“You’re in the dark, I see, Perry,” cut in the scout, “so the chances are that your daughter isn’t here. She was taken away from the ranch some time last night.”
Perry grabbed up a chair and started toward the two men on the floor. The scout caught him by the shoulders.
“Careful!” he warned. “A move like that won’t help us any. Don’t lose heart—we’ll find the girl.”
The scout went back to the cattle barons.
“Watch the lay of the land outside, Perry,” said the scout. “If you see any one coming this way, let me know at once.”
Perry put down the chair and cautiously took up a position by the open door.
“You’ve got the bulge on us, Buffalo Bill,” said Benner. “Take these confounded manacles off our hands.”
“They belong to you,” returned the scout, “and I reckon I’ll let you keep them. Those are the handcuffs that the clerk of the hotel said he had put in your saddlebags. The clerk put them in the wrong saddlebags, that’s all. Why did you want two pairs?”
“That’s our business,” snapped Phelps. “You’re playing a mighty reckless game, Buffalo Bill, and you’ve about one chance in a thousand to win out. You may be able to get away from this ranch, but the Brazos country isn’t big enough to hide you from the men Benner and I will put on your trail.”
“I’ll take care of that part of it. You fellows would have more success in your deviltry if you’d quit passing notes back and forth and hiding them in your watch cases.”