Toby Sam was talking with the prisoners when Black John returned, and the prisoners seemed in remarkably good spirits.
Black John now moved his men along the backward way, but not on the backward trail, and was soon leaving the hillside and the pass behind him.
The girl kept her own counsel, and did not tell them that Pawnee Bill had departed for Glendive.
When the spot was reached, near the stage trail, where the emeralds had been concealed, she pointed it out to them.
Black John could not hide a grin. It was such a joke—when he had the emeralds in his pocket!
The bandits saw the fresh earth turned there, and began to dig with feverish energy. They reached the bottom of the hole, but found no emeralds.
Then their rage broke bounds; for, suddenly, they conceived the idea that from the first Lena Forest had deceived them.
If it had not been for Black John they would now have treated her outrageously, and might have shot her, and her lover as well.
Black John did not care for Clayton, but he meant to protect the girl. He put himself in front of her, and drew his revolver.
“Who’s the boss of this beehive?” he demanded harshly, fingering his pistol. “You’ll know that I am, if you try any rushin’. Stand back, there! And you, Toby Sam, shet yer yawp, er I’ll fill yer ugly mouth with bullets. Let’s hear what the girl’s got to say.”