With a moan of terror the doomed ruffian threw himself down on his face, howling like a cur, and casting to the winds all further efforts at self-control. Unmoved by this pitiful display of a cowardly soul, Broncho stepped up to the writhing form and pulled him to his feet; then, with a slow, deliberate care, adjusted the noose round the condemned man's neck, and called to the others to haul in the slack of the rope. All this time, Jim, crouching behind the brushwood and shaking all over with fright, puzzled his poor head in a desperation as to how to act. At the last moment the thought came to him. Already the three men were preparing to lay back on the rope, when right over their heads came a weird, unearthly voice: "_Hangmen, beware! Do this deed and your time will shortly come! Beware! beware!_" The effect was instantaneous. Tari and the bosun's mate dropped the rope and sprang backwards in wild alarm; only the undaunted cowboy stood firm. Even the condemned man ceased his whimpering and looked up fearfully. "Blazes! What were that?" cried the scared bluejacket in a hoarse whisper. "Don' know," replied Broncho laconically. "A sperit mebbe, but no sperit palaver is goin' to jolt up this lynchin'. Take a holt and h'ist away." "_Take care! take care!_" hissed the sepulchral tones again. "My God!" groaned the prisoner, and would have collapsed, but a tug at the rope about his neck by Broncho's steady hand caused him to remain erect. As for the superstitious bosun's mate, he crouched down as if fearing a blow, whilst Tari, with a wild cry of "Spirit debble! spirit debble!" fled madly from the spot. Meanwhile, the small author of this terror-inspiring voice was tearing back along the trail with all the speed he could muster. Breathlessly he burst into the camp, and darting to Jack's side, gasped incoherently, "They're lynchin' him! They're lynchin' him!" "Him? Whom? Why, it's Jim," exclaimed the rolling-stone, sitting up and blinking his eyes, his example being followed by the surprised Loyola. "Come!" urged the panting boy. "Come quick! We may be in time. I give 'em a good scare. Follow me!" and off he went. Jack was up in an instant, rapidly putting two and two together from the boy's wild words, and away he dashed in pursuit, with Loyola on his heels. As they ran Jim managed to gasp out between his sobbing breaths a short account of Broncho's lynching, which drew an exclamation of concerned astonishment from the rover. All this time Broncho was using his best eloquence to get the bluejacket to return to his grisly job. "Brace up!" he urged, "brace up! You-alls ain't goin' to stampede the trail at a bunch o' ghost talk." "I can't, man! Blawst me, I can't do it," groaned the terrified Bill Benson. "Gaud save us," he went on; "it were a warnin'!"