you hit?"

Adrian's hand went once more to his cheek. "Just a furrow," he said and
smiled a trifle dazedly. "He fired straight into my face."

"By Harry! He must have. Your cheek's powder-marked," cried Brannan,
running up and holding the lamp for a better view. "See that, gentlemen?
They tried to murder Mr. Stanley. This is self-defense. Who fired
at you?"

"This fellow!" Adrian indicated the sprawled figure. "Must have been. I
shot at the flash from his gun; then I aimed at McTurpin. I missed him,
probably."

"Not so sure of that," said Brown, who had come running from his
hostelry across the square. "Look, here's blood on the floor. A
trail--let's follow it. Either McTurpin or the woman was hit."

"I tried to avoid her," Adrian said. "I--hope I didn't--"

"Never mind. You were attacked. They're all of a parcel," cried a man
who wore the badge of a constable. "We've had our eyes on the three of
them a long time. This fellow," he indicated Gasket, "was one of the
crowd suspected of the Warren murders. He's the one who killed old
Burthen. Dandy Carter let it out tonight; he's half delirious. We'd have
strung him up most probably, if you hadn't--"

"Come," urged Brannan, "let us follow this trail to the wounded. Perhaps
he or she needs assistance." He held the lamp low, tracing the dark
spots across an intervening space to the rear entrance; thence to a
hitching rack where several horses still were tethered. "They mounted
here," the constable decided. "One horse probably. No telling which it
was that got the bullet."

Adrian was conscious, suddenly, that his hand still held the pistol. He
flung it from him with a gesture of repulsion.

"My wife!" he said faintly, "Inez!"

"What d'ye mean?" asked Spear.

"Talk up, man. What's wrong?"

"She's gone--abducted," Stanley answered. "Who'll lend me a horse. I
must find McTurpin. He knows--"

Unexpectedly Spear complicated matters. "You're mistaken, Stanley. I
followed when you and he took your walk together. I suspected
treachery--when Gasket sneaked along behind. I had McTurpin covered when
you turned your back on him. He came here after that. Both of them have
been here all the evening."

Stanley put his hand to his head with a bewildered gesture.

"Good God! Then where--? What has become of them?"

"Maybe they got wind of Benito's presence. Maybe they're with him. Let's
see."

They hurried back to the City Hotel.

"The room's dark," Spear lighted a ta