"I think you had a wager on that you'd shoot me," smiled Lieutenant Hal. "Instead, be good enough to hand your pistol to the sergeant."
"I'll——"
"You'll give your weapon up," Hal continued smilingly. "Sergeant, relieve the gentleman of his pistol. He's too nervous to have one; he might discharge it accidentally."
The purple-faced fellow, who was evidently an American, opened his mouth as if to pour out a torrent of abuse. But the sergeant quietly wrenched the weapon from his hand.
"Now, you Mexicans lay your rifles down on the floor," Hal continued, turning to the swarthier men.
Hesitatingly they obeyed, for they realized that all hope of successful resistance was now gone.
"What relation is this young lady to you, if any?" Hal asked, turning to the man.
"He's my father," spoke the girl, instead.
"Then, madam, he may remain in the cabin with you, if he chooses. Sergeant, clear all others out of the cabin."
"What do you think you are going to do here, you young counter-jumper?" snarled the girl's father.