“All right, sir!” shouted Prescott, as he thundered away.
“Now!” exclaimed Kent Carson—“now to follow that murderous hound till I run him to earth!”
He found men and horses ready and waiting. He found Frank Merriwell and Bart Hodge there, both of them determined to take part in the pursuit.
“We know him,” said Merriwell. “He fired that shot at me. We can identify him.”
Frank believed that Lawrence had murdered the rancher’s daughter, and he, like the others, was eager to run the wretch down.
They galloped away in pursuit, the rancher, four cowboys, Merriwell and Hodge, all armed, all grim-faced, all determined.
The sun had risen when they came riding back to the ranch. Ephraim Gallup met Frank.
“Did ye git ther critter?” he asked, in a whisper.
“No,” was the answer.
“Then he got erway?” came in accents of disappointment from the Vermonter.