CHAPTER XIV.
THE RAID ON THE OLD STOCKADE.
Although posses were formed and troopers thrown on the outlaw's trail, he managed to evade them, though several times they got near enough to shoot at him. But, with that perversity of Fate which seems at times to guard and protect wrongdoers, bring suffering upon the honest, he escaped to his fortress on the rock-crowned mountain unscathed.
Yet, in his very hour of gloating, his nemesis was stalking him.
When they awoke the morning after Rogers' departure, Scotty sought out Rose.
"What claim has Red Rogers got on you, that you stick to him?" he demanded.
"No man has any claim on Rose Landon!" flashed the girl, flushing at the question.
"Then why do you go round with Red?"
"Because he has been good to me. He stood by me and gave me money so I could live an honest life when no one else would have anything to do with me, because I was Barney Landon's daughter."