“All right. But you understand she’s a friend of mine. I’ll not have her hurt.”
“Oh, go to the devil! I’m not in the habit of hurting young ladies.”
MacQueen swung on his heel insolently and knocked on the door of a cabin near.
“Don’t forget that I’m here when you need me,” Boone told Melissy in a low voice.
“I’ll not forget,” the girl made answer in a murmur.
The wrinkled face of a Mexican woman appeared presently at a window. MacQueen jabbered a sentence or two in her language. She looked at Melissy and answered.
The girl had not lived in Southern Arizona for twenty years without having a working knowledge of Spanish. Wherefore, she knew that her captor had ordered his own room prepared for her. 260
While they waited for this to be made ready MacQueen hummed a snatch of a popular song. It happened to be a love ditty. Boone ground his teeth and glared at him, which appeared to amuse the other ruffian immensely.
“Don’t stay up on our account,” MacQueen suggested presently with a malicious laugh. “We’re not needing a chaperone any to speak of.”
The Mexican woman announced that the bedroom was ready and MacQueen escorted Melissy to the door of the room. He stood aside with mock gallantry to let her pass.