I don't know whether the troopers want me or your comrade." A lad sprang to his feet, and as he ran to the door called "Stop him!" In another moment Dane had caught his arm, and his voice rang through the confusion as everybody turned or rose.
"Keep back all of you," he said.

"Let him go!" Courthorne was outside by this time, and only those who reached the door before Dane closed it heard a faint beat of hoofs as somebody rode quietly away beneath the bluff, while as the rest clustered together, wondering, a minute or two later, Corporal Payne, flecked with spume and covered with dust, came in.

He raised his hand in salutation to Colonel Barrington, who sat very grim in face in his chair at the head of the table.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty to apprehend Lance Courthorne," he said.
"You have a warrant ?" asked Barrington.
"Yes, sir," said the corporal.
There was intense silence for a moment.

Then the Colonel's voice broke through it very quietly.
"He is not here," he said.
Payne made a little deprecatory gesture.

"We know he came here.