“I don’t know,” Scott said, “and it does not make any difference. He can’t head us off now.”
Hopwood shook his head doubtfully. “Maybe not, but I wish he did not know anything about it. He may guess what we are going to do, and if he does it may drive him to something desperate.”
They were on the open trail now and stopped for a moment. “Well,” Scott said, “don’t let’s worry about it. You take the message to Mac and keep your eye on Foster the best you can. I’ll take the trail over the mountain.”
They had hardly disappeared when Foster ran back on to the trail. He was raging like a madman. He knew that something, he could not tell just what, was in the wind, and it was driving him mad.
A squirrel chattered at him from a big oak tree, and he shot it with an oath.
CHAPTER XXIV
SCOTT GOES AFTER THE MARSHAL
Scott did not lose any time on the trail to the town where the United States marshal made his headquarters, but it was a long day’s hike and he had not started much before the middle of the afternoon. Night caught him while he was still on the mountain trails. The sky was cloudy, and down in the dense woods it was black as a pocket. He knew that he would save time and effort by camping out for the night and getting an early start in the morning. He was not gaining anything by feeling his way along inch by inch in the dark. He stumbled into an ice-cold trout stream and gave it up.
The nights were cold there in the mountains, and he was feeling around for some firewood when he saw a light glimmering through the trees far down the trail. As his feet were already wet he waded across the stream and made his way slowly toward the light.
It proved to be a lamp in a small logging camp. It was a comparatively small cabin with the cook stove and dining table in one end of it. The walls of the rest of the room were lined with double-decked bunks. Every one seemed to be in bed except an old woman who was reading at the dining table. She looked up indifferently when Scott knocked at the door.
“Good evening,” he said. “Night caught me up here on the trail. Is there any place here where I can get a bed?”