The revolver was knocked out of her hand before she could fire another shot, and she was grasped in the arms of her assailant and carried she knew not where. She knew that Ethel had fainted as she had seen her body sink limply to the floor, while Percy was struggling in the hands of two men. Her captor picked her up and carried her along the passage until he came to a flight of stairs which led out into the open. Here she was placed on her feet and given over to the care of two men who acted as guards. Her captors wore masks and she was unable to make out any of their features. Ethel was brought out with Percy and placed under the same guards, who proceeded to bind their hands behind their backs. Josephine could still hear an automobile engine running idle and an occasional revolver shot. Suddenly there came to her ears a volley of shots and soon after the engine stopped running. With sinking heart the girl realized that they were shooting holes in the gasoline tank. Ethel was gradually coming out of her swoon, and the helplessness of the poor girl made Josephine’s eyes flash fire. “Cheer up, Ethel,” she said tenderly, as the girl came to her full senses. “These devils won’t be allowed to keep us as prisoners long. I think they put your brother’s car out of commission, but he was too much for them as I see that they haven’t captured him yet.” They were gruffly ordered by the guard to cease talking. Soon another masked guard approached the prisoners and proceeded to blindfold them. Before this happened, Josephine had counted six masked men, and she wondered if Mason had managed to escape unhurt. She strained her ears for every sound. At a short distance from her a group of masked men were talking in subdued tones, but her ears caught the word, chief, and a little later the name Ricker! Soon she heard them mention Mason’s name, so she knew that he had made an attempt to rescue them and the thought gave her new courage. So she was in the power of Ricker and his cutthroats. She remembered that Mason had told her of Ricker’s oath to break jail and his threat to come back and get revenge on Mason and herself and now he was at large again. She wondered how Ricker happened to be at the ranch the very day she had chosen to visit it. She had played right into the hands of fate, and she remembered how hard Mason had pleaded with her not to leave Bar X. Her body grew numb and her eyes filled with tears. Well, anyway, they had not caught Mason yet, and her heart thrilled at the thought. There was a chance that he might be able to rescue them and she knew he wouldn’t lose any time in getting a posse on the outlaws’ trail. That they would be more desperate than ever, she well knew, as they had broken jail and Ricker was an escaped murderer.