The torches passed out of the alley.
"Did you hear that whistle just before Cos and Ugartchea fired ?" asked Ned.
"I did," replied Obed.

"I don't understand it, and what I don't understand bothers me." The Ring Tailed Panther growled, and his growl was the most savage that Ned had ever heard from him.

The growl did not turn into words for at least a minute.

Then he said: "I'm like you, Obed; I hate riddles, an' this is the worst one that I was ever mixed up with.

Somethin' fell in the shrubbery; then came the whistle, the Mexicans shot, away we went, lickety split, an' now we're here.