“I wonder if anything can have happened to them?”

“Accidents are liable to take place in this part of the world—­”

“Hands up!” was the startling command that broke upon the couple at that moment, from a point directly behind them.

The truth was, Sterry and Vesey had been seen by the horsemen as they stole away in the gloom.  Capt.  Asbury, suspecting they were rustlers, sent three of his men out beyond them on foot, and they did their part so well that they came up without alarming either of their horses, who ordinarily would have detected them.

“I’ve been trapped!” muttered Vesey, savagely, glancing at the figures, standing but a short way off in the moonlight, with their Winchesters levelled.

“Never mind,” said Sterry, quickly, “up with your hands, as I do, or we’ll both catch it; I’ll stand by you.”

The rustler was wise enough to obey, with only a momentary hesitation.  Had he not done so, he would never have had a second chance, for the stockmen were very much in earnest.

The footmen came forward with their weapons at a level, for they were too prudent to give their prisoners a chance.

“How are you, Hendricks?” asked Sterry, with a laugh, as the trio joined them.

The man addressed peered closely in his face, suspecting, and yet not convinced of his identity until after a minute or two.

“Well, I’ll be hanged!” he exclaimed; “is that you, Mont?”

“I have a suspicion that it is,” was the reply of Sterry, laughing quite heartily as he lowered his hands.

“Who is your friend?” he asked, moving around to gain a better view of the rustler.

“Ah, that’s the man we’re looking for,” added Hendricks a moment later; “he’s Duke Vesey, the partner of the late Jack Perkins.”

“You are right,” Sterry hastened to say, “but he is under the protection of a flag of truce.”

“A flag of truce!” repeated the other; “where is it?”

“I gave him my pledge to shield him against you folks, as he agreed to do if your party had proven to be his friends.”

“Well, that’s a queer state of affairs,” laughed the other, not forgetting to keep guard of the prisoner, who was permitted to lower his hands.  The other stockmen were equally alert, now that there was but one man to watch, so that Vesey was really as helpless as though deprived of all his weapons.

“I do not see what is so queer about it,” replied Sterry, warmly; “we heard you coming and moved off out of sight.  Before doing so Vesey pledged himself to stand by me against any of his friends, if it became necessary, and I promised to do the same for him.  The issue shows that it is my privilege to keep my promise—­that’s all.”

It was plain that Hendricks felt himself in a quandary.  He had been sent out to capture the two men under the supposition that they were rustlers.  It was proved that one of them was the very individual whom Capt.  Asbury was anxious to secure.  To release him after taking him prisoner would place his captor in anything but a pleasant situation with his leader.