“Let him or any one of ’em come out ’ere, the best man among ’em, and let me have it out with him, Varley!” he implored, pressing forward; but Varley put him back with a hand upon his breast.
“No,” he said. “I’ve given my word. The camp has been searched. Esmeralda is not here. Back to Three Star, boys.”
The men got on their horses and rode away; but they looked back at the sullen crowd they had left behind, reluctantly, and muttered amongst themselves. They returned to the Eldorado in a fever of fury and anxiety which no amount of MacGrath’s “infamous” could assuage.
Varley waited until they had drunk, and then stopped in his pacing up and down outside and issued a fresh order.
“Break up into threes,” he said, “and search the hill. It will be light presently, and you’ll be able to see any tracks. Let there be no violence if it puts Esmeralda in danger. The man who has kidnapped her is Simon, and he may want money. If so—”
A shout interrupted him.
“All we’ve got, Varley!” exclaimed Taffy, hoarsely.
“That’s so,” said Varley. Then, as the men divided themselves and sprung into their saddles, he beckoned to Norman and rode up the hill toward the hut. “They may have left some trace behind them,” he said, as the horses cantered up the hill. “I made so sure of finding her in that accursed camp!”
When they reached the hut they found Mother Melinda sobbing and wringing her hands. Varley comforted her as well as he could.
“All right; it’s no fault of yours,” he said in response to her reiterated and wailing assertions that she had only left the hut for a few minutes, and that Esmeralda had always been able to take care of herself.