“Yes, yes!” urged Grace.
“I mean the Murrays.”
Grace said she never had heard of them.
“They are notorious bandits, cutthroats, robbers, everything that is vicious. Did Miss Briggs wear any jewels?”
“She did—a diamond ring that is quite valuable, and a jewelled watch that was presented to her by the French government after she finished her work there with our college unit in the war.”
“They would kill for less than that!” was the disturbing announcement of Hamilton White, as he turned abruptly away.
Ham White did not wait until morning to resume his search. After taking a light supper, and packing some “grub” in his kit bag, he quietly forded the creek with one of the Overland ponies, then disappeared in the darkness, headed downstream. Only Lieutenant Hippy Wingate knew that he had gone. Ham White was headed towards an adventure that proved to be a thrilling one, both for himself and others.
CHAPTER VI
FACING A NEW PERIL
“Sho—Shot!” gasped Elfreda Briggs, as the stranger lay huddled on the floor where he had fallen. He was breathing heavily, and perhaps it was this that brought Miss Briggs to herself. After long service with wounded men in France, she knew what a bullet wound was, and her first instinct upon recovering from her fright was to give first aid.
Elfreda had found candles and matches in the cabin, and these she quickly procured, lighting two candles the better to see her patient. She peered down at her unexpected guest, a long, lean figure, his lined, unshaven face ashen from pain and weakness. Elfreda instantly recognized the symptoms.