nd held out his hand. "I don't know,
seh, but I'll try damned hard to do three things: find out what has
become of the little girl, of Dave Henderson, and of the scoundrel who
stole your baby because he thought the map was in the pocket."

"You mean that you don't think Dave--"

"That is exactly what I mean. Your cook, Anderson, kidnapped the child,
looks like to me. I saw that locket Collins found. My guess was that the
marks on the end of the chain were deep teeth marks. The man that stole
your baby tried first to cut the chain with his teeth so as to steal the
chain. You see, he could not find the clasp in the dark. Then the child
wakened and began to cry. He clapped a hand over its mouth and carried
the little girl out of the room. Then he heard somebody moving about,
lost his nerve, and jumped on the horse that was waiting, saddled, at
the door. He took the child along simply because he had to in order to
get the chain and the secret he thought it held."

"Perhaps; but that does not prove it was not Dave."

"It's contributory evidence, seh. Your friend could have slipped the
chain from her neck any day, or he could have opened the locket and
taken the map. No need for him to steal in at night. Do you happen to
remember whether your little girl had any particular aversion to the
cook?"

The cattleman's forehead frowned in thought. "I do remember, now, that
she was afraid of him. She always ran screaming to her mother when he
tried to be friendly with her. He was a sour sort of fellow."

"That helps out the case a heap, for it shows that he wanted to make
friends with her and she refused. He was thus forced to take the chain
when she was asleep instead of playing with her till he had discovered
the spring and could simply take the map."

"But he didn't know anything about the map. He was not in our
confidence."

"You and your friend talked it over evenings when he was at the ranch,
and other places, too, I expect."

"Yes, our talk kind of gravitated that way whenever we got together."

"Well, this fellow overheard you. That's probable, at least."

"But you're ignoring the important fact. Dave disappeared too that
night, with my little girl."

Bucky cut in sharply with a question. "Did he? How do you know he
disappeared WITH her? Why not AFTER? That's the theory my mind is
groping on just now."

"That's a blind trail to me. Why AFTER? And what difference does it
make?"

"All the difference in the wor