Silently they stole toward the open door of the hut. Through the opening there came to them the sound of a voice. It was a strange voice, and the words were not distinguishable.
While they were still some distance from the door, the voice was blotted out by the impact of a blow; and immediately there came a crash as of something being overturned.
McGlory was no longer anxious to "get the lay of the land" before butting into Matt's argument with Newt Prebbles. In an instant he jumped for the door and stood peering into the hut.
The scene before him was difficult to comprehend. A chair had been overturned, and there was a form--no, two forms--lying on the floor beside it. Then, too, there was some one else, a man, bending over one of the forms.
The dark interior of the shack was not favorable to a clear survey of the scene by eyes but recently turned from the glaring sunshine.
McGlory, however, caught one detail of the picture that wrenched a sharp cry from his lips.
The bent form lifted itself with catlike quickness, _Crack!_ The sharp note of a revolver rattled through the narrow room, followed by a warning shout in a well-known voice:
"Look out, Joe! It's Murgatroyd, and he's in a killing mood!"
Matt was in the room, bound and helpless. That was the next detail that flashed before the eyes of McGlory.
Murgatroyd's shot had missed. Mad with rage, he was making ready to fire again.
Blindly, desperately, the cowboy flung himself across the room. Pard Matt was there, and in danger. Think of himself, McGlory would not.
The demons in the broker's eyes glowered murderously along the sights of the leveled weapon. It seemed as though nothing could save the cowboy.
At just that moment, however, a window behind the broker crashed inward. A stone, hurled by Ping with all his force, had shattered the glass, plunged across the gap, and struck Murgatroyd's arm.
The arm dropped as though paralyzed, and the broker staggered sideways with a cry of pain. McGlory sprang upon him, and the two were struggling fiercely when Ping raced into the room and took a hand in the battle.
Murgatroyd, with only one hand, was no match for his wiry young antagonists.
As Newt and Murgatroyd had overpowered Matt, so the cowboy and the Chinaman wrestled and secured the advantage of Murgatroyd.