“An hour more and we’ll be lost in the dark. It must be every bit of five o’clock.”
“Yes; and later. We lost a good deal of time down at the Bend.”
After this we followed the footprints in silence.
They took a roundabout course over the marshes, for which Rock Island was noted, and then gradually struck a direct path leading to the north.
I was ahead, and carried the gun in such a fashion that it could be brought into instant use.
“Go slower,” cautioned Ford; “they can’t be far away.”
I slowed up, and listened intently. Some distance ahead I fancied I heard the murmur of voices.
I nodded to Ford, and he came up close.
“They are just ahead,” I whispered into his ear. “I wonder if there isn’t some sort of a hut beyond?”
He shook his head.