They mounted, and on reaching the trail forks where they must separate, Prescott turned to Curtis.
“Aren’t you afraid of letting me out of your sight?” he asked.
“No, sir,” Curtis answered with a smile. “You’re not quite so important to us now; and I’m not running much risk, anyway, considering the horse you’ve got.”
CHAPTER XXVII
STARTLING NEWS
It was noon on the day after Wandle’s flight, and Jernyngham was sitting with his friends in a room of the Leslie homestead when Muriel, looking out of the window, saw Prescott’s hired man ride up at a gallop. His haste and his anxious expression when he dismounted alarmed her, but her companions had not noticed him, and she waited, listening to the murmur of voices that presently reached her from an adjoining room. They ceased in a few minutes, she saw the man ride away as fast as he had come, and soon afterward Leslie opened the door. He was a talkative person and looked as if he had something of importance to relate.
“Svendsen has been over to ask if I saw Prescott when I was in at the settlement yesterday,” he said. “When I told him that I hadn’t, he seemed mighty disturbed.”
Muriel’s heart throbbed painfully, but she waited for one of the others to speak, and Jernyngham, laying down his paper, glanced up sharply.