“Well, if you could see him now he would tell you that things are all wrong,” replied Fred.
“Where is he?”
“He is hiding at Smirker’s. He sent me down here with a note,” replied White-horse Fred, showing the letter that Julian had received from his father. “It’s an order, and an important one, too, I guess, for he told me to give it into the hands of no one but Joe Hale.”
“Now I’ll be blessed if there isn’t something mighty queer about all this,” said the robber after a little reflection. “You had better come in and give an account of yourself.”
“I am perfectly willing to do that. Open the door, and be quick about it too, for I am in a hurry to get through here. I tell you I am not going to stay in this country after what I have seen. I am off for ’Frisco this very night.”
The robber was in no hurry to open the door. He thrust his lantern out of the window and took a good look at White-horse Fred and the animal on which he was mounted; but he could see nothing wrong about them.
The horse, which was covered with foam, stood with his head down and his sides heaving plainly, very nearly exhausted. A single glance at him and at his rider’s pale face was enough to satisfy the robber that there was more truth in the boy’s story than he had at first believed.
“I guess you have seen some strange things, Fred,” said he. “You’re as white as a sheet.”
The boy had nothing to say in reply, but told himself that any one would have shown some nervousness in his circumstances. His father’s life depended upon the movements of that man who was leaning out of the window talking to him. If he opened the door all might be well; but if he carried on all the conversation through the window, and kept the door closed, their expedition would end in failure, and Major Mortimer would be a doomed man. It was no wonder that Fred’s face was pale.
The appearance of the horse and his rider went a long way toward allaying the robber’s suspicions; but ever on the lookout for treachery, he thought it best to examine the ground in front of the rancho before opening the door. He thrust his head and shoulders out of the window and held his lantern down beside the wall. There was some one there, but the robber was not allowed time to see who it was.