Overstreet broke in, to mark time. "You think we've got him?"
"We do. Don't you?"
"And Ellison wants him, does he?"
"Wants him worse 'n a heifer cow does her calf." Roberts laughed softly, as though from some fund of inner mirth. "He's kinda hopin' you'll prove stubborn so as to give him a chance to come an' get him."
"Where is Ellison?"
The Ranger smiled. "He didn't give me any instructions about tellin' you where he is."
"H'mp! You can come in an' talk with Pete. We'll have to blindfold you," said Dinsmore.
The envoy made no objections. He dismounted. A bandana was tied across his eyes, and the men led him into the pocket of rock. The handkerchief was removed.
Jack told again what he had come for.
"How did you know we were here?" demanded Pete.
"It's our business to know such things." Jack did not think it wise to mention that he had been here once before, the same day he found Rutherford Wadley's body a few miles away at the foot of a bluff.
"Ridley told us he was alone--no Rangers a-tall with him, he said."
"Did he?" Jack showed amusement. "What did you expect him to tell you? He draws pay as a Ranger."
"What's Ellison's proposition?"
"Captain Ellison hasn't any proposition to make, if by that you mean compromise. You're to turn Ridley over to me. That's all."
"An' where do we get off?" snorted Pete. "What does that buy us?"
"It buys you six hours' time for a get-away. I've got no business to do it, but I'll promise to loaf around an' not report to Captain Ellison till after noon. I'll go that far."
"I don' know's we want to make any get-away. We could hold the fort right here against quite a few Rangers, I reckon."
"Suit yourself," said Jack indifferently.
Pete chewed tobacco slowly and looked down sullenly at a flat rock without seeing it. Anger burned in him like a smouldering fire in peat. He hated this man Roberts, and Ellison he regarded as a natural enemy. Nothing would have pleased him more than to settle his feud with the Ranger on the spot with a six-shooter. But that meant a hurried exit from the Panhandle at a sacrifice of his accumulated profits. This did not suit Dinsmore's plans. His purpose was to leave Texas with enough money to set him up in business in Colorado or Wyoming. It would not do to gratify his revenge just now. Nor did he dare to carry out his threat and let the Rangers attack him. His policy was to avoid any conflict if possible.