Victorino, stepping softly, had reached the compound gate. Suddenly the forelegs of the ranchman's chair hit the floor of the veranda, and he roared at the Mexican in a voice that made the latter jump and drop the brown paper cigarette he had just deftly rolled. "You boy! Come back here!" called Captain Rugley. "I want to know what this means." "Me, _Capitan_?" asked Victorino, softly, and hesitated at the gate. With his employer in this temper he was half-inclined to run in the opposite direction. "Come here!" commanded the ranchman again. "Who gave you this?" rapping the open letter with a hairy forefinger. "I do not know, _Capitan_. A strange man--_si_." "Never saw him before?" "No, _Capitan_. He was ver' strange to me," whined Victorino, too frightened to tell the truth. "What did he look like?" shot back the Captain, holding himself in splendid control now. Only his eyes glittered and his lips under the big mustache tightened perceptibly. "He was beeg man, _Capitan_; rode bay pony; much wheeskers on face," declared Victorino, glibly. The Captain was silent for half a minute. Then he snapped: "Run find Silent Sam and tell him I want him _pronto_. _Sabe?_ Tell Joe to saddle Cherry, and Sam's horse, and you get a saddle on your own, Vic. I'll want you and about half a dozen of the boys who are hanging around the bunk-house. Tell 'em it's important and tell them--yes!--tell them to come armed. In fifteen minutes. Understand?" "_Si, Capitan_," whispered Victorino, glad to get out from under the ranchman's eye for the time being. He was the oldest of the Mexican boys employed at the Bar-T, and he had been very friendly with Ratty M'Gill while that reckless individual had belonged to the outfit. It was Victorino who had let Ratty drive the buckboard to the railroad station one particular day when the cowpuncher wished to meet his friend, Pete, at Cottonwood Bottom. Now, unthinking and unknowing, he had been drawn by Ratty into a serious trouble. Victorino did not know what it was; but he trembled. He had never seen "_El Capitan_" look so fierce and strange before. CHAPTER XXV A PLOT THAT FAILED Captain Dan Rugley seemed to forget his rheumatism. Excitement is often a strong mental corrective; and with his mind upon the dearest possession of his old age, the ranchman forgot all bodily ills. Victorino was scarcely out of the compound when the Captain had summoned Ming from the dining-room and San Soo from his pots and pans. "Put off dinner. Maybe we won't have any dinner to-night, San Soo," said the owner of the Bar-T. "We're in trouble. You and Ming shut the doors when I go out and bar them. Stand watch. Don't let a soul in unless I come back or Miss Frances appears. Understand, boys?" "Can do," declared the bigger Chinaman, with impassive face. "Me understland Clapen velly well," said Ming, who wished always to show that he "spoke Melican."