"I don't know. She was gone when we got to the lodge. It must have been the devil that killed Seth an' carried off the girl."
"Nonsense," Dane impatiently chided. "Don't be such a fool as to believe that."
"But if you'd seen the marks upon Seth's throat, you'd say it was the work of the devil, an' no human bein'. An' there are others who think the same, too."
"What happened after that?"
"The gang came, an' they chased Injun Sam. But they made a mess of that job, an' got scared 'most to death."
"What did they chase Sam for?"
"Oh, some thought that he was the one who killed Seth an' carried off the girl. He had been seen hangin' around, an' so he was suspected. But it wasn't Sam, I tell ye. It was the devil, an' they found that out to their sorrow."
"In what way?"
"They were campin' one night in the woods when in a twinklin' they were all knocked senseless. When they came to, their guns, grub, an' everything else was gone. Now, if the Injuns had done it, they wouldn't have left one of the gang alive. They were 'most scared to death, so they are certain now that it was the devil."
"So you haven't heard anything more about the Colonel's daughter?" Dane queried.