"Well, I declare!" gasped Red.
"Don't it just beat the Dutch how he gets on to all these things?" said Lil Artha.
"But, Elmer, why take poor Nat a prisoner, bottle him up so he couldn't call for help, fetch him to this old shack, and finally carry him off when they light out!"
It was Matty who asked this question. Elmer smiled and shook his head.
"I can figure out a lot of things," he said, "just as I can read Indian writing; but please don't expect me to tell you what people think. I only know that these Italians were surely frightened at the sudden appearance of three fellows in khaki, and that they probably took them for soldiers. They must have had some idea in view when they captured Nat, and hustled him to this shack. Perhaps they only meant to hide here until the rest of us had gone."
"And they got more scared when you sounded that bugle, I reckon," remarked Lil Artha.
"Yes, and then the coming of another bunch of six scouts may have made them believe the worst was about to happen," Elmer continued.
"Say, I thought I heard low voices when I was just going to peep in that window there, and the bugle called me back to duty," Landy spoke up.
"Yes," Elmer added; "and it may be the coming of Landy just finished their panic. After he went away they must have vamosed the ranch in a hurry."
"Well, all this is mighty interesting, sure," declared Red, with an appreciative nod, "but it ain't bringing us any closer to finding our chum Nat."