He enlisted under the name of Fred Willoughby.

Mr.Hawley told me this much, but I am afraid he did not tell me all." "And he said you would meet him here ?" Keith gazed about on the bare surroundings wonderingly.

What was this place, hidden away in the midst of the desert, isolated in a spot where not even Indians roamed.

Could it be a secret rendezvous of crime, the headquarters of desperadoes, of cattle-rustlers, of highwaymen of the Santa Fe Trail--a point to which they could ride when hard pressed, certain of hiding here in safety?
He began to suspect this, but, if so, who then was this Hawley, and with what object had he sent this girl here?
Every way he turned was to confront mystery, to face a new puzzle.
Whatever she might be--even the music hall singer he believed--she had been inveigled here innocently enough.

Even now she possessed only the most vague suspicion that she had been deceived.