They were not more than a quarter of a mile away, when Brierly's signal guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They ran forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of action before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were also disappointed.
When they came in sight of the successful party, they found the robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his weapons.
"Too late, boys!" exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his good fortune. "You can't lay claim to any of our money, if that's what brung you up here in such haste."
"We don't care for the money," panted Tom. "Where's Bob?"
"That's so," said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon the prisoner during the whole forenoon. "Where is he? Say, feller, what have you done with him?"
"I have not seen him for two hours," replied the prisoner. "As soon as we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, and I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn't want to keep him with us, for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were hiding."
Just then the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his breath, managed to inquire:
"What have you done with your partners?"
"There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way," answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the compass.
Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and watched the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of handcuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when Brierly's party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind them.