"Yes, but, Captain Merle, if I am suspected of sailing under an alias here, let me mount my horse and turn my face at once toward Perth."
Old Broadbrim handed his rifle to the rancher and started toward the house, but the hand of Merle stopped him.
"Not for the world!" cried Merle. "We can't spare a man like you just now. It's all right, Riggs. I call you by your true name, you see. It was just a little whim of mine, for I knew that if you were Roger Reef you would not stand like a post when the name was flashed behind you."
At that moment over by the sheds just a few yards away Old Broadbrim caught sight of a figure that fell back beyond the door as he looked, and the following moment Merle started toward them.
"I'll carry out my threat now," said he. "I'll fire the old sheds."
"Wait a little while," said Old Broadbrim. "Time enough yet. The robbers won't come till after midnight, if they come at all, and there's plenty of time for the fire."
"Better now than then," came back over Merle Macray's shoulder, and he sprang toward the sheds.
Old Broadbrim was powerless to detain him, and in a short time he lost sight of Merle.
Suddenly there rang out on the night air the agonized cry of some person, and as it came from the sheds, the detective sprang thither and passed the portal of the largest one.
As he entered he stumbled over a body in the doorway, and the next moment he held his little lantern over the face of Merle.