Reuben laughed as he said: “Do you still believe that you’re going to catch him?”
“I know I am,” said Kit Carson. “It’s only a question of time.”
“He certainly is able to make good time,” retorted Reuben. “He ran away from us day before yesterday almost as if he didn’t know we were on earth. My horse was almost winded and that fellow trotted along almost as if he were laughing at us. Do you think a horse can laugh?”
“I have heard of a ‘horse laugh,’” replied the scout, smiling dryly.
“I have not only heard of one, but heard one.”
“Well, if you heard one you haven’t forgotten it. Tell Jack, and we’ll start right soon.”
A half-hour later the three trappers, after they had carefully looked to their mounts, departed from the camp and again saw the valley where the black leader and his drove had first been discovered. A careful search was made, but no signs of the presence of the wild horses were discovered.
“We’ll wait until night,” suggested Kit Carson. “It was after sunset when they put into this gorge before.”
The men waited in accordance with the suggestion of their leader, but when darkness fell the horses had not been seen.
“There’s no use,” said Kit Carson. “They aren’t coming here to-night.”