"It means nothing," said Dernor. "Let's go on, but more careful than before."
"Do you think there is any one following us?" asked Edith, for this constant renewal of her apprehension made her nervous and unnaturally suspicious.
"I have no reason to think so, and I haven't any suspicion that there is. So I guess there's no need of being scared."
"I can not help feeling frightened," said Edith, clinging closer to him. "I do wish we were at the settlement. How much longer will it take us to reach it?"
"To-morrow, at the very furthest, I hope we shall be there, and perhaps to-night, if we keep up a brisk walk."
"I see no reason why we should not hurry."
"Nor I, either," laughed Dernor. "So come on."
He struck up a brisk walk as he spoke, and continued it for some twenty minutes, when a small creek was reached, the one where O'Hara and Allmat lost the trail. Before wading it, the Rifleman paused on its banks as if in deep thought. This was so marked that Edith questioned him.
"I'm thinking whether it wouldn't be best to put this brook to the same use that I did last summer. A half-dozen Miamis got rather closer to me than was pleasant, when I jumped in here and threw them off the scent."
"How?"