Judge Ransom, one of the two men in the buckboard, climbed out and listened gravely to what the sheriff had to say. He was a man of fifty-five, with the face of a scholar. "Who's that jasper?" Dutchy demanded as he nodded toward the buckboard. "With the judge?" "Yeh." "Gent named Bill Anderson. He's the new political boss around here," Toothpick explained. The man was in his forties, of medium height, and stockily built. He had a round, apple-cheeked face and a jovial manner--one of those men whom others like on sight and hail as a boon companion. Yet a close observer might have detected something about the eyes that seemed to contradict the first impression. "He rides around with the judge a hull lot," Toothpick explained further. "Why for did yuh ask?" "Knew a gent what looks like him once," Dutchy muttered, with his eyes still watching Anderson, "twenty years ago." "Then it can't be him." "Might have been his father," Dutchy grunted. They walked toward the others and arrived in time to hear the judge ask them: "Who do you suppose did this?" There was a moment of silence which was broken by Bill Anderson. "I was over in Arizona last week, and the papers were talking about some renegade Apache who were raiding along the border. Maybe they have worked up this way," he suggested. "Maybe so," the sheriff said doubtfully. Silent Moore, the sheriff's deputy, carefully examined the mutilated man for a moment; then, for the first time since his arrival, he opened his lips. "I've fit the Apache--'tain't their work," he said. "Nonsense, man, it's impossible to tell," Bill Anderson exclaimed, and the others, with the exception of Toothpick and Dutchy, were inclined to agree with him. "Greasers did that work--Apaches would have tracked down the man out there and killed him, and they would have used a club on the woman," the deputy insisted stubbornly. "Sure yuh're right," Sam Hogg cried with an oath. "White men or devils started in to make it look like Injuns--got scared before they finished and run for it." "The Lava Gang!" Toothpick cried excitedly. "Judge, where's 'Snippets' and Mary?" The judge's face went white as he whispered: "You--you mean that letter from _them_?" "Yeah, but where are the girls?" Toothpick asked again. "They're safe. I took them over to visit Sam Hogg's wife at the Frying Pan Ranch this evening. Bill and I were coming back when we saw the fire." Toothpick relaxed and uttered a sigh of relief. The Lava Gang sometimes stole girls for ransom and held them across the border. "What's this--what letter?" the sheriff asked sharply. "You all know that I am to preside at the trial of Pete Cable for murder, which takes place a week from to-day. Last week I received a warning signed by the Lava Gang, saying if I did not see that Cable was acquitted, some terrible thing would happen to me." "What did yuh do with the letter?" the sheriff demanded. The judge shrugged. "I tore it up."