As they entered Trader’s Post she caught sight of one of the cowboys Bud had left in charge of the Ricker ranch. He was on the opposite side of the street and bidding Ethel and Percy to wait, she hastened over and had a chat with him.
The cowboy had come to town for a few supplies and was going back at once. He assured her that everything was going fine at the ranch, and feeling relieved she hurried back to join Ethel and Percy.
After lunch and a short rest they started for the ranch. The cowboy would reach the ranch ahead of them, but somehow the meeting with him had helped dispel the depressing spirit that seemed to grip her. In the course of an hour they had reached the outbuildings of the ranch, and the desolate condition of the place almost struck terror to the girl’s heart, but remembering the meeting with the cowboy they pressed on.
Arriving at the ranch house, Josephine was shocked to find the door partly open, and the house was apparently deserted.
“That’s strange,” she said, nervously entering the room. “Come on in, Ethel, and bring Percy. We’ll see if he has got the nerve he has been bragging to us about. I’m not going to stay in this place long myself, it looks spooky to me. We will investigate that secret passage and then dust out of here. I have got a nice flashlight with me so we won’t have to stumble over anything.”
“I cannot understand what became of the two cowboys that are supposed to be in charge here,” Ethel replied, stepping inside and walking gingerly about the room. “Oh, say a real live counterfeiter’s den! Won’t I have something to tell the people back in New York when I get home?”
Josephine smiled at the Eastern girl’s enthusiasm.
“I guess only one of the guards stay here at a time,” she said, “and they probably take turns while one of them rides the range. The one we met is no doubt on watch here now, and is about the place somewhere. Come, Percy dear, I will let you take this nice new flashlight; won’t you lead the way into the cellar?”
It was plain to the girls that the task was not to Percy’s liking, but when they laughed at him he braced up and made a show of courage.
With quaking hearts, it must be confessed, they found a door leading into the cellar. Once at the bottom, they huddled close together.