing the door, a look of grim expectancy on his face, was a man she recognised.
'Judge Embley ! ' she cried, and her hopes sank again, for she could not forget that this man was Severn's friend, and was, according to Bartholomew, in the plot against her. The Judge's expression changed when he saw who his visitor was.
'So it is you, and not that blackguard from the Bar B,' he said. He looked at the one-eyed man. 'What's the game, my friend?' he asked.
The man shrugged his shoulders. 'No game, Judge,' he replied. 'I'm willin' to make a dicker with yu.' Embley looked his question. 'There's a fella here passin' in his checks.' He paused as the other nodded understandingly. 'No, I didn't shoot him,' he continued. 'He got his in that ruckus the other day with Severn an' his men at the Cavern. Well, he's somethin' on his mind an' wants to go out with a clean slate. If yu'll come an' write down his statement an' the young lady will witness it, I'll take the both o' yu away from here.'
Embley considered only for a moment, and then, 'Lead the way,' he said.
They followed him out of the pines, across a bare plateau to where stood a larger cabin, sheltered by an overhanging shelf of rock. It consistedoftwo rooms, the second of which, from the piles of blankets, was evidently a sleeping apartment. On twoofthese piles men were lying, one silent and the other moaning feebly. It was to the latter that the one-eyed man conducted them. The Judge looked at the other bed.
'Who is that?' he asked.
'Oh, Slick, actin' boss o' this crew,' was the reply. 'He's just--sleepin'.'
Despite the careless tone, the girl shivered; she rememberedthe shots she had heard. The still figure lying in the shadow looked unnatural, and she could detect no movement. The occupant of the second bed claimed her attention. By the light of the lantern on an up-ended box, she could see that he wasofa type common enough on the frontier, a manofmiddle-age, with coarse, brutal features now somewhat softened by suffering. His tanned, unshaven face seemed to have been drainedofblood, and his eyes had sunk in their sockets. He coughed almost incessantly, and after each bout there was a stainofred on his lips.
''Lo, Patch,' he greeted feebly.
''Lo, Mobey, how're yu makin' it?' asked the one-eyed man, and without waiting for a reply, continued, 'I've fetched the Judge an' the young lady like I prornised.' He turned to the lawyer and whispered, 'Better get busy, he's down to his last chip '
Embley took paper and pencil from his pocket and motioned the girl to listen. The sick man understood.
'I ain't got much time, Judge, an' I'm puttin' things plain,' he began. 'Yu'll remember the holdin' up o' the Desert Edge stage some years back, when Tug Satters, the driver, was killed?' The judge nodded. 'I was one o' the four what done it, an' I shot Satters,' the other went on. 'I didn't have no grudge agin him, but when we halted 'em, Tug dropped his lines an' reached back. T thought he was goin' for his gun, an' let drive. I figured after that he just forget to put his paws up an' was feelin' for his baccy, 'cause he hadn't got no gun. Well, I was sorry for Tug, but it was just a mistake, an' it ain't that I'm frettin' about. Here's the real reason I wanted yu, Judge; soon after the robbery I wrote out an' signed a paper sayin' the shootin' was did by another--a fella who warn't in the hold-up a-tall. I had to do it, Judge, or go to the pen myself for-somethin' else.'
The weak voice faded out and a violent fitofcoughing shook the man's frame; his fingers gripped the blanket until it seemed the bones must burst the sun-burned skin. When he could speak again it was little more than a whisper.
'The name--I had to put--in that paper was--Philip Masters,' he said painfully.
'My father,' the girl breathed.
The Judge waved her to silence. Bending forward he said, 'And the man who made you write it was--?'
'Bartholomew, o' the Bar B ! ' the dying bandit gasped.
Embley saw that the end was near. Hurriedly he read aloud what he had written, and held up by Patch, Mobey scrawled his name on the paper. He watched eagerly while the Judge and the girl did the like, and then with a sighofcontent, dropped back.'Bartholomew is--' he began, and said no more.
The lawyer drew the blanket over the face, folded up the paper and bestowed it in his pocket, and turned to the one-eyed man.
'What now?' he asked. 'And how are we to name you, my friend?'
'Yu heard what he called me,' the other replied with a jerkofhis thumb towards the bed. 'That name'll do as well as another.'
The Judge glanced again curiously at the other occupied shakedown. 'That man sleeps very soundly,' he said.
'Yeah, Slick's a good sleeper,' Patch replied indifferently, and then, 'We gotta be movin'--the other four'll be showin' up any time now, an' they'd make trouble.'
'The other four?' Embley queried.
'All that's left o' the White Masks 'cept me--an' Slick,' the man explained.
Evidently he had made his preparations, for concealed in the shadow at the endofthe hut they found three horses, saddled and bridled. It was darker now, for the moon was hidden by a big bankofcloud, but there was light enough to show, towering above them, a black bulkofmountain which Phil guessed must be the secondofthe Pinnacles. Their guide, however, gave them little time to study the scenery.
'Gotta hurry,' he said in his curious gruff voice. 'There's on'y one trail for the first few miles.'
When they were mounted he went ahead, the girl following, and Embley bringing up the rear. The pathway, for it was nothing more, led along the faceofthe mountain. The girl shuddered as she remembered that she must have ridden this route blindfold.
Her mind, however, was too full to dwell long even on present danger. The dead bandit's revelation had made it clear why her father had hated and yet suffered Bartholomew, but it did not explain the mysteryofhis disappearance, and it left her still guessing as to Severn. And the queer little outlaw who for no apparent reason was effecting their escape, what part did he play in this tangled web of intrigue and crime? Silently, slumped forward in his saddle, he paced aheadofher, for the road was too narrow and rough to permit more than a walking gait.
They had been riding for more than an hour, a long, gradual descent, when the leader turned off the trail into a little forestofpines, halted and got down.
'Heard somethin'--goin' to scout a few,' he said laconically. 'Stay here, an' keep quiet.'
Without waiting for any reply, he climbed back up the waythey had come and vanished in the gloom. The girl edged her horse over to Embley.
'Do you think he is to be trusted?' she whispered.
'I believe so, and he's our only chance,' the Judge replied. 'Personally, I am prepared to take any risk to reach Hope in time to foil that scoundrel Bartholomew. If they hang Severn--'
The returnofthe outlaw put an end to the conversation. He was hurrying, and it was evident he brought news.
'They're a-comin'--musta got back sooner,' he panted, flinging himself into the saddle. 'No use tryin' to hide--they know this country like yu do yore own doorstep. We'll have to stand 'em off; there's a Winchester on yore saddle, Judge, an' I know a good place.'
Leaving the trees, they followed him at a gallop across an open space of perhaps a quarter of a mile, and pulled up at the foot of a tall bluff where a numberoffallen fragments from the cliff above offered a rough rampart. Tying the horses behind the biggest of the boulders, and finding Phil a safe position, the two men lay down, rifles
