Just what he expected as a result of a visit to the girl"s room, Lee did not know. He hoped for some sign to tell him something, anything.
Quietly the three went through the house until they came to Judith"s dainty blue-and-white bedroom. Here all had been set in order by Mrs.
Simpson. A great vase of rosebuds, brought by Jose this morning, accepted by Mrs. Simpson with suspicion and searched carefully for a lurking scorpion or a coiled rattlesnake, stood on a table by the window. On entering the room a sort of awkward shyness fell over both Lee and Carson. Hampton, freed now and standing alone, though under Carson"s hard eye, stared at them angrily.
"When you get through with this foolishness," he told them stiffly, "you can either apologize or call for your time."
Neither answered. Carson little by little had come to share Lee"s uncertainty and anxiety; and now, like Lee, sought eagerly to find a sign--something to tell that Judith had been lured away by Trevors or Quinnion; or that she had been overpowered here and taken out, perhaps through a window.
But Judith had gone Sat.u.r.day night, and Mrs. Simpson had done her work thoroughly. It might be well to call the housekeeper and question her.
Had she found a chair overturned, a rug rumpled, a table shoved a little from its accustomed place? But, again, it would be as well not to start suspicion and surmise in other minds; if, after all, there were no true cause for it. Judith _might_ be in San Francisco; she _might_ have sent the order to sell.
"Chances is we"re smelling powder where there wasn"t no shot," said Carson hesitatingly.
"Bright boy!" mocked Hampton. "You"ll make a great little gumshoe artist one of these days."
Had Bud Lee not loved Judith as he did, with his whole heart and soul, it well might have been that he and Carson and Hampton would have gone out of the room knowing no more than when they had come in. But it seemed to Lee that the room which knew Judith so intimately, was seeking to open its dumb lips to whisper to him of danger to her. He had come here troubled for her; he stood, looking about him frowningly, his heart heavy, fear mounting within him. And at length he found a sign.
At the far end of the room, in a corner, was Judith"s writing-table, on which were several opened letters, pen and ink, a pad of paper. Lee stepped to it. If she had been lured away after nightfall, then some message had come to her. If that message had come by word of mouth, there was no need seeking it; if it had been a note, fate might have kept it here.
Impaled on a sharp file was a sheet of note-paper. The note was brief, typewritten, even to the signature--that of Doc Tripp. It ran:
DEAR JUDITH:
I am afraid of a new trouble. Have spotted another one of T"s gang working for us. Also have got a bullet-hole in my right hand. Nothing serious so far. Come down right away. Don"t let any one see you as I want to spring a surprise on them. Am not even using the telephone, as I"ve a notion they are watching me. Hurry.
TRIPP.
"Come back to the office," said Lee bluntly. And well in front of Carson and Hampton, who stared wonderingly at the paper in his hand, he went to the office telephone and called for Tripp.
"How"s your hand?" he asked when Tripp answered.
"All right," replied Tripp. "Why?"
"Get it hurt?"
"No."
"Did you write Miss Sanford a hurry-up note within the last few days?"
"No."
"Sure of that, Doc? Typewritten note?"
"Of course I"m sure," snapped Tripp. "What"s wrong?"
"G.o.d knows," answered Lee shortly. "But you"d better come up here and come on the jump. Also, keep your mouth shut until you can get a chance to talk with me or Carson."
He clicked up the receiver and turned terrible eyes on the two men watching him.
"They"ve got her," he said slowly. "They"ve got her, Carson. They"ve had her since Sat.u.r.day night!"
Carson read the note. Only then did it pa.s.s into Hampton"s hands. The boy, angered at the way in which he had been ignored, insulted in his sense of dignity by those words of Lee"s to Tripp, "Talk with me or Carson," seeing the reins of power being s.n.a.t.c.hed from his hands, was speechless with wrath.
"You fellows have b.u.t.ted in all I"ll stand for!" he cried at them, his shut fists shaking. "I tell you I"m running this outfit and what I say goes. I don"t believe that Trevors or any man living would do a trick like that. I tell you it"s ridiculous. And, no matter where Judith is, when she is not here I run the ranch. I need money; she needs money; we"ve got a fair chance to sell; I"ve pa.s.sed my word we are going to sell; and by G.o.d, we are going to sell."
In another mood, Hampton would not have spoken this way. In another mood and with time for argument, Bud Lee would have expostulated with him. Now, however, Lee said tersely:
"Carson, it"s up to you and me. Get the boys out, to the last man of them. Turn every hoof of cattle and horses back into the Upper End.
We"ve got to do it to-night. Get them into the little valley above the plateau. We can hold them there, even if they try to force our hands, which will be like them. I take this to be Trevors"s last big play.
And, by thunder, he has mighty near gotten away with it!"
"Don"t you dare do it!" blazed out young Hampton. "Carson, you take orders from me. Get out of this house and leave the stock where they are. In the morning----"
"Go ahead, Carson," cut in Lee"s hard voice. "I"ll take care of Hampton here."
"You will, will you?" cried Hampton.
With one bound he was at the table, jerking open a drawer. As his hand sought the weapon lying there, Bud Lee was on him, throwing him back.
Carson looked at them a moment, then went to the door.
"You"re right, Bud," he said calmly as he went out.
Lee, forcing himself to show a calmness like Carson"s, said gently to Hampton:
"Can"t you see the play? It"s up to you to kick in and stop it.
There"s a telephone; call up the buyers in Rocky Bend. They"re there now, or at least their drivers are, if they"re coming out here in the morning. Tell them the deal is off."
"Can"t I see?" said Hampton, writhing out of Lee"s hands, on his way to the door. "You bet I can see! If you and Carson think that you can run me----"
Then, for good and all, Lee gave over trying to reason with Hampton.
There was too much to be done to waste time. He drew Hampton back, forcing him against the wall. As he tried to call out, Lee"s hand over his mouth smothered his words.
"You"re coming with me," he said sharply. "Right now."
Though he struggled, Hampton was little more than a baby in the horse foreman"s muscular grip. Tripped, with a heel behind his calf, he fell heavily, Lee upon him. Both arms were pinioned behind him, and Lee"s neckerchief thrust into his mouth. He writhed in impotent rage. His outcries died in his throat, the loudest of them not reaching Marcia"s ears above the creaking of her rocking-chair. Lee still held Hampton"s tied hands gripped in his own. So the two men went out the back door, down toward the corrals.
Seeing men hurrying from the bunk-house to the stables under Carson"s snapping orders. Lee called out for Tommy Burkitt. And in a moment, with bulging eyes, Burkitt came running.
"Bring out three horses, Tommy," Lee commanded, giving no explanation.
"Hurry, and keep your mouth shut."
Burkitt obeyed Lee as he always did, silently and unquestioningly.
Very soon he returned, riding, leading two saddled horses.
"Get into the saddle, Hampton," said Lee sternly. "There"s no time for nonsense. Get up or I"ll put you up."
"Curse you," Hampton said in smothered anger, his tone making clear the meaning of the indistinct mutter. But he climbed into the saddle.