Chuckling at the evident pain he had caused the scout, the desperado snatched the canvas bag from where Rose had been carrying it in front of her, drew forth a flask, and took a long pull at it.
Cursing horribly, the bandit shook the flask at his prisoners.
"If I can't have love, I can have whiskey and blood—and I'll have 'em!" he hissed.
Rose's repulse had transformed the outlaw from a good-natured giant to a fiend incarnate—and none of the awed group seemed to realize it more fully than the girl herself.
"Oh, Red, don't talk like that. I'll kiss you, if you want me to. I—I only didn't like to have all these men see me," she exclaimed, suddenly determined to sacrifice herself for the safety of the people in the region upon which this terrible bandit had been loosed.
"Too late!" chuckled Rogers, taking another pull at his flask. "I'll keep you by me till I've fulfilled my pledge to old Barney—and then you must shift for yourself. Not a sou will Red Rogers give nor a finger will he lift again to help Barney Landon's daughter!"
Horrible to behold was the desperado as he uttered these words and gloatingly he noticed the shock they caused his hearers.
Cursing his helplessness, Scotty longed to avenge the insult, or to let the girl know he would protect her—for the scout was young and Rose was of a wild beauty which had captivated the boy's heart the moment he had seen her—but he was forced to content himself with an attempt to convey his meaning by pressing against her.
Yet the girl seemed to understand, and, turning her head, smiled gratefully at her prisoner.
Fortunately for the two, the outlaw was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice them. Indeed, so engrossed was he that it was obvious to all he was planning some deviltry.