"Father! Mother! where are you?"
If they did not reply, it was because of the danger involved in doing so. It was incautious on his part to shout, even in a suppressed voice, at such a time.
The bank on his left was a little higher than his head, and so sloping that the horses could climb out with little effort; but, as will be recalled, the night was unusually dark, and he might pass over the plainest trail without knowing it.
He ran some distance further, keeping close to the water, but still failed to find them.
"They have climbed out of the bed of the stream; something unexpected has occurred, or they would not leave me in this manner."
He felt his way to the bank, and easily placed himself upon the level ground above. There he strove to pierce the gloom, but nothing rewarded the effort.
"Well, I'll be hanged!" he muttered, "if this isn't the greatest surprise I ever knew. It looks as if the ground had opened and swallowed them."
In the northern sky the heavy gloom was relieved by a faint glow, which at first he took for the aurora borealis, but a few minutes' scrutiny convinced him that it was the light of some burning building, the dwelling evidently of some ranchman, whose family had probably paid with their lives the penalty of tarrying too long.
"A few hours more, and father, mother, and Edith would have shared the same fate. It may still be theirs to do so."
The sound of a whinny from behind caused him to turn his head. He could see nothing, but he was sure that it was one of his father's ponies that thus made known his presence.