"Wal!" exclaimed Mr. Hicks. "That ain't sech a great crime; is it?"
"I don't wonder so much she ran away," Ruth said, softly. "But I am sorry she did not stay here until you came, sir."
"But where is she?" chorused both the ranchman and Miss Kate, and the latter added: "Tell what you know about her departure, Ruth."
So Ruth repeated all that she had heard and seen on the night Nita disappeared from the Stone bungalow.
"And this man, Crab, can be found down yonder at the lighthouse?" demanded the ranchman, rising at the end of Ruth's story.
"He is there part of the time, sir," Miss Kate said. "He is a rather notorious character around here—a man of bad temper, I believe. Perhaps you had better go to the authorities first"
"What authorities?" demanded the Westerner in surprise.
"The Sokennet police."
Bill Hicks snorted. "I don't need police in this case, ma'am," he said. "I know what to do with this here Crab when I find him. And if harm's come to my Jane Ann, so much the worse for him."
"Oh, I hope you will be patient, sir," said Miss Kate.
"Nita was not a bit afraid of him, I am
