There was little danger of Bully Banjo or his gang harassing the ranch before the boys returned with the two men, so that Mrs. Chillingworth felt no nervousness over being left alone. The boys had at first found it hard to account for the behavior of Fu, but Sam, after he had heard the details of the fellow’s fright at witnessing the burials and the awe in which he stood of the tall Chinaman, decided that by working on his superstitious fears the gang had pressed him into their service. Undoubtedly he had been selected to bear the warning paper, both because he knew the trail and also to test him.
“But suppose he had weakened at the last minute and told Mrs. Chillingworth everything?” Tom had asked.
“In that case, Fu’s career might have reached a sudden termination,” said Sam Hartley grimly. “I don’t doubt that Fu was accompanied by other members of that outfit to see that he did not play them false.”
“But we only saw one man,” objected Jack.
“That was because the rest were hiding in that wood yonder,” exclaimed Sam. “From what I know of Bully Banjo he is not the man to allow one of his untried men to go alone on an errand. Too much depends on it.”
With the explicit directions they had received, the boys arrived at the cove without missing the trail once, or encountering any adventures. They found the sloop anchored there still. As they rode down the hill, they were delighted to see another figure at Mr. Chillingworth’s side as the ranch owner stood upright in the cockpit of the little vessel. It was Mr. Dacre, apparently as well almost as ever, for as he went forward to hoist the anchor while the rancher took the sculling oar, the boys could only detect a slight limp.
It had been only a sprain after all, as they learned presently. But, naturally, the first thing to be done after the sloop had been sculled alongside the rock was to explain the cause of their delay, and the subsequent happenings.
“Good heavens!” grated out Mr. Chillingworth, as they related the incident of the warning paper and Mrs. Chillingworth’s brave behavior. “If the ranchers round here all had the courage of that woman, Bully Banjo’s days would soon be numbered.”
He was delighted, though, to hear that Sam Hartley was on the scene. During the boys’ absence Mr. Dacre had related to him in detail the boys’ adventures in the Saw Mill Valley and the part which Sam Hartley had played in them. The rancher therefore felt that the Secret Service man was one to be relied on.
In view of Mr. Dacre’s condition, it was decided to let him ride home on one of the horses, accompanied by Jack, while Mr. Chillingworth and Tom remained behind to navigate the sloop around the point and bring her to her anchorage in a small bay not far from the ranch house. The sea had by this time moderated, so that they anticipated no difficulty in doing this.