The halfbreed assented, and Powers after cautioning Ricker to keep silent about their visit, the two conspirators left hurriedly, taking a roundabout way to the Bar X ranch. It was their plan to ride boldly to the ranch and take Josephine away by force, as they counted on Bud’s men being on their way to Ricker’s. The scheme worked out better than they had expected, for the halfbreed had keen eyes and had seen Josephine in the distance in time for them to make a dash for the cottonwood tree. There they concealed themselves and waited for the girl to come up, as has been related. The outlaws rode hard with their captive and made the foothills just as the first streak of dawn appeared. Here, the captive was compelled to ride the horse she had ridden when captured, Powers explaining that the mountain trail was too dangerous and he didn’t dare risk having one horse carrying double. The girl was nearly exhausted and begged to rest a while, but Powers harshly told her she was only trying to hold them up to gain time. “We’ve got a retreat in the mountains that only myself and the Mexican know about,” he explained to her, watching closely to note the effect of his words. “And when your friends come looking for you, we will have a surprise waiting for them.” For an answer the girl gave him a look of hate. “I’ll break that haughty spirit of yours,” he threatened, his face dark with anger. “You coward!” Josephine cried, her eyes blazing, “and you call yourself a man.” Powers grinned. He secretly admired her spirit. Two hours later they were high in the mountains and when Powers finally called a halt, the place seemed to Josephine like a natural fortress. The retreat lay in a small plateau and was reached only through a narrow defile. It commanded a view for miles around, and as familiar as the girl was with the mountains she never had seen this place. It was a more perfect retreat than Devil’s Gap, and Josephine’s heart sank when she remembered that Powers had said that only he and the halfbreed knew of the place. Powers was watching her expression of despair as she thought of her slim chances of escaping unaided from the place, and her helplessness seemed to amuse the man. “How do you like your cage, my pretty bird? Welcome to my home,” he said with an attempt at levity. “You devil,” Josephine answered hotly, “don’t imagine that you can keep me here; the boys will find this place and your life won’t be worth as much as a snake’s.” Powers laughed contemptuously and left her. The girl threw herself down on the ground completely exhausted. She lay there trying to keep back a burst of tears while she could hear the men moving about her. There was a sort of a shanty near a wall that rose on all sides of the plateau and she knew the men were preparing a meal. The smell of coffee and bacon cooking made her hungry. It was the first thought of hunger since she had started on her fateful ride.