The cowmen, gagged, and with their hands bound behind them, walked single file, accompanied by one of the sheepmen. Without a word the line turned in the direction of the river bottoms, where the rest of the band and the horses were waiting.
To do this it was necessary to pass behind the cook-house. Bud leaned over and spoke to Sims.
“Can’t we get Bissell in this party? He’s the fellow that has made all the trouble.”
“Sure, Jimmy and I will go in and get him. I had forgotten all about him.”
But they were saved the trouble, for just as they were opposite the cook-house, Larkin saw a burly form outlined for an instant in the doorway of the cowboys’ dining-room. With three bounds he was upon this form and arrived just in time to seize a hand that was vainly tugging 186 at a revolver strapped on beneath his night clothes.
Had fortune not tangled Bissell’s equipment that night Bud Larkin would have been a dead man. Snatching off his hat, he smashed it over the cattle king’s mouth, and an instant later Bissell, writhing and struggling, but silent, was being half-carried out to join his friends.
Matters now proceeded with speed and smoothness. The prisoners were hurried to where the remainder of the band awaited them. Then, still bound and gagged, they were mounted on spare horses.
Only thirty of Welsh’s raiders had come on this trip, the rest remaining to help with the sheep, but their horses had been brought so that there might be ample provision for everybody.
With a feeling of being once more at home, Larkin climbed into a deep saddle, and a wave of triumph surged over him. He was again free, and at the head of a band of brave men. He had the ascendency at last over his misfortune, and he intended to keep it. Then when everything was finished he could come back and he would find Juliet—
The remembrance of her brought him to a pause. Must he go away without as much as a 187 word from her, the one for whom he cared more than all the rest of the world? Quietly he dismounted.