“And now,” Starr’s thoughts ran on, “I stand just where I stood before, except that I know a whole heap more than I wish I knew.  And if the thing breaks loose before the trial, Elfigo will be in jail where he’s got a cast-iron alibi.  The rest of the bunch must be strong enough to go on without him, but I shore did hope they’d be stirred up some over this shooting.  They’ll likely get together right away, hold a meeting and make arrangements to do without Elfigo.  If I knew where...”

He lifted the other foot to remove its boot, hesitated, and set it down again.  Surely the Alliance would have to adjust itself to the loss of Elfigo.  They would get together, and what buzzing they did would be behind barred doors, since they had been too cunning to show themselves at the hearing; that night, probably, since they knew now that Elfigo had been bound over to the grand jury, and that he was held without bail.  Where would they meet?  That was what Starr wished he knew.

He sat there rumpling his hair and studying the question.  He could not fix upon any particular place, unless it was the Sommers ranch; and that was too far from town for any urgent business, and travelers to and from the place would be taking too great a risk.  For he was sure there would be a dozen or more who would make up the Junta, and for so many men to be traveling in one direction would excite curiosity from any one who saw them leave town or return.

There was another possible meeting place—­the office of Las Nuevas.  Starr thought of that rather hopelessly.  Just as a common precaution, they would guard the doors if the Junta met there, or they would have men stationed on the stairs; that he would not be able to get up without giving the alarm he knew as well as though he had tried and failed.

His thoughts went to that hidden, inner office where he had found the pamphlets and the writing that pointed to Helen May as one of the band.  There, where there were no outside windows to betray a midnight conference by any showing of light within; where eavesdropping was absolutely impossible; where the men who met there might gain the yard by various means, since it faced on three streets, and be practically safe from observation, he became convinced would be the logical meeting place.

To be sure, he was only guessing.  He had no evidence whatever save his own reason that there would be a meeting, much less that it would be held in the secret office room of Las Nuevas.  But he put on the boot he had taken off and reached for his coat.  A half hour or so ought to prove him right or wrong in his deductions, and Starr would not have grudged a full night to satisfy himself on that point.

It was late, nearly midnight, to be exact, when he slipped out to the shed, and watched from its shadow until he was sure that no one had seen him, before he let himself down through the hole in the manger to the arroyo bottom.  He went hurriedly, but he was very careful not to show himself without first making sure that the way was clear.