“Jack, I am anxious to hear if Bud had any luck,” he confided to him as they pushed their horses into a fast run.
Mason nodded.
“We’ve just got to find Josephine to-day if Bud hasn’t already found her,” he answered grimly.
They reached Bar X ranch at noontime by hard riding. There they heard good news, the first good news since Josephine’s disappearance. The ranch owner called Big Joe and Mason to the house immediately on their arrival.
“The Spanish girl from Ricker’s came here with a message for Mason this morning,” he burst out excitedly before they got fairly within hearing distance. “I called Bud and he told her Mason was away. She seemed disappointed at the news, but after saying she would leave the message in Bud’s hands, she left. It was addressed to Mr. Mason. After waiting a reasonable length of time, for he didn’t know when you were coming home, Bud opened the message. Well, he almost jumped out of his boots when he read it. The message told him where to find Josephine and how to capture her abductors. They have been gone about an hour now,” he concluded.
“Yes,” cut in his wife, beaming on Mason, “it seems according to the message that this Spanish girl wants to repay Mr. Mason for his kindness to her when she was attacked by the halfbreed. She got hold of information of the place where Josephine is held a captive, and hastened here at once with the information.”
“Sounds reasonable,” commented Big Joe.
“Wish we had stopped her now,” he added to Mason.
Josephine’s mother was almost beside herself with joy at the thought of the safe recovery of her daughter.
“Her dog Rover whined around the house for her,” the ranch owner was saying, “but soon he disappeared and hasn’t showed up since.”