Old Broadbrim doubted not that the police of the town stood in with Merle's friends, and they hated the American detective most cordially.
Behind it all stood Belle Demona and her almost unlimited wealth.
Presently the mob made a rush for the dock, and the detective, as yet the only one on the deck, [Transcriber's Note: the final words of this sentence are illegible due to a printing error which affects both copies of the book consulted for this project].
The greater part of the coaster's crew were in town, and the hour was most opportune for an attack.
At sound of his voice the crowd halted, and for a moment seemed on the eve of a retreat.
But the following minute a voice, which the detective had heard before, sang out and urged them on.
Belle Demona was at the head of the party.
The mob rushed to the very edge of the pier, but by this time several figures had reached Old Broadbrim's side, and the captain of the little coaster, with his mates, all determined men who had faced mobs before, stood on deck with repeating rifles in their hands.
It was a moment of suspense, and more than one life hung in the balance.
"Are you cowards, men?" cried the ranch queen. "Shall a Yankee spotter kidnap from under your very eyes the captain of Ranch Robin? Shall the man called Riggs, but who is a New York shadow, take from among us, to be hanged for an imaginary crime, Merle Macray—the open-hearted, brave Merle, my friend and yours?"