Mainwaring halted, for he heard the click of a pistol as it was cocked. He thought it was rather unnecessary, since he was unarmed, but he made no comments. “Bill Harkness means to hold you to ransom, don’t he?” asked this man. “I think I heard him tell you so!” said Mainwaring. “Ah--you’ve sharp eyes in the dark. I didn’t think you’d know me. But it don’t make any odds. How much are you going to give him?” Mainwaring hesitated. He did not know if it were prudent to tell this man. If Harkness knew it, it might make him a bitter enemy. “Come, speak out! It may be the best thing you ever did for yourself. You needn’t fear my telling--I want to know for my own satisfaction, and because”--the stranger spoke in a whisper now--“it might better your bargain.” Mainwaring did not hesitate any longer. He felt in a moment that there was a man before him whose treachery might be bought. “One hundred thousand dollars,” said Mainwaring promptly, “for the freedom of those two girls, myself, and the negro Ben!” “Whew! Bill lied to me! You’ve got the spots, sure?” “If you mean the money, yes. I’ve got it where, for this purpose, I can command it.” “You could have it paid into a man’s hand, in the border settlements, wherever he named, and you went quiet, so nobody but him would be the wiser?” “Yes, I have no doubt of it.” “Stranger--I can do you a turn, and I can do it twenty-five thousand cheaper than he. I can get you out of here--and the gals, too, for I know a secret passage. There’s only Bill and me and one other man knows of it, and that other man is about past knowing anything--for ’twas him they brought in dying just now. He is shot through the throat, and he can’t speak!” “Can I trust you?” asked Mainwaring eagerly. “You’ve got to, you can’t help yourself. And I’ve got to trust you, too, for the captain told me he cleaned you out of all you had on you. But I looked in your eye out there by the fire, and there isn’t any lie in it.” “Thank you.” “I’m not talkin’ for thanks--I’m talkin for money! I’m sick of this kind of life. I haven’t been treated fair, anyway. They made me captain and then broke me, because I wouldn’t go down to the railroad and run trains off. But that isn’t business. Swear that if I’ll get you clear, you’ll give me seventy-five thousand, good money.” “I will, on my sacred honor and by my soul!” “Well, I s’pose that is as good as an oath. The next thing is the plan to get you out.” “You understand the girls and the man Ben are in the bargain?” “Yes--and there’s the trouble. I could get you off from here in twenty minutes. But that Lize is as sharp as a ferret. Bill knew what he was about when he told her to look out for ’em.” “I will not move without them.” “There’s but one other way--and I hate to do that. But there isn’t one in a hundred of them that wouldn’t if they had the chance.” “Wouldn’t do what?” asked Mainwaring.