Everywhere was a silence that was trying to Black John. Nomad had vanished as if into space; and, though they might have picked up and followed the trail of his horse, the outlaws did not think that would justify the loss of time necessary. They were more interested in the two scouts. Leaving the bushes, and circling back by the route they had come in reaching them, taking their girl prisoner with them, they gained again the hillside, where the other outlaws were waiting for the scouts. Toby Sam was much relieved when he saw his chief. He felt sure that for a time the danger of a fight had passed. “Seen nothin’ o’ ’em,” was Black John’s question. “Nary a hair,” said Toby Sam. “But you seem to have struck suthin’. We heerd a racket up there, and some of ther boys was fer goin’ ter see what it meant; but I told ’em to stay here. Orders is orders, and that’s what you tole us ter do.” Clayton, who had been held in a hollow to the rear, was brought out, and Lena could not repress a cry when she beheld her lover. She marked his haggard face, but most she noted his bearing of courage and reliance. She would have rushed to him, but one of the bandits held her. “Oh, Bruce! Bruce!” she cried. “Cough up them em’rulds!” said one of the outlaws, “and then both o’ ye can go free.” “Oh, do you mean it?” she cried, in a manner to make the bandits think she intended their instant surrender. Black John opened his eyes, wondering if there were other emeralds of which he had no knowledge, and he listened for her further statement. “I haven’t them,” she said, “as I’ve already told you; but I know where they are; and if you will really release us, I’ll gladly show you where they are. I’ll guide you to them. Oh, can I trust you? Will you let us go?” She clasped her hands in agitation, and looked round on the masked faces. “Can I trust you? Would you let us go, after getting those emeralds?” “Young lady,” said Black John, “we would. Show us where they aire, and as soon as we git our fingers on ’em we’ll turn you loose.” He wanted his men to see that he was “doing all he could to get the emeralds for them.” He began to question the girl, and got from her a repetition of the statement that she would show them where the emeralds were concealed, on their promise to let her and Bruce Clayton go free. She believed that Buffalo Bill and old Nomad could take care of themselves; and as for Pawnee Bill, she thought he was hurrying out of the country, on his way to Glendive. Her desire to secure the freedom of Bruce Clayton made her selfish, perhaps, in some points. The emeralds were as nothing to her, when compared with his safety. Black John had taken a sudden and violent liking for the girl.