“This sure is a quick way of traveling, and beats a horse forty ways,” he remarked in admiration.
“You’re a little different from Tex,” Mason answered, as he remembered how the lanky cowboy had refused to ride. “Why, I couldn’t get him any closer than four feet to the car.”
They had made good time from the ranch, and as they drove into the town, Mason’s first move was to dash into the leading store and inquire if the girls had done any trading there this day. They were well known at Trader’s Post, as it was the nearest place to Bar X ranch and the girls did quite a bit of shopping there. Mason was astonished to receive the answer that the girls had not been seen to enter the town, or at least they had done no trading in any of the stores which he visited.
He was thoroughly aroused by this time, and something seemed to tell him that the girls were in danger. He was inclined to follow his first idea that the girls had swung off the trail before reaching Trader’s Post and had headed for Devil’s Gap. He told Bruce of his thought and waited impatiently for his opinion.
“It won’t make any difference to me if you want to go towards Devil’s Gap,” Bruce said grimly; “if you think the girls are in danger we ought to get busy right quick. This trip to Smoky Point can wait for some other time.”
Mason did some hard thinking and kept looking anxiously down the trail towards Smoky Point. Suddenly he jumped for the driver’s seat and started the racer off at a furious speed.
“Hang on hard, Bruce,” he grated, “something tells me the girls took a notion to visit Smoky Point, and it’s to Smoky Point we go.”
There was a whirl of dust as the car shot out of the town, and some of the natives of Trader’s Post who happened to be in the street stared after them in amazement. That Bruce was scared, Mason well knew, for he could feel his body quiver. With set lips he drove the fast machine ahead, and he confided to Bruce afterwards that he never had driven faster on the race track. Soon they struck a bad part of the trail and he had to slow the car down. Bruce seized the opportunity to ask a few questions.
“What got the idea into your head that the girls might visit Smoky Point?” he queried curiously.
“When you told the folks at the ranch about Spot Wells and Duke Williams’ place at Smoky Point, the girls heard you, didn’t they?” Mason questioned him.