“It’s queer, anyhow. Where are the riders?”
“Not being a mindreader, I’ll have to give that up. If the riders are not here now, they’ll probably be around before long. Horses are worth money, you know, and they’re not left for good in any such way as this. Possibly——”
“Sh-h-h!” cut in Ballard excitedly, grabbing his chum’s arm, and dragging him back into the greasewood. “They’re coming now,” he added, in a husky whisper, his lips close to Clancy’s ear.
According to Clancy’s matter-of-fact ideas, there was not much sense in hiding from those two horsemen. But Ballard had ideas of his own—and nerves that had been somewhat ruffled by the uncanny booming of the stamps. He had insisted on pulling Clancy down into the brush, and Clancy was content to remain there.
Two dark figures were crashing through the bushes, tearing their way toward the horses, as fast as they could go. Between them the men were carrying something. It looked like a bag, and that the bag was heavy was proved by the fact that it caused them a lot of trouble.
The men did not exchange a word, but buckled in and hustled as though their lives depended on it. It was dark in the chaparral, and Clancy and Ballard could not see the men very distinctly, but they had no difficulty in following their movements.
When the horses were reached the bag was dropped. Each man leaped to an animal and tore loose the bridle reins. One mounted. The other lifted up the bag and attempted to throw it over the horse behind the mounted man. The bag slipped and dropped again.
The man on the horse swore softly. It was the first sound either he or his companion had uttered.
The fellow on the ground made another attempt, and, this time, succeeded in getting the bag back of the saddle cantle. Clancy and Ballard could see that it was heavily weighted, and that the weight was divided in each end of the bag, so that the contents held it to the horse’s back.
Then the other man scrambled to get into his saddle, and, in almost less time than it takes to tell it, both were mounted and ready for flight.