"Why isn't that horse hobbled like the rest?" Reuben asked suddenly. "Whose is it?"
"That is the one your black fellow rode, sir," Sergeant O'Connor said.
"Jim, where are you?" Reuben called, but no reply came.
"What has become of him, I wonder?" Reuben said. "Has anyone seen him, since we rode up?"
"He jumped off, the instant we came here," one of the policemen replied; "and said to me, 'Look after captain horse,' and I haven't seen anything of him since."
"There has been somebody here, sir," another policeman said, coming up. "Here's the remains of a fire, behind this bush."
"Yes," Mr. Blount said, examining them, and pulling out a brand that was still glowing. "Do you see, a lot of sand has been thrown over it. Whoever was here must have seen us coming, and tried to extinguish the fire when they caught sight of us."
"That is most unfortunate," Reuben said. "The fellows must have made off, to carry the news of our coming to their friends. However, it's too late to do anything now. It's already getting dark, and they must have got a quarter of an hour's start. We have taken quite enough out of the horses, and can do no more with them, if they have to travel tomorrow; but I would give a year's pay if this hadn't happened.
"Well, there's nothing to do for it but to light our fires, and camp."
The knowledge that they had been seen, and that the news would be carried to those of whom they were in search, acted as a great damper on the spirits of the party; and the camp was much more quiet and subdued than it had been, on the previous evening.