“What did you do?” Phyllis asked interestedly.
“I got down and took out my flashlight. I got a habit of carryin’ a light with me, and turned it ahead of us. Did my hair stand on end! Here I had been trying to drive him off a sixty-foot cliff. All he would have had to take was one step to land us both in kingdom come.”
“He had good reason to be stubborn,” Phyllis murmured in awe. “I didn’t know horses had such sense!”
“Yep, you can trust a horse’s judgment in preference to a man’s sometimes,” Tom said. “Especially in the country out here.”
They rode along, chatting amiably, while the sun sank farther and farther out of sight.
“Boy, am I hungry!” Tom declared. “I hope Loo Wong has supper ready.”
“But he doesn’t know we’re coming,” Phyllis reminded him.
“Surely Gale and Val intend to eat,” Tom said. “There will be enough for us, too.”
When they rode into the ranch yard it was dark and the windows of the bunkhouse and the ranch house were gleaming yellow. Three horses stood saddled by the corral. When Phyllis and Tom rode up and dismounted, Tom went across and examined the horses curiously. He was back at Phyllis’ side in a moment.
“Something funny going on here,” he said in a low undertone. “The place is too quiet to be natural.”