In the two days' ride, which they made without incident, meeting very few persons, and not being annoyed by any one, they had come to hope that they had left the troubled area of the mountains behind them and that only peaceful scenes lay before them. Hippy, however, still insisted that he was a marked man.
It was some time after the evening meal of the second day when they heard a horse galloping along the wagon trail that they had followed ever since leaving the Thompson place.
Hippy held up a hand for silence, and the Overlanders sat listening intently.
"Some one is in an awful hurry," observed Emma.
"Going for a doctor, perhaps," suggested Hippy. "That's the way I rode when I went after old Doc Weatherby."
"Only one rider," announced Grace. "Otherwise we might have reason to feel disturbed."
The horse suddenly slowed down, its rider probably attracted by the light of the campfire.
"Hulloa the camp!" shouted a voice.
"A woman!" exclaimed Nora.
"Hulloa! Come on in so we can see who you are," called Emma.