"Listen again."
Flint listened intently.
"Yes—no. I thought for an instant—but no, there is no sound now."
He was right: there was no sound then, and he was somewhat ruffled.
"What are you giving us, Dick? If you will push on, why, let's do it; only we do one thing or the other."
Dick whipped up the horses without a word. For five minutes they trotted on gamely; then, without warning, they leaped to one side with a shy that half-overturned the wagon.
Side by side, and motionless in the starlight, sat two shadowy forms on horseback, armed with rifles, and masked to the chin.
"Hands up," cried one of them, "or we plug."