A brief "scene" had followed the unceremonious despoiling of Guilford. His fiery, untamed nature was not one to submit without a word; besides, he was backed up by the laws of the league, that distinctly said a man possessed the sole power of life or death over any captive he might chance to take unaided.
Guilford waited until the entire band had returned. Then he called them around him in the little square of unoccupied ground near the center of the village. His undaunted bravery and boldness had made him very popular among the outlaws.
In hot, angry words he told them how he had been treated and how the laws of the league had been trampled upon without cause or provocation. He demanded their vote—whether the captive rightly belonged to him, or to Yellow Jack.
The outlaws seemed about to reply—to give the words utterance that would please the orator—when a clear, metallic voice silenced them. The outlaws, bold and desperate men though they were, seemed awed and shrunk silently back, parting before the approach of that one slender, frail-looking man, who so negligently puffed at a tiny cigarette.
"Pardon, gentlemen," he uttered, the words dropping with cat-like softness from his red lips, that curled in a smile at once sweet and cruel. "Hearing my name mentioned, I come to plead my own case. Guilford, what is your grievance?"
"That you took by force from me a captive. By the laws of the league you had no right to do this. She is mine alone—I demand her return."
The words were spoken boldly and without hesitation. Yet the manner in which the flushed face suddenly turned white, told that Guilford by no means underrated his danger. It was like playing with a half-tamed tiger. At first its talons might be sheathed—but who could say how long this would last?
"So you consider yourself an abused man, do you?" slowly drawled Yellow Jack.
"I deem my rights as a member of the band, abridged. By the laws laid down by yourself, you are wronging me in taking away my property."
"And if I return her—this property of yours—you will overlook my mistake?"