“Can you locate it, Tom?” called Hippy.
“I should say that the firing is somewhere near the camp we left,” replied Tom.
“Oh, how strange,” cried Emma. “Why are they fighting there, and who is it that is fighting?”
“Quite possibly it is the bandits fighting over J. Elfreda’s gold,” suggested Grace as the party, at a command from Tom Gray, moved forward again. Some time later the leader called back that they were about to come upon a small watercourse and that they would follow it.
“We shall probably find plenty of overhanging bushes, so protect your faces,” he directed.
They wondered how he knew that they were near a stream. Tom said he could smell it.
“Wonderful scent,” growled Hippy. “Perhaps you can tell us whether or not the water is wet.”
“It may be for you if you don’t watch your step,” answered Captain Gray laughingly.
They entered the stream a few moments after that, and the going proved to be even worse than Grace’s husband had predicted. Bushes hung over the stream and met, forming a bower so low that the riders had to lean well forward to protect their faces from being continuously whipped. Not alone that, but the horses were constantly slipping on moss-covered stones, threatening at every moment to unhorse their riders.
Emma wailed her protests ere they had proceeded far, but Tom said they must take their medicine and be good sports.