Arnold finished his breakfast and, telling Margaret that he was going to Gunsight to see Johnny and Dave, the hiring of another puncher being uppermost in his mind, went to the corral and soon was riding along the trail, gratified by the entire absence of pain in his leg and with the stimulation which came from the easy motion, the sun, and the crisp morning air. When Margaret turned back into the house her brother had slipped out of the front door and had gone, eager to shirk his few duties and play scout. Since he had found an old, broken rifle in the deserted and disused bunkhouse it formed the foundation upon which he based his play. As she called to him, vexation in her voice, he was wriggling through a clump of brush not far away, this part of his scouting being earnest and real. Wiping dishes was woman\'s work, as he firmly believed, and he detested and scorned it. His pony had been saddled and picketed in a draw south of the house before breakfast, and when the opportunity offered he intended to get to it and ride off over the ranch until hunger forced him to return. Lying quietly in his cover he kept a keen watch until, the beds made, his sister should begin the kitchen work and give him a chance to cross the open space between him and the pony. He was growing more and more impatient when he caught sight of a horse[346]man riding down the slope of a hill north of the house, and his anger and curiosity flared up when he saw that it was Big Tom.

The Bar H foreman rode leisurely past the corral, noting the absence of Arnold\'s horse and the pony, and stopped before the door. Swinging from the saddle he sauntered up to the kitchen door and knocked. Margaret wondered who it could be, a sudden thought of injury to her father coming to her, and she hastened to answer it. When she saw who the visitor was she stopped and recoiled a little.

"How-do-you-do?" she said coldly.

"Glad to see you. Ma\'am," came the answer. "I rode over to see yore father about some mavericks of his that are eatin\' up my grass."

"You have just missed him," replied Margaret. "If you return by the way of Gunsight you can see him there."

"Now, ain\'t that just my luck?" regretted the foreman, stepping inside. "Might I have a drink of water, Ma\'am? I wasn\'t aimin\' to ride back that way. Of course there ain\'t no chance at all of his comin\' back soon?"

"Why, no," answered Margaret, handing him the dipper. "He may not return until evening. But you can leave a message for him with me."

"It\'s somethin\' we has to talk over," Big Tom replied, giving her the empty dipper. As her hand touched it he grabbed her to him, her screams muffled by his hand. Struggle as she would she was helpless against his bearlike strength and soon was limp with[347] exhaustion and partially suffocated. Holding her with one arm and hand he took a clothesline from a peg on the wall and quickly trussed her with it until she was powerless to move. Gagging her with a towel he carried her to the corral, caught her horse, and threw her on it and cinched up the saddle which lay at the gate. Hurrying back to the house he collected provisions and ran out again, and in another minute he rode rapidly for the brush and rough ground west of the house, leading her horse. Bound, gagged, and tied to the saddle she could do nothing, every beat of the horses\' hoofs increasing her terror.

Back at the house Charley wriggled around the corner, his curiosity overcoming caution, and he stared in amazement as he saw them crossing the open, his sister bound with rope. Suddenly cursing the useless rifle in a burst of rage, he dashed for his horse, mounted and rode for town to tell his father, keeping to the low levels until the hills and brush formed a screen behind him. The little pony ran at top speed, shrewdly guided over the rough trail, and the nine miles did not take long. Dashing up to Dave\'s, Charley shouted at the top of his lungs and pulled up at the door.

"Peggy\'s kidnapped! Dad! Peggy\'s kidnapped!"

A chair crashed in Dave\'s and three men jammed in the doorway, Johnny forcing his two companions back as he fought his way past them. "What\'s that?" he demanded.

"Big Tom\'s stole Peggy, d—n him!" shrilled the boy, tears of helpless rage in his eyes.

Johnny needed no further proof than the words and[348] Charley\'s earnestness. "Where was it? Which way did he go?" he snapped, leaping to the black horse standing at the tie rail.

"At th\' ranch—they went west. Oh, Peggy!" he sobbed. "Oh, Peggy!"

"Come a-runnin\'!" shouted Johnny over his shoulder, wheeling his horse. He spoke to the black thoroughbred and she struck into a gait she could hold for hours, and one which was deceptive in its smoothness. As he rocked down the trail three Double X punchers rode in from the south.

"Keep a-goin\'!" Dave yelled to them, apoplectic with his emotions. "Foller him! Big Tom\'s run off with th\' Arnold gal!"

Slim\'s brief remark is better left unrecorded. Three sets of hoofs rolled out of the town and sent the dust swirling high along the trail. The punchers overtook and passed Arnold, who cursed the slowness of his mount, shouted profane reassurance at him and left him their dust. Dailey led Fanning around the corner of the saloon and aroused surprised resentment in his horse, which heretofore had regarded him as a sane being. Fanning\'s gray felt a touch of its youthful spirits return; if it had to race, all right; it wasn\'t much for speed, but it expected to be better than last at the finish.

Big Tom, having passed the boundaries of the ranch, pulled up long enough to remove the gag. "If you behave yoreself I\'ll untie you," he said. "You can\'t get away—if you try it you\'ll learn what a rope feels like."

[349]

Margaret managed to nod and the rope came off of her.

"\'Twon\'t do no good to yell," he told her, "nor to hold back. You won\'t be missed till supper time, an\' then nobody will do much worryin\' till dark. They\'ll search th\' range first—an\' by th\' time they finish that we\'ll be so far away that they\'ll never find us. Yo\'re thinkin\' they\'ll trail us? Huh! Let \'em, then. Once we get into my country they can trail an\' be d—d! You might as well make th\' best of it. I got th\' herd money in my pockets, an\' we can have a nice little ranch an\' live like th\' story books say—happy ever after. Yo\'re goin\' to live there with me. If yo\'re sensible you can do it as my wife. I\'m going to give you that chance. But, yo\'re goin\' to live there with me, just the same."

"You are even more of a beast than I thought," she retorted. "You\'ll never reach that ranch; and if you do, I\'ll kill you while you sleep."

"I\'m chancin\' th\' last," he retorted. "Yo\'re thinkin\' of that Nelson, huh?" he grinned. "When Big Tom does play his cards it takes more\'n a fool like him to win th\' pot. An\' I\'m sayin\' I stacked this deck. I\'ve been stackin\' it for a long time, figgerin\' everythin\'. He\'s cold-decked, Ma\'am; beat clean when he\'d reckoned he\'d won. Thinkin\' they\'ll trail us, an\' get us because we\'re not pushin\' hard?" He laughed ironically. "Didn\'t I say I\'ve been plannin\' this a long time? There ain\'t no use of wearin\' horses out when it ain\'t needed. With twenty hours, or more, start, ours will be fresh when we need speed—which we won\'t. You\'d do better to begin practicin\' callin\' yoreself Missus Huff[350]—it\'l............