Joe could now restrain himself no longer. With the cry of "Jean! Jean!" he scrambled over the fence, and made straight for the advancing woman. Empty was about to follow, when Douglas laid a firm hand upon his arm and drew him back.
"Don't go yet," he ordered. "It's better for us to keep out of sight for a while. Her father can do more than we can, and our presence might frighten her."
Joe's cry had startled Jean and she stopped singing. Seeing him coming toward her, she stood for a few seconds watching him. Then she turned and fled along the path she had recently travelled, and disappeared among the rocks.
Then it was that Douglas leaped over the fence and hastened forward, with Empty close at his heels. For a few minutes he was guided by Joe's voice as he called to his daughter. Then all was silent, and though he and Empty searched long and patiently, they could not find the missing ones.
"Well, I'll be jiggered!" Empty ejaculated, as he sat down upon a rock to rest. "I can't make out what has happened to 'em. Guess it's not much use huntin' any more. We'd better go home now an' git somethin' to eat. I'm most starved."
Douglas realised that it would be useless to search any longer just then. He would go with Empty, wait at his place until daybreak, and then return if Joe did not reappear.
The house to which Empty led him was a humble one. A woman was standing at the door as they approached.
"Where's Jean?" she enquired.
"Don't know," Empty replied. "She's out on the hills somewheres."
"What, ye didn't leave the poor girl there all alone, did ye?"