Only as the fingers of his right hand were on hers did she realise what he was about, for he bent forward and, with a swift gesture of his free hand, drew her revolver from its holster at her waist.

For a moment she tried to snatch her hand from his grasp and then, even as she began to struggle with him, she was still.

Twelve men against her, or, remembering the quietness of her guides, was it fourteen?

The man with the black moustaches wheeled his horse round.

“You will come with us, señorita.”

“Where to?” Skye enquired.

“I will show you the way.”

The words were quiet and impassive, but Skye knew that there was no possible chance to protest or refuse. She knew without glancing back that there would be no resistance from her two guides. She was right, there were fourteen men against her and she had not even a revolver to protect herself.

Proudly, with her head held high, she rode forward.

There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say. The men did not talk to her or speak among themselves, they all rode in silence.

The pace they set was a quick one and it soon became obvious to Skye that they had a long way to go.

She had time to think, time to compose herself.

She had wanted adventure and here it was.

She guessed, without the need for being told, that it was El Diablo who had sent for her.

She was being kidnapped. For ransom, of course! It was annoying to think how easily she had walked into the trap. She remembered for a moment her premonition of danger when the two strange guides had come to escort her on her ride instead of the boys who had taken her yesterday.

She should have guessed then that something was about to happen. How Jimmy would laugh! She wondered how big a ransom El Diablo would dare to ask.

Two or three hundred pounds would seem a fortune to a man like that! And thank goodness, it would mean nothing to her except the humiliation of admitting that it was dangerous to go about in Mariposa alone.

She began to scheme in her mind how she could hand over the money without getting in touch with Jimmy. The Captain of her yacht could supply a certain amount and she could wire to New York for the rest.

It was too ignominious to think that the very day Jimmy left her she should be involved in a situation of this sort.

At the same time what copy it would be! Already she could see the headlines in the newspaper, “Oil Heiress Kidnapped by Bandits”.