“We’re going to do something for Miss Perry, amigo,” returned the scout, “and we’ll start the ball to rolling just as soon as we can decide what’s to be done. If your daughter had been at the H-P ranch, you’d have discovered it, I think. And I don’t believe Benner would have her taken to his place. Is there any one else besides Red Steve on whom Benner could depend for help in dealing with Miss Perry?”
“There’s Fritz Dinkelmann,” suggested Dunbar. “That Dutchman and his wife owe Benner money, and while I think Fritz is as honest as the usual run of men, still, being in debt head over ears to Benner he might be forced to——”
“Dinkelmann, Dinkelmann!” muttered Wild Bill. “Say, Nick, wasn’t that the Dutchman our Dutch pard went to see? Wasn’t it Dinkelmann who——”
A call came from Cayuse. As he shouted, he beckoned those below to come up the slope and see with their own eyes something he had discovered.
What the pards saw, peering over the crest of the coulee bank, sent the hot blood pounding through their veins.
“It’s the baron—our Dutch pard!” shouted Wild Bill; “the fellow we were just talking about, Perry!”
“There’s a woman with him,” faltered Perry; “can it be—on my soul, I think it is——”
“Yes,” breathed Dunbar hoarsely, “it’s Hattie, Dick! I can see her plain. An’ behind the two are a score or two of cowboys from Benner’s ranch, and from the H-P outfit. They outnumber us, but we’ve got to do something! We can’t stand here like this.”
Dunbar whirled around and rushed stumbling down the slope toward the horses.
“How Benner and Phelps ever got out of those come-alongs so quick is more than I know,” muttered the scout, “but they’re leading those cowboys in the pursuit of the baron and the girl. Spurs and quirts, pards! We’re company front with one of the hardest jobs we ever tackled, but, as Dunbar says, we’ve got to make a move.”