Silent Moore, the sheriff’s deputy, carefully examined the mutilated man for a moment; then, for the first time since his arrival, he opened his lips.
“I’ve fit the Apache—’tain’t their work,” he said.
“Nonsense, man, it’s impossible to tell,” Bill Anderson exclaimed, and the others, with the exception of Toothpick and Dutchy, were inclined to agree with him.
“Greasers did that work—Apaches would have tracked down the man out there and killed him, and they would have used a club on the woman,” the deputy insisted stubbornly.
“Sure yuh’re right,” Sam Hogg cried with an oath. “White men or devils started in to make it look like Injuns—got scared before they finished and run for it.”
“The Lava Gang!” Toothpick cried excitedly. “Judge, where’s ‘Snippets’ and Mary?”
The judge’s face went white as he whispered: “You—you mean that letter from them?”
“Yeah, but where are the girls?” Toothpick asked again.
“They’re safe. I took them over to visit Sam Hogg’s wife at the Frying Pan Ranch this evening. Bill and I were coming back when we saw the fire.”
Toothpick relaxed and uttered a sigh of relief. The Lava Gang sometimes stole girls for ransom and held them across the border.