the eyes cold. She followed their gaze. Bartholomew was dismounting in front of the ranch-house.
'Again, thank you--and Quirt,' she said, and walked away.
Chapter X
THOUGH she had resented the foreman's suggestion to be accompanied on her rides, Phil soon discovered that the escort added to her enjoyment. On the first morning Larry, rifle across his knees, had loped at a deconous distance behind her, until she smilingly told him to sheathe the weapon and ride by her side. The cowboy needed no second invitation. These excursions were the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him, and his glance, whenever it dared to rest upon her, was full of adoration. The trim figure, poised so buoyantly in the saddle, the proud little head, and the firm but wilful lips had got him, in his own phraseology, 'thrown an' tied'. And she--well, she liked his merry eyes, his boyishness and the shyness which she could dissipate with a smile. It was youth calling to youth.
He did not talk much of himself, but by questioning she learned that he had 'no folks' and had been 'in cattle' since he was big enough to 'straddle a hoss'. Also that he had 'drifted a bit', which, on investigation, turned out to mean that he had travelled and -worked-Over several thousand miles of the country. It amused her to note that when they got down to rest or admire a view he always took his rifle from its scabbard.
'I don't believe there is any danger,' she said, when the third ride had passed without incident. 'I should be quite safe alone and it is a waste of your time.'
'Do yu want that I shouldn't come?' he asked.
The warmth in his tone and gaze sent the hot blood to her cheeks and she was conscious of a thrill of pleasure. She was considering how best to put this daring young man in his place when he leaned forward and grabbed the bridle of her horse. Instantly she saw why. Round a curve in the gully, less than a mile away, six horsemen had trotted. They had white blotches where their faces should have been, and at the sight of the girl and her companion they quickened their pace.
'The White Masks,' Phil gasped.
'Looks like,' Larry agreed. 'Mebbe they don't want us, but I ain't takin' chances. We gotta punch the breeze.'
Whirling their horses, they headed for the ranch at full speed. A savage whoop came from behind and, turning, Larry saw that the unknown riders were spurring hard in pursuit. For a while the fugitives held their own, and then it became evident that the pursuers were gaining, slowly but surely.
'We'll never make it--they got better horses,' the cowboy concluded, but he kept it to himself.
Side by side they raced on, the wiry little cow-ponies at full stretch, willing to run till they dropped; the girl rode magnificently, as though part of the animal beneath her and coaxing every foot of speed out of it. Larry looked back and stifled a curse when he saw that the pursuers had gained. Then a bullet whined past and they heard the crash of the report.
He had no doubt it was the girl they wanted. Another shot ' came, his horse stumbled, and the cowboy jumped clear just as the animal pitched headlong, quivered and lay still. The girl pulled up with a cry of dismay.
'Go ahead--ride for the ranch,' he cried. 'I can hold 'em for a piece.'
'But they'll get you, Larry,' she protested. 'Jump up behind me.'
'We couldn't make it ridin' double; they don't want me--it's yu they're after,' he urged. 'Ride like hell for the boys. Tell Severn I did my best.'
'I'll remember, Larry--I'll always remember,' she said softly, and he saw that her eyes were misted.
Without another word she raced off and the cowboy dragged his rifle from under the saddle and stretched himself behind the dead horse. The bandits had halted and were bunched together about six hundred yards away, but a bullet from Larry which dropped a horse sent them out on a half circle. A couple of shots came in reply but they went wide. To his surprise the men made no effort to follow the fleeing girl. Certainly the two on the extreme right and left began a detour, but they rode slowly and presently vanished. The others remained, standing near the horses, and well out of range.
'Goin' to sneak up on me from the back,' Larry surmised. He looked and saw that there was a ridge behind him which would make the manoeuvre a simple one. 'Wish I had a hoss.'
But it was no use wishing, so he rolled a cigarette, lighted it and lay smoking, waiting philosophically for the next move in the game. Half an hour passed and then from the ridge behind came a gruff command :
'Drop that gun, shuck off yore belt, an' elevate yore paws; two of us has got yu covered.'
Larry stood up, leaving his rifle on the ground, unbuckled his belt and let it fall, but instead of putting up his hands he used them to make another smoke.
'Come ahead,' he said coolly.
Two masked men rose up from the brow of the ridge and stalked down upon him, rifles ready for the least movement.
'I told yu to put yore hands up,' growled the one who had spoken before.
'I forgot, an' I'm keepin' on forgettin',' laughed the prisoner. 'What yu goin' to do about it?'
The man snarled out an oath, scooped up the rifle and belt, and sent his companion for their horses. At the same moment the other four came galloping up, two of them using the same mount. One, who appeared to be the leader, jumped down and, producing a piece of paper from his pocket, fixed it in a cleft stick and jammed it into the ground. Larry watched' this proceeding amazedly.
'If yo're erectin' a eppytaph to the hoss his name's 'Bouncer',' he volunteered.
'Tie him on a hoss--two o' yu'll have to 'de double,' was the only response.
So Larry, astride one of the bandit horses, his legs roped beneath its belly, found himself heading for the Pinnacles,ignorant of the fate in store for. But he was not unduly downcast; Phil's last words, and fact that she was safe, were a sufficient compensation.
The arrival of the girl at the ranch, riding a spent and lathered pony, brought the foreman and those of the outfit there running. In a few words she told what had happened. Severn wasted no time.
'Hosses an' guns,' he ordered.
'One for me, Darby,' Phil added.
The foreman looked at her. 'I doubt if yo're fit--' he began.
'I'm going,' she told him. 'It was for me--' She broke off and turned away.
Severn made no further objection, and in a few moments he, six men and the girl set out for the scene of the attack. They rode in grim silence, the only sound the jingle of spur or bit and the creak of saddle leather. Not until Phil warned them they were nearing the spot did they slacken pace. Presently Severn called a halt, just short of a ridge the girl remembered crossing directly she left the cowboy.
'Stay here, boys,' he said. 'They may be waitin' for us, an' there's no sense in our buttin' into an ambush.'
He rode forward alone, topped the rise and vanished.
'Black Bart would 'a' sent one of us to do that,' the girl heard Darby say, and the other men laughed assent.
Somehow she felt that it was true, and a spasm of respect for the man who took the risk himself when he need not shot through her. Then came another thought, bred of Bartholomew's poisoned suggestions : was there any risk to Severn, or was he only playing a part? Her speculations were cut short by the return of the foreman.
'The hoss is there--what the buzzards have left of it--saddle an' bridle gone, an' no sign of Larry barrin' this paper,' he said. 'Here's what she says :'We got yore man, Severn. If yu want him, be at Skull Canyon to-morrow about noon, an' fetch along two thousand dollars. If yu ain't there, or try any tricks, he stretches rope.--THE MASK.' '
A cry from Phil, and a chorus of muttered curses frorn the men greeted the epistle, which was scrawled in pencil on a page apparently torn from an account book, for it was ruled for figures and numbered. The writing, Severn noted, appeared to be the same as on the scrap he had taken from Ignacio's body. Moodily he gave the word to return, and the girl whirled upon him.
'Aren't you going to do anything?' she asked. 'Surely you're not leaving him to die?'
'There is nothin' we can do now,' Severn told her. 'They'll have covered their tracks, an' s'pose we could trail
