“That’s a relief; it’s quite a while since I could feel the bridle,” said Curtis, turning to Prescott. “How did you scare Wandle off? Be as quick as you can!”
Prescott briefly related what led to his call at the farm and the corporal’s face was filled with scornful anger.
“This is what comes of you blamed amateurs butting in!” he remarked. “Jernyngham was bad enough, but he can’t come near you at mussing up our plans. Guess you don’t know that we’ve been watching Wandle for some weeks, ready to corral him, and you start him off like this, without warning.”
“I’d reason to believe you were watching me,” Prescott dryly rejoined.
“Oh, well,” said Curtis, “that’s another matter. Anyhow, I had trailed Wandle to Kelly’s place since dark, and I’d trotted round to see if he’d got back to his homestead when I found that he had gone. Stanton and I were prospecting out this way when we struck your trail.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“We’ll make the next farm and try to borrow horses. Then I’ll ride to the railroad and get the wires to work. Stanton will keep the trail by Long Lake.”
“Then I’ll push right on by the Traverse. There’s a ranch I should make by daylight where I might get a mount. I’m going to see the thing through.”
Curtis considered this.
“Well,” he said, “I guess you can’t do much harm, and Wandle may not have gone by the lake after all. You can pick up Stanton if you find out anything, and I’ll try to join you from one of the stations along the line.”