"And tell him to come break Jeff out o' jail?" said he. "That don't seem hardly right, considerin'. You write to him--Johnny Dines, Morningside. You might wire up to Cloudland and have it forwarded from there. I'll pay." Billy made a note of it. "They'll be out here in a jiffy now," he said. "Now, Jimmy, you listen to all they tell you; follow it up; make no comments; don't see anything and don't miss anything. Let Lake think he's having it all his own way and he'll make some kind of a break that will give him away. We haven't got a thing against him yet except the right guess. And you be careful to catch your friend without a fight. When you get him I want you to give him a message from me; but don't mention any name. Tell him to keep a stiff upper lip--that the devil takes care of his own. Say the devil told you himself--in person. I don't want to show my hand. I'm on the other side--see? That way I can be in Lake's counsels--force myself in, if necessary, after this morning." "You think that if you give Lake rope enough----" "Exactly. Here they come--I hear their chairs." "Blonde or brunette?" said Jimmy casually. "Eh? What's that?" "The something else that you wouldn't tell me about," Jimmy explained. "Is she blonde or brunette?" "Oh, go to hell!" said Billy. CHAPTER IX TAKEN "Lord Huntley then he did speak out-- O, fair mot fa' his body!-- 'I here will fight doublet alane Or ony thing ails Geordie! "'Whom has he robbed? What has he stole? Or has he killed ony? Or what's the crime that he has done His foes they are so mony?'" --_Old Ballad._ Hue and cry, hubbub and mystery, swept the Isle of Arcady that morning, but the most painstaking search and query proved fruitless. It developed beyond doubt that the football man had not been seen since his one brief appearance on the ballroom floor. Search was transferred to the mainland, where, as it neared noon, Lake's perseverance and thoroughness were rewarded. In Chihuahua suburb, beyond the north wall, Lake noted a sweat-marked, red-roan horse in the yard of Rosalio Marquez, better known, by reason of his profession, as Monte. Straightway the banker reported this possible clue to the sheriff and to Billy, who was as tireless and determined in the chase as Lake himself. The other masqueraders had mostly abandoned the chase. He found them on the bridge of the La Luz sallyport. "It may be worth looking into," Lake advised the sheriff. "Better send some one to reconnoiter--some one not known to be connected with your office. You go, Billy. If you find anything suspicious the sheriff can 'phone to the hospital if he needs me. I'm going over to see how the old watchman is--ought to have gone before. If he gets well I must do something handsome for him."