"There's no other way if I go by railroad."
"All right, then. The responsibility is off'n my shoulders an' onter yourn. Good-by."
Hackberry rode off along the road in the direction of the town of Lallie, which lay on his homeward route. Matt, as soon as the messenger had started, hurried up to the post.
There was a telegraph office there and he sent a couple of messages. One was to Mrs. Harry Traquair, Jamestown, North Dakota, and asked if she was well and at home. The other was to a lawyer in Jamestown named Matthews, with whom Matt had some acquaintance, and requested the lawyer to let him know, at once, whether Mrs. Traquair and Murgatroyd were in Jamestown.
Matt was suspicious of Hackberry, and wanted to be sure of his ground before he made any move. At the same time, Matt realized that there was not a moment to be lost if Mrs. Traquair was really being held a prisoner in the shack on her homestead.
In order to get to Sykestown by train, Matt would have to go to Carrington, change cars, and proceed on the branch to his destination. At the post he learned that there was a train on the branch only every other day. More than that, the train south from Minnewaukon had left for that day and there would not be another until the following morning. If he waited until morning and took the train, he would be set down in Carrington on one of the days when the train was not running on the branch. It seemed as though he was bound to lose at least two days before he could get to Sykestown, and that it might have been better, after all, if he had gone with Hackberry on horseback.
Greatly disturbed, he went back to Camp Traquair and told McGlory the latest news.
"It's a scheme o' some kind," averred the cowboy. "I'll bet money, pard, you get a telegram from Mrs. Traquair saying she's all right."
But Matt received no message from Mrs. Traquair. He did get one from Matthews, however, and Cameron brought it down from the post.
Hastily Matt tore open the message and read it.