Then, it all dawned on her, the deadly, suave, incredibly malicious pre-planned thing!
"The wires had been cut since morning," she said.
CHAPTER VII
WHILE LAW MARKS TIME, CRIME SCORES
They did not tell the boy's mother.
The German cook hitched the fastest bronchos to the yellow buckboard with the front wheel brake; and, the old frontiersman flourishing the reins, they had whisked off for the Ridge trail before Mrs. Williams could return to the Mission Parlor.
"The Ranger will be able to tell whether the sheep have passed down the
Ridge," she explained.
The old man caught the light on her face as she spoke the name. It was like the flash in the dark that betrays a diamond, or the scintilla of light through the leaves that tells of an Alpine lake; but he made no comment except to the ponies.
"Go it, little ones! Make time! Split the wind! Show y'r heels! Tear the air to tatters! there!" And he whirled the whip with the skill of all the old Adam stirring within him, while the buckboard went forward with a bounce.
"We can't take the wagon up yon Ridge trail—"