The rider dismounted, in a quick, active manner, and opened the door of
the tonneau.

"You wouldn't have thanked me for advice," he replied; "you would hardly
thank me more for information." He added to the maid in the car:

"Please alight, your friend is impatient to be starting." He nodded
towards the owner of the auto.

The maid came down, demurely, casting but a glance at the tall,
commanding figure by the wheel. He promptly lifted out a suitcase and
three decidedly feminine-looking bags.

Bostwick by now was furious.

"It's an outrage!" he cried, "a dastardly outrage! You can see I am
wholly unarmed! Do you mean to restrain these ladies here by force?"

The horseman slipped his arm through the reins of his pony's bridle,
surveying Bostwick calmly.

"Do you mean to desert them if I do? I have not yet ordered you to
leave."

"Ordered me to leave!" echoed the car owner fiercely. "I can neither be
ordered to leave nor to stay! But I shall go--do you hear?--I shall
go--and the ladies with me! If you mean to rob us, do so at once and
have it over! My time is precious, if yours is not!"