lay fuming helplessly in his room.
'Don't yu worry, boy, we'll get yore Princess,' the foreman assured him. 'An' make a clean-up, too, while we're about it.' Knowing they could get fresh ones at the XT, the rescuers did not spare their mounts, and the trail being an easy one they arrived in good time. The rancher himself welcomed them with a whoop of delight, and when Severn explained the reason for their visit his enthusiasm equalled their own.
'Will we help? Why, yu can't lose us,' he boomed. 'Kidnappin' folks outa their own homes in broad daylight, eh? Somebody's gotta show these skunks that they don't own the country, I guess. Know anythin' 'bout him?'
He jerked a thumb towards the bench outside the bunkhouse door, where lolled Snap Lunt, his hat pushed back, his bowed legs outstretched, and a cigarette drooping from his thin lips. His eyes met those of the visitor with the stolid immobilityofa redskin.
'One o' yore outfit?' asked Severn.
'Not yet; drifted in 's'morning an' I reckon he's lookin' for a job though he ain't asked for it,' the ranchman replied. 'What yu think of him?'
'Looks like he'd be useful in a ruckus,' the foreman said meaningly. 'Them guns he's totin' ain't by no means new.'
'Yo're right,' Ridge returned. 'Well, here's his chance to make good. I'll give him an invite to the dance. Betcha a dollar he ducks.'
'It's plain robbery but I'll take yu,' Severn said, and smiled when Ridge, having spoken to the little gunman, came back and flipped a coin over to him.
'Glad it warn't more,' he said. 'Cripes, yu'd 'a' thought I was offerin' him a drink.'
Severn grinned at his host. 'That warn't a fair bet; that fella's a friend o' mine. He ain't here to be hired, but yu can trust him the limit.'
Ridge shook a fist at him. 'Yu old pirut, yo're too damned deep for me,' he said. 'But I'm backin' yore play.'
Mounted on fresh horses and reinforced by Ridge, five of his men and Lunt, the expedition set out again, their objective the great tooth in the range beneath which Severn knew the bandits' retreat was situated. The few milesofgrazing were soon covered, and then they reached the foothills and broken country outofwhich the mountains rose. There was little conversation; the difficultiesofthe trail focused the attentionofeach nider upon his mount : a careless step might bring about a catastrophe.
Mile upon mileofthe arduous journey was covered, and afternoon found them amid the pines which clothed the lower slopesofthe mountains.
Presently they emerged from the pines and forcing their way through a dense jungle of undergrowth which covered a long rise, found themselves on the rim-rock of a small basin. In frontofthem the ground dropped sharply down through a belt of scrub to a hollowofrich grass, in the centre of which, gleaming like a gem in the sunlight, was a poolofwater. On the other side the grass sloped gently up to an almost vertical wallofstone, bare of vegetation, ribbed and weather-stained, which, from where they stood, seemed to rise almost unbroken to where it terminated in one of the storm-scarred peaks which gave the range its name. Around the water cattle and horses were grazing, and about eighty feet up the cliff face was the ledge leading to the caves.
'Shore looks peaceful, don't it?' Ridge remarked. 'I'll bet them cattle ain't wearin' their lawful labels.'
'Diggin' the devils out ain't goin' to be as easy as pullin' a cork,' the foreman said. 'There may be another way into the caves, but the on'y one I knowofis along the face o' the cliff, an' one man on the ledge could hold it against a score. My idea is this: me an' two-three others will try for the pathway an' the rest'll line up in the brush this side o' the valley an' cover us, droppin' any guy who comes out o' the caves; the range ain't more'n seven hundred.'
No one had a better suggestion to offer, and Severn, with Snap, Gentle, and Big Boy--who pleaded a personal debt to pay--rode for the entrance to the valley. Keeping closely under cover, they presently came to the opening through which Severn had been taken before; it was unguarded, and having hidden their mounts they passed through. In the corral they found several horses and turned them loose. Hardly had they commenced the climb up the cliff when two shots rang out in quick succession; they did not come from across the basin.
'That was a warning--they got a lookout posted somewhere,' the foreman said.
Evidently the alarm had brought men out of the caves, for puffsofsmoke and sharp reports echoed from the other sideofthe valley; Ridge and his men were getting into the game. The ascentofthe path now became a perilous project, for in places where the cliff bulged the climbers were exposed to fire from the ledge above. The bandits were well awareofthis, and two of them, lying prone on the ground, waited with levelled guns for the appearanceofthe attackers.
'Hug the wall, boys, an' jump lively round these dam curves,' were the leader's orders.
With their backs to the rock face, a yard at a time, they crept slowly up the footway, bullets whistling past their ears as they dodged round the dangerous bends. The last of these was only a matteroftwenty yards from the caves, and here they paused, panting, to deliberate. The firing from across the valley had now died away, as though the marksmen had realised the futilityoftrying to hit the flattened figuresofthe defenders. Peeping round the shoulderofrock which sheltered them the foreman saw oneofthe bandits at the top of the pathway cautiously rise to his feet, Instantly, away off in the scrub a rifle spoke, and the man, dropping his own weapon, flung up his arms, staggered, and pitched headlong over the precipice. Severn seized the opportunity.
'Come ahead, boys,' he cried. 'There's on'y one now.'
With the words he dashed round the corner and the others followed. The solitary defender, taken by surprise, fired one wild shot, scrambled upright and ran for the cave, only to drop, a huddled heap, at the entrance. A shout from behind made the foreman turn, and he saw Ridge, with some moreofthe men, climbing the pathway. Keeping well to the sideofthe ledge, he waited for the reinforcement. The entrance to the Cavern, black and forbidding, had yet to be negotiated.
'Thought we'd be more use up here,' Ridge panted, as he and his men reached the top. 'What's the next move?'
Severn pointed to the opening. 'We gotta rush it,' he said. 'Risky, o' course, but there's no other way.'
Bunching together as much out of sight as possible, they edged up to the opening, dashed in and flung themselves flat on the floor. Shafts of flame split the darkness ahead of them and bullets hummed over their heads, but owing to Severn's ruse there were no casualties. Lying prone in the shadows, the attackers returned the fire, aiming at the flashes, and the wallsofthe cave re-echoed the reports. There was the acrid smellofburnt powder and the blue smoke whirled through the opening behind them. How manyofthe bandits were opposing them the besiegers had no means of telling, but that they were falling back or suffering loss was soon shown by the slackeningofthefiring. Severn whispered an order, and his men rose and rushed forward.
Outofthe gloom came spits of fire, and by the momentary light they saw white-swathed faces at which they shot. Oneofthe XT men dropped, and Severn stumbled over a man's body just as a gun barked in his face. Clutching as he fell, he caught the other round the middle and they went down together. The foreman felt two claw-like hands gripping his throat and struck violently with the barrelofhis revolver. He heard the thudofsteel upon bone, a groan, and the choking grip fell away. He staggered to his feet to find that someone had discovered a lantern and that the fight was over. Severalofthe cowboys had been hit, but none seriously. Twoofthe bandits lay dead on the ground, another--Severn's late opponent--was still unconscious; the rest had vanished.
'Get more lights an' search every hole,' the foreman ordered. 'There must be another way outa this damn warren.'
Snap Lunt had also disappeared. At the first gleamofthe lantern he had glimpsed a shadow melting into the dark depths of the cavern and had gone in pursuit. Stumbling along what appeared to be a tunnel, he saw a lineoflight and, feeling above it, discovered a door. It was not fastened, and pushing it ajar he saw a small room, hollowed out of the living rock. On a homemade table in the centre a candle was burning, and by a pallet-bed a man stooped, hurriedly putting together a pack. Snap's eyes gleamed as he stepped noiselessly in, closed the door, and then chuckled aloud. The man's head jerked round, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped; he might have been looking at a ghost.
'Snap?' he gasped.
'Shore thing--the same old Snap,' the gunman grated. 'Don't bonher about yore pack, Shady; yu won't need it where yo're goin'.'
The ruffian gaped, terror patent in his eyes, at this peril from the past which had so suddenly confronted him.
