"And I told you there was no Indian with me. I spoke the truth."
"Say, youngster, did you ever hear of Cimarron Bill?"
Frank looked the fellow over with his calm eyes. He saw a cruel, straight slit of a mouth, a thin black mustache, with traces of gray, and sharp, cruel eyes, set altogether too near together. He had heard of Cimarron Bill as the most dangerous "man-killer" in all the Southwest.
"Yes," he said quietly, "I have heard of him."
"Well, you're lookin' at him. I'm Cimarron Bill. The butts of my guns have seventeen notches in 'em. You may make the eighteenth."
Merriwell knew what the ruffian meant, yet he showed no signs of fear.
"I have heard," he said, "that Cimarron Bill has never yet shot a man in cold blood or one who was unarmed."
"I opine that's right, young man; but this case is a leetle different. It's not healthy to irk me up under any conditions, and so I advise you to go slow."
Frank smiled.
"I have no desire or intention of irking you up, sir," he said. "I am giving you straight goods. There is no Indian with me."
"There was last night."
"Yes."
"Well, I don't opine he's melted into the air or sunk into the ground, an' tharfore he has to be yander behind them rocks."
"I give you my word, sir, that he is not there, and has not been there since last night."
The ruffians had gathered about and were listening to this talk. Picturesque scoundrels they were, armed to the teeth and looking fit for any job of bloodshed or murder. They glared at the cool youth standing so quietly in their midst; but he seemed perfectly at his ease.
"Sam," said the leader, turning to one of them, "go out yander to them thar rocks an' look round for that redskin."
Sam, a squat, red-headed desperado, seemed to hesitate.
"What ef the Injun is waitin' thar to shoot me up some as I comes amblin' along?" he asked.
"Go!" said Cimarron Bill, in a tone cold as ice. "If the Injun shoots you, we'll riddle this here young gent with bullets."
"Which won't do me good none whatever," muttered Sam; but he knew better than to disobey or hesitate longer, and so, dropping his rifle into the hollow of his left arm, he stepped out and advanced toward the spot where Merriwell had been ensconced behind the boulders.
The brutal band watched and waited. Cimarron Bill surveyed the face of Frank Merriwell, more than half-expecting the youth would call for Sam to come back, knowing the fate that would befall him in case the Indian began to shoot.
But Sam walked straight up to the boulders, clambered onto them, and looked over into the hiding-place that had served Frank so well.
"Derned ef thar's ary livin' critter hyer!" he shouted back.
"Make sure," called the leader, in that metallic voice of his, which was so hard on the nerves. "Don't make no mistake."
Sam sprang down behind the boulders. They saw his head moving about, but, very soon, he clambered back over them and came walking rapidly away.
"The varmint is sartin gone," he averred.
Immediately Cimarron Bill thrust his cocked revolver against Frank Merriwell's temple.
"Tell us where the Injun is!" he commanded. "Speak quick and straight, or I'll blow the top of your head off!"
"I am unable to tell you just where he is at present," said Frank, with that perfect coolness that so astonished the desperadoes. "He left me last night."
"Left you?"
"Yes."
"How? We had this side guarded, an' ther boys below kept close watch."
"All the same, I think Joe Crowfoot passed you. How he did it I do not know. He told me he could."
The leader of the ruffians looked as if he was not yet willing to believe such a thing had happened; but there no longer seemed much chance for doubt.
"Then it must have been that red whelp who stole one of our hosses!" he said.
"I think it was," nodded Merry. "Something like two hours after he left me I heard a commotion this way, followed by some shooting and the sound of a galloping horse, which died out in the distance."
Some of the men began to swear, but Bill silenced them with one swift look from his evil eyes.
"Well, that sure is the limit!" he observed, trying to hide some of his disgust. "We didn't opine a kitten could sneak past us without being seen an' shot up."
"A kitten might not," said Frank. "But old Joe Crowfoot should be compared with a serpent. He has all the wisdom and craft of one. I depended on him, and he did not fail me."
"Where has he gone? State it – state it almighty sudden!"
"If he followed instructions, he has gone to Holbrook."
"For what?"
"To send a message for me to my brother."
"A message? What sort of a message?"
"A letter and some papers."
"Papers?" said Cimarron Bill, in a low, threatening tone. "What papers?"
"Certain papers referring to the Queen Mystery and San Pablo Mines, which I own."
A look of disappointed rage contorted the cruel face of the murderous ruffian. The lips were pressed together until they appeared to make one straight line no wider than the thin blade of a knife. The eyelids closed to narrow slits, while that dark face turned to a bluish tinge.
Many times had Frank Merriwell stood in deadly peril of his life; but, looking at that man then, he well knew that never had his danger been greater. Still, if he regretted his act in walking forth and surrendering himself into the hands of such a creature he effectually concealed it. He betrayed not a whit of trepidation or alarm, which was a masterly display of nerve.
The ruffians began to murmur fiercely, like the growling of so many wolves. Perhaps it was to this outbreak that Merry owed his life, for the leader suddenly bade them be silent, and the sounds ceased.
"So you sent those papers off by that old redskin, did you?" asked Bill.
"I did."
"And you have the nerve to come out here and tell me that! If you had known me better, you would have stayed, and choked and starved, or even shot yourself behind those rocks, before doing such a thing!"
Merriwell made no retort, for he felt that too many words would be indiscreet. This man was capable of any atrocity, and another straw might break the camel's back.
"Mr. Merriwell," said the ruffian, "I came here for them papers, and I'm goin' to have them!"
"You may take my life," said Merry; "but that will not give you the papers. In fact, it will utterly defeat the object of those men who have employed you to obtain them."
"How do you figger that out? With you out of the way, they'll have less trouble in takin' your mines."
"On the contrary, if I am murdered, the fact will react against them. I have written a full account of the facts concerning my position and fight with the syndicate to my brother, to be used in case anything serious happens to me. With that, and with the papers I have sent him, I fancy he can so arouse public indignation against the syndicate that the men who are pushing this thing will be glad enough to pull in their horns and quit the battle. So you can see that by killing me you will defeat the object of the syndicate and disgust it with your method of procedure."
Frank spoke those words convincingly, and certain it is that he made an impression on Cimarron Bill. The other ruffians, however, who failed to reason clearly, were fierce enough to shoot the captive where he stood.
Bill stood still and looked the young man over, beginning to realize that