"I put that in just to help you out, gentlemen," he declared. "You have been so very kind to me I should hate to see anything happen to you."
The masked man wondered vaguely if the boy was mocking them, but decided almost immediately that he had really frightened Dick to such an extent that the young captive had put those words in to show his willingness to hold to the demands made upon him.
"Well, this will do," nodded the wearer of the mask, folding the paper and thrusting it into his pocket. "Now, pards, just keep the boy all ca'm and quiet, and mebbe his brother comes to his senses and settles the deal, arter which we evaporates and leaves them to meet up with each other and rejoice."
Then he strode out of the room, and his three companions followed, closing the door and leaving Dick once more to gloom and solitude.
Frank found the letter thrust under the door of his room at the hotel in Prescott. He was reading it over and over when Brad Buckhart, wearing a long, doleful face, came into the room.
"You don't find no trace whatever of my pard, do you, Frank?" he asked.
"I have a letter from him here," said Frank.
"What?" shouted the Texan, electrified by Merry's words. "A letter from him?"
"Why should he write a letter? Why didn't he come himself, instead of doing that?"
"Well, from what he says in the letter, I fancy it is impossible for him to come," said Merry. "Here, Buckhart, read it and see what you make of it."
He handed the missive to Brad, who read it through, his excitement growing every moment. This is what the Texan read:
"Dear Frank: I now am held fast in hands that care little for my life. No house shelters me. I am not near Prescott. If you search, you will find wind and nothing more. Have had a hot mill with my captors, but to no use whatever. S.tay here I must. Brad will worry, so don't fail to show him this.
"The men who have me swear to mutilate and finally kill me unless you come to terms immediately. You are to settle with the man who has demanded from you your mines and has threatened you with arrest for murder. As soon as you make terms with him, I am to be set free. If you refuse to make terms, this man swears to chop me up by inches. To-morrow you will receive one of my thumbs; next day the other thumb. Then, if you still delay, an ear will follow, and its mate will be delivered to you twenty-four hours later. If you remain obstinate, I shall be killed.