Josephine rode away from Bar X ranch with a feeling of misgiving. She knew that she had treated Mason rather mean, but she felt piqued because he had neglected her for the last few days.

Ethel noticed her abstracted manner, and asked her the reason for it.

“I think your big brother has been neglecting us shamefully,” she said at last in answer to a repeated query from Ethel. “Dad doesn’t need him to work about the ranch as he persists in doing, and I think it mean of him while you are visiting us.”

Ethel smiled at her serious manner.

“You certainly cut him to-day when you refused his offer to go with us,” she said, watching keenly the effect of her words on her friend.

“Serves him right,” Josephine answered spiritedly. “I suppose he thinks I am a very unreasonable girl, but you know we planned to visit the secret passage at the Ricker ranch, and I really wanted to ask him to go with us, but for the last three days I have scarcely been able to get a word with him.”

“Jack thinks you are in love with Bud Anderson,” Ethel ventured gently.

Josephine laughed merrily.

“Bud and I are great friends and I like him immensely,” she answered, a far-away look in her eyes.

Percy Vanderpool had been an interested listener up to this point, but now he began to get impatient at the lack of interest they were showing in him.

“Aw, I say girls,” he drawled, “do you really think this bally ranch with the aw, secret passage is a safe place to go?”

Josephine flashed him an amused glance.

“If you are afraid, you may go back, but Ethel and I are going to see this place. There is no danger, for two of Bud’s men are guarding it,” she answered him scornfully.

“Oh, Percy is game, all right,” Ethel cut in; “I know he isn’t afraid to go where us girls dare go.”

At this praise the fop began to tell of some deeds of daring he had performed while on a trip through the jungles of Africa and the girls listened with much merriment.

Thinking he had impressed them with his great prowess he launched into such a lengthy tale of one of his trips that Josephine had to cut him off in the midst of it.

They were nearing Trader’s Post where they had planned to halt for a short rest before proceeding on to the Ricker ranch.

A foreboding of evil was stealing over Josephine and try as she would, she couldn’t seem to shake it off. She wished most heartily that she had permitted Mason to come with them and felt vexed with herself for being so obstinate.

As they entered Trader’s Post she caught sight of one of the cowboys Bud had left in charge of the Ricker ranch. He was on the opposite side of the street and bidding Ethel and Percy to wait, she hastened over and had a chat with him.

The cowboy had come to town for a few supplies and was going back at once. He assured her that everything was going fine at the ranch, and feeling relieved she hurried back to join Ethel and Percy.

After lunch and a short rest they started for the ranch. The cowboy would reach the ranch ahead of them, but somehow the meeting with him had helped dispel the depressing spirit that seemed to grip her. In the course of an hour they had reached the outbuildings of the ranch, and the desolate condition of the place almost struck terror to the girl’s heart, but remembering the meeting with the cowboy they pressed on.

Arriving at the ranch house, Josephine was shocked to find the door partly open, and the house was apparently deserted.

“That’s strange,” she said, nervously entering the room. “Come on in, Ethel, and bring Percy. We’ll see if he has got the nerve he has been bragging to us about. I’m not going to stay in this place long myself, it looks spooky to me. We will investigate that secret passage and then dust out of here. I have got a nice flashlight with me so we won’t have to stumble over anything.”

“I cannot understand what became of the two cowboys that are supposed to be in charge here,” Ethel replied, stepping inside and walking gingerly about the room. “Oh, say a real live counterfeiter’s den! Won’t I have something to tell the people back in New York when I get home?”

Josephine smiled at the Eastern girl’s enthusiasm.

“I guess only one of the guards stay here at a time,” she said, “and they probably take turns while one of them rides the range. The one we met is no doubt on watch here now, and is about the place somewhere. Come, Percy dear, I will let you take this nice new flashlight; won’t you lead the way into the cellar?”

It was plain to the girls that the task was not to Percy’s liking, but when they laughed at him he braced up and made a show of courage.

With quaking hearts, it must be confessed, they found a door leading into the cellar. Once at the bottom, they huddled close together.

“I suppose we were awful fools to come here alone,” Josephine remarked, jumping nervously at the sound of her own voice; it sounded strange and hollow to her in the long cellar. “Now that we’re here we’ll see it through. I remember Sir Jack telling that there was a button or knot that he pushed, and lo! a door opened into the secret passage. I suppose they have the passage sealed up, but I am going to see for myself just the same. Here, Percy, let me take that light, your face is white as a sheet and your hand is trembling. Brace up, man.”

Josephine took the light and led the way, the others following cautiously. They had not proceeded far when Josephine stopped short in a listening attitude.

For the first time, Ethel saw that she was carrying a revolver in one hand.

“What is it?” Ethel whispered anxiously, and her knees shook in spite of her.

“I thought that I heard a sound like an engine motor,” Josephine answered joyously.

Distinctly the sound of a motor came to their ears, each moment growing louder until the sound developed into a continuous roar.

“Hurrah,” Josephine cried, unable to suppress her delight. “Sir Jack is coming.”

The next instant a heavy hand was clasped over her mouth and a voice hissed in her ear:

“Keep silent, or you die!”

Josephine screamed and discharged her revolver. She heard a shout and an answering shot and she was sure that if it was Mason, he had heard her fire the shot and was coming to their assistance.

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.

At this point in her meditations she was rudely jerked to her feet by one of the guards and placed on a horse. She managed to whisper a word of encouragement in Ethel’s ear and was delighted when she found that they were to ride together. That is, Ethel was placed on a horse and rode by her side, and she had a vague idea that Percy rode just ahead of them.

Then followed a long ride with many hardships.

In the course of a few hours they reached the mountains where the trail was very difficult, and at times their captors had to guide their horses over the rough trails.

After ages of climbing as it seemed to Josephine, they struck a more level trail. That they were high in the mountain ranges she had not a doubt and was fearful that the captors were taking them to some unknown mountain retreat where it would be difficult for rescuers to find them.

The captors had thrown off all restraint and were talking freely among themselves. Josephine kept her wits and listened closely. From the talk she gathered that they were being led by Pete Carlo, the Mexican. He knew the mountains better than any living person and was leading the outlaws to a retreat where it would be utterly impossible for anybody to discover them. Spot Wells was among her captors, too, for she had heard his name called by one of the men.

Thus far they had suffered no indignity from the men, but she trembled when she thought of brutal Spot Wells and his attempt to carry her and Ethel off at Smoky Point when the timely arrival of Mason checkmated him. She was almost in despair at their probable fate when she heard two of the captors start up a conversation near her.

She listened eagerly, and from the words dropped with a coarse laugh and curse, she learned that Ricker had made a jail delivery with the Mexican, Jim Haley and Nick Cover.

The outlaws had been at large about two weeks and immediately after their escape from jail they had struck out for Nevada. Arriving at their old haunt, the Ricker ranch, they had kept concealed for a few days. Ricker’s plan had been to raid the Bar X ranch and make a quick kill including Mason and Bud Anderson, and then to carry off the girls out of pure revenge.

Her coming with Ethel and Percy to the Ricker ranch on the very day this diabolical plan was to be carried out had upset all Ricker’s plans. Kind fate was playing into his hands, for here was Percy Vanderpool, the son of a millionaire from New York. The cowboys at the ranch had been captured by Ricker’s men while he laid plans to make Percy and the girls prisoners and take them to the mountains to be held for ransom.

Josephine felt somewhat relieved when she overheard this statement, for she was sure they would not come to any harm while there was a chance of a large reward for the outlaws.

She was sure that Percy’s father would pay a large sum of money to secure his son’s release, and no doubt there would be a large amount of money demanded from her father and Ethel’s. The talking had ceased and she failed to learn more.

The chances were that Ricker would tell them in plain terms what he expected their fathers to do when they reached their mountain retreat.

She was hoping the ride would end soon as her body ached and she knew that Ethel and Percy must be suffering too. She was glad when finally an order was given by Ricker to dismount and the blindfold was removed from their eyes.

Next, their hands were untied, and Josephine went over and put her arms around Ethel.

“Forgive me, dear, I am sorry I got you into this trouble,” Josephine said with a heavy heart.

“You are no more to blame than I am,” Ethel protested stoutly. “I was just as anxious to see the secret passage as you were, and my brother will make it hot for these cut-throats if they dare to harm us.”

Josephine’s eyes glistened.

“I know he will, dear, and I am sure he will rescue us. He rescued me from the Mexican once before when I was in just as bad a position as now.

“Did you hear what the outlaws were saying as we came up the trail? I think they will try to hold us for a ransom.”

Ethel started to reply, when Ricker pushed up to them with a leering smile.

“Some birds I have caught in my cage to-day,” he said with a coarse laugh. “Your quarters are right over there by that flat table rock. There is a shanty there which I will have the men fix up comfortable for you, and you won’t be harmed if you don’t try to escape. And I wouldn’t advise you to try it, either,” he added with an oath.

“In due time your folks will be presented with my terms for your release, and if they don’t come across with the money it will go hard with you girls. My men will have quarters just inside this semicircle here.” He waved his hand towards a natural barrier of rock. “One of my men will have you under watch night and day, and the rest will see that none of your friends come too close for their health. If they try it they are dead men. I can hold off a small army from this retreat, and I don’t intend to leave here until I gain my ends, which is money, and plenty of it too.”

He stopped and looked hard at the girls.

“Josephine, when the proper time comes, you are going to write a letter for me,” he said threateningly.

Josephine faced him with flashing eyes.

“I’ll write no letters for you, you swine,” she said defiantly, “and when Mason comes he will kill you.”

“Not so fast, my little spitfire,” he purred, “but I am telling you straight. If you value Mason’s life, or any lives at the Bar X ranch, you will write this letter which I will dictate to you. If any of your friends come within two hundred yards of this place it will be sure death to them. Just look around and see for yourself how foolish it would be for any one to try to rescue you.”

With this warning he turned and left them.

Josephine took a general survey of the place. At last she turned a pale face to Ethel, for she had noticed the natural barriers of rock all about them.

“This place is twice as hard to get at as the one where I was held a prisoner before,” she said sadly.

It was beginning to get dark and the girls were completely tired out. They went over to the little cabin on the flat table rock and throwing themselves down tried to sleep. Percy was to make his quarters with the men in another cabin a hundred yards across the flat rock from the girls’ cabin, and they were surprised to see how well he seemed to bear up under his present troubles. Josephine arranged to have one of them keep watch while the other slept, and in this way they passed the long night.

When morning came they were full of aches and pains as neither had slept well during the night and the bunks were hard. Both girls had finally agreed that it would be best to grant Ricker’s demands, and write the warning letter to Mason.

The men were astir over in their camp and the smell of coffee boiling came to them with an appetizing flavor. A stream flowed close by and Josephine went over to it and started to bathe her swollen eyes.

She was startled by a strange humming noise over her head and looked up in alarm.

“Oh, look! Ethel!” she screamed, “an airplane!”

Like a huge bird it soared above them, then the motor stopped and the airplane began to come down gracefully in long sweeping spirals. The girls were waving their handkerchiefs at the aviator when Ricker came rushing out of the men’s cabin and fired his revolver at him. Instantly the motor started to hum and the airplane began to lift. Soon it was a mere speck in the sky.

Josephine clasped Ethel in her arms and her eyes were swimming with tears.

“I’ll bet my life that was Roy Purvis, the aviator,” Josephine said, her spirits drooping at their slim chance of being rescued. “Sir Jack told me that he expected an aviator to visit him from New York, and I believe that was his airplane and he has lost his way in the mountains!”