“Yes, I am. You're no fool. An' I believe you're square. I've got Anson and his gang corralled. You can't slip me--not in these woods. I could run off your horses--pick you off one by one--or turn the cougar loose on you at night.”
“Shore. It's your game. Anson dealt himself this hand.... Between you an' me, Dale, I never liked the deal.”
“Wal, yours truly was around when thet come off,” replied Wilson, with an involuntary little shudder. Some thought made him sick.
“The girl? Is she safe--unharmed?” queried Dale, hurriedly.
“She's shore jest as safe an' sound as when she was home. Dale, she's the gamest kid thet ever breathed! Why, no one could hev ever made me believe a girl, a kid like her, could hev the nerve she's got. Nothin's happened to her 'cept Riggs hit her in the mouth.... I killed him for thet.... An', so help me, God, I believe it's been workin' in me to save her somehow! Now it'll not be so hard.”
“Lemme see.... Wal, I've got to sneak her out of camp an' meet you. Thet's all.”
“But, Dale, listen,” remonstrated Wilson, earnestly. “Too quick 'll be as bad as too slow. Snake is sore these days, gittin' sorer all the time. He might savvy somethin', if I ain't careful, an' kill the girl or do her harm. I know these fellars. They're all ready to go to pieces. An' shore I must play safe. Shore it'd be safer to have a plan.”
Wilson's shrewd, light eyes gleamed with an idea. He was about to lower one of his upraised hands, evidently to point to the cougar, when he thought better of that.
“Anson's scared of cougars. Mebbe we can scare him an' the gang so it 'd be easy to sneak the girl off. Can you make thet big brute do tricks? Rush the camp at night an' squall an' chase off the horses?”
“I'll guarantee to scare Anson out of ten years' growth,” replied Dale.
“Shore it's a go, then,” resumed Wilson, as if glad. “I'll post the girl--give her a hunch to do her part. You sneak up to-night jest before dark. I'll hev the gang worked up. An' then you put the cougar to his tricks, whatever you want. When the gang gits wild I'll grab the girl an' pack her off down heah or somewheres aboot an' whistle fer you.... But mebbe thet ain't so good. If thet cougar comes pilin' into camp he might jump me instead of one of the gang. An' another hunch. He might slope up on me in the dark when I was tryin' to find you. Shore thet ain't appealin' to me.”