"Can I get in that way?"
"Surest thing you know—if the trapdoor ain't latched. Say, stick around outside my room half a sec, will you?"
The cattleman waited in the darkness of the passage. If his enemies were trying to ambush him in the house next door the girl's plan might save him. He would have a chance at least to get them unexpectedly in the rear.
It could have been scarcely more than two minutes later that the young woman joined him.
Her small hand slipped into his to guide him. They padded softly along the corridor till they came to a flight of stairs running up. The girl led the way, taking the treads without noise in her stockinged feet. Clay followed with the utmost caution.
Again her hand found his in the darkness of the landing. She took him toward the rear to a ladder which ended at a dormer half-door leading to the roof. Clay fumbled with his fingers, found a hook, unfastened it, and pushed open the trap. He looked up into a starlit night and a moment later stepped out upon the roof. Presently the slim figure of the girl stood beside him.
They moved across to a low wall, climbed it and came to the dormer door of the next house. Clay knelt and lifted it an inch or two very slowly. He lowered it again and rose.
"I'm a heap obliged to you, Miss," he said in a low voice. "You're a game little gentleman."
She nodded. "My name is Annie Millikan."
"Mine is Clay Lindsay. I want to come and thank you proper some day."