“Oh, I can’t wait!” wailed Nora.
“Judy is right,” spoke up the ranchman. “Besides, we have some things to do here. I can’t spare any men from the range, so we shall have to do the work ourselves. We must break your camp and store your equipment, for the rustlers will discover, after we leave here, that the ranch is unguarded and come down on it. Understand?”
Grace nodded. Judy tethered her pony and announced that she would assist them, and the work of striking the Overland camp began. The equipment was packed for moving, but instead of being lashed to the backs of mustangs, Joe Bindloss carted it to the ranch-house on his buckboard. The work took a good part of the afternoon, following which the rancher rode out to his nearest grazing grounds where he acquainted one of his foremen with the situation.
Judy Hornby not only did her share of the work, but kept up the spirits of her companions with quaint sayings and sharp-witted replies to questions.
Food sufficient for their needs was packed, and by supper time all was in readiness for the start. Before leaving, the mountain girl and the rancher held a brief consultation, at which she told him of her plan. Bindloss agreed to it. Up to this time Judy had given her friends no further information as to the source of the news that had come to her, though occasional attempts had been made by Grace and Elfreda to draw it from her.
The start was made shortly after dark, the riders setting out in pairs at some little distance apart. Judy kept to the base of the foothills where the mountains cast a heavy shadow so that the movements of the party could not be seen from the valley in the light of the new moon. Instead of riding directly into the hills, the mountain girl rode parallel with them for fully five miles. Grace asked her why she did this instead of taking the direct line that had been followed by the carrier pigeons.
“Mebby that trail is watched,” answered Judy. “We got to go ’round and come up by a longer way. You folks leave that to me. I ain’t sayin’ that we ain’t goin’ to be caught, but if we are we got rifles and I knows how to use mine.”
“So do we,” returned Grace. “I hope it may not be necessary, though.”
Finally a sharp turn into the mountains was made, and for a mile or two Judy followed a gash in the hills.
“We got to climb now,” finally announced their guide, and it proved to be a real climb. A brief halt was made to rest the animals, after which the journey was resumed. The going from there on was over rough ground, and it was a marvel to the Overland Riders how Judy Hornby picked her way in the darkness and kept in the right direction.