“I was afraid I would have to do so,” replied the guide, whose flushed face and agitated manner proved that he brought important news; “but I didn’t have to, and got away in time to reach you afore night.”
“Not much before,” commented the parson; “you must have had a remarkable experience to detain you so long.”
“Rather, but I’m starving, give me something to eat, while I talk.”
The lunch was produced, and he fell to with avidity, but he saw they were in no mood for frivolity, and he did not presume upon their indulgence.
“Wal, pards, after leaving you, I picked my way as best I could up the gorge, which runs back, with the bottom rising more or less all the way, for ’bout two hundred yards when you reach level ground. That is to say, the gorge ends, but the ground is anything but level.”
“And they went all that distance ahead of you with their animals?” asked Brush.
“That’s what they done; the tracks of the horses were so plain there couldn’t be any mistake ’bout it. At the top of the gorge, the trail slanted off to the right, toward a big pile of rocks, caves and gullies, where it didn’t look as if a goat could travel. There was so much stone that it was mighty hard to keep on the trail and I lost it.”
“And didn’t you find it again?” demanded the captain.
“Yes, but it took a good deal of time; that’s one reason why I was gone so long, but it wasn’t the only reason by a jug full. When I struck it agin, it led straight toward a high rocky place to the left, where I made up my mind the two were hidin’.”