The expected happened.  The door of the cabin, in which lay the prisoner and Tom Dixon, was flung open.  A dark form filled the doorway, and the moonlight gleamed on the shining barrel of a rifle.  For an instant Tom stood so, trying to locate the source of the firing.  He disappeared into the cabin, then reappeared.  The door was closed and locked.  Taking what cover he could find, Tom slipped over the fence, and into the mesquite on the other side of the road.

Phyllis darted forward like a flame.  Her trembling fingers fitted a key to the lock of the cabin.  Opening the door, she slipped in and closed it behind her.

“Where are you?” her young voice breathed.

“Over here by the fireplace.  What is it all about, Miss Sanderson?”

She groped her way to him.  “Never mind now.  We’ve got to hurry.  Are you tied?”

“Yes—­hands and feet.”

A beam of light through the window showed the flash of a knife.  With a few hacks of the blade, she had freed him.  He was about to rise when the door opened and a head was thrust in.

“What’s the row, Tom?”

Weaver growled an answer.  “He isn’t here.  Pulled out when the firing began.  I wish you’d tell me what it is all about.”

But the head was already withdrawn, and its owner scudding toward the fray.  Phyllis rose from the foot of the cot, where she had crouched.

“Come!” she told the cattleman imperiously, and led the way from the cabin in a hurried flight for the porch shadows.

They had scarcely reached these when another half-clad figure emerged from the house, rifle in hand, and plunged across the road into the cacti.  He, too, headed for the scene of the now intermittent shooting.

“Now!” cried Phyllis, and gave her hand to the man huddled beside her.

She led him into the dark house, up the stairs, and into her room.  He would have prolonged the sweet intimacy of that minute had it been in his power; but, once inside the chamber, she withdrew her fingers.

“Stay here till I come back,” she ordered.  “I must show myself, so as not to arouse suspicion.”

“But tell me—­what does it mean?” demanded Buck.

“It means we’re trying to save your life.  Whatever happens, don’t leave this room or let yourself be seen at the window.  If you do, we’re lost.”

With that she was gone, flying down the stairs to show herself as an apparition of terror to learn what was wrong.

She heard the returning warriors as they reached the door of the log cabin.  They had thrashed through the live-oak grove and found nothing, and were now hurrying back to the prison house, full of suspicions.

“He’s gone!” she heard Phil cry from within.  Came then the sound of excited voices, and presently the shaft of light from a kerosene lamp.  Feet trampled in the cabin.  Phyllis heard the cot being kicked over.  This moment she chose for her entrance.