Dell Dauntless was not with them.
“No luck, colonel,” reported Captain Lund. “Miss Dauntless got away from us.”
“She’ll have to go, then,” growled the colonel, tossing his hands. “Whoever heard of such a madcap?”
“I’ve been talkin’ with Pecos, the ’Pache scout, colonel,” said Lund, “and, personally, when a girl can do what she did while with Cody and his pards down near the Three-ply Mine, I don’t think there need be much worry on her account.”
“It doesn’t make any difference whether we need to worry or not,” went on the colonel; “she’s gone, and she got away from me. What would her father say if he were alive?”
“She’s a daring girl—and a pretty one,” and there was a far-away look in Lund’s eyes as he said it.
He was a bachelor.
“Too all-fired daring,” snorted the colonel, “but we’ve got business on our hands and can’t bother about Dell.”