Frank said this laughingly, but Bart's dark face wore a very serious look. He was not at all inclined to regard serious matters in a humorous light, while Frank had faced deadly dangers many times, and had come to laugh in the face of the gravest peril.
"We'll have trouble in escaping those men," came soberly from Bart's lips. "It is still rather wild up around Tahoe, I fancy, and this road must end at the lake."
"Well, we'll leave the road and ride over the mountain tops, if we do not overtake the man and girl."
"What if we do overtake them?"
"It will be a good plan to freeze onto them, and hold them for the officers."
"No," cried Bart, sharply. "I will not agree to that."
"You will not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It would place the girl in peril. She would be——"