"We must separate. You take Deaves."
Evan pressed her own revolver back in her hand, whispering: "Fire it off if you are in danger."
Seizing Deaves' hand, Evan pulled him away to the right. Corinna and Aunt Liza melted in the other direction. The old man came through the underbrush like a reaping machine, and of course the police took after them. For a moment Evan considered abandoning him. He would come to no harm, of course. But on the other hand, Evan now ardently desired to have the whole affair hushed up. He got Deaves across the rough road in safety, and on the other side, coming to an immense spruce tree with drooping branches, he dragged him under it, and they sank down on a fragrant bed of needles.
The pursuing policemen, coming to the road, instinctively turned off upon it, and Evan knew they were safe for the moment. Presently they came back, aimlessly threshing the woods and flashing their lights, but they had lost the trail now. They were looking for a needle in a hay-stack. Evan's only fear was that they might stumble on Charley, but he heard no sounds from that direction that indicated they had done so. The sounds of searching moved off to the other side of the road, and Evan determined to go to Charley himself.
Leaving the old man with a whispered admonition to silence, Evan set off. He found Charley where he had left him under the leafy bush. Evan whispered in his ear:
"I found her. I am on your side now. The police are all around us. Make no sound!"
He unbound Charley. The latter sat up and rubbed his ankles. Whatever he thought of the new turn of affairs, he said nothing.
Evan said: "I have Deaves back here. Follow me."
Foot by foot they crept back in a course parallel to the rough road. Hearing footsteps approach, they hugged the earth. Two men passed in the road. One was saying:
"Send Wilson back in the car to the road house to telephone for enough men to surround this patch of woods. You patrol the road outside."