So they went to the cabin, where they found Delores waiting, rifle in hand, for anything that might occur. When he heard Merry’s story he was even more excited than Bart.
“Mescal out there?” he panted. “Dat man must not git away! Take me to dat man! He know my secret, an’ he be my enemy!”
It was not without serious misgivings that Merry led the way to the spot where the struggle had taken place on the shore of the lake. He found an opportunity to whisper to Bart:
“Watch him! We can’t stand by and see him murder Mescal, no matter what Mescal may have done.”
But when they came to the tree where Frank had bound Mescal, they found the man had recovered, broken his bonds, and escaped.
Delores was like a hound on the scent, and he followed the trail till it ran into a piece of timber, where it was lost for the time.
“But I’ll take it up in da morning!” declared the refugee. “He must make da fast track if he get away.”
The body of Gunnison Bill they buried that night not far from where he fell.
And then, with Bart in the room where they were to sleep, Frank Merriwell brought forth and read the strange and startling message sent him by his dying father.