For the old officer came round an angle of the steeply-scarped rock above them, walking fast, and descended agilely to where they stood.
“You here, gentlemen?” he said; “have you seen my daughter?”
“No, but we have been no farther than this,” said the Doctor.
“I’m growing uneasy about her,” said the Major; and a curious sensation of mingled dread and jealousy attacked Clive.
“Did she go out—come this way?” said the Doctor.
“Yes. Martha told me she struck off over the mountain in this direction.”
He looked sharply about him, but the path curved suddenly before toward the mine, and backward in the direction of the river, forming out there a natural terrace in the huge rampart of limestone.
“Perhaps you have missed her,” said the Doctor. “She may have returned home another way, without she has gone on toward the mine.”
A spasm shot through Clive, who stood up firmly now, nerved by the bitter thoughts which suggested to his jealous mind Dinah seeking his brother once more.
“She would not go there,” cried the Major angrily. “Ah, what’s that?”