"Never mind. Return to camp. Neither in the sky or along the land now is the lookout serene, and we shall meet any mishap better there. Two of you take care of that saucebox. Hang me if she be not, though fair as a lily, as pert and disdainful as a Mexican."
Lighting a cigar, he rode back, meditatively smoking, among his sullen and apprehensive men, without appearing to remember he had made a prisoner.
They were not the kind of characters to whom a young lady's protection should have been confided. On the contrary, their dissipated faces, truculent carriage, and noisy talk, proclaimed them the scum of the dross of the mining camp. Not worthy the name of gold seeker, they deserved that of horse thief, secret stabber, and "gold grabber."
For her part, Ulla was overcome by violent emotions, after the brief hope of being free of persecution. The persistent devotion of Mr. Dearborn impressed her. Others who may have escaped apparently looked to their own safety, but he had armed himself merely to follow her steps and seek to deliver her against any odds. She ruefully reviewed the events during which she had passed through hope, fear, and pain, till plunged into a despair greater than any since her father's death. On marking the number of her escort, and their villainous visages and robust physique, she saw little possibility of her only friend, however energetic his new associate, to save her from a miserable fate.
The retreating bandits did not seem to draw the Indians after them. There was no event on the way, and the watch at their camp had none to report.
The adventurers' "fort" presented a semicircle, the horns resting on marshland and on an inaccessible ravine respectively. It had an improvised musket battery gun, such as Prince Maurice of Holland invented years ago, and modern armourers have perfected and adorned with their generally unpronounceable names. Its rows of barrels, two deep, could be fired simultaneously, and a light, strong, broad-wheeled carriage allowed it to be quickly shifted in position. It defended the only breach in a barricade of pickets. But it was evident the gold seekers were fairly well content to entrust their surety to their rifles and strong arms.
Captain Kidd responded carelessly to the questions of the men in camp, waved them to stand back, and proceeded towards the rocks of the ravine. Soon he stopped, alighted, and offered to assist Miss Maclan down from a horse which a rider had resigned to her. She made no answer to his speech of welcome, more or less satirical, and eluded his hand by leaping lightly to the ground. He turned pale, frowned, and cried:
"Take her to the señorita. They are proud cats alike, and tell Doña Rosario that you bring her a companion or a slave—I care not which she makes of her."
"But, sir!" interrupted Miss Maclan, more alarmed at being thrown into the power of a woman than heretofore, "You must know that I am the daughter of Sir Archie Maclan! That he—"
"Oh, the frontier barrooms are full of such sirs!" he replied, brutally. "I care not who you are, since you would not be civil. Know that here you are like one of those tent poles—something I can snap asunder and toast my cheese with. Take her away! Three men lost because of her. I am half froze for hair!" and he made with his finger in the air near her forehead the atrocious pantomime of scalping her.