eelingly, brutally,
profanely.

"Damn you!" he cries. "Keep your tongue in your teeth, if you like.
Ere long I'll find a way to make it wag; when we're man and wife, as we
shall soon be--after a fashion. A good one, too, practised here upon
the prairies of Texas. Just the place for a bridal, such as ours is to
be. The nuptial knot tied, according to canons of our own choice,
needing no sanction of church, or palaver of priests, to make it
binding."

The ruffian pauses in his ribald speech. Not that he has yet sated his
vengeance, for he intends continuing the torture of his victim unable to
resist. He has driven the arrow deep into her heart, and leaves it to
rankle there.

For a time he is silent, as if enjoying his triumph--the expression on
his countenance truly satanic. It is seen suddenly to change,
apprehension taking its place, succeeded by fear.

The cause: sounds coming from the other side of the tree; human voices!

Not those of Bosley, or his captive; but of strange men speaking
excitedly!

Quick parting from his captive, and gliding up to the trunk, he looks
cautiously around it.

In the shadow he sees several figures clustering around Bosley and his
horse; then hears names pronounced, one which chills the blood within
his veins--almost freezing it.

He stands transfixed; cowering as one detected in an act of crime, and
by a strong hand held in the attitude in which caught! Only for a short
while thus; then, starting up, he rushes to regain his horse, jerks the
bridle from the back, and drags the animal in the direction of his
captive. Tossing her upon the pommel of the saddle, he springs into it.
But she too has heard names, and now makes herself heard, shouting,
"Help--help!"

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO.

"HELP! HELP!"

Baulked in their attempt to ambuscade the supposed Indians, Clancy and
his companions thought not of abandoning the search for them. On the
contrary, they continued it with renewed eagerness, their interest
excited by the unexplained disappearance of the party.

And they have succeeded in finding it, for it is they who surround
Bosley, having surprised him unsuspectingly puffing away at his pipe.
How they made approach, remains to be told.

On reaching the river's bank, and there seeing nought of the strange
equestrians, their first feeling was profound astonishment. On
Woodley's part, also, some relapse to a belief in the supernatural;
Heywood, to a certain degree