“Men! We have been followed closely by scouts, some Indians—Pawnees, I think—and a troop of cavalrymen from the fort. I’ve dropped the cliff rock in their path, but if they’re as spunky and clever as I think they are they’ll try to get us out of here.
“I’ve left a dozen men at the pass. The next thing to do is to fill the range above with our best shots and try to clean them out.
“So get up there—about thirty of you—and take care of things there so that you’ll make our visitors feel too sick to stay. As soon as I and my crowd have had a bite to eat I’ll go up there and look after things myself.”
The only reply to this speech was a general cheer, and Mainwaring saw the men—all armed—scattering away to obey orders.
“Who have you got there, Bill?” asked one man, who seemed as rough as Harkness himself, approaching the spot where Mainwaring, the two girls, and Norfolk Ben were standing.
“Prisoners—to be well treated for the present, unless they try to get away. Then the men are to be shot and—well, we’ll make the girls stay somehow!”
“Yes,” said the man, with a sardonic laugh. “They’re too pretty to be let go easily.”
Mainwaring could have choked the leering wretch with a good will, but, unarmed as he was, and at the mercy of armed ruffians, what could he do?
He made up his mind, however, to remain near the girls all the time, and if an unkind hand was laid upon them, or any open violence offered, he would die in their defense.