“I reckon,” Gus drawled. “She’s narrowin’ down closer, anyhow,” and he jerked his head toward the other side, which, it seemed to the riders, had been gradually coming nearer as they loped along.
But a scant hour of daylight remained, and Roy, realizing they had small chance to join his father and the others, once full darkness had descended, urged Teddy to set a faster pace. The tired horses responded willingly, and the men made better time toward their objective.
For the last hour or so the boys’ thoughts had been taken up with the strange old woman they had encountered in the clearing. Certainly she fitted Ike Natick’s description of the woman whom he had seen in the car which had borne the three girls from the 8 X 8. Could it be that the outlaws had forced their prisoners to remain in that hut over Saturday and Sunday, then, this morning, had taken them farther on, so as to be safer from pursuit?
Teddy, revolving the subject over in his mind, thought it extremely likely. If only they had discovered on Saturday that the girls had been taken, they might have had them at home by this time! Teddy remembered, with an ironical laugh, that he and Roy had at first planned to visit the 8 X 8 on the very day the girls were kidnapped.
Then the storm had come, and they had postponed their journey until this morning, when it was too late! What had happened to Belle Ada—and the others—during those two days when he and Roy were hanging around the ranch, talking over ways to prevent the rustlers from executing their threat? Why, at the very moment when Mr. Manley and the two boys had been deciding what part of the range to watch, the outlaws had acted and had taken revenge!
Teddy grew stiff and his hands clenched. All because of a storm! If it hadn’t rained, he and Roy could have been after the rustlers almost as soon as they got started. Or they might even have arrived at the 8 X 8 at the same time that the puncher, Richmond, had come with the false note.
Teddy shook his head helplessly and gazed ahead through the gathering dusk. To his ears came the sound of falling water, but the boy could not tell whether it was Gravestone Falls or merely the brook below growing more turbulent.
“Here’s hoping we meet dad soon,” Roy declared, peering across the canyon. “It’ll be night before long, and we’ll have a pretty hard job of finding him then.”
Teddy agreed, with a nod.
“He’ll be there. Remember, we were delayed by that gunwoman in the cabin. If dad rode straight on, which I think he did, he’s probably at the falls now. Nick, watch your step! There’s a mean bit of trail right here.”