PARDS IN COUNCIL. The coming of Jordan was another surprise to the scout. When he, and Dunbar, and the scout, and Nomad, and Wild Bill were gathered in the living room of the ranch house, with Little Cayuse on guard over the live stock at the corral, a council was held. Hickok told of the watch-throwing contest in Hackamore, of the scrap of paper, its message, and how he, Nomad and Cayuse had happened to ride to Perry’s on their way to Phelps’ ranch. The “come-alongs” also came up for discussion. “These may come handy, pards,” remarked the king of scouts significantly, looking the handcuffs over and then dropping them into his own pocket. “Take this, too,” said Wild Bill, “unless you want to call in a blacksmith to get them off of whoever you put them on.” He passed over a key, which went into the scout’s pocket along with the manacles. Then Buffalo Bill told how he had dropped in on Red Steve and Nate Dunbar at the dugout, and of the ride to the ranch house. “There’s no use waiting here any longer for Perry,” the scout finished. “From the information you bring, Wild Bill, it seems certain that Perry is in the hands of the cattle barons, and is being held at Phelps’ place.” “Ther onnery cattle dealers tried ter make a clean sweep,” put in Nomad. “They captered Dunbar, Perry an’ the gal. Through a piece o’ luck thet was some wonderful, ye managed ter help Dunbar. He’s at large, but the gal an’ her father aire still in the hands o’ ther enemy.” “I’m terribly worried about Hattie and Dick,” said Jordan. “They’re fine people, and I’ve feared for a long while that something like this would happen. Benner is a man who believes that might makes right. He’s all-powerful on the Brazos, backed up as he is by Phelps and the other cattle barons. He can be as lawless as he pleases, and what law there is in this country will never touch him. The situation, gentlemen, is a sad commentary on our free institutions.” “I reckon, pards,” observed Wild Bill, “that the girl is also at Phelps’.” The scout nodded. “That it seems to me,” he answered, “is where she would be taken. Both prisoners, I think, would be kept in the same place.” “But,” went on Wild Bill, “these barons realize that they’re playing a risky game. Phelps understands that, anyhow, for he said so in that scrap of writing which Benner had in his watch.” The scout knotted his forehead over a detail of the situation which he could not fathom. “Why,” he queried, “should Phelps write that note and hand it to Benner? They were together in Hackamore. Why did Phelps put such stuff on paper when he could have told it to Benner?” “It was private business, Buffalo Bill,” suggested the sky pilot dryly, “so private that the barons did not dare speak about it in Hackamore.”