The sheriff was deeply impressed with this charge. "Well, well!" he said, studying with especial care the downcast face of the girl. "I thought it might be only killing game out of season, stealing timber, or some such thing." He called a deputy. "Here, Tom, take these men into the guard-room, and, Mrs. Throop, you look after this girl while I go over the case with Mr. Hanscom." "Don't let 'em talk with anybody," warned the ranger. The sheriff passed the word to the deputy, "That's right, Tom." In deep relief the ranger followed the sheriff into his private office and dropped into a seat. "Jeerusalem! I'm tired!" he exclaimed. "That was a nervous job!" "Cut loose," said the sheriff. Hanscom then related as briefly as he could the story of the capture. At the end he confessed that he had hardly expected to reach town with all of them. "I had no authority to arrest them. I just bluffed them, as well as the rancher who drove the wagon, into thinking I had. I wanted them for Carmody to question, and I hung to the girl because I believe she can absolutely clear Kauffman and his daughter of any connection--" Throop, who had listened intently, now broke out: "Well, I hope so. That old man and his girl sure are acquiring all kinds of misery. Kitsong got Carmody to issue a warrant for them yesterday, and I wired the authorities at Lone Rock and had them both taken from the train." The ranger's face stiffened as he stared at the officer. "You did!" "I did, and they're on their way back on No. 6." "How could Carmody do that?" Hanscom demanded, hotly. "He told them to go--I heard him." "He says not. He says he just excused the girl for the time being. He declares now that he expected them both to stay within call, and when he heard they were running away--" "How did he know they were running away?" "Search me! Some one on the train must have wired back." "More likely the Blackbird Ranch 'phoned in. They are all related to Watson. I was afraid of them." He rose. "Well, that proves that Abe and his gang were at the bottom of that raid." "Maybe so, but I don't see how Carmody can go into that--his job is to find the man or woman who killed Watson." "Well, there's where I come in. I've got the girl who made those tracks on the floor." The sheriff was thoughtful. "I guess you'd better call up Carmody--he's the whole works till his verdict is rendered, and he ought to be notified at once." A moment's talk with the doctor's office disclosed the fact that he was out in the country on a medical trip, and would not return till late. "Reckon we'll have to wait," said the sheriff. The ranger's face fell. After a pause he asked, "When does that train get in?" "About six; it's an hour late." "And they'll be jailed?" "Sure thing! No other way. Carmody told me to take charge of them and see that they were both on hand to-morrow."