Very little of the rope was required in the process, and after Dale was secured, Sanderson threw a loop around the hands of a man who stood beside Dale, linking him with the latter.
Several others followed.

Sanderson used half a dozen ropes, and when he had finished, all the Dale men--with their leader on an extreme end, were lashed together.
There were hard words spoken by the men; but they brought only grins to Sanderson's face, to Owen's, and to Mary's.
"They won't bother you a heap, now," declared Sanderson as he stepped toward the porch and spoke to Owen.

"Keep an eye on them, though, an' don't let them go to movin' around much." Sanderson stepped up on the porch and spoke lowly to Mary, asking her to go with him after Williams--for he had had that thought in mind ever since Owen had issued the order for him to ride after the engineer.
But Mary refused, telling Sanderson that by accompanying him she would only hamper him.
Reluctantly, then, though swiftly, Sanderson ran to the corral, threw saddle and bridle on Streak, and returned to the porch.

He halted there for a word with Owen and Mary, then raced northeastward, following a faint trail that Williams and the others had taken, which led for a time over the plains, then upward to the mesa which rimmed the basin..