“Aren’t you afraid he may beat it if you let him go that long?”
“I’ll see to that. One of my men will start for 270 Amarillo right away and keep him in sight till we come back. By the way, we’ve got José Maria, and that guy you fired through the window. Caught the old fox sneaking back of those shacks along the north road.”
“Going to warn Lynch, I reckon,” suggested Buck crisply.
“That’s what I thought, so I strung some men along at likely points to pick up any more that may try the same trick. I haven’t got anything out of José yet, but a little thumbscrewing may produce results. I’ll tell you about it to-night.”
It was late when he finally appeared at the hotel lobby, and he had no very favorable news to impart. José Maria, it appeared, had stuck to the story of being engaged by an alleged Federal official to apprehend two outlaws, whose descriptions fitted Buck and his companion perfectly. He admitted having engaged the other Mexicans to help him, but swore that he had never intended any harm to the two men. Their instructions were merely to capture and hold them until the arrival of the supposed official.
“All rot, of course,” Hardenberg stated in conclusion. “But it hangs together a bit too well for any greaser to have thought out by himself. I reckon that cow-man who got you into the joint was responsible for the yarn and told José to give it out in case things should go wrong. Well, I won’t waste any more time 271 on the bunch. You two be around about seven to-morrow. I’d like to start sooner, but some of the boys have to come in from a distance.”
Buck and Jessup were there ahead of time, but it was more than an hour later when the posse left Perilla. There were about twenty men in all, for Hardenberg planned to send a portion of them across country to guard the outlet of that secret trail through the mountains of which Buck had told him. If Lynch and his men had any warning of their coming, or happened to be out on the range, the chances were all in favor of their making for the mountains and trying to escape by the cattle rustlers’ route.
During the ride the thought of Mary Thorne was often in Buck’s mind. He did not fear for her personal safety. Alf Manning was there, and though Stratton did not like him he had never doubted the fellow’s courage or his ability to act as a protector to the three women, should the need arise. But that such a need would arise seemed most unlikely, for Lynch had nothing to gain by treating the girl save with respect and consideration. He had no compunction about robbing her, but she could scarcely be expected to enter further into his schemes and calculations, especially at a time when his whole mind must be a turmoil of doubt and fear and uncertainty as to the future.
Nevertheless, Buck wished more than once that he had been able to get in touch with her since that 272 memorable afternoon when he had watched her ride out of sight down the little cañon, if only to prepare her for what was going on. It must have been very hard for her to go about day after day, knowing nothing, suspecting a thousand things, fretting, worrying, with not a soul to confide in, yet forced continually to present an untroubled countenance to those about her.
“Thank the Lord it’ll soon be over and she’ll be relieved,” he thought, when they finally came in sight of the ranch-house.