call of the whippoorwill. The answering signal came back to them in the negative. The cowboy swore softly.

“I’m sure something moved up there near the house, but the boys didn’t hear or see anything, so all we can do is to watch,” he confided to Mason in a disgruntled voice.

The halfbreed had slipped by the cowboys on his mission to Waneda without being seen by them!

Shortly after this incident a light appeared in one of the rooms.

“Something doing now,” Tex muttered tersely.

A minute later a door opened on their side of the house and to the watchers’ astonishment Waneda, the Spanish girl, appeared carrying a lighted lantern.

“Now, what in thunder is she up to this time of night?” growled Tex, as he gave the recall signal.

The cowboys grouped around him in answer to the signal. Big Joe pushed forward.

“I saw the light and the girl,” he said guardedly, addressing Tex. “What do you suppose it means?”

“I can’t figure it out,” the cowboy replied with a puzzled air. “Unless some one is sick in the house and she’s going to the Post for medicine. Didn’t any one of you hear a noise just before I gave this last signal?”

They all protested that they had not heard a sound or seen anything move during their watch.

“What did you imagine you heard, Tex?” queried Scotty.

“I didn’t imagine it, I know I heard something move up there near the house, and it sounded like a scuffling noise,” Tex retorted angrily. “I’m watching that light now. The girl is leading a horse from the corral. Shall we hold her up when she gets a few miles away?”

“No, let her go,” Big Joe answered shortly. “Go back to your stations men, it lacks but a few hours before daylight, and keep a closer watch than ever. If you hear any noise that sounds suspicious again, Tex, give the signal and we will close in on the place and force an entrance.”

By this time both light and girl had vanished. Tex, who had been watching the corral, gave a snort of disgust.

“I think we made a mistake by not holding the girl up,” he said in a peeved voice to Mason.

“Oh, I think Waneda is too fine a girl to be up to anything crooked,” 

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