The two disguised men placed the girl in the cabin; then Bob left Benton alone with the maid. Murdock was afraid that Virginia might recognize the borderer in spite of his disguise; but as Benton was a stranger there was but little danger that the girl would suspect her captors to be of her own race and blood.
Benton removed the bandage from the eyes of the girl.
“Squaw—prisoner to Shawnee,” said the disguised white, imitating the manner and speech of the red-skin. “No try to run or warrior take scalp.”
Then Benton joined the other two on the outside of the cabin, closing the door carefully behind him.
“Well, the game is treed,” said Bob, with a chuckle.
“Yes,” replied Murdock, a grim smile of satisfaction upon his sallow face. “Now you two keep watch here and be sure that the girl does not escape. I will return to the station. Her absence will be discovered before long and search will probably be made. If they discover the body of the stranger, this Winthrop, in the ravine, which they will be sure to do if any saw them leave the settlement together, which is probable, it will lead all to suspect that the man was murdered by some strolling red-skins and the girl carried off by them.”
“But may they not trace us?” asked Benton, shrewdly. “There are keen scouts in the station. If they once strike our trail, they’ll be apt to run us to earth.”
“There is little danger in that,” replied Murdock. “After we left the ravine we struck the regular trail leading up the river. There are many fresh footprints on the trail; it will be difficult for even the best Indian scout on the border to pick out the marks left by us from the others. Besides, crossing the river would be apt to throw the keenest trailer off the scent. I do not think that any one will discover or even suspect our agency in the girl’s disappearance.”
“’Tain’t likely,” observed Bob.
“No, I think that you are right, and that you will succeed in your plan regarding the girl,” said Benton. There was a strange sound in the voice of the man as he uttered the simple sentence, and a peculiar expression in his dark, snake-like eyes. Murdock did not notice the strangeness of the tone nor the look.