"That's happened already. We can't be much worse off that way. Neither of us know where we are, nor how to get back to camp. The only thing to do is to keep on. We may distance them, and we may strike a mining camp, where we can get help."
Still behind them came the desperate men who half guessed at the truth—that the boys had gold—and this gold the gamblers were determined to obtain.
"I think we're leaving them behind," remarked Will, after a pause, during which they rode hard.
"Seems as if we couldn't hear them quite so plainly," agreed Jed. "But don't stop. It'll soon be dark, and maybe we can give them the slip."
Whether this happened, or whether the pursuers knew the boys could not escape them, the lads did not know. Certainly when it got too dark to travel any more in safety on the uncertain mountain trail, there was no longer the echo of hoofbeats behind them.
"Let's stop and make a sort of camp," proposed Jed. "We can't go on like this all night. We'll eat a bit, rest, and start the first thing in the morning."
But in the morning they had hardly made a hurried breakfast, and started along the trail again, ere from behind came the sounds of pursuit.
"They're after us!" said Jed grimly.
"They want that gold," added Will, "but they're not going to get it!"