Wharton Edwards could not keep back the question any longer.
"Kenton, why was it you were in such a hurry to get along the trail when you left the block-house?"
"I wanted to catch up with your father and mother, that left before sun-up this mornin'."
The poor lad staggered back, and, had he not caught hold of a sapling, would have fallen to the earth.
"There is no hope for them."
"Who said there wasn't, younker?" demanded Kenton, sharply.
"I can see none; do you?"
"It looks putty bad, I'll own, but Brigham Edwards and his wife are no fools, onless they've become so since they left the block-house."
The words of the great ranger lifted part of the weight from the shoulders of the boys (for the grief of Larry was almost as deep as that of the son), though they were still in anguish of spirit.
"What led you to follow them in such haste? How did you know they were in such great danger?"