Briefly, I am accused of highway robbery and complicity in the killing of a gold messenger. The sum stolen amounts to about fourteen thousand dollars. I think this statement is sufficient for me to count on your coöperation in clearing me. Hope to see you soon. Cordially,
Falcon the Flunky.
“Oh, you are going to sign that way!” cried the girl, when he had submitted his work for her approval.
“Yes—Winston knows what I am called out here. He’ll understand. He’ll know that signature as well as he would know my right one.”
“You know best about that,” she gave in.
Then in one corner of the paper she made a tiny mark, which looked almost as if it had been made accidentally, although it was distinct.
“When the hermano sees that,” she said, “he’ll understand that the paper contains a secret message from his old pal. Now, if only Pa Squawtooth will cut our two communications apart and give mine to Mart, as I directed! Everything depends on that—unless we should be fortunate enough to have the paper fall directly into the kid brother’s hands. You see, my secret message will be written between the lines of my part only. For, to bring the secret message out, the paper must be heated. And, of course, it wouldn’t do to heat the whole of it, for then the invisible writing would appear on the part that’s to go to Mr. Winston, and everybody would see it. But if the kid can get away by himself with my half, we’ll have a loyal henchman in the camp of our enemies.
“Now we’ll write several of these, all alike; and then I’ll put the secret message between the lines of my part on all of them.”
CHAPTER XIX
THE SORCERESS
WITH the pines bending and groaning above them, a group of men struggled against the demoniacal onslaught of the wind to the top of a peak that stood in the middle of Squawtooth Canby’s mountain meadowlands. Over his shoulder one of them carried a set of climbers, such as are used by linemen to ascend telephone and telegraph poles.