. Then,
without a moment's delay, he was hoisted from the floor--his great
weight bearing his captors down--and carried bodily out of the office
and thrown into his own buckboard, which was waiting at the door. Retief
sprang into the driving seat whilst one of the Breeds held the prisoner
down, some other dark figures leapt into the saddles of several waiting
horses, and the party dashed off at a breakneck speed.

The gleaming stars gave out more than sufficient light for the desperate
teamster. He swung the well-fed, high-mettled horses of the money-lender
round, and headed right through the heart of the settlement. The
audacity of this man was superlative. He lashed the animals into a
gallop which made the saddle horses extend themselves to keep up. On, on
into the night they raced, and almost in a flash the settlement was
passed. The sleepy inhabitants of Foss River heard the mad racing of the
horses but paid no heed. The daring of the raider was his safeguard.

Lablache knew their destination. They were traveling southward, and he
felt that their object was his own ranch.

CHAPTER XX

A NIGHT OF TERROR

That midnight drive was one long nightmare to the unfortunate captive.
He had been thrown, sprawling, into the iron-railed "carryall" platform
at the back of the buckboard, and lay on the nut-studded slats, where he
was jolted and bumped about like the proverbial pea on a drum.

When the raider changed his direction, and turned off the trail on to
the open prairie, the horrors of the prisoner's position were
intensified a hundredfold. Alone, there was insufficient room for the
suffering man in the limited space of the "carryall," but beside him
sat, or rather crouched, a burly Breed, ready at a moment's notice to
quash any attempt at escape on the part of the wretched money-lender.

Thus he was borne along, mile after mile, southward towards his own
ranch. Sometimes during that terrible ride Lablache found time to wonder
what was the object of these people in thus kidnapping him. Surely if
they only meant to carry off his cattle, such a task could have been
done without bringing him along with them. It seemed to him that there
could be only one interpretation put upon the matter, and, in spite of
his present agonies, the great man shuddered as he thought.

Courageous as he was, he endured a period of mental agony which took all
the heart out of him. He understood the methods of the prairie so well
th