u'll have to go to San Diego, catch Uncle
James, and throw him down, as you did me, and search his pockets for it.
But that is something a dozen such fellows as you couldn't do."

"But the office key! Where's that?"

"It's in a safe place, also," said Frank, who had already resolved that
the would-be robber should never learn from him where he had hidden the
key. "If I were a man, I should like to see you hold me down so easily.
Let me up, or I'll call for help!"

"If you speak above your breath, I'll choke you!" said Pierre, with
savage emphasis. "I am not done with you yet! Is the money in the safe?"

"That's none of your business! Let me up, I say! Here, Marmion!
Marmion!"

"_Carrajo!_" muttered the Ranchero, again seizing his prisoner's throat
in his powerful fingers. "Do you want me to kill you?"

Frank, nothing daunted by this rough treatment, struggled manfully, and
tried hard to make a defiant reply, but could not utter a sound. Pierre
tightened his grasp, until it seemed as if he had deliberately resolved
to send him out of the world altogether, and then released his hold, and
waited until Frank was able to speak before he said:

"You see that I am in earnest! Now, answer me! Is the gold in the safe?"

"I am in earnest, too!" replied Frank, as bravely as ever. "I shall not
tell you where it is. Are you going to let me up?"

"I am going to make you tell where you have put that key!" said Pierre,
as he removed the sash his prisoner wore around his waist, and began to
confine his arms behind his back. "If I once get inside the office, I'll
soon find out where you have put that gold."

"But you are not inside the office yet, and I don't think you will get
there very soon. If you were well acquainted with me, you would know
that you can not drive me one inch. You're a coward, Pierre," he added,
as he released one of his hands by a sudden jerk, and made a desperate
but unsuccessful attempt to seize the ruffian by the hair. "You don't
give a fellow a fair chance. I wish my dog was here."

"You need not look for him," said the Ranchero; "he'll never come."

Frank made no reply. He was wondering what his captor intended to do
with him, and turning over in his mind numerous wild plans for escape.
Pierre, in his haste, was tying the sash in a very clumsy manner, and
Frank was certain that, with one vigorous twist, he could set himself
at liberty. In spite of his unpleasant and even painful situation--for,
aft