“You had an uncle who married a sister to your mother?”
“Yes—father’s brother Albert. And you—you are the man!” eagerly cried the outlaw.
“Yes, I am Albert Mestayer, your father’s brother. In your face I saw what James was when young. That was what stayed my hand. I believed that you was my nephew, either James or Thomas, though I had not seen either for near twenty years. Then you can guess—but no, you were too young then, and I made James promise never to tell you the black story,” muttered the old man, half to himself.
The outlaw, Mestayer, as we must now call him—gazed keenly and curiously at this strangely found relation. He scarce knew what to think. Until now, he believed him dead, for that was what they—himself and brother—had been taught to think.
“Never mind. We will talk matters over after awhile, when you are stronger. If what I have heard of you is correct, you may be of service to me. But now, let me look to your hurts, and you can tell me how you received the first.”
As the old man’s nimble fingers bound up the wounds, Mestayer told the events of that night, so far as he knew them, concealing nothing. He did not fear his uncle would shrink from the crime.
CHAPTER V.
THE MAIDEN’S PERIL.
Over a week had passed by since the night on which this story opened, a week during which much had been done though little effected. Early in the day following the house-burning, a heavy shower fell that effectually obliterated all trails left by the fleeing Night Hawks and also destroyed Campbell’s hopes of discovering his lost friend with the aid of hounds.
Through that long week he had scarce rested an hour at a time, spurred on by the pleadings of Fred’s sister, Fannie Hawksley. He searched every rod of the baranca, in company with Ruel and several other of the lost man’s comrades, but without finding the slightest trace or clue. They clambered over the rocky barricade, little suspecting the secrets it concealed, or that the old man and his peerless daughter were silently laughing at them for their mole-like blindness.
Thoroughly convinced that their friend had not entered the baranca at all, the young hunters returned to the level prairie. There a surprise awaited them.